Open Sesame
"Mother? What kind of nonsense is that…"
Her face was a perfect picture of disbelief and pure exasperation.
Il-hye-hyang clearly didn't recognize me now that I'd shed the beggar getup and cleaned myself up.
I put on that same greasy, wheedling tone and made the old "hand over the money" gesture. Only then did the light of recognition hit her. Her eyes shot wide open.
"You—you! Don't tell me you're that beggar bastard from before…?!"
Hey now, calling your own son a beggar bastard?
Still, I took it as confirmation that I'd gotten it right. I flashed her a bright grin and gave a cheerful little nod.
"Mom abandoned me, but look—I came back a success, just to show you."
And not just any success. A Peak Realm martial artist, no less. I spread my arms wide with triumphant flair.
"…You absolute lunatic! Who the hell is your mother?!"
Naturally, that earned me a furious backlash. She shrieked at me like I was the craziest freak she'd ever laid eyes on.
"Do you have any idea how much I suffered because of those ridiculous rumors?!"
Apparently shaking down people in the street had spawned some very strange gossip.
"Well, whose fault is that? Who told you to go around bullying innocent beggars?"
Instead of helping those poor kids, she'd kept tormenting them. This was just karma coming back around.
My logic clearly didn't land. From the start, Il-hye-hyang had been glaring at me like she wanted me dead.
"Anyway, that personality of yours hasn't changed a bit. Here you are again, messing with someone else's shop for no reason. Right?"
It really was a bizarre, twisted connection.
Meeting her as an enemy after becoming a high-level expert, and finding out she was one of Ilhong's mortal enemies on top of it.
"Why are you attacking Honghwaru?! What grudge could you possibly have against us?!"
"Funny—why were you trying to smash Cheonhwaru, then? What grudge did you have?"
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Honghwaru had been the ones to start the dirty business first.
If you're going to try to ruin someone else's establishment, you'd better be ready for yours to go down in flames too.
"How much did that old hag Okryeong, the madam of Cheonhwaru, pay you? I'll give you ten times that!"
Realizing she couldn't beat me with force and that words weren't working either, Sinbigak Leader Il-hye-hyang switched tactics and tried to buy me off.
Honghwaru had amassed an enormous fortune over the years, she claimed. She could match any sum I named.
As someone currently hunting for investors to open an office in Beijing, I had to admit my ears perked up a little.
But this was Dan Mujin—man of faith and credit. I had never once screwed over a client mid-job.
Besides, that woman was…
"Boss, you're not actually falling for that, are you?"
"I am a little tempted, yeah."
"Boss! You're seriously going to—?"
"Of course I'm joking, Ilhong."
She was one of the traitors who had sold out the Haoman Lord for her own wealth and glory. One of Ilhong's enemies.
So no matter what number she threw out, the job still had to get done.
I tapped my shoulder with the staff I'd used to pulverize the bodyguards and started walking toward Il-hye-hyang.
"W-wait! Twenty times! No—I'll give you whole chests of gold…!"
Panic made her jack the offer up by dozens of times on the spot.
Impressive. So the number-one establishment in Beijing really raked in that much cash?
Once I finished wrecking Honghwaru, Cheonhwaru would sit unchallenged at the top. I should stay on good terms with Madam Okryeong.
"Argh! Stop! Why won't you stop?! I'm offering you all the gold you could ever want!"
"Man, you talk too much."
Selling out my client, Ilhong, and my own conscience just to take that money? The only one who'd be thrilled about that was the Heavenly Killing Star, forever trying to corrupt me somehow.
Unless the payment felt like a rightful reward, any amount she named was just a painted cake—pretty to look at, useless to eat. It only left a bitter taste.
"I'll give you Honghwaru's most beautiful woman! Just pretend you never saw me! That alone will bring you wealth and beauty!"
Even my complete lack of interest couldn't stop the middle-aged madam. Il-hye-hyang kept trying to win me over right to the end.
But the longer she talked, the more it felt like she was deliberately stalling for time.
The way she dragged things out… like she was waiting for something…
"That's him!"
"Protect the Leader from the assassin!"
At that moment, unknown figures in black clothing burst into view behind me.
They closed the distance in a blink with wind-like lightness skills. Their precision and discipline were on a completely different level from the random bodyguards.
"Boss—those are martial artists from Muyeonggak!"
Ilhong jabbed my shoulder in alarm. Apparently they were the force that handled Haoman's military strength.
Word that a Haoman-affiliated courtesan house was being torn apart must have reached them, and they'd rushed reinforcements over.
"You dogs who turned on your own master…! Ungrateful bastards!"
Normally so bright and cheerful, Ilhong was now pouring out raw fury, her face sharp as a blade.
From the deep, seething hatred in her eyes, these were the ones who had led the charge during the rebellion.
"Boss…"
In a quiet, aching voice, she tugged hard on my sleeve.
I didn't need her to say it. I already understood. I lifted the staff high.
"Ilhong. You remember the name of this staff, right?"
"…The Hell Vengeance Staff."
"That's right. Your enemies are my enemies. So don't worry. This body will take your revenge for you."
Until the day we seated her—holder of both the bloodline and the legitimacy of the true heir—in the seat of Haoman Lord.
We were of one heart and one mind.
"Boss…"
She looked up at me, clearly moved, her expression on the verge of tears.
"These guys have piled up plenty of sins. I'll smash them to pieces for you."
"Please… do the groin thing again, like earlier."
"…Sure."
Earlier she'd pitied them, saying death would almost be kinder. Now the fire of vengeance was burning hot.
"The opponent is a Peak expert! Deploy the Eight Directions Phantom Formation and respond!"
The shout came from the one who looked like their leader.
Immediately the black-clad fighters scattered in every direction, their movements dizzying and coordinated.
A joint formation that was both frantic and perfectly systematic, never showing an easy opening.
"The Eight Directions Phantom Formation. Fifteen First-class martial artists moving as one seamless body. It's Haoman's special joint formation designed specifically to take down high-level experts like you, Boss."
Just as Ilhong said, the enemy meshed together like gears, leaving no gap to exploit as they slowly tightened the space around me.
"Is it dangerous?"
"Very. Countless experts have fallen before the fighters of Muyeonggak."
Each of them was radiating sharp weapon intent. The claim that they were Haoman's elites seemed true—every one of them carried an unusual presence.
"But it's fine. I know every single way to break it."
Ilhong patted herself with complete confidence, as if telling me to just trust her.
"That's my Ilhong. You really do know everything."
I grinned and poured internal energy into the staff until it thrummed.
Right beside me stood a woman who knew Haoman better than Haoman itself.
A spider with its web torn away was nothing but easy prey.
Taaat!
Even an organization that deals in information needs a certain level of martial force once it steps into the Murim world.
Having an expert who can overwhelm any enemy is ideal, of course, but when you don't have one, you invent methods that work without one. That is simply the way of the Jianghu.
So the founding Lord of Haoman, worried for the safety of his disciples, created something intricate and precise: the Eight Directions Phantom Formation.
A joint formation for dealing with high-level experts, using Speed and Illusion to confound all five senses and trap the enemy inside a storm of blades.
It could never match the absolute power of a true supreme master, yet it had been both a sturdy shield and a keen blade that let Haoman weather countless storms.
"Three Steps—Open Formation! The one in front is the pivot!"
At least… until this very moment.
"Guhk!"
Killing intent had been raining in from every direction, making the fight a real struggle—until I followed Ilhong's instructions and swung the staff. The enemy's joint formation collapsed like wet paper.
"Th-that bastard knows how to break the Eight Directions Phantom Formation!"
"Impossible! There's no way—!"
Thud! Crack!
The blunt tip of the staff slammed into the disbelieving black-clad fighters one after another.
My staff weaved through the torrent of blades like a masterful game of go, finding and exploiting every tiny gap.
"Left Step, then Fist—Open Formation!"
The moment the formation tried to repair a newly opened hole, my fist shot in like lightning.
A strike packed with ferocious fist energy shattered the weapons with a series of explosive cracks.
"Kyaaaah!"
Sharp fragments sprayed in every direction, bringing blood and screams with them.
With five or six of the formation's members wiped out in an instant, a gaping hole tore open in their ranks.
One of the black-clad men finally noticed something wrong and shouted toward the source of that delicate voice.
"Who the hell are you, girl?! Don't tell me you're a Haoman traitor…!"
His cry was pure disbelief.
The moment Ilhong heard it, flames of rage erupted in both her eyes.
"Who?! Who betrayed whom—?!"
Fwoosh!
She yanked a cylindrical ring. Black powder ignited in a violent burst.
A rain of razor-sharp poison needles poured down on the enemy.
"Kkuhk!"
"Aaagh!"
With their formation already broken and unexpected needles flying, the black-clad fighters couldn't react in time and went down in heaps.
Even those who managed to dodge the needles met my staff flying in like a thunderbolt. Their skulls cracked halfway open.
Thud!
One final, heavy blow finished the last man still on his feet.
Fifteen of Haoman's main combatants—forged in real battle—had all been dropped by our hands.
"Kk… Just who the hell are you…"
The Muyeonggak leader glared at Ilhong with pure resentment, three poison needles still buried in his body.
Ilhong drew her sword with a soft rasp, as if preparing the final stroke, and walked toward them with deliberate steps.
"Father treasured all of you so much. He always said you were the bedrock of the organization."
He had treated them as the pillars of Haoman—people who could never be replaced.
At those words, the black-clad leader's eyes flew wide even as he coughed up blood.
"C-could it be… You are… Kk, ghk…!"
But the poison had already reached his marrow. Moments later his breath simply stopped.
Elsewhere, other black-clad fighters convulsed with their eyes rolled back and died one after another.
Slash!
Ilhong swung the sword she held and cut down the final remaining traitor. Standing over the corpses, she let out a long, weary sigh.
Her shoulders looked unusually slumped today—the emotional storm must have been enormous.
"You okay?"
Her face looked terrible.
Fighting alongside the bodyguards at Cheonhwaru, then giving her all here as well… both body and mind had to be exhausted.
"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy… Wait—?"
She swayed unsteadily and then toppled straight into me.
Somehow she ended up leaning into my broad chest. After a moment she simply gave in, eyes sliding shut, and murmured:
"It's… kind of warm."
In the middle of this courtesan house turned into a slaughterhouse by endless fighting, the two of us stayed frozen in that position for a short while.
"That's because I just finished moving around."
My flat answer made her eyebrows twitch.
"No, that's not what I meant… Ugh, never mind."
With a face that said "of course you'd say that," she peeled her cheek away from my chest.
The building had emptied completely. It was strangely quiet now.
"Looks like Sinbigak Leader Il-hye-hyang already skipped out, huh?"
I scratched the side of my head and muttered.
While the Muyeonggak fighters bought time, she must have completely vanished.
Honestly, I probably would have done the same in her shoes.
"Should we chase her? I think I saw her disappearing that way earlier."
I was about to follow her trail when Ilhong grabbed my sleeve and pulled hard.
"…What?"
"That's a trick, Boss."
Coming from someone who knew every single Haoman method inside and out, the words carried weight.
"What kind of trick? She definitely ran, so we have to chase her."
"Exactly—there's no need to go far. She didn't run. She hid."
She tapped the ruined floor of Honghwaru with her foot as she spoke.
"Hid?"
"Yes. It's always darkest under the lamp. Hiding in a blind spot is the Haoman way."
She knew the behavioral patterns of Haoman executives and their hiding methods as well.
But no matter how hard I looked, there didn't seem to be any place to hide here.
The upper floors had emptied like the tide going out, leaving the place deserted. The only presence I could sense was ours.
"Look, Boss. Doesn't the wall thickness seem weird only here?"
Ilhong, who had once run through this courtesan house like it was her own home, began pointing out strange details one by one.
From the outside the building looked spacious, yet once inside, certain sections felt oddly cramped. She kept drawing attention to those spots.
"And over here—the points where the walls end don't line up with each other."
"So?"
"There's a hidden space."
She said she knew this kind of structure well and set about measuring with absolute confidence.
She poked and prodded everywhere, even jumped up and down, then finally dragged me over to the wine storeroom, declaring it the most suspicious spot.
Thump. Thump.
I half-doubted her but knocked on the wall. Sure enough, the other side rang hollow and empty.
"Have you ever heard of a mechanism array, Boss?"
She gave a small smile and started pulling every pole, candle holder, and anything else within reach.
Then came a soft click as something gave way.
Krrrk. Rrrumble—
Stone dust sprayed as something heavy began to move.
What had looked like an ordinary wall rotated like a revolving door and revealed a staircase leading underground.
"…Oh. So this is a mechanism array."
"Well, Haoman always does things this way."
Ilhong shrugged as if to say, "See?"
We followed the dark stairs down, and before long we came face-to-face with a very familiar person in the basement.
"Hey, Mom. Fancy meeting you again."
"…"
Il-hye-hyang's expression crumpled into pure, utter defeat.