The Hwangbo Clan’s Beloved Live-In Son-in-Law - Chapter 34

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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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Chapter 34

 

“You know that guy?”

 

“Yeah. Sandong Daeyun. That guy who… Hwangbo Ok…”

 

As words without feet travel a thousand li, perhaps a mere radius of one and a half li passes in such an instant.

 

A few people at nearby tables glanced at Xie Baowei while whispering among themselves.

 

Xie Baowei smiled bitterly and ignored them.

 

They’d stop talking about it soon enough anyway.

 

Indeed, such gossip only lingered for a moment.

 

Even as his story was briefly passed around, it was quickly buried under other tales.

 

Of course, there are always twisted people everywhere.

 

“Hmph, I heard he was just a pretty-faced idiot, and he really is an idiot.”

 

“They say he caused a ruckus from the first day, so be careful.”

 

“Even so, he’s just a novice and a nobody.”

 

Xie Baowei pretended not to hear and brushed it off with a drink.

 

Rather, the two people in front of him smiled awkwardly, then seemed impressed by Xie Baowei’s reaction.

 

Such talk also passed quickly.

 

Right, other people’s lives are just momentary drinking snacks.

 

Xie Baowei knew this well.

 

“Hah. What great fortune, anyone would think he caught one of the Central Plains’ Five Beauties.”

 

Flinch.

 

In an instant, killing intent slowly spread from Xie Baowei’s body.

 

Wijimun and Jeyun-jung’s eyes returned to normal.

 

This, this.

 

Just as the two were tensing up, preparing to spring into action.

 

Thud.

 

“It’s fine. Let’s talk about the mission instead.”

 

Xie Baowei gulped down a drink, let out a sigh, and held back.

 

Then he forced himself to laugh it off.

 

The two also breathed sighs of relief.

 

“On top of that, he’s famous for his nasty temper…”

 

“Still, look at that? She’s quite voluptuous.”

 

That was the limit.

 

Without knowing who moved first, both men leaped out, but they couldn’t catch Xie Baowei.

 

Old tables and chairs flew through the air, bottles and dishes shattered.

 

Over that came the sound of the heads of men who had spoken carelessly being cracked, followed by someone’s screams.

 

The people around weren’t particularly surprised.

 

They just thought, “Why is today’s commotion happening earlier than usual, and starting in the tavern district instead of the red-light district?”

 

This report also went up the chain, and Sama Dal held his head.

 

“What the hell is wrong with this bastard?”

 

***

 

“…We’re sorry, Xie Shu.”

 

“We’ll be going now.”

 

The seventh day.

 

Xie Baowei was left alone.

 

Ah. The boy and Chun-gil remained, so he wasn’t strictly alone.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Following the first day’s incident, on the second day he assaulted an Alliance strategist walking down the street.

 

He even assaulted the person who tried to stop him.

 

The third and fourth days seemed quiet, but on the morning of the fifth day, he ended up jamming even a guard into the prison bars.

 

No one knew exactly how he managed to jam him in there, but then on the sixth day, after brawling with his defense attorney at a disciplinary hearing, finally today.

 

He was released on the morning of the seventh day.

 

Why was he released?

 

Because a gag order had been issued to the Cheongjukrim—no, the Alliance members—forbidding any mention of Hwangbo Ok or Bifeng.

 

During this time, Wijimun and Jeyun-jung also suffered greatly. They followed him around every time, defending Xie Baowei. (He didn’t brawl with these two.)

 

If it weren’t for these two, he wouldn’t have been able to get out like this.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“…It’s nothing.”

 

“We also, thanks to you…”

 

Thanks to… the words that followed couldn’t quite come out.

 

Still, truly thanks to Xie Baowei, Wijimun and Jeyun-jung had been promoted one level as teammates.

 

Jegal Seolhye had used her influence to promote them.

 

The two left without looking back.

 

They seemed quite close, having built up a lot of camaraderie during this time.

 

“Hmm.”

 

Xie Baowei stared blankly at their retreating figures and sighed.

 

He hadn’t expected such side effects…

 

Having traveled in places outside the martial arts world for so long, he hadn’t known.

 

In Shandong, and especially in Jinan, there was no one who said such things, so he was even more unaware…

 

“I said I would forget everything, yet I haven’t forgotten even a little.”

 

Xie Baowei smiled bitterly.

 

The boy quietly held his hand, so he gently stroked the child’s head.

 

“Let’s go for now.”

 

Xie Baowei trudged forward.

 

***

 

Finding a house was easy.

 

It was a place Jegal Seolhye had recommended—a small manor quite far from the main office.

 

In the form of a boarding house, the elderly couple who owned it doted on the boy, the food was delicious, and the other boarders were ordinary-looking people: a studying scholar, a low-level government official, and an employee of a large shop.

 

The rent was expensive, but thinking of the boy, it wasn’t impossible to pay.

 

-Don’t worry about money and spend freely. We have plenty of money.

 

The valuables he had received when leaving the Hwangbo Family were also excessively generous.

 

“I’m going to work.”

 

“…Please be careful.”

 

Even though several days had passed, the boy was always anxious whenever he left the house.

 

Rather, the fact that it was a reasonably nice house seemed to make the girl even more anxious.

 

You could tell by watching her grip Xie Baowei’s trouser hem tightly with her tiny hand before letting go.

 

Xie Baowei stroked her hair as if to say it was okay.

 

“Sleep well. I’ll be back by the time you wake up. Since tomorrow is a day off, Muni and Yun-jung are coming to visit. Let’s go sightseeing in Luoyang together.”

 

It didn’t seem to be much comfort.

 

Thinking that she was truly a girl who didn’t easily let people close to her, Xie Baowei left the house.

 

It was a night with a bright full moon, so a servant yawned as he opened the door.

 

“Sorry about this every time.”

 

“Not at all. Please be careful.”

 

Grateful that the door was opened for him when he should be resting after work, he had been giving the servant a coin each time, and the servant smiled warmly as he saw him off, as if it was nothing.

 

It was more the sentiment than the profit of one coin that mattered.

 

-Creak. Thud.

 

Behind him, the small door closed firmly.

 

That Chun-gil must already be eating well and sleeping soundly.

 

While his master walks a long distance to work.

 

Xie Baowei looked at the firmly closed door and the dim night road and sighed deeply.

 

“It’s my fault. It’s my fault.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

“You’ve arrived.”

 

As he entered through the rear gate of the Alliance, those who had been waiting and pacing for Xie Baowei bowed their heads.

 

Beside them stood a pale-faced man, restlessly fidgeting.

 

Seeing it was a man he’d never met before, it seemed this shift would be with this fellow.

 

“Where’s Jang Sam-i?”

 

“He ate something wrong and got a severe stomachache, they say.”

 

“I see. I’m Xie Baowei.”

 

“…I’m, I’m Shi Chen.”

 

“Please take care of me.”

 

“Please take care of me!”

 

“Keep your voice down.”

 

“Ah. Yes.”

 

The men who had been waiting handed over the armbands draped over their forearms.

 

The characters written on the armband were clear.

 

Patrol

 

“Well then, we’ll be going.”

 

“Yes. Take care, both of you.”

 

The first week after joining the Alliance.

 

No matter how much it was a legitimate duel related to family honor (that was the conclusion reached, at least), fighting every other day couldn’t have been the right thing to do.

 

-Have you lost your mind? …No. No. Really. Are you insane?

 

Even that conclusion was only possible because most of the victims were low-ranking members with already poor reputations, and the Jegal Family had pulled strings.

 

-…There’s nothing more we can do. You know what I mean, right? Shut up and work to pay it back.

 

That was why he was assigned to the night dawn patrol shift that everyone most dreaded.

 

“Is this your first time on night patrol?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Shi Chen, who had become his partner, was a gaunt man around thirty.

 

He wore a single sword at his waist, but from his appearance, his skills didn’t seem very high.

 

Still, he seemed motivated, because while night patrol work was arduous, it came with extra pay beyond the regular duties.

 

“Our patrol duty this time starts from the western side here and goes up to the northern side.”

 

The Wulin Alliance was vast.

 

Truly vast.

 

From areas occupied by places like Cheongjukrim and Hongchaekhwon, to Geumhaengwon, the document archive, Gungrijae, the academy and dormitories, Suksugang, warehouses, and the night duty quarters where servants stayed.

 

Excessively, overwhelmingly vast.

 

There were cases of unauthorized people entering and getting lost, or persisting without leaving, and many instances of beggars or thieves breaking in.

 

Rarely, but sometimes external enemies would infiltrate as well.

 

So night patrols were necessary.

 

“Follow this person and keep going straight.”

 

“…Yes. Yes sir.”

 

At Hongchaekhwon’s third-class library, in a corner deep in the alley, they sent one shabby homeless person back home.

 

This was the third suspicious individual that Xie Baowei had kindly handed over to other patrols, when Shi Chen casually struck up a conversation.

 

“Well, rumors can’t be trusted. You know.”

 

“…What.”

 

“You know, why. The rumors about you, sir.”

 

He’d been silent all this time.

 

I thought he was a taciturn person, but apparently not.

 

“Didn’t you know? Well I’ll be. Wife-crazy. Wife-crazy . So what, if it’s a crazy wife it’d be crazy wife , but what’s wife-crazy supposed to mean. At first I thought some perverted lecher had appeared. Thought you were crazy about women. But then I heard you were crazy about your wife, so they call it wife-crazy. And then they tell all sorts of stories, just completely insane. But you don’t really look it, so.”

 

No. He was a talkative person.

 

I have no idea how he held it in.

 

“They say just hearing about Hwangbo’s daughter makes you have fits. That when you see any woman who looks similar, you drool and charge at them with fire in your eyes, and if you happen to see any flaw, you charge at them as if to kill. Just completely. If you only heard the stories, you’d think there’s no villain or beast quite like it, wouldn’t you?”

 

Shi Chen chuckled and laughed.

 

Even while doing so, he dragged out his words and read the mood, with an expression wondering if he was keeping within bounds.

 

But when Xie Baowei remained quiet, his mouth came alive too.

 

“On top of that, what? That you like young girls, that you brought a child from outside, hah hah. And yet you’re even drawing Nanmyeong’s attention!”

 

Nanmyeong was the courtesy name of Hyeseo, Jegal Seolhye.

 

She had his back, then caused him trouble.

 

Xie Baowei shook his head and walked looking only forward.

 

Because these weren’t words that particularly needed clarification.

 

At this, Shi Chen became even more spirited and opened his mouth.

 

“Now that I see Brother Jin directly like this, I truly understand the saying that even a chimney that isn’t lit can produce smoke. How can you trust the mouths of gossipmongers like this.”

 

Shi Chen, now seeming completely at ease, patted Xie Baowei’s arm and told him various other rumors too.

 

That his feet were so fast they couldn’t be seen, that his punches hurt as if they were hammers, that his strength was so great that even several people rushing him couldn’t stop him.

 

When telling such things, the way he looked over Xie Baowei’s legs and hands made it clear he didn’t believe them.

 

“Well, tone down your temper a bit. In this business, if you get a bad reputation, losing your life is common enough.”

 

“I’ll do that.”

 

Xie Baowei nodded his head roughly.

 

When will that Jang Sam-i fellow get better.

 

He was good – spoke little and was quick to read situations.

 

Still, it’s not boring.

 

Listening to Shi Chen’s chatter with one ear and letting it out the other, Xie Baowei diligently made his patrol rounds.

 

Night patrol didn’t mean just walking around all night.

 

Having covered half the route, the rest involved handing suspicious individuals over to the outside, or waiting at the station for emergency support.

 

“Oh my, we can rest a bit once we get inside, right?”

 

“Get some sleep. The first day is always tough.”

 

“Oh dear. Really, I’ll do my best to clear up the misunderstandings surrounding Brother Jin! I may not look it, but I have quite a few connections!”

 

Shi Chen laughed cheerfully.

 

Before long, the path led toward the halls of Gungrijae (: research facility mainly for martial arts interpretation and development, also studying ancient texts, maps, etc.).

 

Faint lights could be seen even above the high walls, suggesting someone was still awake at this late hour.

 

Next to it, another high wall belonged to the special-grade document archive, where stern-faced guards stood like the Four Heavenly Kings before the firmly closed doors.

 

Their presence was on a different level from the patrol teams.

 

Behind the building, the foothills of the towering Xiangshan cast deep shadows, making it look even more pitch black.

 

Buildings were stacked in layers beside it as well, making it truly worthy of being called the inner depths.

 

By this point, they could let their guard down.

 

The patrol area boundary was right there.

 

Just as the tension in Xie Baowei’s shoulders was beginning to ease a little.

 

-Shrill! Shriiill!

 

A sharp whistle sound tore through the deep quiet of night, and simultaneously.

 

-Boom!

 

Rummmble.

 

With a tremendous roar, flames shot up in the distance.

 

The eyes of Xie Baowei and Shi Chen fixed on where the noise and light had erupted.

 

It was far.

 

-Shrill! Shriiiiill!

 

In an instant, whistle sounds rang out in succession.

 

Either a major accident had occurred.

 

Or an enemy beyond their capabilities had come.

 

One by one, lanterns began lighting up in the darkness.

 

They could feel commotion stirring in the previously quiet surroundings.

 

Shi Chen looked at Xie Baowei with a flustered expression.

 

“I-Is something terrible happening?”

 

“That’s why I need to go check right away.”

 

Thud.

 

Xie Baowei looked at Shi Chen’s face as he grabbed his hand.

 

“If it’s a great enemy, wh-what help could we possibly be….”

 

“…Then. Stay here.”

 

Someone like this wouldn’t be of any help anyway if he came along.

 

Xie Baowei shook off his arm with hardened eyes.

 

Then Shi Chen’s eyes turned toward the guards of Munseo-go.

 

However, they too only hardened their expressions and showed no intention of moving anywhere.

 

Whether Shi Chen was troubled or not, it was when Xie Baowei was about to take a step.

 

Whoosh.

 

“Ha-Have you changed your mind?!”

 

When Xie Baowei, who seemed ready to move at any moment, stood without taking a single step, Shi Chen spoke with delight.

 

However, Xie Baowei’s attention was not on Shi Chen.

 

A faint presence.

 

Someone was hiding.

 

“Who’s there.”

 

Shing.

 

The moment Xie Baowei drew his Cheonghan sword, a sharp aura exploded outward.

—————
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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