ROTMHS Special Spin-off - Chapter 3

Chapter 3. Uh, There... (3)

It was, without a doubt, something that could be called an achievement.

To have completed an investigation in just three days—into an incident from twenty years ago, unrelated to the jianghu, no less.

It was a result wrung out by sending carrier pigeons to the main branch over a dozen times a day—crying, pleading, clinging, and threatening.

Perhaps not something to boast about proudly, but at least something one could boast about with a bit of embarrassment?

But the real achievement, in Hong Daegwang’s mind, was not finishing the investigation in three days. It was keeping this branch intact for three days under the grip of that rampaging lunatic.

“It was magnificent.”

“......”

“If I’d known earlier how precious property is, I wouldn’t have lived as a beggar.”

“What are you even talking about, you keep saying weird things.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Just thinking that made him feel somehow guilty toward the Beggar Union. What was so bad about living as a beggar?

“Three days, huh. Still, for a bunch of lazy beggars, you did it pretty fast.”

“......”

“I thought you’d drag it out for at least seven days.”

“...No matter how much we’re beggars, we’re still the Beggar Union—seven days is a bit—”

“I said seven days because you’re the Beggar Union.”

“No, just how much do you look down on—”

“I’m not looking down on the Beggar Union, I’m looking down on beggars. Even if it’s the Beggar Union, does it make sense for beggars to get work done in seven days? If they could do that, why would they live as beggars? With that kind of effort, how much money could they make working?”

“...Huh?”

Hong Daegwang’s head tilted to the side on its own.

“...You’re right. If we worked like this, we should be getting paid. So why are we the ones offering tribute while doing the work? Where did things go wrong.....”

“Reflect on your life later. So what’s the result?”

“The result, right. About that result.”

Hong Daegwang let out a hollow laugh.

“They were completely ruined.”

“......”

“Really, completely—ah, no, put the fist down first!”

“You’re telling me to keep you alive when you spent three days investigating just to say the same thing as before? Wouldn’t it be better if I just sent this beggar bastard to the underworld right now? At least the neighborhood dogs would get fatter. Fewer competitors, after all.”

“Y-your thoughts are spilling out loud. Anyway, it’s not the same result, so calm down first.”

“...Not the same?”

“Yeah. It’s the same, but different....”

Dragging out his words to draw Cheong Myeong’s attention, Hong Daegwang forced an awkward smile.

“They were more ruined than we thought.”

“......”

“No, even I didn’t expect it to be this bad. You know that saying—three years? Three generations?”

“If you talk to a beggar, you’ll have bad luck for three generations?”

“Even if a prestigious family falls, it lasts three generations, you bastard!”

Snapping in anger, Hong Daegwang tapped the documents in front of him with the back of his hand.

“That Shandong Yu Family—wasn’t it a place that made quite a name for itself, even if it wasn’t that large in scale?”

“That’s right.”

Though he had only just learned that it wasn’t that large.

“So I thought at least something would remain. Even if they were ruined, it wasn’t like the whole family was exterminated for treason.”

“And?”

“And yet, families that commit treason might end up less ruined than this.”

“...What?”

Hong Daegwang shrugged.

“Traitors sometimes get pardoned and restored, don’t they?”

“That’s.... true?”

What Cheong Myeong really thought was ‘Is that so?’, but he couldn’t exactly show ignorance here.

“What I mean is, even a family exterminated to the nine degrees might still have one or two who survive to be pardoned.”

[Guzok. 구족(九族). ‘Nine familial exterminations’; a severe punishment where extended family lines are wiped out.]

“I suppose.....?”

“But this Shandong Yu Family or whatever—what kind of messed-up household is it? They didn’t even commit treason, yet there isn’t a single descendant worth mentioning left.”

“......”

“You can’t explain this with just ‘the foundation was uprooted.’ You’d have to cut out the foundation, then light a fire on the exposed cornerstone and grill meat on it—only then might it end up like this.”

“......”

“Seriously. Just how great a sin did their ancestors commit for the family to ruin like this? It went down so cleanly it’s almost refreshing to see—aaagh! Why are you hitting me!”

“Ah. Don’t mind it. Keep talking.”

“How am I supposed not to mind it when you’re hitting me—agh! Aaagh! Why are you hitting me!”

“I can’t help it. It’s not something I can control. Just bear with it and keep going.”

“Aaaargh!”

“Keep going, I said.”

After a long bout of chaos, things finally settled down. Hong Daegwang, looking utterly fed up, continued.

“Anyway, so I tracked the descendants of that completely ru—...ahem, that slightly ruined family. Most of them either died away from home or changed their names and disappeared without a trace.”

“So that means......”

“Yeah.”

Hong Daegwang nodded.

“The lineage’s been cut.”

“......”

“Well. It’s just a family that no longer exists now.”

“Ughh......”

Cheong Myeong grabbed the back of his neck.

The family hadn’t just been completely ruined—it was cut off entirely?

Then what, he gets stabbed to death, his sect is blown to pieces, and his family lineage is severed? Is that even possible without having sold a country in a past life?

“Strange, isn’t it.”

Hong Daegwang scratched his chin.

“Normally it wouldn’t end up like this.”

Hong Daegwang muttered a few more things, but none of it reached Cheong Myeong’s ears.

In truth, how the Shandong Yu Family came to ruin didn’t concern him. What mattered was that the Shandong Yu Family no longer existed.

‘What a pitiful man.’

Cheong Myeong shook his head. Perhaps it was a blessing he had died and never had to see this. If it had been Cheong Mun who returned alive to witness this—he couldn’t even imagine what he would have felt.

“Hey, Mount Hua Divine Dragon. You listening?”

“...I got it, for now.”

With a strange, lingering discomfort, Cheong Myeong stood.

“I’ll get going.”

“Going? Just like that? You’re just going to ignore this?”

“Ignore? What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t hear me? I said it.”

“Said what?”

Hong Daegwang’s face twisted in disbelief. After explaining all that.

“I told you—there’s no one left using the surname Yu, but there are those suspected to be descendants—Ughk!”

Cheong Myeong suddenly lunged forward, grabbed Hong Daegwang by the collar, and shook him violently.

“You frustrating old beggar! Then you should’ve said that first!”

“I-I did! You just didn’t listen!”

“If you said it properly, I would’ve heard it!”

“...Please... could you just get struck by lightning somewhere and die? I’m begging you. Please......”

✿ ✿ ✿

“Thirteen years old?”

“Seems like it.”

“The name?”

“Seok Hanbin (石寒貧).”

[Seok Hanbin. 석한빈(石寒貧). Literally “stone–cold–poverty” (stone 石, cold 寒, poor 貧); an unusually bleak name.]

“Who names someone like that?”

“It’s obviously an alias.”

“Hm.”

Cheong Myeong scratched his cheek. What mattered wasn’t what name he was using now.

“What makes him suspicious?”

“They say he once slipped up and recited his father’s name. That name was Lee gwang (理曠).”

Hong Daegwang shuffled through the documents and pulled something out.

“The last person recorded in the genealogy of the Shandong Yu Family is someone named Yu Lee gwang.”

Cheong Myeong frowned.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it? Do you know how important that is?”

“No, I mean.....”

“A thirteen-year-old kid appears out of nowhere, with no connections, living alone? Of course there’s a story there. And the timing and the name both match?”

Hong Daegwang shrugged.

“That’s enough said.”

“......”

“What’s with that look? We’re the professionals here. Don’t trust the Beggar Union? The Beggar Union?”

“Ugh.”

Cheong Myeong scratched his head. He wanted to argue, but nothing came out.

“Then check one more thing for me.”

“Hm? What?”

“Was there someone named Yu Jagyeong in the Shandong Yu Family, a long time ago?”

“Yu Jagyeong? Hold on.”

Hong Daegwang sifted through the stack of papers and pulled out a few sheets—likely a simplified genealogy.

“Yu Jagyeong, Yu Jagyeong... hmm. Yeah, there is.”

“......”

“But he’s from way back, isn’t he? Well over a hundred years ago...”

“Alright.”

Cheong Myeong stood up.

“Huh? Mount Hua Divine Dragon? You’re just leaving like that? Hey, you brat! At least pay the investigation fee! Mount Hua Divine Dragon!”

Stepping out of the hut, Cheong Myeong shrugged.

“Well, anyway, it means the lineage isn’t completely cut off.”

Of course, whether that Seok Hanbin was truly a descendant of the Yu Family—there was no way to know yet. But there was no need to confirm it. No—perhaps it was better not to.

“It’s not like this is my fault in the first place.”

If it were something that had happened because of him, like with Mount Hua, he wouldn’t have been able to sit still out of discomfort. But what influence could he have had over something that happened far away in Shandong?

If it was going to be ruined, it was bound to be ruined. If it was going to be blown apart, it was bound to be blown apart.

“Ah, that feels better.”

With everything neatly sorted out, Cheong Myeong smiled brightly.

“That’s how it is. Don’t expect anything from me for no reason. This really isn’t my fault, got it? If it were at least sahyung’s son, I might pay some attention—but asking me to care about some distant descendant? That’s ridiculous.”

Cheong Myeong pointed up at the empty sky for no reason.

It was a perfectly clear sky.

✿ ✿ ✿

“Ugh. Today was exhausting too.”

“Training has to be hard to be training.”

“Soso, do you know why people who speak honestly tend to die early?”

“Even if I die early, I think I’ll still live longer than sahyung?”

“...Honestly, I think so too.”

Chatting about nothing in particular, the disciples entered the dining hall. Since training hadn’t ended easily today either, it was quite a late dinner as usual.

“I’m starving.”

“At this point, I could chew iron.”

But unfortunately, those who entered the dining hall late couldn’t eat right away.

“Hm?”

“What is it?”

What they saw was a group of about a dozen Mount Hua disciples—regardless of whether they were from the Cheong generation or the Baek generation—gathered together, whispering among themselves.

Baek Cheon’s face immediately frowned. That scene felt ominous—unsettling beyond measure.

“If you’ve come to the dining hall, eat your food. What are you all scheming over there?”

“S-sasuk, you’ve arrived?”

The disciples, spotting Baek Cheon, turned pale and rushed toward him.

“Ah, sahyung, you came at the perfect time.”

“Hm? Perfect time? What do you—”

“J-just come here first. Come take a look at that.”

“Look at what?”

“Over there.”

“Hm? That’s Cheong Myeong. What’s so—... huh?”

Baek Cheon, who had been speaking casually upon seeing Cheong Myeong eating in the corner, froze on the spot.

“Th-that bastard.”

With trembling hands, Baek Cheon pointed at Cheong Myeong.

“Why—why is he eating with his nose?”

“He’s been like that for a while now.”

Baek Cheon stared blankly again at Cheong Myeong.

A spoon, having already spilled half its soup onto the floor, wandered toward somewhere near his mouth—only to end up stabbing straight into his nose.

“No. Why is the spoon going to his nose while his mouth is chewing?”

“...You’re asking us?”

Baek Cheon covered his face with both hands.

‘Please, just....’

It wasn’t as if that guy being insane was anything new, but—

“Even if you’re going to be insane, can’t you at least do it properly... why does it have to be so... varied?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Shouldn’t we call a physician or something—”

“That won’t help, sasuk.”

“...Right. If you’re saying it, Soso, then it must be true.”

Letting out a sigh, Baek Cheon looked at Cheong Myeong again. The spoon, newly filled with soup, plunged into his nose once more.

It would’ve been better if he looked dazed. But his expression clearly insisted ‘I am completely fine and perfectly calm’, which made it far more grotesque.

“What do you think he’s thinking about?”

“Who knows?”

“At that level, it’s severe.”

“...But doesn’t it make you uneasy?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Yoon Jong answered with a worried face.

“...Whenever that guy gets like this, he always ends up causing a huge incident.”

“....”

Baek Cheon’s body trembled.

‘This is ominous.’

Something was definitely going very, very wrong.

✿ ✿ ✿

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