Chapter 101

“What if that shapeshifter runs off like this and never shows up again?”

“Don’t worry, Nak-il. You shouldn’t take a madman’s obsession lightly.”

Yeon Mujin said so.

“The shapeshifter will certainly appear again. The question is whether I notice that old hag’s disguises or not.”

And his words proved true.

The two were walking along the main road after passing Yangzhou. Not as large as Suzhou, Yangzhou was still bustling, so there were many travelers along the road.

Seo Nak-il had heard Yeon Mujin’s words and scrutinized the passersby with suspicious eyes. Could that pole-carrier be the shapeshifter? No—the one they’d seen before could shrink to a child-jong, small enough to pass for a child. That fellow was too big.

Then could that woman carrying a water jar on her head be the shapeshifter?

“Hmm…”

If she could disguise herself as a man, posing as a woman would be easier. Her build even resembled that child-jong they’d seen before. Crucially, while balancing the jar she kept glancing toward Yeon Mujin and Seo Nak-il.

Seo Nak-il nudged Yeon Mujin’s side with his elbow and whispered, “Captain, I think I found her.”

“What?”

“That woman carrying the water jar looks suspicious. Could she be the shapeshifter? She keeps glancing our way.”

Yeon Mujin looked at Seo Nak-il with a disdainful expression. “Anyone would stare if they’re carrying such a large load and flicking their eyes about, you fool.”

“Ah.”

“That woman isn’t her.”

“Is she not?”

Seo Nak-il, crestfallen, scanned the crowd again. To him they all looked natural, and yet each one seemed suspicious. He had thought he had a warrior’s eye for such things, but…

Yeon Mujin said at his side, “Don’t trust everything you see. In disguise she’s uncanny. Voice, mannerisms, gait, build… if she wants to change them she can. You wouldn’t be called a shapeshifter otherwise, would you?”

“Any other clues?”

“The shapeshifter has no friends and always travels alone.”

That narrowed the candidates considerably.

As Seo Nak-il carefully examined those walking alone, Yeon Mujin said, “Found one.”

“Yes?”

Before Seo Nak-il could answer, Yeon Mujin strode up to a man. It was an old, gaunt fellow pulling a cart. But—

“Didn’t you just say they always travel alone?”

Beside the old man was a young boy helping pull the cart. At a glance they looked like a harmonious grandfather and grandson.

Yeon Mujin went up to the wizened old man and said, “Back again?”

The old man straightened his bent back and looked up at Yeon Mujin. With a tremulous face he said, “You go around poking at anyone, huh?”

“No, I’m not.”

“You didn’t notice and just tried talking?”

“No, no?”

“There were maybe thirty others besides me who walked up and said the same thing, right?”

“No, no, no?”

Seo Nak-il was startled. It was the exact same elderly woman’s voice he’d heard before. The shapeshifter burst out angrily, “How on earth did you notice?!”

“Hahaha!” Yeon Mujin laughed. “How did you notice?”

“The child’s shoes.”

“…?”

“Your shoes pulling the cart are plastered with mud, but the child’s shoes are clean. If the two had been walking together, that couldn’t be.”

Yeon Mujin smiled wryly. “Not only the shoes, but the child’s clothes are far too neat for someone pulling a cart. You probably grabbed a traveler-child in Yangzhou and made a deal: ‘I’ll pay when we’re done,’ yes? Last time you were caught in disguise on your own, so this time you used another person. I suspected as much.”

Bang!

The shapeshifter roughly let go of the cart she had been pushing and angrily flicked a silver coin toward the boy. “What an unlucky brat!”

“And it’s a sickness to keep coming back looking for that unlucky brat.”

“Shut up!”

The shapeshifter continued to appear several more times after that: a dumpling-selling granny, a warrior with a sword, a blind fortune-teller, a coachman who was half laborer, a fisherman by the river…

Each time Yeon Mujin recognized her. To Seo Nak-il, Yeon Mujin’s uncanny ability to spot her all the time was more terrifying than the shapeshifter herself.

The closer they got to Taiyuan, the more frequently she appeared. Losing her composure, her disguises slipped. Later, they degraded to the point even Seo Nak-il could notice.

“Aren’t you the shapeshifter, teacher?”

“Eek…!”

Once exposed, she’d always rush up with an angry face and cry out, “How did you know!”

“You’re too clumsy to even be worth explaining.”

“…You didn’t powder your hands, so they’re wrinkled.”

This time the shapeshifter had disguised herself as a beggar rolling under a bridge. She looked at her own hands and cried, “Oh no!”

It was a rookie mistake uncharacteristic of her.

Yeon Mujin crossed his arms, stared at the shapeshifter, and said, “Your disguises don’t work on me. I will never be fooled.”

Hearing that, the shapeshifter glared at Yeon Mujin as if she would kill him. “How long do you intend to chase me?”

“I never chased you.”

“So you expect me to believe that from Suzhou to Taiyuan you just happened to keep running into me as I changed my disguises each time? That’s nonsense. Your pride at this point is sick.”

“You must have been following me.”

“Is that so? Fine. Then go on your way.”

“…”

Even when told to go, the shapeshifter stood motionless like a stone statue.

“If you tell me to go and tell me not to go, what do you want me to do?!”

The shapeshifter had no comeback. She couldn’t bear to leave with wounded pride, and she couldn’t admit she’d been following either. This humiliation was new to her.

“Very well. Then let’s do this.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Let’s wager our pride against each other on something else.”

“A wager? What kind of wager?”

Yeon Mujin nodded. “A drinking contest.”

“…Drink?”

At the word ‘drink,’ the shapeshifter’s eyes widened. “Do you know that I never refuse two cups?”

“What a coincidence. So do I.”

“I have never lost a drinking match in my life.”

“That’s a coincidence too. So do I.”

“You challenge me to a drinking match? Hmph! I’d rather bet I can beat a dog at sniffing things.”

Yeon Mujin sneered, “What, you’ve never used your disguise arts?”

Those words hit her sore spot.

“You awful bastard!”

But there was little she could do in anger—her martial arts were poor. She was just an angry old woman.

“But a plain wager would be boring, so I’ll add conditions.”

“I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

“Shut up and listen. Haven’t you heard that with age you should keep your mouth shut and your ears open?”

The beggar-disguised shapeshifter had nothing to say and just glared at Yeon Mujin.

“If you win, I’ll follow you and become your servant.”

Startled by the audacious condition, Seo Nak-il exclaimed, “Captain!”

But the shapeshifter didn’t look very tempted. “I’m skilled in stealth and disguise, never refuse two drinks, an eloquent speaker, an excellent strategist and negotiator, and a fine swordsman. If you take me, I’ll be useful anywhere.”

“Hmph! I see you’d bob on the water even if thrown in.”

After thinking it over, it wasn’t a bad proposition. The shapeshifter was confident she wouldn’t lose at a drinking contest.

“Then what if you win?”

“If I win, it’s simple.”

Yeon Mujin smiled, knowing he’d baited her. “Follow me and fulfill three requests of mine.”

“A fair contest of drinking capacity?”

“That’s right.”

“Don’t even think of sniffing out my stamina with internal energy. Just because I don’t know martial arts doesn’t mean I wouldn’t notice that. A woman over sixty can be like a viper.”

“I won’t do that. Besides, you weren’t sixty—you might have been a viper even at twenty.”

“You’re really not going to cheat, right?”

“I said I won’t. What do you take me for?”

The two sat facing each other in a large pavilion.

“Our Nak-il will be the judge.”

“He’s your subordinate. How am I supposed to trust him?”

“If you win anyway, why need a judge? If I collapse first, consider it your victory.”

“Hmm… all right, I agree for now.”

Behind Seo Nak-il was a jar filled with strong yellow wine. He poured it into an ewer and handed it to them.

First—the first ewer.

“Ugh—.”

“Kyaa!”

The shapeshifter put her mouth to the ewer and gulped it down. Yeon Mujin did the same. She finished an ewer in one go and smacked her lips.

“Why yellow wine when you said drink strong soju or baijiu? It’ll only make me want to pee.”

“Why? You said you like drinking but you don’t take yellow wine?”

“I really don’t like yellow wine. It tastes watered down, doesn’t get me drunk well, and has no flavor…”

“So we chose yellow wine.”

“What?”

After wondering what grand logic that was, Yeon Mujin gave a ridiculous answer. “I’m confident in holding my bladder. If I stand up to pee, I lose.”

“Hmph! I’m confident in holding my bladder too.”

“I’m stronger. Because I’m seven chi longer than you.”

“Seven chi? More like three chi.”

“You old hag trying to bruise a man’s pride? Show me then.”

“Enough talk—pour the drink instead.”

Seo Nak-il refilled the ewer. They emptied the second ewer at the same pace.

As Seo Nak-il filled a new ewer, conversation naturally flowed. The two weren’t friends and had nothing else to do but drink.

“By the way.”

“What is it?”

“What’s your name?”

“Why do you want my name?”

“Whether I take you as my servant or you grant my requests, I should know your name. I can’t keep calling you old hag forever.”

“I don’t have a name for you to call me by.”

The shapeshifter stared at the empty ewer and then casually added one more line. “I’ve long since forgotten any name I had.”

She was still disguised as a beggar. Yeon Mujin stared hard at the hood she wore and said, “Nak-il, bring another ewer.”

Glug glug glug.

The shapeshifter drained another one at a gulp. Yeon Mujin shook his head and poured the same amount down his throat.

“You drink quite well, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“Did you usually drink a lot?”

Seo Nak-il was asked, but he could only shrug. He’d never seen Yeon Mujin drink before.

“Not really.”

“You fool, the phrase ‘drink without hesitation’ means someone who won’t turn down even cheap drinks. So you’re not a true man.”

“No. I am a person like that.”

“Why?”

“Those who used to offer me drinks are all dead now.”

“…”

“No one offers, so I don’t drink.”

“When was the last time you drank?”

Yeon Mujin tilted his head slowly. “This is the first time I’ve drunk in this life.”

“What? What nonsense is that?”

Yeon Mujin chuckled. “Nak-il! Bring the next ewer!”

And so the fourth round went around.

Four ewers of yellow wine—even someone who drank well would start to slur at this point. Seo Nak-il, whose tolerance was average, would have been drunk after about two ewers. But both of them remained perfectly composed. Their faces weren’t flushed, nor were they fidgeting to pee.

After emptying the fourth ewer, Yeon Mujin sat with his arms crossed, lost in thought.

Seeing that, the shapeshifter teased, “What, sleepy? Already nodding off? A few bowls of yellow wine in a cool pavilion and you’re getting drowsy? Falling asleep is as good as disqualified, same as getting up to pee. For the record, I’m still fine.”

“No.”

Yeon Mujin opened his eyes. “After thinking it over, I’m sure my thing is seven chi. I just measured it in my head.”

Disgust flickered across the shapeshifter’s face. “…Filthy bastard.”