“Sniffle, sniffle….”
Ak Mujin pondered, using Geum-ryeon’s sniffling as background music.
Did I mess up the timing by interfering?
Maybe Mae-yeong was supposed to appear tomorrow? Or the day after?
As Ak Mujin tried to guess Mae-yeong’s schedule, who hadn’t appeared, he decided to move locations since he couldn’t go back to that brawl.
“Get up.”
“Sniffle….”
Jin Geum-ryeon sniffled.
“Ah.”
Pressure Point Strike.
Ak Mujin gently pressed and released Jin Geum-ryeon’s Acupoint.
“My mother’s enemy! I’ll repay you tenfold later!”
As soon as his Acupoint was released, Jin Geum-ryeon shot out like a bullet, quickly distancing himself from Ak Mujin.
But before he could take a few more steps, he was blocked by something and bumped his face into something soft. Thanks to that, Geum-ryeon didn’t fall and looked up at what was in front of him. And standing in front of him was none other than Ak Mujin.
Wasn’t he standing behind him just now?
Jin Geum-ryeon was frustrated, but Ak Mujin grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and easily lifted him up.
“Let go of me! You demon! Demonic Leader bastard!”
Geum-ryeon was only five years old, but he was quite smart and had a good learning ability.
Perhaps that’s why he repeated the titles the Namgung Clan people had used to call Ak Mujin on the battlefield, screaming as he did so. But Ak Mujin, without a word, tucked Geum-ryeon under his arm and used his Light Body Skill to fly far away.
Ak Mujin tried to avoid talking to Geum-ryeon as much as possible.
He intended to absolutely refrain from conversations, as well as any actions that could affect his future.
“Y-you, you, monster! Villain! Sea cucumber, sea squirt, sea anemone!”
Jin Geum-ryeon knew that no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t escape Ak Mujin’s grasp.
All he could do was use his little mouth, so he chattered non-stop while Ak Mujin ran for about two hours, heading to a village quite far from the mountain.
“…Stupid, idiot….”
As Ak Mujin finally arrived at the village, Jin Geum-ryeon mumbled as if he were sleep-talking, half-asleep.
Still clinging to his arm, his plump cheeks were pulled down, making his lips stick out like a sparrow’s face.
Ak Mujin entered the largest inn in the village and rented a room.
He had no intention of starving the child, so he slipped the waiter extra coins and told him to send up a meal as well.
“Yes, yes. As you wish.”
“Ah, have any Martial Artists been coming and going around here?”
“Martial Artists? Hmm. The only guests we’ve had today are travelers.”
At the waiter’s answer, Mujin nodded and headed up to the second floor where the room was located.
He had come to a village quite far from the mountain where he had faced Jin Sang-aeng, so he shouldn’t be caught for the time being.
“Your son is very cute.”
Ak Mujin felt uneasy at the waiter’s last words, but he didn’t reply and strode up, entering the room.
He had chosen a regular room to avoid standing out, but the room was quite clean, so it wasn’t too bad for someone who had been spending money like water as the second-in-command of the Demonic Cult.
He looked around the room carefully, then placed the child on the clean bed and covered him with a blanket. His small, intricate face seemed to frown, but he must have been tired because he quickly fell into a deep sleep, breathing softly without waking up.
“Eomeoni….”
Now that he had some time to spare, Ak Mujin took a closer look and realized that the child’s appearance and condition were terrible, as he had been running away for days.
His face was grimy, his clothes were tattered in places, and there was some dandruff in his hair. He had been running away with the child, so he probably hadn’t been able to eat properly, let alone wash properly.
Ak Mujin recalled Namgung Cheon and Jin Sang-aeng, who had died tragically in front of him, and sighed deeply.
“I’m sorry….”
He muttered to himself, unknowingly facing the window. The moon had already risen outside the window, as he had been running for quite some time.
Ak Mujin pulled out a chair from the table and sat down, deep in thought.
No matter how much he thought about it, it was strange that ‘Mae-yeong’ hadn’t appeared. The Crimson Kill Squad being dispatched to pursue Jin Sang-aeng was a natural course of action, and Ak Mujin had also been dispatched as the leader of the Crimson Kill Squad at this time, so there was no difference from the original story as he had briefly shown his face.
What was the problem?
He had spent an hour or two on the battlefield, so there was plenty of time for Mae-yeong to appear.
Mae-yeong, who could be said to be a master of swordsmanship, was an indispensable figure in the original story. This was because he significantly improved Jin Geum-ryeon’s Martial Arts while being Jin Geum-ryeon’s teacher for about 16 years.
In addition, he would appear at every critical moment when Jin Geum-ryeon was in danger after going out into the Jianghu, playing a deus ex machina role and disappearing.
So he couldn’t be left out of Jin Geum-ryeon’s narrative.
Moreover, unlike Do-hyun’s intentions, the illustration was so well-drawn that he was quite popular despite being a minor supporting character with not much screen time.
He had never specifically ordered him to be drawn beautifully, but the illustrator must have been possessed, drawing his masterpiece as Mae-yeong.
Ak Mujin, who had not yet seen Mae-yeong, wondered if he was actually that beautiful as he looked at the moon.
The moon, which he had looked up at after a long time, was unusually large.
“Please open the door!”
The waiter’s voice was heard from outside the door. Judging by the clattering sound, he must have brought the food. Ak Mujin got up and opened the door for the waiter to enter.
“Hehe, today’s dish is pigeon soup. I don’t know if the child will like it.”
The waiter came into the room and placed the food on the table. And just as he was about to leave, he took out some Candied fruit from his pocket and handed it to Ak Mujin.
“I have a child at home too. Then.”
Ak Mujin looked at what he had received for a moment, then closed the door again and turned his gaze back to the room.
But what do you know. The child, who had been lying on the bed sleeping just a moment ago, was opening the window and trying to jump out.
Ak Mujin was horrified and immediately ran to grab the child’s ankle.
Jin Geum-ryeon’s body was hanging out of the window past his waist, barely held by Mujin’s hand, dangling outside the window.
“Let go of me! I’m going to my mother!”
“Oh my, look at that.”
“Oh my god.”
As Jin Geum-ryeon screamed while hanging from Ak Mujin’s hand, passersby gossiped and pointed fingers.
Ak Mujin put strength into his arm and simply lifted the small body up, then slammed the window shut.
“You’re really something.”
Ak Mujin said bluntly, then took a few steps while holding Geum-ryeon’s body and sat him down in front of the table.
“Eat.”
Jin Geum-ryeon, who hadn’t eaten properly for several days, felt hungry as soon as he saw the food.
But how could he eat the food given by his enemy?
He covered his mouth with his tiny hands as if he wouldn’t eat it at all. Ak Mujin watched this and sat across from him, crossing his arms.
“Are you saying you’d rather starve to death?”
Mujin’s tone was cold as he said that. No matter how cute the child was, he shouldn’t be lenient. If it were another child, he might have been friendly, but there was nothing worse for him than being overly kind to Jin Geum-ryeon and having him follow Ak Mujin instead of Mae-yeong, or remembering Ak Mujin as his benefactor for a long time.
But, even if he was determined not to affect Jin Geum-ryeon’s path, he still had to feed the child, didn’t he? Keeping a distance and being cold was a separate issue from providing the basics.
“…I’m going to my mother.”
Jin Geum-ryeon spoke stubbornly, and Ak Mujin sighed inwardly. Of course, he hadn’t expected the child to accept all this so readily. It had taken Geum-ryeon some time to overcome the death of his parents and develop a close relationship with his teacher, even after being taken in by Mae-yeong.
Anyway, he had to feed him now, and the answer to how to coax this child was already in his head.
“That place is still crawling with the murderers who tried to kill your mother and you. Are you saying you’re going to go and offer them your neck?”
Ak Mujin said, feigning a rather cruel tone. The Jin Geum-ryeon he had created was strong against the strong and weak against the weak. So, it seemed good to provoke him.
“If I keep you in my grasp, you’ll starve to death, and if you go to find your mother’s body, you’ll be killed by those guys. So, I can get away without lifting a finger, which is fine with me.”
“…”
“This is too good to waste, so I’ll eat it.”
As Ak Mujin picked up his chopsticks, Geum-ryeon flinched and straightened his upper body. Then, he carefully picked up a dumpling. Tears welled up in his eyes as he hesitated and bit into the dumpling. His lips were turned down in anger.
I didn’t need to say all that.
My mouth was a bit too harsh.
Anyway, as food entered Jin Geum-ryeon’s stomach, his belly rumbled, clamoring for more.
The child began to eat the dumplings eagerly.
He couldn’t touch the stir-fried vegetables or twice-cooked pork, perhaps because he was still clumsy with chopsticks.
Ak Mujin watched this and couldn’t stand it any longer. How could a Korean just leave a child who couldn’t even eat properly? He picked up some twice-cooked pork with his chopsticks and placed it on Geum-ryeon’s spoon.
Jin Geum-ryeon seemed to glare at Ak Mujin once, then put it in his mouth and chewed.
This action was repeated several times.
“…Mother.”
“…”
As Jin Geum-ryeon’s stomach filled, his eyes gradually reddened. Tears began to fall onto the table, one or two at a time.
“Hwaaa! Mom!”
Ak Mujin flinched. He was just flustered because the child suddenly started crying while eating so well.
“Dad… Hwaaa-!”
Jin Geum-ryeon had food he hadn’t finished eating in his mouth, but Ak Mujin’s heart ached, and he didn’t know what to do. How should I comfort him?
Right now, he was the ultimate villain, the Demonic Leader, the sea cucumber, the sea squirt, the sea anemone, who had chased after and killed Jin Geum-ryeon’s parents.
Hadn’t he been sneering about his mother’s body until just now?
Perhaps that was why he couldn’t dare to think of comforting Jin Geum-ryeon.