Side Story 16. Martial Match (4)

‘What relationship do you have with my dad?’

It was the question the boy had asked the young woman who looked older than him.
A question that was open to all kinds of interpretation.

“Wh-what did you say?”
“I asked. What sort of relationship do you have with him?”

Even putting it kindly, Cheongho was not good with words.
Really, he only needed to say it a little more properly.

‘Your martial arts carry Heavenly Pillar Baek Yi-gang’s scent.’
‘Yi-gang is my dad.’
‘So what relationship do you have with my dad?’

He had completely skipped the three-step logical way of asking and jumped straight to the last question.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Baek Sang-ye was rather ignorant of the ways of the world too, so at first she only looked baffled.

“Euhahaha, what’s he saying?”
“That one’s a riot!”

But when she heard the crowd burst into laughter, it only soured her mood further.

“Were you insulting me?”
“……?”

Cheongho had, of course, never meant to insult her.
But it was clear that Cheongho had poured oil onto Baek Sang-ye’s fighting spirit.

Kwaang!

Baek Sang-ye stamped her advancing steps and charged in.
Swinging the iron staff that looked to weigh dozens of pounds as though it were a toy.

Kagagak!

This time, Cheongho twisted his saber and redirected it away as well.
Right. He could just beat her down and ask afterward anyway. Nothing had changed.
Cheongho’s eyes shone blue.

Geum Yang-bae was right behind the waiting area, beside the Guild Master of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild.
His eyes were bloodshot red.
Unlike the others from the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild, Geum Yang-bae’s top priority was not winning the martial match.

‘Warrior Jang, I’ll definitely save you, so just hold on a little longer.’

Finding his missing guild members came first.
Nam Family Manor was the most likely culprit behind their kidnapping.
The Guild Master of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild had promised to negotiate that matter in exchange for Tsering taking part in the match.
He had believed that completely and followed them all the way here.
But whenever the anxious Geum Yang-bae asked the Guild Master about that matter.

“Ah, shit, just shut up for a bit. If we don’t win this martial match, everything’s over!”

He had thought the promise had been secured with Tsering’s participation, but before he knew it, the story had changed into needing to win the martial match first to negotiate.
He did not shout, ‘That’s not what you said before!’
It would not do any good anyway.

Thankfully, Tsering had won her own martial match.
But Geum Yang-bae couldn’t relax.
The third match taking place now was dead even.
Where had they found people like these?
If the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild lost, would it all end there?
From the start, it was a mistake to have taken those dark path faction bastards’ words so readily.

‘I have to go find them myself.’

Geum Yang-bae forced his trembling body to move.
It was an act half like a man in a trance. How was he supposed to search Nam Family Manor by himself and find his guild members?

‘There might be some underground prison or something.’

If they had hidden them, it would probably be somewhere like that.
Even if Nam Family Manor was not some enormous house, it was still possible.
Geum Yang-bae moved as carefully as he could, trying not to look suspicious.
It was not all that difficult.
A life-or-death martial match that would decide the future of Nam Family Manor and the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild.
There were hardly any people who were not focused on it.
Aside from the bare minimum of personnel, no one was moving around.

“Hut.”

He sensed someone approaching from around the corner.
Geum Yang-bae lowered his head and walked with a basket he had picked up somewhere held in front of him, to make himself look like a servant.
The people who appeared were martial artists of Nam Family Manor.

“Hey.”

One of them stopped Geum Yang-bae.
Had he been caught.
His hair stood on end, and cold sweat dampened his back.

“Y-yes, yes.”

Geum Yang-bae bowed his head.
He was wearing ordinary clothes, and it should not have shown.

“Is that food? Rice cakes?”
“T-that’s right.”

But instead of knocking Geum Yang-bae down, the martial artist picked up one of the rice cakes in the basket and ate it.

“If you take it there, those beggar bastards will just eat it all. Bring some over to the guys in the prison over there.”
“The prison……?”

It felt as though sparks flew through his mind.
The martial artist chewing on the rice cake pointed to one side with his hand.

“Yeah, over there. Those bastards are on duty and can’t even watch the match.”
“I understand.”
“Right, ah damn, we’d better hurry back too.”

The martial artists left Geum Yang-bae alone and went off.
Had they been properly disciplined men, they might have noticed how suspicious Geum Yang-bae was, but the martial artists of Nam Family Manor were only at this level.

‘Lucky.’

Things could hardly have gone this well for Geum Yang-bae.
His legs shook, but a smile spread at the corners of his mouth.
The prison. If Warrior Jang and the others were anywhere, it would be there.
There would be martial artists guarding it, so he could not rescue them, but…… he at least had to confirm they were there.
Geum Yang-bae headed for the prison first.

‘Nam Mu-gyeon…….’

He ground his teeth as he thought of the Nam Family Manor Lord.
He was suspicious. In Geum Yang-bae’s eyes, he was exactly the kind of man who might stage a kidnapping.
It was because of the commission he had given the Golden Measure Merchant Guild.
They should never have taken that kind of job in the first place……

What they had transported in the refrigerated carriage really had been meat and other ingredients, just as he had explained to Baek Sang-ye.
What had been stored in that coffin-shaped box had also definitely been ‘meat.’
Just that it wasn’t lamb.

‘It was suspicious from the moment he asked for a yokai corpse.’

What had been inside was a yokai corpse.
It was only Cat Grade, so it was not anything particularly formidable, but a yokai was still a yokai.
They had frozen and prepared the corpse without even removing the internal core.
It was a yokai that had been killed near where the Golden Measure Merchant Guild operated.
However he had heard the news, the Nam Family Manor Lord had personally sent someone to request the yokai corpse.

‘Was the old man trying to strengthen his body or something.’

The circulation of yokai corpses was forbidden under Great Ming law.
When a yokai was killed, its body was supposed to be burned completely.
That was because a yokai’s body retained yokai energy, and its scent would attract other yokai.
There were certainly ways to make use of a yokai corpse, but those were only permitted under the supervision of a monk with great dharma power or a capable Taoist.
Officially, at least.

Yokai corpses circulated on the black market all the same.
The demand came from many places. Some people ate them to strengthen their bodies, and martial artists said they could help increase internal energy.
There was only the risk of dropping dead while eating them, but there were plenty of martial artists willing to take that chance to grow stronger.

The Nam Family Manor Lord was probably the same.
He had likely ordered the yokai corpse, then tried to dispose of the rest to keep their mouths shut.
Maybe the reason he kidnapped them instead of killing them all was to find Geum Yang-bae, the one person left behind.
That thought made his body tremble.

The prison was right in front of him now.

‘Calm down, and act natural.’

It was just as Geum Yang-bae made that resolve and took a step.

“Kkwiieeeek!”

With the squeal of a piglet, something slammed into Geum Yang-bae’s stomach.

Peok!

With a yelp, Geum Yang-bae tumbled across the ground.
The basket overturned, and the rice cakes inside rolled out.
The one that had body-slammed Geum Yang-bae was none other than the piglet.

“Ugh, what the hell!”

Before anger, Geum Yang-bae felt sheer disbelief.
He quickly understood why the piglet had done it.
It was greedily devouring the rice cakes that had fallen to the ground. It had knocked Geum Yang-bae over just to get at them.
Without even recognizing the benefactor who had saved its life.

“Y-you little bastard!”

Even the martial artists guarding the prison up ahead had seen Geum Yang-bae make a fool of himself.
Any plan of infiltrating the prison with the rice cakes was over.
With his eyes rolled back, Geum Yang-bae lunged at the piglet.
But even if Ah-jeo was still a piglet, it was a wild animal.
It was not about to sit quietly and be caught by Geum Yang-bae.
It kept seeming as though it would be caught, only to slip free and start running.
Panting, Geum Yang-bae chased after the piglet.
But even in running, Ah-jeo was faster.
Geum Yang-bae soon lost track of it.

But that was not why he came to an abrupt stop.

“Huhk!”

Someone had appeared in front of him.
People dressed in black, wearing red bamboo hats.
Five men and women, each with their face hidden behind a translucent veil.
They reeked of blood.

Geum Yang-bae froze like a mouse before a snake.

“Ah……”

It was them.
The very people who had taken Warrior Jang.
The ones who had brutally killed one of the guild members.
As Geum Yang-bae stood frozen.

“You know us?”

One of the bamboo-hatted figures asked in a sinister voice.
Barely suppressing his trembling, Geum Yang-bae parted his lips.

“W-W-Warrior Jang……”

“There they are!”

At that moment, Nam Family Manor’s martial artists appeared.
They charged straight in, brandishing swords and spears.
For an instant, Geum Yang-bae thought they had come to kill him.

“You bastards! Take off those bamboo hats and kneel!”

But that was not it.
Nam Family Manor’s martial artists surrounded the bamboo-hatted figures and shouted threats at them.
So the bamboo-hatted figures were not with Nam Family Manor after all.
Unlike the confused Geum Yang-bae, the bamboo-hatted figures looked utterly indifferent.

“How noisy.”

There seemed to be a woman among the bamboo-hatted figures.
The moment she said that, another bamboo-hatted figure waved a hand.
And something sinister happened.

“Kuhk.”
“Kek!”

The armed Nam Family Manor martial artists dropped in heaps.
When the others, startled, tried to rush them, the bamboo-hatted figure waved a hand once more.

“Kuhk, kuhk!”
“Aaagh!”

Even the ones trying to flee collapsed on the spot.
All of those who had surrounded them went down.
Geum Yang-bae trembled so hard his teeth clattered.

“T-they killed people with just a gesture……”

“Hm, so it’s that way.”

The woman among the bamboo-hatted figures said something Geum Yang-bae could not make sense of.
At that, all of them turned in one direction at once. It was the direction of the martial platform.

“What about this one?”
“Leave him. Whether he follows or not.”

And they really did leave Geum Yang-bae behind.
Watching the bamboo-hatted figures move away, Geum Yang-bae agonized over what to do.
Should he be grateful he had lived.
Or should he follow them.

“Ah, fuck it.”

Geum Yang-bae decided to follow the bamboo-hatted figures after all.

The martial match was not interrupted by either side’s choice.
Cheongho and Baek Sang-ye were evenly matched.
No, it could be said that Cheongho’s martial arts were superior, but in a martial match the situation was a little different.
The rule that forbade killing the opponent, and Baek Sang-ye’s overwhelming internal energy.
Because of that, the close fight continued.

Then an uproar broke out.
The people watching the martial match began to shout in confusion.

“What is that, what are those bastards?”
“Ugh!”
“M-move!”

Even the referee jumped down from the platform in alarm, while suspicious people in bamboo hats climbed up onto it instead.
Cheongho and Baek Sang-ye stopped as well.

“Who are you people?”

Baek Sang-ye asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
But the bamboo-hatted figures didn’t answer her.
More than that, So-ryu, who had rushed onto the platform at some point, pulled Baek Sang-ye down with her.
Before long, only Cheongho and the bamboo-hatted figures remained on the platform.

The Nam Family Manor Lord, whose martial match had been interrupted, came down with his retainers and shouted.

“Who are you bastards! Identify yourselves!”

One of the bamboo-hatted figures glanced down at the Nam Family Manor Lord and spoke.

“Nam Family Manor Lord. You caused quite a major incident this time.”
“An incident? You lunatics……!”
“We came to clean it up.”

Then the woman in the bamboo hat flicked her finger.
At once, all the masked figures except her raised both hands.

Tung.

Something spread outward.
Cheongho, standing right beside them, felt it clearly.
There was suddenly a strangely sweet scent.

“Kuhuk!”
“Ghk.”

Several of the people around the martial platform coughed blood and collapsed.

“P-poison!”

Someone screamed it out.