Wanderers Have Their Own Code
Wanderers have their own code of chivalry. At the top of the stairs sat a massive door leading to the surface, displayed in plain sight. It was the complete opposite of what Cheong had imagined—some kind of secret door to a hidden passage. Though the door was firmly barred and locked from the outside, Cheong opened it as naturally as breathing and finally stepped out.
The moment the door swung open, the warm, muggy air of June wrapped around her body like a welcome to the surface world. In that grand moment of escape, Cheong thought, Hmm. The basement really was cooler.
Cheong had been captured in the dead of night, caught a bit of sleep, eaten breakfast and lunch, and only emerged in the late afternoon, so the event left her largely unmoved. But for Moyong Juhee, who had been deprived of sunlight for so long and had fallen into despair thinking she would never see the bright world again, the sensation was profoundly different.
So the instant the hot June air enveloped her, Moyong Juhee began to sob with choked, broken sounds.
Cheong smiled wryly and looked around. They were in the narrow space between the back of the building and the wall—a gap wide enough for about three people to stand shoulder to shoulder. Well, not exactly a backyard. What did you even call a place like this?
When she glanced back, she realized the camouflage was more ingenious than it first appeared. No outsider would bother squeezing into the gap between the building and the wall, and even if someone did, the openly visible stairs leading downward and the crudely constructed wooden door would make them assume it was just a basement used for storage.
According to the Blood Sect warrior’s testimony about the ecology of the Double-Line Blood Gu unit, members usually stayed above ground when not on duty. That meant this manor had to be one of the Blood Sect’s bases.
Of course, the best way to confirm anything was to see it with her own eyes.
Cheong untied the baby wrap secured around her waist and carefully set Moyong Juhee down before asking, “Can you wait here for a bit? I’ll clean up the manor first and come right back.”
“You’re going to abandon me—”
“I’m not abandoning you.”
“Let’s go together. Don’t leave me alone.”
Moyong Juhee clung to Cheong’s arm, pleading desperately.
“I won’t abandon you, Lady Moyong. I promise. So could you wait just a little while?”
“N-no! I don’t want to! Don’t leave me and go. Please? Lady Seomun, you can’t do this to me. It’s because of you. Responsibility—yes, that’s right. You have to take responsibility.”
Cheong gently cupped Moyong Juhee’s cheeks with both hands and met her eyes. “Lady Moyong. Look at me. I will absolutely not abandon you and leave. Do you understand?”
“Then… then we can just go together.”
“I’m only going to tidy up the inside of the manor for a moment. If there are any Blood Sect bastards in there, wouldn’t you end up in pain again?”
“It’s fine. If it hurts, it just hurts.”
She was throwing a tantrum like a child, which left even Cheong at a loss. Hmm. Isn’t she supposed to listen obediently at times like this? Maybe movies really were just movies after all.
Cheong nearly sighed but held it back when she saw Moyong Juhee’s desperate, pleading gaze fixed on her.
Fine. I’ll try soothing her up to three times.
“Lady Moyong. What are you so afraid of? It’ll only be a short while—the time it takes to burn one incense stick. What could possibly happen in that time?”
“But… when I’m alone… I was alone and I screamed and screamed but no one came to help me……”
Moyong Juhee poured out her story in a jumbled rush. From what Cheong could gather, the girl had been ambushed by the Ground-Piercing Mad Demon while heading home alone outside the city. To prevent her from escaping, her toenails had been ripped out. A noose had been placed around her neck and she was hung at a height where she could only just touch the ground on tiptoe.
If she put weight on her feet, the excruciating pain made her thrash. Then the noose would tighten, cutting off her breath, forcing her to flail until she could stand on tiptoe again—only for the pain to return in a vicious cycle.
They had told her they would let her down if she swallowed the loneliness. She had tried to say she would, but the pain in her throat made it impossible. Why won’t anyone help me? Why are they laughing when I feel like I’m going to die?
The Blood Sect bastards had apparently found her writhing in agony and oxygen deprivation so entertaining that they watched and cackled until dawn.
“So I can’t be alone. If I’m left alone and get caught again, it’ll be the same. No. No.”
Tears streamed down Moyong Juhee’s face.
“I’m pathetic, aren’t I? A stupid bitch who wanders around alone, gets caught, and suffers filthy things. A stupid bitch who drove away her own escorts because she was scared of being watched. I know. I know, but I was too terrified. I’m a ruined woman. Ruined as a woman and ruined as a martial artist.”
“No. Lady Moyong, you are neither pathetic nor stupid. None of this was your fault. Is going home a crime? This is all the fault of those Blood Sect bastards. You carry no sin at all.”
“Really? Is that really true?”
“Yes. It’s true. Can you believe my words?”
“Yes. I believe you. I’ll believe you.”
“Besides, you’re one of the Five Flowers of Murim. With a face this beautiful, you’re a proper lady. And as a martial artist, you carried out your revenge splendidly. So don’t say things like that.”
“Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much……”
“Lady Moyong. Can you gather just a little courage and wait for me? Just a tiny bit. I’ll be back after counting to a million. All right?”
“Just a little. You’ll come back after counting to a hundred?”
“Of course. Just wait a little. Jeez, hearing all this is making me angry too. I’ll catch those dog bastards, so let’s get revenge together.”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
Cheong pulled Moyong Juhee into a tight embrace. “Aigoo, how good and brave you are. Lady Moyong is truly a strong and resilient person. Understand? You believe me, right?”
“Yes……”
“When painful memories surface, remember the sweet taste of paying them back together. Revenge was sweet, wasn’t it? I’ll be back soon.”
With those words, Cheong flew off using her half-gravity walking technique.
Moyong Juhee, with unusually clear focus, hugged her own legs and began counting. Then a sudden question occurred to her.
“Revenge…? Huh…?”
Her focus scattered again. Her body began to tremble violently.
Unfortunately, only two members of the Double-Line Blood Gu unit had been staying at the Blood Sect base. After a truth contest in which only one would be spared, the competitive flood of testimonies allowed Cheong to memorize every location of the manors used as bases. She then decided the final victor.
The loser of the truth contest became Cheong’s share. The winner became Moyong Juhee’s.
“U-um, I-I’m fine. You don’t have to do it, so Lady Seomun can do whatever you want—”
“There’s nothing to hold back. Only by returning at least as much as what was done can the knot in my heart be untied. Now. If I do it, you follow exactly, okay?”
“Y-yes……”
“Unfortunately we don’t have much time, so let’s keep it simple. Hmm. Shall we just skin them and hang the bodies?”
Thus, two skinned corpses now hung in the air.
Afterward, while washing in the now-ownerless manor’s bath, Moyong Juhee took one look at the water and let out a piercing scream. She buried her head and shook violently. Soothing her, washing her, soothing her again—pouring water to wash her hair made her flail her limbs in panic. Yet she refused to close her eyes, crying that it hurt, which required even more soothing. The entire process was utterly exhausting.
Only after changing her into fresh clothes from the manor did she finally look human again. They couldn’t return to Mucheon Pavilion with her looking like a blood-soaked monster.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, so please stop.”
“But the bruises… they’re black and swollen so badly… how can I ever……”
“No wonder it kept throbbing.”
“You can pull out my nails. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s really fine. It even split in half, yet you’re this upset over a few bruises? It’ll heal in a few days, so don’t feel too guilty. You were in so much pain you couldn’t help it. None of this is your fault, Lady Moyong. It’s not your fault at all.”
“Yes……”
After much coaxing and soothing of the continuously tearful Moyong Juhee—who kept offering her own nails or even her body if Cheong preferred—they finally returned to Mucheon Pavilion.
In the backyard, the sharp sounds of wooden swords clashing rang out loudly. Cheong’s friends hadn’t been worried at all. After all, Cheong frequently disappeared for training with Cheon Yuhak. If she didn’t show up for a day, they simply assumed she was training with the Great Matriarch.
Cheong clicked her tongue at how carefree they were, then carried Moyong Juhee up to the guest room on the top floor of Mucheon Pavilion and laid her down.
“Lady Seomun… don’t go anywhere……”
Moyong Juhee clung tightly to Cheong’s hand even as she lay in bed. But the combination of extreme terror, exhaustion, and the relief of long-awaited comfort soon pulled her into a deep, peaceful sleep.
After asking a maid to fetch Dang Nan-a, the moment the girl saw Moyong Juhee her eyes blazed with fury.
“What the— isn’t that the Sword Flower? Why is she here? You, dragging another woman in again. And not just any woman—the one you were so eager to devour you could barely stand it. Ha. Holding hands perfectly too? Wow, you really have some skills.”
“It’s not like that. Nan-a. Lady Moyong has been poisoned.”
“Yeah, yeah. Poisoned. It’s always like this when you call for me. So? What poison?”
“Um. It’s the Double-Line Blood Gu.”
“Huh……?”
Dang Nan-a, hands on her hips and huffing with indignation, simply blinked.
“Did you just say Blood Gu?”
“Yes. Double-Line Blood Gu.”
“Are you joking?”
“Have I ever joked about something like this?”
Only then did Dang Nan-a’s expression turn grave. “My god… It’s the Blood Sect’s Gu.”
“Mm. I know. Removing it seems difficult, so I’m planning to eliminate the queen Gu. But for that, she’ll need to be put into a very deep sleep. Can I ask for your help? This isn’t something I can tell others about.”
Cheong didn’t understand how the bugs could send signals through supernatural means, but the queen Gu could apparently order lower Gu to self-destruct. The poison sac would then spread throughout the host’s body, sending both victim and Gu happily to the afterlife together. There was even an ultimate technique—a chained suicide signal from the queen Gu—where the command “we must die” would propagate through the Gu network across the maximum possible range in a massacre of linked suicides.
The members of the Blood Gu unit also had their lives held hostage by their leader and deputy leader, which was why they were spread evenly across various bases as human relays.
Therefore, Moyong Juhee needed to be put into such a deep sleep that even if the queen Gu received the suicide signal, it would remain unaware and simply continue sleeping soundly.
Of course, this wasn’t a method Cheong had devised herself. It was a clever trick one of the Blood Gu unit members had revealed.
Dang Nan-a let out a deep sigh. “So it’s entangled with the Blood Sect? In that case, it would be better to ask the Alliance elders for help.”
“That would make things difficult for more than just one or two people. I’d rather handle it quietly if possible. Mm. It should be enough with Master and me.”
Moyong Juhee had insisted she had never done anything unsavory and had held out without yielding on that point. But if rumors spread that she had been captured by the Blood Sect, how many people would believe her?
While Cheong had heard the true accounts of the hobbies of the Double-Line Blood Gu unit leader, the Blood Wheel Demon, and his deputy, the Ground-Piercing Mad Demon, others would not be so understanding. Moreover, the reputation of the wanderers would plummet in an instant, their honor thrown straight into the gutter.
Those who tried to maintain their principles while living as wanderers couldn’t simply claim they had eaten the wrong medicine.
“There are others infected with the Blood Gu besides Lady Moyong. Could you put her to sleep for about three days?”
“You mean putting the Gu itself to sleep as well. Well, it’s not particularly difficult. Hmm. But Cheong, you seem to know an awful lot about this. I’m seeing you in a new light.”
“I’m always like this when I put my mind to something, you know?”
“Ugh.”
Dang Nan-a slapped Cheong’s forearm. “You’ll explain what happened later, right? I’ll prepare the medicinal ingredients first. Gather the people who need to be put to sleep in advance and talk to them.”