Chapter 30

Chapter 30:

Moon Yu-hwan looked at the old man with eyes seeking permission.

The old man slowly nodded his head.

“Bring them in.”

“Yes.”

The door opened and Moon Eun-ji and Wei Yan-ho entered inside. Moon Eun-ji’s every movement and gesture was extremely cautious. However, Wei Yan-ho walked in with a thoroughly swollen face, trudging along. Just from that walk alone, one could tell how much Wei Yan-ho found the current situation bothersome.

Moon Yu-hwan smiled gently.

“I’m worried that I might have been rude by calling you so early in the morning. Did you sleep well?”

Wei Yan-ho answered bluntly.

“Yes, I slept very well. If only someone hadn’t poured cold water on my sleeping face, I could have slept a little better, which is unfortunate.”

Moon Yu-hwan silently glanced at Moon Eun-ji.

Moon Eun-ji turned her head away, avoiding Moon Yu-hwan’s gaze.

“Hehe, such a thing happened. Still, it’s fortunate that you seem to have slept soundly.”

“Yes, I slept soundly. I was just trying to sleep a little more because I was short on sleep, but if only someone hadn’t scratched my face with their fingernails, I could have slept more soundly, which is regrettable.”

Moon Yu-hwan’s bewildered gaze turned to Moon Eun-ji again.

But Moon Eun-ji’s gaze remained fixed on a distant place, showing no signs of returning.

“Ahem, is that so?”

Moon Yu-hwan found himself apologizing without realizing it.

“I’m sorry. It seems I caused a commotion early in the morning.”

“It’s not my place to complain when I’m receiving food and lodging. However, if you could refrain from such early mornings in the future, I would be grateful.”

Moon Yu-hwan looked outside the window.

The sun hanging in the middle of the sky was hiding behind clouds as if embarrassed.

“……I’m sorry.”

Moon Yu-hwan cleared his throat a few times, then turned his head toward the old man.

“This person is… hmm……”

The old man spoke directly.

“Just say I’m a passing old man.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“That’s an explanation that seems to have quite a story behind it.”

“Hoho, is that so?”

“The person who seems to have business with me is you, old man, isn’t it?”

The old man nodded.

“You guessed correctly.”

“What business do you have?”

The old man burst into hearty laughter.

“What business, you ask, young man. What business would I have with a Hanrim Academy member? Just to play a game of Go, that’s all.”

Wei Yan-ho glanced at Moon Yu-hwan.

Moon Yu-hwan smiled and nodded.

Wei Yan-ho responded to Moon Yu-hwan’s smile with a smile of his own, then looked at the old man and grinned broadly.

“That won’t do.”

“Huh?”

The old man looked at Wei Yan-ho with a bewildered expression.

“It won’t do?”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho answered nonchalantly.

“What do you mean by that? Aren’t you already having hand conversations with those who come to the manor?”

“You know well.”

“But you say I can’t?”

Wei Yan-ho shook his head.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t play Go with you, old man.”

“Then?”

Wei Yan-ho spoke with a resolute expression.

“It’s not that I won’t play Go with you, old man, but that you should follow the order. Since there are those who came first, I ask that you wait, old man.”

The old man looked at Wei Yan-ho with a slightly hardened expression, then soon burst into hearty laughter.

“Hehehehe! If it’s that kind of problem, you don’t need to worry. I’ll explain it well.”

But Wei Yan-ho was resolute.

“What won’t do, won’t do.”

The old man’s eyes widened slightly.

“Look here, didn’t I say I would explain it well?”

Wei Yan-ho waved his hand dismissively as if annoyed.

“Then go right now and get permission from everyone.”

“Must I go that far?”

“People have been waiting three or four days just to play one game of Go. They may not look particularly lovely to me, but I must acknowledge the fact that they waited like that. There are people who have been waiting for days to follow the order, but if I suddenly play Go with you, old man, how frustrated would they be?”

“I said I can resolve that.”

Wei Yan-ho looked directly at the old man.

“That’s not called resolving. That’s called coercion.”

“……Coercion?”

“From what I can see, you seem to have quite a high position. If you speak, old man, others will have no choice but to give in. But they won’t be convinced.”

The old man felt his excuses becoming inadequate. Certainly, if he revealed his identity and asked for understanding, there wouldn’t be anyone who would openly refuse, but there definitely wouldn’t be many who would accept it with a willing heart.

“Five games a day. Playing Go with those who came first is a promise and principle that they and I established. I don’t want to break my promise with them, nor do I want to break my principles for your sake, old man.”

At Wei Yan-ho’s resolute words, the old man looked at him with a renewed expression.

Isn’t this someone with more backbone than expected?

The old man exchanged glances with Moon Yu-hwan.

But Moon Yu-hwan also seemed to have no particular solution, merely showing an awkward expression. Well, asking Moon Yu-hwan, an upright scholar, to break the principles established by his opponent would be unreasonable.

‘This is troublesome.’

If asked to wait for a game or two of Go, he would have been prepared to wait.

But now Wei Yan-ho was telling the old man to follow the order. Even the old man knew that there were easily more than ten people waiting to play Go with Wei Yan-ho.

That meant wasting at least three days here, which was impossible given how urgent the situation was.

“Can’t something be done?”

“Why can’t it be done? Just wait, I’m telling you.”

“Hmm.”

The old man shook his head vigorously.

There was no getting through to him at all.

He glanced at Moon Yu-hwan to ask for help, but he too only kept bowing his head apologetically.

‘What should I do?’

The principle and justification were on their side. While he couldn’t wait indefinitely due to the difficult situation, these Confucian scholars couldn’t ask others to break principles either, so there was no way out.

As the old man and Moon Yu-hwan were stuck unable to do this or that, Moon Eun-ji, who had been silently observing the situation, spoke up.

“Father.”

Moon Yu-hwan looked at Moon Eun-ji.

“Speak.”

“I think I can resolve this.”

Moon Yu-hwan’s face brightened at Moon Eun-ji’s words.

“You?”

“Yes.”

When Moon Yu-hwan looked at the old man, the old man also nodded.

Moon Yu-hwan was curious about what method his intelligent and witty daughter might have. Come to think of it, it was also true that Moon Eun-ji was the person who had spent the most time with Wei Yan-ho since he came to Hanrim Grand Academy, so she would know Wei Yan-ho best.

Being such a Moon Eun-ji, it wouldn’t be nonsense.

“Speak.”

Once Moon Yu-hwan’s permission was given, Moon Eun-ji looked at Wei Yan-ho and smiled.

“Why don’t you just play one game?”

“I said no.”

However, Wei Yan-ho bluntly rejected Moon Eun-ji’s proposal.

His mood was already bad from what happened in the morning, so why would he listen to her words just because she was pretty?

“I understand, so just play.”

“No!”

“I’ll cancel the remaining Go games you have to play today with just this one game.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Moon Eun-ji with intense eyes.

Moon Eun-ji smiled triumphantly.

Principles?

Promises?

The Wei Yan-ho that Moon Eun-ji had observed all this time was absolutely not someone who would be obsessed with such things.

The reason Wei Yan-ho refused was because the Go game with the old man wouldn’t count toward the number of games he had to play.

If he played Go like this and told others that he had already played one game so he would only play four games today, it obviously wouldn’t work.

Even if the old man explained the situation, it was uncertain whether that would work or not.

So why should he take such a risk?

At such a time, Moon Eun-ji’s proposal approached Wei Yan-ho very sweetly.

“……Really?”

Moon Eun-ji asked Moon Yu-hwan for permission.

“Is it alright?”

Moon Yu-hwan nodded with a reluctant expression.

“I can explain that much well.”

Moon Eun-ji grinned.

“Is it okay now?”

But Wei Yan-ho spoke in a blunt tone as if he had never been pleased.

“Hmm, it’s tempting, but since I’m someone who has principles and propriety, such a method……”

Moon Eun-ji cut off Wei Yan-ho’s words.

“Not until tomorrow. If you want to rest even today, don’t make trouble.”

Wei Yan-ho’s face twitched.

He thought he might be able to get something more if he negotiated well, but Moon Eun-ji’s attitude was too resolute.

“How about just one game tomorrow……”

“No.”

Wei Yan-ho’s face trembled.

“Don’t be like that, let’s have a conversation first……”

“There’s nothing to discuss. No means no.”

Wei Yan-ho’s head drooped like a sick chicken.

“Cold-blooded woman!”

“Even if you say worse things, no means no. Just exempting you from today’s games is already being very generous.”

Wei Yan-ho sighed.

A person must know when to retreat.

If he tried to use tricks to get something more now, he might lose something bigger.

“It can’t be helped.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at the old man.

“Hehe, let’s begin.”

The old man looked at Wei Yan-ho with a reluctant expression for a moment, then turned to look at Moon Yu-hwan. Moon Yu-hwan avoided the old man’s gaze and slyly turned his head away.

‘A talent?’

The old man’s sharp gaze pierced Moon Yu-hwan’s back.

‘A hidden dragon concealing himself?’

The sharper the old man’s eyes became, the more Moon Yu-hwan’s back flinched.

The old man sighed and looked at Wei Yan-ho again. When he first came after hearing the story from Moon Yu-hwan, he thought he would be someone substantial.

When he first saw Wei Yan-ho in person, he thought he seemed frivolous—yet there was something hidden beneath the surface. But the impression of Wei Yan-ho he faced today was, honestly speaking……

‘The worst.’

The old man sighed deeply.

‘Only his mouth is alive, only his mouth!’

If he had been at least inarticulate in speech, the impression would have been better, but what he was doing was typical of a swindler. If such a fellow had taken the civil service examination, the old man would have torn up his answer sheet without even looking at it.

He had the look of someone who would ruin the country.

‘Was this a wasted trip?’

He also considered the possibility that Wei Yan-ho was acting frivolously to hide something.

But the old man hadn’t lived in vain all this time.

He had the eye to distinguish between such acting and actual personality.

The old man’s eye was telling him that the personality of the man before him matched perfectly with what he was seeing.

But……

Something keeps bothering him.

When looking at his appearance, conversation, and behavior, it seemed unnecessary to waste time, but something keeps bothering him. That bit of uneasiness was what kept the old man from getting up from his seat now.

‘Conversation won’t be very meaningful.’

The old man immediately ordered the Go board to be brought in and took the white stones. The old man, like Moon Yu-hwan, was someone who believed he could know his opponent through hand conversation.

‘Let’s see, what kind of fellow you are.’

Whatever appeared on the surface, engaging in hand conversation would reveal what was inside.

The old man gripped the Go stones tightly.

The old man burned with determination to thoroughly uncover what the man before him was hiding.

However, the old man’s efforts were destined to be in vain.

No matter how much he dug and dug again, it would be impossible to find anything inside Wei Yan-ho.

How could one create something that wasn’t there to begin with?

Not knowing what kind of person Wei Yan-ho was turned out to be the old man’s greatest misfortune.