Chapter 10: The Grim Reaper Is Too Handsome

The moment those words fell, there was no one present who didn’t understand what had just happened.

Since everyone present were martial artists who had achieved a certain level by handling energy and building internal power, all except Hyeonwol, who had vaguely suspected, couldn’t hide their shocked expressions.

The young man before them had spread his sensory perception to blanket this entire large marketplace—and on top of that, had pinpointed a specific individual.

In less time than it took to draw three breaths!

Leaving aside his profound internal energy, the delicate control of his power was a monstrous skill difficult to express even with words like ‘extraordinary.’

Whether everyone was plunged into shock or not, Seol Cheon-yu, with an impeccably polite expression, bowed to Hyeonwol and turned around.

“I will catch them immediately.

Please wait just a moment.”

With those words, Seol Cheon-yu vanished from sight.

By the time those who grasped the situation belatedly tried to track Seol Cheon-yu’s movement, they could only see the young man’s back as he soared onto the rooftops as if flying, executing his lightness technique.

It was lightness skill that had reached its peak at tremendous speed.

Everyone forgot to speak and was blankly watching that sight when Hyeonwol stepped forward to follow Seol Cheon-yu.

With a soft tap, Hyeonwol lightly scaled the alley wall.

Standing on the rooftop, he looked down at those below.

His light blue long robe, catching the wind, fluttered lightly in the energy current.

“Not coming along?”

Casually waving his fan once, Hyeonwol left those words behind and vanished over the rooftops, executing his own lightness technique.

Suddenly, those including Gang Huiseo realized they had unconsciously agreed to Seol Cheon-yu’s words to ‘wait.’

Hiding their embarrassment, they hurriedly began to spread their lightness techniques.

Seol Cheon-yu was already out of sight.

Amidst the fluster and bewilderment, Gang Huiseo, watching Hyeonwol ahead, realized anew that his martial arts were at a higher level than most martial artists belonging to the Forbidden Guard.

His steps on the roof tiles were light and smooth, with no wasted movement.

She had heard his illness was severe, but perhaps he had recovered considerably recently.

Gang Huiseo recalled the biography of the former crown prince from years ago, before she herself had joined the Forbidden Guard—how at the age of just coming of age, he had stood at the forefront on the northern battlefield, strangling and driving back the enemy with powerful martial force and strategy.

Lost in such thoughts, Gang Huiseo arrived at the destination and descended from the rooftop.

Kang Ryun and Ju Jiryang, who had quickly followed, also took in the sight of a similar alley and briefly looked around.

Soon they discovered Hyeonwol, calmly standing with his fan covering his face as before, outwardly appearing like a leisurely young nobleman with nothing much to do.

Naturally, before him stood Seol Cheon-yu, standing proudly without a single hair out of place.

He didn’t seem particularly bothered that others had followed him.

Lowering their gaze beside Seol Cheon-yu, they also spotted a small child huddled in an alley corner, pitifully trembling.

Was she around eleven or twelve?

Wearing ordinary, worn-out clothes with her hair roughly tied in one bunch, the small child at first glance seemed like a boy, but her delicate features soon revealed she was a girl.

The child’s expression was one of shock, as if she had seen something unbelievable.

Since it seemed excessive for simply being caught, everyone surrounded the child with questioning expressions.

Seol Cheon-yu quietly spoke.

“Blood Cult.

Correct?”

His tone was calm, merely confirming a fact, with certainty already underlying it.

At this, the child began trembling even more violently, like an aspen tree.

Her two eyes didn’t leave Seol Cheon-yu’s face.

It was an expression as if she had seen something truly fearsome.

Her appearance was so pitiful and desperate that Hyeonwol swallowed a sigh and stepped forward.

Though boldly intervening in Seol Cheon-yu’s affair felt burdensome, he thought a small interference would be alright.

“Child, calm down first and think clearly.

If you just tremble like this without answering, you’ll end up being taken to an even scarier place.

What kind of state do you want to be in there?

He’s asking if you’re the one who harmed that middle-aged man in the marketplace not far from here.”

Though not particularly warm as coaxing went, sadly, no one was there to point that out.

Answering this question would also be an automatic admission of being a Blood Cultist, so it was also a tactic to pressure the opponent.

Kang Ryun, witnessing his lord’s unconscious leading interrogation up close after a long time, wryly thought this was something he didn’t miss.

“Hmm….

The child doesn’t seem able to calm down at all.”

“Hyung-nim, I will handle the rest.”

It was the moment Seol Cheon-yu gently moved Hyeonwol aside and took a step toward the child.

The child’s eyes began to flash.

Surprisingly, it seemed that going one step beyond extreme fear had unblocked her choked voice.

“That bastard stole my candy!”

“……?”

“That… that bastard tried to take my candy…!

I hadn’t eaten for three days, my stomach was even more empty, and I had no mind for anything else!

Satisfied?!

Ah, I don’t care anymore!

Kill me or whatever!

I did what I had to!

Oh, my fate…!

Oh!

What sin did I commit in my past life!

Getting kidnapped as a snot-nosed kid, child abuse disguised as training…!

The mission I was dragged into failed completely, and I got left behind!

And now I’m facing something that doesn’t even feel like destiny and I’m going to die……!”

“…….”

The child’s attitude was very different from what they had imagined for a culprit.

An awkward atmosphere hovered among the gathered adults….

Moreover, Hyeonwol thought, at this point, shouldn’t he seriously consider whether there was a curse on marketplace candy?

He barely suppressed the hollow laugh rising within him.

Listening, even amidst the wailing and seemingly random outbursts, one could sufficiently tell the child had grown up as a martial artist of the Blood Cult.

At this rate, it might actually be worse than if she had kept quiet.

But soon, Hyeonwol, hearing one of the sentences the child continued to mutter incoherently, abruptly lifted his head.

“……!”

He approached with frightening momentum and grabbed the shoulders of the collapsed child.

He had even thrown aside the fan he hadn’t lost while using lightness technique to come here.

Whether everyone stared at him with flustered eyes or not, Hyeonwol stared intently at the child and quickly fired a question.

“What did you just say?!”

“Uh, incredibly handsome beauty….

Uh, yes?

What?”

“That, ‘captured like this, caught so squarely, what I see before me is truly the grim reaper.

And why is he so good-looking…‘ what you said after that!”

Briefly searching her memory, the child, even with a confused face, gave the answer Hyeonwol wanted.

“Ah, after that?

Uh… that four-character phrase starting with ba?”

“Yes, that!”

“……Do I really have to say it?

Why, somehow it’s embarrassing….

It really has no meaning…?”

“Yes.

I’m asking you.”

The child’s flustered, wavering gaze turned toward Seol Cheon-yu, standing quietly behind Hyeonwol.

Quickly turning her head back to Hyeonwol, she rapidly spat out a word.

“Uh, uh… Ba Chamchi…!”

“…….”

That, that….

What, was that some four-character idiom or code word I don’t know?

It really had no meaning….

Hyeonwol, with a soul-fled expression, blankly stared at the child muttering similarly, then abruptly hardened his expression.

Truly, an unexpected big catch had been hooked!

Crouching before the child and chewing over the thought, he soon sprang up.

At his violent movement, his ankle, which he had twisted while escaping the palace and had just used lightness technique, throbbed sharply.

Nevertheless, Hyeonwol could maintain his usual composed face.

The small pain at the moment wasn’t very important.

Abruptly turning toward Gang Huiseo, who stood awkwardly, Hyeonwol opened his mouth with a serious air.

He hadn’t even thought to pick up the fan that had flown far away.

“General Gang.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Gang Huiseo, uncharacteristically, watched his mood.

Fortunately, Ju Jiryang beside Gang Huiseo, though flustered by Hyeonwol’s familiar face, seemed to have roughly guessed.

That subordinate he knew wasn’t a loose-lipped man, so he probably didn’t need to worry about rumors spreading.

Whether aware of Gang Huiseo’s complex feelings or not, Hyeonwol, with a quite serious face, spoke again.

“The martial world and the government have mutual non-aggression.

You know that, right?”

“Yes….”

“And that it’s unwise to meddle in the private grudges of the martial world?”

“I am well aware.”

“Good.

Then you all should go now.”

“Yes?”

Rarely unable to hide her flustered air—though this was already several times today—Gang Huiseo blinked.

“But it’s not just a martial world matter; a civilian was injured….”

“I’ll compensate him with my private funds.

Anyway, I’ll take responsibility, so you Forbidden Guard members who happened to get caught up in this should put aside your worries and go now.

There’s a young man here who came to avenge his sect, so we’ll handle the culprit here.

And you should continue your protection mission, shouldn’t you?

You never know when you need to return, so I can’t keep taking up your time.”

Either way, Gang Huiseo was in a position where she had to comply if told to, and with Hyeonwol laying out seemingly valid reasons, she had no grounds to argue.

With a still uneasy expression, she acquiesced and bowed.

As she was about to turn away, signaling Ju Jiryang with her eyes, Hyeonwol’s quiet telepathic message flowed to her.

“I’ll visit the one you’re protecting myself later, so don’t unnecessarily mention this.”

“…….”

Gang Huiseo, who hadn’t given a definite answer to the end, spread her lightness technique and disappeared to the other side of the alley.

She seemed likely to rejoin her earlier colleagues and return to where Crown Prince Hyeon-gyeom was.

Hyeonwol, while inwardly finding Gang Huiseo’s rigid attitude somewhat irksome, also smiled emptily, feeling the reality that Gang Huiseo and, broadly, the Forbidden Guard had now completely become Hyeon-gyeom’s people.

Though Hyeon-gyeom seemed a bit inflexible, he lacked none of the virtues of a ruler and had a straightforward nature like a pine tree, quickly drawing people around him.

Three years after ascending to the position of Crown Prince was probably not insufficient time at all.

In a way, this was a sight of those once loyal to him turning away without exception, yet Hyeonwol was merely satisfied with the smooth transition.

That satisfaction was brief; he soon became aware of his current situation, came to his senses, and tightened his strings of tension once more.

From now on was truly the important phase.