Gongsun Dankyung lowered her head.
“So this is how it ends up after all.”
Back then, she had tried every possible way to persuade Gongsun Dana, but it had been completely useless in the end.
The people of the Gongsun family had one peculiar habit: once something caught their interest, no amount of talking could make them listen—they simply let everything go in one ear and out the other.
“Well… I suppose I haven’t really fulfilled my role as a daughter properly.”
After entering the Martial Alliance, she had deliberately erased all thoughts of the Gongsun family from her mind.
Yet even so, she still felt more affection toward Gongsun Hwa-uk and his wife than toward any real parents.
She had lived as So Min until the age of seven.
After that, she had lived as Gongsun Dankyung for twenty-three years.
In reality, they were no different from her true parents.
‘But I always feel guilty.’
Because she had hidden her true circumstances from them.
Because she had to take revenge.
“There were times when I even considered forgetting everything and just living as Gongsun Dankyung forever.”
But she couldn’t.
The only reason she had survived was her desperate vow to exact revenge.
Even Chu So—who had seen through everything—had helped her precisely because he knew Gongsun Dankyung was the kind of person who could achieve that revenge.
And Chu So’s prophecy had come true with perfect accuracy.
The burning desire for vengeance in her heart had never faded.
On the contrary, as time passed, it only grew more intense and desperate.
“Still… I should at least occasionally act like a proper daughter.”
The Gongsun Hwa-uk couple had given her both a new life and the strength to pursue her revenge.
Gongsun Dankyung had never once forgotten that debt of gratitude.
Revenge was important, but so was fulfilling her filial duty as their daughter.
“Is anyone outside?”
Having steeled her resolve, Gongsun Dankyung spoke in the gravest voice possible.
“Summon Captain Seon. Immediately.”
The interior of the carriage was extremely comfortable.
It was one of the Eight Auspicious Carriages—reserved only for the highest leadership of the Martial Alliance—personally designed by Cheolsu Yakjeong, one of the greatest artisans of the current era.
Not only was the interior spacious, but special mechanisms had been installed so that the occupants felt almost none of the road’s bumps and vibrations.
Even though the carriage was racing along at high speed, the ride felt as gentle as floating on clouds.
However, there were only four such carriages in the entire Martial Alliance, so very few people were permitted to use them.
In that sense, Bu Eunseol was fortunate.
Even though he had not yet entered the top four ranks of ceremonial protocol, he was riding in one.
Yet the seat felt like a bed of thorns.
Every breath he took felt as heavy as if lead weights had been placed on his chest.
If his endurance had been any weaker, he would have immediately thrown open the door and jumped out.
Because Gongsun Dankyung was staring at him with blazing intensity.
And because the endless stream of words pouring from her mouth was utterly absurd.
—This is an emergency!
She had dragged Bu Eunseol—while he was working in his office—straight into the carriage and explained the situation.
—I have to go to my family home to clear up the rumors about me and Captain Seon.
Bu Eunseol, who had been listening silently inside the carriage, was dumbfounded.
Yes, rumors about him and Gongsun Dankyung had circulated in the past, but he had always acted indifferently, so the gossip had eventually died down.
Yet the woman who had always maintained perfect composure was now recklessly shoving him into a carriage bound for the Gongsun family without any regard for consequences?
This was far too sudden.
“Couldn’t you simply explain that it’s just an old rumor?”
“That’s impossible.”
Gongsun Dankyung answered honestly.
“I never imagined my parents would send Dana all the way here just to confirm those ancient rumors.”
“What do you mean?”
“I misunderstood and thought Dana had developed feelings for you, so I made a mistake.”
Once again, she briefly recounted what had happened at the Myriad Goods Store.
How she, thinking Gongsun Dana had taken a liking to him, had lied and claimed that she herself was interested in Seon Woojin in order to prevent any unfortunate developments.
“I see.”
“Are you going to help me?”
“No. I refuse.”
“What?”
“There’s a mountain of work I need to do.”
Bu Eunseol’s attitude made it clear he was ready to jump out of the carriage at any second.
In truth, he really did have countless urgent matters piled up.
He had no intention of playing along with this farce by going all the way to the Gongsun family.
“Regardless of rank or position, haven’t we been through countless hardships together? Haven’t we overcome them by joining forces as comrades?”
When persuasion seemed unlikely, Gongsun Dankyung began to appeal to emotion.
“You’re not really going to abandon a comrade you’ve shared a boat with in the middle of a crisis, are you?”
“Why is this a crisis?”
“It is for me.” Gongsun Dankyung spoke with utmost solemnity. “The people of my family are like that. Once something catches their attention, they won’t listen to anything else.”
“…”
“Until they are fully convinced, this Chief Inspector— I—will be endlessly harassed by my parents.”
Bu Eunseol almost burst out laughing.
But her expression was so deadly serious that he swallowed it back.
It seemed she genuinely regarded this situation as a truly grave crisis.
“Is there really no way for the Chief Inspector to convince them on her own?”
“There isn’t. If Captain Seon doesn’t come with me, my parents would have come to the Alliance themselves.”
Bu Eunseol’s face hardened.
If that happened, wouldn’t he also be endlessly bothered?
“Fine.”
Realizing there was no real choice, Bu Eunseol took a deep breath and said, “But even if I go with you, I don’t see any sharp solution. What exactly do you plan to do to convince them?”
“There’s no need to convince them.” Gongsun Dankyung spoke decisively. “Relationships between men and women can start passionately and then cool off, can’t they?”
“…”
“If we desperately insist there’s nothing between us in this situation, it will only create more trouble.”
She continued firmly, “Instead, if we simply show them that we’re meeting appropriately and put their minds at ease, parents will be satisfied with that much.”
Bu Eunseol’s mouth fell open.
So in the end, she planned to drive a wedge in front of the entire Gongsun family, confirming that the two of them were lovers?
“If word gets out that I went to the Gongsun family, it will severely damage your future marriage prospects.”
It was said that Gongsun Dankyung had once been in a romantic relationship with Baek Museong but since it had never been made public, it hadn’t affected her reputation.
Yet if rumors spread that she had gone to the Gongsun family with him?
If it became publicly acknowledged that she and Seon Woojin were lovers, her path to marriage would be completely blocked from then on.
“That doesn’t matter to me. I have no intention of marrying anyway.”
“You have no intention of marrying?”
“Is that strange?”
“No… not at all.”
Gongsun Dankyung spoke calmly. “Besides, aren’t you currently in a difficult position as well, Captain Seon?”
“Me?”
“Marriage proposals have been pouring in from all over.”
“I haven’t particularly found it difficult.”
Bu Eunseol answered shamelessly. After all, right now he was Seon Woojin.
“Sooner or later, I’ll have to start a family anyway, won’t I?”
Gongsun Dankyung lifted the corner of her mouth.
“Are you serious?”
Her smile was filled with certainty.
She knew.
She knew that Bu Eunseol had no thoughts of marriage either.
“How are you so sure?”
Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes turned sorrowful. “Because…”
Although she was looking at Bu Eunseol, her gaze seemed to reach somewhere far, far away.
“A person who runs toward a single goal with everything they have… never turns their eyes toward anything else.”
Strangely, all living creatures instinctively recognize their own kind.
Long ago, Gongsun Dankyung had sensed that Bu Eunseol was the same kind of person as herself.
A person who breathes, eats, sleeps, and lives each day solely for the sake of achieving one single goal.
‘Terrifying.’
Gongsun Dankyung had an uncanny ability to read other people’s talents, temperament, and personality in a short time.
And that ability sometimes sent chills down even Bu Eunseol’s spine.
“But still… I don’t think that method will work.”
“What do you mean?”
“Deceiving your Father and Mother like that is ultimately no different from harboring disrespect toward them, isn’t it?”
“I have no such intention. It’s just that…”
At Bu Eunseol’s sharp observation, Gongsun Dankyung gave a bitter smile.
“A sweet lie is simply better than a bitter reality.”
In an endlessly lonely voice, she murmured, “Life is nothing more than one long dream anyway. If that’s the case… wouldn’t it be better to dream the happiest, most joyful dream possible?”
Her expression and eyes looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
‘She must have some deep circumstances of her own.’
She looked as though she had grown up without a care in the world, yet now it seemed she carried hidden pain no one else knew about.
“Of course, I know these things can’t be forced.” Gongsun Dankyung spoke quietly. “If you truly feel you cannot help me under any circumstances, just say so. I’ll turn the carriage around immediately.”
‘If that happens, they’ll come to the Alliance instead.’
Even though she said that, Bu Eunseol already felt himself caught in the spiderweb Gongsun Dankyung had spun.
Realizing there was no escape, he let out a deep sigh.
“It might leave me with some regrets… but I’ll help you.”
“I won’t thank you.”
Gongsun Dankyung smiled.
“Because if the day ever comes when Captain Seon is in danger, this Chief Inspector will never turn a blind eye either.”
After several days and nights, the carriage finally stopped in front of a picturesque estate.
When they stepped out, it felt as though millions of flower petals were fluttering through the air.
‘So this is the Gongsun family.’
The greatest formation master in the world was none other than Water-Cloud Sage, Gongsun Hwa-uk.
The Gongsun family had generations of officials serving in government and had never involved themselves in the martial world. That was why they were not counted among the Eight Great Martial Families, and the reason Gongsun Hwa-uk himself had cultivated scholarship as a scholar, not as a martial artist.
Yet due to his innate genius and several fortunate encounters, around the age of thirty he had accidentally acquired the True Legacy of Formations from Bang Il, the founder of the Ghost Valley Script Pavilion, a man said to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Zhuge Seowon.
After that, he became utterly obsessed with formations, abandoned his scholarly pursuits, and wandered the martial world, tirelessly researching formations.
During his travels, he fell in love with and eventually married Ok Jeongyeong, the young palace lord of the Jade Moon Crystal Palace—one of the Eight Great Hidden Palaces—who, at a tender age, had already reached the pinnacle of music and sound techniques.
The union of the world’s greatest formation master and the world’s greatest artist.
Moreover, when the Jade Moon Crystal Palace—whose wealth was said to rival even that of the demonic world’s Affectionate Blossom Sect—merged with the Gongsun family, though they were not officially one of the Eight Great Martial Families, in reality, the Gongsun family had risen to a level comparable to the Namgung family and the Tang family.
Naturally, people became curious.
What would become of the children born to such an extraordinary couple?
And that question was finally answered in the current generation.
One child of the Gongsun family had become the youngest Chief Inspector in Martial Alliance history.
The other had become the next Young Palace Lord of the Divine Water Palace.
“Follow my exact steps as I enter.”
Standing at the gate, Gongsun Dankyung stepped forward without hesitation, passing through the swirling petals.
Bu Eunseol followed precisely in her footsteps.
After walking for a while, a truly picturesque scene unfolded before their eyes.
It was like a utopia straight out of legend.
Passing by a beautiful waterfall and entering a plum grove, they arrived at a large estate surrounded by stone walls.
The buildings inside were constructed in a style completely different from the central plains.
Flowers, trees, sculptures—everything was filled with things Bu Eunseol had never seen in his entire life.
“You’ve arrived?”
The servants who saw Gongsun Dankyung all ran forward happily to greet her.
Almost none of them were young; most were elderly.
“It’s been a long time, Chilsuk. Jesuk.”
Her tone and attitude were polite, treating them not as servants but as family.
“The Family Head is waiting. Please come this way.”
The oldest among them led her forward.
When they arrived at the main hall deep within the estate, he announced in a loud voice,
“Family Head. The First Young Lady has arrived.”
Screeech.
The door opened, revealing a middle-aged man with the aura of an immortal and a graceful middle-aged beauty slowly stepping forward.
They were none other than Gongsun Hwa-uk and his wife, Ok Jeongyeong.
“Father. Mother.”
As Gongsun Dankyung bowed respectfully, her mother, Ok Jeongyeong, quickly took her hands and embraced her.
“How long has it been?”
Gongsun Hwa-uk also approached, took his daughter’s hand, and smiled widely.
“Your father almost forgot what your face looked like.”
The couple kept exchanging warm glances with their daughter, overflowing with joy at their reunion.
Only after a long while did their gazes finally turn toward Bu Eunseol.
“Supreme Pavilion Captain, Seon Woojin, greets you.”
When Bu Eunseol bowed politely, Gongsun Hwa-uk’s eyes flashed.
“So you are Seon Woojin.”
With a complicated expression, Gongsun Hwa-uk carefully observed him.
“To personally meet a young grandmaster whose name shakes the entire world… it is truly moving.”
“You flatter me.”
“Come this way.”
Extending his hand, he said, “A banquet has been prepared. Let us eat together.”
When they arrived at the banquet hall, it was filled with every imaginable delicacy, and jars of fine liquor stood ready.
Overjoyed at the return of their daughter after several years, Gongsun Hwa-uk and his wife exchanged only a few formal cups with Bu Eunseol before devoting all their attention to her.
But for Bu Eunseol, that was actually more comfortable.
If they had suppressed their joy for their daughter just to entertain him, the atmosphere would have been far more awkward.
He quietly enjoyed the banquet without disturbing the mood.
‘How strange.’
Gongsun Hwa-uk kept asking his daughter this and that while sitting beside her, and Ok Jeongyeong kept placing food into her bowl.
In truth, Bu Eunseol had never experienced this kind of warm, familial atmosphere in any other household.
The first place he visited, the Sichuan Tang family, had been sharp and tense.
The Namgung family, due to the stern and solemn personality of their Family Head, never conveyed any real warmth.
The Jongri family carried the peculiar, stubborn atmosphere typical of medical families.
None of them had felt comfortable.
But the Gongsun family felt warm and at ease.
It truly embodied the ideal family that anyone would dream of.
A father respected by all, a gentle and affectionate mother—both of their eyes overflowed with deep love.
‘Was I ever like that?’
Bu Eunseol’s gaze grew distant.
If only he could recall memories from his childhood… perhaps he, too, might have grown up in an environment like this.
The banquet ended after about half an hour.
Because even while eating, Gongsun Dankyung kept showing signs of exhaustion.
The couple thoughtfully arranged for Bu Eunseol to rest in the most pleasant pavilion in the entire estate.
“I’ll have a brief chat with Captain Seon, so you two go ahead and rest.”
When Gongsun Hwa-uk spoke to his wife, Ok Jeongyeong nodded.
“Very well.”
“Father…”
When Gongsun Dankyung sensed something unusual and spoke up, Gongsun Hwa-uk smiled.
“Don’t worry. We’re just going to have a cup of tea. There are a few things I’d like to ask Captain Seon.”
“But…”
As Gongsun Dankyung trailed off,
“It’s alright.”
Understanding her concern, Bu Eunseol gave her a gentle smile.
“I’ll handle it properly, so please rest comfortably, Chief Inspector.”
That smile and gaze were exactly the kind of tender affection one would show to a beloved partner.
Seeing it, Gongsun Dankyung nodded with a relieved expression.
Bu Eunseol’s resourcefulness was no less than her own—he would handle any situation flawlessly.
“Understood.”
Smiling, Gongsun Dankyung left first with Ok Jeongyeong.
“Come this way. Let’s have some tea.”
Gongsun Hwa-uk led Bu Eunseol to a beautiful pavilion overlooking a breathtaking view.
They drank tea and talked about various things.
Most of the conversation revolved around Bu Eunseol’s family background and his personal history.
The meticulous questions and confirmations felt almost like screening a prospective son-in-law.
Bu Eunseol answered every question without hesitation.
The more they talked, the more a smile played on Gongsun Hwa-uk’s lips.
‘He has good character. Neither arrogant nor pretentious.’
He inwardly liked Bu Eunseol’s calm and steady demeanor.
Moreover, since the Gongsun family wasn’t a martial clan either, the fact that his background was in commerce wasn’t a disadvantage.
‘But…’
There was one regrettable point.
Compared to the peerless beauty of Gongsun Dankyung, his appearance was far too ordinary.
His personality was also mild—hardly the type to accomplish great things.
‘I don’t understand. No matter how I look at him, he doesn’t seem like the kind of man Kyung-ah would fall for.’
Gongsun Hwa-uk knew very well how high his daughters’ standards were.
Even the brilliant and outstanding Golden True Dragon Baek Museong had been repeatedly rejected because he ultimately didn’t satisfy her.
‘Moreover, if he’s strong enough to defeat the Fist King, his martial prowess must be extraordinary.’
Even if he had reached the Supreme Heavenly Realm, it was impossible for his aura to be this ordinary.
‘That means he has reached the realm of Return to Simplicity.’
Gongsun Hwa-uk blinked as he looked at Bu Eunseol.
‘Just how deep is his internal energy that he can actually conceal his true power to this extent?’
The more he observed, the more mysterious it became.
The more he tried to gauge his martial level, the more it felt like peering through fog.
“Captain Seon, I’ll speak plainly.”
Gongsun Hwa-uk finally brought up the main topic.
“What do you think of our Kyung-ah?”
Bu Eunseol answered honestly.
“In all my life, I have never seen a woman more outstanding than the Chief Inspector.”
“Do you mean you’re not interested in her romantically?”
“Not at all. I believe she would be an ideal partner in every way.”
Gongsun Hwa-uk furrowed his brows.
It was the most polite and respectful answer possible.
Yet there was no trace of the passionate look one would expect from a young man deeply in love.
Of course, those with the air of heroes often tended not to fall deeply for women.
‘There’s not the slightest hint of heroic temperament.’
Swallowing his thoughts, Gongsun Hwa-uk asked, “Be honest with me. What is the real reason you came here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t think you can fool the Family Head.”
As the greatest living master of formations in the world, Gongsun Hwa-uk possessed profound insight and intelligence no less than his daughter’s.
With piercing eyes that seemed to see straight through Bu Eunseol’s soul, he said,
“There is no true affection in the way you look at Kyung-ah.”
As he spoke, an overwhelming, transcendent aura emanated from Gongsun Hwa-uk—one capable of shaking the very spirit of others.
“Smart young people sometimes make the mistake of thinking…”
Each word from Gongsun Hwa-uk felt like a sharp dagger stabbing straight into Bu Eunseol’s vital points.
“…that it’s very easy to deceive old men.”
For an instant, Bu Eunseol’s eyes rippled like water.
Gongsun Hwa-uk had already seen through the fact…
That he and Gongsun Dankyung were putting on an act.
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