When Taesu returned, his father's reaction was unexpected.
He must have known that Taesu had gotten involved in the Jangbodo affair, despite having told him not to.
So Taesu had expected a severe scolding.
"You're back?"
"Yes."
Scrape, scrape.
His father sat with his back turned, tending to his equipment.
Taesu had spent the entire journey home thinking that he should apologize to his father first.
But looking at that stubborn back, he grew angry again. Shouldn't his father ask if his son had been swept up in danger, or how he'd managed to escape? And all he said was that.
"Have you eaten?"
"Do you think a thief would starve himself?"
Originally, he'd intended to tell his father everything.
About meeting the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult while fleeing after obtaining the Jangbodo, and all those incredible things he'd experienced beneath the pond on Cheonmok Mountain.
He had wanted to tell him of this miraculous survival despite being entangled with the Demonic Cult.
Far from all that, not even a single "I'm sorry" came out.
As he tried to leave the room, his father suddenly spoke.
"There is a job. Something that will require time to prepare..."
Lately, he had always worked in a two-man team with his father.
"No. I have something I need to think about for a while."
Taesu did not ask what the target was or where.
"I see."
Even that answer made him angry.
"Make sure you eat properly."
He turned his back on his father and went outside.
He didn't know then. That he had inflicted a deep wound on his father. That while wounds parents leave on their children may scar, wounds children inflict on their parents leave not even scars behind—he hadn't known that then.
Afterward, Taesu wandered aimlessly for a time.
He thought about simply leaving to join the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Then, the words the Young Cult Leader had spoken came to him suddenly.
—When you are ready to take responsibility for your own life, come find me.
He realized he was not yet ready. If he couldn't even properly apologize to his father, how could he take responsibility for his own life?
His father was often away from home, and time continued to pass.
Taesu realized he was using his father as an excuse again.
It wasn't because of his father that he couldn't go to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
He couldn't go because he was afraid of the life that awaited him there.
The Young Cult Leader had said upon parting:
—Accepting you into the main cult is possible through my connection, but once you enter the cult, from that moment you must live a life unrelated to me. You may even find it difficult to see my face again. I will merely be the opportunity; it is you who must live the changed life. Do not forget, if you do not change even when your environment changes, nothing will be different.
As time passed, this part kept nagging at him.
You may even find it difficult to see my face again.
Could he really survive among those rough demonic folk without the Young Cult Leader by his side?
No, he wasn't confident. That was why he had made the excuse that he couldn't go because he hadn't reconciled with his father. He was merely postponing the reconciliation.
"I haven't changed at all."
When he had spoken those wounding words to his father, too, they had been an excuse.
—Is that principle of yours for the sake of good deeds? Or is it to justify your thievery?
He had no interest in his father's morality. He had simply been frustrated. When his father could become the greatest thief and steal everything, why did he only steal from villains, and why did he give away what he'd stolen with such effort?
He should have said, "I am tempted by greed," and received a lesson: "No, my son. At the very least, you must live like this." Instead, he had wounded his father.
"Damn it."
A messy stretch of time passed.
Yes, it was fine. He could speak words that wounded his father; he could step back from an opportunity to change his life. So what if he drank and wandered? He was still young.
But there was at least one thing he shouldn't have done. He shouldn't have left his father to face that place alone.
* * *
Im Ju, branch chief of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's Sanyang branch, was silently staring at the Taesu before him.
"You're that man's son?"
"Yes, I am Taesu, son of the Great Thief Taegon."
Taesu's appearance was a mess. His hair was disheveled, and a thick beard covered his face. Only his two eyes shone like a wounded beast.
"What proof do you have that you're Taegon's son?"
At that, Taesu took a money pouch from his bosom and placed it down. When Im Ju saw it, his gaze sharpened. It was his own money pouch that had been in the branch vault.
He knew it was an act that would offend Im Ju, but there was no more certain way to prove he was Taegon's son.
"Why have you come to me?"
Im Ju asked, though he could guess the reason. As expected, the answer came.
"It's because of my father."
The region was in an uproar over Taegon right now.
The Great Thief Taegon had infiltrated the Blood Shadow Gate to steal and been captured. The martial world was abuzz that he, who had never once been caught, had failed at theft.
The Blood Shadow Gate was a sect notorious even within the Evil Path Alliance. They never suffered losses in their dealings, and they were ruthlessly cold to those weaker than themselves. That was how they had expanded their power so swiftly.
The Blood Shadow Gate announced they would publicly execute Taegon before a crowd.
"Was the public execution in two days?"
"Tomorrow."
"Why have you come to me?"
Taesu only learned that his father had been captured after the Blood Shadow Gate announced the public execution. Even then, he only learned of it days late because he'd been drowning in drink.
"It's because of me."
He believed his father had been captured because he'd been unable to concentrate due to Taesu.
He had tried every possible method to save his father.
He attempted to infiltrate the Blood Shadow Gate, but ultimately failed. Having announced the execution, they had set up an ironclad defense, expecting someone might come to rescue him.
Then he thought of asking the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult for help.
"I am close with the Young Cult Leader."
It was truly a life-or-death gamble. To dare speak of the Young Cult Leader? It was a situation where he could be cut down with a single slash.
Fortunately, Im Ju was not such an impetuous man.
"Close with the Young Cult Leader?"
"Yes."
His father always used to say:
—To become the greatest thief, you must know how to steal people's hearts as well.
To save his father, he had to steal the heart of the branch chief before him.
"I am scheduled to enter under the Young Cult Leader's command."
"Scheduled?"
Im Ju was bewildered as to how he should take this. The son of the Great Thief, who was to be executed tomorrow, had boldly come claiming to be close with the Young Cult Leader?
"He said he would make me his direct subordinate."
Perhaps the Young Cult Leader hadn't forgotten him after all.
Im Ju frowned at Taesu, who was staring back at him boldly.
What madman in the world would come to a branch of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and commit fraud while invoking the Young Cult Leader?
But this wasn't fraud. If it were fraud, he would have forged plausible proof of being a direct subordinate. "Scheduled to enter"? This was truly absurd. But it seemed clear that he did indeed know the Young Cult Leader.
"So? What do you want?"
"Please save my father."
Im Ju stared intently at Taesu.
"Why not ask the Young Cult Leader for help directly?"
"It happened too suddenly; there is no time to inform him. If you help, the Young Cult Leader will reward you greatly later."
The moment he finished speaking, Im Ju said coldly:
"You must be mad."
Taesu flinched.
"If I touch the Blood Shadow Gate based only on your word, and later the Young Cult Leader says he doesn't know you?"
"No. He truly knows me. If my words are false, I will accept death as punishment."
"Of course you would. The problem is that it won't end with just you dying."
Yet the reason he didn't immediately kick him out and was considering it was not because he feared repercussions if this brat truly was close to the Young Cult Leader. It was the opposite.
Because of one person in the rumors.
Gang Dal, the Jeongan Branch Chief.
The dream and hope of every branch chief in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
His success story of rising to the main cult through a connection with the Young Cult Leader was a legend among all the cult's branch chiefs.
"Has such fortune befallen me? Or is this the temptation of terrible misfortune?"
After careful deliberation, the conclusion he reached was refusal.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot help."
If it turned out difficult to believe Taesu later, he would at least keep his position, but if this person really had no connection to the Young Cult Leader, he would be relegated to some backwater stable keeper.
For the moment, the legend among branch chiefs still belonged solely to Gang Dal.
* * *
The next day, a large platform was erected in the open square before the main gate of the Blood Shadow Gate.
Countless people flocked there. To see Taegon, the legendary thief.
Taegon was dragged onto the stage with his vital points suppressed. His appearance was unspeakable, apparently from the hardships he'd suffered.
"Son of a thief!"
"Kill him!"
While some hurled curses, others looked at him with pity. For he was the one who had stolen from villains and helped the poor.
Taegon looked at the crowd surrounding him. There were people cursing, laughing, looking on with sad faces—all kinds of people. And the majority were looking at him with pity.
Then Taegon met someone's eyes, and his heart sank.
His son Taesu was standing conspicuously in the front row.
Taesu.
He was glad to see his son at the last moment, yet simultaneously felt uneasy.
He hasn't come to do something foolish, has he?
He was a smart boy; he wouldn't commit such folly. No matter how fast his movement arts were, he couldn't break through the countless Blood Shadow Gate warriors filling this place to save him.
Then a middle-aged man ascended the stage. He was the Blood Shadow Gate Lord, Geobaek, with a cold and heartless face. He was famous for his cruelly calm temperament.
Geobaek looked at the gathered crowd. No one met his eyes, and not a single breath could be heard around him.
Soon, he opened his mouth.
"Where are the luxuries you bought with the stolen money? You claim to only steal from villains? Then where are those who fed on that rotten meat? Where is the guard corps protecting the righteous thief?"
Silence hung over the place. Geobaek's gaze turned to Taegon.
"I heard you have a son. You've been thieving together?"
Geobaek's voice thundered out.
"Where is your son?"
Taesu merely stood silently in place. Taegon was looking elsewhere, afraid of being caught exchanging glances with his son.
"No doubt he is hiding somewhere here like a rat, watching his father die. If you were truly a courageous man, you would have come forth boldly and rescued your father. But you won't, will you? You're trash who only know how to steal."
Taesu did not come out despite his provocation. Taegon's expression brightened.
Well done, my son.
Please don't think of revenge; don't steal anymore either; live as you please.
As if to kill him personally, Geobaek drew his sword.
Taegon closed his eyes without looking at his son. If their eyes met for no reason, it would only hurt his son's heart.
At that very moment.
"Stop."
The owner of the voice echoing there was Taesu.
Taegon's face stiffened instantly.
No!
But Taesu was already walking forward and ascending the stage.
"I am that man's son."
Exclamations and sighs burst from all around. Some cheered and clapped, while lamenting sighs flowed from everywhere as well.
"Though he inherits the blood of a thief, his filial piety runs deep?"
Who knew how much he had agonized through the night. Should he detonate smoke bombs and escape in the confusion? Should he bribe one of their masters? Should he disguise himself as one of their subordinates?
But there was no method he could accomplish in just one day. The Blood Shadow Gate had too many experts.
This was the last method Taesu had thought of.
"I am a direct subordinate of the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
Before the branch chief he had merely been someone scheduled to become a direct subordinate; now he introduced himself as one outright.
Forgive me, Young Cult Leader. This is the last method I can use.
Geobaek's face twitched.
"You, a subordinate of the Demonic Cult's Young Cult Leader?"
"Is that so."
Geobaek had not even entertained the slightest possibility of that.
He laughed aloud. His subordinates on the stage laughed as well, and laughter erupted from all around.
Meanwhile, those who pitied him felt even greater pity. They understood his feelings. How could they not understand his desire to save his father, even if he had to resort to this?
In any case, one thing was the same. Whether laughing or pitying him, not a single person believed those words.
At Geobaek's signal, the experts on the stage rushed forward and forced Taesu to his knees.
"There is no greater punishment than watching your own child die first."
Taegon, whose vital points had been suppressed, thrashed about desperately. It was a plea to be allowed to speak. At Geobaek's signal, one martial artist released his vital points.
"Please, save my son. Please save him! I am the one who stole! If you spare my son, I will do anything you ask."
Geobaek, who had been watching him with scorn, made an unexpected proposal.
"If I spare your son, can you also steal from good people? Can you steal the entire fortunes of kind, good people?"
Taegon's eyes wavered. He could not say that he could.
"So you choose your pride over your son."
Just then, Taesu conveyed the words he had been unable to say to his father.
"Father, I am sorry. What I said to you then was not my true feelings. I love you because you are not someone who steals just anything."
Even if he died, he had to get these words out.
The distressed Taegon cried out.
"Why did you come? Why! What is so important about such words! What is so important about this old father of yours!"
Then Taesu saw. The tears falling from his father's eyes. They flowed ceaselessly. It was the first time he had seen his father cry.
At the sight of his father's tears, Taesu's vision blurred over.
Yes, he could have sent his father off alone.
But seeing those tears from his father, he thought that perhaps he shouldn't have stepped forward at this moment.
'But I could not send Father away without even trying.'
Geobaek grabbed Taesu by the collar and hauled him upright.
"A sniveling wretch like you, blubbering your eyes out, is a direct subordinate of the Demonic Cult's Lesser Cult Leader?"
Tears streamed from Taesu's eyes as well.
"Yes, I am… a direct subordinate of the Lesser Cult Leader… so release my father."
Some laughed, calling it pathetic, but most people watched the scene in silence.
They wanted to step out and protect him, but they could not. They had wished someone would step forward, yet no one could.
"If you are a subordinate of the Demonic Cult's Lesser Cult Leader, then I am the Demonic Cult Leader!"
Just then, a welcome voice called out from somewhere.
"Father!"
Suppressing the clamor and noise of the crowd gathered there, the words echoed forth. A single word filled with resonant internal energy pierced the ears of everyone present.
"Father!"
At the welcome cry heard again, the gazes of the assembled heroes turned toward the source.
The one who walked out, parting the crowd, was Geommugeuk.
Geommugeuk looked at Geobaek and spoke.
"Huh? You're not my father?"