Reward
He was a middle-aged man with an imposing bearing.
Trailing behind him like a shadow was the chief of his escort detail, Gwak Cheol, the same man I’d met the previous night.
“I’m Gwangjung Merchant Guild Master Gwak Cheon-ung.”
“I’m Song Hyeon.”
“I’m Cheong-a.”
After introducing himself, he took the seat of honor opposite us.
When I heard guild master, I’d expected the usual greedy face with a belly hanging over his belt. This was a surprise.
Just from that sharp gaze and sturdy build, it seemed like he had considerable martial skill too.
“I’ve been told the two of you accomplished something remarkable for the guild. On behalf of the entire Gwangjung Merchant Guild, I offer you my deepest thanks.”
He clasped his hands and bowed politely.
His voice carried the weight of years and experience.
I hadn’t expected the guild master himself to come out and bow, but this was about his son’s mistake. If you were a parent, you should know how to lower your head and apologize when you had to.
“It was nothing.”
The moment I answered lightly, Gwak Cheol, standing stiffly behind the guild master, twitched his brows.
Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?
Right now, we had the upper hand.
But the guild master didn’t seem bothered by my attitude at all. If anything, he was watching us with curious eyes.
Especially me.
Slowly lifting his teacup, the guild master savored the aroma before speaking again.
“Because of my worthless son, I’ve committed a grave discourtesy against the two of you. This is entirely my fault for not raising him properly.”
Despite the words, he didn’t sound sorry or repentant in the least.
It was more like he was simply reporting what had happened.
If I were the sort of innocent person my doll-like face suggested, I might have let myself be fooled by that calm tone and smiled, saying I forgave him.
Cheong-a, who sat beside me, actually looked almost completely at ease now, as if all her earlier unease had been washed away.
“What would you like us to do with him? Since you captured the criminal yourselves, I believe the right to decide his punishment also belongs to you.”
He was pretending to hand the matter over to us, but his eyes were clearly testing what choice we would make.
There was no doubt that if we suggested something he didn’t like, he’d fight back with all his strength and try to talk us around.
At that moment, Cheong-a leaned forward as if she couldn’t contain herself.
Even with the exhaustion of having slept badly all night, her eyes still burned brightly.
“That man must never be allowed to live. The martial art he practiced was steeped in vile energy, and there’s no telling when that warped heart might drive him to evil again.”
At her words, the guild master’s expression changed ever so slightly.
He closed his eyes for a moment, as if quickly calculating which choice would profit him most.
Cheong-a ignored his reaction and kept going.
“As you may have heard, it was the power of that bigeup wanted by Shaolin. It’s a pity, considering he is your son, but it’s not a force anyone can control.”
Her argument was right.
I had subdued the criminal easily enough, but separate from that, it was true that he had harbored wicked intent.
That was a problem entirely apart from how he’d obtained his power.
If we simply left him be, telling ourselves it would be fine, he would surely become a major disaster later.
More than anything, I’d landed the final blow.
What if he held a grudge against me?
I hated murim-style debts of blood and favor.
I gave a small nod, and the guild master opened his eyes.
There was no anger in them, no sorrow over having to punish his son—only cold calculation.
“I’ve already heard much. The bigeup that the abbot himself warned against and placed under pursuit… it seems our useless fool laid hands on it.”
He paused, drew a breath, and continued.
“But no matter how grave the sin, he is still my child. By the laws of the jianghu, execution would be the proper course. Yet as a parent, I cannot bring myself to do that. Is there no other way?”
Before I knew it, his face was full of difficulty and reluctant pity.
...Was that all an act?
The mood had changed way too fast.
I glanced sideways at Cheong-a, and she had pressed her lips together, visibly wavering at his words.
Even Gwak Cheol, standing behind him, had closed his eyes with an expression of deep emotion.
The guild master’s eyes rolled subtly toward me as he checked my reaction.
Yeah. Definitely an act.
It was absurd, but I didn’t really feel like calling him out.
If a parent wanted to save his child, and I was insisting he kill him anyway, that would be a little questionable morally.
That would have been different if I’d been the direct victim.
When we’d asked at breakfast, it turned out the people who’d been attacked weren’t seriously injured after all. At worst, they’d only ended up with scratches on their arms and legs.
And all the blood on their bodies had apparently been pig’s blood anyway.
The guild master motioned to Gwak Cheol.
At that, Gwak Cheol took a pouch from his robes and placed it on the table.
Clink.
When the heavy pouch hit the tabletop, the sound of metal rang out.
“We will handle this matter within the guild. We’d like to offer you a fitting reward for your trouble—what do you think? A father’s small repayment for setting his son back on the right path.”
So he was trying to buy us off with money?
Fine. Whatever he said, he should at least show some sincerity.
If this went to the magistrate’s office, or if the boy were simply punished, there was no way word wouldn’t spread that the second son of a giant merchant guild had been implicated in the affair.
That would tie directly into a blow to the guild’s overall image.
If money could settle it here, then from their perspective it wouldn’t be much of a loss.
But the problem was that they’d chosen the wrong opponent.
“Evil must be punished. Truth cannot be buried under money!”
Cheong-a cried out in a firm voice, not even glancing at the pouch.
At her uncompromising stance, a crease formed between the guild master’s brows.
Just as he let out a small sigh and was about to speak, I set my teacup down on the table with a sharp clack.
Rattle.
Everyone’s eyes turned to me.
Surprisingly, the tense air in the receiving room loosened just a little.
Right.
Look at this pretty face and relax, everyone.
I smiled softly.
“I have a suggestion.”
My voice, pleasant even to my own ears, made the atmosphere feel lighter at once.
A cool breeze slipped in through the window.
“Let’s send your son to Shaolin.”
A very reasonable and clear proposal.
After all, if there was any place suited to purifying evil energy, it was Shaolin.
And if things worked out, maybe he’d learn Buddhism there and forget his grudge against me too. Two birds with one stone, right?
But the instant he heard my words, the guild master’s face turned ghostly white.
“E-elder sister… you have a cruel streak.”
“Such a lovely voice, but there’s a blade hidden in it.”
Cheong-a and Gwak Cheol both groaned under their breath.
What? Had I said something bad?
While I was still confused, the guild master slowly shook his head.
“...You mean to publicly declare that Gwangjung Merchant Guild has produced a demonic cultivator?”
“If it’s Shaolin, they might not only refuse to forgive a demonic cultivator, but turn him into a cripple.”
“He wouldn’t die, but he might end up living a fate worse than death.”
Huh? That wasn’t what I meant at all.
That was too much. I’m not that awful of a person!
The guild master let out a short groan, closed his eyes, then opened them again and offered another proposal.
“...What about this? I know a venerable monk in Shaolin. I’ll have him seal the boy’s meridians so he can never practice or use martial arts again.”
His face dark, the guild master spoke, and no one at the table could object.
“The boy will spend the rest of his life atoning for his sins. Wouldn’t that ease at least a little of your righteous anger, young hero?”
As if checking my mood, he said it that way, and everyone there—Cheong-a included—was looking at me for agreement.
What.
They were being incredibly careful all of a sudden.
Feeling dazed, I nodded.
“That works.”
Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
Another breeze drifted through the window, sweeping the unsettled air clean away.
“Thank you. Still, please accept this money. Separate from my son, it’s a reward from us as merchants for resolving the matter.”
He nudged the pouch on the table toward me, and before I could say anything else, I quickly took it.
Heavy.
I had a hard time keeping my mouth from curling upward.
This alone was already enough, but things were going so smoothly that maybe I should get a little greedier and ask for one more thing.
“Thank you. I know it’s shameless, but may I ask for one more favor?”
“Go on.”
“If any information comes in about other bigeup, please let me know.”
The guild master’s eyes brightened as he looked at me.
What’s with that? It’s creepy.
Honestly, that had been the real reward I’d been thinking about from the moment I’d fallen asleep before dawn.
This time I’d gotten lucky and obtained information easily, but if Shaolin was paying that much attention, they’d only become harder to find from here on out.
It was only reasonable to establish a line of contact with a giant merchant guild in advance.
Soon after, the guild master reached into his robes and held out a jade tablet.
“Take it. This is a token that marks you as an honored guest of the Gwangjung Merchant Guild. Wherever you go, this will let you receive our help.”
“Thank you.”
Oh, wow. What a treasure.
Smiling brightly at the guild master’s far more cooperative reaction than I’d expected, I accepted the jade tablet.
Nice.
That meant I’d gotten everything I could out of this meeting.
Having nothing more to say, I leaned back in my chair and took another sip of tea.
The guild master watched me for a while, then got to his feet first.
“Then I’ll take care of things as we discussed. I’ll do it honestly, in the name of the Gwangjung Merchant Guild, so there’s no need to check on us.”
“You’re leaving already?”
I didn’t really mean to stop him, but asked out of politeness.
The guild master nodded with a bitter smile.
“I’ve been rather busy lately. Thank you again for your cooperation. Please rest here as long as you like.”
With a somewhat hurried expression, the guild master left the room.
...Was he having stomach trouble or something? That was sudden.
He’d told us to rest comfortably, but for some reason I felt oddly uneasy.
“Let’s go too.”
“Yes, elder sister.”
I tossed back the rest of my tea and left the receiving room with Cheong-a.
The tea was good.
I should ask what kind it was on the way out.
Gwak Cheon-ung, the master of the Gwangjung Merchant Guild, was looking down through the window at the backs of the two women as they left.
“You said there wasn’t any information on her, correct?”
“Yes. She seems to be a true newcomer to the jianghu.”
Gwak Cheol could still hardly believe the words he himself had spoken.
How could a girl newly arrived in the jianghu possess such overwhelming presence?
She had to be an unknown recluse master finally making her debut in the world.
Women with mysterious auras.
The righteous woman in the veil was no ordinary figure either, but the one who dominated his thoughts completely was the other one.
That youthful face, smiling as she casually held the fate of an entire guild in her hands and shook it.
The composure it took to place down a teacup and freeze everyone in the room—that was no ordinary thing.
“...I’ve lived a long time and learned a few things.”
Gwak Cheon-ung lifted his pipe.
The threat had been clear: if they tried to deceive her with half-baked business tricks, she would turn the Gwangjung Merchant Guild into an enemy of the martial world.
At that moment, the sharp force radiating from her had been enough to make even a seasoned old hand feel his skin prickle.
Maybe because he had faced a true threat head-on after so long, his hand trembled around the pipe.
Fortunately, the moment she saw his sincerity, she had returned to her benevolent self as if nothing had happened and was leisurely enjoying her tea in all her beauty.
That fickleness was just like the immortals in the old legends.
An immortal, huh.
What nonsense.
Was there really still room in his old bones for such dreamy sentiment?
Whatever her identity, it was obvious that leaving a good impression on her this time would be a major gain for the Gwangjung Merchant Guild.
“Continue observing her movements and report everything. Be careful not to offend her if at all possible.”
“Understood.”
Gwak Cheol dropped to one knee and accepted the order.
Gwak Cheon-ung’s eyes, with the pipe between his lips, turned cold.
“And that worthless son of mine... he’s smeared filth on the guild’s name. We’ll deal with the damage according to guild rules.”
Cheon-ung drew in the smoke without a care.
“Cut the tendons in both his legs and feed him beast fodder for a while. He deserves to die, but since we’ve made a promise, we’ll let him live.”
“I will carry it out.”
Swish—
After Gwak Cheol left the room, Gwak Cheon-ung exhaled the smoke he’d held deep in his lungs.
White smoke dispersed through the room.
“Bigeup...”
That one word filled his mind.
When he’d heard about the wanted notice, he’d assumed some old monk was making a fuss again.
He took a sip of tea, thinking that if a high monk came by, he ought to have a little conversation with him.
“Looks like something interesting has happened in my old age.”
The old raccoon who ruled the Shaanxi region was not the sort of man to cower simply because something was frightening.
The more dangerous and terrifying the board, the larger the reward waiting on it.
The veteran merchant’s eyes gleamed like a predator that had just spotted new prey.