Chapter 36 : Start Over from the Basics
The annex was visited by three next-generation talents, including Namgung Seolu.
Namgung Seolu, Namgung Seong, and Zhuge Ming.
The next-generation talents, who had been relatively lightly injured in the Bud Crushing luring operation, had come to visit the annex as soon as they had recovered enough to move.
"Are you alright?"
At Jin Gahyeon's question, Zhuge Ming had an embarrassed expression.
"I'm fine. More importantly, I apologize for the late greeting."
Zhuge Ming bowed his head with a clasped fist, his body wrapped in bandages, and Namgung Seong also clasped his fists and said.
"Thank you for saving us, Young Master Jin."
As Namgung Seong and Zhuge Ming said thank you for saving their lives, Jin Gahyeon and Siu, who had no idea of the situation, looked at Jin Sohyun with bewildered faces.
Then, the flustered Jin Sohyun said awkwardly.
"Haha... it was nothing. It was thanks to the Family Head being nearby."
Jin Sohyun hid his own heroic tale.
It was because he didn't want to worry Jin Gahyeon.
"Hmm?"
Meanwhile, Zhuge Ming and Namgung Seong were puzzled.
Namgung Muhyeok had appeared after Jin Sohyun had blown away the assailant, so his words didn't add up.
But the quick-witted Zhuge Ming hurriedly took his words and said smoothly.
"Still, if Young Master Jin hadn't called the Family Head, it would have been difficult for all of us to save our lives."
"Th-That's right."
As Namgung Seong, who had also noticed the situation, awkwardly laughed and agreed, Jin Gahyeon and Siu finally nodded as if they understood.
"I don't know what happened, but it seems the Young Master did a great thing!"
"You could say that."
At the sight of Jin Sohyun chatting affectionately with his maidservant, Zhuge Ming thought.
'He's trying not to reveal his own martial prowess. Is he being humble... or is he reluctant to let his martial arts be known to the world...'
Zhuge Ming calmly assessed Jin Sohyun's situation.
'Oho! Young Master Jin is a truly humble person!'
In contrast, Namgung Seong simply thought that Jin Sohyun was a humble person who did not show himself off well.
'Why? Why can't I say anything?'
Namgung Seolu, who had come to visit the annex, felt strange that she couldn't bring herself to speak.
For the past few days, on her way to the annex, she had organized and reorganized what she should say countless times.
But when she actually faced Jin Sohyun, she couldn't open her mouth, like a mute who had eaten honey.
While Namgung Seolu was secretly on pins and needles, the night at the annex was ripening.
"It's about time we went back. These two need to rest as well."
At Namgung Seong's words, Zhuge Ming nodded as if in agreement.
The gazes of the two turned to one side.
Namgung Seolu, who felt their gazes, could no longer bear it and shot up from her seat.
"Young Master Jin! Will you give me a moment of your time?"
At the sudden proposal, Jin Sohyun blinked.
"Well... alright."
At Namgung Seolu's request, as the two went outside, Siu stuck close to Jin Gahyeon's side and whispered quietly.
"Look at that. To think Young Lady Namgung would call the Young Master out personally... it seems she's going to do that."
"That?"
"A confession, a confession!"
"Oh my!"
Jin Gahyeon's face turned red.
She was also a young woman of marriageable age who knew how to blush at the thought of love.
While Jin Gahyeon's and Siu's hearts were pounding with excitement, the two who had gone outside stood facing each other at the pavilion outside the annex.
"Why... did you hide your strength?"
"Me?"
"Yes. Why did you pretend not to have such strong power to me?"
"That's..."
"I think it's pathetic that I judged the Young Master with my own inadequate strength. And I feel... anger and disgust... at myself for having started the boat even though I knew the Young Master was not there."
Unlike her usual self, a tremor could be felt in Namgung Seolu's voice.
"My foolishness has hurt my comrades, and furthermore, it almost killed them. If... Young Master Jin had not appeared in time... we would have all died on the spot."
Instead of a clasped fist, Namgung Seolu bowed her waist and lowered her head.
"I thank you and I apologize. Please forgive my foolishness and rudeness."
"N-No. I never thought you were rude, and it's a relief that everyone is alive."
Namgung Seolu raised her head and stared at Jin Sohyun's two eyes.
Two clear and pure eyes in which no falsehood could be felt.
'Why...?'
A strong person of this level would usually want to show off their strength.
But Jin Sohyun, even after saving the lives of the next-generation talents, did not try to be overconfident or reveal his strength.
'Humility? Or if not that...'
Was it the leisureliness that only a strong person could have?
Namgung Seolu was so envious of his leisureliness.
And she was so envious of Jin Sohyun, who had the power to protect his precious person.
"How can I become as strong as Young Master Jin?"
At the sight of Namgung Seolu asking how to become strong, Jin Sohyun was quite... no, very flustered.
'I don't know either...'
Jin Sohyun had never once trained in martial arts to become strong.
He had just hoped to receive the recognition of his three masters as soon as possible and return to his family.
But to say such a thing as it was, Namgung Seolu's expression as she looked at him was very serious.
A strange earnestness appeared on the cold face that suited the words 'a flower forged from a blade.'
"Mmm..."
Feeling as if his face would be pierced by Namgung Seolu's gaze, Jin Sohyun rolled his head and blurted out whatever came to mind.
"F-First... how about starting over from the basics?"
"The basics?"
In the Namgung Family, no one had ever discussed the basics with Namgung Seolu.
From a young age, her talent for martial arts was extraordinary, and she had already built a solid foundation with her innate talent and effort.
Now all that was left was to build a tower of martial arts on top of it.
Therefore, if someone else had mentioned the basics, Namgung Seolu would have been angry or ignored them.
But the weight of Jin Sohyun's words was different.
'Was I lacking in the basics?'
Did her innate talent make her arrogant?
Jin Sohyun's words to start over from the basics gave Namgung Seolu a deep resonance.
'I have already been broken once. So it must mean to re-temper the broken blade.'
Namgung Seolu, who had taken it to mean to look back at herself from the beginning, away from the humiliation of a helpless defeat, clasped her fists to Jin Sohyun with all her heart.
"I will deeply engrave Young Master Jin's teachings in my heart. Thank you."
'What did I teach?'
Namgung Seolu's face, who had received Jin Sohyun's teachings that even Jin Sohyun himself did not know, brightened a little.
'Well, what's good is good!'
All's well that ends well.
Jin Sohyun nodded with an embarrassed face.
"I'm glad it was helpful."
Jin Sohyun, who found it burdensome to face Namgung Seolu any longer, cautiously stepped back, glancing at her.
Whether she knew this or not, Namgung Seolu had a face as if she were deep in thought about the new enlightenment she had gained.
"Th-Then I'll be on my way..."
"Young Master Jin."
"Yes?"
Jin Sohyun stopped in an awkward, half-turned posture.
"I will definitely follow behind Young Master Jin. And one day... I will surpass you."
"Ah, yes. I will cheer you on, though I am lacking."
Having finished his words, Jin Sohyun gave a short bow and quickly returned to his quarters.
In the returned annex, Jin Gahyeon, Namgung Seong, and Zhuge Ming, who seemed to have become quite close already, were chatting happily, and Siu was filling her stomach to her heart's content.
As the returned Jin Sohyun and Namgung Seolu filled the empty seats, Jin Gahyeon, as if she had remembered something, smiled and said.
"Ah, brother! You said you learned the daegeum, right? Could you perhaps play a tune for us?"
Jin Gahyeon suggested it, hoping to highlight Jin Sohyun's hidden charm on this occasion.
Then, Namgung Seong and Zhuge Ming's eyes sparkled at the same time.
"Oh... I didn't know Young Master Jin had a deep knowledge of the daegeum."
"I'm looking forward to it!"
As he received everyone's expectations, Jin Sohyun took out the Black Snow Fragrance that he always had tucked in his waistband.
'The time has finally come to show off my performance!'
The time had finally come to let others hear his daegeum performance, which was one of his only hobbies and joys.
As the very excited Jin Sohyun took out the Black Snow Fragrance and brought it to his mouth, Siu, who had been standing anxiously, shot up.
The memory of the past, which she had tried so hard to erase, suddenly came to mind.
—Young Master! I want to hear the daegeum performance too.
Siu, who had been bored that day, had asked Jin Sohyun for a daegeum performance.
—Alright!
Jin Sohyun, who had readily stood up from his seat, had taken out the Black Snow Fragrance and had begun to play.
And Siu, who had been listening to the performance with a face full of expectation, had foamed at the mouth and had fainted on the spot.
Siu, who had woken up after two days, had recalled the fact that she had forgotten.
'The Young Master was terribly tone-deaf!'
After that, Siu had to suffer from tinnitus for several days.
Siu, who had finished her painful recollection of the past, trembled all over.
"N-No..."
Siu, who was having a seizure from an unknown fear, snatched Jin Gahyeon's wrist.
"Young Lady! Please come with me somewhere for a moment!"
"Huh? R-Right now?"
"Yes! Please!"
Siu forcibly dragged Jin Gahyeon out.
In the meantime, Jin Sohyun brought the daegeum to his lips in front of Namgung Seong, Zhuge Ming, and Namgung Seolu, who were watching.
And then he smiled and said.
"The first song is..."
That night, a commotion broke out in the annex of the Namgung Family.
The three next-generation talents, who had barely recovered, had collapsed with internal injuries, foaming at the mouth.
Thanks to that, the physicians who had rushed to the annex had to carry the three next-generation talents on stretchers and move them to the infirmary.
Of course, no one knew what had happened in the annex.
Only Jin Sohyun, who was standing blankly with a daegeum in his hand, was sadly guarding the place.
"Why... why..."
Why was it?
Everyone who heard his daegeum performance foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
Unable to know the reason, Jin Sohyun had a sad face.
***
The next day.
At Namgung Muhyeok's call, Jin Sohyun, who had gone to see him, asked with an anxious gaze.
"Did you call me?"
"Yes. I did."
Namgung Muhyeok took out a round silver plaque engraved with a dragon from his bosom and handed it to Jin Sohyun.
Jin Sohyun, who had received the silver plaque unexpectedly, tilted his head.
"What is this?"
"Keep it. It will surely be helpful someday."
"Yes."
Jin Sohyun did not refuse what was given.
As he put the silver plaque in his bosom, Namgung Muhyeok handed Jin Sohyun a prepared letter.
"This is the promised letter. Give it to Family Head Jin."
"You didn't forget!"
Jin Sohyun received the letter with a beaming face and carefully stored it in his bosom.
'He likes a single letter more than the Silver Dragon Plaque that symbolizes the benefactor of the Namgung Family.'
At the sight of the pure Jin Sohyun, who had no greed, a smile came to his face without him even realizing it.
"Are you going back today?"
"Yes. Then please stay well."
Jin Sohyun, not knowing what other tricks Namgung Muhyeok might pull, tried to leave quickly.
Namgung Muhyeok composed his breath at the back of Jin Sohyun, who had bowed his head and turned his back to leave.
"The Jin Family..."
The Jin Family.
The number one merchant family in Shanxi and the family that had produced a man with the talent of the Heavenly Martial.
"Interesting. Interesting."
A short while after the meeting between Namgung Muhyeok and Jin Sohyun, a carriage bearing the flag of the Jin Family left the Namgung Family.
Namgung Muhyeok and the martial artists of the Azure Sky Squad, who had come out personally to see them off, silently paid their respects to the receding carriage.
Since it was a mission that had been carried out in secret, the majority of the Namgung family only knew Jin Sohyun as the lazy Slothful Young Master.
But Jin Sohyun, who had saved the next-generation talents in the Bud Crushing luring operation, was no different from a benefactor to the Five Great Families, including the Namgung Family.
"You seem disappointed."
Namgung Muhyeok lightly placed his hand on the shoulder of Namgung Seolu, who was not taking her eyes off the carriage until it was completely out of sight.
She took out the cotton she had put in her ears and said.
"It's fine. Someday..."
Namgung Seolu trailed off.
'I will catch up to him.'
While Namgung Seolu was strengthening her resolve, swallowing her inner thoughts, Namgung Muhyeok's expression was strange.
'Seolu has completely fallen for Jin Sohyun!'
He was having a strange misunderstanding.
Meanwhile, the carriage of the Jin Family, which had left the Namgung Family, galloped coolly under the bright sun, escorted by the Song'o Escort Agency and Gongsun Su, who had come with them.
"It feels good to be going back home, but it's a bit of a shame. Isn't that right, Young Master?"
"No. Not at all."
At the sight of Jin Sohyun, who was preparing to sleep with his arms crossed, Siu smiled subtly.
"Liar."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"It's nothing!"
Siu smiled sinisterly and cast her gaze out the window.
'A marriage proposal will be coming and going soon, right? I have to somehow escape from the Young Master's grasp within that time!'
Siu's ambition to become the head maidservant was burning like the hot sun today.
While Siu was silently revealing her desire for the position of head maidservant, Jin Gahyeon was having a hectic time, buried in a pile of documents containing information about the Anhui commercial rights that she had obtained from the Namgung Family.
"Haaam—!"
Jin Sohyun, who had closed his eyes to catch up on the sleep he had missed today, looked outside with only one eye open.
'When I get back home this time, I'll play and eat for three years without doing anything.'
Jin Sohyun thought this and patted the letter from Namgung Muhyeok that he had put in his bosom.
'Hehehe... with this, even my father won't be able to touch me anymore.'
It was a small but great achievement obtained through the deal with Namgung Muhyeok.
"Ah! Siu."
"Yes?"
"Here, you take this."
As Jin Sohyun took out the Silver Dragon Plaque from his bosom and handed it to her, Siu's eyes widened.
"What is this!?"
Since it was an object that looked valuable just by looking at it, Siu's voice trembled.
"Let's consider our debt settled with this. How about it?"
"Well, this isn't enough, but... I'll let it slide just this once!"
"Alright."
Jin Sohyun, who had handed the Silver Dragon Plaque, which signified the benefactor of the Namgung Family, to his maidservant, enjoyed the blowing wind with a lighthearted face.
(End of Chapter)