Chapter 627
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 627
Chapter Title: How Audacious
"My apologies. I've gone on about myself without even asking your reason for coming."
Wi Ji-gun quickly realized his mistake.
It was because his mind had been tangled up lately from the ancient power suddenly stirring within him.
"So, what brings you to this old man?"
Wi Ji-gun asked again.
At his question, Han Seol-bing recalled the purpose of her visit.
"It's about leave."
"Leave?"
Wi Ji-gun tilted his head.
He hadn't heard anything from Ha Mu-baek.
Back when the Fierce Dragon Corps members were still cadets at the Dragon Training Pavilion, there had been a separate break period.
But they weren't cadets anymore.
They were full-fledged warriors of an elite combat unit.
"It's work we do to put food on the table, so we should have some days off, right? Not just the Fierce Dragon Corps, but all combat units under the Righteous Heaven Alliance have a set leave period."
"Have?"
Wi Ji-gun echoed her words with a subtle nuance.
"The problem is almost no one takes it. Even the corps leader doesn't go on leave..."
"Ah, come to think of it..."
Gwan Ha-kyeong, who had recently visited Sangnam.
She had taken leave as well.
"I must be getting senile. I saw someone go on leave and completely forgot about it. Tsk tsk."
At Wi Ji-gun's lament, Han Seol-bing hurriedly waved her hands.
"No, sir. I should have paid more attention. I apologize."
In truth, it was Ha Mu-baek's fault.
But she couldn't blame his disciple in front of him.
Besides.
One fact came to mind from Wi Ji-gun's lament.
'Gwan Ha-kyeong.'
Come to think of it, it was about time she returned.
Ha Mu-baek had left the Fierce Dragon Corps in a hurry after receiving her letter.
And the news was that things in Sangnam had been resolved well.
Not only that, but word had come that Ha Mu-baek was taking on a new disciple.
He had left under the pretext of a crisis in the corps, but even after it was resolved, the corps leader showed no sign of returning.
The cadets in crisis were now due back soon.
"So, is Vice Corps Leader Han planning to take leave?"
That had to be the reason for suddenly bringing up leave.
She was the one managing the Fierce Dragon Corps while Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek was away.
She would need Wi Ji-gun's help for her to take leave.
"No. I've long since given up on something like leave."
"Hm?"
"It's time to send the kids off. They've been running nonstop."
At Han Seol-bing's response, Wi Ji-gun smiled faintly.
It was the kind of character that explained why Ha Mu-baek kept her by his side.
"Good. The vice corps leader and I will be busier for it... but considering the journey through the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest so far, they deserve leave."
"Gwan Ha-kyeong just left too."
If no one had gone, it might have been different, but since one had, the others would have high expectations too.
"We were going to do it once the corps leader returned, but he's taking longer than expected."
Wi Ji-gun just chuckled at Han Seol-bing's grumbling.
"The vice corps leader knows best, so handle it as you see fit. Tell me if there's anything I can do to help. I'll give it my all."
"Thank you, sir."
She had achieved her goal in visiting Wi Ji-gun.
After Han Seol-bing left.
"Come to think of it, I said I should take Seol-ran to the sea sometime?"
Wi Ji-gun recalled his conversation with Ha Mu-baek.
He had forgotten too, but Han Seol-bing's mention of leave brought it to mind.
"Well, I'll think about it once Mu-baek returns."
After Han Seol-bing returned to the Fierce Dragon Manor, the corps buzzed with energy.
It was because she had announced the leave arrangements.
Dawn was breaking.
Brilliant sunlight tapped at Ha Mu-baek's eyelids, and he slowly opened his eyes.
It had been ages since he'd slept so deeply.
Truly deeply.
Ha Mu-baek sat up on a rock, his gaze turning to Gong Ya Jang-cheon and Gong Ya Ha-rang.
The two were still deep in meditation.
Bathed in the light of the rising sun, they looked almost majestic.
A moment later.
Gong Ya Ha-rang opened her eyes.
Blinking as she looked around, her expression was so pure and beautiful it made one forget her age.
She was well past forty, yet no one would guess it from her appearance.
In truth, her memory of her own age was probably frozen somewhere in her mid-thirties.
After that had come the grueling, desperate war against the Extermination Cult.
"My lady. Congratulations."
The two Blood Thunder Troops members guarding her cupped their fists and called out.
"Ah, thank you."
Blushing at their congratulations, Gong Ya Ha-rang stood up.
Her eyes fell on her brother, sitting cross-legged.
It was hard to believe this was real.
It felt like a dream, so she pinched her arm under her sleeve.
'It hurts. Definitely real.'
She knew it was reality, of course.
But the situation was so dreamlike that she had to pinch herself to confirm.
Her current state was a mess.
Her hair was disheveled, her face caked in dust, and her clothes torn in places.
It was only natural.
After such an intense battle with Ha Mu-baek, she couldn't possibly be pristine.
Yet her eyes were clear, and her beauty shone through.
Gazing dreamily at Gong Ya Jang-cheon, she was about to turn away when.
Flash.
Gong Ya Jang-cheon opened his eyes.
Intense light burst from them.
"Eek."
Startled, Gong Ya Ha-rang squeezed her eyes shut and took a step back.
She opened them again right away.
Gong Ya Jang-cheon's eyes were still fixed on her.
"Brother..."
"Ha-rang..."
Both their eyes welled up red again.
"Ah."
But Gong Ya Jang-cheon quickly composed himself and stood.
There would be plenty of time to savor reuniting with his sister.
First, there was something he had to do.
"Truly, thank you."
Gong Ya Jang-cheon cupped his fists toward Ha Mu-baek and bowed deeply.
"I'll take that greeting once more. Looks like you've made considerable progress."
After meditating through the night, Gong Ya Jang-cheon's realm had risen once more.
'Even the Young Alliance Leader couldn't claim this much.'
Ha Mu-baek saw Gong Ya Jang-cheon in a new light.
"We are grateful for your life-saving grace."
Then, Gong Ya Ha-rang, standing beside him, bowed sincerely to Ha Mu-baek as well.
Caught off guard by her sudden action, Ha Mu-baek froze.
He hadn't anticipated it, forgetting even to catch her with his energy.
She had already thanked him twice, so he hadn't expected a full bow.
By the time he gathered himself to help her up, her forehead was already touching the ground.
"That's too much."
Ha Mu-baek said, forcing a calm tone.
"Never thought I'd see Ha Mu-baek flustered."
Gong Ya Jang-cheon muttered in wonder.
"Shut it."
Ha Mu-baek snapped irritably, and Gong Ya Ha-rang, now standing, stared at him with wide eyes.
From her earliest childhood to now, she had never seen anyone speak to her brother that way.
Not even their late father.
Yet this warrior, who looked younger than her, was talking to her brother like that.
Setting aside that he was her lifesaver, it was a fresh shock.
Truly astonishing.
Even more astonishing was that her brother just took it in stride.
Not only that, but even the surrounding Blood Thunder Troops.
These men, who should have drawn their swords and charged if their lord was insulted, stood there blankly as if they heard nothing.
'The world's greatest, they said.'
Recalling what she knew of Ha Mu-baek.
She took this scene as her brother acknowledging Ha Mu-baek as the world's greatest.
They were from the unorthodox paths.
The law of the jungle.
The iron rule of the unorthodox.
That was why they tolerated such arrogant demeanor from someone far junior like Ha Mu-baek.
Last night.
Thinking back to the battle she had fought after being consumed by the Extermination Cult's curse.
He did have the qualifications.
Even her brother couldn't have handled her at that time.
Yet Ha Mu-baek had overwhelmed her.
'The world's greatest.'
What an astonishing man.
'If only I were younger...'
Twenty years younger.
Startled by her own thought, Gong Ya Ha-rang flinched.
How long had it been since she revived from the Extermination Cult's curse? To have such indecent thoughts.
She bowed her head deeply to hide her flushed face.
Gong Ya Jang-cheon felt a brief puzzlement at his sister's sudden action, but there was a question he needed to resolve first.
One he had put off while absorbing Hwasan's energy.
"How did you know to come here?"
"Thanks to a loyal subordinate?"
Ha Mu-baek answered nonchalantly.
It was more a question than an answer.
But one person came to Gong Ya Jang-cheon's mind.
Mun In Baek-song.
No one else.
Still, the question was how Mun In Baek-song had moved Ha Mu-baek.
He wasn't one to bend easily to others' will.
"How?"
"He had a debt owed. I called it in this time."
"What?"
It was a fact even Gong Ya Jang-cheon hadn't known.
Meaning Mun In Baek-song had kept it secret from him too.
Ha Mu-baek smirked at Gong Ya Jang-cheon's startled expression.
"That old fox is sly as they come. Kept it hidden even from you."
The debt Ha Mu-baek was owed.
It was worth that much.
At least, according to Mun In Baek-song, who knew Ha Mu-baek's true power.
"How audacious."
Gong Ya Jang-cheon grumbled.
But there was no anger on his face.
That was how much he trusted Mun In Baek-song.
If he kept it from him, there was good reason.
And now, it had been used.
"A fine subordinate. The kind to envy."
Ha Mu-baek said plainly.
"Hm?"
He hadn't expected Ha Mu-baek to say he envied him, so Gong Ya Jang-cheon looked at him in surprise.
"He asked me to kill her instead. So his lord wouldn't have to kill his cherished sister with his own hands."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, Gong Ya Jang-cheon and Gong Ya Ha-rang both flinched.
They recalled the fierce battle between them before Ha Mu-baek arrived.
Gong Ya Ha-rang's already red face flushed deeper.
For a different reason this time.
Her head bowed lower.
Drip.
Drip.
Tears fell.
"I-I'm sorry, brother... I should have listened to you... I was so stubborn... Sob, sob, sob."
The Extermination Cult's research.
Gong Ya Jang-cheon would never have allowed it.
He had tried his utmost to dissuade her, but Gong Ya Ha-rang had stubbornly mastered it on her own.
"It's in the past."
"I-I only thought of myself. I was a fool. Sob sob sob."
Gong Ya Ha-rang hadn't realized.
That if she became a blood corpse puppet, her brother might have to execute her himself.
She only understood after her fierce battle with the Extermination Cult's curse.
That's why, just before succumbing, she tried to end her own life.
For her sake, and her brother's.
Gong Ya Jang-cheon said nothing.
He simply embraced his sister and patted her back.
The five Blood Thunder Troops turned away.
Ha Mu-baek alone watched quietly.
"Heartwarming."
He meant it.
"Thanks to you."
"Like I said, you're not like other people."
Gong Ya Jang-cheon nodded slightly.
"I'll never forget this grace. If it's for you, I'll yield on anything. Even if it concerns the survival of the Gong Ya Clan."
He didn't mention the Serpent Flame Alliance.
It was a personal debt, not the alliance's.
"I went through some trouble, didn't I? He asked me to kill her, but I saved her instead."
Ha Mu-baek grinned.
"So keep that debt in mind."
With that, Ha Mu-baek turned.
He kicked off lightly and headed back to the headquarters.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong had asked him for a favor, but first, he needed to return to headquarters.
He had envied Gong Ya Jang-cheon for having such a good subordinate.
But Ha Mu-baek had one too.
Thinking of that subordinate, he set his course for headquarters.
"Tch, she'll chew me out when I get back?"
He pictured Han Seol-bing's sharp glare.