Even if The Rise of the Tang Family sells out every day and Hwa-rin’s skin gets better daily, the terrible fact that I have to leave for work every morning doesn’t change.
“Hey, Yoon-ho! Wake up!”
I yawned and stretched in bed at Hwa-rin’s morning call. Lately, I’ve been busy writing the third volume of The Rise of the Tang Family, and my sleep time has been way too short.
I have to work the next day, but I’m not making any progress in writing, so I’m cutting down on my sleep to write, taking short naps, and then hurriedly getting up for work.
Life hasn’t changed much even after starting my full-time author career in this world. Though I guess one upside is that the commute is less than a minute.
It seems like I’m far from the life of a full-time author who lounges around, sleeps late, and sips coffee while writing.
“Wash up quickly.”
Hwa-rin didn’t seem pleased that I was dragging my feet in bed, her expression slightly crinkled as she urged me. I stared blankly at her with a sleepy face.
“Hwa-rin, your skin looks even better than yesterday.”
“Really?”
With just my one comment, Hwa-rin’s furrowed face instantly brightened.
I mean it. A scholar should see their beloved after three days apart, but Hwa-rin looks better just from going to bed and waking up.
“It’s so heartwarming to see you becoming a beauty day by day.”
I exaggeratedly expressed my moving feelings with grand gestures towards Hwa-rin.
“What nonsense are you spouting this early?”
Don’t give me that serious face; just play along with the role play!
“I’m saying you’re getting prettier.”
“Really, really? Then quickly verify it for me!”
Hwa-rin’s face lit up at my words, and she perched on her bed, pouting up her chin.
Again? Now that her skin is improving, she’s starting to make strange requests. She wants me to touch her clear skin to confirm it.
Apparently, touching her healed skin makes a noticeable difference or something.
“If I touch too much, I might catch ‘hand poison.’ You asked me to confirm yesterday.”
“What nonsense. Do I look like the kind of person who would get addicted to ‘hand poison’?”
That’s true; Hwa-rin is a hybrid who can not only chew on rebar but can also swallow and digest extreme poison. Still, couldn’t we just check with a mirror instead of all this?
What’s up with the vibe of wanting confirmation from a whole chatroom like they’ve successfully enhanced and got a +20 weapon?
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
I made a reluctant face and got out of bed, approaching Hwa-rin.
“What’s this? You don’t want to?”
“Of course not.”
“Hoot, hoot. What’s this, really?”
I carefully began to touch Hwa-rin’s jawline. Once a spotty mess, her skin was now transforming before my eyes.
Hwa-rin’s hidden beauty was emerging to the surface.
Now, half of her jawline is clear, while the previously problematic areas look like scars from severe acne instead.
It feels like watching a high school girl suffering from severe acne due to active hormones, only to bloom beautifully after graduating and entering college.
The problem is that she’s changing into a complete, traumatic beauty that reminds me of a delinquent. At this rate, when her face is completely healed, and she starts shouting “Look at this!” I might just reflexively avert my eyes.
“Definitely getting prettier.”
Maybe I’m still half-asleep because I blurted that out without filtering it through my brain first.
“What, what, what? Ah!”
“Okay, that’s enough.”
To salvage the situation, I pressed and massaged Hwa-rin’s T-zone before turning away.
“Why did you stop?”
Hwa-rin questioned me as if annoyed by my sudden halt.
“The sun’s high. We need to get ready and open the bookstore.”
Did it feel unfair? I thought that was sufficient.
“Uh… Yoon-ho.”
As I headed to wash up, Hwa-rin called me with a somewhat regretful expression.
“What?”
“I… my upper body got better too.”
“That’s good.”
“So, um…”
Hwa-rin shifted her gaze away and slowly started to unbutton her top. What are you doing, Hwa-rin? You can brag about your +20 weapon, but sharing your account password is a no-go.
“Do you want to check it here too?”
Hwa-rin cautiously revealed a little of her top toward me.
“…What?”
In that moment, the meaning behind Hwa-rin’s ambiguous statement echoed in my head. What do you want to check? How do you check it?
“Um, no, I mean… that’s not what I meant. So… uh… er.”
Hwa-rin stumbled over her words, caught in a verbal jam. Meanwhile, she’s still holding onto her slightly opened top nervously.
What is this? Is this a trap from the heavens? She’s from the Sichuan Tang Family, not the Zhuge Family. I approached Hwa-rin confidently.
“Eek!”
As my shadow loomed over her, Hwa-rin shrieked, avoiding my gaze. Why is she scared after saying something she couldn’t take back?
Is this the effect of her feeling happy since her skin is leveling up daily? Besides, Hwa-rin has always been awkward at gauging personal space with others, which could explain the misstep.
She’s been a solo act for so long, matching her age, even longer than Kang Mo, who has worse circumstances than her, and until recently, she hasn’t had a friend.
“I’m going to touch it.”
Gulp. As I stated casually, I heard a sound somewhere, like someone swallowing. Hwa-rin, this is the time for a refusal! If left like this, something really bad will happen.
I need to show the lesson here.
I swiftly redirected my hand from Hwa-rin’s top and pinched her belly as if I were a master slicing through the air.
“Hey! Where are you touching?!”
Hwa-rin leaped off her bed like a startled child who had touched a hot bath.
“Wait, you told me to check your upper body.”
“Did I say to check there?!”
“Then where am I supposed to touch?”
Kang Yoon-ho knows nothing at all.
“Um, like… um… sigh.”
Hwa-rin glared at me with frustration, realizing my cluelessness. Though I might’ve somewhat learned my lesson, it was still lacking in delivering the actual lesson.
“Hwa-rin, touching it gave me an impression that…”
I leaned in towards Hwa-rin’s ear, speaking cautiously.
“What? What is it?”
“…You seem to be overeating these days.”
“Hey! Kang Yoon-ho!”
“Hahaha!”
I quickly dashed into the washroom and locked the door.
“If you come out, I’ll kill you!”
—————————-
Before long, closing time arrived. All the customers and employees had left, leaving just Hwa-rin and me.
“I’ll be in the print room. Can you handle the clean-up?”
“Let’s do it together.”
“I need to move my body a bit.”
“That was just a joke from earlier.”
“Whatever.”
Hwa-rin, seemingly worried about what was said in the morning, walked briskly towards the print room.
“Okay, let’s finish up and go eat.”
I sent Hwa-rin to the print room and dealt with the remaining cleanup. The employees had nearly completed their tasks, and there wasn’t much left to do, but isn’t it always the supervisor’s responsibility to tie things up?
After a quick tidy-up, I headed to lock the store door when I sensed movement at the entrance.
“Is this the place?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Suddenly, several men dressed in capes entered the bookstore. Is it raining outside? They’ve even covered their heads with capes.
“Customers, we’re closing for the day.”
Didn’t they see the sign saying we were closed?
I flashed my friendly neighbor’s smile as I issued a warning to the customers. However, they didn’t seem to care as they continued to enter while wearing their capes.
“Customers?”
Are they customers here to buy The Rise of the Tang Family? This isn’t the first time this has happened, but it’s always the same; they won’t take no for an answer.
“Block the entrance while you figure out another exit. Only the deputy medical official and a few others are waiting inside.”
“Chung!”
As the middle-aged man issued the command and took off his cape, I realized something was seriously wrong.
‘Why are the martial artists from the Sichuan Tang Family suddenly here?’
The middle-aged man’s hair revealed to be purple as he took off his cape. As I carefully scrutinized the hair color of the other men, I found them all to be purple.
“Where’s the person you’re talking about?”
“Over there. That guy.”
One of the martial artists pointed at me in response to the middle-aged man’s question, and I felt his gaze fixated on me.
They’re not here with good intentions. The stare I felt was off-putting. My body’s danger alarm was ringing. If I’m not careful, it’s going to be hard to sleep comfortably tonight.
“No! Wait a minute, aren’t you the martial artist from the Tea Bookstore who visited before? What brings you here?”
I approached the man who pointed at me with a shameless expression.
“…”
Even when I greeted him, the martial artist avoided eye contact, outright indicating that they came for bad purposes.
Because of The Rise of the Tang Family? I don’t know what this is all about, but they’ve sealed off the entrance. If they weren’t here with good intentions, I’d be in real danger all alone.
I need to buy some time for Hwa-rin in the print room to notice the visitors. I attempted to continue the conversation.
“Are you perhaps looking for Volume 3? Unfortunately, it hasn’t been released yet. If you really came all this way for it, I could make a special exception…”
“Are you the owner of the Tea Bookstore?”
The middle-aged man interrupted and came straight to the point.
“Yes, I’m the owner of the Tea Bookstore. Now that I think about it, you’re from the Sichuan Tang Family, aren’t you? Did someone praise Volume 3, prompting you to come for more?”
Please just say you came for an additional order. I can give you one of the new books I printed from the print room.
“Where’s Ho Pil?”
Is Ho Pil your friend? I’d like to shoot back a sarcastic remark, but I’ll hold it. I put on my business smile again, then resumed with a serious expression.
“I can’t disclose Ho Pil’s whereabouts. If you have something to convey, I can pass the message along.”
“Can’t disclose, huh… I didn’t expect this to be easy.”
In an instant, the middle-aged man grabbed my neck with his hand. A master—a quick reflex or enhanced vision couldn’t avoid a hand coming at my neck.
“Cough!”
The grip around my neck tightened. I couldn’t breathe. I tried to resist but ended up getting easily thwarted.
The middle-aged man didn’t seem intent on killing me; he released his grip once he saw I was suffering enough.
“Are you now ready to answer my questions?”
“What on earth is going on?”
I managed to ask him, clutching my throat.
“You must already know why I’m here.”
“If it’s about The Rise of the Tang Family, you have a huge misunderstanding. The protagonist of the story is a man of reason. There’s nothing in there that would catch your attention. If you’ve read it, you’d realize there’s no reason to intimidate me like this.”
There had been stories before about protagonists from the Sichuan Tang Family who had terrible personalities and caused events. Moreover, I’ve never heard of those authors receiving harm from Sichuan Tang Family members.
Unless I wrote a story that completely crossed the line, but I only walked the straight path, writing about the standard protagonist of the Sichuan Tang Family.
What exactly are these people here for?
“Is the one called Ho Pil feigning ignorance?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Still pretending not to know, huh? Fine.”
“What do you mean? Cough!”
The middle-aged man tightened his grip around my neck again, lifting me off the ground.
“Tell me where Ho Pil lives. If not, I’ll start charging you with the sins of being Ho Pil’s acquaintance!”
“Why are you doing this?”
I managed to squeeze out a question as I tried to get air into my lungs. The middle-aged man exploded with rage as he finally gave me an explanation.
The reason was something I would never have imagined.
“You dare! After publishing the secrets of the Sichuan Tang Family, do you expect to still be alive?”
