Chapter 78
Translator: uly
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: The Sheng Family Manor - 2
One of the two people who appeared before me was a face I knew well.
Purple hair, eyes so sharp they made you wonder if she was a bully, breasts so large they drew your gaze even through her clothes, and a black veil covering her lower face.
It was an appearance anyone who had played the original game would recognize at a glance.
'Why is Tang Hwa-rin from the Sichuan Tang Family here?'
Tang Hwa-rin.
The Poison Master of the Sichuan Tang Family. The early-stage villain character from the original work. That was the identity of the person who had appeared before me.
'She should be in Sichuan or Shaanxi, why is she in Hubei?'
Considering the original story, she should be in Sichuan, where the Tang Family resides, or in Shaanxi, where the Mount Hua Sect is located.
Why is she here?
"Who gave you permission to enter this garden as you please?"
Sheng Se-hwi, who had been guiding us, hardened his expression as soon as he spotted Tang Hwa-rin and spoke in a reproachful tone.
"I felt like it. Why?"
Tang Hwa-rin retorted boldly towards Sheng Se-hwi.
They seemed to know each other.
"This is not a place permitted to you."
"Just like you haven't been granted the position of family head?"
"You wench!"
"Young Master! I will take the young lady away."
As the atmosphere between the two immediately turned ominous, the middle-aged man beside them stepped between them.
Quite a tense atmosphere.
I observed Tang Hwa-rin closely. Even with her lower face veiled, one could tell at a glance she was a stunning beauty.
In the original, it was a mask covering her lower face, but here it's a veil.
'Still, she's a poison user.'
Looking at the veiled lower face with eyesight enhanced by the Little Yin Heart Technique, I could see the skin tone was different.
In the original, it progressed further until her skin was so disfigured she wore a mask, but it didn't seem to have reached that point yet.
"Hey. What are you looking at?"
Did she sense my gaze? Tang Hwa-rin looked at me with an unpleasant tone.
"Ah! I was momentarily captivated by such a rare beauty. My apologies if it offended you."
"Cut the crap."
Tang Hwa-rin swore, her tone suggesting she knew exactly where I had been looking.
"Sheng Hwa-rin! How dare you be so rude to my guest?"
"Guest? Are you bringing black-haired barbarians as guests now? You've really gone too far."
"You wench!"
"Young Master! I will take the young lady away now! Young lady, it's almost time for your medicine! Let's go!"
"Ah! I'm suddenly not in pain! I said I'm not going! Ah! Don't drag me!"
The middle-aged man beside her forcibly dragged Tang Hwa-rin away, out of our sight.
"I apologize on behalf of my sister's rudeness."
After Tang Hwa-rin disappeared, Sheng Se-hwi apologized to us on her behalf.
"So she was your sister."
"She's a wench brought by my new stepmother from the Tang Family. We don't even know who her father is. We kept her in a semi-confined state, fearing she would bring shame to the family, but lately she's been wandering around without knowing her place."
Sheng Se-hwi seemed unable to contain his anger towards the vanished Tang Hwa-rin, seething as he spoke.
Tang Hwa-rin was the child Sheng Se-hwi's stepmother had before marrying the previous head of the Sheng Family, Sheng Jo-ru. So that's it.
'I know who the father is.'
In this world, there's only one family that comes to mind with purple hair.
"Let me show you to your quarters."
Perhaps having reined in his anger, Sheng Se-hwi tried to resume guiding us.
I glanced briefly at the spot where Tang Hwa-rin—no, Sheng Hwa-rin—had disappeared before turning my head.
'Getting involved can't be good.'
If she were a heroine, maybe, but I don't want to get tangled with another villain character.
Getting drunk and acting familiar with a villain, then facing a life-threatening crisis, once is enough.
I followed Sheng Se-hwi, who walked ahead, along with So-hee.
The quarters we were guided to were a separate building prepared within the inner courtyard.
A building with a small garden in front and even a living room.
The garden itself didn't seem made just for this building but connected to several others, yet it was neatly and beautifully arranged.
Moreover, the interior of the building was as luxurious and spacious as a hotel VIP suite.
"I've instructed them to bring meals to your room when it's time. Please stay here for the time being, and I ask for your presence at the banquet to be held in a few days. I shall take my leave now."
Sheng Se-hwi bid me farewell and left.
'If I mess this up, I'll probably end up working in an underground labor camp for life.'
Decorated with various ornaments and furnishings, it felt almost too good to be staying in such a room.
I looked around the room and then turned my gaze to So-hee.
"So-hee. Is something wrong?"
So-hee wasn't looking at the room but at me, who was looking around.
Her gaze seemed to indicate something was unsatisfactory.
"Husband acting."
"Husband acting?"
"If a wife is by his side, a husband doesn't act like that."
Was my acting awkward? What is she talking about?
"Ah! You mean when we met that woman, Sheng Hwa-rin."
"……. Yes."
"I was looking intently because her face under the veil seemed a bit off. I didn't think you'd notice. I said that to brush it off, but indeed, a husband with a wife wouldn't act like that."
"You were looking because her face seemed off?"
"Yes, that's right. If we're going to act as a married couple, I should be more careful about such things. I'll be more attentive from now on."
"Okay."
So-hee nodded, and her expression softened again.
Indeed, a husband complimenting the appearance of a woman he's seeing for the first time right next to his wife would be bad acting. So-hee pointed it out well. I should be more careful.
"By the way, So-hee, you trusted your oppa well, right?"
"Yes. It must have been difficult. You worked hard."
So-hee smiled faintly and praised me, as if she had never worn a dissatisfied expression.
"To be a reliable oppa for So-hee, this much is basic."
I placed both hands on my hips, exaggeratedly straightened my upper body, and struck a pose like a hero from a superhero movie.
"……. You're reliable now too."
"Then I should become even more reliable."
So you won't leave me.
"……. Okay."
----
A big problem arose.
"So-hee. What about sleeping arrangements?"
After unpacking our luggage, finishing dinner, and washing up, the surroundings had already grown dark.
I wanted to go to bed early to shake off the fatigue accumulated in my body, but a big problem had arisen.
'I thought there would be two beds.'
Don't they know that twin beds are the standard for two people, not a double bed?
"Let's sleep together."
"No. So-hee. Oppa will sleep on the floor."
"You're tired. Lie down."
As if not allowing any objection, So-hee grabbed the back of my neck, forced me onto the bed, and then lay down on the bed herself.
Is she being insensitive? Or deeply considerate?
"So-hee."
I lay on the bed and looked at So-hee.
"Hmm?"
So-hee, lying on the bed, slightly lifted her chin to meet my eyes. Because of that, I could see the dizzyingly deep cleavage of her light sleepwear.
Stay calm. Kang Yun-ho.
"Won't you use the Seven Nights Rope?"
Of course, I had also brought the Seven Nights Rope when leaving Chilgok County.
"Lately, it's okay."
"I see."
Since the Cheongsa Faction incident, she hasn't slept tied up with the rope. It probably doesn't matter much.
"Yun-ho."
Maybe because we're lying on the same bed. Strangely, her voice calling me seemed softer than usual.
"Hmm?"
"Thank you. For many things."
So-hee expressed her gratitude with a slightly flushed face, her chin still lifted. Somehow, the atmosphere feels like a pillow talk between lovers.
The situation itself is too surreal.
Well, just lying on the same bed with such a beauty is surreal to begin with.
By the way, isn't the distance too close for such a wide bed?
If I just lean my head forward a little, our eyebrows might touch. A little more, and our lips would….
Stay calm. Kang Yun-ho.
She's the Thousand Killing Star. If you mess with her, you'll be quartered.
She's still a teenager. I glanced briefly at her cleavage.
……. Though her body doesn't seem like a teenager's.
Calm down. Kang Yun-ho. Especially the lower half.
She's like a sister. Who would mess with their sister? So-hee is a high school sophomore by Korean age. Calm down.
Suddenly, her sweet, warm body scent brushed past the tip of my nose. She probably didn't apply any perfume, but even her natural scent felt nostalgically familiar.
'Like the smell of tteok-twi-sun. Huh?'
"So-hee. You snacked while waiting at the inn, didn't you."
I spoke to So-hee in a lowered voice.
"Huh, how did you know?"
So-hee's voice trembled, a rare occurrence.
"I smell the food you like."
A subtle smell unique to a high school girl, only detectable at close range.
"……. I ate a little before coming."
So-hee avoided my gaze, seemingly embarrassed at being caught.
"Oppa was thinking of So-hee and putting on a desperate performance. And So-hee was just snacking. Haha. You little rascal."
"Sorry."
"No need to be sorry. Haha. It's just funny."
Right. She's also a kid her age.
Just because a harsh fate befell her, she's a bit more mature than other girls.
I stroked So-hee's cheek once—she wore an expression of not understanding why it was funny—and pulled up the blanket.
'Let's sleep.'
Seeing her as a kid rather than a woman instantly cleared away all temptation.
I went to sleep imagining So-hee eating delicious-looking tteok-twi-sun at a new inn.
*******
Late at night.
Cheon Sal-seong carefully got up, being careful not to wake the soundly sleeping Yun-ho.
The date requested by the client for the assassination of the Sheng Family Head was a few days after the birthday banquet ended.
Succeeding in staying at the manor wouldn't make the assassination difficult, but she needed to confirm where the Sheng Family Head was staying.
So-hee got dressed for reconnaissance and left the quarters.
"Haa. Haa."
After finishing her reconnaissance, Cheon Sal-seong returned to the garden in front of the building they were staying in, breathing heavily.
'Why? How come?'
Cheon Sal-seong clutched her startled chest, trying to calm her mind.
She hadn't been spotted by anyone during her reconnaissance. She had also confirmed where the Sheng Family Head's room was.
The reason for her shock was due to another problem.
'The radius where the killing intent disappears has rapidly shrunk.'
The place where the Sheng Family Head was staying was on the opposite side of the inner courtyard from their current quarters.
Although the Sheng Manor was large, creating some distance, it was originally within the radius where the killing intent disappeared.
While scouting the surroundings without thinking about the killing intent issue, the uninvited guest lurking within reared its head again.
Cheon Sal-seong hastily left the spot and returned to their quarters.
'Even after killing the bandits, the killing intent didn't diminish.'
One reason she swiftly killed the bandits before Yun-ho could stop her was the hope that perhaps the inner killing intent would be satisfied by this murder.
Unfortunately, the killing intent that surged just now was identical to what she felt again in Chilgok County.
Cheon Sal-seong hung her head and let out a small sigh.
'Do I have to lose my reason to the killing intent and commit murder to be satisfied?'
Cheon So-hee thought about the situations where she had lost her reason to Cheon Sal-seong's killing intent and then regained it.
When she lost her reason to Cheon Sal-seong's killing intent, indiscriminately killed those around her, and felt satisfaction, she barely managed to regain her senses and suppress the killing intent.
Must she repeat that?
'There's no guarantee I'll come back to my senses.'
The more times she lost her reason, the harder it was to return to her original self.
The reason she went to find the Celestial Fate Master was because she knew that if she lost her reason to the killing intent next time, she might never return.
'Was one auspicious person not enough?'
The one and only auspicious person in the world, meant just for her. She found that person, yet the radius where the killing intent disappears is gradually shrinking.
Was it foolish to think the fate decreed by heaven could be blocked by just one auspicious person?
'If things continue like this, I might end up killing Yun-ho.'
Perhaps if she carries out this assassination, the killing intent might disappear. But what if it doesn't?
If the range where the killing intent disappears keeps shrinking, eventually even the auspicious person might become unable to erase it.
When that day comes, she would kill the auspicious person right beside her first.
'I don't want that.'
So-hee covered her face with her palms.
Yun-ho is her auspicious person.
She wants to live by his side as a guard warrior.
When she is by his side, her killing intent disappears.
When she is by his side, she might someday regain her past memories.
When she is by his side, she can live as Cheon So-hee, not Cheon Sal-seong.
She wants to be by his side.
But being by his side could lead to ruin.
Despair crept insidiously, engulfing Cheon Sal-seong.
"So-hee? So you were here."
Then, Yun-ho appeared before her, opening the door.
"Yun-ho?"
"Can't sleep? Did you wake up because of oppa's sleeping habits?"
Her anxious heart stirred at Yun-ho's affectionate voice.
"That's, not, it."
So-hee barely managed to squeeze out her voice, trying hard to act nonchalant.
"So-hee. Were you crying?"
He strode over, carefully held her face with both index fingers, and examined her complexion.
Yun-ho's face, genuinely worried.
"Yun-ho……."
Right. This man always strides right into her heart like this.
"So-hee. If you're worried, can't you tell oppa?"
So-hee pursed her lips as tightly as possible, suppressing the sorrow threatening to spill out.
So-hee looked at her auspicious person, who always thought of her.
Always. She can't keep it a secret anymore.
He can be trusted.
Now, Yun-ho should know too.
"Yun-ho. Do you know about Cheon Sal-seong?"