Chapter 80
Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Baek Family Secrets
The woman standing before me, Yang Hwajeong, showed no traces of having ever trained in martial arts.
In that case, the treatment was exceedingly simple.
'Blissful Creation Art.'
Infusing her with the energy of harmony would increase her innate qi, allowing her to easily shake off such minor ailments.
Fortunately, my own desire was stirring in response right now.
'But Hwii would never allow it, would she?'
I subtly checked Moyong Hui's reaction.
Unaware of my inner thoughts, she was chatting nonstop with Yang Hwajeong.
"Hwajeong unnie, let's just go to a physician right now. Your cough is so bad."
"No, Miss Moyong. This is nothing... It'll pass soon enough."
The back-and-forth tug-of-war repeated several times.
Listening from the sidelines was frustrating, so I cut in midway.
"I have a question, if I may ask?"
The two women, deep in conversation, turned their gazes to me.
"Ah, you're Young Master Mok, right? Go ahead, make yourself comfortable."
She said to speak freely, but dropping formalities right away wouldn't do.
It'd ruin my first impression completely.
Instead, I observed even greater courtesy as I asked what had been on my mind.
"What is your connection to the Baek Family?"
I thought I'd phrased it carefully, but Yang Hwajeong's expression stiffened rigidly.
Moyong Hui, meanwhile, tilted her head as if she had no idea what I meant.
"The Baek Family?"
"Baek Family? There's a family like that?"
Baek Rihyeon himself wore a look of utter confusion.
It seemed even her son was kept in the dark.
It was laughable, parading around with such an obvious surname as 'Baek.'
Others might dismiss it as mere coincidence, but I knew this boy Baek Rihyeon would one day become the head of the Baek Clan.
'If you're going to hide it, at least change the name.'
Yang Hwajeong, who had frozen up, belatedly shifted her gaze to Baek Rihyeon.
She opened and closed her mouth soundlessly, unable to speak.
I quickly realized why.
"Woojin, take the kid and go grab something to drink for a bit."
"...Pardon? Something to drink?"
"Yeah. Look around a little, buy some snacks too."
I pulled a silver ingot from my pouch and tossed it to him.
Cheon Woojin, suddenly flush with pocket money, jumped right up.
"Got it! When should we come back?"
"Around dinnertime. Oh, and pick up dinner on the way."
"Understood!"
Grinning ear to ear, Cheon Woojin took Baek Rihyeon's hand and headed out of the inn room.
Baek Rihyeon hesitated, clearly reluctant to go, but he couldn't escape the grasp of a peak expert.
Now that the three of us were alone, Yang Hwajeong finally looked at Moyong Hui.
"Miss Moyong. Can this gentleman be trusted?"
It was quite rude to ask that right in front of me, the subject in question.
But I magnanimously decided to let it slide.
'First time meeting, after all.'
Truth be told, her beauty played a part too.
"Don't worry, unnie. Young Master wouldn't go blabbing about something like this."
Moyong Hui naturally took my side.
But upon hearing that, Yang Hwajeong's eyes widened in shock.
"...Young Master?"
"Ah..."
Moyong Hui belatedly let out a sigh.
Come to think of it, I hadn't told Yang Hwajeong yet.
'No matter. Baek Rihyeon already knows anyway.'
Yang Hwajeong stared back and forth between us for a long moment before smiling softly.
"To steal the heart of the Sword Phoenix... Young Master Mok, you're even more impressive than I imagined."
"Hwajeong unnie...!"
Moyong Hui flushed red and looked mortified.
Yang Hwajeong smiled at the sight but soon broke into another coughing fit.
"Cough, cough—."
"This won't do. We really should go to a physician first..."
"Cough, no. I'm fine, Miss. First, I'll answer Young Master Mok's question."
Moyong Hui, who had been about to stand up immediately, glanced my way.
As if pleading for backup to persuade her.
Sorry, Moyong Hui, but hearing about her ties to the Baek Family mattered more to me.
'A little cough like that can be fixed the moment I activate the Blissful Creation Art.'
As long as it wasn't fatal right then, it was fine.
If anything, this made it even more crucial to hear out Baek Rihyeon and Yang Hwajeong's story.
'It'll make my desire swell even more.'
Just what secrets did she hold?
The desire's intensity—and thus the Blissful Creation Art's effect—would vary accordingly.
'Of course, I'll have to think about whether to actually share the joys of bedchamber union too...'
But first, I needed to decide if I would or not.
Cheon Woojin had practically been chased out of the inn room.
The silver ingot was nice, sure, but as time passed, a creeping sense of self-loathing welled up.
'Is this why I learned martial arts?'
Errand boy wasn't enough; now he was a babysitter too.
For Cheon Woojin, who had reached the cusp of peak realm, it was utterly humiliating.
At that moment, Baek Rihyeon, whom Cheon Woojin was leading by the hand through the market, spoke up.
"Mister."
At first, Cheon Woojin didn't realize she was calling him.
"Mister...?"
But when Baek Rihyeon shook the hand he was holding and repeated it, he caught on that it was his new nickname.
'What the hell? How old do I look?'
He was only 26.
Just an 18-year gap with this little kid.
'...18 years might make me a mister after all. No. Hwii calls me oppa—why am I mister?'
Collecting his thoughts, Cheon Woojin stopped walking and fixed Baek Rihyeon with a serious look.
"I'm not 'mister.' Call me hyung."
"...Hyung?"
She looked utterly disgusted by the idea.
Cheon Woojin sighed and corrected himself.
"Fine, just call me Cheon Musah."
Only then did Baek Rihyeon nod.
"Got it. Cheon Musah, do you know what the Baek Family is?"
He knew roughly.
Though Cheon Woojin had stayed under his father's wing, he was well-informed on such matters.
'To survive in the martial world, you have to know the major powers.'
It was thanks to his father Cheon Seon-u's teachings, all upright orthodox factions, of course.
He didn't know mid-tier clans like the Mok Family, but the Baek Family was a colossal force rivaling the Five Great Families.
"More or less. Why?"
Cheon Woojin already knew the reason even as he asked.
Baek Clan.
Baek Rihyeon.
And from the atmosphere back in the room, anyone but a fool could tell they were connected.
Baek Rihyeon wasn't a fool either.
"Just... Mom looked shocked earlier, and..."
She trailed off, hesitating.
Cheon Woojin let out a small sigh.
"First off, I don't know what your connection to the Baek Family is."
"I know. But tell me about the Baek Family anyway."
Honestly, he didn't want to explain.
Why spill secrets about someone's ties to an eight-year-old kid?
But seeing her earnest expression tugged uncomfortably at him.
'Sigh, errand boy, babysitter, and now tutor too?'
Cheon Woojin sighed inwardly and decided to tell her everything he knew.
"The Baek Family is in Shandong Province... Oh, do you know where that is?"
"Yeah. Right below Hebei, right?"
It was surprisingly knowledgeable.
Baek Rihyeon was only eight, and she'd been selling greens in the market since age five—no formal education, obviously.
Perhaps sensing his surprise, Baek Rihyeon gave an abashed smile.
"Lots of travelers from Shandong come through sometimes."
'Ah, so that's how.'
She might not have studied at a desk, but she seemed sharper and more worldly than her peers.
Pretty clever, even.
"Well, if you know that, it makes explaining easier. Anyway, the Baek Family is a martial clan in Shandong... Wait, do you know what a martial clan is?"
Explaining to a child kept tripping him up.
But Baek Rihyeon snorted derisively.
"Yeah. You think I wouldn't know that?"
"...Do martial clan folks travel here often too?"
"Not really, but Hwii-unnie is from a martial clan. One of the Five Great Families, the Moyong Clan!"
"Right, right. You're a smart one."
This wasn't working.
Time to speak casually.
'If she doesn't get it, oh well.'
Cheon Woojin dropped the 'eight-year-old' filter and just laid it all out.
"...They're especially famous for their signature martial art, the Hundred Swords Style. Master it fully, and it's like wielding a hundred warriors..."
Whether Baek Rihyeon followed or not, her eyes sparkled as she listened intently.
That's when it happened, midway through his long explanation of the Baek Family.
"Captain! It's that bastard!"
A shout rang out suddenly.
Turning toward the noise, Cheon Woojin saw over thirty rough-looking thugs gathered.
A few faces even looked familiar.
'What the—it's those unorthodox punks who ran off earlier?'
The ones who'd tried hitting on Moyong Hui at Cheonseung Inn and gotten thrashed.
Looks like they'd rounded up their buddies for payback.
"You idiots. You couldn't handle one pretty boy gigolo, so you drag us all here?"
The apparent leader chewed out the beaten ones from before.
'Hmm, one first-rate, rest all second-rates?'
Laughable rabble to Cheon Woojin's eyes, but Baek Rihyeon beside him froze solid.
"Th-the Red Serpent Sect...?"
Their notoriety was such that even a child recognized them instantly.
The thugs cackled as if it were a badge of honor.
"Kid's got an eye for quality."
"Heh heh, ready to meet your end?"
Drawing their weapons, the Red Serpent Sect goons slowly closed in, surrounding the pair.