novelraw Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Chapter 61
The attendant thought the man might be teasing him, but if it was really just a matter of letting him meet the chef, then a large sum of money was his to keep.
Since the money that was supposed to be spent would not be, wasn't that the same as earning money?
The attendant thought his heart had been dropping and reattaching itself repeatedly throughout the day.
“It is difficult right now, but it will be possible after business hours. But you wish to see him right now, don't you?”
The attendant asked, trying his best to please Cheon Ha-seong.
However, Cheon Ha-seong shook his head as if it were out of the question.
“What do you mean by that? How could I make such an unreasonable request? I can wait. Would it be alright if I waited here, drinking tea, after I've finished my meal? If customers come and there are no seats, I will go outside and wait.”
“No, sir. Not at all. You've ordered so much food, so you can stay until the end of business hours. Please frequent our Cheonghaeru in the future as well, Young Master. When you come next time, I will remember you and guide you to the best seat.”
“Don't do that. A seat is just a place to sit and eat, isn't it? If you were to give me the best seat, wouldn't the people who were already in that seat have to move elsewhere?”
The attendant thought it was strange that a man who was a Manager of the Golden Merchant Guild would think like this.
During the time he had spent cutting his teeth at Cheonghaeru, the people he had seen seemed to be preoccupied with enjoying even the smallest amount of power they had. But this person's way of thinking seemed completely different.
“Understood. Then… I will first go about my work, and when business hours are over, I will bring the chef.”
“Thank you. Thank you.”
Cheon Ha-seong was beaming, thinking that the matter might be resolved easily.
The attendant thought that the man, who had seemed so scary, looked simple when he smiled. Then he wondered when he had started to find him scary.
‘At first, I just thought he was a simpleton, but what on earth is wrong with my eyes? To be so bad at judging people. I've been doing my job as an attendant carelessly all this time.’
Finally left alone, Cheon Ha-seong began to eat his meal with a joyful heart.
The other dishes were also delicious, but the dumplings were especially so. However, it wasn't just that they tasted good; his feelings were special because it was the taste his beloved Head Instructor Seo longed for.
‘What should I say to get him to agree to come with me? Does he have a family? He must have elders he's looking after, right? If he's been working as a chef here since Cheonghaeru opened, it doesn't seem like he's the type to move to another place easily.’
Even while having such thoughts, his hands and mouth moved diligently, and the plates in front of him were steadily and cleanly emptied.
There was someone quietly watching him.
It was Danmok Yeon.
He had entered Cheonghaeru before Cheon Ha-seong.
Danmok Yeon had been outside the Divine Cult many times and knew people's habits well. So he had known in advance that to enter a high-class restaurant like Cheonghaeru, one's appearance was important.
However, he couldn't just go and buy new clothes, so he had simply used a wicked art to get inside.
It was not a difficult task for Danmok Yeon to make the attendants who saw him feel favorable towards him. Depending on the opponent, the duration varied greatly, and although he had to use his energy to cast the wicked art, that much was not tiring.
Danmok Yeon, who had come in beforehand, moved to a spot where he could see Cheon Ha-seong well after he had taken his seat.
If the attendant had seen him moving around after taking a seat, he might have said something, but no one was rude to him.
It was the power of the wicked art.
He used a method to make his presence faint so that people would not notice him.
It was quite effective, so he was able to observe Cheon Ha-seong without being disturbed by others.
Although not much time had passed, he had learned quite a lot about Cheon Ha-seong.
‘A Manager of the Golden Merchant Guild? Are you saying a Manager of the Golden Merchant Guild was also a follower of our cult? He got a good travel pass. Lucky bastard.’
The travel pass he had was that of a small escort agency's porter. Moreover, its expiration date had passed, so a problem could have arisen if someone who wanted to look closely had appeared. So he had planned to show it briefly and use a wicked art if a problem seemed likely to arise.
‘Why is he trying to meet the chef?’
He had not heard the conversation Cheon Ha-seong had with Seo Hyo-eun in detail. At first, he had thought it was because of the distance, but thinking about it calmly, that too was strange.
If he used his internal energy, he should have been able to hear even words spoken in a small voice from afar, so why hadn't he heard them?
‘Did I give up from the start and not even try to listen?’
That couldn't be.
Come to think of it, it seemed to have been like that before as well.
There had been many cases where he hadn't been able to hear what the Cult Leader or Cheon Ha-seong was saying.
‘Strange.’
However, even then, Danmok Yeon had dismissed it as nothing serious and had passed it off as him not concentrating enough.
‘Well, I'll know once I see what he's trying to do after meeting the chef. Perhaps the chef is a spy planted by the Divine Cult.’
Once his thoughts reached that point, it seemed likely that they had sent a person to make contact with a spy who was a chef.
‘How important a person must he be for the Cult Leader to send him personally? Indeed. At an important time like this, he wouldn't have sent someone out for no reason.’
Danmok Yeon's misunderstanding only deepened as time passed.
He looked at the small plate placed forlornly in front of him.
He hadn't been able to order enough food because he didn't have much money. On the other hand, Cheon Ha-seong had ordered generously and was eating well.
Thinking that he couldn't go on like this, Danmok Yeon called for the attendant.
The attendant approached with a friendly face.
Danmok Yeon listed off the dishes placed on Cheon Ha-seong's table one by one.
“I wish to taste them all, so bring them, and you shall pay the bill.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The attendant, without sensing anything strange, bowed his head as if it were a matter of course and disappeared.
Danmok Yeon smiled to himself, thinking that since he had learned a wicked art, it was bound to be used in this way.
A moment later, the attendant brought the food, and Danmok Yeon watched Cheon Ha-seong while he ate.
Cheon Ha-seong sat calmly until the end of business hours, intently observing the people seated around him.
It wasn't just out of curiosity; it was as if he were trying to learn about the people of the Central Plains by looking at each and every one of them.
Danmok Yeon watched Cheon Ha-seong diligently.
‘What is that man, that the Cult Leader keeps him close? Isn't he just a Head Instructor of the Martial Arts Academy?’
Until then, he had never even imagined that Cheon Ha-seong was the person he had been so desperately searching for.
When he learned that the wall of the Martial Arts Academy had been destroyed one day, he was so dumbfounded that he had just stood there blankly for a long time, unable to do anything.
Then he went to the Martial Arts Academy and searched for the commentary on the Heaven-Shattering Will Art with a trembling heart, but it had vanished without a trace.
It was not difficult for Danmok Yeon to enter the Martial Arts Academy. If there had been anyone trying to block his path, he could have just controlled them, but instead of doing so, he hid his form and entered.
He had moved through the crowds, searching for any place the commentary might be.
But for some reason, the commentary was nowhere to be seen.
Thinking that perhaps he himself had hidden the Pattra Leaves somewhere else, he rummaged through every corner of the Martial Arts Academy, but it had truly vanished without a trace.
After that, his act of suggesting at the Head Instructors' meeting that they make and distribute copies of the Heaven-Shattering Will Art, and having them create incorrect copies, was for the sake of venting his anger.
That precious commentary had disappeared, yet he couldn't find it and was so powerless. Because of that, he felt that if he didn't do something, his feelings wouldn't be relieved, and he thought he might feel a bit better if he saw the candidates of the Martial Arts Academy fall into Qi Deviation.
That was why he had done it, but even that hadn't gone as planned.
‘That incident was strange, too. How did the Cult Leader know about it and react so quickly?’
Danmok Yeon's mood soured for no reason.
He was from a collateral branch of the Danmok Demonic Clan and was a non-mainstream figure in the Divine Cult. As a result, he held a rebellious spirit against the Divine Cult's mainstream.
That feeling was even greater towards the Cult Leader, the pinnacle of the Divine Cult's mainstream.
Most people didn't know, but Danmok Yeon knew. Having lived the longest in the Divine Cult, he had been able to experience many things that others had not.
The grace of the Demonic God had been bestowed upon the Cult Leader, and he had a power that resulted from it. That was why the wicked arts of the Divine Cult did not work on him.
It was a truly strange thing.
Unaware of that, Danmok Yeon had attempted to assassinate the Cult Leader several times, and had almost died each time.
Only after experiencing several failures did he come to know of the Cult Leader's power. And after that, he had given up on trying to kill the Cult Leader. However, he had thought that it might be possible to exert his influence by getting close to the Cult Leader's successor.
With that thought, he had waited and endured for a long, long time, and this time, the opportunity was very good.
The current Cult Leader had no son, and Danmok Muyeol had been born with decent martial talent. Moreover, now that even the Second Demonic Marquis was dead, the possibility of Danmok Muyeol, the adopted son of the Third Demonic Marquis, becoming the Cult Leader had become very high.
‘At a time like this, if I can just understand the commentary on the Heaven-Shattering Will Art and master it, I could become a person who exists above the Cult Leader…’
When his thoughts reached that point, the question of where the Pattra Leaves had disappeared to came up again.
‘Why is he looking for the chef? If the chef is an amazing person, it might be better for me to meet him first. Once that man meets the chef, it might be difficult for me to approach him.’
Once his thoughts reached that point, there was no reason not to.
Danmok Yeon immediately rose from his seat. Then he walked towards the kitchen. Following the attendant who had taken the order, finding the kitchen was not difficult.
If they had seen a customer suddenly going to the kitchen, people would not have just let it be. But there was no one who blocked Danmok Yeon from going to the kitchen.
Danmok Yeon, as if thinking it was a matter of course, entered the kitchen very confidently. Even while he was there, searching for the dumpling chef, no one gave him a second glance. His figure was blurred and faint, so it was not visible to people's eyes.
The demonic energy and ghostly energy he had mastered for over a hundred years.
That was what was hiding among the people, exerting its sinister power.
“How many times is this for you, Chef Paeng? Maybe it's because you're too nice. I'm asking why all the women who live with you run away after falling for another bastard. Maybe it's more peaceful for you, Chef Paeng. Imagine if those women got old and stayed by your side. It would be a difficult task to nurse them through their illnesses.”
Another chef next to him was saying that, supposedly as a form of comfort.