When I Beat the Bushes, Something Strange Came Out
Inside a room smothered in lavish ornament, a middle-aged man sat alone drinking tea, his face tight with open displeasure.
The place was the Court of Censors. Even within the Imperial Palace it was the beating heart of political power, a nest where only the ambitious gathered.
And the man with the teacup was the man at its summit: Chief Censor Yang Gunjwa.
Rumor said he could knock birds from the sky. Officials throughout the capital trembled at the mere mention of him—an absolute power who answered to almost no one.
Right now, the head of the Court of Censors had his eyes fixed far beyond the window, on Cheonhwaru.
"We turned Sichuan Province inside out, yet we still could not uncover the identity of that so-called Golden Young Master who claimed he would redeem Ju Wolay."
The Left Deputy Chief Censor entered and delivered the report. A third-rank official charged with rooting out corruption and handling major cases inside the capital, reduced to reporting on a single courtesan—it was an almost unbelievable sight.
No one in the Court of Censors dared object. Cross Yang Gunjwa while his temper was this foul and a man could lose his head.
"And the current whereabouts of those gold-and-whatever bastards?"
The deputy hesitated before answering.
"That is… they appear to be spending a rather intimate stretch of time with Ju Wolay in the guest chambers…"
The hand holding the teacup trembled, just slightly. Yang Gunjwa's face remained blank, but the quiet fury in his eyes was impossible to hide. His subordinates each took a careful step back.
Fortunately the Chief Censor cooled the boiling in his gut by looking once more at a certain painting of a beauty. He stroked the portrait of Ju Wolay playfully biting a cat's tail, then asked the next question.
"What of the carriage procession we sent for the redemption? You made certain the pavilion mistress knew the owner of that carriage was the Chief Censor of the Court of Censors, yes?"
The Left Deputy cleared his throat. He already knew the answer would sour his superior's mood further.
"Yes, we made it perfectly clear. We also impressed upon them that refusal could bring misfortune down on Cheonhwaru."
He laid the groundwork carefully: I did exactly as ordered.
"And? The result?"
"With all due respect… they have sent word that they refuse Your Excellency's offer of redemption…"
Even as he spoke he watched his superior's face. Yang Gunjwa's eyes flashed; he rose slowly from his seat.
"Then what of that Golden Young Master? Did his attempt at redemption also come to nothing?"
"Ah—no, sir. On that matter, negotiations are proceeding normally…"
Crash!
Yang Gunjwa kicked the table. The fine porcelain teacup shattered and sprayed across the floor. Every official in the room flinched and bowed his head.
"What the hell is this?! Why is it fine for those worthless dogs and not for me?!"
His rage finally exploded. Expensive ornaments and furnishings began to meet his hands and fly to pieces.
Ju Wolay had refused him—even after he had named a higher price and brandished terrifying power. What truly made him speechless was that negotiations with the young masters who had bid lower still continued without interruption.
"What difference is there between me and those idle playboys?!"
Hearing that bitter cry, the Left Deputy suddenly thought of several differences: the two young masters' handsome faces, their fresh youth, the easy way conversation flowed with them. He was not stupid enough to say any of it out loud. He only bowed his head deeper and kept silent.
"Hah. Fine. If neither money nor power works, then we use the next method."
Breaking a flower that still had its pride—that, too, could be a kind of pleasure.
As Chief Censor he had wielded absolute authority and taken whatever he wanted. Now, after an unexpectedly fierce rejection, he found himself reaching for a rather rough last resort.
"What can a handful of nobodies do against an official function? Send some capable men."
He had already warned them by letter: refuse his proposal and Cheonhwaru might suffer a calamity it could not avoid.
"If money and power will not serve, then force is all that remains."
Fortunately he possessed more than money. He owned power and force alike.
Of course, that was likely to prove unfortunate news for Ju Wolay.
"Let's see whether you can keep that haughty posture once you've been dragged here, Flower Shadow Falling Star."
He murmured her epithet and laughed low in his throat.
Sometimes when you beat the bushes, something completely unexpected jumps out.
The matter had swollen larger than anyone expected. Ju Wolay and the pavilion mistress of Cheonhwaru had refused for the moment and were now fretting themselves sick until the next day. While they worried about possible retaliation, I was busy soothing a certain young woman whose temper had soured over this very commission—wearing much the same anxious face as the pavilion mistress and her courtesan.
"Ilhong, it wasn't like that. Ju Wolay was only paying back a favor I'd done her before. That's all the deal was."
After the pavilion mistress's intrusion cut things short, I had been forced to endure Ilhong's interrogation. In the end I had to confess that, for a short while, I had rested my head on Ju Wolay's lap.
That was enough to put her fully out of sorts. Arms folded, she answered every soothing word of mine with nothing but contemptuous little snorts.
"Was it that nice? Being held by that fox-spirit?"
"…Well, it wasn't exactly bad."
The unguarded remark slipped out. Ilhong's eyes narrowed to needle points. I realized the blunder at once and clamped my mouth shut, but she was already wearing the most wounded expression in the world.
…You idiot.
For once I had no answer for Salsung. I had briefly recalled how soft that moment had been, and my mouth had simply malfunctioned.
"I… I can do that for you too, you know."
If that was what he liked, why hadn't he come to her and asked? Why go nestle in the arms of some outside woman with black intentions?
Her eyes shone with hurt as she pressed the question.
"Uh."
I looked down at her thin legs. Even now that she had grown older, her body was so slender her calves looked barely able to support her own weight.
"Yeah, no. That would make me feel like a real bastard, so I'll pass."
I waved a hand, refusing for her own sake.
"Eek…!"
She bounced up and down, looking even more furious. Apparently the words I had meant kindly had only prodded her harder.
I gave her sulking back a few light pats, the way you calm someone down.
"There, there, that isn't what I meant. Settle down, Ilhong."
"…Don't! I'm not a little kid anymore!"
The tone and manner people use on children only made her push back harder.
"Right, right. By local standards you're an adult—I know. So can we drop the sulking now?"
"I wasn't sulking!"
Anyone could see she was sulking, yet she kept spitting out words that contradicted her own face.
I slipped into full orphanage-director mode, pulled her into my arms, and started gently patting her back again.
"…S-stop it already! There's only one year between us!"
At first she squirmed and resisted. After a few minutes of warm, steady patting while held close, though, the tips of her ears went red and she quieted down.
"Feeling better now?"
Ever since she learned the commission involved Ju Wolay, Ilhong had been a little more sensitive than usual. I could guess at least some of the tangled feelings underneath.
Betrayed young, wounded deep, and abandoned by the world—she had sworn never to trust anyone again. Somehow I seemed to be the only person who had melted that wall and gotten inside.
I had pulled her out of a back-alley beating, shared the beggar's life with her through thick and thin, risked my neck to save her again, eaten from the same pot under the same roof, and now built a proper business so we could face the future together.
Maybe she was carrying something more than ordinary feelings for her workplace boss.
"I'm fine now… L-let go. Please…"
Perhaps she had felt as if the one person she had let inside her walls was being stolen by some courtesan she barely knew.
"Doesn't look like it to me. I'll stay like this a little longer."
"…"
That tender, fresh little heart of hers made me happy—and at the same time a certain worry reared its head inside me.
Right… if you forget me… that would be… inconvenient…
As I was now, I simply did not have the capacity to accept anyone's deep, serious feelings.
Ever since my existence had shoved its way into Moyong Cheongjin, the evil star had, for reasons unknown, fallen into a dormant state. But it kept trying to revive, kept trying to stockpile power.
Luckily I had learned the Seongun Simbeop, so every good deed I stacked stole that accumulated power away and blocked its return—for now.
But I still don't know why the evil star went to sleep. Which means I also don't know when or where something might go wrong.
And there was always the chance that, for some reason, I might start racking up killing karma.
This was the ruthless Murim, where people lived with their lives laid on the edge of a blade. Murder was as common as meals; necks were cut like stalks of millet.
So far I had managed to dodge killing as much as possible. Later? Who knew.
I might have to kill someone to stay alive. Or I might have no choice but to kill in order to protect the people I cared about.
A handful—five or six—I might still be able to crush under the merit I had built. But what if a situation arrived that forced me to kill in bulk? Surrounded, no other way out?
If the Heavenly Killing Star ever fully awakened then, the ones who would suffer most would be…
The people closest to me.
The people who worried about me, the ones who mattered—they were the ones most likely to get hurt by my hand.
And even if they didn't get hurt, there would still be problems.
Look at my sister Moyong Cheonghye. Guilt over stabbing me had left her moaning and half-ruined until the day we met again. Meanwhile Moyong Cheon and Moyong Hwi, who had never loved me much to begin with, had been living just fine.
Thinking about it, that pisses me off a little.
I had already dumped sewage on Moyong Cheon and Moyong Hwi's paths more than once, but if another chance came along I would have to consider doing it at least one more time.
"I'm really fine now… That's enough."
Ilhong spoke with a look that said if she stayed in my arms any longer she might start feeling something other than calm.
Anyway, this was exactly why I always tried to keep things light whenever a situation like this appeared.
"Don't hate Ju Wolay too much. She's a decent kid once you get to know her."
I tried the words on her now that she seemed settled.
She promptly hauled the feelings she had just cooled right back up again.
"That's something only a man who doesn't understand women would say. I can see it clear as day. Her insides are pitch black."
She snorted, face full of absolute certainty.
"I don't think she's all that black inside…"
I scratched my cheek. Her eyes narrowed further.
"I ran an investigation through the Haomu Gate after yesterday. Plenty of people are obsessed with her, sure—but that beast-mask business? Looked an awful lot like a setup she arranged herself."
Someone had commissioned a craftsman to make the thing, and according to the intelligence she was feeding me, the client had been Ju Wolay herself.
"What."
I looked mildly surprised. What was this, the boy who cried wolf? Why lie about something like that? It made no sense to me.
"To provoke your feelings and drag you into Cheonhwaru, of course."
She added a plausible guess and finished by telling me to be careful of Ju Wolay.
"You understand now? So pay attention. Honestly—weak to women as always."
The great Dan Mujin, weak to women. Never thought I'd live to hear that.
Still, it was true I had been talked around and failed to see through the lie.
"Hooo…"
I was still making that startled noise when, in the distance, Pavilion Mistress Okryeong—who that very morning had worn a face full of worry—came running toward us in a panic and shouted:
"Troubleshooter Dan Mujin! It's a disaster! Ju Wolay—our Wolay has been kidnapped!"
Looks like the girl who cried wolf had finally gotten herself mixed up in a real incident this time.