Tap the text to show or hide reading controls.
The Night Water Clan Lord only appeared after seven more people had been knocked out.
“What bold fool dares come into the Night Water Clan and make a scene!”
A booming roar erupted from his dantian.
The Night Water Clan’s warriors, Yeon Mujin—who had been knocking them down—and the External Protection Troops members watching all turned toward the voice’s owner.
A man in a black dragon robe embroidered with gold thread, carrying himself like an emperor, glared at Yeon Mujin and demanded, “Who are you!”
“Are you the Night Water Clan Leader?”
“I am the Night Water Clan Leader, Bang Cheon-ho!” the man answered.
“Is that so.”
Yeon Mujin quickly scanned the people beside Bang Cheon-ho. To Bang Cheon-ho’s right sat an old man in plain black clothes; to his left stood two figures wearing brimmed bamboo hats. All three faces were familiar to Yeon Mujin—though they likely didn’t know him.
“I see. So that’s how it is,” Yeon Mujin muttered.
“Who are you!” Bang Cheon-ho shouted again, full force.
“Quiet!” Yeon Mujin shot back, louder.
Bang Cheon-ho looked visibly flustered—annoyed that someone had barged into his main hall and acted so brazenly. But Yeon Mujin wasn’t the sort to be cowed; he continued.
“I am a man sent by Smoke and Cloud Union leader, Ha Ho-baek.”
“…What?”
“I came to deliver the Smoke and Cloud Union leader’s intention to the Night Water Clan fighters. If every group of the clan does not withdraw from the Southern Lake within seven days, you are as good as dead.”
Of course, Ha Ho-baek had never said any such thing. He hadn’t intended to—Smoke and Cloud Union was clearly at a disadvantage in strength. Silence fell after Yeon Mujin’s proclamation. Then laughter burst out.
“Kuhahahaha!”
When Bang Cheon-ho began laughing, the clan warriors followed, clutching their stomachs.
“Hahahahaha!”
“What are you talking about!”
“Has the young one gone senile?”
“Did Ha Ho-baek tell you to go and get yourselves killed?”
The loud laughter from the black-robed warriors echoed through the Night Water Clan. But among it all, one laugh stood out as particularly loud.
“Uhhahaha!”
“….”
Yeon Mujin laughed louder, more cheerfully, as if the ridicule only amused him.
In the end, when everyone else’s laughter died down, the only one left laughing was Yeon Mujin.
Bang Cheon-ho scowled; that laugh made him feel oddly disgusted.
“What’s so funny?”
“What, wasn’t this a laughing mood? I thought I’d heard some joke I was the only one missing.”
“You’re telling us to bugger off—is that a joke?”
“That wasn’t a joke. I was being sincere.”
“Crazy bastard.”
“I hear words like that all the time.”
Bang Cheon-ho was genuinely impressed by Yeon Mujin’s audacity; whether that boldness came from real ability or simple madness, he couldn’t tell.
“So you have no intention of withdrawing?”
“You call that a question? Looks like Ha Ho-baek hasn’t lost his wits completely—hiring someone as a last gasp when you’re about to die. What’s your name?”
“Yeon Mujin.”
When Yeon Mujin gave his name, the two in brimmed hats reacted; Yeon Mujin did not miss it.
“Never heard that name before,” Bang Cheon-ho said.
“I have no plans to become famous yet.”
He glanced at the men in hats and let slip, “Although that won’t be for much longer.”
“There’s no other word for it but crazy,” someone muttered. It was a wild, outrageous remark.
Seeing the conversation drag on, Bang Cheon-ho looked to the old man in black. “I’d like to beat you bloody and send you on your way, but today there is an honored guest at the Night Water Clan, so I’ll let it pass this time. Go back and tell Ha Ho-baek this plainly: the Southern Lake belongs to the Night Water Clan from now on. If we meet you again, you won’t walk away unscathed like today.”
At his gesture, the Night Water Clan warriors closed in around Yeon Mujin. The External Protection Troops members began to worry.
“Shouldn’t we be getting him out of there soon?”
“Surely the captain doesn’t intend to go all the way here?”
As doubts grew among the watching External Protection Troops members, Yeon Mujin tossed off a line like a third-rate villain and pushed through the Night Water Clan fighters, walking out slowly.
“Tch! Night Water Clan Lord Bang Cheon-ho! I’ll remember your face clearly!”
On the way back, the External Protection Troops watched Yeon Mujin’s expression. They hadn’t expected him to tuck his tail and slip away so easily.
“Um, captain.”
“Yes?”
“Should we give up on the Night Water Clan? Was that Night Water Clan Lord’s resolve really that weak?”
Judging by how Yeon Mujin had retreated, that Night Water Clan Lord must be fairly strong. They’d been too far to see clearly, but hadn’t the Night Water Clan driven Yeon Mujin out?
“Who?”
“The Night Water Clan Leader.”
“That guy’s nothing. I can beat him with one finger.”
The External Protection Troops members exchanged glances.
Unable to keep quiet, Wei Gon-chan asked, “Then why did you back down?”
“Who backed down?”
“The captain backed down…”
“Who backed down?”
“The captain…”
“Who backed down?”
“No, sorry.”
“It wasn’t backing down, it was a strategic retreat.”
“So you did pull back, then?”
“We haven’t been paid yet. If we capture the Night Water Clan Leader now it’s ten thousand coins, but if we get him later it’s forty thousand coins.”
“Forty thousand coins?”
“There are four parties who’ll pay us, aren’t there?”
He was talking about the four sects of the Southern Four Alliance.
“Did they leave a deposit?”
“Isn’t ten thousand coins too much?”
“I was unsure earlier, but now I’m certain.”
Yeon Mujin looked at the External Protection Troops and said, “Alright, now let’s go collect the forty thousand coins.”
The heads of the Southern Four Alliance’s schools were waiting at the appointed place. When the Bukgung Family did not show up after a while, Mo Yeom-bi voiced his displeasure.
“Why are they so late? How can we trust them like this?”
“Let’s wait a bit, hyung.”
“Good grief. If they can’t even keep a simple appointment, you can guess what kind of people they are. Probably old and stiff-necked.”
“Um, well… no. Let’s wait and see.”
Not long after, the Bukgung Family appeared: a man in a gray martial robe on the verge of becoming ragged, followed by three warriors dressed the same.
“?”
They were completely unlike what everyone had imagined. More surprising still, the ragged one—rather than anyone else—slouched into the vacant chair and announced, “Everyone’s gathered.”
The heads of the Southern Four Alliance exchanged glances simultaneously.
‘Is it him?’
‘He is too young.’
The ragged man put his foot up on the round table and said, “I am Yeon Mujin.”
At once the sect leaders all nodded with the same thought: ‘It’s a wild dog, that’s right.’
Yu Un-seok, head of the Blue River Clan, asked, “Are you someone sent from the Bukgung Family?”
“Yes.”
“Excuse me, but may I ask exactly where you are from? Just saying Bukgung is a bit hard to trust.”
“I am Yeon Mujin of the Flying Swallow Manor of the Bukgung Family, of the External Protection Troops.”
Flying Swallow Manor? External Protection Troops? Yeon Mujin? Even the well-informed Yu Un-seok had never heard those names before.
“Pardon me again, but Flying Swallow Manor is the manor of which son? I’ve never heard of it.”
“The lady of Flying Swallow Manor is the youngest of the Bukgung family,” Seo Nak-il answered for him.
“Youngest? So the sixth?”
“The seventh.”
“The seventh?”
Yu Un-seok knew of only six sons in the Bukgung family. A hidden seventh?
“And you’re mistaken on one more thing. The lord of Flying Swallow Manor is not a young man of the Bukgung family but a young lady.”
At the word ‘daughter,’ everyone’s faces—except Ha Ho-baek’s—twisted in displeasure. A daughter with an unknown name meant she likely had no standing within the Bukgung Family: she wouldn’t need to compete to become Family Lord and was the youngest daughter. They pictured the unknown lord of Flying Swallow Manor as a pitiful, discarded miss. How could they trust a warrior who served such a youngest daughter?
In an instant, people’s trust in Yeon Mujin plummeted.
Mo Yeom-bi, leader of the Dispersing Lotus Union, sneered, “They say Bukgung Family, but if he’s a lowly retainer of some unnamed manor, what reason do we have to entrust this to him? I hear he demanded ten thousand gold from the Smoke and Cloud Union leader as payment—I simply can’t trust that. Could this be a scheme to take advantage of our Southern Four Alliance’s desperation, take the money, and run?”
The External Protection Troops bristled at Mo Yeom-bi’s insult.
“What the hell…!”
“Are you calling our External Protection Troops conmen?”
No one was angrier than Yu Se-gwang. He rose quietly, clenching his fist, and glared at Mo Yeom-bi.
“Take back what you just said.”
A faint killing intent spread outward from Yu Se-gwang. The heads of the Southern Four Alliance were both startled and impressed by his presence. ‘So young, and yet what a cultivated qi presence…!’ The aura was sharp and disciplined in a way that belied his youth.
Mo Yeom-bi flinched at the killing intent but, not to be outdone, glared back. “Do you dare press us down with the prestige of the Bukgung Family!”
“Apologize to the captain. We won’t tolerate insults to the captain.”
“Apologize? On what basis? Is there something wrong with what I said?”
When Mo Yeom-bi refused to apologize, the atmosphere soured further. Yu Se-gwang’s killing intent tightened as if ready to swing a fist.
“Se-gwang.”
Yeon Mujin called Yu Se-gwang’s name. Just as Yu Se-gwang turned—Thwack!—a strike to the windpipe sent him down, lightly unconscious.
The sect leaders were stunned again; they hadn’t caught Yeon Mujin’s speed with their eyes.
“Who are you to be fretting about forgiveness? I’ll protect my own dignity, so don’t act up.”
Yeon Mujin roughly tossed the fallen Yu Se-gwang aside and addressed the sect leaders again. “I don’t intend to intimidate you with the Bukgung Family’s name. What you should trust is not the Bukgung Family name but me. I am the one who will take your request and solve the problem.”
“….”
“You don’t believe me? That’s not unreasonable. If I meant to cheat you and run, I wouldn’t have asked for a ten thousand-coin success fee. I could have demanded a pittance, taken it, and run.”
Yeon Mujin’s words were correct. He leaned in provocatively. “And even if, by chance, I’m a fraud—so what will you do about it?”
“…Yes?”
“What if I’m a fraud? What if I have no skill and only a loud mouth? What if my claim of coming from the Bukgung Family is a lie? What good will it do you to pick apart and suspect every detail and stall for time? You have no other options. If not me, who else will you ask?”
Mo Yeom-bi fell silent as if sweetened into submission. It was undeniably true, yet conceding felt like defeat.
“Listen well. I’m not here to negotiate. I’m here to give you a final option. My terms are the same: promise me ten thousand coins of gold and I’ll destroy the Night Water Clan and rescue the missing former alliance leaders.”
Noh Ja-gwang, who had been silent, spoke up first. “Do you have any proof that those people are alive? How can captain Yeon guarantee that?”
Snap! Yeon Mujin snapped his fingers. “Just a hunch.”
“…You’re telling us to bet ten thousand coins on captain Yeon’s hunch?”
“But if I fail to bring them back, I won’t take the ten thousand coins.”
“!”
Everyone turned to look at Yeon Mujin. He reached out among the leaders and asked, “So, who’s in?”
When a person boasts like that, even the most absurd bluster raises expectation. That expectation wasn’t limited to the sect leaders. The External Protection Troops also felt a spark of hope at Yeon Mujin’s nonsense. Might the captain actually have something up his sleeve? Could there be some brilliant plan? Surely he wouldn’t just barge in and rummage through everything, would he?
And sad hunches almost always turn out to be correct in the worst way.
The night they were promised the forty thousand coins, Yeon Mujin returned carrying four night-raid outfits.
To the members who asked what they were for, he said, “Put them on.”
“We’re not assassins, you know?”
“Aren’t we going to ambush?”
“Really?”
“Thievery.”
“….”
Yu Se-gwang was the son of the Minister of Rites, and Seo Nak-il came from a prestigious branch family known as the Eight Shaolin Lineages. Wei Gon-chan wasn’t as prominent as the others, but he’d never stolen in his life.
A warrior turned into a thief—what humiliation. And fundamentally they had one question.
“What are we going to steal?”
“The missing alliance leaders.”
“You know where they are?”
“Search and everything will come out.”
“….”
Yeon Mujin was even more reckless than they had expected.
Reading Settings
