The Black Night Gang
After meeting Hoyeongeom and the others and seeing off Huang Gangju, I came out into the corridor with Won Seo-gang and lowered my voice.
"Did you tell the Haomu Sect as well, by any chance?"
That had been careless of me. Things had moved too fast, and I hadn’t thought of it in time.
We could handle the infiltration into the Black Night Gang on our own, but the Haomu Sect still needed to know what was happening.
Won Seo-gang was staying in one of the annexes at the Haomu Sect branch. If things went wrong, Im Ja-gyeon and Seon Do-mu might even attack this place.
Even if that didn’t happen, we still needed to share some information with the Haomu Sect.
If we caused a major incident in Seochon and treated the Haomu Sect like it didn’t matter, the trust and connections we’d built up so far would start to crack. If things went well, they might even help us.
"I’ll go let them know."
Just as I hurried out of the room, one face suddenly came to mind.
"Let’s bring Jin Seok-man too."
"The fellow from the brewery?"
Won Seo-gang looked at me in confusion.
"Didn’t he say he’d open the door for us from inside? Then he’s not needed. It’s not as though he knows the Black Night Gang’s layout better than anyone else."
"We can’t rely on Bok Ha-gyu alone. None of the people gathered here have ever actually been inside the Black Night Gang, have they?"
There might be information Jin Seok-man hadn’t mentioned, or details so minor I’d brushed over them. Maybe it wouldn’t help much, but you never knew with these things.
"Better to bring him than regret it later. It won’t cost us anything."
My deal with Jin Seok-man had been nothing more than providing information about the Black Night Gang and going in with us when we crossed the wall.
What he did inside was his own business, whether he wanted to open a vault, loot the place, or break into a storehouse.
"Fair enough. Good. I’ll send someone."
We left the annex and ran to Ruju’s residence.
My pace slowed near the annex where the people of Tang Clan were staying, then picked up again.
They had nothing to do with this.
If a clash broke out among the factions inside the Black Night Gang, chaos would spread in no time.
If I gave them a half-baked warning and the Tang Clan decided to intervene, they could end up dead from some stray concealed weapon.
"I’ve arranged to infiltrate the Black Night Gang with Sir Won."
After hearing my brief explanation, Geuk-hwan led me to the reception room.
Hong-hui, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, still had that composed beauty and the air of a woman who knew exactly how to handle people.
She didn’t rush me, but calmly offered me a seat. After giving me a good tea with a strong fragrance and letting me catch my breath, she began the conversation.
"You’re going to the Black Night Gang?"
"Yes. We’re set to leave an hour and a half from now with Sir Won’s group."
"So that’s how it is... Indeed, it’s a night it would be a shame to miss."
"You knew?"
Hong-hui smiled faintly.
"I heard that steel was drawn in the back alleys and Bok Daeju was injured. He already had a bitter rivalry with the other two daeju. About half of Bok Daeju’s subordinates are outside Seochon right now over the Bloodshed Gang matter. In a situation like this, if blades aren’t drawn, then it isn’t a black-dao affair at all..."
As expected, the ominous feeling I’d had in the alley earlier hadn’t been my imagination alone.
Hearing it from the mouth of the woman who oversaw all the Haomu Sect’s intelligence in Seochon made it all the more certain.
Whether we intervened or not, something major was going to happen at the Black Night Gang tonight.
"There’s no better time to exploit the chaos. How many people are you taking?"
"Seven, counting myself."
"Even taking advantage of the confusion, that won’t be easy."
"Bok Daeju has agreed to help from within."
Hong-hui’s eyes widened slightly.
One of the three daeju who was now leading the Black Night Gang in place of the ailing gang leader had agreed to cooperate. It was the kind of variable that could overturn the entire board.
Hong-hui studied me with eyes that flashed with a trace of keen curiosity.
"I’ve felt this before, but Sir Jeong’s schemes really do have a strange way of striking where people least expect it. I understand you’ve only met Bok Daeju a few times, and yet you managed to bring this about so neatly. Thank you for informing our sect in advance."
"Of course I had to tell you. What will the Haomu Sect do?"
"Our sect will not intervene."
Hong-hui drew a clear line there.
The Black Night Gang had no debt or blood feud to repay, so observing from the sidelines was probably the best choice. Erasing a martial underworld faction and absorbing its power wasn’t the Haomu Sect’s way of surviving, either.
"Do you need anything from us?"
Her unexpected goodwill made me think quickly.
If Hong-hui was asking first, it meant she was willing to help as long as it was within reason.
"Could you provide a large carriage, a driver, and a few guards?"
I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but if the Wolong Hall was breached, we might have to extract Jeok Chu-yeong depending on the situation.
"That much is possible. In return, I have one request."
"Go on."
"After this is over, please arrange a meeting with Bok Daeju. There are quite a few issues that will need to be negotiated and settled for the sake of Seochon’s order going forward."
"Couldn’t the Haomu Sect contact him directly?"
When Bok Ha-gyu had been cornered while fighting Pyo Hol-deuk, he had asked Geuk-hwan for help.
They must already have plenty of contact between them, so there was no reason for me to get in the middle.
The head of the Haomu Sect branch in Seochon saw it differently.
"Bok Daeju is so stubborn that he becomes difficult to deal with. I’d like Sir Jeong to serve as the bridge between us."
At that absurd request, I let out a short laugh and waved it off.
"He’s not the sort to take my word for anything just because I say it."
Bok Ha-gyu was thick-skinned and steadfast. He wasn’t a man who could be easily swayed by someone else’s opinion.
He might seem simple-minded, but his judgment and improvisation were better than average.
Looking at everything he’d done with me so far, it might seem as though he’d been moving according to my will, but in the end he’d always brushed things aside by saying he’d let me show Jeok Chu-yeong his face later.
Even so, Hong-hui smiled with complete confidence.
"He’ll listen."
When I returned to the annex after that, Jin Seok-man was waiting for me.
With everyone else burning with fighting spirit, he was the only one who had stiffened up like a stone and could barely breathe properly.
At that rate, I wondered whether he’d even make it to the Black Night Gang’s threshold.
"We’re leaving soon. What are you going to do? If you’re scared, drop out."
"...I’m going."
As if he had been waiting only for this day, Jin Seok-man clenched his teeth, his eyes filled with a vicious light.
If he wanted to pay off his gambling debt, save his sweetheart from being sold off to some rich old bastard, and start a new life, then the only way was to cross the Black Night Gang’s wall.
It was an opportunity that had come to him suddenly, but for theft, it wasn’t a bad one.
If this had been an ordinary night, even after scaling the Black Night Gang’s wall, it would have been hard to steal so much as a cold rice ball from the kitchen because of the patrols.
But if a fight broke out, people died, and the inside was thrown into confusion, it would be perfect for slipping in and looting wherever you pleased.
"Do you have a weapon?"
Jin Seok-man shook his head.
"I don’t need one. If I go swinging a blade clumsily, I won’t beat those bastards anyway. It’d be better to disguise myself as a servant."
After asking him everything I could think of about the Black Night Gang’s interior layout, I also prepared to go out.
I checked the edge of my short blade and inspected the dagger strapped to my ankle and the bamboo tube hidden in my left sleeve.
I packed plenty of wound medicine and bandages as well.
"Maybe I should’ve gotten a padded vest or a coat of lamellar armor..."
When I thought about having to face several people at once in the dark, even the worn-out vest I’d once discarded suddenly seemed worth regretting.
After I finished all my preparations and was chewing on dried jerky while going over the escape route again in my head, Won Seo-gang opened the door.
"Time’s up. Let’s go."
I fastened my short blade at my lower back and went outside. Everyone else was already waiting by the main gate.
For a moment, I thought of my days wandering as a ruffian.
Back then, I’d crossed walls like this in the middle of the night more than once as part of a group. Some had died inside, and some had made it out alive.
I had always been the one who survived. What about tonight? I wasn’t particularly eager to know.
The expressions on the faces of the comrades who would walk the line between life and death with me tonight looked much the same as mine, and that was a relief.
Everyone was simply running toward their own goal. Like arrows already loosed. So was I. I would not stop.
I nodded and stepped down from the stone stair.
*
After leaving Simhyangru, we moved only through the darkest alleys we could find.
It was a bright night, so bright that the walls cast shadows whenever the moon slipped out from behind the clouds.
Not a particularly good night for sneaking in. Still, at least friend and foe could be distinguished clearly, so we shouldn’t end up stabbed by some blind stray blade.
The back alley I’d visited at dusk had already had the corpses of the young assassins cleaned away.
Someone had even washed the ground clean, and the smell of blood had almost vanished.
The officials who only moved for bribes certainly hadn’t done it. Bok Ha-gyu must have taken care of the aftermath.
That didn’t make the ugly scandal disappear, but it was far better than leaving the bodies of those children lying around.
When we reached the end of the alley, the back door of the Black Night Gang we’d tried to enter earlier appeared between the tall walls.
We hid in a row in the darkness beneath the wall and waited for the right moment.
Somewhere nearby, a cheerful singing voice drifted out. It was thick with liquor, slurring with the warm stink of alcohol.
The cold wind of early winter slapped my face hard. Shivering, I shoved my freezing hands into my pockets.
I exhaled a white breath and turned my head to the side.
In the deep darkness, a few clouds of breath gathered and vanished, each one a different size.
Someone must have grinned. The white flash of teeth gave it away.
When it seemed about the hour of the rat, I knocked on the back door.
A moment later, I heard the bolt being drawn back, and the thick wooden door opened inward.
Beyond it, gaping wide like the mouth of some great beast, there was no reaction at all.
I swallowed hard, held my breath, and strained my ears.
If this was a trap, then this would be the last point where I could still turn back from the line between life and death.
After meeting Won Seo-gang’s eyes, I took the lead, since I was the one who knew Bok Ha-gyu by face.
I gripped my scabbard with my left hand, ready to draw at any moment, and silently crossed the threshold.
Inside the gate was a broad back courtyard large enough to park several freight carts.
Moving quickly, I looked around. There was no one in the yard, no one around the garden trees or the buildings. The black-dao fighter who had opened the door must have retreated far away, because I couldn’t see him anywhere.
One by one, the others followed in quietly, crouching low as they came.
There were seven of us in all: me, Won Seo-gang, Jin Seok-man, Huang Gangju, Hoyeongeom, and two junior sisters. Two women among the seven.
Only then did Bok Ha-gyu appear beneath the eaves across the yard.
Everyone instinctively gripped their weapons.
Seeing a group of martial artists soaked in moonlight, Bok Ha-gyu let out a heavy sigh.
"...Is this all of you?"
Won Seo-gang stepped forward and answered with calm indifference.
"Isn’t Bok Daeju trying to shake up the other side? In that kind of thing, skill and nerve matter more than numbers. Don’t be disappointed and just watch. Where is Pan Ho-yang?"
Aside from me, the others all seemed to be meeting Bok Ha-gyu for the first time, but with the situation so urgent, formal introductions were skipped.
Bok Ha-gyu stared at Won Seo-gang for a long moment, as if weighing his prowess and inner energy, then beckoned one of his subordinates over.
"He’s holed up in the Gwangpa Hall where Im Ja-gyeon is staying. Follow this man."
"Brother Won. We’ll see each other later."
"May you be well, little brother."
After the brief exchange, Won Seo-gang and Huang Gangju disappeared with the guide between the halls on the left.
"We’ll take care of Seon Do-mu."
"The Five Phoenix Hall is that way."
Hoyeongeom and his junior sisters followed a black-dao fighter down the path to the right. Jin Seok-man, who had been standing at the back, had already slipped away into the darkness without anyone noticing.
That left only me, Bok Ha-gyu, and three guards.
"And the gang leader?"
"He’s where he always is. This way."
Bok Ha-gyu led me down a narrow, dark path between the halls and the wall. It was far more secluded and hidden than the interior route Jin Seok-man had described.
It was impossible to know when a night raid might come, but Bok Ha-gyu’s injured leg kept us from moving quickly.
"Is your leg all right?"
"It’s fine."
"Wasn’t the wound from Pyo Hol-deuk on that leg?"
"Hng."
Bok Ha-gyu didn’t bother hiding his irritation.
A leg, like any other vital point, was a dangerous place to be cut. If you were pierced deeply enough there, you could be done for before you even had a chance to respond.
Being stabbed twice in the span of less than a month was a damned nuisance, but that he hadn’t died or become crippled was a stroke of heaven’s mercy.
When we came out the back way from the storehouses, the three-story hall where the gang leader stayed was right in front of us.
Despite the grandiose plaque reading Wolong Hall, its size was only about that of Simhyangru’s annex.
The men standing guard recognized Bok Ha-gyu and bowed their heads. As we passed them, I counted roughly twenty. Whether handpicked or not, they all had sharp eyes and solid bearing.
"Here."
Deep inside the first-floor inner chamber, Bok Ha-gyu straightened his clothes and carefully opened the door.
The bedroom was furnished with ornate pieces and lavish decorations.
Someone lay on the thick silk bedding at the center of it all.
Only the face was visible beyond the blanket.
Though the lamps lit the room brightly, it was not easy to tell who it was.
Sunken cheeks, thin enough to look hollow. Prominent cheekbones. Even the closed eyes sat deep in their sockets, dull and gaunt.
There was no mistaking it for anything but a sick man.
I recalled the face from the description Haomu Sect had on file.
Neat features. Thick brows that seemed to twitch with life. Bright, intelligent eyes.
Even as a successor of the righteous schools, he had been handsome enough to stand out, and traces of that still remained, faintly, on this emaciated face.
The Black Night Gang’s leader, struck down by Hidden Force and tormented by internal injuries for two years.
Jeok Chu-yeong was lying right before my eyes.