Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 70

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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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Episode 70
The alcohol burned away in an instant, as if ice water had been dashed over my head. I wasn’t even drunk, but my senses snapped into focus regardless.
I couldn’t help but gape at the impossible sight before me.
The force that had torn the door from its hinges was no wind at all—it was the Flow of Qi that Dang Jung had created by channeling his Internal Force. He had become the eye of a typhoon.
So the saying about Peak Masters being walking natural disasters wasn’t mere exaggeration? A typhoon breaks out while you’re having a drink?
I weaved between the flying furniture, stealing glances at Dang Jung.
He was grinning broadly, his canines bared to the world.
His pupils gleamed with brilliant blue Internal Qi, alive with vitality. Both cheeks flushed rose-pink—unmistakable signs of exhilaration.
“Ahhh!”
I shrieked as a wine bottle hurtled straight at me, and Dang Geun Myeong rushed over to yank me backward.
“Don’t interfere. He’s achieved Enlightenment.”
I know, I know that, but—
The roof of the Main Hall just flew off! I’m about to get swept away with it!
“Hey, mister! Please grab me!”
I clung to Dang Geun Myeong like a life preserver and hurried out of the Main Hall in ungainly lurches.
The view from outside was even more terrifying. A waterspout rose up, roof tiles scattered through the air, and blue-green Qi flashed like lightning again and again.
“At this rate the Main Hall will collapse.”
“It will. It’s been a while since we’ve done renovations.”
Dang Geun Myeong replied as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
So you’ll do the reconstruction yourself? Shouldn’t you hire some workers?
I rubbed my goosebumped forearms and watched Dang Jung demolish the Main Hall.
If he achieves Enlightenment two more times, the entire Dang family estate will fly away.
I was grateful he was on my side.
If Grandfather had been some villain—a Demonic Sect leader or the like—both I and any novel’s protagonist would have faced difficulty levels multiplied beyond reason.
Ju Ryeong appeared silently and climbed up my body.
“Chirrup-chirrup.”
“Ju Ryeong? What brought you out? You never skip your afternoon nap.”
“Churr. Kwee-oo.”
“What do you mean? Did Grandfather’s presence wake you up?”
At my question, Ju Ryeong nodded. The creature had been napping when that tremendous aura startled him awake.
I patted Ju Ryeong as he burrowed into my sleeve, trembling with fright, and looked up at the waterspout now shrinking. The wind was beginning to subside.
Thump, thump-thump! Bang!
The airborne furniture lost its momentum and crashed to the ground with a deafening clatter. I retreated, dodging debris that scattered in all directions.
“Oh no. Tsk. That’s expensive—what a waste.”
That bookshelf alone could have put me up at an inn for three months. Now it’s cleanly split in half.
As the wind ceased entirely, the pillars of the Main Hall—which had been barely holding—slowly tilted. The roof tiles slumped to one side and collapsed in a cloud of dust.
Crash!
I coughed through the haze and fanned my face. Through the thick dust, a silhouette emerged.
Dang Jung’s face was more serene than ever. His jade-like skin already lustrous, now seemed to glow. His eyes sparkled with clarity and brilliance.
The hair he’d had bound up tight had come loose, falling now to his waist. The ribbon had apparently blown away on the wind.
He smiled radiant and wide, hair rippling around him.
“Aha! I’ve found it. The thread. I’ve found it!”
“Congratulations.”
Dang Geun Myeong offered his salute with a fist-palm bow—creating a scene that looked as though a Demonic Sect leader were emerging from Closed Seclusion.
Sir. We’re Orthodox Faction.
I blinked with a blank expression, but Dang Jung didn’t seem to register my face at all.
“What a lovely thing this is. So brilliant. However did it tumble into my hands?”
He lifted me up in his arms and spun me around. I laughed weakly, going along with my excited grandfather.
“Wheeee…….”
“How did such a thought occur to you? Hmm? How? Tell me again. Sohye, what do you make of the Flow?”
“I… I’m not sure…….”
“Riding the Flow. Why couldn’t this old fool have seen it? Something so elegant.”
I stared up at the cloudless sky with glazed eyes.
……I don’t think I’ll ever adapt to the Martial World.
* * *
Dang Jung, intoxicated with excitement, took his Writing Materials into one room of Byeoldang and didn’t emerge. He skipped meals, writing, then tearing up paper in frustration, over and over.
At some point, crumpled balls of paper appeared at the door, and Dang Geun Myeong would gather the discarded sheets and bring fresh ones.
The lamp burned through the night, suggesting he organized his thoughts round the clock.
“Grandfather—are you all right? You’ve skipped meals for four days now. You should eat something.”
“That is something the elder will manage himself. You do what you must.”
When I grabbed Dang Geun Myeong and pressed him on it, his face went blank—as though he’d heard something incomprehensible. It seemed he couldn’t fathom my worry at all.
It was a reasonable reaction, admittedly. A master who could blast the Main Hall to pieces with mere Internal Qi wouldn’t suffer any great harm from skipping a few meals.
But just because one *could* go hungry didn’t mean the belly wouldn’t ache. A clear head needs proper nourishment, after all.
I found myself hovering outside his door, hand reaching toward the knob, then withdrawing, reaching again, over and over.
Should I call him in for a meal?
……No. He’d dislike it if I broke his Flow.
Still, four days have passed now. He should at least drink some water.
Should I call? Or wait a little longer?
Dang Jung must have sensed my wavering, for he let out a soft chuckle without looking up from the papers he was shuffling.
“Come in.”
“Oh—are you finished?”
“Yes. It’s roughly settled now.”
I scurried over and pulled open the door, whereupon a cascade of papers spilled from a tightly packed box like a avalanche. I yelped in alarm, but Dang Jung waved a dismissive hand.
“You can step on them. They’re all rubbish anyway.”
I crunched through the evidence of countless deliberations and made my way to Dang Jung’s side.
Unlike the chaotic tangle of characters that filled the rest of the room, a single character sat alone on fresh paper atop the desk, written in forceful, confident strokes.
Heart.
Dang Jung gazed at what he had written with serene composure. His eyes were remarkably clear and fathomless—pupils burning with blue Internal Qi, as if they held the flame of that very force within them.
He blinked slowly, then smiled as he turned to look at me.
“To think that even at this stage of life, I might yet achieve something new—truly, there is much we cannot predict about existence.”
“What do you mean, grandfather’s age? At your age, you’re in your prime—that’s what matters.”
“In your prime? Nonsense. When one is this old, nothing blooms.”
My brazenness left Dang Jung at a loss; he let out an exasperated snort. I giggled and pressed on.
“Now you’ll eat, won’t you? You haven’t had anything for four days.”
“Yes. Let’s eat.”
Dang Jung nodded and slowly rose to his feet.
* * *
Though he had seated himself readily at the table, Dang Jung could not focus on the meal. He seemed a man whose mind had wandered to the clouds.
His eyes still shimmered with that deep blue—proof that he was circulating his Internal Qi even as he held his chopsticks.
Watching him sit vacant and entranced, I rested my chin on my hand and ventured a jest.
“Grandfather, you’re consumed with thoughts of Martial Arts Mastery all day. Shouldn’t you perhaps enter Closed Seclusion?”
At once, Dang Jung’s face brightened.
“Yes. That would work.”
“Pardon?”
“The Main Hall needs to be rebuilt anyway. If I enter the Closed Seclusion Cave and emerge, it will be repaired sufficiently. To follow this thread of insight, I need somewhere quiet……”
In his excitement, words tumbled from Dang Jung’s mouth in a rush—but the moment our eyes met, he seemed to realize his slip. His expression shifted.
“……Let us pretend you didn’t hear that. I cannot leave you behind, Sohye. Your grandfather spoke carelessly.”
His face settled into a measured calm, yet regret seeped from him like water through cupped hands. The shift in his expression was far too vivid to simply brush aside.
I smiled and slowly set down my chopsticks.
“Go ahead, grandfather. I’m asking you to.”
“Don’t be absurd. Do you know how many years Closed Seclusion takes? If this old fool leaves, everyone will circle around you like vultures, snapping their teeth.”
Dang Jung’s brow furrowed and his voice rose.
I understood his worry perfectly well.
But I also knew what it meant that even I, with my threadbare martial skill, had grasped the very thread that might breach the wall of Martial Arts Mastery.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that had come to Dang Jung. The chance he had longed for, the chance he had devoted his entire life pursuing—to glimpse the very summit of the martial way.
If this were a game, it would be a limited-time quest unlockable only when rare conditions aligned.
If Dang Jung let this thread slip from his fingers, he might never find such an opening again. I could not bear to watch him forfeit it.
I had no wish to become an obstacle to one who would renounce food and drink itself to pursue this mastery.
“I understand.”
“If you understand, then……!”
“But you still have to go. If you miss this chance because of me, I’ll carry the guilt of it for the rest of my life—that I shackled you at the ankles. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
“Child. This is not something to speak of lightly. This concerns your very life. Your life weighed against mere training……”
“It’s not ‘mere training’—and you know that better than anyone. I’m glad to be a source of joy to you, grandfather, but I won’t be your shackle.”
My gentle refusal cast Dang Jung’s expression into shadow.
“I’ve already completed my Coming-of-Age Ceremony. When I enter Dok Wang Dang, Auntie Hwang Won won’t let anything happen to me—you know she cares for me. And once the Betrothal is finalized, the master will protect my life simply to preserve the Marriage Bond. I’m strong enough to protect myself now. You taught me as much. Please don’t worry so. Besides, there’s Master Geun Myeong. You don’t trust him?”
“Child……”
“That man cannot act if danger truly comes to you. And you—aren’t you afraid? Even if I begged you to stay, I could not hold you back. So why do you keep trying to push your grandfather toward the Closed Seclusion Cave?”
Dang Jung’s face contorted and he rubbed his dry hands against his face.

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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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