Episode 267
Confession (5)
Hwiiiiing!
There was a snowstorm.
Judging by the momentum, it looked like it would continue until tomorrow. As time passed, the snow was getting heavier, making it difficult to see ahead.
widely! widely!
The window kept shaking.
Yeon Ho-jeong stroked Gwangryongbu’s adrenal glands, thinking he had gotten all of his sleep today.
Wooooow.
As if he knew his master’s feelings, Gwangryongbu let out a strange cry.
How much time has passed like that?
“Are you sleeping?”
Yeon Ho-jeong left the Gwangryongbu and stood up.
“no.”
“Then don’t go in.”
“yes.”
The door opened and Yeonwi came in.
After looking around the room for a moment, he spoke in a quite calm voice.
“It doesn’t look like you stopped by a restaurant. But it doesn’t look like I ate inside.”
“yes.”
Yeonwi raised his hand. In his hand was a heavy bundle.
“I knew that would be the case, so I packed some food.”
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled.
“I have no one but my father.”
“What about Via?”
“It looks like you have no intention of eating. “He said he was going to sleep right away.”
“okay?”
Yeonwi nodded.
“Then let’s eat together. “I’m feeling hungry too.”
He unpacked the bundle on the table.
Boiled pork and well-seasoned chicken appeared. It was cold so everything had cooled down, but the faint scent still lingered.
“Do you have any alcohol?”
“yes.”
Yeon Ho-jeong brought alcohol and two glasses from the shelf in the corner.
Yeonwi held out a glass.
“Pour a drink.”
Yeon Ho-jeong politely filled the glass.
Yeonwi, who was quietly looking down at the glass, emptied it.
There were very few cases where Yeonwi emptied his glass all at once. Unless he was in a good mood, he always drank it in two portions.
“It’s pretty harsh.”
“Because it’s broad daylight.”
“You too, have a drink.”
“thank you.”
Yeonwi filled Yeonhojeong’s cup. Yeon Ho-jeong, who received the glass, emptied it in one go.
When I drank alcohol on an empty stomach, my esophagus and stomach quickly became hot. I felt intoxicated for a moment, but soon returned to normal.
“….”
The two looked at each other in silence.
Yeonwi, who was quietly looking at Yeonhojeong, opened her mouth.
“It looks like Zhuge Commander was very surprised.”
“I guess so.”
“It is truly surprising that there was such a force other than birds. Even just one of them has the power to overthrow the central government… It’s scary to even think about it.”
“Having power itself is not the problem. “What’s important is how you use that power.”
“How do you write it? That’s true.”
The existence of the Gwangshinsamgyo was a huge shock to Yeonwi as well.
Saeumgyo, Shinhwagyo, and Gwanghyeolgyo.
Among them, Saeumgyo was supporting the Mukryongbu. This is why you must always be on guard even if you have good information. Who would have imagined that they would bypass the northern part of the Central Plains and reach out to the south?
Plus that financial power.
It was no exaggeration to say that if the financial power was sufficient to support a huge organization called the Mukryongbu, it could easily match the financial power of the Murim Alliance.
“I knew that, though.”
Yeonwi said while filing a complaint.
“When I see things like this, I realize once again that eternal peace will never come.”
“It depends on how far you view peace.”
“Of course it is.”
Yeon Ho-jeong knew. What my father really wants to say is not about the Three Religions.
It’s about yourself.
“I could tell it wasn’t a joke.”
Yeonwi’s eyes deepened.
His eyes, colored with confusion and passion, were nevertheless clear and profound.
“The words you confessed… the words that you came back after living a long life.”
“….”
“At least I didn’t feel there was a lie in those words. “You didn’t lie to Abby and Bia.”
“….”
“Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but worry. “Did my son hit his head somewhere? Or was he playing a practical joke?”
“I understand.”
Yeon Ho-jeong laughed bitterly.
“It’s also one of the reasons I didn’t want to tell you until now.”
Yeonwi felt speechless for a moment.
My heart broke at the sound of my son’s bitter laughter and empty voice.
‘I’m not ready.’
Yeonwi looked up at the ceiling.
‘I’m not ready. ‘You have hurt your child again with useless words.’
My eldest child is narrow-minded. At least to the enemy.
The eldest child has a wide stomach. At least to my people.
That won’t happen, but even if his father betrays him, he will never hate him. Rather, you will try to understand yourself and eventually you will understand.
Yeonwi sighed.
‘Do you still lack faith in the Gojeong?’
Not like that.
He trusted his eldest son. Not only the eldest son, but also the second son and Mukbi believed in him.
If there was a degree to that belief, he believed in his eldest child more strongly. I wouldn’t give anyone in the world the same amount of trust as I would give to my eldest child.
But…
‘What the hell.’
Honestly, I still couldn’t believe it.
Is this vivid reality of this era the past for my son? The world wasn’t supposed to go this way?
According to the original history, the Ku Ju Myeong family and the Mo Yong family joined forces to destroy the Yeon family?
It was truly an unbelievable story. It was a mysterious story that is difficult to find even in fairy tales.
‘No matter how much you trust your child, stories like this…’
are not easy to handle.
‘If you think about it.’
Suddenly, Yeonwi remembered a scene from the past.
The image of the eldest child hugging his younger brother, with whom he had a very poor relationship, during the ancestral rites.
And the image of the eldest child approaching one step at a time, looking at oneself with trembling eyes.
Suddenly my heart pounded.
The sight of my first child back then was still vivid to me. It would probably be difficult to find such an amazing moment in Yeonwi’s life.
‘I never thought my oldest, who always avoided me, would look at me with those eyes.’
The eldest child’s trembling eyes contained every emotion imaginable.
Joy, sadness, anger, despair, sympathy, love, etc.
The emotion in the eyes was the sum of imaginable emotions, but it is difficult to imagine an experience that would contain all of those emotions at once.
The son was talking about having gone through that unimaginable experience and returning to the past.
‘And then too.’
After the ancestral rites, the eldest child showed a completely different appearance than before.
He was no longer afraid of her and instead showed an understanding similar to that of his dead wife. His martial arts achievements increased exponentially, and he began to read the game with an incredible insight that is difficult to learn anywhere else.
‘Such insight is not something you can learn from books.’
Of course. It is difficult for Noh Kang-ho, who has spent his entire life in the sport, to have such deep and sharp insight.
If you think about it, it was really strange.
A young man who hasn’t even reached his terms yet has such sharp insight?
Of course it was suspicious. But he did not doubt his son.
Why should you doubt something that is easy to believe in? Suspecting others is also very tiring. Yeonwi did not want to feel tired, doubt, or analyze her son.
Yes. He didn’t want to treat his son like someone else.
I just wanted to trust my son. So I believed it.
Let alone the fact that it is an extremely unnatural thing.
Yeonwi closed her eyes.
“The achievement of non-relationship law has increased explosively.”
“…yes.”
“He also said that he had memorized all the nine verses of the Five Great Gods of his family since he was young.”
“I did.”
“Commander Taegyeong said he would catch that traitor and shake up the famous family. And he did.”
Yeonwi opened her eyes again and looked at Yeonhojeong.
“Was it because you knew the famous family would attack the main family?”
“I knew he would attack me, and he was also a target for revenge.”
“….”
“If you look at it from a different perspective, to me, the famous family is more killer than the three religious fanatics. “Because of them… I lost everything.”
Yeonwi sighed again.
The son said he lost everything. And what it all means is family.
‘this guy.’
Yeonwi blamed herself.
‘Was it that hard to believe that one thing?’
My son is telling the truth.
You’re putting your family’s life on the line, aren’t you? The son he knew wasn’t the kind of kid who joked about his family.
But why can’t he understand the truth that his son expressed with difficulty?
Just like in the past, when I saw my son’s amazing eye and explosive growth in martial arts and believed that his talent was finally blossoming.
Why are you interrogating your son like this when you can just trust it like you did before?
“…Hehehe.”
Yeonwi burst out in empty laughter.
“I lived in vain. “I truly lived in vain.”
Yeon Ho-jeong lowered his head.
“sorry.”
“Are you sorry? “What do you have to apologize to me for?”
“…I always wanted to tell you something. But now that I think about it, I was the one who didn’t trust my father. That’s why I told you this only now.”
“….”
“It’s not my father’s problem, it’s my problem. You don’t have to blame yourself…”
“No, I lived in vain.”
A great tremor appeared in the father’s eyes as he looked at his son.
“I lived in vain. Just like before, I can just trust what you said earlier as if I trust you, so why am I suffering so much?”
Yeon Ho-jeong looked at Yeon Wi with surprised eyes.
“father.”
“When I think about it… when I think about what you’ve been like so far, I should have understood you even more. “The martial arts skills and insight you showed are definitely not at a level that could be shown at your age.”
“….”
“And the fact that you came back after living a long life wasn’t really something to believe in or not to believe.”
“father.”
Yeonwi held Yeonhojeong’s hand.
“Hojeong.”
“…yes.”
“It was a lot of hard work.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes shook greatly.
“How much hardship must it have been for you to go out into the world alone after your family was destroyed, and endure with your teeth clenched in the midst of the vicious thugs of that dark island. “This father must have suffered a series of unimaginable hardships.”
“…!”
“In your memories, I would have been a ruined servant of the world who could not possibly be called a parent. “It would not have been easy to go back to the past and understand one by one.”
Yeon Ho-jeong lowered his head. For some reason, it was difficult to look my father in the eye.
“When I think about how much you thought and struggled before saying this, I feel like I want to rip out my eyes. “I thought I finally understood my child, but I still couldn’t see what I needed to see.”
“no.”
“Hojeong.”
Yeon Ho-jeong raised his head.
A look of pride appeared on Yeonwi’s face.
“I came back well. “It was really hard.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes shook greatly.
Even if he is the strongest black swordsman in the history of the dark sword that makes even the most evil person in the world tremble with fear, in the end he is just a weak human being in front of the affection of his flesh and blood.
Yeon Ho-jeong bowed his head again.
A transparent drop of water fell on the table.
“I’m back, father.”
“OK.”
