Trusting One Another
With a battle cry born of pure fury, Seomun Ak charged in a straight line. Tables and chairs strewn across his path shattered to splinters in his wake.
Jin Seongun found himself quietly grateful that this place was not Seongun Inn.
CRUNCH—!
Seomun Ak's fist caved in a heterodox warrior's nose. He gave the man, who collapsed clutching his face, a cursory kick out of the way and surged forward again.
The fight was a complete rout. Jin Seongun did not even need to step in.
It was not merely because Seomun Ak was strong. The name of the Seomun Clan itself had struck the heterodox warriors stiff with fear.
"S-Stay, the Seomun Clan?"
Even those who were not martial artists began to murmur the clan's name, the room stirring with unease.
Such was the weight the Seomun Clan carried in this era. It may have fallen short of the Five Great Clans, but its gravity was nothing to scoff at.
Seomun Ak seized one of the warriors by the ankle and swung him around like a cudgel. His divine strength was so overwhelming that the man could offer no resistance whatsoever, simply flailing through the air this way and that.
Watching this, Jin Seongun's gaze drifted toward the man who had introduced himself as the county magistrate.
The man's expression was a sight to behold.
That degenerate is really the second son of the Seomun Clan? No, wait—come to think of it, I believe I have heard rumors about a degenerate son before.
But he's THIS bad?
And if he's real, then what does that make me?
That was the look on his face. Suspicion and wariness, despair and confusion chased each other across his features a dozen times in the span of a single breath.
Jin Seongun quietly shifted his position and blocked the exit. It was to keep anyone from slipping out while Seomun Ak was rampaging.
Jin Seongun's eyes met the magistrate's.
The magistrate seemed to be asking with his eyes alone.
Then what does that make you?
Jin Seongun met that gaze placidly, then simply gave a single nod.
KWAAANG—!
Seomun Ak's swinging fist detonated like an explosion.
His fists had no eyes. He flattened martial artists, and he flattened those who weren't.
Everyone in this room was trash anyway; there was no reason to hold back his hands.
Seomun Ak moved without pause, like a madman dancing with blades. It almost looked as though he were unleashing all the fury and bitterness that had been festering inside him all this time.
How much time had passed?
By now, far more people lay sprawled neatly across the floor than remained standing.
Suddenly, Seomun Ak glanced over at Jin Seongun.
Jin Seongun calmly pointed at one man—a man who had been lying low and playing dead amid Seomun Ak's rampage.
WHAM—!
Seomun Ak smashed the man's ribs. From then on, wherever Jin Seongun's finger pointed, Seomun Ak charged.
Before long, Jin Seongun's finger rose toward the second-floor railing, built so that one could look straight down at the floor below.
Seomun Ak looked up and flinched. A man was leaning against the railing, and until this very moment, Seomun Ak had not sensed his presence at all.
A master.
Seomun Ak knew immediately that the man was a warrior a tier above him.
He hesitated for a moment.
He was not afraid the way he had been when facing Sikmugaek, but the rule remained the same: fighting a higher-tier master meant putting your life on the line.
"……"
The gazes of Seomun Ak and the man locked for a long moment.
Having heard the name Seomun Clan, having witnessed Seomun Ak's martial prowess, the man showed not the slightest sign of being cowed.
Instead, his eyes seemed to be asking Seomun Ak a question.
Shall I come down?
Meeting that gaze, the fire inside Seomun Ak gradually cooled.
He wanted to shout, Get down here, you bastard. But his mouth would not open.
The hall fell silent. Everyone was watching the staring contest between Seomun Ak and the man. And judging by the hopeful glint in every eye that turned toward the man, he was evidently the strongest fighter in this place.
Seomun Ak wavered for a moment, then looked at Jin Seongun. As always, Jin Seongun was watching him with placid eyes that carried no particular emotion.
Ordinarily, he found those eyes insufferably annoying. But facing them in a moment like this, somehow, they made him feel steady.
The violently roiling lake inside Seomun Ak slowly stilled. The thought that Jin Seongun—the man who had beaten down even Sikmugaek—stood behind him filled him with confidence.
Before long, Seomun Ak spoke to the man.
"Quit standing up there like a fence post. Get down here, you bastard."
The man snorted. Drawing the spear off his back, he leapt lightly down from the railing.
THUD—!
A heavy sound rang out beneath the man's feet.
A distinct aura shimmered along the spear he had drawn.
"There. I've come down. Now what will you do?"
The man's voice was deep and weighty, strangely at odds with his small frame. He spun the spear—far taller than himself—with effortless ease as he glared at Seomun Ak.
In that instant, the battle between himself and the man played out in Seomun Ak's mind. Image after image unfurled of the man's long spear punching through his body again and again.
Then, as if he had made up his mind, Seomun Ak said,
"All right. Your turn now."
With that, he walked back toward where Jin Seongun stood. Jin Seongun stared at him, dumbfounded.
Seomun Ak spoke as though offering an excuse.
"I've taken down about thirty already, so you should handle at least one. I'm not the kind of pig who hogs all the credit for himself."
He said it as if he were graciously stepping aside to share the glory. Of course, both Seomun Ak and Jin Seongun knew perfectly well that was not the case.
And yet—having boldly proclaimed himself the second son of the Seomun Clan earlier—he could not very well ignore his own dignity.
It was not only his own face at stake, after all.
Met with Seomun Ak's pleading eyes, Jin Seongun stepped forward. The children had been rescued on his decision in the first place, and Seomun Ak was only lending him a hand.
The man looked Jin Seongun up and down, whirling his long spear, and said,
"Wipe out all the underlings first, then the leaders face off, is that it?"
The man had mistaken Jin Seongun for one of Seomun Ak's underlings. Perhaps that was only natural—after all, the man's eyes could detect no trace whatsoever of Jin Seongun's martial ability.
Neither Jin Seongun nor Seomun Ak bothered to answer.
Whereupon the man, having thoroughly misunderstood the situation on his own, burst into loud laughter and continued.
"Kahaha! Fine. First I'll beat this one to death, then head straight for the Seomun—"
The man's words cut off.
Jin Seongun, who had been approaching one step at a time, had rolled his foot forward lightly, flicking a sword dropped by one of the heterodox warriors into the air.
The man had certainly seen that much. He had tried to swing his spear to block it, tried to shift his body to dodge.
THWACK—!
But before he could manage any of it, the sword had already punched through his chest.
The man looked down at the sword with hollow eyes.
"Wh-What…?"
Those were the last words of a man with neither name nor reputation.
His body crumpled to the floor, and the long spear he held clattered down with a resounding crash.
"……"
Silence descended upon the hall. The others, and even Seomun Ak, had nothing to say.
After a beat of stillness, Jin Seongun turned to Seomun Ak and said,
"Let's take the children and go."
"Ah… y-yeah. Right."
Seomun Ak nodded hurriedly.
Then Jin Seongun's gaze turned toward Magistrate Gam Jiwon. The man had already collapsed onto the floor, his legs apparently no longer willing to hold him.
"That magistrate, though…"
Jin Seongun let the words trail off, looking troubled.
Hauling a county magistrate, of all people, back to the Martial Alliance to be reported on promised to complicate matters considerably.
But they could hardly kill him either. Taking the life of an imperial official so carelessly would land even the Seomun Clan in a dire predicament.
At that moment, Seomun Ak spoke up.
"We hand him over to the Martial Alliance. There's the principle of non-interference between officials and martial artists, but his crimes are plain as day."
Seomun Ak nodded with great self-assurance.
Judging by how the magistrate beside them was turning an increasingly corpse-like shade of white, that was evidently the correct answer.
The magistrate left in the company of the investigators dispatched by the Martial Alliance. Along with an investigative report detailing every one of his crimes, he would be handed over to a figure so exalted that a mere county magistrate would not even dare to look upon him.
Throughout the whole process, Seomun Ak repeated the words "I am Seomun Ak, second son of the Seomun Clan. I trust you'll look kindly on this affair" an incalculable number of times.
"But are you really going to be all right? The Clan Head told you not to use the Seomun Clan's name."
"It's fine. No, actually, it won't be fine. But I can't just lie down and take it forever either."
Just what kind of war was Seomun Ak waging against his own father? Jin Seongun wondered briefly, but did not press the matter further.
The children rescued from the black market numbered six in all. Gae-sam and his pack of four, plus two children they were meeting for the first time.
The two strangers were a brother and sister. They bowed and thanked Jin Seongun and Seomun Ak profusely before departing for parts unknown. Jin Seongun had invited them to come along to Yichang, but the children declined.
There was no telling where they were headed. Whether they were returning to a home, or setting off once more for some other unfamiliar land.
Jin Seongun and Seomun Ak watched the two children's backs for a long while before loading only Gae-sam's pack into the carriage.
Jin Seongun and Seomun Ak sat down on the driver's bench.
A brief silence followed. The two of them simply stared at each other.
Seomun Ak asked.
"Can you drive a carriage?"
Jin Seongun shook his head.
Seomun Ak's face crumpled.
"Then who's going to drive it?"
"I was counting on you, Young Hero Seomun."
"And I was counting on you."
A heartwarming scene of mutual trust.
The two glared at each other for a moment, then both turned to gaze at the empty sky. The sun was setting just then, and the twilight was quite beautiful.
Gazing at the sky washed in reddish hues, Seomun Ak spoke.
"…Let's just carry them two at a time."
"Very well."
And so Jin Seongun and Seomun Ak clamped the children under their arms at each side and took off running.
Unlike a tedious carriage ride, the scenery they barrelled past—sweeping over mountains and rivers at full speed—was something the children would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Sichuan Province, the city of Deyang.
A single carrier pigeon descended upon the Seomun Clan estate. It had flown from the Martial Alliance headquarters in Hubei.
Upon reading the message, the head steward went straight to the Clan Head's quarters.
Seomun Jeok, Patriarch of the Seomun Clan.
As always, he read through the letter with a solemn face. The head steward watched his lord's expression with bated breath.
His lord's temper could be charitably described as magnanimous, and rather less charitably as poorly controlled rage.
In the steward's eyes, Seomun Jeok's temper was far fiercer than that of the Clan Head of the Hebei Paeng Clan, who was famous for his hot blood.
Seomun Jeok's expression shifted from moment to moment.
Just as he was about to fold the letter in half again, the steward hastily bowed his head and asked,
"…What are your orders?"
The letter concerned Seomun Ak, second son of the Seomun Clan. It reported that he had, along with another, recently annihilated every heterodox rat infesting the black market in Dangyang, Hubei Province.
The black market's overseer was Ssangmachang, a Peak Realm master—a vulgar heterodox fiend who split his long spear in two to launch treacherous surprise attacks.
According to the testimony of witnesses, Ssangmachang had died without ever managing to split his spear. It seemed that Jin Seongun had moved alongside the young master.
And in the course of it all, the young master had reportedly shouted, "I am Seomun Ak, second son of the Seomun Clan!" over and over, as if determined that everyone present should hear it.
"And yet I sternly warned him not to use the Seomun name so carelessly."
The steward bowed his head even deeper. Evidently he had gravely provoking his lord's temper. Knowing Seomun Ak's personality, the steward suspected the boy had done it deliberately, just to scratch at the Clan Head's nerves.
"Shall I send someone to convey the Clan Head's will to the Young Master once more?"
the steward asked cautiously.
But contrary to the steward's expectations, a satisfied smile was playing at the corners of Seomun Jeok's mouth.
Seomun Jeok's voice followed.
"The wretch who always used the clan's name to oppress others has, for the first time, used the clan's name to accomplish an act of true chivalry."
The reason for destroying the black market pleased him as well.
Something about the children of the inn that fed him every day having been kidnapped by those rats.
Seomun Jeok unfolded the letter once more and read it again. The satisfied smile at the corners of his mouth deepened further.
The letter from the Martial Alliance was full of praise for Seomun Ak. In all the world, there existed no parent who could take offense at praise of their own child.
"Steward. Send a letter to Seongun Inn."
"Yes, my lord. What shall it say?"
Seomun Jeok pondered for a moment what to write, then spoke with a sly smile.
"Tell him not to even think of coming home for at least five years. And tell the innkeeper to take good care of my degenerate son."
Seomun Jeok had come to a realization.
The only place in the world capable of reforming that damned delinquent of a son was Seongun Inn.
And so it was that Seomun Ak's five years as an inn waiter were made final.