Ch. 2
Chapter 2: The Laziest Under the Heaven (2)
At the sound of a voice from somewhere, Wi Jeonghan’s face twisted sharply. In contrast, Wi Yeonho’s face briefly lit up with joy.
“Mom!”
Han Sang-a.
She was Wi Jeonghan’s wife and Wi Yeonho’s mother, and she was walking toward them.
Wi Yeonho glanced at Wi Jeonghan.
On the surface, it looked as though he was being wary of his father, but in truth, he wasn’t paying attention to Wi Jeonghan at all. He was silently conveying the situation to Han Sang-a.
Nod.
Han Sang-a caught on to Wi Yeonho’s intention and nodded.
Clicking her tongue, she looked at Wi Jeonghan.
“Well done, really.”
“Ahem.”
Wi Jeonghan gave a loud fake cough with a sour expression.
“It’s the middle of the night, and you’re making a ruckus instead of doing this in broad daylight.”
“There is no day or night when it comes to educating one’s child!”
“But there is a time and place for making a scene.”
Wi Jeonghan became as quiet as if he had swallowed honey.
“Yeonho.”
“Yeah!”
“It’s late today, so go on in.”
“Okay!”
As Wi Yeonho cheerfully turned to head to his room, Wi Jeonghan shot him a death glare.
Startled, Wi Yeonho quickly drew his neck in and froze in place.
“But Sang-a!”
When Wi Jeonghan raised his voice, Han Sang-a’s eyes narrowed.
“There’s a proper time even for learning. If you keep scolding a child this late, especially when he’s already lazy, what do you think will happen tomorrow? If you’re really serious about disciplining him, do it early tomorrow morning instead.”
“But...”
“Am I wrong?”
“No.”
‘I had to fix that brat’s attitude today, no matter what!’
Wi Jeonghan shouted, glaring at Wi Yeonho.
“I’ll stop here for today. But don’t you dare think this is over! Tomorrow! If I come back and find you haven’t been training, I will fix that rotten attitude of yours! Got it?”
“When will you be back?”
“What do you need to know that for?”
“So I can plan accordingly…”
As Wi Jeonghan picked up the switch lying on the floor, Wi Yeonho cut himself off and awkwardly changed his tone.
“I guess there’s really no need to know. I’ll just do as you say.”
“Urgh.”
Wi Jeonghan grabbed his forehead in frustration.
The next day.
Wi Jeonghan hurried toward the front gate with quick steps.
The sun was already sinking below the western ridge.
He had been on his way back from a sixtieth birthday banquet of someone he was close to.
But Wi Jeonghan’s mind was filled with only one thought: Wi Yeonho.
‘He has to be training today! No matter how lazy he is!’
That’s what he told himself, though deep down, he also accepted the reality that such expectations were foolish.
He was his son, after all.
The boy he knew was the best under heaven at crushing expectations and the greatest of all time when it came to laziness.
‘Still, maybe… he’ll at least pretend to be training. Or maybe he’ll at least be at the training hall.’
That much fury had been unleashed—if even that couldn’t get him to act, could he really be called human? No person with a shred of decency could ignore all of that and just lie around like a corpse in human skin.
“You’ve returned!”
The guard at the main gate bowed.
“Open the gate, quickly!”
“Yes, sir!”
Creak!
The gate opened, revealing the training yard. Wi Jeonghan’s eyes darted rapidly left and right.
“He’s not here!”
A vein bulged on Wi Jeonghan’s forehead.
“Where is he?!”
“Sir?”
“Yeonho! That brat—he didn’t come to the training yard?!”
The guard gave an awkward smile.
“I didn’t see him at all today…”
“Grrrgh.”
Clenching his fists, Wi Jeonghan stormed off toward Wi Yeonho’s quarters.
‘No way.’
Surely not.
He was still human. After seeing how furious his father had been yesterday, he couldn’t possibly be sleeping so casually.
Surely not!
Bang!
Wi Jeonghan kicked the door open and entered Wi Yeonho’s room.
And that was when Wi Jeonghan realized how wrong he’d been.
It seemed that even Wi Yeonho, being human, couldn’t sleep peacefully after witnessing such fury. But the problem was… even though he was awake, he was still lying in bed.
“You’re back earlier than I expected.”
“…”
Seeing Wi Yeonho half-sitting up with the blanket clutched in his hands, Wi Jeonghan’s strength drained completely.
Wi Yeonho, apparently just as flustered by the situation, gave an awkward laugh. It was the exact moment his plan—to pretend to be training just in time for Wi Jeonghan’s return—fell apart.
Staring at his son’s awkward expression, Wi Jeonghan closed his eyes.
If he didn’t calm his mind, there might truly be a funeral here today.
“Did you not hear what I said yesterday?”
“Well, I mean… I heard it. I’ve got ears, after all.”
“And?”
“I was going to train, but…”
“But?”
Wi Yeonho gave another awkward laugh.
“It’s just… I figured I’d rest a little first, then start, but somehow the time just…”
“GRAAAAGH!”
Wi Jeonghan lunged at Wi Yeonho.
“Aaaargh!”
Grabbing Wi Yeonho by the back of the neck, Wi Jeonghan lifted him into the air and roared.
“You’re hopeless! I’ll beat that laziness right out of your bones today!”
“P-please, calm down!”
“Calm down? Did you say calm down? Calm down?!”
“Yes, Father! You really should calm down! Think of your health—you're not young anymore!”
Without another word, Wi Jeonghan threw Wi Yeonho back onto the bed.
Thud!
“Oww!”
Wi Jeonghan raised his hand.
“You’re getting a beating today!”
“P-please! I told you to calm down!”
That day, screams like a pig being slaughtered echoed throughout the Wi household.
* * *
“Let’s have a look.”
“Ow!”
“Quiet!”
Han Sang-a rubbed her son’s bruised, swollen eyelid.
“Owwww!”
She smacked Wi Yeonho’s back.
Whack!
“Ah! What was that for?!”
“Because you deserved it! I told you not to be so lazy!”
“I really was going to get up before Father got back!”
Grumbling to himself, Wi Yeonho pouted while Han Sang-a let out a long sigh.
‘This is all my fault.’
Han Sang-a looked at Wi Yeonho, lips still jutting in a sulky pout.
It wasn’t as if she enjoyed seeing her son laze around like this.
And yet, the reason she always shielded him so much was because she knew she had played a part in making him this way.
Back when Wi Yeonho was still a child, Wi Jeonghan had gone off to participate in a martial arts tournament.
At the time, Han Sang-a had just given birth to Wi Yeonho’s younger sibling, Wi Suryeon. As a result, she had to care for the newborn while also handling the affairs of the household.
Filling in for a husband who had suddenly disappeared was hard enough, and on top of that, raising a newborn was even harder.
Even if she had ten hands, they wouldn’t have been enough. Most days, she collapsed into sleep, completely exhausted from chores and childcare.
Though she still paid attention to her eldest, Wi Sanho, and her newborn, Wi Suryeon, she was only human—there were limits to what she could manage. Naturally, her attention couldn’t help but fall short when it came to Wi Yeonho, stuck awkwardly between the two.
It wasn’t until after Wi Sanho left to train at the academy and Wi Jeonghan returned to resume his role as head of the household that Han Sang-a realized her second son had become the laziest boy in the world.
And she came to understand that the reason was because he hadn’t received the affection and attention he needed during the most important years of his growth.
‘It’s all my fault.’
Realizing that both she and her husband—who had so easily left the household—were responsible for neglecting their child during his formative years, Han Sang-a could never bring herself to be harsh with Wi Yeonho.
That’s why, unlike how she treated Wi Sanho or Wi Suryeon, she became an endlessly soft mother when it came to Wi Yeonho.
“To think he’d beat a child like this…”
Han Sang-a’s eyes narrowed sharply.
She had rushed in and pulled Wi Yeonho away, but by then, his face was already bruised and swollen.
“That man…”
Grinding her teeth, Han Sang-a seethed.
Beating the child? Fine!
Discipline sometimes required a switch!
But how dare he leave her precious son’s face in such a state?
“How long do you plan on being this lazy?”
Wi Yeonho flinched and lowered his head.
Han Sang-a let out another heavy sigh.
“Starting tomorrow, stop lazing around and make sure your father doesn’t get angry again. Do you understand?”
“Yeah!”
Seeing Wi Yeonho beam with that innocent smile, Han Sang-a sighed once more.
“Grrrrgh…”
Wi Jeonghan groaned, gripping his head.
“Is it because of Second Young Master?”
The steward of the House of Wi in Guangdong, Jo Bang, tried to console him.
“If not for that boy, what else would I even have to worry about?”
Jo Bang smiled.
“Second Young Master will come to his senses soon enough.”
“Come to his senses?”
Wi Jeonghan shook his head emphatically.
“No, no. Have you seen the things that brat does? He’s not someone who’ll straighten up so easily!”
“But he’s the son of a martial artist. Sure, he may be a bit lazy now, but he’ll surely walk the path of the martial artist in time.”
“Grrgh…”
Wi Jeonghan clutched his head in frustration.
Walk the path of a martial artist?
Easier said than done!
The boy who locks himself up in his room and sleeps for four days straight whenever he’s told to train—what kind of martial artist is that?!
“What kind of parent just leaves him to rot like this!”
Jo Bang responded with a clearly aggrieved expression.
“How could I possibly touch the Young Master when he’s under Madam’s protection!”
“Urgh…”
Wi Jeonghan let out a long sigh.
“It’s all my fault…”
When Wi Yeonho was just two years old, Wi Jeonghan had left for the martial arts tournament journey.
He had thought it would only take two years at most, but after getting swept up in all sorts of incidents, it wasn’t until eight long years had passed that he finally returned home.
Thanks to that, he’d earned the lofty alias of Righteous Hero Sword, but what he had lost was far greater.
By the time he came back, his once-gentle wife had turned fiercer than a tiger, and the child he once cherished had become a lazy sloth he could barely bear to look at.
“Isn’t there a saying—‘Cultivate oneself, then govern the household, then rule the country, and finally bring peace to the world’? A martial artist leaving on a journey to refine himself isn’t shameful.”
Chief Steward Jo offered comfort.
But to Wi Jeonghan, the words didn’t sit well.
“So now you’re saying I was so focused on cultivating myself that I failed to keep my family in order?”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“…Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s the truth anyway.”
Wi Jeonghan’s sigh deepened.
He shouldn’t have left home in the first place.
He had thought of it as the path of a martial artist. He believed that once he got older, he wouldn’t have the chance to leave again. He had wanted to establish himself as a martial artist before settling into his role as head of a family.
No—perhaps the truth was that the burden of leading the clan had been too heavy for him to bear.
But in the end, that martial arts journey had ruined his son.
“Huu…”
Chief Steward Jo smiled faintly.
“Please, don’t worry too much.”
“How can I not?”
“Clan Head, Second Young Master is actually quite bright—more than you think.”
“Hm?”
“It’s true. When he was younger, he was noticeably more intelligent than First Young Master. There was even concern that the order of succession within the clan might be disrupted.”
“Is that so?”
Jo Bang smiled.
“His foundation is solid. So…”
“His foundation might be solid, sure.”
Wi Jeonghan gave a bitter smile.
“But what good is a solid foundation if his mindset is completely rotten from the start!”
“I wouldn’t go as far as calling it rotten…”
“Do you know what people call that boy behind our backs?”
“…”
“They call him Lazy Turtle! A turtle! Can you believe it?! The second son of the grand House of Wi in Guangdong is being compared to a turtle!”
“Lazy Turtle…”
Wi Jeonghan’s eyebrow twitched upward.
“You! You just thought that it suits him, didn’t you?”
Chief Steward Jo frantically waved his hands.
“Perish the thought!”
“Grrgh…”
Wi Jeonghan shot up from his seat.
“This can’t go on! I couldn’t face Father in the afterlife like this! I’ll fix that boy’s rotten attitude no matter what it takes!”
“But do you think that’ll be easy?”
“If only Sang-a didn’t keep interfering, I could beat it out of him if I had to!”
Wi Jeonghan’s voice trembled with frustration.
But after abandoning his family for eight years, the moment he stood before Han Sang-a, he always became a man who shrank into himself.
“Egh… this is all my karma.”
His sigh deepened.
Jo Bang smiled faintly.
“Still, there might be a way.”
“A way?”
“Yes. Have you forgotten? That person will be returning soon.”
A spark of color returned to Wi Jeonghan’s face.
“Ah, that’s right. That boy’s about to meet the Grim Reaper.”
Wi Jeonghan grinned with satisfaction.
The one Wi Yeonho feared more than anyone else in the world was on their way home.