Childhood Friend of the Zenith Novel MTL - Chapter 1109

Chapter 1109

I arrived at his quarters without warning and found Namgung Hyung. He stared at me with bleary eyes, as though he’d just been roused from sleep.

Slowly, his focus returned, and he hugged his own shoulders before speaking.

“……Complete Annihilation?”

He wore a slightly apprehensive look as he said it.

“……No.”

When I answered with a sigh, Namgung Hyung abruptly laughed.

“Aha! Just teasing. But your reaction is pretty dull.”

“……Should I change that?”

“Ah, no thanks.”

His alarmed expression was genuine. It didn’t seem put on—he was almost certainly serious.

“So what brings you here?”

“To silence you.”

“……Didn’t you say it wasn’t Complete Annihilation?”

“There are methods other than killing to ensure someone’s silence.”

“Ah, fair enough.”

He nodded agreeably.

Then—

“Hold on.”

He went to the corner and retrieved something.

A table.

Where had that been stored?

After setting it casually before me, he rummaged through a drawer and produced two teacups and a pouch of tea leaves.

Why did he even have those?

“It’s not much, but… care for some tea?”

“That tea looks terrible. How long has it been sitting there?”

However I judged it, those leaves didn’t seem suitable for drinking.

“No clue.”

“……I’ll pass.”

“Alright, your loss.”

Hearing my refusal, Namgung Hyung shoved the teacups back into the drawer.

“No tea, and nothing else to offer either.”

“……I didn’t come for refreshments.”

“But you’re supposed to serve a guest something. This is awkward.”

Scratching his head, Namgung Hyung sat down awkwardly across the table.

“So… how exactly are you planning to keep me quiet?”

The way he sat there, idly picking his nose, clashed completely with his noble appearance.

“I didn’t intentionally break into Bigo.”

“Oh, please. Don’t play innocent with me.”

Namgung Hyung smirked.

“If you wanted to avoid trouble, you shouldn’t have knocked me out.”

“You attacked me first.”

“I had my reasons. You didn’t, right? Doesn’t that make you the trespasser?”

“……Strictly speaking, aren’t you trespassing as well? We both entered unnoticed.”

“Why so defensive? At least I share this family’s blood.”

Namgung Hyung was a member of the Namgung clan.

And that was precisely the issue.

“I’d only get a scolding, Divine Dragon. But you? It’s different for you, isn’t it?”

“……It is.”

“Then tell me. Why are you here? Business with my family? Oh… wait.”

Namgung Hyung’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Are you here to kill my father?”

“What kind of madness is that?”

I frowned at his icy words. Where did that even come from?

“Oh, so that’s not it?”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“Why? It’s not impossible. It’s disturbing, sure… but if that were the case, I might even look the other way.”

“……What are you talking about?”

Kill his father. Namgung Jeohwi. And he would allow it?

His bizarre statement nearly made me laugh aloud.

Then Namgung Hyung gestured around the room.

“You can see it, can’t you? I’m not exactly cherished in this household.”

“So? Do you actually want your father dead?”

“No, I’m not that monstrous. But if someone else did it, I wouldn’t object.”

“You’re insane.”

“It’d be even better if you burned the whole Namgung clan to the ground.”

“……You. Are you completely out of your mind?”

“A little?”

Namgung Hyung’s smile was unnervingly off.

“Living here like this… it’s enough to drive anyone mad.”

“……”

A heavy silence fell between us.

Namgung Hyung was already broken in some deep way.

‘So this is how he ends up eloping with the Neoya.’

Seeing him like this, it made sense.

“So if that’s your goal, I might just pretend I saw nothing.”

“Sorry, but that’s not it.”

If Namgung Jeohwi died, I had no idea what chaos would follow.

Besides—

‘Even if his bloodlust is unsettling…’

I still didn’t know enough. And if possible, I wanted to stay out of the Namgung family’s affairs.

Especially for Namgung Bi-ah’s sake.

“……Really? That’s a shame.”

He nodded, as if genuinely disappointed.

“If not that, then how do you plan to keep me quiet?”

“……”

“Nothing comes to mind, does it?”

“……Is Complete Annihilation truly the only option?”

“……If you’re just thinking out loud, keep it to yourself. I can hear you.”

“I said it for you to hear.”

“Well, damn.”

Namgung Hyung let out a low whistle.

“You’re crazy too, huh?”

“……”

…So when he said ‘too,’ he was admitting he wasn’t normal either.

“Dying wouldn’t be ideal, it’d be a waste… You have business here, but it’s not revenge against the Namgung clan, right?”

“……Just some matters to attend to.”

“In Bigo? As an outsider?”

“……”

“If I ask, will you tell me?”

“I didn’t prepare any lies.”

“Ah… so you don’t plan on telling me the truth.”

Namgung Hyung looked at me like I was absurd.

“Well… this is a problem. If I don’t get an answer, I might actually have to kill you. Isn’t that right?”

“……!”

Hearing that, my eyes widened slightly.

I’d considered the possibility, but I didn’t expect him to voice it.

“Wow, so you were? I was just fishing.”

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

“Sure. You looked like you could kill someone with that expression.”

What kind of face was I making? I was just surprised.

“Scary. They call you Divine Dragon, but you’re weirder than I thought. Are you really from the righteous sects?”

“……For now?”

I wasn’t actually the Divine Dragon, but I didn’t bother correcting him.

For now, the title was useful.

“I don’t want to die… but I don’t want to just let this go either. What should I do?”

Even faced with death, he remained eerily calm.

The more I saw of the younger Namgung Hyung, the stranger he seemed.

‘Did he become normal as he grew older?’

He was odd in the future too, but not like this.

“Oh, I know.”

Namgung Hyung suddenly brightened, as if he’d had an idea.

“Do me a favor.”

“A favor?”

Out of nowhere? I eyed Namgung Hyung suspiciously. He wiped the smile off his face as he looked back at me.

“Yeah, a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“Nothing major. By the way, when are you planning to leave?”

“……Not sure. In about seven days?”

“Perfect timing. So, here’s the thing.”

Namgung Hyung stepped closer.

“If something comes up before then, will you do that favor for me?”

“I’d need to know what it is first.”

“It won’t be anything difficult. If you don’t want to, you can refuse. What do you say?”

“……”

This reeked of trouble.

No matter how I looked at it, forcing his silence seemed safer than getting tangled in his unpredictable schemes.

Using methods like Demonification or Binding Oaths in this era was distasteful, but still preferable to the unknown.

Even as I thought that—

‘Just endure it three times.’

Tch.

Someone came to mind—someone who would one day become this man’s disciple.

And that was the real problem.

‘Damn bastard.’

He was no help either way.

“Fine.”

“Oh! Really?”

“I’ll hear you out. Will that be enough to ensure your silence?”

“Of course!”

“No need for Binding Oaths or anything?”

“A man’s word should be enough, don’t you think?”

“……Fine. We’ll do it your way.”

I stood up. I wasn’t entirely sure how we’d reached this agreement.

Was it simply because I held no loyalty to the Namgung clan?

Or—

‘Because I know what kind of man Namgung Hyung becomes.’

Was that why this deal was possible?

It was strange, but it had worked out.

Just as I was about to leave Namgung Hyung’s room—

“Oh, and one more thing.”

“Hm?”

I turned back to look at him.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something, so I’ll clarify—I am not Shinryong.”

“What?”

“Just so you know.”

“Huh? Wait—!”

I ignored Namgung Hyung’s outstretched hand and leaped away.

I soared through the air, the world blurring around me.

‘Ah, right.’

A thought suddenly occurred to me mid-flight.

‘……I forgot to ask about that tunnel.’

Why was there a passage connecting Bigo to the space under Namgung Hyung’s room?

I’d meant to ask, but left without doing so.

‘Tsk.’

Should I go back?

I considered it for a moment, then decided against it.

It wasn’t my concern.

From the start—

‘If Namgung Myung’s lingering thoughts aren’t in Bigo, then—’

I had no further business with the Namgung clan.

Now, I only needed to focus on Do Yun, my father—

And my mother.

As I flew back toward my quarters—

*Boom!*

“Hm?”

A loud noise reached my ears.

*Boom! Clank—! Boom!*

The sound of rattling chains, followed by repeated explosions.

I turned my head toward the source.

It was coming from a training hall within the Namgung estate.

“……”

*Boom! Boom!*

Perhaps it was the sheer intensity of the sound.

Before I realized it, my feet were carrying me toward the noise.

As I drew closer—

“Hup!”

*Clank—!*

A woman was repeatedly swinging a spiked flail attached to a chain.

*Crack!*

Her movements were fluid and graceful, yet resulted in pure devastation.

The heavy iron weapon obliterated a wooden training dummy, cleaving its head clean off.

Hyun Soyeon.

The daughter of the Seonho Trading Group and Namgung Jin’s fiancée.

And more importantly—

‘The future mother of Namgung Bi-ah.’

Anyone could see she was destined to give birth to Namgung Bi-ah one day.

She was supposed to be from a merchant family, yet—

‘Why is she doing this?’

Why was someone like her wielding a flail in a training hall?

I’d had the same thought when I first met her.

Back when I encountered Namgung Bi-ah for the first time in this life—Hyun Soyeon had appeared, chasing a demon beast.

That memory surfaced.

A merchant’s daughter, yet her body was honed and strong.

Her cultivation level was that of a first-rate martial artist.

And her weapon—

‘A flail…’

Not a sword, not a spear, but a flail.

It didn’t suit her appearance at all, yet she wielded it with effortless control.

“Huff!”

*Whoosh—! Clank! Boom!*

The flail whirled through the air, smashing one wooden dummy after another.

Her strikes were remarkably precise.

‘She hasn’t trained half-heartedly.’

This wasn’t mindless destruction.

It was proof of her serious dedication to martial arts.

“Hm.”

I watched her intently.

As I observed her focused expression, I felt something.

*Clank.*

The sound of the chains began to merge in my mind with the sound of a sword.

*Srrng—! Swish!*

A woman bathed in moonlight, endlessly practicing her sword forms.

I saw Namgung Bi-ah in her.

“……”

Because of that, I couldn’t look away.

Even though it was just training, I kept watching.

At that moment—

“She’s beautiful.”

A voice came from right beside me.

I chuckled.

“Yeah.”

She really was.

It was as if the voice had spoken my own thoughts, making me nod in agreement.

And then—

“……?”

Wait.

“What the hell?”

Why was the voice coming from beside me?

I snapped my head around.

Someone was standing right next to me.

“Oh? Hello?”

When our eyes met, the woman smiled and waved.

“……”

Crimson eyes.

Silver hair with a faint crimson tint.

A presence so faint I had barely sensed her.

It was my mother.