The Price of a Life
Turn northwest. “Madam, it is regrettable that we must meet under these circumstances, but far too much time has already been lost.”
Yang Sowol had gone deathly pale. Cheong felt as though she had never seen anyone so pale in her entire life. The hand covering her mouth trembled with spasms. Her quivering knees looked as if she were pouring every last ounce of strength into simply remaining upright.
“We will not inquire into any unsavory matters. Now, please hand over the child.”
Yang Chaemu’s tone was courteous and respectful. That very courtesy made his words all the more unyielding.
Cheong, her temper flaring, stepped forward and jabbed a finger at him. “Listen to this guy, talking like it’s the most natural thing in the world. ‘Hand over the kid’? Is it your kid? If you take her, are you gonna feed her, tuck her in, and bring her back nice and quiet? The second anyone opens their mouth—”
“Young lady. Haa.” Yang Chaemu dragged a hand down his face. Exhaustion clung to him like a man who hadn’t slept in a week. “It seems there has been a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? Sure, misunderstanding’s great. Fuck, you perverted bastards—”
Cheong’s specialty—indiscriminate verbal abuse—was just about to erupt when Yang Chaemu’s next words stopped her cold.
“We have already paid a sufficient price.”
“……What?”
Cheong turned to look at Yang Sowol. This was news to her.
“One hundred gwan of gold. The amount obtained by selling the clan’s ancestral lands.”
“Uh……”
“And not long ago, we received word from the exchange house. All the gold had been transferred to the Mangeum Exchange.”
Large sums were managed through promissory notes. One hundred gwan of gold would require a cart to transport. That was why the gold was sent ahead and a note issued in its name. In truth, promissory notes favored the issuer; if the other party failed to uphold their end, one only had to contact the exchange and halt payment. Yet every last piece of gold had already been handed over to the Mangeum Exchange. The Yang Clan had now relinquished all ownership of that gold.
“But then you vanished without a trace. So we had no choice but to post a bounty. One hundred gwan of gold. Secured by mortgaging the clan’s businesses and estates. We have now staked the entire future of our house.”
One hundred gwan in gold, followed by another hundred gwan in gold raised after the first sum had already been spent. The Shinchang Yang Clan, rulers of an entire city, had poured everything they had into this.
“In any case, the gold was prepared to bring the child back. If one hundred gwan was not enough for you, Madam, we will provide another hundred. At this point, does it not become the price of one life to save another?”
The final words were directed at Cheong. Only then did she truly look at Yang Chaemu. She saw his high virtue score. This was no degenerate who wanted to steal a child for vile amusement. He was a son trying to save his dying father.
“While purchasing a life with money can never be called honorable, our clan has shown every courtesy within our power.”
The phrase she had seen at the mission hall flashed through her mind. [Virtue: Transferring an elixir to its rightful owner]
Yang Sowol had sold her daughter. Cheong felt a wave of dizziness. She wished she had never gotten involved; all she had found was filth.
“Then—”
The moment Yang Chaemu took a decisive step forward, Cheong instinctively snatched Jin Jangmyeong’s hand and pulled the girl behind her.
“Wait! Hold on! Stop! I said stop!”
If this had been a simple matter of one life for another, like a heart transplant, Cheong could have walked away with a bitter heart. But she already knew the truth Yang Chaemu was carefully avoiding. She remembered the horrific story Yang Sowol had told her. Jin Jangmyeong would not simply die. She would be violated until every drop of her Pure Yin Qi was drained, then repeatedly restored and violated again, forced to endure a wretched, brutal existence while slowly dying.
Cheong finally understood why Yang Sowol had told her that story. She had wanted Cheong to protect the child. The scheme was so vicious that, even knowing the truth, one could not simply stand by.
Cheong looked at Yang Sowol. “Then…… at least return the gold somehow—”
“……The child. The child was ill.”
“Ah.”
Only now did Cheong fully grasp the situation. Yang Sowol had never intended to hand over her daughter in the first place. She had committed fraud. Against a son desperate to save his father. To obtain the money needed to save her own child.
No parent named their child carelessly. They chose the finest words and meanings, offering them as the child’s very first gift. Jangmyeong. Live long. What must a parent feel, wishing only that their child might simply survive?
“Benefactor, I will not deny my guilt. But even if this is nothing more than a cowardly excuse, if we had refused the deal, what then? We had no other choice.”
“That’s……”
At first it would be a transaction. If refused, blades would follow. Not because the martial world was cruel, but because the desire to save someone precious made people cruel.
Cheong did not know what to do. Then Yang Chaemu turned to someone else.
“Master Seungsu, my father devoted his entire life to the peace and safety of the martial world.”
“……That he did.”
“Please help us. I know this is an unreasonable request.”
“You……”
“If this goes against the natural order of heaven!” Yang Chaemu shouted. “Then I will speak of the greater cause! The Cannibal Demon Lord possesses the Flame Demon Art! The vile Blood Demon Cult has already seized half the Eastern Sea! With this one child’s life, we could save thousands—tens of thousands—of suffering people! Am I wrong?”
“……Heavenly Lord.” Master Seungsu squeezed his eyes shut. “……Seonja. Hand over the child.”
“Master?”
“You saw it yourself. A single Jiangshi requires the vital blood of a hundred people. We could never trace where those lives came from. But now I understand. The government turns a blind eye to the barbarians’ rampage, so the wicked simply disguise themselves and the people suffer in plain sight.”
Master Seungsu tried to persuade Cheong. “Seonja, the martial world has grown chaotic of late. There is no place in the land free of calamity. Every report reaching the Martial Alliance is urgent. Everyone is too busy trying to save themselves to spare a hand for others.”
“Even if you say that to me—”
“The Yang Clan is a pillar of the martial world that holds back the Eastern Sea. When the Nine Great Sects and the noble houses cannot help, someone must stand against the Blood Demon Cult’s evil deeds. And I know who among us is the chivalrous hero most willing to bleed at the forefront of that fight.”
Then Yang Sowol dropped to her knees and prostrated herself on the ground. Pressing both knees, her chest, and her forehead to the dirt, she rubbed her hands together like a fly, begging in the most abject posture imaginable.
“Great Hero Yang, please. The gold—I will find a way, no matter what humiliation it brings, even if it takes my entire life. Please, have mercy on the child. Please……”
Master Seungsu, the Daoists of Wudang, Yang Chaemu, and the warriors of the Shinchang Yang Clan all turned to look at Cheong. What was with this atmosphere? Why were they looking at her? Couldn’t they just decide among themselves and inform her? Was she the one who had to decide? If she decided, would they just accept it and move on?
Cheong gripped Jin Jangmyeong’s hand tightly. Then she felt a small movement in her palm.
“……I’ll go.”
In that instant, every breath in the room seemed to stop.
“It’s all because of me. Because of me. Dad died. Mom, I…… I actually knew everything. Mom, don’t worry about someone like me anymore. Just live comfortably. We should’ve done this a long time ago. Then Dad would still be alive. It’s all…… me. Me.”
Jin Jangmyeong’s voice trembled with tears. “Go somewhere nice, hic, even if it’s just to burn incense. Instead of a useless daughter like me, have a healthy child and live happily.”
“Myeong-ah!”
Yang Sowol crawled across the ground toward her daughter. The child brutally slapped away the trembling hand reaching for her.
“I don’t want to! I hate it too! I said I hate it! I’m sick of living as a burden! I never wanted to be born like this! Ugh, uuu……”
Finally, Jin Jangmyeong burst into tears. Every cry in this world was ugly. The notion of a single beautiful tear falling with a pretty expression was nothing but a lie found in stories. The child wept with a raw, throat-scraping wail. Yang Sowol looked as though her soul had left her body. The Daoists and warriors lowered their heads, unable to raise them.
And Cheong made up her mind. Once her mind was set, there was no hesitation in her actions.
“Fuck, this is actually hilarious!”
All eyes turned to her.
“You’re really putting on a melodrama here! The martial world is shocked and the emperor shows respect—China’s fucking melodrama has arrived! This is exactly why I can’t stand those bastards. The thing I hate most in the world is racism, and the second thing I hate most is those bastards.”
Cheong scooped the child up and tucked her under one arm.
“None of that matters! This kid is mine now. I’m going to claim her and reach Transcendent, so if anyone’s got a problem, don’t say it out loud—just keep it to yourselves.”
Cheong swept her gaze across the crowd. Every single face wore a dumbfounded expression. That was so funny that she burst into mad laughter. Then, in an instant, her expression hardened.
Cheong kicked off the ground. The astonishing anti-gravity leap of the Moon Maiden’s Steps, perfected to the Great Success stage, unfolded. Only her voice, growing fainter and fainter, drifted back to them.
“This child is mine now! I can do whatever I want with her! I’m going! Farewell, everyone! I’m off to find my own happiness, free from all restraints and shackles! Be happy, all of you!”