The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 22

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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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Episode 22. Aiding the Enemy
Ryu spoke to him plainly.
“When he wakes, kill him with your own strength, with your own hands.”
“What—what are you saying?”
“Exactly what I said. If you want revenge, do it yourself.”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something. This isn’t a matter of personal vendetta!”
“Your eyes are wavering.”
“What—what?”
“Your eyes waver. And I’ve never known a man like that to speak the truth.”
“That is…….”
Ryu continued speaking to Bong Jin, who stammered in confusion.
“This is war. You die, I die, he dies. Don’t drag private grudges into it. And he walked into death’s jaws trying to save a woman he loved. Kill a man like that and you’ll have nightmares. I don’t know about you, but I already have enough of them as it is.”
Ryu turned and headed toward his tent, leaving those words behind. When he saw his own broken and torn tent, he let out a dissatisfied sigh.
“Sigh…….”
His shoulders sagged under the weight of exhaustion.
Watching Ryu, Yi Song whispered a question to Hee Jun, who stood beside him.
“Still not sleeping well these days?”
“I’ve tried various remedies, but nothing works. It seems to be a matter of the heart rather than the body.”
Yi Song’s head nodded at Hee Jun’s answer.
The thought struck him that he had reason enough to suffer such an affliction.
Ryu had grown up in Saja Byeong, that hellish battlefield, and had spent considerable years struggling to survive.
Since he first stepped into real combat at twelve, he had been killing people for twenty years now.
If someone asked Yi Song to name the person who had killed the most people in Saja Byeong—in this entire world, for that matter—he would unhesitatingly point to Ryu first.
If such a man’s mind were sound, that would be the true oddity.
As Yi Song watched Ryu with concern, Danhyeon, who had lost consciousness, slowly awoke.
Was it the instinct of a martial artist?
The moment he awoke, he sprang to his feet, and catching sight of Moyong Jiun sitting nearby, his face brightened.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m fine. Are you well, brother? Are you unharmed?”
At her words, Danhyeon quickly checked his Internal Force and nodded.
Then he subtly positioned himself between Moyong Jiun and the direction of Bong Jin, who glared at him as if ready to kill, and the Jeok Sa Jo members standing sparsely behind him.
“What is the meaning of this?”
He fixed his gaze ahead but directed the question to Moyong Jiun.
It was a precaution, since he could determine neither the identity nor the danger level of those surrounding him.
If they were warriors of the Iron Blood Alliance, he would not be standing here unscathed; if they were warriors of Gunmarim, they would not be looking at him with such hostility.
Moyong Jiun’s answer came.
“I’m sorry, brother.”
Even though her answer was not what he wanted to hear, Danhyeon did not fault her.
He had set out on this path already prepared for the possibility that whatever the situation, it would not favor him.
So Danhyeon spoke in a gentle voice.
“This is the path I chose, so there is nothing for you to apologize for. I would be grateful if you could set aside such thoughts.”
“Brother…….”
“But Jiun.”
“Yes, brother.”
“If it poses no danger to you, could you not tell me who they are?”
“That is…… I’m sorry, brother.”
It was a repetition of her earlier words, but Danhyeon caught the subtle difference in them.
“Members of the Iron Blood Alliance, then.”
“I’m sorry…….”
“Stop apologizing. It’s not your fault, I tell you.”
Danhyeon continued to soothe Moyong Jiun with his gentle voice, then his gaze swept across Bong Jin and the Jeok Sa Jo members before fixing on Ryu.
It was not because he recognized him as their leader, but because he saw Chu Yeon Myo nestled quietly in Ryu’s arms.
“How could… such a thing be possible?”
At Danhyeon’s question, Ryu shrugged.
Not because he was unwilling to answer, but because he had no explanation himself.
In fact, animals that had encountered Ryu typically displayed one of two reactions.
Either they would curl their tails and crouch low in submission, or they would act coy, as Chu Yeon Myo now did, nestled in his arms.
The former was a reaction seen most often in beasts of prey; the latter was the behavior of creatures known to possess considerable cunning.
From that perspective, Chu Yeon Myo could be considered rather intelligent.
But whether one way or the other, such reactions were not of Ryu’s own making, and so he had no answer to give.
But Danhyeon had taken it differently, it seemed.
“If you don’t want to speak, then… there’s nothing to be done about it.”
It was a misunderstanding, but Ryu had no intention of explaining it point by point, so this time he merely gave a slight shrug.
Danhyeon turned to him with a question.
“But why did you just let me go?”
He had lost consciousness without even knowing what was happening to him.
It was difficult to fathom why the Iron Blood Alliance’s warriors, including masters of that caliber, had simply released him.
At his question, the gazes of everyone present naturally shifted to Ryu.
In Danhyeon’s eyes, understanding what this meant, a flash of “just as I thought” appeared and vanished.
To him, Ryu spoke with indifference.
“Go.”
Caught off guard by that unexpected command, Danhyeon had scarcely reacted when Bong Jin cried out.
“That won’t do! This is treason!”
Despite the harsher words than expected, Ryu’s gaze toward Bong Jin remained entirely unmoved.
Jwa Ryang, glancing at both Ryu and Bong Jin, withdrew a Flying Blade from his pouch and toyed with it while muttering.
“Dead men tell no tales, you see…….”
At those words, Bong Jin’s face drained of color and his lips sealed shut. Ryu turned his gaze from him back to Danhyeon.
“Go.”
After throwing out those same indifferent words, Ryu regarded Danhyeon with an impassive stare. Danhyeon hesitated a moment, then asked.
“What’s the reason? What reason do you have for letting me live?”
“You’re talking a lot for someone being spared.”
Jwa Ryang’s displeasant voice cut in sharply, but neither Danhyeon nor Ryu responded to it.
Instead, Ryu simply repeated the same words once more.
“Just. So go.”
His tone carried an air of indifference bordering on exasperation. Danhyeon’s brow furrowed slightly as he took a step forward, but Moyong Jiun caught him by the arm.
When Danhyeon’s gaze met her eyes as she gripped his arm, his look softened.
Moyong Jiun spoke to him.
“You can’t, brother. Let’s go. You must leave now.”
For a moment, Danhyeon stared at her, her head shaking in desperate appeal, and then he released the Internal Force he had been gathering.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do that.”
Yet it was not resistance either.
A man who had been resisting would never release all the Internal Force he had gathered with such effort.
Whether it was someone offering to let him go or someone saying he wouldn’t leave, Danhyeon found both impossible to understand.
Especially from Bong Jin’s perspective…….
“What? Why?”
It was hardly a fitting thing to say from someone who, moments before, had insisted absolutely that he could not be released, even speaking of treason.
Caught off guard and stammering despite himself, Bong Jin became the target of Dong Pil’s unexpected jab.
“Those who know not the depths of true love cannot comprehend such things.”
While members of the Jeok Sa Jo tittered at that remark, Moyong Jiun shook her head urgently.
“You mustn’t, brother. You absolutely mustn’t!”
What she had wanted, what she had planned, was never anything like this.
She had merely hoped that Danhyeon’s unexpected appearance would sow confusion among the Hyeol Gwi Dae surrounding them, and that in the resulting gap, she would safely defect to Mangui Dan.
But the completely derailed situation had plunged Danhyeon into danger.
This was not how it was supposed to be.
It was something that could never be forgiven, regardless of her original intentions.
For that reason, she had to send him away safely, no matter what.
Even if it meant wounding his heart…….
“I used you, brother!”
“I don’t care.”
Moyong Jiun cried out to Danhyeon, whose expression betrayed not the slightest wavering.
“I don’t love you, brother!”
With her eyes squeezed shut as she shouted, Danhyeon gazed at her steadily, and a faint smile crossed his lips.
“It doesn’t matter. Because I love you.”
At those words, Dong Pil broke into an unabashed whistle, prompting Yi Song to cast him a look of disapproval before inserting himself into their exchange.
“Then what do you intend to do if you don’t leave?”
“I mean to stay with her.”
It was yet another unforeseen answer, and Yi Song, beyond surprise now and left bewildered, asked.
“You’re aware that she’s in the process of defecting to Mangui Dan?”
“That seems to be the case.”
“Then do you also understand what it means to go with her?”
Danhyeon, who had paused at Yi Song’s question, nodded slowly.
“That’s right.”
With his resolve now firm and his voice steady, Ryu’s gaze shifted from Danhyeon to Moyong Jiun.
She stood bewildered by the sudden turn of events, uncertain what to do.
Ryu, seeing at once that this development was not what she wanted, asked her directly.
“What’s your reason?”
Moyong Jiun, not understanding the thrust of his question, hesitated to answer. Ryu’s question came again.
“I’m asking why you’re defecting.”
“Ah! It’s because my principles differ from Gunmarim’s policies…….”
As soon as Moyong Jiun grasped the intent of his question, Ryu’s voice cut across her answer.
“Now is the time for truth, not excuses. A woman as clever as you should know that.”
At Ryu’s cold tone, conflict flickered across Moyong Jiun’s eyes.
That alone was enough for anyone to see that she harbored a different intention.
Yet Ryu neither pressed her nor threatened her.
Unlike his usual indifference to all things, he gazed at her with something like compassion, waiting silently for her to make her choice and speak.
Moyong Jiun studied him in return.
When she caught the cold gleam in Ryu’s eyes as he turned his gaze to Danhyeon, she understood.
This was not someone who would believe a lie.
And if she persisted in lying…….
Seeing her eyes tremble faintly, Danhyeon seized her arm.
Moyong Jiun turned her gaze to him, and Danhyeon shook his head.
‘Don’t say it!’
Though Ryu understood what Danhyeon’s gesture meant, he said nothing, merely watching and waiting.
Looking back at Ryu, Moyong Jiun could be certain of one thing.
If she clung to a lie here, the consequences would be devastating enough to haunt her for the rest of her life.
At last, Moyong Jiun let out a low sigh, carefully withdrew her arm from Danhyeon’s grip, and faced Ryu directly.
“My brother is being held prisoner by Mangui Dan.”
“Jiun!”
Danhyeon’s voice was a cry of despair as he called her name.
Ryu, glancing at him, then asked her a question.
“One brother held prisoner, another brother also held prisoner. You seem to have many brothers.”
Yi Song regarded Ryu strangely.
He had sensed an odd emotion in Ryu’s tone.
Jealousy.
Yi Song couldn’t fathom why Ryu would feel jealous of Moyong Jiun’s many brothers.
So he glanced at his companions, wondering if he’d misread something.
Dong Pil, the most sensitive to matters of the heart, had his eyes opened so wide they looked ready to split, while Jang Min Soo had gone rigid.
Even Jwa Ryang, who was dull to human emotion, showed unmistakable signs of surprise, so Yi Song’s judgment was not wrong.
Assured that his instinct was correct yet confused as to why Ryu felt that way, Yi Song heard Moyong Jiun’s voice reach his ears.
“He’s my… blood brother.”
“A blood brother…….”
The emotion that trailed after his words was bitter.
Like the voice of someone who had been betrayed.
That Ryu, who was ordinarily indifferent to everything to the point of excess, had displayed so many emotions in such a short span of time was enough to astonish Yi Song.
And that the object of those emotions was a woman made it all the more startling.
Nor was this thought Yi Song’s alone.
All the members of Jeok Sa Jo were staring at Ryu with eyes bright with confusion and amazement.
Whether Ryu was aware of his companions’ state or not, he merely smiled bitterly.
Unable to fathom what Ryu was thinking, Yi Song turned his gaze from Moyong Jiun and observed Bong Jin intently.
The moment Moyong Jiun mentioned her blood brother, surprise had crossed Bong Jin’s face.
Feeling Yi Song’s steady gaze upon him, Bong Jin acknowledged that he could hide it no longer and took a step forward.
“Let’s confirm one thing first. What is the name of this blood brother of yours……?”
“Moyong… Chang-un.”
Before Moyong Jiun had even finished speaking, a groan-like sound escaped Bong Jin’s lips.
“Mm…….”
“Do you know him?”
At Ryu’s question, Bong Jin nodded.
“It’s a name you’ve likely heard as well.”
Pausing to search his memory, Ryu shook his head.
“I don’t recall it.”
Bong Jin spoke in response to Ryu’s indifferent answer.

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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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