I Became the Hidden Ruler of the Martial World

While Baek Yoonjun was looking at the two with a pleased expression, the waiter hesitated and opened her mouth.

"I don't know if it's related to the person who came today, but I'm looking for someone."

"A person, you say? What kind of person?"

"My scattered family."

"Hah."

Hong Yungae let out a groan.

It was because the other person's situation seemed more serious than he had thought.

Hong Yungae, in a story that was hard for him to handle, stealthily glanced at Baek Yoonjun.

Baek Yoonjun was looking ahead calmly.

'As expected, Master is calm even after hearing such a story.'

Hong Yungae was impressed.

And Baek Yoonjun, the person in question.

'I want to go home.'

At the serious story that had suddenly popped out, he wanted to go home.

'I desperately want to go home.'

Although he wanted to perform his lightness skill to its fullest and go home right away, it didn't show on the outside at all.

The waiter who was looking at such a Baek Yoonjun was impressed.

'I knew he wasn't an ordinary person, but to think he's not agitated at all. Perhaps this person can solve my problem?'

The waiter pondered.

'Anyway, I haven't been able to do anything with my own strength until now. Let's talk!'

Having steeled her heart, the waiter carefully opened her mouth towards Baek Yoonjun.

"I am looking for the traces of the scattered people of the Baek family clan."

At those words, Baek Yoonjun's heart sank.

'The Baek family? I'm also a Baek. But a family clan?'

Baek Yoonjun's mind became complicated.

'Why is she looking for the Baek family clan? Could it be that she's after the lives of the Baeks? No, if that were the case, wouldn't she need at least a minimum of martial power and financial resources?'

Although Baek Yoonjun's mind was very complicated, no particular answer came to him.

"My name is Baek Yoonjun."

Therefore, he decided to just throw it out there.

The waiter's eyes widened as if she were surprised by Baek Yoonjun's words.

"Could it be that you have some connection with the Baek family clan...?"

"No connection at all."

"I see."

The waiter had an expression that seemed to say, 'Then why on earth did you bring it up?'.

Whether that was the case or not, Baek Yoonjun continued to speak.

"I do know a child with a different Baek surname, but I don't know if that child is also related."

"May I ask what that person's name is?"

"It is Baek Sowol."

The waiter's face became complicated upon hearing Baek Yoonjun's words.

It was filled with complicated emotions such as sadness, worry, concern, and longing.

"Th-that Sowol, no, that person named Baek Sowol, when...?"

"The last time I saw her was about three years ago."

"Can you tell me what she looks like?"

"She was a little brat about this big, but unlike her small height, she was a child with a firm will."

Recalling his first disciple, Baek Yoonjun appropriately told the waiter her characteristics.

The waiter's expression, who had heard those words, was truly diverse, and at the end.

"Sob, sob. She was alive... What a relief."

Seeing the waiter who was genuinely relieved that Baek Sowol was alive and shedding tears, Baek Yoonjun's guard was slightly lowered.

'She must be a close acquaintance.'

Baek Yoonjun, whose guard had been lowered, asked the waiter.

"What is your relationship?"

"Ah, that..."

The waiter mumbled again at Baek Yoonjun's question.

'Why are there so many secrets?'

At that, Baek Yoonjun felt a slight irritation.

'Could it be that my thought that she was a close acquaintance was my own misunderstanding? In fact, could it be that those tears were also from joy at having found her murder target?'

By the time Baek Yoonjun's eyes were gradually narrowing, the waiter carefully opened her mouth.

"W-well... my name is Baek Hwaryeong, and I'm a relative of Sowol..."

"A relative?"

Baek Yoonjun muttered without thinking.

But at those words, the waiter, Baek Hwaryeong's pupils shook as if she had something to hide.

She was actually greatly agitated inside.

'Did he see through my lie?!'

Looking at the quiet Baek Hwaryeong again, Baek Yoonjun felt another irritation.

'Why is she shutting her mouth again? Is there something she's hiding? In fact, is she not a relative but an assassin who was watching for an opportunity?'

Although it was naturally a groundless thought, since Baek Yoonjun was annoyed by Baek Hwaryeong's appearance of continuously keeping her mouth shut and hesitating, he was only filled with all sorts of negative thoughts.

Baek Hwaryeong, who had been continuously glancing at Baek Yoonjun, squeezed her eyes shut.

"Actually, Sowol doesn't know this, but I'm not a relative!"

"You said you were a relative before?!"

"I'm not a Baek either!"

"What is this now?!"

At Baek Hwaryeong's shout, Baek Yoonjun was about to let out a dazed sound of 'Huh?'.

Baek Yoonjun's eyes, who couldn't understand the waiter's actions in front of him at all, narrowed, and his hand was stealthily heading towards his sword.

"Actually, the Baek family clan was protecting our clan, and because of that, I was using a false name. But it's true that I grew up with Sowol like sisters, no, like siblings!"

Fortunately, Baek Hwaryeong confessed before Baek Yoonjun drew his sword.

To Baek Yoonjun, it did not seem like a lie.

-It's true.

For the first time in a long time, Baek Yoonjun felt the sensation of a gentle breeze whispering a hallucination in his ear.

'Is the mental illness acting up again? Anyway, it seems the waiter's words are not a lie.'

Wary of the voice that he presumed to be a mental illness that he had heard again, Baek Yoonjun revised his evaluation of Baek Hwaryeong.

Although it seemed she was still hiding something, she did not seem to be a villain.

Although there was no need to swing his sword, it seemed he just needed to be wary of troublesome matters.

Other than that.

'I need to confirm this.'

Baek Yoonjun asked Baek Hwaryeong.

"If you're not a Baek, then what?"

"...I'm a Zhuge."

At the completely unexpected surname, Baek Yoonjun recalled someone.

'Didn't that person, Zhuge Hyun, say that he wouldn't meet another Zhuge?'

Since it was a statement that a person with the Zhuge surname had said with his own mouth, it was a statement with quite a bit of credibility.

'No, besides that, since she said the Baek family clan had protected her clan, doesn't that mean all the people who were protected are Zhuges?'

Baek Yoonjun recalled Zhuge Hyun.

-How many Zhuges are left on the earth...

Zhuge Hyun, who had been eagerly looking for his own clan.

That clan was surprisingly in a close place.

Moreover, Baek Sowol and Zhuge Hyun had left on a journey together three years ago.

But there was a part that was bothersome here.

"Does the story that Sowol doesn't know also include the fact that you are Zhuge Hwaryeong?"

"Yes, Sowol thinks I'm her relative, older... brother."

"I see."

Unfortunately, it seemed there would be no way for Zhuge Hyun to find out that his clan was in the Baek family clan through Baek Sowol.

'I should tell him when he comes back. But where on earth is that gentleman wandering around that he's not coming?'

By the time Baek Yoonjun had finished pondering about the Baek family clan, Baek Sowol, and Zhuge Hyun appropriately.

"Excuse me..."

Baek Hwaryeong, Zhuge Hwaryeong, carefully opened her mouth towards Baek Yoonjun.

"Do you have something to say?"

"Well... may I ask what your relationship with Sowol is?"

At Zhuge Hwaryeong's words, Baek Yoonjun thought, 'Oops'.

He had brought up Baek Sowol's name, said only what he had to say, and was thinking of ending the conversation.

Although Baek Yoonjun was very embarrassed, he answered Zhuge Hwaryeong's words carefully, not showing it on the outside.

"I have saved that child's life."

"Th-thank you! Benefactor!"

"And I took her as my disciple."

"Th-then is Sowol at the benefactor's residence...?"

"And she left the mountain about three years ago."

"What? Huh? She left the mountain?"

Zhuge Hwaryeong could not follow Baek Yoonjun's words at all.

Although it was not Zhuge Hwaryeong's fault, but Baek Yoonjun's, who only said what he had to say, cutting it short, there was no one in this place to point that out.

And more importantly, there were important words for Zhuge Hwaryeong.

"S-Sowol left the mountain? Alone? Where to?"

"I don't know where she went, but I attached a trustworthy person to her, so it will be fine."

"A trustworthy person, you say..."

"As it happens, he is a person with the same surname as you, Zhuge Hyun."

"What? Zh-Zhuge Hyun?"

Zhuge Hyun was a name that Zhuge Hwaryeong had also heard of.

The being called the last descendant of the Zhuge clan, with a bounty of one thousand guan of gold on his head.

Although the Zhuges were hiding their bodies in the Baek family clan, strictly speaking, they were not the direct line.

Zhuge Hyun was the direct line of the Marquis of Wu.

The problem was that the era when that name was heard was almost a hundred years ago.

Zhuge Hwaryeong collected her confused mind and asked.

"Is that person an old man?"

"Zhuge Hyun?"

"Yes, that person."

"...He would look to be about of age?"

Since Zhuge Hwaryeong had not properly heard what Baek Yoonjun had muttered, she thought that the Zhuge Hyun he was talking about was a different person from the Zhuge Hyun she knew.

"Do you know him?"

"No. I know a person with the same name, but he's a very old person..."

"How many people with the same name would there be? It must be a different person with the same name."

"I guess so. Then it seems the person named Zhuge Hyun is a person I don't know."

Baek Yoonjun was slightly disappointed at Zhuge Hwaryeong's words.

It was because he had predicted that since the Zhuge surname was rare, they would naturally know each other.

"Anyway, you want to know about Sowol's whereabouts, don't you?"

"That's right!"

"Although I don't know about Sowol's whereabouts, that person, Zhuge Hyun, would know."

"Then!"

"The problem is that I don't know where that person is either."

"Ah..."

At Baek Yoonjun's words, Zhuge Hwaryeong was quite disappointed.

If it were just disappointment, it would be one thing, but a sense of anxiety also slowly rose.

"If some misfortune has befallen the two of them..."

"Although that person, Zhuge Hyun, is weak, he has many talents, so if it's that side, you don't have to worry too much."

"That's a relief."

"The problem is that we don't know his whereabouts."

"Ugh..."

Zhuge Hwaryeong let out a sigh of regret.

Although she was somewhat relieved thanks to Baek Yoonjun's assertion that it would be okay, the regretful feeling of not knowing their whereabouts was something she couldn't help.

Baek Yoonjun also felt regret and a surge of irritation.

'What on earth is that person doing, wandering around? He's definitely not a person who would die on the street.'

Although information had been exchanged and quite a lot had become known, since the conclusion was that there was nothing that could be done, a silence flowed for a moment.

It was then that Hong Yungae, who had been silently listening to the conversation between the two, intervened.

"If it's about finding a person, there's nothing like a beggar!"

"Oh?"

Beating his chest, Hong Yungae stepped up quite reliably.

Although his appearance was reliable, Baek Yoonjun, who did not know about the physiology of a beggar, had a question.

"Why do beggars find people well?"

"Originally, beggars make a living through rumors, but these days, it has become more systematic. Finding one person is a piece of cake!"

"Is that so?"

Baek Yoonjun was very unconvinced by Hong Yungae.

Since he had never seen a reliable side of Hong Yungae until now, he was even more unconvinced.

But there was no suitable way.

"Then, I will leave the matter of finding that person to you."

"Please trust and leave it to me!"

Although Hong Yungae boasted reliably, to Baek Yoonjun's eyes, he was just unconvincing.

"Before that, do you remember the purpose of your stay here?"

"Ah! Right!"

It seemed he had forgotten his original purpose of exploring the secret cave, so he was even more unconvincing.

'No. If I don't trust him, who will?'

Although he was unconvincing, since he had already taken him as a disciple, he decided to respect him.

Although he was unconvincing.

"For now, let's finish what we were doing and then proceed with the work."

Since it seemed finding a person would not be easy, Baek Yoonjun decided to finish what he was doing first.

"Yes, anyway, since it's hard to find a person in a small village like this where even beggars are rarely seen, let's do that."

Hong Yungae also agreed with Baek Yoonjun's thought.

Although a footnote was attached to that agreeing statement, it seemed he agreed for now.

The problem was that that footnote got on Baek Yoonjun's nerves.

"You can't find them in a small village?"

"That's right?"

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

"We have to go to a big village, right?"

"A big village!"

As Baek Yoonjun suddenly shouted, Hong Yungae was startled.

He looked back on his actions to see if he had done something wrong, but nothing particular came to mind.

It was natural.

'I'm already anxious just being near a small village, and you want to go to a big village?!'

This was just a problem of Baek Yoonjun, the homebody introvert.

But it was not just any matter, but a matter of helping someone who had a connection with his first disciple.

'I can't pretend not to know, and it doesn't seem there's any other way.'

Although it didn't show on the outside, a war was raging inside Baek Yoonjun.

-Are you crazy! You're going to a big village on your own two feet?

-Then are you telling me to pretend not to know? It's Sowol's matter!

-Ah, I want to be cooped up in a corner of my room.

But the conclusion of that war did not come out.

No, it did.

'Ah, I don't know. Let it be as it will be.'

With an answer close to escaping reality.

And so, Baek Yoonjun put a truce declaration on his mental conflict and returned to reality.

'Then, for now, I have to do what I have to do.'

Having returned to reality, he decided to proceed with what he had to do more calmly.

"Then, for now, Hong Yungae."

"Yes! Master!"

"Let's study the cultivation method first."

"What?"

Baek Yoonjun smiled at the dumbfounded Hong Yungae.

"Since the cultivation method is complete, all that's left is to learn it.”