Chapter 11

Jeong Yeo-gwang scanned the assembled warriors carefully.

There was one with a dark bruise around his eye, one limping, one with a twisted jaw, one with a huge handprint across his cheek.

If you stripped off the uniforms embroidered with “Bukgung,” they’d pass for a gang of ruffians fresh from a barroom brawl in the market.

Jeong Yeo-gwang clicked his tongue loudly.

“Tsk tsk tsk…”

One of the warriors standing before him sneered and asked him.

“Why did you call us again?”

Jeong Yeo-gwang was dumbfounded.

Had he come to be snubbed even by his own subordinates?

“I called you together to check on the guard unit’s safety as the Head of the Guards. What, any complaints?”

Saying this, Jeong Yeo-gwang grabbed the chin of a nearby man and turned his head this way and that.

“Tch, what a sight.”

The warrior, annoyed, slapped his arm away.

“Since when have you been looking after us…?”

Jeong Yeo-gwang pretended not to hear him.

“All this is Yeon Mujin’s doing, isn’t it?”

The warriors’ hostile glances turned toward Jeong Yeo-gwang.

“While a single mudskipper stirs the water of the manor, how much trouble must you have endured? As Head of the Guards, I’m sorry I haven’t tended to you properly until now.”

“…”

“I’ve discussed what to do with Yeon Mujin with the housemistress. Originally, Lady Wang and I planned to help him adapt to our Flying Swallow Manor.”

A few of the warriors snickered.

No one believed a word of it.

Jeong Yeo-gwang continued, pointing at the battered warriors.

“Looking at your state, I can’t allow this any longer.”

“What’s wrong with our appearance?”

“Yeon Mujin, with only the title of Bukgung Guard, runs rampant like a thunderstruck fool, acting as if the Family lord himself stands behind him. We’ve endured it so far, but I can no longer stand by and watch his behavior. What is this?”

Laughter spread among the warriors at Jeong Yeo-gwang’s words.

Of course Yeon Mujin did behave insolently. Who could deny that?

But that didn’t mean Jeong Yeo-gwang had tolerated it; wasn’t he the one who’d led the turf wars all along?

“Yeon Mujin is a cocky little monkey, to be sure.”

A low laugh broke out among the warriors at someone’s remark.

Jeong Yeo-gwang took the laughter as confirmation that his words were taking hold.

“Exactly! His villainous attitude has crossed the line. Lady Wang and I have decided to drive him out of our manor by any means.”

“Drive Yeon Mujin out?”

“Yes.”

The warriors looked at one another, and they were taken aback.

They read the same feeling on each other’s faces.

Should they be pleased? Or were they upset at Yeon Mujin being expelled?

Someone shouted at Jeong Yeo-gwang.

“Alright, but what about his justification?”

“Justification? What do you mean?”

“Wasn’t Yeon Mujin ambushed while practicing qi cultivation? They could report that to the headquarters and make a thing of it.”

Ironically, the one who raised that point was Yang Gwan-wol, who had been accused of ambushing Yeon Mujin.

“That’s something we can cover up among ourselves! When all of us speak as one, who would believe the ramblings of that one man? A lowborn wanderer to boot.”

“A wanderer, indeed…”

Exactly.

A mere wanderer. Who does he think he is?

“So what do you propose? Isn’t it a fact that Yeon Mujin was appointed Bukgung Guard? Are you going to break the Family lord’s order and forcibly expel him?”

This time it was Seo Nak-il who asked.

He had once been tricked by Yeon Mujin and thrown the first punch.

It was an odd situation: the two who had suffered most at Yeon Mujin’s hands were defending him.

“We can’t force him out.”

“Then?”

“We’ll make it so he has no choice but to leave on his own.”

“How?”

“If he becomes unable to perform his duties as a guard, he will naturally have to relinquish the Bukgung Guard post, won’t he?”

The warriors reacted as if they’d misheard him.

“You mean to kill him?”

“No. We must preserve the Flying Swallow Manor’s dignity, so we can’t do that.”

“Then?”

Jeong Yeo-gwang tapped his sword scabbard and spoke.

“Yeon Mujin will be made to return to where he came from.”

He added one word.

“Straight to the gutter.”

“Hwa-ran.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Where has Lady Wang gone?”

“She’s in a meeting.”

“What meeting?”

“It’s something you don’t need to know, my lady.”

The attendant Hwa-ran said.

Bukgung Yoon smiled.

When she smiled, the many flowers in the manor parlor seemed to smile with her. Bukgung Yoon’s beauty had that mysterious quality.

But she wasn’t smiling from happiness.

She laughed in disbelief at Hwa-ran’s words.

“Hwa-ran says the same as Lady Wang. A mere attendant knows things I needn’t know about? Is there nothing in this manor I’m allowed to know?”

Hwa-ran bowed her head slightly instead of answering.

“Lately Lady Wang hasn’t been seen much. She used to watch over me as if even twelve watchmen weren’t enough.”

“The housemistress is watching you? No, it’s the other way around. The lady cares for you deeply.”

Bukgung Yoon laughed coldly.

The flowers in the manor parlor now drooped coldly with her laugh.

“Yes. Of course she cares. How much vigilance would it take to watch me until I wither and die in this manor? I’m a stupid lord who can’t move freely in my own estate without Lady Wang’s permission.”

“That can’t be.”

“Is that so? Then move aside. I have somewhere to go.”

“Where are you going, my lady?”

“I’m going to the guard unit. There’s someone I want to meet.”

Hwa-ran’s face turned rigid.

Lady Wang had ordered that Bukgung Yoon must never be allowed near the guard unit.

“Today Head Guard Jeong has taken the guard unit out for external training. If you go, there will likely be no one there.”

“That’s news to me as well. When was that decided?”

“Guard unit training falls under Head Guard Jeong’s purview. It’s no wonder you weren’t informed.”

“Ah, so you won’t let me go?”

Hwa-ran only bowed her head without answering.

Bukgung Yoon felt bile rise in her throat.

Since when had things come to this?

It hadn’t been this way at first.

When Bukgung Yoon first became the manor’s lady, even if clumsy, she handled everything by her own decisions.

The days were chaotic, but Bukgung Yoon was content. She believed she could be a decent manor mistress.

But that was ancient history now.

The notion that she needed aides to properly run the manor turned into a curse.

The housemistress Wang Ga-hwa and Head of the Guards Jeong Yeo-gwang had entered the Flying Swallow Manor with genial smiles.

Those two had seized everything in Flying Swallow Manor.

Bukgung Yoon no longer had the strength or means to fight back.

She wanted to go back in time and tear out the hair of the younger self who had recklessly accepted people.

“I want to be free.”

That was the only hope she had left for the moment.

She wanted to do something with her own hands, not sit like a trapped flower in stupor.

…Even that would be impossible without Wang Ga-hwa’s permission.

“My lady! Where are you going!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not running away. Everyone in the manor is watching me; what is there to fear?”

She started walking in angry strides.

Passing down the corridor, she felt as if everyone she met stared at her.

She wanted to escape those gazes. To somewhere with no one.

Before she knew it, she had climbed to the roof.

The sun was setting, the wind cold, and the height dizzying.

She found it absurd that she couldn’t even leave this small building as she pleased.

‘If I fall from here…’

Could she flee to a place where she could escape the housemistress’s watchful eyes?

Somewhere without the housemistress or the Head of the Guards.

Away from this wretched Flying Swallow Manor.

Bukgung Yoon leaned farther over the railing.

Then.

“Hey! You stole my sweets!”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Don’t lie! You’re the only one who would steal my sweets!”

The sharp shouts of children snapped Bukgung Yoon back to her senses.

Two children from the manor’s servant quarter were playing chase, hiding from the adults’ view.

The boy ran while the girl chased him.

“Stop right there!”

“Do you think I’d stop if someone told me to?”

The children’s brawl held Bukgung Yoon’s gaze for a moment.

They clambered across the manor, roughhousing, teasing, and laughing loudly.

It was the look of the manor she once wanted to create.

“Ah!”

At that moment, the boy who had stolen the sweets ran without looking and collided with someone.

Bukgung Yoon saw the uniform embroidered with the name Bukgung in purple and red, the mark of Flying Swallow Manor’s guard unit.

The fallen boy lifted his head; his face had turned pale.

To the servant children, sword-carrying warriors were scarier than the exalted Family lord.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, warrior!”

The trailing child bowed repeatedly in fear.

Bukgung Yoon’s heart fluttered anxiously as well.

‘Will he slap the child?’

If he did, she planned to shout at once to stop the warrior’s action.

Even a toothless tiger wouldn’t dare disgrace the manor in front of its mistress.

She tried to guess the warrior’s identity by his back, but it was hard to tell who he was.

The warrior bent down to the child; Bukgung Yoon watched his actions closely, ready to shout.

But then.

The warrior neither shouted nor slapped the child’s cheek.

He knelt, helped the fallen child up, and brushed the dust from his clothes.

He didn’t seem to care about getting dust on his uniform.

The warrior and the servant child’s eyes met. The boy supported to stand up was startled.

The warrior said.

“You’ll hurt yourself running.”

He ruffled the boy’s hair and strolled away at an unhurried pace.

The boy stared after him for a long while as if entranced.

A moment later, the girl poked the boy’s side and said.

“Hey, what are you doing! You should have said sorry.”

“Hae-ran, did we have such a handsome man in our manor?”

“What?”

“Up close he was really handsome. Far more handsome than the famed young master Oh.”

“You don’t know who he is?”

“What? Who is he? Do you know?”

“Of course I do.”

“Who?”

Bukgung Yoon listened to the girl’s words.

Who on earth was that man? With her memory, Bukgung Yoon couldn’t identify him at all.

“He’s the newly arrived Bukgung Guard.”

“What did you say?”

“…What?”

Along with the boy, Bukgung Yoon muttered.

So that was… Yeon Mujin, the guard?

It was the complete opposite of her first impression. Then she had thought him a mangy dog…

The boy, unbelieving, rose on tiptoe to peer in the direction Yeon Mujin had gone.

He could only make out a vague figure already far away.

“He always wears shabby clothes, so I didn’t recognize him. How did you know?”

“The sword at his waist was identical.”

The servant boy marveled.

Come to think of it, Bukgung Yoon felt she’d seen an old sword like that before.

“Ah.”

If she’d known it was Yeon Mujin, she would have called out to him.

The person she wanted to find at the guard unit was precisely Yeon Mujin.

Because ever since some time, Wang Ga-hwa had glared at the mere mention of Yeon Mujin’s name.

So she was curious.

What on earth had he been doing in her manor?

What had he done to draw such hatred from the housemistress?

And perhaps…

“No. Stop having useless expectations.”

Bukgung Yoon shook her head and peered after Yeon Mujin, shrinking to a dot in the distance.

They said he was a wanderer.

A free wandering warrior who wandered where his feet took him. And.

I plan to make you the Family lord.

A man given to absurd boasts.

To Bukgung Yoon, Yeon Mujin was nothing but a bundle of questions.

“But dressed like that, where is he going?”

Yeon Mujin was heading out for an excursion after a long while.

He shed his comfortable clothes and put on the billowing uniform issued by Flying Swallow Manor.

“This is uncomfortably ridiculous.”

The uniforms issued by the Bukgung Family were always uncomfortable. Not just Flying Swallow Manor’s; those from the other brotherly manors were all equally awkward.

There were so many loose flaps that they were perfect for grabbing.

If Yeon Mujin’s enemy wore such clothes, he’d think:

‘What is this? A fool who desperately wants to die?’

So even in his previous life, Yeon Mujin rarely wore the Bukgung Family’s uniform; only when someone ranted foaming at their mouth would he put it on occasionally.

Still, today there was a reason to wear the detested clothing.

Yeon Mujin left the vast Bukgung Family grounds and headed for the marketplace of Taiyuan.

Come to think of it, was this his first excursion since this regression?

The sights of Taiyuan along the way were both familiar and strange.

That fishmonger, I half-remembered seeing him split in two in a past scene.

That silk merchant, I recalled killing him with my own hands.

The girl steaming dumplings beside him probably betrayed her lover for a few coins, I think.

In certain times they were villains, in others they were good people.

Yeon Mujin liked the market scene of Taiyuan and often came here, so he knew it well.

The ordinary people’s lives collided like grains of rice in a measure, spitting one another out.

Do they know? That they are being returned to the same time?

Every time Yeon Mujin returned to the past, he always felt like this.

The world steps back in place. The only one aging within it is Yeon Mujin.

This was his seventh time doing this.

“This damned regression will be the last.”

Yeon Mujin’s steps stopped at a shabby inn on the outskirts of Taiyuan.

A signboard read Flowery Inn.

But Yeon Mujin knew better.

This place’s true nature was not an ordinary inn.

It was an information network where a pack of jackals sold off all the Bukgung Family’s scandals.

“Found them.”

They were called Cocoon Silkworm Clan.

At this moment, they were exactly the people Yeon Mujin needed.