Chapter 24 : Molting

Chapter 24: Molting

A waist as slender as a willow branch, fingertips white as jade and fluttering like willow leaves, and the tautly drawn curve of the collarbones connecting her neck, chest, and shoulders.

She was a beauty who seemed capable of making countless men weep by her figure alone.

The voice with which she called him “Grandfather” was just as fine and gentle as her bearing. If the man looking at her had not been Dong Bong-su but someone else, anyone would have been intoxicated by rapture and lost their senses.

At her call, Tang-oh turned his head toward her. His gaze had already grown far gentler than when he had been looking at Danri Kanghae and the others.

“Just let it go. He’s from a rural township, so he doesn’t know any better.”

A rural township.

To them, Bongyang was nothing more than the countryside, the Danri Family was merely a small-to-medium clan of a village, and Danri Kanghae was no more than a yapping puppy.

A tiger did not react to the barking of a puppy. Tang-oh nodded at the veiled woman’s words.

“So be it. Little Hwa. This should be enough for this brat to realize how wide the world is. Tsk. To think a fellow who bears the name of an Orthodox Faction descendant has so little to do that he guzzles alcohol from the morning and causes a drunken scene.”

Tang-oh shook his head as he looked at Danri Kanghae, who was foaming at the mouth and lying unconscious.

The reason he had been a bit heavy-handed with Danri Kanghae and the Black Five Division was meant as a warning. One might say he had shown the puppy how vast the world was. Of course, whether the unconscious Danri Kanghae would take it that way was another matter entirely.

“If it were up to my temper, I’d like to snap this fellow’s wrist right here, but I can’t bring myself to be that cruel to a child of the Orthodox Faction. When he wakes up, make sure to tell him firmly that if he goes around pestering just any woman, he won’t die a natural death. Do you understand?”

Tang-oh said this to Gi Dae-hyo while once more letting out a chill.

Only then did Gi Dae-hyo understand what had happened. It was certain that Danri Kanghae had treated Tang-oh’s granddaughter, who had stopped by the inn, the same way he usually treated other young women. Most likely, bewitched by the veiled woman’s alluring figure, Danri Kanghae had tried to remove her veil or had openly behaved disgracefully.

He was truly lucky. Even among Orthodox factions, in a case like this, blood could have been shed between both sides. Let alone considering the difference between the Sichuan Tang Family and the Danri Family—what more was there to say? It was as clear as fire that it would not have been mutual bloodshed, but a one-sided one with the Danri Family bleeding.

“...Y-yes, yes!”

Fearing that Tang-oh might change his mind, Gi Dae-hyo answered in haste.

Hearing Gi Dae-hyo’s reply, Tang-oh passed between the fallen members of the Black Five Division together with the veiled woman, Tang Hwa.

Srrrk.

For some reason, each time Tang-oh took a step forward, the members of the Black Five Division began to regain consciousness one by one. As Tang-oh walked, he was retrieving all the needles he had deployed earlier through Void Telekinesis.

Dong Bong-su watched the scene with shining eyes, carefully observing every single detail. It was so extraordinary that it would have been hard to believe if he had not seen it with his own eyes.

A sight that blatantly violated the laws of physics he had always regarded as absolute truth.

The deep, deeply hidden desire within him began to writhe.

Before his eyes, a path was unfolding, one that could grant strength beyond limits, something impossible in his previous world.

In his heart, the resolve to learn martial arts grew even firmer.

Then, by chance, the eyes of Dong Bong-su and Tang-oh met.

“Hm...!”

What was this? Tang-oh’s gaze changed strangely.

Halt.

He even stopped walking and stared at Dong Bong-su.

“Grandfather?”

“Hwa-ah. Stay here for a moment.”

Without offering any particular explanation to the puzzled Tang Hwa, Tang-oh approached Dong Bong-su.

‘What is this?’

Another unpredictable situation unfolded. Dong Bong-su hurriedly lowered his head. He had no idea why Tang-oh was approaching him.

Tap. Tap.

The sound of Tang-oh’s footsteps grew closer and louder.

“Grandfather? What’s going on?”

Tang Hwa, calling out once more to the suddenly strange Tang-oh, followed after him. Tang-oh raised a hand to stop her and said,

“It’s nothing. I just have something I want to ask this child.”

Something to ask. That meant he had business with him directly.

Dong Bong-su’s brain spun rapidly. But there was still nothing he could figure out.

Then Tang-oh, who had come right up in front of Dong Bong-su, spoke.

“What is your name?”

“....”

Dong Bong-su was still Ma-a-sam. A horse stable hireling, and the mute Sosam. A person who must not speak.

“I asked what your name is.”

Tang-oh’s voice grew slightly louder. Still, Dong Bong-su remained silent, and the answer came from behind instead. It was Gi Dae-hyo.

“That fellow is a horse stable hireling called Sosam, and he cannot speak.”

“A mute?”

At Gi Dae-hyo’s words, a faint trace of disappointment passed over Tang-oh’s face. Even so, the interest in his eyes toward Dong Bong-su did not fade. His gaze continued to sweep over Dong Bong-su from head to toe.

Dong Bong-su’s eyes bore a dull, lifeless color, having lost their original light, yet he missed nothing and observed it all. And at last, he was able to guess what Tang-oh wanted.

Tang-oh’s current gaze looked as though a pirate who had seized a treasure was appraising the loot.

Treasure. A word that ordinarily did not suit a person, but in any case, it meant something precious. And especially to martial artists—if a supreme master like Tang-oh looked at a young man as though gazing upon a treasure? And if he showed a brief flicker of disappointment upon learning that the youth was mute?

In such an unexpected situation, though it had come quietly, Dong Bong-su instinctively realized that he had finally seized a chance to shed the shell of being a horse stable hireling—to molt. And Dong Bong-su was not someone who would ever let such an opportunity slip away.

Tang-oh stared intently into Dong Bong-su’s clouded eyes. In response to his action, Dong Bong-su revealed, if only for a very brief instant, not the gaze of Sosam but the original gaze of Dong Bong-su.

A glint of strange light flashed in Tang-oh’s eyes, and he grasped a measure of Dong Bong-su’s exceptional nature. However, he did not realize that all of this was a performance orchestrated by Dong Bong-su.

Tang-oh suddenly reached out, grabbed Dong Bong-su’s wrist, and checked his pulse gate. Astonishment rapidly spread across his cold face.

Dong Bong-su still did not know what exactly Tang-oh was startled by. One thing was certain, however: it was not because of the JP accumulated in his body.

The internal energy spoken of in this world and JP were clearly different. If they had been energies of the same lineage, there was no way Dan Ri Cheon-u or Gi Dae-hyo would not have noticed.

In truth, those who possessed internal energy gave off a subtly different air, and Dong Bong-su could sense that difference. There was absolutely no change in him that came from the presence of internal energy.

The reason Tang-oh was shocked was clearly somewhere else. He could not yet know what it was, but it was certainly not something bad, it had to be something positive that granted him this very opportunity.

Tang-oh stopped examining Dong Bong-su’s body and turned to approach Gi Dae-hyo.

“Are you on your way to the Namgung Family?”

Gi Dae-hyo’s mind was in complete disarray. It felt as though the Danri Family had barely escaped a major crisis because of Danri Kanghae, only for Tang-oh to start acting strangely again. That alone was enough to unsettle him. On top of that, the cause of this strange behavior was Sosam, which only made it more absurd.

Gi Dae-hyo was in the middle of propping up the unconscious Danri Kanghae when Tang-oh approached and asked. He hastily straightened himself and replied,

“Yes?...Ah, yes. Because of a marriage matter at the Namgung Family....”

“What work does this child do?”

“H-he’s a horse stable hireling....”

“Then it should be fine if this old man takes him, yes?”

Tang-oh fired off his words without giving Gi Dae-hyo any chance to properly respond. The moment he heard the answer he wanted, he cut Gi Dae-hyo off mid-sentence.

“...Pardon? Ah, no, that won’t do. Without him, there’s no one who can handle that Blood-Sweating Horse.”

“Then is it enough for this child to transport the Blood-Sweating Horse only as far as the Namgung Family?”

“If the Namgung Family has a horse stable hireling who can handle the Blood-Sweating Horse....”

“Within the Namgung Family, there should be plenty of capable horse handlers who can easily manage a Blood-Sweating Horse. I don’t see why this child would be particularly necessary for the Namgung Family. Then, once we arrive at the Namgung Family, you wouldn’t have any complaints if this old man takes the child, would you?”

“....”

“Ah, as for that fellow Byeok, I’ll speak to him directly myself. Also, this old man will properly pay the price for this child. If necessary, I can even write a personal letter to your family head. What do you say? Wouldn’t that be sufficient?”

Gi Dae-hyo truly had no presence of mind left. Why on earth was such an incredible master like Tang-oh suddenly acting this way? It felt as though he were dreaming.

“...Yes. We were planning to present that fellow, along with the horse, to the Namgung Family Head as a congratulatory gift anyway.”

“Then that settles it. Do you happen to have any other requests?”

Perhaps he was in an unusually good mood, because Tang-oh was even prepared to extend favors he normally would not.

“What!? I-if you’re willing to go that far, then for us—!”

An unforeseen stroke of luck had fallen into Gi Dae-hyo’s lap. He had thought that Danri Kanghae’s incident had pushed them to the brink of a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, but instead, it had turned into a complete reversal.

If Tang-oh, who had enough familiarity with Namgung Byeok to call him this or that fellow, were to make a request, it would be possible not merely to place Danri Kanghae as a disciple of Namgung Hu, but to have him accepted outright as an outer-surname disciple of Namgung Byeok, the family head himself.

Still, one question remained.

What on earth had Tang-oh seen in Sosam to make him willing to take on such a troublesome matter and insist on bringing him along? Yet Gi Dae-hyo could not bring himself to ask. That was the extent of the difference between him and Tang-oh. He quickly swallowed the question deep within his heart.

All he needed to do was safely complete the task Dan Ri Cheon-u had given him. In any case, if handing over someone like Sosam yielded even greater gains, wasn’t that pure profit?

“Alright, what is this request? If it’s something I can do, I’ll grant it all.”

“I would like Young Master Danri to be accepted as an outer-surname disciple of the Namgung Family Head.”

“That’s all?”

“...Yes? Ah, yes. That will be enough.”

“That’s nothing at all. Then this child is now free for me to take, correct?”

“Ah...yes.”

“Heh heh heh. Good, very good. Then let us depart.”

Tang-oh never once wiped the smile from his face, as though he were delighted beyond measure. The cold aura he had shown when first encountered was now nowhere to be seen.

He walked ahead together with Tang Hwa. Then, when the rest of the group did not follow, he infused his voice with internal energy and spoke.

“What are you doing. Hurry up and follow.”

“……!”

At Tang-oh’s urging, Gi Dae-hyo finally came to his senses, loaded Danri Kanghae onto the baggage cart, and set off at once.

Dong Bong-su followed after him as well, leading Yeoro forward. The conversation Tang Hwa and Tang-oh shared reached his ears.

“Grandfather. Please tell me something, why are you suddenly like this? What is it about that horse stable hireling called Sosam that makes you go this far? Hm?”

Tang Hwa asked Tang-oh to tell her what on earth was going on, but Tang-oh merely smiled and did not say much. The only thing he said was,

“Later. I’ll tell you everything later. Heh heh.”

That was all.

Tang-oh’s hearty laughter. Dong Bong-su was the only one here who understood the meaning behind that laughter. Although he did not yet know the exact underlying reason, that was something time would resolve.