The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 35

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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 35

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The morning after.
I entered Father’s office, which I hadn’t managed to visit yesterday, and reported on everything that had transpired. Father listened in silence, his lips sealed, until finally the entire account came to an end—only then did he speak.
“I see. So the matter with the Green Forest Bandits has been resolved satisfactorily.”
“Yes. In exchange, we’ve taken responsibility for the reconstruction of the Lower Village of Main Estate.”
“That’s acceptable. In fact, doing so will give us leverage to speak with authority to the Green Forest Bandits.”
Father nodded, evidently pleased with my judgment. The expenditure would be considerable, but if it meant gaining the upper hand in future negotiations with the Green Forest Bandits, it was hardly a waste.
Boom!
At that moment, the earth itself trembled.
The ground shook, and the building swayed.
Father fixed me with a steady gaze, his brow furrowing.
“Sigh—is there yet another major matter I should know about?”
“There is not.”
Boom!
The building shook again, and dust cascaded from the ceiling.
A shower of debris tumbled down, settling upon both Father’s head and mine. We both brushed it away simultaneously, our eyes meeting.
I could see the corners of his mouth twitching.
He appeared quite displeased.
“Then I shall ask you directly. This person you’ve brought here—who exactly are they?”
“Chu Hyeongi’s master.”
“…You went to resolve the Green Forest Bandits matter and brought back a master?”
As I nodded, a hollow laugh escaped Father’s lips. He then reclined against his chair, folding his arms across his chest, and regarded me intently.
It was his way of saying I should explain myself properly.
I managed a smile despite myself.
“The Green Forest King. Chu Hyeongi wishes to nurture him, you see.”
“The Green Forest King? That evaluator?”
“Yes, though he has since retired from that position….”
“I cannot fathom how this situation has unfolded. It’s absurd enough that the Green Forest King is Chu Hyeongi’s master, but now you say he is no longer the Green Forest King?”
“Indeed. Since he is fond of spirits, perhaps you might consider offering him some of that Western liquor you keep so carefully hidden away?”
“Why on earth should I do that?”
At the mention of Western liquor, Father’s expression hardened.
It was a spirit he kept meticulously concealed, sharing it with no one.
Though he possessed a fair quantity, he treasured it so greatly that he drank it sparingly—and the prospect of giving it to a complete stranger clearly did not sit well with him.
At his reaction, I let out a soft chuckle.
Then I spoke carefully.
“Who knows? You may one day require the aid of one of the Ten Heavenly Emperors.”
“…!”
Father’s expression clouded with confusion at my words.
But only for a moment—his eyes widened as he studied me, growing larger with each passing second.
I acknowledged his reaction and rose from my seat.
I offered a light bow and turned to leave.
“I’ll take my leave now.”
“Very well.”
Even as I departed the office, Father offered only a curt reply, his mind clearly wrestling with the meaning behind my words.
He was trying to comprehend what I had truly meant.
I stepped outside and turned my head toward the sound.
“Aaaahhhhh—!”
A terrible cry echoed from the Training Hall used by Sega’s warriors. We had granted them the spacious facility since they needed room, but it seemed the warriors were being tormented so severely that they couldn’t even conduct their own training.
As I slowly passed through the doors, an enormous Training Hall came into view.
Large enough to accommodate several hundred people with room to spare.
Jang Chuchyeong and Gu Gunbaek were indeed in one corner, while the warriors occupied most of the remaining space.
Yet every single person stood motionless, their eyes fixed on one scene alone.
Gu Gunbaek throwing crude, brutish punches, and Jang Chuchyeong fleeing desperately to evade them.
“Hey, you fool! If you just keep running, you’ll never kill an enemy!”
“But if I get hit, I’ll die!”
“You won’t die, In-seok! Why don’t you trust me?”
“Because you just start swinging your fists without warning! What about the fundamentals? The cultivation methods and all that!”
“I’ve seen every kind of idiot. You can only learn the fundamentals once your body is ready for them. Your body isn’t ready yet. If you learned them prematurely, every muscle in your body would burst.”
Gu Gunbaek seized Jang Chuchyeong as he tried to flee, then raised his fist with crude force and grinned wickedly.
“So move faster instead. When you get hit, get back up immediately. Bear the pain. Grit your teeth, endure it, and come at me! Do you understand?”
“How is that even martial arts training!”
Jang Chuchyeong protested violently once more, but Gu Gunbaek, as if deaf to his pleas, merely laughed brightly and swung his fist again.
Though he was holding back considerably, a single punch from one of the Ten Heavenly Emperors was no trivial matter.
An ordinary person would die from it.
Boom—!
With a tremendous sound, Jang Chuchyeong’s body flew through the air.
“Ahhh—I’m dead.”
He rolled across the ground several times, crying out in agony, yet despite this, he quickly scrambled back to his feet.
But then—
Crack—!
Gu Gunbaek’s fist came flying again, mercilessly slamming into his abdomen.
Jang Chuchyeong’s body folded like a shrimp, and he retched violently, expelling everything he had eaten.
I watched this unfold in silence, then shook my head.
This will kill him.
Yet I made no move to stop it, turning away instead.
This was something Jang Chuchyeong had to endure.
And so it had nothing to do with me.
“P-please, Young Master—save me!”
I deliberately ignored the voice reaching my ears.
‘Do as you wish.’
Besides, I had somewhere I needed to be.

* * *

“Hehe, it’s been quite some time, hasn’t it? Have you been well?”
“Thanks to you. It seems you’ve been quite profitable selling my information.”
At my words, Baek Jin-hwa wore a peculiar smile.
She didn’t seem caught off guard, nor did she show any sign of embarrassment. As if it were all perfectly natural, her gaze, brimming with amusement, never left me.
“The Green Forest paid quite handsomely. We simply follow whoever pays—isn’t that how it works?”
“True enough. I didn’t come here to blame you, so don’t worry.”
“I see. Then the reason for your visit today is…another job?”
I nodded and tossed a money pouch directly to her. Silver coins spilled out from the purse as it landed before Baek Jin-hwa with a soft thud.
She stared at me with widened eyes.
“Such a fortune again…what task could possibly warrant this?”
“Simple. Suppress information about a certain woman. Manipulate it as much as possible.”
“You mean the physician staying at the Nakhyang Jin Family? That’s far too much for information on someone of her standing…”
“The opposition is the Imperial Court.”
“…!”
“They’ll certainly make contact. Your ties run deep, after all.”
At my words spoken with a smile, Baek Jin-hwa’s lips twisted awkwardly.
There should be no one in this current age who knows of the relationship between Hao Gate and the Imperial Court—yet I had spoken of it plainly.
She slowly steadied her breathing, composed her expression, and once more displayed an air of composure with a gentle smile in her eyes.
“Then it seems the payment falls somewhat short, Young Master.”
“I’ll give you information instead.”
“Information?”
“Yes, it will prove quite useful. In terms of value, you should actually return that money to me.”
“…Is there truly something like that?”
“There is. What say you? Will you make the deal?”
Baek Jin-hwa fell silent, lost in thought.
She was curious, but reluctant to refuse me.
Sensing this internal conflict, her delicate brows furrowed and relaxed several times over.
But in the end, Hao Gate remained Hao Gate.
An organization that pursued profit.
She finally relented, exhaling a sigh before speaking.
“What is it?”
“The Emperor’s condition is grave.”
“…!”
Her pupils trembled.
Baek Jin-hwa’s eyes quivered at those words.
Hao Gate and the Imperial Court maintained an intimate relationship.
Therefore, if one failed to grasp the right strings or missed the moment to switch allegiances, they would inevitably face a catastrophic situation.
Moreover, Hao Gate’s current state was dire.
The Current Emperor was extraordinarily sensitive to any imperial information leaking elsewhere.
This made obtaining internal intelligence extremely difficult, and recently, the Black Crow Society had been co-opting officials to seize Hao Gate’s operations.
If the Emperor’s condition was truly grave, she needed to switch her allegiance as quickly as possible and gain advantage over the Black Crow Society.
But for her, this was information she could not easily accept.
All intelligence from every direction indicated the Emperor remained in robust health.
“What are you saying? His Imperial Majesty remains in excellent condition.”
“That’s merely appearance. His insides are rotting away. Believe it or don’t—it matters not. The choice is yours. However, I’ve provided the information, so consider the debt settled.”
“….”
Baek Jin-hwa bit her lip firmly.
She couldn’t decide whether to trust this or not. She would attempt verification through Hao Gate’s own network of informants, but extracting information from within the Imperial Palace would not be easy.
Perhaps she would have to pay a price exceeding the money I’d just given her.
I paid no mind to Baek Jin-hwa’s deliberation and tossed out another purse.
The coins scattered with a sharp metallic sound.
She, who had been lost in thought, snapped back to attention at the sight of the purse flying toward her, and regarded Ami with a frown, alternating her gaze between the purse and me.
“What… is in this one?”
“Information. I need information.”
“Information? What information this time? The more I learn about you, Young Master, the less I understand.”
At her sarcastic tone, I let out a soft laugh.
In truth, the matter concerning Chaeseoha was merely a precautionary information blockade, but this—this was the real purpose.
“The Eastern Families.”
“The Eastern?”
“Yes. I need information about that place.”
“You’re interested in a strange place. As far as I know, they have no connection to the martial world or the Nakhyang Jin Family.”
It was a fact I already knew.
But what I sought was different information.
Who their Family Head was and how many family members they had.
What they did, where they did it, and their recent movements.
The Eastern Families had vanished from the Central Plains a few months before the Nakhyang Jin Family’s collapse, as quietly as death itself.
No one knew if they were dead.
Only after several days passed and the stench of corpses spread so thickly to the surrounding areas did people learn of the tragedy.
Everyone inside the Eastern Families was dead.
Young and old, men and women—all of them.
Though they claimed to be a martial family, there were no signs of resistance whatsoever, erased from the world in such silence.
When I first heard this story years ago, I was quite shocked, but since they had no great connection to the Jin Family, I paid it no mind—until years later, when I learned it was the work of the Yeongsal Corps’ Seventh Squad.
It wasn’t just anyone—the Yeongsal Corps moved directly.
Unlike the Jin Family, they handled matters quietly, but these weren’t the type to stir up the Central Plains unless something truly significant demanded it.
Yet they had dispatched the Eastern Families.
That meant the Seventh Squad of the Yeongsal Corps had reason to move.
I was certain of it, and I thought I knew why.
The Jade Orb.
The Eastern Families undoubtedly possessed the Jade Orb.
This wasn’t mere speculation—it was certainty.
“Sigh— Young Master’s thoughts are truly impossible to fathom. Very well. I shall gather information about the Eastern Families shortly.”
“Much obliged.”
“Is there anything else you require?”
Baek Jin-hwa hurried to rise, her tone urging me forward as if she needed to report this to the Imperial Court immediately.
But I couldn’t simply let her go. My business wasn’t finished yet.
I smiled faintly, regarding her.
For reasons I couldn’t discern, Baek Jin-hwa’s brow furrowed in displeasure.
“There’s… something else, isn’t there.”
“I need you to find someone for me. Discreetly. He’s fond of wine and women—your people should locate him quickly enough.”
“Find someone?”
I handed her a portrait sketch toward her bewildered expression. Though I’d drawn it from memory, it bore no great difference from the man I’d seen before.
Sigh.
Baek Jin-hwa accepted it, her brow creasing as she exhaled slowly.
The look in her eyes as she gazed at me seemed to ask: what is this scrawl?

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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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