At the words that came from outside, the expressions of the three hostages all stiffened at once.
The right answer?
If they were capable of thinking at all, there was no way a rescue party that had come to save them would have knocked so politely on the door, would they? They would have broken it down and burst in by surprise.
Most decisively, the woman’s face filled with joy.
‘Damn it! They’re on her side!’
Yang Jung let out a deep sigh.
‘But just who is it, for her to be so happy?’
Creeeak.
As the door opened, Ian threw herself toward the person standing in front of it.
“Young Master!”
Without a thought for anything else, she flung herself into Geom Mugeuk’s arms.
“I missed you!”
She had hugged Geom Mugeuk several times before, but never had she been so glad, so happy to see him as she was today.
Yes, the right answer had arrived!
No, what did it matter if he was the wrong answer? It was Geom Mugeuk. Geom Mugeuk, who appeared at just the right moment in such a difficult situation, had come.
The trio watching the scene felt fear at the appearance of these new arrivals, but at the same time, they envied the man.
‘Who on earth is he, for this beautiful woman to be so delighted?’
Looking at his face, he was a young and handsome man.
Only belatedly did Ian notice Chwima standing behind Geom Mugeuk and looking at her.
“Ah! Lord Chwima!”
Startled, Ian pulled away from Geom Mugeuk, her face turning red.
To think that the woman who had been debating whether to cut off their arms or their necks just moments ago could look so shy!
But right now, that was not the issue for the three of them.
‘Chwima?’
The three who had been captured looked at one another with puzzled expressions. They stared at each other as if to say, ‘I misheard that, right?’ After all, there was only one Chwima they knew of.
Their gazes, desperately hoping they had heard wrong, turned back toward Chwima.
The handsome middle-aged man did not reveal any particular aura, yet for some reason he possessed a presence that drew the eye. As their gazes lingered on his vaguely decadent air and empty eyes, they eventually fell to the wine bottle at his waist.
They might not know anything else, but they knew that much for certain. Chwima’s signature weapon was a wine bottle.
‘We didn’t mishear!’
A chill ran through them.
‘A Demon Venerable has come? Here? Why on earth?’
The fear a Demon Venerable inspired in the martial world was truly tremendous. When Chwima glanced at them, the three lowered their heads in unison and avoided his eyes.
Chwima looked at Geom Mugeuk. His gaze seemed to say:
I may get bullied by you, but when I’m outside, this is the kind of person I am.
Geom Mugeuk smiled at him. He knew that even if Chwima acted calm on the outside, his heart was not at ease, so he tried to smile at him often.
Geom Mugeuk asked Ian,
“Who exactly were you trying to save?”
“I knew it! You understand even without me telling you.”
Ian explained how she had ended up coming all the way here. It had begun when she happened to meet a woman on the way to the place where Seo Jin, the younger sibling of the Ghost Spirit, was.
“……I came all the way here because I accepted a cup of water and listened to her story. It was an extremely expensive cup of water, really.”
Geom Mugeuk knew. This incident explained, in the simplest way, what kind of person Ian was.
She had not thrown herself in because she was merely his guard, or simply to save him. She had thrown herself in willingly because she was this kind of person.
“Was handling this kind of thing always this difficult? Whenever I watch you, Young Master, you take care of things so easily that I thought it would be simple.”
Ian looked at the three people she had kidnapped and let out a sigh. Up until she brought them here, she had felt good about it. She had thought she would make a splendid hostage exchange, then leave with the people she had rescued.
“How was I supposed to know? That he would even abandon his own child. So I was just debating whether to kill these people outright and leave.”
Those words, which she did not mean, were said for the benefit of the three captives. However she handled them, she had to create an atmosphere of fear.
Now Geom Mugeuk took over the situation.
“May I handle the rest from here?”
“Please do!”
It was Geom Mugeuk, so what was there to worry about? Though it would never happen, even if he ruined everything, what did it matter? To her, Geom Mugeuk was that kind of existence.
Geom Mugeuk approached the three and whispered quietly.
“You really would have been in serious trouble if I hadn’t come. That pretty woman over there—snip, snip—she can be terrifying.”
Ian spoke from behind him.
“I can hear you, you know.”
At that moment, the three were thinking similar thoughts.
‘Who is this young man? Is he Chwima’s subordinate?’
Somehow, that did not seem to be the case. Considering the woman had called him Young Master, he seemed to be of high status….
But no matter how they looked at him, he did not feel like someone who had learned martial arts at all. His appearance and the impression he gave off were exactly that of a scion of a prestigious family. But a scion of a prestigious family was associating with a Demon Venerable and committing such acts?
In any case, what he had to do was clear. Yang Jung resolved that he had to use this variable somehow and survive.
‘I’ll use this bastard to survive.’
Yang Jung asked politely,
“May I ask who you are, Young Hero?”
Forcing down the urge to snap, “And who are you supposed to be?” he behaved as courteously as possible.
“I am the lifesaving benefactor who will save you.”
It was an incomprehensible statement, but in any case, since he said he would save them, Yang Jung seized the opportunity.
“If you spare me, I will grant you whatever you desire.”
“Whatever?”
“That is so. If you want money, I will give you money. If you want martial arts, I will teach you our sect’s martial arts. If you want fame, I will help you gain fame as well.”
For now, he recklessly threw out promises without knowing whether he could keep them or not. His life was on the line, so what could he not say?
Ian, standing behind, smiled faintly. Just who was he offering money to, and who did he think he could teach martial arts? On top of that, even if everyone in his sect were combined, they would not measure up in fame.
“Can’t you give me all three?”
“I will give you all three!”
But soon Geom Mugeuk’s eyes turned suspicious.
“But didn’t you say your father refused the hostage exchange? Would someone like that really give up money and pass on martial arts?”
“That is……!”
Truly, this was the most humiliating and infuriating part of Yang Jung’s life.
Then Geom Mugeuk casually proposed,
“How about this instead? Tell us where the people we need to save are imprisoned. Then we’ll save them ourselves. After that, we can release you. Our goal is to save those people anyway.”
The moment she heard those words, Ian understood.
‘Ah! So that was the right answer.’
Coax him into revealing where they were being held, then go rescue them directly.
‘Why didn’t I think of something so simple?’
It was a plan that made her feel she should obviously have thought of it first. Yet astonishingly, she had not.
Exchange this side for that side. Once her thoughts had fixated on that, nothing else had occurred to her. Her opponent was a cold-blooded man who had even abandoned his child, yet she had been caught up only in the idea of making a fair exchange. Of course the situation would not have gone as she wanted.
If Geom Mugeuk had not come, she would surely have kicked off her blanket far in the future, thinking, ‘Ah, why didn’t I think of that?’
‘As expected, being with the Young Cult Leader puts me at ease.’
At that moment, Ian’s eyes met Chwima’s. Chwima’s expression seemed to say, ‘I know that feeling too.’
Right now, he was simply watching comfortably like this, but what if the Young Cult Leader had been an immature troublemaker? What if he had to follow that troublemaker around and clean up after every accident he caused? It was truly something he did not even want to imagine.
“You have to survive first, don’t you?”
Geom Mugeuk’s persuasion was also for Ian’s sake. She would surely want to save the captured woman’s husband, and the others as well.
The problem was that even if they released Yang Jung, the North Blood Sect would absolutely not release those people. If they had been willing to release them, they would have accepted the hostage exchange in the first place.
According to Ian, they had gathered people with unusual constitutions, so it seemed they were conducting some kind of experiment.
They were undoubtedly plotting something that could not be revealed to the outside.
After agonizing over it, Yang Jung spoke cautiously.
“They’ve probably already moved those people.”
By then, he was halfway persuaded.
“You know where they might have moved them, don’t you?”
Of course, Yang Jung had a rough idea of several possible locations.
“Even if I tell you, the security will be so tight that you won’t be able to save them.”
Geom Mugeuk looked back at Chwima and said,
“Didn’t you hear who he was earlier?”
Yang Jung’s heart began to pound. Chwima frightened him, and he was also afraid because he felt he would end up confessing everything.
“Besides, if we go there and get captured, that’s even better for you, isn’t it? What? Are you afraid you’ll be treated as a traitor? You can just say this later: that you told us the location in order to catch us.”
Geom Mugeuk even provided him with a way out.
“If I really tell you, will you release us?”
“I’ll release you.”
“How can I believe that?”
“Because I’m promising you that I will.”
Looking at those clear eyes and that kind, handsome face, it felt as if he would certainly keep his promise. But how could one trust someone based on appearance alone? Come to think of it, he still did not even know who this person was.
As his hesitation dragged on, Geom Mugeuk turned away coldly.
“Then just die. What are you doing? Kill all three of them!”
At Geom Mugeuk’s command, Ian drew her sword and approached the three. As a thick, unwavering killing intent surged forth, Yang Jung cried out urgently,
“I’ll tell you!”
In the end, Yang Jung revealed the locations. Not just one place, but several where they might be.
“If the place you told us is right, then when you open your eyes again, you’ll wake up in your room at the North Blood Sect.”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three streams of finger wind flew out simultaneously and sealed their acupoints. They fell asleep on the spot.
Of course, even if the location was correct, he had no intention of simply releasing them. He needed to make a deal with the Ice Palace and obtain what could be obtained from that side first.
And that was not the end of it. There was still punishment to mete out for whatever the North Blood Sect had been plotting.
Ian let out a sigh and said,
“Why couldn’t I think of this from the start?”
“Even if you had thought of it then, it wouldn’t have worked.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“He would never have revealed it. He would have denied everything to the very end. And you’re not the type to torture someone.”
“Ah! So he confessed because he learned that his father had abandoned him!”
“That’s right.”
“I didn’t think of that part either! Why does the right answer keep avoiding me?”
Ian gazed at Geom Mugeuk with fresh admiration.
Geom Mugeuk did not forget to show off.
“That look in your eyes, so full of respect, always feels good no matter how many times I see it.”
After joking like that, the three of them went outside.
Outside, the snow that had briefly stopped was falling heavily again.
“We’re certainly getting more than enough chances to look at snow.”
Ian looked up at the sky with a bright face. Geom Mugeuk once again felt that Ian suited winter well.
Ian ran out into the snow-covered yard.
Watching Ian run around like an excited puppy, Geom Mugeuk said to Chwima,
“Hyung, take care of rescuing those people. I’ll go meet the Young Palace Lord.”
Chwima silently nodded, then walked wordlessly into the snow.
Ian, who had been running around, stopped for a moment and watched Chwima. Was it because she had never properly seen his back before? Or was it because of the snow falling in great flurries? For some reason, Ian thought Chwima’s back as he walked alone through the snow looked lonely.
“Is this really a problem that can be solved with just, ‘take care of it’?”
“Why do you think a Demon Venerable is called a Demon Venerable?”
“Thanks to him, I’m free now!”
Ian flopped down on her back in the snowfield.
Looking up at the snow-filled sky, Geom Mugeuk said,
“Sorry, but this is only the beginning.”
* * *
At Geom Mugeuk’s message asking to meet, Han Seol arrived at the appointed place with Chan.
Two people were waiting there.
The moment Han Seol saw the woman standing beside Geom Mugeuk, she could tell. That woman, wearing a bamboo hat and face veil, was the subordinate who had kidnapped the North Blood Sect Leader’s child this time.
‘So his subordinate was a woman.’
The two were conversing comfortably. Even from a distance, it was clear that their relationship was an easy one. They seemed almost like friends, or perhaps like siblings.
‘As expected, he has no authority.’
It had been that way in front of Chwima, and it was the same in this situation now.
Then, naturally, the thought occurred to her that the rumors and achievements concerning the Young Cult Leader might have been exaggerated. If it was the Demonic Cult, they could fabricate as much as they wanted.
When Han Seol approached them, Ian respectfully cupped her fist in greeting.
“I greet the Young Palace Lord.”
Han Seol accepted the greeting with only the slightest movement of her head. Her expression said that a subordinate was, in the end, nothing more than a subordinate.
In her manner, Geom Mugeuk sensed neither brusqueness nor a consciousness of authority. What he felt now was emptiness.
“Why did you ask to meet?”
At Han Seol’s question, Geom Mugeuk went straight to the point.
“I will return the child of the Northern Blood Sect Master.”
Harboring the hope that things might unexpectedly go well, Han Seol asked calmly.
“Of course, there must be conditions?”
“Naturally.”
“State them.”
“First, you must not hold my subordinate responsible for abducting them.”
Han Seol’s gaze flicked briefly toward Ian before returning to Geom Mugeuk.
“I wonder whether the Northern Blood Sect will accept that.”
Though she said as much, the Northern Blood Sect would have no choice but to accept. One could blame and curse a typhoon that had blown in, but one could not charge headlong into it simply because one was angry.
“Very well. We accept. Where is Young Master Yang?”
“There is one more condition.”
“What is it?”
“Allow us to stay in the Ice Palace. We wish to remain for a short while and investigate the death of the lord of Baekju Snowfield.”
Han Seol refused firmly.
“This palace does not allow outsiders to stay.”
“Those are my only two conditions.”
“That is not for me to decide. I will discuss it with the Palace Mistress and inform you.”
Just as Han Seol was about to turn away, Geom Mugeuk spoke.
“This much seems like something you could decide yourself. Why not make the decision and persuade the Palace Mistress? As the Young Palace Mistress, surely you possess at least that much authority.”
If it was a provocation, then it was a provocation, but Han Seol did not let her pride rise to the bait.
“I have no such authority.”
“Then take this opportunity to gain it.”
Han Seol’s eyes turned cold.
“Isn’t your intention far too obvious?”
“I consider it an opportunity for the Young Palace Mistress.”
“What kind of opportunity?”
“An opportunity to formally negotiate with the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult. The Palace Mistress will be watching the process and the result as well. She may even be expecting it—expecting you to take the lead in handling this matter.”
For a moment, Han Seol imagined herself making that report.
I decided this matter on my own. Please trust and support me, Palace Mistress.
If she truly said that, how would her mother respond?
That was the problem. She could not predict it at all. She still did not truly know what kind of person her mother was.
“I will contact you again.”
She was about to turn away then.
“May I say something?”
Ian, who had remained silent until now, stepped forward. She slowly removed her bamboo hat and veil.
For a moment, Han Seol could not take her eyes off Ian’s face. It was not because she was admiring her beauty.
Han Seol was thinking one thing.
She is someone of a different texture from me.
When had she ever thought such a thing before? Had it been long ago, about her mother?
At the same time, a question arose. Why was she thinking this while looking at a mere subordinate of the Demonic Cult’s Young Cult Leader? Why was she feeling such a deep resonance? Even to herself, she could not understand it.
“What is it you wish to say?”
It was the first moment the gazes of the two women met—one cold, the other warm.