Chapter 289 - You Would Not Have Done That

The joy of surviving, compounded by the presence of the two Demon Supremes, made Jin Haryeong’s heart beat harder and harder. Both men were truly terrifying—the Blood Heaven Saber Demon standing beside her with his great saber, and the Fist Demon slowly approaching them.

‘So these are the Demon Supremes!’

Until now, the Demonic Cult had been a vague notion to her. She had only heard that its people were frightening and cruel; her actual experience of the Cult had been Geom Mugeuk. Young, handsome, quick with a joke.

But today, she felt as though she had seen the real Demonic Cult.

The Fist Demon’s face was truly frightening up close, but Jin Haryeong tried to keep her expression as composed as possible.

“Thank you so much for saving my life.”

Her gratitude was for both Demon Supremes and Yi An.

“I will repay this kindness without fail.”

She feared the Demon Supremes, but she did not dislike the two men who had saved her. They merely nodded once, making no show of having saved her life.

Her brother would scold her and ask if she had gone mad if he heard, but she found herself curious about what sort of people these Demon Supremes were.

After thanking the two men, Jin Haryeong looked at Yi An. She knew how dangerous it was to fly through the air clinging to a saber—especially one that had killed enemies along the way.

Like the Demon Supremes, Yi An had not said a single word to claim credit for saving her.

As Yi An released the suppression on Jin Haryeong’s internal energy, she teased her.

“Hey, friend! Is it fair to stand me up after we agreed to meet?”

That word, “friend,” touched Jin Haryeong more deeply than anything anyone had ever said to her. In that moment, the friendship between the two women took another step forward.

Jin Haryeong touched her face as she replied.

“And look what it got me. My face was the only thing I had going for me.”

Her answer was half joking, half self-deprecating, but Yi An’s reply was unexpected.

“Then starting today, you’ll have to show them something else.”

Jin Haryeong understood. Yi An did not use her own beautiful appearance as a weapon. That was why she was so strong, and why she could tell Jin Haryeong she was beautiful. And now she was telling her something else: looks were not what mattered to them.

Yes. From today onward, there would be no Hubei’s Greatest Beauty. She would become Hubei’s Greatest Sword and strive to become the Greatest Sword Under Heaven. Never again would someone like Cho Rim bring her to the brink of death.

She had also learned an important lesson today.

The difference between life and death had been a hair’s breadth. Had she simply given up and resigned herself to death, she would have died before Yi An and the Demon Supremes arrived.

But because she had tried to fight to the very end, she had survived. She now knew with certainty that when heaven chose someone to bless with good fortune, it chose from those who refused to give up until the last.

Just then, something rushed toward them as fast as light.

WHOOOOSH!

Geom Mugeuk landed before them using Swift Step. His landing was so natural that it felt as though he had been there with them all along.

He looked around, then sighed with relief. He could see that the Demon Supremes and Yi An had arrived in time to save Jin Haryeong.

“You certainly took your time. If not for these people, I’d already be dead.”

Geom Mugeuk smiled at Jin Haryeong’s joke.

“That’s why I’m friends with them.”

Geom Mugeuk looked at the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the Fist Demon. He had been right to trust their judgment. They had answered his faith with faith of their own.

“You can hold your shoulders even higher. You truly are magnificent!”

“Where have you been dawdling all this time? Making an old man do all the hard work.”

Yet the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s worried gaze was fixed on the blood staining Geom Mugeuk’s clothes.

“Putting that old man to work certainly paid off, didn’t it?”

“You little rascal!”

Then the Fist Demon asked Geom Mugeuk,

“Are you hurt?”

“It isn’t my blood. I’m all right.”

The Fist Demon nodded.

Watching their exchange, Jin Haryeong finally felt the reality of Geom Mugeuk’s position as the Demonic Cult’s young lord. The rumor that he had brought the Demon Supremes under his control was wrong. Rather than controlling them, he had made them his own people. The way the two men looked at him was the way her grandfather looked at her—and her brother, too.

She understood now. Yi An and the two Demon Supremes had saved her, but ultimately, she owed her survival to Geom Mugeuk. Without him, they would never have acted.

“The Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter, owing her life to demonic martial artists twice! I’m utterly ruined.”

Geom Mugeuk and Yi An laughed together at her banter.

Geom Mugeuk addressed the two Demon Supremes.

“Please wait at the safe house with Yi An. I’ll join you after taking Miss Jin back to the Orthodox Martial Alliance.”

“Is it all over now?”

“No. There’s one thing I still need to confirm before we leave.”

He had to find out whether the Martial Alliance Leader had truly exterminated the Wood Heaven Clan.

No matter how he considered it, he could not imagine Jin Paecheon committing such an act. But if he had been caught in someone’s scheme, there was no telling.

Looking toward the Orthodox Martial Alliance far in the distance, Geom Mugeuk repeated his earlier joke as though he meant it.

“This time, I might really have to say, ‘Run, Elder!’”

* * *

Jin Hagun strode into the Alliance Leader’s Hall.

Jin Paecheon, who had been standing at the window staring outside, turned urgently.

“How did it go?”

“I mobilized the Demon-Slaying Squad and searched every inch of the area around East Lake, but we couldn’t find her. Has there been any word from the Azure Dragon Corps?”

Jin Paecheon shook his head.

“What about the Flying Tiger Corps?”

Again, he shook his head. Even after deploying all the Orthodox Martial Alliance’s elite forces to search in every direction, they could find no trace of Jin Haryeong.

Baek Cheongyeong, whom they suspected of abducting her, had made no demands. Worry was eating them alive.

“Why not announce it to Murim?”

Their covert search was limiting what they could do. If they searched openly instead, a witness might come forward.

But Jin Paecheon shook his head. These people were bold enough to abduct the Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter. They were unlikely to have let anyone see them, and a rash public announcement might draw in the Unorthodox Alliance or other villains.

Jin Hagun wondered whether his grandfather might say, “This is all your fault!” But as though to show him that this was merely his own petty fear, Jin Paecheon said nothing of the sort. He was not a man who shifted blame onto others when cornered.

“Still no word from Geom Mugeuk?”

Jin Paecheon nodded silently.

Increasingly, Geom Mugeuk was becoming their last hope. Yet the more that happened, the more conflicted Jin Hagun felt.

‘Could I really have been deceived?’

What if all of this was Geom Mugeuk’s scheme?

He imagined his sister caught in Geom Mugeuk’s clutches. Perhaps he had taken her so that he could threaten Jin Hagun at some crucial moment in the future.

The fear of losing his sister filled his mind with every imaginable thought. She was the only person in the world he could truly talk to.

Never in his life had he imagined losing her. But now that the possibility had become real, he could not control his fear.

What if he did lose his sister?

His own life would change profoundly, too.

At that moment, however, Jin Paecheon was thinking the exact opposite.

“That boy was certain he was the only one who could save her.”

Jin Hagun sensed that his grandfather trusted Geom Mugeuk.

When he had rushed back after hearing of his sister’s abduction during a Demon-Slaying Squad mission, his grandfather had not trusted Geom Mugeuk. When Jin Hagun asked who was responsible, he had answered:

[“Either Geom Mugeuk or Baek Cheongyeong.”]

Then his grandfather had stared straight at him and asked:

[“Who do you think it is?”]

Back then, he had not fully trusted Geom Mugeuk, and there had still been hope that the Alliance’s martial artists would find her.

But now his grandfather trusted him. It was not trust born of conviction, but of how desperate the situation had become. Though stronger than anyone in the world, he had become an ordinary grandfather when his granddaughter’s life was at stake.

“I’ll go out and search again.”

Just as Jin Hagun was about to leave, a martial artist serving the Alliance Leader’s Hall rushed in to report.

“Lady Haryeong has returned.”

Jin Paecheon and Jin Hagun were stunned.

Springing up from his grand chair, Jin Paecheon leaped down. A moment later, Jin Haryeong entered, with Geom Mugeuk following behind her.

“Grandfather!”

Jin Haryeong ran into Jin Paecheon’s arms. The sight of him brought a flood of tears. Having survived her brush with death, she realized anew just how great a presence her grandfather was in her life.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m all right.”

Her face and body were battered, but she had suffered no internal injuries.

“You’re back. You’re safely back.”

Tears welled in Jin Paecheon’s eyes. His heart might have been iron, but seeing his granddaughter return safely overwhelmed him. He could not even remember how long it had been since he last shed tears.

Jin Haryeong reunited with Jin Hagun as well.

“Brother.”

He hugged his sister tightly.

“I’m sorry.”

All of this had happened because of him. It had begun when he grew suspicious of his master.

“Why are you sorry? It’s my fault for being careless enough to get captured.”

“Don’t say that.”

When the reunion that had shown them just how precious they were to one another ended, Jin Paecheon and Jin Hagun turned their fervent gazes toward Geom Mugeuk.

To them, saving Jin Haryeong mattered more than anything else. It meant more than saving their own lives.

“Thank you truly for saving Haryeong.”

Jin Paecheon offered his gratitude with a formal fist-and-palm salute. Geom Mugeuk respectfully returned it.

“Miss Jin is your granddaughter, Alliance Leader, but she is also my friend. Please don’t feel indebted.”

A debt of life was repaid by saving a life. Jin Paecheon resolved that someday, he would save Geom Mugeuk’s life.

Meanwhile, Jin Hagun was ashamed that he had doubted Geom Mugeuk even briefly.

‘I still have a long way to go.’

In the past, it would have ended in shame and a sense of inferiority, but now he was different. He felt he had to work harder and push himself further. Even at this moment, Geom Mugeuk was spurring him on. Truly, his very existence was a source of motivation.

“Go and have your injuries treated first, then rest. We can catch up later. And you, stay and speak with me a moment.”

Jin Hagun and Jin Haryeong realized their grandfather wanted to speak privately with Geom Mugeuk. They could talk to him later, so they withdrew without protest.

“Yes, Grandfather.”

As she walked away with Jin Hagun, Jin Haryeong turned back.

“I’m so happy I got to see you again, Grandfather.”

Jin Paecheon smiled and nodded. His heart lurched at the thought of what might have happened had he never seen her again.

The two men were left alone in the Alliance Leader’s Hall.

“What became of Baek Cheongyeong?”

“He is dead.”

With his granddaughter back, Jin Paecheon had naturally expected as much, but hearing it directly from Geom Mugeuk left him with a strange feeling.

“Did he say why he abducted Haryeong?”

Then Geom Mugeuk said something astonishing.

“Baek Cheongyeong is the younger brother of the Wood Heaven Clan’s head.”

Jin Paecheon’s eyes widened.

How could he ever forget the Wood Heaven Clan?

“They all died.”

“No. One man survived—the clan head’s younger brother.”

“I understand that he died as well.”

“He faked his death.”

Only now did Jin Paecheon understand Baek Cheongyeong’s two-faced behavior. To think that all of this was connected to his son’s death.

Then came the most important question of their conversation.

“Let me ask you, Alliance Leader. Were you the one who exterminated the Wood Heaven Clan?”

A heavy silence fell.

Geom Mugeuk did not believe it was a silence of admission. Had Jin Paecheon truly committed the deed, he would not have fallen into a silence that invited suspicion. There was a story behind this silence.

At last, Jin Paecheon gave a brief sigh and began.

“I went to them that day for revenge. It was revenge for my family, so I went alone.”

His expression tightened, as though the scene from that day had returned vividly to him.

“When I arrived, they were already all dead.”

Jin Paecheon proved he was speaking the truth in the strongest way he could.

“I swear on my dead son and daughter-in-law. I did not kill them.”

For a man who valued honor so highly, staking his son’s name meant that his words were true. He, too, understood how important it was to uncover the truth.

And the events of that day had left a deep wound in Jin Paecheon.

“Seeing them brought me to my senses. Do you know what I thought as I stood looking at that scene, after rushing there like a madman bent on revenge?”

After a pause, Jin Paecheon released a long sigh laden with the emotions of that day.

“I thought it was a relief.”

Geom Mugeuk listened without a word.

“I, the Martial Alliance Leader, thought it was a relief. I truly thought that if it hadn’t already happened, I might have done something like that myself. I, who should have mourned those innocent deaths and been outraged!”

Jin Paecheon’s expression hardened. His anguish showed plainly on his face.

“You would not have exterminated them, Alliance Leader.”

Jin Paecheon stared at Geom Mugeuk.

“Do you truly think so?”

No, there was no way to know. How could anyone be certain how far a parent who had lost a child might go? Even so, Geom Mugeuk answered firmly.

“Yes. You are not that kind of man.”

Jin Paecheon let out another long sigh. It was unlike his usual domineering manner. That alone showed how deeply this affair had scarred his life.

He must have suffered all this time, disappointed in himself both for thinking he might have exterminated them and for feeling relieved at the sight. Having lived his entire life by chivalrous righteousness, he would have felt that wound more deeply than others.

Geom Mugeuk repeated what he had said before.

“You would not have done that, Alliance Leader.”

Jin Paecheon’s eyes trembled. In that moment, he understood. For a very long time, he had wanted to hear someone say those words. So that he could say this himself:

‘Yes. I would not have done that.’

Jin Paecheon looked at Geom Mugeuk, his gaze deepening.

“Why do you trust me this much? You hardly know me.”

“Yes, I don’t know you well. But isn’t there one thing we know for certain?”

Geom Mugeuk added calmly,

“Isn’t the fact that you are a man who would not have done that precisely why I can stand here alone in the heart of the Orthodox Martial Alliance?”