Chapter 24. When Will Last Night’s Gyo-ryeong Come?

For the next few days.

Under the pretext of meditation, Hugong spared sleep, refrained from going out, and devoted himself to circulating his energy.

What he focused on was the operation of ‘Gyo-ryeong’.

‘Gyo-ryeong’ was essential to deal with the Seomun Family.

But he couldn’t confront them with the level he had when he faced the guard captain, Cheon Gyuin. He had to take the real from the empty. It had to be so natural that even after touching the opponent’s seven acupoints, the opponent wouldn’t even realize that their acupoints had been touched.

As if he were just kneading them. As if he had just brushed past them.

On the fourth night.

Hugong tested the achievement of Gyo-ryeong.

Crackle, crack.

The sound of his joints cracking became loud, and in an instant, his whole body shriveled up. The speed at which his bones and muscles shrank was so fast that the process of change was not visible.

His form, including his arms, legs, and torso, had shrunk to about one-third of its original size. The figure reflected in the mirror was smaller than a three or four-year-old child.

‘Hehe, not bad.’

Hugong was satisfied. Although his current appearance was ridiculous.

When applying it to himself, the depth of achievement was measured by the speed of change, so at this level, it would be possible to seal the seven acupoints just by caressing the body when applying it to others.

And, to this, he would add the acupoint sealing of his ultimate technique, the Eun-oe-beop (Hidden and Subtle Technique). To Hugong, it was the Eun-oe-beop, but in the martial world, it was vaguely called ‘Delayed Acupoint’, a sublime acupoint sealing technique.

The so-called reserved acupoint sealing technique that Yun had asked Ban Gyoin about at the Punghwajeong.

At that time, Hugong had almost had his eyes widen, wondering if this guy knew something and was asking.

The reason why the Delayed Acupoint was not well-known to the world, and why it was not revealed who had performed it, was simple.

The person who had been sealed could not gauge at what point they had been sealed. It could be a day, or half a day, or an hour later. That was a matter that depended on the caster’s ability or intention.

Crackle-crackle.

Hugong returned to his original size in an instant.

‘Now, then.’

That night, Hugong left his room and went to the chief steward.

Even though it was late at night, Songhwa, the self-proclaimed shadow, popped out as if she had been waiting and followed him. He couldn’t help but frown.

‘Doesn’t this kid sleep?’

The chief steward was tied to a chair with a rope.

He was just barely holding on to consciousness, and his slumped figure with his head hanging down was no different from a living corpse.

“Untie the rope.”

“Yes.”

It was the Eldest Young Master’s order.

Two guards immediately untied the rope that bound the chief steward.

As the rope was untied, the chief steward’s body tilted to the side. The guards quickly caught the chief steward’s body.

“Young master, are you going to hang him upside down again?”

Songhwa gave a triumphant smile as if she had seen through everything.

Hugong frowned.

“I told you to go to sleep, why are you still here in your pajamas, chattering away!”

“I’m your shadow, young master.”

“Hmph, what kind of shadow in the world speaks with such beautifully sparkling eyes?”

At those words, Songhwa blinked her eyes and shut her mouth.

Hugong snorted with a ‘hmph’ and brushed past the chief steward’s shoulder, arm, and side, then grabbed his neck after his spine and let go.

It was the seven acupoints.

Songhwa and the guards looked on with questioning eyes.

They couldn’t understand what it meant for the Eldest Young Master to be caressing and stroking the chief steward’s body as if he were worried about his condition, when he should have been killed.

But no one dared to ask and just watched.

Just as the thought that he might release or treat the chief steward like this crossed everyone’s mind, the Eldest Young Master turned around.

“Tie him up with the rope again.”

***

The next morning.

“My younger brothers.”

“Yes, brother.”

Yun and Bumong, who had been summoned by their eldest brother, answered politely.

Yun was holding a brush, and Bumong was carefully grinding an ink stick. Their eldest brother had said he would send a letter.

But the two of them had not yet heard where it was being sent or what the content was.

“I had a dream last night. I met an immortal-like Taoist in my dream.”

“Wow, that’s a good dream, brother!”

“Eldest brother, an immortal? It seems our Cheonhwa Library is going to receive a great blessing. What did he say?”

It was definitely a good dream, and Yun and Bumong were already so excited that they were fidgeting in their seats.

Hugong opened his mouth in a serious and low voice.

“Run away!”

“Pardon?”

“He shouted that one word and then the immortal left on a cloud.”

“R-run away?”

“Yes.”

“What does he mean, run away from what?”

“The Seomun Family, I guess.”

Yun and Bumong looked down at their respective brushes and ink sticks.

Soon, their eyes turned fierce.

“What is this! Are you going to send a peace letter to the Seomun Family just because you had one dream?”

“Eldest brother! Are you going to let it go as if nothing happened even after being treated like this? You’ve been meditating all this time, and this is the only conclusion you’ve come to!”

“I can’t help it.”

As their eldest brother’s voice came out calmly, as if in resignation, the two younger brothers were on the verge of bursting with anger.

“This is not acceptable. They are the ones who tried to annihilate our family.”

“I’m just accepting reality.”

“Reality! Hmph!”

Yun burst out in anger and broke the brush, and Bumong also threw the ink stick he was grinding on the floor. The floor was stained black with ink.

Yun and Bumong shouted.

“Do you want to live that badly, brother!”

“Are you that scared of dying, eldest brother!”

Hugong knew how to calm down his two younger brothers.

He just had to stare at them intently.

That was all it took.

As expected, Yun and Bumong, who had been furious until just a moment ago, shouted and then became dazed, and they froze blankly.

“Uh…”

“Uh-uh…”

After venting their anger and shouting, “Do you want to live that badly?”, they realized that the person in front of them was their eldest brother.

The root of darkness in the family.

The one who had lived because he couldn’t die.

The record holder of over two hundred suicide attempts.

That eldest brother was in front of them.

As if he were scared of dying.

Gulp.

As the two younger brothers swallowed dryly, Hugong frowned as much as he could.

“Can’t I live a little?”

“No. You can.”

“Of course you can. Eldest brother, you have to live.”

Hugong snorted with a ‘hmph’.

“You ill-mannered rascals. How dare you talk back to me? We’re all doing this to live. Songhwa!”

“Yes, young master. I’m here.”

Just by calling her, Songhwa appeared with a club as if she had been waiting and politely offered it.

Hugong narrowed his eyes.

“What is it, clean the room!”

“Pardon? Yes!”

Bumong ground the ink stick again, and Yun prepared to write the letter.

A letter of peace to the head of the Seomun Family.

As he dictated the contents word by word, Hugong looked out the window once in a while.

“It’s about time…”

“Brother, should I write down what you just said too?”

“No.”

The two younger brothers thought that their eldest brother kept looking out the window as if he were waiting for something, but they also thought it was because his heart was empty due to the situation, so they felt sad for no reason.

It was then.

“Eldest Young Master!”

An urgent voice came from outside.

Hugong inwardly gave a triumphant smile.

‘It’s done.’

He had been sure, but the worry that it might not work disappeared as if it had been washed away.

“What’s the commotion?”

“The chief steward suddenly had a seizure. He was just sitting there, and then his joints shriveled up and twisted. His legs even bent back and went over his waist. It’s scary. E-Eldest Young Master, we swear we didn’t even touch him. But what on earth happened…”

Hugong was filled with satisfaction.

The Delayed Acupoint Technique? No, to Hugong, it was the Eun-oe-beop (Hidden and Subtle Technique).

Gyo-ryeong had manifested.

The Gyo-ryeong that he had cast on the chief steward last night, which had looked like just a caress, had appeared at the scheduled time.

But he couldn’t reveal that.

Hugong shouted sternly towards the outside, as if to say, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting in the morning! Why would the chief steward shrivel up! What if he dies!”

***

The office of the head of the Seomun Family.

“I was careless.”

A bald old man bowed his head and begged for forgiveness.

The blue veins on his head were prominent in the sunlight coming in from the window. He was a strategist of the Seomun Family, and he was so skilled in strategy and tactics that he was also called Baeknoe (Hundred Brains), as if he had a hundred brains.

The head of the Seomun Family, Seomun Chu, shook his head.

A warm smile bloomed on his gentle face.

“Hehe, it’s not your fault. It would be nice if everything went as planned, but that’s not how the world works. This matter with the Cheonhwa Library was something even I didn’t expect. The change in the eldest of the Cheonhwa Library was an unexpected variable. This is almost a natural disaster. The matter of the Cheonhwa Library will be closed at this point, as their response was swift and they have prostrated themselves.”

“Yes.”

“Bring the eldest.”

A little while later, the Eldest Young Master of the Seomun Family entered the family head’s office.

“You called for me, father.”

“A letter has been sent from the Cheonhwa Library. They want to meet in person and apologize for the unpleasant rumor. You will finish this matter. You must strictly question them and warn them not to let this happen again, but don’t push them too hard, and embrace them at an appropriate level to make them feel difficult but also rely on you.”

“Yes, I will.”

“One more thing. There’s no need to meet outside separately. Invite them to the main house. I also want to see what happened to the eldest of the Cheonhwa Library and how much he has changed. It would also be good to invite the children of the surrounding prestigious families as well. Hold a simple banquet to naturally explain, and at the same time, show off the prestige of our family.”

“Yes, father.”

The Eldest Young Master of the Seomun Family, Seomun Ung, bowed his head deeply.

***

Three days after that.

A reply from the Seomun Family arrived at the Cheonhwa Library.

After confirming the contents of the letter, Hugong was extremely pleased.

The letter Hugong had originally sent had requested a separate meeting outside, but the reply had come back as an internal invitation.

What added to his satisfaction was that they had also invited the children of the reputable families in the vicinity. A natural atmosphere would be created for him to perform Gyo-ryeong.

The intention of the Seomun Family was probably to humiliate them in front of everyone, but that was not a problem.

But regardless of Hugong’s inner thoughts, the Cheonhwa Library held the world’s greatest denunciation meeting because of this letter.

First, the old family head.

“How can the Seomun Family, a prestigious family, be so shameless? What are all these polite expressions! Not even an excuse, but to act as if they have no idea what’s going on!”

Then, Yun and Bumong.

“Grandfather, the Seomun people don’t seem to be human. Their behavior is just like that of beasts, even though they have the appearance of humans. And the one who wrote the letter was not the family head, but the eldest son!”

“Is it okay to do this just because you have power! To cover up their evil deeds with the power and authority they have, and to have the audacity to make the truth a lie. Grandfather, are we really living in a world like this!”

The two younger brothers’ faces were flushed red, and,

“Cough, cough… those wicked things… cough…”

The uncle, who had recovered quite a bit and was able to move, also expressed his anger by coughing roughly. The whole family was literally breathing fire.

Of course, Hugong couldn’t just stand by, so he diligently panted, talking about heavenly punishment.

Then, when the world’s greatest denunciation meeting was about to turn into an atmosphere of everyone hugging and sobbing and patting each other on the shoulder, Hugong quietly slipped out.

“I’m frustrated, so I’m going to go out and get some air.”

As Hugong walked, flapping his sleeves, Songhwa and the four guards followed him like shadows.