Chapter 47
Chapter 47
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: The Myriad Poisons Clan's Prodigy
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The young girl who locked eyes with Shin Yu-hyun spat out the chocolate cake she was eating.
- Ah, that was tiramisu cake. And it's expensive too.
Dia's lament echoed in Shin Yu-hyun's mind as he watched the scene.
Who would've thought someone was using a stealth skill to secretly munch on cake?
'Let's just pretend I didn't see it.'
Not wanting to get tangled up in something that might give him a headache, Shin Yu-hyun turned his head away.
But then, the girl's gaze bored painfully into the back of his head.
He tried his best to ignore it and headed toward the front of the party hall.
At that moment, the girl sitting at the table suddenly jumped to her feet and rushed toward him at startling speed.
"Oppa."
Shin Yu-hyun turned around at the sound of the girl grabbing his clothes and calling out to him.
He had noticed her approaching, but not wanting to cause a scene in the party hall, he let her catch him without resistance.
"Did you see me?"
She looked about mid-teens now.
The cute girl clutched his clothes, staring up at him with sharply narrowed eyes.
"See what?"
"Me eating the cake. You saw me spit it out, right?"
"No. I didn't see anything."
Shin Yu-hyun denied it immediately.
"Then how did you know I was here? None of my sisters or oppas even noticed."
The girl looked at him with eyes full of wonder. In truth, less than half the people at the party had even caught on to her presence.
'This girl...'
Seeing her up close and hearing her speak, Shin Yu-hyun's face showed surprise.
Her face looked familiar.
"Choi Yu-ri of the Myriad Poisons Clan?"
"Huh? Oppa, you know me?"
Choi Yu-ri blinked in shock at his mutter, her eyes going wide as she asked back.
"I've heard the rumors."
The genius girl of the Myriad Poisons Clan.
From a young age, she had excelled in poisons and stealth, earning praise as the most talented among the clan's direct descendants.
And she was known as the granddaughter whom Myriad Poison King Choi Dae-hyun doted on the most.
"That's weird. You couldn't know who I am just from rumors. So, who are you really, oppa?"
Choi Yu-ri eyed him with a mix of suspicion and curiosity.
Even within the Myriad Poisons Clan, only a handful could detect her stealth techniques.
Yet not only had he spotted her stealth, but he even knew who she was.
"I'm from the Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan. Name's Shin Yu-hyun."
"Huh? The Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan?"
His unexpected answer made Choi Yu-ri's face light up with shock. She looked even more incredulous.
"And Shin Yu-hyun... wait, that Shin Yu-hyun?"
Information about Shin Yu-hyun from the Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan wasn't widely known.
The clan's reputation was at stake.
What would people say if a direct descendant of one of the Four Great Noble Families was known as an incompetent who couldn't even open his ki core?
They'd say nothing good, that's for sure.
So it wasn't generally public knowledge—only a few high-ranking insiders had heard whispers.
And as a member of the Myriad Poisons Clan, one of the Four Great Noble Families, Choi Yu-ri had caught wind of the rumors about Shin Yu-hyun.
That he was the weakest direct descendant, a total ordinary guy.
'And he spotted my stealth? What kind of nonsense is this?'
"You're messing with me, right, oppa?"
"Nope. It's exactly what you're thinking."
"What does that even mean? If you're that guy, how could you detect my stealth? Everyone says you have no abilities."
"That was true back then. Not anymore."
"Wait, what? 'Not anymore'? What are you talking about...?"
"Then take a look at this."
Shin Yu-hyun held up the invitation from the Namdu Group right in front of Choi Yu-ri's eyes.
His name was clearly printed on it.
"Whoa, no way."
After confirming the invitation, Choi Yu-ri was left speechless, her face frozen in astonishment.
She finally believed that the guy in front of her was indeed Shin Yu-hyun of the Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan.
"You were chowing down on that cake pretty good earlier, though. Hope it didn't go down the wrong way."
"Why are you suddenly talking about the cake? More importantly, why does the Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan spread lies saying you have no abilities...?"
"Want to try this one?"
Shin Yu-hyun picked up a slice of cake from a nearby table and popped it into Choi Yu-ri's mouth.
"Hey, what are you doing? This is... nom nom. Important... nom nom."
Choi Yu-ri had been chattering away at him, but the moment cake hit her mouth, her face lit up with bliss.
'She really does love chocolate cake, huh.'
Shin Yu-hyun watched her munch on it like a squirrel, finding her utterly adorable.
He knew a few things about her.
She had been famous in his previous life.
'The only human who poisoned a Getia to death.'
Most of humanity hadn't even laid a hand on the Getia before dying, but the Myriad Poisons Clan had managed to take one down with poison—the only one.
Choi Yu-ri had accomplished what even Poison King Choi Dae-hyun couldn't.
Of course, in the process, the entire clan of superhumans and Choi Yu-ri herself had all perished.
'Even Father only managed a fatal wound.'
In fact, it was called fatal, but he should've been dead.
Shin Sung-il, a peak 7-star master at the time, had battled Thorn Duke Amdusias to the death and blown out his heart.
His body had been riddled with thorns, utterly humiliated, but he'd punched a nice hole right through Amdusias's left chest.
Yet Amdusias hadn't died.
'No one knew he had two hearts.'
Incredibly, Amdusias had two hearts. That's how he'd survived.
"So why were you eating alone in the corner like that?"
Shin Yu-hyun changed the subject with a question.
"I don't like drawing attention. With stealth skill on, no one notices."
Choi Yu-ri answered with a grin.
She must've been getting approached by too many people at the party.
She was from one of the Four Great Noble Families, after all.
'To think a girl like this took down one of the Getia.'
Shin Yu-hyun gave a wry smile inwardly.
It would happen in about 7 or 8 years.
The Myriad Poisons Clan would be wiped out, and Choi Yu-ri wouldn't survive.
But.
'Not this time.'
He intended to create a future where the Myriad Poisons Clan didn't get exterminated and Choi Yu-ri lived.
"Oh? Yu-hyun, you're already here."
Just then, a cheerful voice came from behind Shin Yu-hyun.
He turned to see Nam Yeon-ah.
"Unni~."
Choi Yu-ri charged at Nam Yeon-ah with a puppy-like face.
"Yu-ri's here too."
Nam Yeon-ah stroked the head of the girl who jumped into her chest and fed her a piece of chocolate cake.
'She's giving her cake too.'
Nom nom.
Choi Yu-ri munched away with a happy smile.
That's when Shin Yu-hyun spoke up to Nam Yeon-ah.
"How have you been?"
"Good. Nothing much happened."
After returning from the dungeon, things had been hectic for a while. Nam Hyun-cheol, the chairman of Namdu Group, had been extremely worried.
On top of that, not knowing what Nam Min-hyuk might do, she'd mostly holed up in her private lab, only meeting Nam Hyun-cheol occasionally.
'Looks like Nam Min-hyuk hasn't made a move.'
From Nam Yeon-ah's reply, Shin Yu-hyun gathered that Nam Min-hyuk hadn't acted yet.
If he'd sent assassins again, she wouldn't be out here at the party like this.
She'd surely be under protection at the lab or home.
"Grandpa kept nagging me to introduce you."
"The chairman?"
Shin Yu-hyun smiled wryly.
He must dote on his granddaughter Nam Yeon-ah terribly.
"Unni, you know this oppa?"
Having quietly finished the chocolate cake Nam Yeon-ah gave her, Choi Yu-ri looked up and asked.
"Yeah. Remember when I told you I was in danger in a dungeon? He saved me."
"Whoa, seriously?"
Choi Yu-ri stared at Shin Yu-hyun in amazement.
She'd heard Nam Yeon-ah barely escaped an unconfirmed dungeon gate, but not the details.
She never imagined Shin Yu-hyun was the one who rescued her.
"You're nothing like the rumors."
Choi Yu-ri shook her head.
She'd heard the survey team included 4-star hunters, yet only these two survived.
Even if the 4-stars sacrificed themselves for the team, Nam Yeon-ah said she'd gotten help from Shin Yu-hyun.
That meant he had real skills, contrary to the rumors.
Especially since he'd spotted her own stealth.
"Don't believe anything unless it's solid info. It might bite you later."
Shin Yu-hyun advised her seriously.
In his previous life, Choi Yu-ri had once fallen for unreliable info, ambushed a Getia, and gotten trapped instead.
'If she hadn't fallen into that trap, she might've lived.'
Lured by false info from Getia worshippers, she'd fought for her life and managed to poison the Getia.
But the cost was the lives of countless superhumans from the Myriad Poisons Clan and her own.
"Whoa, that's crazy. How do you say the exact same thing as Grandpa?"
Of course, Choi Yu-ri had no way of knowing that. She just looked at Shin Yu-hyun in wonder. "Don't believe anything" was Poison King Choi Dae-hyun's constant mantra.
"Your grandpa must be wise."
"He kinda is."
Choi Yu-ri beamed at the compliment.
Nam Yeon-ah, standing beside them, smiled and spoke up.
"Wait, you two know each other?"
"We just met today. Looks like you're close with Yeon-ah, though."
"Yeah, we see each other often. Artifact stuff."
"Yeon-ah unni tunes my custom artifact weapon herself."
Choi Yu-ri said proudly, smiling at Nam Yeon-ah.
The Myriad Poisons Clan's executives used uniquely shaped poison weapons.
Since they specialized in poisons, they often wielded customized personal artifacts.
Choi Yu-ri herself used a scythe-like weapon with strange chains—not mass-produced.
It was finicky to maintain, so she often had Nam Yeon-ah tune it up.
"Speaking of which, why don't you visit our lab sometime? I could gift you a useful coat, Yu-hyun. We just developed a new model."
"New model coat?"
Choi Yu-ri's eyes sparkled at Nam Yeon-ah's words.
Barrier coats for hunters and superhumans came from various brands.
But the top-tier ones were from Namdu Group, supplied even to the Hunter Association and military.
The Four Great Noble Families used them too—the quality was that good.
The only downside was the price.
So hearing that Nam Yeon-ah's artifact lab had developed a new model? Any superhuman would perk up.
"That's great news."
Shin Yu-hyun looked intrigued too.
The barrier coat from his clan was decent.
But high-grade custom ones had vastly superior performance and extra features.
Especially with top-tier mana stones and high-performance chips boosting defense far beyond standard models.
"It's even better than the ones for the upcoming auction."
Nam Yeon-ah said confidently.
"Now I'm excited."
He'd been planning to buy a custom coat at the auction anyway. Getting something even better as a gift?
"Perfect timing. I had some important business to discuss anyway."
Shin Yu-hyun planned to hand over a sample fragment of the crystal device from the 3-star Arachne Nest dungeon to Nam Yeon-ah.
She and her lab might uncover its principles.
"I-important business?"
"Yes. Ideally, just between us."
He didn't want to spread info about the crystal device if possible—only to her.
And right as Shin Yu-hyun finished speaking.
"Hey, who the hell are you to act all chummy with the young lady?"
A voice full of hostility came from behind him.