I Know Who You Are

"Hey, Guanyin. Look here."

"I didn't kill him, all right? Figured I owed your reputation that much."

Once the fight was over, Sun Wukong surveyed his surroundings.

"Ah, damn it."

Irritation flared through him in an instant.

"The plates, the cups—everything's smashed."

The mood was dead. There was no atmosphere left for drinking. He bit into the last remaining apple and gave the unconscious Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi a few light slaps on the cheek.

"Hey. Hey, python. Wake up. Sleep out here and you'll wake up with a crooked mouth, old-timer."

The slaps grew steadily harder, as if to say: Still not waking up? Still holding out?

Smack! Smaack! Smaaaack!

By the time two ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or three teeth went flying, Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi stirred from his faint. His vacant, unfocused eyes seemed unable to comprehend the situation he had woken into.

Sun Wukong paid it no mind.

"Who is it? The one who told you to collect those sword fragments. Answer carefully. I may be a merciful Buddha and a gentleman of beautiful heart, but I can't stand being lied to."

Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi did not answer. Sun Wukong's eyes began to flush red.

As the Fiery Golden Eyes revealed themselves, Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi trembled violently. Anyone would have. To witness, at point-blank range, a pair of eyes burning like lumps of fire, and pupils of a gold so deep there was no telling where it ended—that alone would be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enough.

Worse still was the sensation that those eyes were prying his skull open and leafing through whatever lay inside. It was a fear that made the whole body shudder.

Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi's lips moved in a mumble. Sun Wukong slowly let his killing intent rise.

In truth, not once since descending to the mortal world had Sun Wukong unleashed his killing intent. He had never had a reason to harbor a will to kill.

Those two—Sideburns and Sparrow-Eyes—trying to rob him? That had just been a bit of fun. Fighting Seokhwa Gate? That had been exercise, nothing more. The brawl with Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi just now? Well, he'd been curious what the man had been in his previous life, so he'd taken a closer look.

But this was different.

Sun Wukong truly intended to kill. The air around him was of an entirely different order than anything that had come before. If the Great Sage set his mind on ending a life, there were vanishingly few beings who could escape him.

How was a creature that had merely been a man-eating python in its last life supposed to endure that?

It was a simple intimidation. Just a threat to kill—but an effective one. The more a man treated other people's lives as nothing, the more desperately he clung to his own.

"Th-that person... is... khack!"

The moment he tried to force the words out, Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi vomited a clot of black blood.

"...Tsk."

Sun Wukong clicked his tongue and withdrew his killing intent. Afraid the man might actually die, he quickly struck several points across his body. He sealed the bleeding, pressed the acupoints that would steady the breath—and the blood stopped. But Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi could not hold on, and fainted once more.

Sideburns, who had been watching, sidled closer.

"I've never seen one before, but isn't that a restriction seal? The kind the unorthodox sects put on their own people when they don't trust them."

"A restriction seal? Do martial artists use that kind of thing often?"

"Well... I'd only ever heard of them. This is the first time I've actually seen one. There's a lot of talk, one way or another, about whether they even exist in practice or if it's all just rumor. A legendary technique, you might say."

Sun Wukong twirled a lock of his hair around one finger.

Well. This just got annoying.

The man had clearly been about to talk. Something had forced his mouth shut.

A restriction seal...

The kind martial artists were said to use?

No.

This is almost identical to something I already know.

More precisely, it was sorcery—a technique that ran on an entirely different track from martial arts that used internal energy. A kind of spellcraft Sun Wukong had only ever seen in the old days, when he was still running wild through the mortal world.

So there are still people in this world who use this kind of thing.

Sun Wukong's eyes settled, growing quietly cold.

In more ways than one, this is a little too convenient to call coincidence.

He shuddered, already sensing that things were about to get complicated.

"What do you intend to do now, sir?"

"How come you don't look tired? I just fought my guts out."

"A precaution, that's all. It was never going to happen, but if Your Eminence ever found himself in danger, I'd need something left in the tank to land a blow."

"On me?"

"Oh, heavens, of course not."

Sideburns played it off with a straight face. Sun Wukong, however, had already noticed the shift in the man's attitude. The fear was gone. In its place was something that almost felt like a man who had seen through life itself and come out the other side.

"Well, you do know what kind of day this has been, don't you?"

"Nothing special."

"We picked up Your Eminence without a clue who you were, tied you up, and got beaten like dogs. Then out of nowhere you said we were going to the Namgung Clan, so we came down the mountain, ran into Seokhwa Gate, picked their pockets, and then you suddenly decided to go after Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi—a Wulin Public Enemy—and proceeded to beat him into the dirt as well. All of this happened in the span of exactly twelve hours."

In short: he was so wrung out that he had simply given up and achieved enlightenment. And in truth, that also meant the distance between him and Sun Wukong had closed a little.

It could hardly have been otherwise. Whatever else had happened, Sun Wukong had saved Sideburns from Seokhwa Gate. And to Sideburns, Sun Wukong himself was not such a bad sort. The man did not seem rotten, at least—the madness was a separate issue.

On top of that, the words Wukong had tossed off earlier, speaking of fate and connection, had struck something deep—deep enough to put a hairline crack in a wall that had been sealed shut for a very long time. A remark thrown out as if it were nothing, and yet it had carried a fragrance both profound and strangely refined.

By this point Sideburns had taken a step beyond mere fear. A very human curiosity had taken root, and his wariness had naturally dropped. Of course, being too exhausted to keep up any pretense had a great deal to do with it as well.

"Then tie that one up and keep an eye on him."

"Watch him, sir?"

"The two of you take shifts. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

"The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven is a god of the heavens, and he still needs to sleep?"

"I take dumps and piss too."

"I—I'm tired as well, you know."

"You've been goofing off all day and you're tired? Don't be such a baby."

"With my skills, I can't handle watching that man. I truly can't."

Sideburns' face genuinely did look exhausted.

"I did all the fighting. Why are you more worn out than I am? That's starting to piss ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me off, you know that?"

"Body and soul, sir. Body and soul. This has probably been the most terrifying day of my entire life."

"You're already wrecked. A little more wrecked won't kill you."

Sideburns stared at him, incredulous.

"Be honest with me."

"About what?"

"Do people tell you that you have no conscience? Regularly?"

"That's the first I've ever heard it. Feels weird."

"I have a feeling you'll be hearing it a lot, so you may as well get used to it."

"You're drunk, aren't you."

"Yeah, you bastard. My heart's been pounding all day because of you. Can't you just piss off to the Namgung Clan by yourself?"

"..."

Sun Wukong's face went blank. Sideburns immediately composed himself and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry. When I drink, I wouldn't even recognize my own mother. That was the alcohol talking. I get ugly when I'm drunk."

"You barely put a single cup to your lips."

"I get drunk off the smell alone."

Sun Wukong let out a short, incredulous laugh.

"You. I'm starting to get a sense of who you are."

"Pardon?"

"Drop the act and show me your real personality, and now I can actually see you."

"Do people tell you that talking to you is impossible? Regularly?"

"That's the first I've heard of that too."

"I have a feeling you'll be hearing it often."

The honest truth was that Sideburns was so exhausted he had simply stopped caring, and the words were tumbling out however they pleased. Beside him, Sparrow-Eyes was beginning to wonder whether spending a single day next to Sun Wukong had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠infected the man with a contagious strain of lunacy.

Sun Wukong didn't mind in the slightest. He threw his head back and laughed, as if he were having a wonderful time.

"Enough. I'm going to sleep. Watch him properly."

Sparrow-Eyes tilted his head.

Strange. He sounds... closer, somehow?

There was a warmth of familiarity in Wukong's voice. The man had just talked back to him at length—and Wukong felt closer to him for it?

Is he the type who warms up to you if you just drop the distance and walk right up?

On the off chance that was it, Sparrow-Eyes decided to try.

"Hey, you bastard. If you're drunk, just go to sleep already."

"..."

"I—I'm sorry. I think I might be drunk too."

Sun Wukong did not change his expression. That indifferent face was the last thing Sparrow-Eyes remembered.

CRACK!

A violent shock landed on the crown of his skull. As his mind faded, Sparrow-Eyes whimpered inwardly.

Why am I not allowed to act friendly...

Sparrow-Eyes keeled over in a dead faint. Sideburns let out a long sigh.

"Will you... take a shift, then?"

"No. If you're tired, wake him up and make him take over."

Sideburns said nothing. His head simply drooped.

Watching the man's retreating back, Sun Wukong smiled without end. A thread of fate, burning as if it had caught white fire. For some reason, his mood had turned light. Whether he was drunk on wine or drunk on fate, he couldn't tell.

"He escaped."

"...You've got some nerve, saying that so plainly."

"What was I supposed to do? The man is stronger than I am."

"Funny, I don't see a single scratch on you."

"It's an old truth, sir. Pick a fight you can't win and you lose your life for nothing."

"That's extremely irrational of you."

"Pardon?"

"Because you didn't factor in losing your life to me."

Only then did Sideburns shake off his fatigue and bow his head in a hurry.

He had spent a long time in organizations. First as a Shaolin lay disciple—a life of men only, where desire itself had to be suppressed—and then among river bandits, living in a pack. From both, he had learned exactly one thing.

You have to know where the line is.

No matter how decent a person seemed, cross a certain line and everything turned to ruin. Right now, Sideburns' instincts were whispering that this was the line.

"I'm sorry. I've been tired since yesterday, worn down, and on top of that I was drunk, so I think my mind wandered off somewhere."

"I already told you. You barely drank."

"I truly do get drunk just from the smell. I can't hold my liquor."

"You look like you could drink a horse under the table."

Sun Wukong snorted a laugh. Sideburns snuck a glance at his face, then quietly let out a breath of relief.

Good. He hadn't crossed it. Wukong's mood did not seem as foul as he had feared. Even with last night's captive—Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi—having fled, the man looked completely unbothered.

Almost as if...

As if he'd known the man would run?

No—if that were the case, he should have taken proper measures to stop him. Why put me on watch? If Wukong himself had been standing guard, would that python even have dared to—

Wait. Did he let him escape on purpose?

No. That couldn't be.

Sun Wukong smiled, the expression full of meaning. Sideburns stared at him, at a loss.

"Why?"

"Because of this thing he was looking for."

"What on earth is it? It's just a piece of scrap."

"That's how it looks to human eyes. He revealed himself—a Wulin Public Enemy, throwing his own safety to the wind—just to find this. You think it's ordinary?"

"..."

"And more than that, he didn't even seem to know exactly what it was. Someone put him up to it."

Sideburns' mouth fell slightly open.

Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi, moving on someone else's orders. Wukong's words made sense, though. Branded a public enemy of the martial world, the man should have been hiding for his life—and instead he had shown himself in the open. That meant whatever he was hunting, he was hunting it desperately.

"So... Your Eminence is after the real one. The one above him."

"That's right. It's a piece that bothers me too."

"You let him go on purpose."

"If they prize this thing so highly, they'll come looking for me to get it back. That python will scurry straight home and sing."

Sideburns clicked his tongue in something like awe.

The man looked like he had no common sense at all, sloppy and careless—and he was nothing of the kind.

Who's he calling a python? From where I'm standing, this man has a few pythons coiled up inside him.

Every so often, the presence of a master who had weathered every storm in the world came through with startling force.

"And here I thought you'd captured Sa Hyeol-cheol-gwi as a way to get into the Namgung Clan."

Sun Wukong shrugged, as if he had no idea what the man was talking about.

"Huh? What are you on about? I'm just going to walk into the Namgung Clan."

"...?"

Something in Wukong's reaction told Sideburns he had missed a piece of the conversation entirely.

"If I may ask... for what reason are you going to the Namgung Clan?"

"There's someone I'm looking for. So I'm going to look for them."

"Did this person... invite Your Eminence personally?"

"Invite? No. I'm just going."

"...You're going to the Namgung Clan without an invitation?"

"What's all this about invitations? A guest shows up, you open the door and bring out a meal. What's the world coming to, being so stingy?"

"No, look—that's— hah."

Sideburns opened his mouth, then pounded his own chest in sheer frustration.

"The Namgung Clan Estate strictly forbids outsiders from entering."

"What?"

"They don't just take anyone as a guest."

"..."

Sun Wukong's face hardened in an instant.