Chapter 94
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: An Old Friend
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Just as Yeom Sa-in was grumbling to himself.
“Master.”
Startled by the voice that suddenly came from his side, Yeom Sa-in turned his head. Standing beside him, a faint smile on his lips, was an old man of a similar age. He had no idea how long he'd been there.
“When did you get here?”
Jang Sam smiled and replied to Yeom Sa-in's question.
“A while ago.”
A look of bewilderment crossed Yeom Sa-in's face.
That meant he had been watching him mutter to himself. He had been so engrossed in the Go board that he hadn't even noticed someone approaching.
Jang Sam grinned at Yeom Sa-in, who let out a dry cough.
“I've taken care of everything you instructed.”
“You secured their promise, I trust?”
“Yes, for the next month, all escort agency carriages will fly the same marked flag for the duration of their journeys.”
“Good work.”
Yeom Sa-in nodded, his face content.
As the steward who managed the manor's household and all its business affairs, Jang Sam's work was always as meticulous as it was now. Then, feeling something was amiss, Yeom Sa-in looked up at him.
“Is there something else?”
Jang Sam, who had been gazing at the Go board, nodded.
“If you place your stone there, the upper left side will be in danger.”
“...!”
“If it were him, he would respond like this.”
Jang Sam picked up a black stone and placed it on the board.
*Clack.*
As the stone clicked into place, Yeom Sa-in's face crumpled.
“You should have just fought boldly in the center. Then it wouldn't have collapsed so meaninglessly.”
“...”
“You're not sulking, are you?”
“I'm not sulking.”
“How is it that your Go skills never seem to improve?”
“Now I'm sulking!”
Jang Sam chuckled softly at the sight of Yeom Sa-in turning away in a huff.
“That's why you lose every time.”
“What?”
“Weren't you the one who said a rolling stone gathers no moss? Humbly accepting the advice of others to strive for constant improvement...”
“I said it, so of course I remember.”
Yeom Sa-in said, as if this one point had to be made clear.
“And besides, I'm letting him win.”
Jang Sam smiled and nodded, as if to say, "Of course you are."
“Yes, yes. I know.”
Yeom Sa-in flared up at his reaction.
“Don't you have work to do? Is it alright for the steward to be this idle?”
“Well, some people spend all day with a Go board.”
When Yeom Sa-in glared, Jang Sam feigned being burned and quickly changed the subject.
“You'll definitely win next time.”
“I should.”
Yeom Sa-in let out a quiet sigh.
“If we ever meet again, that is...”
* * *
That evening.
A lone figure entered the village outskirts, the burning sunset at his back.
It was Cho Ak-ryang.
With eyes full of emotion, Cho Ak-ryang surveyed the village, which had changed remarkably.
“It's become quite a lively place.”
The sight of the village erasing its desolate past with each passing year was a welcome and joyous one.
A small village of just over fifty households.
Between the long poles lined up at every house, colorful fabrics fluttered, creating a picturesque scene.
After surveying the village with a pleased expression, Cho Ak-ryang began walking toward the manor on the hill.
Perhaps it was because he was treading his homeland's soil for the first time in a long while.
A playful look on his face, Cho Ak-ryang leaped over the manor wall. It was then that he spotted an old man in a distant pavilion, completely absorbed in a game of Go by himself.
Concealing his presence, Cho Ak-ryang approached quietly and spoke abruptly.
“If it were me, I wouldn't play there.”
“...!”
*Thud.*
Startled, Yeom Sa-in dropped the Go stone he was holding.
The black stone rolled across the board and came to rest in a peculiar spot.
It was the one move that could open a path to life for the endangered upper left side.
Cho Ak-ryang smiled and spoke.
"Seeing you reminds me of that saying. 'A bad move after long thought.' It's better to just drop it like that. Much better."
Yeom Sa-in whipped his head around and glared at Cho Ak-ryang.
For a moment.
He suddenly bellowed.
“Steward Jang!”
A moment later.
Jang Sam, rushing over, was stunned to see Cho Ak-ryang. But soon, a pleased smile spread across his face as he bowed respectfully.
Cho Ak-ryang returned the bow.
Yeom Sa-in, on the other hand, shouted at Jang Sam in a booming voice.
“Is this thing standing before me a ghost? Or a man?”
“Isn't it a bit too early for ghosts to be wandering about?”
“Oh? So he's a man, you say?”
“Just as you see him, Master.”
“Then go and slap him across the face!”
Jang Sam gave him a look of disbelief.
“If I did that, I'd become a real ghost.”
“It's fine! With the sins he's committed, he wouldn't dare do anything.”
As this wasn't the first time he'd witnessed such a pointless display of ill-temper, Jang Sam shook his head with a practiced air.
“I will have the manor gates closed early today.”
After giving Cho Ak-ryang another nod, Jang Sam withdrew.
Only then could Cho Ak-ryang finally face his old friend.
The face of his friend, aged as if he had shouldered the years alone.
The sight of him, having clearly endured many hardships, brought a sense of sorrow and pity.
“What are you staring at? It's not like I have a pretty face.”
Cho Ak-ryang smiled slightly at Yeom Sa-in's jab. At least his brusque way of speaking hadn't changed.
“You're looking quite well. It's like you're the only one who's escaped the passage of time.”
Yeom Sa-in's eyes narrowed as he stared at Cho Ak-ryang.
“Share the wealth. What's your secret?”
“Why? Finally feel like learning martial arts?”
Yeom Sa-in scowled deeply.
“At my age? No thanks.”
With a small laugh, Cho Ak-ryang walked around the Go board and sat on a cushion that had been prepared in advance.
Sitting across from each other with the Go board between them, the two men naturally cleared the board and divided the stones.
For a moment, they rattled the stones in their hands.
*Clack.*
Cho Ak-ryang placed a black stone in the very center of the board, on the Tengen point, the central of the nine star points.
In response, Yeom Sa-in immediately claimed the star point in the upper left with a white stone, as if he had been waiting.
Cho Ak-ryang smiled faintly.
No matter how many years passed, their styles of playing Go, much like their personalities, remained unchanged.
Cho Ak-ryang nodded and was about to place his next stone.
“I believed you were alive.”
Yeom Sa-in spoke abruptly. Cho Ak-ryang let out a dry laugh and looked at him.
“For someone who believed, you sure sent out a lot of flags.”
“...”
“Every escort convoy I passed on my way here was flying a Wish-to-Meet Flag, without exception.”
It was a special type of flag they had agreed upon long ago, used literally when one wished for a meeting.
He could only imagine how much money had been spent on the escort agencies.
“You must have made some money.”
“A lot.”
Yeom Sa-in answered confidently, gazing steadily at Cho Ak-ryang.
“More importantly, how did you get tangled up with those vipers?”
“Vipers? Who?”
When Cho Ak-ryang tilted his head in confusion, Yeom Sa-in sighed softly.
“I'm talking about those madmen holed up in the Tang Family's bastion. I heard you took the head of their leader.”
He was referring to the head of the Sichuan Tang Family.
“Ah, the Thousand-Hand Shadow Emperor?”
Though he had nearly died, Cho Ak-ryang, the one involved, was unconcerned.
“It wasn't a fight I started. They were the ones who charged in, not valuing their own lives.”
“The entire Chengdu area was in an uproar because of it.”
Cho Ak-ryang scoffed.
The Tang Family had reigned as the hegemon of Sichuan for ages, alongside the Qingcheng Sect, but his attitude suggested he didn't give them a second thought.
Watching his friend, Yeom Sa-in's eyes were filled with an indelible worry.
“Sometimes, I think...”
“...?”
“...that this place, Sichuan, is trying to push you away.”
Cho Ak-ryang nodded silently.
After all, it was here in Sichuan that he first earned the ominous title of Blood Hand Honored One. And that was the reason he had left his homeland to wander the Central Plains.
But Cho Ak-ryang didn't care much.
In the end, it was just one more insignificant, ill-fated connection.
“Don't worry about it. It's not much different anywhere else.”
Nowhere had ever welcomed him.
The only place that did was here.
*'No, perhaps there's one more now?'*
Thinking of Dan Ak-seon, Cho Ak-ryang smiled faintly.
Unlike before, he now had a place to return to.
A short while later, Jang Sam returned to the pavilion with servants in tow. Their hands were full of refreshments and wine.
“You'll be resting here for a few days, won't you?”
Cho Ak-ryang nodded at Jang Sam's question.
“That's the plan.”
“Please, make yourself comfortable. Oh, and! You'll have to drink alone.”
Seeing Cho Ak-ryang's puzzled expression, Jang Sam shot a wry smile toward Yeom Sa-in.
“The master has been drinking quite a lot. So much that I was worried something terrible would happen.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Do you know what a fuss he made, saying his only friend had met a violent end and that he had to find the body himself? It was like a house in mourning. The rumors in the martial world were that grim.”
Listening, Yeom Sa-in frowned.
“Stop acting so familiar and leave. Anyone would think you're his friend, not mine!”
Jang Sam was unfazed by Yeom Sa-in's rebuke.
“It's a good thing I was here. If I hadn't desperately tried to stop him, there would have been a real funeral. He would have died from crying his eyes out, or from drowning in alcohol...”
“Ah, just go! You're a good man, but you talk too much.”
Smiling faintly, Jang Sam withdrew with the servants.
Once they were alone, Cho Ak-ryang asked with a chuckle.
“I thought you said you believed I was alive?”
Yeom Sa-in flinched before nodding.
“I did.”
“Then why were you looking for my body?”
“Because I felt I had to.”
Yeom Sa-in's expression clouded over.
“The things I desperately wish for always turn out the opposite, don't they?”
Hearing this, Cho Ak-ryang silently raised his cup to his lips.
* * *
The next morning.
Holed up in his workshop on one side of the manor, Yeom Sa-in clicked his tongue and stood up.
The pattern he was imprinting on the fabric wasn't turning out as well as usual. Perhaps because of Cho Ak-ryang's long-awaited visit, he just couldn't focus on his work.
He stared blankly at the fabric before him, the scattered beeswax and white wax, and the jars filled with dyes of every color. After a moment, he abandoned the mountain of work and turned away without a second thought.
Just as he was leaving the workshop.
“Where are you going?”
“Tch.”
Hearing Jang Sam's voice from out of nowhere, Yeom Sa-in clicked his tongue with a displeased look.
He had run into the most troublesome person of all.
“Are you spying on me?”
“Me?”
Jang Sam asked back, a look of bewilderment on his face.
“Do I look like I have enough free time to spy on you, Master?”
Yeom Sa-in frowned.
It was because Jang Sam was clutching a huge pile of documents.
Jang Sam glanced toward the workshop and sighed.
“The deadline is in ten days.”
“I know.”
“For someone who knows...”
Before a lecture could begin, Yeom Sa-in struck first.
“I'm just going to catch a carp, then I'll get back to work. You know how that Cho fellow loves his carp dishes. He'd jump out of bed for one.”
“If it's about that, I've already caught one. I just handed it over to the chef.”
“What?”
Flustered, Yeom Sa-in hastily came up with another excuse.
“Then I'll have to go pick some Sichuan pepper leaves. As you know, for steamed carp...”
“I've already procured those as well.”
“...”
Jang Sam smiled faintly and spoke.
“Why don't you just get back to work.”