SYM 2
by Emerlyn“Young master, are you awake? Oh my! You left the window open again! What if you catch a cold? You’re already in poor health…”
“Ah, I just opened it for a bit of ventilation.”
“You were coughing a few days ago, and now you’re talking about ventilation! I can’t believe this. If you catch another cold, I’ll be the one scolded by the madam.”
Eun-hyeon inwardly sighed as he watched the young maid grumbling while closing the window.
It had been a week since Eun-hyeon had transmigrated into the martial arts world again.
The basic furniture in the room was of high quality, but it oddly showed signs of neglect.
Decorations were broken or damaged without repair, and the cleanliness wasn’t great either.
And the only servant coming in and out of this place was this young maid named Soso.
“Soso, my cold is better now, so there’s no need to worry so much.”
Soso glanced at Eun-hyeon. Her eyes held distrust and faint contempt.
To think he was being disrespected even by such a young maid.
After waking up in this body, Eun-hyeon had gathered various information.
The body he incarnated into was Namgung Eun-hyeon, the eldest son of the Namgung family.
His birth mother had passed away early, and it seemed he was living under the mistreatment of his stepmother.
Hearing the name Namgung Eun-hyeon gave him a strange feeling. It wasn’t a character he had encountered when reading the novel, yet coincidentally had the same name as him.
His name in his original world was also Eun-hyeon, and so was the name of the Kunlun Taoist.
Eun-hyeon wasn’t such a common name, yet he kept possessing people with the same name.
Could this still be considered a coincidence?
“Ahem, Soso. I’m thirsty. Could you bring me some warm water?”
“Oh, look at this. You’re getting cold symptoms again because you left the window open.”
Her words were quite impertinent for a maid.
The cough was actually due to the dust from Soso closing the window and cleaning, but Eun-hyeon hesitated and kept quiet.
Without Namgung Eun-hyeon’s memories, Soso was an important figure for Eun-hyeon right now.
Soso needed to provide him with the necessary information and help him adapt to this body.
Namgung Eun-hyeon’s poor standing was actually fortunate for Eun-hyeon.
With Soso being the only maid, there was no one to notice that Eun-hyeon had changed.
“Young master, since I’m boiling water, shall I brew some Yongjeong tea? We still have some left from last time.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just thirsty, so water is enough.”
Eun-hyeon had been startled recently when he drank tea Soso had brewed without much thought.
It contained a subtle but definite poison.
He couldn’t identify it exactly, but it was certainly poison.
During his time as a Kunlun Taoist, Eun-hyeon had gathered and sold herbs in the Tian Shan mountains. Thanks to that, he was as knowledgeable about herbs and poisons as any decent doctor.
After discovering the poison, Eun-hyeon had been cautious every time he ate. Fortunately, the poison had only been found in the tea so far.
Eun-hyeon carefully observed Soso as she grumbled in a barely audible voice while brewing tea.
He couldn’t tell if Soso had added the poison herself, or if someone had secretly put it in the tea without Soso knowing.
“Oh, by the way, young master. Starting today, there will be guests staying in the outer quarters.”
“…Is that so?”
In martial arts families, it was common to invite renowned figures to stay in the outer quarters. They would provide various conveniences and engage in mutual exchanges during their stay.
If there were young children, they might also ask these guests to educate them.
“Do you know who’s coming?”
“Of course! The rumors are already spreading. You’ll be surprised when you hear, young master! It’s the great hero Ha Yeo-un, known as the White-Robed Divine Dragon. You know him, right? The White-Robed Divine Dragon, Ha Yeo-un! He’s not even from a prestigious family, but he’s the most famous person these days.”
“I see, that is surprising.”
Eun-hyeon didn’t know who the White-Robed Divine Dragon was, but he nodded along in agreement.
This world was 20 years after his death. Eun-hyeon had no idea who was famous in the current martial arts world.
When talking with Soso, he had felt that things were subtly different from what he knew. But he never imagined 20 years had passed.
When he had drawn his last breath, his disciple was fourteen years old.
Unlike in modern times, in the martial arts world, fourteen was an age where one could roughly fend for themselves.
So he had comforted himself thinking his disciple would be fine without him, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
Un was an orphan. He had no one but Eun-hyeon as his master.
Could such a child have lived well after his death? Was he living happily, following his last words?
If his disciple was alive, his age would be…
“…Are you listening? Young master! Young master!”
“Huh?”
It seemed he had been lost in thoughts about his disciple for too long and missed what Soso was saying.
Soso glared at him with frustration.
“I clearly delivered the madam’s message! She said you’re not to step a foot outside the separate quarters.”
“Uh… What?”
Seeing Eun-hyeon’s dumbfounded expression, Soso smirked as if to say she had expected this reaction.
She seemed to have been waiting for this reaction.
“You’re saying I shouldn’t go out because guests have arrived in the outer quarters?”
“The separate quarters where you stay are part of the outer quarters, and while the guests can’t freely enter the inner quarters, they can move around the outer quarters. She’s probably worried you might embarrass the family in front of the esteemed guests if you wander around unnecessarily.”
Eun-hyeon remained expressionless at Soso’s impertinent words.
He had only just learned that Namgung Eun-hyeon’s residence was in the separate quarters of the outer compound.
Eun-hyeon quietly looked around the room once again.
It was quite spacious, but it was sparsely furnished and felt empty.
This alone showed Eun-hyeon’s position in the Namgung family.
Eun-hyeon hadn’t left the room once until now. Or rather, he couldn’t because of his cold.
Namgung Eun-hyeon was extremely frail.
From the perspective of a former Kunlun Taoist, this wasn’t a body, it was closer to garbage.
He couldn’t understand how a child of a martial arts family could end up with such a body.
All of Namgung Eun-hyeon’s eight extraordinary meridians were blocked, and he had no inner energy whatsoever.
In wealthy martial arts families, they usually start with medicinal baths right after a child is born and feed them all sorts of precious elixirs
This was why even those without talent could become high-level martial artists if they were from a martial arts family bloodline.
Yet this body, supposedly the eldest son of the Namgung family, was in worse condition than an ordinary person from a common household.
He was so weak that it was difficult to go outside when the weather turned cold, and he frequently caught colds.
It was obvious what kind of existence Namgung Eun-hyeon would be in the Namgung family, where martial arts were the standard.
“Tell mother… I’ll be careful.”
Soso glanced at Eun-hyeon, who responded quietly and bit her lips.
She had tried to provoke Eun-hyeon but now seemed uncomfortable as he appeared hurt.
“You should be able to go out to the garden. The cold has subsided somewhat and we’ve passed the start of spring, so you shouldn’t just lie down all the time, young master. Take a walk too. You used to quite enjoy walking in the garden before.”
“Yes, hearing that makes me want to take a walk after a long time. Please help me prepare.”
Eun-hyeon hesitated for a moment before nodding.
Until now, his physical condition had been too poor to even attempt a walk. However, over the past week, Eun-hyeon hadn’t just been lying down. He had been steadily expelling the impurities in his body and purifying it.
Thanks to that, his body was now in a state where he could at least take a walk.
“Then, young master, wear this as your outer coat. I’ll also give you some heated stones, so keep them in your pocket.”
Though the clothes were so thick that they looked ridiculous, he put them on without complaint.
“I’m going for a walk in the garden, so you can take a rest, Soso.”
“Alright! Be careful, young master!”
At the words to go, Soso left without looking back.
Eun-hyeon put the heated stones Soso had given him in his pocket and slowly headed toward the garden.
“Ah…!”
It really hit him that he was back in the martial arts world.
Seeing the snow-covered garden made him realize he had truly returned to this world.
As Soso had said, the garden of the separate quarters was quite spacious. There was a small pond inside, and also a pavilion.
Though it was too cold now, it seemed like it would be nice to sit here and appreciate the garden once the weather warmed up.
…But he wasn’t supposed to go outside the separate quarters?
Saying that only makes one want to go out more.
Eun-hyeon began to wander beyond the separate quarters.
“Wow… damn.”
Eun-hyeon wiped the sweat off his forehead while breathing heavily.
When told not to wander around freely, he thought he’d be able to meet people just by going outside the separate quarters.
But no matter how far he walked, there was nothing in sight.
Was it because his stamina was too poor, or was the Namgung family compound just too vast?
Once, he had run around the Tian Shan mountains as if they were his own backyard, but now he was about to collapse just inside his own home.
That wasn’t the only problem.
“Where… exactly is this place?”
He had gotten lost in a place without a single servant in sight.
The thick clothes kept him warm but also sapped his energy due to their weight.
To make matters worse, his legs were shaking.
“Wow, at this rate I’m going to be someone who got lost in their own house and froze to death. What the hell is this? It’s dog shit.”
“…Dog shit?”
Startled by the sudden voice, Eun-hyeon quickly turned his head.
For a moment, he couldn’t open his eyes properly due to the sunlight and covered his face with his hand.
“Where did you learn to say things like that?”
A dark figure leaped down from above.