Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

“Father!”  

Moon Eun-ji shouted, her face twisted in anger. Despite her daughter barging in unannounced, Moon Yu-hwan greeted her with a calm expression, as if he had anticipated everything.  

“What is the matter?”

“Please say something to that man!”

“That man?”

“The new arrival!”

Moon Yu-hwan smiled faintly. It seemed she was referring to the eccentric man he had recently played Go with.  

“Now that I think of it, I never even asked for his name. Very well, what has he done wrong?”

Moon Eun-ji’s face flushed red as she spoke.  

“He hasn’t stepped outside his room all day!”

“And how is that a fault?”  

“Aside from eating the meals brought to his room, he sleeps all day! He’s been like this for seven days and nights since arriving!”

Moon Yu-hwan tilted his head.  

“Seven days and nights?”

“Yes! He hasn’t even washed—just slept for seven straight days! The bedding is practically growing mold!”

Moon Yu-hwan chuckled and said,  

“Then change the bedding more often.”

“Father!”

“What else is the issue?”

Moon Eun-ji’s face twisted in frustration.  

“Why are you letting him get away with this?”

“And what would you have me do?”

“You’ve always said laziness is a sin! You’ve emphasized the importance of diligence. So why aren’t you reprimanding him? Even if he’s a guest, his behavior is ruining the atmosphere. The other scholars are starting to murmur. If this continues, the estate’s morale will collapse!”

Moon Yu-hwan shook his head slowly.  

“If the sight of one lazy man disrupts their scholarly pursuits, then their lack of discipline is to blame—not the lazy man himself.”

“But Father—”

“Let him be.”

“……”

Moon Yu-hwan smiled gently.  

“Eun-ji.”

Hearing his soft tone, Moon Eun-ji seemed to realize she had overreacted and bowed her head.  

“Yes, Father.”

“Do you know why Go is called sudam?”[TL/N: Sudam means “Hand conversation”]

“I do not know.”

“It is literal. It is called sudam because you converse through your hands.”

“……”

Moon Yu-hwan spoke patiently, his voice filled with conviction.  

“I love Go. Through it, I can understand my opponent. Words can be guarded, expressions concealed, but one’s gipung cannot be hidden. It reflects the life they’ve lived.” [TL/N:  gipung means Playing Style]

“Yes.”

“An impatient person cannot play a leisurely game, nor can a calm person revel in aggression. Thus, one’s gipung reveals their nature and experiences.”

“But that doesn’t—”

“His gipung was exceedingly fierce and impatient. I have never seen such an extreme style before. From this, I can tell he is neither lazy nor leisurely. He must have lived a life harsher than we can imagine.” 

“……”

Moon Eun-ji bit her lip. Her father’s words were irrefutable; there was no room for argument.

“The brighter the sun, the darker the shadow. If he indulges in laziness now, it means his past life was that grueling. We do not shoo away birds seeking shelter from the rain, nor do we scold them for not flying through the storm. So, can we not let him rest a little longer?”

Moon Yu-hwan’s words were flawless wisdom, a testament to his character.  

But there was one thing he did not know.  

While it was true that gipung revealed one’s nature, Moon Yu-hwan had never imagined someone learning Go under circumstances as extreme as Wei Yan-ho’s.  

Thus, he had no way of knowing that Wei Yan-ho’s gipung was the complete opposite of his true personality.  

Moon Yu-hwan was gravely mistaken.  

“I understand.”

Though her face still showed discontent, Moon Eun-ji nodded, knowing she could not argue further.  

‘You’re being deceived!’

Logically, her father’s reasoning made sense, but her instincts screamed otherwise. A woman’s intuition whispered to her:  

That bizarre man who just arrived is nothing but trouble.

And her instincts were right.  

Had Moon Yu-hwan correctly gauged Wei Yan-ho’s true nature, his reaction would have been entirely different.  

This misunderstanding stemmed entirely from Wei Yan-ho’s distorted gipung.  

The tragedy was that Moon Yu-hwan, a man of common sense, had never imagined a human could be this lazy. Had Wei Yan-ho been only moderately lazy, he might have suspected something—but the sheer extremity of his sloth made Moon Yu-hwan assume it was the backlash of a harsh life.  

In truth, how could anyone sleep for seven days straight?  

Wei Yan-ho was simply that lazy, and Moon Yu-hwan was simply that reasonable—a tragic combination.  

“So, do not be too hard on him.”

“…Yes, Father. I will take my leave.”

As Moon Eun-ji carefully exited the room, Moon Yu-hwan chuckled softly and picked up a book.  

“Is it the wind…?”

Muttering to himself, he began reading.  

—

Moon Eun-ji stepped out with a displeased expression, then gritted her teeth and headed toward Wei Yan-ho’s room.  

If left unchecked, that lazybones would do nothing but drain the estate’s rice reserves. Times were already tough—they couldn’t afford to feed a freeloader like him.  

The moment she arrived, she flung the door open without hesitation and marched inside.  

“Ugh!”

A musty odor assaulted her nose.  

On the bed lay a giant cocoon—Wei Yan-ho, wrapped tightly in blankets. The sight was so revolting he might as well have been a giant slug.  

How could anyone not react to such a loud entrance?!  

“Wake up!”

She shouted, but Wei Yan-ho didn’t budge. She grabbed the blanket and yanked.  

“Hey, you!”

It didn’t move an inch.  

“Tch!”

She pulled harder, but the blanket might as well have been pinned under a thousand-pound boulder.

Moon Eun-ji’s eyes burned with fury.  

“I said wake up!”

If force wouldn’t work, volume would. She shrieked sharply, finally eliciting a response.  

“Why…?”

A weak voice escaped the cocoon.  

“The sun is at its zenith! Get up!”

“…Oh? Then talk to me after sunset.”

“Get up right now!”

No answer.  

Moon Eun-ji gnashed her teeth.  

“If you don’t get up immediately, I’ll douse you with cold water! And if that doesn’t work, I’ll set you on fire!”

Wei Yan-ho, unfazed by the threat of water, twitched at the word fire. The blanket loosened slightly, and his head popped out like a hatchling from an egg.  

“Ah, what do you want?”

“What do I want? What kind of person are you?! How can you laze around for seven days and nights in a place where others study?!”

“People study because they want to. I sleep because I want to. What’s the problem?”

“You’re killing everyone’s motivation!”

“I’ve just been holed up in my room. How is that my—”

Moon Eun-ji was at a loss for words.  

How can someone who looks this stupid argue so well?

“Enough! Even if that weren’t the case, I can’t stand seeing you roll around in unwashed bedding for seven days! Who do you think has to clean it?! Go wash up right now!”

Wei Yan-ho made a pitiful face.  

“But I have nothing to do…” 

“Now!”

He shook his head stubbornly.  

This was beyond unreasonable. He hadn’t expected to be scolded like this by someone who wasn’t even family.  

“Can’t I just stay here?”

“Then stop wasting our rice and go buy your own meals!”

Wei Yan-ho fell into thought.  

The old Wei Yan-ho would have gone back to sleep without hesitation, but the current Wei Yan-ho lacked the audacity.  

First, he had no money.  

Second, the meals provided here were quite good.  

Frankly, after years of eating nothing, anything would taste delicious.  

Since escaping the cave, indulging in laziness and enjoying meals had been his only joys. Now, one of them was about to be taken away.  

“Ugh…”

His decision was swift.  

Laziness was good, but food was non-negotiable.  

Had he never tasted it, it might have been different—but now, the pleasure of eating was something he could never give up. His five years with Baek Mu-han had instilled in him a new vice: Gluttony.  

“So if I wash up, it’s fine?”

“Yes!”

“And after that?”

“……”

“Can I go back to sleep?”

“No!”

Wei Yan-ho scowled.  

“I have nothing else to do anyway!”

“You have to earn your keep! You may not realize it, but our situation isn’t great. If you were studying, I’d understand, but we can’t afford to feed a freeloader like you!”

“But your father clearly said—”

“I handle the finances!”

“……”

Wei Yan-ho felt wronged.  

But what could he say when the lady of the house spoke like this?  

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“First, go wash up!”

“No, let me work first, then—”

“I can’t stand the smell, so wash up first! Do you understand me?!”

“Guh.”

Her sharp tone left no room for argument. Wei Yan-ho wordlessly trudged out.  

Moon Eun-ji shook her head in disbelief.  

As a daughter of Confucian teachings, she had always been careful with her words and actions, never once raising her voice like this to anyone else.  

But Wei Yan-ho was different.  

His laziness had the power to shatter the common sense she had lived by. Just by being lazy, he had rendered years of her disciplined upbringing useless.  

“How can someone like this exist?”

To Moon Eun-ji, Wei Yan-ho was an enigma incarnate.  

With a grimace, she picked up the blanket he had been wrapped in.  

“Ugh…”

Beneath it, the imprint of his body on the bed looked like a fossil.

“How can a person…?”

She shook her head in disbelief. As she gathered the bedding, someone else entered the room.  

“Huh?”

Startled, she cried out.  

“Who are you?”