Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: 12. The Disappearance of Mu and Jun (2)
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Namgung Mu met Namgung Jun when they were thirteen.
The space allowed to Namgung Mu in the Namgung family estate was the back room where he lived with his mother, who was a servant of the family.
And the kitchen, about it.
“Mom, why is my name Mu? I like radishes. I want Mu that you eat.”
“Your name ‘Mu’ was given directly by the family head.”
“Does the family head like Mu?”
“No. Your name ‘Mu’ uses the character for nothing(無).”
“It’s not the radish you eat, huh. But why nothing? I’m right here.”
“Nothing child, thus Mu(無). Become nothing, thus Mu(無). Know nothing, thus Mu(無). Just because you were born in the Namgung family and named Namgung Mu.”
All he remembered from that time was his mother’s deeply saddened eyes.
“Mu, you must live up to your name.”
Even at a young age, Namgung Mu knew those words weren’t meant in a good way.
Namgung Mu tried to live up to his mother’s words.
Not being filial, not dreaming, not studying—it turned out to be surprisingly hard.
But since he was still a kid who loved playing, it wasn’t too tough.
He met Namgung Jun while he was in the middle of playing.
While searching for his soccer ball, Namgung Mu climbed over the wall and came face-to-face with a boy who looked exactly like him.
The boy introduced himself as Namgung Jun without showing any surprise at seeing Namgung Mu.
“Namgung Jun? What kind of Jun are you?”
“What do you mean, what kind?”
“I’m the nothing Mu.”
“Oh... I’m the lofty Jun.”
It really was strange.
A boy who looked exactly like him.
One nothing, the other lofty.
Namgung Jun stared at Namgung Mu for a moment and said,
“You’re not.”
“Huh?”
“I’m the older brother.”
“How old are you?”
“...Same age. But I’m the older brother.”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Birthday’s... the same.”
“Wow, that’s amazing! But why are you the older brother?”
“......”
Namgung Jun fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
“You... can’t stay here.”
“You’re chasing me away just because I won’t call you brother?”
“No. Mom will be here soon.”
“I want to stay longer.”
“No.”
“I’ll call you brother. Let me stay longer, brother.”
“...Still no.”
Namgung Jun let Namgung Mu use his shoulder to climb back over the wall and said,
“Come again tomorrow. An hour earlier than today.”
He added, as if pleading,
“No one can know that you and I met.”
He could have asked why, but.
Namgung Mu was just happy he could come back tomorrow and nodded right away.
Thinking back now, it really, really was strange.
They were thirteen, born the same day at the same age.
Yet Namgung Jun seemed to have an old soul.
The two met secretly every day after that to play.
Namgung Mu gradually learned more about Namgung Jun.
They were twin brothers, but on paper, cousins.
Namgung Jun was the child of the family head.
He himself had been adopted as the child of a servant.
They didn’t know who their real parents were.
Just rumors that they were illegitimate children of someone with the Namgung name.
Namgung Mu liked his twin brother.
His brother was polite to adults, wanted to become an idol instead of inheriting the family head position, and worked hard at everything.
So when his brother defied the family and joined Kichi Entertainment, Namgung Mu alone cheered him on.
But his mother thought Namgung Mu was supporting him for other reasons.
“Even if Young Master Jun disappears, that position won’t become yours.”
It was unfair.
Namgung Mu had never once coveted his brother’s position.
He had no position to begin with.
His brother’s was up high.
That late dawn, Namgung Mu left home.
That night, his mother was awake but didn’t stop him.
Namgung Mu, leaving home, headed to Kichi without thinking.
He just wanted to see Namgung Jun; no particular purpose.
No one stopped Namgung Mu as he entered the company building.
Some even greeted him warmly.
They must have mistaken him for Namgung Jun.
Those eyes full of trust.
The friendliness in every word.
Only then did Namgung Mu understand what Namgung Jun’s life was like.
And why they thought he threatened Namgung Jun’s position.
* * *
The Heavenly Demon shook his head after hearing Namgung Mu’s story.
“A clichéd tale.”
I couldn’t hide my shocked expression and snapped back to my senses.
“What do you mean clichéd? It’s 2022 now.”
This is confusing.
Jun definitely had no little brother.
I hadn’t known Jun was adopted either.
And above all.
“The Namgung Clan family head... that’s just a concept, right?”
The existence called the family head in Namgung Mu’s story bothered me too much.
But Namgung Mu widened his eyes and made an ominous face.
An ominous face like the one Shin Tae-ul had right before revealing that Gu Pa Il Bang’s choreography was actually an inner power technique.
Namgung Mu asked ominously,
“You didn’t know?”
“I get scared just hearing that phrase now. Yeah. What else don’t I know?”
“Our Namgung Clan is truly the lineage of the Imperial Sword Style.”
My head suddenly throbbed fiercely.
“No way that jump rope was real family martial arts too?”
“What? Of course not.”
Good. The jump rope from the righteous-demonic joint training camp fiasco was just a lame joke.
“But it’s true that Brother Jun’s specialty is the Imperial Sword Style.”
“No... so your family is really the Namgung Clan? Like from wuxia novels?”
“Why do you think the CEO is close to Teacher Namgung Ryeo?”
Why is Teacher Namgung Ryeo coming up here?
As I looked at him anxiously, Namgung Mu continued calmly.
“Teacher Namgung Ryeo is my great-aunt and Brother’s mother. She’s the current head of the Namgung Clan.”
“......”
As I sat there dazed for a moment, the Heavenly Demon tilted his head and asked,
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“I was wondering if I’d gone mad from cultivation deviation by now if I’d learned martial arts.”
“You rascal.”
So.
Teacher Namgung Ryeo is involved in this too?
No, she does have the Namgung surname.
But I thought it was just a stage name!
“More than that, great-aunt? If she’s great-aunt, then the relation... her age......”
“I believe Great-Aunt is over seventy this year.”
As far as I knew.
Teacher Namgung Ryeo’s profile says 54.
Even that looks younger, so she’s called the ultimate in self-care.
There’s even a book on her youthful secrets.
Just in case, I asked,
“Rejuvenation...?”
“No way. She’s just naturally youthful.”
I need to order that book right now.
Then Namgung Mu seemed to think for a moment and said,
“Rejuvenation might be something the CEO did.”
“Huh?”
“The CEO is friends with our great-aunt.”
“......”
The CEO looks about forty...
Come to think of it, I don’t know her exact age.
Never cared.
I knew she and Namgung Ryeo were friends.
But I thought they were just business partners transcending age.
“I hope there’s nothing else I don’t know.”
“I didn’t know the Heavenly Demon was the real Heavenly Demon either......”
“Oh ho. Even Namgung Mu didn’t know? Then I, Dang Sa-cheon, was the first to learn the Heavenly Demon’s true identity!”
Dang Sa-cheon never stops spouting nonsense.
But considering he knew beforehand that Namgung Mu was Namgung Jun’s twin brother.
And he wasn’t surprised to hear the Namgung Clan really practices the Imperial Sword Style.
Maybe he knows more than I do.
“Dang Sa-cheon... you’re not some real Tang Clan descendant too, are you?”
At my question, Dang Sa-cheon laughed holding his stomach like it was the funniest joke, then got serious.
“My parents have been running a mala tang restaurant in Daehakro for ten years. I’m the first-generation Tang Clan head.”
“I see.”
Parents run a restaurant.
And yet this Dang Sa-cheon put laxatives in people food?
As I subtly put distance between me and Dang Sa-cheon, the Heavenly Demon took interest.
A mala tang place—he wouldn’t just let it pass.
“Running a mala tang restaurant?”
When the Heavenly Demon addressed him, Dang Sa-cheon bowed humbly as if honored and answered modestly.
“Yes. Anyang Mala Tang. It’s a bit famous.”
“What?!”
“Anyang Mala Tang?!”
The Heavenly Demon and I simultaneously jumped in shock, staring at Dang Sa-cheon.
Dang Sa-cheon looked puzzled, wondering if he’d said something that shocking.
The Heavenly Demon crossed his arms while sitting in midair and sighed.
“Hah... I thought you were a nobody, but you’ve been hiding an incredible backer.”
“Me??”
“To keep it secret until now... quite the schemer.”
“It’s just a mala tang shop? You’re more shocked than by Namgung Jun being from the Namgung Clan??”
...Honestly, I was more shocked that Dang Sa-cheon’s parents run Anyang Mala Tang than the Namgung Clan being real.
Thanks to that, I could look at Namgung Mu relatively calmly—Dang Sa-cheon was helpful for once.
“But what do you mean Jun went missing?”
Namgung Mu said he wanted us to find his missing brother.
That means Namgung Mu had been impersonating Namgung Jun without knowing where he was.
“First off, when did Jun go missing?”
“That’s......”
Namgung Mu hesitated, unable to answer right away.
“It was the day I secretly came to play at the dorm......”
“When was that?”
“...About a week after Brother debuted with Gu Pa Il Bang.”
“What?”
So only the first week after debut was the real Namgung Jun, and the rest was Namgung Mu?
“You... why......”
“Why didn’t you tell us honestly that your brother disappeared?”
He knew what I was going to ask.
That meant Namgung Mu had thought long and hard about the answer.
I waited for what came next.
Namgung Mu said, his hands trembling faintly.
“Because I was too scared......”
“Scared?”
“You said something weird happened at Kichi earlier.”
Yeah.
Namgung Mu’s expression had been odd then.
Like he’d heard exactly what he wanted.
“That day, it was Brother who called me to the dorm. He said since he was alone, let’s watch fireworks together. It was the night of the Han River festival. I’d snuck into the company building pretending to be him many times before, so I slipped into the dorm. Having the same face made it easy. I thought I’d just sleep one night and leave. But......”
As if recalling that day, Namgung Mu’s face paled.
“The next morning, Brother was gone. At first, I thought he’d just stepped out. But what was really, really weird......”
Now Namgung Mu’s trembling was obvious to anyone.
In a voice barely above a whisper, Namgung Mu said,
“The pajamas Brother was wearing... they were left there in the exact shape as if he’d been lying there......”
I looked at the Heavenly Demon with a stiff face.
The Heavenly Demon was looking back at me.
We were probably both thinking the same thing.
Yeah.
Missing body.