Turning Back the Clock of Shandong
It was a deep mountain range where human footsteps seldom fell.
As if to prove the stubbornness of human survival and adaptation, a single hut stood near the valley floor.
On a flat rock still damp with moisture, two figures faced each other with rough wooden staves in hand, locked in sparring.
In truth, the difference in their frames was far too great to call it a proper duel—yet the small-framed girl radiated a presence no less fierce than the middle-aged man opposite her.
"Father! You'd better be ready!"
"You're still a long way off."
"Hmph! This time will be different!"
The girl stepped in and thrust her staff straight out. The man twisted his body to slip aside—and in that instant she struck the lower end of the staff she held. The tip changed direction and chased after him, but the speed was not enough.
Tak!
The man shoved the incoming staff aside with force, and the girl's balance broke. The moment her weakness was exposed, his staff drove in without mercy.
Tuk.
"Ah…"
"The improvisation was good, but you lacked power. Worse, you were slow to recover the staff, and that put you in danger yourself. If you have no way to fix that, better not use the technique at all."
"Yes, Father."
The girl hung her head with a crestfallen look. The man let out a long sigh.
"The Ak Family Spear Art was made for men from the start. Why not train in another martial art instead?"
The man was Ak Pungjin, last head of the fallen Jangpung Express. The girl was his daughter, Ak Harang.
"Would it make any sense for the head of Jangpung Express not to know the Ak Family Spear Art?"
"I'm still the head, for now."
"Once we take the express back, you should retire, Father. You've worked hard long enough—you deserve to rest."
The words made no sense, but the heart behind them was pure.
"Fine. Once we take the express back, I'll retire."
Ak Pungjin said it lightly, certain it would never happen before he died.
Just then, a bell rang from far down the valley. It was a prearranged signal.
"Uncle Gil Seom must be here."
Hearing the bell, Ak Harang's face lit up. Gil Seom not only resupplied what little they needed but also brought news from the outside world; of all people, he was one of those she liked best.
As expected, a small man with unkempt hair came nimbly over the valley rocks.
"Master!"
Usually calm by nature, he thrust something forward in haste today.
"This was left on the pagoda at Anam Temple."
Anam Temple was a ruined monastery in Jinan. What Gil Seom held out was a strip of plain white cloth.
If you ever have need of me, leave a strip of plain white cloth atop the broken pagoda of the ruined temple south of Jinan. I'll send word of a place we can meet.
He had once said as much to the benefactor who had saved him and his daughter.
There was no chance of mistaking anyone else.
The only one who ever told me to leave white cloth was him.
The kind of cloth left behind told you first who had come.
"I'll go myself."
"Father! Me too!"
"Stay here with Uncle Gil Seom for now. Once I've confirmed it's safe, I'll bring our benefactor back."
"You promise? That's a promise!"
Ak Pungjin hurried down the valley.
It was evening, the sunset already thick and heavy.
Someone called to Ja Gangcheon, who had been studying a broken Buddha statue inside the ruined temple.
"I greet my benefactor."
"It's good to see you again."
Ja Gangcheon smiled as he returned the greeting.
"You already know why I've come, don't you?"
Ak Pungjin heard every rumor that touched the Hwangbo Clan. There was no way he could have missed the talk of the Gyounam incident that had been circulating for the past five days.
He had even investigated the truth behind the rumors in his own way, and privately he was already certain they were real.
Because the Hwangbo Clan's response has been strange.
If the rumors were false, the Hwangbo Clan would never have stayed silent. One public appearance from Hwangbo Baek would have been enough to kill the story.
That total lack of reaction makes no sense.
The rumors had been that vicious.
The head of the Hwangbo Clan and its core figures raided Deungmyeong Manor—every last one of them was killed, and the young master was taken hostage.
At first the claim had been so absurd he nearly dismissed it as nonsense. He had investigated anyway only because the name Deungmyeong Manor—mentioned by Ja Gangcheon when they parted—had come up again.
And now Ja Gangcheon stood before him in person and said:
"The real fight with the Hwangbo Clan begins now. Jangpung Express should take part as well."
He spoke not to Ak Pungjin, but to Jangpung Express.
Take it back with your own hands.
That was what he meant.
Ak Pungjin had thought such a chance might never come in his lifetime. Now it had arrived like a gift.
"If there is a place for me, I will gladly stake my life on it."
"Do that. And there will be many others fighting beside the head of the express. I need you to gather them. You may use Deungmyeong Manor and my name."
Jangpung Express was more than enough to stand for those who had suffered injustice.
Having Ak Pungjin step forward made a far better picture than Deungmyeong Manor managing everything itself.
Of course, that thought belonged to Cheongu, not Ja Gangcheon.
"I've brought someone who can help you. I heard you refused once before, but this time you'll need her."
As soon as he finished speaking, a woman who had been standing beside the Buddha statue came forward.
She had deliberately kept a step of distance; Ak Pungjin had been aware of her from the start.
"A pleasure. I am Mi-ho of Haomun."
The woman who had once been caught watching Ja Gangcheon gave her name and bowed. Her clear features and boldly drawn brows were striking, yet her speech was stiff.
She was one of Yeonhui's most trusted subordinates, sent as lead officer in light of how important this matter was.
"Work with her only for this affair. After that, decide for yourself."
Having heard that Ak Pungjin had refused cooperation with Haomun, Ja Gangcheon drew the line first.
"For now, we have to work with Haomun."
"I will do so."
Reading the situation, Ak Pungjin set his stubbornness aside and accepted it.
Once everything was settled, Ja Gangcheon stepped closer and said:
"Let's turn back the clock of Shandong Province."
"Turn it back to when?"
"To the days when Jangpung Express shone brightest."
A surge of emotion rose in Ak Pungjin's chest; in its place he bowed deeply before Ja Gangcheon.
"I, Ak Pungjin, head of Jangpung Express, swear upon the names of every ancestor of the Shandong Ak Family."
"I will carve the grace my benefactor has shown into my heart,"
"and repay it with my life."
"Repay Harang, not me. That's the path that will make you happiest."
At those words, heat rose again in Ak Pungjin's chest.
Gyounam, the source of the rumor that had shaken all of Shandong Province, was carrying on with daily life under a cloud of unease.
Anyone who lived in Gyounam knew the stature of Deungmyeong Manor.
It had cleaned up the black market, driven out the underworld, abolished stall fees, and greatly revived the markets.
There is not a single resident of Gyounam who has not received the grace of Deungmyeong Manor.
That saying did not exist for nothing.
Even so, what they saw today went beyond anything they had expected.
"Huh? What am I looking at right now?"
It was the moment the sailors arrived at the port to begin their day's work.
Dawn had barely broken, yet people were already hard at work hauling cargo in the center of the docks.
"Don't tell me the Shandong Merchant Guild and the escort agency are pulling out?"
"They said the Hwangbo Clan took a beating at Deungmyeong Manor. Looks like it was true after all."
It was the tenth day since the incident.
The key figures had already withdrawn, but a few working hands had stayed behind to keep the escort agency and merchant guild running.
Now, it seemed, they had reached their limit: more than ten carriages stood loaded to the brim.
"Never thought I'd live to see the Hwangbo Clan run while still living in Shandong."
"Deungmyeong Manor keeps finding new ways to shock people."
By the time more sailors began to gather, the loaded carriages left the port all at once.
They had even taken down the signboards and banners, as if determined to erase every trace.
It was a complete surrender—and a full retreat.
Yet they had not taken everything.
They had carted off every last object, down to the broken tables—but they had left the people behind.
"What happens to those kids?"
They were the children the Shandong Escort Agency had not taken with them when it withdrew.
"From Haejeonggol, right? Gu Donggu's dead, and the escort agency they were dumped on is gone. Poor little things."
"There's no Haejeonggol left to go back to either."
The children who had nowhere to go still lingered in the abandoned escort compound.
"Tsk. Unhappy lives getting unhappier."
"What can we do? It's not as if we've got spare room to help them ourselves."
The sailors clicked their tongues in pity and turned away.
Morning brought a bustling crowd.
The children of Haejeonggol still could not leave that place. A few of the older ones had decided to strike out alone and slipped away.
Because of the rules Gu Donggu had set, they had never grown close; even their talk stayed shallow and awkward.
"What do we do now?"
"Is there anywhere we can go?"
"I'd even go back to Haejeonggol if I could."
Each of them only piled on anxious words. With no solution in sight, no one could step forward to lead.
Just then, a man walked into the abandoned escort compound.
The moment the children saw him, every gaze locked on him at once.
"It's been a while, everyone."
It was Cheongu, chief manager of Deungmyeong Manor.
Some of the Haejeonggol children had never met him, but they had heard the stories often enough.
Oddly enough, Gu Donggu himself had been the one who told them.
I was the one who made him chief manager of Deungmyeong Manor.
He had always bragged about it.
Most of the children knew it was a lie—but the fact remained that someone from Haejeonggol had become the most respected chief manager of the most respected manor in Gyounam.
And so Cheongu was their hope.
"We're not exactly close, so I'll skip the greetings. I'm here today to deliver a message from the Lord of Deungmyeong Manor."
The children swallowed hard and waited, tense, for his next words.
"The Lord of Deungmyeong Manor has ordered that you be taken in. Anyone who wants it will receive lodging and work through the Donghae Labor Office."
"U-Um, Chief Manager Cheongu?"
A child who looked about ten asked in a trembling voice.
"Then… does that mean we belong to the Donghae Labor Office now?"
"No. You'll only be given lodging and work for one year. I'll say this up front: you'll be treated without discrimination. You won't be exploited for no wages the way you are now—but you also won't receive special favors beyond room and board."
Cheongu looked around at the children as he spoke.
"Where you end up is for you to choose. But remember this. Good organizations take effort to enter. Places that take anyone are never good places."
He put his whole heart into the last of it.
"In the unhappy life you're living now, none of you has done anything wrong. So never look down on yourselves. Your fates may be pitiable, but you are not base people. Your lives have been unhappy—but what comes next is still unwritten."
Cheongu was living proof of that truth himself.
"Don't lose to something like fate. Work for it and take it. Deungmyeong Manor will give you the chance."
It was something he was saying to himself as well.
Seeing hope finally rise on the children's faces, Cheongu stepped aside. A familiar figure then came forward.
"I'm So Yeondok, director of the Donghae Labor Office. It's exactly as the chief manager of Deungmyeong Manor explained. Anyone who wants this, follow me."
Since they were at the port, there was no way they did not know the Donghae Labor Office. So Yeondok was the man the port sailors trusted most.
In the end, every last child still remaining at the escort compound followed So Yeondok.
The onlookers watching the scene smiled with quiet satisfaction and each offered a comment of their own.
"Deungmyeong Manor is even taking responsibility for those kids."
"That young lord is something else. A true gentleman. A gentleman."
"Truth is, ever since the lord arrived, we've been able to make a living too, haven't we?"
"Not just us. Is there anyone in Gyounam who hasn't benefited?"
Their talk drifted naturally toward what lay ahead.
"Still, there must be quite a few people sweating bullets right about now. My ship owner is one of them."
"Ah—your ship owner is a cousin of the Haesin Merchant Guild master, right? Haesin Merchant Guild—the ones who abandoned the Donghae Merchant Guild's Chamakdo? And the ones who were most loyal to the Shandong Merchant Guild this time around?"
"Not just Haesin. Most of the old guilds latched onto the Shandong Merchant Guild and got left high and dry, didn't they?"
"I hear the Donghae Merchant Guild is sharpening its knives. Should be something to watch."
"We're already registered with the Donghae Labor Office, so we've got nothing to worry about. I was uneasy when the Hwangbo Clan first moved in—turned out fine."
Everyone knew a great wind was about to blow through Gyounam.
"So what happens from here? Full-scale war between the Hwangbo Clan and Deungmyeong Manor?"
"That's the question. Deungmyeong Manor will have to hold the line."
"When has Deungmyeong Manor ever fought a favorable fight? Yet they win every time—so it'll be the same now."
"Look at Chief Manager Cheongu over there. The man looks completely at ease. Must mean there's a plan."
Had he overheard them?
Cheongu glanced toward the watching sailors and offered the faintest smile.