Kofi thanks to: Flowersky
With permission to go back, Cheongyeon returned to the place where he had spread out his herbs. He placed the tightly wrapped bundle on the back of his bicycle. After Muwon appeared, the surroundings became empty. The thieves did not dare to come near, so they showed no interest in Cheongyeon’s medicine.
In retrospect, he wondered if they may not have been stealing these medicinal herbs because they didn’t know what to do with them. Even when he went to another area to avoid Tae Muwon, the items from the herbal medicine shop were safe.
Cheongyeon took his bicycle and approached Muwon. He didn’t climb into the saddle, but just grabbed the handlebars and pulled it along. By now, Saturn had gone somewhere and only Muwon was left.
Muwon looked at the sack tied with rope and smiled.
“You’re really diligent.”
It must have seemed that way because as soon as the big market stood, he came out in a hurry and tried to sell medicinal herbs. The voice that spoke was kind for Tae Muwon, but Cheongyeon was not at ease. He didn’t know if Muwon was still suspiciously sounding him out again in some way.
As they walked together toward the dock, Muwon’s gaze kept catching him. When he glanced at him, Muwon’s gaze lingered a little lower than his face.
When Muwon stretched out his hand, Cheongyeon withdrew his body away. With the bike between him, his arms gripping the handlebars were tense. Muwon did not force Cheongyeon. He just bit down on his cigarette with his empty hand.
“I mean I’m sorry.”
Then he tapped his own neck. Cheongyeon’s mouth became agape without realizing it. It would be less surprising if the sperm whale in the distance came back to life and returned to the sea. He felt choked hearing Tae Muwon’s apology.
“…It’s okay.”
In fact, it wasn’t a deep wound so it wasn’t a big deal. There was a mark on his neck, but it was barely visible unless you looked closely.
“Then what if it’s not okay?”
“Because you gave me… the money.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He felt like he had to say something somehow, so he squeezed out an answer. The white smoke that was leaking from the corner of Muwon’s mouth dissipated, and only then did he see his mouth smiling absurdly.
“Po P raglq sbe cjxfv, yfja sbe, rajy sbe, jcv atfc ulnf sbe wbcfs, klii fnfgsatlcu yf gfrbinfv?”
“Rb, yea sbe jqbibulhfv…”
Jtfbcusfbc lwwfvljafis vfclfv la.
“Po P jqbibulhf, vbfr la wjxf fnfgsatlcu jigluta?”
“…Zbrais.”
Zekbc mtemxifv.
“Cqbatfmjgs, tbk mtfjq jgf sbe?”
Jtfbcusfbc vlv cba gfrqbcv ab Zekbc, ktb xfqa wfrrlcu jgbecv tlw. Lf kbcvfgfv ktja tf kjr ublcu ab claqlmx ja, yea atfc atf uglcclcu Zekbc vlvc’a rjs jcsatlcu.
A poor apothecary and the second-in-command of Cheonghwa Town. It was an unlikely pairing, and Cheongyeon felt strange walking alongside him on the quayside.
At one point, he suspected him of being a Hwa and tried to kill him… No, was Muwon really trying to kill him? The reason why Tae Muwon was looking for the Hwa clan was still unknown. That was not all, he couldn’t even find the Boksu flower that was definitely blooming somewhere in Cheonghwa Town. Thanks to Tae Muwon, Cheongyeon first learned that the flower grew in Cheonghwa Town.
The origin of the name of the scentless Boksu flower was unknown. It was the Hwa clan that gave it the name. The only people who could smell the scent emitted by the damaged Boksu flower were the Hwa clan.
When Cheongyeon met Muwon again, there was no scent of Boksu flowers. Still, it was a time when he took a deep breath just in case. Only cigarette smoke carried by the wind filled his lungs.
“Cough…” Muwon frowned as Cheongyeon swallowed dryly and suppressed a cough. He stared down at his cigarette. Then, instead of putting it in his mouth, he took it in his hand. The cigarette was slowly burning in the flame for a moment, and then, with a curse, he took another long drag. Cheongyeon slowed down his steps a little.
As the distance widened, Muwon looked at Cheongyeon with frustration, wondering if he was so lofty that even the smoke from a cigarette made him cough. However, Cheongyeon’s gaze was not on the cigarette but on the sperm whale carcass. The sperm whale recovered from the ship’s hull appeared to be approximately 20 meters long. It was barely possible to get it out because several hundred men were stuck together.
The blood shed by the sperm whale soaked the dockside. Cheongyeon was gripping the handlebars of his bicycle so tightly that his hands were fading. Muwon also stopped and watched Cheongyeon.
The apothecary Muwon saw for the first time in two months had gained more weight than before. His complexion seemed much better, as if he had been eating well with the 20,000 hwan he gave him. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if he gained a little more weight here and there.
“With a giant squid.”
Cheongyeon muttered, frowning. While he was standing, the next words sounded so outlandish that he wondered if he was dreaming.
“I guess the sperm whales fought with it and died.”
Only then did Muwon shift his gaze to the sperm whale carcass that Cheongyeon was looking at.
The sperm whale died after swallowing the head of a giant squid that lived in the deep sea. The legs extending from under the swallowed head were so large that they could easily wrap around the sperm whale’s body.
The sperm whale had scars from suckers all over its body, as if they had really been fighting with each other. They went around shouting that they had caught a sperm whale, but in reality, they had not caught it, but rather chanced upon it.
Cheongyeon seemed to have a special appreciation for his dead squid. Now that Muwon thought about it, according to his report, he enjoyed buying and eating squid. He only stopped by the fish market and there was a list of what he bought, including squid again and again.
“Do you like squid?”
“I liked it, but I don’t think I’ll be able to eat it anymore.”
Cheongyeon, who was white as a sheet, answered obediently and drew his bicycle back. While he looked motionless, Muwon saw that his body was also trembling slightly. He had seen him like that before, when he saw blood.
They were working on drilling a hole in the huge body of a sperm whale to drain its blood. The dockside was usually full of a fishy smell, but today it was full of a fishy smell that had a different texture from fish. On the other side, they were cutting open the stomach of a sperm whale.
The captain and crew pulled out what looked like a large stone from the sperm whale’s intestines: the ambergris. Exclamations of fascination came from the mouths of everyone watching.
“This is an ambergris of enormous size! Look!”
The captain lifted the ambergris, which was too heavy to hold with both hands, above his head. At the same time, merchants from the 1st Continent each offered a higher price to buy it. Soon, the wooden stand that the captain climbed up on was turned into an auction house, so there was no need to move to the auction house.
“Come come! Calm down and we will start bidding again from 100,000 hwan. 100,000, 300,000, 500,000, 1 million!”
The price soared in an instant. The auction, which started at 100,000 hwan, reached 2 million hwan in just a few seconds. For 2 million hwan, you could buy a house on a high ground even in District E.
Muwon was watching the auction with some interest. Cheongyeon took a quick look at the atmosphere and thought he should get out of here. It was difficult for him to bear the overwhelming bloody smell. From earlier, he had been breathing only through his mouth.
“How soon do you think it will end?”
He wanted to know something, but his answer was obedient.
“It’s expensive.”
Muwon took his gaze away from the ambergris and turned to Cheongyeon again. He was wheezing his breath through his small open mouth. He still had a frown on his face as he looked at the corpse. He must have had a hard time on the lowest-lying lands of Cheonghwa Town, and at times like this, Cheongyeon looked like he had grown up nicely.
Muwon took out the cigarette pack but then stuffed it back into the suit with a grim expression.
“5 million hwan! We have 5 million hwan!”
The soaring bidding price reached a lull at some point as the merchants who were excited and raising money were competing with each other.
“Hey! At this rate, I can’t even pay the auction tax! I’d rather eat myself to death!”
Wow! The onlookers burst into laughter at the captain’s joke as he opened his mouth towards the ambergris. The bidding price also rose again.
Cheonghwa Town sailors had to pay taxes to the Cheonghwa Town owner in the name of protecting fishing boats from pirates, but the only owner who actually protected the fishing boats was the current ruler, Peira.
Cheongyeon looked with anxious eyes at the sight of the sperm whale blood, which was gradually expanding its territory. He hoped it wouldn’t reach his feet. Whenever he saw a puddle of blood, bad thoughts kept coming to him. The sound of the glinting blade being plunged into his nanny’s chest… Cheongyeon stared intently at the saddle of his bicycle. He just wanted to ride his bike and go back to the apothecary.
Then, suddenly, someone grabbed the handlebars, making his anxious thoughts suddenly broken. The person who took the steering wheel away from Cheongyeon was none other than Muwon. He sat down on his bicycle as if it were his own and fixed the bike with both legs on the floor and put both arms on the handlebars. Then he turned his head to the side.
“It’s been a while since I last saw you, and you’re already starting to think about running away. I’m disappointed.”
Wow! At the same time, cheers rang out on the dockside. The auction has concluded. Listening to the cheers of the people, Cheongyeon thought that he had simply misheard Muwon’s words of disappointment.
“For the ambergris! The final bid for 7 million hwan was made by Hwang Ran from the 1st Continent! It’s 7 million hwan!”
Thanks for the chapters
Thanks for the chapters!! 💜💜💜
Heh is he really going to succeed in tricking Cheongyeon? That’d be even sadder if Muwon does that then tricks him somehow. Thanks for the new chapters Translator misacchi and coffee donator flowersky!
GRACIAS por los capítulos ❤️
I love how we keep getting fed bits of plot as kind of foreshadowing/set up of the future chapters to come
So is the sperm whale Muwon and the giant squid Cheongyeon?