The Price of Sin

Baekri Yeongra unconsciously let go of her husband's hair, which she had been gripping tightly. "There is a clear reason why my youngest sister-in-law contacted me first, of all people. Just as she stated in her letter, it was to ensure that Chunyangru, that hotbed of crime, is shut down for good..."

Having spoken up to this point, Un Sang-yu suddenly roared like a wild beast and leaped up from his seat. "Aaargh! I'll kill him!"

"...Your temper always flares up a step too late," Yeongra muttered.

"Aaaaaargh!"

His eyes bloodshot, Un Sang-yu began to devise ways to exert pressure on the officials of Nagan from all angles, strictly within the boundaries of the law. Not satisfied with merely grinding ink for her husband while he drafted the official documents, Baekri Yeongra also picked up a brush, determined to dry up Jeokhwa Palace's financial lifelines. Overcome with rage, the couple spent the entire night writing letter after letter. They intended to carve the realization that he had picked the wrong target deep into the very bones of that worthless scoundrel, Hwa Mujin.

Unable to bear the pressure of the case against Hwa Mujin, the Magistrate of Nagan appealed to his superiors for help. In the end, after four high-ranking officials of Nagan-seong put their heads together, a verdict was finally reached. They concluded that the attempted assault of a married woman, Baekri Yeongso, by drugging her with aphrodisiacs, and the confinement and abuse of over a hundred civilian women in the Chunyangru Annex were entirely Hwa Mujin's doing, and he deserved the severest punishment.

In short, Hwa Mujin was hit with every kind of punishment imaginable. Flogging with a wide wooden cane was a brutal physical punishment; even thirty strokes were enough to tear open flesh and cause a person to pass out from the pain. To endure a hundred strokes meant that no matter how skilled in martial arts one was, they would inevitably be left on the brink of death. Hwa Mujin would have to spend the entire season bedridden, groaning in agony.

"The execution of the criminal's physical punishment will be carried out publicly tomorrow morning in the courtyard of the magistrate's office. The District Commandant shall lead the constables and immediately enforce the closure of Chunyangru."

"Don't make me laugh!" Forced to his knees, Hwa Mujin rolled his eyes back in fury and sprang to his feet. "How dare mere insects like you treat the Palace Master of Jeokhwa Palace..."

"For the martially gifted Palace Master Hwa, wiping out our modest magistrate's office would indeed be child's play. But have you considered this?" The inspecting official in charge of Nagan-seong asked, stroking his beard. "Once you wipe us out, who exactly is it you will have to face next?"

Hwa Mujin glared with murderous intent at the inspecting official, who was subtly implying whether he intended to turn the entire imperial army of the nation into his enemy. Watching this unfold from behind, Hwa Jak's henchman caught Hwa Mujin's attention and silently shook his head.

"Since it's not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him getting beaten, Father finds it so easy to tell me to just swallow my pride and endure it," Hwa Mujin muttered, his fists trembling violently.

Having listened to the verdict from a short distance away, just like Hwa Jak's henchman, Banya and his wife left the scene first. After dropping his wife off at the main gates of Cheonsaryeon, Banya vanished without even revealing his destination, saying only that he had somewhere to go alone. Troubled by his dark expression, Yeongso waited for exactly one double-hour. She figured that would be more than enough time for him to take care of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a quick errand and return.

"Renju...?" Entering Banya's study, Yeongso was taken aback. "He's not here."

She searched every corner of Cheonsaryeon where her husband might go, but Banya was nowhere to be found. No one had even seen him.

"Has he still not returned?" As Yeongso tilted her head in confusion, Ma Ryun caught her eye. For some reason, she felt he would know Banya's whereabouts.

"I heard the verdict to close down Chunyangru was handed down today. If so, the Renju has likely gone to the Annex."

"You don't know for sure, but you think he... went there?"

"Yes. But it is ten to one that he did."

Suddenly, she recalled what she had heard from the middle-aged woman about Banya's childhood. A place of horrific memories. Had her husband's mind grown troubled at the news that the place was about to disappear forever? Yeongso suddenly felt a strong urge to visit the Chunyangru Annex. On the day she rescued the captives, she had been too focused on the people to properly examine the place itself. She wanted to see it with her own eyes before it was sealed off for good.

"Then I shall go to the Chunyangru Annex as well."

"Right now?" Ma Ryun added without much thought, "In that case, I will escort you."

The moment the words left Ma Ryun's mouth, their eyes locked in midair. At that moment, Ma Ryun thought to himself:

Wait... The Renju-buin is highly likely to be stronger than me.

Meanwhile, Baekri Yeongso's inner thoughts were:

Should I tell him I can go alone? But I must consider his pride.

Yeongso was probably the only person in the world who would have such thoughts regarding Ma Ryun, the second-in-command of Cheonsaryeon. An awkward silence stretched between them for a moment. It was Ma Ryun who offered a compromise.

"Come to think of it, I have some urgent business to attend to. You will be taking a carriage, yes? Then please take your maid with you. In any case, you are the Renju-buin; we cannot have you wandering about alone."

"Ah, yes, that sounds perfect." Yeongso quickly accepted his suggestion. At times like this, Banya's right-hand man, Ma Ryun, seemed far more flexible than Banya himself.

Perhaps serving an ill-tempered master for so long made him this way. Yeongso caught herself badmouthing her husband, startled by her own thoughts, and frantically chanted Cancel! Cancel! in her mind.

"Wait here."

"Are you sure you don't need Chocho to go with you, Madam? Or at least take the coachman."

Don't worry. I am perfectly fine going anywhere in Nagan-seong by myself. Yeongso offered a reassuring little smile. "The Renju is inside anyway. It's fine."

There was no direct path from the main street to the Chunyangru Annex. One had to go through the back door of the main building. Yeongso stared briefly at the bright red 'X' of the "No Entry" seal pasted across the grand main entrance before slipping around to the side of the building.

I shouldn't damage the seal put up by the magistrate's office... She quickly scanned her surroundings. Neither the coachman nor Chocho could see her from this angle, and fortunately, there were no pedestrians passing by on the main street. The windows of the adjacent building were tightly shut.

They usually only paste the "No Entry" seals on the first-floor windows and doors. Confirming that no one was watching, Yeongso lightly kicked off the ground. In the blink of an eye, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she slipped through a third-floor window, opened it, and peered back out through the crack to scan the area once more.

"No one saw me, right?"

In truth, even if someone had been looking, her leap was so swift they wouldn't have even recognized it as a human. Did a bird just fly past? What was that? Was it just my imagination? They would have simply tilted their heads in confusion. Baekri Yeongso was capable of moving with that level of speed. Thus, double-checking for witnesses was merely an old habit of hers.

"Since the back door on the first floor and the entrance to the Annex will also have seals on them, I'll have to use lightfoot technique again."

She figured Banya, having come alone, would have scaled the high wall at the back of the Annex directly. That would certainly be faster. But it didn't matter. Hiding, taking the long way around, and playing dumb were her specialties, after all. Ever since she began learning martial arts from her master, she had grown accustomed to such things.

"Well then, shall we?"

Leaping down from another window, Yeongso's figure swiftly crossed the rear garden and effortlessly cleared the high gates of the Annex. Perhaps the magistrate's office had taken the Annex's layout into account, as they hadn't gone so far as to paste the seals on the first floor of the building itself, only on the main gates.

Gently pushing the door open and stepping inside, Yeongso was about to call out to her husband when she froze in her tracks. Banya, his knuckles bloodied and raw, was sitting amidst a pile of utterly pulverized ruins. Dozens of white bones lay scattered at his feet. Her husband, who usually loathed even the slightest speck of dirt on his sleeves, was covered in a thick layer of grey dust. His hair was disheveled, and a thin scratch on his cheek was beaded with blood. Banya stared blankly into space, looking like someone who had existed there in silence for hundreds of years.

In that moment, she didn't know why she called out to her husband by that name.

"Banya..." Yeongso took a cautious step forward. She wanted to pull him back to her side, away from the darkness that seemed to have swallowed him whole. "It's me. Your wife, Baekri Yeongso."

It was safe to say the Chunyangru Annex no longer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had a second floor. Banya had completely demolished every piece of furniture and wall with his bare fists. Yeongso took a few more steps toward him. She crouched down in front of him and looked up, but her husband's gaze remained fixed on some distant, unreachable place.

"Did I ever tell you about my mother, Buin?" Banya asked, his voice hoarse.

Yeongso silently shook her head.