Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 184

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 184

I came out of the room and looked around.

I was in the medical ward, reserved for members of the direct lineage.

Butler Choi stood beside me as we walked slowly together.

“We have arrived.”

It was my father’s office, a place I had visited many times.

Butler Choi stopped walking.

“The Lord is in the garden behind the training grounds. I will escort you there.”

“Yes, thank you.”

As I was about to step inside, Butler Choi called out to me in a subtle tone.

“Young Master.”

I turned to face him.

And then he asked, “Do you hate the Lord?”

I was a little surprised.

I couldn’t believe Butler Choi was asking me this.

“I suppose that was a bit of a sudden question. It’s the first time I’ve seen you make such an expression.”

“Ah… I was just surprised. I didn’t think you were the type to ask such things.”

Butler Choi smiled.

“Yes, that’s true. But I’m also human, so I sometimes get curious.”

I paused for a moment to think.

Leaving aside respect or awe, if you ask me whether I like him or not…

“I used to hate him.”

There were too many reasons to hate him, and not enough reasons to like him.

“What about now?”

“I don’t really know.”

I answered and shrugged my shoulders.

“Isn’t that how father-son relationships usually are?”

Butler Choi, for the first time, laughed out loud at my words, not just with a faint smile.

“Yes, I understand.”

Butler Choi soon bowed his head with his usual gentle smile.

I bowed my head as well and stepped inside.

The inner garden.

My father was sitting on an iron chair, bathed in the moonlight, lost in thought.

As soon as I entered, he turned his head and said, “You’ve come, my son.”

I bowed my head.

“Yes, Father.”

Thus, I stood before my father, Lee Tae-shin, the Lord of the Soongmoo Lee Clan.

* * *

My father’s hair, now starting to show white, fluttered in the wind.

“What did you feel today?”

That was the first thing he said.

I took a moment to choose my words and slowly answered.

“I felt anticipation.”

“What ambition are you talking about?”

“Anticipation for the day I will see the scenery you are seeing.”

Lee Tae-shin looked at his son.

What he saw in my eyes wasn’t just a desire to see, but a firm will to see it at all costs.

However.

“Speaking so well, despite being in front of a wall.”

My father said abruptly.

I smiled bitterly inside.

‘…I didn’t expect you to see even that.’

The training on Everest was actually an attempt to overcome that wall, but I failed to take that one step.

That time was only about refining and perfecting what I already had.

As my father said, I am currently blocked by a wall.

That ‘something’ that I saw in Henry Russell, in Saint Christina, in my eldest brother, and in my father.

Reaching my own domain.

I still didn’t understand that realization.

“The answer is always within yourself. Only after realizing that will you be able to overcome the wall. You are still a long way off.”

I looked at my father and widened my eyes.

It was a scolding tone, but in fact, looking at the content, it was the same as giving a teaching.

“Thank you for the teaching. And…”

I bowed deeply and raised my head again, saying.

“I will overcome that wall soon.”

My father’s expression changed slightly.

It was an expression that seemed to be smiling.

“You must. If you have the blood of Soongmoo Lee Clan.”

Having said that, my father gestured to the chair in front of him.

I bowed lightly again and pulled the chair in front of my father without making a sound.

A moment of silence fell.

The sound of insects awakened from their slumber in the spring echoed softly.

“Although still lacking.”

My father nodded.

“I acknowledge that you have faithfully carried out my test.”

That’s what he said, but in fact, Lee Tae-shin didn’t think so in his heart.

It was an achievement that was beyond expectations.

Lee Cheol had always surpassed his expectations in a good way.

“Yes, thank you, Father.”

“Tell me what you want. As always, there must be a reward for the test.”

At my father’s words, I took a long breath.

“I have a question.”

My father quietly looked at me and opened his mouth.

“Is it related to the Demonic Church?”

Demonic Church.

Another name for Behemoth, which I learned while obtaining information related to ‘them’ after the Church State incident.

The fact that my father immediately brought up that name at my words meant that he was already aware of the incidents I had experienced.

“You knew.”

“I also know that you often encountered them and met the sixth apostle of the Demonic Church in the Church State.”

I nodded.

“I have some questions related to that.

-How much do you know about your father and mother, your birth, and your existence?

-That abominable sinner! Because Lee Tae-shin hid it!”

I recalled the words the apostle had said as he disappeared.

And the things related to the Black Ki [Black energy or dark chi] that Behemoth was after, and why the ancestor was sealing it.

“What are you curious about regarding them?”

“The untold history of the family and the Demonic Church. The story of Father and them. And…”

I paused for a moment.

I took a long breath and looked straight at my father, saying.

“I want to hear about my mother.”

* * *

Many people had questions about the existence of Lee Cheol.

Whose child is he, really?

Who was the woman of the cold-blooded Lord of Soongmoo Lee Clan?

No, in the first place… is he really Lee Tae-shin’s child?

To put it simply, Lee Cheol was indeed Lee Tae-shin’s child.

There was no way the organization called Soongmoo Lee Clan would be so sloppy.

Genetic testing had already been completed scientifically, magically, and sorcerously before the Iron Thread Ceremony [A coming-of-age ceremony in the Soongmoo Lee Clan].

The genetic and spiritual information of the existence called Lee Cheol perfectly proved that he was Lee Tae-shin’s child.

In fact, the status of a bastard was not that special.

Even in modern times, although they don’t do it openly, the so-called prestigious families, large forces in various regions, and even expanding to society, the chaebols [A South Korean term for a large business conglomerate] of the business world and high-ranking officials of the political world often had concubines.

Overseas, there were even cases where they openly had children through polygamy or polyandry.

But at least for the man named Lee Tae-shin, such a thing was by no means fitting.

He had often traveled abroad, but those trips were always for training or missions.

He didn’t have a history of womanizing, nor had there been any particular scandals related to sex.

Although his marriage to Madam Baek was a political marriage arranged by the family, their relationship was by no means bad.

Despite the fact that many of the old dignitaries had suggested taking a concubine, the man named Lee Tae-shin had rejected them outright.

Moreover, everyone couldn’t help but wonder about the tendencies of the man named Lee Tae-shin.

Even if he had met a woman outside, he would have formally taken her as a concubine, not just bring a child without any explanation.

That’s why everyone had questions.

The Council of Elders.

Madam Baek.

His children.

‘And even me.’

I stared intently at my father.

He didn’t show much agitation even after hearing my question.

I had been curious about my birth for a long time.

No, to be precise, I used to be curious.

In my past life, when everything was just uncertain and hopeless.

As a child, I naturally had questions about my mother and my birth.

Who is my mother, and where is she?

No one could answer that question, and no one knew.

That’s why I don’t know exactly when, but at some point, I erased the question about my mother from my mind.

That continued in my life after regression.

I thought that even if I knew about my mother, nothing would change much.

‘But now I need to hear it.’

I heard that there was some hidden story behind it.

The family, Father, me, and even my mother.

Since I am involved, I needed to hear about all those hidden stories.

“Is that what you desire?”

At my father’s words, I nodded.

Wondering what he was thinking, my father looked at the air for a very brief moment.

In the silence, only the sound of insects echoed.

“I heard that all those things are related.”

I continued speaking in the silence.

“Is that true?”

My father nodded.

“Yes.”

“If it’s a story I’m allowed to know, I would like to hear that untold history.”

My father looked straight into my eyes.

“The affairs of the Demonic Church and the main family go back to the distant past.”

My father’s lips, which didn’t seem like they would open easily, opened, and the story slowly began.

“How much do you know about the family’s history?”

“I know about the things related to the known history.”

“What about our lineage before the founder?”

I shook my head.

Even records about the founder are almost non-existent.

Of course, I didn’t know about anything before that.

“I only know about the content that is passed down like a legend.”

The legend that a hero who caught a monster that disturbed the country had his black hair and yellow eyes stained with its blood.

“That legend is not much different from the truth.”

“…”

I closed my mouth.

“The special power that the bloodline of Soongmoo Lee Clan possesses originated from a certain ‘monster’ of ancient times. Over a long period of time, the traits of the blood have changed, and now there is not even a trace left.”

Monster, traits of the blood.

The apostle of Behemoth who called it a cursed bloodline.

I realized that the story coming out now was some great untold history that was not known to the world.

“That monster is not much different from the existence that the Demonic Church worships. It could be said that they are almost identical. Since it is a matter of the distant ancient times when even records do not remain, even the leader of that time would not know about this accurately.”

Leader, most likely referring to the master of Behemoth.

“From their point of view, the bloodline of the main family had some blasphemous aspect that directly denied their teachings. Naturally, what would have happened?”

“They would have had no choice but to clash.”

“That’s right.”

My father nodded.

“Since the Soongmoo Lee Clan raised the banner of martial arts, it has never left an external enemy alone. Since you said you know the family’s history, you must have heard the names of Baekbaekgyo, Mayounggyo, and Majeonpa. Those are the predecessors of the Demonic Church of that time.”

All the names I mentioned were the names of cults or organizations that were destroyed by the main family.

I looked at my father and opened my mouth.

“Father, I once heard from Henry Russell of England that the Demonic Church was destroyed once during the Great War and once during your time. But how can an organization that has been constantly destroyed since before then exist?”

“They will not disappear as long as humans and monsters exist. They are like weeds, so even if they are wiped out once, they revive again from a piece of root. I thought that even that piece of root had been eliminated in my era, but it had survived.”

I read my father’s expression and stopped breathing for a moment.

For the first time in my life.

I saw an emotion like anger from my father.

Sss! Sss!

The insects that were crying around stopped crying.

“If those fanatics were just simple enemies, there would be no big problem. The problem started in the era of the Great War. Those guys changed their course.”

Course? What course are you talking about?

“Instead of seeing the main family as an enemy to be eliminated, they decided to use it.”

“Use… are you saying?”

“Yes, a catalyst for the revival of what they worship. That’s what they said.”

For a moment, I frowned without even realizing it.

It was expressing people as less than tools.

“…After that, the battles with those things could only become protracted. If the family you were entrusting your back to, your comrades, suddenly wore a mask, what would it have been like?”

If.

Ron, Jung Jin-soo, Serena, Anastasia, Lee Seo-hyun.

If my eldest brother, uncle, or aunt wore a mask, spewed out bizarre languages, and attacked me.

I deliberately stopped thinking.

“This is the history of the main family and those abominable things. And again, after a long time, it began to repeat.”

“…”

The story stopped for a moment.

In the silence that had fallen, I took a moment to organize my thoughts.

But there was still one more story to hear.

“What is the connection between that and my mother’s affairs?”

My father closed his mouth for a moment.

It was only a very brief time, enough to take a few breaths, but it felt like a long time to me, like the days were changing.