Due to the favor gained by Tang Do-gyeong, excluding me, a peculiar culture formed at the Outcast Inn where the other outcasts would roughly gather to have meals together in sync with Tang Do-gyeong’s meal times.
It would be more accurate to say that outcasts who wanted to eat with Tang Do-gyeong gathered during his meal times.
After realizing this, Tang Do-gyeong started to fix his meal times precisely.
“Haha, ever since Great Hero Tang came to the Outcast Inn… it feels like a big family gathering for meals!”
Yeo Jin-sang casually made this comment. Tang Do-gyeong simply smiled awkwardly, looking a bit embarrassed that the inn had changed because of him.
“Haha, seeing so many dark guys gathered here reminds me of my childhood.”
“Oh, so Brother Jeong was from a big family? I lived simply with my parents as I came from a fisherman’s household.”
“I ended up living with relatives who lost their home due to a landslide. Our house was already tight for our family, so combining two families made it quite uncomfortable, especially during meal times.”
“With the table being small and the space insufficient, we had to take turns for meals, and if you entered last, you barely got any side dishes! Those relatives had lost everything to the landslide, and our family wasn’t wealthy, so a bountiful table was out of the question.”
“Brother Jeong’s temper probably didn’t let that pass easily?”
“You hit the nail on the head. Back then, I told those who were eating my food to be more aware, and the furious relatives rushed in, resulting in a fight. With three against one, I couldn’t avoid defeat, but I put up a fight, and the elders of the family, furious over the kids fighting, stripped us all bare and threw us outside.”
“Hahaha! It seems that being thrown out of the house is a common punishment for any family. I also used to get kicked outside to stare blankly at the sea on the beach whenever I caused trouble.”
“Or I’d get hit with a stick until my calves were bruised!”
“Hoho.”
The outcasts reminisced about their childhood memories chaotically, and the atmosphere became warm. Perhaps influenced by that cheerful ambiance, Tang Do-gyeong was smiling too.
Jeong Sam cautiously spoke up.
“Great Hero Tang, you must have childhood memories too, right?”
“Well, yes. Do everyone here know about the bloodline of the Tang Clan?”
The outcasts nodded silently.
“There are schools in the Tang Clan where children gather for education by age groups. Whether receiving education or playing, everything revolves around the school. Well, memories…”
After pondering for a moment, Tang Do-gyeong chuckled.
“Those with the Tang surname usually have good dexterity. Even among martial artists, many excel in crafting, and how can I not mention the dexterity of those throwing hidden weapons? This led to some strange occurrences.”
“Members of the Tang Clan carry something called a Tang Token. Just because someone has the Tang surname doesn’t mean they belong to the Sacheon Tang Family, so this distinction is made. It became trendy to steal Tang Tokens from the schools. It was partly a way to boast about one’s dexterity… And, you see, I also got my token stolen.”
“I was infuriated by that guy who was flaunting my token, and I decided to take revenge, but simply countering wouldn’t satisfy me. During that time, I noticed something – a guy named Tu Gyobi, who had made practice tools from rubber.”
Of course, it’s the Sacheon Tang Family. Encouraging even little children to throw hidden weapons shows the early nature of their education.
“If I could hurl a Tu Gyobi and hit that guy perfectly to snatch my token back, it would be a great revenge, wouldn’t it? So, I practiced hurling day and night.”
The peak expert was clearly born different. How could one think to pull a token out of someone’s possession with a hidden weapon? If I were Tang Do-gyeong, I would have just knocked him out on the spot.
“After countless painful practices, I managed to retrieve my token from that guy’s grasp. At the moment, I felt like I owned the world, but I ended up tearing his clothes and throwing hidden weapons at him, so how could he be fine? I was summoned by my father and got my legs scorched with a rod.”
“Hahaha! Seems like even Great Hero Tang wasn’t exempt from the rod!”
“Wahaha! To think Brother Tang was that good at throwing hidden weapons even from childhood, I wonder how his skills are now!”
A bitter smile appeared on Tang Do-gyeong’s face.
“I’m not as good as I was in my childhood. I haven’t practiced throwing hidden weapons since those days.”
The atmosphere turned cold, like cold water splashed on it. I rubbed my forehead at the sight. Since the backstory of Tang Do-gyeong is something outcasts wouldn’t know, it seems they assumed he must have mastered hidden weapon techniques as a member of the Tang Clan.
“Tsk.”
Watching the outcasts and Tang Do-gyeong shovel their food in the awkward atmosphere made me click my tongue. The outcasts weren’t at fault; they just didn’t know the core of the story, after all.
Anyway, the trees are being planted. The countless actions of the outcasts will serve as a forest to hide the trees, so it’s time for me to step out.
* *
Meal time gathered for the outcasts. I appeared before them holding a bundle of papers and boldly declared,
“The day of literature has returned!”
The outcasts looked at me with expressions of ‘What’s this guy talking about?’
“Oh dear, these people have become so enthralled by Great Hero Tang that they don’t even know when the dates are changing! Have you forgotten the day of literature? We shouldn’t neglect sharing our academic knowledge, so let’s stick writings around the inn!”
“Oh, today is that day!”
The Black Cat cheekily chimed in.
“It’s the day to write and share words of wisdom, sayings, or our own thoughts! Literature is the nourishment of the heart. The day to soothe our hearts worn out by being outcasts! Every Sacheon Outcast will participate without exception; how family-like!”
Only then did the outcasts realize that what I was initiating was part of a scheme to stimulate familial love. Unable to make overt complaints in front of Tang Do-gyeong, their gazes were quite fierce.
“That guy is causing trouble again…”
“He should be a little more subtle about it…”
“Look! The backlash from those with shorter academics is surging again! Do you know why the day of literature was designated? It’s all about honing one’s knowledge and reinforcing the spirit; the true thing to be ashamed of is not the brevity of knowledge but one’s neglect of learning!”
“Oh, this Tang’s Descendant also wants to write a line!”
“Of course! Brother Tang can write anytime he wants!”
As Tang Do-gyeong took the lead to receive the paper, the outcasts had no choice but to get up looking disheveled. The expressions of the outcasts, suddenly given a writing assignment, were filled with despair and resentment towards me, but that’s not my problem. Anyway, Captain Favor Ho Cheon-an was dead by Tang Do-gyeong’s hand.
Tang Do-gyeong was likely to actively participate in such a positive event, making any resistance from the outcasts bear little outcome.
You chose Tang Do-gyeong, so endure it with grit.
The sudden surprise writing assignment began, followed by the wailing of the outcasts as they held their pens for the literary exam. In contrast, Tang Do-gyeong, who had quietly organized his thoughts, wrote sentences effortlessly and approached me.
“Is it just submitting the paper?”
“Well, originally, the practice was to mix the papers so no one knows who wrote what… but everyone is probably curious about Brother Tang’s writing, so if it’s alright with you, it can be made public!”
“Haha, of course.”
I handed the writing to the Black Cat, and she skillfully applied glue to the back and stuck Tang Do-gyeong’s writing on the inn’s wall.
“Don’t worry about who knows you; worry about not knowing others.”
I’ve heard this somewhere before…
“Isn’t this from the Analects?”
The Black Cat resolved my curiosity.
“Yes. Don’t worry about others not recognizing you; blame yourself for not knowing others. It’s originally meant to emphasize a person’s humility, but…”
“It was just a bit of realization witnessing the outcasts who silently devoted themselves to martial arts in an environment worse than mine, feeling ashamed of myself while being happy to know you… No phrase could express that better.”
“Great Hero…”
The outcasts, stimulated by Tang Do-gyeong’s words, started to write a line or two on their papers. But they still had to read martial arts scrolls, so it wasn’t that difficult to write a poem or saying.
Outcasts were darting their eyes to see if they could sneak a glance at anyone else’s words, while others were crouching down to secure their writing from being stolen. There were those who took back their papers for having misspelled words, and some who couldn’t get their brushes inked just right. Those who finished their papers turned them upside down – it seemed that human behavior was the same everywhere.
“Alright, everyone submit!”
The outcasts hurriedly turned in their sheets as if they didn’t want anyone seeing them. The Black Cat and I also wrote our phrases to toss in.
With a racing heart, I handed the bundle to the Black Cat, who skillfully applied glue and spread it all around. The various writings attached around the inn had a unique charm, causing the outcasts to exclaim in admiration as they took a look.
“Now, let’s take a moment to reflect.”
The reason my heart raced wasn’t because I wanted to show off my writing to the outcasts. It was because I had written down my realization among those papers.
Although there’s a period of seven days before the cancellation of the separation of Tang Do-gyeong, that’s not something they knew. Although Tang Do-gi seemed willing to wait a week, seven days was enough time for rumors to reach the Tang Clan.
Even if Tang Do-gi doesn’t report, the rumors can still reach the Tang Clan. So how the main family would react upon receiving that news was uncertain.
It’d be best for Tang Do-gyeong if this realization were communicated quickly since he would need time to digest it as well.
With his upright character, he would surely read all the writings, so transmitting the realization would be fine.
“Hmm.”
Considering where Tang Do-gyeong’s gaze would land, my piece would probably be read almost last, so I followed the whispers of ink on the ceiling.
Many well-known proverbs and idioms filled the paper, including phrases one can easily recognize, revealing something about the academic levels of the outcasts.
Among them, a round handwriting caught my attention.
“Aisu Aemeow (Love for Beasts and Cats) Aeumimi (Making Rice Delicious).”
Only one person at the Outcast Inn advocated for cat love and loved puffed snacks, yet I won’t name names for anonymity’s sake. I’ll have to find out where that guy hid his puffed snack stash and smash it to pieces later.
Another notable paper caught my eye.
“Ho Cheon-An Ten Generations.”
A sudden jab to the gut made me chuckle involuntarily. He must have really hated being forced to write. Since such insults don’t exist in the Central Plains, he probably wanted to mock him as being ten years old, and whoever that was succeeded. I’ll definitely track him down after this and get my revenge.
“Who… is that?”
“Wow… even so…”
As I turned to look at the whispers from the outcasts, I spotted another writing.
“One Two Three Four.”
Seriously, who would write that? Though it’s just free writing and merely a decoy paper, isn’t that a strong expression of rebellion?
“That one is quite striking…”
“Wow…”
“Sky Earth Mysterious Yellow.”
Could it be that learning was so poor that only four characters were known? My curiosity about who wrote the first four characters from the Thousand Character Classic was intense, but what mattered most was Tang Do-gyeong.
He took his time savoring each phrase stuck around the inn, reading them one by one.
“Excess is not as good as insufficient… that’s a good saying… an unwavering mindset for martial artists…”
“One Two Three Four… Hmm… Looks like this Tang’s Descendant still has much to learn.”
Please don’t take this seriously; it’s so embarrassing for me.
Just as I was squirming in embarrassment, Tang Do-gyeong looked up.
“Everyone wrote good phrases.”
… Huh?
“Brother Tang, did you read them all?”
“Of course. They’re all good sayings. While not all of them were easy to understand, it’s something for this Tang’s Descendant to consider.”
No, please don’t think about ‘One Two Three Four,’ you should look at mine instead! Why aren’t you absorbing my realization? What’s the issue here?
Unintentionally, I turned to look at Tang Do-gyeong.
He was happily chatting with the outcasts, unaware of my inner turmoil.
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