Reopening - Part 1
"Unbelievable. This makes no sense."
A woman with pink twin-tailed hair huffed her way down the street, grumbling under her breath. Her beauty was so exceptional that even in Yichang, a metropolis by any measure, it was a rare sight—countless men found themselves unable to tear their eyes away even as their lovers pinched their thighs.
"Of all the men in the world, saved by that one."
The sudden raid on the Haomen's Wushan branch. She alone had slipped out, thanks to her exceptional lightness skill. The attack had been too methodical, too well-planned, and her heart had sat in her throat the whole way out, wondering whether she could shake off Wushan alive.
Enemies on every side, no one left to call for help—and the moment of crisis she had prayed would never arrive found her anyway. Was this how it all ended? Could she survive if she ran? Just as doubt and dread seized command of her mind, a black-haired man had appeared. Twice, no less.
He might have helped her the first time out of simple kindness. But even after learning she was a runaway courtesan, he had still chosen to help. When word spread that a lowly courtesan had fled her gyobang or pleasure house, reality was simple: people either captured you to collect the reward or looked the other way. Yet he had shielded her instead. With a confident expression and astonishing agility, he had rescued her as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Watching Kang Yunho like that, she had thought of a character from the one novel she truly loved.
He's just like Dang Jeong from Dang Family Storm...
The protagonist of Dang Family Storm, whom she adored beyond all others. Granted, compared to Dang Jeong, the true chivalrous hero of this age, the man was maybe a half of a half of a half of a half as impressive—but still, a little like Dang Jeong. No, a lot like him.
—And what might your name be, young master?
I must remember my savior's name. She had mustered her courage and asked.
—Shouldn't you have something to tell me first?
What was she supposed to say? He may have been her savior, but as a runaway courtesan, admitting the truth could still put her in danger. After a moment of frantic thought, a clever idea had struck her. If he was Dang Jeong, then surely her own name could only be one thing.
—I'm Du Eung-hyang.
The chivalrous hero rescues a courtesan in peril. If the man was Dang Jeong, then naturally she was Du Eung-hyang.
—Don't you think I look a little like Du Eung-hyang?
—You've lost your mind, haven't you? You? Comparing yourself to Lady Du Eung-hyang, the finest courtesan in all of Hubei?
—Hey!
Claiming to be Du Eung-hyang inside the Usan Gyobang—a place crawling with devoted fans of Dang Family Storm—would have earned her a proper scolding from the other apprentice courtesans. But it didn't matter. No one was around to hear it anyway.
Hoping the man would remember her as Du Eung-hyang, she had given him the alias of her favorite character from her favorite novel. And it turned out to be a mistake so colossal that she had jolted awake in the dead of night, cheeks burning.
"To think it was Kang Yunho of all people."
In the Usan Gyobang, if not quite on the level of the legends surrounding Hopil, rumors about Kang Yunho had been rampant all the same. The tyrant bookseller who held Master Hopil hostage. A greedy merchant, the stories went, who fattened his own purse by bleeding Master Hopil dry.
Of course, it was a rumor cunningly distorted, half truth and half fabrication. There was the almost-truth that this Manager Kang Yunho, mad for coin, was blocking the release of the next volume of Dang Family Storm; there were wild tales of his cutthroat business dealings; and there was all that talk of him exploiting Hopil.
On top of that, the courtesans of the Usan Gyobang had become diehard fans of Dang Family Storm, and their badmouthing of Kang Yunho never stopped. The more the Shadowless Divine Thief loved Dang Family Storm, the deeper her resentment toward Kang Yunho—the villain responsible for burying the next volume—was bound to grow.
And now she owed her life to the very merchant she despised.
"I told Kang Yunho that my name was Du Eung-hyang! Ughhh!"
How hard must he have laughed inside when he heard her alias? She had introduced herself with the name of a character from the very novel that put food on his table. He had probably helped her thinking the story was funny enough to be worth a money pouch. For all she knew, he was out somewhere right now telling it as fine drinking material.
"And yet..."
She took out the money pouch Kang Yunho had given her. He might be the worst bookseller alive, a corrupt merchant through and through, but he didn't seem outright evil. Nor did he look like the savage barbarian the gyobang apprentices had described. If anything, he was more... than she had expected—
No. He is Kang Yunho, the worst shopkeeper in existence!
She quickly shook the thought out of her head. Gratitude was gratitude, and it changed nothing about what he was: a corrupt merchant. Saved by the sworn enemy of Master Hopil himself. As the head of the Usan Gyobang's Tea Book Club, a devoted reader of Dang Family Storm, and an ardent supporter of Master Hopil, it was an unbearable humiliation.
Tucking away the money pouch he had given her, she shook off her tangled feelings and set out for the Haomen.
"Kang Yunho has returned aliiiiive!"
The moment my foot touched Yichang soil, I let out a triumphant roar. Embarrassing? A little—but I'd shouted it in Joseon, so it hardly counted. In a racket-filled port like this, words nobody could understand were just noise.
This was Yichang, the city I had left behind fully prepared to die at the hands of the Tang Clan. Fortunately, I had resolved the matter with the clan, and the tigers I'd been certain would take my head had turned into staunch allies instead. I had protected Daseogak, and I had protected Dang Family Storm. Hwarin's Poison Human affliction was, for all practical purposes, cured. Even if our parting stung, if I worked hard, we would be reunited that much sooner.
Yichang, after everything was settled. My joy at being back was more than words could hold.
"Sounded like Joseon, sir. What was it you said?"
The Escort Leader had been directing the cargo ashore when he spotted me shouting and came over.
"That I'm glad to be home."
"Haha, is that so. Glad as you may be, there's a mountain of cargo to unload, so come along with us to the Yichang branch of the Seocheon Escort Agency."
"Of course."
My heart wanted to fly straight to Daseogak, but there was no helping it. I had luggage from the Sichuan Tang Clan, and Tang Pae and the other Tang martial artists who had escorted me needed somewhere to eat and sleep. Daseogak was an option, naturally, but I had not the slightest intention of bunking down with a pack of men. Since the Seocheon Escort Agency would provide lodging for the Tang clansmen, heading there first—luggage and all—was the sensible choice.
"You'll certainly be in for a surprise when we arrive."
What was that supposed to mean? With a knowing smile, the Escort Leader led our party toward the Seocheon Escort Agency.
"This is the new Yichang branch of the Seocheon Escort Agency."
The place the Escort Leader presented as the agency's branch was remarkably familiar ground.
"Baek Family Manor?"
Baek Family Manor—the estate where Tang Hwa-rin's maternal grandfather had lived. It had been put up for sale to settle his debts, but it was so vast and so expensive that, last I'd heard, it could hardly find a buyer.
"Welcome, sir. We have been expecting you."
When we arrived at the manor, a familiar face was waiting to greet us.
"Uncle Steward!"
The man Hwarin and I had trusted and leaned on more than anyone else in Yichang. The old steward who, even as Baek Family Manor fell apart under its debts, had stayed on to shoulder responsibility and see to the wreckage to the very end. He came toward me with a face full of warmth.
"We heard you were returning, so we prepared to receive you properly. Please, come in."
The Head Butler showed us to the guest quarters, brought out tea, and asked to hear everything that had happened.
"...And that is why Hwarin couldn't come back with me."
I explained it all to the Head Butler in as much detail as I could without trespassing on the Sichuan Tang Clan's private matters.
"My, my. So the young miss has become a Poison Human and is to remain with the Sichuan Tang Clan."
Unable to decide whether to rejoice or to grieve, the Head Butler stroked his beard.
"I'm ashamed I couldn't bring her home with me."
I bowed my head slightly in apology. The Head Butler was the closest thing to family Hwarin had in Yichang. Even if not as deeply as I did, he was surely heartbroken.
"Please, think nothing of it. The young miss spent her whole life suffering under an incurable affliction—if it is cured, how could that be anything but a blessing? If anything, I worry that it is you, young master, who is grieving."
You're absolutely right—I wanted to come back to Daseogak with Hwarin and spend every day making precious memories together.
"It doesn't matter. If I wait at Daseogak, I'll be seeing Hwarin again soon enough. You should have seen her, Uncle Steward. You'd hardly recognize her. She's grown so beautiful it nearly took my breath away."
This wasn't me dressing things up because she was my Hwarin. Her skin had become so flawlessly clear that she could genuinely lay claim to the title of Sichuan's greatest beauty. Even a man determined to deny her that title would fall to his knees and concede the moment he witnessed her overwhelming physical presence.
"If I am blessed with long life, I'm sure I will get to see that beautiful face for myself one day."
"I'm certain you will. But what happened with Baek Family Manor?"
For the manor to become the new branch of the Seocheon Escort Agency... The mansion was enormous beyond measure, and as far as I knew, no one with the wealth to buy it outright had ever appeared.
"The Sichuan Tang Clan purchased it."
"The Tang Clan did?"
"They said they wished to buy it in order to look after the birthplace of one of their own. At first I could scarcely believe my ears. I imagine it was because the young miss has been formally accepted as one of the Tang Clan that they stepped forward."
"So they bought it because it's the house where Hwarin was born."
They had purchased an entire estate the size of Baek Family Manor because it was where the Poison Human had spent her childhood. For a man so deep in debt that he'd converted his own attic into living quarters just to get by, that kind of purchasing power was beyond imagining. Well, they were the Sichuan Tang Clan, hegemon of Sichuan, after all.
If they were going to spend money like that, they could have paid off my Daseogak loan instead.
Because Hwarin had given me Daseogak, I had inherited its debt along with it, the way one assumes a property's mortgage together with the deed. It would have been lovely if Hwarin could have paid it off, but her position within the Tang Clan wasn't secure yet, and between the two of us, neither was in any position to hold out a hand to the clan. And so here I was, like a family patriarch laboring under a thirty-five-year loan on a two-story red-roofed building, faithfully paying it down with sweat and tears.
"They told me that since I had managed the manor for many years, the clan has hired me on as its steward. And with the Seocheon Escort people moving in to help look after the place, I cannot tell you how much easier everything has become."
So the Sichuan Tang Clan had bought the property and was leasing it to the Seocheon Escort Agency, a clan subordinate. This was exactly like a corporation keeping a building under the parent company and charging its own subsidiary rent. An empty house decays fast without steady care, whatever else may be true—and this was still better than Hwarin's childhood home passing into the hands of strangers.
"That's a relief. Hwarin would be gladder to see the Seocheon Escort Agency using it than total strangers. By the way—has there been any particular talk about Daseogak or Dang Family Storm?"
Worried that something might have gone wrong at Daseogak in my absence, I asked the Head Butler.
"You came straight here without stopping by Daseogak?"
"I did."
"Heh heh. If you go, you'll find a crowd gathered in front of Daseogak wailing aigoo, aigoo. You may even come across some who have set up a shrine and pray for Manager Kang's safe return."
"..."
What on earth.
"Not long ago, someone had the gall to suggest that since Master Hopil had apparently run off and Manager Kang seemed to be dead, they ought to hold a memorial rite—and he very nearly got a funeral of his own for it."
"Hahaha."
The Tea Book Club members were as much a handful as ever.
"From what I hear, Dang Family Storm has grown quite famous, its name reaching even the neighboring cities. You will be busy once business resumes."
That part had genuinely surprised me. Who would have guessed the Shadowless Divine Thief would know Dang Family Storm? Even with me gone from Yichang for months, the novel had apparently kept climbing. Choosing books as my means of raising my reputation stat had been the right call after all. If I meant to cut down Saekma, cut down demonic fiends, and one day cut down Heaven itself in this Murim, the blade for the job had to be words with no feet—rumors that travel on their own.
Concealing my satisfaction, I put on a worried face and spoke.
"That's exactly what worries me. Hwarin handled so much of it, and now I have to manage it all alone."
Minding Daseogak during business hours, then sales and inventory after closing, writing the novel, overseeing the printing—the list never ended. How was I supposed to do all of that without Hwarin? It made my chest tighten just to think about.
"Have you considered hiring help?"
"I'll have to think on it. More importantly—has there been any trouble with the debt?"
Before leaving, I had handed the Head Butler full authority over Daseogak's debt. Had anything gone wrong while I was gone?
At the word "debt," the Head Butler regarded me with a gravity most unusual for him.
I have a bad feeling about this.
"As a matter of fact, there is something urgent I must discuss with you regarding Daseogak's debt."