Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Non-Human
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Daytime back alley.
The sisters walked.
"Sister."
"Yeah?"
Similar voices.
Their faces were remarkably alike.
"Are we really going the right way?"
"We are."
In the Shanxi region these days, when people talk about beauties, they list slenderness as the top quality. In that sense, the sisters weren't the modern ideal—they were closer to classical beauties. They were full-figured but not fat, far from skinny. A nicely curved figure was the right description.
"Sister, still, this place is a bit..."
The younger one still looked like a girl. The older one was a bit young to call a full woman.
They wore their bamboo hats low to hide their faces, but the curve from jaw to neck was exquisitely graceful. The older sister's jaw was a touch sharper. Her lips, peeking out, were a pretty red without any rouge. The older sister bit her lip and spoke.
"Don't worry."
She said it casually, but her voice was dark. Her expression under the hat must have been too.
It was because of the alley ahead.
The tall walls of packed taverns blocked even the moonlight. It was the back alley of the entertainment district. More like a den leading to hidden pleasures than a proper alley. It reeked of darkness and dampness.
"Sister..."
The younger sister, Hyang, didn't want to step inside. Naturally, the older sister, Seol, felt the same.
It wasn't just the endless darkness holding their ankles. Shattered bottles and rotting food stank everywhere. No one would want to enter such a back alley.
"It's fine. Uncle Sang is with us."
The older sister could pretend to be calm only because of the man leading them—Uncle Sang.
Stooped posture, an aged face with no expression.
He was the one who had brought them here.
His surname was Sang, one character only; no one knew his given name. He'd always been called that. He looked unremarkable, but he possessed remarkable martial arts. Though he'd joined the family just three years ago, their father had shown him unwavering trust.
"Is it really here?"
The younger sister asked. Sang answered.
"This is definitely the way, Miss Hyang."
Older sister Seol. Younger sister Hyang.
At his words, Hyang's face crumpled. Hidden by her hat, but anyone could guess her expression.
"Miss Seol. Watch your step."
Sang nudged a rotten plank aside with his toe. Mud reeking of stench lay beneath. Stepping on it would have sunk right in. Seol nodded firmly as if resolved, then leaped over the mud.
Seol's movements were extraordinary. No hesitation. Not the motions of an ordinary noble lady.
"Sister..."
The older sister was set, but not the younger. Hyang stood frozen at the alley mouth, unsure. Seol called her coaxingly once more.
"Hyang."
Hyang stomped her feet.
"Uncle Sang, can't we go around?"
Sang's face showed no expression. He shook his head slowly and replied.
"There's no other way."
Seol nailed it down, feigning annoyance.
"Now's not the time to be picky about hot or cold rice."
At Seol's words, Hyang reluctantly stepped forward.
Watching Hyang leap the mud like her, Seol felt a thread of unease sprout in her chest. She had no certainty either.
'How did it come to this?'
She couldn't fathom why. Twenty-two years living enviably as daughters of a renowned martial house, merchant guild, and local powerhouse. A month—no, half a month ago, she couldn't have imagined wandering such a place.
"It's just a dirty back alley. No need to be scared."
"Sister, please, let's go back."
"What's wrong? Is something bothering you?"
Seol finally asked amid the complaints.
Younger sister Hyang wasn't one to act up without reason. Emotional ups and downs stronger than the rational Seol's, but when resolute, Hyang could be far tougher than her sister.
"I don't know. Sister, it just feels wrong here."
"Wrong how?"
"Just wrong. Everything."
People who live by emotion often rely on intuition.
But their gut isn't always right. Sometimes, the rational ones have sharper instincts.
"Hyang."
Seol lifted her hat straight-on and met her eyes. She pushed up her hat. Sharp but pretty eyes appeared. She gripped Hyang's shoulders, staring into the eyes visible through her hat's brim.
"Hyang, I know you're not one to fuss anytime. But steel yourself. If you're anxious, it makes me anxious too. This isn't the time for either of us to falter. We can't stop because it's scary. Whatever's here, we have to trust Uncle Sang and follow. No— we have to trust Father's words and follow."
The twenty-two-year-old sister was always cool-headed. The seventeen-year-old couldn't buck anymore.
Sister trusted Father, Father trusted Uncle Sang. And the younger trusted her sister most of all.
"Let's hurry."
Seol pulled Hyang along. Inside, she vowed.
'It's just a slightly darker back alley.'
"Sister, if anything happens, we come right out. Promise."
'Yeah. Just a dark back alley. If it's not this way, we turn back.'
So she thought.
They stepped into the darkness.
They hadn't gone a few steps.
"Eek!"
Hyang screamed and clung to Seol's back.
"What?!"
Seol startled more.
"Rats! Rats!!"
"Wh-where?!"
One rat sent them into a panic. It showed how delicately they'd been raised.
"Th-there. Eek! More, Sister!"
The rats here didn't even fear people. A fist-sized one scurried past Hyang's feet into a corner. They stood frozen, patting their racing hearts, and looked at Sang ahead.
"Sorry, Uncle Sang. I got startled..."
"It's fine."
Sure, it was dank and filthy, but in any town thriving with revelry, such back alleys were common. They might seem overdramatic, but Sang didn't blame them. He knew their sheltered lives well.
Sang walked on silently.
Seol and Hyang walked side by side, clinging tightly. The alley bent one way. Hyang stiffened again. Seol grabbed her arm and halted. A shadow crouched in the darkness. Sitting in the muck, muttering something. Chills rose.
"Ignore it. Just a drunk."
Sang said.
The tension melted. Indeed, the shadow reeked of booze. Sang passed by casually. Seol and Hyang hurried after. Nothing happened.
After three or four tall tavern walls, a high earthen wall blocked them. Dead end. Sang pulled a small folded cloth from his bosom. In the pitch black, he read the writing fluidly.
"Follow the back of Zhu Yak Road straight. At the end, take seven steps back, then left..."
Sang took seven steps back. He turned left. Corner of a big tavern's rear wall. Handprints marred the dirty earthen wall.
"This seems to be it."
Seol and Hyang stood blankly, just watching Sang. He scanned the wall, then thrust his hand into a hole.
Clunk.
Metal rang briefly, and part of the wall fell inward like collapsing.
"Ah!"
Seol and Hyang gasped in unison.
They'd never imagined a secret entrance in such a back alley.
But it wasn't rare.
Especially in dank ones like this—likely to gambling or brothel dens. Lacking such a passage would be the oddity.
Creak, thud.
Sang had plenty of rivers-and-lakes experience.
Cautious yet unhesitating, he stepped into the new darkness.
The sisters left at the wall glanced at each other. Hyang shook her head. She didn't want to go in. But Seol had no thought of turning back. She entered first. Hyang bit her lip hard and followed.
"...!!"
"Oh my!"
The first thing inside was a banner draped on the far wall. About half a zhang wide. Hanging from high above down to the floor.
"Sister, is that... a tiger painting?"
"Seems like it."
Hyang was right. A tiger on the banner. Long bronze candelabras flanked it. Two flickering candles atop made the tiger writhe like alive.
"Scary..."
Hyang shuddered, arms crossed tight.
Tiger.
In Shanxi since ancient times, tigers symbolized ill om fortune. Fortune-tellers saw tiger omens as dire bad luck. Some eastern place revered them as divine beasts, but not here. Where they grew up, tigers were vicious evil beasts.
"Let's go first, young ladies."
The banner lit by candlelight afar looked anything but ordinary. Rough men with daggers squatting would have been preferable.
Sang stayed calm.
He scanned around once more. High walls on both sides were clearly outer walls of a big tavern. Yet eerily quiet. Noisy sounds drifted faintly, like from another world.
One strode boldly, two crept cautiously. They reached the tiger banner. Sang glanced at the cloth again.
'Three times... knock three times...'
He muttered the instructions, advanced, and knocked the wall beside the banner three times.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A loud echo.
Silence followed. Sang, Seol, Hyang waited quietly.
"Come in."
Soon, a thick voice rang out. It matched the flickering shadow eerily. Like the tiger speaking.
"Where?"
Hyang whispered fearfully, clutching Seol's collar. Seol was tense too. Only Sang stayed composed. He stared piercingly at the shaking banner, then reached out.
Swish.
Lifting the floor-length banner revealed a gaping rectangular hole, big enough for one person.
Sang entered first, as expected. Seol after Sang, Hyang after Seol.
"Ah!"
Seol and Hyang exclaimed almost together.
The sight stunned them.
In the center of walls enclosing three sides high, a small clearing. An odd space. How could a building leave such an empty spot?
Odder still: the structure in the clearing's midst.
Like a shrine, surrounded by dozens of those bronze candelabras from before. Thick as a child's arm, candles atop lit every direction. Fantastical. Unimaginable in a filthy back alley's end. Enclosed space, no wind—so the dozens of flames danced without dying. The swaying light added mystery.
"What brings you?"
The thick voice pierced their ears again. Their gazes turned to the building.
Two characters carved on the door.
Tiger Den.
Tiger's lair.
The door banner depicted tigers too.
Roaring white tiger, crouching black tiger, leaping red tiger—three in all. The inner banner parted, and a man emerged. They instinctively knew he owned the voice.
"What the hell is this?"
His blunt words.
He was very young. Early to mid-twenties at most. He eyed them up and down, frowning lightly.
Striking appearance.
Sharp sword-like eyebrows, fierce bulging eyes, rough angles on nose and jaw. Strangest: hair swept back to his shoulders, long strands mixed with white. Like black-white stripes.
Odd attire too.
Black dyed horsehide uniform, short wide sleeves. Bright yellow sash glaring. Silver chain on one side, black iron clogs at its end.
"Not answering? What do you want?"
No welcome. Not the expected guests. Face full of annoyance.
"Uh, we..."
Seol stepped forward flustered. Sang gestured lightly, blocking her. He spoke low.
"Are you the Tiger of the Dark Street?"
"Where'd you pick up that name?"
Affirmation or denial? Ambiguous retort.
Sang judged it affirmation. Likely the right place.