The New Work — 2

Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon?

The Tale of the Wind and Cloud Chivalric Hero? Not Dangga Pungun? The members of the Tea Book Club could only stare at the great hanging scroll in bafflement.

"The Wind and Cloud Chivalric Hero? Is the man on the banner Dang Jeong from Dangga Pungun?"

One member, still struggling to grasp the situation, squinted at the man painted on the scroll and tried to reason out his identity, thinking of the novel's chivalrous hero.

"That is no Dang Jeong. Dang Jeong never carried a hero's sword."

Scholar Hwang pointed at the man's forehead in the painting as he spoke.

The man on the scroll was unmistakably a martial artist, yet he seemed less like the warrior of some great sect and more like a Daoist sage transcended beyond the mundane world.

"So it isn't volume four of Dangga Pungun. Then this is—"

"It must be exactly as it says. A new work from Author Hopil himself..."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Scholar Hwang could not tear his bewildered eyes from the banner.

"A new work by Author Hopil?!"

"At long last, a new Hopil novel!"

They'd been craning their necks for any word from Author Hopil, and word had finally come — news of a new release. Half the Tea Book Club flushed with excitement and cheered again and again.

"Eh? What's the matter with you? The Hopil novel you've been longing for is finally coming out. Why that face?"

Of course, not everyone in the club was rejoicing.

"...This isn't the novel we've been waiting for, is it."

They had waited for Dangga Pungun, and instead — a new work. The members who'd been holding out for volume four could not hide their disappointment.

"Why isn't it Dangga Pungun volume four!"

"He'll write it after this one, won't he."

"We've waited months for volume four, and suddenly he's a prolific author!"

"It's only been a few months, hasn't it? Author Hopil wrote three full volumes over the past year. With a new work on top of that, isn't that rather an astonishing output?"

In this world, an author might agonize over a single novel for years before daring to publish it. Some writers, in fact, put out one lone book in their entire lives — hardly a rarity.

By comparison, three volumes of Dangga Pungun in a single year — frequent hiatus declarations notwithstanding — was frankly staggering.

"The depth of our waiting is simply different!"

Naturally, those doing the waiting saw none of that.

"Why on earth does Author Hopil churn out so many books!"

"He announces a new work and you're still complaining? A true devoted reader ought to look forward to another Hopil novel!"

"It's not that I can't look forward to it! But an author should have some sense ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of duty, shouldn't he!"

Hopil's new work, The Tale of the Wind and Cloud Chivalric Hero, hurled a massive stone into the once-tranquil shallows of the Daseogak.

In a single instant, a wind of anticipation and wildfire of fury swept through the Tea Book Club.

"Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon! The same 'Wind and Cloud' as before! What relation does this novel bear to Dangga Pungun?"

"What I was waiting for is the domineering beauty and the formation manual you can't escape until it's done — not some new book!"

"I was looking forward to that too! But with a new work coming, isn't this cutting it a bit fine!"

"What was that? I can't even voice my honest opinion?"

One camp eagerly awaited Hopil's new work; the other seethed that no Dangga Pungun had appeared. The Tea Book Club, already split like a pine forest between factions, was on the verge of fracturing anew along entirely new lines of interest when—

"Everyone, stop quarreling! Come down and see this!"

Scholar Hwang shouted, bringing fresh news.

"Wow! They say it's Author Hopil's new work!"

"And where exactly did Dangga Pungun volume four go, that he's peddling a new one!"

"What happened to the aftermath of the parted ladies! Where did it go!"

"Just as expected."

I had predicted the reactions would split cleanly down the middle once the new work was announced. Distant Yichang was probably no different.

I returned to the estate's study, where two women were watching me with anxious faces, and spoke.

"H-Hayeon eonni-iii. Wh-what do we do? Author Hopil is getting torn apart out thererrre."

"Plenty of people are excited that Author Hopil has a new book coming, but others are grumbling that he's being unfaithful to his original series."

"When an author who declared a long hiatus abandons his old novel for a new one, the outcry is inevitable."

As a reader myself, I couldn't entirely fail to understand.

It's like when a creator claims illness and goes on break — only for people to spot them grinding away in some online community while playing games. Or when a popular manga artist puts their hit series on year-long hiatus, abruptly becomes the story writer for someone else's manga, and then visibly loses affection for their own work and tries to rush it to a sloppy ending. Disappointment is only natural.

The reader's grievances were going to erupt whether anyone liked it or not.

"It's not as though you've been idling all this time — you were so busy you barely had time to write. That's too harsh."

Perhaps she felt guilty that I was being maligned on her account. Lim Hayeon pursed her lips in irritation.

She had no need to feel sorry at all. If anything, I was grateful.

Thanks to gaining the twin dragons of Lim Hayeon and Jegal Hyang, and to the business settling into stable ground, I finally had time to write.

"An author is a profession that speaks through its results. So in the end, it's my fault."

Answering ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for your output. Seeing a book through to its ending once you've committed to it. These are burdens every writer must shoulder.

"M-Master Kang, what do we dooooo. If the reception for volume one turns ice-cold before volume two even hits the shelves... We worked so, so hard together, but... c-could it be that my illustrations simply aren't charming enoughoooo?"

Jegal Hyang clutched her head in anguish.

It was certainly a thorny situation.

Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon volume one was a book that needed to sell on Hopil's reputation alone. If public opinion stayed split like this and we published as planned, sales could suffer.

"I've already prepared a solution."

Not that I had any intention of publishing without doing something about it, of course.

"You... prepared a solutionnn?"

Didn't I just say it was expected? Having expected it, failing to prepare would be nothing more than gambling on luck, wouldn't it?

"In situations like this, the answer is clear! One must simply shout: Dangga Pungun is safe!"

Smiling, I showed the two women a single sheet of paper.

"Huh? Is this—?!"

"M-Master Kang. Is that the one we've only heard whispered about!"

"That's right. The infamous 'This is Hopil...'."

Yichang. Daseogak, first floor.

A notice the Tea Book Club members longed to see, yet dreaded to see, hung in enormous letters at the entrance.

Was it meant to promote Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon? Or did it contain something else entirely? As ever, with faces half hope and half dread, the club members began to read.

Here is what they read.

"So it's those Mangeum Hall devils after all..."

"If he wants to help Manager Kang, he should release volume four. How does a new book make sense?"

Helping Manager Kang through book sales was understandable. But why Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon? Why not Dangga Pungun? Complaints burst from several of the club members.

"If Mangeum Hall has claimed ownership of Dangga Pungun, that would be difficult to contest. It's well known ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that the Na-sal Sect, which made its name in the southern Murim, crossed Mangeum Hall's line and met a horrific end."

A man with his bamboo hat pulled low murmured beside the club members.

"Eh? I don't know your face. An outsider? What's this about the Na-sal Sect?"

"The Na-sal Sect leader, an unorthodox path cultivator who borrowed from Mangeum Hall, squandered everything at the gambling tables, it's said, and swore he could not repay a single coin. Mangeum Hall, for its part, declared it would seize every asset the sect possessed. In the end, the sect leader even drew his blade on the debt collectors Mangeum Hall sent."

"Heh heh. A blade against Mangeum Hall? What became of him?"

"The warriors in Mangeum Hall's employ took the sect leader's head, and the Na-sal Sect was wiped from existence. The sect lost everything but the clothes on their backs. Where the Na-sal Sect once stood, nothing remains but desolate ruin."

When Mangeum Hall's collector lost an arm to the ground, an entire sect vanished. It was a tale that showed anew the terrifying financial might of Mangeum Hall.

"Even sects with nothing to do with the debt...?"

"So the saying is no exaggeration — borrowing from Mangeum Hall is laying your neck upon the scales of King Yama himself..."

"And now that vicious Mangeum Hall holds Daseogak's very lifeline in its grip."

"......"

The man in the bamboo hat sighed softly, then impressed the club members once more with the gravity of Daseogak's peril.

"Ahem. If it's Mangeum Hall, then yes — they would surely try to seize even the ownership rights of Dangga Pungun."

There was no one living in Hubei Province who had not heard of Mangeum Hall's fearsome reputation. A few club members shuddered, as if recalling some unpleasant memory.

"According to what I've heard, Manager Kang Yunho has won the favor of the Mangeum Lord and is handling the debt admirably. If Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon is received well, we shall surely see Dangga Pungun volume four soon enough."

"Is that true?"

The club members asked, unable to hide their astonishment.

"I traveled here from Wuhan, so I know well. Much of the debt remains, but they say the end is now in sight. Only — the closer the end, the more it strains him."

"Then Author Hopil stepped forward to help a friend who is struggling?!"

The man in the bamboo hat nodded.

"So then... Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon was no act of unfaithfulness on Author Hopil's part?"

"He took the straight road to protect Dangga Pungun!"

Now the story was entirely different. Color began to bloom across every face in the Tea Book Club.

"That's our Author Hopil for you!"

"Damn it all, I believed in him!"

"And Manager Kang has been toiling away too!"

The shift in public opinion took but an instant.

Mere prolific writing would have enraged them — but with weighty circumstances behind it, everything changed.

Author Hopil had not abandoned Dangga Pungun. Quite the opposite — he had written an entirely new work for its sake. Then what reason was there to resent Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon?

"Those Mangeum Hall devils, honestly! Utterly despicable!"

Before anyone noticed, the Tea Book Club had redirected every last ounce of its hostility toward Mangeum Hall.

"So what manner of story is Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon, I wonder. I can hardly wait!"

"But still, I want to see Dangga Pungun..."

"My good man! Look at Author Hopil's final words!"

Scholar Hwang pointed to the very bottom of the notice.

"Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon. On sale tomorrow? R-right away?!"

"That's right! The better Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon sells, the sooner we get Dangga Pungun!"

"Then if we read it first and spread the word—?"

"Volume four of Dangga Pungun is right around the corner!"

"Oh, right! But where did you say you were from again, that you'd know Manager Kang's news... Eh? Where'd he go?"

Scholar Hwang hurriedly searched for the man in the bamboo hat, but he had already vanished without a trace.

In Daseogak's printing room, where Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon was being printed in a flurry of activity, the man in the bamboo hat was writing something.

In Wuhan, a pigeon that had long since grown accustomed to its duties rose into the sky above Yichang.

Only then did the man in the bamboo hat cast off a great burden — snatching his hat from his head and hurling it aside.

A stranger had appeared out of nowhere in Yichang. Thanks to his well-worn hat, the man's hair was matted and greasy with oil — yet its color was unmistakably black.

"Whew. At least the mission our Association Leader gave me is done for now."

The man's true identity: the handiwork of one black-haired Association Leader who'd started in Yichang and was growing steadily more skilled in Wuhan.

He was one of the men of the Joseon Hometown Association, dispatched by Kang Yunho to wage the opinion war that was his specialty.

Author Hopil was releasing a new work.

A new novel poured out with all his heart for the sake of a friend. The moment word spread that the author who had once set all of Yichang ablaze with Dangga Pungun was releasing it tomorrow, it raced through the city like wildfire.

"I got here first, I told you!"

"My good man! That's where the line loops back around! Get to the end of it!"

"I arrived at the crack of dawn!"

"I was here last night!"

Hopil's new work — and Kang Yunho's first.

"I'll be the very first buyer of Pungun Hyeopgaekjeon!!!"

After Dangga Pungun, The Tale of the Wind and Cloud Chivalric Hero had begun to stir a new tremor through Yichang.