CHAPTER: Chapter 26
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Chapter 26
[To Uncheon]
[By the time you are reading this letter, I will likely have returned to my original affiliation. …….]
[Ilwol Merchant Guild]
A vast merchant guild that moved the wealth and information of the world, heedless of day or night.
Beneath the heavy signboard over the guild’s main gate stood a figure wearing a bamboo hat.
He was not dressed in the shabby martial uniform of the Hidden Demon Cave, but in black silk martial robes as dark as ebony, carrying a faint sheen as though they held moonlight.
At his waist hung an expensive white jade ornament, silently declaring his noble status.
The warriors guarding the main gate approached with wary eyes at the sudden appearance of the bamboo-hatted figure.
Their hands were already resting on the hilts of their swords.
“…Who are you? Outsiders are forbidden from entering this place.”
The bamboo-hatted figure lightly brushed off their guarded stares and spoke in a low voice, still gazing at the main gate.
“Tell Old Master No that the guest he has been waiting for has returned.”
Instead of the sly playfulness he had shown in the Hidden Demon Cave, his voice carried a cold authority befitting his status.
Just as one of the warriors, wearing a puzzled expression, was about to tighten his grip on his sword.
“C-Could it be? Y-Young Master! Are you Young Master Yuha?”
The seasoned warrior standing beside him turned deathly pale and shouted.
Only then did the warriors realize the boy’s identity. They hurriedly opened a path and bowed their heads.
“How have you returned so early?”
Only then did Yuha raise his head from beneath the bamboo hat and grin.
“Well… my long-awaited trip outside was rather enjoyable. I found myself wanting to meet Grandfather quickly and share the story with him.”
The owner of that smile was the fox of the Hidden Demon Cave.
It was the Smiling Fox, Yuha.
His steps led him to the study located in the deepest and most secret part of the merchant guild, the ‘Ten Thousand Volumes Pavilion.’
What filled the bookshelves was not merely ledgers.
Maps of the entire Central Plains, secret letters containing information on the figures of every faction, and hidden histories of the defeated, erased by the victors of history, lay asleep beneath layers of dust.
‘It has been a long time since I entered the Ten Thousand Volumes Pavilion.’
It was a room where all the information beneath the heavens gathered, and where that information was transformed into wealth and power.
At the center of the room, behind a red sandalwood desk engraved with a vast map of the entire Central Plains, an old man sat cross-legged in meditation.
Yuha respectfully poured tea and opened his mouth with his usual shameless smile.
“I have returned, Grandfather.”
The Grand Guild Master of the Ilwol Merchant Guild, a magnate who ruled wealth and information from the shadows.
Yu Baekcheon slowly opened his closed eyes.
Instead of lifting the teacup, he looked over his grandson, who had returned earlier than planned, with benevolent eyes.
“Welcome back. So, how was it after infiltrating the Hidden Demon Cave yourself? Was there no one noteworthy among the Twelve Guardian Families or the Ten Sects of the Demonic Cult?”
Yuha brought the teacup to his lips and gave a faint laugh.
“Hehe, Grandfather, truly. They would never send such people to the Hidden Demon Cave, would they? They must have hidden them away carefully. Aside from those Sagal Muk Family bastards, who had neither the courage nor the skill to climb higher, and who only looked down in constant anxiety while tyrannizing those below them.”
“Then why did you fold your wings and return so early? If it were the usual you, you would have dragged things out somehow and endured. Did you perhaps discover something that caught your interest?”
At Yu Baekcheon’s sharp observation, the sly smile hanging on Yuha’s lips faded for the first time.
For a brief moment, Yuha’s eyes seemed to grow distant, as though recalling a certain stone chamber in the Hidden Demon Cave.
‘Ho… look at this boy.’
He did not miss that minute change in his grandson’s expression.
Yu Baekcheon leaned forward slightly.
His eyes, which had seemed only benevolent, gleamed sharply like those of a merchant appraising a priceless treasure.
“Tell me. What was it that ended that tedious time of yours? A woman, a toy, or perhaps… a rather useful chess piece?”
Tap.
Yuha quietly set down the teacup in his hand, yet the sound was firm.
That small sound split the heavy silence within the room.
It carried a weight that could not be found in the Yuha of the past.
His expression was more serious than ever.
“None of them.”
Yuha raised his head.
His eyes, stripped of mischief, met Yu Baekcheon’s sharp gaze head-on without avoiding it.
“It is simply… that this unworthy grandson has finally come to understand you a little, Grandfather.”
“Hahaha! You, Yuha, who could never endure boredom for even a lifetime, understand this old grandfather? You, who only ever criticized me for being so suffocating? The sun must be rising from the west!”
Yu Baekcheon’s voice still held doubt.
Instead of answering, Yuha rose and walked toward the enormous complete map of the Central Plains hanging in the center of the room.
“Just as you did, Grandfather, I believe I have found a chessboard upon which I can wager my life.”
He spread his hand toward the rugged mountain ranges and vast plains drawn across the map.
“Hoh…!”
His grandson had spent his entire life drifting freely like the wind.
He had simply roamed the world in search of amusing spectacles.
It was hard to believe that such words had come from that grandson’s mouth.
However, when Yu Baekcheon looked into Yuha’s eyes as he turned around to face him, he nodded.
“You brat! You are sincere!”
For those eyes no longer belonged to a mischievous boy, but to a man who wished to unfurl his ambition.
“Yuha… you brat, do you truly intend to walk the same path as this old grandfather?”
Yu Baekcheon’s voice sank low.
It was no longer the tone of a man testing his grandson.
It was a serious question posed to one of his own kind.
“Yes. I, too, intend to try moving the world from behind the curtain.”
Then, as though he could no longer hold it back, a thunderous burst of laughter shook the entire Ten Thousand Volumes Pavilion.
“Keu, kuhahahaha…!”
It was laughter filled with joy and exhilaration.
Above all, it was the triumphant laughter of a victor, mixed with satisfaction at finally finding the heir who would succeed him.
“So, after harassing this old grandfather so much, you have finally realized the pleasure of it! At times, the game in which one steps back, surveys the whole board, and manipulates it is far more enjoyable than standing at the front!”
Yu Baekcheon’s roaring laughter stopped abruptly.
A smile still lingered at the corners of his mouth, but the benevolence in his eyes had vanished without a trace.
The air inside the room seemed to freeze.
“Especially… if that board is the path of the Heavenly Demon’s Reign.”
Yu Baekcheon clapped his hands with a satisfied expression.
“I am in a fine mood. Bring wine, not tea.”
No sooner had his words ended than a shadow emerged from the darkness, cleared away the tea table, and brought out rare wine and jade cups.
“Accept a cup.”
From this moment, the two of them were no longer merely grandfather and grandson.
“From now on, you are the Young Guild Master of the Ilwol Merchant Guild.”
“…I gladly accept. Grandfather.”
***
[I remember the first time you brought up the doctrine of The Strong Are Exalted in front of Instructor Jeok Mugwang… It was a refreshing shock.]
The letter from Yuha, which began in that way, also revealed his identity without hesitation.
‘Ilwol Merchant Guild…? Is it a front merchant guild of the Demonic Cult? As expected, he was no ordinary fellow.’
Yuha’s identity itself was not particularly surprising.
From the very beginning, he had been different from an ordinary cadet in some way.
However, the contents of the letter far exceeded Uncheon’s expectations.
[The moment you shattered Instructor Jeok Mugwang’s Black Iron Plaque, I became certain. Not only this Hidden Demon Cave, but even the Hall of Myriad Demons, where the elders of the Cult gather, would not be a pond large enough for you to remain in….]
Yuha’s letter continued.
[That is why I placed my own piece on the board first. By now, you should have heard about it through the Chief Instructor, correct?]
A cold smile curved on Uncheon’s lips.
[If it was you, you naturally would not have used that piece. You would have saved it in order to draw a greater picture someday. Am I wrong?]
‘……!’
It was insight that seemed to peer directly into his mind.
Yuha had perfectly seen through the choice Uncheon had made before Gal Muheun, and even the reason behind that choice.
The letter did not end there.
[However, even for you, winning the Demon Physician’s favor will not be easy… Before long, a gift I sent will arrive. As for the gift…… that should help persuade the Demon Physician.]
Yuha announced that yet another extraordinary gift would arrive.
Its scale was enough to surprise even Uncheon.
‘To think he can readily offer such a Spiritual Medicine to a mere cadet… Ilwol Merchant Guild, was it? It seems his background is far from ordinary.’
Even as he thought that, Uncheon could not help acknowledging the existence of a ‘kindred spirit’ who read the board from the same eye level as himself.
‘Did he already know that the Demon Physician no longer practices medicine? That fox-like bastard… Even if only to persuade the Demon Physician, I have no choice but to accept it.’
The final part of the letter was also very much like Yuha.
[Postscript: Next time, let us set a great board at a height where something like Night Sparring Matches will seem like mere child’s play. When that time comes, I look forward to discussing The Strong Are Exalted with you in a ‘whole body.’]
Uncheon silently folded the letter in half.
Then he folded it in half again.
‘…A higher place, is it? As it happens, that is exactly what I desire.’
After folding the letter until it was the size of a handful, Uncheon brought it to the candle flame without hesitation.
WHOOSH.
The white paper instantly turned into black ash and scattered into the air.
The burning flame reflected in Uncheon’s cold eyes, then faded away.
Yuha’s gift, and the vast chessboard he envisioned, now existed only within Uncheon’s mind.
‘I will gladly play along… if that helps me destroy the Demonic Cult!’
Leaving behind the letter that had vanished into ash, Uncheon rose from his seat.
‘Let us go.’
He had almost nothing that could be called luggage.
A few sets of old clothing, the Secret Manuals he needed to take, and the small amount of internal-injury medicine remaining.
That was all.
CREEEAK—.
He opened the door of the stone chamber where he had lived for a year and stepped into the corridor.
“…….”
The gazes of the cadets moving through the corridor all turned toward Uncheon at once.
Among them were eyes filled with curiosity, eyes filled with awe, and eyes still tinged with jealousy.
However, no one dared to block Uncheon’s path or speak to him.
The boy who had entered looking like a beggar and had been ignored only one year ago had now become a ‘wall’ they could not dare to look up at.
Step, step.
Uncheon silently accepted their gazes and continued walking.
The shouts from the training ground, the smell of food from the dining hall, and the atmosphere of fierce competition all receded behind him.
Once he left the area of the Hidden Demon Cave, the scenery around him changed completely.
Instead of noisy vitality, only a heavy and solemn silence pervaded the inner depths of the Demonic Martial Hall.
The clamor of children was gone, and instead of shabby stone chambers, well-maintained halls appeared.
‘The air is different.’
Even the density of the energy brushing against his skin was different.
The number of people coming and going had decreased noticeably, and everyone he encountered possessed an aura equal to, or heavier than, that of the Head Instructors of the Hidden Demon Cave.
At last, Uncheon’s steps stopped at the end of a corridor carved from an enormous rock wall.
A dark crimson iron gate boasting overwhelming majesty blocked Uncheon’s path.
‘Is this the place?’
A repository of knowledge that the Demonic Cult had plundered and collected from across the Central Plains.
It was the Inner Archive.
Two warriors stood motionless before the gate.
They wore pitch-black martial uniforms and masks that revealed only half of their faces.
From them came an aura no less weighty than that of the Head Instructors of the Hidden Demon Cave. No, perhaps even heavier.
CLACK—. Before Uncheon could even approach, the spears of the two warriors crossed and blocked his way.
“Stop. This place forbids entry to those without permission.”
Without a word, Uncheon took out the Black Iron Plaque Gal Muheun had given him, engraved with the word ‘Promise,’ and showed it to them.
“I have come by the Chief Instructor’s order.”
A strange gleam appeared in their eyes.
“The plaque… is genuine.”
“However, is he not too young to be its owner?”
Instead of stepping aside, the warriors looked back and forth between the Black Iron Plaque and Uncheon’s face.
“…….”
“The Chief Instructor’s Black Iron Plaque is proof of a strong one.”
“And yet, what stands before us is a boy who still reeks of milk.”
The corner of the warrior’s mouth twisted unpleasantly beneath his mask.
It was not simple gatekeeping or suspicion.
‘Do they want to test me themselves…?’
Uncheon’s eyes narrowed.
Even mere guards had the doctrine of The Strong Are Exalted engraved into their bones.
This was the way of the Demonic Cult.
“You are not ignorant of our Cult’s rules, are you?”
“If a powerless person holds authority beyond his station, then it must be theft or deception.”
The gazes of the two warriors crossed in midair.
If they opened the gate too easily just because he possessed the plaque, they, as the gatekeepers, would be held responsible for admitting an ‘unqualified person.’
One of them stepped forward and aimed his spear at Uncheon.
“We must confirm for ourselves whether you are truly the owner of this plaque, or a rat who stole it!”
A cold killing intent surged from the spear point aimed at Uncheon.
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