one, with ornaments and embellishments dressing the opening. While all the other tents were
made out of a dull khaki colored canvas, the leader’s tent was fabricated out of a lavish maroon
satin. As the soldiers slept under the affects of their excessive indulgence in alcohol, the brothers
ambushed the leader’s tent. They stealthily rushed into the tent with their blades raised to see a
sight that astonished them; rather than drowning in a deep slumber, the captain was wide-awake,
standing with his back turned to the entrance of the tent. Unfazed and still facing in the opposite
direction, he addressed the three brothers who entered.
“I have been expecting your presence for some time. Come. Sit.”
The brothers, caught off guard by the leader’s reaction to their ambush, immediately grasped
their blades. Kay instinctively pointed his blade at the captain and threatened, “How did you know
we were here?” The captain, a man in his late fifties chuckled to himself and turning to face them,
said, “Now, please before we do anything, take a seat. I always like to get formalities out of the
way before anything. After all, it is only manners. So you gentlemen either sit down, or you’ll find
yourselves enslaved in chains by my men. It is your choice.” Reluctantly, the brothers sat down.
“Now gentlemen, I know a lot of things which you would be interested in knowing. Firstly,
how did I know you were here? Well, you must understand that even though my men do seem like
drunkards, they have immaculate awareness of their surroundings. I promise you that even if you
chose to duel with one of my intoxicated men, he would be able to capably fight. During tonight’s
festivities, one of my men spotted you three sprinting around the camp. Your decision to not
storm in like barbarians was wise.” The captain took a drink of his Baekju and continued to speak.
“Um, I believe that answers your question of how I knew you were here. The second question
at hand is why did I allow you to come into my camp with such malicious intentions? Especially
three brothers with such… appalling upbringings and backgrounds…“
Upon hearing this, Ming lunged for the captain’s throat with his knife, stopping inches in
front of him. He harshly whispered, “Talk about us that way and you can say goodbye to your
life.” The captain smirked, and pushing the knife away, retorted, “You want to hear what I have to
say. Believe me.” Ming let go and the captain took a seat on his elegantly robed cushion.
“As I was saying, I let you come into my camp. Why? In a sense, it is a favor. Let me tell you
something that confirms a lot of conspiracies. Firstly, the only Kirin that exists in our universe
is locked away in a Korean vault. Yes of course, the Kirin was a creature that was born from the
dunes of the Gobi. However, the Korean kingdom was the first and only country to capture the
Kirin because the creature inherently possessed great power and value. You men are out here on
a hunt for nothing. The government commissioned all the poachers, hunters, murderers and black
market prey stalkers to go on this mission in order to remove you from the region. Hell, they
were even cunning enough to attract foreign hunters who were foolish enough to fall for it! Their
hopes were to lure all of you into the Gobi desert, with the expectations that you would kill each
other in an endless bloodbath. Of course, the government knew that you men would be willing
to murder all your competition in order to collect the bounty. All this time, they knew that the
Kirin was in their possession, but to remove the so-called filth from our society, they devised this
ingenious plan. All for what? Hm? To eliminate you. After all, the Gobi’s desolate geography does
complement the mission quite well.”
The captain finished the alcohol in his bottle and snickered to himself.
“My job here is to supervise this devious game that the government established. Endorse all
the hostility, you know? It really is quite an interesting job. But, I like you and more importantly,
