What Was Gained
The devastation left in the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord's wake was gradually being put in order.
The people of the Eunseong Escort Agency had gathered the dead and wounded in one place and set about treating the injured. Hwang Geolgae, arriving late to the scene, looked over it all with a deeply troubled gaze.
While he'd been off chasing after starlight, this slaughter had been unfolding behind him. Of course, no one present dared blame him to his face. No one had expected so many masters to come after a mere escort agency, and nobody was bold enough to raise their voice at a peerless expert who could still spit raw sword-qi.
"Tch. I'd almost rather get cursed out properly."
Still, the uneasy looks were inevitable. A clean, honest scolding would have been easier on the heart.
And then, as if answering that very wish, a foul-mouthed little bastard showed up.
"Ah, for fuck's sake! Old man, what the hell were you doing that you got here this late?! I genuinely thought I was gonna die!"
Dragon Head of the Beggars' Sect or former Demonic leader—none of it mattered. When this genuine madman got pissed, he charged first and asked questions later. Dang Yeohye, the Head Escort, and everyone else present stared in open horror.
"Look at this. One taste of blood and the crazy's flaring up again."
The old man snorted a laugh as he answered. Better this than the silent side-eyes. He smacked the back of the cheeky brat's head with a solid thwack, then asked for the full story of what had happened.
"You survived because the Murim Alliance's Demon Extermination Squad stepped in…? Why the hell would those people be here?"
"How the fuck should I know? My head's killing me."
Dan Mujin rubbed the lump rising on the back of his skull and grumbled. While Hwang Geolgae was still puzzling over the unexpected intervention of the Murim Alliance, a woman stepped forward and offered a respectful martial salute.
"This humble junior of the Murim greets Senior Beggar King."
Skin like white jade, delicate features, and beneath them a beauty whose eyes carried a keen, cutting edge—Hwang Geolgae understood at once why the Demon Extermination Squad had gotten involved.
Right. If it was the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden, of course she'd appear out of nowhere wherever the wicked were.
After wiping out the Hebei bandits, she'd apparently come all this way to put down the freak of Nang'a Peak as well.
"But child, Beggar King? This old man is the Divine Wind Daoist, famed for his wondrous Daoist arts."
"……"
Anyone with eyes would have said he looked more like a filthy beggar than a Daoist, but Moyong Cheonghye kept her mouth firmly shut and said nothing. The second daughter of the Dang Clan had spilled one verbal blunder after another the moment they met; the Moyong daughter, at least, had a measure of composure.
"Heh heh. How is that rascal Moyong Cheon doing? Nothing amiss at the Moyong Clan, I trust?"
"……"
He'd asked after them casually enough, but her expression darkened considerably. There was clearly some grave trouble in the household.
"…He is well. He said he would like to play another game of Go with you someday, Senior."
"I have no hobby of matching wits with men weaker than myself."
He meant every word. Moyong Cheon was a clan lord who could only see what was right under his nose and never looked any farther—playing Go with him was no fun at all. If he ran his family the same way, the day would come when he regretted it bitterly.
"I see. Since you seem to have your reasons for concealing your identity, I shall take my leave."
The Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden's original title had been the Cold Flower Jade Maiden. But from a certain point on, her hand had grown merciless—as if she meant to cut down every evil under heaven. Between that and the shadow hanging over her clan, something was clearly weighing on her; still, Hwang Geolgae had more urgent conversations waiting, so he let her go.
"So then, you little shit. What happened to the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord in the end?"
"Ah, that. The bastard was full of murder and laying a trap, but I spotted it right away and…!"
Dan Mujin launched into the rest of the story, complete with hand gestures and footwork. The longer Hwang Geolgae listened, the stranger his expression grew.
"So what you're telling me is… you killed the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord?"
"Yeah. Somehow I ended up landing the finishing blow."
More nonsense out of that mouth.
"Then why the hell are you still fine, you idiot?"
"…Huh. Good question?"
His face said he'd been so busy surviving at the time that he'd only just realized it now. Looking at him, you had to wonder whether this really was the Heavenly Killing Star that was supposed to thirst for slaughter.
"What's the reason…? Because I did it to save people? Or because it didn't go against my conscience?"
Dan Mujin explained that the move had been to save Moyong Cheonghye, and that the merit of that good deed had stacked up at the same time—enough to outweigh the killing karma and leave him in this strange, stable state.
"Then you're saying the Seongun Simbeop kept you from going mad and let you hold on to your reason?"
"Yeah, probably?"
At that answer, Hwang Geolgae's face lit with satisfaction and he slapped his knee. So the vicious nature of the Heavenly Killing Star truly could be suppressed after all.
"Nothing weird showing up? No strange visions or anything?"
"Oh, of course not."
Dan Mujin nodded as if that were the most natural thing in the world.
"As expected, the foresight of Daoist Ilwol was never wrong. All of this must be the profound arrangement of the Primordial Heavenly Worthy!"
Hwang Geolgae pressed his palms together, attributing everything to the help of That One who stood at the apex of all cause, effect, and natural law, and for once managed to put on a vaguely Daoist air that didn't suit him in the least.
Which was why he failed to notice Dan Mujin quietly avoiding his gaze.
"……"
We gathered what remained of the carts and cargo and made for the border city in Henan where the Eunseong Escort Agency kept a branch office.
The moment we stepped through the city gates, a middle-aged martial artist came running toward us as if he'd been waiting. Like Moyong Cheonghye, he wore the characters for "Demon Extermination" worked into the fittings of his scabbard.
"Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden, what kind of Vice Leader abandons her own Squad Leader because his feet are too slow?"
So this was the Leader of the Demon Extermination Squad. He was staring at Moyong Cheonghye as if he couldn't believe her.
"I had a… bad premonition. I'm sorry, Leader Jeok Unyeop."
She explained that she'd moved on some unaccountable intuition. Jeok Unyeop shook his head and started toward her—then his eyes flew wide as he spotted a familiar face among the corpses.
"Wait—that face…! The Soul-Seizing Demon Lord?!"
As expected of the Squad Leader of the Demon Extermination Squad, he recognized a Murim public enemy on sight.
"What in the world… Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden, don't tell me you brought down this monster?"
If she had, it would be an enormous military achievement—his face was already brightening at the thought.
"No. The one who inflicted the internal injuries and delivered the final blow wasn't me. It was Young Hero Dan Mujin, here."
Moyong Cheonghye gently nudged me forward by the back. Jeok Unyeop looked back and forth between the two of us, baffled.
"A young brother like this? Against that century-old monster?"
"Don't call him 'young brother.' He saved my life. He is a proper young hero."
Once Moyong Cheonghye gave him a brief account of everything that had happened, his expression turned to open astonishment.
"What? He consumed a Ten-thousand-year Fire Carp? And used extreme Yang energy to wound the enemy from within?"
A legendary spiritual beast out of pure myth—he clearly wasn't ready to believe it.
"No. That was just a con to lure the bastard in. What actually hit him with the internal damage was a cloud of poison powder. I was born with a constitution that tolerates toxins."
There might be more people out there training the same kind of demonic arts as the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord. The last thing I needed was a rumor spreading that I was a walking jar of spiritual medicine.
"Hah. You've got real guts, Young Hero. I'll give you that. A martial artist who hasn't even reached the Peak Realm, standing face-to-face against the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord."
Apparently the poison story sat better with him than the Fire Carp. He clapped my shoulder with a look of genuine conviction.
"Bringing down the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord is no small merit, Young Hero Dan Mujin."
"Well, calling it my kill alone feels a bit much when two other women masters also—"
My conscience was prodding me to say something, when—
"He's a Murim Alliance designated fugitive, so there's a massive bounty as well."
"On second thought, I do believe I was the one who finished him."
A massive bounty was a massive bounty. The Moyong Clan and the Dang Clan were already drowning in money; handing a little of it over to a former beggar like me wouldn't hurt them any.
"The bounty only gets paid once you bring proof to the Murim Alliance, though. And you're currently under escort contract, aren't you?"
The Murim Alliance sat in Shaanxi—well off the escort route. And since this bastard didn't have any symbolic token, I'd have had to pickle his head in salt and haul it the whole way.
"As Vice Leader, I personally witnessed the young hero's deeds, so…"
Moyong Cheonghye fished around in her robes, clearly intending to spare me the trouble.
"We'll recover the body. In exchange, take this dagger. When you go to the Murim Alliance later, submit it under my name and the bounty will be paid out."
It was a refined short blade engraved with the Moyong Clan crest—something oddly familiar to me.
"…Thank you for the consideration, Vice Leader Moyong Cheonghye."
"Think nothing of it. The more people like you there are, Young Hero, the greater the blessing for the Orthodox Murim."
"……"
Not long ago it was that the peace of the Murim demanded someone like me not be allowed to live, and now I was a blessing to the Orthodox path? Listening to her, I had to bite my lip hard. The Moyong Cheongjin part of me missed his sister and resented her at the same time.
"Which brings me to this—once your martial arts grow further, would you consider joining the Demon Extermination Squad? With achievements like yours at your age, it wouldn't take long to reach the front lines."
She seemed to think she'd spotted a promising sprout and wanted to keep a line open.
"I'm sorry. I'm not interested in that kind of work yet."
"I see. That's a pity…"
This was a woman who had already stabbed me once. Share a pot of rice with her long enough and my identity might slip—and when that day came, was there any guarantee the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden wouldn't draw her sword?
I shook my head firmly.
"But if you ever change your mind, please tell me anytime. I'll be waiting."
Even if she herself didn't stab me, the clan behind her was the same people who had cast me out. Revealing who I was would have to wait until I had the personal strength to protect myself.
"Then… until next time."
We exchanged martial salutes, and the woman in the bamboo hat vanished with her high ponytail swaying behind her. Watching her go, an ache I couldn't name settled in my chest. Was this what people meant by love and hate tangled together?
For someone who'd never really had a family, the feeling was thoroughly unfamiliar.
"Ahem. Hey, kid."
And once Moyong Cheonghye was gone, the next woman approached. Neungsam had told me the Head Escort had slipped her some money for her trouble and that she was heading straight for Sichuan—so why was she standing there, so unlike herself, fidgeting and trying to get a word out?
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Umm. So, that is…"
"If you've got something to say, just say it."
I'd just landed a solid bounty, after all. I felt like I could laugh off just about anything right now.
"The young miss is trying to thank you for risking your life to save her during the energy-drain crisis. But now she's too embarrassed, so she's just standing there squirming."
Out of nowhere, her maidservant Neungsam helpfully supplied the most merciless translation possible. Called out like that, Dang Yeohye's face went red in an instant.
"You little shit! Shut your damn mouth!"
As the price of leaking classified information, Uncle Neungsam started taking rapid thud-thud kicks to the shins.
"Ahh."
So saying a simple thank-you wasn't easy for her. To be fair, even when I'd drained my own true energy first and put on a whole suicide show, she'd still been screaming at me to stop being an idiot and run for it myself.
"Because of you! I swear! I can't live like this, damn it!"
Her mouth was filthy, but at her core she seemed like a decent person. She'd even stepped out in front of the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord once to save my life. Someone like that was gold once you got close. I couldn't see any downside to being on good terms.
"Hey. You. Take this."
Apparently she'd beaten Neungsam—who was twice her size—enough to be satisfied, because she tossed something at me. I snatched it out of the air: a flat silver token gleaming with her name, Dang Yeohye, engraved on it.
"A Dang Clan Token of Gratitude. It's pretty rare, so keep it deep in your robes."
Of the gold, silver, and bronze ranks, this looked like a silver one. Unlike the cheap bronze tokens, this one was pure silver—worth money even as raw metal.
"Thank you. I'll put it to good use."
"The value it carries is bigger than a scrap of silver, so don't even think about selling it."
Spooky woman. How did she know what I was thinking?
"Of course not. Never crossed my mind."
I tucked it deep into my robes. In one lifetime, people said, you were lucky to ever see a single Dang Clan Token of Gratitude—and now I'd collected two of them.
"And if you ever have reason to pass through Sichuan… make sure you stop by our Dang Clan."
"I'll try."
"What do you mean, 'try'? If you don't show up, you're dead. Got that?"
Her eyes burned with the look of someone prepared to beat me half to death if I just passed them by. What a way to talk.
"And one more thing…"
"What now."
"We've saved each other's lives a few times now, so I'll specially allow you to call me Noona."
Dang Yeohye said it with a slight tremor at the end of her words.
"Nah. Pass."
"…Why? You called the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden that."
"You're short, and you act more like a kid than I do, so it's weird."
"You little bastard…! I go easy on you and you start climbing all over me, huh?!"
Maybe that tiny frame of hers had given her some kind of fantasy about the title of Noona. Watching her bounce up and down in a fury was honestly pretty entertaining. She hammered my shins with both fists, but without internal energy behind the hits, against the body of the Heavenly Killing Star it felt like nothing more than a light drizzle.
"Haa. Anyway—last thing. You over there. Ilhong, right?"
At her pointed look, Ilhong, who'd been listening quietly beside us, flinched. She'd fired a hidden weapon in the emergency and saved Dang Yeohye's life—but there was also plenty about that weapon that could get her in trouble.
"That cylindrical launcher. Where did you get it? The principle looked a lot like something from the Dang Clan."
"…A blacksmith at the Black Market took a look at one and made me something similar."
"Bullshit. Do you have any idea how many delicate parts are in those things? Unless you stole the entire blueprint, that's impossible."
Well. As it happened, there was someone who could do exactly that without blueprints or schematics. The shape of every component, the way they meshed and moved, even the presence of black powder—she'd just looked, taken it apart, put it back together over and over, and cracked the whole thing.
Kids like that grew up to be the ones building mechanical formations in places like the Heavenly Demon's Tomb.
"Ilhong fired knowing she'd be suspected for it. To save you. So could you maybe let it go?"
Technically, she'd stolen it with pure talent. The kind of theft Dang Yeohye was worried about hadn't happened.
"Hey, I got help too, so I want to, but as a daughter of the Dang Clan I can't just—"
"Please, Noona. The Dang Clan has plenty of other hidden weapons anyway."
"……"
The soft, sudden delivery of "Noona" made Dang Yeohye flinch and cut off mid-sentence. For some reason, both corners of her mouth seemed to be trembling.
"…Haa. Fine. Since you're begging me that hard, Noona will let it slide this once. Got it?"
She sounded exactly like a big sister scolding a much younger sibling. When I nodded without a word, she looked thoroughly pleased with herself.
"Hey, Ilhong. Today, I didn't see you use that launcher. But if anyone else spots it, there's nothing I can do for you. Remember that."
I'd been half-ready to drag the Beggar King over and crush the issue with pure authority—but one request from me, and Dang Yeohye just… let it go. Her maidservant Neungsam was standing there with his mouth hanging open; he'd clearly never seen his young miss react this smoothly in his life.
"…What is this?"
I was feeling pretty strange about it myself. Like a prickly, foul-tempered wildcat had just decided to let me pet its head.
"Truly remarkable…"
See? Neungsam was feeling it too.
"I've never once seen her cave like that over a single request… Young Master Dan Mujin, could it be—"
"What?"
"Are you actually going to become our young miss's little husband?"
"…What kind of garbage are you talking?"
Had this man eaten something weird?
"No, but the young miss has never acted like this in her life… Don't tell me I should start serving you from now on, Young Master?"
"Didn't you say you were in a hurry? Go. Just go."
I shoved the nonsense-spouting Neungsam hard between the shoulder blades and sent him on his way. Once everyone else had left, the only one remaining at my side was Ilhong, standing there with a sulky look on her face.
What was her problem now?
"Boss, do you have a thing for short women?"
"Is that really what you need to say right now?"
We'd barely gotten through the crisis.
Honestly—was there a single sane person left in the entire Murim?