The Old Face of the Dang Family
Countless daggers rained down at me. I moved with a light flick of my sword, batting them away as I advanced.
If anyone watched me from the side, they would think I was deflecting them far too easily. But the daggers Dang Hye threw were sharper and fiercer than they looked.
Every dagger I failed to knock aside buried itself with enough force to split wood.
Of course, she’s still a long way from catching up to me.
I sent one dagger hurtling back the way it had come, toward where Dang Hye was hidden, after swatting aside the one flying straight at me.
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
The sound of daggers biting into trees rang out one after another. I stopped walking and went slowly in the direction they had flown.
“Not bad at all, considering. But tell me, how can someone who uses daggers expose their position this easily?”
A dagger pierced Dang Hye’s hem and drove deep into a tree, pinning the cloth and trapping her in place.
“Don’t just stare. Untie me.”
“Would you say that to an enemy too?”
“……”
Dang Hye glared at me, then shoved her body forward. The cloth tore with a harsh ripping sound. She quickly adjusted her clothes.
“Again. I won’t make a mistake this time.”
Her eyes were like a viper’s. Still, I only smiled and tipped my chin.
“Too bad. Training’s over here.”
“Why!”
“Because we’ve arrived at the Dang Family.”
The place where I pointed had a signboard hanging overhead.
Dang Family Town.
The Dang Family was different from ordinary sects and clans.
They valued bloodline above all else, and around the direct line of the Dang Family they had formed a closed-off village called Dang Family Town, operating as an isolated household network.
There were a number of reasons for that, but the biggest was that they dealt with poison. Too much information couldn’t be allowed to leak outside.
What mattered, though, was this: while other clans and sects limited their territorial reach to a single compound, this entire town belonged to the Dang Family.
“We’re finally here!”
Dang Hye’s voice brightened the moment she stepped into Dang Family Town. From that point on, she began to show a liveliness I hadn’t seen from her until now.
“Young Miss Dang Hye! You came back safely from the Martial Alliance?”
“Auntie, you’ve been well too, right? As you can see, I came back safely!”
“Dang Hye! How did you end up with your clothes all torn like that? Come here!”
“It’s all right. I’ll go back to the main house and change.”
“Get over here now!”
The owner of the clothing shop grabbed Dang Hye by the arm and pulled her inside. Dang Hye didn’t look the least bit unwilling.
Not with the smile that had settled on her face and refused to leave.
By contrast, I could feel a murderous gaze from the people waiting outside the shop. Full of killing intent and poison, too.
“Who’s that guy?”
“No idea. Looks like someone Young Miss Hye brought back.”
“Young Miss Hye? Don’t tell me…”
“No, that can’t be it…”
They were probably trying to keep their voices down, but a strange misunderstanding was piling up all the same. Before long, a huge man came toward me carrying a meat cleaver. Considering the chunk of meat stuck to the blade, he looked like a butcher.
“What’s your relationship with Hye?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Tell me the truth! If you came after Hye with bad intentions…”
The butcher glared at me, lightly swinging the cleaver.
“You won’t be leaving in one piece.”
What a bizarre misunderstanding. More absurd still, he was leaking qi as he spoke.
This was Dang Family Town. They weren’t kidding when they said the entire town belonged to the Dang Family. Not only the butcher, but also the clothing-shop owner who had taken Dang Hye inside, and the old woman selling fruit over there watching me from the front of her stall. All of them were martial artists.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you admitting it?”
“I’m not sure what exactly I’m supposed to be admitting. I’m Dang Hye’s bodyguard, sent by the Martial Alliance. I’m not interested in Dang Hye herself, so stop jumping to weird conclusions.”
I thought maybe that would be enough for them to understand, but before I could even finish that thought, the looks around me grew even sharper. The butcher bulged a vein in his neck and seized me by the collar.
“Not interested? Are you saying our Hye isn’t attractive?”
“What?”
I was at a loss. If I showed interest, it looked like he’d kill me. If I didn’t, it looked like he’d kill me anyway.
I casually took hold of the butcher’s wrist and twisted.
“With that feeble arm of yours, do you really think you can break mi— ha!?”
I sent a little inner force through my grip, and the butcher’s body spun completely around before slamming into the ground. At that, everyone nearby threw their arms behind their backs.
“This is the Dang Family, after all.”
They watched every one of my movements closely. If I made even the slightest move, poison would probably pour out of their hands.
And then, at that moment, Dang Hye came out through the shop door.
“What are you all doing? Why is that uncle lying there?”
Dang Hye lowered herself toward the butcher and helped him to his feet. The butcher, who had only a moment ago been seething with killing intent, was suddenly wearing a harmless, earnest smile.
“I was just trying to say hello to the boy and slipped, that’s all. So, what’s this boy’s deal?”
“This boy?”
Dang Hye gave me a sideways look. It was obvious she had forgotten my existence the moment she entered Dang Family Town. The shape of her mouth made that clear enough: Ah.
“He’s a martial artist the Martial Alliance assigned to guard me.”
“I knew it.”
At that single remark, all the murderous intent aimed at me evaporated at once. The butcher took Dang Hye by the arm and started moving again.
“You’ve had it rough, coming back from the Martial Alliance. You should eat before you go back to the main house.”
“Uncle, I’m really fine if I just go—”
“I’m not fine with that!”
If Dang Hye wanted to break away, she easily could have. But she didn’t. Instead, she broke into a wide smile and headed toward the inn.
Maybe that’s her real face after all.
I followed Dang Hye into the Dang Family Town inn. The moment she stepped inside, the cooks brightened and rushed to prepare food, and the table was soon loaded down with dishes.
“Eat up.”
“Thank you.”
In front of Dang Hye were all the dishes Sichuan was proud of. In front of me, on the other hand, sat nothing but a bowl of cold noodles.
“Dang Hye. Isn’t this a little too blatant?”
“They’re the sort of people who dote on family like crazy. You come sit here and eat with us.”
“If I tried to eat with you, I’d have to be ready for…”
Every gaze in this inn was fixed on Dang Hye. If I sat down and ate with her, I’d probably need to be prepared to be hit with a rain of daggers, poison included.
“I think cold noodles are enough for me.”
So the meal began. Dang Hye told the gathered people about her trip to the Martial Alliance, life at the Martial Alliance, and the journey from the Martial Alliance back to Sichuan.
Everyone in Dang Family Town who listened laughed or got angry depending on the story she told. In the end, they all said she’d suffered a great deal and patted her on the shoulder.
It would have been nice if the mood had stayed like that.
But the moment I drained the last of the broth from my noodles, the atmosphere in the inn froze solid.
Clump.
It began with the sound of a single set of footsteps.
Clump.
The lighter those footsteps grew, the heavier the pressure that pinned down the surroundings became.
Along with that, one by one, the people laughing around Dang Hye began to turn their eyes away from her. And when the inn door opened with a creak, not a single pair of eyes remained on Dang Hye.
“Dang Hye. If you’ve returned, you should come straight back to the main house and report to the clan head. What is this behavior?”
A low, sharp voice filled the inn. And there stood a man in a green robe.
“I only meant to have a meal before going back.”
The Dang Hye who had been smiling until just now was gone. The usual sharp, expressionless Dang Hye had returned.
Smack!
At her answer, the man raised his hand and slapped her across the cheek. Dang Hye, however, showed no reaction.
The instant my hand came lightly to the sword hilt, Dang Hye’s voice transmission reached me.
Don’t do anything.
“Who taught you the bad habit of failing to greet your elders?”
“……”
Dang Hye pushed back from the table and rose, bowing her head to the man.
“I’m sorry, Oraeboni. Dang Hye returned after attending the Martial Alliance Lord’s celebration by order of the clan head.”
“That’s not it. Not at all. A greeting is like this.”
The man began pressing down on Dang Hye’s head with his hand. Slowly, her face was forced closer and closer to the floor.
“As expected of lowborn blood. Must I personally teach you even something this simple before you’ll understand?”
“……”
“And I’ve told you several times not to call me Oraeboni.”
The moment her face was nearly touching the floor, I caught the bastard’s wrist.
“How about you stop there?”
“How dare you speak to me so insolently?”
He seized my wrist with his other hand and twisted it. It wasn’t the kind of wrist that would twist so easily, though.
“Is that all?”
“What? You arrogant bastard.”
When the wrist refused to budge, he switched to palm techniques. Every time his hand moved, there was a sound like wind being split apart, but none of it touched me.
His palm work was stopped far too easily by the hand I had extended.
“……Just what kind of bastard are you?”
“Me? Her bodyguard.”
I let go of his wrist and, in the same motion, drove my palm into his chest. He hurriedly raised an arm to block, but the force still sent him staggering back a full yard.
“You little bodyguard bastard, do you even know who I am?”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Dang Ho-yeop, the Dang Family’s second son. I’m someone above that woman.”
“Dang Ho-yeop…?”
At the name, my eyes widened before I could stop them. Dang Ho-yeop. I knew this man. He was the one who would become the next clan head of the Dang Family. After the previous clan head was poisoned, that was.
“How dare you put your filthy hands on this noble body.”
“Really? Then let’s see just how noble you are.”
“Baek Mugeuk. Stop!”
I heard Dang Hye’s voice, but my shadow had already shot forward.
“You insane bastard.”
Dang Ho-yeop’s hands moved frantically as he unleashed palm techniques. The hands thrust toward my face split into five or six afterimages and shot at me.
“You call that palm work?”
I raised my own hand. But unlike him, I didn’t move my arm in such a frantic blur. True palm techniques had to burst forth in a single instant, like a hawk striking prey.
I moved my hand slowly. Then, just before his hand could touch me, I whipped mine forward.
Thirty afterimages spread out and began raining down on his face from every direction.
It started with a dull thud.
Thud.
Thwack-thwack.
The impacts were light at first, but before long...
Crack.
Crraaack.
The sound of bones breaking started bursting out of his body.
“St-stop...! Stop……!”
A scream like a death cry ripped from his mouth. And then I felt someone seize my shoulder.
“Stop it. Baek Mugeuk!”
It was Dang Hye. The moment her voice reached my ears, the afterimages of my hand began to fade, and the bastard’s body dropped to the floor.
“What… are you doing?”
There was anger on Dang Hye’s face. But there was only one answer I could give her.
“What am I doing? Just doing my job as your bodyguard.”
A chill filled the inn. The killing intent of everyone present turned toward me. Even Dang Hye’s.