“Th-this is something I bought at the market here. It’s a cheap trinket, just a few coins! I swear!”
The caravan man, grabbed by the collar, thrashed as he said it.
He cried so sorrowfully and wronged that Ha-jun almost loosened his grip.
But Ha-jun examined the necklace closely.
It was unmistakably the Pixiu’s Eye.
Ha-jun had seen it from the moment Yi-gang obtained it. There was no way he could mistake it.
“Liar.”
And a bit of violence was employed.
“Aaagh! I’ll give it! I’ll give it to you!”
“You don’t understand what I’m saying. Do I need to pierce you another ear hole for you to get it? I’m asking where you got that necklace.”
“Th-that…”
Sometimes there were people who rolled their eyes even with a blade at their throat.
Ha-jun had dealt with plenty of them.
“Look at me.”
Ha-jun drew up Demonic Qi.
Both his eyes were stained completely black.
It was something the Baek Clan people, including Baek Ryu-san, hated to their bones, but Ha-jun could use his power like this.
“If you roll your eyes, I’ll pluck them out. If you lie, I’ll rip out your tongue.”
“…U-ugh.”
“Where, and how did you get it?”
It wasn’t just his voice that was cold.
A murderous presence poured out, something ordinary caravan folk would never experience in their lives.
The man being held looked like he might piss himself.
“I… got it… from the natives. The necklace he had… looked valuable. He… seemed like he didn’t know… its worth.”
“Natives?”
“Yes. On the coast… there’s a tribe… that lives by fishing…”
It meant he’d taken a necklace the tribesman carried without knowing its value.
Ha-jun pressed him while maintaining his intangible force.
Whether he was telling the truth, and whether he truly knew nothing about Yi-gang’s whereabouts.
Only after deciding the man was telling the truth did he release him.
Having lost the necklace, the man collapsed to the ground and trembled.
“Good.”
Dam Hyun said with a smile.
He draped an arm over the caravan leader’s shoulder.
“If we go to that village, we can find a clue. I’m counting on you.”
“H… haha, of course.”
Cold sweat streamed down the caravan leader’s face.
He’d heard they were from the Murim Alliance, so he’d thought they’d be decent and a bit naive.
But no matter how he looked at them, weren’t they just dangerous people?
However, he no longer had a choice.
“Well then, I’d better escort you properly.”
Like eating mustard while crying, he ended up taking Dam Hyun’s party all the way west to Dhampa.
Dam Hyun smiled softly.
A smile that suited his pale face.
But his face was no longer pale.
He was someone people even called pallid, but he’d gotten far too much sun over the long journey.
You could say he’d tanned healthily, and it looked good.
They’d traveled over seventy five hundred kilometers past Dhampa.
How many people of the Central Plains ever came this far in their entire lives?
Even for caravans that traded this far, it was a grand expedition undertaken perhaps once every few years.
In truth, Dam Hyun’s party accompanying them was great luck from the caravan’s point of view.
That grand journey could be a bit harsh.
When cutting through jungle, if you ran into a tribe that fired poison darts, there was always a corpse.
This time, they were unlucky enough to meet them.
But when Dam Hyun, who looked frail, flicked his sleeve once, the poison darts fell in a shower.
And all sorts of other things happened.
Before a torrent that would’ve forced a long detour, Peng Mu-ah felled a massive log and made a narrow bridge.
When they encountered a desert where water was scarce, Ha-jun sprang straight up and found a hidden pond beyond the sand dune.
With help like that, they arrived at this southwestern coast in just over fifty days.
Slosh, slosh.
The sound of waves.
“It’s white.”
That was Dam Hyun’s first impression.
Mysteriously, the white sand beach here was made of literally pure-white sand.
It was far whiter and finer than other beaches.
And the seawater was a mysterious jade color.
“Is the water emerald because the sand is white?”
Dam Hyun’s inquisitive spirit began to kick in.
But Dam Hyun collected himself again.
Now that they’d come this far, shouldn’t he focus on the original purpose?
How the necklace they’d obtained ended up in a native’s hands, and where Yi-gang, the original owner, was.
He could only hope it wasn’t some hopeless situation like, ‘A native picked up a necklace that washed onto the shore.’
Things didn’t progress as expected.
It was the moment the caravan men stepped into the native village.
“Maktu! Gene bi-e!”
A native warrior with tattoos on his face threatened them, thrusting a spear forward.
“H-hey, calm down. We’re just here to ask something. Hurry up and interpret, you bastard!”
The caravan leader, startled, turned to his crewman.
Dam Hyun’s party wasn’t hired as their escort, so they had to handle this themselves.
One of the caravan men who could speak the local tongue relayed it.
But the warrior spat and said,
“Park! Maktu!”
“What did he say?”
The one who asked was Dam Hyun.
The interpreter hesitated, then spoke.
“He said, ‘Fuck off.’”
The warrior coldly turned his back and went back into his village.
Dam Hyun grabbed the collar of the caravan leader, who was trying to quietly slip away.
“Hey, you said you traded with them. You were doing business for money, so why are they acting like that!”
“Well, that, uhh…”
“Answer properly!”
“Sometimes if communication doesn’t work, things get a bit… strained!”
The caravan leader confessed the truth.
They weren’t an ordinary caravan. From the start, they also looked down on the natives here.
Trading cheap goods for expensive ones might be the basics of commerce, but they’d taken it too far.
And at times, they’d even used threats or violence.
In the end, on the previous trip, they’d gotten into a big fight with this tribe and were practically driven out.
Ha-jun approached, grabbing one caravan man by the nape.
It was the one who’d had Yi-gang’s necklace.
“I believe I said I’d rip out your tongue if you lied.”
“Ghk! I’m not lying. It really is something I got from a native here!”
“You got it. How?”
He truly wasn’t lying.
The man definitely obtained a necklace the native had.
“I said I’d give him two ceramic bowls, but he wouldn’t hand it over… so I scared him a bit and took it— Ngh! Ueugh!”
Ha-jun, who almost snapped the man’s neck, barely let him go.
There was no way conversation would happen like this.
“I think we should ask ourselves.”
Peng Mu-ah suggested it.
The caravan’s reputation here was the worst. It would be better for Dam Hyun’s party to communicate directly.
“You, interpret.”
Dam Hyun called one caravan man who could speak the local language.
“And you come too. The rest wait.”
It was the caravan man who’d forcibly taken the necklace.
He followed hesitantly.
Dam Hyun strode toward the tribal village.
Native warriors holding spears blocked them from entering.
“Maktu!”
“Genev it maha!”
He couldn’t understand, but it basically sounded like, “Get the hell out.”
Their momentum was threatening, but only the caravan man was scared.
Dam Hyun and his party didn’t change expression, and they didn’t slow down.
The native warriors hesitated.
But in the end, they gritted their teeth and thrust their spears.
“Maha!”
Their strength was good, but—
How could their spears possibly reach?
Ha-jun behind them merely flicked his finger.
Earthly force burst out from his hand.
Ttadang!
Two spears made from cut bamboo snapped at the same time.
To the natives, it must have looked like a ghost’s trick.
You could tell from the warriors backing away with pale faces.
Still, they didn’t run.
They started shouting something, and village people poured out in a crowd.
But Dam Hyun’s party didn’t stop.
The warriors couldn’t rush in carelessly.
Their advance stopped in the center of the village.
An old man in ornate clothes appeared, escorted by warriors.
“That is the tribal chief.”
The caravan man whispered to Dam Hyun.
Dam Hyun ordered him to interpret.
“We didn’t come to fight you! And I’m not one of this caravan!”
The chief responded with something.
The caravan man interpreted at once.
“Our tribe rejects pale-faced outsiders. Leave!”
His attitude was firm.
Dam Hyun was just as firm.
“I heard these caravan bastards beat your people and extorted this necklace. Is that true?”
Dam Hyun raised the necklace.
The natives murmured among themselves.
“We came to find this necklace’s original owner. He’s someone very important to us.”
“Chamutu nami!”
Someone among the villagers shouted.
It was someone who waddled as if his leg was injured.
The interpreter translated it.
“He says it’s his.”
“Is it that native? You broke his leg?”
The caravan man who’d taken the necklace nodded anxiously.
“I’ll return it. Come out and take it!”
Ha-jun was startled.
Sensing Ha-jun’s gaze, Dam Hyun explained by voice transmission. Wasn’t finding Yi-gang more important than the necklace anyway?
Ha-jun understood and kept quiet.
The injured native read the room, then cautiously stepped forward.
Dam Hyun held the necklace out to him and said,
“Looks like your leg’s in bad shape.”
The words came back: ‘That guy broke it.’
Dam Hyun grinned and replied,
“I’ll fix it.”
Then he lightly shoved the native man and knocked him down.
“Uh— uhh!”
Even the caravan man panicked.
The villagers exploded at the sight.
They all tried to rush in with spears.
But without hesitation, Dam Hyun patted and struck all over the native’s body.
It probably looked like he was beating him up.
Dam Hyun even grabbed the man’s bent leg.
“The bone set after the ligament twisted.”
Then he applied force.
A horrific scream rang out.
The villagers began throwing spears.
The caravan men flinched and crouched, but Ha-jun and Peng Mu-ah stepped in.
People who could bat away arrows wouldn’t fear a few crude spears.
Hudeudeuduk!
With a flick of limbs and a swing of the saber, the spears shattered and rolled across the ground.
And in that time, Dam Hyun’s sudden act ended.
“Get up.”
Dam Hyun had learned medicine from the Golden Needle Divine Healer.
The native, trembling in fear, moved his body in confusion.
And he realized his leg moved cleanly exactly as he intended.
“Ah, ahh!”
He sprang up excitedly.
And he told his tribe that he was healed.
The agitated villagers murmured in surprise.
But Dam Hyun’s negotiation didn’t end there.
“Tell me how you got the necklace. In return, I’ll give you these bastards.”
The caravan man, who’d barely saved his life, interpreted eagerly, then stopped mid-sentence.
“W-what are you giving?”
“I’ll give them to you. Interpret it like that.”
Under Dam Hyun’s deadly pressure, he hesitated but relayed it.
“Beat them as much as you want. Just don’t kill them.”
“Interpret it. Or I’ll kill you myself.”
In the end, the caravan man stammered it out.
The native smiled broadly and said something.
“He says there are many islands across the sea, and one day, a white-haired person appeared on an island where they live by fishing. They gave that person clothes and food, and in return, he gave them the necklace.”
“A white-haired person?”
Yi-gang’s hair wasn’t white.
But if he gave them the necklace, they had to look.
The native whose leg was healed excitedly promised to take them by boat himself.
“Good. Then have fun with your revenge.”
Dam Hyun smiled and shoved the caravan men forward.
There was no interpretation, but the intent seemed to get across.
The tribespeople smiled brightly back.
“Even if you break their arms and legs, I can fix them. Don’t worry.”
That wasn’t the slightest comfort to the caravan men.
They got beaten with real enthusiasm.
But thanks to that, the natives’ resentment eased, so from the caravan’s point of view, it might not have been the worst outcome.
After the beating that lasted about a meal’s time,
The native personally took Dam Hyun’s party onto a boat.
They rowed for a long while across the jade-colored sea.
And finally, they spotted an island in the distance.
They had just passed through the area where the pillar of light had risen.
There was nothing there.
The native explained there had originally been an island made of bare rock.
In their tribe’s tongue, it was called ‘the Giant’s Eye.’
But in its place, only shallow waves lapped.
Beneath the clear surface, something like a meteor impact scar remained, showing it was where the pillar of light rose.
The native passed that place and went a little farther.
A populated island.
That was their destination.
“…The sun is setting.”
The jade sea had already turned orange.
The clear sky was faintly mixed with violet and blue.
The island beneath it was breathtakingly beautiful.
Beautiful enough to make you want to vacation there forever.
Dam Hyun suddenly felt like he understood.
If Yi-gang was alive.
The reason he hadn’t returned to the Central Plains…
Peng Mu-ah let out a quiet exclamation.
Dam Hyun also looked over there.
A white beach sparkling.
Children who looked like natives were playing ball there.
And among them was a young man with his shirt off.
He had his back turned so his face couldn’t be seen, but he stood out.
Relatively pale skin, and hair bleached white.
The first to jump off the boat was Ha-jun.
He ran, sparing no lightness skill.
“Hey! Come on!”
Peng Mu-ah and Dam Hyun also jumped off the boat.
They moved as if running on water.
Startled, the native children squealed and hid behind the young man.
The young man turned.
Ha-jun sucked in a breath.
It was Yi-gang.
It was his older brother.
For some reason his hair was white, and his skin was a bit tanned by the southern sun, but…
There was no way Ha-jun wouldn’t recognize his brother.
Peng Mu-ah, arriving right after, couldn’t speak either.
She looked at Yi-gang’s chest.
On the left side where the heart was, there was a clear blade scar.
It was a scar one wouldn’t have been able to survive from if it had been a through wound.
“Hey, you bastard! If you were alive, you should’ve come back! Why are you lazing around in a place like this?”
Dam Hyun’s words were what all of them felt.
Contrary to their worries, Yi-gang looked fine.
Everyone wondered what Yi-gang would say.
But what came out of his mouth was something none of them expected.
“Um… who are you?”
Yi-gang had a clearly confused expression.
“Do you know me?”
At those words, Peng Mu-ah felt as if her heart dropped.
Only then did it feel like everything clicked into place.
Why Yi-gang hadn’t returned… That had to be…
‘A-amnesia!’
It was clearly that symptom she’d only heard about.
In front of a flustered Yi-gang, everyone froze like ice.
Who should say what?
The first to find courage was Ha-jun.
“It’s me, Ha-jun. I’m your younger brother…”
Ha-jun said it as if his throat were tight.
“A younger brother. I had a younger brother…”
Next was Dam Hyun.
“You are a disciple of Azure Forest. And I am your senior brother.”
“Senior… brother…?”
“Yes. The senior brother you always respected and attended to.”
“I respected you…”
“You revered me like the sky. Looks like you don’t remember.”
At Dam Hyun’s shamelessness, Peng Mu-ah almost shouted without thinking.
But instead, she told an even bigger lie.
“I’m Mu-ah. Peng Mu-ah. And… we were seriously seeing each other.”
Dam Hyun and Ha-jun both turned to Peng Mu-ah at the same time.
Her face flushed red, but once she’d thrown it out there, she couldn’t take it back.
“No. We were… getting to know each other. That kind of thing.”
Yi-gang didn’t say anything.
Her heart pounded, thinking he’d seen through the lie, but then Yi-gang suddenly smiled.
“Khk, haha.”
And then he laughed freely.
Peng Mu-ah’s mouth parted. Her pupils widened.
She realized what was going on.
The amnesia had been a joke from the start.
She whipped around and ran straight for the sea.
Ha-jun grabbed her.
“Calm down.”
“Let go! I’m going to die! No, should I kill him first?”
It took a long while to restrain Peng Mu-ah.
She only barely stopped after Yi-gang tried to kneel and apologize.
“You’ve got quite the sense of humor.”
Dam Hyun said shamelessly.
“I wanted to try it once.”
“I fell for it completely.”
“How did you find me?”
“I used my head. We even found the necklace.”
Dam Hyun briefly explained the journey that brought them here.
Yi-gang listened in admiration.
“That’s impressive.”
“Yeah, sure… But you.”
Dam Hyun sensed Yi-gang had changed in a subtle way.
“You seem different.”
“Do I?”
It was his reactions, maybe.
That former detached coldness was gone.
He smiled more, and he looked happier.
“So, why didn’t you come back?”
Yi-gang gave an unexpected answer.
“Because… I wanted to rest.”
Originally, they’d planned to scold him and bring him straight back to the Central Plains.
He saved everyone in the world.
Everyone owed him.
Yi-gang should return to his homeland and receive everyone’s gratitude.
That was what they’d thought.
“I think I’ve felt that way for a long time. That when everything ended, I wanted to rest.”
Yi-gang struggled to the very end and never gave up.
Shouldn’t someone like that be granted a break?
“So I rested a bit. Now it’s about time to go back, right?”
Yi-gang asked with a bitter smile.
They should go back.
With Dam Hyun’s party here, returning would be easier for Yi-gang too.
And many people were waiting for Yi-gang in the Central Plains.
But Ha-jun spoke without realizing it.
“Rest more.”
“Hm?”
“I think you can rest longer.”
“Haha. Should I?”
Yi-gang smiled, spinning the leather ball.
“Then let’s stay here about three days, and go back together.”
“That’s good.”
Dam Hyun’s party also smiled.
“I’ll show you around the island.”
Yi-gang led them as they walked along the beach.
“The sea here is really beautiful. There’s lots of coral, and sometimes you can even see dolphins.”
“Yeah?”
“There’s also a lot of fruit. Maybe because it’s warm here, it’s very sweet.”
“That’s good.”
It was an unhurried conversation.
Footprints remained behind them as they walked.
Waves tinted by the sunset broke white and erased those footprints.
It was an island so beautiful it felt like even the scars of struggle could be erased cleanly.
“Someone said the whole world is hell, but it’s not necessarily true.”
“What idiot said that? What a ridiculous bastard.”
“Haha, that’s true.”
Even if the world felt like hell, how could there be no place where a ray of sunlight reached?
All who had walked without stopping deserved the right to rest.
“Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.”
“I caught some fish earlier. Let’s grill it together.”
Their laughter scattered with the waves.
The red-glowing sunset looked as if it were blessing them.
The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan
The End .
Author’s Note
With this, the main story of ‘The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan’ has ended.
Hello. This is Bido.
Including the preparation period, I devoted over two years to this work, so the feelings at its conclusion are deep.
Thanks to the readers’ love, I was able to complete it safely. Thank you.
Though it is a work with shortcomings, Yi-gang’s long journey ends like this.
There are also parts I couldn’t fully show within the story.
If there are parts you are curious about, or stories you would like to see even as future side stories, please leave a comment. If possible, I will respond, and I will also take it to heart.
To all esteemed readers, thank you once again.
I hope you are always happy and healthy.
I will return again.
Respectfully, Bido
