The Senile Old Man
Deep within the Heavenly Heat Ice Palace.
In Seol Soyeong’s hand rested a Ten-thousand-year Ice Essence, saturated with the bitter cold of the North Sea. Extreme Yin energy poured from it so fiercely that the air itself crackled and froze solid around her, yet she lifted the crystal without expression and settled it carefully into a special wooden case.
“Soyeong, isn’t that cold?”
Seol Sakwha stepped closer, worry creasing her face. Her little sister no longer carried the Nine Yin Blocked Meridians that had once filled her body with extreme Yin; the chill could hurt her now.
“There’s still heat left inside me… I’m fine.”
In the past the extreme Yin had protected her. Now the faint remnants of Dan Mujin’s Yeolyanggi lingering in her body shielded her hands.
Beside them, Seol Cheonsang took his sister’s pulse, read the lingering warmth, and let out a quiet note of admiration.
“Even the scrap of Yeolyanggi left behind is this hot. How did that troubleshooter friend of ours endure that much Yang energy in the first place?”
It must have felt like fire racing through every meridian. That he had endured it, refined it, and finally bestowed it on their sister still seemed almost impossible to believe.
“Now that we’re going outside— is there anything you want to do?”
Seol Jindo asked his youngest with the face of a man ready to grant any wish. Every famous physician they had ever brought had shaken their heads and called the Nine Yin Blocked Meridians hopeless. Their only hope, the Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp, had vanished down a monkey’s throat—yet somehow the incurable illness had been completely cured. What day could possibly be happier than this?
Just as that troubleshooter his children had hired and brought from the outside had said, they had carved out their own destiny.
“Something I want to do… Ah— the Central Plains. I want to go sightseeing in Beijing.”
Seol Soyeong’s wish was simple: to see the Central Plains she had never dared dream of while her body was so weak. And she named Beijing specifically— the city where a certain detective agency was said to stand.
“Hmm… but if you actually meet people from the Central Plains, you’ll be disappointed.”
“Your brother’s right. They look at us and don’t even see people—they see ghosts.”
The two siblings grumbled about the racial prejudice of the Central Plains. Cold blue eyes they had never seen in their lives stared back at them, and before anyone could help it they were treated like red-haired demons or spirits.
“Not everyone is like that.”
The person Seol Soyeong meant was the young troubleshooter they had brought from Beijing. Lately the youngest princess of the North Sea Ice Palace mentioned him quite often.
“That fellow… is unusual, I’ll give him that.”
“He didn’t bat an eye at us being colored-eyes people.”
The Seol siblings took turns remarking how un-Central-Plains-like he was. Seol Soyeong smiled faintly and added her own agreement.
“Anyway, even if it’s later… I really want to visit Beijing once.”
Before, it had been pure longing and curiosity for the capital. Now she had a different reason—and a different destination—in mind.
“Let’s go after you’ve stabilized more and learned some martial arts. It’s a dangerous place.”
A daughter who had once lived only for the present was finally talking about things she wanted to do in the future. Seol Jindo’s face lit with quiet joy as he promised her everything.
“But isn’t the troubleshooter coming out of the ice cave?”
“He told us to go on ahead. Apparently he has something to discuss with that mysterious hermit.”
The enigmatic woman who had subdued every one of them with a single finger. Jeok-il, she had called herself. At the news that she would be left behind alone, Seol Soyeong cast a worried glance deep into the ice cave.
“Oh no… You don’t think anything will happen to him, do you?”
The depth of her concern went well beyond ordinary fretting. Seol Jindo found himself wearing a rather complicated expression.
“Let’s worry about you first. You still need to calm and neutralize the leftover Yang energy in your body. And those two seemed like decent people—nothing bad will happen.”
He had always heard that Beijing was the sort of place where someone would cut your nose off while you blinked, and that its people were cold and hard as stone. Yet somehow his children had managed to dig up decent souls and drag them all the way to the frozen north. Granted, the young man’s way of speaking and thinking was a little… unique.
“Why? Are you worried about him?”
“…Yes.”
There had always seemed to be a faint sense of kinship between them. Now Seol Jindo found himself wondering exactly why his daughter looked so troubled. Now that she had her life back, had she finally started taking an interest in men?
“Hmm.”
Seol Jindo stroked his silver-white beard thoughtfully, picturing Dan Mujin. Young, handsome, already at the Transcendental Peak Realm at that age, and completely free of prejudice toward colored-eyes people—exactly the sort of marriageable young man any father with a daughter of age would quietly eye.
Only, the youngest was still too young, and the one daughter who was of marriageable age…
“That monkey bastard—next time I see him I’m knocking him flat. How dare a beast throw me around like that? It’s humiliating.”
…seemed far more interested in martial training than romance. Getting what he wanted out of that one looked hopeless for the foreseeable future.
“Hmm. Perhaps the time isn’t right yet.”
Everything had its proper season. If Seol Jindo himself had entered the Heavenly Heat Ice Palace after accumulating a little more martial power in his youth, the outcome might have been very different.
“What a pity. Truly a pity.”
Where else would he ever find another young man of such character and potential—someone who already looked likely to reach the Transcendent Realm? As both the lord of a palace and a father, he felt genuine regret. Yet some relationships only ripened if you waited. And the young troubleshooter himself seemed so absorbed in something that he barely noticed the people around him. For now, Seol Jindo decided, it was best to keep things on good terms.
“Let’s go prepare the banquet first. We ought to welcome Young Hero Dan Mujin in grand style, don’t you think?”
“Yes, Father. Let’s do that.”
No one had died. They had opened the Heavenly Heat Ice Palace. They had even defeated the monkey spirit beast and finally, finally cured the Nine Yin Blocked Meridians. A perfect result. Tonight the North Sea Ice Palace would gladly open its storehouses and throw a magnificent feast.
“Come, everyone—back to the palace. Let’s go tell the rest of our people about our success.”
“Ooooh!”
The children and warriors of the North Sea Ice Palace followed Seol Jindo with vigorous steps.
We were dragged deep into the ice cave, all the way to the modest little house Jeok-il had cultivated for herself. Vegetable plots showed clear signs of spiritual herbs being grown, and a single monkey spirit beast stood guard over them.
“Oo-kkiik.”
The beast clearly still held a grudge over the beating I had given it. Every time our eyes met it locked me in a murderous staring contest. Its fur was no longer white but golden, and those glaring eyes never left me.
“What’re you looking at?”
“Oo-kki-gik?”
The thing answered with the same insolent tone, casually tapping its iron staff against its shoulder while it scowled at me.
“You little animal bastard… Hey. When you walk out of here, stay sharp. If someone suddenly smacks you upside the head, just assume it’s me.”
Last time I had ganged up on it because I had no choice—I needed to save Seol Soyeong. One of these days, though, I wanted to take it down one-on-one. Especially since it used a staff, just like me. Opportunities like that didn’t come around often.
“Oo-kki-ik, kkiik, oo-kkiik-kkiik.”
Whether it understood me or not, it twisted its mouth into a sneer. The fact that a non-human could make an expression that readable only pissed me off more.
“I’m definitely going to wreck you one-on-one. You animal bastard.”
“Kki-ik, kkiik-kkiik, oo-kkiik.”
We both tightened our grips on our staffs and glared at each other like we were about to start growling.
The red-haired woman who had been watching us approached with a snort of laughter.
“Ha-ha! You two are almost the same level.”
I immediately protested.
“Me and this animal?”
“Oo-kkiik, kki-kkiik?”
The monkey wore the exact same offended expression and seemed to be asking the same question.
“Just look at you now—you’re even making the same noises.”
Mildly insulting. Comparing me to some half-humanized beast.
We looked at each other at the same moment and our eyes locked again.
“You both use staff arts, and somehow you’ve got a lot of little similarities.”
I was about to argue when the two subordinates who had followed me in each added their own two cents.
“Mujin… the vibe is kind of similar…”
“Especially the part where you charge head-first no matter who the opponent is…”
Even Harang and Ilhong. I gave them a faintly wronged look, then glanced sideways at the ageless hermit who was casually brushing back her shimmering red hair.
“So. What did you call me here alone for?”
We had finished everything we needed to do in this ice cave. All that was left was to head back, collect the reward, and add another line to my growing list of famous successes.
She answered my question about why she had singled me out with blunt directness.
“You. What exactly is your true identity?”
Her vivid crimson eyes looked as though they could pierce straight through my soul.
“What identity? I’m Dan Mujin, a successful troubleshooter with an office right in the heart of Beijing.”
Thwack.
A thin palm cracked against the back of my head at lightning speed and vanished.
Why does every single conversation I have end with someone hitting me first?
I swallowed a short curse and shot her an aggrieved look. Jeok-il only smirked.
“You’re cursing this lady right now, aren’t you?”
“…No. I didn’t say a word.”
“You’re doing it with your eyes. Did you actually think it wouldn’t show?”
Ah. So that was why Hwang Geolgae and everyone else always opened with a smack.
Still felt unfair. I hadn’t actually said anything out loud. Did this ruthless martial world not even believe in the presumption of innocence?
“What a brazen little thing.”
She shook her head as if she could read the injustice on my face. Standing in front of an overwhelming powerhouse who could kill everyone present with one finger, being dragged all the way into the depths of an ice cave, and still saying whatever I wanted—apparently the sight was both amusing and completely absurd to her.
“So. What is your true identity? Answer properly this time.”
“Like I already said, I’m just the troubleshooter Dan Mujin…”
From the way she was acting, Jeok-il had clearly sensed something inside me besides the Seongryeong-gi and Wolryeonggi. Proof: the instant she fixed her gaze on me, that bright-red Salsung had vanished without a trace.
I glanced back and forth between my two subordinates, who were tilting their heads in confusion at the “true identity” talk, carefully gauging the situation.
“Is it because those women are here that you can’t speak freely?”
With a flick of her fingers through the air, Jo Harang and Ilhong crumpled like kites with cut strings.
“Hey—what the hell are you doing?!”
“Don’t worry. I simply sealed a few pressure points and put them to sleep for a while.”
She brushed off my concern, assuring me they would feel wonderfully refreshed when they woke up.
“Why do you think there’s something wrong with me in the first place?”
“Call it this lady’s intuition.”
When I took a step back she deliberately took a step forward.
“An old woman’s gut feeling, you mean?”
“….”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. Off to the side the Golden-Haired Lion King covered its face with one hand with a sharp slap.
What? After living for hundreds of years you can’t exactly call yourself young. She ought to have a little conscience. It wasn’t even an unfair thing to say…
“Hup!”
Her figure, which had been several steps away, suddenly bloomed right in front of my nose. Before I could react she sealed my mute point and sent a powerful stream of energy through me, slowly combing every inch of my body.
Unlike the last time when she had forced Yeolyanggi into me with her palm, this time she kept hold of my pulse and thoroughly searched every minor meridian, as if determined to turn my entire body inside out. Then she must have finally collided with “it,” because her eyes flew wide and she hastily yanked her hand away.
She stared at me, looking as if she couldn’t breathe from sheer shock.
“You insane little—! You’re the Heavenly Killing Star of this generation?!”
The roar made the entire ice cave ring. Even the Golden-Haired Lion King watching from the side jumped in fright.
I wanted to answer, but with my mute point sealed I could only twitch my eyeballs. She noticed and released the pressure point.
“Neither Heaven’s will nor the Divine Eye could read you… dear gods. How have you managed to keep your sanity until now…”
The predetermined heavenly will had been twisted beyond recognition. She trailed off mid-sentence, apparently realizing the massive Seongryeong-gi packed inside me and the existence of the Seongun Simbeop that weakened the star and stole its power. Then she began to howl a certain name as if she were screaming it.
“Ilwol…! That star-obsessed, doddering old mannnn…!”