The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 74

The journey back from Iron Tiger Fortress was not as grueling as the journey there.

The roads were poorly maintained, so the truck flipped over twice, and the crane that came to haul it upright flipped over three times.

And then there was the tactical module that tried to pick everything up and fly away, only to be driven straight into the ground.

But we weren’t attacked by Jurchen on motorcycles, and I wasn’t locked up at a checkpoint.

By that standard, this was a homeward journey so peaceful and comfortable it would merit five stars, no question about it.

Chhrrrr-!

After returning to Hanseong like that, I headed directly to the Administration to file my after-action report.

But what was waiting for me at the entrance to the Administration was a row of the clan’s bodyguards, standing at attention.

Perfect posture without a single crack, as always.

Expressionless faces. Eyes that conveyed no emotion.

The same dull mugs as always.

“The clan head has summoned you. Young Master. We will escort you to the main house before you enter the palace.”

“…Very well. Let’s go.”

Short and clipped. No small courtesies, no token gesture of respect.

Telling me to report to the clan before reporting to the Administration, was this a reminder of whose hands this country was in?

Well, thinking about it, that wasn’t entirely wrong.

Whether I reported to the Administration or to the clan.

In the end, it was Kim Jungheon who would receive that report.

“This way.”

With a heavy sound, the gate closed behind me.

The Andong Kim main house, which left me short of breath every time I came.

A sight I was sick of from sheer familiarity, and yet…….

“……?”

Today, something was different.

The moment I stepped inside the main house, a sense of wrongness rose within me.

There were no people.

Not the figures from every walk of life who would come and go through the clan house to show their faces to Kim Jungheon. Not the clan elders who were always wandering through every corner of the estate.

All gone.

The clan bodyguards who should have been standing guard throughout the grounds had also vanished without a trace.

Even the red lights of the surveillance cameras that should have been blinking from every wall were dark.

“I have arrived as my lord instructed.”

I spoke briefly outside the study.

From beyond the door came a familiar voice.

“Come in.”

A short, terse command.

No attendant to open the door, no servant to guide me.

A perfect private audience where not a soul could listen in.

‘Had this ever happened before?’

No. In my past life, Kim Jungheon had never once done this.

Because he himself had never been worth that much.

What is this about, all of a sudden?

Carrying an unease I couldn’t name, I pushed open the door and stepped inside the study.

A rich scent of chrysanthemum brushed past my nose.

On the table sat steaming chrysanthemum tea, and….

‘A Go board?’

I frowned slightly.

I knew Kim Jungheon enjoyed Go.

But he had never once played a game with me until now.

Then why?

Today, here, Go?

“Sit.”

While I stood looking on in puzzlement, Kim Jungheon spoke without turning to face me.

I sat down in silence, and Kim Jungheon took a seat across from me, then slowly picked up one of the stones.

Clack.

A black stone placed on the board.

I glanced at Kim Jungheon sidelong, but he waited for my turn with no change in expression.

What on earth is this about.

‘Since he started without saying anything, this must be an even game rather than a handicap game. In a game like this, black is traditionally played by the one learning…. so why is Kim Jungheon, the elder and head of the clan, playing black?’

No. Speculating about it would get me nowhere.

All I could do was play the game.

I picked up a white stone and began responding to Kim Jungheon’s moves.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Only the sound of stones being placed rippled quietly through the study.

I held the white stone in my hand, paused, and looked down at the board.

This style of play, securing advantageous high ground first, then gradually tightening the noose.

Building a visible frame, drawing the opponent into seeking a gap, then reversing that and pressing with it.

A formation that reflected Kim Jungheon’s usual character exactly.

My side, meanwhile, was constantly intruding on his territory, struggling to break apart the frame he had built.

But the first attempt failed.

The second attempt failed as well.

The elaborate cage he had already constructed was closing around me.

‘No different from a frog in a pot.’

The more I sought an escape, the more precisely his moves blocked me.

Doing all this against a Go novice, this man was simply incapable of accepting defeat.

“I read the report.”

In the middle of the game, Kim Jungheon spoke for the first time.

“It seems there were quite a few unexpected situations at Iron Tiger Fortress.”

His low, heavy voice filled the study.

I kept my eyes on the board and answered calmly.

“It was through my own negligence that assets of the Training Command were damaged. I can only offer my apologies.”

“Machines can simply be rebuilt.”

Kim Jungheon drank a leisurely sip of tea.

Then he looked back at the board and added dispassionately,

“What matters is what was gained in return.”

I deliberated over my next move and quietly steadied my breath.

Kim Jungheon’s carelessly placed black stone was breaking apart my formation one by one, expanding his territory.

Is this a sign that he’s been watching?

Trying to keep track of both the game and the conversation at once was beginning to give me a headache.

“You intervened in the plan the Defense Commander had designed, and threw his intentions off course.”

He continued, studying the board carefully.

“In exchange, you said you earned the Iron Tiger General’s trust…. was it worth the cost?”

“In my judgment, yes.”

I answered shortly and without hesitation.

“State the basis for that judgment.”

The next escape route I had prepared was blocked as well.

Two moves too slow.

No, perhaps from the start I had been following along in his current without ever realizing it.

Searching for the next opening, I continued speaking.

“Iron Tiger Fortress was the only true base of significance in the Northeast Frontier, and the front line against monster incursions. The Defense Commander was a useful man, but he lacked the capacity to manage all of Iron Tiger Fortress…. had he come to power, there was a risk the entire Fortress would fracture.”

“And it was after meeting him in person that you reached that judgment?”

“Yes.”

Three escape routes remained to me now.

Only one move left that Kim Jungheon had not yet spotted.

I picked up the stone, preparing to play it.

When—

“And so, just as you did in the Jo Seonghwan incident, you used the monsters to kill him?”

“……!”

Clack. Clack.

Kim Jungheon’s black stone drove into the vital point of my formation and bored deep into my territory.

Control had shifted entirely.

No, had I ever held control to begin with?

I drew a short breath and studied Kim Jungheon’s expression.

‘Has he seen through me?’

Most likely.

No, it couldn’t be otherwise.

From the moment I had used the borrowed-knife stratagem and made the monsters serve as my shield, I had never expected to hide it from Kim Jungheon’s eyes.

‘I led it to be found out, in fact.’

I looked at the board, already beyond saving, and calmly raised the white stone.

There was no point in jumping further than the hand could reach, but escape routes still remained, at least two or three more moves to probe.

“Presumptuous as it may be, I dare to submit this.”

Clack.

Placing the white stone to avoid where the black stones lay, I opened my mouth calmly.

“I believed what my lord desired was not the Defense Commander himself, but the possibility of taming Iron Tiger Fortress, or at least an opportunity to do so.”

In an instant, Kim Jungheon’s eyes narrowed.

“So rather than bringing the Defense Commander into the fold, you killed him? Not to use him as an internal enemy to strike at Yoo Sanghyeon, but to bind Yoo Sanghyeon through obligation and bring him to our side?”

“Yes.”

What truly had to be hidden was not the fact, but the intent.

This was a smokescreen to conceal the treasonous heart within.

To hide the dagger in my breast, I had merely exposed the longsword at my hip on purpose.

Kim Jungheon looked at me with an expression still impossible to read.

He was no longer looking at the board.

As though this game was simply not something that mattered to him.

“Hm.”

He lightly tapped his fingers against the teacup, appearing to sink into thought.

I did not break that silence.

‘It doesn’t matter whether Kim Jungheon believes my explanation or not.’

If he believes it, he will treat me as a useful tool and assign the next task, and within that I can lay the groundwork for my next move.

If he doesn’t believe it, he will regard me as useless refuse and discard me, and I can extend my reach where his eyes don’t reach.

I kept my silence and looked at the teacup before me.

The tea, grown even colder than the cold floor beneath it.

The tips of my fingers were trembling faintly.

“Plausible enough.”

Clack.

The final black stone settled onto the board.

That was the signal for the game’s end.

The result was Kim Jungheon’s overwhelming victory, beyond any need to verify.

I let out a short exhale.

“Acting ahead of me after grasping my intentions may look reckless at first glance, but…. even so, the handling left no gaps.”

Kim Jungheon’s voice fell low and heavy over me.

He slowly picked up his teacup, then set it back down.

“This game as well. In matters of the mind, you are better than Hyunwoo.”

The composure I had maintained all along nearly broke for just an instant.

‘What did he just say?’

Kim Jungheon praised me?

This was not the answer I had expected.

Kim Jungheon was not a man who easily passed judgment on anyone, under ordinary circumstances.

I know this is not the recognition a parent gives a child, only the praise of a man commending a tool that has served its purpose.

And yet, knowing that full well.

Why am I turning this over in my mind and feeling glad?

Joy and self-contempt.

Two contradictory emotions formed an uneasy equilibrium, tangling together inside my head.

“But at the same time, I find myself quite curious.”

Had he sensed that disturbance in me?

Kim Jungheon rose slowly from his seat and took one step toward me.

His shadow stretched long across the Go board.

A suffocating pressure, despite not a trace of phase power being released.

I bit the inside of my lip.

“All those strategies. All those preparations…. events and variables moving so smoothly that one might almost call it artistry.”

“……..”

“Is this truly your own scheming?”

His voice grew quieter and lower.

“Something you conceived, you arranged, you devised entirely?”

He took another step closer.

“Or….”

Cold sweat ran down my back.

A dread that set every nerve in my body on edge.

Kim Jungheon slowly reached out and gripped my shoulder.

That touch felt impossibly heavy.

“Do you already know?”

“……!”

In that instant, my heart lurched.

“My lord. Know what, exactly, I’m not sure what you mean….”

I did my best to seem composed.

As if I knew nothing, I played the fool the way I always had.

But Kim Jungheon slowly tilted his head, as if examining my expression in minute detail.

“You don’t understand?”

His voice, his expression, neither wavered.

“Then let me ask once more.”

The corners of his lips curved faintly.

That smile could have been mockery, or curiosity, or something closer to certainty.

“Kim Changwoon.”

His voice, sharp as a blade, called my name in a low murmur.

“Do you know the future?”

The moment his next words reached me, a sensation as though the breath had been stolen from my body crashed over me.

How.

How could you possibly know that?