Shengsu Faction’s Infiltration Operation.
The biggest variable in this plan was none other than Moyong Mo.
If he feels any awkwardness in the act between me and Moyong Yeon-hwa, or if he doesn’t catch on to the exchanges between us at all, the situation could get messy.
Using love as an excuse to manipulate within Shengsu Faction is the overall outline of this operation.
It was crucial for the perception that Moyong Yeon-hwa and I are in a burning love to be firmly established within Shengsu Faction.
And the person who could spread that perception quickly and surely was Moyong Mo.
“Hahaha, brother. Did you cough?”
“Are you doing well, younger brother?”
I casually mentioned something while drinking tea with Moyong Mo.
“Hmm, did Moyong Yeon-hwa miss anything?”
“Are you curious?”
“More than curious, since we were together yesterday…”
Moyong Mo spoke with a sly smile.
“Today, my sister will likely stop by the Training Hall.”
“Hmmm. I see…”
As I subtly began to stand, Moyong Mo’s crafty smile deepened.
“Uh, brother, where are you going?”
“I feel a bit stiff, so I thought I’d take a stroll.”
“Hahaha! Should I guide you to the Training Hall then?”
“What nonsense. It’s just a walk, so don’t follow me!”
“Hahaha! Understood! I won’t interfere with your walk!”
Moyong Mo seemed to know all my intentions. I felt that the effort was worth it as he sent fiery glances at both me and Yeon-hwa at the gathering we were called to.
Feeling Moyong Mo’s mischievous gaze prickling the back of my head, I left my quarters.
I had seized the opportunity for solo action within the faction.
Where should I start investigating?
Hearing that Moyong Yeon-hwa was at the Training Hall, I had to remember not to forget the set-up of pretending to wander around the faction looking for a chance encounter, so the range of my investigation was near the Training Hall.
Nearby the Training Hall…
The only place to investigate near there would be the martial artists’ quarters.
I drifted toward the vicinity of the Training Hall.
The two main reasons I decided to investigate the martial artists’ quarters were firstly the assumption that since Moyong Yeon-hwa visited the Training Hall, all martial artists would have headed there.
The more hostile Shengsu Faction was towards the main clan, the more they would need to showcase their strength, so they would most likely gather martial artists and position them in the Training Hall to display that power.
The second reason was that there were no guards in the martial artists’ quarters.
Therefore, I could easily infiltrate the empty martial artist quarters without drawing attention.
The only problem, however, was the lack of anything special there.
“Hmmm…”
I couldn’t scour through the living quarters of many martial artists alone, but there were no signs of secret spaces on the roof or underground.
Given that countless unnamed martial artists live in this place, it shouldn’t be that easy to hide a significant secret, yet since there were many suspicious elements within Shengsu Faction, I thought I’d at least uncover one or two open secrets among the martial artists.
Could there really be no secrets involving the general martial artists of Shengsu Faction?
I couldn’t conclude definitively, but it seemed highly likely.
It looked like there would be nothing if I dug into the average martial artists, so I should examine the branch families, who could be considered the key personnel of the faction.
Though I didn’t discover anything, I seemed to have narrowed down my investigation.
As soon as I reached a conclusion, I hurriedly exited the martial artists’ quarters and approached the Training Hall.
Some time had passed while I surveyed the martial artists’ quarters.
As I loitered near the Training Hall, I was quickly spotted by a martial artist who shouted sharply.
“Who are you!”
“Suspicious guy!”
Boom, boom, boom!!
Hearing the cries of the martial artists spotting me, martial artists flooded out of the Training Hall! Everyone displayed a fierce expression towards me when one person stepped forward.
It was Moyong Seok-jil, someone I had encountered before.
“Aren’t you Moyong Mo’s sworn brother? What brings you to this Training Hall?”
“Um…”
As I hesitated, Moyong Seok-jil’s gaze sharpened.
“As a martial artist, you must know exactly what it means to come and go in the Training Hall of the Martial Clan, right?”
“…I had no intention of hindering my entry into the Training Hall or peeking at Moyong Clan’s martial arts.”
Since my excuse seemed nonsensical, the atmosphere among the surrounding martial artists turned dangerous.
“Then you must explain why you would engage in such behavior that leads to misunderstanding.”
Moyong Seok-jil’s momentum also sharpened.
At that moment,
“What’s this commotion?”
Moyong Yeon-hwa and her younger brother Chan-gyeong appeared.
“…We were briefly interrogating a suspicious person.”
“A suspicious person?”
Moyong Yeon-hwa and I locked eyes.
At the moment my gaze met Moyong Yeon-hwa’s, I intentionally curled my lips upward and fluttered my eyes.
No matter how one looked at it, my expression was overjoyed just from meeting Moyong Yeon-hwa’s gaze!
Moyong Yeon-hwa also slightly flickered her eyes.
As the tense atmosphere rose, while Moyong Seok-jil looked back and forth between me and Moyong Yeon-hwa, she finally spoke.
“Why have you come this far?”
“Cough! Cough… It’s not that I had to, but after my younger brother opened the gate, I became worried if you’d gone in well…”
“Worried about me…”
Moyong Yeon-hwa muttered shyly, slightly lowering her gaze.
Although her voice was low, small enough that an ordinary person couldn’t hear it, we were surrounded by martial artists who were charged with tension.
Wouldn’t Moyong Yeon-hwa’s murmur have reached their ears?
Both Moyong Seok-jil and countless martial artists of the Moyong Clan widened their eyes.
Suddenly realizing what she had said, Moyong Yeon-hwa hardened her expression and scolded me.
“How could you act when you knew it was inappropriate?”
“I-I’m sorry… I just…”
As I fumbled, Moyong Yeon-hwa coldly turned around and said,
“Please refrain from any actions that may lead to misunderstanding.”
“Understood…”
“…Let’s talk after the inspection ends.”
“Well then!”
As I widened my eyes, Moyong Yeon-hwa slightly bowed her head and strode away.
“I will wait for you in my pavilion!”
Moyong Yeon-hwa paused for a moment at my shout, but moved along as if she hadn’t heard, though I wasn’t the only one feeling bashful from her retreating figure.
“…Well then, now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, we’ll be taking our leave.”
The martial artists, who had been watching me with a look of joy and the departing Moyong Yeon-hwa interchangeably, soon returned to the Training Hall with disappointed expressions.
Putting on a smile, I wandered around the faction stealthily to scout and soon arrived at the pavilion.
While wasting time in the pavilion, Moyong Yeon-hwa soon appeared.
We both exchanged shy glances for a moment.
“It seems no one is around. May we have a private talk?”
“Yes.”
From a distance, we seemed like a bashful couple who couldn’t face each other, but our gazes were sharper than ever.
“You managed to sneak out quite well.”
“Moyong Mo is completely thrilled about uniting us, so it wasn’t too hard. Given today’s events, it’s only a matter of time before rumors spread within the faction, so pretending to be lovers won’t be difficult.”
“Thank goodness. The signs from Shengsu Faction were concerning.”
I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
After sharing my observations from today’s inspection of the martial artist quarters, Moyong Yeon-hwa looked at me, slightly surprised.
“You’re incredibly bold.”
“It’s all thanks to you drawing attention effectively.”
“Too kind.”
“I’ll keep an eye on the martial artists of the faction, but it seems we need to be watchful of the branch clan’s actions.”
This time, Moyong Yeon-hwa reported on today’s events.
“After hearing the words of the Ho Cheon-an Great Hero, there are several points bothering me. All those who demonstrated martial arts in the Training Hall today were just general martial artists. It would have made sense for the branch clans to showcase their martial arts to assert dominance.”
“Hmm.”
“Also, the color on the faces of the Master of the Faction and senior members I met on the first day was quite poor. It’s evidence that high-level martial artists are preoccupied with something to the point of not maintaining their optimal condition… I’m not looking forward to what they might be planning.”
“Then I guess we should start investigating it from here.”
I finished my statement and signaled with my finger.
I sensed a presence where some figures who had honed their martial arts might gather without easily being detected.
It seemed our actions had drawn someone’s attention.
Noticing my signal, Moyong Yeon-hwa changed her gaze again, and I deliberately raised my voice.
“Cough, I was thinking of having dinner with my younger brother tonight… If you’re comfortable, would you like to join us? I’m just offering based on how happy my younger brother was yesterday, so you needn’t mind too much…”
“Pff.”
Moyong Yeon-hwa wore a captivating smile.
I was taken aback by that display.
This was not the same Moyong Yeon-hwa who had been acting demure until now.
“How could you, who dashed to the Training Hall presumably thinking of me, come up with such a poor excuse?”
“Y-You?”
I could only be genuinely startled.
Moyong Yeon-hwa started to tickle the back of my hand with her finger!
The sudden change felt so striking it seemed that even the observers hiding would be taken aback.
When her finger moved up from my hand to my forearm, chills uncontrollably spread through my body.
“How could someone with such a strong body lack confidence like this?”
For a moment, I was so surprised I forgot my speech as Moyong Yeon-hwa winked.
“I’ll be looking forward to tonight.”
“B-Bluetooth…?”
“Of course, dinner.”
“Oh… Hahaha! Dinner! Of course! Hahaha!”
Moyong Yeon-hwa gazed at the awkwardly smiling Ho Cheon-an and thought.
Ho Cheon-an sneaking into the martial artists’ quarters.
A bold yet precise move at the core. Though he hadn’t even reported the strange news about the core members of the faction, how he managed to scratch such an itch was impressive.
While conducting an investigation, he’d managed to firmly implant the perception of lovers among the entire faction in a neat, two-in-one scheme, and Moyong Yeon-hwa genuinely admired it.
‘I’ll need to loosen up the Brain Knife Outcast even more.’
With this thought occupying her mind, the signal from Ho Cheon-an suggesting that he was being watched served as a sort of catalyst.
How could she allow Ho Cheon-an to move freely within Shengsu Faction?
An answer quickly formed in Moyong Yeon-hwa’s mind.
‘Let’s instill the impression that he’s a guy who spirals into confusion under a woman’s charm.’
Is there a being as seemingly harmless as a man behaving like that? Moyong Yeon-hwa recalled Ho Cheon-an buried in a corner of the Yang Clan’s shrine and chuckled lightly.
Though he’d displayed his resourcefulness and decisiveness, his favorability had dropped dramatically.
Moyong Yeon-hwa was convinced that such behavior would work within Shengsu Faction as well.
Thus, Moyong Yeon-hwa immediately shifted her behavior.
If she were to appear as the kind of woman capable of rendering a man dazed, then she too needed to appear alluring enough to bewilder him.
“Well then. I look forward to our next meeting.”
“Ah, I understand.”
