The Illegitimate Who Devours Weapons

Weapon-Eating Illegitimate Son

Episode 42

Father, Lee Tae-shin’s office was extremely quiet, unlike any other place in the main house, which was always lively with the sounds of warriors training and the moving of family members.

The small, one-story, modern hanok looked neat and old-fashioned, but it lacked the extravagance befitting the name of the Sungmoo family.

Seohyun Lee and I stood at the entrance of the building, put the message inside, and waited.

“Why did my father call me?”

Lee Seo-hyun was fidgeting with a nervous expression on her face, as if she wasn’t answering.

“It’ll be nothing. Just relax.”

“How dare you relax! You should relax. You’re the only one who can be so calm in front of your father.”

Instead, I snickered at Lee Seo-hyun who was criticizing me.

‘I wasn’t nervous either.’

I was a bit nervous, too.

My father is a scary person.

He sometimes gives his children harsh tests and coldly reprimands them when they do not live up to the name of the Sungmoo family.

But that was it.

My father was scary, but he wasn’t a scary person.

After all, my father is my father, and I know that the trials he gives me are to test me and make me stronger.

‘Rather, the old people in the family are more annoying.’

Compared to them, whose purpose and what they would do were unpredictable, my father felt rather friendly.

“Thank you for waiting for a long time, Miss Seo-hyeon. Master Cheol.”

After a very short while, Butler Choi came out to greet us.

I followed Lee Seo-hyun and Butler Choi into the building.

“Butler Choi. How is your father feeling today? You didn’t call us here to scold us or anything, did you?”

At Lee Seo-hyun’s nervous words, Butler Choi smiled gently.

“Miss, please don’t be too afraid of the Master. Even though he may be different, the Master loves his children just like any other father.”

“Yes, yes?”

Lee Seo-hyun’s expression was spectacular.

I quietly watched Butler Choi’s back.

‘The sound of my footsteps, my presence, and my energy are all normal, like a normal person… … What is this feeling?’

For the first time in my life, I felt a strange sense of discomfort with Butler Choi.

It was a feeling I had never felt with anyone before.

It’s clearly within arm’s reach, but it feels like it’s far away.

The distance between me and the other person is not clear.

“We’ve arrived. Both of you, please get dressed.”

Butler Choi’s one word broke my concentration.

I took one look at Butler Choi’s bright smile and straightened my collar.

dripping-

As soon as Seohyun Lee and I finished preparing, Butler Choi knocked on the office door.

“Your Majesty, the eighth daughter, Lee Seo-hyeon, and the ninth daughter, Lee Cheol, have arrived.”

“Let me in.”

I opened the door and stepped inside.

“I see my father.”

“I see my father.”

Seohyun Lee and I bowed our heads politely.

It was too cozy a space to be considered the office of the head of the household.

A brown bookshelf filled with a few books, a mahogany desk with a soft texture, a leather sofa that shows traces of time, and even soft sunlight streaming down through the window bars.

The peaceful scenery, where time seemed to have stopped, made me feel as if I had taken a step away from this world.

I saw my father in that scenery.

A middle-aged man sitting at a desk, silently reading documents.

And then my eyes fell on a longsword right next to where my father was sitting.

‘… … It’s not awkward.’

In such a gentle landscape, the great warrior of the century, Lee Tae-shin, and his beloved sword were placed, but they did not stand out at all and blended in with the landscape.

It wasn’t just a simple sentiment.

Actually, I couldn’t feel my father’s momentum at all.

It just existed there, as if it were a part of nature.

‘Have you gotten… stronger?’

Or maybe it has reached that point.

I couldn’t even figure that out.

“Come in.”

In reality, I only looked at my father for about ten seconds.

My father put down the papers and motioned for me and Seohyun Lee to go towards the sofa.

“I called you because I had some free time and wanted to chat. I heard you finished your first year of cadet training.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Yes, yes… … .”

Lee Seo-hyun hesitated as if she were almost a criminal.

It was his own choice, but in the end, it was because he was a direct descendant of the Sungmoo family and did not even make it into the rankings.

But that wasn’t important to my father.

“What did you feel?”

My father took a sip of tea and asked in a calm voice.

Lee Seo-hyun held her breath for a moment.

Then he glanced in my direction.

‘Why are you looking at me?’

As if reading my gaze, Lee Seo-hyun immediately turned her head towards her father.

Then he continued speaking in a voice that was much calmer than before.

“I saw the true face of the family.”

Cool-

I found myself coughing without realizing it.

It was because I realized the true meaning of the word ‘true face’.

‘You were so nervous? All of a sudden?’

The father looked at Lee Seo-hyeon with interest.

“What is the true nature?”

“I know that it is due to checks and balances, or competition. However, I have seen things that are so incomprehensible happen so casually… … I think that does not fit the word ‘sungmu’.”

“So, what did you think?”

“Oh, I know it’s presumptuous of me… … but I think I’ve decided on my path.”

Lee Seo-hyun swallowed dry saliva.

Although he was still nervous, he didn’t seem to stutter.

“I like to be upright. Whatever I achieve, I want to achieve it with my sword and my own strength.”

“It’s fair and square.”

The father pondered Lee Seo-hyun’s words with a meaningful expression.

“Not bad.”

Although he said that, Lee Tae-shin looked at his daughter with renewed eyes.

‘There was a reason I was chosen by the Holy Sword.’

Clearly, he wasn’t like this a few years ago.

Although he was not a bad child, he was a whiny and weak-willed child.

But now, only his own subjectivity stood.

It may be a subjective opinion that can be seen as infinitely soft, but it suits this child.

When did this happen?

It was a change that happened while he was away on business.

Looking at these two children, it wasn’t hard to guess the reason for the change.

‘It’s you.’

Lee Tae-shin turned his head and looked at his youngest son.

“Then, youngest. What did you feel?”

I thought for a moment.

I felt a lot of things.

My shortcomings, the absurdity of my family, and even things about my instructors and cadets.

But if I had to pick one thing I felt the most, it was this.

“It was pathetic.”

“Ouch.”

This time, it was Lee Seo-hyun who coughed in vain.

“The cadet corps is the root of the Sungmu family. It is where talents who will influence each and every aspect of the Sungmu family grow.”

I took a moment to catch my breath.

“But there were too many cadets like that, and even the instructors who taught them, who were not worthy of the name of Sungmoo. The current cadet corps is wrong.”

“That was wrong.”

Lee Tae-shin’s eyebrows twitched.

It was a different feeling.

Pointing out the problems of the cadet corps was no different from pointing them out to Lee Tae-shin.

His children were nervous and afraid in his presence, not daring to utter such provocative words.

Come to think of it, this child was like that at the naming ceremony too.

I was not afraid, even though it was difficult for me.

Lee Tae-shin looked at his son and pointed out.

“You are still young. Don’t you think that it is because of your narrow-mindedness that you don’t understand?”

I responded calmly to my father’s comment.

“I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“Of course, I am still young and don’t know much. But I think this is a very fundamental problem, beyond that. And because it is such a problem, I am confident that I am right.”

“Okay, so what was the problem?”

“They… … did not struggle.”

Second year cadets and many instructors.

Even Class 5 and Lee Jeong-ho were pathetic before they changed because of me.

“He may be weak, he may be defeated, but he who stops fighting is not fit for the Sungmoo family.”

I continued.

“And I’ve seen too many cadets like that. I think the reason cadets end up like that is because of the instructors’ ability or their teaching methods.”

I blurted out the words and looked at my father’s expression.

‘Did I go too far?’

It was such a raw feeling.

Father put down his teacup.

“How cheeky.”

Words that sound like scolding.

I flinched for a moment, but opened my eyes wide when I saw my father’s expression.

‘Are you laughing?’

Although it was very faint, there was a smile on my father’s lips.

But it disappeared so quickly that it felt like I had seen it wrong.

“It is admirable that you have established your own foundation of thought while living as a cadet. However, always be on guard. Once you fall into the swamp of narrow-mindedness, it is not easy to escape.”

When her father gave her advice himself, Lee Seo-hyun’s face brightened as if a flower had bloomed.

“Thank you! Each bone… … Ugh!”

It’s a shame to use difficult words that don’t fit the context and end up biting your tongue.

I tried hard to hold back my laughter while looking at Lee Seo-hyun like that.

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Father took another sip of tea.

I looked at my father like that and thought.

‘Now it’s time to get to the main point.’

This brief conversation was merely a light test and fatherly advice.

As expected.

“I have heard about your work as cadets this year.”

I straightened my back and corrected my posture.

“The tests I gave you this past year were no different in content than the tasks and levels performed by the political officers. You realized that they were tests I had given you, and you faithfully carried out your tasks according to my intentions.”

“I, I just did my best with the job I was given.”

Lee Seo-hyun said, lowering her head as if she felt sorry.

My father nodded once and continued speaking.

“The reason I called you today was to reward you for the mission you have accomplished so far.”

At my father’s words, both Seohyun and I opened our eyes wide.

Leaving aside the evaluation in the forest of human faces.

In classes 1 and 5, the tasks given in any evaluation were of a level of difficulty that exceeded imagination.

And Seohyun Lee and I also faithfully carried out all of those evaluations.

My father was saying that he would compensate him for that now.

‘No matter how strict my father is with his rewards and punishments, he still gives me rewards for something like this.’

The thought suddenly occurred to me that it might have been some kind of whim due to my father’s change of heart.

“I’m really fine. If I could be of any help to your father’s work, it would be our honor!”

Lee Seo-hyun said, waving her hands.

“Your work has helped me a little in my preparations. This is a fitting reward, so don’t be too reluctant. Just tell me what you want.”

Lee Seo-hyun looked tense for a moment with a blank expression.

He seemed to be at a loss as to what to ask for.

“Ah, that, then I… … !”

After thinking about it for a moment, Seohyun Lee continued speaking as if she had made up her mind.

“Hey, I want to have the Yongrin Armor….”

Masterpiece-level breastplate, Dragon Scale Armor.

Even though it was a masterpiece, it was treated as a quasi-sacred relic because of its utility and special functions.

“Okay. I’ll make sure to tell you in advance. You should be able to receive it tomorrow.”

“yes……!”

Lee Seo-hyun’s eyes sparkled.

Now my father’s eyes turned to me.

“Son, what do you want?”

While Lee Seo-hyun was thinking about it, I had already finished thinking about what to say.

“I am…….”

The moment you heard me.

Lee Seo-hyun was terrified.

My father’s eyebrows furrowed just a little.