DKM 25

The crowd continued to egg us on, the men seemed unwilling to back down until they received an apology, and Moyong Hwa remained frozen like a stone, not moving an inch. Realizing it was a total disaster, one of the men spoke up, as if granting a gesture of goodwill.

“We don’t want to waste our energy on something this trivial either. If you apologize now, we’ll just let it slide, so hurry up and get it over with.”

I immediately bowed my waist.

“I am truly sorry.”

“No, not you, that guy over there should be the one—!”

“Our young master is very shy. We will apologize on his behalf, so could you please forgive him?”

“Do you think that’s a reasonable request? I’m pissed off to death—!”

Myoryeong and I looked up at the man with eyes as moist as possible. As expected, the man hesitated. To date, no one had ever remained unmoved by these round eyes. We took another step closer to him. The man, who seemed conflicted and kept biting his lip, finally shut his eyes tight and shouted.

“…Fine! Fine! I’ll just let it go!”

“Thank you! You are truly broad-minded!”

“You there! Be careful next time!”

As expected, there is nothing impossible when the two of us are together. After bowing our heads repeatedly, we hurriedly grabbed Moyong Hwa and escaped from the crowd. I could feel Moyong Hwa’s trembling clearly through his clothes. We entered a narrow, secluded alley. As soon as we stepped inside, Moyong Hwa shook off our arms and slumped down onto the dirt ground. Myoryeong looked at Moyong Hwa with a gaze that said he really couldn’t get used to this. I knelt down and asked.

“Young master, shall I bring you some cold water?”

Moyong Hwa said nothing, burying his face in his knees. After watching him for a moment, I took Myoryeong and stepped out of the alley. There, we discussed a plan.

“Let’s wait until he calms down and then escort him back to the lodging.”

“Right, we can’t just leave him abandoned on the street. But will he be okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Myoryeong spoke, recalling Moyong Hwa, who had been frozen and unable to do anything in front of the people earlier.

“There will be incomparably more people at the martial arts tournament than there were today.”

“True. It’ll be absolutely humongous, gasp…!”

I stopped mid-sentence and reflexively clamped my mouth shut. Without knowing when he had appeared, Moyong Hwa was standing blankly at the entrance of the alley, staring at us. I quickly cleared my throat and spoke.

“Moyong Hwa, are you alright? We will escort you back to your lodging.”

However, Moyong Hwa passed by us without a word. But I wasn’t one to be defeated. I couldn’t hide my worry that something like before might happen again. I called out to Moyong Hwa as loudly as I could.

“Moyong Hwa!”

Moyong Hwa’s footsteps stopped. I shouted out whatever came to mind.

“Please grant us the honor of escorting you back!”

“…What?”

Once again, I let my tendencies as a romance-fantasy novel geek show.

“Wow~ This is such a huge honor. To think we can escort the successor of the Moyong Clan, Young Master Mo! Yong! Hwa! back to his home!”

“I’m going to brag about this for decades until my children are sick of it! That this mother, in her youth, escorted none other than Young Master Mo! Yong! Hwa! home!”

Myoryeong and I showered him with all sorts of exaggerated flattery while gauging the reaction of Moyong Hwa, who was walking ahead of us. One would think it was too noisy, but seeing as he matched his pace to ours and listened silently, it seemed he still loved praise. Fine, we’ll be the ones to treat him well. Pouring out praise with the same heart I had five years ago, we eventually arrived in front of a magnificent inn. At that moment, Moyong Hwa stopped walking. This must be where he is staying. Now I can go back with a peaceful mind. Just as I was about to say goodbye to Moyong Hwa, a loud voice echoed from somewhere.

“Hwa!”

“Wow!”

An exclamation escaped my lips involuntarily. A man dressed in jade-colored silk clothes ran toward us with tears in his eyes and hugged Moyong Hwa.

“Where have you been?”

The man’s upturned eyes told me he was family with Moyong Hwa. Moyong Hwa definitely said he had no siblings, so if that’s the case…

“Do you know how much this father worried?”

As I thought, it was his father! Myoryeong, who looked ready to tell Moyong Hwa, ‘Son, give me your father,’ paused. Wait, if he’s Moyong Hwa’s father, he’s also the Madam’s older brother, right? And the Madam’s brother had a very nasty personality and had despised her since they were young… As expected, one shouldn’t judge a person by their appearance. Just as our admiring eyes were about to turn into looks of contempt, the father turned to look at us. We immediately put on innocent expressions as if nothing had happened. Social life is… truly hard. Having to be polite even to a human like that. The father, who had just been welcoming Moyong Hwa with tears, asked with a solemn face.

“Who are you scoundrels?”

I quickly offered a greeting.

“I am Ha Myoha, serving Young Master Paeng Soseo of the Paeng Clan.”

“And I am Ha Myoryeong, also serving Young Master Paeng Soseo.”

“…Paeng Soseo?”

The moment he heard Paeng Soseo’s name, the father’s expression distorted.

“Why are you, who serve that fellow, with my son?”

“We happened to meet while passing by.”

“You should have just passed by; why did you bother following him all the way here?”

“That is…”

“It is obvious there is some reason; hurry up and tell the truth!”

Overwhelmed by the father’s explosive energy, I had no choice but to reveal the truth.

“The young master got into a dispute with other martial artists on the street… We escorted him home in case something like that happened again.”

“A dispute with martial artists?”

“Yes. Because the young master collided with those people…”

The father’s eyes flashed. He immediately grabbed Moyong Hwa’s shoulders.

“Hwa, what did you do to those ruffians?”

“…”

“Surely you blew them away in one hit? I trust you showed the people your strength.”

Moyong Hwa’s lips were pressed firmly in a straight line. Eventually, the father actually began to plead.

“Please, say something. Hmm? It is this father’s wish. This time, you must defeat Paeng Soseo. Do you truly wish to see people mock me for having a son inferior to that blockhead?”

Wow, he called his rival’s son a blockhead. I’m truly losing respect. Unaware of our feelings, the father continued to wag his obnoxious tongue incessantly.

“And if your grandfather saw you like this, what would he think? Why do you continue to disappoint me and him—”

“Moyong Hwa has returned? Bring him to me this instant!”

A booming voice echoed from inside the inn. Moyong Hwa’s stone-like body flinched.

“How dare you wander outside until this hour in such a pathetic state? That boy brings nothing but shame to the Moyong Clan! How can a child be so foolish…!”

“Sigh… Follow me.”

The father let out a sigh deep enough to sink the ground and dragged Moyong Hwa away. We also hurried stolen contentunauthorized copyto leave the inn. Read on Read BL NovelsOn the way back, Myoryeong muttered.

“Trash like Moyong Hwa’s dad should be turned into a ‘suffering lead’ in a tragedy novel and stepped on slowly…”

“No. He should be reincarnated as a maid serving a noble in a romance-fantasy novel.”

“Why?”

“Wouldn’t the mental blow be greater if he acted arrogant toward a noble without knowing his place, only to be slapped and forced to kneel?”

“…True, if he got slapped and forced to kneel, his pride would really be crushed.”

Haha, I really hope he gets reincarnated and tastes the strict, spicy flavor of a romance-fantasy noble. While I was rolling Moyong Hwa’s father around in my head, I suddenly realized we hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

“By the way, what about our dinner?”

“Maybe it’s because of what happened earlier, but I’ve lost my appetite.”

“I think we can just eat something simple.”

“Yeah, let’s just eat something simple.”

Of course, not long after, we came to regret that decision. stolen contentWe underestimated our appetites too much. While soothing my stomach, which was Read on Read BL Novelsscreaming for food not long after dinner, I suggested to Myoryeong.

“Let’s go buy some food from outside.”

“Hmm, it’s a hassle… there’s plenty of food in the kitchen.”

“Since we’re eating anyway, we should taste something only available here. I saw earlier that stalls from all over the central plains had gathered.”

“Then let’s play rock-paper-scissors, and the loser has to go buy it.”

“Deal! I won’t go easy on you today!”

A moment later, Myoryeong shouted to me as I left the lodging.

“I want something salty and greasy! Buy something sweet for dessert too!”

“Got it…”

Ugh, he always wins only when I’m not planning to go easy on him. Grumbling, I headed to the street where the stalls were gathered. Perhaps because it was evening, people were swarming like a colony of ants. Far from having the leisure to look around slowly, I was on the verge of being crushed to death by the crowd. I quickly bought some chicken skewers grilled with various seasonings and some candied fruits, then escaped the street as if fleeing. Only then did I wipe the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve and catch my breath.

I should take a path with fewer people on the way back. I walked carefully, holding the paper bag containing the food. If I remember correctly, once I cross the stone bridge at the end of this alley, our lodging is… Oh dear, it’s gotten dark already. Just as I thought it was so quiet that something might jump out, something caught my eye. Someone was sitting still on the railing of the stone bridge with their head bowed. I let out a loud scream and jumped. Not an exaggeration, but literally. Sitting precariously on the bridge railing at this hour was a problem, but the atmosphere was exactly that of a ghost holding a grudge…! If Myoryeong had seen it, he would have scolded me, saying ghosts don’t exist in this world, but I think differently. In a world where internal energy, spiritual elixirs, and spirit creatures exist, there’s no way ghosts don’t. Just as I was about to flee in total panic.

“Huh?”

A chilly breeze blew, and a braided lock of hair fluttered. Relieved, I shouted at the top of my lungs.

“Moyong Hwa!”

For some reason, I feel like I’ve been recognizing Moyong Hwa by his hairstyle lately. Actually, isn’t that braid the core of Moyong Hwa’s being? While calming my heart, which was still pounding, I approached Moyong Hwa a bit closer.

“I’m sorry for disturbing your quiet time. I’ll pass through quickly, so…”

Suddenly remembering the situation from earlier, I trailed off, hesitated for a moment, and added one more thing.

“I’m sorry for talking about what happened to you without your permission earlier.”

I really only answered because a superior asked, but I thought it might have looked like I was tattling from Moyong Hwa’s perspective, so I offered an apology. Only then did Moyong Hwa turn his head toward me. A bruised cheek came into view. It was clearly the work of Moyong Hwa’s grandfather. My heart became a hundred, a thousand—no, ten thousand times heavier with guilt. No, we really couldn’t help it…! It was an unavoidable situation…! I bowed my waist once more.

“I am truly sorry.”