Tangmunjeon - Chapter 333



Only Noblemtl

Chapter 333 of Tangmunjeon The Narak party arrived in Seongdo shortly after leaving Jueulchon. Tang Mujin was nervous enough that anyone could tell.

Namgung Myung snickered at the sight.

“Relax. If anyone saw you, they’d think you were a sinner falling into the abyss.”

“Who said he was nervous?”

Dang Mu-jin took a deep breath and walked through the city of Seongdo.

Even though it was on the outskirts of the city, quite a distance from the party headquarters, quite a few people recognized the party leader and waved at him.

“I heard you went out to a foreign land, but did you come back safely?”

“Yes. How could I get hurt?”

“Ahem. You should go quickly. Or do you want to grab a quick bite to eat before you go?”

“It’s okay now. I’ll come back later after I finish packing.”

There was nothing special in common between the people who spoke to Dang Mu-jin.

The innkeeper. The street urchin. The man who passed by with his cow and donkey. Even the neighborhood children who were just now starting to grow dark beards.

Even people who didn’t talk to Dang Mu-jin recognized him. Most of them at least gave him a quick nod.

Seolhwa asked Hyeon-gong, who was walking beside her.

“Dang Mu-jin, are you famous?”

“In this neighborhood, there are few people who don’t know Dangmujin.”

“the rich?”

“I wasn’t born rich, but I made my own. If you get along with them, you’ll benefit a lot.”

“Yeah.”

Unlike the rest of the group who were cheerful, Rep. Yeom looked a little gloomy.

A few years ago, Rep. Yeom heard that Danggajang was teaching medicine, so he went to Danggajang with Rep. Yang. He was with Rep. Yang when he learned medicine and left the city.

But now I am alone. My friend is buried in a faraway land.

“uh?”

When they finally arrived at the Danggajang, Dangmujin was a little confused. An unfamiliar wall blocked the group.

Judging from its location, this wall looked like the wall of a Tang family. However, the wall surrounded a much wider area than before.

As has always been the case whenever Dang Mu-jin is away from home, Dang Ga-jang seems to have expanded his territory this time as well. Dang Ga-jang has a strange characteristic of growing in size whenever Dang Mu-jin turns his attention to him.

And then there was a minor problem. Namgung Myung pointed to the wall.

“Wasn’t the original gate around here?”

“That’s right.”

The main gate was not visible. It seemed that they had moved it somewhere while widening the wall.

“Just wait a minute.”

In this situation, it is the way of the common people to walk aimlessly along the wall, trying to find the front door.

Namgung Myung, the man who was more familiar with Wol-dam than anyone else, jumped up onto the wall to check where the main gate was.

However, the moment Namgung Myung climbed up onto the wall, something flew in from inside the wall at incredible speed and aimed for Namgung Myung’s thigh.

“···!”

Namgung Myung was able to avoid the thing by a couple inches, thanks to his body twisting around in panic. Namgung Myung turned his head back to see what was flying. He thought he could vaguely see the shape of an arrow.

Namgung Myung was surprised, but his friends below the wall were equally surprised.

Dang Mu-jin asked.

“What, who’s shooting a bow all of a sudden?”

“It’s your house, what if you ask me that?”

“You’re the one on the wall. Who shot you?”

What was most suspicious about the arrow was that instead of flying horizontally or arcing down from above like most arrows, it rose from below.

As if an archer were lying on the ground and shooting towards the top of a wall.

Namgung Myung looked down to see who had shot the arrow. But there was no one there. All he could see was a small hole in the ground.

“···There’s no one here?”

“Why isn’t it there? Did a ghost shoot an arrow and run away?”

But it was definitely true. As Namgung Myung stood there on the wall, bewildered, he heard a familiar voice from far away. It was Dan Seol-yeong.

“Namgung Myung, why did you go up there and make a fuss?”

“Uh… The location of the main gate changed. I was trying to check where the main gate had moved to.”

“Over there! Come south!”

Indeed, a magnificent gate appeared in the direction that Danseolyeong pointed to. Danseolyeong added one more word.

“If you don’t want to get shot by arrows, don’t move from the wall and get down immediately!”

“Uh uh···.”

Namgung Myeong carefully jumped down from the wall.

As the group approached the gate along the wall, the gate opened to the left and right and Danseolyeong appeared.

Even though it was winter, Danseolyoung was not cold, and she had her arms folded tightly.

When Dang Mu-jin recalled the first time he met Dan Seol-yeong, he smiled broadly, and Dan Seol-yeong smiled back. She unexpectedly didn’t seem that angry.

At the moment when Dang Mu-jin tried to hug Dan Seol-yeong without caring about the people’s gaze, Dan Seol-yeong’s expression became subtle.

“No way, you again···?”

Danseolyeong’s gaze was fixed on Seolhwa.

Seol-hwa looked around the inside of the Danggajang as if it was new, and her eyes met with Dan-seol-yeong’s. No matter how you looked at it, it was not a friendly gaze.

So, Seolhwa felt instinctive fear and took a step to the side.

It was not the direction where Dang Mujin was, but the direction where Hyungong was. Hyungong also naturally stretched out his arm in the direction of Seolhwa.

Just from that reaction, Danseolyeong understood the whole situation. As he had promised before leaving, Dangmujin did not bring another woman.

It is considered natural for a capable man to take a concubine, but that only applies to other men’s husbands. Dan Seol-yeong’s patience lasted until Mok Wan-ah.

Anyway, since there seemed to be no relationship between Seolhwa and Dangmujin, Danseolyeong smiled brightly again.

“Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

“You can call me Seolhwa, Seolhwa···.”

“What a pretty name. Nice to meet you.”

“Hello···.”

The story of the story was a little awkward. It seems that she was nervous and her head was frozen. Of course, there was no particular problem in communicating.

Seolhwa realized one more thing. Her rank was lower than Danseolyeong’s.

Danseolyeong approached Dangmujin and grumbled.

“Why are you being so perceptive? It’s confusing.”

“Aren’t you a bit late?”

When Dang Mu-jin reached out and grabbed Dan Seol-yeong’s hand, a faint smile appeared on Dan Seol-yeong’s lips.

Dang Mu-jin liked the rough yet soft feel of Dan Seol-yeong’s hand, so he stroked Dan Seol-yeong’s hand. Dan Seol-yeong pretended to lose and held out her hand as she spoke.

“I figured it was because you’ve been late more than once or twice. In fact, I’ve been thinking that it would be better if you came back a little later these days.”

“why?”

“Did you see the arrow flying earlier? I wanted to show you after I finished it.”

As expected, it seems that the arrow was related to Danseolyeong.

Dang Mujin looked around the inside of the Danggajang. About ten feet away from the wall, the ground had been dug up. It seemed as if something was being buried in the ground, or as if something was being built under the ground.

“What is that?”

“When a person stands on the wall, the arrows are fired automatically. It’s a bit of a hassle to refill the arrows, but the power is quite good.”

Namgung Myung made a sad expression.

Now, even when going out at night, do you have to go out through the front door?

Dang Mu-jin asked.

“What are you going to use that for?”

“The Cheongseongpa Taoists said that recently, there were a lot of places that suffered damage due to the Jeongsa Daejeon. The Gongdongpa was devastated? I thought that I should prepare in advance. It seems a little late already… But you never know when something similar might happen.”

It was indeed an attitude worthy of Dan Seol-yeong.

Once Danseolyoung sets a goal and starts moving, he neither hesitates nor stops. He just steadily progresses with his amazing drive.

Dang Mu-jin knew exactly what to say in this situation.

“I’ll help too.”

“I knew you’d say that. Anyway, you’re all probably tired. Go in, wash up, and rest!”

Dang Mu-jin did not belong to ‘everyone’.

Five people, excluding Dang Mu-jin. Hyeon-gong, Nam-gung-myeong, Hong-geol-gae, Seol-hwa, and Yeom-ui-nim, dispersed here and there. The three people, excluding Seol-hwa, looked as if they had returned home.

Dang Mu-jin walked and talked with Dan Seol-yeong.

“The house has become a lot bigger now?”

“Since I decided to install the facility around the wall, I expanded the land so that there was no need to expand it again. I gave the people living nearby a generous amount of compensation and asked them to find a house somewhere else.”

“It must have been a difficult task.”

“That’s not the end. We’re going to install a few more types of organizations, and once we find a good formation master, we’ll change the entire structure of the buildings in the house. They say that in order to use the formation, we have to change the layout of the buildings.”

“···Where does the money come from? It must not be enough for the member’s income.”

Although he received a lot of money from Man-geum-jang-ju, there is a limit to that amount of money. The amount of money he spent before Dang-mu-jin left was quite a lot.

Expanding the site of the party headquarters, installing the organization, and even changing the layout of the building was impossible with the remaining funds.

But Danseolyoung waved her hand as if it was nothing.

“First of all, while you were away, the council’s income increased tremendously. Even though we reduced the treatment costs for the Cheongseong and Ami factions. There were so many patients coming from other regions.”

By combining Danseolyeong’s story and the story of the Sapa warriors that he had heard in passing in Juulchon, Dangmujin was able to guess the situation.

It seems that the Sapha warriors were trying to enter Sacheonseong as they had been attacking the area around Gongdongpa and Gaebong. Cheongseongpa and Amipa stopped them, and Danggajang would have taken charge of treating the injured. In return, Danggajang would have reduced the cost of treatment.

Danseolyoung’s story continued.

“It’s not just the income from being a member of the National Assembly. There’s also a lot of money coming in from outside businesses.”

“Workplace?”

It was a strange story. The head of the family had never made money in any way other than through his work as a member of the National Assembly.

“The Cheongseongpa Taoists said they owed a lot to Danggajang, so they gave him a few places where they could make money. I guess they did it because they had no one to manage it…”

“Why did the person in charge disappear?”

“Originally, Hwangnyeongja managed the business site together with the Cheongseongpa Seongdo Branch Office, but as many of the Cheongseongpa masters died, Hwangnyeongja also returned to the Cheongseongpa headquarters. Since Master Jinsong also returned, the Cheongseongpa Seongdo Branch Office will be empty for the time being.”

Dang Mu-jin thought of Yeong-heo-ja.

Before he died, Yeongheoja had told Dangmujin to become a good neighbor to Cheongseongpa. Of course, Dangmujin also thought so.

However, since Young Heo-ja and many Taoist monks have met their deaths, the momentum of the Cheongseongpa will inevitably be dampened for the time being.

If you try to maintain the original scale by being greedy in a situation where your momentum has waned, everything is likely to go wrong.

The Taoists of Cheongseongpa also knew this fact, so they showed their favor by handing over some of the business sites that were difficult to manage to the Tang family chief in order to maintain a good relationship with them.

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Then, who manages the business that was handed over?”

“Of course I will manage it.”

Dang Mu-jin made a weary expression.

Only a few skilled carpenters or woodworkers can help Danseolyeong install the machinery.

Even such people cannot help in the task of designing the structure of the institution. In fact, the bulk of the work is left to Dan Seol-yeong alone.

In the meantime, it would take a whole day to manage the business outside of the party headquarters. It didn’t seem like Danseolyeong would neglect his daughters, given his single-minded nature.

Danseolyeong smiled faintly, perhaps noticing Dangmujin’s worries.

“Don’t worry. No one told me to do this. I made up the work myself. And it’s actually quite fun. It’s work that I have to do, but it’s also my hobby.”

“Well then, that’s fortunate…”

“Besides, you’re going to help me now, right?”

Work kept coming in secretly. But Dang Mu-jin had no intention of avoiding it.

As a husband and the head of the household, it is something I must do.

Dang Mu-jin walked through the inside of the party hall while chatting with Dan Seol-yeong.

Danseolyeong pointed here and there, chattered like a little bird. Here, we will build this kind of institution, and there, we will build that kind of institution.

It wasn’t just Dan Seol-yeong talking. Just as Dan Seol-yeong had a lot to talk about with Dang Mu-jin, Dang Mu-jin also had a lot to tell Dan Seol-yeong. How many things had happened in the past year?

Seeing Dang Mu-jin and Dan Seol-yeong walking like that, people who knew Dang Mu-jin, regardless of their age, bowed to him and paid him a round of applause. People who didn’t know Dang Mu-jin asked the person next to them who Dang Mu-jin was.

Soon, people looked surprised. They had heard that Danggajangju Yilong was young, but Dangmujin was even younger than they had thought.

Dang Mu-jin slowly looked around.

While I was away, a lot of things changed in the Tang family.

For example, this was the case with patients.

Perhaps due to the aftermath of the Jeongsa Daejeon, there were many people who looked like patients, including the monks of the Cheongseongpa and the nuns of the Amipa. Unlike before, there were even many martial artists who seemed to have come from outside of Sacheonseong.

After going around the party hall like that, Dan Seol-yeong said to Dang Mu-jin.

“It’s a little late, but shouldn’t I say hello to your father?”

“I guess so. Is father in the doctor’s office?”

“huh.”

Finally, Dang Mu-jin’s steps led to the central meeting room of the party.

Even though Dang Mu-jin is called the head of the party, shouldn’t he show his face to his father after returning from wandering around a foreign land?

Dang Mu-jin’s father, Dang Je-seon, is still in his prime as a member of the National Assembly. Naturally, he spends the most time in the medical office and taking care of patients.

The doctor opened the door and entered the room. There were no patients in the spacious central room.

In the center of the room sat Dang Je-seon, to his left sat Mok Wan-ah, and to his right sat Chu Sam, who was in charge of the Dang family council members. Dang Yeong was lying on his grandfather’s lap and acting funny.

It seemed as if they had been eating a snack while the patient was away, as there were three plates covered in soybean meal and other things among the four of them.

Dang Mu-jin bowed his head toward his father.

“I’m back.”

Dangjeseon nodded happily,

“Dangmujin!”

Mokwan-ah stood up from her seat with a bright smile and greeted Dangmujin. Despite her dusty attire, she showed no sign of hesitation.

However, Dang Yeong, who was playing on Dang Je-seon’s lap, hid behind Dang Je-seon as if he did not recognize Dang Mu-jin.

“···.”

Dang Mu-jin realized his own karma. He had left home when the child was three years old and returned only a year later, so it was understandable that he would forget her face.

And before I could even begin to talk, a loud noise was heard from the side.

“Eww-”

Dang Mu-jin turned his gaze to the left and belatedly discovered three more people.

Two children, about one year old, were standing up, holding onto a small tray, crying, and Jang Il-nam was holding out his hand to prevent the children from falling and getting hurt.

Jang Il-nam nodded to Dang Mu-jin and then looked back at the children and explained.

“The children can grab things and stand up easily, but they don’t know how to sit down yet. If you make them sit down, they get up and cry, and if you make them sit down again, they get up and cry again. It’s going to be like this until they learn how to sit down.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“What a struggle. I’ve never had a better time than I do these days…”

That wasn’t an empty promise. Jang Il-nam’s expression was bright and his complexion was very good.

Finally, the two children tried to sit down, their knees trembling, but they dropped the tray and fell backwards.

Jang Il-nam quickly reached out and supported the two children. This wasn’t the first or second time this had happened, and the children fell down, but instead of being surprised, they burst into laughter.

Dang Mu-jin asked Jang Il-nam.

“Where is the elder Sam-an-bul?”

“My brother has been staying in a foreign land for the past few months, saying he has something important to do. But he still visits the Dang family once a month, so I’ll be able to see him soon.”

“Is that so?”

A brief silence.

For a moment, Dang Mu-jin felt that a subtle exchange of glances had taken place between everyone except himself.

Jang Il-nam nodded and sat in the middle of the room holding the two children in his arms. The two children kept squirming on Jang Il-nam’s lap.

The central room became silent. The only thing that could be heard was the babbling of two one-year-old children.

Dang Mu-jin’s father, Dang Je-seon, spoke in a solemn voice.

“Mujin-ah.”

“yes.”

“Do you remember your daughters’ names?”

It was a bit of a sad story for Dang Mu-jin. What kind of father would forget his daughter’s name?

“Can you forget that? Aren’t you Dangyeong, Dangyeongryeong, and Danghaewon?”

First, Dangyeong is four years old this year.

Dang Yi-ryeong, born to Mok Wan-ah, and Dang Hae-won, born to Dan Seol-yeong, are now one year old.

Although Dang Yi-ryeong was born a little earlier than Dang Hae-won, there was almost no gap between the births of Dang Hae-won and Dang Yi-ryeong.

“Mujin-ah.”

As soon as Tang Je-seon opened his mouth, the air around him became tense as if it was going to burst.

Of course, Dang Mu-jin didn’t know why this atmosphere had developed.

“yes.”

“Guess. Of the two children, which one is Iryeong and which one is Haewon?”

Dang Mu-jin’s gaze turned to the two children wriggling on Jang Il-nam’s lap.

Two children of the same gender and similar physique.

No additional clues are given.

A game of pure chance.

That is, the probability of going to hell is oh.

Dang Mu-jin’s hands became wet with sweat.