The Trickster’s Return
"Then let’s hurry up and get back."
With everyone gathered, the scouts began descending the mountain.
Good. We weren’t found out.
Geom Mujin, walking somewhere around the middle of the escort party, rolled his eyes.
Fortunately, no one had started suspecting us yet.
They just thought the pair had been late because they were taking a dump.
“......”
And then he felt a gaze stab into the back of his head, as if it meant to bore right through his skull.
The owner of that murderous stare was the masked person who had returned with him.
-You’re too much...
-I said I was sorry, didn’t I?
When her sad little telepathic complaint drifted into his ear, I immediately apologized.
Glancing back, I saw Dang Seorin glaring at me through the slit of her mask.
-I-I didn’t do anything like that...
-I needed a decent excuse, and that was the best one available.
-B-but still...
She might say that, but what else was I supposed to tell them when they asked why we were late? There was no excuse more bulletproof than saying you’d been delayed taking a dump.
Pooping was a serious matter, after all, and also too disgusting for people to dig into too deeply.
Then shouldn’t I just have said I was the one who’d been late after taking a dump?
Hold up. I’m one of the Seven Martial Stars, okay? The Seven Martial Stars!
As an influencer of the martial world, I had a certain dignity I was obligated to maintain.
And besides, what kind of monster would drag an unmarried young lady—moreover, one of his own fans—into the shame of being “the one who was late because he was taking a dump”?
This guy...did he have no heart at all?!
Even if it was a girl fan, there was no way she could escape the yoke of becoming the one who pooped.
That was me!
Ba-dum!
...That was a joke, obviously.
That was a half-joking line just now, but the truth was, there was a reason behind it.
Before rejoining the escorts, I’d had Dang Seorin administer the truth serum she’d given me and gone straight into interrogation.
As expected of the Sichuan Dang Clan, the famed house of poison, the effect of the serum was ironclad.
“Hnngghh...!”
“Oooogh!!”
With needles stuck into their Baihui points, the two men had gone cross-eyed and turned into honest-to-goodness idiot boars, answering every question truthfully.
We didn’t have much time, so the interrogation was short and brutal.
The two escorts were named Oh Jaemu and Tae Tonam.
The one I’d caught first was Oh Jaemu; the one I’d caught second was Tae Tonam.
That was the start of it, and from there they spilled information in a nonstop stream.
I managed to get the basics of their rank, duties, personalities, and relationships with others.
Oh Jaemu had a light, flippant personality, while Tae Tonam was taciturn.
Since we needed to infiltrate the escorts, we each had to take on a role: I took Oh Jaemu, and Dang Seorin took Tae Tonam.
Trying to make Seorin play the role of Oh Jaemu would’ve been impossible, and her build was similar enough to Tae Tonam’s to make the switch workable.
So all we’d done was act according to the testimony that Oh Jaemu used to tease Tae Tonam all the time.
-I was simply fulfilling my assigned role. I had not the slightest hint of malicious intent.
“......”
At Geom Mujin’s explanation, Dang Seorin fell silent.
It wasn’t that she’d been convinced so much as she no longer had the strength to answer.
It’s, it’s hard to breatheee...
At the moment, she was in a deeply uncomfortable state of respiration.
Her frame might have been similar to Tae Tonam’s, but the difference between male and female curves was impossible to hide.
And since she had the kind of body that was, to put it nicely, optimized for the nation, the difference was even more glaring.
But in this strange and beautiful martial world, there existed a technique for people like her.
Ahhhhh...!! My chest is getting flattened...
-...Monster.
-Little one, stuff it a bit higher up.
-Ahh! Th-there!?
That technique was Bone Shrinking Art.
It was a crude martial method that altered one’s build and frame through the manipulation of bones and muscles.
Her chest had been brutally forced inward with bandages, and then Bone Shrinking Art was used to correct her overall shape.
With the touch of the little assistant—whose internal energy handling had reached an advanced level—Dang Seorin’s body was remodeled until it looked remarkably similar to an adult man’s.
Of course, because everything had merely been folded inward and shoved into place, the drawback was that it was extremely uncomfortable.
No matter how many times I do this, I never get used to it.
I was in the same boat, having reduced my own height and build with Bone Shrinking Art, so I was uncomfortable too.
It felt like I’d been stuffed, by force, into a box far too small for me.
Still, the fact that the mask covered all the way up to my hair was some small consolation.
The real winner was the kid, who was too young to tag along and had been sent home.
“Kid, you go back to the inn first, wash up, and go to bed.”
“.....I wanna come too.”
“Nope. Ride Sodam and get back fast. We’re already late.”
He hadn’t seemed all that eager to go, but this time I couldn’t take him along.
Did he get in okay?
Even though Sodam, that somehow-a-little-off-but-not-quite-off little troublemaker, was with him, I still worried about sending the kid back alone.
Home Cam ON!
I shared vision with Home Cam—Sodam.
Huh?
But why was I seeing a view of us descending the mountain from midair, instead of the inside of the inn?
What’s more, I could see us going down the mountain.
Kki, kkiiik!?
Sodam’s bewilderment transmitted through the spiritual link.
You little bastard...?
I turned my head and looked up at the night sky.
There I saw a single eagle quietly following behind us, with a child clinging to both its legs.
Hey, you crazy bastard!!
In shock, I unleashed a lion’s roar in my head.
Why the hell would you bring the kid along!?
-Kki, kkiiik? Kki, kkiiuu...
Huh? What? Something was wrong with the spiritual connection—
Click. Beep-beep. Beep-beep.
Hey! Hey!
Sodam had unilaterally cut the link.
What on earth was wrong with those two?!
Were they both going through a rebellious phase or something?!
We’d only been traveling together a little over a month, and already this? What the hell would happen later on?
Because the connection had been cut too quickly, Geom Mujin hadn’t been able to see it, but inside Sodam’s beak a peppermint candy was rolling around.
A peppermint candy he definitely hadn’t given it recently.
The last time he’d given Sodam a peppermint candy had been to the kid.
So how was Sodam eating peppermint candy now?
The kid had been traveling with Geom Mujin and had learned how to make others his allies using money—or other means.
Still, that’s...unexpected.
While I was busy trying to figure out how to send those two back, Dang Seorin sent another telepathic message.
I was starting to get used to Bone Shrinking Art little by little.
I never imagined those people were escorts...
I had no idea at all.
Dang Seorin scanned the surrounding escort members with a roll of her eyes.
During the interrogation, Oh Jaemu and Tae Tonam had naturally revealed the name of the organization they belonged to—Baekmun Escort Bureau.
I already knew that, but Seorin hadn’t.
Surprised?
Yes... especially the fact that the bureau chief got the upper hand over unni...
I thought she’d never lose...
It was a remark that sounded like she was looking down on the escort bureau, but it wasn’t really that strange.
Unlike martial sects or martial families, very few people thought of escort bureaus as strong.
Generally speaking, a group of combat professionals and a delivery company shouldn’t have the same fighting power.
There is no absolute in the martial world.
A weaker side steeling itself and toppling a stronger one happened all the time.
Besides, this opponent wasn’t even especially weak; he’d lost a child and was now sharp with bitter resolve, sharpening his teeth for revenge.
No matter how venomous the Tang Clan’s poison was, it probably couldn’t match the poison in that man’s heart.
After descending the mountain and traveling for a while longer, we reached the northern dock of Wuhan.
The escort members, who had been chatting casually all the way there, fell quiet and heavy.
The escort walking at the front pointed at the vessel.
“Everyone, go to the positions assigned to you ahead of time.”
According to the information we’d obtained, Baekmun Escort Bureau and the remaining fragments of the Demonic Cult would clash on this river today.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The eyelids of the girl lying on the floor in the dark warehouse trembled.
“Nngh... ah!”
Struggling to open her eyes, the girl—Dang Yulin—quickly jolted awake and sat up.
Her movement was similar to that of her twin sister.
Clatter! Clatter!
“Ugh!?”
But a moment later, Dang Yulin’s body tipped backward with a thud.
That was because her wrists had been pulled behind her back and her ankles were bound by chains.
The chains were tied to a pillar in the warehouse.
“Ow... that hurts...”
“Are you awake?”
As she rubbed the sore spot where she’d landed on her butt, a familiar voice came from beside her.
“Hayoung! You’re okay!”
Beside the pillar where Dang Yulin had been tied up, Hayoung was shackled in the exact same way.
“Not completely, but yes, for now.”
Bruises matching the color of her hair were scattered across her face.
“Why does your face look like that?”
“Because I took my young lady’s blow to the head with my own face.”
“What do you mean... oh.”
Dang Yulin remembered what had happened before she blacked out.
Her head had been grabbed by some man who looked like a bear—or maybe something else entirely—and used like a weapon.
No wonder her head hurt like that.
“To think I’d become a Dang Clan Meydu and still fail to serve the young lady properly. This is my mistake. If we’re freed, I’ll perform seppuku at once, so please cut off my head.”
“What kind of horrifying thing is that? This isn’t your fault; it’s mine.”
After all, it had been her who’d gone looking for Chilseongsan.
So the responsibility—
“Understood. Since it’s entirely the young lady’s fault, please take responsibility quickly.”
“......”
The thought that she should shoulder the blame vanished in three seconds flat.
“...Anyway, where are we?”
Dang Yulin looked around, but all she could see was junk.
Given the faint swaying she could feel, it seemed they were on a ship.
“They can’t have carried us out of Hubei Province in that time, so I’d guess we’re on the Yangtze or the Han River.”
“They brought us to a river?”
Dang Yulin stared at a barrel sitting in one corner of the warehouse.
It was large enough to fit a person inside with room to spare.
A river, and a barrel.
“Grrr...!”
The combination felt ominous enough that she tried to force strength into her limbs, but the chains showed no sign of breaking.
Of course they didn’t. Her acupoints had been sealed, so she couldn’t use internal energy.
Right now, she was just a cute and lively twenty-year-old beauty.
“Sigh... I guess the only one I can count on now is Seorin.”
After struggling uselessly with her arms and legs for a while, Dang Yulin let out a sigh.
Since her sister wasn’t anywhere nearby, it seemed she’d managed to escape safely.
For now, they were probably keeping her alive because of the Tang Clan’s name, but there was no telling how long that would last.
She had to hope her sister would come rescue them quickly.
Seorin! You came to save me!
-N-no... I got captured too...
“.....”
She knew she shouldn’t be thinking like that, but why did these ominous scenarios keep popping into her head?
“Are you uneasy?”
Noticing her expression, Hayoung asked.
“...It’s not that.”
It wasn’t as if she believed her sister would just run off and leave her to die on her own.
“Still... you know Seorin.”
She knew just how miserable Seorin’s people skills were.
“I believe in Seorin young lady.”
Hayoung spoke in a steady tone.
“It’s true, as you said, that Seorin young lady can’t even get a single word out properly in front of other people and always makes such bizarre faces from sheer tension that she scares everyone away. Watching her can make you feel sorry for her.”
“I didn’t say it that harshly, though?”
Wait—aren’t you the one who trusts Seorin the least?
“Still, I believe in Seorin young lady. She may be a coward, but she’s not the sort of person who runs away in situations like this.”
This was the statement of someone who had served the twins at their side since childhood, and knew them both inside and out.
“Hayoung...”
Dang Yulin looked at Hayoung.
“...Then could you stop fiddling with the lock first?”
A shadow fell over her face.
Clack! Clack!
Hayoung had been frantically messing with the padlock attached to the chain ever since a moment ago.
“Your mouth says you believe me, but your hands don’t look very trusting.”
“Please don’t misunderstand. I just happened to have some wire lying near my hand, and I was testing something with it.”
“Sure, of course.”
“It’s true. A first-rate Meydu always keeps a backup plan ready.”
Dang Yulin shook her head in disbelief.
“...So, any bite yet?”
“At present, the situation is one of a decisive gamble, a dragon-and-tiger contest, a dragon-horned formation.”
“Seorin, please come quick.”
Just when she was desperately calling for her sister, her last hope—
“Heh heh. Do you want to get out of here?”
“Hm? You’re...”
Someone slowly poked their head out from the pillar opposite them.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Chief, that boat is approaching.”
The escort pointed ahead.
Under the dark moonlight, a single ship was drawing near.