Never a Dull Moment
Eun Hwaran's father, the Merchant Magnate Chunhwi, possessed an exceptional gift for reading the currents of the age and never settled for what he already had.
As if to prove it, the moment the Eunseong Merchant Group found its footing, he threw himself straight into a bold new venture—an escort agency.
There had been plenty of opposition at first.
Leave the bandits and the blade-work to the escort agencies, they said. We can sit back and click our abacus beads. Why go out of our way to court danger?
Her father had answered with absolute conviction.
"Logistics are the flower of commerce."
Merchant group and escort agency were complementary, he insisted—bound together, they would generate a powerful virtuous cycle. Overriding every objection, he drove the enterprise forward with sheer stubborn grit.
There had been growing pains—backlash from the established escort agencies—but with his distinctive business instincts and the personal magnetism that drew people to him, he turned that rolling stone called the Eunseong Escort Agency into a stone that stayed put.
Once they could open roads farther afield, Eunseong's influence naturally spilled beyond Hebei and across the broad expanse of Henan. Riding that foundation, the Eunseong Merchant Group grew at breakneck speed until its name was carved into the lowest seat among the Ten Great Merchant Groups under heaven.
"Hah… So the day has finally come."
And now, years later, one of the two legacies her father had left behind—the Eunseong Escort Agency—stood at a crossroads of fate.
Eun Hwaran looked with anxious eyes over the porters and escorts arrayed at the manor gates.
Chief Escort Na Maengdal was booming at full volume, hammering home just how critical this run was. At his warning that failure could mean the entire operation vanishing overnight, people visibly stiffened even from a distance.
Shiiing.
Into that dampened atmosphere strode an old man in his twilight years. Without a word, he casually borrowed the chief escort's sword. Judging by the look on Na Maengdal's face as he stared at the empty sheath at his hip—he was a First-class martial artist in his own right—this had not been arranged in advance.
"This old man is the Divine Wind Daoist, who cultivated the Dao upon Mount Tai, foremost among the Five Sacred Mountains, and has now descended into the world!"
Old Master Hwang stroked his long beard—the classic mark of a Daoist—and introduced himself as some wondrous True Person.
Unfortunately, no one had ever heard of a Daoist name like Divine Wind Daoist. The crowd's reaction was a resounding not buying it.
"Divine Wind Daoist? Anybody heard of him?"
"I've heard of a Bluffing Daoist a few times—similar name, though…"
"I once saw that guy sleeping on a rooftop."
They had all been told a master had been recruited, but none of them imagined that the shabby old man who looked like a beggar was that master. Aside from a few of the escorts, people only muttered among themselves without much enthusiasm.
Old Master Hwang narrowed one eye, then raised the stolen sword high.
Chzzzzzt—!
The moment he poured inner energy into the blade, a cold blue sword-qi surged more than three feet from the upright edge. A razor-sharp killing aura that swept every sense in the courtyard. In a single stroke, it obliterated every last doubt.
Inside the manor and among the onlookers outside, jaws dropped in pure astonishment.
Apparently quite pleased with the effect, Old Master Hwang gave a dry little laugh and pressed the advantage.
"Merchant Leader Eun Hwaran, concerned by the recent attacks, has invited this old man! From this day forth, no villain under heaven shall dare touch an Eunseong escort run—!"
That thunderous voice hammered every eardrum present—an overwhelming resonance that spoke of profound inner power.
"Wooooaaah…!"
"A mysterious master from Mount Tai! The Divine Wind Daoist rides with us!"
"That Langya Peak freak? Let him come!"
"Long live Merchant Leader Eun Hwaran of the Three Flowers of Beijing!"
In a world where fists spoke louder than words, nothing was more reassuring than having a master on your side. The moment they heard that a martial artist capable of projecting over three feet of sword-qi would travel with them, the escort agency people erupted in roaring cheers, morale skyrocketing.
Watching them, Eun Hwaran half-hid her face behind her fan and allowed herself a quiet smile.
She had only asked him to lift their spirits before departure—she had never expected him to raise them quite like this.
As the old saying went: better to see once than hear a hundred times. In this Murim of rampant violence, a single demonstration of strength was worth more than a hundred speeches.
Thanks to it, the escorts and porters shook off their dread of the Langya Peak freak. Everyone assembled there shouted the Daoist name Divine Wind Daoist with genuine fervor—
everyone, that is, except for one handsome young man standing among the vagabonds with a distinctly sour look on his face.
"Pfft."
Eun Hwaran hastily covered her mouth, but she could not stop the laughter from slipping out.
He had sworn he would not join the escort run because he hated the hardship—and yet Old Master Hwang had dragged him along after all. The lump swelling conspicuously on the crown of his head only confirmed her suspicion.
"This run is going to have luck on its side."
Somehow, when that boy was around, fortune always seemed to follow. She could only hope the same sharp mind that had once saved the merchant group would save the escort agency as well.
"Merchant Leader Eun Hwaran!"
Below, Chief Escort Na Maengdal was looking up at her with a flushed face—everything ready, his eyes asking if they might depart.
"I grant permission to depart!"
Eun Hwaran thrust her fan vigorously in the direction of the march. Na Maengdal relayed her will to the entire company in a ringing shout.
"Let's go, you lot! First escort run in ages!"
At that, people who had been hunched and waiting all this time stretched like they were waking from a long nap and moved as one.
"Whoa, finally an escort run!"
"How long has it been?!"
Dozens of wagons rolling at once. A long, snaking column of porters. Faces bright with confidence, they filed one by one through the manor gates.
May martial fortune ride with them on the road ahead.
Gazing after the departing escorts, the vagabonds, and the back of Dan Mujin, Eun Hwaran quietly prayed for their safe return.
Once the column left the escort agency and passed through Beijing's city gates, the escort run began in earnest.
A long, grinding march spanning two full months and more than two thousand li of road.
"Damn it. Doing this crap again."
Even in this world I still had to march. I wanted to clutch my head like some drama's end-of-service sergeant.
If there was one improvement over those days, it was that I had trained Whirlwind Steps—encompassing both footwork and lightness skill—up to the second star. Shift the center of gravity slightly forward, drive force through the big toe, release a thin stream of inner energy through the Yongquan point, and glide ahead with ease. Beside me, Ilhong was also using the footwork she had learned from Hwang Geolgae to lighten the strain on her body.
If we had been thrown into this without it, it really would have been murder. I might have gone dizzy the way I used to back when I hauled cargo myself.
As we cut through the vagabonds with our distinctive footwork, porters nearby started whispering while staring at me.
"Isn't that the kid who used to work as a porter? Now he's a vagabond? What the hell happened?"
"You're behind on the news. The Divine Wind Daoist took a shine to him and made him a disciple."
"With that momentum he even picked up a vagabond badge easy, I hear. Honestly, what a lucky bastard."
"Life finally opened up for him. I'm jealous as hell."
Listening made my ears itch.
Life opened up? The claim was so absurd I almost laughed. Did they have any idea that if the Heavenly Killing Star ever flared up, my head could fly off my shoulders in an instant?
"Ugh. My life."
When I first heard that old man was heading far away on an escort run, I had been genuinely thrilled at the thought of freedom. Now irritation was boiling in my gut. I poked Ilhong's shoulder.
"Ilhong. Got any water left?"
"No. I drank it all on the way."
She held up a completely empty leather waterskin.
"What a useless junior. You're supposed to leave some drinking water for your senior."
"There you go saying things I don't understand again… Why don't you ask the people joining us in the middle?"
She pointed toward the group coming to join us from a nearby village called Anyang County.
In this era, the mountains were lawless zones the government army's reach never touched. Beasts and bandits swarmed everywhere, which made a large-scale escort run you could safely bury yourself in an extremely precious thing. As long as the route lined up, people around Beijing would pay a modest travel fee and gather under an escort agency's banner.
In other words, we were this era's safety bus—with an absurdly long interval between departures.
"Hmm."
A clean stream we could use for drinking water was still a long way off. Maybe I should go cadge some water.
I was about to follow her advice and head over when—
"Boss. Boss."
Ilhong tapped my shoulder as if she had spotted something.
"What now?"
"Boss, some girl who just joined us is running straight at us."
Wondering what she was talking about, I looked where she pointed.
And sure enough—exactly as described—some tiny shrimp of a kid was charging toward us with steam practically blasting from her nostrils. At a serious clip, too, as if she were using lightness skill.
"Hey! You bastard, finally—!"
The moment our eyes met, the brat flared her eyes wide and started spewing curses. That sharp, ill-mannered voice sounded weirdly familiar.
Why was this short woman so furious with me?
"You little shit, get over here! How dare you steal that precious weapon?!"
Rage closed the distance in no time. At the same moment, her pale face filled my vision—a bob cut falling to her jawline, sharp eyes, and outer corners burning red as if she had painted them with rouge.
"Ah. That Dang Clan brat from back then?"
Dang Yeohye, if I remembered right.
"Ha? I'll kill you, you son of a—!"
Oops. The slip had come out before I could stop it. I had always remembered her that way, so it just popped out on reflex.
I waved both hands as if it were all a misunderstanding and tried to salvage the mood.
"Ahem. Anyway, long time no see. Have you been well?"
"I have not been well! Because of you two rat bastards!"
Of course, that achieved exactly nothing.
Still, the deep forest-green of her nails and the way her breathing had settled suggested her training had borne fruit. And the reason she had been shrieking nonstop was probably that cylindrical Dang Clan hidden weapon we had forgotten to return.
Swoosh.
Sensing she might be in the crosshairs, Ilhong slipped behind my back and peeked out with only her face showing.
"Come on, who stole anything? We just forgot to give it back."
Strictly speaking, she had been so absorbed in the Blood Night Toad's poison that she had forgotten to retrieve it herself. Mutual fault. No need to grab the back of anyone's neck and argue over who was more wrong.
Even so, she kept glaring at us with those sharp eyes, still unconvinced.
"Hmph."
Had I said earlier that this would be a long, boring, tedious march across two thousand li?
Full cancellation of that statement.
Traveling with this poison-soaked woman, there would not be a single dull moment.
"…Ahaha."
An expression cold as frost.
The woman in the uniform of the Demon Exterminating Squad's vice leader roughly yanked her sword free from the wanted criminal's chest.
"Guh—"
A short death-rattle and a spray of blood. Scarlet flecks dotted her face, yet the beautiful woman did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
Moyong Cheonghye—who had spent the entire winter slaughtering villains without rest and, in place of the old epithet Ice Flower, had earned from the gossips the far more blood-chilling title of Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden.
Spatter.
She flicked her blade and cast the clinging blood onto the dirt.
No matter how many evil men she killed, the hollowed-out hole in her chest never seemed to fill.
"Nngh."
And the leader of the Demon Exterminating Squad, Jeok Unyeop, was watching his vice leader—who had already surpassed him in strength—with complicated eyes.
To subdue a Peak Realm early-stage ringleader in a little over a hundred breaths… He had half-expected this when he had casually offered her the leader's seat last time.
She had refused on the spot, saying that if she became leader she would be stuck managing subordinates, attending Murim Alliance meetings, drowning in paperwork—and in that time she could be beating one more villain to death.
And so the leader of the Demon Exterminating Squad found himself commanding a subordinate stronger than himself, from a far more prestigious family. He scratched hard at the side of his head, already feeling a headache coming on.
Ever since that woman had shown up last year, he had felt like he was constantly being dragged around.
"Leader. So where is the next ringleader?"
Look at her—no thought of rest, already hunting for the next target.
"There are none left in this area."
"…Why not?"
"Because you, Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden, have cut them all down."
Her notoriety was already shaking Hebei. Every killable scoundrel had fled; within at least a hundred li, the seed of villainy had effectively dried up.
"Then what do we do now?"
"…"
What do we do? Celebrate a job well done and head back to the Murim Alliance for some rest, of course.
But when he saw the look on that beauty's face—as if she had lost all will to live—Jeok Unyeop found himself blurting out the next objective before he could stop himself.
"There's, ah, a freak not far from here who has been terrorizing escort agencies with the Langya Peak weapon and making quite a name for himself…"
"Let's go."
Color returned to her face. Without a second's delay she answered and launched her body into motion—before he had even said which direction.
Watching her urge him on from afar, Jeok Unyeop could only shake his head from side to side.