The Ones Who Knew His Name
“…I believe the names were Ho Won-jik and Ju Yu-ryeon…”
“Hiiik?!”
Even the waiter seemed to sense the shift in the air. He shrank back as if struck. Yoo Eunhyeon, still trying to make sense of the sudden change, looked at him—and the young man began to tremble in earnest.
“Th-those guests left the inn about half a month ago.”
“Is that so?”
The situation had turned strange so abruptly that Eunhyeon hesitated to react too strongly. He meant to press the waiter further, but the chance never came.
Two of the ten martial artists watching him rose from their seats and approached at an unhurried pace.
“Young hero. Forgive the intrusion, but might we have a moment of your time?”
The man who spoke offered a formal fist-and-palm salute, perfectly polite. There was no open hostility in his bearing, yet his eyes moved over Eunhyeon with careful appraisal, the look of a man taking measure.
“What is this about?”
“Ah. I am Jang Mujang, a disciple of Hyeonyangmun under the Cheongseong Sect.”
“Master Jang, is it? Do you have business with me?”
Since the other man had chosen courtesy, Eunhyeon answered in kind—though wariness ran deep beneath the surface. Naming one’s sect and self was half an invitation, half a demand: I’ve shown you mine; now show me yours. Eunhyeon had no intention of accepting.
“Haha. If it would not be too bold, might I ask the young hero’s name?”
In the end Jang Mujang asked outright. Eunhyeon, still unsure what game was being played, had no wish to hand his name over so easily.
“I have no name worthy of being spoken before so renowned a master as yourself. Call me simply Master Yoo, if you must.”
“Master Yoo, then. We have a few questions for you. Rest assured—we will not take much of your time.”
Jang Mujang, it seemed, was no ordinary man either. He brushed past the false name as if it had never mattered and pressed on, the words carrying a quiet edge.
Oh? So we’re doing veiled threats now? I never even said I’d answer, and he’s already promising not to waste my time if I’m honest?
Eunhyeon’s caution had sharpened the other man’s tone as well, yet both of them kept smiling as they spoke.
“What exactly do you wish to ask?”
“Might I inquire whom you were looking for just now?”
“And why would you need to know that?”
Eunhyeon, fully aware of the meaning tucked beneath the question, kept his guard high. Jang Mujang only waved a hand and smiled as though nothing were amiss.
“Why, because we might be of help. The more people searching, the better the odds of finding someone—wouldn’t you agree?”
It was sound reasoning. It only made Eunhyeon more suspicious.
Was that first little speech just to test my reaction? Why are they handling this so carefully? Is it that important? What on earth did those two get up to while I was gone, to have people like this on their trail?
He sighed inwardly at the thought of Ju Yu-ryeon and Ho Won-jik. The only proper answer here was refusal.
“I appreciate the offer, but I can manage my own affairs. If you’ll excuse me.”
Whatever else was going on, he had confirmed the two of them were not here. There was no reason to linger. He shook his head and turned to leave—only for movement to ripple through the remaining men inside. Save for two who stayed seated, the rest rose.
Eunhyeon let out a soft breath and looked at Jang Mujang and the Hyeonyangmun disciples now ringing him in.
“Now, now. No need to refuse so firmly. Please—allow us to assist you.”
“Assist me how, exactly?”
Wariness had tipped over into open hostility. He fixed a hard stare on the man blocking his path. Jang Mujang’s smile never wavered.
“We already know the whereabouts of the two people you mentioned. Wouldn’t that save you a good deal of fruitless searching?”
The smile was still there, but Eunhyeon’s resistance had drawn a thin thread of antagonism into the other man’s face. One glance was enough to tell he had no intention of simply stepping aside.
Ugh. What a nuisance… Should I just break free and run?
They had him surrounded, more or less—but their martial skill did not look especially high. From Eunhyeon’s perspective the “encirclement” was little better than decoration.
At his current level, even the Cheongseong Sect itself would have been a serious concern; a mere subordinate school under them was not much of a threat.
If what he’s saying is true, this would be the easy way to find them… But whether it’s true or not, they clearly want something from me. That’s the one thing I’m sure of.
Simply going along was unappealing while their purpose remained so murky. He could not decide at once.
“What do you want me to do, then? If you’re going to tell me, tell me now. If not, don’t.”
“Haha. Now we’re starting to understand each other. The truth is, even if I wished to tell you this moment, I do not know myself. Instead, I propose we take you to someone who does.”
“And who is that?”
“You will learn that when we arrive.”
Reasonable enough—yet Eunhyeon frowned and heaved a long sigh. Every instinct told him that going would mean trouble. What had been only a vague suspicion hardened into certainty the moment he watched Jang Mujang bar the way: these people had known about him beforehand.
The way they had camped out in the very inn where he was staying, the way they reacted the instant he spoke Ju Yu-ryeon’s and Ho Won-jik’s names—everything pointed to one conclusion. The person they had been waiting for was Yoo Eunhyeon himself.
“So if I don’t go, I don’t get to know. In that case, I’m not going.”
Even he had no desire to be marched off by people who had been lying in wait. What bothered him most was their claim of belonging to a school under Cheongseong. That made them part of the righteous path—and not long ago he had come straight from the Demonic Cult. To say he felt no prick of unease would have been a lie.
“Young hero, why must you be like this? Mutual benefit is best for everyone, is it not? Come now, don’t be difficult.”
Jang Mujang’s empty smile returned as he stepped closer. There was not a shred of killing intent, yet Eunhyeon raised a hand in warning all the same.
“So you’ll drag me by force if you have to?”
“We are hardly a pack of common ruffians. Hearing you put it that way wounds us. For all our humble appearance, we belong to the Cheonmumaeng and take pride in upholding justice, righteousness, and chivalry.”
“That’s a strange thing to say while you’ve got a man surrounded.”
“Ah, but calling it a surrounding muddies our true intent, does it not? Think of us as standing guard—against any unforeseen mishap.”
Surrounding and escorting both involved people on every side; the difference lay only in whether the intent was to crush or to protect. Jang Mujang showed no sign of wanting to crush him, so the words were not entirely false.
“Hmm. We only wish to talk, yet our sincerity does not seem to be getting through. Very well. Would you wait here a short while? We will bring the people who ought to speak with you.”
The sudden shift made Eunhyeon narrow his eyes.
Why keep changing the approach? Wait… was stalling the point all along? Then these men are just the holding force, and whoever actually wants to see me has already been contacted and is on the way.
He thought of the two Hyeonyangmun disciples who had stayed seated when the rest moved to encircle him. If this was all about buying time, Jang Mujang’s behavior suddenly made sense. Eunhyeon finished the thought and, at last, nodded.
If they were coming anyway, he might as well meet them.
“In that case there’s no need for this many people, is there? I’ll wait inside the inn. Kindly send the rest away.”
Meeting them here rather than being taken to their ground lightened the burden considerably. And whether they called it a surrounding or an escort, clearing the men from around him would cut down the unknowns.
Unless he meant to slaughter every last one of them—which a man who was not an assassin simply would not do—a crowd of middling fighters was more troublesome than one or two true experts.
“As you wish.”
Jang Mujang, perhaps feeling he could refuse no further after Eunhyeon’s concession, withdrew the Hyeonyangmun disciples without protest. With that settled, Eunhyeon had no remaining grounds for argument and stepped back into the inn.
“One cup of tea, please.”
“Ah—yes, sir. What kind of tea would you like?”
The waiter looked thoroughly bewildered by Eunhyeon’s return, but a guest was a guest, and his voice stayed civil. Eunhyeon had been about to say anything would do when he paused.
“Do you have any flower tea?”
“F-flower tea, sir? One moment.”
There were people who enjoyed such things, so the waiter hurried off and soon returned with a cup. Eunhyeon took a sip and faintly furrowed his brow.
“I-is something the matter, sir?”
“No. It’s fine.”
Calling it flower tea was generous. It was barely more than hot water with a ghost of floral scent. Expecting the kind of brew Yeo Chang-dong used to serve him out here in the countryside would have been unreasonable.
Still, after all those cups with Yeo Chang-dong, his palate had grown accustomed enough that even this was better than plain water. He had drunk roughly half the cup of so-called flower tea when the inn door opened and two figures stepped inside.
So they really were stalling.
Barely the time it took to finish a single cup of tea—one short while—and they were already here. Eunhyeon’s expression turned complicated; he could not decide whether to be pleased his guess had been right or dismayed by it.
There was no time to dwell on such things. He set the thought aside and studied the pair who had entered.
One was a young man about Eunhyeon’s own age, dressed in bright pale-green robes. The other was a woman—an elderly nun, her face deeply lined, her head shaven, wearing monastic robes.
Cheongseong Sect… and Emei?
He identified them without much difficulty.
“You are Yoo Eunhyeon? I am Jang Deokhyeon, second great disciple of the Cheongseong Sect. A pleasure to meet you.”
The man who gave his name as Jang Deokhyeon wore an open, unclouded face—yet the content of his greeting was hardly appropriate for a first meeting with a stranger.
The way he spoke Eunhyeon’s name so boldly made one thing clear: they no longer felt any need to hide their knowledge. Eunhyeon returned the greeting with equal brevity.
“Yoo Eunhyeon.”