Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
40. Meaning of blessing (4)
The more I conversed with the Sawol family’s elders, the more I realized the meaning behind the phrase ‘runs in the blood[1]’.
Like Sawol Seeum, the elders were overflowing with curiosity and kept throwing questions at me, and they also questioned Oh Hyejeong a lot, who thanks to her prolonged stay here had many opportunities to talk to and leaned their ears to hear our answers.
Oh Hyejeong faced Sawol family with a soft and polite attitude, and the Sawol family also showed that they cared about Oh Hyejeong.
It seemed that in this house, the only one who objected to Sawol Semin and Oh Hyejeong’s marriage was Sawol Semin himself.
‘They’re just like a married couple.’
Even at the dining table with the elders, Oh Hyejeong and Sawol Semin were busy taking care of each other without missing any opportunity.
Sawol Semin, who on the surface was actively refusing Oh Hyejeong’s advances, perhaps out of instinct or something, was putting the side dishes Oh Hyejeong liked closer to her, and made sure that the water and tea in her glass didn’t run dry.
It seemed that being busy taking care of Oh Hyejeong, Sawol Semin didn’t notice the elders and Sawol Seeum looking at them with happy faces.
While cautious not to disturb the two people, we continued our pleasant chat and meal.
“Seeum eats very little[2] as usual, huh?”
“It didn’t change, but I’m worried that this child eats too little. I thought he got a bit better because he gained some weight while attending Eungwang School.”
Sawol Seeum, who put down his chopstick and was drinking water, noticed the gazes and grabbed a small slice of oyster mushroom from the japchae[3], and nibbled on it like a bird.
‘He eats a lot of western food, but he isn’t like this with Korean food, huh?’
At the dormitory cafeteria, Sawol Seeum eats at least two portions of only western food.
Not only he eat well at the dormitory, he also visits the delicious bakeries from Bang Yunseop’s list together with Han Yi during break every day.
‘Is he like this because Sawol family only serves Korean food?’
Currently, all the dishes filling the table were Korean.
If you balance your diet well, you can consume all the needed nutrients even with Korean cuisine, but people have their own tastes.
It seemed that the taste buds of the successor of the messenger left by the last dynasty were western oriented.
I made up my mind to treat that successor to a great restaurant famous for western food in return for this invitation.
After finishing the happy meal with the Sawol family.
As I was about to return to the dormitory, the elders, Sawol family’s pre-newlyweds and Sawol Seeum came out to see me off.
The pre-husband opened his mouth.
“Because of the timing, my thanks are late. Thank You for saving Seeum.”
I could understand that because we saw live the entire scene of him losing his soul to Oh Hyejeong’s fierce attack, he wasn’t able to give thanks.
“Tell me if something happens to Hyeji. Got it?”
Oh Hyejeong requested it again, as if she was worried about Oh Hyeji.
“There is still a lot of summer break left, so I want to meet with class children often during it!”
Sawol Seeum, who planned to leave the dormitory during the break and stay with the family, spoke with a pitiful expression.
Leaving behind a cliché goodbye ‘Let’s meet again if the opportunity arises’, I returned to school.
***
After I finished the training I had planned that day and returned to my dormitory room.
In the room that even today felt spacious, I dived into an investigation to turn away from useless thoughts.
The investigation target was the Gye tribe.
‘The Gye have a connection to Oh Hyejeong, so he had to have a relationship with the Ju-Oh Group. It’s better to have a lot of information on the Ju-Oh Group, to which Ju Su-hyeok and Oh Hyeji belong. And about the blessing Sawol Seeum received.’
On the Korean Peninsula, there was a tradition of the king and vassals exchanging New Year’s paintings[4] during the New Year celebration.
Based on the ‘Yearly Records of East Country[5]’, in addition to tigers and dragons, chickens also appeared in the New Year’s paintings.
Because the chicken, whose voice announces the break of dawn and the end of the night, was considered a symbol of light.
When checking the beliefs related to chickens, I saw a word that bothered me.
‘Based on the repeating cycle of the egg becoming a chicken, and the chicken laying the egg, the chicken is seen as a symbol of the idea of Reincarnation Wheel.’
I was subtly bothered by the word ‘Reincarnation’.
I recently heard that word from the mouth of a certain Jin.
— Unlike other Jin people, my soul doesn’t leave my body and fall into deep sleep, and even if my body is lost, I’ll reclaim it once again when I cross the Reincarnation Cycle[6]. Although it can take a bit of time.
On the day when TC Knights achieved the record of 10 constitutive losses.
The Hwa Tree Rabbit, Ok Toyeon spoke like this.
As I ruminated deeply over those words, there were not just one or two things that hung in my mind.
‘Jin people falling into deep sleep, doesn’t simply mean that they are in a brain-dead or vegetative state? What is the precise concept behind the soul leaving the body? The word ‘Reincarnation’ isn’t simply a metaphor for dying and then living again? There is some special meaning to it?’
I resolved to ask Hwang Jiho or Ok Toyeon the next time I met them, and continued my investigation.
When I read up until the description of the chicken being used in the Disaster Relocation Ritual as a sacrifice replacing life and fate, to appease the gods and relieve Seonang’s suffering[7] in one of the shamanistic mystical arts.
Ding.
A message arrived.
Checking the sender, it was my disciple, Yeom Junyeol.
As he always sent his greetings in the morning, he had never contacted me this late in the afternoon before.
While thinking it was strange, I checked the device.
[Yeom Junyeol] Master-nim, hello.
[Yeom Junyeol] (picture)
In the picture, Yeom Junyeol with Hongryong, was wearing coats that didn’t fit the season.
The background was a playground covered in artificial snow.
The models, Yeom Junyeol had his slightly curly hair cleanly tied and was wearing a red duffle coat over the winter school uniform, and Hongryong’s fiery scales were shining.
‘Is that for the winter school uniform poster? He said that the photos published on the posters are taken a few months in advance, right? That’s a lot of hard work.’
Yeom Junyeol prioritized his duty as a Player and a student.
But the entertainment industry didn’t stop sending the star Player Yeom Junyeol love calls.
At first, Yeom Juneyol stayed away from entertainment activities, but because of the thought that his recognition may help to improve public awareness about Players and back up the otherworld safety promotion campaign, he diligently took part in all kinds of activities similar to modelling.
Moreover, Yeom Junyeol, who, if one was to pick up a grade from all fancy colors of diamonds, he was born with a red diamond spoon and was generous with his money.
All the earnings gained from the entertainment industry activities were donated and because of that there were extremely few Yeom Junyeol antis, and they couldn’t make a fuss about his activities as a star Player.
The poster picture sent by Yeom Junyeol right now was the result of my kind disciple doing such work that was full of praiseworthy thoughts.
‘There must be a reason why he troubled himself to send this picture.’
I mobilized my clean and sharp observation skills of the game-wreck’s rotten water to examine the poster.
Suddenly I discovered a difference from Yeom Junyeol I saw during the 1 on 1 lesson and the poster.
Hongryong grew.
Its body grew a hand-palm longer, and his eyebrows made out of flames, were blazing with more intensity.
[Me] Hongryong grew, huh? Congratulations.
[Yeom Juneyol] As expected from master-nim! Even though I didn’t tell You, You noticed straight away!
From Yeom Junyeol’s response, my reply seemed to be correct.
I didn’t know if it was an effect of ‘Superpower Swallowing’ training, or just a result of Yeom Junyeol’s growth, who was in his peak teenage growing stage, but I was happy about the growth of my disciple.
[Yeom Junyeol] Master-nim, thank You!
[Yeom Junyeol] (stamp)
Yeom Junyeol attached a stamp with Hongryong happily raising its hand.
[Yeom Juneyol] This stamp is also scheduled to be redesigned soon to match the growing Hongryong.
I said that Hongryong grew, but even if you look at the real thing, it didn’t show much.
If the emoticon is even deformed for the commercialization, it will be almost invisible, so what is the need to trouble yourself with making a new one?
But it would be good to have designs reflecting the detailed growth of my Playable Character.
[Yeom Junyeol] The Person designing it is a Yong tribe member. The moment They learned about Hongryong’s growth, they got to work right away.
If the Yong tribe member was involved, it couldn’t be helped.
It seemed that the new stamps release would continue according to Hongryong’s growth.
After finishing the conversation about Hongryong’s growth, I changed the topic to the story about Yeom Junyeol’s break homework this time.
[Me] How is the assignment going?
[Yeom Juneyol] … I’m working on it diligently, but it isn’t going well.
Yeom Junyeol sent a negative reply, but it was something I expected.
‘It’s as I thought. This won’t be a simple task, just like the Superpower Swallowing.’
The task I gave to Yeom Junyeol was to ‘Erase the Presence Trace’.
Though it was not as much as the Yong tribe members, Yeom Junyeol’s dragon energy was still noticeable, and it grew even stronger when Hongryong was summoned.
He learned the basics of the erasing presence, but he couldn’t use it quite skillfully yet.
‘If they can’t feel Yeom Junyeol’s energy, there are many Yong tribe bastards, who would get anxious, so the opportunities to train are probably rare. And he would be busy learning combat techniques.’
When I was slow to reply, as if he became anxious, Yeom Junyeol threw a long message.
[Yeom Junyeol] Ah, today I was taking poster pictures, but I didn’t neglect the task master-nim gave me. I trained during breaks during the shooting. But I didn’t have any results.
[Yeom Juneyol] Because the poster shooting is now all finished, I’ll train more diligently!
To not make my kind disciple worry even more, I sent a reply straight away.
[Me] Okay. Don’t overwork yourself too much.
[Yeom Junyeol] Yes! Even without overworking myself, I’ll do my very best.
In addition to being sincere, my disciple was also honest.
After leaving words praising Yeom Junyeol’s work and effort and wishing him all the best, the conversation ended.
There was a message which arrived during the conversation with Yeom Junyeol.
[Seong Gukeon] Junior.
[Seong Gukeon] Whereabouts of ‘Death of Imoogi’ were found.
It wasn’t a message sent to the group chat with Seong Siwan, but a message sent to me directly.
He caught a clue faster than Hwang Jiho? As expected, my Playable Character’s abilities are outstanding.
[Me] May I ask where it is currently?
[Seong Siwan] I don’t know for certain yet. I couldn’t confirm anything besides it’s overseas.
Overseas?
You’re saying that ‘Death of Imoogi’ left the Korean Peninsula?
I guess the collaboration of the Korean Peninsula’s best artist and his disciple was recognized for its worth even overseas and sold for a high price.
I didn’t know if it was something to boast about or not.
[Seong Gukeon] We discovered traces that the remodeling company was secretly meeting with an oversea broker during that period.
One doubt about it was settled.
It was strange that after the Korea’s great artist and assemblyman, in addition to the Ho tribe which was a part of the four chaebeols stepped up and overturned everything for the ‘Death of Imoogi’, which disappeared, and it still didn’t show up.
It was probably difficult to find it in Korea when it wasn’t here.
Seong Gukeon briefly conveyed the key of the report about obtaining cooperation with an overseas investigation institute and the difficult battle he underwent.
[Seong Gukeon] I’ll contact you again when the investigation makes progress.
[Seong Gukeon] Leave this case to me and play. When it’s a summer break, you should play a bit, right?
Somehow I seemed to hear the sound of an energetic laughter ‘Hahahee!’ from Seong Gukeon’s last massage.
It seemed that he was considerate of his 1st year highschool junior, who underwent a big crisis during the summer break youth training camp.
Even so, I couldn’t let busy Seong Gukoen do it alone.
When I recalled the scenarios related to foreign countries and was about to make moves.
A call from someone came.
[Caller: Jang Namuk]
It was a common occurrence for Jang Namuk, who nagged a lot, to call, but something was wrong.
I adjusted my voice and accepted the call straight away.
“Hello?”
[Uisin.]
I heard a heavy voice calling me.
“What happened?”
[….]
Unlike usual, Jang Namuk completely omitted his special greeting with some trivial news and regards, that flowed like water, and cut to the point straight away.
[Sihu was injured.]
*~*~*
[1] runs in the blood — ‘blood can’t deceive’ in Korean.
[2] eats very little — ‘has a short mouth’ in Korean.
[3] japchae — stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables. It was one of the royal dishes during Joseon dynasty.
[4] New Year’s paintings — 세화 (sehwa) a painting put on the door during the New Year to prevent disasters and misfortune, and bring good luck. It became a custom during early Joseon dynasty.
[5] Yearly Records of East Country — 동국세시기 (東國歲時記), a book written by Hong Seongmo, about customs and traditions during late Joseon era.
[6] Reincarnation Wheel and Cycle — this translator is doing a messy job translating these terms, so let me clarify. Reincarnation Wheel isn’t literally a wheel in raws, but rather Reincarnation of Death and Life (윤회생사 輪廻生死), the term for an endless cycle of life and death. The Reincarnation Cycle is literally called Restriction of Reincarnation or Bridle of Reincarnation (for mtl readers, though I don’t think bridle is really a good word here).
[7] Seonang’s suffering — I’m very uncertain about this translation, so please excuse me if I’m wrong. Seonang is a sacred protection tree or a guardian god residing in this tree, who diverts the disasters from the village.
Translator’s note: All kids are so cute, I’m dying inside every time they do something… It must be what reincarnation is like.
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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