Chapter 146 The Trap-1

Chapter 146: The Trap-1

Seonwoo Jung asked.

‘If we take care of the Ha family, where should we take care of next?’

Seonwoo Jin answered his question.

‘We should deal with the Yun Clan. Gaeyangmun must serve as bait until the very end, and Seogidang isn’t a particularly difficult opponent.’

‘Hmm, I see. But they’re a clan led by a woman, and they’re far away. They’ve never significantly impacted the clans before. Will they move easily?’

Then, as if recalling something, Seon Woo-jin nodded with a stern expression.

‘They allied with the Fourth Branch’s Seokidang faction and, whenever possible, had Seokidang act on their behalf. At first glance, this might make it seem like they had no desire for the family estate. But past events show that this is absolutely not the case.’

‘Past events?’

Seonwoo Jung asked with a puzzled expression, and Seonwoo Jin replied with a sharp gaze.

‘When I tried to send Yeonha to marry elsewhere.’

At those words, Seonwoo Jung asked with a startled expression.

‘Are you referring to the death of Dan Ha-sang, one of Dan Ga-jang’s four friends?’

Seonwoo Jin nodded solemnly.

Then Seonwoo Jung asked again.

‘So it was the Yun family’s doing?’

Seon Woo-jin nodded in response to that question.

‘It’s certain the Yun Clan did it. The only uncertainty is which member of the clan was involved in the incident. That’s why I intend to use this opportunity to deal with the Yun Clan and find the culprit at the same time.’

Seon Woo-jung swallowed hard and asked.

‘How?’

Seonwoo Jin grinned and replied.

‘Since we already know the circumstances under which they act, wouldn’t it be a matter of recreating that situation?’

‘That situation?’

Seonwoo-jung, still wearing a puzzled expression, began to explain in more detail to Seonwoo-jin.

***

Just a few days after taking over the Ha Clan.

The Seonwoo family members, who had been preoccupied with the aftermath of the battle against the Ha family, were once again summoned to the head of the family’s office by Seonwoo Jung.

This time, only the family members were present.

And there, Sunwoo Jung dropped another bombshell.

“I will marry Yeonha to Gaeyangmun.”

The Sunwoo family members were utterly stunned by this sudden and unexpected declaration.

Especially excluding Lady Gok, who hailed from Gaeyangmun, and her biological son, the eldest Seonwoo Seong, that declaration could not have been anything but utterly shocking to everyone else.

To send Yeonha to the Gaeyang Gate as a bride clearly signaled an intent to forge an even closer relationship with them.

Moreover, it signaled an intent to sever ties with the Yun clan, who had been supporting the fourth son, Seonwoo Gi, by uniting with his maternal clan, the Seo family.

Simply put, it was now an overt declaration to push the eldest son, Seonwoo Seong, as the head of the household.

At this, Yeon-ha’s biological mother, the pale-faced Fifth Lady Yun, stammered as she tried to protest.

“Sir, sir! That, that is impossible! I could never…!”

But she couldn’t finish her sentence under Seonwoo Jung’s cold, piercing gaze.

Seonwoo Jung was looking at her with a sharp gaze, as if she were a stranger, not his wife.

Unable to finish her words, frozen in place, Seonwoo Jung asked her softly.

“Impossible? So you’re opposing my decision as the head of this household. You’d better be able to state your reason properly, Madam.”

At those cold words laced with warning, Mrs. Yun could only swallow hard without even realizing it.

Suddenly, the scene of Seonwoo Jung decisively dismissing his second son, Seonwoo Hyuk, and Mrs. Ha flashed through her mind.

He was no longer the indecisive husband swayed by the women.

“Th-that…”

Pale as a sheet, she couldn’t continue. Seonwoo Jung fixed her with a sharp gaze before turning his attention to the fourth wife, Mrs. Seo.

“Do you also have something to say to me?”

Then, already terrified by his fierce demeanor, Mrs. Seo could only shake her head violently.

At that moment, the eldest wife, Lady Guk, quickly interjected.

“How could there be any dissent when the head of the Seonwoo household decides matters concerning the family? I shall follow the head’s will!”

After hearing her words, Seonwoo Jung swept his sharp gaze across the family members once more.

Then he addressed Seonwoo Seong and Lady Gok.

“You two should send word to the Gaeyang Gate and ask them to find a suitable young man for Yeonha to marry. Make it clear I want this arranged as quickly as possible.”

At that request, the two answered boldly.

“Yes, Father! We’ll send word immediately!”

“Yes, sir! Don’t worry! We’ll find a fine young man worthy of our lovely Yeonha.”

Having spoken his piece, Seonwoo Jung dismissed them.

“Well then, you may all go now. My apologies for making you come out so early this morning.”

His words were gentle, but his voice was anything but.

There was nothing more to hear, nothing more to say—it was time for them to leave.

In the end, the family members could say nothing more and had no choice but to leave the family head’s quarters.

Seon Woo-yeon, led out of the family room in a daze by her biological mother, could only look utterly bewildered.

It was about her marriage, no less, yet her father, Seon Woo-jung, hadn’t even looked at her face, let alone asked for her opinion.

Unable to utter a single word before leaving the family room, she felt as if the world had collapsed around her.

At that moment, her third brother, Seonwoo Jin, who couldn’t read the mood, approached her with an emotional expression and spoke.

“Our Yeonha is finally getting married! Congratulations, Yeonha! I always wanted to marry you off to my friend Hasang, but I felt so sorry when Hasang died and you couldn’t marry him… Finally… Truly, congratulations, Yeonha!”

Seonwoo Jin seemed to have tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke.

Seonwoo Yeonha found him utterly ridiculous, but she didn’t bother to argue.

No, she didn’t even have the energy to argue.

Ignoring Seonwoo Jin’s words, she looked at her fourth brother, Seonwoo Gi, with sad eyes.

Then, she noticed Seonwoo Gi, his expression dark, sigh deeply and turn his head away.

The person she loved most in the world had turned away from her.

Her vision was blurring.

Sunwoo Yeon-hwan hurried back to her room.

All the way back, her lips kept murmuring as if chanting a spell.

“Absolutely, absolutely not. I can never marry another man like this. Do you think I’d marry into a family like the Gaeyangmun? Hmph! I absolutely won’t go. Absolutely not!”

Seon Woo Yeon-ha’s heart had been set since she was very young.

Ever since the moment her mother, Lady Yun, had joined forces with Lady Seo, the mother of Seonwoo Gi, and told her this.

‘Only we here at the Seonwoo household are truly on the same side. So Yeonha, you must get along well with Ki O-bae here. If we give Ki more power, he will make us the true masters of the Seonwoo household. Now we are a community of destiny—as one body, so to speak.’

The meaning of “fate-bound community” wasn’t fully grasped by her, still young.

But one thing was certain.

That Seonwoo Gi was someone special to her.

After that, Seonwoo Yeonhyeon came to believe she would naturally marry Seonwoo Gi.

At least until she realized that siblings couldn’t marry each other.

But even after learning that fact, Seon Woo Yeonha’s heart remained unchanged.

Because she had finally found a solution.

‘Can’t marry Ki O-baenni? Then I won’t marry him. We can just stay together forever without marrying, right? I’ll make Ki O-baenni the head of the Seonwoo family and stay by his side. Ki O-baenni’s wife? Ha! Tell them to marry him. I’ll just kill them.’

This was the solution she had found.

And it wasn’t such an unrealistic answer either.

After all, even for Seon Woo-gi to become the head of the family, and to maintain power afterward, the strength of his maternal clan, the Seo family, alone was insufficient.

Seon Woo-gi absolutely needed the power of the Yun Clan to become the head of the family.

Therefore, it was an undeniable fact that he had no choice but to be with Seonwoo Yeonha.

Of course, he hadn’t given much thought to whether that would continue after he became the head of the family.

After returning to her room, Seonwoo Yeonha retrieved the cage containing the hidden messenger bird and stepped out into the backyard connected to her room.

It was the secret messenger pigeon my maternal grandfather, the head of the Yun family, had given me to use for urgent communications.

And she had used it only once before.

She murmured earnestly.

“Please do your best this time too.”

As if making a wish, Sun Woo-yeon murmured and sent the messenger pigeon soaring skyward with all her might.

Whoosh!

That was the moment.

Thud!

A sound like something falling came from behind her.

“!”

Sunwoo Yeon-hwan couldn’t help but turn around in shock.

The fact that she possessed this letter-carrying bird had always been a secret.

Moreover, she knew all too well that in times like these, it had to be kept secret.

At least, if she didn’t want to end up like the Third Elder or Shin Eung-i Daeju, who were executed for colluding with the Ha clan.

But when she abruptly turned her head, the only sight that met her eyes was a single book lying fallen on the table.

Seon Woo Yeon-hwan exhaled a sigh of relief and muttered.

“What the hell? You scared me.”

When she looked up at the sky again, Jeon Seo-gu was already gone from her sight.

He must have flown away in the meantime.

Sunwoo Yeon-hwan stared blankly at the sky for a moment before returning to her room.

She firmly believed, just as she always had, that her maternal grandfather would find the answer for her this time too.

No, it absolutely had to be so.

***

Seonwoo Jin stood leaning against the wall outside Seonwoo Yeonha’s door, his eyes closed.

A moment later, he smiled faintly, turned, and walked out of the building.

Slowly making his way back to his lodgings, he suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.

Ever since he was very young, Seonwoo Jin had often found himself staring blankly at the sky.

Even when he felt utterly hopeless from his family’s constant contempt and his own isolated plight, even when he felt so pathetic over his own foolish choices that tears welled up, even when he lost his only friend and was falsely accused of killing that friend—he still felt that way.

He suddenly muttered.

“So that’s what the sky looked like when I looked up from home.”

The pure white clouds, the blue sky—things so familiar they should have been obvious—felt strangely unfamiliar today.

After gazing at the sky for a moment, Seon Woo-jin suddenly shifted his gaze toward the distance.

There, he saw the figure of Je Gal Seo-yul walking with a heavy expression, deep in thought.

Since the assassination attempt—or more precisely, since she received the news that Cheongyeon had died—she had never once shown a bright expression.

She put on a cheerful face and even smiled in front of others, but Seon Woo-jin, who had delivered the news to her, knew best that it was a forced expression.

At that moment, Je Gal Seo-yul also suddenly looked up and met Seon Woo-jin’s gaze.

Her expression flinched, and she stopped in her tracks.

“Seonwoo… Young Master?”

But after staring at her for a moment, Seon Woo-jin, seeing her trembling eyes unable to utter a word, simply bowed his head and walked past her.

Then, Jegal Seo-yul finally spoke up.

“Even if that were true!”

Seon Woo-jin halted his steps and turned back to her.

“What could I possibly do? I’m merely a commoner, while my father is the head of the Jegal clan! Isn’t Prince Seonwoo in the same position as me?!”

Seonwoo Jin turned his head briefly and stared at her blankly.

It was a common belief among the young masters of martial arts clans that once the patriarch made a decision, the family members had no choice but to follow.

After all, that’s how they’d been raised since childhood.

Still, the fact that he agonized over it like that showed that Zhuge Xueyu had a rather kind nature.

It seemed he truly considered Hae Cheong-yeon a good friend.

She was probably afraid even to confirm whether her father had truly killed Hae Cheong-yeon.

Even if she found out it was true, she’d likely believe there was nothing she could do about it.

But…

Seon Woo-jin opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.

“They say those who commit evil deeds are the main culprits, but those who merely watch are called accomplices. If you think there’s nothing you can do about it, then that’s precisely Miss Zhuge’s choice. I understand perfectly.”

Then he resumed walking.

Behind him, Jegal Seo-yul gritted her teeth and shouted as if in rage.

“What gives you the right to criticize me?! You’re just a loser who got pushed out of the succession fight, killed your friend, and ended up on the front lines!”

But despite her cries, Seon Woo-jin did not stop walking.

As if he heard nothing, he walked on indifferently.

Watching Seon Woo-jin’s retreating back, tears welled up in the eyes of Je Gal Seo-yul, who had been glaring at him.

***

The fourth floor of Guiyang First Tower.

Luo Sanlong, the tower master of Guiyang First Tower and head of the Hao Gate Guiyang branch, read the letter from Seonwoo Jin and let out a hollow laugh.

“Impressive, truly impressive. Young Master Seonwoo is a formidable man indeed.”

He shook his head as if in admiration, muttering to himself.

Suddenly, someone spoke from behind him.

“What’s so great about that?”

Startled, Noh Sam-ryong whipped around.

A voice had come from a place where there was clearly no one.

Having already endured such an incident from Seon Woo-jin last time and swallowed his pride, Noh Sam-ryong was now on the verge of developing a phobia of anyone suddenly speaking to him from behind.

He whipped his head around to see the face of the person behind him. After letting out a sigh of relief as if he’d aged ten years, he suddenly yelled.

“Whoa! Hey, at least make some noise before you come up behind me!”

Then the woman behind him chuckled and retorted.

“I never hid my presence? You couldn’t sense me, so why are you giving me shit?”

She was a beautiful woman with playful eyes.

She looked to be in her mid-thirties at most, but the way she spoke casually to No Sam-ryong, who was in his forties, suggested she might be much older.

At that, Noh Sam-ryong scowled and shouted again.

“Are you showing off just because your power’s a bit higher now?! I’m already sick and tired of you messing with my head! And did I tell you not to come out or not?! Did you crawl out here because you don’t know what’ll happen if people see you?!”

“Oh, come on, why so stiff? It’s just the two of us here. Where are all these people you’re talking about?”

Her sly words made Samryong clench his teeth and spit out his words.

“Are you seriously trying to see me die?”

Then she sighed with a sorrowful expression and said.

“Ugh, I’m just so frustrated. If I keep hiding alone like this every day, I’ll die of frustration even if those bastards don’t kill me first.”

But No Sam-ryong, who had flinched momentarily at her pitiful expression, soon scowled fiercely again and barked harshly.

“Stop that expression right now! What’s with the pitiful act, you fox?! You think I’ll fall for your acting?!”

Her expression instantly filled with mischief again.

“Oh, it doesn’t work? Our Samryong, you used to be so innocent, but you’ve gotten too jaded.”

“Hmph! What ancient history are you bringing up? And even if I’m past my prime, do you think I’m any worse than you?”

Noh Sam-ryong kept scolding the woman, but it still didn’t seem particularly sincere.

The woman understood it that way too.

But at his last remark, even she suddenly wore a bitter expression.

“…Yeah, I guess I am a bit worn out.”

At the woman’s bitterly muttered words, Noh Sam-ryong gave a slight ‘Oh!’ expression and cleared his throat.

“Hmm, hmm. Well, yeah. Were you that bored? Crawling all the way out here?”

Her attempt to change the subject was obvious, but the woman just smiled faintly and played along with his intent.

“Yeah, I was bored out of my mind. So bored I’d have listened to anything. So, that Sunwoo Samgongja guy—the one who made you eat go, right? The one who used the Zhuge family as an excuse to pit brothers against each other and devour the Ha family. What else did he do?”

At that, Noh Sam-ryong breathed a silent sigh of relief that his plan had worked, then began explaining to her.

“Look at this. It’s a request from Young Master Seonwoo III—he wants us to leak information to the Yun Clan. Specifically, that the head of the clan, Seonwoo Jung, has decided to marry his fifth son, Seonwoo Yeonha, to the daughter of the Gaeyang Gate.”

At those words, the woman frowned slightly and asked again.

“He’s marrying off his daughter? The fifth son was the one connected to the Yun Clan, right? Does this mean the Seonwoo Clan intends to completely expel the Yun Clan’s influence?”

At this, Noh Sam-ryong shook his head excitedly and answered fervently.

“That’s not all. Gaeyangmun is the maternal home of the First Lord Seonwooseong. On the surface, it means giving more power to the First Lord Seonwooseong.”

“Hmm, I suppose so. But… superficially?”

“Yes, on the surface. But! They asked us to leak that information to the Yun Clan! What could that mean? Especially when the marriage partner isn’t even set yet, and it’s just vaguely described as a young man from the Gaeyang Gate?”

“…You want the Yun Clan to attack Gaeyang Gate? But since you can’t pinpoint a specific marriage target, assassination isn’t an option either. Besides, you said you know that bastard from the Yun Clan was devoured by the Blood Sect? Then…?”

At the woman’s reasoning, No Sam-ryong clapped his fist against his palm and nodded.

“Right. The plan is to pit the First and Fifth factions against each other. More precisely, since the Gaeyang Gate couldn’t possibly stand up to the Blood Sect bastards, the intent is to wipe out the Gaeyang Gate.”

“…While simultaneously luring the Blood Sect bastards out?”

“Exactly!”

Hearing that far, the woman let out a hollow laugh.

“Wait… didn’t you say you were twenty-one? But you’ve mastered the ultimate state of non-action and possess that level of mental discipline too?”

“I told you so! So how could I not be scared?!”

The woman sighed at Noh Sam-ryong’s words and suddenly muttered.

“The world really is vast. To think even the orthodox faction had a late bloomer like that bastard Gu Yousang.”

At her words, Noh Sam-ryong suddenly asked her.

“Is that Gu Yousang fellow truly that exceptional? To the point of being compared to the Three Sages of Xianwu?”

She gave a hollow laugh and replied.

“Is that bastard exceptional? He’s exceptionally exceptional. Reaching the realm of ninety years of cultivation in his twenties is astonishing enough, but his looks and cunning are even more astonishing. Not to mention that venomous heart of his. If he becomes the next Blood Demon, he’ll likely be far more terrifying than the current one, no doubt about it.”

At her words, Noh Sam-ryong swallowed hard.

She wasn’t the type to praise anyone easily. Yet such high praise—even without seeing it myself, I could imagine just how terrifying this man named Gyu-sang must be.

Then the woman slowly shook her head and added.

“That’s why I’m a bit worried. Sunwoo Jin’s mind is undoubtedly sharp, but Gu Yoo-sang isn’t the sort to be easily drawn into that.”