The Youngest Granddaughter, Hwangbo Ji
The family head’s office.
“Brother, I’ve received reports that civilians are suffering at the hands of the Sima heretics. With our clan now hailed as the greatest under heaven, shouldn’t we take action? Grant me command of the Yellow Sword Unit. I will spread the righteous name of the Hwangbo Clan far and wide.”
“No need. This is not the time to expend our family’s strength outward. We must focus on strengthening our own power.”
“But, Brother…”
“I said no. Leave at once.”
Hwangbo Jin frowned at his elder brother’s firm refusal and stepped out of the room. It wasn’t that he truly burned with righteousness; he simply hadn’t given up yet. His brother was a small-minded man, unfit to lead the family. There were still elders who supported him… so there was still a chance.
He closed the door behind him and clenched his fist tightly. Hwangbo Jin, the second son who had narrowly missed becoming family head, was already looking ten years into the future. No matter how long his nephew had supposedly been in closed-door training, he would install his own son as the young clan lord in place of his brother’s missing child. He would spread word of his brother’s shortcomings and cement the perception that he alone was worthy of leading the great Hwangbo Clan.
Meanwhile, family head Hwangbo Jun stared at the closed door with deeply sunken eyes. Having reached the Super Peak realm, he could sense his younger brother lingering outside for a long time before finally walking away.
Did you really think I wouldn’t see through your schemes?
His brother, Hwangbo Jin, had always been a tenacious bastard since childhood. If he wanted something, he would use any means necessary to get it. The reason Hwangbo Jun had become family head wasn’t simply because he was the eldest son; it was also because he had a brilliant heir. His son, Hwangbo Jeonghu, had shown exceptional intelligence and martial talent from a young age.
Ten years ago, at the tender age of fifteen, the boy had supposedly entered closed-door training in a secluded residence. In truth… he was dead.
Unlike the rest of the direct line of the Hwangbo Clan, who wielded fists and bodies as weapons, his son had been fascinated by swords from childhood. The Hwangbo Armory, accessible only to direct descendants, must have seemed like a playground filled with rare and famous blades to the boy. He had pestered his father daily to visit, eyes sparkling as he ran his small hands along the sword blades.
My beloved child…
At some point, Hwangbo Jeonghu had begun to waste away. They discovered he had contracted tetanus from handling an improperly maintained sword. The person responsible for managing the armory was executed, but nothing could save the child. He slipped away despite everything.
Hwangbo Jun, who had been designated young clan lord at a late age and held the advantage in the succession race against his brother, hid his son’s death even through his grief. He told even his father, the previous head, that the boy had sworn not to emerge until he reached the fourth stage of the Patcheon-shingong and had entered a stone chamber in the forbidden area.
Closed-door training.
When his father, Hwangbo Mujin, heard the news, he had laughed more heartily than ever before.
That was when his wife, Eon Garyeong, had begun to look at him with contempt. He hadn’t even been able to hold a funeral for their only child in order to secure the succession. A mother’s heart would inevitably harbor resentment.
Ten years had passed that way. The fasting pills prepared in the stone chamber were meant to last exactly ten years. The lie had bought him precisely a decade. Just yesterday, one of the elders had asked whether it wasn’t about time for Hwangbo Jeonghu to emerge from training. Now that he was family head, the elders who supported him wanted to designate his son as the young clan lord at this opportunity.
The time had come to reveal the truth… but his younger brother Hwangbo Jin, who had recently gained a new son, was a thorn in his side. Some of the elders who had been on his side might turn to Hwangbo Jin instead.
I need to get rid of my brother.
In a way that prevented him from exerting any influence within the clan. And even after the truth about the dead heir came out, he needed to tighten his grip on the family so it would not waver.
Family head Hwangbo Jun picked up his brush and began writing a letter to the Murim Alliance.
A month passed like that.
Early evening, as faint darkness began to settle. Mujingak, the sleeping quarters.
Hwangbo Mujin lay in bed with a vacant expression. The head physician had been right that breast milk was the supreme tonic. His once-gaunt body had begun to fill out after drinking from his second daughter-in-law’s breasts once a day. It was a change he had not desired, but an even greater change had occurred among his family.
The family members who used to visit him daily with his meals had gradually begun to neglect him. It made sense. He had always been strict with them, even as family head. Now that the once-fearsome patriarch lay drooling helplessly in bed, the resentment they had suppressed was rearing its head. Since he had clearly lost his mind and could never recover, there was nothing holding them back.
Hwangbo Mujin had become little more than a breathing piece of furniture relegated to the back rooms.
I wonder if he’s arrived by now…
Today was the day his second son, Hwangbo Jin, had left for the Murim Alliance. He had been appointed as the head of the Dragon Phoenix Pavilion, which oversaw the younger generation… but to Hwangbo Mujin it looked like he had been driven out. His eldest son, Hwangbo Jun, possessed a nature that refused to share what was his, even with his own brother. He must have felt uneasy knowing his sibling was constantly eyeing his position.
Hwangbo Jun had prevented his brother’s wife, Yeo Suhyang, from leaving with him for the Murim Alliance. He claimed that Hwangbo Jin would be too busy to look after his wife and three-month-old son, so they should remain here until he settled down. To Hwangbo Mujin, his eldest son’s true intentions were obvious. By leaving his brother’s wife in the clan, he avoided the appearance of having driven him out. It was exactly the sort of thing a newly appointed family head who cared about his reputation would do.
If his guess was correct, his second son would not be able to set foot in the clan for a very long time.
Creak.
“Gramps, I’m here~”
Someone flung open the door of the room where he had been lost in thought and entered.
It’s that girl…
The rude way of addressing him told him exactly who it was, even though he had never expected to hear it. The cautious footsteps of a maid followed behind her. There was only one person in the entire family who would enter his sleeping quarters so disrespectfully.
Hwangbo Jun’s second daughter. To Hwangbo Mujin, she was his youngest granddaughter, Hwangbo Ji.
Hair cutely braided into twin tails. White skin and adorably flushed cheeks. Unlike her sturdy, slender parents, her small frame made her look much younger than her twenty years. Her round eyes sparkled with what others might mistake for intelligence… but they only ever shone right before she caused trouble. How could anyone call that intelligence?
At first glance she seemed like a lovable girl who had been doted on, but…
“This is so annoying. Hurry up and feed him the porridge.”
“Yes, my lady.”
At Hwangbo Ji’s command, the maid approached Hwangbo Mujin’s bedside with a tray of thin porridge and carefully spoon-fed him. As he swallowed the watery gruel, Hwangbo Mujin let out a mental sigh.
Gramps. If he had been in his right mind, his youngest granddaughter would never have dared utter such a word. Over the past two months, seeing her once fearsome and strict grandfather reduced to this mindless state had brought out her true nature, and now she called him whatever she pleased.
Hwangbo Ji. Usually the character “Ji” was common in the Zhuge Clan, where wisdom was considered a virtue. For generations, their daughters had been named something like Zhuge Ji. He had given her the character 智—meaning wisdom—hoping that his youngest granddaughter would grow up wise, since he himself was the strongest of all. Yet contrary to the expectations her name carried, she had been unruly from childhood. He had scolded her constantly until she became an adult. Whenever she saw him, she would hide behind her mother and cry.
She was clever and known among relatives as the “bag of tricks,” sometimes showing genuine innocence, but that innocence could turn poisonous, revealing a selfish, viper-like side that cared only for herself. He had noticed that nature and disciplined her harshly for it… but innate temperament was not easily changed.
Look at her now. She couldn’t even wait for her grandfather to finish eating and was already rummaging through the drawers, muttering things like “I wonder if he’s hiding anything good~”
Aigoo, tsk tsk tsk…
There was nothing about this granddaughter that pleased him.
“He has finished eating, my lady.”
The maid wiped the former family head’s mouth with a cloth and laid him down. Hwangbo Ji slammed a drawer shut with a loud bang, then approached the bed with those same sparkling eyes that others mistook for intelligence.
“Miok, do that thing you did before again. Hehe… I want to watch it one more time.”
“By ‘that thing,’ my lady, you mean…?”
When the maid looked at her in confusion, Hwangbo Ji made a lewd face and curled her small hand into a circle, moving it up and down. The maid’s eyes widened in shock.
“My lady…! That is not something I can do whenever I wish… It is only permitted when the former family head suffers a seizure, in order to calm his heated blood…”
“Ugh, enough! It gets hard when you touch it anyway, right? I know that much! Or is Gramps too old to even get it up? Heehee.”
Her tilted head and innocent act were utterly detestable.
That… that viper-like wench…!
Hwangbo Mujin’s body trembled violently beneath the blankets as rage surged through him.
“Then… perhaps my lady should do it herself…? If I am caught, I will surely die, my lady…”
“What? …Ew! Gross! Why would I touch Gramps’s disgusting thing? Yuck, it’s so hideous… Watching is fun, but actually doing it is gross!”
Hwangbo Ji’s face filled with revulsion at the maid’s suggestion. She shuddered, her expression twisted in disgust. To Hwangbo Mujin, who was forced to listen to all of this, it was utterly humiliating. He felt so pathetic hearing such words from his own granddaughter that he simply wanted to die.