Chapter 480: Sometimes, a Parent Who Defeats Their Child
Chapter 480: Sometimes, a Parent Who Defeats Their Child
“It seems the mastermind we’re hunting has deep ties to an assassin guild.”
I needed to brief my father and Hwi on the situation with absolute clarity.
“What makes you think so?” Hwi asked, wondering if it could have simply been a standard contract put out by the Golden Dragon Clan.
“From what I know, large-scale organizations like the Underworld prioritize thorough reconnaissance of their targets first—especially for an operation as large as today’s.”
Hwi nodded slowly. “That is correct.”
“Given the date we arrived, they wouldn’t have had time for a proper investigation. It doesn’t seem like they were sent with any knowledge of our true identities, either.”
I turned my gaze toward my father, who was standing silently by the window.
“If they had known the target was Father, they never would have accepted the contract. Even if they had been mad enough to push through with it, they would have needed every top-tier assassin in the Central Plains just to stand a chance.”
I knew Father didn't enjoy being entangled with assassins. Even now, the lingering scent of blood wafting through the window was likely irritating him. I spoke lightly, hoping to brighten his mood, if only a little.
“Therefore, this isn't a routine contract. The mastermind must have a deep, personal connection with the organization. Whoever it is, they are in a position to bypass protocol and mobilize the Underworld’s assassins on a moment's notice.”
Hwi nodded in agreement.
“Uncle, you’re the expert on assassins, so I’ll be counting on you from here on out. I’d like you to teach me more about their ways.”
Just as I had learned the intricacies of commerce from the Silver River Merchant Group Leader, I intended to learn the art of the shadow from Hwi. Normally, he would have politely declined, but given the circumstances, he readily accepted.
“I shall do so.”
Seizing the opportunity, I threw a joke toward Father. “Father, Uncle Hwi will handle everything. Let’s just go fishing.”
Geom Wu-jin spoke without turning around. “If you’re going to put Hwi in the lead, take responsibility and protect him.”
I blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected remark. Hwi looked equally stunned. There were times when Father surprised people, and it was always at moments like this.
“No, please—take a joke as a joke! How am I supposed to protect the man who is the best at protecting others in this world?”
Father continued to stare out the window as if he hadn't been joking at all. Hwi gave me an awkward, slightly touched smile. This was the first time the Cult Leader had expressed concern for his safety in such direct words.
A man like Hwi wouldn't be moved by a mountain of gold, but a single word of concern from the Cult Leader made his heart swell with genuine joy. He was deeply grateful to the Cult Leader, but he had to admit one thing to himself.
This is all thanks to the Young Cult Leader.
“Uncle, now you’ll have to teach me more than just about assassins,” I teased. “You’ll have to teach me how to be a guard, too.”
Feeling embarrassed, Hwi excused himself. “I will go clear the bodies.”
“Leave them,” I stopped him. My gaze shifted toward the Family Head’s hall in the distance. “We should make the person who sent them clean up the mess.”
*
“You sent assassins?”
Geum Cheon-bang was utterly flabbergasted.
His son had learned martial arts, but only to the extent expected of the eldest son of a prominent merchant family. In fact, Geum A-rin’s skills were far superior.
“How could you…”
He didn't even need to hear the answer. He had to be involved in this madness. However, Geum Cheon-bang hadn't realized his son had fallen so far as to summon assassins without a second thought.
“You committed such a grave act without even consulting your father?” Geum Cheon-bang roared, but his son didn't look remotely remorseful.
“It was to protect him.”
Geum Cheon-bang was speechless. What mattered now wasn't the reason, but the result.
“Fine, let’s say that’s the case. But do you even know what kind of people assassins are? They are vultures. They will use that contract as leverage to bleed you dry for the rest of your life.”
“Only third-rate assassins do that. The people I sent are not such amateurs.”
“You have no experience dealing with their kind, do you?”
Geum A-hyeok looked into his father's eyes and countered, “What makes you think I don't?”
“You brat!” Geum Cheon-bang bellowed.
He was so angry he was at a loss for words. He was a man who rarely lost his composure, even during the most heated disputes in the merchant world. He had spent his life winning battles by being the one who stayed calm.
But today, he lost. It was a total defeat at the hands of his own child.
Unlike his agitated father, Geum A-hyeok remained chillingly calm.
“By now, they should be dead.” As if the matter were already settled, Geum A-hyeok stood up. “Please get some sleep, Father.”
The moment their eyes met as his son gave a polite bow, Geum Cheon-bang’s heart sank. The gaze was incredibly cold—frigid. He had seen that unfamiliar look several times recently, but today it felt entirely alien.
With that, Geum A-hyeok left the hall.
Crash!
The teapot and cups on the table shattered against the floor. It was the first time Geum Cheon-bang had ever broken something in a fit of rage. He was a man of immense patience, but when it came to his child, he found his endurance failing.
He pulled a bottle of liquor from a side cabinet and gulped it down straight. Whenever he heard people say that raising a child was the hardest thing in the world, he thought it didn't apply to him. He had been so proud to raise children that others envied.
But now, as if to make him pay for every moment of pride, his son had changed abruptly.
He suppressed the urge to hurl the bottle and set it down. Now was not the time for a tantrum; it was time to clean up the mess.
What do I do?
It was a disaster if the assassination succeeded, and a disaster if it failed. If it succeeded, his son would try to solve every future obstacle with murder. If it failed and it was revealed that the Golden Dragon Clan had hired assassins? The consequences were unthinkable.
Just then, the door to the main hall creaked open.
Geum Cheon-bang looked up, hoping his son had returned to apologize. He hoped A-hyeok would say, ‘I’m sorry for handling this without you, Father,’ so they could find a solution together.
“The perimeter is wide open.”
The person who stepped inside was Geom Mu-geuk.
Seeing him, Geum Cheon-bang’s eyes widened in shock. The assassination failed.
He tried his best to steady his racing heart as he greeted the guest. “I dismissed my subordinates for a moment.”
He had sent everyone away to have a private conversation with his son. Could he have overheard us? If this man knew his son had sent the assassins, A-hyeok’s life was as good as over.
“I happened to see someone on my way here. A young master was leaving the hall. Was that perhaps the First Young Master?”
“That’s right. I was having a talk with my eldest.” Geum Cheon-bang’s heart pounded. Is he testing me? Or is he implying he heard everything?
“He was as strikingly handsome as I’d heard,” I remarked. “He truly had the air of a great hero.”
Those were words that would usually make a father beam, but not today. The memory of that cold, alien gaze was too fresh.
“So? Did you exchange greetings?”
“No, I only saw him from a distance.”
“And yet you saw his face quite clearly.”
“I have good eyes.” I looked around and pointed to a wall in the distance. “Do you see the flower pattern on that wall? The one with the leaves?”
“It’s too small. I can’t see it.”
“There are nine leaves. Go and check for yourself.”
This man had taken money from the Hundred Immortals Guild and survived an assassination attempt. And now he was telling the Clan Head to go count flower petals. The sheer, inexplicable confidence he radiated felt like it belonged to a realm beyond understanding.
“Forget the petals. What brings you here at this hour?”
“I came because I have urgent news.”
“What is it?”
“Assassins infiltrated my quarters.”
Geum Cheon-bang feigned a look of horror. “Assassins? Is that true?”
He acted like a man who knew nothing. He was a veteran of the deceptive world of commerce, confident in his ability to mask his thoughts.
“Are you hurt?”
“Fortunately, I’m fine.”
“And the assassins?”
“I’ve dealt with them all.”
“I will send people immediately to clear the bodies,” Geum Cheon-bang said hurriedly. “I’ll provide you with a new guest hall as well.”
“Thank you.”
Normally, he should have promised an investigation to find out which organization the assassins belonged to. But he omitted those words. He was too busy trying to hide the evidence.
Geum Cheon-bang called his subordinates. “Clear the bodies and move the guests to a new hall immediately.”
“Understood.”
Before they could leave, I stepped forward. “But shouldn't you investigate the bodies first? To see where they came from?”
Geum Cheon-bang flustered inwardly but kept his voice steady. “Of course, we must.”
“You should also declare an emergency and strengthen the security of the Family Head’s hall.”
“I was planning to do so.”
As if that were truly the case, he repeated my words as orders to his subordinates. A moment later, the sound of alarm bells began to ring through the estate.
Geum Cheon-bang’s mind was as chaotic as those bells. He knew perfectly well this was his son’s doing. Assassins in the main house? The mere thought made him tremble. The idea of professional killers roaming his home was suffocating.
Anger and bewilderment—at least those two emotions didn't need to be faked.
“You should be careful from now on as well, Family Head.”
“What do you mean?”
“There were quite a few of them. Unless someone allowed them entry, it means the Golden Dragon Clan’s defenses were breached, doesn't it?”
Was I testing him? Or warning him? Geum Cheon-bang couldn't tell. It seemed like I knew nothing, yet also like I knew everything.
“I will strictly strengthen security from this moment on.”
Geum Cheon-bang had a pathological fear of martial artists. He could outmaneuver any merchant, but he felt helpless against those who lived by the sword. They didn't listen to reason, and calculations didn't work on them.
He was even afraid of his own clan’s warriors. What if someone was bribed? What if a blade ended his life in a single strike? It was this fundamental fear that drove his decisions.
It was why he wanted his sons to handle martial matters. It was why he hired expensive masters for his daughter. It was why he entrusted the business with him to his eldest son.
Escapism always demanded a high price.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“I’m fine. Just a little surprised.”
I mused aloud, as if talking to myself. “I wonder who on earth tried to kill me?”
At my pointed question, Geum Cheon-bang answered as calmly as possible. “Wouldn't you know that better than I?”
“I suppose! I do live a life with many enemies.”
The reason I had come here was to see if Geum Cheon-bang was complicit. If I appeared alive and well immediately after the attempt, he would surely reveal a clue.
And I had found it. It wasn't just his poorly hidden bewilderment. It was that.
My gaze drifted to the shattered teapot and cups on the floor.
“Did you throw those?”
“No. I dropped them by mistake.”
“They shattered quite thoroughly for a mistake.”
I knew then. The person who sent the assassins was the son, Geum A-hyeok. Geum Cheon-bang had only just realized it, and his anger had boiled over.
“Raising a child isn't easy, is it?”
Geum Cheon-bang stiffened. “What do you mean by that all of a sudden?”
He must think I threw them because I was angry at my son!
Ignoring his attempt to steer the conversation away, I brought it back to myself. “I was talking about myself. I tend to cause my father a lot of grief.”
“A son who truly causes grief doesn't even know he’s doing it,” Geum Cheon-bang sighed. “But what can you do? No matter how much trouble they cause, they’re still your child. They say no parent can win against their child.”
I looked him in the eye. “But sometimes, shouldn't you be a parent who defeats their child?”
Geum Cheon-bang froze. He knows. He knows A-hyeok sent them.
This pressure was intentional. Mistakes happen when one is rushed and flustered, and those mistakes would lead me straight to the mastermind.
“In that regard, my father is the best.”
“Your father?”
“You should ask him for advice sometime,” I added with a smile. “He’s the number one expert when it comes to being a parent who defeats their child.”
*
The next day, Geum A-hyeok greeted the two people entering his office with a stony expression.
“I know you usually don't like me, Brother, but is there a need to scowl like that?”
Geum A-hyeok’s expression hadn't hardened because of his brother, Geum A-jong. It was because of the man standing beside him. The man who should have been a corpse was standing right in front of him.
He had been in a foul mood since the emergency bells rang last night. He had expected news that the guests in the hall had been slaughtered. He never imagined the report would say all the assassins were dead.
“This is the expensive guest worth two million taels that I brought. You know him, right?”
At Geum A-jong’s introduction, I gave a polite fist salute. “It’s a pleasure. I am called Geom Yeon.”
I acted as if nothing had happened last night. “I’ve heard much about the First Young Master. I’ve been quite eager to meet you.”
“What have you heard?”
“That you’re the most likely candidate for the next Family Head?”
Geum A-hyeok glanced at his brother. There was no way A-jong had said anything complimentary. “That remains to be seen. I am busy today.”
It was a dismissal. Geum A-hyeok turned his gaze back to his desk, refusing to look up. Geum A-jong knew his brother’s temperament, so he signaled to me that we should leave.
“Then, I’ll see you next time.”
I turned to leave, then paused as if I had just remembered something. “Oh, by the way, isn't the First Young Master going to ask?”
Geum A-hyeok looked up, his gaze questioning.
“Didn't you hear the news? Assassins broke into the guest hall where I was staying last night.”
“I heard.” The coldness in his eyes was clear: Why should I care?
“Aren't you curious? What kind of assassins they were, why they came to kill us… or what kind of fool sent them?”
I saw a flicker of tension in Geum A-hyeok’s eyes. I leisurely cast my line, using his curiosity as the bait.
“I think I know who it was.”