Chapter 69

Bukgung Yoon returned to Flying Swallow Manor.

“…Where is Yeon Mujin?”

“He’s here.”

Yang Gwan-wol pointed to something at his side.

Bukgung Yoon shot a puzzled look.

What the deputy Yang pointed at was an object that could hardly be called human in shape.

“I’m here.”

Wrapped head to toe in white cloth, it raised a hand.

The voice was unmistakably Yeon Mujin’s.

“Good heavens, Captain Yeon. What on earth is this?”

“It’s nothing. Just a few rips, you could say. Nothing for the Manor Lord to worry about.”

“…”

Seo Nak-il and Yang Gwan-wol turned their heads at the same time to avoid Bukgung Yoon’s eyes.

Indeed, Yeon Mujin’s condition was severe; he had bled so much that even the hardiest members of the External Protection Troops found his deep wounds hard to look at.

But Yeon Mujin refused the troops’ suggestions to see a physician.

“Captain, you could really die.”

“Don’t fuss. A man endures wounds like this with spirit.”

“Do you dream of dying young, captain? Call a physician right away…!”

“Shut up. What do you want to hear from the Manor Lord when she knows of this? Go get those white cloths in the corner and press them on the wounds.”

Yeon Mujin feared scolding from Bukgung Yoon more than his wounds reopening.

They bandaged him, but fresh blood soon seeped through; another white cloth went over the first, and another rolled on top. In the end they’d wrapped him until he resembled a fat mummy.

“This doesn’t seem like ‘nothing’…”

“It’s nothing. Trust me.”

Yeon Mujin said boastfully.

The External Protection Troops behind him were scratched and blood-streaked; they couldn’t even wipe themselves clean, but they smiled and said they were fine.

“Hmm…”

Bukgung Yoon turned her gaze from the grotesque figures and looked at the manor.

The manor was quiet and desolate; there was no sign of battle.

“Is it over?”

“It’s over.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“It doesn’t really feel real.”

Yeon Mujin turned his head and looked at the deputy captains. Sensing the meaning in his gaze, Yang Gwan-wol and Seo Nak-il barked at the External Protection Troops.

“Come on, stop slacking and start today’s training!”

“Move if you want your measly monthly stipend, you lazy bums!”

Yeon Mujin extended his bulky hand and spoke to Bukgung Yoon.

“Shall we take a walk for a bit?”

“…Can you even walk?”

It was difficult, but he walked.

As they waddled along, Yeon Mujin considered where to begin his report.

Then his gaze fell on one detail.

Bukgung Yoon’s skirt hem was dirtied with mud and dust.

“…”

Bukgung Yoon usually maintained perfect bearing—almost obsessively so. Having grown up watched and picked on by her siblings, she had learned never to give others a handle to use against her. She kept a calm, composed demeanor at all times.

If she couldn’t even notice her skirt getting dirty, she must have returned in quite a hurry.

Tsk. He scolded quietly. I’d told her it was dangerous. Has this kid never played a single game of Korean chess? If the king is captured, the game’s over. Even if the rest of the External Protection Troops were wiped out, she should have guarded herself. She shouldn’t have rushed back until her skirt was filthy. This disqualifies her from being Family Lord.

“The forces of Solitary Cloud Manor have been dismantled.”

But his mouth formed words different from his thoughts.

“Without their leadership, the Lonely Claw Troops will flounder and scatter. To make matters worse, Bukgung Bi-beom, who was the manor lord, is absent. Un Ji-kang—that old man—intended to use Bukgung Bi-beom to seize control of the entire Bukgung Family, but that greed has come to naught. The Bukgung Family Lord will not forgive anyone for touching his child. As an example, Un Ji-gang won’t be able to rise again.”

Bukgung Yoon stared straight at Yeon Mujin’s face.

The silence and the prolonged stare made him slightly embarrassed.

“Is something on my face?”

“No. I just couldn’t tell where the eyes were.”

Yeon Mujin bent slightly so Bukgung Yoon could see.

“They’re here.”

“Ah, there they are.”

Bukgung Yoon confirmed the position of the eye-holes and spun around.

If that’s the response, why did you even ask where the eyes were?

“It went according to Yeon Mujin’s plan. Again.”

If you could call ‘rush in and kill them all’ a plan, then that was what it was.

“You planned everything from the moment you infiltrated Solitary Cloud Manor. You provoked Commander Un to corner him, prepared fake treasured weapons to turn the Zhuge and Hwangbo families against him, and even anticipated that after he killed my brother he would assault our Flying Swallow Manor, so you set a trap. How far does Captain Yeon’s cunning nature reach?”

…Somehow there seemed to be many misunderstandings.

The fake weapons weren’t something he had prepared in the first place. He had infiltrated Solitary Cloud Manor to steal the spiritual pill. He had anticipated the Lonely Claw Troops’ assault on Flying Swallow Manor to some extent, but there was one variable he hadn’t predicted.

Carried away, Yeon Mujin asked about it.

“But how did Manor Lord move the Shadow Pursue Troops? What on earth did you say to persuade the Family Lord?”

He’d expected the main house’s warriors to step in if the fake corpse of Bukgung Bi-beom was taken, but he never imagined the Shadow Pursue Troops would come. In the worst case, he had planned to buy time even if it meant losing all the External Protection Troops.

“No. I couldn’t meet the Family Lord. We barged in at dawn; there’s no way he’d meet me at that time. The Family Lord won’t meet his children without proper procedure.”

Of course. Bukgung Cheon kept his days scheduled by the hour.

“Then how?”

“The Shadow Pursue Troops’ lord owes me a favor.”

Yeon Mujin knew that lord. He was a loyal retainer who answered only to Bukgung Cheon; he wouldn’t act on personal ties alone.

Well, in any case, it didn’t matter. It was fortunate for Yeon Mujin that the Shadow Pursue Troops acted.

“And one more thing. The Sixth Young Master is not dead.”

“What?”

“Chun-sik must have secured the Sixth Young Master. He should be returning about now… there he comes.”

Just then, a carriage led by Jang Chun-sik entered Flying Swallow Manor.

He looked like he’d been through a lot—grimy and bedraggled, like a rain-soaked puppy.

“Manor Lord! Lord of Flying Swallow Manor!”

Jang Chun-sik ran up like someone begging and prostrated himself before Bukgung Yoon.

“Chief Jang, what is all this chaos?”

“Manor Lord! Wahhh! I thought I was going to die! Yeon Mujin, that bastard made an absurd request… do you know how much I suffered because of him?”

Bukgung Yoon glanced at Yeon Mujin and asked.

“Yeon Mujin’s request?”

“Yes! That damned son of a bitch! He acts like he’s the master or even the emperor! Do you know the atrocities he commits when Manor Lord isn’t around? Manor Lord should give him a proper scolding.”

Jang Chun-sik vented his rage without dreaming that Yeon Mujin was listening.

Bukgung Yoon steadied herself against the carriage and asked.

“So in this carriage…”

“The Sixth Young Master is unconscious and asleep. I checked briefly—like those crude martial folks do. It seems they’ve put him to sleep by pressure points. We drove the carriage roughly, but he didn’t budge one bit.”

Peering into the carriage, Bukgung Bi-beom indeed lay as quiet as a dead mouse. Like Jang Chun-sik, he too had suffered—dust and grime clung to him. That was the appearance of the little elder brother who had tormented her her whole life.

“If Manor Lord desires, I can deal with the Sixth Young Master right now.”

Jang Chun-sik flinched at Yeon Mujin’s voice.

Bukgung Yoon stared at Bukgung Bi-beom, who slept on.

Her look toward her brother swelled with a tumult of conflicting emotions.

“No. We’ll hand my brother over to the main house.”

“Don’t you hate the Sixth Young Master?”

“I do. I hate him terribly. Not just the youngest elder brother—I dislike all my brothers. If I had been down there and my brothers won, they would have surely done something to me.”

“Then why?”

“Because I don’t want to become the same kind of person. And…”

Thud.

She closed the carriage’s rear door and said, “Wouldn’t he be more useful to me alive?”

Under the white cloth, Yeon Mujin smiled with satisfaction.

“Chun-sik. Hand the carriage over to Seo Nak-il.”

“Ah, understood. Yeon Mujin…”

Jang Chun-sik retreated, watching Yeon Mujin’s expression.

The two of them then walked for a long while in silence through the empty manor.

With the crowing of the first rooster, the retainers who had fled began returning to the manor one by one.

Life at Flying Swallow Manor began to return as if nothing had happened.

But Bukgung Yoon…

Her heart could not come back.

“It’s strange.”

“What seems strange to you?”

“I won, yet I don’t feel any joy. He was the brother I despised so dreadfully, and I vowed to Captain Yeon that I’d surpass all my brothers to become Family Lord. What kind of feeling is this?”

Solitary Cloud Manor was finished—smashed beyond recovery.

But in this process, Bukgung Yoon had done very little. As usual, she followed Yeon Mujin’s counsel, hurried to the main house to hand over the disguised corpse, and sought the Shadow Pursue Troops’ help. By the time she returned, everything was already over.

The External Protection Troops looked exhausted, and Yeon Mujin had suffered grievous injuries.

But Bukgung Yoon—what about her? She knew she had to fight to become Family Lord; she was fully aware of the External Protection Troops’ sacrifices. This was only the first step. How many more of these harrowing dawns would she have to endure before reaching the position of Family Lord of the Bukgung Family?

The anguish Bukgung Yoon felt was that kind of anguish—the pain of still being nothing.

Bukgung Yoon was very different from her brothers. She wasn’t selfish like them, nor did she have the certainty to sacrifice everything for herself like they did. In this costly, bloodstained first victory, Bukgung Yoon found herself wavering.

And then.

Yeon Mujin heard her voice.

“Phew…”

Yeon Mujin exhaled a sigh.

“Manor Lord.”

“Yes?”

“Forgive my rudeness.”

“…Yes?”

Smack!

Yeon Mujin’s thick arm struck Bukgung Yoon on the crown of her head.

It was not a light tap. He hit her with all his strength, as if pounding a troop member.

“…???”

Bukgung Yoon stared at Yeon Mujin so stunned by the pain she forgot even to cry out. More precisely, she stared at Yeon Mujin’s needle-sized eye-holes.

“Yoon, I’ll tell you this once. Listen.”

“Y-yes…? Y-yes?”

“There is exactly one moment in a person’s life when misfortune comes.”

Yeon Mujin’s voice was more serious than ever before. He wasn’t clowning, joking, or playful as he usually was. In this moment, he was not the External Protection Troops’ leader of Flying Swallow Manor. He was an elder.

“A moment of misfortune that no matter how much you struggle you cannot solve with your own power, when you must entrust your life entirely to another. In life, that comes to everyone at least once.”

Yeon Mujin had had such a moment, too. At that time, he received Bukgung Cheon’s help. He was, in a sense, Yeon Mujin’s misfortune.

“I will become your misfortune.”

“…”

“So do not blame yourself. Not only you but everyone—even I—have misfortune we would like to erase from our lives. But the moment you turn your eyes away and ignore that misfortune, it becomes calamity and storms in. Do not turn away from your misfortune.”

“Look, I am your misfortune.”

Bukgung Yoon heard him.

“Stand on top of your misfortune and dream. Do not let your dream be snuffed out, entangled in misfortune. Will you be a loser consumed by misfortune, or a victor who overcomes it?”

The wavering light in Bukgung Yoon’s eyes gradually sharpened.

The answer was not to be given to Yeon Mujin. It was to be given to herself.

And.

Even without words, Yeon Mujin heard her answer.

“I will not serve a losing master, Manor Lord.”