I Ended Up Becoming The Heavenly Demon’s True Best Friend, Even Though He’s Shy Around Others

Chapter 76

"What happened?"

At the fifth prince's words, Ya Socheong handed over the divided poison and told him who the guard who had made contact with the strategist was.

"What should I do?"

"Have your breakfast. I will detoxify you. For the time being, pretend that things are going according to their will. And when they are off their guard, you can strike. What happened to Pae Maseong and the junior brothers of the Nether Shadow Faction, Your Highness?"

"I have called them. They will be here soon."

When a smile appeared on Ya Socheong's face, the fifth prince also smiled along with him.

"I am envious of you, Faction Leader Ya. To have such people you can trust so completely."

Ya Socheong could not deny those words.

Although the fifth prince felt that what had happened in the meantime was tragic, he was enduring it well because Ya Socheong was by his side.

It was the same for the junior lords.

If they had not seen the fifth prince, they would have been engulfed in a sense of despair at being betrayed by the Sect Leader by now, but it had the effect of them licking each other's wounds.

That was not all.

Their perspective on Ya Socheong changed from moment to moment.

They even felt fear as they saw Ya Socheong use his stealth technique to find out what the fifth prince's close associates were doing and find the poison.

When they realized that Ya Socheong, who could actually do amazing things, had not revealed his abilities in front of them until now, they felt as if their breath was being choked.

While they were doing that, the outside became noisy, and Ya Socheong's expression suddenly brightened.

Among them, the only person who had not heard the sound from outside was the fifth prince.

"It's Pae Maseong, Your Highness. My junior brothers have come. I will go out for a moment."

When Ya Socheong said that, the fifth prince also stood up.

Thinking that they were the people Ya Socheong had been waiting for so much and that they were the people who would protect him from now on, he also could not just sit and wait.

"Your Highness."

Without even having time for the person outside to report, Ya Socheong opened the door first and his eyes met Pae Maseong's.

"Pae Maseong!"

"Socheong!"

"Senior Brother!"

The sounds of them calling each other mingled together.

Pae Maseong, who had been happy to see Ya Socheong for a long time, realized that he had to greet the fifth prince and came to his senses, raising his head with a bright smile.

Then, like a frog that had seen a snake, his body froze.

"Ju-ju-junior lord..."

The junior brothers of the Nether Shadow Faction who heard those words were also surprised.

Junior lord.

They raised their heads, wondering why the junior lord was here, and saw the junior lords standing side by side.

But although Pae Maseong was surprised because he had seen them before, the junior brothers of the Nether Shadow Faction were not very impressed.

Although they had a perception that the atmosphere was strange, they did not properly understand how surprising the current situation was.

They were just happy to see their senior brother again.

Although it was also strange that the fifth prince had found them, for now, the joy of meeting their senior brother again came first.

So they were thinking that it would be good if they could be alone with their senior brother quickly.

Then, when the junior lord suddenly appeared, they felt like their heads couldn't even follow properly.

At that time, Ya Socheong stepped up first.

"Your Highness, may I introduce my junior brothers to the junior lords?"

"Don't worry and do so, Faction Leader Ya."

Ya Socheong, who had received permission, introduced Pae Maseong and his junior brothers to the junior lords.

Although the junior lords knew Pae Maseong well, they had never been introduced in this way.

"If you want to talk frankly, it would be better if we were not here, Faction Leader Ya."

At that, Ya Socheong looked at the junior lords.

The junior lords gestured, saying not to worry and to talk with his junior brothers, and Ya Socheong hesitated a little longer.

Only the fifth prince belatedly realized the reason why Ya Socheong was doing that.

It seemed that he was worried about whether it was okay to leave him alone with the junior lords again.

Although it couldn't be helped when he had to find out who the strategist was handing the poison to, it seemed that he thought that it was not reassuring to entrust him only to the junior lords unless it was an unavoidable case like that time.

The fifth prince barely managed to hold back his laughter.

For some reason, he suddenly felt a fondness for the junior lords who were smiling kindly without even knowing that Ya Socheong did not trust them.

* * *

Pae Maseong and the junior brothers still couldn't believe that they had seen Ya Socheong again.

So they looked at Ya Socheong from all sides for a long time, checking if he was hurt and if anything had happened.

Ya Socheong, perhaps because he was in front of those who were so worried about him, poured out all his complaints.

Then he was surprised and looked at them, saying urgently.

"I had news that I had to tell you, but I'm only telling you now. I got married."

At those words, Pae Maseong's expression hardened for a moment, and a tense light appeared.

Thinking of how well Ya Socheong had been getting along with Baek Yuhwa before he had come here, it seemed that he thought that his younger sister had finally been abandoned.

Ya Socheong, seeing Pae Maseong's expression, quickly continued.

"You have two sisters-in-law. I couldn't choose just one of the two, so I married both of them. But there will be no other wife in my life in the future. I will love only my two wives with all my heart. Since I am vowing in front of you, I will protect it with my life."

At that, Pae Maseong's expression finally softened a little.

"It's the young lady of the Baek family and Maling."

"I'm sorry, Pae Maseong."

"No. You have to follow your heart. Since you couldn't choose one of the two. I respect your will. Please don't let tears flow from my sister's eyes. If Maling cries because of you, I will kill you even if it's you, Ya Socheong."

At that time, Pae Maseong certainly looked scary.

But Ya Socheong was not scared.

"Unless she does something unforgivable, I won't get angry at Maling. But Maling doesn't do anything that would make me angry. So you don't have to say such a thing."

The junior brothers were amazed, wondering how things had turned out that way.

"The wedding ceremony was really simple. I said that I couldn't have a formal one without you. I'll have a formal one again when you're here."

"You got two brides, and you're having two wedding ceremonies? Senior Brother is really a strange person."

The junior brothers laughed, saying that it was funny.

Ya Socheong had so much to tell them that he started talking again after that.

He said that the reason the Sect Leader had held the junior sect leader competition was actually to eliminate the junior lords, and when he talked about the martial artists of Cheonbong Mountain, their eyes widened.

"If they are that strong, can't you even defeat them, Senior Brother?"

"That might be the case. So I'm trying to avoid a fight and solve this matter through the mediation of His Highness the Fifth Prince."

"How?"

"If His Highness the Fifth Prince goes and tells them to give it back to us, won't they have to follow His Highness's order?"

The junior brothers looked at each other as if they were wondering if it would go as well as he said.

"Will the righteous faction guys obediently give it up?"

"If they don't listen, they'll have to face millions of imperial troops, won't they?"

In any case, since he didn't know how things would turn out, he just vaguely hoped that it would go well.

Ya Socheong, saying that he was not done talking yet, told them about the division of the fifth prince's close associates and what the Nether Shadow Faction had to do from now on.

And he also told them that the fifth prince had been slowly poisoned over a long period of time and had recently started to feel pain and show symptoms in his body.

"And yet, His Highness was hiding it without even showing it, for fear that his camp would be shaken. If I hadn't smelled the peculiar smell of the poison in advance, I wouldn't have noticed it either. His Highness's mental strength was truly frightening."

Pae Maseong and the junior brothers looked at Ya Socheong with surprised faces, and Ya Socheong especially urged Pae Maseong.

"Pae Maseong, you must protect His Highness well. Since His Highness the Fifth Prince and our sect have no choice but to go together. If His Highness the Third Prince survives the fight for the throne, the suppression of our sect will intensify, if only because of his antipathy towards His Highness the Fifth Prince."

Since Pae Maseong would also know that, there was no need to talk at length.

"Then will we be going around with you again for a while, Senior Brother?"

The junior brothers seemed to be happy only about that part.

"If you say that, it's as if I've been mistreating you while Socheong was gone."

Even if Pae Maseong spoke frighteningly, the junior brothers were no longer scared.

Thinking of the Pae Maseong in the novel, it was an unimaginable thing that was happening.

* * *

Ya Socheong remembered what he had once said to the junior brothers of the Nether Shadow Faction.

The words that it was okay for the number to increase here, but it should not decrease.

He had given Pae Maseong full authority when he had parted with him.

He had said that if he wanted to bring other people into the Nether Shadow Faction, he should do as he wished.

He thought that it was a problem to let the organization stagnate as it was while he could not take care of the Nether Shadow Faction himself.

Then, when he met the Nether Shadow Faction again like this, Ya Socheong noticed that there had been a change in the organization.

At first, they were fifty-seven in the first generation and thirty-three in the second generation.

But in between, there were children that Ya Socheong had never seen before.

It seemed that there was almost no age difference, and it seemed that there were children of the same age as the first and second generations mixed in appropriately.

He thought he had to talk about that, but since he had told Pae Maseong not to leave the fifth prince's side, it was difficult to hear from him.

While Ya Socheong was thinking that, Dan Yujong approached him.

"Senior Brother, new children have joined the Nether Shadow Faction."

It was indeed Dan Yujong.

It was Dan Yujong who would usually tell him the things he would be curious about before Ya Socheong even brought them up.

"I wanted to hear about that anyway."

Dan Yujong called the children.

There were a total of six new children.

It didn't seem very difficult to find those children.

The eyes that looked at Ya Socheong were so sparkling that it was obvious at a glance.

The other junior brothers also looked at Ya Socheong in that way, but there was bound to be a difference between the gaze that was deeply layered with trust after knowing him well for a long time and the gaze that was sent after finally meeting the person they had only heard about from others.

Dan Yujong introduced them to Ya Socheong and had them greet him, then told them to go back.

Although he wanted to talk with them, it seemed that he thought that Ya Socheong had something to hear about them first.

Ya Socheong, thinking that there must be a reason for Dan Yujong to do that, listened.

"Among those children, there were also children who had been raised as assassins since they were young and had actually carried out assassinations. They are children who were raised for the sole purpose of assassination in an organization similar to the Heavenly Forest. Seeing those children, I even thought that Nether Shadow Valley was better."

"Is that really so?"

Ya Socheong was sorry to hear such an unbelievable thing.

(End of Chapter)