37.
“Shall we move to another place?”
Someone said that while pulling Yu Jin. Yu Jin clutched his stomach and vomited, expelling the pain that was clawing at his insides.
“Ugh.”
He couldn’t bear it anymore. Goosebumps rose from where the man’s hands had touched him. The wine glass that fell from his hand shattered on the floor. Red liquid splattered over the sharply scattered glass.
“N-no.”
His vision blurred.
‘I can’t do this.’
The moment he realized this, Yu Jin called for Keith.
“Keith. Keith!”
His voice grew louder. Keith, who approached quickly amid the slight commotion, embraced the collapsing Yu Jin.
“What’s this? What’s wrong!”
The confused baron shouted, but Keith paid no attention and scooped Yu Jin up in his arms. Then he politely apologized to the baron.
“I’m sorry. It seems he’s not feeling well.”
The baron was about to get angry, but after looking at Yu Jin, he sighed. Yu Jin, who was crying profusely with his face buried in Keith’s chest, really looked sick. The baron was a bastard, but he was the kind who knew how to be mindful of others’ gazes.
“It can’t be helped. He really seems to be sick. Should I call a doctor?”
“No, it’s alright.”
Keith declined the baron’s offer. Another man who had been clinging to the baron expressed his dissatisfaction, but couldn’t do anything directly.
“We’ll see you again later.”
Leaving the baron behind, Keith immediately left the banquet hall. As soon as they got outside, Yu Jin broke down crying. The vague memories of the past tormented him. His stomach churned. He hadn’t drunk much alcohol, so it wasn’t because of that. These were tears of regret and pain for past events. His body trembled with waves of disgust, fear, and all sorts of distorted emotions.
“Yu Jin. Yu Jin! Pull yourself together.”
Keith called Yu Jin’s name with a panicked expression. As he couldn’t stop crying, Keith sat him down on a nearby bench and took out a handkerchief to wipe his tears. Then he patted Yu Jin’s back, but even with this kindness, the pain didn’t go away.
“I-I know I have to do it, but I can’t.”
As Yu Jin poured out his true feelings sorrowfully, Keith smiled faintly.
“It’s okay.”
“W-what is?”
“That’s better. Originally, I didn’t want you to do this kind of thing.”
“But we can’t do that now, can we?”
Yu Jin said, sniffling. He needed to act like a scoundrel to cover up Jinhyeon’s underground movements. He couldn’t believe how weak he had become. To such a Yu Jin, Keith spoke in a firm voice.
“It’s okay. There’s nothing you shouldn’t do.”
In the end, Yu Jin cried for a long time before being piggybacked by Keith to return to the mansion. Keith bathed Yu Jin himself for the first time in a while and dressed him in pajamas. Then he tucked him into bed with a warm hot water bottle.
“You had a tough day, so rest well.”
“Sniff.”
Yu Jin mumbled, swallowing his snot.
“Yes, I’ll be fine after resting. I’ll be able to do it again.”
I just need to try again. Hearing Yu Jin’s words, Keith let out a low sigh.
“I’m telling you, you don’t have to do it.”
“No, it’s necessary.”
“Stop being stubborn.”
“It’s not stubbornness. You know too, don’t you?”
Right now, they needed the scoundrel Yu Jin.
“We can manage somehow without you stepping up.”
“How?”
“Somehow.”
It seemed that even Keith didn’t have a clear plan in mind.
‘That’s why I need to do well.’
Yu Jin thought he needed to strengthen his resolve even more. And he turned his back on Keith, who was about to say something more. He felt that if he listened to Keith any further, it would only shake his determination.
“I’m really okay.”
Muttering that, he closed his eyes, and Keith hesitated before sitting on the edge of the bed. And he quietly kept watch there. With that small action, Yu Jin’s mind gradually became peaceful, and drowsiness set in.
‘Let’s do our best.’
While Yu Jin was like this, Jinhyeon was surely active in the back alleys. So he couldn’t give up here either.
To somehow survive and achieve a peaceful future, Yu Jin couldn’t stop.
Keith and Haruna re-established their plan to take over the back alleys based on the information provided by Jinhyeon and San, and Yu Jin’s strategy. The only problem that arose in this process was that there weren’t enough people to move.
No matter how strong Jinhyeon was, it was nonsense for him to move alone. They needed at least enough people to deceive the eyes of their opponents.
“I do have a few people who can move. They’re mercenaries, but they’re almost exclusive to our trading company and trustworthy. But I think we might still be a bit short on people.”
Haruna was the first to speak up.
“How many?”
“Twenty. If we need more, we hire separately, but this is the number of trustworthy people. Keith, what about you?”
“I can provide about the same.”
Since Jinhyeon was a former slave and didn’t know anyone, it was Keith and Haruna’s role to fill the remaining numbers. That’s how the two discussed and roughly filled the numbers. Thus, Jinhyeon got people to move with.
“So we’ve roughly filled the numbers, and the next problem is…”
They were planning to base the basic plan on what Yu Jin had said before. To create discord between Hans and Green to reduce their power, and to take the position of Blando’s sole supporter. It wasn’t an impossible task, but there was one problem. Who to appoint as the leader to move the gathered people.
“There are two factions, so we need two heads, I guess.”
Keith responded to Haruna’s words. The captain of the mercenary group Haruna recommended was a woman named Sena. And the person commanding the personnel Keith was going to provide was a man named Alec.
“Sena is fine. She’s a mercenary. She’ll follow anyone as long as she’s paid. What about your side?”
“Alec is the type to consider qualifications. He won’t take orders from someone weaker than him.”
“Is that so? He’s picky.”
Haruna scratched her head with the end of her pen.
“How strong is this Alec person? Compared to you.”
“He’s weaker than me. But he’s skilled enough to be a knight in another noble family.”
“Even in a count’s family?”
“That might be a bit difficult.”
“This is complicated.”
It would be much easier if they put either Sena or Alec as the head, but that wasn’t what Yu Jin wanted.
“I wonder why Yu Jin wants to put Jinhyeon forward? He seems to have skills, but he was still a gladiator slave who didn’t even receive a proper rank in the Colosseum. Is there some other connection?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know either? You were always with Yu Jin.”
“That’s why I’m even more clueless.”
They might find out someday, but that wasn’t now.
“Well, fine.”
This time, Haruna tapped the paper with her pen.
“If Yu Jin trusts this Jinhyeon, we should too. Let’s leave this task to him.”
She said that, but what appeared on her face was mischief.
“If he has the skills, he’ll live up to Yu Jin’s trust. Right?”
“I agree too.”
Keith knew about Haruna’s mischief but didn’t stop her.
Jinhyeon squinted his eyes as he looked at the gathered people.
A man who had just been freed from slavery and was of commoner origin. They had assigned nearly forty people to such a man.
‘They’re messing with me.’
Jinhyeon was a man of commoner origin who had just been freed from slavery. But assigning forty people to such a man and telling him to lead them could only be interpreted as an intention to give him a hard time.
At least the mercenaries sent by Haruna were a bit better.
“Hello, I’m Sena. I’m the captain of this small mercenary group.”
At Sena’s words, the mercenaries standing behind her laughed out loud.
“She called us small!”
“No way, I’m big!”
“Big? Last time I saw, you were just a pupa!”
“Want to die?”
Sena swung her fisted hand in the air at the noise of the mercenaries.
“Quiet! How do you think this makes me look?”
“What? Captain, did you have a reputation to maintain?”
“Apparently, she did.”
“Just shut up, will you!”
When Sena threatened them once more, the mercenaries quieted down. Still, her leadership seemed decent. You could feel that the mercenaries trusted and followed her.
“Alright, the atmosphere is good. So, let me continue. You’re our head, right?”
When Jinhyeon nodded, Sena grumbled and said,
“Fine. I don’t like it, but I’ve been paid, so I have to work.”
Sena, the mercenary captain, was quite a reasonable person. Since she was originally the type to do anything for money, she listened to Jinhyeon’s words quite well. There was a drawback that everything had to go through Sena when communicating something to the mercenaries, but it was manageable. The problem was the people Keith had provided.
About twenty men from unknown origins. The man leading them spoke gruffly.
“I don’t listen to those weaker than me.”
The man’s name was Alec. He had been indebted to Keith in the past and participated in this work because of that. Usually, he trained disciples in a city far from the capital, and some of them were working in the mansion.
