A Man's Jealousy Runs Deep
Yi Yeok leapt atop the carriage and settled cross-legged on its roof.
"Being this handsome really is a public menace. If it weren't for my devastating good looks, I might actually have gotten out of this alive."
The arrows loosed at him snapped in two before they ever came close, falling broken to the ground.
Yeo Gwi carved through the bandits here and there, leaving only faint afterimages in his wake. Each swing of his sword took a head. Four or five at a time came loose and went rolling down the mountainside.
The bandits died before they ever had a chance to grasp what was happening.
Before long, Yeo Gwi appeared at Yi Yeok's side.
"Four hundred eighty nyang total. Ah, one of the ten comes free. So four hundred forty."
He had already slid his sword back into its sheath. To a casual glance, nothing at all had happened.
The one-eyed leader, surveying his surroundings, finally realized he had lost every last one of his men. He stood gaping in shock, trembling — and then came back to himself and dropped to his knees.
Thud!
He slammed his forehead into the ground hard enough to dent it.
"F-forgive me, Your Grace, for failing to recognize a noble young master blessed with such precious eyes!"
"Well, I suppose that's fair. You've got half the eyes everyone else has."
Thud!
At Yi Yeok's indifferent words, the man struck his forehead against the ground once more.
"Please, I beg you, spare this worthless life."
"Why would I? Give me one reason not to kill you."
"I — I have money! At my fortress, just over this hill, there's silver and treasures I've been saving up for years. All of it, I will give to you. Please, spare my life. Would you not say my life is of no use to you anyway?"
"So what you're saying is, if I don't spare you, you won't give me the money?"
The leader's face went even whiter.
"No! No, no! That's not what I meant. I'll hand over every last coin!"
"Then what you're saying is, even if I don't spare you, you'll give me the money?"
The leader stared at him, utterly bewildered.
"No... that is..."
Thud!
Left with no other option, the man knocked his forehead against the ground yet again. Blood streamed from the split skin.
"Young master, I implore you. Please spare my life! Are we not all precious lives granted by our parents? To take fewer lives is to pile up merit for the next world."
"Aha?"
Something seemed to be getting through. The leader felt a thread of hope, thin as a hair.
"Young master, judging by that noble face of yours, you must have been born with a deeply benevolent heart."
"Oh?"
It was definitely getting through. Drenched in the brightening light of hope, the man pressed on quickly.
"This is no idle flattery! In my youth I studied the art of face-reading. You were unmistakably born under a most exalted destiny."
"Hm-hm."
"Fortune and blessings will come trooping in of their own accord, without you lifting a finger."
"Ahh."
"Not only that! Soon enough, riches and glory and honor that no one else could so easily attain will be bestowed upon you and you alone, young master!"
"Mm."
"And then the peerless beauties of the world — oh, or perhaps you prefer handsome men?"
"Huh?"
"B-beauties! Setting aside the men — beauties alone will strain every sinew just to catch a single thread of your sleeve, while lesser-looking women will waste away, sighing over lovesickness for you —"
Thk!
A blade burst up through the leader's chest. He gurgled, frothing blood, and collapsed.
Yi Yeok frowned.
"What the hell, man? I was in the middle of enjoying myself."
"You only ever get complimented, and I get nothing."
Yeo Gwi said it coldly.
"Insolent bastard. Deserves to die!"
"Really, a man's jealousy is every bit as bad as a woman's."
Yi Yeok shook his head.
"Enough. I had no intention of wasting more time here anyway. Let's move."
"You're not taking the money he was going to hand over?"
"No time. We're about to hit an immortal sect — what would I want with pocket change? Besides, you think there'd be anything left in that fortress by the time we got there?"
Yeo Gwi shook his head.
"Fine, suit yourself. I'll go alone, then. The money you gave me was too little anyway — I need to earn more."
He vanished before anyone could stop him.
"Money-grubbing bastard. Pathetic."
Muttering to himself, Yi Yeok flopped back onto the roof of the carriage. He had no intention of driving it himself. All he could do was wait until Yeo Gwi came back.
His gaze drifted to the corpse of the one-eyed leader sprawled nearby.
"Hey, bandit. Sometimes a man's jealousy is scarier than a woman's. Remember that in your next life."
"You think so? Is there really anything in this world scarier than a woman's jealousy?"
Yi Yeok didn't move a muscle. But his right hand had already slipped into his sleeve and closed around the vial at his wrist.
"Long time no see, my darling young lord."
"...Damn it. You followed me again."
A girl about Yi Yeok's age stepped into view. Her long hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she wore skin-tight black garb dark enough to swallow starlight. There was mischief dancing in her eyes — and at the same time, something sharp and dangerous beneath it.
"Here to pay your respects? Or here on business?"
"Both."
Yi Yeok snorted.
"Kitten, are you alone? It'd take your entire Divine Cat Battalion to handle me, and even then you'd fall short."
"So proud, aren't we? Well, you are our darling, so I suppose that's only natural."
The words were barely out of her mouth before Mo Yeong of the Divine Cat Battalion kicked off the ground and lunged. A popping crack tore through the air as dozens of sword-qi blades, sharp as a cat's claws, raked across the empty space.
Yi Yeok dodged as if it weren't worth the bother, then grabbed her ankle mid-flight and flung her.
She spun through the air like a top and landed neatly, far away.
Yi Yeok hadn't budged from his sprawl on the carriage roof.
"My, my, darling. You've gotten even stronger, haven't you?"
"I was already this strong before. Get lost."
"Tsk, tsk. That fails both as something a mouse says to a cat and as something a darling says to his beloved."
Yi Yeok sighed and sat up.
"Stop being a nuisance. If you don't push me any further, I'll promise not to touch the Divine Cat Battalion either."
"That's not mine to decide. Your bounty went up."
"How much?"
"One low-grade soul pill."
"The Dark Shadow Alliance put a soul pill on my head — for little old me?"
"The pill is my father's doing. You killed one of our own, didn't you?"
Yi Yeok racked his brain for a moment before he could recall the Divine Cat Battalion pursuer he'd killed while making off with An Eun-chae.
"That uncle of yours was actually a decent hunter. Your father flipped the table when he found out, apparently."
"Then maybe you shouldn't have taken a job you had no business taking. It's not like you didn't know how good I am."
"Come on, save me some face. Come with me. If you do, my father won't kill you. And if you refuse... well, then I'll have no choice but to get serious!"
Yi Yeok only laughed, cold and flat.
"You're not in my league, kitten. That was true before, and it's truer now. The old cat is the same. Though I'll admit you're a decent tracker — finding me even out here in this backwater mountain country."
Mo Yeong smiled — literally, catlike.
"Love knows no distance, after all."
"...Tell your father this. If he pesters me one more time, I'll kill his daughter."
"Oh, spare me the tantrum. Can a mouse truly never love a cat?"
Yi Yeok stared hard at Mo Yeong.
She turned her head away, cheeks deliberately flushed.
"Eee, if you look at me like that, I'll blush..."
Yi Yeok sighed.
"Fine. What would it take for you to drop the contract?"
"Don't make me laugh. You think that's possible?"
"You're the one who shouldn't laugh. Since when does the Divine Cat Battalion run on credibility?"
Mo Yeong paused, considering.
"Well... if the profit were big enough... I could drop the contract, and maybe my father would cool off too. Did you pull some major score or what?"
Yi Yeok's mind whirred. Originally this was meant to be handled by just him and Yeo Gwi — but bringing along one more dependable expert wouldn't hurt.
"I'm on my way to raid the Yangcheon Sect right now. Throw in with me. We'll split it fairly. What's one lousy low-grade soul pill? If we're lucky, you might walk away with elixirs — and the sect's treasure vault besides."
Mo Yeong's eyes lit up.
"My darling lord... this humble cat has fallen for you all over again!"