Chapter 200
Chapter 200
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 200
Chapter Title: Chaser and Blocker
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A brief, laughable farce was dispelled from his mind with a clearing of the throat, and Ho Jeong finally stood before the door where the Black-Eyed Squad was drinking with Maeil.
- Puahaha-! So that's what happened?
- Hic, that's right!
The boisterous voices carried clearly from beyond the door.
Listening to their nonstop chatter, wondering what could be so amusing, Ho Jeong pushed the door open.
- Creak-!
"Again... huh?"
"What...?"
The scene inside the room, revealed through the door that screeched noisily due to lack of oil, was quite the sight.
Empty bottles lay scattered everywhere, and those whose faces were flushed red with drunkenness beyond reason peered at him with bleary eyes.
"Uh, uh... Young Fortress Lord?"
Among them, one who still had enough wits to recognize Ho Jeong scrambled to his feet.
But he couldn't steady himself and promptly toppled over.
A sight that would draw nothing but a sigh from anyone—a perfect display of fine drunkards.
"Wha, what brings you all the way here?"
Seeing him sprawled out, tongue-tied and barely able to speak, Ho Jeong was at a loss for words.
'Is this... okay?'
The reason he had deliberately brought the Black-Eyed Squad along on Hwa-ryeon's pursuit.
Naturally, it was to slow the chase and alert Hwa-ryeon's side to his presence.
He had judged that the Black-Eyed Squad, once affiliated with the Heavenly Net Battalion, surely still had connections to them.
'I even thought they might have stayed behind on purpose to leak internal fortress information...'
But they were far too drunk for that?
Was it all just my misunderstanding?
A headache came on from the feeling that things had gone awry from the start.
It seemed he might need to find another way to get word to Hwa-ryeon's side.
While Ho Jeong clutched his throbbing head, Palji returned from outside the room, carrying a bowl of cold water, flipped over a Black-Eyed Squad member, and poured it on his face.
"Eup, eup-!"
The Black-Eyed Squad member spat out the cold water that poured into his eyes, nose, and mouth, startling awake as he sat up.
Thanks to the cold water, his dazed gaze had sharpened considerably.
And this time, he staggered to his feet for real.
"Y-Young Fortress Lord..."
"Yes, are you sober now?"
"...Yes."
Seeing his sprawled comrades around him, the Black-Eyed Squad member winced as if in trouble and glanced cautiously at Ho Jeong.
"Um... so, what brings you all the way here...?"
"...I've received a mission from the Fortress Lord this time. I need you all to come with me."
Ho Jeong stared at him coldly for a moment before cutting straight to the point, and the Black-Eyed Squad member blinked in bewilderment.
"...Us?"
"Yes, you all. You seem like the perfect ones for it, so I specifically requested you from the Fortress Lord."
"No, what on earth is it that..."
His face showed he had no clue what mission they could be suited for.
Ho Jeong explained the situation to them.
"It seems the previous Fortress Lord's daughter, Joo Hwa-ryeon, has been sighted at the Jeogal Clan in northern Hubei, Yangyang. We're going to investigate and pursue her."
"Yes—!?"
The Black-Eyed Squad member's eyes widened in shock.
Ho Jeong watched him closely, just in case, but the reaction that followed was disappointingly far from what he'd hoped.
"D-Do we really have to go? Even so, it's a bit..."
Just reluctance to pursue the former Young Fortress Lord they had once served from above—nothing more.
On top of that, the blatant annoyance plain on his face.
"...Official orders will come soon, so prepare in advance."
Completely abandoning his expectations at that display, Ho Jeong let out a small sigh and left the tavern.
"......"
Before following Ho Jeong, Palji glanced sidelong at the Black-Eyed Squad member for a moment, but what she saw was him slumping back down to poke at the remaining bottles.
With a small snort at the pathetic loafer's appearance, Palji also left the tavern.
"...Sigh."
In the room after the two had departed.
The Black-Eyed Squad member let out a deep sigh and tossed aside the bottle, at which point the other Black-Eyed Squad members rose as one, as if on cue.
"......"
The room fell silent for a moment.
The Black-Eyes exchanged serious glances with each other, as if they had never been drunk, then moved in unison.
"The booze is all gone—!"
"Booze! Booooze!"
"Waiter—!"
Some raised a racket calling for the waiter, while another seized the moment to pull out a brush and scribble something quickly on a scrap of paper.
He then handed the paper to the comrade who had dealt with Ho Jeong, who stuffed it into a blue money pouch.
"Yes! You called?"
Soon after, the waiter hurried into the room at the noisy summons.
He was the one who had guided Ho Jeong to this room earlier. He looked around and made a small disappointed face.
He had hoped the Tyrant Heaven Fortress wastrel had shown up, but it seemed he had come and gone quietly.
'Dreams of new furniture are dashed.'
His regret was brief; the professionally minded waiter hid his feelings and awaited the guests' orders.
Soon, one Black-Eyed Squad member placed a bizarre order.
"Bring us another bottle of the finest baekju here."
Baekju.
A catch-all term for cheap, potent liquor.
Which meant there was no such thing as "finest" or "worst" baekju.
Yet at this absurd order, the waiter's face strangely stiffened.
"...The finest baekju?"
"Yeah, you fool! The finest!"
Snapped back to attention by the Black-Eyed Squad member's bark, the waiter forced an awkward smile.
"Ah, finest baekju... Sorry, but we don't have any right now."
"Huh? Why?"
"It just ran out..."
"No~! Then go buy some! Over there, at the nearby tavern!"
"What? Tavern...? Which one do you mean...?"
"Sigh... you're dense? There, Changcheon Tavern! Go buy it from there!"
Thumping his chest, the Black-Eyed Squad member tossed the blue money pouch—the same one the paper scrap had been stuffed into—to the waiter.
"Here, money's in there, so buy it with this."
"Yesss..."
It wasn't peak hours, but eyeing the troublesome customers demanding a trip to another tavern, the waiter flashed a rotten smile and headed back down to the first floor.
"Boss, I'll step out for a bit."
"Where are you going on work hours!?"
"The customers in Maeil are demanding finest baekju."
The boss, who had been scolding him for slacking, saw the blue money pouch the waiter held out, and his face stiffened for a moment before he feigned nonchalance in his reply.
"...Don't slack off—hurry back."
"Yes, yes."
Muttering offhandedly, the waiter dashed out of the tavern and soon stopped at a small nearby tavern.
"Mister, I'm here!"
"Huh? What brings you at this hour?"
At the call, a middle-aged man who seemed to be the owner came out, and the waiter promptly handed over the entire blue money pouch.
"Finest baekju, please."
"...Wait a moment."
Glancing down at the blue pouch, the owner went back inside and returned with a pure white bottle, handing it over.
"Alright, see you!"
Having handed over the pouch and received the baekju, the waiter returned to the tavern.
The shop owner fiddled with the pouch in his hand for a moment before going back inside and calling an employee.
"Come here a sec."
"Yes?"
The employee approached at the owner's call, paused upon seeing the blue pouch in his hand, then silently extended his own hand.
"Hurry back."
"Yes."
Taking the blue pouch, the employee bolted off somewhere.
She kept running without pause until she stopped before a certain building.
[Merchant Guild]
Entering through the grand gate bearing the plaque "Changcheon Merchant Guild," the employee strode boldly across the courtyard into a hall.
The guild staff glanced at her briefly before resuming their work, as if accustomed to her.
Unhindered by anyone, she reached the office of the Luoyang branch chief of the Changcheon Merchant Guild and flung open the door without ceremony.
- Bang!
The man inside, Luoyang branch chief Jong Baek, frowned at the racket, then hardened his face at the employee's urgent expression and words.
"It's Heaven-grade!"
At the words "Heaven-grade," he shot to his feet, tore open the handed-over blue pouch, and fished out the crumpled scrap of paper.
Unfolding it hastily, three characters were written there.
The first, "no," meant Hwa-ryeon's presence had been exposed.
The second, "chwi," meant a pursuit team was being formed to chase her.
The third, "dong" with a line through it, meant they themselves could not move.
"Damn it...! How did they handle things so sloppily...!"
The young lady's presence had been exposed far too quickly.
Twisting his face in dismay, Jong Baek immediately penned several letters in code.
Soon after, numerous carrier pigeons from the Luoyang branch flew off in all directions.
*
A sword flies at me.
Compared to our first spar as children, this strike was worlds apart—razor-sharp.
I tried to gently deflect the blade aimed straight at my throat.
- Clang!
But had I put too much strength into it?
Instead of being deflected, Hwa-ryeon's blade, my sparring partner's, bounced back forcefully.
Missed again?
Already, failure after repeated failures.
Cursing inwardly, I parried Hwa-ryeon's sword once more.
But even after hundreds more attempts, I still hadn't achieved my goal.
"What on earth were you trying to do?"
After the sparring session that had lasted a full hour.
Hwa-ryeon, having washed off the sweat soaking her body, sat down beside me and asked.
She probably just meant to warm herself by the fire, but her still-damp hair and the faint scent of her body were too stimulating for me.
Ignoring it as best I could, I answered her question.
"Uh, yeah.... With Wudang coming up in a few days, call it some preparation before we arrive?"
"Preparation? Are you trying to create another new technique?"
Glancing at Hwa-ryeon, who seemed slightly exasperated, I shook my head.
"No. More like foundational work...? How much do you know about the Wudang Sect?"
Finding it hard to explain, I changed the subject, and Hwa-ryeon narrowed her eyes but answered readily enough.
"Just what's commonly known. They're the largest and most famous Daoist sect in the Central Plains martial world, based on Wudang Mountain, and called one of the Two Pillars of the martial world alongside Shaolin."