Save Deungchon (4)
“Today, Young Master, I’ll make this the finest birthday you’ve ever had. Let’s be off!”
As morning broke, Deungchon came out to greet them, having prepared the birthday outing for the day.
A carriage stood ready, arranged in advance by Deungchon and Gong Sang-pil, and behind it were the escort fighters led by Shadowless One Shin Dan-woo.
“Thank you.”
Seok Geum-ryong had been up since dawn dealing with assassins, and though he was tired, he gave no sign of it.
He had already eliminated nearly half of them in advance, so his mind was at ease.
That leaves five. If our carriage gets moving and we stay alert, we should be able to catch them in time.
Seok Geum-ryong’s judgment, informed by his memories of his previous life, was exact.
They went straight to Mount Sohwa and spent a pleasant while admiring the plum blossoms in full bloom.
The difference was that in his previous life, the faction around Seok Geum-ryong had been desolate beyond words. This time, it was different.
“Hahahahaha!”
Laughter rang ceaselessly among the retainers under Seok Geum-ryong’s command.
Servant Deungchon, Butler Gong, and even the escort fighter Shin Dan-woo had grown quite close, regardless of status or rank.
Compared with his previous life, the only addition was Shin Dan-woo, but Seok Geum-ryong did not think of it that way.
Not only has Shadowless One Shin Dan-woo joined me, but my faction’s finances are also in far better shape now.
After his eleventh birthday passed, Seok Geum-ryong intended to use the gold coins he had squeezed out of Seok Myo-hee as seed money and turn them into something substantial.
He would also search out martial artists and talents who were currently underrated or overlooked, then use them to expand the size of his faction.
“Young Master, good scenery, good liquor, and good company. I am truly happy.”
As they spread out in the Mount Sohwa area and the birthday feast turned into a drinking gathering, the servant Deungchon said with emotion.
The people of Seokga Manor might sneer and call them a pitiful little faction, but Deungchon saw it differently.
What master treats a lowly servant like family?
For that alone, Deungchon was already satisfied and moved.
That was why, in his previous life, he had willingly thrown away his life for Seok Geum-ryong.
“It’s all thanks to you, Deungchon.”
Seok Geum-ryong replied lightly, but his resolve was different.
He wanted to protect Deungchon’s happiness.
If assassins were to show themselves openly here, Deungchon would blame himself for having suggested we come out to enjoy ourselves.
So Seok Geum-ryong planned to deal with the assassins trailing them as quietly as possible.
Before long, it was time to eat.
“Right then, we’ll move on to Gangha Inn. I already told the owner and the cook to prepare the food, so we can just go there and eat!”
Deungchon, who had laid out the entire schedule, said with hearty confidence.
At the mention of Gangha Inn, Seok Geum-ryong’s face, which had been relaxed in the middle of enjoying the flowers and his birthday, stiffened slightly.
In the original course of events, the assassins shadowing Seok Geum-ryong’s carriage would join forces with those lying in wait at Gangha Inn, and the catastrophe of his previous life would unfold.
In other words, the moment they arrived at Gangha Inn, they would be hunted.
“Wait. Let’s do it this way.”
Seok Geum-ryong, who had been silent at Deungchon’s suggestion, rose to his feet.
“We’ve gone to the trouble of claiming a good spot and enjoying the plum blossoms. If we move to the inn now, won’t it spoil the mood? Deungchon and Butler Gong, please stay here. I’ll have Muyeongja Shin Dan-woo carry the food back with me.”
“What? You, Young Master, are going to fetch the food yourself? That won’t do. I’d rather go myself... ”
Deungchon flapped his hands in alarm at Seok Geum-ryong’s words, but Seok Geum-ryong would not be dissuaded.
“I’ll be back in no time with Shin Dan-woo. We’ll use lightness skill and make it quick. Since we’re going anyway, I plan to grab some snacks and take a stroll through town after a long while. What’s there to worry about when Master Shin is at my side?”
“Then please do as you wish. We’ll keep the spot for you.”
In the end, Deungchon and Gong Sang-pil accepted the arrangement and remained at the best seat in the Mount Sohwa area, where the plum blossoms could be seen most clearly, while only Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo agreed to go to Gangha Inn and bring back the food.
* * *
It was not long before Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo arrived at Gangha Inn.
“We’ve arrived, Young Master.”
“Then shall we go in?”
The inn had quieted after the lunch rush, and the two stepped inside at once.
The moment they entered the inn.
Flash!
The five remaining assassins of the Blood Kill Gate, who had been secretly trailing behind them, finally revealed themselves.
“Seal the entrance!”
“Come, join up together... ”
They moved exactly as planned.
They were to butcher the innkeepers, join the assassins who had already taken control inside, and block Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo from escaping.
But what was this?
“...!!”
The assassins were struck hard by the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong the instant they entered Gangha Inn.
Unbelievably, once inside, they found all five of their Blood Kill Gate comrades already lying there as cold corpses.
What shocked them even more was that Seok Geum-ryong stood alone in the center of the inn.
“What?”
“What the hell is going on?”
They had clearly seen Seok Geum-ryong moving with the escort fighter Shin Dan-woo, so where had Shin Dan-woo gone?
Clack!
The Muyeongja Shin Dan-woo they were frantically searching for was concealing his presence through his specialty: stealth and lightness skill.
Instead, the moment the assassins came in, he shut the inn’s entrance and cut off their retreat.
The assassins thought they had set the trap, but it was they who had fallen into one.
“The Young Master was exactly right. Five, just as he said.”
Shin Dan-woo drew his longsword with a carefulness that would leave not a single one alive.
The faint killing intent radiating from him was enough to fill even seasoned assassins with terror.
“Right? Since we’re here, let’s capture one alive. I’m curious who wants me dead.”
Even though assassins had suddenly appeared, Seok Geum-ryong, who was only eleven, did not seem surprised at all.
When one prepares, there is no worry.
Because he knew what would happen in advance and had prepared perfectly, he felt no fear.
Instead, it was the assassins who had become the hunted and were trembling in shock.
“W-why are the others dead?”
“Judging by the way the bodies have stiffened... it’s been less than a day!”
Compared with the unnervingly calm Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo, the assassins shook violently.
They had failed missions before, but this was the first time they had been hunted down in reverse like this.
“People of the Blood Kill Gate.”
It was too early to be shocked.
Seok Geum-ryong, who looked like nothing more than a rich boy with a runny nose, drew his Silver Shadow Sword with imposing grace and even identified their faction correctly.
Unlike his appearance, Seok Geum-ryong possessed the nerve and rhetoric to seize and release an enemy’s heart at will.
“If you surrender now and tell me who sent you after me, I will let you live.”
Seok Geum-ryong made the promise sincerely, but...
“Strike!”
“He only has one escort fighter!”
“Now is the perfect chance!”
For a brief moment, the assassins wavered, then failed to recognize Seok Geum-ryong’s true worth and believed that if they eliminated Shin Dan-woo, the matter would be easily solved.
“Hoo, there’s no helping it.”
Seok Geum-ryong raised the Silver Shadow Sword as though he had no choice.
And then came the clash of two against five.
At first glance, five seemed to have the advantage.
Were the two not merely an escort fighter protecting a young boy?
But the direction of the fight twisted completely in the opposite way.
Wave-Ripping Gale!
The assassins rushed at the seemingly easy target, Seok Geum-ryong, but because they had been careless, it was they who lost their heads first.
Crack!
Along with a sound so chilling it raised gooseflesh to the bone, one assassin met his end to Seok Geum-ryong’s Silver Shadow Sword.
“I won’t say it twice. Who sent you after me?”
* * *
One tea-breather.
The time it took Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo to dispose of all five assassins was no more than the time it took to drink a single cup of tea.
Seok Geum-ryong killed two; Shin Dan-woo killed three.
They captured the last surviving assassin and made him confess the mastermind, but...
I, I really don’t know.
All I know is that the order came from Namyeong-won in Seokga Manor.
Unfortunately, even the assassins did not know the exact hand behind it.
In the end, all five had to be eliminated.
“Still, it wasn’t without result. If it’s Namyeong-won, that means the direction where the second young master, the third young master, and the sixth young lady reside.”
Shin Dan-woo, who had more thought than most gave him credit for, analyzed the situation and spoke.
There were four large residences in Seokga Manor, and one of them was Namyeong-won in the south, where several of the siblings lived.
There were three brothers and sisters now under suspicion.
Second and third brothers, and the sixth.
Seok Geum-ryong was the fifth son of Seokga Manor. The second and third were his elder brothers, and the sixth was his younger sister.
Whoever it was, all of them were unexpected, and the revelation was shocking.
“I suppose they really are underestimating me. The fact that they targeted me first says as much.”
Seok Geum-ryong shrugged as if there was nothing to be done.
“When did you realize all this?”
After the assassins had been dealt with, Shin Dan-woo pressed him more directly.
Even he himself had not been certain about the assassins’ approach.
At first it had seemed doubtful, but once they came to a sparsely populated area, he had begun to sense their presence faintly.
“Actually, before we left, I received intelligence from an anonymous informant. They said assassins would be after me today, on my birthday. If someone wants to kill me, it seems someone else wants to save me.”
Seok Geum-ryong gave the excuse he had prepared in advance and convinced Shin Dan-woo.
“I see. Then was the one who came here ahead of time and took care of those assassins also this anonymous person?”
“No. That was me.”
Shin Dan-woo was stunned when he heard that.
“What? You did that alone?”
“Yes.”
By contrast, Seok Geum-ryong remained utterly calm.
“I know it was dangerous. But I needed real combat experience.”
Seok Geum-ryong was right.
He had now reached the Super First-class realm, and his internal energy was on par with a Peak expert, but there was one thing he still lacked.
That was the experience of fighting with his life on the line.
That sort of experience could never be bought, no matter how much money one spent. Only through countless trials could one progress toward the realm of the supreme expert.
“Still...”
“Save the lecture for later. We need to hurry and pick up food from somewhere else. There’s a lot to do.”
Seok Geum-ryong left the astonished Shin Dan-woo behind and added one more thing.
“Ah, and keep this from Deungchon and Butler Gong. I don’t want to scare them.”
In the end, Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo wiped out the assassins without a sound and were able to carry out the rest of the day’s plans flawlessly.
Thanks to their efforts, no one learned that assassins had intruded.
“Young Master, happy eleventh birthday from the bottom of my heart. May you live long and prosper!”
Deungchon, who in the original timeline should have died in Seok Geum-ryong’s place, said those words with a smile so happy it shone from his face.
Coincidentally, those were the exact same words he had left Seok Geum-ryong with in his previous life, just before he had resolved himself to die and driven the carriage.
As expected, I wasn’t wrong.
Seeing Deungchon’s blessing overflowing not with grief but with genuine happiness, Seok Geum-ryong felt satisfied as well.
What remained now was to make his faction even larger and, in time, change the future in which Butler Gong Sang-pil died as well.