Chapter 202
Chapter 202
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 202
Chapter Title: The Road to Wudang
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I wanted to hear more details, but their conversation was drowned out by the noisy hawking from a nearby cloth shop.
“Tut...!”
I clicked my tongue and looked for another group.
But whether spurred by the cloth shop's booming voice, the other stores suddenly raised their voices in unison, making it impossible to eavesdrop any further.
“For now, let's head to an inn. The whole county is this lively, so we should be able to pick up some stories there.”
Hwa-ryeon suggested as she saw my furrowed brow, and we steered the carriage toward a nearby inn.
“Come on in! Park the carriage inside. Staying the night, right? We've got the annex free just in time—want that?”
As soon as we arrived at the inn, a spirited waiter rushed over and poured out his words.
No need to go far—I could just ask this guy.
I said we'd take the annex, paid up, and handed over a few extra iron coins.
“Got a question for you. Can you come to the annex in a bit?”
“Sure thing, of course!”
The waiter's face lit up at the extra coins, and he bowed deeply, even more polite now.
We followed his guidance into the annex, unpacked, and soon after, the waiter entered.
“What's on your mind? I know every little thing around here. Ask away!”
I smiled faintly at the waiter, now even more energized by the money, and tossed out my question.
“Nothing major—the county seems all abuzz. What's going on? I overheard something about Wudang Mountain.”
“Uh... where you folks from?”
“From around Yangyang.”
“News hasn't reached there yet, huh. Lately, it's all doom and gloom talk everywhere.”
The waiter gestured wildly as he spilled the details, and we couldn't help but frown as we listened.
“...A red sky?”
“Yeah! They say the sky over Wudang Mountain turned blood-red, soaked in blood. Folks are saying the Primordial Heavenly Lord is angry, or something bad happened at Wudang—rumors are flying.”
The sky turned blood-red, soaked in blood.
His description immediately brought Jegal Cheon-sang to mind.
More precisely, the scene of him rampaging with the power of the Blood Jade, unleashing bloody energy everywhere.
The sky that had been dyed red by the soaring crimson aura.
Was there some connection between the two?
“Hmm...”
I glanced at my companions, and their faces were grave—they were clearly thinking the same thing.
The mood sank heavily.
The waiter, who'd been chattering excitedly, now eyed us nervously.
Noticing this, I handed him a few more iron coins as thanks.
“Thanks for the story. Here.”
“Oh, wow, you don't have to...! Thank you!”
His anxious face broke into a wide grin, and with a booming “Rest well!” he left the annex.
As soon as the waiter was gone, Hwa-ryeon asked me.
“What do you think?”
“I'm hoping it's not, but it's nagging at me. A blood-red sky isn't exactly common.”
Seol-i, who'd been listening, spoke up with a speculative look.
“What if that maid So-so went to Wudang Mountain?”
So-so.
The maid from the guest quarters where I'd stayed—she'd vanished after Jegal Cheon-sang's rampage.
The timing was so suspicious that the Jegal family had searched for her themselves, but no luck.
Even after we left, no trace turned up.
She'd vanished like she'd never existed, which only confirmed my suspicions.
That So-so was the mastermind behind the Blood Jade's creation.
And now that woman had left the Jegal family for Wudang Mountain? Of all places?
“...It feels like a stretch, but the situation is oddly fitting.”
I couldn't help linking the blood-red sky to the Blood Jade, and from there, to the shadowy So-so.
“What if the Wudang Sect pulled the same stunt as the Jegals?”
“Hmm...”
We all let out groans at Hwa-ryeon's suspicion.
We just didn't have enough information to say for sure.
I wanted to fly straight to Wudang Mountain and see for myself, but that wasn't feasible.
For now, all we could do was gather more intel here in Go-seong County.
*
After a late lunch, we split up to collect the rumors swirling around the county.
I returned to the street we'd passed earlier by carriage, but the chattering crowds had vanished without a trace.
With the people gone, even the shops that had been shouting their wares were left in eerie quiet.
I considered asking the shopkeepers, but figured it'd lead to hard sells, so I dropped it.
“What now.”
As I pondered just wandering aimlessly, an ominous sound reached my ears.
-Hand it over! No!?
-N-No!
“...What the?”
I headed toward the commotion and found some thugs shaking down a little kid.
These punk bastards?
“You little shit!”
“Th-this is for my mom's medicine!”
The left hand gripping the tiny kid's collar, the right fist raised like a guillotine ready to drop.
I slipped behind them in an instant and seized the right wrist.
“Gah!? Wh-what the hell!”
The thugs jumped in shock at my sudden appearance.
I flashed them a big smile and smashed my fist into one's face.
A moment later.
“S-sorry, sir...”
“Scram. Get caught doing this shit again, and it won't end like this.”
Their teeth shattered, faces swollen double, clutching one arm as they fled.
I'd smashed their faces and snapped an arm—they wouldn't be pulling this crap for a while.
I watched the thugs scamper off, then looked down at the kid I'd grabbed.
“Hey, you okay? Hurt anywhere?”
“Y-yes! Thank you for helping!”
The kid looked up at me with eyes sparkling way too intensely.
I glanced between his face and the money pouch he'd somehow kept from them during the scuffle, then subtly tried to say goodbye.
“Well, I'll be off then...”
-Chomp
“You saved me, but I can't just let you go like that!”
“...I'm fine. And it's a life debt.”
The kid clung to my collar, and no matter how I tried to pry his hand off, it wouldn't budge.
“I'm good, really. Can you let go?”
“My mom says you have to repay a favor!”
“Your mom's got good wisdom, but I'm telling you, it's fine.”
Despite my repeated refusals, the kid stuck to my leg like glue, refusing to listen.
Finally,
“...Alright, alright. I'm not going anywhere, so let go?”
I sighed deeply and stopped in place, and only then did he release with a grin.
“Tell me anything! Whatever my benefactor wants, I'll do it!”
“It's benefactor...”
I corrected the kid's clumsy words, scratched the back of my head, and on a whim, asked.
“Hm, so... you know any of the hot rumors going around?”
I'd tossed it out casually, just to say something.
But his response far exceeded my expectations.
“Of course! I run this turf! The hot rumor—you mean the red sky over Wudang Mountain, right?”
“...Huh? Y-yeah.”
He puffed out his chest proudly as I stared in stunned silence.
“I'll buy my mom's medicine and bring the kids who know all the gossip—I'll tell you everything!”
“...Sure?”
And so I ended up trailing after this kid who couldn't be more than ten, watching him buy medicine, then following him all the way home.
“Mom~! Got the medicine!”
The kid's home looked terribly rundown on the outside.
Yet his clothes, though worn, showed no such neglect, revealing how carefully his parents must have cared for him.
“You're back? Why so late?”
The door to the half-collapsed house creaked open, revealing a gaunt middle-aged woman.
She startled at the sight of me behind the kid and the sword at my waist, asking warily.
“Wh-who are you?”
“Mom, it's okay! He's my benefactor!”
Benefactor, huh...
*
“Sorry. I didn't realize you were the one who saved him...”
“No, I get it. A guy with a sword shows up out of nowhere—natural to be on guard.”
The middle-aged woman bowed her head in apology after hearing the story from the kid.
She insisted she couldn't let her child's savior leave empty-handed, dragged her sickly body inside to prepare tea for me.
Now I was the one feeling awkward.
Forcing a sick woman who had to send her young child to buy medicine to wait on me.
The kid handed the medicine to his mom and bolted off to fetch his gossip-savvy friends, leaving me alone.
Sitting there, fidgeting and glancing around the room, my eyes landed on a loom in the corner.
She must have been weaving until we arrived—thin threads were interlaced tightly.
Lost in a daze staring at the warp and weft woven seamlessly, the kid's mother returned with a teapot and cups.
“We're not well-off, so I don't have much to offer.”
“Oh, no, this is plenty.”
She handed me a cup filled with steaming tea.
As the warmth spread through my palm, the kid's mother bowed her head once more.