Chapter 1
1
Prologue.
[Month unknown, Day unknown.
I opened my eyes and became a maid of the Sichuan Tang Clan. That Sichuan Tang Clan, the family of poison and hidden weapons in martial arts stories. Stop reading novels and go to work? I wish this was a dream too.
It's all the fault of the section chief. He told me to read martial arts novels, so I got possessed by one. ××.
I'm doing housework all day long that I don't even do at home. I want to go home.]
[Month unknown, Day unknown.
Here, I'm in charge of laundry. Every day, I'm given a mountain of laundry. But there's something bothering me. Every time I rinse the laundry, colorful water comes out. Why is purple water coming out of green fabric?
...Could this be poison?]
[Month unknown, Day unknown.
I learned the secret of my birth.
I am... ■■■■■■?
I am... ■■■ ■?]
[Month unknown, Day unknown.
My so-called father tells me to go to a matchmaking meeting. Now he wants me to be useful, but he only wants a lot without giving me anything. × bastard.
When I cursed, my grandfather soothed me. He said he would change my future husband if I didn't like him.
Grandfather, please don't talk about my husband like you're picking potatoes at the market.]
[Month unknown, Day unknown.
I was about to go to bed when people rushed in and dragged me away. They say my matchmaking partner is dead, and I'm the one who poisoned him.
What nonsense is this? Why would I?]
1. The Way of the Jianghu Has Fallen to the Ground
There is a common saying when something absurd happens in the Martial Arts World:
'This is the law of the Jianghu.'
This expression, which has become a kind of meme on the internet, has a clear meaning. Only the strong survive in this world.
I quite liked this saying. Every time the protagonist of a martial arts novel, not bound by the laws and order of modern society, invoked the law of the Jianghu and smashed the heads of his enemies, I felt a vicarious thrill.
I'm probably not the only one. Everyone is probably similar. Everyone has had the experience of suppressing their anger without being able to protest against the absurdities in front of them.
Becoming an adult is like that. Enduring and doing things you don't want to do. Folding your pride into a small package and putting on a smiling face.
So when the section chief handed me a martial arts novel to read on my way to and from work, I couldn't even show a hint of dislike and accepted the book.
"Young people don't understand jokes. Read this. You need to read this to communicate."
He wants me to read the books he reads because we can't communicate. What kind of old person is this?
The words that we can't communicate are the section chief's, and if he forces his interests without considering the tastes of others, no one will be left by his side, rose to my throat, but I endured with difficulty.
My performance review was in the hands of that old-fashioned person. It's so hard to live in society.
So, after half a year of reading martial arts novels for the sake of communicating with the section chief, I was able to laugh at the section chief's joke about setting Samadhi Fire on fire with my instep.
"See? You laugh well now. Books are food for the soul."
Only you are laughing, section chief. And it would be a disaster if martial arts novels became food for the soul. I'd want to practice the law of the Jianghu at work.
Anyway, the martial arts novels that I started reading as part of my social life suited my taste quite well. Contrary to the prejudice that they were the exclusive property of old men, they were also fun.
Even those who seemed to know only martial arts had lives, love, and romance.
People who burn their lives to protect their pride and the backs of their colleagues. They were so foolishly stubborn that they touched my heart.
The lives of Martial Artists were so attractive that I wanted to live like that at least once.
But that didn't mean I wanted to become an extra in a martial arts novel.
"Look at her. She's thinking about something else again. Aren't you going to do laundry?"
"Yes. I'm going now."
"They say there's herbal medicine for lunch today. Bring something to cleanse your palate."
"Again?"
It certainly didn't mean I wanted to become a Maid of a Martial Sect that feeds poison to its servants.
The Number One Poison Sect in the World, the Sichuan Tang Clan.
The family of poison and hidden weapons, also called the Tang Clan.
I had become a Maid of this crazy family.
If fantasy has noble families, martial arts has Martial Arts Families. Of course, they are not the same concept. They are similar in that they have power and are well-known prestigious families.
These are bloodline-centered Martial Sects, closed groups made up of relatives.
The Namgung Family is the Namgung Clan, the Hapuk Paeng Family is the Paeng Clan, and the Sichuan Tang Clan is the Martial Sect where people with the surname Tang gather.
So what is the Sichuan Tang Clan?
They are the guys who arrogantly rush at the protagonist, only to be miserably defeated and fall away.
...That's how it was in the martial arts novels I've seen so far. Because they used poison and hidden weapons, they were good to use as villains.
They appeared as a place where, when they were allies, they had a cold side but were loyal, and when they were enemies, they used vicious and despicable tactics.
They straddled the boundary between the Orthodox Faction and the Unorthodox Faction.
In a way, they were similar to the mafia in movies. They are depicted as very cool when they are the protagonists, but when they appear as villains, you want to throw them in jail right away.
Frankly, it was understandable. First of all, they use poison. If you throw poison-laced Hidden Weapons at an opponent running at you with a sword, it seems cowardly.
So I didn't really like the Sichuan Tang Clan. I was a reader who shouted that Martial Artists should compete fairly with swords.
Was it because of that narrow-mindedness? When I opened my eyes, I was doing laundry in the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Why laundry all of a sudden?
That was my feeling on the day I was possessed. Why laundry all of a sudden?
I stared blankly at the laundry bat in my hand. It wasn't a dream of running a washing machine, but a dream of washing clothes by hand at a well.
"What a strange dream."
After muttering, I thought I should look up the meaning of a dream about doing laundry. Of course, I thought it was a dream.
But even after pounding all the flowing clothes and rinsing the laundry cleanly by drawing well water, I didn't wake up.
Rather, all the senses in my body came alive vividly. My hands, which had been in cold water, were cold and tingling. I breathed hot air on my frozen hands. Then, warm breath touched the back of my hand.
...Why can I feel it?
Suddenly, I thought that this might not be a dream. I jumped up and plunged my head into the well.
Reflected on the rippling well was an unfamiliar face. I blinked slowly.
But the face reflected in the well did not change. A girl I had never seen before was staring at me with a dumbfounded face.
Something was wrong. I wiped the water from my waist and groped my face. Then, the girl in the well also touched her face.
Seeing that her beautiful face was not hidden even in her shabby clothes, I thought she would be a great beauty when she grew up. She looked like she would appear as a child actor in a movie that broke 10 million viewers and become the nation's little sister.
That's not the point. I shook my head and looked around.
A classic manor that looked like it came out of a Hong Kong movie that had been made into a martial arts novel came into view.
The large manor was so vast that the end could not be seen, and magnificent buildings stood everywhere.
Judging by my appearance, I seemed to be a Maid working in the manor.
An assumption that I didn't want to admit arose from the unrealistic situation.
Possession.
I slapped my cheeks and took a deep breath. It hurt so much that tears welled up in my eyes because I slapped it with all my might. It's not a dream.
Hey, surely not. That can't be. Let's calm down. Getting excited won't solve this situation.
Let's calmly check where this is and come up with a plan.
Resentment welled up.
Isn't the tacit rule that possession starts with 'I opened my eyes and it was an unfamiliar ceiling'? Why am I 'I opened my eyes and I was doing laundry'?
I was already miserable living like a slave at the company, but now you want me to live as a real slave in someone else's house?
What is this? Send me home.
It took a full three days to accept reality.
I couldn't believe my fate of pounding laundry bats after living in a world where washing and drying were finished with the touch of a button.
After eating the food they gave me, doing the work they told me to do, and collapsing as if I were fainting, three days had passed.
"Haa..."
I looked at the laundry basket in my arms and sighed as if the ground was sinking. The basket, which was bigger than my torso, was piled high with clothes soaked in lye water.
If I've worked for three days, shouldn't they give me a day off? This is a world without recognition or loyalty.
"The way of the Jianghu has fallen to the ground."
When I muttered, someone laughed playfully and put their hand on my shoulder.
"Hey. What way of the Jianghu are you looking for when you're just doing laundry?"
I hurriedly turned around. A woman with freckles all over her cheeks was smiling and looking at me.
I blinked at the familiar face, then realized that she was the Maid who shared a room with me. I was confused about her name even though we had slept together for a few days. Was it Songji?
"Sister Songji."
It seems like I called her correctly because she didn't say anything. I looked at Songji with a docile expression. Then Songji said.
"Don't dawdle and go quickly. You have to be back before lunch. The Chief Steward told us to gather at Gwan Ga Won at noon. Don't you know the Tang Clan elders are sensitive?"
"Okay."
At Songji's urging, I pouted and headed to the laundry area.
It wasn't difficult to realize that I was in the Sichuan Tang Clan. It would be strange if I didn't know when everyone was singing about the Tang Clan, the Tang Clan, and the Tang Clan at the end of every sentence.
The green robes worn by the Tang Clan members also played a part. Their characteristic was that they hid poison and Hidden Weapons inside the long sleeves that covered their hands.
Those damn Sichuan Tang Clan guys were full of vanity. On the outside, they looked like they were empty-handed, but if you took them off, they pursued a fashion of putting the entire living house in the pockets inside their sleeves.
The dragged sleeves and the pockets inside the sleeves were stained, so the structure was that only the person doing the laundry would die.
I mean me. Yes. Me.
I looked up at the sky with a depressed face. The future was bleak. Where is this? Am I going to live forever washing the stains on other people's sleeves?
With only the clue that I was a member of the Tang Clan, I couldn't even know which novel I was possessed by. What martial arts novel doesn't have the Tang Clan in it?
To summarize my current situation:
1. I was possessed by a martial arts novel.
2. I am a Maid of the Sichuan Tang Clan, and I don't know Martial Arts Technique. (It seems like I'm strong enough to live even if I do hand laundry every day.)
3. I don't know what novel it is. There is no information.
4. I have no money.
It's even more depressing when I organize it. I have no money, no power, and no connections. I was the one who didn't have any of the elements to survive in the Jianghu.
...Can I survive?
