When Lions Meet
Baek Mun-do and Sin Pung-gae stepped over the fence and into the yard.
"Well, I never......"
The moment he crossed, Sin Pung-gae lifted his Dragon-Headed Staff.
He knew exactly who that handsome middle-aged man was.
"You seem to have recovered your health, I see."
The Cult Leader, however, remained utterly composed.
"To what do we owe the honor of the Demonic Cult's leader visiting a place like this?"
Sin Pung-gae spoke as he steadied his startled heart.
"I came to relax."
Before the Cult Leader's answer had even finished, Jiang Zhou planted himself in front of the two men.
"Welcome. Though may I ask what brings the Elder here?"
To the Alliance Leader he was perfectly courteous, but to Sin Pung-gae he wore a face of open displeasure.
Why am I the only one getting all this grief?
Sin Pung-gae felt genuinely wronged.
But he could hardly show weakness in front of the Demonic Cult's leader.
Kkeol-kkeol-kkeol....
"I came together with the Alliance Leader, so I trust you'll make an exception for me."
Jiang Zhou turned his head and glanced at Yang Jeong.
The boy was already showing every sign of bolting.
That idiot.
"I'll make the exception. Sit down."
For the sake of the younger brother he doted on, Jiang Zhou took a single step back.
Color bloomed across Sin Pung-gae's face at once.
I should have come with the Alliance Leader from the start. With the Alliance Leader here, even this rascal can't refuse me.
Once Baek Mun-do had seated himself across from Dokgo Yeob, Sin Pung-gae had no choice but to take a seat beside them.
"It has been twenty-five years, hasn't it."
"Twenty-six years, to be precise."
Once upon a time, they had entrusted their backs to one another against a common enemy.
Now they found themselves in an age where they trained their blades upon each other instead.
After the great war against the Blood Cult, Baek Mun-do and Dokgo Yeob had maintained their ties, but the Beggars' Sect had been left out, its connections severed.
"Bring us Pork Noodles and liquor."
It was Baek Mun-do who placed the order first, speaking on behalf of the others.
The moment Jiang Zhou disappeared into the kitchen, Yang Jeong scurried in after him.
If he stayed seated at that table, Sin Pung-gae looked ready to pounce on him at any second.
"Bring out the Seasoned Wild Greens and the liquor first."
"Me? Seriously, Boss?"
Jiang Zhou glared at him with narrowed eyes.
"Then who else is here but you?"
Coward that he was, Yang Jeong had no choice but to ladle the seasoned greens onto a wooden plate.
As soon as he set the greens and liquor on the table, just as expected, Sin Pung-gae struck up a conversation.
"What is your name, boy? And from what family do you hail?"
Cornered into answering no matter what, Yang Jeong turned his head and looked to Jiang Zhou for help.
And Jiang Zhou answered in his place.
"His home is here, and his name is Samryong."
Sin Pung-gae refused to believe that answer.
Lightness skill of that caliber was not something one could simply train into oneself.
Without a doubt, someone had taught him.
But he had no intention of revealing, in front of the Alliance Leader and the Cult Leader, just how extraordinary the lightness skills of these two were.
The Alliance Leader was rabid in his hunger for disciples, and if Dokgo Yeob learned the truth, he would without question drag the boy off to the Demonic Cult.
Kkeol-kkeol-kkeol............
He let out a barrel-chested laugh.
"Do you truly believe you can deceive the Chief of the Beggars' Sect?"
At Sin Pung-gae's question, Baek Mun-do and Dokgo Yeob quietly reddened.
They had fallen for that old man's schemes before, and it had cost them dearly.
"My name is Yang Jeong, and...... my home really is here."
Yang Jeong hastily corrected himself.
The reason he withheld his family name was the nagging fear that the Chief of the Beggars' Sect might well come knocking on his family's door.
"Drink first, everyone."
Sensing the awkward turn in the atmosphere, Baek Mun-do filled the cups.
Perhaps burning with impatience inside, Sin Pung-gae raised his cup and drained it in one gulp.
Kkeu....
"Magnificent."
Then he picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a pinch of the seasoned greens.
"Let us see for ourselves this cooking that the Alliance Leader praises so lavishly."
Wooleung-wooleung....
The moment the greens entered his mouth, his hands began to move busily.
"The flavor is...... quite respectable indeed."
Wooleung-wooleung.... Cheop-cheop....
In the blink of an eye, every last vegetable on the plate had vanished into his mouth.
Dokgo Yeob regarded the sight with profound displeasure.
"Have you been possessed by a hungry spirit?"
Tak..! Tak....!
Even in the kitchen, Jiang Zhou, who had been pulling noodles, chimed in with his whole heart.
"This is exactly why I refuse beggars as customers."
At that, Sin Pung-gae shot to his feet, face burning.
"Do you not even know the virtue of respecting one's elders?!"
"Rather than 'respect for elders,' I'd say 'reverence for the aged among one's own company' is the more apt saying."
Keu-hahahahaha...........!
At Jiang Zhou's retort, Dokgo Yeob — who until now had worn nothing but a cold face — burst into laughter.
To answer the Chief of the Beggars' Sect so pointedly, word for word?
And worse, not a single word of it was wrong.
When had he last laughed so freely, so thoroughly?
Hearing that laughter, Baek Mun-do found himself briefly awash in old memories.
There had been a time when Dokgo Yeob was the merriest of them all.
But as he buried friend after friend on the battlefield, laughter had drained out of him.
To see the man who so rarely smiled now roaring with mirth made Sin Pung-gae's face burn all the redder.
I've been thoroughly humiliated in front of the Cult Leader and the Alliance Leader.
Rage boiling up to the crown of his head, he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"Do you truly long to taste my Taegu-bong?!"
But Jiang Zhou brushed the threat aside without so much as a flicker.
"If you're going to keep making a racket, just leave."
"He's right, Chief. You are far too loud."
With Dokgo Yeob piling on as well, Sin Pung-gae sat back down, his face mottled red and blue.
Boss is unbelievable.
Watching the whole scene unfold, Yang Jeong couldn't help but be in awe.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Your Pork Noodles are served."
Jiang Zhou set three bowls of Pork Noodles on the table in turn.
As if his rage had never existed, Sin Pung-gae was the first to seize his chopsticks and dig in.
Hururuk......
With meat and noodles in his mouth, his chopsticks began flying about busily.
How can noodles and pork possibly taste like this?
No matter how skilled the cook, pork noodles inevitably carried a faint gaminess underneath.
Yet this bowl had none of it whatsoever.
And the meat — it was springy and tender, like biting into a fine cut of beef.
As for the broth, how could anything be so deep yet so clean?
He emptied the bowl in no time and held it out.
"One more bowl. No — three more bowls."
"Do you have silver?"
At Jiang Zhou's question, Sin Pung-gae's face contorted once more.
"I'll pay for him, so worry not."
Baek Mun-do, seated beside him, smoothed the matter over.
Jiang Zhou gathered the empty bowls and returned to the kitchen.
Anger began to smolder in Sin Pung-gae.
"So all this time, only the Alliance Leader has been enjoying this exquisite food? That is hardly fair, is it not?"
Hahaha........
Baek Mun-do laughed the old man's complaints away.
But an old man's stubbornness is truly relentless.
"From now on, I shall take every meal here. Naturally, the Alliance Leader will cover the full cost of my dining."
"I would love nothing more, but duties keep me busy — coming every day will be difficult."
"How far apart can the Murim Alliance and this inn possibly be? It's barely a nose's length if you stumble!"
While he was carrying on like that, Jiang Zhou came out and set three more bowls of Pork Noodles on the table.
Sin Pung-gae dragged all three bowls in front of himself and began to devour them like a starving beast.
Hururuk... huruk... cheop-cheop... hururuk....
Kkeol-kkeol-kkeol....
"This is genuinely delicious. Genuinely delicious."
Dokgo Yeob, having emptied his own bowl, looked at the man with a trace of discomfort.
He ate with such abandon that broth was spattering his face and soaking the table itself.
Dokgo Yeob shot a glance at Baek Mun-do across the table.
Catching the look, Baek Mun-do gave a small nod.
It's been a long time since I've seen that look of his.
Long ago, they had often drunk together with their comrades.
Some of those friends were terrible lightweights, and Dokgo Yeob used to flash that same glance — a signal that it was time to send them home.
"Bring out more liquor here. Generously — four more bottles."
At his order, Yang Jeong went into the kitchen and fetched the liquor.
"Have a drink as well, Chief."
As Baek Mun-do topped off his cup, Sin Pung-gae drank it down with good cheer.
Kkeu....
"The liquor is absolutely superb as well."
And every time Sin Pung-gae emptied his cup, the man kept filling it right back up.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Four bowls of Pork Noodles and six bottles of liquor had made their way into Sin Pung-gae's belly.
Dead drunk, he staggered up from his seat.
"Splendid......... when will another day as fine as this come again......... did you say Samryong?......... you shall surely become......... become the successor of the Beggars' Sect......... come now, pay your respects......... to this master of yours....."
He staggered to his feet, slurred and rambled, and finally collapsed flat onto the ground.
"Bow to your master..........."
Dreureung........ dreureung.........!
Sprawled on the floor, Sin Pung-gae soon began to snore.
"Quiet at last."
Dokgo Yeob paused mid-pour — his own cup filled, Baek Mun-do's next — and fixed a long, level stare on Yang Jeong.
"What have you done with the martial arts manual?"
At that question, Yang Jeong faltered as he answered.
"I'm... keeping it safe."
He could never, under any circumstances, admit that he had taken the manual home.
"Is that so? Then how far have you mastered it?"
"I've... mastered quite a lot of it."
Flustered, Yang Jeong blurted out whatever came to mind.
At once, even Baek Mun-do took an interest.
"Quite a lot, you say? Then demonstrate it for us."
Yang Jeong grew even more flustered.
Uh-oh. This isn't how it was supposed to go.
Panicking, he turned his head to look at Jiang Zhou.
Jiang Zhou raised a fist and shot him a gaze of pure murder.
Pressured from every side, Yang Jeong wanted nothing more than to bolt on the spot.
But if he did, he suspected he'd end up beaten to dust by his boss yet again.
Haha... hahaha...
He laughed awkwardly and lowered his head.
"Next time....... I shall show you."
But neither Baek Mun-do nor Dokgo Yeob was the sort of great man to be fobbed off with such a flimsy excuse.
"Show us. Now."
At the chill that had crept into Dokgo Yeob's voice, Jiang Zhou let out a deep sigh.
Aigoo....
That idiot.
Performing the sword art itself was not particularly difficult.
The techniques he had learned from his master were far more intricate and profound.
Given nothing more than a glance through the manual, both he and Samryong could manage a passable imitation.
But if they did that, there would be no escaping these men's attention.
Fine, whatever happens happens. I'm done caring.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Left with no choice, Yang Jeong picked up a tree branch.
Hwiiik....... hwik.....
And then, roughly, he unfolded the Moonlight Sword Art.
The branch cleaved through the air in every direction — slashing in diagonal arcs, darting and stabbing, tracing points in the air.
The eyes of Baek Mun-do and Dokgo Yeob, watching him, grew deeper and deeper.
This boy. A genius of the martial arts.
It's not too late. Even if he began training in earnest now, he could still become a master.
It was the exact moment when the two men's thoughts aligned.
Having finished his rough branch-dance, Yang Jeong flashed a sheepish grin.
Hehe...
"I still have a long way to go."
Kkeueung....
At those words, a groan of suppressed agony escaped Jiang Zhou.
He had known the boy was a fool, but never imagined he was this much of a fool.
That display was the result of Samryong deliberately sandbagging, doing it half-heartedly on purpose — but a true novice of the martial arts could not have performed even that much.
From now on, that idiot would be hounded without mercy, not only by the Alliance Leader but by the Cult Leader too.
Baek Mun-do, hiding his inner turmoil, turned to Jiang Zhou.
"And you? How far have you trained?"
Jiang Zhou answered with perfect composure.
"I have no interest in the martial arts. I've never even opened the manual."
Baek Mun-do and Dokgo Yeob studied Jiang Zhou with heavy, searching eyes.
In their judgment, this so-called Samryong was beyond doubt an extraordinary talent.
But the master of this inn was something greater still.
His bold, unflinching temperament was beyond reproach, and his frame and bones looked exceptional as well.
"Why do you not train in the martial arts?"
"I barely have time to cook as it is. Where would I find the time for martial training?"
Baek Mun-do withdrew his gaze.
A pity. What a pity. A man like this, rotting away as an inn cook.
But Dokgo Yeob's eyes remained sharp as blades.
There is something about that man.
He hadn't paid particular attention before, but the master of this inn moved far too lightly.
No — one might say his very gait was extraordinary.
When the man brought dishes out, there were moments when Dokgo Yeob failed to catch his approach.
He had assumed it was because his attention was elsewhere, but it seemed that was not the whole of it.
Having studied Jiang Zhou with scrutinizing eyes, Dokgo Yeob slowly opened his mouth.
"Bring out a different liquor."