Dealing with False Rumors Like This (4)
“Whoa there!”
We arrived at the grand gates of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
As I helped the child down from the horse, the gatekeeper spotted us and came running in alarm.
“Young master!”
“Young Master Jo-woong!”
At the name Dang Jo-woong, I confirmed that the boy I'd rescued was indeed the victim of that kidnapping plot.
I said to the gatekeeper,
“Call someone to bring your young master inside right away. He's had quite a scare.”
The child chimed in.
“This young hero saved me from being kidnapped.”
“What?”
“Eek!”
The two gatekeepers jumped in shock and immediately rang the bell to signal an emergency inside.
“The carriage behind has the villains loaded in it.”
I'd brought the kidnappers along to the Tang Clan as well.
It would make handling everything much smoother that way.
I could guess the ordeals awaiting them, but that wasn't my concern.
And the scrapes and bruises they'd gotten tumbling around in that rickety cart—stripped of any straw padding to cushion the jolts—weren't my problem either.
“And...”
I glanced at Palgap, who lowered a cloth-wrapped corpse from the cart to the ground.
The gatekeeper looked puzzled, but Dang Jo-woong stepped forward.
“It's my wet nurse.”
“...”
“They kidnapped her child to force her to bring me to them, and then they killed her.”
Dang Jo-woong explained the situation calmly, his face unnaturally composed for his age.
That overly rational, childlike detachment worried me.
Right now, Dang Jo-woong was forcibly suppressing his emotions.
This wasn't good.
Emotions couldn't be bottled up forever.
Eventually, they'd affect the body or mind somehow.
I wasn't old, but looking back on my past life, I'd seen a few people like that.
And one of them was the Dang Jo-woong standing before me.
So that's how it turned out that way.
In my previous life, Dang Jo-woong had grown into a rather cruel man.
He'd chosen only the most vicious poisons that killed in agonizing ways, and against groups that kidnapped children, he'd committed atrocities like roasting them alive.
He'd always charged ahead for the Murim Alliance that saved him, and even after they abandoned him later, he'd smiled and said he was grateful for the chance to repay their grace before dying.
This time, it wasn't the Murim Alliance that saved him, so that fate might be avoided, but at the very least, I didn't want him turning cruel.
I could guess it stemmed from being kidnapped and held captive in the Formless Gate for five years, suppressing extreme fear and terror all that time.
How terrifying must it have been for an eight-year-old boy?
So the emotions he was holding back now needed to burst out fully, all at once.
That way, they wouldn't explode in some twisted direction later.
And for a martial artist, the thing to guard against most was heart demons.
If left like this, this experience would surely become a heart demon and hold Dang Jo-woong back.
Just like in his previous life, where despite immense talent and high expectations, he never broke through to the Super First-rate realm and died.
Such a future for this child? No.
I didn't want that.
I placed a hand on Dang Jo-woong's shoulder and bent down to meet his eyes at his level.
“You're home now.”
“Yes. Thank you for saving me and bringing me all the way here.”
“You're back now. And you're alive.”
“...”
“Soon you'll see your parents and family.”
At my words, Dang Jo-woong's eyes reddened.
“You didn't die. You can see your family.”
“...”
“You're alive right now.”
“...”
“Repeat after me: I'm alive right now.”
“I... am... alive right now.”
“Once more.”
Dang Jo-woong repeated after me several times, tears gradually welling in his eyes.
Finally, he burst into sobs.
“Sob!”
“There, there. You must've been so scared, huh?”
“I was scared. Scared I'd die. Scared I'd never see my family again.”
And with that, Dang Jo-woong threw himself into my arms and wept freely.
Now he could relax.
Yes, this should purge the worst of the trauma from the ordeal.
I sensed someone rushing over from afar.
Dang Jo-woong had cried himself out and fallen asleep, utterly exhausted.
The gates opened, and a woman in splendid robes came running out.
“Jo-woong!”
The gatekeeper said as I looked at her,
“That's Madam Hong Ri, the family head's third wife.”
I lifted Dang Jo-woong and placed him in her arms.
“Here's your son.”
“Oh...”
“He cried himself to sleep, it seems. He must've felt safe being home and let it all out.”
“I... I see.”
“I'm just a passing traveler. Actually...”
I cupped my fists in greeting and explained everything from the beginning.
“That's how it happened.”
“We truly thank you. How can we ever repay this grace?”
“I didn't do it expecting payment. It was just a chance encounter on the road. We'll be on our way now.”
“No, please come inside. How could we let the savior of my son and our house leave like this?”
“Truth be told, we have our own urgent matters and can't linger. Please forgive the rudeness of departing like this.”
Why else would we go out of our way through the mountains?
To reach the provincial capital of Sichuan quickly and discreetly.
If word got out that we'd saved the Tang Clan's precious golden child, it would complicate our plans.
And since I truly hadn't done it for reward, leaving now was right.
“We'll take our leave then.”
In the meantime, Palgap had reharnessed the horses to the cart we'd brought and mounted up.
I mounted my horse as well, and we headed straight for the Eunhae Merchant Group's Sichuan branch.
That's when I noticed Yi Pil Warrior's expression.
He looked greatly relieved.
Come to think of it, ever since Dang Jo-woong revealed he was from the Tang Clan, his face had subtly stiffened...
It felt oddly suspicious, but I let it slide for now.
An hour later, Dang Jo-woong opened his eyes.
“Uh...”
It was a familiar ceiling.
“Jo-woong!”
He turned his head.
His father and mother sat beside his bed.
“Father? Mother?”
“Yes!”
“Are you alright?”
It was real.
He'd really reunited with his family.
He threw himself into his parents' arms and wept again.
“I had a terrible dream. With my wet nurse, at the inn...”
As he recounted it, Dang Jo-woong gradually realized it hadn't been a dream at all.
“Father! Where's the young hero who saved me? I didn't thank him properly.”
“Hm?”
“Well, you see...”
Dang Jo-woong's father, Dang Gyu-jeong, and his mother, Madam Hong Ri, trailed off.
“He handed you to me and just left.”
At Madam Hong Ri's words, Dang Jo-woong bowed his head in disappointment.
“Without him, I'd be dead. And Father, you've always taught me that we Tang Clan folk repay favors twofold and grudges tenfold.”
“That's right.”
“Then I want to do the same.”
“But he didn't give his name or affiliation. He vanished like the wind.”
Then, the family head and Dang Jo-woong's father, Dang Gyu-jeong, said cautiously,
“That's why... what if those people were...”
“Absolutely not!”
Suspecting they might be accomplices to the kidnappers, Dang Jo-woong cut him off firmly.
But his father had a point.
There had been cases of false benefactors seeking rewards.
“He said repaying him means that when I grow up and see someone in danger, if I have the ability to save them, I shouldn't look away. That would be repayment enough.”
“He truly said that? No other demands?”
“None at all.”
“Hm...”
Dang Gyu-jeong nodded.
Then it seemed he'd genuinely saved his youngest son out of kindness.
Of course, if they were accomplices, they wouldn't have slipped away like that. They'd have stayed to extract something.
Dang Gyu-jeong said,
“But we know nothing about him. He gave no information and left.”
Madam Hong Ri nodded in agreement.
Even the kidnappers didn't know.
“If only we had his name, we could find him.”
Arrogant as it sounded, the Tang Clan held the greatest influence in Sichuan.
With a name, they could track him down.
Then Dang Jo-woong exclaimed,
“Ah! I remember now. Young Hero Eun Seo-ho.”
“Eun Seo-ho?”
“Yes. When he saved me, he told me his name to reassure me. Eun Seo-ho, who works for the Eunhae Merchant Group.”
At that, Dang Gyu-jeong stood up.
“Trust your father.”
“Please, Father.”
He had to find the benefactor who saved his late-born youngest son and repay the grace.
It was for the clan's honor, but also a father's gratitude for his child's life.
He immediately summoned his aide.
“Find the Eun Seo-ho from the Eunhae Merchant Group. But he seems to have circumstances, so search as discreetly as possible.”
“Understood.”
I gazed at the building in the distance.
This place, north of Sichuan City's provincial capital, was the Eunhae Merchant Group's Sichuan branch.
It was in a grain-producing region, but the merchant group's aim wasn't grain.
Sichuan silk had long been famous as Shujin, one of the four great silks of the Central Plains.
Naturally, the Eunhae Merchant Group dealt in it, distributing the local Shujin.
The area also produced abundant sugar and citrus, and was a major source of crude salt.
A golden land for any merchant group.
But the roads to Sichuan were treacherous.
They couldn't visit often.
Thus, they couldn't always respond to changing local conditions promptly.
Hence, this branch was established.
And its manager was...
My uncle.
“Aren't you seeing the branch manager, sir?”
I nodded at Palgap's question.
“Yeah. We agreed on that.”
I knew my uncle wasn't a spy for the Dan Clan Merchant Group.
He'd been instrumental in making Eunhae renowned for silk.
But I wasn't meeting him now because we still didn't know who the Dan Clan's spy was.
If I met my uncle, the branch staff would quickly learn I was here.
Then the Dan Clan would launch more sabotage, turning it into a mudslinging mess.
Sorry, Uncle, but the reunion would have to wait.
I watched the branch building from afar, then turned away.
Now, time to start the operation.
.
.
.
A short while later, I found a suitable target.
Local kids playing nearby.
I bought a heap of snacks, sat under a tree, and set them on a nearby rock, calling the children over.
“Hey, kids.”
“...?”
I held out candy sticks to them.
“Want some?”
“C-Candy sticks!”
They were simple treats: fried dough coated in honey and dusted with sugar, skewered on sticks.
But saliva dripped from the kids' mouths.
“But Mom said not to take food from strangers...”
“Yeah, she said we shouldn't.”
“Right. You mustn't eat food from strangers. But this big brother bought too many candy sticks. Can't waste them, right?”
“Yeah... we shouldn't waste food.”
“Mom said you get punished for wasting food.”
“So help me eat them?”
Only then did the kids cautiously pick up the skewers one by one.
Once their bellies were full, they finally turned curious eyes to me.
“Who are you, big brother?”
“I'm a traveler. Came with my servant over there.”
I pointed to Palgap, and the kids tilted their heads.
“That uncle looks like a bear.”
I couldn't help laughing.
“Hahaha. Does he? Then what do I look like?”
“You... um, a doll.”
“Huh?”
The unexpected answer threw me off. Me, like a doll?
“'Cause you're pretty.”
“Yeah, big brother's pretty.”
“But you shouldn't say doll. They say it's possessed by ghosts.”
“Right. I heard the grown-ups say so.”
First souls, now ghosts?
Sigh...
Well, souls or ghosts, what's the difference?
I smiled again.
“Still, saying I'm pretty like a doll—thanks.”
“Not mad?”
“Nah, it's fine. Actually, good. 'Cause I know a secret song about the doll.”