The looks on my parents’ faces—painted with confusion—slowly hardened.
“This kid... what on earth is he talking about?”
“Leasing you a building for free? Why would the Martial Alliance do that for you?”
Their cold reaction, so different from what I’d expected, left flustered.
I thought they’d be happy.
Especially when Kim Chanho—who usually had such a kind, easygoing face—froze his expression. His eyes sharpened to the point they looked almost like mine.
Kim Chanho turned his head to look at No Gucheon.
“Elder No Gucheon. Could you explain what you just said in more detail?”
“Of course. Although... I assud you’d be pleased.”
“It’s not for nothing people say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If you suddenly offer to lease a building this nice at no cost, as parents, we can’t help but worry.”
Park Jiyeon cut in with a firm voice.
She’d always been a strong mother, but right now she was on a level that could tell even martial masters to step aside.
“We have no intention of living well by selling our son. If Mu-hyuk ends up owing the Martial Alliance because of us... then I’d rather pretend this never happened.”
When the conversation swerved in a completely different direction than I’d expected, I hurriedly tried to jump in.
“Mom, Dad. That’s not—”
“Be quiet.”
Their voices rang out in perfect unison, and I clamped my mouth shut with a tiny flinch.
A pinnacle expert who didn’t fear blades flashing past his face... was no different from a child in front of his parents.
“Heh...”
No Gucheon smiled faintly like he found it amusing.
Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon didn’t lose an inch of montum even with a martial master in front of them.
No Gucheon wasn’t even letting his energy show, but for ordinary people, eting the eyes of a trained martial artist head-on wasn’t an easy thing.
No wonder they’re Kim Muhyuk’s parents. If both of them had learned martial arts, they’d have been more than capable warriors in their own right.
It looked like I’d inherited not only my build, but my straight, unbending temperant from them.
No Gucheon admired that to himself, then spoke.
“Owing the Martial Alliance, you say? If anything, that’s what we should be saying. The Martial Alliance owes Mu-hyuk a great debt.”
“...What?”
“It seems your son hasn’t told you in detail. Mu-hyuk played a very large role in uncovering that the one behind the incident at the license exam was Jang Jinmyeong.”
No Gucheon described my contribution—how it enabled the Martial Alliance to dig up and pressure the Eight Great Sects’ corruption—as if it were only a tenth of what it really was.
Even so, my parents’ expressions flipped upside down in shock.
“Mu-hyuk, you—”
“Why didn’t you tell us until now?!”
I scratched my cheek with an embarrassed look.
“I didn’t want you to worry for no reason.”
“This little—”
“We need to talk later.”
Before their sharp stares bored a hole through my face, No Gucheon spoke again.
“In short, this is a small gift from the Martial Alliance to Mu-hyuk. Personally, I can only apologize that we’re offering a lease rather than an outright transfer.”
“...”
“...”
Now that they knew the story, both Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon fell silent, their thoughts clearly heavy.
No Gucheon called it small, but for two people who’d lived their whole lives as ordinary citizens, it wasn’t the kind of gift you could just accept casually.
Noticing that, No Gucheon lowered his voice and continued.
“And to be honest, it’s also a kind of investnt.”
“...Investnt?”
Suspicion returned to their faces, but No Gucheon didn’t hide it. He spoke plainly.
“Your son will beco an extraordinary master in the future. He has the talent to aim for the strongest in Korea—and perhaps even more than that.”
Kim Chanho, weak to praise of his son, had the corners of his mouth twitching.
He fought desperately to keep his dignity as he replied,
“Ahem. Thank you for thinking so highly of our son.”
“Do you know why we offered only ten years? Because ten years from now, a building like this will be nothing to your son.”
“Heh... hahahaha...!”
In the end, Kim Chanho couldn’t hold it in and burst into a wide grin.
Park Jiyeon jabbed her shaless husband in the side, but even she couldn’t help her eyes softening.
With the atmosphere noticeably more relaxed, No Gucheon drove in the final nail.
“The Martial Alliance hopes to beco friends with Kim Muhyuk. We want this admirable young man to grow into a martial artist who represents Korea and astonishes the world. As long as he keeps the upright heart he has now, it doesn’t matter where he belongs.”
The sincerity in No Gucheon’s words seed to convince them. The wariness drained from my parents completely.
No Gucheon smiled, rose from his seat, and made a folded-fist salute.
“If it feels too burdenso, you may refuse. But I hope you’ll at least read the docunts. We will also handle matters such as taxes that arise from a free lease. If you have any other questions, please contact anyti.”
He took a stack of contract docunts related to the free lease out of his bag and placed them on the table.
“I have duties at the Alliance, so I’ll take my leave first.”
“...Yes. Thank you.”
“Please get ho safely.”
After No Gucheon left, only the three of us were left in the empty building.
“Hoo—what even is this, all of a sudden...”
As if the tension finally released, Kim Chanho leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.
“Is this really real?”
Park Jiyeon looked around the building too, still wearing a dazed expression.
I quietly slid the docunts toward them and spoke.
“Worst case, we lose nothing. Want to at least read the contract?”
“Kim Muhyuk, you—!”
“First, you’re getting an earful!”
After a storm of affectionate scolding poured down on —
The three of us began reading through the contract No Gucheon had left behind and started talking realistically.
“If we add what’s left in the account and our severance pay, I think we can manage. The biggest expense—rent—isn’t even there.”
“We probably won’t need much interior work either. It’s already clean...”
“Honey. We’re really opening a café?”
“If we don’t do it now, when are we ever going to get another chance like this?”
Opening a small café had been Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon’s dream for a long ti.
A husband who loved coffee and people, and a wife who loved cooking.
They’d often talked about running a little café together after they finished supporting their son who dread of becoming a martial artist.
But sothing they’d imagined might barely be possible ten years from now had suddenly stepped right into reality.
“What about the basent and the second floor? If we turn everything into a café, we can’t handle it.”
“Could we sublease it?”
Watching my parents, excited like children, spin happy fantasies—
I crossed my arms and watched with a pleased look for a mont, then cut in.
“I think I’ll need the other floors. I’ll probably have a lot of things I need to do going forward.”
“You will?”
They widened their eyes, then nodded.
It was a building their son had brought back for free. Of course they planned to do whatever he said. They were just curious how he ant to use it.
Maybe they read that curiosity in my face, because I grinned as I explained.
“I’m going to use it as our crew hideout. We’ll make the basent a space we can train in, and I’m thinking of leasing the second floor to Bokja. Third floor is the crew office. Fourth floor... I haven’t thought about it yet—should we make it an arcade?”
At the sheer scale of their son’s plan, Kim Chanho laughed out loud.
“That’s amazing! First floor is Mom and Dad’s hideout, and fourth floor is our son’s hideout!”
“For you two, I’ll make it a special lifeti benefit—free use forever.”
“Son. Then... can we install a ping-pong table too?”
“Sounds great.”
“n, honestly...”
Happy smiles spread across our faces.
After we talked for a long while about what we’d do with the building, I suddenly asked, genuinely curious.
“By the way, have you thought about a café na?”
At my question, Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon looked at each other, then smiled.
“We nad it a long ti ago. The café will be called ‘Naru.’”
“Naru? Like a ferry landing?”
“Yeah. It ans we want it to be a place like a little shelter where people tired from busy lives can stop by and rest for a while.”
< cafe Naru >
That was the na of the café that would occupy the first floor of the Blue Wolves’ hideout.
*****
After securing the hideout building, I started contacting the crew mbers.
The first to arrive was Choi Geon.
“You shaless brat!”
Frowning as he walked into the building, he started scolding the mont he saw .
“You had a eting with the Martial Alliance behind my back? And I worried for nothing—”
“Elder No asked you to keep it secret, Master. He said he wanted to see your surprised face.”
“That damned old man... Hmph. Don’t get attached to the Martial Alliance for no reason and end up getting a ring through your nose like .”
He said it gruffly on purpose, but the truth was, Choi Geon looked quietly pleased that his disciple would keep a deep connection with the Martial Alliance going forward.
The second to visit the hideout was Apricot and Hwang Suksu.
“PYAAAK!”
Apricot burst out of its kennel and scurried around at top speed.
Unlike the basent Dark Den, it kept staring out the sunlit window, looking like it was in a great mood.
“Wow. Our crew leader made it big at a young age. This location is insane, huh?”
Hwang Suksu looked around the building, marveling nonstop.
He added flattery about how it had to be worth several billion won and how he looked forward to working together, rubbing his palms together like a toady.
Kim Bokja ca running too as soon as she heard.
“This is really our hideout? You’re not lying, right? Ah—Apricooooot!”
“PYAAK! PYAAK-PYAAK-PYAAK!”
Kim Bokja hugged the annoyed Apricot tight and cooed over it, then widened her eyes at what I said—that I’d lease her a whole floor for free.
“You’re serious? You’re telling to set up my workshop here?”
“On the condition you stop doing illegal procedures. I can’t have dangerous people coming and going where my parents are.”
“...”
I wanted to bring Kim Bokja into the light.
Not making money by doing every kind of illegal procedure in the underworld—living in a safer, more normal way.
After a mont of silence, Kim Bokja nodded with a serious expression.
“...I’ll think about it first.”
And Shin Kangheon arrived last.
“You crazy bastard... a landlord?”
Muttering sothing like, If this guy gets rich too, what am I supposed to do, Shin Kangheon looked at , and I gave him a smug smile.
With everyone gathered in the hideout, I opened my mouth.
“I want you all to feel comfortable using this place. Co when you want to rest after doing your own work, or just drop by when you feel like talking.”
I paused, t each person’s eyes one by one, then continued.
“Honestly, Blue Wolves isn’t so organization I made with a grand purpose. Like I said—live doing what you want... and if one of us gets beat up sowhere, we all swarm over and beat them back up together. You all have at least that much loyalty, right?”
The crew mbers snickered.
What I wanted wasn’t anything huge.
I had no desire to grow Blue Wolves into sothing massive like the Eight Great Sects.
I just wanted to be with the people here—and if possible, make the world a little safer and more peaceful.
“Crew leader! Then do we not have an official schedule or anything?”
At Hwang Suksu’s question, my eyes lit up as I asked everyone,
“Who wants to go on a team-building trip to Jeju Island?”
Soone asked why Jeju Island of all places, but I brushed it off with a vague excuse.
Because I couldn’t exactly say there was sothing there—the root cause that killed my parents, and an object that would soon cause a massive incident.
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