In Sichuan
Coming down from the thoroughly eventful Mount Emei, our party naturally set foot on the soil of Sichuan.
Warm air marking the turn from summer into autumn brushed against my skin as I glanced at the woman trudging along beside me with a weary face and opened my mouth.
“Hey, thief.”
Yang Yang stopped walking and shot me a piercing glare. Her expression said she had just heard a word she could never forgive.
“……It’s Yang Yang. And I clearly told you I’m not a thief—I’m the Divine Thief.”
Irritation and a peculiar pride mixed in her voice. She was emphasizing once more that she was an entirely different breed from ordinary thieves.
“Yeah, right. Thief.”
“Hah. Look who’s talking, a mere troubleshooter.”
She snorted, countering that it was the sort of job only underworld riffraff did. A high-level conversation between a beggar-turned-troubleshooter and a self-proclaimed Divine Thief.
“At least I make an honest living. Unlike you.”
I answered evenly. Sure, I occasionally got morally gray requests like this one, but most of my work stayed inside the bounds of the law.
“Hilarious. Why don’t you take off that cross-dressing outfit first before you talk? Looking like that…… you could pass for a pervert.”
Yang Yang’s sharp jab left me momentarily speechless. A pervert? These were simply the traces of going all-out for a job. Still, walking around in this fluttery women’s martial robe with the disguise half-undone really did undercut my authority. I needed to duck into a cloth shop and change soon.
“But earlier—what was all that about Heavenly Outer ones, stars, moons, and the rest?”
She asked as we walked, curiosity suddenly getting the better of her.
“Just…… circumstances.”
I shrugged.
“……Hmph. So you won’t tell me. Not that it matters. I’ve heard of the Heavenly Outer ones myself, you know?”
She’d overheard the term in passing from the fourth-generation Divine Thief—who also happened to be her grandfather. So hiding it was pointless; she’d dig everything up eventually. Well, even if she found out, I had nothing to be ashamed of.
“Then let me ask you one. Why were you trying to steal the Heaven-Interceptive Sword from the Emei Sect?”
Had someone commissioned the theft? The Heaven-Interceptive Sword was so famous throughout the Central Plains that simply wearing it would immediately mark it as stolen goods. The entire Emei Sect would come hunting.
“……Just, you know, circumstances. Don’t pry too much.”
She threw my own vague answer straight back at me. Judging by her attitude so far, it seemed she needed the power contained in the sword more than its material value—and that power was the ability to detect beings who had strayed from the righteous path. There was definitely a story there.
“Hey, thief. If you ever need work later, come find me.”
Divine Thief—meaning she had the finest thieving skills in the Central Plains, right? For a troubleshooter, connections with the authorities mattered, but knowing skilled specialists like her was just as important. Especially for someone like me who took unusual jobs and needed people to call when things got complicated.
“Please. Me, call you? No way. The moment a thief calls a troubleshooter, it means the job already failed.”
She shot me an incredulous look, then turned away and continued.
“And I never fail at thieving!”
After answering my offer with such vigor, Yang Yang vanished into the crowds of the Sichuan streets as if swept away by the throng. Stealth techniques so perfect they bordered on the supernatural.
“Kids like her always come crawling back later, whining after they fail.”
“Exactly, Boss.”
Ilhong and I each got a dig in at that arrogant display. It was the start of autumn, as summer drew to a close.
That strange energy…… has become two…….
Ever since a small moon energy settled inside my body, Salsung had taken to flaring up red and throwing tantrums whenever it felt like it. Since then, the frequency of it speaking to me had only seemed to climb. Apparently keeping its mouth shut had become a real chore.
“Anyway, what the hell is this violet energy?”
I couldn’t really control it; it simply sat quietly inside me. Could I put this to use later somehow? I should ask Hwang Geolgae first. He’d probably scold me for getting mixed up in another weird mess, but still.
“Boss, we already got paid by the Sect Leader. How about we play around a bit before we go?”
She tilted her head toward streets overflowing with Mid-Autumn Festival attractions and floated the suggestion. The moment the smell of freshly baked hot mooncakes hit her nose, she started pestering me even harder. True, this job had been rough enough that resting a little wouldn’t hurt, but—
“Why’d you take off your disguise on your own?”
She wanted to play not as the male Ilhong but as the female Honggeum, all the way out here far from Beijing.
“Come on, what’s the big deal? I’ve grown so much no one would recognize me, and with the wig and makeup, nobody’s going to know.”
She spun in place, showing off her fully dressed-up feminine appearance.
“Tsk. At least put on a face veil.”
“Aww……”
At my firm answer, Ilhong made a pouty face and pulled the white face veil back over her head the way she had when we first arrived. Then she muttered about how, if she wanted to achieve her dream, she would have to eliminate some guy and take his place.
“But if I wear it half-heartedly it looks even more suspicious. It’s not like I’m some noble lady from a great family……”
“Then act like one. A young lady from a famous house.”
I told the grumbling girl to perform just as skillfully as when she cross-dressed as a man.
“Then you have to play along, Boss.”
She wanted me to act as the bodyguard escorting a young lady out for the festival. Well, she had fought hard against Hyein Satae this time, so—
“Lead the way, young lady.”
When I struck a pose, Ilhong smiled brightly.
“Hehe. Shall we, Warrior Dan Mujin?”
I decided to take a short break with Ilhong here in Sichuan.
And so we were in the middle of enjoying the festival—looking at curiosities and savoring good food—when a strange energy bored straight into me from some alley.
Every hair on my body stood on end at the aura of a master. Gripping my sword hilt, I stepped into the alley. I wondered who it was, but the face that emerged from that shabby district was surprisingly familiar.
None other than the hegemon of festival-holding Sichuan itself: Clan Head Dang Yangcheon of the Sichuan Tang Family.
“How is it? The Mid-Autumn Festival, Sichuan’s specialty? There are even craftsmen here who craft fireworks from black powder, so the sights are quite spectacular.”
When I first met him he had been clearly ill, but now he had shaken every last trace of it off and fully become a poison man, brimming with vitality. The Human-Faced Spider’s poison that Dang Yeohye and I had fetched for him must have been a genuine miracle cure.
“And the mooncakes are delicious too. Have one.”
I examined the mooncake the Tang Clan Head held out. A member of the Tang Family would have gratefully stuffed it down their throat, but—
“No poison in this, right?”
“……I’m not Yeohye.”
Given everything I had been through, I couldn’t just accept it readily. Anyway, since he insisted he was nothing like that, I took a big bite. The savory aroma of nuts spread through my mouth—truly first-rate.
“And putting poison in food for people she likes has been Yeohye’s habit since she was little. She did the same to Neungsam.”
“Pfft!”
I spat out a precious chunk of mooncake. So most of those poisoning attempts so far had been expressions of goodwill—love attacks, basically? Dang Yangcheon watched my sweat-beaded reaction with clear amusement.
“But how did you know I was here and come find me?”
Surely he hadn’t just run into me while sneaking out to enjoy the festival himself.
“This is Sichuan, and everything that happens here reaches me. Your trail started being reported to me from the moment you entered Mount Emei.”
He had been watching, and the moment it seemed we had come down from Mount Emei, he had come looking for me right away.
“Aha……”
His turf, huh? Influence worthy of being called Sichuan’s hegemon.
“But Young Hero Dan Mujin, who is the woman beside you?”
Ilhong, who had been playing the young lady until I suddenly vanished, had hurriedly come looking for me. The moment she saw me with Dang Yangcheon, she latched onto my arm and hugged it tight.
“She’s my fiancée—the one I’ve promised to marry.”
She dramatically pulled aside her white face veil, flaunting her beauty and marking her territory.
“Hmm, is that so?”
The Tang Clan Head hummed at the appearance of such a striking beauty and looked at me.
“Of course not.”
I answered shortly.
“Huh. Even with such a fine woman, you say you’re not that close……? Well, considering you’ve gotten close with my daughter, your tastes must be rather unique.”
“It’s not like that at all.”
This uncle was saying something dangerous. I shouted in surprise that I did not have those tastes.
“Anyway, why did you seek me out? Surely not just to show off Sichuan.”
Dang Yangcheon nodded as if to say that was right.
“Do you know that Yeohye, who joined the Myeolmade, hasn’t shown her face at home even once?”
Even though it was festival season when families would travel to the capital to see each other no matter how far apart—there was still no word of her return, he said with a slightly bitter face. Dang Yeohye’s father.
“I think she’s done everything she wanted by now. So please bring her back to the Tang Family.”
With Dang Ak, who had been competing for the heir position, out of the picture, he couldn’t have the sole heir wandering around outside. Thinking of the family, he wanted me to pull her out of the Myeolmade and bring her home.
“Why don’t you do it yourself……?”
“She never listens to a word I say.”
He used to get through a little when he got angry, but ever since I saved the Clan Head’s life last time she had nothing left to feel guilty about and was completely freewheeling.
“She doesn’t even listen to her father. Why would she listen to me?”
“Well, she might actually listen to you, Young Hero. Yeohye seemed to have feelings for you.”
“……Ahem ahem.”
I wasn’t sure in what sense he meant it, but if she had heard that herself she would have thrown a fit the way she had with Neungsam.
“Since the subject came up—how do you feel about my daughter?”
This had to be one of the most burdensome questions in the world. A father directly asking how I felt about his own daughter.
“She’s extremely clever, gifted in martial arts, and flawless in every way……”
“Not that boilerplate answer. I mean your feelings. How do you think of her?”
Ilhong’s grip on my arm tightened further. She was squeezing so hard it started to hurt a little.
“We’ve clashed a lot and she’s cursed me out plenty, but she’s one of the few comrades I can truly trust.”
My honest feelings, with no flowery language added.
“Hmm, so still at that level. I heard you grew close while wandering the borders of life and death together?”
“I have a problem I’m facing right now, and until I solve it, things like the great matters of human relationships don’t seem possible.”
Dang Yangcheon stroked his chin at my answer.
“Hmm, some terminal illness? You say it’s a serious problem.”
“Yes, something similar.”
Not a terminal illness, but I was carrying a star that would kill every precious person around me the moment I let my guard down.
“Ugh, then it can’t be helped. In that case, I’ll make it a request. When you have time, go check on her and urge her to come home.”
“Yes. If I have free time and happen to head to Shaanxi, I’ll do so.”
When I said I would do that if I stopped by Shaanxi or had business with the Myeolmade, the Sichuan Tang Family Clan Head finally looked satisfied and left.
A little after he disappeared, Ilhong, who had been standing with a gloomy face, lifted her head and asked me.
“So that was it……?”
“What was?”
She was getting a little teary-eyed. What’s with her?
“You had a terminal illness, so no matter how much I threw myself at you, you reacted that way…… Ah.”
“No, that’s not it.”
I had simply pushed her away because we had been close since childhood while she was cross-dressing as a boy, so she felt like a little brother. Plus, even looking at her as a boyish beauty, she was still a bit lacking in maturity.
“But the me of now is an incredibly beautiful woman, you know?”
As if telling me to look again, she whipped the face veil aside once more and tugged on my arm.
“Hey, people are watching. Put that back down.”
Her beauty really did draw eyes—Sichuan people’s gazes started locking onto us instantly.
“Hurry and put it down.”
“No!”
She pulled my arm as if urging me to just enjoy the festival already. And so we had to walk the streets for a while, bickering the whole way.