Things That Rise
The sun that had been baking Beijing tipped beyond the horizon.
At the hour when midnight's gloom softens the city's outlines, the detective agency — which had been rather lively thanks to the Ten-thousand-year Ice Essence — now lay sunk in quiet.
Once the air had cooled enough, Jo Harang climbed up to the rooftop room where the night sky lay open at a glance.
Unlike their shabby old office, this new one sat in the heart of Beijing and even let them see the stars. Dan Mujin had been proud of it, calling it a perk of the new headquarters — the "rooftop view."
As far as she was concerned, she still had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
"If I think of those weird habits as the work of an ominous star… maybe they start to make sense…"
All that unpredictable talk and behavior — looking back, every bit of it must have been the star's influence. Much like the way her own breath would hitch and her killing intent would rise whenever she faced an evil man who threw the world into chaos, he seemed to be going through something similar.
"Mujin… just what are you carrying inside you?"
Jo Harang, the Divine Wind Saber — a heroine who had reached the Transcendental Peak Realm at a young age and was famous for swinging a greatsword with reckless abandon — was currently fretting over the conversation she had overheard in the ice cave.
Her star-bright purple eyes lifted to the stars scattered across the black sky.
Back then in the ice cave, with her consciousness fading, she had barely managed to snatch a few words. One of them had been "ominous star." The other…
"Something that started with Heavenly…"
She had lost her grip on consciousness right before hearing the rest, and so now she was wandering through the fog of memory at full tilt.
"Heavenly Chief Star? Heavenly Gang Star? No… looking at his temperament, he might be closer to the Heavenly Wealth Star."
There were countless ominous stars said to be sealed in starlight. Come to think of it, that Langya Peak freak she had met on the cliff in Liaoning had given off a similar aura — so he must have been another ominous star as well.
"But why didn't I ever get that feeling from Mujin?"
Maybe the star's power was thin, or maybe there were special circumstances. At any rate, a being from beyond the heavens had called it an ominous star, and he himself had admitted it — she could dig into the reasons later.
"So it really is the Heavenly Wealth Star, right? We get along so well, and I'm the Purple Micro Star. Hehe."
A strange sense of kinship and comradeship welled up in her, and she kicked both legs against the floor. They had been close friends for quite a while already, yet learning the secret he had been hiding only made the bond feel deeper.
In the vast Central Plains, among all those countless people, the one she had grown this close to turned out to be another bearer of an ominous star. Wasn't this the kind of fate Heaven itself had arranged?
"But… it couldn't be the Heavenly Killing Star… right?"
As she listed ominous stars that began with "Heavenly," a sudden uneasy thought cut through her, and the smile vanished from her face in an instant.
When her master had read the heavens, this was clearly the period when it was supposed to appear — yet for some reason it had gone dark and muddy and still had not shown itself.
"Come on, even so… there's no way Mujin is the Heavenly Killing Star."
She snorted at the thought that had jumped into her head, as if it were ridiculous. A man who threw his own life aside to save others — how could he possibly be the Heavenly Killing Star that drowned the world in blood?
"Mm-hmm. There's no way the guy I take as my example is the Heavenly Killing Star. I'm just worrying over nothing."
Dan Mujin's heart was so upright and good that even when his opponent was a villain, he did not lightly take a life. True, he was miserly about money to a comical degree — but even that, he knew how to cast aside without hesitation wherever chivalry was needed.
Just as someone who has never known fear cannot truly speak of courage, his deeds were all the more noble because he valued money, understood its worth, and still chose to let it go. Jo Harang of the Purple Micro Star, who had watched that side of him all along, regarded him as chivalry itself — and admired him, at least a little.
Even she could not force her will through and act like a madman in the Imperial Palace, before high personages, or in places where enemies surrounded her on every side. Dan Mujin, if he believed he was right, would charge whoever stood in his way — fearlessly, as if he were already a dead man.
"Still… why didn't he tell me? That he was carrying an ominous star of his own."
Tracing her memory, she recalled that he had flinched and looked startled when she revealed she was the Purple Micro Star. But to the end, he had never named himself.
"That's a little unfair. I told him everything!"
His almost unbelievable martial talent was starting to make sense now too. What star was he carrying? She wanted to speak openly, star to star — to find common ground.
But then she remembered: she herself had been scolded half to death by her master after revealing she was the Purple Micro Star. There were people who shunned ominous stars, and people who hunted them — so she was never to speak of it carelessly.
"If that's the reason… I can almost accept it…"
Especially considering the temper of Dan Mujin's master, Hwang Geolgae — this time he really might beat Mujin until he looked like a corpse.
Creak.
Speak of the tiger and he appears — a familiar face climbed up to the rooftop room. Dan Mujin.
"What are you doing up here…?"
He asked, looking at Jo Harang star-gazing as if he genuinely did not understand.
"What? Why are you here? Don't tell me you came looking for me?"
"…Why else? This is where I eat and sleep. Rooftop room. What about you?"
He was the agency's boss, the man who had given the two best downstairs rooms to Ilhong and Jo Harang and taken the starry rooftop for himself.
"Hey, Mujin. What's your real identity?"
"…"
At that completely context-free question, he stared at Jo Harang with a face that said, What did this girl eat wrong?
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
He spread out his bedding on the rooftop and shot back, incredulous. Jo Harang stroked her slender jaw and asked again, looking thoroughly entertained.
"You're not hiding anything from me, are you?"
"Hiding what? I need to sleep, so go downstairs."
If you're bored, wash your feet and go to bed. Dan Mujin waved her off as if shooing a dog.
"You're really not hiding anything?"
But when Jo Harang asked again with a face full of certainty — as if she already knew his secret and was only asking for form's sake — Dan Mujin flinched.
"W-well… I said I'd spent everything setting up the agency, but… actually I had a little emergency fund, and I used it to buy Dongpo pork once…"
Clenching his teeth, he made a secret confession, insisting he had been so hungry and craving meat that he couldn't help it. Jo Harang listened with an utterly speechless look.
"…Not that kind of secret. I mean a real hidden secret."
Dan Mujin let out a short sigh, as if she had even figured that out.
"That candy you hid last time — the one you freaked out over when it disappeared? Sorry. That was me."
"…"
The secret she wanted refused to come out; only the pitiful little secrets of a thrifty boss kept popping up. Jo Harang rubbed her brow against the fatigue that rolled in and shook her head.
Honestly — what grand purpose could a man this thoroughly ordinary have for hiding a secret like that from her?
Jo Harang liked Dan Mujin a great deal, felt a new sense of kinship with him, and admired his path. Even if keeping it from her stung a little, she decided right there to let it go.
"Just remember this. Even if the whole world is wary of you and shuns you — I alone am on your side."
This comradeship only she felt — the secrecy of it was not half bad.
Meanwhile Dan Mujin, completely thrown by her sudden declaration, scratched his head in bewilderment.
"Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden? 'On my side'?"
"There's a reason."
This isn't so bad either.
Watching Dan Mujin flail in confusion, Jo Harang giggled to herself.
"Mujin. Mujin."
I lifted my head from beating back the heat with a northern spiritual medicine yet again at the sound of Jo Harang's lively voice.
Jo Harang, who had snapped out of her daze and recovered her energy all of a sudden. Lately, as if something wonderful had happened, she would light up those purple eyes and start talking whenever she saw me.
"Anytime you have worries you can't tell ordinary people — come to me. I'm always on your side."
I truly had no idea what she was doing. She had told me out of nowhere to spill my secrets, so I had confessed a few things I had snuck and eaten. Had that actually worked? Because I told the truth?
"Uh, yeah… thanks."
Even at my half-hearted answer, the light in her eyes did not cool. Jo Harang was acting as if some special bond had formed between just the two of us.
"There's such a thing as destiny in this world, Mujin."
"So…"
I had no idea why she had started saying things like this. Not a single guess came to mind.
"They say even brushing sleeves is fate. In this vast Central Plains, isn't it fair to call our meeting a true fated bond?"
Had some belated middle-school syndrome hit her?
Ever since we came back from the North Sea Ice Palace, she had started spouting nonsense about the heavens, about destiny, as if she had suddenly grasped the principles of the world.
"…Did you seriously eat something wrong? Why are you like this all of a sudden?"
Apparently my confused face showed, because Ilhong shoved her tiny face in from the side and delivered a diagnosis.
"Maybe she got heatstroke…? Come to think of it, Lady Jo Harang never used the Ice Essence even once."
That had a point. Even a master was still human; let your guard down and heatstroke could still get you. I hurriedly pulled out the small wooden case I kept deep in my clothes.
"…Boss, why do you always put it in a place like that?"
"It's cool."
Ilhong looked like she could not stand watching me treat the supreme spiritual medicine the North Sea Ice Palace had begged me to cherish as a portable ice pack. Anyway, I held out the Ten-thousand-year Ice Essence before she got any weirder — only for her to shake her head with a perfectly at-ease expression, saying she did not need it.
"Something really must have shifted in her head."
I muttered it under my breath. Had I been too careless with Harang all this time? Come to think of it, your twenties were still an age when people changed over all kinds of things.
And then, as if to blow my worries away, the agency door burst open and a familiar face walked in.
"Huh? Uncle Park Chil?"
He was one of the Beggar Sect disciples I valued most — Park Chil, a five-knot disciple. Color was high in a face already carved by the years; he must have run here in a hurry.
Things at the Imperial Palace had been turning strange, and I had been meaning to go ask him for news of the court first. How did he always show up first at such a perfect time? This uncle and I really were on the same wavelength.
"Uncle Park Chil, why don't you quit the Beggar Sect and join our agency while you're at it?"
The jobs we were taking had been getting bigger and bigger. After the Haomu Gate branch master, poaching a key Beggar Sect asset did not sound half bad. The man had years of experience under his belt, after all.
"No — that is not the issue, Young Hero Dan Mujin."
Apparently he had not come to see me about imperial business. As if something far more important were afoot, Park Chil pressed on urgently even through my recruitment pitch.
"Beggar Sect disciples are dying all over the place. It seems the Demon Cult has begun cutting off our spies."
The Demon Cult. In the Central Plains murim, outside the Nine Great Sects and One Alliance, it was the single largest and most dangerous force. Even I, who had only read a few wuxia novels, knew the place. They worshipped strength and the supremacy of the strong, and they were said to be extremely dangerous.
The scale of the job was growing too big — way too big.
Not the Demon Cult… the Ming Cult…
And the moment the Demon Cult was mentioned, Salsung flared up and slammed me for being an idiot. It seemed a storm was about to rise over the quiet Central Plains murim.
Park Chil's words pressed the air in the agency heavy.
A close aide of the Beggar Sect, showing up out of nowhere with grim news.
"It has been cross-checked against the Demon Extermination Unit's intelligence as well. Until now we had only caught faint movements — but cutting the spies means they intend to move in earnest."
Not shaky rumors, he insisted, but solid information stacked layer upon layer. Uncle Park Chil even brought up the Demon Extermination Unit — where my blood sister and my close sister, Dang Yeohye, both served.
"If it's that serious, wouldn't it be faster to go to the Murim Alliance in Shaanxi? Why come to a mere troubleshooter like me…?"
I said it with a face full of bewilderment. No matter how much I solved this and that, wasn't this the kind of work the Alliance's armed forces should be handling?
"One of the pillars of the murim has abandoned his own duties, has he not? So please — pass word to the Dragon Head Sect Leader."
So that was the real errand.
Those Beggar Sect disciples still dutifully called that irresponsible old man the Dragon Head Sect Leader.