Chapter 277
Chapter 277
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 277
Chapter Title: Dogs and Wolves (2)
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“So many... guests... a first.”
Baek Mu-gang's eyes sparkled as he looked around.
Oh-jin's party, frozen by his unexpectedly different demeanor, couldn't bring themselves to speak.
Baek Mu-gang of the Heavenly Fist.
Who could have guessed that a member of the Seven Stars, the man who proudly held the first rank among Deneb's twelve Apostles, would be an old man with dementia?
“A pleasure to meet you, sir. My name is Oh-jin.”
After a moment's hesitation.
Oh-jin casually took Baek Mu-gang's snot-stained hand and smiled warmly.
Hehe, Baek Mu-gang let out a silly laugh, smiling with the innocence of a child.
“Call... me... Mukkang.”
“...Mukkang, you say?”
“Yep. That's... my real name. Baek Mu-gang... Deneb gave me that one.”
A name given by Deneb herself.
‘So she made him use the name ‘Baek Mu-gang’ instead of the rather rustic ‘Mukkang’.’
Just like Deneb, always so conscious of what others thought.
‘Then the reason Deneb was so reluctant to talk about the Heavenly Fist Star was…’
Was it because she was too embarrassed to proudly introduce him as her first Apostle?
“Hm? What's wrong?”
“No, it's nothing.”
Seeing Baek Mu-gang's wrinkled mouth curve into a childlike, innocent smile, Oh-jin could somewhat understand how Deneb felt.
“By the way, are you sure it's alright to tell me, a stranger, your real name?”
“Huh? …Ah! R-Right! Deneb told me not to tell anyone!”
Baek Mu-gang broke out in a cold sweat, flustered.
Oh-jin spoke in a gentle tone, as if soothing a crying child.
“I will keep your real name a secret.”
“Th-Thank you.”
Baek Mu-gang's eyes welled up with tears, as if he were deeply moved.
“Oh-jin... good person.”
“……”
How long had it been since someone called him a good person?
Oh-jin looked at Baek Mu-gang with a complicated expression.
“Oh-jin-ah… is this really okay?”
Ha-eun whispered cautiously as she sidled up next to him.
Oh-jin shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
He had never expected Baek Mu-gang to be in this state.
‘Will I even be able to get any proper information out of him like this?’
Still, he couldn't return empty-handed after coming all this way.
“May I ask you a few things about the Magyeong?”
“Yep. Okay. Oh-jin... good person, so I'll tell you.”
Baek Mu-gang turned and entered the small hut.
Oh-jin's party, exchanging silent glances, stepped inside when he told them to come in.
The inside of the hut was much tidier than it looked from the outside.
It felt less like it was well-organized and more like it was barely used at all.
“I'll get... something to drink.”
They sat and waited for a moment before Baek Mu-gang brought out some tea.
It was Pu'er tea, with warm steam rising from it.
“My old lady used to like this tea.”
Baek Mu-gang set down the tea with a faint smile.
Oh-jin bowed his head slightly as he accepted the tea.
*Slurp.*
He took a sip, and the rich, savory aroma filled his nostrils.
Oh-jin set down his teacup and asked.
“Mr. Baek Mu-gang, how many years have you been living here?”
“Hmm. Four years? Five years? Sorry. I don't remember well.”
“Is there a particular reason you're living in the Magyeong?”
“To find... treasure.”
Treasure?
The reason he'd ceased all public activities and was living alone in the Magyeong was because of treasure?
“What kind of treasure?”
“Huh? Treasure is treasure.”
“……”
Baek Mu-gang's eyes widened, his expression asking how Oh-jin couldn't know something so simple.
Oh-jin gave up on asking further and changed the subject.
“Sir. Do you know about the ‘Kings of the Magyeong’?”
“Yep, I know.”
“How many Masu called ‘Kings’ are there in the Magyeong right now?”
“Masu?”
Baek Mu-gang tilted his head.
“They're... not Masu. The Masu are the things in that forest.”
He continued, pointing toward the Sea of Demonic Beasts, the forest Oh-jin's party had spent the last week crossing.
“Here... is the same as Earth.”
He'd heard the same thing from Allen.
“Here... live Beastkin, Dragonkin, and Demonic-kin. Each has one king.”
“So there are three kingdoms?”
“Hmm... it's a bit different.”
Baek Mu-gang slurped his tea and shook his head.
“There are three kingdoms, but... they all belong to the Demonic-kin.”
“...You mean.”
“Demonic-kin... few in number. But strong. They inherited the blood of the Cheonma.”
Cheonma.
Oh-jin's eyes narrowed.
“So you're saying that while there are three kingdoms, the actual rulers are the Demonic-kin?”
“Yep. It used to be different. But there was a big war... more than a hundred years ago.”
*Crack!*
With a sudden noise, the hut's floor broke.
All eyes turned toward the sound.
“Ah… m-my apologies. I misplaced my foot.”
Riak averted his gaze, looking awkward.
Though for ‘misplacing his foot,’ the previously fine wooden floor was utterly shattered.
“It's okay. I don't... use the house much anyway.”
Baek Mu-gang shook his head as if it were no big deal.
“No. Still, it's our fault. We'll fix it before we leave.”
“Hehe. Oh-jin... really is a good person.”
“Then, to continue my questions, is the closest kingdom the ‘Khan’ Kingdom?”
“Yep. The land of the Beastkin.”
Just as he'd heard from Riak.
“I wish to approach its king.”
“There's... no king there.”
“Pardon?”
Didn't he just say each kingdom had a king?
Wondering if his dementia was acting up, Oh-jin frowned slightly at Baek Mu-gang.
“Instead... there's a King's Regent. A wolf from the Black Mane Tribe named Horus.”
“A regent? Then the king is…”
“The King of the Beastkin... must inherit the name ‘Khan.’”
Baek Mu-gang continued his explanation with an innocent smile, like a child chattering about a story he read in a picture book.
“The previous ‘Khan’ went missing in the war, and since then, no Beastkin has inherited the name. So the throne is currently vacant.”
The throne is vacant.
Oh-jin frowned and touched his forehead.
“But the throne's been empty for so long... everyone calls Horus the king.”
“Is that so?”
Then it probably wouldn't matter much.
Whether he was the king or the regent, what was important was his connection to the Cheonma.
“Then is there a way to approach this Horus?”
“I don't... know that.”
Baek Mu-gang shook his head from side to side.
Oh-jin groaned, swallowing a sigh and touching his forehead.
At this point, there was no other way but to infiltrate the kingdom and find out for himself.
‘It won't be easy.’
He could conceal his own presence with the Black Curtain, but it would be difficult for Ha-eun and Isabella.
“You just need... ears and a tail.”
“Pardon?”
Baek Mu-gang patted his head and rear.
Oh-jin stared at Baek Mu-gang in surprise.
“Is that all it takes?”
“Yep. The Beastkin... have almost never met humans. So they don't know.”
That made sense.
Very few Awakened settled down to live in the Magyeong, so it was natural they wouldn't know much about humans.
“So we just need fake ears and a tail?”
Isabella, who had been listening quietly, asked.
“Yep. I have a few. Want to borrow them?”
“Ah, yes. Could you show them to us for a moment?”
“Wait.”
Baek Mu-gang got up and walked over to a closet with his characteristically funny gait.
After rustling around and rummaging through his things, he returned with his arms full of fake ears and tails.
They were model ears and tails with fluffy fur, the kind you'd typically see used for cosplay.
“There's quite a variety.”
“Many kinds... of Beastkin.”
Isabella examined the model ears and tails with interest.
She picked up a pair of floppy, brown ears that looked like a puppy's and put them on her head.
“What do you think, Mr. Oh-jin? Do they suit me?”
Isabella looked back at Oh-jin, her eyes crinkling into a smile.
Oh-jin had never been interested in this sort of thing, but seeing Isabella with puppy ears on, he felt his cheeks grow warm for some reason.
“Ahem. They... they suit you.”
“Oh, I'm so glad.”
Isabella approached Oh-jin with a sultry smile.
Leaning in close, Isabella whispered in Oh-jin's ear in a small voice.
“Woof woof.”
Damn.
Oh-jin's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide.
Seemingly quite pleased with his reaction, Isabella burst out laughing.
“Look at these two, flirting in broad daylight.”
Ha-eun frowned, glaring at Oh-jin and Isabella.
“You should try a pair too, Ha-eun.”
“No thanks. I'm not interested in that stuff.”
“Oh, come on. You have to wear them to go to the kingdom anyway, right? I think cat ears would suit you.”
Rummaging through the models, Isabella picked out a pair of black cat ears and placed them on Ha-eun's head.
“Aish. How embarrassing…”
Despite her words, Ha-eun snuck a glance toward Oh-jin.
Her slightly flushed cheeks seemed utterly lovely.
Oh-jin let out a soft chuckle and shifted his gaze to the ear models.
“So we can just pick any of these and wear them?”
“Black is good.”
“Black?”
“Yep.”
Baek Mu-gang nodded and continued.
“In the Khan Kingdom right now... the Black Mane Tribe is the strongest.”
The Black Mane Tribe.
‘Come to think of it, didn't Riak say he was from the Silver Mane Tribe?’
Oh-jin picked up a pair of silver ear models.
*Thwack.*
Baek Mu-gang grabbed his hand as he picked up the silver ears.
Baek Mu-gang shook his head, his expression grim.
“Silver... no good.”
“Is there a reason?”
“Silver Mane Tribe... is weak.”
So there was some kind of class system among the Beastkin based on fur color.
Oh-jin's gaze shifted to Riak.
Riak was silently staring at the silver ear models in Oh-jin's hand.
“...We'll go with black.”
Oh-jin picked up the black ear models.
“Even with ears and a tail... be careful of your scent. They don't know the human scent well, but... they'll find out if you get too close.”
“Yes, I understand.”
He wasn't worried about that part.
It might be difficult for Isabella and Ha-eun, but Oh-jin had his Black Curtain to completely erase his presence.
‘Still, considering we'll be traveling together, I'll need something to mask our scent as much as possible.’
He could probably make something with Riak's help.
Ha-eun, fiddling with the cat ears on her head, turned to Baek Mu-gang and asked.
“But if all we need are ears and a tail, does that mean Beastkin look almost identical to humans?”
Baek Mu-gang nodded in affirmation.
“Then…”
Ha-eun's gaze turned to Riak.
Riak, a fellow Beastkin, usually maintained his wolf form, and even when he changed shape for battle, it was into the form of a werewolf, completely different from a human.
“Hah.”
Riak let out a low sigh.
“Typically, Beastkin spend most of their time in this form.”
*Crrrack.*
With the gruesome sound of shifting bones, Riak's body began to change.
Not into a werewolf, but into the form of a human.
Soon, Riak had transformed into a handsome middle-aged man with a strong jawline, bronze skin, and solid muscles.
“Uh…?”
Ha-eun's eyes widened like saucers as she stared at Riak.
Riak, now in his human form, scowled.
“What is it.”
“No, it's just. What the.”
Ha-eun cleared her throat and quickly looked away.
“C-Cover yourself up, man.”
“Kugh!”
Riak spun around hastily.
“I-It's just been a while since I took human form, so I made a mistake!”
Riak shouted in a flustered voice as he changed back into his wolf form.
Meanwhile, Ha-eun sidled up to Oh-jin and tapped his thigh.
Ha-eun grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.
“You win?”
Win what?