HDCLSSRS Ch 50

Chapter 50 Expert in Disappearances and Abductions (5)

 

As he stepped into the courtyard with his modest belongings, Lady Seomun lost her temper.

“Oh, can’t you hurry up?! Who’s going to take responsibility if something happens to my child?!”

That cursed son of hers…

It seemed that the only thing occupying Lady Seomun’s mind was the “baby”—barely of age, yet already bristling with body hair.

Though his insides boiled with frustration, Seong Muyeon had no choice but to smile.

“Yes, yes, I’m coming,” he said.

Thus, they set out for Shanxi Province, where the Seomun Clan had taken root.

“Search more thoroughly, I said!”

Bang!

A middle-aged man slammed the table.

Seomun Hak, the head of the Seomun Clan, was on the verge of losing his mind. The recent disappearance of his barely-of-age son had been shocking enough, but now his wife had vanished without a trace as well.

“What on earth should I do…? I may lose both my wife and son,” he murmured.

“Master…”

“I must formally request assistance from the Martial Alliance! This doesn’t seem like an ordinary matter!”

He sprang from his seat.

At that very moment—

“M-Master! The madam has returned!”

“What?!”

He dashed out without hesitation.

“Darling!”

Seomun Hak’s gaze fell on the two men standing behind his wife. One was tall, broad-shouldered, and striking. A sword hung from his waist, and he wore a dark martial outfit designed for agility. An elegant plum blossom pattern was embroidered on his chest.

“The Mount Hua Sect…”

Naturally, Seomun Hak’s eyes turned to the other man, who seemed smaller by comparison. He wasn’t actually short, but simply looked so standing next to the martial artist. Yet he didn’t seem like a warrior. He looked more like a pampered noble who couldn’t lift a finger.

“You?!”

Recognizing the man, Seomun Hak’s eyes widened. He quickly moved his wife behind him and pointed the massive sword strapped to his back at the nobleman.

“You actually brought a Demon Cult scion into our home?! I told you not to go!”

The fury behind his unsheathing of the blade was so intense that Seong Muyeon’s hair and robes fluttered.

“Do you even know where you are, daring to set foot here?! Get out this instant!”

“You want me to leave? Then I must obey… Farewell,” Seong Muyeon replied without hesitation, turning to walk away.

“Sir, you can’t leave like this!”

Lady Seomun tried to stop him, but his shoulders only sagged.

Even if only briefly, he had known happiness.

Just then, Seomun Hak erupted again.

“Darling!”

Seong Muyeon caught a glimmer of hope from the clan head’s furious tone.

‘Yes! Fight her! You can’t allow someone from the Demon Cult into your home!’

“Just be quiet!”

But to his dismay, Lady Seomun shouted with fierce eyes, and Seomun Hak closed his mouth in meek obedience.

Seong Muyeon pressed his fingers to his forehead.

“Let’s start by checking the young master’s room,” he said.

True to its reputation as a powerful household, the Seomun estate was lined with grand and imposing pavilions. But while the exterior exuded prestige, the atmosphere inside was bleak and troubled. In the wake of the son’s disappearance, anxiety gripped the household. The servants, tense and overwhelmed, ran frantically in every direction.

“Follow me,” Seomun Hak instructed.

As they walked, Seomun Hak occasionally glanced back at the two following men, then leaned toward his wife and whispered lowly.

“Are you sure about this? That room is rather…”

“We need to find our child first. Just stay quiet. You’re making it worse.”

“…”

Clearly, there was something they were trying to hide.

Trailing behind the couple, Seong Muyeon stared at the massive saber strapped to Seomun Hak’s back, which swayed with each step.

He tilted his head.

“What is it?” Baek Ryeoil asked.

“It’s nothing,” Seong Muyeon replied, though he felt like something was just on the edge of his memory.

The Seomun Clan… The Seomun Clan…

He couldn’t recall it clearly.

Before long, they stopped in front of a lavishly decorated door.

“This is the room?” Seong Muyeon asked. “Very well then.”

“Wait a moment!” Lady Seomun interjected just as he was about to enter.

Seong Muyeon frowned.

“Didn’t you ask me to hurry and find him?”

“It’s just… please, don’t judge what you see. I beg you.”

“…All right,” he replied.

Only after Lady Seomun made her desperate request did she step aside. Though puzzled, Seong Muyeon felt confident there would be no danger beyond the door. Had there been anything suspicious, Baek Ryeoil would have sensed it first.

Still, watching the nervous expressions of the clan head and his wife made him uneasy, so he opened the door just a crack to peek inside.

His pupils constricted sharply.

“Gasp!”

He drew in a breath and quickly shut the door again, his face gone pale as if he had seen a ghost.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Baek Ryeoil asked.

“Madam! What on earth is going on here?!”

Seong Muyeon shouted fiercely at the couple. They couldn’t even meet his eyes, their gazes shifting away in shame.

“Oh, what is it now?!” Baek Ryeoil, who had little patience, shoved Seong Muyeon aside and flung the door wide open. As he looked into the room, his jaw dropped.

“W-What in the world…?!”

What lay beyond the door was a bizarre sight.

A cloth banner hung on the far wall bearing the bold calligraphy: “Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.” Its placement at the most visible spot in the room suggested admiration, not condemnation. In one corner hung a martial uniform belonging to the Ghost Execution Unit—an elite Demon Cult force—though its origin was unclear.

Seong Muyeon turned a cold gaze toward the clan head and his wife.

“So this is why you suspected the Demon Cult’s involvement.”

“O-Our Yuha is just a little immature…” the clan head stammered.

The Seomun Clan’s only son was a Demon Cult fanatic!

“This goes well beyond immaturity! And what is this?! Where did he even get such things?!”

Seong Muyeon shook a small wooden sword that appeared to be a replica of the cult leader’s sacred blade. Even the ceiling bore a portrait of the cult leader.

“The bookshelf, too,” Baek Ryeoil noted. He had been scanning the room and now pulled books off the shelf, flipping through them quickly.

“They’re all about the Demon Cult.”

It didn’t take long to find Seomun Yuha’s diary.

Today was the best day of my life.

I ran into someone from the Demon Cult in Julu by pure chance!

He saw potential in me and promised to connect me to the cult.

He told me not to tell anyone.

The last entry was dated the day before his disappearance.

Seong Muyeon clutched the back of his neck.

“This… this… this lunatic!”

And worse—he was an idiot.

After their son went missing, the couple had likely torn the room apart and found the diary. It wouldn’t have taken long to realize that the boy, obsessed with the Demon Cult, had finally gone to find them himself.

“So… what you’re telling me is that your only son isn’t just a Demon Cult fan—he actually ran off to join them.”

“Yes…”

“…”

Seong Muyeon stood up calmly.

“W-Where are you going?”

“Handle this on your own. I’m out. Master Dojang, let’s head back.”

“Sir! No, please! What about our child?!”

Lady Seomun grabbed at Seong Muyeon’s robes.

“All you do is go on about your child!”

He shook her off coldly.

“Your son is already of age! Do you understand? Who are you trying to make responsible for his mess?!”

If he’d known it would come to this, he wouldn’t have taken a single step outside Mount Hua. Even Jang Hansu couldn’t have blamed Seong Muyeon if he’d known the full story.

“Take better care in raising your children next time!”

Lady Seomun burst into tears, clinging to his robes.

“We’ll pay you handsomely! Please, I beg you—just this once, find our son! He’s our only child! Please!”

Seong Muyeon came to a halt.

“…How much?”

“We’ll give you whatever you ask! Please, just bring Yuha back. He’s our only precious son. We beg you.”

From the way she spoke, she seemed ready to hand over the entire estate.

Seong Muyeon suddenly smiled warmly.

“Ahem, to see you plead so desperately… you must be truly distraught. Well… how could I turn away from parents grieving over their lost child?”

He needed money.

That had been his first thought when he faced expulsion from Mount Hua.

Life had taught him a hard truth—without money, life was full of bitterness.

Had he hired protection, he wouldn’t have been caught by Branch Chief Heo. Had he avoided that, he wouldn’t have gotten so entangled with Baek Ryeoil.

And yet here he was, about to plunge into another mess with empty pockets.

He needed money.

A lot of it.

“Hold on.”

Just as he was about to discuss terms with the clan head and his wife, a voice cut in.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

It was Baek Ryeoil, shattering the pleasant mood.

‘I forgot about him.’

Baek Ryeoil didn’t look pleased. And understandably so—there was nothing in this for him. He could have left at any time but had instead been dragged into this mess.

“Let’s talk in private.”

Seong Muyeon pulled him aside and whispered.

“I’ll give you 80 percent. How’s that?”

“What?”

“Don’t be stingy. What does a Taoist need money for? I’m penniless and sickly. How about 70 percent? Come on, you can never have too much money. I can’t go lower than that.”

“Who said I need money?”

Fair enough.

What could a promising disciple of a great sect possibly lack?

“So what’ll it take for you to cooperate?”

While the two whispered, the others waited in awkward silence.

“Five bottles of top-grade Baekhwaro,” Baek Ryeoil finally muttered.

Even acquiring one bottle of Baekhwaro was hard enough…

Seong Muyeon nodded resolutely.

“Deal.”

Before long, the two men returned, beaming.

“Thank you for waiting. Now then, shall we have a serious discussion about compensation?”