chapter 48
They decided to stay one more day.
Although the cost of staying in the annex was expensive, Byeoktaesan had never been worried about money anyway.
Whether in the days of being Cheonma or now.
There weren’t any worries in the faces of the group because of how much money his older brother, Byeoktaesu had given him.
“From tomorrow we have to move by boat, so I’ll find ourselves a suitable boat.”
Byeoktaesan nodded at Cheon Gyeong-wan’s words and looked at Chun Chu Shin Ui.
Chun Chu Shin Ui replied, just looking at his eyes and understood it.
“I will go with you.”
The reason he sent Chun Chu Shin Ui together was that he could recognize members of the Hao guild.
He decided to make full use of the Hao guild, who were active here in Jingzhou.
“Should I take a look at your martial arts while I wait for the food to digest?”
When Byeoktaesan looked at Danyoung, Chaewol, and Soso and asked, the faces of the three became bright.
They were delighted because they thought that their progress slowed to a crawl.
“Let’s see.”
As Byeoktaesan said that, the three women headed for the backyard of the annex.
In the backyard of the annex, there was enough space for adequate training.
It was a big enough space to hold two or three people.
The place definitely was worth its price.
The three stood at a reasonable distance from each other and slowly began to unravel the martial arts they knew.
Byeoktaesan sat on a strangely shaped rock and watched them.
Because their level was so different, even if he just looked at them a little bit, he immediately knew what was the problem and what to do to solve it.
The expression of Byeoktaesan, who was watching for a while, became a little strange.
Byeoktaesan stroked his chin and carefully watched the three women’s demonstration of martial arts.
His gaze mainly rested on Soso.
When all the demonstrations were over, Byeoktaesan gave a brief evaluation.
“It’s an absolute mess.”
The three women’s faces darkened.
“No, what I said was about Soso. You two look like you tried pretty hard.”
Danyoung and Chaewol’s expressions brightened. On the other hand, Soso’s face became darker.
Soso knew very well that she wasn’t doing it right.
First of all, she didn’t have the same talents as the other two.
Her beauty was lower too.
She was really upset to think of that. She had been serving him for a long time, but now she feels like she was going to be nothing, so her heart felt heavy.
“For now, stand on the side Soso.”
“Pardon?”
Soso’s eyes widened. She looked at Byeoktaesan for a while, then bowed her head and answered.
“Yes… … .”
As Soso moved to the side, Byeoktaesan approached Danyoung and Chaewol and told them some things to fix.
He briefly told them what training to add and what to do for that.
The two women concentrated on the words of Byeoktaesan, as if not missing a single letter with their bright eyes.
They didn’t realize, but this kind of teaching was almost as good as possible.
Who in this world can receive the teachings of Cheonma?
Even the disciples of Cheonma have never been taught so kindly.
Anyway, when the teaching of Byeoktaesan was over, the two women bowed politely.
And the expression of Soso watching it got even more serious.
“The two of you practice by yourselves, and Soso, see me for a minute.”
When Byeoktaesan left the training arena, Soso bowed her head and followed him like a puppy in the rain.
* * *
“Yes?”
So-so’s eyes became like a lampstand. Her thoughts were a mess.
It was so messy that it was impossible to carry on a proper order.
She had no choice. Byeoktaesan’s words were so destructive.
“Do you have to make me speak twice?”
“No no. It’s not like that!”
So-so was embarrassed and said so, and her face turned red.
“My lord. You do know that Lady Yeon, is with you at this annex building right?”
Byeoktaesan frowned.
“No, I was afraid you forgot… I mean. You didn’t forget that, so how can you tell me to come to your room tonight.”
If Soso goes to Byeoktaesan’s room at night, wasn’t it obvious what they were going to do.
“That’s not anything great. Anyway, I was convinced seeing you practice martial arts today. If I just left you alone, you might kill a person.”
Soso’s face got even redder.
“You don’t have to say it like that. And it’s not like I don’t have any talent at all. It’s because the two older sisters are so amazing.”
Soso pouted her lips.
Danyoung and Chaewol were definitely great. No, all the women who came to visit and serve Byeoktaesan were amazing.
The talent and beauty were just far-off to Soso’s eyes.
‘Maybe that’s normal and I’m low on talent?’
If you just think about the numbers, that was right. However, she could see that their talent was special by just watching from the side.
They were really special.
Suddenly, sadness and sorrow poured in. Tears came out so naturally.
“Stop.”
“Yes?”
“If you are going to cry, go out and cry alone. Don’t forget to come back at night.”
All of a sudden, tears went in.
“Wow… … !”
She almost said that he was too much, but she held back. She just opened her eyes and stared at Byeoktaesan.
Byeoktaesan waved his hand as if he was annoyed. It meant for her to leave now.
All sorts of delusions emerged in Soso’s mind as she left the room at Byeoktaesan.
Her face turned red.
‘How can I look at lady Yeon in the future?’
* * *
In the afternoon, people arrived from Homu-ryun.
As soon as they entered Jingzhou, they came to the Geumwol hostel as if they contacted Seomunjaehak previously.
It was Ho Mu-ryun’s 20 warriors and Seomun-deok, the patrol leader of Ho Mu-ryun who led them.
The employees of the hostel skillfully guided them as if they had been contacted in advance.
Seomun-deok moved separately from the warriors.
He decided to sleep here today and leave early tomorrow. So, he told the warriors to eat generously in advance and rest enough.
Seomun-deok first went to Seomunjaehak.
Seomunjaehak was not alone but was with Gu Yang-soo and Chu Young-hak.
“Greetings, uncle.”
When Seomunjaehak greeted him first, Gu Yang-su and Chu Young-hak also greeted politely.
When they saw Seomun-deok, their expectations fluttered.
He was truly Ho Mu-ryun’s patrol leader. The presence was enormous.
If someone like this helped them, they will be able to lightly crush Byeoktaesan.
Seomun-deok first sat down and then spoke to the three.
“Have a seat. By the way… Your faces don’t look too good. Is there something going on?”
Since the dirt of the spirit has been removed, everything should have been better for them. However, the effect did not apply to them.
No, the opposite was applied.
That was an area that even Byeoktaesan did not know about yet.
“I have something I wish to tell you about uncle, no, I have a request.”
“Request?”
Seomun-deok looked puzzled. It seemed that the request was related to the reason why their faces didn’t look good.
“Let’s hear it.”
He wasn’t going to accept the request for sure. No matter how much he was a child of the family, he had no intention of giving an unreasonable solicitation or put an end to something terrible.
Seomunjaehak knew to some extent the tendency of Seomundeok.
However, he believed that Seomun-deok would definitely move if he heard what he was talking about.
They haven’t done anything unusual yet.
He was just beaten while struggling with Byeoktaesan.
No, he was bullied.
After organizing the story Seomunjaehak would say in his head, he opened his mouth.
No, he was going to.
But since then, his mouth did not open. Cold sweat flowed down his whole body, and his tongue stiffened as if his pressure point was blocked.
“Why don’t you talk?”
In response to Seomun-deok’s question, Seomunjaehak looked at Gu Yang-su and Chu Young-hak with eyes asking for help.
But the two weren’t very different either.
Soon, disappointment in Seomun-deok’s eyes settled.
Seeing it, the heart of Seomunjaehak fell.
So he tried really hard to open his mouth somehow. But he couldn’t.
It was like his body, but it wasn’t listening to him.
After Seomun-deok raised his strength, he slowly exhaled. He spread calm energy around him.
“First, calm your mind and focus on your inner power.”
Seomundeok was able to guess why Seomunjaehak was doing that now. He had seen a case similar to him.
That’s what happened when they are heavily crushed by an aura.
That made it more disappointing.
If they were being overwhelmed by an aura now, he can understand, but it must have been a while ago that he was overwhelmed by an aura.
But it was a matter of willpower, not talent, that he couldn’t even overcome it.
A person with a hardened will can never be shaken by something like that.
The solution in this case was simple. You just need to release the pressured mind and body. And you just need to stabilize the inner power. It has the effect of forcibly building up the mind and body.
Seomunjaehak did as he directed.
But nonetheless, he couldn’t open his mouth.
“Sigh. When you’re ready later, let’s talk. If you can’t even do that, I don’t even have to listen to you. Do you know understand?”
Seomunjaeak replied, bowing his head.
“Yes.”
Seomundeok just got up and left.
The three remaining in the room bowed their heads with confused expressions.
Still, he thought he only needed time.
From here to Homu-ryun, if they took a boat and moved slowly, it would take about three days.
Shouldn’t something happen at that time?
“I’m sure that would be enough. Of course.”
Seomunjaehak muttered.
“What is enough?”
Suddenly, the three people raised their heads at the same time.
Byeoktaesan was standing in the corner of the room.
When the three found him, they trembled all over.
“You must believe that you can afford it seeing as you ignored me?”
The three shook their heads fiercely.
“No! That’s not it!”
Byeoktaesan smiled.
“Are you sure?”
“Really! Trust me! I wasn’t really going to talk about you, brother! I was just trying to say hello!”
Byeoktaesan looked around the three people.
“Keep in mind that I’m always watching.”
The three nodded without hesitation.
When the nod stopped, Byeoktaesan was not there already.
The tensions of the three were relieved at the same time.
And their sphincter also relaxed.
* * *
Soso stood in the middle of the backyard of Geumwol hostel’s annex building with a nervous expression.
She looked up at the sky. The bright moon was floating in the sky.
Her heart was beating like crazy.
Soso’s gaze came down again and moved slightly to the side.
There was a tall pavilion standing there. Soso’s gaze reached the top floor.
That was the room of Byeoktaesan.
Now she had to go over there.
“Sigh.”
Soso has been serving Byeoktaesan from a very young age. It didn’t make sense to have no interest in him at all being together for over a decade.
At one time, she even had a dream of being with Byeoktaesan.
Of course, the dream ended really shortly. Because Byeoktaesan started to get sick.
And because Yeon Ha-rin appeared.
Even if it wasn’t, she wouldn’t have kept that dream for long. She knew better than anyone that she and Byeoktaesan couldn’t be together.
Anyway, she hasn’t had any other thoughts since then. To her, Byeoktaesan was just her lord to serve.
But today that hardened heart shook violently.
Soso shook her head. It shouldn’t be like this. However, there was still no way to violate the order.
Soso slowly turned to the pavilion.
“Ahhh!”
Soso screamed in surprise. Someone stood a little further away.
After she screamed and checked, it was Yeon Ha-rin.
“Uh? What is your lady doing here?”
Soso’s heart beat harder than before. She didn’t know that she came here, right?
Yeon Ha-rin said with a pretty smile.
“I couldn’t sleep because of the noisy thing before, so I came out for a short walk.”
The noisy thing from before was the case that Seomunjaehak’s party had shit in their pants once again.
They made a rare feat of pooping in their pants twice in the same hostel.
There was a huge uproar, trying to remove the smell and cleaning their room.
Because of the uproar, Byeoktaesan and the group didn’t even dare to leave the annex building.
Maybe that’s why she couldn’t sleep because she didn’t get tired.
“I see.”
Yeon Ha-rin took a step to Soso. Soso was surprised but stood still without avoiding her.
“Perhaps… Can you stay with me right now?”
“Pardon?”
So-so’s eyes were round.
“I have something I want to hear.”
Soso pressed her chest tightly. If she didn’t do that, her heart seemed like it would pop out.
“What, what story?”
“A story about the lord.”
“A story about the L-L-Lord? Uh, what kind of… … ?”
“Just everything. I think I don’t know much about him. When I thought about the person who knows the best about him, you just came to mind.”
Yeon Ha-rin smiled while looking at Soso.
Soso thought that her smile was really pretty, but on the other hand, she was scared for some reason.
“Will you… tell me?”
Soso had no choice but to nod her head.