Chapter 246
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 246
Chapter Title: Utilization?
"... ."
"... ."
Namgung Ji-yu, Namgung Ji-hu.
The siblings stared at Namgung Hwi with dazed expressions.
And they said nothing.
They simply couldn't process what they'd just heard.
Silence.
Stillness.
No one opened their mouth.
Ha Mu-baek watched quietly.
Curious to see how the two would react.
Namgung Ji-yu was the first to regain her senses.
"Uh, um, so... that means... ."
Her words tumbled out incoherently.
"What you just said... about us... ."
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Her voice trembled fiercely.
Namgung Hwi nodded slowly under her gaze.
"Ah, ah, fa... Father... ?"
The single word finally escaped Namgung Ji-yu's lips.
Father.
In response, Namgung Hwi said once more,
"Yes. I am your father. Your real father... ."
His voice still quivered.
"H-how could that... ."
Namgung Ji-hu muttered blankly.
His face showed utter disbelief at the situation.
No, he'd thought that person no longer existed in the world.
On the day they'd concluded that Namgung Hwa-hyeon, the head of the Namgung Clan, wasn't their real father.
They'd even speculated that the escort warrior who'd gone on that outing with him might be their true father.
And at the same time, they'd assumed that person was already dead.
Given what they knew of the clan head, that's what would have happened.
Yet the man before them now.
Was claiming to be their father.
A man named Namgung Hwi, whose name wasn't in the clan's registry.
Was sitting there, saying he was their father.
'So that's why... .'
Namgung Ji-hu recalled the moment he'd first met Namgung Hwi, and everything that had happened during their training together.
His heart had pounded fiercely.
Pounding as if it might burst.
He'd thought it was just because of the martial arts.
That he'd finally complete the Imperial Sword Form.
That he'd learn that transcendent, beautiful Grand Linked Sword Method.
'And my sister, too... .'
Namgung Ji-yu's heart had raced as well.
It hadn't been because of the martial arts.
Blood ties.
Natural kinship.
That was what had set their hearts ablaze.
"Fa, Father... ?"
The words finally slipped from Namgung Ji-hu's mouth as well.
He'd said them countless times before.
Directed at Namgung Hwa-hyeon.
But these words were utterly different from those.
The emotions they carried.
The depth of those feelings.
It was an entirely different phrase.
Namgung Hwi could feel the emotions packed into that one word.
Tears flowed from his eyes.
From Namgung Ji-hu's eyes.
From Namgung Ji-yu's eyes.
Tears streamed down.
Ha Mu-baek rose from his seat.
A reunion between father and children.
This wasn't a place for him.
At Ha Mu-baek's glance, Namgung Hwa-u stood as well.
The two men left the tavern.
Their table was still shrouded in a barrier formation.
Ha Mu-baek's consideration.
A barrier set up outside.
Even Ha Mu-baek himself could no longer hear their conversation.
He'd done it on purpose.
This was now a family matter.
Outside the tavern, Namgung Hwa-u focused his inner energy on his ears.
But he heard nothing.
He glanced at Ha Mu-baek beside him and let out a quiet sigh.
"Care for a drink?"
"Why should I?"
Ha Mu-baek rejected Namgung Hwa-u's offer outright.
At the sharp refusal, Namgung Hwa-u shrugged helplessly and started walking.
"Tell him I'll come back tomorrow."
The three said nothing.
They simply shed tears while gazing at one another.
Whether he was truly their father, or they his son and daughter.
No verification was needed.
Their hearts, still pounding fiercely, told them they were family.
That was blood, that was kinship.
How much time passed like that?
The tears gradually stopped.
All three pairs of eyes were puffy and swollen.
A faint smile crept onto Namgung Ji-yu's lips.
"It's really, truly a relief. That you're alive. I thought our parents were gone from this world... ."
Namgung Ji-yu choked up mid-sentence.
"Did you know from the start that we were your children?"
Namgung Ji-hu asked in a voice thick with emotion.
"The moment I heard in Hefei that you were the clan head's children, I knew. Even if I hadn't, I'd have recognized you the instant we met."
That's right.
Even without hearing it in Hefei.
Even if he'd met the two children knowing nothing, he'd have known at once.
Their faces were identical to those two.
"Then why hide it?"
Namgung Ji-hu's voice held resentment as he asked again.
It couldn't be helped.
He'd called his father "Senior Brother" even when he was right there.
"I'm sorry. But I had no choice. It was for your sake."
"How is it for our sake to have our father right in front of us and not even know it?"
Namgung Ji-yu asked in a voice laced with resentment as well.
Namgung Hwi slowly began his tale.
Starting from the day the misfortune began.
His arrival at the Dragon Training Pavilion.
And up to his resolve from the previous night.
Namgung Ji-yu and Namgung Ji-hu listened quietly.
But their hearts were far from calm.
A blaze of fury roared within them.
And naturally, it was directed at.
The clan head Namgung Hwa-hyeon, whom they'd called father all this time.
"If I revealed you were my children, everything you've enjoyed until now would vanish. Everything that came from being the clan head's children."
"That stuff... ."
Namgung Ji-hu started to object to Namgung Hwi's words, but Namgung Hwi continued swiftly.
"That includes your dantians and martial arts."
A weighty statement.
Namgung Ji-hu flinched at those words.
"I'm a low-ranking collateral warrior. The only arts permitted to me are the Grand Linked Sword Method and Grand Linked Heart Method. If you're acknowledged as my children, you'd be limited to those as well. But you've already learned the Celestial Palace Unbound Sword Method and Celestial Palace Grand Linked Heart Art—and Ji-hu, you've even been taught the Imperial Sword Form."
Namgung Hwi pointed out the harsh reality.
"What use are arts like that? The Grand Linked Heart Art and Grand Linked Sword Method are more than enough."
Namgung Ji-hu spoke as if the Imperial Sword Form meant nothing.
"What about the clan head's position?"
"I don't need it."
Namgung Ji-hu answered Namgung Hwi's follow-up firmly.
"The most important thing to us is Father."
Namgung Ji-yu added.
There had been only one reason the siblings strove for the young lord's seat, for the clan head's position.
Revenge against Namgung Hwa-hyeon.
And perhaps, as clan head, they could uncover the truth of that day.
But now their father had appeared.
So who became clan head didn't matter anymore.
Tears welled up again in Namgung Hwi's eyes at their resolute faces.
"You, you two... ."
Tears flowed down.
"I'm sorry. So sorry. I'm the sinner here... ."
He hadn't known their feelings at all, thinking only from his own perspective that it was for their happiness.
So he'd kept it secret to the end, planning to draw his sword alone against Namgung Hwa-hyeon and die.
What a colossal mistake.
He hadn't even considered what his children might think.
"No. It's okay. Now we know. We can sit here face-to-face like this. It's fine. That hasn't happened yet."
Namgung Ji-yu reached out, grasping Namgung Hwi's left hand as she spoke.
It was rough.
But to her, it was the softest hand in the world.
The warmest hand in the world.
This is my father's hand.
That's what Namgung Ji-yu thought.
Watching her, Namgung Ji-hu quietly extended his hand as well.
Thus, the three hands overlapped.
Feeling each other's warmth, the three spent a quiet moment together.
"Then what do you think of this?"
Namgung Hwi spoke of Namgung Hwa-u's proposal.
The two listened silently.
Soon, Namgung Ji-yu shook her head.
"Uncle—the youngest uncle, no, Namgung Hwa-u's proposal brings Father no benefit whatsoever."
She stated it definitively.
"What do you mean?"
Namgung Hwi asked.
"As I said earlier, we have no desire for any of that."
Namgung Ji-hu nodded in agreement.
"Still, we should thank Namgung Hwa-u for one thing. If he hadn't persuaded you so thoroughly, you wouldn't have revealed the truth to us today."
Namgung Hwi had no choice but to nod.
Without his proposal, he would have simply left for the Namgung Clan with Ha Mu-baek alone.
"And Instructor Ha said he'd help, right?"
Namgung Ji-yu's question.
"Then we have even less reason to join hands with Namgung Hwa-u. With his help alone, facing Namgung Hwa-hyeon will be no problem."
Didn't Namgung Hwa-u say Ha Mu-baek had single-handedly destroyed half of the Pang Clan?
A man like that could surely stand against the Namgung Clan.
Namgung Ji-yu's eyes sparkled as she continued.
"Now we're the ones making the proposal. He's the one who needs us."
Ha Mu-baek's words about hearing the parties' opinions.
He'd been right.
They shouldn't proceed without knowing the two children's thoughts.
He'd nearly been dragged along by Namgung Hwa-u without even realizing their stance.
The hardships of collateral branch life.
The thirst for martial arts.
Those were Namgung Hwi's own experiences.
Not these two children's.
A year ago, they might have thought like him.
But a year at the Dragon Training Pavilion.
Had changed their minds.
The Celestial Palace Unbound Sword, defeated by the Three Talents Sword Method.
No matter that it was against multiple sword formations, it didn't change that it was the Three Talents Sword Method.
And the Eastern Tournament.
That experience taught Namgung Ji-hu.
That more than the power of the martial art itself.
The person wielding it was what mattered.
Retraining the Grand Linked Sword Method for the Imperial Sword Form had reaffirmed it.
How shocked he'd been to learn that even that monstrous Ha Mu-baek hadn't mastered the Three Talents Sword Method.
Moreover.
Wasn't the very man who'd reached the Imperial Sword Form with the Grand Linked Sword Method sitting before them now?
Their father, Namgung Hwi.
So they had no greed for the Celestial Palace Unbound Sword or Imperial Sword Form.
Fierce Dragon Corps, Squad Seven.
In the end, it was their encounters with them.
Ha Mu-baek.
Meeting him.
That had transformed Namgung Ji-yu and Namgung Ji-hu.
They'd left Hefei resenting Namgung Hwa-hyeon and come to the Dragon Training Pavilion in Wuchang.
But for these siblings, it had been a fateful blessing.
"Even so, relying too heavily on Instructor Ha... ."
Namgung Hwi seemed hesitant.
"He's someone who keeps track of favors clearly. Whatever debt he owes, if he's helping to repay it, there won't be a problem."
Namgung Ji-hu spoke with full conviction.
That was the Ha Mu-baek he'd come to know.
"Then what should we do going forward?"
Namgung Hwi asked Namgung Ji-yu.
Gazing at her eyes sparkling with wisdom.
He'd heard rumors in Hefei that her intellect might touch the heavens.
Experiencing it firsthand, it was no exaggeration.
'She takes after that lady in wisdom.'
Namgung Hwa-hyeon's principal wife, Madam Baek, came to mind unbidden.
She had been wise as well.
From the start of the outing, she'd seemed to sense their fate.
Thinking back, from the day they left the Namgung Clan, she'd always looked at him with sad eyes.
"Father?"
Namgung Ji-yu's call snapped Namgung Hwi from his reverie.
"As I said, no matter what, we can't lose our dantians. The Celestial Palace Unbound Sword or Imperial Sword Form don't matter."
Namgung Hwi nodded at her words.
"But we can't forget the arts we've already learned. So the clan's elders will surely try to destroy our dantians and restrict us. To prevent the arts from leaving the clan."
Namgung Hwi nodded again.
Wasn't that exactly what Namgung Hwa-u had pointed out?
"So we need to use Namgung Hwa-u."
"Use him?"
"There isn't just one person qualified to become clan head, after all."