Seolhwa shook his head in astonishment.
“……No!”
“Then please decide. You either follow us to the Ice Palace or you die here with your beloved friends.”
The man said with the same sweet smile as before.
“We are willing to follow whatever choice the Young Palace Master makes.”
We were so dumbfounded. We stared at the man with our mouths open. He’s actually threatening a child much smaller than him. Isn’t this bullying? Are all martial artists like this? But I couldn’t say anything. Even though I didn’t know much about the martial arts genre, I knew that if I pounced on martial artists, I would be in a lot of trouble. Right now, if he just puts a little more force on his palm, my neck would break. The situation is already so serious, imagine how much it would worsen if he broke my neck. Let’s just be still. Seolhwa opened his mouth as he looked at the floor.
“……Come back tomorrow morning.”
“Huh? Did you finally make up your mind?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Young Palace Master.”
The man, satisfied with his answer, removed the hand that was pressing against our heads. He led his men and disappeared in an instant. When the garden became quiet, as if nobody was ever there, Seolhwa extended his hand.
“……I’m sorry.”
“…….”
Looking up at him, I grabbed his hand and got up. And, while shaking off the dust from my clothes, I said.
“What are you sorry about, they’re the ones in the wrong.”
“That’s right, what kind of martial artists are they? They’re just a bunch of unemployed bullies.”
Myoryeong also grumbled while pouting her lips.
“Look at them, suddenly breaking into a random person’s house and threatening them.”
“Ha.”
Seolhwa’s gloomy face gradually cleared up. He smiled and nodded.
“You’re right. They’re really bad guys.”
“I feel dizzy just thinking about seeing their faces again in the morning…”
After I roughly cleaned up the ruined yard, I lightly patted them both on the back.
“Let’s go inside and have dinner.”
“I’ll have to reheat the food. It should be cold by now.”
As usual, we went back inside the house and had dinner. Afterwards, I laid down in my bedroom and thought about the promise Seolhwa made earlier. I still can’t believe what we went through today. Seolhwa has to leave tomorrow morning. I called Seolhwa as I stroked Myoryeong’s head and lay with my eyes closed.
“Seolhwa.”
Seolhwa turned his head at the sound of my voice. I asked.
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.
“Want to lie down on my arm?”
“……Tfr!”
Vfbitkj ijlv vbkc, yea P ralii mbeivc’a riffq. Lbk wemt alwf vb kf tjnf ifoa yfobgf atf rec glrfr? Ktfs’ii gfjiis mbwf jr rbbc jr atf wbgclcu jgglnfr, gluta? Lbk ojg jkjs ogbw tfgf lr atf Rbgat Vfj? Qtlif P aglfv ab mjiw ws atbeutar vbkc, Vfbitkj bqfcfv tlr wbeat.
“…Ever since she was young, my mother was a needleworker.”
I listened to him while looking at the ceiling.
“Although I can’t say she lived well, my mother was somehow satisfied with her life. Then one day, she ran into a man while walking on the street. He fell in love with her at first sight.”
“…….”
“He frequently visited her house and gave her expensive gifts. My mother felt burdened by his gifts, but her family did not. Her family was so blindsided by his money that they sold her to him. She became unhappy because of her family and because of that man.”
I knew there was something wrong with Seolhwa’s family history, but I had no idea it was this horrible. To be betrayed by my own family, of all people. I wouldn’t have been able to stand it.
“The man tried everything he could to get my mother to love him, but she wouldn’t even spare him a glance. The angry man locked her in a small room, and she tried to kill herself. She thought that was the only way she could get away from him. But she had to give up on that soon, too. It wasn’t long before she realized that she was pregnant with me.”
Seolhwa had a calm face, as if he was talking about somebody else.
“My mother thought hard about how she could get away from that man. But the life-saving rope came down from an unexpected place. The man was very greedy, so he had many enemies, and they said they would help her escape from the North Sea. My mother got out of that place with their help. She even married a person here and thought she could live a happy life now.”
Seolhwa smirked.
“But who knew? The kind person who was originally okay with her having her child, actually turned into a tyrant every time he got drunk. My mother was abused by him and passed away when I was seven. Even I thought she was really very unlucky with men. At that time, people sent by that man came to see me, but they only looked at me and left. I knew I couldn’t live here forever, but I didn’t expect it to happen now. The fact that the entire North Sea is looking for me means that something bad has happened to him. I’m happy about the fact that he’s not well, but I don’t want to be separated from you two.”
“…….”
“You know.”
Seolhwa grabbed my sleeve.
“With me…”
Our eyes met while he opened his mouth to say more. Seolhwa had a light smile on his mouth. His hand, which held the hem of my clothes, suddenly lost strength.
“You said you were going to Hebei, didn’t you? Take care.”
Then, he said with a bright voice.
“When the pretty flowers bloom, I will definitely come back to see you two.”
“……Seolhwa.”
Seolhwa didn’t end there. He asked for one more favor.
“So will you not forget me until then? I will come to meet you by any means…”
“There’s no way we’ll ever forget you.”
At some point, me and Myoryeong started to hug Seolhwa tightly. I patted Seolhwa’s back.
“Have a safe trip.”
“……Mn, I’ll be back.”
The next morning, Seolhwa left the house with that man. He said he would give us time to say goodbye as a courtesy, but we shook our heads. We’re going to see each other again later on anyway. Seolhwa knew that too, so he looked much calmer. We stood in front of the door for a long time until Seolhwa and the man became small dots. And so, we became two again.
“Put that in there!”
“Tighten that up. This trip will be rough.”
But there was no time to feel sad either. We had to get ready to leave for Hebei. Soseo, who was in an old-fashioned carriage, asked on the day we were going to leave.
“Didn’t you say there’s one more? Why are there only two of you?”
“……He can’t come.”
“Why?”
I answered with my eyes fixed on Myoryeong’s back, who was saying goodbye to Sister Jinmi.
“He went back to his hometown a while ago.”
“I don’t know what happened, but didn’t he go back to his hometown? Isn’t that a good thing?”
“…….”
I didn’t say anything. Soseo, who was looking down at me with his chin on his palm, raised his hand.
“What is it?”
“Come here.”
As soon as he got on the carriage, Soseo offered me a seat.
“Sit down.”
I sat across from Soseo. Soseo shook his head.
“Not there.”
Soseo pointed to the seat next to him.
“Here.”
“…Why?”
“Come on.”
I had no choice but to sit next to him. Won’t Myoryeong misunderstand when she sees this again? I was restless and said.
“Hey, Soseo. I’ll stop…”
Soseo’s palm touched my cheek. Soseo asked with worried eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“…What? Oh, am I sad because he left?”
I nodded.
“Of course not. I’m completely fine. It’s not like we won’t see each other for the rest of our lives.”
To be honest, until recently, I was wary of him because of his status as the protagonist. We weren’t together for long, and we didn’t have special memories with each other. There was no reason to be sad. I got up from my seat.
“So I’ll leave you now…”
Soseo suddenly grabbed my arm. My eyes widened as he pulled me into his embrace. I was taken aback by Soseo’s sudden action.
“Soseo, I’m really fine.”
Soseo patted me on the back.
“I’m really fine. You don’t have to do this…”
I couldn’t speak anymore. Seolhwa probably said he would come to see us when the pretty flowers bloom because I like flowers. I mumbled while burying my face in Soseo’s arms.
“I didn’t know I was this sensitive.”
“…….”
“What if I miss him while I’m in Hebei?”
“… Don’t worry about that, Myoha.”
Soseo kept patting me on the back and saying.
“I don’t know what kind of person he is, but you’ll quickly forget him when you arrive in Hebei.”
I stopped crying and quickly came to my senses. I doubted my ears.
“……What?”
“So don’t cry, Myoha.”
What did he just say? I reflexively raised my face in Soseo’s arms. Soseo wiped away my tears with the hem of his clothes and smiled brightly. The smile, which was so sweet and innocuous, calmed down my confusion for a moment.
‘Yes, I don’t think Soseo meant it in a bad way. I’m sure he said it to comfort me.’
I gently avoided Soseo’s arm and rubbed my face with the hem of my sleeves. My face hurt a little because I rubbed it too hard, but I finally got a hold of myself.
“I’ll stop crying now, Soseo. Thank you for cheering me up.”
“No, I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
Then, the worker that was loading up the luggage said.
“Young Master, we’ve finished loading up the carts. Shall we head off now?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
I got out of the carriage in a hurry. Myoryeong, who was waiting for me in front of it, was surprised to see my face’s condition.
“Have you been crying?”
“Mn…. But I’m fine now.”
Yeah, it’s not like we won’t see each other forever, so let’s not be depressed. We sat on the cart.
Soseo sus
Suseo sos
Sussssss… this kid….. so young but he’s already giving off domineering (CEO) Sect leader vibes hahaha
Sussy baka Soseo
First sign of red flag? 🧐
Sussy Soseo
Uhhmm… He’s not going to erase his memories, right? Right? 😀
Looks like everyone agrees that Soseo is very sus 🤣
Me too, dw