The Mending Studio - Chapter 5

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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 5
Instead of answering, the tip of Hei Huang’s tail trembled once more, barely perceptible.
Ye Jangcheong gazed up at the old Hei Huang Painting hanging on the wall.
The painting itself was nothing remarkable.
A single black dog stood upright on two hind legs like a man.
Around his waist hung enormous trousers, and clouds and mist coiled about his body; behind him hovered a round halo, scattering rays of light in all directions.
In short, the Hei Huang in the painting was absurdly grandiose, nothing like the creature in the flesh.

“You’re still afraid of that thing?”

Ye Jangcheong let out a quiet laugh.
Memories surfaced of the day, four years ago, when he had painted this picture.
Back then, having just learned that this world harbored mighty Demon Clans called Demon Kings and Demon Emperors, Ye Jangcheong had wanted nothing more than to become strong himself.
But from the start, he possessed no Spiritual Root.
So why not imagine a companion who could grow strong in his stead?
When a small black puppy happened to appear at his feet, Ye Jangcheong playfully wondered—if Hei Huang ever truly became a Demon King, wouldn’t he then have a rather dependable backer of his own?

‘Who dares mock me? Hei Huang, go bite them. Getting too bold? Teach them a lesson. Showing disrespect? Handle it yourself.’

The fantasy was persuasive enough.
Seized by that mood, he had taken up his brush and completed the Hei Huang Painting.
The problem was Hei Huang’s actual reaction.
On the day the beast first saw the picture, he collapsed to the floor trembling violently.
One day passed, then two, yet the moment he approached the painting, his whole body would go rigid. Hei Huang avoided that picture for nearly half a year.
Witnessing this, Ye Jangcheong had reached his conclusion.

‘It’s hopeless.’

What manner of Demon King could such a cowardly dog ever become?
And so he had let go of the small hope he had poured into the Hei Huang Painting on that very day.
Yet here was that same creature, returning after a year and prostrating himself before the painting again. His body had grown considerably larger, but otherwise, nothing had changed.

“You really are unchanging.”

Of course, no answer came from Hei Huang.
Ye Jangcheong set down the wine bottle he had brought from the tavern, uninterested in further teasing.
Outside, darkness had already fallen.
The students had departed for Taihyeon Holy Ground, and he had met a patron who appreciated calligraphy and painting. Now, Hei Huang—who had vanished for a year—had returned as well.
Ye Jangcheong rummaged through the kitchen and found what food remained.

“Hungry?”

He set a bowl before Hei Huang. The creature gazed at the Hei Huang Painting for a moment longer, then finally moved toward the food.

“Food’s better than a painting, isn’t it?”

Ye Jangcheong shook his head.
The night had grown deep beyond the window, and with nothing else to occupy him, he played the Guqin in the small courtyard for a while, letting its clear notes drift through the stillness.
After finishing one piece, he seated himself before an empty Go Board, taking turns as black and white—placing a stone for one side, then reconsidering from the opposite perspective before placing the next. By now, the rhythm came naturally.

“If I place it here… no, wait.”

He set down a white stone, then a moment later picked up a black stone and continued the game against himself alone.
As considerable time passed and the night deepened, Ye Jangcheong stretched languidly.

“That’s enough. Time to sleep.”

Ye Jangcheong stifled a yawn and returned to his room.
Some time later, when the curiosity shop had fallen completely silent, the Hei Huang who had been prostrate on the floor finally opened his eyes.
A low rumble escaped his throat.
Between the black fur, a faint dark gleam rippled—and the two eyes that had seemed unremarkable moments before blazed into brilliant gold.
Roaaaar!
A vast Demonic Aura surged through the curiosity shop in an instant, the invisible pressure bearing down on the air so heavily that the very floor seemed to tremble.
But that momentum dissolved without a trace before even a breath had passed.
When Hei Huang slowly raised his head moments later, not a trace remained of the creature that had been wagging its tail before Ye Jangcheong.
Fury burned in his eyes.

‘Chi Huo Yao Wang.’

A low growl escaped between bared fangs.

‘Coward. Unable to face me alone, so you dragged in other Demon Kings to drag me back into my original form.’

A year ago, Hei Huang had left his master’s side, and by then he had already reached the rank of Demon King—a height so lofty that ordinary Demon Clan members could scarcely attain it in a lifetime of cultivation. The world had seemed smaller than he’d imagined once he stood at that peak.
But Nanling was vast.
In the end, with Chi Huo Yao Wang and the other Demon Kings bearing down on him, Hei Huang had lost nearly all his cultivation and been forced back into his original form, barely escaping with his life to flee all the way to Soji Town.
Jangcheong’s Curiosity Shop.
In the end, he had fled to his master’s side.
As this truth returned to him, the murderous intent that had gathered in Hei Huang’s eyes slowly subsided. His gaze turned again to the Hei Huang Painting on the wall.
When he first met Ye Jangcheong, he had been nothing but a young black dog whose Spirit Gate was not yet properly opened. After following his master into Soji Town, he had spent each day immersed in the Daoist Principles that filled both the shop and its courtyard.
His Spirit Gate opened before even a month had passed.
Afterward, Ye Jangcheong had painted the Hei Huang Painting, sketched from his image.
To Ye Jangcheong’s eyes, the young dog had cowered and prostrated himself as if frightened by a single painting—but the truth was otherwise. The vital force contained within that painting had been so vast that the young Hei Huang simply could not bear it.
As he gazed at the painting day after day from beside it, the bloodline of the Divine Beast that lay dormant within him stirred to life, and his cultivation speed transformed entirely. It was only after that he had risen to the rank of Demon King in merely a handful of years.
Hei Huang slowly lowered his head.

‘A year ago, I did not leave my master’s side to follow that old fox.’

Becoming a Demon King had not placed him at the apex of Nanling, and what he had gained by venturing out was only that bitter truth and crushing defeat. He had not understood his own shallowness while in his master’s presence—only when he stepped outside did it become starkly clear.
Only by leaving had he truly learned: how precious was the vital force he had breathed in so carelessly within his master’s courtyard, how impossibly rare a fortune it was to gaze upon that painting on the wall day after day.
And above all, how utterly ignorant he had been of his own place.

‘Yet I did return.’

Losing nearly all his cultivation and being forced back into his original form was misfortune.
Yet he had succeeded in fleeing all the way back to his master’s side.
What moved him even more was Ye Jangcheong’s response. He had vanished for a year on his own whim and returned having lost almost all his cultivation—yet his master did not rebuke him, instead setting aside leftover rice for him and stroking his head as naturally as before, as though nothing had changed.
That fact alone made Hei Huang’s chest grow heavy.
Resolve crystallized in his golden eyes.

‘From this moment forward, I will never leave my master’s side again.’

The debt he owed to Chi Huo Yao Wang could be settled whenever the time came.
What mattered now was to return to cultivating beside his master.

‘Even if all four Demon Emperors of Nanling descended at once, they would be nothing but ants before my master.’

At that thought, the fury that had been roiling within him moments before seemed laughably slight.
Hei Huang recalled his master’s way of life—how Ye Jangcheong never sought to display power or rule over others. Each day he taught children their characters at the Academy, tended to paintings and calligraphy at the curiosity shop, and between sips of tea would laugh among ordinary folk.

‘When will I ever attain the pure and unburdened mind that my master possesses?’

Hei Huang sighed deeply within himself, then quietly walked toward the back courtyard.
Before the wooden house where Ye Jangcheong dwelt.
He settled into his familiar spot, his body at rest. Even the vital force felt through a single door between them brought him peace, and he closed his eyes in stillness.
Time passed in this manner for a while.
Hei Huang’s eyes snapped open. Suddenly, a memory had surfaced.
A verse his master had often recited in the past.
—Yaotiao Shuonu, the graceful and virtuous maiden; a gentleman seeks a match.
Among those words, “Yaotiao Shuonu” lingered in his mind with particular clarity. Unpacked, it referred to a woman of beauty and benevolence.
Hei Huang’s eyes narrowed to slits.

‘Now that I think about it…….’

He’d returned empty-handed after a year away, and he hadn’t even prepared a gift to bring his master.
As that thought took hold, a peculiar light flickered across Hei Huang’s golden eyes.

‘Good.’

The creature rose soundlessly to his feet.
He vaulted over the courtyard wall and vanished into the darkness.

* * *

The next morning, before dawn broke—as the edge of the sky began to pale—Ye Jangcheong’s eyes opened by habit.
His body already knew when it was time to rise. By his usual schedule, he would wash quickly and head straight to the Academy.
Ye Jangcheong rubbed his face several times. Sleep’s heaviness lifted at once.
Then something occurred to him.

“Ah.”

That’s right—as of today, there were no students at the Academy. They had all departed for the Taihyeon Holy Ground.
There was no need to teach lessons this morning.

“Why did I wake up so early?”

A hollow laugh escaped him.
Ye Jangcheong pulled the blanket back over himself.
Thinking he might finally sleep in for once, he closed his eyes again.
The next instant.
Ye Jangcheong’s eyes flew open.
His head snapped to the side.
An unfamiliar young woman occupied the far side of the bed beside him.

“……?”

Sleep fled in an instant.
Ye Jangcheong blinked several times.
She didn’t disappear.

‘What is this?’

Could it be.
Had the privilege finally awakened?
After five years of silence, the privilege appears one morning by placing a beautiful woman on his bed.
By any reasonable standard, it made no sense.
But the privilege itself had always defied reason.
Ye Jangcheong paused to think seriously about it.

‘It’s not some kind of beauty delivery service, is it?’

He dismissed the thought at once.
Even for a privilege, that would be absurdly vulgar.
Ridiculous imaginings had come first.
Yet one thing was unmistakably clear: the woman before him was extraordinarily beautiful.
Unlike the clear, cold Celestial Aura he’d seen in Yu Wu Shuang yesterday, there was something different about this woman.
Her skin was white and smooth as jade; her eyebrows were drawn fine as ink strokes; beneath her straight nose lay lips of deep red, pressed gently closed. Even beneath the blanket, the lines of her long frame were sharp and distinct.
Without any elaborate adornment, she carried the air of someone raised in nobility.
Her sleeping face was tranquil. Her breathing came steady and calm.
Ye Jangcheong found himself gazing at her longer than he realized before finally turning his eyes away.

‘First, I need to know who she is.’

The moment Ye Jangcheong stood staring blankly ahead.
Long eyelashes trembled, and the woman’s eyes slowly opened.

“Where am I…….”

A drowsy voice spilled out.
Soon focus returned to her eyes.
The woman sat up abruptly.

“Where is this?”

And then she spotted Ye Jangcheong sitting beside her.
Her expression hardened.

“Who are you?”

Questions tumbled out in rapid succession.

“Why are you in my bed? Do you know who I am?”
“Wait.”

Ye Jangcheong raised his hand.

“First, this is my house.”

The woman’s eyebrows twitched.

“Second, if you ask why I’m here……it’s my room.”
“…….”
“Third.”

Ye Jangcheong turned the question back on her.

“I’m the one who’d like to ask. Who are you, sleeping in my bed like this?”

The woman’s face flushed.
Whether from shock or anger, he couldn’t tell.
The next moment.

“Is anyone out there!”

The woman bellowed.

“Drag out this rude wretch and behead him!”

Ye Jangcheong regarded her in silence.

“…….”

After a long moment.
Ye Jangcheong, still in his sleeping robes, was thrown out of his own room.
The door slammed shut.

“My own house.”

Too bewildered to even laugh, he heard a sound from below the window. Or rather, a dog’s movement. When Ye Jangcheong turned his head, Hei Huang lay there gazing up at him, tail thrashing wildly and mouth gaping so wide it seemed ready to split, one emotion crystal clear to anyone watching.

Seeing her expression pleading for praise, Ye Jangcheong fell silent for a long moment. A woman lay in his bed, and beneath the window, a dog that had returned after a year was wagging its tail with unbridled joy.
No matter how he looked at it, this was no ordinary morning.
Ye Jangcheong pressed his brow and exhaled a long, deep sigh.

“What in the world is this…….”

Ye Jangcheong stared at Hei Huang for a while.
The creature’s tail continued to wag, its eyes gleaming with an oddly proud light, and as he watched, Ye Jangcheong’s expression slowly began to shift.

‘Surely not.’

Memory drifted naturally back to last night. Hei Huang had been outside his door then, a woman lay in his bed this morning, and now the creature wore the face of one waiting for praise.

“Was it you?”

Hei Huang’s ears perked up. Ye Jangcheong’s eyes narrowed.

“Did you bring her?”

The tail wagged even more vigorously.

……

Even as the thought formed, he felt its absurdity.
Ye Jangcheong shook his head.

“No.”

No matter how much Hei Huang had grown, until recently he’d been nothing more than a fearful dog trembling at a single painting—he couldn’t possibly have knocked a person unconscious and carried her all the way here.
It would be easier to believe he’d somehow awakened a Spiritual Root than to believe that.

‘It must be coincidence.’

The real question was how that coincidence had ended up in his bed.
Ye Jangcheong pressed his temples.
Questioning it now would yield no answers.

“Let me change clothes first.”
He went into the next room, shed his sleeping robes, and changed into a clean white robe. After washing quickly and tidying his disheveled hair, he at last looked somewhat presentable.
Returning to the room, he thought of knocking but decided against it.
She would need time to collect herself. Besides, all the students had gone to Taihyeon Holy Ground—there was no reason to go to the Academy.
With no urgency pushing him, Ye Jangcheong sat before the stone table in the courtyard and spread out a familiar Go Board.
He meant to clear his mind by placing black and white stones in turn, and he set down the first stone with a sharp tap.
The first stone was placed.
At first, idle thoughts from the morning kept circling in his head.
Within a few moves, Ye Jangcheong’s gaze grew calm. Concentration on the board naturally pushed other thoughts aside.
As he played black and white alternately, reading out the sequence by himself, the board grew complex in no time.
After considerable time had passed, Ye Jangcheong, deep in thought over his next white stone, suddenly sensed a presence.
He looked up.
The woman from before was standing beside the stone table—he had no idea when she’d come out.
Her face was deathly pale.
Veins stood out on her forehead, and her brow was creased with tension.
Her eyes remained fixed on the Go Board as though riveted.
She was breathing heavily, each breath quick and strained.

‘What’s wrong with her?’

Ye Jangcheong’s first thought was illness.
Had she suffered some kind of sudden attack?

At that moment, the Hei Huang Painting lifted its head from where it lay in one corner of the courtyard.
Its eyes were not golden, but ordinary black.

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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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