“Ah, you scared ! Why are you yelling all of a sudden?” Tang So-yeong asked, clutching her stomach.
Tang Mu-yeong froze, realizing his mistake.
Yelling like that in front of soone… possibly pregnant?
“…I’m sorry. It was just so unexpected.”
“Unexpected? Well, I didn’t see this coming either.”
Tang So-yeong’s eyes held a mix of emotions as she spoke.
How could she have known she’d et Gomodo here and end up becoming one of his followers?
As she reminisced, a faint smile crept onto her lips.
Of course, Tang Mu-yeong interpreted it differently.
“How… how could this happen…? So-yeong, are you really alright?”
“Alright? What do you an?”
“I don’t an to be blunt, but for soone your age, this must be such a heavy burden. As your brother, I want to congratulate you, but I can’t help but worry.”
“Ahem. I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do.”
As a mber of the Tang Clan, especially soone with high affinity for spiritual beings and extensive knowledge, it was natural for her to serve Gomodo.
But once again, Tang Mu-yeong misunderstood her aning.
“Doing what you’re supposed to do…”
How could soone so small say such a thing so confidently?
He stood there, shocked, before regaining his composure.
If Tang So-yeong had beco pregnant in the Mountains of Ten Thousand Beasts, the father was likely soone from the Cheonma Shinkyo.
Hadn’t he heard that the sect leader had made contact with Tang So-yeong?
If that were true, the father might be one of the sect’s high-ranking mbers—or even a blood relative of the sect leader.
If soone had forced themselves on his sister, Tang Mu-yeong would have unleashed poison and destroyed everything, alliance be damned.
But judging by Tang So-yeong’s deanor, she seed infatuated with the person.
Her neat appearance and radiant complexion suggested that whoever it was had treated her well.
It was already water under the bridge, so Tang Mu-yeong decided to look at the situation as positively as possible.
The Cheonma Shinkyo, despite its fearso reputation, had shown a surprisingly human side.
Even their sect leader was soone he could hold a conversation with.
The Cheonma Shinkyo was, after all, made up of people.
Surely they would welco a child of the Tang Clan’s daughter with open arms.
This wasn’t the outco he had hoped for, but at least the alliance between the Tang Clan and the Cheonma Shinkyo would grow stronger.
Of course, as Tang So-yeong’s brother, not just the Tang Clan’s heir, his feelings were complicated.
“Ahem. So that’s how it is… Then… might this brother learn the na of the father?”
“The na? Well, I just call him Gomodo.”
“Gomodo?”
Not a sect leader, not an elder, but Dae-hyeop?
Tang Mu-yeong’s eyebrow twitched.
If the man had given her a ring, he clearly had feelings for her, but the title was oddly informal.
“Yes, Gomodo Dae-hyeop.”
“Well… I suppose it’s fortunate that you’ve t a man worthy of being called Dae-hyeop. Your first relationship is always—”
“It’s not my first.”
Tang So-yeong interrupted him mid-sentence.
Tang Mu-yeong’s face turned crimson again.
“Not… your first…?”
“Let’s see… I think I’m about the fourth?”
In terms of the order she joined the Gae Gak Sect, that was accurate.
But once again, Tang Mu-yeong misunderstood her words.
“Fourth… Not the first… but the fourth…”
“Still, Gomodo Dae-hyeop values the most, so there’s no issue.”
“Kioong?”
There’s an old saying: A hero loves many won.
It wasn’t unusual for a capable and powerful man to have multiple partners.
Even Tang Seong-ik had five wives, so it wasn’t entirely strange.
But this didn’t apply to soone marrying a daughter of the Tang Clan.
Unless it was an exceptional case, the rule was one husband, one wife.
Moreover, husbands of Tang Clan daughters were expected to live in Tang Ga-ta.
The fact that Tang So-yeong wasn’t the first bothered him, but it wasn’t the most important thing.
What mattered was whether she was loved by her partner.
While he didn’t entirely trust Tang So-yeong’s claims, her assertion that she was the most cherished offered so reassurance.
“Ahem, yes. The order doesn’t matter. …Still, four is quite a lot.”
“Four is a lot?”
Tang Mu-yeong spoke of wives, while Tang So-yeong referred to the number of followers.
“I’m the fourth, and there are way more. Twenty? No, more than that, I think.”
“Tw-twenty?”
Tang Mu-yeong’s face turned pale, then blue.
How could soone manage twenty wives?
It didn’t make sense, physically or logically.
Perhaps the customs of the Cheonma Shinkyo were different.
Was this sothing he needed to understand?
As he pondered, Tang So-yeong continued.
“That’s still a small number. In the short term, there will be hundreds; in the long term, thousands.”
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!”
“Why are you shouting again? You scared !”
Hearing her words, Tang Mu-yeong quickly covered his mouth.
“I-I’m sorry…”
Scared the child, she said.
Cursing his foolish mouth, Tang Mu-yeong slapped his lips in frustration.
“…Would it be possible for to et this Gomodo Dae-hyeop?”
Perhaps it wasn’t Tang So-yeong he should be speaking to, but Gomodo himself.
Tang So-yeong hesitated, then exchanged glances with the nearby spiders.
“Hmm… Well, since you’re my brother, I suppose I can trust you.”
“Kioong.”
“The Spider Ladies agree too, don’t you?”
“Kieng.”
The sight of Tang So-yeong conversing with spiders left Tang Mu-yeong bewildered.
“Oh, these are the second and third,” she explained.
Second and third followers.
Technically, they were the first and second, but since Nephila always stayed by Gomodo’s side, their rank had shifted back.
Even hearing this, Tang Mu-yeong couldn’t make sense of it.
Spiders were the second and third?
“What… what do you an?”
“These Spider Ladies are the second and third followers, of course.”
“So… they’re Gomodo Dae-hyeop’s…?”
Tang Mu-yeong’s mind raced, trying to determine if this was physically possible.
“Is that… even allowed?”
“Gomodo Dae-hyeop doesn’t discriminate between species. There are wolves, snakes… even birds now.”
“Wolves… snakes… and birds?”
What kind of combination was this?
Even with his imagination, Tang Mu-yeong couldn’t piece together the image.
“So… humans… spiders… snakes… birds… wolves…”
Even as he spoke, it sounded absurd to him.
“And you’re saying there are twenty… no, hundreds more?”
“Yes. Because it’s Gomodo Dae-hyeop.”
What exactly was Gomodo?
How could soone embrace hundreds, even thousands, of non-human partners?
And why was Tang So-yeong so cheerful about it?
“…Can he really handle it? All of them, on his own?”
“Oh, that’s the easiest thing for Gomodo Dae-hyeop.”
Tang Mu-yeong and Tang So-yeong’s conversation seed misaligned, yet the core question remained unchanged.
Tang Mu-yeong pressed his hand to his forehead.
His head was beginning to ache.
It felt as though his mind was being flooded with more knowledge than it could handle.
“So… what did those second and third followers have to say?”
“They said bringing you along should be fine.”
Hearing it secondhand had its limits.
Tang Mu-yeong still wasn’t entirely sure what he was hearing.
He decided that eting this Gomodo Dae-hyeop in person was the only way forward.
“Alright, I shouldn’t waste ti here. Does this Gomodo Dae-hyeop have any particular preferences? It’d be better to bring a gift than show up empty-handed. I brought so treasures and valuables along… maybe that would suffice.”
“A gift? Hmm, let’s see… He doesn’t really care much for treasures or valuables.”
Tang Mu-yeong let out a sigh of relief.
Whatever kind of person this Gomodo was, his lack of interest in wealth was a good sign.
“Well, what does he like the most, then?”
“Hmm… It’s nothing you could give him. But after that… probably food? He seems to like large portions of at.”
“Large portions of at? Well, on the way here, I saw a plump pheasant. It looked quite appetizing. I suppose I could catch it for him, even if it’s a small gesture.”
“A pheasant? Hmm, I don’t think that’d even be a mouthful for him.”
Not even a mouthful?
What did she an by that?
A plump pheasant was large enough that even an adult man couldn’t finish it alone.
“He must have quite the appetite. Well, I suppose that’s fine.”
“…I think you’re misunderstanding. It’s not an exaggeration—he’d literally eat it in one bite.”
Tang Mu-yeong scoffed.
“Hah, what nonsense is that? No human could—”
He stopped mid-sentence, covering his mouth.
He had nearly called the man a beast—his future brother-in-law, no less.
“…My foolish tongue.”
“Huh? No, it’s fine. You’re not wrong, after all.”
Not wrong?
“Don’t tell … he acts like a beast in bed?”
“What are you talking about? He acts like a beast during the day too.”
“He doesn’t even wait for nightfall? This insolent—!”
By then, Tang So-yeong realized that Tang Mu-yeong had misunderstood sothing.
And it wasn’t hard to figure out what it was.
She hadn’t revealed Gomodo’s true identity.
Tang So-yeong didn’t want to be the one to explain it—it would just make things more troubleso.
She decided it would be better for Gomodo to handle that himself.
Still, she thought it might be a bit much to keep everything hidden, so she decided to reveal a little more.
“Well, Gomodo Dae-hyeop is a lizard.”
A brief silence followed.
Tang Mu-yeong’s mouth hung slightly open as he stared blankly, his expression oddly similar to Tang So-yeong’s when she was lost in thought.
“…A lizard?”
“Yes, a very large lizard.”
There was no better description for him.
“So… Gomodo Dae-hyeop isn’t human but a lizard?”
“Exactly!”
“And my little sister… is with a lizard…”
Tang Mu-yeong, who was already misunderstanding the situation far more deeply than Tang So-yeong realized, was struck speechless.
“Kuh…!”
He staggered, coughing up blood, before collapsing.
“…What’s wrong with him now?”
*
Crunch!
Tang So-yeong looked down at the fallen wild boar.
This should be enough at.
If the Red Dragon were here, she’d need to hunt another, but the dragon was currently visiting the Hwasan Sect.
Hopefully, she’s doing alright.
Tang So-yeong wasn’t too worried.
Even if the Red Dragon failed her mission, she could easily take care of herself.
A massive spiritual beast that flew through the skies, spewing fireballs—how could anyone stop her?
They’d probably just let her go, praying she wouldn’t cause more destruction.
And even without making a scene, the Red Dragon was strong enough to defeat even Akbulhwi, a grandmaster of the Flowering Sword Technique. Surely, they’d just beg her to leave peacefully.
Having the Red Dragon around made cooking at easier, though.
It had been so long since she’d had at.
Plain roasted at wouldn’t do this ti.
She needed sothing spicier, sothing that would stir her soul.
Yes, sothing with heat.
She wanted fiery, spicy food.
Sothing that would explode with flavor, leaving her mouth tingling.
…Was there anything like that around here?
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