I Saw It With My Own Two Eyes
The atmosphere froze over like a sheet of ice.
Lee Jo, head of the Lee clan, stared at Lee Yeok with eyes sharp enough to cut. For a father seeing his son for the first time in eleven years, his gaze was far too murderous.
The Grand Matriarch barked out, her face set like stone.
"What manner of behavior is this, in front of your own mother!"
Lee Jo let a little of his fury ebb, but the venomous look he fixed on Lee Yeok did not soften one bit.
"Mother, this creature is a stain on our family's name. He ran wild out there as a common thug, and now that he's run out of ways to feed himself, he's come slinking back to play the prodigal heir and bleed us dry."
Lee Jo jabbed a finger at Lee Yeok as he roared.
"Listen well, you wretch. Not a single coin of this family's fortune will you touch, so wake up from that dream. Someone like you should have died in a ditch out there years ago! And now you have the gall to show your face here!"
"Shut your mouth."
The Grand Matriarch's face went white.
"There is nothing you will not say in front of your mother! Is this old woman as good as dead in your eyes?"
Lee Jo wore the expression of a man sorely wronged.
"Mother, how could I ever dare such a thing. I only beg you, stop taking that boy's side."
"Taking his side? Am I simply to stand by and listen while a father says things to his own son that no mouth should speak?"
"Do you know what he's been doing all these years out there, Mother? Thieving! He's been thieving!"
The Grand Matriarch's face hardened. Then her whole body began to tremble with fury.
"You... you already knew where this child was?"
Lee Jo realized his slip. There was no taking it back now, so he chose instead to lay everything bare.
"Five years after he vanished, I had his whereabouts traced. I've kept watch on his movements ever since. This boy is a thief belonging to the infamous Dark Shadow Alliance! The honor of this family cannot be dragged through the mud on account of one gutter eel. He should be put to death and made an example of!"
"You monster...! There is nothing you will not say before your mother! Even a mere beast treasures its own young. How can you wear the face of a man and...!"
"The boy's fingers were never honest, even as a child. Now that he's grown, rather than maturing he's only strayed further and further off the path. If I told you everything he's been up to out there, Mother, even you would understand why I say this!"
"Hey, old man."
Lee Yeok spoke in a voice cold enough to frost glass.
"That's enough. I only came to see my grandmother. The family fortune, the power, none of it has anything to do with me. Don't get the wrong idea. Do you think everyone is like you, choking themselves on pocket change?"
Lee Jo faltered for a moment, then his rage came surging back.
"You lawless brat. Is that how a son addresses his father?"
"And you? Is that how a father addresses his son?"
BANG!
Lee Jo took a step forward and let his aura blaze out.
"Disloyal, unfilial, without honor! I am the one who let you loose upon this world, and I will pay for that sin with my own hands. I will take your life myself!"
"Stand down!"
The Grand Matriarch stepped forward in turn, drawing up every ounce of qi in her body. In an instant, an overwhelming pressure descended upon Lee Jo. When she spoke, her voice was as cold as a frozen lake.
"Would you truly put on such a disgrace before your own mother?"
Lee Jo hesitated, then swallowed hard and drew back his killing intent. But the words he spat at Lee Yeok, who still watched him with icy eyes, were pure poison.
"Get out! And go die out there! Never come back to sully this family again!"
"Much obliged for the kind words."
Lee Yeok drawled.
"I'll be dying soon enough, but you—do live long and prosper. Enough for both of us."
"That's enough now, child."
The Grand Matriarch stopped Lee Yeok, and Lee Jo turned and stalked out, his face still twisted with fury.
Only then did the tension leave her. She gripped the back of a chair and managed, at last, to catch her breath.
Lee Yeok rushed over, eased her gently down into her seat, and patted her back.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, Grandmother."
The Grand Matriarch took his wrist and sighed.
"Child, do not let this quarrel with your father go any further. This old woman will smooth things over between you, so..."
"It's far too late for that."
"However hateful a parent may be, the bond of blood cannot be severed. Whatever anyone says, you are this family's second son. Don't you worry."
Lee Yeok could only give a bitter smile.
The Grand Matriarch sighed once more.
"Still, he is your father. However much a father curses you, how can a son answer him like that? This is impiety against Heaven itself. What would people say if they heard of it?"
Lee Yeok said nothing. It wasn't that he had no words—he simply had no wish to wound his grandmother's heart any further.
She asked again.
"Did you truly steal?"
Lee Yeok answered calmly.
"When I was six, everyone decided I was a thief. So I resolved to become a real one. People will still say, 'See? A thief all along.'"
The Grand Matriarch looked at him with an expression tangled up in regret and heartache.
"The one who took me in was Noh Bi-do, a thief. But so what? My father, the head of a great house, tried to kill me—while that thief, who lives under the weight of a foul name, raised me and cared for me for more than ten years."
The Grand Matriarch frowned.
"Cut all ties with that man. I will open the road ahead for you myself. To start, I'll give you a few shops, so you need never worry about feeding yourself again. And if you wish to enter one of the sects, I'll speak to your elder brother directly..."
Lee Yeok did not answer.
"Why must you be so stubborn! You are still young. It isn't too late even now, so pull yourself together. You must never make that kind of mistake again. Are you planning to live as a lowly thief your whole life? From now on, you must live as an upright man."
Lee Yeok only kept his mouth shut, stubborn as stone.
"Do you still carry that day in your heart?"
"It isn't a grudge I hold. I feel nothing at all, really. I simply learned that no one would believe me, no matter what I said. Even my own parents. If no one had held them back, I might have been beaten to death that day."
After a long silence, the Grand Matriarch finally asked.
"...What exactly happened that day? No one in the family seems to know—not even your father."
"Explaining it now would be useless."
"But the item was never found, was it? It must still be somewhere..."
"It can never be found again. Someone already took it."
The Grand Matriarch's eyes went wide.
"You knew all along?"
"Yes. How could I not?"
Lee Yeok paused for a long moment before he spoke.
"...Because I saw it, clear as day, with my own two eyes."
That day, Lee Yeok had learned many things—and for them, he had been saddled with a monstrous false charge.
