The First Daughter of Uiseon Suga
“Welco—huh? Outer Chief Yeo?!”
A man in a neat, well-kept uniform had been working an abacus at the table by the entrance. The moment he saw Yeo U-hui, he shot to his feet.
“Vice Pavilion Master Gong Si-hak. It’s been a while.”
“I thought it would still take you at least another half-month to arrive.”
The man called Gong Si-hak looked older than Yoo Eunhyeon. The scrupulous respect he showed Yeo U-hui, however, made it plain that she outranked him in both station and years.
“It’s been about fifty days since we received word that you had set out. I assumed you’d take the usual sixty or so and hadn’t prepared for an earlier arrival…”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. We did come in a hurry, but it isn’t anything truly dangerous. Where is Pavilion Master Chae? Is she in?”
“She’s out on a procurement run. She should be back soon.”
Gong Si-hak’s expression turned faintly awkward. Yeo U-hui’s eyes narrowed a fraction, as if the news surprised her as well.
“Pavilion Master Chae went on a procurement run herself? Why?”
At an inn that provided room and board, nothing mattered more than the quality of the beds and the food. Reputation rode on both, so the work was important—but still not something the pavilion master who oversaw day-to-day operations normally handled herself.
Yeo U-hui had already guessed something must have gone wrong and was about to press him further when a presence stirred behind Yoo Eunhyeon.
“Guest? You’ll have to move; you’re blocking the entrance.”
The voice was a woman’s—soft, polite—yet a thread of irritation ran through it. Yoo Eunhyeon hurriedly stepped aside.
The woman brushed past him and entered. She had a mild, gentle face and a somewhat full figure, yet her sheer bulk lent her a strange air of authority.
“Speak of the tiger and it appears, they say. Pavilion Master Chae. Don’t tell me you heard us talking and came running?”
“Hm? Outer Chief Yeo? Well now… this is an unexpected guest.”
Chae Eun-seol, mistress of Uiryungak, stared at Yeo U-hui in open surprise. Her gaze flicked once toward Yoo Eunhyeon, and she tilted her head.
“And who’s this?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Then we shouldn’t stand around here. Come inside. Vice Pavilion Master Gong, you too.”
“Ah—yes. Please go on up. I’ll have the staff prepare tea and some light refreshments.”
“You heard him. Follow me, Outer Chief.”
Chae Eun-seol took the lead, gesturing for Yeo U-hui and Yoo Eunhyeon to follow. The three of them climbed toward the uppermost floor of Uiryungak.
“Sit. Vice Pavilion Master Gong will be along shortly.”
“It’s been ages since I was last here. Nothing’s changed at all.”
Yeo U-hui dropped into a plush chair in the pavilion master’s office as though she owned the place and looked around.
“It’s a workroom. What exactly would change? As long as I’ve got what I need to do the job, it’s fine.”
“You’re still the same. I keep telling you to drop the titles, yet you still call me Outer Chief. We grew up together, you know.”
“Even so, this is an organization. Titles matter. And have I ever treated our Outer Chief so stiffly?”
“You never quite cross that last line, so it still feels like there’s a wall.”
“When I retire I’ll call you whatever you want. But… let me ask again. Who is the boy?”
While the two women talked, Yoo Eunhyeon had opened the small window and was looking down at the city. He was used to sheer cliffs and towering peaks after a lifetime on the mountain, yet a vista of so many rooftops was entirely new to him.
Chae Eun-seol’s curiosity about him was only natural. Yeo U-hui preferred to travel alone; she was not the sort who brought people along.
“Pardon the interruption.”
Before Yeo U-hui could answer, Gong Si-hak entered carrying tea and simple sweets.
He caught the look that said she had been about to speak and stopped, and a faint smile touched his lips.
“Shall I step out for a moment?”
“No need. Both of you are free to hear this. Nephew—you may already have guessed—Uiryungak is run by our Uiseon Suga.”
Yeo U-hui first explained the situation to Yoo Eunhyeon, who had been completely in the dark. Only then did he understand why she had brought him here.
He had no idea what the rates at Uiryungak were, but if the place belonged to Uiseon Suga, they could almost certainly stay free of charge depending on the mission, or at the very least at a steep discount. And with both the owner and the steward on their side, safety was not a concern.
“Hmm…”
Yoo Eunhyeon nodded. Gong Si-hak and Chae Eun-seol simply stared at him.
No one matching his description existed in their intelligence networks. In particular, anyone Yeo U-hui would call “nephew” should already have been known to Chae Eun-seol, who was of the same generation; the discovery left her thoroughly off-balance.
Chae Eun-seol fixed Yeo U-hui with an expectant look. Yeo U-hui waved a hand.
“All right, all right. You don’t have to glare like that; I’ll tell you who he is. Nephew, care to introduce yourself?”
“I’m Yoo Eunhyeon. A pleasure to meet you.”
Knowing these people stood on the same side as Su Hwa-seon and Yeo U-hui, Yoo Eunhyeon offered a smile of genuine warmth. Yeo U-hui immediately added the crucial detail.
“He’s Hwa-seon’s son.”
Even after the explanation, confusion lingered on both faces. More accurately, they seemed unable to accept the reality of it.
Chae Eun-seol recovered first.
“Hwa-seon…? Su Hwa-seon?! You mean the young lady?”
“What? That Hwa-seon? The young lady who left the family twenty years ago?”
“What other Hwa-seon would it be? Why ask when you already know?”
Chae Eun-seol’s tone remained relatively calm, but Gong Si-hak was so startled he dropped the teacup in his hand. Fortunately it was empty; he snatched it upright on pure reflex, realized nothing had spilled, and let out a breath of relief.
Chae Eun-seol never even glanced at him. She simply studied Yoo Eunhyeon, then nodded lightly as though she had found what she was looking for.
“I see it now… echoes of Hwa-seon as a child. She left the family and retired when she married, so of course she might have a son. Nothing strange about that.”
“You’re right, Pavilion Master. And come to think of it, didn’t the young lady return to the family estate only recently?”
Gong Si-hak smacked a fist into his palm as the memory surfaced. When Chae Eun-seol nodded, Yeo U-hui added,
“I went to deliver a letter to my nephew here at Hwa-seon’s request and ran into him. I had other business as well, so I killed two birds with one stone…”
Of the four people in the room, the most shocked was the one who had said nothing at all—Yoo Eunhyeon. He had assumed Yeo U-hui was simply an old friend of his mother’s. Now, suddenly, “young lady”?
“Auntie… what is this…?”
He looked at Yeo U-hui, utterly lost. She curved her lips in a small smile.
“Your mother is currently the first daughter of the family head of Uiseon Suga.”
“Sh-she is?”
From the way Yeo U-hui spoke, it was clear the truth had been deliberately kept from him. Yet with the secret already out, there was little he could say. Chae Eun-seol took a sip of half-cold tea.
“Well then, that certainly qualifies him to stay here. We’ll take good care of you, Young Master Yoo Eunhyeon. I’m Chae Eun-seol—Pavilion Master of Uiryungak, for whatever that’s worth.”
“Gong Si-hak. A pleasure, Young Master Yoo.”
Curiosity satisfied, both of them welcomed him in far more relaxed tones. Yoo Eunhyeon bowed his head once more in greeting.
“So will you tell us the full story? Why our Outer Chief arrived in such a rush?”
“Haa… don’t remind me. This mission was supposed to be light work. I planned to take my time and sightsee along the way. How it turned into this, I have no idea.”
Yeo U-hui heaved a deep, weary sigh and began explaining how she had ended up bringing Yoo Eunhyeon all the way here.
“What? The Twin Sword Immortals and the Thousand-Year Heavenly Demon? Why on earth would those two…?”
“That’s exactly what I want to know. It’s driving me insane. And it’s not as if I can expect anything useful from a nephew who’s just an ordinary farmer.”
With the person at the center of the matter sitting right there, extracting information should not have been difficult. The problem was that Yoo Eunhyeon was no martial artist—just a farmer who knew nothing—so the whole affair remained a tangled mystery.
“Predicting those two’s movements is impossible to begin with. Both the Demonic Cult and the Heavenly Martial Alliance will be busy falsifying information.”
Gong Si-hak shrugged, then turned to Yoo Eunhyeon again.
“That aside—meeting both the Twin Sword Immortals and the Thousand-Year Heavenly Demon… there can’t be many people in the entire Murim who can claim that. What was it like, Young Master Yoo? Your impression of the two of them?”
“Uh… I met them without knowing any of that. At first I wondered if they might be ghosts or immortals.”
“Haha. Given their level of mastery, it’s natural they wouldn’t feel human. You’re lucky you came through unharmed. Even if you did something for them, those two could raze the Murim with a flick of a finger.”
“Technically, the thing that got razed was my field…”
The memory of his ruined crops dragged his spirits down again, and Yoo Eunhyeon hung his head. Yeo U-hui shot Gong Si-hak a sharp look.
“Vice Pavilion Master Gong. Are you trying to make my nephew cry on purpose? Anyway… that’s why we got out fast. After the losses Cheonhwang Paeundae and Jeongeumdae took, there’s no chance the Heavenly Martial Alliance and the Demonic Cult will simply sit still.”
“A wise decision. As expected of Outer Chief Yeo. Looking only at the results… haa. So that’s why the Heavenly Martial Alliance and the Demonic Cult have been so restless lately.”
“You said you went to buy supplies yourself. Has any of this affected us? We stuck to remote roads the whole way because of possible pursuit, so we have no idea what’s been happening.”
“No. I only went in person because I’d heard rumors of movement. Supply and prices are the same as always. Still… the movement itself seems real. People who look like they belong to the Demonic Cult or the Heavenly Martial Alliance have started showing up in the area.”
“Oh? Identified?”
“Not yet. I was going to investigate, but now that I know the reason there’s no need. If I poke around I might get reverse-tracked, so better to stay quiet.”
“Mm… local affairs are your responsibility, Eun-seol, so I won’t second-guess your call… but are you certain?”
Yeo U-hui agreed with Chae Eun-seol’s judgment yet still felt compelled to double-check. Chae Eun-seol answered without hesitation.
“You said there was no sign of pursuit, right? As long as we keep our heads down, they have no reason to come looking for us first. Preparing to respond if they start moving is enough. Besides, Young Master Yoo’s situation is known only to us—we actually hold the advantage in information.”
“That’s exactly what bothers me. My nephew wasn’t their target to begin with, so why are they moving at all?”
“It could be pure posturing… or they might have some other goal entirely. How are we supposed to guess what the Twin Sword Immortals and the Thousand-Year Heavenly Demon are thinking? Start worrying and there’s no end to it.”
“Hoo. You’re right. Fine. Let’s wash up and rest. I’m exhausted.”
Chae Eun-seol’s insistence that endless fretting was pointless finally drew a nod from the habitually cautious Yeo U-hui.
“Vice Pavilion Master Gong, handle the rest. I need to process the information we just received and today’s procurement.”
“Yes. Once you’re finished, leave the cleanup to me. This way, both of you.”
Chae Eun-seol moved straight to her desk and began working. Yoo Eunhyeon and Yeo U-hui left the room and followed Gong Si-hak down the corridor.