I left the banquet hall and headed for a somewhat secluded spot.

It was a dead end at the end of an alley, and judging by the stacked boxes, it looked like some kind of storage space.

“Did you sleep okay?”

Bang Seojin was sitting on top of the piled boxes, greeting me.

She was a little taller than me, and her legs looked even longer.

With the way she had them neatly crossed, it might’ve looked alluring—

‘...What a fucking joke.’

If we share the same blood, it just looks like pure bullshit.

“What’s with that look? You got something you want to say to your older sister?”

She’s quick. Before she could catch that I was cursing her out with my eyes, I fixed my face and answered.

“Yes. I had something to say, so I came to see you.”

I glanced at the emblem pinned to her chest.

Martial Alliance. And proof she was elite personnel from Main Alliance Headquarters.

Looking at it, I asked.

“...What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you wearing that?”

What did it mean to be Main Alliance Headquarters personnel? It meant the Martial Alliance’s symbol—and its top-tier fighting force.

It wasn’t something even an Orthodox martial artist could just stroll into.

‘If we’re talking difficulty.’

It wouldn’t be wrong to say it’s almost on par with the Small Moon Unit.

‘...My older sister is Main Alliance Headquarters personnel?’

All I could feel was shock. What the hell happened over the past few years while she was gone?

When I asked because it made no sense—

“Haha.”

Bang Seojin burst out laughing.

“You’re one to talk.”

The moment she tossed that out with a slight eye-smile, my body stiffened a little.

She wasn’t wrong. Forget Bang Seojin—my situation is even harder to understand.

“My little brother. Guess your talent’s better than I thought. The Small Moon Unit at that age. Do you have any idea how shocked I was?”

“...Hahahaha.”

“And the Sword Saint’s successor? What happened while your older sister wasn’t home?”

“...A lot happened. A decent amount.”

“Can I answer like that too?”

“If we’re calling it even, I’m fi—”

THUNK.

Something flew past my head. I glanced over—there was a tree branch stabbed into the floor.

What the hell.

“Still a little bastard with your jokes, huh?”

“...And you’re still rough.”

“Rough women are popular.”

“No. Pretty women are popular.”

“Then we’re good. I’m pretty.”

“...What do we do about that ego?”

I couldn’t deny it. Our blood runs strong—if you’re born with the Bang name, you at least have to be acknowledged as pretty or handsome.

“Hm....”

Bang Seojin watched me making an awkward face, and she didn’t wipe the smile off.

“If you don’t want to say, fine. Your older sister has a lot she can’t say either. And.”

THUD.

Bang Seojin hopped down lightly from where she’d been sitting up high.

“Honestly, you didn’t come here to ask about that.”

“Then what...?”

After landing, Bang Seojin walked toward me slowly. Only when she came right up to my face did she ask.

“How have you been?”

“Huh?”

“I’ve been doing pretty well, in my own way. What about you?”

“...Me?”

If I say I’ve been doing well, that’s a stretch. I’ve been rolling through insanity day after day.

“...Moderately?”

But I can’t say I’ve been doing badly, either. So I tried to smooth it over.

“No one bullying you?”

“What am I, a kid?”

I have been bullied.

The problem is, it’s a ghost—and the strongest under heaven.

“If someone bullies you, tell me. Your older sister’s pretty strong.”

“Ah... Yeah?”

Even if I told her, I know she couldn’t punish him.

If it wasn’t a ghost and it was a person, it’d be even more impossible.

“...So. What are you doing right now?”

Fine. We can’t talk about how we’ve lived.

Then what’s the situation now?

Why was she wearing that uniform, and what was she doing earlier?

At my question—

“Ah, that?”

Bang Seojin answered like it was nothing.

“I’m one of the strategist’s guards. I’m in the Guards.”

“Ah. So that’s wh—what? Guard?”

It took a beat for it to hit, and I widened my eyes.

A guard for Jegal Jin?

“Yeah. Why?”

“Not ‘why’—it’s shocking you got into the Guards.”

Even within Main Alliance Headquarters units, the Guards were a high position.

Because they protected important figures, I’d heard you had to be at least pinnacle.

“Mm.”

At my surprise, Bang Seojin said—

“I haven’t been in long. Something happened recently, so they’ve been pulling a lot of people.”

“Something?”

“Yeah. The Commander of the Guards died.”

“...What?”

What kind of insane news is that?

The Commander of the Guards died?

“I didn’t hear the details. They said he was a spy, or something.”

“...What the—”

A Commander of the Guards—someone handpicked even among Main Alliance Headquarters—was a spy?

“Can you even tell me that?”

“So what. Just don’t say I went around telling people.”

“...Yes. Okay.”

“Anyway. So they rushed to reorganize and fill gaps, and I got lucky and got in.”

“...And then you became the strategist’s guard right away?”

“Yeah. I heard the strategist picked me himself?”

“...”

My head started to ache. Bang Seojin getting into Main Alliance Headquarters was already weird, but Jegal Jin personally picking her out of the Guards—

‘This.’

Is this because of me too? No—more precisely—

‘Because of the Bang name.’

Did he choose her because she’s from the Bang Clan of Liaoning?

‘Of course, maybe not.’

I can’t read Jegal Jin’s mind. It was just a suspicion.

“Anyway. It’s nice seeing your face after so long. Are those people doing okay too?”

Those people.

It was obvious who she meant.

“They’re doing okay. Moderately.”

Father and my brother.

When I answered while thinking of them, Bang Seojin’s face twisted.

“That won’t do. If they’re doing okay.”

“...”

She looked deadly serious.

They’re family—aren’t you being too much? I could’ve said that, but my feelings weren’t any different.

“They need to crash and burn.”

“More than they already have?”

Feels like they punched through the floor and dropped underground a long time ago. I don’t even know if there’s anywhere left to fall.

“My little brother should do it too—live moderately and leave. Ah. Did you already leave?”

“...”

If she meant “run away like me,” then I’d failed halfway and succeeded halfway.

“...I’ll try.”

“Yeah, yeah. And our master said he wants to see you once.”

“Master?”

Bang Seojin’s master?

No way she became a martial artist with no master.

“Who is it?”

I asked because I wondered if it was someone I knew. Bang Seojin answered with a slightly reluctant face.

“Even if I tell you, you won’t know. Anyway, I’ll come see you later.”

“Th—”

I don’t even know who it is and she’s just going to show up? That reeks of trouble.

I was about to stall for time by saying I needed to prepare myself, when—

FWEEEEEEET---!!!

A piercing sound rang out from far away.

“Oh. They’re calling me. I’m going?”

“Wait. Older Sis—!”

Bang Seojin launched herself at the whistle. I felt it last time too—she was fast as hell.

By the time I turned around, she was already gone.

“Hah.”

Again—she says what she wants and disappears.

It was ridiculous.

“What the hell, seriously.”

So she just talked about herself and left.

Then and now, she was still a one-woman army.

*****

After that, I went out to the county seat.

Originally, I was going to leave with the group that was supposed to be waiting.

‘They ditched me...?’

There was no group waiting for me.

They’d abandoned me ages ago.

I figured they’d at least wait a little, but they just left without looking back.

I know exactly where they went, but thanks to them, I had to walk through the county seat alone.

“Ugh.”

There are so many people. Maybe it’s because it’s the center of Henan, but it also seemed like news that the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was happening had drawn them in—crowds packed tight.

It was almost hard to even pass through.

I forced my way through and barely managed to move—

SWISH.

‘Huh?’

Someone brushed past me.

With a crowd like this, people passing by isn’t strange.

But—

‘What is it?’

Their appearance was... off. A figure in a black rain cloak pulled down from head to toe.

I couldn’t see their face clearly, but when I caught a slight view of their jaw, I could tell it was pale—almost sickly white.

Even at a glance, it was unusual.

‘...What is that?’

It bothered me.

I shot them a glance and looked away again.

Then—

[That’s....]

Yoo Cheongil spoke.

I couldn’t ask out loud, so I looked toward him. Yoo Cheongil was staring after them with a startled expression.

What?

I looked in the direction Yoo Cheongil was looking.

It was the person in the black rain cloak who’d passed me.

They vanished into the crowd.

Only then did I ask quietly.

“...What is it?”

[....]

Yoo Cheongil didn’t answer.

“Old man?”

When I asked again, Yoo Cheongil—silent until then—spoke at last.

[It’s nothing. I saw wrong.]

Even as he said it, his gaze was still locked beyond the crowd.

What was that?

Curious, I tried to ask again, but—

[Let’s go.]

Yoo Cheongil didn’t give me an answer in the end.

I don’t know who he mistook them for, but from his trembling eyes and the stiff expression he rarely showed, I could tell he’d thought of something that wasn’t good.

*****

A quiet room. Light poured in through the window frame, brightening the darkness, and silence pressed down beneath letters piled high.

Beyond the office that looked like a wreck, the desk was oddly spotless.

Two teacups were set in a line on top of it.

One of them floated in the air, then dropped with a small thud.

CLICK.

TRICKLE—.

The empty teacup filled with water.

While carefully pouring tea, the man in front asked the old man.

“How was it?”

Jegal Jin paused.

At that, the one pouring tea looked up at the other.

Jegal Jin looked at him.

“What was what?”

“Your impression. Meeting him.”

“You ask pointless things.”

Jegal Jin replied with irritation, but the other didn’t waver at all.

“Alliance Leader. I’m saying it again—this was pointless.”

The other was the Alliance Leader, Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong.

“What do I gain from seeing that miserable bastard’s child?”

“....”

Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong only nodded silently. Even that attitude irritated Jegal Jin.

“Mind your own business in moderation.”

“....”

“And what about you? How was it, seeing him yourself? You were so curious you even used your strength.”

“....”

Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong fell silent.

Jegal Jin knew that silence meant he was thinking, so he didn’t rush him.

He waited a beat.

Then—

“Not yet.”

A short answer.

Not yet.

Did that mean it was too early to judge?

Or—

‘Does it mean he isn’t worth judging yet?’

If it was the first, it was praise. If it was the second, it was meaningless.

But Jegal Jin didn’t dig into it.

Because digging into that would be ridiculous.

‘Tch.’

Explaining the second preliminaries.

He only did it because Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong forced it, but what could be more absurd than that?

‘Pointless.’

Even though Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong knew his circumstances, that meddling irritated him.

He’d cut ties with that place long ago.

The last tie, too—his youngest daughter.

And that bastard—kneeling and begging—had been the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) final straw. He’d written a recommendation letter, and that had truly severed the last thread.

‘And now.’

To think he’d end up seeing him.

Jegal Jin’s impression of meeting the Bang Clan’s blood—his youngest daughter’s child—was only one thing.

‘His eyes look like hers.’

Disgustingly, the boy resembled his daughter more than his father did.

He remembered the eyes that had looked at him in startled shock.

And seeing that, he understood.

‘He knows.’

What kind of relationship they had. That little brat seemed to know.

That was why—

Even though it didn’t suit his age, he’d thrown a childish tantrum and vented.

“Hoo.”

He sighed and drank his tea.

“...Enough of that.”

He forced the topic away.

There was a reason they were facing each other right now in the first place.

“Let’s get to the point.”

“....”

At Jegal Jin’s words, Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong’s gaze changed.

“Alliance Leader. Information came in.”

As Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong focused, meeting Jegal Jin’s eyes—

“It looks like Heaven-Breaking Palace is scheming something. The target seems to be Henan, but... what matters more is this.”

Strength gathered in Jegal Jin’s eyes.

“It seems that thing is connected to the Demon Cult.”

CRASH—!

The instant the words fell, the teacup Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong was holding shattered into pieces.

Then—

“Ah!”

Jegal Jin shouted while staring at the ruined teacup.

“I told you to hold it gently! Didn’t I tell you to stop breaking my cups?!”

Jegal Jin snapped at Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong, furious.

“...Sorry.”

Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong said awkwardly, then started cleaning up the broken teacup.