SYM 69
by Emerlyn“So, Great Hero Ha, you didn’t come here about Master Jang’s matter.”
“Master Jang’s matter? May I ask what that’s about?”
In truth, he was probably just asking to annoy the Light Sword, as he had no real interest in other people’s affairs.
Tsk, what a nasty personality.
Eun-hyeon inwardly sighed as he watched Cheong-un smirking.
Even as a child, Cheong-un would torment people he disliked with a smile on his face until the very end.
It was clear he was asking about Master Jang’s business, which he didn’t actually care about, simply because the Light Sword seemed to dislike it.
Eun-hyeon gave Cheong-un a subtle look, trying to signal him to stop, but Cheong-un pretended not to notice and averted his gaze.
The Light Sword’s face stiffened for a moment before his lips moved slightly. He seemed to be exchanging telepathic messages with his companions.
“Well then, Great Hero Ha. If you have some time…”
Cheong-un frowned. He had only pretended to be interested to tease the man, not because he actually cared.
“I don’t really have any connection to Master Jang, and we have somewhere we need to go…”
“Master Jang is looking for his daughter. Surely you wouldn’t refuse to help when someone like Great Hero Ha offers? We’ve been having difficulties on our own, so we were desperately hoping someone like Great Hero Ha would join us.”
“Even so, we really do have prior engagements…”
“Great Hero Ha, have you not heard about people going missing in the Shaanxi and Shanxi regions?”
At that moment, Eun-hyeon and Cheong-un’s eyes met.
Hearing about people disappearing reminded them of what the Green Forest bandits had said, as well as the undead they had seen inside the formation.
Undead were basically created from someone’s corpse. And from what they had heard, the condition of the corpse seemed quite important.
There had been dozens, no, hundreds of undead inside that formation alone.
While some undead were made from the bodies of martial artists, there were also undead that couldn’t use martial arts at all.
Where had all those undead come from?
Could they have been made from these missing people?
“Does this happen often? People going missing?”
The Light Sword nodded at Eun-hyeon’s question.
“To be honest, we only found out about this while investigating this case. It seems there have been quite frequent disappearances of civilians. Mostly children have gone missing, but since it’s a government matter, we weren’t aware until now.”
“…Children?”
Eun-hyeon asked with wide eyes.
He had thought the undead would be martial artists or at least strong adults, so this was unexpected.
“Yes, that’s why Master Jang is so worried. But who might this person be…?”
The Light Sword glanced at Eun-hyeon repeatedly, trailing off.
Seeing his reddened face, Cheong-un furrowed his brow. He had disliked this man from the start, and continued to dislike him to the end.
Before Eun-hyeon could speak, Cheong-un quickly cut in.
“Hmm, it’s troubling to hear about children going missing. But isn’t this a matter for the authorities to handle? I’m concerned that if martial artists like us get involved, we might just end up causing more problems.”
“Actually, I have something to say about that too, but it’s not a short story… Would you mind if we sat together for a bit?”
Cheong-un glanced at Eun-hyeon, whose eyes were gleaming slightly, and inwardly sighed.
Missing children, huh.
Knowing Eun-hyeon, there was no way he would ignore something like this.
After all, this was the same Eun-hyeon who had protected and raised him when he escaped from the Demonic Sect. It was obvious that if they just passed by, it would weigh on his mind for a long time. In that case, it was better for him to step up.
“Sigh, alright. Let’s at least hear what you have to say.”
Though listening to this troublesome story meant they were likely to get involved, looking at Eun-hyeon, he simply couldn’t turn away.
As Eun-hyeon moved to sit next to Cheong-un, the Light Sword and his two companions quickly moved their seats as well.
“Since we’ve met like this, let’s introduce ourselves properly. I’m Cheon Ji-hyeok, who’s on friendly terms with Il-so. This is Yeon Mu-il.”
“I’m Ha Yeo-un. And this is…”
When it came to introducing Eun-hyeon, the words wouldn’t come out.
Though Eun-hyeon was male, his appearance was so striking that one couldn’t feel at ease around other men. No, precisely because they were men, he couldn’t trust them.
A base desire to not even reveal his name welled up suddenly.
But Eun-hyeon, thinking Cheong-un was hesitating because he didn’t know how to introduce him, quickly introduced himself.
“I’m Ha Eun-hyeon. I’m traveling with Great Hero Ha due to personal circumstances.”
When he said “Ha Eun-hyeon,” his eyes met Cheong-un’s. Eun-hyeon gave a slight smile.
Ha Eun-hyeon.
This was originally his own name.
For some reason, his name was always Eun-hyeon whenever he transmigrated.
Originally it was Ha Eun-hyeon, but during his time as a Taoist it became Seo Eun-hyeon, and now it was Namgung Eun-hyeon.
Using his original surname after so long felt strange.
“Ah, so you’re Young Master Ha.”
“I’m just an ordinary person who knows nothing of martial arts. Please speak comfortably.”
“Oh, then shall I call you Young Lord Ha?”
“Yes, please call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“Very well, Young Lord Ha. Please convince Great Hero Ha to join us for this matter.”
Upon hearing the name Ha Eun-hyeon, the Light Sword assumed they were relatives and smiled even more kindly.
“Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, Light Sword, please explain the situation.”
“Ah, yes. Before Master Jang retired to his hometown, he was in the Imperial Palace. He held an official position, but for a long time he was also a teacher to the Imperial Prince.”
Imperial Palace? Imperial Prince?
Eun-hyeon blinked at the sudden mention of the Imperial Palace. It was a term he had never encountered in his two transmigrations. The connection to the Imperial Palace piqued his interest even more.
“Master Jang had a late-born youngest daughter, who went missing two weeks ago. At first, they thought she might have run away in secret, but when she couldn’t be found anywhere nearby, they reported it to the authorities. Since it was Master Jang’s daughter who had gone missing, not just anyone, the officials seemed to search quite diligently at first. But…”
“But?”
The Light Sword took a sip of the bamboo leaf wine they had been drinking and nodded.
“Even after several days, they found nothing. Master Jang got the impression that the officials were just wasting time, so he gathered people separately to search.”
“How could the officials do that when Master Jang was even a teacher to the Imperial Prince?”
The Light Sword nodded gravely at Eun-hyeon’s question.
“We don’t understand why the officials are acting this way either. Moreover, from what we’ve learned, it seems there may be someone specifically kidnapping children. Master Jang’s youngest daughter was likely taken by that person as well.”
“Do you know who’s behind the kidnappings?”
“Someone said they saw the Black Widow taking children away. So we’re searching for the Black Widow now. But the Black Widow is very cautious and has excellent light body skills, so…”
“Isn’t the Black Widow one of a trio with the Wolf Fang Blade and the Colorful Dagger?”
“That’s right. The three of them together are known as the Three Evils of Shaanxi. We’ve only caught the trail of the Black Widow this time, but the Wolf Fang Blade and Colorful Dagger are probably moving with her.”
“But why would they be taking people… They’ve done many bad things before, but I don’t recall ever hearing about them kidnapping children…”
“We’re puzzled by that too. No matter how evil the Three Evils of Shaanxi are, they’ve never kidnapped anyone before.”
Eun-hyeon furrowed his brow. There were many strange things about this situation.
Especially the fact that the Three Evils of Shaanxi, who had never kidnapped before, were suddenly taking children was hard to understand.
“Great Hero Ha, will you help us?”
At Yang Il-so the Light Sword’s words, Cheong-un stood up with a gentle smile. Since he was holding Eun-hyeon’s hand, Eun-hyeon had to stand up as well with a bewildered expression.
“I’m sorry, Great Hero Yang. We’re currently in the middle of urgent business, so I’m afraid we won’t be able to help. From what I’ve heard, this doesn’t seem like something that can be resolved quickly.”
“No, Great Hero Ha! If you could help us, it would be a great…”
“I feel reassured knowing there are capable warriors like yourselves here.”
Cheong-un gently cut off the Light Sword’s words and pulled Eun-hyeon’s hand.
Though Eun-hyeon couldn’t make sense of the situation, he followed Cheong-un out for now.