A Madman's Whim
Jegal Sea entered the room.
The moment she laid eyes on me, she spoke as if she had been waiting for exactly this.
“I had a feeling, but how is it that the two of you never deviate even an inch from my expectations? You really do take after each other in the worst possible ways.”
Moonlight streamed in through the open doorway. Looking at me seated at the table, Jegal Sea let out a sigh.
“She left?”
“Yeah.”
“What a real bitch. At lunch Eun Seollyeong was eating with me, set down her chopsticks, and suddenly said something to me—do you know what it was?”
Jegal Sea strode fully into my room. She dragged the chair opposite me closer and sat down. Grabbing the teapot that had been sitting in front of me, she poured herself a cup and deliberately mimicked Eun Seollyeong’s manner of speech.
“I have always been grateful for the bond I share with you. Until now, and from now on as well.”
Sipping her tea, Jegal Sea grumbled.
“The instant I heard that I didn’t show it, but I caught on right away. Ah, so she’s gotten herself worked up again about something for the sake of the martial world’s peace, in her own high-handed way. She’s going to vanish again all of a sudden. Whoever stuck her with the moniker ‘Specter’ really hit the nail on the head. Absolute self-centeredness under heaven and earth—she only ever cares about her own goals.”
Though the words were complaints, a clear undercurrent of hurt ran through Jegal Sea’s tone.
“Everyone has their own path.”
I set the letter I had been reading down on the table. She glanced at the letter and the seal spread out there and said,
“Well, what’s done is done that she left, and it looks like you met that guy. He couldn’t even wait a moment and ran straight to you first—must have been pretty desperate.”
“Baek Mu-seong said you would have predicted everything already, and he was right.”
“You martial artists’ actions are far too predictable. No creativity, just straight-line thinking. And the more desperate someone’s goal, the easier it is to predict their next move—easier than flipping a hand.”
Jegal Sea already knew everything. She instantly grasped that what lay on my table was the letter Baek Mu-seong had handed me, and exactly what conversation had passed between us.
“That’s how people from the Lower Gate are. No matter how outstanding their martial arts—enough to be counted among the Oho-samhwa—in the end it’s only individual strength. Someone whose background is a sect with cohesion and sense of belonging as low as powdered beans compared to other sects has hard limits on support or protection. So I figured he would act exactly like this. He probably made the request written in that letter to you and left Shaanxi right away. To keep himself from getting even slightly entangled in whatever is about to happen.”
I nodded and said,
“You’re not as angry as I expected. Baek Mu-seong was really worried you’d be furious that he contacted me first on his own before any introduction from you.”
“Me?”
Jegal Sea covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
“He’s pretty cute too. Martial artists are so hopelessly naive. Ah, and you’re excluded from the ‘naive’ category here.”
“Suddenly?”
Jegal Sea clicked her tongue and waved a finger.
“You’re like a wolf that crouches quietly pretending to be refined.”
“Hey, why am I getting beaten up when I’m just sitting here?”
“Sometimes you seem completely unaware of how the aura pouring from your eyes looks and comes across to other people.”
“…?”
“Never mind,” Jegal Sea sighed and shook her head.
“So, our pure and noble Mr. Wolf, from the looks of it you’ve already received the seal of the Oho-samhwa from him, but separately from that, are you going to accept the request he asked of you?”
“You already know what this request is?”
I poked the letter Baek Mu-seong had written that lay in front of me. Behind the written page was a drawing of a child’s features and face. Jegal Sea propped her chin in her hand and looked at it.
“You people are so simple that there’s no need to even unfold the letter.”
“…Ah, yes.”
“So, are you going to do it?”
I looked back and forth between the seal Baek Mu-seong of the Lower Gate had given me and the letter that had come with it.
“I have to.”
“Then I’ll tell you in advance. Don’t take it the wrong way.”
Jegal Sea swept her long black hair to one side and said,
“If you’re thinking of accepting that commission, do it starting from the day after you’ve completely left the Jegal Family, when it’s clear you’re in an independent state with no connection to our family. And unlike last time, this time whether you live or die, we can’t give you any help at all.”
I shrugged as if I had expected exactly that. At my reaction Jegal Sea’s eyebrows twitched.
“Hey, this man. If you’re not even a little disappointed like that, what does that make me who said it?”
“I thought you’d be like that. And honestly, after So Cheonpa last time, this is openly messing with Unwol Jiju again. If you do it while still a guest of the Jegal Family, it would put your clan in a difficult position too.”
“….”
Jegal Sea fell silent. I cut in firmly.
“I’ll carry this out starting from the day after I’ve officially left the Jegal Family.”
“You’re not thinking of not doing it?”
“Not at all.”
“….”
Jegal Sea sighed and looked out the window at the night sky. I followed her gaze and opened my mouth.
“Baek Mu-seong’s young younger sister is presumed to have been human-trafficked and sold into a brothel in Unwol Jiju. He asked me to rescue her.”
“That’s only based on mere rumors. Even if it’s true, there are five establishments scattered along that wide main road of Unwol Jiju that also deal in human trafficking. You’d have to search them all thoroughly. Do you know why Baek Mu-seong, even though he has the martial power, didn’t do it himself and asked you instead?”
As if exasperated, Jegal Sea crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair.
“Baek Mu-seong, based only on his flimsy deductions, if he stirs up Unwol Jiju himself as someone in the position of the Oho-samhwa, he doesn’t know what repercussions it would bring—including to the sect he belongs to. So he asked you, who’s from the Blood Death Sect and who can die without any aftermath. Asking you to bring back his sister from the pleasure district under Unwol Jiju’s control in the underground of Shaanxi Province—an absurd request.”
Jegal Sea recited it as if she had heard Baek Mu-seong’s proposal right beside him. And of course, every word was correct.
“You’ll be in a state where even if you meet a miserable death in some back alley, there won’t be a single backer left to look for you. Honestly, it’s good for us. You know? I’m a bad woman.”
Jegal Sea scowled fiercely and leaned her upper body toward me.
“I’m a bad woman who thinks it’s not bad to use this chance to eliminate the festering evil of Shaanxi that’s hard to deal with, as an outsider who drifted in from outside. That Baek Mu-seong bastard is trash too—it’s his family matter, his sister’s matter, but he’s worrying about his sect and reputation right now and making you clean up after him. And that’s only because he calculated there’d be no repercussions; if you were from a prestigious family or a proper sect, do you think he’d have made this request?”
“He wouldn’t have.”
“And yet you’re doing it?”
“Yeah.”
Jegal Sea’s eyebrows twisted.
“You’re not accepting this proposal just because he handed over the seal, forcing yourself because of that, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you an idiot?”
“No.”
“Then you’re a eunuch and a madman.”
I spoke calmly.
“The fact that a young child has been human-trafficked is true, at least.”
Jegal Sea’s mouth dropped open.
“Hey.”
“If I hadn’t heard it from the beginning, fine. But since the request has come to me, I at least can’t turn a blind eye to it.”
“…Ha.”
Jegal Sea put a hand to her forehead under the moonlight streaming through the window. She closed her eyes. After a long while she sighed and opened her mouth.
“Damn it, if someone saw us they’d think the leaders of the unorthodox and orthodox factions were having a heated debate.”
“I’ve often heard in the past that I have the eyes of an unorthodox martial artist.”
“…Was that supposed to be a joke?”
“Who knows.”
I averted my gaze and scratched my cheek. Looking at me like that, Jegal Sea’s eyes narrowed slyly.
“See that. You really are a wolf. An endlessly cunning wolf.”
“Hearing that from the greatest incarnation of cunning in the martial world makes me feel weird as the listener.”
“I knew from the time last time when you put a chamber pot over my head, tore my clothes, and tried to pounce on me.”
“You’re going to mix lies into the truth without even blinking an eye like that?”
Pahaha, Jegal Sea laughed and stood up.
“The departure will be announced at the same time the sun rises tomorrow morning. Mr. Moyong Bi.”
I smirked and nodded.
“Thanks to you, I’ve stayed comfortably and had fun in the meantime.”
“…You really.”
“What?”
Jegal Sea looked at me with endlessly clear eyes under the blue moonlight, then shook her head.
“Never mind.”
On the bed, the clothes I had worn while staying briefly at the Jegal Family were neatly folded. Just as when I first came here, I put on my old black martial robes and draped the black dog-skin cloak that covered my whole body down to my feet. I pulled the dark red face mask that had been under my neck up to under my chin.
“Come to think of it, Baek Mu-seong recognized me right away, but besides the outing clothes I wore out from the Jegal Family, was there anything special he mentioned about me?”
“Ahh.”
Jegal Sea giggled at the question.
“You don’t know you have a habit of checking left and right once every three steps? And when you walk, your toes don’t face straight forward. They’re tilted slightly to the right, so you walk rolling on the side of your foot. Ah, and your left hand is open, while your right hand is always half-clenched into a fist.”
“….”
That was a habit that had seeped into my body during the process of mastering the Baekryeon-pal-ya-jong, one that even I had not fully realized. I looked at Jegal Sea and said,
“I definitely don’t want to make an enemy of you.”
She rummaged in her bosom and took out some documents.
“Of course. So when you, or that third brother you follow so much, become family head, make sure to thoroughly teach him how scary this big sister is, and avoid friction with the Jegal Family at least. Got it? And this is a commemorative gift for leaving quietly.”
“…?”
What she handed me were five maps.
“There are five places in Unwol Jiju presumed to be where human trafficking deals take place. They’re located in the deepest pleasure quarters even in Shaanxi. Usually gambling dens or brothels that also do human trafficking in auction style. It’s the darkest of the dark, so not even imperial officials—any public security organization just turns a blind eye. A street of pleasure and lawlessness.”
Confirming the locations, I carefully tucked the five maps into my bosom.
“Come to think of it, Jegal Sea. The fact that you brought the maps in advance itself means you thought I’d definitely do this—how did you know that?”
At those words, as if asking whether I was posing such an obvious question, Jegal Sea said,
“Among the countless different martial artists in this martial world, I thought there was no way someone like you—who radiates a demonic aura yet paradoxically pursues chivalry and righteousness more than anyone—would refuse this commission.”
I gave a bitter smile at those words and walked out of the room.
“What am I, some ordinary, immature guy.”
“….”
“Not even chivalry.”
Looking up at the night sky pouring with blue moonlight, I muttered.
“Let’s call it the whim of a madman who can’t control his anger.”
-Whoosh.
With a faint flash of lightning, I vanished like a bolt into the night sky.
And so the next morning arrived.
A small public notice was posted at the Jegal Family.
All guests staying at the Jegal Family have departed. Any events that occur thereafter have no connection whatsoever to the Jegal Family, in accordance with the laws of the martial world.
And another day dawned and set again.
I began my activities exactly one day after that, at midnight when the lanterns of the pleasure district lit up one by one.
“Hooo—.”
I pulled the slipping face mask up over my nose. Wrapped in the black dog-skin cloak, I hid both arms beneath it. I rotated my wrist.
-Creakcreakcreak.
As I clenched and unclenched my left hand, the Chiljong-heukjusa-gap made the sound of steel. It meshed like a wolf’s teeth and threw sparks.
“Hey there, young master! Look over here!”
“Hahaha! Today I’m the best in this place! You bastards, I’ll take good care of you!”
Red lanterns swayed everywhere along the streets. Under the red lights, staggering men and women clutched liquor bottles. Courtesans in half-transparent clothes beckoned and seduced the men walking past. Murky pink smoke drifted out through the open windows of inns on every side. Beyond those windows, half-naked men and women tangled together with unnatural eyes inside the pink haze.
On one side of the street a man braced a hand against the wall and retched violently. Beside him a woman patted his back while slyly lifting the money pouch from his waist. In a corner, red-faced, pot-bellied middle-aged men had each other by the collars and were trading punches.
All around was filled with laughter and boisterous noise, the constant twanging of string instruments and the beat of drums. This place was completely a different world rather than Shaanxi.
“Hoo.”
I pressed my lips firmly together. Between my swaying bangs my black eyes glittered. The place I now stood was the Unwol Jiju district, famous as the greatest pleasure quarter in all of Shaanxi Province.
In this vast area—more than twice as wide as a small village—that was entirely a pleasure district, there would be five trading posts where human trafficking deals took place. Today I decided to start with the first branch, said to be located at a brothel in the southwesternmost part, a brothel that also conducted human trafficking.
“Halt.”
In front of the huge iron gate leading underground, two large bald men blocked my path. They stood a full head taller than me.
“Doesn’t seem like I’ve seen you around here. Why do you look somehow familiar? What’s your affiliation and name?”
“Name?”
“Yeah, affiliation and name.”
-Clank.
Beside the underground main gate there was a hole like a sewer. At first it had been hidden in the alley’s darkness and hard to see properly. I focused my eyes into the dark. A red glow began to seep faintly from my eyes.
-Clank.
It was the regular sound of steel meshing. Children with their heads bowed, wrapped in rags, were lining up and slowly entering the hole. On the wrists hidden by the rags were shackles linked by iron chains. Stumbling, they were dragged by the shackles and sucked weakly into the underground.
Watching them one by one carefully, I muttered in a low voice.
“Blood Death Sect 4th-grade field dispatch investigation team member, Biryu.”
“Blood… Death Sect?”
The big men briefly looked confused by the words they had heard.
“No, why would the assassin group Blood Death Sect be here…. Wait.”
One of the two big men looked at me again and his eyes widened.
“You, you’re definitely…!”
“Th-this guy is definitely the one who turned Commander So Jeongmun into a bloody pulp!”
I muttered in a low voice from behind the dark red face mask.
“This is the first of the five branches that run brothels and human trafficking together, right?”
The mountain-like big men guarding the gate flinched and stepped back. Toward them I frowned and said,
“Before I tear the branch manager here to shreds, tell him to get out here right now… no. No need. Just.”
-Crack.
I cracked my neck.
“From now on, I’m going in.”