Chapter 79
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Collision
I knew there was a path behind Tang Harin's laboratory, but I'd never gone there before.
You can't just wander around freely in someone else's clan.
I checked the laboratory first, but the door was firmly locked.
Yuseong ended up following the inner path just as Tang Muha had instructed.
Even though the path led into a dense forest, it was so well-maintained that one could tell it was regularly cared for.
'Hmm?'
Soon enough, he spotted Tang Harin sitting beside a small grave.
"What? How did you know to come here?"
Spotting Yuseong, she sprang to her feet and let out a sigh.
"Ha... No way Second Brother told you, did he? That I'm here?"
"..."
Affirming it felt like tattling, so he kept silent.
But.
"What did he say? That Brother's busy, so you should come comfort me instead?"
Tang Harin already seemed convinced that Tang Muha had spilled it.
Denying it now wouldn't do any good.
"Just, when I asked where you were, he told me to come here."
"Seems little sister's wedding is over. Did you eat plenty of the good stuff?"
"Yeah, it was delicious. Sichuan food suits my taste."
"Good for you. Ah, this is our great-aunt. Pay your respects."
The owner of the small grave was apparently the great-aunt that Tang Harin had mentioned.
It was strange that no other graves were in sight and this one stood alone in the clearing, but it wasn't his business.
He'd known she must have been advanced in age, but he hadn't realized she'd passed away.
Yuseong awkwardly assumed a clumsy bowing posture on impulse.
"Ahaha! Forget it, I was kidding, kidding. Why go so far as to bow to someone else's ancestor?"
"..."
Now she was even joking in front of the departed.
As Yuseong glared at Tang Harin, he noticed something peculiar.
Her green eyes were slightly bloodshot.
Once he noticed that, he recalled what Tang Harin had just said.
'Did he say to come comfort you instead?'
It seemed Tang Muha had really sent Yuseong here for that reason.
He didn't know what sort of comfort was needed, so he'd have to ask.
"Um, by any chance—"
"Yeah, I cried a little. You're embarrassing me... You think I go around grinning like an idiot all the time?"
Perhaps noticing Yuseong staring wide-eyed, she preempted him.
"You were wondering why I didn't show up to my sister's wedding?"
"...Yeah. You were the one who said we'd skip research today, so I naturally assumed you'd attend."
Tang Harin plopped back down beside the grave.
"Shall we sit and talk for now?"
Yuseong sat down next to her as well.
After a moment of silence, Tang Harin spoke bluntly.
"I never attend weddings. I didn't even go to Second Brother's, the one I'm closest to. My family all understands."
Hadn't she said she wouldn't marry or meet men?
If she'd made that choice herself, what reason could there be for skipping her family's weddings too?
Perhaps...
'...Feminist?'
Did such a rotten ideology even exist in this era?
Maybe a feminist warrior was hiding among the 'Real World' developers?
And that's why they made Tang Harin that kind of character?
As he entertained such pointless thoughts, a disgusted voice rang out.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that, full of contempt?"
"When did I?"
"Just now. There can be circumstances for skipping family weddings, but you're staring like I'm some bug?"
"No. I was just lost in thought for a second. Really."
"Hmm... I'll let it pass this once."
Tang Harin let out a sigh.
'Why did Brother Muha send this guy instead...'
Even she, always brimming with confidence and energy, felt glum on the day a family member wed.
Today was no different.
On days like this, pouring out the stories bottled up inside to someone helped ease it a bit.
That role had always been shouldered by her second brother, Tang Muha, but for some reason, today he'd sent Yuseong.
She had once jokingly said Yuseong's looks were close to her ideal type, but that couldn't be why.
'...Because I said he's a good friend?'
Thanks to Yuseong, the Poison Person research was advancing at a breakneck pace.
The project she'd thought would take at least ten more years might wrap up in less than a month at this rate.
'Well, it's embarrassing, but it's not some big secret, and Yuseong's earned the right to hear it.'
To shake off her melancholy, Tang Harin opened her mouth.
***
Tang Harin's parents had an arranged marriage, yet they got along splendidly.
Raised watching that, the young Tang Harin dreamed of marrying soon and building a happy family just like her parents.
'Mom and Dad, Big Brother—they all seem so happy. I need to find a good husband too.'
Even when teased that a child shouldn't dream such things, Tang Harin stood firm.
In a way, it was a precocious mindset.
Exceptionally bright, she showed tremendous accomplishment in poison arts as well.
Though all direct descendants of the Tang Clan were required to learn poison arts, everyone was awestruck by her.
They said her talent for poisons was on a generational level.
Thanks to that, she came to assist her great-aunt, who was overseeing the Poison Person research at the time.
Her father wasn't thrilled, but he couldn't defy the will of a family elder like the great-aunt.
-Harin is still too young, isn't she?
-What does age matter? I started joining Father's research at ten... Don't spout nonsense—just focus on the Tang Clan's heartfelt wish.
The Poison Person research was the utmost priority for every member of the Tang Clan.
Even without her own wishes being considered at all, Tang Harin didn't dislike the Poison Person research.
Poisons were chock-full of fascinating things, and she'd never found venomous creatures repulsive.
The great-aunt always stroked Tang Harin's head.
-You're a child born to become a Poison Person. The Tang Clan's future rests in your hands.
The Sichuan Tang Clan, once ranked second among the Five Great Families, had gradually been pushed down step by step by the rising power of other clans.
To the point where the frighteningly ascendant Sima Family threatened to oust them from the Five Great Families altogether.
It was all due to the lack of a Poison Person.
During the time of the Tang Clan's sharp decline, the patriarch had been the great-aunt's younger brother, and he suffered throughout his tenure.
Having watched that from the sidelines, the great-aunt forsook marriage and devoted her entire life to Poison Person research.
It bordered on madness.
And so.
When a talent emerged worthy of staking her unfulfilled dream of a Poison Person, she subjected the young Tang Harin to education bordering on brainwashing.
Repeated from an age before her values had even properly formed,
By the time Tang Harin turned thirteen, she had grown exactly as the great-aunt desired.
'I must become a Poison Person. The Tang Clan's future is on my shoulders.'
She labored day and night to achieve her goal.
She took her meals and slept alongside the great-aunt, spending long stretches too busy to even see her family.
She cultivated the prerequisite poison arts needed to become a Poison Person and never slacked on the research.
It was research she would inherit someday anyway.
'I'll become a Poison Person and restore the Sichuan Tang Clan's greatness.'
Tang Harin only came to understand male-female relations after much more time had passed.
The great-aunt had given no such education, leaving her no way to learn it herself.
Namely, the fact that becoming a Poison Person made normal marriage nearly impossible.
"..."
Tang Harin's two dreams collided.
The dream from childhood of building a happy family, and the dream of becoming a Poison Person.
Making the choice wasn't difficult.
At least back then, she thought it was easy.
She had already come too far to abandon becoming a Poison Person.
Though the great-aunt still had years left to live, she performed a Vital Energy Transfer upon Tang Harin.
The Vital Energy Transfer was a supreme technique that passed one's lifelong internal energy to another who cultivated the same art.
The performer aged rapidly with poor transfer efficiency, so those wishing to live even a bit longer avoided it,
But the great-aunt was one who had devoted her life to reviving the Poison Person.
Once age and frailty barred her from research, she gladly expended her remaining lifespan for Tang Harin.
-It's almost there now. Be sure to succeed in the research and become a Poison Person. I believe only in you, Harin...
Tang Harin engraved the great-aunt's final words—leaving faint warmth in her hand—deep in her heart.
Shouldn't she heed the dying wish of the great-aunt, with whom she'd spent more time than her parents or siblings?
And so she abandoned her childhood dream.
But she didn't know.
The lingering attachment to the dream she'd harbored since childhood was greater than she'd thought, and unbeknownst to her, it warped Tang Harin—who still yearned for a happy family yet could no longer marry.
***
"Ah, somehow I ended up spilling it all."
"So... that's why you go around acting provocative, half-naked on purpose to trouble people?"
The pitiful circumstances of near-brainwashing abuse at a young age tugged at the heart, but there was nothing Yuseong could do.
'I have a guess, but prying deeper feels like it'd get my nose pierced.'
Still, her expression had gradually softened while unburdening herself, so he could crack such a joke.
"Half-naked? I covered all the vital spots—how is this?"
It was, at the very least, shocking attire and behavior for this era.
Tang Harin suddenly let out a sigh.
"Honestly, Father's constant nagging has drilled it into me. That I'm not normal. But if I don't vent like this, I'll go insane—what can I do?"
From his prior scan, Tang Harin's mind was pristine.
If it were some mental illness, he'd at least promise to heal it with Purification, but this was simply how her personality had formed.
'No, Great-Aunt of Harin—how did you end up creating such a monstrous person?'
Yuseong's grumble went unheard by the dead.
Tang Harin stood and dusted off her rear.
"Alright. Thanks anyway for listening to my story. No idea why he sent you instead, but it helped lighten the load. Now let's go do some research."
Yuseong startled and looked up at Tang Harin.
"Didn't we say we'd rest today?"
"I was going to let you rest, but you came all the way here wagging your tail. Let's go, Detox Slave."