Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 18

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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 18
* * *
Rustle.
“……!”
A Black Rabbit hung caught in the snare.
Gwan Hyeok’s face brightened at the sight of the captured prey.
‘Coming out here was the right call!’
Gwan Hyeok collected the rabbit eagerly.
The rabbit was still alive.
‘I’ll ask the cook to place it on the family altar tomorrow as an offering for Father and Mother.’
Rabbit meat was a delicacy, after all.
Given everything that had happened today, they might accept it as an apology.
After securing the rabbit, Gwan Hyeok looked up at the sky.
The day had grown quite dim, and it seemed the sun would set completely in less than half an hour.
“I’d better hurry.”
If it got too late, like the servant Seok had warned, he’d catch hell for it.
Dash—
Gwan Hyeok rushed down the mountain.
As he ran through the brush toward the meeting place without stopping, a dark figure appeared in the distance before his eyes.
The figure stood with slumped shoulders—the servant attendant he was supposed to meet, Seok.
“Seok…!”
About to call out the servant’s name while waving the rabbit to show him, Gwan Hyeok suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth and ducked behind a nearby tree.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His eyes went wide.
His heart raced.
‘What was that?’
Had he seen it wrong?
Surely….
Gwan Hyeok carefully peeked his head out from behind the tree to look at the servant.
“……!”
His eyes filled with shock.
The servant he thought was standing was not standing at all.
He hung limp, suspended by someone’s grip around his neck.
And beside him stood two figures clad in Black Martial Robes and wearing Black Masks.
‘Who, who are they?’
Who on earth could those masked figures be…!
Meanwhile, a short time before Hyeok arrived.
The masked figures hiding in wait to capture Yeon Woo spotted a small figure gasping as it descended the mountain.
– Just a kid.
The dimness of the fading day obscured the child’s face, but the small frame made it clear this was definitely a young one.
– He’s moving fast.
– Wait!
One of the masked figures grabbed his companion.
– Where’s the Gwan Family’s escort? Shouldn’t the kid be traveling with someone?
Now that he mentioned it, the child was alone.
The masked figures hesitated for a moment. But then.
– Does it matter? This works out better. Isn’t this path the one only that little brat uses?
– Well, that’s true, but….
In the meantime, the child drew close and was about to pass right by them.
From up in the trees, the child’s face and features still weren’t visible.
– He’s getting away.
Crack—!
While they deliberated, one of the masked figures moved.
What followed was simple.
Thwack—
A blow to the back of the neck, and the child collapsed without so much as a sound.
As the fallen child was lifted, the other figure approached.
“Huh? What is it. This one’s a boy?”
“A boy?”
The masked figure gripped the child’s nape and lifted his face to see clearly.
“Damn it, that’s not right! Something’s off about this! What do we do now?!”
“I don’t….”
That was when it happened.
Whoosh—!
The masked figure holding the child turned his head sharply toward something.
“What is it?”
“Didn’t you hear that sound?”
“Sound?”
The masked figures stared intently at something beyond the brush.
Presently.
Rustle—
The undergrowth stirred.
The masked figure holding the child nodded, a gesture of dismissal, and his companion moved forward.
Slip—
Footsteps stripped of all sound.
The gait of an assassin advancing covertly through darkness toward his quarry.
That presence crept forward through the shadows toward where Gwan Hyeok lay holding his breath.
* * *
“They’ve come for the child twice already, so I’m told.”
Gwan Yun regarded the figure seated across from him with a grim expression.
A martial expert with a scar running across his face, bearing the harsh features of a seasoned warrior. He was Baek Gang, the Chief Master responsible for the Gwan Family’s martial strength and protection.
Baek Gang pressed further.
“Is their aim to kill a substitute child and send the Young Master out from Maryong Manor?”
“That must be it. This settles it—Dan and Wi were indeed killed by someone’s hand.”
Gwan Dan. Gwan Wi.
The names of Gwan Hyeok’s two elder brothers, who had fallen at Maryong Manor.
“And now they’re coming for my last remaining son.”
“…….”
Baek Gang’s expression darkened.
Maryong Manor. And the deaths of the two Young Masters.
The Gwan Family was an ancient, venerable house.
Once wielding enough strength and renown to be recognized even in the Central Region, they had gradually declined over the long years, checked and restrained by other branches of the Demon Family.
An integrity unsuited to the Celestial Demon Divine Sect, and a family tradition that prioritized righteousness and benevolence.
In upholding that spirit, they had been driven back to the very edge of the Borderland.
Or rather, they had fled to this mountain corner, clinging to that worthless principle.
‘The weak are discarded by nature’s law.’
That was the foundation and purpose of the Celestial Demon Divine Sect.
Within a world of Survival of the Fittest, those who trample the strength and power of others to endure understood one truth.
Promising shoots must be uprooted before they grow.
So the Gwan Family should have steeled themselves from the moment they chose to flee.
Steeled themselves to be thoroughly crushed.
‘Yet I am this family’s protector.’
So I must see my duty through to the end.
As long as that shoot exists, this family’s fate rests in his hands going forward.
“Would it not be wise to bring the child back to the family estate?”
“There’s no need for that.”
“But if the assassins come again….”
“It will be fine. He’s there beside him.”
“If… you say so.”
Was he speaking of the old man who had been with them?
‘Certainly… he was no ordinary elder.’
To anyone’s eye, he was a martial expert who had cultivated for long years. He had claimed he would teach the child Martial Arts himself.
“Then I shall strengthen the patrols. Regular watch for any suspicious persons would seem vital.”
“I’d appreciate that. There’s no knowing when they might make another move against Gwan Hyeok instead of Yeon Woo….”
Bang—!
As the two men spoke, the sound of the door to the Head’s quarters opening echoed out.
Both men paused their conversation and waited for the approaching footsteps.
Presently, the source of those steps knocked urgently at the door.
“Head of Household…! Head of Household, are you here?”
“What is the matter?”
“Oh, wait—is the Young Master in there?! He said he’d be back from the mountains during the day, but he still hasn’t returned…!”
Thud—!
Gwan Yun and Baek Gang shot to their feet at the same moment.
Their eyes met briefly.
Whoosh—!
Baek Gang moved first.
He yanked the door open and bolted through it so quickly that the servant attendant standing on the other side yelped and stumbled backward.
But before she could gather her wits.
Grab—!
Gwan Yun, close behind him, seized her by the shoulders.
“Where? Where did he go?”
The servant’s lips trembled as she answered, her face drained of color.
“T-to the mountains… He said he’d come back from visiting Yeon Woo! He said he was going to… to apologize…!”
“……!”
Gwan Yun’s expression crumbled.
A deep, suffocating despair spread across his face in an instant.
* * *
Darkness settled over the courtyard.
Woon Hyeon kindled a fire at the back of the house, and on the porch above, Yeon Woo and Am Young Ma Gun sat side by side, waiting for it to catch.
Am Young Ma Gun leaned over and nudged Yeon Woo’s shoulder once, twice.
“That was something, wasn’t it? Hmm?”
“Something? Are you talking about the food?”
“Ugh, why are you like this? Pretending you don’t know?”
Yeon Woo’s brows drew low.
His expression was one of genuine bewilderment at what this old man was saying.
“You say so many things nobody can understand.”
Am Young Ma Gun, addressed as such, let out a low chuckle.
Yeon Woo had originally called him the old man.
It was Am Young Ma Gun himself who had corrected him to “Am Young.”
“You’re one to talk. If you don’t realize it, it’s natural talent; if you meant it, then it was something indeed. So? What will you do when you meet that boy next time?”
“The boy? Well….”
Yeon Woo pondered deeply.
“Maybe we could go graze together? That would be fun!”
“What, so right after an embrace, that’s all you’ve got?”
“Don’t say strange things to a child—just help with the fire!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Woon Hyeon snapped.
Am Young Ma Gun grinned and pointed at the evening’s provisions stacked beside the fire.
“I already prepared the food for us, didn’t I? You’re the one who should make the fire~.”
“Then at least watch your tongue!”
Spouting things you shouldn’t say in front of the child!
“Your mouth has gotten quite rough, hasn’t it—?”
“And whose fault is that!”
Am Young Ma Gun shrugged as if to say he hadn’t the faintest idea.
That was when it happened.
As Am Young Ma Gun finished shrugging, he went very still. A sly smile curved his lips.
“Seems like that embrace was worthwhile, didn’t it?”
“Hmm?”
Woon Hyeon was about to scold him for whatever he was about to say next.
“……!”
Her gaze had turned toward something far beyond the gate.
“Wait, grandfather! Am Young’s disappeared again!”
Woon Hyeon’s brow furrowed slightly as she peered into the long darkness.
“Am Young, where did you go—? Where—?”
Yeon Woo’s sounds of searching the courtyard obscured it, but it was unmistakable.
The presence of a child rushing down the path toward them in desperate haste.

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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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