A New Hometown
"The underworld of Gyounam has been almost entirely monopolized by the Uirim Party for the past ten years."
"Almost? So not completely?"
"Yeah. There is one more. A place called the Haeryong Bang that runs the southern market—but it's tiny compared to the Uirim Party."
Originally, a market of that size had drawn any number of underworld factions into a vicious struggle for territory. Then the Uirim Party appeared ten years ago and forced them all into one. The reason a small outfit like the Haeryong Bang had survived was simple enough.
"They left the southern market alone because it doesn't make money. No reason to bother managing it."
It was the very place where the Donghae Merchant Guild now stood.
"So why are they suddenly sticking their hands in?"
"Because of Donghaeju. The reason they even set out on the southern trade route this time is that Donghaeju got hugely popular. They were on their way back from sealing a major contract when everything went wrong."
What had once been left alone for being worthless was worthless no longer.
"The merchants are worried sick. At least with the Haeryong Bang, the so-called protection fee was nothing more than a few copper coins for show. Once the Uirim Party moves in, they'll wring every drop of blood out of them. The central market has enough profit to scrape by somehow—but the southern market won't survive it."
Ja Gangcheon fell silent, turning the problem over in his mind. No matter how he looked at it, he could not make sense of it.
"If it's that unreasonable, why is everyone just sitting there watching?"
"Because they have no power."
"They could go to the authorities. Or talk to a martial force like the Wudang Sect."
"The first thing every underworld faction does is buy itself a backer in the local government. And the martial sects won't touch the Uirim Party either. An extraordinary master is standing behind them. That power is what let them seize Gyounam's back alleys in the first place."
That was the story of how Gyounam's underworld had been unified a decade ago.
"Who is it?"
"The Ghost-Faced Twin Killers."
Until then Ja Gangcheon had only been curious. For the first time, his expression changed. Seeing the look of distaste on his face, Cheongu asked in surprise,
"What's wrong?"
"The Ghost-Faced Twin Killers—you mean those old twins?"
"How do you know that?"
"I told you the Wudang Taoists fought someone in the forest. That was them."
Even the usually unflappable Cheongu was so stunned his mouth simply opened and closed without a sound. He had heard about a fight—he had never imagined the opponents could be the Ghost-Faced Twin Killers. Those two were known as the Fiends of Shandong. Even the Hwangbo Clan, who called themselves the masters of the province, deferred to them. And Gangcheon had fought men like that.
"I just assumed the Wudang Taoists drove them off."
Looking even graver than Gangcheon, Cheongu closed his eyes and thought hard. Then he reached his conclusion.
"You should leave Gyounam. There's nothing good that can come of running into the Ghost-Faced Twin Killers."
"If I leave, how am I supposed to build a ship? The only people I can even half trust are you and the guild master here. You're telling me to start over somewhere new?"
Cheongu could not bring himself to tell him to go alone.
"Then I'll come with you this time, too."
"That's my friend."
Ja Gangcheon gave Cheongu's shoulder a couple of firm pats—a gesture he had picked up from Cheongu only a few days earlier.
"That's how you do it, right?"
"No. That's for consoling someone or cheering them on."
"Then what do you do when you're moved?"
"You already did it with your face. You don't need anything more."
It was a distinction Ja Gangcheon found difficult to grasp completely.
"But if we just leave things like this, won't those bastards keep harassing the guild master?"
"They will."
"Then we can't do that."
"The guild master will have to come up with his own plan. Your being here won't help him. If it goes as far as the Ghost-Faced Twin Killers getting involved, his life could truly be in danger."
"Does he have a plan?"
"They'll negotiate, I expect. Once the Uirim Party has made a move, he'll have to swallow a certain amount of loss."
Ja Gangcheon thought for a moment, then said to Cheongu,
"Can you tell me everything in more detail? About the Ghost-Faced Twin Killers and those underworld thugs."
Cheongu told him everything he knew.
It was evening, the sky painted with sunset.
Ja Gangcheon sat on the roof of a three-story inn that looked out over the whole of Jinhae Port.
"So this is where I've come."
He had been moving too fast to truly take the view in until now. Today, he wanted nothing more than to watch the sea, the harbor, and the people living within it at his leisure.
"It's beautiful."
Waves shattering into white foam. Ships of every kind drifting slowly in for rest. People bustling about the docks with lively energy. From a distance, the harbor looked like a painting where every piece fit.
The sight brought his parents' words back to him.
For your fifteenth birthday, we will give you the world.
Son. In the wider world, there are so many fascinating things.
Why had they been so determined to leave the island? Ja Gangcheon finally understood.
"I think I know what it means to be alive."
On the deserted island, his parents had said,
We're trapped here.
This was not truly living, they had told him. Life meant there was land you could walk your whole life and never finish treading, food you could eat forever and never taste every dish, new people to meet every day—and sometimes a journey to find the oldest friend you had.
"But do Mother and Father even have somewhere to go?"
That was why he could not simply be happy.
"The Wudang Sect and the Northern Heavenly Castle are going to cast them out. That will hurt them far more than it hurts me, won't it?"
At the Wudang Sect, Ja Gangcheon had learned a particular feeling.
"Sadness."
He had known sadness on the island, too. His parents had fought sometimes, and the sighs they let out while staring at that monstrous sea had carried sorrow in them.
So this is what real sadness feels like.
What he had felt at Wudang had been so sharp it made his chest ache. Even now, thinking of his father brought him close to tears.
"My parents never did anything wrong."
He sat there turning the problem over, unmoving, until the sunset died and night took its place. Even after the crowds thinned, the sea still held light—lanterns from the fishing boats. And farther out, a lighthouse shone across the water.
"Someday I'll bring Mother and Father here, following that light."
Imagining the moment warmed him for a little while. But one problem remained unsolved.
"They don't have a place to stay."
Was there any way to soothe the loss of parents who would lose their homeland?
Then a thought came to him.
"They won't be able to return to their old home—so I'll make them a new one."
Ja Gangcheon looked once more at the sea under the starlight.
"This place will do. It's the first land they'll set foot on, and there's a beautiful sea."
He wanted the first ground his parents stepped on to be a warm one.
Bang!
The old plank door burst apart in a shower of worthless splinters. The man who tumbled through the wreckage glared up, seething, at the figure approaching him.
"What is the meaning of this?! Even alley thugs are supposed to keep their word!"
Clutching his broken ribs and barely managing to push himself upright was So Yeondok, master of the Haeryong Bang. A man in his early forties with a close-cropped head and fierce, hawklike eyes. In a light long robe and loose trousers, he would have looked like nothing more than a tough seaman if you met him at the docks.
"You want me to stab the merchant guild that pays us protection fees in the back? Who would ever trust us enough to pay again after that?"
Before So Yeondok could finish, another man stepped forward and swung his hand.
Crack!
Blood sprayed from So Yeondok's mouth and nose. He hit the ground again, teeth clenched, and spat a curse through them.
"You knife-fodder son of a—"
It was a phrase underworld men particularly hated—because more than a few of them truly did end up dead on a blade.
"Whether you die by a knife or an axe is for the man with power to decide. A man like me, right now."
The long-faced man with slit eyes twisted his goatee between his fingers as he spoke. Cha Seokchu, master of the Uirim Party.
So Yeondok ground his teeth and glared at him.
"Have you never considered that the only reason you lot have been living so fat and happy is because we left you alone?"
"You've already squeezed enough money out of us."
"Exactly. After all that, you should know who stands above whom. And yet here you are, trying to look me in the eye."
"I refused an unjust order. That is all."
"An unjust order? Is there such a thing in the back alleys? You must have lived a remarkably upright life."
At that, Cha Seokchu and his men burst out laughing together.
"All right. Last chance. By tomorrow, bring the potter who makes Donghaeju before me. Whether you sweet-talk him or threaten him is your business."
"You're insane—"
Thud!
Another kick sent So Yeondok sprawling onto his back.
"Tomorrow. If it isn't settled by then, the Haeryong Bang will be fish bait."
Cha Seokchu left them with a last mocking sneer and turned away.
Damn it all.
Lying sprawled in the yard of his own house, So Yeondok stared blankly at the sky. The helplessness of his situation weighed heavier than any pain in his body.
Creak!
About two hours later, someone stepped through the door that was barely hanging on its hinges.
"Boss! What the hell happened to you?"
It was the deputy master who had stood with him since the founding of the Haeryong Bang. He had only just heard the news and come running.
"Stop fretting and go get me a bottle of wine."
"You've been beaten half to death and you want wine?"
"It's precisely because of this situation that I need a drink. I'll knock back a good bottle, scrape together whatever we have left, and divide it among the boys."
"What are you talking about?"
"I have to give you lot money to move, don't I? Stay here any longer and you'll all die. Follow that bastard's orders and you'll spend the rest of your lives wiping his ass. Refuse, and he'll actually kill you."
The deputy master could not hold it in any longer.
"Boss! Let's just have it out with them once and for all!"
"Don't talk nonsense. If anyone dies, it should be me alone. What did the younger brothers ever do? Just bring the wine."
"Haa. Then we might as well drink together. Since we could be dead tomorrow, I'll bring something good."
As the deputy master turned to go, someone else came looking for them.
A boy with an innocent face looked down at the fallen So Yeondok and asked,
"Is this the Haeryong Bang?"
"And who the hell are you?"
"I'm Ja Gangcheon. And this is my friend Cheongu."
"I wasn't asking for your name."
"Then what were you asking?"
The deputy master, half convinced some lunatic had wandered in, glanced toward his sprawled master. So Yeondok, looking thoroughly irritated, propped himself up just enough to eye the unwelcome young visitors.
"What do you want?"
"Ah! So that's what you were asking. You gentlemen got hit by the Uirim Party, didn't you?"
"You little—!"
The words had barely left the deputy's mouth when Ja Gangcheon moved.
Whoosh!
So Yeondok did not even understand what had happened to him. One moment he had been half-sitting up in the yard—the next, he was on a rooftop. The problem was that this rooftop was a considerable distance from where he had been. In the space of a breath, they had crossed at least a hundred feet, and the boy had dragged a full-grown adult with him.
Movement arts like that mean he's a master!
It was light-foot technique of a truly staggering caliber.
"Uncle. There's something I want to know."
"Y-yes? Ugh—p-please, go ahead."
Even through the searing pain of his broken ribs, his speech had turned polite.
"Why is the Uirim Party suddenly after Donghaeju? They've been quiet until now."
"It's simple. Its value has risen a great deal compared to before. Word is it even has a following on the southern trade routes. And with the guild master missing on top of that, anyone would have wanted a piece. The Uirim Party just happened to be one of the unlucky ones who did."
"But he came back."
"He came back beaten to a pulp—ready to be eaten, you might say."
"Did you have your eye on Donghaeju too, Uncle?"
"If I had, I wouldn't have gotten beaten by those Uirim Party dogs today. I refused them. That's how I ended up like this."
In truth, Ja Gangcheon had been watching the scene for some time. He simply wanted to hear the reason for himself.
"In that case, Master of the Bang—let's do it this way."
"Do what, exactly?"
"I'll take care of the Uirim Party for you. In exchange, help me while I'm dealing with them."
"What?"
"It won't take long."
So Yeondok's instincts blared a furious alarm.
A madman always ends up doing mad things.
And joining a madman in his madness brought consequences.
But do I even have a choice?
So Yeondok stole a glance at Ja Gangcheon. Their eyes met—and the boy's gaze was, against all reason, pure and clear.
When a madman doesn't even know he's mad, that means he's the real thing.
An underworld man without instinct did not live long. Surviving the Uirim Party's tyranny this long meant So Yeondok's instincts were very sharp indeed.
But when he failed to give the answer Gangcheon wanted, the boy's smile began to fade.
What—
Like darkness rushing in after the sun has fallen, every trace of innocence drained from his face and expression. What remained was a complete blank—and eyes empty of all feeling.
Faced with that look, So Yeondok swallowed dryly without meaning to.
This one can do anything.
Feeling a raw, burning will to survive, he bowed his head at once.
"I'll do it."
"Thank you."
From the position of a man who had just submitted, the kindness that returned to that face was almost absurd.