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Chapter : 34
“Ugh…”
Sak Gisoon, shriveled up and sweating buckets, finally opened his mouth, thinking he couldn’t delay any longer.
“Today is the day the Namgung family said they would come again.”
“They’re really persistent, aren’t they.”
Despite being turned away every single time without even being granted an audience.
Mo Yong Yunhwan, who had been resting his chin on his left hand, set down the brush he was holding in his right onto the inkstone.
He spoke to Sak Gisoon, who was waiting for a response.
“Until now, we’ve only told them not to come. From now on, tell them they’ll be punished if they show up again. Do they think this place is somewhere they can enter as they please? They truly don’t know their place.”
Delivering those words exactly would surely throw the Namgung family into chaos—and the young lady would definitely be affected—but what choice was there?
“Yes!”
When Sak Gisoon answered, Mo Yong Yunhwan twisted one corner of his lips upward.
“This time, the Namgung family will probably try to devour that girl. Even if she’s been keeping her distance from them lately, I wonder how long she can last.”
And when trouble arises—one way or another—she’ll have no choice but to come to him and ask for help…
I wonder if she’ll even have the nerve to show her face after acting so willfully and refusing to listen before.
But what could she do?
Who else besides him could resolve her problems?
“I suppose I’ll have to watch her panic helplessly again.”
Clicking his tongue as if she were hopeless, Mo Yong Yunhwan picked up his brush once more and resumed reviewing documents.
* * *
“Hello.”
Was it because she had smashed the door on her first day?
“Eek!”
“S-she’s here, she’s here!”
Every time Yeonhwa returned to the Inspection Unit after finishing her work and greeted people, those nearby would startle and shuffle backward.
They look like they’ve seen a plague.
Then again, from the Inspection Unit’s perspective… maybe she really was one.
Privately agreeing with the thought, Yeonhwa passed the people in the courtyard and entered the inner halls.
The inner quarters of Hap-yong Pavilion were divided into the East Wing, West Wing, and North Wing.
Instead of stopping by the East Wing where the Inspection Unit was located, Yeonhwa circled through the North Wing and headed toward the West Wing.
But her destination wasn’t actually in the West Wing.
She went around it and opened the door to a warehouse behind it.
Contrary to how it looked from outside, the warehouse was quite spacious.
Yeonhwa looked over the piles of documents and old books stacked haphazardly inside.
She had been cleaning for days, yet it didn’t seem to make a dent.
When she placed her hand on a nearby book, the dust was so thick that her palm print was clearly stamped on the cover.
“Hoo!”
She blew away the dust and checked the title.
“Dining Hall Meal Distribution Log?”
It recorded food distribution for a full year several years ago. She wondered why such a thing even existed, but considering the Inspection Unit investigated every trivial detail within the Alliance, it wasn’t that strange.
Especially since the Inspection Unit leader, Do Hyeongrye, liked to record everything—so much so that people joked his nickname suited a historian more than a martial artist.
Reflecting on that, Yeonhwa flipped through a few pages before setting the booklet aside and resuming her work.
How much time passed?
Just as she felt the sky growing dim, she sensed someone approaching the warehouse.
Creak—
At the sound of the door opening, Yeonhwa straightened up and turned around.
Since it wasn’t Ji Wonhyeong’s footsteps, she wasn’t surprised to see an unfamiliar man standing there.
“No matter how bored you are, isn’t this a pointless way to kill time? Or are you pretending to be diligent to impress those people up there—acting like you’ve got a fine personality?”
Watching him repeatedly jab his index finger toward the sky, it didn’t seem like the “people up there” he meant were the Inspection Unit leader.
Yeonhwa tilted her head.
“I already warned you not to pick fights, yet you still came to make your presence known. Do you find me amusing? Or did your superiors push you forward without caring what might happen to you?”
After finishing, she deliberately pointed her finger at the ground.
It wasn’t clear whether she meant him or his superiors—but that single gesture was enough to provoke him.
Still, even if he was angry, there wasn’t much he could do.
He steadied his rough breathing, then sighed as if remembering something.
“I should have introduced myself first. My apologies for being late. I’m Hu Injeong, a lay disciple of Mount Hua Sect.”
“……”
“A lay disciple, you know?”
When he pointed at his chest and repeated himself, Yeonhwa looked puzzled.
“So you’re boasting that you’ve got guts—to swagger in front of me despite being a lay disciple?”
Lay disciples were far below main-sect disciples—worse than collateral family branches, in aristocratic terms.
Hu Injeong had expected her to avoid him like the legitimate heirs of great families usually did…
She does avoid me—but for completely different reasons!
It wasn’t contempt—more like outright disgust.
As he realized he had bungled the first impression, she asked:
“What do you want?”
Afraid he’d be kicked out if he annoyed her again, he hurried.
“Aren’t you curious who messed with the assignment placements?”
Yeonhwa blinked.
Then answered:
“Not really…?”
Cough!
Hu Injeong coughed violently, rolled his eyes nervously, then left the warehouse.
“What a strange guy.”
Yeonhwa frowned, then quickly forgot and returned to organizing.
After that, Yeonhwa continued going back and forth between the warehouse and the Inspection Unit, checking new reports.
Ji Wonhyeong occasionally handled errands or investigations, but mostly stayed to help her.
With two unusual newcomers holed up in an old warehouse, people occasionally came snooping around—but not for long.
“If there were anything important here, we’d have known already.”
“Seriously, why are they doing this?”
Some lingered without daring to pick fights.
“Please be quiet.”
“What did we do?”
“Your breathing is irritating.”
Ji Wonhyeong—loyal and obedient only to Yeonhwa but fierce toward everyone else—didn’t let them stay.
Eventually, the only one left was…
“I’m here!”
“Why are you here?”
“Does Young Master Ji hate me that much?”
Ji Wonhyeong frowned as if the answer were obvious, and Hu Injeong sighed.
“When I acted arrogant at first… I wasn’t trying to pick a fight! I heard the young lady liked that kind of personality… I misunderstood…!”
“Who told you such nonsense?”
“…They said when you first met your fiancé, you didn’t get along—and that people raised in luxury prefer bold personalities who speak their minds and stand up to them… rumors like that were going around.”
Still believing it, Hu Injeong grumbled about why the fiancé was acceptable but he wasn’t.
Ji Wonhyeong looked him up and down.
“What exactly do you think is the same?”
A blatant provocation.
Veins bulged on Hu Injeong’s forehead, but he didn’t dare respond.
His opponent was the infamous “wild dog,” the young lady’s loyal hound. One wrong move and he might literally get bitten.
“Rejected here, rejected there… life as a lay disciple really isn’t easy.”
Pretending to be pitiful didn’t work either.
With no one paying attention, he eventually fell silent and focused on working.
Some time later—
As he stretched his sore back, Yeonhwa turned toward him.
It was the first opportunity since their unpleasant first conversation, and he tensed.
She said:
“What do you want?”
He realized this was his second chance—and probably his last.
This wasn’t the time to test the waters.
“An elder from the main sect told me to get close to you and help if you need anything!”
“The main sect—as in Mount Hua? Do you know why?”
It seemed unlikely an elder would explain reasons to a lay disciple, but she asked anyway.
“I’m sorry. But they said you could also receive help from other groups, so tell them if you need anything.”
At least it wasn’t completely lacking information.
“So… the Nine Sects and One Alliance are involved together.”
Yeonhwa murmured to herself as thoughts ran through her mind.
The faction farthest from me—a member of the Five Great Families and one of the Three Spirits—would be the Nine Sects and One Alliance.
If they, who had shown no interest in her before, were moving now, something must have changed recently.
The former commander of the Guardian Corps belonged to the Beggars’ Sect.
Though briefly, she had liked Yeonhwa and seemed willing to guide her—perhaps she had left word on Yeonhwa’s behalf.
Or maybe they’re trying to win me over while I’m away from the Five Great Families and the Three Spirits, pulling my allegiance toward the Nine Sects.
It could easily be both.
But either way—what did it matter?
There was no reason to accept ambiguous intentions as goodwill without question.
