Chapter 302 – To the Witch’s Lair? (2)
With Nung Wi-yeon gone back to the Volcano Sect, the issue with Mae So-hyang was finally resolved. At least nothing else would happen until the child was born.
I had been planning to enjoy my sex life for a while and maybe even go meet some of the witches in the Honam Province, but the world kept turning even as I was busy devouring more and more women.
“Open Gate?”
“Yes, I heard that some suspicious masters have been causing trouble in this area recently, so they’re looking for them.”
Since Dang-yeong found out that I was here, he had been coming around more often, and now he was even bringing me useful information.
Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever met a master from the Open Gate before…
When I asked him about it, Dang-yeong kindly explained.
“Although the Open Gate is commonly known as the Nine Schools, it’s a little different from other schools.”
I finally understood what he meant when he continued his explanation.
What is the Open Gate? To put it bluntly, it’s a group of beggars. They can manage to get food through begging, but since they’re supposed to be a large sect, there are other expenses besides food.
Other schools have disciples who run businesses for them or collect “protection fees” from the surrounding businesses (the more I think about it, the more I feel like the orthodox sects are just lucky gangsters), but the Open Gate doesn’t have any of that.
Running a business makes you no longer a beggar.
“So that’s why it feels like an information desert?”
As an information desert, there are fewer opportunities for the Open Gate to appear in places where they’re not related to the information.
“I might have seen them at the Nine Dragon Battle, though…”
When Dang-yeong looked at me with a puzzled expression, I felt a little prick in my heart. At that time, I was too busy impregnating my mother and eating Mae So-hyang’s anus and vagina to pay much attention to my surroundings.
“I was too focused on fighting at the time…”
“Ah, that could be it.”
Dang-yeong nodded his head. In fact, the only people who remembered that time were Fang Wu and Nung Pung-yeon.
“Oh, come to think of it, there was another one.”
Do Yeo-joong, who was given to me by Hao-mun. She died uselessly under Young-ho-kyung’s hands, but at the time, Young-ho-kyung was a woman who looked dangerous but couldn’t be touched.
Comparing her to Young-ho-kyung now would be embarrassing, so there was no reason to bring up that issue, but just thinking about Do Yeo-joong made me think of another problem.
Recently, Sabu hasn’t shown himself, and that’s driving me crazy.
“What is he doing?”
Even if he didn’t come to give me special martial arts lessons, he could at least come and check on my progress once in a while. But since leaving the witch’s lair, I haven’t seen Sabu at all.
Of course, not all the women were like me, rapidly increasing their martial arts skills, so even if Sabu did come, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But the fact that he didn’t come to check on me at all was strange in itself.
“Mae So-hyang? What are you thinking?”
“…Oh, it’s nothing. I just had a passing thought… So, you’re saying that the Open Gate is staying in the area?”
“Yes. I heard that those suspicious masters might be related to the people who are smuggling drugs in the area…”
He was right. They seemed to have a good grasp of the situation, perhaps because they dealt with information.
The problem was that it was not a particularly useful situation for me.
‘If I poke around too much, it might be troublesome…’
If I had some information to offer, it might be an opportunity to uproot those bastards, but we didn’t have any information about them.
It would be best if they could just take care of the information we didn’t know and disappear, but we couldn’t just rely on that.
“There might be witnesses here too. Let me check it out.”
“Yes, that’s a good idea. It seems like those evil guys are lurking around everywhere.”
Dang-yeong didn’t seem particularly interested in the topic, as he brought it up casually during our idle chat.
We continued to talk about various topics that overlapped with each other, such as the incident with Nung Wi-yeon and the time when I fought in the Nine Dragon Battle. Suddenly, we heard a knock on the door.
“Kang Mae So-hyang, can I speak with you for a moment?”
It was the voice of Ju-ak-seon. After hearing his voice, Dang-yeong looked out the window and confirmed that the sun was setting before he spoke.
“Oh my, I lost track of time. I thought it would only be a short while, but I guess I took up too much of your time.”
“It’s okay.”
It wasn’t just empty words. The work I was doing here was just checking the inventory of supplies and verifying the execution of the budget, which was set in advance. It would have been a pain to do it the usual way, but since I changed the work process to suit me, it didn’t take much time.
Setting the budget itself would have been a headache, but fortunately, Ju-ak-seon was skillfully handling everything, so all I had to do was check if the amount of money collected matched the amount of supplies distributed.
Ju-ak-seon, who was doing so much work, opened the door and came in, his expression stiffening slightly.
“What’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter?” I asked Ju-ak-seon as he came into the room.
“Paeng Yeon-hwa… seems like she’s going to give birth soon,” he replied, his expression stiffening slightly.
I jumped up at the news. Everyone had heard that Paeng Yeon-hwa was expecting, and it was well known that she was a formidable warrior.
The Lord of Sungyeon had decided to wait in the adjacent room until the birth was over, but he was surprised by what he saw.
The usually composed man was pacing back and forth, looking anxious.
“Wouldn’t it be better to sit down and wait? Being anxious won’t make the birth go any faster,” the Lord of Sungyeon suggested.
“It’s difficult. I think I’ll feel a little more at ease if I keep moving,” Paeng Yeon-hwa replied.
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Even though there was no reason to worry, she was still trembling with fear.
But she was a strong woman, and I knew she would be okay.
As we waited, news came that the baby had been born. Under Ju-ak-seon’s strict supervision, we were allowed to meet Paeng Yeon-hwa and her newborn.
“It’s a boy,” the Lord of Sungyeon exclaimed, his eyes fixed on the tiny, fragile life in front of him.
Looking at the baby, I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of wonder. It was amazing to see such a small, helpless creature come into the world and take its first breath.
“You’ve done well. This child will be followed by Ma Shi’s child, and then mine. They will be close siblings, even if not by blood. I wish for him to grow up healthy,” the Lord of Sungyeon said.
Paeng Yeon-hwa seemed a little dazed by the whole experience, but she managed to reply with a soft “yes.”
“What’s the matter?” I asked as the Lord of Sungyeon came into the room, pulling a man who had been listening to various instructions from a distance.
And then he realized the identities of the other women who were not present in this room. He felt a pang of envy.
“Ha, Namgung Se-gae, and even Ma-gyo? They all have children already?”
“Yes…”
He had thought that the only women who had children were the ones present in this room, but that was not the case.
Except for Yang-ha-jeong, who had not yet made up her mind to have a child, he realized that he was the only one who had not had a child, and he felt a sense of defeat.
“From now on… no, never mind.”
The Lord of Sungyeon was about to say something, but he stopped himself. Paeng Yeon-hwa was listening to the conversation from the side. He could take his time to speak.
He still felt embarrassed to talk about his determination to have a child in front of others, so he kept his shame to himself.
Fortunately, the baby named Ho was healthy. Although he looked fragile and helpless as a newborn, he was already the fourth child in the family.
The experience had taught them that even if a baby looked weak, they were all healthy.
“When will you stop staring at the baby? Go and do some work,” Paeng Yeon-hwa said.
Although she wanted to stay a little longer, she felt guilty for keeping me from my work and chased me out. Even if I had been playing around instead of working, she wouldn’t have listened to me.
Maybe Paeng Yeon-hwa just liked seeing me work hard.
As I left her room and headed back to my office, I heard a strange voice.
“What’s this…!”
I turned my head to see the Lord of Sungyeon gesturing in front of his room with a strange tone and a weak voice.
“What’s ‘this’ supposed to mean? That’s not something you usually say…”
“Oh, that was a mistake. Don’t worry about it.”
Blushing, the Lord of Sungyeon quickly interrupted me with a fan. Maybe he thought something was strange too.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well, you see, last time Ma Shi came here, things got a little complicated, you know?”
“What? Complicated? What do you mean… oh…”
I didn’t understand at first because she left out the object, but I soon realized that she was talking about sex and pregnancy.
“Well, that’s why I’m saying we should do it more seriously now…”
The Lord of Sungyeon looked around nervously, but the meaning of her words was clear.
She was suggesting that we have sex more often.
As I listened to her, I began to notice her body more, as if there was no reason to hold back.
Without thinking, I nodded my head, and the Lord of Sungyeon opened her mouth with a smile.
“So, does that mean we’ll only have sex with each other until we have a baby?”
Oh, that’s a bit…
I hesitated a little, wondering if I should tell her that it was possible for her to get pregnant or not.