Even Baek Woo Jin, who rarely blinked an eye at anything, couldn’t help but feel genuinely shocked at this moment.
“The woman in this drawing is the head craftsman?”
The revelation was so shocking that it left him momentarily speechless.
“…I’m certain of it. How could I ever forget? It’s not my place to say, but that woman is a true demon. I can’t even be compared to her.”
“The head craftsman, you say.”
Baek Woo Jin turned the drawing that had been facing Jeong Jong Gu toward himself, bringing it closer for a better look.
No matter how long he stared, the face in the picture looked like that of someone around his age, with a delicate and pretty appearance.
Memories flashed through his mind. The awkward first night when she had tried to seduce him with an innocent smile, and the next morning when she had playfully deboned a fish for him while flashing an enchanting grin.
“How old is the head craftsman this year?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but she’s probably over sixty.”
“Over sixty, huh…”
Over sixty.
So, if I’d made a mistake and fallen for it, I’d have ended up with a sixty-year-old granny.
Ha.
A dry laugh escaped his lips.
And then—
“Urghhh!”
He vomited, expelling everything in his stomach.
It turned out he had a weaker stomach than he thought.
***
The night had grown deep.
Unable to sleep, Tang Seon Yeong wandered along the pond nestled deep within the Tang Clan.
She thought the cool breeze might help lighten her mood, but her dark expression showed no sign of improvement.
It was because her mind was plagued by countless troubling thoughts that refused to leave her alone.
This is suffocating…
A dark cloud had settled over the Tang Clan. She wasn’t even sure if the current head of the clan and her father was real or not, and ever since the Elder Council started running the clan, the influence of the branch families had grown so much that they were almost equal to the main family.
She didn’t want to divide the main and branch families. After all, they all bore the same surname, and weren’t they, in essence, her uncles and cousins?
However, they didn’t see it the same way. The Tang Clan had long operated with the main family holding the majority of the power.
Those who had lived under silent discrimination for so long began to reveal their greed for authority, and over time they became more aggressive; they started stripping the main family of one privilege after another.
If this continues, the clan will…
Ever since the clan head lost his drive, the main family had been steadily losing ground to the branch families. The person who was supposed to lead them had shut himself away and gave no guidance except to say, “Do nothing.” In the face of such passive behavior, the others had little choice.
But slowly things began to change. Unable to give up everything, the bloodline of the main family decided to resist while ignoring the clan head’s orders.
Those who had managed to rise before it was too late were now locked in a fierce power struggle with the branch families.
All of them were valuable assets to the Tang Clan. If this war of attrition continued and the emotional rifts deepened, it could escalate into a devastating internal conflict far worse than political disputes.
And if that happened, the Tang Clan might shatter into pieces.
In this situation, I…
The thought of being trapped, of being unable to do anything as time slipped away on the dangerous edge of uncertainty, made her feel suffocated and angry.
“Haa…”
She shook her head and exhaled the thoughts clinging to her like residue in her lungs.
Tomorrow, I’ll go find Baek Woo Jin and try to talk to him, even just a little.
If it was him, perhaps he could give her some idea of what she needed to do next.
…Though, honestly, I just want to see him.
When she pictured his face, the face she missed as soon as she turned away after seeing it, she decided to lie down and rest, in hopes of bringing tomorrow closer a little faster.
“What are you doing here so late, young lady?”
Until she heard a low and aged voice cutting through the late-night silence.
Before the voice reached her ears, she hadn’t noticed the figure emerging from the deep darkness. A hunched old woman with her hands clasped behind her back wore a grotesque mask as she approached.
Tang Seon Yeong’s gaze wavered violently as she looked at her.
“It’s been a long time, young lady.”
The old woman bowed deeply and politely in greeting.
Tang Seon Yeong clenched her fists tightly.
“I trust you’ve been well.”
Suppressing the killing intent that nearly spilled out at the brazen question, she steadied her breathing.
To Tang Seon Yeong, the old woman wasn’t just an object of hatred; she was the source of it.
It was only natural. The one who had overturned and twisted her entire life stood right before her.
“It’s been a long time, head craftsman.”
The old woman wearing the strange mask was none other than Head Craftsman Jin Mi Yeon, who had performed those horrifying experiments on her.
“Hohohoho! You’ve grown into such a beautiful young lady.”
The eyes hidden behind the mask scrutinized her from head to toe.
“Truly… It’s enough to make me jealous.”
“Ugh…!”
At the sound of that voice dripping with insatiable greed, Tang Seon Yeong instinctively stepped back.
To her, Jin Mi Yeon was both an object of hatred and a source of terror.
Every time they met, Tang Seon Yeong was forced to endure unbearable pain, a torment that had been seared into her bones since her childhood.
This isn’t normal. Something’s not right.
Slowly, Tang Seon Yeong started gathering her energy.
Someone who came in the middle of the night while the entire clan was asleep couldn’t have come with good intentions, especially someone she despised to the core.
“Hoho! There’s no need to be so tense. I simply came to check if the young lady’s body is in good health, given how long it’s been since we last met.”
The memories from her childhood floated to the surface.
It had always been the same. On the days when she felt unbearable pain, Jin Mi Yeon would say those exact words.
“Well then, won’t you come with me for a little while?”
The memory of that pain washed over her and sent a shudder through her entire body. It was an agony so intense that even now, as an adult, it was almost impossible to bear. She had no desire to relive it.
“It’s late tonight. I think it would be better if you came back another time.”
She expressed her refusal as politely as she could, but Jin Mi Yeon just laughed, and her eyes glowed ominously from behind her mask.
“It’s fine, truly. I’ve already received permission from the clan head.”
“What…!”
At that moment, she sensed movement from behind, near the edge of the pond.
Tang Seon Yeong quickly turned her head.
And she saw it.
A hulking figure began creeping up from her shadow.
“Damn…!”
She hurriedly tried to retreat and ready herself, but once her back was fully exposed, the fight was as good as over.
The man who rose from the faint shadow moved far faster than her retreating steps and closed the distance in an instant. His fingers pressed accurately against the Belt Vesse point, where her shoulder blades joined the bones of her arms.
“Ah…!”
A sharp cry escaped her lips as her body froze in place. Her entire body had gone numb, paralyzed from the precise strike to her pressure point.
“Hoho! My apologies for the rough methods, young lady.”
Tang Seon Yeong rolled her eyes toward Jin Mi Yeon, who approached slowly, step by step.
“You…!”
Despite her fiery tone, the old woman chuckled softly before continuing.
“Don’t worry. This experiment won’t hurt as much as the last one.”
“You…!”
Just as she glared with killing intent and began to speak, the man behind her struck another pressure point.
The eyes she thought would never close began to fall shut with startling speed.
Baek… Woo Jin…
As her consciousness faded, Tang Seon Yeong pictured Baek Woo Jin’s face before succumbing to the darkness.
***
Baek Woo Jin, who had completely emptied his stomach during Jeong Jong Gu’s interrogation, asked the guy a few more questions and then came out.
Dawn had already begun to break. Sitting at the inn’s dining table, he filled his empty stomach with a simple meal.
“Are you all right…?”
Jegal Yeon Ji sat across from him. She looked at him with worried eyes.
Baek Woo Jin nodded his head with a bright smile and eased her worries.
“Of course, I’m fine.”
He was only startled and a little angry.
Was it because that absurdly aged old woman had targeted at him? No, that wasn’t it.
In a fantasy world, there were races that lived for hundreds of years. As the saying goes, “A pretty rice cake is more appetizing,” and if it suited his tastes, age hardly mattered to Baek Woo Jin. He was surprisingly open-minded about such things.
It was just disgusting. The thought of being in the same space as that vile creature, who had taken countless lives and was surely continuing her cruel experiments somewhere without a shred of guilt, made him feel unbearably disgusted and filthy.
“Haah…”
It had been a while since he drank so heavily. Ever since entering the Tang clan, he had limited himself to just enough to maintain clarity, but today he wanted the alcohol to hit a little harder.
After emptying the filled gourd three times in a row, Baek Woo Jin felt a comfortable buzz as he stood and dusted off his seat.
“I’ll be heading out now.”
“Oh… already…?”
She spoke with a tone of regret.
Since meeting Baek Woo Jin, she had never been apart from him for so long. She wanted to keep him by her side even a little longer, but knowing it wasn’t possible, she had no choice but to step back.
“All right, take care. You’ll come back soon, right.…?”
She tried her best to sound cheerful, to see him off in a way that would lighten his steps, but it wasn’t as easy as she had hoped.
Hearing her voice that was damp as though soaked with unshed tears, Baek Woo Jin paused mid-step. Then he turned back and embraced her tightly.
“Ah…!”
While she was caught off guard by the unexpected embrace and let out a startled gasp, his hand lightly brushed the back of her head.
“Just wait a little longer. I’ll wrap this up quickly and be back.”
“Y-Yes… yes…”
When Jegal Yeon Ji stepped back from his arms, her expression seemed dazed, as if she had momentarily lost her composure.
Seeing her react like that to a simple hug, her pure demeanor calmed the heaviness that had been weighing on him, if only a little.
He left the inn, leaving her behind, who looked like she needed a moment to recover.
“W-Wait…!”
Waiting there was Shin Ye Hwa; her face was flushed red.
“What is it?”
“I-I, um… you see…”
She was usually bold and straightforward when she had something to say, but today she was inexplicably struggling, twisting her body and stuttering the same words over and over again.
“I’ll stay behind and protect our group until you get back!”
She shut her eyes tightly as she blurted out the words.
“And, and… me too… so, um, could you… just once, could you… h-hug me too?”
As she stretched out her arms toward him, Baek Woo Jin stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.
Her desperate longing for affection seemed both dangerous and pitiful.
He couldn’t bring himself to coldly reject her, yet he also couldn’t accept her feelings. The situation left him with a dull ache in his chest.
Baek Woo Jin gently patted her head.
Feeling the pleasant touch on her head, Shin Ye Hwa looked up at him with moist glistening eyes.
“I’m going.”
The brief, fleeting warmth that had lifted her spirits vanished as his hand withdrew.
She reached up and touched her head where his hand had been, trying to feel the lingering warmth. It was there, yet somehow, it felt different from the warmth she had known from him in the past.
What exactly had changed? Where did the difference come from?
Shin Ye Hwa gazed endlessly at his retreating figure. She wasn’t sure whether her feelings were of joy or sadness.
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