163 – Truth (2)

Truth (2)

He was so angry that he became calm instead.

“Why did you do that? Mother cared for Senior Brother as if he were her own child. How could you repay her kindness like that?”

“No, Yeon-ah. It wasn’t me.”

“Then?”

“I swear I didn’t betray her! But…”

Seong Mu-ryong’s face was pale as he repeatedly opened and closed his mouth.

“I admit it. It may have been my carelessness. I was careful, but I think one of the servants overheard… But who would have known? That a mere servant could directly report to the Cult Leader?”

“……”

Seong Mu-yeon clenched his fist.

In the end, Peng Yuan-jin was right. The thought that Seong Mu-ryong had a hand in his mother’s death made him feel nauseous. He couldn’t bear to be in the same space as him.

“Yeon-ah!”

Seong Mu-ryong shouted as Seong Mu-yeon opened the door of the speeding carriage. Seong Mu-yeon violently shook off Seong Mu-ryong, who hurriedly tried to pull him back and close the door.

“Seventh Young Master? Is something wrong?”

Il-gwang, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, heard the commotion and stopped the carriage. Seong Mu-yeon jumped out before the carriage came to a complete stop.

Seong Mu-ryong followed Seong Mu-yeon as he walked away.

“Yeon-ah! Where are you going! I was wrong. Be angry at me if you want! But you can’t just leave like this…! Let’s go back together for now. Let’s go…”

“I really, really hate that place.”

Seong Mu-yeon’s gaze as he turned to look at him was cruelly cold.

“If you keep holding on, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Seong Mu-yeon ignored the blankly standing Seong Mu-ryong and turned away. He continued to walk aimlessly.

He didn’t know where to go or what to do; everything was dark.

He clearly remembered wanting to leave alone to a place where no one knew him, but the him of then and the him of now had changed so much.

His feet kept getting caught on tree roots.

When he fell for the third time, Seong Mu-yeon tried to get up, but eventually gave up and rested his cheek on the ground, relaxing his body.

‘…What’s the point?’

What was the point of trying so hard to survive all this time?

‘I can’t do it anymore.’

He didn’t have the strength to get up again.

Seong Mu-yeon closed his eyes.

How much time had passed? After a time that felt like a moment and an eternity, he heard the rustling of bushes. Soon, hurried footsteps, belonging to friend or foe, approached.

Seong Mu-yeon, who didn’t even have the strength to lift his eyelids, lay still.

‘Do as you please…’

Seong Mu-yeon welcomed the overwhelming drowsiness and soon succumbed to the pitch-black darkness.

When he regained consciousness, he was being carried on someone’s back.

“You’re awake.”

He lifted his head at the familiar voice. Seong Mu-yeon’s eyes widened as he identified the person carrying him.

“Namgung Cheon-chu…?”

Namgung Cheon-chu turned his head and grinned.

“It’s been a while, Young master Seong Mu-yeon.”

“Young, Young Clan Leader, how are you here? How did you know I was…”

Seong Mu-yeon muttered blankly before snapping back to his senses.

“Plea, please put me down! It will be a disaster if others see Young Clan Leader with me.”

“Stay still! You’ll fall!”

Namgung Cheon-chu tightened his arms as Seong Mu-yeon struggled to get off his back.

“Let’s go somewhere safe and talk.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

Seong Mu-yeon muttered, his heart heavy.

“Young Clan Leader may not know the situation here, but there are circumstances…”

“I came knowing everything, so don’t worry about that. I’ve said several times that Young master Seong Mu-yeon is the benefactor who saved my life, so I’m disappointed.”

“Young Clan Leader…”

“I wasn’t just saying it. Namgung never forgets a kindness. As soon as I heard that Young master Seong Mu-yeon was imprisoned, I set off immediately, and I’m glad I don’t seem to be too late.”

“What if I really killed Young master Peng Yuan-jin?”

Namgung Cheon-chu was silent for a moment. But soon, he continued in a cheerful voice.

“It’s unfortunate about Young master Peng, but that’s a separate matter. I’m just returning the favor I received from my benefactor.”

“……”

Seong Mu-yeon eventually stopped struggling. He didn’t have the strength to lift a finger anyway.

“…How did you know I was here?”

“I almost wasted time in the wrong place. I couldn’t bring my subordinates because I had to come urgently, so I had to run around on my own. When I arrived at the Jegal Clan, it was complete chaos.”

Namgung Cheon-chu answered with a smile. Seong Mu-yeon tried to concentrate on listening, but his vision was getting blurry and his head was spinning.

‘Ah, the drug’s effect…’

“But I was able to get help just in time. That person… Young master? Young master!”

With Namgung Cheon-chu’s urgent voice, Seong Mu-yeon fainted.

Two days later.

When those who had departed from the Habeok Peng Clan arrived, the manor had not yet fully recovered from the traces of the previous day’s battle.

Peng Do-hwan and the Peng Clan Leader, who had been traveling non-stop, were speechless at the miserable sight. What was even more absurd was the fact that the murderer Seong Mu-yeon had already fled.

Moreover…

“They say the Demonic Cult stole Young master Peng’s body as well.”

“Those detestable bastards.”

People belatedly realized that Peng Yuan-jin’s body was missing, but the demonic cultists had long disappeared.

Peng Do-hwan eventually couldn’t overcome his anger and sorrow and let out a scream that had nowhere to go. The voice contained such deep pain that even those who heard it trembled.

Tears of blood streamed down from Peng Do-hwan’s eyes.

The Peng Clan Leader, who had lost his successor in vain, also trembled with anger that reached the top of his head. He clenched his fist so tightly to suppress his anger that his nails dug in and drops of blood fell.

Baek Ryeo-il watched the scene with his Senior Brothers from the crowd. Baek Ryeo-il, who had lost consciousness due to the Evaporating Serpent Venom, had barely regained consciousness while staying at the Hall of Medicine.

“That sly Seong Mu-yeon, I knew he would eventually cause trouble.”

“I heard that he displayed tremendous power after eating the Spirit Pill. Is that true?”

“It’s true! I saw it with my own two eyes! That guy, who looked so weak that he would fall if you touched him, knocked down the Demonic Cult’s Third Young Master in one blow? We were deceived. We were thoroughly deceived.”

Gang Woong narrowed his eyes and fiercely turned his head to glare at the whispering people. He was about to take a step to say something, but Sang-geol stopped him.

“What are you going to do? Anyway, isn’t it the truth?”

“But Martial Uncle…!”

Sang-geol shook his head firmly, and Gang Woong obediently closed his mouth.

Before they knew it, the disaster that had occurred in the manor had all become Seong Mu-yeon’s doing. The fact that Seong Mu-yeon and Seong Mu-geuk had fought was also concluded to be merely a temporary internal conflict in the process of being passed from mouth to mouth.

“……”

When even the quietly standing Baek Ryeo-il walked away somewhere, Gang Woong naturally tried to follow him. But this time, Sang-geol stopped him as well.

“That guy also needs time to sort out his thoughts alone.”

Sang-geol, who said that, also had dark circles under his eyes. He wasn’t seriously injured, but he had suffered a lot mentally. From the moment he regained consciousness, his beloved disciple Jang Han-soo had been out of it and unable to speak properly about what Seong Mu-yeon had done to him.

Sang-geol glanced at Peng Do-hwan, who was pounding the ground with his fist and venting his frustration, and clicked his tongue.

“There’s no place that’s alright.”

As he walked aimlessly, Baek Ryeo-il found himself standing in the middle of the living room of the residence that the Jegal Clan had provided him, where he had been staying recently.

Whether because no one had touched it in the meantime, it was exactly as he had left it.

Baek Ryeo-il scanned the living room with a somber face, his gaze landing on Seong Mu-yeon’s door.

He opened the door with a creak, and the familiar scent of Seong Mu-yeon wafted out. Even though he had only lived here for a short time, traces of him remained everywhere.

But Baek Ryeo-il’s eyes were dry.

Something caught Baek Ryeo-il’s eye.

Five Wine Jars that Seong Mu-yeon had bought were lined up conspicuously on the table.

He approached as if drawn by a magnet.

〈I’ll taste the rest enough when I get back…〉

This was the first time he had set foot in this room since he had said that and left.

Baek Ryeo-il could feel Seong Mu-yeon’s touch in the neatly arranged Wine Jars. He had probably prepared them to be the first thing he saw when he returned. For him…

Baek Ryeo-il’s face twisted fiercely.

He threw the Wine Jar in his hand. The shattered pieces of porcelain that collided with the wall scattered in all directions, and the contents flowed down the wall. Not stopping there, he roughly swept the table with his arm, knocking all the remaining Wine Jars to the floor. He took a few rough breaths before collapsing to the ground.

Baek Ryeo-il stared blankly at the broken pieces of Wine Jar. He stared for a long time at the clear poison liquor staining the wooden floor deeply as it seeped in.

Then, he suddenly raised his head.

‘Was the world… always this quiet?’

Something was wrong.