Did You Come from Zhongnan? (1)
Hwaum County.
It was one of the largest towns in Shaanxi, home to Mount Hua, one of the Five Great Mountains.
Back when Mount Hua had shaken the world with its fame, Hwaum had thrived as well. Merchants had come and gone in an endless stream, and there had been no shortage of people eager to see Mount Hua for themselves.
Thanks to that, the people living in Hwaum had never worried much about their livelihoods, so long as Mount Hua’s name remained on everyone’s lips.
But a full moon, once reached, would begin to wane.
As Mount Hua lost its glory, Hwaum County had begun to lose its own vitality as well.
For the moment, the largest inn and tavern in Hwaum was still Taehwa Pavilion. And on its top floor, more than ten merchants were gathered.
“Hahaha!”
A hearty burst of laughter rang out.
“The sect leader looked terribly flustered. Did you see his face?”
“Of course he was flustered. After all, we’d given them their final warning.”
“Still, isn’t this going too far? They’ve taken a hundred thousand nyang in silver from us alone! With that much, you could buy several decent taverns and still have money left over! We helped them because of the ties our forefathers had, but if they had any shame, they should have paid it back long ago.”
“Exactly. That’s only proper. It’s simply the right thing to do.”
The owner of Taehwa Pavilion, Gong Mun-yeon, nodded quietly. Then he made a rather benevolent face.
“We’re merchants who pursue profit, yes, but I do feel a little uneasy about being too harsh on a place tied to us by our ancestors.”
“What are you saying, Pavilion Owner Gong? You’ve done more than enough. They’ve missed the repayment deadline how many times now, and you still gave them leniency, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. No one can fault Pavilion Owner Gong for this. In fact, wouldn’t they be praising your mercy?”
“If so, then that’s a relief.”
Gong, the pavilion owner, sipped his wine without saying more. But inwardly, he was sneering at the men in front of him.
How carefree they are.
To be able to live while thinking so simply.
Mount Hua’s foundation is not to be underestimated.
Mount Hua’s true strength did not come from brute force. What one had to fear most about Mount Hua was the history it had accumulated.
When a sect of that caliber endured for centuries, whether people liked it or not, it inevitably formed ties. At least within Shaanxi, it was harder to find people with no connection to Mount Hua than those who had one.
You never know the worth of something while it’s still there.
Mount Hua’s presence was now worth less than dust; even if it disappeared, most people would likely not care much.
But what mattered was what came after.
The moment people truly realized that Mount Hua had vanished, more and more of them would begin to look for a reason. If he failed to give them a proper justification, then Hwaum County could be crushed in an instant.
Most of the people with ties to Mount Hua were not farmhands or bumpkins, but men of status and position.
Still, this should be enough.
He took his time, letting the matter steep so slowly it would never trouble his stomach.
By now, after being boiled this long, it should have grown as tender as a duck so soft that a single chopstick poke would tear the flesh.
“But Pavilion Owner Gong.”
“Yes?”
“What exactly do you intend to do with the Mount Hua building, anyway?”
“Hmm.”
Gong Mun-yeon smiled lightly.
“That building has more significance than you think. It may look like nothing more than an old structure, but it’s an excellent piece of property.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
Fools.
His expression nearly shifted, but Gong managed to stop his face from twisting.
“The power of the name Mount Hua still remains. Even if it’s only used as a tourist site, many people will still come to visit.”
“But…”
Yu Jong-san, who sold silk in Hwaum, frowned unhappily.
“How many people could possibly go into that dangerous mountain? Wouldn’t it be better to take something other than a building?”
“There’s nothing else worth taking, I’m afraid.”
“Hmm.”
Gong Mun-yeon curved his lips.
“There’s no need to worry. It would be awkward to say this directly, but even that worthless old building has people who would pay a high price for it.”
“There are people like that? Somewhere with that much attachment to Mount Hua…”
“Isn’t it the opposite?”
“Ah…”
Yu Jong-san nodded as if he understood.
A sect that would pay extra just to buy the remaining buildings and erase Mount Hua’s very existence. At least two or three names came to mind immediately.
“So don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure to recover your money, every coin of it.”
“Hahaha! Worry? We’ve always trusted Pavilion Owner Gong.”
“Of course! The merchants of Hwaum should naturally follow and trust Pavilion Owner Gong, shouldn’t they?”
Gong Mun-yeon, the pavilion owner, nodded with a smile.
But inwardly, he felt nothing of the sort.
There’s no way I can carry out a grand scheme with trash like this.
Hwaum was a dying land.
When Mount Hua had once been famous throughout the world, it had been a place of enough value. But now there was nothing left in Hwaum. Thanks to generations of people sucking Mount Hua dry, it had been reduced to nothing but an empty shell.
And that, in turn, was choking Hwaum’s throat.
In the first place, Hwaum was neither a strategic point nor a place with a large population. The only reason it had become famous and developed at all was because Mount Hua was here.
If Mount Hua vanished completely, there was no way Hwaum could remain as it was.
I need to wrap things up and leave before it’s too late.
If he could sell Mount Hua’s buildings and take a vast fortune into his hands, becoming a wealthy magnate would not be difficult. And to do that, first…
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Gong Mun-yeon snapped his head around.
“Who’s there!”
As soon as he shouted, the armed guards protecting the pavilion rushed outside.
“W-Who’s there?”
“Who could it be at this hour?”
Gong said nothing, simply waiting for the guards to return.
Soon, they opened the windows and came back in.
“There was no one there.”
…
When Gong Mun-yeon did not answer immediately, Yu Jong-san chuckled and said, “Pavilion Owner Gong. This is the top floor of Taehwa Pavilion, is it not? Who would possibly come here?”
“That’s right. And if someone had been there, those men would have found him. It’s not as if he had wings—how could anyone hide here?”
Gong Mun-yeon nodded.
Was I too on edge?
It was understandable. He was so close now, so close to achieving the long-cherished desire he had pursued for years.
“I suppose I’m tired. I’d like to enjoy this a bit longer, but I think it would be best to end things here for today.”
At his words, everyone agreed and rose to their feet. Gong gave them a smile that looked a little weary.
Still, once a nerve had been set on edge, it would not so easily settle back down.
He would need some rest.
* * *
“Uhhh, hrrrm!”
Yu Jong-san staggered through the streets.
“This is splendid!”
He must have drunk a little too much. The excitement had not left him since a while ago.
And why wouldn’t it?
It’s an enormous sum of money.
The money they would recover from Mount Hua was astonishing. Interest had piled on top of interest for years, until the original loan had swollen into something the size of dust.
If he could collect just that money, then spending the rest of his life doing nothing at all would be no trouble whatsoever.
Pavilion Owner Gong was not someone to trust, but when it came to money, he was exact. Whatever schemes he might be plotting behind the scenes, what did that matter to Yu Jong-san? So long as he got his money, that was all that counted.
“The moon is bright… no, wait. No moon? Ah. It’s the new moon.”
Yu Jong-san chuckled and looked around. The alley was dark and secluded, the perfect place to get robbed. On a night like this, he should have stayed on the main road rather than wandering into a place like this—but in his drunken haze, he had ended up here instead.
Honestly.
He had been too careless. If some knife-wielding robber showed up in a moment like this…
“Hold it right there.”
“…”
Yu Jong-san closed his eyes and opened them again.
Someone was standing in front of the dark alleyway, blocking his path. They wore black night clothes and a black face covering. It was, quite literally…
The spitting image of a robber.
The figure was rather small for a thief, so the pressure they gave off was not especially overwhelming, but there was no mistaking the intent in that outfit.
No, wait. Did robbers usually dress like that? A robber was supposed to work as discreetly as possible, wasn’t he? That outfit was practically shouting, to anyone who saw it,
I’m a robber!
Yu Jong-san let out a dry laugh and spoke.
“Are you a robber, by any chance?”
“I’m not interested in money.”
The night-clad figure took one step forward.
“Answer my questions properly, and I’ll let you go in peace.”
“Oh?”
Yu Jong-san smirked.
“I’m not against answering, but this has become a little difficult, you see.”
At his words, the night-clad figure lifted their head slightly.
“I’ve got quite a few people depending on me. I can’t just go wandering around on my own whenever I please.”
With a faint whoosh of air, several figures appeared around Yu Jong-san. Sword-bearing martial artists. They looked to be the escort guards of his merchant caravan.
“I’d be happy to answer, but I don’t think they’d be very pleased if I did. What a shame.”
The night-clad figure simply stared at him in silence.
Having lost his mood, Yu Jong-san clicked his tongue and shut his mouth. Instead, the guards spoke.
“What should we do? Kill him?”
“Hmm.”
Yu Jong-san stroked his beard.
“The fact that he showed up in night clothes and blocked my path means he didn’t just choose anyone to rob. That means he came here with a purpose, doesn’t it?”
“It seems that way.”
“Then it would be the proper thing to hear that purpose out. Bring him here. Make sure he’s still able to talk.”
“Yes!”
The guards were about to spring forward when—
“Wait.”
The night-clad figure lifted a hand to stop them.
“Hm?”
“I’d rather not make a scene if I can help it. I’ll say it again: if you just answer my questions, this can end amicably. So…”
“How long are we supposed to listen to this nonsense? Drag him over here!”
“Yes!”
The guards swarmed the night-clad figure with the momentum of hawks.
Idiot.
Watching that, Yu Jong-san turned his head away. He had never particularly liked scenes of violence.
Those men had been hired for a hefty sum. They were not the sort meant to do this kind of work. Because of that, they tended to be harsher-handed than ordinary escorts. So this time, too, it was obvious what would happen in an instant…
Bang!
Right.
Bang, bang!
Oh dear. That was too much.
Bang!
Yu Jong-san winced. Their hands were not just heavy; they were outrageous.
“Didn’t I tell you to make sure he could still talk?”
“Huh? Did you?”
“Yes. I— Wait, what?”
Who had answered just now?
Yu Jong-san raised his head and looked forward.
“….”
What met his eyes was the sight of the guards lying sprawled on the ground, foam at their mouths. And the night-clad figure, who had surely shattered them in a single strike, was tilting their head as they walked toward him.
“A person’s got to understand what others are saying to be a person. Strangely enough, they always seem to be incapable of understanding plain speech.”
“…”
The night-clad figure crooked a finger.
“Come here. Over here.”
“….”
Yu Jong-san walked toward the figure as if bewitched.
“I’ll say it once more. If you answer properly, nothing will happen. Understood?”
“Yes!”
The answer came out sharp as a blade.
“Good. Then—”
“…yes?”
What now?
“If you’d answered properly from the start, I would’ve only asked and left. But you tried to fight, so now you have to be hit.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll still let you speak.”
“…”
That was the day darkness spread across Yu Jong-san’s life.