Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Translator: Penny
Episode 3
The father sat solemnly across the room, while the mother, seated beside him with an embroidery frame, focused intently on her son's flawless, jet-black eyes as she stitched floral patterns.
Both parents gazed intently at the same target:
The small, adorable figure of Munhyeon, kneeling prettily before the low writing desk.
He had just turned three years old.
Finally free of diapers, he could now ride his wooden rocking horse alone and walk with a wobbly but surprisingly dignified gait. He even managed to hold his hands behind his back quite skillfully.
But most importantly:
"Munhyeon-ah, would you like to try reading this?"
The father's eyes gleamed with anticipation as he waited impatiently.
Munhyeon looked at the paper on the desk. It was covered in countless characters written in a bold, serpentine script that seemed to coil and soar like dragons and snakes in flight.
My father had personally written this for me. He was a master calligrapher. Even Wang Xizhi, the renowned calligrapher of a fallen kingdom, would weep in admiration.
"Read it," his mother urged, her eyes gleaming with interest.
I couldn't feign ignorance. For some reason, even though my mind was no longer that of an infant, I couldn't bring myself to disregard her words. Perhaps it was because we had been born aboard the same ship, bound together by an invisible thread of fate. Moreover, her surname was Baek, which meant we couldn't be entirely unrelated. Maybe somewhere in our lineage, our fates had once been intertwined.
Regardless, his gaze returned to the paper before him.
Long ago, a man named Zhou Xingsi, fearing the emperor's wrath, composed 259 four-character phrases in a single night. The result was the Thousand-Character Classic. And now I had to read it. A wave of self-loathing washed over me. Though I appeared to be only three years old, my mental age, accumulated through countless lifetimes, easily surpassed a century. What on earth was I doing?
A sigh escaped his lips involuntarily, but now that he had tasted the warmth of familial love...
Fine, they shower me with such affection. I should at least return the favor.
"Sky Heaven, Earth Ground, Black Profound, Yellow Vast..."
He recited the verses as naturally as a monk chanting sutras, basking in his parents' boundless delight.
"Ah, you were just reading it for fun... That's right! Good job! Oh, you adorable thing!"
"House Universe! Dwelling Home! Wide Vast! Untamed Wilderness!"
Flattered by his father's praise and his mother's admiration, he puffed up with pride, his voice growing louder.
After all, how often does a three-year-old recite the Thousand-Character Classic? Even within the Zhuge Clan, a gathering of geniuses so brilliant they could throttle anyone claiming to be smarter, this feat was unprecedented. Of course, it was possible for him. His aptitude for martial arts was extraordinary, but he had also studied the Elementary Learning in his youth. After earning the title of Heavenly Demon, he devoured countless Confucian classics, hoping to uncover deeper insights hidden within their pages. To someone like him, the Thousand-Character Classic was child's play.
"Munhyeon seems to have inherited his brilliance from his father," someone remarked.
His father, the third younger brother of the current Clan Head, oversaw the Zhuge Clan's Hall of Military Strategy—a place dedicated to researching tactics and strategy.
Zhuge Munhyeon, the Eight Gates Prodigy, was a name quite well-known in the Martial World. It was said that he had perfectly recreated the Eight Trigrams Formation of his distant ancestor, Zhuge Wuhou.
"Ah, Madam," his father chuckled, "how could you say Munhyeon resembles me? His striking good looks clearly come from you."
"Oh, my dear husband, you're so sweet," his mother replied, blushing.
Baek Suhyeon, who had been embroidering nearby, blushed with embarrassment and hid her face behind her sleeve, giggling bashfully.
Baek Suhyeon, the First Beauty of the Dan River.
In her prime, it was said that no one could rival her beauty in the Dan River region.
Heh heh heh. Of course, time has slightly faded her loveliness, but what does it matter? As long as my mother is happy, I'm content.
Still, there was something... peculiar about the atmosphere between them.
I'm three years old, old enough to know everything. It's also an age when watching my parents' cutesy antics feels utterly unbearable. Wait a minute! Based on my past experiences, what usually happens in situations like this?
"Ahem! Is Sohye out there?" Father suddenly cleared his throat, his voice turning grave.
"Yes, Lord Clan Leader," Sohye replied.
"It's late. Take Munhyeon to bed now."
"Yes, sir."
Mother's cheeks flushed at Father's words, and Sohye, who had been waiting outside the door, quickly entered the room.
I knew something was up with their eyes. I saw this coming. What exactly was "late" about the hour? It was barely past dusk. If they put me to bed now, what exactly did they plan to do? The answer, of course, was obvious. A second child? Absolutely not. Even old people crave affection. I was just starting to feel their undivided love, and now they want another child already? How selfish of them! A child deserves an abundance of parental love until at least the age of ten. That's only right. Having failed to achieve Ascension and been reborn, I deserved at least that much compensation. But even as a middle-aged man trapped in a toddler's body, I couldn't bear to witness my parents' relentless displays of affection. More importantly, my mother is already forty. If she were to conceive again, how arduous would the pregnancy be for her? I have to protect her.
Zhuge Munhyeon shook off Sohye's hand and toddled over to Baek Suhyeon's skirt, clinging to it.
"I want to sleep with Mommy."
"Huh?"
"I want to sleep with Mommy!"
"No, Munhyeon. You should sleep in your own room..."
"With Mommy! I want to sleep with Mommy!"
"..."
"Old Man Haengrang said couples over forty should sleep separately."
"Haengrang? He said that?"
"Yep!"
Zhuge Munhyeon played the innocent toddler to perfection, feigning ignorance as he sabotaged their plans.
"Munhyeon, your mother must be tired. Why don't you..."
"I want to sleep with Mommy! Daddy, get out!"
Zhuge Munhyeon's shrill demand brought an awkward expression to his father's face.
"Alright, son. Let's sleep with Mommy tonight. Husband, why don't you join us? Let's make it a family night."
"S-should we?"
"Look how much he wants it."
As expected, his mother was truly kind. She never dismissed her son's wishes lightly.
Of course, at that moment, his father's eyes were filled with a strange mix of disappointment and resentment.
I have a feeling the old gatekeeper is in trouble. I'm sorry. But to secure the love I never received in my past life, I had no choice. I couldn't let it be taken from me now.
The real trouble started later.
To win some affection, he displayed his prodigious talent by flawlessly reciting the Thousand-Character Classic. Rumors began circulating within the Zhuge Clan that a once-in-a-millennium genius had emerged.
To be fair, I had shattered records left and right... it was understandable. I was practically a Buddha-level prodigy.
And the consequences?
"The Elementary Learning?"
"That's right. You've already mastered the Thousand-Character Classic, so you're ready for this. Heh heh heh!"
Father was quite the prankster.
I'm only three years old...
"Alright, let's begin."
Zhuge Doyun unfolded the Elementary Learning booklet on his study table, his eyes gleaming with ambition.
Wait, was he serious?
His mother had told him he'd been practically giddy, boasting about him at every recent gathering of the Zhuge Clan elders.
He'd always insisted that academic basics were enough, urging him to focus on growing up healthy.
How fickle people's hearts can be. When had he become so fanatical about this? Suddenly, the future stretched out before me like a crystal-clear vision.
"Son, what are you doing? Why aren't you reading?"
"..."
"Read this, okay? If you read it well, Father will take you to the market and buy you two of your favorite candies!"
"T-two?"
"Yep!"
Zhuge Doyun proudly held up two fingers and nodded.
Oh no, I swallowed hard without realizing it. Damn this body. I'd been trying to act like a child, at least until I regained my strength, but how could I be so driven by instinct? My mind is an adult, but my body is still a child, and sometimes I can't control myself. The moment I heard the word "candy," the sweet taste flooded my memory, and my mouth started watering. How embarrassing, acting like this at my age.
"Hehehehe. Doesn't that sound nice? Then hurry up and start reading."
At his father's words, Zhuge Munhyeon slowly began to read the Elementary Learning.
It wasn't because of the candy. It was because his father was pleased.
One sigh followed another.
His father's ambition knew no bounds. After he finished reading the Elementary Learning, he brought out the Mirror of the Mind.
This can't go on. Is this really the end? After learning the principles of proper conduct from the Mirror of the Mind, the next step would be the Four Books. And after that, the Great Learning, the Analects, the Mencius, the Doctrine of the Mean... Is that all? It was as clear as day that he would inevitably move on to the Five Classics. Meanwhile, how many volumes are stored in the Myriad Texts Pavilion of the Zhuge Clan, said to be the largest in the Central Plains? If I were to read them all, my black hair would turn as white as an old leek before I even finished. Most importantly, I never intended to become a scholar in the first place.
Things had taken an unexpected turn, leading to the miraculous event of my sudden rebirth. Initially bewildered, I had gradually come to terms with living as a descendant of the Zhuge Clan, basking in my parents' love. Yet the thought of spending my entire life immersed in scholarly pursuits made my skin crawl. A pine caterpillar must eat pine needles. Indiscriminately devouring the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, and every other philosopher would surely lead to indigestion and rainbow-colored diarrhea. Though I had resolved to live as a member of the Zhuge Clan, I would forge my own path as a martial artist. After all, every family needed an outlier, didn't it? Clearly, a countermeasure was necessary. I had to ensure my father would abandon his scholarly expectations of me.
"Sohye."
"Yes, Young Master."
"Who was the most academically gifted member of the Zhuge Clan?"
"Of course it's you, Young Master. You've shattered every record in history. I don't think anyone has ever read the Elementary Learning Primer at three years old before. It's still astonishing to me that you can hold a conversation with me like this. Sometimes you act like a child, other times like an adult. Right now, it feels like I'm talking to a grown-up."
Well, I am an adult. This body may be three years old, but considering my entire life, I've lived several times longer than Sohye... though that's hardly relevant.
No matter how hard these short legs worked, they couldn't get him far. His overprotective parents wouldn't even let him leave the estate. He had no choice but to rely on Sohye to learn about the inner workings of the family.
"Excluding me, who was the fastest?"
"Excluding you, Young Master... I think it was your younger uncle's son. He finished the Thousand-Character Classic at four years old, I believe. Everyone called him a genius. But recently, I've heard he's been going through some terrible hardships."
"Why?"
"It's all because of you, Young Master."
"Huh?"
"You've shattered all the records, haven't you? That's just how it is when you're being chased. The maids tell me he's been pushing yourself even harder lately... Anyway, the Zhuge Clan is in the midst of an education frenzy. I heard that even the newborn son of the Heavenly Strategy Lord already has a writing tutor."
"A writing tutor? He's not even a month old yet!"
"Don't even mention it! They're arguing about it every day, saying it's excessive."
"Hmm..."
The Heavenly Strategy Lord, Zhuge Dawoong, was his father's youngest brother. A month ago, he had welcomed his second son into the world.
But a writing tutor already? Zhuge Munhyeon felt he had inadvertently raised the average expectations for future generations of the Zhuge Clan.
Tsk, tsk. Parents comparing their children like that? How awful. The neighbor's son was the problem. At this rate, I'm bound to incur the resentment of my cousins.
"Sohye, who was the slowest?"
"Hmm, I'm not really sure. You know how it is—everyone hushes up about being slow, so rumors never spread."
"Ah, that's true."
After a moment's thought, he said, "Could you discreetly find out what my youngest uncle's son was reading at different stages? Also, who was the slowest overall and how far they progressed in their studies at each stage?"
"Why do you need that?"
"Just curious."
"Hmm, alright."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. There's nothing I wouldn't do for Confucius."
Her easygoing smile, unburdened by deep thought, made him smile in return.
She was that kind of woman.
If she wanted to, she'd grant any request, no matter the reason.
There's a good reason why I loved her almost as much as my parents.
Anyway, from now on, I will only do things in moderation. It's nice that my parents are pleased, but attracting unnecessary attention might steal time from my future martial arts training. Yes, just enough to be adequate. That'll do.
At the age of three, Zhuge Munhyeon resolved to become a slow learner, a deliberate underachiever in all things.
All to escape his father's... clutches?
📝 Translator’s Note:
You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.
This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.
To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.
but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny