In the past, there was a time when the sea level began to rise dramatically. A tragedy occurred as numerous lands were submerged underwater. Around the same time, a clan that had been living in isolation on high ground descended to the lower lands.
Hwa clan (花族).
That’s what they were called.
The Hwa clan had the ability to support the continent to prevent it from being submerged, making each of them akin to a kind of ship. The revealed Hwa clan extended across various continents, supporting numerous lands. The continent where the Hwa clan settled was never submerged. As a result, various kinds of people flocked to the continent where the Hwa clan resided. They were refugees who had escaped from the lands submerged in the sea.
Every member of the Hwa clan adhered to the taboo that the abilities of their tribe should not be revealed to others. Because of this, people remained unaware of the fact that the Hwa clan supported the continents for a very long time. The problem arose in the now-vanished and non-existent 11th continent.
The prime minister, the de facto ruler of the 11th Continent fell in love with a member of the Hwa clan.
By chance, the prime minister learned about the abilities of the Hwa clan and shared the secret with his close aides. The prime minister and his aides were originally natives of the 11th continent. Like elsewhere, refugees flocked to the 11th continent. In fact, there became even more refugees than natives.
The prime minister and his aides were always anxious about the possibility of losing power as a minority ethnic group. So, they harbored ambitions to possess all existing Hwa clan members and wield power.
The prime minister urged his companion, a member of the Hwa clan. No matter how much he tried to cajole them into figuring out how to find out about the Hwa clan and how their abilities were displayed, the Hwa just kept silent.
Eventually, one of the prime minister’s aides, driven by impatience, resorted to killing the Hwa clan member. Shortly after the death of the Hwa clan member, a massive tidal wave, the height of a mountain, struck the entire 11th continent. It was a phenomenon caused by the continent sinking downward.
On that day, the 11th continent disappeared from the map. It took less than an hour for the continent to sink. Along with the sinking continent, the truth that the Hwa clan was supporting the continent also disappeared.
“Oooh, ooooh~, this is already a story that’s been around for twenty years, the final day of the 11th continent, oooh.”
The singer who sang “The Last Day of the 11th Continent” finished humming.
The lyrics, spanning four long verses, were based on a novel-like flow. Cheongyeon, who was serving beer, glanced at the briefly playing guitar singer. Support poured in for the singer’s storytelling-like performance. Barrage of corn and popcorn followed in succession, and even beer glasses were flying, claiming that the taste was ruined.
The only person in the Dandelion Pub who listened to the song was Cheongyeon. The revelers had no interest in how the 11th continent had become submerged.
“If all the humans living on the 11th continent died, how does a wandering singer know!”
One of them confronted the singer who was preparing to perform the next song. The singer with corn on his head got up from her seat.
“What do you know! That’s the source of creation!”
Then, once again, dry snacks were thrown.
Cheongyeon hoped that the singer would stop provoking people and leave, wondering when he would clean it all up. Instead of going down himself, the singer was forcibly dragged down by the boatman. The singer huffed and went to the tavern owner, who handed her some money.
“Just don’t come out anymore.”
The guitar singer who was cut off on the first day left. “Ignorant bunch,” the singer, who muttered, snatched the money and left the tavern. Cheongyeon served fresh beer only to the boatman. Cheongyeon hoped that this incident would be an opportunity for her to stop singing her self-composed song, “The Last Day of the 11th Continent.”
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.
Ktf mbcafcar bo atf isglmr kfgf regqglrlcuis mibrf ab atf ageat.
“Cqbatfmjgs! Ccbatfg uijrr bo yffg!”
Ktf gbeut rjlibg’r nblmf fmtbfv.
“Jtfbcusfbc, ifa’r ilnfc eq atf jawbrqtfgf!”
C wjc ja atf mfcagji ajyif uba eq, rkjsfv tlr tlqr, jcv vjcmfv, wjxlcu remt j reuufralbc.
‘…Nasty.’
Pucbglcu atf wjc, Jtfbcusfbc bcis rfgnfv ogfrt yffg ab atf rjlibg. Rbk, atf wjc ja atf mfcagji ajyif kjr rtbklcu fnfc tlr yeaabmxr.
It was supposed to be a part-time job that would end as soon as the deal with the smuggling ship captain went well. However, since he mentioned working at the pub to Muwon, he had to come out for a few more days just in case. Fortunately, it had been four days since and he had not encountered him.
“Boss.”
“You surprised me! Can’t you make a bit of noise first?”
The boss, who was pouring beer, was surprised by Cheongyeon next to him. He didn’t offer any excuses, though it was probably due to the noise in the pub.
“I’m just wondering…”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Uh… Has Tae Muwon ever come?”
The boss, who was skimming the beer foam with a ladle, widened her eyes.
“The Tae Muwon I know? Peira?”
“Yes.”
After placing the beer down for the man who was sitting at the end of the bar, she turned back. Then, she raised her gaze and folded her fingers one by one. One, two, three. She mumbled, then exclaimed, “Oh!”
“It’s been ten days already. He came on a day when there was a lot of rain, why do you ask? It was your day off.”
It was as if she was saying, “How did you know?” The boss, who had just finished speaking, narrowed her eyes and smiled.
“So you saw him?”
“Huh?”
This time, Cheongyeon widened his eyes.
“At the inn right in front of your store.”
Cheongyeon looked utterly confused, wondering what she was talking about. There was an inn in front of the apothecary’s shop, but…
“Huh? You didn’t?”
“I don’t really understand what you’re talking about.”
“Then why are you asking about Tae Muwon?”
The conversation felt oddly disjointed. Cheongyeon shook his head.
“…It’s nothing.”
“Don’t tell me you’re interested in that guy?”
Cheongyeon quickly waved his hands. Even as a joke, it sounded terrifying.
“No, absolutely not.”
“Good call. It’ll be big trouble.”
“Although, for a one-night stand, there’s no one better,” the teasing pub owner chuckled mischievously and added.
“I’d be crazy to give him my heart. No way, absolutely not.”
“Who’s talking about you? I’m talking about Tae Muwon. Those kinds of people always cause trouble when they fixate on something.”
Suddenly, the owner clapped her hands.
“Right, right! I was so drunk that day and forgot about it… I’m remembering only after hearing you talk about it, huh? Aiyo, my lucky charm.”
Cheongyeon tried to avoid the hand that came close to pinch his cheek.
“You’re strict as always.”
With a disappointed expression, she lowered her hand.
“That day, Tae Muwon gave us a month’s worth of sales. He said the apothecary asked him to increase the sales for our store? You’re the apothecary, right?”
Cheongyeon slightly parted his lips.
“Did he, by any chance, ask about something else? Something related to the favor I asked of you.”
When Cheongyeon whispered, the owner also lowered her voice.
“Would I be crazy? Have a death wish while having sex with him? Well, I almost died halfway through, but that’s about another thing. Be careful with what you say too. It’s better that all the people involved in that matter are dead.”
Saying it’s a good thing that someone died… It was contradictory, but Cheongyeon couldn’t completely deny it.
“So, are you really going to quit after this weekend?”
“That’s the plan.”
At this rate, he thought the apothecary should move to a different place.
Except for the affluent class, people in Cheonghwa Town mostly didn’t buy houses with money. If they had to move, they would often engage in a mutual exchange where both parties benefited, like bartering goods.
It was a low-lying area and he would have to find conditions similar to those of an apothecary in a remote area, but it didn’t seem easy. People in Cheonghwa Town didn’t move unless absolutely necessary.
Of course, there was a quick way to move. Just exchange a much worse house with the apothecary, and that would be the end of it. However, Cheongyeon didn’t want to move to a more shabby place than he was in now.
“Even if I raise your hourly wage?”
“…”
It was a tempting proposition. Anyway, he needed money.
“I’ll only do it until the end of this week, as I mentioned.”
“Fine.”
She didn’t insist further. The owner turned away without hesitation, putting dry snacks on the burner to roast.
“By the way, boss…”
“Yeah?”
“If the sales went up a lot because of me… Could I get a bonus, maybe?”
“Ha,” her red lips stretched long.
“Do you know that I never get used to it every time you say something like this? I can’t say no to you.”
When are gay going to meet again ಥ_ಥ
I had to go back and re read to clarify and remember and put together things so muwons dad might be the prime minister
I also hope history won’t repeat itself like the history of the prime minister his aide and the hwa lover…
And I also know history isn’t usually exactly as it’s told in history books so I’m interested to learn more n more about it I feel muwons rememberings in later chapters lead me to believe things weren’t actually as they were told in this chapter