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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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Bang, bang, bang, bang!!
Initially, the hour of Shen, which is 7 a.m., is not the time I usually wake up.
Fundamentally, the lifestyle of the people of the Central Plains is to wake up at dawn and go to sleep when the sun sets.
Still, since Sacheon is a bustling city, mornings are late, and nights are long.
Usually, people start to work around the hour of Si (9 a.m.), similar to modern people.
I wake up around the hour of Chen, around 8 a.m., do light stretches, eat breakfast, and prepare for the day.
However, martial artists are adherents of the strange folk belief that one can only progress by receiving the essence of dawn, so most outcasts aiming for realm advancement wake up between the hours of Yin and Mao, train their martial arts for an hour or two, and prepare for the day’s requests.
In other words, unless they exerted much strength the previous day and are incredibly fatigued, outcasts wake up between 4-6 a.m.
I don’t know what the outcasts ate wrong, but they started knocking on my door when I was still deep in dreamland.
Bang, bang, bang!!
“Wake up! The promised time is already approaching, what are you dawdling for!”
“You bastards! Whose side are you on!”
“Oh ho, we are the judges. We have to watch to ensure a fair match takes place.”
The crazy outcasts started knocking on my door 1 gak before the promised time.
You bastards, I’m the outcast, and Tang Do-gyeong is the outsider.
Feeling like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse, I staggered down to find Tang Do-gyeong already seated, looking like he had broken a sweat.
Why is he sweating?
As if reading my puzzled gaze, Tang Do-gyeong smiled and said,
“Hahaha! I arrived a whole shichen early because I was so excited for today’s match.”
That sent a chill down my spine just now.
Could he have come two hours early and waited because he worried I might run away?
He said he came to the Outcast Inn at five in the morning and stayed there, which was a bit scary.
“And then I saw the outcasts training, you see?”
Outcasts’ training’?
“I had only heard bad rumors about Sacheon outcasts until now. But the heat rising from the training ground from early dawn was not inferior to any sect!”
Well, that’s true.
Even if the outcasts are heartless friends who sacrifice their comrades to outsiders, their desire to advance their realm is on the higher side.
“So this Tang Mo shamelessly observed them, and their training was extraordinary, not something that could be achieved with just a day or two of effort! So how could I not exclaim in admiration! I just judged the outcasts based on the rumors floating around outside, and my head automatically bowed.”
Yeah, the outside rumors are apparent.
Outcasts don’t train and just drink alcohol late into the night, something like that.
If you gather all the bad things said about the Sacheon outcasts, that’s precisely it.
“Even though their hearts could have been broken amidst such stigma, just seeing them silently honing their martial arts inside the inn made the magnanimity in this Tang Mo’s heart burn like an active volcano! That’s why I requested a match before the promised time and warmed up a bit.”
“….I see.”
I finally understood why the outcasts had been banging on my door from early morning.
The realm of transcendence is so lofty that in all of Sacheon, with its numerous sects, there are only 3 people at that level.
The peak of thousands and tens of thousands of sects, the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans, so it’s possible to reach transcendence in one’s twenties, but for other sects, it’s like plucking stars from the sky.
Even looking through the history of Sacheon outcasts, one can see that only three outcasts had reached transcendence.
Considering that Sacheon outcasts serve as a stepping stone where talented outcasts from all over the Nine Provinces gather, one can imagine how distant the realm of transcendence is.
And a transcendent master is offering guidance matches, basically sparring, with them?
Moreover, is the transcendent master offering the guidance match praising and acknowledging the Sacheon outcasts?
Why wouldn’t the Sacheon outcasts want to be acknowledged?
They gathered here because Sacheon is the only place where they can raise their martial arts realm.
Although it’s the result of their choice, the desire to be acknowledged is one of the fundamental human desires.
Recognition is important, but equally important is the person giving the recognition.
As it happened, the person giving that recognition was none other than Tang Do-gyeong, a righteous man among righteous men, a hero among heroes, who had moved the outcasts sick and tired of only playing supporting roles to fake righteous factions all their lives?
So the outcasts got all excited and rushed to my room, banging on the door to drag me out and offer me to Tang Do-gyeong so they could do something for him.
I looked around with eyes filled with a sense of betrayal.
You bastards, no matter what, how can you just offer up a comrade who has shared joys and sorrows with you for 7 years like this?
I glared at them with those implications, but the outcasts glared back and urged me instead.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and start.”
“Can’t you see Hero Tang is waiting!”
“What are you doing with Hero Tang’s precious time!”
Is this the ephemerality of life?
Even if it was for the sake of gambling proficiency, the fact that I fed silver to the outcasts doesn’t change.
But these bastards have entirely forgotten the memory of the silver they received back then and are offering me up like this.
“Hahaha, I’m fine. You need time to warm up and prepare, right?”
“Oh ho! It’s already been half of half of half a gak since the hour of Mao passed! What have you been doing without preparing!”
“I’m so disappointed in you!”
Overwhelmed by the barrage of mindless criticism, my mind went blank.
Tang Do-gyeong smiled good-naturedly and tried to stop the outcasts, but the more he did that, the more the outcasts went wild.
“….Fine… Let’s do the shell game.”
In the end, the only way to shut the mouths of the outcasts was to start the match.
Turned into a wreck at 7 a.m., I put the dice in the wooden cups and prepared the shell game.
As soon as the game started, the mindless criticism from the outcasts stopped, but…
“It’s here.”
Of course, there was no dice where Tang Do-gyeong pointed.
“Ah..!”
“I also thought it was there!”
The atmosphere was strange.
This was clearly the Outcast Inn, and I was the outcast, while Tang Do-gyeong was the outsider,
But Tang Do-gyeong was receiving countless cheers as if he were on his home turf, and I felt like I had become the villainous challenger who had come for an away game.
Every time Tang Do-gyeong got it wrong, the sighs of disappointment grew louder.
Every time Tang Do-gyeong got it wrong, the outcasts would clench their fists, trembling or slapping their foreheads and sighing, and seeing that, I could only laugh now.
The over-immersed outcasts were excitedly making a fuss over this shell game as if they had bet their own money on it, and watching them, I could gain some life lessons.
I could see how terrifying a person’s virtue (德) could be.
It was no exaggeration to say that Tang Do-gyeong, who had risen to become the most likable person in the Outcast Inn, had already grasped the Sacheon outcast world.
After the promised one hour passed, Tang Do-gyeong consoled the outcasts who were grumbling as if they had lost the gamble themselves.
“Hero Tang, I look forward to our meeting tomorrow.”
“Of course, I will come at the same time tomorrow, so let’s discuss martial arts again then.”
Receiving the sendoff of numerous outcasts, Tang Do-gyeong exited with his shoulders proudly spread, looking like he could already be called the Outcast King without any sense of discomfort.
“Senior, what was that commotion from the morning… Yawn.”
Black Cat, who seemed to have lacked sleep due to the noise in the morning, sat in front of me.
“Yeah, don’t get me started…”
I wanted to pour out my grievances to Black Cat, but I was so wrecked since the morning that I didn’t even have the energy to vent my anger.
As I slurped the noodles with listless chopstick movements, Yu Sa-yeon, looking just as lethargic as me, took a seat.
Tang Do-gyeong’s mere presence here was a source of worry for Yu Sa-yeon.
On top of that, he was getting along so well with the outcasts, calling each other “Hero Tang” and “Outcast,” so how upset must she be?
Yu Sa-yeon couldn’t help but be as wilted as me.
“You look tired too, so I won’t say much. Got any countermeasures?”
“I contacted the Tang Clan.”
“But for the Tang Clan’s elite forces to take Tang Do-gyeong away without injuring him, several masters of his level would need to be dispatched, and I don’t know if that many masters will be sent…”
Tang Do-gyeong is a member of the Tang Clan.
So, to subdue him completely without injuring him and escort him back to the Tang Clan, 3-5 masters of Tang Do-gyeong’s level are needed.
That’s based on the premise of subduing him completely without injuring each other.
Since five transcendent masters needed to be mobilized, even the Tang Sect couldn’t prepare and send people overnight.
“Black Cat, got any good ideas?”
“Yawn? I don’t know. If Senior Ho doesn’t have a sharp solution, how would I?”
In desperation, I thought about seeking Black Cat’s help.
She seems to have some position in the forces of the underworld anyway.
If I receive help from her forces, wouldn’t some solution arise?
If I thoughtlessly receive help from Black Cat’s forces, I might be caught by the neck under the pretext of paying back the debt.
I don’t know Black Cat’s age, but she’s young and was dispatched as a field agent, so she probably doesn’t have a position to sway the forces.
If the forces Black Cat belongs to get greedy, Black Cat will also be in a difficult position, and my contract with Black Cat will also be shaken.
People don’t visit the Outcast Inn directly or through intermediaries because frequenting it would considerably blow one’s reputation and fame.
Even if there’s a justification for retrieving the Blood Jade Plaque, if this situation persists long-term, the perception that Tang Do-gyeong is openly mingling with Sacheon outcasts will arise, and this is a fatal damage to his honor that the Tang Sect absolutely cannot overlook.
If I just endured for a few days, the Tang Clan would take care of Tang Do-gyeong on their own.
“Innkeeper, sorry about this. Let’s just bear with it for a few days.”
“Sigh… Damn you, Ho Cheon-an…”
Yeah, let’s just endure for a few days.
The Tang Clan will probably send someone to handle it anyway.
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Just like that, 3 more days passed.
There was no news from the Tang Clan.
On the contrary, as if to make a mockery of my plan, Tang Do-gyeong said this:
“Would it be okay for me to become a Sacheon outcast and stay at this inn?”
Seeing Yu Sa-yeon faint and fall backward, I had a bad premonition.
I absolutely have to solve this myself.
And I had to do it fast.
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Ha