Seongcheon Yun Clan (2)
Lucette and Hun entered the Yun clan’s main estate.
“Big Sister! You’re safe!”
As though he had been waiting all this time for them to arrive, Yun Sohoe came rushing out to the main gate the moment they stepped inside.
The boy, panting heavily as if he had run out the instant he heard the news, immediately threw his arms around Lucette.
“…You must have been very worried, huh? I’m sorry for worrying you. And thank you, Sohoe. I was able to return safely thanks to you.”
She bent down and embraced him in return.
Since they had talked about this and that on the way, she already knew that Hun had gone to rescue her at Yun Sohoe’s request.
Of course, she still had no idea what he had agreed to receive in return.
‘That’s a secret between the two of us.’
Hun merely shrugged.
Had she known what Yun Sohoe had offered as compensation, she likely would not have been able to thank him so wholeheartedly.
“Thank you for bringing my sister back safely. I heard you were caught up in quite a serious incident…”
After sharing a brief reunion with her, Yun Sohoe bowed deeply toward Hun.
The preliminary report Lucette had sent before arriving here had already reached the upper echelons of the Yun clan.
He was still only a promising young member and did not know the details, but the unsettled atmosphere hanging over the entire clan was enough for him to guess that something extraordinary had happened.
“Well, I only acted as I was asked to. I even enjoyed getting out of the house for the first time in a while.”
Unlike the journey there, when they had arrived at their destination in an instant, the return trip had been filled with all sorts of twists and turns.
Given the location, the Yun clan’s infrastructure had inevitably been limited. On top of that, there had been plenty to do, such as gathering evidence—including General Bureong and his subordinates.
Of course, they had not handled every one of those minor matters themselves.
Perhaps preparations had already been made to some extent, because the moment Lucette contacted them, secret agents had appeared from somewhere and swiftly taken care of everything in their stead.
All while evading the eyes of the Hongsan Kingdom’s soldiers swarming the surrounding area.
‘They were the ones who secured a route for us to return as discreetly and safely as possible, too. I suppose this is the power of a prestigious clan.’
As he had said repeatedly, maintaining the balance between two great powers was never an easy task.
When they had needed to launch a large-scale search for Lucette without knowing where she might be, they had been forced to consider the Hongsan Kingdom’s reaction. But once her safety had been secured, secretly setting their spies to work was hardly a difficult matter.
“…I’ll go ahead to give a detailed report. Considering the scale of the matter, it seems there will be quite a lot to do from here on.”
After offering a slight bow, Lucette hurried farther inside.
She still looked haggard, having barely rested until now, but she seemed to have no intention of taking a break yet.
‘Hmm. It is a time when she can hardly do otherwise.’
The peace they had somehow maintained until now was beginning to waver.
Even at a glance, the political situation was far from normal.
‘A general of one of the kingdoms got involved directly, after all.’
If General Bureong had acted entirely on his own, it would at least have been manageable.
The problem was what would happen if the trail led even higher.
In that case, matters would become far more serious. If they assumed the worst-case scenario—that the king of the Hongsan Kingdom had given his approval—they needed to formulate countermeasures as quickly as possible, without losing even a single minute or second.
“But putting that aside. Nothing unusual happened here while I was gone, right? How is Ramu?”
In any case, Hun was not in a position to do anything at once.
After staring for a moment at the place where Lucette had disappeared, Hun shook his head and looked at Yun Sohoe beside him.
“Ahem! Do not worry! Though I, a man, could not remain constantly by the side of the sleeping woman, I asked some maids close to her to keep a watchful eye on her condition.”
Yun Sohoe cleared his throat and answered with a solemn nod.
“…In truth, there was little for us to do in the first place. I was told that, owing to the protection of some strange power, she always remains in her original state. She does not need to be washed or fed, so all we had to do was watch over her.”
“Well, it’s only been a few days. I suppose that’s to be expected.”
He had only asked in case something had changed while he was away, and the answer was exactly what he had expected.
“All right, then… Only the settlement remains, I suppose? You haven’t forgotten, have you?”
“It has only been a few days. How could I have forgotten already? I will certainly keep my promise, so do not worry.”
Yun Sohoe answered in a stiff voice.
At the same time, he subtly glanced around, evidently quite worried that someone might learn of this matter.
It was only natural. Because of his own decision, he was in a position where he had to pass the clan’s secret art on to an outsider.
‘Of course, I have no intention of taking his circumstances into consideration at this point.’
Still, the boy’s anxious expression was rather pitiful, so Hun tossed out a casual remark to ease the tension.
“I’ve been curious for a while. Why do you use that strange way of speaking? Though I admit, it is rather cute.”
“…C-cute? What are you talking about! As a descendant of the great Seongcheon Yun clan, I must carry myself with dignity…!”
Perhaps it was something that bothered him as well, because Yun Sohoe forgot his anxiety and vehemently protested, his face flushing red.
It seemed he had his own reasons for speaking that way.
Hun soothed the disgruntled boy as they continued farther into the Yun estate.
All that remained now was to receive the secret art, whatever it was, and master chakra until Ramu awoke.
Looking up at the sky, which seemed unusually clear that day, he stretched refreshingly.
“…Are you listening to me? What I’m saying is, I…”
He let the still-grumbling boy’s voice pass in one ear and out the other.
***
“I see.”
The presence in the darkness nodded.
“So he was an otherworlder?”
As he recalled the report he had just received, he tapped lightly on the armrest of his chair.
He had only just learned that the carefully prepared operation had failed, but he was not concerned in the slightest.
The primary purpose behind this entire affair had been to identify the source of the ominous feeling he had sensed before.
That was why he had deliberately targeted Lucette, who was particularly close to Yun Sohoe.
‘It pains me to have lost a general in the process, but…’
Who could have imagined that a deep-tier practitioner optimized for constructing traps would collapse so helplessly, without even managing to escape?
Even so, thanks to that fact, he had been able to ascertain just how dangerous the opponent’s abilities were.
“Hun… I’ve never heard that name before.”
He had already identified everything about the Yun clan, right down to the names of the dogs kept by the lowliest servants.
He could not help but frown at this sudden and significant variable.
‘But I can’t delay the plan any longer.’
If so, only one option remained.
He had to eliminate that variable by whatever means necessary.
Even if it meant investing somewhat excessive resources.
Rustle.
—He picked up a document and skimmed through it.
It was a report compiling the information passed on by the spies within the Yun clan.
The amount was small, since the information had to be delivered while evading the clan’s stringent internal security, but it contained one detail that could prove useful in the current situation.
“A sleeping girl.”
A girl who had not awakened even once since revealing herself.
And a weakness: the unidentified otherworlder named Hun was exceptionally protective of her.
‘How convenient. I can take care of both matters at once with this opportunity.’
So long as the target could be identified with certainty, a solution could always be devised somehow.
***
“The Jeollyun-do (轉輪道) is the secret art created by the founder of our Yun clan.”
The inner image that formed the foundation of chakra, and the microcosm that directly interfered with reality based on that image.
Jeollyun-do was a method of chakra manipulation that assisted and strengthened every step of that process. It was also a training method that enhanced the body and mind simultaneously, as well as a safety mechanism that reduced the strain caused by excessive energy.
“Whether it is the Hongsan Kingdom or the Cheonghae Kingdom, every place has its own variety of secret arts. But I can confidently say that our Yun clan’s Jeollyun-do is the greatest of them all.”
Its near-universal utility was certainly an advantage, but so was the fact that activating it produced no obvious outward signs.
There was no need to waste one’s breath explaining how great an advantage that could be in actual combat.
‘Hmm. Is that so?’
At those words, Hun recalled the bizarre eyes of General Bureong, whom he had encountered not long ago.
The immense flow of energy that had sent ripples throughout Gwirim whenever the concentric circles floating in his eyes moved.
He could fully understand what Yun Sohoe was trying to say.
‘…Still, it was pretty cool.’
Of course, he swallowed those words instead of saying them aloud.
Though he had recently begun approaching everything with a more optimistic attitude, he had no desire to be looked down upon as pathetic by a child no older than an elementary school student.
“So it is fortunate, is it not? If it had not been for that, I could not have taught it to you in secret like this. Though I am still worried…”
There was no point regretting what had already happened.
And so Hun trained alongside Yun Sohoe and learned Jeollyun-do from him.
No one objected to his practicing together with the Yun clan’s young master.
From the outside, it merely looked as though two people who had formed a connection were amicably training together.
Hun was a super rookie undergoing rapid growth despite having only entered the lower tier, while Yun Sohoe had already surpassed the limits of the lower tier and stood on the verge of opening the middle tier. Their levels were therefore fairly similar.
They spent fulfilling days beginning and ending with cultivation.
“However, there is something I have wanted to ask for a while.”
One day, Yun Sohoe looked at Hun with an awkward expression.
“What chakra did you open to be able to…”
“Hmm?”
“No, I could have sworn I heard you were a noncombatant. Did you perhaps open multiple chakras?”
Among practitioners, it was an unwritten rule not to ask exactly what kind of chakra someone wielded until that person revealed it first.
But after training alongside Hun for several days, Yun Sohoe had reached the point where he could no longer bear not asking, having watched Hun manifest a different ability every time.
“Ah, this?”
“What should I call it?”
“If I had to explain it…”
The three Huns shrugged indifferently.
Then they looked at one another and grinned.
“You could call it one of my secret techniques, using chakra…”
“Ugh.”
At that answer, Yun Sohoe sighed and looked at Hun again.
As expected, no matter how he looked at them, he could not distinguish which one was the real body.
To think that Hun could already create clones this perfect despite being only in the lower tier!
The other abilities he had displayed before were also impressive, but this was on an entirely different level.
‘Is it because the image originates from his true body? It’s much easier than drawing it from another avatar.’
By borrowing the image of a ‘clone’ from his true body, he had become capable of using clone techniques.
Naturally, it was a minor-copy version that could not even be compared to the 「Avatar」 he used directly.
Unlike 「Avatar」, which created a perfect ‘other self,’ the clone manifested through chakra was closer to the ordinary clone techniques commonly known throughout the world.
‘Of course, things might be different once my chakra realm rises further… But perfectly imitating an inherent skill would still be impossible.’
Even so, this level was more than useful enough.
Had it not briefly deceived even a deep-tier practitioner whose realm was vastly higher than his own?
If he trained it properly, he might even become capable of creating the enormous numbers of multiple clones seen only in comics.
Just as the day’s training was gradually drawing to a close—
“Oh my! As expected, you’re training with Sohoe again today.”
A woman approached them, accompanied by a voice they had grown accustomed to hearing.
“…Oh? It’s already this late. Then I shall be taking my leave!”
At the same time, Yun Sohoe’s face went pale, and he hurriedly tried to escape. But the woman, who had approached before he knew it, already snatched him up in a fluid motion and pulled him into her arms.
“Aww~ Our Sohoe, are you trying to run away again and hurt your big sister’s feelings?”
“Urk! Let—let me go!”
Yun Soso buried the boy’s head between her ample breasts as though he were something adorable, while Yun Sohoe struggled in disgust.
It was a scene that had been repeated countless times by now, so it was no longer anything unusual.
‘She came again today, as expected.’
Hun let out a small sigh.
Even after returning from saving Lucette, her advances continued unabated.
Of course, as a man, he did not dislike being courted by a beautiful woman.
But still, being completely taken in by such an overt beauty trap was an entirely different matter, was it not?
‘To be honest, it’s not as though I have no desire to simply go along with it…’
The real problem came afterward.
‘I expected this to some extent, but… I had no idea that young lady was that popular.’
The Earth-born Awakened named Anton, with whom he had clashed not long ago, had only been the beginning.
The longer she continued to follow Hun around, the more rapidly those who harbored hostility toward him began to increase.
Even those who had initially thought little of it, knowing what kind of person she was, had gradually come to realize the seriousness of the situation.
‘No matter how I look at it, getting entangled with her will only make things more troublesome than they are now.’
If opening the Communication Chakra had not made him more sensitive to the emotions of others, he would never have had to worry about this in the first place.
Everywhere he went, vivid hostility continuously flew at him and lodged in his senses, to the point that he was becoming unnecessarily oversensitive.
‘I can’t pick a fight with someone just because they harbor hostility toward me. But simply ignoring it is irritating in its own way. This is troublesome. Really troublesome.’
After dealing with Yun Soso just enough to send her away, Hun made his way toward his lodgings.
As usual, he was pondering how best to respond to the hostility subtly provoking him today as well.
“Hm?”
Then, at one moment—
Hun’s footsteps faltered, and his head snapped to the side.
‘What was that?’
It had passed by in such a brief instant that he could not be certain.
However, the emotion had been too sinister to simply dismiss, so he could not pretend he had not noticed it.
‘…It feels different from the hostility I’ve sensed until now. This is…’
He focused his mind again, but he could no longer sense that emotion.
In truth, it was remarkable that he had gained such sensitivity at merely the Lower Level. Normally, this would have been the natural state of things.
This, too, must have been possible thanks to 「Mental Empathy」.
“Mr. Hun? Why are you standing here instead of coming in?”
“Ah! It’s nothing. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”
While he was distracted, he had apparently arrived at the lodgings. A Myanmar-born woman named Myat, who was standing at the entrance, spoke to him.
Hun composed his expression to make it seem as though nothing had happened, then calmly entered the lodgings.
‘This is no ordinary matter. It feels as though something is about to happen at any moment.’
A vague instinct gradually stirred a sense of crisis within him.
But an instinct was only an instinct. He had not identified the exact cause, nor did he have any grounds for it, so there was nothing he could do.
What was he supposed to say to anyone?
That he had a bad feeling and thought everyone should be careful today?
No matter how many achievements he had made recently, if he said something that incoherent, he would be lucky not to receive a scolding.
‘No, now that I think about it, maybe I’m just being vague. …I hope it’s nothing more than my imagination.’
But that it was not merely his imagination—
Kwaaaang—!
Rumble—!
He would find out that very night.