Tangmunjeon - Chapter 398



Only Krnovel

Tangmunjeon Episode 398

Folding chair

“Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. All dharma forms are unborn and indefinite, unchangeable and impermanent, and neither increase nor decrease···.”

Hwa Yeon-shin kept muttering Buddhist scriptures. It was probably an attempt to shake off her worries and calm her anger, but it didn’t seem to be effective.

Hwayeonshinni, who had been chanting sutras for a long time while lying face down on the roof, finally got up from her seat.

“It won’t work, Mujin-ah. You go back to the Danggajang first. Don’t tell anyone or anything you see or hear here. Do you understand?”

“···What are you trying to do?”

“In order to enter Nirvana, I must cut off all my afflictions right now.”

Since Dang Mu-jin was not a Buddhist, he knew little about the Buddha’s will or teachings.

But one thing was certain: the way Hwayeonshinni cut off the afflictions was different from what the Buddha had preached.

Looking closely, it seemed like he was trying to cut off something other than his worries, like the lifeline of Wei Zhenan Xiang.

Dang Mu-jin tried to calm Hwa Yeon-shin-ni down.

“Sir, you need to calm down. It would be better to take your time and look at the situation…”

“What are you looking at? Go back quickly!”

Hwa Yeon-shin-ni spoke coldly, then jumped from roof to roof and flew into the alley where Sam-an-bul and Wi-jin-hyang had disappeared.

Since it was clear that if left alone, it would lead to bloodshed, Dang Mu-jin also followed diligently.

In the dark alley where the Sam-an-bul and Wi-jin-nan-hyang had disappeared, there was an old house.

When Dang Mu-jin arrived in front of the house a little later than Hwa Yeon-shin-ni, Hwa Yeon-shin-ni was already trying to kick the door of the house with her foot.

“Elder! Just a moment…”

But Hwa Yeon-shin paid no attention and kicked the door open, shouting proudly.

“Let’s become Buddhas!”

Then, Wei Zhennanxiang, who was inside, opened her eyes wide and greeted Hwayeonshinni.

“Master and the party leader? What brings you here?”

However, the clothes of Wei Zhenyanxiang and Sam Anbul inside the house were not messy, and to make matters worse, they were not that close. They were just waiting for someone while keeping an appropriate distance.

Also, there was no sense of embarrassment or guilt in Wei Zhennanxiang’s voice. The only emotion she felt was doubt. That’s why Hwa Yeonshinni could easily realize that her guess was wrong.

“Uh···. Uh···.”

Hwayeonshinni was flustered and confused by the unexpected situation. But fortunately, there was someone there who could save Hwayeonshinni. Samanbul.

Despite his rough and rugged appearance, Sam-an-bul was quite quick-witted.

Sam-an-bul came out and said.

“I asked for help. Commander, come and sit down. Are you here to help, too?”

Hwa Yeon-shin-ni still couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on, but thanks to Sam-an-bul’s skillful improvisation, she was able to get through the most awkward moment.

When Hwayeonshinni sat on Samanbul’s lap, Wijinanhyang said with a slightly disappointed look.

“Are these two people… helpful in relationships between men and women?”

“Of course. At least there won’t be any problems, so don’t worry.”

“I guess that’s true, but…”

It looks like Sam-an-bul was giving some advice to Wi-jin-nan-hyang.

Following Hwayeonshinni, Dangmujin also tried to sit next to Samanbul. However, Samanbul made a slightly subtle expression and spoke to Dangmujin.

“Dang Mu-jin. I appreciate you coming with us, but things don’t seem to be going well today. You should come visit us next time.”

“yes?”

A sudden edict of eviction.

But it is difficult to outright refuse such a polite request.

However, just as Dang Mu-jin was about to leave the house, he felt a faint presence outside the building. Sam-an-bul’s expression became serious.

“···There’s no way out. Dangmujin. Hide over there!”

There was a back door where Sam-an-bul pointed.

Although Tang Mujin felt an ominous feeling for some reason, he hid behind the throne as Samanbul had told him to.

The back of the box was old and slightly rotted, and the outside could be seen through the small gap created by the rotted wood. Dang Mu-jin hid inside the box and quietly looked outside.

After a while, the door opened, and an unexpected person appeared. It was Dan Seol-yeong.

‘Why is Danseolyeong here···?’

While Dang Mu-jin and Hwa Yeon-shin-ni were bewildered, Sam An-bul and Wi Ji-nan-hyang lightly clapped their hands to welcome Dan Seol-yeong.

Danseolyoung said in a confident voice.

“Hello. Hwayeonshinni has also come. As you know, I am Danseolyeong, the mistress of Danggajang. However, I am here today as an expert in how to deal with tactless men.”

The eyes of the Dangmujin hidden behind the curtain narrowed, and his heart pounded loudly.

Has Danseolyoung ever met a man who was so inconsiderate that he left her alone?

Danseolyoung said.

“First, let’s check the results of the past ten days. What happened in the meantime?”

Wi Jinan-hyang stammered as she recalled her memories.

“We made eye contact a few times, and shared a few light laughs. We had small talk about three times… and I even wiped away a tear once.”

“How was the reaction?”

Wi Jinan-hyang shook her head with a miserable expression.

“It wasn’t like I was rejected or that I didn’t show any dislike. But there wasn’t much of a reaction. It’s not like my attitude changed either…”

Then Danseolyeong said.

“I told you last time. The problem is that Lady Wiji thinks that Elder Ilnam is an ordinary man. Is it for nothing that Elder Samanbul asked for my help instead of everyone else?”

“Hmm.”

“If he were an ordinary man, he would have given me his liver and gallbladder if I had just smiled at him. But who is the man you are dealing with now? He is a stone-like man who you cannot even look for in someone else.”

Wi Jinanxiang protested cautiously.

“Mr. Ilnam isn’t that clueless. Rather, for a man, he’s very thoughtful…”

Danseolyoung shook her head.

“Young Lady Nanhyang. As I said last time, the tact in a relationship between a man and a woman is a completely different area from the tact in other areas. Dang Mujin is not tactful in his daily life and is not tactful in relationships between men and women, so it wasn’t hard for him to figure it out, but Elder Ilnam is particularly tactless in relationships between men and women. You need to face reality.”

Dang Mu-jin, who was hiding behind the table, was startled when he heard my name. How could I be so clueless!

Dang Mu-jin wanted to jump out from behind and argue at any moment, but he desperately held back.

Danseolyoung continued the story.

“Since Lady Weizhi is a natural beauty, she is used to men reacting immediately. However, it is different when dealing with men who are not tactful. Their reactions are very slow or nonexistent.”

“Then what should I do?”

“There are two ways. Either make it an established fact, or make the trigger so obvious that even a fool could not ignore it.”

“A definite reason?”

Hwayeonshinni clicked her tongue and intervened.

“No matter what, in the end, isn’t it just about making them drink a lot of alcohol?”

“···That’s one way. But in my opinion, creating a clear opportunity is not a good way.”

“why?”

“A sudden development can make the opponent flustered. Elder Jang Il-nam would definitely be flustered. In the worst case scenario, he might even run away.”

Sam-an-bul, Wi-jin-nan-hyang, and Hwa-yeon-shin-ni nodded at the same time.

In reality, Jang Il-nam was more timid than he looked.

“Then, what should I do?”

“I think it would be best to make it a fait accompli. It’s a little slower, but it’s the surest way.”

“It’s an established fact.”

When Wi Jinan-hyang blushed in embarrassment, Dan Seol-yeong waved her hand.

“It’s not what you’re thinking right now.”

“then?”

“Isn’t what worries Lady Nanhyang the most about revealing her feelings and not getting any response from Elder Ilnam?”

“That’s right. I’d like to hear a definite response, whether it’s rejection or acceptance…”

“Change your thinking. If you don’t notice it when you approach it, it means you won’t notice it when you try to grab it.”

When Danseolyeong said that, Samanbul clapped his hands in admiration.

“There was a way like that!”

However, Wi Jinanxiang and Hwa Yeonshinni did not seem to understand anything.

“···What is that story?”

Danseolyoung continued her explanation as if she had expected this to happen.

“It’s easier to think of Dang Mu-jin and Jang Il-nam as rocks in relationships between men and women. They may not respond even if you show interest or pat them, but that doesn’t matter at all. Rocks can’t run away.”

“Hmm. I don’t know.”

“Just as a stone becomes warm when placed on a stove, if you treat a man without any tact as if he were your husband, he will eventually become your husband. That’s what I did.”

“You did that?”

Everyone’s love story is interesting. Wi Jinanxiang showed interest.

“Yes. I had made some progress with the party leadership, but after that, we stopped and made no significant progress. So I changed my mind.”

“how?”

“The head of the party… At that time, he was a member of the party council. Anyway, while staying at the party council, he treated the elder Dang Je-seon like a father-in-law. My father-in-law thought of me as his daughter-in-law, and the village people also thought of me as his daughter-in-law. They say a stone cannot run away, right? The marriage was already a done deal.”

The three people who heard the story were amazed at the same time.

“Huh!”

“After that, it was nothing special. I never thought the wedding would go wrong. The ending was a little delayed, so I did get some help, but…”

Dang Mu-jin hid behind the curtain, trembling with fear. He realized how he had ended up getting married.

Given the circumstances, it wasn’t a joke or a lie.

In fact, long before Dang Mu-jin and Dan Seol-yeong got married, her father had considered Dan Seol-yeong as his daughter-in-law. The village people also treated Dang Mu-jin as a married man as if it were natural.

Feeling an inexplicable surge of emotion, Dang Mu-jin clenched his fists.

‘Danseolyeong. How could you…!’

But Dang Mu-jin’s tightly clenched fist quickly loosened.

‘···Isn’t it okay since the result is good?’

Come to think of it, there wasn’t anything particularly dissatisfying about it.

I’ve liked Danseolyoung since the first time I met her, and now I like her even more.

It was the same with marriage. I’ve thought, “I should have gotten married sooner,” but I’ve never thought I got married for nothing or that it was too late.

‘Rather, was it because of Danseolyeong that I didn’t miss my chance to get married?’

Dang Mu-jin hesitated for a moment in the back room, then sat down again to listen to the story.

Wi Jinan-hyang asked Dan Seol-yeong.

“So, what should I do now?”

“Young Lady Wiji, please continue as you have been doing. It would be better if you were a little more proactive. Making eye contact, smiling slightly, and things like that are certainly good, but most likely Elder Ilnam won’t notice.”

“Hey, no way.”

“I’m not joking.”

Sam-an-bul, who had been quietly listening to the story, opened his mouth.

“Since it’s come to this, it would be best to move to a nearby place. A small three-room building next to the training ground. Let’s tell everyone who’s been staying in that building to leave except for one, and have Nanhyang and Ilnam stay there.”

After hearing Sam-an-bul’s opinion, Hwayeon-shin-ni expressed his opinion.

“How about a two-room building next to the annex? Or you can have Nanhyang and Ilnam live together in the room you used to live in, Samanbul. If they live side by side in one room, things will go faster.”

Then Sam-an-bul shook his head.

“That’s too awkward. Even Il-nam would notice something strange at that point. It would be better to have the two of them stay in a three-room building, and then after some time, convert one of the rooms into a storage room so that the two of them can live there alone.”

“Even so, we’ll end up using separate rooms, right?”

“That much can be resolved when the opportunity arises.”

Dan Seol-yeong, who had been quietly listening to the story, expressed her doubts.

“I wonder if there is some reason why Elder Ilnam is distancing himself from Lady Wiji. Maybe his wife passed away or something…”

Sam-an-bul shook his head.

“What about the wife? She said she’s never even held a woman’s hand. She’s a purer person than some Taoist monks.”

Sam-an-bul clapped his hands as he finished his story.

“I think the story is almost over. For now, let’s have Nanhyang and Ilnam stay in the same building, and gradually reduce the distance between them. Set the mood well, and don’t rush the ending too much, but do it naturally. Got it?”

“yes.”

That’s how the secret plot ended.

*

Two days later, Jang Il-nam and Wi Ji-nan-hyang were living in a three-room building, and ten days after that, one of the three rooms was converted into a storage room.

One day, about a month after that.

“Ouch!”

While Samanbul and Dangmujin were sparring, Samanbul’s missed fist broke the wall of the building next to the training ground. Coincidentally, it was the wall that separated Wei Zhenxiang and Jang Ilnam’s rooms.

When Jang Il-nam was startled by the loud noise and came running, Dang Mu-jin looked at the broken wall and spoke.

“This is really tricky. Repairing the outer wall won’t be difficult, but repairing the inner wall will be a bit of a hassle. For the time being, we’ll have to live with the two rooms being vaguely connected.”

It’s nonsense to say that you can repair the exterior walls but not the interior walls.

However, Sam-an-bul pretended to be embarrassed and tried to estimate the size of the hole in the wall.

It was a size that a person’s head could easily fit through. Furthermore, it was big enough that a person who wasn’t too fat could easily get through the hole and get to the next room.

Sam-an-bul naturally asked Dang-mu-jin.

“The hole isn’t particularly big. Could it be that the building is collapsing because of this broken wall?”

“That’s not true. The main beam is sturdy too.”

After hearing Dang Mu-jin’s story, Sam An-bul asked Jang Il-nam.

“Then, I don’t think we need to worry too much about holes like this, Ilnam. Are you okay?”

“Huh? That’s…”

“I’ll hang a large folding screen so that you can’t see beyond the wall. If you don’t put the folding screen away, it won’t be much different from before. Is that okay?”

As Jang Il-nam hesitated, Sam-an-bul placed a large hand on Jang Il-nam’s shoulder and spoke meaningfully.

“It’s a problem that the two of you just have to keep the folding screen from being touched. You just have to not touch the folding screen. Do you understand?”

Jang Il-nam was the type of person who would not express his discomfort unless absolutely necessary. So Jang Il-nam answered with some hesitation.

“I’m fine, but Lady Nanhyang···.”

“I’ll tell Nanhyang.”

“···yes.”

*

From that very day on, there were strangely many feasts in the Tang family.

The drinking party continued endlessly to the point where it seemed as if everyone was trying to drink all the alcohol in the church. Neither Wi Ji-nan-hyang nor Jang Il-nam could refuse the alcohol that people offered them.

On days when the two drank, the people of the Tang family would approach the residence where Wi Jinan-hyang and Jang Il-nam were staying and quietly listen.

At first, no sound was heard, but after a few days, the two began to talk little by little through the wall.

About two weeks later, two voices were heard coming from the same room.

It was clear that the two people had entered separate rooms, and their rooms were completely separated by a folding screen, yet their voices could be heard coming from the same room. It was truly bizarre.

After a few more days passed like that.

The Tang family captured the subtle and awkward atmosphere flowing between Wi Jinanxiang and Jang Ilnam.