Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign Novel - Chapter 30

Chapter 30

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

The old man nodded slowly with his head.

“Bring them.”

“Yes.”

The door opened and Moon Eun-ji and Wei Yan-ho entered. Each movement and gesture of Moon Eun-ji was extremely cautious. However, Wei Yan-ho entered with a swollen face and walking with difficulty. With that walk alone, he noticed how worrying the situation was.

Moon Yu-hwan smiled softly.

“I’m worried I was rude to call you so early. Did you sleep well?”

Wei Yan-ho responded bluntly.

“Yes, I slept very well. If they hadn’t poured cold water on my face while I slept, I would have slept a little better, which is a shame.”

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

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

“Head, something like that happened, but it’s lucky you slept so well.”

“Yes, I slept deeply. I was just trying to sleep a little longer because I lacked sleep, but if someone hadn’t scratched my face with my fingernails, I could have slept better, which is unfortunate.”

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

But Moon Eun-ji’s gaze remained fixed in 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 looks like I made a fuss this morning.”

“It is not my duty to complain when I receive food and lodging. However, if you could avoid getting so early in the future, I would thank you.”

Moon Yu-hwan looked out the window.

The sun that hung in the middle of the sky hid behind the clouds as if it were ashamed.

I’m sorry.

Moon Yu-hwan cleared his throat a couple of times and then turned his head towards the old man.

“This person is… hmm…”

The old man spoke directly.

“Just say I’m an old man passing by.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

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

“Head, is that it?”

“The person who seems to have business with me is you, old man?”

The old man nodded.

“You guessed it correctly.”

“What business do you have?”

The old man burst into laughter.

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

Wei Yan-ho looked at Moon Yu-hwan.

Moon Yu-hwan smiled and nodded.

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

“That won’t do.”

“Huh?”

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

“Isn’t it going to work?”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho responded with indifference.

“What do you mean by that? Aren’t you already talking about hands with those who come to the mansion?”

“You know that well.”

“But you say I can’t?”

Wei Yan-ho shook his head.

– I didn’t say I wouldn’t play Go with you, man.

“Then?”

Wei Yan-ho spoke with a determined expression.

“It is not that I am not going to play Go with you, old man, but that you must follow the order. As some came first, I ask you to wait, old man.”

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

“Head, if it’s that kind of problem, don’t worry, I’ll explain it to you.”

But Wei Yan-ho was determined.

“What does not serve, does not serve.”

The old man’s eyes opened slightly.

– Look, didn’t I tell you I’d explain it well?

Wei Yan-ho shook his hand with disdain, as if he were upset.

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

“Do I have to go this far?”

“People have been waiting for three or four days just to play a game of Go. They may not seem especially nice to me, but I must admit they waited like this. 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 figure that out.”

Wei Yan-ho looked directly at the old man.

“That’s not called resolution, it’s called coercion.”

“Coercion?”

“From what I see, you seem to have a rather high position. If you speak, old man, the others will have no choice but to give in. But they will not be convinced.”

The elder felt that his excuses were insufficient. Certainly, if he revealed his identity and asked for understanding, no one would openly refuse, but definitely not many would enthusiastically accept it.

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

Faced with the determined words of Wei Yan-ho, the old man looked at him with a renewed expression.

Isn’t this a person with more character than expected?

The old man exchanged looks with Moon Yu-hwan.

But Moon Yu-hwan also did not seem to have a concrete solution, simply showing an uncomfortable expression. Well, asking Moon Yu-hwan, an upright scholar, to break the principles established by his opponent would be unreasonable.

“This is problematic.”

If he had been asked to wait for a game or two from Go, he would have been willing to wait.

But now Wei Yan-ho told 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 losing here for at least three days, which was impossible considering the urgency of the situation.

“Can’t you do something?”

“Why can’t you? Wait, I’m telling you.”

“Mmm.”

The old man shook his head vigorously.

There was no way to communicate with him.

He looked at Moon Yu-hwan for help, but he also continued to bow his head in an apology.

‘What do I have to do?’

The beginning and justification were on his side. While he could not wait indefinitely because of the difficult situation, these Confucian scholars could not ask others to break the principles either, so there was no way out.

While the old man and Moon Yu-hwan were stuck and unable to do this or that, Moon Eun-ji, who had been watching the situation in silence, spoke.

“Father.”

Moon Yu-hwan looked at Moon Eun-ji.

“Speak.”

“I think I can figure this out.”

Moon Yu-hwan’s face was illuminated by 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 the method his clever and ingenious daughter might have. On second thought, it was also true that Moon Eun-ji was the one who had spent the most time with Wei Yan-ho since he arrived at the Great Hanrim Academy, so she knew him better.

Being Moon Eun-ji like that, it wouldn’t be silly.

“Speak.”

Once Moon Yu-hwan received permission, Moon Eun-ji looked at Wei Yan-ho and smiled.

“Why don’t you play one game?”

“I said no.”

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

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

“I get it, so just play.”

“No!”

“I will cancel the Go games you have left to play today with just this 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 not at all someone who became obsessed with those things.

The reason Wei Yan-ho refused was because Go’s game with the old man would not count for the number of games he had to play.

If I played Go this way and told the others that I had already played a game and that’s why today I would only play four, obviously it wouldn’t work.

Even if the elder explained the situation, it was not clear whether that would work or not.

Why then should I take such a risk?

At that time, Moon Eun-ji’s proposal approached Wei Yan-ho with much sweetness.

“…really?”

Moon Eun-ji asked Moon Yu-hwan’s permission.

“Okay?”

Moon Yu-hwan nodded with a reticent expression.

“I can explain that very well.”

Moon Eun-ji smiled.

“Is it okay now?”

But Wei Yan-ho spoke in a sharp tone, as if he had never been happy.

“Hmm, it’s tempting, but since I’m a person with principles and decorum, such a method…”

Moon Eun-ji interrupted Wei Yan-ho’s words.

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

Wei Yan-ho’s face was tripped.

He thought he could get something else if he negotiated well, but Moon Eun-ji’s attitude was too determined.

“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.

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

“Cold-blooded woman!”

“Even if you say worse, it’s not no. The fact of exempting you from today’s games is already very generous.”

Wei Yan-ho sighed.

A person should know when to retire.

If I tried to use tricks to get something else now, I could lose something bigger.

“You can’t help it.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at the old man.

“Head, let’s start.”

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

‘A talent?’

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

‘A hidden dragon hiding?’

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

The old man sighed and looked back at Wei Yan-ho. “When he came after hearing the story of Moon Yu-hwan, he thought it would be someone important.

When he saw Wei Yan-ho in person for the first time, he thought it seemed frivolous, although there was something hidden beneath the surface. But the impression he had of Wei Yan-ho today was, honestly speaking…

‘The worst.’

The old man sighed deeply.

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

If at least he had been inarticulated in speaking, the impression would have been better, but what he did was typical of a fraudster. If such an individual had presented himself to the official examination, the elder would have broken his response sheet without even looking at it.

He looked like someone who would ruin the country.

‘Was this a journey in vain?’

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

But the old man had not lived in vain all this time.

I had the eye to distinguish between that performance and the real personality.

The old man’s eyes told him that the personality of the man before him coincided perfectly with what he was seeing.

But…

Something’s still bothering him.

Observing his appearance, conversation, and behavior, he seemed unnecessary to waste time, but something kept bothering him. That restlessness prevented him from getting out of his seat.

«The conversation will not be very meaningful.»

The old man immediately ordered them to bring Go’s board and took the white stones. The old man, like Moon Yu-hwan, thought he could meet his opponent through conversation with his hands.

‘Let’s see what kind of person you are.’

Whatever appeared on the surface, a conversation with your hands would reveal what was inside.

The old man grabbed Go’s stones hard.

The old man burned with determination to discover in depth what the man in front of him was hiding.

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

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

How could you create something that didn’t exist from the beginning?

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