The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 113

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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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The Decline of a Great House — A Terminal Bond — Chapter 113

‘Come to think of it, am I like some kind of magnet for people without friends?’
Dan Mok Ryeon caught herself retracing her connections and brushed the thought away. In that moment, Mo Yong Seol Ho spoke up.
“But that’s only natural as a friend, so I should naturally repay you with—something more—”
“Didn’t I say it before? Friends help each other without expecting anything in return.”
“…!”
‘So later, when you grow up well and become someone worth debating over—whether you’re the first or second greatest among the retrospectives—you’ll have to do everything I ask of you.’
Someone like Mo Yong Seol Ho was far more vulnerable to intangible debts than those measured in numbers. With this, the Liaoning Province branch of the Flowing Star Escort Bureau was as good as secured.
‘You absolutely have to become the next household head of the Mo Yong Clan! So you’ll look after our Flowing Star branch and sweep away those Blood Coral Valley bastards!’
Dan Mok Ryeon looked at Mo Yong Seol Ho with earnest longing, then spoke carefully.
“Letting momentum pass through you doesn’t mean you lose the chance to counterattack. You can use that force and energy to come back again.”
After that much, Dan Mok Ryeon hesitated, feeling embarrassed, and added more.
“The way I did it, right before I flew backward. Since the opponent attacked, there will definitely be an opening. You aim for that spot. I got knocked back, but…”
She was so flustered she felt compelled to say even more.
“And I think we often forget that we pay attention to the opponent’s weapon not because the weapon matters, but because it’s the opponent’s hand and foot.”
“…!”
“We wield a weapon not to attack the weapon the opponent holds, but to attack the opponent. A counterattack means ‘to strike back’—but the key here is the ‘strike’, not the counterattack part itself.”

* Mo Yong Seol Ho’s Learning 1
Mo Yong Seol Ho’s Enlightenment 3 *
Dual Rotation Stance: Stage 1 (New)
Luck Index: 51/120 (4▲)

At first, Dan Mok Ryeon had smiled with quiet satisfaction. Of course the boy was clever—surely there was no need for further explanation—but then…
‘Wait, clever doesn’t begin to cover it. He’s grasped the Dual Rotation Stance right here and now?’
Dan Mok Ryeon stared at Mo Yong Seol Ho with a blank expression, though he himself seemed too busy collecting the thoughts surging through his mind.
“…!”
Then, snapping back to himself, Mo Yong Seol Ho’s eyes went wide. His face swelled with such emotion he looked as though he’d received an enormous birthday gift.
He threw his arms out wildly, then hastily dropped them, repeating this frantic motion over and again before suddenly leaping straight up from where he stood.
“This…how can this…how is this…!”
“We made a real promise to be friends. You didn’t forget, did you?”
“Of course not. Of course, but this is—I want to say—something more…”
Mo Yong Seol Ho shook his head vigorously, insisting it would be unthinkable to simply brush past such a gift. Dan Mok Ryeon laughed and waved her hand dismissively.
“I didn’t know, but my grandmother is apparently very close with your grandmother.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve heard much about it from my grandmother.”
“We’re going to be wonderful friends carrying on both grandmothers’ bond. You know friends are supposed to take each other’s side, right?”
“I do. But even if we’re friends, isn’t it my duty to point out if someone says something wrong…?”
“If you happen to say something wrong, everyone around will already be making a fuss about it. In that moment, shouldn’t a friend take your side?”
Dan Mok Ryeon’s argument made sense, and Mo Yong Seol Ho nodded after considering it briefly.
“Yes. I’ll always be on your side. I promise.”
Mo Yong Seol Ho nodded several times over.

* * *

After sending Mo Yong Seol Ho off, the next person was waiting for Dan Mok Ryeon. As she walked past briskly, a child standing beside the wall with a wooden sword cradled in his arms sagged visibly at the shoulders.
Dan Mok Ryeon suppressed a subtle smile and turned back. The boy perked up, but when she passed by again as if she’d forgotten something, his shoulders drooped once more.
Dan Mok Ryeon decided to stop teasing and approached the child.
“Nam Gung Seo Jin?”
“Ah, ah, hello……”
The boy, who was the same age as Dan Mok Bi, gave a proper bow at the waist.
“What are you doing here?”
“Um…I was just…passing through……”
Seo Jin dragged his feet slightly, as if to demonstrate that he had been walking.
“Where were you headed?”
Nam Gung Seo Jin’s eyes had been darting about when a good idea seemed to strike him, and he called out eagerly.
“There! That! The Guest Reception Hall! The Guest Reception Hall!”
He seemed to think that Dan Mok Ryeon was heading back to the Guest Reception Hall, so they could simply go together.
“Is that so? Then let’s go together…….”
“What are you doing here?”
“Sister! Sister!”
And the moment those words left his mouth, Dan Mok Seong and Dan Mok Bi—whom Dan Mok Ryeon had clearly sent away earlier—appeared without warning.
In particular, Dan Mok Bi immediately linked her arm through Dan Mok Ryeon’s and fixed Nam Gung Seo Jin with a stare of intense wariness. Nam Gung Seo Jin’s shoulders slumped, his spirit utterly deflated.
“I was going to go to the Guest Reception Hall with Seo Jin. He’s heading that way too.”
“Is that so? What business does he have at the Guest Reception Hall?”
At Dan Mok Seong’s question, directed down at them, Nam Gung Seo Jin shrank further into himself. Realizing the situation was about to go awry, Dan Mok Ryeon seized the hand that Dan Mok Bi wasn’t holding and clasped Seo Jin’s own.
“Isn’t he just curious about how we do our evening studies? We decided to do them together now, didn’t we?”
“I, it’s just…… Can I…… Is it all right if I join too?”
“If you don’t want to, then don’t!”
Dan Mok Bi blurted it out. Her eyes blazed with an intense longing that Nam Gung Seo Jin not join them.
“But I…… I do want to. I do want to join…… I just…….”
Nam Gung Seo Jin stammered. Dan Mok Bi was about to say something, but belatedly realized they were in front of Dan Mok Ryeon and clamped her mouth shut.
Dan Mok Seong, watching how they carried on, shook her head slowly. Then, judging that it wouldn’t do any particular harm to Dan Mok Ryeon, she relaxed and her expression softened.
As they murmured away and made their way to the Guest Reception Hall, Nam Gung Seo Jin still couldn’t bring himself to say what he’d meant to, only stammering.
In the end, his lips merely fluttered as he managed only a faint “Farewell to you all……” before bowing his head deeply. Seeing this, Dan Mok Bi let out a dissatisfied mutter.
“If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t make me guess whether you will or won’t.”
She seemed annoyed that his hesitation had stolen her sister’s attention.
At Dan Mok Bi’s cutting words, the hesitant Nam Gung Seo Jin turned to Dan Mok Ryeon with a pleading look.
Sensing that this was not a conversation to have in front of everyone, Dan Mok Ryeon separated Dan Mok Bi and Dan Mok Seong for a moment and led Nam Gung Seo Jin toward a secluded corner.
Only then did Nam Gung Seo Jin speak carefully.
“I, your brother really said he’d study with me? He said I can join too?”
Nam Gung Seo Jin’s face bore both anxiety and desperate longing. Dan Mok Ryeon met his eyes and nodded slowly.
“Yes, of course. Seo Geon was the one who suggested studying together in the first place. Don’t worry.”
At her words, Nam Gung Seo Jin’s tension melted away and his face went soft, before embarrassment finally bloomed and he broke into a shy smile.
From a distance, Dan Mok Bi had been watching their exchange nervously, and the moment she sensed their conversation was ending, she came scampering over and began to bicker with Nam Gung Seo Jin.
“Why are you acting cute?”
“I’m not…… I didn’t…….”
“But remember—Dan Mok Ryeon is my sister.”
“I, I never said she was my sister…….”
“Good, you understand. Keep that in mind.”
“Understood…….”
The two children’s hushed bickering was endearing, yet Dan Mok Ryeon found herself somewhat taken aback by Dan Mok Bi’s unexpected aggression and possessiveness.
Noticing this, Dan Mok Seong whispered in a matter-of-fact tone.
“When you’re afraid of losing the only family you have, everyone acts like that.”
“I see…… Is that so?”
At Dan Mok Seong’s matter-of-fact whisper, Dan Mok Ryeon turned to look at her and asked. Dan Mok Seong nodded calmly, then looked at Dan Mok Ryeon seriously.
“So you’re not to marry for another fifty years. Understood?”
“What? Fifty years from now?”
Fifty years? Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes widened. She’d never given marriage much thought before, and she didn’t now, but…….
“Right. Ten years would be too soon, and twenty is still a bit quick.”
“What about you, Seong?”
“I’ll marry in twenty-five years.”
“Why…… Why twenty-five years?”
“By then, we should have found someone worthy to bring into the family.”
‘What will you even be doing in twenty-five years?’
“You’re not going to marry, only me?”
“I’m your elder sister, so I’ll go first and share my retrospective with you afterward.”
“Ah…… all right.”
She doubted that a retrospective from Dan Mok Seong’s marriage would be much use if she ended up marrying someone different, but she didn’t protest against the sincerity in Seong’s words and simply nodded.
Seong smiled with satisfaction, then grew serious and separated the two children.
“If you’re going to study in the evening, you need to eat dinner properly first. Understood?”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
“Yes!”
Dan Mok Bi answered promptly, then scampered over to Dan Mok Ryeon and grabbed her hand, urging her to go eat dinner.
Since each family had to eat separately, Nam Gung Seo Jin watched them depart with a sorrowful expression, then turned away with quiet sadness.

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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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