The Eight Stalwarts and the Uninvited Guests
Hong-wi introduced Cha Gyeong-yeon and Jeon Ho-in to them as well.
Once the introductions were more or less done, Tung Jugang clapped Keshine on the back and said, "This is the oldest and wisest of us Eight Stalwarts."
"The Eight Stalwarts?" Hong-wi asked, taken aback.
"Ah, I never got around to telling you, did I. Eight friends who share my convictions gathered long ago and swore brotherhood. Among ourselves we half-jokingly call ourselves the Eight Stalwarts — eight valiant generals. Keshine here and Hasutai are both members."
"Hah. And calling yourselves the Eight Stalwarts counts as a joke to you?" Keshine chuckled heartily. "The Eight Stalwarts — eight brave warriors. It hardly seems a name wasted on you lot."
Hong-wi said this with a smile of his own, and Tung Jugang grinned sheepishly.
"It did seem rather impressive when we first came up with it... now it just makes my ears burn. Anyway, this Brother Keshine is the pillar that holds all eight of us brothers together."
"What are you saying, my friend. Just because I've uselessly grown old and you all insist on calling me 'elder brother' — the true pillar is our chieftain, Tung Jugang, this young man here. A pillar should be held by someone worthy of being a chieftain. I'm hardly the man for it."
Keshine waved his hands dismissively with a laugh, and Tung Jugang laughed right back at him.
"Oh, come now, Brother Keshine. I may carry the title of chieftain, but whenever something difficult arises, it's this brother who finds the answer."
"The other brothers who were patrolling the southern border earlier — I take it those are the remaining five?"
"That's right."
"It would be good to meet them today as well, if possible."
"The chance will come. I'll bring you to visit our mountain stronghold sometime. We've settled at a place called Soeburi, north of here before you cross the mountains. Old Elder Daeju gave us his blessing to settle there."
Tung Jugang answered with a smile, and Keshine spoke up.
"Now that you mention it — young Sonata has been tracking a few suspicious characters. He said he was following their trail toward Hunyeoha, and asked me to send Hasutai to him."
"When it comes to finding traces, no one can match Hasutai. He'd be more use there than here. Hasutai, will that be all right with you?"
"Of course."
Hasutai answered in a voice roughened at the edges.
"I really must see this fellow's archery someday. Truly superb — even I would have to take a step back."
"You flatter me. Shall I leave now?"
"Yes, do."
The moment Tung Jugang finished speaking, a long horn blast rang out across the valley.
It came from the central army — from the direction of the Peore.
Hong-wi turned toward the sound and asked, "What's that?"
"The Elder is summoning everyone. It must be the rite before the hunt — a sacrifice to pray for success."
Keshine answered Hong-wi's unspoken question, then turned to his party.
"Would the honored Temusi-i care to come and see?"
There was no reason to decline, and the customs of the wild tribes had always held a certain fascination for him. Hong-wi answered readily.
"Of course."
Hong-wi's party made their way toward the central camp. There, not only Onyan Isiha but every important figure in the village had gathered — even old Kushinu was among them.
Just then, Tung Jugang's expression hardened.
Not understanding why, Hong-wi studied his face for a long moment. "Tung Jugang, what is it?"
"Look over there."
Tung Jugang pointed to a spot and lowered his voice to a whisper. "We have uninvited guests. Look."
Hong-wi followed his gaze and gave a slow nod. "Ichigeo and Lee Go-nap-hap. What are they here for?"
"Ichigeo might be one thing, but for Kunaha to set foot in this sacred forest — the very ground beneath his feet seems to groan where it's been trampled. Let's go and see. We'll find out what they're saying to the Elder."
They drew near enough to catch the sound of voices.
Lee Go-nap-hap, still draped in his golden silks, stood with something of a sour expression on his face.
Onyan Isiha was answering him. "...If you truly wished to join this hunt, nothing would please me more, my lord. But should you come to harm, this old man would bear a burden too heavy to carry."
"And I do so love a good hunt... What a pity."
Ever since Ichigeo had given him a scolding the day before, Lee Go-nap-hap had grown somewhat accustomed to the art of 'speaking around the point.' He squared his shoulders.
"Might there be another good opportunity?"
"I believe it without a shadow of doubt."
Lee Go-nap-hap glanced around him. He had never seriously expected his request to join the hunt to be granted. He had planned to slip in regardless. The real purpose of asking — and being refused — was to make it plain that he himself had no part in this hunt, and at the same time to get a look at what that Onyan Wol-yeong actually looked like. One had to know a face before one could recognize it — and abduct it.
Irongha and Olanggamokya were scanning the surroundings as well. Where in blazes is that girl? He shot a sidelong glance at Ichigeo. Remarkably, the man was saying nothing beyond his customary courtesies.
Just then, a faint smile flitted across Hong-wi's lips. Wondering at it, he followed his gaze — and there was Wol-yeong.
Dressed for the hunt, she rode alongside another woman — a handmaiden or perhaps a riding companion — a tall woman built every bit as powerfully as any man. Both of them sat their horses like they'd been born in the saddle.
Wol-yeong drew up before Onyan Isiha and greeted him. "Father, forgive my lateness. I've brought Un-yeong as well."
"Good, you've come."
Internally, Hong-wi marveled at her appearance. The night he had first seen her in the village, she had been the very picture of demure grace — but in a hunter's garb, glowing with healthy vigor, she looked positively gallant.
He turned to glance at Tung Jugang — and flinched. There was something wistful in his expression.
"A truly beautiful girl, isn't she?" Tung Jugang said, having caught the direction of Hong-wi's gaze, and smiled an awkward smile.
"Yes, truly. She carries the majesty and bearing of a real princess."
"That's because she is a real princess."
Having finished her greeting to her father, Wol-yeong noticed Hong-wi and inclined her head slightly. Hong-wi bowed in return. Then her gaze shifted to Ichigeo.
"Ah."
Ichigeo put on a practiced smile. "Why, it's Wol-yeong. It's been a long time."
"I trust you are well."
Wol-yeong offered the greeting, and Ichigeo gave a nod. "Our little niece has grown lovely. How old are you now?"
"Fifteen."
At her answer, Ichigeo affected an expression of exaggerated surprise. "Ahh... is she that old already? Elder Brother, you really must start thinking about marrying her off."
"Ichigeo."
Onyan Isiha's voice was quiet, but it carried iron behind it. "We agreed that subject would not be raised for the time being, did we not?"
"Oh, what's the harm? She's of an age to be wed. However distant an uncle I may be, surely I'm permitted so much as a word on the matter? And her future bridegroom is standing right here with us today, is he not?"
Ichigeo answered with shameless ease. Lee Go-nap-hap's slick, oily eyes fixed themselves on Wol-yeong — and stayed there.
"Today is a day to give thanks to our ancestors and the guardian spirits. Let us speak of such things another time."
"If that is the Elder Brother's wish."
Ichigeo answered in a drawling, insolent tone, then shot Lee Go-nap-hap a meaningful glance.
Lee Go-nap-hap withdrew his gaze from Wol-yeong and turned to Onyan Isiha with a parting word. "I shall take my leave for now. I trust I'll see you when you return this evening."
"Do go on."
Having finished his farewell, Lee Go-nap-hap was turning to go when his eyes met Hong-wi's.
"Hoh." He let out a gasp of surprise. "If it isn't the Temusi-i. So you managed to be here after all?"
He looked the man up and down with theatrical astonishment. Hadn't his father sent the Kunuma brothers to seal off this place? And yet this so-called Temusi-i — whether by luck or by something else — was standing right here.
"I hear there's been quite a plague of bandits around Anchuunbugu lately."
"How kind of you to worry. As it happens, there were."
Lee Go-nap-hap frowned. "There were?"
"Well... I managed to make it here all the same."
Hong-wi had no intention of airing his encounter with Bushuku. Not for any grand reason — simply because, villains or not, killing men was not something he cared to boast about.
"I see."
Just then, Ichigeo spoke up. "And who might this one be? I don't believe I've had the pleasure."
"This is Temusi-i. A man of Joseon who does business at Hwangseongpyeong."
"Temusi-i..."
Ichigeo murmured the name — and in the next instant, his eyes flashed. "Ah."
He cast a sly, cunning look at Hong-wi. "So you are that Temusi-i."
"I've never laid eyes on you before, my lord."
Hong-wi did not care for the look in the man's eyes at all.
"Naturally you haven't. But I have heard the talk."
"The talk — about me, you mean?"
"Indeed. It's spread rather far and wide. The Savior of Sahalcha... was it?"
"Our friend here does seem to have made rather a career of rescuing people. Hwangseongpyeong and now this."
Lee Go-nap-hap smirked. He didn't particularly have his heart set on the old Cheon-noin and his daughter, but he did find Hong-wi a remarkably brazen fellow.
Ichigeo pressed on. "Some call you a man of daring. Of course, a great many more call you reckless."
He shot a quick glance at Onyan Isiha, who by now appeared wholly absorbed in preparing the rite alongside the village elders.
"...But do take care, my lord. What good is helping others if you cannot look after your own affairs? My elder brother was much the same, and look — he never managed to secure anything of substance for himself."
"So he didn't. Thank you for the counsel." Hong-wi answered curtly. "Judging by his lordship's example, however, one assumes Ichigeo has always been exceptionally good at securing such substance. Being the Elder Onyan Isiha's half-brother, I imagine by now he holds some chieftain's seat or other somewhere."
At those words, Ichigeo's face took on the look of a man run through with a blade. Since his expulsion from Anchuunbugu, he had drifted from place to place without ever managing to gather a proper following — and only recently had he sunk to the level of eating from Lee Man-ju's table as a kept retainer.
Hong-wi gave the knife one more twist. "As it happens, I'm a man of business. I would very much like to pay a visit to Ichigeo's village someday and offer my greetings in person."
"I'm sure such an opportunity will present itself."
Ichigeo smiled, dark and bitter.
Meanwhile, Lee Go-nap-hap was finding the whole thing rather delicious to watch. Ichigeo's words sounded right and proper, and yet the man was so insufferable he wanted to beat him senseless — and Hong-wi was thrashing him splendidly.
"You do have a gifted tongue, my lord Temusi-i. This has been most instructive."
"Has it? I usually get told that I merely pilfer secondhand facts from who-knows-where and fling them about with more nerve than sense — so I'm truly grateful to hear otherwise."
Hong-wi bowed his head with practiced nonchalance, so gracefully that Ichigeo, deciding he couldn't win, simply shut his mouth.
At that point, Tung Jugang — who until now had stood behind Hong-wi without uttering a single word — stepped forward. "It's been a long time, Lord Ichigeo."
Tung Jugang's greeting came with a face carved from stone.
"Ah."
Ichigeo's expression stiffened for a breath, but he nodded as if it were nothing. "Tung Jugang. It has been a while. Have you been well?"
"Your color is better than the last time I saw you. Back then you were so white-faced it was pitiful just to look at."
Tung Jugang's words came out cold as a blade drawn across ice. At the insolence of them, Ichigeo's face truly did blanch white — with fury this time. His hand drifted toward the hilt of the sword at his belt.
Tung Jugang stood with his arms crossed, regarding him steadily. For a moment, Hong-wi even wondered if Tung Jugang was deliberately provoking Ichigeo into drawing first.
Then—
"That's quite enough, Tung Jugang!"
Onyan Isiha stepped in and deftly reined him in with the ease of long experience. "What manner of insolent talk is this? It has been an age since one household gathered under one roof."
One might have thought Ichigeo's words would not trouble Onyan Isiha — but as the second most important figure in the Onyan clan after Isiha himself, Tung Jugang had to be checked when his tongue turned coarse.
"For today, at least, let us set old grievances aside and enjoy ourselves. What say you?"
"I could hardly refuse."
Ichigeo answered — then shot Tung Jugang a venomous sideways look as he went on. "So long as your friend there takes care to catch game, and not me."
"I haven't gone blind enough for that. Though in your case, Lord Ichigeo, I suppose anything is possible."
The two men traded barbed words like a fencing match. Watching them, Hong-wi reflected that the grudge between them must run truly deep.
Ichigeo delivered his parting shot with a silver tongue. "Then I shall go and mend fences with my elder brother. Enjoy your hunt."
Tung Jugang's frost-laden eyes tracked Ichigeo's retreating back for a long while. Only after a considerable silence did he turn back to Hong-wi.
"Let's be going."
"Yes, let's."
Hong-wi answered at once, feeling a flicker of relief himself.