From Bad to Worse - 3
"A courtesan? Whatever could you mean?"
So the day had finally come.
From the demand for Lim Hayeon's arrest and transfer, to her midnight escapades, to the move to the printing shop — a great deal of time had already slipped by. Whether these men had set out from Wuhan or from Wushan, it was just about time for them to arrive. Wearing the blank face of a man who knew nothing, I addressed the warriors, whose rotten temperament showed at a glance.
"Her name is Lim Hayeon. She may be going by another name. A beauty with pink hair, and a figure so voluptuous you'd spot it at a glance."
"Lim Hayeon?"
"Ha Yeon's a runaway courtesan?"
This was exactly when people ought to have the decency to keep quiet. The employees, so thoroughly taken in by the flawless description that not one of them suspected a thing, began to stir — and with all that commotion, there was no way I could feign ignorance and claim I'd never heard of any such person.
"So this was the right place after all."
"Boss. Look where the intel came from — how could it be wrong? Let's grab her quick and head home. Ptui!"
Had the man ever touched a book in his life? One of the warriors, crude enough to plant the question, casually spat a wad of phlegm onto the floor of Daseogak.
"There appears to be some misunderstanding. The Miss Lim Hayeon I know is a draper's daughter."
I knitted my brow just slightly and spoke to the warrior with the face of a man convinced a genuine mistake had been made.
"That's not yours to judge. Where is Lim Hayeon?"
When a man speaks politely, answer him in kind. Honestly, men who carry swords far too often keep their manners on a detachable mount.
And who, pray tell, judges me, then? I am justice itself. Every fiber of me wanted to throw hands on the spot, but the establishment that would end up in ruins was my own establishment, so I resolved to endure.
"She was due in to work today, but she never showed."
"Never showed?"
"That's right. Her sudden no-show has left us in quite a bind, frankly."
I delivered it with the practiced composure of a shop owner at a loss over a part-timer who had abruptly stopped answering her phone.
"Hey, you! Is that true?"
The warrior stared at me for a long while and then, finding no trace of a lie, raised his voice and rounded on Ha Soso beside me.
"Yes! It's true!"
Ha Soso, whether or not she'd finished reading the room, nodded along even through her terror. Soso, you did wonderfully. Lunch is on me later.
"I can't say whether the woman you seek is one and the same. She has seemed restless lately — I can only guess at some family trouble."
I added the embellishment deliberately, leaving the door ajar to the possibility of her flight.
"Where does Lim Hayeon live?"
"To my knowledge, she lodges at an inn."
Claiming ignorance would be amateur hour. Far better to feed them stale intel.
"We already visited that inn. You know of anywhere else?"
I swiftly pieced together everything the men had let slip.
They knew she worked at Daseogak. They knew about the inn, but not the printing shop. These were men who had set out half a month ago at the earliest. Their information would have come from whoever commissioned them, and the Yichang branch head was on our side — so it was safe to assume they'd received no local help.
Which meant there was a fair chance they'd also caught wind of the talk surrounding Daseogak and the Tang Clan. In that case, I could afford to push back a little harder.
"I don't know."
I said it flatly, staring straight into the warrior's eyes.
Only a handful of Daseogak employees knew that Ha Yeon had been living at the printing shop. If I declared I didn't know loudly enough for every member of the staff to hear, they would all get the picture.
The warrior, apparently hoping to frighten what he wanted out of me, came a step closer with an ugly scowl.
I've seen plenty of faces uglier than yours, friend. That mug of yours is no threat at all.
"Tch. Hey, you! Do you know where Lim Hayeon lives?!"
When I gave no reaction at all, the warriors apparently decided I was a dry well, and turned to interrogate the other employees instead.
"I don't knoooow!"
"Hey! What about you?"
"N-no, I don't."
"What is the meaning of this?! Do you intend to run roughshod over Daseogak?"
Bless my staff and their quick instincts. I roared with anger and irritation braided together — loudly enough to reach not only the warriors who had barged in, but the regulars as well.
"What's going on? One look and you can tell those are Black Path thugs! Running wild in Daseogak, of all places — the very hall where chivalry itself is discussed?"
"Black Path thugs? Inside Daseogak? Where?"
Plenty of murim regulars had taken to visiting Daseogak these days. Ours was a clean little community, built by everyone together — and there were regulars present ready to roll up their sleeves and stand behind me.
"Stand down."
When a few of the martial artists who had been watching began to show signs of rising from their seats, the man who appeared to lead the three Black Path warriors raised a hand and held his underlings in check.
"Carry on like this, and you will no longer be received as guests."
I drew the line for the warriors with a look of supreme confidence.
"Hah. Well, would you look at that? The barbarian pup's gotten himself some nerve!"
"So it's true she didn't come to work today — and true that you don't know where she lives?"
"Boss!"
"Quiet."
The leader, it seemed, could still tell sense from nonsense.
"If you doubt me, have a look around and be on your way."
At my words, the man who seemed to be the leader bored his gaze not into our surroundings, but into me alone.
Stare all you like. What good will staring do you?
"...If this is a lie, you will regret it dearly. Let's go!"
Perhaps he had concluded there was nothing left to take from us. In the end, the warriors walked straight out of Daseogak.
We could breathe again.
"Manager."
The moment Ha Soso confirmed all three warriors had gone, she called to me with eyes full of worry.
"Starting today, we keep a lid on the staff's mouths. And as of today, Miss Ha Yeon no longer comes to work at Daseogak."
It had come later than I'd expected, but come it had. It was time to move on to the next phase of the plan.
"But what if Ha Yeon says she's coming in this afternoon, all of a sudden?"
Knowing Lim Hayeon's temperament, she might well show her face come the afternoon. Ha Soso asked me, her anxiety plain on her face.
Instead of answering, I walked to the window and carefully drew back the curtain.
Yep — still there.
The Haomen warriors hadn't left the area around Daseogak at all; they were lying in wait inside the building across the street. Had they figured Lim Hayeon might yet show herself?
Apparently they had no intention of giving up easily.
"It will be fine."
"Sorry?"
Sending anyone to the printing shop right now might be dangerous. But Lim Hayeon reporting to work at Daseogak would be just as untenable.
To unravel the question hanging on Ha Soso's bewildered face, I raised my hand high into the air.
"I'm counting on you."
"Coo-good!"
The moment my hand went up, the clever bird came winging straight to it.
For carrying a message, our carrier pigeon Gugu was more than equal to the task.
Not every martial artist can hold off a hundred men alone.
If your skill leaves you unsure you could subdue an opponent with room to spare, then it is far easier to strike by surprise — to lie in ambush and swarm the target with numbers, all at once.
So I'm being tailed.
The walk home along a dark night street. From behind me came footsteps matching my pace, step for step.
Live long enough as a treasure goblin — a creature who can be robbed without consequence and cannot so much as resist — and you grow exquisitely sensitive to being followed.
A proper tail erases his presence and lets not even his footsteps sound. Evidently no one could be bothered to extend that courtesy to a Black Hair.
Five in all, watching Daseogak. Not a number I could handle.
Besides the three who had come that morning, two more had been waiting.
At roughly third-rate myself, five men alone would no longer be a problem. But Lim Hayeon was a warrior of genuine skill, so they would hardly have sent a pack of nobodies to take her down.
Perhaps I should have taken to carrying hidden weapons.
No use regretting it now. I had left them behind in the press of work — dropping one mid-shift would have chilled the mood like a clown strolling into a children's ward with a loaded pistol.
I began adjusting my stride and pace at whim, easing a gap open between us as naturally as I could manage.
If it's me they're after, I bolt first and think later!
In the next instant, I kicked off into a sprint.
"He's running!"
"Grab him!"
Did they truly think I'd be caught that easily?
Even back when all I knew was basic subjugation technique, I was already beyond mere civilian. Now I carried the Soyun Mind Image Art, with five years' worth of internal energy stacked on top.
My strengthened legs might not know lightness skill, but like a herbivore's hind legs, they existed to put distance between me and the predators.
I have to make for the alleys.
I had no idea how skilled they were. But anyone who had come hunting Lim Hayeon was bound to number at least one man with real depth in lightness skill.
Which made bolting for the main road a rookie mistake.
However confident a tofu-shop delivery driver may be behind the wheel, he makes his move on the courses where he can work his craft — he does not race where his opponent is free to run wild.
"Here! I've got him blocked!"
So the alleys alone wouldn't be enough. A warrior who had closed the distance drew his blade and barred my path.
"Tch!"
I clicked my tongue once and forced my way through. The blade swept at me without a shred of restraint — with force enough to take an arm off in a heartbeat.
Hey, pal — Black Hairs hurt too when you cut them, you know.
"Where do you think you're going, you bas— Huh?"
Actually, it doesn't hurt.
When his swung blade skated off my skin as if across greased ice, astonishment swallowed the warrior whole.
Surprised? For what it's worth, every single time the Jade-Faced Guardian Divine Skill kicks in, I give my thanks to Sohee as well.
I seized the stunned warrior's wrist and hurled him at the men closing in from behind.
"Gwaaagh!"
"The barbarian knows martial arts!"
"Block him, whatever it takes!"
Another man cut off my path, his face promising there would be no second lapse in vigilance. One wrong step and I'd be run through. I feinted a charge at the man in front of me, then kicked off the alley wall and sprang upward.
"Urk!"
I planted my foot on the shoulder of the man reeling from the unexpected maneuver.
"Behold — the Yoshi two-stage jump, you bastards!"
I detonated internal energy through the Bubbling Spring acupoint in the sole of my foot. On a burst of thrust even the game's own developers could never have predicted, I bowled the warrior over and cleared the wall sealing the alley in a single bound.
"What the—?!"
I landed safely with the poise of a game hero who can drop out of the stratosphere and survive without losing a single point of health — provided he comes down in water.
"After him!"
My internal energy still had plenty left. Might as well keep going. Channeling power into my Bubbling Spring points in quick succession, I ripped the distance open.
"Hah... hah..."
In the end, I was cornered against a dead-end wall.
"Never knew a bookstore manager could run like that."
"The barbarian pup!"
"Hah... hah... Warriors in broad daylight — and what in the world is this business in the dead of night?"
Setting my back against the wall, I asked my pursuers with perfect composure.
"You knew all along, and you still played dumb!"
"I took you for Black Path thugs out to shake me down for coin. Why on earth are you chasing me?"
I needed time to catch my breath. I kept playing the innocent.
"I've been thinking it over, see. You're the one most likely to know where that woman's hiding in this city. And besides — letting some insolent barbarian chase us off? That wounded our pride."
"You drew blades on the common folk over something that petty?"
"Common folk? What common folk? Since when do men who train in the martial arts count as common folk?"
Fair point, that. Still, there ought to be a refund window. Can't a man count as a civilian until his third year?
"And another thing. If you use another man's property, you pay a usage fee. Word is you made some real money in Yichang?"
It came back to me now — these bastards were muscle hired by the unorthodox Haomen, men standing one hair's breadth on the bandit side of the line between warrior and robber.
"You do know whether she's truly a runaway courtesan, don't you?"
"Cut the shit — you know it all. Come along quietly now. Hand over everything you know about that woman, empty out that purse as well, and we'll let you live."
"And if I refuse?"
"Do we really have to put that into words for you?"
All five warriors drew their blades as one, as if on cue. The one I had thrown earlier was practically brimming with killing intent.
"Hahahahah!"
There it is. Exactly the response I'd been waiting for.
I clutched my belly and laughed at them, loud and theatrically.
"Has this bastard lost his mind?"
I had not lost my mind.
Nor was I bluffing.
With the mirth still clinging to my face, I spoke past the drawn blades of the unorthodox warriors.
"You heard all of that, I trust."
"We did. Every word."
You see, the wall I had backed myself against? That was the wall of our own home.
"Gwaah!"
"Khk!"
"Pt— ptui... ugh!"
For skilled escort masters, subduing the warriors Haomen had hired was the work of a moment. Thank goodness I had begged — again and again — for reinforced security at the printing shop.
"Find out where these men came from, and see that they are dealt with — thoroughly."
"We will trace them clear down to their eighth cousins."
They had dared to lay hands on the life of the Tang Clan Head's illegitimate son. What fate befell them from here was a matter known to the Seocheon Escort Agency alone.
I let out a long breath and made my way toward the inner quarters on weary legs.
"You startled me!"
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
Is this how a cat behaves, having waited all day in a darkened room for her owner? The moment I opened the door to the inner quarters, Lim Hayeon rushed to me, startled.
"I was only doing a little martial training after dark."
"...Come inside. I have Golden Sore Powder put away in my room."
"It's only a few scrapes. ...Very well."
Had she sensed that something had happened to me?
With a face on the verge of tears, Lim Hayeon took me by the arm and sat me down in the very room she had always forbidden me to enter.
"What became of your pursuers?"
Lim Hayeon asked the question while applying the salve with painstaking tenderness.
"They had marked me, so I led them straight to the Seocheon Escort Agency. They've promised to handle it properly — all I can do is trust them."
"..."
At the word marked, her hands went still and her head bowed deep. Was she blaming herself? She had no reason to.
"For the time being, work only at the printing shop. Until we catch the first thread of a solution, that will be safest."
So long as word that Lim Hayeon lived at the printing shop never spread, she would remain safe for a good while.
"But then I'm no help to Daseogak at all. And on top of that, all this trouble is because of me. If this is how it's going to be, then perhaps I should just..."
"What do you mean, no help? Starting tomorrow, I'm putting you on document sorting, ledger keeping, and the printing work — all of it."
It was her turn now to become the true steward who could carry every last piece of Daseogak's business on her own shoulders. And just where did she think she was running off to?
Lim Hayeon studied my unbothered face for a long moment, then opened her mouth, her expression a tangle of sorrow and apology.
"...And what will you do if a day like today comes again?"
"I'll simply run the night streets a little harder."
"You got caught that time, during the Mangeum Bookstore affair."
"I didn't get caught today, though. I'll simply run even harder."
Things were different now from the Mangeum Bookstore affair. Different. My internal energy had doubled since then — five years' worth, no less.
"Hah... all that, from just running a little harder... Oh?"
Lim Hayeon exhaled a worried sigh, then let out a small gasp, as though something had just occurred to her.
"Don't worry yourself so much."
"...I can't help it. Still. No. But."
Had she suddenly thought of material for a novel? Lim Hayeon abruptly rose and began pacing the room, muttering to herself.
"Miss Ha Yeon?"
Had my puzzled voice brought her back to her senses? Or had her thoughts simply finished arranging themselves?
Lim Hayeon nodded once, then fixed her gaze on me with the air of someone who had made up her mind.
"Would you like to learn lightness skill from me?"