The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 38

“……What? Is that true?!”

Top floor of the Pungyang Jo research building.

One of the royal guards received a transmission from a Royal Investigative Bureau agent, and his expression twisted.

But only for a moment.

He composed himself and immediately ran to the man standing on the rooftop, opening his mouth.

“A report has come in from the Royal Investigative Bureau. Target located at the given coordinates. The target is….”

He checked the video data that had been sent along with it, paused briefly, then continued.

“Young master Jo Seonghwan has already died of excessive blood loss.”

“Understood.”

Hearing the royal guard’s words, Kim Hyunwoo gave a short reply and nodded.

By now, the transport drone dispatched by the Royal Investigative Bureau would have secured Jo Seonghwan’s body.

With this, it was all over.

“Fled so pitifully, and this is how it ends.”

Muttering that, Kim Hyunwoo looked down at his own arm—the one still gripping his sword.

A faint trembling that had not stopped even now.

He had no choice but to acknowledge it.

He was feeling the sensation of killing for the first time, directly on his skin.

So distracted by the sensation of cutting through flesh that he’d let the man escape.

An embarrassing spectacle, through and through.

“Has a photograph of the body been secured?”

“Yes. There are reference photos sent from the transport drone, but….”

“Send them to me. I’ll verify it myself.”

Still unable to shed his unease, Kim Hyunwoo checked the condition of the body.

Jo Seonghwan lay dead with eyes wide open.

It was his first time seeing a corpse as well, and nausea rose within him—but this was not the place to let that show.

He examined the body for a moment.

“Hm?”

Looking at Jo Seonghwan’s body, Kim Hyunwoo’s brow furrowed.

The wounds on Jo Seonghwan’s body.

Among them, there were wounds he had not made.

‘Looking at the shape of the wounds and the scorching marks, a hwando made by our clan was used. But….’

He had moved the royal guards rather than the main house’s bodyguards, so the only one currently carrying such a sword was himself.

Wounds he had no memory of inflicting.

Yet made by the same weapon he carried.

In this situation, the only person who could kill Jo Seonghwan using an Andong Kim weapon….

‘Kim Changwoon. Is it him?’

The moment that thought formed——

Wrrrrmmmm—!

Burning through the rain and dark clouds, a transport helicopter descended from the sky.

On the fuselage: the Andong Kim clan’s main house crest, and below it, a black stripe.

Kim Hyunwoo’s eyes widened the instant he saw it.

“That is——!”

Thud—!

The helicopter touched down on the rooftop. Its door opened, and Kim Jungheon, head of the Andong Kim clan, stepped out.

He had been away inspecting the Five Military Commands’ troop management.

In the middle of that, he had received word of the trouble in Hanseong and rushed back immediately.

“Father.”

Kim Hyunwoo, having hastily straightened his clothing, moved to receive him—but Kim Jungheon did not so much as glance at Kim Hyunwoo.

His gaze went to Jo Seonghwan’s body, being brought in by the transport drone.

The moment he confirmed that body with his own eyes, Kim Jungheon’s face crumpled beyond recognition.

A violent shift in expression he would never have shown under ordinary circumstances.

“What in the world has happened here.”

“Exactly as you see.”

Kim Hyunwoo looked down at the research building beneath him and spoke.

“The Pungyang Jo clan was collecting and conducting research on monsters here in the heart of Hanseong, the capital of Joseon. An unconscionable disgrace—and high treason that has endangered Joseon.”

“And so you killed him? Of all people, the heir of the Pungyang Jo clan?”

In truth, he was not the one who had killed him.

There was someone he suspected.

But Kim Hyunwoo chose not to mention that.

Even if Kim Changwoon had not killed Jo Seonghwan, he himself had intended to capture and execute him regardless.

And since it was he who had put Kim Changwoon to use and infiltrated the Pungyang Jo clan, killing Jo Seonghwan was as good as his own doing.

“It was no more than personally punishing a traitor. And beyond that——”

Kim Hyunwoo thought for a moment, then spoke.

“Now that we have eliminated the heir of the Pungyang Jo clan and charged them with treason, is this not a perfect opportunity to suppress their influence——”

Crack—!

Before Kim Hyunwoo could finish, Kim Jungheon stepped forward and struck him across the cheek.

“You commit the unthinkable act of killing the blood of a fellow noble house, and the best you can come up with is petty scheming like that? You fool!”

Kim Jungheon shouted with a twisted face, and Kim Hyunwoo stared at him with wide eyes.

An expression that said he could not understand his father’s reaction.

Seeing that face only stoked Kim Jungheon’s anger further.

“Do you have any idea how many ventures are currently underway jointly with them, and how many plans require their cooperation? You have just thrown cold water over every last one of them!”

“I believe the main house has sufficient resources to compensate. Besides, they were conducting monster research in Hanseong—!”

“And does that mean you could move the royal guards on your own authority, without any due process, and capture and kill the blood of a noble house?”

Kim Hyunwoo, finding no words to counter, fell silent.

“I have always taught you that every matter in the world has proper procedure and order. And yet you do this? What do you think the countless nobles we face at royal court will think of our clan after this?”

It was plain to see.

The Andong Kim clan, acting to crush the Pungyang Jo clan for the sake of its own power.

They would assume the heir had been killed without even a proper trial, all in service of that scheme.

“Is that…. so wrong?”

“It is wrong.”

Kim Jungheon’s voice had gone cold. Kim Hyunwoo frowned and asked.

“Why?”

“Because our clan’s power flows from the balance of power among the noble families.”

Kim Jungheon continued.

“We of the Andong Kim clan hold the highest standing among the noble houses—yet we have never rashly encroached on other families’ domains.”

“…….”

“On the contrary, we have respected their domains and taken it upon ourselves to mediate conflicts between nobles. Do you know why?”

By doing so, clans that had each stood apart could come together not as rivals, but as a unified body with a shared purpose.

It was because of that consolidated strength that the power of the nobles had reached what it is today.

That wretched cooperation. That wretched unity.

He had heard it until he was sick of it.

“But Jo Seonghwan—that man was a criminal who conducted illegal monster research, and those around him were filth committing every manner of foul deed as a byproduct of it. And surely you know what that faction has been doing in the shadows?!”

There was no way he did not know.

Illegal drugs. Human trafficking. And every shameless act that branched from them.

All those deeds that made nausea rise at the mere mention of them.

“What meaning is there in a unity forged by joining hands with people like that? With you and me holding firm right now, where is the reason to keep appeasing them and maintaining this unity?”

“…Haa.”

To say such things even after having seen that at the audience hall.

“…Fine. Let’s say, as you put it, the Andong Kim clan becomes first among the nobles by doing things that way.”

Hearing Kim Hyunwoo’s words, Kim Jungheon’s expression grew all the more weary.

“Let’s say we bring every clan that stands against us to its knees, annihilate their three generations, eliminate them entirely, gather all their power unto ourselves, and found a dynasty.”

“What do you think lies at the end of that?”

At the end of that?

Kim Jungheon spoke, watching Kim Hyunwoo struggle to answer.

“The king who sits on the throne right now.”

The king.

Hearing those words, Kim Hyunwoo went rigid for a moment and could not speak.

“Tell me about the rebellion of the deposed Crown Prince Yi Chieon.”

There was no way he did not know.

Kim Hyunwoo narrowed his eyes and slowly opened his mouth.

“Crown Prince Yi Chieon, having fallen into madness, harbored treason with intent to assassinate the reigning king, and raised a rebellion. And…….”

“His Majesty was stabbed by the crown prince’s blade and fell gravely ill, and the dignity of the royal house crumbled to the earth. Yi Chieon, the principal ringleader of the treason, was stripped of noble status, and for the crimes of attempted parricide and treason, was put to death by dismemberment.”

As if frustrated by the very question he had asked, Kim Jungheon rattled off the words in rapid succession.

A stale tale brought up every so often when discussing history.

Kim Hyunwoo could not understand why he was raising it now.

“Do you truly not see it?”

Just as that thought formed, Kim Jungheon looked at his son with a dissatisfied expression.

“This history I have just recounted—it is the fate of the one who bore the throne of Joseon.”

Kim Jungheon said.

“A future in which he tears his own child limb from limb with his own hands, and is himself reduced to a living corpse unable even to die—trapped on a throne that is his in name only, manipulated like a puppet. A hell where a single absolute power blinds you to everything, until you cannot even die as you choose. That is the throne!”

“……!”

“That is why the Andong Kim clan wields the authority of a monarch without claiming to be one. We place other clans beneath us, yet do not tread on their heads to climb higher.”

Because we enjoy the power of a king, yet must pass the responsibility to the corpse sitting on that throne.

And because by doing so, the power of the Andong Kim clan—

Indeed, the power of all nobles—can be sustained.

Kim Jungheon added that, and his voice rose slightly.

“But what you have done now breaks that unspoken rule. From this point forward, we noble houses can no longer ever fully trust one another. We must ceaselessly suspect each other, ceaselessly keep each other in check. Because of none other than you! Because you killed Jo Seonghwan with your own hands——!”

He stopped speaking mid-sentence.

Kim Jungheon reined in his surging emotions and stood still, covering his face with his hand.

“…Huu.”

With things already come this far, there was nothing to be resolved by raising his voice here.

‘It is true that losing their heir has dealt a blow to the Pungyang Jo clan’s power. Then in this situation….’

With a father who had lost his son standing before him, talking of reconciliation or negotiation would yield nothing.

Then in the end, only one thing remained.

Before this expanded any further—excise the Pungyang Jo clan as quickly as possible.

‘The evidence of monster research in Hanseong has also been secured, so there is more than sufficient justification to move the royal guards and the Royal Investigative Bureau.’

Kim Hyunwoo must have factored this in as well before moving the royal guards.

Young as he was, he was not lacking in ability.

“Return to the main house. From now on, I will handle this matter myself.”

“Father. But——!”

Boom—!

The moment he tried to say something further, Kim Jungheon’s phase power bore down on Kim Hyunwoo.

“I do not wish to hear it.”

“……Yes. Understood.”

Kim Hyunwoo bowed his head reluctantly and turned away.

As he was stepping aboard the transport helicopter the clan had prepared——

“It seems you made use of strategy in a way unlike you.”

Kim Jungheon called him to a halt and asked, eyes half-lidded.

“This affair—was it something you arranged from beginning to end?”

“Pardon?”

“Finding out about the Pungyang Jo clan’s monster research facility, causing the monsters to run amok, and pinning the charge of treason on them. I am asking whether you planned all of that yourself.”

Kim Jungheon’s question felt as though it saw straight through him, and Kim Hyunwoo fell silent for a moment.

What he himself had done was simply strike Jo Seonghwan.

All the planning had been designed by Kim Changwoon—that illegitimate bastard.

But……

“Yes. I did.”

Was it the anxiety of a son standing before his father?

In the end, what came out of his mouth was a lie.

“Is that so.”

Kim Jungheon nodded at Kim Hyunwoo’s answer.

Without turning back to face him, he added a single word in a passing tone.

“The plan itself was beyond reproach.”

“……!”

“At least the heir’s education has not been wasted.”

A single line that sounded like praise.

Leaving those words behind, Kim Hyunwoo slowly boarded the helicopter.

It had been a perfect victory.

He had eliminated Jo Seonghwan, a thorn in his side, and dealt a decisive blow to his rivals, the Pungyang Jo clan.

For the first time, he had moved the clan according to his own will rather than his father’s.

It was the first victory and the first achievement he had tasted since being chosen as heir to the Andong Kim clan.

And yet.

“Beyond reproach…. he said.”

Grind.

Chewing over Kim Jungheon’s words, Kim Hyunwoo clenched his teeth.

Even though everything had ended in a perfect victory.

All that remained in him was the humiliation and fury he had worked so hard to look away from.