Chapter 138: Hidden Blade-1
Chapter 138: Hidden Blade-1
The meal had ended and everyone was returning to their own rooms.
Suddenly, someone called out to Jegal Seoyul from behind.
"Jegal Sojeo!"
The voice was an unfamiliar one to her after her time at the Seonwoo family estate—it was none other than Seonwoo Jin's voice.
Jegal Seoyul turned around with a puzzled expression and waited for him to approach, thinking.
'What's this? He wouldn't even look at me properly earlier. So he really was just pretending not to be interested?'
Indeed, that seemed to be the case.
Well, how could a young man not be interested in her?
It was only natural.
In that moment, Jegal Seoyul felt her assessment of the man called Seonwoo Jin drop just a little further, while her own self-esteem seemed to rise a notch.
Jegal Seoyul now stopped with a haughty expression and waited to see what he would say.
But what Seonwoo Jin said to her when he approached was entirely different from what she had expected.
He opened his mouth with a grave expression.
"Jegal Sojeo, you must be deeply distressed over Lady Cheongyeon's matter?"
"...Huh? What?"
At the sudden mention of her friend Hae Cheongyeon, Jegal Seoyul blinked with a bewildered expression and asked Seonwoo Jin in return.
Seonwoo Jin, now looking flustered himself, asked again.
"Ah, could it be that you haven't heard the news? That Lady Cheongyeon fell victim to a Blood Cultist..."
"Whaaat?!"
Jegal Seoyul could not help but be horrified.
What on earth did he mean?
Cheongyeon had fallen victim to a Blood Cultist?
After her friend Hae Cheongyeon had left for the frontlines, Jegal Seoyul had received no contact from her at all.
But since she knew that was simply her friend's nature, and because she knew how outstanding her friend's skills were, she had not been worried in the slightest...
And yet, that same Hae Cheongyeon had fallen victim to a Blood Cultist?
Jegal Seoyul shook her head as if she absolutely could not believe it and asked again.
"W-what are you talking about? It's a lie, right? Ch-Cheongyeon, sh-she couldn't possibly..."
But Seonwoo Jin, with a dark expression as if he felt sorry for her, answered with difficulty.
"...So you didn't know. Since a report was submitted to the Alliance, I assumed you would naturally be aware. My apologies."
"No, no. More than that, is Cheongyeon... is she really...?"
Jegal Seoyul was not only stammering from shock—her hands were trembling as well.
But to her, with her expression of utter disbelief, Seonwoo Jin only nodded heavily.
At that, Jegal Seoyul's face went completely blank, as if her soul had left her.
It felt as though the world was crumbling.
Seonwoo Jin let out a deep sigh and explained to her the very same situation that had been reported to the Alliance.
"Huuu, shortly after Lady Cheongyeon entrusted a letter addressed to you, Jegal Sojeo, to Advisor Jegal, she was abducted by a Demonic Head of the Blood Cult. And after that, she never again..."
Jegal Seoyul shook her head with an expression like she was about to cry and asked.
"That's impossible. Impossible... And what do you mean, a letter? What letter are you talking about?"
At her question, Seonwoo Jin asked back with a slightly surprised expression.
"Don't tell me you never received it? When Advisor Jegal came to the frontlines, Lady Cheongyeon entrusted him with a letter to send to you."
"...What? No, Father never mentioned anything like..."
In that moment, several facts tangled together chaotically inside Jegal Seoyul's mind.
- Her friend Hae Cheongyeon had entrusted a letter to Father.
- Yet Father had never delivered Hae Cheongyeon's letter to her.
- And shortly after that, Hae Cheongyeon had been abducted by a Demonic Head of the Blood Cult.
These three facts were combining in Jegal Seoyul's mind into an ominous conclusion.
Moreover, hadn't Jegal Seoyul recently discovered purely by chance that her father felt uncomfortable around Cheongyeon's father, the Sword Saint Hae Un-baek?
'No way...?'
The conclusion that emerged was something she absolutely could not believe, did not want to believe.
So utterly shocked that in a manner unbecoming of a martial artist, Jegal Seoyul felt the strength drain from her legs.
Stagger!
"Sojeo!"
Seonwoo Jin, with a startled face, quickly supported her as she staggered on the verge of collapse.
Jegal Seoyul, her face deathly pale and drained of all color, offered her thanks to Seonwoo Jin.
"Ah, thank you, Gongja."
"Not at all, Sojeo. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
"No, it's just..."
She was unwell.
The suspicion that had surfaced in her mind was making her deeply, terribly unwell.
Didn't she know better than anyone what kind of people the Jegal family members—especially her father—truly were?
But she could not speak of such things to another.
In the thick of her confusion, her eyes grew clouded.
And Seonwoo Jin was sharply observing that very look on her face.
It truly seemed that Jegal Seoyul genuinely considered Hae Cheongyeon a friend.
And the probability was high that she knew nothing of what her father, Jegal Ji-gang, was doing.
'If that's the case...'
Seonwoo Jin was just considering how he might be able to use this fact later on.
Suddenly, an angry voice rang out.
"Third Hyung! What are you doing right now?!"
When he turned his head, he saw the fourth son, Seonwoo Gi, running toward them with his face flushed bright red.
It seemed he had misread the sight of Seonwoo Jin practically holding Jegal Seoyul in his arms.
Only then did the two realize their bodies had been excessively close, and they jumped apart with a start.
And that sight only served to further inflame Seonwoo Gi's suspicions.
Seonwoo Gi, charging up fiercely, shouted again.
"How dare you! Just what were you doing to Jegal Sojeo?!"
Seonwoo Jin hastily waved his palms and pleaded his innocence.
"D-doing something?! No! Jegal Sojeo seemed to be feeling unwell, so I was simply supporting her for a moment!"
Jegal Sojeo was unwell?
At those words, Seonwoo Gi flinched and looked at Jegal Seoyul with a startled expression, asking.
"Are you feeling unwell, Sojeo?!"
Jegal Seoyul, who had now recovered her composure to some degree, shook her head and spoke.
"No. I'm alright now. And thank you for your help earlier, Seonwoo Third Gongja."
"Not at all. It was nothing."
The two of them exchanged words warmly once more.
It had only been a brief moment, but it felt as though some inexplicable bond of understanding had formed between them.
Already eyeing the two of them suspiciously, Seonwoo Gi's eyes twitched with anger as he cut in.
"Sojeo! If you are feeling unwell, I shall support you!"
Seonwoo Gi could not forget the scene from a moment ago, where Seonwoo Jin had been pressed so close against Jegal Seoyul.
And he was envious of it.
He too wanted to somehow do the same.
But now that Jegal Seoyul had regained her composure, there was no way she would allow it.
"No, I'm fine. I can go on my own now. I'll be taking my leave, then."
At her firm refusal, Seonwoo Gi's expression grew pitiful.
A sense of desperation even washed over him—he could not let her walk away like this, not when his eldest brother Seonwoo Sung might steal her away at any moment.
It was in the midst of this.
Suddenly, the figure of Seonwoo Jin caught Seonwoo Gi's eye.
The sight of his third brother smiling like an idiot—a brother who had given him more than enough reasons to beat him to a pulp.
Wearing a tight, bitter smile, Seonwoo Gi asked Jegal Seoyul, who was turning to leave.
"Sojeo, if you are feeling better now, would you perhaps honor us by observing a sparring match between my humble self and my third brother?"
Jegal Seoyul, who had been about to leave, stopped in her tracks.
"...A sparring match?"
Jegal Seoyul was a martial arts maniac.
No, to be precise, she loved contests.
If one were to pick her favorite thing, it was winning a spar; her second favorite was sparring itself; and her third was simply observing a spar.
So if it meant observing a spar from Seonwoo Jin, who had already well and truly piqued her interest, there was no reason to refuse.
On the other hand, Seonwoo Jin put on a horrified expression at his younger brother's sudden suggestion.
"W-what are you talking about, Gi?! You and I, sparring?!"
Seonwoo Gi shot a sharp glare at Seonwoo Jin and spoke.
"You've slimmed down considerably, so now you must face this challenge. Surely you didn't think you could just knock me out cold back then and let it slide, Hyung-nim?"
"Ah, no, that was you one-sidedly...!"
Seonwoo Jin flailed his arms, making it clear he would absolutely not do it, but Seon-wooGi had no reason to listen to him.
He cut off Seonwoo Jin's words and immediately charged in.
"Haaap!"
Seon-wooGi's Jeong Fist, filled with rage, split into four.
This time, Seon-wooGi had no intention of letting his guard down.
Indeed, Seon-wooGi's Gale Thirteen Strikes, having advanced a step from before, came crashing down upon Seonwoo Jin with full force.
Then, in the next moment, all four of those fists pointlessly struck Seonwoo Jin's body with perfect accuracy.
Pubberburbeok!
"Kkeu-eo-eo-eok!"
Having failed to block anything, Seonwoo Jin flew backwards with a cry that sounded like his throat was being ripped out, rolling pathetically on the ground.
At this, it was rather the bewildered Seon-wooGi whose advance halted for a moment.
This attack had been three feints deployed for the sake of a single true strike.
Yet, feint or true, every single one had landed.
It was a hopelessly pathetic level of skill from Seon-wooGi, who had given it his all.
"Aigo! Gi-ya! Your brother is dying! Aigo!"
Screaming, Seon-wooGi looked down with contemptuous eyes at Seonwoo Jin, who was rolling on the ground in a miserable state.
How much humiliation had he suffered since being knocked out by that pig that day?
He had even been forced to endure the murmurs that the shame of the Seon-woo family might actually be Seon-wooGi, not Seonwoo Jin.
And yet...
"This is just ridiculous. To suffer such humiliation because of trash like this!"
His anger unspent, Seon-wooGi kicked Seonwoo Jin, who hadn't even gotten up from the ground.
Pukeok!
"Aigo! Gi-ya!"
A deep disappointment had also settled over the face of Jegal Seoyul, who was watching the scene from the side.
She had kept getting her nerves tugged at by that handsome face and his air of having something to him.
So much so that her heart had even fluttered slightly when he had supported her.
To think that someone like that was actually this kind of trash.
She felt somehow betrayed.
Without needing to see more, Jegal Seoyul decided to simply turn around and leave.
Seon-wooGi's casual brutality against an opponent who couldn't even resist seemed a bit excessive, but she didn't feel like pointing it out.
'Even when he was a pig last time, his defense was at least decent, but now he can't even do that. Did his skills actually get worse after going to the frontline...!'
But as she was walking away with those thoughts, a sense that something was strange crossed Jegal Seoyul's mind.
'Was the frontline such a soft place that someone with such poor skills could survive unscathed and even come out on leave? That frontline, where even Cheongyeon died? And he went to such a frontline, only for his skills to diminish? Even though he lost all that weight?'
Jegal Seoyul abruptly turned back around to observe Seonwoo Jin.
And then, the sight of Seonwoo Jin, curled up and taking a beating, entered her eyes.
No matter how she looked at it, he was getting genuinely beaten up badly.
So badly that, even for a warrior hiding his skills, getting hit like that seemed like it could kill you.
Her mind was falling back into confusion.
But in the end, concluding that agonizing over it was useless, she sighed and decided to stop Seon-wooGi.
Because it looked like Seonwoo Jin would actually die if he continued to take that beating.
She opened her mouth in an icy voice.
"Seon-wooGi Gongja, is it fun to beat on an opponent who can't even resist like that?"
Honestly, Seon-wooGi was having fun.
That was how much the resentment built up over the past few months felt like it was being released all at once.
But the moment he heard Jegal Seoyul's cold voice, he was suddenly snapped back to his senses.
He had shown a side of himself that should not have been seen in front of her.
Startled, Seon-wooGi tried to make excuses to her.
"Ah, So, Sojeo, this is simply..."
But seeing the expression on Jegal Seoyul's face, Seon-wooGi couldn't continue his words.
Because she was looking at him with an expression of contempt she had never once shown him before.
Of course, Jegal Seoyul had always despised him internally.
It was just the first time she had shown it with such a direct expression.
She spoke in a voice that felt cold enough to freeze ice.
"Far from being a righteous martial artist, you don't even seem like a warrior."
Having delivered her cold remark, Jegal Seoyul simply turned her back and began walking away.
At this, Seon-wooGi hurriedly followed, trying to catch hold of her.
"Je, Jegal Sojeo!"
He absolutely could not let her go like this.
But the moment Seon-wooGi tried to follow and grab Jegal Seoyul, she clutched the pommel of her sword and, in an instant, began to emanate the momentum of a peak-level master.
Hwaak!
"Heoeok!"
At that threatening momentum, Seon-wooGi had no choice but to hastily stop in his tracks.
Jegal Seoyul looked at him with a sidelong glance as he froze in place, and said,
"Don't follow me. I might just cut you down."
Seon-wooGi's courage was not great enough to ignore a warning from a peak-level master.
In the end, he could only hang his head deeply and fall into despair.
Afterward, Seon-wooGi glared at Seonwoo Jin for a moment with eyes full of venomous hatred, but fearing that Jegal Seoyul might return, he could do nothing more to him and was forced to leave.
And finally left alone, Seonwoo Jin dusted himself off and got up leisurely, as if nothing had happened.
For Seonwoo Jin, who had trained his external arts to the point of wrestling with demonic humans, enduring a beating from Seon-wooGi was not a particularly difficult task.
Rather, pretending it hurt was harder.
But the worried telepathic transmission of Jeok Ma-hyeok, who could not yet know such a fact, came to his ear.
- Are you all right, Young Master?
Seonwoo Jin smiled wryly and replied.
- No, not all right. It was too ticklish. And my clothes are dirty now, feels gross.
It was meant to be a cheerful way of saying he was sort of fine, but the intent didn't seem to have gotten through to Jeok Ma-hyeok.
He sent another telepathic transmission in a sympathetic voice.
- Did you really need to put up with that from such a lowly bastard, Young Master?
He must have seemed far too pitiful.
Smiling bitterly, he sent another transmission back.
- I had to. Right now, I must be perceived as a completely worthless and weak existence. Keep this in mind. The ones we truly have to deal with are not those pathetic fools, and the more a blade remains hidden, the more lethal it becomes.
Then, a moment later, Jeok Ma-hyeok's reply came.
- ...I will keep it in mind, Young Master.
But Jeok Ma-hyeok, who had seemed to accept this, sent another transmission a moment later.
It was a slightly longer transmission than usual.
- Honestly, I was envious of you, Young Master. I thought you were someone born with everything. But... it seems everyone has their own trials. I only watched for a brief moment, but if I were in your position, Young Master, I have no confidence I could have endured that trial.
It was a voice that sounded somewhat sentimental.
At his telepathic message, Seonwoo Jin gave a soft smile.
Truly, he was a soft-hearted man.
It was to the point of wondering how he had endured the life of an assassin with such a heart.
It was then.
Gyeon-jung, who had been sent to monitor his younger sister Seonwoo Yeon-ha, returned and sent a telepathic transmission.
- Young Master, just as you said, Lady Seonwoo Yeon-ha made contact with a handsome young man. As you instructed, I did not approach closely, but he was a man who felt extremely dangerous.
Seonwoo Jin had been predicting that the Un Clan, which had been entangled in the last confrontation with Jeonghyeopbang, had a high probability of having been devoured by the Blood Cult.
And he had confirmed the accuracy of that prediction from No Sam-ryong, the branch leader of the Hao Gate in Gwiyang.
That was why Seonwoo Jin was paying attention to the youngest, Seonwoo Yeon-ha.
Because her maternal family was the Un Clan, he had predicted that if the Blood Cult tried to extend its hand towards the Seon-woo clan, it would most likely be through her.
And if they were targeting the Seon-woo clan, now that his father Seon-wooJung had effectively declared the eldest, Seon-wooSung, as the successor, there was absolutely no way they would sit still.
Seonwoo Jin grinned and muttered,
"Good, you've shown up at the perfect time."
And he began moving towards the location Gyeon-jung had informed him of.