My Younger Siblings Are the Greatest Masters in the World - Chapter 4

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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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4.

It was a habit he’d acquired from the Performance Troupe, where fists would fly if he didn’t work hard at everything.

At his young age, whether it was laundry, dishwashing, cleaning, or anything else, Seol Mujin worked hard and even excelled at it, so within just a few days, everyone at the Pleasure House loved him.

Seol Mujin also found life at the Pleasure House to his liking.

A place where he didn’t have to worry about being beaten even if he slacked off occasionally, a place where he didn’t always have to be tense—it was like a flower garden in spring.

After finishing the laundry, Seol Mujin brought the bed into the room, spread thick blankets on it, and laid the children down.

Watching this scene, Jang Jangsim asked.

“They’re not even your real siblings, so why do you care for them so devotedly?”

“They’re my children.”

“What? You already had children? At twelve years old?”

“Even when I’m twenty-two, I won’t be able to have children. I’m a man. Since they became my responsibility, they’re my children.”

“Oh, I see. Do you think raising children is easy? I’m breaking my back raising just one, and you have three. You’re not planning to abandon those kids here and run away, are you?”

“I’ll never run away. If I ran away, I’d become like the parents who gave birth to me, or like the person I hate most. I’ll never become like those people.”

“I don’t need to know what kind of story you have… I’m just glad you’re not running away.”

Seol Mujin, who was covering the babies with blankets, asked.

“When did you last feed our children?”

“That… was it two hours ago?”

If Jang Jangsim said two hours, it was probably four hours.

Having lived off others’ charity for so long, he’d become quick at reading people’s character.

“You know our children don’t cry even when they’re hungry, right?”

“That’s right. They’re strange kids. What kind of children don’t cry? My Hwanggeum-i cries when he’s hungry, cries when he poops, and cries when he’s bored.”

Naming her son Hwanggeum-i showed she must have quite a grudge against money.

“Don’t skip feeding them just because they don’t cry.”

“What if I don’t feed them? Are you going to tattle to the Madam?”

“Yes.”

“Just feeding them now should be fine. Really, I’m the one feeding and raising these kids, yet you don’t know how to be grateful.”

Only after watching Jang Jangsim nurse the babies did Seol Mujin come outside.

Watching the lights being lit one by one on the walls, under the roof tiles, and on the stone lanterns standing in the courtyard, Seol Mujin thought he was fortunate.

He didn’t have to worry about starving, and there was a woman to provide milk—this was truly a good place.

The Pleasure House Yeonji-ru was truly a good place for children to grow up.

***

Eight months had passed since Seol Mujin came to Yeonji-ru with the three babies—Ryeoseon, Mantong, and Changho.

Seol Mujin, who had been skin and bones, had gained considerable weight, and the three babies were plump like any other babies.

Jang Jangsim claimed this was all thanks to her, but it was actually because Seol Mujin had diligently fed them things like rice porridge whenever he could.

Hwa Seonhwa was quietly watching Seol Mujin chopping firewood in the Back Yard.

Even though the year had changed and he was now thirteen years old, he was still young.

Yet like a grown man, he chopped wood quite skillfully.

Since he kept completely silent about his life before coming here, no one knew how he had lived.

One thing was certain—he had lived earnestly.

He worked hard and raised the children diligently, which was only possible because his past years had been earnest.

“I did well bringing him, didn’t I?”

Yeon Seobi, the maid who had approached at some point, said while cracking peanuts.

“We got ourselves a useful worker.”

“Do you know how hard it is to find a useful worker these days?”

“So what?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Are the babies growing well?”

“If you’re curious, go see for yourself.”

“No. Children are… too small.”

“When they grow up, they become adults—isn’t that what children are?”

“I don’t like them anyway.”

Despite her firm refusal, she went to look.

“Oh my! Lady Ruju!”

Jang Jangsim, who was nursing Hwanggeum-i, jumped up in surprise.

“The room is clean.”

“I diligently clean…”

Yeon Seobi cut off Jang Jangsim’s words.

“Mujin cleans twice a day because he says babies should grow up in a clean place.”

Jang Jangsim glared at Yeon Seobi and held Hwanggeum-i forward.

“Isn’t my baby cute?”

Hwa Seonhwa answered halfheartedly, “I suppose so,” and went to the bed where the three babies were.

Yeon Seobi hurried over and pointed to each baby, telling her their names.

“This girl here is Ryeoseon. Her features are so distinct that she’ll become an incredible beauty when she grows up. This baby with the prominent nose even as an infant is Changho, and this gentle-looking child is Mantong.”

“Their names are unusual.”

“Mujin named them, they say. I told you he’s a decent worker.”

Though she couldn’t understand the connection between naming and being a decent worker, Hwa Seonhwa replied, “I see.”

“You said the children don’t cry?”

The rumor that the three babies didn’t cry was so widespread that she couldn’t help but hear it.

“They’re doing it so they won’t trouble their dad. The children are smart, you know.”

“Dad?”

“Mujin who’s raising the children is their dad. What else makes someone a dad?”

“True. That qualification is enough.”

Hwa Seonhwa tickled Ryeoseon’s cheek with her index finger and smiled faintly.

“She’s cute.”

Then she turned around.

“Let’s go.”

***

At some point, Seol Mujin began eating meals together with Hwa Seonhwa.

The reason was that food didn’t taste good when eaten alone, but since Yeon Seobi was there, it was just something to say.

Hwa Seonhwa and Yeon Seobi would subtly push delicious dishes toward Seol Mujin, and by the middle of the meal, you could see side dishes gathered closely in front of him.

“Madam, aren’t you being too fond of Mujin?”

“He needs to eat well to work well.”

After finishing the meal, Hwa Seonhwa handed Seol Mujin a small pouch.

“What’s this?”

“A birthday present.”

“Huh? But it’s not my birthday.”

“When is your birthday?”

There was no way Seol Mujin would know.

When he shook his head, Hwa Seonhwa said,

“Today marks one year since you came to Yeonji-ru. So let’s just make today your birthday.”

Something surged up from within, like food coming back up.

Seol Mujin moved his Adam’s apple as if swallowing rice cake and bowed deeply.

“Thank you.”

He checked the contents of the pouch later.

If he had known that what was inside was the enormous sum of one silver coin, he would have refused it when offered.

“Just use it. If you try to return that, Madam will get angry.”

That’s what Yeon Seobi said.

“But she feeds me, gives me a place to sleep, and pays my wages regularly…”

“Because you’re a good worker.”

It was true that he was a remarkably good worker.

Seol Mujin spent the entire silver coin on the triplets.

He obtained quality wood to make a bed and got thick clothes and blankets.

He also bought expensive toys that even the skilled Seol Mujin couldn’t make himself.

He laid the triplets on the new blankets spread on the new bed.

The children who didn’t cry much also didn’t smile often, but they seemed to like this.

So Seol Mujin was happy too.

They say mothers give birth to children with their bellies, and fathers give birth to children with their hearts.

He didn’t know who said it, but now he could finally understand its meaning.

A mother who gives birth to a child loves that child instinctively.

And a father’s love for the child grows gradually like stacking paper as he raises that child.

Over the past sixteen months or so, feeding, clothing, and putting the three children to sleep, changing dirty diapers, and bathing them, his affection had grown uncontrollably.

If children who weren’t even his real siblings were this precious, what kind of heart must parents who abandon their children have?

Should he say it was actually better that they didn’t grow up under such parents?

Let’s say it was better.

So now that he’s met a good person like Hwa Seonhwa.

Seol Mujin gave kisses on the cheeks of the children lying on the bed.

Somehow they seemed to be frowning.

Seol Ryeoseon seemed indifferent.

No matter what they do, they’re adorable little ones. Hehehe…

***

Seol Mujin was chopping firewood early in the morning.

Hwa Seonhwa, who was a morning person unlike what you’d expect from a pleasure house owner, watched Seol Mujin.

‘If I adopt that boy as my son, three children come with him. Is that okay?’

Seol Changho and Seol Ryeoseon would later be recognized as Jangan’s most handsome man and most beautiful woman.

Hwa Seonhwa had never seen children so beautiful before.

They were just like sculptures.

And Seol Mantong… looked manly.

It might seem strange to say “manly” about a child around twenty months old, but one couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Round eyes with thick eyebrows, a blunt nose with full lips. Below that sat a square jaw.

His sturdy frame showed he had the makings of a general.

“Madam!”

The voice that broke her reverie belonged to Jang Jangsim.

She came running breathlessly and shouted.

“The Triplets…!”

At the mention of the Triplets, Seol Mujin’s axe chopping stopped.

“The Triplets are possessed by ghosts!”

Seol Mujin, who had been running over thinking something terrible had happened, stopped abruptly.

“Ghosts?”

“That thing… what is it… Bright Cult! It must be Sun Moon Bright Cult ghosts! The children keep babbling about how the Bright Cult is this and the cult leader is that, reciting something called the Sun Moon Bright Cult Service Creed… talking about killing the cult leader… How could children say such things unless they were possessed by ghosts!”

“Do you understand what you’re saying? Because I don’t understand at all.”

Jang Jangsim pounded her chest, expressing her frustration.

“The children were strange from the beginning! Our Hwanggeum-i cries when hungry, cries when sleepy, cries when bored, but the Triplets don’t cry at all!”

Seol Mujin picked up the axe he had set down and said.

“When children don’t cry, people usually say they’re well-behaved, not possessed by ghosts.”

Jang Jangsim was about to say something when Hwa Seonhwa stopped her.

“If someone were to be kicked out of this house, do you think it would be you and your child, or Mujin and the Triplets?”

After thinking for a moment, Jang Jangsim said.

“Mujin?”

“You’re the one possessed by a ghost. A delusion ghost.”

“But it’s true… The children are really possessed by ghosts…”

Seol Mujin picked up his axe again and thought about that mountain.

That day when he almost got captured, that day when he killed two people to survive.

The fact that he had committed murder was shocking, but the behavior the triplets showed at that time was equally shocking.

Kids who were barely six months old trapped a yellow python with a basket?

That scene that occasionally appeared in his dreams had suddenly burst into reality.

Seol Mujin watched Jang Jangsim’s retreating back.

***

Seol Ryeoseon and Seol Changho were sitting in the Wall Shade, avoiding the scorching sunlight.

Seol Changho was writing something on the ground with a stick.

When she glanced to see what he was writing, it was a passage from the Analects.

“What are you doing?”

At Seol Ryeoseon’s question, Seol Changho answered without even turning his head.

“Both sword and scholarship become dull if not constantly sharpened.”

“Just like Byeokchangho Saenim, as expected. Mujin really chose a good name.”

“I miss books.”

“A kid barely over two years old reading books would be really normal. Ugh! Stop it!”

Seol Ryeoseon rubbed out the characters Seol Changho had written with her foot.

“What are you doing?”

“What if someone sees!”

“You’re just doing this because you’re bored!”

“If I said I was bored, would you play with me? By the way, where did that pervert go?”

“He’s probably peeping at the courtesans bathing.”

Seol Ryeoseon shook her head disapprovingly.

“What kind of behavior is this for an old monster over a hundred years old. What does he plan to become when he grows up. Tsk tsk tsk…”

Just then, the giggling laughter of courtesans could be heard from beyond the building.

“Mantong only likes Hyeonwol.”

“It’s all because of that woman’s chest. The order in which Mantong comes to snuggle in someone’s arms is fixed, isn’t it? In order of chest size!”

“Ho ho ho!”

Seol Ryeoseon and Seol Changho let out long sighs upon seeing the three courtesans who appeared.

Seol Mantong was nestled in the arms of the courtesan in the middle with the large chest.

Seol Mantong, with his face buried between her breasts, looked like he was in heaven.

‘That bastard, I should just…!’

No matter how much they say habits formed at three last until eighty, that old monster’s habits won’t be fixed even after a hundred years.

“Oh my! Our beautiful young man and woman are over there!”

“So cute!”

Seeing the courtesans running toward them, the two were horrified.

“D-don’t come near us!”

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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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