Moorim Pochang - Chapter 37

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

Chapter 37. Three Brothers.

Baek Won-yeong refused to hand over the reins.
“In that case, I’ll lead the horse myself so I can see the Stable that Yang Jeong repaired. Where is it located?”
“I’ll show you the way.”
“No, there’s no need for that. Just tell me where the Stable is.”
Yang Jeong had no choice but to point toward the building housing the Stable.
“If you go around the Inn, you’ll come to a modest structure. That’s the Stable.”
Baek Won-yeong immediately led the mare into the compound.
As Yang Jeong watched him disappear, he tilted his head in puzzlement.
“That man seems to treasure his horse very dearly.”
Kang Jo brushed off the comment with a wave of his hand.
“When will the Pavilion be finished?”
“Brother, do you think repairing a Pavilion is a matter of a day or two? We’re short on timber and don’t have any tiles.”
“Then tear down another Pavilion and use the timber and tiles from there.”
“No, if we demolish the entire Pavilion, what will we do later? I’m planning to take at least three wives. I need to give each of them a Pavilion and claim one for myself, so…………….”
Kang Jo stared at him with vacant eyes.
“I always wondered if that fool was naturally strange, but it seems he corrupted you with his strangeness. Listen here, you wretch! How do you plan to feed three wives? And why do you insist on living here?”
“Well, your house is my house and my house is your house, so naturally I can live here.”
Kang Jo found himself at a loss for words at the man’s brazen retort.
Ha ha ha……………!
It was then that Baek Won-yeong entered the Inn with a chuckle.
“Your voices carry all the way to the Stable.”
What an entertaining pair of brothers they were.
At the Martial Alliance, one could never hear conversation this amusing.
“Please, sit down, Baek Won-yeong. What can I bring you?”
Yang Jeong offered him a seat on behalf of Kang Jo.
“Ah… the food here at the Inn is delicious no matter what you serve. Bring me whatever you have. And some wine as well.”
“I’ll fetch the wine for you.”
Yang Jeong hurried into the Kitchen, and Kang Jo followed him inside.
Slap! Slap!
As Kang Jo worked the noodles, Yang Jeong ladled wine from the barrel and arranged the freshly seasoned vegetables on a wooden plate.
Baek Won-yeong, quietly observing their movements, swallowed hard.
‘I wonder if they’ll accept me.’
A Sworn Brotherhood must be formed with careful deliberation.
It was a bond harder to forge than blood kinship.
Yet he harbored no doubt.
The Kang Jo and Yang Jeong he had come to know were not wicked men.
Moreover, they were his saviors—his benefactors who had given him his life back.
That alone was reason enough to form Sworn Brotherhood with them.
But would they actually consent?
He wasn’t sure about Yang Jeong, but Kang Jo would not agree easily.
In Baek Won-yeong’s eyes, Kang Jo appeared both formidable and intriguing.
“Please, sip the wine slowly.”
Yang Jeong set the Seasoned Vegetables and wine on the table.
But Baek Won-yeong didn’t even reach for the bottle.
“Could you bring two more wine cups?”
“Ah, it seems we’re expecting more guests. One moment.”
Yang Jeong returned from the Kitchen with two wooden cups in hand.

*

“Here you are.”
Kang Jo set a bowl of Pork Noodles on the table.
Baek Won-yeong, staring quietly at the noodles, suddenly rose to his feet.
Then he knelt before Kang Jo and bowed his head to the ground.
“I must ask Kang for permission on a certain matter.”
Kang Jo and Yang Jeong looked down at him with bewildered faces.
“Suddenly… what’s this about? Baek?”
Kang Jo tried to help him to his feet.
But Baek Won-yeong wouldn’t budge.
“If you grant me permission, I’ll stand up.”
“What on earth do you mean?”
He looked up at Kang Jo’s face and opened his mouth.
“I want to become sworn brothers with you.”
Kang Jo doubted his own ears.
What was this sudden talk?
Why would Baek Won-yeong want to become sworn brothers with him?
Yang Jeong, too, was startled and stumbled over his words.
“Sworn brothers with…you? You mean you want to become sworn brothers with him?”
Though greatly surprised, he saw no reason it couldn’t happen.
His brother was the person he respected most, and there was no reason he couldn’t form the bonds of sworn brotherhood with the Alliance Leader’s son.
In fact, in his mind, the Alliance Leader’s son seemed a step below his brother.
“I simply cannot understand you, Baek. What benefit would there be in becoming sworn brothers with an innkeeper?”
Kang Jo didn’t want to form sworn brotherhood with anyone else.
Looking after Yang Jeong alone gave him headaches.
But Baek Won-yeong was unyielding.
“If I sought brotherhood for profit, I wouldn’t want to form these bonds. I simply wish to grow close to you without pretense.”
At his words, Kang Jo heaved a deep sigh.
Sigh…
‘I didn’t want to become entangled with people from the martial world.’
As Kang Jo was thinking this, Baek Won-yeong continued.
“Nothing will change greatly going forward. I simply wish to visit this inn as comfortably as I would my own home.”
At hearing this, Kang Jo’s heart wavered.
“Very well. On those terms, I believe it can be done.”
Baek Won-yeong rose to his feet with a radiant smile.
“Thank you, Kang. Truly, thank you.”
Sigh…
Kang Jo exhaled heavily, then dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
This was only the third time in his life he had knelt before someone.
The first was his parents, the second his master, and the third was now.
“I’m likely younger than you. Please accept the bow of your younger brother.”
Ha ha ha ha…!
Baek Won-yeong burst into delighted laughter.
Could there be a day more joyful than this?
Today was surely the happiest day of all.
“Then I shall treat Kang as my younger brother from now on. Rise.”
At his words, Kang Jo got to his feet.
“I greet you, brother.”
Baek Won-yeong nodded and turned his gaze to Yang Jeong.
“And what about you, Yang? Don’t you have something to do?”
Flustered, Yang Jeong pointed at himself.
“Me too?”
Ha ha.
“Since your brother has acknowledged me as his elder, doesn’t that make you my younger brother as well?”
Yang Jeong, as if there were nothing to consider, dropped flat to the ground.
“Yang Jeong offers his greeting to you, brother.”
“I shall treat you too as my younger brother from now on. Now rise.”
Heh heh…
“Thank you, brother.”
Neigh…!
The sound of horses neighing came from the Stable, but no one paid it any mind.
This was no moment to be distracted by such things.

*

“Let’s get properly drunk tonight.”
Baek Won-yeong filled a cup he’d prepared beforehand with wine.
“Yes, we should. When will we have another day like this? Brother.”
Yang Jeong picked up his cup with a grin stretched wide across his face.
“You too, come on.”
Kang Jo reluctantly raised his own cup.
“All right—three cups, one after another.”
Baek Won-yeong finished speaking and drained his cup in one go, and Kang Jo and Yang Jeong emptied theirs as well.
Ahhhh…
“Good. Now the second one fills the cups.”
Baek Won-yeong handed the wine bottle to Kang Jo.
Kang Jo took the bottle and poured wine into their cups.
Ahhhh…
The three of them drained their cups again.
After Yang Jeong poured and they emptied the final round, Kang Jo rose to his feet.
“Since this is such a meaningful night, I have something to give you, Brother.”
“Something to give me? What could that be?”
Baek Won-yeong tilted his head in puzzlement, but Yang Jeong’s mouth was already stretching into a knowing smile.
“Brother, surely you mean that wine?”
“That’s right, you rascal.”
Kang Jo went into the Kitchen and opened the wine jar, ladling out three cups of wine.
He then pulled out Ginseng from inside the jar and cut it in half.
Tap… tap… tap…
He set the Ginseng on the cutting board and sliced it thin.
Neeeighhhhh………..!
The sound of horses neighing continued to drift over from the Stable.
“I should probably go check on them.”
Yang Jeong rose from his seat with an uneasy expression.
But Baek Won-yeong had no intention of letting him go.
“Have one more cup.”
“After I go to the Stable and come back—”
“It’s fine. It’s fine.”
Unable to resist Baek Won-yeong’s insistence, Yang Jeong sat back down and drained his cup.
When Kang Jo brought out the wine along with the Ginseng, Baek Won-yeong looked at them with a puzzled expression.
“What is this?”
Ha ha ha……………!
“Brother, it’s incredibly good for your health. Please, have some.”
Yang Jeong laughed and raised his cup first.
“Since my brother is giving it to me, I should accept it without question.”
Baek Won-yeong lifted his cup without hesitation.
He drained the wine in one breath and was startled.
The subtle, exquisite aroma lingering in his mouth was unlike anything he had ever tasted.
“What kind of wine is this…?”
Yang Jeong provided the answer again.
“This isn’t wine for just anyone, Brother. When I first drank this wine, I thought I was going crazy. Please, try this as well.”
He picked up a piece of Ginseng with chopsticks, placed it in Baek Won-yeong’s mouth, and then ate a piece himself.
Crunch crunch…
Even as Baek Won-yeong chewed the Ginseng, he couldn’t discern what it was.
The wine’s aroma spread throughout his mouth, though the taste of what he was chewing wasn’t particularly pleasant.
“Eat plenty before Samryong finishes it all.”
Ha ha ha…
Baek Won-yeong burst into laughter at Kang Jo’s words.
Samryong.
Now he, too, could call Yang Jeong by that name.
“Right. I should eat more before Samryong devours it all.”
“Brother, I keep telling you—my name is Yang Jeong, not Samryong.”

*

As Baek Won-yeong cheerfully continued to drink, he began to notice something strange about his body.
Suddenly a fire surged up through his body—and it was devastatingly powerful.
Mm…
He swallowed hard and looked at Kang Jo’s face.
But Kang Jo only wore a faint smile.
“What is this…?”
Baek Won-yeong sprang to his feet, then immediately dropped into a seated meditation on the ground.
How had he not thought of it before?
When he’d arrived here badly wounded, Kang Jo had placed something in his mouth.
After consuming it, strength had bloomed through him—yet he’d never once suspected.
Hmm…
His mouth set firm, he began his Qi Circulation Practice.
Kang Jo and Yang Jeong watched without concern.
“Senior, might I trouble you for just one more cup?”
“Out of the question. Even if I scraped the bottom bare, there’s barely enough for two more.”
“But surely there’s newly brewed wine somewhere? Just one cup more—that’s all I ask.”
Kang Jo fixed him with a hard stare as he wheedled on.
“When silver comes through that door, do you spend it all in one day?”
“I’m no madman—how could I do such a thing?”
“Which is precisely why I’m telling you this, you wretch.”
“Ah… well then, I suppose I should retire to my room and get some sleep.”
Disappointed, Yang Jeong rose to his feet.
Even after he’d stumbled away into his room, Kang Jo remained seated.
The darkness had grown deepest—they’d long since passed the Chou Hour.
Baek Won-yeong’s Qi Circulation Practice might well stretch into dawn.
‘I wonder if I’ve done the right thing.’
Kang Jo kept watch over him, drinking alone from his cup.

*

It felt as though he’d slept a deep and utterly peaceful sleep.
He wanted to sleep longer, but somewhere distant, he heard a voice.
“Senior, today I wish to eat eel.”
“Where are you getting eel from, that you’re searching for it at dawn?”
“There’s a stream out front—surely there are eels there. Today I’ll catch one myself, Senior.”
“You speak smoothly, yet in truth you mean to splash about in that water all day, don’t you? Do you think I don’t see through you, you scheming rascal?”
The voices were strangely comforting.
Listening to them somehow brightened his mood.
‘Who exactly is Jo?’
Baek Won-yeong, awakened from his Qi Circulation Practice, lay still with his eyes closed.
Last night he’d undoubtedly drunk Immortal Wine—the kind only immortals could afford.
And such wine was not something everyone possessed.
‘My father must have known all along.’

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