Namgung Gijin (2)
Namgung Gijin
“Hmm. Did you hear why Jeong was storming out earlier, all fuming and furious?”
It was a gathering where Taesang Gajoo Damuk Un, Gajoo Damuk Baekun, and the gajoo's younger brother Damuk Hun were sharing tea. At the question from the taesang gajoo—his father—Damuk Hun froze.
He had forgotten to cover for Damuk Jeong with an excuse for Yeon because he'd been so busy sneaking back over the family wall without being seen yesterday and changing into fresh clothes.
But he wasn't too worried.
What's the big deal? They're just kids who bicker all the time anyway.
“You don't know what happened?”
“No idea, honestly. What's there to worry about?”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
“More importantly, why'd you summon me first thing this morning?”
“Ah, well...”
At Damuk Hun's question, the taesang gajoo fell silent, and Damuk Baekun—gajoo and Damuk Hun's older brother—took up the thread.
“As you know, things have gotten a bit strained between us and the Baek Family lately.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
The southern end of Anhwi Province fell under Namgung territory, while the north was Damuk and Baek Family domain. But with two clans sharing the same region, big and small conflicts were inevitable—even if they were both righteous sects, they weren't exactly close.
Damuk Baekun continued, watching Damuk Hun nod.
“We snagged the business rights around Cheonghwa Pavilion this time, so I think we need to smooth things over with the Baek Family a bit.”
“And? What's the rush? What's the plan?”
This was gajoo business; Damuk Hun couldn't figure out why they were dragging him into it. He smirked and asked.
“What, should I go over, put on a little show, and tell them not to get mad?”
“Haha, that wouldn't be bad, but we've got something even better.”
“...?”
“Well... you know how Baek Ungwan, the Baek Family gajoo, has been acquiring young concubines lately? The guy's a total lecher, as you know.”
Even past sixty, Baek Ungwan had a notorious womanizing streak—two wives and over ten concubines. Lately, his tastes had grown bizarrely specific, rumors of his pursuit of even younger girls spreading all the way to the Damuk Family.
In that instant, a grim thought flashed through Damuk Hun's mind.
“No way. You're not saying...”
“Huh? Saying what?”
“You're not talking about sending Yeon, are you?”
“Haha, listen up, little brother. That girl—”
“Damn it! What the hell are you all thinking?!”
Judging by his brother's attitude, they were planning to gift Yeon to the Baek Family as a concubine. Outraged at the absurdity, Damuk Hun shot to his feet with a roar.
“Whoa, calm down.”
“Calm down?! Is that girl a slave to be handed over? She's a child working for our family, getting paid!”
“Hun, settle down. Let Father explain.”
“......”
With his brother falling silent and his father stepping in, Damuk Hun couldn't erupt further and stood there rigidly. But he was fully resolved to bolt if they kept spouting nonsense.
The taesang gajoo moistened his throat with tea and spoke.
“Of course I know. It wouldn't look good if we just grabbed her and handed her over. That's why we're asking you, since you're close to her. You were the one who brought in that beggar girl, after all.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Go convince her.”
“What? That's—”
“Hey now. It'd actually be good for her. Listen. Wouldn't it be better than slaving away as a servant for peanuts? Becoming the Baek Family gajoo's concubine?”
“She's only eleven years old, for heaven's sake!”
“That's why we're telling you to ask her. How do you know she wouldn't want it?”
“Ha...”
Damuk Hun trailed off with a sigh, at a loss for words. Deep down, even he thought it was a decent proposal.
Wouldn't living cushy at the Baek Family beat scrubbing in the kitchens here her whole life?
But Damuk Hun didn't realize—or perhaps willfully ignored—that this line of thinking made it hard to defy his father the taesang gajoo. It was an excuse he'd conjured to justify it to himself. It's for Yeon's sake. Just ask her— what's the harm?
As Damuk Hun lapsed into silence, the taesang gajoo continued leisurely.
“We've already let the Baek Family know. Told them a modest, pretty girl would be coming.”
“What? You've already—”
“So convince her well. You said she has those brothers she lived with? Slip them some silver, and she'll be even more tempted.”
“Ha... really.”
“Enough. We've taken in those beggar brats, fed them, housed them, clothed them, even paid them wages. We've done plenty. Time they repaid the favor.”
Thud.
Unable to resist the ongoing persuasion, Damuk Hun sat back down, lost in thought. Was it really so bad? No, now she wouldn't have to work. The other kids could stay here or get some silver if they wanted independence. He could ask her first; if she said no, he'd persuade her more.
After a moment's deliberation, Damuk Hun nodded.
“I'll go talk to her.”
The taesang gajoo smiled faintly. He knew how much that girl Yeon relied on Damuk Hun. There was no way she'd refuse if he asked.
“Good. Then right now—”
At that moment, a voice laced with inner energy boomed from the training grounds.
“Remove your filthy hands at once, or I'll wipe your clan from existence, you vermin!”
“...? What the—?”
A tremendous presence spread outward, jolting the three men to their feet as they leaped toward the training grounds.
#
“Ha... Grandfather, you can't do this here.”
Damuk Family warriors, having grasped the situation, closed in with hardened expressions, surrounding Namgung Gijin. Yeon stomped her feet in frustration. Why was everything going wrong today? The kids who usually held back had stepped up, and the grandfather she'd met yesterday was suddenly hurling insults at the Damuk warriors. How was she supposed to fix this?
Namgung Gijin approached, shoving aside a frozen Damuk warrior and placing a hand on Yeon's shoulder. As he gently channeled pure energy, her trembling gradually subsided.
“It's fine.”
Namgung Gijin smiled warmly at Yeon, and the watching children approached her. Wangcho and Seok, clutching their injuries, staggered over too.
Eyes gleaming at the sight, Namgung Gijin said, “I saw it all. Brave kids. A real man stands up like that. Hard to find proper ones these days, and here they all are. Haha.”
“...Who are you?”
“Me? I'm Yeon's grandfather.”
“Huh? Grandfather?”
The kids tilted their heads at the youthful man who didn't look a day over thirty. Damuk Jeong, ignored amid the shift, shouted.
“What are you doing?! Capture the intruder in our estate!”
“......”
The Damuk warriors' faces stiffened as they drew spears, tightening the encirclement. It was only natural. How could they show mercy to someone barging into the inner estate and threatening annihilation?
But they hesitated for a simple reason. No sane martial artist spouted such nonsense unless they could back it up, and this man's brazen stance filled them with an inexplicable pressure that tensed their bodies.
As they eyed each other without attacking, their savior arrived.
Whoosh—thud.
Landing gracefully amid them with elegant lightness skill, the taesang gajoo spoke.
“I am Damuk Un, also known as the Anhwi Divine Spear. And who might you be to spout such nonsense and cause a ruckus in the Damuk estate?”
“Ta... Taesang Gajoo!”
“Gajoo!”
The warriors gripped their spears tighter at the taesang gajoo's appearance amid the chaos. That was the weight a master carried in the martial world. Who would dare act arrogant before the Anhwi Divine Spear Damuk Un?
“......”
Namgung Gijin scanned the arrivals, his gaze lingering longest on Damuk Hun before pointing at Damuk Jeong.
“You're their guardian? Now I'll ask: did you fail to teach your child manners, or did you teach him and he turned out like this anyway?”
“......”
The young man's talk of child-rearing flushed Damuk Un's face beet red. But he couldn't lash out recklessly—not with the inexplicable composure radiating from this youth. His martial prowess was hard to gauge, suggesting he wasn't a pushover, and his face seemed vaguely familiar.
Conclusion: one possibility.
A hot-blooded young expert from one of the Nine Great Sects? But what connection does he have to these kids?
Suppressing his anger, Damuk Un forced a magnanimous smile.
“Young hero, it seems there's a misunderstanding. What wrong has our young master done?”
“That little punk's already bullying servants and using his paltry skills on civilians. If he were from my family, I'd beat him half to death and make him face the wall for a year.”
Glancing at the bowed-head Damuk Jeong, Damuk Un roughly guessed what happened and inwardly clicked his tongue but kept a straight face, continuing nonchalantly as if it were nothing.
“Well, those kids erred, so he disciplined them accordingly, no? Jeong, explain. Did you do wrong when they were blameless?”
“...No, Grandfather. Those kids defied my orders and disrespected my authority as young master, so it was justified punishment. But since it concerned the family honor, I may have gone a bit overboard—that's my fault.”
“No, no. Disrespecting the young master disrespects the entire Damuk Family. It wasn't your fault.”
The awkward scene played out like a staged drama, and Namgung Gijin finally couldn't hold back a chuckle. Yeon and the kids still looked anxious.
“Keh heh heh.”
Ignoring Namgung Gijin's laugh, Damuk Un pressed on. This was inside the Damuk estate, after all. The warriors would back him up, and as a veteran master with far more rivers and lakes under his belt than this pup, he was confident he could talk him down.
“Besides, those kids are a band of street beggars who begged in the wild. The grace we've shown taking them in—feeding, clothing, housing them—is no small thing. I can't fathom judging us on this one incident alone.”
At “beggar band,” Namgung Gijin's gaze swept over Yeon and the kids. Yeon felt inexplicably ashamed. She wished she'd told him from the start she was a servant at the Damuk estate. She worried he'd misunderstand because she'd hidden her status.
With no reaction from the youth, Damuk Un nodded in relief.
“Glad you understand. Moreover, that girl Yeon is being sent to the Baek Family gajoo as a concubine. For a lowborn child to become a martial clan's matron of sorts—what a golden opportunity we've arranged. So please, no more misunderstandings—”
Namgung Gijin raised a hand, silencing Damuk Un.
“Hold on.”
“...?”
“Concubine? Baek Family? You mean this girl?”
“Yes.”
The abrupt bombshell stunned Yeon most of all. Concubine? Her eleven-year-old self, sent off to someone? And without her even knowing, they'd decided? How could this be?
Her bewildered eyes sought Damuk Hun, as did Namgung Gijin's—he'd seen Yeon fussing over him yesterday, after all.
“......”
“You knew? And agreed?”
Under Yeon's dazed stare and Namgung Gijin's question, Damuk Hun couldn't fathom why he was being singled out but nodded anyway.
“...Yes, but? Yeon, Uncle just heard too. But as Taesang Gajoo said, it's a great opportunity—”
As Damuk Hun opened his mouth in feigned concern for Yeon, a fist blurred in at blinding speed toward his jaw.
Bam—!
Boom—!
Damuk Hun flew over ten zhang, crashing into the wall and slumping unconscious, bloodied.
“Wh... what the—?!”
The Damuk Family erupted in shock at the blink-of-an-eye disaster. Cold sweat beaded on Damuk Un and Damuk Baekun's backs. They hadn't even seen the youth cross the space to strike.
A monster.
As everyone froze, Namgung Gijin shook blood from his fist and muttered.
“Should've killed him yesterday.”
Yeon was beside herself. Damuk Hun, who'd looked after her, brought her here, given her a job, worried for her—he'd planned to ship her off as some stranger's concubine? In this martial world, who could she trust now? Who could be trusted?
In that moment of doubt, warm hands enveloped the trembling girl's shoulders.
“Yeon, it's okay.”
“We'll protect you.”
Wangcho, Chunbong, Seok, and Samwol surrounded the quaking Yeon without gap. More fitting of the term “xia” were these beggar-born kids stepping up for their powerless sister, their skills feeble but their righteousness shining, than the treacherous Damuk with all his might but no honor.