Father to Mine, Mother to Foes
It was the dead of night.
A group emerged from the most luxurious room of the escort agency. The man who had stormed out in a fit of temper stopped at the entrance.
Glaring at the Shandong Merchant Guild just across the wall, he ground his teeth hard enough to be heard by those beside him.
"You must leave."
"How dare you give me orders? Even you look down on me?"
The one venting his temper was Hwangbo Taeseong. The man bowing before him was the squad leader of the Yeongho Unit.
"It is a message from the main family."
At the middle-aged escort's words, Hwangbo Taeseong spun around irritably.
"I will return. When I do, I will kill every last one of those who ignored me."
Grind.
He ground his teeth once more, yet his rage did not ease in the slightest.
Me, fleeing under cover of night?
He was being driven out for fear of watching eyes.
As the third young master of the Hwangbo Clan—who had known no fear throughout Shandong Province—left the port, a man hurried through the darkness.
It was the plump Namsik of the Labor Bureau.
He pumped his heavy body as hard as he could, racing toward Deungmyeong Manor.
But before he even reached the gate, someone vaulted the wall and stood before him.
"Lord of the Manor! Hah. Hah."
It was Ja Gangcheon.
"Catch your breath first."
"Ah, no. I'm fine."
"Slowly. Talking a little faster won't change a thing."
Ja Gangcheon patted Namsik's back.
"Hoo. Thank you, Lord."
Once his ragged breathing settled, Namsik got straight to the point.
"Hwangbo Taeseong just fled under cover of night with his escorts."
"No one else went with them?"
"No. Just four horses and some simple packs."
"Thank you. This matter is absolutely secret. If people learn of it, it could become dangerous."
"Of course. I'll erase it from my memory."
Namsik pointedly clamped his mouth shut and bowed.
"Wait a moment."
Ja Gangcheon held out a small box to the man who was turning away.
"These are newly made Deungmyeong Medicines. They'll be known as the Deungmyeong Divine Pill. I'm giving them to you first, Uncle."
"May I really accept something so precious?"
"Of course you should, Uncle."
The words were so warm that even the chill night air seemed to carry heat.
"But Lord... do I have to keep this medicine a secret too? I'd like to show off a little."
"To whom?"
"To that Seokho bastard, of course. And while I'm at it, to the Director as well..."
He mentioned the friend he wanted to tease first, precisely because they were closest.
"That sounds good. The Director hasn't even seen the medicine in person yet."
"Then you give permission!"
"Yes."
Watching Namsik leave after delivering the news, Ja Gangcheon's expression cooled to ice.
Even though they had slowed their horses for the night, they had covered a considerable distance.
Still, they could not ride through the entire night.
Judging that they had put enough distance from Gyounam, Hwangbo Taeseong himself reined in his horse and ordered them to camp.
With two shichen until sunrise, this was their last chance to rest.
"Uwaaaaah!"
Hwangbo Taeseong howled as he dismounted, finally releasing the fury he had held in.
His voice rolled through the forest near the official road and returned as a cracked echo.
"We will prepare a place to sleep."
Regardless of Hwangbo Taeseong's state, the Yeongho Unit remained faithful to their duty.
They first surveyed the forest near the road to ensure the campsite was safe.
But something was odd.
Accustomed to camping, they would scatter, check the surroundings briefly, and gather again at roughly the same time.
"Which way did Taegon go?"
At the squad leader's question, the remaining man looked north. Then a presence was felt, and someone walked down from the forest.
The squad leader's expression, which had briefly eased with relief, hardened the next moment.
It was not his squad member who appeared.
"Stand back."
The squad leader stepped in front of the exhausted Hwangbo Taeseong.
"What is it!"
Only then did Hwangbo Taeseong realize something had happened and turn his gaze.
The moon was bright enough that recognizing the face was not difficult.
"Ja Gangcheon! You bastard!"
In Hwangbo Taeseong's bloodshot eyes stood Ja Gangcheon.
Dressed in his usual gray light armor and holding a single blade wrapped in silk cloth, he faced the fleeing party.
"You've come looking for a place to die! What are you all doing! Attack!"
Hwangbo Taeseong saw this as an opportunity.
He admitted Ja Gangcheon was stronger than him in martial arts, but he had the Yeongho Unit at his side.
Especially the squad leader, classified as an expert even within the clan, should have no problem dealing with Ja Gangcheon.
"Protect the Third Young Master."
Sensing the ominous atmosphere, the squad leader pushed his charge back. Then he alone stood before Ja Gangcheon.
Even knowing he could never lose considering Ja Gangcheon's age, he felt somehow uneasy.
Above all, the resolute closed mouth and cold eyes that kept silence rang an instinctive alarm.
"What have you done with my man?"
Ja Gangcheon did not answer. Instead, he unwrapped the cloth around the blade.
Sssssk.
A blade of ink-black color appeared, as if drawn from the darkness itself.
It was a legendary divine weapon that had vanished so long ago that the squad leader failed to recognize its true value.
Tak!
When Ja Gangcheon took a step forward without waiting—
What...?
It was a massive wave of qi.
He fell into the illusion that a house-sized tidal wave rose behind Ja Gangcheon and crashed over him.
He had merely swung the ink-black blade.
Under that tremendous pressure, he dared not dream of counterattacking and hurriedly retreated.
Kwaang!
Thanks to quickly withdrawing two steps, the ink-black blade struck the ground. But the fragments of qi that began from the cracked earth turned the area upside down.
In the chaotically flying clods of earth, the squad leader urgently sought his opponent.
Left.
Sensing the approaching qi wave, this time he perfectly succeeded in countering.
Kwaang!
His fist felt a heavy sensation. But it was not the expected impact sound.
Illusion.
The explosion was qi colliding with qi in midair.
Empty.
The moment he thought he had been deceived by the qi wave—
Seogeok!
The ink-black blade sliced through his waist as it passed.
In that instant, the squad leader's pupils dilated sharply, and the light of life vanished. At the same time, his body, split in two, toppled in different directions.
Ja Gangcheon watched his death with indifferent eyes, then picked up the silk cloth that had fallen to the ground.
"Your journey ends here."
Having wrapped the Ink-Dyed Blade in the silk cloth again, Ja Gangcheon turned his gaze.
"Young Master! Flee!"
He saw the last escort shouting at Hwangbo Taeseong.
Judging he could not stop him, the man was sending his charge away first.
The dazed Hwangbo Taeseong came to his senses late and turned to run.
Ja Gangcheon saw this and moved leisurely. Yet contrary to his relaxed movement, his speed was by no means slow.
Hwiiing!
He swung the cloth-wrapped Ink-Dyed Blade toward the escort blocking his path. The moment the escort hurriedly retreated to dodge, Ja Gangcheon kicked off the ground and closed in.
Before the man could even be surprised by that marvelous footwork, Ja Gangcheon's left hand dug into his side.
Uduuduk!
The sound of ribs shattering rang out, and something entered his body.
Tuk.
Having simply dealt with even the escort, Ja Gangcheon pursued the last remaining Hwangbo Taeseong.
The time he had fled was barely half a gak.
Damn it! I'll chew him to death!
Hwangbo Taeseong crouched behind a large tree in the forest, covering his mouth with both hands.
If he did not calm his breathing quickly, the reaper would come.
His breath was stifled, yet he had to breathe carefully.
That breath of life and death seemed to hover on the border of the Northern Mang Mountains.
Why am I in this state!
A heavy fog-like silence settled over the surroundings.
His breath was calming, yet for some reason his heartbeat seemed to echo in his ears.
Where in the world—
He realized too late that the uneasy sound ringing in his ears was his own heartbeat.
And in the darkness where even the moonlight was obscured, someone's voice was heard.
"I'll tell you what will happen to you."
Amazingly, the voice came from behind.
From the other side of the thick tree he was leaning against.
It meant he had already been discovered.
"Y-you... do you really mean to kill me?"
To the one who trusted his background to the end, Ja Gangcheon spoke.
"You'll die here. And your corpse won't be found. The Hwangbo Clan will probably waste quite a few people searching for your whereabouts."
"Do you think it will go as you wish? If I disappear, they will suspect you first."
"I know. That's why I left traces just earlier. A clan like the Hwangbo will figure out quite a lot. Powerful blade arts and profound internal energy. They won't think that's me."
Until now, Ja Gangcheon had never shown himself using a weapon. Moreover, with his original internal energy combined with the characteristics of the Ink-Dyed Blade, the traces of the qi wave were beyond imagination.
"You cowardly..."
"That's right. It's cowardly. I came with that intention from the start."
Ja Gangcheon slowly took steps.
"I've thought a lot about what conviction I should live by from now on. But looking at you, I clearly realized how I should live."
Ja Gangcheon walked through the darkness and stood before the tightly crouched Hwangbo Taeseong.
"To my people like a father, to my enemies like a mother."
"What kind of bullshit is that!"
The crouched Hwangbo Taeseong straightened and made his last desperate struggle.
He was gambling his life on a slim chance.
Buung!
It was a strike loaded with all his internal energy.
Please hit.
In all his life, he had never prayed so earnestly. But if earnestness made everything come true, there would be no wronged people in the world.
Teok!
Amazingly, Ja Gangcheon caught the all-out strike with his bare hand.
It meant the difference in internal energy was stark.
"P-please spare me."
Hwangbo Taeseong's last pride crumbled. He had laid down the greatest asset he possessed.
Ja Gangcheon's answer to that was simple.
Uduuduk!
Hwangbo Taeseong's neck twisted the opposite way.
Early dawn.
Thud. Thud.
Someone knocked on the gate of Deungmyeong Manor.
When the manor people who had finished their calisthenics heard the sound and were about to go to the main gate—
"I'll go."
"Lord of the Manor. You're out?"
"I thought you were doing personal training."
Ja Gangcheon, who had not shown himself at this morning's calisthenics time, appeared and opened the main gate himself.
"What brings you so early?"
"Don't we have something to discuss?"
The visitor was Hwangbo Jeong, the master of the Shandong Merchant Guild.
Unable to endure information leaking to Haomun, he had come in person.
"Isn't it too early for a guest? You're being rude."
"Don't criticize me too much. My nephew has erred, so as his uncle I have come only to resolve the situation. The fact that your people were injured has nothing to do with our Shandong Merchant Guild. You already know that much, don't you?"
It was as he said.
According to what they had learned through Gu Donggu, Hwangbo Jeong had known nothing of the ambush incident.
"If that's true, there would be no reason for you to visit this early."
"I am keeping the line, but I have heard that you are crossing it. Stop passing information related to our clan to Haomun."
Ja Gangcheon spoke in a resolute voice.
"My people were hurt, so I will decide how to proceed. If you stay out of it like now, you won't become an enemy, but if you interfere even a little, you will have to share responsibility for Hwangbo Taeseong's crimes."
The words were long, but the meaning was simple.
"Don't interfere. Then nothing will happen."
"And if I don't?"
"I'll follow the natural order of the jianghu."
"Dare you threaten me?"
"I'm not interested in catching at words. I've said all I need to, so leave."
Ja Gangcheon boldly issued the order to leave. From Hwangbo Jeong's position, he had not even been able to bring up the main point.
I must prevent Haomun and Deungmyeong Manor from boarding the same boat.
He had come with that thought, but Ja Gangcheon did not even permit a chance for negotiation from the start.
"I still have something to sa—"
"Goodbye."
Bang!
Ja Gangcheon roughly shut the gate.
"This crazy..."
At the first cold reception of his life, Hwangbo Jeong trembled all over.
Then.
"To meet the Guild Master here."
At the soft woman's voice, Hwangbo Jeong turned.
"Yeonhui of Haomun greets the Guild Master."
With a leisurely smile, Yeonhui slowly bowed her head.