Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 43

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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 43
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“I understand. I shall do as you ask.”
Gwan Yun nodded quietly.
Across from him sat a martial artist wearing a black half-mask.
It was Un Hyeon.
“I’m grateful for your willingness to help with such a difficult request.”
“Not at all. Amyeong Magun has—”
Gwan Yun’s gaze shifted to the figure leaning against the wall behind Un Hyeon.
Wearing a white half-mask of the same design, smiling faintly, he was one of the Twelve Demon Lords of the Cult.
Amyeong Magun.
“How could I refuse a request from Amyeong Magun?”
Amyeong Magun shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m truly astonished. To come all this way in person…”
He genuinely was astonished.
Last night, he had stood watch without sleeping to protect the child who had fled in terror.
When dawn finally broke without incident, he had begun to feel somewhat reassured.
Then the old man who had been living with Yeon-u suddenly appeared.
Accompanied by none other than Amyeong Magun himself.
‘He said he would keep the child in a safe place until Maryong Hall opens…’
That he would take the child somewhere no one could find, somewhere nearly impossible to approach, and have him trained there.
If the old man had come alone with such an offer, Gwan Yun would surely have deliberated.
The deliberation would have been whether to let Yeon-u go like this.
‘In truth, I was already wondering whether I should stop all of this.’
When he saw the child trembling in Baek Gang’s arms last night, fear shaking his small frame, Gwan Yun felt a deep, suffocating guilt.
Watching the child tremble, he could feel with visceral clarity how monstrous it was to send an innocent child into danger.
There had to be another way.
Perhaps he should go to the main hall himself and beg the Cult Leader to let him keep the child.
He had been caught in exactly that deliberation when this happened.
‘Five more years of training…’
And to oversee it all, Amyeong Magun himself had come as guarantor that the child would return.
Of course, Gwan Yun had refused.
He said he had no intention of sending Yeon-u to Maryong Hall, that he meant to let the child go.
But his refusal was immediately refused in turn.
“No. Yeon-u must enter Maryong Hall.”
“That’s right. He absolutely has to.”
Both men were resolute.
Now, regardless of his own will, it was as though the matter had already been decided, sealed by their certainty.
“Well then, I should be going. Yeon-u ought to be waking soon, so I’ll take him.”
“I’ve already informed the servants.”
Un Hyeon and Gwan Yun rose to their feet.
Un Hyeon left the room, and Amyeong Magun was about to follow when—
“Just one thing—!”
“…?”
“Would it be permissible to ask Amyeong Magun one thing?”
Amyeong Magun tilted his head.
His mouth curved upward in a thin smile.
“By all means.”
“Are you intending to extend your protection to that child—to Yeon-u?”
Maryong Hall admits not only ordinary children, but also those who receive the protection of the Cult’s central powers.
While the scope for direct intervention is extremely limited, the difference in how a child is regarded and the attention they receive depends greatly on whose protection they enjoy.
Though perhaps such regard and attention are not truly the point.
What matters most are the abuses that occur openly within Maryong Hall.
The calculated, relentless abuse that drives children toward death—protection from that, at minimum.
The reputation of being a child under the protection of one of the Twelve Demon Lords would become a stronger shield than anything else.
No matter how foolish one might be, none would wish to invite the enmity of the Twelve Demon Lords, the pillars of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“Protection, you say…”
Amyeong Magun hummed, stroking his chin.
“Well, if you call it protection, then yes, I suppose I will.”
As expected—!
“However, I won’t announce it publicly.”
“…!”
Gwan Yun was startled.
‘Not announce it?’
He wouldn’t make known the fact that Yeon-u was under Amyeong Magun’s patronage?
“But then, to offer patronage while remaining silent would mean….”
What protection is that, truly?
Who would be cautious, if they didn’t know?
That Amyeong Magun stands behind this child?
“Well, those who need to know will find out anyway.”
At the very least, the Twelve Demon Lords would understand that this is a child he cherishes.
After all, he’d stormed Yohwa Palace itself and caused such an uproar simply because someone dared lay a hand on the boy—there’s no way they wouldn’t know.
But.
“I want to watch him climb on his own strength, you see?”
Struggling and flailing like any ordinary child, scrambling to survive, and ultimately claiming what he’s earned.
“If word gets out that I favor him, there might be those who try to intervene.”
Who can say?
Perhaps those seeking to curry favor with him—Amyeong Magun himself—would attempt to rig the trials in the boy’s favor.
“So you’re saying you wish no interference whatsoever, my lord.”
“That’s what makes it interesting. Don’t you think?”
Amyeong Magun let out a chuckling laugh.
Words full of playfulness, and from another angle, reckless enough to seem unworthy of patronage.
Yet Gwan Yun understood.
‘The expectations Amyeong Magun holds for that child are immense.’
He believes the boy can rise to a high station even without his aid.
And to see that come to pass, he refuses to interfere.
‘He won’t tolerate the child’s life being put in unjust peril.’
If that was the case, then so be it.
Amyeong Magun would surely protect the boy from all manner of scheming.
“I shall follow my lord’s will.”
Gwan Yun clasped his fists in salute and bowed his head.
Amyeong Magun’s violet eyes regarded him thus for a moment.
“Then you’d do well to prepare yourself properly as well.”
“I… beg your pardon?”
Gwan Yun looked up at Amyeong Magun with bewildered eyes.
“Prepare… you mean….”
“Did you think you could simply withdraw without consequence?”
“…?”
“Since you’ve lent your name to Yeon-u, you bear responsibility as well, don’t you?”
“…!”
Only then did Gwan Yun grasp it.
No matter what, Yeon-u would enter Maryong Hall under the name of the Gwan Family.
Should he perish within those halls, that would be the end of it—but now the child carried Amyeong Magun’s patronage at his back.
“If you’ve no intention of leaving the Cult, you’d best mind how you run. Your pathetic evasions are precisely why Yohwa is angered.”
“….”
Yohwa Magun.
Gwan Yun had long suspected she lurked behind the threat to his household.
Yet to hear it spoken aloud from Amyeong Magun’s own lips….
“Prepare yourself—body and spirit alike. Five years hence, should you ever become the shackle around that child’s ankle….”
Thud—
In that instant, Gwan Yun felt as though he’d plummeted into the very heart of darkness.
His vision blackened; breath caught in his throat.
A fathomless void where nothing could be seen or heard—only death itself existed.
And within it, a voice pierced through his mind like a phantom whisper, quiet and inexorable.
“Then I shall erase the Gwan Family’s name from the Cult Registry with these very hands.”
Before that irresistible, overwhelming force, Gwan Yun barely managed to lower his head.
Fighting desperately to ignore the terror of death that would descend upon him any moment.
“I… shall keep this close to my heart….”
Then, the immense pressure abruptly dissolved—whoosh.
Gwan Yun returned to the present.
Nothing had changed from the beginning, yet Gwan Yun found himself drenched in cold sweat, breathing hard and ragged.
Tap.
A hand settled on his shoulder, and Gwan Yun flinched.
“Think you can manage it?”
Amyeong Magun patted his shoulder twice with obvious delight, then turned to leave.
Walking out with a light step, he found Un Hyeon already waiting outside, who turned to face him.
“Did something happen?”
“Nothing much.”
Amyeong Magun shrugged.
“A gentle word of encouragement?”
“Encourage him twice more and I’ll kill the boy myself.”
Amyeong Magun glanced sidelong at Un Hyeon.
Playing ignorant when he knew perfectly well—typical.
“You’re devious when you want to be, aren’t you?”
“You’re no better. Ah, here comes someone now.”
Amyeong Magun turned his gaze in the direction Un Hyeon was looking.
In the distance, a small child came running—thump-thump-thump-thump.
Un Hyeon clicked his tongue.
“He’s forgotten his shoes again.”
If he hurt himself running like that, what then?
“What are you worried about? Children grow by getting hurt.”
Amyeong Magun chuckled softly.
“It suits him well enough—that freedom.”
Unburdened, unbound. How the boy seemed to glow with it.
“Grand-fa-ther!!”
The child’s cry echoed from the distance as he raced toward them.
A deep smile bloomed across Un Hyeon’s face.
Un Hyeon opened his arms wide and stood to meet Yeon-u.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
The child rushed forward without hesitation and launched himself into Un Hyeon’s embrace.
Yeon-u threw himself into Un Hyeon’s arms.
“Why are you so late? You said you’d come sooner!”
He rubbed his face against the old man’s chest as if whimpering, yet his words remained sharp with reproach.
Un Hyeon gently patted the boy’s back, soothing him.
“Forgive me. I didn’t expect to be this late.”
If he’d known it would take this long, he would never have left the boy at the Gwan Household.
“You’ve waited so patiently. Come now, let’s go home.”
At Un Hyeon’s words, Yeon-u brightened and asked urgently.
“Home? Are you coming with me? You’re not leaving again?”
“Yes. I’m coming home.”
“You won’t go anywhere else? You’ll stay with Yeon-u?”
Un Hyeon and Amyeong Magun exchanged a brief glance.
Un Hyeon smiled gently and brushed back the boy’s hair.
“Yes. We have much to prepare, so let’s hurry home.”

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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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