It Begins With Me (3)

“Wow!”

Do Min’s face was full of dazzling energy, like the sun itself.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen it like this at this hour! So many people, right? Don’t you think, Master?”

Just as she said, the wide street was bustling with people.

They were truly a mixed crowd. Merchants, cooks, wandering swordsmen, ordinary folk, handsome men and beautiful women who looked unmistakably like they came from prestigious families, rough-looking laborers, and even a group of women dressed like courtesans.

Even though it was broad daylight, it was rare to see such a striking variety of people all swarming together. The group of courtesans without makeup was especially curious.

“You could walk around with ‘Murderer’ written across your forehead, and no one would notice.”

“Sorry?”

“Nothing. It’s just that it’s the same Sichuan, yet it’s so different here.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

The energy here was on a completely different level from the neighborhood near the Divine Iron Merchant House.

In fact, there were quite a few people like Jin-hyeon, wandering about with wide eyes as if visiting from another region.

“I really love this street. Just looking around puts me in a good mood.”

“Is that so?”

“How about you, Master?”

It was the height of chaos.

The sheer mental noise was indescribable. If one trained the Soul-Refining Art here, it felt like reaching great mastery within a year wouldn’t be impossible.

Feeling his head throb, Jin-hyeon asked,

“So, where’s the good food?”

“Oh! Should I take you there?”

“I guess so?”

“Hehe, just trust me! I’ll take you to a place that’s worth every coin!”

Do Min beamed and even bounced on her feet.

What’s making her so cheerful? Jin-hyeon muttered inwardly as he followed behind her.

Before long, Jin-hyeon regretted letting Do Min lead the way.

She couldn’t stand still for even a moment. That much he could tolerate, but every ten steps she’d dart into another stall—jewelry, silk shops, vegetable stands, even fishmongers.

The fatal part was that even if they sold the exact same wares, she’d still shriek as if seeing them for the first time.

Amazingly, Do Min’s boundless energy wasn’t even unusual here. Walking along, it almost felt like making that much fuss was expected etiquette.

‘Striking.’

At least no one was staring at him.

Though he was a man in his early twenties, the hair above the left side of his forehead was pure white. Yet no passerby spared him a glance.

Here, that sort of thing was nothing. Noisy and overwhelming as it was, the street had its advantages.

The same went for people.

‘Noisy as she is, she’s a good kid.’

Do Min, looking nervous, was poking her finger into a fish’s mouth.

She didn’t seem sane, but she didn’t look like the kind of person who’d stab a knife into her own little brother’s belly either.

‘A dagger, huh.’

Jin-hyeon tilted his head.

‘Come to think of it, it really was sloppy.’

To make sure of a kill, you had to stab at least twice. One strike might not be enough.

If you had the luxury, slitting the belly or cutting the throat was far more certain. That’s the only way to be sure.

‘Was he in that much of a rush?’

Judging by all the time he had spent jeering and cursing, that didn’t seem to be the case. He could’ve struck twenty more times in that span.

‘Either way, it’s thanks to that I’m alive.’

Even with heavenly luck, he wouldn’t have survived if his head had been taken. In fact, reviving headless would’ve been an even greater hell.

As Jin-hyeon shook his head inwardly, Do Min’s voice rang in his ears.

“My Lord! Look at this!”

Jin-hyeon turned toward her.

She was holding up a bracelet from a stall.

“Isn’t this one so pretty?”

“Yeah, yeah, so just lead the—”

But suddenly, Jin-hyeon’s eyes wavered.

‘Brother! Look at this! Isn’t it cool?’

‘You little punk! What kind of man keeps fussing over necklaces?’

‘But it looks cool! I’ll make you one later!’

‘Forget it, brat. You’re nowhere near good enough.’

‘That’s why I said later!’

‘Enough already, let’s go! I’m starving!’

Like an illusion, like a dream, a fragment of memory clouded Jin-hyeon’s vision.

“My Lord!”

“……”

“My Lord?”

“Hm?”

Realizing she had overstepped, Do Min fidgeted and folded her hands.

“I-I got carried away, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“Uh…”

“But it was fun to look around.”

“Hehe, really?”

“Not the street. You.”

“…Sorry.”

“Forget it. So, how much farther to that restaurant that’s worth every coin?”

“Oh, just a quarter of an hour’s walk!”

“Perfect. Let’s walk there slowly.”

“Yes!”

Jin-hyeon strolled down the street.

A slightly deflated Do Min trailed right behind him. Following instead of leading, despite insisting she’d guide him. But Jin-hyeon let it slide—better to keep the peace.

Her mood wasn’t what mattered right now.

As he walked, his eyes sharpened, scanning his surroundings.

‘Yeo Family Ironworks?’

He couldn’t recall if he’d heard the name before or not.

Jin-hyeon drew up the Soul-Refining Art.

Wooong.

In an instant, his eyes swept the area.

He saw the butcher’s cleavers and hooks swinging in the slaughterhouse.

He saw the iron pole propping up a life-sized wooden dummy by a stall.

He saw a cook chopping vegetables with a kitchen knife in a tavern alley.

Wooong.

His pupils glimmered with faint green light, then dimmed.

Throb!

A sharp pain pricked one side of his head like a needle. If he hadn’t braced himself, his jaw would’ve dropped open.

‘Even this much is too much?’

To forcibly draw upon the Soul-Refining Art, which hadn’t even reached thirty percent completion, were it not for the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader’s insight, such a thing would have been utterly unthinkable.

‘Unless I touch them directly, there’s a limit to what the Mind’s Eye can perceive.’

The Soul-Refining Art was a mind cultivation method that tempered the spirit and heart¹.

But that wasn’t all. Depending on its master’s ability, even great mastery might only refine the spirit, or it could open the Mind’s Eye to pierce the essence of things.

Of course, the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader had opened the Mind’s Eye. Jin-hyeon was merely borrowing that power for a moment.

‘Still, their form and balance are mostly the same.’

Kitchen knives were like kitchen knives, butcher’s knives like butcher’s knives.

The iron goods, the sickles, all the same in form.

Even blades of the same kind usually differed in curvature, thickness, and edge finish.

Yet here, nearly all the iron tools were the same. Most came from the same forge.

‘Born of the same fire… different in craftsmanship, but none of them poor.’

Jin-hyeon tilted his head inwardly.

‘Strange.’

They were mass-produced, yet of impressive quality. Quick work couldn’t achieve this. Only iron hammered in earnest could.

At least to the Mind’s Eye, to Jin-hyeon’s judgment, that’s how they appeared.

Jin-hyeon asked Do Min,

“Are all the tools those people are using from Yeo Family Ironworks too?”

“Huh? Oh, yes! Yeo Family Ironworks has this whole county’s iron goods locked down.”

“So they don’t make just kitchen knives and sickles, but weapons too?”

“Yes. But there aren’t many clients they deliver to. Just two or three places, including our Seol Clan—that’s what I’ve heard. Look around. You don’t hear a single blacksmith’s hammer anywhere, do you?”

Come to think of it, that was true.

As Jin-hyeon nodded, it struck him how much this servant girl seemed to know.

‘Well, maybe it makes sense.’

With such an overbearing personality, it would be stranger if she didn’t pry into everything. He could understand that much.

“But hasn’t it been more than a quarter of an hour?”

“Ah! It’s over there!”

“Where? That place?”

“No, right next to it. On the right.”

“You mean that five-story building?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s really worth the price?”

“Of course! I guarantee it!”

Jin-hyeon suddenly found himself wondering how much a servant’s monthly pay was.

Then again, when he’d asked to rent a single hut, he had been provided a mansion instead. That alone showed that the Seol Clan’s finances were far from ordinary.

‘This will probably cost a fortune.’

He smirked to himself as he walked and then suddenly froze in his tracks.

“My Lord? What is it? What’s wrong?”

Jin-hyeon’s voice carried an awkward weight.

“I don’t have any money.”

“…What?”

“Come to think of it, I’ve got no money.”

After waking, he had gotten himself a house, trained, and compiled the manuals of Tianshan Arts.

He had a place to sleep, folded clothes, and meals prepared at regular hours. Money simply hadn’t crossed his mind.

Do Min’s face went blank for a moment, then she forced a smile.

“Oh, what’s there to worry about, My Lord? You’ve got a splendid maid right here. I’ll pay for it!”

“My apologies.”

“P-please don’t say that! Who cares who pays? As long as we eat well, right?”

“Then I’ll owe you a debt. I’ll be sure to repay it.”

“Oh, honestly, it’s fine!”

It was then.

“There’s no need for that.”

Among the churning crowd, amid the unbearable din of the street.

The voice that drifted in, like a song, was so cold it sent chills down the spine.

Jin-hyeon and Do Min turned their heads at once.

There stood a woman, carrying a bundle on her back.

A bamboo hat shaded her eyes, but she looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. Even that much was enough to see her beauty. On this street filled with unusual people, she was striking enough to make men and women alike sneak glances.

But she had no expression.

Her face was so blank even a doll would seem livelier. That mask-like expression and aura repelled any attempt at approach.

“Ahh! M-my lady?!”

Do Min gulped and bent at the waist in a deep bow.

“Do Min of the Inner Hall greets the young lady.”

Jin-hyeon gave Do Min a curious look.

He had thought her the type to chatter even before the King of Hell himself, but apparently not.

Either that, or this woman was more terrifying than the King of Hell. It had to be one of the two.

In any case, since they had met, a greeting was in order.

Jin-hyeon was about to clasp his fists.

“I am So-ha of the Seol Clan. I formally greet Teacher Jin.”

The one to bow first was the woman, Seol So-ha.

‘Teacher Jin?’

If she was calling him “Teacher,” then she must have heard everything from Seol Hong-baek.

‘So he didn’t mention that I don’t have a surname.’

Not that it mattered. Once she was calling him “Teacher,” whether it was Jin or Hyeon before it made little difference.

Jin-hyeon lowered his head.

“I am Jin-hyeon. I greet the eldest daughter of the Seol Clan.”

Seol So-ha spoke in her characteristically curt voice.

“Please lower your words, Teacher Jin. I cannot bear it.”

Do Min had said the same once before, but from her lips it carried an entirely different weight.

“As the Clan Head’s daughter, I cannot speak carelessly before you.”

“My father himself treats you with honor. How can you speak so? If you continue, I will not be able to show my face.”

Her manner of speaking was like that of a soldier.

It would be rude to keep insisting when she put it that way. Jin-hyeon nodded.

“Then I’ll speak comfortably.”

Do Min looked at Jin-hyeon with alarm.

There were levels to “speaking comfortably.” But outright casual speech? To someone who wasn’t a servant?

“Thank you.”

Seol So-ha bowed once more.

“I was on my way home when I heard Min’s voice and came to see. Were you going to eat?”

“We were, but I don’t have any money.”

Jin-hyeon glanced at Do Min.

“I was going to borrow from her.”

Do Min bowed her head in a panic.

Seol So-ha shook her head.

“As it happens, I haven’t eaten yet either. If you don’t mind, may I join you? Please don’t worry about the cost.”

“My debts keep piling up.”

“Even if I were to give you ten thousand gold, it would not be wasted.”

“I appreciate you saying so.”

“Shall we go, then?”

“Let’s.”

Jin-hyeon’s eyes sank into a deep focus.

“There are things I’ve been meaning to ask, too.”