By Zephyria 
Jin Geum-ryeon was startled by the feather-light, brief contact and froze like a statue. It was an act of pure impulse, and Ak Mujin’s face, which had quickly brushed against Jin Geum-ryeon, was also flushed red.
What have I just done?
He had vaguely thought he needed to calm Jin Geum-ryeon down, but why did he think such physical contact would calm him?
As if that thought was wrong, he could hear hurried footsteps approaching from behind. Ak Mujin kept his gaze forward and began to ramble.
“Geum-ryeon, that just now…”
Before he could add anything, the weight on his back disappeared. As he was about to turn around in surprise, instead of Seo-mok, Jin Geum-ryeon was clinging to Ak Mujin’s back, embracing him tightly with a thud.
“You…”
“Umm…”
Ak Mujin rolled his eyes and looked around, and sure enough, the fainted Seo-mok was thrown haphazardly on the floor. Ak Mujin let out a light sigh and nudged the arms of Jin Geum-ryeon, which tightly wrapped around his chest. It was hard to say it was a mistake after doing something so obvious.
“That just now, it wasn’t my imagination, was it? Huh?”
“…No.”
“Why? Why… why suddenly?”
“…”
Ak Mujin had no answer to the question of why. He couldn’t honestly say that he had found him extremely pleasing and lovable lately!
The moment that thought crossed his mind, his head was filled with countless emotions for Jin Geum-ryeon, and even while he remained silent, his face was slowly heating up.
Ak Mujin realized that he had been too arrogant. He had sworn that he was a being detached from this world and would not feel any emotions for anyone, even if it was the protagonist Jin Geum-ryeon.
In fact, he had only reluctantly been willing to make sacrifices if he was Jin Geum-ryeon’s true partner, but he had never imagined that he would be caught up in such intense emotions.
Is affection something that skips the intermediate steps and suddenly appears like this? It felt so natural, as if it had been in his heart from the beginning before he even realized ‘when,’ but at the same time, it felt very unfamiliar to face it directly.
Perhaps knowing that Ak Mujin was feeling shy, Jin Geum-ryeon did not dare to turn his body and quietly buried his face in his shoulder.
The moment he became aware of his feelings, Ak Mujin’s heart began to pound. To become aware of his feelings at such an unexpected moment? If such a moment were to come… shouldn’t it be more dramatic?
Amidst the confusion, Ak Mujin could feel something hard poking him in the waist.
“…Let go now. Your sword is digging into my waist.”
No sooner had he said those words than Moonless floated into Ak Mujin’s view, swaggering around. Ak Mujin, realizing once again that it was not the sword that was poking his waist, sighed softly. At this timing…?
A voice mixed with laughter rang in his ear.
“Your ears are red.”
“Ahem… hmm…”
“…Did I make things difficult for you?”
Only then did Jin Geum-ryeon release Ak Mujin and grab his arm to turn him around. Ak Mujin’s face, reflected in Jin Geum-ryeon’s eyes, was as red as a ripe fruit, making him look more lovable than ever. Jin Geum-ryeon took a small, deep breath.
“I had already vaguely sensed that your attitude had changed a little.”
It seemed that Jin Geum-ryeon had not shown it all this time simply because he was pretending not to know Ak Mujin. Ak Mujin had nothing to say and could only clear his throat again.
Jin Geum-ryeon looked down at him and smiled softly.
“Is there anywhere left to run?”
Again, Ak Mujin had nothing to say. As he turned his head to hide his increasingly red face, Jin Geum-ryeon reached out, grabbed his chin, and made him look at him. Ak Mujin’s wavering eyes met Jin Geum-ryeon’s steady gaze.
“I’ve waited too long.”
Too long.
Jin Geum-ryeon whispered softly and slowly lowered his head to press his lips against his. Ak Mujin’s lips, which had been tightly closed as if they would never open, parted obediently at Jin Geum-ryeon’s polite movement.
As the rough surface of his lips soon became smooth with saliva, Jin Geum-ryeon stopped licking his lips and invaded the inside of Ak Mujin’s teeth. Ak Mujin unknowingly grabbed Jin Geum-ryeon’s waist and closed his eyelids.
With wet tongues intertwined and his mind melting, Ak Mujin couldn’t come to his senses.
*
After a long kiss, Ak Mujin moved his foot and felt something in the way, and only then did he realize that Seo-mok was still lying haphazardly on the floor. He suddenly felt sorry for Seo-mok.
“…Are you sorry?”
Ak Mujin, startled by the sudden question, flinched as he was about to help him up. Seo-mok was looking up at Ak Mujin, barely opening his swollen eyes.
“You’re too much. Leaving me behind and being so leisurely…”
“Ah, no. How long have you been awake?”
“The benefactor has too many complaints.”
As Ak Mujin was flustered, Jin Geum-ryeon stepped forward and sharply rebuked. However, unlike his sharp words, he slung Seo-mok’s body over his shoulder. Thanks to this, Seo-mok was dangling from his tall frame, grumbling.
“…Since a while ago. I’ve been awake since a while ago. Since before you two kissed… since you abandoned me…”
Seo-mok, who forced out his voice, kept coughing. Judging from his voice, he seemed dazed and not quite in his right mind yet. Ak Mujin looked up at Jin Geum-ryeon and said awkwardly.
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
Ak Mujin scratched his head and scanned the cabin once before trying to leave. However, he couldn’t shake off the strange feeling and went back inside.
“Ahn Do-hyun?”
Jin Geum-ryeon, who was about to follow Ak Mujin, was puzzled by his sudden change of direction and called out his name. But Ak Mujin did not answer and seemed to rummage through the furniture inside the cabin, then found Joo Mu-jeong’s body and bowed to him.
And after searching through his pockets and clothes, he found a small note under the wrist guard that wrapped around his left wrist.
“What is that?”
Ak Mujin, who also wondered what it was, shook his head at Jin Geum-ryeon’s question and hurriedly unfolded the paper carefully. Sure enough, it contained information about Chun-wol written in tiny letters, and at the end of the letter, a swallow with blue wing feathers was drawn.
Seeing this swallow, Ak Mujin immediately knew that the Martial Alliance was involved in this. No, to be exact, the Martial Alliance Lord Namgung Mun.
As expected, Joo Mu-jeong had not found Chun-wol on his own.
Ak Mujin slowly got up and handed the paper to Jin Geum-ryeon. He raised one eyebrow and took it, looking at it closely. And his brow furrowed even more.
“…This is… there was a helper behind him.”
“Yes. But that helper should have coaxed a trustworthy person, but he doesn’t have a good eye.”
At those words, Jin Geum-ryeon looked at Ak Mujin as if surprised.
“Do you already know who the helper is?”
Ak Mujin nodded lightly and slowly approached Jin Geum-ryeon, pointing to the end of the letter he was holding.
“Have you ever seen a group that uses this mark?”
“…No. This is my first time seeing it.”
Even after that answer, Jin Geum-ryeon tried to think of organizations related to swallows, but he couldn’t think of anything and could only look at Ak Mujin.
Ak Mujin answered.
This is the mark of the Martial Alliance Lord’s private organization, Yeonbi.”
It was natural that he didn’t know. The reason he knew this was simply because he was the original author. Ahn Do-hyun’s Namgung Mun’s private organization ‘Yeonbi,’ which he created in the original work, was an organization that Namgung Mun used to do dirty work behind the Martial Alliance, and most people in the Martial Alliance, except for his closest aides, didn’t even know it existed.
Certainly, it was a bit unsettling that Namgung Mun’s later settings, which were not covered in the original work, had popped up, and that Namgung Mun was also confirmed to be involved in this incident.
“Joo Mu-jeong probably intended to leave this letter behind and then threaten Namgung Mun to exploit him after everything was over. But it’s a great relief that we found him first.”
“But, why would the Martial Alliance Lord approach Joo Mu-jeong? The Martial Alliance Lord doesn’t have any particular grudge against you.”
“‘Against me,’ he doesn’t.”
The moment he heard that answer, Jin Geum-ryeon’s head cleared and he blinked once.
“…The Martial Alliance Lord must have been targeting me, who is traveling with you.”
As Ak Mujin nodded, Jin Geum-ryeon looked at him for a moment and then burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! Was that ridiculous play true? That he secretly loved my mother was real?”
It was certainly a coincidence that Namgung Mun, who had been quiet even after being defeated by Jin Geum-ryeon, began to move after a play that seemed to be about him was performed in a certain inn. If he was reaching out to the Demon Cult, the play must have exposed Namgung Mun’s weaknesses.