Ak Mujin’s death was not a top secret, as it wasn’t the current Vice-Leader who had died, but the fact that Demonic Cult news was spreading outside like this was not good for the Demonic Cult’s reputation. Chun-wol sighed softly.
“…How did you know that?”
When she asked the warrior, he pointed to the chrysanthemum embroidery on her wrist. Chun-wol’s gaze naturally fell to her wrist as well.
“All Demonic Cultists wear that, and if you weren’t mourning someone, it wouldn’t be chrysanthemum embroidery. Also, not just anyone would mourn in this way, so surely that person held an important position.”
Chun-wol squinted at him. He was quite perceptive. She swallowed a sigh and turned around.
“Follow me.”
Hearing those words, the warrior hurriedly ascended the stairs.
Chun-wol waited for the warrior to come up, then led him to the small room closest to the stairs. After leaving the guard outside, she closed the door and immediately got to the point.
“Why are you curious about the person the Demonic Cult is mourning? Who are you?”
“Tell me who that person is first.”
The warrior looked very anxious as he said that. Chun-wol hesitated for a moment, then finally uttered a word.
“…Ak Mujin….”
“…!”
“He was once the Vice-Leader of the Cult.”
Chun-wol’s face contorted as she said that. As someone who had held feelings for him, it was purely painful to speak of his death.
However, as much as she was in pain, the warrior’s face seemed to be filled with considerable shock as well.
“Why!”
He shouted.
“Why did he die!”
“Madam Lou?”
No sooner had a loud voice erupted from inside than the voice of the guard standing in front of the door was heard.
“It’s alright.”
Chun-wol quickly replied to the guard and looked at the warrior.
“Now answer me. Who are you?”
She could no longer back down. Then, the warrior, his chest heaving and unable to hide his excitement, surprisingly answered readily.
“…I am Jin Geum-ryeon.”
Jin Geum-ryeon muttered self-deprecatingly.
“…That person… saved my life.”
Chun-wol’s eyes widened. The moment she heard those words, all the favors Ak Mujin had shown her, and all the things he had meticulously taken care of, pretending to be indifferent, began to come back to her in terrifying detail.
A tear fell from her eye.
Chun-wol, silently shedding tears, looked very beautiful even to Jin Geum-ryeon. Chun-wol reminded herself that he was watching and quickly took a handkerchief from her sleeve to lightly dab her eyes.
“…Ah, I’m sorry. …I become foolish in situations like this.”
“…”
Jin Geum-ryeon could intuitively tell that she cared deeply for Ak Mujin. For some reason, it felt like a fire was igniting in his heart, but that wasn’t the important issue right now.
Chun-wol opened her mouth with difficulty.
“…Please, sit down. My name is Chun-wol. I, too… owe Young master Ak a great debt.”
After saying that, Chun-wol guided Jin Geum-ryeon to a seat and took a few deep breaths, looking at the air. She soon returned to her calm demeanor from when they first met.
“You said you wanted to know why Young master passed away.”
Her words were true, but frankly, Jin Geum-ryeon still didn’t want to believe the fact that Ak Mujin had died. His face darkened, and he nodded to hear the answer.
“…He… drank poison less than a month ago and took his own life…, ahem. He took his own life.”
It was difficult to state the truth. Chun-wol stammered because it was too hard to say the words ‘took his own life.’
As if he had heard something he shouldn’t have, Jin Geum-ryeon’s face turned white in an instant.
“Took his own life!”
That person took his own life…? Although Ak Mujin had shown an attitude of indifference to everything while traveling with Jin Geum-ryeon, he was by no means the kind of person who would easily give up his life.
As Jin Geum-ryeon looked into Chun-wol’s face like this, it seemed like there was more to the story. Unable to hide his excitement, he began to press her.
“Why? Why did he make that choice!”
“That, that is…”
For some reason, it seemed very difficult for Chun-wol to tell the story. Jin Geum-ryeon could see her face turning red, whether from anger or shame. She closed her eyes tightly and barely calmed herself down.
“Before Young master made that choice, there was an order that was given to him.”
As Chun-wol began to speak step by step, Jin Geum-ryeon listened intently with wide eyes.
“After the Cult Leader found out that Young master had manifested as a Yin Person, it seems he only intended to use him as a Yin Person within the Cult. The Cult Leader was going to marry Ak Mujin off to the Third Young master…”
Chun-wol’s posture collapsed as she said those words. Her beautiful face was lowered, and her shoulders trembled. Jin Geum-ryeon, who had heard that far, also felt like the ground was crumbling beneath his feet.
He had underestimated the Demonic Cult too much. Even though Ak Mujin had lost his Inner Force, he was once the Vice-Leader, so he thought that his treatment within the Demonic Cult wouldn’t be too bad. But, what the Demonic Cult was trying to do was to trample on and violate a person’s dignity. If there was anything more shameful than death, it would be this.
Jin Geum-ryeon was as shocked as when he had heard the news of Ak Mujin’s death, and his fingertips began to tremble.
His mind became dizzy.
Ak Mujin had already been humiliated by Seo Moon-gwang once.
At that time, Jin Geum-ryeon was able to save him in a timely manner, but this time was different. There was an absolute order from the Cult Leader within the Demonic Cult, and there was no Jin Geum-ryeon to save Ak Mujin in that situation.
“How…”
‘Such a thing.’ The rest of the words could not come out of Jin Geum-ryeon’s mouth and faded away. Chun-wol could not hold back the tears that welled up from her resentment and began to shed them. After shedding tears for a while, she seemed to have calmed down to some extent and wiped away her tears again with a handkerchief.
And before she knew it, she regained her composure and began to express her thoughts.
“But… no matter how I think about it, I find Young master’s death suspicious.”
Jin Geum-ryeon’s shaking eyes widened.
“I wasn’t at headquarters at the time, so I’m not sure, but Ak Mujin was constantly being monitored and detained there. How could he have obtained the deadly poison needed for suicide in that state?”
No matter how much Chun-wol thought back to that time, she thought there were unnatural parts. Decisively, Ak Mujin was the one who had told Chun-wol to live on when she was sold to the House of courtesans and tried to take her own life.
“The person I know would never take his own life just because his body was defiled.”
She couldn’t believe that such a person would have made such an extreme choice for such a reason, so she couldn’t take the rumors at face value.
Jin Geum-ryeon felt a little guilty for some reason, but Ak Mujin’s attitude after that incident with Jin Geum-ryeon clearly refuted Chun-wol’s words. Would he really have chosen suicide just because his honor as a Yin Person was tarnished?
They were just words he had heard from Chun-wol, but Jin Geum-ryeon also agreed with her words.
“It may be a false rumor spread by the Demonic Cult to cover up the fact that Young master escaped by cleverly avoiding the crisis… He may be alive and well somewhere…”
That was her wish. She knew it was a ridiculous thought since the funeral had already been held, but it was a futile wish because she couldn’t accept the death of someone she cherished.
Jin Geum-ryeon could no longer say anything.
Now that things had come to this, the emotions that overwhelmed him were sadness and regret.
From the moment he lost Ak Mujin, he was overwhelmed with regret, but now several times that amount of regret was weighing him down.
If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have sent Ak Mujin away like that. He wouldn’t have tried to send him to the Martial Alliance either, and he would have just cherished the time he spent with him.
Jin Geum-ryeon and Chun-wol sat there silently for a while.
It was Jin Geum-ryeon who broke the silence.
“…I must find him.”
He said in a voice that was strangely nonchalant. Chun-wol looked at Jin Geum-ryeon with a somewhat surprised face.
“Unless I see it with my own eyes, I cannot believe that person’s death either.”
If not, he needed material evidence. Material evidence that Ak Mujin was dead.
Chun-wol’s eyes widened questioningly. This was because she had not thought that Jin Geum-ryeon would take her words seriously.
“Young master…”
“Did you confirm the body yourself?”
Chun-wol hesitated. In fact, her main area of activity was Hubei, so she did not frequent Heavenly Mountain often. She only briefly attended the funeral, and the day Ak Mujin died was no exception.
“I must confirm it myself.”
With those words, Jin Geum-ryeon got up from his seat. Then, Chun-wol hurriedly called out to him.
“Wa, wait a minute! Heavenly Mountain is not a place that can be entered and exited so easily!”
Chun-wol was worried about Jin Geum-ryeon and tried to stop him. But on the other hand, she was also looking forward to Jin Geum-ryeon’s future actions.
Jin Geum-ryeon left the House of courtesans without any regrets. And he headed straight for Heavenly Mountain. Breaking through the defenses and ambushes there was no longer a problem.
It was almost an act of stubbornness because he didn’t want to believe Ak Mujin’s death, but he felt like he couldn’t bear it unless he thought that way. He wanted to find even Ak Mujin’s body.
And at the same time, hatred for the Demonic Cult, which had made Ak Mujin that way, began to smolder in Jin Geum-ryeon’s heart.