Episode 8 — The Hustler Meets the Thief
"Hiiiing!"
"Aagh!"
The red steed reared up with a thunderous whinny and came to a screeching halt. Yi Yeok, tangled in its reins, went flying off into the distance, where he rolled across the ground moaning in pain. Ahn Eun-chae stood frozen, her face drained white, at a complete loss for what to do.
Thud!
The man who had been riding the horse leapt down from it. He was an imposing figure, tall enough to tower over six feet with broad, powerful shoulders. The only problem was that his face, flushed and ruddy as if deep in his cups, did severe damage to that commanding presence.
"Uuurp."
The man let out a brash, liquor-soaked belch and turned to look at the dirt-caked Yi Yeok.
"What's this? Who ran into who?"
Yi Yeok, who had been hunched over like a corpse, sprang to his feet. As far as Eun-chae could tell, he was mercifully unscathed.
"My lord, how could you! All I did was ask for a ride, and you go and run me down like this!"
The man merely stared back at him through bleary, drunken eyes, as though none of it made a lick of sense.
"C-could it be, my lord — have you been drinking? Good heavens! You've been riding drunk? Are you aware that riding under the influence is considered little short of murder, not just in the mortal world but in the immortal realms as well?"
Having apparently lost interest in Yi Yeok's whining, the man pulled a bottle of liquor from his saddle and shook the very last drop out onto his tongue.
Meanwhile, Yi Yeok had somehow sidled up right beside him.
"Whew, the smell of booze on you. Just how much have you had? And on top of that, you've run a man down and injured him... You may have trained quite a bit in the martial arts, my lord, but what do you suppose will happen to you if word of this gets out?"
"What on earth are you going on about? Speak so a man can understand you."
"Simple. Pay up for my treatment. If you haven't got a single silver coin on you, then handing over that fine horse you were riding will do just as well. In exchange, I'll keep my lips sealed about your drunken riding and the accident it caused."
The man continued to gaze at him blankly. Only after a good long while did he seem to sober up a little.
"So what you're saying is... you're trying to rob me right now?"
"Heaven forbid! I am no bandit. I am simply requesting fair compensation for my injuries, nothing more."
"So this is what they call self-injury extortion, is it? I've heard of such scoundrels, but..."
Yi Yeok bowed his head even lower. The hulking man couldn't see his expression, but his voice remained every bit as groveling.
"Oh, my lord, how could you say such a thing..."
At the same moment, Yi Yeok slipped a hand into his sleeve. Eun-chae's eyes went wide as she caught the movement.
The hulking man's eyes widened as well — though not because he had sensed Yi Yeok's motion.
When Eun-chae saw where the man's gaze had landed — on her — a new and different kind of fear seized her than it had before.
Yi Yeok noticed the man's expression, withdrew his hand from his sleeve, and spoke.
"My lord, have you some business with my humble beloved?"
The sheer audacity of it left Eun-chae speechless, but pinned under the man's piercing stare, she couldn't even summon a protest of absolutely not.
"Your beloved? That beauty belongs to you?"
"A beauty? She doesn't look like one to me... but if you mean the girl trembling over there, then yes, she is indeed my beloved."
The hulking man stroked his thick chin and fell into thought for a moment. His face was still as flushed as it had been while riding, but this time it seemed the liquor wasn't the only reason.
"Fine. You'll have it your way."
"Oh, my lord, an excellent decision."
"You'll get as much for treatment as you want. Take the horse too, if you like. I won it gambling anyway — I can always get another."
Eun-chae was surprised things were going so smoothly. But Yi Yeok didn't waver an inch.
"However, my lord..."
"In exchange, hand over your beloved. I shall see that she is tended to most tenderly."
"What? That's insane!"
Eun-chae shrieked, her voice on the edge of a scream. Yi Yeok didn't so much as twitch from his bowed position.
Paying Eun-chae's protest no mind whatsoever, the man simply waited to see how Yi Yeok would respond. His right hand hovered near the hilt of the blade at his waist, ready to dart there at any moment.
"By all means, my lord. Take her."
Eun-chae was too stunned to even cry out.
"Good. Take the horse and everything on the saddle. Ah — leave the one bottle of liquor that's left."
As if there was nothing more to discuss, the hulking man strode straight toward Eun-chae.
She stumbled backward, her legs gave out beneath her, and she crumpled to the ground.
The man reached out a hand the size of a cauldron lid and blotted out her entire field of vision.
"Yi... Yi Yeok! You rotten bastard!"
The instant Eun-chae spat out the vilest curse she had never once imagined uttering in her entire life — thunk! — her vision suddenly cleared.
The hulking man lay sprawled on the ground before her. She was still wondering whether he'd simply passed out drunk when blood welled from his body and spread into a pooling puddle in the blink of an eye.
"What are you doing, miss? Hurry up and get on."
Over yonder, Yi Yeok sat atop the man's red steed with perfect nonchalance. A smirk played on his lips — impossible to tell whether it was aimed at Eun-chae or at the fallen man.
Still not fully recovered her senses, Eun-chae rode behind Yi Yeok for a long while before the galloping horse finally loosened her tongue.
"...Didn't you say you don't commit robbery?"
"It wasn't robbery! I merely collected compensation for my injuries."
"And you tried to hand me over, you rotten scoundrel!"
"That guy may have been drunk, but he was no pushover. You were raised in the sect grounds and you don't even know that? When there's no opening, you make one."
"You said you don't kill people!"
"Well, that was legitimate self-defense. The man dared lay hands on my client — er, no, I mean my employer — so what choice did I have?"
So, in other words: he'd let the man lay hands on his employer in order to create an opening, he'd created the opening in order to kill him, and he'd killed him because the man had dared touch his employer. Eun-chae's head began to ache as she tried — and failed — to make any sense of the logic.
Mid-gallop, Yi Yeok rummaged through the pouch hanging from the saddle and pulled out the bottle of liquor.
"Well, well. The man had decent taste, at least."
Yi Yeok tore the seal off with his teeth and began drinking straight from the bottle.
"You! Drunk riding is absolutely forbidden...!"
Eun-chae couldn't even finish the sentence. He wouldn't have pretended to listen anyway.
She gave up trying to understand Yi Yeok's words and actions.
He called himself a thief, yet brazenly pulled off stunts worthy of any bandit or con artist; he claimed to prize principle, yet broke it without hesitation the moment it suited him. On the surface he seemed more or less sane, but underneath he was brimming with a twisted kind of madness.
She even caught herself thinking that Yi Yeok might genuinely be a madman.
But could a truly deranged man possess martial skill like his? She knew nothing of the martial arts herself, yet having watched countless fighters of the gangho since childhood, she could judge that Yi Yeok's abilities were no ordinary level. Whatever else might be said of him, his sheer speed was such that even a first-rate master of the gangho could not confidently claim the advantage.
Having drained the bottle in one go, Yi Yeok tossed the empty over his shoulder. Then he dug in his heels and urged the horse into a full sprint, and Eun-chae's thoughts scattered to the wind.
Yi Yeok, well accustomed to riding, meanwhile sank into deep thought.
Fine steed, this. Should fetch a decent price.
Though he'd never admit it, Yi Yeok's obsession with money was partly the fault of that old codger as well. The old man had squandered money like water on courtesans, liquor, and gambling — truly, it defied belief. The money Yi Yeok had swiped from him just days ago was surely long gone by now.
When that old man finally retires, he'll be a nightmare to look after. Should I just break his legs? No — that old codger would crawl to the gambling dens on his broken stumps. Still, I'd save a fortune on his retirement fund, wouldn't I?
Yi Yeok snickered to himself. The sound of that laughter made Eun-chae's hair stand on end. If she hadn't been on a horse at full gallop, she would have fled on the spot.
Several hours passed and the horse showed no sign of tiring. At this pace, they would reach Jinseong within a matter of days.
And yet Yi Yeok felt a creeping unease. With senses honed to an extreme edge, he could feel a net closing in from every direction, from tens of li out in all quarters.
The Dark Shadow Hall couldn't possibly be this methodical, and the Divine Mystery Pavilion could never field this many men. Which meant these were the real strike force hunting Ahn Eun-chae.
Having made his judgment, Yi Yeok yanked the reins and brought the horse to a halt. The red steed, which had galloped at full speed for so long, reared up on its forelegs with a mighty whinny before standing still.
Before Eun-chae could so much as ask a question, Yi Yeok leapt straight off the horse. Perching atop a nearby tree, he swept his gaze across the surroundings.
Sensing killing intent radiating from all sides, Yi Yeok fell into a dilemma.
At least eight hundred li left to Jinseong. And this won't be the last ambush. Just how important is that dim-witted girl, that they'd loose this many men after her?
"Ah..."
Eun-chae let out a small cry. After waiting a long while with no sign of Yi Yeok coming down, anxiety had gotten the better of her, and she'd tried to dismount alone — twisting her ankle in the process. Yi Yeok spared her only a brief glance.
Alone, I could slip away without anyone the wiser. But hauling that dead weight along? Impossible. Ride horses and we'll be spotted; abandon them and we're too slow. And carrying that girl on my back — even setting aside whether I could manage it, I'd sooner die...
"Um... excuse me... could you help me, please?"
Eun-chae, sitting alone on the ground and unable to rise, finally worked up the courage to speak. Sighing, Yi Yeok descended, scooped her up, and set her back on the horse.
"Don't move without my say-so, miss. From here on out, this is really not going to be a game."
Eun-chae fought back her tears. One way or another, right now, trusting this madman was the only card she had left to play.