"So you three are locals, is that right?"
"Y-yes......!"
"Yeah."
"Good. Have any of you ever heard of a place called Caishi Rock?"
Yang Gye-dong, the young man who had beaten up the old man earlier, glanced at the other two before answering.
"Well, hardly anyone knows about that place......"
"That's why I'm asking you. Do you know it or not?"
"My grandfather said it's an island inside the Caishi River — the one where Li Bai drowned. Supposedly it's a death trap if you go in, and the rumors have been going around for three hundred years. That's why it became a forbidden zone."
"So in other words, you know where it is."
"W-well, yeah......"
"You're guiding me there tomorrow."
"The thing is...... I have to work the mines tomorrow. If I don't show up, I'll get chewed out and lose my pay......"
CLINK.
Hyeol-u dropped a ten-nyang pouch of silver in front of the boy.
"They say getting cussed at means you'll live longer, so take the yelling for yourself — and this covers the money."
"That's not really the issue......"
A moment later.
"What did you just say?"
Hyeol-u's eyes flashed.
'So that's how it is.'
Now he had a definitive lead.
After sorting through every detail of the situation, Hyeol-u and So-i returned to the dormitory and lay down on the sleeping spots closest to the entrance.
"Young Master, didn't you give him way too much?"
"No. I checked around — the area near the river is completely cut off, turned into virgin forest. Thick mist blankets the place year-round without a single clear day. Unless you're someone who knows it well, you can't even find the entrance to Caishi Rock."
"Aha, and if he can't find it, we confiscate the money in full. Right?"
"Is that what you want?"
"Yes! Getting beaten by those bastards — it's so unfair I could lose my mind."
"Haha, if it didn't make you angry, you wouldn't be human."
Then So-i leaned in with a serious expression.
"Young Master."
"Ugh! Your breathing tickles. Talk from a bit further away."
"Tch — teach me martial arts."
"Martial arts? Where did that come from?"
"It's not out of nowhere! I thought about it carefully. Say we're out together like today and I get kidnapped or killed by someone. Would you just shrug it off?"
"Obviously. I'm busy enough staying alive myself — how am I supposed to stop you from dying too?"
"......What?"
Trusting the axe only to have it chop your own foot — was this what that felt like?
So-i's eyes even welled up.
"That's really too much......"
"Ahaha! What kind of man is this thin-skinned? Fine — if you're ready to come at me prepared to die, then I'll think about it."
"I'm...... ready to die."
"......!"
***
The next day, at dawn, the early Hour of the Rabbit.
Bathed in the faintly brightening light of dawn, Hyeol-u and So-i followed Yang Gye-dong along the western flank of Cuiluo Mountain toward the banks of the Yangtze River.
Through scrub, bamboo groves, and several marshes — they walked for roughly a quarter-hour.
Then the view, which had been blocked by reed beds, suddenly burst open, and the deep blue river and a beach covered in red sand leaped into sight.
The sky held nothing but drifting white clouds.
Already the heat was enough to bead sweat on their foreheads.
Not a breath of wind stirred in the muggy air, and So-i already looked exhausted despite the early hour.
"Ugh, why is it so hot? If I could just strip down and dive in...... oh! Over there."
So-i, frantically wiping sweat from his brow, pointed toward the inner riverbank where a stream of water formed a waterfall.
There, several people in light clothing were examining dozens of stones.
Some were as large as bears, others no bigger than a human head.
Off to one side, roughly split rocks lay strewn about like a quarry.
"Looks like they're sorting ore?"
"Oh, you know about that?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Yang Gye-dong's cold, serpentine eyes.
"A little. You mine the ore from the mountain, haul it down by cart and dump it out. Then the sorting crew — people like you — examines and cracks the stones to pick out the useful ones. The selected ore goes to the smelter for refining. Am I wrong?"
"You talk like you've done it yourself."
"Well...... even I don't know how I know."
So-i was itching to join the conversation.
'As expected of our Young Master!'
He wanted to brag and puff out his chest.
'But really, how does he know all this? Did he read it in a book?'
Even So-i found it curious.
Just then, a middle-aged man with a neck as conspicuously long as a heron's appeared and addressed them.
"Foreman Yang, good to see you. But who are these people......?"
"Ah, yes. They're friends of mine. They said they wanted to learn the ore-sorting trade."
"Is that so......?"
He looked far from convinced, but immediately continued.
"This batch is terrible. Only a handful have high iron content — the rest are all worthless rubble."
The heron grumbled and fumed, then smashed the corner of a dark boulder with a heavy hammer.
CRACK!
The rock split clean in two, scattering white stone fragments.
Dark on the outside.
And the red layer visible inside was so thin that the iron content looked to be well under a tenth of the total.
In cases like this, melting the ore down would yield so little iron that the cost would far exceed the profit.
"What do we do? The Namgung people said they're coming at noon......"
'What? The Namgung Clan is coming......!'
A faint smile grazed Hyeol-u's lips.
Yang Gye-dong wove among the stones large and small, appraising some by eye and cracking others with the hammer, then straightened up with a sour face.
"This is insane. You call this iron ore? Sigh...... let's just clear out all the rubble."
As the sorters rushed in — smashing the larger stones and hauling the smaller ones as-is to the rubble pile — Hyeol-u raised his hand.
"Wait, hold on! This stone and that one — they're high-quality iron ore. Leave them."
"Wh-what? Who are you to start ordering people around?!"
The heron bulged his eyes and bore down on Hyeol-u, but Yang Gye-dong intervened with a pained expression.
"Uh, just a moment......"
Yang Gye-dong shot Hyeol-u a chiding look — why are you making unnecessary trouble?
"What? Don't believe me? Then hand me the hammer."
"Oh, come on."
Yang Gye-dong passed the hammer over with a face like he had bitten into a bug.
Hyeol-u lifted the hammer lightly and brought it down on a stone roughly an armful in size.
CRACK!
A chunk of the boulder broke away cleanly.
"Wh-what is this?"
The sorters, examining the stone with hawklike eyes, gasped and looked back and forth between it and Hyeol-u.
Once the worthless stone fell away, the dense, bright reddish-brown iron ore was revealed beneath.
"Whoa...... how?!"
So-i blurted in amazement.
From that point on, work proceeded at breakneck speed under Hyeol-u's direction.
He gave detailed instructions one by one, and Yang Gye-dong took the lead following his every word.
Meanwhile.
A mid-sized cargo vessel was approaching from upstream on the Yangtze.
***
On the deck, an aging man in silk robes shaded his eyes with his hand and stared toward the shore.
His face was the kind you might see anywhere in the marketplace — utterly unremarkable.
A tiny topknot ornament wrapped in red silk bobbed each time he moved his head.
"Tch."
Hyeol-u, seated on the rubble pile behind the sorters, watched the man and spat out the blade of grass he had been chewing.
'So...... that's him. Mo Jung-tak, was it.'
The lackey — or to put it politely, the confidant — who shadowed Grand Steward Namgung Cheol wherever he went.
Laughable.
'He's dressed just like his master, right down to the impression he gives.'
A wry smile settled on Hyeol-u's lips.
The moment the boatmen moored the vessel at the wharf, Mo Jung-tak leaped lightly onto the sandbar.
'Oh, the sword at his hip was no decoration after all.'
Remarkably nimble footwork and light steps.
Not first-rate, but the form of a man who could handle a blade.
Yang Gye-dong spotted him and dashed over, bowing deeply.
"Overseer Mo Jung-tak, welcome."
The sorters behind him bowed their heads as well.
Mo Jung-tak waved his hand grandly and replied.
"Enough. Are the goods ready?"
"Yes, sir. Fortunately, we were able to secure several pieces of high-quality iron ore."
"Is that so? They'd better not be duds that only look good on the outside."
"If they are, I'll stake my life on it."
"No need for a fresh young man to bet his neck. Now, are these the ones?"
"Yes, sir."
"Oho, these must have been a real find. At first glance they look like ordinary rubble disguised as iron ore......"
Yang Gye-dong's eyes briefly flicked toward Hyeol-u and darted back.
As Mo Jung-tak tapped and prodded his way through several stones, his lips spread wider and wider.
'If these are this good, I can charge quite a premium. At least double the last batch!'
He called out with a spring in his voice.
"Excellent! Load them all onto the ship."
The sorters had already laid two long wooden planks end to end along the beach.
They were loading stones onto carts, and from their practiced movements, this was clearly not their first time.
Mo Jung-tak watched the sorters with a thin-lipped smile for a while before his eyes narrowed.
'Wait, look at those two. They're just sitting on their backsides doing nothing.'
"Foreman Yang!"
Yang Gye-dong, who had been helping with the loading, sprinted over at once.
Quick on his feet.
Mo Jung-tak jerked his chin.
"What are those two doing over...... hold on."
Something almost clicked.
At first, the shabby clothes and wrinkled rags had made them unrecognizable.
But Hyeol-u had already risen and was slowly walking toward Mo Jung-tak as the man groped for the memory.
The closer he drew, the redder Mo Jung-tak's complexion grew.
And the moment Hyeol-u spoke, the blood drained from his face entirely.
"Y-you......?"
"Mo Jung-tak, was it?"
"Th-the Third Young Master! What brings the Third Young Master all the way here......?"
Hyeol-u planted himself right in front of Mo Jung-tak and looked down at him.
A tremor ran through the rims of his eyes.
"That's my line. What are you doing here?"
"'Y-you'......? That's a bit......"
Every sorter had stopped mid-motion and was staring openly — so his pride must have been stung.
But Hyeol-u was not the sort to care.
"What, you thought I'd grovel and beg forgiveness? To a filthy bastard who's been siphoning the clan's assets......?"
'Disrespecting me in front of the workers — there's a limit......!'
Mo Jung-tak's face flushed crimson.
"HYAAAH!"
As Mo Jung-tak reached for his sword—
His eyeballs bulged as though they might pop from their sockets.
CRUNCH!
"GYAAAHK!"
The sickening sound of the entire wrist being crushed, followed by Mo Jung-tak's scream tearing through the calm riverside air.
"Shut up! What have you done to deserve drawing a blade in my presence?"
CRACK.
This time, Mo Jung-tak's jaw dropped slack.
The joint had been dislocated.
"Gkh! Uuughh......"
SMACK!
Next, front teeth popped out like kernels stripped from a cob of corn — three or four at once.
"Oooogh......!"
Despite clenching what teeth remained and shaking violently, Mo Jung-tak could not collapse.
Hyeol-u had seized his pompous little topknot ornament and hoisted him to eye level.
"Ghhh, hhrrghhh......!"
Several sorters clasped their hands over their mouths — and streams of liquid began running from the fronts of their trousers.
The groans, however, erupted from an entirely different source.
"Damn it all! Set sail, now!"
The cargo vessel's crew scrambled in panic to untie the ropes moored to the wharf piles, when—
SPLASH!
The sound of Mo Jung-tak hitting the water was followed by a whistle of wind.
WHEEEEEE—!
A single stroke — adapting the Iron Sword Thirty-Six Paths' Flying Tiger Stealing Heart into a throwing technique.