Nice To Meet You?

Gyo-ha licked his lips as a blade stabbed in from the side.

He slipped past it, but the edge grazed him and drew beads of blood.

‘This is tricky.’

Whenever he attacked one, the other two checked him.

They weren’t attacking to finish him, but to wear his stamina down.

They were patient and relentless.

They clung to him no matter what.

‘Interesting.’

It was the first time he ever felt anything like this. Even the sense of irritation felt oddly new.

‘If I watch a bit longer, I’ll get it.’

His gaze slid past the wanderers.

The villagers were stunned and trembling with fear.

The middle-aged man with a sword wavered, torn between joining the fight or fleeing with the girl.

Gyo-ha took it all in.

His eyes changed.

He hadn’t come here to fight.

‘I came to hunt.’

Gyo-ha stepped forward.

In that instant, a thrust shot for his back.

His fist cut the air; the skin of his back split and blood sprayed.

He didn’t stop—he twisted toward the flank.

Steel flashed on cue; the blades worried him like a wolf pack.

This time the cut bit deeper.

Gyo-ha swung wide and fell back.

The wanderers swallowed their laughter.

‘He’s finished.’

His movements weren’t what they’d been.

Those wild, wasteful punches. His stamina was clearly flagging.

And the small cuts kept multiplying.

He must have reached his limit.

As if to confirm it, Gyo-ha hunched down.

He didn’t counter; he barely slipped the blades coming at him.

He moved defensively to minimize damage.

The wanderers traded glances.

It was time to end it.

At that moment the leader met Gyo-ha’s eyes.

Eyes sunken deep like forest night.

He realized something was wrong a heartbeat too late.

Swoosh. Gyo-ha twisted and shot sideways.

“Block him!”

Panic flashed across a wanderer’s face.

He swung, yet Gyo-ha slipped past it effortlessly.

The leader and the man beside him lunged together.

Gyo-ha’s fist came up as if he’d been waiting for it.

TONG!

The leader’s blade bounced away, grazing Gyo-ha’s shoulder.

But the other sword drove straight into his side.

The shocking part was Gyo-ha’s response.

He ignored the sword in his ribs and stepped through.

The motion tore the wound wider, resulting in blood fanning out.

And—

“Got you.”

Grab.

He seized the man’s head and spiked it into the ground.

KWAANG!

The earth heaved and the man’s body shuddered.

He didn’t move again.

“What—”

Gyo-ha staggered upright.

He wiped the blood down his flank and clicked his tongue.

“Deeper than I thought.”

A bad spot—the wound from Iron Tyrant Staff had reopened.

He grinned at the two dumbfounded men.

“Only two left now?”

“…How?”

The leader’s voice trembled.

Gyo-ha cocked his head, then answered as if it were nothing.

“That one’s strikes were easiest to take.”

He could manage taking on the attacks from the two of them, but the third one proved to be a problem.

So it was most efficient to let the weakest blow through.

He’d spent the fight enduring their blades just to find that out.

His calm words made the remaining men’s eyes quiver.

Such things were theoretically easy.

But who can really take a flying sword strike head-on?

The wound in his side was proof.

A normal man could hardly stand with it.

Yet Gyo-ha faced them with an even look.

It wasn’t bravado.

The scars beneath his ragged clothes told of the life he’d lived.

‘…Surrender—’

One started to speak, then shook his head.

He’d seen Gyo-ha’s eyes. Sometimes wanderers had eyes like that.

The opponent no longer saw them as human.

It had taken three just to barely block him.

Now only two remained.

‘No… he’s wounded too.’

It wasn’t shallow.

They steadied themselves and raised their swords.

But their faces were already painted with defeat.

Crunch.

He stomped the fallen man’s face.

Blood splattered, and the man moved no more.

The fight was over.

No, this barely counted as a fight. After there were only two left, they couldn’t be considered a match.

The villagers held their breath at the brutality.

But Gyo-ha just plopped down and pouted at his torn clothes.

At last the middle-aged man stepped forward for the villagers.

“Thank you for your help. I am Geum Ho-pyeong of the Yu Family Merchant Guild in Lanzhou.”

“Ah, I’m Gyo-ha.”

Gyo-ha waved with a smile.

Unlike the battle, his simple and sincere face eased the villagers’ tension.

But Geum Ho-pyeong didn’t relax his guard.

Just then, footsteps sounded beyond the broken palisade.

Were there more enemies?

He turned with a hard face; the villagers tensed again.

Soon, a man appeared.

“Haah… hah… Yo—Young Master! Are you… are you safe?”

The man, who looked to be in between his late thirties to early forties, arrived gulping for air.

He carried no weapon and showed no sign of training.

He even staggered as he walked, looking as if he was about to collapse any moment.

“Uncle, your stamina’s awful, you know?”

Gyo-ha teased, lips jutting.

“I—It’s the Young Master who’s a monster.”

The man, Noh-sam, saw Gyo-ha safe and slumped to the ground in relief.

Noticing the bewildered villagers, he scrambled back to his feet.

“Nice to meet you…?”

Was that the right greeting?

Seeing him tilt his head, the villagers groaned here and there.

At last, their tension let go.

Once calm returned, people began to clean up.

Gyo-ha and Noh-sam lent hands.

When things were in order, they began the funerals.

In a village like this, a proper rite was impossible.

They gathered the dead and cremated them.

As if to comfort the departed, the rain stopped right then.

Smoke rose once more.

Only then did the villagers let their pent-up tears fall.

Amid the quiet grief, an unfamiliar voice rang out.

“The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth…”

Turning their heads, they saw Gyo-ha, in rags, reciting a scripture.

Bloodied and a wreck, anyone else would be bedridden, but he stood firm.

His clear voice tolled through the village like a bell.

‘That’s… the Tao Te Ching¹?’

The girl recognized it and tilted her head.

She’d studied it before.

It wasn’t a funeral text.

He even mangled some lines.

When he stumbled, he just started over from the beginning.

He didn’t know it by heart.

But he chanted more earnestly than anyone.

After a few rounds, the villagers began to murmur along.

Their voices didn’t match. The words and lines were also mixed and a mess, but none of that mattered.

They didn’t even know the true meaning.

They only wished the dead a better place.

Watching them, the girl opened her mouth.

“Hence, with no desire, one beholds its mystery. With desire, one beholds its boundaries.”

Her clear voice joined the rest.

Seeing that, Geum Ho-pyeong also began to chant.

The chanting did not cease until dawn broke.

A day passed, and life resumed.

The dead are gone, and the living must live on.

Men felled timber to mend the palisade; women turned the fields.

Thankfully the houses were intact, unlike the wall.

So Gyo-ha and Noh-sam were given an empty house to rest in.

“Good heavens. Your wounds are already closing?”

Noh-sam stared in disbelief.

What was that body made of? The bleeding had even stopped.

He’d planned to rest a few days, but there was no need.

Give it two or three days and it would knit itself.

Of course, that applied only to the surface. His insides would take longer. Still, even that was remarkable.

“It poured again this morning. Even if we head back, tracking anyone will be hard.”

Gyo-ha scratched his cheek at Noh-sam’s words.

It was a pity, but it couldn’t be helped. He didn’t regret choosing this.

“So where to now—”

As Noh-sam asked, footsteps sounded outside.

Knock, knock.

“Benefactor, it’s Geum Ho-pyeong. May I come in?”

Gyo-ha and Noh-sam glanced at each other, puzzled.

Geum Ho-pyeong. He was the middle-aged man who’d stood against the wanderers.

“Yes. Please come in.”

At Gyo-ha’s word, the door opened and Geum Ho-pyeong entered.

He wasn’t alone.

The one behind him bowed.

“Forgive my late greeting. I am Yu So-ha of the Yu Family Merchant Guild. Thank you for your aid.”

The young girl bowed to them both.

Startled, Gyo-ha and Noh-sam bowed back on reflex.

It made for an odd scene of mutual bowing.

Amused, Yu So-ha let out a laugh.

“Ah, sorry.”

She quickly composed herself.

Then, solemnly, she spoke.

“I want to reward you somehow, but at the moment I have nothing to give.”

Gyo-ha and Noh-sam nodded.

They’d seen her distribute what wealth she had to the villagers.

She’d kept only enough for travel and given the rest away.

“It’s fine.”

“Indeed. We didn’t do it for payment.”

“Eh?”

When Gyo-ha declined, Noh-sam chimed in.

Though Gyo-ha had the same thought, he didn’t expect those words to come from Noh-sam’s mouth.

When he turned to look at him with a ‘What did you do, Uncle?’ kind of look, Noh-sam quietly averted his gaze.

This time Geum Ho-pyeong chuckled instead of Yu So-ha.

“My apologies.”

Geum Ho-pyeong cleared his throat.

Then, as if nothing happened, he spoke evenly.

“Since we received your help…”

“Uncle Geum, let me.”

Yu So-ha shook her head at him. Geum Ho-pyeong hesitated, then stepped back.

She took a brief breath and spoke.

“I have a shameless request. Would you accompany us to Lanzhou?”

Lanzhou?

As both looked puzzled, she continued.

“We mean to transport the deceased by cart.”

Not all the bodies were cremated yesterday. Two fallen guards had been placed in coffins.

“Once we reach Lanzhou, we’ll pay your fee for this escort as well as a proper reward. If you refuse, we’ll honor it later when you visit.”

After saying this, Yu So-ha watched them anxiously.

Noh-sam spoke first.

“In short, you plan to carry the remains to Lanzhou, and you want to hire us as escorts?”

Yu So-ha nodded.

Noh-sam looked to Gyo-ha. It was his call.

After thinking about it for a while, Gyo-ha nodded.

“Alright.”

The rains had made chasing Seo Chil difficult anyway.

Going to Lanzhou with them didn’t sound bad.

At his consent, Yu So-ha and Geum Ho-pyeong brightened.

“Thank you!”

“We’re grateful. We’ll repay this favor.”

As they kept thanking him, Gyo-ha smiled sheepishly.

Then a strange thought pricked him.

‘It feels like I’m forgetting something…’

He tried to recall, but nothing came.

“Once we reach Tanchang, there’s a branch of the money house that trades with our merchant guild. We can move funds, so don’t worry about meals or lodging.”

“Oh.”

Gyo-ha’s eyes sparkled at that.

Yu So-ha added:

“Lanzhou’s beef noodles are superb. I know a great place.”

“Ooh!”

Any lingering worries vanished from Gyo-ha’s mind.