The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel-Chapter 143: Daseogak in Crisis - 3

An incomplete Poisoned One.

Tang Hwa-rin was deceived by Tang Geo-ho, fated to spend her life in pain and disgrace at Seong Family Manor, consuming poison after poison—until she eventually became a Poisoned One.

“But I changed that fate.”

All it took was a single tale about the tragic noble Ha Mu-rin—my soul-bound partner—and Seong Family Manor and all its cruel power dissolved in tears, like mist at sunrise.

My perfectly crafted butterfly-effect plan had nudged Hwa-rin out of that prison and into the world—where she met me. And now, here we were.

“I thought the Fate-Reverser was healing her.”

The pain that vanished the moment we met. Her skin that had been steadily clearing. I’d assumed the poison in her body was simply being purged.

Apparently... that wasn’t it at all.

“The forbidden, tragic ambition of the Tang Clan... the complete Poisoned One. This child’s body is becoming the perfect vessel for it.”

So my totem-like power wasn’t a healing totem.

It was a level-up totem.

“All the research data related to the Poisoned Ones was burned to ashes in the great purge twenty years ago. Just how...? Child, can you explain how Tang Geo-ho was turning you into a Poisoned One?”

Seeing the Pavilion Head’s attitude had softened, Hwa-rin began explaining the events she had endured.

“Huh... he used the method that had once been considered perfect in theory but impossible in practice. I see. If he only had the scraps of the original research, it would’ve been his best option. Incredible. To think she survived, and now—after escaping and entering a rest phase—her body is naturally evolving into the ideal vessel. Is it the power of her bloodline...? Tell me, child. Have you recently struggled to control any impulses?”

“Huh?”

Hwa-rin blinked in confusion.

“The Lecher—the previous generation’s Poisoned One—was physically perfect too. But mentally? He was a wreck. Couldn’t control his impulses. He’d lose his temper over the slightest irritation and immediately release deadly poison on a whim.”

The Pavilion Head tapped his forehead with two fingers, then looked at her with a suspicious gaze.

“I don’t go around poisoning people just because I’m angry.”

Hwa-rin, visibly offended at the implication that she might be mentally unstable, snapped back curtly.

Right. The most she’s done is sulk for an entire day when I made a joke about her gaining weight.

“Then what about... sexual impulses? You two seem to share a room. Has she ever forced herself on you when she felt like it?”

Apparently thinking such a question should go to the victim, the Pavilion Head looked at me.

“We sleep in separate beds.”

I shook my head firmly and replied at once.

God, this guy’s terrifying.

Does he really think we’re dealing with ‘I said no, but she kept going! Again! And again!’ or some kind of nightmare scenario like forced impregnation under reverse mating press?

There’s no way something like that could happen.

“Hmm. Maybe she just doesn’t find a barbarian attractive.”

“That’s not it! I mean—he’s actually kind of a decent g—guy.”

Hwa-rin stammered. She’d tried to deny it loudly, but the praise came out in a barely audible murmur.

Come on, Hwa-rin. If you’re going to yell the denial, at least praise me with the same volume.

Now I’m just remembering my friends murmuring “Yun-ho’s a good guy...” while looking away with pity.

“Thanks for the compliment.”

“Ugh!”

When I smiled and thanked her, she whipped her head to the side in panic.

“If she’s completely devoid of sexual desire, that’s not a real answer either.”

“S-Somewhat, I mean... urgh—god! Why the hell do I even have to answer this?!”

Blushing fiercely, Hwa-rin shouted at the Pavilion Head and then shot me a brief side glance.

To avoid making her embarrassment worse, I softened my expression and looked away as naturally as possible.

It’s fine, Hwa-rin. It’s not weird. Sharing a room with someone and feeling a little something is normal.

For a brief moment, I almost confessed that my own chest sometimes fluttered whenever I saw her—uh—bounce...

But if I said that, it wouldn’t sound like a joke coming from someone like me.

It’d be sexual harassment.

So I kept quiet.

“So the bloodline really is strong...”

The Pavilion Head stroked his beard and stared thoughtfully into the air.

“Yun-ho.”

Hwa-rin called to me in a whisper and motioned subtly toward the Pavilion Head with her chin.

She was probably asking if I should bring up my Poisoned One friend’s story.

Nope. Can’t do that.

If I told that story, they might try to verify whether my “friend” is real—or check the ingredients in the fake medicine I used.

I stiffened my expression and gave her a slight, discreet shake of the head.

She seemed confused at first, but soon gave a faint nod, sensing I had a reason for the refusal.

“Child.”

The Pavilion Head’s tone turned gentle as he called to Hwa-rin again.

From the look in his eyes, he had already reached his conclusion.

“Yes?”

“Come with me to the Sichuan Tang Clan.”

There it was.

The offer I knew was coming.

After saying that we wrote Storm of the Tang Clan to expose Tang Geo-ho, it was inevitable.

“If you come with me, Tang Geo-ho and his accomplices can be punished. And if you return to the Tang Clan, I will personally see that your skin is fully healed and that you never suffer from poison again.”

A tempting offer.

Tang Geo-ho would never give up on Hwa-rin—not when she was becoming the perfect Poisoned One.

If he ever discovered her whereabouts, he would surely come for her.

While I might be able to heal her, I couldn’t stop Tang Geo-ho.

But the Sichuan Tang Clan could.

If Hwa-rin were protected by the Tang Clan, she’d be safe—and he could be brought to justice.

It was a rope from the heavens thrown down into a pit.

But there was still a catch.

“Do you intend to make Hwa-rin into a complete Poisoned One?”

A great offer—but if the Tang Clan wanted to complete the Poisoned One project using Hwa-rin, then the process might change, but the outcome would be the same.

That, I couldn’t allow.

“Ha! Of course not. A complete Poisoned One? Only fools chasing after titles like ‘strongest under heaven’ would pursue such madness.”

The Pavilion Head shook his head firmly, his tone absolute.

“And you expect me to believe that?”

Hwa-rin’s voice was sharp—still suspicious.

“Watch your tone with the Pavilion Head!”

Whoa!

The Vice Pavilion Head, who’d been silently looming beside the Pavilion Head like a dialogue-skipping NPC, suddenly shouted.

So he can talk.

“Enough. Stay quiet. Child, what exactly is it that you doubt?”

Raising a hand to stop his subordinate, the Pavilion Head turned back to Hwa-rin with a gentle voice.

“You said I’m becoming a vessel for a complete Poisoned One. How do I know the Tang Clan won’t change their tune once I’m back in their hands?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Hwa-rin’s suspicion was reasonable.

A forbidden ambition of the Tang Clan—a complete Poisoned One.

And now they had someone who was closer to that goal than anyone before. There was no way they’d give that up easily.

I turned to look at the Pavilion Head, eyes filled with the same doubt Hwa-rin carried.

“A gentleman walks the righteous path. Why would we, as members of an orthodox sect, do anything dishonorable?”

He began, voice firm.

“The Lecher twenty years ago was close to completion. If not for the psychological breakdown, he might have become the clan’s long-pursued ideal. But the previous and current Clan Heads made their stance clear—they rooted out everyone involved in the creation of Poisoned Ones and burned every last scrap of research.”

...That’s pretty impressive.

I knew the Sichuan Tang Clan had banned Poisoned One research, but I didn’t expect them to be this resolute.

My friend who studied for the civil service exams missed the cutoff by just a few points and kept going for three more years—

but these guys? They got results, saw the monster it created, and still threw it all into the fire?

“So you’re saying you’ll really punish that bastard Tang Geo-ho and help cure me?”

Hwa-rin asked again, her voice hesitant, half-believing.

“Child. I understand your resentment toward the Tang Clan. But as one who carries its blood, surely you know our family creed.”

“The Tang Clan does not forget.”

The words came from Hwa-rin’s mouth like an old memory being stirred.

“That’s right. The Tang Clan does not forget. We do not simply bury our sins. We seek out the victims. We do not turn away from the children born of those tragedies—even if they are the furthest of the distant branches. Even if they are the bastards of bastards.”

“You say that, but you sure didn’t seem to care before.”

“We trusted Tang Geo-ho. He was of the main bloodline. But he betrayed the clan in the worst way possible. You bore the brunt of that betrayal. No matter what I say, it will never undo the pain you’ve suffered. But at the very least, I can promise this: I will punish Tang Geo-ho. And I will help you return to a normal life. So please... give the Tang Clan the chance to correct its mistake.”

“Pavilion Head!”

The Vice Pavilion Head’s shocked voice rang out.

But the Pavilion Head didn’t flinch.

He bowed deeply to Hwa-rin.

This... is what a real orthodox sect looks like?

All this time, I’d only seen the fakes.

The Tang Clan does accept outsiders, but all key positions are held by those of the bloodline.

For someone like the Pavilion Head—likely a close blood relative—to bow so sincerely to someone like Hwa-rin, a bastard of a bastard from the furthest branch? That’s no small thing.

“Yun-ho...”

Hwa-rin looked up at me, searching for an answer.

She didn’t say anything else, but her eyes asked: What should I do?

There really was only one choice.

If the Pavilion Head had been after her body, he could’ve already forced her.

There were martial artists waiting on the lower floors—he had the means.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he listened to everything. He apologized. And now, he was humbly asking for a chance.

“Let’s go together. We’ll punish that bastard Tang Geo-ho and get you healed.”

If pulling one rotten tooth could fix everything, then it needed to happen now.

“Y-You’ll come with me?”

She looked at me cautiously, still uncertain.

“What, you were planning to go alone? Wow. Abandoning your friend to go sightseeing in Sichuan? Disappointed. Truly.”

I mimicked her tone, feigning shock.

“What are you even talking about? No, I wasn’t! ...Pfft. Fine. Let’s go together.”

She smiled and nodded, clearly pleased by my answer.

Once Tang Geo-ho was dealt with, there wouldn’t be much standing in the way of running Daseogak as usual.

Let’s end it this time.

Fix everything, change the genre of my life.

It’d probably get axed after three chapters for being boring, but hey—maybe the characters could at least live happily ever after.

“But... there’s one problem.”

The Pavilion Head’s words dumped ice water on my hopeful genre-title fantasy of

“Black-Haired Writer in Another World ~ Archery Skills of a Divine Archer, Swordplay of a God, But I Raise Falcons and Run a Bookstore in Peace ~”

“...What problem?”

“Once word of Storm of the Tang Clan reaches Sichuan, they won’t let this child off so easily just because she’s the author.”

He held up the manuscript of Volume 3 and looked straight at me.

“Even if we say it was written for survival?”

“That may be true. But publishing a novel that exposes the Tang Clan’s hidden sins is still a crime in their eyes. It will become an excuse for the old monsters—those who’ve been licking their lips at the thought of reviving the Poisoned One project—to come after her.”

“Can’t you just keep her authorship a secret?”

“If the clan decides to investigate, it won’t take long to trace Daseogak, Ho-pil, and ultimately—Tang Hwa-rin. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Then isn’t it better if Hwa-rin doesn’t go at all?”

“If she’s going to be found anyway, it’s better I bring her in and ensure she’s protected. And with your help, ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ I can guarantee no one will touch her—not for Poisoned One experiments, not for anything.”

“...What kind of help?”

If I could help cure Hwa-rin and protect her, I’d do anything.

“I need you to do what she just did.”

“...What are you talking ab—ugh!”

Before I could finish, he stepped right in front of me and grabbed my wrist.

His eyes locked with mine, full of certainty.

“Ho-pil. This time, you’re going to take the fall for everything.”