Cho, Hyang, Bin 1
I had wondered if the Taehwa Gate might grow suspicious over the bastard’s sudden death, but the whole affair was buried faster than I expected.
They recovered the body without so much as a minimal investigation—no one sent to examine the scene, not even a surface-level questioning of witnesses.
In the murim, where grudges and vendettas were everyday business, a death usually meant at least a poison check and a look around the surroundings. Yet even that had been skipped for the clan lord’s third son.
The cause of death that eventually leaked from the Taehwa Gate was simply “sudden death.” According to Old Man Geolhwang, the young clan lord had moved quickly to cover it up. The boy had been a regular at the gambling dens every few days, so the rumor was that the family had already washed their hands of him—or that they had known about his antics well enough inside the walls.
Because of that, instead of suspecting us, the Taehwa Gate actually sent gifts and their thanks, saying they had heard we had tried to save their child.
Feels a little awkward accepting presents after killing the guy…
A few days after that fragrant little revenge concluded, I left the Sichuan Tang Family estate in Chengdu with the woman named Naok, heading for Songga Village.
Given the nature of the Tang Family, once we went back inside we would be cut off from the outside world for a while, so she wanted to visit her younger sister’s grave first. My elder sister had offered to send people to tend the grave or even relocate it, but that decision belonged to Naok alone.
The moment our carriage rolled into Songga Village—a small farming hamlet on the outskirts of Chengdu—the villagers crowded around. At the front stood a man who looked to be the village head, asking our business.
“What brings the Sichuan Tang Family to our little Songga Village? Hmm? Naok?!”
He stared in shock at the woman who stepped down from the carriage.
“It’s been a long time, Elder.”
“How is it that you’re with people from the Tang Family?”
“I will be entrusting myself to the Tang Family from now on, Elder.”
“You, to the Tang Family?! W-what wonderful news is this!”
“Naok’s joining the Sichuan Tang Family?!”
Even though a commoner entering the Tang Family would normally only become a servant, the villagers celebrated as if it were a great honor. The Tang name clearly carried weight around here.
After the brief greetings, we followed Naok’s fifth uncle and aunt up a low hill behind the village. In one quiet corner of the hillside cemetery, among the many graves, stood a single shabby wooden marker.
Tomb of Song Na-eun.
The weathered wooden headstone told us the grave belonged to Naok’s younger sister.
“Na-eun…”
Naok gently stroked the sparse grass growing over the mound, her face full of pity. From behind, her uncle spoke with a sorrowful look.
“Naok, I don’t know how you came to join the Tang Family, but… forget about things like revenge now. Live happily there. Wouldn’t your sister want that for you?”
Since we had decided to keep the revenge secret, he clearly believed she had given up on it.
Then came the request.
“Young lady, it may be presumptuous of me to say, but please take good care of our Naok. She lost her parents young and raised her little sister alone… only for that sister to meet such a terrible end…”
I had heard he was like a father to her, and the worry in his voice was plain.
“Yes. She is family of the Tang Family now. You need not worry.”
As our conversation wound down, Naok took a faded sachet from her robes and hung it on the headstone. When a breeze caught the sachet and set it swaying, she could hold back no longer and burst into loud sobs.
“Hic… hic-hic… If only Unnie had come sooner that day…”
The regret still clung to her.
As if answering her words, a plaintive cricket’s song rose from the grass that had grown here and there across the grave.
Chirp-chirp.
She had once said the cricket’s cry sounded like her sister’s voice. What was her sister trying to tell her now? I found myself hoping it was exactly what her uncle had said—that she should forget everything and simply be happy.
Even in broad daylight, the back alleys of Chengdu in Sichuan lay dim beneath the great trees and the walls that lined both sides. Under one such dark tree, a beggarly old man in shabby clothes fished something from the pouch at his waist.
What he drew out was a single dried-up insect. He turned it this way and that, then, with an expression of utter disbelief, popped it straight into his mouth.
A thoroughly satisfied smile spread across his face.
“Looks like this, but it’s surprisingly nutty and delicious, you know?”
The insect the old man had taken from his pouch was a mealworm larva—one of the gifts the Tang Family children had given him. They had told him he could always come back for more when he ran out, but that would wound the pride of Geolhwang, so he had resolved to savor them sparingly as he carefully slipped another into his mouth.
Crunch.
The nutty flavor flooded his mouth as he chewed. A smile rose on Geolhwang’s face.
“A fragrant revenge, huh…”
As he savored the taste and thought back on the young fellow who had given him these mealworms and made his days so entertaining, a presence stirred in the tree above.
Geolhwang looked up and asked,
“Who else but a thief would hide up there and watch me? What brings you here?”
An angry shout answered from the branches, and two figures dropped down to land before him.
“Come on, Elder Brother! Calling me a thief again?!”
The man who appeared was Shintu, the Thief Emperor—one of the Five Emperors among the Three Emperors and Five Emperors of the Central Plains murim. It was Gal Ji-heung, his sworn younger brother.
“You little brat. What else am I supposed to call a thief if not a thief?”
“I have a perfectly fine title—Shintu, the Divine Thief…”
“Divine Thief, my foot. If a thief gets called ‘Divine’ just for being good at thieving, then I should be the ‘Divine Beggar’ for being good at begging. Maybe I’ll march over to the Murim Alliance tomorrow and demand they change my title.”
“Aigoo, we finally meet after so long and you’re already at it again.”
Gal Ji-heung scratched his head at the argument that always broke out whenever they met. Geolhwang popped another mealworm into his mouth and asked,
“So, what are you doing in Sichuan? Ah, stupid question. Came to steal something again, didn’t you?”
“Elder Brother, I even brought my disciple. Please spare a little of this guy’s face.”
After grumbling, Gal Ji-heung finally resorted to pleading. Geolhwang glanced to the side of the Thief Emperor and saw a pretty young girl bowing in greeting.
“It is an honor to meet you, Elder Geolhwang. I am Choga Yeong-ryeon, disciple of Master Shintu.”
So his sworn brother had taken a disciple without him even knowing. Geolhwang made a pained face.
“Gal Family… as if that one alone wasn’t enough of a headache, now there’s a disciple too… The future of the murim looks bleak.”
“Elder Brother!”
“Fine, fine, you brat! Anyway, good to meet you. And don’t just stand there—both of you sit. My neck’s getting sore looking up.”
He invited them to sit on the piled straw, and the two settled themselves roughly. Even while he scolded them, Geolhwang secretly smiled; neither his cherished sworn brother nor the brother’s disciple complained about the dirty ground. He asked,
“So how did you know I was here and come looking?”
Ordinarily it would be because they needed information for a heist, but since it had been so long he asked the reason.
Shintu grinned as he answered.
“Just as Elder Brother sits in these back alleys and knows every rumor under the sun, this younger brother has a talent for finding you no matter where you hide.”
He was showing off, but Geolhwang figured the man had probably smeared more of that Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Fragrance on him the last time they met.
“Ha. Showing off again. You must have secretly dabbed more of that Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Fragrance on me. Enough nonsense—why did you come looking?”
“Elder Brother, really. We finally meet after ages. Let’s save that talk for later and go eat first. Some nice restaurant…”
His sworn brother’s suggestion of a fine restaurant. But after looking Geolhwang up and down again, Gal Ji-heung scratched his head and continued,
“No, wait—you can’t go into restaurants, Elder Brother. Yeong-ryeon, go buy us some food. Roast duck, skewers, and some liquor too.”
“Yes, Master.”
Changing the subject and ordering the roast duck and liquor he loved told Geolhwang that the man truly had a favor to ask. Now lying back on the straw, Geolhwang popped another mealworm larva into his mouth.
“What are you planning to steal this time that you’re beating around the bush so much?”
Shintu waved both hands, looking scandalized.
“Aigoo, Elder Brother! Do you think I only come to see you for that? This time I really came for something else.”
“Something else?”
The man who rarely sought him out unless he needed intel on a house to rob… claiming it was for something else. Geolhwang’s face said he didn’t believe a word, so Shintu answered,
“Yes. I came to ask you to introduce me to the person in the Central Plains who knows the most about silkworms.”
“Silkworms?”
Silkworms meant the insects that made silk. Curious why a thief would be looking for an expert on silkworms, Geolhwang tilted his head. Shintu raised his arm and showed it.
“You know this Heavenly Silk of mine, my divine treasure?”
“Of course I know Heavenly Silk.”
Heavenly Silk was Shintu’s signature treasure and symbol—thinner than the finest silk thread, nearly invisible, yet so strong it defied description, and sharp enough when used properly to sever a man’s limbs or even his neck.
Geolhwang nodded, and Shintu toyed with the Heavenly Silk wound around his arm.
“I thought this thing would last a thousand years, ten thousand years… but even it has a lifespan, it seems. It snapped not long ago.”
“It snapped?”
Heavenly Silk could not be cut by treasured swords; only sword qi could barely sever it. Hearing that it had simply broken, Geolhwang’s eyes went wide. He might tease the man as a thief, but this was his sworn brother’s livelihood. Losing it was the same as a beggar’s bowl shattering—truly serious business.
“Yes. I believe it has simply reached the end of its life.”
“Haha. Heavenly Silk reaching the end of its life?”
“Yes. Elder Brother may not know, but it is tradition among us that when a disciple finishes training, the previous Shintu passes the Heavenly Silk to the next. I cannot hand this broken one over as is, so I am looking for someone who knows silkworms well.”
“Silkworms… silkworms, huh…”
People who knew silkworms would be silk makers, or those who supplied silk to the imperial court. Hearing that for once the request was not for thievery but for his disciple, Geolhwang nodded.
“If that’s the case, of course I’ll help.”
“Thank you, Elder Brother!”
“I’ll have the children of Sichuan look into it. Wait here in Sichuan for now. And don’t go making a racket by stealing things in the meantime. Understood?”
He glared once to make sure the man didn’t lose patience and stir up Sichuan. Just then the disciple who had gone for food returned to the alley laden with delicious dishes, and soon a modest feast of thief and beggar began right there on the street.
The day after we brought the woman named Naok into the family, she became a member of our Poisonous Creature Squad.
She needed free access to the Poisonous Creature Garden, so she could not simply be placed as a maid or servant; she had to become one of the squad members. She was rather old to begin learning martial arts, yet since she was now a squad member, Commander Gu Pae would teach her. He seemed to feel a kinship with her and had been looking after her well ever since we brought her to the Sichuan Tang Family.
And so I brought her to the Poisonous Creature Garden to show her where she would work. Pointing inside, I explained,
“This is the Poisonous Creature Garden.”
“Ah, so this is where I’ll be working?”
“Yes. Would you like to look around first? Over here we raise the silkworms. Over there we raise the short-tailed shrews. And there we raise the mealworms. We raise them as feed for the poisonous creatures.”
“So I just need to raise the silkworms, the mealworms, and those short-tailed shrews?”
“Well… yes, but… will you be all right?”
I asked with the meaning of whether the silkworms’ sounds would bother her, but she only smiled. The dark expression she had worn before had brightened a little.
“Yes, I’m fine. I don’t hear my sister’s voice anymore. I think it means I must repay Young Master for the rest of my life.”
It was a grateful thing to hear, but I doubted she was fully healed, so I decided to have Commander Gu Pae keep a close watch on her and simply nodded.
“Understood.”
Working and being around people would surely be better for her than sitting alone in a daze.
After showing her the whole interior and walking back out, Naok’s voice reached me.
“But when you say poisonous creatures… what kind of poisonous creatures do you raise?”
She seemed curious about what she would be caring for. Apparently she had no memory of the time I had brought the children out while her mind was wandering. I quickly drew Cho from where I had been hiding him in my sleeve.
Skitter-skitter.
“These kinds of poisonous creatures.”
“A centipede?!”
Naok blinked in surprise at the huge form of Cho. I had Cho look at her and said,
“Come on, our Cho. Say hello properly.”
Cho bobbed his head as if greeting her.
“Good boy. Our Cho has such nice manners.”
I pressed a kiss to the forehead of the creature that greeted when told. After introducing Naok to the centipedes and walking outside again, her cautious voice came.
“Y-Young Master So-ryong… d-do you, by any chance, also have someone you want revenge on?”
“?”
What is she talking about?
I pondered the sudden question and realized that, in Naok’s eyes, I must look half-mad with revenge the same way she had been.