We Need to Talk
On the road back to Hebei after finishing a thoroughly eventful cargo escort.
I sat perched on the wagon, carefully tending the short blade Moyong Cheonghye had given me.
I wiped away every speck of dust, gave the edge a light pass over my portable whetstone, and finished by coating it with camellia oil.
Ilhong, who had earned a seat on the wagon like me after her performance in the last fight, watched from the side with open curiosity before asking,
"You look like you're enshrining some sacred relic… Is that dagger really that precious? Because it was a gift from the beautiful big sister?"
A little envy mixed with curiosity colored her voice.
"What are you talking about? This is a twenty-gold-coin dagger. Of course I'm going to treat it like treasure."
It was basically a bearer check I could cash anytime. Just holding it made me feel warm and fuzzy.
"Eek, you took down a former-era demon boss and they only gave you twenty coins? That's so cheap."
Then the former Haomu Gate master's daughter dropped a line I couldn't just let slide.
"You think that's small? Even after fees, that's a dozen or so clinking pieces of gold."
"If the target is a notoriously infamous former-era demon head, that really isn't a huge sum. Think about it. If they put up twenty gold coins for someone expected to face a Transcendental Peak martial artist, who would even bother hunting them?"
Now that she put it that way, she had a point.
Anyone strong enough to take on a former-era demon boss could go somewhere else, swing a blade a few times, and make the same amount.
The thought sent a sudden chill down my spine. Don't tell me Moyong Cheonghye… scammed me again?
"Ah, twenty coins might just be the Murim Alliance's base bounty."
"What? Base bounty?"
"Yes. When the Murim Alliance posts a basic bounty, the various sects and clans who hold grudges against that person pile on additional huge rewards."
The jianghu was a web of grudges and favors, and anyone declared a public enemy of the martial world would already have racked up enormous blood debts.
So they set the table with a little money and then rake in the commission fees.
So that was the business model of the orthodox faction's top organization. I needed to take notes.
"He's probably a hundred-year-old monster, and since he went into hiding for decades, most of the people who posted bounties either died of old age or withdrew them, leaving only the base amount. Hmm."
So my former sister hadn't actually lied to me.
I'd just been ridiculously unlucky.
"Son of a bitch."
It felt like finding a second-place lottery ticket after the claim period had expired.
If I hadn't known, I could have just been happily clueless. Knowing made the whole thing feel worse for no good reason.
"So how much usually hangs on the necks of these demon-boss types?"
Since the conversation was already open, I asked about the market rate.
"Anywhere from a few coins to hundreds, and there are even public enemies with bounties of ten guan of pure gold."
The bounty work sounded more lucrative than I'd expected.
The Vagabond Association tossed out jobs where you rolled around with wild boars and half-killed yourself for a few silver coins.
Over there, true to being the darlings of the orthodox factions, they started with gold.
Maybe bounty hunting wouldn't be such a bad side gig later?
These were people who had already slaughtered countless others and piled up evil karma. Taking them out counted as a kind of good deed.
Left alone, they would only keep harming the world and creating more victims, so at least my conscience wouldn't have a problem with it.
There was that flickering red thing as a slight risk factor, but if it came down to it, I could always take them alive.
"Hey, so who's the guy with the ten-guan gold bounty?"
I'd never even heard of a sum like that. An amount of gold so huge you couldn't hold it in both hands, hanging on one man's neck.
"The Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
"…Ah."
The one gossip-mongers called both the Number One of the Demonic Cult and the Number One Under Heaven.
Of course, countless orthodox martial artists vehemently denied the second title as pure nonsense.
Anyway, Murim Alliance commissions were great and all, but the difficulty was way too high.
Someone who used to shake down old man Jang at the fabric shop for unpaid debts wasn't ready to throw hands at that level yet.
I should at least have a First-class tag hanging off me before I even thought about it.
"Still, the ceiling's high, and I've got connections…"
I'd made faces with the real power brokers of the Demon Extermination Unit, and the vice leader especially… seemed to think rather highly of me, so she would probably throw me some work.
This was a world where without guanxi you couldn't even land a shabby job. In that sense, my starting line wasn't bad at all.
"…Mm, is it really fine? Anyway, thanks for the info, Ilhong."
I toyed with the dagger that would connect me to the Demon Extermination Unit, then shoved it firmly into the short sheath at my waist.
Ilhong, who had been watching quietly, spoke up.
"Then please call me Big Sister too."
The kid had been a little weird ever since Moyong Cheonghye and Dang Yeohye visited.
"Get a grip, Ilhong."
I gave her head a light thok. She was only a year younger than me.
"But why do you call those two with big-sister and little-sister titles, and I'm just Ilhong?"
"Because Ilhong is… Ilhong."
"Tch, what's that supposed to mean."
Apparently it made her feel like she was falling behind somehow.
In what category, I had no idea. Girls this age were so emotionally volatile they defied all understanding.
"Don't waste your competitive spirit on weird things and watch the road ahead. Beijing's gates will be coming into view soon."
When I first entered the capital, the golden dragons soaring up the imperial gates had felt strange and foreign. Now they were so familiar I would have missed them if they weren't there.
After several more hours of marching, the bustling outline of the city finally began to take shape ahead of us.
The wagoners and vagabonds who had been trudging along with exhausted faces brightened at once.
"Raise the escort banners high! Let all under heaven know that the Eunseong Escort Agency completed its run despite endless interference!"
At the chief escort leader's shout, the banners of Eunseong snapped and billowed as they crossed the city gates.
Crowds of Beijing citizens murmured as they watched the procession.
"We're home!"
"We're back in Beijing!"
There had been no small number of casualties and some cargo lost, but we had still succeeded in escorting the goods all the way out and back.
And we had done it after beating down a notorious former-era demon boss, no less.
"Hngh, finally!"
"We did it! We actually did it!"
When the manor of the Eunseong Merchant Group—where we had first set out—came into view, people choked up.
After two thousand li of marching we looked as ragged as Hwang Geolgae himself, but we still let out cheers full of joy.
"Wooooah—!"
At Merchant Leader Eun Hwaran's summons, I dragged my exhausted body to her office.
A meeting must have just ended, because people came pouring out the door.
Among them were figures who looked, by their dress, like branch managers from other regions, and others in the classic getup of moneylenders who seemed to be from the money houses.
Apparently the nearby money houses had sent people over to hear the results of the escort run.
When they spotted me brazenly heading into the merchant leader's office without permission, their faces turned puzzled.
"Big Sis Hwaran."
The moment I called Eun Hwaran so familiarly, their eyes went round with shock.
"Who is that kid?"
"Does Merchant Leader Eun Hwaran have a younger brother?"
"I heard her only family was Eun Yang-gon, who was cast out after being disowned…"
While they whispered, Merchant Leader Eun Hwaran heard my voice and stepped out with the chief escort leader.
"My, you're here already? I told you the road would have worn you out, so you could rest first and come later."
Damn that Hwang Geolgae. Next time, don't leave out important information when you pass on a message.
Sensing the gazes fixed on the space between us, Eun Hwaran gave me a simple introduction right there in front of everyone.
"This young man is my sworn younger brother, Dan Mujin. He's Old Master Hwang's disciple, and he played a major role in bringing down the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord this time. Keep him in mind—someday, just as he helped me, he may be of help to all of you as well."
She patted my shoulder with a look of trust as she spoke.
"Ohh, Old Master Hwang's disciple—the one who drew three cheok of sword qi at the manor…"
"And at that age he faced a demon boss head-on?"
"A youth with real spirit."
I could practically hear my name recognition climbing by the second.
To make it as a troubleshooter, you eventually had to get your name known among money people and the influential. Thanks to Eun Hwaran, I had at least stamped my face into their memory for good.
At this rate, I hoped my standing in the Vagabond Association—where I was still just a regular—would rise a bit too.
"Thanks, Big Sis."
Once the guests were gone, I went over to where she sat in her chair and offered my gratitude.
While I was at it, I also started chewing through the snacks I hadn't had in two months.
"That's what I should be saying. I heard everything from the chief escort leader. Without you and Heroine Dang Yeohye, our losses would have been two or three times worse."
Chief Escort Leader Na Maengdal—ever since the fight with the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord, he had been staring at me intently and pushing the next chief escort leader seat my way.
But there was no way I would choose a job that wasn't even the army, where all you did was eat and march.
Besides, day after day it was dirt, grass, and road—hardly any chance to rack up good deeds.
"But Big Sis, there were quite a few casualties… Doesn't that look bad for public opinion?"
Part of the cargo and wagons had been smashed too. By any measure it hadn't been a perfect escort run, so a little worry came first.
"No. On the contrary, people are amazed that against the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord the damage stopped at this level. So if you weigh gain against loss, it's a gain."
"Ah…"
Fair enough. What escort agency would ever take down a century-old Transcendental Peak monster? At best they cleared out mountain bandits or thieves.
"Thanks to that, a few of the money houses have decided to trust us and resume business. Though Mangeum Money House still hasn't even sent anyone over."
Those people clearly had more than a few shady corners.
Dig deep enough and you might turn up ties to the imperial court.
The political marriage scheme to swallow the merchant group was one thing; one way or another, they were a target we would have to settle accounts with—whether we fought to the bitter end or not.
"Anyway, little brother, you worked hard. I hear the Vagabond Association only pays out the fixed fee no matter how much you do, and even takes a cut on top of that."
Not every vagabond was the same, yet the blanket reward handed out was pitiful compared to the actual performance.
Eun Hwaran gently scratched at the part of me that resented the Vagabond Association as she drew something from her robes.
Three gold coins glittered bright yellow between her slender fingers.
"Here. This is from me personally, so you get to keep all of it. Understood?"
Side income on top of the commission fee.
"Heh heh, you didn't have to go this far."
I never refuse free money.
This was what a real big sister who looked out for her little brother looked like. That crooked Moyong Cheonghye needed to take notes.
And because the reward actually matched my performance this time, the Heavenly Killing Star had no opening to stir up greed either.
Maybe that was why the red energy stayed quiet.
"Oh, and keep this a secret from Old Master Hwang, alright?"
…Why a secret?
Just what had that old man been saying about me?
I would definitely have to ask later.
With that thought in mind, I exchanged a brief catch-up with her, then walked out of the merchant leader's office.
"Boss, you got a bonus, right?"
That was the first thing I heard the moment I stepped out of the office.
As always, his nose for the smell of money was demonic.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, Boss put in a star performance on this run, the Merchant Leader dotes on you, and she's loaded… So of course it would go that way."
Thinking it over again, it wasn't exactly a hard deduction.
"Heh. Behold. This is your boss's capability."
I proudly held out the bright yellow coins I had pulled from my robes.
"Whoa…"
Gold had a magnetic charm that never got old no matter how many times you looked at it. Especially as the number of coins went up.
"So what are you going to do with it, Boss?"
"Why, you need an investment?"
Back then I had poured money in with the feeling of pouring water into a bottomless jar, but on this escort run I had gotten more than my money's worth out of the human-skin mask and the voice-altering drug.
In short, I had milked the investment dry, so even if there was no return I was willing to help if she wanted.
"No, I feel a little bad always leaning on you… And the Merchant Leader set aside some silver for me separately, so I'm fine, Boss."
"What, that was it?"
Come to think of it, Ilhong had also become known as Old Master Hwang's disciple.
As expected of a veteran merchant leader of a major trading house—she was already securing future talent.
"Then we both made some real money for a change."
"Right? So what should we do with it?"
Apparently the earlier question had also been aimed at herself.
"How about we get some good food for once? Call Ohchil and the kids we used to eat galjeotang with."
This time we would actually walk into a proper inn.
Everyone had grown some, and their clothes weren't bad anymore, so we probably wouldn't get kicked out for looking like beggars.
"That sounds like a good idea."
"Yeah. Let's order so much that the table legs break, and meat dumplings too."
"Ah, then let's get Dongpo pork as well, Boss!"
"Of course we will."
That was the dish we had never gotten to eat because of Hwang Geolgae's intrusion.
The price was pretty painful, but it was still a must-order item.
"But Boss, is it okay to suddenly spend this freely? You usually pinch every coin and only open your wallet when you're investing in me."
Ilhong was pointing out how I had, without realizing it, acted like a miser—both in my past life and this one—after growing up always scraping for money as a kid.
"It's nothing much. I've just had a change of heart lately."
I was going to try doing a good deed for once. And with money I usually guarded like my own blood, no less.
And all of it was because of a certain phenomenon that kept flickering in front of my eyes.
"…"
In the deep hours of the night, when everyone else was exhausted and asleep.
I snapped my eyes open and quietly walked out into the night streets.
The night sky was packed full of stars blazing with pure white light.
I looked quietly down at my own hand, just as white and fine. Once, this hand had been steeped in other people's blood.
But now there was no trace of that; it had returned to its original form.
Just like my emotions, which remained startlingly calm even after my first kill.
Srrk. Srrrkk.
After I had stabbed the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord to protect my former sister, Hwang Geolgae had once asked if anything had changed in my condition.
At the time I had said nothing was wrong, but something had, in fact, changed.
Chzzzt—
Even when I circulated the Seongun Simbeop, the red energy would only subside for a moment before rising again.
Unlike before, it behaved as if it had a will of its own, acting with awareness of me.
Ssk, ssk, ssuk.
It gathered the red energy into something like fingers and began writing on the dirt.
For me to see, it carefully traced a single character of the Central Plains script.
In other words: kill something more.
I was so speechless I added a character in front of it.
The character for "not." When the word "Do Not Kill" was complete, the Heavenly Killing Star irritably scraped away the "not" in front.
Ssuk! Ssuk!
"You've got to be kidding me."
A bond that could neither be cut nor escaped.
This was our first historic conversation.