The Uninvited Heavenly Night Squad
Just like yesterday, five of them?
“The numbers are the same, but the lineup has changed.”
“Different?”
“Three of them are exactly the same. Only the last one has been swapped… I don’t know who. It’s someone I’ve never seen before.”
Yoo Eunhyeon’s mind turned over Ju Yu-ryeon’s words as he considered who might have been replaced. Seong Jung-hyeok and the woman he had sparred with were definitely still here; it had to mean one of Ji Hyeon-dong or Gong Yeo-ak was missing.
Was his hunch correct? Among the four with recognizable faces, three were the same people who had come yesterday, minus Ji Hyeon-dong.
“Odd that they would come during such a busy time.”
Seong Jung-hyeok spoke with a casual shrug, but Yoo Eunhyeon brushed the dirt from his clothes and replied.
“No. We only wanted to relax a little.”
“If you’re this relaxed, you must think even a spar like this is nothing special.”
Ju Yu-ryeon grinned, thinking the same thing herself.
The sight of him so relaxed was enough to make even Seong Jung-hyeok’s pride sting a little. But Yoo Eunhyeon shot Ju Yu-ryeon a warning glance and answered Seong Jung-hyeok politely.
“You know I’m magnanimous, right?”
“I suppose I do. Very well. If you’re this generous, it means we’re all set, correct?”
“Of course. We can begin whenever you wish.”
Yoo Eunhyeon nodded, and both groups separated onto the wide, untended meadow that had yet to be smoothed into a proper arena.
“The observer and witness for this spar will be Gong Yeo-ak.”
Gong Yeo-ak stood in the center, glancing once at each side before introducing himself. As a neutral official in the Murim world, it seemed he had taken the role because this matter required an impartial witness.
“Each side will send three fighters. The side that kills the other wins. The winner will accept the proposal presented by the loser. I have prepared the written conditions for both sides. Please review them and affix your seals if you agree.”
Yoo Eunhyeon examined the documents carefully, then handed them to Su Hwa-seon and Ju Yu-ryeon for verification.
They glanced over them in an instant and returned them to him. But he simply watched them. When Gong Yeo-ak saw this, he approached and asked.
“Is there something wrong with the wording?”
“The documents are fine. It’s just that they seem biased.”
“If there is a problem, please tell me. I will correct it.”
“It is biased toward one side.”
“What?”
Gong Yeo-ak looked puzzled, but Yoo Eunhyeon turned his gaze to Seong Jung-hyeok and continued.
“The fact that you, Master Gong, are serving as observer and witness has nothing to do with our agreement.”
Yoo Eunhyeon’s meaning was clear.
They still didn’t know exactly what their relationship with Gong Yeo-ak was. But recalling yesterday’s events, they could not completely rule out the possibility that he sided with the opposing group.
“I am a neutral official. I only follow principle and rule; I do not take sides with anyone.”
Seong Jung-hyeok frowned, as if his honor had been slighted, and spoke sharply. But Yoo Eunhyeon continued to shake his head.
“Considering what happened yesterday, one cannot simply trust you.”
“That was because of the documents….”
“Whenever a document favored the other side, you took their side. And the moment a document favored us, you claimed you had nothing to do with it. Is there any guarantee you will not do the same again if the other side wins this time?”
“That’s….”
Gong Yeo-ak opened his mouth to reply, then fell silent. He had nothing left to say, for Yoo Eunhyeon’s words were flawless.
“Then what do you want?”
Seong Jung-hyeok finally stepped forward.
At the natural tone of Seong Jung-hyeok’s words, Yoo Eunhyeon replied as though it were obvious.
“If the opposing side has invited a guarantor, shouldn’t we also invite one? That would be fair.”
“That doesn’t matter. But who….”
Before Seong Jung-hyeok could finish, his own group suddenly realized something and turned their heads toward the opposite side of the path they had come. At the same time, two figures stepped out from within the trees.
“Heh. On time, after all.”
“If I were late, it would be troublesome. That’s for sure.”
One of the two was a middle-aged man with a striking beard and a dazzling blue robe. The other was a bald middle-aged man whose clothes looked as though they had been torn and patched with holes, the very picture of a beggar.
At first glance, a Taoist priest and a beggar seemed like an ill-matched pair. Yet somehow, these two fit together perfectly.
“A Taoist priest and a beggar… Gu Pae Bang and Cheonmumaeng?”
Seong Jung-hyeok’s face, which had remained untouched and smooth until now, crumpled instantly as he gave them a hostile glare and voice.
“Oh? Forgot about me already? Seong Jung-hyeok? We’re getting old together, yet you still have such a poor memory?”
The bald beggar, his head gleaming in the bright sunlight, teased Seong Jung-hyeok while pretending to know him.
Seong Jung-hyeok stared at the beggar, then finally remembered and replied in kind.
“Yes. Hong Ju-goe. It’s been five years, hasn’t it? Your hair is all gone; I didn’t recognize you.”
“You? Your sneaky, backstabbing temper is still the same.”
“Eating at the Heavenly Martial Alliance’s table and now you’ve wandered all the way out to this backwater village?”
Seong Jung-hyeok and Hong Ju-goe exchanged words they were neither friends nor enemies, growling at each other.
Logically, they were never truly on good terms. Then the Taoist stepped forward beside Hong Ju-goe.
“Heh. Nice to meet you. Vice Leader Seong Jung-hyeok. My name is Yoo Yeop, a Taoist priest.”
Seong Jung-hyeok paused, bit his lip, and muttered to himself.
“Vice Commander of the Ji-odae…”
Even Ju Yu-ryeon, who had been standing beside Yoo Eunhyeon, looked surprised as she glanced at Su Hwa-seon.
Cheonmumaeng had five major divisions.
There was the Jeongeumdae, which had fought the Cheonhwang Paeundae, the Cheonyadae commanded by Son Jin-won, and the Ji-odae was one of them as well.
Su Hwa-seon had already suspected what they were planning, but she had never imagined that experts from Cheonmumaeng would suddenly appear right here.
“So you dragged outsiders into this? This is our fight—why involve outsiders?”
Seong Jung-hyeok turned on Su Hwa-seon with a look of disbelief, as if he had never expected this.
But since everything had already been discussed yesterday, Yoo Eunhyeon answered calmly.
“You were the ones who entered our house first. To us, you’re all the same outsiders. So we invited outsiders who would benefit us.”
“There are rules in the Murim. The side that takes the first move holds priority.”
“I’ll return that statement exactly as you gave it.”
Seong Jung-hyeok, apparently infuriated, invoked a principle unworthy of a demonic cultist. Yoo Eunhyeon smirked and replied in the same tone.
“Since the owner of this house has always been me, you were the ones who dragged me here.”
Finally, after taking a deep breath to calm himself, Seong Jung-hyeok spoke quietly once more.
“The way of the middle path—fighting directly while only watching from behind—is truly detestable.”
“The spar is what we’re doing; there’s no reason for you to complain. As I said earlier, we are here only as mediators.”
“……We’ll speak for a moment.”
Seong Jung-hyeok stepped back a pace after hearing Yoo Eunhyeon’s assurance that they would not be forced to fight.
Meanwhile, Yoo Yeop and Hong Ju-goe approached the group.
“Two of you. Thank you for your help. I am Yoo Eunhyeon.”
“Heh. Nice to meet you, Young Master Yoo. Actually, we received the favor. Had it not been for the easy contact we now have with your group… and because I wanted to meet you.”
“Eh? You know me?”
“I heard a little from Commander Son. Heh. We can discuss that matter after this is over….”
If they had heard about him from Son Jin-won, they would know him. Su Biwon’s relationship was unknown, but what they were about to discuss was not the time. Yoo Yeop turned to greet Su Hwa-seon and Ju Yu-ryeon together with Hong Ju-goe.
“We don’t have any special information that could help, because we only just arrived ourselves.”
“No. Thank you for cooperating with us. The demonic cultists are unpredictable; we can be your backup. And now that we have entered the forest to investigate, it’s a win-win. The fact that they came here in the first place is the biggest reason; even if I thought about it, there was nothing here they would want.”
“That’s what I wondered too. Rumors said they came looking for a gold vein… but if such a thing existed, we would have known. We only happened to run into people investigating the area after hearing that the Heokryeon Sanghoe was keeping a close eye on the matter.”
“Mm. Good work. Especially the Chukhobang and Heokryeon Sanghoe do not move without the Demonic Cult’s orders. There must be something here that they want.”
Hong Ju-goe nodded thoughtfully, and the gleam in his bald head brightened further.
“A Demonic Cultist’s desire… I feel as though I’ve seen something similar before.”
“We have conditions too!”
Seong Jung-hyeok stepped forward again, as if the matter had been settled.
Since two of them were acting as mediators, Yoo Eunhyeon also stepped forward.
“Please speak.”
“If you are willing to admit that the warriors of Cheonmumaeng are merely mediators, we will accept it. But we cannot permit you to watch this spar.”
“Why?”
“We know you are our enemies. So we must demonstrate our skills during the spar, and of course we cannot do that.”
Seong Jung-hyeok’s words made sense, so Yoo Eunhyeon thought for a moment.
Of course, if he were to fight, but from Seong Jung-hyeok’s perspective, showing one’s martial arts openly to Yoo Yeop and Hong Ju-goe—whose identities were unknown and when they might strike—was unthinkable.
“Then what do you propose? Are you seriously telling us to leave now?”
“If you leave gracefully, you wouldn’t be beggars. Swear that you will not interfere in this spar and will accept the result.”
“As long as your demonic cultists don’t pull any sneaky tricks, we have no intention of interfering. And we are Murim people; we do not overturn a result decided by a spar.”
Hong Ju-goe nodded as though it were only natural.
Seong Jung-hyeok turned to Yoo Eunhyeon.
“If you refuse external intervention or the result of this spar, then no matter what happens afterward, we will accept it.”
“Very well.”
Seong Jung-hyeok turned back to Hong Ju-goe and Yoo Yeop.
“We will not show our martial arts directly. Observe us using your inner energy from somewhere unseen.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
Hong Ju-goe shouted immediately, glaring fiercely. But surprisingly, Yoo Yeop stopped him.
“That’s fine. However, if something unexpected happens, we will watch from a place that completely blocks our view so we can intervene instantly. Will that work?”
Seong Jung-hyeok glanced at his own group and nodded.
“Very well.”
Before Seong Jung-hyeok could even finish, he turned and returned to his group. Hong Ju-goe and Yoo Yeop approached the Yoo Eunhyeon group.
“The situation has become difficult. We are sorry we cannot provide greater help.”
“No. Just your presence here has been a huge help. It’s more than enough.”
Su Hwa-seon smiled as though she already knew, and expressed her gratitude. Both Yoo Yeop and Hong Ju-goe smiled back without saying anything further.
Yoo Eunhyeon also bowed his head to the two of them in thanks.
“Two of you. Thank you for your help.”
“No need to thank us. We were just staying nearby. Until next time.”
Yoo Yeop and Hong Ju-goe accepted the thanks and, after accepting Seong Jung-hyeok’s proposal, vanished into the forest with their lightness skills.
Though they had not shown themselves, their auras were so strong they might as well have been visible. Watching the spar was all they could do.
With the situation settled, Yoo Eunhyeon handed the signed document to Gong Yeo-ak, the on-site mediator, then approached Su Hwa-seon and Ju Yu-ryeon.
“It worked out as planned?”
“Not exactly what we hoped, but this is enough. We made a verbal agreement, yet above us are experts from the Heavenly Martial Alliance who are far more dangerous. They will inevitably hold back, so they cannot use their full strength. In that case, it works to our advantage. Besides, now that we have someone to resolve any troublesome incidents during or after the spar, there will be no backlash.”
Ju Yu-ryeon nodded in agreement, but doubt crept into her voice.
“Honestly, I thought the moment the Heavenly Martial Alliance experts appeared, we’d abandon the spar.”
“Mm. Actually, I was hoping for that… but it seems the stakes here are even more precious than I thought.”
Su Hwa-seon glanced toward Seong Jung-hyeok’s group.
“The vice leader of the Chukhobang seems to want to fight after all. Is there someone even higher?”
“Who knows. But since we’ve agreed to the spar, let’s just win.”
Yoo Eunhyeon nodded lightly at Su Hwa-seon’s words, then turned to Seong Jung-hyeok and spoke.
“The opponent you choose to fight is up to you. Order is irrelevant, right?”
“Of course. I’ve already decided who we will face. Now, who shall go first?”
With that, the air itself seemed to hold its breath, and tension settled between the two groups.
The spar was about to begin in earnest.