Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

The next day.

“All of this?”

At Wei Yan-ho’s sickened voice, Moon Eun-ji inwardly cheered.

“That’s right!”

“……You want me to split all of this?”

In front of Wei Yan-ho was a mountain of firewood piled up.

Looking at the firewood stacked up to above a person’s head, Wei Yan-ho was dumbfounded.

The wood here was firewood that Hanrim Grand Estate had diligently collected to get through winter. It was the amount dozens of people would barely burn through the entire winter, so the quantity couldn’t be small.

“It’s not that much!”

Wei Yan-ho shook his head vigorously.

“Humanly speaking, isn’t it unreasonable to ask me to split all of this in one day?”

“Why? Can’t you do it?”

“Of course not. Who could split all this in one day!”

Moon Eun-ji smiled slyly.

“No good. You have to earn your keep. Split it all by today. Or you can leave.”

“……I have no choice.”

Wei Yan-ho shuffled his steps.

“Where are you going?”

“To your father.”

Moon Eun-ji blocked Wei Yan-ho’s path.

“Why father!”

“Even if I’m leaving, I should at least greet him.”

“Are you going to leave?”

“I have to leave, what else can I do. I could never split all that in one day, even if it killed me.”

Moon Eun-ji smiled slightly.

“That’s too bad. Then farewell.”

“Yeah, thanks. Well then, I’ll be going.”

Moon Eun-ji watched Wei Yan-ho’s back as he walked away obediently, seized by a strange sense of foreboding.

“W-wait a moment!”

“What?”

“What are you planning to tell father?”

“What do you mean? I should thank him and say I’m envious.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I should thank him for letting me stay until now, and say I’m envious that he can employ a worker capable of splitting such a pile of firewood in one day.”

In an instant, Moon Eun-ji’s face turned pale.

“Y-you!”

“Honestly, I’d like to see him once. That’s amazing. But well, if that person were here now, he wouldn’t have given the job to me, so I’ll just say I’m envious and go.”

Moon Eun-ji’s face contorted.

“N-no, you can’t!”

“What?”

“Father is busy, so you can just leave without greeting him!”

Wei Yan-ho shook his head.

“A person can’t do that after receiving kindness.”

“No, still……”

“Don’t worry. It’s just a quick greeting.”

Finally, Moon Eun-ji surrendered.

“Fine, I get it. Then finish it within a week.”

“A week?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a bit short……”

“A week is enough, what more do you want! I absolutely cannot compromise beyond that.”

Wei Yan-ho smiled slyly.

“Alright. Then I’ll do it over the week. If I finish a little early, I can rest, right?”

“Go ahead! But if you don’t finish within a week, I won’t let it slide!”

“Whew~! How scary.”

Moon Eun-ji narrowed her brow.

She really, really hated that shameless attitude.

With every gesture and word, he scratched at people’s nerves—he was a complete troublemaker.

“Within a week! Got it?”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

Wei Yan-ho walked away with a cheerful smile.

“……Where are you going?”

“To rest.”

“Rest! Why are you resting! Why! I told you to finish all that within a week!”

“I will.”

“Then where are you going!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll finish it within a week. I’m just taking my future rest time in advance.”

“Hey!”

“I told you not to worry.”

Wei Yan-ho chuckled and went to his room.

Moon Eun-ji watched Wei Yan-ho’s retreating figure and ground her teeth.

“Just try not to finish on time!”

Then she would definitely drive that detestable person out of this place.

Moon Eun-ji resolved this again and again.

A day passed, two days passed, and another day went by, but Wei Yan-ho showed no signs of working.

Unable to bear it any longer, Moon Eun-ji stormed into Wei Yan-ho’s room.

“What exactly are you doing!”

From inside a cocoon made of blankets, Wei Yan-ho’s head slowly emerged.

“……What now?”

“Aren’t you going to work?”

“I will.”

“Then why are you like this!”

“There are still three days left.”

“You’re not planning to say you can’t do it on the last day and then leave, are you?”

Wei Yan-ho’s face became quite serious.

“What a clever idea!”

“You really are……”

Wei Yan-ho chuckled.

“Then just kick me out when that time comes.”

“Do you think I’m doing this to kick you out?”

“Aren’t you?”

Moon Eun-ji stammered in confusion.

“I-it’s not like that.”

“Then never mind.”

Moon Eun-ji had nothing more to say and could only stare at Wei Yan-ho blankly.

While what he said was technically correct, who would be so direct about it?

“Anyway, you must finish on time! Or I really won’t let it slide!”

“I said I got it.”

Wei Yan-ho waved his hand dismissively as if annoyed, then wrapped himself in the blanket again and fell asleep. Moon Eun-ji glared at Wei Yan-ho with sharp eyes before leaving the room.

“I really won’t let it slide!”

After fuming for a while, Moon Eun-ji spun around so sharply that cold wind seemed to blow, and walked away.

Wei Yan-ho slightly opened his eyes.

‘She’s desperate to torment people.’

What a woman with a strange personality.

A week later.

“Good heavens……”

Moon Eun-ji stared ahead with a dumbfounded expression.

“How could he do all this……”

Before her eyes, the mountain of firewood was neatly cut and stacked up properly. Even if ten strong men worked for ten straight days, they could never finish this amount.

Yet that impossible person had somehow finished this enormous amount in just seven days and nights.

No, not seven days and nights.

Hadn’t she seen with her own eyes that he was just lounging around without working until yesterday?

In the end, the time Wei Yan-ho actually worked was at most half a day.

In just that half day, he had accomplished this tremendous task.

“What kind of person……”

Moon Eun-ji called a passing servant.

“Wait a moment.”

“Yes, miss. What is it?”

“Did you see this firewood being split?”

The servant shook his head with a puzzled expression.

“I didn’t see it……”

“Was this here yesterday?”

“It wasn’t there even last night. That’s why I thought the miss had bought firewood from somewhere. I did think it was strange that the original logs had disappeared……”

“……I see.”

“Yes. Then I’ll be going.”

Moon Eun-ji looked at the pile of firewood with a stunned expression, then turned around.

“What trick did he pull!”

Moon Eun-ji let out a sharp voice and ran to Wei Yan-ho’s quarters.

“What exactly did you!”

Moon Eun-ji roughly opened the door and entered, about to shout, but closed her mouth.

“Where did he go!”

Wei Yan-ho was nowhere to be seen.

The blanket that Wei Yan-ho always wrapped himself in was empty inside, looking strangely like shed skin.

Moon Eun-ji clenched her fists and looked around Wei Yan-ho’s traces with a wronged expression.

She had thought she could definitely drive him out this time!

To split all that firewood in just one night—firewood that ten strong men working for seven days and nights couldn’t finish!

How does this make any sense?

“Ahhh! So frustrating!”

Moon Eun-ji couldn’t contain her irritation and screamed.

“Where did that man go!”

Wei Yan-ho whistled.

“Ah, this is troublesome.”

The voice coming from below sharply pierced Wei Yan-ho’s ears.

Wei Yan-ho smiled slyly.

“What an ill-tempered young lady.”

Wei Yan-ho leisurely tilted his head back.

The blue sky was visible.

Though the weather was still chilly, the rooftop with its blowing wind wasn’t too bad either.

Not being able to cover himself with a blanket was unsatisfying, but being able to avoid the eyes of that nagging woman was advantage enough.

“But why is that woman so desperate to get rid of me?”

Wei Yan-ho chuckled as he listened to Moon Eun-ji’s shouting.

She seemed like a docile lamb in front of her father, but toward Wei Yan-ho, she acted more viciously than a wildcat, it was truly strange.

There could be various reasons.

Since she was a woman raised in a place like Hanrim Grand Estate, she might not like Wei Yan-ho’s every action, or perhaps the behavior that woman was showing now was her true nature.

Her true nature that she couldn’t dare show in front of her strict father. Her suppressed nature might have emerged upon meeting the variable called Wei Yan-ho.

“It doesn’t matter either way.”

Wei Yan-ho lay down comfortably at the edge of the eaves. Then a cool breeze blew, tickling his nose.

This was a luxury he could never enjoy when living in the cave.

Warm meals and comfortable sleeping quarters.

And just the absence of a master urging him to train was enough to satisfy Wei Yan-ho with this life.

But this life couldn’t possibly continue forever.

‘What am I supposed to see and feel, Master?’

He had come to the Scholarly World and seen many things, but nothing particularly struck him.

Even the Scholarly World wasn’t much different.

Some people devoted their lives to scholarship and worked diligently, but others just had books open without knowing what they were doing.

Some people did their best for what they believed was right, but never questioned whether it was truly right.

What Wei Yan-ho felt from coming here was only that they too were no different from ordinary people.

‘I don’t particularly feel anything.’

Wei Yan-ho closed his eyes.

If he gained nothing from the Scholarly World, he might have to head somewhere else now.

There was no guarantee that the prohibition his master had placed would be lifted just by staying in the Scholarly World.

“Where are you!”

Wei Yan-ho flinched at Moon Eun-ji’s sharp voice coming from below.

‘One thing I understand: I need to be careful of women.’

That might be an enlightenment of sorts.

Wei Yan-ho carefully climbed up the eaves to avoid being caught by Moon Eun-ji, who was looking for him.

Since the sunlight was warm and nice today, it would be good to sleep on the rooftop.

“Ah, this is nice.”

Wei Yan-ho, sprawled out on the rooftop, whistled softly.

***

“He’s been staying without causing any trouble, hasn’t he?”

“……Do you think so?”

“Yes.”

Guangqushen sighed deeply.

“If you think so, then so be it.”

Sagan looked at Guangqushen with suspicious eyes.

“The real trouble is just beginning.”

“Just beginning?”

Guangqushen nodded.

“Didn’t I tell you? Wherever that guy goes, there’s never an end to upheaval. Who could have imagined that peaceful estate would experience such a major incident overnight! And with no warning signs at all.”

“What exactly happened?”

“Well, nothing much. Just the Eastern Bureau mobilizing, the Imperial Censorate mobilizing, involvement in treason, and the family nearly being destroyed overnight.”

“Eh?”

“What are you so surprised about? Where that guy goes, that level of incident is routine. Basically, you have to experience at least that much to think ‘Ah, Wei Yan-ho was here.'”

Sagan was speechless.

What exactly had happened at that peaceful estate for such terrifying words to come out?

“Haven’t I been telling you continuously?”

Guangqushen wore a bitter smile.

“Don’t expect common sense from that guy. You’ll always see beyond what you imagine.”

“……”