By Zephyria Expert in Disappearances and Kidnappings (5)
As he packed a modest bag and went out to the yard, Madam Seomun became agitated.
“Ah, hurry up! Are you going to take responsibility if something happens to my child?!”
That damn son…….
Madam Seomun seemed to have nothing but thoughts of her ‘baby’ in her head. A barely twenty-year-old, with sprouting hair.
His insides churned, but he had to smile.
“Yes, yes, I’m going.”
And so, they headed to Shanxi Province, where the Seomun Clan had its roots.
“Search more thoroughly!”
Bang!
The middle-aged man slammed the table.
Seomun Hak, the head of the Seomun Clan, was on the verge of losing his mind. It was shocking enough that his son, barely twenty, had disappeared, but then his wife had vanished without a trace as well.
“What am I to do……. I’m about to lose both my wife and son.”
“Clan Leader…….”
“I can’t keep doing this! I need to formally request support from the martial alliance! It seems this is no ordinary matter!”
The Clan Leader shot up from his seat.
Just then.
“C, Clan Leader! Madam has returned!”
“What?!”
He rushed out at once.
“Madam!”
The Clan Leader looked at the two men standing behind his wife. One was tall and broad-shouldered, with a striking appearance. He wore a sword at his waist, and on the chest of his dark martial uniform, which was easy to move in, was an elaborate plum blossom pattern.
“Hwasan Sect…….”
His gaze naturally turned to the relatively smaller man. He only looked small because he was standing next to the Hwasan Sect martial artist, but he wasn’t small. But he didn’t look like a martial artist. He just looked like a noble young master who couldn’t lift a finger.
“Who are you?!”
The Seomun Clan Leader, recognizing his identity, glared. The Clan Leader quickly hid his wife behind his back. Then, he pointed the massive Greatsword he carried on his shoulder at the Young master.
“You dare bring a Demonic Cult Young master into my home?! I told you so many times not to go!”
The force with which he drew his sword was so fierce that Seong Mu-yeon’s hair and clothes fluttered.
“How dare you set foot here! Get out!”
“You told me to get out? Then I should do as you say……. Goodbye.”
Seong Mu-yeon turned away without hesitation.
“Young master, you can’t leave like this!”
Madam Seomun grabbed Seong Mu-yeon. He slumped his shoulders.
It was a brief moment, but he was happy.
Then the Clan Leader went wild.
“Madam!”
At the Clan Leader’s rough attitude, Seong Mu-yeon felt a glimmer of hope.
‘Yes! Fight and win! You can’t let a Demonic Cult guy into the house!’
“You just stay still!”
But contrary to his expectations, when the Madam glared and scolded him, the Clan Leader obediently shut his mouth as if nothing had happened.
Seong Mu-yeon rubbed his forehead.
“First, let’s take a look at your son’s room.”
As befitting a family wielding power these days, large and magnificent buildings were scattered everywhere. But it only looked good on the outside; the house that had lost its son was filled with an ominous atmosphere. The family members, stiff and without any leisure, were running around frantically.
“Follow me.”
As they walked, the Clan Leader, who was walking ahead, glanced at the two people following behind him, then whispered to his wife.
“Madam, are you really sure about this? That room is a bit…….”
“We need to save our child first, don’t we? Just stay still. You’re making me frustrated.”
“…….”
There seemed to be something there.
Seong Mu-yeon, following behind the couple, stared at the massive Greatsword swaying on Seomun Hak’s back.
He tilted his head.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
‘Something feels like I’m about to remember…….’
Seomun Clan……. Seomun Clan…….
I don’t know.
Soon, they stopped in front of a splendid door.
“Is this it? Then.”
“Wait a minute!”
The Madam stopped Seong Mu-yeon, who was about to enter the room. Seong Mu-yeon frowned.
“You were just telling me to find him quickly, weren’t you?”
“That’s……. Please look around without any prejudice. I beg you.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
Only after Madam Seomun made her earnest request did she step back. Seong Mu-yeon was puzzled, but he was sure there was nothing dangerous behind the door. If he had sensed anything, Baek Ryeo-il would have stopped him first.
Still, seeing the anxious Clan Leader and his wife, he felt uneasy and opened the door just a crack to look inside.
Seong Mu-yeon’s pupils rapidly contracted.
“Heok!”
Seong Mu-yeon, who gasped, closed the door again. His face was as pale as if he had seen a ghost.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Madam! What is the meaning of this!”
Seong Mu-yeon, regaining his senses, shouted sharply at the Clan Leader and his wife. They couldn’t even make eye contact and avoided his gaze.
“Ah, what is it!”
Baek Ryeo-il, impatient, finally pushed Seong Mu-yeon aside and threw the door wide open. His jaw dropped as he looked inside the room.
“Th, th, this is……!”
The room was filled with an extraordinary sight.
On the front wall hung a cloth with ‘heavenly demon divine cult’ written on it in a single stroke. Judging by its position in the seat of honor, it was not put there with negative intentions. A strange longing was felt. In one corner of the room hung the uniform of the Demon Slayer Unit, a Demonic Cult martial force, which he didn’t know where he had gotten.
Seong Mu-yeon stared at the Clan Leader and his wife with a cold gaze.
“……So that’s why you thought the Demonic Cult was involved.”
“O, our Yuha is just a bit immature…….”
The Seomun Clan’s only son was a Demonic Cult follower!
“You can’t just brush it off as being a bit immature! What is this! Where did you even get this?!”
What Seong Mu-yeon was shaking was a small wooden sword that seemed to be a replica of the Cult Leader’s beloved sword. There was even a portrait of the Cult Leader hanging on the ceiling.
“The bookshelf is the same.”
Baek Ryeo-il, who was carefully examining the room, said. He picked a few books from the bookshelf and quickly flipped through them.
“They’re all books related to the Demonic Cult.”
It wasn’t difficult to find Seomun Yuha’s diary.
‘Today is the best day of my life.
To think that the person I met by chance at the tavern was a member of the Demonic Cult!
He recognized my talent and said he would connect me with the main cult.
He told me not to tell anyone.’
The last diary entry was dated the day before he disappeared.
Seong Mu-yeon grabbed the back of his neck.
“Th…… th……. Did you see this crazy bastard!”
He was even stupid.
The Clan Leader and his wife, who had searched the room thoroughly after their son disappeared and found the diary, would have quickly realized. That their son, who had been singing about the Demonic Cult, had finally gone there himself…….
“So……. Your only son is a Demonic Cult otaku, no, a fangirl, no, a follower, and he ran off to chase after the Demonic Cult, is that what you’re saying.”
“That’s right…….”
“…….”
Seong Mu-yeon stood up calmly.
“Wh, where are you going?”
“Figure it out yourselves. I’m out. Master Baek, let’s go back.”
“Young master! You can’t! What about my child!”
Madam Seomun grabbed Seong Mu-yeon’s sleeve and clung to him.
“You keep saying ‘my child,’ ‘my child’!”
He coldly shook off the Madam.
“Your son is already an adult over twenty! Do you understand? Why are you asking someone else to take responsibility for his own choices!”
If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have stepped a foot outside of Hwasan. Even Jang Han-soo wouldn’t have blamed Seong Mu-yeon if he knew the whole story.
“Raise your children well in the future!”
Madam Seomun scattered tears and grabbed his sleeve.
“We’ll give you plenty of reward! Please, just help us once!”
Thud.
Seong Mu-yeon stopped.
“……How much?”
“No matter how much you ask for! Please find our child…… no, Yuha. He’s our only precious son. I beg you.”
Judging by her fervor, she seemed willing to give up even this manor.
Seong Mu-yeon suddenly changed his attitude and put on a gentle smile.
“Ahem, you seem really desperate to say that much. Well……. I can’t just ignore the heart-wrenching pain of a parent who has lost their child.”
Seong Mu-yeon needed money.
That was the first thing he thought of when he was in danger of being kicked out of Hwasan.
That’s how it had been as he experienced the world. If you didn’t have money, you had to endure unfair things.
If he had hired a bodyguard, he wouldn’t have been caught by Chief Heo. If he hadn’t been caught by him, he wouldn’t have gotten so deeply involved with Baek Ryeo-il.
And now, jumping into the harsh world penniless once again, he felt a sudden worry.
He needed money.
A lot of it.
“Just a moment.”
Seong Mu-yeon was about to enter into a deep conversation with the Clan Leader and his wife.
“What are you doing now?”
The one who broke the pleasant atmosphere was Baek Ryeo-il.
‘I forgot.’
Baek Ryeo-il looked uncomfortable. It was understandable. From following Seong Mu-yeon all the way here, he had gained nothing. Moreover, even in a situation where they could just go back, he was taking on troublesome work.
“Come here for a moment.”
Seong Mu-yeon dragged Baek Ryeo-il to a corner and whispered.
“I get eighty percent. Master gets twenty percent. How about it?”
“What?”
“Ah, don’t be stingy. What does a Taoist need money for? I’m penniless and sick. I get seventy, Master gets thirty. No matter how much you have, money is never enough. I can’t concede any more.”
“Who said I needed money?”
True.
What could a promising disciple of a Great Sect lack?
“What can I do to get you to cooperate?”
While the two were whispering, the others sat and waited blankly.
“Five bottles of Hundred Flower Dew, top quality.”
Baek Ryeo-il whispered quietly.
It’s hard enough to get one bottle of Hundred Flower Dew……!
Seong Mu-yeon nodded resolutely.
“Okay.”
Not long after, the two turned around with smiles on their faces.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Now then, shall we have a deep conversation about compensation?”