Searching for Hyeonrihwa, Part Three
Thud.
The door to Jaegyeongdang closed behind her.
She had just finished her work, so it would have been reasonable to rest for a moment, but she didn’t stop walking.
Her destination was the Main Hall.
She was scheduled to receive her next assignment there.
Her green robe flared behind her as she crossed the corridor at a brisk pace.
Haa...
Dang Cheon rubbed at the center of her brow.
The fatigue had settled in deep.
She went to bed when the sky was still turning pale blue and got up before the rooster crowed.
After that, every waking moment was poured into work.
Not even a single pot of tea’s worth of time—
Rest had never existed in her dictionary.
Before long, she passed through the inner gate dividing the Outer House from the Main Hall and entered the latter.
And soon after, she arrived in front of a certain building.
Ui-yakgak, the Medicine Hall.
Its pure white outer walls made a strong impression.
When she opened the door and stepped inside, the bitter smell of medicine hit her at once, and sharp instruments caught the light.
Numerous Ui-yakgak workers were busy at their tasks there.
Passing through them, she went deep into the innermost corridor.
Dang Cheon stopped before a door.
Knock, knock.
“This is Dang Cheon.”
“Come in.”
Creak—
She opened the door and entered, then clasped her hands in salute toward the Dang clan member seated at the desk.
“I greet you, Elder Vice Hall Master of Ui-yakgak.”
“Yes, yes. Come in, come in.”
As Dang Cheon approached, the vice hall master opened the desk drawer and took something out.
It was a small, neatly wrapped parcel.
He held it out to her.
“Is this the package you mentioned?”
“Yes. You said you’d be going on patrol in the lower districts tomorrow. One of those places was Cheongbong, was it not?”
“Yes, it’s on the route.”
“Good. Then it won’t throw your schedule into disarray.”
The vice hall master stroked his beard and added, “There’s a merchant lord named Hwang there, one who trades closely with the Dang clan. I hear his daughter is sensitive to sunlight. This is a newly developed medicine Ui-yakgak recently researched. Please deliver it to them personally.”
Dang Cheon accepted the parcel with both hands.
“I will carry it out.”
The vice hall master looked at her for a moment.
Within those sharp Dang-clan eyes, a faint trace of pity flickered.
“Are you not weary?”
“Pardon?”
“The shadows beneath your eyes are dark, and your lips are dry. The tension around your brow is a habit formed from forcing down exhaustion.”
Without meaning to, Dang Cheon lifted a hand to the corner of her eye.
Only then did she seem to realize it and lower her head.
“I apologize. It is because my training is lacking.”
“Ho ho. What nonsense is that?”
The vice hall master shook his head.
“If your training were lacking, then half of the Dang clan would be a field of husks.”
After a brief pause to choose his words, he went on, “I understand that patrols are frequent since you belong to Yeonmudang, but... I do worry you’ll wear your body out, taking on work from other departments as well.”
“...”
Dang Cheon raised her head.
“Everything I do is of my own will. It is not difficult at all.”
“Mm.”
The vice hall master did not press further.
“If that is what you say. I know your abilities well enough, so Ui-yakgak will always have its doors open to you.”
“Thank you for your kindness.”
Dang Cheon bowed once more.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
She left the vice hall master’s room and walked down the long corridor.
Watching her back, the Dang clan workers muttered low among themselves.
“Dang Cheon... in private audience with the vice hall master? Something we’d never get.”
“Looks like he’s handed her another mission.”
One of them jerked his chin toward the corridor she had passed through.
“She’s relentless. She takes on every department’s work. I don’t even know if she sleeps.”
“At twenty-two, and already an Outer House 2nd Class Disciple. It’s impressive, I’ll give her that. No wonder even the Main Hall elders trust her.”
“Well, I’ll admit she works hard, but...”
The sentence trailed off, and then a voice laced with ridicule slipped in.
“Even so, she’s never going to become a Main Hall disciple.”
At once, a faintly sour smile spread over the lips of the Ui-yakgak workers.
“Right. She’s a woman, and she’s from a collateral branch.”
“Isn’t her bloodline rank way down the ladder?”
“And she’s got that useless younger brother hanging off her too.”
“Ah, that tall one?”
“Dang Rim. He’s so famous even the Main Hall’s heard his name.”
“It’s true she takes a hit in evaluation because she’s stuck cleaning up after him.”
“The Main Hall disciples above her block her path, and her brother keeps tripping her up below... she’s got it rough.”
“That’s why she insists on Yeonmudang, isn’t it? Promotion’s a little easier there. Though even then, it’s not Yeonmugak itself, just one of its underlings.”
One of the Dang clan workers nodded.
“Just handling martial training, internal poison cultivation, and local business management would already be a full plate, but she’s also swallowing work from other departments.”
Someone clicked their tongue.
“Tsk, her ability may be no less than a Main Hall disciple’s... but rank isn’t something you climb on skill alone, is it?”
“She’s fierce, that one. At this rate, won’t she just collapse from overwork?”
“Well, it’s easier for us if she takes the hard jobs off our hands.”
“I only hope she stays around long enough to lighten our load!”
At that, laughter burst out.
* * *
Backbiting from the Main Hall’s Dang clan members.
Dang Cheon knew it well enough herself.
She was a woman. A distant collateral branch at that.
She had only been admitted because her mother, at least, had borne the Dang surname.
Given the family’s obsession with blood ties, the ceiling above her had been clear from the start.
And then there was her younger brother, branded useless.
That was why she had chosen overwork.
As a Yeonmudang member, it was a given that she trained in martial arts and internal poison arts, managed business outposts, guarded important figures, and handled physical disputes.
On top of that, she took on the Dang clan’s dark and dirty errands, and even work from other departments.
If she worked herself to the bone, she believed that one day she would push past her limits.
Of course, her efforts had not been meaningless.
Superiors who sought her out, whether in the Main Hall or the Outer House, kept increasing, and her name had already spread widely through the Dang clan.
Her promotion speed had long since surpassed not only her peers but even older seniors.
In terms of rank alone, she was already on par with the deputy director of Jaegyeongdang.
But that was as far as it went.
That position had already belonged to the version of her from two years ago.
She had successfully completed hundreds of missions every year, yet the posts that moved from the Outer House to the Main Hall were reserved for younger male disciples closer to the direct bloodline.
Dang Cheon’s name would never appear on the Main Hall admission roster.
She knew that.
And still, she did not stop.
A distant collateral branch, yet the only one in the Main Hall.
Rising among the Main Hall disciples themselves.
That was the goal of her life, her purpose.
She had no time to be discouraged over nothing more than gossip.
It was far more profitable to work one more job in that time.
The day before she set out on patrol, Dang Cheon had already finished her preparations and was looking for another task so she wouldn’t waste the remaining hours.
She left Ui-yakgak and was crossing the central yard when—
She caught a fragment of conversation.
“...so, at the Dang clan banquet that’s coming up, you’ll...”
Two men passed in front of her.
Green robes.
But not ordinary Dang-clan robes.
They were embroidered with gold thread and bore the character for the Dang clan.
Dang Cheon’s face hardened, and she immediately stopped walking and clasped her hands in salute.
“Outer House 2nd Class Disciple Dang Cheon of Yeonmudang greets the Clan Lord and Elder!”
The Clan Lord merely swept a glance at her—
then walked on without a word.
Only the elder at his side raised a hand in perfunctory acknowledgment.
Without stopping, they continued their conversation.
“In any case, all of Sichuan is placing its hopes on you.”
“Everything is prepared. You needn’t worry.”
The elder smiled with measured propriety.
“As expected of the Dang clan’s Clan Lord, Dang Hogyeong.”
At that moment—
A memory flashed through Dang Cheon’s mind.
The Dang clan’s eyes.
Th-there was that one time I saw it in passing... but even so, isn’t it worth suspecting?
It was her idiot younger brother’s words.
If those words were true...
Then perhaps the exiled brother of the Clan Lord and the Dang clan’s bitter enemy, Dang Hogyeom, could be brought down.
An act no Dang clan member had ever managed before.
Something that had to be done might finally be solved by her own hands.
But—
She was Dang Cheon.
If she rashly reported unverified information and caused pointless confusion, only to waste manpower—
Everything she had built until now would be undone in an instant.
Besides, the source was Dang Rim.
At worst, she’d end up being treated the same way as her brother.
She was clever.
And because of that, she was all the more cautious.
She would not speak of this—
not until she had confirmed it with her own eyes.
By then, their voices had drifted farther and farther away.
Only after the two men’s presence had vanished completely did Dang Cheon release her salute.
She stared, uncharacteristically dazed, at the place where the Clan Lord had passed.
Dang Hogyeong, the Dang clan’s Clan Lord.
A man who led the clan with outstanding resourcefulness and political skill.
In the past, his older brother—a strong but arrogant and licentious man—had committed the murder of an elder.
As his younger brother, Dang Hogyeong’s position should have been precarious, but after ascending to Clan Lord, he had displayed his ability and smothered every controversy.
A self-made figure.
He was, in every sense, her idol.
Someday, she had dreamed of serving at his side.
“...Hah.”
She let out a short breath and shook her head.
This was no time for that.
If she worked a little harder right now, she could inch closer to that dream.
She immediately withdrew her gaze and moved on at a quick pace.
* * *
Clatter, rattle.
The carriage wheels screeched as they slowed.
“We’ve arrived!”
At the driver’s shout, the door opened, and the three of them stepped out one by one onto the ground.
“Hah... that took longer than I thought.”
Baek Wontae twisted his waist to loosen up his body.
Cheongbong had been farther away than expected.
They had had to hop from one transport company to another over the course of several days, changing carriages again and again, and they had hurried as much as possible so as not to arouse the clan head’s suspicion.
Still—
It was fortunate they had arrived within the time he’d calculated.
Baek Wontae looked at the siblings and said, “Sorry for making it a forced march, but we need to move fast. Let’s find a Hyeonrihwa dealer first.”
The siblings nodded.
They immediately pulled on their masks and pressed down the bamboo hats they had bought along the way.
Anyone could tell they looked suspicious—
but at least they didn’t look like Dang clan members.
Baek Wontae headed to the ticket booth and came back with three maps of Cheongbong.
“Let’s split the town into three zones. Don’t buy too much from any single shop—spread it out. We meet in one hour, in front of the biggest wooden tower in the center of town. If anyone starts looking suspicious, get out immediately. Got it?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Got it.”
The three of them set off at once toward the busy market streets.
* * *
Soon after, the next carriage arrived.
The driver climbed down at once and knocked on the door of the passenger compartment.
“We’ve arrived!”
Creaaak.
The door opened.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Dang Cheon stepped lightly down from the carriage and onto the ground.
It was Cheongbong.