SYM 5
by Emerlyn“Oh, goodness, you startled me! Why did you suddenly shout like that?”
“I’m sorry. I was just surprised for a moment…”
Eun-hyeon felt dizzy from the great shock. Grabbing the table and staggering, he caught his breath and slumped down.
Cheong-un. What on earth have you been doing?
If Un was in front of him, he wanted to flip him over and spank his bottom.
You little rascal.
‘I left just one last wish, and you ignore it and do as you please?’
Eun-hyeon sighed and cursed Cheong-un inwardly.
Then again, when did that Un ever listen to him properly?
That Un, he would say “Master, Master” to his face and pretend to listen, but in the end, he always did whatever he truly wanted.
Still, he thought he would at least honor his last wish…
Even though he knew he should restrain himself as he was no longer Eun-hyeon the Taoist of Kunlun Sect, it wasn’t easy.
He wanted Un to forget about revenge and live happily.
‘But Un, if you went this far for revenge, how much of a hell must your heart have been in?’
“Excuse me, sir. Could you possibly tell me more about this? I’m afraid I don’t know much…”
“Well, I don’t know the details either. I just know what’s commonly known, what others know.”
“That’s fine too. What… what exactly did the De… Demonic Cult Leader do?”
It felt tongue-twisting to refer to Un as the Demonic Cult Leader while knowing who he was.
“It’s a story everyone knows, isn’t it? The most famous one is that. Seok Dae-young! He broke into Seok Dae-young’s house and beheaded everyone, from Seok Dae-young to all his family members. Not satisfied with that, he set fire to Seok Dae-young’s house, burning all the corpses too.”
“S-Seok Dae-young, you mean the owner of Gilyoung Trading Company?”
“I see you know him too. It was infamous for how cruel the deed was.”
You crazy bastard…!
Eun-hyeon remembered Seok Dae-young too.
When he and Un were traveling the martial arts world, they had briefly worked at Seok Dae-young’s Gilyoung Trading Company.
It was something only wandering swordsmen would do, but with no money and a young disciple to feed, they had no choice.
But even after working, they were cheated by Seok Dae-young and kicked out without receiving a single coin.
This guy, now I see…
Does revenge mean not just against those who caused his death, but against all who ever troubled him?
Suddenly, he recalled Un muttering that he would kill all those bastards someday as they were leaving after being backstabbed by Seok Dae-young.
…Could he possibly remember all that?
This petty guy, having such a good memory…!
Eun-hyeon’s face turned pale.
“Then, um, do you know if anything… happened with the Kunlun Sect?”
“Hmm. Kunlun? Isn’t Kunlun the sect of Eun-hyeon, the master of Cheong-un, the Demonic Cult Leader? He seems to have been fond of his master, causing all this chaos for his master’s revenge. What would he do to his master’s sect?”
“Ah… I see.”
Eun-hyeon finally let out a sigh of relief upon hearing those words.
Although it wasn’t publicly known, Eun-hyeon and his sect actually had a somewhat awkward relationship.
“Well, even a madman seems to be fond of his master. Look at how he’s going around seeking revenge on everyone who wronged his master.”
“Ahem, hem.”
Ha Yeo-un, sitting next to Eun-hyeon, cleared his throat. Eun-hyeon glanced at him, noticing his expression was peculiar. It seemed like a mix of embarrassment and pride, hard to decipher.
Eun-hyeon’s eyes fell on Ha Yeo-un’s plate. A white plate piled high with sugar-fried walnuts.
He doesn’t eat peanuts, does he dislike walnuts too? But why gather them on his plate like a squirrel storing food?
As Eun-hyeon pondered this, Ha Yeo-un picked up a walnut and began chewing. Watching him munch on walnuts one after another, a memory flashed through Eun-hyeon’s mind.
- Master, you should save the tasty things to eat later!
Un’s voice from some time ago echoed in his ears.
“Other than that, I don’t know anything more. I have nothing else to say. I just hope those damn Demonic Cult bastards don’t cause more trouble.”
At that moment, someone across the table chimed in.
“I’ve heard something about the Demonic Cult’s recent activities.”
“Oh? Have those cult bastards been causing trouble again recently?”
The Demonic Cult had been the hottest topic lately. As others, who had been listening from a distance, joined the conversation, the number of people talking increased.
“The place they recently wreaked havoc was the Yangtze River.”
“What? The Demonic Cult went as far as the Yangtze? From Xinjiang to the Yangtze… No, isn’t the River Patrol stationed there? Did they just stand by?”
“How could they? I heard there was a fight with the River Patrol, and the whole area became a wasteland. These days, there’s no place without those Demonic Cult bastards.”
“Indeed. From Xinjiang to the Yangtze. It’s easier to assume they’re everywhere now. What’s the world coming to? Is this even believable?”
“That’s why we righteous sect members have gathered here.”
“That’s right!”
Ha Yeo-un was the one who chimed in at the end, mentioning the righteous sects.
His words further excited the crowd, who began to mutter more intensely.
“We need to sweep away that Demonic Cult scum.”
“They should all be caught and killed. We should have kept them confined in the mountains! It’s because the Martial Alliance didn’t do its job that things have come to this!”
What started as cursing Cheong-un gradually spread to cursing the entire Demonic Cult. Ha Yeo-un occasionally provoked people while staring intently at those cursing the Demonic Cult.
As if he was trying to remember who said what.
Something about this seemed unsettling.
“But wait, wasn’t the Demonic Cult leader position vacant originally? Do you know how that Cheong… Un became the leader?”
For some reason, after the death of the previous leader, the position had remained vacant for quite some time.
So how did Cheong-un become the leader?
When Eun-hyeon closed his eyes for the last time, Cheong-un was only fourteen.
He had tried so hard to prevent him from becoming the Heavenly Demon, but was fate unavoidable?
He thought he had instilled proper values in Cheong-un who followed him, but was that his misconception? Or was Cheong-un kidnapped by the Demonic Cult and brainwashed?
His mind was in turmoil.
“Well, who could know about the Demonic Cult? Unless they’re a member… But still, to think someone who was once a disciple of a righteous sect became the Demonic Cult’s leader. I guess you can’t escape your true nature.”
At that moment, Eun-hyeon’s expression unconsciously twisted.
To think there are still people saying such things!
He wanted to retort immediately, but he forced himself to hold back.
If he caused a commotion now and drew attention, he would be the one in trouble.
He felt he’d heard enough.
Nodding along as if in agreement, Eunhyeon quietly slipped away from the conversation.
He had eaten enough and learned about the current state of the martial world, so he planned to leave under the pretext of going to the restroom.
When the drinks had gone around once or twice and the mood had lifted, Eun-hyeon stood up from his seat.
As he gathered his clothes and quietly left, the cold wind hit his face, unlike the warm interior.
Unlike when he first entered, now that the sun had completely set, it was so cold that the snot in his nose nearly froze.
Eun-hyeon quickly put on his thick clothes again.
He had managed to get out, but the thought of returning to his lodgings seemed daunting.
At that moment, someone firmly grabbed Eun-hyeon’s shoulder.
“Where are you sneaking off to, like a thief in the night?”
…It was Ha Yeo-un.
Unfortunately, with the full moon right above, Ha Yeo-un’s face was clearly visible.
“Great Hero Ha.”
Ha Yeo-un.
Eun-hyeon muttered his name inwardly.
“How can you call me a thief when I’m walking in my own home?”
Ha Yeo-un wrinkled his nose.
Seeing this, Eun-hyeon couldn’t help but smile.
That habit of wrinkling the nose when uncomfortable.
It was a habit of someone he knew well.
The rising star of the righteous sects from a minor sect.
Ha Yeo-un, the White-Robed Divine Dragon.
It wasn’t enough that he was the Demonic Cult leader.
Eun-hyeon knew Un was audacious and bold, but this was beyond imagination.
Eun-hyeon smiled at Ha Yeo-un.
That smile was quite gentle.
Guessing Ha Yeo-un’s true identity, he felt more endearing and nostalgic than annoyed.
But seeing Eun-hyeon like this, Ha Yeo-un frowned.
It was strange how the person who had been like a bristling wildcat until entering the banquet had suddenly changed.
“You want to hear about what I said earlier, right? Where I heard it from.”
“…That’s right.”
Eun-hyeon smiled again, seeing Ha Yeo-un answer straightforwardly with a sour expression.
The original Un had a face so pretty it was almost bewitching. When he was young, he was often mistaken for a girl when Eun-hyeon took him around. But now, whether he had used some technique to change his appearance, his features were strangely blurred.
“If you take me to my quarters, I’ll tell you. Since you brought me here, it shouldn’t be difficult to take me back to my lodgings.”
“Why should I?”
“Didn’t you bring me here, Great Hero Ha? So you should take me back.”
Ha Yeo-un frowned, but Eun-hyeon smiled brightly.
“And you need to hear from whom I heard about the ‘dog shit,’ don’t you?”
Ha Yeo-un let out a short sigh and picked up Eun-hyeon in his arms.