Part 28 - Yeon Sang-hyeon
Se-a remained where she was even after the meeting with her closest aides had ended.
"That Black Bone Sect, in only two days…"
Luoyang was an enormous city, and the underworld was enormous to match.
The Black Bone Sect's share of that vast underworld wasn't large, but their manpower and influence were never something to dismiss.
And yet that Black Bone Sect was being driven to the brink of annihilation in only two days.
Even now, intelligence about the Black Bone Sect's losses was pouring in in real time.
Reports about bizarre scenes where neither corpses nor bloodstains remained, reports that those who had tied their businesses to the Black Bone Sect were cutting ties, reports that the authorities were responding passively because it involved underworld affairs, reports that the Luoyang Sword Clan still showed no sign of moving, and, most decisively, reports about an evil spirit in a white mask.
'The Dark Heaven Venerable One…?'
Hyunwol Pavilion combed through even the slums where that name had first begun.
But the prophet who had first spoken the name was already dead.
Information overflowed, yet there was no truly essential clue—and every lead that might have yielded the essentials ended in a dead end.
Even so, Hyunwol Pavilion's core members were all rejoicing at the Black Bone Sect's downfall.
Especially because they would have had to swallow enormous losses due to the appearance of the Sword Clan Bronze Token, they were even more delighted.
Some even said it was heaven's help.
Se-a, too, felt a faint hollowness that their resolve was being realized by someone else's hand—but it wasn't as though she wasn't glad.
And yet the reason one corner of her heart was so tangled was because she held a psychological certainty about the true identity of that being called the Dark Heaven Venerable One.
The night she reunited with her younger sister after ten years, and the Black Bone Sect attacked.
She had definitely seen a white mask.
Yeon Sang-hyeon—First Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan, branded with the humiliating derisive name Swordless.
Right now, he was staying with Se-a at Hyunwol Pavilion's safe house.
"What do you think?" Se-a asked.
Behind her, the female guard who had been standing silently tilted her head.
"About what?"
Realizing her mistake, Se-a added.
"I mean the First Young Master. The Sword Clan's First Young Master. I told you to keep a close eye on him whenever you ran into him."
"Ah, Swordless, you mean?"
Oddly, even as she said that insulting name aloud, she showed no trace of contempt.
"I told you not to put that name in your mouth!"
"Sorry."
The female guard—wearing neat black martial attire and tying her short hair back—shrugged.
"I could tell at least that he's different from the rumors."
At that plain, bare answer, Se-a let out a sigh.
"…Don't go around telling people you work for Hyunwol Pavilion."
The guard raised a hand.
"Well, among the young men you meet for business, miss, he was the most self-assured. Bold, too."
That night's image had been so intensely branded into her mind, but even the Yeon Sang-hyeon she'd seen in front of Geumju had been impressive enough.
Especially his ability to pull the flow of conversation and shifts in the situation exactly the way he wanted—it was remarkable.
For a moment, she'd even thought she wanted to learn how to do that herself.
"…That's true."
"And he seemed pretty broad-minded, too. Big-hearted, you could say? I tried pressing him with aura, and I even sent a bit of killing intent…"
"What did you just say?!"
Se-a went pale. The guard continued in a tone that suggested it was nothing.
"But he didn't say a word about it. Whether he's just generous, or simply has no pride, who knows. Hm."
Se-a sprang up and grabbed the guard by the collar.
"You crazy bitch! What the hell did you do to the Sword Clan's First Young Master?!"
Se-a had no internal energy—shaking her wouldn't make her budge. The guard clicked her tongue.
"I mean, that young master looks absurdly harmless from the face alone. And how he walks around laughing like an old man in a kid's body—'Heh heh', like that."
"Even so!"
***
Next, Se-a summoned the maids who had been ordered to attend Yeon Sang-hyeon at his side.
"The First Young Master, you mean?" One maid's eyes sparkled.
"Isn't he too handsome? He's the very definition of a beautiful boy! That warm smile, and that occasionally wistful vibe—seriously, it's insane."
"Right, right! Can't I go with him when he returns to the Sword Clan?"
"It's a transfer! I'm going too!"
"Like the Luoyang Sword Clan would even take the likes of you."
One maid unfurled the scroll she'd been hugging protectively to her chest.
The handwriting was elegant, delicate to the extreme.
A superb hand that made anyone who saw it gasp in admiration without realizing.
"Alright, everyone. This is the calligraphy I received from the First Young Master!"
Another maid unrolled a small scroll.
"And I got this painting!"
"Whoa! Holy—sell it to me right now!"
"Shut up and take my money!"
As the maids shrieked and made a scene, Se-a clutched her head.
"…Well, he is handsome, sure."
"Right?"
Somehow, even her guard had joined the conversation.
"This is—"
Se-a slammed the smoking pipe in her hand down on the desk.
"Give me proper information!"
There was a reason she said that.
Unlike ordinary maids, every maid in Hyunwol Pavilion had completed education and training as an intelligence agent.
"Honestly, aside from the fact that he's good-natured and handsome, there wasn't anything suspicious."
"Even on the night you told us to watch him most closely, he never once came out past his door."
"And you can't forget that he's learned and understands what refinement is!"
"Right! Did you hear him play the flute last night?"
"Of course! I cried my eyes out on the spot."
"Ah… I didn't get to hear it."
As the maids started squealing again, Se-a shouted.
"All of you, out! Now!"
Grumbling, Se-a grabbed the back of her guard's neck.
Because she was leaving along with the maids.
"And why are you naturally tagging along to leave too?!"
"Ah, because I want to hear the flute performance too."
***
"Do you mean my master?"
When Jeong-a asked back, Se-a leaned against the kitchen doorframe and smiled awkwardly.
"Mm. It's nothing big. I just… want to know what kind of person my little sister's master is."
Jeong-a, trimming soup ingredients with practiced hands, smiled gently.
"I don't really have much to say."
For some reason, her sister's expression felt like she already knew everything, so Se-a hurriedly added.
"No, it's not personal interest or anything…"
Jeong-a let out a soft chuckle.
"I know."
Right…
But after that, Jeong-a didn't open her mouth again and simply focused on cooking.
"No—last time, I said just a few words and you were bulging the veins in your neck, arguing on his behalf…"
Jeong-a only chuckled again.
Watching her sister's face—beaded with fine sweat—for a moment, Se-a asked.
"Are you feeling any better?"
"Yes. Thanks to you."
"Good. That's a relief."
Se-a nodded and turned away from the threshold.
Behind her, Jeong-a's quiet, gentle voice followed.
"If you're curious about something, wouldn't it be best to meet him yourself?"
Se-a turned her head and asked.
"Aren't you curious about anything?"
"Well…"
Jeong-a only wore that unreadable smile.
***
Se-a sighed at her last steps that refused to come easily.
"If someone saw me like this, they'd never believe it."
She fidgeted with a jade box containing the finest tea leaves.
Sweat from her hand made the jade box gleam.
In this world, she was called things like the iron-blooded witch—an one-eyed woman with neither blood nor tears.
And yet, what kind of sight was she making of herself now?
"Even I get scared when something is scary…"
In truth, even now, thinking of that night made her knees go weak.
A scene as if a freezing north wind had bowed down, and even darkness itself was paying homage.
Ominous words that felt like each syllable was tightening a noose.
And that white mask—so hard to even describe.
[My path is the Netherworld Mado, where seas of blood and mountains of corpses spread across an inhuman demonic realm.]
[Please… may we not meet upon it….]
His voice—his dreadful voice filled with metallic sound—was still vivid even now.
What, exactly, had those words meant?
"What are you hesitating for?"
The guard left Se-a behind and strode up to knock on the door of the room where Yeon Sang-hyeon was staying.
"Are you in there? The Pavilion Master of Hyunwol Pavilion is here."
Se-a was left speechless, choking on air—when his voice came from within.
"Come in."
That voice, unlike the white mask in her memory, was gentle, and it soothed her a little.
***
Yeon Sang-hyeon personally steeped tea with the leaves Se-a had brought, then spoke to the guard.
"Don't let your killing intent seep out today. It changes the taste of the tea."
The guard nodded.
"You needn't worry. That mission is over."
At her words, Yeon Sang-hyeon lifted his eyes to look at Se-a.
"A mission?"
Se-a shot her guard a look as if she'd just suffered the most absurd thing in the world.
"Miss, why are you looking at me like that?"
Regardless, Yeon Sang-hyeon merely shrugged and held out the fully infused tea to them.
"Here. It's best to drink it now."
Se-a hurriedly rose and accepted the cup.
"Th-thank you. But there's no need to give one to my guard as well…"
"I'll drink it gratefully, First Young Master."
Her guard had already taken a teacup.
"It's a fine fragrance. It seems your understanding of tea runs deep as well."
"You flatter me."
"You do not. I'm not a woman who speaks empty words."
"Haha. You really are interesting. If you ever feel like transferring jobs, tell me anytime."
"If I lose my position, I'll come to you. Judging by my direct superior's mood, it doesn't seem like it'll take long."
"Hahahaha!"
If there was one small mercy, it was that she wasn't seated among them—she was standing.
Her guard's likes and dislikes toward people were extreme.
She never even spoke a single word to those Se-a met for business.
Seeing her act this comfortable, it made Se-a think the First Young Master surely wasn't a bad person—but still…
Even so, the image of Yeon Sang-hyeon from that night would not leave Se-a's mind.
"So", he said, "what brings someone as busy as you to visit an idle layabout like me?"
As the conversation moved to the main point, Se-a's guard naturally stepped away from them and stood by the window.
"First Young Master…"
"Mm."
Yeon Sang-hyeon enjoyed the aroma rising from the teacup as he looked at her.
His skin was so pale it was enviable; his face, with its delicate lines like a girl's; his long eyelashes reflected in her eyes.
But she felt as though the white mask she'd seen that day was staring at her.
A face that seemed to be smiling and crying at once, the sensation of brushstrokes lingering on a rough white surface—there were no eyeholes, yet it felt as if it could see through everything.
Feeling her lips go dry, Se-a forced out her question.
"First Young Master… are you the Dark Heaven Venerable One?"