Auto-Hunting
The one who opened the door and walked in was a handsome young man.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and impeccably dressed, the sort of man whose very bearing seemed to drape him in wealth and privilege. At a glance, he had none of the flimsy, half-baked air of the spoiled young master who had spoken to us a moment ago. No—he gave off the unmistakable presence of a true scion of a noble Murim clan.
And more than anything, the way Cheong-ah’s lips tightened and she started chewing on them the instant he appeared was proof enough for me.
...Even if I’m wrong, he’s at least from some Murim noble house.
He strode straight into the inner hall and headed for the very table we had been watching.
“Hahaha! Did I make you wait, my friends? I was delayed on the way after giving some bad guys a little lesson.”
“Young Master Paeng, did you cause trouble again?”
“Trouble? Please. It was self-defense.”
His booming voice filled the tavern from end to end.
The young men at the table greeted him warmly and made room for him to sit.
I didn’t even need to think hard about which family he belonged to. It was obvious almost immediately.
Hebei Paeng Clan.
One of the six great noble houses of Murim, so famous it hardly needed introducing.
Seeing him laugh so openly, I couldn’t help thinking it fit him perfectly.
Leaving behind the noise stirred up by his arrival, I glanced at Cheong-ah.
The child who had been watching them with suspicious eyes just moments ago was now deliberately avoiding their gaze, picking at her food while trying very hard to pretend she wasn’t uncomfortable.
She wasn’t hiding her unease at all.
“What’s wrong? Do you know him?”
“Huh? No! Not at all!”
Cheong-ah straightened at once and shook her head stiffly.
Honestly, she was terrible at lying.
I’d been tempted to tease her a little more because she looked so adorable, but then she grew visibly flustered, squirming in place like she didn’t know what to do with herself.
Following her uneasy gaze, I turned my head again—and found the Paeng clan youth, who had been speaking with his companions, staring right at us.
He shot to his feet, said something to the others, and started walking our way.
Cheong-ah looked like she wanted to bolt on the spot, but with me sitting there as if nothing had happened, she couldn’t bring herself to speak first. She just kept shifting anxiously in her seat.
At last, he stopped before our table.
He looked at me, held his breath for a moment as if struck speechless, and then burst into hearty laughter before greeting us.
“To think I’d meet such beauties in a place like this! I’m Mugang of the Paeng Clan. If I’m not being rude, might I have the honor of knowing the ladies’ names?”
The sincere warmth all over his face made it clear that, unlike before, this wasn’t some cheap, sleazy line.
If he was from the Paeng Clan, then even a random compliment about someone’s looks made a kind of sense.
The Paeng Clan in the wuxia novels I knew had always been a clan of broad-chested, forthright, muscle-brained types.
I nodded and introduced us in Cheong-ah’s place, since she had frozen solid.
“I’m Song Hyeon, and this is Cheong-ah. We don’t really belong to any particular faction.”
“I see.”
After hearing my answer, he smiled and casually dragged over the empty chair beside me before sitting down as if he belonged there.
Huh? What kind of flow was this?
As I looked back and forth between him and the table he’d originally been seated at, still trying to make sense of it, he fixed his gaze on me and said,
“Lady, do you believe in love at first sight? I didn’t until just now, but I believe it now. Please, go out with me.”
“What?”
“What on earth—!”
A sudden confession attack.
I blinked, flustered by a situation I had never once considered, my eyes going wide.
Even Cheong-ah, who had been keeping her mouth shut until now, let out a silent gasp and looked utterly shocked.
The eyes he trained on me were completely earnest.
To think there was really someone who would say something like this at first meeting and mean it.
Truly, Murim. Truly, the Paeng Clan.
Of course, I refused his confession with the utmost politeness.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in that kind of thing. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”
“I thought as much. There’s no way a lovely lady like you would fall for me in an instant. Then how about we start as friends?”
He nodded without the slightest sign of disappointment.
He changed tactics so smoothly that I actually wondered if he was joking.
But the look in his eyes was still deadly serious, so apparently that wasn’t it.
What a sly fox.
I’d thought he was just a muscle-headed straight shooter, but he had a better head for social graces than I expected.
Once I had refused him without showing any obvious discomfort, it became difficult to simply ignore what he said, so all I could do was smirk and nod.
“I’m not going to go beyond friends.”
“Understood. Everyone says that.”
“...I’m serious.”
“My mother said the very same thing when she first met my father.”
Paeng Mugang grinned brightly and lifted his cup.
I sighed under my breath and raised mine to clink against his.
He really did seem to be good at making himself likable.
If he’d kept pressing his interest in me, it would have been uncomfortable, but since he stopped at the occasional flattering remark and instead steered the conversation with ease and good humor, it actually wasn’t bad.
And then, just as the conversation was warming up, the trouble landed on Cheong-ah, who had been quietly holding her breath.
“Come to think of it, Lady in the veil, do I perhaps know you? Your voice seems familiar...”
Cheong-ah quietly shook her head.
Definitely. Cheong-ah really does have to be one of the six great clans.
I had already suspected as much, but in that moment it turned into certainty.
Noticing her discomfort, he let out a hearty laugh.
“Ah, I must have mistaken you. My apologies. Men can’t help wanting to act familiar with beauties when we see them.”
“Cheong-ah seems shy,” I said, adding my own tease to his shameless apology.
“Then that’s delightful news indeed!”
At my comment, Cheong-ah shot me a murderous glare through her veil.
Well, if you’ve got a problem with it, why don’t you protest with your own mouth?
Aside from suddenly confessing to me out of nowhere, Paeng Mugang was actually pretty pleasant to talk to.
He’s not just muscle after all.
He guided the conversation with just the right amount of courtesy, and there was no mistaking the polish of a noble house in the way he carried himself.
Before long, the table was crowded with the extra liquor and side dishes he had ordered.
“It’s a happy day when I’ve made a new friend, so tonight’s on me.”
“Thank you.”
There was no reason to refuse a free meal.
As he poured the drinks and set the mood, I found myself lifting my cup as if under a spell and raising a toast.
This was the first time I’d drunk since ending up in this body, and I didn’t seem to be getting drunk as easily as I expected.
So this body’s pretty sturdy after all.
Paeng Mugang emptied his cup in one go, then abruptly shifted into a more serious mood and asked,
“But what brings ladies like you wandering this dangerous jianghu? From the way you’re dressed, you don’t seem like ordinary gentlewomen.”
His gaze briefly moved to the sword at Cheong-ah’s side, then swept over the area around me.
A veiled woman with a sword.
A young, barehanded beauty.
It really was a rare combination.
I exchanged a quick look with Cheong-ah.
What should we say?
We had become friendly in an instant thanks to his sociability, but there was no reason to spill everything about ourselves yet.
Perhaps sensing my hesitation, Paeng Mugang spoke first.
“Ah, I was too hasty. I’m not suspicious—just curious. And who knows? I might even be able to help the two of you.”
“It’s all right. We don’t really need help.”
Even with his earnest offer, I drew a line for now.
I didn’t know him well enough yet.
It wasn’t something to decide lightly.
He fell silent for a moment at my refusal, then lowered his voice and continued with unusual seriousness.
“Then may I speak plainly? Right now, I’m looking for that damned thing called a bigeup.”
His gaze came to rest on the two of us.
Cheong-ah’s hand twitched instinctively toward her sword, then stopped halfway.
Paeng Mugang seemed to notice even that small movement.
But he still hadn’t realized that we had one of those manuals ourselves.
I needed to understand what he was after first.
In the tense silence, Paeng Mugang went on,
“I’m saying this because the two of you don’t seem ordinary. Do you perhaps know anything related to a bigeup?”
I studied him in silence.
He didn’t seem to be suspecting us in particular.
It was more as if he genuinely believed we weren’t ordinary and was simply seeking information.
“...Why are you looking for a bigeup?”
It was, in effect, a statement that agreed with his thinking.
He nodded and replied, “It’s a vile thing. It grants achievements without any real effort, and in the end, it ruins people.”
He twisted his face in open disgust at the very mention of it.
What would he do if he found out we were carrying exactly that kind of manual?
I stayed quietly on guard and tried to test him.
“Why do you think that?”
“I’m afraid I can’t say. It’s a family matter.”
“Then can you at least tell me what kind of book you’re looking for?”
When I pressed him, he merely smiled and said, “Lady Song, may I take that to mean you’re interested in bigeup too?”
...He got me.
I’d only meant to satisfy my curiosity, but all I’d done was hand him confidence.
It would look strange to deny it now, when he was smiling like he had already seen through me.
In the end, I had no choice but to admit the truth.
“Yes. We’re looking for a bigeup too.”
“As I thought. In times like these, that’s hardly unusual. The Shaolin monks have issued a warrant, and there are more people like you and me every day.”
Maybe he was thirsty, because he took another drink and knocked it back.
At this rate, hadn’t Shaolin’s warrant only succeeded in stirring up even more curiosity about my black history across the Central Plains?
Damned bald monks.
“Then are you saying you can’t tell me which bigeup you’re looking for? If you don’t tell me, we can’t exchange information.”
“Your argument is reasonable. But please understand—it’s a troublesome subject to discuss in a place like this.”
He bowed his head politely.
With him putting it that way, I couldn’t keep pressing.
In the end, all we shared was a common goal, and the conversation returned to where it had started.
I folded my arms and thought things through.
I didn’t know why he was looking for a bigeup, but from the way he’d behaved, he didn’t seem like someone planning to use one for himself.
Maybe he wanted to destroy it, or recover it and send it to Shaolin.
At least, destroying it right this instant wasn’t possible. Should I use him to retrieve the manual and then have him hand it over to me?
But what if all of this is an act?
I lifted my head and met his eyes.
He was still looking at me with that same serious expression.
When our gazes stayed locked, he asked,
“Is there someone you’re seeing now?”
“...Haven’t we agreed to stop talking about that?”
“I was just curious.”
The sudden question broke the flow entirely.
I frowned and muttered,
“Fine. Let’s do this. I’ll give you one piece of information. In exchange, meet me again somewhere else and make your purpose clear.”
“So you do have information?”
His eyes brightened.
I avoided that overbearing stare and turned my face away slightly before continuing,
“Your companions. One of them is connected to the bigeup.”
“Really?”
I raised a finger and pointed at the person Cheong-ah had been watching earlier.
“I don’t know exactly what kind of connection, but it’s definitely related.”
“And how do you know that?”
He asked in a suspicious tone.
It was very different from his earlier easygoing manner, when he’d brushed off minor things so casually.
That only made it clearer how important this was to him.
How should I answer?
I couldn’t reveal everything.
I still couldn’t be sure what sort of attitude he’d take toward the manuals—or whether he’d be friendly to us at all.
So I decided to be a little shameless about it.
“I can tell.”
At my answer, Paeng Mugang’s eyes sharpened for an instant.
But then he let out a dry laugh and lifted his cup.
“Is that so? Then I’ll trust it with the power of my love.”
“...No, please don’t just trust it.”
“How cold. That stings.”
He shrugged and drained the rest of his drink in one swallow.
“I’ll believe you. At hae-si, I’ll tell you everything outside this tavern.”
“And how exactly do you plan to do that?”
“Fists know the answer.”
Trying to solve everything with brute force—he really was a Paeng Clan man through and through.
He rose to his feet and strode back to his original table just as he had come.
His companions welcomed his return and immediately resumed their raucous chatter.
Given the way they kept sneaking glances over at us, it looked as if he was bragging to them about how well he’d managed to win me over.
“Cheong-ah, let’s go too.”
Since he said he’d pay, there was no need to worry about the bill, right?
We left the tavern as we were.
The moment we stepped outside, Cheong-ah—frozen stiff until now—finally spoke.
“What are you planning to do, unnie?”
“Huh? You can talk again? I was worried about you.”
When I teased her, her face went red in an instant.
She was adorable, really, but her eyes were starting to tremble like she might cry, so I hurried on.
“For now, let’s wait and see the result.”
I didn’t know what sort of brute-force method he’d use, but either way, wasn’t he likely to bring back something useful?
Just then, the pleasant buzz of the alcohol hit me a little harder, and I leaned casually into Cheong-ah, linking my arm with hers.
“Come on. Let’s keep enjoying ourselves.”
Cheong-ah blushed as if she had never been on the verge of tears at all, then obediently fell into step beside me.
I should just enjoy this date to the fullest.
As expected, auto-hunting was the best.
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