They're My People
Calling it the time it takes to drink a cup of tea would have been generous. The seven martial artists under Hubei Red Wolf, master of Seokhwa Gate—the man himself included—were mopped up in the blink of an eye.
"Guhhhh..."
"S-spare me. Please, spare me."
"Just kill me. Kill me already."
Sun Wukong stretched, surveying the martial artists sprawled across the ground, their groans a messy chorus of opposite extremes.
"Nnnngh. Ahh. Now that's more like it. Body's finally loosening up."
A fight, by rights, should leave even the victor looking worn. Wukong just looked refreshed. The meaning was obvious. This hadn't even been a fight. It had been a slaughter so one-sided it barely deserved the name.
Ugh. This is so frustrating. So damn frustrating.
He hadn't even needed to use his body. The original Sun Wukong could have reduced them to pulp with a flick of a finger, or a single puff of breath. But with the greater part of his celestial power sealed, he had no choice but to move himself.
Well, I could always just toss out a few spells.
The Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations—the art that Patriarch Subodhi had transmitted to him in its entirety, and to him alone—was a high technique that few in the old days, and fewer still in Heaven, had ever dared to match. Whether he could wield it smoothly now, with so much of his power locked away, was another question. But using immortal arts on trash like this would be like butchering a chicken with an ox-cleaver. He'd rather just use his fists.
Meanwhile, Sideburns and Sparrow-Eyes, who had watched the fight, felt two things at once. The first was satisfaction—that insufferable Seokhwa Gate had been smashed to pieces. The second was relief.
"Hey. Triangle."
"Yes, Brother."
"If we'd screwed up, that could've been us."
"Yeah."
"Ha. Some outlander we thought we were just going to shake down for his stuff turns out to be a terrifying Murim master. That's the kind of story you only find in third-rate pulp fiction."
Sideburns let out a sigh despite himself. He'd even dragged this monster into a fight of his own making. His mouth went dry. His blood ran hot with dread.
Should I make a run for it? Right now?
No. Not a chance. Run, and he'd be caught. Sideburns squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for the Buddha's protection.
Clink. Clink.
What reached his ears was neither Wukong's angry voice nor the sound of those terrifying fists.
Clink-clink?
That... that was the sound of coins knocking together, wasn't it?
Sideburns, who had been steeling himself for his fate, cracked his eyes open in bewilderment.
"......"
Wait. Is he... looting them?
A wretched sight: beaten, and now having every last pocket turned out. For a fleeting moment, Sideburns actually felt sorry for Seokhwa Gate. For a martial artist, what greater humiliation was there?
He was staring blankly when Wukong suddenly whipped his head around.
"Hey."
"Hiek— y-yes! Great Hero! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to drag the Great Hero into this, I sincerely admired you and wanted to serve you as our chief, I—"
"The hell are you talking about. What are you two doing?"
"......What?"
"Well? You gonna loot or what?"
"What kind of—"
"You said you had no money. You still gotta eat."
"......"
No... he's supposed to be the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven. A god of the celestial realm. Why is a guy like that picking pockets?
The words rose all the way to their throats, but Sideburns and Sparrow-Eyes quietly got to work.
"Tsk tsk. You only move after I tell you? Are you even bandits? No, wait—two bandits in a whole mountain stronghold. Does that even make sense?"
"We are bandits, yes."
"Then you've got zero professional pride. When the chance comes, you strip 'em clean. You think you can survive this nasty world living that sloppy?"
"Professional pride..."
Sideburns' head was spinning.
Wukong rolled his shoulders and declared,
"I am a being without discrimination. Beneath Heaven, upon the earth, within the embrace of the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, every human is equal and the same. Why would I weigh a profession as noble or base and treat one different from another?"
There was... something a little off about that speech.
Wukong diligently emptied pockets. Not just money—anything that looked expensive. Sideburns could only click his tongue in awe. He was so thorough that Sparrow-Eyes, who'd been sneaking glances, felt his own motivation surge. These Seokhwa Gate bastards had already been on his bad side. Getting to loot their pockets like this? How could that not be fun?
"Money... and this sword looks decent. Ooh, what's with the jewelry? Saving it for a woman, huh. This'll fetch a bit too. Hmm?"
In the middle of this cheerful plunder, Sparrow-Eyes cocked his head. Among the reasonably impressive goods, a shabby sword fragment had tumbled out. It was so old and rusted it looked like nothing more than a blunt lump of iron. The strange part was the box it had been kept in—that looked expensive. The kind of box you'd use for precious jewels or spiritual elixirs.
Sparrow-Eyes, who'd been expecting something valuable, felt his excitement deflate at once.
That was when it happened.
"Y-you bastard! L-leave that thing exactly where it is! Don't you dare touch it!"
Hubei Red Wolf, who had been lying there half-dead and unconscious, somehow found the strength to bellow. The violent reaction caught Wukong's interest.
"What's the big deal?"
"Huh? No, it's nothing. It was wrapped up all fancy so I thought it might be some treasure, but it's just a rusty old sword fragment."
"You insolent—! Do you have any idea what that is?! Touch it and I'll take your whole damn hand off!"
Wukong was incredulous.
"Aigoo, old man. Talk like that and now I'm even more curious. You might as well get on your knees and beg me to please, please pick it up and take a look. Go on. Bow."
It was, quite literally, a broken shard of a blade. So badly rusted it looked like a lump of scrap. Garbage you couldn't even sell as junk.
"These guys carry around all kinds of trash, Great Hero."
"......"
"Great Hero?"
Wukong didn't answer. Sensing something off, Sparrow-Eyes stole a glance at his face.
"......"
Wukong examined the sword fragment with an uncharacteristic seriousness, his expression blank. How much time passed? A question surfaced on his face, then suspicion, then a growing certainty.
"Haa. This isn't something that should be here."
Wukong pressed his fingers hard against his brow, looking thoroughly annoyed.
"You. Do you even know what you're carrying around?"
Hubei Red Wolf kept his mouth shut. The silent contempt of a man who had no intention of telling him anything. Then he saw Wukong's eyes, and his body began to shake. He couldn't breathe. He trembled.
"Kh— khuhk!"
The slick, oily face was gone. Bloodless lips clenched over gritted teeth, and two eyes blazing like molten lava—pupils flashing a brilliant gold—were locked on him as if they meant to swallow him whole. He felt stripped naked, laid bare down to the last scrap of himself.
No. It wasn't just a feeling.
Wukong chewed the words out between clenched teeth, one character at a time.
The wisdom-eye that discerns truth from falsehood and sees through all things.
Beneath the Fiery Golden Eyes, Hubei Red Wolf was nothing more than a helpless human being.
"I-I don't... I don't know what it is. O-one day, h-he... he put out a bounty on it to every last black-path outfit."
"A bounty?"
"Said he'd pay a fortune in gold if someone found it..."
The corner of Wukong's mouth curled slowly upward. A flash of white fangs.
A field of pure white vision no human could see. Wukong looked straight into Hubei Red Wolf's soul. It wasn't a lie.
Which meant there was someone collecting these sword fragments. Someone who intended to gather every last piece and put them back together.
"So there's someone out there who knows what this is."
And that someone is human. A human.
Wukong smiled faintly. Through countless incidents and fights that ran day and night, the reason he had come this far was clear.
Instinct. The instinct of a great demon born.
Wukong felt the pull of inevitability in his bones.
Of all times. Tang Sanzang's soul vanishes, a celestial object appears in the mortal world, and there's a human down here hunting for it.
Wukong asked Hubei Red Wolf,
"Who is it. The one I'm going to meet."
"S-Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi."
Of course Wukong had no reaction to the alias. He'd never heard of the man. Behind him, though, Sideburns let out a scream.
"S-Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi!"
"You know him?"
"He's been a declared public enemy of Murim for over five years and still hasn't been caught. He's famous for it."
Wukong shrugged.
"So, a bad guy, then?"
"Huh? W-well, yes. He killed seven Shaolin Arhats and five beggars of the Beggars' Sect and got away, and during the Orthodox-Unorthodox War he even killed a blood relative of the Namgung Clan and lived to tell about it. The ordinary civilians who've died by his hand number in the dozens..."
Wukong suddenly let out a theatrical wail.
"Oho, what tragedy!"
"......"
No—he'd been building this whole atmosphere, and now what was this?
"As Heaven's own Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, how could I stand by and watch an evildoer commit the great sin of murder? Am I wrong?"
"......"
A slow chill crept down Sideburns' spine.
"When humans are suffering like this, how could this Teacher Sun, a god of Heaven, turn a blind eye? Let's go. This Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi or whatever. We're catching him."
When the thing he'd been dreading finally came out of Wukong's mouth, Sideburns nearly jumped out of his skin.
"W-weren't we in a hurry to get to the Namgung Clan Estate?"
"It'll just take a minute."
"E-even so, changing the schedule this suddenly..."
"Brother! Brother! A departure ban just went out at every dock!"
"What?"
"The Wulin Alliance requested it from the authorities. They found traces of a public enemy, so they want every ship held until Murim's warriors arrive."
Sideburns' face went dark, like he'd just chewed a mouthful of shit. Wukong shrugged.
"So if we want to take a boat, the guy has to get caught first? Well. Not like we've got a choice."
The easy, slippery tone made Sideburns shake his head hard.
"Let's just wait. The Wulin Alliance warriors will come and catch him."
"And let them snatch my prey?"
Wukong laughed lightly. Eyebrows arched in a crescent. That same expression, full of mischief.
The meeting place between Hubei Red Wolf and Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi was a tavern.
When Sideburns heard the name of the place, his face went sour.
"You know it?"
"I've been thrown out of there for drinking, yeah."
"Must've been a real piece of work. Thrown out of a tavern. Tsk tsk."
Sideburns mumbled something as if he wanted to protest, then sighed and led the way.
The tavern was close to the docks. He really must have been a problem customer. The moment the doorman spotted Sideburns, his eyes went wide.
"Well, well? What's our monk of Hayeon Mountain doing here? Come to cause another scene?"
"Save the mockery. I've got someone to meet. Move."
"Bullshit."
The doorman spat a curse and swung a fist. They were standing too close, and it was a sucker punch aimed at a vital point. Sideburns couldn't dodge.
But Sun Wukong, who'd been watching from farthest back, suddenly appeared and caught the doorman's hand.
Crunch!
He snapped the wrist in a single motion, and before the man could even scream, drove a fist straight into his face.
Crack!
The nose bone shattered. The bridge of the nose caved in. The doorman lost consciousness from that single blow and crumpled, swaying.
Sideburns stared in shock. Wukong snorted a laugh.
"This Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, is the chief of Hayeon Stronghold, yeah? How am I supposed to stand here and watch my own people take a beating?"
For a moment, Sideburns' expression turned complicated.
Wukong cackled like he was having the time of his life and strode into the tavern without the slightest hesitation. Then he bellowed at the top of his lungs, all swagger.
"You've got a customer, you bastards."
A very distinguished customer, at that.