Eight Corners Society (1)
Eight Corners Society (1)
"The victor of this bout! The Eight Trigam Association's Hwang Ryong-seong!"
Even as we waited for the tide to turn, the Dragon Phoenix Gathering proceeded steadily. Hwang Ryong-seong, who had also won his second match with ease, struck a victor's pose and strode confidently into the arena. A filthy beggar approached me where I sat in my chair. The bastard had smeared charcoal on his face and his eyes were dull and bleary, but he held out his hand toward me with unmistakable intent.
"What is it?"
"A letter for you, sir."
The beggar spoke and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pouch. As it happened, Yeong-yu was preparing for his match, so only Seon-go was beside me.
"What kind of letter is it?"
"There's an address written on it."
An address and a time, scribbled crookedly like a child's handwriting. The moment Zhuge Yeong-yu returned from his match and saw the address, she interpreted it for me.
"It's Hwang Ryong-seong's house. It seems your performance left quite an impression."
"You can tell just from the address?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu nodded. A look both pitying and annoyed washed over his face. Apparently, Hwang Ryong-seong's house was not a pleasant memory for Zhuge Yeong-yu.
"Anyone from Hubei Province can never forget it the moment they see it. You'll feel the same way once you see the mansion for yourself, great hero. It's one of the tourist attractions of this city."
"Is it that magnificent a place?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu shook his head, looking thoroughly disgusted.
"It is not."
She didn't seem inclined to tell me what the house looked like. So I retreated to a back alley and spoke to the beggar who was still at his trade.
"I didn't know the Beggars' Sect's beggars were being used as couriers."
"Isn't everything a matter of how you use it? It's a method the martial artists of Hubei Province often employ. The Beggars' Sect's beggars may wear filthy clothes, but they're quite good at delivering letters in secret."
Zhuge Yeong-yu shrugged and wiped his sweat with a towel. His upper garment had slipped, revealing his shoulder line, which was quite elegant, and his exposed collarbone had a lovely shape. Then, something like a white bandage flashed near his chest. I looked at the bandage and asked.
"Were you injured during the match, by any chance?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu wore an expression that didn't understand my question. He tilted his head, rolled up his sleeve, and said.
"I wasn't injured, though?"
"What's that bandage, then?"
"Bandage?"
Yeong-yu turned his head in the direction my finger pointed, suddenly startled, his body practically floating up in surprise. He adjusted his clothes and said.
"Ah, no, this isn't an injury. It's just... I, I sweat a lot, so I wrap it to prevent chafing."
I stared at Seon-go. Seon-go returned a face that said she had no idea what was going on and instead looked at the martial arena, then asked me with a bright face.
"But wasn't today's match really fun? The level seems to rise higher each day, so it's quite entertaining to watch."
"Isn't that only natural? The Dragon Phoenix Gathering is where the promising talents who've been sifted and filtered show everything they have. It'll be even more worth watching when we reach the finals."
Zhuge Yeong-yu hastily jumped on Seon-go's words. Because of that, I missed the chance to continue the conversation, and we had to talk about other topics while waiting for the time to meet Hwang Ryong-seong.
But anyway, what kind of house was it that made Zhuge Yeong-yu so disgusted?
********
"Well, fuck."
When we arrived at the appointed time, Hwang Ryong-seong's mansion looked as though it had given physical form to the very concept of a nouveau riche vulgarian. It was flashy on the outside but tacky, its aesthetic sense abysmal, overflowing with nothing but the desire to show off. If I'd had the chance to face this mansion on my first day entering Hubei Province, I would have been cursing Zhuge Yeong-yu and the owner's sense of aesthetics out in tandem.
"I've been waiting. Sect Leader Docheol. Please, come this way."
Even the servant waiting in front of the main gate was dressed in clothes that glittered gold. He paid no attention whatsoever to color palette or combination, focusing solely on making things shine, so he looked like a person slathered in gold leaf moving about chaotically.
"Pardon my intrusion."
The interior of the mansion was an even greater spectacle. Expensive-looking ceramics were arranged here and there with no rhyme or reason, their sizes completely haphazard, and expensive-looking paintings hung on the walls. Below them, the prices were written out in numbers, achieving the absolute zenith of tackiness.
Looking closely, there were even price tags set up next to the ceramics, making the place look like a marketplace.
"The guest has arrived."
The servant bowed his head and lowered his voice. He was mimicking the grace of a servant from an influential household, but awkwardness seeped through, as if his original nature was not that of such a person. The servant bent his waist excessively, stuck his butt out behind him, and retreated with mincing steps.
The door burst open and Hwang Ryong-seong, wearing a golden robe, revealed himself.
He had already been drinking, it seemed, for his face was flushed red, and the wine cup in his hand was an object carved from jade.
"Come in, come in!"
Where the hell did he amass such wealth to indulge in this kind of luxury? It was strange that rumors about this weren't openly circulating throughout Hubei Province. This wasn't luxury an individual could simply accumulate—it was the kind only possible if his father was some renowned wealthy merchant or the sect leader of a massive sect.
I stifled the conjectures I only entertained in silence and followed the bastard into the room. Unlike the exterior, the room, painted with ornate patterns, was sparsely decorated with few ornaments. But what caught my eye more was the woman sitting in front of the table. A blonde-haired woman of the Colored-Eye People sat holding a liquor bottle, her face filled with deep melancholy.
I knew it was rude, but I couldn't help my eyes being drawn. She was a foreigner, a rare sight in this martial world. Hwang Ryong-seong gestured rudely with a pointing finger, speaking in the tone one uses to describe a collectible.
"My wife."
His wife? A bastard with money, a genius in martial arts, and he even had a blonde beauty for a wife? He was a truly lucky son of a bitch. The woman who was supposedly his wife remained silent, merely clutching the liquor bottle and behaving like a hostess even as Hwang Ryong-seong introduced her, her expression unchanging.
Hwang Ryong-seong rubbed the woman's face with his hand and said.
"A woman from the North Sea Ice Palace. Her name is Eun Ho-seol. Wife. A guest is here, why aren't you greeting him? Greet him, quickly."
"...Welcome."
A listless greeting came back. She bowed her head and offered me a mechanical greeting, then pulled her shoulder back as if to avoid Hwang Ryong-seong's touch, even furrowing her brow. Hwang Ryong-seong sneered at her reaction and spoke to me.
"I heard your wife is beautiful, but she's nothing compared to this Colored-Eye woman from the North Sea Ice Palace. What do you think? Isn't she a truly pretty woman?"
As he spoke, Hwang Ryong-seong seized his wife's chin. He turned it this way and that as if handling an object, then tilted Eun Ho-seol's face toward me to show her off. The woman's face was filled with misery, and yet bore a glint of resignation. I nodded and changed the subject appropriately.
'Appraising a man's wife will inevitably become a flaw later.' I had no desire to play along with him.
"But, the North Sea Ice Palace, isn't that a place beyond the frontier? How did you happen to form a connection that led to marriage?"
At those words, Hwang Ryong-seong burst into another hearty laugh and gestured. As Hwang Ryong-seong tilted his cup forward, Eun Ho-seol tilted the bottle and poured him more wine. The moment the cup was full, Hwang Ryong-seong tossed it into his mouth and roughly wiped his lips with his sleeve.
"Don't even ask. What do you think is the most earnest wish of those barbarians? After they learn their own martial arts and build up their power, what do you think they want to do?"
The word 'barbarians' grated on me. Eun Ho-seol also flinched her shoulders when the word came out. But she couldn't show a reaction visible to Hwang Ryong-seong right beside her. In any case, I had to answer the bastard's question.
What do they want to do after building up their power? For a great hero, there was only one goal.
"They'd want to conquer the world under heaven, wouldn't they?"
Hwang Ryong-seong nodded at my words.
"That's right. But is the world under heaven a place you can just devour with sheer strength? Say I suddenly become a terrifying master. Would all the sects of the world just follow me?"
A surprisingly objective and self-aware question came flying at me. I hesitated for a moment because I couldn't grasp his intention, but Hwang Ryong-seong answered himself.
"No. Not yet. My virtue and ability are outstanding, but I still have too few followers to conquer the world under heaven. But what about those barbarian bastards beyond the frontier? Even if they suddenly set foot on this land, who would welcome them?"
Hwang Ryong-seong kept bringing up barbarians even though his own wife was one. But even as he spoke that way, Eun Ho-seol, though she bit her lip or wore an uncomfortable expression, could not openly display her displeasure toward Hwang Ryong-seong.
The words that flowed from behind Hwang Ryong-seong's triumphant expression seemed to explain the reason.
"Order is important in everything. Even a heaven-sent genius like me must climb the stairs step by step. If those barbarians operating out in the frontier want to establish themselves in the Central Plains? If they want to put forth their name? Naturally, shouldn't they first offer a precious tribute to the most outstanding and magnificent man under heaven?"
That was it.
The reason the woman from the North Sea Ice Palace was being insulted by Hwang Ryong-seong in this place right now.
It was for the sake of her family back in that northern frontier.
She had made a deal with someone to make the name resound in the Central Plains.