Check-In (2)
“Hohoho!”
Yuk Daemo burst out laughing.
She'd always known Jin Yigang had a slightly off-kilter streak, but she'd never imagined he kept an actual list. And his third wish—keep going until my nose bleeds—and his tenth—curse out the emperor right to his face—were, frankly, absurd.
“A funny wish, isn't it?”
“It's something everyone wants. Except for three of them.”
“Three?”
“The third, the ninth, and the tenth.”
“Those are just products of the environment I grew up in.”
“Studying?”
“I entered the temple at four years old and never once met a woman. Most of what I knew about women came from a novice monk—a former gangster, as it happened. And he told me, you're not really doing it until it makes your nose bleed. So I put it on my list of things to do before I die, right then and there.”
“Kikiki!”
Yuk Daemo shook with laughter from head to toe.
“Stop shaking like that.”
“Why?”
“We're still—”
“Ah—!”
The moment she felt him fill her completely, Yuk Daemo broke into a wide smile. Apparently her shaking had gotten to him.
“Shall we test it, then?”
“Test what?”
“I've been dying to know whether your nose actually bleeds or not.”
“So you've been frustrated all this time.”
“Maybe. Well then—let's begin.”
The two of them set the Heavenly Desire Phoenix Art in motion once more.
Neither of them realized that this session—started half as a joke over a nosebleed—was quietly becoming a tremendous opportunity, not just for Yuk Daemo, but for Jin Yigang as well.
In any case, the two of them were strong. They had little choice in the matter. Yuk Daemo had earned her moniker, the Lustful Enchantress, as a supreme master of the erotic arts, and Jin Yigang, having swallowed the Ten Thousand Years Fire Carp whole, had become the most potent man in all the Central Plains when it came to virility.
There was no way it would end after a round or two.
The two of them pressed on with the Heavenly Desire Phoenix Art without rest. Sweat poured off their bodies and pooled beneath them, yet neither collapsed.
In the end, it was Yuk Daemo who surrendered first.
“That's enough for now.”
She rested her head against Jin Yigang's shoulder, too drained to move another inch.
“That liar, Gwangdeok.”
“Who's Gwangdeok?”
“The novice monk I mentioned.”
“The former gangster?”
“Yeah.”
“The one bleeding will be me.”
“Was it too much?”
“No, I'm fine. Shall we lie down for a bit?”
“Why not?”
The two of them lay down right where they were, and Jin Yigang offered her his arm.
“Who was it that attacked you?”
“The Ghost King, Eum Gu-yeo.”
“Why would that bastard?”
“Because of this.”
Yuk Daemo reached toward the corner of the cavern. Something shaped like a beast's claws came dragging across the floor. The crimson talons looked as if blood might drip from them at any moment.
“What is it?”
“An absolute weapon called the Dinosaur Demon Claw.”
“A treasure?”
“The weapon of Seok Ran, the Dinosaur Demon Empress—an absolute martial sovereign from twelve hundred years ago. There's almost certainly a martial art hidden somewhere in the claw.”
“So it is a treasure.”
“It is.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you. But the water's getting cold, isn't it?”
“Why? Eager to wash up?”
“We already bathed in sweat, didn't we?”
“It's cold as ice.”
“I still have to wash.”
“Shall we wash together?”
“In exchange, young master, you'll have to carry me.”
“That much is easy.”
Jin Yigang rose and scooped Yuk Daemo up in his arms.
“I'm being pampered, aren't I?”
“After that delicious stir-fried beef you made me? This is nothing. Fair warning—the water's cold.”
And with that, Jin Yigang stepped into the water. Yuk Daemo wound her arms around his neck. Soon her hips broke the surface first.
“Huh?”
Her eyes went wide. Her hips were warm.
“The water's warm.”
Jin Yigang lowered her fully into the water.
“Wah—!”
Yuk Daemo broke into a beaming smile. She'd never imagined the water could be so warm. It felt like sinking into a bath. The two of them settled onto the submerged steps.
Yuk Daemo washed the sweat from her skin first, then turned to the Dinosaur Demon Claw.
“Huh?”
Her eyes went wide once more. The moment the claw touched the water, writing had appeared across its surface.
“What is it?”
“Words. There are words appearing on it.”
Jin Yigang looked at the Dinosaur Demon Claw.
Inscriptions covered every joint of the weapon.
“Looks like it was crafted to reveal writing when submerged. A hidden mechanism.”
“One moment.”
Yuk Daemo sprang up, hurried to where she'd left her clothes, and returned with a black pouch. From it she drew out a night-luminous pearl. She tilted the pearl's glow across the water's surface.
“Read it to me.”
“Isn't a martial art supposed to stay hidden from other people's eyes?”
“You and I have already bled for each other, haven't we?”
“Nobody actually bled.”
“I told you my nose bled. Besides, I can't read seal script.”
“You couldn't read it back at the Stone Chamber of a Thousand either?”
“That's the only part I know.”
“Fine.”
Jin Yigang took the claw in hand and read the inscriptions aloud, annotations and all.
“One pass won't be enough, will it?”
“Of course not.”
“Looks like I'll be memorizing this too.”
“Feel free, young master.”
“Really?”
“Nosebleed.”
“Pfft!”
Jin Yigang snorted and read on. He went over it again and again until Yuk Daemo had memorized everything—and somewhere along the way, he'd committed it all to memory himself. After that, he recited it from the Dinosaur Demon Claw no longer.
He pulled the claw out of the water and dipped it back in. No writing appeared.
“I've got it all.”
“If you master that, you'll become monstrously strong.”
“It's all thanks to you, young master.”
“Do you have a reason you need to be?”
“I do.”
“Something you'd stake your life on?”
“Yes.”
“Well then. Your odds of surviving just went up a little.”
“It would seem so.”
“Good.”
“Actually... I've been with you before, you know.”
“At the hot spring in the Stone Chamber of a Thousand?”
“You knew?”
“Wouldn't I have to? It was my first time.”
“It truly was your first?”
Yuk Daemo asked, her face full of disbelief. As far as she knew, Jin Yigang was thirty-two years old. And a first experience, at that? She couldn't believe it.
“Things just... worked out that way.”
“Then I suppose it really was thanks to you that I came by the Dinosaur Demon Claw.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In the pleasure quarters, there's an old saying—that good fortune finds the man who takes a girl's maidenhead.”
“You people will believe any nonsense, won't you.”
“I think I finally understand your third wish now.”
Yuk Daemo smiled slyly and drifted toward him.
“Didn't you just say you couldn't even stand up?”
“I may lack the strength to stand, but not the strength to hold you.”
“If it's for my sake, there's no need.”
“It's for mine.”
Yuk Daemo smiled brightly. The embers, cooled only moments ago, flared back into flame. Before long, the two of them emerged from the cavern and crossed the lake.
Jin Yigang went back into the cave, dressed, and lit a fire. Yuk Daemo watched him in silence.
Just then, a sound came from the lakeside. Someone was approaching.
Yuk Daemo rose.
“Heading back?”
Jin Yigang asked.
“Yes.”
“Live well.”
“...You too, young master.”
Yuk Daemo stepped up to him, pressed a kiss to his lips, then flung herself backward into the dark. Her silhouette vanished into the forest in the space of a breath.
The one who'd made the sound was Mu Daebo.
“Get anything out of it?”
“Nope.”
“Then why'd you come out?”
“Figured it was better to properly master what I already have instead of chasing something new.”
That wasn't the truth. He'd come out because of what Je Chuyeong had told him about Jin Yigang, which had left him feeling an odd, unearned guilt. Facing a boy with a death sentence hanging over him, he'd caught himself scrambling to grow stronger than he already was—and it struck him as pathetic.
“Shall we go, then?”
Jin Yigang said.
“Yeah. Let's go.”
“Right.”
Jin Yigang hoisted his pack onto his shoulders.
“Carve a note over there that we've left.”
He pointed at the wall.
“Got it.”
Mu Daebo carved a message into the stone: the two of them had departed.
Before long, they emerged from the cavern and took the road to Cheondo. Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the way. Five days later, they reached the imperial capital. Mu Daebo led Jin Yigang to an enormous walled estate bearing a plaque that read Geumcheon Manor.
“This is the destination?”
“Yep.”
“What is this place?”
“A training camp run by the Geumwi Daicheonguk.”
“The Geumwi Daicheonguk—you mean the old Brocade Guard?”
“Yep.”
“So your mission ends here, Daebo—handing me over, and that's it?”
“That's right.”
Mu Daebo walked up to the main gate. Two guards stood before it. He approached them and said something, and one of the guards pointed to the side of the gate, where a small duty station housed a single clerk on watch. Mu Daebo stepped inside.
A short while later, he came back out holding a sheet of paper.
“What's that?”
“The transfer paperwork. You've been handed over.”
“So your mission's done?”
“Yep.”
“Thanks for everything.”
“Same to you.”
Mu Daebo looked at Jin Yigang for a long, quiet moment.
“What?”
“Was I... not awful to be around?”
Mu Daebo asked.
“Not at all. Best days of my life. I'm glad they were spent with you.”
“You little...”
Mu Daebo pulled him into an embrace.
“You're not even a woman, you know. Why the hell are you hugging me?”
“You haven't got a woman, kid. So somebody's got to hold you.”
Mu Daebo let him go.
“I guess this is goodbye, then.”
Jin Yigang said.
“Probably.”
Mu Daebo nodded.
“One question. Just one, before I go.”
“I'll answer ten thousand if you like.”
“Tell me the real reason you came to the Jecheon Medical Immortal Family.”
“You—knew?”
“No matter how I turned it over, there was no reason for anyone to come fetch me.”
“The one I came to fetch wasn't you. It was Je Su-ryong.”
“No. The emperor surely knew he'd be sending an adopted son. What he needed wasn't Je Su-ryong the person—it was a son of the Jecheon Medical Immortal Family.”
“Is there a difference?”
“A world of difference. Je Su-ryong is an individual. A son of the Jecheon family is the representative of an entire clan.”
“Sharp as ever. Yes—my mission was to make it look as though you had the Jangbodo, so that anyone hunting the Jangbodo would turn their eyes toward our side.”
“Then why did you tag along the whole way?”
“You're the one who tagged along. I was following you.”
“Is that all?”
“There's more, but that one's my real secret. Can't tell you.”
“This is really the end, then. You owe me a parting gift.”
“What gift?”
“What else would I give you? I scrubbed myself clean last night. And since one would be stingy, I prepared three.”
Jin Yigang set down a box, lifted the lid, and rummaged inside.
“Ah—no. No medicine. I'm a man who gets along fine without the stuff, so you eat it. All of it. Got it?”
Mu Daebo waved his hands frantically. The mere word medicine churned his stomach like he was about to retch.
“It's not medicine, you brute.”
What Jin Yigang drew from the box was a thick bundle of paper.
“What is this?”
He suddenly remembered asking the innkeeper for brush, ink, and paper two evenings ago. So that's when he'd written it.
“Martial arts.”
“Martial arts?”
Mu Daebo flipped open the first page. He couldn't judge the contents yet, but the calligraphy alone was the work of a true master.
“I won't charge you for it. Take care of yourself.”
Jin Yigang waved and headed through the gate.
“Hey!”
Mu Daebo shouted after him.
But Jin Yigang didn't look back. The moment the guards opened the gate, he stepped inside.
―The legacy of the Yama King, one of the Five Heavens of Past and Present
“Th-this is...?”
Mu Daebo's eyes bulged until they seemed ready to split.
Mad Demon Flame King Combat Technique—the martial art of the Yama King himself, one of the Five Heavens of Past and Present. The arts of those five legends were together known as the Five Heavens Martial Arts of Past and Present.
Mu Daebo collapsed where he stood.
“I look pretty damn cool, don't I?”
Just then, Jin Yigang's voice floated out from beyond the gate.
“I can use this, right?”
He was brandishing the dagger Mu Daebo had given him.
“Hey! You little—!”
Mu Daebo roared.
“Jin Yigang.”
“...”
“Hey! Not you little—Jin Yigang! I said Jin Yigang!”
Jin Yigang's face disappeared into the compound.