Chapter 57
A wildly tangled beard, a bright red pug nose, a gourd hanging at his waist.
And on his belt, nine distinct knots.
“Master Cheontonggae!”
Namgung On and Bing Yuhwa quickly bowed upon recognizing him.
Cheontonggae, the head of the hundred-thousand-strong beggar clan, the one who held all the intelligence of Central Plains in his hands.
The person they had been desperately searching for was right here.
The only one who could locate “Manriwiseon,” the person capable of fixing Hongseol’s yin-yang meridians.
Meanwhile, only Hongseol tilted her head in confusion.
“Cheon…ttonggae?”
“Dung-dog?” Dung-dog…
Could it be that this old man is also a dog beastman?
“But still, to call someone with ‘dung-dog’ in their name…”
At that moment, Hongseol pouted her lips and muttered, “That’s too much.”
Namgung On and Bing Yuhwa quickly bowed deeply in apology.
“I, Namgung On of the Martial Scholars, greet Master Cheontonggae.”
“I, Bing Yuhwa of the Martial Scholars, greet Master Cheontonggae.”
Hearing that, Hongseol’s eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly shut her mouth.
“Not dung-dog… it’s Cheontonggae!”
She had almost committed a huge faux pas.
“My dear.”
Bing Yuhwa, having finished her greeting, gently patted Hongseol on the shoulder.
‘It’s my turn!’
Hongseol, noticing this, quickly greeted as well.
“Cheontonggae, Cheontonggae. I must not make a mistake with the name!”
Perhaps because she was so focused on that thought, an unexpected word slipped out of her mouth.
“I, Hongseol of the Martial Scholars, greet Master Cheontonggae!”
“What? Mara? Hahaha!”
A hearty laugh suddenly echoed through the dimly lit shop.
“M-Mara… hahaha. Our Hongseol is indeed a spicy little one, isn’t she?”
Namgung On turned his head, shoulders shaking with laughter, and even Bing Yuhwa covered her smile with her sleeve.
Only Hongseol stood frozen, blinking in confusion.
“Not Mara… is it?”
Cheontonggae, wiping his red pug nose, smiled slightly.
“Yes, if you grow well, Myo Hongseol, you might indeed become a spicy presence in the martial world, just like Mara.”
Myo Hongseol.
Hearing that, Hongseol was so shocked that her tail practically flicked out.
‘This old man knows I’m the child of the Myo family!’
Nervously, Hongseol opened her trembling lips.
“Y-You… you know me?”
“Is there anything in the world I do not know? I already know you are a cat beastman and that your body cannot cultivate internal energy.”
Hongseol’s heart sank.
‘Then… you must also know that I was cast out because my mother didn’t love me…’
Just moments ago, she had wandered through the dojo, holding hands with Bing Yuhwa and Namgung On, acting like a loved child. It all felt like a lie.
In truth, she was just an abandoned child.
No matter how much she pretended to be the daughter of the Namgung clan, she could never truly be one of them. Poor child, Myo Hongseol.
“Master!”
Bing Yuhwa quickly spoke.
“I actually have a favor I’d like to ask you regarding this matter.”
“Aha!”
The exclamation made Yuhwa shut her mouth immediately.
Cheontonggae spoke solemnly.
“Even if I am a beggar lying with the sky as my ceiling and stones as my bed, there are still rules. This child came to see me, so I will listen to her first.”
At those words, Bing Yuhwa took a step back, slightly embarrassed.
“You two will wait outside until I finish speaking with this child.”
“Madam.”
Namgung On gently supported Bing Yuhwa, who seemed rooted to the spot. Even then, her worried eyes could not leave Hongseol.
“Still, Sanggong, how can I leave Hongseol alone…”
“Do not worry, Master Cheontonggae will take care of her.”
After several reassurances from Namgung On, Bing Yuhwa reluctantly left.
As soon as they disappeared, Cheontonggae gestured for Hongseol to come inside.
Inside, there was a simple mat made of rough straw and a small, roughly woven wooden table.
“Sit.”
Hongseol, glancing around nervously, knelt on the mat.
Cheontonggae rested his chin on the table and studied her face.
“From what I see, your destiny seems to have already changed.”
“…!”
Hongseol lifted her head sharply, staring at Cheontonggae.
‘Does this old man even know I came back to life by turning back time?’
“The event where you almost died and were noticed by that Namgung Ho, eventually entering the Namgung clan.”
Ah, so that’s it.
A bit of tension drained from Hongseol’s body.
“That is indeed something to be thankful for….”
Ever since hearing from Namgung Muyoung that her fate could be changed, Hongseol had pondered repeatedly.
If she could change her life at will, what would she change?
And her answer had always been the same.
Yet saying it now made something well up in her throat.
After swallowing back tears like hiccups, the girl barely managed to speak.
“…I want to be a child loved by my mother.”
It was the first time she had spoken her true feelings aloud.
The courage to say it came from a question she had always held.
‘Does my mother really hate me? Then what about the tender lullabies from my childhood?’
What she had recently heard at Anhui Doha only made the question stronger.
‘My uncle said my mother was searching for me. When she found the wrong child, she even fell ill!’
“Does my mother really hate me?”
Cheontonggae looked as if she was asking something obvious.
“There’s no need to wonder… Eh.”
Looking into Hongseol’s tearful eyes, Cheontonggae begrudgingly pulled out a bundle of cloth from under the table.
“Let’s do a reading.”
“A reading? Can you tell my fate for certain?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t be called Cheontonggae for nothing.”
Hongseol brightened as she quickly wrote the characters with her finger.
Cheontonggae. The beggar who communicates with the heavens.
‘Yes! This old man will tell me the truth!’
Removing the cloth, Cheontonggae revealed several thick sheets of paper, each about the size of Hongseol’s palm.
The drawings on them were rather strange.
A man in bizarre clothes hanging upside down, a naked child riding a horse under the blazing sun…
One sheet even depicted a man with eagle talons and goat horns glaring with an axe-like gaze.
“Is… is this… a ghost drawing?”
Hongseol, terrified, could not bring herself to touch the papers and turned her head.
Cheontonggae, with few teeth left, laughed broadly.
“Hehe, scared?”
“W-What is this?”
“These are tools for divination.”
“Divination?”
Hongseol asked again, still confused.
She had heard about fortune-tellers before. Normally, they would spread a mat in a corner of the dojo, place a small table in front of them, and call clients over. They typically used old coins, grains of rice, or sticks arranged in a bundle, not illustrated sheets like this.
“This is from the far Western regions. In all of the Central Plains, only I can use this for divination.”
Hongseol tilted her head, puzzled.
“But… aren’t you… a beggar, not a master?”
She swallowed nervously. She could not understand why someone of such rank would take on the role of a diviner.
“Even if one is naturally intelligent, without experience, a child cannot know much. A fortune-teller is someone who can see and hear all sorts of things.”
“Ah!”
Hongseol clasped her hands together as realization struck.
“The Beggar Clan is an intelligence network!”
Before she could fully process it, Cheontonggae added,
“That’s part of it, but it’s also my hobby—divination.”
He waved the sheets in front of Hongseol.
“These items from the Westerners are especially marvelous because each card carries meaning.”
“Did Elder Namgung Muyoung also use these to divine?”
“Hehe, yes.”
His cloudy eyes seemed to drift back to some past day.
“A scruffy yet keen-eyed child once came to me, wondering how to become rich. So I presented these sheets. The card he chose was this one.”
Cheontonggae unfolded one of the sheets.
