The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 106

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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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A Fallen Family’s Limited Lifespan 106

Dan Mok Seong found the child rather endearing in her earnest determination to bring a wooden sword, so she simply turned her head to the side and nodded, saying nothing.
Only Geum Jong Ha, vaguely discontent that another person had been added to their group, pouted his lips once and spoke.
“Your brother hasn’t shown up yet.”
But at those words, Namgung Seo Jin seemed to snap alert.
“He… My brother…
Namgung Seo Jin, who had begun “My brother” several times with stammering syllables, now wore an expression of acute discomfort, and his face grew increasingly downcast.
“My brother… If he knew I was here… he wouldn’t come.”
“What? No, I wasn’t saying to call him. But you’re here — why wouldn’t your brother come? Shouldn’t he…?”
“My brother doesn’t like me very much because I’m not good enough.”
The children, suddenly privy to a family secret, all held their breath.
Namgung Seo Jin, now the focus of their eyes, filled his own with tears and hugged the wooden sword he’d brought tightly to his chest.
“I… I won’t do this after all. I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”
Then he lowered his head in apology and fled like a hunted creature.
The remaining children’s eyes turned toward Geum Jong Ha. It looked as though he had chased the boy away.
“No, no, no! I didn’t say anything that bad — how did it come to this!”
“You chased the child away, and you’re happy about it?!”
“I only asked why his brother wasn’t coming…!”
While Ak So Hyeong and Geum Jong Ha bickered back and forth, Dan Mok Ryeon turned over what she had witnessed.
‘So that child was an outsider.’

* * *

“Is the relationship between Namgung Seo Geon and Namgung Seo Jin a bad one?”
The quiet question came from Dan Mok Seong.
Dan Mok Ryeon, who had been loosening her hair — braided and coiled on both sides — and lifting the curled portions with her fingers, turned to look at Dan Mok Seong.
Dan Mok Seong seemed unable to shake the image of Namgung Seo Jin from moments before, eyes glistening with tears as he turned to leave.
Dan Mok Seong didn’t wait for a reply, but added almost muttering to herself.
“There must be siblings with bad relations too, right? Not every pair can get along well.”
Her tone suggested she was seeing such a thing for the first time. Dan Mok Ryeon abandoned her hair and approached Dan Mok Seong.
“Are you worried about those children?”
“…A little. It’s their family’s business, so I can’t tell them what to do. But watching what other people go through can be a lesson from others. Our own sibling affection could face a crisis too.”
“…!”
Her chest tightened inexplicably.
Dan Mok Ryeon brushed the feeling away and stepped closer to Dan Mok Seong, taking her hand.
“What would we do if we ever fought?”
Dan Mok Seong, who paused briefly in thought, seemed to reach a clear conclusion. She lifted her head and met Dan Mok Ryeon’s gaze.
“Apologize!”
“Me? You mean me?”
“Yes.”
“Just me…? I’d have to apologize alone?”
“I’ll never betray you or hurt you, so if we fought, it would be your fault.”
“Can it really work that way…?”
“Yes. And if you apologize, I’ll forgive you.”
“But I won’t betray you either… I won’t hurt you either…”
“Well, then we’ll never fight.”
Dan Mok Seong’s earlier worried expression had vanished, replaced by a very pleased one. She sprang to her feet.
“Good. We’ve reached a nice conclusion today. I’m going to sleep now.”
“What? Oh… Sleep well, Seong.”
“Make sure the window is closed when you sleep. Don’t catch a cold traveling all this way and be a nuisance to others.”
Even as Dan Mok Seong said this, she seemed to feel some lingering concern. She examined every corner of the room herself, closed all the windows, and only then departed.
After Dan Mok Seong left, Dan Mok Ryeon was smoothing out the quilt on the bed with her fingertips when she gave a start at a sudden presence beside her.
“Yikes!”
“Why are you so startled?”
“Of course you’d be startled if I appeared without a sound like that.”
Dan Mok Ryeon glanced at Hwa Ryun for no particular reason.
“Were you out sightseeing?”
“Yes, with Dan Mok Bi, here and there. But…….”
It didn’t seem to be her real purpose. Hwa Ryun answered half-heartedly and then stared intently at Dan Mok Ryeon’s face.
“Why…… what’s wrong? Did I get something on my face?”
Hwa Ryun narrowed her eyes but didn’t answer Dan Mok Ryeon’s question, even as she covered her own cheek with her hand.
“What’s the matter?”
“No, I was the one asking.”
“Did someone bother you?”
“No one bothered me! What about you? You keep acting strange…….”
“But why have you been in such a bad mood? Ever since a moment ago.”
Dan Mok Ryeon’s chest tightened. She swallowed dryly. She’d thought she’d hidden her expression well…….
“Did someone bother you?”
“Even if someone did, what would——”
Somehow deflated, Dan Mok Ryeon answered weakly and crawled onto the bed. Hwa Ryun, following close beside her, continued speaking.
“I’ll go beat them up for you.”
“You can’t do that. You have to talk it through.”
Dan Mok Ryeon had just offered a pointless lesson in emotional education, and she quickly added more, afraid Hwa Ryun might try to hunt down a non-existent perpetrator.
“Besides, no one bothered me.”
“So no one bothered you, but why does your mood seem so low? Is something wrong?”
Hwa Ryun’s face bore an expression as if to say, ‘Why does this little one think so much about everything?’
Dan Mok Ryeon sat carelessly on the bed and gazed at Hwa Ryun for a moment, then lowered her eyes.
“Listen, Hwa Ryun.”
“Yes.”
“Suppose you weren’t doing anything, and everything around you turned into a complete mess. Nothing progressed and everything just…… fell apart, went wrong.”
“Yes.”
“But then you stepped in and did this and that, and suddenly everything worked out. Really well.”
“Hmm. But what about it?”
“So the fact that you weren’t doing anything before…… somehow it bothers me…….”
While Dan Mok Ryeon hesitated, unsure how to finish her thought, Hwa Ryun suddenly spoke up.
“That’s just because I’m amazing, not because I did something wrong by not doing anything. I was still young, you know?”
“Huh?”
Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes widened as she looked at Hwa Ryun.
“And what, everyone else was just ■■ ■■ ■■■? Are you saying one person not doing something ruins everything for everyone?”
Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes grew even wider.
“■■ ■■ ■■■?!”
“……!”
“I’ve never heard anyone actually say that out loud before. That’s cursing, isn’t it? Say it again…….”
Hwa Ryun, startled, opened her mouth wide and cried out.
“Don’t say it! For heaven’s sake, don’t!”
“Why? I want to be good at cursing too. ■■ ■■ ■■■…….”
“No! Stop it!”
“Why can you do it but tell me not to?”
“No, you should tell me not to do it either, not sit here side by side with me swearing together!”
“You have to know how to curse a little to be a proper adult. And if I ever meet with an accident…….”
“If you meet with an accident, just kill the other person instead—don’t say things like that.”
“……!”
Rather than rattle off curses, Hwa Ryun was suggesting murder instead—and Dan Mok Ryeon was left utterly aghast.
“No, no! I mean…… cursing is better!”
“Eliminating the source is the most reliable way. What’s the point of just talking? You have to show it through action.”
The idea that action must take priority over words was the sort of thing that might appear in a scripture.
‘But still…… but still……!’
“That won’t do!”
“So I should just be someone who talks big?”
“No, that’s not it…… first of all…… talk about it first, no matter what. A person’s life…… no…… no, once you lose a person, you can’t bring them back. What if it was just a misunderstanding?”
“If they did something worthy of cursing, then it wasn’t a misunderstanding, was it?”
“……!”
‘That sounds right too…… ? No, no! No!’
Dan Mok Ryeon quickly collected herself.
It was indeed the eloquent speech of someone worthy of Ma Cheon Gyo’s recruitment, yet Dan Mok Ryeon could not let it pass.
“The strong… the strong must know how to show restraint. To fume over every slight and harbor resentment over petty wrongs—that’s what the weak do. They lack the strength to protect themselves, so they magnify every small threat into something enormous.”
“But I am weak. I’m small and helpless.”
“Yes, so I’ll protect you. You just stay still. Understood?”
“…You always say you’ll protect me.”
“Then I’ll protect you always. Yesterday I protected you, today I protect you, and tomorrow I’ll protect you too.”
“Even when I become strong?”
“Yes, even if you become the strongest person in the world.”
So don’t go around saying something like you’d snap someone’s neck if things went wrong—just use your mouth to curse a little and leave it at that….
Dan Mok Ryeon swallowed the words she wanted to say and gently stroked Hwa Ryun’s hair. Hwa Ryun, who had been looking at her with eyes that seemed not to understand, slowly lowered her gaze.
In that moment, Dan Mok Ryeon mentally repeated the words she had learned from Hwa Ryun, hoping that when the day came to use them, they would flow from her lips naturally.
‘■■, ■■, ■■■…….’

* * *

At last, Mo Yong Sae Ga, the final participant from Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon, had arrived.
It was said the family rarely showed their faces in public, and none of Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon’s attendees seemed to have met them before, their unfamiliarity evident in their awkward bearing.
“Welcome, White Dragon Divine Sword

Master!”
Namgung Gyeong Hae, the patriarch, stepped forward with a respectful salute to greet the Mo Yong Sae Ga party.
The elderly woman standing foremost, her snow-white hair neatly combed back, smiled gently as she regarded him, young enough to be her son.

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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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