The Moon Draws Near in the Clear River
It had been an impulsive act, born of pure irritation.
The urge to let out his frustration somehow, if not with words then with action.
Her soft cheek stretched out like a rice cake under his grip, and from Jegal Yeona’s delicate lips came a muffled groan: “Mmmngh!”
Maybe even while I was playing this game, Daemyeong Pungwhajeon, I’d wanted to put that troublemaker in her place like this.
When I met Jegal Yeona in the game, she was nothing more than data made of zeroes and ones, so all I ever did was choose from a few simple options.
But now this spoiled brat stood breathing right in front of me, acting out directly before my eyes.
Even teasing people has to be done in moderation, depending on who you’re picking on.
I’d let her slide once, and now she was tap-dancing across the line.
I wasn’t some saint like Yu Seojin or the head of the Jegal Clan.
I couldn’t speak, but if you stepped on me, I would still squirm.
It wasn’t as though Jegal Yeona had done anything directly to deserve a beating, but when I thought about the manuals she had turned into scraps in the game, my hand tightened all on its own.
And so I used my strength to pull her cheek without mercy.
It was a settling of accounts, including every grievance she knew about and plenty she didn’t.
When I let go with a sharp smack, her cheek sprang back into place with elastic softness.
Rubbing her tender face with both hands, Jegal Yeona cried out, “W-what are you doing? What was that for?!”
The high, piercing voice made me flinch a little.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought about the aftermath at all.
My hand had moved before I could think, so how could my brain have had time to consider the consequences?
In the end, even my brain simply followed my body’s opinion and thought, Serves her right.
What do I do now?
A lone wanderer had just laid hands on the jeweled daughter of the Jegal Clan.
To be honest, I thought she had brought this on herself, but from another person’s point of view, the optics were terrible.
“W-Wolyeon Daehyeop?”
Yu Seojin was staring at me too, her eyes round and blank with shock.
But the deed was already done; the arrow had already left the bow.
I didn’t think Jegal Yeona would let this go if I brushed it off as a mistake, so in that case...
Maybe I should be shameless about it.
You said we were friends.
“What?”
As I wrote the words on the ground, Jegal Yeona tilted her head.
Friends can pull each other’s cheeks a little.
Since she’d called us friends, I was going to lean on that excuse and act brazenly.
Let Jegal Yeona experience what it was like to get caught by her own words.
“Friends? Hey! Do you even know what a friend is? Friends care about each other, respect each other, share good food! They don’t just go straight for the cheeks!”
Jegal Yeona protested, shoving her face toward me.
“Look at this—because you pulled it, my pristine white cheek is all red!”
Sure enough, there was a reddish ring left on her pale skin.
Seeing that, I wrote again.
A sign of closeness.
“Closeness? Hey! If this is closeness, then if we ever become best friends, you’ll probably choke me to death someday!”
At that, I turned my gaze to Yu Seojin.
At the same time, Jegal Yeona also turned to look at Yu Seojin.
“M-Miss! I, I’m not going to choke Yeona!”
That wasn’t what I’d meant, but all right.
I looked at Yu Seojin for a moment, then wrote on the ground again.
It’s okay to tease a friend until they cry, but not okay to pull their cheek?
“That...”
Before Jegal Yeona could even get the words out, I quickly wrote another line to provoke her.
How mean. So mean.
“Mmghh!”
She glared at me with dagger-sharp eyes, but I didn’t even blink.
Instead, I lifted my chin, as if to say: go on, then, if you dare.
Jegal Yeona stomped in place, looking as though she could die of frustration, then suddenly dashed over to Yu Seojin and clung to her.
“Eeeh! Seojin, I’m going to die...! My cheek got split in half and I feel like I’m about to pass away like this! Blow on it, quickly!”
One of Yu Seojin’s arms slipped into the valley between Jegal Yeona’s chest.
For someone even smaller than Yu Seojin, who was already half a head shorter than me, her chest was nearly the same size as Yu Seojin’s.
Yu Seojin simply stared at Jegal Yeona hanging off her arm.
She only stared.
When Yu Seojin still didn’t move, Jegal Yeona blinked and tried again.
“Seojin, what’s wrong? I said it hurts.”
But even after that, Yu Seojin didn’t budge.
On the contrary, her pale eyes seemed strangely cold.
Jegal Yeona lifted her head to look up at Yu Seojin.
And in that instant—
She grabbed.
Yu Seojin’s two hands seized Jegal Yeona’s cheeks.
“Huh? Seojin... w-waaahh!?”
With all her strength, Yu Seojin dragged Jegal Yeona’s cheeks outward to both sides.
Jegal Yeona’s face flattened in an instant, puffing out like a flounder.
“Mmmf! Mmmghghgh!”
Oh.
That gentle, mild Yu Seojin was brutally manhandling Jegal Yeona’s cheeks like this?
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the rare sight.
The force Yu Seojin was using now was no weaker than mine—if anything, it was stronger.
“Mmaaaah! Stop iit!”
Jegal Yeona flapped her hands, trying to escape Yu Seojin’s grasp.
But there was no way Jegal Yeona, who didn’t know martial arts, could break free from Yu Seojin, an first-rate expert.
“Yeona, didn’t you say that just now? That friends don’t have to mind formalities with each other.”
Yu Seojin’s voice was utterly calm.
But her face had gone rigid with ice, and her eyes were burning with resentment.
“Since I’m your friend too, I can do this much, can’t I? Right?”
“N-no! Th-th-that’s not it! Mmggh! It hurts! Nnngh!”
“What do you mean, it’s not? It was fine when you made me cry earlier, but not the other way around?”
Yu Seojin kneaded Jegal Yeona’s cheeks to her heart’s content, venting all the frustration she’d been holding in.
It was a small revenge for what I had done to her earlier.
Jegal Yeona’s plump cheeks changed shape helplessly, stretching and squishing like dough.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Seojin! Spare me! My cheeks are falling off, I’m really going to die!”
Only after Jegal Yeona screamed and begged for mercy did Yu Seojin finally let go.
“Haa... ha...”
Jegal Yeona panted, clutching both cheeks, now flushed bright red.
Tears had actually welled at the corners of her eyes.
“You, you two... you’re awful. How can you do this to a frail young lady’s face...”
She glared at me through teary eyes, trying to look pitiful.
“This is all because of you! You started it, and now you’ve infected Seojin too!”
I only got fooled because you can’t read. I got upset because I got fooled. I got angry because I was upset. And because I got angry, I pulled your cheeks. You brought this on yourself.
“Y-you’re turning my own words against me...!?”
Jegal Yeona looked so shocked she might have believed the sun had risen in the west, and then she turned to stare at Yu Seojin.
I shrugged at her.
Serves her right, yes.
She should have known this day would come eventually, when she got punished properly.
Jegal Yeona puffed up with indignation, looking back and forth between me and Yu Seojin, snorting in anger—
Then suddenly she snickered.
“Pfft.”
And then she burst out laughing all by herself.
“Ahahahaha!”
She laughed uproariously, as though nothing had happened.
What the hell?
Why was she laughing all of a sudden?
Yu Seojin and I blinked at her, and Jegal Yeona casually straightened her mussed hair before looking at me.
“Ayen, you’re pretty funny, aren’t you? At first I thought you were just some wooden plank, but now that I look at you, you’ve got a surprising amount of human warmth.”
Still laughing, she came closer and lightly tapped my shoulder with her palm.
“Hmm, good. Good. Since you entertained me, I’ll let this one go.”
There was no trace left of anger or irritation on Jegal Yeona’s face.
Only her usual teasing smile remained, though it had softened just a little.
“Sorry. I was a bit too annoying just now, wasn’t I? I was only trying to test Ayen a little out of habit.”
With that, Jegal Yeona bent at the waist in a full ninety-degree bow and spoke her apology aloud.
Then she straightened and quietly held out her hand to me.
“Let’s really be friends again, with no more testing each other. Purely and honestly. What do you say?”
What kind of trick was she planning now?
I gave her a suspicious look, and Jegal Yeona only shrugged the way I had done before and continued.
“I mean it. Come on, come on. Let’s make a pinky promise. Or do you want to clap palms?”
I looked at her outstretched pinky for a moment.
“This is a sincere request.”
Then I looked back at Jegal Yeona’s face.
She had wiped the smile off her face, and now looked quite serious.
And the hand she held out to me showed no sign of lowering until I accepted the offer.
My blue eyes met her glittering violet ones.
Ah.
It was the same look I’d seen in Yu Seojin’s eyes.
Bright-eyed and eager, like a wet stray dog.
Looking at that expression made my resolve soften again for no good reason.
If she was doing this because she knew I was weak to it, then she was a truly devious woman.
Frowning hard, I stared for a long time at the hand she held out.
Fine. Whatever.
If she was really reflecting on herself, then I could let it pass.
Slowly, I hooked my pinky around hers.
If she started climbing all over me again, I could always use the fact that we were friends as an excuse to give her a proper scolding.
And next time, it wouldn’t end this lightly.
“Good, Ayen! It’s a promise?”
Jegal Yeona grinned brightly and shook my hand.
“All right, then. Shall we really go enjoy the banquet now? Let’s eat something good and talk a bit.”
She hooked one arm through my right one and the other through Yu Seojin’s left.
Her footsteps, tugging us along, naturally pointed toward Hyeongju Escort Agency and the Beggars’ Sect Yichang Branch.
“Especially you, Ayen. I have a lot I want to talk to you about.”
Her whisper brushed my ear, subtle and secretive.
***
The back alleys of the Yichang Branch lay swallowed in darkness.
Between collapsing shacks, in a foul-smelling corner, an old beggar let out a pained groan.
With both trembling hands bound together by rough twine, he pressed at the ankle that had been bitten by a snake.
“Damn it, damn it... I’ve been cursed with rotten luck.”
He spat out the curse and then spat onto the ground.
“If only it weren’t for that bitch... if only it weren’t for that mute bastard...!”
After hurling his abuse, the beggar nervously scanned his surroundings.
The branch leader was the kind of man who, like the snake-controlling arts he used, was relentless as a serpent.
Once he suspected something, he would pursue it all the way to the end and drag the truth into the light.
If he decided to investigate him seriously, the filth he had hidden for so long would be exposed in no time.
Side money earned by secretly selling off Beggars’ Sect intelligence.
Money received for kidnapping orphans, drugging them with the virgin-destroying pill, and selling them off to pleasure houses.
Great wealth quietly amassed in violation of the Beggars’ Sect’s rules.
If all of that came to light, being driven out would be the least of his problems—he might not even keep his life.
Since this was a nest of uneducated beggars, the Beggars’ Sect’s punishments were savage and violent beyond belief.
When all his crimes were uncovered, a mere beating would not be the end of it.
Just for secretly leaking the information the Beggars’ Sect had gathered, even losing his tongue and having both wrists cut off would leave him with no defense.
And if it was discovered that he had laid hands on the orphans, he might be flayed alive.
The Beggars’ Sect never forgave anyone who touched an orphan, no matter how high their rank.
It was even said that more than a hundred years ago, a Beggars’ Sect chief had struck an orphan in a fit of rage and was beaten to death by the other elders on the spot.
“I have to run... now, if I still can...”
The old beggar forced his unsteady body upright.
He had to hide somewhere.
Somewhere beyond the Beggars’ Sect’s reach.
Just as the old beggar, dragging his swollen ankle, finally managed to rise—
“Where are you rushing off to with a body like that?”
A low voice emerged from the darkness.
“Hiiik!”
The old beggar was so startled he collapsed backward.
A man stepped out from the shadows.
A man with his face hidden behind a black mask.
But the old beggar knew that voice.
“Y-you are...!”
He was the “customer” who had been buying information from him.
Of course, the old beggar didn’t know his true identity.
After all, a man who came every time wearing a mask would hardly want to reveal who he really was.
Just a pile of black money handed over every time he brought in information—that had been enough for the old man.
“I’ve come to help you, old man.”
But this time, the masked man had come to meet him with something other than money in his hand.
The man chuckled as he approached.
“That Ma Yuk bastard is like a venomous snake, isn’t he? Once he bites, he never lets go. Before long, all your glorious history’s going to be exposed to the world.”
The man crouched before the old beggar and whispered.
“If they find out you sold orphans off, do you think the Beggars’ Sect is just going to sit there? They’ll probably try to skin you alive.”
“P-please, save me! Please! I’ll give you as much money as you want...!”
The old beggar grabbed the masked man’s trouser leg and pleaded.
With his pressure points blocked and his ankle swollen from the poison, he couldn’t run properly now. He had to cling to whatever straw was within reach.
“Money? Hmm. Money, huh...”
The masked man pretended to think it over, then held out the thing in his hand.
“I don’t need money. Looking at you, old man, you’re useless to me now anyway. But for old times’ sake, I’ll tell you one way to survive.”
What he offered was a warm lump wrapped in red cloth.
The stench of blood seeped out through the fabric.
“W-what is it?”
“Open it.”
With trembling hands, the old beggar unwound the cloth.
Inside it was—
“H-hiiik!!”
A human heart, still warm.
The old beggar shrieked and hurled the heart to the ground.
“W-what is this...!”
“You’re startled? You’ve seen far worse than this.”
The masked man picked up the heart from the ground and casually brushed the dirt off it.
“It’s not just a heart. It’s a specially refined spirit elixir.”
“A—an elixir?”
“That’s right. Eat it, and even an old, sick body can grow young again. You’d even gain enough power to break through to the first-rate level with ease. You could probably kill Ma Yuk with one finger.”
As he spoke, he thrust the heart into the old beggar’s face.
“What do you think? Tempting, isn’t it? You want to live. You want revenge on Ma Yuk, on that mute bastard, on that brat from the Jegal Clan.”
“T-th-those kinds of things... how could you... a human heart...”
“I told you, it’s not a heart. It’s a spirit elixir.”
The masked man’s voice tickled the old beggar’s ear.
“Choose, old man. Will you be caught here by the Beggars’ Sect and die miserably, or will you eat this and gain a new life?”
The old beggar’s eyes wavered.
A confused gaze, tangled with fear and greed.
“Y-you... could it be...”
The old man’s trembling lips parted, and his voice slipped out weakly.
“Were you Blood Cult?”
“And if I was?”
The mask’s mouth twitched.
“So what if you know I’m Blood Cult? What can you do about it? You ought to be worrying about how to survive tomorrow, not whether that matters.”
When he finished speaking, he tapped the heart lightly with one finger.
“Hurry up and eat it. From now on, you won’t just be a business partner anymore—you’ll truly be one of us.”
The old beggar swallowed hard.
His gaze locked onto the heart, still pulsing red.
Before the terror of death, morality and ethics were a luxury.
I want to live.
I want to live and take revenge on those bastards.
I want to twist the neck of that branch leader who acts so noble all by himself.
I want to tear apart the limbs of that mute bastard who suddenly showed up and ruined everything.
I want to strangle that smug bitch, rip apart her clothes, and ravage her however I please.
His trembling hand slowly reached toward the heart.
Behind the mask, the lips curved farther upward into a smile.
---