Absolute Regression Chapter 454

454
Juhyangwol returned home.

As expected, his mother was just waiting for him to return.

“What happened?”

Before answering, Joo Hyang-wol asked her mother.

“Did you know that Hwang In brought the agreement today?”

“I didn’t know.”

Could it be that you didn’t know? First of all, you start to doubt. This is the reality of the relationship between your mother and yourself.

“So? Did you write up an agreement?”

And just by looking at this reaction, you could tell how much my mother was in a hurry.

Originally, you should have said it like this.

-You gave us the agreement? Without even sending it to us in advance?

Then I had to ask with concern.

-You didn’t sign that agreement, did you?

But now, my mother was looking at me with a worried look. Surely, you didn’t sign the agreement? With that look in your eyes.

She remembered the paper she had brought in her bosom. She had written down everything she wanted to say to her mother, as Geommu-geuk had advised.

I didn’t just write it down. I anticipated various situations and wrote down how I would respond in those situations. Among the things I wrote down, this is the current situation.

“No, I postponed it.”

A look of disappointment crossed my mother’s face. I had expected her to be disappointed, so I wrote down what I was going to say this time.

Fortunately, my mother has a predictable personality. That’s why we fight so much, and that’s why I can’t truly hate her.

That’s why I wrote this at the very top of all of this writing.

Never yell! Speak softly!

I’ve never had a proper conversation with my mother when I yelled at her. I know that a low voice has power and that I can convey my feelings better when I speak calmly, but this just doesn’t work well with my mother.

But today was going well.

“Because it is something that needs to be handled carefully.”

Even if I told my mother about what happened at the inn earlier, she would never accept it. It would have been shocking to entrust the agreement to someone I had just met.

“We need to learn more about the zodiac and also entrust the agreement to an expert to check if there are any conditions that are unfavorable to us.”

If it were in the past, I would have definitely added this.

‘Did you get it right? No? It’s always like this.’

It would have been the beginning of a fight and a prelude to raising our voices against each other. But today, those words are not on the paper I wrote.

My mother seemed a little surprised that I was the one who suggested leaving it to the experts. She asked with a surprised look on her face.

“Who is the expert?”

“I’ll let you know when I get the results.”

I spoke more calmly than ever.

“I know that things are difficult at home right now. I think we need to be more careful at times like this.”

The emotion in her mother’s puzzled eyes was this. Since when have you been so careful? Since when have you cared about the family’s difficulties?

If it were before, I would have reacted angrily. But instead, I spoke more gently.

“I’m a grown man now, right? I’ll work hard to help my mother from now on.”

I said goodbye to my mother and went outside. My mother was slightly taken aback by my strangely different appearance and couldn’t say anything.

Joo Hyang-wol came out and sighed.

I took out a piece of paper from my bosom. I didn’t say even half of what I wrote, but the conversation was definitely different from usual. There was a clear difference between writing and not writing.

‘Oh! I didn’t say that.’

At the end, before he left, I underlined that he should not worry too much about family matters and eat well, but he left anyway.

Anyway, we didn’t yell at each other today.

* * *

Hwang In was trained from a young age not to show his emotions. He learned that this was the most important thing to survive as a merchant.

But at least for this moment, it wasn’t easy to hide my emotions.

It was when I stood right in front of Jeon Nak.

He was the devil in his own hands.

-They are too dangerous. You shouldn’t join hands with them.

In response to his father’s dissuasion, he said:

-I don’t want to live the rest of my life as a lowly village headman.

Because I didn’t want to live that kind of life. Because I had the ambition to make the Hwangdo Sangdan the best Sangdan in the Central Plains.

So the person who held my hand was Jeon Nak. After holding my hand, I could clearly see that I was the same type of person as Jeon Nak.

That he held the sword and she held the abacus. That the only difference was that she smiled while he glared coldly. That he and she were ultimately the same person.

That must have been why, after joining hands with Jeon Nak, Hwang Do Sang Dan grew rapidly.

And one thing I learned. I learned that this Jeon-Nak was just a servant who received orders from someone. I learned that naturally as we talked.

He was worried about where he had gotten himself into, but it was already too late to turn back. The only choice left was to become the best in the world, or to die to this Jeon Nak.

“The agreement fell through?”

Jeon Nak spoke in his usual polite and soft tone.

But whenever he heard his voice, Hwang In always got goosebumps.

Because I knew. That he was a heartless butcher. Because I felt that even if we were on the same side for the next thirty years, he would not hesitate an inch when the time came to kill me.

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you say you were confident about this?”

“We brought in outside personnel from the prosecution.”

“Who?”

“This is the Gansu Seodo sect. It is said that the head of the Seodo sect owed a debt of gratitude to the deceased Geomgaju.”

As expected from the sword dance drama, he did not move directly but found out their identity through the information agent. He was able to find out faster than expected. The information agent had already obtained information about them.

When he realized that his opponent was a member of the Seodo faction, Hwang In felt relieved.

The people I met at the inn gave me a strange feeling that I couldn’t explain. A strange sense of inexplicable leisure had been bothering me the whole time, and now I could guess what that leisure was.

‘Is this because it’s the family that produced the winner of the Little Dragon War?’

That incomprehensible leisure came from right there. That’s why I felt relieved.

‘If that’s all there is to it?’

This is an opponent you can handle with confidence.

Jeon Nak said in a dry tone.

“Okay, I’ll take care of everything else.”

Hwang-in knew. He knew what kind of treatment he was talking about. He would kill the three members of the Seodo faction and find the agreement. He always liked to do things neatly.

But Hwang In wanted to handle this matter himself.

“The Seodo faction is just a local faction, but they have a connection with the Murim Alliance by producing winners in the Little Dragon Tournament. If we mess with them, the Murim Alliance may intervene. We must handle this matter carefully.”

That was the reason why Geommu-geuk chose Seodo-pa as his disguise. He told them not to try to solve their opponents with force, but to choose another method. Geommu-geuk wanted to find out who was behind the scenes through them.

“Please lend me your money ghosts.”

Money Ghost. That’s what Jeon Nak called the masters he brought with him.

They were really ghosts when it came to money. So far, whenever they moved, everything was solved.

Those who were stubborn changed their minds, those who aimed their swords had accidents, and those who swore went missing.

In short, once they step forward, a signed contract will be in their hands the next day.

“I think this is a job that requires a merchant rather than a person. If things don’t work out well even after I try to persuade them, it won’t be too late to handle things as we originally planned.”

Finally, Jeon Nak opened his mouth.

“How many people do you need?”

“It would be enough to subdue the leader of the Seodo sect.”

Hwang In said with eyes that asked him to trust her.

“Don’t worry. How can a merchant do business at a loss?”

* * *

That evening, Hwang In came to see Geommu Geuk.

The Geommu-geuk troupe was staying in a small manor house rented a little away from the market.

From Hwang In’s point of view, it was fortunate that he did not have to stay in a guest house that attracted attention.

While dealing with this matter, Hwang In wanted to see Geommu-geuk beg. Pay the rent for the inn? Shouldn’t the merchant pay the bill properly? He felt ashamed when he called the innkeeper and paid the bill. How dare he discuss the merchant’s bill in front of him!

I won’t kill him, but I’ll tease him to my heart’s content before sending him away. I told him as I left the inn that he’s a man who always repays his debts.

When I entered the yard following Hwi’s guidance, Geommugeuk was making something in the area where the trees were planted.

“Welcome!”

The sword dance greeted him warmly. He seemed to have forgotten what had happened at the inn earlier, and anyone who saw him would think he was a close friend.

“You came at a good time. Please hold the line here.”

Hwang In-i grabbed the rope that Geommugeuk had extended out to him. Geommugeuk hung the rope on the tree on the opposite side.

There was a net fixed on both sides, large enough for an adult to lie down in.

“It’s a hammock. It’s a temporary bed that you make when you sleep in an area with a lot of poisonous insects.”

Another one had already been built a little ways away.

“That’s my father’s. I plan to lie here next to him tonight and look up at the night sky.”

Just thinking about it made Geommugeuk smile happily.

“It seems like Sohyeop really likes his father.”

“Of course. My father doesn’t believe me, but I love him more than anything in the world.”

It was a sword dance that spoke loudly on purpose so that people would hear inside the building. Even though they could hear the whispers here, no response was heard inside the building.

“Okay, now that we’re done, let’s lie down somewhere.”

The swordsman lay on the net. As he shook his body, the net moved rustlingly between the trees.

“It’s so comfortable and nice.”

Hwang In quietly looked down at the sword dance.

I felt it even in the guest house, but he wasn’t someone you could see very often. That’s why I’m asking this question in this situation.

“How is your father?”

When he was suddenly asked about his father, Hwang In was inwardly embarrassed.

“What are you talking about?”

“You say your father doesn’t surprise his son? I was surprised at that time. I didn’t know that my father would come forward for that woman.”

Hwang In didn’t know what to say about his father.

‘Father… … .’

The father joined hands with Jeon Nak according to his son’s wishes. Was it a choice for the sake of his son? Or was it because his father had the same ambition as he did? Hwang In could not know exactly what his father was thinking.

“I think that the person in the world who is easiest to understand and also the most difficult to understand is my father.”

Hwang In said nothing to Geommu Geuk’s words.

At that moment, Geommugeuk suddenly got up from the hammock.

“You lie down too.”

“I’m fine.”

“I told you to lie down.”

He forced the yellow man to lie down there.

“Look up at the sky there. What do you think?”

It was my first time lying on a bed like this, and it was more comfortable than I thought.

Then suddenly, I got up with the thought that now was not the time for me to be like this.

Then, he staggered and was about to fall to the floor when Geommugeuk caught him.

“Thank you.”

“It’s because I can’t adapt.”

What he couldn’t get used to was the attitude of the swordsman. He was treating him much more friendly than he had been at the guest house before.

“I’m not going to let this situation just slide.”

On the wall that Hwang In was looking at, there were three men with their arms linked looking in his direction.

They were the ghosts that he brought along. Among the ghosts, they were the ones that Jeon Nak cherished. They were masters who could easily deal with the leaders of local factions such as the Seodo faction.

“You said you were just a merchant, but you are not just a merchant.”

“There are many people who ignore merchants and try to solve problems with force, so I have no choice but to ask for help.”

“If that’s the reason, you could have come alone. As you can see, I’m the type of person who likes to talk with my mouth rather than with my sword.”

Hwang In stared at the sword dance.

‘What the hell do you believe in?’

Even though I brought with me powerful people who could kill my father, I didn’t feel intimidated or discouraged at all. Do you not even know what the situation is right now?

“If it is my order, I will take the agreement by force.”

Then, unexpected words came out of Geommugeuk’s mouth.

“Will the three of them do? If we are to make our father draw his sword, three hundred of those people will have to come.”

Then all the ghosts burst into laughter at the same time.

Even though they were experts, they were not experts enough to see through the true nature of the sword dance. The problem was that they already knew the identity of their opponents.

Successor of the Seodopa.

It was just laughable since he already thought of his opponent that way. Moreover, before he came, he had heard from Hwang In that his speech was unusual.

“If you just hand over the agreement, apologize sincerely, and leave, nothing will happen.”

“Father will never give it up. He made a promise with that woman.”

“If you want to save your father, go and persuade him.”

Then Geommugeuk sighed and said.

“It’s impossible. Our father is a man who would need at least five years to persuade.”

Five years? What on earth are you talking about? Hwang In gave him a puzzled look, but Geommu Geuk was still relaxed.

The three people on the wall who had been watching until then jumped down.

“Once they start moving, I can’t stop them. This is your last chance. You go and convince my father and get the agreement.”

One of the three nobles stepped forward.

“There’s no need for the three of you to go. I’ll go and get it. I’ll bring your father too and throw him in that hammock.”

As he strode into the building, Geommugeuk lay peacefully on the hammock.

“Aren’t you worried about your father?”

“Even if you worry about everyone in the world, there is one person you don’t have to worry about.”

Hwang In guessed the identity of this leisure as follows.

‘Do you believe that the Murim Alliance will protect you?’

I thought that maybe that was the case. I had the confidence that I wouldn’t mess with a family that produced the winner of the Little Dragon Championship. Yes, that’s the only thing that the Seodo faction could trust.

‘That pathetic pride is what ruined you!’

How much time has passed like that?

The ghost that had entered had no intention of coming out. That did not mean that there were any sounds of fighting or arguing inside. Only silence flowed in the building.

The second eunuch, tired of waiting, stepped forward.

“I’ll go and see.”

He walked into the building. He was just as skilled as the first Jeon Gwi, and he had a more calm personality.

But there was no news from him either.

The remaining Jeon Gwi’s expression hardened. He realized that something was wrong. The three of them should have gone in together from the beginning.

“It could be a trap!”

The third Jeon Gwi spoke coldly to Hwang In’s dissuasion.

“Then is it safe here?”

The third ghost entered the building cautiously, sword drawn.

It was even more frightening and surprising that even though three fierce people entered, not a single sound of a chair falling was heard.

There was no news of the third emissary.

Hwang In, who was looking at the building with fear, turned his gaze to Geommugeuk.

Soon, Geommu-geuk rose from his hammock. The sunset began to set in the distance. The red energy spread across the world like ink on paper, and the sky looked wider.

Geommugeuk asked calmly with mysterious eyes filled with the sunset.

“If you were a true merchant, shouldn’t you make a deal rather than using a knife or threats?”

Absolute Return Episode 455