The Duke's Son :Re-Chapter 225

Chapter 225
“Please accept the item the Yaksha entrusted to me.”
At Seol Su-Ah’s words, Jae-Hyeok’s expression darkened. “That day... did my father have a hunch about his end?”
A picture formed in his mind: his father silently preparing for the East Asian Gate Talks, fully aware he was walking into a dead end...
National Treasures were those who supported the country. How many people in the world could truly understand the weight of such responsibility? If only one in a thousand, or even one in ten thousand, could comprehend it, the Kang family wouldn't have endured such suffering for eight years.
Seol Su-Ah shook her head. “That isn’t it. This is something he entrusted to me long ago, far before the East Asian Gate Talks.”
She took out a glass orb the size of a baby’s fist from her inventory. Within it, a red energy swirled like a living creature.
“He was a warrior. He always understood that he could fall at any moment and had long prepared his affairs for that day.”
The Yaksha wandered the front lines of every battle and had straddled the threshold of death more times than anyone could count. So he, of all people, knew that death often came suddenly and senselessly
“Then this...”
“In fact, it’s his keepsake.”
The glass orb was a treasure that had been passed down from family head to successor, one generation after another. It was originally something that should’ve been passed down to Jae-Hyeok on the day of the Yaksha’s passing, but the Yaksha’s current condition wasn’t much different, and given the day’s events, Seol Su-Ah decided now was the time.
She handed the orb to Jae-Hyeok.
[The Soul Imprisoning Stone has been acquired.]
Jae-Hyeok immediately opened the item description.
[Soul Imprisoning Stone.
Rating: Legendary
It can imprison the soul of a target if special conditions are met.
Number of souls contained: 0/1.]
Before Jae-Hyeok could open his mouth, Seol Su-Ah said, “I don’t know how to use it either.”
A stone that can trap a soul?
Even for National Treasures, souls were a mysterious subject, and it didn’t help that certain, unspecified conditions had to be met before it could be used.
Don’t tell me that this...
In fact, Jae-Hyeok
did
have a guess as to its use. For that, he had Iyarugt’s item description to thank.
He knew Iyarugt had once contained the soul of a demon sealed within, and only by retrieving said soul would Iyarugt’s true power awaken.
This stone will probably find its use at that time.
If that were the case, it was no wonder that no one had been able to use the stone. After all, after Peak Sword, only Jae-Hyeok had managed to awaken Iyarugt and become its master.
This task has been entirely entrusted to me.
Ba-dum!
Jae-Hyeok’s heart beat loudly. In his mind, there was a close connection between his goal of reviving the Kang family and the act of recovering Iyarugt’s soul.
Iyarugt is a symbol of the golden age of the Kang family.
The moment its power was completed, the Kang family would revive and usher in a new golden age. Jae-Hyeok was convinced of it.
“Thank you.”
Hope for the future swelled in Jae-Hyeok’s heart. Beyond that, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t touched by Seol Su-Ah’s help. After all, not only had she been holding onto the Yaksha’s keepsake, she had also been storing it in her personal inventory, a space where players often stored their most valuable things. After all, even in death, others couldn’t access it. That went to show how carefully Seol Su-Ah had been treating this glass orb.
“No, I should be the one thanking you.” Seol Su-Ah smiled gently and reached out to touch Jae-Hyeok’s head, only to stop. Jae-Hyeok was the successor of the Kang family and a National Treasure candidate. He was no longer someone who should be treated as a child. Her hand fell to her side, and Seol Su-Ah said, “Thank you for becoming someone I can rely on.”
Jae-Hyeok, Do-Jin, Butler Hwang, and Seol Su-Ah all gathered around one end of the table lined with food and drinks, chatting and laughing. They looked just like a real family.
***
On the roof of a high-rise building far from the Kang family’s estate.
Kang Dae-Seong clenched his fists. The cement roof cracked, and the fifty-ton water tank warped like a squeezed soda can.
“Damn her...” Kang Dae-Seong tried to relax, but his anger continued to boil.
How dare that woman chat and laugh with my little brother. That should be me! Not her!
“So why couldn’t you be honest?”
The Hispanic man glanced at the Kang mansion in the distance, which looked as small as a dot, and clicked his tongue. “You swore that you wouldn’t see your father until you brought back an elixir! If you just came clean with him, that bastar.... I mean, Kang Jae-Hyeok wouldn’t have attacked you!”
On the day he had left the mansion, Kang Dae-Seong had sworn an oath not to return until he found a way to heal his father.
In all things, an aristocrat's words were their bond. Kang Dae-Seong, as the eldest of the Kang family, would never change his vow and would never give up. Kang Jae-Hyeok would’ve understood Kang Dae-Seong’s perspective had he known the details, and yet Kang Dae-Seong had refused to whisper even a word about it.
Perhaps it was because Kang Dae-Seong knew how absurd his goal of obtaining an elixir was. Ten years, twenty years, thirty years—no, even if he devoted his entire life to it, the chances of acquiring an elixir that could save the Yaksha were extremely low.
But mostly, Kang Dae-Seong had remained silent because he didn’t want his brother’s understanding.
“It only seems good. In reality, I know I made that vow out of the selfishness of my heart.”
Truth be told, Kang Dae-Seong was afraid to see his father’s sickly, bedridden appearance, and the oath he’d made had become a convenient excuse to hide behind.
“I need to change my top priority.” Kang Dae-Seong barely took his eyes off the mansion and said to the group. “I’m going to get the elixir.”
Originally, his primary goal was to eliminate his family’s enemies, including Ji Cheon-Myeong, and restore the honor of the Kang family.
However, with his brother already one step ahead on that front, Kang Dae-Seong decided to shift his focus.
“Aren’t there many things to take care of in Korea?”
“Jae-Hyeok will solve everything in a much better way than I.”
“... Well, he is amazing.”
His companions nodded without denying it, but the Russian girl looked worried.
“You said you wanted to rescue your sister from prison. Don’t you want to see her?”
“Kang Hyeon-Ah?”
Dae-Seong snorted.
“I won’t
want
to see her even until death. Originally, I was planning to dig her up and use her to guard Jae-Hyeok. But now I think he doesn’t need it.”
“......”
The Russian girl held Dae-Seong’s hand tightly.
Kang Dae-Seong had saved her from the Bering Strait, a cold and lonely place. She knew that behind his harsh words, Kang Dae-Seong hid a kind heart. It was just that he couldn’t be honest with himself, causing a lot of misunderstandings.
“Your younger siblings will do well until the day you return, Captain.”
“Let go of me.”
Dae-Seong and his group headed toward the international airport without stopping. When they arrived, they confidently presented their passports, unlike when they sneaked into the country the day before.
“You may go.”
The airport staff member was startled upon seeing the passport. Then he soon received a notification and willingly allowed Dae-Seong’s group to proceed through the boarding gate.
Following the reveal of Ji Cheon-Myeong’s crimes, the government had acted fast to revoke Kang Dae-Seong’s criminal status.
Of course, the reason why things were handled so quickly was that Jae-Hyeok had become the National Treasure candidate. Jae-Hyeok was all but guaranteed to become a National Treasure in the future, so the government was working hard to get on Jae-Hyeok’s good side.
Jae-Hyeok, when I return, I’ll be with my head held high and with an elixir to cure Father in hand.
His words were
both a wish and a determination.
Dae-Seong once again engraved the scenery of his country in his heart and boarded the plane.
***
“It is vacation, so why do I have to go to school? I don’t want to!”
Do-Jin lay on the lawn, struggling and screaming like a three-year-old. Jae-Hyeok looked away, embarrassed, while Butler Hwang tried to soothe him.
“Hasn’t Young Master already said? He’s taking you to meet a noble existence! I must say, it’s a wondrous opportunity!”
“Noble existence, my ass! He said it’s just a statue! How smart can something with a stone head be?”
“That is true, but...”
Butler Hwang looked back at Jae-Hyeok, who ignored Do-Jin and said to Seol Su-Ah, “I’ll be in your debt once again. Please take good care of Do-Jin for the rest of the vacation.”
“What debt? It’s my job to take care of students.”
Just then, a helicopter arrived, marked with the insignia of the White Night Foundation.
“Handle things well on your end. What should be returned must be returned.”
The smile disappeared from Jae-Hyeok’s face as he patted the scabbard at his waist.
“Indeed.”
Not long ago, Jae-Hyeok had found out through Seol Su-Ah that the Association was still playing games with his Kang family.
It turned out that one of the items that Ji Cheon-Myeong had taken out during the thunder tribulation was a treasure of the Kang family.
They actually have Peak Sword’s scabbard, and they haven’t said a peep about it.
After Ji Cheon-Myeong’s death, the Association had had ample time to return Peak Sword’s scabbard to the Kang family, yet they hadn’t.
In some ways, this was a good thing. It gave Jae-Hyeok clear justification to involve himself with the Association.
This time, I must completely eradicate Ji Cheon-Myeong’s faction...
As Jae-Hyeok was thinking, Seol Su-Ah said, “I’ll tidy up Lion’s Castle in the meantime. Let’s meet again after the break.”
With that, Seol Su-Ah grabbed Do-Jin’s wrist as he was still throwing a tantrum, summoned an ice pillar under her feet, and rode it up to the hovering helicopter.
The cold air created a fog that partially obscured the emblem of the White Night Foundation on the helicopter. The white castle in the emblem was covered, and only the crescent-shaped sword rising above the castle stood out clearly.
It was only then that Jae-Hyeok noticed that the mark of the White Night Foundation resembled the mark of the Kang family.
It seems your heart has always been with us.
As the helicopter shrank into the distance, Jae-Hyeok promised.
Don’t worry. The new Kang family will reward you.
***
In the past few days, the Association had been extremely busy. The sudden loss of the president had caused widespread confusion and chaos within the organization. But the most pressing issue was to elect a new president.
Of course, those qualified to run in the first place were only the branch managers of each region, most of whom were promoted to branch managers during Ji Cheon-Myeong’s term.
“Let’s end this tiresome vote quickly. We must quickly fill the late leader’s vacancy for the organization to recover.”
In theory, the voting should’ve been over days ago, but there was one problem.
Every branch manager who voted voted for themselves, making it a sweeping tie every time.
Jang Baek-San, the only Gangnam branch manager who abstained from the beginning, looked at them like they were pitiful.