Chapter 23: Trading Blows
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 23: Trading Blows
Kicking a snow wolf out of the Ice Palace because they couldn't afford to feed it?
That meant the Ice Palace’s financial situation was dire.
Come to think of it...
‘I remember hearing stories about how the Palace Lord went to great lengths to save the Young Palace Lord.’
He seemed to recall rumors from his past life that the Ice Palace had fallen into poverty. If the Hyeok Ryeon-yeom of that time—who lived like a total scoundrel—had heard such rumors, they were as good as fact.
It meant the North Sea’s coffers were truly running dry.
“So, you never intended to honor the bet from the start?”
At Hyeok Ryeon-yeom’s words, Seol Un-cheol hung his head low.
“Since you’ve kicked the snow wolf out, I’ll take that to mean the wolf Baek Mu-yong was caring for no longer has an owner. Is that correct?”
Elder Baek Seol-pung reluctantly nodded at Hyeok Ryeon-yeom’s question.
“Understood. Thank you.”
Hyeok Ryeon-yeom gave Elder Baek a formal fist salute and turned away without a lingering thought.
He had finished assessing the situation.
As he headed back to his quarters, he questioned the two ghosts.
“Sword Venerable, Demon Empress. Do either of you happen to have any money stashed away from the old days?”
At his words, the Snow Wind Sword Saint, Baek Un-han—revered as a Martial God of the North Sea—and Han Seol the Demon Empress looked at each other.
—Ahem...
They looked a bit guilty.
—Master, it seems you might have left behind an inheritance you didn't tell me about.
—And what about you? Do you have no hidden assets? It looks like the Ice Palace is in quite a bind, so why don't you dig something up?
The Sword Venerable and the Demon Empress began to bicker.
“So, do you have something or not?”
—Well... I do have a stash.
The Demon Empress was the first to fold.
“Can you tell me where it is?”
—I can tell you, but I have no idea if it’s still there after all this time.
True enough. Two hundred years had passed; the chances of anything remaining were slim.
“Just tell me the location for now. I’ll do my best to find it.”
—Then let us go together tomorrow.
It was too late today.
Returning to his room, Hyeok Ryeon-yeom lay on his bed, thinking that days in the North Sea were exceptionally long, and closed his eyes.
*
The next morning.
“Are you awake, Young Master?!”
Weizhi Young shouted boisterously.
“What’s going on so early in the morning?”
“I heard that Warrior Baek found out about what happened yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
“He heard that the snow wolf he was with was sent out of the Ice Palace, and he’s already rushed out to find it!”
“What?”
Hyeok Ryeon-yeom had intentionally tried not to tell Baek Mu-yong.
‘Something is definitely strange.’
When he thought about it, it didn't add up. It had only been a few days since Baek Mu-yong had been transferred from the Ice Wolf Unit to the Little Snow Unit.
‘Judging by Elder Baek’s attitude yesterday...’
A tamed snow wolf was undoubtedly a precious resource, even within the Ice Palace. It was hard to believe they would just cast such an asset out simply because of the cost of feed.
‘If it’s a precious resource, they could just hunt wild animals to feed it...’
That led to only one conclusion.
‘This is clearly someone’s scheme.’
Having reached a conclusion, Hyeok Ryeon-yeom nodded.
“Where are the Deputy Squad Leader and Tae Un-seo?”
“Tae Un-seo is preparing breakfast for you, Young Master!”
“Tell him to stop immediately and call them both here.”
Outside the fortress walls of the Ice Palace lay a harsh, unforgiving snowy wilderness. If someone was targeting Baek Mu-yong while he was out there alone, he was in grave danger.
A short while later.
“You called for us?”
Eun-bin and Tae Un-seo joined him.
“I apologize for not being able to serve breakfast,” Tae Un-seo said.
“It’s fine.”
In fact, it was for the best.
“Why did you summon us?”
“Baek Mu-yong has left the Ice Palace.”
“Alone... you mean?”
“Is Squad Leader Baek a child? Is his leaving the palace really enough of a reason to call us like this?”
Hyeok Ryeon-yeom explained what had happened with the Ice Wolf Unit the previous day.
“...If that’s the case, we definitely need to go after him.”
Eun-bin’s narrow eyes opened slightly. It seemed he, too, realized the gravity of the situation.
“Let’s move quickly.”
Nodding, Hyeok Ryeon-yeom began to deploy his lightness technique. Weizhi Young, Eun-bin, and Tae Un-seo began to chase after him at a frantic pace.
*
At that same time.
Baek Mu-yong was moving to find White Night, the snow wolf he had shared his life with.
‘Who could it be?’
Baek Mu-yong was already aware that the Ice Palace’s finances were in poor shape. He had silently accepted being separated from White Night when he was reassigned from the Ice Wolf Unit to the Little Snow Unit. He believed that White Night, who had grown up alongside him, would be fine on his own.
However, he never imagined someone would kick White Night out of the Ice Palace entirely. If he hadn't received a secret message sent by someone this morning, he wouldn't have known until it was too late.
“It’s dangerous outside the palace.”
Even for a snow wolf, a creature of the tundra, encountering a white bear would leave it helpless. Since White Night had trained with the warriors of the Ice Wolf Unit, he wouldn't have much trouble surviving in the wild, but...
‘How dare they send White Night away without even asking me?’
From Baek Mu-yong’s perspective, it was utterly unacceptable. White Night was surely waiting for him somewhere.
‘I feel sorry toward the Captain, but...’
To Baek Mu-yong, White Night was more important than a captain he had only recently met.
“Where are you? Where could you be?”
Tracking was the specialty of the Ice Wolf Unit. While efficiency skyrocketed when working with a snow wolf, Baek Mu-yong was a master tracker even without one.
“Found it.”
To the east of the Ice Palace.
He found traces of White Night in an area where snowy mountains rose sporadically. Since it appeared White Night had been kicked out while Baek Mu-yong was away at the Demonic Cult, the wolf must have headed into the mountains out of hunger.
The problem was that white bears lived in those mountains—apex predators that could easily slaughter a pack of snow wolves.
“Please, just be safe.”
Baek Mu-yong intended to keep White Night with him, even if it meant fighting the leader of the Ice Wolf Unit. As he climbed higher into the mountains, his expression hardened.
“Bloodstains?”
Red blood splattered across the white snow entered his vision. There had clearly been a battle. Examining the traces, he was relieved to find no signs of a white bear. It was enough to judge that White Night was likely still alive.
However, he saw something even more unpleasant. A collar, the symbol of an Ice Palace snow wolf, lay on the ground.
‘It’s not White Night’s. Which means...’
Checking the combat traces before him, Baek Mu-yong realized these were the marks of the Ice Wolf Unit, the group he had belonged to for so long. Specifically...
‘The Driving Hunt method.’
Grit—
Baek Mu-yong gnashed his teeth.
“...I’ll kill them.”
There was only one reason why so many people envied Baek Mu-yong, who was merely a squad leader in the Ice Wolf Unit.
‘Because I’m a bastard.’
Like the Five Great Demon Families of the Heavenly Demon Cult, the North Sea Ice Palace was composed of five families, led by the North Wind Snow Family, the lineage of the current Palace Lord. Each family was divided into internal armed groups, meaning each faction held a hierarchy centered on the bloodlines of the five families.
Among them, the power of the elders in the Council of Elders and the Ice Council was as formidable as that of the family heads.
Baek 설풍 of the Ice Wolf Baek Family had a beloved son who had died young, but one day, that son had brought a child back from the Outlands, not the North Sea. That child was Baek Mu-yong—the unacknowledged grandson of Baek Seol-pung, a bastard of mixed blood.
This was why Baek Mu-yong understood Hyeok Ryeon-yeom’s situation better than anyone. People envied what they did not have. Despite being a bastard, Baek Mu-yong had been assigned to the Ice Wolf Unit because of his Baek bloodline, and he had to endure the jealousy and resentment of others.
He didn't care if they targeted him. He believed it was his cross to bear.
But...
‘What did White Night do to deserve this?’
White Night, raised as a high-bred snow wolf, had done nothing wrong.
“White Night! Where are you?!”
His thunderous voice vibrated through the snowy mountains.
“...”
But no sound returned.
“Dammit.”
If those chasing White Night were still on his trail, he had to find him quickly.
Swish—
Just then, he sensed a presence. The moment he whipped his head around—
Shwaak!
A sword flew toward the back of Baek Mu-yong’s neck. It was too late to dodge.
Kwang!
It was difficult for Baek Mu-yong, who specialized in the principles of the heavy sword rather than the fast sword, to react in time. Instead, he poured the weight of his heavy sword into a concentration of cold energy.
Crack—!
The released energy began to freeze the incoming blade.
“Energy Control Rush?”
A familiar voice and a familiar strike. Baek Mu-yong could immediately tell who had swung the sword.
“...Was White Night just bait?”
“I was going to kill that damn wolf too, but he was trickier than I thought for a mere beast.”
Thump, thump.
The man who had ambushed Baek Mu-yong was someone he knew all too well.
“Captain. So it was you after all.”
The Leader of the Ice Wolf Unit, Seol Jin-ho. One of the people who loathed Baek Mu-yong the most. He was one of the few with the authority to kick White Night out.
“Why on earth are you going this far?”
“You... have no idea.”
Seol Jin-ho had been trembling from the moment he saw Baek Mu-yong.
“Do you know how happy I was when you were transferred to the Little Snow Unit? The fact that I could finally walk a different path from you made me deliriously happy.”
Baek Mu-yong and Seol Jin-ho had known each other since childhood. Seol Jin-ho was a member of a branch family of the Seol clan who constantly picked on Baek Mu-yong. Unlike the direct line led by Palace Lord Seol Baek-ho, the branch families were, in a way, in the same boat as Baek Mu-yong.
The problem was that Baek Mu-yong was of Baek Seol-pung’s blood. Baek Seol-pung was an elder from the Ice Wolf Unit and constantly interfered in its affairs.
‘I’ve endured everything until now, but...’
This situation had clearly crossed the line.
“Where is White Night, Captain?”
“It’s truly disgusting to see you still addressing me as Captain.”
“I am no longer part of the Ice Wolf Unit.”
“Exactly. Then you shouldn't care what happens to White Night. Someone who isn't a member of the Ice Wolf Unit has no business keeping a snow wolf, after all.”
His words were logically sound. However...
“White Night has done nothing wrong, has he?”
“His very existence is a mistake.”
With those words, Baek Mu-yong’s reason snapped.
“If the other snow wolves think so too...”
Srrrng.
Baek Mu-yong leveled his sword at Seol Jin-ho.
“I will no longer recognize you as the Leader of the Ice Wolf Unit.”
“I was just thinking it would be a waste to leave you as a squad leader. Let’s end this here.”
If he had intended to kill Baek Mu-yong, he should have finished it during the ambush moments ago. Just as Baek Mu-yong’s sword, shrouded in blue qi, was about to make the surrounding air heavy—
Whoosh—
Flames erupted. At the familiar warmth, Baek Mu-yong turned his head.
“...Captain?”
“The Captain of the Little Snow Unit?”
The matrilocal son-in-law from the Demonic Cult.
Hyeok Ryeon-yeom, the Captain of the Little Snow Unit, appeared alongside Weizhi Young, Eun-bin, and Tae Un-seo.
*
It hadn't taken long to find Baek Mu-yong.
“Amazing, he really was here.”
“I received intel that wolf howls were heard east of the Ice Palace recently. Those howls had to be from a snow wolf.”
Eun-bin had acquired a surprising amount of information, though it was unclear how. Combining this data to pinpoint where Baek Mu-yong would have moved was not a difficult task for him.
—That is Seol Jin-ho, the Leader of the Ice Wolf Unit. He has always found Squad Leader Baek to be a nuisance.
There was nothing Eun-bin didn't know.
“What business do you have with a squad leader of the Little Snow Unit, Ice Wolf Captain?”
Hyeok Ryeon-yeom and Seol Jin-ho held equal rank. Normally, he wouldn't have used such casual speech upon their first meeting.
‘But given the situation, it’s obvious they aren't on good terms.’
He needed to seize the momentum.
“Hmph, I didn't expect the Little Snow Captain to move so quickly.”
Seol Jin-ho was sizing up Hyeok Ryeon-yeom. Hyeok Ryeon-yeom felt a sense of dissonance at the sight.
‘Alone?’
Even if it was to ambush Baek Mu-yong, moving alone was strange.
‘Are the members of the Ice Wolf Unit chasing Baek Mu-yong’s wolf?’
Ah. Come to think of it, he realized the most bizarre point. It was well known that members of the Ice Wolf Unit almost always moved with their snow wolves. Naturally, Seol Jin-ho, the leader, should have had a snow wolf with him.
Yet, there was no snow wolf to be seen near Seol Jin-ho. Which meant...
“Young-ie, Tae Un-seo. Search the area for any snow wolves. There’s a high probability they’re hunting Baek Mu-yong’s wolf.”
“Yes! Understood!”
“I’ll get right on it.”
Weizhi Young and Tae Un-seo began to move. Seol Jin-ho simply watched them leave.
“You’re not stopping them?”
“There’s no reason to.”
Seol Jin-ho was alone, but he acted as if he had nothing to lose.
“So, Baek Mu-yong’s wolf isn't what’s important; what matters is that you can kill Baek Mu-yong here?”
“You’re quick on the uptake.”
“Even with Young-ie and Tae Un-seo gone, you must realize you’re outnumbered?”
“Surely a man who aspires to be the Ice Palace’s son-in-law wouldn't resort to ganging up on me?”
At Seol Jin-ho’s words, Hyeok Ryeon-yeom stroked his chin in thought.
‘This guy... he still doesn't really know me.’
Just then.
“Captain, I’m sorry,” Baek Mu-yong apologized.
“What’s there to be sorry for? You just ran out to find your family.”
To Baek Mu-yong, the snow wolf must have been like family. Therefore...
“Targeting someone’s family is crossing the line.”
Hyeok Ryeon-yeom looked at Seol Jin-ho and asked Eun-bin.
“Deputy, is this guy someone I can beat up without any issues?”
“Captains trading blows is a common occurrence in the Ice Palace.”
At Eun-bin’s answer, the corners of Hyeok Ryeon-yeom’s mouth curled upward.