Spring Outing
"So, what's this wish of yours?"
I grumbled at Ilhong, who'd shown up at my lodgings first thing in the morning.
Her eyes sparkled with anticipation, clearly already fixed on whatever she meant to ask for.
"Make it three wishes."
Ilhong pressed her palms together as she made her request.
"Yeah. Rejected."
"......Tch."
She stuck out her lip in a pout.
Honestly, you could never drop your guard around this kid. Looking at her, she was easily the shrewdest person in our whole office.
"No tricks like that. Tell me a proper wish. I'll grant anything within my power."
I rolled up my bedding and looked her over. Her palms were cracked and calloused—marks of the desperate effort it had taken to reach the Peak Realm, no doubt.
Really, though. What was one little wish, granted within my abilities, that she was making such a fuss over?
So Ilhong's a Peak Realm martial artist now......
Thinking about it, even the disciples of the great orthodox sects—raised on precious elixirs—rarely reached Peak at her age.
And she hadn't had the help of a malevolent star the way Jo Harang and I had. In a way, maybe Ilhong was the true martial genius here.
On top of that, her five senses were exceptional, and she had a brilliant memory that rarely forgot anything she saw once.
"You're really something, you know that?"
The praise slipped out before I realized it.
Hearing my unconscious compliment, Ilhong puffed up a little right in front of me.
"Heh. I am pretty amazing."
She was trying to show me that even if she got overshadowed by monsters like me and Jo Harang, she was still a capable talent in her own right.
I snorted a laugh and hopped up from the bed.
"So. What's your real wish?"
"......Lend me the boss's day today."
Ilhong said it a little shyly, but clearly.
"My day? To you? That's your wish?"
I tilted my head. I'd expected something grandiose, but exclusive rights to my day? Surprisingly modest.
"Yes! It's been so long since I saw your face. I want to go on a spring outing with you, Boss."
There was an unreadable flutter of excitement in her voice.
She was saying she wanted to throw aside all training and office work for the entire day and just be with me.
"Ilhong, is that really enough?"
I asked if she didn't have a grander request—I was, after all, a capable and successful troubleshooter in Beijing.
"In exchange, you have to grant every request I make. Wherever we go, whatever I ask—no refusing!"
Apparently for today, Ilhong was the boss of me. She was demanding absolute obedience: focus only on her.
No refusing any request. But we were just going on a spring outing—what could go wrong?
"Alright. Fine."
When I nodded readily, Ilhong's face lit up like a flower blooming.
She pointed at the warm spring sunlight outside the window and set a meeting time.
"Then finish getting ready and meet me again! At the main gate of the Eunseong Merchant Group!"
Apparently she needed time to get dressed. After making the appointment she dashed out of the lodging.
I sat there half-awake, staring blankly at her disappearing back with my messy hair. Her light steps made her excitement crystal clear.
"What is this...... some kind of date?"
It felt like a small whirlwind had just swept through.
I roughly fixed my messy hair, threw on some comfortable martial robes for moving around, and headed for the main gate of the Eunseong Merchant Group.
A mild spring breeze tickled my cheeks and hair as I walked, arriving right on time. From the merchant group's main gate came the murmuring of merchants and porters.
I tilted my head and looked over—at the center of the commotion stood a beauty with black hair flowing like silk down to her shoulders.
A refined nose, lively petal-like eyes, lips lightly tinted with rouge. Leaning against the gate in the morning sunlight waiting for someone, she looked like a painting of a beauty.
"Who's that beauty?"
"Looks like she's waiting for someone from the merchant group......"
"Whoever he is, that guy's a lucky bastard."
She was holding a bronze mirror, carefully checking that her rouge was evenly applied. That careful attention made her anticipation for the day perfectly clear.
And only after staring for a long while did I realize—that woman was Ilhong, without her disguise, dressed to the nines.
"So that lucky bastard was me."
Ilhong's beauty, fully made up and in full bloom, was enough to wake even my romantic cells that I thought had died off from living only for survival.
Not a trace remained of her former scruffy appearance. The beauty before me. In a way, it felt like the perfect disguise.
She's too good for you.
Something that had gone bright crimson looked back and forth between me and Ilhong and muttered in a voice laced with mockery.
What is this thing saying—always ready to put me down whenever it gets a chance.
"I'm still pretty decent...... ugh, no. She is too good for me."
I'd occasionally seen her without the disguise, but this was the first time she'd gone all-out from head to toe with makeup. I was left speechless.
"Boss!"
She must have spotted me freeze as I approached—she waved with a bright smile.
Unlike when she was usually at the office, her voice was a bit excited, with an added softness to the tone.
"What, she was waiting for that troubleshooter?"
"Ugh, what a shame."
Recognizing me as Merchant Leader Eun Hwaran's sworn younger brother, the onlookers sighed with disappointment and scattered.
Still unable to close my mouth, I approached Ilhong and asked what was going on.
"Ilhong, why are you cross-dressing as a woman?"
"......How many times do I have to say I took off the men's disguise?"
Right. My head was a bit foggy, so words just came tumbling out.
"But Boss, what's with that outfit?"
Ilhong looked at my shabby but practical martial robes with clear dissatisfaction.
Normally she'd let it slide, but today her expression said she couldn't stand it.
"What's wrong with it? It's practical."
It was what I always wore. I had ten identical sets ready.
I didn't know where we'd go or what we'd do, so I'd put on my usual favorite.
"Eugh......"
As a former heiress of the Haomu Gate who'd enjoyed many luxuries, she shook her head firmly as if this simply wouldn't do.
"I told you to dress up."
"This is dressed up."
I meant it sincerely.
Clothes just need to block the sun and wind, right?
But Ilhong clutched her head at my words.
"Ugh, this won't work. First we're going to get you new clothes, Boss."
She straightened my collar, dusted off my sleeves, and then, as if she couldn't look at me anymore, grabbed my arm and pulled.
"I don't really want to blow money on clothes."
Wasn't this money I earned risking my life every time? No overspending.
"Don't worry. I know a place where you can get good clothes cheap."
There are places that sell good things cheap?
Even with everyone staring, she smiled sweetly and pulled me along.
Apparently the first goal of our spring outing was clothes shopping.
Thanks to taking on commissions one after another, our purses had gotten quite heavy, and naturally our eye for clothes had improved as well.
So the place we went to get clothes made wasn't some ordinary cotton-goods shop, but a fabric store that dealt in silk robes.
"Huh? Isn't this Old Man Jang's fabric shop?"
The familiar scenery made me tilt my head and ask.
"That's right. This is the place where you can get silk clothes cheap."
Back when I lived as a beggar as a kid, that foul-tempered old man would swing a club the moment you got near, claiming you were disrupting business.
And when I was active as a vagabond, he was also the guy who'd borrow money from people, play dumb about it, get thoroughly thrashed, and cough up the money he owed.
"Come here."
When we opened the door and entered, Old Man Jang, counting money like Scrooge while looking at his ledger behind the counter, lifted his head.
Then he confirmed my face and both eyebrows shot up at once.
"Y-you......! How dare you walk in here!"
Remembering the previous incident, he leaped up despite his advanced age, grabbed a club, and shouted.
I snorted a laugh and waved him off.
"Why are you so angry? That time was your own fault, Old Man Jang."
I'd simply delivered justice to Old Man Jang, who'd tried to cheat an innocent client.
If he'd borrowed money in the first place, he should've paid it back properly instead of playing dumb.
"Right, Ilhong?"
"Exactly, exactly."
My back-alley colleague grinned as if he had it coming.
"You little brats......!"
Old Man Jang's face went beet red as he trembled and stomped toward us.
But apparently remembering the rumors that I was doing well as a troubleshooter in Beijing these days, he couldn't quite swing the club.
Still the same old man who only bullies the weak and cowers before the strong.
"Hey! Why did you come?! Don't disrupt business—get the hell out!"
He clenched a handful of salt and bellowed as if driving out unwelcome guests.
But today we'd come as customers, not unwelcome guests.
"Why'd we come? To buy silk clothes at a fabric shop, of course."
Ilhong and I shrugged as we said so.
Old Man Jang snorted as if it were absurd and coldly waved for us to leave.
"Not a chance. I don't have a single bolt of silk to sell to the likes of you!"
He was full of bluster—I had no idea what he was relying on.
When I strode deeper inside as if pushing my way in, Old Man Jang's beard quivered as he glared at me.
"You brat! Planning to take it by force?"
"No? I told you, we really came to buy clothes."
What, did he think I was some thug like him?
I pulled my heavy coin purse from my robes. Even if I were threatening him, I'd still pay full price. That was the kind of man I was.
"......Really?"
Apparently finding it hard to believe, Old Man Jang looked back and forth between me and Ilhong with half-lidded eyes.
Though with Ilhong dressed up so beautifully, he didn't seem to recognize her as the old Ilhong at all.
In a way, this was another form of disguise.
"Of course. We'll buy a decent silk outfit at cost."
At the words "at cost," Old Man Jang's face flushed red and purple again as if he'd expected as much.
"What nonsense! There's distribution costs, huh? Counter costs—and you want to take it at cost?"
Then Ilhong grinned and jabbed one of his weak points.
"Then should we report the illicit silk weaving? The authorities would come swarming."
"......!"
Old Man Jang's face went pale in an instant. I raised my eyebrows beside her, adding to the atmosphere.
He swallowed a groan and stepped back several paces.
"Guh...... you highway-robber bastards."
He grumbled and finally nodded. Meaning he reluctantly agreed.
Then Ilhong picked out a deep blue silk robe for me.
"Something like this will suit you, Boss."
An outfit full of dye and craftsmanship.
More precisely, craftsmanship from the Haomu Gate's illicit silk weavers, no doubt.
I found flashy, hard-to-move-in outfits like this pretty awkward.
"Ah ah, hold still. Today I'm the boss of the boss."
Ilhong came over with the clothes and started dressing me herself. At her careful touch, I quietly let her have her way.
"See? It looks great, right?"
Ilhong held up a bronze mirror to show me my reflection.
It was definitely a different feeling from usual. Clothes make the man—I went from a martial artist rolling around the streets of Beijing to looking like a rich young master in an instant.
"We'll take this outfit, Old Man Jang."
Old Man Jang sighed heavily and handed over the robe at cost, and I finished the payment by placing a few gold coins on the counter.
Just like that, we'd lightly teased the old man and gotten clothes too.
"You highway-robber bastards......! Don't ever come back!"
Old Man Jang's shout rang out from a distance, full of resentment.
Ilhong and I snickered as we left the fabric shop.
"Heehee, did you see that old man's face earlier?"
"Yeah, it was pretty funny."
She laughed like a spring breeze swaying.
A very practical transaction. Seemed like we'd bought and worn silk clothes at about a third of the price.
Apparently our date was going to proceed in this somewhat rough fashion.
We met each other's eyes and both snorted a laugh.