By Zephyria Choice (5)
“What can’t be done? You’re just in time, Han-soo. Come in here.”
At Sang-geol’s gesture, Jang Han-soo entered with a blank look.
“We’ll disguise Young master as a Mount Hua disciple and send him out with Han-soo here and a trustworthy disciple. They may be suspicious, but what can we do? They’ll probably just harbor resentment. They won’t be able to do anything with mere suspicion. They already think of him as a villain capable of anything. It wouldn’t be surprising if such a person had hidden skills of elusiveness.”
Seong Mu-yeon had no choice but to accept it. What did it matter if he was falsely accused of something else now?
“…Disguise? Outside? What are you talking about?”
“There’s something I need you to do. We’ll talk about the details when we get back.”
Sang-geol left with Jang Han-soo, saying he would return soon.
“……”
Seong Mu-yeon already felt exhausted trying to keep up with the rapidly changing situation. He hugged his knees dejectedly.
This would be the last time he disappointed Baek Ryeo-il. Hadn’t it happened more than once or twice? Ultimately, it was a choice that would benefit both of them.
‘It’s okay.’
The memories he had with Baek Ryeo-il would make him stronger. He would be long gone by the time the Qi Deviation ended, so it was a little sad that he wouldn’t even be able to say goodbye.
“……”
Jegal Un stood blankly in the warehouse for a while. Jang Han-soo seemed to have completely forgotten his existence and had left with his master long ago.
“Ha!”
He had heard everything they said through the thin wall of the warehouse, and perhaps because he was shocked by their outrageous behavior, his hazy mind had cleared up.
‘To dare try to smuggle a prisoner out in front of me…’
Just as cold anger was creeping up from within his chest, Jegal Un inadvertently glanced at the box of belongings he was supporting with his hand. Beyond the scraps of bandages rolling around with an unidentified medicine bottle, a golden gleam flickered.
As if possessed, he reached out, brushed aside the piece of cloth, and lifted the cold metal. A gold necklace with lotus patterns engraved in relief was revealed. At that moment, Jegal Un’s mind went blank.
His pupils contracted, and his jaw dropped. His body was frozen stiff, as if struck by lightning.
Suddenly, he turned his head sharply, with a whooshing sound, and looked beyond the wall where Seong Mu-yeon was.
‘Seong Mu-yeon…?’
As he thought of him locked in the iron cage beyond the wall, a chilling sensation seemed to run down his neck.
Jegal Un rummaged through his own collar with trembling hands. Soon, another necklace hanging around his neck came out, and two completely identical necklaces were lined up before his eyes.
“……”
Jegal Un swallowed hard.
A moment later, he burst out of the warehouse, leaving the bewildered warehouse manager behind, and headed somewhere at a brisk pace.
‘No. It can’t be.’
No matter how many times he repeated it, he couldn’t calm down.
Jegal Un went straight to the Hall of Medicine and rushed into the room where Yang Ha-gakju was lying. Yang Ha-gakju, who was about to lie down on the bed, flinched in surprise as he burst open the door.
“Y-Young master! I’m innocent! I really went to investigate in my own way with a pure heart! Please believe me!”
Yang Ha-gakju bowed his head, rattling off excuses in a fluster.
“When you searched Seong Mu-yeon’s belongings, did you see a necklace?”
Jegal Un asked impatiently in an oppressive tone. His expression as he glared with wide eyes made Yang Ha-gakju terrified, as if something terrible had happened.
“Answer me! Did you see it?”
“Yes, yes, I saw it! But there was no Spirit Pill!”
Yang Ha-gakju prostrated himself and confessed as Jegal Un pressed him again. He expected an angry rebuke to come at any moment, but it was strangely quiet, so he raised his head to see Jegal Un standing with his hand on his forehead. Something was definitely terribly wrong.
“W-Why are you asking about the necklace? Is there a problem?”
Yang Ha-gakju asked cautiously, and Jegal Un’s cold eyes fixed on him. At the terrifying expression, he quickly lowered his head.
“Why did you go there? What were you trying to find out, sneaking around like a rat?”
“Like a rat…”
Yang Ha-gakju muttered, stung by the insulting words. No matter how great Jegal Un was as the Young master of the Jegal Clan, and he was from a family that served him, how could a young man who was still a child speak to someone old enough to be his father like that!
Besides, wasn’t he the one who had caused him to be injured and lying here?!
But contrary to his inner thoughts, he opened his mouth in an extremely polite tone.
“I think I know what you suspect, but you know very well that I would never do anything that would harm the clan, right?”
“Pavilion Lord, you don’t seem to realize how serious the situation is. Depending on your answer, it could be a matter of whether it’s just something to overlook, or whether it’s seen as evidence of a revolt against the clan.”
Hic! Yang Ha-gakju gasped and confessed immediately.
“I-It’s true! I only went to find the Spirit Pill, I have no other intentions! But… I, actually, I didn’t faint at that time… I heard everything that was said in the Central Hall basement, what happened, from beginning to end with a clear mind! S-So…”
“Is that true?”
Yang Ha-gakju nodded quickly as Jegal Un asked back in surprise.
“It’s what Peng Yuan-jin Young master said directly to me before he died. The Spirit Pill is not just a common spirit pill, but a divine object of nature with such great inner force condensed in it that it can cure Severed Meridian Disease, which is so close to an incurable disease that it’s called a divine punishment. I was so anxious about the news that such a precious thing had disappeared…”
Jegal Un, who had been speechless for a moment at the barrage of one-sided claims, soon glared with fire in his eyes.
“Why didn’t you say so sooner! Right now, Pavilion Lord, you are the only witness who saw and heard everything about the incident!”
“W-Well, I lost my mind because I was bleeding so much, and I just regained my senses…”
Yang Ha-gakju mumbled, watching his expression.
“Besides, it’s not something you can just go around talking about… Who would easily believe that Peng Yuan-jin Young master was actually a Flowering Bone and manipulated Young master at will with that ability to plot things? Besides, he even took his own life. No one wants to hear such a story.”
“My elder brother was a Flowering Bone…?”
Yang Ha-gakju, who nodded, confessed everything that had happened that day in detail. As the story continued, Jegal Un’s face turned blue, and Yang Ha-gakju was worried that all the blood would drain from his body and he would die.
“W-Wait a minute.”
Jegal Un staggered greatly at the shocking revelation. He leaned on the wall and barely managed to keep his balance.
“Are you sure Seong Mu-yeon opened the back door in the Central Hall basement?”
Jegal Un asked in a heavy voice.
“That’s what I’m wondering too. I know that door has a special device that only responds to the Jegal Clan bloodline, but I don’t know how Seong Mu-yeon opened it.”
“……”
“Perhaps the door reacted to the bloodstains left when Young master entered? You can’t confirm it because you don’t remember…”
“…That could be.”
Yang Ha-gakju tilted his head, as if puzzled by Jegal Un’s strangely trailing off words, but soon dismissed it as unimportant.
“By the way, why did you ask about the necklace? Is it valuable?”
“Forget about the necklace.”
“No, shouldn’t we investigate it just in case? If it can be used to open the door, even by some chance…”
“I said forget about it.”
Jegal Un said sternly, as if warning him.
“Never, ever mention that necklace to anyone again, and erase it completely from your mind. That’s not a suggestion, it’s an order.”
“……I understand.”
Yang Ha-gakju seemed dissatisfied, but nodded obediently. Jegal Un secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“What should we do now?”
Yang Ha-gakju asked, looking at the back of his head, as Jegal Un turned as if to leave.
“When the Peng Clan arrives, we will begin the interrogation. The Peng Clan probably won’t like it very much even if we tell the truth… In the first place, would they even believe that Seong Mu-yeon Young master is innocent?”
“…There’s still time, so let’s talk about that later.”
Jegal Un, who spat out the words over his shoulder, left the place without even hearing the answer. Either way, Seong Mu-yeon would already be gone by the time the Peng Clan arrived. That is, if he didn’t stop his plan.
“Young master! You were here!”
The chief manager, who had turned pale, ran up as he left the Hall of Medicine.
“What’s wrong now?”
A deep sense of fatigue washed over him from the series of accidents, and a somewhat stiff tone came out, but before he could finish speaking, the chief manager shouted.
“T-The estate is surrounded!”