Feeling gloomy, Seo-gyeom imagined his future.
Big deal, one might say he could just experiment and test it out. However, today’s was a place where he could feel pain from a mere bruise. Naturally, he couldn’t even bring himself to dare.
‘Above all, this guy is terminally ill!’
“Young Master.”
Seo-gyeom, who was imagining the worst possible ending, snapped out of his thoughts. Behind the brazen window recommending regression stood Namgung Yoon with a worried face.
“Your complexion looks unwell.”
The way he spoke anxiously made it seem as though he couldn’t even see the window separating the two of them. If someone were currently playing Namgung Yoon, their eyes would have flicked to the system window. Even a veteran player like Seo-gyeom had to check the window to skip it.
So this one thing was certain.
‘Namgung Yoon isn’t a player.’
He had intended to search for Namgung Yoon once he escaped the Dang Clan anyway. The reason the third young master had passed away despite obtaining the spirit herb was because he had met the protagonist far too late.
Even if he had skipped the ‘Death of Dang Seo-gyeom’ event without watching it, the tips he had repeatedly seen remained vivid in his mind. Depending on the rarity of the spirit herb, the phrasing varied slightly, but the regretful tone remained consistent.
‘You have completed the Chapter 4 quest. However, the Third Young Master’s body has already exhausted its vitality. Everyone in the Dang Clan hopes his final journey will not be painful. I think it was something similar to this…’
Seo-gyeom recalled a scene from his memory. Didn’t those words imply that if it was before his vitality was exhausted, a cure might be possible?
He simply hadn’t been able to attempt it due to the system blocking him at every turn, but Seo-gyeom needed to meet Namgung Yoon if only to survive. Since the man had come looking for him first like this, there was no reason to refuse.
“No. I don’t think I’m alright.”
Having made up his mind, Seo-gyeom held his forehead to stay faithful to his settings. Without even needing to act, his weak, flimsy body tottered on its own.
“Oh dear. It seems your body isn’t well either. If it’s alright with you, could you tell me where your residence is? I will escort you back.”
When he stumbled back a few steps, Namgung Yoon, who was standing opposite him, quickly supported him. At the careful question, Seo-gyeom pointed somewhere as if he had been waiting for it.
At the massive outer gate, incomparable to the dog hole he had just squeezed out of.
“Over, over there.”
“It appears so.”
He had wondered what to do if Namgung Yoon didn’t believe him after catching him coming out of a dog hole, but surprisingly, Namgung Yoon accepted it meekly. As Seo-gyeom was gauging whether it was because of his luxurious attire, he only learned the precise reason a moment later.
“Who goes there!”
A sudden shout burst out from behind his back. Turning around, men holding torches were approaching, cutting through the darkness.
Even if Seo-gyeom’s quarters were in the outer castle, it was strictly inside the estate of the Sichuan Dang Clan. It was no surprise that the gatekeepers ran over upon hearing the commotion.
“Answer!”
As the shouting drew closer, Seo-gyeom turned back to Namgung Yoon. Even if Seo-gyeom himself bumped into them, he would feel nothing more than awkward, but that wasn’t the case for Namgung Yoon. With an extraordinary face and a long sword strapped to his waist.
That appearance was just like…
‘Anyone can see he’s a martial artist! If he gets caught like this, how is he going to clear the quest?’
Repaying grudges tenfold meant, in other words, that they were just that narrow-minded. From what Seo-gyeom knew, people of the martial realm tended to obsess over even the smallest things. Among them, the Dang Clan held grudges particularly fiercely.
There was no way they would warmly welcome a martial artist wandering around in the dead of night.
“If you do not answer, we will consider you an intruder.”
As expected, the gatekeeper’s voice now contained blatant hostility. Seo-gyeom urgently tugged on Namgung Yoon’s sleeve. However, Namgung Yoon merely looked down at Seo-gyeom as if asking what was wrong.
“What kind of bastard is wandering in front of the grand Sichuan Dang Clan—”
In the meantime, the gatekeeper who had approached within arm’s reach shouted boisterously, only to abruptly shut his mouth.
“Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
The one who stopped beside him thrust a torch toward Seo-gyeom. Under the blazing firelight, Seo-gyeom’s face was revealed.
“Young Master?”
“Uh… Yeah. It’s me.”
Damn it. Seo-gyeom stiffly raised one hand. As he wriggled his fingers with awkward movements, shock spread across the gatekeeper’s face.
“If you say Young Master… Don’t tell me you mean the Third Young Master?”
“Didn’t they tell us never to let him leave the outer castle?”
“Hss.”
So shocked were they that words that shouldn’t be said slipped out from among the gatekeepers following behind. The man who recognized Seo-gyeom hastily stopped them, but it was already after Seo-gyeom—a former modern civilian—had heard it.
‘Geez, no wonder Dang Seo-gyeom thought he was abandoned.’
Seo-gyeom knitted his brows, then subtly smoothed them out. Pitiful as Dang Seo-gyeom’s situation was, how the Dang Clan chose to protect him was none of his business. The only thing important to him was holding onto Namgung Yoon.
“I was… trying to take a walk.”
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Seo-gyeom brought up an excuse while the gatekeepers were flustered. However, Seo-gyeom’s words could not continue to the end.
“That bastard must have kidnapped the Young Master!”
How could the Young Master, who was said to struggle even to sit up from his bed, be standing outside? Then who was that guy next to him? It was because one of the murmuring gatekeepers shouted at the top of his lungs.
Regrettably, it was quite a persuasive statement. The captain also seemed to agree, and after alternating his gaze between Namgung Yoon and Seo-gyeom, he quietly gestured with his hand. The gatekeepers, who had been acting foolishly just a moment ago, hardened their gazes.
“You rogue! Will you not let go of the Young Master this instant?!”
Encircling Namgung Yoon in an instant, they drew their swords. The moonlight reflected off the blades glinted sharply.
“Kidnapping, is it?”
Even in a surrounded situation, Namgung Yoon remained composed. As if the opponents were laughable no matter how many there were, even a faint sneer flickered on his face. Realizing something was amiss, Seo-gyeom grabbed his arm.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding. As Daehyeop can see, I was in the middle of sneaking out by myself.”
If the gatekeepers were guilty of anything, it was merely being faithful to their duties. He didn’t know the full extent of Namgung Yoon’s martial arts, but seeing how composed he was, it was obvious that even if they attacked in a swarm, they wouldn’t be able to inflict a single wound on him. Furthermore, if Namgung Yoon drew his sword now, the Chapter 4 quest would go down the drain.
“Young Master.”
Did Seo-gyeom’s desperation reach him? The quiet Namgung Yoon took a step back.
“Yes.”
Judging by his attitude, he didn’t seem to have any intention of fighting. Sweeping his chest in relief, Seo-gyeom quickly closed the distance between them by as much as they had drifted apart. Using dizziness as an excuse to be supported, and while he was at it, to keep him tied to the Dang Clan.
“There is one thing I must ask.”
However, the indifferent aura around Namgung Yoon suddenly shifted. Overlapping his hand on top of Seo-gyeom’s hand that was holding his arm, he asked solemnly.
“Is it true that you came out for a walk?”
“Pardon?”
“Not that you were running away?”
Running away? Me? At the out-of-nowhere question, Seo-gyeom’s mind went blank. Come to think of it, what had those guys said earlier? Did they say not to let him leave the outer castle?
Seo-gyeom knew they were coddling him out of fear that he might be exposed to poison qi, but in Namgung Yoon’s eyes, it seemed to look a bit different. A tragic young master who was persecuted and kept imprisoned, or something… Thinking up to this point, Namgung Yoon gently pulled Seo-gyeom toward him.
“If it is difficult to say, you do not have to.”
Hiding Seo-gyeom behind his back, Namgung Yoon spoke in a low voice. Looking at that posture alone, he looked like a righteous hero, but Seo-gyeom was merely bewildered.
“No! Really! I really just came out for a walk. I just wanted to look outside for a bit.”
To be precise, the thought had crossed his mind that if it wasn’t a standard passage, he might be able to escape the Dang Clan while bypassing the system’s restrictions. Even if he could escape, he wasn’t going to leave immediately.
The martial realm was a place where even a healthy person struggled to survive all on their own. How could Seo-gyeom have the guts to run away with a terminally ill body? He simply wanted to have at least one breathing hole. Rather than being bound here waiting only to die, he intended to try whatever he could.
“No matter what happens, we must retrieve the Young Master!”
“We will rescue you shortly!”
In the meantime, the gatekeepers’ misunderstanding was deepening as well. Certain that Namgung Yoon’s actions were a kidnapping, the gatekeepers charged in, screaming wildly. Before he could grab him, Namgung Yoon slipped out of Seo-gyeom’s hand. Seo-gyeom stared at his hand floating in midair and let out a sigh.
“I don’t even know anymore… They’ll stop eventually.”
It was something he had felt while playing , but martial artists were truly a problem in this regard. Drawing their swords first while insisting their own thoughts were right, when it could be resolved through conversation.
The funny thing was that this ignorant method worked quite well. And not just in the martial realm.
Those who held onto to the very end after it degraded into a trash game were like that. Saying that righteousness and chivalry taking precedence over logic was precisely the charm of wuxia.
‘To say something like that so casually…’
Recalling even the usernames attached in front of those comments, Seo-gyeom squeezed his eyes shut. Every single one of them was utterly childish.
Yet, perhaps Seo-gyeom himself had already been assimilated as well. If not, he wouldn’t have clung to it for four whole years just to keep that one Namgung Yoon alive.
