The Invincible Face of Shamelessness
"What is this?"
Yi Yeok unrolled the leather scroll and stared at it. It was completely blank.
If it looked like a map, it should at least have carried some markings. It made no sense whatsoever.
He turned the matter over in his mind for a moment, then tucked the scroll into his breast. On the surface it seemed worthless, but something in his gut whispered that it might be precious after all.
Casting one last, tongue-clicking look at the treasures he would simply have to abandon because of their sheer weight and bulk, Yi Yeok slipped out of the secret chamber.
Even as he made his way outside, not a single soul in the estate sensed a thing. Just as the old man had said, the Yeriseolmuheon technique felt like a martial art made for Yi Yeok and Yi Yeok alone.
The moment he cleared the estate's final wall, Yeo Gwi was leaning against it below, tossing the severed head of the City Lord's chief steward into the air and catching it like a ball.
"Finished it properly, did you?"
Yi Yeok answered by producing his haul. Even under the sparse starlight it glittered magnificently, and Yeo Gwi's eyes went wide. Yi Yeok pressed on, brimming with pride.
"Took quite a scraping, I see. More than enough to cover what we were promised."
"Good. Then hand over my share."
"Out of thin air? You blasted turtle, I robbed the home of Jinseong's supreme authority to earn my payment. What exactly did you do here?"
"I kept watch for you."
"Didn't need it. If it bothers you that much, get down on your knees and call me Father."
"Father! Your unfilial son bows before you!"
Yeo Gwi dropped to his knees and bowed without a flicker of hesitation.
Yi Yeok clicked his tongue.
"Utterly shameless. Truly a face worthy of being called invincible under heaven."
"The old man always said it. Thick enough skin makes you invincible under heaven."
"You venomous bastard."
Yi Yeok portioned out the plunder and tossed a share to him.
"Call it ten thousand nyang. There's nothing left for either of us in this place now. If it was going to end like this, they should have paid up nicely from the start. We went through all that grief for nothing."
"So where are you headed next? Don't you have business with the sect?"
"You take that head of yours, collect its bounty, and crawl back into your turtle hole. I'll come find you when I raid the sect."
"There's more to do?"
"I've taken the commission fee, so I ought to visit home."
"Home? You don't have a home."
"I mean where my birth parents live."
Yeo Gwi blinked, mildly taken aback.
"Your birth parents were alive? I always thought the old geezer had taken you in as an orphan."
"Shut up."
Yi Yeok's expression hardened. Yeo Gwi gave a low chuckle.
"So you had your own pile of stories after all. Well, that's only natural for someone scraping a living down here in the gutters of the gangho."
Yeo Gwi waved a hand.
"Right then. I'll clear out."
A heartbeat later he was gone, as though he had simply ridden away on the night wind.
Yi Yeok gathered up the scattered gold and jewels once more and heaved the bundle onto his shoulder. It was time to go. He never wanted to set foot in this insufferable place called Jinseong again.
In that instant, a shadow stretched long by the moonlight fell over him. Yi Yeok turned toward it.
"Young man, you are far too arrogant."
It was an old man's voice, yet its authority and force carried not a trace of frailty — only a grave, commanding dignity.
"To comport yourself with such insolence. Did you believe our Jinseong had no talent to speak of?"
Taking a loose fist stance, Yi Yeok dipped his head with easy grace.
"I beg your gracious pardon for my arrogance, my lord. In truth, I never dreamed anyone would be capable of noticing my movement art."
The old man's eyes glinted with interest. He was unmistakably aged, yet there was not the faintest suggestion of decay about him — his hair was black as ink and a healthy flush colored his face.
"So you are Yi Yeok. I am Jin Haoun, City Lord of Jinseong — and the maternal grandfather of An Eunchae, the girl you saved."
"This lowly one greets the City Lord."
"My granddaughter spoke of you. As it happens, I was on my way to find you and deliver the reward she promised."
"I hardly know where to put myself. Though as for the promised payment... I have already seen to collecting it myself."
"And yet!"
Jin Haoun's bark cracked through the air like lightning.
"You dared kill the chief steward, wound his guards, and burgle my own house besides. This I cannot possibly overlook!"
"City Lord, Chief Steward Im treated me unjustly, and his death and the guards' injuries were the direct result of it. Moreover, what I did was not thieving — it was simply the collection of a payment fairly owed me."
Unexpectedly, Jin Haoun fell silent for a moment.
"...He served and devoted himself to this clan for many years, which is why I let it pass — but I knew well enough how harsh his temper could be. Had you withdrawn quietly and returned another day, I would have granted you fair compensation. Instead you harmed my people and made off with their property, so as City Lord of Jinseong I cannot let you go gently. You, of all people, should understand the position of one who leads others."
"How could a lowly wretch like me understand the position of someone who leads others?"
There was open mockery threaded through Yi Yeok's voice.
Jin Haoun's brow twitched.
"In consideration of the aid you gave my granddaughter, I will not take your life. But neither can I let you slip away unscathed."
"Might I offer the City Lord some candid counsel? When a man who commands no small number of others stoops to meddling in such a trifling affair himself, does he not forfeit his own dignity?"
"Mind your tongue."
"And what if you step forward only to be disgraced? Rather than die with no one left to bury you, wouldn't it suit you far better to be panting away beneath the skirts of the courtesans at the Munhyang Pavilion?"
It was pure, naked provocation. Faced with an insult he had never once heard in his long life, Jin Haoun's stately face went white to the very lips.
"No man alive has ever dared behave so insolently before me!"
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, Jin Haoun stood at Yi Yeok's nose. A palm strike brimming with azure energy came hurtling down.
BOOM!
The ground shattered outward and burst into dust. Yi Yeok was already perched atop the wall, high and unhurried.
"Too slow, old man. How do you expect to keep proper watch over your granddaughter at that pace? The little one who cried from hunger will starve to death at this rate."
"That tongue of yours is courting calamity!"
Jin Haoun leapt skyward and loosed another palm strike — and, predictably, Yi Yeok had vanished without a trace.
Jin Haoun's eyes narrowed. He had climbed to the very pinnacle of the Johwa Gihyeol Realm, and had even received personal instruction in the martial arts from Susunja himself — yet he could not so much as graze the hem of Yi Yeok's robe.
"Just as I heard — your speed alone is extraordinary."
Jin Haoun forced the sneer from his lips. He had no choice but to admit it: catching Yi Yeok was simply beyond him. That blinding velocity would not have paled beside even Susunja's.
Fought this way, the contest would end in nothing but humiliation. Somehow he had to drag Yi Yeok down and force a head-on clash.
"But however swift you may be, are you not fated to spend your whole life scurrying in the shadows, hiding from every eye?"
Yi Yeok grinned.
"So what? I like it fine."
"Dragons beget dragons, and phoenixes beget phoenixes — while rats beget rat pups that live out their days in holes. Rats coupling together whelped a vermin like you, so you, and every one of your whelps after you, will never escape a rat's life. You will live and die in a dark hole, and nothing more."
The mischief in Yi Yeok's eyes sank into cold stillness.
"Careless with that tongue of yours, aren't you, old man."
Before anyone could mark the moment, the flask of Yeoji oil he had drawn was catching the moonlight and flashing like a blade.
"Listen here, you old relic. A word of advice. Insult me, curse me, rail at me all you like — but you never, ever touch a wound that still bleeds."
Yi Yeok kicked off the earth and came hurtling forward in an instant.
"Remember it well — in your next life!"