Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 16
* * *
“How unexpected.”
Yeon-woo looked up, sucking on dried meat with one hand while holding Un-hyeon’s arm with the other as they walked.
Un-hyeon gazed down at Yeon-woo in return.
Behind his mask, his eyes held a gentleness that could never be found within the Kwan Estate.
“What is?”
“That you shared your snacks. You don’t usually share snacks, do you? Even when I’d come asking for rice.”
That was true.
Yeon-woo never shared her snacks with anyone.
When Un-hyeon had relied on her for meals, she’d offered him rice—but never once had she shared her snacks.
For a child who loved eating as much as she did, even sharing her own meals was remarkable.
“Was there a reason?”
“Mmm—you reminded me of you.”
“I reminded you of myself?”
Yeon-woo nodded.
“Yeah. The way he loves dried fruit… it was just like….”
She had starved to death for lack of food, only to be reborn as a beggar’s child.
As a beggar’s child, she had gone hungry every single day, gasping under the weight of that hunger, until she was sold away and tasted sweet fruit for the first time—and the shock of it, the overwhelming joy.
“It was just like me.”
Watching Si-dong tremble with longing for the precious food, Yeon-woo saw herself as she once was.
She remembered those days when hunger had twisted into pain, when she’d had to clench her belly and force herself to sleep.
“That’s why I gave it to him. Because I know what it means to want something that badly.”
“Ha, so your love of food became a kindness to that boy. How fortunate for him.”
In truth, it had been more than love of food—it had been empathy born from the agony of hunger—but Un-hyeon did not know this.
He only marveled at how the child’s innocence had bloomed into such consideration.
“You did well. Such goodness always returns as fortune.”
Un-hyeon chuckled softly and patted Yeon-woo’s head.
* * *
“Your actions today were excessive.”
A stern voice echoed through the Family Head’s Chamber.
“Do you not understand what that child means to you?”
At Kwan Yoon’s reproach, Kwan-hyeok—already cowed—clenched his fists tight.
“I understand well, Father.”
“Then why did you act that way? That child is here for you…!”
“But he…!”
Kwan-hyeok lifted his gaze to meet his father’s.
His eyes were rimmed with red.
“He doesn’t even know what a Wooden Sword is! He’s never learned Martial Arts! What would he do at Ma-ryong-gwan? That’s why I…!”
“Silence!”
Kwan-hyeok flinched and trembled.
“Did I not tell you it was forbidden? Did I not say so again and again?”
Kwan Yoon slammed his hand on the desk and rose from his seat.
“That place is not where you are to go! I told you never to speak of it again!”
Startled by the violent sound, Kwan-hyeok’s face had gone pale, now crumpling at the edges.
“Why? Why can my brothers go but not me?”
“Because I said so! Our house has no prospects of rising through the Central Authority anyway—what reason would you have to go there?”
“But—if I pass the test there, our family could recover…!”
“Enough!”
Kwan Yoon turned away.
“I do not wish to hear it! Ask no more questions about that place, and speak of it no longer! If you broach this matter again, know that I will impose strict confinement!”
Kwan Yoon turned his back, clasping his hands behind him.
It was a blatant Dismissal Order.
An order that meant he wished to hear no more—that he would hear no more.
Kwan-hyeok’s fists, resting on his knees, began to tremble violently.
By rights, he should have risen now and withdrawn from the room, accepting defeat.
But Kwan-hyeok could not bring himself to yield. Three months since his father had brought Yeon-woo into the house, and only now had he managed to speak of it—he would not end the conversation this way.
“Do you wish me to go there and die instead, Father?”
An undrawn breath—a shocked silence.
“Like my brothers did…?”
Kwan Yoon turned to face Kwan-hyeok.
His expression had grown colder than before, frozen rigid.
“What did you just say…?”
“I don’t honestly know what happened to my eldest brother. I wasn’t even born then. But before the second brother left, he told me something.”
“Hyeok, I will absolutely uncover the truth behind our brother’s death.”
A death whose reason made no sense, the name of the one who killed the brother who never revealed it.
“My goal isn’t to claim the title of Shinggung. I will expose whoever murdered my brother and make sure they face justice.”
“And the second brother never came home either.”
Dead without any clear reason. His body never even returned.
“Father, aren’t you angry…?”
Kwan-hyeok’s fists trembled.
The trembling spread through his arms to his shoulders, then engulfed his entire body.
“I am angry. So angry that I see my brothers’ faces every night and can’t sleep! That’s what I’m saying!”
Bitterness threaded through his voice.
“I’m training hard too! According to Baek-gang, I have more talent in Martial Arts than my brothers did! So I…!”
“Enough.”
At that devastatingly low, cold voice, Kwan-hyeok flinched and fell silent.
Kwan-hyeok’s gaze turned toward his father, now burning with desperate longing.
But Kwan Yoon did not meet that gaze.
“That is all. Stop.”
…….
“I don’t wish to hear any more.”
Kwan-hyeok crumbled as his father turned away coldly, refusing to acknowledge him.
His determination, hardened with resolve, collapsed.
No Dismissal Order fell from Kwan Yoon this time.
Instead, he left the room himself.
“When you see that child again, you will apologize to her.”
Thud.
After the door closed, Kwan-hyeok sat motionless for a long while.
Completely isolated before his father’s wall—a barrier built from his brothers’ deaths that would never crumble.
A soft gulp.
Alone in the empty room his father had left behind, he swallowed his tears.
* * *
Rustle—
Late afternoon, halfway up the mountain. In the middle of the path connecting the Kwan Estate to Yeon-woo’s house.
Beneath the shadow of a towering tree, two masked figures appeared without a sound.
The two sat in the high branches, looking down at the path below.
“This is the right spot, yeah? Where the kid passes through?”
“Yeah. There’s only one path in and out of the Kwan Estate, so he’s got to come through here.”
“The Kwan Estate guard is all there is, right? Besides that weird old man.”
“That’s what I’m saying. When he comes and goes from the Kwan Estate, only the Estate guard is with him, so we hit him then.”
One of the masked figures hummed and stroked his chin.
The weird old man attached to the kid.
They couldn’t figure out how strong that old man was or who he was.
From what they’d learned, he didn’t seem to be an escort sent by the Kwan Estate either.
So they’d reached their conclusion: strike when the kid is separated from the old man.
“You’re sure the kid’s the only one who travels this path?”
“The only one living on this mountain is that kid, I’m telling you. Why are you so worried?!”
“Just in case we mess up, you know? You know how scary our boss is.”
“That’s true enough.”
The boss is definitely scary.
He boasted that he’d make sure this job succeeded, and now here we are, just the two of us.
“Don’t worry. It’s just the kid’s head.”
The masked figure tapped his own head and looked down the path.
“We just need that one thing.”
* * *
“The Family Head actually agrees with the young master’s intent, I’m sure of it. You know yourself—how furious he was that day.”
When word came that the Kwan Clan’s second son had died.
When they said his body was buried in collapsed ruins and couldn’t be found.
Kwan Yoon fell into a Great Rage.
His servants had barely managed to stop him from tearing the messenger’s limbs from his body.
“The Family Head is trying to protect the Young Master.”
“I know that.”
Kwan-hyeok stopped in his tracks and turned around.
The Grand Family Hall — the largest and most splendid building in the compound.
His father, Kwan Yoon, had never returned.
Or rather, he likely had no intention of returning unless Kwan-hyeok himself left.
“Father’s anger, his decision to bring that boy here — I understand all of it.”
And the guilt he carries toward the child.
“That’s why he’s trying to help. If he sent me instead, everything would be resolved, but—!”
Si-dong watched his master with pitying eyes.
He knew that going there meant death. He knew the Family Head would never allow it.
It pained him to see his master clinging to a hope he could never grasp.
“Ah, this.”
Si-dong drew something from his breast and offered it.
Two pieces of dried fruit that Yeon-woo had given him.
“Miss Yeon-woo gave these to me. As a way to make peace after what happened earlier.”
“Make peace…?”
But that had all been his own doing, hadn’t it?
He’d been angry, resentful — not once had peace been offered.
Kwan-hyeok stared intently at the dried fruit resting in Si-dong’s palm.
The image of Yeon-woo in his father’s chamber, happily eating from that same store, came unbidden to his mind.
“Ha….”
That fool.
“Never mind. Consider it accepted. You eat the rest.”
“…! Is that really all right?”
“Yes. And let’s go.”
Si-dong’s face brightened as he clutched the dried fruit and hurried to follow his master down the corridor.
“Where are we going, sir?”
“To apologize.”
“Pardon?”
Kwan-hyeok scratched the back of his head.
“About what happened earlier….”
A faint blush had crept into his ears.
“I’m going to apologize properly.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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