Chapter 403 – I Worked Out (1)
The next morning, I called Huangbo Hyosun early.
“What’s up?”
Her expression, as if she was looking at a patient with an infectious disease, was probably due to her sweating from wielding a sword at the training ground since early morning.
“Remember what I told you before? That I need your help with some upper-level work.”
“…Yes.”
“Now that you’re ready, you’ll start helping me from today.”
“…”
I expected her to answer, but Huangbo Hyosun just crumpled her face with a complicated expression.
“I have no doubt that you are the granddaughter of the Muhim Prince and the wife of the top-notch martial artist, Huangbo Se-ga, who will not hesitate to make a vow. But…”
“Oh, I got it! I understand!”
Huangbo Hyosun replied, surprised and clapping her hands.
Did she hesitate to say that she wouldn’t do it?
Anyway, after waiting for a while, Huangbo Hyosun, who had petted the bird, showed up again, and I walked beside her, sending a telepathic message.
“Officially, the work you’re going to do from today is directly assigned by the So-gyoju. If anyone asks, you can answer like that.”
“What exactly do I have to do? Actually… I mean… this kind of work…”
“I’ll tell you when we get there. You won’t understand even if I explain it now.”
Was it a belated declaration of conscience? It seemed that she was trying to say that she couldn’t do or didn’t like this kind of work, but I had already guessed that much.
Although I said it was upper-level work, Huangbo Hyosun didn’t seem like a woman who had even tasted a single grain of rice that she had bought with her own hands, let alone upper-level work.
At best, she might have spent money on preserved food when staying at an inn or traveling a long distance.
So I didn’t even think about entrusting her with handling goods or writing ledgers. I didn’t have the authority or knowledge to do such things in the first place.
As a result of various circumstances, the work I entrusted to her was…
“Um, wait a minute… I think I can give a perfect opinion if I play one more game.”
“…It’s already time for lunch, so let’s start from here and finish it.”
“No, really, can’t we just play one more game? It’ll be over in no time. Just one more game…”
“You’ve already played five more games like that, ma’am.”
She was a beta tester for the game.
As soon as the wooden air hockey table, which was made as a test by asking a request from her father-in-law, who was attached to the upper level of the martial arts world, was completed, I asked Huangbo Hyosun to test it out.
Unlike modern times, there was no equipment to blow air, so the wooden air hockey puck didn’t slide well, and it was a bit ambiguous to attach the word “air,” but Huangbo Hyosun seemed to like it.
“It’s not mourning…”
Huangbo Hyosun was looking at me with a mixture of anticipation and sweat on her forehead, wiping a few strands of hair that stuck to her forehead. Anyway, if she likes it this much, I don’t have to worry about customer feedback, do I?
As criticism of the Yungun Upper Circle boiled over, interest in the Yungga Upper Circle, who almost suffered unjust ridicule, increased.
It was a temporary interest that would disappear soon, but it was not easy to get this kind of publicity effect without spending money.
So, while the water was coming in, I made this air hockey to gather people in another place, not a well.
“You said you were going after just one game.”
“I said I got it. Let’s start!”
She seemed to be full of suspicion when I brought her here to try it out earlier.
Huangbo Hyosun came closer to me, defenseless, and accepted the puck I handed her, standing on the opposite side.
“It’s simple.”
But Huangbo Hyosun’s play was not simple at all, unlike what was in her head.
To prevent damage to the table, they agreed not to use their strength against each other, but even without their strength, the fact that Huangbo Hyosun was an excellent master did not disappear.
With superior basic stamina that even most young men cannot withstand, and the strict vegetarian diet she learned from Huangbo Sega, which was used only in such a childish game, the result was terrifying.
I tried to resist in my own way, but the difference in experience was inevitable, and in the end, the puck that had been sliding smoothly on the plane suddenly jumped up and went into my goal, and Huangbo Hyosun’s score went up again.
“Oops…!”
I didn’t even realize that I made a moaning sound, and Huangbo Hyosun, who heard the sound, laughed in satisfaction.
“Heh, isn’t this the game you invented? If the inventor doesn’t have this much skill…”
This is so annoying.
In response to Huangbo Hyosun’s provocation, my voice that followed was filled with a small sense of revenge.
“I see. Anyway, I lost, so let’s go now.”
“Wait a minute. It’s not my responsibility…”
“It’s not about responsibility. Anyway, it’s over. Let’s go as promised.”
Huangbo Hyosun had an unfair expression, but it was a ridiculous situation for me. I didn’t know that this game, which was made to surprise the kids, would become so sincere.
Reaching out my hand towards the hockey puck, which corresponds to the hockey racket, Huangbo Hyosun turned her hand holding the puck back and said,
“Hey, did you do it on purpose? Carelessly…”
“How can the inventor be unskilled? Here, give it to me. I’m hungry.”
“You’ve been holding it in all this time!”
I unfolded my tricks like a mother chasing a child who refuses to eat. Huangbo Hyosun also tried to escape through the same trick, but using hands was much easier for me than her.
After a few rounds of attack and defense, when I pretended to turn my palm over and pushed it slightly, her wrist automatically came into my hand.
“Oops…!”
“I didn’t say not to do it. Just eat… again…”
Oh, what’s this?
As my hand got tangled up with the goldfish technique, I didn’t even realize that we had gotten closer. Trying to forcibly remove her fingers one by one, Huangbo Hyosun lowered her head and her shoulders shrank rapidly.
‘Ah.’
As we were in this position, her reaction could only become strange if I forcibly released her hand holding the object.
I hesitated for a moment, wondering what to do.
At this moment when she was panicking, the calculator in my head was working fiercely. Is it a gain or a loss to push her away here?
The answer came quickly.
“What are you doing, madam? I won’t do it even if you endure it like that. Let’s go quickly.”
“Uh, okay?”
I put the puck I confiscated from her hand on the hockey table and turned around. She, who was momentarily frozen, let out a gasping voice from behind.
“It’s not like I was just playing around…”
“And I have work to do. It might be difficult to keep playing with you, so I’ll assign someone to play with you when I’m not around. I have a few more ideas in mind, so please give me your opinion on how to improve it as critically as possible.”
“It’s not like I was just playing around…”
“And I have work to do. It might be difficult to keep playing with you, so I’ll assign someone to play with you when I’m not around. I have a few more ideas in mind, so please give me your opinion on how to improve it as critically as possible.”
“Well, it’s not like I was just playing around…”
Huangbo Hyosun replied in a sulky voice, as if she had frozen.
‘Not now.’
I almost reached out to her slender, sweaty neck that reflected light smoothly, but I held back. It was a judgment I had to make.
Seeing that she didn’t push me away immediately, there might be a balance of conflict in her heart.
And on one side of that scale, there is a possibility, maybe quite high, that there is some affection for me hanging there, even if it’s just a little bit.
“Now is the time to shake it little by little, without showing it, and grow it when there’s a chance.”
Little by little, without her even realizing it.
By the time she realizes that something is strange, the scale will already be tilted quite heavily in the opposite direction.
On the same day, No Hee-bang was in a daze after suddenly receiving a visit from the owner of the top of the luck hierarchy, Un Ki-sung.
“What is this… in your ear…?”
“That’s right. It’s a rough summary of the items and quantities we currently have in possession here at the top. There may be a slight difference between the actual inventory and what’s recorded due to ongoing transactions, but it shouldn’t be too significant.”
No Hee-bang’s mind was racing fiercely at the sudden and ridiculous situation of her getting the information she wanted handed to her.
“What does this mean? Is this a warning to stop digging around since they already know everything?”
The thought of how one could guarantee the reliability of information handed over by the other party in the first place crossed her mind, but then the top-level owner said something that surprised her even more.
“I don’t know about other places, but here at the headquarters, we can check even more detailed information. If you want, I can even help you confirm it in person.”
“Uh, so, why…?”
“I’m sure you understand, right? I’m just following the orders of the head of the sect to hand it over. I guess they judged that you might need more detailed information.”
The top-level owner spoke as if it was a bother. As someone from the demon sect, they didn’t like having to rely on the help of the righteous sect.
As soon as the top-level owner left her quarters, No Hee-bang immediately compared the situation she had confirmed so far with the ledger she had received, and confirmed that there was almost no difference.
‘What’s going on…’
It seemed like it would take too long to confirm all this information alone.
As No Hee-bang quickly skimmed through the items, looking for anything suspicious, she decided to start by confirming the inventory they had here.
And as she came face to face with the person she had momentarily forgotten about in the confusing situation, she regretted leaving her quarters.
“Bangju, are you going to eat?”
“Kang So-hyup.”
As Kang Yoon greeted them warmly while walking with Huangbo Hyosun, No Hee-bang took a step back without even realizing it.
Hiding her own emotions and reading the intentions of others, that was the first step in gathering information.
No Hee-bang quickly opened her mouth as she noticed the confusion on the other person’s face, making a mistake she hadn’t even made in her novice days.
“Well, I thought the Taoist was coming closer… so I was a little cautious. Sorry.”
“Confusing me with someone else, and not just anyone, but Kang So-hyup…?”
Hwangbo Hyosun, who was walking next to them, interjected without realizing the situation. She pointed out that it was difficult to mistake them since the nature of their accumulated inner power was completely different, and even if the Qi channels were blocked to prevent the momentum from leaking out, it was difficult to make such a mistake.
“Well, I was thinking about a few things, so…”
“It’s possible. Don’t worry about it.”
As No Hee-bang struggled to come up with an excuse, the other person intervened and saved her.
“Do you have any urgent matters to attend to right now? If not, let’s have a meal together.”
“Ah… come to think of it.”
The sun was already at its zenith. Originally, she had no intention of doing anything other than verifying the contents of the ledger she had received, but now that she recognized it as mealtime, her stomach started to growl.
Gurgle.
Just as the conversation ended, a clear sound rang out, and No Hee-bang glanced at the other person, but they pretended not to notice.
“This is driving me crazy.”
And No Hee-bang cursed her own head, which had started to think about how she could make the other person fall for her.
Was this what it meant to be caught up in such turmoil just by showing such a side of herself to someone?
Even though she thought it wasn’t intentional (when in fact it was), her black heart, which had floated to the surface once, showed no signs of being suppressed.
Should she just let go of Mong-ah? How long would it take for her to lose control of Yang-gi, which she couldn’t control right now?
Trying to forcibly push away the thoughts that kept coming to her mind, No Hee-bang, who stood next to Hwangbo Hyosun, suddenly realized that her face had come to mind.
“Come to think of it, it’s strange that only the two of you are together. What’s going on?”
If it had been No Hee-bang a few days ago, she might not have thought it was strange.
She would have just passed it off as Hwangbo Hyosun being a hermit and practicing some kind of swordsmanship, even if she had a vague memory of her face.
But now that she knew the truth about Kang Yoon, Hwangbo Hyosun’s face, which had come to mind and her shortness of breath, didn’t seem so ordinary.
“Um… well, that’s because…”
On the other hand, Hwangbo Hyosun was embarrassed about what to call what she had done. It was a game she had never heard of before, and it didn’t even have a name.
As she struggled to come up with an appropriate word, a suitable term suddenly came to mind, and Hwangbo Hyosun answered belatedly.
“Ah, we exercised, exercised.”
“Exercise, you say?”
Not cultivation, but exercise.
No Hee-bang’s mind became complicated.
Hwangbo Hyosun had a reputation for being upright, even raising her sword to the heavens with both hands, which was unheard of in the past. Moreover, unlike Mong-ah, there was even a husband present, so it was possible to believe that she had not had any intimate relations with other men…
“On the other hand, because of that kind of character, couldn’t she do it?”
If it was not about having intimate relations with other men, but rather as part of the practice?
It seemed possible to sacrifice one’s own chastity for the sake of another’s life.
“Aaah… I don’t know…!”
It would be less painful if a few more places like the Ma-gyo or Eunryeong-hoe appeared and surrounded the Jungwon-murim in all directions.
So No Hee-bang, with suspicions that Kang Yoon did not even intend, walked with a heavy heart, struggling inwardly.
