A Bond from My Wandering Days
Whoosh.
Sacred flames wavered in restless disarray.
The Holy Maiden, her pure white hair cascading long down her back, gazed deep into the white fire—the sacred flame that was the emblem of the Ming Cult. She narrowed her eyes and concentrated, as though searching for even the faintest scrap of a clue within those flames.
Yet no matter how much time passed, her mind remained clouded. As if veiled by some curtain, the fire refused to deliver any further revelation.
"It's gone blurry again…"
Baek Soha, the Ming Cult's Holy Maiden of the current generation, stared past the flames with a look of incomprehension.
She had tried to peer into the will of Heaven, but something was interfering, clouding her sight. It was the same inexplicable, uncanny phenomenon she had experienced back when the clash broke out along the border region.
Had her own power simply weakened? Or had the Ming Cult become entangled with some existence that its followers were never meant to look upon?
"Haa."
The white-haired woman let out a sigh of frustration.
Whoosh.
Even so, the flames kept swaying, as if they still had something left to tell her. But for a Holy Maiden whose every vision had gone murky, there was no longer any way to read their meaning.
"This is… unsettling."
The future was invisible. Under those conditions, the fate of their plans remained opaque, and caution would have been the wiser course. Yet even when she tried to counsel him, the Cult Leader remained resolute, unshakable in his will.
"What on earth is unfolding… over there?"
The Ming Cult's people were surely living through events that diverged from the revelation the white fire had only faintly shown her. Knowing it was useless, the Holy Maiden still had no choice but to keep staring into the burning flames—without the faintest idea of what they meant.
Whoosh!
The beauty of the woman standing before me was enough to make a man forget everything for a single moment.
Glossy black eyes, lips red and full as ripe cherries, a petite frame that looked as though it would fit perfectly in a man's arms, and a slender delicacy that showed not the slightest trace of martial training. And yet the inexplicable pressure she radiated completely dominated the atmosphere of the room. Even I—who had clawed my way through countless hardships to seize the realm of Transcendental Peak—felt a cold bead of sweat slide down my spine.
"So then… who was that woman?"
Ju Wolay's eyes curved into crescent moons. It was that same smile I had always found so intoxicatingly alluring. But the chill pressing out of her expression now was something else entirely. Even with that bright smile fixed on her face, I could clearly see the faint tremor at the corners of her mouth.
Beijing's foremost courtesan was relentlessly digging into the identity of the person who had, in perfect female disguise, pretended to be my lover. But Ilhong's secret was not something I could casually spill, so I was left stranded in a thoroughly awkward bind, unable to move either way.
"Hmm. You can't tell me, can you?"
When I answered only with silence, Ju Wolay narrowed her eyes further and stared straight through me. That gaze belonged to a seasoned investigator slowly tightening a net.
How had things come to this? I had only meant to go out for a spring stroll, just as Ilhong had suggested.
What nonsense. Wasn't this all your own karma?
Salsung twisted her mouth and snickered. As always, she was completely useless when it came to actually helping me get through life.
"But Wolay, how did you even know I was coming…?"
"Lady Okryeong, the pavilion mistress, was kind enough to tell me."
Damn it. I had specifically asked the mistress of Cheonhwaru to keep quiet, saying I would only drop by briefly to see Il-hye-hyang. My plan had been to wait until Wolay's temper cooled a little, then go back and smooth things over—not to meet her on the very day Ilhong had thoroughly provoked her into a fury.
"Dan oppa."
"…Huh?"
Oppa. On any other day the word would have made my lips twitch with delight, but right after that whole mess it only made my chest sting. Since Ilhong had called me that, Ju Wolay seemed determined to claim the same right for herself.
"This Ju Wolay… took a bit of a wound to the heart today."
She tilted her head slightly and spoke in a dewy, wounded voice. The expression was so pitiful and forlorn it looked like a discarded puppy's.
"…Ahem."
She trembled at the outer corners of her eyes as she relived the shock of watching me press myself against some strange woman and push her away. It was the kind of gesture and face that could twist any man's insides into knots—a true little fox of a performance.
"Then I suppose that wound needs healing."
I rubbed the tip of my nose as I said it. I had planned to wait until I had free time and buy her a pretty ornament from the craft street Ilhong and I had walked, something to soften her mood. But now that things had come to this, I simply nodded and told her to name whatever she wanted.
"Oppa, is that true? You'll soothe this girl's wounded heart?"
Color flooded Ju Wolay's face. She happily layered both her hands over my right one, her heated gaze locking onto mine. She wanted me for the entire day, right here at Cheonhwaru—claiming exclusive possession with open, unashamed greed. She gripped my sleeve tight and took another step closer.
"Ahem. Fine, then."
After a provocation like that, half a day of my time felt like getting off relatively cheap. Still, I could never quite understand why everyone always spent their hard-won wish tickets on things like this. I could just as easily provide material gifts or the full services of a troubleshooter.
Hmph. Look at this thoroughgoing rake.
Salsung, who lived only by her mouth, had been cycling through every predatory animal she could think of—calling me a wolf, a jackal, and so on. Having watched me this long, she seemed convinced I truly was an enemy of women, and she was seizing the moment to condemn me.
A lecher who pretends not to care while charming women left and right.
Just shut up already…
I should never have given that thing a mouth back with needless killing.
I shook my head at the endless scolding and opened both arms wide toward Ju Wolay, who stood before me practically vibrating with anticipation.
"All right. Do whatever you want."
Ju Wolay led me to the VIP chamber with a face full of pure delight. For all the force of her earlier momentum, she was still Beijing's premier courtesan, famed for her exquisite emotional control and virtue—so, surprisingly, nothing especially dramatic happened.
She simply entertained me as she always would any honored guest of the house, delighting my ears with poetry, calligraphy, painting, and music. I had wondered if I ought to do something special to soothe her feelings, but she seemed perfectly happy just monopolizing me and serving me like this, her expression nothing but bright and clear.
"Oppa, why that look on your face? Were you expecting something else, by any chance?"
Having long since mastered the art of reading men, she smiled as if she had just strolled straight through the inside of my head and teased me with it.
"Ahem, ahem! What are you even talking about?"
Thinking about it, this was a refined house that did not hang the red lantern of the pleasure quarters, and she was a courtesan who sold her arts rather than her body—so of course nothing of that sort would happen. She was still the rising star of Cheonhwaru, not yet free of her contract; anything improper was out of the question.
Even so, monopolizing Ju Wolay—whom people said was hard to even meet these days no matter how much money you threw around—and spending the hours like some idle playboy was enough to draw plenty of envy and resentment from those around us.
"Oh my, oh my."
"Isn't that Hero Dan? And he's completely spoken for."
The courtesans of Cheonhwaru passed us by with soft chuckles, looking for all the world as though they had always known it would come to this. From the way they behaved, it seemed someone had already put the word out among the girls not to approach me.
"Mmm…"
As far as I was concerned, ours was still the relationship of courtesan and client. I had opened my heart to her alone precisely because I believed it would never deepen into anything serious. I had never imagined she would charge in this aggressively the moment an opening appeared.
The light brush of her fingertips and the fragrance teasing my nose left me feeling wonderful and slightly cornered at the same time. Proof of that war lived in the corners of my mouth, which kept rising into a foolish grin before my reason reasserted itself and dragged them back down again.
Tsk, tsk.
Only when I heard that tongue-clicking voice full of pure disdain did I finally come back to my senses.
"Dan oppa—that woman we ran into on the street."
Just when I thought she might let it go, Ju Wolay stubbornly circled back to the woman's identity. I was about to say again that I could not tell her, but she spoke first and shut my mouth for me.
"She's Young Lady Ilhong, isn't she?"
"…"
I jerked the back of my head off her lap in a hurry. She must have known the truth from the very beginning. Startled, I froze with a piece of fruit halfway to my mouth.
"I've dealt with countless people as a courtesan, so I like to think I have a decent eye for faces."
Ju Wolay explained with a faint smile.
"H-how…?"
"Even with a human-skin mask, the contours of a face still show through to a degree, and habitual gestures naturally give a person away. Besides, every time we crossed paths she would prick her ears up like a wary cat and keep her guard up around me. That familiar look was enough to convince me."
Hearing that much, all I could do was blink in stunned silence.
"…You'll keep it secret, right?"
"Of course. Though I still don't know why she's dressed as a man."
Fortunately, she did not seem to know about Ilhong's status as heir of Haoman. She simply regarded her as a suspicious woman who had hidden her identity and glued herself to my side.
"This tea tastes strange."
My throat had gone dry from the tension, so I drained the cup in front of me in one go—only to find the flavor distinctly odd. A heat flared in my throat and spread warmth across my face.
"I brought up the finest spirit Cheonhwaru has to offer."
Ju Wolay gave me a thoroughly seductive smile.
Enjoying refined pleasures alone with a beauty, and now this pleasantly dizzying liquor on top of it—truly the complete set of wine, song, and dance.
"Sorry. I don't really drink."
By modern standards I was a full adult now, but after dealing with my perpetually blackout-drunk master all those years, putting liquor to my lips still felt wrong.
"Is that truly so…?"
She put on an utterly tragic face, insisting it was a rare spirit she had gone to great trouble to obtain. Looking at that pitiful expression, I found myself thinking that one bottle probably wouldn't hurt.
"Well… it's already open. It would be a waste to throw it away."
Ju Wolay's lips curled into a playful smile as she gently lifted the bottle with both hands.
"Then this girl will pour for you."
Declaring that she would serve me herself, she filled a small teacup with the strangely fragrant spirit. And so I spent the rest of the afternoon trading cups and conversation with Ju Wolay until, somewhere along the way, the drink pulled me under and I fell into a deep sleep.
When I startled awake, the sun had already set completely; it was evening.
"I should be getting back to the office."
I scratched my head and sat up. Because I had deliberately left the liquor in my system, I had fallen asleep completely defenseless in someone else's arms.
"Please come again, Dan oppa."
I hastily brushed myself off and stood. Ju Wolay saw me out with a soft smile. And as I left Cheonhwaru, I could feel the courtesans' intrigued gazes sticking to my back.
I crossed the night-soaked streets and returned to the office, only for my subordinates—who had been waiting for me—to start scolding me the moment I walked in, saying I was late, far too late.
"Boss, spending the whole day at Cheonhwaru of all places… Wait—huh?"
Ilhong broke off mid-rant, eyes flying wide as she froze solid.
"Mujin, what's that on your cheek…?"
Jo Harang's eyebrows twitched as well; she pointed at my face with a finger that trembled faintly.
I had no idea what they were on about until Ilhong hurriedly pulled a bronze mirror from her robes and held it up to my face. There, stamped thick and clear on my left cheek, was a crimson lip print.
"…Ah."
No wonder the courtesans had been giggling when I left Cheonhwaru. While I was asleep, Ju Wolay must have painted her lips with rouge and left me this little prank.
"Boss, who the hell did this…?"
It seemed Ju Wolay was using me to take remote revenge for the afternoon's events. To the staff of the office, the plump lip mark remaining on my cheek felt like nothing short of a declaration of war.
"Ju Wolay, that fox of a woman…"
Even without my saying a name, Ilhong immediately figured it out and ground her teeth. From where I stood, both of them were thoroughly fierce and terrifying women.
The next morning, after barely surviving the two women's rampage—
"Hyung-nim!"
A voice I had not heard in a very long time rang out from the front gate of the office. There were not many people in Beijing who still called me hyung-nim.
I turned my head and saw the face of Ohchil—my loyal subordinate from our childhood days, now living diligently as an escort.
"…Hyung-nim, why is your face bright red?"
He tilted his head at the sight of my face, which still had patches of red pigment dabbed here and there. While I slept at the office, Ilhong had gone and plastered me with rouge—a petty little act of revenge from a subordinate for shamelessly offering my cheek to just anyone. And for the record, since I had stubbornly refused to the end to reveal the identity of the woman who had been with me, Jo Harang had apparently joined in on the prank as well.
Honestly. Childish, the lot of them.
"Just call me hyung, I told you."
"Ah—right."
How long had it been since I told him that? Ohchil scratched his cheek with an awkward look. Now that he had grown into a proper escort and knew how well I was doing in Beijing, the word hyung no longer came out of his mouth so easily.
"So why are you here?"
An escort in the middle of a protection job, coming to see a troubleshooter like me? I sipped the water steeped from tea leaves and asked what had brought him.
"Ugh."
A full mouthful of bitterness spread across my tongue. Apparently Ilhong and Jo Harang had swapped out every tea leaf in the office for the blend reserved for unwelcome guests. Truly a petty, small-minded form of revenge. Those sharp-tempered little pests.
"I need help with a request."
Ohchil's expression turned serious. It seemed to be a job he had been working with senior escorts like Yang Jo and Yang Wi—so why, exactly, did he need my help?
"You said it's an escort request, right? Who were you protecting?"
Helping Ohchil was the same as helping Sister Eun Hwaran and the Eunseong Merchant Group, so I readily asked for the details of the job. Ohchil carefully spoke the name of someone from a family I had come to know quite some time ago.
"Young Lady Jo Yeongyeong of the Jo family."
"…Hmm."
The Jo family—that was the powerful Beijing house I had crossed paths with back in my wandering days, on the road to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering. And from the look of things, something had happened there.