A Meal That Left Him Starving
“I’m telling you, let’s just talk.”
I wiped the sauce from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand and looked steadily at the man standing in front of me.
“I’ve already told you several times…”
I let out a short sigh, set down my chopsticks, and picked up my spoon.
“I’m not nearly as impressive as you seem to think. I believe there may be some misunderstanding here.”
“I hear you’ve turned our boys away more than once. That’s why they sent me—a section chief. If I go back empty-handed again, I’m finished. I probably shouldn’t say this about our Escort Agency Master, but—”
The man bit his lip, glanced left and right, then leaned in and whispered.
“The man’s a complete maniac. Because this year’s numbers aren’t coming in, he’s been looking for any excuse to cave my skull in. Just do me a favor and talk to me this once. Is one conversation really that hard? Who’s going to eat you alive?”
“Hyung-nim?”
Eung-chil held out a hand. I passed him the empty bowl, and he accepted it with careful respect.
“Double portion, right?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
I took the double-portion rice bowl he brought back and started eating again.
“Haa… I’m done for.”
Watching me eat in silence, the man sighed and vanished.
“He’ll be back, won’t he?” I said into the bowl.
“Of course he will. Counting the times he’s left heaving sighs like the ground was going to swallow him—and then come back inside a single gak—this is already the seventh.”
Eung-chil answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Right after the tournament ended, I had gone to the inn run by Jeolhae’s remote branch. I ordered every dish on the menu. I hadn’t meant anything by it. At some point, though, without my even realizing it, the way I ordered had become a perfect copy of how Eun Seollyeong, Guardian of the Mount Hua Sect, placed her orders.
Before long, dozens of empty bowls were scattered around me.
“Huff… huff… I can’t. I can’t do it anymore. Somebody get rid of that glutton. How does a person eat like that without even breathing?”
Off to one side of the inn, a waiter who had already collapsed more than twenty times from ferrying dishes was twitching in pure disgust.
“Is that even human? Or is it some kind of beast…”
In the kitchen, the cook peered out in a daze, staring at me as I ate.
“Hyung-nim, have you always eaten this much? From the day you were born?”
Eung-chil’s eyes were round with amazement.
“You think I eat that much?” I said around a mouthful of noodles and meat.
It was the method my older brother, Moyong Ryu, had taught me the first time I ever ate real food—and the way I had preferred to eat ever since.
Eung-chil kept marveling.
“You’re a true glutton, no question. Is this how heroes always eat? I was already shocked when you crushed the Soul-Snatching Immortal Demon, Lee Eeo-jin, right at the start of the match, but…”
Then, quite calmly, he added,
“At first I resented it—being forced into becoming your secret brother like some kind of kidnapping. I was furious. Now, though… I’m starting to think it was for the best.”
“…What kind of nonsense is that? I only planned to use you. Don’t get the wrong idea. Once this tournament’s over, you’re just—”
“Heh. Just saying. I’m a simple man; I don’t understand much. And hyung-nim, you might look down on me, but when I was leading boys out in some backwater village, I did have an eye for people. The way I see it, hyung-nim…”
Eung-chil fixed me with a knowing look that sat strangely on his mountain of a frame.
“You’re starving for family.”
My chopsticks slowed.
“People like that talk tough—‘I’ll use you, then toss you without a second thought’—but they never actually do it. The ones who really use people and throw them away? They smile to your face and pour honeyed words. I know the type. Oh, I know.”
He had struck the mark.
“Am I right?”
Eung-chil thrust his face suddenly close and grinned.
I shot to my feet in a flare of anger.
“You bastard—shoving your mug in someone’s face out of nowhere!”
“Ah! And another thing! Hyung-nim swears when he gets flustered!”
Eung-chil’s eyes went wide as he crowed it.
“So how about we have a little talk? I hear you sent my subordinates packing.”
At the same moment, another man shoved his face between Eung-chil and me.
“…You’re back alrea—wait. You are—”
I started to sigh, then froze.
“This time it hasn’t even been a single gak—huh?”
Eung-chil cut himself off mid-sentence.
The man in front of us was someone we had never seen before. A short, stocky man.
“I heard you kept turning down my boys’ requests for an audience, so I decided to come myself. Figured I’d get a look at your face while I was at it. Saw plenty of you in the arena, of course, but this is the first time up close.”
“…And you are?”
His hair was slicked neatly back; his expression was sharp and irritable.
“Seom Jin-yeong, master of the Eunhaeseong Escort Agency. After all those visits from my people, I assume you already know why I’m here.”
“….”
I honestly hadn’t expected the agency master himself to show up. I studied the short man before me.
“I’ll say it again. I have no interest in escort agen—”
“I understand. And at the same time, your ignorance is a little pitiful.”
Seom Jin-yeong folded his arms.
“I understand why you reject the idea so violently. For someone of your martial skill, talk of hauling goods and standing guard must feel like an insult. You deserve to be treated with more reverence, don’t you?”
Apparently my repeated refusals had scraped his pride raw. His tone burned like open flame.
“Sorry to say, but that’s where you’re mistaken. We are not that kind of escort agency. Word is you came up as an assassin—fourth rank, no less. That helps me understand. We get your type from time to time. Buried so deep in training that you lose all sense of the real world. Completely blind to how things work. Like a newborn who doesn’t grasp even the obvious.”
“….”
“The Eunhaeseong Escort Agency does not deal primarily in cargo transport or protection. We trade in the escorts themselves—one of the few Armed Escort Agencies in the jianghu. The Four Divine Flags Armed Escort Agencies that deal even with the Imperial Court are another world entirely; you’ll never meet them in a lifetime, so they’re not worth discussing. But among the seven Armed Escort Agencies that exist across the entire jianghu, we are one!”
Seom Jin-yeong’s voice rang through the inn.
Even in our day the Four Divine Flags Armed Escort Agencies sold their blades to the Imperial Court. Those sword-peddlers have been at it a very long time.
Mumyeong muttered.
Seom Jin-yeong pressed on.
“From the petty brawls of the unorthodox path to the power struggles of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families—if the money is there, our quality force shows up. We are the counterweight that keeps the jianghu in balance, the sluice gate no great sect can ignore. Do you understand? I am offering you a chance. A chance to change history.”
He rummaged in his robes and produced a heavy pouch, then tossed it onto the table.
It hit with a solid clink and tipped over. Silver coins poured out in a glittering cascade.
“G-good heavens!”
“How can there be that much money—”
Every eye in the inn locked onto us. A few coins rolled onto the floor; neither Seom Jin-yeong nor I moved to pick them up. We did not look away from each other. Caught between us, Eung-chil fidgeted in misery.
“Is this enough to buy you?”
“….”
“Let me be clear. Quite apart from the way you crushed the Soul-Snatching Immortal Demon at the start of this match, I marked you from the very preliminaries. I don’t do this for just any arhat. Only for you.”
“I—”
“Not enough?”
Seom Jin-yeong reached into his robes again.
Another pouch of the same size slammed down onto the table.
“My god!”
“He’s insane…! That much silver could buy this entire inn and still leave change!”
There had been a time when I had begged in the gutters of the capital with nothing. No one knew the power of money better than I did. I stared quietly at the table. Seom Jin-yeong watched me and smiled.
“Consider this a signing bonus. If we formalize a contract, your salary will be separate. Join me and I’ll give you women—the finest beauties in the region. A house? You’ll have a house. Well? Life as an assassin leaves its share of grudges and knots, doesn’t it? I’ll help you cut them all free. Do you have enemies? I’ll see those debts paid as well…”
“Master Seom of the Escort Agency.”
I crushed the irritation rising from deep in my chest and spoke softly, and with absolute clarity.
“I will say this once and for all. I have no interest in becoming an escort. Whatever standing your agency holds, whatever power it commands, however much money you possess or whatever sum you can put on the table—those are all secondary concerns, and none of them matter to me. Do you understand?”
Seom Jin-yeong’s triumphant expression froze. A moment later it flooded with humiliation and flared into raw, crimson rage.
“You… little—”
His teeth ground together—the last fraying thread of reason barely holding back the fury climbing his throat.
“Then I believe our business is concluded.”
I took a sip of cold water.
“Eung-chil. Gather every last coin and return it to him. And see that he doesn’t lose his way on the road out of the inn.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
Eung-chil rose at once, collected every silver piece without missing one, packed them back into the pouches, and held them out to Seom Jin-yeong.
“You lowborn assassin bastard… forgetting your place with the Eunhaeseong Escort Agency—”
The look Seom Jin-yeong fixed on me held no goodwill now.
He slammed the table and shoved himself to his feet.
“So this is how you want to play it?”
“….”
“Since the old days, when we could not have something, we have broken it.”
The entire inn was watching. Seom Jin-yeong roared, purple with fury.
“Just because you put down the Soul-Snatching Immortal Demon in a single stroke, you think the whole world sits at your feet? We tried to coax and pamper a cheap assassin, and you still don’t know your place. A thunderstruck brat who has never learned to fear the sky!”
Half out of his mind with rage, he stormed for the door, kicked it open, and jabbed a finger back into the inn.
“Soon enough you’ll meet your match, crawl around on your elbows as a half-cripple begging for scraps—and when that day comes, I will appear in person as master of an Armed Escort Agency and toss you a single copper in charity. We’ll see then—kuaaagh!”
Seom Jin-yeong clutched his shoulder and dropped to his knees.
“W-what the—!!”
A vast shadow fell across him. The man casting it was built like a tree trunk; a hand the size of a pot lid had clamped onto Seom Jin-yeong’s shoulder and was grinding down.
“Which bastard—aaagh!!”
“Honestly. Even a country boy rejected by a girl doesn’t cling this pitifully.”
From behind the giant, a white-bearded old man stepped into view, puffing on a long bamboo pipe.
“You were refused. Take the hint and clear out. What kind of spectacle are you making of yourself in front of the whole neighborhood?”
The old man rapped the giant’s leg.
“That’s enough, boy. He’s still the head of an organization. If something breaks, it’ll be a headache.”
“As you command.”
In a low, gloomy voice, the giant released Seom Jin-yeong’s shoulder. Seom Jin-yeong rubbed the injured joint and shouted in fury.
“How dare you—! Who does this damned old geezer think he is to—”
The old man’s white brows twitched above the pipe stem.
“Old geezer?”
“Old geezer…”
Something about the black-dragon embroidery on the teal martial robes and the gold bracelets must have registered; Seom Jin-yeong’s words stumbled.
“A white-haired elder with an eight-foot bodyguard… wait—”
“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”
The old man clucked his tongue.
“I don’t like saying it myself, but I am Hwanggeumseong.”
“…What?”
Seom Jin-yeong’s face went blank.
“Hwanggeumseong?”
A moment later the blood drained from his face until it was pure white.
“H-Hwanggeumseong—the master of the Janggang Merchant Union who rules the Yangtze trade routes… that Elder Hwanggeumseong…?”
The old man nodded.
“Eunhaeseong Escort Agency… we did business once, three years ago, didn’t we? I believe I was in your debt. The fact that I barely remember means you protected our goods well. When a memory sticks, it’s either because something went badly or because a great deal of money was involved.”
Seom Jin-yeong’s legs gave out. He sank to the floor, trembling, and bowed his head to the boards.
“I-I’m sorry—I’m so sorry. I must have lost my mind. Failing to recognize a person of such standing…! After everything I owe for the food that reaches my mouth, I must have gone mad!”
“Apology accepted. If your business is finished, would you mind stepping aside? I have some business of my own with the young man behind you.”
“What?”
Seom Jin-yeong froze.
“What? Is that a problem?”
“Ah—well—”
He hesitated.
“Th-the man behind me is, well…”
“Stop the nonsense and move. From what I heard outside, he already turned you down, didn’t he? Not worth the time to discuss. Come, boy.”
“As you command.”
With heavy footfalls, the giant and Hwanggeumseong passed beside Seom Jin-yeong. In the briefest of moments, Hwanggeumseong murmured,
“And from what I overheard outside, your character is something to behold. There will be no further dealings between us. Bear that in mind.”
“A-aah…”
Seom Jin-yeong remained prostrate, shuddering.
Only after Hwanggeumseong had gone by did another voice sound.
“Mind clearing the path for me as well?”
“…What?”
Hwanggeumseong had already passed. Startled by the new voice, Seom Jin-yeong lifted his head.
“Th-the path?”
“Mm. I’ve taken an interest in that young man myself. Unlike Elder Hwanggeumseong, I’m the master of an Armed Escort Agency—same trade as you. Even if someone steals the first move, try not to hold it against a colleague, hm? You already got your refusal, and this business is what it is. Elder! I’m coming too!”
A middle-aged man with gray, shoulder-length hair and deep-set lines entered the inn on their heels.
“Wait. S-surely not—”
Seom Jin-yeong muttered in disbelief.
“…Why is Sa Ga-jun of the Baekho Armed Escort—one of the Four Divine Flags that deal with the Imperial Court—here?”
Behind him came a martial artist of similar age, dressed in gold-colored robes.
“Sa Ga-jun, don’t you dare jump the line or I’ll kill you. Honestly, unless that man’s a fool, he’ll take the Hyeonmu offer for certain.”
Yawning openly, he walked into the inn.
“And that’s Lee Ga-ju-bu of the Hyeonmu Armed Escort—another of the Four Divine Flags.”
Seom Jin-yeong turned his head. He stared blankly into the inn and muttered,
“Just what kind of bastard is that man?”