The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 93

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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 93. The Rescue
Myo Seol and Bun Ta Ju lay flat on the roof of a building from which Gamroroo could be seen far below.
Though many closer buildings were available, they had deliberately chosen this distant vantage point for safety.
Wi Hae Sam Chu, who served as Yuseong Chuhon’s escort, was one concern, but Yuseong Chuhon was in any case a master of the Yeongha Baekwi rank.
If their surveillance were spotted by such eyes, even for a moment, they would not escape unscathed.
And so they maintained sufficient distance while still positioning themselves where they could observe what transpired along the roads leading to Gamroroo.
Moreover, they pressed their bodies flat against the roof, barely breathing.
It was to ensure no hint of their presence would reach watching eyes.
Having held this position since before dawn, the two had now spent nearly two watches upon that roof.
For Myo Seol and Bun Ta Ju—men whose internal energy reserves were meager despite their thick winter cloaks—it was an ordeal.
Yet they endured it, driven by a singular will: to witness with their own eyes the moment when Yuseong Chuhon, that man and son of Haedong Gwi, would be cut down.
It spoke to the depth of enmity between Haemilmun and Yuseong Chuhon.
Though not to the degree that Bun Ta Ju suffered constant beatings at Yuseong Chuhon’s hands, the number of Haemilmun disciples falling victim to the martial artists of Yuseong Cheolga had grown of late.
Even Myo Seol and the other Haemilmun disciples harbored no love for Yuseong Chuhon and his clan.
Worn by the lengthy vigil, Bun Ta Ju finally spoke in hushed tones to Myo Seol.
“Tell me, is the Cheonmyeong Namun—the one Mun Chang So first appealed to—still doing nothing?”
“It seems they will not come.”
“Damn them all. A man living across the sea in Haedong will move for a kinship older than thirty years, yet those bastards who strut about boasting of being Haenam’s foremost keepers of chivalry won’t even show their faces.”
“They have little choice. The opponent is Yuseong Cheolga.”
“But Cheonmyeong Namun is one of the Haenam Fifteen Sects themselves, just as Yuseong Cheolga is.”
“True enough, though it appears Cheonmyeong Namun judged that involvement in this affair would cost them more than it would gain.”
At Myo Seol’s answer, Bun Ta Ju’s face twisted in disbelief.
“Nothing to gain? Damn those men. They should keep their mouths shut about chivalry and propriety. But didn’t Cheonmyeong Namun take regular payments from Mun Chang So?”
“A fixed sum did flow in each year.”
“And they claim no obligation?”
“They told Haenamnomun it was merely a donation—not money contingent upon protection.”
“Cowardly and deceitful both. So Mun Chang So’s money was just overflowing? He poured it out precisely because he needed their strength in times like this. Cursed the lot of them to be struck by lightning.”
Bun Ta Ju’s bitter denunciation poured forth, and Myo Seol merely shrugged in response.
“From Cheonmyeong Namun’s view, Yuseong Cheolga is one thing, but the real problem lies with Sa Hwang Gok Ya behind them.”
“Sa Hwang Gok Ya? What has he to do with it?”
“I hear that Sa Hwang Gok Ya, the senior elder of Haenamnomun, argued to the Sect Leader Wol Pa Geom Hwang that this matter must remain between the two martial families—Mun Chang So and Yuseong Cheolga. He also declared that should outside forces intervene, he would personally obliterate any power foolish enough to do so.”
“And Wol Pa Geom Hwang accepted that?”
Myo Seol nodded to Bun Ta Ju’s surprise.
“He merely remarked that Wol Pa Geom Hwang must have plenty of time on his hands to concern himself with matters outside Haenamnomun’s walls. In any case, he raised no formal objection.”
“So Cheonmyeong Namun tucked tail and ran like a frightened dog because of Sa Hwang Gok Ya’s threat?”
“No matter how much prestige Cheonmyeong Namun claims as one of the Haenam Fifteen Sects, they cannot match the seniority and standing of Sa Hwang Gok Ya within Haenamnomun.”
At Myo Seol’s words, Bun Ta Ju spoke with visible frustration.
“It’s a damnable mess. But if that side has Sa Hwang Gok Ya, this side has Myeong Gwang Geom No, who backed Cheonmyeong Namun—and he himself is Deputy Sect Leader of Haenamnomun. Surely he wouldn’t simply stand by while Sa Hwang Gok Ya made his move. And Cheonmyeong Namun must know that too. Yet they cowed before a mere threat?”
“Cheonmyeong Namun is a sect that stirs only when direct profit beckons. And Myeong Gwang Geom No likely wished no part in this matter either. No vast wealth is at stake, merely the affairs of a daughter. Besides, Sa Hwang Gok Ya is known as one who, having spoken a word, would sooner see heaven split in two than break his promise. That reputation weighs heavily.”
“Even so… Sa Hwang Gok Ya is strong, but Myeong Gwang Geom No is no lesser figure. Their standing within Haenamnomun is comparable, and their martial reputations in the Kangho are evenly matched.”
“That is true. Looking at their encounters with others and their records of victory and defeat, their abilities are indeed evenly balanced. The difference lies in temperament. Sa Hwang Gok Ya, once a fight begins, thinks nothing of consequences. Myeong Gwang Geom No, by contrast, is known as a man of excessive calculation.”
At Myo Seol’s reply, Bun Ta Ju spat his words in a torrent of curses.
“Damn those fools! That’s precisely why I say Myeong Gwang Geom No’s crowd reeks of cowardice all the more. They preach chivalry when it comes to pocketing another man’s coin, but when their duty demands action, they hide behind circumstances and excuses.”
Though perhaps not the whole truth, Bun Ta Ju’s words were not entirely wrong, and Myo Seol simply laughed.
To that laughing man, Bun Ta Ju posed another question.
“But why does the Yuseong Cheolga family head lust after Mun Chang So’s daughter?”
“Yuseong Chuhon’s reputation with women is well known.”
“That dog. He bleeds men dry for sport, keeps a courtesan sitting in his own house, and still flirts with other women. Men like him should have their manhood cut away. Ah.”
At Bun Ta Ju’s words, Myo Seol smirked ruefully, his mind turning to the courtesan that Yuseong Chuhon had installed in his household.
Chohyang, the greatest beauty of Gangnam.
Once the premier courtesan of Deng Wang Ge, one of Gangnam’s three most renowned pleasure houses.
Her beauty was said to rival that of the legendary Xi Shi and Wang Zhaojun—women whose loveliness toppled kingdoms.
This same woman of such surpassing beauty was also said to have mastered the Bang Jung Sul technique.
She was famous as that kind of courtesan: a man who spent a single night with her would sell all his possessions for a second.
Not long ago, for reasons unknown, she had left Deng Wang Ge and come to Haenam.
The number of martial artists who came seeking to claim her led to such turmoil that many of Haenam’s wealthy merchants and idle young lordlings were wounded or killed in the chaos.
For a long time, no one emerged who could claim her.
It would have been impossible without beating down every martial artist in Haenam who had gathered for her sake.
It was Yuseong Chuhon who shattered that stalemate.
Into the throng of Haenam martial artists swarming over a single courtesan, Yuseong Chuhon marched at the head of three hundred masters from his own clan.
Wasn’t it said that all those martial artists, caught in that tremendous aura, couldn’t even squeak?
In any case, as Chohyang was led by Yuseong Chuhon’s hand into the Yuseong Cheolga, the commotion she had caused came to an end.
It was said that Yuseong Chuhon, having brought Chohyang at the cost of the sect’s very fortune, had quietly spirited her away and given her to Sa Hwang Gok.
So Bun Ta Ju’s remark about taking in a courtesan was actually an inaccurate way of putting it.
This information too was something only Haemilmun possessed.
In Haenam, Haemilmun was precisely where the lowest dregs of society—those closest to the courtesans—gathered.
Naturally, Bun Ta Ju knew that information.
So it wasn’t so much that he spoke out of ignorance as that he was simply venting curses.
In any case, thanks to that, Sa Hwang Gok had been giving full backing to the Yuseong Cheolga lately.
Even if Sa Hwang Gok was a willful man by nature, one courtesan alone wouldn’t account for it, but it was clear this was one of the important reasons.
As Myo Seol sat lost in thought, Bun Ta Ju posed a question.
“Anyway, that bastard Yuseong Chuhon—how does he have the nerve to act like that toward Mun Chang So’s daughter? I heard Mun Chang So has only one daughter and has never let her out of the house, so no one even knows what her face looks like.”
“No matter who someone is, they can’t exist entirely cut off from the outside world. Perhaps because of that, there have been occasional whispers among those who’ve seen her that her beauty is exceptional.”
“So Yuseong Chuhon found out about it?”
“He probably climbed over walls to verify it himself. Judging by his usual conduct, he’s the type to do worse. I was relieved he didn’t commit an outright abduction, but in the end he caused trouble anyway.”
“True, that bastard’s shown considerable restraint. And then he insists he didn’t do it, doesn’t he?”
“A claim no one believes—worthless either way.”
“Exactly. Does he even feel shame? Damn it, that fool deserves to be killed in sewage. This time he absolutely has to die.”
Myo Seol nodded at Bun Ta Ju’s curse-filled words.
“That’s what will happen.”
“You sound certain. The son of Haedong Gwi you met yesterday—he seemed promising?”
At Bun Ta Ju’s question, Myo Seol recalled Ryu, whom he’d met the night before.
Honestly, neither Bun Ta Ju nor Myo Seol could read an opponent’s momentum well enough to gauge the heights of martial mastery.
Their meager internal energy was to blame.
Yet what made Myo Seol certain was that in the small things he’d observed—Ryu’s gait, the way he sat, how he stirred the embers—he’d caught the scent of a master.
And this was the greatest clue: the refreshing sensation Myo Seol had felt when he entered Gwanjemyo.
It was unmistakably identical to the ripple of internal energy aura that spreads around masters of tremendous skill just after they finish cultivating their Yungi.
So Myo Seol had no doubt that Ryu, whom he’d met at Gwanjemyo, must be a master of the highest caliber.
He didn’t know in his dreams that this refreshing sensation was actually generated by the winds gathering and then dispersing in accordance with Ryu’s wind cultivation—a misunderstanding on Myo Seol’s part.
Unaware of this, Myo Seol nodded sharply with a confident expression.
“Yes. I’m certain.”
“Then we’re fortunate… Oh! There he comes.”
At Bun Ta Ju’s lowered voice, Myo Seol too hurriedly crouched low, his gaze fixed toward the main road in the distance.
Just as Bun Ta Ju said, Yuseong Chuhon strolled leisurely into view, bathed in the morning sun streaming down the main road toward Gamroroo.
From the gait of Yuseong Chuhon as he walked diagonally down the main road—at that early hour when shops were just beginning to open—the stench of yesterday’s heavy drinking seemed to waft all the way to where Myo Seol and Bun Ta Ju lay pressed flat.
“That drunken fool will pickle himself to death.”
Myo Seol agreed with Bun Ta Ju’s curse.
As Myo Seol and Bun Ta Ju watched, Yuseong Chuhon drew steadily closer to Gamroroo.
Both Myo Seol and Bun Ta Ju, observing Yuseong Chuhon’s approach, simultaneously crouched even lower and held their breath.
He was entering a sparsely populated area—exactly the sort of place where they would have launched an ambush.
They held their breath in anticipation, expecting that at any moment Haedong Gwi’s son would appear and slit Yuseong Chuhon’s throat. But Yuseong Chuhon passed through safely, without any obstruction, and entered Gamroroo.
At this turn of events, Bun Ta Ju and Myo Seol exchanged disappointed glances.
But immediately, the thought ‘Could it happen inside the building?’ made them quickly shift their gaze to the structure Yuseong Chuhon had entered. Yet still, no sign of Haedong Gwi’s son appeared.
“What’s this? What’s happening?”
Bun Ta Ju asked in a whisper barely audible as a mosquito’s whine, and Myo Seol, tilting his head, answered in an equally hushed voice.
“He’s likely waiting for when he leaves.”
After all, one’s guard tends to drop on the journey home after finishing one’s business.
Bun Ta Ju, thinking Myo Seol’s answer made sense, nodded and crouched even lower alongside him, holding his breath.
One of the Wi Hae Sam Chu remained stationed in front of Gamroroo’s entrance, keeping watch in all directions.
To be sure, it would be difficult to escape notice if spotted by that man.
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While Myo Seol and Bun Ta Ju waited anxiously from the rooftop, the very Ryu they sought was making his appearance at the Yuseong Cheolga.
For it was unmistakably Ryu who passed by a Yuseong Cheolga warrior collapsing with an arrow lodged in his neck—an arrow from nowhere.

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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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