Chapter 531: Side Story 31

Chapter side_31

The work Mae-hyang did in the Hunan Dan Family was more than one might think.

First, she had to take care of the two children, and she was in charge of the family’s laundry. As for cooking, Jang Sam-tae’s food tasted better, so she didn’t touch it, but she did everything from field work to organizing the house, as well as being a Go partner for the elders and occasionally cleaning up after the children who caused trouble.

While Jang Sam-tae suffered from heavy labor to the point of arousing pity just by looking at him, Mae-hyang suffered from a similar level of labor without making it obvious.

Over the course of ten years, her delicate hands had become rough, and her smooth skin was nowhere to be found. It was unknown when she had last fixed her disheveled hair, and the clothes she wore were incredibly shabby compared to before.

Because she didn’t even put on the makeup she always used to, she now gave off the impression of a mother no matter who looked at her.

Such Mae-hyang was doing laundry today as well.

Her hands had turned bright red due to the cold weather, but nevertheless, she had to do the children’s laundry every day.

“Ah, seriously!”

Then, whatever made her so angry, she threw down the laundry. Thump! The laundry that fell onto the rock with a sound was just like the battered state of Jang Sam-tae.

“A… are you alright?”

Gwon Mu-jin, who was doing laundry together next to her, was startled and slowly backed away. It was unfair enough that he, an escort of the Hunan Dan Family, was doing laundry, but to have to walk on eggshells around a woman who didn’t even know martial arts?

It felt like the sky was falling.

“Phew- I’m fine. I just got emotional for a moment… But what are you doing? Move your hands quickly.”

“I… I will.”

“You should at least do your own laundry. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s… right.”

Gwon Mu-jin broke into a cold sweat and calmed his breathing. It was his first time doing laundry since he was born, and he wondered if it had always been this hard.

If he applied a little strength it would tear, his hands were freezing in the cold water, and seeing Mae-hyang glaring at him made it even harder to calm down. If it was going to be like this, it would have been more comfortable to stay behind alone.

Gwon Mu-jin let out a small sigh.

This is why he ran away.

“By the way… are you alright? You don’t even know who they are, but calling them villains or whatever…? They looked like they would chase after them…”

Kang Sang-chun’s purpose seemed clear.

Anyone could see that he was aiming for Namgung So-hye and Dan So-mi. Telling such a person the location and mentioning villains and the like must have triggered his desire to become a hero.

He would definitely chase after them.

However, Mae-hyang didn’t seem worried in the slightest.

She grabbed the laundry bat again and chuckled.

“Anyway…”

Whack whack!

She swung the bat vigorously as if beating someone up. Cold water splashed everywhere, wetting Gwon Mu-jin’s clothes next to her.

“Even if those people chase after them, what could they possibly do?”

Gwon Mu-jin wiped the water that splashed on his face and nodded.

Come to think of it, that was true.

They weren’t ordinary people, but among the best in the world. Even if the two old men weren’t there, with the strength of such guys, they couldn’t even defeat Jang Sam-tae, let alone Namgung So-hye and Dan So-mi.

“But… at least it’s enough to mess with them, right?”

Mae-hyang smiled with a proud expression.

It wouldn’t interfere with their journey.

However, it could stop them in their tracks for a moment.

With just that, the one called Kang Sang-chun had sufficiently played his role. If he was unlucky, he would lose his life, but wasn’t that also his fate?

“Ah- how refreshing.”

Mae-hyang smiled with an incredibly bright expression.

Like someone who had finished venting their anger.

***

Smack!

“Keok!?”

The charging Kang Sang-chun was suddenly slapped in the face by a flying palm and rolled on the ground. The force was so strong that his trained body was slammed straight into the floor.

“What is this idiot?”

“Ugh…”

Kang Sang-chun, sprawling on the floor, could not properly understand Jang Sam-tae’s voice. Tinnitus rang loudly in his head, and he couldn’t come to his senses because his brain was shaken.

Had he ever been hit this hard in his life?

Even his father, the sect leader of the Iron Fist Sect, was not at this level.

He barely turned his head to look at Jang Sam-tae.

His fiercely contorted expression was fully revealed.

“What a beggar-like situation. Ptooey!”

Jang Sam-tae was in a very bad mood.

If someone suddenly appeared and pointed a sword while calling him a villain or whatever, anyone would be in a bad mood. Thinking, ‘Should I hit him one more time?’, he clenched his fist.

When he turned his gaze to Geum Dae-gil, who was standing fine excluding the fallen guy, he flinched and stepped aside. Seeing that he didn’t charge in even though his comrade was attacked, he seemed to be a coward, unlike his appearance.

“Ah, damn… I guess I’m just unlucky, seriously.”

Jang Sam-tae looked back at the fallen Kang Sang-chun once again and spat on the floor. With that, he managed to gather his ruined mood and slowly moved towards the inn.

“What were you doing that you came just now?”

Jang Sam-tae, who entered the inn, made a dumbfounded expression at hearing Dan Woo-hyun’s scolding voice.

He had said he would park the carriage, and he was slightly delayed due to being involved in an unfunny incident.

In that short time, food had already been served and filled the table, but contrary to Dan Woo-hyun’s scolding words as if he had waited, he was already emptying the plates rapidly.

Jang Sam-tae, who stared at it for a moment, sighed and took a seat.

“No, some weirdo just suddenly swung a sword at me.”

“Swung a sword? At you?”

“That’s what I said. Ah… I’m really dumbfounded…”

“You didn’t do something again, did you?”

Namgung So-hye looked at Jang Sam-tae with half-closed eyes. A person wouldn’t swing a sword for no reason if he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Jang Sam-tae must have done something first.

“Is this girl for real? I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

Phew- Jang Sam-tae sat down next to Dan So-mi and gulped down water to calm his rising resentment.

Namgung Cheon, who watched it quietly, asked with a puzzled expression.

“So did you ask? Why he did that.”

“Ah…!”

“Tsk tsk, what an idiot…”

“He said something about… being a villain or something…”

Jang Sam-tae moved his chopsticks with a dumbfounded expression.

As if there was no need to know what the man’s words meant, or as if he didn’t want to give him any more attention, Jang Sam-tae’s eyes were solely directed at the table full of food to fill his hungry stomach.

At that moment.

Thud- The inn door opened, and Kang Sang-chun and Geum Dae-gil entered. Kang Sang-chun, whose cheek was swollen bright red, raised his sword in one hand and aimed it at where Jang Sam-tae was.

“You villainous bastard! Did you think I would just give up!?”

“Y… Young Leader?! Stop… Please stop…!”

At that moment, everyone’s gaze turned towards Kang Sang-chun. The noisy interior of the inn rapidly became quiet, feeling as if the air had frozen in an instant.

“Vi… villain?”

“Demon Star…?”

“That… guy?”

Bizarrely, people’s gazes turned from Kang Sang-chun towards where Jang Sam-tae was.

However, it was evident that they found it hard to believe. Although it was clear that the Demon Star was called a villain and the public enemy of men, there were quite a few people in this Central Plains who could be called villains.

Thus, at the moment when everyone was making doubtful expressions.

Kang Sang-chun pointed at Dan So-mi and Namgung So-hye next to Jang Sam-tae and shouted.

“As expected! It’s certain that you lured those women away! I will never forgive you, you bastard!”

The word that flowed from Kang Sang-chun’s mouth turned doubt into certainty, and at the same time, killing intent soared from the men.

“What is this…?”

“Eh? Lured? Me? By that human?”

“Uh… what is going on here…”

Jang Sam-tae was not the only one flustered.

Dan So-mi and Namgung So-hye wore expressions indicating they had no idea what was going on, and Namgung Cheon and Sado Hak scoffed in disbelief.

Only Dan Woo-hyun watched the situation with a faint smile on his lips, finding it amusing.

“Is it really the Demon Star?!”

“Really… is a guy like that one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Heaven and Earth Cult?”

“You bastard, well met! How dare you touch my friend’s wife!”

“You son of a bitch! I’ll cut off your dick!”

A huge commotion arose, and the sound of swords being drawn could be heard here and there. Tables and chairs were overturned and rolled around, and ominous killing intent filled the entire inn, making it on the verge of becoming a total mess.

“This… I don’t think it can be calmed down with words.”

Sado Hak frowned while looking at the situation. Whether there were many or few was not a problem at all. However, in a situation with a misunderstanding, he couldn’t just blindly beat them up, could he?

Feeling that they wouldn’t listen to reason anyway, his gaze briefly turned to Dan Woo-hyun.

“It seems wrong to eat more food.”

Dan Woo-hyun smirked and stood up from his seat.

For a moment, it was just a gaze looking around after standing up, but those who met his eyes unknowingly flinched and stepped back.

However, that fear was temporary.

For those who came all the way here with hatred for the Heaven and Earth Cult and the will to catch the Demon Star, they did not easily succumb to such fear.

“You villain! Hand over the two young ladies-!”

Then Kang Sang-chun ground his teeth and charged in.

His face was full of confidence, and unlike the situation a little while ago, the surrounding people responding together seemed to give him a feeling of boiling up.

Thus, no matter how much Geum Dae-gil tried to stop him, nothing entered his ears.

Crack-!

“Keok?!”

However.

Jang Sam-tae had been enduring alongside absolute experts for over ten years. In addition, to him who had experienced various things and grown because of Dan Woo-hyun, Kang Sang-chun was nothing more than an existence worse than an ant.

The swung palm powerfully struck his face once again, and then he spun several times in the air, flew away, and crashed into the wall.

Bang! The violent sound filled the inside of the inn.

“What the hell is wrong with you, seriously.”

Jang Sam-tae frowned deeply.

He felt like his subsided resentment was rising again.

“That skill… it’s certain. He is the Demon Star!”

“Th… that’s right, they said those attacked by him had palm marks on their faces like burns…! It’s certain!”

Glancing back at the fallen Kang Sang-chun, the people looked at the palm mark on his left cheek and were convinced. The deeply left palm mark was flushed red as if he had suffered a burn.

He was hit twice, so that was the case, but to the people here, it was a story of no interest.

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