Chapter 287

Me, Im Kkeokjeong, Song Song, and Butler Kim.

Yet the moment Lee Jungryong entered the hospital room, his gaze settled on one person alone.

Team Leader Choi.

“You’ve grown a lot.”

“……!”

The moment I heard Lee Jungryong’s first words, I felt as though someone had struck me in the back of the head with a sledgehammer.

So this was what Team Leader Choi had been hiding.

Their relationship was clearly more than that of an ordinary superior and subordinate at work.

As far as I know, Team Leader Choi was with Ares Guild for only three or four years.

Even by the most conservative estimate, he must have met Lee Jungryong in his early to mid-twenties. “You’ve grown a lot” wasn’t something you said to a man like that.

It was the sort of thing you heard from your parents’ friends or relatives during the holidays.

“It’s been a long time, Vice Guild Master Lee Jungryong.”

The stiff title and formal tone made Lee Jungryong study Team Leader Choi with interest.

“Vice Guild Master? When you were young, you used to call me Grandpa.”

Grandpa?

That was the second shock. For a moment, I wondered if perhaps… but quickly dismissed the thought.

It was simply what Team Leader Choi had called him as a child. Lee Jungryong couldn’t actually be his grandfather.

Still, they’ve clearly had a close relationship since Team Leader Choi was young.

That alone made Team Leader Choi’s relationship with Lee Jungryong anything but ordinary.

While everyone else stood stunned, only two people remained composed: Butler Kim and Team Leader Choi, who answered calmly.

“That was twenty years ago.”

“Time is frightening. Who would have thought that sweet little boy would turn out like this?”

“The older I got, the more I began to see the things that had once been invisible to me.”

“I received a report that you resigned last year. Come to think of it, I never saw your face even once after you joined the Guild. I must admit, I found that rather disappointing.”

Despite his words, he didn’t look disappointed in the slightest. Neither did Team Leader Choi.

“I felt the same way. If you hadn’t immediately transferred me overseas and barred me from even setting foot in headquarters, we might have seen each other more often.”

“Why? Didn’t you like the overseas branch?”

“I felt it wasn’t where I belonged. That’s all.”

“Not where you belonged…”

“Wasn’t that exactly what you wanted, Vice Guild Master?”

“Me?”

Lee Jungryong let out a quiet laugh.

“So you built yourself a new nest? Even going so far as to borrow someone else’s name?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt.”

Butler Kim, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke. His voice was as calm as ever.

“But the Young Master and I are hardly strangers.”

“Oh, who might this be?”

Lee Jungryong widened his eyes in feigned surprise.

The reaction was clearly exaggerated. If he knew Team Leader Choi, there was no way he wouldn’t know Butler Kim, the person closest to him.

“Kim Hwajong? It is Hwajong, isn’t it?”

“It’s been a long time, Senior.”

Butler Kim didn’t refuse Lee Jungryong’s outstretched hand. The two men shook hands, each wearing a faint smile.

Informal speech? And Senior?

Whatever their exact relationship was, they seemed much closer than I’d expected.

“It was a good thing I came in person. The last time we met was… about twenty years ago, wasn’t it?”

“Eighteen years, to be precise. Ship-pal years.”¹

Was it just my imagination, or had he put extra force into those particular words?

I glanced to the side. Song Song and Im Kkeokjeong looked as though they had seen a ghost.

Ah. So it wasn’t my imagination.

Close, my ass. I must have been blind.

I take it back. Butler Kim didn’t merely dislike Lee Jungryong.

He fucking hated him. Enough to wish he had died.

Butler Kim was a mage, so he wasn’t holding an actual knife, but his tongue was every bit as sharp as a blade.

At his vicious words, Go Jun, who had been standing behind Lee Jungryong like an iron tower, took a step forward.

“Watch your mouth.”

“Watch my mouth?”

“He is not someone you may address so carelessly.”

Butler Kim gave Go Jun an odd look.

“You seem highly skilled at a glance, Hunter. What is your name?”

“I’m Go Jun, head of the Vice Guild Master’s security.”

“I see. Team Leader Seok.”

Butler Kim’s distinctive low voice continued smoothly.

“If you’ve said everything you have to say, shut your mouth and get back behind him. This isn’t a place for the likes of you to interfere.”

“……!”

Go Jun’s already expressionless face stiffened.

Just as veins began to bulge on his forehead, Lee Jungryong burst into hearty laughter and motioned him back.

“I thought age might have mellowed you, but… your temper hasn’t changed at all. This is the Kim Hwajong I remember.”

“When it comes to a foul temper, you still have me beat by a mile, Senior. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Team Leader Choi cut in coldly.

“Enough of this pointless conversation. Get to the matter at hand.”

How many people in Korea—or the entire world—could speak to Lee Jungryong that way?

Im Kkeokjeong and Song Song gaped at the stormy exchange.

Even I was inwardly astonished by Butler Kim’s behavior, despite having personally witnessed him treat Im Chunsoo, the Guild Master of Sangdong Guild, like a dog several months ago.

What on earth happened between them?

It wasn’t just Team Leader Choi. Even Butler Kim was acting completely unlike his usual self.

“One of you is young and impatient, while the other still hasn’t shed the temper of his youth. Well, I suppose there’s no harm in getting to the point. Though it is a little disappointing, considering I came here as an invited guest.”

“Did you just call this an invitation?”

“You’re mistaken. No one here would invite you, Vice Guild Master.”

“Think carefully. Surely there’s at least one person who did?”

Lee Jungryong had been watching the two of them with amusement. Then he suddenly turned toward me.

“That fellow.”

Silence descended over the room.

With everyone’s eyes on me, I thought for a moment before carefully opening my mouth.

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

The instant I finished speaking, Go Jun let out a low growl. He looked ready to charge like a hunting dog if Lee Jungryong hadn’t shaken his head.

After restraining Go Jun, Lee Jungryong spoke to me.

“Didn’t you say so yourself? That I should come in person and apologize to the victim.”

“Oh.”

I had definitely said that.

To Park Jihoon and Park Tae Seop.

“You look as though you never expected me to come.”

“To be honest, I didn’t. What are you plotting by coming all the way here?”

“You have a tendency to say whatever comes to mind without thinking it through. Since I accepted your invitation, shouldn’t you begin by thanking me?”

Thank him?

I let out a hollow laugh. The rest of his words were so absurd that they weren’t even worth answering.

“Your mouth may be crooked, but at least speak straight. It wasn’t an invitation. It was a demand. A demand for an apology.”

“No. If coming here had not been my own decision, could you—or the Peace Guild, for that matter—have made me move even a single step?”

“That’s…”

“Didn’t you think so yourself? You never truly expected me to come.”

It felt as though someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over me. The words caught in my throat.

Everything he said was true.

Though my heart had cried out for anger and revenge, I had never expected Lee Jungryong to come. Even in the midst of that rage, my mind had coldly compromised with reality.

Lee Jungryong, the man who effectively ruled Ares Guild, was still a giant I couldn’t force to his knees with my current strength.

“A demand is the right of the strong. Words spoken by the weak to the strong can never be demands. They are always requests—or invitations.”

“……!”

“That’s why I came in response to an invitation. Whatever leverage you think you have over me, that fact will not change. I am Lee Jungryong. I am Ares Guild, and Ares Guild is me.”

His voice was quiet, but it carried weight. Everyone in the Peace Guild, myself included, was left speechless.

At least one thing was clear.

Lee Jungryong hadn’t come here to apologize.

Having driven the overwhelming difference in our power into our minds, he continued with a satisfied smile.

“And this is no way to treat a guest who came to visit a patient. Especially one who brought a gift for him. Isn’t that right, Team Leader Seok?”

“That is correct, Vice Guild Master.”

Go Jun answered like a robot and knocked on the door. A Hunter from the security team who had been waiting outside entered and placed what he was carrying on the table.

A vase filled with hundreds of flowers.

And an envelope.

“Compensation money. If the amount isn’t enough, tell me. I’ll give you as much as you need.”

My gaze remained fixed on the flowers. They were beautiful and white. I had never been particularly fond of flowers, but I had never disliked them, either.

Yet this was the first time in my life that receiving flowers as a gift had made me feel disgusted.

Lilies as a hospital-visit gift.²

My dormant anger began crawling back up from the depths.

I rubbed the stiff, tingling back of my neck and muttered,

“What a fucking old bastard…”

This time, even Go Jun couldn’t restrain himself.

With a roar, he charged. His fist slammed into my lower jaw at blinding speed.

Crack!

Blood sprayed with a chilling sound.

I frowned and slowly turned my tilted head. The taste of sticky, salty blood spread through my mouth.

“Damn it. I bit my tongue.”

Go Jun’s eyes widened. He looked back and forth between his fist and me as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“How?”

“I’m pretty tough. I drank a lot of milk when I was young.”

“I definitely imbued it with mana…”

If it had been fully materialized Fist Energy, I wouldn’t still be standing here like this.

Of course, if that had been the case, I wouldn’t have deliberately let him hit me, either.

I flashed him a grin.

“You should have used everything you had. Enough to finish me in one blow.”

Whoosh!

“Hup!”

Go Jun sucked in a short breath and reached out to knock my arm aside. He was so fast that an ordinary A-rank Hunter couldn’t even compare.

His hand curved like a hook as it snapped toward my wrist.

This really is a grappling technique.

Remembering the surprise I had felt while fighting Park Jihoon, I smoothly twisted my wrist.

Slip.

His hand clawed through empty air. I wound around his wrist, locked it in place, and put my weight into a stomp that crashed down onto the top of his foot.

Crack!

“Urgh!”

The weight of a thousand geun³ crushed Go Jun’s instep and drove it deep into the solid concrete. Groaning in pain, he raised his arm to shield his face.

But…

“You think that’ll do?”

One thing was certain.

I hadn’t avoided his blow.

Go Jun hadn’t been able to avoid mine.

Crunch!

My fist struck the exact center of his face, breaking his nose in one blow and caving in the flesh beneath it.

His mouth gaped open, spraying blood and white teeth.

Clatter. Thud.

“Fucking bastard. Who said you could throw the first punch?”

“……!”

It all happened in an instant. Everyone in the hospital room was shocked, but one person’s reaction stood out in particular.

“You bastard…”

The voice that had remained relaxed throughout trembled faintly. Ripples spread through Lee Jungryong’s eyes.

I quickly spoke first, before things could get worse.

“For the record, that was self-defense.”

But the words I heard next were something I could never have anticipated.

“What is your relationship with my older brother?”

“Excuse me? Who?”

“The person who taught you that.”

“If you mean that…”

My eyes widened.

Was this old man talking about martial arts?

But Lee Jungryong was no longer listening to me. His gaze had turned cold and heavy as he stared at Team Leader Choi.

“Did Soyeong have another man?”

I didn’t know who Soyeong was.

But to someone else, that name was apparently a dragon’s reverse scale—a point that must never be touched.

Team Leader Choi clenched his fists, and blue flames blazed in Butler Kim’s eyes.

“Senior. Do you want to die?”

“Answer me.”

“You bastard! Lee Jungryong!”

“Now.”

That was when Team Leader Choi’s tightly sealed lips finally parted.

“You know better than I do what kind of relationship those two had.”

“Then that bastard…”

“You must have already investigated Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

“Are you saying all of it is true?”

“It is exactly as you know it. There isn’t a single lie.”

Lee Jungryong’s eyes trembled.

After looking back and forth between Team Leader Choi and me, he finally turned away. The door opened as though someone had been waiting for the signal, but he came to an abrupt stop before leaving.

He tossed out a single sentence.

“I’ll send someone soon. Once the negotiations are over, hand over the people you’re holding.”

Click.

The door closed behind the last person to leave—the security team Hunter carrying Go Jun on his back.

It felt as though a storm had just swept through the room.

I turned toward Team Leader Choi, who was silently staring at the tightly closed door.

“Who is Soyeong?”

“She was my mother.”

“……What?”

“The mother who gave birth to me and raised me. She passed away a long time ago.”

My mouth fell open despite myself.

What the hell is wrong with that old man?

Lee Jungryong had asked Team Leader Choi whether his late mother had cheated while she was alive—her own son, no less.

“Crazy. Why would he—ah, never mind. You don’t have to answer.”

“Vice Guild Master Lee must have been quite shaken. Even I didn’t expect him to ask so directly.”

To hell with whether he was shaken.

I frantically waved my hand.

“Team Leader, really, it’s fine. You don’t have to tell me.”

“Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if my mother had been born as someone other than Cheon Taemin’s daughter.”

“All right, that’s enough…”

My body abruptly froze.

What did he just say?

Although I couldn’t move an inch, my mind repeated those three syllables faster than ever.

Cheon Taemin. Cheon Taemin. Cheon Taemin…

“Did you just say Cheon Taemin?”

“If my pronunciation wasn’t incorrect, then you heard me correctly.”

“Could it be… the Cheon Taemin I know?”

“Yes.”

Team Leader Choi nodded and continued.

“He is my maternal grandfather.”

For a moment, my vision spun and my legs wobbled.

Cheon Taemin. He said Cheon Taemin.

I had once harbored doubts about Team Leader Choi’s identity.

A man in his twenties with seemingly limitless ability, whom an A-rank mage known as a hidden hero of the Great Cataclysm called Young Master.

Now I finally understood how all of that had been possible.

It was because his maternal grandfather was Cheon Taemin.

Humanity’s great hero. The world’s greatest Hunter…

Among all the words used to describe Cheon Taemin, the title “Guild Master of Ares Guild” was only one small piece.

The name of the largest piece was an immortal achievement no one else could ever attain.

The man who killed the Demon King. The Slayer.

That Cheon Taemin’s maternal grandson was standing before me.