A Trap for the Snake
“A rat, you say...?”
There was no time to keep listening to her.
Boom!
I threw the door open at once, seized the arm of the person trying to flee, and wrenched it down hard.
“Aaaaaah!”
A woman groaned in agony.
Yu Cheong-ah, seeing her like that, jumped in shock.
“Jeong-hye?!”
Judging by her reaction, the two already knew each other.
Considering the clothes she wore, she was most likely one of the maids in this estate.
“This woman was eavesdropping on our conversation from behind the door.”
“Why would you...?”
At my words, Yu Cheong-ah stared at her in disbelief.
The maid called Jeong-hye lowered her head, trembling violently.
“M-Miss. I-I...”
“Can’t you answer properly? Why were you listening in on us?”
“Eek!”
When Yu Cheong-ah barked at her, the maid let out a shrill cry and shook even harder.
“If you keep your mouth shut to the end, you’ll be severely punished. So answer me properly.”
“Y-Young Master told me to do it!”
Perhaps Yu Cheong-ah’s threat hadn’t sounded empty, because Jeong-hye shouted the answer at the top of her lungs.
Yu Cheong-ah’s expression twisted.
“That man?”
“Y-Yes. He told me to find out what Miss was plotting by bringing in warriors from the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect...”
“How dare he!”
Her shoulders trembled.
It seemed she was too furious to contain her emotions.
Yu Cheong-ah strode over and slapped Jeong-hye across the face.
Smack!
“Aaah!”
“Is no one there?!”
At her shout, servants who must have heard the noise began appearing one by one from the distance.
They looked startled when they saw Jeong-hye with Yu Cheong-ah’s hand tangled in her hair.
“Miss, what has happened?”
“Throw this girl into a cell. Give her only enough water and food to keep her alive, and don’t let her out until I give the order.”
“Y-Yes, Miss.”
Faced with Yu Cheong-ah in her rage, the servants didn’t even dare ask why. They simply took Jeong-hye away and disappeared.
Letting out a long, deep sigh, Yu Cheong-ah bowed her head toward us, who had been watching the whole scene.
“I’m truly sorry. I showed such an embarrassing side of myself in front of my guests.”
“No. But could you explain what’s going on? This may have something to do with the threats.”
“I don’t think so. This is my idiot brother’s doing.”
Grinding her teeth, she spat out the complaint.
“His name is Yu Seon-woo, and he’s a pathetic man. Ever since childhood, instead of seriously studying medicine as the eldest grandson, he’s wasted every day drinking and gambling.”
“It sounds like the relationship between the siblings is poor.”
“Poor? It’s beyond that. He’s the one who envies me unilaterally. Ever since I inherited Grandfather’s medical arts and learned the formula for the Medicine King Divine Pill in his place, he’s practically hated me.”
“...”
“And this must be another attempt to interfere with what I’m doing. He probably sent Jeong-hye to spy on me. Honestly, when is he ever going to grow up...?”
“You said his name was Yu Seon-woo. Is it possible this was his doing?”
“You mean the threats this time?”
It seemed that possibility hadn’t occurred to her, because Yu Cheong-ah’s eyes widened into circles.
After thinking for a moment, she shook her head.
“No, that can’t be it. This matter is too serious. If he were caught, he could be thrown out of the family, and he doesn’t have the nerve for something like that.”
“Hmm. I see.”
I nodded mildly.
But inwardly, I was thinking something entirely different.
Why?
Because Yu Seon-woo really was the culprit behind this incident.
More precisely, it was a tangled web of factors that all began with him.
Once his younger sister became the family’s successor, Yu Seon-woo, blinded by jealousy, hired a black market group called the Green Snake Sect.
He told them to stop his sister from producing the spiritual medicine.
And behind the scenes, he had planned to pretend he was the one who resolved the crisis so he could earn recognition from the family.
Because he believed that if that happened, he too would be taught the formula for the Medicine King Divine Pill.
But the Green Snake Sect, who accepted the job, had other ideas.
Coveting the Medicine King Divine Pill more than the reward Yu Seon-woo had offered, they turned around and used him instead.
Through Yu Seon-woo, they gathered information on the guards, their deployment, and various other details, then manipulated matters from the shadows and attacked the Shanxi Yoo Family.
The result...
Half a success.
They failed to steal the Medicine King Divine Pill, but the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect warriors sent as guards and Yu Cheong-ah herself suffered grievous injuries.
And when the truth finally came out under later investigation, Yu Seon-woo was beaten half to death by the returning Medicine King and expelled from the family.
Even after something like this, she still doesn’t suspect Yu Seon-woo. So she must still trust him at least a little.
Or perhaps she simply believed he lacked the courage to do such a thing.
Sorry, but either way, she was wrong.
I fell into brief thought.
Even if I try to seize Yu Seon-woo now, there’s no proof he did it. If I act too soon, I could ruin everything instead.
If so, the best course was to protect Yu Cheong-ah while disturbing the original course of events as little as possible.
The truth could be exposed afterward.
There would still be time.
“For now, I think we should resume our discussion.”
With that, I shut the reception room door again.
We spent a long time talking over how the escort would proceed.
And that very same day, the guard assignment began.
In a side chamber of the Shanxi Yoo Family estate, Yu Seon-woo ground his teeth and kicked the wall.
“Goddamn it all!”
Bang!
A footprint was left in the wall, and the shelves around it shook, but Yu Seon-woo didn’t care.
It felt like the only way to vent his fury.
“Yu Cheong-ah. How dare that bitch treat me like I’m nothing?”
He had just heard that Jeong-hye, the maid he had sent, had been caught and punished.
And he took that as a direct insult to himself.
The reason was simple.
Whatever the hidden meaning behind it, Jeong-hye was still someone he had sent.
So Yu Cheong-ah could have just scolded her lightly and let her go.
Instead, she had slapped her and thrown her in a cell.
That was no different from trampling on his pride.
It showed exactly what Yu Cheong-ah thought of him, her elder brother.
“Just because Grandfather favors you, you’ve gotten completely full of yourself!”
He hissed through clenched teeth, still fuming.
Then someone approached and asked,
“What are you going to do, Young Master?”
The one speaking in that cold voice had one finger splinted and wrapped tightly in plain cloth.
Officially, he was one of the patients being treated at the Shanxi Yoo Family estate.
But his true identity was a member of the Green Snake Sect hired by Yu Seon-woo.
He had infiltrated the estate like this to keep in contact with him.
“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”
“From what I hear, the escorts from the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect seem stronger than expected. If you add in the martial artists of the Shanxi Yoo Family, it may be beyond us to handle.”
“You incompetent bastards! Do you know how much I paid you? And now you’re telling me you can’t do it?”
“Easy now. No need to get so angry. It’s not as though there’s no way.”
“What?”
“We’ll attack the Shanxi Yoo Family as planned, disrupt the making of the spiritual medicine, and teach Yu Cheong-ah a lesson. But we’ll need your cooperation.”
“My cooperation?”
When Yu Seon-woo asked with a puzzled tilt of his head, the Green Snake Sect spy grinned.
“Create a distraction on the decisive day.”
“A distraction? How?”
“Simple. In a family of physicians, nothing is treasured more than medicinal ingredients, is it not? Enough that they’re kept under strict watch in the deepest part of the estate.”
“That’s true.”
“Set that place on fire.”
“...!”
As Yu Seon-woo’s expression stiffened, the Green Snake Sect spy spoke in a sly, oily voice.
“If you do that, we’ll try to abduct Yu Cheong-ah.”
The escort mission we were given was exceedingly simple.
While Yu Cheong-ah refined the Medicine King Divine Pill, two people at a time would guard the room she was in.
No one was allowed inside.
The reason given was that the Medicine King’s secret art might otherwise be leaked.
It was a reasonable explanation, so all of us agreed.
“The Medicine King Divine Pill is a secret elixir made from the finest ingredients, and it requires ten full days of careful work. So for the next ten days, I’ll be living inside this room.”
Yu Cheong-ah said she would even handle her meals with fasting pills and sleep inside as well.
There was even a privy installed within the workshop.
We would guard the workshop door, while the Shanxi Yoo Family’s martial artists guarded the building itself.
The security was absolutely thorough.
If I hadn’t known the future, I might have relaxed.
But in the end, it was still breached.
Some disciples of the Green Snake Sect had already infiltrated the place disguised as patients.
And on the decisive day, dozens more would attack from outside.
With the forces currently stationed here, holding them back would have been impossible.
But the situation now was different from back then.
Why?
Because the strength on our side was different.
In the past, in response to the Shanxi Yoo Family’s request to send only a minimum number of people for security reasons, the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect had dispatched only two Peak Realm warriors.
Now there were four escorts.
And among those four, one was a Transcendent Realm expert, while the other three were Peak Realm masters.
If I push myself, I can temporarily bring out strength on the level of the Transcendent Realm as well.
If that was the case, then counting our real combat power as two Transcendent Realm fighters would not be unreasonable.
That would be more than enough to deal with the enemy.
Unless, that is, they had more than two Transcendent Realm experts mixed in among them.
“It’s time to switch, Cheon Hwi.”
“Yes, Brother.”
Several days passed like that.
We carried out the escort mission without any major trouble.
At this rate, it almost felt as though it would all end without incident.
But I knew better.
I knew they would make their move when the Medicine King Divine Pill was nearly complete.
So when the shift came for me and Sagong Cheon to stand guard, I spoke through the door into the room.
“Miss Yu. Do you have a moment?”
There was a brief silence before an answer came back.
“What is it? I believe I asked not to be disturbed while I’m working.”
Her tone was sharp enough that it seemed her nerves were on edge.
Naturally so. A task requiring that much concentration would do that to anyone.
I continued without minding it.
“There hasn’t been any problem with the guard so far, true. But I have a bad feeling. If they mean to strike, I believe it’ll be when the Medicine King Divine Pill is nearly complete.”
“I think so too. That’s why I asked for more guards to be added at that time.”
“But what if those guards are forced to leave their posts?”
“What?”
I spoke in a calm voice, one meant to inspire confidence.
“For example, if a fire broke out where the ingredients are being stored, your family’s martial artists would have no choice but to be sent there to put it out. In that case, the security here would inevitably be weakened.”
“S-Surely something like that won’t happen?”
“I’m only speaking of what might happen. Of course, if nothing happens, that would be best. But there’s no harm in being cautious, is there?”
“That’s true...”
“Then I’d like to station two of our Northern Heavenly Sword Sect warriors over there to keep watch. Would that be acceptable?”
“But if you do that, won’t it put a greater strain on all of you?”
“It’ll only be for the last two days, when the elixir is nearing completion, so there won’t be any real issue with stamina. And one more thing.”
I spoke calmly to her through the door.
“If someone really does appear to set a fire, there’s something I’d like to propose.”
“What is it?”
“Use him to set a trap. More precisely...”
I continued in a chill voice.
“We use that opportunity to wipe them out in one stroke.”