The Third Young Master of the Tang Clan
The screens flashed past so quickly it made me dizzy.
Then, as the memories of Kim Samyong from my previous life and my current life as Tang Sanlong merged together, the seventeen-year-old boy slowly opened his eyes.
“Not easy at all.”
Seeing myself from a third-person perspective was a strangely disorienting sensation.
Was this what an out-of-body experience felt like?
The situation felt awkward and uncomfortable, yet at the same time my head felt refreshingly clear. It was like I had finally solved a complicated puzzle.
‘This feeling will probably disappear soon.’
How did I know? Just instinct.
Sooner or later, I wouldn’t separate my past and present lives anymore.
“Ugh……”
The moment I tried to slowly sit up, a pain that started in my abdomen slammed through my entire body.
‘Internal energy, huh……’
To open my eyes inside a murim world I had only read about in books! It was astonishing.
But then again, my previous life must have seemed just as fantastical to someone else.
“Ugh! Damn it……”
My random thoughts lasted only a moment. The pain surging from my stomach nearly made me curse out loud.
“Agh……”
“Are you coming to your senses?”
A deep, middle-aged voice suddenly rang out from somewhere.
Tang Sanlong’s gaze instinctively turned toward the sound, and he soon spotted the man standing there.
Thick eyebrows, sharp piercing eyes, a stubborn-looking mouth, a slightly angular jaw, and neatly trimmed beard. It was that kind of man.
‘Anyone could tell whose bloodline he belongs to.’
He was Tang Sanlong’s uncle, the younger brother of the clan leader, and the head of the Medicine Hall—Tang Hyeonseong.
He looked quite similar to the current clan leader, Tang Munseong.
“Ah… Uncle.”
“Uncle?”
Tang Hyeonseong’s brow twitched slightly at Tang Sanlong’s words.
His nephew had called him “uncle.” A range of emotions flickered across his face—from shock to genuine surprise.
‘Sigh……’
Others might wonder why he reacted that way, but to Tang Hyeonseong, it was perfectly understandable.
‘He said he wanted to live an easy life, but he wasn’t a complete scoundrel.’
As soon as the memories of his current life surfaced, his face burned with embarrassment.
Although he was a direct descendant, he was the son of the second wife. Compared to his outstanding older brother and younger sister, Sanlong had always fallen short.
Average talent stuck between geniuses, perhaps?
That sense of inferiority had led him to abuse his status as a direct descendant and commit all sorts of atrocities.
He had even addressed the man before him as “you” instead of “uncle,” showing just how utterly lacking in common sense he had been.
Then he entered Tanggidae, caught the eye of Tang Gihyo, and suffered bullying for five straight years.
The frustration that built up in Tanggidae
‘How the hell do I clean this up?’
Looking at it now with Kim Samyong’s memories, he felt a little wronged. But the things Tang Sanlong had done were now his own actions. At least he was only seventeen—there was still a chance to turn things around.
“Thank you, Uncle.”
“To hear the word ‘uncle’ come from your mouth……”
With an expression that seemed to ask whether his head had been smashed once and he had gone insane, Tang Hyeonseong took Sanlong’s pulse.
“Your condition is fine?”
The minor internal injuries he had were nothing serious. A bit of medicinal soup and some qi circulation would heal them right up.
“Hmm……”
After finishing the pulse diagnosis, Tang Hyeonseong tilted his head in clear bewilderment. The culprit behind this situation, Tang Sanlong, could only smile awkwardly.
“Haha… I’ll be going now.”
“…Now that I think about it, you’ve been using polite speech this whole time?”
“Haha!”
Tang Hyeonseong’s expression gradually shifted toward pure astonishment.
Before the atmosphere could grow any stranger, Sanlong quickly left the Medicine Hall.
“Wait!”
Tang Hyeonseong called out to stop him.
“Take this with you.”
“Thank you, Uncle.”
“Hah……”
Leaving behind Tang Hyeonseong’s deeply worried voice, Sanlong grabbed the bundle of medicinal soup and left the Medicine Hall.
“Look at the state of this house.”
Should he say he could feel with his whole body how the clan treated Tang Sanlong? The house was shabby enough, but the yard and everything else were completely neglected.
No matter how much of a powerless second wife’s son he was, this was still the house of the clan leader’s third son. It felt a bit too much… and yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel solemn.
“I brought this on myself.”
He had done so many terrible things that it was a miracle they hadn’t kicked him out already.
‘I drove everyone away with my own hands.’
In truth, this situation was also something Tang Sanlong had caused himself.
Creak.
He barely managed to open the door that looked like it would fall apart at any moment. Inside, a girl who appeared to be about fifteen was busily moving around with cleaning tools and clothes.
“Hm?”
It was the moment Tang Sanlong and the girl made eye contact.
“Eek! Kyaaaaaah!”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Startled by the girl’s scream, Sanlong frantically looked around.
“What! What is it? Huh? Is there a bug?”
“I’m sorry! Young Master! Sob sob!”
“What the hell is going on all of a sudden!”
While clutching his aching ears from the scream, Sanlong stared at the maid who had pressed her forehead to the floor.
“Aeng-hwa.”
“I should have finished cleaning before you returned, I’m sorry! Please don’t throw me out!”
Watching Aeng-hwa clasp her hands together and beg desperately, Sanlong felt a headache coming on.
‘The me from this life… really only picked on the powerless ones.’
Tang Sanlong had taken out the frustration built up in Tanggidae on powerless people like Aeng-hwa.
He hadn’t laid hands on her directly, but he remembered throwing objects, yelling, and pouring out verbal abuse.
Still, he hadn’t been a total lunatic, right? For now, he should apologize quickly.
“Uh… I’m sorry.”
At those words, Aeng-hwa’s face turned deathly pale.
“Hiiik! Are you going to kill me?! I have to feed my younger siblings! So please don’t kill me! Sob sob sob!”
…He apologized, so why was she getting even more scared? Was she going to foam at the mouth and faint at this rate?
Sanlong quickly shouted to calm the situation.
“Shut your mouth! My ears are killing me.”
“Hic… hic……”
Only when he spoke sternly did Aeng-hwa finally calm down.
Sanlong pondered for a moment how to handle this.
‘Did I change too suddenly? Yeah, it must be scary.’
If a notorious scoundrel suddenly started acting nice, it would naturally look even more suspicious.
‘I need to be a moderate scoundrel.’
If he gradually reduced his misdeeds, people would slowly forget about his past in their memories.
Having made up his mind, Sanlong glared at Aeng-hwa fiercely.
“From now on, finish cleaning faster! Continue what you were doing!”
“Yes… Young Master.”
Aeng-hwa, who had been looking at him with the eyes of a frightened kitten, finally seemed to think this was the young master she knew and let out a belated sigh of relief.
“Coming back so early and then……”
“Huh? What?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
For a second Sanlong thought he had misheard and asked again, but Aeng-hwa’s expression remained unchanged.
“Your ears are disgustingly sharp.”
And at the small voice that followed, Sanlong instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Yeah… Now I remember why you stayed.’
Even though Aeng-hwa acted so rudely, Sanlong had never taken any action against her.
‘I was lonely, wasn’t I, Sanlong.’
It had been the foolish hope of a young Tang Sanlong that even Aeng-hwa wouldn’t leave him.
‘Well, she has to be at least this tough to be the personal maid of a scoundrel.’
With that kind of guts, it made sense that she could endure being the maid of a notorious troublemaker.
Having belatedly confirmed his own feelings, Sanlong clicked his tongue.
“Ugh! Tsk!”
“I’ll finish cleaning right away.”
Thud!
He heard the sound of a fist being clenched behind him, but Sanlong deliberately didn’t turn around.
Once he stepped outside, he was faced with a yard overgrown with weeds.
“Damn it. I can’t even go into my own room because I’m worried about the maid’s reaction.”
It really was a pitifully funny situation.
After standing there blankly for a moment, Sanlong naturally lay down sideways on the wooden veranda under the eaves.
If there were some snacks here too, it would be perfect.
“Since things have come to this, let’s think about what to do from now on.”
Sichuan Tang Clan.
A clan located in Sichuan Province. The term generally referred to the entire Tang family village known as Tang-gata.
Was the entire region essentially one giant martial sect?
Similar places included the Peng Clan of Hebei, the Namgung Clan of Anhui, the Moyong Clan of Liaoning, the Jegal Clan of Shaanxi, and the Hwangbo Clan of Shandong. Together, they were called the Six Great Clans in the murim world.
There were many other clans as well, but these six held the greatest power among them and maintained steady exchanges with one another.
“The Tang Clan among the Six Great Clans……”
The Six Great Clans were generally classified as the righteous faction, but the Sichuan Tang Clan was viewed a little differently.
Their family motto itself was “Repay kindness twofold, repay grudges tenfold!” It was rather uncharacteristic of the righteous path. Moreover, they specialized in poison, hidden weapons, and throwing daggers, emphasizing practicality above all.
Was it because they handled poison and hidden weapons? Or because their martial arts and family motto were so pragmatic? The Tang Clan always put the interests of the family first in every decision.
That was why they sometimes joined hands with the righteous faction, and other times with the evil faction.
In short, if it benefited the clan, they would ally with anyone.
‘The clan’s way of thinking is most similar to successful businessmen from my previous life.’
Because of that, while the Sichuan Tang Clan belonged to the Six Great Clans, people tended to see them as standing between the righteous and evil paths rather than purely righteous.
‘Blacksmithing, poison, medicine… They’re basically a production class, long-range dealer, and healer all in one……’
The Tang Clan personally manufactured the hidden weapons and throwing daggers suited to their own martial arts. And just as their poison techniques were advanced, so was their medical knowledge.
It felt like a mix of production class and healer from his previous life. And on top of that, they even had the long-range dealer role using hidden weapons and throwing blades!
Tang Sanlong actually liked it quite a bit.
‘Once Tanggidae ends, I’ll have to choose……’
Most direct descendants who trained in Tanggidae chose one of the five armed organizations belonging to the Tang Clan upon completion.
The first reason was to recruit an armed force under them for the successor competition.
That was why joining an armed organization marked the true beginning of the Tang Clan’s succession race.
The second reason was that entering one of the armed organizations that supported the clan was the highest honor for anyone bearing the Tang surname.
That was why both direct and branch descendants, upon completing Tanggidae, first applied to an armed organization.
‘The head of the Medicine Hall is a rare case.’
Tang Hyeonseong, the younger brother of the current clan leader, had applied to the Medicine Hall from the very beginning.
His other siblings had competed with the current clan leader before quietly disappearing one by one to other places.
Compared to those siblings, Tang Hyeonseong seemed to be living a relatively peaceful life.
‘He may seem cold-hearted, but the current clan leader and my father, Tang Munseong, is the type who takes good care of his own people.’
Perhaps the reason Tang Sanlong hadn’t been expelled from the clan yet was because of that tendency.
However, thinking about how Sanlong had been treated lately, it seemed his father’s patience was reaching its limit.
‘Once Tanggidae ends, things could get really bad.’
Once he completed Tanggidae, it was almost certain they would send Tang Sanlong somewhere far away.
They might ship him off to some extremely remote area and make him dig up poisonous herbs for the rest of his life.
‘I just want to live a sweet, easy life.’
Living as a member of the Tang Clan in Sichuan Province was practically the same as living like royalty.
Especially inside this self-contained fortress called Tang-gata.
‘As long as I don’t get kicked out, a comfortable retirement is guaranteed.’
Recalling his previous life where he had been born poor and suffered endlessly, Sanlong organized his plans for the future.
‘Yeah, I’ll apply to either the Poison Hall or the Medicine Hall. The Iron Cavalry Hall would be too difficult.’
He would quietly do research, marry the wife the clan arranged for him, have children, and live a comfortable life.
That was the plan.
“Hehehe.”
A laugh escaped him like a madman, satisfied with his rather pleasant plan.
“Crazy bastard… Still crazy as ever.”
That was Aeng-hwa’s objective assessment after seeing Sanlong laugh like a lunatic.