Chapter 19. It’s Okay to Be Disappointed

The root of all evil, when you think about it, was this body, ‘Beomhang’.

“Bumong.”

“Yes, eldest brother.”

“When you leave here, immediately activate the outer wall formation and seal the library. No one, not even an ant, should be allowed to go outside.”

“What about grandfather?”

“It’s not too late to tell him after we’ve cleaned up.”

“Yes.”

Just as he was about to speak to Yun, Yun spoke first.

“Brother, then I will activate the Black Dark Thunder Formation installed in the small training ground. After that, I will sort out the guards who have joined the rebellion.”

When the Black Dark Thunder Formation was activated, the small training ground would become night. The heavens and earth would darken in an instant, and thunder and lightning would strike, making it impossible to see each other even if they were right next to each other. He meant to sort them out in that gap.

It was a good method, but Hugong shook his head.

“There are only 8 guards who have joined, and the 6 guards are scattered, so there’s no need to make such a fuss. It will be resolved just by showing myself walking around unharmed.”

“Ah! That would be good.”

Yun, who understood immediately, grinned and nodded his head. But when his eldest brother seemed to be deep in thought, stroking his chin, he immediately composed his expression and waited for him to speak.

“Hmm, but. Among the traitors that Cheon Gyuin revealed, we need to find someone with a weakness…”

“Are you talking about someone who can betray again?”

“Yes.”

Yun’s eyes darted around busily as if he were recalling each person one by one.

“Jong Muguk would be good. He has someone to protect.”

Hugong nodded his head and grabbed the ‘Winter’ book floating in the air. In an instant, it was the study again.

***

While the vice-captain, Onso, was holding back the assembled guard team and buying time, something flew in from the sky.

Thud!

A figure fell among them, and dust rose.

The dust settled, and a grotesque figure wriggled.

No one in the guard team could identify what it was.

Just as they were hesitating in surprise, wondering if it was even a person, Yun’s voice echoed from a distance.

“That wriggling thing is the guard captain. He tried to kill my brother and had a stroke!”

Everyone didn’t know what he was talking about and followed the voice.

The Eldest Young Master was walking towards the Second Young Master.

“Huk!”

Among the 32 guards, the eight who had joined the rebellion, including the vice-captain, turned pale.

**

Before evening, the situation at the Cheonhwa Library was resolved.

It was truly a swift process.

The guard team and a part of the defense team who had joined the chief steward’s conspiracy were suppressed without even putting up a proper fight.

It couldn’t be helped.

What they had been waiting for was the guard captain who would come to deliver the news of the Eldest Young Master’s death with a sad expression, not a shriveled and strangely wriggling captain. Moreover, the moment they saw the Eldest Young Master, who should have committed suicide, walking around nonchalantly, they couldn’t do anything.

Mental breakdown.

None of the participants had considered failure, so everyone was dazed, and all their thoughts had flown out of their heads.

Not only the guard team but also the scholars and administrators who had joined the conspiracy were dragged out and immediately detained.

The detention places were dispersed to five locations, and formations and mechanisms were activated at each location.

After that, individual interrogations were conducted.

In the process, it was confirmed that the ledgers had been manipulated, and the amount of money that had already been embezzled was about half of the entire wealth of the Cheonhwa Library. It was also revealed that several books and treasures from the treasury had been leaked to the outside.

All these measures were carried out under the command of the Eldest Young Master, and his instructions were simple and clear, with no fuss to be found. Everyone moved in an orderly fashion, so after the situation was resolved, it felt as if it were not a big deal, even though it was a major incident.

As it grew dark, one of the participants was summoned before the Eldest Young Master.

He was Jong Muguk, in his early thirties, and he was the person Beomyun had pointed out as suitable for betraying again.

“Your wife is beautiful, and your young daughter is toddling and lovely, right?”

At the Eldest Young Master’s abrupt words, the color drained from Jong Muguk’s face, and his whole body trembled like an aspen leaf.

Unless he was a fool, he couldn’t not know what it meant for his wife and child to be mentioned in this situation.

“E-Eldest Young Master…”

Terrified, Jong Muguk immediately knelt and bowed his head, his body trembling.

“I have committed a crime worthy of death. I have betrayed your grace and harbored evil thoughts. Although I could not resist the threat, it is a crime worthy of death. I will die a hundred times, a thousand times. No, if you tell me to die here, I will follow your command immediately. But my wife and daughter have nothing to do with this. They have no connection at all. So please have pity on them.”

“Hmm?”

At the Eldest Young Master’s incomprehensible hum, Jong Muguk looked up with bloodshot eyes. The Eldest Young Master was shaking his head.

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand at all. Are you saying that I would kill your wife and young daughter?”

“N-no. I have misspoken. I know well that you are not someone who would do that, Eldest Young Master.”

Although he said that, the fear for his family’s safety had already taken root in his head and would not leave.

The recent Eldest Young Master was no longer a weak scholar.

Whether the guard captain had had a stroke or not, the Eldest Young Master’s gaze as he stared blankly at the writhing figure was still vivid.

A gaze that could do anything without fear or hesitation.

That gaze was now directed at him.

Moreover, the Eldest Young Master’s appearance as he commanded the situation today was so calm that it was even more so than an experienced and cunning martial artist.

“Eldest Young Master, please give me your orders. I will do anything. You will not be disappointed, Eldest Young Master.”

Jong Muguk was not foolish, and he had seen that the reason he had been summoned separately was his only hope, so he prostrated himself.

“It’s okay to be disappointed.”

“Pardon?”

“To be honest, it’s just because I’m lazy, but I can do it myself.”

“No. I will do it. Please just give me the order.”

“Really? If you insist so much, I can’t help it. Bring the chief steward to me before tonight. What do you think, can you do it?”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing.”

“Good. I’ll look forward to it. But.”

As he paused for a moment, Jong Muguk swallowed dryly.

Hugong stood up from his seat and slowly walked around the kneeling Jong Muguk.

Thud, thud.

Hugong knew well how loud these footsteps would sound to Jong Muguk.

“Jong Muguk, there’s something like that. Things don’t always go as planned in life. You might hesitate, or you might change your mind.”

“…”

“Hmm, that means my mind can also change. When you feel your mind weakening, remember this. That I can change. I’ve decided not to do anything too severe, but I might do something terrible.”

Jong Muguk’s teeth chattered as he trembled.

It was obvious what he was thinking about and who he was thinking of without him having to say it.

“I-I will definitely bring the chief steward.”

“Alive.”

“I will leave immediately.”

***

The chief steward’s external residence was luxurious.

The pavilion in the pond in the center of the residence had an excellent atmosphere under the moonlight, and it was there that the chief steward received the news.

“The Eldest Young Master is dead?”

The chief steward’s voice came out gloomily.

Jong Muguk maintained an indifferent expression.

“Yes.”

“Was it suicide, or did the captain do it?”

“The Eldest Young Master himself.”

“Haa…”

The chief steward sighed deeply.

Sorrow filled his eyes as he looked up at the night sky.

“Eldest Young Master, why did you make such a choice? How are those who love and cherish you supposed to live the rest of their lives when you have walked the path of peace alone? And how am I supposed to live with this sorrow? I was thoughtless. I was wrong.”

The chief steward finally shed tears.

As Jong Muguk waited in silence, the chief steward’s gaze turned to him.

“How did I look just now?”

Jong Muguk flinched.

The chief steward was smiling brightly with tears in his eyes.

“W-what do you mean?”

“I’m asking if I looked genuinely sad.”

“Ah! Yes, for a moment, even I felt a sense of solemnity.”

“Haha, right? Since the family head has fainted and the Second and Third Young Masters are lost in grief, I should at least show this much sincerity.”

“Of course.”

“But.”

In an instant, the chief steward’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s strange. Why did you come to report such an important matter?”

“I’m also on the same boat, so what’s so strange about it?”

Jong Muguk’s answer did not hesitate for a moment.

Even so, the chief steward tilted his head.

“As far as I know, you cherish your wife and young daughter so much that it’s hard to get you to work in the evening. But to come out of the library alone on a day when such a big incident has occurred is very strange. Don’t you think so?”

The corners of the chief steward’s mouth went up, and his pupils shone coldly.

In addition, the gaze of the black-clothed swordsman standing behind the chief steward also shone like a blade and watched Jong Muguk. The swordsman’s hand fiddled with the sword at his waist.

Jong Muguk grinned.

“You are right, Chief Steward. Normally, I would have refused even the captain’s order first. Because it’s a precious time for me. But as you said, today is a special day, isn’t it? On a day like this, I have to step up. That way, I can get a little more of my share.”

“Oho, you are a cunning person. But I like that about you. I get nauseous when I see guys who talk about justice and loyalty.”

The chief steward kicked his seat and stood up.

As the black-clothed swordsman behind him tried to follow, the chief steward waved his hand.

“Sir Heukwol, please stay here. This is an internal matter of the Cheonhwa Library. We can’t go together. It will take some time. After the Eldest Young Master’s funeral, then the family head’s funeral, and then, and then… hahaha, just thinking about it makes me busy. But well, all I have to do is shed tears with sad eyes, so don’t worry.”

***

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The chief steward did as he had planned.

He shed tears endlessly with sad eyes.

The only difference from what he had planned was that he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, and not only tears but also snot and blood were mixed together.

In that state, with blood rushing to his head, the chief steward was looking at the Eldest Young Master, whom he had thought was dead. The Eldest Young Master, sitting with his legs crossed in a chair and staring blankly, looked bored no matter how you looked at it.

– You said he was dead?

The chief steward had spat out these words in astonishment as soon as he entered the Cheonhwa Library. The person who had greeted him as the formation at the entrance opened was the Eldest Young Master. And he had been dragged away on the spot and hung from the ceiling.

And naked, at that.

Three of the Eldest Young Master’s guards had beaten him without asking any questions, and he had been beaten for a while and had briefly lost consciousness. When he came to his senses, he could hear the family head’s voice.

“My child, even so, I think this is too much. Our Cheonhwa Library is not a place of the demonic path in the martial world, nor is it the Green Forest, so how can we torture him so harshly?”

The family head was stopping the Eldest Young Master, saying, “Why did you strip him and beat him?”

‘Fuck… what is this.’