The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 79

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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 79. Crimson Dusk
With the ceiling suddenly caving in and everyone startled, Jeok Sa turned to Cheol Ja Yong with a question.
“What’s happened?”
“A fight broke out, and I came with my sister…….”
As Cheol Ja Yong spoke, his voice trailed away as he turned to look at the person whose hand he’d been holding.
“I… who are you?”
At Cheol Ja Yong’s question, the woman he’d dragged along opened her eyes wide.
“You seized my arm and ran with such urgency… I thought you were trying to save me.”
The woman was equally bewildered.
Startled by the sudden commotion and not knowing what to do, the moment Cheol Ja Yong had suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her along, she’d assumed he meant to rescue her.
Realizing he’d brought along a woman whose face he didn’t even know, Cheol Ja Yong was beside himself.
“No, this can’t be!”
His one and only sister, Cheol Ja Gyeong, knew no Martial Arts.
And he’d left her in the thick of the fighting.
Panic, confusion, regret, and self-reproach churned together inside Cheol Ja Yong as he bolted back out of the inn.
“Ja Gyeong, Ja Gyeong!”
Cheol Ja Yong called out desperately, pushing through those rushing toward him.
Jeok Sa, Jwa Ryang, and Dong Pil soon fell in beside him.
The rest of the group members rushed to the distillery under Yi Song’s command.
They had to guard the Liquor Jug, their responsibility.
The fighting was chaotic, but not savage.
Even among those bearing swords, fists flew far more often than blades.
They knew better than anyone what happened when real weapons were truly drawn.
Because of this, though blood was spilled, it all came from cuts and bruises sustained in hand-to-hand combat.
Those who’d bled from the nose knew—when it happens, it flows copiously.
Anyone passing nearby would be covered in it.
The blood staining Cheol Ja Yong’s martial robes had sprayed just the same way.
Though rough, it wasn’t a vicious fight, so cutting through those before him wasn’t difficult.
Some charged at him now and then, but they were nothing to him.
After searching briefly, Cheol Ja Yong turned to Jeok Sa.
“She has a Butterfly-Pattern Hair Ornament in her hair. She’s genuinely beautiful. You’ll recognize her right away. Please!”
Jeok Sa understood what he meant.
He was asking them to scatter and search.
At a nod from Jeok Sa, Jwa Ryang and Dong Pil split off in different directions.
As his comrades dispersed, Jeok Sa deployed his Body Technique toward another path.
The fighting had spilled from the market district into the surrounding city.
Heaven knew how so many Martial Artists had poured into the market streets—the place was nothing but warriors.
Moreover, the people of Mu Chang, their frustrations accumulated over time, began joining the fray here and there.
At first they’d backed away in fear of the Martial Artists’ clash, but seeing that neither Internal Force was being used nor swords were being drawn, they waded in.
It started when a shop owner whose establishment had been destroyed by the fighting threw the first punch.
The Martial Artists tangled with him still favored their fists, so the shop’s employees found courage to help their master, and this soon drew in the nearby merchants.
In time, even the common people who’d harbored old grievances against one another clashed.
What began as fighting beyond the market district had spread across the entire city in moments.
Even the renowned masters of the Martial World who should have stopped the disturbance joined in.
Of course, Hwangha Suro Maeng Ju was the first to charge forward with eager excitement—what a fine thing that was!
The one he happened to collide with as he rushed forward was Paeng Ga Ju.
Paeng Ga Ju, never one to hold his temper, glared and clashed with Hwangha Suro Maeng Ju in earnest.
Internal Force wasn’t used here either.
Yet a clash between Supreme Level Martial Artists could never be simple.
A fierce, blood-soaked fight erupted.
When the leaders clashed, their subordinates couldn’t simply stand idle.
Both sides’ Martial Artists fought viciously.
A Martial Artist from the nearby Hwangbo Se was swept up, and allies rushing to save him waded into the fray.
As Ki Moon So Ri watched this chaos, thinking ‘foolish young people,’ a persimmon flew at his face.
He turned his head slightly to avoid it, but the fruit shattered against the wall behind him, and persimmon fragments clung all over his back.
Having suffered unexpected misfortune while not even participating in the fighting, his mood soured.
Looking to see who’d thrown the fruit, he spotted a Martial Artist continuously hurling persimmons at someone.
Apparently one of those fruits had gone astray and flown his way.
He clicked his tongue.
Ki Moon So Ri’s displeasure was his alone to bear, but his subordinates couldn’t accept it as quietly.
If word of the master’s back being ruined was anything to go by, he’d suffered grave wounds.
As a bodyguard, failing to prevent it was a serious matter indeed.
The angered men rushed out at once.
A fight broke out between those who’d thrown the fruit and their companions.
So the Jegal Se faction and the Hwangbo Se faction clashed head-on.
In the midst of the fighting that engulfed Si Jeon Street, Ryu spotted a woman on the verge of tears, panic written across her face.
Though she wore no Butterfly-Pattern Hair Ornament, Ryu recognized her at once as the younger sister Jeok Sa had spoken of.
In a street filled with shouts and curses, her voice would never carry.
Besides, rough men were tangled together throwing punches from all sides.
As she seemed about to be swept into their melee, Ryu seized her hand and pulled.
The woman, offering no resistance, tumbled into his embrace.
Her shock lasted only a moment before cries erupted from here and there: “That bastard’s harassing a woman!” Men came rushing at him.
Though exasperated, Ryu had no intention of fighting. His feet moved with subtle, peculiar grace.
And then.
His form vanished as though snuffed out, leaving onlookers stunned.
But the moment passed, and the crowd was soon swept back into their brawl.
On a modest clearing halfway up a fairly high hill overlooking Mu Chang, Ryu set the woman down.
By the time he’d left, the inn itself had already been pulled into the fighting.
Taking her there would only mean trading one battlefield for another, so he’d slipped away from Mu Chang for now.
Caught without warning in a stranger’s arms, the woman’s face flushed completely red as she lowered her head.
“Th-thank you.”
She understood she’d been rescued before the men’s fight could sweep her up.
To her, Ryu said:
“Jeok Sa has been looking for you.”
“You know my brother?”
At Cheol Ja Gyeong’s surprised question, Ryu nodded.
“We work together in the Maeng Ui Dan.”
Her face brightened at his words.
“That’s such a relief. I was so frightened.”
“Once things calm down a bit, we’ll head to the inn where we’re staying. By then your brother should be back.”
“Thank you.”
As Cheol Ja Gyeong bowed lightly, her expression seemed far steadier than before.
Perhaps because of that, she asked with curiosity:
“Do you happen to know someone called Jeok Sa?”
“I do know of him, yes.”
So she pressed on: “Is he very frightening?”
“I couldn’t say he’s frightening, exactly.”
“Then is his nature cruel or violent?”
At her question, Ryu tilted his head thoughtfully.
“I wouldn’t say he’s that bad.”
“What about women? Does he have complicated entanglements with them?”
“As far as I know, I don’t believe so. But why are you so curious about this?”
“Oh! I’m sorry. I asked too many questions.”
“That’s fine, but I’m curious why you’re so interested in Jeok Sa.”
At his question, Cheol Ja Gyeong’s expression grew disheartened.
“Father wants to arrange my marriage. I was hoping to get my brother’s help escaping it, but after seeing how he acted just now, that seems unlikely.”
At her plainly disappointed words, Ryu smiled wryly and spoke.
“You needn’t worry. As far as I know, Jeok Sa has no intention of marrying anyone.”
“Really?”
At her delighted expression, Ryu laughed and nodded.
“I guarantee it.”
“Thank you so much. Truly.”
Cheol Ja Gyeong, her face radiant with joy, bounced on her toes while clinging to his arm—a charming sight that made Ryu chuckle.
In all his years, Ryu had rarely known such easy conversation with a woman.
Except for his mother, who had passed when he was young, the women he’d encountered were either sharp masters of the Maeng Ui Dan or courtesans who wielded shallow smiles as weapons.
Recently he’d met Mo Yong Ji Eun and Yi Hwa Ran, but his interactions with them had been far from comfortable.
Perhaps because of that, the time spent with Cheol Ja Gyeong didn’t feel unpleasant to him.
She prattled on endlessly about her brother’s virtues and defended her father’s decision to send her away, and so Ryu listened to her in silence.
After she’d talked for some time, Ryu said:
“The sun is setting. We should head back now.”
At Ryu’s words, an exclamation burst from Cheol Ja Gyeong’s lips as she gazed up at the sky.
“Oh……. How beautiful.”
Watching her profile as she beheld the sunset bleeding red between the clouds, Ryu thought she looked even more beautiful.
Cheol Ja Yong spotted Cheol Ja Gyeong entering the inn and hurried toward her, pulling her into a sudden embrace.
“Forgive me. I’ve been inadequate as your brother, and I…….”
Cheol Ja Gyeong patted his back as he faltered, his words trailing off beneath the weight of his self-reproach.
“It’s all right. Your colleague kept me safe. Thanks to him, I’ve arrived here without the slightest trouble.”
At Cheol Ja Gyeong’s words, Cheol Ja Yong finally noticed Ryu standing motionless at the inn’s entrance.
With an awkward expression, Cheol Ja Yong released his sister from his arms and offered Ryu a formal salute.
“Thank you, brother. This debt of gratitude…….”
“Enough. I won’t indulge in the embarrassing sentiment that your family is my family. But regardless—don’t worry yourself about it.”
At Ryu’s words, which seemed touched with reluctance, Cheol Ja Yong raised his hands in salute once more, his face grateful.
“I’m truly grateful.”
As Cheol Ja Gyeong looked around the members of the Jeok Sa Jo watching the two men with contentment, she posed a question.
“But who is this Jeok Sa you speak of?”
At Cheol Ja Gyeong’s question, both her brother Cheol Ja Yong and the rest of the Jeok Sa Jo members wore blank expressions.
They had only just returned, yet all this time they had been searching for Jeok Sa.
Ryu’s face grew complicated as he realized Cheol Ja Gyeong didn’t know.
When Cheol Ja Gyeong learned that Ryu was Jeok Sa, her shock was considerable.
Not knowing this, she had questioned Ryu about Jeok Sa’s ferocity and brutality.
As that memory surfaced, Cheol Ja Gyeong’s face flushed crimson.
Dong Pil was not the sort to let such a thing pass.
“Hey! What’s that? Why are you turning red? Brother, I think this one needs explaining.”
Ryu, unwilling to be drawn into Dong Pil’s teasing, asked in a dry tone.
“How is the liquor house?”
Yi Song, who had rushed to check the liquor house, answered.
“The Hwangbo militia held it firm. Not a single liquor jug was damaged. Once we confirmed everything was secure, we returned, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Ryu nodded at Yi Song’s report and spoke to Dong Pil, who continued to mutter that his question had gone unanswered.
“Stop wasting breath and rest. I’ve had my fill of troublesome matters.”
As Ryu turned to head up to his room on this floor, he caught sight of the inn’s proprietor glaring at him with fierce eyes and was forced to halt.
Now that he looked, he could see a large hole connecting his room above to the common hall below.
“Ah……!”
Jang Min Su, smiling wryly on behalf of the bewildered Ryu, approached the inn’s proprietor.
He was there to negotiate compensation and secure a new room.

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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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