Chapter 4
My words twisted Jin Myeong-o’s expression. At the same time, the rest of the Baek family wore looks of bewilderment as well.
For a brief moment there was silence, and then Jin Myeong-o’s face flushed red as he bellowed, “Baek Gaju! That boy is not your son! How can you utter such nonsense!?”
“…….”
“Because we’re on the same side of the righteous faction, I even split the payment into installments for you. And I even showed some leniency when the due date passed, but is this really the treatment I get in return?”
Father, too, looked baffled at the fact that I was standing there at all, much less at the situation itself, and he glared at me in confusion.
“Calm yourself first, Jin Gaju. I will deal with the money matter as quickly as possible. Just wait a little longer.”
“As I said before, our trust has already broken down! Look at that son of yours. Our Jin family can no longer trust the Baek family.”
“If you can’t trust us, then what will you do?”
I cut off Jin Myeong-o as he shouted in agitation. From the look of things, it seemed like he planned to keep this up all day.
He was trying to pressure the Baek family by using words like trust and righteousness, words that could become weaknesses for a righteous sect, so that he could strip away our martial arts.
“Baek Mugeuk! Don’t you dare interrupt adults while they’re talking. This is between clan heads, clan head to clan head!”
“I don’t think that’s possible. I’m part of the clan too.”
“How insolent!”
Bang!
Jin Myeong-o could no longer hold back his rage and slammed the table hard. At the same time, the table split cleanly in two and collapsed.
He glared at me as if he wanted to tear me apart with his bare hands, murderous intent pouring off him. The atmosphere was such that he might strike at any moment, and yet I felt no particular tension. To me, it was nothing more than empty bluster.
The hostility was a little sharp, sure, but so what?
Young righteous snobs my age might have been scared of it, but I had lived through hundreds, even thousands of deaths.
I could tell, even with my eyes closed, whether a threat contained any real killing intent or was just a pathetic bluff.
I calmly held his gaze for a moment longer, and Jin Myeong-o’s expression subtly warped.
As though this was not how he had expected things to go.
Then, as if I’d been waiting for the chance, I smiled faintly at him.
“Insolent? That’s strange. A clan of the righteous faction demanding another clan’s martial arts in place of money seems a lot less reasonable to me.”
“You say I want your martial arts? Ridiculous. It’s only because your family can’t repay the money that I’m taking martial arts instead.”
“That’s exactly why I’m saying your logic isn’t very righteous. If this were the unorthodox way, I’d understand.”
At the words not righteous, Jin Myeong-o flinched.
It was only the slightest opening, but I didn’t miss it.
Hm?
As I marked that in my mind, his aura rose even rougher than before.
“Then repay it. Sell the family if you must, and pay in money like that brat said!”
After spitting those words out, Jin Myeong-o looked at me with a smug, triumphant expression. He would be certain of it now: the Baek family would eventually give up its martial arts, and everything I was doing here was merely a child’s tantrum.
“I’ll pay the debt.”
“Ho. I had no idea the Baek family had the means to pay this money back. Then hurry up and hand it over!”
Jin Myeong-o extended a hand toward me. I looked at him and smiled faintly.
“Give me a month.”
“Heh heh heh. So this is stalling for time after all? You’re already behind on the money you were supposed to pay this month. And now you want a month?”
“As you said, I’ll even sell the family if I have to and pay it back.”
At my words, Jin Myeong-o turned away with a thin, oily smile. His gaze shifted to my father, Baek Mu.
“Baek Gaju! Your son says this himself, so I may take it as the will of the Baek family, may I not?”
“…….”
Father could not say a single word to Jin Myeong-o. This moment had to be his to choose, and his alone. He had to understand that there was no difference between a clan without martial arts and a clan without a family name.
In my previous life, the matter of money had eventually been settled by handing over the Baek Family Seven Swords to the Jin Sword Sect. But it could not end that way this time. Protecting the Baek family was the first thread I had to hold onto if I wanted to defeat Tiger Mask.
“The Baek family…….”
Because his choice carried the fate of the clan, Father could not answer easily. But after a while, the words finally escaped him with visible effort.
“As Baek Mugeuk said, we will repay the full amount.”
“And is that truly the Baek family’s intention?”
“It is.”
Hearing Father’s answer, Jin Myeong-o gave a glance to his chief steward. The steward stood up, and together with Jin Myeong-o, he left the clan head’s hall.
As Jin Myeong-o stepped out the door, he turned his head back to look at me. He had that same sneer on his lips, as though he had never been agitated in the first place.
“It’s no small sum, so you’d better prepare it quickly.”
“Is it because you’re getting older? You seem to worry far too much.”
“……You absolutely must repay the principal. If you can’t, I don’t know what will happen to you, Baek Mugeuk.”
With a frown, Jin Myeong-o turned away. In our exchange, he had seemed furious, but in truth, he must have been quietly celebrating inside at my declaration that I would repay the debt. The principal due was an amount impossible to pay back in the short term, and if we failed, he would have a perfectly reasonable pretext for taking the Baek family’s martial arts.
“Ah, right. I met your son at the inn earlier. What was his name again…? Right! Jin Yangbaek! Quite the temper on that one. I only gave him a polite greeting.”
Jin Myeong-o shot me a sideways look, then slammed the door shut behind him. His footsteps gradually faded away.
Silence settled over the clan head’s hall once more. No one could bring themselves to speak easily. Father only let out a heavy sigh, and Baek Cheonhwang was glaring at me with a sharp look.
But I ignored Baek Cheonhwang’s piercing stare and bowed to Father.
“Clan Head. Your son has returned.”
“…….”
Father looked at me without saying a word. He simply turned his head and stared out the window. After the space of a breath, he slowly opened his mouth.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“What exactly are you asking about?”
“First of all, why are you here?”
“I came down from Mount Hwa.”
“...Why?”
“Daoist life doesn’t suit me. And I thought there was nothing left for me to learn at Mount Hwa.”
I could have made up some suitable reason for leaving Mount Hwa, but instead I told the truth.
“Nothing left to learn at Mount Hwa... I see. Then why did you make such a promise to Jin Gaju?”
“What meaning does a clan without martial arts even have?”
“What meaning does a clan without martial arts have... I see. You’re right. What meaning is there in a clan with no martial arts? Then what in the world were you relying on when you made such a bold claim?”
“Because I can raise the money.”
At my answer, Father began to laugh hollowly, like a man who had already let go of everything.
“Heh heh heh. You’re saying you can pay back all that money?”
“Yes.”
“You left Mount Hwa because there was nothing more to learn there, and because you have a way to repay that enormous debt, you’ve bet your life on it?”
“That’s right.”
“Hahahahaha! Steward, look at this fool. My son has turned out to be quite the remarkable fellow!”
“…….”
Father laughed like a madman. Then he stood and walked out of the clan head’s hall, leaving only one parting command behind him.
“Steward. Liquidate the family’s remaining estates and rights.”
“……!”
Hearing Father’s words, the steward could not say a thing. But Father simply vanished from the room. At the same time, my elder martial brother, Baek Cheonhwang, grabbed me by the collar.
“Baek Mugeuk! Do you know what you’ve just done!”
“What have I done?”
“How could you say something so reckless! Because of a single foolish word from you, the clan will disappear. No, it’s already as good as gone!”
“Martial Brother. That would have been the same even if we handed over the Baek Family Seven Swords.”
“Shut up!”
Wham!
Baek Muhwang roared and swung his fist at my cheek. But I had no intention of dodging it or blocking it. In both my past life and this one, his concern for the clan had always been genuine.
“No matter how immature you were, I never thought you were a man without a plan. But I was the idiot. To trust a fool like you…!”
“Please stop. How much harder must this be for Clan Head? We cannot tear ourselves apart like this.”
Baek Muhwang looked ready to pour out more, but the steward cut him off. Unable to restrain his rage any longer, Baek Muhwang stormed out of the clan head’s hall as well.
I brushed down my clothes and rose to my feet. The steward pressed at his temples, then took out a brush and began writing something down.
The proper value of the clan’s estates. The proper value of the clan’s rights-bearing properties.
He was preparing, obediently, to settle all of the clan’s assets according to the clan head’s order. I caught hold of his brush. He let out a sigh and lowered it.
“What is it you need?”
“I have a favor to ask, Steward.”
“Speak.”
“Please give me information on every place in the family that holds commercial rights.”
“That isn’t difficult, but... haah... what more is there to say? Please wait a moment.”
The steward lifted his brush again and began writing with no hesitation. He had been entrusted with the family’s commerce, so the information flowed from his hand without a hitch.
“Here you are.”
“Thank you.”
I took the documents and left the clan head’s hall at once. Then I turned my steps toward Grandfather Baek Hwang’s room.
The trouble with the Jin Sword Sect had, in the end, begun the moment Grandfather Baek Hwang collapsed. So I had to confirm his condition first, above all else.
In my previous life, by the time I returned after being expelled from Mount Hwa, Grandfather was already dead...
“Grandfather. It’s Mugeuk.”
“…….”
No sound came from the room. But after a short while, a servant girl opened the door and came out. She looked quite young, and she was someone I had never seen before.
“Who are you?”
“That’s what I’d like to ask.”
“I’m A-yeong, assigned to care for Elder Baek Hwang. The clan head said not to let anyone in carelessly unless they were family or a physician.”
A-yeong introduced herself in a composed voice. She was probably the nurse hired in my absence.
“I’m Baek Mugeuk. I only came to greet my grandfather.”
“Ah, so you’re Young Master Baek Mugeuk. Come in.”
Once I gave my name, A-yeong stepped aside. As soon as I entered the room, the smell of medicinal herbs, the sort one would only catch in an apothecary, stabbed at my nose. I didn’t dislike medicinal scents, but this one was especially strong, and I found myself frowning before I realized it.
“It’s a bit strong, isn’t it? It was hard for me to get used to at first too. But I adjusted quickly.”
“It is strong. More importantly, could you give us a little space? I’d like to greet him.”
“Mm... I’m in a position where I have to watch Elder’s progress and report it.”
“If Grandfather moves or feels uncomfortable, I’ll call you right away.”
“In that case... all right.”
A-yeong looked uneasy, but she still didn’t refuse my request. After she opened the door and left, I immediately took Grandfather’s pulse.
The pulse was beating at a normal rate. His breathing was steady too. And his body was still hard with strength. He was not called one of the world’s hundred greatest masters for nothing. The body he had spent his life training was more solid than that of most men even in their prime. And yet he remained unconscious.
“There’s nothing wrong on the outside, and yet…….”
I pushed my internal energy into Grandfather’s lower dantian. If someone saw me doing this, they would probably call me insane.
And they’d be right.
A third-rate martial artist pushing internal energy into another person’s body? That was the act of a complete lunatic. At the very least, you’d need to be a master of the peak realm before you could even think about circulating your qi through someone else’s body to probe it. Even then, the amount of energy would matter, and you’d need the delicate control to manage it.
Well, that doesn’t really matter to me.
My internal energy was certainly only at the level of a third-rate martial artist. But I had already attained the insight of the Hyeon-gyeong realm. Even if my quantity of energy was small, my ability to control it was a method fit for the strongest man in the world.
The energy traveled through my hand, passed Grandfather’s lower dantian, and moved toward his middle dantian. I worked to keep my own energy from invading his. But soon I realized that I didn’t need to worry about that at all.
“He has no internal energy?”
There was no internal energy in Grandfather’s body. It made no sense. Internal energy ordinarily deepened with age. More than that, he was one of the world’s hundred greatest masters. He should at least have the level of a peak master. Just to be certain, I checked his dantian as well, but it was intact too.
“His dantian is fine, but he has no internal energy... and he’s a martial artist at the level of the supreme peak…….”
I looked around the room again.
“There are medicinal herbs everywhere…….”
Gnash.
I ground my molars together. The more I thought about it, the clearer and simpler the answer became. If the dantian was fine and there were no external causes, there was only one answer.
“Dispersing poison.”
Dispersing poison was a toxin that temporarily disturbed internal energy. But if someone kept feeding it to you over and over? Then supreme peak master or not, you were just an old man. I couldn’t say why he remained unconscious, but one thing was certain: Baek Hwang was currently poisoned with dispersing poison.
And there was nothing I could do right now.
With my current internal energy, treatment for dispersing poison was completely out of reach.
Still, if it’s this…….
I gathered the internal energy I had been using for observation into one place again.
Then I sent it straight through Grandfather’s blood vessels, smoothing out the tangled flow of qi.
Grandfather’s face, which had been twisted in pain, grew much more peaceful.
“Tch. This is my limit for now.”
Having wrung out every last scrap of strength I had, I staggered for a moment before collecting myself and leaving Grandfather’s room.
If I dragged this out any longer, it might arouse suspicion.
“That should do. Please take good care of Grandfather.”
“Yes. Understood. Please be careful on your way.”
A-yeong bowed with only the corners of her mouth lifting faintly. I returned the gesture and turned away.
Someone was continuously dosing Grandfather with dispersing poison. A-yeong was the most likely culprit. But I couldn’t question her yet. She wouldn’t be the head of this matter. Even if Grandfather were freed from the dispersing poison, I wasn’t certain he would be able to rise. For now, I had to build up my strength step by step and then seize the heads of the snakes in a single stroke.
“My head hurts already, and I’ve only just started.”
I went straight to my room, spread out paper, brush, and ink, and wrote down the points that mattered most in the current situation.
Grandfather Baek Hwang had collapsed at some point. He was a supreme peak master.
After that, the Jin Sword Sect came with a debt contract and demanded martial arts.
Grandfather Baek Hwang had been poisoned with dispersing poison.
“This is the visible part, at least.”
When I laid the situation out in front of me, everything fit too neatly. A peak expert collapsed one day. Every physician examined him, yet none of them identified dispersing poison. Then a creditor appeared, demanding the Baek family’s martial arts. There was definitely a foul stench to it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a board that had been carefully set up.
“I’ve got a strong hunch that the ones who built the board were the Jin Sword Sect, but I’ve got no proof. Dispersing poison, huh...”
For a righteous clan to procure dispersing poison was no easy matter. In fact, for any righteous family to purchase or use poison was impossible unless they were the Tang family.
“I’ll have to solve things one by one.”
I reached into my robes, took out the information the steward had given me, and read it through. It was packed with details on the Baek family’s assets and businesses with commercial rights. I circled the ironworks, tea house, and inn among them. These three were the money-makers, the businesses that accounted for more than half of the Baek family’s current income.
“Jungseong Inn, Ihwa Tea House, and Jiangxi Ironworks, then.”
After burning the papers in the candle flame and scattering the ash out the window, I left the Baek residence.
“Might as well go find the head snake.”
By then the sun had set, and the world was growing dark. I started walking toward the market streets. This first step was the true beginning of this life.
I would protect it all. Everything I had failed to protect in my previous life through my own laziness.