The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 74

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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 Youngest Son of the Nakhyang Jin Family — Chapter 74

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Beijing was the Imperial Capital.
With the grand Imperial Palace situated there, where the absolute powers that moved this nation gathered together, it was a city more brilliant and developed than any other place.
Items that couldn’t be obtained in other cities were commonplace here, so the title of “heart of the Central Plains” was hardly an exaggeration.
I entered Beijing with a bamboo hat pulled low over my face.
The reason for concealing my face was that the Nakhyang Jin Family had business operations here as well.
The one managing that place was my uncle Jin Baek-ryong, and I was being cautious to avoid being discovered by his bodyguards or people.
Fortunately, I hadn’t encountered anyone who knew me so far, but since they could recognize me even if I didn’t recognize them, I was taking every precaution.
Following the familiar path deeper in, the grand and ornate marketplace of Beijing revealed itself before me.
At its center stood the Unryong Inn, built seven stories tall, its magnificence so extraordinary that merely gazing upon it drew gasps of admiration.
For those who toured Beijing, the Unryong Inn was said to be a place one absolutely had to visit, and by now it had become a landmark of the city itself.
As I passed by, I carefully observed the surroundings of the inn.
There were quite a lot of people coming and going.
Though they continuously entered and exited, the long lines that formed revealed just how popular the Unryong Inn had become.
Moreover, with so many people, incidents naturally occurred, and I could see quite a few Sega warriors with swords at their sides nearby.
They had been sent from the Nakhyang Jin Family, but most of them had entered through Jin Baek-ryong’s connections.
Thus, they were bound together more by loyalty to Jin Baek-ryong than by loyalty to the Jin Family itself.
No matter what orders came from the main residence, they would never obey.
I chuckled softly as I confirmed this.
“My uncle….”
In that moment, memories from the past surfaced vividly.
Right after the Jin Family’s collapse, Jin Baek-ryong’s movements were shocking.
From the Sega’s commercial rights that had been torn to shreds, he gathered every scrap and swallowed them whole, and even the things rightfully mine, he claimed through inheritance after pretending I was dead.
Yet because of the blood tie, I came seeking his help, only to find myself met with contempt, ridicule, and mockery, my everything crushed beneath his heel and my pride thoroughly trampled.
As if bursting open something that had been pent up.
I still remember it.
The sight of Chu Hyeongi, beaten bloody in my stead by the bodyguards, and the expression on my uncle’s face as he tossed a single silver coin to me as if giving alms to a beggar.
The silver coin that fell to the dirt and rolled around—I couldn’t bring myself to pick it up because of my pride, but Chu Hyeongi, covered in blood, picked it up and smiled as he handed it to me.

“Look, Young Master. Now we can buy something from that street stall we saw earlier! Hehe! It’s been days since we’ve eaten.”

I clenched my fists tightly, recalling that moment.
I glanced sideways at Chu Hyeongi.
He seemed utterly amazed by something, glancing around nervously alongside his master.
“Wow… So this is what a real city looks like, right?”
“What’s so impressive about it? Hmph, though there certainly is a lot of variety here.”
“Look at those skewers being sold on the street. The juices just dripping down—”
“If you want to eat, then eat. While you’re at it, buy some for me too.”
“Master, I don’t have any money. The Young Master has it.”
Chu Hyeongi stared at me while drooling.
At the same moment, Gu Gunbaek’s gaze also turned toward me.
Like master, like disciple—their behavior was identical.
Unable to help myself, I laughed and pulled out a silver coin from my pocket, handing it over.
“Eat whatever you want.”
“Really?!”
“Ahem! Isn’t one silver coin enough? You’re a wealthy man—is one coin really all you’re giving? One coin?”
“That’s more than sufficient for street food.”
“Aw!”
Gu Gunbaek looked quite dissatisfied, but in reality, one silver coin was more than enough to buy a feast of street food.
Sure enough, both their hands were soon filled with skewers.
Enough to make one wonder if they could possibly finish it all.
I found myself smiling and shaking my head in amusement.
Then I turned my body in a different direction.
“Young Master, aren’t you going in? The Unryong Inn is that way.”
“I have no intention of staying at the Unryong. It’s this way. Follow me.”
I naturally made my way through the streets and left the marketplace behind.
As I moved along the familiar path, the surroundings gradually became quieter, and a somewhat dilapidated area came into view.
The marketplace is grand and splendid, but surprisingly expensive.
Beijing, like anywhere else, has its wealth disparities, so there are naturally places where the poor gather to live.
This neighborhood was precisely such a place.
Small and shabby as it was, it had its own marketplace stalls, cloth shops selling plain cotton rather than silk, blacksmith’s forges, and other essential goods that people needed to purchase.
I headed toward one of the inns in this area.
Opening the door and stepping inside, the smell hit me immediately.
It didn’t look particularly clean, yet despite that, the inn was packed with many people.
It was the cheapest inn in this neighborhood.
“Guests? You don’t seem like the type to come to a place like this…?”
The one who greeted us was an old woman.
She frowned while looking at me, and her manner of speech was far from pleasant.
One might say she was rather sharp-tongued.
I looked at the old woman and smiled.

“You’ll freeze to death sleeping in a place like this, you fools. I don’t want to deal with corpses, so get up already, will you?”

All I possessed was a single silver tael.
I’d purchased medicinal salve for Chu Hyeongi’s blood-soaked wounds and filled our bellies with the remainder, but we couldn’t afford to rent a room at the inn.
Every coin had to be conserved.
On a bitter winter’s night when the north wind howled with snow, we’d ended up sleeping on the street, and it was this Old Woman who extended her hand to us.
Thanks to her kindness, I worked as a Server for a time, managing food, clothing, and shelter.
After enduring a month or two in this manner, we departed the inn, and not long after, I learned that the establishment had burned to the ground and the Old Woman had been torn to shreds.
Whether it was the work of those pursuing us or my Uncle’s doing, I couldn’t say with certainty, but I weighted the latter possibility more heavily.
Had it been them, they wouldn’t have bothered setting the inn ablaze and casting her mutilated corpse into the street.
“Listen here! Can’t you hear me? Has the young fool already gone deaf? Honestly….”
I snapped back to attention at the Old Woman’s grumbling voice.
Then, gazing at her, I smiled.
“We’ll need three rooms.”
“You’re staying here? Right now? You all look perfectly respectable on the surface….”
The Old Woman alternated her gaze between me, Jang Chuchyeong, and Gu Gunbaek, her expression puzzled. None of us appeared to be penniless, so her bewilderment at our intention to lodge in such a place was understandable.
“Other establishments are too expensive. Our family has… fallen on hard times.”
“Ha! For someone ruined, you look far too presentable. Just those clothes alone could buy the Unryong Inn, In-seok.”
“No, Young Master….”
The moment Jang Chuchyeong began to speak hastily, I quickly reached out and covered his mouth.
Feeling his startled eyes turn toward me, I swiftly withdrew five silver taels from my pouch and handed them to the Old Woman.
“We’ll stay for about half a month. Is that sufficient?”
“Five taels for half a month? Where does a ruined man get money to throw around like this?”
“That includes meals.”
“Well, well… you’re quite the character, aren’t you?”
Though the Old Woman’s expression grew suspicious at my words, she couldn’t resist the weight of the five silver taels in her hand, and she sighed as if resigned.
“Go upstairs—there are exactly three rooms. Stay in those. Come down if you want food. If you’re going to complain about the taste, then leave.”
“Thank you.”
“What thanks….”
I offered a light bow and ascended the stairs.
Three doors lined the upper floor, and I opened the most familiar one. The stale, musty stench assaulted my nostrils, yet I felt a strange nostalgia wash over me.
“Really, we’ve come all the way to Beijing only to lodge in a place like this? We could rent the entire Annex at the Unryong Inn.”
“Yes, you madman. Or are you planning to cram Gu Gunbaek into a room that reeks of solitude?”
I heard the complaints of those who’d followed me into the room.
But I dismissed them lightly, setting down my bundle and bamboo hat on the bedchamber, and gazed out the window.
“Isn’t this place suitable? We won’t have to worry about drawing attention here.”
Though dilapidated and foul-smelling, this location meant I needn’t concern myself with my Uncle’s gaze—or the Imperial Court’s.
It was the optimal place to move about freely.
Moreover, it was close to where I needed to go.
I gazed out the window.
The sun was beginning to set.
Because of this, the people on the street hurried to return home, which was quite different from the brightly lit Marketplace—this street had not a single lantern lit.
I confirmed this and unfurled the bundle of cloth.
Magnificent silk garments and ornaments came into view. They were expensive items that would make anyone who wore them appear noble.
“Choose whatever suits your fancy.”
“Pardon?! You’re not wearing these yourself, Young Master? You’re giving them to us?”
“Me too?”
Their expressions showed they couldn’t comprehend the sudden situation.
But the moment I nodded, Gu Gunbaek and Chu Hyeongi, as if deliberation were beneath them, both reached for the most ornate and darkly colored silk garment.
“I got it first.”
“What are you saying? I grabbed it first. And my master wants to wear it—how dare you, my disciple, covet it?”
“No, master and disciple over a single robe? That’s nonsense. Any will do. That one looks fine. I’ll give it to you, Master. Please wear it.”
“I’ll give that one to my foolish disciple. You wear this one and give me that. Before I beat you senseless.”
“Ugh, you brute… Always resorting to your fists. Who’s the savage here….”
Thwack!
Watching Chu Hyeongi tumble onto the bedchamber after taking a blow to the back of his head, I clutched my head and sighed.
All this commotion just over a single garment.
“You still have the mask I gave you last time, yes?”
“Do I need to wear it?”
“Yes. Please wear it.”
“We’re going somewhere fun, aren’t we? If not, you’re dead.”
“That’s correct. Please wear it.”
At my words, Gu Gunbaek nodded with an excited expression, then began draping the silk around his massive frame.
But because of his enormous build, he looked quite uncomfortable.
His muscles threatened to burst through the fabric everywhere.
“This is incredibly restrictive. How do you normally wear something like this?”
“Your physique is simply too large. I’ll need to purchase something more spacious. For tonight, please wear this.”
“Wahaha! In-seok, a man speaks through his muscles. You should develop some yourself.”
I lightly ignored his display of flexing his muscles in pride and roused the unconscious Chu Hyeongi.
Once he’d barely come to, I dressed him in the garments and mask, then we waited for a time.
The sun set, and night arrived.
The people on the street gradually vanished, leaving no trace, and the once-bustling interior of the Inn had become eerily silent.
“Let’s go.”
I put on the mask I’d set aside and rose from my seat.
Leaving the Inn where even the Old Woman had fallen asleep and was nowhere to be seen, I ventured deep along the path in my mind.
The surrounding landscape gradually changed.
The dilapidated buildings disappeared one by one until they were no longer visible, and only a desolate road stretched endlessly. Following that path, I soon spotted a single Stable standing alone in the distance.
It was the only place with lights on despite the late hour.
As I stepped inside, the Stable Keeper’s gaze turned toward me.
“What brings you here at such a late hour? Do you need a horse?”
At his words, I nodded and withdrew something from my robes.
The jade token I’d received from Baek Jin-hwa.
The Stable Keeper approached in a single stride upon seeing it, examined it carefully, then confirmed my masked appearance and broke into a knowing smile.
“Ah, we have a most distinguished guest.”

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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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