Heaven-Defying Hero - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#029

The front courtyard of the inn was like a wonderful gift from nature.

The magnificent scene created by the sunset stretching across the sea offered a leisurely feeling that made one want to stay and linger.

This was the reason why the chronically unprofitable inn had managed to survive until now.

“Ah. This is nice.”

In this space where time seemed to slow down, only one person wore an unpleasant expression.

‘These damn brats.’

Gu Dong-gu was dumbfounded.

He had rushed over after suddenly hearing that the inn had been sold. When he arrived at the inn, there was one familiar brat and one unfamiliar brat he had only heard rumors about.

In fact, those brats were taller than Gu Dong-gu, but that wasn’t what mattered.

“Um… Lord. Why did you buy an inn that’s falling apart?”

He didn’t want to call him Lord, but he barely managed to spit it out by drawing on the patience in his dantian.

“Just because I had money.”

Ja-gang-cheon, sitting side by side with Cheon-gu on the wooden platform, answered while keeping his gaze fixed on the sea.

“What?”

“I happened to have money, and there was someone selling this, so I just bought it. Looking at this sunset, I got it for a steal.”

Gu Dong-gu imagined bringing forth the dirtiest curses in the world and spewing them to his heart’s content.

In that imagination, Ja-gang-cheon was the most pitiful, wretched, dirty, and miserable bastard in the world.

“Just how much did you pay for it to call it a steal?”

“Two thousand nyang.”

Cheon-gu flinched at Ja-gang-cheon’s answer.

Cheon-gu swallowed the words ‘Didn’t we agree to say fifteen hundred nyang?’ in his throat. Fortunately, he was also looking at the sea, so his expression wasn’t caught.

“What! What are you saying? Two thousand nyang? For an inn worth at most eight hundred nyang…”

“Buying a thousand nyang inn for eight hundred nyang is also skill, and selling it for fifteen hundred nyang is also skill. Is there a problem?”

“Where did fifteen hundred nyang suddenly come from…”

Ja-gang-cheon deliberately kept his gaze fixed on the sea and pretended not to know.

Just then, the waitstaff brought tea cups on a wooden tray.

“Please have some tea. And here is the completed sales contract.”

Ja-gang-cheon ostentatiously unfolded the sales contract that even had an official seal stamped on it.

‘Huh?’

When he saw that it said fifteen hundred nyang, he quickly folded it back up.

“Waitstaff.”

“Yes, innkeeper.”

The waitstaff skillfully changed his form of address.

“Please get me an estimate for interior construction. I need to renovate this place as a byeolchae for our manor. As a rest space for people from the manor and merchant guild. Even if we have to change the structure, please make it so the sea can be seen from every guest room. This scenery is too good to enjoy alone.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“And from today, we won’t be doing business for a while, so please politely turn away any guests.”

He was speaking to the waitstaff, but it was actually an order to leave directed at Gu Dong-gu.

“Lord. Please talk with me for a moment…”

“Ah. What beautiful scenery.”

When Ja-gang-cheon played dumb, Gu Dong-gu turned his gaze.

“Cheon-gu. Come here for a moment.”

Gu Dong-gu grabbed for Cheon-gu’s wrist.

“Huh?”

But what he caught was empty air. Cheon-gu had instinctively pulled back just before being grabbed.

Thinking it was a coincidence, Gu Dong-gu frowned.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

Ja-gang-cheon was about to say something, but Cheon-gu was faster.

“Please show some courtesy, innkeeper.”

Cheon-gu stood up from his chair and faced Gu Dong-gu, openly showing his displeasure.

‘A ghost from the past, how dare you.’

Gu Dong-gu was his past.

A living past was glaring at him with anger and displeasure.

-Useless bastard! You don’t even deserve to eat!

It was the same expression he used to make when shouting those words.

For some reason, when he recalled the past, his gaze wanted to turn toward the ground.

‘Get it together.’

Cheon-gu overcame the habit learned over many years and met Gu Dong-gu’s eyes.

“Cheon-gu. How dare you look me in the eye?”

He was five years old when he went to Haejeonggol.

He endured a full five years in Haejeonggol before entering the Eastern Trade Guild. Every day was a nightmare and despair.

That nightmare urged him once again.

“Can’t you hear me? You’ve gotten arrogant while I wasn’t watching.”

“If you want to talk with me, please ask politely.”

“What?”

Gu Dong-gu was incredulous.

“Have you forgotten the grace of raising you for five years and sending you to a good place? It wouldn’t be wrong to say I’m your father…”

It was what he always said. And today, for the first time, Cheon-gu revealed his true feelings.

“What kind of father in this world would sell his child for money? If that’s your idea of natural bonds, then I refuse it. So stop clinging to the past I’ve already abandoned and show some courtesy.”

Cheon-gu had the most confident look in the world.

“They say position makes the person. Fine. I acknowledge it. But remember this. I’m also no longer just the boss of Haejeonggol, but the branch manager of Shandong Trade Guild appointed by the Great Hwangbo Clan. We’ll see who has changed more.”

“What reason do we have to wait and see? We can just ignore each other and live our lives. The Lord of Deungmyeong Manor is resting, so please leave now.”

“How dare you compare a manor built with mere money to the Hwangbo Clan…”

“Have you met them?”

“What?”

“The head of the Hwangbo Clan you praise so much. Have you at least greeted the young master?”

Gu Dong-gu closed his mouth.

He had never even seen their shadow, let alone greeted them.

They weren’t people at Gu Dong-gu’s level to meet.

The highest person he could meet was the head of Shandong Trade Guild, and all he had done was serve him at a giru.

As Gu Dong-gu’s silence after being hit lengthened, a stifled laugh could be heard from somewhere.

“Pfft! Sorry. I tried to hold it in, but it was too funny.”

Ja-gang-cheon bit his lips so hard they wrinkled. At Ja-gang-cheon’s blatant mockery, Gu Dong-gu’s body trembled with rage.

“There will be a day when we meet again.”

Grinding his teeth and promising future revenge, he walked away from the inn with rough steps.

A moment later.

“Argh! Those bastards!”

Gu Dong-gu, who had reached an alley out of sight from the inn, let out a scream.

“Those brats with no background dare to treat me like that!”

With each rough breath he took, his belly swayed greatly.

“Argh!”

Someone cast an uncomfortable glance at his outburst.

“Well now. Looking at how things went, it seems the negotiation didn’t go well, so what about the hundred nyang we agreed on?”

It was the moneylender from whom the inn owner had borrowed money.

Sabotaging the sale and moving the moneylender to demand debt repayment was all Gu Dong-gu’s doing. In return, he had made one promise to the moneylender.

-If you help me buy the inn for five hundred silver nyang, I’ll give you a hundred nyang as compensation.

The moneylender had agreed and had been watching the inn from afar just moments ago. Then he saw Gu Dong-gu come out fuming and followed him.

“The inn owner already repaid the money. It seems everything fell through.”

“If you know, then get lost.”

“Hehe. How can that be? Since you, boss, messed up the job, I should receive compensation. I have a conscience too, so I won’t take everything—just half will do.”

The gaunt moneylender in his fifties generously reduced the compensation fee as if doing a favor.

Thwack!

The answer to that was violence.

“You bastard! Do I still look like a boss to you! Do I look like someone who’d share a table with scum like you? Die! Just die!”

Heavy feet rained down countless times on the face of the moneylender who had already lost consciousness and collapsed.

“Kids and adults alike! All you bastards who look down on me should just die!”

The one-sided venting in the back alley continued for a long time.

***

Early morning.

New family members arrived at the manor.

Six people, including Ja-gang-cheon, came out to the courtyard to welcome them.

There were Cheon-gu and Pansuk, along with Yang Mosu who made core ingredients for elixirs in the manor and two assistants who worked with him.

“Welcome. We’re glad to have you.”

There were five people receiving the greeting.

“Thank you for accepting us when we had nowhere to go. Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Jang Geon.”

The one who revealed his name as Jang Geon was the waitstaff from Yeonok Guesthouse. Beside him were four people who had worked together at the inn.

There was the cook and assistant who prepared food, and the handyman who handled cleaning and various repairs. The cook and the thirteen-year-old assistant were father and son, while the woman in her forties who managed guest rooms and the handyman were husband and wife.

Except for the young boy, all of them had worked at Yeonok Guesthouse for at least seven years.

They were people who could be trusted that much.

“Finally, we’ve filled the empty positions in our manor.”

Though there were six people now, ten workers from Donghai Merchant Guild came to the manor every morning.

With sixteen people staying until evening, there had been no one specifically in charge of basic management including meals.

So mostly Pansuk and the merchant guild workers had been handling things haphazardly by dividing tasks, but they couldn’t easily find people to take over those roles. It was because they had to live together in the manor.

The positions had remained vacant as they kept postponing, but now they brought these people when Yeonok Guesthouse was closing down. Their sincerity and character were proven enough for Cheon-gu to recommend them.

“Now the manor will be bustling! Please take care of us all!”

At Ja-gang-cheon’s informal exclamation, the new family members quickly relaxed their tension.

Especially the thirteen-year-old boy who had been hiding half his body behind his father looked at Ja-gang-cheon with curiosity.

“Little brother. What’s your name?”

“So Cheon-u… sir.”

“I see. So Cheon-u. Ask me if you have any questions.”

So Cheon-u, who had been reading the mood, hesitated before asking.

“Um, is it true that the Lord killed Gwimyeon Ssangssal and Shandong Owak?”

The expressions of the others hardened.

In fact, they too had been very nervous after hearing rumors before coming to the manor.

There was a perception that the manor of a martial artist with many grudges was dangerous. They had come after being persuaded by waitstaff Jang Geon, but they truly felt fear toward the person called Lord. However, his bright smiling face was so pleasant that they wondered if he was really that person.

“That’s right. I did that. But I’ll promise you one thing.”

“What promise?”

“As long as you’ve entered as manor family, you won’t suffer because of me.”

Though he was somewhere between boy and young man in age, in this moment he was an adult.

“Yes! Lord!”

The boy, now completely emerging from behind his father’s back, bowed his head deeply.

“I’m So Cheon-u, who will become the world’s greatest cook!”

Those who came with him covered their mouths, holding back laughter.

“Welcome!”

Thanks to the youngest member’s charm, everyone could finish their greetings with bright smiles.

“Then I’ll give you the tour!”

The most excited person was indeed Pansuk.

Recently, changes had come to him too, and since he had so much to do, his training time was insufficient.

“We should leave Pansuk alone for a while.”

“He needs time.”

“He’ll do well. Even if he can’t interpret martial formulas, he’s quick at learning through his body. If he had learned properly from childhood, he would have become a master by now.”

“It can’t be helped. Opportunities aren’t fair.”

Since Cheon-gu was the same way, he wanted to protect Pansuk’s opportunity.

Ja-gang-cheon, who had been listening to that conversation, thought for a moment and made a resolution.

“Good. Then let’s make our manor a land of opportunity.”

“Land of opportunity?”

“Yeah. People who want martial arts can learn martial arts, we’ll help create the world’s greatest cook, and if someone wants to be wealthy, we’ll help them make money.”

“You make creating opportunities sound so easy.”

“Huh?”

“I mean it’s amazing. Originally, people like us have to risk our lives to grab such opportunities.”

“That’s kind of sad.”

“There’s nothing sad about it. Most people don’t get opportunities fairly.”

“That is sad.”

While they were talking about the dark side of life,

“Is anyone there?”

Someone who had come through the open gate stood in the courtyard and raised his voice.

“He finally came. I should vent my anger on that person.”

“Good idea. You’re starting to understand life now.”

The one with his arms barely reaching behind his thick waist, hands clasped behind his back, was Gu Dong-gu.

“What do you think that person’s life is like?”

“Filthy.”

“Just that much?”

“Experience it yourself. You’ll learn that his words reek of foulness.”

Ja-gang-cheon sniffed and said to Cheon-gu.

“Then if I can’t stand it and try to kill him, stop me.”

“Why? Because of Hwangbo Sega?”

“No. I need to sell the inn. I have to get the money.”

Cheon-gu nodded while feeling some uncomfortable guilt.

“Gangcheon. Did I corrupt you?”

“Huh?”

Ja-gang-cheon didn’t understand the question and blinked his innocent, clear eyes.

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