The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 11

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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 Nakhyang Jin Family – Chapter 72

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“Good heavens, what is this? Hong the Elder is dead?”
“It’s not just Hong the Elder. Among the Sega’s warriors, the dead are not one or two.”
“Alas… to have such a thing happen on a celebration day… truly…”
An untimely funeral was held at the Nakhyang Jin Family.
To mourn the deaths of Hong Gu-hyeon and many other warriors, people were gathering from all directions.
Those who came to pay their respects were diverse.
Not only those who had been on good terms with the deceased, but also those who had come for the celebration the day before stopped their journey home and returned once more.
Thanks to this, the Nakhyang Jin Family was filled with people.
The funeral, conducted more grandly and magnificently than the Family Head’s birthday celebration, was so impressive that even those who came to pay respects clicked their tongues.
It was not a direct bloodline who had died, merely workers, yet the scale of the funeral was incomparable to that of ordinary families.
Because of this, the handmaids and servants who worked alongside them could not help but be busier welcoming guests than falling into sorrow and wailing.
My father and the Chief Steward Yu Hyeon led the funeral proceedings.
With the highest members of the Sega conducting such a grand funeral for fallen workers, this matter would spread far throughout the Central Plains, and the name of the Nakhyang Jin Family would rise even higher.
For they treated even workers as they would treat their own clan.
I observed all of this quietly, committing to memory the faces of each person who came to pay their respects.
Some were familiar, others were not.
Most appeared ordinary, but I was certain that among them were surely those connected to them.
This news would certainly reach their ears, and it seemed the attention of those bastards could be redirected as I had planned.
“He’s arrived! He’s here!”
Then, a voice came from somewhere.
Turning my head, I saw Chu Hyeongi approaching urgently with a letter in hand.
Unable to run due to the pain felt throughout his entire body, he was walking carefully while trying to approach as quickly as possible.
I asked while confirming the letter in his hand.
“From whom?”
“From the First Young Master, sir.”
I nodded and received the letter.
It was certainly my older brother’s handwriting.
I had sent an urgent message asking him to return, and this was his reply.
Since the destination of his journey was the Western Regions, I had judged his response would be the slowest to arrive, but seeing the message return this quickly, it seemed he had already traveled several days’ distance.
I smiled faintly, picturing my brother’s face.
In the past, at this time, I could not even see my brothers’ faces.
The Sega had already burned and disappeared, and they were hunting down the remaining blood relatives.
My eldest brother, Jin Baek-ryong, was the first victim.
I was beginning to understand the reason now.
Unlike me who had fled, he was returning to the Nakhyang Jin Family, so he could not escape their gaze.
“Inform Baek of this situation and have him assign additional guards.”
“Understood.”
I turned away after confirming Jang Chuchyeong hurrying off.
Only then did I notice Gu Gunbaek, sitting lazily atop a large boulder in the courtyard, staring at me with an indifferent expression.
He yawned widely, as if bored by the entire situation.
“When are we leaving? Are we actually going or not?”
“We’ll depart shortly.”
“I don’t understand what you’re doing. That’s an empty coffin, isn’t it? Why are those people crying over there?”
Gu Gunbaek’s gaze turned toward those drowning in sorrow.
The guards standing watch around the coffin.
With tears streaming down their faces, they clenched their fists in apparent resentment—as if they might draw their blades and charge forth for vengeance at any moment.
But they too understood the truth.
That the coffin was empty.
Most of the dead had fallen by their own hands in the first place.
Naturally, there was no reason to weep, nor any cause for resentment.
One cannot exact vengeance upon oneself, after all.
I laughed softly at the sight.
“The performance grows more elaborate with each passing day. Quite the spectacle.”
As I spoke with a bright smile, Gu Gunbaek looked at me with an expression of disbelief.
Then, shaking his head in disapproval, he grasped the gourd hanging from his waist and gulped down its contents.
“If I were in their position, I’d have chills running down my spine. Don’t make an enemy of me. Actually, the moment you did, I’d snap your neck first. Only then could I sleep soundly.”
Gu Gunbaek clicked his tongue, his expression showing his exhaustion.
He seemed utterly uninterested in who these people were or how they had become entangled with me.
He appeared to view each unfolding situation merely as a means of toying with them.
I laughed without confirming or denying his words.
My conflict with them was my affair, not his.
There was no need to explain it to him in detail.
After all, despite having become entangled with them multiple times while teaching Jang Chuchyeong in the past, Gu Gunbaek had shown no particular interest in them and eventually departed for parts unknown.
“Kha! Excellent! More importantly, aren’t we going to find So-ha? I think that would be more entertaining.”
“I intend to depart soon… but are you truly planning to come along?”
“You said it would be an interesting place! Not like last time! You said it would be genuinely fun! Of course I’m coming.”
Gu Gunbaek’s eyes sparkled like those of an innocent child.
Though he knew not what would transpire there, he seemed confident it would be more entertaining than the last battle.
Yet suddenly, as if recalling something, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“Could it be… those people aren’t involved in this matter as well?”
“They are not.”
“Truly?”
“Yes, it is unrelated.”
It was merely a matter of finding and bringing back Chaeseoha—unconnected to them and irrelevant to the question of the spirit jade.
Of course, it would prove somewhat troublesome and cause considerable upheaval.
The conflict with those men was being resolved with nothing more than inexplicable corpses, but this incident would certainly not end so cleanly.
Yet this was always meant to happen.
I was merely accelerating the timeline.
Of course, this would set the entire Central Plains into turmoil.
As I smiled faintly while contemplating what was to come, I noticed Gu Gunbaek’s gaze growing increasingly penetrating.
I quickly composed my expression.
“Is something the matter?”
“No, it’s just… your expression looked rather… suspicious. You’re not scheming something strange, are you?”
“How could that be? Do I look like someone who would resort to petty tricks?”
“Petty tricks would actually be preferable.”
Gu Gunbaek gestured with his chin toward where the funeral was taking place. The guards still swallowed back tears, and the wails of those who had come continued to echo without end.
I listened to it and gave a light shrug.
What could I do about it?

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Clatter—clatter—
A shabby carriage where even light could not penetrate.
Due to the thick darkness, I could not tell whether my eyes were open or closed.
There were only two things I knew.
One: the carriage was moving somewhere. Two: I was bound hand and foot, rolling about inside this carriage.
“This is terrible…”
Chaeseoha gave a bitter smile.
As Jin Cheon-u had said, she had remained confined within the An Family Mansion and had not ventured outside.
No one could have known she was staying with the Nakhyang Jin Family, yet like all secrets that cannot be hidden forever, she had ended up in this predicament.

“Please! Save me! Please! Is there a physician?! A physician?! My child is dying!”

A voice I had heard from somewhere still echoed vividly in my ears. The problem was that I had responded to the desperate cry of someone searching for a physician.
When I cautiously went out to investigate, it turned out to be someone from the slums.
In the figure covered in blood and desperately seeking a physician, there was not the slightest hint of deception or ulterior motive.
However, it did not take long to realize that this was a trap.
On the orders of Ga Inhoo, the Grand Steward, his guards had drawn their blades against the poor, and those wounded by the swords had desperately sought a physician.
As a result, Chaeseoha, unaware of the situation, had been captured by Ga Inhoo’s guards.
From that sequence of events alone, it seemed that Ga Inhoo already knew that Chaeseoha was somewhere within Luoyang City.
Or perhaps, he knew she was at the Nakhyang Jin Family.
Either way, it was not a favorable situation.
“No matter what… I have to escape.”
Chaeseoha gritted her teeth and moved her hands and feet.
I had to untie the rope and get out.
Since Jin Cheon-u had taken action, he must have pushed himself too hard.
I could tell without even thinking that he must be seriously injured.
After all, he was a young master who wouldn’t even look at another physician.
I was certain he would move to find me, dragging his still-unhealed body along.
Because of this, Chaeseoha’s heart grew even more urgent.
She tried harder to loosen the rope with more vigorous movements, but it was tied so tightly that her skin scraped and blood flowed, yet the rope showed no sign of loosening.
“Sigh….”
Chaeseoha eventually let out a resigned sigh and pressed her forehead against the floor.
Countless thoughts rushed through her mind.
From childhood until now, but among them, what occupied the largest place in her heart was merely a few months—the days she had lived at the Nakhyang Jin Family.
When the thought came that she could never return to those days again, a bitter emptiness washed over her, leaving her heart hollow.
But could she simply give up like this?
Then, for a moment, she recalled a conversation she had had with Jin Cheon-u not long ago.

“What if something happens?”
“Yes, if something happens that I cannot handle, what should I do?”

She had not asked with the current situation in mind. Rather, knowing that someday she would have to leave the Nakhyang Jin Family, she had asked out of fear about that distant future.
To her eyes, Jin Cheon-u was always someone who seemed to have the answers.
His expression and voice from that time came back to her clearly.

“First, you must live.”
“Live?”
“Yes, survive with all your might. If you do, I will surely find you and save you.”

These were not sweet words meant to win a woman’s heart.
After all, someone like Jin Cheon-u could never fall for her.
Yet his earnest gaze and expression had shaken her heart, and the memory remained vivid even now.
Therefore, she would survive.
No matter what.
Even if Jin Cheon-u never appeared to help, she would clench her teeth and cling to life, waiting for better days to return.
She forced herself to rise in the unseen darkness and pressed her ear against the carriage wall.
Voices from outside reached her faintly.
She harbored a thread-thin hope that even the smallest clue might help her survive.
The carriage continued moving for some time.
Between the jolting of the carriage and the sound of hoofbeats, she occasionally heard people’s conversations, but they were muffled by other sounds and she couldn’t make them out clearly.
Soon the carriage came to a stop.
Whether they were preparing to camp or eat, she couldn’t tell, but she felt the people around the carriage disappear.
That’s when the voices became clear.
“Congratulations, Eunuch. You’ve finally found what you were looking for.”
“Hehehehe— isn’t this all thanks to your efforts? Indeed, I have a good eye for people.”
“I merely investigated based on the circumstances. If she entered Luoyang City, she couldn’t have escaped the Jin Family’s notice. It seems she caught the eye of Cheon-u, that boy.”
“Hoho— thanks to you, we found her well. I was beginning to think we’d have to give up. The Emperor will bestow a great reward. Is there anything you desire?”
Desire something?
Jin Baek-ryong swallowed a small groan at the question, falling into thought.
But knowing that only one thing ever came to mind, he smiled faintly and looked at Ga Inhoo.
“The Nakhyang Jin Family. If the Emperor grants me his support this time, that should be sufficient.”
“Hehehehe—.”
At the sound of Ga Inhoo’s laughter, Chaeseoha’s body went rigid.

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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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