By Zephyria Choice (11)
Seong Mu-yeon instantly realized that a battle had broken out near his residence. There were few who could create such a powerful tremor that shook the earth, so Baek Ryeo-il must have finished circulating his energy.
‘Master Baek…….’
His heart ached.
Thinking that he was just beyond the invisible, he wanted to run and see Baek Ryeo-il’s face right away. He wanted to touch him, make eye contact, and embrace him tightly. And if he could, he wanted to take him somewhere no one knew.
Moving away from Baek Ryeo-il felt like the most painful thing in the world.
But Seong Mu-yeon did his best to look away and steadily moved forward.
Like the saying that if the body moves away, the heart also moves away, wouldn’t this uncomfortable feeling also fade away if he was very far away from him?
“…….”
At the same time, Myeong-gwi looked up at the sky while fighting. More than half of the Demon Slayer Unit had already lost their lives, and his body was covered in numerous wounds.
As flamboyant plum blossoms and continuous Sword Energy entered his vision, Myeong-gwi’s movements suddenly changed. Dokgoe said he came to kill Baek Ryeo-il, but Myeong-gwi’s actions were closer to stalling for time. Baek Ryeo-il, who was furious at the way he was dragging out the fight as before, sensed that he was trying to retreat and burst into a roar.
“Where do you think you’re running off to again!”
He followed Myeong-gwi onto the roof.
As he climbed to a high place, his vision widened, and Baek Ryeo-il instinctively discovered a familiar figure within it and frowned.
‘……Seong Mu-yeon?’
Seong Mu-yeon was moving away from the scene of the battle with someone.
He flinched.
In the brief moment he was distracted, Myeong-gwi’s sword tip came in close. Baek Ryeo-il quickly dodged, but it was already too late.
“Keuk!”
As Baek Ryeo-il showed an opening, Myeong-gwi grabbed Dokgoe, who was scattering hidden weapon in all directions, by the nape of the neck and leaped away.
Jang Han-soo and Junior Brother quickly chased after them.
“Senior Brother! Why aren’t you chasing after them… Senior Brother! Where are you going!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Baek Ryeo-il headed in the direction of Seong Mu-yeon, not Myeong-gwi and Dokgoe.
Everyone had chased after the Demon Slayer Unit, so the outskirts were deserted, and not even an ant was in sight.
Soon, Baek Ryeo-il saw Seong Mu-yeon with his brother, Seong Mu-ryong, and his mood sank even further.
Seong Mu-ryong and his subordinates felt the approaching presence and drew their weapons in unison, and a sharp metallic sound rang out.
It only took a blink of an eye for the owner of the presence to reveal himself.
“Seong Mu-yeon.”
Seong Mu-yeon, who was standing with his back turned, stiffened as if struck by lightning.
“What are you doing there? Come here.”
As Baek Ryeo-il spoke calmly as usual, Seong Mu-ryong stood between him and Seong Mu-yeon, blocking him with a murderous voice.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“What if I come closer? What are you going to do?”
Baek Ryeo-il sneered and strode closer as if to show off.
“Do you want to die?”
As Seong Mu-ryong pointed his sword, Baek Ryeo-il’s eyes turned coldly.
“If you don’t want to die, get lost right now. You haven’t learned your lesson from before and came to harass my brother again…….”
Seong Mu-ryong scoffed loudly, interrupting his words.
“Who is harassing whom? Yeon-i decided to leave with me of his own will, and I am this child’s biological brother. We are family. What does a third party who has nothing to do with us know to be talking about?”
Baek Ryeo-il’s eyebrows twitched at those words.
“Brother, go ahead first. I’ll catch up soon.”
Seong Mu-yeon sensed the dangerous atmosphere and stepped between them.
“Yeon-ah!”
Seong Mu-ryong shouted as if it made no sense.
“That person followed me. I’ll take care of it myself.”
“What does that……!”
“Do as Young master says, Second Young master.”
Unexpectedly, Il-gwang took Seong Mu-yeon’s side. Seong Mu-ryong frowned at the unexpected situation.
“Young master is not a child who needs to be protected. Didn’t you see it earlier? Trust him and leave it to him.”
“…….”
Seong Mu-ryong seemed reluctant. But after seeing Seong Mu-yeon’s calm face, he accepted his wishes and nodded.
“I’ll be waiting for you beyond that mountain, so don’t be too late.”
Seong Mu-ryong seemed uneasy and forcibly placed his sword in Seong Mu-yeon’s hand just before leaving.
Baek Ryeo-il stood askew with his arms crossed and watched them silently.
Only after they had completely disappeared from sight did Seong Mu-yeon turn to Baek Ryeo-il.
“…….”
His stiff face relaxed for a moment, and he let out a chuckle.
“‘Go ahead, I’ll catch up soon’? Anyone would think you meant it. Anyway, you got rid of him well. Let’s go quickly before that guy comes chasing after us.”
Baek Ryeo-il strode over and took his hand.
“Master…….”
“Let’s just get out of here. Jegal Clan is like a flea market, with every Tom, Dick, and Harry gathering busily…….”
He ignored Seong Mu-yeon, who was calling him, glanced at the manor where the fighting was still going on, and headed in the opposite direction.
“I’m not going back.”
Seong Mu-yeon slipped his hand out. Baek Ryeo-il’s face, which had been calm since Seong Mu-ryong left, finally hardened slightly.
“What do you mean? You’re not going back? Then where are you going? Are you really going to follow your brother back home? To the Demonic Cult Main Palace in Xinjiang?”
The tone that started lightly gradually became hasty and faster.
He tried to put on a bright attitude, but he had noticed it from the beginning. The fact that Seong Mu-yeon was sincerely trying to leave…….
As Seong Mu-yeon remained silent and only looked at him quietly, that attitude crumbled like a sandcastle.
“Do you think I’ll let you go? Who do you think you are? I’m never letting you go. Try it if you can.”
Baek Ryeo-il, who had suddenly turned ferocious, growled through his teeth.
“……Master.”
“You can’t do this to me. How…… how could you do this? Do you know what I’ve prepared myself for because of you! How dare you……. dare you.”
Baek Ryeo-il grabbed his shoulders roughly. Madness could be felt in his wide eyes. But the threatening voice gradually diminished, and Baek Ryeo-il lowered his head.
“……Are you going to abandon me?”
The voice that came out after a long time was small and weak.
“Let’s go back to Mount Hua together. You liked living there too.”
Seong Mu-yeon sighed painfully.
“Master……. Please listen to me.”
“No, let’s not go to Mount Hua. Anywhere is fine, let’s go wherever you want to go. Let those who like to fight hit each other as they please, and let’s do our own thing.”
He desperately wanted to do as he said. He wanted to leave the messed-up world behind and live quietly in a place where no one knew them.
But he couldn’t do that.
“I don’t want to.”
Baek Ryeo-il, who flinched at Seong Mu-yeon’s cold voice, slowly raised his head. His eyes, wide with disbelief, trembled like an aspen leaf.
“Do you really think I liked living in Mount Hua? I was just playing along. Who was the one who forcibly dragged me there when I said I didn’t want to go in the first place? What kind of humiliation did I suffer there?”
A wounded look crossed Baek Ryeo-il’s eyes. Seong Mu-yeon felt like his heart was tearing at the sight of Baek Ryeo-il’s fragile appearance, which he was seeing for the first time.
But he couldn’t back down here.
“As long as I’m with Master…… it’s the same wherever I go. I want to stop now. Thank you for everything so far. Goodbye.”
As Seong Mu-yeon moved a few steps away, a cold energy swept in from behind. Seong Mu-yeon twisted his body almost instinctively.
Bang-!
Baek Ryeo-il’s sword was stuck in the spot where he had been standing just a moment ago.
“Are you really trying to do this?”
Seong Mu-yeon, enraged, shouted. If he hadn’t dodged in time, it would have been an attack that would have pierced his thigh at the very least, even if it didn’t kill him.
“Why are you so surprised? We’re going to be enemies next time anyway, so just think of it as it being a little earlier.”
It was a monotonous sound with no emotion in it. Baek Ryeo-il’s eyes flashed as he slowly pulled out the sword that was embedded several inches deep.
At the same time as Seong Mu-yeon felt a chill down his spine, Baek Ryeo-il’s figure appeared right in front of him.
Baek Ryeo-il swung his sword wildly. Seong Mu-yeon hurriedly raised Seong Mu-ryong’s sword to block the attack. A sharp pain was transmitted from his wrist due to the strong force on the blade.
“It would have been better to do this from the beginning.”
Baek Ryeo-il muttered. The sound of the lowered sword tip scraping the ground pierced his ears eerily.
“I don’t need your consent. You can’t go anywhere unless I allow it.”
Seong Mu-yeon swallowed hard at the tension that enveloped his entire body.