CH ss - 20

Side Story Chapter 20 - One-horn (5)

“Hahaha! It’s the first time I’ve ever seen such a wonderful statue!”

“I put some effort behind it.”

In a conference room located inside the village hall of the One-horn Tribe, there was a long table extending in the center of the hall. The Martial King and Henova were laughing out loud as they found everything so much fun.

“Maybe…”

“Tell me.”

“Could you also…”

Henova tilted his head with a curious expression, causing the Martial King to let his voice trail off. But soon, Henova realized the meaning of the Martial King’s words and smiled broadly. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Oh! Our esteemed Henova is so skilled and thoughtful.”

“It should be bigger and grander in scale than the groom and bride’s statue, no?”

“Then, if possible, it should be about one or three times larger. Place it in the tribe’s central area and set up a monument and a fountain next to it…!”

“Father! Please stop!” While listening to their conversation, Edora was unable to bear the shame any longer. She screamed out and cut off her father. Her face had already turned beet red.

From wedding invitations to statues, her clan members’ efforts and commemoration of her wedding drove Edora crazy. If they were going to play a prank, then they should know how far they should go, but what the heck is this…! The problem for Edora was that no one seemed to share her concern.

On the contrary, everyone justified their nonsensical conclusions and actions by stating that ‘good things are good’, ‘the princess is just shy’, and ‘we’re doing what you would want us to do’. And it was the same with the Martial King. He was not only pleased with the events that were taking place, but he was also fanning the flames.

Just seeing the embarrassing statue being erected made Edora’s skin crawl, but now her father wanted to erect an even larger statue! No matter how great a person was, how could one be so arrogant and self-centered? Just the idea of another statue was driving her nuts, but now he was going on about building a fountain and memorial park…

Shatter. Edora felt as though the sky would soon collapse on her.

‘I’m going to break it! Every statue will be destroyed…!’ Edora grasped Divine Evil tightly. She was ready to jump out from her seat at any moment and destroy all the damn statues.

Of course, the Martial King did not become fazed from his daughter’s sudden outburst.

‘Do something!’ With a burning gaze, Edora looked towards Yeon-woo.

However, Yeon-woo was in a blank state of mind, as if he had given up. No, to be precise, his eyes were completely unfocused. Perhaps it was because he was still processing the psychological shock he had just experienced.

‘Should I wind up the ‘wheel’ and propose again? Or perhaps, I should just descend in my true form and destroy the entire Tower…!’ Yeon-woo had managed to suppress the urge to flip everything over several times already that day. If it had not been for the considerable magic power and law of causality to turn the ‘wheel’, he would have already gone back and changed everything.

‘…if I make a mistake while turning the ‘wheel’, I might negatively affect the Martial King’s existence as well…’ Yeon-woo knew that his hands were tied. For this reason, Yeon-woo had no choice but to put up with the situation.

While he was brewing inside, Henova and the Martial King continued their merry chatter.

“I’m glad to hear that everyone likes it. In fact, I was worried that I might not be able to meet the deadline.”

“Hmm? Deadline? I don’t think they’ve even set a date yet.”

“Didn’t they? Haven’t the wedding invitations already been sent out?”

“That was just the first wave.”

“The first wave? There’s going to be a second and third wave?”

“Of course! We’re talking about Nayu’s daughter and my disciple marrying each other! The first meeting will be a short get-together with the intention that everyone should prepare bridal gifts. The second meeting will be the engagement ceremony, and the third meeting will be…!”

“Father! Are you really going to be like this…?!” Wondering just how many more shameful acts her father was planning, Edora had already placed one foot on the table and had half pulled out Divine Evil. Her sharpened eyes, filled with anger and embarrassment, warned her father that she was willing to swing her sword immediately if he spoke any further.

When the Martial King saw the reaction of his daughter, he burst into laughter. Every time he took a stab at her, Edora reacted so violently that he could not help himself from continuing. The Martial King’s secret hobby was to playfully bully his own daughter. The Psychic Medium shook her head and muttered underneath her breath that her husband was acting immature, but the Martial King still found it hard to stop teasing his daughter.

Still, if he continued, the Martial King felt he may go beyond a sense of teasing and really hurt his daughter’s feelings. Thinking this far, the Martial King took a step back. He was remarkably adept at knowing the boundaries.

“Anyway, my disciple.” The Martial King glanced toward his disciple, Yeon-woo, who quietly nodded in acknowledgement. “When are you going to introduce your parents? Shouldn’t we have a meeting?”

A meet-and-greet between parents… Hearing these words, Edora quietly lowered her feet from the table and sat back in her chair. For some reason, she felt that her father was not going to create any further commotion.

Edora looked toward Yeon-woo as well. As she came to think of it, Edora had never properly greeted Yeon-woo’s parents or met his family. She had met his father, Kronos, as they shared a conversation when Kronos was Vigrid. However, she had never had a proper conversation with Yeon-woo’s mother or younger brother. Of course, she knew that the two had passed away, but knowing that Yeon-woo was trying to save them, she wondered if that purpose had already been achieved.

‘Besides, the gods of Olympus are also part of his family… Hmm… If we’re going to do a meet-and-greet…’ When Edora remembered where Yeon-woo was originally from, she fell silent. For some reason, Edora felt that this ‘meet-and-greet’ would not simply end with a meeting between the adults of the two families. The One-horned Tribe and Olympus were the two leading forces that ruled over the Tower.

“Only the parents of the bride and groom should meet for a ‘meet-and-greet’, right?” Yeon-woo thought about it for a moment and then spoke out. If he were to bring along Cha Jeong-woo, then he would also have to bring his other siblings… And there were quite a few older siblings, and he still had a bad relationship with some of them. This was especially the case for Zeus, who was probably running wild at the moment.

‘Also, bringing over father and mother…’ Also, Yeon-woo thought about how his parents would possibly react to his sudden announcement of getting married. ‘I’m sure father will playfully say, ‘Why are you digging your own grave’’.

At the same time, if Yeon-woo’s parents met Edora, it was obvious how the two of them would react.

They would laugh and smile with glee. They would love Edora. They would probably welcome her more than himself. His father had already hinted that he really liked Edora.

“Okay. We’ll keep it formal and small. Bring only your parents. Or shall I go and get them?”

Fortunately, the Martial King did not seem too concerned about Yeon-woo’s suggestion.

“No. I’ll bring them over.”

“Good. Then do it. We’ll have to prepare the wedding studio for photos, pick out our clothes, make an appointment at salons… What?”

“That…”

Yeon-woo and the Martial King quickly decided on the wedding preparations.

***

Beyond the walls of the conference hall, in the next room, there was a person secretly overhearing the conversation.

“The dress is the most important choice. Edora, do you have any good ideas?”

“Isn’t it okay if I wear your wedding dress?”

“That’s a good idea, but there’ll be two weddings, one with outside people and one within our tribe…!”

“Do you really want to see me draw my sword!”

“Oh! Why is my lovely daughter so strung up? This is unavoidable. I’m not kidding, we need to also consider how this will look for the tribe. We must hold a separate tribe ceremony.”

“Then… I need two dresses?”

“You could use mine for one, so we just need another. Hmm! We can’t just choose anything. It needs to be something nice and very special.”

“Then…”

“Oho! It seems you already have something in mind?”

The man, who overheard the entire conversation, slowly removed his ear from the wall.

“Hahaha!” Phante evilly grinned. In order to not bump into the Phante of this period, this Phante, who came through the turning of the ‘wheel’, had put his head down and stayed quiet.

“What I couldn’t do in the previous ‘wheel’, I’ll do this time.” If he could bring his sister the dress she wanted, Phante’d probably gain some points from Edora in the future. His eyes shone as he became determined to act like a proper older brother.

“Wait, sister! This older brother of yours shall help you!”

***

“How is it?”

“The tea’s scent is very clear.”

“It also has a very refreshing effect on one’s mind. I enjoy it whenever I can.”

After concluding the preparation planning, Edora left to talk further with her mother, and Henova went back to the blacksmith to make a statue of the Martial King.

“Hahaha! How do you like my wedding present?”

Suddenly, at the end, Yeon-woo remembered what Henova had said with a sly smile. At that time, Yeon-woo pretended not to hear and ignored Henova.

Yeon-woo had already made up his mind to destroy all the statues in the middle of the night when there were fewer people around. Since Henova made the statue with his own hands, Yeon-woo thought he might hesitate to destroy it, so Yeon-woo decided that, if he could not destroy it, he would bury it under a mountain somewhere. Such a monstrous thing should not have to exist in this world.

After Edora and Henova left, only Yeon-woo and the Martial King remained in the meeting room. When their planning was over, Yeon-woo planned to follow Edora, but Yeon-woo sensed that the Martial King had something to say, so he stayed back. Yeon-woo tilted his head, wondering what the Martial King had to say, and quietly put down the teacup that the Martial King offered him.

At that moment, Yeon-woo saw the Martial King’s eyes sharpen. It was different from the playfulness that had filled his eyes earlier. The Martial King seemed to be deep in thought. Was it because of that? Yeon-woo seemed to know what the Martial King was going to say.

“Shouldn’t you tell me now?”

The Martial King still spoke in a light tone. However, Yeon-woo was able to read the weight contained in those few words. Just as Yeon-woo expected, it was about ‘that’.

“If you ask without properly introducing the subject matter…”

Still, Yeon-woo pretended to be confused.

Laugh. The Martial King smirked as if Yeon-woo’s response was ridiculous. “It’s written all over your face… Do you think I’ll be deceived if you say that?”

“…”

“Yesterday, the Psychic Medium stated a new divination.”

Yeon-woo shut his mouth, as he expected what would come next.

“Elimination. No matter how many times we reviewed the divination, we came to that singular message. Nothing has changed.”

“…”

“If I say this, you may think I’m whipped, but I have absolute confidence in my wife’s skills. The divination is most likely correct. Why? Because she’s the one I love and trust the most.”

The One-horned Tribe consisted of a total of fifty families and clans united into one ‘tribe’. At that time, a person who was appointed as a patriarch or king had to marry the wives from each of those fifty families and clans in turn. Furthermore, the patriarch or king had the duty to have at least one child in his relationship with each of them. In this way, the children born would fight for the next kingship.

This meant that the Martial King had several wives, and that he had many children besides Phante and Edora. In fact, long ago, Yeon-woo had even competed with one of the Martial King’s other sons, Jang.

Although Yeon-woo had known the Martial King for such a long time, he had never heard him talk about his other wives.

There was only one person who the Martial King called his ‘wife’, the Psychic Medium. She was the only person he truly loved and trusted. Therefore, the Martial King unconditionally trusted the Psychic Medium’s divination. He never had any distrust or doubts.

“By the way. The divination did not state ‘death’, which simply means death, but ‘elimination’, which means disappearing forever. It means that I’ll disappear without leaving even a speck of dust in this world. I won’t even be able to reincarnate.” The Martial King’s eyes drooped. “That probably means I’ll suffer something beyond death, total annihilation. My existence and soul will completely disappear. But ironically, you came here after turning your ‘wheel’, and I’m still here like this.”

While the Martial King spoke, Yeon-woo remained silent. Seeing that, the Martial King seemed convinced about something. There was some connection between his existence and Yeon-woo. “What have you done to me, disciple?”