Stolen Goods 3
*Sizzle.*
The moment the two piping-hot ducks hit the floor, my sworn younger brother Gal Ji-heung tore off one whole leg and thrust it toward me, the look on his face saying he could not wait another second.
"Come on, hyung-nim, stop dragging it out and just tell me who it is. Your little brother is about to die of suspense."
He had built the whole thing up so high that of course he was champing at the bit. He needed Heavenly Silk for his disciple, and for months now every attempt had come up empty.
From what he had told me, you hatch the eggs, feed the larvae, and only when they spin cocoons to become moths can you draw the Heavenly Silk from them. The problem was he had no idea what they were supposed to eat, so all he had managed so far was to kill one precious larva after another.
"Ah, you brat, just taste it first and then we'll talk."
*Slurp.*
The rich, savory duck fat flooded my mouth the instant I bit into the leg. Geolhwang wore a blissful expression as he sucked the meat clean, then ripped free the second leg and asked,
"Still, the fact that you need Heavenly Silk means your disciple's skill isn't quite up to snuff, doesn't it?"
"You can say that again? She's a girl, so I worried at first, but her body is so limber and soft that in her later years she'll surpass even me. She's already handling most of my work for me. Those master silk artisans we brought in this time? She stole every last one of them. Even now she's at about seventy or eighty percent of my level."
"Oho… So if the person I name happens to belong to the Nine Great Sects or the Seven Great Clans, you'd still send that girl?"
"Why wouldn't I? Wouldn't that be a perfect chance for her to experience the Nine Great Sects or the Seven Great Clans? Is the person in one of those? Even better."
At Gal Ji-heung's answer I rolled a duck bone around inside my cheek, and a bright idea sparkled into place. Geolhwang smiled and shot back,
"If she gets caught stealing from the Nine Great Sects or the Seven Great Clans, even as your disciple you'd have to grant them three wishes—yet you'd still send her?"
"Ah, well, that pact with the murim is absolute, so of course I would. But what are the odds? The Nine Great Sects and Seven Great Clans don't exactly go out of their way to catch me. Whenever I take something, I always repay them with more than I took."
"Still, if she gets caught, the pact says you have to grant the wishes."
"True enough. But even at only seventy or eighty percent of my skill, there's no way my disciple gets caught. She's not fighting the people of the Nine Great Sects—she's just walking out with the goods."
I nodded at my sworn brother's words and thought it over. This was the perfect chance to repay that boy a favor.
Honestly, the woman that boy had helped was someone I had been searching high and low to aid myself. The trouble was that a scion of a righteous sect had been involved, and without clear proof I had been stuck. Yet the boy had cleaned the whole mess up so neatly that a reward was only proper.
From what I heard on the Murim Alliance side, the mountain-breaking poison used to drive off the Blood Cult this time had also been something the boy tracked down and sent them. And that was not all. They said his contribution in recovering the secret manual of the Blood-Handed Poison Eagle had been enormous as well.
As an elder of the murim, I ought to bestow a proper reward. He had even been sending me those mealworms so regularly they never ran out.
My sworn brother Gal Ji-heung might be lacking in other areas, but his talent was unmatched. Three favors from him would make a splendid prize. Smiling inwardly, Geolhwang sucked on the duck leg. Only when the second leg was nothing but bone did he turn to Gal Ji-heung and begin.
"All right, listen carefully."
"Ohh. So who is it?"
"I'll tell you, but the boy is still young. Absolutely nothing must happen that gets him hurt while he's helping you. Understood? Tell your disciple to take special care when she brings him back."
"Of course. But you say he's young?"
"Yes. Just a little past the age of setting one's will—fifteen."
"What? That young and he's supposed to be useful?"
"Don't worry. That boy will definitely be of help to you."
"Ehh, still too young, though."
"You brat, if this boy can't help you, then no one under heaven can. Just make sure he doesn't get hurt."
"Who is he that you're fussing this much? The emperor's son or something?"
Gal Ji-heung tilted his head at my repeated warnings. Geolhwang flicked the duck bone at his forehead and said,
"He is the boy who received the martial arts of the Murim Alliance Leader, and he is the live-in son-in-law of the Tang Clan."
"Th-the Fist Emperor's successor?! But the Fist Emperor said he would never take an heir—what wind blew that idea into his head? And the live-in son-in-law of the Tang Clan?"
Gal Ji-heung nearly jumped out of his skin at the words "Fist Emperor's successor." I tore into the third duck as I answered,
"That's right, you brat. So handle him carefully."
"O-of course. The Fist Emperor is terrifying when he's angry. Still… maybe I should go myself? If Yeong-ryeon messes up it could get awkward."
At the mention of the Fist Emperor's successor, my sworn brother started thinking he ought to go in person. Geolhwang flinched and scolded him.
"You idiot, that's no way to raise a disciple. You have to hand her important jobs now and then so she can grow. If you rush out every time something's important, how is the girl supposed to develop? And how do you think that would make her feel? I never raised my disciples that way."
"True… if I took over she'd think I didn't trust her and get hurt."
"Exactly, you brat. Leave it to the girl and you stay here drinking with me for a few days."
"Well then, it's been a while—why not? Kehehe."
Gal Ji-heung roared with laughter at Geolhwang's words, thoroughly delighted. Before he finished he added one last request.
"By the way, hyung-nim, you'll have to put together solid information on the Tang Clan for me. Understood?"
"Of course, you brat. Since your disciple is going, I'll make it thorough."
And of course I would make it thorough.
I would simply leave out every word about the poisonous creatures kept at the Tang Clan.
And when my sworn brother's letter arrived at the Tang Clan, I would quietly send someone to tell them to raise the Guard Banner. The boy always kept centipedes coiled around his body; if those centipedes burst out at the last moment and wrapped Gal Ji-heung's disciple, we could catch her for certain. Anyone that skilled with poisonous creatures could at least keep them from biting people.
*Tsrut?*
*Kishit?*
Cho and Yo-hwa made slightly startled sounds at Hwa-eun's ice-cold order. Well, of course—being told to bite anyone they saw at night would shock even gentle children. Outside of protecting their own bodies or mine, they never harmed people lightly.
And they were not the only ones startled. I, the designated target of the theft, was plenty shocked myself.
Coming to steal me meant they intended to bundle me off. In other words, I might end up sold into human trafficking. In a startled voice I asked the adults,
"Does this Shintu person steal people too?"
"It happens now and then. When Shintu needs someone's help, he carries them off. It won't be anything serious. Because of his precepts he has to steal something, so he probably needs your help. I wonder what for?"
"My help?"
The idea that a thief wanted me, and that I could be of any use to him, left me wearing a blank expression. The answer came at once.
"If he wants you, it must be that, don't you think? The way our son-in-law handles poisonous creatures so well."
"Ahh, right. That must be it. Outside of that there's no particular reason Shintu would come looking for you, So-ryong."
Grandfather and Father-in-law both agreed that the advance notice of the theft had been sent because of how well I handled poisonous creatures. From beside me the children's voices rose again.
*Tsrut tsrurut?*
*Kishit kishishit?*
Cho's anxious feelings washed over me: Mom, do we really bite? Just bite? Really okay to bite? But then they'll die? He was checking again and again.
Yeah, well, when Hwa-eun's not in her right mind, at least you kids need to stay normal.
I was feeling proud that our kids were growing up surprisingly upright when Hwa-eun, who still could not quite grasp Cho's feelings yet clearly understood the gist, nodded.
"Wait just a moment. I'll talk with the adults and then tell you again."
Hwa-eun was thoroughly furious at the news that the thief called Shintu intended to steal me. Holding her temper in check, she made a request of the family elders with a resolute expression.
"Grandfather, Father, Mother—I want to raise the Guard Banner."
"The Guard Banner?"
"Th-the Guard Banner?"
"My, Hwa-eun is truly angry. Well, of course she is… So-ryong is yours, after all."
The adults all looked startled by the words "Guard Banner." Wondering what on earth that meant, I glanced at Hwa-eun; she turned a slightly chilly smile on me and explained.
"The Guard Banner refers to a flag with a dog painted on it—the character for dog, sul. The character for dog looks almost identical to the character for 'guard,' so the flag carries the meaning of protection."
"A flag with a dog on it?"
"Yes. When the Nine Great Sects or the great clans receive a letter saying Elder Shintu is coming to steal something, they have two choices. They can leave the item he wants in plain sight so Elder Shintu can take it easily and later call on his help… or they can raise the Guard Banner and declare they will stop the theft. Of course, if you choose to stop him and fail, you get robbed and receive no compensation at all. But if you succeed, you can demand three favors of Elder Shintu that he absolutely cannot refuse."
What, is this thief some kind of genie from a lamp? Three wishes?
The idea that catching a thief earned you three wishes drew a dry little laugh from me. Then again, as the saying goes, ten men cannot stop one thief; stopping him would hardly be easy. I asked again.
"But Shintu is an extraordinary thief, and as one of the Five Emperors he must be an extraordinary martial artist as well. Can we really stop him?"
Hwa-eun seized both of my arms and answered,
"If Elder Shintu steals a person, no one knows whether they'll come back in a month, a year, or ten years. So-ryong, do you want to be stolen?"
"N-no, it's not that I want—"
"And as Mother said, So-ryong is mine. What woman would simply hand over what is hers? I will stop him no matter what it takes!"
Seriously, with this many people around she just blurts out a confession?
The whole "he's mine so nobody gets him!" feeling was actually pretty nice. Still, the worry remained real. In a cautious voice I asked,
"Has any other family or sect ever managed to stop Elder Shintu?"
Hwa-eun flinched and stammered,
"N-no."
Of course. Why else would he be called Shintu? He had never been caught even once. If he had, he would just be an ex-con, not the Thief Emperor.
I understood her frustration, but I still worried that if we rashly tried to stop him and got cleaned out, we would lose the compensation as well. Seeing my face, Hwa-eun hugged Cho and declared,
"But we can definitely catch him. No—we can stop him!"
"Why?"
She sounded so certain that I tilted my head. Hwa-eun looked up at Cho and said,
"We have these children, don't we? No matter how ghostlike a thief Elder Shintu is, that only works against people. Would he ever imagine these children would be standing guard?"
"Oho?"
Come to think of it, Hwa-eun's reasoning made perfect sense. However skilled Shintu was at avoiding human eyes, if Yo-hwa had carefully webbed the entire compound and Cho was watching from the sky even at night, who could possibly snatch me away?
On top of that, if I stayed inside the beehive, hundreds of Golden-Haired Bee Kings would guard me even in the dead of night; Bing-i and Seol-i would handle close defense; and Hyang-i could lie in ambush inside my body and burst out at the right moment.
This… might actually be doable?
I had thought Hwa-eun was just yelling because she was angry, but of course she was the clever one. Grandfather, Father-in-law, and Mother-in-law all nodded in agreement as well.
"Indeed. Just as Hwa-eun says, Shintu only knows how to avoid human eyes. How could he know these children would be there? Ten years ago that old man beat me after four hundred seventy-five exchanges and kept me from becoming the Poison Emperor. This time I'll smear that wrinkled face of his good and proper. Hahaha!"
"Sounds like a fight worth trying."
"This should be fun."
"The Beast Palace warriors I brought with me have their wolves; those wolves will protect So-ryong as well."
Like a dragon's pool and a tiger's den—this place was a web of spider silk and a nest of centipedes. The Tang Clan, guarded by every manner of poisonous creature and beast.
"Hang the Guard Banner above the Tang Clan's Guarding Gate! Let's catch ourselves a thief!"
The entire Tang Clan united in purpose: the great thief-hunt began now.
The cheerful roar of Grandfather, the Lord of Ten Thousand Poisons, rolled out across the darkening Tang Clan mountain.