The Lazy Young Master of the Jin Clan

A black-clad man, so short he could be mistaken for a child, rose from the ground.

"The tracks lead this way."

Where he pointed, the girl's footprints remained faintly.

The place where the six black-clad men had stopped was a mountain with a sinister appearance, which had been named the Ghostly Wail Forest because a ghostly wail had been heard there every third night recently.

"Is it really the daughter of the White Moon Divine Lord?"

It had already been four days since they began to pursue the second daughter of the White Moon Divine Lord, Cheon Yusin.

According to the original plan, they should have kidnapped Cheon Yusin's daughter, Cheon Yerang, and returned to the main house two days ago, but Cheon Yerang, who had noticed the surprise attack, had fled.

Although she was a young girl of only ten, Cheon Yerang had even taken off her shoes to try not to leave any tracks.

Thanks to that, the black-clad men had to waste time chasing the faint tracks Cheon Yerang had left behind.

"Lord, will it be alright? There must be a reason why the skylark chose this place."

"This mission must not fail. Chase the skylark at once."

Chasing the skylark, the code name for Cheon Yerang, the black-clad men quickly threw themselves into the Ghostly Wail Forest.

Meanwhile, Cheon Yerang, who had entered the Ghostly Wail Forest ahead of the black-clad men, held her breath and hid under a dead tree root that resembled a human bone, exposed on the black earth.

'I made a mistake.'

Cheon Yerang regretted entering the Ghostly Wail Forest and slowly caught her breath.

'There's no suitable place to hide.'

The inside of the Ghostly Wail Forest, which had looked sinister, was even more hideous than the outside.

The earth had lost its vitality and was stained black, and the trees had lost their color and were dead.

There were no bushes, and not even common beasts or insects existed, so this place was like seeing the tomb of a dead mountain.

Cheon Yerang had to be even more careful with her breathing.

Assassins who could hear even a small breath were chasing her. The noise of beasts and insects that would have masked her breathing did not exist here.

'Brother...'

Cheon Yerang put her hand into her bosom.

Her fingertips touched a small pouch knife.

'If it comes to that, I must not hesitate.'

In order not to cause trouble for the White Moon Palace and her family, she must not be captured by the enemies.

With nowhere left to run, the small girl hiding under the tree quietly prepared for death.

***

"Oh?"

Jin Sohyun, who had come to the Ghostly Wail Forest again today to complete his own sound art, sat on a stone floor and looked down at the foot of the mountain.

Today was a day when the clouds swallowed the moon, so the already sinister Ghostly Wail Forest was even darker.

But the two eyes of Jin Sohyun, who had trained the Heavenly Flow Mind Method to the ninth star, shone with a blue light when he raised his internal energy, illuminating the darkness.

It was the realm of the Heaven and Earth Eyes that Kang Cheon had explained.

—There is no place under the heavens that my eyes cannot reach, my sword flows with the wind, and pours down with the thunderclouds, and in the end, it will reach the Thousand Hands.

At the time, he thought it was the nonsense of a senile old man.

But after learning the Heavenly Flow Mind Method and as his realm of the Flying Heaven Ten Swords rose, he felt he could understand a little of what Kang Cheon's muttering meant.

He sharpened his vision and found a total of seven people.

Six of them were sturdy men who were carefully climbing the mountain as if chasing something, and one was a still young girl hiding under a tree.

"Is she holding her breath?"

Her breathing was so faint that at first, he thought she was dead, but fortunately, that was not the case.

"Perfect!"

Jin Sohyun held the daegeum in his hand with a swelling heart.

Hadn't he just gained a new enlightenment about playing the daegeum recently?

"My masters won't listen to my performance."

But strangely, Kang Cheon and Bieunggaek would always run away in disgust whenever he just picked up the daegeum.

Even O Yoran, who had listened to his daegeum performance while biting her lips until they bled, had been avoiding him recently, so he rarely had a chance to show off his daegeum skills.

"I have an audience now... I should show off my skills for the first time in a while!"

Jin Sohyun, who had met an audience after a long time, put the daegeum to his mouth with a face full of anticipation.

"What should I play?"

***

—It's the skylark's tracks.

The short black-clad man sent a telepathic message, holding up a piece of wood that had been broken by being stepped on.

Then, the man who was the leader of the black-clad men raised his hand.

"I know you are hiding here. We have no intention of harming you. Rather, we intend to escort you with courtesy. So, stop resisting and surrender obediently."

There was no answer to the politely delivered words.

The man let out a light sigh as if he had expected it and continued.

"I don't know if you know, but the name of this place is the Ghostly Wail Forest. It's a mountain that even experienced mountain climbers have given up on... so no one else besides us is around."

While the man was talking, his subordinates hid their presence and slowly approached the tree where the girl was presumed to be hiding.

"Do you know what I mean? It means that no one will know... who dies here."

As soon as the man's words ended, the girl suddenly jumped out from under the tree.

She brought a sharp pouch knife to her neck and said.

"Don't come any closer."

"Are you planning to commit suicide?"

"If necessary."

The man looked into the girl's eyes.

'It's not a bluff.'

No matter how outstanding an assassin was, their own life was precious.

It is human nature to value one's own life the most.

So much so that assassin organizations would kidnap children before they even developed a sense of self and brainwash them to raise them as assassins.

But the young lady of the White Moon Palace was different.

'There is no hesitation in her eyes.'

Even though the blade actually touched her neck and blood flowed, the girl's determined eyes did not waver.

'As expected of the daughter of the White Moon Divine Lord.'

The man pondered.

Although she was only a ten-year-old girl, she had also learned martial arts at the White Moon Palace.

Although the man and the black-clad men were more skilled, they could not stop Cheon Yerang from cutting her own throat if she put her mind to it.

"Have your subordinates back off. Otherwise... I will cut my throat and die."

"Hoo. Back off."

At the man's command, the black-clad men backed away.

"Young Lady Cheon. Listen carefully. Our primary goal is to safely deliver you to our client. However, if things go wrong... we must kill you."

Realizing that their goal was to kidnap her, and that they had to kill her if things went wrong, Cheon Yerang nodded.

"In that case, this would be a beneficial choice for all of us."

As Cheon Yerang pushed the knife towards her neck, the man gritted his teeth.

"Damn it!!"

The black-clad men rushed at Cheon Yerang all at once.

It was then.

Screeeeeech—!! Kweeeeeee—!!

"Ugh!"

"Keck!"

"Ugh... ugh!"

The five black-clad men who were rushing at Cheon Yerang all grabbed their ears and let out pained groans.

'The ghostly wail!'

The man, who had raised his internal energy to protect his hearing, realized that this sound was the ghostly wail that had made the ordinary forest be called the Ghostly Wail Forest.

'It's not just a ghost sound... this is... sound art!'

Even though he had protected his hearing, the level of the sound art was too high.

The black-clad men, who had already been hit from the inside, collapsed, spewing blood from their noses and mouths, and the man had to grit his teeth and cover his ears with both hands.

'Did she come to the Ghostly Wail Forest aiming for this!'

Unlike the man and the black-clad men who were struggling to block the rough sound qi that was destroying their bodies from the inside, the girl's face looked calm.

It meant that the sound art that was tormenting them was not causing any harm to the girl.

'At this rate... I have to kill Cheon Yerang!'

Where did it go wrong?

Was it because they couldn't catch a ten-year-old girl for four days?

Or was it because they had underestimated the master of the Ghostly Wail Forest?

No.

'It was wrong from the beginning. It was a request I shouldn't have accepted.'

The man gritted his teeth and raised his sword.

Failure of the mission meant the extermination of his clan, so even if he had to sacrifice his own life here, he had to kill Cheon Yerang.

It was when the man's sword, which had advanced by kicking off the ground, was about to reach Cheon Yerang.

A white halo of light flashed before his eyes.

Slice—!!

The man's body was neatly split in two from the top of his head to his groin.

And the black-clad men who discovered this scattered in all directions as if by agreement.

In the meantime, a man in white appeared like a painting.

"Capture every single one of them."

"As you command."

The martial artists in white who had appeared with the man flew off to chase the black-clad men who had fled in all directions.

"Are you alright?"

The handsome man in a white silk robe pushed his sword, which was not stained with a single drop of blood, into its scabbard.

"Brother..."

The man frowned when he discovered the blood flowing from the girl's neck.

"Did you make that wound?"

"Yes. In order not to cause trouble for the family... I was going to commit suicide."

"Well done."

Even though his younger sister had tried to commit suicide, the man was not sad or angry.

He just checked the wound on the girl's neck with an indifferent gaze and handed her a white cloth from his bosom.

"Wipe the blood, and change your clothes immediately, but raise the collar so that the wound is not visible."

"Yes."

"Oh my, Young Lady! Are you alright?"

A middle-aged woman and two bodyguards came close to Cheon Yerang's side, applied medicine to the wound, and handed her new clothes.

While Cheon Yerang was changing her clothes, the two bodyguards walked up to the man who had turned his back to her.

"What happened?"

"It seems our movements were leaked."

The two martial artists in charge of Cheon Yerang's protection bowed their heads as if they had no excuse.

"My and my sister's movements were not set from the beginning."

The faces of the two martial artists hardened.

"The only ones who knew our movements were me and Yerang... and you two."

Leaving the flustered bodyguards behind, the man turned around and asked.

"Cheon Yerang."

"Yes, brother."

Cheon Yerang, who had finished changing her clothes, quickly approached the man's side.

"One of these two, or both, betrayed the White Moon Palace and put you in danger. You have watched these two the longest and closest. Can you tell which of these two is the traitor of our palace?"

At the man's question, Cheon Yerang raised her head and looked at the faces of the two martial artists who had protected her since she was young.

Reading the fear in their faces, Cheon Yerang could not readily give an answer.

Then, the man grabbed his sword.

Slice—!

With one slash, the heads of the two bodyguards flew off.

"The answer is to kill them both."

"..."

The man, who had pushed his sword, which was not stained with a single drop of blood this time either, into its scabbard, looked straight down at Cheon Yerang and said.

"There is nothing more important in the world than our palace. The same goes for people. We are irreplaceable beings. So... do not be swayed by personal feelings."

"I will keep that in mind."

"Hoyoung."

"Yes! First Young Master!"

Hoyoung, the wet nurse who had taken care of Cheon Yerang since she was a baby, approached with quick steps.

The man's hand grabbed Hoyoung's neck.

"Kkeu... kkeuk!"

"If Yerang had died because of this, not only you, but all those related to you would have been burned to death without a single bone fragment left under the name of the White Moon Palace."

"I'm... I'm sorry... heok— heok—!"

"Forgiveness for a mistake is only given once."

"I will... I will engrave it on my bones."

Hoyoung, who had barely become free, collapsed on the spot and gasped for breath.

"We are returning to the palace. Hurry."

"Yes, yes!"

As she went down the Ghostly Wail Forest under the guidance of Hoyoung, who had shot up from her seat, Cheon Yerang looked at the back of the large man.

He was the eldest son of the White Moon Divine Lord and Cheon Yerang's older brother.

The First Young Master, Cheon Gasung.

He had inherited all of the White Moon Divine Lord Cheon Yusin's talent and was a strong man who had few rivals even at the age of twenty, and he was the owner of a cold and ruthless personality like the north wind in midwinter.

Following behind Cheon Gasung, Cheon Yerang let out a silent sigh of relief and looked back at the receding Ghostly Wail Forest.

'It was a truly beautiful performance... I'm glad. That he disappeared before Brother Cheon appeared.'

The beautiful melody still seemed to linger in her ears.

'Thank you.'

Without even seeing the face of her savior, Cheon Yerang got on the carriage.

While the carriage of the White Moon Palace carrying them ran smoothly along the main road, on one side of the Ghostly Wail Forest, Jin Sohyun, holding a daegeum, appeared, scratching his cheek.

"That was a close call!

The moment the black-clad man was about to kill Cheon Yerang, Jin Sohyun had drawn his flying sword and then had to put it back.

This was because the man who had crossed the Ghostly Wail Forest at a fierce speed, stimulating his senses, had instantly cut the black-clad man in half and killed him.

"Ugh...! I have to tell my masters!"

Jin Sohyun couldn't bear to look at the bodies of the dead black-clad men and had to turn his head away.

(End of Chapter)