Given the permission to go, Cheongyeon returned to the spot where he had spread out his herbs. He loaded the tightly tied bundle onto the back of his bicycle. The surroundings had become desolate after Mu-won appeared. Even the thieves didn’t dare to approach, showing absolutely no interest in the herbs.
Come to think of it, perhaps they weren't stealing them because they wondered where they'd even use such medicinal herbs. The medicine shop's goods had been safe even when he moved to another district to avoid Tae Mu-won.
Cheongyeon, having collected his bicycle, approached Mu-won. He didn’t mount the seat but walked, pulling the bike by the handlebars. To-seong was nowhere to be seen, leaving only Mu-won.
Mu-won looked at the bundle tied with a cord and smiled.
“You truly are diligent.”
He must have seemed that way, having rushed out to sell herbs as soon as the big market opened. Although the voice he spoke with was kinder than usual for Tae Mu-won, Cheongyeon didn't let his guard down. Mu-won might try to test him again in some way.
As they walked toward the pier together, Cheongyeon kept feeling Mu-won's gaze. When he glanced at him, Mu-won’s eyes were fixed on a spot slightly below his face.
The moment Mu-won reached out his hand, Cheongyeon quickly pulled his body away. With the bicycle between them, the arm holding the handlebars was stretched taut. Mu-won didn’t force a grab. He simply put a cigarette to his lips with an empty hand.
“Would you accept an apology?”
He then lightly tapped his own neck. Cheongyeon involuntarily gaped. If the distant sperm whale were to come back to life and return to the sea, he wouldn’t be more startled than this. He felt like he would choke on Tae Mu-won's words.
“...It’s fine.”
It was actually an insignificant wound, as it hadn’t been a deep stab. Although a mark was left on his neck, it was a scar that was barely visible unless one looked closely.
“Well, what would you do if it wasn’t fine?”
“You gave me the money...” He squeezed out a response, feeling he had to say something. The white smoke that was leaking from Mu-won's lips scattered, revealing his absurd smile.
“Stripping someone naked, beating them, stabbing them, and then giving them money solves everything?”
“That’s not it, but you also apologized...” Cheongyeon immediately denied it.
“And you forgive everything if one apologizes?”
“...Mostly, yes.”
Mu-won laughed snickeringly.
“Herbalist, how cheap are you, really?”
Cheongyeon didn’t respond to Mu-won, who kept provoking him. He waited for a flaw to be picked at, but the smiling Mu-won said nothing further.
A poor herbalist and the second-in-command of Cheonghwajin. It was a combination that looked completely mismatched to anyone. Walking side-by-side with him along the wharf, Cheongyeon felt strange.
He had once suspected him of being Flower Clan and tried to harm him... No, did he really try to harm him?
The reason Tae Mu-won was searching for the Flower Clan remained unknown. And not only that, but he still hadn’t found the Vengeance flower that was clearly blooming somewhere in Cheonghwajin.
Cheongyeon first learned that the Vengeance flower grew in Cheonghwajin thanks to Tae Mu-won.
The origin of the scentless Vengeance flower’s name was unknown because the Flower Clan named it. Only the Flower Clan could smell the fragrance emitted by a damaged Vengeance flower.
The Mu-won he encountered again didn’t smell of the Vengeance flower. Yet, just in case, he was taking a deep breath when the wind carried in cigarette smoke, filling his lungs.
Cough, cough... As he forcibly suppressed the cough that sprang out and swallowed his dry saliva, Mu-won frowned. He only looked down at the cigarette with his eyes. Then, instead of holding it to his mouth, he held it in his hand.
The cigarette, which was slowly burning down, was held that way only for a moment before Mu-won, accompanied by a low curse, took a drag again. Cheongyeon slowed his steps a little.
As the distance widened, Mu-won looked at Cheongyeon with irritation. He wondered how refined Cheongyeon was to cough faintly at the mere whiff of cigarette smoke. However, Cheongyeon’s gaze was fixed not on the cigarette but on the carcass of the sperm whale.
The sperm whale, hoisted from the hull, appeared to be at least twenty meters long. It had taken over a hundred burly men clinging to it just to haul it out.
The whale’s blood thoroughly soaked the wharf. Cheongyeon gripped the bicycle handlebars so tightly that his hands were turning pale. Mu-won also stopped walking and observed Cheongyeon.
The herbalist, whom he hadn't seen in nearly two months, had gained weight compared to before. He looked much healthier, having clearly eaten well with the 20,000 Hwan he'd given him. It wouldn't hurt if he gained a little more weight.
“A giant squid and...”
Cheongyeon muttered, his brow furrowed. The next words were so nonsensical it was as if he were dreaming while standing up.
“The sperm whale must have died fighting each other.”
Only then did Mu-won shift his gaze to the sperm whale carcass that Cheongyeon was looking at.
The sperm whale had died after swallowing the head of a giant squid that lived in the deep sea. The giant squid's legs, extending from beneath the swallowed head, were large enough to wrap around the sperm whale's body with plenty left over.
Indeed, there were wounds on various parts of the sperm whale's body caused by suckers, suggesting they had fought a fierce battle. They had been shouting everywhere that they had caught a sperm whale, but in reality, it was obvious they had merely stumbled upon it.
Cheongyeon’s observation of the dead squid seemed unusually insightful. Now that Mu-won thought about it, the report mentioned that Cheongyeon enjoyed buying and eating squid. It was a repeated list of him buying squid whenever he visited the fish market.
“Do you like squid?”
“I used to, but I don’t think I can eat it anymore.”
The pale Cheongyeon answered meekly and backed up the bicycle. Looking closely, his body was also trembling slightly. It was the same as before; this was his state whenever he saw blood.
They were in the process of puncturing holes in the sperm whale's massive body to drain the blood. The wharf was always filled with a fishy smell, but today, it was dominated by a different kind of metallic, bloody stench. On the other side, they were cutting open the sperm whale's belly.
The captain and the sailors pulled out the ambergris, which looked like a large stone, from the sperm whale's intestines. Gasps of admiration erupted from the onlookers.
“It’s an enormous piece of ambergris! Look!” The captain held the ambergris, which was too heavy to lift with two hands, above his head. Simultaneously, the First Continent merchants all shouted higher prices, each wanting to buy it. The wooden platform the captain stood on instantly transformed into an auction house, negating the need to move to an actual auction venue.
“Alright, alright! Calm down, everyone! We will restart the bidding at 100,000 Hwan! 100,000 Hwan is offered! 300,000! 500,000! 1,000,000!”
The price soared instantly. The auction, which started at 100,000 Hwan, reached 2,000,000 Hwan in just a few seconds. 2,000,000 Hwan was enough to buy a house in the higher elevations of Sector E.
Mu-won watched the auction with a degree of interest.
Cheongyeon thought he needed to sneak out of here, judging the atmosphere. It was difficult to endure the pervasive bloody smell. He had been breathing only through his mouth for a while now.
“How much do you think it will end at?”
Cheongyeon didn’t know, but he answered obediently.
“A lot.”
Mu-won took his eyes off the ambergris and turned back to Cheongyeon. Cheongyeon was panting softly through his slightly parted lips. The grimace from looking at the carcass was still there. Though he must have rolled around on the lowest floor of Cheonghwajin, at times like this, Cheongyeon looked as if he had been delicately raised.
Mu-won pulled out his cigarette pack, then shoved it back inside his suit with an indifferent expression.
“5,000,000 Hwan! 5,000,000 Hwan is offered!”
The continuously soaring bid price suddenly reached a lull. This was due to the merchants, excited about raising the price, now playing a game of chicken with each other.
“Ehhh! At this rate, we won’t even be able to pay the auction tax! I’d rather eat it and die myself!”
Whoop! The captain's bravado, opening his mouth toward the ambergris, drew laughter from the spectators. The bid price then started to climb again.
The boatmen of Cheonghwajin had to pay taxes to the owner of Cheonghwajin. This was under the pretext of protecting the fishing boats from pirates, but the actual protector of the fishing boats was only the current ruler, Peira.
Cheongyeon watched the sperm whale's blood, which was gradually expanding its territory, with anxious eyes. He prayed that it wouldn't reach his feet.
Whenever he saw a pool of blood, bad thoughts kept coming to mind. The sound of a bluish-white blade plunging into his nanny's chest, too.
Cheongyeon deliberately stared intently at the bicycle seat. He just wanted to ride the bicycle back to the medicine shop right now.
Clack. Suddenly, someone snatched the handlebars. This abruptly broke Cheongyeon’s reverie. The person who took the handlebars was none other than Mu-won. He casually sat down on Cheongyeon's bicycle as if it were his own. He fixed the bicycle by putting both feet on the ground and rested both arms on the handlebars.
He then tilted his head to the side.
“We haven’t seen each other in a while, and the first thing you think about is running away. You wound me.”
Woooow! At the same time, a cheer echoed through the wharf. The auction had ended. Hearing the people’s cheers, Cheongyeon assumed he had simply misheard Mu-won’s words about being wounded.
“The ambergris has been successfully bid for by Hwangran-nim of the First Continent for a final price of 7,000,000 Hwan! That’s 7,000,000 Hwan!”