Chapter 99: Cleaning Up-3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 99: Cleaning Up-3
"I went directly to the Clan Head to deliver the news of Young Master Tang’s passing, along with the fact that there was a traitor within the clan."
Sun-woo continued, wiping away the tears that had reddened his eyes.
"The Clan Head was incensed. He initiated an operation to root out the traitor, but it was to no avail. They left no trail to follow."
Sun-woo spoke with a look of profound regret.
"And so, he asked me to disguise myself as Tang Se-gi. He feared that if the news of Tang Se-gi’s death became public, it would throw the clan into chaos—chaos that would provide the perfect opening for the traitors. Since I happened to be skilled in the art of disguise, I began posing as the Young Master to lay the groundwork for exposing the turncoats."
The Great Matriarch’s expression became incredibly complex as she listened.
In the end, the man she had shared an intimate connection with—the man she thought was her son—was revealed by his own lips to be Jang Sun-woo.
"However, catching the Demonic Cult’s spies remained difficult, and we reached an impasse. It was then that the Clan Head devised a plan. He suggested that if we couldn't find them, we should force them to reveal themselves."
Both the Great Matriarch and Geum Jeok-hwa, the Third Madam, looked at him in shock.
"Could that plan have been...?"
"Yes. It was the opening of the Godok Hall."
"That’s absurd! How could opening the Godok Hall possibly root out traitors?"
Geum Jeok-hwa interjected, challenging his words.
Wasn't the opening of the Godok Hall a barbaric custom used to purge in-law factions and select a successor? How could such a cruel tradition be used to find spies?
"It may sound like a lie, but it is the truth. Why else would he revive a custom that was abolished centuries ago? It was the Clan Head’s insight, intended to flush out those who had sold their souls to the Demonic Cult. He knew that once the Godok Hall opened and the succession struggle began, the spies would undoubtedly enter the hall to assassinate the candidates for Young Clan Head. Our plan was to turn the tables, trap them, and kill them all."
Sun-woo responded calmly to her rebuttal.
In fact, the Elders and Council members had indeed left the main estate to involve themselves in the succession struggle. While his explanation was logically a stretch, the outcome matched his words perfectly, giving them a high degree of credibility.
"However, there was one thing the Clan Head failed to realize: just how fierce the succession struggle would actually become. Shortly after the candidates entered the Godok Hall, the Elders and Council members of each faction entered as well, desperate to win the competition."
Geum Jeok-hwa’s face turned visibly pale.
She, too, had sent several Elders from her faction into the Godok Hall to assist her son, Tang San.
"Eventually, the factional infighting between the Elders and Council members broke out, and people began to die in droves. I tried to stop them, but as Tang Se-gi—a man with no factional backing—no one would listen to me. In fact, they tried to kill me instead."
Sun-woo continued bitterly, his expression carrying a convincing weight of sorrow.
"And then, he appeared."
"He?" the Great Matriarch asked.
"The Poison Demon."
Upon hearing that name, Geum Jeok-hwa stared blankly into space.
She quickly shook her head as if trying to snap out of it, her mind racing with horrific possibilities. No matter how strong the enemy was, there were dozens of Elders and Council members near the Super-Peak Realm. Surely they couldn't have fallen to a single man?
Gulp.
"Then... what of the Elders and Council members?"
"They were all slaughtered."
The Great Matriarch and Geum Jeok-hwa stared into the void, stunned. Their worst fears had become reality. The core strength of the Tang Clan—the Elders and Council members—had been wiped out by a single absolute master, the Poison Demon.
Their deaths were not a simple matter. It meant the disappearance of the power that protected the Tang Clan. A lack of power meant the clan’s inevitable decline.
Their complexions grew deathly pale.
"Then... what about San-i?"
Geum Jeok-hwa asked Sun-woo with a trembling, anxious voice as the realization hit her.
Sun-woo simply shook his head in silence.
"Ugh... hic... waaaah!"
Seeing his reaction, Geum Jeok-hwa burst into tears. Her only child, her precious son, was dead. How could she not grieve?
"Young Master Jang... then, what of Uk-ah?"
The Great Matriarch asked, clinging to a sliver of hope.
"Everyone except for me perished at the hands of the Poison Demon."
But the answer that came from Sun-woo’s lips was not the one she wanted.
"Sob... hic... uuhuhu..."
The Great Matriarch’s eyes welled up, and soon, large droplets of tears began to fall incessantly. The grief she had been desperately holding back finally exploded. Both women had suddenly become mothers who had lost their children.
A woman who loses her husband is called a widow; a man who loses his wife, a widower; and a child who loses their parents, an orphan.
But there is no word to describe a parent who has lost a child.
Perhaps it is because there is no word capable of expressing such profound agony.
They wept and wailed, submerged in a sorrow so deep it felt as if their very vitals were being torn apart. Sun-woo simply watched them quietly until their crying subsided.
"Oh, Gia... hic... Uk-ah..."
"San-ah... Myung-ah..."
They could do nothing but call out the names of their dead sons through their tears.
*
How much time had passed?
Eventually, the Great Matriarch and Geum Jeok-hwa managed to compose themselves and stopped crying.
However, their eyes were swollen and puffy from the ordeal. Even so, they remained breathtakingly beautiful.
"What happened to my husband?"
The Great Matriarch suddenly asked Sun-woo about the Clan Head’s fate.
"............He and the Poison Demon took each other down."
"...I see."
".........."
Despite hearing of her husband’s death, the Great Matriarch’s reaction was surprisingly calm. Geum Jeok-hwa didn't say much either. Perhaps the overwhelming grief of losing their children had left them drained of all other emotion.
"Why are you going to such lengths to tell us these internal secrets?" the Great Matriarch asked him again.
To be honest, Sun-woo had no obligation to share these details with them. They added nothing to his military strength, and the mistresses of a ruined clan held no real power.
"I will be blunt. I want to rebuild the Tang Clan and grow it into a force that can stop the future movements of the Demonic Cult. Please, help me."
"I am sorry, Young Master Jang, but there is nothing we can do to help. The moment our in-law families realize the Tang Clan has fallen, they will turn their backs on us," Geum Jeok-hwa said gloomily.
She was right. Those families had married their daughters into the clan solely to cling to the prestige of the Tang name. They would likely dance with joy upon hearing of the clan's downfall, eager to scavenge whatever scraps remained.
If they learned the truth, they wouldn't help rebuild; they would be the first to tear the Tang Clan apart.
'Will I be sold off as a concubine to some wealthy old man?'
Geum Jeok-hwa was suddenly overcome with depression. Not only had she lost her husband and children, but the thought of her life ending as some old man’s plaything made her feel utterly wretched.
"No, with your help, the reconstruction is entirely possible," Sun-woo told her with conviction.
"Exactly how do you plan to do that?" the Great Matriarch asked, puzzled.
It was then.
Creak.
The door opened, and someone walked in.
"I will explain the rest, Ladies."
It was Tang Seo-yoon.
"Young Lady?"
"How are you here...?"
"Because I am also an accomplice who assisted Young Master Jang."
At her words, the Great Matriarch and Geum Jeok-hwa were dumbfounded. To be honest, much of Sun-woo’s story had been difficult to accept at face value. They had been listening with a degree of skepticism, but then Tang Seo-yoon appeared.
She was the younger sister of the Clan Head, Tang Jin-cheol, and a master who had reached the exalted Upper Stage of the Super-Peak Realm despite being a woman. Her appearance and endorsement immediately lent credibility to Jang Sun-woo’s claims.
Their doubt turned into certainty in an instant.
Sun-woo cheered inwardly at Seo-yoon’s entrance. She was the finishing blow he had planned. Honestly, his story was a rushed fabrication, full of holes patched together to fit the situation. It sounded plausible at first, but it wouldn't hold up to close scrutiny.
But Tang Seo-yoon’s arrival swept all those suspicions away. It was perfect.
"I have asked for his protection."
"Young Lady, protection? What do you mean?"
Geum Jeok-hwa asked, confused. Protection? What was she talking about? Protection implied someone stepping up to defend and shield another. How could such a young man protect anyone?
"Young Master Jang has reached the Transcendent Realm."
The Great Matriarch and Geum Jeok-hwa were struck with horror. A young man who didn't even look thirty had reached the Transcendent Realm? What kind of nonsense was that?
Though they were merely women secluded from the broader Murim, they still had eyes and ears. They had heard until their ears bled about what kind of level the Transcendent Realm was. It was a realm so high that only the leaders of the Great Nine Sects and One Gang could hope to reach it—and even then, many failed.
To think this young man had reached such a divine state was utterly unbelievable.
"That’s impossible. The Transcendent Realm...?"
Geum Jeok-hwa denied Seo-yoon’s words. It was simply too much to believe that someone so young could achieve such a feat.
"It is the truth. In fact, he single-handedly annihilated a Demonic Cult unit known as the Blood Bow Unit."
Tang Seo-yoon spoke calmly to the skeptical Geum Jeok-hwa. For a woman who didn't practice martial arts, citing specific achievements was more effective.
"The Blood Bow Unit?"
Geum Jeok-hwa was shocked once again. To annihilate a Demonic Cult unit... it was reminiscent of the Clan Head in his youth, who had wiped out the Black Armored Cavalry alone. Since Tang Seo-yoon was saying it herself, it couldn't be a lie.
"Even if he has reached the Transcendent Realm, do you think the Tang bloodline will welcome his protection? He is an outsider," the Great Matriarch remarked pointedly.
This was a valid point. The members of the Tang Clan would sooner choose death than bow to another. Not a single person would be happy about coming under the rule of an outsider.
"True. If he were an outsider, that would be the case. But what if he isn't an outsider?"
Crack, crack-crack.
As soon as Tang Seo-yoon finished speaking, Sun-woo’s skeletal structure began to shift with a series of loud, unsettling noises. His eyes, nose, cheekbones, and jaw moved into new positions. In an instant, the young man vanished, replaced by a sharp-featured middle-aged man.
It was Tang Jin-cheol.
Seeing this, the Great Matriarch and Geum Jeok-hwa finally understood. As long as they could maintain the facade that the Clan Head was alive, the Tang Clan would not collapse helplessly.
"Then, you mean for Young Master Jang to pose as the Clan Head to the outside world, while you, Young Lady, take full control of the clan internally?" Geum Jeok-hwa asked.
She wanted to confirm if he was merely a puppet.
"I intend to hand over full authority of the clan to him."
"That’s out of the question!"
"He is an outsider!"
At Seo-yoon’s words, the Great Matriarch and Geum Jeok-hwa fiercely voiced their opposition. No matter how much of a savior he was, he was strictly an outsider. To hand over full authority to such a person was no different from gifting him the Tang Clan on a silver platter.
"Then do you ladies have any other alternative?"
"............"
"..........."
They fell silent at Seo-yoon’s question. They had no better plan.
"If not for Young Master Jang, the Tang Clan will go beyond Sect Seclusion and face total ruin. Your in-law families won't help; they'll fight over rights and tear the clan apart. The Emei and Qingcheng sects in Sichuan will see this as an opportunity to expand their influence. Every major sect in the Central Plains will try to bring the Tang Clan under their thumb using 'protection' as an excuse. Wake up! The Tang Clan is on the verge of extinction!"
Tang Seo-yoon rebuked them harshly. Now that the walls protecting the clan had crumbled, what was there left to argue about?
"Do you think you'll be safe if the Tang Clan falls? Even if you return to your families, you'll be treated as burdens and grow old in neglect. If you're unlucky, you might even be forced into a new marriage."
Seo-yoon spoke with biting honesty. It was hardly the way one would expect her to treat her sisters-in-law. But she wasn't wrong. If anything, she was being mild.
"Or do you have some other way to win over Young Master Jang? Simply looking like the Clan Head isn't enough. We need someone with the martial power to match that appearance."
The Great Matriarch and Geum Jeok-hwa could say nothing. They had no way to entice Jang Sun-woo, nor anyone to replace him. They realized they had been thinking too naively. It had to be Jang Sun-woo.
"He will act as regent of the Tang Clan until I reach the Transcendent Realm. That is the only way the clan survives."
Tang Seo-yoon spoke with finality, as if there was nothing more to discuss.
"What if he uses that power for his own selfish gain?"
"I will accept that risk."
The answer was immediate.
"I trust him. Far more than I trust your in-law families."
".............."
".............."
The two women fell into a pensive silence.
"What is it we must do?"
"S-Sister!"
The Great Matriarch spoke up, and Geum Jeok-hwa called out to her in a panic. It seemed the Great Matriarch had made her decision.
"It’s simple."
Tang Seo-yoon reached out and grabbed Sun-woo’s arm, dragging him in front of them.
"Make Young Master Jang the true Head of the Tang Clan."
A charming smile spread across Tang Seo-yoon’s lips.