With Elder Il wrapping things up, all members of the Jeongal clan’s Elders’ Council gathered in one place.
“Forget the story! First, that dark-haired madman, Kang Yoon-ho…!”
Elder Oh raised his voice at the council chair, looking like he hadn’t given up yet.
“Elder Oh, I understand your feelings. But isn’t there something more important?”
The chairperson of the Elders’ Council, Elder Il, calmed him down in a composed voice, which contrasted with Elder Oh.
“More important? What could possibly be more important than the second volume of Jeongal Seollok!”
“That’s right!”
“Exactly!”
Instead of responding immediately, Elder Il glanced around at the other elders. No objections came forth. Despite their silence, Elder Il could feel a strange sense of agreement, as everyone seemed to hold back their comments.
“…Shouldn’t we discuss that kid’s challenge?”
Elder Il raised his voice so everyone could hear.
“A challenge?”
“We put the kid to the test. Unfortunately, it seems he saw it as an imposition or force. Still, he approached us with his genuine feelings. So, shouldn’t we first evaluate him sincerely in the Elders’ Council?”
Elder Il didn’t completely miss the sentiments of the other elders. He himself had been quite shocked by the conclusion of the story.
This wasn’t simply about reading as a reader; as evaluators, they had to assess the results of the test. Elder Il reminded the excited council members of this fact.
Hmm.
“W-well, that is true.”
“Let’s make today a reading session. Everyone, calm down and take your seats; I’ll get someone to serve a cup of tea.”
As the elders nodded at Elder Il’s words and settled down, calming tea was quickly placed before them.
“A reading session…?”
“A reading session! By the way, I heard there’s quite a famous gathering at the Tea Bookstore run by Kang Yoon-ho, discussing Ho Pil’s novels. The name is probably…”
“Tea and Book Club.”
“Right! That was the name… Huh?!”
Elder Sam was momentarily startled and turned his head.
“I heard there are people who come every day, drawn by the aroma of tea and books.”
The one who answered was none other than Elder Il himself, standing at the forefront.
“Elder Il? Could it be that this tea…”
No way. The reason for serving tea to everyone.
Elder Il didn’t bother to answer the surprised elders. He simply smiled and sipped his tea.
With tea and books present, he had only one thing to say.
“Let the first session of the Jeongal Clan’s Tea and Book Club begin.”
——
“What did everyone think of Jeongal Seollok?”
“……”
The surprise was fleeting. Even though they announced the start of the Tea and Book Club, the elders could only glance at one another, waiting.
In a way, it was unsurprising. This wasn’t just a simple reading session to discuss a novel.
Would the dark-haired son-in-law of the Jeongal clan be accepted or not? The Head of the Family, the elders, Man Geum-jeon, and even Jeongal Hyang were all complicated political matters tangled up in the reading session.
Everyone had to maintain their silence, keeping a wary eye on each other.
“I have no idea how to explain this novel.”
Except for Elder Il, that is.
“Hmm?”
“Have you ever seen such a novel before? I, too, couldn’t put the book down until my head went blank. This is the first time I’ve seen such a novel in my life.”
Pure admiration flowed from Elder Il’s mouth.
“Elder Il?”
The elders could only stare at him with blank expressions.
Elder Il was the younger uncle of the current Head of the Family and the chairperson of the Elders’ Council.
Even with immense power, he wasn’t someone who forced opinions. When things were noisy regarding the dark-haired son-in-law, he was the one observing from a step back.
While he would unify opinions when needed, he always listened to the council’s views from behind.
For Elder Il to be the first to voice an opinion was surprising.
“What do you all think?”
As Elder Il prepared the Tea and Book Club himself and sincerely praised the book, all the elders couldn’t help but be astonished.
“…Honestly, I expected a story like The Rise of the Tang Family or Chronicles of the Wind and Cloud Heroes.”
This was Elder Lee opening his mouth after Elder Il’s statement.
“Elder Lee?!”
If Elder Il was the one who observed from behind, then Elder Lee was the one who stepped forward to express opinions. With him speaking, especially against the dark-haired son-in-law, everyone listened attentively.
“I thought it would be about capturing a wicked demon like in The Rise of the Tang Family or facing a cunning foe like in Chronicles of the Wind and Cloud Heroes. But upon opening the book, ha! My naive assumptions were spectacularly betrayed.”
Praise. A smirk of derision at Elder Lee’s lips held a clear smile.
“R-right. I also thought I’d see ordinary martial arts stories. Like! Characters wielding formations or swinging iron wires.”
“My thoughts exactly! They said the protagonist could hear the voices of spirits, and I genuinely wondered if Jeongal was the one or if it was someone with the surname Eon!”
As Elder Lee so easily opened the floodgates, other elders began to share their thoughts.
“It was a type of novel I had never seen before. But now that I think about it, someone like that should exist; I convinced myself!”
“A detective! Who even thinks up such a thing?”
The shock the Elders received was monumental.
A mystery novel.
A new genre that had never before existed. They were the first to read a detective story which typically would only emerge centuries later in modern times.
“That’s not all! The events keep piling up. In ordinary novels, once a problem is resolved, everything ends, but in this story, once one issue is resolved, another pops up!”
“Right! Chronicles of the Wind and Cloud Heroes had constant tension, but not like this! Jaw-dropping scenes keep appearing! I can’t gather my thoughts!”
Unlike a flat structure, the modern writing style of Kang Yoon-ho, where events keep connecting, also earned high praise.
“And amid that, the protagonist figured something out, but I couldn’t even guess what he was thinking!”
“Exactly! Who would’ve thought the clues mentioned in the novel would be linked to the perpetrator!”
“When they mentioned the legless man walking without a carriage on a moonless night, who would guess the criminal would be nearby….”
“What about the bloodstains? I’ve dealt with weapons for decades, but never did I think I could find such detailed evidence in blood!”
“Right! I reopened the book just to look at the evidence again!”
“So did I! And that’s not all…!”
The author subtly provided evidence, and the detective solved the puzzle to reveal the culprit. Readers couldn’t guess it at first but later realized their oversight, filled with admiration.
An intellectual game called a detective novel.
For the elders, who had already been impressed by the martial arts elements, a detective story tapping into their intellect was surely a bullseye.
——
“Well, it seems everyone has no major complaints about the content of the novel.”
Once the clamor quieted down, Elder Il looked at the elders with a grin.
Hehe!
The elders, embarrassed they had chattered away until their tea cooled, looked sheepishly at Elder Il.
“Let’s move on to the next agenda.”
“The next agenda?”
Elder Il nodded, bringing the elders’ attention back. In a typical reading session, he might have let them continue chatting, but this was a matter where strictness was called for.
“Isn’t there a test question we posed?”
“Ah.”
“The protagonist of the Jeongal clan, Jeongal Seollok. What does everyone think?”
The test question was to write about the protagonist of the Jeongal clan. No matter how interesting a novel, if it didn’t fit the role of the protagonist of the Jeongal clan, it became an irrelevant story.
What do the other elders think of Jeongal Seollok? Elder Il awaited their answers.
“…He’s insane.”
The answer burst forth immediately.
“Indeed. He’s completely mad.”
“How could someone with that personality be a protagonist?”
It might sound like a dislike, but the elders reading each other’s expressions easily predicted what would come next.
“But.”
“He’s a madman of the Jeongal clan.”
One corner of the elders’ mouths lifted, somehow bearing a resemblance to the smile often worn by Jeongal Seollok.
Hehe!
“He’s not just a little mad, he’s gone completely around the bend! Truly a madman!”
“Those arrogant little punks living off their family’s reputation, that’s precisely who he is!”
“Anyone who thinks they weren’t like that in their youth is lying!”
“What?!”
“To train to see the voices of the dead! Who in the world does something that crazy?!”
“True! If they weren’t from our clan, I wouldn’t even imagine such acts!”
Hahaha!
Jeongal Seollok.
A kid who exudes so much confidence it could almost be seen as arrogance. While he might not have deviated from the norm, he probably uttered thoughts unknown to others.
A kid who seemed like he’d get called a nuisance by adherents of other factions.
He was genuinely the protagonist of the Jeongal clan.
“He’s bored that the world doesn’t think like him, and when chance finally shows a bit of resemblance, he finds it oddly favorable!”
“His ability to pinpoint what others do just by looking at them?! For a moment, I was speechless!”
“I thought you were possessed by a ghost, but you were right after all!”
“Who would think anyone other than a member of the Jeongal clan would possess such an ability!”
“And the lack of concern for worldly eyes, just how passionate he is about learning?”
“With those skills, he probably thought of becoming a detective!”
With the arrival of a protagonist who utterly surpassed expectations, the Elders couldn’t help but chatter joyfully.
If a kid possessed abilities that no one had and continuously practiced to develop them, there was no room for complaints.
“Well, of course, I wouldn’t say I have no complaints. Except for just one thing, that seemed a bit too much.”
Except for that one point. At a wise remark from another elder, they all suddenly grasped what was being said.
“Right. No matter how much you pray for assurance, speaking that way is unacceptable.”
“It’s exceedingly disrespectful. It’s hard to even mention it.”
“How could he use the name of the founding ancestor like that!”
“True! If he was my grandson, I’d break his legs!”
“What do you mean ‘break his legs’! He should be sent to the underworld! For half a year, he shouldn’t even see sunlight, coerced into reflection!”
Ahem! Everyone was saying what made sense.
——
“Except for the dissent regarding Jeongal Seollok’s disrespect, it seems like everyone is quite satisfied.”
Elder Il nodded with satisfaction.
“That was a comment fitting for a protagonist with that personality. Where can you find a grandson like Jeongal Seollok?”
“Even so, that was excessively disrespectful.”
“Be quiet. Elder Il is glaring at us.”
“…Let’s move on to the next agenda.”
As elders become stubborn old men, why do they resort to childish behavior when being so immature? Elder Il internally sighed and mentioned the next item.
“Next agenda? What else could there possibly be.”
“It’s time for us to draw our first conclusion.”
“A conclusion?”
Elder Il nodded and wrote something on a paper to hang on the wall for everyone to see.
[Is Kang Yoon-ho Ho Pil?]
“Hmm!”
“If we rephrase that, we should ask it like this.”
After chatting leisurely about it, what remained to be done was one question.
[Does Ho Pil’s literary talent surpass that kid’s hair color?]
“Speak frankly.”
This was the evaluators’ assessment.
