Chapter 131
Translator: penny
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Fishing for Hearts
"Yeah. Go ahead. I'll stay here and chat with Young Master Pang."
With my permission, Moyong Hui and Nangong Sua stepped away from the table together.
I considered eavesdropping on their conversation, but I cleanly gave up once I sensed the barrier of qi enveloping them.
'Hui-a's skill in handling qi is improving by the day.'
These days, I had to focus just to detect if she'd even deployed one.
As I pondered what to do until she returned, Pang Deokjo spoke up first.
"How did you end up thinking of seeking out the Sword Phoenix?"
"Pardon?"
"From what you said earlier, it sounded like you went to find her without even knowing what she looked like. So, if there was some trigger that made it feel worthwhile, could you tell me what it was?"
Trigger? What trigger?
I'd simply picked the woman who turned me on the most at the time and gone straight to her.
But I couldn't exactly say that outright.
And no convenient excuse came to mind.
'Tch, whatever I say is going to sound weird, huh?'
After a moment's thought, the approach I settled on was pure nonsense.
"I'm not really sure. It was just some fateful pull, I guess you could say."
Of course, my death and regression could have been fate too, but the biggest reason I'd chosen Moyong Hui back then was because she was Cheon Suyeon's mother.
She might never be born now, but in my heart, she was still the World's Greatest Beauty.
Pang Deokjo nodded solemnly at my vague ramblings.
"Fate... I see. Love has no choice but to be fate."
He muttered to himself like some madman.
It killed any desire I had to keep talking, but he came at me again.
"In that case, could I ask for some advice from someone currently in the throes of fateful love?"
I wanted to refuse flat-out, but this guy was Moyong Hui's acquaintance.
And he hung around Nangong Sua a lot too.
I didn't want any weird rumors reaching those two women, so I humored him half-heartedly.
"Sure. Ask away."
But he didn't say anything.
When I gave him a puzzled look, Pang Deokjo cleared his throat belatedly.
"Ahem, this isn't about me—it's just a story about someone I know..."
The most obvious preamble ever.
And the content was just as predictable.
"This guy only ever cared about martial arts since he was a kid, but then he met a woman and felt that fateful pull like you described. Sadly, she doesn't seem to feel the same. She treats him even colder than other people... What would you do in his shoes?"
He tried to play it off, but anyone could tell it was about him and Nangong Sua.
It was intriguing enough that I straightened up in my seat.
"Are you asking what Young Master Pang would think I'd do if Hui-a had rejected me when I first showed up at her door?"
"Exactly! What would you have done in that situation?!"
What would I have done?
Kept throwing myself at her until she gave in.
But that wasn't suitable advice for now.
Nangong Sua was destined to be mine, after all.
After a brief pause, I turned the question back on him.
"Hmm, first off, what exactly do you mean by her being cold? I need details to suggest the right approach."
"Well, see... Ah! Didn't you debone that fish for her earlier? He did the same for her, but she said it was too much and turned him down flat."
'This guy's not even trying to hide it.'
He casually recounted his own experience from less than an hour ago—like it was someone else's story.
And right in front of the guy who'd watched it happen.
But calling him out would spoil the fun.
I hid my bewilderment and put on a serious face.
"She found the deboned fish overwhelming... Were you two alone, or were there other people around?"
"Hm... There were other people there too."
He'd dropped even the pretense of "I heard."
I tossed him the kind of line he'd love to hear.
"Then maybe she was embarrassed?"
"Embarrassed?"
"Yeah. Hui-a and I are already together, so it's fine to show affection in front of others. But the woman your acquaintance knows isn't in a relationship with him yet, right?"
I nearly slipped and acknowledged it was about him.
How long was I supposed to play along with this awful acting...?
'But it's too fun to stop.'
I held back a laugh and waited for his response.
Pang Deokjo spoke cautiously.
"So, confessing first would be better?"
Idiot.
That could be entertaining too, but I shook my head.
"Have you ever been fishing?"
"Fishing out of nowhere? What do you mean? I've done it before, sure..."
He tilted his head at the sudden topic change but answered readily.
Good thing—he'd almost made it annoying if he'd never tried.
"When you're fishing and the fish bites the bait, what do you do?"
"Reel in the line, obviously."
"But if you just yank it, doesn't the line snap?"
"True. So you loosen and tighten intermittently to wear the fish out."
He seemed pretty experienced.
'Not that it matters.'
I'd already gotten the answer I wanted.
Now it was time to use it to convince him.
"It's the same in romance. If one side keeps pulling because they like the other too much, the line snaps, and you lose the fish."
"What do you mean?"
Dense as a brick.
How this guy made it into the Five Dragons and Five Phoenixes, I had no idea. Tsk tsk.
I decided to explain in more detail.
"People are strange—they take precious things for granted over time."
"Yeah, that's true."
"But it's not just about objects. It happens between people too. How many folks ignore their parents until they're gone, then wail about filial piety?"
"That too."
Still not getting it.
I suppressed a sigh and smiled instead.
"Like I said, romance is the same. If you keep showing how much you like someone, they start taking it for granted. But what if the one always showing affection suddenly pulls back?"
What happens? It just ends right there.
But he finally got it, his eyes widening.
"I get what you're saying! ...But there's a slight problem..."
"What problem?"
"Sua and I are in the same Blue Dragon Unit, so we run into each other every day."
Now he was straight-up admitting it was about him.
But I pretended not to notice and kept persuading.
"Running into each other daily makes it even better. If someone who's always been nice suddenly distances themselves, how much more would it get under her skin?"
"I see...! So how much distance should I keep?"
He was asking to be spoon-fed after I'd laid out the meal.
Though if you looked closely, I'd poisoned the dish.
'Hmm, tricky.'
I wanted to tell him to play dumb forever, but even this fool would sense something off eventually.
I quickly found a decent answer.
"You should push back about half of what you've pulled in so far. Like one step back for every two steps forward. Since I'm not in the situation, I can't say exactly."
"Half of what I've pulled..."
I'd just convinced him with the fishing analogy.
Which made Pang Deokjo one hell of a big catch.
'Whew, convincing this moron is exhausting.'
The reason I'd invested so much effort was simple.
If he kept clinging to Nangong Sua, it'd mess with my own romantic plans.
He wasn't real competition, but he'd be a nuisance.
And with this, I'd edged one step closer to Nangong Sua.
But oblivious to my thoughts, he burst into hearty laughter.
"Thanks! Now I finally get what to do. Glad I asked you!"
He bought my advice hook, line, and sinker.
Even poured me a drink in gratitude.
'Tch, I don't have a hobby of accepting drinks from other guys.'
I took the cup from him, then set it right back down on the table without drinking.
Later, I'd dump this secretly and get Moyong Hui to pour me a fresh one.
Just as I'd successfully reeled in Pang Deokjo, the two women returned.
But Moyong Hui's expression was a little off.
'Huh? Did the talk go badly?'
She looked slightly angry.
Or more precisely, like the face she made when she was mad at me.
"Hui-a? What hap—"
"Darling, let's head out. Cheon Musa and Hyeon-i are waiting."
Moyong Hui cut me off without letting me finish.
She even glared at me for no reason.
'What's really going on?'
I'd spent the whole drinking session cheering her up—what was this bolt from the blue?
And I wasn't ready to end the party yet.
'I haven't even gotten close to Changbong yet.'
I'd planned to soothe Moyong Hui first, then slowly build rapport with Nangong Sua.
Ending it so abruptly like this...
And I couldn't very well object myself.
'She'd just get even more upset.'
So I glanced at the one guy who might side with me—the one who'd regret the party ending.
"Perfect timing. I was just thinking of calling it a night anyway. See you two at the Murim Alliance later."
Pang Deokjo, who'd swallowed my bait whole, stood up without even saying goodbye to Nangong Sua.
Then he bolted out of the tavern just like Nangong Chan had earlier.
Thanks to that, the drinking party I'd landed on my first day in Jeongju ended abruptly for no reason I could fathom.
All because of Moyong Hui's inexplicable mood swing.
'What on earth did she and Changbong talk about?'
I'd have to ask her later.