Ichu was faithfully following Geom Mugeuk's orders.
“He will ask if you can obtain the antidote for the Heukbi now. Answer that you can.”
“Understood.”
Just as Geom Mugeuk had predicted, Geum Ajong sent a voice transmission.
“Can you get the antidote for that Sangongdok?”
“I should be able to obtain it.”
“Get it as quickly as possible, no matter what it takes!”
“Understood.”
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you going quickly!”
Ichu, who had been about to leave that place, looked back at the two people.
The sight of them drinking looked as though Geum Ajong were dancing atop the palm of a demon painted on the carriage wall.
That didn’t mean he was worried about Geum Ajong. It wasn’t that he usually treated him carelessly.
‘Him and I are the same.’
It was because he thought that perhaps he too was dancing along. On the massive palm of a demon so huge that he couldn’t even tell he was on its palm right now.
“Did you ask what kind of person my older brother is?”
Geum Ajong poured alcohol into Geom Mugeuk’s cup.
Having discovered the secret behind the swindle, Geom Mugeuk now seemed manageable.
Sangongdok was a poison that prevented one from using internal energy for a certain time, not a poison that killed the opponent immediately. This meant that as long as the antidote was prepared in advance, one could sufficiently defend against it. A poison befitting a swindler.
“My older brother is an excellent man. Clever, diligent, and handsome. The one who will inherit the main family.”
Geom Mugeuk sensed it. While spouting words he did not mean, a hint of emotion seeped out when he particularly mentioned that he was handsome. Could it be that he felt an inferiority complex about his looks compared to his brother?
“If you speak so highly of him, I would like to meet him. Could you introduce me?”
Geum Ajong thought his prediction had been correct.
‘As expected, their target was my older brother!’
Those bastards had come to the family to pull a big scam, and their target was his older brother.
‘If my brother falls for these bastards?’
He would be the one catching the swindlers who robbed both the younger sibling and older brother at the last moment.
Rather than catching swindlers, he would be capturing the successor position.
At the request for an introduction, Geum Ajong subtly stepped back.
“Is my introduction really necessary? If you want to see him, just go meet him. We’re family now, after all.”
Then Geom Mugeuk refilled his cup and spoke.
“Would he welcome me if I went to meet him?”
“Indeed, given my brother’s personality, he will not like you. He will think you swindled two million nyang from the main family. Ah, please don’t misunderstand. That is not my thought.”
Now Geum Ajong slowly began to show his true colors.
“I am saying this because we were talking about my brother. If I were you, I would have helped the older brother rather than the younger brother.”
“May I ask the reason?”
“Shouldn’t a true man accomplish great things? The younger brother has no chance of becoming the successor anyway.”
Geom Mugeuk stared at Geum Ajong and asked.
“Then what about you? Do you not have confidence in becoming the successor? You seem like an ambitious man.”
Quick-witted as befits a swindler.
“I am a good-for-nothing. Overshadowed by my older brother, overshadowed by my younger brother. Reality is not kind.”
“If the ambition is great, wouldn’t the wings be large as well?”
Geom Mugeuk looked up as if he could see massive wings behind his back.
At that sight, Geum Ajong smiled. It was a trivial reaction, but he did not feel bad. If he looked ambitious, what was wrong with that?
“What satisfaction is there in helping someone who would become the successor anyway and making them the successor? It is also a problem to stand beside someone who cannot become the successor at all. I wish I had met you sooner.”
Geum Ajong was tempted by Geom Mugeuk’s regret. So he felt like revealing everything to this bastard and joining hands to scheme together. Somehow, he felt he could succeed with this guy.
But soon Geum Ajong flinched.
‘What am I thinking right now!’
Indeed, a swindler is a swindler. Without realizing it, he had entertained the absurd thought of joining hands with this bastard.
He felt that this bastard was born with his face, voice, and expression. Listening to him, his guard kept dropping.
“Let’s go together tomorrow. I will introduce you to my brother.”
“Thank you.”
“I will let you in on one thing in particular.”
It was not merely because he was in a good mood. If this bastard was to properly bring his brother in, he needed to know him well.
“There is something my brother absolutely cannot stand.”
“What is it?”
Geum Ajong emptied his last cup and spoke.
“Losing with money.”
* * *
At the same time, at the patriarch’s residence of Geumryong Sega, the awaited report was being delivered.
“Baekseonbang was completely empty.”
At his subordinate’s report, Geum Cheonbang asked in surprise.
“Are you saying there was not even a single corpse?”
“Yes. Not a single one.”
“Were there traces of a fight?”
“They remained everywhere. Only the corpses had all been cleared away, so it was impossible to know how they fought or what the result was.”
When he had first sent the subordinate, he had never dreamed he would ask such questions upon his return.
“Is there a possibility that Baekseonbang staged the whole thing?”
It was the doubt that arose from the news that all corpses had disappeared. If they had pretended to be defeated and vanished?
“The possibility remains open. They may have all died, or they may have left behind traces of a fight and fled.”
Seeing Geum Cheonbang frown at the obvious remark, the subordinate quickly added.
“If it is true that they were all defeated, one thing is certain. They could not have had much time to clear them, yet seeing how cleanly it was organized, the one responsible for the cleanup either possesses considerable martial arts prowess or is an expert in such matters.”
That was the end of the subordinate’s report.
“You may withdraw.”
“Yes.”
Geum Cheonbang felt that this matter was no ordinary one.
“A staged act by Baekseonbang? Or the work of Eunha Sangdan?”
He still found it hard to believe that Geom Mugeuk had done it.
It was then.
“It is neither.”
The one who entered was the eldest son, Geum Ahyeok.
He possessed the appearance befitting an heir of a prestigious family.
An appearance emanating the bearing of a great righteous hero.
If the second son, Geum Ajong, was the type to reveal his cunning and selfish nature through his face and actions, this Geum Ahyeok was someone who thoroughly hid himself behind the demeanor of a great hero.
“Everyone, withdraw.”
Geum Cheonbang dismissed even the hidden subordinates.
Now only the two of them remained in the patriarch’s residence.
“Neither? What do you mean?”
“A man named Geom Yeon killed all the immortals of Baekseonbang.”
“How do you know that?”
Geum Ahyeok did not answer, but Geum Cheonbang realized the reason.
“Did you hear it from that person?”
He could tell from his son’s expression.
“Did I not tell you to avoid contact with him as much as possible? I said I would handle it personally.”
Then Geum Ahyeok asked with an expression of incomprehension.
“Why do you dislike him?”
The fact that his son called him ‘that person’ rather than just ‘him’ in this atmosphere angered Geum Cheonbang.
So his voice naturally rose.
“Because he is dangerous!”
He had not given off this dangerous feeling from the start. At first, he had been gentle and calm. For a long time, he had consistently given the trust that one could gladly join hands with.
Like clothes getting wet in a drizzle, he had slowly seeped into his clan.
Only after the clothes were soaked did he realize. It was not rain, but blood.
“We must endure him! He has brought us greater profit than anywhere else under the heavens. For a merchant, what clearer reason is needed?”
Geum Cheonbang had lived his entire life as a merchant. He had experienced enough of the world and human affairs that he could roughly see and get a feel for things, roughly assess their value, and roughly know what was what. He had reached that age.
Yet lately, there were two things he could not figure out. No, two people.
His son and that person. He could not understand his son, and he could not understand him either, the one his son called ‘that person.’ When they first met, he had thoroughly analyzed and figured him out, but as over ten years passed, he now felt he understood him even less. Like the heart of his grown son.
“If we speak of danger, the Seodopa bastards that Rin brought are more dangerous. They have undoubtedly come targeting him.”
“How can you be certain?”
Geum Ahyeok did not answer.
“It was what he said again.”
Geum Ahyeok stared straight at Geum Cheonbang. At some point, his son had begun looking at him with such eyes. Such unfamiliar eyes.
Geum Cheonbang had always been proud of his eldest son from a young age. How had such a son come from someone as small and shabby as himself? He felt this satisfaction every time.
When he went out with his son, everyone praised and envied him. So he had boasted quite a bit. Enough to feel sorry for his second son.
And he had lived believing this.
That his son’s nature would be like his appearance that bore the demeanor of a great hero.
He had truly believed so. And in reality, his son had grown up well without major problems.
But at some point, he changed. He wished it had been since meeting him, but he knew well that it was not. He had felt something unfamiliar about his son even before that.
This cold?
This self-centered?
This greedy for money?
That was why he thought that he might have approached him.
Even so, he believed in his son.
He had not answered the question just now, but he believed in him. Because he was his son. If he grew a little older, he would judge situations more calmly.
“Father, did you not say you wanted to become the greatest tycoon in the Central Plains? Did you not say that was your dream?”
“I did, I did. However…”
“What are you afraid of? Are we not achieving that dream?”
He did not deny that Geumryong Sega had grown faster thanks to joining hands with him. He had earned tremendous money with his help.
But the money he demanded was snowballing as well.
“One day, he might swallow us whole.”
“Even if he swallows us, he will make us the greatest before he does.”
His son’s eyes said this.
If you are scared, step aside.
It was because of those eyes. That was why he had told his daughter she could not be the successor. Because of those eyes that would remove even a younger sibling if they obstructed his path.
“The Seodopa bastards my brother brought will all disappear before tonight passes. Just as Baekseonbang disappeared.”
“You must not!”
Geum Cheonbang’s heart raced. Killing people meant they could suffer retaliation and die themselves. How could he make such a decision so easily? You fool, we are merchants!
“If they are the ones who eliminated Baekseonbang, as you say, they are not people we can recklessly touch!”
“Did you not always say, Father?”
Geum Ahyeok added with a relaxed smile.
“That there is nothing in the world money cannot do.”
The reason Geum Cheonbang was rendered speechless was because he himself had often said those words.
No matter what… he had not known such a day would come.
* * *
After finishing the drinking session with Geum Ajong, I went to see my father.
Father and Hwi had moved their residence from the main house to Geumryong Sega here.
As we had discussed at the main house, I judged that handling Baekseonbang would cause them to move in earnest soon. Because they would try somehow to protect Geumryong Sega, this massive source of money.
I hesitated for a moment in front of Father’s room.
Was it because of the dizzying intoxication? I had come because I wanted to see Father, but thinking about it, it was already his bedtime.
Father, it is your second son!
It was a day when I wanted to bang on the door and throw a drunken tantrum, but I did not dare.
‘The martial artists will never know. That the Heavenly Demon goes to bed this early. Surely a Heavenly Demon should be awake even at the break of dawn, don’t you think!’
As I was quietly turning around without making a sound, the door opened.
I turned around in surprise, and there stood Father.
Rather than asking if he had not slept yet, rather than apologizing for waking him, these words came out first inevitably.
“Another floral pattern? Just how many of them do you have?”
Father was wearing floral pajamas.
Would the Heavenly Demon really wear such pajamas? I mean, those ultimate assassin-proof pajamas.
He had not worn them when camping, so I did not know, and when staying at inns, I had not seen him at night, so I did not know.
He should have been somewhat awkward and embarrassed, but Father was not ashamed of these pajamas at all.
Could he really wear these pajamas confidently even in front of the Martial Alliance Leader or the Demonic Path Alliance Leader?
“What is it?”
At his blunt question, I did not know what to answer. I had really just come on impulse because the alcohol made me want to see him.
“I just came to wish you a good night.”
“You woke a sleeping person to tell them to sleep well?”
I bowed my head deeply to my dumbfounded father. This was the only thing I could think of to say right now.
“Thank you.”
What I felt during this trip was that Father was indulging me. After staying only at the main headquarters, how could this trip, taken after such a long time, be purely pleasant?
Moreover, I was acting willfully, trying to do everything I had not done with Father. Waking Father tonight was surely demanding his patience.
I thought he might strike the back of my bowed head.
Father, who had looked down at me for a moment, closed the door and went inside.
Although I had woken Father, I was happy to see his face.
It was a brief, insignificant encounter, but even this would become a memory for me. The title would be something like “A Small Drunken Folly at Midnight.”
The true victory in my life was not killing enemies, but moments like these.
‘Even if Father finds it bothersome, I will keep making these small memories.’
Even if Hwamugi draws his sword right before my eyes, I will banter with Father. I will build memories with my demonic followers and my subordinates as well.
And so I will console my past self, who fell asleep alone in terrible loneliness, waiting only for this moment. Though it is a vow I always make.
‘Not for Father, but for myself.’
Because I know well that only then is it truly for the sake of the other.
Standing before the window in the hallway outside Father’s room, I looked up at the dark night sky. It was a night when both stars and moon were hidden by clouds.
Then my gaze fell like a meteor, glaring at the courtyard shrouded in darkness.
I slowly placed my index finger over my lips and spoke in a low voice.
“Shh! Father is sleeping.”
Absolute Regression, Episode 479.