Reaper of the Drifting Moon

Geum Woo-sin bit his lip without realizing it.

His lips burst and blood flowed, but he didn’t feel any pain. He was more scared of Geum Shin-chung’s eyes than the scars on his lips.

Even though Geum Woo-sin should have nothing to fear since he learned the martial arts of the Shaolin Temple from a young age, he actually found himself afraid of his uncle, Geum Shin-chung, even more than the Shaolin Temple sect leader.

Geum Shin-chung is his biggest supporter, yet at the same time, he’s also someone who’s capable of taking away everything from him if he did something wrong.

Everything Geum Woo-sin is enjoying now came from Geum Shin-chung.

Geum Woo-sin would be nothing without Geum Shin-chung.

Because of that, Geum Woo-sin feared the change in the emotions of the Geum Shin-chung more than anything else.

When Geum Shin-chung looks at him with the eyes that seem to already know everything, he couldn’t help but tremble.

“T, The truth is…”

He spoke the truth about what had happened that day in the inn.

He talked about everything, including getting caught and beaten for trying to change Pyo-wol’s horse. He didn’t even dare to mix lies.

It was his uncle, Geum Shin-chung, who was no one else.

He had the ability to detect whenever a person was lying. It was impossible to hide the truth from him.

“Are you saying that you were caught stealing another guy’s horse?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Woo-shin!”

“Yes, sect leader!”

“When have I ever treated you poorly?”

“Never.”

“If that’s the case then why are you stealing another person’s horse?”

“I got too greedy…”

“Then you should have purchased it or even killed the owner to take it away. This isn’t just about you. Because of you, even I have been humiliated. If other people knew this, would they curse you? Or will you insult me?”

“I’m sorry! I was wrong!”

Geum Woo-sin slammed his head on the floor.

Blood splattered as his forehead was torn apart, but Geum Woo-sin did not even feel the pain. His heart was only filled with the fear of Geum Shin-chung.

Geum Shin-chung rose from his seat.

“Good. Since you’re already bowing, lie face down.”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t move, and stay still.”

Geum Shin-chung reached out and grabbed a stick next to him.

The stick with a spiral hole dug into the surface was in the color gold. It was a golden stick he had specially ordered.

Geum Woo-sin, who saw Geum Shin-chung holding a stick, closed his eyes tightly. He knew from experience what would happen to him.

Puk!

In an instant, Geum Shin-chung’s stick hit his hips.

Geum Woo-sin clenched his teeth and endured the pain.

Geum Woo-sin had mastered the external arts of the Shaolin Temple. At his level, he would normally not feel any pain from a few attacks. However, the blow from the stick was on a different level.

The strike pierced through his trained muscles and penetrated through his bones.

Puk!

‘Keuk!’

Geum Woo-sin’s eyes widened at the unimaginable pain.

He was acutely aware of the pain of hitting his bones.

Puk!

Again the stick hit his hip.

“Keurgh!”

In the end, Geum Woo-sin could not stand the pain and burst into screams.

His face was contorted with pain. Tears and mucus run all over his face.

“We’ll stop here for today.”

Geum Shin-chung set his stick to one side and sat down.

“T, Thank you.”

“Did you cry, brother?”

Geum Suryeon squatted down in front of Geum Woo-sin.

Embarrassed, Geum Woo-sin didn’t answer. Geum Suryeon held out a handkerchief to Geum Woo-sin.

“Wipe yourself with this.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you? I’m just afraid of what other people will say about my father if you went out in this state. You’re not going to talk about this, right?”

“That will never happen.”

“Ho-ho! That’s how it should be.”

Geum Suryeon smiled.

Geum Woo-sin felt that her appearance was like a demon.

“You must be in pain, so go out and get treatment.”

“I will.”

Geum Woo-sin stood up from the ground.

He had only been hit three times, but it already felt like all of his hip bones had shattered.

At this rate, he was worried his excrement would have blood over it.

Geum Woo-sin endured the pain and parted with Geum Shin-chung.

“I will leave now.”

“Take care of yourself. I’ll give you another mission soon.”

“Yes!”

Geum Woo-sin answered weakly and then went outside.

When his figure disappeared, Geum Shin-chung murmured,

“What an idiot. For him to be related to us…”

“But, brother Woo-sin is trying to be good at everything else.”

“Other people work hard too. What’s important is the results.”

“That’s right, but…”

“Stop. Let’s not talk about it any further.”

“Yes!”

“Tch! I’m not having a good day at all. My one and only nephew goes somewhere and comes back beaten, and the person who borrowed that useful paper turned it into scrap.”

“Are you talking about the IOU that you lent to the Snow Sword Manor?”

“Yes.”

“But you got the money and interest back, right?”

Geum Suryeon had a puzzled expression.

“Hmph! Do you think I lent them that precious IOU just to get the interest?”

Geum Shin-chung had an uncomfortable expression on his face.

The reason he agreed to lend money to the Jin family was to gain an upper hand in his relationship with them.

He thought that no clan would dare to look down on Golden Mountain Manor if he had the upper hand over the Jin family, who had considerable influence in Henan Province.

He used the IOU to pressure the Jin family by asking them to pay back the money they borrowed, but he didn’t actually want them to pay it back.

However, the Snow Sword Manor had requested to borrow an IOU, so he had no choice but to give it. And it led to this situation.

The Jin family paid back the money, and the Golden Mountain Manor had no means to pressure the Jin family.

“Then why did you lend the IOU to the Snow Sword Manor? Does the Snow Sword Manor know your weakness?”

“What weakness?”

“So why did you lend it to them? I don’t understand why you would hand over the IOU so easily. And it’s not even to the Snow Sword Manor sect leader, but to their attendant…”

Geum Suryeon carefully asked what she had been curious about.

Her father, Geum Shin-chung, was a man who didn’t know fear.

Although it is said that the world is dominated by force, Geum Shin-chung’s financial power surpassed the power of arms. Even the warriors guarding the Golden Mountain Manor were strong enough to be treated well by other clans. So she didn’t understand why Geum Shin-chung, who had countless strong men, readily responded to the request of a mere attendant.

Geum Shin-chung crossed his arms and said,

“I did it for a good reason.”

“What is it?”

“Suryeon.”

“Yes!”

“I’m glad that you’re my daughter.”

“I’m also very happy that I’m your daughter.”

“Yes. You’re pretty, smart, and quick-witted. You know a lot of things. But what you see is not everything.”

“Pardon?”

“The reason you don’t know yet is because I haven’t told you about him. And I didn’t tell you for a good reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“Suryeon!”

Geum Suryeon felt that her father was acting unlike himself today. Ever since she had grown up, this is the first time for her father to speak so seriously in front of her.

So she felt even more wary.

“Yes!”

“Remember, in Jianghu, those who are hiding in the dark are more dangerous than those who are well-known. You’ll soon understand what I am saying once you reached my position one day.”

In the end, Geum Shin-chung did not give the answer Geum Suryeon wanted.

Geum Suryeon frowned at her unresolved questions.

‘Who the hell is he?’

* * *

On a deep, dark night, Pyo-wol walked alone in the Jin manor.

The atmosphere in the Jin manor was now much calmer.

In the beginning, many people had gathered in excitement. But their joyous atmosphere soon cooled down when the Sword Saint, Han Yucheon arrived.

Pyo-wol thought that a cold atmosphere like this would be much better.

In fact, the Jin family has been over excited more than necessary.

It was difficult to make a cool judgment in such a situation since emotions tend to take precedence over reason.

However, once Han Yucheon joined, the warriors began to calmly think about the current situation.

Many of the warriors initially joined and supported the Jin family with hopes of increasing their fame and reputation, but now, they’re starting to get anxious about what might happen in the future.

As a result, the Jin family’s atmosphere cooled down, and the warriors, who would have stayed up all night in the past, went to bed early.

Thanks to this, Pyo-wol was able to take a quiet walk and organize his thoughts.

But his peace did not last long.

“Is brother Pyo taking a walk too?”

He didn’t walk much, but someone had already saw him.

The man who approached Pyo-wol with joy was Namgung Wol.

“Are you going for a walk too?”

“Because I can’t sleep.”

Namgung Wol replied with a smile.

He naturally came to Pyo-wol’s side and walked with him.

The two did not speak a word to each other for a while.

It was a night full of thoughts.

Pyo-wol and Namgung Wol just continued to walk, lost in their own thoughts.

Namgung Wol was the first to break the silence.

He suddenly asked Pyo-wol,

“Who do you think will win, brother Pyo? I’m hoping for the Jin family to win.”

“Is it because it’s Jin Geum-woo’s family?”

“That’s one reason, of course. But I have a bigger reason for not wanting the Snow Sword Manor to win.”

“What is it?”

“They’re suspicious. There are a lot of parts that I don’t understand.”

“What aspects do you not understand?”

“The actions of the Snow Sword Manor. Little is known about their actions after they were driven out of Tianzhongshan by the Jin family. It should have been impossible for them to recover.”

When they lost their home to the Jin family and were miserably kicked out of Runan, only about 300 people remained at the Snow Sword Manor.

It wasn’t a large number by any means, but it wasn’t a very small number either.

So it was truly out of the ordinary when as many as three hundred people had moved and yet there were no traces of them that could be found.

Furthermore, it’s unknown how they built such a large fortune and how they were able to sustain so many members.

Namgung Wol had made up his mind to investigate them, but he ended up failing.

They have amassed enormous wealth and military power that threatens the Jin family, but the process in which they do so is unknown?

It was conceptually impossible.

“It seems that the Snow Sword Manor suddenly fell from the sky. The process by which they returned to Runan is also unclear. If so many people worked, there should be traces, but there is no such thing.”

“……..”

“It’s as if someone was determined to erase their tracks.”

Namgung Wol stopped walking and looked at Pyo-wol.

Even in the dark, his eyes were shining brightly.

Pyo-wol recalled Jin Geum-woo from Namgung Wol’s eyes.

Jin Geum-woo’s eyes were also like that.

His eyes were always looking for an answer. So he wandered the world in search of an answer.

Not even Pyo-wol could tell if Jin Geum-woo had found the answer he was looking for.

In the end, he lost his life, and the truth he was looking for remains unknown to the world.

If Pyo-wol had not met him, he would not have known what Jin Geum-wu was searching for.

Namgung Wol was looking for the truth about Jin Geum-woo’s death.

His eyes were eager for an answer.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“None.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hoo! I thought brother Pyo would have known something.”

Namgung Wol looked disappointed for a moment.

At least one thing was certain.

Namgung Wol’s feelings for Jin Geum-woo are real and sincere.

Pyo-wol said,

“I want you to live long.”

“What?”

Namgung Wol blinked at Pyo-wol’s words out of the blue.

SoundlessWind21’s Notes

Thank you for reading!

Internal attack. Raws: 내가중수법처럼 (內家重手法). a terrifying technique to attack enemies using internal energy. Leaving the outside alone and attacking the inside to destroy it. Golden Mountain Manor. Raws: Geumsanjang, 금산장(金山莊). 金 jīn – gold; metals in general; money 山 shān – mountain, hill, peak 莊 zhuāng – village, hamlet; villa; surname