“How strange.”
Chung Myung, sprawled atop an old-fashioned – if you wanted to put it nicely – or, bluntly speaking, downright decrepit tiled roof, clicked his tongue.
“Clearly…… it seems like things are running just fine.”
His gaze slid subtly downward.
“Come on, come on. This way, this way.”
Hwasan’s warehouse. A place that had hardly deserved the name ‘warehouse,’ since all it had held until now was the firewood the disciples had chopped, was now stuffed full with grain and gifts.
“A gift sent by Lord Gwak of Weinan [渭南]. Where should we put this?”
“Oh my. Wrapped in silk – just one look tells you it’s expensive. Why on earth would they send something like this…….”
“He said he was so deeply impressed by this time’s conference that he had to send it. So where should it go?”
“Here! Please set it down over here.”
As he received the gift, a smile bloomed across Hyun Yeong’s face. If there was a problem, it was that he was grinning so excessively it looked almost frightening.
“A gift from Lord Ahn, the Prefect of Xian, has arrived.”
“This is woolen cloth sent by Lord Jo of Yuncheng [运城].”
Had it been about eight days since the Hwasan-Jongnam Conference ended? Each day, Hwasan was overflowing with gifts sent by influential figures, and the grain Eunha Merchant Guild had sent had reached the point where there was nowhere left to stack it, so it was being pushed out beyond the warehouse.
“Euh-heuh-heuh-heuh! The God of Wealth! The God of Wealth has come to Hwasan! To think I’d live to see a sight like this. Euh-heuh-heuh-heuh, hng! Euh-heuh-heuh-heuh-euh.”
“…Elder. Could you please do just one – either cry, or laugh?”
“Quiet. Just carry the goods.”
“Yes…….”
Chung Myung, staring intently at the scene, took a sip of the liquor in his hand.
“Tsk.”
The faces of those moving the goods were blossoming with smiles, but Chung Myung’s expression was anything but satisfied.
It couldn’t be helped.
No matter how much wealth had gathered over there right now, how could it possibly compare to Hwasan’s fortunes in the past? It had been only natural that they were the wealthiest sect in Shaanxi, and Hwasan had amassed riches that ranked among the very top even under heaven.
“And yet it’s only this much.”
In the old days, trinkets like that weren’t even enough to fill Chung Myung’s belly with liquor. Even the value of the things he’d taken out of the warehouse and sold off would have amounted to that much…
– What, you punk? How much did you sell off and pocket each month?!
“Ah… I mean, that’s just a figure of speech. Just saying.”
Chung Myung quickly averted his gaze and changed the subject.
“Anyway, this matter is fine at about this level, for now…”
Chung Myung eyes turned in the other direction.
“Taaaah!”
“Eurachaaah!”
“Khaaaaaaaakkhh!”
“……Who just let out that shout?”
In the large training grounds, the disciples had gathered and were swinging their swords. To Chung Myung’s eyes, it was still difficult to tell whether what they were doing could even be called swordplay or if it was more akin to a feeble old man swatting flies – but the important thing was that those brats were training on their own without being told to.
“Taaaah!”
At that moment, Jo Geol’s sword path caught Chung Myung’s attention. With his enthusiasm overflowing and strength leading the way, the blade was flailing wildly, straying far from the road it was supposed to take.
“Oh! Sahyeong! Didn’t that look kind of impressive just now?”
“……It did look intense, at least.”
“See! I must be getting somewhere now.”
Chung Myung couldn’t keep watching and squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Tonight you’re doing a hundred extra swings before bed.’
It was better not to look. If he watched, what came out would be nagging, and what would burst would be his insides.
Chung Myung knew it too. Even a great towering tree begins as a small sprout. Of course everyone wanted the sprout to grow quickly, but if, in your impatience, you kept poking at it, even the sprout that ought to grow well would end up withering.
“……But, it feels like the sprout has already been yellow from the start.”
– Says the one who was the problem.
“Not that sprout! I mean – I’ve been good at swinging a sword since I was little!”
Chung Myung jabbed his finger into empty air, then rubbed at the corner of his mouth as if something about it left a bad taste.
That side didn’t please him much either, but still – since even a journey of a thousand li begins with a single step. At least they’d taken that first step now, hadn’t they?
“Then that side is fine for now, too.”
“Then what is it?”
“Is it over there?”
Chung Myung’s gaze shifted to a place farther off.
⠀
“Hmm. So it can be interpreted that way as well.”
“Isn’t it, Elder?”
“Certainly……. This conference helped a great deal. I feel as though my discernment in viewing martial studies has broadened. To think it would be like this even when it’s the disciples’ sparring. This is why they say it’s important for a martial artist to see and experience much.”
“I agree. I was able to discover many aspects I had been misunderstanding all this time.”
Hyun Sang and Un Geom were deep in discussion, poring over the secret manual of the Seven Plum Blossom Sword. For them too, it seemed this conference – or rather, Chung Myung’s sword – had left a strong impression.
‘Of course it did.’
Those men, in a manner of speaking, were the sort who had learned the sword by looking only at manuals.
One might think that’s how everyone is? Not a chance. A manual is only a means to compensate for the imperfections of human memory. It can never contain the entirety of martial arts. If you learn martial arts from manuals alone, you might be able to imitate the shape of it, but the true meaning of martial arts – so difficult to convey in words – can only be guessed at.
Of course, since they didn’t know who Chung Myung really was, they wouldn’t think his sword was a perfect answer, but they would certainly consider it something worth studying.
‘For now, that’s enough.’
Water always flows downward. He could take his time and gradually correct their martial art techniques bit by bit. Then the swords of Hwasan’s disciples, who received instruction in swordsmanship from them, would also be set on the proper path. Only then would Hwasan’s martial arts truly be able to revive.
“Anyway, that means this side is fine too.”
The three most important things in reviving a sect. People, martial arts, and wealth.
Even if the road ahead was ninety thousand li long, they had at least laid the groundwork for all three elements and taken their first step. If so, there shouldn’t have been anything in particular to feel uneasy about.
“Khhh. What was it? Why does something feel so off?”
This feeling right now was – how should he put it…
Like when you’d been guzzling liquor in your room, left empty bottles scattered everywhere, and went out to play, and then, while knocking back a drink at Hwaeum, suddenly remembered that your Sahyeong was supposed to come see you today?
Meaning, you’d definitely forgotten something…
– Sacred relic.
“What on earth did I forget.”
– Sacred relic.
“Ah! Seriously, this is damn frustrating. My head is aching… feels like I’m just about to remember…”
– Sacred relic.
“Ah.”
Chung Myung’s mouth fell open as he looked up at the sky. Chung Mun, face flushed with fury, was jabbing a finger at him.
– Aren’t you supposed to go find the Dark Fragrance White Plum Blossom [암향백매화]!
“Ah, right. I lost that, didn’t I.”
Chung Myung’s gaze drifted on its own towards the Ancestral Hall. Through the wide-open doors, the top of the altar looked bare. The awkwardness of something that ought to be there not being there made a groan spill from his lips.
– The Purple Mist Divine Sword is such a precious treasure you can’t just buy it back with money, but the Dark Fragrance White Plum Blossom is something you can find if you have money, isn’t it?!
“Th-That’s…… probably true?”
– Then you have to go find it! It’s the sect’s sacred relic!
“That’s true, but…”
Only then did Chung Myung understand why he’d been feeling this nagging discomfort.
“Ughhh.”
Flopping back down on his spot, Chung Myung smacked his lips.
“What a pain.”
If it were the Purple Mist Divine Sword, it would be different. That was practically his Sahyeong’s keepsake. To Chung Myung, the Purple Mist Divine Sword was the kind of thing he had to recover even if it meant risking his life.
But as for the White Plum Blossom – how should he put it. That… maybe like an heirloom left behind by some relative you’d seen about five times in your life. It was important, sure, but going to such lengths to find it felt a bit…
– What do you even think the sect’s sacred relic is! Aigoo, ancestors! It’s all my fault. I am lacking, and so the sect’s sacred rel…
“Ah, I got it! I’ll find it, alright! I’ll find it!”
Chung Myung, irritated beyond measure, sprang to his feet.
Looks like his plan to laze around for a few days was done for.
❀ ❀ ❀
“White Plum Blossom?”
“Yes.”
“What is that? Ah, that white flower you mentioned back then?”
“Yes. That one.”
“Well, where did I sell it off to…”
Lost in thought, Un Am’s brow furrowed more and more.
“I think I sold it to a merchant who came by Hwasan back then.”
“…What?”
Chung Myung’s face hardened like stone.
“A merchant came all the way to Hwasan and bought the Dark Fragrance White Plum Blossom?”
“Was that flower’s name the Dark Fragrance White Plum Blossom? Anyway, yes.”
“They came all the way up to Hwasan on purpose?”
To the naked eye, that flower was nothing more than a finely crafted piece of metal. In other words, it wasn’t worth climbing this harsh mountain just to buy it. Which meant someone who knew the value of the White Plum Blossom had deliberately…
“No, it wasn’t like that.”
“….What?”
“Back then, Hwasan was being hounded so badly by creditors that we thought we’d sell off some unused household goods, just to try and pay even the interest. So the Elder called over a merchant who was passing through Hwaeum and asked him to buy things from us.”
Un Am let out a small sigh as he continued.
“We even begged him – since he didn’t want it – to buy that flower too.”
“B-Begged…..”
“But we did get a decent price for it. Was it one doe of rice?”
“O-One doe? Not even one mal – one doe*…”
“One mal? Who would ever pay a whole mal for something like that. At best, it’s just a flower-shaped trinket.”
“…”
Chung Myung turned his head, gazed up at the distant sky, and smiled with deep satisfaction.
‘Should I just give up on all of this?’
These lunatics – selling a treasure of one of a kind under heaven, a gift bestowed by the Jin Emperor, for one doe of rice. If they had eyes on their faces at all, shouldn’t they have realized something was wrong?
And Chung Myung had to revive Hwasan again while dragging along a bunch of idiots like these.
– Hang in there.
“What do you mean, hang in there?! Damn it! Who do you think this is all because of!”
“Why are you suddenly getting angry?”
“…No. It’s nothing. So who was that merchant?”
“Hmm? Well. I’d never seen him before back then, so.”
“…”
“Why does your expression look so murderous? I don’t remember it clearly, but now that I think about it, that merchant seemed like someone who did business with the Eunha Merchant Guild. Back then too, I think he came to trade with the Eunha Merchant Guild.”
“His name?”
“His surname was Dan, but…”
“Ugh. Well, at least it’s not a common surname. That’s something. Then I’ll be off for a bit.”
“Off? Where to?”
“You’re asking the obvious.”
Without even looking back, Chung Myung said as he walked away.
“To the Eunha Merchant Guild.”
❀ ❀ ❀
Crunch, crunch, crunch. Crunch – one well-roasted chicken leg vanishes without a trace.
Gulp, gulp, gulp. Gulp – precious fine wine streamed down his throat like water.
“Kaaah!”
Thud! As if he might smash it to pieces, Chung Myung slammed the liquor bottle down hard onto the table and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
“Now this is food, and this is liquor. Ugh, that damned sect – why do they feed you nothing but grass all day.”
“Hmm? By now, good ingredients should be getting supplied to Hwasan, shouldn’t they? Jong-ui?”
“Yes, Father. I’m keeping an eye on it.”
Hearing that, Chung Myung waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s not the ingredients that are the problem, it’s the skill. No matter what you give them, they just toss it together, boil it, and burn it.”
“…Then we’ll have to dispatch a cook as well.”
“If you do that, we’d be grateful.”
Chung Myung grinned broadly, nodding as though his life depended on it.
The value of the same object changes depending on where it is placed. That was something Chung Myung had learned firsthand on the battlefield.
A geun* of meat lying in some brawl couldn’t possibly have the same value as a geun of meat hauled into the very heart of the battlefield at the cost of one’s life. By the same logic, a single chicken set on this table and a single chicken set atop Hwasan’s peak could never have the same value.
In other words, it was no empty claim that Eunha Merchant Guild was putting a great deal of care into this.
“But… what brings you here so suddenly? Is there something more you wished to say regarding the recent Hwasan-Jongnam Conference?”
Hwang Jong-ui asked, sounding doubtful.
There was nothing particularly strange about Chung Myung coming to see them. And yet he spoke like this because, not long ago – after the Conference ended – he had already spoken with Chung Myung for quite a long time. Hadn’t they already reached a conclusion then about how they would move forward from here?
“Ah, it’s nothing big. I just need you to help me find someone.”
“Aha, if it’s that, it won’t be difficult. Very well – what sort of person?”
“They said his surname was Dan? Someone who does business with Eunha Merchant Guild.”
“Hmm. A merchant with the surname Dan. Yes – and?”
“Probably, a few years ago, he sold a plum blossom ornament carved out of white metal.”
“A plum blossom ornament. Yes. And?”
“That’s it.”
At the far-off answer, Hwang Jong-ui’s face went blank.
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“You’re saying… you want us to find someone with that… alone?”
“Yes.”
The muscles in Hwang Jong-ui’s face began to twitch little by little.
“Understood. Then as for the time frame – by when should we find him for you.”
“Oh, that’s not urgent at all, is it? You can take your time and look.”
“Haha. Of course. Then we’ll do so.”
“Yep, yep. To eat and drink everything here, it’ll still take about one sijin*, right.”
“…Pardon?”
“Within one sijin.”
“…”
Chung Myung tilted his head sharply to the side.
“What are you doing.”
“Yes?”
“Move.”
Hwang Jong-ui and Hwang Munyak dashed outside like the wind.
⠀
“W-We found him.”
Who knew what kind of desperate struggle they had just endured – Hwang Jong-ui returned panting, his headpiece askew on his head, and continued breathlessly.
“His name is Dan Bok [단복(段復)]. A peddler who travels back and forth between Gangnam and Shaanxi.”
“A peddler…. Ugh. This is going to be a headache. Where is he now?”
“Ah, fortunately, it seems he’s in Xian at the moment. They say he’s staying at the Yeorim Inn.”
“Oh. Got it. Then I’ll be off.”
“Huh? Dojang? Huh?”
Bang! The door flew open as if it might splinter, and Chung Myung vanished like the wind.
Hwang Jong-ui, staring blankly at the sight, muttered emptily.
“At least… he should’ve heard how hard it was to find him……”
“As if he’s the sort to care about that.”
Hwang Munyak let out a deep sigh.
“Still, a white plum blossom… What in the world is this about.”
His eyes chased after Chung Myung’s back as it shot off into the distance.
❀ ❀ ❀
Bang!
“Is there someone here named Dan Bok?”
All the gazes in the inn turned to one spot at once.
“Huh?”
Amid the uneasy stares, a man in the corner cautiously raised his hand, looking utterly bewildered.
“That would be me?”
“Oh!”
Chung Myung brightened and strode over to the man with a goatee with his hand raised. Judging by his somewhat worn clothes – weathered from hardship – and the bundle clinging tightly to his side…
‘Definitely a merchant.’
Merchants didn’t exactly let valuable goods out of their sight, even when they stayed at an inn.
“What business do you have, Young… hm? Are you a Taoist monk?”
“Something like that, but that’s not important.”
Chung Myung waved it off and went straight to the point.
“A few years back, you bought a plum blossom made of white metal from Hwasan Sect, didn’t you?”
“Hwasan? A plum blossom?”
The man called Dan Bok scratched his head as if trying to recall.
“That… yeah. Hm. Feels like I might remember.”
“It’s only been a few years. And it’s not like people often climb up to Hwasan, so you should remember.”
“Well? Maybe I climbed it, maybe I didn’t, heh-heh. I really don’t remember.”
Chung Myung’s brow furrowed slightly. He spoke as if unsure, but the sly grin on his face made it painfully obvious what he wanted.
“Here.”
Ting! From Chung Myung’s hand, a single copper coin flicked up into the air. Dan Bok snatched the falling coin in a flash and nodded.
“Ah, now I remember. Yes, that did happen. Was it about five years ago?”
“Do you still have it?”
“Come on. If a merchant holds onto an item for five years, he’d deserve to go bankrupt. I sold it ages ago.”
“Where?”
“Hm?”
“Where did you sell it.”
“…Well. Where did I sell that, again?”
“Ugh.”
Ting. Another copper coin sprang up from Chung Myung’s hand. Once again, lightning-fast fingers snatched the spinning coin out of the air.
“Ah! Now that I think hard, I remember. I remember. That… I’m pretty sure I sold it in Luoyang on my way back.”
“Luoyang? That far away?”
“Well, wherever my feet take me, you know.”
Chung Myung let out a deep sigh, then asked again.
“So, where in Luoyang did you sell it?”
“Well. That’s……”
Ting – the coin spun, whirling as it shot up into the air. But this time, instead of catching it, Dan Bok only stared intently at the falling coin.
Ting. Tiding. As the coin hit the floor and rolled, Chung Myung narrowed his eyes.
“You don’t remember?”
“Hm. Well, it’s not so much that I don’t remember as…….”
“Then what?”
“Isn’t this different from just recalling a city? Whether I sold it to a guild, or to a person… It was a long time ago, so my memory is a bit….”
“…”
“If you’re a Taoist monk, it doesn’t look like you’re going around starving. Aren’t you being a bit stingy.”
“It’s four coins.”
“Well then, nothing to be done. If I can’t remember, I can’t remember.”
Chung Myung smiled. Though, of course, the corners of his eyes were twitching faintly.
“Then…….. yes. Can’t be helped.”
Ting! From Chung Myung’s fingertips, a small sliver coin flicked up into the air.
At that, Dan Bok snatched the silver coin like a thunderbolt, turned it this way and that to check it, and then broke into a beaming smile.
“A person. Now that I think about it, I believe I sold it to a person! It wasn’t the kind of item merchant guilds usually handle, so I was pondering what to do with it. Then I put it out at a street stall, and someone bought it.”
“A person? Who?”
“Well. Honestly… It’s hard to say exactly who. You know how it is – if you set up a stall at a street market, all kinds of people come and go. How could I remember the one I sold it to years ago?”
“…Ugh, I understa…”
“Ah. Now that I think about it, there was one distinctive thing.”
“…”
“It’s on the tip of my tongue, but – goodness, have I gone senile? My memory is so hazy.”
Ting! Another silver coin drops into Dan Bok’s hand.
“Oh dear. When you’re old, you ought to just die.”
Dan Bok stroked the end of his long goatee, putting on a playful expression.
“I can’t quite remember. I can’t. Why can’t I remember…….”
Ting!
“Ah, it’s almost coming back to me……..”
Ting!
“Almost! I’ve almost got it. Really, just almost…….”
Baaaang! Thud.
With a sound of a thick earthenware jar shattering, Dan Bok toppled backwards in his chair, and pale steam seemed to be rising from his forehead.
“I… can’t remember?”
And towards the fallen Dan Bok, Chung Myung – his eyes half-rolled back – strode in, cracking his neck from side to side.
“Ah, yeah? Don’t worry. I know a way to bring memories back.”
“D-Dojang. W-Why are you…?”
“But it takes a while. Even if something comes to you in the middle, sometimes it isn’t the right memory. So just wait until I’m done. There’s no point talking now.”
“W-Wait, I was wrong-”
“Wrong? If you did wrong, then you need to get hit, you bastard!”
Chung Myung, completely out of his mind, lunged at Dan Bok.
“Aaaaaaagh! Dojang! Dojang! I’m sorry! Dojaaaang!”
“Will you shut up? You bastard – three silver coins is enough to live on for a year! You took it and still ‘can’t remember’? If you had a conscience, you ought to invent a memory even if you don’t have one!”
“Aaagh! Aaaagh! Please spare me! Agh! Aaagh!”
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you, I won’t. I’ve barely hit you. You’ve still got plenty more to take. You can’t die until you’ve taken it all, so don’t worry. Do I look like some easy target to you, you bastard? Back in the day, the moment I so much as showed my face in Xian, merchants wouldn’t even meet my eyes, but now some miserable beggar like you….”
“Aaaaaagh! Dojaaaang!”
“Die! Die, you bastard! Die! No – don’t die! Absolutely don’t die!”
In an instant, the inn turned into complete chaos.
“Good heavens! What the hell is going on!”
Just as the people seated in the inn recoiled in horror…
“Th-This way!”
Through the wide-open door, the innkeeper came running in, face drained of color, and behind him a few people strolled in at a measured pace.
“Oh!”
The pale-faced guests brightened and welcomed the newcomers.
Snow-white martial robes, a cloud emblem stitched on their chests, and a long sword held proudly in one hand.
“Jongnam! It’s Jongnam Sect!”
“Quick! Please, stop him – someone is going to die!”
The swordsmen of Jongnam surveyed the scene inside the inn, and their expressions hardened. Xian was a city under Jongnam’s influence. To cause a disturbance here was tantamount to insulting Jongnam itself.
“Stop at once! We are from Jongnam! Who dares to run wild in Xian!”
The moment those words rang out, the heavy thuds that had been echoing through the room cut off sharply.
“First, step back and explain what’s go-”
“Yo-You’re dead now! You crazy bastard!”
Dan Bok, his face swollen like a puffed dumpling and twin streams of blood running from his nose, shrieked as he pointed at Chung Myung.
“Here! Warriors of Jongnam! This lunatic just started beating someone for no reason! Hurry and seize him! Hurry!”
“……He really took a beating.”
The disciples of Jongnam frowned at the sight and then called out to the one standing with his back to them.
“Release that man at once and come here. We’ll question you about your wrongdoings.”
“…”
“Can’t you hear what we’re saying?”
“Who are you, and where are you from……?”
Chung Myung, gripping Dan Bok by the collar with one hand, only tilted his head and looked over at Jongnam’s swordsmen who had appeared in the inn.
“Huh?”
“Huhh?”
“Huh……?”
The eyes of Jongnam’s swordsmen – who had been standing there with an air of utter confidence – widened slightly.
The shoulders that had been brimming with confidence gradually drooped on their own. Realizing the situation, the disciples of Jongnam quickly exchanged glances.
‘Is that him?’
‘Looks like him, doesn’t it?’
‘No, you can tell just from the robe. It’s that madman from Hwasan.’
Their faces slowly turned pale. The places where they’d taken a hit during the Conference still ached – how could they possibly forget that face.
“So… what, then? I didn’t quite catch that. Could you say it one more time?”
“Ahem.”
“Euh-heuh-heuh-heuh!”
At Chung Myung’s smile, the disciples of Jongnam rapidly exchanged glances again. But there was no need to debate anything. In this situation, there was only one thing they could do.
“Hmm. It seems it’s nothing at all.”
“……Pardon?”
“Don’t call us over for things like this. Over something so trivial.”
“N-No. What do you mean-”
“Hm! We have many places to patrol today, so let us be on our way.”
“Yes, Sahyeong!”
Jongnam’s swordsmen swiftly turned on their heels and hurried out of the inn. Or rather, they tried to.
“Hey.”
Their bodies froze mid-flight.
“Close the door on your way out. It’s noisy.”
“Ahem.”
Tap. The inn’s door was carefully closed.
“…”
And the inn fell into a deathly silence.
“So then… what was it you said?”
Chung Myung smiled softly and looked down at Dan Bok, who was still in his grip.
“Crazy bastard, was it?”
“…”
“Haha.”
“H… ha.”
As Chung Myung beamed with a blindingly white smile, Dan Bok forced the corners of his unwilling mouth upward and awkwardly laughed along.
“Hahahahahaha!”
With that cheerful laughter, Chung Myung’s fist cut through the air like a streak of light.
“Kkh.”
Taaak! A cup slammed down onto the table as if it might shatter.
“Huh? I’m a Taoist, aren’t I – a Taoist! And how kind would a Taoist be? You know it. Bad people can’t get their names written into the Taoist registries.”
“…”
“So why are you tormenting a good person.”
“…”
“No answer?”
“……I’mthorry.”
“What?”
“I’m s… orry.”
“Tsk.”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue again and again, twisting his face. Dan Bok clasped his neck with one hand – one that didn’t seem to turn properly anymore – and bowed his head.
“Sure, you’re a merchant, so it’s only natural you love money. But there are limits. You try to stab a Taoist in the back when he’s doing his best to live virtuously?”
“I-I’m… thorry….”
“Hoo. Forget it. I’m ending it here because I’m busy right now. If I’d had time, you’d have been getting hit for three nights and four days. Live properly from now on, got it?”
“So? Who did you sell it to?”
“A… mmmiddle-aged man…… with a big… mole… on his neck.”
“A middle-aged man with a big mole on his neck. Ugh. Looks like I’m in for another round of needless suffering.”
Chung Myung sprang to his feet and snatched up the liquor bottle that had been sitting on the table.
“Pay for everything you broke before you leave.”
“…Yes.”
“Anyway, even when you try to handle things nicely, someone just has to turn it into a mess. A mess. Tsk.”
Chung Myung vanished out the door in a flash. Only then did Dan Bok’s companions – who had been hunched up, watching the room with bated breaths – finally straighten and let out their sighs.
“What in the world was that……..”
“No, seriously – what just happened……..”
“Hey. Are you alright?”
Tears like chicken droppings began streaming from Dan Bok’s eyes.
“That’s what you get for being too greedy.”
“Still… he did do something worth getting hit for.”
“Don’t be too hard on him. When some young Taoist brat is snapping out silver coins like that, who wouldn’t be tempted?”
“That’s true, but… he couldn’t even keep it anyway. Didn’t he just get everything he took snatched right back?”
“…No.”
“Huh? No? Looked like he took it back earlier.”
“My money too…. he cleaned me out… left me with only enough to pay damages…….”
“…”
“Ughhh.”
At the sight of a pathetic man’s tears, the others squeezed their eyes shut.
Smacking his lips, Chung Myung looked towards the far west.
“Ugh. Sure, it’s ‘Luoyang,’ but from here, how many li is Luoyang, anyway.”
Should he just not go? Was that flower really that important? A sacred relic is really about what it represents, isn’t it – what it ‘is’ doesn’t necessarily matter that much…….
– Ancestors, I will go to hell and atone for this sin…….
“Ah, I got it! I got it, damn it! Agh, hell!”
Grinding his teeth hard, Chung Myung shot towards the west like a beam of light.
❀ ❀ ❀
“Sir! Five years ago, from a merchant who came from Xian, a plum blossom made of white metal…….”
“I sold that again, though? Where was it? Some peddler heading to Hubei, or something?”
“There! There! Back in Luoyang, this white plum blossom ornament…”
“Ah, that flower. I remember. I remember. But… as I recall, I was short on money back then, so I pawned it at the shop and scraped together some cash. After that, I couldn’t get it back…”
“I heard that, a few years ago, someone pawned a white plum blossom carving here.”
“At our pawnshop, items not reclaimed by their owners after a certain period are disposed of through a merchant guild. It would be fastest for you to go to Hwangsu Merchant Guild, which is our trading partner.”
“And where is this Hwangsu Merchant Guild?”
“Hwangsu Merchant Guild is the foremost merchant guild in Hebei. It’s in Hebei.”
“…”
“Ughhhhhh. Then perhaps – did you ever purchase white plum blossom ornament at some pawnshop in Hubei?”
“Ah, you mean that flower. When we were dumping unsellable goods in a clearance lot, I think it got tossed in with the rest. Let’s see. It would’ve been the Hopung Merchant Guild.”
“Ah, Hopung… yes. Do you happen to know where that guild is located?”
“Xian.”
“…Where?”
“Xian….”
“Where did you say?”
“…”
Crunch, crunch.
Covered head to toe in a layer of dust, so that his black martial robe had turned gray, Chung Myung ground his teeth like they were about to shatter. He glared at the signboard bearing the words ‘Hopung Merchant Guild’ as though he would bore a hole straight through it.
“Heh-heh… Xian… Ughh-heh-heh-heh-heh.“
After passing through Luoyang and Hubei, making a stop in Hebei, and then coming all the way back to Xian, clear tears streamed down from Chung Myung’s eyes.
“What sin did I commit in my past life to deserve this.”
– Quite a lot, actually.
“Will you shut up! Whose fault do you think all of this is!”
Chung Myung, seething with rage, clawed roughly at his own hair.
“Ughhh. If I’m going to suffer, I might as well just die.”
Who was there to blame in the first place? This was all the result of Chung Myung’s meddlesome urge to track down that utterly useless ‘divine relic’.
Chung Myung shook his head, then knocked on the door of a large merchant guild.
“Is anyone there?”
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
“Is there nobody inside?”
A moment later, someone came over with an irritated huff and yanked the door open.
“Who is it?!”
“Oh, there is someone. It’s just that – I’m looking for an item.”
“An item, my ass. Are you in your right mind, or are you out of it?”
“Huh?”
“If a perfectly good merchant guild has its doors shut, it’s obviously a day off. You should quietly come back the next day – what’s with all the racket, pounding on the door at the crack of dawn? Are you picking a fight right now?”
Chung Myung glanced up at the sky for a moment, then let out a long sigh.
“…So merchant guilds get days off, too. People these days are all so well-fed.”
“What did you just say?”
“Ugh. Sorry about that. It’s just urgent.”
The middle-aged man, who had been snapping irritably, stuck only his head out through the half-open door and looked Chung Myung up and down.
“Urgent? What, did you bring a message? A dispatch, maybe?”
“It’s not that……”
“Then if it’s not even that, what urgent business does some beggar-looking punk have at a merchant guild! Can’t you read the room, you little brat! Even begging requires some sense of timing! Don’t you know if you go looking for leftover scraps from someone who’s resting, you might end up getting your bowl smashed?”
“……Begging?”
Chung Myung’s face went blank.
“Begging, what the-…….“
“Anyone can see you’re a beggar! Aren’t you?”
“……Well, I am from that sort of background.”
“See! Told you!”
Damn it, honest at the most useless times. This mouth of mine.
“Anyway, I’m not here to beg right now, so go call someone. About two years ago, this merchant guild should’ve bought a plum blossom ornament made of white metal, and I need to find them.”
“Does this bastard not understand plain speech! If you don’t get the hell out right now, I’ll teach you a hard lesson. This is your last warning. Say one more word and you won’t be walking home today. Got it?”
Chung Myung forced a smile, and a vein stood out on his forehead.
“It’s really…… urgent…… that’s why……”
“Oh yeah? Fine! Today it’s either you die or I – come here, you-….”
“What’s going on?”
At that, the middle-aged man who’d been rolling up his sleeves to lunge forward spun around in a hurry, then flinched and bowed his head.
“Ah, Sir. It’s nothing. Some beggar bastard was knocking on the door, so I…”
“A beggar?”
“Yes. I’ll handle it.”
“If a beggar comes by, you give him something to eat and send him on his way. Why are you shouting at the front gate of the guild?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Calm him down quietly and send him…….”
The voice suddenly trailed off.
“Sir?”
The man who had been speaking in a displeased tone from the back suddenly strode forward and flung the door wide open. Then he looked Chung Myung up and down.
“Excuse me, by any chance……. by any chance, are you…… from Hwasan?”
“Saying I came from Hwasan isn’t quite right, but anyway, I am affiliated with Hwasan.”
“Hhhiik.”
The man’s stern face turned deathly pale in an instant, and he kicked the middle-aged man standing beside him straight in the ribs.
“Keugh!”
“Has this lunatic lost his mind! How dare you spew that kind of nonsense at someone from Hwasan! What? A beggar? Are you determined to ruin this merchant guild!”
“S-Sir. It isn’t that, it’s just…”
“Shut your mouth!”
“…Yes, Sir.”
The man, wearing a grave expression, immediately bowed deeply towards Chung Myung
“I apologize. Dojang-nim. My subordinate didn’t know any better and committed a great discourtesy. I beg you to forgive us with your generous heart.”
“No, I mean… well, um…”
Chung Myung quietly loosened the fist he’d been clenching.
“Please, come inside.”
“I thought you said the guild was closed today.”
“A day off – what day off could there be when a guest has come? From the look of you, you must have traveled a long way. Please, have something to eat first.”
“You really don’t have to…”
“If you refuse, those of us who were discourteous won’t be able to rest easy. Please.”
“Well, if you insist that much.”
“Now then, this way, please.”
“By the way, do you have any liquor?”
“Of course we do! I’ll have it brought out at once.”
“Then, well. Heheheh.”
Grinning, Chung Myung scratched the back of his head and stepped into the merchant guild.
“Ahh. I think I can breathe again.”
He washed up clean, ate until he was full, and threw back a drink.
At this point, you start to wonder whether life really needs anything more. In the end, a human being is a creature that can’t help but suffer simply by living. Captive to countless notions of our own making, don’t we reject even the instinct to eat our fill and rest in comfort? Yet if you just let things flow like running water – simply leave them be – the world becomes this peaceful…
– Snap out of it, you idiot!
“Wow, damn! I almost ascended.”
– It’s still too soon! Too soon!
“…This guy, seriously.”
A so-called Taoist stopping a person from ascending? And you call yourself Hwasan’s Sect Leader?
Just as Chung Myung was about to lose his temper, the door opened, and the merchant with the stern face he’d seen earlier cautiously came inside.
“Was the meal to your liking?”
“Yes. It was so delicious I almost died while eating.”
“Haha. Joking, are we.”
It’s true, though? ‘Ascending’ is just a nicer way to put it – really, it’s dying. I guess you could call it a graceful way to die.
“Anyway, thank you. That was a great meal.”
“Think nothing of it. So… what brings you to this humble place?”
“Humble?”
If this place is ‘humble,’ then Hwasan’s White Plum Blossom Pavilion would be about the level of a beggar’s shack. No – being compared to the Beggars Sect would be insulting, so let’s call it a mountain cave.
“But why are you suddenly treating me so well?”
“Yes? What do you mean by that? It’s only natural to treat someone from Hwasan with honor.”
“Hwasan… isn’t exactly a sect that’s doing all that well right now.”
“Oh my, but isn’t it a sect that will soon flourish once more?”
“Huh?”
The merchant put on an even more solemn expression and launched into a long-winded explanation.
“The merchant groups in Xian were greatly startled by the results of this friendly sparring match, and they’re keeping their eyes on Hwasan. Of course, you can’t say that just because of that match the positions of Hwasan and Jongnam have completely swapped, but people are already saying – who knows what things will look like thirty years from now?”
“Hehe. Really? That kind of talk is already going around?”
“And besides, is Hwasan some ordinary sect? In the past, weren’t you the foremost sect in Shaanxi?”
“…That’s true.”
“No, no. Not just the foremost in Shaanxi. From what I’ve heard, there was even a time when people debated whether you were the greatest under heaven.”
“Hehe. ‘Greatest under heaven’ is a bit of an exaggeration. Though… it’s not exactly wrong, either, is it?”
“Then of course Hwasan will flourish even more from here on out, won’t it? If I didn’t treat with honor someone who came from a place like that, wouldn’t I be unfit to call myself a merchant?”
“Hehehehe. Of course, of course. You’ve got some discernment, Sir.”
“Haha. You flatter me.”
“Hehehehe!“
“Hahahaha!“
The merchant who had laughed so heartily cleared his throat a couple of times, then asked cautiously.
“So, the reason you came to see us was?”
“Ah, look at me – getting carried away. What I mean is, the thing is…”
⠀
“Travel safely!”
“We’ll see you again, Dojang!”
“Yeah. Thanks for the meal. I really appreciate it.”
With bundles of fine food and bottles of liquor from the guild hanging all over him, Chung Myung waved to those seeing him off.
“So that’s how it is.”
A bright smile formed at the corner of Chung Myung’s mouth. The reputation he’d spread was something he’d engineered on purpose, but there was no way he wouldn’t be pleased that it was going this smoothly, just as he’d hoped.
“Kaaahh! Smooth sailing, smooth sailing. I didn’t think our reputation would improve this fast. See? Showing off in a sparring match really is the best.”
In high spirits, Chung Myung whistled.
“And the person who bought the White Plum Blossom isn’t even far away.”
Stretching contentedly, he tapped the ground a few times with his foot before dashing forward. His body shot off like the wind itself and vanished in an instant.
And in the place where Chung Myung had disappeared, the people left behind craned their necks and scanned the surroundings again and again.
“…He’s gone, right?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good. Let’s go back in.”
The merchant let out a sigh and was about to turn around, when the man who’d been struck some time ago asked carefully.
“But… is Hwasan truly that remarkable? I honestly don’t see-”
“I don’t know.”
“Sir?”
“Whether it will become an outstanding place, or remain somewhere not so remarkable – how would a mere merchant know that? If I could know things like that, I’d have become the greatest merchant under heaven.”
“Then why…”
“Ahem.”
“S-Sorry.”
“Now shut the door.”
While the others busied themselves cleaning up, the merchant standing alone in the courtyard pondered something before pulling a letter from inside his sleeve.
Rustle.
Unfolding the letter that had been neatly creased, the merchant checked the contents written inside one more time.
A description of someone’s appearance, and lines written in red ink.
‘If a Taoist from Hwasan with the above appearance comes to visit, you are to devote your full effort to hosting him with utmost care. In particular, do not so much as let words pass your lips that slight Hwasan or speak highly of Jongnam.
If you violate the above precautions, a great calamity will befall you, so never forget these instructions.
I urge you once again. Do not take this lightly.’
“…We almost got screwed.”
The merchant let out a quiet sigh of relief.
“Is anyone there? Bring a fine bottle of liquor to Lord Hwang, the head of the Eunha Merchant Guild.”
“By ‘fine liquor,’ you mean…?”
“Take any one from the top shelf of the liquor storehouse and wrap it up. In silk.”
The merchant shook his head.
“This is why you’ve got to keep your wits about you at all times.”
His worldly prudence had saved the guild – at least, probably.
❀ ❀ ❀
Fwaaash.
Chung Myung raced along the mountain path like a flying tiger.
So deep in the mountains that, even when the sun should have been scorching, the densely grown trees blocked the sunlight, making it feel dim and gloomy.
“Hmm. I think it was around here.”
Chung Myung slowed down his pace, scanning his surroundings.
“It was definitely around here… Ah!”
His face lit up as he looked ahead. On a small hill stood a modest thatched hut.
“So there really is a house here.”
Far from Xian, deep in the mountains – terrain so rugged that only herb gatherers would usually venture this far – the old house looked all the more unfamiliar and out of place.
It seemed that when it was first built, it must have had a cozy, modest charm of its own, but now it wasn’t being properly maintained, and it looked like a bleak, desolate eyesore.
“Does someone really live in a place like this?”
Chung Myung, tilting his head in doubt, started walking towards the house in front of him.
“Is anyone there?”
Thud, thud.
After knocking a couple of times, Chung Myung tilted his head slightly once more, then cautiously pushed the door open.
At that moment.
Hwaeaeaeack!
“Ugh.”
A razor-sharp axe, its blade gleaming coldly, swept past right beside Chung Myung’s neck as he bent sideways.
“W-What is that?”
Had it been an ordinary person instead of Chung Myung, that viciously sharp axe would have buried itself in their neck, killing them before they even had time to feel wronged.
“Ah! I’m sorry! I thought you were a bandit!”
“…”
“Are you okay?”
Blinking, Chung Myung stared at the child standing before him.
Was she about twelve? She was a young girl, her youth plainly showing. Her clothes were shabby, and she looked gaunt, like she hadn’t been getting proper meals, but her large black eyes were striking – vivid enough to leave an impression. And yet…
“Do you usually throw it first and think later?”
“Hm?”
“The axe.”
The girl smiled sheepishly, as if she understood.
“If they know you’re holding an axe, they’ll dodge, won’t they? And I can’t win if I fight head-on.”
“…You’ve got quite the rotten sprout growing there.”
“Huh?”
“No, nothing.”
Waving his hand dismissively, Chung Myung let out a hollow laugh as he examined her more closely.
“More importantly. Are you heading off to fight a war or something?”
The axe she had thrown wasn’t the only weapon. A small hand axe hung at her left side, and in her left hand she held a gleaming kitchen knife.
If one counted the old wooden practice sword strapped to her back as a weapon, then she was practically covered head to toe in things that could be lethal to anyone.
“Some bandits came by before.”
“Mm.”
“I have a feeling they’ll come again… They say the culprit returns to the scene, don’t they?”
“…If the culprit comes back to the scene, you’re supposed to run. If they were the kind to get beaten to death just because you swing an axe, would they be bandits? They’d be frogs.”
“That’s true, but…”
Hopeless. That was Chung Myung’s first impression of the girl. But in the next moment, he thought he might have to revise that assessment.
“…there’s something I absolutely have to get back.”
The girl’s expression as she said it was hard as stone. These weren’t the eyes of someone who didn’t realize what she was doing was reckless. They were the resolute eyes of someone who knew – and still meant to do what had to be done.
Staring at that expression, Chung Myung scratched his cheek.
“That thing you have to get back – could it be… a plum blossom made of white metal?”
“Huh? How do you know? So you really are with them! You bandit bastard!”
“…Put that kitchen knife down. Bandit, seriously – I may not look it, but I’m a Taoist.”
“A Taoist? Oh, so you were a Taoist, Sir?”
“Can’t you tell by the clothes?”
The girl looked confused. It seemed she had never seen a Taoist in her life. To be fair, Hwasan’s martial uniform didn’t look exactly like a typical Taoist robe.
“Really?”
“Fine, let’s say I’m a bandit. If I’m skilled enough to dodge an axe flying in from this distance, wouldn’t I have already made minced meat out of you?”
The girl seemed to think for a moment, then quickly nodded.
“That’s true. Okay – let’s go with you being a Taoist.”
“It’s not something we’re ‘going with,’ I’m telling you I am a Taoist.”
“Yes. I’ll believe you. But then why are you here…”
Grrrrrgle.
Mid-sentence, the girl shut her mouth.
Grrrrrrrgle.
“…”
“…”
Chung Myung stared at the awkwardly fidgeting girl for a moment, then let out a long sigh. He began untying the bundle slung over his back.
“Let’s eat first and talk after.”
Whether out of shyness – or because she still hadn’t dropped her guard – the girl stubbornly refused at first, but in the end she couldn’t overcome her hunger and took the food Chung Myung has offered.
“I-It’s delicious… I can’t believe food like this existed.”
“Eat slowly.”
“I-I’ve never had this before, either. Oh my, how do you even make something like this?”
“…Slow down a little.”
“What a strange taste. Keh! Khehkheh!”
“Eat slowly! For once, listen when someone tells you something!”
This is why kids are the worst! The ones back at Hwasan, and this one here, too! Why does every last one of them refuse to listen?!
“Ah. I’m sorry. Taoist-nim, you eat too.”
“No. I’ve eaten a lot.”
“Then I can’t eat, because I’ll feel bad.”
At the mildly scolding tone, Chung Myung let out a snort.
“Fine.”
Picking up a roasted chicken leg, he began eating as well, watching the girl resume devouring her portion.
“By the way, where did the adults go?”
The girl’s hand froze midair.
“There aren’t any.”
“Why? Where did they go?”
“They passed away.”
“…”
Chung Myung glanced down at his own hand. Would it be better if he just smacked himself across the face with this?
“Th-Then… the bandits you mentioned earlier?”
“No. Before that. From illness.”
“Wait, then you’re living here alone?”
“Yes.”
“…Here?”
Chung Myung stared at the girl, dumbfounded.
“How long have you been living here alone?”
“Not that long. Um… about a year, I think?”
“A year? A whole year?”
Chung Myung’s mouth fell open as he looked again at the desolate scenery outside the door.
‘What kind of kid is this?’
It was so deep in the mountains that even a grown man would be afraid to look outside once night fell. And a child this young had been living here alone?
‘Come to think of it…’
It wasn’t just that her clothes were shabby. Even looking at her hands, she was all bones – pitifully thin. She probably hadn’t been able to eat properly for an entire year.
“No… Living alone in the mountains isn’t something just anyone can do. Wouldn’t it be better to go to the city instead?”
“I think so, too.”
“Then why?”
“My mother said it’s dangerous for a girl to go out into the world alone, so I should live here until I’m a little older.”
“That’s not exactly wrong.”
“She said with my personality, if I went to the city carelessly, I’d fall for some wicked trick and end up suffering for it.”
“…”
“She said anyone who comes up to you talking nicely and offering you something good is a con artist, a bad person. Especially the ones who share food……. Huh?”
“Uh?”
Chung Myung’s and the girl’s gazes dropped at the same time to the food spread out on the floor, then met again in the air.
“People who give you food are…”
“They’re not.”
“…bad people?”
“I said they’re not.”
“Then are you, maybe… a swindler?”
Smack!
“Kwaaak!”
The girl flopped face-first to the ground after Chung Myung’s fist landed squarely on her head, then rolled around clutching the crown of her head.
“I’ve had just about enough of this! Calling a Taoist a swindler!”
“If you’re not one, just say you’re not! Why are you hitting me!”
“Sheesh.”
A sigh slipped out of Chung Myung’s mouth. Why was it that every person he ran into ended up like this?
He’d thought maybe the parents had been a bit hopeless, but the truth was, they had a point. With a bratty personality like that, she was just the type to draw people’s attention.
‘For people with no one to rely on, the world isn’t easy.’
Shaking his head, Chung Myung asked again, more gently.
“Anyway – what did you mean about having to get the plum blossom back?”
“Ah, well.”
The girl turned her head to the side. The door stood wide open. Beyond it, a high slope could be seen – one of the few spots in this dense forest where warm sunlight spilled down. Looking closer, there were two small burial mounds there.
“…”
He hadn’t noticed on the way in, but now that he looked again, the mounds were very well kept. The girl must have been quite diligent. Or perhaps, in a mountain this remote, there was little else to do.
“It’s where my father and mother are buried. That flower was originally stuck into my father’s grave.”
The girl’s gaze grew a little distant.
“My father loved plum blossoms when he was alive. Sometimes he would just stand there, staring at them absentmindedly.”
“…”
“Even to my young eyes, he looked strangely sad. That’s why I still remember it clearly – his back as he looked at the plum blossoms.”
Without a word, Chung Myung looked at the mound where weeds had started to grow.
“After my father died, one day my mother went to the market, and she bought that white plum blossom and placed it on my father’s grave. Later, I found out: to buy that flower, my mother saved money by barely eating properly for a whole month.”
“Hmm….”
It wasn’t an extraordinary story. To Chung Myung, it simply meant that the flower carried that much meaning for them.
Wait. A month? Chung Myung, who had been looking at the burial mounds with a faint pity, snapped his head around.
“A month, you said?”
This house was so old it was a wonder it hadn’t collapsed already. The girl had said her mother died a year ago, which meant it had probably been the same even before that. In other words, this mother and daughter had been so poor they barely had money to eat and stay alive.
“A month… how much did she buy it for?”
“Huh?”
“That flower – uh, how much did she pay for it?”
“Well… it was a long time ago… I think I heard… um… two coins?”
“Two… two coins? She bought it for two copper coins? Two? Not two nyang of gold, not two nyang of silver – two measly coins?”
“I think so.”
“Uuughhh….”
Chung Myung clawed at his own face with both hands.
“Two coins… Hwasan’s sacred relic… the Great Hwasan Sect’s sacred relic, for two coins…….”
No matter how useless it might actually be, it was still Hwasan’s sacred relic. A hundred years ago, people wouldn’t just have paid ten thousand gold for it – there would’ve been crowds ready to pay fortunes beyond counting. Because in exchange for returning that relic, you could have asked Hwasan for a favor.
And that relic – what? It got sold off for two copper coins?
“H-Hwasan’s sacred relic treated like a beggar’s cracked bowl…”
Clear tears welled in Chung Myung’s eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes…… fine. So? What happened to the flower?”
The girl stared at him, puzzled, then tilted her head and continued.
“Then one day, people came all the way out here into the deep mountains. Probably… they’d committed a crime somewhere and were on the run. Otherwise there’s no reason to come this far in.”
“That’s likely.”
“And they…”
– Doesn’t this look kind of expensive?
– It’s crude at a glance – looks like something a woodcutter slapped together. Why would anything valuable be stuck here?
– You don’t know what you’re talking about. In a big city, there are plenty of idiots who go crazy for stuff like this. Let’s take it for now.
“I wanted to stop them.”
The girl’s eyes shook.
“That was… something I couldn’t lose like that. Because it was something my mother gave to my father. So I had to stop them. I had to, but…”
Her hand trembled slightly. Then, almost reflexively, she grabbed her own leg.
“But I… I….”
“You weren’t foolish. That’s all.”
“…”
Chung Myung cut her off.
“If you’d worked up your courage then, the one here right now wouldn’t be you – it’d be your corpse. That’s not courage. That’s what you call reckless bravado. Real courage is knowing how to endure.”
“But…”
“But, my foot.”
He frowned sharply. Men like that didn’t see people as people. If you caught their eye for no reason, you’d better be prepared to lose your head.
“Anyway, I get it up to that point. But that getup of yours… don’t tell me you were planning to get it back?”
“Yes.”
“And you know where those bastards are?”
“…I thought they might come back.”
Chung Myung looked at her with a doubtful expression.
“Does that make any sense?”
“There’s no guarantee, but…”
The girl pressed her lips together, then spoke.
“If they hid all the way out here, then they’re criminals, and people like that end up committing crimes again sooner or later. Even if this is just a thatched hut about to fall over, they know it’s a place where they can hide. So I thought… sooner or later, they might come back to take shelter.”
“…”
“Wouldn’t they?”
“…That actually sounds plausible.”
“What?”
“Now that I hear it, there’s some logic to it.”
Chung Myung tilted his head, his brow furrowed slightly. Wasn’t it reasonable, in its own way?
“Right?”
“Yeah. I guess… no, wait – that’s not the point!”
Chung Myung snapped back to his senses and shouted.
“That’s not what matters. So what? If those assholes come back, what are you going to do? Fight them with that stuff?”
“…”
“Great, great. Two graves aren’t enough for you – you’re trying to bump it up to three?”
“But… if I don’t, I won’t be able to get the flower back.”
“So what if you can’t?”
The girl bit her lip hard, gripping the hem of her clothes so tightly her fingers turned white.
“Don’t say that so easily.”
“It’s nothing but a two-coin flower at best.”
“It might be ‘at best’ to other people, but it’s not to me.”
“Maybe not. Value is something you decide for yourself.”
Chung Myung shook his head with a displeased look and went on.
“But it’s not more precious than your life.”
“…”
“If you die doing this, do you think your parents over there would applaud and say ‘well done’? Or what – if you get an arm chopped off and bring the flower back, are they going to dance in their graves because their daughter’s so filial?”
“That’s not it………”
“Enough. Put all that crap down right now. Unless you want to get in trouble.”
“Who do you think you are, Taoist-nim – ah, no, wait. Hold on. You’re not going to hit me again, are you?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Y-You’re a Taoist. Are Taoists allowed to beat people up?”
“Yeah. We are.”
“That’s not… true, I think.”
“What do you mean it’s not? I’m a Taoist, so I’d know.”
“…Still, I don’t think that’s right.”
Looking sulky, the girl pouted and slowly set the axe down.
Chung Myung glanced again at the burial mounds and let out a deep sigh.
‘A man who liked plum blossoms……..’
Well. Was it really as simple as just liking them?
Chung Myung’s gaze fixed on the wooden sword the girl was fussing with as she unstrapped it. A wooden sword worn smooth and glossy from constant handling. What meaning could a wooden sword have in mountains like these? It would be nothing but a stick that couldn’t even skin a mountain beast.
Or maybe not. Maybe there had been a man who had to let go of the sword, but in the end couldn’t bring himself to throw it away. In these mountains, struggling just to live, and yet still, to the very end…
“Got it.”
Chung Myung straightened up and rose from his seat.
“More importantly, if you keep living out here, it’s dangero-… huh?”
Chung Myung whipped his head around. Beyond the door flung wide open, a thick, rough voice rang out from far away.
“Do we really have to come back here?”
“How many times do I have to say it? That pawnbroker bastard said he’d pay big money if we find out where this flower came from.”
Chung Myung’s mouth twitched. When he looked at the girl, she was staring back at him too – she must have heard the voices as well, her face pale and tense.
“What would some backwoods bumpkin living in these mountains know? She probably just picked it up somewhere.”
“Then make her come up with some convincing story.”
“Ah, why not just make one up ourselves!”
“Don’t be so dense. If it really comes down to it, we can just sell the bitch off somewhere. From the look of it, she’s got no kin – no trouble afterward, either.”
“So that was the plan from the start.”
“Heh-heh. Come on – let’s go.”
The girl trembled visibly, having heard every word. Watching her, Chung Myung clicked his tongue. It was almost fascinating – scum like that were always unnecessarily diligent and persistent.
“They really do work hard. So damn hard.”
“Run, Taoist-nim.”
Even with her face drained of blood, the girl picked the axe back up.
“They’re terrifying people. I-I saw them before. They knocked down a huge tree with a single punch.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Hurry. You have to run right now.”
Chung Myung let out a snort.
“Then we should run together.”
The girl clenched the axe in her hand hard enough to crush it.
“I… if I run away from here, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I have to get it back no matter what…”
Chung Myung suddenly grabbed the back of her collar and yanked her towards himself.
“T-Taoist-nim.”
“Listen carefully.”
“…Yes?”
Crushed under Chung Myung’s powerful presence, the girl froze with her eyes widened into perfect circles.
“Regretting something for the rest of your life isn’t what’s scary. What’s truly scary is not even getting the chance to regret it.”
“…”
Letting go of her, Chung Myung let out a short sigh and tapped the girl on the head once.
“So sit your butt down, brat. This is an adult’s business.”
As a strange mix of pity and pride crossed through him, the men the girl had called bandits spotted her outside the door and shouted.
“There she is.”
“Look at that – she didn’t even run.”
“Where would a kid go, anyway?”
“Come on, over here. Now.”
The girl reflexively lifted the axe in her hand. Seeing that, the burly men burst into loud laughter.
“And what are you going to do with that? Try to fight us or something?”
“That’s cute. Really cute.”
It was just as the girl grit her teeth and raised the axe higher.
“Yeah. I think so too.”
Chung Myung patted the girl’s shoulder and strode forward. Then he looked at the burly men and broke into a wide grin.
“Cute. The way you behave.”
For an instant, bafflement crossed the men’s faces. They probably hadn’t expected anyone else to be here besides the girl.
But that emotion vanished even faster than it had appeared. In its place came thick sneers full of contempt.
“Well, look at that. There’s another brat here I’ve never seen before?”
“Yeah. I thought I’d be thrown off because there was an adult – huh? A brat?”
Chung Myung’s brows twitched sharply.
“What’s with that little runt?”
“Looks like they’re friends. Kids playing together – how cute.”
“…”
A vein bulged on Chung Myung’s forehead.
‘These bastards, seriously…’
Some lowlifes who probably hadn’t even lived half as long as he had, kept calling him a brat, a brat! If he weren’t a Taoist, he’d have grandsons as big as them! No – wait……. would it be great-grandsons? Great-great-grandsons?
Just as Chung Myung was about to snap back at them, one of the burly men waved a hand as if it were annoying.
“Tsk. Fine. We’ll pretend we didn’t see you. Now get lost.”
“Yeah, killing one little fly just gets blood on your hands. Close your eyes and walk past, and nothing happens. I’m giving you a chance – take it and go.”
“So… What you’re saying is…”
Chung Myung’s head tilted slightly to the side.
“…that you’re showing me mercy?”
“Something like that. I’m not in a bad mood today.”
“Ah…….. yeah? I see. So that’s how it is. This is, heh………”
What kind of feeling was this supposed to be? He’d heard of a mouse worrying about a cat. But a mouse showing mercy to a cat? That was new.
Receiving treatment he’d never once gotten in all his life, Chung Myung’s thoughts started to twist up in confusion.
“But the thing is, I…”
“Didn’t we tell you to shut up and scram? We’re letting you go because you’re annoying, not because we like your face.”
“Yeah. Clamp that mouth shut and run the other way, unless you want to find out what color blood comes out of your heart.”
I think I actually know that… but you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.
So absurd it made him laugh, Chung Myung shook his head.
“Never thought I’d live to see the day bandit scum offered me mercy.”
“Bandits? Bandits, you say. Who are you calling that?”
One of the burly men snickered as he spoke.
“Yeah, I guess you’re still standing there because you think we’re just some random bandit trash. Listen well, kid. In this world, they call us the Twin Fiends of Shaanxi. If your ears work, you’ve heard that name, right? We’re not the kind of people who should be compared to some half-assed bandits.”
“Hold on. What did you say you’re called?”
“Are your earholes clogged up, you little bastard? The Twin Fiends of Shaanxi! The Twin Fiends!”
Twin Fiends? That part wasn’t the issue. Every thug and his buddy ran around with some ridiculous nickname like that.
The problem wasn’t that…
“Your puny nickname has ‘Shaanxi’ in it?”
Chung Myung let out a sigh so deep it seemed the ground might cave in, then dragged a hand down his face.
Usually, when a region’s name gets attached to a title, it means you’re someone the area recognizes, one way or another – good or bad.
The Twin Fiends of Shaanxi. Two rabid dogs of Shaanxi.
“You guys are really unlucky. If you were the Twin Fiends of Hubei, or at least the Twin Fiends of Xian, I might’ve let it slide. But why did ‘Shaanxi’ have to be stuck to that name of yours.”
“…What the hell are you talking about, you little punk?”
“Because Shaanxi is our territory.”
Chung Myung cracked his neck left and right.
Crack. Crack.
“When trash like you has ‘Shaanxi’ stuck onto their name, it’s like you’re going around bragging to the whole world that we’ve done a lousy job managing Shaanxi.”
That was why, in the past, Sapas didn’t dare attach the name ‘Shaanxi’ to their titles. If someone so much as tried to wedge those two characters into their nickname, they’d flee to another province without looking back.
Or else, they’d simply disappear without a trace.
“Well, people get busy, right? When you’re busy, you can neglect cleaning up, you can skip doing laundry. That’s not what matters. But when you’re hurrying along and a huge piece of garbage drops right in front of your eyes, it’s hard not to pick it up and throw it out, you know what I mean?”
The Twin Fiends of Shaanxi exchanged looks, dumbfounded.
“What the hell is this bastard saying?”
“Must be some lunatic.”
“That kid is already crazy?”
“Does madness follow any order?”
One of the burly men burst out laughing and pulled a massive Dadao [大坎刀] from his waist.
“What a pity. I’m not feeling patient anymore.”
Watching that, Chung Myung scoffed, as if he found it amusing.
“You’d better put that away. Sure, it’ll hurt either way if you get hit, but wouldn’t it be better to get hit in a way that hurts a little less?”
“You little rat, I’ve heard enough out of you!”
The burly man rolled his eyes as if they might flip over and kicked off the ground.
Swaeaeaeak!
His enormous figure shoot towards Chung Myung, blasting out a savage gust of wind. The terrifying force of it proved that the nickname attached to them was by no means an empty title.
“I’ll rip that mouth of yours into a thousand pieces!”
The Dadao swept up in a diagonal arc. The ferocity of the single strike looked as though it would split Chung Myung clean in two. But Chung Myung merely stared blankly at the scene, not moving so much as a step.
“Taoist-nim!”
The child, who had been watching, instinctively cried out.
The man’s blade tore through the air as it rushed at Chung Myung. Even if that Taoist possessed every conceivable skill under heaven, it did not seem possible that he could block such a vicious blade.
Just as the child, instinctively foreseeing the horror to come, was about to squeeze her eyes shut.
Boom! Boooooom!
The charging man was slammed into the ground at a speed that could not even be compared to the one with which he had been rushing forward. As though he were a fly struck by a gigantic flyswatter.
He struck the ground with such tremendous force that dirt billowed up in all directions, and even the earth beneath the child’s feet seemed to tremble.
“Huh……?”
Unable to comprehend what had just happened, the girl stared blankly at the man sprawled on the ground.
No, rather than sprawled, ‘embedded’ would have been a more fitting description. The burly man had sunk nearly three chi into the hard earth, his eyes rolled white as he lay unconscious, trembling faintly.
‘Th-That… it looks like… teeth?’
The yellowish things slowly falling from the corner of the man’s open mouth were surely exactly what the child suspected.
These shouldn’t be falling out like that, right?
Chung Myung, looking down at the man twisted up like grilled squid, frowned.
“What? You were yapping about twin fiends or twin something, and you’re this weak? One punch and you’re out cold?”
Chung Myung squatted down in front of the fallen man and poked at his side, again and again.
“Hey. Get up. Be honest – even you know you’re not the kind of guy who should go down from just one hit. I’ll beat you gently. Open your eyes.”
“…”
“Get up. Not getting up? You bastard, ignoring what people say? Hey! Hey!”
At last, Chung Myung started smacking down repeatedly on the back of the man’s head. Each time, a sound rang out as if he were driving a nail with a hammer.
The child’s mouth fell open weakly.
What had happened right in front of her eyes was shocking enough, but that Taoist trying to wake an unconscious man by beating him was just as shocking. No – if one had to measure which was more shocking, wasn’t it clearly the latter?
‘How…’
From the outside he looked like nothing more than a somewhat skinny, small-framed guy, and yet how could someone like that knock down that huge, shaggy man with a single hit?
And it seemed the child wasn’t the only one who had that question.
“Y-You!”
One of the remaining Twin Fiends, who had been looking back and forth between his fallen comrade and Chung Myung, flinched, unable to hide his bewilderment.
“Y-You… who are you?”
“Seriously, this bastard, since earlier… do you Black Path bastards get born with your tongues cut off from the start or what. Why have you been talking down to me this whole time? You little punk.”
“…Huh?”
“Me, you bastard – how old do you think I am!”
“…”
That’s a madman.
No matter how you looked at him, he was a madman. This, he – known as one of the Twin Fiends of Shaanxi – could guarantee with absolute certainty. And as a rule, you don’t pick a fight with a madman…
“Why? Running away?”
At the sharp words, the man’s foot, which had been inching back, stopped dead in place.
“Yeah. Go on, try running. If you can.”
“…”
The deeper Chung Myung’s smile grew, the colder got the sweat beaded on the burly man’s forehead.
‘What kind of lightning strike is this.’
He’s the kind of guy who knocks Left Fiend down in a single blow.
Luck? Don’t make me laugh.
Even if you got lucky, you might land a clean hit – but you don’t get lucky enough to knock a man out in one strike. Not when the opponent is someone like the Left Fiend, all the more.
Meaning, the man standing in front of him now was someone who had taken down the Left Fiend – whose notoriety spreads even through Shaanxi – with a single hit, and hadn’t his breathing changed even slightly.
Whether he was a peak master, an absolute master – he didn’t know that much, but either way, this wasn’t a level the Right Fiend could handle.
“I-I didn’t know a deceased person [고인 – goin] was here….”
“Oh? How’d you know I died and came back to life?”
“…Pardon?”
“You just said ‘a deceased [고인],’ didn’t you? It’s true I did become a deceased person once.”
“…”
The Right Fiend stared blankly at Chung Myung, then said.
“Not ‘deceased’ [고인(故人)], but ‘lofty one’ [고인(高人)]. I meant an outstanding person………”
“Huh? Yeah? I thought you meant something else.”
“…”
He really didn’t seem like an ordinary madman.
“I have been discourteous. If you will let me go, I will go quietly.”
As he spoke, the Right Fiend lightly touched the sword at his waist. It wasn’t a threat. It meant: if you insist on fighting, I’ll resist with everything I’ve got, and then it’ll be nothing but a nuisance for both of us, won’t it? Masters like that didn’t, as a rule, enjoy wasting their strength on pointless things.
The Right Fiend had no doubt those words would get through. In fact, hadn’t he saved his life a few times up to now by using this exact sort of approach?
“Hmm. What should I do? It is a hassle, that’s true.”
Chung Myung tapped his own chin lightly and tilted his head to the side.
“I won’t trouble you any further…”
“But, you know.”
“Yes?”
From Chung Myung’s clenched fist came an ominously loud cracking sound.
“What did you say your nickname was?”
“……The Twin Fiends of Shaanxi.”
“Yeah. Right. That’s the problem. Got it?”
“Yes?”
“Just think of it as bad luck.”
Beaming with a wide grin, Chung Myung lunged at Right Fiend.
⠀
“I-It’s true… This… this is the full amount.”
“This is really all?”
“Yes, Sir! Truly… Truly! Aaaaaaaaagh.”
“Don’t cry, you bastard. It’s unpleasant to look at.”
“Yes…”
Peering into the coin pouch, Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
“What kind of bandit bastards are this poor?”
“…If we weren’t poor, we wouldn’t be bandits….“
Bbaeeoong!
Chung Myung sprang up without hesitation and kicked the man who was kneeling, sending him flying.
“How dare a bandit bastard talk back so neatly. You want to die?”
“I-I was wrong. Please spare me!”
The burly man, who had toppled backwards, crawled back – his face swollen up round like a full moon – tears spilling as he flattened himself to the ground and clutched at Chung Myung’s pant leg.
Pathetic? Anyone who thought so would change their tune after getting hit by this guy. Every single punch felt like it was crushing bones to splinters.
“What were you going to sell? A person? Just thinking about it pisses me off again.”
Booom!
“Aaaaaaah!”
“Where do you think you’re screaming like that and hurting my ears, you bastard!”
Thud!
“…”
“Oh? What, you’re not even pretending it hurts? Are my fists this weak?”
“W-What do you want me to…“
“What do I want you to? This bastard just hasn’t been hit enough, that’s what it is.”
Booom!
The man, with Chung Myung’s heel driven into his face, collapsed limply and didn’t move anymore.
Chung Myung clicked his tongue once and turned away. Looking at the trinkets scattered across the floor, he smacked his lips.
They supposedly had a name for themselves, so he’d figured there might be something worth shaking out of them, but there was practically nothing. It was disappointing compared to all that talk about being the Twin Fiends of Shaanxi and whatnot, but still – if he thought of it as simply stripping two mountain bandits, it was a windfall.
“More importantly…”
But more than anything else, what caught his attention was something wrapped in white cotton cloth.
An object wide at the top and pointed at the bottom, unmistakably shaped like a single flower wrapped up inside.
Both Chung Myung’s gaze, and the gaze of the girl whose wits had half fled, were drawn there.
‘A divine relic.’
Whatever it was, it was true that a divine relic was important to a sect. Not because it was important in itself, but because they believed it was important, so it became important.
But… the child’s eyes wouldn’t leave the cotton cloth.
She was a sharp child – she might already have realized it. That the reason Chung Myung had come here was because of this flower, and that if Chung Myung wanted it, in the end she had no power to stop him.
Even so, the child was staring at Chung Myung defiantly. As if she would fight him too if he didn’t return it. Even after seeing with her own eyes Chung Myung beat down the Twin Fiends.
“Tsk.”
Chung Myung quietly reached out and lifted the flower wrapped in white cloth. Then he stared silently at the flower wrapped in fabric.
For a long while, he gazed at the symbol of the past that had returned to his hands. Then Chung Myung squeezed his eyes shut tightly and held the flower out to the child.
“Here.”
“…Huh?”
“You were looking for this, right? Take it.”
“I-Is it really okay?”
The fierce momentum that gave of a feeling as if she might swing an axe at Chung Myung at any moment was nowhere to be found now. The child asked with a stunned expression.
“Well… It’s true your mother bought it with her money.”
Even if it had been a ridiculously small sum, the rightful ownership of this flower belonged to the child. It was also true that those damned bastards had sold it off.
“If you’re thinking of reselling it, I was going to buy it back… Are you going to sell it?”
The child shook her head violently. Sometimes there are things you can’t trade even for a thousand pieces of gold – no matter what the actual price is.
“I won’t sell it!”
“I’ve got a lot of money.”
“I’ll never sell it! Never!”
“Tsk. Then there’s nothing I can do. I can’t just take it from you. I am a Taoist, and I’ve still got a name to keep.”
Chung Myung held the flower out to the child again.
“What are you doing? Take it.”
The girl reached out and carefully accepted the flower Chung Myung offered.
The emotion in those two eyes… it wasn’t exactly gratitude – more like, well. Hard to put into words.
But one thing was certain.
‘This is right.’
This flower is Hwasan’s sacred relic. So it is, beyond measure, important.
But is that really so? A sacred relic is important because people believe it is important – so how many people are left in Hwasan now who would even consider this flower as something important?
Who knows. At the very least, it didn’t seem like there would be anyone who, like this child, would risk their life to take it back.
It was nothing to feel disappointed about, nor anything to regret. If there were no meaning imbued in this flower, then it was nothing more than a scrap of metal.
‘Something important…’
So… the one who should receive this flower now isn’t Hwasan, but this child.
As Chung Myung allowed himself a faint smile, the child slowly unwrapped the white cotton cloth. A crudely carved white plum blossom revealed itself from within.
Chung Myung’s eyes, carrying a little nostalgia, a little regret, and a faint bitterness, turned towards the pure-white plum blossom that had emerged.
“Huh?”
Chung Myung’s expression twisted into something bizarre in an instant.
“…W-Why, what’s that?”
The girl flinched and looked at Chung Myung with anxious eyes. But instead of answering, Chung Myung stared at the flower, then muttered like an idiot.
“This… This isn’t it?”
“Pardon?”
“This… isn’t what I was looking for.”
“……What?”
Chung Myung’s pupils wavered, lost, as he stared at the flower.
A plum blossom carved from a metal that held a white sheen – yes, that much was right. It was certainly such an object. But that wasn’t Hwasan’s White Plum Blossom. A shoddy imitation. No – ‘imitation’ didn’t even do it justice. It was simply a completely different plum blossom carving.
“Ha…”
“T-Taoist…… nim?”
“Haha, ha ha ha.”
“Why are you like this?”
Chung Myung clutched his stomach and laughed. So hard that tears even welled at the corners of his eyes.
When had it been switched?
Maybe some wicked disciple – one Chung Myung had never even met – had quietly stolen it and swapped it out, or maybe it had been fine when it was sold off and then, somewhere along the way, changed hands and been replaced at just the right moment.
No – honestly, what did that matter? What mattered was this: Chung Myung had chased after a flower that wasn’t even the Dark Fragrance White Plum Blossom, and in the process he’d suffered like a dog while wandering all across the Central Plains. That fact alone.
Chasing a fake flower that wasn’t even the real thing. Without knowing what truly mattered, simply because he believed it mattered.
“Hahahaha! Ah, damn, I’m tearing up. Acting all high and mighty, saying things like that, and then….”
The dumbest one, it turned out, had been none other than him.
Chung Myung wiped the tears that had gathered at the corners of his eyes with a quick swipe, then snorted and jerked his chin towards the child.
“What are you doing? You have to return the flower to your parents.”
Chung Myung took the child by the hand and tugged her along.
Step, step, step.
Black soil covered the pure-white plum blossom placed upon the grave.
“If we do this…”
“It’s fine. What matters is that it’s here. If you stick it somewhere visible, it might be okay for now, but someday someone who finds it will just take it.”
“…That’s true.”
“So you just bury it like this, right here. Then the flower won’t disappear, and that feeling will remain, too.”
The girl nodded as if she understood. And though her face was wet with tears, she still looked steadily at the mound with a resolute expression.
“I’ll be satisfied with this.”
Well. Who knows.
Whether the plum blossom this man had been looking at was truly Hwasan’s plum blossom, whether the child’s mother had known something and bought this flower – there was no way to ever learn the story tangled up in it now. Only…
“Something important…”
Chung Myung, who had been wearing an unreadable expression, let out a short laugh that was almost a sigh, then looked back at the child.
“Let’s go.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re not going to keep living here, are you? They say the world is dangerous, but it’s just as dangerous here. You’ve seen it.”
“…”
“Follow me. I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
The girl hesitated slightly and stared hard at Chung Myung. It wasn’t a look of suspicion, as if she didn’t trust him. It was just that changing her whole life in an instant couldn’t be easy.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to drag you off to a temple – looking at you, you’re not someone who’s meant to become a Taoist.”
“…”
“Just like your mother said, the world is a dangerous place. But there are things you can only see once you go out into it. And who knows – maybe someday you’ll find something even more important?”
“For me, it’s…”
The child started to say something, then hesitated. And Chung Myung spoke, as if he already knew what the child had been going to say.
“Keeping the promise you made to those who passed away is important. Guarding this gravesite is important, too. But I’ll say this for certain.”
Chung Myung said it in a lowered voice.
“That must not become the most important thing in your life.”
“…”
“In this world, there will definitely be something. Something more important. Something you’ll come to value even more. So.”
Chung Myung let out a small snort and held out his hand.
“Let’s go.”
After a moment’s hesitation, the child reached out with a resolute expression and clasped Chung Myung’s hand.
“By the way, you – what’s your name?”
“I’m….”
The child slowly parted her small lips.
“Sanghwa. My name is Ye Sanghwa.”
“‘Sanghwa’ [상화(想花)]….“
Longing for blossoms.
Chung Myung’s gaze drifted to the distance. Far away – to a familiar peak, clearly visible even from here.
❀ ❀ ❀
“…So. You’re saying I should take that child in?”
“I’m not asking you to take her in.”
“Haha. Right, right?”
“What’s so good about a merchant guild that I’d leave a kid with you? So, I’m saying – some suitable place. A place where the kid can grow up properly, with a good environment, safe, protected until she can stand on her own. And where she won’t be discriminated against, can live comfortably the way she wants, and be happy. I’m saying you should place her somewhere like that.”
“…”
“It’s not exactly hard, is it? Right?”
Tears welled faintly at the corners of Hwang Jong-ui’s eyes. Where in the world was there a place like that?
“You don’t want to?”
“N-No, it’s not that I don’t want to. It just seems like it might be a bit difficult.”
“Haha. Right. It’s a bit difficult, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Dojang. It’s not that I truly dislike it….”
“Isn’t that why merchant guilds exist? To do those difficult things well?”
“…”
Since when had merchant guilds become the ones who solved things like that?
“In this world, there’s nothing money can’t do, and the place with the most money is a merchant guild, so there’s nothing a merchant guild can’t do. Aaahhhh, flawless logic.”
That lunatic…
If anyone else had spouted this kind of nonsense, he would have beaten them on the spot and thrown them out, but the man in front of him was none other than Chung Myung.
In Hwang Jong-ui’s mind flashed the sight of Twin Fiends of Shaanxi still sprawled out in the courtyard (and, as a token of arrival, beaten once more for good measure).
‘There’s a limit to what you can call ‘picked up on the way.’ ’
Who were the Twin Fiends of Shaanxi? Even Jongnam had tried so hard to capture them, yet had failed to do so until now – troublesome figures, to say the least.
What could he say to someone who brought down men like that as if it were after-meal exercise? And besides…
“Please help her grow up normally.”
“…”
Hwang Jong-ui shut his mouth and looked at Chung Myung.
Seeing the meaning held in that gaze, Hwang Jong-ui finally nodded. It must be because of unexpected sides like this that he couldn’t treat this man lightly.
“…Understood, Dojang.”
“Then.”
Chung Myung brushed himself off and stood up. When he stepped outside after being seen off, Ye Sanghwa was waiting for him.
“You kept what I gave you earlier, right?”
Ye Sanghwa quickly nodded.
He had given her all the trinkets that had come out of stripping the Twin Fiends. Somehow, it felt like he should. Chung Myung possessed more than enough wealth that he needn’t concern himself with such amounts.
“These people will send you somewhere you won’t particularly need money, but money becomes your last line of defense. Never hand it out – keep it for yourself, no matter what.”
“Yes! I’ll remember that.”
Chung Myung lightly patted Ye Sanghwa’s head a couple of times as the girl nodded vigorously, then turned away.
“Then. Live well.”
“Um, Taoist-nim!”
“Yeah?”
“I’m truly gratef…”
“That’s enough.”
Chung Myung snorted dismissively and was about to leave again, but then he stopped and turned back to Ye Sanghwa.
“If you think about it, I’m the one who got more out of this.”
“Got more…? What did I give you?”
“There are things like that.”
Chung Myung chuckled and was about to turn away again when Ye Sanghwa asked urgently.
“Then… where are you going now, Taoist-nim?”
“Where else. It’s obvious.”
Chung Myung’s gaze went to one place.
That sheer, towering mountain rising high. And among it, the highest peak of all.
“To the place where the most important thing is.”
A bright smile formed at the corners of Chung Myung’s mouth as he muttered.
“You should hurry and find it too. What’s important to you. It’ll be there – absolutely.”
With powerful kick off the ground, he was gone in an instant, quickly getting smaller in the distance.
Left alone in the courtyard, Ye Sanghwa silently watched Chung Myung’s retreating back – and beyond him, the mountain that rose so high it seemed to pierce the sky.
________
*Korean units of measurement. Specifically: volume – 1 doe(1.8 liters), 1 mal(18 liters); weight – 1 geun(~600 grams); time – 1 sijin(2 hours).
The name of the side story. I can’t find this specific combination of hanja in korean dictionaries, so it’s rather uncommon. 상화(想花). 상(想) directly translates as ‘concept’ according to naver dictionary, according to chinese dictionary 想 means variety of things in the line of ‘to think of smth/ to think about/to wish/to miss’. So combining this we are getting ‘to think of/to wish for/ the blossoms.’ Smth like this! Spoiler: this is also a name so I suppose it’s kinda free for interpretation.
________
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Return of the Mount Hua 