Chapter 88: Highly Inappropriate
A lazy afternoon in Yichang.
After finishing the lunch service, Jin Seong-un stepped out to catch his breath.
“Guest Dragon!”
“……”
Voices calling him Guest Dragon echoed here and there.
Jin Seong-un let out a quiet sigh and quickened his steps slightly.
Fortunately, it was only the residents of Yichang.
He thought that things like being called Guest Dragon would be forgotten once some time had passed, and with that thought in mind, he walked on for a while.
Suddenly, from afar, a familiar elder waved his hand and approached.
“Elder Shin Mok.”
“Just in time. The shops next to the inn have been cleared as of today. It seems we can begin construction soon.”
Jin Seong-un bowed his head in gratitude.
After all, for Shin Mok—one of the Three Great Master Artisans of the world—to personally care so much about the inn was surely a miraculous encounter as its innkeeper.
“Thank you, Elder. How long will the construction take, roughly?”
It was no small project.
The grand plan was to demolish six shops and expand all of it into Seong-un Inn’s grounds.
“I’ll be bringing over all the apprentices I taught. That way, it should take about half a month. But since those kids are scattered all over the Central Plains, it’ll take some time for them to gather here.”
“……Only half a month?”
“Why else do you think they call me Shin Mok?”
For the first time in a while, Shin Mok spoke with his shoulders squared.
Jin Seong-un nodded, reminded once again of the elder’s reputation.
“By the way, who are the other two among the Three Great Master Artisans?”
“I don’t like that term.”
“……Why?”
“Because the two fellows mentioned alongside me aren’t normal. That so-called physician is practically a drunkard quack, and that so-called blacksmith is nothing but a swindler.”
It was a scathing critique.
Somehow, it felt like those other two might say something equally sharp about Elder Shin Mok as well.
Without pressing further, Jin Seong-un simply bowed again.
“I’ll be in your care, Elder.”
After the martial artists had all left, Seong-un Inn returned to its original state.
Local merchants, peddlers, families—ordinary folk of daily life—once again began to come as guests.
Jin Seong-un liked this sight. To him, an inn was never meant to be a hideout for martial artists or a gathering place for sects.
Just then.
Everyone inside the inn turned their heads toward the entrance.
A woman stood there.
Those eating lost themselves in her presence.
Even Seomun Ak, who had been carrying bottles of wine, froze and stared blankly at her.
Those who came with their wives had to endure sharp jabs in the ribs with chopsticks.
The woman’s red hair radiated a mysterious aura. Her jade-like skin and the magnificent palace robes embroidered with trumpet creepers exuded an unmistakable noble elegance.
Soon, she spoke to Jin Seong-un.
“Seeing you again?”
“?”
Jin Seong-un gazed at her intently.
His eyes seemed unable to recognize her.
At that, Seomun Ak and Seo Yu-gyeom asked him.
“You knew such a woman?”
“This bastard really has a shady past, doesn’t he?”
But Jin Seong-un only looked at her with a bewildered expression.
Her smiling face gradually stiffened, until finally, it was covered with shock.
“You don’t recognize me?”
At the same time, Seomun Ak and Seo Yu-gyeom let out sighs.
“Wicked bastard.”
“Ungrateful bastard.”
Jin Seong-un wore a wronged expression.
Then, the woman continued.
“I already paid for my sins.”
At that, Jin Seong-un’s eyes widened.
It was the very thing he had told the thief once before.
That if one committed a crime, one should pay the price.
“Wait, did you disguise yourself with disguise arts?”
It was no exaggeration.
Compared to the shabby thief he caught sneaking around at night, she looked like an entirely different person.
It wasn’t just about a healthy complexion, styled hair, or fine clothes.
To Jin Seong-un’s eyes, her very features themselves seemed different.
“A person’s appearance is just a matter of presentation. Men are the same too. Should I dress you up?”
“……No need.”
“Let’s talk for a bit.”
She demanded with confidence.
Jin Seong-un, however, was indifferent.
“Do we still have anything to talk about?”
Even now, just remembering the morning when the signboard disappeared made the shock vivid. As he hesitated, Seomun Ak egged him on from the side.
“Just go.”
“……Don’t I need to watch the inn?”
“I can do that, can’t I?”
As Jin Seong-un hesitated with a reluctant look, Seo Yu-gyeom added his voice.
“It could be something really important. Hurry and go. Business will be quiet soon anyway.”
Even the customers eating at the inn urged him on.
Jin Seong-un looked around in disbelief. Somehow, as the innkeeper, not a single person was on his side.
“……Fine.”
In the end, half-forced by the urging of his friends and customers, Jin Seong-un left the inn.
Jin Seong-un and Chae Seo-ryeong walked side by side down the marketplace. Passersby kept stealing glances.
Jin Seong-un’s appearance tended to draw attention wherever he went, but with Chae Seo-ryeong’s red hair, the effect was far stronger.
Jin Seong-un furrowed his brows slightly.
“Let’s head somewhere quiet.”
With that, he suddenly leaped forward using movement arts.
Chae Seo-ryeong stared at his back with an exasperated look.
“Seriously? I went through all this effort to dress up and you just bolt?”
But watching his figure disappear quickly into the distance, her competitive spirit flared.
Fine. She might lose in a fight, but when it came to running, she was confident too.
After all, not long ago, she had been known as the Great Thief.
She sprinted with all her might.
And it didn’t take long for her to change her mind.
‘How is he that fast……?’
This was no longer a contest.
If she lost him, he’d vanish completely. She had no choice but to run with everything she had.
After some time passed.
The two arrived at a quiet lakeside.
Chae Seo-ryeong leaned against a tree, retching.
Regardless, Jin Seong-un spoke in his usual calm tone.
“What do you want to say?”
After catching her breath, she stared at Jin Seong-un like he was a monster, then finally spoke.
“First, I want to apologize. I’m sorry for putting you in danger because of me. And for taking the signboard.”
“You didn’t borrow it, you stole it.”
“I intended to return it.”
“You only get to call it borrowing if you ask permission first.”
“……Smart. Anyway, I came to say sorry. That’s the main point.”
Jin Seong-un tilted his head.
“There’s more?”
Then, she grinned.
“Want to steal something with me?”
“?”
Jin Seong-un finally realized.
A person’s habits were not easily changed.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh, really?”
“To the Murim Alliance.”
“Wait, wait!”
Chae Seo-ryeong frantically waved her hands.
She could still vividly recall the chill that seeped into her skin when she had touched the cold stone floor of the Murim Alliance prison.
“That’s not the kind of stealing I meant. This time, it’s really something we absolutely have to steal.”
“There’s no such thing in this world. I’m not interested, so leave. And don’t come looking for me again.”
With that, Jin Seong-un turned away firmly.
Chae Seo-ryeong lowered her head deeply, thinking, ‘Of course he would say that.’
But then.
Jin Seong-un, who had been walking away with absolute determination, suddenly stopped in his tracks and let out a heavy sigh.
He turned back and walked toward her again.
Chae Seo-ryeong lifted her head, eyes filled with sudden hope.
Jin Seong-un extended his hand toward her.
And on his palm lay—
“My ornament?”
Chae Seo-ryeong hurriedly felt her robes. The ornament that had been attached to her palace attire was gone.
“Wha—when…….”
“Out of habit.”
Due to his recent special training under the Divine Thief and several days of real combat, Jin Seong-un had developed a strange reflex.
Chae Seo-ryeong’s eyes widened.
“I knew it. What are you, really? Are you truly the disciple of the Divine Thief?”
On her way home from the Murim Alliance, she had told her mother, Chae Ga-hee, about a thief far superior to herself.
Chae Ga-hee had brushed it off casually, saying, “Then he must really be the disciple of Elder Divine Thief.”
It had only been a joke, but to Chae Seo-ryeong, those words struck deep.
Why? Because unless he was truly the disciple of the Divine Thief, no thief should have been able to surpass her.
Jin Seong-un stammered, uncharacteristically flustered.
“W-what nonsense is that.”
Then he quickly took off with movement arts.
It was, in every sense, an escape.
The disciple of the Divine Thief?
Such a precise and embarrassing remark.
“My name is Chae Seo-ryeong! Chae Seo-ryeong of the Falling Flame Manor!”
Left alone as Jin Seong-un disappeared in an instant, Chae Seo-ryeong muttered to herself reproachfully.
“Did I upset him again…….”
She slapped her mouth with her palm.
She had tried her best to live cautiously with her words, but controlling her innate nature was no easy matter.
Staring for a moment at the spot where Jin Seong-un had stood, she turned away with a regretful expression.
Upon returning to the inn, Jin Seong-un went straight to the Martial God Realm.
For no reason other than to tell the Divine Thief about what Chae Seo-ryeong had said regarding being his disciple.
Knowing his master’s personality, he was sure the Divine Thief would be pleased with the comment for days.
“This is what happened.”
After Jin Seong-un finished speaking—
Contrary to his expectations, the Divine Thief’s expression hardened.
Strangely, the other Martial Gods also wore peculiar looks, watching the Divine Thief’s reaction.
Jin Seong-un instantly sensed something was off.
Considering the Divine Thief’s usual personality, this reaction was extremely unusual.
“Master, what’s wrong?”
The Divine Thief hesitated with his lips for a moment before finally speaking.
“She said her name was Chae Seo-ryeong? Do you know her mother’s name? Of course you wouldn’t, right?”
“Yes, I don’t know that much……”
“But she definitely said Falling Flame Manor? You didn’t mishear, you’re sure it was Falling Flame Manor?”
“Yes.”
Jin Seong-un nodded.
The Divine Thief muttered to himself.
“Falling Flame, and the Chae surname…… then it must be. But to think her descendant is still living as a thief?”
“Do you know her?”
At Jin Seong-un’s question, the Divine Thief cleared his throat several times. His expression looked extremely complicated.
When the Divine Thief hesitated to answer, the Merchant King stepped in, grinning oddly unlike the others.
“Do you know what the only thing he failed to steal was?”
“There’s something like that?”
Jin Seong-un asked in shock.
Chae Seo-ryeong alone had already thrown the martial world into chaos. What could there be that the Divine Thief, the greatest thief in history, had failed to steal?
The Merchant King continued with a sly grin.
“The heart of a woman.”
“What?”
Jin Seong-un looked dumbfounded.
Martial Gods always seemed like beings half akin to immortals, lofty and sage-like.
To suddenly hear of a love story from such a being felt incredibly strange.
‘Well, Master must have been young once too.’
Jin Seong-un nodded and asked.
“Could it be Chae Seo-ryeong’s mother?”
“No. Considering the difference in generations between you and the Divine Thief, it would have been her grandmother or great-grandmother. The Leader of the Falling Flame Iron Workshop. Divine Hammer Chae Ok-hyeon.”
As he listened, Jin Seong-un tilted his head in puzzlement.
“But why are they both surnamed Chae?”
Normally, surnames followed the father’s line.
Yet according to the Merchant King, Chae Ok-hyeon’s descendants had kept her surname.
At last, the Divine Thief explained.
“The Falling Flame Iron Workshop, now called the Falling Flame Manor, follows matrilineal naming. Not only that, but its head has always been a woman who led the clan.”
“Oh……”
Surprised by such an unusual custom, Jin Seong-un nodded with interest.
Then, in a suddenly serious tone, the Divine Thief said:
“Seong-un, I think the time has come.”
Jin Seong-un instinctively understood what he meant.
The ‘time’ referred to the moment when he would fulfill the Divine Thief’s request.
He recalled his very first meeting with the Martial Gods.
It had been, in essence, a bargain.
The Martial Gods would teach Jin Seong-un their powers, and in return, he would grant them each one request.
At that time, the Divine Thief had promised never to order him to steal.
‘But if it’s the only thing he failed to steal…….’
Surely, even the greatest thief in history would still hold the deepest regrets over that.
If it were a woman of the Divine Thief’s era, then regrettably, she would already have passed away.
Weighing his master’s background, personality, honor, present circumstances, and even the timing of his words, Jin Seong-un came to a conclusion.
Scratching his head awkwardly, he spoke.
“Master. If you failed to steal a woman’s heart, trying to steal the heart of her descendant instead is highly inappropriate.”
“……”
“And I wouldn’t be able to do such a thing anyway.”
“……Are you insane?”
The Divine Thief looked at him with a dumbfounded face. But Jin Seong-un stood firm, wearing a resolute expression that said he thought it was a terrible idea.