Chapter 53
"Young Miss, hello."
As one of the White Wolf Unit members approached and greeted her, Yul smiled brightly.
Seeing this, Gu Tae-san made a fuss.
"My goodness, Brother. I used to dislike children, but suddenly my thoughts are changing completely."
"Isn't it that children dislike you?"
"What are you saying? They all cry because they like me so much, they cry."
"That's probably because they're scared. Can't you even tell the difference?"
"Oh come on. What are you talking about? Just watch."
Gu Tae-san approached Yul with his heavy footsteps, smiling and waving his hand.
Yul took a step back with a slightly startled face.
Seeing this, Yeo Un-hwi looked curious.
"How strange. Our Yul wasn't scared of the Family Head at all and liked him."
"What? No, why would I..."
Gu Tae-san looked quite hurt.
He had thought he would naturally be less scary than the Family Head.
No, it wasn't just a thought - anyone would have answered the same if asked.
But...
"I don't understand."
Yeo Un-hwi tilted his head, equally puzzled.
"Even the Young Miss knows. You have to be selective in making friends."
"No, why me? This is unfair."
The rest of the White Wolf Unit members started laughing, holding their stomachs.
It had just been proven that his face was scarier than even the Family Head's.
Impossible!
As Gu Tae-san made a pitiful face, Yul cautiously approached and tugged at his pants.
"Don't cry, stop!"
"Oh, our Young Miss!"
When Gu Tae-san tried to lift Yul up with a touched expression, she panicked and ran away quickly.
"Oh no, I didn't mean to scare you."
Hahahahaha!
Everyone burst into laughter seeing Gu Tae-san scratching his head.
That's when,
"What's everyone so happy about?"
Someone appeared at the scene.
"Young Master, you've come."
It was Peng Seo-jin, the heir of the Peng Family.
The entire White Wolf Unit greeted him.
Peng Seo-jin looked at the White Wolf Unit with a kind smile.
"I hear you've all been working very hard lately. They say it's not the White Martial Unit or White Tiger Unit representing the Peng Family anymore, but the White Wolf Unit."
"You flatter us. We still have a long way to go, considering all the trouble we've caused until now. We're just grateful you're looking at us favorably."
"That's right! We still have a long way to go!"
"Oh?"
Peng Seo-jin looked a bit surprised at O Chae-mu's words.
They all had sincere expressions, not just putting on a show of humility.
This wasn't the White Wolf Unit he had known until now.
They really had changed.
And at the center of it all was clearly Yeo Un-hwi.
*This is good. Very good.*
Peng Seo-jin smiled. He was pleased with the White Wolf Unit's transformation.
He also welcomed the appropriate tension arising within the Peng Family because of them.
Stagnant water rots.
Though they were grouped together under the name of the Three Great Martial Forces, the White Tiger Unit and White Martial Unit, excluding the White Wolf Unit, had long received great recognition from people.
That wasn't the problem. Up to that point was fine.
However, always receiving only praise and having no one to keep them in check inevitably led to complacency in many ways.
Complacency soon brings regression.
In other words, it was of no help to the Peng Family in any way.
But unexpectedly, the White Wolf Unit started showing incredible achievements, making their name known not just within the Peng Family but throughout the entire martial world, receiving applause.
Then, instead of constantly boasting about their accomplishments, they returned to their beginnings, training relentlessly from morning to night.
For those who knew how the White Wolf Unit had been just a few months ago, it was a change as drastic as heaven and earth turning upside down.
Anyway, it was in the midst of this that Peng Seo-jin had come to visit like this.
"By the way, what brings you here, Young Master?"
Though he usually spoke casually with Peng Seo-jin when they were alone at Peng Seo-jin's request, Yeo Un-hwi gladly showed proper respect to the Peng Family's Young Master in front of everyone.
"Haha. I heard you're taking a break today."
"That's right. We thought we might get sick if we kept training every day, so we decided to do that."
"That's good. Appropriate rest is better than a hundred training sessions. It seems I've come at just the right time."
Peng Seo-jin nodded with a smile.
"The reason I came here is, Brother."
"Yes. Please go on."
"Would you like to go for a stroll with me?"
"A stroll?"
"Yes."
Yeo Un-hwi looked puzzled as he faced Peng Seo-jin, who was smiling at him.
"Seo-jin?"
"Yes. So I stopped by to change into something casual before going. We agreed to meet in about an hour."
"Is that so?"
Yeo Un-hwi nodded towards his wife Paeng Seo-yeon, who was asking again as if it was unexpected.
Soon, Paeng Seo-yeon smiled brightly.
She felt glad.
Though her brother was kind to everyone, Peng Seo-jin was actually much more precise in his relationships than he appeared.
That was his greatest strength - despite his position as the Young Master, he never let anyone easily sway him and quietly followed his own path.
And because of that, unless it was someone he was interested in, he tended to keep an appropriate distance and avoid forming personal relationships.
So for Paeng Seo-yeon, hearing that her brother had invited her husband for a stroll today naturally made her feel good.
The fact that her brother was starting to take an interest in her husband.
"Would you like to come along?"
Paeng Seo-yeon shook her head at Yeo Un-hwi's question.
"No, it's alright."
If her brother had approached Yeo Un-hwi first with such an invitation, he surely wanted to chat about various things with Yeo Un-hwi.
If that wasn't the case, he would have come to her first.
"I'll skip today, so have a good time. Make sure to show Yul lots of nice scenery too."
"Alright. I'll do that."
Soon, Yeo Un-hwi finished preparing and left, holding Yul's hand, with Paeng Seo-yeon seeing them off.
Peng Seo-jin was already waiting at the main gate, having finished all preparations.
"You've come."
Peng Seo-jin smiled as he saw Yeo Un-hwi and Yul walking out.
"You're earlier than I expected."
"Oh? Did I keep you waiting long?"
"Not at all. I just finished preparing and was about to come out. Well then, shall we go? It's not too far from here. Yul, let's go for a stroll."
"I like strolls, strolls!"
Yul kept repeating the word "stroll" as if she liked it.
Soon, Yeo Un-hwi set off with Peng Seo-jin, a few warriors, and attendants.
Among them, Yul, holding her father's hand tightly, was looking up at the exceptionally clear sky with excitement.
"The Scholar Forest Group... tsk."
In the Family Head's Hall of the Peng Family.
"That's right. They've finished their schedule at the Guju Old Family and are now heading this way."
"I see."
Peng Mugang, the head of the Peng Family, nodded.
It was a story he had already heard once before in passing.
In fact, it was just reconfirming the schedule that had been arranged with the Murim Alliance.
From what he heard, it was an opportunity arranged for them to see the appearance of prestigious families rather than existing sects, to broaden their horizons one last time before the group's departure ceremony.
While it wasn't a big deal, it was a habit of renowned families to try to match their hospitality to their guests' reputation.
"Still, they are somewhat important guests, so make sure everyone prepares well and puts in effort. There must be no mistakes in hospitality that would embarrass me."
"Yes, sir."
"Excuse me, Family Head."
"Hm? What is it?"
Some of the elders opened their mouths with difficulty, wearing strangely uncomfortable expressions.
They looked as if they found it awkward to speak or not to speak.
Peng Mugang, who had known these elders for years, sensed something strange in their demeanor.
"Well, you see, there are some odd rumors going around about them."
"Odd rumors? What kind of rumors are you talking about? Tell me."
Finally, one of the elders hesitantly relayed the story he had heard to Peng Mugang.
The story was that among the families they had visited so far, excluding powerful ones like the Namgung Family and Sichuan Tang Family, every family had suffered great headaches and difficulties because of them.
All sorts of arrogant and misbehaving acts they committed were already spreading as rumors.
However, since they were from the Murim Alliance, people only complained and cursed behind their backs, and no one had yet dared to confront them or the Murim Alliance directly.
Naturally, it was out of fear of future repercussions. The sorrow of powerless sects, one might say.
But it wasn't quite accurate to call the sects that had suffered at their hands powerless.
Though they might fall short of the Five Great Families, they were still prestigious families with high reputations in their respective regions.
It was just that the Murim Alliance was that much of a massive force.
In fact, who would dare raise their voice against them, except for the Five Great Families?
Even the Five Great Families would find them difficult opponents to make enemies of.
"Haha. If that's true, then they're quite nasty fellows indeed."
But upon hearing this, Peng Mugang burst into laughter.
"It seems they're acting so arrogantly with the Murim Alliance backing them. Well, this is..."
"So you're uncomfortable with such ruffians coming to the Peng Family?"
"That's right."
It was an obvious statement. Who would want to welcome such guests?
If they didn't know beforehand it might be different, but once they knew, it couldn't be pleasant.
"Those people acted all high and mighty as if they were creating something great, but in the end, this is what they produced? Hahaha!"
For some reason, Peng Mugang couldn't stop laughing.
"That's why we're saying this. Wouldn't it be better to refuse, even if it's difficult?"
"Why? Didn't you say they were relatively quiet at the Namgung and Tang families?"
"Well, the truth is, they weren't completely quiet there either. It seems even those families had headaches from the ambiguous disputes they caused."
"Tsk tsk."
Well, it was to be expected. It was quite impressive that such troublemakers who couldn't control themselves knew where to pick their battles.
But,
"No. Let's receive them as planned."
"But Family Head."
"Haven't we already agreed to receive any guests? If we refuse, that will cause its own headache. No, it might even come back as an even bigger problem."
The elders fell silent at Peng Mugang's words.
"Besides, I don't like how it looks. From the outside, it might seem like we're afraid of such fellows and avoiding them."
"Well, I suppose that's true."
"Let's see just how shamelessly these ruffians will act."
Seeing Peng Mugang's expression, the elders realized it was pointless to try to dissuade him and each let out a sigh.
In any case, the elders were already getting headaches.