The Price of a Lie
Deep in the predawn hours, nearly a full day had passed since Namgung Cheon and Namgung Rin entered the stone chamber.
Branch Master Namgung Seon gazed anxiously out the window of his office, his eyes drifting naturally toward it.
They still haven't come out.
A whole day had gone by, and the stone chamber remained silent as the grave.
These were precious guests from the main clan. He couldn't fathom what they needed the chamber for, but watching them skip meals and shut themselves away like that weighed on him endlessly.
Were they uncomfortable? Or had some problem arisen?
I can't very well go and ask…
Namgung Seon sighed and turned back to his desk.
That was when he heard hurried footsteps outside his door.
"Branch Master! You have a visitor."
"A visitor?"
Namgung Seon's brow furrowed. There was no one who would come calling at this ungodly hour.
"Turn them away. Who visits at this hour of the night?"
"But… Ma Daesan, the Master of the Cheonli Escort Agency, has come in person."
"…!"
At that name, Namgung Seon's face brightened.
The Cheonli Escort Agency — a new escort bureau that had been expanding its influence across Henan with frightening momentum in recent months.
And then it clicked.
Did the escort run succeed?
He had invested in their escort run to pull the branch out of its financial straits.
The promised date should still be days away.
But if the agency's master had come in person, it could only mean the job had concluded faster than expected — and successfully.
Thank goodness. I can deliver good news while the main clan's guests are still here.
Relieved, Namgung Seon straightened his robes.
"Show him in at once. He is an honored guest."
A short while later, the door opened, and in walked a paunchy middle-aged man — Ma Daesan — along with several men who looked to be his bodyguards.
"Ah, Branch Master. It's been far too long."
Ma Daesan gave a limp bow and collapsed into a seat.
"Welcome. You're earlier than I expected. I take it the escort run went well?"
Namgung Seon asked, unable to hide his anticipation.
Ma Daesan let out a long, deep sigh and shook his head.
"Well, you see… we have a problem."
At those words, Namgung Seon's expression darkened at once.
"…Surely not."
"The silk we were escorting was completely plundered by the Green Forest bastards!"
"What are you saying!"
Namgung Seon's voice rose. "The escort run… failed?"
"Aigoo, do you think I'm comfortable about this either? Several of our escort men are dead, and more wounded."
Ma Daesan wore the look of a man deeply wronged.
But Namgung Seon couldn't simply take his word for it.
"You said it was silk from Sichuan bound for Henan. That route doesn't carry much Green Forest presence. Are you telling me there's a Green Forest stronghold on that road bold enough to touch a Cheonli Escort flag?"
"Branch Master, you don't understand how things are these days. The Green Forest isn't what it used to be."
Ma Daesan clicked his tongue and went on.
"Ever since their new Chief Plunderer took over, those bastards have been moving with real organization. They came at us fully intent this time. There was nothing we could do."
The Green Forest's transformation was, in fact, a rumor running rampant through the Jianghu, so Namgung Seon had little ground to refute it.
"Even so…"
Namgung Seon couldn't finish the sentence, his fist clenching tight.
He had invested his entire personal fortune, along with nearly half of the support funds sent from the main clan.
And now all of that money had turned to dust.
Then, as if he'd been waiting for exactly this moment, Ma Daesan opened his mouth.
"But still, a contract is a contract, isn't it?"
"…"
"A joint investment. When there's profit, we share it — and when there's loss, we shoulder it together as well."
With that, Ma Daesan drew a contract from his breast and waved it.
"It's written right here in the agreement. Losses from unavoidable accidents are to be borne by the investors as well."
At his words, the light in Namgung Seon's eyes turned to ice.
"Then what of the merchant troupe that commissioned the silk? And of all places, that famous Taeju Merchant Troupe?"
The Taeju Merchant Troupe — the oldest and largest of all the merchant houses rooted in Henan.
The very reason Namgung Seon had decided to invest at all was that this was Taeju's business.
But.
"Aigoo, don't even get me started. Their chief merchant is in an absolute frenzy, screaming for compensation for the goods. We're the ones who'll be ruined."
Ma Daesan pounded his chest as if aggrieved.
"…"
Such a smooth excuse. Such a perfect evasion of responsibility.
Namgung Seon's eyes narrowed.
"Very well. Let's grant it a hundred times over and call it an accident."
Namgung Seon rose, planting his hand on the table.
"But I won't believe it until I've seen it with my own eyes. Arrange for me to meet the other investors in this venture, and the Taeju Merchant Troupe's chief merchant as well."
"I beg your pardon?"
Ma Daesan's eyes flickered.
"The truth must be sorted out. Whether it was truly an unavoidable accident."
At Namgung Seon's hard stance, Ma Daesan's expression hardened in turn.
"So you don't trust a man's word, Branch Master."
"Trust isn't built with words."
"Hah, now really."
Ma Daesan let out a sly smile and leaned back. The light in his eyes had gone cold.
"How long do you intend to carry on with this tantrum?"
"A tantrum?"
"I just told you it failed! That everything was stolen!"
At Ma Daesan's shout, the four bodyguards behind him stepped forward as one.
Kuuung!
A heavy tremor shook the very floor. Power bloomed up from their entire bodies.
Each and every one of them was a master who had reached the Peak Realm.
"…!"
Namgung Seon flinched and stumbled back.
"What is the meaning of this! How dare you, in a branch of Namgung!"
Namgung Seon bellowed, but Ma Daesan merely snorted.
"Don't hide behind the name of Namgung. This isn't a matter for a great clan — it's a personal problem for you, isn't it, whining over lost money?"
Ma Daesan crooked a finger.
And then—
Sreung—.
The bodyguards drew their swords and advanced a single step toward Namgung Seon. A chill of killing intent pricked at his skin.
These bastards… they've made up their minds.
They likely didn't intend to kill him. Killing the Namgung branch master would bring repercussions far too heavy.
No — their scheme was to crush him with overwhelming force and shut his mouth on this matter for good.
Sreung—.
Namgung Seon drew his sword as well. Even facing four-to-one odds, he could not throw away the pride of a martial artist.
Bloodshot veins crept into Namgung Seon's eyes.
"I'll ask one last time. Tell me the truth!"
"Hah, I already told you the truth. You're the one who refuses to believe it and throws a fit."
Ma Daesan sneered.
That sneer snapped the last thread of Namgung Seon's reason.
"You bastard!"
Unable to hold back, Namgung Seon erupted into a roar, and the bodyguards leveled their blades at him.
In the moment before an irrevocable battle could begin—
"Enough."
A single word thundered through the office.
At that one utterance, the bodies of Namgung Seon and the bodyguards froze simultaneously.
And then—
Kiiiik.
The firmly shut door of the office quietly opened.
Through the gap stretched the long shadows of two figures, moonlight at their backs.
A young man in black martial robes, and a woman carrying a pipa.
Namgung Cheon and Namgung Rin.
"Wh-who goes there!"
Ma Daesan shouted in flustered confusion.
But Namgung Cheon's gaze was fixed elsewhere—
"How dare you."
—on the bodyguards who had drawn their swords.
"You would point blades at the name of Namgung?"
* * *
"…"
A chill against the nape of his neck. Ma Daesan's breath stopped.
He stiffly bowed his head, creaking like a wooden puppet on a string. And then what came into view was—
"Aaaaaagh!"
—bloodstained steel.
Moreover, the crimson blood spilling from his own neck was sliding down the blade, dripping drop by drop onto the floor.
The sight was so utterly surreal that only now, belatedly, did he realize a blade had been laid against his throat.
When…?
It made no sense. Four masters of the Peak Realm — a force that could run rampant anywhere without consequence.
Then why?
Why was there a blade at my throat?
"Kkuhk… ugh…"
Then, hearing a suppressed groan from behind him, Ma Daesan stole a glance over his shoulder.
"…!"
And he doubted his own eyes.
The four Peak Realm masters he had trusted so completely — every one of them was sprawled on the floor, clutching their wrists and writhing in agony.
Severed wrists, and swords rolling across the floor. Blood spattered everywhere, its metallic stench lending the scene a terrible reality.
"…"
All he had done was blink once.
That blink had been the signal to attack. Then a flash of azure light had streaked past — and this was what remained.
He hadn't seen when the sword was drawn, nor how the man moved.
Only the result lay spread before his eyes.
Ma Daesan finally lifted his head and met the gaze of the sword's owner — Namgung Cheon.
Eyes devoid of any emotion whatsoever.
But the instant he met that gaze, Ma Daesan's whole body began to tremble. The terror of death crawled up his spine.
"S-s-spare me, please!"
Ma Daesan's lips quivered as though in convulsion.
"I doubt a mere escort agency would dare do such a thing against Namgung… Name the ones behind you."
At Namgung Cheon's question, Ma Daesan shook his head like a madman.
"I-I don't know! I-I only took a commission from the Taeju Merchant Troupe! I-I only did as I was told!"
"The Taeju Merchant Troupe."
Namgung Cheon murmured the name low, gazing down at Ma Daesan in silence.
Cutting the man's throat right here would not have been difficult.
But if he did, he would be severing the tail with his own hands.
Anyone brazen enough to run such a fraud against a Namgung branch will have backers who are no pushovers either.
Killing the insect alone accomplished nothing. One had to seal every hole the vermin crawled out of, or there would be repercussions. It was right to root out and eliminate the ones behind this, thoroughly, while the chance was at hand.
Shuk.
Namgung Cheon sheathed his sword.
Chaaeng—.
With a clear ring, he flicked the blood from the blade into the air. Then he looked to Namgung Seon and spoke.
"Branch Master."
At Namgung Cheon's quiet call, Namgung Seon, who had been standing frozen in a daze, snapped back to his senses.
He still couldn't tell whether the scene before him was real. The four Peak Realm masters he had been prepared to face with his very life were now crawling on the floor, bleeding.
"Bind them all."
At the repeated command, Namgung Seon answered with a jolt.
"Y-yes! I'll fetch rope at once!"
He hurried outside and quickly returned with the branch's warriors and lengths of hemp rope, then bound the stupefied Ma Daesan and his bodyguards, stripping and securing their blades.
Once the situation was settled, Namgung Cheon turned to Ma Daesan, whose eyes were rolling in frantic circles.
"We leave for the Taeju Merchant Troupe estate now."
His voice was cold as a sheet of ice.
With that, Namgung Cheon slowly slid his sword into its scabbard and continued.
"If your words are lies, then you will die. And if they are true…"
His eyes gleamed, cold and sharp.
"Then the Taeju Merchant Troupe will cease to exist."
The Heavenly Demon of Namgung
Author | Baek Rihaeng
Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Managing Editor | Editorial Department
Published by | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — Dreambooks
Address | 7F, Kwangsung Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
ISBN | 979-11-7306-734-1
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