The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 99

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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 99. The Heavenly Thunder Swordsman, Nam On
Nam On, famous by the epithet of the Heavenly Thunder Swordsman, held the position of Musang in the Tianming Nanmun—the martial supreme of the organization.
It meant he was first among all in martial skill within the Tianming Nanmun.
Naturally, he too was a master whose name graced the Yeongha Baekwi.
He had conveyed various words of consolation to the Munchang Family Estate and spoken of his readiness to offer full assistance.
Not a trace of sincerity lingered in those words he’d finally come to deliver, yet So Gwang Yeo found himself forced to bow in gratitude.
To So Gwang Yeo, who had bent his waist before him in this manner, Nam On posed a question in a measured tone.
“By the way, will the son-in-law be returning to Haedong again?”
Only then did So Gwang Yeo grasp why a man of Nam On’s standing—the Musang of Tianming Nanmun itself—had come calling in person.
The Tianming Nanmun held genuine interest not in the misfortune that had befallen the Munchang Family Estate, but in the movements of the man called Ryu, about whom rumors spread that he had defeated Yuseong Chuhon.
He was indeed a master who had defeated Yuseong Chuhon, that nightmare of Haenam.
Should such a master remain in the Munchang Family Estate, the martial landscape of Haenam would undergo a seismic shift.
Tasting bitterness, So Gwang Yeo answered with an awkward smile.
“I do not know that myself.”
Even as he spoke the words, So Gwang Yeo felt a tremor of astonishment within.
The agreement forged with Haedong Gui was to arrange a marriage between his son and the Munchang daughter—not to present him as a live-in son-in-law.
Thus, should he indeed find his abducted daughter and hold the ceremony, Ryu would surely return to his home in Haedong.
So Gwang Yeo, who knew this better than anyone, had answered not with a direct “no” but vaguely with “I do not know.”
It was an answer he could not have given, no matter how much he disliked the Tianming Nanmun’s conduct.
For this reason, So Gwang Yeo found himself unsettled, wondering if there lurked within his own heart some petty desire to wish for the opposite.
At So Gwang Yeo’s reply, Nam On nodded slowly.
“It seems no decision has yet been made. True enough—changing the place where one continues one’s life is no simple matter.”
“Yes, it appears so.”
Once the hollow words had begun, they repeated themselves unbidden.
Just as So Gwang Yeo resolved to correct this shameful performance before it deepened further, the moment came.
“Could you speak a word to him on our behalf?”
“A word, you say?”
“Should the Munchang Family Estate prove too modest a home for him to dwell in, tell him that the Tianming Nanmun would shelter him gladly. With such an arrangement, the bond between the Tianming Nanmun and the Munchang Family Estate would deepen immeasurably—surely a blessing for the Munchang house as well.”
Nam On’s countenance, speaking these measured words, revealed itself anew.
The thought So Gwang Yeo had harbored—that this man, at least, could be trusted among the profit-hungry ranks of the Tianming Nanmun—shattered to pieces.
Fearing his disappointment would show on his face, So Gwang Yeo hastily lowered his head.
“I shall… attempt to serve as a bridge in this matter.”
“Will you? Ha, ha, ha, ha. Since the matter-in-law himself urges it, the fellow will not dismiss such words lightly. Should it come to pass, I shall treat my household lord to a grand celebration.”
So Gwang Yeo, having lowered his head, bit his lower lip as he sensed that Nam On, satisfied with the answer he had reluctantly thrown out, laughed broadly—though duty to his guest forbade him to show his displeasure.
He could well imagine the audacity with which Nam On had declared before the family lord that the Munchang house lacked capacity, and spoken casually of rewarding such a Yeongha Baekwi-caliber warrior as one who had defeated Yuseong Chuhon.
Yet he could not refuse to answer.
The balance of power between the Tianming Nanmun and the Munchang Family Estate had tilted so far already.
“Yes.”
Gazing down at So Gwang Yeo, who had lowered his head and given his assent, Nam On burst into laughter once more.
“Uh, ha, ha, ha! Excellent. Yes, a most excellent arrangement. Uh, ha, ha, ha.”
Though he knew well that he could lower his head only under the weight of superior force, Nam On gave himself over to open laughter—and So Gwang Yeo, without letting it show, clenched his fists hard.
As So Gwang Yeo withdrew after arranging quarters for Nam On, his eye fell upon a woman who was surveying the garden attached to the Guest Hall.
Judging by Ryu’s account, she was surely the woman who had been exploited by Yuseong Chuhon’s sordid entanglements with women.
And she had lost her memory, they said?
What depths of agony must she have suffered to lose her memories altogether?
It was pitiful.
Seeing the vacant form of the woman sitting there, So Gwang Yeo’s mind turned to his own abducted daughter, whose very fate remained unknown—and his sorrow for this woman deepened all the more.
This was why, even hearing that she shared a room with the man who would become his son-in-law, he felt compassion rather than anger.
Though he had heard that she remained on the bed while Ryu stayed in a chair.
“Is there any discomfort in your dwelling?”
At So Gwang Yeo’s question, the woman, keeping her gaze fixed on the pond attached to the garden, spoke.
“Don’t you have a smaller room instead?”
‘A smaller room? Ah!’
So Gwang Yeo understood at once—she was afraid. Whatever hardships she must have endured…
Indeed, merely observing the garments torn to shreds when she and Ryu had first arrived allowed him to imagine well enough what treatment she had received at Yuseong Chuhon’s hands.
So she sought not a grand chamber, but a modest space that would bring her peace of mind.
Was it not true that even children, when frightened, hide themselves away in narrow, confined places?
Having collected his thoughts, So Gwang Yeo spoke.
“I shall have you moved to a smaller room. Miss, take heart.”
With those words left behind, So Gwang Yeo turned back several times with sorrowful eyes before he departed.
The moment So Gwang Yeo vanished completely from the Guest Hall, she clenched her fists tight.
‘That’s right. I’ll summon my strength and seduce that bastard! In a cramped room, pressed close enough to touch—I’ll know exactly who he is. Me. It’s me! Even now, I’m still Yun Yeo Ok, once called the Finest Flower of the Shadows!’
The woman’s resolve hardened. Yun Yeo Ok sprang to her feet and spun around.
“Miss.”
Nam On’s voice came from the Garden—though when he’d emerged, she couldn’t say. Yun Yeo Ok turned her gaze toward him.
“What is it?”
“Aha, what a fine day it is! Shall we share some tea together at the Pavilion?”
His face appeared to be only in his mid-thirties, yet the fine lines beneath his eyes and the wrinkled lobes of his ears made it clear he was well past seventy.
She wasn’t a young woman herself, but with a vital, handsome man within arm’s reach, the last thing she wanted was to dally with an old codger.
“No, thank you.”
Leaving those words behind, Yun Yeo Ok swept back into the Guest Hall while Nam On burst into hearty laughter.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha! What good fortune falls from the sky like rain! Ha-ha-ha.”
He laughed despite being rejected—as if the world had just offered him a gift. Yun Yeo Ok, pursing her lips at him in disdain, entered the room where Ryu awaited.
***
Ryu sat in the chair by the window, as he had for days, using Wind Cultivation to soothe the muscles damaged by his training and coax them back to full strength.
Which meant he had heard and seen everything that had just passed between Nam On and Yun Yeo Ok.
‘Damn. I should have been colder to that fool Nam On.’
Belated regret washed over her, but Yun Yeo Ok shook it off and approached Ryu.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Not particularly. Don’t worry about me. If you’re hungry, eat something.”
Without turning his head, Ryu gave his answer. Yun Yeo Ok’s eyes narrowed slightly, then softened as she murmured to herself.
“I don’t like eating alone… Ah, I’m starving but I suppose I should go without.”
Her true feelings were transparent as glass. Finally, Ryu turned to look at her.
What he saw was Yun Yeo Ok perched on the edge of the bed, fidgeting pointlessly with the quilts.
It looked like small resistance—the quiet anguish of a woman in a strange place with nothing she could control.
In that instant, Ryu’s thoughts turned to his own sister, wherever she might be.
‘Are you as lonely and weary as this woman?’
Perhaps because he found himself in an unfamiliar place, his sister’s image haunted him more than ever.
Perhaps that was why.
“Let’s… have something to eat.”
At Ryu’s words, Yun Yeo Ok’s head snapped around, her face blooming bright.
The meal, arranged through one of the Guest Hall’s servants, was quite well-prepared.
Even though it wasn’t mealtime, the care taken was evident in every detail.
In it, Ryu glimpsed the consideration of the Munchang Family Estate.
When food is set before a guest, the master’s permission and goodwill are woven through every layer, regardless of who brings it.
So too must this meal—this care given to his intended bride’s companion, to the betrothed of a girl whose very fate remained uncertain—carry the approval and direction of one of the So brothers.
How such care could be rendered to the betrothed of a daughter whose safety, even whose life, was unknown—Ryu could not easily fathom.
That was why, the moment the table was set, Ryu could not bring himself to pick up his spoon, even as Yun Yeo Ok ate ravenously.
After gnawing at a chicken leg for some time, she noticed his hesitation and belatedly realized how she must appear to him.
Yun Yeo Ok set down the half-eaten chicken leg and forced her voice into an indifferent tone.
“Ah… I’m full now…”
But even as she said it, her hand wouldn’t release the half-stripped bone.
For Yun Yeo Ok, eating was the only joy in her rough life in Kangho.
Her appetite had become almost pathological.
She had even declared that she would surrender rights and fortune before she’d give up her meals.
Among those who knew her, the epithet “food-witch” clung to her name.
Yet here she was, deliberately stopping herself from eating.
It was a small measure of how desperately she craved him.
Still, her stubborn longing wouldn’t release its grip—her hand clung to that chicken leg even now.
Watching her, Ryu let out a soft, low chuckle.
“Go ahead. Eat as much as you like.”
At his words, Yun Yeo Ok forced down the corners of her mouth that wanted to curl upward in a smile, and shook her head.
“No, really. I can only eat a little.”
She had heard it said somewhere, once.
That men dislike women who eat greedily in large amounts, that no man would care for a woman who smears oil on herself as she eats.
Recalling that memory and struggling against it with all her will, Yun Yeo Ok could not hide her bitter smile.
Her head shook in denial, but her hands had already brought the half-eaten leg to her lips.
Then again, she must be ravenous.
The last time Ryu had eaten was yesterday at noon, when So Gwang Yeo visited the Guest Hall; since then, nothing had touched his lips.
And Yun Yeo Ok’s hunger matched his own.
Ryu had no choice but to acknowledge that he had been too focused on his own position, paying insufficient attention to Yun Yeo Ok, who had been by his side.
In the end, Ryu picked up his spoon.
“Let’s eat.”
After throwing out those words, Yun Yeo Ok watched him for a moment as he began forcing down food that didn’t sit well with him, then she reached for the chicken leg again and shoved it into her mouth.
Yun Yeo Ok, in doing so, had not yet noticed that her hand had never once released that chicken leg.
***
Even after Ryu and Yun Yeo Ok were moved to a smaller room at So Gwang Yeo’s direction, the whereabouts of So Cheon, the daughter of the Munchang Family Estate, remained shrouded in mystery.
The Yuseong Chulga made every effort to search, and Nam On, who was staying at the Munchang Family Estate as a member of the Tianming Nanmun, lent his strength as well, but it made no difference.
Because so much time had already passed while they pinned the culprit on Yuseong Chuhon that finding a trace of the true perpetrator had become nearly impossible.
Eventually, tracking specialists arrived from the Tianming Nanmun, and from the Yuseong Chulga, Yuseong Chuhon himself came forward, bringing Wihaesamschu with him.
It was because of the threat that Yun Yeo Ok had delivered the night before, arriving and saying, “If you’re going to bumble about like this, it won’t be any fun,” before leaving.

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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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