Another Survivor (2)
As the door swung open, the face of the Haeha Guest House owner finally came into view.
Her appearance was truly astonishing.
A refined forehead framed eyes brimming with intelligence, a perfectly straight nose, and full red lips—she possessed every trait of a great beauty.
“……?!”
The moment Hyeon Yucheon laid eyes on her, he froze in shock.
It wasn't because her beauty was extraordinarily rare.
Who the hell...?
That was the reason for his surprise.
She was the owner of the Haeha Guest House and a survivor of the Mangeum Clan massacre.
Yet no matter how hard he stared, he couldn't place her.
“It's only natural you don't recognize me. I was just a young servant girl to Lady Gi Sehui, the lady of the Mangeum Clan.”
“A servant girl?”
Hyeon Yucheon stared blankly before a memory surfaced.
A teenage girl with a pale face who had always stayed by his mother Gi Sehui's side.
“Ah! That girl from back then...!!”
The realization hit him late, and he gawked at her in astonishment.
“Yes, that's right. I was the servant who attended Lady Gi Sehui. My name is Jeong Se-in.”
Hearing her name made the memory sharpen even further.
Gi Sehui had always been frugal, keeping only a few servants, and there had been even fewer young ones, so it came back quickly.
“I can't believe it! You're alive.”
Hyeon Yucheon was so overjoyed that he grabbed her hands without thinking.
They hadn't been close back then, but he felt a profound sense of kinship.
“Yes, thanks to Lady Gi Sehui.”
“What do you mean?”
Hearing that his mother had saved her life, Hyeon Yucheon tilted his head in confusion.
“As you know, young master, this place was once the site of the Mangeum Clan. Especially this underground space—it's unchanged from back then.”
Hyeon Yucheon furrowed his brow at her words.
“It's deep and dark down here, but not so much that enemies couldn't find it...”
In response to his reasonable doubt, she silently gestured with her hand.
At her fingertips was a hidden door.
“Do you know what this is?”
“No. No idea.”
Hyeon Yucheon had never heard a word about it from his parents, so his curiosity only grew.
Creeeak!
Without hesitation, Jeong Se-in pulled the door open. Inside was a cramped space barely big enough for a child, and beyond that, another door.
This one had been specially treated—clearly extraordinary at a glance. Hyeon Yucheon recognized its nature immediately.
“A... a hidden vault?”
That's right.
Incredibly, what Jeong Se-in revealed was the Mangeum Clan's secret vault for their hidden wealth.
It was known only to the clan lord and his wife, even among the underground chambers.
“Exactly. Lady Gi Sehui evacuated her servants and maids here. I was still young and small, so with her consideration, I hid in the space between the vault and this door.”
Jeong Se-in closed her eyes.
Her long, beautiful eyelids trembled faintly.
She was recalling that day's horrors.
Her words rang true.
Gi Sehui, Hyeon Yucheon's mother and the lady of the Mangeum Clan, had always been kind and attentive to those beneath her.
On the day of the clan's annihilation, she had sensed impending disaster and hidden all her cherished servants here.
—Se-in, hide in here. No matter what noises you hear outside, do not come out. Understood?
Even now, closing her eyes brought back Gi Sehui's urgent voice vividly.
In the underground chamber, as countless others were confirmed dead one by one, Jeong Se-in had trembled in terror, clamping her mouth shut with both hands.
In the end, she alone survived by the slimmest of margins.
But that wasn't truly living.
The lady and lord who had cherished her like family, everyone in the Mangeum Clan—they were all gone, and the guilt of being the sole survivor had tormented her endlessly.
Yet Jeong Se-in had to keep going.
After everyone left and she emerged trembling from underground, Yeon Daecheon, leader of the Geumryang Pyoguk, had found her.
Any ordinary person might have gone mad or fled the secular world, but Jeong Se-in was a woman of unyielding resolve.
“No one but me knows this secret vault exists. I needed this land to protect it, and the Geumryang Pyoguk helped greatly. I thought guarding it was the only way a cowardly survivor like me could atone, even a little.”
That was why she had clung to life so tenaciously, even building the Haeha Guest House atop the ruins—to safeguard this secret vault.
Fortunately, she was far sharper and more talented than a typical servant, allowing her to prosper the guest house to this day.
“The vault's special mechanisms wouldn't budge, even for me. I have no idea what's inside... but I believed it was the Mangeum Clan's final legacy.”
“My god...”
Hearing her full story, Hyeon Yucheon trembled without realizing it.
He had thought all the pain and burden since the clan's fall had fallen solely on him.
To learn another had borne it too...
“You've suffered so much.”
Whoosh!
Unable to contain his surging emotions, Hyeon Yucheon pulled her into a tight embrace.
There was no irreverence in the act.
It was simply one human comforting another.
“...No, not at all.”
Thus, the two held each other and wept silently for a long while.
Once the whirlwind of emotions subsided, Jeong Se-in posed a question of her own.
“How did you survive, young master?”
At her query, Hyeon Yucheon pondered where to begin before speaking calmly.
He gave a concise account of events since then.
The invasion by Jonghun of the Hongbulgeom and the Murim Alliance forces, the Seok Family and Murim Alliance behind it all.
His survival thanks to the nameplate from his father.
He even mentioned learning martial arts from an exceptional master.
Of course, he omitted the master's identity as the Demon Sword Ghost Elder Cheon Baeksang.
It was his greatest secret, and something Jeong Se-in didn't need to know.
“Thank goodness. Heaven truly watched over you.”
Listening to his harrowing tale, Jeong Se-in shed tears once more.
If only our lady could see this noble, heroic figure...
To Jeong Se-in, Gi Sehui had been like a mother or elder sister, making her heart ache all the more.
Five years had passed; the late-teen girl had blossomed into a full woman, but Hyeon Yucheon was no less changed.
The snot-nosed ten-year-old had become a fifteen-year-old who could pass for someone in his twenties based on appearance alone.
It was then.
Hummm, huuumm!
Suddenly, something unbelievable happened.
The two were near the vault as Jeong Se-in explained the past, when Hyeon Yucheon's nameplate began vibrating wildly.
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by the sudden reaction, Hyeon Yucheon panicked.
He had worn the nameplate since infancy, but it had never acted like this.
Not even when it blocked Jonghun's strike from the Hongbulgeom.
And then.
Fwaaah!
The ruby nameplate glowed with a brilliant crimson light.
“Could it be?!”
Sensing something, Jeong Se-in took Hyeon Yucheon's hand holding the nameplate as if entranced and led him forward.
She signaled for him to hold it against the vault door.
I get it now!
By this point, Hyeon Yucheon caught on too.
In his childhood, Mangeum Clan lord Man Jungho had given it to him with solemn instructions.
—No matter what happens, never discard this nameplate. It's your treasure, no different from our family's heirloom.
Back then, with rubies everywhere in the clan, he hadn't understood why it was so precious.
But today, he finally did.
Shff!
As he pressed it to the vault, sure enough—
Clank!
The rare vault door, sealed with mechanisms that even a super peak expert couldn't breach, swung wide open.
“……!!”
“Oh my god!”
Stunned by the sight, the two locked eyes and let out silent screams.
For Jeong Se-in, who had desperately tried to open it herself, it was beyond shocking.
There was yet another reason for their amazement.
Shwaaaah!
The door was small and narrow, but the interior was vast.
Incredibly, the visible vault was merely the tip of the iceberg. From the fully opened door poured a golden radiance like sunlight itself.
“Y-Young master! Look at all those gold coins and ingots!”
Jeong Se-in's hands shook uncontrollably.
After her great trauma, she had vanished from Hubei's merchant circles, showing iron will.
Yet now, even she could barely stand from the shock.
And it was well-deserved. Stepping through the vault door revealed an even more staggering sight.
“I see. Father... he hid a third of our wealth here, preparing for the worst.”
Hyeon Yucheon now understood everything.
He was spot on.
Man Jungho, ever cautious, had stashed a portion of the fortune in this unknown secret vault for crises and the future.
By giving the ruby nameplate—the vault's key—to his son, he had prepared for this very moment.
Father!
Feeling his father's warmth across time and space, Hyeon Yucheon shed another silent tear.
After the wave of passion passed and he composed himself, Hyeon Yucheon examined the vault's treasures once more.
“Gold ingots and gold notes, rare jewels, silks—it's everything imaginable.”
Jeong Se-in was dizzy with disbelief.
She had handled plenty of gold running the Haeha Guest House, but this was on another level.
An ocean of gold, enough to fund a mid-sized merchant guild.
Yet Hyeon Yucheon showed no greed or avarice before this fortune. He simply shook his head.
“I won't squander this legacy from Father. I'll use it only when absolutely necessary later.”
Resolve burned in his eyes.
I can't waste this recklessly.
It was capital for his future revenge against the Seok Family and Murim Alliance.
“I agree. This vault and land hold the blood and souls of our Mangeum Clan family.”
Jeong Se-in nodded in full accord.
She went even further.
“Until you need to draw from it, young master... I'll stake my life to guard this place again.”
Hyeon Yucheon's greatest gain today wasn't the immense gold or endless treasures.
It was meeting another survivor with talent and loyalty: Jeong Se-in.
Their encounter would forge a mighty alliance in the days to come.