Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 138

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“……”
“……”
“Gulp.”
“……Hmm.”
“W-well…… it’s fine. So-mi really does make…… delicious food!”
Namgung So-hye chewed her finger with a visibly queasy expression. The eyes of those gathered around the dishes before them all gleamed with something decidedly uncomfortable.
She’d had some confidence, after all.
With a grimace, she glanced sideways at Namgung Cheon.
But even he turned away this time, helpless to offer any comfort, and looked elsewhere.
‘I knew I had no hand for this sort of thing……’
Namgung Cheon exhaled a short sigh.
He’d known she had no talent for cooking.
From the beginning, Namgung So-hye had never occupied a position where cooking would have been her concern—there’d never been reason to learn it. What Martial Practitioner would neglect the blade to study cooking instead?
Moreover, Namgung So-hye was a prodigy of the Namgung Clan itself.
Had anyone dared teach such a girl something as lowly as cooking, it would not have ended without grave consequences.
‘And yet…… how could it be this bad?’
But then, there was something people often overlooked.
The basic refinement expected of a woman, or those small arts picked up through observation. During the time she’d kept this Estate alone, he had thought she would manage to prepare at least some edible fare—a miscalculation, it turned out.
What looked to be stir-fried vegetables was charcoal.
The sheer technical skill required to burn something that thoroughly was remarkable.
The meat she’d brought out looked grilled at first, but whether it was actually meat or something else entirely defied determination. Strip away the exterior and the flesh within was undoubtedly genuine—no question there—yet no amount of chopstick work could tear it apart.
Never in his life had he encountered such impossibly tough meat.
Everything else was much the same.
‘Had I known, I’d have taught her something.’
Namgung Cheon found himself regretting his own methods of instruction for the first time.
In a situation where he needed to show Dan Woo-hyun something—anything—favorable, and here she was serving up this disaster. How mortifying could it be?
“At this point, a dog could do better.”
“Crunch!”
Dan Woo-hyun picked up a charred clump of stir-fried vegetables with his chopsticks. With only the slightest pressure, it crumbled to ash with a crackling sound, scattering across his plate.
Namgung So-hye’s face flushed crimson.
“W-what—what are you doing?! Then you cook! Since what I made is worse than what a dog would produce!”
“What have you even been eating all this time?”
“I…… just…… this and that……”
Namgung So-hye fidgeted and looked away.
She’d eaten something, certainly.
Though it could hardly be called cooking given how utterly it had failed, it had kept her alive—no real obstacle there. True, there’d been a few occasions when her stomach turned and she’d ached for days afterward, but she’d survived it all thus far, so it wasn’t quite poison.
That had to suffice.
“Don’t worry! Sister! So-mi will make something new!”
“Huh?”
Dan So-mi patted Namgung So-hye reassuringly on the shoulder, then began clearing the bowls from the table. Curious what she intended, he followed quietly—and watched as she began cooking with practiced, effortless grace.
Her handling of the flame was flawless; the way she tossed vegetables in the iron wok was every bit as dazzling and refined as watching Jang Sam-tae work.
Namgung So-hye bit her lip, her expression one of pure shock.
Everything Namgung So-hye had labored over for two Double Hours, Dan So-mi produced in less than half that time—a gorgeous, perfect spread that filled the table.
“Oh! So you cook too, So-mi?”
“Hehe! I help Uncle Jang every day! Uncle Jang says a woman has to cook deliciously so her husband will love her!”
She bounced over and filled the remaining empty spaces on the table with dishes, speaking in that innocent, crystalline voice. Her flawless smile and that child’s brightness landed like a heavy weight upon someone’s shoulders.
Sa Do-hak glanced at Namgung So-hye and let out a soft chuckle.
Namgung Cheon was at a loss, and Kwon Mu-jin had fallen silent.
Namgung So-hye stood motionless, her face flushed so darkly it looked ready to split.
Dan Woo-hyun, listening to all of this, smirked.
“Seems she can’t manage it because she has no husband waiting for her love. Some people, you know.”
“Y-you…… this…… this person really…… is unbelievable!”
Namgung So-hye’s voice rang out sharply.

“W-what does cooking matter anyway!”
Bang!
Back in her room, Namgung So-hye kicked over the chair with an aggrieved expression.
She understood well enough that food was vital—people had to eat to survive—but to judge a person by whether they could cook or not! It was absurd.
And not every woman was naturally skilled at cooking, regardless of what people assumed.
Did Dan Woo-hyun truly believe that all women ought to know their way around a kitchen by default?
“Still, not being able to even bake properly is… well, it’s rather embarrassing.”
Namgung So-hye exhaled a long, weary sigh.
Yes, she’d failed at many things, but the most stinging failure of all was this: she couldn’t even manage baking. The dough had turned so tough and stringy that the outside was charred black—hardly fit for anyone to eat.
“I admit it. I do.”
She muttered the words with a pouting expression.
“Are you all right, Sister?”
At that moment, Dan So-mi slipped quietly through the door. In the bowl she held were three dumplings that looked absolutely delicious.
“You didn’t eat much earlier, so I brought these. Hehe.”
Dan So-mi pattered inside and set the bowl down on the table.
These dumplings smelled different from the ones sold in the Ak-yang streets.
The aroma was richer, deeper, more nuanced.
Despite her frustration, Namgung So-hye’s appetite—dormant until now—stirred to life.
She swallowed hard and asked, “Did you… buy these?”
“No! Father made them for me.”
“Pardon?”
“…?”
“Who… who made them, exactly?”
Namgung So-hye stared at Dan So-mi with an expression of utter disbelief. There was only one person in this world whom Dan So-mi called father.
She knew that, of course. Yet somehow, she couldn’t help wanting to deny it.
“Father!”
“The… the Young Master Dan?”
“Yes! My father is really good at cooking. Hehe.”
Dan So-mi poked one of the dumplings with her finger.
The dumpling skin was perfectly tender and plump.
She’d eaten many dumplings in her time, but she’d never encountered any as exquisitely made as these—certainly not as refined as what Dan Woo-hyun had created. They were several times better than Jang Sam-tae’s dumplings, if she was being honest.
“This… this can’t be real. That man, cooking…?”
Yet Namgung So-hye remained in shock.
She’d heard him ramble on about all sorts of things, always criticizing others for lacking skill in the kitchen. But she’d genuinely believed Dan Woo-hyun to be someone who kept his distance from cooking altogether.
That man, cooking?
How could she possibly believe such a thing?
Namgung So-hye reached out with a bewildered expression and picked up one of the dumplings. The moment her fingers made contact, she felt something unmistakable—these were no ordinary dumplings.
‘No, no. It’s only the appearance. There’s no way these could actually taste good!’
She couldn’t admit it. Not to herself.
Not with him—Dan Woo-hyun of all people.
A man known only for beating others and toying with them, cooking? Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
The instant the dumpling touched her tongue, Namgung So-hye nearly collapsed.
“…It’s… it’s far too delicious.”
“Isn’t it? Hehe, Father learned by watching Uncle Jang, but it turned out even better than his.”
Dan So-mi laughed as she nibbled her own dumpling.
Though there was no malice in her words, each syllable struck at Namgung So-hye’s heart like a blade. She knelt there, trembling, her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles went white.
‘I will not lose.’
No, she couldn’t lose. Not to anyone else, and certainly not to Dan Woo-hyun.
She had to learn cooking. She had to master it.
Now, with Jang Sam-tae gone.
If there was anyone left who could teach her…
Namgung So-hye’s eyes never left Dan So-mi’s side.

“No, no! You can’t do it that way!”
“Hm?”
Yet from one corner, a sharp voice cut through the silence.
The Kitchen.
There, Dan So-mi and Namgung So-hye were frantically extinguishing flames rising from a pot. For three days now, So-mi had been teaching her cooking, yet Namgung So-hye seemed to absorb nothing.
Still, she’d improved somewhat since the beginning.
The teacher, after all, was none other than Dan So-mi herself.
Learning from a child so much younger than herself, Namgung So-hye was determined to progress as quickly as possible—working with all her might, every moment of every lesson.

Dan Woo-hyun watched the scene unfold with quiet satisfaction.
Though Namgung So-hye’s cooking mishaps had already accumulated dozens of discarded dishes, it seemed that if she could master the basics, life at the Estate would become considerably more pleasant.
Of course, it was rather remarkable that a grown woman was learning from a child not yet ten years old, but considering Dan So-mi’s skill, there was nothing particularly strange about it.
‘At least she can cook properly…….’
Dan Woo-hyun rested his chin on his hand and gazed toward Dan So-mi in the distance.
Eight years old this year, and appearing perhaps two years younger than her peers due to her small stature, yet there was no child who could match her brilliance and quick wit.
Perhaps his affection made him see her as prettier than she was, but Dan So-mi’s intelligence was something everyone without exception would nod along with and acknowledge.
That she had taken up cooking for the sake of her future husband…….
Clench!
It was good that she had learned to cook.
He had no doubt her skills would surpass those of many professional cooks. But the moment he thought that all of it was for her future husband’s sake, his teeth ground together.
“Hehehehe, whatever ails you?”
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“You looked like someone sprouting horns just now—all because So-mi’s learning to cook for her future husband’s sake.”
Dan Woo-hyun turned his head sharply toward them.
Sa Do-hak and Namgung Cheon had crept up and settled beside him. Dan Woo-hyun let out a quiet snort that they couldn’t hear, then turned his gaze back to the kitchen.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who coaxed that child into learning how to cook.”
“Coaxed? I merely made a single dumpling for her to taste.”
“That amounts to the same thing.”
Sa Do-hak smacked his lips.
Having tasted the dumplings Dan So-mi had brought that day, he knew how exquisite they were. It made perfect sense that Namgung So-hye, who had been criticized for her lack of cooking skill, would be shaken by Dan Woo-hyun’s culinary prowess and seek to learn from none other than the child.
That was why she now studied under that young girl.
This entire situation was Dan Woo-hyun’s scheming.
That was what Namgung Cheon and Sa Do-hak believed.
“It matters little, but…… where have Jang Sam-tae and Ma Jang-gang gone off to?”
“I sent them out on an errand.”
“Hmm.”
Sa Do-hak’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The most indispensable person at this Estate was none other than Jang Sam-tae. Others could subsist on anything, but because of Dan Woo-hyun’s desire to provide only the finest food for Dan So-mi, Jang Sam-tae had become essential.
Moreover, since Jang Sam-tae handled all the odd jobs around the Estate, even a few days of his absence would leave everything in disarray. Yet Dan Woo-hyun had sent him away knowing this.
Something felt amiss.
“You’re not truly sending him away for some dubious reason, are you?”
At Sa Do-hak’s question, Namgung Cheon also fixed his gaze upon Dan Woo-hyun.
This had never happened before.
Dan Woo-hyun met their stares and broke into a slight smile, then turned his eyes back to the kitchen.
“Nothing’s happened yet. Though something might arise before long…….”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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