141

Chapter 141 - A Crisis at Daeseogak - 1

A secret from the Dang family.

It simply didn't make sense. By secret, one usually refers to a story that no one else knew, or an incident that was hidden and covered up.

With the middle-aged man shaking me like a dancing balloon outside his newly opened shop, it suggested that the story recorded in the 'Chronicles of the Dang Clan's Storm' was an incident they had wished to keep secret.

Were the events described in the 'Chronicles of the Dang Clan's Storm' supposed to stay hidden? Dang Jeong is the head of an alliance——chasing after evil demons is not an act to be criticized but rather one that should be lauded.

Of course, the romantic scenes might be problematic, but there's no reason for him to wring my neck like squeezing a liquid monster, just because of a knight sharing intimate moments with a beauty.

As much as I have written the story of the Dang family of Sacheon, I have paid close attention to the protagonist's actions. There should be nothing problematic about the protagonist's behavior. If his actions aren't the issue, then perhaps…

"Be careful!"

Out of nowhere, a hidden weapon flew toward the hand of the middle-aged man that held my throat. He quickly loosened his grip and twisted his body to dodge the projectile.

"Who's there!"

The middle-aged man and the martial artists inside the bookstore turned their attention toward the direction from which the weapon had come.

"Who else? The owner dealing with the troublemakers causing a scene in his shop. What are you doing here?"

Hwarin emerged with an air of self-assured composure.

"Purple hair?"

The people from the Dang household at Sacheon seemed stunned by Hwarin's unexpected appearance, watching silently as she approached me.

"Yunho, are you alright?"

"Cough! Ah, yes, I'm fine."

Sitting collapsed on the floor and gasping for air, I nodded my head. Hwarin peered at me with a look of concern before her gaze shifted to the surrounding fighters, her face filled with anger.

"I'm not sure what kind of mess you're here to start, but since when is it alright for the honorable martial families to bully commoners?"

Recognizing who they were, Hwarin subtly gestured to me to stand up behind her. The middle-aged man observed Hwarin before speaking.

"With purple hair. Are you a child of the Dang family?"

"Do I look like a child to you? Yunho, stick to the wall."

Hwarin snapped back at him and positioned me against the wall before standing in front. The martial artists inside the bookstore naturally began to encompass us.

"How convenient. We came in search of the author Ho-Pil from the 'Chronicles of the Dang Clan's Storm,' only to find a child wielding the martial arts of the Dang and carrying their blood. Are you the author of 'Chronicles of the Dang Clan's Storm'?"

The middle-aged man looked Hwarin up and down as if he had figured it all out.

"Hwarin."

I hurriedly grabbed Hwarin's shoulder. Turning her head, Hwarin's face bore an expression of resolve.

No, Hwarin. Don't do it.

Her eyes conveyed the same sentiment she had once expressed: a willingness to take all the blame upon herself.

Hwarin, we must not act rashly. We need to know what they want and which card we can play before we speak.

Never admit it. No. I'll take the blame. Hwarin and I had a brief exchange with our eyes.

"Clear as day (明若觀火). If you wish to confess due to a hint of coercion, I won't stop you."

"I wrote it. I am the Ho-Pil you're looking for."

Our precarious balancing act could be shattered with just a simple threat.

------------------------

The middle-aged man introduced himself as the head of Ui-Gak, responsible for medical affairs within the Sacheon Dang family. The Ui-Gak leader, with a handful of trustworthy warriors, guided us to the second floor, mentioning that there were many ears around.

"What is your name?"

The inquisition began with personal identification.

Seated on a chair, the Ui-Gak leader asked Hwarin, who sat opposite him with a sullen face.

"Dang Hwarin."

"I haven't seen you before. Are you a child from Oeseong, learning the martial arts of the Dang family?"

Naeseong is the place where the direct bloodline of the Sacheon Dang family resides, while Oeseong is where the collateral families live.

The Sacheon Dang family, being the paramount clan of Sacheon province, boasted not just a residence but a fortress-like estate. What the Ui-Gak leader meant was to ask if she was a child from the collateral bloodline.

"I've never been to Sacheon province."

"That can't be. A child who has never lived in Oeseong can't possibly have learned the Dang family's martial arts."

"What, do I look like someone who would lie about such a thing?"

"This insolent girl!"

One of the watching warriors frowned at Hwarin's disrespectful behavior.

"Hold on. If you haven't lived in Oeseong, does that mean you're an unacknowledged bastard child? Perhaps you learned from your father?"

"I wouldn't know. Never saw my father's face even once."

Hwarin averted her gaze, seemingly displeased by the mention of her father.

Of course, in my mind I knew who her father was according to the story setting, but it wasn't something I felt the need to bring up.

"You don't know? Then who mentored you in the martial arts."

"...."

Hwarin went silent, casting anxious glances my way.

I know what's troubling you. Could these people be related to the poison experiments? It's okay. According to the setting, such individuals are rare.

Besides, they are not here for that reason. And they don't even recognize your name.

Since I've already admitted to being Ho-Pil, there's no need to court unwarranted suspicion. I nodded to signify that it was safe for her to speak.

"Dang Geoho... sir."

"Dang Geoho? Why would that bastard…? Your father is that bastard Dang Geoho?"

Upon hearing the name Dang Geoho, the Ui-Gak leader immediately displayed hostility toward Dang Geoho. Luckily, he doesn't seem to be associated with the poison experiments. His immediate display of animosity suggested bad relations.

"He's my master, not my father."

Hwarin answered with confident immediacy.

"A nobody from Oeseong, and certainly not a direct descendant from Naeseong, being taught martial arts? And by that bastard Dang Geoho? Why? Wait… 'Chronicles of the Dang Clan's Storm,' a bastard child, Dang Geoho, something from 20 years ago. And here we are in Eui-Chang... Could it be that your mother is the daughter of the Baek household?"

The Ui-Gak leader murmured with suspicion etched on his face, then, as if having an epiphany, he looked at Dang Hwarin.

"Yes."

"So, that's how it is."

He seemed to come to a conclusion, the look of resolving his doubts clear on his face as he considered Dang Hwarin.

The conclusion he reached was something entirely different from what I knew.

"So you are the succubus' daughter from twenty years ago."

What is he talking about?

-------------------

Dang Hwarin's father, a succubus? That's not the setting I know.

'Dang Hwarin. Your father is also a venomous being.'

I remembered clearly that Hwarin's father was supposed to be a toxic figure in her character sheet, though it was not detailed further. Hwarin's incomplete transformation into a venomous being was partially due to her lineage.

Though I hadn't told Hwarin, it was clear her father was not a succubus but a venomous being.

The head of Ui-Gak was picking up entirely the wrong thread.

"Were you trying to avenge your father who was killed by the clan leader twenty years ago? With this kind of tactic?"

The middle-aged head of Ui-Gak was pointing at Hwarin as if he had perfectly deduced the culprit, like a detective completely convinced of his conclusion.

You've got the wrong idea. Swallowing the impulse to correct him, lest I should have to explain how I knew such details, I listened to his theory.

"I told you I don't know who my father is."

"How could you not know? Didn't you hint in the second volume of 'Chronicles of the Dang Clan's Storm' that the spring aphrodisiac comes from the Dang Household at Sacheon?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Are you pretending ignorance? Or do you truly not know? Twenty years ago. The Dang Clan turned one of their bastard children from a collateral line into a venomous being through forbidden experiments. Foolish things. They wanted recognition for the successful venomous experiment, not realizing that even if the body is fine, the mind isn't."

"A venomous being from twenty years ago?"

Wait a minute. That somehow fits the setting.

The Ui-Gak head continued, noticing my mutter of surprise.

"The collateral bastard who became a venomous being had difficulties controlling his desires. Furthermore, his body contained the Dang Clan toxin, which could stir a woman's deepest lascivious thoughts. One day, this venomous being escaped surveillance and began assaulting numerous women. We had to quickly form a pursuit team to deal with both the venom created by the Dang Clan and the venomous being."

Once the Ui-Gak head was convinced that Hwarin was the daughter of the succubus, he provided her with a detailed account of her father's background.

'That's too similar to the content of 'Chronicles of the Dang Clan's Storm'.'

I understood what was happening. For the Dang Clan, whatever happened twenty years ago was a disaster on par with a nuclear leak.

A venomous being that was taboo in the martial world was created by the Dang Clan. That much could be covered up with the Dang Clan's power, but then the venomous being escaped and began assaulting women.

That being even carried an aphrodisiac created by the Dang Clan for such purposes.

Because the Sacheon Dang Clan deals with poisons and hidden weapons, they were always under suspicion for not being a righteous faction, and such a grand scandal certainly warranted a cover-up.

The scandal from twenty years ago.

The venomous being turned succubus and the spring aphrodisiac created by the Dang Clan.

The reason they stormed into Daeseogak was not because of Dang Jeong but because of the succubus.

"I heard that the daughter of the Baek household bore the child of a succubus. It must have been Dang Geoho, tasked with cleaning up the mess from twenty years ago, who taught you martial arts."

"What?"

Hwarin was shocked to discover the truth about her unknown father.

"Why on earth would you commit such acts? I didn't hear the details, but I know when your mother appeared with proof, she was given ample compensation. Was it not to your satisfaction?"

"I didn't know, it was a coincidence!"

Hwarin cried out, desperate and frustrated.

"And we are to believe that?"

"It's just a novel. The Dang Clan doesn't have such martial arts like triple venom or toxic space!"

That's right. The succubus using a spring aphrodisiac is purely the stuff of conventional martial arts fiction. I need to check other settings too.

"Yes, the most beautiful woman of Sacheon, toxic space, triple venom, it's all fictional within the novel. But you've based the core narrative on true events, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"The succubus from the Dang Clan, the aphrodisiac made by the Dang Clan, the young clan leader chasing the succubus all the way to Hobeok province as the leader of the pursuit team. It's even written that back then, the clan leader shared intimate moments with a Gisaeng resembling Du Yeong-hyang in Hobeok province."

The Ui-Gak head threw the second volume in front of Dang Hwarin as he spoke.

This is crazy. The clan leader is the basis for Dang Jeong?

"Martial artists who've fallen for courtesans can be found anywhere."

"Don't try to dodge the issue. Your father who was driven mad by forced experiments twenty years ago! How he died at the hands of the clan leader! The shameful secret the Dang Clan wanted to hide! Is it not that you intended to reveal all of this with your book!"

Today's martial arts problem.

Calculate the probability that the daughter of a succubus would write about a succubus without knowing it.

My head starts to throb. Just like Sohee almost lost her life for mistakenly naming her mother, now Hwarin is suffering for not knowing the truth about her father.

If someone is going to write a character sheet, they should do it properly. If I ever meet a character suspected to be another heroine, I'll have to start by investigating their family background.

Things have gotten seriously twisted.

"We will transport both of you to the main house and lock you in the prison tower. The punishment will follow. Deputy head!"

"Present!"

"Don't come any closer!"

As the warriors approached, Hwarin quickly retrieved her hidden weapons and stood up. I remained sitting, simply observing Hwarin and the people around us.

'We've seriously misunderstood each other, but there's no way to clear up the misunderstanding.'

I feel like laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Even if I wanted to shout that it's all a misunderstanding, the circumstances pointed to us lying.

Think, Yunho. If we're taken away, we'll die. Find a solution, Kang Yunho. We can't spend our lives rotting in a prison tower. It could even mean biological experimentation.

Such a complex tangle of misunderstandings. But if they can't be unwound...

What if they can't be unwound?

Then, an idea struck me.

"The reason we went to such lengths, risking our lives, wasn't for revenge on Hwarin's father but rather for a different reason altogether."

I activated my Soft Sound Heart Method to calm the rising tension with my confident but low voice as I addressed the head of Ui-Gak.

"You think we're fabricating something just to save ourselves?"

The Ui-Gak head looked at me sharply. Right. Speaking untruths to save our necks. But I'm about to tell the truth.

"I published 'Chronicles of the Dang Clan's Storm' fully expecting that someone from the Dang Clan at Sacheon would appear upon reading it, recalling the incident from twenty years ago."

"You wrote it knowing this?"

"Yes. I was positive that after reading the contents of this book, someone from the Dang Clan at Sacheon would show up. And not just any low-ranking warrior but someone of importance. Someone who holds the clan leader's utmost trust—I published it in anticipation of that."

"What are you saying? It sounds as if you were waiting for me to come looking."

I looked at the head of Ui-Gak.

A person whom the Dang Clan leader trusts enough to send for his son's treatment. Someone who doesn't know Dang Hwarin's true identity and doesn't trust Dang Geoho. And one deeply knowledgeable in medicine.

This is the approach that might work on him.

"Hwarin, take off the facial covering."

"Huh? Oh, okay."

Hwarin removed her facial covering, which was even darker today.

"The stains on her lower face? Signs of venomous practice. No, this is...?"

The head of Ui-Gak closely observed the stains on Hwarin's face as if recognizing what the symptoms indicated.

I needed to convince him.

"Sorry to ask this, Hwarin, but could you also roll up your sleeve and show a bit of your abdomen?"

"Okay."

Hwarin seemed to grasp my intention. She rolled up her top to reveal the stains spreading all the way to her belly button.

"The stains covering the upper body? Wait. These symptoms are——?"

From Hwarin's father to Hwarin herself. There was one set of symptoms the head of Ui-Gak could readily recall.

Like the Gordian Knot, the entanglement of misunderstanding was too intricate to untangle. If

that was the case, I would use my own sword.

"Do you know that the Dang Clan at Sacheon, Dang Geoho and his cohorts, have resumed the venomous being experiments that disappeared more than twenty years ago?"

A misunderstanding for a misunderstanding.

Laying a new misunderstanding on top of the old.