Chapter 12

Swish!

Yeon Mujin boldly threw open the inn’s beaded curtain.

All eyes inside the inn turned at once toward Yeon Mujin.

A huge character was emblazoned on the chest of Yeon Mujin’s martial uniform.

‘Bukgung.’

Yeon Mujin felt the wary gazes aimed at him.

He smiled and asked.

“Is that how you greet a guest? Hey, server boy!”

At his call, a server hurried over as if he had been blown there.

“Yes!”

“It’s the server boy, finally.”

“Yes, Great warrior!”

“Why are you so slow to welcome a customer?”

Despite Yeon Mujin’s teasing, the server boy bowed and kowtowed.

“Sorry, Great warrior! Next time I’ll at least come out to meet you at the door!”

The server boy had quite a bold cheek to him.

He took Yeon Mujin’s words in stride without a frown.

But then.

“Ah, you bastard!”

Smack!

“……??”

Yeon Mujin smacked the server boy on the head.

The server boy, flustered, clutched his stinging scalp.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to show me to a seat?”

“Ye-yes, sorry……”

The inn’s interior was as shabby as its exterior.

The server boy led Yeon Mujin to the cleanest table available.

“Please sit here, Great warrior.”

“What’s with calling me ‘Great warrior’ all the time?”

Saying that, Yeon Mujin smacked the server boy’s head once more.

Each time the boy got a blow, the men inside the inn flinched.

‘This fucking bastard….’

The server boy cursed inwardly but kept a smile on his face. It was remarkable patience from a young man.

But Yeon Mujin stared at him for a moment and then asked.

“Hey you, why are you so old?”

As Yeon Mujin said, he was fairly old to be a server boy—though younger than most others in the inn…

Usually such server boys were under developed youths who took the job to earn money.

But this server boy was somewhere between youth and middle age.

“I only have this knack to make a living, so I’m still a server boy. If it offends you, I’m sorry, Great warrior!”

“What’s your name?”

“…It’s Chun-sik.”

“Right. You really do look like a Chun-sik.”

“Thank you, Great warrior! That’s a compliment, right?”

“That’s an insult.”

The people inside the inn chuckled at that.

Jang Chun-sik of the Flowery Inn. He was, in fact, the head of the Cocoon Silkworm clan.

He had really been a server boy. That same inn’s server boy had risen to lead the Cocoon Silkworm clan, digging up all the Bukgung Family’s scandals and secrets.

Hiding in this ruined inn.

“That guy really is hateful. I should give you another hit.”

Smack!

Yeon Mujin flicked Jang Chun-sik’s forehead.

His flick was so quick that even though Chun-sik saw it coming, there was no time to dodge or defend.

Jang Chun-sik thought.

‘What kind of bastard is this man?’

Even among the awful customers he’d met as a server boy, there was no one this insane.

“What, are you offended?”

“Of course not!”

“You got unfairly hit—why aren’t you upset? Are you an idiot? Want another one?”

At that, even the shameless Chun-sik couldn’t help but wince.

Seeing that expression, Yeon Mujin burst out laughing.

“Now that’s much better. That’s your face.”

“…Yes.”

Yeon Mujin asked.

“What dish does your chef do best here?”

Angered, Jang Chun-sik decided he had to get one fast jab in on Yeon Mujin.

Dressed in the ostentatious martial arts uniform of the Bukgung Family and acting arrogantly, he must have a picky palate.

“We have a famous mutton soup dish—how about that? Our chef is particularly skilled with mutton.”

“Mutton?”

“Yes, it’s a richly flavored broth—quite tasty. It’s a rare treat we common folk can’t often have.”

“Fine, serve it then.”

At last free from Yeon Mujin’s grip, Chun-sik quietly cheered.

It didn’t take long for the dish to arrive.

A pale broth seasoned with cilantro and pepper, with mysterious white meat floating in it.

Yeon Mujin held the bowl and stared at it for a long moment.

Chun-sik grinned inwardly.

‘Does he know what it is by just looking at it?’

But Yeon Mujin knew.

“It’s mutton testicle soup.”

He lifted the spoon and began scooping the soup without hesitation.

“……!”

Chun-sik was taken aback.

Mutton testicle soup—literally boiled sheep testicles seasoned with spices and herbs.

Even among them, people with weak stomachs would scarcely touch it.

Yet a high-ranking martial man had come and was slurping it as if it were ordinary meat soup.

Yeon Mujin lifted the bowl and devoured it, letting out a loud exclamation of delight.

He even smacked his lips at the fat on his mouth—clearly a thoroughly satisfying meal.

“Hey, server boy. Come here.”

Chun-sik, looking as if he’d bitten into a worm, was dragged back.

“Chun-sik.”

“Yes.”

“Your chef has quite a hand.”

“…If you’ve finished, will you be leaving now?”

Yeon Mujin scanned the inn slowly without answering.

Other patrons averted their eyes when Yeon Mujin looked their way, coughed awkwardly, and feigned conversations by bringing up random topics.

Everyone in the inn had been on guard against Yeon Mujin from the moment he set foot inside.

The reason they hadn’t moved was the two characters emblazoned on Yeon Mujin’s chest.

The letters of ‘Bukgung’.

“Chun-sik, let me ask you one question.”

“Ah, again?”

“In this inn… Why is no one eating?”

“……”

It was true.

Despite the number of people, the only dish on the tables was the single bowl of mutton soup Yeon Mujin had eaten.

No one was eating. What did that mean?

In the awkward silence, Yeon Mujin spoke.

“I came to buy information.”

“Goddamn. I told you—this bastard came knowing his stuff. What a stupid dog act.”

Chun-sik’s attitude changed instantly.

The others no longer pretended and stared openly at Yeon Mujin.

“How did you know?”

“What?”

“That this place is the Cocoon Silkworm clan’s base. Almost no one knows that.”

Cocoon Silkworm Clan.

If the Justice faction had the Beggars Union, the Evil Way Alliance had the Lower District Clan, and the Demonic Cult had the Demon Brain Hall, then in this Imperial Court there was the Cocoon Silkworm Clan.

The Cocoon Silkworm Clan was an information organization of a different kind.

The Beggars Union gathered information from beggars, the Lower District Clan from riffraff—more sources meant more info. But the Cocoon Silkworm Clan was different.

The group’s members were all in this inn. While other organizations handled general murim-world news, the Cocoon Silkworm lot collected only one thing: information on the Bukgung Family.

Internal news of the family, changes, scandals, secrets.

If anything bore the Bukgung name, these guys would scrape together every scrap of information, price it, and sell it.

In a clan as vast as the Bukgung Family, no matter how tight they kept their retainers’ lips, some information would inevitably leak.

Grumblings of retainers, ingredients exchanged between cooks, the gossip women shared while washing clothes.

And Jang Chun-sik was the head of that Cocoon Silkworm Room.

“You couldn’t not know. The stench your parasites give off is that strong.”

“Damn you. Even after all that secrecy. Are you from the Secret Pursuit Group?”

Yeon Mujin scoffed at him.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Would the Bukgung’s Secret Pursuit Group waste time chasing parasites like you?”

“Then?”

“I came from Flying Swallow Manor.”

“Flying Swallow Manor? The youngest daughter?”

Chun-sik’s eyes widened.

The Cocoon Silkworm Room ranked information by importance.

The most valuable was A-grade, the least valuable D-grade.

Information about Flying Swallow Manor was, needless to say, D-grade.

“A customer from Flying Swallow Manor? This is a first time.”

“From now on I’ll be a VIP.”

“No idea where you heard that, but our information isn’t cheap. Got money?”

“I don’t have any.”

“…What?”

“I’ve never paid full price for anything in my life.”

“What kind of crazy talk is that…”

At the claim of having no money, some stood up and made the atmosphere hostile.

“No money—so you’ll solve it with blades? Do you think our Cocoon Silkworm Clan is some third-rate outfit that begs for info when hassled?”

Chun-sik nodded toward the old sword at Yeon Mujin’s waist and spoke.

Yeon Mujin shook his head.

“Chun-sik. Make a note for your Cocoon Silkworm Clan records: I draw my sword only when there’s blood to be seen. As a guest I’ll keep manners and not draw my sword.”

Chun-sik was stunned.

Is this guy calling it ‘manners’ now?

But Yeon Mujin’s next words were even more shocking.

“And don’t pretend otherwise. You are a third-rate organization.”

“Ha! Hahaha! Hahahahaha!”

It was almost admirable now.

Had he seen anyone recently with such gall?

No, even in all of Chun-sik’s life there weren’t many like him. Truly a freshly insane man.

“So. No sword drawn, no money. How do you intend to pay for the information?”

Without answering, Yeon Mujin raised his fist.

Chun-sik pointed at Yeon Mujin’s fist with his finger.

Then pointed at himself.

Then at his underlings who brandished weapons and looked menacing.

He asked again as if confirming.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Goddamn, my pride won’t allow this—if I have to close shop for the day this bastard won’t do. Boys! Take care of him!”

At Chun-sik’s curse, the Cocoon Silkworm Clan’s thugs closed in.

Yeon Mujin rose from his seat lightly.

---

Refined forms.

Clashes of internal qi.

Reading moves and tactical exchanges.

Technique and follow-through.

A martial arts warrior’s fight consists of those things.

Well, it’s not that I can’t do that either.

Still, what’s suited to me is:

Curses and screams.

Blood and spit.

Clubs and blades.

Strength and numbers.

In fights that pit martial arts skill against martial arts skill, I rarely lose.

But if this street brawl is about thugs’ fists in an alley, then my nickname might as well be ‘Invincible East Thug’.

No matter how good the Cocoon Silkworm thugs were at fighting, before me they were like scribbling characters in front of Confucius.

As a result, they lay around the inn broken or battered. Why mess with me.

And Jang Chun-sik.

“Chun-sik.”

“Yes!”

His earlier bold attitude gone, Chun-sik trembled before me like a soaked puppy.

“Chun-sik.”

“Yes!”

“Take off your pants.”

“What?”

“Do you want to take off after a beating, or will you just take them off?”

“I’ll just take them off.”

Chun-sik obediently removed his pants as told.

“Take off your upper clothes too.”

“What?”

“Chun-sik, is ‘what?’ stuck to your mouth?”

Wearing only his undergarments, Chun-sik stared helplessly at Yeon Mujin.

“Kneel.”

Chun-sik no longer had the strength to argue. He knelt and bowed his head obediently.

Yeon Mujin nodded with satisfaction.

“Now you’re ready to talk. You should’ve crawled voluntarily when the guest was being polite.”

“I’m sorry, Great Warrior.”

“Drop that ‘Great Warrior’ title too. You say ‘Great warrior’ every time you open your mouth. Don’t you have any decency?”

‘Put yourself in my shoes, would you have any courage to say anything?’

Those words didn’t pass through Chun-sik’s Adam’s apple.

Chun-sik was a man who knew his life was precious.

“I came to buy information.”

“You said you had no money.”

“So what.”

“Then this is robbery, not buying.”

“What! Do I look like some shameless scoundrel?”

If Chun-sik could curse with his eyes, he’d be screaming at the top of his lungs.

He etched Yeon Mujin’s face into his mental ledger in the mind.

And wrote beside it.

Crazy bastard. Shameless bastard.

“Actually I’m not here to buy information. I have the info but no proof. I need the Cocoon Silkworm Clan to fetch that proof.”

“We don’t deal like that.”

“Then how do you work?”

“Normally, when a request comes we send a proxy to exchange money and information. Voices and faces are not revealed. Only cash and a paper with the information change hands. If physical items change hands, it’s too easy to trace who obtained them and how.”

“I know that too.”

“So sorry, but we can’t do that…”

“But I’m not the one being tracked, am I?”

“……”

“Do it just this once. I’m asking you. What kind of people are we to each other?”

Chun-sik wanted to ask instead.

What the hell kind of ‘relationship’ are we?

“What exactly are you looking for, Master?”

“You know the Flying Swallow manor, right?”

“Yes. The youngest daughter is the manor lord, right.”

“Do you know who holds the real power in Flying Swallow Manor?”

“As far as I know, it’s Jeong Yeo-gwang and Wang Ga-hwa.”

“I thought so. Your experience isn’t wasted—though your appearance is shabby.”

Not just shabby—he had almost nothing on his body.

“As for my appearance, Master…”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“Anyway, behind those two is the sixth young master. It seems the sixth young master planted and is controlling a mole in Flying Swallow Manor. Did you know that?”

“I suspected, but I didn’t know it was the sixth young master.”

“Good. Smart. But why didn’t you report it?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“That’s exactly it.”

“Sorry?”

Chun-sik looked up at Yeon Mujin with a dumbfounded expression.

“Bring me proof that those two dared betray their master and tail another man’s orders.”

“Me?”

“Of course, you do it. Do you think I’ll do it?”

Yeon Mujin was shameless.

And his creed was that one must be shameless to the end when necessary.

“I’ll give you three days. Use all your information network to fetch me the proof. They’re human too—there will be some evidence showing they acted on the sixth young lord’s orders. Oh, and you won’t be going out. You will stay with me. Send your underlings to get the proof and I’ll let you go.”

“If we can’t get it within three days?”

“Then I’ll draw my sword, of course.”

Chun-sik thought perhaps that might even be preferable.