The Birth of a Sect
“No, I don’t have any.”
Before long, the other comments came in as well.
“I don’t either.”
“Neither do I.”
No Hyeonjin posted a reply a moment later.
“Then let’s end today’s gathering here.”
“We’ll meet again at the next regular check-in.”
“Good. Let’s all survive until then.”
“See you next time.”
“Understood.”
With that, no more comments appeared.
Lee Kang stared at the comment window for a while before slowly closing the translucent gallery window.
His vision returned to the shabby office.
Only then did Lee Kang look back at Seol-ah.
She was sitting off to one side. Legs folded beneath her, eyes closed, she continued her quiet breathing exercises. The image of her demanding praise a moment ago, asking him to pat her head, had disappeared; her breath had settled into calm stillness.
Inhale. Exhale.
The flow of the breathing technique moved cautiously forward. Lee Kang watched her for a moment, then said, “That’s enough for now.”
Seol-ah’s eyes opened slowly.
“Rest for tonight.”
She took a moment to steady her breathing, then gave a small nod.
“Yes.”
She rose and turned as if heading off to sleep. Lee Kang glanced at her retreating back and said, “Starting tomorrow, we’ll go into actual combat.”
Seol-ah stopped walking. Seated in his chair, Lee Kang went on, “We’re going to hunt Makga.”
Seol-ah slowly turned her head. Looking at her, Lee Kang said, “If you’re afraid, say so. I can leave you out of it.”
She looked at him for a moment, then turned fully and sat back down. Her pale eyes rested quietly on Lee Kang. Nothing in them was easy to read.
“I’d like to cooperate, so long as it isn’t something reckless.”
Lee Kang was deeply satisfied with that answer.
It was a good answer.
He wanted Seol-ah to be smart.
If she had said something bold and foolish like, “No problem,” or acted resigned, saying she was bound to him by blood and had no choice but to follow, Lee Kang’s opinion of her would probably have changed a little.
His favorable impression of her might even have dropped sharply. But she hadn’t said that.
She would cooperate if it wasn’t reckless.
She hadn’t denied fear, and she hadn’t pledged blind obedience either. She stated her will and attached a condition to it.
Lee Kang liked that.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I never take a fight I can’t win.”
Seol-ah quietly nodded at his words. There was one thing she had learned from watching him so far.
Lee Kang suited her own temperament far too well.
He wasn’t reckless. He did bluff, but when things truly turned dangerous, he calculated. When he needed to run, he ran. When he needed to hide, he hid. He was the sort of person who could set aside pride and face, if that was what survival demanded.
For some reason, that felt comfortable to her.
Seol-ah felt a strange affection toward Lee Kang. She even thought he was trustworthy.
But they had only just met.
So Seol-ah deliberately suppressed her feelings. She decided not to put a name to what she was feeling yet.
Lee Kang looked at her and said briefly, “Go to sleep.”
Seol-ah lowered her head quietly.
“Yes. You should rest too.”
She turned again and walked toward the place where she would sleep. After confirming that she had settled in, Lee Kang returned to the desk.
The gallery window was closed.
Instead, he called up his status window.
Makga. The Beggar Clan’s subordinate branch. The Sasameng.
There was a great deal to think about.
But before that, there was something he needed to confirm. Lee Kang drew a slow breath.
Shall I try founding a sect now?
Lee Kang opened his status window. Translucent letters floated before his eyes.
After steadying his breathing for a moment, he spoke quietly.
“Sect creation.”
At that moment, the text on the status window changed.
You have met the conditions for sect creation.
Please decide on a sect name.
Lee Kang didn’t hesitate.
“Black Moon Sect.”
It was the obvious name. There was no reason to call it anything else now. Immediately, the next line appeared.
Sect name: Black Moon Sect
Please set a sect territory.
“...”
Lee Kang’s expression darkened.
Sect territory?
He hadn’t expected there to be a condition like that.
When he read wuxia novels, he’d seen one-person inheritances and one-person sects before. So he’d assumed a sect didn’t necessarily need some grand territory to exist.
But apparently not. The system wouldn’t let him finish founding a sect on name alone.
I didn’t know that.
Territory. That meant he needed a base. Right now, Lee Kang only had one place that could even be called a base.
The second floor of the Old Three-Way Intersection Detective Agency, behind Mangwon Haomu Market.
He didn’t dislike that base, but he had prepared it so he could abandon it at any time if a crisis came.
Now those preparations had become meaningless, and he would need to defend the place with far more care and thoroughness. Lee Kang had no choice but to say, “The sect territory will be this detective agency.”
The status window responded at once.
Sect territory candidate: Old Detective Agency
If this territory is designated as sect territory, you will obtain one page of random information from Mangwon Market each month.
Lee Kang’s eyes widened.
“What?”
He asked reflexively, “The reward changes depending on the territory you choose?”
The text on the window changed again.
The standards and resulting rewards for sect territories vary widely.
Those standards cannot be explained in detail.
Example: If a supermarket-type territory is designated as sect territory, you may obtain random goods that can be stocked in that supermarket each month.
Example: If, after raising the sect to a certain level, you occupy a slave-market-type territory, you may obtain a fixed number of random slaves each month.
The corner of Lee Kang’s mouth slowly lifted.
So that’s how it was.
He knew founding a sect had benefits. But he hadn’t known it would provide them in this way.
Lee Kang thought for a long time.
If he designated somewhere like a supermarket as a sect territory, he might be able to obtain food or supplies. That would directly help him survive. But such a place was probably already occupied by someone else.
No, even if it wasn’t occupied, it would be easy to make a target.
A territory that produced food.
The moment someone seized one of those, every starving bastard in the vicinity would rush in with blood in their eyes.
By contrast, this detective agency was shabby. It had no obvious value at a glance. And it would provide information, which might even prove useless.
Random information from Mangwon Market. Lee Kang let out a quiet breath.
Information is the weapon of this world. At least, that’s how I see it.
Of course, food mattered too. But knowing where the danger lay, who was moving, and what object was where could be even more important.
Especially for someone as weak as Lee Kang. If he couldn’t win by fighting head-on, he had to know in advance and avoid it. If he couldn’t avoid it, then he had to prepare first.
Lee Kang made his decision.
“The sect territory will remain here, at this detective agency.”
Sect territory established.
Sect creation complete.
Black Moon Sect has been officially registered as a sect.
Lee Kang stared at the message in silence for a moment.
At last, the Black Moon Sect, which had existed only in name, had become an official sect. A surge of exhilaration filled Lee Kang’s body, but he quickly forced himself to calm down.
Creating a sect didn’t suddenly make him stronger. It only gave him more things he could do. He was simply happy because he had achieved something he’d been aiming for all this time.
After settling himself, Lee Kang opened the sect status window.
“Sect status window.”
A translucent window appeared anew.
“...That’s it?”
He got less information than he’d expected.
There was no sect martial art suddenly appearing, no sparkling transformation of the building, no special buff for sect members.
But it wasn’t disappointing enough to complain. He figured more abilities would open up as the sect leveled up.
Lee Kang looked at the sect status window and asked quietly, “How do I gain sect experience?”
The text on the window changed.
Sect experience is affected by the sect leader’s strength, the sect’s reputation, and the number of sect members.
It is important to increase the sect leader’s strength, spread the sect’s reputation, and recruit more members.
Lee Kang narrowed his eyes.
Reputation, huh...
Declaring that he would wipe out Makga could ultimately tie into reputation as well. Of course, if he failed, it would become a laughingstock rather than reputation.
Then the window continued.
However, sect experience, like affection, can also fall below zero.
“Negative?”
Lee Kang’s expression hardened.
The status window, as if it had been waiting for that reaction, displayed the next line.
Sect experience may decrease if the sect is forgotten, if members leave, or if the sect leader’s strength drops.
Lee Kang fell silent for a moment.
It can go down too?
That was a fairly troublesome condition.
He couldn’t just think about building the sect. He had to maintain it. It had to avoid being forgotten, it had to keep its members, and he himself, as sect leader, couldn’t afford to grow weak.
Sect experience wasn’t simply about hunting and filling a number. It was closer to the sect’s very presence.
Lee Kang asked again, “To expand territory I’ve occupied, do I need to raise the sect level?”
The status window didn’t answer.
“...”
Lee Kang studied the translucent window in silence.
There was no answer.
But he was almost certain.
Earlier, the system had plainly said that if, after raising the sect to a certain level, he occupied a slave-market-type territory, he could obtain a fixed number of random slaves each month.
In other words, occupying certain territories required sect level.
Or at the very least, sect level affected which territories could be occupied and what rewards could be obtained.
So I really do need to level up the sect.
Lee Kang asked a few more things after that. But the system didn’t answer every question kindly.
Some questions got short answers, while others were met with complete silence. Lee Kang separated the responses and the silences one by one, sorting them neatly in his head.
He held onto the status window for a long while, and only late into the night did he finally let out a long breath.
“That’s enough.”
That was all he could know for now. Lee Kang closed the sect status window.
It was late.
His body was tired too. After days of repeating training, vigilance, and checking the gallery, his head felt a little heavy as well.
Lee Kang stood and walked toward the sofa where he usually slept.
Then he stopped.
“...”
Seol-ah was already lying on it.
It was the place Lee Kang usually slept.
Seol-ah was asleep, curled into a small ball. Her black hair was scattered across the sofa, and her breathing was quiet.
Lee Kang looked down at her in silence.
That’s my spot.