There is a small lake in the North East of Yulang County.
Called the Small Quiet Lake, it has a massive garden, and this place was a good place to enjoy a nice quiet drink and soak in the atmosphere of the lake.
It was believed that there weren’t many people who would drink alcohol in the middle of the day, with the sun still above their heads, but a group of young men were currently drinking there.
A young man with a particularly prominent nose, sitting at the head position of the table, couldn’t be bothered drinking from a glass and was gulping down straight from bottles.
“Kuak!”
The young man let down the bottle with a groan.
Seeing his red cheeks, and the prominent smell of alcohol one could tell how much he had drunk. The young man draped in a blue silk robe next to him was trying to cheer up this very man,
“So Hyung. Cheery up. This is our only chance.”
“What the younger one, Jo Kang, said is right. What is the point of comparing you with your hyung? It was just to save the face of the eldest one, don’t be too broken up about it,”
They were all attempting to comfort the young man who was drinking from the bottle.
At their words, the young man kept on drinking. The name of this large-nosed guy was So Jang-yoon.
He was a son of the Ikyang So family, which ruled the city of Ikyang, Hunan.
Thud!
So Jang-yoon put the bottle down in a rough manner and mumbled,
“Damn it. Does it make sense to assume the role of the superior in the family is simply given to those who were born earlier, without even a chance to compete for it?”
It was for this reason that So Jang-yoon started drinking so early in the morning.
He was unable to make it to the Murim Tournament being held all because So Yong-hyun, his brother and So Yong-yong, his sister, were selected to represent their family.
“And a fucking girl got selected!”
Clench!
He clenched his hand. At these words, the young men smiled bitterly.
No matter how much they understood his words, they didn’t like how he was name-calling a woman.
Still, even if they were half-siblings, didn’t they share the same blood?
[Young master So is being too much today]
[It seems like he cannot go to the tournament, so we should leave it be.]
Two women were whispering to each other.
They were all from different prestigious families within the Hunan province. Of course, so were the three young men beside them
They had a relationship born from training in the same place, so the six of them had been close since childhood.
[I am afraid that the Young Master might cause a scene with all that he has been drinking]
[You think so too?]
[Phew, if it wasn’t for my fiancé, I would want to leave him.]
The name of the lady in the purple dress was Song Yang-hwa.
She was the eldest daughter of the Song family known for their swordsmanship. Although it wasn’t a family which represented an entire city, it had control of the region it was in and since they had a deep tradition, so she had been engaged to So Jang-yoon a long time ago.
‘I do not want to marry such a guy unless there is something to gain. Even his half brothers are better than him.’
Although she had never voiced it, she didn’t like So Jang-yoon, she was simply enduring this all for the sake of her family.
‘I’d rather enter the room of So Yong-hyun.’
Compared to this guy, the first son of the family, So Yong-hyun, did diligent work.
Even her family had attempted to make sure she was engaged to him, but she was unable to create a bond with the guy and the second daughter of the Zhuge family was engaged to him.
‘Phew. Right, let’s think about it. Isn’t it better than those who ran from home?’
It was better to empty the mind first. And the young man called Jo Kang spoke up,
“So Hyung. By now, the guests of Mount Hyeong sect must have come.”
“Yah. Then we will be seeing you face the famous ones of this sect.”
“So embarrassing.”
The Mount Hyeong sect was a martial arts sect located in the southern Hyeong mountains and was famous for its sword techniques.
Along with the Ikyang So family, they produced many people who brought fame to Hunan.
The reason they were coming here was to build rapport between the two sides. None of the people remaining at home were participating in the tournament so this was a chance to test their skills.
“What could be embarrassing?”
So Jang-yoon was annoyed. He didn’t like the Mount Hyeong sect.
Since they took in So Yong-yong who was taken in as their disciple five years back, they decided that it was a sect that didn’t know how to recognize the talent of people.
‘Phew.’
So Yang-hwa looked at Jo Kang and shook her head. She couldn’t understand why this guy was acting like this when one of their siblings was in the sect.
‘This is why he wasn’t chosen as the representative.’
Thinking like this, she thought she was no better than others when someone stepped up.
“Uh?”
When she looked at the dress, she saw them wearing the uniform of the warrior of the Ikyang So family.
So Jang-yoon, who was about to drink another bottle, stopped and asked,
“What is happening?”
Chak!
The warrior bowed to them and then approached So Jang-yoon as he reported,
“Young Master, Young Master So Wonhwi has returned home.”
“What?”
When the name So Wonhwi was mentioned, the young ones who were all smiling became silent.
Who among them didn’t know of So Wonhwi?
“Yulang’s fool?”
“Isn’t that So hyung’s younger brother?”
“Didn’t you say he got kicked out of the house?”
The young ones all asked making Song Yang-hwa jump up,
“Young master So Wonhwi came back?”
There was a reason she was interested in this. A year and some odd months back, the fool of the family had vanished. Coincidentally, her twin siblings had also disappeared at the same time.
‘Shouldn’t that fool know?’
She thought of meeting them.
“Young master So.”
Thud!
While she was talking, So Jang-yoon continued to drink the alcohol in the bottle and smiled,
“Well, I was feeling quite disgusted, this is good.”
“So hyung what do you mean?”
“I am going to give them a nice beating today. Come to my home.”
With that, he got up and began to stride out. The young men who were there, got up laughing and gasping knowing what would happen
“Unnie?”
“Sigh.”
Song Yang-hwa sighed. The desire to break away from this engagement increased with each day.
Ikyang So family
My hometown and home. It had really been a long time.
Hometown was a word that stimulated nostalgia for everyone, but for me, it was a place of hate.
Without my mother here, only hatred remains.
Short Sword spoke up,
-You were kidnapped by the Blood Sect, so it must have been quite a time since you have returned.
Even before getting a second chance at life, I returned back to my family before joining as a spy of the Murim Alliance, wanting to be a useful son.
Probably around ten years or so, one day I was kicked out.
-Wouldn’t that happen this time too?
It could be something like that but things will be different from back then.
When I came back to the family in the past I was still as stuck as ever, and that was the reason I had been called trash and fool.
-Still, you share the same blood, that was quite too much
‘I must have been considered a shame in the family as I was the only child who couldn’t learn martial arts.’
Of course, my mother played a part too. After my mother passed away, I began to drink from a young age.
Thanks to that, I was tagged as the fool of the Yulang County
‘I’d rather be cursed to my face.’
That was what I thought when coming here but I was too immature then and my dantian being destroyed was too much.
“Wow. The manor is huge.”
Sima Young, who was following me said. She was making her voice feel thick to disguise her role as a man.
She was taking the role of my sajae.
“It is huge. Vice… no, So hyung.”
Cho Sung-won couldn’t help but admire it too. He was playing the role of a fellow warrior I had become acquainted with.
Since it could not be discovered that he was from the Beggars Union, he wore a human skin mask.
[But, Vice Commander. Why are they not being kind?]
Sima Young asked me
The people she was talking about were the warriors of the family. The people were guiding us, but their attitude wasn’t good.
Unlike Cho Sung-won who knew about me through his Beggars Union, she didn’t know all this
[Do not worry about it.]
At that, she pouted her lips.
[Vice Commander is senior to me, how can you keep saying that?]
[This is convenient for me.]
Sima Young was given the position of leader. And she could talk comfortably but I didn’t want to. And I made sure she kept her distance.
-She must have had a scary father.
You could say that again.
I wasn’t sure how her father treated her, but I decided to play my role correctly.
‘Um?’
As I followed the guards I began to frown.
I thought they would take me to the annex my mother was kept in. Unlike the other kids, I was asked to stay with my mother in her annex.
“The annex is on the other side.”
One of the warriors at the forefront stopped and turned around. He was Ung Bu, a leader-like warrior who said,
“The annex got demolished and a new one was built.”
“What?”
I was shocked
Enshrined in the annex was my mother’s last tablet before her death. What did it mean they demolished it and built a new one?
“Young Master left the house. While you were away from home, the Lord had to do something as the other family members were asking for changes.”
-Ugh. This is bad!
Short Sword clicked her tongue.
Right.
This was the treatment I got in my own house. Fortunately, I still had some blood of the So family mixed in so at least some people give me some respect
-Is this fine?
We need to stay low for now.
Feeling a bit dazed, I stopped holding up Ung Bu.
The reason these guys accepted me, who was kicked out of the family, back into the home was that the lord was outside or something.
Maybe my status might change now that I had learned martial arts, so I need to start adjusting to this place.
“Young Master?”
“Right. That aside, I have two questions.”
Perhaps he felt my cold tone was unusual, he looked at me with a serious face.
“Ask me,”
“I was going to ask irrespective of your words. Did Asong come here?”
Asong was my servant.
Before I got caught by the Blood Sect, I threw that guy down an open toilet.
Asong was one of the two people I was worried for. He was someone who followed me, but actually, he was the one looking after my mother here.
“Are you talking about the servant in the annex?”
“Yes.”
Please say he is alive. If he died, wouldn’t it be horrible to throw him into the shit pit?
“He came down a year back.”
“He came?”
I was a bit excited about this. The man managed to stay alive
I was worried he was killed, but he had managed to live.
“Then where is he?”
Knowing the man, he must have run back here and asked the family to search for me.
If he was alive, I would take him back, but Ung Bu’s expression wasn’t good.
“… he got kicked out.”
“Kicked out?”
I felt stunned when he continued,
“In the midst of rage, coming home he argued with the lord…”
“How was it done?”
“…he was beaten and kicked out.”
Ha
What a fucking dick. Did he beat a guy who came asking for his son to be helped?
“… he got kicked out for that?”
“At that time, he showed up with dirt on him and argued with the lord so he didn’t seem like he would listen to anyone.”
“Ah… so. You say he was begging the Lord to bring people to save me, but the Lord got angry and kicked him out after beating the poor man?”
“T-that young master.”
“How was the guy hit?”
Ung Bu was breaking into a cold sweat,
“Ah… he was hit with a stick instead of the hand I think,”
Ung Bu tried to say
“Young Master, the situation at that time was…”
Pak!
Someone grabbed Ung Bu by the neck and lifted him up.
It was Sima Young.
When she picked up the warrior with her small body the guy panicked trying to get her to release the grip.
“Stay still.”
Tatatak!
Sima Young sealed his blood points.
“Huh!”
“W-what is this?’
The warriors shouted at her. Sima Young looked at them with a cold face.
“Where is the bathroom here?”
At her question, the warriors looked to one side. Since the manor was so wide, there were some large ones around.
“Sima…”
Before I could say anything. Sima Young grabbed the guy and hurriedly opened the door to the bathroom and threw him in
“Eat shit!”
Eup!
At something that no one had expected, the warriors could only remain still and wide-eyed.
Sima Young was roaring like a bull and came with a stick in her hand and asked,
“Should I do it? Or will sahyung do it?”
