The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 336

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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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Special Side Story Episode 6
The young man who spotted them spoke with evident delight.
“Namgung Ryu-cheong, I heard you’d come to the Murim Alliance. It’s been a while.”
“…Mun Gyeom. It has been.”
The young man greeted Namgung Ryu-cheong, then turned to acknowledge Baek Li-yeon as well. He was a close acquaintance who had once met Namgung Ryu-cheong on the road, struck up an immediate rapport, and together they’d defeated Madu. He was one of Namgung Ryu-cheong’s connections that remained unchanged both before and after the regression—unlike Jang Cheol.
Yet he differed from everyone else I’d encountered at the Main Headquarters so far….
“By any chance, have you seen Seo So-jeo from the Suhyang Sect today?”
His interest lay not with them, but with Seo Ha-ryeong.
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s lips twisted slightly—a moment so fleeting that only Baek Li-yeon could discern it, not Mun Gyeom.
Namgung Ryu-cheong spoke in a low, clipped voice that naturally commanded trust.
“We’ve only just arrived at the Main Headquarters and finished taking tea with the Jegal Family Head.”
“Ah, I see. Understood.”
Mun Gyeom’s expression grew visibly disappointed.
Baek Li-yeon asked, “Why are you looking for Ha-ryeong?”
“Ah, when the Great Hero and Ryu-cheong visit, Seo So-jeo will surely come to meet them. I’ve been waiting because there’s something I wish to tell her.”
Mun Gyeom’s face turned bitter. That alone made the situation abundantly clear.
Baek Li-yeon spoke awkwardly. “Would you like me to pass along a message for you?”
“No. This is between her and me. I’ll speak to her directly.”
“I… see.”
Mun Gyeom turned to Namgung Ryu-cheong. “If you happen to see Seo So-jeo, let me know.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong didn’t respond. Mun Gyeom glanced around indifferently and departed.
Once Mun Gyeom had completely left, Namgung Ryu-cheong exhaled a sigh and spoke with a faint edge of irritation.
“I told you not to meddle with that one.”
Baek Li-yeon spun around in surprise. “What? What did you say?”
“What?”
“No, what did you just say?”
Namgung Ryu-cheong tilted his head. “What did I say?”
“….”
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s expression was utterly blank. Before I could press the matter further, a figure emerged from behind the building.
“Is he gone? He’s gone, right?”
Baek Li-yeon’s face turned incredulous. Before she could speak, Namgung Ryu-cheong opened his mouth first, his smile apologetic and sheepish.
“Ha-ryeong.”
At that, Seo Ha-ryeong’s eyes widened in alarm as she looked at Baek Li-yeon.
“What? Why is she like that?”
‘Ha-ryeong’—such an intimate tone. Namgung Ryu-cheong had never addressed Seo Ha-ryeong that way before, not even once.
Baek Li-yeon wore an absurd expression. Before she could say anything to the face smiling sheepishly as if apologizing, Namgung Ryu-cheong spoke first.
Ha-ryeong.
Then Seo Ha-ryeong looked at Baek Li-yeon in alarm.
“What? Why is he/she acting like that?”
“Ha-ryeong?” Namgung Ryu-cheong had never called Seo Ha-ryeong in such an intimate tone before.
Baek Li-yeon bit down hard on her lip, stifling the laughter that threatened to burst forth.
* * *
Seo Ha-ryeong was still savoring life to the fullest. Namgung Ryu-cheong, upon hearing her tales, seemed utterly exasperated.
“…Ha. I don’t even know what to say. Ha-ryeong has become like that. And with Mun Gyeom, no less?”
Yet surprisingly, there was little else in his reaction.
“Actually, it’s for the best.”
“For the best?”
“Because it was a feeling I could never repay.”
He was quite resolute about it. And Namgung Ryu-cheong had no recollection whatsoever of the conversation that had taken place immediately after meeting Seo Ha-ryeong.
But it was not an unfavorable outcome. The fact that his memories had returned to the present, even if only briefly, meant there was a very high probability they would return again in the future.
No one sensed anything amiss with Namgung Ryu-cheong. Most of his current connections were people he had been bound to in the past as well, so he managed quite well on his own without her assistance.
However, the research into the sorcery inscribed on the wooden token had been at a standstill for ten days now.
‘I suppose I’ll need to return to where the wooden token was originally found.’
But I had no desire to venture outside with Namgung Ryu-cheong in his current state.
‘Still, even accounting for Father, why hasn’t there been a single letter from Sehwa and Hee saying they miss me? Ryu-cheong and I are taking far longer than expected!’
At first, I had been too preoccupied to think much of the children, but as time wore on, I missed them terribly. And since Namgung Ryu-cheong had no memory of them at all, I couldn’t even find sympathy in him on this matter.
Baek Li-yeon noticed the aura reflecting in the corridor and approached warmly.
“What’s this? Ryu-cheong, weren’t you supposed to go to the training hall today to watch the children? What are you doing here?”
Namgung Ryu-cheong nodded as if to say let’s go.
Baek Li-yeon spoke playfully.
“Don’t tell me you came to fetch me?”
“Yes.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong extended his hand, gently grasping her elbow and leading her forward.
Indeed, the Namgung Ryu-cheong who once flinched at the slightest touch was adapting far too well. Seeing him adjust so smoothly should have made me happy, yet somehow… it didn’t feel entirely right.
After walking together for a moment, Baek Li-yeon stopped and withdrew her arm from his grasp. Namgung Ryu-cheong looked at her questioningly.
Baek Li-yeon spoke.
“…You don’t need to force yourself to adapt.”
“Suddenly?”
Baek Li-yeon took a shallow breath and met Namgung Ryu-cheong’s gaze.
“The truth is, you don’t think of yourself after the regression as the same person you are now, do you?”
“….”
Namgung Ryu-cheong, who had been staring blankly, acknowledged it cleanly.
“That’s right. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t consider the me after regression as the me now. It’s not that my memories are returning. I’m returning to where I originally belonged.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to. This is my story.”
“….”
“And I’m not exactly forcing myself to adapt.”
“Then?”
“Because I want to do it this way.”
Baek Li-yeon’s brow furrowed. His incomprehensible words certainly made him feel like an entirely different person. Nothing like the man whose thoughts I could read from his eyes alone.
At that moment, Baek Li-yeon sensed a familiar presence and turned her head. Her eyes widened—she could feel three unmistakable auras. He seemed to sense something as well, his gaze drifting toward the distance.
Soon, a child’s voice echoed across the pavilion courtyard.
“Let go! I can walk by myself!”
A boy who appeared to be three or four years old wriggled free from a middle-aged woman’s hand and toddled forward with an unsteady gait.
Baek Li-yeon released Namgung Ryu-cheong’s arm and rushed forward as if taking flight.
“Sehwa! Hee!”
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s eyes wavered upon recognizing the children’s identities. He had heard their names from Baek Li-yeon before.
Baek Li-yeon scooped up Namgung Hee first, then lifted Baek Li Se-hwa with her other arm.
Beaming with joy as she alternated kisses between the children, Baek Li-yeon spoke to Baek Li-ui-gang, who had come with them.
“How did you come here?”
“Because you two broke your promise to visit.”
“What?”
At that moment, Baek Li-ui-gang transmitted his voice directly to Baek Li-yeon.
As Baek Li-yeon listened, her eyes gradually widened. Soon, Baek Li-ui-gang’s transmission ceased.
“Sehwa, did you really cry because you missed Mother?”
Baek Li Se-hwa looked at Baek Li-ui-gang with betrayed eyes. Baek Li-ui-gang also regarded Baek Li-yeon with a hint of betrayal in his gaze.
And Baek Li-yeon gazed at Baek Li Se-hwa with hopeful eyes.
Baek Li Se-hwa’s lips, pressed firmly shut, began to mumble.
“No. I didn’t cry.”
“But…”
“No, Sister cried. I saw! She cried under the blanket!”
“Namgung Hee!”
“Oh, you little rascal.”
Soon the children began pushing and pulling at each other in Baek Li-yeon’s embrace, bickering playfully.
Only after Baek Li-ui-gang hurried to take Baek Li Se-hwa away did the squabbling cease. Of course, in the meantime, Baek Li-yeon had taken blows to her chin and cheeks from the children’s hands, and her hair had become thoroughly disheveled.
At the sight of Baek Li-yeon, looking as though she’d been swept through a storm, a faint smile tugged at the corners of Baek Li-ui-gang’s mouth.
“Didn’t I tell you not to say such things?”
“…Don’t laugh.”
Baek Li-yeon turned and held out Namgung Hee toward Namgung Ryu-cheong. The bewildered man received the child, and Namgung Hee clung to him immediately. The boy was wonderfully warm and soft, with a lovely scent.
Namgung Ryu-cheong gazed blankly at the child’s face, which bore traces of both himself and Baek Li-yeon. As if recalling something.
Baek Li-ui-gang, having grasped the general situation, observed Namgung Ryu-cheong with discerning eyes.
But Namgung Hee, unaware of the circumstances, squirmed around his neck and pulled something from his embrace, holding it out.
“Dad, look at this. Grandfather gave it to me.”
In the child’s hand was a small jade flute. Namgung Hee squirmed again and brought the flute to his lips, blowing a high, clear note that rang out.
Namgung Ryu-cheong fell silent before speaking.
“Are you showing off?”
“Yeah! You don’t have one, right? He said he only gave it to me!”
“…How impressive.”
At that moment, a low voice was heard beneath Namgung Ryu-cheong’s sharp aura.
“I’m fine, Mother. Don’t you understand? That jade flute was given to Hee so he could blow it if anything happens while he’s running around recklessly. I don’t need something like that.”
For a moment, Namgung Ryu-cheong felt laughter bubbling up and clenched his jaw to suppress it.
Unaware of their conversation, Namgung Hee continued playing the jade flute with delight, the notes trilling cheerfully—pee-eek, pee-eek.
Amidst the laughter and happiness, a figure shimmered at the edge of his consciousness.
“Dad, what’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your expression looks strange.”
Namgung Hee tilted his head curiously.
How to describe it—the moment he saw the boy, he knew this was his child. Though he possessed no memory of it, love welled up naturally from the depths of his heart. And with it came understanding.
Namgung Ryu-cheong spoke.
“I need to go back.”
“Go back where?”
“To where I was originally.”
“Huh? You mean home? Let’s go together!”
“I’m afraid you can’t come. Or perhaps… we might see each other again.”
Watching Namgung Hee tilt his head in confusion, Namgung Ryu-cheong smiled tenderly. When he opened his eyes after closing them, his gaze held a strange bewilderment as it fixed on Namgung Hee.
Namgung Ryu-cheong furrowed his brow and spoke.
“Hee?”
“Yes? Why are you calling me?”
“How did you get here… wait, where is this place?”
Baek Li-yeon, who had by then tidied her hair and clothing, approached once more.
“Hee, give it back. Thank you for holding it.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s brow furrowed deeper.
For some reason, seeing Baek Li-yeon felt like it had been quite a long time.
He tried hard to recall his memories, but they remained obscured as if shrouded in mist, refusing to surface clearly.
“Wait, hold on. My memories… surely I was with Cheon-ma… or wasn’t I traveling? Why are we here?”
Baek Li-yeon’s eyes widened.
“You’ve come back!”

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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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