My Dad Is the Strongest Under Heaven
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Chapter 10. The Grand Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Clan
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
The village chief’s rooster, known as the scatterbrained bird that occasionally crowed out of nowhere in the dead of night, had somehow managed to let out a crisp, timely crow today.
Perhaps feeling proud of itself, it went on crowing for over half a shichen before the village chief finally gave it a good scolding.
And so, another peaceful day began in Sodam Village.
The weather today was remarkably clear once again.
“Hehe!”
Pat, smudge, pat.
With snow-white skin and cheeks flushed like ripe peaches, a tiny little girl stared intently at something with wide eyes.
Then, with her minuscule hands, she set to work diligently kneading away at it.
“Soyul-ah. Yul-i, where are you?”
Her mother’s voice called from outside.
Normally, she would have bounded outside to throw herself into her mother’s arms, but today, for some reason, she did not budge in the slightest.
If anything, she only focused harder.
At some point, her lips had pouted outward.
It was an undeniable habit inherited straight from her mother.
“…Hm? Yul-i, there you are?”
Before long, Peng Seoyeon found Yeo Soyul.
The little girl was perched right atop the stomach of her father, Yeo Woonhwi, who was still sound asleep in bed.
Yet even as Peng Seoyeon stepped inside the house, Soyul’s concentration remained utterly unbroken.
Peng Seoyeon tilted her head.
“Just what is our Yul-i doing that she won’t even listen to her mother?”
Treading softly without even realizing it, Peng Seoyeon crept up behind her daughter.
And when she leaned in close to peek over her shoulder—
“Pfft!”
What Yul-i was working so diligently on was none other than Yeo Woonhwi’s face.
Mmn… Mmph.
Yeo Woonhwi’s face was already entirely covered in pitch-black scribbles.
Completely oblivious, Yeo Woonhwi merely smacked his lips in drunken slumber.
She had likely wandered in after playing with the cooled charcoal left in the yard.
She had always loved doodling on small stones or scraps of paper with charcoal-stained hands, but it seemed she had found herself a brand-new canvas.
And that very canvas(?) was grinning, thoroughly pleased with whatever he was dreaming about.
It truly was an amusing sight.
Swept up in the fun before she knew it, Peng Seoyeon joined in on Yul-i’s scribbling.
“Yul-ah, here. You need to color here, too. Over here as well.”
“Yeah, yeah!”
And so, before long, Yeo Woonhwi’s face was thoroughly blackened with charcoal, leaving not a single patch bare.
“Mmm?”
Yeo Woonhwi, just waking from his slumber, slowly cracked his eyes open.
Seeing the mother and daughter giggling right in front of his nose, Yeo Woonhwi scratched his cheek.
“…What are you two doing right now?”
“Nothing at all. Right, Yul-ah?”
“Yup! Nothing at all, Daddy!”
“Huh?”
As Yeo Woonhwi tilted his head in confusion, the two hurriedly scrambled outside.
With a puzzled expression, Yeo Woonhwi let out a chuckle.
Whatever it was, just watching them made his heart swell with warmth.
Soon getting up from bed, Yeo Woonhwi stretched out long and hard.
“Whew.”
Come to think of it, how long had it been since he had slept in so lazily like this?
The fatigue weighing on his mind and body had vanished without a trace, leaving him feeling utterly refreshed.
It was something he could never have even dreamed of during his days as the Blood Demon.
Back then, his nerves had always been razor-sharp to hunt down his targets.
And wary of anyone pursuing him, he could never fall into a deep sleep.
Even when he did close his eyes, two or three hours at a time was the absolute most.
He had lived a life of constant, shallow sleep, shifting locations the instant his eyes cracked open.
In truth, even if he had wanted to sleep deeply, he couldn’t.
Whenever he closed his eyes, his wife and Yul-i would weep and call out to him from the suffocating darkness.
With those cries ringing in his ears, there was no way sleep would ever come.
But now…
“……”
Yeo Woonhwi pressed his lips firmly together.
That was the past. No, that was something that hadn’t happened.
Something that would never happen.
“Hup.”
Shaking his head to brush away the lingering unease, Yeo Woonhwi slowly walked out into the yard to wash his face.
However—
“Gah?! What in the world is this?”
Only then did Yeo Woonhwi catch sight of his own face reflected in the water.
Watching this alongside Yul-i while snickering, Peng Seoyeon softly approached with a towel in hand.
“…Ahaha. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Yul-i was having so much fun.”
“You say that, but you looked just as amused yourself, didn’t you?”
“Oh my, did you catch me?”
Yeo Woonhwi took the towel and wiped his face, casting her a playful glare.
At that, Yul-i crept up and looked up at Yeo Woonhwi with a crestfallen expression.
“Daddy, are you mad?”
“Hm? No, not at all. Daddy isn’t mad. It’s okay.”
Yeo Woonhwi smiled warmly and stroked his daughter’s head.
Instantly, Yul-i’s face brightened up.
“It’s okay? Really?”
“Of course!”
“Then… can I do it again?”
“Huh? Yu-Yul-ah. That’s……”
“Pfft!”
Seeing her husband completely flustered before their daughter, Peng Seoyeon burst into cheerful laughter, and Yeo Woonhwi couldn’t help but laugh along with her.
Hahaha!
Joyful, heartwarming laughter spilled from the cozy little house in Sodam Village.
Before long, the three of them sat down together for breakfast.
The weather was lovely, the breeze pleasant, and the soup his wife made tasted exceptionally delicious today.
In the middle of the meal, Yeo Woonhwi casually spoke to his wife.
“By the way, I need to make a quick trip to the neighboring… village.”
“Hm? Today? What about dinner, then?”
“I’ll likely eat before coming back.”
“All right.”
Peng Seoyeon nodded without thinking much of it.
Since Yeo Woonhwi occasionally went to neighboring villages to teach calligraphy or do odd jobs, she found nothing strange about it.
However, what Peng Seoyeon could never have imagined was that the neighboring(?) village Yeo Woonhwi spoke of was an entirely different place from anywhere he had gone before.
‘Well, if I can make the round trip in no time, it’s basically a neighboring village. Yes, of course it is.’
A moment later, having packaged his destination as a “neighboring village,” Yeo Woonhwi did his best to soothe his faintly pricking conscience.
Finishing his bowl of rice, Yeo Woonhwi soon concluded his meal.
And shortly after, he set off for that neighboring village.
Namely, Sichuan.
“Ugh.”
An incomparably luxurious bed.
A man who had been sprawled half-naked in sleep slowly pushed himself upright.
A man with sharp eyes and a decadent aura about him—Tang Guhwi.
His head pounded, and his body felt heavy.
Had he drunk too much yesterday?
After steadying his hazy senses for a moment, he reached for the cup of water beside the bed and gulped it down.
Phew.
Barely regaining his wits, Tang Guhwi shouted toward the outside.
“Is anyone there?”
“Did you call, Grand Young Master?”
When the attendant entered, Tang Guhwi asked for the time.
The attendant bowed his head and answered cautiously.
“Hmph.”
Tang Guhwi let out a long sigh.
Having slept for quite some time, it seemed he needed to head out immediately.
Normally, he would have rested leisurely on a day like this, but he couldn’t afford to today, as he had quite an important drinking appointment scheduled.
‘I must win them over to my side today. If only that succeeds…….’
Tang Guhwi soon rose from his seat and prepared to head out with the help of his attendants.
Lately, his days and nights had practically flipped.
It was undeniably an unbefitting lifestyle for the Grand Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Clan—a prestigious clan of the Orthodox faction and one of the Five Great Clans representing the entire Murim.
This lifestyle of his had only worsened ever since the Patriarch of the Sichuan Tang Clan, Dang Jin-woo, the Poison Rain, entered seclusion for two years of closed-door cultivation.
With the only person capable of putting the brakes on his headstrong temperament gone, the world was practically his to do with as he pleased.
Tang Guhwi listened to no one.
Soon, as an attendant held up a bronze mirror, Tang Guhwi made final adjustments to his attire and stepped out of the room.
Right then—
“Hyung-nim.”
At the single voice that barred his path, Tang Guhwi’s previously impassive face instantly contorted into a scowl.
It was his younger brother, Dang Mu-jun.
“Are you… heading to Cheonghwaru again?”
“Why, must I ask your permission for every single thing I do?”
“That is not what I mean.”
At Tang Guhwi’s icy response, Dang Mu-jun shook his head.
“It is because Mother is deeply worried. She fears rumors might spread if you frequent Cheonghwaru every day. So if possible, please exercise some restraint for a while……”
“Silence!”
Tang Guhwi, who rarely lost his composure over trivial matters, suddenly roared.
“Are you trying to lecture me now by using Mother as an excuse?!”
“Hyung-nim……!”
“You surely think you stand above me, don’t you? Is that not it?”
“H-Hyung-nim! How could that ever be true?!”
“Do not even call me Hyung-nim!”
At those words, Dang Mu-jun froze on the spot.
Dang Mu-jun.
The greatest prodigy ever produced by the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Not only was he acknowledged by the current Patriarch, Dang Jin-woo, but he was also renowned throughout the Murim as the most cherished grandson and disciple of the former Patriarch, the Poison Venerable.
Accordingly, the pressure and inferiority complex Tang Guhwi, the Grand Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Clan, harbored toward Dang Mu-jun were far from trivial.
Though they were blood brothers, the person Tang Guhwi loathed above all else was his younger brother, Dang Mu-jun.
No, hatred was too soft a word—Tang Guhwi abhorred Dang Mu-jun’s very existence.
Yet, for now, he was a cursed bastard he could do nothing against.
Tang Guhwi glared at Dang Mu-jun with venomous eyes.
“No matter how much people flatter you, babbling about some once-in-a-generation genius, the successor to this Sichuan Tang Clan is me, the Grand Young Master. And yet you dare tell me to show restraint?”
“…Mother misses you dearly.”
“That, too, is my own business. Do not interfere.”
“……”
“Out of my way. I do not wish to look upon your face any longer.”
Tang Guhwi shoved Dang Mu-jun roughly aside and strode past.
Dang Mu-jun slowly turned his head.
Left standing alone, he quietly watched his elder brother’s receding back quickly vanish into the distance.
In his eyes lay a devastation beyond words.
Dang Mu-jun tightly squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Father. Just what… what am I to do…….’
A relationship with Tang Guhwi that grew ever more distant, with no hope of closing the rift.
Today, once more, his anguish deepened beyond measure.
