The New Master of Guro
“...My brother-in-law is alive?”
I frowned at Oh Pilsang's words and asked the question.
For a moment I wondered if the man was simply babbling whatever came to mind to save his own skin, but what he said was far more specific than I'd expected.
“Choi Taemin's unique skill was an Inviolable Sanctuary. If I had to guess...”
His explanation was simple enough.
Awakened ones usually received special abilities as a gift the moment they awakened, and according to him, the ability my brother-in-law had received was quite exceptionally unusual.
The Inviolable Sanctuary, he said, was a power that completely severed a designated space from reality itself — and it was a rare S-rank ability at that.
Oh Pilsang went on and on about just how overpowered an S-rank skill was, but my impression was rather different.
Isn't that just a formation?
Some people went and created formations capable of tearing open dimensions, so a little spatial isolation was nothing more than one of the most basic functions of any formation.
“And how does that have anything to do with my brother-in-law being alive?”
I cut off Oh Pilsang's rambling and asked.
Sweating cold, the man began to explain the reasoning behind his conclusion.
“The Yeouido Gate has been open for ten years, but the monster outflow is absurdly low. A normal gate keeps spitting out monsters until it's completely dissipated — Yeouido doesn't.”
“So?”
“The last place Choi Taemin deployed his Sanctuary was the boss room. He isolated the gate's core — the very heart of it — in its entirety. That's why I believe the Yeouido Gate isn't functioning properly. There's no other explanation for why the monster outflow stopped, and why no break ever occurred.”
I narrowed my eyes and studied Oh Pilsang.
“Even so, something doesn't add up. My brother-in-law wasn't even the last one to enter the gate, was he? Shouldn't someone have gone looking for him by now?”
“That's just it — no one could have. Even setting aside how the early awakened ones with good unique abilities were all wiped out, it makes no sense that the Yeouido dungeon still hasn't been conquered after all this time. Anyone who went in after him probably never even laid eyes on the boss room before crawling back out.”
If what he said was true, then the whole picture did start to fit together.
A gate that had stayed open for ten years without ever producing a break. And on top of that, the accounts of awakened ones who, across multiple conquest attempts, had never even come close to the boss room.
If Oh Pilsang's theory held, it explained all of it.
“Four whole years.”
At my words, Oh Pilsang lifted his head.
“It's been four years since my brother-in-law went in. Can that ability really last that long?”
“...I don't know that either.”
Oh Pilsang answered with surprising honesty.
“But if the Sanctuary had collapsed, the gate's condition would have changed. The monster outflow would have spiked, or a break would have finally happened. The fact that there's been no sign of either means...”
“It means my brother-in-law might still be alive?”
“...At the very least, it means the Sanctuary he created is still holding.”
I looked down at Oh Pilsang in silence.
He was slumped on the floor, peering up at me. Blood was still trickling from his torn ear, and even as he pressed one hand against the wound, he made no effort to hide his desperate will to live.
“...Fine. I'll let you keep your life.”
I said it while looking at Oh Pilsang.
I still had no way of knowing whether his words were truth or lie — but I wanted to believe them.
If my brother-in-law was alive — no, even if I could only recover his body — it felt like the weight on my heart would lighten considerably.
That was why I had decided to spare Oh Pilsang.
“...Thank you.”
A bitter smile crossed my lips at the sight of him saying that while warily watching my face.
Frankly, it was a laughable situation.
The underlings who had carried out his orders had all met their ends, yet Oh Pilsang alone was being spared — it made no sense on the face of it.
But the man had given me information about a brother-in-law who might still be alive, and by my own standards, that placed him firmly on the side of kindness rather than grudge in the ledger of debts owed.
Granted, it's a bit ambiguous.
If not for Oh Pilsang's words, I would never have even thought to search for my brother-in-law.
And my master had always had a habit of saying that a man who does not repay kindness is no man at all.
I felt exactly the same way.
Compared to the man's worthless life, even the tiniest scrap of information about my brother-in-law felt infinitely more valuable to me.
Well, I can always kill him later — after I've confirmed everything.
That said, I had no intention of simply letting Oh Pilsang walk away as he was.
“Now then, shall we settle our accounts?”
“...What accounts?”
I smiled at the blank-faced Oh Pilsang staring at me.
“You built this place with my brother-in-law, didn't you? So that's his share. Then there's everything you stole that my niece and nephew should have received all these years. And didn't you also withhold Seoyeon's wages? The interest on all of that comes to ten thousand percent. In other words — you leave behind everything you've built and crawl out of here empty-handed.”
“Th-that's absurd, there's no basis for—”
“What? You people are free to charge whatever interest you like, but I'm not?”
At my words, Oh Pilsang's mouth fell open.
The Blood Bird Guild might have been the most precious thing in the world to him — but apparently not more precious than his own neck.
Left with no other choice, the man slowly nodded at my words. Whether it was genuine acceptance, or whether he was simply biding his time for another opportunity, I couldn't say — though if I had to hope, I hoped it was the latter.
“Oh, and make sure you take that pervert lying in that room with you. If you could clean this place up on your way out, that'd be nice too.”
With those parting words to Oh Pilsang, I rose from my seat.
Everything the Blood Bird Guild owned was now mine — but I had no intention of lingering.
My niece and nephew would be waiting in my sister's shabby old apartment.
The living room light in unit 401 was still on.
I slipped carefully inside and saw Seoyeon sitting on the sofa. For an instant the sight startled me — she looked so much like my sister — but I forced my voice to stay casual as I spoke to her.
“You're still up?”
“...I couldn't sleep.”
All I could manage in response was an awkward smile.
Unless she was a fool, she'd clearly figured out that I'd been out all night — that she had been waiting up for me.
Honestly, it didn't feel bad.
There was no reason to dislike having family wait up for me.
But I had no idea what I was supposed to say in a moment like this.
So I said this instead:
“It's late. You should be in bed, even if you can't sleep.”
Seoyeon stared at me with an expression that said seriously?, then nodded. Even in that brief exchange, I could tell she was checking whether there was any blood on my clothes.
What a relief.
I hadn't brought a change of clothes, so being careful not to get any of those men's blood on me had turned out to be a stroke of genius.
“...Welcome back.”
Unexpectedly, Seoyeon's lips moved as she watched my face, and those words came out.
Then, as if she didn't like what she'd just said, she scrunched up her face and hurried into her room.
Watching her retreating back, I couldn't help but chuckle.
It made me think — blood really is blood, after all.
“Uncle? You're awake?”
The next morning, the one who woke me was none other than Seojun.
Naturally, a man with thirty years of Murim seasoning like me had been awake since the moment the kid started creeping toward my door — but I played along and pretended otherwise.
“...What time is it?”
“Eight o'clock. Seoyeon told me to wake you up.”
When I followed Seojun out of the room, the living room was filled with the smell of something savory cooking.
Seoyeon, apron strapped on, was hard at work making something. The moment I stepped out, she shot me a quick glance before turning her focus back to the food.
“...Nice. Smells like a home-cooked meal.”
At the words that slipped out of me unbidden, I saw Seoyeon's shoulders flinch ever so slightly.
The table was a humble one. A bowl of bean sprout soup, some grilled sausages, and a slightly burnt rolled omelet — that was everything.
“It's so nice having you home, Uncle. Hehe. Seoyeon's rolled omelet is really tasty.”
“...Shut up, you dummy. Eat it before it gets cold.”
Seoyeon snapped at Seojun, but I could see the tips of his ears going faintly red.
For a moment, Oh Pilsang's words — that my brother-in-law might still be alive — flickered through my mind, but it was far too early to tell the kids anything.
If it turned out to be untrue, it would only tear their wounds open all over again.
I quietly took a spoonful and ate the meal Seoyeon had prepared.
It wasn't anything special, taste-wise. I'd eaten plenty in Murim too, and thanks to my master I'd sampled every mountain delicacy and ocean rarity there was.
And yet, in this food made by my own niece, there was something that touched a longing I'd carried for a long, long time.
“That was delicious.”
When the meal was finished, I said it to Seoyeon.
“...Good.”
Seoyeon said it with a face gone red to the ears.
Maybe it was because she took after me, but the girl really had no talent for finesse.
“You two don't have anything to do today, right?”
“...Why?”
“Nothing! Not a thing, Uncle!”
I chuckled at the wary look on Seoyeon's face and the openly excited one on Seojun's.
Receiving meant giving back — that was the law of Murim. It was time to repay what these kids had given me.
“There's something I want to show you.”
At my words, Seoyeon and Seojun only stared at me with puzzled expressions.
Guro. In front of the Blood Bird Guild's headquarters.
The moment I brought them there, Seoyeon's expression darkened.
It was only natural. This was a place that held no good memories for her.
The guild her father had built had, ever since his disappearance, become the very thing that tormented her and her brother.
“Why on earth did you bring us here?”
Seoyeon said it to my face, making no effort to hide her displeasure.
Seojun, knowing nothing, simply followed his sister's lead, startled, and hid behind her back.
“You'll understand once we go inside.”
I said it to Seoyeon and walked ahead. She stared at my back for a long moment, then slowly began to follow behind me.
Perhaps a small measure of trust in me had taken root after all.
The inside of the guild building was completely empty. Not a single one of the men who had guarded the place until yesterday remained, and — whether Oh Pilsang had taken my words to heart — not a single bloodstain either.
“What is this? Why is nobody here?”
Seoyeon muttered, flustered.
I led her and Seojun up to the guildmaster's office on the fourth floor. The space Oh Pilsang had once occupied.
Inside the frame hanging in that room, two men were smiling.
One was Oh Pilsang. The other was—
“Dad?”
Choi Taemin — Seoyeon and Seojun's father. My brother-in-law.
So in the end, Oh Pilsang had sucked my brother-in-law's positive image dry down to the very last drop.
“Seoyeon.”
“...Huh?”
“This building, and everything inside it — the money, all of it — it all belongs to you and Seojun now.”
Seoyeon spun around at my words, startled.
“What are you talking about?”
“This place was built by your father in the first place. So it's only right that it goes to you two.”
“No, I mean — how did you even—”
“Oh Pilsang handed it over. You don't need the details.”
At my words, Seoyeon's mouth opened, then closed. A tangle of emotions churned across her face — shock, confusion, bitterness, and more that I couldn't begin to read.
“...What about you, Uncle?”
“What about me?”
“Don't you get a share?”
I let out a small laugh at her question.
“I'm not so hard up that I'd lay hands on my niece and nephew's inheritance.”
It was the truth. What I'd brought back from the Blood Cult hadn't even been fully appraised yet, and the things inside it were all so staggeringly valuable I was still fretting over how to dispose of them.
The only inconvenience was having no cash on hand — and that was easily solved by hawking a few gold ingots.
“You two take all of it. Your uncle has plenty.”
“There's no such thing as plenty. You're our family... too, you know.”
At those words, I felt the bridge of my nose sting.
For a moment, an awkward silence settled between Seoyeon and me — but mercifully, the ringing of my phone shattered it.
Nice one, Park Jaehyun.
The caller was none other than Park Jaehyun.
Of course, I could roughly guess the reason for the call. However badly the South Korean government was failing at its job, by now it had surely noticed that the master of Guro had changed hands.
“Hello?”
I answered the phone and said those words to Park Jaehyun.