Finally, I had overcome the biggest obstacle. But just because I had crossed it, it didn’t mean everything was over.
I took another step toward the fortress that seemed impenetrable.
“I have listened carefully to the Elders’ Council’s intentions.”
At times, it blocked my path. At other times, it protected me from the Elders’ Council.
As someone who had broken through the obstacles, I knocked on the door of the fortress that had remained closed.
“Father.”
The gazes, sharp as formidable walls, turned toward me.
“Alright. I will reach a conclusion here and now.”
Would they open the gates of the fortress? Would they welcome me as the son-in-law of the Zhuge family?
Now, it was truly time to hear the final decision.
*
The family head, Zhuge Geuk, looked at Kang Yoon-ho before him and recalled the conversation he had with his wife last night.
“You.”
“Huh?”
“That book. You still haven’t put it down.”
Jang Young-young looked at her husband, who was reading “Zhuge’s Story” even in their couple’s bedroom, and asked in a playful tone.
“…….”
“It seems you really liked it, didn’t you?”
“It’s not that.”
“Lies. I heard you exclaiming in admiration from the study, you know?”
Pretending otherwise,
Jang Young-young well knew her husband’s figure, unable to take his eyes off the book until he finished it, and his comical struggle about whether to visit the son-in-law after reading the last scene.
Eventually, she even knew about the husband who was repeatedly reading it for the last few days, trying to soothe his disappointment.
“It’s unlike any novel I’ve seen before, and once you open it, there’s no closing it until the end. If I said this took a mere fifteen days to write, no one would believe it. I would’ve written to invite the author as a retainer of the Zhuge family.”
“What’s this? It’s not just that you liked it; you absolutely loved it!”
As her husband readily agreed, the wife couldn’t help but respond with wide eyes.
“If it weren’t for your son-in-law, I would’ve admired it purely.”
Zhuge Geuk looked at “Zhuge’s Story” with a serious expression.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for days.”
“Thinking?”
The more he read “Zhuge’s Story,” the more extraordinary it was.
The protagonist, the events, the deductions—everything unfolded with continuous surprises. But the reason Zhuge Geuk had not parted from the book for the past few days was different.
“What kind of person is Kang Yoon-ho, who came seeking to marry my daughter?”
The father, who had to send his daughter off after raising her with love, was contemplating through the book about what kind of person the son-in-law was.
“You…….”
“Kang Yoon-ho. He said this: Is the Zhuge family’s nature not to see the flaws of a person? Is this the way of the thousand-year-old prestigious family?“
He could easily cower before the gaze, or kneel and plead for mercy.
Imagining Kang Yoon-ho boldly raising issues with the Elders’ Council, Zhuge Geuk couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Bold of him.”
“When he cited the examples of the founder and Lady Huang, everyone momentarily lost their words. Even the Elders’ Council, who were raising their voices against him…”
“And you, who were quietly listening?”
Zhuge Geuk nodded slightly.
“I had only known the flaws of that boy. Black hair—flaws that anyone would disregard. The position of the heir of Man Geum Battlefield might cover that flaw a little, yet it was still a flaw he could never shake off throughout his life.”
Kang Yoon-ho’s logic, which he used to grab an opportunity from the Elders’ Council, caused even a small ripple in the family head of the Zhuge family.
“You have been trying to understand that boy’s inner self even before he said that.”
The husband wasn’t a person to simply disregard someone because of black hair. The reason he had fiercely reacted to the daughter’s matter was that it was a cohabitation that proceeded without discussion rather than mere connection due to black hair.
In reality, when the anger settled, hadn’t he immediately assessed the situation with the Hongcheonmirijin? The wife praised her husband.
“I did place him in the Hongcheonmirijin myself, but that was not because I saw that boy. It was evaluated by the Hongcheonmirijin.”
“Hmm.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“I’ve grown keen enough to want to know him properly since I listened to my son-in-law’s words. Isn’t that right?”
Jang Young-young smiled with a wink, affectionately poking her husband in the side.
“Ahem! My wife. To call him son-in-law is a bit hasty.”
Struggling for words, the husband once again cautioned his impulsive wife.
“I understand. Let’s say future son-in-law instead.”
“…….”
“Is that why you read the book?”
“Chronicles of the Wind and Cloud Heroes. The Rise of the Tang Family. And Zhuge’s Story. I’ve been reading it for days, trying to discern not the protagonist, but the author.”
“How did it seem in the book?”
Zhuge Geuk briefly organized his thoughts at his wife’s question, then spoke about what he had found.
“I found what Kang Yoon-ho can’t give up.”
“Something he can’t give up?”
“No matter how tough and challenging the situation is, a value that he cannot forsake, both as a writer and a person.”
“What is that…?”
“Heroism. It’s what rests within Kang Yoon-ho’s heart.”
——
“Long ago, after a ragtag heroic journey developed into a great war of rightful struggles, even in the Nine Great Sects & One Alliance, the term ‘heroic journey’ has become something of a taboo.”
It’s not that they teach you not to become a hero in the Nine Great Sects & One Alliance. They don’t teach you to swallow injustices either. However, the journey to create private grudges gradually became a taboo.
“…….”
“The scars from the great war of rightful struggles ran deep. No one knew whether it was a ceasefire or a truce. Everyone had to be cautious back then. But now, half a century has passed. Even in situations where swords ought to be drawn, hesitation has settled amongst the martial artists.”
Although half a century has passed, the river of blood that endlessly flowed in the Martial Arts World remained as a morbid fear.
“It has become an era where it’s difficult to find a true hero.”
“Perhaps Kang Yoon-ho might be disappointed with such a Martial Arts World.”
“The boy…?”
Zhuge Geuk nodded, recalling Kang Yoon-ho’s words to the Elders’ Council.
“He introduced himself as Ho Pil. He wrote about not turning away from weakness and standing against injustice, and that even if one has black hair, they can extend a hand to a Martial Artist. It wasn’t about the current Martial Arts World.”
It wasn’t just because he wrote a book about heroes. Zhuge Geuk began to gauge the inner self of his potential son-in-law through Kang Yoon-ho’s words and actions.
“It seems there’s a wound within his heart.”
Zhuge Geuk smiled bitterly.
The actions wrapped in caution that martial artists portrayed could appear as indifference and apathy to a young man who once admired the Martial Arts World.
Especially to someone with black hair who seldom receives a helping hand.
“Something might have greatly disappointed him. Perhaps he might have even despised it. Yet, despite that, a value he couldn’t let go shone within that boy.”
“That value is heroism?”
“No matter what kind of situation he faced, or whatever trials he underwent, that boy couldn’t let go of the heroism.”
The book he wrote during the hardest times was Chronicles of the Wind and Cloud Heroes. The “Rise of the Tang Family,” written to earn money, surely had an easier path ahead. He could have written salacious novels instead of colored heroic stories.
“Zhuge’s Story” was the same way. Though he could give up, though he could compromise, Kang Yoon-ho showcased a new type of hero under the name of a detective.
Heroism—it is undoubtedly something Kang Yoon-ho could never forsake.
“He’s a merchant, retailer, and an author.”
Zhuge Geuk muttered the titles of Kang Yoon-ho.
“Our son-in-law has many roles.”
“He helps struggling scholars and steps up for those facing harsh treatment as if it were his own duty. As a merchant, he pursued a killer who murdered courtesans with such passion that he nearly fell off a building.”
“Oh my. You’ve done your research quite well, haven’t you?”
“It may seem like conflicting occupations, but then again… Kang Yoon-ho. That boy may be doing all of this to act upon his own sense of heroism.”
“Acting on his own sense of heroism?”
Zhuge Geuk nodded.
“Perhaps in a time where talking about true heroes has become challenging, he thought that he should take the lead himself.”
The heart of heroism.
In a world where it had become difficult to speak lightly about true heroes, he is someone who contemplates the essence of heroism more seriously than anyone, despite not being involved in martial arts.
If the people of the Central Plains and martial artists cannot do it, then I, Kang Yoon-ho, will. The black-haired youth might already be carrying out his personal heroic journey.
Somewhere within Zhuge Geuk’s heart, something ignited. Perhaps the reason his daughter was captivated by Kang Yoon-ho was that she saw the truth within him.
As the family head of a martial family and as the father of a daughter, Zhuge Geuk could not easily close his eyes to sleep.
——
“Kang Yoon-ho.”
Zhuge Geuk called out to the audacious son-in-law who had come to claim his cherished daughter.
“Yes, Father.”
All eyes were on the two of them.
Kang Yoon-ho, Zhuge Hyang, Jeon Gil-san, Jang Young-young, and even the Elders’ Council. Family Head Zhuge Geuk opened his mouth to deliver the final decision that everyone present was waiting for.
“Just because you write well doesn’t mean you can be my daughter’s husband.”
“Dad?”
The father raised his hand calmly to reassure his flustered daughter and continued speaking to the son-in-law with a stern face.
“Just because you’re a detective that catches criminals doesn’t mean you can be my daughter’s husband. Just because you have a marketable talent doesn’t mean you can be my daughter’s husband.”
Simply being talented didn’t qualify him to be the son-in-law of the Zhuge family. What the family head sought was something different.
“How can you become the husband of Zhuge Soja?”
Kang Yoon-ho understood the family head’s words and asked.
“I have confirmed how earnest you are.”
The father with a beloved daughter spoke.
“I mean your earnestness.”
“How earnest I am?”
“I’ve seen how desperate you are to win my daughter, how you passed the tests of Man Geum Battlefield, and how you wrote unparalleled literature.”
“……!”
As long as he could hold the hand of his beloved, he could endure anything. The father confirmed the son-in-law’s earnestness toward his daughter.
“Ah, Dad?!”
“From now on, that heart, the same heart that has brought you to this point, must not change towards my daughter.”
The spirit of heroism shining within you should become even more special when directed towards my daughter. Though he didn’t feel the need to add more.
“Father……!”
There were no more words left. Now, it was time to declare.
“I, Zhuge Geuk, the head of the Zhuge family, declare Kang Yoon-ho as…”
Then it happened.
“You can’t come in!!!”
———————
“Time is of the essence! Break through!”
“Charge!”
In an instant, the entrance to the Head Family’s Hall became chaotic.
“Are these people insane?!”
“Cough! What are they doing in the Zhuge family as guests?!”
“Do they want to cause trouble right in the Zhuge family?!”
“What’s going on?!”
Those inside would soon find out what was happening.
“The Tang family bastards!!!”
“Excuse me.”
A middle-aged martial artist with purple hair and green eyes entered, causing the uproar along with other martial artists from the Tang family.
“Is that the Sichuan Tang Family? Quite familiar indeed. Surely from last year…”
It was a face he recognized well. Zhuge Geuk didn’t even need to recall the man’s identity.
“Is that the Guard Unit…?!”
Kang Yoon-ho instantly recognized the man.
“It’s been a while, Kang Yoon-ho.”
From the Sichuan Tang Family, the loyal subordinate of the Tang family head, the man who had supported Kang Yoon-ho to the end right in the midst of the Tang family.
The Guard Unit. Tang Mu-ki greeted the familiar face he hadn’t seen in a year.
