Invitation to the Chatroom of the Gods - Chapter 41



Only Krnovel

Episode 41 – The New King of the Yangtze River (2)

The yard of the magnificent missionary office.

There, Eungseon, Dangsohyang, and I were standing in a triangle.

So, it was not a three-way confrontation······, but a two-on-one confrontation, but first, there was a response corresponding to ‘one hawk’.

Eungseon had been staring at me the whole time. The emotion in her eyes was that of extreme disappointment.

So, it seemed like he was wondering when he had the wedding ceremony in secret.

Maybe that’s why the look in his eyes that looked at me wasn’t just filled with ‘disappointment’······.

Knock!!

It seemed like he wouldn’t tolerate it if I didn’t explain it quickly.

I don’t know what you’re holding back, but I feel very wronged. If you have something to explain, don’t you explain it?

“Eungseon-ah, I think you’ve misunderstood me. I’ve never been married. Of course, I’ve never married Lady Dang either.”

“What are you talking about!”

Then, Dang So-hyang, who corresponds to the ‘second person’, shouted.

And I, as one of the same ‘second parties’, asked Dang So-hyang.

“When did I marry Lady Tang?”

“At Pa Yang Lake! There were a thousand witnesses!”

If it’s at Payangho······.

“That wasn’t me, it was the wedding between Lady Tang and the ‘King of the Yangtze River’.”

“That’s why.”

“······?”

What do you mean?

When I tilted my head, Dang So-hyang answered right away.

“Prince Cheongun is the ‘King of the Yangtze River.’ So my husband is also Prince Cheongun.”

“·········Huh?”

Before I knew it, my expression changed.

I was wondering what the hell Dang So-hyang was talking about.

Dang So-hyang looked at my dumbfounded expression and opened her mouth again.

“Surely you don’t remember? Prince Cheongun defeated Jo Gye-ak, and Janggangsurochae surrendered to Prince Cheongun.”

“that···.”

I remember.

But wasn’t that just a rumor?

So, I just took it as a ‘surrender’ that they would no longer attack me, and I didn’t think of it as a ‘surrender’ that meant handing over the supremacy of the Yangtze River to me.

“Did all thirty-six Jang Gangsu Rochae declare that they would serve the ‘Yang Gang Yunryong’ as their great king?”

But it seems that wasn’t the case.

So, it seemed like it was a surrender that meant handing over the Yangtze River hegemony to me.

No, but wait a minute.

Who will you accept as your king?

“The dragon of the Yangtze River?”

“Ah, it’s a nickname for Prince Cheongun. Well… I thought it might be difficult to reveal your identity since you were wearing a mask for the first time, so I gave you a name.”

Dang So-hyang looked at me and said, “Didn’t you do really well?” and I just showed a flustered expression.

“In that sense, the thirty-six Jang Gangsu Rochae are still gathered at Pa Yang Lake. Waiting for the King to return.”

“······.”

As I was speechless, only then did I understand what had happened earlier.

-Hey, you crazy bastard! You almost went to the goal!! Hey, at least listen to the explanation of what happened while you were passed out!!!

Only now did I realize why Grandpa Park Jin-Hyeon cried out so sadly.

When I woke up from fainting, there was nothing like this chaos······.

No, yeah.

Let’s think about that problem later.

Now, we had to start by solving the problems that were right in front of us, one by one.

“So you are claiming that Lady Tang married me?”

“It’s not a claim, it’s a fact!”

Dang So-hyang shouted loudly.

But since there was no such thing as unreasonableness, I just said it.

“Does the Tang family know about this?”

“Oh, no. In fact… my family probably doesn’t even know that I’m alive.”

Dang So-hyang lowered her gaze.

From her appearance, I could immediately understand why Dang So-hyang was being so stubborn.

“Are you not thinking of returning to the Tang Dynasty?”

“That, that···.”

Dang So-hyang said, biting her lower lip.

“I don’t have much life left… Ha, for once, I want to live my life, not that of my family.”

Come to think of it···.

Dang So-hyang didn’t have much time left to live.

A rare talent and disease called the Thousand Poisons in the Body.

According to Grandfather Park Jin-hyeon, it was difficult to get through this year…

‘Come to think of it, how long was I unconscious?’

Judging by the fact that the air is still cold, the season has not changed.

Although it didn’t seem like she had been unconscious for that long, it seemed like Tang So-hyang’s life didn’t last long either.

“Never! Never! I will never get involved with the family. I won’t bother you either! I will do chores like cleaning and laundry, and I will do whatever you ask me to do! And again···”

Dang So-hyang rolls her eyes and looks at me.

He really looked like he would do anything you told him to do.

“I won’t be jealous even if you take another wife! So, can’t you stay here at the missionary office for a little while…?”

I wondered if it was really worth going that far, but it was true that my heart weakened because of that.

In fact, even if Dang So-hyang had returned to Sacheon Dangmun, she might have been used as another secret weapon and poison.

Or it could have been used as a political marriage to establish ties with other families.

If I think about it, isn’t it the Dangso-hyang that I got on my own?

To come now and say, “I don’t know,” and tell me to figure it out on my own… that was just too irresponsible.

It seemed that the reason Dang So-hyang insisted on getting married was because she wanted to spend the rest of her life here at Seonmu-gwan, not at Sacheon Dangmun.

I had to take responsibility in some way, so I nodded after thinking for a moment.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Anyway, there were a lot of rooms left in the mission office.

Since the Seonmu-gwan had become a prestigious and powerful family because Ju Gwan-cheon had ‘renovated’ it rather than ‘restored’ it, there were plenty of places for Dang So-hyang to stay.

“Me, really?!”

Tang So-hyang suddenly raised her head. Her eyes widened, as if she hadn’t expected me to give permission, and I didn’t either.

So, I had no idea that I would be bringing in ‘diners’ to the mission office.

But what can you do?

I was the one who saved Dang So-hyang without permission, so shouldn’t I take responsibility? If you want to stay here even though you only have a short time left, I have no choice but to listen to you.

“step.”

There were conditions.

“Please refrain from calling me ‘lord’.”

After all, she was only a ‘guest’ and not the ‘hostess’.

Where did you call a bachelor a husband? If anyone heard that, they would misunderstand it, so this had to be corrected.

······If you don’t want to die to Sister Gucheonhyeonnyeo.

“Then can I call you Sir?”

“That won’t work either.”

“What about the groom?”

“Of course not.”

“Oh! Would you prefer a more friendly title like ‘husband’?”

“Young lady, that’s not what I meant in the first place.”

“What does it mean?”

“So… oh, that’s enough.”

All I could let out was a sigh.

I was at a loss for words as I watched Dang So-hyang tilt her head with an expression that said she had no idea what was going on.

Of course, Tang So-hyang would have known what I meant. Naturally, Tang So-hyang just pretended not to know.

The King of the Yangtze River who had been promised to marry Tang So-hyang was ‘Jo Gye-ak’, not me. Even if I had become the new King of the Yangtze River, it would not have been possible for me to marry Tang So-hyang.

There was no way anyone would not know that unless they were stupid, so I just pressed my throbbing temples at Dang So-hyang’s attitude of ignoring everything.

“Then can I call you my lord?”

“If you don’t want to stay in the mission office.”

“What if this is my last wish?”

“It’s just a shame that I can’t fulfill that wish in this life.”

“Am I… that bad…?”

Dang So-hyang suddenly showed a very gloomy expression. She even had tears in her eyes, and it seemed as if she was really upset.

‘You weren’t joking?’

When I first saw Dang So-hyang, it was clearly a joke.

Anyway, he had already been engaged to be married to Jo Gye-ak, and since he didn’t have much time left, it was just a joke and a prank he was throwing.

It’s not much different now.

He was just saying that to get an ‘excuse’ for not going back to Sacheondangmun.

But for some reason, it didn’t seem like it was always like that. Unlike last time, there was a certain amount of ‘sincerity’ in the way Dang So-hyang looked now.

of course.

‘You’re good at acting like you’re crying.’

It wasn’t so sincere that it made me weep.

Dang So-hyang was by no means inferior.

Tang So-hyang’s gestures, which were immediately sobbing and shaking, were incomparably pure and pitiful, and her tear-filled face was as beautiful as a flower petal swaying in the wind.

Just looking at this shows that her reputation as the most beautiful woman in the world is not in vain.

What man in the world could not fall in love with that appearance?

However, to my eyes, it was just like that.

Every day, I encounter an overwhelming, if not transcendent beauty called the Nine Heavenly Women.

To be exact, she wasn’t a beauty, but a ‘beauty fairy’, but anyway.

Even if Tang So-hyang was the most beautiful woman in the world and the greatest beauty in the world, she was only a human being at best, so to me, she only seemed like that.

So if that was some kind of beauty trick, it didn’t work on me.

When I didn’t say anything, Dang So-hyang puffed out her cheeks, perhaps taking it to mean ‘you’re useless.’

“······This is too much!”

I burst out laughing at her face, which looked like a squirrel stuffed with acorns, and Dang So-hyang pursed her lips as if she was upset at me for doing that.

After laughing for a long time, I was finally able to open my mouth.

“Anyway, please refrain from calling me your husband or any other married person.”

At my firm words, Dang So-hyang slumped her shoulders.

But still, what’s so good about it?

“Then I will try my best to become the true wife of Prince Cheongun!”

Dang So-hyang just smiled bashfully.

* * *

I wonder if it wasn’t a joke when he said he would try to make her a wife.

Dang So-hyang went out to the market and said she would prepare a meal for me.

I tried to stop her, wondering what kind of market she was going to have in her weak body and how she could prepare meals, but Dang So-hyang said it was something she had to do and quickly walked out.

Seriously······.

“I said I can’t figure it out.”

Click.

Eungseon nodded her head next to me as if agreeing with what I said.

anyway.

“I am the king of the Yangtze River.”

It was truly absurd, yet incredibly difficult.

That would be the case, since the Yangtze River was a waterway controlled by a member of the evil cult called ‘Jogyeak’.

In other words, since it was a group under the Demonic Cult, it might already be full of Demonic Cult members.

Of course, I thought it was unlikely, but you never know···.

“I think I should go to Pa Yang Lake.”

I couldn’t just leave the Jang River canal as it was.

Just as I couldn’t ignore the Dangso-hyang I had saved on my own, I couldn’t ignore the Janggangsu-rochae I had restored on my own.

It was something I had to do, one way or another, whether it was to disband or do something else.

It was a really important and vital task, but I had to put that important task on hold for a while.

“I said twenty-one…”

The 20 days that I passed out.

It wasn’t as long as I thought. But it wasn’t a short time either.

“Eungseon-ah, where is the folding chair?”

Eungseon nodded her head as if to follow what I said.

After a while, it flew up and headed towards the missionary’s annex. After following it for a while, Eungseon was sitting quietly in front of one of the doors.

It looks like the folding screen was sealed in that room.

“Eungseon-ah, are you ready?”

Click.

Eungseon nodded her head slightly in response to my words.

And then, there was Eungseon, who was very nervous, and I also swallowed hard and opened the door.

and.

“Huh···?”

It was a quieter tripod than you thought?

The folding screen was lying quietly in the room, not just silently, but as silent as a mouse.

Even if there was chaos, it wouldn’t be strange at all if it had already happened a long time ago.

“Is he dead?”

Eungseon flew up as if he wanted to check first. Then he poked the dead footstool with his beak.

Wince!

Then, the boy shook his body(?) as if he was reacting.

“···It doesn’t seem like he’s dead.”

I wondered if it was right to say this to a scroll, but I slowly approached and carefully picked up the scroll.

“Why is it so cold?”

An icy cold air was felt from the folding screen. The folding screen was completely frozen and hardened.

That’s why it looked like the doll was dead…

“I don’t see any merit in the conversion.”

That’s why I couldn’t confirm the conversion merit.

Because of that, I couldn’t tell how much time I had left, but that didn’t make me anxious.

The last confirmed death sentence was 90 days, so if he had been unconscious for about 20 days, he wouldn’t have been in a state of alert.

“But I was still curious.”

······Honestly, I was really looking forward to it.

The merit gained from defeating Jo Gye-ak would not be that small.

But it was a chair that seemed frozen and had stopped functioning, and nothing came to mind. To be exact, you could say that it was hard to see.

[Hwan─ ─Deok(─)] – ──9──9──

Blurry letters, as if smudged with ink.

“It looks pretty long?”

But the extent to which it spread was quite long.

Even the numbers that were visible were all the same, ‘nine (九)’.

So I couldn’t tell if this was because the table was frozen or if there was some other ‘error’.

I couldn’t figure out either way, but I thought I should ask ‘Taesang Laojun’ who created the Hwansan Merit.

Fortunately, I was able to confirm the Taoist chatroom. I entered the Taoist chatroom with great doubt.

and.

└[Nine Heavenly Wise Women]

: The youngest still hasn’t contacted me.

Did you get to see the writings of Gucheonhyeonnyeo, which were more calm than you thought?

It was completely different from what I expected, which was that it would turn the conversation room upside down.

It was the appearance of Gucheonhyeonnyeo, more calm and composed than usual.

└[Nine Heavenly Wise Women]

: How did this happen?

Once again, the words of the Nine Heavenly Women floated up to the ceiling.

But the portrait of Gucheonhyeonnyeo that floated up next to it was so different from the Gucheonhyeonnyeo I knew.

Her eyes, which were always full of life, were as cold as ice, her expression, which was always full of bright smiles, was cold, and her face, which was always cute, was extremely cynical.

Perhaps because of this, no one in the Taoist chatroom answered Gucheonhyeonnyeo’s question.

Soon, the words of Gucheonhyeonnyeo came to mind again.

└[Nine Heavenly Wise Women]

: Why hasn’t my youngest, who disappeared after only getting a taste of the Cheon-dun Sword Technique, contacted me until now? Yeo Dong-bin?

└[Sword Immortal Yeo Dong-bin]

: That… Nalang-ah. I have nothing to say, but no matter what, ‘Yeo Dong-bin’ is a bit…

└[Nine Heavenly Wise Women]

: Wasn’t he the only successor? I’m saying that the youngest was the only successor in the heavenly world or the secular world. Mr. Yeo Dong-bin.

I felt a chill that made my skin freeze.

It felt completely different from the usual Gucheonhyeonnyeo, who was as pure and fresh as the dew on the grass, but that was also why she was beautiful.

It was a beauty beyond compare to that of Dang So-hyang······but.

└[Nine Heavenly Wise Women]

: I thought Yeo Dong-bin felt the same way as me. What I meant was that I thought that my feelings of caring for and loving my youngest more than anyone else and Yeo Dong-bin’s feelings were no different.

└[Sword Immortal Yeo Dong-bin]

: That, that’s natural. Of course, I’m not as bright as you, but I also consider the youngest as my sole successor.

└[Nine Heavenly Wise Women]

: But why do you carelessly ruin the youngest? Don’t you know how much I love the youngest? Or do you want me to control the youngest? Do you want me to make the youngest my own? Don’t you know what I would do if the youngest disappeared? Is that why?

└[Sword Immortal Yeo Dong-bin]

: No, I just···..

└[Nine Heavenly Wise Women]

: Whenever this happens, I feel like an idiot. I worry about myself even though there is an easy way. I can even like and cherish the sound of my youngest child screaming every day, “Gyaak, Unnie!” or “Hwiik, Unnie!” But it shouldn’t be like that. It shouldn’t be like that.

└[Sword Immortal Yeo Dong-bin]

: That, that’s right···? I know that’s not right, Nalang-ah. What kind of situation would make the youngest scream ‘Gyaak, big sister!’ or ‘Huh, big sister!’?

└[Nine Heavenly Wise Women]

: But why why why why why why why why why why does Mr. Yeo Dong-bin keep trying to make me into a bad brother-in-law and sister-in-law?

The focus of Gucheonhyeonnyeo’s eyes disappeared.

······I quietly left the chatroom.

And I could immediately understand why the table was so cold, almost like ice, that it was frozen.

The clown······ did not ‘not’ cause trouble, but ‘could not’ cause trouble.

“Should I report my survival after going to Pa Yang Lake?”

It was too early to report my survival······. I was too scared of Gucheonhyeonnyeo. I was very curious about Hwansan Gongdeok, but it wasn’t urgent.

I wonder if Eungseon and I have similar thoughts.

Kk···tak···.!

Eungseon, who was nodding her head as if answering, was trembling for some reason that could be either ‘fear’ or ‘cold air’.

* * *

Poyang Lake (?陽湖), located at the northern tip of Jiangxi Province.

This is where all 36 members of the Jang Gangsu River are gathered.

“They say the King of the Yangtze River is coming now!!!”

The entire Poyang Lake shook violently at the sudden shout.