An incomplete poison man.
Lady Tang was deceived by Tang Geoh, destined to consume poison and suffer in the Seong Family for her entire life, eventually becoming a poison person.
“I changed that fate.”
In one story with my soul partner, Hamurin Prince, the head of the Seong Family and his forces ascended to the heavens with tears in an instant.
My perfect design, like the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings, pushed Hwa-rin out into the world, leading us to this point.
“I thought I was healing the poison with the Reverse Heaven’s Decree ability.”
As soon as I met her, the pain disappeared, and her skin was getting better. Naturally, I thought the poison accumulating inside her body was vanishing. But apparently, that wasn’t the case.
“The forbidden secret garden of the Tang Family. A complete poison person. This child’s body is becoming a vessel for a complete poison person.”
It seems my totem ability isn’t a healing totem but a leveling-up totem.
“All the research on poison persons was burned in a massive crackdown over twenty years ago. How on earth? Child, can you explain how Tang Geoh made you a poison person?”
As the Deputy Medical Official showed a favorable attitude, Hwa-rin began to explain what she had endured.
“Ha ha. Theoretically perfect, but practically concluded as impossible. Well, with what remained of the burned research, that would be the best approach. It’s amazing. It should have been a miracle just to be alive, yet just fleeing and having a resting period is transforming your body into a perfect vessel. Is it really the power of bloodlines…? Child, have you had a hard time controlling your impulses recently?”
“What?”
Hwa-rin, confused by the Deputy’s question, responded with a puzzled look.
“The predecessor color demon was physically perfect. But there was a mental issue. They lost control over their impulses. Just being angry was enough for them to start spreading poison.”
The Deputy tapped her head with two fingers, casting a suspicious glance at Hwa-rin, wondering if she was the same.
“I’m not that angry.”
Hwa-rin retorted, feeling upset at the suggestion that there was something wrong with her head.
Right, when they joked about her gain, she sulked all day.
“Then how about your sex drive? It seems like you and that guy share the same room. Doesn’t it happen that you like him and force yourself on him?”
The Deputy asked me instead, thinking it was better to ask the victim than the perpetrator.
“We sleep in separate beds.”
I shook my head and answered promptly.
This Deputy is scary. How could she think ‘Even if she said she didn’t like it, Hwa-rin is like! Again! Shut up! Yoon Ho, stand up fast!’ or even worse, that she was being forced into some weird intercourse?
That kind of thing wouldn’t happen.
“Hmm, maybe it’s because I find you to be a barbarian.”
“I don’t! Just this guy is a good… dude.”
Hwa-rin, rejecting it, should at least affirm loudly when she denies something. Every time my friends said, “Yoon Ho is a decent guy…,” they had that regrettable look while gazing at my face.
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“Ugh!”
Hwa-rin quickly turned her head in surprise when I expressed my gratitude.
“If you truly couldn’t feel any sexual desire, that wouldn’t be a valid response.”
“A little, no! Damn! Seriously! Ugh! Why do I have to talk about this!”
Hwa-rin shouted at the Deputy in embarrassment before shooting me a glance.
To prevent her embarrassment from increasing, I averted my gaze gently and wore a nonchalant expression.
It’s okay, Hwa-rin. It’s impossible not to feel anything when a man and a woman sleep in the same room.
You don’t need to be embarrassed.
I considered saying that my heart occasionally races too when I see your swaying, but saying that would just mean sexual harassment. So, I decided to remain silent.
“Indeed, it must be the power of bloodlines…”
The Deputy stroked his beard, looking contemplative as he gazed into the air.
“Hey. Yoon Ho.”
Hwa-rin softly called me and pointed to the Deputy with her chin. Was she telling me to talk about her poison friend?
No way. If I brought that up, we could check the real existence of a poison friend and the fake medicine content. I hardened my expression and subtly signaled my refusal for Hwa-rin alone to notice.
Hwa-rin showed a puzzled expression at my refusal but soon appeared to understand, perhaps thinking I had some ulterior motive.
“Child.”
The Deputy called Hwa-rin with a soft gaze. She seemed to understand without needing an explanation. This means a rough conclusion was reached.
“What?”
“You must come with me to the Sichuan Tang Family.”
Here it is. This unavoidable proposal, since the reason for writing The Rise of the Tang Family was Tang Geoh.
“If you come with me, we can punish Tang Geoh and his cronies. Plus, if you come to the Sichuan Tang Family, I’ll make your skin clean and free you from the pain of poison.”
An enticing offer. Tang Geoh will undoubtedly never give up on Hwa-rin, who is becoming a poison person. If he finds out where she is, he’s bound to come looking.
While I could heal Hwa-rin, I couldn’t stop Tang Geoh. But the Sichuan Tang Family is different.
If Hwa-rin is placed under the protection of the Sichuan Tang Family, she would be safe, and we could also punish Tang Geoh.
A proposal that descends from the heavens like a lifeline amidst a situation without a plan. However, it has its pitfalls.
“Are you planning to make Hwa-rin a complete poison person?”
The proposal is attractive. But if the Sichuan Tang Family is going to turn Hwa-rin into a poison person, the process may change, but the result could be the same.
I wouldn’t want to see that.
“Ha ha. I have no such plans. Becoming a complete poison person is a delusional dream pursued only by those following false ideas of being the greatest under heaven.”
The Deputy shook his head firmly at my question.
“Are you asking me to trust that proposal?”
Hwa-rin, unable to shake her suspicion, spoke in a sharp voice.
“You’re being rude to the Deputy!”
Startled, the Deputy’s eyes widened as the Deputy Medical Official, who had silently been observing like a shadow, burst out.
I thought they were like an NPC who didn’t say anything and just gave ellipsis. Apparently, that was not the case.
“Stop. Stay quiet. Child, what is it that you doubt?”
The Deputy raised a hand to silence the Deputy Medical Official, then asked Hwa-rin in a gentle voice.
“You’re becoming a vessel capable of being a complete poison person. How can you know they won’t change their attitude once you go to the Sichuan Tang Family?”
Hwa-rin’s suspicions are valid. The Tang Family’s forbidden secret garden. They wouldn’t give up on someone so close to being a poison person. I looked at the Deputy with a doubting eye, along with Hwa-rin.
“With great virtue, why do anything shameful? Twenty years ago, the predecessor color demon was close to a finished poison person. If their mental issues had been resolved, they truly could have reached the Tang Family’s secret garden. However, the previous head of the family and the current head firmly rooted out and punished those who made poison people and burned all materials regarding poison people.”
Impressive. I knew the Sichuan Tang Family had banned poison experiments, but I didn’t know it was this strict.
A friend of mine who was just a few points shy of passing the public exam spent three years on it, but they burned the materials even after getting near perfect poison people?
“Then, are you really going to punish that jerk Tang Geoh and treat me?”
Hwa-rin asked the Deputy again, her voice full of skepticism.
“Child, I understand your animosity toward the Sichuan Tang Family. However, if you are of the bloodline of the Tang Family, you should know what kind of truth the Sichuan Tang Family represents.”
“The Sichuan Tang Family does not forget.”
Hwa-rin spoke the words of the Sichuan Tang Family.
“Yes. The Sichuan Tang Family does not forget. We were not merely trying to conceal our wrongs. We sought out victims, and we did not ignore the children born from such circumstances. Even if they were the children of illegitimate children or the illegitimate offspring of illegitimate children.”
“You hardly showed any interest in them.”
“The Sichuan Tang Family trusted the direct descendant, Tang Geoh. But Tang Geoh repaid the Sichuan Tang Family’s trust with a tremendous betrayal. And because of that, you have suffered greatly, so any consolation I offer will feel inadequate. I promise you this: I will surely punish Tang Geoh and help you lead a normal life. So please, give me the opportunity to correct the mistakes of the Tang Family.”
“Deputy!”
Ignoring the shocked voice from the Deputy Medical Official, the Deputy respectfully bowed his head and apologized to Hwa-rin.
‘Is this the righteous faction? What have I been seeing this whole time?’
The Sichuan Tang Family does accept outsiders, but major positions are held by the Tang Family lineage. The Deputy must be quite closely related to Hwa-rin, calling her ‘child’ so casually.
Seeing a family elder like him bowing courteously to Hwa-rin, who is a distant relation, the illegitimate child of an illegitimate child, is quite refreshing after all the fake righteousness I’ve seen.
“Yoon Ho…”
Hwa-rin looked up at me, deep in thought. What would be the right decision? The answer is actually clear.
If the Deputy was coveting Lady Tang’s body, he would have forcibly taken her. There are warriors ready to drag Lady Tang away on the first and second floors.
Though the Deputy was forceful at first, he listened to our story until the end. Plus, even with his justification and power, he is bowing his head in apology and asking for a chance for her.
“Let’s go together, punish that jerk Tang Geoh, and come back to treat you.”
If we can solve this rotten issue in one fell swoop, we should do it immediately.
“Are you really going with me?”
Hwa-rin looked up at me cautiously, her voice filled with anxiety.
“What? Did you think I was going alone? To abandon a friend and stroll around Sichuan? I’m disappointed. Seriously.”
I mimicked Hwa-rin’s tone, feigning shock with an exaggerated expression.
“What are you saying? No! …cough cough. Okay, let’s go together.”
Hwa-rin seemed pleased by my immediate response and nodded her head.
If we can just take care of Tang Geoh, running the Tea Bookstore shouldn’t have any major issues.
Let’s resolve all the problems this time and change the genre of my life. Clearly, it looks boring and would probably be discontinued after three episodes, but the characters are all in a happy genre.
“But there’s one problem.”
At a word from the Deputy, cold water splashed over the title I was thinking of: “In Another World with a Black-Haired Novelist ~ My Bow Skills Are Legendary, My Sword Skills Are Divine, but I Enjoy a Slow Life While Raising Hawks in an Otherworldly Bookstore.”
“What problem are you talking about?”
“If the news of The Rise of the Tang Family reaches the Sichuan Tang Family, the author, Lady Tang, will not let this go easily.”
The Deputy briefly picked up the draft for Vol. 3 of The Rise of the Tang Family on the desk and said to me.
“Even if you say it’s a book written for survival,”
“Although The Rise of the Tang Family may have been written for self-rescue, it cannot completely erase the sin of writing about the hidden story of the Tang Family. Those old fiends in the Tang Family, drooling over poison people, will not let this child be left alone.”
“Can’t you just keep quiet about the author?”
“If the Sichuan Tang Family is determined to find out, it will be only a matter of time before they find out about the Tea Bookstore, Ho Pil, and this child, Lady Tang.”
“Then wouldn’t it be better for Hwa-rin not to go to the Tang Family?”
“If they find out anyway, it’s better for me to take her there and ensure her protection. And if you just help me, I can ensure that no one will turn this child into a poison person.”
“What kind of help do you need?”
If I can bring Hwa-rin back to normal, I can help in any way I can.
“You just need to do what this child just did.”
“What do you mean… ugh!”
The Deputy suddenly approached me and grabbed my wrist tightly, looking straight at me with knowing eyes.
“Ho Pil. This time, you’re going to bear all the crimes.”
