The reason the situation ended up like this is partly my responsibility.
When the Sichuan Tang Family was trying to take down The Rise of the Tang Family, I prepared a countermeasure. That countermeasure is what caused the accident.
Thanks to Hwa-rin, she said that if the Sichuan Tang Family comes for The Rise of the Tang Family, I should use her as a shield, but I didn’t want it to come to that.
To prevent using Hwa-rin as a shield, I used another plan I was thinking of.
One was to make the protagonist, Tang Jung, a negotiation director, and create a situation where we had no choice but to share fortunes together, typical of a classic love story, and the other one was…
‘To use the Bracelet of Remembrance.’
On my way to the Seong Family to follow Cheon So-hee’s assassination mission, I came across a man who had died after meeting bandits before us. The man had a Bracelet of Remembrance he cherished.
The Bracelet of Remembrance was originally worn by Lady Tang in the original work, so I initially thought it had coincidentally come into my possession.
“A Bracelet of Remembrance? Why’s that?”
“I heard all Sichuan Tang Family members carry one. But you don’t have one. I was just curious.”
While traveling with Hwa-rin, I casually asked why she didn’t carry a Bracelet of Remembrance.
“No, only direct blood relatives carry it. Well… Tang Geoh said he’d accept me as a member of the family if my martial arts skills improved, and he’d give me the bracelet as proof, but that was probably a lie.”
So that’s how she got the Bracelet of Remembrance in the original work, huh.
“I misunderstood that.”
“So how do you have the Bracelet of Remembrance? Ah… right.”
Hwa-rin asked herself and realized, lowering her head in apology. It’s nice when she misunderstands on her own. Sure, believe that my Poisonous Friend gave it to me.
In the end, the nameless Bracelet of Remembrance wouldn’t end up in Hwa-rin’s hands.
So whose was it then?
The answer lay in the book the man had left behind, asking to take it to Sichuan. A book that was soaked with blood and ruined. Normally, there would have been no way to read it.
“The 5th assassin said there’s no time to restore the book and called for a specialist, but he seems to have left already. If you have the book, I can restore it.”
So-hee, even leaving with a small promise to keep. I’m moved. Thanks to So-hee, I was able to read the contents of the restored book in the assassin’s hideout.
“It was a diary. The diary of a courtesan from Joseon named Hyang-a.”
The author was a woman named Hyang-a, a promising candidate to become the best courtesan in Hubei, who had not yet spent her first night and was being sought after by many men.
“Who will purchase this courtesan’s first night?”
Even an adequately pretty courtesan would require the price of a tiled house to buy her first night. So how much would it cost for the one who was destined to become the best courtesan in Hubei?
Speculators tossed prices around, but contrary to expectations, the cost of purchasing Hyang-a’s first night was not money, but love.
“Thank you for saving me. May I know your name?”
“I am… Tang Choo.”
A dramatic meeting where the two fell for each other at first sight. Although the man’s name was a pseudonym, such things did not matter in love.
They loved each other passionately and shared their first night. The man didn’t pay even the price for the first night nor bowed his head at the objection.
“How can one buy my woman’s first night with money? If it comes to that, I will save her destiny.”
He rather paid a much larger sum to pull her out of a miracle. The cost of buying a first night is already astronomically high, so how much more would it have to be to save her from her courtesan status?
The prince who rescued her from peril. The man with whom she shared her first. Even saving her from a cursed fate. There was no reason for a woman not to fall for such a man.
The two shared fiery love and eventually ended up with a child.
“I must leave now due to urgent matters, but when I return, I will take you and make you officially a member of my family.”
The name Tang Choo was merely a pseudonym for the mission. He handed Hyang-a the unwritten Bracelet of Remembrance and left. That was the last sight of the man Hyang-a ever saw.
“Talk about being blatantly abandoned.”
Hyang-a never gained recognition as a member of the Sichuan Tang Family. A few months later, hearing that Jeong-in’s group had returned, she went searching for them but faced rejection and never met Jeong-in.
Circumstances in which she had nowhere to go. A swollen belly. The choice that the despaired woman made was to return to her hometown, Joseon.
“Such things happen more frequently than one might think in this world.”
It was quite common for courtesans to have illegitimate children.
There are cases where a politician is assigned to a locality and ends up having a child with a courtesan, or a scholar messes around with a courtesan while traveling and has a child, or a martial artist saves a courtesan and ends up impregnating her.
In such cases, while a courtesan may end up lucky and become a concubine, often they are just abandoned.
The diary I read was just one of those commonplace tales.
“So the man who died then was Hyang-a’s son.”
Hyang-a remarried in Joseon but unfortunately died early from the plague.
As she was dying, she wrote in her diary with weak handwriting that when her son grew up, he should take the Bracelet of Remembrance to the Sichuan Tang Family.
The man grew up, following his mother’s last wishes, came to the Central Plains, but in the end, couldn’t reach Sichuan and died. A bitter life for the two. But this life offered me a great opportunity.
“An illegitimate child of the Sichuan Tang Family. Let’s say I was a friend of that illegitimate child.”
I quietly muttered while drafting The Rise of the Tang Family. Let’s say that my Poisonous Friend was that friend.
Even among the direct descendants of the Sichuan Tang Family, if we count back to the previous family head, there would be quite a few. One of those relatives who visited Grandpa’s place during holidays could be the one who created an illegitimate child with Hyang-a, right?
“I’ll say I wrote The Rise of the Tang Family to deliver my deceased friend’s belongings.”
If I bring the Bracelet of Remembrance from the Sichuan Tang Family, they will reward me handsomely. It was one of the common senses in the Martial Arts World.
If the Sichuan Tang Family comes to the Tea Bookstore to address the contents of The Rise of the Tang Family, I’ll prep myself with tears.
“Cough! Actually, The Rise of the Tang Family was written to find my friend’s father. The picture of Tang Jung is what my closest friend imagined. The image of his father. Here! The Bracelet of Remembrance! I heard you would greatly repay me for bringing the Bracelet, but that’s not necessary. Just hurry and hand this over to my friend’s father.”
Instead, please check out the written The Rise of the Tang Family. I’ll subtly appeal to be forgiven.
With a perfectly reasonable reason to deliver the Bracelet and nothing more to say regarding The Rise of the Tang Family, I thought it would end at that.
‘No way Tang Choo was Tang Family Head.’
I had a suspicion that might be the case but couldn’t understand.
In this era, if someone among the direct descendants had an illegitimate child, they’d get a big slap on the back from their wife, not a firm grip like crushing a barbarian’s neck in a hydraulic press.
When the deputy medical official uttered “illegitimate child,” only then did I grasp how the situation was unfolding.
Coincidentally, I used the model of Tang Family Head who was indeed chasing after a color demon. While it’s unfortunate, from the perspective of the Sichuan Tang Family, who would dare say who wrote the home secret?
‘If I say this is my deceased friend’s Bracelet, will they forgive me?’
Originally, I didn’t plan to write anything that could get me heavily reprimanded in The Rise of the Tang Family, so it was a valid plan I could bring up.
If it’s the secret of the Sichuan Tang Family, the story changes.
“My deceased friend was indeed the family head’s illegitimate child. I’ll hand you the Bracelet, so please spare my life.”
“You are not even the Tang Family Head’s illegitimate child. Whether you’re a friend or not is unclear; you just wrote a book about the family’s secret indiscriminately, didn’t you?”
I’m not even the original owner of the Bracelet, so can I truly smooth things over with just the Bracelet?
If my wrist was a re-supply rocket punch or had regenerative capabilities or was a parasitic lifeform, it might have been worth a shot, but it’s risky to mention that.
In the end, to protect my wrist, there was only one way.
‘I’ll become Tang Family Head’s illegitimate child.’
—–
“What?”
“What the?!”
“What do you mean?!”
Everyone present in the attic was taken aback by my illegitimate child claim. But Hwa-rin. Why are you surprised? Didn’t you nod your head when I asked who the Bracelet belonged to?
I made sure to lock eyes with the deputy medical official so Hwa-rin wouldn’t see the astonished look on his face.
“Y-you’re saying you’re the family head’s illegitimate child?”
Surprising, right? I just changed my setting to stay alive; I’m amazed too. I maintained a confident expression and spoke.
“Isn’t it odd? How could Hwa-rin know the tale of Hyang-a and the family head?”
The shares of this incident lie 1/3 with the creators who left out my Poisonous Friend’s color demon setting, 1/3 with Ho Pil for insuring the tale of Hyang-a in The Rise of the Tang Family, and the other 1/3 with the predecessors who created many vivid love story elements.
Thinking back, Kang Yoon-ho wasn’t at fault at all. Totally unfair.
“Didn’t you say you were a messenger? You must have heard about a courtesan who shared a bond with the family head somewhere.”
The deputy medical official glared at me with suspicion. Even with proof, if he doubts it, I’ll have to share a story only Hyang-a knows.
“It was the day the freezing cold lifted, and the spring flowers began to bud. On an empty night, my mother knocked on the door saying Jeong-in had returned, holding her now-swelling belly. She wanted to see Jeong-in. All that returned was the cold sidewalk telling her, ‘What, a barbarian woman has come to bother someone’s child?’”
That man was a member of the Sichuan Tang Family I often saw.
Hyang-a returned that night, covered in dust, unable to get up. Then, knowing the Tang Family’s group had left, she headed towards Joseon.
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Haha! Who would have told me that?! Instead, I find myself wondering how you would know? Are you perhaps the warrior who stood in her way at that time?”
“…….”
Is that true?
The deputy medical official momentarily averted his gaze. Then I couldn’t miss this chance!
“You hurt my mother!”
I clenched my fist with a furious expression and dramatically swung it towards the deputy medical official’s face.
“Master! Calm down!”
The deputy medical official quickly grabbed my arm and shoulder.
“Let me go! Because of this bastard, my mother!”
I shouted angrily at the frozen deputy medical official, who was staring at me with shocked eyes.
Thank you, deputy medical official. I was just being dramatic, but you really stopped me.
“……I can’t believe it. Aren’t you a black-haired barbarian?”
The deputy medical official regained composure and shot me a doubtful glance.
I knew a black-haired tackle would come.
“When I arrived in the Central Plains, I heard a funny saying. A woman who goes to a black-haired man never returns.”
“So it means to beware of a barbarian who covets other men’s women.”
As expected, that’s a rather prejudiced interpretation for a barbarian.
“There’s another interesting saying. It’s easy for a black-haired guy to steal a wife, but it’s hard to steal the seed. Do you know why that saying exists?”
“Because a child born of a black-haired barbarian most often has black hair.”
“And black eyes.”
The latter has a slightly lower probability, but in fact, Hyang-a’s son was born with black hair and black eyes.
“……I can see the connection between the Bracelet and the story. But that doesn’t prove you are the family head’s son. Rather, from my perspective, you look like someone who’s unwilling to give up his wrist and is lying.”
The middle-aged detective, Deputy Medical Official, is sharp.
True. That’s a more rational thought. Suddenly, when the opponent is in a crisis, I claim to be the family head’s illegitimate child. It would only make sense for me to counter, “I’m your mother!” and chop off my wrist.
It’s only natural to be skeptical. Honestly, it would sound ridiculous.
But the family head’s illegitimate child actually did exist. Hyang-a and her son are dead. And all that information was entirely consumed by me.
“You don’t have to believe me. But if you are loyal to the Tang Family Head, then you must take me along.”
I carefully freed my arm from the deputy medical official’s grip and straightened my clothes, speaking.
“Why would I take a liar with me?”
“I’m your goal.”
This isn’t just a task of turning one tiger into my brother. Once I spoke, there are far too many tigers that must be deceived.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You all aren’t here to acquire medicine from the Jegeol family. The direct descendant of the Sichuan Tang Family is dying, and the Tang Family can’t possibly find a way to treat him.”
I casually dropped the bombshell like it was trivial gossip, that the members of the Tea and Book Club had actually deliberately given me this highly confidential information.
“How do you know that?”
To survive, it’s all or nothing; I must venture directly into the tiger’s den.
If I have to enter the tiger’s den, I have to become the tiger. Then what kind of tiger should I be?
I smiled with a mischievous grin like a cub waiting for its prey to weaken.
“If the family head is on the brink of death and there’s no medicine, then… I’m not the only son of the family head anymore, am I?”
The cub that everyone must bow to.
Suspiciously unholy just by existing.
Yes. Let’s become a tiger that no one can touch.
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