Salsung
"Interesting young man."
Alliance Leader Namgung Soseon wore a meaningful smile upon receiving the report that Dan Mujin had just left the Murim Alliance Headquarters.
Every time he saw that youth, the boy was tangled up in some extraordinary incident. And once he got tangled up, he always saw it through to the bitter end no matter what.
His exploits at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, the head of the Left Blood Dharma, and even handling a jiangshi that sword qi supposedly could not touch…
According to the martial arts registry, he supposedly came from some minor sect called the Chilji Gate or something of the sort.
"So the saying about an awl in a bag is true after all."
A sharp awl, no matter where you hide it, will always pierce through in the end.
Thinking that such a talent had emerged from outside the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans filled Namgung Soseon with a rather fond amusement.
"You seem quite taken with him, Father."
Namgung Jin, who had been listening quietly, turned a look of surprise on him with those jade-white features of his.
His father might appear mild on the surface, but Namgung Soseon was not a man who took idle interest in people.
"How could I not? He's a martial artist of rare boldness in this day and age. Reminds me a little of the Thunder Sword in his younger days."
The way he never held back what he wanted to say, and the way he was so transparent about chasing money—both felt similar.
"…What? The Thunder Sword, Great Hero Moyong Cheon, was like that?"
Namgung Jin's eyes flew wide. The Moyong Cheon he knew was a family-first ambitious man who pushed his son to surpass him.
"He was, when he was young. A righteous knight with his own principles, who raged at injustice and whose competitive spirit was exceptionally fierce."
"Then how did he become…?"
"Time and position change a man. Once he became clan lord and the weight of responsibility grew heavy, he turned out that way, I suppose."
Namgung Soseon gave a bitter smile, thinking he himself was not so different.
"In any case, that young man single-handedly accomplished things that none of the Alliance's armed forces could manage, one after another. Truly peerless."
Looking at it now, when it came to the Blood Sect, one troubleshooter was better than the armed forces themselves. The Alliance Leader let out a hollow laugh.
"…Just wait and see. Next time, I'll find the Blood Sect before he does and smash them to pieces."
Namgung Jin clenched his fist, revealing a rare flash of competitive fire.
A glint of interest lit Namgung Soseon's eyes.
"Hoho, so a sense of rivalry has taken root."
"Hardly. It's simply that even a mere troubleshooter is striving so hard—I can't just sit idle myself."
Namgung Jin shrugged and denied it.
Yet Namgung Soseon faintly read that subtle competitive spirit blooming across his son's expression and face.
Well now.
Namgung Soseon smiled inwardly. His son, always ranked as the next greatest under heaven and so unmatched among his peers that he was constantly bored…
Today, for the first time, he was becoming conscious of someone else and kindling even a small flame of rivalry.
And since this was the son who had always believed there was no one above him, that alone pleased Namgung Soseon.
"Dan Mujin… A youth like that ought to be brought into the Alliance's armed forces. What are the squad leaders even doing? Still no word."
He wanted to keep the boy close and watch him—not from afar.
That young man who carried the scent of an old friend and was now prodding his son.
"It would be useless. I hear the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden has already invited him several times and been refused."
Namgung Jin said it would be no use.
Apparently the armed forces had taken turns trying to recruit him multiple times already.
A pity. And yet this boy of his seemed to know a curious amount about that youth.
Even though the youth himself had seemed to know little about Namgung Jin.
"Hmm, she tried as well? Then there's nothing for it."
She was currently the most trustworthy woman within the Murim Alliance—the one whose sense of mission to cut down the wicked ran deepest. And popular among the righteous knights as well, they said.
If even she had failed to persuade him, it was regrettable, but there was nothing to be done.
"About the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden, though…"
"Call her Vice Leader Moyong Cheonghye. What about her?"
Namgung Soseon corrected his son's slip of the tongue and looked at him questioningly.
Namgung Jin opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, his face torn with conflict.
Should I tell him?
On the cliff, his own ominous star had reacted. That meant another ominous star had definitely been present in that place.
And the Blood Sect's astrologer had declared the Heavenly Killing Star was there, while the Left Blood Dharma had pointed at Moyong Cheonghye and screamed that she was the Heavenly Killing Star.
"…It's nothing."
"Hmph. How bland."
Weighing the gains and losses, she was currently a major fighting force for the Murim Alliance.
Besides, they still had not even figured out why she remained in her right mind.
So Namgung Jin decided to watch her a little longer.
Moyong Cheonghye…
Someday he would uncover exactly what had happened.
By the time I dragged my exhausted body into Beijing, it was late night and the stars were scattered thickly across the sky.
I sent Ilhong and Harang, who were dying for sleep, off to the office, then shouldered the money chest and headed for the Eunseong Merchant Group.
Paying the money back quickly put my mind at ease, and after the mess I'd caused last time, Hwang Geolgae had ordered me to report the moment the job was finished.
"Money is the sort of thing that breeds greed the longer you hold onto it."
I couldn't become someone like that old man Jang from the cloth shop who'd backstabbed his own friend.
I was truly planning to live cleanly from now on, without doing any more bad deeds.
You idiot…
Just to shut up this bastard who kept scraping at me in red letters was reason enough.
Now that it had grown the remaining four fingers and a palm, it was getting all excited and provocating me. Somehow I wanted to pile up even more good deeds and beat this thing into the ground.
Give me back my body…
With the palm, the influence it could exert on the world seemed to have grown a little; Salsung was able to speak more often and at greater length than usual.
"Why the hell would this be your body, you bastard?"
It spoke as if it had merely left the thing in storage for a while. I was so dumbfounded that a string of curses slipped out before I could stop them.
Who are you…? Not Cheongjin…
"I am Cheongjin, you know? About half of me, anyway."
The existence of former troubleshooter Dan Wonjun had gotten mixed in, sure.
But by this point, the sum of all of it was the being called "me."
Give it back. It's mine…
Salsung fluttered its palm at me as if demanding I hand it over right this instant.
I responded to its one-sided demand by straightening my middle finger in a clear "talk shit" gesture.
What… is that…?
"It means go eat shit and get lost."
A simple, memorable finger insult that worked in every country in my old era.
It must have made quite an impression, because the thing immediately raised its own middle finger right back at me, conveying the same "eat shit" sentiment.
凸
This was not going to be easy.
The terrifying Heavenly Killing Star that dyed the world in blood, locked in a middle-finger battle…
It almost felt like I was the one who had dragged the ominous star down to this level. The feeling was strange.
"Forget it. Just disappear."
I circulated the Seongun Simbeop that Hwang Geolgae had taught me and raised the demon-repelling energy throughout my entire body.
White energy, made even more sacred by the starlight pouring down from the heavens.
Kyaaaak.
The thing let out a bizarre scream and seemed to vanish.
As if a pipsqueak that couldn't even take a single punch from me had any right to act up.
My first negotiation with the thing appeared to have ended in breakdown.
"You brat, why are you muttering nonsense to yourself? Starting to see ghosts or something?"
A presence suddenly bloomed nearby, and an old, gravelly voice addressed me.
I turned my head to find Hwang Geolgae giving me a sour look that clearly said, What the hell are you doing?
"Of course not. My mind is always clear and unshaken."
He was already in a foul mood from me getting mixed up in big incidents lately. If I told him I was seeing strange things, I might end up smelling incense for real that very day.
With pure survival instinct, I insisted there was nothing wrong with my mind.
"Clear and unshaken, my ass. I haven't seen a lunatic quite like you in a long while, you brat."
Considering I was walking around with a mad star in my head, I was doing pretty damn well, if you asked me. As always, the old man expected a lot.
"And that chest?"
"Payment from this job. As soon as day breaks I'll hand it straight over to Big Sis."
"Heheh, good. Holding onto something like that too long only makes wicked greed rise."
An old man who owned nothing but a single staff and one set of clothes—the absolute peak of non-possession—muttered with clear satisfaction.
"But you brat, where the hell did you sell off that Dog-Beating Staff I gave you last time?"
He looked me over—travel-worn and empty-handed—and asked in puzzlement.
"Ah, the Hell Demon-Slaying Staff? That thing snapped in two."
"You crazy bastard! How long has it even been since I made it for you, and you've already wrecked it again?"
"You think I wanted it broken in two? What am I supposed to do when experts keep popping out wherever I go?"
In the old days I would have been too scared of a beating to raise my voice.
Not anymore.
I brazenly explained that it had happened while dealing with the Blood Sect.
"The Blood Sect again? Did you get some kind of curse? Why is your luck so rotten these days?"
"Right? Recently someone from the Jinju Eon Clan even told me something was attached to me and made me anxious. I should try an exorcism ritual sometime."
An exorcism ritual was this world's version of a shamanistic rite to drive out evil spirits.
"Tsk tsk. Dragging in nothing but ominous incidents wherever you go."
"Hey, why are you talking like I'm the one attracting them?"
"You ran around so much, failed to get your revenge, and still managed to come back with only a broken staff?"
Hwang Geolgae took a long swig of liquor and clicked his tongue as if I were hopeless.
"It was just a staff you carved out of any old tree anyway."
"You brat! That's a spiritual staff carved by the Divine Wind Daoist himself!"
"And I did get my revenge, for the record. Left Blood Dharma Gwang Hyeol-so—I beat him to death myself."
"…Eh?"
I gave the heavy chest a solid thump, saying that was how I'd earned this much money.
Hwang Geolgae's eyes went round.
"How in the world did a brat who's only at Peak Realm manage that?"
"Just, you know… things happened."
"'Just, you know' my ass. Spit it out, you brat."
"I got my hands on a sword that was perfect for stabbing people to death, okay? And then suddenly I could see the grain of things, and flesh and blood went whoosh whoosh…"
Thwack!
Hwang Geolgae's hands and feet shot out in a blur and roughly kicked me in the face and gut.
"…I've never seen such a crazy bastard!"
"Ghk—son of a bitch."
Getting hit by anyone else was one thing, but why did it always hurt so much more when this old man did it?
What kind of secret principles were packed into those punches and kicks?
"I even taught you the Dog-Beating Staff Technique so you wouldn't pick up a blade! And this bastard still—!"
"Come on, seriously. It was an emergency! An emergency!"
"Yes, this right here is the emergency, you brat!"
Whoosh!
A flash of fighting spirit traced a trajectory. I slammed my knees down and bent my waist, dodging the staff by a paper-thin margin.
Ever since I had gripped a sword and killed something, the Heavenly Killing Star's basic abilities felt enhanced.
"Oh-ho, dodging?"
"It was force majeure. If I hadn't, even Ilhong, the one Master dotes on, would have died."
The opponents had been a serious jiangshi and Gwang Hyeol-so.
If I hadn't drawn the sword, the whole office crew might have died, and the Jinju Eon Clan might have been wiped out entirely to silence the witnesses.
"So since things turned out this way… just grit your teeth and properly teach me sword techniques. Better that than me fumbling around and falling onto some weird path, right?"
My request to learn swordsmanship left him looking utterly appalled for a moment. Then some thought seemed to strike him; he grinned and strode over, drawing a sword from near the training grounds.
"Fine. That works too. This old man will personally teach you swordsmanship today."
This felt ominous.
I almost thought I sensed a faint murderous intent.
"Cancel that. On second thought, I can learn it later, Master."
"Too late, you brat!"
Whoosh—!
The blade sliced through the air the moment he spoke, shearing off a lock of my hair with a sharp shick.
"Aargh, this isn't going to end with just a beating!"
"Today I'm going to fix that rotten head of yours!"
Apparently learning swordsmanship was going to require staking my life, unlike usual.
I broke into a full sprint just to stay alive.
Whoosh—!
And the next day.
In the merchant lord's office of the Eunseong Merchant Group after daybreak,
Eun Hwaran stared at me—dragging the heavy chest along—in blank shock.
"Little brother, are you all right…?"
"No…"
My whole body was in tatters. The wounds had regenerated, but the sliced and torn clothing all over me seemed to explain last night's ordeal all by itself.
"The culprit was…"
"That old man, yeah."
"…I see."
He really was one terrifying old man.