Chapter 73
Mae Ok-ryeong took a slow look around the inn. Every table was piled high with dishes that had been completely emptied.
“Truly… I don’t know how I could ever repay this kindness.”
Hongseol spoke up right away.
“Cook Mae’s clean, skillful cooking played a big part! If the food hadn’t been delicious, this many people wouldn’t have flocked here.”
At that, Soso—who had been busy stealing glances at Namgung Baek the whole time—widened her eyes and exclaimed,
“It was really good! That thing called eopyeon—I’d never eaten anything like it before!”
Moved by the children’s words, Mae Ok-ryeong placed the hand missing a finger joint over her chest, her eyebrows drooping into a soft curve.
“To praise me so generously…”
“You’ll need to brace yourself, Cook Mae. Thanks to the Beggars’ Sect spreading the word, even more people will come flooding in starting tomorrow!”
Elder Namgung Mu-young added with a nod.
“After all, eopyeon is something you can only eat here.”
He nudged Hongseol in the side with his elbow.
“As promised, you’ll send fresh fish to the branch family during the holidays too, right?”
Hongseol answered promptly,
“Of course! Right, Soso?”
“Ah… yes!”
Soso, who had been staring blankly at Namgung Baek, snapped out of it and nodded.
“Oh! And there’s one more thing we prepared.”
With quick little steps, Hongseol ran over and reached for the flagpole hanging by the front gate.
“Hng.”
She tried to tie a blue silk ribbon she had taken out from her clothes, but it was too high up and wouldn’t go as planned.
She hopped up and down—
Suddenly, a shadow fell over Hongseol’s head.
“Give it to me.”
Namgung Baek took the blue silk ribbon from her hand and tied it to the flagpole.
Just then, a breeze blew, making the ribbon flutter.
At its end, the characters of Namgung Baek’s name became visible. Not long ago, at Hongseol’s request, he had personally written them with his own brush.
Mae Ok-ryeong looked puzzled.
“What on earth is that, miss?”
“It’s a sign that says this is a restaurant where Young Master Namgung Baek ate and enjoyed the food!”
Hongseol explained softly.
“My brother can’t come here every day, but if this is up…”
“People will know that Young Master Namgung Baek has been here!”
Do-jin exclaimed in admiration.
“You’re really a genius, Hongseol.”
Hongseol didn’t stop there and continued clearly,
“In case other inns try to copy it, my brother wrote his name himself.”
“My goodness!”
Mae Ok-ryeong covered her face with both hands, unable to hide her emotion.
“Thank you, truly, truly, miss!”
Hot tears streamed down between her fingers.
“Actually… I was planning to close the inn in three days and follow my late parents.”
“W-what?”
A flustered Hongseol froze in place.
It wasn’t just her. Everyone present was struck speechless.
“Tsk.”
Only the experienced Namgung Mu-young clicked his tongue with a bitter expression.
Through her sobs, Mae Ok-ryeong continued,
“After becoming unable to play the bipa, I couldn’t earn a single coin. I felt so foolish and useless…”
“Don’t cry, sister!”
“How could Cook Mae be useless! You can make food this delicious!”
“This place is going to become the greatest inn under heaven!”
Do-jin, Hongseol, and Soso hugged Mae Ok-ryeong tightly, crying and sniffling together.
After the bout of tears, Mae Ok-ryeong seemed a little embarrassed.
All of a sudden, she said she needed to clean up the kitchen and slipped inside.
Elder Namgung Mu-young also left, saying he had business with the merchant guild, and Soso departed as well, saying her mother had called for her.
“Let’s head back too.”
Namgung Baek was just about to leave with Hongseol when—
“Wait!”
Do-jin called out to the turning Hongseol.
After hesitating for a moment, Do-jin looked straight into her eyes and said,
“Thank you so much, Hongseol!”
As he spoke, Do-jin tried to grab her hand. But what he actually caught was Namgung Baek’s hand.
In a split second, Namgung Baek had switched places with Hongseol.
“Yikes! What the—?!”
Do-jin recoiled, his face scrunched up.
Namgung Baek also shook his hand sharply, as if he had touched something unnecessary.
“How dare you try to lay a hand on my younger sister.”
“W-what are you talking about?! Lay a hand on her?”
Mae Ok-ryeong, peeking her head out from the kitchen, scolded Do-jin.
“Do-jin, you mustn’t speak that way to the young master!”
“Y-yes…”
Do-jin answered dejectedly, then looked back at Hongseol.
Suddenly, he tensed his stomach and shouted loudly,
“You know what? Someday, I’m definitely going to become the leader of the Beggars’ Sect!”
A startled Hongseol widened her eyes.
“Huh?”
For some reason, Do-jin’s entire face had turned red. Namgung Baek was watching him with an icy, frigid gaze.
“When I become the Beggars’ Sect Leader, I’ll help you, Hongseol!”
“Thank you. I’ll be waiting for that day.”
Meeting Do-jin’s eyes, Hongseol burst into giggles.
On the roof of the inn, a woman was watching Hongseol with interest.
“So the Namgung family’s little kitten once sacrificed her own body to save her friends.”
It was Dokbi-jo, a bipa slung over her back, a black bamboo hat pulled low.
Her gaze lingered on Hongseol, cheeks flushed as she laughed brightly.
“And this time, she’s saving an inn?”
Hmm.
Her eyes sparkled as Dokbi-jo leapt lightly down.
Then, acting as if nothing were amiss, she walked toward Hongseol and Namgung Baek as they rounded the corner.
“So then, last time, Do-jin used a messenger pigeon, you see…”
The little kitten was chattering away to the Namgung family’s eldest young master, clearly amused by something.
On the surface, the young master looked like he was listening, but his face was full of irritation.
It seemed he didn’t like hearing about that fellow named Do-jin coming out of the little kitten’s mouth.
‘Cute, huh? Heh.’
Dokbi-jo flicked a suitably sized stone off to the side.
The stone stopped precisely in front of Hongseol’s quick, trotting feet—an eerily perfect throw.
“Ah!”
Hongseol, busy chattering at Namgung Baek, tripped over the stone and staggered.
Before Namgung Baek could even reach out, Dokbi-jo darted in like lightning.
Pretending to support her, Dokbi-jo lightly grasped Hongseol’s wrist.
“Oh my! Are you all right, dear?”
At that moment—
Feeling a tingling sensation, as if something were probing her meridians, Hongseol quickly pulled her hand back.
Instantly, black shadows poured down from all sides.
They were warriors of the Changcheon Unit.
“Who are you?!”
“How dare you lay hands on the young lady!”
Namgung Ui-gyeol, built like a bear, roared. Dokbi-jo slightly lifted her black bamboo hat.
“Long time no see, Big Head.”
“Gah!”
Recognizing her, Namgung Ui-gyeol jumped back in shock.
“My lord, do you know her?”
“…A little.”
“I’m in a hurry, so I’ll be on my way.”
Dokbi-jo turned sharply and walked off.
Murmurs from the Changcheon Unit followed behind her, but she paid them no mind.
The only thing filling Dokbi-jo’s thoughts was Hongseol—that child.
‘That little kitten… she has the Yin-Yang Severed Meridians.’
Then this changes my plans quite a bit. Should I look for another child?
Dokbi-jo rubbed her smooth cheek, looking troubled.
Black and Red pushed open the doors to the inner hall’s training ground.
“Eldest brother! We’re here!”
“Why are you calling people in at the crack of dawn?”
Namgung Heuk approached, picking at his ear with his little finger.
In the center of the training ground stood Namgung Baek, radiating a frost-like chill.
“Do you feel no sense of crisis at all?”
“Crisis? What crisis?”
“The so-called Eight Divine Friends.”
At those words, hostility rose on Heuk’s face.
“That brat has been getting pretty close to those kids lately, hasn’t she?”
Baek nodded quietly.
Red spoke with a face like a puppy desperate to go to the bathroom.
“Uh… now that you mention it, just a little while ago, Sister was playing with them at the pavilion in the rear garden.”
“What?”
“Is that so?”
Both Namgung Baek’s and Namgung Heuk’s faces twisted.
“Ha, seriously, I can’t take it anymore. Brother, did you see that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I saw it last time, the eyes that beggar kid looked at the brat with… something off about them.”
“…You felt that too?”
“What does it mean for someone’s eyes to be ‘off’?”
Only the youngest, Red, didn’t understand and looked back and forth between them.
