Chapter 68
Geom Mujin’s thorough and perfectly reasonable logic left Dang Yulin with no argument, and in the end she had to acknowledge him as her benefactor.
“…Are you really okay with this, Seorin?”
Maybe she still felt some resistance to treating her enemy as a savior, because Dang Yulin asked the question—but Dang Seorin only blinked and tilted her head.
“Huh…? I’m fine, though?”
Dang Seorin had, from the start, been a die-hard Great Swordmaster worshipper who would’ve been kicked out long ago if not for her unusual talent.
“And… Dongryong oppa and I don’t even have the same mother, you know…”
In families like the Sichuan Dang Clan, where producing too many heirs was frowned upon, the clan heads had long practiced polygamy.
Even the current clan head had four wives, and Dongryong and the Dang twins were half-siblings born of different mothers.
Because of that, the bond between the siblings wasn’t especially strong.
Her tendency to jump at the sight of the Great Swordmaster had more to do with the way she’d been raised than any personal grudge.
And, really, siblings were just people with genes written deep in their DNA telling them to kill each other.
“T-to be honest, Dongryong oppa and I weren’t exactly close or anything…”
“Well, that’s true.”
Since they hadn’t been particularly close, she didn’t feel much of anything about it.
Even back when she’d been drugged with the truth potion, she’d proved she had a surprisingly cool head.
“So, should we settle up now?”
By the time the conversation wound down, Geom Mujin’s eyes were already sparkling.
“S-settle up…?”
Dang Yulin took an unconscious step back.
Well, it was true he’d saved them several times, so he had every right to say something like that…
Still, hearing those words from one of the Seven Martial Stars, one of the heroes of the murim, was pretty damn awkward.
Lord Vajra Fist wasn’t like this…
She compared him to Hong Gak, the Vajra Fist of the Seven Martial Stars, who had graced the Cheonmu Academy entrance ceremony.
For the brief moment she’d seen him, he’d seemed like a virtuous Buddhist and a proper martial artist through and through.
He hadn’t had that greedy, cash-hungry look in his eyes, either.
Still, Geom Mujin could honestly feel a bit wronged here.
Comparing a Seven Martial Star backed by a great sect rooted for generations on fertile land in Henan Province to a lone, ragtag Seven Martial Star like him?
Shaolin could mumble Namo Amitabha all day long as incense offerings and donations rolled in, and the temple’s coffers would magically multiply, but he wasn’t like that.
His image rights got stolen without permission, and as for donations? Forget it.
He had to look after his own rice bowl.
If my money could just duplicate itself like that bald bastard’s, I could act all easygoing and relaxed too.
Like I’d said before, no matter how high your martial prowess, life can end in an instant.
If you don’t want a miserable old age, you’d better save money.
“Uh, how much should I compensate you?”
Dang Yulin displayed a full-on ‘please give me your price first’ expression.
“How much can you pay?”
There it was—the ultimate taijiquan move.
Why don’t you name a price first?
Across all ages and civilizations, nothing was more headache-inducing than letting the other side set the number first.
Dang Yulin, who understood that, looked up at Geom Mujin.
He wore a thoroughly relaxed expression, and for some reason that only made him look more annoying.
“To be perfectly honest, paying you in cash would be difficult.”
“What?”
The Sichuan Dang Clan was supposed to be one of the Five Great Clans, a household that lived well and ate well on solid backing—basically the opposite of a poor house.
“We had everything taken from us by those bastards.”
Breaking news: The daughter of the Sichuan Dang Clan’s clan head, Miss Dang So-and-so, has been revealed to be completely broke.
“Ah.”
Dang Yulin patted down her sleeves and pockets.
All that came out was dust.
Before they’d been captured, she’d been carrying around gold coins and even promissory notes, but by now those were probably sunk deep in some river.
“We could write you a draft, but honestly, there’s nothing more rude than trying to repay a Seven Martial Star with money.”
“Ah, ahem. Right. Yes. There’s no rudeness quite like that. My sword wouldn’t be swayed by something as vulgar as money anyway.”
I answered with obvious reluctance.
No, actually.
I liked getting paid in cash just fine.
I barely managed to swallow the words that nearly climbed up my throat.
“So let’s make your repayment something else.”
“Something else?”
At that, I automatically let my gaze rake over Dang Yulin from head to toe.
Up until now I’d been too busy to really look at her.
Just like Moyong Yehwa before her, her real-life appearance matched the illustration exactly.
Those twin tails are real too.
She was definitely supposed to be twenty in the setting, so why the hell was she still wearing twin tails?
It was a fashion choice even Maple wouldn’t do.
“J-just so you know, that’s not what I meant!”
“Huh? What does ‘that’ mean— oh.”
When Dang Yulin, sensing her virtue was in danger, shouted while covering her chest, I tilted my head in confusion—and then realized what she meant.
Snort.
Geom Mujin snickered, clearly finding the blushing Dang Yulin ridiculous.
“W-what!? What’s with that laugh…!”
For some reason, that laugh made her feel insanely irritated.
“Quit exploiting those poor dairy cows and go train your martial arts.”
“!!”
She was twenty years old.
Her growth plates had already closed.
Her physical stats would not be getting any buffs by the time the story ended.
Milk, sleeping by nine o’clock—the hour when growth hormone supposedly peaks—chest massage.
All of it had bowed before genetics and surrendered.
“D-don’t worry about it! I’m just drinking milk because I like milk!”
Clutching her bruised pride, she hopped up and down as she rationalized herself.
It was absolutely not for that kind of reason…
Huh? Then Dang Yulin felt something was off.
How did this guy know that?
It wasn’t exactly a secret that she drank milk, but today was their first meeting, wasn’t it?
“Um—”
“I want three things total.”
The moment Dang Yulin opened her mouth, Geom Mujin beat her to it, raising three fingers.
“Three things?”
The question in her head was drowned out by the number of demands he was making.
“Why, what? The Sichuan Dang Clan pays debts twice over, don’t they?”
I’d saved three people.
And if I was only getting paid at cost with no markup, I could even say I was the one taking a loss.
“I-I see…”
“See what? There’s nothing to ‘see’!”
“Eek!?”
Dang Yulin poked her younger sister in the side repeatedly for being led around by his logic.
“…So, what do you want?”
Since he was the one with both the justification and the initiative, Dang Yulin asked in a tense voice.
If he made some ridiculous demand, she’d have to push back.
“First, remove my name from the list of debts and favors.”
The record of debts and kindnesses kept by the Sichuan Dang Clan—the Record of Debts and Favors.
For those bearing the Dang surname, the Record of Debts and Favors was more important than even a catalog of poisons.
It’s about time I shook these poison-obsessed bastards off my back.
They’d been quiet lately, but who knew when they’d decide to plant hidden weapons in a latrine again?
“Remove your name from the Record of Debts and Favors…”
Dang Yulin muttered with a serious expression.
There was only one time a name was erased from that ledger.
When a debt had been fully settled.
If that didn’t happen, the Sichuan Dang Clan never forgot a favor owed and would secretly work to repay it someday.
Whether it was a kindness or a grudge.
That was why asking for removal from the Record of Debts and Favors was no trivial thing.
“You can’t do it? If that’s the case, say so now. I’ll change it.”
“...No. I don’t think that’s the case.”
Dang Yulin shook her head.
He wanted the reward for his kindness to be his name removed from the Record of Debts and Favors?
Normally, that would be an absurd request.
If the same person owed both a debt and a favor, the Sichuan Dang Clan would repay the favor first and only then take revenge for the grudge.
But when the other party was the Great Swordmaster, things changed a little.
She knew how much the elders in her clan—especially the old bastards—found his existence burdensome.
They had to settle the grudge, but they’d missed their chance.
Whether one liked it or not, the black-haired man who had turned the young clan lord into a eunuch was a current hero of the murim.
His fame was a burden, and the power behind that fame was an even greater one.
If they truly wanted to bring him down, they’d have to be prepared to bleed heavily for it.
As it happened, the larger the organization, the more it tended to avoid conflict.
And now, in that situation, the Great Swordmaster was extending a hand of reconciliation on the pretext of saving the clan head’s daughters.
I don’t know what Father will think, but…
Dang Yulin felt pretty sure his demand would be accepted.
Even the elders had said it before.
The Great Swordmaster might seem reckless, but he could read the flow of things like a ghost.
Before the Orthodox-Demonic War, he’d lived no differently from a heterodox martial artist; once the war broke out, he chose the Orthodox side and fought for it.
At every turn, he’d sided with the right camp at the right time and come out ahead, until he became one of the Seven Martial Stars.
He must have realized the current climate in our clan, too, or he wouldn’t be making a request like this now.
He didn’t seem like some sword-obsessed simpleton anymore, but rather like a dangerous schemer.
The Great Swordmaster… he’s a frightening man.
That thought crossed Dang Yulin’s mind as she spoke.
“I’ll pass your first request along to the clan.”
“Got it.”
Judging by her face, the result looked pretty promising.
“Then what’s next?”
“Second is Baewohoondan.”
“Baewohoondan?”
Dang Yulin, Dang Seorin, and Hayoung all reacted with confusion.
It sounded like some sort of elixir, but it wasn’t.
Baewohoondan was a poison pill manufactured by the Dang Clan.
That said, it wasn’t on the level of an extreme poison like the Seven Treasures Severing Soul Poison; it was more of a middling poison.
“For reference, this is my demand in exchange for saving that maid.”
It felt awkward to say it in front of the person herself, but the Sichuan Dang Clan wasn’t a charity case, and there was no way they were going to hand out benefits generously just because he’d saved someone who wasn’t family.
Compared to the two twins, what he could ask for was limited.
“Understood. But I don’t have any Baewohoondan on me right now, so how should I give it to you?”
Dang Yulin didn’t bother asking what he intended to use it for.
When you lived in this world, weren’t there plenty of bastards you’d want to poison?
“Put it under my name at Mangeum Trading Company later.”
Contrary to her guess, Geom Mujin hadn’t asked for Baewohoondan as a murder tool.
It wasn’t as though he had anyone he needed to poison, but depending on how it was used…
He lifted the child in his arms a little higher.
“Then your final request is…”
This was it—the long-awaited last one.
“This.”
Geom Mujin pulled something out from inside his robes.
“What is that? A pill?”
“An elixir and a drug.”
“W-what!? A drug!?”
The Dang Clan girls were shocked.
Even in this age, drugs were illegal and tightly regulated.
“It’s been circulating in the shadows lately under the name Jamsungdan.”
I handed the Jamsungdan to Dang Yulin.
“Your final request is to investigate Jamsungdan and develop an antidote.”
In the original story, Jamsungdan hadn’t spread widely through Sichuan.
That was because they were wary of it falling into the hands of the Sichuan Dang Clan and having an antidote developed.
But that original flow of events had already been twisted.
“…For such a dangerous drug to be running around the murim.”
After hearing Geom Mujin’s explanation of Jamsungdan, Dang Yulin finally understood how dangerous it was.
The more widely this drug spread, the more the murim would sicken.
And with how vicious the addiction was, treating it wouldn’t be easy either.
“There’s a physician I’ve had analyzing the drug separately in Jiangxi Province. I’ll tell you where he is, so work together with him.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Heo Injun.
Still, more was better. If you gather a bunch of smart people together, wouldn’t the result be better?
Work together, damn it—combine the poison nerds and the medicine nerds!
“Understood. I’ll make sure this drug gets reported to the clan.”
Dang Yulin nodded briskly.
As the daughter of a prestigious Orthodox clan, a request like this was something she could accept without issue.
“G-Great Swordmaster…”
Dang Seorin looked up at Geom Mujin with shining eyes.
Who on earth had ever called him heterodox?
The way he silently pursued an unknown threat all by himself was like a lonely star rising in the night sky.
“……”
And Dang Yulin felt something similar.
Her impression of him, which had dropped because of his mercenary attitude earlier, was now rising again.
Unexpectedly, she’d ended up seeing an unexpected side of an unexpected man.
...Though she still had no idea why he’d been holding a little child in his arms this whole time.
Had he gotten married?
Under the gaze of the two girls, Geom Mujin—
Goddammit. I really want to take a dump and then crash out already.
—was, despite everything, still someone who had come to Hubei Province without having even shaken off his travel fatigue.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
By the time things were just about settled—
“U-um…”
“Hm?”
—Dang Seorin, who had quietly edged over before leaving with Dang Yulin and Hayoung, approached him from the side and spoke up timidly.
“I have something I’d like to say to the Great Swordmaster…”
She murmured the words without even managing to meet his eyes properly.
“Something you want to say? Want an autograph or something?”
“N-no…! I mean, not that… well, if you’d give me an autograph, I’d be really grateful, but…!”
Dang Seorin flailed her arms in a panic.
After a long moment of flailing around, she finally calmed herself and got to the point.
“It’s about the sword you’re carrying, Great Swordmaster…”
She pointed toward the black sword at my waist.