Faced with an unexpected situation, his mind went blank.
“What, why?”
Baek Woo Jin was unable to figure out why he was rejected, so he decided to ask the girl in front of him directly.
“You came here to find a request too, right?”
She nodded her head.
Baek Woo Jin pointed at the lousy requests posted on the board one by one and spoke passionately.
“Do you want to take on these crappy requests?”
She shook her head.
“Or did you not like this request?”
She shook her head again.
“Then why?”
After going around in circles, he finally returned to his initial question, “Why?”
After hesitating for a moment and fidgeting with her fingers, the girl took a step back and spoke with a trembling voice.
“You smell like alcohol…”
“Oh.”
The second drawback of the “drinking wine cultivation technique” that he originally thought was perfect had revealed itself.
My first impression is completely ruined!
He was a person who reeked of alcohol every day, which made anyone who saw him think he was either a lunatic or a drunkard.
Should I carry a perfume pouch… No, there’s no perfume here, so maybe an incense sachet.
If it were modern times, he would spray some deodorant around the house, but such things didn’t exist here.
The only thing that emitted fragrance here was an incense sachet, but it was very expensive, and it was difficult to carry unless you were from a wealthy clan.
Maybe a child from the Baek clan could carry one around, but Baek Woo Jin wasn’t one of them.
There’s no way they would buy an incense sachet for an abandoned child.
Since his cultivation progress had been stagnant for a long time, the Baek clan’s expectations of Baek Woo Jin had long since hit rock bottom.
As a result, after living frugally on the monthly allowance he received, there wasn’t even money left for snacks.
There was a fundamental solution though.
The higher his mastery of the “drinking wine cultivation technique” the more effective the treasure gourd becomes. At least that’s what the Drunken Immortal had said.
Even with the same ingredients, the taste and aroma of the cleanly brewed wine inside the treasure gourd varied greatly depending on his mastery of the “drinking wine cultivation technique”.
In reality, the Drunken Immortal drank enough every day to turn his face beet-red, yet his body only emitted a refreshing fragrance. There wasn’t even a hint of a foul or unpleasant odor on him.
“And, and….”
“…there’s more?”
He thought dealing with the smell of alcohol was enough, but it turned out it wasn’t.
“I’m suspicious….”
“…of me?”
She nodded her head.
“I heard that I have to be wary of people who are excessively kind….”
What was she talking about now?
Kind?
Baek Woo Jin had never done anything that could be considered kind to the girl in front of him.
He had merely approached her and asked if she would like to accompany him on a request, and she had refused. How was that kind?
“I’m just curious, so I’m asking you this.”
“Go ahead….”
“Did my actions just now seem kind?”
She silently nodded her head.
“Wh-Which part?”
“You talked to me… a-and invited me on a request… heuff!”
She was speaking in a barely audible voice when she suddenly started to whimper.
“I’m sorry… it’s just been so, so long since I’ve talked to anyone….”
Baek Woo Jin considered himself to have a good eye for people. Therefore, he believed his assessment of the woman before him was perfect.
Wow, she’s the real deal.
But he had misjudged.
Baek Woo Jin asked with a sense of disbelief.
“When was the last time you spoke to someone…?”
She started raising her fingers one by one.
Three fingers were raised.
No way.
Surely, each finger doesn’t represent a month.
“Th-Three months ago….”
Oh my god.
What Baek Woo Jin wanted was a quiet companion.
Someone who would only talk about work and focus solely on the request without any personal chatter.
“My name is… Yeon Ji.”
“Yes, Miss Yeon Ji.”
“And you are… Sir Baek Woo Jin, right?”
“Y-Yes, that’s right…”
But how did she know?
“I watched your last duel… It, it was really amazing.”
She even complimented him.
“Actually, I-I’ve seen you a few times….”
He definitely didn’t want personal talks.
She wasn’t just gloomy; she was so starved for human connection that she seemed on the verge of collapse.
Despite her stammering, the continuous conversation was making him feel dizzy.
Thinking he couldn’t go on like this, Baek Woo Jin seized a brief pause between her words.
“Excuse me, Miss Yeon Ji?”
“Y-Yes…!”
She responded quickly and lifted her head before immediately bowing it again.
“I’m sorry, but I need to find someone to go on a request with….”
He was about to say he didn’t have time for more conversation.
“P-Please, go with me.”
In the brief moment he hesitated, she had seized the opportunity.
“…But you just said earlier you wouldn’t go with me?”
“Th-That was because I didn’t know you well then….”
He doubted she knew him any better now.
He couldn’t bring himself to speak harshly to her face.
“Well, this is my first time going on a request with someone, s-so I’m really nervous. Whew, whew.”
It was a problem that he wasn’t cold-hearted enough to criticize someone who was so excited she had to take deep breaths.
So, he gave up.
“Then…. shall we go accept our request?”
“Yes…!”
To accept the request, they had to report to the instructor in charge. Only then could they officially acknowledge their absence during the request period.
There were four instructors in charge of the first-years. Baek Woo Jin headed to the office of instructor Yeom Cheol Jin who was the most memorable among them.
“Instructor, it’s Baek Woo Jin.”
“Come in.”
When he opened the door and entered, Yeom Cheol Jin who was sitting at his desk stood up to welcome Baek Woo Jin and Yeon Ji who followed behind him.
“Welcome, student Baek Woo Jin. And behind you… hmm?”
“Ah, hello….”
Instructor Yeom Cheol Jin’s face showed signs of surprise at the unexpected pair.
“What brings you two here?”
“We’re here to accept a request.”
“Hmm… a request for the two of you, I see.”
It was a fairly dangerous request where they might encounter a demon. Normally, he would have absolutely prevented them from going, but he thought that Baek Woo Jin who was standing before him now could handle it.
“I’ll quickly take care of it and return with Miss Yeon.”
He was sincere.
Even if it meant pushing the merchant group hard, he was determined to minimize the request duration.
“If it’s the two of you, it should be fine… But did you say Miss Yeon?”
Feeling something was off, Yeom Cheol Jin asked again and Baek Woo Jin nodded his head.
“Yes, I’m talking about Miss Yeon Ji.”
Since her name was Yeon Ji, he thought it made sense to call her Miss Yeon.
While he was thinking that, Yeom Cheol Jin said something surprising.
“This…. Shouldn’t she be called Miss Jegal, to be precise?”
“…What?”
A surprised Baek Woo Jin quickly turned his head to look at Yeon Ji.
“Jegal Yeon Ji?”
“Yes…?”
She replied.
One of the Five Great Clans.
It was a famous clan that was known for its expertise in academics, formation techniques, and tool making and monopolized the military position of the Murim Alliance. In terms of power, it was a famous clan that was second only to the Namgong clan.
She was a daughter of the Jegal clan.
Damn it.
It seemed like he had been deceived.
Could this be how a victim of fraud feels?
Baek Woo Jin who had barely parted ways with Jegal Yeon Ji and was returning to the dormitory couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been tricked.
“I definitely approached her first…”
He was certain he had started the conversation and proposed that she join him on the request.
So why did he feel so uneasy?
“Ah, whatever.”
Whether he had been deceived or not, he just needed to get it over with quickly.
Just when he tried to dismiss his complicated thoughts and opened the gourd to take another sip of liquor,
“Gege.”
Yoo Hwa Yeon who was standing near the men’s dormitory called out to him.
Her beauty shone brightly even under the dim sky.
“It looks like you’ve been somewhere.”
Her words snapped Baek Woo Jin out of his thoughts, and he smacked his lips as he closed the gourd’s lid.
“I was taking on a request. I still need to earn more points.”
“I see…”
Yoo Hwa Yeon lowered her head for a moment.
After a brief pause, she finally raised her head. Her eyes were now filled with a resolve he hadn’t noticed before.
“…I heard from Sir Namgong.”
“Oh.”
So that was the resolve she had.
Baek Woo Jin finally understood the determination reflected in her eyes.
“When… did you find out?”
“A month and thirteen days ago.”
Yoo Hwa Yeon’s expression darkened at his precise answer.
He actually wanted to say it had been about a month, but the memory of that day was still vividly clear in his mind.
Even though his soul had changed.
Is it regret or anger?
He couldn’t tell.
And honestly, he didn’t want to know.
“It must be partly my fault that you went missing during that low-rank mission.”
She hoped it wasn’t true.
She hoped it wasn’t because Baek Woo Jin had noticed her relationship with Namgong Soo before leaving for the mission, which caused him to become distracted and fail.
“Yes, that’s right. I have decided to start anew with young master Namgong.”
She continued with a sad smile.
“So… will you please break off our engagement?”
Memories Baek Woo Jin had never experienced flowed through his mind like a panorama.
“Okay.”
She didn’t know.
The “Baek Woo Jin” she was engaged to had already left this world as a lonely soul.
If it were that foolishly kind and gentle young man, what would he have said in this situation?
Would he have tried to hurt her a bit more with bitter words, or would he have kindly stepped back as he always did?
I don’t know.
I wish I could know, but I’ll never find out.
So from here, he would end it his way, the new Baek Woo Jin’s way.
“Thank you for taking care of this fool all this time.”
The fool referred to “Baek Woo Jin”.
He was fragile and gentle.
He was kind and easily trusted others.
He was too gullible and felt like dying from the smallest wounds.
The ones who had protected such a “Baek Woo Jin” were Yoo Hwa Yeon in front of him and his childhood friend Shin Ye Hwa.
Regardless of her true feelings, it was largely thanks to her that Baek Woo Jin who easily despaired after falling like a little child became a tenacious person.
“Let’s say the responsibility for the breakup falls on me.”
That…!
Yoo Hwa Yeon tried to say something with a shocked face but Baek Woo Jin raised his hand to stop her.
Though the end was the worst, she deserved recognition for her actions so far.
“No woman wants to marry a man who drinks so much every day.”
He shook the gourd hanging at his waist as he said those words.
If she cited his constant drinking and lack of proper training as reasons, they would be enough to justify the breakup.
Baek Woo Jin finally ended it with a bright smile directed at her.
“I hope you get what you want, Miss Yoo.”
With those words, Baek Woo Jin passed by her and disappeared into the dormitory.
“Ah….”
As soon as he left, Yoo Hwa Yeon collapsed to the ground.
Miss Yoo.
The words he had spoken with a smile and the name everyone called her clearly proved that their engagement had finally ended.
Even though what she had wished for had come true, she couldn’t understand why her heart felt so heavy and tight.
Leave a Reply