Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Nameless Guest
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The sun had set, and moonlight bathed the night.
Hyeok Mulin strolled through the bustling streets of the inner castle.
Clad in a high-quality blackish-blue robe that flowed like the night sky itself, he pulled his bamboo hat low over his face.
He passed inns and restaurants, heading deep into the district lined with upscale pleasure houses.
Countless lanterns paved his path.
Though it was clearly a night street after sunset, the world only grew brighter the further he walked.
Step by step.
Hyeok Mulin passed several pavilions and came to a halt before one brothel.
A quick glance inside revealed it was already nearly packed with patrons.
He tilted his head slightly to peer up at the sign.
Melody Pavilion.
"……."
Confirming the sign, Hyeok Mulin approached the door, where the doorman greeted him.
"Welcome, sir. How many in your party……."
"One."
Hyeok Mulin replied curtly while flicking over a silver tael as the entry fee.
The doorman eyed him for a moment before stepping aside and gesturing inward.
"Just one, then. Noted. Please, come this way."
The doorman harbored no suspicion about the covered face.
Plenty of patrons visited taverns like this to hide their identities and avoid drawing attention.
Whether they concealed who they were or not, as long as they spent money, they were all the same customers.
Thus, Hyeok Mulin was able to enter the Melody Pavilion boldly, bamboo hat and all.
'Definitely a different layout from your average tavern.'
Once inside, Hyeok Mulin surveyed the interior.
A raised stage stood at the tavern's center, with the first, second, and third floors all open to view it.
As he took in the structure, a man approached.
"Welcome to the Melody Pavilion. I am the manager, Golden Eyes."
The middle-aged man greeted him politely, swiftly scanning Hyeok Mulin from head to toe and grasping his nature in an instant.
It was attire made from the finest silk, so exquisite it was rare even in the inner castle where the wealthy congregated.
And coming alone, with his face hidden under a bamboo hat? Clearly a discreet visit.
The conclusion was obvious.
A filthy rich magnate who simply didn't wish to reveal his identity.
"Right this way."
Having assessed him in a flash, the manager guided Hyeok Mulin to a secluded corner seat on the first floor.
Hyeok Mulin sat at the offered spot and ordered simple appetizers along with Hundred Flowers Wine.
The manager's eyes gleamed the moment he heard the order.
'Straight to Hundred Flowers Wine? My judgment was spot on.'
Hundred Flowers Wine was a famed liquor brewed with nectar from a hundred flowers.
Made by selecting and aging the finest floral stamens, it was renowned as sweet yet harmless—and one of the priciest drinks in any tavern.
"Please wait just a moment. We'll have it out shortly."
He turned and relayed the order to the kitchen staff.
Then he promptly summoned two women.
"Nanhyang, Eunhyang. You two attend to that gentleman. He's a new face, but ordering Hundred Flowers Wine right off means he's got deep pockets—give him your full attention."
Scenting money, Golden Eyes assigned him the Melody Pavilion's two most popular courtesans.
"Got it."
"Sure thing."
The two women arrived at the designated seat carrying the Hundred Flowers Wine and cups.
They settled naturally by his side and struck up a conversation.
But the plan crumbled from the outset.
No matter how they flirted and chattered, he refused to engage.
He simply held his cup and drank alone.
'Is he mute?'
'No, he spoke just fine earlier.'
The two women exchanged baffled glances, puzzled and at a loss.
At that moment, Hyeok Mulin shifted his gaze to the central stage, and Nanhyang clapped with a beaming smile.
"You've come to enjoy the Nightly Musical Discourse as well, great hero!"
Hyeok Mulin glanced at her and nodded.
"Then just a bit longer, please. It won't be much longer now!"
Nightly Musical Discourse.
Discoursing on the heavens through nighttime music.
A performance by the house courtesans on the central stage at the start of the Ha hour, lasting exactly one sichen—the Melody Pavilion's signature event.
"You won't be disappointed. Not a single patron has ever left unsatisfied."
Everyone knew the Yagul Clan ran the Melody Pavilion.
Thus, it was beyond doubt that their courtesans boasted the finest skills among all brothels in the region.
They waited.
Hyeok Mulin quietly poured and sipped his wine.
Soon, the start of the Ha hour arrived, and glass lanterns atop the stage began to glow, illuminating the platform.
Several women ascended the stage, transforming into musicians.
A rich melody soon filled the tavern.
"Ooooh……."
The women performed solos at times and ensembles at others.
The instruments varied wildly: flutes, bells, zithers, iron chimes, pipas, two-stringed fiddles, drums, gongs, and more.
Their proficiency and polish were so extraordinary it was hard to believe they were mere tavern courtesans.
As the enchanting notes flowed among the patrons, everyone lifted the corners of their mouths in satisfaction, savoring the music.
However.
"……."
Nearly a full sichen passed, yet Hyeok Mulin remained utterly unmoved in his seat.
As Nanhyang stole a glance at his impassive expression, he finally spoke.
"Disappointing."
"……!"
"……!"
Shock seized the two women's faces.
It was the first such critique they'd ever heard, and as proud performers, they could scarcely believe their ears.
"Wh-what do you mean by that……?"
"I had high hopes for a brothel under the Yagul Clan, but this is the best you've got?"
At his cutting assessment, the women widened their eyes like startled rabbits.
"We can't accept that. To dismiss us so, I wonder just what level of discernment you possess."
"Indeed. You must rival the great musicians of old, like Wang Wei."
For them, their playing was a matter of pride—far more painful than insults to their looks.
Needles pricking their nerves, the women shot back with sarcasm aflame in their eyes.
Hyeok Mulin parried lightly.
"Care to hear for yourself?"
"……Pardon?"
"Manager."
"Yes!"
Hyeok Mulin called, and Golden Eyes hurried over, inquiring what the matter was.
"A little debate. Mind if I take the central stage for one performance?"
"What……."
The manager alternated puzzled glances between the women and him.
"If it doesn't satisfy you all, I'll give one gold tael to every soul working here."
"G-gold taels……!"
The courtesans' and manager's eyes bulged simultaneously.
Dozens worked at the Melody Pavilion—tens of gold taels tossed into the wind?
A fool's wager.
They'd heard the Yagul courtesans countless times; no nameless nobody would move them.
"Forgive me, but could we verify……."
Golden Eyes ventured cautiously, and Hyeok Mulin cracked open a thick pouch.
Golden light gleamed from within, dazzling their eyes.
Gulp.
The manager nodded and withdrew.
"Please wait just a moment. We'll prepare the stage right away."
He hurried to the stage, where standby courtesans waited. During a lull in the performance, he conferred with them.
Whatever he said left them mildly surprised, but they promptly cleared the area.
It was still early to end the show.
As question marks appeared on patrons' faces, Golden Eyes mounted the stage and raised his voice.
"And now, to conclude tonight's Nightly Musical Discourse, we present a very special guest!"
"A guest?"
"A patron playing instead of a courtesan?"
The unprecedented situation set the crowd buzzing.
"Quiet now! This gentleman has graciously volunteered to cap off the Nightly Musical Discourse. His name is……!"
Only then did Golden Eyes realize he didn't know it.
He looked to Hyeok Mulin, who answered curtly.
"Nameless Guest."
A nameless patron.
Obviously a pseudonym, but no crime committed—no need to probe.
The manager nodded and cried out.
"The Nameless Guest! A name full of meaning. Please grace our night."
With the introduction done, Golden Eyes stepped down.
Patrons around wore bored expressions.
No one expected anything from an unknown man taking the stage for the first time.
Most had already turned away to drink with the courtesans.
But Hyeok Mulin paid it no mind.
He gazed steadily at the case lined with instruments.
He withdrew one, and the watching courtesans' eyes rounded.
"Th-that's……!"
"A piri?!"
Stunned for a moment with mouths agape, the courtesans soon sighed and shook their heads.
"It's over."
"Way too cocky."
The piri was a vertical woodwind with a reed inserted into bamboo—yellow or black—where skill gaps showed starkly.
It seemed simple at a glance, drawing novices, but blowing it properly was no easy feat, making it one of the most fiendishly difficult instruments.
Even the same note wavered, tuning was a nightmare, and perfect solos were rare.
The Melody Pavilion courtesans had long abandoned mastering it, relegating the piri to mere decoration.
"Of all things, he picks that."
"Even scraping a sound out must feel like an accomplishment to him."
The courtesans were convinced it was a flop.
So tricky even the player struggled to gauge the tone; clearly, the man was overestimating his meager talent.
Then.
Laa—riri—
The first note flowed out, and the rowdy chatter died in an instant.
Slow.
Not loud.
No complex structure.
Yet his melody brimmed with emotion and longing, plaintively tugging at every ear.
As patrons and courtesans alike absorbed his playing, the same scene rose in all their minds.
A child born to the clan's warm embrace.
A boy growing free, crossing thickets and bounding mountain paths.
Always smiling, showered with affection from those around him.
Kind-hearted and prodigiously talented in the martial arts, he trained daily under his father's guidance, bearing the hopes of all.
One day, when he came of age, he would restore the clan.
The boy believed it too.
I will revive the clan.
And he felt no fear.
His father's staunch support and his mother's love stood firm at his back.
But that happiness, which seemed eternal, vanished.
In one fleeting instant, without a trace.
Lost.
His parents.
Left behind.
A clan that trusted only in the boy.
A youth not yet fully grown.
Yet countless clan members already weighed upon his shoulders.
He became patriarch and led the clan, but it wasn't enough.
Thus, he resolved himself.
The clan was already teetering badly.
Without a drastic turning point, it would wither away slowly—he knew it.
So he departed for distant lands.
For the clan alone, trading it all away, to a far-off place with not a soul he knew.
Isolated there, he became a desolate man.
Lonely, he reached middle age.
Time flowed like a river, and before long, he lay dying as an old man.
In that place with no one beside him, he closed his own eyelids.
Gazing lonelily upon the world to the end, he shut his eyes alone.
This melody traced one man's solitary life.
The forlorn, heartrending strains soaked deep into every heart.
And when the piece concluded.
"……."
"……."
"……."
The staggering performance left the entire Melody Pavilion speechless, silence reigning.
No one dared applaud, lest they disturb the lingering emotion.
In that profound hush, Hyeok Mulin rose, returned the piri to its case.
And amid all eyes, he walked slowly to the door and stepped out.
Clunk—
The patrons merely stared blankly at the door he exited.
And from the top floor of the Melody Pavilion, one woman who had faintly caught his performance gazed out the window.
She fixed her eyes intently on the nameless wanderer's retreating figure through the inner castle.
Until he vanished completely.
With eyes burning fiercely.