Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign

Chapter 65: The Good Do Not Come (1)

Wi Yeonho sprawled out as much as he pleased.

With Jin Soa, who used to chirp at him incessantly, now confined inside the Sacred Hand Grounds, there was no one left to nag at him.

Ever since the servants took over the task of bringing him meals, Wi Yeonho had no reason to be cautious of anyone’s gaze and was freely enjoying his peace.

People who saw him berated him for being disgracefully lazy and treated him with contempt, but truthfully, Wi Yeonho had never had a chance in his life to be properly lazy until now.

There had always been someone to scold him, always someone to yell at him.

At home, it had been his mother. After he grew up, it was Suryeon who took over the nagging. Before entering the Scholarly Institute, his older brother had been like a Grim Reaper to him. And the man he’d thought was an uncle—no, his father—was the kind of person who believed lying down on a bed was akin to dying.

What about the time in the cave? There was no point even mentioning it. Even in the Great Scholarly Institute, wasn’t there that foul-tempered woman who had made it her mission to devour him whole?

By all accounts, he was currently enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime luxury.

‘Then why does this feel so strange?’

Under normal circumstances, this should have made him so happy he’d be bouncing off the walls. But now that he was in it, Wi Yeonho felt an odd sense of discomfort.

He would wake up, eat, fall asleep again, and then wake up only to eat once more. It was a continuous cycle.

‘Is this… fattening for slaughter?’

A serious question began to take form.

How was this any different from a pig raised in a pen?

If dignity was the most crucial aspect of being human, then Wi Yeonho had to ask himself the fundamental question: did he still possess that dignity as a human being?

"Meal is here."

At the sound coming from outside the door, Wi Yeonho reluctantly pushed himself up.

Reluctantly?

He was the disciple of the Radiant Sword, Baek Muhan.

A martial artist with such refined martial arts that he could bring this house down with a single sword if he wished.

And yet, getting up from the floor was a struggle?

Wi Yeonho shook his head. They said humans were creatures of adaptation, and it seemed his body had adapted to being buried in the bedding for too long.

The door opened, and a large meal table was brought inside.

Wi Yeonho shivered as he looked over the dishes on the table.

Shouldn’t they tone it down a little by now?

Compared to the first day, nothing much had changed. Seeing a feast like this constantly being brought out by a house that didn’t even have money made his stomach turn. Wi Yeonho had received good treatment before, either by extortion or negotiation, but never had he been offered such hospitality freely.

And the fact that this special treatment stemmed from a single letter written by Mun Yuhwan made him feel even more embarrassed.

Let’s be honest—without Mun Yuhwan’s letter of recommendation, how could he have even dreamed of receiving this kind of treatment?

"Please eat."

As the servant placed the table and left, Wi Yeonho wiped the embarrassment from his face and picked up his spoon.

"Hmm..."

It was embarrassing and left a bad taste, but there was an old saying: even a ghost who died eating looked good. He might as well eat first.

"I'm lacking nutrients."

He hadn’t eaten properly for five years.

It wasn’t that he was born with a big appetite, but if it were anyone else, they would’ve gone crazy at the sight of food.

In the past, even if a meal table was brought in while he was asleep, he would have chosen to sleep another two hours rather than eat. But now, seeing how he reached for food first, it seemed the cave life had corrected a bit of his laziness.

"Let’s eat!"

Wi Yeonho immediately tore off a duck leg.

"This’ll do for now."

After neatly portioning out just enough food from the table onto a plate, he placed the plate on the floor, opened the door, and pushed the table out.

"I’m done eating."

"Already?"

When the servant who had brought in the meal came running over and asked, Wi Yeonho simply nodded without saying a word.

"Then I’ll take it away."

"Yes, go ahead."

After sending the table off, Wi Yeonho stepped back into the room, closed the door, and picked up the plate.

"This is easier."

Ever since he learned that there were people who ate the food he left behind, Wi Yeonho had been trying to eat more neatly and in smaller portions. He had developed a bit of an appetite, but as long as he was full, he didn’t obsess over the food itself.

Having roughly cleared the plate, Wi Yeonho rubbed his stomach, let out a big belch, and then picked up his blanket to lie back down.

"Ugh, I’m going to get fat."

Thanks to Baek Muhan’s brutal training, he’d always maintained peak physical condition without effort. But with this pattern of eating and sleeping on repeat, who knew?

Imagining himself rolling around on the floor all bloated, Wi Yeonho nodded.

"Not bad, though."

It would at least be soft.

What did appearance matter to others, as long as he himself was comfortable?

Unless he became so heavy he couldn’t move like Nok Mokpung, personal comfort was all that mattered.

With his belly full and his back warm, it was only natural for sleep to drift over him.

That is, until a loud voice rang in his ears, snapping him out of his drowsiness.

"…I said come!"

"Whoa!"

Half-asleep, Wi Yeonho jumped up in shock at the booming voice that pierced through the door.

"What the—?"

This was a medical household. Loud noises weren’t uncommon. On days when emergency patients were brought in, the place could resemble a bustling marketplace.

The voices of the physicians and the shouts of guardians screaming to save their patients combined into a deafening uproar.

There had been many such noisy incidents before, but something about this one was clearly different. If it were the usual chaos, Wi Yeonho wouldn’t have woken up so easily. He was the kind of person who could sleep soundly even if a war broke out right next to him—if he had made up his mind to sleep, then sleep he would.

‘What should I do?’

He sensed that something urgent was going on, but he didn’t want to go outside and show his face. The warmth of the mat clinging to his back was too soft, and the blanket covering his stomach was cozy beyond compare.

‘It’s not my business anyway.’

Wi Yeonho tried to ignore it and get more sleep, but a shrill voice stabbed sharply into his ears, making him twitch.

"Didn’t I tell you to come out?!"

The medicinal herbs laid out on the floor to dry scattered in all directions.

"Wh-what are you doing?!"

The physician who had come to inspect the herbs shouted in shock as he watched the thug begin to flip everything over without warning.

"Tell the owner to come out!"

A man with a vicious scar across his face barked at the physician, his expression menacing.

"O-owner? What do you mean?"

"I said bring out the owner! Where’s Jin Yeran?!"

"Why are you looking for Miss Jin…?"

"You punks trying to play games with me?!"

Without another word, the scar-faced man began to stomp on the herbs.

"Good heavens, do you know what kind of herbs those are?! You mustn’t! I said no!"

When the physician clung to the man’s arm, he shoved the doctor aside and began kicking open doors and wreaking havoc.

"Come out! Are you coming out or not?!"

"Please, you mustn’t do this! There are patients here recuperating!"

"Not my problem! Where’s that bitch Clan Head?!"

With the man causing a scene, the physician was completely helpless. He was just a pale-faced scholar who had spent his life treating patients—how could he possibly stop a thug?

"W-what’s going on?!"

Jin Soa came running out from a room after hearing the commotion, but froze in place when he saw the thug.

"Oh ho, so you were here, you little punk."

"Huk!"

Jin Soa swallowed dry air.

"Why… why are you here?"

"Why?"

The man gave a scoffing laugh, then threateningly thumped his chest with his hand.

"Why else? I’m here to collect my money!"

"…What money do you think we have?"

"You think it’s okay to just eat and run if you don’t have money?"

Jin Soa couldn’t say a word in response.

"That debt was our father’s, not ours."

"If a parent owes a debt, isn’t it only right that the children pay it back?"

Jin Soa grabbed the man’s sleeve.

"Let’s talk outside. There are patients resting."

"Patients?"

The man snorted.

"Hah! So you don’t have money to pay your debts, but you’ve got cash to spend on patients? Do physicians have no shame? Leeching off someone else’s money and acting like saints—just watching it makes my guts twist."

"You know that’s not how it is."

"Not how it is? Then whose money do you think you're spending? I cut you slack, and now you’re strutting around with someone else’s silver?"

Jin Soa was so enraged he could scream.

Slack, he said.

This was the man who had confiscated their estate and emptied out the storehouse over their father’s gambling debts, and now he had the gall to claim he’d gone easy on them?

After stripping the Sacred Hand Grounds of their wealth in the blink of an eye and leaving them with nowhere else to go, how could he now speak so shamelessly?

"No need for long talk. When are you paying back the money?"

"How are we supposed to pay it if we don’t have any?"

"No money? Then where did all these herbs come from?"

"We gathered them little by little…"

"If you could save up little by little, you should’ve paid off your debt first! And now you’re spending it on nonsense?"

"That’s not it. We need patients to earn money, don’t we? Without medicine, how are we supposed to treat anyone?"

"Oh, I see. So you’re saying… you can’t make money because you’ve got patients?"

"…Excuse me?"

The man grinned wickedly.

"Then we just need to get rid of the patients. Right?"

"W-what are you saying?"

"This is what I’m saying."

The man kicked Jin Soa, who was clinging to his sleeve.

"Ugh!"

Jin Soa rolled across the floor.

The man who kicked Jin Soa strode over to the patient rooms and began dragging patients out one by one.

"Out! This place is out of business. Move it!"

"Wh-why are you doing this?!"

Some patients who still had a bit of strength tried to resist, but those who were too weak couldn’t even speak and ended up being dragged out helplessly.

"Stop it! I said they’re patients!"

"So what? You can’t even pay your debt, and you’re running a charity? Move!"

Shoving aside Jin Soa, who had lunged at him, the man kicked open yet another door.

"Come out this instan—"

At that moment, the man clamped his mouth shut.

Something about the room’s scene was off.

Every other room had patients wrapped in bandages or obviously injured in some way. But the one lying in this room looked far too healthy.

Sure, he was lying under a blanket in broad daylight, which might suggest illness, but the grease shining on his face screamed comfort, and his solid-looking body hardly seemed like that of a patient.

"Uh…"

While the man stood dumbfounded, Wi Yeonho’s eyes slowly fluttered open.

Awoken by the unexpected racket, Wi Yeonho muttered groggily with a half-asleep face.

"What is it now?"