Chapter 2
Chapter 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Worst First Meeting
-----------------------------------------------------------------
My first meeting with Namgoong Yeonhui was the worst.
"I have urgent business, so please let me in."
"You can't enter without showing your pass!"
"Do you not know who I am?"
The most important thing for a gatekeeper is flexibility.
You have to check passes while reading the situation and the person.
A clueless newbie was blocking Namgoong Yeonhui.
"Lady Namgoong, what's the matter?"
"Is this how they train gatekeepers among the sect disciples these days?"
Chill seeped from her very first words.
Her voice low and ominous.
Hmm, he's screwed.
"It seems the newbie made a mistake. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again. Please, go ahead."
"You think you can just brush it off like this? I was held up here for a whole incense stick's time."
Come on, no need to make a fuss when things could end smoothly.
I tried to gloss over it subtly, but Namgoong Yeonhui had no intention of letting it slide.
Did she really have to push it?
"Wee-woong. Is this true?"
"Brother, she didn't have her pass..."
"You little punk, how many months have you been working here and you still don't get it!"
I smacked the newbie on the back of the head and bellowed.
"Lady Namgoong wants to go in! You should bow and clear the way... Get lost!"
"What do you think you're doing?"
I waved the newbie away, and Namgoong Yeonhui started protesting.
"I was just teaching the newbie since his training seems lacking, as you said. Any problem with that?"
"What are you even saying?"
She seemed sharp enough.
Namgoong Yeonhui pressed on with an overbearing attitude.
"Are you defying me right now?"
"Heavens, how could a mere gatekeeper like me dare?"
Willful young miss.
The type I despised most.
Every word dripped with disdain for those beneath her.
I couldn't stand people who strutted around relying solely on their status.
"I'll report this to Father in full detail. The discipline at the east gate is crumbling."
"Oh, perfect timing. Please do, I'd be grateful."
Namgoong Hyeok's fierce face flashed in my mind.
The sight of Jegal Sang getting chewed out too.
Dreadful.
But there was no choice.
The newbie had an elderly mother to support alone, so I had to take the fall.
I could always walk away if needed.
I took a step closer to Namgoong Yeonhui and said,
"What did you say?"
"I've long thought it's ridiculous that people come and go from the Alliance without passes—what the hell is this nonsense? Why not question if that rule is even right while we're at it?"
The distance between us narrowed until our breaths nearly mingled.
I stared straight into Namgoong Yeonhui's eyes.
Her fair face flushed bright red.
Yeah, she'd be angry.
A mere gatekeeper defying the Murim Alliance Leader's daughter.
"Hmph! You think I'm doing this because I don't know the rules? I'll make sure someone pays for this!"
Her face redder than the evening glow, she bowed her head and bolted through the gate like an arrow.
The momentum to lash out at me had vanished.
Her reaction was odd.
'What was that?'
Looking back now, that might have been the first button.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Surprisingly, no punishment came.
I'd even considered heading back to my master.
It meant Namgoong Yeonhui hadn't snitched to the Alliance Leader.
We're just gatekeepers, after all.
Disposing of us would've been easier for her than snapping a chicken's neck.
Inexplicable.
"Don't you have anything to say to me?"
So a week later,
when Namgoong Yeonhui showed up at the east gate again, I figured it was coming.
Her lips pressed tight.
She'd started the conversation but now avoided my eyes, as if she didn't want to talk.
"Well, thanks for not reporting that incident to the Alliance Leader."
"Did I seem that petty to you?"
"Of course not. It's thanks to your vast heart like the sea that I'm still here."
I joked lightly with a bright smile.
It was somewhat admirable that she hadn't tattled.
"You think I'll fall for that smile...?"
Namgoong Yeonhui muttered something, her voice so soft and fading it was hard to catch.
"Lady, did you say something?"
"Nothing!"
Her face reddened as she breathed heavily, as if swallowing her anger.
"Don't you have anything to say to me?"
It seemed she'd come to make peace, but she was beating around the bush.
I gazed at her steadily, and she continued as if she couldn't bear it.
"Fine, whatever. There are rules, after all. But that day was urgent... I must've raised my voice in haste."
"I understand."
No apology, but it was fine.
For that proud young lady, this was probably a big effort.
"No intention of apologizing to me?"
"Apologize."
But this was a different matter.
I hadn't done anything wrong.
I'd just followed the rules.
"Lady, didn't we both mess up that day?"
"So?"
"How about we settle it by the ways of the murim."
Fortunately, the murim had a convenient way to resolve disputes.
"Let's spar."
"Do you know who I am to say that?"
"Well, I'm not someone who gets beat up everywhere I go."
"Fine."
She looked confident.
Understandably so.
With the World's Strongest as her father.
Ching!
"I've learned a lesson."
"......"
"Lady?"
"I... lost."
Reluctant words spat out after she dropped her sword.
Two moves were enough to subdue her.
The Namgung Family's swordsmanship was indeed unparalleled, but she lacked experience.
"I apologize for clearly violating the Alliance's strict rules. It won't happen again."
"No, Lady, you don't have to bow your head like that..."
For a mere gatekeeper to receive a bow from her—if it reached the Alliance Leader's ears, it'd be a scandal.
"Your name."
"Pardon?"
"What's your name?"
"I'm Yi Se-woong."
"Yi Se-woong..."
She repeated my name several times before saying,
"Next time, I won't lose."
Next time?
An ominous ring to it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ You sense it sometimes in life.
Ominous premonitions are never wrong.
After that day, Namgoong Yeonhui came to see me every day.
To wash away the taste of defeat, perhaps.
"I lost."
The result was always the same.
My victory.
Despite losing every time, she never gave up.
"Hey."
"Hey?"
"I'm older, right? Let's drop the formalities."
I tossed it out hoping casual talk might make her quit.
It would've been insulting to a refined young lady.
But.
"Sure. Oppa."
"Huh?"
"Isn't this what you wanted?"
Instead, it bridged the gap.
Contrary to my expectations, she visited even more frequently.
Though I never lost, of course.
She was overly emotional.
When swords clashed, her face flushed red—she couldn't control her temper well.
That's why she couldn't beat my calm counters.
"Next time, I'll definitely win!"
"Yeah, looking forward to it~."
"Ugh..."
Namgoong Yeonhui trembled with frustration.
Teasing her was fun.
"Second Brother suffers from gluttony."
"I see."
"Lately, he's taken up embroidery as a hobby."
"Really?"
"Are you even listening?!"
With daily spars becoming routine, we naturally shared bits of life.
I realized I'd misjudged her.
Namgoong Yeonhui wasn't a spoiled brat.
That incident was just an accident amid circumstances.
She was deeper than she seemed.
Just not straightforward.
"Do you enjoy drinking, Oppa?"
"Of course. Paikgeunah with noodles is unbeatable."
"Cheap doesn't mean it lacks flavor."
"You know your stuff."
Our tastes matched.
She was a fellow drinker like me.
One who appreciated the romance of a sip.
Nothing closes distances like shared hobbies.
Especially seeing each other daily.
I felt our gap narrowing bit by bit.
'Does she like me?'
At first, I scolded myself for the nonsense.
But I have eyes too.
The faint heat in her gaze when she teased.
Before long, she seemed to enjoy our meetings more than winning.
'No idea what's going on.'
She was the woman called the World's Greatest Beauty.
I treated her like a little sister, but her smile sometimes left me dizzy.
The elegant scent when she drew near, her hourglass figure.
As a man, it was natural to be drawn.
'Impossible.'
My heart stirred, but it was out of the question.
A gatekeeper snatching the daughter?
The Murim Alliance Leader would have my head, and I'd have no defense.
I was pondering keeping some distance when,
"No plans tonight, right?"
"Why?"
"I want to treat you to that plum wine I mentioned."
"Hmm..."
"Scared you'll get drunk before me? A big man like you?"
I can take anything but pokes at my drinking pride.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Still holding up?"
"This much is nothing. Worry about yourself."
"Have another."
Namgoong Yeonhui kept pouring for me relentlessly.
Fine liquor, delicious food, and a beauty whose veiled face couldn't hide her allure.
An intoxicating combo.
That was the end of my memory.
And now.
Namgoong Yeonhui's scream upon waking snapped me to reality.
"Kyaaah!"
"Wait, Yeonhui. Calm down."
"What did you do to me!"
She pounded my shoulder lightly.
Her curves shook dizzyingly with each hit.
Sensing my gaze, Namgoong Yeonhui yelled,
"Pervert! Lecher! Beast!"
"I know what you're thinking, but misunderstanding! Misunderstanding!"
"What misunderstanding!"
The shrieks stopped only after I pulled the blanket over her.
"Yeonhui, how much of last night do you remember?"
"Nothing!"
"Really?"
"If I remembered, would I be here?!"
Namgoong Yeonhui huddled like a small animal.
"Yeonhui, we were both blackout drunk, so maybe nothing happened? Let's just call it an accident and..."
"Sob..."
At my words, she hung her head and sobbed.
No, but I'm the wronged one here.
Me assaulting Namgoong Yeonhui?
Even drunk, does that make sense?
"I thought you were a good guy, but to use me as a one-night plaything..."
Treating me like trash.
Though my words were a bit crude...
"Yeonhui."
"I'm ruined now. A maiden baring herself to a strange man..."
"Agh, I'll take responsibility!"
"Really?"
Her tearful sobs vanished instantly as she snapped her head up.
"I, Yi Se-woong, may not remember, but I'm not the type to shirk responsibility. So stop crying."
"You mean it?"
"I said I'll take responsibility."
For a moment, her eyes gleamed—was it my imagination?
"Then at dawn, we'll go see Father and hold the engagement ceremony..."
No, wait.
Can't I have a little time to think?
Namgoong Hyeok's savage face loomed in my mind.