I Wish to Lay Down the Name of Tang
Please, just go back to the Tang Family. Then they'll use some knockout poison or sleeping incense and put you to sleep somehow!
Persuading Tang Do-gyeong had never been part of Ho Cheon-an's original plan. He had written the man off as a madman from the start, figuring that as long as he kept the nangins from interfering, the Tang Family experts would take care of retrieving him on their own.
But thanks to Tang Dok-gi, whose eyes had rolled back in pure rage, the deadline had already passed before he could even try anything. From Sichuan to Diancang and back again from Diancang to Sichuan—a distance that would normally take seven days of lightfoot, or five even accounting for fury—yet they had arrived in a mere three days, and at dawn on the third day no less.
Now there's only one answer left.
There was no longer any justification to stop the anti-Tang faction. And with the nangins who already harbored resentment toward the Tang Family's actions... If the Tang Family forcibly suppressed Tang Do-gyeong, it would immediately erupt into an all-out war between the Sichuan nangins and the Tang Clan.
Tang Do-gyeong returning of his own free will.
Even if the anti-Tang faction refused to accept it, it wouldn't matter. Since it was Tang Do-gyeong's own choice, they would have no grounds to force the issue, and the other nangins wouldn't rally behind them either.
Tang Do-gyeong had treated the nangins with genuine sincerity. I don't know why he did so... but he wouldn't be able to bear watching them shed blood because of him.
Tang Do-gyeong closed his eyes. Ho Cheon-an, Yu Sa-yeon, the people of the Tang Family, and even the Sichuan nangins all held their breath, waiting for Tang Do-gyeong's decision.
"Thank you, Ya hyung. My thoughts are clear now."
His face looked refreshed, and Ho Cheon-an smiled as well. If he had chosen the option that would spill blood, he would have worn an apologetic expression rather than that clear one.
"Then, will you return to the Tang Family?"
Tang Dok-gi also looked at Tang Do-gyeong with eyes faintly filled with hope. The Tang Family experts released the inner energy they had injected into their sides and let out sighs of relief. Even for them, shedding blood over the simple matter of retrieving their own flesh and blood was something they had no desire for.
"Uncle."
But Tang Do-gyeong did not answer Tang Dok-gi's question.
He simply called out to him.
"...Yes."
Tang Dok-gi felt a faint unease at that and looked at Tang Do-gyeong.
"Even when I made that bet with Ya hyung in front of Hwanggeumga, I was just captivated by Yeo Il-ye and the Nangin young lady. Yeo Il-ye's dual swords, and the palm and finger techniques the Nangin young lady displayed—they all seemed like they would be a great help in completing my self-created fist techniques."
Tang Dok-gi did not reply, but Tang Do-gyeong simply continued speaking.
"So after getting played by Ya hyung, I stomped off in a huff and sought out the Wanderer Inn. I made a fuss about the Tang Clan's eye techniques or whatever, but the truth was I just couldn't accept the fact that I'd been toyed with by a nangin who looked like nothing more than a second-rate warrior. No matter how much of a master I became or how far my name spread, the thought of that nangin proudly boasting in front of others about how he'd shaken the Blood Jade Tablet and fooled Tang Do-gyeong was something I couldn't bear."
"I had thought of him as some charlatan gathering people and misleading the public, yet despite my tantrum, Ya hyung gave me a chance. He said if I was so resentful about losing the Blood Jade Tablet, I could come anytime."
When did I ever say that?
Ho Cheon-an thought as much, but it wasn't the atmosphere for him to interrupt, so he just burned with frustration inside.
"As I came and went from the Wanderer Inn, the nangins training there caught my eye. Having heard the rumors about the Sichuan nangins, I was greatly shocked. Not a single one of them was training half-heartedly, and the completeness of their martial arts wasn't something that could be achieved with just a day or two of practice."
"Watching those nangins who, despite receiving evaluations too foul to even speak of, steadfastly devoted themselves to their own path, my own situation overlapped perfectly with theirs. Me, alone polishing my self-created martial arts in a Tang Family that had no intention of acknowledging the Fist-Palm Pavilion."
"Tang Do-gyeong!"
"I told you all of this when I met you that day, Uncle! Do you remember?!"
Tang Do-gyeong shouted at the top of his lungs.
"And yet how did you treat me, Uncle?! No matter how much I spoke of the emotion of meeting nangins who simply walked their own path despite the harsh external evaluations! No matter how much I spoke of my admiration for the magnanimity Ya hyung showed by playing along with my stubbornness! You just looked at me with eyes that said, 'The child is causing trouble again!' That was all!"
"How many times do you think you've dragged the family's reputation through the mud already?! Are you planning to cause another incident?! How can I just stand by and watch that?!"
"You mean the things where people point fingers and call me the Fighting Dog? In my entire life as a person of the orthodox path, as a single chivalrous hero, I have never done anything shameful, so where exactly have I brought disgrace upon the Tang Family's name?"
Tang Do-gyeong continued without hesitation, yet calmly. It wasn't just a momentary anger or because of the current situation... it was the pure sincerity he had always felt, flowing out as words.
"If the Tang Family had ever put their power behind me, could my title as a chivalrous hero whose conduct was never shameful have become 'Fighting Dog'? You simply left it alone even as the rumors distorted because I was creating and polishing self-created martial arts, the martial arts of the Fist-Palm Pavilion. The family was just fretting that something like what happened with Father might occur again, so you neglected it hoping that nickname would restrain me, didn't you?"
Tang Dok-gi did not refute him.
"Why do you think I explained so thoroughly to you about frequenting the Wanderer Inn, Uncle? Because I knew it was something that would harm the Tang Family's reputation. Even so, even then, this Tang Do-gyeong went to the Wanderer Inn to play yabawi with Ya hyung to train myself, and to interact with the nangins and get to know them—that was why I explained it so carefully."
"...Do-gyeong."
"It's true that I threw a tantrum about wanting to hang out with them more because of the sense of kinship I felt for the first time in my life. But all that came back was a threat to sever ties. Then let me ask. What can this Tang Do-gyeong do while bearing the surname Tang?"
"As one who bears the Tang surname, one must naturally act correctly. How can you speak such words?"
"You're right, Uncle. It's become too exhausting to continue doing the correct things expected of one who bears the Tang surname. Now I simply wish to set down that character 'Tang'."
Tang Do-gyeong drove the nail in.
"I wish to sever ties."
Tang Dok-gi looked up at the sky.
"I'm sorry."
Tang Dok-gi turned around and clasped his fists in salute.
"You all... I have a request of you. Could you put away your weapons, just this once?"
"...Dok-gi hyung-nim!"
"The Law Enforcement Hall won't sit still, hyung-nim."
"I know. But I'm asking just this once."
The five experts of the Tang Family exchanged glances and let out sighs. With a clattering sound, the whips returned to their waists.
"I'll give you one week. No matter what the family says, I won't budge for a week. So collect yourself and come back."
"I will not return."
"Exactly one week from this hour, I will send a messenger pigeon to the Tang Family. Then the main family will proceed with the severance procedures. Since the Family Head has already spoken it aloud. You must return before then."
"...."
"I'll be waiting at the Soyo Inn."
The Tang Family experts unfolded their lightfoot techniques and quietly vanished. The crowds that had gathered due to the untimely commotion, only to hide their bodies from the swirling killing intent, now cautiously revealed themselves and began to murmur.
"Great Hero...! This Jeongmo never even imagined that the Great Hero thought of us that way!"
"Tang Great Hero!!"
"Even if the Tang Family people come next time, I too will draw my sword and fight!"
"This body feels the same!"
The nangins, their emotions stirred by Tang Do-gyeong's story, swarmed forward and clasped their fists toward him in salute. Ho Cheon-an twisted his expression oddly as he watched some of the nangins even shedding tears, drunk on the emotion.
Tang Do-gyeong, who had even severed ties with his family because he liked the nangins so much!
Seeing the faces of the nangins who looked ready to give him their livers if he asked, Ho Cheon-an discarded every last bit of the carefully stacked plan he had built in his mind for nurturing the Treasure Faction. Neutrality, factions—none of it meant anything anymore. They had all become Tang Do-gyeong's extreme followers.
Ho Cheon-an watched as Tang Do-gyeong led the entire group of nangins into the Wanderer Inn.
"Senior, what are you planning to do?"
Heukmyo, who had somehow acquired a puffed rice snack bag and was holding it to her chest, asked Ho Cheon-an.
"Well..."
Heukmyo thought Ho Cheon-an's face looked strange.
Even for Heukmyo, the current events had been completely unexpected. Who could have predicted that Tang Do-gyeong would pull out the option of severance here, and that Tang Dok-gi would accept it? Even Heukmyo, who knew why Tang Do-gyeong focused on the Fist-Palm Pavilion and what circumstances had led him to his current state, found Tang Do-gyeong's choice utterly surprising.
Knowing the story was one thing, but she hadn't thought he would actually kick his way out of the Tang Clan.
Yet in some corner of her mind, the choice wasn't entirely incomprehensible. If things had piled up that much, then yes, he might choose severance.
Surprising, but something that could sufficiently happen.
That was Heukmyo's impression of the recent incident. If she had only heard Tang Do-gyeong's words in this place, she would have empathized even more with his choice.
But why is he making that face?
Heukmyo was seized by a feeling that laughter might burst out.
Because Ho Cheon-an was wearing a strange expression, as if he had just witnessed something that 'absolutely could not happen'.
What is Senior seeing, and what is he thinking?
Truly a thrilling ball of yarn. Come on, tell me already. What he's thinking and what he's scheming. What thoughts would drive Ho Cheon-an to cause what kind of incident next. The trajectory that the willfully rolling ball of yarn would draw was completely unpredictable. But that was exactly what made it a thrilling ball of yarn, wasn't it?
Watching Ho Cheon-an sink deeper into thought, Heukmyo giggled.