The Weight of Importance
I stepped into the carriage and spoke without hesitation.
“To Geungnakru.”
Muyoung’s face twisted in an instant.
“Young Master? What do you mean by that?”
“We’re just stopping by for a moment. It’s not like we gave the Black Pavilion a specific arrival time anyway.”
He couldn’t argue with that.
Muyoung hesitated for a long moment before looking at me with uneasy eyes.
“Why do you wish to visit Geungnakru?”
“……There’s someone I need to meet.”
It was a question I had pondered endlessly.
The time had finally come to unravel the first knot of that tangled thread.
Information network.
Of all the things I currently lacked, eyes and ears were the most urgent.
True informants who would become my limbs and move only at my command.
After considering every possibility that fit that description, only one candidate remained.
The Black Path.
I had concluded that it would be best to select them from among the black path factions.
Why?
Because they were the most ruthless, the most chaotic, and possessed the vicious tenacity to seize whatever they desired by any means necessary once a target was set before them.
Muyoung, who had been visibly conflicted, ultimately could not defy my will.
“Must you truly go right away?”
“Of course.”
I knew just as well that I couldn’t afford to waste much time.
In the end, the carriage turned toward Geungnakru.
Come to think of it, Geungnakru also……
Before the Ju family’s destruction in my previous life, Geungnakru had burned to the ground.
Of course, it hadn’t literally burned down.
More precisely, the family head had torn the entire establishment down to its foundations.
I had only learned the reason for his fury much later, and that was exactly why I was heading there now.
Geungnakru was the most renowned pleasure pavilion in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.
It was also the flagship establishment secretly operated by the Black King Sect—the most powerful black path faction in the city.
That was why the family head had flown into a rage and razed it to the ground.
There had been many complications involved, of course, but it would be difficult to list them all here.
Before that happens.
In any case, I needed to seize control of Geungnakru before any of that could occur.
No—more accurately, I needed to seize the Black King Sect that controlled it.
The moment my thoughts concluded, the carriage came to a stop.
We had arrived at Geungnakru.
“Oh my? If it isn’t Young Master Ju!”
The moment we arrived, the eyes of the courtesans soliciting customers snapped toward us.
Among them, the most striking woman was……
What was her name again?
Having stayed away for nearly two months, I couldn’t even recall her name properly.
Ah, that’s right.
“It’s been a while, Chohong.”
“Yes, Young Master. This humble girl has been waiting for you with bated breath.”
Even though I had yet to come of age, the courtesan skillfully poured on the coquettish charm.
Chohong was the very courtesan I had encountered on the first day I opened my eyes in this life.
I followed her inside the pavilion.
The thick scent of perfume from the courtesans wafted from within.
Mixed with the aroma of various wines and the laughter of men and women scattered throughout.
Everyone’s living quite busily.
It was still quite a while before true nightfall, yet the place was already bustling. Geungnakru was certainly living up to its name.
In any case, I was promptly escorted to the highest floor.
The room was vastly larger than the others.
It was only natural treatment for a direct descendant of the Ju family, the greatest orthodox clan in all of Jiangxi.
“Wait.”
The moment I entered the room, I raised my hand to stop the line of courtesans who were trying to follow Chohong inside.
My true purpose here had nothing to do with carnal pleasure, so there was no need to entertain them.
“I’d like to meet your pavilion master.”
“Hmm? The pavilion master?”
Chohong’s eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected request.
It was a natural reaction. In all the times I had visited, I had never once asked to see the pavilion master directly.
“I have something to discuss. The rest of you may leave.”
“……”
The courtesans exchanged glances, looking stunned and hesitant.
“I said leave.”
At my irritated tone, they filed out of the room at the same speed they had entered.
“Aigoo, why is our Young Master Ju being so sensitive today of all days?”
“Chohong.”
I gently pushed away the woman who was clinging to me and spoke in a low voice.
“I told you I need to meet the pavilion master.”
“……”
In the end, Chohong’s face hardened with displeasure as she stood up.
“Fine then. Hmph.”
She slammed the door shut with a loud bang and stormed out.
“How amusing.”
Paying no mind to her rudeness, I filled the cup in front of me with liquor.
My gaze drifted across the table.
The massive table was covered with every kind of exquisite delicacy imaginable.
It was almost as if they had known I was coming. How natural it all looked.
In my previous life, I never realized any of this.
When I thought about it now, it had always been this way.
Somehow they always knew when I would arrive, and every preparation was already complete by the time I did.
Such a thing would have been impossible without an exceptional intelligence network.
A short while later.
There was a polite knock, and someone entered the room.
It was a middle-aged man—the owner of Geungnakru.
Well, not the true owner, to be precise.
“So you’re the pavilion master of Geungnakru?”
For someone running the greatest pleasure house in all of Jiangxi, his appearance was far too neat and scholarly.
He looked more like a literati who spent his days with a brush.
“Yes, Young Master. I was told you wished to see me. Is there some kind of problem?”
“Not exactly.”
I let out a small chuckle and shook my head.
The pavilion master tilted his head slightly at my reaction and moved to sit across from me.
In that instant, Muyoung lifted his scabbard and blocked him.
“Ahem… may I ask why you wished to see me……”
“I’d like to make a deal. Do you have the qualifications for it?”
At my words, the pavilion master tilted his head again before breaking into a bright smile and nodding.
“Of course. If it is something Young Master desires, how could someone like me possibly speak of qualifications……”
“No. Not you.”
“Pardon?”
I casually picked up a piece of candy from the plate in front of me and took a large bite.
It was coated thickly with expensive malt syrup—perfectly suited to my sweet tooth.
“I’m asking whether you have the qualifications, pavilion master.”
“……”
He must be curious.
Everything must be a question to him right now.
What was the meaning behind my question?
Just by watching his eyes dart around, I could see straight through his thoughts.
“Young Master. I truly don’t understand what you mean.”
“Bring me the real owner of this place.”
“What? You can’t possibly be drunk already. Why do you keep saying such strange things?”
He was denying it to the very end.
Even though I already knew everything. Tsk tsk.
“Black King Sect.”
The moment those words left my mouth, the pavilion master’s expression froze solid.
Before he could respond, I pressed my advantage.
“I already know that the true owner of this place is the sect leader of the Black King Sect. Bring him here.”
“Y-Young Master. I don’t know where you heard such nonsense, but that is completely false……”
Srrrng!
Only then did Muyoung, sensing the situation, draw his sword halfway and threaten the man.
It was the killing intent of a master who had reached the Extreme level of first-rate.
There was no way a pavilion master who barely scraped by at the second-rate level could withstand it.
The speed at which the man’s eyes darted around increased dramatically.
He must have grown desperate.
I wasn’t just anyone—I was a direct bloodline of the Ju family.
If the family head learned that the Black King Sect had dared plant eyes and ears right in front of their own home?
It wouldn’t end with Geungnakru. The entire Black King Sect would be annihilated.
“Ah, I’d advise against trying any tricks.”
“……”
The calculation was simple.
If anything happened to me, the Ju family would move.
That alone was enough.
The pavilion master quickly composed himself and offered a respectful bow.
“I will send word to the sect leader immediately.”
“He’d better hurry. The Ju family’s warriors might arrive at any moment.”
Ah, that wasn’t a lie.
I was officially supposed to be heading to the Black Pavilion.
Yet I had changed course and come to Geungnakru instead. It was entirely possible that warriors were already on their way.
Upon hearing those words, the pavilion master practically fled the room.
The sect leader of the Black King Sect, Yeo Mong, entered Geungnakru with a hardened expression.
She wore tight black clothing that revealed the curves of her body.
Dressed in what could easily be mistaken for stealth attire, the person who entered was, surprisingly, a woman.
The moment she stepped inside, the atmosphere within the pavilion turned ice-cold.
“We greet the sect leader of the Black King Sect.”
“We greet the sect leader.”
The guards stationed inside Geungnakru all simultaneously offered her a fist salute.
It was a display of discipline and etiquette befitting the greatest black path faction in Nanchang.
“Check the surroundings for any Ju family warriors.”
Yeo Mong growled fiercely.
At her command, both her own escorts and the pavilion’s guards rushed outside in perfect unison.
Their movements were impeccably coordinated.
“Close the business for the day, pavilion master.”
“As you command.”
Yeo Mong’s anger had reached its peak.
“Where is he? That damn whelp from the Ju family, that arrogant brat.”
That child had dared to threaten both the Ju family and the Black King Sect without a shred of fear?
This was not something she could simply let slide.
No matter how direct a descendant of the greatest clan in Jiangxi he might be, openly disrespecting the Black King Sect was unforgivable.
The moment she received the pavilion master’s urgent report, she had dropped everything and rushed here.
The fate of Geungnakru itself—or rather, the very survival of the Black King Sect—might be at stake because of one reckless young master from the Ju family.
Soon, Yeo Mong was led to the VIP room on the highest floor of Geungnakru.
Muyoung stood guard outside the door.
“Halt.”
As her personal guard, Muyoung placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and snarled.
Yeo Mong stopped in place, her expression rigid as she faced him.
A master.
He was nothing more than a guard for the Ju family.
Yes, he served a direct descendant, but the youngest one—the farthest from the line of succession.
Yet what was this absurd level of strength?
First-rate Extreme… no, on the verge of Peak?
Yeo Mong grit her teeth at the overwhelming martial prowess.
She had been prepared, but actually facing a Ju family guard made the vast difference in power painfully clear.
As expected of the Ju family.
“He is my guest, Muyoung. Let her in.”
Ju Woo-jin’s voice drifted out from inside.
He knew everything from the start… and this is a show of dominance?
Yeo Mong instantly understood the situation.
He was deliberately revealing the gap in power.
“……”
Muyoung withdrew his hand, straightened his posture, and gave a slight nod.
Yeo Mong shot him one sharp glare before opening the door and stepping inside.
Yeo Mong.
When exactly had I first learned of her?
Well, never mind all that trivial detail.
What mattered now was that I needed her.
More precisely, I needed the power of this woman who truly embodied the ways of the black path.
Her decisiveness and the cruelty with which she employed any means necessary were the perfect tools for building a merciless intelligence organization.
In the past, I hadn’t cared whether she or the Black King Sect lived or died.
But after living through time once more, I realized how regrettable it would be to waste the talent they possessed.
“You said you wanted to make a deal with me, Young Master?”
Yeo Mong sat down across from me with a cold sneer on her lips.
Or rather, she tried to sit.
I smiled gently at her and replied.
“I don’t recall telling you to sit.”
“……”
That’s right.
Taming the Black King Sect was only just beginning.