Chapter 478: Just How Many Sets Do You Have?

TL: FoodieMonster007

Lim Chu was faithfully following Geom Mugeuk's instructions.

[He's going to ask if you can get the antidote for the Black Rain. Tell him you can.]

[I understand.]

Just as Geom Mugeuk predicted, Geum Ajong sent a voice transmission.

[That Qi Dispersing Poison antidote, can you get it?]

[I should be able to.]

[Get it as fast as you can, no matter what it takes!]

[I understand.]

[What are you doing? Get going!]

As he was about to leave, Lim Chu glanced back at the two men. The sight of them drinking made it seem as if Geum Ajong was dancing on the palm of a demon painted on the carriage wall.

He wasn't worried about Geum Ajong, though. It wasn't because of how Geum Ajong usually treated him.

He and I are the same.

He thought he might be dancing along with him, on the palm of a demon so enormous that they wouldn't even realize they were on it.

"You asked what my brother is like?"

Geum Ajong poured a drink into Geom Mugeuk's cup.

Now that he knew the secret of how the money-grubber had been defeated, Geom Mugeuk seemed less intimidating. Qi Dispersing Poison wasn't a poison that killed its target instantly, but one that prevented the use of inner qi for a time. This meant one could easily prepare for it by having the antidote ready. A poison befitting a swindler.

"My Hyung-nim is a wonderful person. He's smart, diligent, and handsome. He's the one who will inherit the main family."

Geom Mugeuk sensed it. As Geum Ajong rattled off the insincere praise, a hint of his true feelings bled through, especially when he mentioned his brother being handsome. Did he have an inferiority complex about his looks compared to his brother?

"Hearing you say that makes me want to meet him. Could you introduce me?"

Geum Ajong thought his prediction was correct.

So the target was my brother after all!

His brother was the target of the big score these guys were planning to pull at the family estate.

What if my brother falls for their trick?

Then he would be the one to catch the swindlers who had extorted money from his younger brother and older brother at the last moment. It wouldn't be about catching swindlers, but about seizing the position of successor.

At the request for an introduction, Geum Ajong subtly took a step back.

"Do you really need my introduction? If you want to see him, you can just go meet him. You're part of the family now."

At that, Geom Mugeuk refilled his cup and spoke.

"Do you think he'll welcome me if I go to meet him?"

"True, given my brother's personality, he probably won't like you. He'll think you extorted two million taels from the main family. Ah, don't get me wrong. That's not what I think."

Geum Ajong slowly began to show his true colors.

"Speaking of my brother, if I were you, I would have helped the older brother, not the younger one."

"May I ask why?"

"Shouldn't a great Director aim for great things? The younger brother has no chance of becoming the successor anyway."

Geom Mugeuk stared intently at Geum Ajong and asked, "Then what about you? Aren't you confident you can become the successor? You seem like a man of great ambition."

As expected of a swindler, he's quick on the uptake.

"Me? I'm just a nuisance. Pushed around by my older brother, pushed around by my younger brother. Reality isn't easy."

"If one's ambition is great, aren't their wings also large?"

Geom Mugeuk looked up as if he could see large wings on Geum Ajong's back. Geum Ajong laughed at the gesture. It was a small reaction, but it didn't feel bad. What was there to dislike about someone thinking his ambition was great?

"What's the point in helping someone who'll become the successor anyway? It's also a problem to stick by someone who will never become the successor. I wish I had met you sooner."

Geum Ajong was tempted by Geom Mugeuk's expression of regret. He felt an urge to reveal everything to this man and plot together. For some reason, he felt like he could succeed if he worked with him.

However, Geum Ajong soon flinched.

What am I thinking right now!

Indeed, a swindler is a swindler. He had unknowingly entertained the absurd idea of joining hands with this man. He thought the man was a natural, from his face and voice to his expressions. Listening to him made his guard drop.

"Let's go together tomorrow. I'll introduce you to my brother."

"Thank you."

"I'll let you in on something special."

It wasn't just because he was in a good mood. For the man to properly lure his brother, he needed to know him well.

"There's one thing my brother can't stand."

"What is it?"

Geum Ajong said as he drained his last cup of wine.

"Losing when it comes to money."

At the same time, a long-awaited report was being delivered in the Patriarch's hall of the Golden Dragon Clan.

"The Hundred Immortals Sect was completely empty."

Surprised by his subordinate's report, Geum Cheonbang asked, "You mean there wasn't a single body?"

"Yes. Not a single one."

"What about signs of a fight?"

"There were traces of it everywhere. But with all the bodies cleared away, it was impossible to know how they fought or what the outcome was."

When he first sent his subordinate, he never dreamed he would be asking him such questions upon his return.

"Is it possible the Hundred Immortals Sect staged the whole thing?"

The fact that all the bodies had disappeared raised suspicion. What if they had pretended to be defeated and simply vanished?

"The possibility is open. They could all be dead, or they could have left traces of a fight and departed."

Seeing Geum Cheonbang's expression sour at the useless statement, the subordinate quickly added, "If they were indeed all defeated, one thing is certain. They wouldn't have had much time to clean up, so for it to be done so neatly, the person in charge must be highly skilled in martial arts or an expert in this kind of work."

The subordinate's report ended there.

"You may leave."

"Yes."

Geum Cheonbang sensed that this incident was no ordinary matter.

"Was it staged by the Hundred Immortals Sect? Or was it the work of the Milky Way Trading Company?"

He still found it hard to believe that Geom Mugeuk had accomplished it.

It was at that very moment.

"It's neither."

The person who entered was his eldest son, Geum Ahyuk. He had the appearance of a First Young Lord from a prestigious family. An appearance that exuded the dignified aura of a Master.

If his second brother, Geum Ajong, was the type to reveal his cunning and selfish nature through his face and actions, this Geum Ahyuk was a man who thoroughly concealed himself behind the demeanor of a Master.

"Everyone, withdraw."

Geum Cheonbang dismissed everyone, even the subordinates who were in hiding. Now, only the two of them remained in the Patriarch's hall.

"Neither? What do you mean by that?"

"A man named Geom Yeon killed all the immortals of the Hundred Immortals Sect."

"How do you know that?"

Geum Ahyuk didn't answer, but Geum Cheonbang realized the reason.

"Did you hear it from that person?"

He could tell from his son's expression that it was true.

"Didn't I tell you not to contact him if possible? I said I would handle it myself."

At that, Geum Ahyuk asked with an uncomprehending expression, "Why do you dislike him?"

Seeing his son refer to the man as 'that esteemed person' even in this atmosphere, Geum Cheonbang grew angry. His voice naturally rose.

"Because he's a dangerous man!"

He hadn't given off such a dangerous feeling from the beginning. At first, he was gentle and calm. For a long time, he had unfailingly given them a sense of trust, making them feel it was safe to join hands with him. Like clothes getting soaked in a drizzle, he had slowly seeped into their family.

Only after their clothes were thoroughly drenched did they realize. It wasn't rain, it was blood.

"We must endure it! He is the one who has brought us greater profits than anyone from the orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions. For a merchant, is there a more compelling reason than that?"

Geum Cheonbang had lived his entire life as a merchant. He had accumulated enough experience and reached an age where he could get a feel for most worldly affairs and human matters, put a price on them, and understand them with just a glance. Yet, there were two things he couldn't understand these days. No, two people. His son, and that person. He couldn't understand his son, nor could he understand the man his son called 'that esteemed person'. When he first met him, he had thoroughly analyzed and investigated him, but after a decade had passed, he felt he understood him even less. Just like the heart of his grown son.

"If we're talking about danger, those bastards from the Western Blade Sect that my younger brother brought are more dangerous. They must have come targeting him."

"How can you be so sure?"

Geum Ahyuk did not answer.

"He told you again, didn't he."

Geum Ahyuk stared intently at Geum Cheonbang. For some time now, his son had been looking at him with such eyes. With such a strange gaze.

Since his eldest son was young, Geum Cheonbang had always been proud of him. How could a son like this come from someone as small and unimpressive as himself? He felt this sense of pride every time. When he took his son out, everyone praised and envied him. So he often boasted subtly, to the point where he felt sorry for his second brother. And he had lived his life believing this. That his son's character was the same as his appearance, which held the demeanor of a Master. He truly lived believing that. And in reality, his son had grown up well without any major trouble. However, at some point, things changed. He wished it had started after meeting that man, but he knew well that it hadn't. He had felt a sense of strangeness from his son even before that.

Is he this cold? This selfish? This greedy for money?

It made him think that perhaps that man had approached him for these very reasons. Nevertheless, he believed in his son. Although his son hadn't answered his earlier question, he trusted him. Because he was his son. Once he got a little older, he would surely judge situations more coolly.

"Father, didn't you say you wanted to become the wealthiest man in the Central Plains? Didn't you say that was your dream?"

"I did, I did. But…"

"What are you afraid of? Aren't we in the process of achieving that dream?"

He didn't deny that the Golden Dragon Clan had grown faster thanks to joining hands with him. They had also earned a vast amount of money with his help. However, the money he demanded was also snowballing.

"One day, he might swallow us whole."

"Even if he swallows us, he'll make us the best before he does."

His son's gaze said it all.

If you're scared, step aside.

It was because of that gaze. The reason he told his daughter she couldn't be the successor. Because of that gaze, which would even get rid of his own sibling if they stood in his way.

"Those bastards from the Western Blade Sect that my younger brother brought will all disappear before tonight is over. Just as the Hundred Immortals Sect disappeared."

"You can't!"

Geum Cheonbang's heart pounded. Killing someone meant they could be killed in retaliation. How could he make such a decision so easily? You fool, we are merchants!

"If they are the ones who eliminated the Hundred Immortals Sect as you say, then they are not people we should provoke carelessly!"

"Didn't you always say it, Father?"

Geum Ahyuk added with a relaxed smile.

"That there's nothing in the world that can't be done with money."

Geum Cheonbang was at a loss for words because he had indeed said that often. Even so, he never thought a day like this would come.

After finishing his drinks with Geum Ajong, he went to see his father. He and his father had moved their lodgings from the Hwi safehouse to here at the Golden Dragon Clan.

Just as they had discussed, he judged that the elimination of the Hundred Immortals Sect would soon cause them to make their move. They would try to protect their massive source of money, the Golden Dragon Clan, by any means necessary.

He hesitated for a moment in front of his father's room.

Was it because he was tipsy? He had come because he wanted to see his father, but on second thought, it was already time for him to be asleep.

Father, it's your second son!

It was the kind of day he wanted to bang on the door and make a drunken scene, but he didn't dare.

Martial artists would never know. That the Heavenly Demon sleeps this early. Shouldn't the Heavenly Demon be awake at the crack of dawn, or something like that!

Just as he was turning to leave quietly, the door opened. Startled, he turned back to see his father standing there.

Before he could ask if he was still awake, or apologize for waking him, these words had to come out first.

"Another floral pattern? Just how many sets do you have?"

His father was wearing floral pajamas.

Would the Heavenly Demon really wear such pajamas? The ultimate assassin-proof pajamas.

He didn't know because his father didn't wear them when they camped, and he hadn't seen him at night when they stayed at inns. One would think he'd feel awkward, but his father showed no shame at all about these pajamas.

Could he really wear these pajamas confidently in front of the Murim Alliance Lord or the Evil Alliance Chairman?

"What is it?"

He didn't know how to answer the blunt question. He had really just come on a whim, driven by the alcohol, because he wanted to see him.

"I just came to say good night."

"Waking a sleeping person to tell them to sleep well?"

To his incredulous father, he bowed his head deeply. This was the only thing he could think to say right now.

"Thank you."

What he felt during this journey was that his father was putting up with him. How could this trip, the first in a long time after only staying at the Headquarters, be purely enjoyable? He was also acting as he pleased, trying to do all the things he couldn't do with his father before. Waking him up like this was surely another act that tested his father's patience.

He half-expected his father to smack him on the back of his bowed head.

His father looked down at him for a moment, then closed the door and went back inside.

Although he had woken his father, he felt good for having seen his face. It was a brief, insignificant encounter, but even this would become a memory for him. The title would be something like 'A Small Drunken Act at Midnight'.

Because the true victory in his life wasn't killing his enemies, but moments just like this.

Even if it annoys Father, I'm going to keep making these small memories.

Even if Hwa Mugi draws his sword right in front of me, I'll joke around with my father. I'll build memories with my Demon Supremes and my subordinates, too.

And so, I will comfort my past self, who fell asleep alone in terrible loneliness, looking forward only to this moment. It's a promise I always make to myself.

Not for Father's sake, but for my own.

Because he knew well that only then could he truly be doing it for the other person.

He stood in the hallway outside his father's room and looked up at the dark night sky. It was a night where the stars and moon were all hidden by clouds.

Then, his gaze fell like a shooting star, staring down at the dark courtyard.

He slowly placed his index finger over his lips and said quietly, "Shh! Father is sleeping."