Traits of a Successful Person (3)
"Your body holding up?"
Yu Bongji came over and asked.
"Aren't you cold?"
"Can you really see it?"
"Even if I could, I'd say I can't."
"Why?"
"Because then I can keep enjoying the view."
Jin Yigang buried his head against Na Hujeok's shoulder.
"Tsk!"
Na Hujeok clicked his tongue quietly and kept walking.
"Dokji and Hyeolsu are dead," Nang Baek said. "You two fought them?"
"Hyeolsu, this one took out," Yu Bongji replied.
She turned and looked at Jin Yigang.
"That bastard Hyeolsu treated me like a complete joke. You land one hit, and if it doesn't work, you change tactics — but no, he just kept swinging."
"And you kept swinging right back, I take it," Nang Baek said.
"You trade fists with someone, the one with the tougher hide wins. That's just how it works."
"Your hide was tougher than Hyeolsu's?" Yu Bongji asked, her face full of disbelief. Hyeolsu was an absolute master who wielded sword-qi. Before a master like that, toughness — the ability to endure a beating — meant nothing at all. And this man claimed he'd won because he could take a hit.
"How old would Hyeolsu have been?"
"I don't know his exact age, but he had to be past seventy."
"I'm thirty-two."
"So what's your point?"
"My point is I'd rather not be compared to old men who already picked out their burial plots."
"I'm older than Hyeolsu, you know."
"Then don't go throwing yourself carelessly at a young man."
"Kgh!"
Na Hujeok, listening in, let out a stifled laugh.
"Why's your face swelled up like an overripe dumpling?" Mu Daebo asked, sidling over.
"Take enough water punches and this is what happens."
"Who was throwing water punches?"
"Hyeolsu."
"Hyeolsu — you mean that old man among the Nine Demons whose hands turn blood red? That him, right?" Mu Daebo turned to Na Hujeok. "Right?"
"That's him, you fool."
"And what happened to Hyeolsu?" Mu Daebo looked back at Jin Yigang.
"I'm in this state — what do you think happened to him?"
"You killed him?"
"Your stones didn't crack only because I kicked you carelessly. If I'd meant it, you'd be a eunuch right now."
"Oh, for fuck's sake — should I go another round right here?"
Mu Daebo shot Jin Yigang a sideways glare.
"Spare me, you brat. You get your teeth knocked out every single day."
"Jin Yigang, you're turning into a genuine monster," Gung Yo said, staring straight at him.
"I spent five years gulping down poison every single day without missing one, and I survived. At this point, not being a monster would be the strange part."
"Fair enough, I suppose..." Gung Yo nodded.
"If your curiosity's all satisfied now, let me get some sleep."
Jin Yigang laid his head on Na Hujeok's shoulder — and was out cold.
"Still... you have to live, damn you," Na Hujeok said quietly, and kept walking.
Gung Yo took point and led the group.
Before long they reached the spot where Yu Bongji had left her clothes. She dressed quickly, and once she was decent, the party resumed their march.
After a long stretch, Gung Yo squeezed herself into a crack in the rock barely wide enough for one person. Unlike the entrance, the passage widened a little farther in, then abruptly opened up into a spacious cavern.
There, the Jecheon Uiseon clan was waiting. As the Absolute Five entered, they sprang to their feet to greet them.
"Are you hurt?"
Je Chuyeong hurried to Na Hujeok's side.
"He's fine."
Na Hujeok set Jin Yigang down on one side.
"What's the situation outside?" Je Ha-yeong asked, looking at Mu Daebo and Gung Yo.
"The others are fighting each other."
"Then that's when we move. While they're busy killing each other," Jin Yigang said, pushing himself up from where he'd been lying.
"You sure you're all right?" Na Hujeok asked.
"If I weren't, would you carry me?"
"I'll carry you."
Mu Daebo hoisted Jin Yigang onto his back without a moment's hesitation.
"What about my luggage?"
"Right here."
Bukgung Hansang pointed at his own back.
"Thanks."
"We just follow the cave all the way through?" Mu Daebo asked, moving up to take the lead.
"Yeah."
Jin Yigang nodded. The cave was long and labyrinthine — anyone who didn't know the way could wander it forever without finding the exit.
One sikyeong later, the party reached the cave's mouth. A few slipped out to scout. They found traces of a camp that had held hundreds, but not a soul remained — because Danmok Cheonri, who had been lying in wait at the exit, had led his men down into the valley.
The Jecheon Uiseon clan made straight for Mount Nogun.
It was two sijin later, when a night messenger brought word, that Danmok Cheonri finally learned the Jecheon Uiseon clan was no longer inside Black Mist Gorge.
"Rat bastards."
Danmok Cheonri ordered an immediate withdrawal. His men and the Demonic Cult warriors moved swiftly, pouring out of the gorge.
"Where are Maya and the others?" Danmok Cheonri asked, noticing that Maya, Dokji, and Hyeolsu were nowhere to be seen.
"I believe they were struck down," Shin Gon answered, his face stiff.
"Then they—"
"They must have met the Absolute Five."
"Chasing all of them down with our full force is beyond us. Let only warriors of this gap and above pursue. The rest can collect the bodies—"
"That's your thinking, is it?"
A cold voice drifted out from deep within Black Mist Gorge.
"Hm?"
Danmok Cheonri's eyes went wide.
"Kill them!"
With that icy shout, the Blood Evil Army fell upon Danmok Cheonri's force like a wave.
"Chah-ha!" "Tah-ha!" "Iyaahap!"
CLANG!CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
"Gwaahk!" "Aaagh!" "Ughaaagh!"
Terrible screams began erupting from both sides.
"We must go after them," Danmok Cheonri said to Shin Gon.
"You'd leave this to the men?"
"We have only two days left until Mount Nogun. One wrong move, and we'll be the dog that chased the chicken, left staring up at the roof it escaped onto."
"Understood. How many for the task force?"
"Fifty each. A hundred men total."
"Agreed."
Shin Gon nodded.
The Demonic Cult and Danmok Cheonri selected their vanguard on the spot, and shortly after they slipped out of the battlefield and sped off after the Jecheon Uiseon clan.
They were not the only ones leaving the battlefield. Nam Se-ok too pressed on toward Mount Nogun with a hundred men, while the Eight Kings each set out with twenty of their own — a hundred and sixty in all — heading for the same mountain.
Jin Yigang's body recovered the next day. Before it had fully healed, more than ten medicines had gone down his throat. Whether it was thanks to the medicine or the beating he'd taken, Jin Yigang was soon running at full stride as if nothing had happened. The party reached the rendezvous point on Mount Nogun two days after leaving Black Mist Gorge.
Jin Yigang scouted the rear first, then headed for the summit, leaving half a sijin until the people following behind would arrive.
"Daebo, don't stay with me here. Go on to Noryeong Cliff with the rest," Jin Yigang said, stopping Mu Daebo's group as they moved to follow.
"Why?"
"There'll be imperial officials waiting up there."
"You mean it could turn into an awkward situation."
"Exactly."
"Old man, you go with them."
Mu Daebo looked at Na Hujeok.
"We—"
"We have to be ready for anything."
"Understood."
Na Hujeok nodded.
And so it was that only the sisters Je Ha-yeong and Je Chuyeong, Jin Yigang, and the Absolute Five climbed to the summit of Mount Nogun.
"You made it."
The moment they crested the peak, a voice called out to them. It was Yul Hancheon, the man who had delivered the Demon Sword Cannon. Beside him stood a tall, strikingly handsome gentleman.
That man is...
Jin Yigang's eyes widened slightly.
**Sindo Jongri**, the Three Heavens Brain Scholar. The man who had become a legend fifteen years ago by placing first in the imperial examinations at just seventeen. Claiming he wished to pursue his studies further, he had entered the Hanlin Academy and risen to Grand Scholar within a decade. He had also served as the supervising examiner when Jin Yigang sat the palace examination — the man who had once basked in the previous emperor's singular favor, now appearing here on the new emperor's side.
"Pay your respects. This is the Hidden Dragon Imperial Inspector."
That bastard succeeds no matter who's on the throne.
Jin Yigang let out a silent snort.
The Hidden Dragon Imperial Inspector was the only authority in the empire empowered to act in the emperor's stead. His badge of office was the sword Cheonseung Mangeom — Nine Dragons in the Clouds — its scabbard and blade carved with nine dragons.
That sword hung at Sindo Jongri's waist.
"An honor to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine."
Je Chuyeong and Je Ha-yeong bowed in greeting.
"Welcome. I wish to see the map."
"Here it is."
Je Ha-yeong drew it out and handed it over.
Sindo Jongri studied the map, then raised his head and looked at her.
"Where is the item?"
He means the corpse, doesn't he?
Jin Yigang muttered to himself.
"We were unable to bring it," Je Ha-yeong said.
"And what manner of item is this, that you couldn't even manage to bring it?" Sindo Jongri barked.
"It's..."
"Do you dare say you defied the imperial command?"
"We didn't defy it. It was lost along the way," Je Chuyeong said.
They claimed it was lost because if they admitted they'd hidden it, he would obviously order them to go fetch it back.
"'Lost' is not an excuse. His Majesty commanded you to retrieve that item, and by any means necessary you were to bring it. Failing to bring it means you defied his command."
"If it's such a precious item, you should have come for it yourself," Jin Yigang said quietly.
Sindo Jongri turned his head and looked at him. Then he asked:
"What did you just say?"
"Do you know how we got here?" Jin Yigang asked.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means — do you have any idea how many people died getting us this far?"
"Why would I need to know that?"
Sindo Jongri looked Jin Yigang dead in the eye as he asked.
"...?"
Jin Yigang stared back at him, dumbfounded.
"And who are you, exactly?"
"Why would you need to know my name?"
Jin Yigang fired the exact same words back.
"Hup!"
Yul Hancheon, standing beside Sindo Jongri, nearly choked.
The master of the Central Plains was the emperor — but in the emperor's absence, the Hidden Dragon Imperial Inspector was the master. Before the Inspector, the Three Dukes, the Provincial Commanders, the Gold Guard Captains, and the Six Ministers all bowed their heads, as did the lords of every royal province.
And this man had not only addressed the Inspector with casual speech — he had openly provoked him.
— Do you not know what the Hidden Dragon Imperial Inspector is?
Yul Hancheon sent a telepathic message to Jin Yigang.
"Will you say it again?"
A chill emanated from Sindo Jongri's body.
"I said if it's such a precious item, why didn't you come fetch it yourself instead of sending errand boys, you bastard. It's not as if you're short on subordinates — you've got lapdogs lounging all around you. And what exactly would you do with my name, anyway?"
"You insufferable—"
SHING!
Sindo Jongri drew the Cheonseung Mangeom.
The moment the blade left its sheath, a terrifying killing intent poured out from the surrounding men and converged on Jin Yigang. Sindo Jongri had not come alone. Arrayed behind him stood the Nine Dragons in the Clouds Corps — the strongest elite force of the imperial house.
The Nine Dragons in the Clouds were drawn from the former elders of the Martial Alliance, an organization that never operated in the open, deploying only for missions that had to remain secret.
"So you've dogs enough to bring here, but not one to go fetch the item?"
Perhaps it was the word dogs — the killing intent aimed at Jin Yigang sharpened further. Sindo Jongri himself, meanwhile, no longer radiated any at all. He was not angry because he had seen through exactly what Jin Yigang was. By his measure, Jin Yigang was a worthless nobody not worth wasting anger on.
— Grand Scholar, I entrust my son to your care.
— Who are you?
— My name is Jin Jachu. My son is Jin Yigang.
— Jin Yigang...?
— He sits the palace examination this year.
— Hoh, is that so? He must have a fine head on his shoulders.
— Not because he's my son, sir — that boy is a prodigy. Not once, not a single time, has he missed the top spot on the way to the palace examination.
— Astonishing. That such a son should come from a worm like you. Well then, see that he's looked after.
— Thank you, sir.
"So — is Jin Jachu doing well these days?"
Sindo Jongri asked.