First Sight of Land
Ja Gangcheon beheld a truly wondrous sight.
"Huh?"
At first he thought he was staring at the edge of the world.
A colossal shadow had risen in the distance.
Could anything so vast even exist?
His heart thudded.
Ah!
It was a trembling that held no distaste—only awe.
He could not tear his eyes away.
"Is this really your first time seeing land?"
The shadow Ja Gangcheon saw was the mainland itself.
"Yeah! First time!"
He looked ready to leap across the waves then and there. Cheongu, by contrast, released a sigh tangled with every emotion at once.
"I thought we'd never make it back."
Many of those on deck gathered around them.
The people Ja Gangcheon had brought back with his own hands numbered a full thirty.
Even for him, the experience was strange and new.
I killed thirty bad men and saved thirty who didn't deserve to die.
He still lacked the years to name the feeling clearly. So he simply stored the special sensation away in memory.
"Ah! We're really back!"
"I thought we were finished for sure!"
"Thank you once more, Benefactor!"
"Thank you!"
Someone's sobs spread like a contagion, and soon every soul on the deck was weeping.
As the shore drew nearer, a man approached Ja Gangcheon.
"Though ours is only a humble little trading company, we will never forget this grace for as long as we live. In the name of the Donghae Merchant Company, we will aid our Benefactor in whatever you desire."
He was short of stature, yet thick brows, a large nose, and a square jaw gave him a solidly manly air. He was the company head who had inherited the Donghae Merchant Company from his father a mere five years earlier.
Three months ago, while returning from southern trade for a major deal, they had met with disaster. More than fifty people had set out; some had been sold off piece by piece, others killed, until only these few remained. To the pirates, even their bodies had been nothing but merchandise.
Fortunately the pirate ship held far greater wealth than what had been stolen from them—but authority over that wealth rested with Ja Gangcheon.
"We will repay the wealth our Benefactor lent us twofold without fail."
"You can just keep it."
"No. Though I shamefully accepted it for the sake of those who depend on me, I will not forget that it is a debt."
While they spoke of this and that, the land drew still closer.
Gyounam in Shandong Province was a place where the First Emperor had held rites five times in his search for the elixir of immortality. Famous for its green tea and, as a coastal city, rich in seafood.
At the heart of that Gyounam lay a harbor.
Jinhaepo had long been an economic center, and even now its scale continued to swell.
"Huh? There's a ship coming I don't recognize."
An old sailor who had been playing Chinese chess at the harbor turned his gaze toward the unfamiliar vessel.
Wang, who had the sharpest eyes among them, raised a palm above his brows.
"No flag?"
Normally a ship entering harbor flew the banner of its owner at the highest point. This one bore no mark at all.
"Hmm. Quite a large merchant vessel."
Han, who had casually swept aside a nearly lost board, took interest as well.
"Really? I hope some rich, dumb sucker has wandered our way."
"Even if such a sucker showed up, there's no chance it would be our turn."
Just as they were smothering the sudden greed with a sigh of lament—
"Huh? Someone jumped!"
From the ship only now becoming visible, a figure had leapt.
"That lunatic..."
"What?"
It was not a jump.
Like a gull snatching prey he began to tread the surface of the sea, then poured on speed.
Taat!
Trailing white spray, the figure soared powerfully over the harbor railing and landed on solid ground.
A murim martial artist!
So elegant and light was the landing that the two watching nearly broke into applause.
"Wow! I'm on land! And there are so many people!"
Yet something was odd.
The teenage boy who had just displayed that astonishing feat suddenly began pounding the ground.
"Wow! A road made of stone!"
Wang and Han cocked their heads at the boy's behavior.
"Wow! A horse!"
It was a large dog.
Wang and Han edged backward so as not to be noticed.
Though they always quarreled, their thoughts were one in this moment.
The most dangerous kind of person in the world...
...is a mad murim martial artist.
That young and mad martial artist seemed thoroughly delighted, letting out cheer after cheer.
"Wow."
Having set foot on land, Ja Gangcheon found everything marvelous.
The ground beneath his feet, the mountains that rose like folding screens, the wind and scents different from Guigokdo, the clean air, the quiet sea.
"There are so many colors."
The world was far more splendid than he had imagined.
Nothing that filled his vision—buildings, people, even the sea—was free of brilliance.
In particular, the long evening glow shattering across the water turned the tranquil harbor into a single painted scroll.
While he was taking in this and that, people disembarked from the ship that arrived a little later.
Only then did the harbor folk recognize them and hurry over with joyful faces.
"What in the world happened!"
"The ship vanished and word was cut off—we thought you'd fallen to pirates!"
Leaving behind the Donghae Merchant Company people overcome with emotion at their safe return, the company head sought out Ja Gangcheon first.
"Will Benefactor stay a few days?"
"No. I plan to leave right away."
"You said you were headed to Mount Wudang, yes? Please wait just half a shichen. We will prepare the necessities for you."
"Yes. Thank you."
When Ja Gangcheon accepted without refusal, the company head wore a relieved look as if glad of it.
"Cheongu. While we prepare, show him around the market."
"Yes, Company Head."
As they moved busily, Cheongu called to Ja Gangcheon.
"Want to go see the market?"
"You're going to guide me?"
"You saved me. So use me as you like."
"Use? Not help, but use?"
"Yeah. I have to repay the grace I owe you."
When Ja Gangcheon did not immediately understand, Cheongu asked,
"Aren't you going to the market?"
"No. I want to go."
"Then let's go."
Cheongu led Ja Gangcheon into the market.
"Wow."
Perhaps the word Ja Gangcheon had spoken most today was "Wow." And the word he would likely say most often going forward was also "Wow."
The market was truly another world.
First came the savory, stimulating smells he had never encountered in his life. Not only the seductive fragrance of fruit, but even the fresh vegetables were different from those on Guigokdo.
Yet what drew his gaze above all was, of course, the people.
"Freshly steamed buns for sale!"
"Have some wheat cakes before you go!"
"Warm meatball soup here!"
Merchants raised their voices, and customers haggled with every expression under the sun.
Someone let out a satisfied breath over a bowl of warm meatball soup; those who met acquaintances exchanged cheerful greetings.
Each lived by their own stories, yet within the space of the market nothing felt out of place.
Seeing the strange harmony created by utterly different faces and lives, Ja Gangcheon came to a halt right there.
"What are you doing? Let's go."
Thanks to Cheongu leading him, his contemplation did not last long.
Thump. Thump.
As they passed through the narrow market, the natural brushing of people against him felt both uncomfortable and interesting.
Then he followed a scent that had been tickling his nose for a while.
"How do you buy that to eat?"
What Ja Gangcheon pointed to was a uniquely shaped southern fruit.
"That's dragon fruit. It's expensive, so with my means I can't buy it. If you want it, I'll consider stealing it."
"Is that also repaying the grace?"
"That's right. Honestly I don't have confidence I'll succeed. But I'll do my best."
"No. Don't do that. And I have money."
Ja Gangcheon took out the banknotes he carried in his robes.
"I heard you can exchange these for money."
As Cheongu checked the notes, his expression gradually changed. An enormous sum was written on them.
"You're good at fighting and rich too. Follow me for now."
Cheongu guided him to a money exchange.
And from the moment they stepped inside, Ja Gangcheon realized.
There's nothing I can do alone.
The smallest denomination among the notes he possessed was one hundred taels of silver. Though their authenticity was verified, the exchange owner—who found Ja Gangcheon suspicious—asked for his identity.
Cheongu answered in his place.
"It says on the back of that note that it's to be paid out unconditionally without identity verification. Are you trying to scam him because he's young? Shall I stage a protest right in front of this exchange? If word spreads that this is a place that swallows notes depending on a customer's appearance, the rumor will travel fast."
In the end the owner produced one hundred taels of silver. Cheongu snatched it up and held it out to Ja Gangcheon.
"Thank you. Without you I wouldn't have been able to do anything."
"Right. Even I'm a bit surprised."
Having grasped reality, Ja Gangcheon suddenly recalled the problem staring him in the face.
"Can I get to Mount Wudang alone?"
"No. Absolutely not."
Cheongu's answer was firm.
"Finding the way is secondary. Once word gets out that you're carrying this much money, pickpockets and swindlers will stick to you like summer flies. Before you even reach Mount Wudang you'll either become a murderer or end up penniless."
The certainty in his voice made Ja Gangcheon imagine himself chased as a penniless killer.
"It's not that there's no way."
"What is it?"
"Ask me to come with you. There's still a lot of grace I have to repay you."
"Huh? Really? You can do that for me?"
Ja Gangcheon felt as if he had seen sunlight break through storm clouds.
"Ask the Company Head for permission. He also has grace to repay, so he won't be able to refuse."
Ja Gangcheon, who had briefly rejoiced at Cheongu's prediction, suddenly grew curious.
"But if I just ask you to go, you won't go?"
"It's not that I won't—I can't."
"Why?"
"I have to work at the company. That's how I eat and sleep."
"Ah..."
That obvious fact was something Ja Gangcheon had not known.
"Why the disappointed look?"
"Just. I was hoping maybe I could make a friend too."
"It's still early. I think you're a good person, but I don't feel close enough to be friends. You're my benefactor, and right now I need you. For now, that's as far as it goes."
Cheongu was as resolute as the Wudang sword forms his father used to practice.
"Is everything loaded?"
All of Ja Gangcheon's belongings had been transferred onto a large carriage. Cheongu sat in the driver's seat.
"There's really nothing you can't do."
"If I couldn't, I'd have starved. So I have to do everything."
Cheongu spoke of a sad truth with calm detachment.
"But do we really have to take all of this? Mount Wudang isn't a short distance."
"I can't leave it with anyone else."
Ja Gangcheon swallowed the rest of the words inside.
It could become a disaster, after all.
In the end they had no choice but to load every last piece onto the carriage and take it themselves.
It'll be much safer if I entrust it to the Wudang Sect.
Thinking so, Ja Gangcheon carefully stroked the two horses that would pull the carriage.
The feel of their glossy coats was utterly novel.
So this is a horse.
Having confirmed with his own hands the texture of the creature he had only heard of, he finally climbed aboard.
"Well then, we're off."
Sitting side by side with Cheongu in the driver's seat, Ja Gangcheon offered his farewells and left the village.
"But why are you going to Mount Wudang?"
Once they had left the village behind, Cheongu brought up the question he had been holding back.
"Originally I was just going to pay my respects, but now I have to ask them to save my parents. I considered going to the Northern Heavenly Castle too, but Mount Wudang seems better."
"I get that your father was a Wudang man, but why the Northern Heavenly Castle?"
"Because my mother is from the Northern Heavenly Castle."
"The Northern Heavenly Castle—you mean that Northern Heavenly Castle in the north?"
"Yeah. He said it's in Liaoning Province."
It was the Northern Heavenly Castle that had toppled the Murong family, former overlords of the north, and led the alliance of forces beyond the orthodox and unorthodox paths.
The Third Northern Heavenly Castle Lord who had made the Northern Heavenly Castle the overlord of the north was So Cheon-woo, and his eldest daughter was none other than the Demonic Art Mistress So Cheongbi.
She had once been a figure of such promise that talk even arose of a woman being put forward as the Fourth Northern Heavenly Castle Lord—and that was Ja Gangcheon's mother.
"You said your father was a Wudang man?"
"Yeah. His epithet was the Blue Cloud Sword."
The Blue Cloud Sword of the Wudang Sect, Ja Unhak.
Even twenty years ago he had been called a talent who would become the leader of the orthodox murim.
Even Cheongu, who was not a man of the murim, remembered the epithet of someone missing for nearly twenty years—that was how famous he had been.
"Just who in the world are you?"
Cheongu asked in bewilderment.
"I'm the son of the Blue Cloud Sword and the Demonic Art Mistress."
"Hmm. Thinking about it is complicated, so I'll just accept it. Well, that explains how you thrashed those pirates."
Cheongu tried to simply accept it, but could not hold back and threw one last question.
"But why did you choose Mount Wudang instead of the Northern Heavenly Castle?"
"Ah. This is a secret, but..."
Ja Gangcheon lowered his voice.
"I've thought about it a lot. If I ask them to save my parents, who would step up first? I have to find the people who will move faster."
"And so?"
"Father said this. Wudang is fair and upright, and does not spare their lives for a righteous cause."
"Well, they do say that."
"On the contrary, the Northern Heavenly Castle was a bit more complicated."
Mentally chanting Sorry, Mom, Ja Gangcheon cried out with a lighthearted expression.
"To Mount Wudang!"
The two left Gyounam and headed for Mount Wudang.