Those Wearing Black Masks (2)
“If you see your senior, you should greet him first. What are you doing?”
Demanding a greeting you don’t even mean is just a way of openly looking down on someone.
Anyway, I’d thought Elder Moyong Gang would have taught him a lesson, but perhaps the beating hadn’t hurt much.
Or maybe he was tougher than I’d expected.
“Were we ever on greeting terms? Wouldn’t it be better to cross swords instead?”
I tried provoking him, but he didn’t fly off the handle like he used to.
“This is what you get with people who have no roots…… Tsk, tsk.”
Jong Byeokgi, Flying Cloud New Wind.
He should have been taking part in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, but he was here in Hunan Province alone.
“Young Lady Namgung, people have their place. If you associate with people like these, just think how much the public will look down on you.”
“Place……?”
Namgung Seonhwa regarded him with contempt, then tied up her hair again with her hairpin.
It was the least response she considered him worth.
She turned and sat back down, but Jong Byeokgi didn’t seem ready to end the conversation.
In fact, the men with him were starting to take an interest in Namgung Seonhwa.
“Isn’t Namgung Seonhwa the Divine Sword’s own granddaughter?”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“I run a merchant guild in Hunan Province……”
The men, decked out in lavish ornaments, took turns introducing themselves, but Namgung Seonhwa paid them no attention and instead looked after the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers’ meal.
At last, Jong Byeokgi stepped in.
“Young Lady Namgung, I’m afraid I haven’t introduced these gentlemen properly. They are……”
Some were the sons of high-ranking officials or heirs to major merchant guilds.
There were even sons of shipowners with hundreds of boats on Dongting Lake.
They were the sort of people who held considerable sway in Yueyang.
Each man puffed out his chest when his name was announced, but Namgung Seonhwa remained completely unimpressed.
“I see.”
“Indeed. Since meeting like this is a fine stroke of fate, why don’t we move to another table and have a chat?”
At Jong Byeokgi’s suggestion, Namgung Seonhwa looked over the men.
“……They’re not on a level worthy of the Namgung Family.”
“……”
“!”
At Namgung Seonhwa’s words, Jong Byeokgi and the men grimaced as if they’d swallowed something foul.
Seong Moran bit down hard on her lip to hold back her laughter, while the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers gazed at Namgung Seonhwa with oddly shining eyes.
Though the men had been plainly insulted, not one of them got angry or stormed off.
Just as she’d said, Namgung Seonhwa was someone they couldn’t easily approach.
Jong Byeokgi read the mood and hurried to speak.
“Ah, Young Lady! I apologize for speaking too harshly earlier.”
“Why are you apologizing to me? Weren’t the ones insulted the disciples of the Taeul Sect?”
“Ah……”
“Please go back. You’re disturbing our meal.”
As Namgung Seonhwa ordered them to leave, Jong Byeokgi was just about to back down when—
“I accept your apology. In that case, why don’t you pay for this meal, Senior Jong?”
At my words, Namgung Seonhwa glared at me.
But wasn’t I right? I couldn’t let Jong Byeokgi, whom I’d run into for the first time in ages, just walk away.
A dog that bites people without provocation should be disciplined with a beating.
Wouldn’t this be a good chance to give him some of the lesson Elder Moyong Gang apparently hadn’t finished?
“………”
Jong Byeokgi looked back and forth between me and the men standing behind him.
“And to celebrate making peace, why don’t you join us at the table?”
“W-well, shall we?”
The most absurd moments of my new life were when I saw these idiots acting like this.
Why had I been so afraid of them in my previous life? I felt ashamed of myself and regretted it.
Jong Byeokgi and his companions happily took the empty seats, but Namgung Seonhwa didn’t even glance at them.
One of them tried to engage Seong Moran, too, but she had already lost all interest in them.
An awkward mood settled over the table, and only the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers’ chopsticks clattered.
Then I spoke up.
“By the way, what brings you all the way here? Shouldn’t you be at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?”
“……That’s because you……”
Jong Byeokgi had clearly been about to say something rude, but he glanced at Namgung Seonhwa before continuing.
“I came to find a craftsman for our main sect.”
“Doesn’t Diancang already have excellent craftsmen?”
“Did you think one or two craftsmen would be enough for our Diancang Sect? Isn’t it the same for the Namgung Family?”
“………”
Namgung Seonhwa ignored Jong Byeokgi’s remark.
As the situation continued to unfold, Jong Byeokgi’s anger soon turned toward me.
“I heard you got into the academy through sheer luck. But if you want to keep that insignificant status, shouldn’t you be spending your time studying instead of lounging around in a place like this?”
“Didn’t you hear? I got perfect scores on both the written and practical parts of this exam.”
“……You did?”
The men who hadn’t paid me the slightest attention until now looked at me one by one, unable to believe it.
“And I didn’t come here to fool around, either. I came to bring a craftsman into my sect.”
“What?…… Heh heh, hahahaha!”
Jong Byeokgi suddenly burst out laughing, and his companions joined in without knowing why.
“Do you really think there’s a craftsman here who’d work with a sect like the Taeul Sect?”
“What’s wrong with the Taeul Sect? It’s the sect founded by the legendary Taeul Sword Emperor.”
“You’re still spouting that nonsense……”
Just as Jong Byeokgi was about to shout, I lowered my voice.
“Elder Moyong Gang’s beating must not have hurt much, Senior Jong.”
“………”
At my words, Jong Byeokgi’s face twisted as if he’d swallowed something foul.
The moment I finished speaking, his companions exclaimed in surprise.
“Oh! So it’s true that you traveled with Elder Sword Breaker!”
“I’ve heard the Moyong Family doesn’t associate much with other sects. That’s impressive.”
“When will we have the chance to meet Elder Sword Breaker?”
It seemed Jong Byeokgi had dressed up the time Elder Moyong Gang had dragged him along as if they were close. His eyes shook violently.
“Did you tell them you’re close to Elder Moyong Gang?”
“………”
Jong Byeokgi’s companions turned to look at me.
They didn’t want to talk to me, but they still wanted to hear what I had to say.
“Elder Moyong Gang didn’t even treat Senior Jong like a person. He said a bastard of a dog had to be taught with a beating, then dragged him to his family estate to beat him.”
Jong Byeokgi’s face flushed red with humiliation, while his companions looked unsure how to react.
“Ahem…… W-we should be going now.”
At last one of Jong Byeokgi’s companions managed to speak, and Jong Byeokgi silently stood up as well.
“Oh, right. You said you’d pay for the meal as a gesture of reconciliation. Please settle the bill on your way out.”
“………”
Jong Byeokgi glared at me with a fury like that of someone staring at the enemy who had killed his parents.
But in the end, he stood up without another word.
“……What were you thinking?”
Seong Moran chided me as if demanding an explanation.
I watched the door he’d left through and said, “I thought he wouldn’t be able to hold back. He held it in pretty well. Maybe his patience has improved?”
Before heading to our destination, we stopped at a fabric shop.
Since we’d saved the cost of an expensive meal, I wanted to have new clothes made for the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers.
Beautiful silks of every color filled the lavish shop.
“Please make us clothes with the same fabric as Eldest Senior Brother’s.”
“Me too.”
“Me too.”
The three Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers had ordered black martial uniforms.
They must have gotten their taste from me. They were so plain.
“You can have black martial uniforms made anywhere in the academy. Since we’re here, look for something you can wear to a banquet.”
“Hmm……”
Dongryong thought for a moment, then turned to the shopkeeper.
“Please make it from white silk, and embroider ‘Taeul’ across the chest in gold thread.”
“Stop right there!”
So much for plain tastes……!
I grabbed Dongryong in alarm.
What on earth had possessed him to want to wear something like that?
He wanted the word “Taeul” emblazoned across his chest?
Even the late Taeul Sword Emperor would have clutched the back of his neck and collapsed at the sight of such a terrible sense of style.
“Eldest Senior Brother wears white clothes to ceremonies, doesn’t he? Shouldn’t we, his junior disciples, dress to match?”
At Dongryong’s words, Geumpyo and Eunho turned pale, too.
My ceremonial outfit must have made quite an impression on Dongryong.
While I wondered how to talk him out of it, Namgung Seonhwa spoke up.
“Dongryong, wouldn’t that overshadow Young Master Jin’s elegance? Why not choose blue instead? It should go well with his white outfit.”
Dongryong thought for a moment, then quickly nodded.
“Please do that. But make the word ‘Taeul’ on the chest very large.”
“Dongryong, don’t do that.”
Eunho was desperately trying to stop him.
The three of them had originally agreed to have matching clothes made.
“Eunho, are you ashamed of the Taeul Sect?”
Dongryong’s innocent expression made Eunho look like a shameless person who was embarrassed by his own sect.
“No……! How did you get that from what I said? I’m only embarrassed about having the name emblazoned across my chest!”
In the end, after a heated argument between Eunho and Dongryong, they agreed to have “Taeul” embroidered in fine detail on the sleeves.
The Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers were already exhausted from the argument, while the women seemed to be only just getting started.
I led them toward our original destination.
The Red-Light District.
The Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers blushed, but couldn’t take their eyes off the women in revealing clothes.
The women’s expressions were growing brighter and brighter.
At the far end of the Red-Light District, we finally reached our destination.
I spotted the jewelry shop run by Jang Dowon.
“………”
“……Is this the place?”
But the jewelry shop, which should have been busy with business, was already dark.
I followed the outer wall of the shop and knocked on Jang Dowon’s door at the back.
“Is anyone there?”
After a long silence, the door creaked open and Jang Dowon appeared.
“It’s been a long time, Elder.”
“………”
Jang Dowon left the door open and went back inside.
I cautiously stepped through the doorway and saw an untidy courtyard and a cold, dark forge.
Jang Dowon sat on the wooden porch, looking dazed.
“Elder?”
“………”
“Elder?”
Only after I’d called him several times did Jang Dowon raise his head.
“……What is it?”
“That’s what I’d like to ask you. What on earth happened?”
The house was so neglected it looked as if a ghost lived there.
Jang Dowon, who had once been full of energy even in his old age, was living like a broken man.
“……It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with. Why have you come?”
I’d planned to ask him to make a bow for Moyong Jaehwa and invite him to join the Taeul Sect.
But it didn’t seem like the right time to bring that up.
“I don’t think that’s what matters right now. What happened to you?”
“What happened…… What happened…… What happened, you say……? What happened to me?”
Jang Dowon’s words tangled together as if he’d lost his mind.
Then, as if he’d suddenly been struck on the back of the head, his eyes flew open.
“……Seolyeon.”
“Pardon?”
“Seolyeon……”
Jang Dowon’s dazed expression crumpled in an instant.
Tears began to stream down his parched face.
“Seolyeon’s been kidnapped. Seolyeon……! My granddaughter Seolyeon was kidnapped by the Demonic Cult…… What am I supposed to do……?”
The Demonic Cult.
The Demonic Cult had appeared again.
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