The Gyobang Is No Place for a Man
"Master Kang. Lady Lim. I see you have both arrived. I will escort you to where our guests are waiting."
The news we had been waiting for had finally arrived.
The Tu Gate. The gathering of thieves.
For Ha Yeon-sojeo to become the head of the Tu Gate, the Gimun and Simun Hyangjus had arranged this meeting for us.
"With a pack of gentlemen scholars, I expected some secret conclave in an extraordinary place. But an ordinary teahouse?"
I'd imagined something mysterious — arriving at a covert location to find nothing but a black stone slab inscribed with SOUND ONLY, voices drifting out of it. Or since a plain slab would be too dull, perhaps the voice would be some gruff uncle's while the slab itself displayed a beautiful girl.
Well. So much for that fantasy.
"They must be trying not to show their faces at a time like this, where they can enjoy themselves."
Granted, a thief whose face is known has nowhere to go but the magistrate's office.
Following the woman from the Gimun, we moved through a building connected to the teahouse, careful to stay out of people's sight.
"From here on, this is the Women's Quarter, so we will move quietly."
"The Women's Quarter?"
It wasn't a convent — what did she mean, no men allowed? The question flashed through my mind, but it didn't take long to be answered.
"A man!"
A girl's ringing voice echoed through the halls.
"What?! You're saying it's a man?!"
"Who is it? Black hair, too. Wowww!"
"Why can't you keep your mouth shut, huh? Hey, hey! Come quick! Major incident! MAJOR incident!"
"How did a man even get in here? Could it be the new pipa instructor they mentioned?"
"The pipa instructor? Hah. The front row next week is mine. Don't even think about it."
"Says who? I'm going to sleep in the front row starting the day before."
"...It's the Gyobang, isn't it."
Lim Hayeon said to me with a faintly exasperated look, like a graduate returning to her old all-girls school.
"Haha."
So it was a school for training courtesans, was it.
In modern terms, it was a place that scouted idol-caliber talent and trained them until their official debut as courtesans — so yes, technically a no-men zone.
"Master Kang. There are girls here who aren't used to men, so in the Women's Quarter—"
"MEN! IT'S A MANNNN!"
"Who's the black-haired one?" "Who's the tall guy?" "Is it that person who's famous lately?" "Oh! That person? Who's that?" "The constable Kang, you know." "Master Kang? The famous constable?!"
The chaotic chatter around us turned the whole place into a din in an instant.
I felt like a male student teacher visiting an all-girls school. Not a bad feeling, actually.
"Why are you grinning like an idiot?"
Lim Hayeon puckered her lips and lightly pinched my uncontainable cheek with two fingers.
When else would I ever receive this much attention from such stunning courtesans-in-training?
When I still couldn't wipe the grin off my face, Ha Yeon-sojeo seemed to reach some decision and glued herself right to my side.
"Lady Ha Yeon?"
Why are you suddenly grabbing my hand?
"What's with her?"
"Looks like she's taken."
"Let's go. Don't look anywhere else — just walk looking at me."
Lim Hayeon clasped my hand as if she had no intention of letting go, and marched ahead with a flushed face. I didn't wait for an answer to anything, only watched her retreating figure as we left the Gyobang behind.
"Master Kang, my apologies, but we must keep you separate until the meeting concludes."
When we arrived at the promised location, a woman of the Gimun blocked my way.
"I have every qualification to attend as well."
Acting head of the Yichang branch, advisor to the Shadowless Divine Thief, lover of the current Shadowless Divine Thief, her ally, the son of the Gimun Hyangju's own disciple... well, I have quite a few titles, you know?
"Well, you see..."
"Is there a problem?"
Do I really have to recite every single one?
"If the people inside are thieves, they may be... upset by a constable's presence..."
"Ah."
That hadn't occurred to me.
"I'll go meet the Tu Gate people and come back. Wait for me."
"Let me come in with you, at least. How finicky."
"What thief on earth likes a constable? I'll be meeting with the Hyangjus and back soon, so wait here."
"I suppose I'll get something to eat. I hope you bring good news."
"I'll bring good news. So..."
Lim Hayeon glanced around, then carefully opened her mouth, her face flushing a little.
"Hmm?"
"D-don't call for a courtesan."
"As if I would. Go on, now."
As if I'd ever summon a courtesan. At her adorable worry, I gave her a reassuring smile and saw her off.
"Master Kang, have a drink."
"Maehyang, what are you doing, when the illustrious Constable Kang hasn't eaten yet? Here — say ahhh."
I found myself seated with a courtesan on either side of me.
"That's quite enough. I'm not in the mood for drinks today."
Not that I had ever asked to dine with courtesans flanking me, complaining about how one can't possibly eat alone.
They had merely come because it would be poor hospitality, they said, not to receive a guest of the Gimun.
"Our Constable Kang is so stiff."
"Maehyang, they say men this stiff by day get even stiffer at night."
"Really? Wow. Constable Kang, you're from Joseon, aren't you?"
Where exactly are you looking while swallowing that?
"If Maehyang's drinks don't suit you, how about mine?"
"Our Constable Kang is going to drink MY drink! Constable Kang, I'm sad. Boo hoo. Take a glass and pour one for me right back."
Coquettish words from both sides, fragrance wafting from their powder. They were utterly draining my soul from my body.
Why won't they leave even when I say I don't need anything? The Gimun Hyangju clearly knows I came here with Ha Yeon-sojeo.
Could this be some kind of test?
Can I resist the temptations of other courtesans and keep my eyes only on Ha Yeon-sojeo? Hah... where might she be watching from?
"Master Kang, why have you gone so quiet?"
Something soft pressed against my elbow. When I flinched, the courtesan gave a knowing, eye-smiling glance — clearly no accident — and pressed against me again.
Stay calm.
I came to this place with Ha Yeon-sojeo, who would one day become the finest courtesan in all of Hubei. Whatever beauties these women beside me were, they couldn't hold a candle to her.
"Constable Kang, your forearms look so sturdy."
A cowardly pincer attack. Why is she stroking my forearm?
Do not waver. I have Lady Jegal waiting for me to return safely home.
The two courtesans pressed against me all at once.
I must not crumble at a mere touch like this. I have Hwarin waiting in the Sichuan Tang Clan, and Sohee waiting for me in Salmak. And far away, the most beautiful woman in the martial world is my wi—
Somehow, the more I thought about it, the more like garbage I felt.
Enough. This is where I draw the line.
Just as I steeled myself to refuse once more, firmly, the door opened and a woman entered the room.
"Come morning, you'll be red courtesans, not pure ones."
The Gimun Hyangju looked at the two courtesans as if they were pitiable.
"Hyangju!"
"Weren't the two of you supposed to be off duty today?"
"W-well..."
The two courtesans avoided the Gimun Hyangju's gaze awkwardly. If you're off duty, why did you come here to entertain me?
"We have business to discuss. Out you go."
The Gimun Hyangju, apparently too impatient to even hear their excuses, issued her ultimatum.
"Yes! Maehyang, q-quickly!"
"Constable Kang, next time you visit, I'll run out on stockinged feet to greet you. This is a gift."
There won't be a next time, though. The courtesan fumbled around, handed me a small piece of cloth, and bolted from the room.
What is this? For a handkerchief, it's remarkably warm.
"How long do you intend to fiddle with a woman's undergarment?"
"What?!"
"Tsk. I'll have to retrain the pure courtesans from the ground up."
The Gimun Hyangju briefly pressed her hand to her forehead in apparent exasperation, then took the seat of honor.
"I trust you have been well."
Throwing away a gift from a woman is poor manners. I hid the gift in my breast and offered my bow in a single fluid motion.
"I'm quite well, so long as those gamblers aren't giving me headaches. You, on the other hand, have been setting all of Wuhan abuzz lately."
"Merely a little undeserved fame."
"The two names I hear most often these days, right here in this room, are yours and your lover's. Enough with the modesty — tell me about it. You solved a case no one else came close to cracking, I hear?"
Why did her gaze make me feel like a doting grandfather's proudest grandson?
"I simply did my utmost so that Lady Ha Yeon wouldn't be wrongly accused. I asked myself how I would act if I were the culprit."
I rattled off everything that had happened, like a grandson bragging to his grandmother about passing his examinations.
"Doing your utmost when your own lover is entangled... I wonder whom you take after."
Who was she picturing through my face? The Gimun Hyangju looked at me with an expression both bitter and proud.
"I intend to do my utmost to the very end."
When I declared this with resolve, she nodded and lit her long pipe.
"Some time ago, a man came from the Tu Gate."
"What came of it?"
"I played the innocent, but he seemed suspicious. We don't have much time left."
"If Ha Yeon-sojeo settles everything today, won't that be the end of it?"
If the Tu Gate people acknowledged Ha Yeon-sojeo as their Hyangju, everything would be over today.
"You think they'll so easily raise a girl they met for the first time today to be their head? The greedy ones won't acknowledge what isn't theirs — it does nothing but irritate me."
So that's why Ha Yeon-sojeo and the Simun Hyangju were nowhere to be seen. Did they slip out midway through the meeting?
The Gimun Hyangju furrowed her elegant brow and blew out a thick cloud of smoke, as if venting her lungs' frustration. Then she glanced around the room, as if searching for something.
What is she looking for? Oh. Ah.
"Here you are."
I swiftly emptied a dish in front of me and set it down before her as an ashtray.
"...I really mustn't let you loiter around the Gyobang."
The Gimun Hyangju chuckled at me and tapped the ash from her pipe.
"I didn't call for any courtesans, you know."
That's slander, that is.
"That is precisely why I worry."
"I beg your pardon?"
"These are girls you'd have to wait half a year for a reservation just to see one of. And both of them sat themselves down beside you of their own accord, on their day off. What do you think that makes me imagine?"
The Gimun Hyangju glared at me as if to say that if I weren't her disciple's son, she'd have whacked me with the pipe.
"Haha..."
"It's a problem too, with people chattering about the wit and polish you showed at that murder scene. Even the girls of the Gyobang know your name. I've already lost one girl fit to represent the Gimun — twice would be more than enough."
"I will bear that in mind."
For my part, I'm only interested in Ha Yeon-sojeo, within the Gimun or anywhere else.
"Just... don't say anything foolish..."
Her words were gruff, but her eyes betrayed an unmistakable affection for her disciple's son.
"Those blasted good-for-nothings!"
As the Gimun Hyangju and I chatted, the door burst open and the Simun Hyangju stormed in, huffing and puffing.
"Done talking with those gentlemen scholars?"
The Gimun Hyangju tapped the ash from her pipe and asked in a calm tone, as if to soothe his anger.
"Gentlemen scholars, gentlemen scholars — they actually think they ARE gentlemen! Listen to this! So get this!"
Things hadn't gone well, it seemed. And Lim Hayeon, who followed him in, didn't look particularly cheerful either.
"Were you drinking? Hm? What's that smell?"
Lim Hayeon settled naturally into the seat beside me and asked with a puzzled face.
"How could I drink, with such important news pending? How did it go? It doesn't look like it resolved well."
I can hardly tell her it's the perfume of the courtesans who were fawning all over me. Change the subject. Quickly.
"Well, the thing is..."
Lim Hayeon shifted her troubled gaze to the Simun Hyangju.
"My father's identity was confirmed, and his name is the most talked-about thief in nearly ten years!"
"You're saying they absolutely refuse to acknowledge Lady Ha Yeon as Hyangju of the Tu Gate?"
"It's not that."
Lim Hayeon shook her head in denial.
"That's right. They do acknowledge her qualification as Tu Gate Hyangju. But they say it's not enough. Instead of flashy empty fame, they want a genuine feat that earns true renown! Only then will they acknowledge her, they say."
"So they caught wind of our handiwork, did they."
The Gimun Hyangju gave a small nod.
Did the Tu Gate notice that the Gimun and Simun had deliberately spread word of the Shadowless Divine Thief? If so, their refusal to simply acknowledge her as Hyangju made sense.
"She's already a righteous thief, the Shadowless Divine Thief! What do they want, for her to rob the Wudang Sect or the Zhuge Clan? Where else would you find a thief who's set all of Wuhan buzzing like this in nearly ten years? What more of a feat could they possibly want?!"
"It isn't as though robbing the Wudang Sect and the Zhuge Clan is the only way to achieve greatness."
I ladled food out for Ha Yeon-sojeo, who must have been starving after all that long talk, and spoke with a casual smile.
"You look remarkably composed."
"I anticipated this."
The best possible outcome would have been Ha Yeon-sojeo's coronation as Tu Gate Hyangju today — but I was never the sort to hope for the ideal result while preparing nothing for what came after.
"Anticipated, you say?"
I nodded at the Gimun Hyangju's question. The current Shadowless Divine Thief was, in essence, a rising prodigy.
The kind of talent everyone praised as the future head of a sect, overflowing with genius — yet whom the elder ranks still found too green to actually entrust the sect to.
"They acknowledge her qualification, but say she's not yet enough. In the end, they mean this: if she achieves a feat no thief in all of Hubei has ever managed, they will gladly acknowledge her as Tu Gate Hyangju. Am I right?"
At long last, the finish line was visible in the distance.
If the Shadowless Divine Thief's activities until now had been about making her name known, now came the time of proof.
Her qualification and fame had been acknowledged; all that remained was to accomplish the feat that would set all of Hubei in motion.
"Do you have something in mind, then?"
I exchanged a long look with Lim Hayeon before nodding.
The secret plan that would make her the Shadowless Divine Thief — and the head of the Tu Gate.
"A strategy is already in place. In fact, I have already fastened the first button on her behalf."
It was time to take the first step toward the final finish line.
The Wuhan Daseogak.
"Of all days to oversleep, it had to be the day of the lottery results! H-hurry up and follow me!"
Even if your name was drawn, if you weren't present, the prize was forfeit. The Daseohoe member urged her friend along.
"Hah... hah... my legs are about to cramp!"
The two Daseohoe members and friends barely steadied their gasping breaths and gazed at the Daseogak visible in the distance.
"Don't give up! Think of how many Chivalric Mind Sets we've downed! You have to win that scroll of the Shadowless Divine Thief standing there so majestically in a tight-fitting outfit!"
"Right! The Shadowless Divine Thief's scroll awaits! Let's go!"
Pain is fleeting; scrolls are forever. At the very least, we're walking out of here with ten days of free admission to the Daseogak's second floor.
The two of them hurried toward the Daseogak.
"Why is there such a crowd?"
The moment the two Daseohoe members finally arrived, what they saw was the entrance packed so densely there wasn't a single spot to plant a foot.
"Must be everyone gathered for the lottery."
"But the drawing is announced on the second floor, not the first?"
As the Daseohoe member looked around, utterly bewildered, a familiar face caught her eye — another Daseohoe member.
"Good heavens, it can't be. Truly! Am I dreaming?"
"Hey there. What's going on here? Don't tell me that famous Hopil has made an appearance?"
"Ah, it's you! If that were it, I wouldn't be surprised at all. Look over there!"
What on earth could it be?
What news could make Daseohoe members and ordinary customers alike stand frozen in shock?
When the man turned his head, he, too, was forced to wear the same expression as everyone else on the first floor — at a piece of news beyond even his imagination.