CLS-Chapter 515

Chapter 515:

“It seems like they recognized us?”

“See? Didn’t I tell you they would recognize us.”

“This is strange.”

Wei Yan-ho pursed his lips in a pout.

When Wei Yan-ho asked if the other side wouldn’t be flustered if they approached like this, Wei Jeong-han’s answer was ‘they’re all people we know, so it’s fine.’

Wasn’t this utterly absurd?

They had covered their entire bodies with storm cloaks and even covered their faces. Even parents and children wouldn’t recognize each other in this state, so how could people they hadn’t seen for over ten years recognize each other?

Even if they saw each other’s bare faces, not recognizing each other would be normal.

But since things were rolling along as he said, it felt uncomfortable.

“Maybe they just recognize that we’re not Demon Cult members?”

“Good grief, why can’t you trust your father?”

“……I’d trust you if you were trustworthy.”

“What?”

“I always trust you, Father.”

“That’s right.”

Watching Wei Jeong-han shrug his shoulders, Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh.

‘His condition seems to be getting worse.’

The Wei Jeong-han that Wei Yan-ho remembered was a reasonably prudent person. Of course, to him, he was always a father who nagged constantly, but at least he showed a prudent appearance to other people.

But recently, looking at his father, he began to have fundamental doubts about whether prudence truly existed in this person.

Whether it was because Wei Yan-ho had aged and started seeing aspects that weren’t visible before, or whether Wei Jeong-han had become different from before, he couldn’t tell.

“Here they come.”

Seeing people coming down from the watchtower, Wei Jeong-han slowly approached them. The person at the front greeted Wei Jeong-han with an awkward expression.

“Are you the person I’m thinking of?”

“It’s been a long time, Senior.”

“An unwelcome guest has arrived.”

Wei Jeong-han pulled down the cloth covering his face and smiled brightly.

“What do you mean by that? It’s been over ten years since we last met.”

“That’s exactly why you’re unwelcome. It was peaceful for ten years without you, but seeing you come all the way here, it seems war is really approaching.”

“……Pardon?”

The man who greeted Wei Jeong-han at the front, Yom Mong, sighed and said,

“Weren’t you the one who used to sniff out places with conflict like a dog? Wherever you went, things that hadn’t existed before would spring up. But now that you’ve come here, doesn’t that mean this place will soon be engulfed in the flames of war?”

Hearing Yom Mong’s words, Jang-il was horrified.

“Th-that was hereditary?”

“No, maybe the cause isn’t that side but this side.”

At Peng Dao-ji’s cold words, Jang-il suddenly came to his senses.

“Huh? Now that I think about it?”

He had thought that wherever Wei Yan-ho went, incidents and accidents never ceased, but thinking carefully, wherever Wei Yan-ho went, Wei Jeong-han was always there too.

“Could it be?”

Feeling the sharp gazes directed at him, Wei Jeong-han played dumb.

“What kind of ridiculous thing are you saying?”

“I wish it were ridiculous too. So, who are those who came to hell with you…… no, who are those who visited together?”

“My son and his friends.”

“Son? A son……”

Yom Mong’s gaze turned precisely toward Wei Yan-ho.

“Then this fellow must be the famous Wei Yan-ho.”

“That’s right.”

The nuance of the word ‘famous’ was subtle, but Wei Jeong-han didn’t bother to question that part. There were so many different rumors about Wei Yan-ho that those who hadn’t seen him directly had various impressions of Wei Yan-ho.

Of course, once they saw and experienced him directly, those various impressions were instantly unified into one.

“Indeed, he’s your son.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Hearing the rumors, I thought as much.”

“It should sound pleasant, but it doesn’t feel good.”

“That’s normal.”

Watching the two people casually exchange jokes, Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

“It doesn’t seem like you’re just acquaintances?”

“Hmm. Yan-ho, pay your respects. He’s your father’s senior.”

“It’s my first time meeting you. I’m Wei Yan-ho.”

When Wei Yan-ho immediately paid his respects, Yom Mong looked at him with a subtle gaze.

“Hmm, he looks quite bright and clever, but why was he born as this bastard’s child……”

“What kind of harsh words are those!”

When Wei Jeong-han bristled, Yom Mong chuckled.

“Come inside. This isn’t a good place to exchange greetings. No matter how much I experience that damned sandstorm, I can never get used to it. Even if you’re an unwelcome guest, welcoming you is human courtesy.”

Yom Mong joked around while leading everyone inside the barracks.

Wei Jeong-han followed behind him at the front.

While heading toward the barracks, Jang-il glanced around.

‘People live in a place like this?’

Seeing the barracks and watchtower, it didn’t seem like they’d stayed for just a month or two. But could people really live in this wasteland where neither water nor grassland could be found?

He felt like he understood what it meant to disregard even one’s life and endure with only a sense of mission. Enduring in a place like this would be impossible with just any sense of mission.

Respect arose.

‘It’s because people like these exist that the peace of Kangho is still protected.’

Not just these people.

How many such people must there be in the world? They give up their own lives to protect peace, but they don’t make a big deal of that fact. A true hero’s life is like this……

“What the hell is this? Is this a beggar’s den?”

The emotion that had been quietly rising was shattered to pieces the moment he entered the barracks.

Inside the barracks was so messy that even Jang-il, who was a beggar, was horrified.

“Did you have a fight with the Demon Cult?”

“This is how it usually looks?”

“……This isn’t a place where people live?”

“When a beggar says that, it really hits home. We thought so too. At first, it wasn’t this dirty, but at some point it started getting dirty.”

“A bit?”

“Very much so. Is that better?”

Wei Jeong-han clicked his tongue.

“Coming to someone else’s house and criticizing. That’s not the way of an unwelcome guest.”

“Uh……”

Jang-il stammered as he looked around, but Wei Jeong-han had already turned his head away.

‘Just how dirty must it be.’

It was doubtful whether life would be possible in this place. But Wei Jeong-han, as if familiar with it, sneakily pushed the piles of trash filling the floor to the corners, then sat down as if he were the owner.

“Is there anything to drink?”

“It’s a place where even water is hard to come by. Are you asking me to bring out tea?”

“Then you must have alcohol.”

“Tsk.”

Yom Mong showed his irritation.

“How are you so familiar with everything?”

“I can’t help but be familiar. Wasn’t this a common sight in the past?”

“Damn it. Boys, bring out the alcohol!”

“Alcohol, sir? Branch Leader, there’s no alcohol left.”

“Dig up what we buried!”

“Th-that?”

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“N-no sir.”

At Yom Mong’s irritation, the branch members all rushed outside. They were probably digging up buried alcohol. Seeing this, Wei Jeong-han smiled brightly.

“Even though you say otherwise, you seem happy that I came. You’re even bringing out the alcohol you buried?”

“That’s alcohol we agreed to drink together on the day we safely escape from this place.”

“……Pardon?”

Yom Mong sighed.

“From the moment you came here, safely escaping became impossible, so it’s better to dig it up and drink it quickly before we die and can’t drink it.”

Wei Jeong-han became speechless.

He could hear the children whispering behind him.

“You, you joke a lot.”

“The one who jokes a lot would be your nonsense. Why did a guy who used to be so delicate that even a needle prick wouldn’t draw a drop of blood become so disgusting?

“How could I compare to you, Senior?”

Wei Jeong-han smiled bitterly.

‘This place is like time has stopped.’

It was a scene that naturally evoked nostalgia. In the past, when the war with the Demon Cult was at its height, most of the barracks erected on battlefields had this kind of atmosphere. People who might die tomorrow couldn’t have the mental capacity to clean today’s barracks.

Therefore, battlefield barracks always resembled pig sties.

While others had all left the battlefield and reclaimed their lives, this place hadn’t changed at all.

‘That makes sense.’

Literally, these people were still at war with the Demon Cult.

While others ended the war and enjoyed their own stability, these people continued the war with the Demon Cult. Not because they were warmongers. Someone had to do that job, and these people thought they had to do that job.

Heroes whose names wouldn’t remain as heroes.

Wei Jeong-han’s heart filled with sorrow.

Yom Mong sat across from Wei Jeong-han without saying much. When he sat down, Wei Yan-ho and the others also hurriedly made seats and sat down.

After looking at Wei Jeong-han with displeased eyes for a long time, Yom Mong opened his mouth.

“How is Kangho?”

It was a sudden question. But Wei Jeong-han answered immediately as if he knew Yom Mong would ask that question.

“I don’t know what to tell you. Kangho is…… yes. Kangho is just Kangho. It’s still just flowing.”

“Is that so……”

Yom Mong nodded.

Perhaps that was what he wanted to hear.

He didn’t want to hear sweet talk about how Kangho was peaceful because they were monitoring the Demon Cult. He just wanted to hear that Kangho was unchanged.

That was the Kangho they wanted. And that Kangho was also where they would return.

“You’ve been here for a long time.”

“I don’t have a single relative in Kangho anyway, so what would I do going back to that boring place?”

Wei Jeong-han smiled bitterly.

Yom Mong was like that in the past too.

In the past, he was always cynical. He had rarely heard good words come from his mouth. And Yom Mong wasn’t very generous to himself either.

That’s probably how he could drive himself to a place like this.

Wei Jeong-han most respected Gwon Geuk and followed Shin Gi-su’s words most prioritally. But if he had to choose just one person in his life whom he could look up to, he would choose Yom Mong without hesitation.

“Did you come all this way because there’s something to mooch off of?”

“I came to dig up and eat buried alcohol.”

“You weren’t the type to make silly jokes before. People all change, but you should do it moderately. It’s awkward.”

Wei Jeong-han laughed lightly.

He could feel warmth in that frowning expression. Getting older probably meant becoming better at finding the hidden true intentions in others’ words.

“I came to check the Demon Cult’s movements.”

“Why did you come to see something obvious? Reports have already gone to the Righteous Martial Alliance, and you’re not in a low enough position to not see the Righteous Martial Alliance’s information, are you?”

“I want living information, not obvious information.”

“Living information?”

Yom Mong’s eyes contorted.

“You, by any chance?”

At Yom Mong’s question, Wei Jeong-han hesitated as if slightly troubled. But he couldn’t lie.

“……Yes.”

Yom Mong stared at Wei Jeong-han without saying anything. After glaring at him for a long time, Yom Mong finally opened his mouth.

“Get out of here right now.”

The atmosphere inside the barracks instantly froze.