I looked at Student Seok Chu-gil’s face, then lifted my head to the plaque hanging over the main gate.
[Sanghyeon Seok Family Manor]
This student in front of me is that Deputy Seok, the right-hand man of the Chief Administrator who succeeded Internal Chief Administrator Yu in my previous life?
I just couldn’t believe it.
But he was clearly the youngest son, and his name was definitely Seok Chu-gil.
Honestly, when I first saw Student Seok Chu-gil at the academy, I just thought he had the same name as someone I used to know.
There are plenty of people in the world who share the same name.
The reason I brushed it off as just a duplicate name was his face.
Student Seok Chu-gil’s face was a bit delicate, almost pretty, but the Deputy Seok in my memories had a rugged, rough-hewn face.
So… that face is going to grow up into the face I know?
No, I really just couldn’t picture it.
While I was quietly agonizing over it, Palgap looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked,
“Why are you like that?”
“Hm?”
“It’s just, you look really serious.”
“It’s nothing.”
I sighed inwardly. First things first, we should go inside.
In front of the Seok manor, a long line had already formed.
They were people lining up to enter and greet Manor Lord Seok, hoping to leave an impression.
But I’d brought Student Seok Chu-gil with me, so we could just go straight in.
“Gasp! Young Master?”
“Young Master, you’ve arrived?”
The household servants who recognized Student Seok Chu-gil hurriedly bowed their heads to him.
“Yeah. I’m back. Where’s Father?”
“He’s over there.”
Student Seok Chu-gil nodded, then turned to me.
“Assistant Instructor, let’s go greet my father first.”
“That would be best.”
We headed to where Seok Chu-gil’s father was.
His father was standing at the gate, personally welcoming guests.
It has been a while.
Thinking that, I walked closer.
“Father!”
“And who is this? My Little Chu is here!”
“Yes, Father. I came home for a bit for my sister’s wedding.”
Student Seok Chu-gil spoke far more properly than I’d expected.
Another reason I never realized Student Seok Chu-gil was that Deputy Seok was precisely his manner of speaking and behavior.
He was so politely spoken it was almost admirable, and thanks to that, everyone in the merchant group liked him.
So I never even imagined he was from Righteous Person Academy, which specializes in rehabilitating problem youths.
Following behind him, I also bowed politely to Manor Lord Seok.
“Congratulations on your daughter’s wedding.”
The moment I finished my greeting, Student Seok Chu-gil hurried to speak.
“Father, this is Eun Seo-ho—”
“Gasp!”
But before Student Seok Chu-gil could finish, Manor Lord Seok’s eyes widened.
He had recognized me.
“Wait! Who do we have here? Aren’t you Deputy Merchant Lord Eun? The Merchant Lord already arrived earlier.”
So Father came as well.
“I see. Actually, due to certain circumstances, I’m working as a temporary assistant instructor at your youngest son’s academy. I brought your youngest son along from there.”
“The Handsome Young Hero personally, you mean?”
Manor Lord Seok looked deeply moved, while Seok Chu-gil’s face said, ‘This isn’t how this was supposed to go…’
“This isn’t the place for standing around. Please, come inside and enjoy the feast.”
“Thank you for your generosity, Manor Lord.”
“The honor is mine. Thank you for coming.”
Manor Lord Seok called a servant over and had them guide me inside.
“Little Chu, you stick to the Handsome Young Hero’s side and learn his manners and conduct. Make sure you attend to him properly.”
“…Yes.”
And so, I headed toward the seat of honor in the banquet hall with Student Seok Chu-gil.
On the way, people who recognized me kept coming over to greet me, so it took quite a while just to reach the head table.
Once I finally settled into my seat, I had Student Seok Chu-gil sit, then went to see my father.
No matter how important Student Seok might be, if Father is here, it’d be absurd not to greet him.
“Father.”
“Seo-ho! You said you had business and didn’t even come home, so what brings you here?”
“The truth is…”
I explained the situation to my father from beginning to end, and he nodded along to my story.
“So that’s how it is. I understand. Then hurry and get back.”
“Yes.”
I bowed to my father and returned to my seat.
There were plenty of things I wanted to talk about, but this was a banquet hall filled with countless people.
I had to be careful.
One careless piece of information could snowball into a huge incident.
I sat down next to Student Seok Chu-gil and started eating.
But Student Seok Chu-gil didn’t look all that happy.
“Isn’t this your sister’s wedding day? Why do you look so gloomy?”
“…”
I gave a faint smile and quietly whispered,
“You were planning to complain to your father about the academy and me, but things didn’t go the way you imagined, did they?”
“…!”
He flinched at my question and waved his hands.
“T-that’s not it at all.”
“Heh, it’s written all over your face.”
“…”
Watching him silently lower his head, I calmly asked,
“Do you know why things ended up like this today?”
“That’s…”
“It all comes down to reputation and trust. All this time, I’ve done many things and built up a good reputation, and I’ve earned people’s trust. In contrast, what reputation and trust have you built up, Student Seok?”
“…”
I smiled.
“To be honest, I’m not some good person. I wouldn’t even call myself a virtuous man. But the good reputation I’ve accumulated makes people see me as a good and righteous person.”
I continued speaking.
“Of course, building a good reputation is hard. It’s much harder than gaining a bad one. But the reputation that actually helps your life is a good one. A wicked reputation only shortens your lifespan.”
I held a cup of wine out to him.
“…!”
His eyes trembled as he looked at it.
“Take it. On a day like this, you’re allowed to have a drink.”
“Really? You’re not going to beat me for drinking this or anything…”
“How can a person go through life without even having a single drink? I only stopped you from drinking so far to help you build self-control.”
“Self-control… you say?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded.
“If you don’t even have the self-control to abstain from drinking for a few days or a few weeks, what can you ever hope to accomplish?”
“…I see.”
He picked up the cup, and I poured him some wine.
Honestly, I thought he would just tip it back and drain it in one go.
But he only tasted a bit, then set the cup down.
“I’ll be satisfied with this one drink for today.”
“That’s a good decision.”
“And I also… want to become like you, Assistant Instructor Eun.”
The look in his eyes as he gazed at me was completely different from before.
W-what’s with this? All of a sudden?
This is kind of a lot.
Seok Chu-gil glanced at Eun Seo-ho sitting beside him.
He didn’t feel good about how his perfect plan had completely gone off the rails.
But…
His father’s expression kept replaying in his mind.
“Wait! Who do we have here? Aren’t you Deputy Merchant Lord Eun?”
The way his father greeted Eun Seo-ho was the most passionate welcome he’d ever seen from him.
Up until now, to his father and the rest of his family, he had always been the cute youngest.
Those eyes that said he was adorable no matter what he did.
At some point, Seok Chu-gil had started wishing there was something more than just that in their eyes.
But that gaze never really changed, and so he slowly started acting out in small ways.
Because only then could he see different expressions on their faces.
Yet today, the expression his father showed made him feel strangely off.
What he had wanted from his father and everyone else wasn’t that “you’re so cute” stuff, but… recognition.
He wanted to be acknowledged. He wanted to be praised.
Then the person who embodied his ideal appeared right in front of him.
Maybe that was why.
The words Eun Seo-ho spoke had driven themselves deep into his mind and his heart.
So he asked Eun Seo-ho,
“I want to become like you too, Assistant Instructor Eun. So if I build up a good reputation, can I become like you?”
Eun Seo-ho readily nodded.
“Of course.”
To Seok Chu-gil, Eun Seo-ho’s smile looked incredibly dazzling.
.
.
.
As the sky gradually darkened, it was nearly time for the wedding ceremony to begin.
However…
Things had been a bit hectic for a while now, and it felt like something had gone wrong. Sitting still as a member of the household, he felt a bit uneasy.
Seok Chu-gil asked Eun Seo-ho for permission.
“Um, it seems like something’s happened. I’ll go see what it is and come back.”
At his words, Eun Seo-ho readily nodded.
“Go ahead.”
With permission granted, Seok Chu-gil headed toward the noisy area.
“What’s going on?”
“Ah! Young Master.”
“It’s been noisy over here for a while now, so I came to see what was happening… Is it serious?”
The servants blinked at a tone completely different from how they remembered him.
Normally, he’d be the one saying, “What’s with all this noise? You bastards! You’re ruining my drink…” or something along those lines.
But now that he was asking so politely, they didn’t quite know what to make of it.
“Is it something I shouldn’t know about?”
“N-no, not at all.”
The attendants exchanged looks, then one of them cautiously opened their mouth.
“It’s just… one of the gifts from the formal betrothal ceremony, a teacup, has gone missing.”
“What?”
Once the bride’s family agreed to the marriage, they sent out the full set of formal betrothal gifts.
In the Sanghyeon Seok clan, whenever there was a marriage, they would always include a teacup among the gifts they exchanged.
And during the wedding, it was the family rule to pour tea into that teacup and share it.
If they didn’t do that, the wedding itself would be considered invalid.
So a missing teacup was extremely serious.
They couldn’t just use another teacup either.
There was a saying that if they used a teacup other than the one given as a betrothal gift, the bride would be widowed early.
You could say it was absurd to nullify a wedding over something like that, but it was a rule passed down for generations, and nobody ever thought to defy it.
There was a reason everyone was rushing about. They were searching for that teacup.
‘What are we supposed to do?’
If they couldn’t find that teacup and the wedding ended up nullified, his sister would be devastated.
But the entire family had already been mobilized to search, and they still hadn’t found it.
How was he supposed to find it himself?
Then a thought suddenly came to him.
‘Maybe Assistant Instructor Eun might know some way to handle this.’
Following that thought, Seok Chu-gil hurried back to Eun Seo-ho. Then he dropped to his knees in front of him.
“What’s going on? Why are you suddenly…”
“Assistant Instructor Eun. Please help me.”
Seok Chu-gil raised his head and looked at Eun Seo-ho.
“There’s something that’s gone missing. We have to find it.”
I sighed inwardly.
I already knew something had gone missing and that it was a teacup.
I’d heard it with my own ears.
But I never expected Student Seok Chu-gil to suddenly kneel in front of me to find it.
I spoke to him seriously.
“A man shouldn’t kneel so easily.”
“I know that too. But this matter is anything but trivial. This concerns my sister’s entire future. So, I beg you.”
Then he bowed his head to me even deeper.
Around us, people watched with curious eyes.
I chuckled softly, patted his shoulder, and said,
“All right. How could I pretend not to see when my student is begging me like this? I’ll lend a hand.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
I stood up and said to him,
“Take me to where the missing item was.”
“Yes.”
Seok Chu-gil quickly got to his feet and led me toward the inner area.
As we walked, he explained what had happened.
“Ah…”
Listening to his explanation, I finally understood what had happened here at Sanghyeon Seok Family Manor in my previous life.
So because of this incident, the Seok family fell into the other side’s bad graces and their family fortunes declined.
The marriage partner had been a fairly powerful clan.
And that must’ve been how Student Seok Chu-gil ended up working as a Deputy for the Eunhae Merchant Group.
While I was thinking that through, Student Seok Chu-gil spoke again.
“You might think we’re making too much of this. But this rule exists so that the descendants of the Seok family can have happy marriages.”
“A rule like that ought to be upheld.”
At any rate, one thing was clear: whoever was responsible was someone who understood these ironclad Seok family rules very well.
Their motive could be a grudge… or emotions of longing and affection that had gone too far.
Just then, perhaps because word had spread that I’d stepped in, Manor Lord Seok came running over.
“I heard the Handsome Young Hero has offered to help.”
“Yes. Even if it’s only temporary, I belong to the same academy as this student. How could I ignore a request from a student under my care?”
Manor Lord Seok stared at Student Seok Chu-gil in surprise.
“You asked him yourself?”
“Yes, Father. This matter may become known, but this is the Handsome Young Hero. I don’t believe he’d go around carelessly spreading it.”
“You’re trusting me this much again. I’ll have to live up to that.”
At my words, Manor Lord Seok let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m just grateful you’re willing to help in person.”
“Then tell me what this teacup looks like.”
At his command, a servant soon sketched the teacup’s shape onto a sheet of paper.
So it’s a teacup made of gold.
Right then.
— Kui! Kui!
Wow, Geumryeong… you can use Voice Transmission too?
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt