Chapter 94: May I Borrow Just One Sword
Morning at Falling Flame Manor.
Jin Seong-un was led by the servants directly to the dining hall.
Chae Seo-ryeong, who was already having breakfast, waved at him as if pleased to see him.
“……”
Jin Seong-un only gave a slight nod and sat down a little distance away to begin his meal.
Chae Seo-ryeong narrowed her eyes as she looked at him.
‘All because of Mother, for no reason…….’
For some reason, she felt as though she herself had fallen into disfavor because of her mother. Of course, the real reason was that he had stolen the signboard of Seong-un Inn.
Jin Seong-un focused on eating. As someone who had run an inn, food was not something to treat lightly.
The number of side dishes wasn’t many.
However, they were neat and refined, and even Jin Seong-un, who had grown accustomed to Seo Yu-gyeom’s cooking, found the clean, unpretentious taste satisfying.
When Jin Seong-un finished his meal and rose, Chae Seo-ryeong, who had already finished and was waiting, stood up with him.
The two met each other’s eyes briefly.
Chae Seo-ryeong grinned.
“You’re going to the office, right?”
Jin Seong-un nodded.
She gestured for him to follow and walked out first.
Since he didn’t know the layout of Falling Flame Manor, Jin Seong-un had no choice but to follow her.
The office of the Falling Flame Manor Master.
As soon as Jin Seong-un arrived, Chae Ga-hee placed a heavy money pouch on the desk.
He glanced at it and asked,
“What is this?”
“This is the money Young Master Jin earned yesterday.”
Jin Seong-un blinked.
Then Chae Ga-hee explained the peculiar trade relationship between the smithy and the Murim factions.
“……”
Jin Seong-un looked at the pouch with unease.
Wasn’t this basically money earned from theft? Having spent his whole life working as an inn waiter and earning money honestly, he felt a strange sense of rejection.
Above all, taking that money would make him feel like a true thief.
“I don’t need the money.”
“Then I’ll just throw it away.”
“……”
Jin Seong-un stared at Chae Ga-hee, dumbfounded.
She let out a soft chuckle.
“It was money to be reclaimed eventually anyway. Though it would’ve been in the far future.”
She knew well that Zhongnan Sect didn’t use those swords. Naturally, their peculiar trade system had deadlines attached.
Within the set period, they had to repay the smithy with either iron scraps or equivalent value.
But since the deadline was usually over ten years, it was little more than a formality.
“Then let me put it differently. Consider this my thanks for retrieving Falling Flame Manor’s swords.”
Chae Ga-hee herself had disliked sending swords to Zhongnan Sect. From the start, she hadn’t wanted their creations to be mistreated there.
Yet the reason the deal hadn’t been broken was simple—face.
If the descendants broke the promises of their forebears, their reputation in the Orthodox Murim would be gravely tarnished.
That was why both Zhongnan Sect and Falling Flame Manor, though mutually displeased, had continued their uncomfortable arrangement.
But things had changed.
Under Chae Ga-hee’s relentless questioning, Zhongnan Sect had finally confessed that the swords had disappeared.
“Thanks to that, we now have justification to end future dealings.”
“Well, sure……”
Jin Seong-un remained indifferent.
In truth, their dealings didn’t interest him much.
“You don’t have to be so formal with me.”
Jin Seong-un said.
After all, he spoke casually with Chae Seo-ryeong. For her mother to speak respectfully felt strange.
But he couldn’t ask someone of Seo-ryeong’s age to suddenly start speaking formally to him either.
Only someone obsessed with authority—like Sima Hwi—could make such remarks lightly.
Chae Ga-hee nodded immediately.
“Very well.”
“……”
She too felt the awkwardness.
Jin Seong-un fixed his gaze on her.
His eyes clearly said: Tell me the details of the wager already.
Chae Ga-hee hesitated.
By now, she was nearly convinced he was the heir of the Divine Thief. After all, who else could have stolen over sixty swords from the Zhongnan Sect’s armory?
Moreover, he knew of the Divine Thief’s hideout and the wager that only the Divine Thief and Falling Flame Manor were aware of.
Any one of these would’ve been strong evidence—but here, three were present at once.
Yet one problem remained.
Assuming he really was the Divine Thief’s heir only made her hesitate more.
‘He said he spared Seo-ryeong.’
She had heard in greater detail about what had happened in Yichang the night before.
In truth, the Divine Thief’s heir could easily have killed or gravely injured Seo-ryeong—on the battlefield, and even more so within the formation.
But he hadn’t.
In Chae Ga-hee’s eyes, he had chosen the best way to safely hand Seo-ryeong over to the Murim Alliance.
This showed he was not of wicked heart.
What’s more, though provoked all night long, he had remained calm and dry, never once losing his temper or pressing her with questions.
‘For someone so young, such depth is rare.’
Chae Ga-hee, as someone who led a faction herself, trusted her judgment of people. And Jin Seong-un appeared to her as quite a fine young man.
“You don’t know the contents of the wager, do you?”
“No.”
“It’s something that could cost you your life.”
That was her concern.
Sending a promising young man like Jin Seong-un—and her own daughter Seo-ryeong—into the perilous Qinghai Iron Workshop, under the name of a wager and family revival.
“If it troubles you, just tell me what needs to be retrieved. I’ll go alone.”
At his words, Chae Ga-hee sighed.
After pondering for a moment, she finally spoke.
“Do you know how the Divine Thief passed away?”
“…Yes, I know.”
He had heard it directly from the Divine Thief.
Chae Ga-hee nodded and continued.
“He passed away because of the wager with my mother.”
Jin Seong-un was inwardly surprised to learn that the woman who had wagered with the Divine Thief, Chae Ok-hyeon, belonged to the previous generation.
Chae Ga-hee’s words went on.
“My mother proposed such a wager to the Divine Thief, but regretted it immediately and went to find him.”
“She did not make it in time, then.”
“You’re right. The Divine Thief had already departed. My mother set out for the Qinghai Iron Workshop too late, quite literally.”
Her meaning was clear.
By this point, Jin Seong-un had a good idea of what she was trying to say.
“My mother regretted it for the rest of her life.”
“So, you mean you can’t let me, his successor, suffer the same fate.”
“…To be honest, yes.”
“You had me prove myself, though.”
By stealing swords from Zhongnan Sect, he had proven himself as the Divine Thief’s heir.
“That was to prove you truly were the Divine Thief’s heir. That didn’t mean we had to accept the wager.”
“If you had no intention of accepting, why ask me to prove it at all?”
“Because you already knew about the wager. The matter between the Qinghai Iron Workshop and Falling Flame Manor is our deepest shame. It could even brand Falling Flame Manor as enemies of the Orthodox Murim. If you were an outsider who somehow discovered it…”
Her voice trailed off.
Even so, Jin Seong-un could guess the rest.
They would have tried to kill him, no matter how impossible, because such a secret must be kept.
But things were different if he was the Divine Thief’s heir. For the Divine Thief himself had been directly involved in the wager.
“What exactly is this wager?”
By now, he could not help but ask again.
After a moment of hesitation, she lowered her voice. Though the office of the Manor Master was always secured with formations, she was still extra cautious.
“The Demonic Cult. They were involved.”
Jin Seong-un’s brows twitched.
Even someone like him, who cared little for murim history, knew the name Demonic Cult—Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Everyone born and raised in the Central Plains grew up learning to fear and hate them.
The world loathed, despised, and feared them that much.
“But why would the Demonic Cult…”
Jin Seong-un muttered in disbelief, then glanced at Chae Seo-ryeong. She showed no surprise, as if she already knew.
His eyes shifted to their red hair in turn.
Perhaps it was prejudice, but at this moment, it was a reasonable question.
“Are you from the Demonic Cult?”
“…Something like that.”
Chae Ga-hee did not explain further.
But that alone was enough for Jin Seong-un to realize their blood carried the Demonic Cult’s lineage.
And that was no small matter.
Falling Flame Manor was a family that did business with murim, especially the Orthodox Murim.
The Murim Alliance and other righteous sects would draw their swords or hide at the very mention of the Demonic Cult.
They were absolute enemies.
To be entangled with them meant destruction. Even if it was a mistake, proving innocence would take years of harsh trials.
Such was the way of the world.
Whenever the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult stirred, the Central Plains drowned in blood—the blood of the Murim Alliance, the Nine Sects One Gang, and the Five Great Clans’ ancestors.
The very reason the Murim Alliance had been founded was to oppose them, and its greatest purpose remained to eradicate them.
In such a world, if it became known that the blood of the Demonic Cult flowed within them, the outcome was obvious.
The red hair once praised as mysterious and beautiful would become a target of wrath and slaughter.
All within Falling Flame Manor would perish.
Even if the Orthodox Murim miraculously showed mercy, every red-haired woman would be put to death.
Jin Seong-un looked between Chae Ga-hee and Chae Seo-ryeong again.
The once proud Chae Ga-hee’s face was shadowed. Seo-ryeong’s face even more so—she lowered her head, afraid to see hatred in his eyes.
Her red hair was all the more striking.
A heavy silence lingered.
Chae Ga-hee thought Jin Seong-un would back away from this matter.
It was only natural when the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had been named.
“You are young. You don’t seem like a bad person, and above all, you are the benefactor who saved Seo-ryeong’s life. How could I involve a benefactor in such filthy and dangerous matters?”
Her voice was gentle, her tone that of someone sure he understood.
And indeed, Jin Seong-un’s expression was grave.
He was serious. With a solemn face, he recalled the Divine Thief’s face.
‘So that’s why the Dragon Armor…’
He thought that once he returned, he would have to demand answers from his master. How could he not have mentioned that the Demonic Cult was involved?
It was absurd, laughably so.
And for that very reason, his resolve burned even fiercer.
“Is the Qinghai Iron Workshop part of the Demonic Cult as well?”
“…Yes. Though proving it would not be easy. Only we know the truth, and if we were to report it, it would expose Falling Flame Manor’s ties as well.”
Jin Seong-un’s face lit up.
Indeed, the Demonic Cult often committed atrocities in those days—cruel, immoral acts.
The Orthodox Murim crushed them whenever they surfaced, but the cult endlessly hid across the Central Plains to continue their wickedness.
His expression now looked as though he had never been more relieved. Both Chae Ga-hee and Chae Seo-ryeong were puzzled.
Jin Seong-un rose from his seat and said,
“Then lend me just one sword.”
He thought perhaps this task might actually be easy.