This Actually Worked?
This actually worked?
It was a dark night, thick with clouds.
Two men in black slipped across the courtyard in low, crouched postures.
Shiiik—!
A covert yet razor-sharp whistle of parted air chased after the pair. Unfortunately for them, the rule-breaking monks of Mokyang Sect were hardly fools.
"E-enemies……!"
Before one of the monks could even finish the cry, his head went soaring into the night air.
Leaving the cascading blood behind them, the two men ran on once more. Their destination was clear enough.
The Sect Leader's quarters, set deep in the innermost reaches of the compound.
"Who the hell are they?!"
At someone's shout, the monks jolted awake and scrambled out of the buildings in a panic.
A wide, open courtyard. It was packed to the brim with bald heads.
As Jin Seongun studied their faces and the qi radiating from their bodies, realization came to him quite naturally.
They're not real monks at all.
Jin Seongun had never personally witnessed the Buddhist sects' martial arts. But he had often heard tales of them from the Martial Gods.
After all, no discussion of martial arts could ever leave out Shaolin.
The Buddhist arts the Martial Gods had described carried a weightier, more majestic grandeur to them.
These men, however, were nothing but brutish, burly bald heads draped in kasaya robes — not the slightest trace of Buddhist training about them.
"A clear night, is it not? Fufu……."
Jin Seongun let out a low, gloomy, sinister laugh at the fake monks of Mokyang Sect.
Seo Yugyeom, busy severing one monk's arm at the shoulder, felt the hair on his neck stand on end.
- Do you really have to do that laugh too?
Seo Yugyeom's heartfelt transmission reached him.
And so Jin Seongun answered in all seriousness.
- We're assassins, aren't we?
- I never laughed like that.
- Whether it's true doesn't matter. What matters is making them believe we are.
- …….
Seo Yugyeom was indignant. It seemed Jin Seongun's intelligence only spiked whenever he was arguing with someone.
Unable to come up with a rebuttal in the end, Seo Yugyeom cut a man in half at the waist and murmured:
"A fine, clear night. Heh heh……."
The monks, apparently unnerved, suddenly began to falter. Seizing the gap, Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom bolted toward the Sect Leader's quarters.
The hulking bald monks hurled every curse they knew and gave chase.
- Why would they even bother pretending to be monks?
Seo Yugyeom, too, seemed to have caught on that these were no true members of the clergy.
Jin Seongun mulled it over briefly before answering.
- Because it looks cool?
- …….
Even by Seo Yugyeom's own reckoning, it was an extremely reasonable inference. Dark-path scum had always placed a premium on looking the part.
It wasn't mere bravado, either. In the world of the unorthodox, only those who radiated an aura of danger survived without being trampled.
A breaking-precept monk. Didn't the very name sound deliciously dangerous? And since the Buddhist path was unknown territory to most unorthodox fighters, people tended to tread all the more carefully around it.
And so, chatting idly as they ran — cutting down a monk or two along the way — the pair arrived at the Sect Leader's quarters.
Jin Seongun kicked the door in with brutal force.
Inside, the Sect Leader, half-naked, was hurriedly throwing on his outer robe. With nothing at all on his lower half, it made for a truly hideous sight.
Even Jin Seongun, ordinarily merciless toward his enemies, found consideration welling up unbidden.
"……Hurry up and get dressed."
The Sect Leader scrambled to cover himself, top and bottom. Only now did they notice two women crouched in hiding behind the bed.
"You bastards! Do you have any idea where you are!"
Before long, the Sect Leader erupted with furious qi.
Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom charged him from both flanks. The man, seemingly well seasoned in real combat, calmly retreated a single step and swung his fist.
Clang—!
His fist collided with Jin Seongun's thrust, spraying sparks. He had clearly trained a respectable degree of external body hardening.
The Sect Leader was fending off every attack the two men threw at him. But he seemed to have no strength left for a counterattack.
As the fight dragged on, the Sect Leader's face grew steadily redder. Not from exhaustion.
To Jin Seongun's eyes, the man simply looked as though his anger was rising by the moment.
Ignorant, simple-minded, uncivilized monks who hate thinking, and nothing but anger to spare.
He found himself admiring, all over again, the insight of Alliance Leader Sagang.
Amid the deliberately stalemated fight, the fake monks of Mokyang Sect came swarming in until the corridor was packed to bursting.
They closed in with the swaggering confidence of cats cornering a mouse in a jar.
Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom glanced around at their surroundings for a moment. To any observer, they looked the very picture of flustered assassins.
"Seize them at once and tear off those masks!"
The Sect Leader's command fell.
And in the middle of that seemingly dire situation, Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom leisurely exchanged transmissions.
- Like I said, I'll do it.
- Enough. Young Hero Seo, you haven't even finished recovering—
- Better the already-injured man take another hit.
- What kind of logic is that? In any case, I'm doing it, so go on ahead. It's the employer's order.
Seo Yugyeom clicked his tongue. To think Jin Seongun would be the type to pull rank. Of course, he knew the concern for him underlying it all, so there was nothing more to argue.
- Let's go.
With that, Seo Yugyeom hurled himself out the window. The monks, who had only been guarding the entrance, were thrown into utter disarray.
Seo Yugyeom made his escape first, and a single breath later Jin Seongun too sprinted for the window.
The Mokyang Sect Leader was no fool either, and he unleashed a full barrage of fists at Jin Seongun. Astonishingly, a fairly fierce fist-force streamed out from his knuckles.
Clearly, Alliance Leader Sagang had ranked him the weakest of Deokyang's dark-path chiefs for good reason. Jin Seongun watched the fist-force for a moment, then braced his core.
Thud—!
Struck in the side by the fist-force, Jin Seongun spun through the air several times before landing lightly on his feet.
In the blink of an eye, the two men were over Mokyang Sect's outer wall. Behind them, the monks screamed curses and gave chase at full volume.
But unlike within the walls, once the pair pushed their lightfoot art to even greater speeds, every last monk gave up the pursuit.
After running a long while, Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom changed clothes on a wooded hillside.
The clothes Jin Seongun had shed were savagely torn where the fist-force had struck him.
Seo Yugyeom looked at Jin Seongun's side with a worried face. Even for Jin Seongun, taking a fist-force from that range would mean……
"You're fine?"
"Seems so."
The moment the fist-force hit him, Jin Seongun had circulated the Blood Demon Protective Art. Naturally, the fist-force of a fake monk was never going to punch through that.
Seo Yugyeom made a dumbfounded face. What amazed him was that, no matter how many times he was astonished, there was always more left to be astonished by.
And so the two men hid the clothes. Well — they hid them somewhat ambiguously. If someone really set their mind to searching, they could be found, let's say.
Before long, the two left the hillside wearing deeply satisfied expressions.
Early morning.
Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom were at Deokyang Inn, enjoying Yanghe Daqu. No matter how much they drank, the taste never palled — it was, unmistakably, a liquor worthy of its name.
"If you need more liquor, just say the — ah, go ahead and say the word."
The innkeeper's manner had grown a touch peculiar.
Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom figured he had guessed the truth. But neither confirmed nor denied it.
After all, half a day after the two of them headed for Sagang Manor, something like that had happened — even an idiot could put a fair bit together.
It was simply too unreal a thing to feel certain about, that was all.
"Yes, thank you."
Jin Seongun bowed his head lightly in gratitude. Since Jin Seongun's manner had been impeccably courteous from start to finish, the innkeeper felt somewhat reassured.
"Any trouble overnight?"
He asked out of concern for the aftermath at Sagang Manor.
Jin Seongun caught the intent perfectly and nodded with the most relaxed of expressions.
"None."
"Good to hear. Call if you need anything."
That was when it happened.
A group of men entered the inn.
Ordinary middle-aged men. Ever since Sagang Manor's annihilation, the dark-path martial artists had apparently been keeping a low profile, rarely showing their faces even here.
The innkeeper greeted the men with an ease unlike before. The men ordered liquor and food from the morning onward, then fell to grave conversation among themselves.
"Did you hear about it?"
One of the men opened the topic.
In the kitchen, the innkeeper flinched for no particular reason. Something similar had happened before, hadn't it……
An odd unease settling over him, he listened as the men went on.
"Mokyang Sect, of all people, has declared war on Blue Night Valley. Something strange is going on lately, I swear."
Crash—!
The innkeeper dropped the kitchen tool in his hand. He hurried out of the kitchen and stared at Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom.
"……"
But something was a little off.
As far as the innkeeper could tell, those two looked every bit as shocked as he was.
……Or am I wrong?
Well. Two men barely past their twenties toppling Sagang Manor and then setting Mokyang Sect and Blue Night Valley to war with each other……
It was far too unreal. At least, that was how it felt to the innkeeper.
He'd been tired lately, that must be it. Or maybe, having been freed from hell, he was still dreaming.
"Is something the matter?"
"Is there still liquor left? Bring more if so."
"There's still some, sir."
The innkeeper withdrew back into the kitchen.
Before long, Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom looked at each other.
It was true that the two of them were surprised as well.
Only — for a somewhat different reason than the innkeeper.
"This actually worked?"
In truth, they'd had no confidence in the plan.
Even as they procured the masks, black robes, and short sabers and stormed Mokyang Sect, they had no way of knowing whether the scheme would take. But it hadn't much mattered either way. The reason was simple.
Even in the worst case, they could content themselves with having cut down a few of the bastards in advance — and at worst, if the enemy grew overly cautious and put off their designs on Hwaun Merchant Group, that was a gain in itself.
The best-case scenario, of course, was Mokyang Sect pinning the deed on Blue Night Valley and declaring war. But they'd judged that unlikely in anyone short of a complete fool.
Ignorant, simple-minded, and……
Once again, Jin Seongun applauded the late Alliance Leader Sagang's insight. He was equally in awe of the Mokyang Sect Leader, who had declared war on a dark-path force of roughly his own size after a single night.
Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom nodded in deep satisfaction and filled each other's cups.
By sheer accident, the truly optimal outcome had landed in their laps. The war between Mokyang Sect and Blue Night Valley would drag on for some time.
At the very least, the dark-path forces would have no leisure to finish off Hwaun Merchant Group within the coming fortnight. While they were too busy clawing at each other, negotiating away interests the size of Hwaun Merchant Group's was simply impossible.
Which meant the two men's task for today was a simple one.
Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom clinked their cups together.
"Let's eat and take it easy today."
"Gladly."
Even as the two men clinked their cups, Blue Night Valley and Mokyang Sect would be clashing blade and fist against each other. Truly, a day that could not help but be delightful.
The Golden Flower Pavilion of Hwaun Merchant Group.
Across a tea table, Hwa Yeonseol and Hoyeon Baek sat facing one another.
"Have you given it thought, Merchant Leader?"
At Hoyeon Baek's question, Hwa Yeonseol hesitated before speaking.
"It's not a decision to make lightly. Handing Hwaun Merchant Group over to the Thousand Poisons Alliance is……"
"It's unavoidable. We have no other road, do we? If we must hand it over regardless, then securing your safety and avenging the previous Merchant Leader is the wisest course. And as I said — we are short on time."
Every one of Hoyeon Baek's words fell like a dagger, pressing down on Hwa Yeonseol. She, too, knew that he was right.
But Hwa Yeonseol remembered what the maids had told her that morning.
"It seems heaven has not wholly abandoned us."
"……What do you mean?"
"They say Mokyang Sect has declared war on Blue Night Valley. At the very least, they'll have no room to move against us right away. So I'd like to think on it a little longer. We should look further for others we might ask for help as well."
"Ah — I see. That is glad news for us. Very well. If there is even a sliver of hope, we cannot help but reach for it."
Hwa Yeonseol nodded and offered a thin smile.
It was not a smile of joy, but a smile of survival — worn so that her heart might not buckle any further.
Hoyeon Baek, watching that smile, smiled back at her and rose from his seat.
"Then I, too, will seek out every means I can. As far as my strength will take me, for now……"
"Yes. I'm counting on you."
Hoyeon Baek bowed his head lightly and turned away.
His face, as he pushed open the door and stepped out, had changed completely.
Cold and hard, without warmth of any kind.
So much so that he might have been an entirely different man from the one who had faced Hwa Yeonseol.