Chapter 29

“It seems the greetings are all done with, so I shall explain this exchange meet.”

Moyong Jin-seong, head of the Moyong Family, stepped forward and began his explanation.

That was a greeting?

Curses and contempt had been traded back and forth like endearments, and the whole thing had come within a hair of a brawl. That, apparently, is a greeting.

Murim warriors even have a peculiar way of saying hello.

For all I know, the next time they meet after a long spell apart they’ll start swinging blades at each other to show how glad they are.

I must have gotten used to the way murim warriors think by now. I was watching Moyong Jin-seong go on with his explanation, that’s-just-how-it-is written all over my face, when something jabbed me sharply in the side.

“Ow.”
“Why’d you go and get angry like that?”

It was Moyong Rin.

“When did I ever get angry.”
“You did. At that Paeng Dol-hwi or whatever his name is.”
“That was—”
“That was?”
“I just lost my temper a little.”
“That’s getting angry. Did him trying to touch your earring make you that angry?”
“…It’s precious to me.”
“Oh? Would you get that angry if I tried to touch it?”

Moyong Rin’s eyes went round, and she demanded an answer.

“I asked you. Whether you’d get angry at me too.”
“I won’t get angry, so let go of my side.”
“Hmph. I’ll let you off.”

I was rubbing my throbbing side when Moyong Rin gave my shoulder a light knock.

“You seem kind of different, you know? Turns out you know how to get angry.”

“….”

“Don’t get angry. Everybody’s scared of you.”

Her words made me look around. There was nobody near me but Moyong Rin. The Moyong Family kids who had been mingling in with me until a moment ago were standing off at a careful distance.

If Danho had been here, would he have kept his distance from me like them. Or would he have come closer, the way Moyong Rin did.

“…All right. I won’t get angry.”
“No. You can get angry.”
“Huh?”
“A warrior ought to get angry once in a while. That’s how other people learn not to make light of you. You did well.”

I stared blankly at Moyong Rin. Which tune am I supposed to dance to.

“You can get angry. Just don’t get angry at me. Got it?”
“…Got it.”
“Good boy.”

She patted me on the head, and I stared at her, dumbfounded.

“What am I, a kid?”
“Less a kid than an oversized puppy, I’d say. One that doesn’t listen.”
“You talk a lot for a cat.”
“What?”

“You there! Who is that making noise?”

Moyong Rin and I shut our mouths at the same instant, as though we had agreed on it beforehand.

Having switched off the local broadcast, Moyong Jin-seong went on with his explanation.¹ He spoke of cooperation, and he spoke of competition.

“…And so, for this exchange meet, I mean to try something out of the ordinary.”

What? Not winner-stays-on?

I definitely heard from Moyong Bi that it would be winner-stays-on, the same as last time. The others looked just as bewildered, hearing it for the first time too.

“For this exchange meet, you will hunt.”

“A hunt?”
“Where did a hunt come from all of a sudden?”

The kids had been expecting to match martial arts against one another, and they broke into a murmur. When I looked at Moyong Rin she only blinked those big eyes of hers, apparently not in on it either.

“Deep inside this Azure Sea Bamboo Forest there are ruins. Commonly called the Azure Sea Bamboo Forest ruins. You will go there and hunt monsters.”

“Monsters?”
“Hunt monsters?”

The murmur swelled.

“Indeed! As proud murim warriors of the great orthodox sects, it would hardly do to go hunting ordinary beasts, would it? Each sect and family will hunt monsters, and victory goes to the one that brings back the finest quarry.”

As though he had expected the kids to waver, Moyong Jin-seong looked around at them and said,

“Naturally, hunting a monster alone would be beyond you. But together, in numbers, it is not so hard. From this moment you will become one body and hunt monsters. In the course of it you will learn a great many things. Patience, cooperation, trust.”

Even so, the kids’ unease showed no sign of settling. Some steeled their will and nodded with confidence, while others shook with fear.

“B-but monsters are a bit….”
“I heard blades don’t even bite on them.”
“How are we supposed to catch one of those on our own? They say they’re absolute monsters.”

“How, you ask?”

Just then the Paeng family head stepped forward.

“Well.”

Then he grinned.

“That is your assignment. Work it out for yourselves and hunt your monsters, and hunt them well. Surely you have not gone chicken on me like cowards? Any of you who mean to give up, pack your bags and go home.”

At that the Paeng Family let out a roar.

“Not a chance!”
“Wooooah! Let’s go catch us some monsters!”
“Hit them enough and they’ll die!”
“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”

Sabers drawn and shaking over their heads, they made a truly valiant sight.

“…They do say ignorance makes you brave.”

I heard Moyong Cheon-bung click her tongue. Moyong Pae-cheon and Moyong Gun-ak did not look any happier about it. They seemed to know very well just how fearsome monsters are.

What about the Mount Hua Sect?

Curious, I stole a glance. The young Daoists’ reaction was not much different.

Hm?

But one person alone.

Alone among them, my friend Ju Jeo-ha, the friend a griddle cake had bound me to, had eyes bright and shining. Only a moment ago he’d worn that languid look, as though he still hadn’t quite woken up.

An odd one.

Apart from the Paeng Family and a handful of others, nobody seemed to have the stomach for it. And no wonder. They’re monsters. Doesn’t everyone hear a scary story or two about monsters at least once when they’re little.

The mood sank.

“Do not worry overmuch.”

The Mount Hua Sect’s sect leader walked forward with his hands clasped behind his back, his white beard hanging down to the pit of his stomach like a mountain god’s.

“A guardian will go along with each group.”

“A guardian?”

“Guardians, step forward.”

Three people came forward. One of them was somebody I knew all too well.

Hold on, what’s that guy doing here?

Whoaa— A cheer went up.

I watched it blankly for a moment, then gave Moyong Rin’s shoulder a knock.

“Did you know?”
“No. I only just found out too.”

Two men and one woman.

“Wuhahaha! You lot! I’m here now, so put your worries away!”

“Big Bro Paeng Ja-hyeok!”

The man was of the Paeng Family by the look of him, somewhere in his early-to-mid thirties, and true to form he wore martial robes with the sleeves ripped clean off. The forearms sticking out of them were knotted with muscle.

“Senior Sister Yeon Seo-ha!”

The woman, graceful and composed in her bearing, looked to be in her mid-to-late twenties. Her hair was tied neatly up, and unlike Paeng Ja-hyeok, who was flinging his hands about over his head, she came in quietly with both hands folded together. The sidelong glance she gave him said she was none too pleased.

“Whoa.”

Moyong Rin, quiet until now, made a great fuss.

“Hey, hey. A Plum Blossom Swordsman, a Plum Blossom Swordsman! Look at the flower pattern on the sleeve of those Daoist robes.”
“What’s a Plum Blossom Swordsman?”

Moyong Rin gave me a pitying look.

“The Mount Hua Sect’s most elite corps of swordsmen. You don’t even know that?”
“If they’re that proud of it, they should wear it right out on the chest. Why mark it on a sleeve where nobody can tell?”
“How would I know that?”

I didn’t really understand it, but from the way Moyong Rin was looking at her with such envy in her eyes, she must be somebody impressive.

And then, last of all.

“Kyaa! It’s Great Hero Glancing River Sword!”
“Please, hold my hand just once!”

Our own proud Great Hero Moyong Bi, the Glancing River Sword, if you please. I stared blankly at him as he came walking over, waving an easy hand at the shrieking girl fans.

“Seriously, that guy. Why is he so popular?”
“You didn’t know? Uncle Moyong Bi’s always been popular. Famous, too.”
“Famous?”
“He’s a Dragon and Phoenix Conference runner-up, no less. You know our Moyong Family gets treated as the bottom seat of the Five Great Families, right? He turned up like a comet out of nowhere back when nobody was paying us any attention, and I think that pulled in even more fame? Even the Paeng Family grudgingly allowed that a dragon had risen out of a ditch.”

I wasn’t the only one watching him with a sour eye. I could see the Paeng Family kids poking Paeng Ja-hyeok in the side.

“Big Bro, why aren’t you popular with women?”
“Shut it.”

The arrival of the three champions had the grounds at a boil, and Moyong Jin-seong called everyone back to order.

“The guardians will step in only at moments of true danger. So you must never let your guard down!”

The Mount Hua Sect’s sect leader nodded and took up the thread.

“They are the barest safety measure, no more. Nobody knows what dangers lie in wait. Where monsters are concerned, nothing at all can be promised. This will be a hunt fraught with peril. But!”

But?

“A reward just as great awaits the victors! Our Mount Hua Sect puts up the Purple Empyrean Pill as the prize for the win!”

“The Purple Empyrean Pill!”

The murmur swelled.

“Is that a good thing?”
“Incredibly good. Even in the Mount Hua Sect, I think only a direct disciple can receive one.”

I didn’t know the details, but it seemed to be quite the rare thing. The eyes of the ones who had been so frightened at the words “monster hunt” snapped wide open, like a pair of headlights coming on.

“We cannot be outdone! Our Paeng Family will put up the Body-Guarding Vajra Pill!”

Once again the murmur swelled.

“What’s that?”
“It’s a Paeng Family elixir that’s supposed to make your body as hard as an Indestructible Vajra Body. That’s not something they can hand out to just anyone either.”
“As hard as an Indestructible Vajra Body?”
“That’s just a manner of speaking. It’ll be more like your bones and skin get a bit tougher. Of course, even that much makes it a tremendous elixir. They say it gives you a body a blade or a spear can’t easily pierce. For warriors who train mainly in the external arts, it’s the elixir of their dreams.”

Naturally, every eye turned to the Moyong family head. Moyong Jin-seong hesitated right up to the last, then finally spoke, with the look of a man who had made up his mind.

“The Moyong Family will put up gloves of Heavenly Silkworm Thread!”

“H-Heavenly Silkworm Thread gloves?!”

Everyone’s eyes went as wide as lamp bowls. The mouths of the Moyong Family kids, Moyong Rin among them, fell open. Even the Mount Hua Sect’s sect leader and the Paeng family head asked, with startled faces, as though to make sure of it,

“Heavenly Silkworm Thread gloves? You mean to put those up?”
“Of course! How should a grown man speak twice?”
“Think again. Heavenly Silkworm Thread, at a children’s contest, of all things.”
“How can anyone stake such a treasure so lightly?”
“Now, now! My mind is already made up! Do not carp about another house’s business!”

I poked Moyong Rin, who had gone rigid, in the shoulder.

“What’s so special about Heavenly Silkworm Thread gloves?”
“Gloves woven from the thread of a ten-thousand-year Heavenly Silkworm. A sharp blade can’t pierce them, they hold up against fire, and they’re waterproof besides. And even then, I’ve heard they’re light enough to fly away.”

A blade can’t pierce them and they hold up against fire? And waterproof on top of that?

Seeing the shock on my face, Moyong Rin said in a serious tone,

“That’s right. With a pair of those, you could….”
“They’d be great for deep-frying, wouldn’t they?”
“What?”
“Isn’t that what you were about to say?”
“I was going to say you could deal with a blade barehanded.”
“Ah. That’d be good too.”

“….”

I wanted them. And would it stop at deep-frying? No more worrying about slicing a finger open while I’m cutting.

“Are they valuable?”
“Valuable? Heavenly Silkworm Thread is the sort of thing you can’t get hold of no matter how much money you have.”

Moyong Rin muttered blankly.

“Why on earth would Father put up Heavenly Silkworm Thread….”

And so the precious prizes staked by the heads of each house wiped away the kids’ fear. In its place a burning determination to catch a monster came flooding in.

“You have seven days and nights! The hunt begins now! Go and hunt down the finest quarry!”

“Waaaaaaah!!!”

Before we set out on the hunt, Moyong Jin-seong gathered us together and said,

“You understand, yes? Whatever happens, you must win. I am not putting pressure on you. But we can hardly lose to those swindling Daoists or those ignorant Paeng brutes, can we. This is absolutely not about the Heavenly Silkworm Thread. You know what I mean, yes?”

“….”

That’s pressure.

“Rin. Gwang-seon.”
“Yes, Father.”
“The two of you have faced monsters before.”
“Thaaat’s true, but….”
“I am counting on you two. I am not putting pressure on you.”

“….”

“It would have been better still if Danho had come, but his wounds have not healed yet, so you will have to carry his share as well. Understood?”
“Yeees.”

Next Moyong Jin-seong called his other children.

“Pae-cheon. Gun-ak. Cheon-bung.”
“Yes.”
“You are to be the mainstay and lead them. But lend an ear to Rin’s and Gwang-seon’s advice. They have climbed Phoenix Mountain themselves and stood against monsters, so it will be a great help.”
“We will bear it in mind.”

After that Moyong Jin-seong pressed his instructions on us several more times before he finally let us go.

“Go! Proud sons and daughters of Moyong! Bring me back a damned monster! A big one!”

Moyong Jin-seong’s voice, chasing us from behind, could not have been more plaintive.

“You have to catch one!”

Hold on. If he was going to be like this, why did he put the Heavenly Silkworm Thread gloves up as a prize in the first place?

Moyong Pae-cheon, the eldest of us and now the leader of the group, spoke.

“Listen well. We are aiming for the win, no matter what. What is our goal?”
“The win, no matter what!”
“Who are we?”
“Invincible Moyong!”
“No, that’s the Paeng lot’s chant. Invincible Paeng.”
“Ah, so it is.”
“What should ours be?”
“How about Supreme?”
“We aren’t supreme, though, are we?”
“So what. The Paeng Family isn’t invincible either.”
“Good, let’s go with that. Who are we?”
“Supreme Moyong!”

Moyong Pae-cheon let out a long breath, then took the lead and walked off toward the thick bamboo forest.

“Let’s go.”

We followed Moyong Pae-cheon deep into the Azure Sea Bamboo Forest.

Two days passed.

“Moyong Hyeon. Moyong Hyeok. Moyong Hu.”
“Yeah!”
“You Moyong Three Strings take the search east. The moment you find a monster’s traces, come straight back. And be careful — you might run into a monster wandering the area. From here on this is a region where monsters are likely to appear.”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“Just leave it to us!”
“What if we get spotted and can’t even run?”
“In that case, fire this signal flare. I will come running at once.”
“Yeah!”

“Moyong Daegi. Moyong Chul-dong. Moyong Gun-ja.”
“Yessir!”
“You take the search northeast. Here’s your signal flare. The same cautions as before.”
“We’re off!”

Moyong Pae-cheon had taken on the team leader’s role, and by now he was directing the kids from the front with a fair amount of skill.

The eldest brother, all right.

It struck me that Moyong Jin-seong hadn’t entrusted this to him for nothing. I’d been a little worried, since Danho was already the center of gravity for the Moyong Family kids. You know how it is. When the leader changes, people start comparing. Somebody might have dug their heels in and said the last leader never did it this way.

It was worry wasted.

His command was every bit the equal of Danho’s. No, he was an outstanding leader in a different way entirely. The cool-headed type, you might say. If anything it was Danho I ought to be worrying about.

“Listen well. However precious the reward, it is not as precious as your lives. If it feels dangerous, pull straight out. This is a real fight. Nobody here is going to go easy on you. Which means your lives are yours to look after. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”

There had been some friction early on, but in a mere two days Moyong Pae-cheon had taken complete hold of the team, and he was every bit as capable as an eldest brother ought to be. And of course Moyong Gun-ak and Moyong Cheon-bung, backing him up, played their parts brilliantly too.

And what was I doing all that time, you ask?

As for me…

“Moyong Gwang-seon.”
“Yessir.”
“See to the meal. The foraging party will be back shortly.”
“Roger!”
“…And stop with those weird answers.”
“Yes sirree!”

My specialty. I cooked, and I cooked hard. One bite of my cooking and he’d nailed me down as the cook.

— Gwang-seon. Can you make food for twenty taste this good as well?
— Big Bro. I started out as a waiter. I moonlight as the finest chef in the gangho, too.

The more I saw of Moyong Pae-cheon’s generalship, the more I marveled. To deploy the likes of me exactly where I was needed.

As I clattered about getting ready to cook, the foraging team Moyong Rin belonged to came back.

“You’re back?”
“Here.”
“Nice.”

I took the ingredients and started cooking.

“Hmm-hmm~”

I’m happiest when I’m cooking. Performing chivalry is every bit as much fun, of course, but it’s no match for cooking.

As I hummed under my breath and cooked, Moyong Rin came over.

“Anything I can help with?”
“I can manage on my own, so rest a bit more. Aren’t you tired?”
“This much is nothing.”

Though I told her it was fine, Moyong Rin refused to rest any longer and helped me cook. Privately, I could guess the reason.

“Yong-rin.”
“Hm?”
“Things are awkward between you and Big Sis Cheon-bung, aren’t they?”

Moyong Rin turned to me with a stung look on her face.

“…Does it show that much?”
“Not that much. But nothing gets past my cool, clear eye.”

She sighed.

“So it shows a lot, then.”
“Did something happen between you two?”

She hesitated a moment, then came out with it.

“We were close, way back. Played together a lot, too. But at some point she stopped playing with me.”

I thought back over the Moyong Cheon-bung I’d seen these past few days. A bit cold, sure, but she didn’t look like a bad person.

“Did you snatch some snack Big Sis Cheon-bung was saving and eat it?”

Moyong Rin shot me a glare.

“What do you take me for, a glutton?”

— Rustle—

Just then something shot out of the undergrowth. The thing that came scampering right up to where we were cooking was a rat the size of a puppy. With ears as big as an elephant’s.

— Squeak!

“Huh?”

It was the mini Ear Rat, the monster that had pulled off its own Shawshank Redemption breakout from the Moyong Family.

No way. It followed me all the way out here?