The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 21

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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 21. The Cross Ill Dream—Dan Ri-hyeon
Chu Yeon-myo, fleeing with nimble steps from Jwa Ryang’s unsettling smile, darted into Ryu’s tent.
Considering the man’s threat level, it was far more perilous than rushing toward Jwa Ryang himself.
Of course, having found a place where Jwa Ryang’s hands—radiating killing intent before his very eyes—could not reach, one could only call it an excellent choice.
Ryu, who despised interruption of his rest more than death itself, was someone even Jwa Ryang dared not pursue into that tent.
Because of this, Jwa Ryang’s expression, having lost his quarry before his eyes, was hollow with disappointment.
But that disappointment transformed in an instant into shock.
A man with a gentle countenance had suddenly entered the encampment and without hesitation torn away Ryu’s tent.
At this sight, Jwa Ryang turned to look at Dong Pil.
For the man to reach Ryu’s tent, he would have had to pass through Dong Pil, who stood at the passage.
Yet if the man had arrived at Ryu’s tent unscathed…
But contrary to Jwa Ryang’s concerns, Dong Pil stood unharmed at his post, vacant-faced and motionless.
“Why…?”
He meant to ask why he had let the man pass.
If not for the sound that reached them at that moment.
Smack!
The man who had torn away Ryu’s tent with a sharp, resounding blow remained there, gripping the tent flap, before tumbling backward.
At the sight, Dong Pil’s dull voice reached Jwa Ryang’s ears.
“His threat level looked high-tier. Well, I figured if someone wants to take their own life, we shouldn’t stop them, so I let him pass.”
Now the reason why the gentle-looking man had passed Dong Pil unscathed was revealed…
Ryu emerged slowly from the tent, her expression far from pleased.
Indeed, if one had lain down for just a moment’s rest only to have one’s tent suddenly ripped away, even Jwa Ryang himself wouldn’t be in a good mood.
The problem was that Dong Pil and Jwa Ryang had essentially stood by and done nothing while it happened.
‘She’s going to hold a grudge about this…’
The moment worry seized him, Jwa Ryang hurried toward Ryu and launched into explanations.
“I wasn’t trying to ignore it—I saw the beast, see. It just came charging and dove straight into your tent…”
His rambling explanation trailed off there.
The very beast he’d been describing was already nestled securely in Ryu’s arms.
The funny part was that the kitten was behaving as calmly as if it were cradled by its own master, wearing a contented expression.
“You… know the cat?”
Even though he knew better, Jwa Ryang found himself asking, so at ease did Chu Yeon-myo appear in Ryu’s embrace.
“No.”
“Right, I suppose not…”
As Jwa Ryang nodded to Ryu’s indifferent reply, her words somehow felt like she was saying, “Yes, I know this cat well from the beginning.”
So naturally did Chu Yeon-myo nuzzle and coo in Ryu’s arms, and so naturally did Ryu stroke the beast, cradling it all the while.
Such commotion could not have escaped Mo Yong Ji-eun’s notice.
As she emerged from Dong Pil’s tent, Yi Song and Jang Min-su, who had been observing the situation, approached her with worried expressions.
The threat level of the sprawled man could not yet be discounted.
But then words burst from Mo Yong Ji-eun’s lips that shattered both their concerns in an instant.
“Oh, Brother!”
Her voice trembled with surprise as Mo Yong Ji-eun rushed toward the fallen man, her face full of shock.
But when he showed no sign of consciousness even to her calls or her shaking, she began to choke back tears.
At her distress, Yi Song turned to Hee Jun with a startled expression.
Hee Jun, catching the meaning in Yi Song’s gaze, approached the sprawled man and examined him.
“He’s fine. He’s merely lost consciousness for the moment, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Even after Hee Jun’s words, Mo Yong Ji-eun asked in a voice thick with concern.
“You’re… sure, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Even at the longest, he should regain consciousness within an hour or so.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ve done nothing to thank me for.”
Hee Jun smiled sheepishly and stepped back, and Mo Yong Ji-eun removed her outer robe and placed it beneath the fallen man’s head like a pillow.
Though the outer robe was merely an Outer Robe worn over one’s clothes to ward off the cold, it was certainly an extravagant gesture to show to a strange man.
Was it for this reason?
Dong Pil, his eyes narrowed, murmured with clear displeasure.
“Suspicious. Very suspicious…”
“Suspicious indeed—but looks rather fine to me.”
Unlike Yi Song and Jang Min-su, who smiled knowingly, and Hee Jun, who nodded in agreement, Bong Jin’s face had gone pale, and he stood at a loss.
Of course, there was also Jwa Ryang, who paid no mind to any of it and kept his gaze fixed on Chu Yeon-myo, cradled in Ryu’s arms.
In any case, amid all these people, Ryu asked flatly.
“Who is he?”
Two contradictory answers burst from their mouths at once.
“He’s someone we need to save!”
“He’s someone we must kill!”
At those two answers, Ryu glanced briefly at Mo Yong Ji-eun and Bong Jin before speaking.
“I asked who he is, not what we should do with him.”
“He’s my brother!”
“He’s a dog of Gunmarim. And one drenched in the blood of our Iron Blood Alliance warriors! He must be killed without question!”
As Mo Yong Ji-eun and Bong Jin spoke their answers simultaneously once more, Ryu stroked the nape of Chu Yeon-myo’s neck in his arms and muttered.
“Neither of you are hearing a word I say. I asked who he is, so why do you keep spouting nonsense?”
Whether he sensed the irritation in Ryu’s tone, Bong Jin answered quickly.
“Cross Ill Dream Dan Ri-hyeon. The master of the Dao Family Squad.”
Bong Jin’s answer was unexpected, and surprise flickered across the faces of Ryu and the others.
If he was from the Dao Family Squad, then he belonged to Magajeon, one of the Five Halls of Gunmarim.
Which meant he was someone who should be at the Main Base of Gunmarim, not with the Red Ghost Squad.
When the Red Fang Troupe members looked at Bong Jin with the unspoken question of whether he knew why a warrior from Gunmarim’s Main Base had appeared, he shook his head.
“I don’t know why that Killing Ghost chose to show himself here.”
“Really? I’ve been stabbed in the back so many times lately that I’ve grown as nervous as Jwa Ryang himself.”
At Yi Song’s skeptical inquiry, Bong Jin shook his head again.
“It’s the truth. In a situation like this, why would I lie?”
Though Bong Jin struggled to prove his sincerity, Yi Song still regarded him with suspicion. Jang Min-su approached her.
“More importantly, he couldn’t have come here alone. Shouldn’t we prepare our defenses against that first?”
He was saying that since the master of the Dao Family Squad had revealed himself, his skilled subordinates must be nearby as well.
It was a valid point, so Yi Song’s gaze immediately turned toward Dong Pil.
Dong Pil shook his head at that look.
“Not at all. There’s no one within five hundred paces of here.”
At the mention of five hundred paces, Bong Jin immediately looked at Dong Pil with deep suspicion, but the others seemed to accept the claim readily enough.
And rightfully so—if it weren’t true, Ryu wouldn’t be so calm.
Perhaps because of that.
Yi Song, having shed all tension, gazed down at the man sprawled on the ground: Dan Ri-hyeon.
“So he came alone…….”
Her voice trailed off with puzzlement, and her eyes drifted to Mo Yong Ji-eun, who watched Dan Ri-hyeon with worry etched across her face.
Feeling that gaze, Mo Yong Ji-eun looked up.
“It’s because of me.”
“Because of you? I think we need a more detailed explanation.”
After hesitating briefly, Mo Yong Ji-eun seemed to accept that the circumstances left her no choice, and she continued her explanation.
“No matter what preparations the Alliance made, I didn’t think we could shake off the Red Ghost Squad’s pursuit. So I needed someone whose appearance could create confusion in that pursuit. That’s why…….”
“You drew him into this?”
“Yes. He’s someone who would cast aside everything and rush to my aid if I were ever in danger.”
“Mo Yong and Dan Ri—different surnames, so not blood siblings. A woman who exploits a man’s affection is truly something else…….”
Dong Pil butted in with his unnecessary commentary, and Yi Song silenced him with a disapproving look before continuing her questioning.
“Just to be sure, is there anyone else you’ve drawn into this besides him?”
“No one. There aren’t many people willing to stake everything they have to rush into a situation like this.”
As Mo Yong Ji-eun slowly shook her head, Yi Song drove the point home.
“If that later proves to be a lie, you’ll have much to regret. So even now, if you’d just tell the truth…….”
“I wouldn’t lie. Not in this situation, and certainly not after defecting to the Iron Blood Alliance.”
Yi Song studied the unwavering resolve in Mo Yong Ji-eun’s eyes for a moment, then performed a formal bow.
“Forgive my rudeness, my lady. Given the circumstances, I overstepped.”
“Not at all. It’s an understandable suspicion. But please—spare him. My brother. I’m begging you.”
At Mo Yong Ji-eun’s earnest plea, every eye turned toward Ryu.
Bong Jin, who knew that Ryu was the true leader of the Red Fang Troupe, cried out desperately from among them.
“Absolutely not! He must be killed without exception. How many of our Iron Blood Alliance warriors have fallen to his hand? You can’t possibly spare him. It’s unthinkable!”
As Bong Jin protested vehemently once more, Ryu regarded him in silence for a moment before asking.
“Has the Red Fang Troupe ever clashed with the Dao Family Squad?”
At Ryu’s sudden question, Bong Jin fell silent, his expression bewildered.
The others seemed to understand what his hesitation meant, and Yi Song’s voice emerged from the group.
“Remember? A few years back, when we rescued the Red Fang Troupe, our opponent was the Dao Family Squad. The main forces of Gunmarim’s Main Base marched all the way to Saja Plain—wasn’t that a big commotion at the time?”
“Ah!”
At Yi Song’s reminder, exclamations burst from the Red Fang Troupe members as the memory returned.
But Ryu’s face remained utterly expressionless, revealing nothing of whether he remembered or not.
He simply gazed at Bong Jin in silence.
As if demanding he speak not through another’s words, but from his own lips.
Unable to refuse that gaze, Bong Jin opened his mouth.
“Yes, it happened then. Most of our members died. Half of those deaths came by that bastard’s hand. So…….”
“But I didn’t see him myself back then.”
“The pursuit was split into several groups. When you came to rescue us, it simply wasn’t the pursuit squad he commanded.”
That meant the Red Fang Troupe had encountered the Dao Family Squad’s pursuit unit—the one not under Dan Ri-hyeon’s command—when they were being chased by the tracking team.
Ryang nodded with an expression of understanding at Bong Jin’s explanation, then spoke.
“Understood. Kill him.”
In the midst of people reacting with shock to those words, Mo Yong Ji-eun’s cry tore through the silence.
“No! You can’t!”
Contrary to her panic, Bong Jin drew his blade with an expression of joy.

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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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