Temporary Closure - 3
A black-haired barbarian had finished an entire pineapple pizza.
There could be no blood proof greater than this in the entire Sichuan Dang Clan.
The Medical Pavilion disciples fell silent as they stared at me. I turned to Uigakju and asked whether he would finally acknowledge it.
Uigakju glanced around once, realized exactly how the situation had shifted, and wore an utterly troubled expression.
Just admit it already. You have seen clear evidence and the blood proof with your own eyes. If you acknowledge it, this ends.
Uigakju kept staring at me with open displeasure, then finally opened his mouth.
"Prepare yourself to depart for the Sichuan Dang Clan."
Finally he admits it.
Uigakju's declaration that he would no longer contemplate cutting off my arms was, at the same time, a roundabout acceptance that he recognized me as the Clan Leader's illegitimate son.
"That alone is not enough."
I spoke with a resolute expression that showed not the slightest intention of yielding.
Uigakju continued to shoot me displeased looks, but I held his gaze in a silent contest of wills.
You think you can get away with this so easily? There is still something you must say.
Uigakju looked at me, then gave up with a deep sigh and made his declaration loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Huu. Very well. Upon my name, I shall protect you and this child and escort you there."
That's more like it.
With every eye upon him, Uigakju had just declared that I was someone who must be protected. In other words, he had acknowledged me as the Clan Leader's illegitimate son.
"When do you plan to leave?"
"Tomorrow, at once."
"If it were only Hwarin going, that would be one thing, but if I am to go as well, Daseogak must temporarily close. Leaving tomorrow is impossible."
Debts to settle, paperwork to handle, the Dangga Pungun matter—departing first thing tomorrow simply could not be done.
"Closing a single shop is such a difficult affair that you must beg for time?"
Have you never run a business? Post an emergency notice and rush the work, and you get a carriage protest. A carriage protest by the Daseogak reading club... just imagining it is horrifying.
"There is more than one or two matters that must be resolved. How can I simply walk away?"
"The schedule has already been delayed far too long. I cannot wait."
"We are not going to slaughter a piglet. This is an escort for a guest. You have done whatever you pleased since the moment you appeared today. Show a little consideration this time."
"……."
No intention of yielding, are you? Uigakju did not answer; he merely folded his arms and glared.
Of course—when a legitimate son of the Sichuan Dang Clan lay near death, delaying the schedule for some bastard child would not sit well. But that was the clan's problem. Mine came first.
I would have to try another approach.
"I suppose I should introduce myself. Hello, everyone!"
I broke the stalemate with Uigakju, rose from my seat, and greeted the Medical Pavilion disciples who had been watching me, smiling all the while.
"Ah, hello."
"Greetings."
They seem unsure how to treat me. Makes sense. Normally a bastard child is not even counted as family and ranks lower than a secondary son. But the current situation in the Sichuan Dang Clan is... complicated.
"It is an honor to meet the people of the great Sichuan Dang Clan. I am Kang Yunho, the man who ate an entire pineapple pizza."
Right now I am nothing more than a bastard of the Sichuan Dang Clan who cannot even use the Dang surname yet. But if I casually stress my blood like a joke, they will not dare treat me lightly.
"I believe you have already heard of me from others. There are many ears listening, so let us save the conversation for a quieter place another day. Today I simply wish to treat the people of the great Sichuan Dang Clan. Waiter!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Bring Sichuan sweet-and-sour pork, Gongbao chicken, and a few other dishes—enough for every two people to share a plate of side dishes."
"Ooooh!"
"And give them as much white liquor as they want. Put it all on Daseogak's tab."
"Waaaaah!"
Cheers erupted from the Medical Pavilion disciples. This is how you buy goodwill.
"Haha. Loosen your belts today, shake off the travel fatigue, and prepare yourselves for the journey back to Sichuan. I look forward to working with you all."
"We will eat well!"
Unlike my treatment of Uigakju, I bowed politely to the disciples, playing the part of a courteous young man, then sat back down.
"It will be rather difficult for the disciples to depart first thing tomorrow with hangovers."
Telling men who had rushed all the way to Yichang without a proper meal not to eat now would ruin the entire atmosphere. Even someone who usually acted like a tyrant would not want to spoil the mood at this moment.
I turned a victorious smile on Uigakju.
"……Tsk. I will grant you one day."
"Let us adjust the schedule later."
One day? Don't make me laugh. If you refuse further concessions later, I still have other methods.
I passed cups of liquor around among the Medical Pavilion disciples and finished the meal at Gukharu.
Daseogak's security was fairly thorough.
There had been an attempted theft targeting Dangga Pungun, so I had spent money to tighten security.
I locked the main doors of Daseogak with meticulous care, checked every safety device, locked the second-floor door as well, then climbed to the attic and locked that door too.
The Medical Pavilion disciples had offered to stand guard for our protection, but I declined, telling them to rest after their long journey. Tonight there was a reason no one could be allowed inside Daseogak.
I turned my head and looked at that reason.
"Hey. Yunho. Explain."
There stood Hwarin, arms crossed, staring at me with a menacing air.
"Your friend's story, you said?"
After hearing the rough outline, Hwarin shot the question back at me.
My true-story novel, pure coincidence, and Hwarin's existence had piled together and driven me into an absurd corner, forcing the lie. Of course it would sound ridiculous to her.
I wanted to tell her the entire truth about this incident. She was the only person to whom I could pour out this injustice. Yet I had no choice but to swallow it down.
Once you start a lie, you have to see it through to the end.
The Dokin friend was the very foundation I had first laid to build a relationship with Hwarin. If I denied even that, our relationship would head for catastrophe.
"Yeah. I'm not the Clan Leader's bastard—my friend is."
I had decided to deny one of the two contradictory setups.
"Why did you talk about your friend's story as if it were your own?"
"What else was I supposed to do? Even if he was only your friend, Hwarin, he was going to cut off my wrist. Would he spare my wrist just because I said I was actually the friend of the Clan Leader's bastard?"
"W-well… that much is true."
"I didn't want my wrist chopped off, so I used my wits in a crisis."
A crisis worse than the Black Tiger Fort incident. I had no additional reason to lie to Hwarin. I would lie to the Medical Pavilion people that I was the bastard, and tell Hwarin that it was a lie.
By creating a secret the two of us shared in a moment of crisis, I could reverse a situation that had nearly collapsed under contradictory lies.
Using truth and falsehood together to forge our relationship even stronger.
Hwarin seemed to accept my words; she nodded and opened her mouth.
"Then why did you put your friend's story into Dangga Pungun?"
To use the friends shield.
I almost answered on the spot. No. I was a man who regarded that dead Dokin as a lifelong sworn brother. Saying I had written it for such a selfish reason would look far too self-serving. I needed a rational explanation that fit the concept.
"I wanted to get a good look at the face of the bastard who was my friend's father."
"Just for that?"
Hwarin asked with a faintly angry face. From her perspective, I had brought this crisis on myself.
Time for a little acting. Adjust the emotional line. Become a man who is furious over his friend's miserable fate. Think of someone whose tragic destiny led him to ruin. Who… Ah!
"It's ridiculous, isn't it? One person becomes a Dokin because of that bloodline and suffers his whole life until he dies, while the one who passed that bloodline down lives in carefree happiness. So I wanted to see that face just once. If he turned out to be a decent man… I wanted to tell him about his son's death."
What sin had he committed that every misfortune in the world had to wrap itself only around my friend?
I thought of a black-haired girl tormented by a miserable fate, poured that empathy into my expression, and spoke to Hwarin with a face full of resentment and heartache.
"……."
Hwarin looked at my face and wore a strange expression. When logic fails, appealing to emotion is always best.
"The friend I know—"
"About that."
Hwarin cut me off, frowning as she spoke.
"Hm?"
"Was it important enough for us to risk our lives?"
She asked with a look that was somehow resentful and wronged.
Is she unhappy about the Dokin friend story? I understand. It's what put us in this crisis.
"Hwarin. No. How could I? I had no idea about the lecher story either. I only put in the part about my friend's father so that if anyone raised issues with Dangga Pungun, I could use this Bulmanghwan."
"Then why didn't you mention the friend story earlier?"
"While listening to Uigakju, I realized midway that my friend's father was the Clan Leader. Only then did it make sense. High officials abandoning their bastards is pretty common, after all. And attention needed to stay on you, not shift to my friend. There was no reason to bring up a Clan Leader who couldn't even come here and make the situation more complicated."
I twisted the interpretation slightly, packaging it as not wanting to complicate things for her sake.
"……."
Hwarin's expression did not ease. Instead she looked at me with something almost sad. Why is she like that? Ah—I realized I had failed to say something important.
"Let me say it again: I truly knew nothing about your father. If you're angry about that, I'm really sorry. No—dragging you into this situation is all my fault. I'm sorry."
I bowed my head and apologized to Hwarin with full formality.
I had had some inkling, but she had been threatened with death completely out of the blue. On top of that she had suddenly learned a secret of her birth.
Of course an apology was necessary.
"It's fine. That man isn't my father. He's a rapist. And you're not the only one who should be sorry. You just happened to write a story about a lecher, and I just happened to be at Daseogak, so this happened. I'm the one who's sorry."
Hwarin grabbed my shoulders and pulled my head up, telling me to raise it already. I'm grateful she thinks that way.
"I wanted to claim it was pure coincidence, but I knew it would never fly."
I complained to Hwarin with a wronged air.
"You did well. Thanks to you, it looks like we can go to the Dang Clan and punish that bastard Dang Geoho. I'm grateful, actually."
"That's truly a relief."
"It's just…"
Hwarin dragged the words out, something clearly weighing on her mind.
"Just?"
"That crazy bitch had a reason for hating me… That thought keeps coming back. She never told me her whole life, and there was a secret like that."
Hwarin muttered with a bitter face, apparently thinking of her mother—the mother who had coldly rejected her all her life.
Even so, never telling her she was a child born of rape… Was that the bare minimum of recognition for her child, or a secret a woman simply could not speak?
So that was why she looked depressed.
"Hwarin. That still doesn't justify abusing you."
Hwarin. She just evolved from a crazy bitch into a crazy bitch with a slightly better reason.
"I know. It's just… just knowing that even that crazy bitch had a reason makes me feel like shit."
"Hwarin…"
This was a problem I could only comfort her for. I carefully took both of her wrists.
Hwarin immediately gripped my hands tightly, then shifted her center of gravity and rested her forehead against my chest.
"Why is my life such fucking bullshit?"
I could hear the moisture in her voice.
"It's our life."
Mine is fucking bullshit too.
"You really… even in a situation like this, you have a talent for digging into a person's heart like a complete bastard."
I didn't even know I had that talent.
Hwarin buried her face in my chest and did not move from that spot for a long while.
Problems were stacked high and deep.
Dang Hwarin thought this while feeling the man's solid chest.
They had only caught their breath for a moment. Far more would happen from now on. Yet Dang Hwarin felt no great worry.
The presence she felt against her forehead, the man who filled her chest completely—if he stayed by her side, she believed she could keep moving forward.
There were many things to ask because of this incident, and many things that had to be done. There were matters she ought to ask first, just like the ones that had happened at Gukharu. Yet Dang Hwarin wanted to ask something else first.
"Yunho. I have something to ask."
Dang Hwarin lifted her forehead from the man's chest, raised her head, and looked up at him.
"Yeah?"
"Yunho. About your fr-friend."
When her heart trembled, her tongue trembled too.
"Yeah."
Dang Hwarin hardened her expression as much as possible so Kang Yunho would not notice the trembling in her chest.
There was something she wanted to ask him.
A question that had always circled in her head, lingered on the tip of her tongue, then been hidden deep in her chest again.
A curiosity she did not want to care about, yet which stabbed at her like a thorn stuck in a shoe.
This time, Dang Hwarin opened her mouth to resolve that curiosity once and for all.
"Is she… a girl, by any chance?"