Zhuge Family.
The martial arts family representing Hubei Province, and one of the top five families in the martial arts world.
If a martial arts family is mentioned, they essentially must appear.
Because it wouldn’t function with just five head-butting dinosaurs wielding swords from the righteous faction. They play the role of mainstay and do various chores, making one ponder how one can handle these insufferable head-butting dinosaurs.
Thus, the martial artists of the Zhuge family, under the orders of the head of the family, are escorting the black-haired barbarian.
What exactly did that black-haired person do wrong? Some might worry about the black-haired person’s fate, but my feelings were different.
“Is this the third time…?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing much.”
The first year was the Murong family, last year it was the Sichuan Tang family. This year it’s the Zhuge family.
There’s no way that could happen, but can I not be dragged by another martial arts family next year?
“Master Kang, shall I take out the lunchbox?”
At lunchtime, as soon as I stepped off the carriage, Miss Zhuge mentioned the lunchbox prepared by her.
“Let’s wait until that conversation over there is finished.”
“Oh, okay!”
“What are they still fighting about? Yoon Ho, you should step in.”
The three of us turned our eyes toward the noisy corner.
“How could they let Master Kang and Miss Zhuge eat on the street! Do they have any sense!”
The head of the Man Geum Inspection Unit, Song Jeong-hak, raised his voice at Zhuge Jak.
“We’re heading to Yangyang County within five days. Lunch wasn’t planned originally, but they insisted on taking a break, so keep up with the schedule as much as possible,” Zhuge Jak replied firmly as if he needed no further discussion.
What?! We’re supposed to reach Yangyang County within five days?
“Five days to Yangyang County? Who are we running from? We’re in no hurry now.”
Song Jeong-hak seemed startled, questioning his decision.
Just considering the area of Hubei Province alone is twice that of South Korea. Traveling from Wuhan to Yangyang County is not a mere visit next door; it’s like going from Seoul to Daegu!
“The detour has already cost us two days. The head of the family ordered us to bring them as soon as possible… Ahem! I mean, to escort them.”
“It’s not just our belongings; non-martial artists are involved too! Plus, with the weather getting cooler, if we rush too much, we’ll get sick,” Song Jeong-hak countered.
“What, are we the ones who dragged you in?”
“What did you say?!”
If they keep this up, they’re bound to fight.
“Let’s listen to the Zhuge family for now.”
I approached the two.
“Master Kang!”
I understand the head of the Inspection Unit’s feelings, but don’t look at me like that. I want to casually enjoy the trip too and not race around in a carriage.
“The Zhuge family must have their own considerations. Since they’re leading the group, let’s try to cooperate. I’m not going to exhaust myself as a son-in-law while visiting my father-in-law.”
“Who’s someone’s son-in-law right now…?”
“Unless you’re treating the successor of the Man Geum Battlefield personally appointed by the head of the family like a criminal.”
Before Zhuge Jak could retort, I interrupted with a smile.
It might be fair to consider my girlfriend’s guy as a criminal, but I can’t dismiss my father-in-law’s opinion. Right?
Zhuge Jak squinted at me for a moment, then let out a small sigh.
“Ugh… Let’s finish the meal quickly and get back on the carriage.”
Zhuge Jak turned around and headed back.
“Master Kang, are you really okay?”
Seeing Zhuge Jak back down, Song Jeong-hak asked me with concern.
I would also prefer to have a leisurely breakfast, lunch, and dinner at an inn, but what can I do? My father-in-law wants me to hurry.
“Haha! What, am I going to die or something?”
—————
“I’m gonna die.”
I’m gonna die today. I’m gonna die tomorrow too.
Late at night when the sun set, I collapsed onto the bed and shouted.
“Ugh!”
“Hey, Yoon Ho. Is this really okay? Are we really going to travel for five days like this?”
Gil-san chuckled as he watched Miss Zhuge melting away on the bed and asked incredulously.
“They’re saying they’ll make it within five days somehow, aren’t they?”
Even during holidays, when I ride to the countryside, I get tired. Riding in a carriage from dawn till dusk was indeed hard.
“The horses seem tired too. Who knows!”
Gil-san sprawled on the bed as if he had no strength to lift a finger.
“What do we do for dinner?”
Even though it was late, the inn was still serving food, so we had to go down. But both of them didn’t seem to have much appetite.
“I can’t eat.”
“Will liquor be served?”
“If we order it, it will come, but wouldn’t it be awkward to eat it among ourselves?”
“How about we drink in our room later?”
“Forget it. I don’t want to smell like alcohol in the morning and make a bad impression on the Zhuge family.”
That bastard barbarian. I knew he’d be like this. While others are enduring hard missions, he just drinks. Clearly, Miss Zhuge must have been lured by this kind of scoundrel. I don’t want to invoke any strange misunderstandings.
“What?! There was a chance of a bad impression?!”
“….”
“I don’t care! I was good with it. If you go down, bring me a bottle and some cups. Oh! And some snacks!”
“You go get them yourself!”
In a fit of anger, I tossed my pillow, which hit Gil-san’s face perfectly.
“Ugh!”
“Is this how we’re going to spend the remaining time?”
Miss Zhuge asked me with concern.
I had anticipated suffering after entering the Zhuge family, but I hadn’t thought the struggles would begin before we even arrived. I might just become a wreck before meeting my father-in-law.
“This won’t do.”
I jumped up from my seat.
“Ooooh! So you’re truly the successor of the Man Geum Battlefield! Going for a word or two, right? But if you say this for lunch and then say you can’t at night, won’t that be embarrassing?”
“I have a way to make it go smoothly without saying anything.”
If things go as I plan, there’s a way to arrive at Zhuge family leisurely.
“What is it?”
“I learned something unexpected before we left.”
“Was it what you asked earlier?”
I nodded. The real question is whether it truly will succeed.
I glanced at Miss Zhuge, whose soul seemed to escape her.
“Miss Zhuge. The thing you said in the carriage, is it true?”
“Yeees! It’s trueee.”
“Alright. I’ll be back.”
Let’s clash once for a leisurely trip.
“We are carrying out our mission under the command of the head of the family! Everyone, stay focused! If I see signs of laziness again, I won’t let it slide!”
Zhuge Jak gathered the team members who looked like they wanted to jump straight into bed and launched into a sermon on the first floor of the inn.
“Yes!”
“The night watch will be performed by the members that strayed from the waiting area during yesterday’s mission! Those who cooperated will take over! Got it?”
“Understood!”
“Then rest.”
As soon as the head of the family disappeared into the guest room, deep sighs slipped out from some of the martial artists from the Zhuge family.
“Haah. We’re doomed.”
“Tsk, tsk. You should be more careful. With the head of the family feeling the tension, do you think they should be going out?”
There was a disapproving tone from one Zhuge martial artist to another who had just sighed.
“If not yesterday, there wouldn’t have been any opportunity, so what could we do?”
Everyone scheduled for the night watch subtly nodded in agreement.
They had no choice. It was the only opportunity they had.
“That’s right. So… did you manage to?”
The Zhuge martial artist who had been quelling their disappointment glanced around cautiously and asked.
“The door was closed. Apparently, they close it at sunset.”
“What? So you didn’t manage to get it?!”
“I should have figured it out from the moment that guy boasted he could bring it back! Now we’re stuck with night watch duties.”
“We wouldn’t have got it, even if the door was open. They wouldn’t come out in the first place!”
“Damn it!”
Disappointment washed over all the Zhuge martial artists gathered around the table.
They were on a mission, executing the commands of the head of the family.
Though it seemed simple to bring back just one person, being under the head’s orders meant they could not stray even while resting. But they felt they had no choice.
No one among them complained about the risk of discovery by the head, but rather they were worried about why they even went out.
Given they were in Wuhan, there was no choice.
If it meant retrieving it.
“Chronicles of the Tang Family volume 4 didn’t come out yet…!”
If they were in Wuhan, wouldn’t it be expected to stop by the Tea Bookstore?
Chronicles of the Tang Family was only sold at the Tea Bookstore.
“Weren’t the first three volumes released at the beginning of this year? Why hasn’t the fourth volume come out yet?”
“It takes months to edit a single passage, so a novel released at the beginning of the year isn’t likely to be published again.”
“They did hint at it in volume three! So at least one more should come out this year!”
“Exactly…”
A deep sense of disappointment passed among those seated.
“I wanted to see the formation that can only be revealed by not practicing!”
“Shh! Someone might hear you.”
One of the Zhuge martial artists put a finger to their lips, causing the others to lower their heads in surprise.
“If they find out we read Chronicles of the Tang Family, that’ll lead to trouble with the night watch duty. Be careful.”
“Ugh! I was too emotional.”
I almost made a mistake. One mustn’t let other families know they’ve read Chronicles of the Tang Family. The martial artist offered an apology to their colleague.
Some might find this odd.
The Zhuge family is a martial arts family that has produced numerous martial artists and even individuals who entered the government, not a family that bravely boasts about never reading books like foolish martial artists.
Yet they were trying to hide the fact that a member of the Zhuge family simply read a novel.
In fact, there was a very good reason for the situation escalating this way.
“What foolish idiot would mutter they want to learn Tang family martial arts in front of the family’s elder passing by…!”
“If they were just muttering out of an addiction, that would be one thing. But they had the book in hand when they said it!”
“No! Of all times, did the elders have to talk about the mental state of today’s youth?”
The Zhuge family and Sichuan Tang family.
When martial arts families are mentioned in the world of martial arts, these two families are always compared, ranking among the top five.
As a result, these two families inevitably compare and compete with each other, developing a deep-rooted rivalry even if they aren’t outright hostile.
As fate would have it, a member of the Zhuge Family made a remark envying Sichuan Tang Family martial arts, all because of reading Chronicles of the Tang Family.
“Thanks to that, none of the books from the Tea Bookstore can pass through the family gates. If I could find out who that was, I’d grab that guy and…!”
Ultimately, only the avid readers of Chronicles of the Tang Family from the Zhuge Family were left to shed tears of desperation while waiting for the next volume.
“Ahem! The Tang Jung’s martial arts are so cool that it might slip out. They must be addicted to the story.”
“Why are you sweating so much? Are you unwell?”
“N-No!”
“That guy’s the reason! Now we can’t even show we’ve read Chronicles of the Tang Family! It got hard to even hear news from the Tea Bookstore! Consequently, it was only in the summer that I started to hear news about the release of the first three volumes that came out early this year!”
Books coming from the Tea Bookstore are prohibited. Due to restrictions on discussing Chronicles of the Tang Family, naturally, they could only receive news about the third volume late.
“I only finally found and read that third volume a little while ago.”
It was an eventful situation where they had to beg someone out on an errand to fetch the book released at the beginning of the year. For the readers of Chronicles of the Tang Family from the Zhuge family, the visit to Wuhan was a different chance.
“While in Wuhan, I was trying to secretly buy volume four, but it still hasn’t been released.”
“Seriously. Just when I mentioned going to Wuhan, I ended up getting riled up. There’s no new volumes, and I only irritated the head of the family.”
“Once we return to the Zhuge family, there’s no chance of seeing volume four this year. I’ll pay for the meal. Let’s just order something.”
In the end, they traveled all the way to Wuhan to find new volumes, only to return empty-handed.
Moreover, they confirmed the night watch, and till they returned to their family, the mission must go on. It’s bleak, but let’s at least eat. A Zhuge martial artist was about to call for a server.
“There’s no seat available. Can I join you?”
The black-haired man smiled, as if he seized the opportunity, and pulled up the empty chair.
“Huh? Master, oh… please have a seat.”
“Thank you.”
“….”
The Zhuge warriors silently gazed at Kang Yoon-ho, the target of this mission, smiling nonchalantly.
A man cohabitating with the youngest daughter of the family without permission. He was certainly the kind of scoundrel one might hear about, but reality was entirely different.
He is the successor of the Man Geum Battlefield.
From what I heard, it seems that the owner and the head of the family were trying to connect the man in front of them to their daughter, but things went awry.
He did wrong, but isn’t there mitigating circumstances? It’s not just a family problem; it’s between husband and wife.
It felt strange to view him as a criminal, yet also strange to view him as the head of the family’s son-in-law.
While the Zhuge warriors sat cautiously at the table, one of the friendlier martial artists initiated a conversation with Kang Yoon-ho.
“It seems you enjoy reading.”
Kang Yoon-ho also seemed awkward given the situation, reading a book while they waited for the food.
“Yes. I’m enjoying a new work from an author I like, so I’m delighted to keep reading it.”
“Even though we are martial artists, we, as members of the Zhuge family, also tend to enjoy novels. What book are you reading?”
As the martial artist asked, Kang Yoon-ho lifted the book to show its cover.
“This book has this title. Have you seen it?”
“Chronicles of the Wind and Cloud Heroes…?”
The martial artist shook his head.
They intended to have a light conversation, but it turned out to be an unfamiliar book. When the Zhuge martial artist glanced at his colleagues, they all seemed equally unaware.
Shall we switch to another topic? Or should we bring up Chronicles of the Tang Family?
Just as the martial artist pondered this, a voice from the black-haired man became impossible to ignore.
“It’s a new release from Ho Pil, the author!”
“…Huh?!”
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