Hyeonjilmusin - Chapter 170



Only Noblemtl

170. Me, Mokhwiyeong (7)

The financial report was completed without a hitch. It had to be completed without a hitch. It was okay for me to listen to Paeng Chae-hyang’s report.

Originally, nitpicking was something you had to know. Someone like me could have found some shortcomings in Paeng Chae-hyang’s report, but Paeng Gyeong-seung wasn’t that good at office work.

“… … From now on, do this with your own strength. Don’t ask for help from others.”

Peng Gyeong-seung left after leaving those words for Peng Chae-hyang. There was no praise until the very end.

As soon as Peng Gyeong-seung left the study room, Peng Chae-hyang sat down on the spot as if her legs had given out.

“… … Phew.”

“thank you for your effort.”

Paeng Chae-hyang looked up at me. She had only reported to me a little bit, but her face was haggard and exhausted. Still, she smiled as if she was glad that it was over.

“Thank you. This is my first time. It’s never been this quick. It should have been over at least an hour. I got scolded.”

“Because there was no need to get in trouble.”

“It’s all thanks to Confucius. Thank you. I never dreamed that I would receive help in this area.”

Peng Chae-hyang was able to sit up after catching her breath a few times. As soon as she got up, she started gulping down water as if her throat was parched.

“This may be a bit of an impertinent question.”

“yes.”

Peng Chae-hyang opened her mouth briefly to answer, then drank water again.

“Are you the biological father?”

“Phew!”

When I answered earlier, I had turned my head towards me, so the water flew towards me. No matter how confident I was in my lightness, I had no way of avoiding the water that was spraying out of my mouth, so I got hit.

“… … .”

Even though I had swallowed a lot of water, I must have spit it out. My head and face were getting wet.

“Oh, sorry. What was that weird thing you said?”

Peng Chae-hyang grabbed my sleeve with her fingertips and hurriedly rubbed my face.

After the water had almost completely dried, the scent of the pangchae fell. Pangchae looked at me as if she was embarrassed.

“……are you okay?”

“yes.”

“sorry.”

“It’s okay. I guess my questions were a bit strange.”

It was a reasonable suspicion on my part. First of all, their appearances were absurd. Peng Gyeong-seung looked like a bandit, as is typical of the Habuk Pengga people, but Peng Chae-hyang was a slender and gentle beauty.

Of course, what was worse than that was Paeng Gyeong-seung’s attitude toward Paeng Chae-hyang. I thought he might be a bit of a strict father, but he must be someone who is just impatient because he can’t catch someone.

“Anyway, you are my biological father.”

“I see.”

“I know. I wonder why you asked that question. My father is kind to other people, but he is particularly strict with me.”

“What do you think is the reason?”

“Um… … . Normally, I wouldn’t say this, but since I happened to hear about the personal history of Confucius Mok, I guess it’s not right not to say it.”

Peng Chae-hyang sat down on the corner chair. I naturally sat across from her.

“I had something I wanted to say while listening to the story of Confucius earlier. But I had to cut it off because of my father.”

“What is it?”

“Thank you for your hard work. And I’m sorry. I made a hasty assumption.”

The guess was that Peng Chae-hyang had assumed that I was from a noble family. I shook my head.

“It’s okay. It was much more polite than saying that you must have come from a poor family. Honestly, it makes me feel good.”

“What a weird joke… … Anyway, I wanted to say that you’ve had a hard time. Even though Confucius Mo grew up in such difficult circumstances, I feel embarrassed for no reason.”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. In my view, Lady Peng has grown up well.”

“I get scolded by my father every day.”

“It’s Father’s fault, not Lady Peng’s.”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard someone talk like that.”

Paeng Chae-hyang chuckled. That would certainly be the case. Since Paeng Gyeong-seung was such a great person, his father must have thought of something or he must have just said that he should follow him as a son.

“Anyway, the reason my father is so strict with me is probably because of my mother.”

“mother?”

“Yes. My mother also passed away early. To be exact, she died while giving birth to me.”

I nodded. It was more common than I thought for a mother to die during childbirth in this central plain.

“I don’t remember because I was very young, but my father often said that I was a monster born after eating my mother.”

“Even if he is a great man and a great head of household, he may not be a great father. And you blame it on your daughter.”

Paeng Chae-hyang rolled up her sleeves to her shoulders. It must have been quite courageous for Paeng Chae-hyang, who had received a conservative education. In fact, her face was red.

What caught my eye was a burn scar that snaked across the side of my left arm. The skin was pale in places where there were no burn scars, making for a more striking contrast.

“When I was a baby, my father would leave the room on fire and just leave. Of course, he didn’t do it on purpose. It could have been worse, but I was crying and Black Noh came in, so it was fortunate. From then on, my father left me with Black Noh and White Noh.”

Peng Chae-hyang spoke in a melancholy voice. She seemed to regard the snake-like burn marks as a symbol of the relationship between her father and me.

“He’s crazy.”

“……yes?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“……yes.”

I spat it out in anger for a moment, but immediately apologized. No matter how crazy Peng Kyeong-seung was, it was not something I should say in front of my daughter.

“As you know, this is obviously a secret. To be honest, I have never told my friends from other famous families that I have known for a long time. I ended up telling Gongja Mok.”

“Does that mean you think I’m special?”

“Don’t say anything weird!”

“I’m joking.”

Paeng Chae-hyang immediately got angry and her face turned red. Why doesn’t she know that the more she reacts in such a shocking way, the more she wants to tease him. If she didn’t know that for the rest of her life, I would be grateful to her for teasing her.

“Get well soon, my ankle. I want to fight again.”

Peng Chae-hyang spoke while fanning herself with her hand. She clearly wanted to quickly change the subject, so I laughed. Peng Chae-hyang made a sour expression, asking what was so funny. For some reason, I felt like I had become a little closer to Peng Chae-hyang.

* * *

Some pasts hold onto the present me and try to drag me back to that time. I felt this while listening to Paeng Kyung-seung’s story. He was still caught up in the past where his wife died. That created an innocent victim named Paeng Chae-hyang.

After finishing what I had to do and returning to my room, I looked back at myself again. Then I wondered how I was doing.

My father in my previous life passed away lonely. I occasionally sent money to him through a superior, but I never visited him in person, making excuses that I was busy.

And even now, almost three years after I started my second life, I still haven’t seen my father once.

Maybe I too am a kid who is trapped in the past. I tried to throw it away. The wounded me that continues to occupy a corner of my heart.

Only after I threw that past into the colorless barrel of memory did I feel like seeing my father again. The empty space inside me from letting go of the past was filled with new thoughts and the energy of nature.

I realized. To reflect on myself was to empty myself. To slowly let go of my past. Of course, letting go does not mean forgetting. It was to take off the shackles I was wearing.

The more I reflected, the more the energy of nature entered my body, and before I knew it, my body was filled with the pure energy of nature like never before.

I closed my eyes, cleared my five senses, and felt the energy of nature. While I was feeling refreshed to the deepest part of my heart, the space between my eyes started tickling.

The eyebrows seemed to flutter open, then opened with a creaking sound. With that, a new world unfolded before me through the eyebrows.

“……ah.”

I couldn’t help but exclaim in awe at the ecstasy. The five colored lines of blue, red, white, yellow, and black were harmoniously intertwined.

I slowly stretched out my thoughts. Surprisingly, I could see the color and shape of my thoughts there. The color of my thoughts was a purple-ish blue.

The fact that I can see the color of my thoughts has been a good guide to me as to how far I can accept nature. There is no answer as clear as that, because I can see for myself how far I can extend my thoughts.

What was surprising was that even the thoughts of others could be seen, however vaguely. Being able to see the trajectory of the originally intangible movement of the sword meant that one could predict the opponent’s next move.

I opened my eyes. At this stage, all I could do was try to shake off the memories that had just come to mind.

But I had a gut feeling. There were still a lot of worries and thoughts inside me that were squeezing me. If I could let go of them, I could move on to the next step. For now, I had to be satisfied with this.

I leaned against the window and felt the wind blowing past me, sweeping my hair across my forehead.

Feeling myself in the moment without thinking about anything. Right now, I was resting my arms on the windowsill, feeling the wind. At this moment, there was no need to think about anything.

* * *

The doctor said it would take ten days for my ankle to fully recover, but my ankle was completely healed in five days. That meant that Pang Chae-hyang and I were going to have a fight.

“You recover quickly. If I get twisted hard once, it takes me two weeks.”

Peng Chae-hyang was puzzled. I thought that perhaps my recovery speed was accelerated because I was trying to continuously receive the energy of nature. The energy of nature contained a gentle power of recovery.

“Are you ready?”

“sure.”

Peng Chae-hyang’s face was as if she had been waiting for a fight with me for a long time.

There were only four people in the unarmed arena: me, Heukno, Baekno, and Paeng Chaehyang. Heukno was the judge, and Baekno was the observer. I thought that maybe they should open the unarmed arena so that other people could watch, but if there were no one watching, it would be less burdensome.

“for a moment.”

The referee, Heukno, approached Paeng Chaehyang and whispered in her ear. It seemed like he was giving her some advice. Paeng Chaehyang nodded with a serious voice. I looked back at Baekno, who was watching.

“Do you have any advice for me?”

“Huh. If you hurt the young lady even a little bit, today will be your memorial day.”

“Thank you for the good advice.”

Although Nana, Paeng Chae-hyang, and Jin Geum were there, there was also the extreme judgment of Heuk No-ra, and they didn’t have any ill feelings toward each other, so there was no reason for an accident to happen.

Heukno returned to the center after giving all the advice.

“This time, the results will be a little different, Master Muk.”

Perhaps because of the advice, Peng Chae-hyang took out her sword with even more confidence. No matter how many times she saw it, the sight of her slender figure swinging a large sword felt unfamiliar.

“Shall we begin?”

I spoke and picked up the sword. The blue and red thread symbolizing the Taegeuk tickled my wrist.

“The referee should be the one to start.”

Heukno coughed in vain as if he was annoyed. Paeng Chaehyang and I glared at each other. Just before Heukno shouted to start, the closed door to the unarmed barracks opened wide.

Everyone, regardless of who they were, looked at the open door. The direct descendants of Habukpengga were unarmed, and only one person could come in like this.

“……father.”

“Didn’t I tell you? Call me ‘Master’ when it’s not just the two of us.”

The people who came were Peng Ga-ju and Peng Gyeong-seung. Peng Gyeong-seung stood next to Baek-no and linked his arms.

“I just came to watch the show, so don’t worry about it. Get started. Heukno.”

It didn’t matter to me, but I couldn’t help but be concerned about Pang Chae-hyang. In fact, Pang Chae-hyang’s spirits became sharper. It seemed like she was obsessed with the idea that she couldn’t make a mistake or lose in front of her father.

Heukno, who had been observing the situation, loudly declared the start.

“Open!”

At the same time, Peng Chae-hyang kicked the ground. I opened my eyes with force between my eyebrows. Peng Chae-hyang’s sharp thoughts that extended from the road were quickly approaching me.

……. (continue)