“There must be no wasted movement, and when you execute a motion, you must concentrate so that your power carries through to the very end.”
Jo Gang-jin, Hall Master of Ilho Martial Academy and proudly counted among the Ten Heroes of Shanxi for his unique Tiger Shadow Fist, surveyed the boys holding their stances before him.
When their master's gaze reached them, the boys raised their spirits to the fullest.
“Hup!”
“Haaah!”
Their thrusting hands struck the air as they shouted.
BOOM—! BANG—! BANG—!
The sounds of air being torn apart rang out one after another.
The boys looked prouder the louder the sound they made, but Jo Gang-jin clicked his tongue inwardly.
The first form of the Tiger Shadow Fist was supposed to approach without a trace, like a tiger's shadow, and drive its keenly honed claws into the target in a single blow.......
What idiotic prey would let itself be caught on those claws amid such a racket?!
Besides, in a form that required force to be gathered into a single point, a louder sound meant the process had gone that much more awry.
Had they concentrated properly through to the end, then yes.
It should have looked like that.
Jo Gang-jin turned his gaze toward the most secluded corner of the training ground.
‘As expected of young Seon-woo.’
His eyes shone with intelligence, and not a single part of his movements was superfluous.
His fingertips shot through the wind, fierce yet disciplined, silently stabbing and raking the air as he executed the form to perfection.
“Remarkable.”
As the murmuring Jo Gang-jin started toward Lee Seon-woo, a stir ran through the air.
“Master!”
When he turned toward the voice calling him, the children of influential Shanxi families were staring at him openly.
Their gazes seemed to ask whether he truly meant to pay more attention to a bastard learning martial arts only because he had been tacked onto the sons of the Huaming Escort Bureau Master than to those who provided the academy with so much support.
Jo Gang-jin flinched.
He remembered how Seon-woo's gemlike talent had astonished him at first sight and nearly caused the academy to close after he tried to accept the boy as his foremost disciple, earning the other boys' resentment.
‘It cannot be helped. There are not many children from families of that standing, and each of them has nine other people besides me whom they could take as a master at any time.’
Thinking of the other Ten Heroes of Shanxi, Jo Gang-jin soothed his wounded pride.
“What is it? Do you have a question about the form?”
He turned and approached the group in which Pyeon Su-yeop of Pyeon Estate and Ji Hye-won of the Dorim Merchant Guild played at being leaders.
Lee Seon-woo had hoped his master might correct his stance or point out what he lacked, but he forced down his disappointment as the man moved away.
Four hours later, when training ended, their master abruptly went inside, leaving the others to tidy the training ground.
Naturally, Pyeon Su-yeop's gang did not help.
They prevented the other ordinary boys from helping as well, leaving Seon-woo as the only one who remained.
Seon-woo put the training equipment scattered here and there back in its proper place by himself and leveled the churned-up ground.
“He actually does it just because we tell him to?”
“What else could the likes of him do?”
“True enough.”
“Oh, I heard that bastard's so-called father showed up and is causing trouble at the escort bureau?”
Pyeon Su-yeop, who had been talking with Ji Hye-won, abruptly turned the subject to Lee Seon-myeong.
Lee Seon-myeong nodded despite his uneasy expression.
“He struts around as though the place belongs to him.”
“People with nothing have no pride and no shame. They act that way because they do not understand how ugly it is.”
When Pyeon Su-yeop spoke scornfully, Lee Seon-myeong frowned.
‘That would actually be better.’
The problem was that the man did not look ugly at all. On the contrary, looking down from above suited him far too well.
Pyeon Su-yeop saw Lee Seon-myeong's expression and misunderstood it.
“Now there are two rats gnawing holes in Huaming Escort Bureau's storehouses and fouling the whole place. As your friend, I cannot simply stand by.”
No matter how one looked at it, he was merely excited to have found an excuse to torment the boy more entertainingly than usual, but what did it matter?
Lee Seon-myeong silently watched Pyeon Su-yeop approach his younger cousin, who had just finished tidying the training ground.
***
Wi So-baek stood before the martial academy's main gate with A-ri in his arms.
Several carriages and servants lined the area around them.
They were probably there for boys attending the academy whose homes were far away, or for young masters of noble families who would never walk on their own feet even over a short distance.
A short while later.
Boys began streaming out of the academy.
Whether they walked in groups among themselves or departed with those who had come to meet them, all the boys shared one thing: they kept stealing glances at A-ri and Wi So-baek.
“Which clan is he from?”
“No idea? Should we ask?”
They whispered among themselves, then jumped in surprise whenever Wi So-baek glanced their way, bowed their heads, and vanished.
Wi So-baek paid them no attention, but A-ri's shoulders rose proudly on their own.
Hee-hee.
“But why is Big Brother taking so long to come out?”
As the number of boys leaving the academy visibly dwindled until only one or two emerged now and then, A-ri tilted her head.
Wi So-baek had been thinking the same thing.
“Indeed. Shall we go inside?”
The two were about to head toward the gate when a familiar face happened to emerge.
“Seon... woo?”
Wi So-baek called his name happily, then stopped short.
Seon-woo, whose already shabby clothes had been trampled into a mess and whose hair was soaked with dirty water, looked up sharply in a wretched state.
The moment he spotted Wi So-baek and his younger sister in the man's arms, Seon-woo's face turned pale.
Then a group appearing behind Seon-woo smacked the back of his head with a palm.
Seon-woo nearly pitched forward, but Wi So-baek swiftly caught him with an outstretched hand.
He swept his gaze across the wide-eyed boys staring at him.
Mixed among the unfamiliar boys were the two fools from Huaming Escort Bureau.
“And what is this?”
Wi So-baek arched one eyebrow.
Unexpectedly, the one who broke the frigid atmosphere, in which something seemed certain to happen at any moment, was Lee Seon-woo.
When Seon-woo tugged at Wi So-baek's sleeve, Wi So-baek sighed, gathered him and A-ri, and turned away.
Their journey back to Huaming Escort Bureau was quiet.
Seon-woo looked up at Wi So-baek several times and moved his lips, but said nothing to the end.
“It is all right.”
Wi So-baek covered the top of Seon-woo's head with one hand.
“You do not have to say anything.”
Then Wi So-baek bent down to meet Seon-woo's eyes.
“You have a father now too.”
Wi So-baek told him to leave everything else to him.
After reaching Huaming Escort Bureau, Wi So-baek handed A-ri to Seon-woo and sent them in first despite Seon-woo's glare warning him not to do anything foolish. Then he spoke.
“Come out.”
“.......”
“We exchanged greetings with our eyes earlier. Why pretend not to know me now?”
Wi So-baek made the warning perfectly clear: if the man came out now, he would overlook the fact that he had followed him around, but the moment Wi So-baek dragged him out personally, every one of those acts would become a crime.
“Ugh.”
Yu Cheol-sam emerged from a secluded corner with a reluctant groan.
He had eagerly accepted the assignment after being told the man knew no martial arts and the Madam would pay generously, but now he saw that he had stepped squarely into shit!
“Your name?”
Startled by the chilling gaze upon him, Yu Cheol-sam answered at once.
“Yu Cheol-sam!”
“Cheol-sam.”
“That is a bit too suddenly familiar. We are not close enough for you to.......”
“Very well, Cheol-sam.”
At the plainly condescending form of address that returned once more, Cheol-sam covered his face with his left hand and scrubbed hard.
“Yes. Why did you call me?”
His own temper was hardly mild, yet he found himself acting meek without realizing it. That alone made it clear there was something about this mysterious man.
“Go and learn about Ilho Martial Academy and those spirited brats who rampage there like reckless colts.”
“Why should I do that?”
The words asking why he should do it never made it to the end.
“Naturally, because I told you to.”
It was because Wi So-baek released his energy as he spoke.
The force that suddenly surrounded and crushed him instilled an overwhelming terror beyond anything he had ever imagined.
As his face darkened from a deathly blue, Yu Cheol-sam nodded furiously.
“Yes, yes! I will do it. Just leave anything to me!”
After hearing Yu Cheol-sam's answer, Wi So-baek gave a light wave of his hand and dispersed the force.
“A group made up of Pyeon Estate, the Dorim Merchant Guild, and those two fools from this Huaming Escort Bureau?”
It did not take long for Yu Cheol-sam to bring back the information.
After all, there was an obvious limit to what Yu Cheol-sam could discover.
“Yes.”
Yu Cheol-sam worried the other man might berate him, but nothing of the sort happened.
Wi So-baek tapped the sheet of paper in his hand and sank into thought.
In truth, everything would be settled if he simply revealed his real identity.
‘But the world's opinion of the Demon Alliance is far too terrible.’
Some people even called the Demon Alliance Leader a monster with three heads and six arms.
If Seon-woo learned that the father who had abandoned him, returned looking like a beggar, and had known him for only a short while was that very person.......
Far from following him when he asked them to leave this place together, the boy might refuse ever to see him again.
‘So I would like him to find out only after we have grown a little closer.’
Wi So-baek had never once in his life adorned himself or presented a falsehood.
There had never been any reason to do so, nor was it in his nature.
Yet now he was doing something he had never done before because he worried a ten-year-old boy might be hurt or reject him.
And that was despite the mountain of work awaiting him the moment he returned to the Demon Alliance.
“In any case, you father and son always put me in a difficult position.”
Wi So-baek shook his head.
Yu Cheol-sam did not understand the muttered words he happened to overhear, but he did not dare ask.
Wi So-baek sent the sheet Yu Cheol-sam had handed him fluttering back toward the man.
The perfectly spinning sheet flew straight to him, yet its weight felt like a thousand geun, nearly making Yu Cheol-sam's upper body buckle.
“According to this, the martial academy will soon hold a martial arts competition?”
“It is a fairly large event held once every two years. Originally, it was an occasion for the parents and relatives of Ilho Martial Academy's trainees to gather and celebrate their achievements, but.......”
“It grew more corrupt over time? Now it is both a contest to see which trainee can bring the most powerful patron and a gathering where the adults they meet that way mingle and form connections. Correct?”
Yu Cheol-sam stared in surprise, wondering how the man had known when he had not written it quite so explicitly, but Wi So-baek answered indifferently.
“When people gather in one place, time carves furrows and leaves traces. It is only natural that the water pooled atop them will stagnate and rot.”
The tone suggested that this was simply the natural order and truth, without the slightest personal feeling or regret, leaving Yu Cheol-sam even more bewildered.
But Yu Cheol-sam could not remain lost in other thoughts for long.
“Now then, recite it.”
“R-recite what?”
Feeling as though he had done nothing but be dragged around the entire time, a frightened and wary Yu Cheol-sam asked.
“What else? Who is the most renowned person in Shanxi?”
He was asking whom he should bring to the competition to bolster his child's spirits and instantly crush the brats who had tormented him.
“That would be.......”
Yu Cheol-sam blinked and parted his lips.
At that moment, he could not begin to imagine what storm his single answer would bring down upon the Yun Clan, the foremost house in Shanxi.
***
Yun Gi-hyeong, Clan Head of the Yun Clan—which, though not part of the Martial Alliance, was a local power with deep roots in Shanxi that went unchallenged within the province—sensed a strange incongruity when he entered his room.
As he reached for the sword at his waist, someone's voice drifted from the darkness within.
“Leave it. If you do something pointless, I will have to find someone else, and that would be bothersome.”
“Who are you?! Did the Martial Alliance send you? Have I not already made it known that our Yun Clan produced an imperial consort and has ties to the Imperial Palace, so we have no intention of becoming deeply involved with the Martial Alliance?!”
“Is that so? That is fortunate.”
When the other man replied in a tone of utter disinterest, cold sweat ran down Yun Gi-hyeong's forehead.
There was no enemy more difficult to face than one whose intentions were impossible to discern!
“Then why have you come to me in the middle of the night?!”
“There is somewhere I need you to accompany me.”
With a WHOOSH—!, a flame formed within and leaped to the lamp's wick, brightly illuminating the room.
After blinking for a moment, Yun Gi-hyeong made out the face of the man sitting remarkably comfortably in his chair.
He was a handsome man Yun Gi-hyeong had never seen before.
“I will remain in Shanxi for a while, so let us get along.”
At the absurd greeting, Yun Gi-hyeong swallowed dryly.
He had just discovered someone even more difficult to deal with than an enemy whose intentions he could not discern.
It was a madman!