The Great Thief to End All Thieves
In Hubei Province, at the headquarters of the Martial Alliance, a dozen or so people sat facing one another across a long table in a meeting room buried in the deepest recesses of the inner hall.
Every pair of eyes held depths that seemed impossible to fathom, and though they were merely sitting, a distinctive air of gravity coiled through the chamber.
It was only natural. This was a gathering of the representatives of the Nine Sects and Five Noble Clans. It would be no exaggeration to say that the fate of the entire Orthodox martial world was decided in this very room.
The Martial Alliance convened its Outer Assembly three times a year. Unlike the Plenary Assembly, which the Alliance Leader himself attended, these meetings were presided over by Chief Strategist Sama Baek.
"That concludes the primary agenda."
The man seated at the head of the table spoke. On his chest was embroidered the character for 'Alliance' in blue silk thread, its bold strokes carrying a firm resolve, as though upholding every law under heaven.
Sama Baek, Chief Strategist of the Martial Alliance and the man known as the Wise One of Wuhan—even he wore his fatigue plainly at the moment.
The heads of the Nine Sects and Five Noble Clans were, predictably, men of fierce pride and stubbornness, and a meeting attended by all of them drained even Sama Baek's considerable patience.
The atmosphere remained stiff even after the proceedings had ended. The sect leader of Wudang and an abbot of Shaolin had exchanged sharp words, and the clan heads of the Sichuan Tang Clan and the Zhuge Clan had locked horns over territorial interests.
Into the somewhat stifling silence, Sama Baek let out a small sigh and raised a lighter topic.
"I take it you have all heard the rumors of the Great Thief?"
Eyes lit up with interest all around the table. The burdens weighing on their shoulders were great and heavy, but at their core, these people were still martial artists of the Jianghu.
Of course they'd be curious.
The thief pilfered all manner of things across the realm with an elusive movement art that defied pursuit. In the early days, he had toyed effortlessly with the combined defenses of mid-tier sects and noble clans. Even after a few brushes with the Sama Clan and the Namgung Clan, the thief still strutted through the world at his leisure.
A man with a bearing as fierce as a tiger spoke up, laughter threading his voice.
"Quite the amusing fellow. If I had my way, he'd pay a visit to the Paeng Clan as well."
It was the Saber King, Paeng Woohyeok. As the lord of the Paeng Clan radiated blind confidence, Namgung Docheon—patriarch of the Namgung Clan, whose men had once let the thief slip through their fingers—furrowed his brow.
"Hardly likely. The thief will be caught in Yichang. Until now, we simply underestimated him. This time my Rin went in person, so it will be different."
Namgung Docheon trusted his daughter Namgung Rin's abilities. But his doting love for her was famously notorious, so everyone simply smiled and let it pass.
The mood loosened exactly as Sama Baek had intended, and for a while the conversation about the thief flowed freely.
There was an unspoken agreement that masters of enough renown to be called 'famous' would not join this hunt, for two clear reasons.
First, the thief's path bore little malice. He had never harmed anyone, and he never stole things of true value.
Second, he was maddeningly elusive. If a clan leader or elder-level master took the field and failed to catch him, there could be no greater humiliation.
For those eminently sensible reasons, the affair had become a contest of pride among the rising generation of prodigies. Those who had sent disciples or children to Yichang wore their confidence openly, while those who had not quietly speculated over who would be the one to drag him in.
And naturally, the name mentioned most often was Sama Hui's. The Dragon Head of the Beggars' Sect, Chwimokgae, chuckled merrily as he spoke.
"Even by your estimation, isn't that so, Chief Strategist? His abilities alone earned him the title Formation Dragon among the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes. And besides, when it comes to catching a rat, formations are far more useful than martial prowess."
Heard praising his grandson, Sama Baek let his good mood show as he laughed.
"I thank you for the kind words, but the outcome remains to be seen. The boy is brilliant, though perhaps not as careful as he ought to be."
Having answered with due modesty, Sama Baek then spoke again, this time with a hint of genuine conviction.
"But if you insist on a prediction, then very well..."
Every gaze filled with anticipation. The words of Sama Baek, the Wise One of Wuhan, were almost never wrong.
Soon, Sama Baek smiled gently and spoke.
"Not only my grandson—I'm sorry to say, but I do not believe the Sword Phoenix, the Poison Phoenix, or the children of Wudang will catch the thief either."
Several faces hardened. Those who had hoped for a decisive answer showed no small measure of disappointment.
Sama Baek continued.
"I imagine the Tang Clan leader's thoughts run along similar lines."
Every eye turned toward one end of the table.
He sat at the very edge of the seating, though that said nothing about his standing in this assembly. He had simply chosen the quietest spot he could find, disliking commotion. There was no one here who dared slight the Poison King.
And now that they thought of it, it was a strange thing. The Poison King, whose love for his daughter was no less than Namgung Docheon's, had kept his mouth shut the entire time.
Before long, the Poison King Tang Taewon swept his distinctive jade-green eyes across the room and gave a sly smile.
"Who can say? If he keeps pilfering trivial trinkets as he has until now, he may well escape unscathed. But if he lays hands on the wrong something, then this bizarre jaunt through the Jianghu will come to an end."
At the Poison King's words, the others looked more bewildered than ever. They could not make heads or tails of it.
But Sama Baek smiled back at him and nodded. It seemed the two men were thinking of one and the same being.
Jin Seongun was, for once in his life, utterly dejected.
"Why on earth a signboard of all things..."
A signboard was a curious object. If someone stole it, it was worthless to them.
Besides firewood, what possible use was a board bearing the name of someone else's establishment?
But to its owner, it was more precious than anything. After more than a decade of struggle, when he had finally opened his inn, the very first thing he had done was commission the signboard and hang it up.
The signboard was the emblem of Seongun Inn—a treasure in which more than ten years of Jin Seongun's sweat and toil were distilled.
Heaving a deep sigh, Jin Seongun trudged back toward his quarters. He had already been annoyed that the thief had thrown all of Yichang into an uproar, and now the man had to go and pull the most infuriating stunt imaginable.
Soon, Jin Seongun stepped into the Realm of Martial Gods.
As always, the Martial Gods—mid-game at their baduk board, bickering, or sprawled out napping—all turned to stare at him with puzzled expressions.
"What's the matter with you?"
The disciple whose dulled emotions had sometimes worried them now wore a face of such abject gloom that they might have mistaken him for a wilted vegetable shambling toward them.
"Someone stole my signboard."
With that, Jin Seongun held out the paper bearing the word Justice to the Martial Gods and explained what had happened.
"..."
The Sword Immortal and Daji resumed their baduk game, and the Blood Demon lay back down in his spot. Only two of them—Sangwang and Shin Tu—were genuinely furious.
"How dare they steal a signboard, the very symbol of an establishment—!"
That was the reason for Sangwang's anger.
Shin Tu, meanwhile, was a different matter entirely.
"So that insolent wretch is picking a fight with me, is he!"
To Shin Tu, Jin Seongun was his one and only disciple. And lately, a false rumor had been circulating that the notorious thief might be a successor of Shin Tu's own arts.
Which meant that, from Shin Tu's point of view, some counterfeit out to steal his glory had strutted right up to the doorstep of the true master and committed a brazen provocation.
"We must catch him!"
Shin Tu declared, mustering unusual force behind his voice. He wanted to show that thief exactly what kind of thief the true Shin Tu's disciple was.
"Me?"
"Who else is going to catch him, you fool!"
"But he'll be long gone by now. Word is, once he pulls off a job in one region, he moves straight on to the next. I can't exactly abandon the inn to go chasing a thief around the countryside..."
At that, Shin Tu drew himself up with a supremely confident grin.
"And who am I?"
"Shin Tu, Elder, of course."
"Yes. And what is Shin Tu?"
"A thief."
"...Not just any thief—I am the greatest thief of all antiquity!"
Jin Seongun nodded. It was true that if anyone might know a way, it would be his master Shin Tu.
Shin Tu pressed on.
"I'll tell you exactly how that thief's mind works. Reasons that only I could ever know—reasons these other Martial Gods wouldn't even dare to guess at."
"..."
The other Martial Gods glared at Shin Tu with unmistakable displeasure, their expressions shouting: Must be nice, being such a great thief.
Completely unbothered, Shin Tu continued his explanation with a face full of merriment.
"First, he's fundamentally a show-off. The evidence is threefold. One: he only steals trivial, useless trinkets. That tells us his goal isn't money—it's flaunting his own skill."
Two: he deliberately leaves behind notes signed 'Justice', broadcasting his deeds to all the world under heaven.
And three: of all places, he chose Seongun Inn—the very establishment that had monopolized the attention of the entire martial world only days before, courtesy of one mad chicken named Byeok Cheongae.
"When I was young and reckless, I stole things with much the same heart, you know."
"You were stealing like that right up until you died."
"Shut up. In any case, that is why I alone know how to catch that wretch. Why, I even know how to lure him back here—"
Brushing off Sangwang's jab with practiced ease, Shin Tu pressed on with his explanation, brimming with confidence. As the explanation wore on, the expressions of Jin Seongun and the other Martial Gods twisted by degrees.
When he finally finished—
"...Maybe we should just skip catching him. It's only a signboard. I'll carve a new one."
The method Shin Tu had proposed was something Jin Seongun truly, deeply did not want to do.
But Shin Tu shook his head with iron resolve.
"Absolutely not. When your master's honor hangs in the balance, it is only natural duty for a disciple to step forward. Are you telling me you want to be a waiter who abandons his duty!"
"..."
Jin Seongun let out a sigh. When it came to this, there was nothing to say. Besides, it was the first time he had ever seen Elder Shin Tu speak with such earnestness.
"...If you insist."
Only when Jin Seongun nodded in grudging resignation did Shin Tu's face light up with a smile again—a smile brimming over with pure, unadulterated delight.
Never mind honor and dignity.
He was just bored, wasn't he.
The reasonable suspicion flickered through Jin Seongun's mind for a moment... but nothing would change either way, so he bowed his head and left the Realm of Martial Gods.
That evening, Tang Soyeon, Baek Sang, and Baek Seol came to say their farewells—they had to leave Yichang at once.
It was only natural. Their purpose, after all, was to catch the thief. With a crime already committed in Yichang, they would have to move on to the surrounding regions and patrol. The thief's path so far had followed a pattern too clear to ignore, and there was no helping it.
Jin Seongun nodded calmly at the visibly disappointed young prodigies.
"I pray you catch the thief. Come back any time. Seomun Ak pretends otherwise, but he'll be quietly glad to see you."
"Glad? What nonsense."
Seomun Ak grumbled for no particular reason, and so, in a rather warm atmosphere, the farewells were made.
Soon the young prodigies had all departed, and the inn's business for the day had wound down. In the pitch-black darkness of the empty inn, Jin Seongun stood quietly, turning over in his hands the thing he held and deliberating for a long while.
"..."
A job's a job, I suppose.
Having made his decision, Jin Seongun pulled the pitch-black mask up over his face.
Perhaps it was because he had spent the past few days learning Shin Tu's secret techniques, but for a moment he felt like the greatest thief the world had ever seen.
...The feeling was dubious at best.