The Weight of Secrets
Moyong Sehui was laid down in the room she had used until recently.
It had only been a little over two weeks, yet the familiar scent washed over her in a rush.
Just like when she had left, she forced open her lips, which still refused to part easily.
“Thank you. For saving me.”
“Rest. If it hurts, call for Yuhwa.”
Dan Hyunwoo, as if by habit, ruffled her hair again.
Her face flushed red.
Not from embarrassment, but from sheer mortification.
“My hair… I haven’t washed it in two weeks. I was tracking Jeoksan.”
“I see.”
He answered calmly, nothing more.
Did he not mind the filth? His face still held only concern.
Moyong Sehui pulled the blanket all the way over her head.
Out of shame, and because looking up at Dan Hyunwoo’s face from below felt strangely awkward.
Dan Hyunwoo extinguished the lantern and closed the paper door.
When he stepped outside, he saw Hwa Yuhwa waiting with a bottle of liquor already set out.
“Looks like you have something to say.”
“I just wanted to share a drink. It’s been a while, so I even made some side dishes with my own skill.”
Hwa Yuhwa picked up a piece with chopsticks and fed it directly into Dan Hyunwoo’s mouth.
He made a subtle face.
“Did you use medicinal herbs for the side dishes?”
“I wanted to give you something good for your health. Have you fallen for me again?”
“It’s not something for virility, is it?”
She flinched.
His senses were as sharp as ever.
Hwa Yuhwa grumbled under her breath.
Dan Hyunwoo slowly let a smile form on his lips.
“You set up this drinking session because of what Heugam said at the end.”
“Actually… well, yes. I never imagined those bastards would catch the scent of the Six-Horse Golden Plaque.”
“The information must have leaked from those who investigated the executed County Magistrate Baek Changseo and the constables. It seems the entire Central Plains is searching for it now.”
Hwa Yuhwa nodded.
The Six-Horse Golden Plaque was the only power capable of breaking the Gwan-Mu Bulgachim—the absolute non-aggression pact between the government and the martial world.
There would be no end to those who coveted it.
“I didn’t expect the rumor to spread this quickly. I wonder if I acted too hastily… but there was no choice. It involved Seoyeon and Hyeongyeom.”
“There really was no choice. But don’t forget one thing. I will protect the Captain.”
Dan Hyunwoo nodded.
Hwa Yuhwa had disguised it as a joke like always, but this time it was different.
Or perhaps she had always spoken her true feelings in the form of jokes.
Dan Hyunwoo lifted his cup.
“You didn’t put anything in the alcohol, did you?”
“Tsk.”
When she opened her eyes, a familiar ceiling greeted her.
From the brightness of the sunlight slipping through the gap in the paper door, Moyong Sehui realized she had slept for quite a long time.
Her body refused to listen, so she simply lay there in a daze.
Recalling the events of yesterday.
The moment Dan Gongja fought Heugam.
“You… Are you the owner of the Six-Horse Golden Plaque?”
Heugam’s final words.
The ones he had directed at Dan Hyunwoo.
She remembered them clearly.
She had been right beside the dying Heugam, so every syllable had been distinct.
She had been tracking Jeoksan when Heugam suddenly appeared.
Now she understood why he had shown up.
‘The Six-Horse Golden Plaque… So I wasn’t the only one searching for it.’
If a veteran of the murim like him had come looking, then the plaque undoubtedly existed.
Heugam had probably arrived in Hangzhou with far more information than the Murim Alliance possessed.
And that man had been certain.
That Dan Hyunwoo was the owner of the Six-Horse Golden Plaque.
‘As expected, Dan Gongja… is the owner of the Six-Horse Golden Plaque. I’m almost completely convinced now.’
It was still only a strong suspicion, but she doubted this conviction would ever waver.
Just as Heugam had deduced after countless investigations—investigations so thorough he refused to believe anyone else could possess it.
Moyong Sehui forced herself upright, intending to inform her father of this fact.
When she opened the paper door, Hwa Yuhwa and Dan Hyunwoo were sitting on the veranda as usual.
Hwa Yuhwa looked at her and jumped in surprise.
“Why did you come out? You shouldn’t be moving yet!”
“I wanted to send a messenger pigeon. Once Father hears through the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes that I was injured, he’ll worry terribly.”
Hwa Yuhwa supported the staggering Moyong Sehui.
Though they had only been apart for a little over two weeks, her touch felt like it had been years.
As warm as always.
And filled with genuine care.
“Don’t go alone. I’ll take you there.”
“Yes… Thank you.”
“And you don’t have to call me Captain here anymore, right? You can relax now.”
“……”
“You’ve been through a lot. It was hard, wasn’t it?”
“It’s just… well…”
She truly didn’t know why.
Tears began falling in large drops.
It wasn’t even because she was belatedly recalling the terror of death she had learned from Heugam.
She had simply returned.
“There, there. For now, don’t think about anything and rest deeply.”
A warm hand patted her back.
She had missed this touch so much.
The tears… refused to stop.
Bird Transmission Hall.
The place where messenger pigeons were sent.
Here, the speed of delivery, the level of secrecy, and even the number of characters varied according to the price.
Moyong Sehui chose the most expensive black hawk among the available birds.
With this one, the message should reach the Murim Alliance by the day after tomorrow.
“How much is it?”
“For that hawk, it’ll be five gold coins.”
Moyong Sehui handed over five of the twenty gold coins Dan Hyunwoo had previously given her, claiming it was payment for his labor.
The writing area was a square space completely enclosed by curtains.
Inside, Moyong Sehui picked up a brush and began writing in code.
The Sa-hyeol Alliance is searching for the Six-Horse Golden Plaque. The elder Heugam of the Sa-hyeol Alliance, who appeared while I was tracking Jeoksan, was also looking for it. I will continue my mission to find the Six-Horse Golden Plaque in Hangzhou. As for the person suspected to be its owner…
Moyong Sehui’s brush stopped mid-stroke.
Even she didn’t know why she had stopped.
She had been about to write Dan Hyunwoo’s name…
Yet for some reason, she couldn’t move the brush.
She adjusted her grip and continued writing.
There is still no one I suspect. Also, I am currently staying at the Dan Manor. I encountered Heugam but am unharmed. I will contact you again if new information arises.
“Please send this letter.”
When she handed it over, the master of the Bird Transmission Hall gave her a strange look.
“Well now, that black hawk that never flies because of its high price has gone out eight times in the last two days. Is something happening?”
Moyong Sehui let out a small laugh.
The Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes.
They must have all sent their own pigeons.
She wondered what Namgung Cheol had written.
“Bring Namgung Cheol here immediately! He was so obsessed with playing leader that he nearly got all of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes killed? And then he had the audacity to claim he did nothing wrong?”
“Alliance Leader, please calm yourself.”
Alliance Leader Moyong Seryong was seething with rage.
There was no trace of his usual dignified demeanor.
His beloved youngest daughter had nearly died.
His fury was only natural.
‘In truth, our daughter nearly died as well.’
That was why Jegal Ryong had deliberately reported everything in detail.
The report had been slightly delayed because Jegal Yeon had filled the letter so densely with tiny characters that it took an inordinate amount of time for his presbyopic eyes to read it all.
Moyong Seryong continued.
“Namgung Cheol, that bastard! He claims he only made a mistake because the others refused to cooperate when he was trying to do a good job?”
“That statement is only making the anger worse. The families of the other Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes have already begun to move.”
Just as the letter described, if not for the mysterious man who had cut down Heugam in a single stroke and taken Moyong Sehui away, they would have been annihilated.
Jegal Ryong said, “The Hebei Peng Clan has already sent gifts, praising Moyong Sehui not only for her great contribution in tracking Jeoksan but also for saving Peng Bogwang’s life from tetanus. The other clans are also strongly taking her side.”
“Strip Namgung Cheol of his status among the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes. Though it’s merely a gathering, the repercussions will still be significant.”
“You intend to thoroughly humiliate the Namgung Clan.”
“This is only the beginning.”
Moyong Seryong ground his teeth.
Killing intent radiated from him.
Yet Jegal Ryong found the situation somewhat welcome.
The recent movements of the Namgung Clan had been suspiciously strange.
Even the still-immature Jegal Yeon had come to the same conclusion.
‘This is a good chance to clip the Namgung Clan’s wings. Make sure they can’t pull any more tricks.’
Thanks to Moyong Sehui, things were resolving smoothly.
But what weighed on his mind was something else.
‘The man mentioned in Jegal Yeon’s letter. The one who killed Heugam with a single sword strike.’
His sword had been so fast it couldn’t even be seen, she had written.
Furthermore, the female physician traveling with him had supposedly created a miraculous pill that cured tetanus in mere moments.
A terrifying disease that killed over ninety percent of those afflicted.
‘With that level of skill, his name should have been known long ago. Yet he appeared out of nowhere.’
Perhaps the Alliance Leader knew something.
After all, the man had taken Moyong Sehui with him.
Jegal Ryong spoke carefully to test the waters.
“By the way, have you received any word from Sehui?”
“Not yet.”
“Shall we send someone to Hangzhou? I’m quite worried.”
“No need. She was severely injured, so she probably can’t move freely yet. She’ll send a letter once she recovers.”
“I suppose so.”
Jegal Ryong instinctively sensed that pressing further now would be unwise.
For the time being, they needed to focus on crushing Namgung Cheol and weakening the Namgung Clan.
Jegal Ryong bowed and closed the paper door.
Thud!
Once he was gone and Moyong Seryong was alone, he pulled a letter from his sleeve.
The letter Moyong Sehui had sent.
‘Heugam… So that bastard was also searching for the Six-Horse Golden Plaque.’
No one else knew this fact.
He had deliberately kept it hidden.
If everyone learned of it, they would all rush to Hangzhou in search of the plaque.
The secret had to be maintained for now.
‘Damn it. The reason I sent Sehui to track Jeoksan was because the credibility of the Six-Horse Golden Plaque’s existence was so low.’
Yet the Six-Horse Golden Plaque had become reality and returned.
‘The Dan Manor.’
The merchant family in Hangzhou where the man who had sent them the thousand-year ginseng and saved his daughter from the Six Sword Palace Fiend resided.
Moyong Sehui was there.
And that man must have saved Sehui once again.
‘It should be fine for Sehui to continue her mission to find the Six-Horse Golden Plaque from there. Just as that fellow said.’
A place where an unidentified man capable of cutting down even Heugam in a single strike resided.
It might very well be the safest place of all.
Northern battlefield.
A man stood holding a great blade dripping with blood.
Standing atop the corpses of hundreds of Golden Army soldiers, treading through the blood they had shed.
Golden Army Thousand-Man Commander Hwang Gak looked up at him from a battlefield thick with the color of defeat.
The man was Cho Geuk, a descendant of the Jurchen.
He had killed them all.
Among the thousand men, only Hwang Gak himself remained alive.
His hands no longer even trembled.
The sight was simply too overwhelming.
Because one man alone had achieved the slaughter of a thousand.
The birth of a new Great General.
A descendant of the Jurchen, once called barbarians, had become a Great General.
Whoosh!
Hwang Gak’s head flew off, severed by the great blade in Cho Geuk’s hand.
The head of the Thousand-Man Commander who had been on the verge of victory rolled across the ground.
Indeed.
It had been a battlefield on the verge of victory.
Until Cho Geuk alone had killed them all and severed their heads.
Thump!
Cho Geuk drove his great blade into the blood-soaked earth.
Standing atop thousands of corpses, he alone remained.
He turned his head, gazing toward a distant place.
“Now I can finally go. To Hangzhou.”
He began to walk.
To kill the man he had met ten years ago—Dan Hyunwoo.