Chapter 528 - Let Me Hold It Just Once.
"How did you know?"
At the Dark King's words, Gu Cheolun looked into his eyes. Eyes like a bottomless abyss, dark and devoid of even a single gradation of light.
Staring quietly into those eyes, he spoke.
"There was no way I could not know."
The Poison King's letter containing matters concerning his child.
There was no way he could not know that the Dark King had intervened for it to reach the Gu Family.
Thinking about it, it was something simple to deduce.
The distance from Sichuan to Shanxi was by no means short.
Only with Gu Cheolun's power could one arrive in a short time. Ordinarily, that would not be the case.
However.
"It arrived merely a few days after the incident occurred."
The speed at which the letter arrived was strange.
No matter how quickly the letter was sent, it was impossible given the timeframe.
Thus, he had to suspect someone's intervention. And he had judged that someone to be the Dark King.
However, there was just one problem here.
"I do not understand."
The Dark King looked at Gu Cheolun and asked.
"You may have your doubts. But there is no proof that allows you to be certain it was me."
That was the point—it did not mean the Dark King had intervened.
The letter had arrived quickly. Yes, someone might have interfered and used some means.
But that could not be the reason Gu Cheolun was certain it was the Dark King.
When asked about that, Gu Cheolun spoke in a calm tone.
"Are you not present here, sir?"
The Dark King's eyebrows moved slightly upon hearing those words.
"That alone was enough reason for me to be certain."
"Hmm."
So that was why.
Only then did the Dark King understand why Gu Cheolun had thought this way.
'He noticed.'
When departing from Henan for Sichuan, the Dark King had used a disguise to infiltrate the group.
Did that mean Gu Cheolun had grasped it even then?
Did that mean he had not shown any sign of it despite that?
He looked at Gu Cheolun with renewed eyes.
"Then, why did you not reveal it then?"
"There was simply no meaning in doing so."
The Dark King was infiltrating his child's group. That alone could cause various problems.
"No meaning."
At those words, the Dark King had to slightly raise the corners of his mouth.
"What would you have done if I had harmed your child?"
"Do you have such intentions?"
The Dark King burst into a short laugh at Gu Cheolun's words.
He had already done something similar to harm.
He had killed the boy hundreds of times using his authority.
However, if asked whether he had intended to do so of his own will.
"That would depend on your child's conduct."
He had no intention of doing so first without reason.
He could not say he would not do it, but he had no such thoughts for the moment.
"Then it is fine."
"Why, do you think that brat would not do such a thing to me?"
Was it trust in his child?
"It is not so. Though he is my child, the boy certainly has thorny sides."
Sharp thorns. Gu Yangcheon certainly had such aspects.
Moreover, Gu Cheolun knew that he himself had influenced the growth of those thorns.
"Then?"
"Even if he has such sides, should that child act in such a manner, I merely believe there must be a reason."
He did not think his son would not do it. But if he were to do it, there would have been a reason he had to.
That was the nature of the trust Gu Cheolun held for Gu Yangcheon.
The Dark King could not understand that.
"How is that different from trust in one's child?"
"To call it trust would be closer to atonement."
Not believing because he trusted, but trusting because he had to believe.
If it concerned the reason he had to do so, Gu Cheolun would call it atonement.
Atonement for having made his child that way.
Hearing that, the Dark King asked,
"What do you intend to do if, despite that, I kill that brat?"
No matter how much Gu Yangcheon acted with reason.
There was no reason the Dark King had to acknowledge it.
There was also no reason to view that courage favorably.
Gu Cheolun should have known that better than anyone.
What was the reason for saying this?
When asked about this, Gu Cheolun looked at the Dark King and spoke.
"I hope that you will not do so."
Gu Cheolun hoped the Dark King would not do so.
This was partly for his child. In other words,
"It is for your sake as well, sir."
Wung—
At Gu Cheolun's words, the Dark King's body trembled faintly.
Refined killing intent. Not the rough and dull killing intent of a martial artist, but the extremely trained killing intent of an assassin.
Silent and quiet.
And because it was compressed, the closer one was, the more terribly one felt the murderous will. It erupted from the Dark King's body.
"You have grown indeed. To the point of issuing threats to me."
Do not do so, even for the Dark King's sake.
The meaning of these words was clear.
It was a clear will that he would not stand by if his child were touched.
The killing intent grew denser as time passed.
A hair-trigger situation.
Even as the Dark King's aura gradually intensified, Gu Cheolun merely watched him quietly.
Then.
"Hmm."
The Dark King released his aura in an instant and withdrew his killing intent.
"Do not worry. I too have something I want from that brat."
He had lightly unleashed his aura to test him, but Gu Cheolun did not move in the slightest.
Perhaps because he realized it was a ploy to test him.
The Dark King also had no intention of causing harm, as he wanted something from Gu Yangcheon.
Rather, Gu Yangcheon had to stay alive. As Gu Cheolun said, not for Gu Yangcheon, but for himself.
'The answer to break this curse.'
The curse afflicting the Dark King.
Precisely, the key to breaking the curse bound to his bloodline.
Gu Yangcheon would have that answer.
It had to be so.
Even now, looking at Gu Yangcheon, the Dark King could feel his own heart racing.
'It has become much thicker than when I first saw him.'
Resonance.
The scent of the curse he felt the moment he saw Gu Yangcheon.
At the time, it had been extremely faint, yet now, for some reason, it was felt all too clearly.
What had changed?
'A change in the physical body. Is that the point?'
Though he did not look much different, Gu Yangcheon's form had changed somehow.
The Dark King could tell.
Because his eyes were different from others.
Thump.
His heart pounded. Simply looking made it act up so wildly.
At first, he had thought it was killing intent. But recently, the Dark King realized it was not even that.
Yes, this was not something like murderous intent.
'This is…'
While lost in repeated thought, at Gu Cheolun's words, the Dark King shook his head.
Now was not the time to think of it.
"I have never viewed him favorably."
It was the truth; he had never particularly viewed him favorably.
But perhaps that answer was enough, for Gu Cheolun merely nodded.
And he had to return to the main topic.
"Now, I would like you to answer my question."
How had the Dark King intervened?
That was the question.
As Gu Cheolun's words indicated, the Dark King had indeed intervened in that matter.
He had not moved the letter directly; he had simply used the Black Night Assassins to send the letter faster.
Because in matters like these, the Black Night Assassins could pride themselves on being faster than any other.
If Gu Cheolun were to ask the Dark King why he had done so here.
"I simply did it because that fellow asked me to."
The Dark King answered with a gesture of his chin.
Following that, Gu Cheolun shifted his gaze.
There was his son being soundly beaten and Paejon, who somehow seemed excited.
"Uaack…! Fuck…! My bones…!"
"Hey, did I not tell you to dodge backward? Why do you charge in so recklessly?"
"…But just now you told me not to dodge!"
"You rascal? You speak so impertinently?"
"Then should I speak politely to my junior? I'm still your elder bro—! Sir, it was a joke. Really a jok—!"
"It is fine. People are meant to be corrected through beatings. It is all part of the process one goes through. Come here. If you dodge, your bones will break."
"…Damn it."
"…"
At the pitiful sight, Gu Cheolun briefly considered turning his head away, but forced himself to endure it.
"…Are you referring to Lord Paejon?"
"Indeed."
Upon hearing the news that something had happened to Gu Yangcheon, Paejon had requested this of the Dark King.
He had asked for it to be delivered to Gu Cheolun as quickly as possible.
At that time, the Poison King happened to be sending a letter to the Gu Family.
The Dark King's eyes were spread throughout the entire Tang Clan, so it was something he could not be unaware of.
He had simply used this.
'I thought he showed no interest.'
Paejon was more interested in Gu Yangcheon than expected.
Perhaps because he was a disciple he had sought for so many years.
Or perhaps it was for some other reason—one could not know.
'So he is playing the role of a teacher in his own way.'
He had watched Biju for a long time, but…
It was nothing but awkward to see a madman who only thought of martial arts act like that.
Especially asking a favor of him for something.
'He has changed.'
Biju was changing somehow.
Whether that was the right direction or not, even the Dark King did not know.
He was also uninterested.
He saw Paejon plop down on the collapsed Gu Yangcheon.
Gu Yangcheon was half-fainted and gasping for breath.
He saw Paejon's hand clicking his tongue in laughter.
It was trembling faintly.
It was proof that Paejon was tired too. Gu Cheolun turned his body upon seeing that.
"Thank you for telling me. I have matters to attend to, so I shall take my leave."
"Hmm."
After confirming that Gu Yangcheon's training was finished, Gu Cheolun walked away without regret.
Watching Gu Cheolun's retreating figure, the Dark King suddenly spoke.
"Cheolun."
He stopped short.
His own name, which he felt he had not heard in a long time.
In the Central Plains now, those who could call Gu Cheolun thus were perhaps only a handful.
Among that handful was the Dark King.
"Tell Guryun that I will visit within the near future."
"…"
Relaying a message to the Elder through the Family Head.
He thought it a rather strange situation, but Gu Cheolun nodded without minding.
"I will convey it when I return."
With those words, Gu Cheolun disappeared like a spark.
The Dark King, left alone, looked at Gu Yangcheon once more.
The increasingly thick aura.
Emotions rose simply from looking.
At first, he thought it was killing intent; next, he thought it was anger.
Now, it was an even stronger emotion.
"…I'm dying… Get off me, please… I'm really going to die like this? Aagh! My head…!"
"Your mouth is lively, so it seems I can do more. Get up."
"…"
He hated to admit it, but now he could clearly feel it. The emotion he felt when looking at Gu Yangcheon…
This was clearly…
Awe.