What had to be returned to him.
Tang Roe did not know what it referred to.
There was too much of it, and it would clearly take a long time.
But Tang Yu-hyeon was certain.
He knew what had to be returned, and he would be the one to take it back.
"Is that so."
When a young one took a burden upon himself, how could an older one sit still?
Tang Roe drew a dark brown wooden token from his robes.
The character for black, carved into wood nearly the color of ink.
It was the symbol of the Black Steel Corps.
"The Second Young Master thinks deeply and will manage well enough alone, but there will be times when another's help is needed."
The token was laid across Tang Yu-hyeon's palm.
"On that day, come to the Black Steel Corps. Wherever it may be, we will follow."
Tang Yu-hyeon knew the weight of that trust.
He knew how hard it was to resolve to believe one proof and one spar over rumors that still ran thick.
And how long the man must have watched him before reaching such a decision.
'Heavy.'
He had received one before, so it was familiar to his eye.
This token was a powerful card that could mobilize the Black Steel Corps without the Clan Head's approval.
And with no limit on the number of times, unless the Black Steel Corps Captain took it back himself.
'Whatever you saw in me, I'll see to it that you never regret it.'
Tang Yu-hyeon gripped the token tightly, as though afraid to let it slip.
"I hope what I intend to do is the same as your will."
"I would dare to be confident that it is."
At the answer full of conviction, Tang Yu-hyeon smiled faintly.
At that, Tang Jong-cheon muttered low.
"There is nothing more to see."
Even seeing Tang Yu-hyeon's brow furrow, he gestured with his chin, his face untroubled.
"The time allowed you ends here. From now on the Black Steel Corps has training of its own, so let us leave."
"Yes."
It nagged at him, not knowing whether the first remark had been aimed at him or at the corps members, but Tang Yu-hyeon nodded obediently.
Having recovered his feel alone, it was fair to say he had gotten everything there was to get here.
"Go safely."
At Tang Roe's parting words, Tang Yu-hyeon gave a light silent bow and stepped out of the training ground.
'I've got the feel back, so shall I train some more?'
Just as he thought it, Tang Jong-cheon called him to a stop.
"Because you have moved so busily for the clan's sake, others have borne the duties of the direct line that should have been yours. Do you acknowledge that?"
"I acknowledge it."
"Are you willing to shoulder your share again, even now?"
"Of course. I believe that is only right."
"I hope those words are not a lie."
Tang Jong-cheon drew a bamboo scroll from his sleeve and handed it to Tang Yu-hyeon.
"Among the lessons of the Poison Study Pavilion is practical work."
The Poison Study Pavilion taught only the direct line and a few of the collateral branches who would one day form the clan's backbone.
Unlike the Joint Study Pavilion it was a small elite, and it taught literary studies, martial studies, and practical work.
Unlike literary or martial studies, which merely taught deeper material, practical work mainly meant touring Sichuan in person, grasping the currents, and solving problems.
In the latter case especially, the difficulty varied wildly depending on where one was assigned and what mission one was given.
For that reason some said it was called the Poison Study Pavilion because it taught the so-called geniuses with a poisonous severity.
"Coming this late, adjusting will be difficult, but I hope you will not give up. If only for the sake of those who expect something of you."
Instead of answering, Tang Yu-hyeon unrolled the bamboo scroll.
Amid the feast of ink-written characters, only two names lodged in his eye.
Gwak Hwa-ran, Pavilion Mistress of the Moon-Crossing Pavilion.
Her sworn sister, Yeo Hong-ran, Pavilion Mistress of the Hundred Flower Pavilion.
The moment he saw again the names he had seen while searching Red Tiger Keep's ledger, Tang Yu-hyeon understood.
That the mission entrusted to him was the eradication of the Moon-Crossing Pavilion.
'So my cleaning out the Hundred Flower Pavilion is what got their tail caught.'
Tang Yu-hyeon hid his smile behind the bamboo scroll.
This is an opportunity.
An opportunity for him — the one who knew Sichuan best, the first to grasp that the Moon-Crossing Pavilion had built corrupt ties within it — to tear out the impure sprout.
'I can't let my descendants dirty their hands with something like this.'
Clearing the water below was always the role of the water above.
Tang Yu-hyeon closed the bamboo scroll with a sharp clack.
"I will not disappoint you."
Disappoint, indeed.
I will exterminate the things that dare feed off Sichuan.
***
A few weeks later.
Tang Yu-hyeon draped a black wide-brimmed hat over his head and wandered the streets of Sichuan.
With a scar drawn on his face in red pigment and light clothing on his back, he looked every inch a wanderer.
'You need at least this much to keep people off and blend in properly.'
By contrast, the sight of Poison Study Pavilion students scattered here and there drew a sigh out of him.
However much they claimed to be in disguise, anyone would turn to look at them walking about in silk with their faces bare.
The instant even one person remembered a face, covert movement lost its function.
'Make it that obvious and who could fail to recognize them?'
Seeing this, he felt that for all the weight of the responsibility they carried, they were still young.
'Should I gather the whole lot of them and teach them.......'
Thinking at once of the intelligence on the Moon-Crossing Pavilion set down in the bamboo scroll and the fundamentals of covert movement, Tang Yu-hyeon mixed into the crowd.
Then.
TAP.
Someone struck his shoulder.
"Whoops."
For a voice belonging to someone flustered, it was awfully calm.
Tang Yu-hyeon turned his head and looked at the other party.
His gaze, aimed at eye level, dropped downward.
He had not even looked at the face properly, but this alone satisfied him.
"My apologies for that."
A boy who looked about his own age smiled sheepishly.
With his hair tied back in one, his large round eyes showed all the better.
'Like a puppy.'
Tang Yu-hyeon swung his arm as if brushing off dust.
The pouch he had filled with stones to pass as money had not vanished.
'Not a pickpocket.'
Judging by the clothes worn through in places, he was most likely an errand boy at some inn.
No need to get him scolded by his master over nothing.
Tang Yu-hyeon waved a hand.
"It is fine. Go on your way."
At that the boy shook his head.
"What kind of man would that make me? Let me buy you a drink at least."
So he would rather not be treated as a child.
Or he had to meet me here.
Tang Yu-hyeon regarded the boy through the cloth and answered indifferently.
"Do as you like."
The boy thumped his own chest and said,
"You won't be disappointed. It's a hidden gem only Sichuan natives know about."
Not so much a place known only to Sichuan natives as a place inside the Moon-Crossing Pavilion's reach, by the look of it.
Though anywhere he was taken that he did not know would be the same.
Tang Yu-hyeon shrugged and followed him without a word of complaint.
"The place I'm taking you to has quite the reputation among those in the know for its kung pao chicken."
"I see. This is my first time in Sichuan."
"Your first time in Sichuan?"
"That is right."
"Then all the better! It doesn't open every day, so it's hard to find on a first visit."
"Lucky, then."
Following the boy into an alley, Tang Yu-hyeon remarked casually.
"Come to think of it, we have not exchanged names. I am called Maeng San-ho. A wanderer who drifts here and there."
"Ah. My introduction is late. I'm called Seon U-yun. It's shameful to say as a fellow wanderer, but at present I'm also working as a guard at an inn."
"A guard should be busy at this hour. Do you not need to get back?"
"As it happens, I got sick of it and was on my way out after quitting."
"Bold of you."
Tang Yu-hyeon snorted a laugh.
Quit, indeed. He seemed to be working diligently even now.
"Here it is."
At Seon U-yun's words, Tang Yu-hyeon shifted his gaze along the pointing finger.
An unremarkable tavern decked in red cloth. A crescent moon and a waning moon painted at the entrance.
No explanation was needed.
This is the Moon-Crossing Pavilion.
Or else a place where the Moon-Crossing Pavilion could easily stretch out its power.
'Either way, it is not welcome.'
Until he knew the Moon-Crossing Pavilion's true face, which the Tang Clan's intelligence did not show, he had to avoid a rash clash.
'I'll count myself lucky if I don't get dragged into something troublesome.'
Tang Yu-hyeon followed Seon U-yun and quietly took a seat.
With drunks pouring liquor down their throats and making a racket, their presence was easily buried.
"Serving lad! Kung pao chicken and two clear liquors here!"
"Right away!"
"Clear liquor is all right, isn't it?"
"It is."
Asking only after ordering everything came naturally to him.
Aside from the bastards who deserved killing, a few others had probably been cleaned out of their funds this way.
"Isn't that uncomfortable?"
Seon U-yun pointed above his own head.
He had nothing on his, so he meant the black wide-brimmed hat Tang Yu-hyeon was wearing.
"At least take it off while you eat."
"There is a scar on my face; it is unsightly. I fear it might startle others."
"If it troubles you that much, how about covering it with your hair?"
"A good method."
Tang Yu-hyeon removed the black wide-brimmed hat and deliberately showed the scar.
Seon U-yun faltered at how real the makeup looked.
'Different from the information he was given, I take it?'
If it could fool those who made disguise their trade, ordinary folk would notice nothing amiss.
"I did say it was unsightly."
Tang Yu-hyeon said quietly, letting his hair down to cover the scar.
At that Seon U-yun snapped back to himself and waved his hands.
"Not at all. Seeing your face, I was only startled because you are more striking than I imagined."
Are compliments standard for the young these days?
In my day, the moment you thought someone looked handsome, you hit him — or yourself — first and thought about it after.
The world has certainly gotten better.
"Your order is here!"
Just as he poured the liquor with practiced ease and reached for a piece of the steaming kung pao chicken.
CRASH!
Someone struck the table he sat at.
The impact sloshed the cups over and splattered food all around.
'Tch. Filthy.'
Tang Yu-hyeon clicked his tongue and lifted his head at an angle.
Behind a man who looked to be the leader stood four burly men in a row.
"Hey, friend. What are you staring at?"
"Don't tell me you don't know who we are. Fix those eyeballs of yours."
"I don't."
SNAP. At the breezy answer, veins rose on the men's foreheads.
"Some greenhorn who doesn't know his place has crawled in here. Let me remind you where you stand."
"We're the top wanderers in all of Sichuan. In order, Number One through Number Five."
"Don't understand what that means? It means nothing happens in Sichuan without passing through our hands, and the moment you learn our real names, your life is over."
"Did the lot of you study acting at some theater troupe? Amusing."
When Tang Yu-hyeon shot back without a flicker of expression, Seon U-yun tried to stop him.
"Brother Maeng. It seems I chose the place poorly. Let's go somewhere quieter."
Seon U-yun shook his head, urging him not to provoke them further.
But Tang Yu-hyeon only rolled his eyes toward him.
"Is there any need? The noisy ones should be the ones to leave."
THWACK!
In an instant Tang Yu-hyeon's fist slammed into Number One's face.
"Ngh......."
Pressing his foot down on Number One, whose caved-in face could not shape a word, Tang Yu-hyeon shook out his hand.
"I'm not a patient man, so you'd better decide fast."
Every eye in the tavern went wide and fixed on him.
"Do you want to leave beaten, or just leave?"