Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: Butterfly Effect (4)
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How long had it been since I entrusted the rear to Eon Jeong-ung and my peers and closed my eyes?
"Aigoo. Aigoo."
A wail-like sound drifted in from afar, snapping my eyes open.
"!"
Right away, my master, who was by my bedside, spoke to me.
- Awake now?
'Yes. How long was I out?'
- A full day?
'...Seriously. I slept so deeply even carrying me wouldn't have woken me.'
I felt anew the sheer power of the fatigue brought on by depleted inner energy.
I surveyed my surroundings.
'The master's private quarters in the Yi manor's rear garden.'
Upon closer inspection, the spot where I lay was the very bed where my maternal grandfather rested while recovering.
My peers were sprawled around me.
But their clothes and hair were matted with bloodstains, and Jeong-hyeon was missing, so my brow furrowed unconsciously.
'Hm?'
Wu So-rung lay face-down on one side of the bed.
A bit further, Eon Yong-myeong squatted against a pillar.
At the round table before him, Jegal Seol-ji lay with her face hidden.
Beyond the door, Cheon Jang-ho lay spread-eagled, scratching his belly.
'...What a sight.'
Looking closely, they were all snoring softly—they'd just crashed without washing up.
"Hm? Brother Eon?"
Then Jeong-hyeon, whom I hadn't spotted, appeared through the door, his voice waking the sleepers as he sensed my presence.
Clatter!!!
"Young Master Eon, you're awake?"
Jeong-hyeon must have been standing watch.
"B-Brother!"
"Young Master Yong-un? You're up?!"
"Hey! You're awake?"
The newly awakened bunch—minus Cheon Jang-ho—closed in with teary eyes, unbidden.
But once in front of me, they shot me glares.
"I know I'm in no position to say this to you, brother, and that we're all safe thanks to you. But I have to say this."
Eon Yong-myeong, red even up to his nose, gave permission.
"...What do you want to say?"
"That was too much! Shouldering everything alone like that! Sacrificing yourself! What were the rest of us supposed to do if something went wrong?!"
A barrage poured from the others' mouths too.
After Eon Yong-myeong came Jegal Seol-ji.
"Exactly. Yong-myeong was devastated, Jeong-hyeon was resentful, so I wondered if I even understood you right! Every moment was confusing—was that judgment really correct?! My heart was pure hell!"
Next was Jeong-hyeon.
"I apologize again for what happened then, Lady Jegal."
"Forget it."
For some reason, his apology to Jegal Seol-ji was calm, unlike the passionate pair before.
"Leaving you behind was torment enough, but realizing later I'd forced you to lie was worse. It was my failing as leader, but even great sacrifices require opportunity, and opportunity is..."
Wu So-rung chimed in with "That's right" amid Jeong-hyeon's monologue.
"...That is not the Way."
Cheon Jang-ho spoke as Jeong-hyeon finished.
"If I may speak frankly, they said if you, Jeong-hyeon, Lady Jegal, and Yong-myeong hadn't come back, the rear garden with the guests would have been in danger? In the end, brother here is safe too..."
He offered a differing view from the prior four.
Unable to withstand the glares, he bolted.
"...Ah. Look at me. I'll go report to the professors and family heads that Brother Yong-un is awake!"
I chuckled at the sight.
"You find this funny?!"
Led by Eon Yong-myeong, they grumbled about my laughter.
But I couldn't help it.
For good reason.
Waking in the Yi manor's rear garden proved it was safe.
Jeong-hyeon and the others were unharmed, as I could see.
Recalling Cheon Jang-ho's slip, Professor No Sam and the elders seemed safe too.
'Good.'
Not everything went to plan these past days.
But my people were safe.
That was half the victory.
I first shared my honest relief and apologized for the lie in the ancestral hall.
"Glad you're all safe. Sorry for lying."
It was a necessary lie, but it could hurt, so I apologized.
Instead, they fidgeted uncomfortably.
"...No, we didn't say that to get an apology from you."
"Right. If you apologize, we feel pathetic."
"Y-Yeah."
"Yes. We just wanted you to understand. Please take it back. And your safety is the real relief."
Anyway.
With those I protected safe, I asked about my target.
"So, what happened to that old mad sorcerer, Elder Gyeong?"
Eon Jeong-ung himself, panting as he rushed in with Cheon Jang-ho, answered.
"...We lost the old mad sorcerer."
He waved off the greetings from my surrounding peers and continued.
"Thanks to the soul-binding technique you showed, we closed the gap briefly. But he'd packed the mountainside thick with corpses."
They say people's minds change entering and leaving the bathroom—like how Elder Gyeong's momentum terrified us into just surviving, but now safe, I regretted not killing the mad sorcerer.
"We pushed through, but his trail vanished in the gorge. I halted the chase— he might shake me and target you or the other students here."
Eon Jeong-ung's judgment made sense.
'Elder Gyeong said himself he must take me, so not a bad call.'
I nodded quietly.
"I see."
As Elder Gyeong talk ended,
A sidelined question flew from Eon Jeong-ung's mouth.
"Now, what was that soul-binding technique you used?"
He pressed on.
"...Word is the corpse near the ancestral hall wasn't a corpse soldier—it was the youngest disciple of some Heavenly Demon Divine Cult protector king? Did you take his last breath? No, before that—was he the one who stole the Pearl Eon Family's corpse soldier manual from you? I only found a red bead and iron sword on his body. Did you recover the manual?"
It poured out like machine-gun fire.
Eon Yong-myeong spoke up.
"Father, one question at a time."
Even he, who'd usually say 'We have no right to ask,' was curious today.
No matter.
I'd just tabled it mentally amid other concerns.
I had plenty to say.
For one,
The Eon Family Soul Binding Technique's line had been severed in the last righteous-demonic war.
The manual left in the Pearl Eon Family—what prior Yong-un lost—was the upper volume, holding only inner energy sharing methods.
The lower volume with corpse operation and soul-binding secrets was lost in an earlier righteous-demonic war.
And Gwak Sa-hong, who stole the remaining manual, was dead.
Meaning,
No one could refute or verify if I claimed my black magic was the Pearl Eon Family's lost secret art.
"No need. We get it. All else is right, and the manual..."
"The manual?"
"No time to search Gwak Sa-hong's body, and the secret space below the hall was empty. If not on him, it's gone. Probably never had it—handed it to his master long ago."
"I see. Then that soul-binding was..."
"My own restoration of the Eon Family corpse soldier lineage."
I spouted it shamelessly, without a blink.
But 'my own' restoration wasn't entirely wrong.
Restoration is like that.
'Dinosaurs had feathers then lost them, whatever.'
Anyway, me—a Pearl Eon Family member—controlling corpses revived the corpse soldier lineage. What else?
My peers nodded with "Ah, that explains it."
Eon Yong-myeong especially:
"...As I thought. Should've known when you aced the academy's corpse studies intro."
Meanwhile, Eon Jeong-ung, veins bulging in his neck, continued.
"Since when? Why not tell me sooner it involved the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?!" That way..."
'Since when' was tricky,
But the rest was easy—I'd pondered it even before possession.
"Telling sooner would've endangered the Pearl Eon Family."
But seeing him, it seemed like self-reproach for disowning me.
I added words to stop that.
"I was unsure too. Leaving the family was my choice, including that. No need for father to blame himself."
I wanted him not to self-blame; it mixed truth and sincerity.
"......"
Yet shadows deepened on Eon Jeong-ung's face.
'Father-son stuff this tricky?'
First time playing son—I wouldn't know.
As sweat beaded my forehead,
A lifesaver's presence came from outside.
"Yong-un, it's Uncle Yun-young."
Yi Yun-young—desert vendor, charmer of speechless Colorwood tribesmen into friends in an hour.
Perfect rescue for this mood.
I spoke without delay.
"Come in."
Yi Yun-young, in mourning garb, hurried in.
And infused the room with his vibe.
"You rascal! Know how much your grandfather and I worried?! Eh? Brother-in-law here too?"
"Little brother-in-law has arrived."
"As you see. But why the funeral vibe? Thought you'd be dancing now big bro's up—no funeral here. Dance away; it's just Yong-un, Yong-myeong, and friends. Who'd gossip about Brother-in-law's shoulder shimmy?"
Peers shook heads in unison.
Eon Jeong-ung sighed and spoke.
"It's not that... Hoo. Nothing."
"Feels like something. Anyway, I'm busy—let's call it nothing. Yong-un, help me out."
Uncle Yun-young's urgent summons was simple.
While I slept, the Yi manor shifted from feast to funeral for battle dead.
"Father's acting chief mourner in his state."
In this era's rites, chief mourners wailed and greeted endless guests.
Tae-won Yi manor's visitors were legion.
Even healthy folk risked illness.
"Guards and kin are grateful, elders relieved Elder Mountain Hermit Sage is fine, but father just rose from sickbed—needs moderation. To rest him, we need pretext."
"And that's me?"
"Precisely, the Righteous Martial Academy students. Exhausted little heroes who saved the manor, recovering to pay respects? Chief elder expressing thanks fits propriety, no?"
"Fair enough."
Conversation ended.
"First, my greetings."
Yi Yun-young bowed with clasped hands.
"Yi Yun-young of the Yi family thanks these young heroes for saving our manor, on this occasion."