First Meeting
In the heart of the forest, roughly twenty people bustled about preparing camp.
"You there! Come over and clear away these rocks!"
"Yes, sir! Just let me finish tying up the horses!"
Those making camp were members of the Jin-o Trading Company, based in Anhui. Not a single one of them slacked off, and so the preparations were finished in short order.
A little while later, an iron pot began to boil, and a hunger-stirring aroma drifted through the air.
"I've been starving all day—I'm about to die of hunger."
"Starving all day? You think I didn't notice you chewing on scraps of jerky by yourself?"
"When did you even see that? You should've said something. I could've shared a bit."
"I didn't actually see it. I just figured you would. And those dried-up scraps of meat—you can keep every last one."
"What?"
While the company members stretched out their weary bodies and shook off the fatigue of the road, Merchant Leader Mo Wonpyeong approached the man standing alone on watch.
"Young Master. So this is where you were."
At Mo Wonpyeong's call, the man glanced over and nodded.
"Yes. I was surveying the surroundings for a moment."
The man's name was Seomun Hwi.
He was the Young Master of the Seomun Clan—a great family that stood as an equal rival in Anhui to the Namgung Clan, once called the foremost of the Five Great Clans.
So why was someone like him serving as escort for a small trading company like Jin-o?
The reason was simple.
Upon hearing that the Jin-o Trading Company was setting out on a merchant journey to Lanzhou in Gansu Province, Seomun Hwi had proposed accompanying them, saying he had business of his own at the Kongdong Sect.
Seomun Hwi gained a comfortable journey free of hassle; the Jin-o Trading Company gained the reliable protection of the Seomun Clan's Young Master.
With their interests so neatly aligned, the company readily accepted his proposal and set out together.
Of course, some members had fretted at first that they would end up serving a master rather than gaining an escort—but those worries faded as Seomun Hwi blended naturally into the company without the slightest trouble.
"We're almost to Lanzhou now. We've already shown our respects to the Green Forest bandits, so what could go wrong? Don't worry and come have a meal."
When Mo Wonpyeong smiled good-naturedly and urged him to return, Seomun Hwi could no longer insist.
"Very well. I suppose I grew a bit oversensitive because of what we heard at the inn."
"What we heard at the inn…"
At Seomun Hwi's words, Mo Wonpyeong suddenly recalled the strange rumor they had heard a few days earlier at a shabby, rundown inn.
"I don't know when it started," the innkeeper had said, "but they say a ghost has been wandering near those parts. Strangely enough, it never harms anyone—it just keeps circling the same spot."
The claim had been absurd enough that Seomun Hwi and every member of the company burst out laughing—yet no one else in the inn so much as smiled, and the atmosphere turned awkward.
"Well, believe it or not, that's your business. But I've given you fair warning, so don't blame me if something befalls you."
With that, the innkeeper said no more, and the Jin-o Trading Company set out again with an uneasy feeling in their chests.
But contrary to their concerns, not a ghost—nor even a wild animal—appeared, and they soon put their minds at ease.
All except one.
Seomun Hwi alone remained vigilant.
And so Mo Wonpyeong was grateful that he did not laugh off even an absurd rumor, and never neglected his escort duties.
Truth be told, if the Young Master of the Seomun Clan had merely gone through the motions of guarding them, no one would have dared utter a word of complaint.
"Rumors are just rumors after all. Honestly, what kind of ghost in this day and age…"
Just as the two men turned to head back to camp, a rustling of brush came from behind them.
It was far too distinct to ignore. Both men froze and slowly turned their heads.
"…Must be a wild animal, don't you think?"
Though no one had said a word yet, a thoroughly tense Mo Wonpyeong spoke first, insisting it must be a beast.
But Seomun Hwi shook his head.
"Wild animals are too wary to approach people this closely. Step back."
Seomun Hwi gripped his sword hilt, stepped forward with his right foot, and slightly lowered his upper body.
Having settled into a flawless stance, he called out toward the direction of the sound.
"Show yourself."
Despite the low, firm warning, no answer came from the brush.
My failure. To not notice until they came this close…
As Seomun Hwi berated himself and sharpened his senses, a round object came tumbling toward his feet.
He reflexively drew his sword and cut the rolling object in a single stroke—but only bewilderment crossed his face.
The sensation that reached his fingertips was nothing like what he had expected.
Fruit…?
At the same moment, a black-shaped figure suddenly burst from the brush, startling both Seomun Hwi and Mo Wonpyeong.
Mo Wonpyeong in particular was so shocked that he fell flat on his rear and could barely form words.
"G-Ghost…"
Recalling what the innkeeper had said, Mo Wonpyeong fainted on the spot.
"Thank you for the meal!"
In the darkened forest, an excited voice rang out.
They ought to have kept their voices down for fear of drawing dangerous beasts, but not a single member of the Jin-o Trading Company thought to point it out.
"…Have some water as well."
Having regained consciousness, Mo Wonpyeong watched with complicated eyes as a boy wolfed down meat stew with abandon.
Unbelievable. To think it was just a child like this.
The boy's identity was none other than Cheongwol. Once his wild, tangled hair was neatly tied up, he finally looked like a proper person.
"Thank you! I was thinking I was really done for if things kept going like this. You saved my life."
Having emptied a whole bowl of meat stew in no time, Cheongwol beamed with a bright smile and expressed his gratitude to Mo Wonpyeong.
Mo Wonpyeong looked at the empty bowl and gave a nod to one of his men, who filled a larger bowl with stew and offered it to the boy.
"It's all right. I've already caused enough trouble."
Cheongwol waved his hands in refusal, but Mo Wonpyeong took the bowl himself and offered it again.
"It's leftover food, so don't be polite—have more."
At Mo Wonpyeong's words, Cheongwol gave an awkward smile and accepted the bowl.
"Then I'll gratefully accept."
"Good. If it's not enough, just say so."
Unlike his earlier refusal, when Cheongwol began gulping down the stew in a hurry, Mo Wonpyeong smiled faintly as if he had expected as much.
After the campfire had burned a little lower and Cheongwol finished eating, Mo Wonpyeong carefully asked:
"So what circumstances had you wandering the mountains looking like that? Ah—if it's something you can't bring yourself to speak of, you need not tell me."
At Mo Wonpyeong's question, Cheongwol seemed to hesitate briefly, but not for long.
"I was actually trying to reach the Central Plains, but I had no idea which way to go. So I just started walking at random—yet no matter how far I walked, I couldn't get off the mountain paths, so I kept wandering."
At Cheongwol's words, not only Mo Wonpyeong but the others as well stared at him with bewildered eyes.
He needed to reach the Central Plains?
They were already in the Central Plains—what on earth was he talking about?
Moreover, the claim that he had walked for ages without being able to leave the mountains was hard to understand.
The mountains in this area had no particularly treacherous stretches, and the paths were well-marked enough that even first-time visitors could reach Lanzhou within a day or two.
"Could it be… that you came from somewhere other than the Central Plains?"
"Pardon?"
At Cheongwol's slightly flustered reaction, Mo Wonpyeong hastily added, realizing he might have misspoken.
"I mean no other intention—it's just that listening to you speak, you sound rather like someone who came from outside the Central Plains."
At Mo Wonpyeong's words, a company member who had only been watching from the side suddenly joined the conversation.
"How could that be? The clothes he's wearing are from the Central Plains, even if they look a bit old, and he's speaking the language of the Central Plains, isn't he?"
Another member nodded and chimed in.
"That's right. And since he says he kept walking the mountain paths, he probably came from somewhere near the west."
"The west…"
"Where Qinghai Province is. Of course he wouldn't have walked all the way from there—it's quite far—but I've heard that the great mountain range there extends all the way near Gansu Province. So he must have come from somewhere in those mountains, no?"
As the members' speculation went back and forth, Cheongwol looked at Mo Wonpyeong with an awkward expression and carefully opened his mouth.
"I'm sorry. It's hard for me to answer that."
Reading the discomfort on Cheongwol's face, Mo Wonpyeong nodded as if he roughly understood.
"Is that so? Very well. Don't trouble yourself over it. Everyone has circumstances they can't speak of."
In truth, Cheongwol himself did not know exactly where he had lived with his grandfather, which was why he had spoken that way—but when Mo Wonpyeong glossed over the conversation, he did not bother to step forward and explain.
"But why are you trying to go to the Central Plains? You need not say if it's difficult, but since we'll be spending the night together, knowing a bit of your story would put my mind at ease."
At Mo Wonpyeong's rather serious question this time, Cheongwol slowly nodded.
"I need to find a place called the Kongdong Sect, which is said to be in the Central Plains."
"The Kongdong Sect?"
"Yes. Actually, every time I ran into other people along the way, I tried to ask for directions—but they all ran away the moment they saw me."
Recalling the black figure that had burst from the brush earlier, Mo Wonpyeong's expression suggested he understood why.
"Then you've come to the right place, one way or another. The Kongdong Sect isn't far from here. And as it happens, there's someone heading that way as well."
At Mo Wonpyeong's words, Seomun Hwi turned his head to look at them.
More precisely, he met the eyes of Cheongwol—who looked thoroughly disheveled, yet whose two eyes still shone brightly even so.
"Hello."
Cheongwol, noticing Seomun Hwi's gaze as well, smiled bashfully and waved—but Seomun Hwi only jerked his head away.