SYM 24

“If it’s difficult to see this, the young master can stay outside.”

“…It’s alright.”

At Ha Yeo-un’s words, Eun-hyeon shook his head and entered together.

The interior of Chuihwa Pavilion was not as rough as expected. It seemed all the corpses had already been taken away by the authorities, as only traces of the fight remained inside.

Eun-hyeon frowned.

“The interior is cleaner than I thought.”

It was said that nearly two hundred people were massacred at once. However, there weren’t many traces of blood splatter, making it unclear how exactly the people were killed.

“It doesn’t look like they were killed with swords. If so, the inside would have been quite a sight. They must have used poison or something.”

“Poison…? From the Demon Cult?”

At Ha Yeo-un’s words, Eun-hyeon replied with distaste. He hadn’t really heard of the Demon Cult using poison before.

“Who knows what those vile Demon Cult bastards might do? They could have used poison.”

To speak of vileness while being the Demon Cult leader himself – at this point, it seemed Ha Yeo-un was genuinely enjoying playing the role of the righteous martial arts hero, the White-Robed Divine Dragon.

Eun-hyeon carefully chose his words to gauge Ha Yeo-un’s sincerity.

“I don’t understand. Even if it’s the Demon Cult, why would they do this without any reason? Moreover, Hebi is where the Namgung family is located. Is there any reason to massacre even civilians who aren’t martial artists here?”

Ha Yeo-un looked at Eun-hyeon with a strange expression. As if asking whether Eun-hyeon was defending the Demon Cult, Eun-hyeon bit his lip at that gaze.

The Demon Cult leader was disparaging the Demon Cult, while he, the young master of a prominent family, was making statements that seemed to be defending the Demon Cult. Eun-hyeon felt like his throat was burning.

“That’s what we need to find out from now on.”

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice interjected.

It was Officer Jang. He looked at Eun-hyeon with cold eyes. It was a suspicious gaze as if Eun-hyeon was a minion of the Demon Cult.

“The authorities have singled out the Demon Cult because traces of cult members were found. Be careful, young master. Your current remarks sound as if you’re accusing the authorities of deliberately framing the Demon Cult.”

“Are you saying the Demon Cult left traces?”

Officer Jang exhaled a short sigh and looked at Eun-hyeon with irritation.

“Namgung Eun-hyeon, was it? For a matter of this scale, I thought the Namgung family would at least send someone like Namgung Eun-gwang. Tsk. Sending such a young master instead. I can see how seriously the Namgung family is taking this incident.”

Eun-hyeon’s face reddened. This Officer Jang fellow seemed to think Eun-hyeon was one of the younger collateral bloodline members, younger than Namgung Eun-gwang.

“I am…”

“That’s enough. It’s not your fault, is it, young master? It must be the intention of the Namgung family head. I have already examined this place thoroughly and will be heading to the government office. You two, be careful not to contaminate the crime scene as you investigate, then return.”

Officer Jang gave a brief nod to Ha Yeo-un before leaving.

“Haa…”

“Well, Eun-gwang does look old for his age.”

“Pfft.”

At Ha Yeo-un’s unexpected remark, Eun-hyeon, who was about to sigh, burst into laughter instead.

“Seeing how cleanly this has been arranged, I don’t think we’ll find anything more by looking around here. Shall we leave as well?”

Eun-hyeon paused briefly at the mention of it being cleanly arranged and took another look around Chuihwa Pavilion. Indeed, unless they had killed people using poison or something similar, there was no way the scene could be this clean. The government forces must have cleaned up the site.

But why would the government forces do such a thing?

And even sending the Imperial Guards directly from Beijing…

“How did the Imperial Guards know and arrive so quickly?”

“…Let’s talk about that on our way to the tavern. There’s a decent restaurant a little way from here. They make an excellent Dongpo pork. I’ll treat you, so let’s go there.”

Before Eun-hyeon could respond, Ha Yeo-un naturally led him out of Chuihwa Pavilion.

* * *

The place Ha Yeo-un took Eun-hyeon to was a fairly large two-story restaurant. Ha Yeo-un naturally headed towards a private room on the second floor.

“You said they make good Dongpo pork, and indeed, their skill is excellent!”

Ha Yeo-un inwardly chuckled as he watched Eun-hyeon eating the Dongpo pork heartily.

They had just come from a place where many people had died. He had expected Eun-hyeon to be more subdued.

“Is your wrist usable now?”

“Ah…!”

Eun-hyeon glanced at his wrist. The once substantial wound had now healed, leaving only a faint trace.

Eun-hyeon casually raised his left wrist to show Ha Yeo-un.

“This wrist, it was you who helped heal it, right, Great Hero Ha?”

Come to think of it, he had been able to get back at Madam Hwang thanks to his wrist healing faster than expected.

But he hadn’t properly thanked Ha Yeo-un for that.

“I didn’t properly thank you. I’m grateful. If you hadn’t helped, I would have been in trouble in many ways.”

Despite suggesting they go eat Dongpo pork, Ha Yeo-un was only sipping tea.

“I didn’t do it to receive thanks, so don’t worry about it.”

“Still, having received your help…”

“From what I’ve seen, the young master’s problem is always being hurt, so you should apologize instead.”

“…I’ll take better care of myself and be more mindful of my actions.”

“That’s how a man should be.”

Ha Yeo-un said this with a grin.

Eun-hyeon’s face turned bright red.

While the wrist incident was Madam Hwang’s doing and unavoidable, last night’s events were due to him being a man, making Ha Yeo-un’s words particularly poignant. The events of the previous night, momentarily forgotten due to the Chuihwa Pavilion incident, came flooding back one by one.

Although Eun-hyeon had only drunk chrysanthemum tea, his face flushed as if he had been drinking alcohol.

“Don’t worry. As I said yesterday, if it’s that kind of thing, I’m always willing to lend a hand.”

“…No, it’s fine. There won’t be any such incidents in the future.”

Once was enough for carelessly consuming something and causing such an incident. Eun-hyeon shook his head, determined never to let it happen again.

“It’s a bit disappointing to hear you say that so firmly. I did my best to serve you, yet you’re being so cold…”

Eun-hyeon glared at Ha Yeo-un with disbelief, his eyes widening.

From Ha Yeo-un’s perspective, it was no more than a cute cat raising its hackles, but teasing Eun-hyeon had helped settle some of the irritation bubbling inside him.

Ha Yeo-un picked at his food a bit, then put down his chopsticks.

“Oh my. Young master, it seems I’ve left my fan at Chuihwa Pavilion. I’ll go fetch it quickly, so please wait here for a moment?”

“…Why are you carrying a fan in this winter anyway?”

Ha Yeo-un grinned at Eun-hyeon’s chiding.

“Because concealing is often better than revealing.”

Ha Yeo-un left this cryptic remark and exited the room.

Left alone, Eun-hyeon fell into thought.

He must be intentionally leaving me behind to go back there. Did he discover something at Chuihwa Pavilion that I didn’t see?

Earlier, Ha Yeo-un had implied that the authorities had already erased all traces at Chuihwa Pavilion. If that’s true, why would the government suddenly get involved?

Just then, the door slid open.

Since Ha Yeo-un had booked a private room from the start, Eun-hyeon looked up, thinking it was a waiter.

“Are you the young master of the Namgung family?”

However, standing there was a man too large in stature to be a waiter, looking at Eun-hyeon.

“Who…?”

Before Eun-hyeon could finish speaking, something covered his nose.

And soon after, Eun-hyeon lost consciousness.