Chapter 229
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 229
Chapter Title: Bandits Live in the Mountains (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Seo Dohee came and sat down beside Baek Liyeon, who was sitting there all hunched up in a pitiful huddle by Seo Taepyeong's reception pond.
A brief silence passed between them.
But true to form as an instructor, Seo Dohee first softened Baek Liyeon's mood by pulling out bits of small talk and chit-chat.
They'd already built up plenty of camaraderie during their last trip to Dongjeong Lake, so before long, Baek Liyeon's sighs melted into the air, turning into much softer breaths.
And then.
The light conversation gradually gained a bit more depth.
"The Green Forest of the old days... they were trash who did every bad thing under the sun. They were just a bunch of bandits lumped together under that fancy name, when you get right down to it, right?"
Seo Dohee let out a chuckle as she watched Baek Liyeon hem and haw, unable to respond.
It was a tough spot, for sure.
She couldn't very well say in front of the Green Forest's leader, "You're right! They were trash!"
"That's why I—and my father—worked to change it. We didn't fully succeed in his time, but we'd already shrunk it down to less than half its former size. Still, thanks to those efforts, the Toll Road Gang was finally able to come out into the light."
"I think... that's amazing."
"Yeon-ah."
Even Baek Liyeon was starting to get confused about whether her real name was Liyeon or Yeon, but that single syllable rang crystal clear in her ears.
"Y-yes, Instructor!"
Seo Dohee reached out and stroked Baek Liyeon's head.
"Hiding who you are, suppressing it all... it must be so hard."
"......"
So you knew.
But why doesn't that idiot Chairman know?
Baek Liyeon pictured Geum Sihyeon pounding his chest in indignation if he heard that.
Well, of course.
Geum Sihyeon had no choice but to be clueless.
He was a total game illiterate from the start.
The kind who whined about never hitting Supreme Under Heaven even after eight tries, only managing to become the Bald Supreme after blindly following a strategy guide.
He'd learned about the S-rank companion Baek Liyeon through those guides, but he hadn't been interested enough to click on the (spoiler) tab in the Murim Wiki.
Baek Liyeon, oblivious to all that backstory, felt a pang of mixed emotions.
"My father once told me something."
Seo Dohee looked at her and offered words born of experience.
"Don't be bound by anything—live the way you want to live. Sure, staying on as an instructor at the Hundred Flowers Academy was just a way to buy time for the Toll Road Gang to gain legitimacy, but in the end, that's what I wanted too. It turned out more fun than I expected, and I got to meet cute disciples like you."
Don't be bound.
Live the way you want.
Those words...
- Choose your own path. Don't be tied down by worms like that.
Were the same conclusion as the advice Geum Sihyeon had given her not long ago.
Of course, he'd followed it up with some incomprehensible nonsense that dulled the impact a bit.
Thinking back, Baek Liyeon had always lived according to others' wishes up until now.
Suppressing her Heavenly Death at her master's command.
Training her martial arts at her master's command.
Spending her life in the training hall at her master's command.
Heading out into the jianghu at her master's command...
...to kill a certain man named Geum Sihyeon.
But was that her will?
"Don't be bound... choose your own path..."
As she murmured the words.
All the experiences where Geum Sihyeon had beaten her with words and wooden swords began to flow up from her lower dantian, surging through her Ren and Du meridians.
Baek Liyeon's body became enveloped in a radiant glow.
"Ha!"
Seo Dohee swallowed a sigh—why was this generation overflowing with such talented kids?—while preparing to stand guard as her protector.
A bird that couldn't spread its wings was finally shattering the world that confined it, ready to take flight.
* * *
Seo Taepyeong and Geum Sihyeon, struck by ill fortune from daughter and disciple alike.
Fortunate or unfortunate, both were sturdy martial artists, so they simply rubbed their slightly swollen foreheads and the tops of their heads as they were left alone in the room.
"Who in the world is going to take that impudent wench off my hands...?"
Seo Taepyeong let out a sigh.
Even as he did, his eyes moved delicately, not missing a single change in Geum Sihyeon's expression.
"Indeed. As her master, it's truly heartbreaking."
This bastard?
His true thoughts nearly burst out, but Seo Taepyeong held them back with superhuman patience.
Not yet.
Keeping his inner feelings well in check, Seo Taepyeong casually continued chatting with Geum Sihyeon.
Why did you come here? What do you think of Seo Dohee? What jianghu exploits do you plan for the future? What do you think of my daughter? What do you want to do down the line? What do you think of your master?
Questions like that.
"I have no intention of setting foot in the jianghu. If I did, wouldn't I have stepped in when the Evil Tyrants trampled the Orthodoxy Gate?"
"That's a relief."
You came all this way to keep a promise—to stop the Supreme Under Heaven of the unorthodox from dipping back into the jianghu again.
Hearing the empty title of unorthodox supreme and still coming here without even knowing who it was... he must be the type who absolutely keeps his promises.
"By the way, how many concubines do you plan to take?"
"Pardon?"
"Don't hold back—speak freely. They call it the hero's lot, don't they? Three wives and four concubines is every man's dream, right? I nearly crossed to the Yellow Springs before my late wife, trying for that. Haha."
"Uh, well..."
This bastard.
Looks like he's hesitating because there's another woman, huh?
What can you do.
As long as she's not a concubine.
"Master Mencius spoke of impartial love. Of course, I don't have the breadth to embrace all the people of the world like that, but when it comes to cultivating oneself and regulating the family, I won't skimp on impartial love."
Geum Sihyeon spouted pure doctrine.
But Seo Taepyeong focused elsewhere.
Oh ho.
Quoting the classics, eh?
And vowing no concubines, only wives, it seems.
That was good enough.
What more could he ask for?
Better to hand her off to a promising young man like this than watch her grow old alone in a widow's chamber.
From their talks with blades and words up to now.
He didn't seem the type to ruthlessly cast out someone he'd once let into his domain.
Seo Taepyeong got to the point.
"Come to think of it, do you know of the tradition called the premarital duel, my son-in-law—or rather, Young Master Geum Sihyeon?"
"......Pardon?"
Cold sweat trickled down Geum Sihyeon's spine at the sensed threat.
"Just now, you said you came to keep your promise and prevent the unorthodox supreme from reentering the jianghu. So let me add one more promise to that."
Seo Taepyeong beamed.
"We'll have one more round. If I lose—which would be utterly heartbreaking—I'll hand over my precious daughter as spoils of war and renounce the title of unorthodox supreme to boot."
"Uh, uh."
"If I win, as the victor's right, I'll take the loser, Young Master Geum Sihyeon, as my live-in son-in-law. Fair bet, isn't it?"
"......Fair?"
"Of course. Perfectly fair."
What condition in the world could possibly trade for his daughter? From Seo Taepyeong's view, this was an insanely lopsided deal... no, a total loss for him.
The original Green Forest tongue-twisting merchant's pressure overwhelmed Geum Sihyeon.
.
.
.
Off in the distance by the pond, Seo Taepyeong's eldest daughter and the Baek family's eldest were deep in some serious life talk—or comparing the length of a prize catch from a man's perspective—and none the wiser.
Seo Taepyeong, CEO of "Raise-One-Well-and-Sell-Please" regardless of gender.
And Geum Sihyeon of the "Independent Jianghu World Peace Party" began a battle of wills in the courtyard.
Not even allowing Seo Dohee's intervention earlier, when her trait-boosted intrusion speed had spiked.
At last, the moment arrived for the do-or-die showdown over the Seo family's precious lady between Geum Sihyeon and Seo Taepyeong!
"Ahh..."
"Chun-sik. You mad? Did you just sigh?"
Along with Seo Taepyeong's nagging.
"Do you know what a sacred duel this is? Get serious, for heaven's sake."
"What's a sacred duel?"
Geum Sihyeon, snapping back at the name "Chun-sik" and dredging up old memories, but naturally, Seo Taepyeong had no clue what he meant.
Anyway.
The two men faced off to settle their earlier bout.
No one was watching.
Perhaps a heaven-shaking duel that would decide the future of the jianghu.
That do-or-die moment finally...
No one watching, but bearing the hopes and happiness of all martial artists on their shoulders, it began at last!
Smack—!
"No, you son of a—"
Geum Sihyeon's shout rang out, but it was already too late.
"Hoo... I lose..."
Blood from Seo Taepyeong's forehead—infused with a father's parting affection—trickled warmly down in a stream.
In that split second Geum Sihyeon couldn't even agree to.
Seo Taepyeong, faster and more uniquely than anyone, smashed his own forehead with the hatchet, succeeding in self-inflicted extortion.
And declared victory with utmost confidence.
"I bled first, so I lose, right?"
Sometimes, admitting defeat can lead to victory.
Even the swindler sent from heaven, Geum Sihyeon, was left sputtering.
"Now, call me Father-in-Law."
Seo Taepyeong smiled.
"This... is fraud..."
"Son-in-law. Doesn't your father-in-law's word ring true? Do I look like an easy mark right now? Anyway, things being what they are, we'll have to wrap this place up too. Can't have grandkids visiting some shabby mountain hideout."
Whatever his new son-in-law said didn't matter anymore.
Anyway, I lost, right?
So I win, right?
A deeply relieved smile crept across Seo Taepyeong's lips.
Malignant inventory: sold successfully.
Of course, whether that inventory had feelings was another matter, but Seo Taepyeong wasn't too worried about that part.
His daughter—like a canary fluttering in on an ill omen.
"Wh-what makes you think you get to decide thaaat—!"
Even as she chirped and fussed, Seo Taepyeong just found it amusing.
"Eek! My daughter hits her dad!"
Of course, he was teetering on that line between laughter and tears.
Seeing the fury explode across Seo Dohee's face.
And the blush blooming like a flower, proof even this wild girl was a woman after all.
This was probably the second-best choice of his life.
The first being meeting Dohee's mother.
Seo Taepyeong laughed even as his daughter committed filial impiety against him.
It felt like thirty years of indigestion had finally gone down smooth.