Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Owner of the Treasure (1)
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“Huff... huff!”
A faint steam rose from Murong Suhyang’s sweat-soaked body.
Her thin training garb was drenched through. Despite the chill in the air, her body heat was fierce enough to blanket the entire training ground.
“Young Miss.”
Seok Ung, who happened to be passing by, spoke up with a look of concern.
“Training is important and all, but you can’t push yourself this hard.”
“Ah, I’m fine.”
“You skipped dinner too, didn’t you?”
Murong Suhyang gave an awkward smile and shivered like a cat.
Sweat droplets scattered everywhere.
“I’ve got too much energy. I’ll just grab a couple of rice balls later or something.”
“Are you worried about the Young Master and Old Man Gwak?”
Murong Suhyang, who had been staring silently into the void, shook her head.
“No.”
There was none of her usual sulky scowl or angry glare.
Instead, a trace of bitterness tinged her face, making her seem far more grown-up than she had just days ago.
“I told Big Sis he might have to step away for a bit. That’s all that matters.”
Seok Ung watched her expression quietly, then smiled.
“Feeling a bit left out?”
“As if.”
“The Young Master, the Patriarch, even Old Man Gwak... it’s frustrating because none of them will share what they know, isn’t it?”
Murong Suhyang didn’t answer with a yes or no.
Seok Ung nodded and continued.
“Everyone has secrets they keep hidden. You know that, right?”
“I know. Well... I’m trying to accept it.”
“You’re doing great.”
“Still frustrated, though. Guess it’s because I’m not mature enough.”
Seok Ung shook his head.
“Anyone would be frustrated. That’s the problem.”
“Huh?”
“This whole situation... I think there’s an issue with it.”
“......?”
“More precisely, the Young Master, the Patriarch, and Old Man Gwak all have problems.”
Murong Suhyang blinked in confusion.
“P-problems?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“Aren’t we family?”
Her chest twinged sharply.
“Even family has secrets too painful to share. But the Young Master, the Patriarch, and Old Man Gwak are hiding even things that should be shared as a matter of course. How is that not a problem?”
“I-is that so?”
Somehow, hearing it put like that only flustered her more.
Seok Ung’s eyes softened warmly.
“But if you’ve accepted that everyone carries their own secrets, then give them a little more time.”
“......”
“Sometimes you have to wait, even knowing it’s a problem. It’s not like they’re holding back because they don’t want to share.”
“Well... maybe.”
Her lips pursed in that familiar pout.
“I’m just a clueless kid who doesn’t get adult patience.”
“Adults can get even more narrow-minded sometimes, you know?”
“......Really?”
“Adults are only human.”
“Then what’s the point of growing up?”
“You have to. And you’re doing plenty well already.”
“If it means getting more narrow-minded, why bother?”
“Adults don’t have endless understanding. What makes them seem more understanding is knowing how to wait longer than they did as kids, don’t you think?”
Murong Suhyang’s eyes trembled.
“Waiting...”
“Our Young Miss has such a kind heart. Just hold on a bit longer.”
“I’m not kind.”
“I disagree.”
For some reason, she felt embarrassed.
Murong Suhyang cleared her throat awkwardly before asking cautiously.
“Are you feeling frustrated too, Chief Steward?”
“Who knows? Probably way more than you, Young Miss. I’m the one handling the family’s big and small affairs, after all.”
“Y-yeah, makes sense.”
Seok Ung gazed up at the sky.
The dark night sky, dotted with countless stars, seemed especially brilliant tonight.
“But what choice do we have but to wait? If we poke at it carelessly and that pent-up resentment festers into an abscess, we’ll have no choice but to lance it.”
“......”
“You, me, those three... we’ll all get through this reality just fine.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ ‘Gwak, huh?’
Who had called me “Gwak”?
‘Everyone.’
He had a name, Gwak Hogun, but he’d insisted on being called just Gwak. Sitting in the honorable position of guarding the Murong family head, he’d felt he had to discard his given name entirely.
A being existing solely to protect his lord.
To become a sword grander and sturdier than any shield or city wall, he had to shed the human Gwak Hogun.
Suddenly, Old Man Gwak recalled his conversation with the Young Master from half a month ago, when he’d returned late at night.
‘Gwak?’
‘Haven’t heard “Gwak” in ages. Heh heh.’
Thinking back, even then it had felt off.
‘I was nothing more than Old Man Gwak.’
Even after his lord passed, he hadn’t reclaimed his name. Even in his old age, when his grandchildren were born, he’d still insisted on Old Man Gwak.
Of course, going by surname alone was common enough for a subordinate.
So he hadn’t questioned it.
“What in the...”
His vision spun dizzily. The entire plaza seemed to tilt on its own.
Yet the Young Master stood unmoved amid it all.
As if, even should the world crumble, the Young Master would remain rooted in place.
‘Who are you?’
Long time no see? What did that mean?
‘Who even knows of the Soul Calming Demonic Fortress? Who knows of those events back then?’
The brother he’d respected and cherished most? And who was that brother?
Who could speak of the Soul Calming Demonic Fortress?
Who?!
‘A man just like you—writhing to escape the curse your past life scattered, unable to even despair despite facing this reality head-on.’
Why despair?
Another soul, besides him, struggling to break free of that curse?
Someone who knew the Soul Calming Demonic Fortress and the Soul Mixing Witch.
A man who evoked that profound sense of kinship, one who’d shared the same era and memories.
And “brother.”
How many in all the world would call his own lord “brother”?
A chill ran through him!
Goosebumps prickled across his skin.
It felt like a bolt of lightning had struck his crown, the shock surging through his limbs in an instant, overwhelming.
“Second House Lord?”
The words slipped out unbidden, startling even himself.
Shocked as he was, he couldn’t withstand the torrent of truth crashing over him like a flood.
“Second House Lord...”
Murong Bi smiled faintly.
“Been far too long since anyone called me that instead of just Alliance Leader. When Brother would occasionally refer to me as the second house head, I thought it was all in jest.”
“......!!”
“You’ve still seen me as the Second House Lord all this time?”
His vision flashed white.
Old Man Gwak murmured in a daze.
“Are you... really, truly the Second House Lord?”
“Gwak.”
Murong Bi’s face turned sad, though his tone was playfully teasing.
“That first love of yours around age thirty... she might have grandkids by now. Don’t you think?”
No one but his lord and the Second House Lord knew of that.
Unlike his lord’s comforting words, the Second House Lord had teased him relentlessly with wild metaphors. Once, drunk, Old Man Gwak had even grabbed his collar.
The next day, kowtowing in mortal apology, only for the Second House Lord to haul him up, roaring with laughter about nearly getting a black eye and demanding hangover soup as recompense.
The man he’d respected most after his lord.
And now, that very man was peering down at him, borrowing the Young Master’s body.
In that moment, another conversation surfaced.
‘That crystal?’
‘Even so, you can’t call Big Sis so casually, Young Master.’
He recalled his own shock at the Young Master uttering Big Miss’s name so freely.
And the exchange that followed.
‘Brother—no.’
‘Pardon?’
‘G-Grandfather?’
‘You haven’t forgotten. Five days from now marks the memorial for the lord before last.’
The Young Master staggering in shock right after those words.
Why had the Young Master been so stunned? Was it truly that shocking that Grandfather—no, his lord—had passed?
And before that, why had the Young Master mistakenly called Grandfather “brother”?
“......Impossible.”
“......”
“How... how could such a thing happen?”
Murong Bi gazed silently at Old Man Gwak.
His eyes brimmed with generous acceptance for whatever might come, pulsing with fierce resolve like a beating heart.
Old Man Gwak recoiled in astonishment.
‘It’s the Second House Lord!’
At last, he understood the strange kinship and comforting familiarity he’d sensed in the Young Master’s gaze.
If the Young Master was the Second House Lord.
The lord’s own brother, former Martial Alliance Leader, the great hero who’d ended the war with Holy Blood Palace.
The man who, alongside his lord, had lifted the fallen Murong family onto solid ground, claiming the top seat among the Seven Great Houses with monumental feats.
Those eyes made perfect sense now.
To Old Man Gwak, face twisted in turmoil, Murong Bi said,
“This is the Martial Alliance Leader’s safehouse.”
“Pardon?”
“During the thick of the war with Holy Blood Palace, we poured special effort into safehouses in Hubei and Henan. Henan made the perfect hideout, while Hubei was frontline territory, so we paid extra attention.”
“......!”
“They call it the Leader’s safehouse, but really, it’s Murong Cheon’s personal bolt-hole. He ditched all pretense of dignity and went berserk, so even as Grand Marshal, I couldn’t help but fret. Probably paced holes in the floor wondering when the fool would get himself killed.”
Murong Bi glanced around.
“Daeho knew every detail as my closest confidant. Location, entry methods, what lay inside—he had it all down.”
Daeho.
The Young Master’s father, yet spoken of with such effortless naturalness.
Like calling a nephew he’d known for years.
“Why Daeho never came here himself, I can’t say. Must’ve been circumstances. I have my guesses, but nothing certain.”
“......”
“And that’s not all. Why the family’s martial arts fell into such ruin with so little left... why Brother and Daeho’s wife died so young... how my descendants scraped by in hardship... why the main house’s old connections offered no aid despite our state... so much I don’t know.”
“......”
“The more unknowns, the more we have to discuss—you and I.”
Tears streamed from Old Man Gwak’s eyes.
Unstoppable waves of ecstasy and soul-crushing sorrow clashed within him.
How the Second House Lord had entered the Young Master’s body, he didn’t know.
But it was undoubtedly him. No impersonator could know such things, nor replicate that gaze, presence, or way of speaking.
And in the same instant, realization dawned.
That the Young Master was gone.
For the Second House Lord to inhabit his body meant the Young Master no longer existed in this world.
Joy and grief, rapture and despair wrung the old man’s heart like a mad vise.
“Waaaaah!”
Old Man Gwak collapsed forward, pounding the ground as he wailed.
Grief as the worthless servant who’d outlived three generations, overlaid with the joy of the Second House Lord’s return—the very embodiment of the Murong family.
In the peak of his turmoil, Old Man Gwak sobbed until he fainted.
Murong Bi carried the unconscious Old Man Gwak to a bed.