Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: VIP Guest and Illegitimate Son 4
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Seo Moon-geuk had slipped away from the North Heaven Alliance and was sitting alone by the window of an inn, nursing a drink.
It was one of those nights when the liquor went down easy.
He was just a warrior idling without an assignment anyway, and with the Seo Moon Family's young lord now on the scene, it was obvious no one would bat an eye if Seo Moon-geuk vanished.
Glancing up at the sky, the moonlight felt dimmer than usual tonight. Even that faint glow kept dipping behind clouds now and then.
Seo Moon-geuk raised his cup toward the hazy moon and murmured,
"A perfect night."
Suddenly recalling the bottle that had frozen solid, he tapped a fresh one with his finger, producing a satisfying thunk-thunk.
The bastard son of the Seo Moon Family.
Seo Moon-geuk was the illegitimate child of the family head and half-brother to Seo Moon Dan-cheon.
Because of that, he always felt out of place, no matter where he was in the Seo Moon Family. He'd come to the North Heaven Alliance hoping for a fresh start, but the same unease lingered here.
Part of it stemmed from being the family's second son; part from his own peculiar temperament. Alliance members looked at him with a certain distance, as if he had no intention of putting down roots.
The one person he'd grown close to was Baek Moo-jin...
But now, even he probably saw the entire Seo Moon Family as trash because of Seo Moon Dan-cheon.
'Damn...'
The only way out of this rut was for Seo Moon-geuk to break free on his own. Yet his martial prowess fell short of the level needed to make waves in the jianghu like Baek Moo-jin... For now, all he could do was drink alone, making the moon—which seemed just as awkwardly positioned—as his drinking buddy.
That made it a perfect night.
With a soft trickle, liquor filled his cup.
At that moment, a familiar voice drifted into Seo Moon-geuk's ears.
"A night that stirs up a thirst for liquor."
2.
Seo Moon-geuk turned to see Baek Moo-jin strolling over with his usual unhurried gait. He started to call out "Brother Baek" but swallowed the words, instead gesturing to the seat across from him.
"Sit."
Baek Moo-jin offered a faint smile.
"How could you drink alone? You should've called me over."
Seo Moon-geuk grinned back.
"Figured you were beat."
Seo Moon-geuk poured.
Baek Moo-jin lifted his cup.
"You're awfully glum tonight—not like you at all, Brother Seo Moon."
"Was I the only one? You seemed off your game too. If it'd been me in your shoes..."
Seo Moon-geuk's face soured.
"With our skills so far apart anyway, I'd have unloaded a tirade and smashed Brother Dan-cheon into the dirt. All I can say is thanks for holding back."
"Should've done just that."
His words drew their first real laughs of the day. They tossed back their drinks.
This time, Baek Moo-jin grabbed the bottle and topped off Seo Moon-geuk's cup.
"I've got little worldly experience myself. I don't claim everything I do or say is spot-on. If you spot me veering off course or acting strangely, call me out, Brother Seo Moon."
Baek Moo-jin's abrupt remark brought a wry smile to Seo Moon-geuk's lips.
"Who am I to lecture you? You're the better man—in skill, in character..."
Only then did it dawn on Seo Moon-geuk that Baek Moo-jin had come to draw him out, having listened to his ramblings. His chest tightened further.
'What've I ever done to warrant this...'
Maybe it was those self-pitying thoughts—or perhaps the booze—but Seo Moon-geuk suddenly opened up about himself. Words spilled out unbidden.
"Brother and I don't look all that different, do we?"
Baek Moo-jin studied Seo Moon-geuk's features afresh and nodded.
"We don't."
"Half-brothers, that's us. I'm Father's bastard. Seo Moon-geuk, second young master of the great Seo Moon Family—or rather, the illegitimate whelp."
"Is that right?"
Baek Moo-jin replied evenly with a smile, and Seo Moon-geuk barreled on like a loosed arrow.
"Know the Seo Moon Family's signature martial art?"
Baek Moo-jin shook his head.
Seo Moon-geuk drew an iron fan from his belt, snapping it open with a sharp shurrk.
"Fan techniques."
"Hahaha."
His face as he unfurled the fan and proclaimed the family's hallmark art—poignantly beautiful in its pathos.
The real Seo Moon-geuk, perhaps.
A man of one of the jianghu's Five Great Families, yet he carried himself like someone scraping by at its fringes.
What comfort could Baek Moo-jin possibly offer with words?
He'd simply listen, refill the cup, and stick around until Seo Moon-geuk called it quits on the drinking.
Baek Moo-jin's wordless smile spurred him on.
"Men who've towered over the world with the sword. Those who've commanded it with a single blade. Ones who've lorded over all with earth-shaking inner power... Jianghu history brims with such masters of every style. But the Seo Moon Family—Father—aims to seize it all with fan techniques."
Seo Moon-geuk gestured theatrically, as if staging a one-man show.
"They call it the lofty Heavenly Thunder Divine Palm."
"You learned it?"
"The basics, yeah. But the advanced stages? Off-limits for this fan art."
"Meaning?"
Seo Moon-geuk cracked a bitter grin.
"It costs money. A fortune... More than even the Seo Moon Family can easily bear. Father's footed most of the bill, then Brother Dan-cheon. My turn? Never coming."
"Guess the one who needs to rake it in isn't me—it's you, Brother Seo Moon. Some elixir or other?"
"You could say that."
Seo Moon-geuk's expression twisted mockingly.
"Looks like he's coming to make bank."
"The family head?"
Seo Moon-geuk nodded. Baek Moo-jin held back on advice. Tonight was for Seo Moon-geuk to vent. Still, his busybody side shone through—even now, he fretted a bit for Baek Moo-jin.
"No clue how Brother Dan-cheon'll play it, but..."
He eyed Baek Moo-jin.
"Watch out for Father. His fan arts—and the man—are lightning itself."
Baek Moo-jin nodded.
"You've sized me up pretty well... Warning me means the family head's no slouch."
Seo Moon-geuk roared with laughter.
It jogged a memory of their first encounter. Baek Moo-jin truly was a green rookie straight out of the gate—impressive skills aside.
Seo Moon-geuk pressed on.
"Over a decade since he cracked the Jianghu Power Rankings. Not sure about your copy, but ours lays out rough hierarchies. Someone in the family might've annotated it later."
He spoke of his father with notable detachment.
"Father's never slipped outside the White Path's Ten Great Masters."
"Whoa..."
Baek Moo-jin let slip a rare gasp.
'Top of the current era.'
Comparing it to his own gauge, neither Seo Moon-geuk nor Dan-cheon ranked especially high. From that, Baek Moo-jin gleaned the family head's nature.
'One greedy soul.'
Not lavishing the wealth solely on the bastard—but not sparing it on the heir either.
Seo Moon-geuk's ramble meandered on. To Baek Moo-jin, every disjointed bit was gold—useful intel, engaging yarn.
And so, on this quiet, tranquil night, Seo Moon-geuk unburdened himself to Baek Moo-jin with tales untold to any other.
Baek Moo-jin listened with calm attentiveness.
His earnest eyes and face ultimately signaled this to Seo Moon-geuk:
Your lineage in the Seo Moon Family? Irrelevant.
Bastard or not? Doesn't matter.
Your skill level? Zero factor.
Quick to read the room, Seo Moon-geuk caught the message crystal clear. His foggy mood lifted bit by bit. The liquor might've helped—who knew?—but one truth stood firm.
The pair traded laughs now and then as they got properly soused together.
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