CLS-Chapter 417

Chapter 417:

U-il looked at Wei Yan-ho with dazed eyes.

Why would he ask such a thing?

Could it be…?

No, it couldn’t be.

There was no reason for Wei Yan-ho to show him such kindness. Based on the common understanding of the martial world, even if Wei Yan-ho were to cut off his head right now, U-il would have no grounds to protest.

Yet instead of killing him, he was offering to rescue the hostage?

That wasn’t being kind-hearted—that was being a fool.

The Wei Yan-ho he knew was someone whose calculations were extremely quick. If that weren’t the case, it would have been impossible to earn such vast amounts of money in such a short time since entering the martial world.

So why would such a person say something like this?

“Young Master?”

“Young Master this, Young Master that—don’t waste time with useless formalities and just say what you need to say.”

Wei Yan-ho waved his hand dismissively.

“So where exactly is this person being held?”

“……”

“Not going to answer?”

“Young Master.”

U-il wanted to sort through his confusion.

“Why are you trying to help me?”

“Don’t ask about that.”

“Without hearing that, I cannot tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Just by telling you where the hostage is, I would be betraying the place I came from. That would put the hostage’s life in danger. I cannot say such things based on vague certainty.”

Wei Yan-ho raised his hand to grab the back of his neck.

The person before him wasn’t someone who would knock on a stone bridge before crossing it—he was someone who, upon seeing a stone bridge, would build a new bridge next to it to cross.

“I’m just doing it because I want to.”

“Young Master.”

“Things in this world don’t always have reasons that fit together perfectly. It’s just that my situation and your situation happen to align, so to put it another way…”

Wei Yan-ho’s face contorted.

“I’m doing it because I’m annoyed and pissed off. There’s no reason beyond that. If that’s not good enough as an answer, then there’s nothing I can do. I’ll just have to hand you over to the Tang Family.”

“……”

U-il bit her lip firmly.

Could she trust this person?

“…Then may I ask just one more thing?”

“Yes, yes, ask whatever you want. I’ll answer until the sun comes up.”

Wei Yan-ho rolled his body around as if he had already given up on getting comfortable sleep.

“I won’t ask about your reasons for helping me.”

“No, I already told you everything, so what’s there not to ask? What are you hearing my answers as?”

“Young Master.”

Wei Yan-ho looked up at the ceiling.

‘Sigh, there are no normal people.’

He thought that perhaps the world was a place where all the twisted people gathered together to live normally. Looking at each individual, none of them seemed to be in their right mind, yet somehow things still managed to work.

“Why did you spare my life?”

“Huh?”

“I still don’t understand. There’s no reason for you to spare my life, Young Master. If you found it distasteful to handle me with your own hands, you could have just handed me over to the Tang Family, couldn’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why did you spare my life?”

“Is that important?”

“Yes. It’s important to me.”

U-il looked at Wei Yan-ho with firm eyes.

It might be nothing at all. But to U-il, it was the most important thing in the world. For her to reveal where the hostage was, she would inevitably have to reveal that she was a spy from the Zhuge Family. Because the place where her younger brother was being held was the Zhuge Family.

If Wei Yan-ho wasn’t a fool, the moment he learned where the hostage was, he would guess the entire situation. And Wei Yan-ho was definitely not a fool.

The moment she revealed where the hostage was, U-il would be exposing everything about herself. How could she say such things without certainty about the other person?

“No, it’s not like there’s some great reason for it.”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his head vigorously.

“It might be nothing to you, Young Master, but it’s important to me. I know, Young Master. How absurd it must be to receive such questions when you’re in a position to help. I truly feel sorry about that. But please understand that my position is not easy. Rather than cause harm to my younger brother, it would be better for me to end things here myself.”

U-il prostrated herself flat on the ground and bowed her head.

“Mmm…”

Wei Yan-ho flopped backward with a thud.

Wei Yan-ho had never in his life had someone bow to him like this. Those who faced him always looked at him with half-dismissive gazes. Even after learning such martial arts, that hadn’t changed.

Even those who found Wei Yan-ho troublesome were the same.

The reason they found Wei Yan-ho troublesome was the unease that came from an unpredictable, troublesome guy also being strong in martial arts—they never truly bowed their heads like this.

Of course, there had been people who bowed their heads, but those people were all…

Wei Yan-ho sighed and said:

“It felt a bit awkward to kill a woman.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Ah, don’t misunderstand. This is the martial world where both you and I wield swords and run wild, so it’s not like men can die but women can’t. I don’t discriminate between men, women, old, or young when I think of someone as an enemy. But… well, if I don’t think of them as an enemy, it gets a bit ambiguous.”

“……”

“It’s not my fault. This is a matter of upbringing. That’s how it is, isn’t it? People learn by watching what those around them do, and among those around them, the ones who influence them most are their parents, right?”

“That’s… right.”

“When all Father ever showed me was getting scolded by Mother, being nagged, and getting kicked around, what was a child supposed to learn from watching that? If I had been entrusted to a master from a young age, I would have become a real man by now. But unfortunately, I was born into the Guangdong Wei Family, and thanks to that, I’m afraid of women. Even that amazing older brother of mine has a condition where he can’t speak properly in front of women. So this isn’t my fault.”

U-il became speechless, staring at Wei Yan-ho like someone who had eaten honey.

There was no way Wei Yan-ho didn’t know that he—no, she—was a woman. Someone who could detect her concealment just by her presence wouldn’t fail to discern her physical characteristics.

But not killing her because she was a woman?

What kind of romantic story was this? In the martial world where swords and hidden weapons flew like rain, what meaning could gender possibly have?

“Of course, if you had shown even the slightest killing intent toward me, I would be pondering right now how to dispose of your corpse. But you came down obediently… Hmm, now that I think about it, why did you come down anyway?”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“If we’re being strict about it?”

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

Though she didn’t know what she was apologizing for, U-il apologized first.

“Does that work as a reason?”

“Excuse me?”

Wei Yan-ho looked quietly at U-il and said:

“Sorry, but I’m quite bus—”

Wei Yan-ho closed his mouth.

U-il also couldn’t bring herself to speak and lowered her gaze. An extremely awkward atmosphere passed between the two.

“Ahem! I’m not busy, but I’m someone with a lot of bothersome things to deal with. I don’t want to argue about this problem anymore, so let’s just make a quick decision.”

Wei Yan-ho cleanly organized the situation.

“Either come with me to rescue them, or get out of here. Whatever happens to you after you leave, I don’t want to care about it. I don’t particularly want to dirty my hands either, so if you’re not going to make a decision, I’m going to scream.”

Wei Yan-ho covered his chest with both hands and twisted his body.Wei Yan-ho got up from his spot and pulled up his pants.

At that coquettish sight, U-il unconsciously clenched her fists.

“What will you do?”

U-il quietly looked at Wei Yan-ho.

Could she trust this person? This person?

The Wei Yan-ho she had observed so far was someone about whom no judgment could be made. All the information gathered by her predecessors was no different from waste paper. Even those divine investigators would find it impossible to judge anything based solely on this person’s actions.

Then what she needed to trust was not her head but her heart.

Could she trust this person?

“…I’m not sure.”

U-il couldn’t be certain until the very end.

“Then that’s settled. Go on out.”

“But…”

U-il looked quietly at Wei Yan-ho and said:

“You’re right, Young Master. Since I’ve come this far anyway, I can’t do anything. Even if I die while carrying out my mission, I don’t think they’ll take good care of my younger brother. In the end, he’ll meet the same fate as me.”

U-il gripped her thigh.

Perhaps this was the most important moment in her life.

“Please help me, Young Master.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at U-il with slightly dazed eyes.

“If you rescue my younger brother, I will tell you everything I know. And for the rest of my life, I will live as your servant.”

“I don’t really need that kind of thing, you know?”

“Just yesterday, you told me to bring you food.”

“…Now that I think about it, I guess I do need it.”

Wei Yan-ho was very practical.

A servant?

Following Wei Yan-ho around with that stealth technique and running errands at lightning speed whenever something was needed?

‘What a dream come true!’

Life returned to Wei Yan-ho’s eyes.

Being able to live comfortably for the rest of his life in exchange for moving his body moderately—who would refuse that? Wei Yan-ho, who had found something called motivation that he had never possessed in his life, sprang up.

“Well, fine. Let’s loosen up my body a bit. So where is this place?”

U-il hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

“…Young Master.”

“Ah, come on! Please stop with that ‘Young Master’ business.”

U-il bit her lip firmly. Even though her mind was made up, actually putting it into action was a different matter.

After hesitating briefly, U-il reached out and grabbed her face mask.

“Huh?”

Then she slowly removed the mask and placed it beside her. Her long hair, which had been tucked inside the mask, fluttered down below her shoulders.

Wei Yan-ho drew in a breath.

“Why are you suddenly taking off your mask?”

“Revealing my face means I’m revealing everything about myself. I will no longer hesitate.”

U-il prostrated herself flat on the ground once more and said:

“Please help me, Young Master. I beg of you.”

“Alright.”

Wei Yan-ho got up from his spot and pulled up his pants.

“I don’t want to drag this out, so just tell me quickly where it is.”

U-il raised her head to look at Wei Yan-ho and said:

“I came from the Zhuge Family.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

“The Zhuge Family?”

“Yes. Didn’t you know?”

“I had no idea.”

“……”

“……”

Just how much of what this person said was true, and how much was false?

Before U-il could fall deep into confusion, Wei Yan-ho chuckled and opened his mouth.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter. I roughly thought it would be something related to the Heavenly Alliance anyway.”

“Ah…”

“Now then, let’s see…”

Wei Yan-ho cracked his neck left and right.

“They told me to do whatever I want, so shall I properly raise some hell?”

The lazy one who had too much energy from resting too much began to cause trouble.