Chapter 8 : Chapter 8

Chapter 8. I Wonder if I Could Meet You Just One More Time? (2)

Han Cheong-un and Dang Seoyeon's meetings continued.

Dang Seoyeon thought she should refuse, but Han Cheong-un didn't give her a chance.

He skillfully cut her off, leaving room for the next meeting, and with each new meeting, he created points of contact with her in various ways.

He would bring street snacks that couldn't be eaten within the clan, and he would also buy small gifts like accessories or books.

Recently, he brought a game that they could enjoy while keeping a distance from each other. So-called…….

“Horse forward two spaces, left one space. Checkmate.”

“I'll move my Guard up one space to the left.”

“Chariot to the right……”

Xiangqi.

He brought two Xiangqi boards and they played by calling out the moves of their pieces.

This way, they could play Xiangqi with each other while maintaining a distance from Dang Seoyeon.

“Young lady, it's a checkmate.”

“Ah……”

“How about it? Shall we play one more game?”

“I'd like that.”

It was Dang Seoyeon's first time playing Xiangqi, but she was so engrossed in the board as if she found it fun.

Winning or losing didn't matter.

The very act of playing such a trivial game with someone was a first-time experience for her.

It felt like she was interacting with someone for the first time in her life.

She felt like she wasn't alone.

Now, she didn't even think about refusing her meetings with Han Cheong-un.

On the contrary, every time they parted…….

‘What if he doesn't come next time?’

She would even feel a sense of anxiety.

Before she knew it, the time spent with Han Cheong-un was becoming the most precious time for her.

There were eyes watching her from afar…….

“Clan Head. What will you do?”

It was the Clan Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan, Dang Myeong, and his close aide, Dang Chan.

The two were watching Han Cheong-un and Dang Seoyeon playing a game against each other from a distance.

Dang Myeong's gaze as he looked at the two was filled with mixed emotions.

‘To think that child is having a conversation like that with someone…….’

Dang Seoyeon was a thoroughly isolated existence even within the Sichuan Tang Clan. He, her father, couldn't even remember when was the last time he had a conversation with that child.

It was pitiful, but it couldn't be helped.

A child born with ten thousand poisons from birth.

Even Dang Myeong, the Clan Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan, found it difficult to handle that child.

A child he had been neglecting because he didn't know what to do.

For the first time, someone was reaching out to such a child.

Right now, Dang Myeong couldn't help but feel emotional, not as the Clan Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan, but as a father. But…….

“Clan Head. It is not right to expose Seoyeon to an outsider like that.”

Dang Chan, next to him, had to make a cold judgment as the Clan Head's close aide and as a blood relative of the Tang Clan.

Dang Seoyeon was a child who embodied the long-cherished wish of the Sichuan Tang Clan.

The Myriad Poisons Body, created after countless sacrifices.

She was an existence that could elevate the Tang Clan to the glorious position of the number one under the heavens.

As the steward of the Sichuan Tang Clan, he could never tolerate exposing such a child to an outsider carelessly.

“…….”

Dang Myeong also understood what Dang Chan was trying to say.

How could he not know? He was the Clan Head of the Tang Clan. But…….

“Increase the number of guards and have them watch from a distance.”

“Clan Head.”

“Doesn't that child need some room to breathe too?”

“…….”

“I'm asking you, Chan.”

Dang Chan bowed his head.

His older cousin, whom he had never called comfortably since becoming the Clan Head, had even used the word "ask."

He could not refuse any further here.

“I will do as you command.”

And so, Han Cheong-un and Dang Seoyeon's meetings continued, unofficially condoned.

* * *

Han Cheong-un thought.

“This is strange.”

Whack! Thwack!

“No matter how much I think about it, I don't understand.”

Crack!

“Focus. You damn…… Kraaak!”

Crack! Crunch! Thwack!

“Stop……. th… kkeuaak!”

Whack! Thwack! Whackwhackwhackwhack!

“Sa…… save…….”

“Huh? Oh, are we done?”

“…….”

So you were planning to hit me more here?

Steam was rising from the collapsed Dang Jin's body from how much he had been beaten.

Anyone would think it was a freshly cooked dish.

“Ugh……. ughhh……. you demon.”

“Hahaha. This is all for the young master's own good.”

“…….”

“You are actually getting used to the new weapon quickly, aren't you?”

Dang Jin clamped his mouth shut.

What that demon said was right.

The weapon called Silver Flowing Fly that he had made for him was getting more and more familiar in his hands the more he used it.

Without having to specially research any forms, just by repeating the real combat-like duels, his accomplishments were noticeably improving.

It felt less like learning a new martial art and more like his body was regaining a skill it originally knew. But…….

“Why aren't you focusing during the duel and hitting me half-heartedly?”

“Ah, I apologize. I should have put more effort into hitting you, but I've had some worries lately……”

“Tsk, if you're going to hit me, you might as well do it properly.”

“I will consider it.”

Both of them were becoming stranger and stranger.

But let's put that aside for now…….

“What is this worry…… huh?”

“Well, you see. Hmm……. come to think of it, Young Master Dang Jin and Young Lady Dang Seoyeon are siblings, right?”

At that, Dang Jin's eyes narrowed as he looked at Han Cheong-un with a wary gaze.

“How do you know Seoyeon?”

“Ah, we happened to meet by chance and have been interacting recently.”

“……What?”

Dang Jin didn't understand the words.

It wasn't that he didn't understand the words themselves, but the content of the words greatly exceeded the bounds of his common sense.

“You're interacting with that child?”

“Yes. We found that we got along well after talking.”

“You've talked?”

“Yes. Of course, we have.”

Dang Jin didn't understand.

Dang Seoyeon was a child who lived alone in an independently built annex, rarely coming out.

Even he, her older brother, only talked to that child a few times a year. But that child was talking to an outsider?

“What does that mean……?”

To the dumbfounded Dang Jin, Han Cheong-un cleared his throat and got to the point.

“Ahem, Young Master Dang Jin. If it's not too rude, may I ask you a few things about your younger sister?”

“No, even if you ask me……”

“Does Young Lady Seoyeon perhaps hold, um, any ill feelings towards the Tang Clan?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“No, well……. she seems a bit alienated, no matter how I look at it.”

“…….”

“Isn't it common? For someone who is alienated from their family to harbor resentment and ill feelings towards them.”

At Han Cheong-un's words, Dang Jin let out a deep sigh.

And he raised one hand and ran it through his disheveled bangs as he spoke.

“I would rather that were the case.”

“……Pardon?”

“I wish that child hated the Tang Clan and cursed our blood relatives.”

Dang Jin bit his lower lip hard and spoke.

* * *

Dang Jin's childhood.

He hated his younger sister.

His mother had died giving birth to that child, and because of that one child, the wet nurse who had raised him had also died.

From the young Dang Jin's perspective, his younger sister was a demonic being that had taken away all his precious people.

But that hated younger sister was living under the thorough protection of the clan, and even Dang Jin, her older brother, was not allowed to meet her.

The year Dang Jin turned thirteen.

He was finally able to see his younger sister after repeatedly asking his father.

And Dang Jin saw.

[Ah……. aaaack!]

His younger sister, whom he had hated and considered a demon of the clan, was living in a living hell.

The poison of Dang Seoyeon, born as a Myriad Poisons Body, was eating away not only her surroundings but also herself.

The poison, which grew stronger as she grew, periodically ate away at its host, Dang Seoyeon.

It was a sight truly deserving of being called a living hell.

Fainting in pain, waking up again, and suffering in pain again…….

There was no way to alleviate the pain.

The best measure was to leave her to writhe in pain with her limbs fixed with black iron so that the child could not harm herself.

The life of his younger sister, whom he thought was living shamelessly and comfortably under the thorough protection of the clan, was truly a hell.

To him, who was frozen at the sight of such a sister, his father said.

[Are you satisfied now?]

Dang Jin could not say anything.

Why had he not shown him his sister?

Why did his sister have to grow up under thorough protection?

Everything was explained by the sight before him.

* * *

“…….”

To the speechless Han Cheong-un, Dang Jin said.

“For the Sichuan Tang Clan to produce the number one under the heavens……. to make the clan the number one family under the heavens……”

“…….”

“My younger sister was born into a state where her life itself was hell. And she has grown up like that.”

“…….”

“Honestly, if I were in my sister's shoes, I would have hated the clan and cursed my family. But that child……”

Dang Jin bit his lip hard.

He remembered the first conversation he had with his younger sister when he was young. The first thing she said when she met her older brother for the first time was…….

[I'm sorry.]

That was it.

That little child sobbed and apologized to him.

[I'm sorry. Because of me, mother……. the wet nurse…….]

No. That's not it.

You were just born.

How could that be your sin?

It was absurd.

All the tragedies that occurred with her birth were solely the karma of the Tang Clan. But…….

[I'm sorry. I did wrong. I'm sorry for being born. It's all because of me.]

Why was this child apologizing?

At that time, Dang Jin ran away from his sister as if he were fleeing.

And after running and running, the moment he arrived at a place where no one was, he threw up everything in his stomach.

The world was spinning.

He felt like he was the filthiest and most shameful vermin in the world.

He had never been so ashamed of being a descendant of the Sichuan Tang Clan.

The pride and honor he had been taught since childhood felt like they had been thrown into a sewer.

And after that…….

“I turned my back on my sister. Because I……. didn't have the courage to see that child.”

“Is that why? You started to go astray and act like a delinquent?”

“This clan has no honor or anything anyway. Whatever I do, it's trivial compared to the karma the clan has committed, isn't it?”

I see, that makes sense.

Perhaps his crooked attitude towards the clan elders and his delinquent-like behavior were Dang Jin's own way of rebelling.

However…….

“Still, you are a Tang.”

“So what about it?”

“If a great misfortune befalls the Tang Clan and only you and a few branch relatives are left, what would you do?”

“Ha, good riddance. Didn't they just receive the heavenly punishment they deserved?”

“Then what about the remaining blood relatives?”

“What do I care? They'll manage to live on their own.”

To Dang Jin's irritable words, Han Cheong-un smiled bitterly and said.

“You wouldn't be able to do that.”

“…….”

“You would take care of the remaining blood relatives, look after them, and do your best to protect the last name of the Tang Clan.”

“…….”

“You would work so devotedly that the word 'self-sacrifice' would not be an exaggeration.”

Hearing Han Cheong-un's words, Dang Jin looked dumbfounded.

“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that? Why would I do such a crazy thing?”

“Who knows? Because you are a blood relative of the Tang Clan?”

“That means nothing to me.”

“And because the man named Dang Jin is a person who cannot turn his back on his duties?”

“Nonsense. I am trash who even turned my back on my own sister.”

“Perhaps that's why you didn't want to have regrets a second time.”

“……What?”

“No, it's nothing. For now, the biggest question has been solved.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Young Lady Dang Seoyeon does not hate the Tang Clan. That was very important to me.”

“…….”

“In that case, perhaps another hypothesis is correct……”

Dang Jin couldn't understand.

And Han Cheong-un muttered something to himself and then…….

“Young Master Dang Jin. There is something I would like to ask of you.”

“Why should I listen to you?”

“Can you make ……. by any chance?”

“How did you?”

Dang Jin was surprised.

Because Han Cheong-un had accurately pierced through his own secret.

“As expected, it was already possible.”

“No, what are you talking about? How do you know that fact?”

“That is not important. Anyway, I would like to ask you for a favor. Please share it with me.”

“Why should I listen to such a request?”

“There is no reason.”

“Haaah……?”

“I am just asking you.”

At Han Cheong-un's words, Dang Jin looked as if he had heard nonsense.

What is this person talking about right now?

He's asking me for such a favor without any reason?

Does he think I'll just meekly listen?

Why should I?

“How much do you need?”

Huh?

“Hmm, the more the better. It has a sustainable time, doesn't it?”

“It does.”

“In that case, please continue to supply it until I say stop.”

“……Alright.”

What? What am I saying right now?

“Thank you, Young Master Dang Jin.”

Han Cheong-un gave Dang Jin a fist-and-palm salute and left. And Dang Jin, left behind…….

“This is crazy. Why couldn't I refuse that person's request?”

He couldn't understand.

It had been less than a month since they met.

And all they had done together was one side diligently beating and the other side diligently being beaten.

But strangely, Dang Jin didn't feel like Han Cheong-un was a stranger.

Even after being beaten so much, he didn't feel any hatred.

That's why he had poured out his heart and even promised to supply that precious item.

What on earth is this…….

“Could it be?”

Dang Jin's eyes widened.

There was only one word that could explain this strange phenomenon.

But if that was true, it was a terribly horrifying fact.

Dang Jin calmed his trembling body by wrapping his arms around himself. And he said…….

“I'm……. I'm not gay, am I?”

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