The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 53

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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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The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company – Chapter 53

Chapter 53. False Rumors Take Shape (3)

I observed the Guard Warriors before me.
At my gaze, they shook their heads.
“Our foremost priority is your safety, Young Master.”
“I understand.”
But how could I, as a human being, turn away from a child’s desperate pleas for salvation and simply leave?
It wasn’t as though I lacked the ability to help.
“Still, I wish to save the child.”
At my earnest request, they nodded in agreement.
“Very well.”
“Please prioritize your own safety, Young Master. We shall handle the child’s rescue.”
“I have a favorable plan in mind.”
I outlined my strategy to them. The two Warriors deliberated briefly, then nodded their assent.
“That does seem preferable.”
“Since the Patriarch mentioned your martial prowess reaches the second rank, we shall proceed as you suggest—but you must not overextend yourself under any circumstances.”
“Understood.”
Soon we made our way toward the source of the child’s voice and encountered a group of figures.
“Black Path criminals.”
Indeed, they were Black Path.
Revulsion continued to plague me, yet it was far more bearable than before.
Now that I thought of it, my Master had said that as my inner energy grew, such reactions would gradually fade.
There were four Black-Clad Criminals in total.
Yet none of them appeared particularly formidable.
Then this was worth attempting.
A child who appeared to be around seven or eight years old was resisting their grasp, struggling against them.
“No! Where are you taking me?”
“To a very nice place, we promise.”
“No! Help me! Please, help me!”
“Hehehehe, scream all you like—there’s no one here. This place sees few travelers.”
His words rang true.
That was precisely why I had come this way deliberately.
In that moment, doubt seized me.
From his manner of speech to his appearance, this child bore the unmistakable marks of refined upbringing from a wealthy household.
Then why was he dressed in the coarse linen garments that commoners wore?
Yet judging by how the clothes fit, they had not been forced upon him.
And how could a child of that age have come alone to this deep forest?
At that moment, the Yeo Eung-am Warrior whispered softly to me.
“There’s a woman lying dead beside him.”
Looking where he pointed, a woman lay sprawled on the ground.
She appeared to have been killed by a blade to her back, but her clothing was far more refined than the child’s.
In the end, they succeeded in subduing the child and bound him tightly with rope made of tough cloth.
“Ah, it would be nice if we could use paralysis powder or sleep powder.”
“What can we do? The brat’s constitution is one that doesn’t respond to such things.”
“That’s fine. Let’s depart now.”
“Let’s go quickly. If we’re late, those bastards will throw a fit.”
“Those people are truly shameless. Joining hands with scoundrels like us to conduct business.”
“How else would you conduct a kidnapping openly?”
“True enough, this sort of work is our specialty.”
“Still, they say they’ll pay us quite handsomely for keeping our mouths shut, so let’s have hope.”
They turned their heads to look at the dead woman.
“Before that, we’ll dispose of this woman.”
“Indeed, thanks to her, we were able to obtain the young master so easily.”
They dug a pit and dragged the corpse over, severing the woman’s clothing ties with their swords.
Judging by their actions, true criminals of the Black Path are truly criminals of the Black Path.
Unable to watch further, I turned my head, and I noticed the eyes of the two warriors beside me had grown even colder.
They were waiting for their opportunity.
It seemed that to survive in the Martial Arts World, one must also possess a ruthless side.
When the Black-Clad Criminals became distracted with their task and released their grip on their weapons, the two warriors sprang into action.
Whoosh!
Swish, swish!
Lee Pil Warrior struck them with throwing blades first.
The blades embedded themselves precisely in their necks and wrists. His skill with throwing blades was far more impressive than I had anticipated.
“Damn it!”
“Have we been discovered?”
“It appears the Dang Family has caught on!”
But their reaction upon seeing the throwing blades was strange.
The Dang Family? Why would they be mentioned here?
In any case, that was the signal.
The two warriors rushed toward them, and soon the sound of clashing cold steel rang out loudly.
I seized the moment to rush toward the carriage with Palgap.
While the warriors drew the Black-Clad Criminals’ attention, my plan was to rescue the child.
Palgap quickly picked up the child and ran to safety.
In the meantime, the two Guard Warriors subdued all four Black-Clad Criminals before I could even join the fray.
They possessed more skill than I had expected.
So that’s why the squad leader told them to come along with us.
“It’s finished.”
“Thank you for indulging my unreasonable request.”
“Please, think nothing of it.”
“In truth, we found it difficult to turn away.”
I turned my head to look at the child. Palgap was already untying the cloth wrapped around the child’s body and removing the gag.
“Are you alright?”
At my question, the child asked in return.
“Who are you, sir? And what is your relationship with these men?”
As expected.
From the way he spoke, it was immediately apparent he was a precious child from a wealthy household.
“My name is Eun Seo-ho. I work for a place called the Eunhae Trading Company. As for my relationship with them…?”
I turned to look at the Black-Clad Criminals bound to the tree, still unconscious, and let out a quiet laugh.
“The man who beat them down. Does that answer your question?”
“Then you are the one who rescued me?”
“That’s right. You were crying for help, so I came.”
At my words, the child bowed with considerable dignity.
“If what you say is true, I am truly grateful for saving my life. My family will reward you for this.”
At that, I chuckled softly.
“There’s no need for that. I didn’t do this hoping for a reward. I simply rescued you because you appeared to be kidnapped.”
“Pardon?”
“If one has the ability to save someone in danger, shouldn’t one naturally do so?”
“Ah…”
The child seemed taken aback by my words.
“Still, I must repay you somehow…”
“If you truly wish to repay me, then when you grow up and encounter someone in danger, I hope you won’t turn away if you have the ability to help them. That would be repayment enough.”
At my words, the child gazed at me with sparkling eyes.
What… what is this?
Why is he suddenly looking at me like that?
“In any case, we should report this to the authorities.”
Then the child trudged off somewhere. He stopped before the corpse of a woman.
The child stood in silent prayer before the woman’s body for a moment.
I waited for him to finish, then asked.
“Did you know her?”
“She was my nanny. They killed her right before me.”
“…”
“Today she dressed me in these clothes, saying I should experience the lives of commoners firsthand, and that’s how we came to be here.”
I began to understand the full picture of what had happened.
These Black-Clad Criminals must have instructed the child’s nanny to dress the child in inconspicuous clothing and bring him along.
But if a nanny was present, wouldn’t there normally be a Guard Warrior as well?
“Where is the Guard Warrior?”
The child shook his head at my question.
“I’m not entirely sure either, sir.”
I exhaled deeply and approached the four Black Blade Warriors.
Then I lifted my foot and kicked one of them squarely in the stomach.
“Ugh!”
“Are you awake now?”
“W-who are you?”
“You don’t need to know who I am. I just have a question for you.”
I had rescued the child, but without knowing what dangers might still lurk, I couldn’t simply send him away alone.
I needed to ensure his safety through to the very end.
“Hmph! As if I would answer——”
At that moment, Yeo Eung-am Warrior drew his blade and swiftly drove the flat of it into the man’s thigh.
Thunk!
“Aaaaagh!”
Yeo Eung-am Warrior smiled wickedly.
“Men like this respond best to pain.”
Whether the blade strike had its intended effect or not, the Black-Clad Criminal broke into a cold sweat and spoke to me.
“I’ll tell you anything, sir.”
“How did you bribe the child’s nanny?”
“W-well… we kidnapped the nanny’s own child… aaagh!”
Yeo Eung-am Warrior twisted the blade still embedded in the man’s thigh.
That was exactly what I had wanted to do…
“Well done.”
I praised him and turned back to the Black-Clad Criminal—no, the kidnapper—with another question.
“Then how did you manage to separate the child from his guard?”
“Those other guys deliberately created a distraction——”
“So they acted as decoys to make the guard lose sight of his charge?”
“Y-yes, that’s right. Hehe… if you’ve gotten all your answers, please, I beg you, remove this blade——”
“One last question.”
“W-whatever you wish, sir.”
“Who ordered you to do this?”
“Huh?”
“It seems you’re acting under someone’s command…”
At my words, he could offer no response, only cold sweat pouring down his face.
“I think we need to see more blood.”
When his answer came too slowly, Yeo Eung-am Warrior mercilessly twisted the blade lodged in his thigh.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
Unable to bear the agony any longer, he finally confessed.
“H-Hyung In-mun…”
What?
Hyung In Moon?
That name exists in my memory.
I decided to confirm it, questioning the child directly.
“Are you perhaps a child of the Sichuan Tang Family?”
At my question, the child answered with slight wariness.
“Y-yes, that is correct, but how did you know?”
“It’s something you can deduce with a bit of reasoning.”
In Sichuan, the Tang Family refers to the Sichuan Tang Family.
They are a martial clan unparalleled in the art of hidden weapons.
This is why Lee Pil Warrior said that the Dang Family must have noticed when he threw the hidden weapon.
It was an educated guess.
And there was another weapon that represented the Sichuan Tang Family—poison.
The western region where the Sichuan Tang Family established itself is a dense primordial forest.
Thanks to this, they mastered the methods of collecting, analyzing, and using toxic substances and poisonous plants.
Thus they became famous for extreme poisons like the Three-Step Intestinal Severance, which kills before one can take three steps.
That’s why I couldn’t use paralysis powder or sleep powder on the child.
Using poison operates on the basic premise that oneself remains unaffected while only the opponent is poisoned.
To achieve this, they cultivate resistance to poison from childhood, so such things would have no effect.
If I used enough to be effective, the child’s life would be in danger, which would also be problematic.
But the child still hadn’t lowered his guard.
Truly, a child of a great martial family of renown.
I recalled what Jegal Yu-ah had told me before.
She said they were educated to never lower their guard against anything.
Suddenly, a piece of information I knew came to mind.
The children of great martial families receive a mark tattooed on the inner arm at a very young age.
So that bloodline can be found should something happen in the future.
“I saw it when I rescued you earlier. You have a tattoo on the inner side of your arm. That marks you as a member of the Sichuan Tang Sect, doesn’t it?”
“Ah….”
“So I was certain.”
Only then did the child lower his guard and bow his head.
“I see. I apologize for my suspicion.”
“No, it’s only natural that you would.”
Meanwhile, I exhaled a silent sigh within myself.
It was now confirmed that the child before me was indeed from the Sichuan Tang Family.
Abduction.
The Sichuan Tang Family.
And Hyung In Moon.
With these three elements combined, I could be certain that I had become entangled in a particular incident I was aware of.
One day, the precious child of the Sichuan Tang Family went missing.
The missing child was none other than the youngest son of the Sichuan Tang Family Patriarch.
The Sichuan Tang Family conducted an exhaustive search across the entire Central Plains, and simultaneously sent cooperation requests to each trading company.
Through their efforts, I learned of the disappearance.
Five years passed in this manner.
When the child remained unfound and everyone grew weary, the Murim Alliance launched a sudden assault on a sect called Hyung In Moon.
The charge was involvement in human trafficking.
They were a sect established by Black-Clad Criminals masquerading as righteous martial artists, and they were indeed committing numerous crimes including human trafficking.
And the Murim Alliance discovered the Sichuan Tang Family’s missing youngest son in that place.
They had kidnapped him.
By returning the abducted son and granting various privileges to help the family recover the wealth expended in their search, they secured the Sichuan Tang Family’s unwavering support.
It was only natural that the Sichuan Tang Family became an ardent backer of the Murim Alliance.

But upon investigation, this place called Hyung In Moon was actually a force created by the Murim Alliance itself.
Later, while competing with the Baekcheon Trading Company, I conducted background investigations on them.
That was when I learned with certainty.
That the Baekcheon Trading Company and Hyung In Moon were connected.
In other words, Hyung In Moon was a sect secretly established by the Murim Alliance.
Which means this kidnapping incident was an elaborate scheme orchestrated by the Murim Alliance to gain the Sichuan Tang Family’s support.
So, did I interfere with their scheme?
For some reason, it feels rather satisfying.
I decided to take the child directly home.
Originally, I had intended to leave him with the Government Authority, but now that I know the culprits are the Murim Alliance, I cannot afford to be careless.
If they learn that the kidnapping has failed, the child will be abducted again.
I cannot allow that to happen.
So it seemed I had to take him home directly.
The fact that they coerced the Child’s Nanny into this act means they have not yet taken control of the Sichuan Tang Family.
Therefore, at minimum, the estate itself is safe.
Besides, it is on my way anyway.
I spoke to the Sichuan Tang Family’s child.
“Then, let us head home now.”

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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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