Sect Master’s Guide to Babysitting

Chapter 7: Inspector Yoo Makes an Entrance



Continuing where they left off, downstairs was the next target of the children's curiosity. Specifically, the kitchen, because wherever there's a group of starving kids, there are always going to be trouble. Seo Ryung, saw each of them making their way to the kitchen and while putting his hands on his hips. "All right kids, one at a time please. We are supposed to eat later, but I will make an exception if you guys behave. Maybe I will even let you all try a bit of cooking."

"Really? Cooking?" Jin-mu asked while stepping forward. Although his arm was wrapped in a bandage, he looked like a curious cat more than an injured one. "I can cook mister."

Seo Ryung arched a brow. "Hmm... is that so?"

The thin boy quickly nodded his head. "Yes uhm... I had to cook for myself on the streets after the..." His voice betrayed him. An wave of sadness showed across his face.

After a short, weird pause, Seo Ryung clears his throat, "Well, we would all like to see how you cooking skills would compare to mine." He then made a jokey face. "Although, I don't think you're going to struggle at all. After all, I usually deal with swords and other metals that can be forged."

"Oh oh! I can make some rice porridge!" Chul-woo butted in their conversation.

"The both of you are not about to blow up my kitchen!" Seo Ryung said hurriedly when he remembered the incident that happened from a few days ago with the old kitchen stove.

He turned around to see Heuk Cheon in the hallway, quietly watching the whole thing go down. "Master!" Seo Ryung called out, "maybe you can do somethin-" 

Heuk Cheon shook his head very adamantly. "I can fight an army," he said in his usual strict voice, "but I am not about to fight pots and pans in the kitchen.

Jin-mu and Chul-woo both giggled. Ae-rin gave a small smile, although she quickly tried to hide it using her clothing. For a second, the heaviness of the day was appeased in a group laughter. 

Although not every child was able to adapt to their surroundings easily. During the non-formal middle of the day meal, which was soup and hot rice. Han-ju was sitting with his arms crossed, watching over the other kids that came with him. When Lee Jin-Ho went up to him, the boy asked, "So... who is the leader here? Like, who really is the one in charge?"

"Ah, it is the one and only, Master Heuk Cheon!" Lee Jin-Ho answered with a warm voice. 

Han-ju got confused. "Huh? Why? He doesn't even say much. What if someone were to attack us?"

Lee Jin-Ho was about to speak when, to his surprise, Heuk Cheon himself decided to speak up from the other side of the dining table. "It is simple, brat. If someone was foolish enough to attack this place," he said coldly, "They will learn to regret it."

The cold, icy tone embedded in his voice made Han-ju's brow furrow. After that moment, the boy gave a hesitant nod, as if Heuk Cheon's conviction was enough to answer all of his doubts hidden deep inside.

On the other hand, Ae-rin was carefully pouring soup into a wooden bowl. Her hands was shaking at the action, and a slight bit of the soup spilled onto the table. She tenses up, rapidly apologizing to everyone as she was trying to wipe it off. 

"It's okay," Su-yeon was consoling Ae-rin. She offered her an extra table napkin. The two girls swapped shy smiles to one another, it seems that they have bonded in that small moment.

At the head of the table, Do-won gave them half a smile. He remembered there was a time in the Redwood Estate where it was nothing but silence, it only had dust and broken down apparel. Now the air was filled with children's talking and the sound of utensils being put to use, an odd but a welcomed change.

As the afternoon sun was setting in, a second wagon came about, inside was two more children. One of them was a gloomy looking boy that was around ten years old, and the other was a timid girl that was maybe eight. But what surprised all of them was not the kids, it was Inspector Yoo stepping off of the driver's seat, brushing down his clean light-blue robes with a look of intense disgust.

He looked at Heuk Cheon, who had went out to the manor's courtyard to go and greet them. "Well, well," Inspector Yoo said as he was letting the corners of his mouth curl into a slight mocking smirk. "what a lovely place this has become."

Heuk Cheon calmed himself down by inhaling slowly, fighting down the urge to rip him apart. "We have taken in your orphans as the Murim Alliance has ordered. Why have you come here? Is there something that you need?"

One of the two new orphans, a lanky boy named Woo-jin was standing behind Inspector Yoo. He looked like he wanted to be in anywhere else but here. On the other hand, a little girl named Min-ah, was clinging on to Woo-jin's shirt. Her eyes was staring nervously at the sight of Seo Ryung.

Inspector Yoo joined his hands together behind his back while observing the kids who would run up to see who was coming to the estate. "I am simply here to deliver these two, obviously. And to also conduct a quick inspection once again. The Murim Alliance wants to make sure that the environment these kids would be living in would be suitable."

"Go ahead and see for yourself." Heuk Cheon answered back, rather confidently. 

Seo Ryung stepped forward to guide the inspector around the estate while muttering under his breath. "Come right this way, oh our honored inspector," he said in a sarcastic tone that seemed like he was joking about. "I will show you the main chambers where the children would eat, the bedrooms, and the manor's courtyard... it is all here."

As Inspector Yoo was passing through, his eyes looked over the newly placed planks in the floor, the patched rooftop, and the newly renovated interior of the place. He didn't want to nod, but he had to. "I see you have managed to keep this place from breaking down altogether." he remarked.

"We have done more than that," Seo Ryung answered him back with his shoulders tensing, looking like he was about ready to attack him. "We, all of us together, made it a home."

Inspector Yoo lifted a brow at the tone in Seo Ryung's voice. But he chose not to pay any mind to it. Instead, he stopped at the kitchen, where he found Jin-mu mixing a pot of soup under the careful watch of Lee Jin-Ho. "Hmm," Inspector Yoo said, "children cooking. Let us hope that you don't give any of them food poisoning."

Lee Jin-Ho's face show that he was offended, but he tried to keep his tone of voice polite. "Please do not worry, we have taken the necessary precautions, Inspector. The kids are simply trying to learn the basic skills they would need in the real world."

"Hmph." Inspector Yoo turned on his heel. "Well, I would like to remind all of you that all of this are going to be recorded," he said while tapping around his little notebook. "I will report this back to the Murim Alliance. As of right now, Redwood Estate seems to be..." he stopped, it looked like it was going to suffocate if he said something that complimented them, "...argh acceptable."

Heuk Cheon, who had just recently joined them, let out a quiet sigh of relief. The last thing that they needed was for Inspector Yoo to shut this place down when the children just got here. When the inspector finally left the place, riding off in his wagon, the dense tension that befell on the group visibly faded.


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