The Third Son of the Zhuge Clan is a Returned Martial God - Chapter 05

========== CHAPTER 5 ==========

========== CHAPTER 5: OUTER RESIDENCE (OEDANG) ==========

The door, which had been firmly shut and never opened, creaked open, and a small child slipped out.

“Doryeon-nim!? Is there… something you need?”

Hyun-ah, who had been at the entrance of the annex, jumped up from her seat and asked. I gave a slight shake of my head.

“I don’t need anything. I just felt a bit stifled, so I thought I’d look around outside.”

“Outside…?”

It was a child who hadn’t stepped outside even once in three days.

Since the only people who had visited were General Manager Heo and herself, it was understandable that he would feel stifled. However, permission to go out hadn’t been granted by the clan elders yet.

“Wait a moment. I will go ask the Deputy General Manager.”

The moment Hyun-ah turned to leave, I reached out and lightly grabbed her wrist.

“Euh!?”

“It’s fine. I’m just looking around the immediate area. I won’t go far.”

“But I should report to my superiors…”

“If you’re uneasy, why don’t you guide me yourself?”

“Ah, then I shall escort you.”

I followed Hyun-ah, who was trotting ahead, taking slow, measured steps.

The inner quarters located in the Naedang.

Once we left the Huhakdang, where the direct bloodline members resided, the air changed.

A breeze mixed with the scent of pine and metallic iron flowed through the corridors, and the pavilions were lined up in an orderly fashion.

‘That must be the Uijeongdang, where the clan’s major affairs are decided. And next to it, the Gajujeon.’

I had already memorized the layout of the Jegal Clan estate inside and out.

However, this was my first time actually walking through it.

I needed to verify the distances, the walls, and the angles of sight for myself.

“It’s quiet.”

“Yes. Only the direct bloodline, including the Clan Head, reside in the Naedang, so almost no one comes or goes.”

“I see.”

“This way is the Naetaekgwan, where the inner quarters are. The second wife also resides there. And over there is the Yeonhoegwan…”

Hyun-ah’s explanation continued.

I nodded, taking in the scenery of the estate. Nevertheless, my gaze naturally drifted toward the Gajujeon, which stood tall in the center.

‘Are those guards at the entrance?’

They were men who exuded a powerful aura at a single glance. If I were to charge in recklessly, I’d be captured without even being able to throw a single punch.

‘Not that I have any intention of doing that from the start.’

A Breeding Assassin is different from a typical assassin.

Because they are painstakingly raised, their top priority is to infiltrate the heart of a clan or sect and be recognized as a member.

In other words, they don’t choose methods like hiding in a bedroom to ambush or stabbing someone in the back.

‘Besides, I haven’t even learned any killing arts.’

A place teeming with masters who have learned profound martial arts.

Even Jegal Sang himself was one of the Ten Great Masters of the world who had achieved harmony.

If I had learned martial arts filled with killing intent, I would have been discovered the moment I stepped into the clan.

‘That’s why they only made me practice taking lives the whole time.’

Memories of Sihyeolgok flashed through my mind.

The times I struggled to survive.

The eyes of the children slowly being eroded by madness and ruthlessness.

It was when I reached a small pond on one side of the estate with such thoughts in mind.

I saw a few people on the Wolgyo crossing the pond. Women who looked like maids, and a young girl standing in the center.

‘Who is that?’

As I stopped to watch for a moment, Hyun-ah added an explanation.

“Ah, that is Lady Seol-ah, the Doryeon-nim’s younger sister.”

The apple of the Jegal Clan’s eye, Jegal Seol-ah.

The biological daughter of the second wife, Madam Jin, and someone I needed to pay attention to.

‘She resembles her mother.’

She was an eight-year-old girl, two years younger than me.

Her limbs were not yet fully developed, and her hair was blowing wildly in the wind, but her eyes were those of the Jegal Clan, shining like blue jade.

Counting the carp swimming on the surface of the water, the child was tapping the bridge with the tip of her foot.

“Would you like to greet her?”

I shook my head at Hyun-ah’s words.

“Let’s do it next time.”

“Ah, yes. Then let’s go this way.”

The moment I turned to leave, I heard the urgent voices of the maids from across the pond.

“Lady!”

“You mustn’t run in the Naedang!”

Hyun-ah and I turned our heads as if drawn to it. Then, I saw Jegal Seol-ah, who should have been on the bridge, running along the pond.

There was no need to confirm who her target was.

The child, who had approached within a stone’s throw, gasped for breath.

“Huff, huff. Finally found you.”

With those words, I realized. The fact that she had been waiting for me.

“Hi! I’m Jegal Seol-ah!”

“…”

It was a bright smile.

One I had never encountered in my life, shining like sunlight reflected on the water’s surface.

Is this appearance natural since she is the apple of the clan’s eye?

As I hesitated without answering, Seol-ah opened her mouth again.

“They say you’re my oppa from now on?”

“Lady! What do you mean ‘you’ to your oppa? You must use honorifics!”

“Huh? Really?!”

The woman who appeared to be Seol-ah’s maid said it as if scolding her. I nodded to show it was fine.

“My name is Mu-yeon. I look forward to your company.”

At my polite greeting, Seol-ah’s lips curved like a bow.

“They said you’re ten? You’re about the same height as me, so I thought you were a friend.”

“…”

Why is she saying things like this?

It is common knowledge everywhere in the Murim world that young girls grow faster than boys.

“Is that so.”

“Anyway, nice to meet you, third oppa.”

“Yes, nice to meet you too.”

“But why do you talk like the first oppa? Even though you’re small.”

“…”

My heart skipped a beat.

The composure that hadn’t wavered even in the Uijeongdang, or in front of the Clan Head and the General Manager.

Even when Madam Jin sliced her arm to show the Blood Pattern Mark, I hadn’t even flinched.

But…

‘Is my immovable heart being shaken by a mere eight-year-old child?’

The leader of the Murim Alliance’s White Guard Unit.

A trained and perfected assassin.

Controlling emotions was a given in any place.

I took a short breath and suppressed my emotions.

‘As expected of a girl from the Jegal Clan.’

At that moment, the maid rushed over and covered Seol-ah’s mouth.

“Lady, I told you that you must show respect to your oppa!”

“Ah, right!”

It’s just a child who knows nothing.

There was no need to assign meaning to it.

“I have somewhere to be, so I’ll be going now.”

“Okay! Bye oppa! Let’s watch the carp together next time!”

I answered with a slight nod and left.

Hyun-ah followed immediately.

“Lady Seol-ah is still young, that’s why. She’s also been raised very preciously.”

“I see.”

“And Doryeon-nim, you’re not that small.”

Stop.

I stopped walking and looked at Hyun-ah.

She still had a smile on her face, as if the situation just now was quite amusing.

“I know.”

“Ah, yes…”

I didn’t say anything more and quickened my pace.

I will avoid contact with that child as much as possible.

With that thought in mind.

After walking for a while along the long wall.

Once I passed through the large gate, the air changed.

‘It should be a normal time, but it’s busy.’

Servants moving busily.

A scholar carrying books.

Among them, the most noticeable ones were the Jegal Clan martial artists carrying swords.

Two guards standing at the boundary between the outer and inner residences.

When Hyun-ah greeted them, they only nodded and scanned me with side-glances.

Then, without a word, they stared straight ahead again. My existence must have been known within the clan over the past three days.

In other words, it means they have no intention of exchanging greetings.

“Doryeon-nim, this way.”

“Yes.”

I started walking through the outer residence.

The Uihakdang, where medical arts are researched and martial artists are treated.

The Jinsikbu, where mechanisms and formations are studied.

While passing through the vast outer residence, no one greeted me.

Simply put, I was being treated as if I didn’t exist within the clan.

‘Just as I expected.’

A pebble that rolled in suddenly became a direct bloodline member.

It’s inevitable that the branch family members who use the Jegal surname or the clan’s martial artists would be displeased.

Furthermore, the larger the clan, the less it moves solely based on bloodline.

There are respective connections and factions, and calculations for power flow as naturally as breathing.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

The reason I am staying here is not for their recognition or favor.

‘I just need to do what is assigned and leave beyond these walls again.’

That is the only means for me to survive, and at the same time, it is what has been engraved in my body over the past years.

Until that day comes, I just need to act like a person of the Jegal Clan as if nothing is wrong.

Clang. Clang.

Before long, the sound of weapons clashing was heard. As I turned my gaze as if possessed, Hyun-ah said cautiously.

“That is where the Muhakdang and the Yeonmujang are.”

“Let’s go take a look.”

“Ah, that place is still… Doryeon-nim!”

As I walked ahead, Hyun-ah hurriedly followed behind.

The place we entered after passing through the gate.

Martial artists were standing at regular intervals on the widely packed ground.

There was no commotion.

No laughter, no shouting.

Instead, discipline was laid out like the air.

‘So this is the Jegal Clan’s martial arts.’

Unnecessary killing intent had been removed from every single movement.

Only movements with efficiency and the next move in mind.

‘Still the same. By the way, are these one of the Jegal Clan’s armed units?’

Every one of them was a skilled master.

In a different direction from the valley masters or instructors I had encountered countless times while being raised as an assassin in Heuk-myeong.

Even without checking, I could feel a solid and clear energy flowing.

‘They seem like martial artists of the Jin Clan.’

When I was in the Murim Alliance in the past, I had already seen the Jegal Clan’s martial arts. I had even studied martial arts manuals for about two years, but imitating them and learning the proper moves and forms are strictly different things.

‘And since this is the martial art I will soon learn with my body, it wouldn’t be bad to watch it in advance.’

It was when I had been blankly taking in the scene for a while.

A man standing on one side of the training ground discovered me and tilted his head.

Soon, he strode over while holding a wooden sword. Only when he got close could I see his face.

A boy who still had a youthful look, too young to be called a young man.

“Who are you? Who are you to dare to peek at our training here?”

A sharp, aggressive tone.

Just as I was choosing words to reply, Hyun-ah stepped forward first.

“I greet the Second Doryeon-nim.”

The second son of the Jegal Clan, Jegal Jun.

In other words, the guy who will be my brother.

“Ah, it’s Hyun-ah. Yes, you tell me instead. Who is this kid, and why is he wandering around the clan as he pleases?”

“That is, this person is-.”

Before Hyun-ah could finish speaking, I stepped forward one step.

“Nice to meet you, Hyung-nim. I am the third, Mu-yeon.”

At the word “third,” Jegal Jun’s eyebrows twitched.

Overt displeasure appeared on his face.

He, with the wooden sword slung over his shoulder, snorted.

“Third Mu-yeon… I don’t have a younger brother like that, ah! So you must be the ‘pet dog’ that was picked up a while ago.”

Only then did I understand the attitude of the martial artists and servants. Instructions must have already been given within the clan like a rule.

“Yes, Hyung-nim. That is correct, ‘that Mu-yeon’.”

“…”

I calmly brushed it off.

At that reaction, Jegal Jun’s lips curled up in a twist.

“Your words are polite, but your eyes aren’t. Those dead fish eyes are full of other thoughts.”

He continued, glancing at Hyun-ah.

“But why is this pet dog in the training ground?”

“Th-that is…”

“Don’t tell me you guided him?”

“I’m sorry, Doryeon-nim. I just…”

Hyun-ah bowed repeatedly.

I was watching that scene without a word.

Soon, Jegal Jun’s gaze returned to me.

“Do you intend to learn martial arts?”

“If given the opportunity, I intend to do so.”

“A pet dog wanting to learn the Jegal Clan’s martial arts…”

A moment of silence.

Soon, Jegal Jun chuckled.

“Then I’ll teach you a move.”

A playful expression.

But his eyes were not smiling at all.

“Follow me.”

The moment he turned his back, Hyun-ah urgently grabbed my arm.

“Doryeon-nim, you can’t. If you follow the Second Doryeon-nim, something terrible will happen!”

But I responded with a faint smile.

“Hyung-nim is personally offering to teach me, so it wouldn’t be polite to decline, would it?”

“But…”

“Nothing will happen.”

After saying that briefly, I walked toward the center of the training ground.