Chapter 40: Chapter 40
“Did you both wash properly?”
Seventh Small Palace, annex, first floor.
Two boys, still dripping with moisture, shuffled before Jang I-seo, who sat cross-legged at the center. The brothers who had soiled themselves together. Sixth Young Master Maeng Hwi and Seventh Young Master Mao.
“Sit.”
Jang I-seo gestured at the low table set before him. Two well-roasted chickens lay on it.
Maeng Hwi and Mao swallowed hard, approached, and sat. Having emptied their bowels, hunger was inevitable.
“Well, well. What exactly happened here. I’ll give the Seventh Young Master a pass since that’s just how he is. But the Sixth Young Master? Where’s your adjutant? Don’t tell me you came alone?”
Abandoning his own perfectly fine home to barge in here alone and soil his trousers. Beyond comprehension.
“…”
Maeng Hwi didn’t answer. His eyes merely glistened with fresh tears. Understandable. He’d come to observe this supposedly skilled adjutant, only to suffer this humiliation. In front of a stranger, no less.
“Hey, Jang I-seo. Don’t be too hard on him. Everyone does it when they’re young. It’s fine. That’s life. Things don’t always go as planned.”
“Who’s comforting whom?! I don’t want to hear that from you!”
“I was sympathizing, man to man, from the shared color of experience.”
“I don’t know what color you’re talking about.”
“Ridiculous! Then what color was yours just now? Green?”
“Show some respect to your elder brother!”
“Go take a shit first, little brat. Hahaha!”
“Hey!”
“What.”
Both boys leaped to their feet, glaring and growling at each other.
Huu. Jang I-seo pressed his temples. Then slapped the floor twice and spoke.
“Both of you, be quiet. What exactly did you do so well that you’re running your mouths?”
“Insolent! I am the legitimate heir of the Maeng family…”
“Yes. I’ll send word to the Maeng family. Along with the clothes you wore in.”
At Jang I-seo’s firm words, Maeng Hwi sat down like a dog tucking its tail.
“I… I was going to be quiet.”
“Then please do so. And Seventh Young Master, lower your voice and sit down.”
“Hey, I have a right to be upset! You think I wanted to soil myself? Why would anyone put those things in front of the latrine…”
“Quiet.”
Jang I-seo raised a cold gaze. Mao grumbled and sat. Watching this, Maeng Hwi was inwardly stunned.
‘He’s actually listening to that adjutant? That good-for-nothing?’
The situation had become awkward, but looking closer, the dynamic seemed reversed. As if the Seventh Young Master was deferring to his adjutant.
And Mao was definitely not the type to listen to anyone.
‘Then is that adjutant really his teacher? Now that I think about it, everything is strange. Mechanism formations installed inside the house. Could it be… all of this is for training?’
Maeng Hwi narrowed his eyes and studied Jang I-seo from head to toe.
A perfectly ordinary face. Age not yet past thirty. Didn’t look particularly strong at first glance, but something oppressive lurked in his gaze. Like men who had weathered everything and reached the summit. Like his own fathers…
‘What am I thinking! How can I compare Father to some worthless nobody!’
Maeng Hwi shook his head vigorously. Impossible. He must have taken too much shock today.
Gurgle.
And he was very hungry.
Swallowing as he stared at the table, Jang I-seo spoke.
“You haven’t eaten anything. Have some first. We’ll talk after.”
Before he finished, Mao laughed and tore into a chicken leg with his teeth.
“Hahaha! I’ll eat well!”
Maeng Hwi also nodded graciously and murmured.
“…I’ll eat well.”
The meal began. Jang I-seo rose and stood by the corner window with his arms crossed, letting them eat in peace.
Watching this, Maeng Hwi tore into his chicken and thought.
Adjutant Jang I-seo. And Mao.
He would dig into everything about these two.
Naturally, after eating.
*
Jang I-seo surveyed the window while studying the boy devouring chicken through his peripheral vision.
Sixth Young Master Maeng Hwi.
His information flowed through Jang I-seo’s mind without effort.
Third Elder and Maeng family head Maeng Cheol-yong’s youngest son. Born with everything, from talent to lineage.
Hailing from the Maeng family, renowned for spearmanship, he wielded the divine artifact short spear Black Silence. His skill was top-tier for his age.
Originally timid and high-strung, drawing skepticism about his talent. But he proved himself by becoming the Cult Leader’s adopted son at the youngest age.
A born aristocrat. Arrogance rivaling the good-for-nothing Seventh Young Master. Looking down on others was second nature.
That was the commonly known profile of Sixth Young Master Maeng Hwi. A life that had everything.
But beneath the surface, there was more.
‘A child born specifically to be offered as the Cult Leader’s adopted son.’
The truth couldn’t be verified with certainty, but records existed of the Maeng family once seeking surrogate mothers of exceptional talent.
Two years later, Maeng Hwi was born. The Maeng family’s official wife acknowledged him as her own, granting him legitimate status. But his biological mother never appeared.
The rumor that he had been deliberately conceived had become an open secret. No one spoke of it aloud.
‘Is that why he sympathizes? Because their situations seem similar…?’
Jang I-seo’s suspicious gaze drifted to Mao.
“Ah, that was good.”
“Where did my leg go? I saved it for last.”
“Are you looking for this bone? Too slow, brat.”
“You little…!”
“Urgh!”
The two boys tangled and bickered. Jang I-seo turned away, deeper questions etched on his face.
Normally, that good-for-nothing wouldn’t invite anyone home to laugh and carry on with.
From what Jang I-seo knew, the Sixth Young Master and Mao were rivals. But being the youngest, perhaps, or maybe born of shared sympathy.
Seeing them together, they looked more like cousins teasing each other.
‘If the older siblings had met, this place would already be a wasteland.’
They were called the Cult Leader’s children, brothers. In reality, they were candidates competing for a single throne: Young Cult Leader.
The only reason things were this civil was because these two were young. From the relatively older First through Fourth Young Masters, merely meeting face-to-face would be an event that upended the entire cult.
The Third Young Lady Sa Hae-ryeong alone was constantly targeted by assassins. The closer to the Young Cult Leader seat, the more cautious one had to be.
‘But he came here alone, without an adjutant. Is that innocence or stupidity?’
Even if they were late starters with no real competition between them yet, this was an utter absence of caution. The perfect type to blindside and rob blind. Naturally, the one doing the blinding would be him.
Jang I-seo turned and spoke.
“If you’re done eating, Seventh Young Master, return to your room and sleep. Training begins in earnest tomorrow.”
Both boys startled simultaneously.
“Training?!”
“Go to my room?”
What was wrong with these two. Jang I-seo glared between them. Mao struck first.
“Sleep together… I’m lonely.”
“Get out.”
Jang I-seo issued the dismissal with a flash of killing intent.
“Dog…”
Mao trudged outside. The Sixth Young Master, left alone, stared blankly at the dynamic he couldn’t comprehend. He was speaking informally. What on earth was going on with these two?
But he quickly shook his head and snapped his eyes open. That wasn’t what mattered right now.
“Mao is training?”
The reason he’d come here. It was time to confirm that.
Jang I-seo looked at him as if asking why he wanted to know. Maeng Hwi raised his voice like an interrogation.
“Why. Why is he training?”
“Do I have to explain that to you?”
“Do you want to die? Tell me immediately. That’s an order.”
An order? Hah, look at this kid. Jang I-seo’s lips curved upward.
“Is the Sixth Young Master not training?”
“It’s different with me! He has no talent. He’s never touched martial arts in his life.”
“No talent… Do you truly believe that?”
Jang I-seo tilted his head with an impassive expression. Maeng Hwi snorted and replied.
“Hmph, you’re saying he doesn’t?”
Of course he didn’t.
“The Seventh Young Master’s talent was acknowledged directly by the Cult Leader, just as yours was. Are you denying that?”
“F-Father has nothing to do with this!”
“He has everything to do with it.”
Grrah! Maeng Hwi’s teeth ground together. What kind of insolent bastard was this?
“Do you know who I am?”
He did.
“Maeng Hwi.”
“M-Maeng Hwi?! Did you just use my name casually?”
What else was he supposed to say? Jang I-seo stared in disbelief. Maeng Hwi turned crimson and shrieked.
“An adjutant with no roots, no backing! You dare treat the legitimate heir of the Maeng family this way and think you’ll walk away unharmed?”
“Unharmed…?”
At that moment, dense demonic aura began pouring from Jang I-seo’s body.
VWOOM!
Maeng Hwi’s mind flashed white. His breath caught.
‘T-This energy…!’
He was young, yes. But he was also a prodigy chosen by the Cult Leader. His refined senses told him that while the quantity was modest, the demonic aura radiating from Jang I-seo was fundamentally similar to that of the one all of Cheonsan bowed before.
‘F-Father…?’
Trembling, Maeng Hwi crumpled to the floor. How could such flawless demonic aura exist in anyone but him?
Naturally, Jang I-seo was equally surprised. He’d leaked a trace of the Heavenly Demon’s internal energy out of curiosity, but he hadn’t expected this magnitude of effect.
‘As rumored, frail to the core. Who knew he’d be this frightened by a mere wisp of energy. Or is the Heavenly Demon simply that extraordinary?’
Even without this, Jang I-seo would have broken the boy’s spirit one way or another.
This was an adult’s sincere admonition to a child raised crooked, and a warning to a competitor who would eventually need breaking.
Therefore…
Jang I-seo looked down coldly and pronounced judgment.
“Showing up uninvited and causing a scene wasn’t enough… Now you question my safety?”
“Th-that’s not…”
“Listen carefully. I don’t know how others have behaved, but I’m a man with neither roots nor backing. Which means I’m a little different. I don’t think about consequences. Do you understand?”
“Are you… not afraid of the Maeng family?”
How on earth was he raised to still invoke the Maeng family in this situation? Jang I-seo replied like a man offering counsel.
“Look around you. Where is the Maeng family right now? Not a soul in sight. No Third Elder. No adjutant. Nobody. The only ones here are the Sixth Young Master and me, Jang I-seo. Just the two of us.”
“B-but nobody else speaks to me this rudely!”
“Yes. So learn. Learn that people like me exist.”
Maeng Hwi’s face contorted. What kind of man was this…
In an instant, Jang I-seo began to feel like a wall. A massive wall called adulthood.