SYM 22

The next day, Eun-hyeon woke up earlier than expected.

Although he had trouble falling asleep and tossed and turned before finally drifting off late, he didn’t feel as tired as he thought he would. After receiving Ha Yeo-un’s help yesterday, his body felt much better.

As Eun-hyeon got up from bed in a good mood, his face suddenly turned pale.

“…No way.”

The damp sensation in his lower body. The unpleasantly clinging pants.

For a moment, the dream he had last night flashed through his mind.

Eun-hyeon’s face burned bright red.

“What the hell are you doing, Ha Eun-hyeon? Get a grip…”

With trembling hands, he lifted the blanket to reveal his dampened pants.

“Ah, this can’t be happening. If this is a dream, I wish all of this was just a dream too…”

Eun-hyeon sat on the edge of the bed and let out a long sigh. Every time he looked at his damp pants, a deep sense of self-loathing welled up.

The only fortunate thing was that besides his pants, nothing else was particularly wet.

“Go die, Ha Eun-hyeon…”

Although he hadn’t raised Un since he was a baby, he had been with him since he was a snotty little kid.

And now, for him to do this to Un…

As he imagined it in detail, his head started spinning again.

Was it because his body had changed that he couldn’t recognize Un as his disciple? Or was it because of Un’s reverse cultivation technique? Or was he just trash?

Un’s help last night was truly emergency treatment. It was emergency care to quickly expel the uncontrolled energy that was running wild inside him.

But the dream he had last night couldn’t possibly be called emergency treatment.

He would have to take this secret to his grave.

Eun-hyeon vowed inwardly as he took off his wet pants. No matter what happens, this incident will remain a secret.

Eun-hyeon sighed deeply as he picked up the teapot. Thanks to the brazier that Soso had lit, it didn’t take long for the water to boil.

After adding tea leaves to the hot water, he waited for a moment. To enjoy a delicious cup of tea, one should discard the first brew and steep it again, but this wasn’t tea for drinking, so there was no need for that.

Without hesitation, Eun-hyeon poured the tea over the pants he was holding. To be precise, he poured it over the crotch area.

“Phew… Soso, I’m sorry.”

The master who had spilled tea twice in one night—both times in the same unfortunate spot—mumbled to himself.

A little later, Soso came in with water for washing up.

“Soso, I spilled tea on these pants.”

“Twice?”

Soso, who had just finished washing the pants that were soaked with tea, stared at Eun-hyeon.

“Yes. My hands were shaking, perhaps because I’m not feeling well.”

Eun-hyeon said, slightly avoiding Soso’s gaze.

“Young master, are you going without breakfast?”

“I think I’ll have it there with the visitors. Did you prepare my meal?”

“Ah, I did bring the meal, but…”

Although Eun-hyeon’s lodgings had a kitchen, Soso didn’t prepare meals separately. She would bring meals from the kitchen every day and only reheat what needed to be heated.

“You can eat it instead.”

“Is that really okay?”

Soso looked up with a brightened expression at the offer to eat the meal instead.

The master, who had committed a sin last night, nodded his head, pretending to be generous.

“Yes. It’s the meal that was brought anyway. I’ll be entertaining the visitors in the outer hall until evening today, so you can have all the meals today, Soso.”

“Ah! Thank you, young master!”

With a wealthy master, there’s at least a chance to pick up some crumbs, but until now, being under Eun-hyeon meant there was no leeway even for food.

Seeing Soso bow deeply and get excited over just being offered a meal, Eun-hyeon felt a pang of conscience he didn’t even know he had.

Eun-hyeon got dressed and headed towards the hall where the visitors were staying.

He realized something was off when he neared the hall.

There was a strangely chaotic atmosphere. Servants were running around busily, whispering among themselves, and even the visitors seemed unsettled.

What’s going on? Has something happened?

As Eun-hyeon was looking around in confusion,

“Eun-hyeon.”

“Oh? Family head… What brings you here…”

Could he have come to check if he was doing well?

But that didn’t seem to be the case, as Namgung Juwon’s expression looked unusual.

Namgung Juwon strode towards Eun-hyeon.

Since Namgung Juwon was quite tall and robust, Eun-hyeon looked even smaller standing next to him.

“Has something happened? The atmosphere…”

“Was there anything suspicious among the visitors yesterday?”

“S-suspicious? There was a bit of commotion, but nothing major.”

“I see… I heard about yesterday’s events too.”

Could Namgung Juwon have come because of what happened with the Danmok family people yesterday? But that incident wasn’t significant enough to warrant this.

“Sigh, don’t be alarmed. The Danmok family members were murdered last night.”

“…What? What do you mean…”

Seeing Eun-hyeon’s shocked face, Namgung Juwon let out a short sigh. He clearly looked uncomfortable speaking about it.

“They were murdered at Chuihwa Pavilion. Officials from Hefei have come because of it.”

“The Danmok… masters? Both of them?”

“…Yes. It seems both were brutally murdered.”

Eun-hyeon’s mouth fell open.

Although those fools from the Danmok family acted stupidly, their skills were real.

Especially that Danmok Yeo-gang was considered the next head of the Danmok family. Though still young and lacking experience, his skills were at the level of a supreme master.

The same went for Danmok Yeo-jun. While not as skilled as Danmok Yeo-gang, he was certainly formidable enough to boast.

And both of these men died at once?

“Were they together?”

“Yes, it seems they were.”

Eun-hyeon’s brow furrowed.

Danmok Yeo-gang and Danmok Yeo-jun seemed particularly close. As such, if the two used their combined technique together, it would have had a considerable synergistic effect. Even though Danmok Yeo-jun wasn’t as skilled as Danmok Yeo-gang, when they worked together, their attack power would be more than that of two supreme masters.

Yet both of them met their end together. This meant someone with skills surpassing the supreme level had appeared.

“We’ve sent someone to the Danmok family. I told them to hurry, so the news should reach the Danmok family by tomorrow. Since this happened while we had invited them to Hefei, it seems we’ll need to help deal with the aftermath.”

“…That’s only natural. People have died, after all. But I can’t believe it. Wasn’t Master Danmok known for his exceptional skills, to the point of being considered the next head of the Danmok family?”

Namgung Juwon nodded gravely.

“To think such a thing would happen right after I entrusted you with entertaining the guests… Although it’s not our fault, the Danmok family might still resent us.”

“…Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Sigh, I didn’t expect this when I gave you the task. I’m sorry.”

Eun-hyeon’s eyes widened in surprise at Namgung Juwon’s apology.

But Namgung Juwon didn’t see Eun-hyeon’s face. The White Dragon, Ha Yeo-un, was walking towards Namgung Juwon.

“Family Head. And Young Master.”

Ha Yeo-un nodded lightly, making eye contact with both Namgung Juwon and Eun-hyeon.

Eun-hyeon was startled upon seeing Ha Yeo-un and quickly turned his head away.

The dream from last night flashed through his mind as soon as he saw Ha Yeo-un.

What am I thinking? People have died, and here I am… I’m not some eighteen-year-old teenager obsessing over this all day.

Eun-hyeon chided himself briefly and bit his lip.

“Namgung Family Head. Is it true that Master Danmok met with an accident last night?”

“…It’s true. Last night, someone from the Hefei office came to the Namgung family. It’s hard to believe, but the Danmok brothers were killed.”

“…The Danmok brothers? Both of them?”

“That’s right.”

Ha Yeo-un’s expression became strange.

He had only beheaded Danmok Yeo-gang, so he was puzzled as to why Danmok Yeo-jun was also dead. However, Namgung Juwon interpreted his expression differently and let out a heavy sigh.

“To think such a thing would happen in the front yard of the Namgung family. I have no excuse even if you reproach us. Our Namgung family will do our best to find the mastermind behind this incident.”

“…I’ll help as much as I can.”

“It’s reassuring to have the White Dragon’s help.”

“But, Namgung Family Head.”

“Speak.”

“Were the two masters from the Danmok family the only ones who died?”

Namgung Juwon cleared his throat and let out a deep sigh.

“No. Tragically, it seems everyone who was at Chuihwa Pavilion yesterday was killed.”

“…Everyone?”

Eun-hyeon asked in shock. Namgung Juwon glanced around and lowered his voice.

“This is still confidential information from the office, so keep it between us. Everyone at Chuihwa Pavilion last night, be it guests or courtesans, all lost their lives. They say it’s over 200 people. The office suspects this is the work of the Demon Cult.”

Demon Cult.

Eun-hyeon swallowed hard.