The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 1

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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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[Chronicle of the Crimson Cloud]
A few days before my seventh birthday, my mother died.
Gripping my hand tight, gasping for breath, she forgot the word “vengeance” and left me her final plea: find your sister, the one torn from my arms the moment she was born—and then her eyes closed forever, unflinching.
On a deep winter’s night, beside the Cornfield where snow fell silent, I buried my mother’s cold body where no one would find it, and I did not weep as I turned away.
The tips of my fingers, split from clawing frozen earth with bare hands, did not hurt. The nails I had lost felt nothing.
It was no time for sorrow. It was time for rage.
I could not honor my mother’s dying wish to abandon revenge.
Instead, I swore a different vow: if I lived, I would keep her other dying wish—no matter what.
With that oath clenched between my teeth, I moved in silence.
He must not yet suspect that I was watching him.
Episode 1. The Unexpected Murderer
The child dragged in covered in blood was barely seven years old.
The charge laid against such a small thing was unbelievable.
Murder.
Yalü Gyeok, the Unit Commander of the Maeng-ui-dan, stared at the child with an expression of bewilderment.
“A child this small killed the gang leader who had the Pleasure District in his grip?”
“Yes. He slit the throat of the gang leader while the man lay drunk and unconscious. The cut was precise.”
“Hah…….”
At the Inspection Unit Commander’s report, Yalü Gyeok let out a hollow laugh and extended his hand.
“The weapon.”
In response to Yalü Gyeok’s demand, the Inspection Unit Commander carefully placed a Stone Blade with a rough, jagged edge into his palm.
The Inspection Unit Commander met Yalü Gyeok’s gaze as he alternated between studying the Stone Blade and the child’s face, then spoke with visible discomfort.
“We didn’t believe it either, so we verified the facts multiple times. The child’s testimony matched. The wound pattern matched. After thorough investigation, our Inspection Unit concluded that this Stone Blade was indeed the murder weapon.”
At the Inspection Unit Commander’s report, Yalü Gyeok asked a question.
“Did you find out who made it?”
“The child made it himself.”
“How in the world does a seven-year-old child make a blade out of stone?”
To Yalü Gyeok’s irritated question, the Inspection Unit Commander withdrew another Stone Blade from his clothes and offered it forward.
As Yalü Gyeok compared it to the weapon resting in his palm, the Inspection Unit Commander spoke.
“When I asked him to prove it, this child crafted one just like it in half a day.”
At the Inspection Unit Commander’s words, Yalü Gyeok examined the Stone Blade closely.
Not just any stone, ground carelessly, would achieve such a sharp edge.
Soft stone breaks before the blade can be honed properly; stone that is too hard resists taking any blade shape at all.
In this regard, the stone the child had chosen possessed a softness suitable for crafting a blade’s form, and sufficient hardness to preserve that edge once it was made—a balance struck with precision.
Moreover, the stone used in the demonstration, created on demand, was of similar composition, which suggested that the child’s eye for stone was exceptional indeed.
The problem was that the child was far too young to possess such discernment.
And so suspicion took root.
“Are you certain the child is truly seven years old?”
“We harbored the same doubt. We conducted a thorough background investigation to confirm.”
Which meant the child truly was seven years old.
“This is maddening. What was the motive for the killing? No—first, what of the parents?”
Yalü Gyeok shook his head in denial as he asked, and the Inspection Unit Commander answered.
“There is no father. The mother was a courtesan, and she was beaten to death four days ago.”
At those words, Yalü Gyeok’s eyes narrowed.
“A courtesan? And beaten to death at that?”
“According to our investigation, the courtesan who was this child’s mother was sold to the Pleasure District two years ago, along with the child when he was only five.”
Human trafficking flourished in this world.
Those who could not endure famine sold their own bodies, or daughters and wives were taken for debts left unpaid—such things were commonplace.
In regions where law enforcement was weak, the abduction of women was frequent as well.
Knowing this, the Maeng-ui-dan took no interest in such matters.
Behind those crimes stood merchants who poured vast sums into the Cheol-hyeol-maeng, the larger organization to which the Maeng-ui-dan belonged.
It was shameful, but Yalü Gyeok was not righteous enough to condemn such things openly.
For that reason, he asked nothing about that matter.
Instead.
“Hmm……. Who killed the courtesan?”
“The dead gang leader.”
At the Inspection Unit Commander’s answer, Yalü Gyeok’s eyes turned cold and sharp.
“Then……?”
“Yes. Vengeance.”
Something flickered in Yalü Gyeok’s eyes as he looked at the child once more.
For the boy’s gaze didn’t flinch from his own—it was filled with contempt.
A child who had killed a man and been dragged here as a criminal, yet showed not fear or terror but contempt—the thought was bewildering.
After a moment’s deliberation, Yalü Gyeok found the reason why the boy would regard him with such contemptuous eyes.
He voiced this discovery while turning toward the Inspection Unit Commander.
“Why wasn’t the gang leader arrested on a Murder Charge before the child got to him?”
“Well, that is to say…….”
Observing the Inspection Unit Commander’s hesitation, Yalü Gyeok’s instinct confirmed his suspicion was correct.
“Someone intervened?”
“I am terribly sorry, Unit Commander. We had no choice—the Hwang-san Unit Commander…….”
Yalü Gyeok closed his eyes at the trailing, apologetic response.
He needed no further explanation; the situation was perfectly transparent.
After all, without the Hwang-san Unit’s protection—they who oversaw supply and rear security for the Maeng-ui-dan encampment—one could never have established a Pleasure District on the camp’s outer edges.
Yet Yalü Gyeok could not confront the Hwang-san Unit Commander over this himself.
Even a Unit Commander’s authority over life and death meant he would not act alone in such matters.
The trail would inevitably lead upward to the merchant houses that had sent their men to the Hwang-san Unit.
The Inner Council of the Cheol-hyeol-maeng—what Maeng-ui-dan members called the Main Organization—were merchants who fumbled their words just as easily.
After all, they were the ones who funded the bulk of the war effort.
Having reached his conclusion, Yalü Gyeok opened his eyes and spoke.
“Release the child.”
“But, my lord…….”
“What? You’ll obey the Hwang-san Unit Commander’s word but won’t listen to mine, since I lack the Main Organization’s backing?”
“I would never…….”
“Then do it.”
Pressed by Yalü Gyeok’s repeated demand, the Inspection Unit Commander reluctantly began loosening the Restraining Rope that had bound the child tightly.
“Still, this child will die.”
“Why?”
“No adult to protect him, and the gang members—now without their leader—will be hunting him.”
At these words, Yalü Gyeok hesitated a moment before stepping toward the boy.
“A Gold Coin. Take it and flee as far as you can manage.”
The child accepted the coin Yalü Gyeok drew from his pouch, and the boy’s eyes—no longer filled with contempt—burned with anger.
Yet Yalü Gyeok found those eyes strangely familiar.
They were the same look he himself had worn long ago, whenever someone offered him pity.
Recognizing this, Yalü Gyeok spoke to the child.
“It is not pity. Merely an apology from one who failed to ensure his subordinates performed their duties as they should.”
His guess had struck true—the anger faded from the boy’s eyes, replaced by something searching, almost calculating.
Yalü Gyeok continued.
“I am not telling you what to do. I simply thought it would be good if you lived.”
“Truly… you mean it?”
The child asked the question with difficulty, moving his swollen, bruised lips with effort.
“Yes. I do.”
At his answer, the boy fell silent for a long moment, seeming to reach some inner decision. His lips pressed into a thin line, and his hand clenched tightly around the Gold Coin.
Satisfied with what he saw, Yalü Gyeok issued his order to the Inspection Unit Commander.
“Release him. And tell the gang members not to touch this child for at least several days. If they disobey, let them know I will come for them personally.”
“There is no need to go so far——”
“Convey it as I have said!”
At Yalü Gyeok’s firm voice, the Inspection Unit Commander bowed his head.
“Yes, Unit Commander.”
The child was led away from the Yi-ju Facility by the Inspection Unit Commander’s hand.
As the boy receded into the distance, Yalü Gyeok watched him through the window and murmured to himself.
“No matter what warning I gave, those gang members won’t hold back for more than two days. So you must flee before then.”
He spoke as though hoping his whispered words might somehow reach the child.
Of course, the moment he turned his head from the window, the matter slipped entirely from Yalü Gyeok’s mind.
Deaths as lamentable as that boy’s were occurring daily—and not elsewhere, but within his own command.
Just yesterday, five soldiers who had been sleeping peacefully in the encampment were discovered murdered.
An attack by an Enemy Infiltration Squad.
Naturally, a Retaliation Operation had been proposed, and merely reviewing its justification was enough to leave Yalü Gyeok’s head on the verge of splitting.
Had it not been for what happened four days later, he would have forgotten the child’s matter entirely.
***
Four days had passed, and Yalü Gyeok studied the child as he was dragged before him again—this time in far worse condition.
“How many are dead?”
“Twenty-two, sir.”
“Surely you’re not saying that child killed them all?”
“He hired an assassin the moment he was released. Twenty died at the assassin’s hand, and two at the child’s.”
“The assassin?”
“He covered his tracks and fled.”
“If he eluded the Inspection Unit’s pursuit, he must be a professional.”
“The murder signatures match the methods of the Geum-hyeol-mang, one of the assassin collectives operating in Gang-buk.”
Yalü Gyeok’s expression turned incredulous at the Inspection Unit Commander’s report.
“The Geum-hyeol-mang? Don’t they charge a premium?”
“They do, sir. Their minimum fee is one gold coin.”
At the Inspection Unit Commander’s answer, Yalü Gyeok’s face twisted in disbelief.
“Don’t tell me……?”
“Yes, sir. He apparently paid them with the money you gave him.”
“Hah…….”
There was nothing he could say—he’d orchestrated the deaths of those gangsters from the shadows himself.
And who would ever believe that a seven-year-old child had bought an assassin?
Unable to help himself, Yalü Gyeok let out a hollow laugh and turned to the child.
“What is it? Why hire an assassin instead of running away?”
“To survive.”
“You’d survive even if you fled.”
The child shook his head at Yalü Gyeok’s words.
“No, I wouldn’t. In a world like this where even able-bodied adults starve to death, the only place that would give someone like me even a single bowl of gruel is here.”
At the child’s answer, the Inspection Unit Commander spoke, seeing the confusion in Yalü Gyeok’s gaze.
“Since we released him last time, the entertainers in the Pleasure District have been looking after the child so he doesn’t starve. It’s only been one bowl of gruel a day, but…….”
From the Inspection Unit Commander’s explanation, Yalü Gyeok could piece together what had happened.
The child, who instinctively understood that leaving meant death, had killed the gangsters targeting him in order to stay alive.
But the problem was——
“I understand about the ones who died by the assassin’s hand, but what about the two the child killed?”
“They were dead drunk and away from their hideout. When the assassin left them behind, the child took matters into his own hands. This is the weapon used in the murders.” As he spoke, the Inspection Unit Commander produced another Stone Blade.
Yalü Gyeok’s eyes gleamed as he took it.
Seeing his reaction, the Inspection Unit Commander continued his explanation.
“As you may have noticed, sir, the child’s craft has improved considerably. The blade is sharper than before, and the shape is much more refined. He used stone of much higher tensile strength.”
“The blades he made before were serviceable enough. Why go to the trouble?”
The Inspection Unit Commander answered Yalü Gyeok’s question.
“He wanted it to withstand even one or two clashes with iron weapons. Since there were two targets to eliminate, he felt he had no choice.”
Even as he spoke, the Inspection Unit Commander’s expression betrayed his disbelief—a seven-year-old child had thought through a fight with gangsters.
Yalü Gyeok seemed equally startled, his gaze fixed on the Stone Blade in his hand.
The blade bore unmistakable impact marks where it had clashed with metal weapons.
Drunk as the gangsters were, the child had truly engaged them in combat.
The Inspection Unit Commander, seeing the shock in Yalü Gyeok’s eyes, pressed on.
“The craftsmanship is impressive, but his focus is terrifying. It took him four days straight just to sharpen that blade.”
“Four days? The two surviving gangsters just waited around while he did that?”
“They were hiding. For those two days while they remained at large, the surviving gangsters turned the entire Pleasure District upside down searching for him. When they couldn’t find him, they assumed he’d fled and, unable to contain their frustration, drank themselves senseless. He timed his strike for that exact moment.”
At the Inspection Unit Commander’s account, Yalü Gyeok fixed the child with a long, searching stare.
Survival had been the stated reason, yet the child had hired an assassin and ultimately taken direct action, killing two gangsters.
From the moment he bought the assassin’s services, information could have leaked, exposing him to a very real chance of death.
From the assassin’s perspective, pocketing the money while selling the child’s location to the gangsters would have been far more profitable than accepting a contract from a seven-year-old.
And the moment the child moved to act himself, the danger of death became exponentially worse.
Yet the child had accepted all of it.
All in the name of survival.
Yalü Gyeok studied the child, then spoke.
“You know you risked your life. I want you to stop using hunger as an excuse. I’ve learned now that even a child like you wouldn’t starve to death anywhere in this world, no matter how harsh it may be.”
He paused, his eyes never leaving the child’s face.
“So what is it? What other reason could possibly make you stay in this place, gambling with death itself?”
……
The child hesitated at Yalü Gyeok’s question, then fell silent.
There was another reason. Something else entirely.

Yalü Gyeok could have shaken the child a little harder and learned the reason, but he didn’t.
Everyone in the world carries one or two secrets they’d rather keep buried.
He didn’t need to look far for an example.
Yalü Gyeok himself was no different.
A smile flickered across his face at the thought, but he wiped it away quickly before turning to the Inspection Unit Commander with his order.
“Release him.”
“Unit Commander! This time the matter is…….”
“I know it’s different. Release him anyway.”
“But, Unit Commander, the Hwang-san Unit Commander will lodge a complaint immediately. With all those ruffians dead, he’ll have his hands full managing the fallout.”
“There are other ruffians in the world besides those. The ranks will fill soon enough.”
The Inspection Unit Commander spoke with concern at Yalü Gyeok’s nonchalant reply.
“Still, if the Unit Commander acts like this, it will look as though you’re shielding the child. People will gossip endlessly. If that happens, even someone of your standing…….”
“I’ll handle the consequences. Now do as I say.”
“Unit Commander…….”
Yalü Gyeok fixed the bewildered Inspection Unit Commander with a cold stare and asked, “What’s wrong? Does the Hwang-san Unit Commander get something while I get nothing for my orders?”

“No, that’s not it!”
Yalü Gyeok spoke to the panicked Inspection Unit Commander in a firm tone.
“Then release him.”
At Yalü Gyeok’s insistence, the Inspection Unit Commander finally untied the Restraining Rope binding the child’s body once more.
With the child now free, Yalü Gyeok abruptly demonstrated a single movement.
“Did you see?”
…….
The child nodded silently, and Yalü Gyeok spoke to him.
“Learn it. Master it until it becomes second nature to your body. I’ll teach you the rest after that.”
…….
Again the child nodded without speaking, and Yalü Gyeok continued.
“Once you’ve mastered all the movements I teach you, you’ll be able to survive on your own strength.”
“Really?”
To the child’s doubtful question, Yalü Gyeok answered.
“I stake my name on it.”
At his words, the child’s eyes, which had been full of suspicion, suddenly gleamed with hope as he nodded, and Yalü Gyeok asked, “What’s your name?”
…….
After a long hesitation, the child gave a brief answer.
“…Ryu.”
The Inspection Unit Commander explained to Yalü Gyeok, who tilted his head as if unsure he’d heard correctly.
“Only a surname, sir. A bastard child born without a father—the mother refused to give him a proper name.”
Yalü Gyeok’s brow furrowed at this.
“So Ryu is just a surname?”
“Yes, sir. The dead mother once told people that the boy’s father, who abandoned her while pregnant and vanished, bore the surname Ryu.”
In other words, the child went by nothing but a surname—he had no real name at all.
Perhaps because of this, the child’s expression showed clear displeasure at his own surname.
Yalü Gyeok turned his gaze from the child and spoke to the Inspection Unit Commander.
“Take him with you.”
“Very well, sir. But do you truly intend to teach him?”
The Inspection Unit Commander’s eyes were filled with surprise, worry, and jealousy.
He had recognized the movement Yalü Gyeok had just demonstrated as one of the Martial Arts techniques he was cultivating.
It was, after all, one of the movements the Unit Commander performed during his morning Cultivation Practice sessions at the Training Ground.
“If he can keep up.”
At Yalü Gyeok’s reply, the Inspection Unit Commander’s worry eased.
Yalü Gyeok was the Unit Commander of the Maeng-ui-dan, the most formidable faction within the Cheol-hyeol-maeng, and a martial master of exceptional skill.
There was no way his Martial Arts could be fully transmitted through mere demonstrations and a few verses of technique—not with such an inexperienced student.
With that thought, the Inspection Unit Commander lowered his head respectfully and led the child away, his expression now calm and composed.
But the Inspection Unit Commander’s assumption proved wrong in just ten days.
The child had flawlessly reproduced the single movement Yalü Gyeok had shown him.
This was the beginning of what would later be called the legend of the Maeng-ui-dan—Jeok Sa.
Chronicles of Jeok Sa (Serialized)
Author |
Geul Jakso
UCI |
G720:N+A116-20260514077
Published by |
Kwon Sun-nam
Published by |
(Inc.) Maya Maru Publishing
Address |
Room 602, Shin Young Industrial Building, 17 Dongil-ro 237-gil, Nowon-gu, Seoul
Main telephone |
02-2091-0291
Fax |
02-2091-0290
Homepage |
www.mayabooks.co.kr
Email |
[email protected]
※ This book is published by (Inc.) Maya Maru Publishing in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and is prohibited by copyright law from being reproduced or distributed in whole or in part without permission from the publisher.

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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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