Free Web NovelTang Jung looked more excited than he had the day Peng Rak came.
Humming to himself, he brought out cups of every sort, then began carefully choosing which liquor we would drink.
“Still, it would be best to start with cloudy rice wine, wouldn’t it?”
Ah. Sure. Yes.
Tang Jung did not notice anything strange about my soulless smile.
He set a bowl made from a gourd cut in half on the table and went on and on about liquor.
“You probably will not have many chances to drink cloudy rice wine... but once you go out into the martial world, that may be different. Liquor is made from grain, so it is fairly expensive. Unless you are in a large city, it is hard to get clear liquor.”
“Have you had a lot of it?”
“Of course. When this old man was young, I traveled all over the Central Plains on Martial Alliance business. In little inns out in remote countryside places, if you ask for liquor, they pour water over the dregs and serve it to you as cloudy rice wine. Tastes filthy.”
Tang Jung grumbled as he poured the cloudy rice wine into the wide bowl and set it in front of me.
“That fellow Peng Rak used to gulp that stuff down as if it were real liquor, but honestly. If that counts as liquor, then water boiled with weeds ought to count as tea too, shouldn’t it?” fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Isn’t boiled grass water tea?
If you boil barley, it’s barley tea, and if you boil Solomon’s seal, it’s Solomon’s seal tea.
More importantly, he really must be excited. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Grandfather bring up the old days on his own.
I awkwardly played along.
“Hahaha. I guess so. Should I bring snacks? Some food to go with the drinks?”
“Geunmyeong.”
At once, Tang Geunmyeong appeared from somewhere and set down a meat dish with broth and a plate of dried snacks before vanishing again.
Tang Jung ladled plenty of meat and broth into a bowl and placed it in front of me.
“Just taste the cloudy rice wine. It will not suit your palate.”
“All right.”
I wet my throat with the pale meat broth, then tipped the bowl of cloudy rice wine.
The liquor had grain sediment in it that I could actually chew. It was bland and barely had any strength at all.
...This is liquor? Not just watered-down liquor?
“Didn’t I say it would not suit your palate?”
Seeing my bizarre expression, Tang Jung chuckled as if he had expected that.
“Grand Elder Peng really gulped this down?”
“That fellow would chew up rocks too. Even so, the taste does cross my mind from time to time.”
After clearing away the bowl of cloudy rice wine, he poured a new liquor into a small cup. The liquid sloshed softly, its color similar to whiskey.
“Yellow wine is best drunk warm. Heating it brings out the fragrance properly.”
After explaining, Tang Jung warmed the cup lightly and handed it to me. Warm steam rose from it, and the scent cleared my nose instantly.
“Oh, Grandfather. This is incredibly sweet.”
“That is because it is Fragrant Snow Wine. Try it with those stir-fried vegetables there.”
“The stir-fried vegetables are where—... Ah.”
I had been looking around, wondering what he meant, when my eyes widened. At some point, Tang Geunmyeong had already cleared away the broth dish and set down stir-fried vegetables and dried fruit in its place.
Uncle Geunmyeong... I feel bad saying this, but honestly, I want a secretary like you too.
“Clear liquor is best slightly cool, though sometimes it is not bad cold either.”
Tang Jung brought out a clear liquor cup, chilled it lightly, and poured the liquor for me. The drink, with a thin layer of ice floating on it, tasted good even on its own.
Tang Jung seemed to be in such a good mood that he kept opening one new jar after another without pause. I matched his rhythm, knocking back cup after cup beside him.
Even after drinking so much strong liquor, my mind remained perfectly clear.
...Does the Myriad-Poison-Immune Body not let you get drunk either? If I cannot know the bliss of being tipsy, what joy is there left in life?
The thought that I had lost one of life’s pleasures made me a little sad, but the liquor tasted too good not to keep drinking just because I could not get drunk.
“You hold your liquor well.”
“It’s delicious.”
“Liquor is all about clear liquor. Did you not see it last time? That fellow Peng Rak cannot resist clear liquor either.”
Tang Jung cackled, and unlike usual, his cheeks were flushed red.
...Is he drunk?
The words You should stop now rose all the way to the tip of my tongue, but I forced them back down.
I did not want to ruin his mood. It was the first time I had ever seen him this relaxed.
Tang Jung leaned back lazily in his chair and slowly opened his mouth.
“When an old man reaches my age, you see... you can tell roughly where the end of life lies.”
“The end of life?”
“Yes. You start to sense how long this body will go on moving. Do old people not always say things like, ‘My knees ache, so I suppose it will rain tomorrow’? It is something like that.”
Tang Jung said it as though it were nothing, but I had a feeling it was an instinctive sense unique to martial artists.
Like beasts that sense death approaching and hide themselves away, he could feel his own death drawing near.
After setting his cup down, he stroked my head.
“This old man has lived long enough... I suspect ten years at most. It would be nice if I could look after you longer than that.”
“Don’t say things like that. You need to live a long, long time and see me get married and have children too.”
“You mean to tell this old man to take care of your children as well?”
Tang Jung sounded dumbfounded, yet he smiled as though the idea did not displease him. The look in his eyes as he watched me was warm.
His heavy-lidded eyes curved beautifully, and he gently stroked my cheek.
“My child. You stepped boldly into the lonely life of this old man. Now I cannot even imagine a life without you in it.”
Warmth spread through my chest at those unexpected words.
Ah... I feel exactly the same.
If not for you, could I really have endured this far?
I could not even imagine myself in this strange world, struggling all alone without Tang Jung.
He was my support, and he was my guidepost.
I smiled brightly and answered.
“I feel the same way, Grandfather.”
“...Ahem.”
As if sobering up, Tang Jung cleared his throat awkwardly and changed the subject.
“Is there anything you are curious about? I imagine there must have been many things you wanted to ask.”
At that, a question I had never been able to say out loud in normal times suddenly leaped right out.
“There is. I’ve had something I’ve ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) been really curious about for a long time!”
“Then say it.”
“Why didn’t you ever get married?”
“Hm?”
Tang Jung looked baffled, as if the question had caught him completely off guard.
“Why are you curious about that? Let us just say I had bad luck. I missed my chance.”
That cannot be right. There is no way people would have left that face alone. Sure, his personality is a little bad, but if he had grown into adulthood with that face...
Was it his personality? But Tang Muheok has three wives, so maybe personality is not the issue.
Tilting my head, I asked again.
“Then what about your first love?”
“...Hm?”
Tang Jung frowned and cocked his head, as if wondering whether he had heard me correctly.
My eyes shining, I asked again.
“I want to know. You said you traveled around a lot on Martial Alliance business when you were young. Was there never anyone you fell for at first sight, or met only briefly, or anything like that?”
“There was one person I held in my heart.”
“Really? What kind of person were they? Did you confess? Did that person like you too?”
“They died.”
“...Ah.” freewebnovel.cσ๓
“......”
“S-so... I see.”
An awkward silence fell.
Without a word, I kept swallowing down cup after cup of liquor.
That was my fault. I should have looked before I leaped.
After setting his cup down, Tang Jung slowly lowered his gaze.
“...A gentle, thoughtful, beautiful person. I learned much from that one.”
“They must have been a very good person.”
“Yes. A good person. So much so that I will never meet another like them again.”
The longing in his voice made my heart drop heavily.
So when he said he had missed his chance, the truth was...
I had a sudden premonition that if I asked about the story I was now guessing at, I would only be dragging his sorrowful memory out into the open and hammering a nail into his heart.
Quietly, I refilled Tang Jung’s cup.
As he stared silently at the sloshing liquor, he spoke.
“My child. Will you promise this old man one thing?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
“You... you must not go before this old man does.”
His calm whisper left me speechless.
Suddenly, I thought that living a long life was not necessarily a blessing.
A person left alone in a world with no family, no friends, no lover—he must have always been lonely.
I finally understood why Tang Jung was so obsessed with the safety of the Tang Clan. The family must be the only thing left in his hands.
Slowly, I nodded.
“...Yes. I promise.”
“Thank you.”
At my answer, Tang Jung smiled in relief.
His face was that of a boy with not a single wrinkle, yet somehow it looked like the face of an old man worn down by time.
Seeing my unsettled expression, Tang Jung changed the look in his eyes and swept back his hair.
“My, my. This old man has made a spectacle of himself. It has been a long time since I drank, so I grew pleasantly lightheaded.”
“Oh, it’s fine. I like hearing your old stories.”
“Enough of these dull tales. Let us talk about your betrothed instead. You said you did not care for that Gu family boy. I heard there is one fellow set to inherit an escort agency, and another who is a lay disciple of Mount Hua...”
“A lay disciple of Mount Hua? Isn’t Mount Hua a Taoist sect? Can lay disciples marry?”
“How many proper Taoists do you think there are among those Taoist fools? Mount Hua’s main disciples can marry too. In any case, this old man would rather you not go as far as that one. Men who use swords are all rotten luck.”
He said that before too. He really hates swordsmen.
“Then I’ll meet the one who’s inheriting the escort agency first.”
“Very well. But meet that Gu family boy one more time too. It is only proper to meet someone twice.”
“Yes. I will.”
When I answered readily, Tang Jung blinked as if surprised.
“You made such a racket about not wanting to marry, but now that it is actually upon you, you are being quite obedient.”
“There’s nothing I can do. If you cannot resist the wave rushing toward you, it is better to ride on top of it. I decided I might as well enjoy it.”
At that instant, Tang Jung’s voice dropped low.
“...Would you say that again?”
“Hm? The part about there being nothing I can do?”
“No. Not that.”
“The part about riding on top of a current you cannot resist?”
“Yes.”
Tang Jung straightened in his seat, his dark blue eyes trembling faintly.
Did I say something strange? What is wrong with him?
“My child.”
“Yes. I’m listening.”
“There is a wall this old man has failed to cross for decades. But now I can see a clue to overcoming it.”
Murmuring that, Tang Jung shot to his feet.
At that exact moment, a fierce wind tore through the hall. Every window and door in the building rattled violently.
One door panel, unable to withstand the gale, snapped free and flew out of the hall.
Did a typhoon just hit? The weather was perfectly fine a moment ago.
I braced my legs so I would not be swept away, and then I noticed something strange.
The wind was not coming from outside the hall.
It was coming from inside.
More precisely, a storm was raging around Tang Jung.
