Red Hare (3)

After Jin-hyeon left.

“……”

Seomun Hoe sat lost in thought, tilting his cup alone.

Standing silently nearby, Dam Jun spoke.

“Lord Divine Eye Gold Pillar, may I speak?”

“Go ahead.”

“He is dangerous.”

Seomun Hoe nodded without a word.

Watching his expression, Dam Jun spoke with a firmer voice.

“I don’t know who he truly is, but his insight and daring are beyond ordinary men. And moreover…”

“He was practiced.”

“Lord?”

Seomun Hoe emptied his cup again.

“We do many things, but at our core, our work is dealing with people.”

“Yes.”

“You must be clever, and quick in judgment. But to rise high, you must know how to truly handle people. That is our trade.”

“Yes.”

“It was the first time I was dragged along so helplessly.”

“That was… because he already knew much about us…”

“You are a talent I acknowledge. But sometimes you falter—like now, when you cling to pride without meaning.”

Dam Jun bowed his head low.

As he refilled his cup, Seomun Hoe thought.

‘What on earth is his true identity?’

That was something to investigate from here on, yet he doubted digging would uncover much.

‘He most likely has no backing.’

That was his intuition.

Having backing would mean his subordinates themselves were outstanding. If he had such support, a man of Jin-hyeon’s caliber wouldn’t need to be the one at the front.

For someone supposedly relying on shady forces, Jin-hyeon shone far too brightly.

‘That’s it. He’s simply remarkable, to a startling degree.’

It wasn’t just his knowledge of the Black Society or his ability to unsettle him. It was Jin-hyeon himself that left such an impression.

At a glance, he didn’t seem overwhelmingly strong—yet oddly, he was not someone to trifle with.

‘His presence is extraordinary.’

Every man has a nature he’s born with.

Some refine it through experience, some waste it, and most simply live as they were born.

With Jin-hyeon, it was hard to tell which.

He seemed gentle and mild by nature, yet when he widened his eyes it was like being slashed by thousands of blades.

Was it his nature, or something forged by experience? Or was it even nature at all?

What was certain was that he was not a man to be taken lightly.

‘Why has he appeared at such a time?’

Draining his cup once more, Seomun Hoe recalled Jin-hyeon’s words.

‘But why do I see urgency? Is there trouble in the Black Society?’

It had been a piercing insight.

Whether intuition or something else, his words rang true—the Black Society was in chaos.

And Seomun Hoe was one of those running about to resolve its core problems.

“Stone Pillar Dam.”

“Yes, Lord Gold Pillar.”

Eyes fixed forward, Seomun Hoe spoke.

“Gather and compile everything the client mentioned. Bring it to me.”

“Understood.”

“Find which smiths of the Yeo Family Ironworks the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild has bought. Will a day suffice?”

“I’ll make it happen.”

“The client asked us to complete the tasks within four days.”

“……”

“Make it three.”

“At your command.”

“Move.”

Bowing, Dam Jun hurried out of the inn.

A little later.

“Yaaawn! Ahh, exhausting.”

A young man who had been downstairs came up to the second floor.

Seomun Hoe chuckled.

“Tired, when all you do is yawn?”

“Doing nothing is its own kind of hard.”

The youth plopped down across from him.

“You look like you took a proper beating.”

“Not one—more like a dozen.”

The youth’s eyes went wide.

“Now that’s a first. For you to exaggerate, Gold Pillar.”

“I wish I were only exaggerating.”

The youth gave him a curious look.

Seomun Hoe handed him the letter on the table.

“Read it.”

“What is it?”

The youth unfolded it and began reading aloud.

“The master of life (生) toys with life, the master of emotion (情) toys with hearts. The one who sees (目) walks unashamed beneath the sun, the one who hears (耳) fears not even moonlight. With only cowards and shameless men abound, only death (死) bears his blade in silence.”

Finishing, the youth looked up at him.

“Isn’t this the Five Pillars’ Verses from a century ago?”

“In the Black Society today, only the Black Society Leader, the five Gold Pillars, and you—seven in all—know of it.”

“That’s right.”

The Five Pillars’ Verses were lines describing the five professions that founded the Hao Sect.

Life (生) meant innkeepers and tavern masters, Emotion (情) the owners of courtesan houses.

Eye (目) meant swindlers, Ear (耳) thieves, and Death (死) butchers.

Within the Hao Sect, they called these lines the Five Pillars’ Verses of Life, Death, Emotion, Eye, and Ear.

“The reason our Society has five Gold Pillars also descends from those five founders’ posts.”

“True, though our roles are wholly different now. But why bring this up?”

Seomun Hoe only looked at him.

The youth grinned.

“You’re scaring me, looking at me like that.”

“Your resolve hasn’t changed?”

“Resolve for what?”

“The resolve to betray the Leader and oust the other four Gold Pillars.”

The youth’s smiling face hardened.

But he did not waver.

“There’s no need to ask me that. Even in death, my resolve will be the same. What matters is whether you, Divine Eye Gold Pillar, will decide.”

“Why choose me?”

“Why do you help me?”

“……”

“I didn’t choose. I believed.”

“Did you now.”

Looking at him steadily, Seomun Hoe nodded.

“If this affair is handled well… we begin the cleansing.”

A mix of surprise and joy spread over the youth’s face.

“Truly?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. Thank you truly.”

“It’s I who should thank you—for waiting on my indecision this long.”

“No. In your position, Gold Pillar, it was only natural.”

“There is nothing natural in this world. I too only turned from reality for my own preservation.”

A fire lit in Seomun Hoe’s eyes.

“Whatever the case, this commission is immense. It may be the most important in a hundred years. Perhaps… it was fate that it came to us now.”

“What kind of commission could warrant that?”

“To uproot the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild.”

“!”

“You will lend a hand too.”

Two days later, at noon.

“You’ve come, Teacher?”

Seol Hong-baek greeted Jin-hyeon warmly.

Jin-hyeon smiled at Seol Hong-baek’s sweat-covered face.

“You’ve been practicing the Moon Kingdom Eight Purities Sword.”

“How did you know?”

“I can still sense sword qi lingering. It has a bluish hue.”

He didn’t literally see a blue aura. It was just the impression he felt.

Seol Hong-baek shook his head.

“I felt it before as well—your eye is truly extraordinary. How do you have such perception at so young an age?”

“Just intuition.”

“I have only just begun training the Tianshan Light-and-Shadow Divine Art. The work of transforming my existing cultivation into a divine art is quite difficult.”

“I understand. Even in transitioning to the Light-and-Shadow Divine Art, you will find your own insights.”

“I can only hope for that to happen. Please, sit.”

Seol Hong-baek set Jin-hyeon down and personally brewed tea.

“What a luxury. For me to always be drinking tea brewed by the Patriarch himself.”

“I only wonder if I’m spoiling your taste.”

Jin-hyeon wet his throat with a sip, then lowered his head.

“My apologies. I have broken our appointment twice.”

Seol Hong-baek waved it off.

“I should be more sorry, for troubling a busy man.”

“No. A promise is a promise. I’ll buy you a drink next time.”

“Haha! If it is a drink from you, Teacher, I will set aside all else to come.”

Jin-hyeon set a bundle on the table.

“The Tianshan’s Ten-Thousand-Year Only-White Art, and the Moonlit Snow Shadow Sword.”

“!”

“With this, I have passed on all the martial arts of Tianshan that I know.”

Seol Hong-baek’s eyes shook greatly.

“Teacher.”

Gripping Jin-hyeon’s hand tightly, his face was filled with emotion.

“Thank you. What words could I add?”

“No need. But… my hand…”

“No words could hold the weight of our gratitude. On behalf of my ancestors and my children, I thank you. I do not know how I might repay such a debt.”

Jin-hyeon wondered why this man kept holding and shaking his hand. But feeling the sincerity, he could not rudely pull it away.

He spoke half in jest.

“Now that you’ve received them all, you can’t pretend not to know me later.”

It was meant as a joke, but Seol Hong-baek did not take it so.

“Even at the cost of my head, that will never happen. My children, distant kin, and every swordsman under me—should any mistreat you, they will not keep their limbs.”

“There’s no need to go that far.”

“Enough of this. Let us eat. Do you have time?”

“I have time, but let us postpone the meal.”

Jin-hyeon rose from his seat.

“Shall we go to the training ground?”

Puzzled, Seol Hong-baek rose obediently.

As they arrived at the open yard, the swordsmen resting in the distance bowed silently.

Jin-hyeon asked,

“I heard from Lady Seol. That someone from the Heavenly Will Alliance had visited?”

“Yes. He currently serves as Chief Instructor of the Loyalty and Righteousness Academy. In skill, virtue, and ability, he excels.”

“Chief Instructor… so, like a Head Instructor.”

“Indeed. He oversees all instructors.”

Tss, tss, tss.

Seol Hong-baek’s face stiffened as he spoke. It was because an unusual flow of energy had begun to seep from Jin-hyeon.

“If he reaches out again, I will surely meet him then.”

“Haha, yes.”

“Then.”

Jin-hyeon stepped forward.

“Pardon me.”

Whoosh!

Jin-hyeon’s body closed right up to Seol Hong-baek’s nose.

Suddenly he reached out. Seol Hong-baek gently moved his left arm to brush it aside.

‘A friendly spar?’

There was no killing intent or aggression in Jin-hyeon.

His gaze and his aura so clearly asked for a match, Seol Hong-baek chose to oblige.

Thwack, thwack! Pahm!

Wrist to wrist, fist to palm, they struck together with crisp sounds.

Their exchange seemed anything but urgent. To untrained eyes, their hands moved fast, but there was nothing vicious or violent in the movements.

Seol Hong-baek received Jin-hyeon’s attacks with relaxed yet cautious fists and palms.

Jin-hyeon’s strikes were short and simple—neither wild nor harsh, but smooth.

While silently receiving his strikes, Seol Hong-baek was inwardly astonished.

‘I don’t know what art this is—such fierce forms, yet he strings them so smoothly.’

It was nothing like the first time he’d demonstrated swordsmanship.

Back then he had shown it in stiff cuts, and his body was still unwell, giving him some awkwardness.

But not now.

In so little time, each step, each hand thrust had become fluid—and the bursts of power at his fingertips proved strong internal strength.

He wielded soft forms while perfectly controlling his internal strength. That was what amazed Seol Hong-baek.

Astonishment turned to admiration, admiration to awe.

‘Such delicate control of internal power—I’ve hardly seen it myself. Truly, Teacher’s skill is…’

At that moment—

From Jin-hyeon’s left hand blade, a faint blue light flickered.

Flash!

Seol Hong-baek spun quickly to Jin-hyeon’s side, eyes wide.

Flutter!

His right sleeve, roughly torn, now flapped loosely.

Jin-hyeon straightened his stance.

“As I thought.”

“……”

“When learning a new art, it often tangles with old habits and cuts one’s strength in half. But not you, Patriarch.”

“Hoo…”

Seol Hong-baek looked at him, eyes wavering.

“That hand technique just now—was it not the Moon Kingdom Eight Purities Sword?”

“It was.”

“!”

Seol Hong-baek was shocked that the Moon Kingdom Eight Purities Sword could become so fast and fierce.

A move that shattered convention. It was brief, yet to him as shaking as an earthquake.

“Patriarch.”

“Speak, Teacher.”

“No matter what happens around you, pay it no great heed. Continue as you have.”

“…Teacher?”

Just then, a swordsman came running from afar.

“Patriarch! Forgive the intrusion—someone has come wishing to see Teacher Jin. What should be done…?”

“So he’s come.”

Jin-hyeon bowed to Seol Hong-baek.

“Then I will see you again later.”

“Teacher?!”

And so Jin-hyeon left the Seol Clan.

Watching silently the spot where he had vanished, Seol Hong-baek spoke to the swordsman.

“Summon the Hundred-Ears Group Leader.”