Episode 66. Officially, We Have Nothing to Do With This
The gloomy room was tucked deep inside the newly renovated house next door.
With walls on all sides, it was perfectly soundproof, but that meant they always had to keep a lamp lit, making it perpetually dreary.
Won Seung wondered why the original owner had built such a room and was still pondering what it could be used for.
As he lit the lamp, Won Seung asked,
"Spit it out. What's going on?"
Jong Bi replied in a cracked voice,
"Elder Bi is here."
"Elder Bi?"
"I mean Elder Bi from the Main Branch."
"What? That Elder Bi?"
Won Seung jumped in surprise.
He already knew through Jong Bi that Elder Bi from the Main Branch had his eye on him, considering him a candidate for the Ten Perfections.
It was Elder Bi who had sent Jong Bi in the first place.
"Why would Elder Bi come here?"
"How should I know? What do we do? What do we do? Elder Bi is a violent man... We’ve been slacking off too much. Are you even doing your assassin training or not? Ah... How did I end up as your supervisor? Oh, right, Elder Bi made me..."
Suddenly, Jong Bi started pacing back and forth like a puppy needing to pee, rambling incoherently.
"Hey, calm down. You're making me dizzy."
Won Seung kicked Jong Bi's rear to snap him out of it.
"So, where is Elder Bi now?"
"At the Xiangyang Inn."
"Did you meet him?"
"No."
"Then how do you know he's there?"
"Follow me."
Jong Bi led Won Seung out to the yard.
"See that?"
In the dim, ashen evening sky, a lone kite floated.
The word "Bi" (飛) was written on it.
"When that kite flies, it means Elder Bi has arrived. I have to go see him."
"Where?"
"Wherever the kite points."
"And that's the Xiangyang Inn?"
Jong Bi nodded.
He’d gone out to call Ohgu for dinner and, upon seeing the kite, was drawn to the inn as if hypnotized.
The moment he stepped over the threshold, his body froze.
He realized he absolutely could not meet Elder Bi like this.
Calling this a mission... Well, he’d had far too much fun these past four months.
He’d made money, cleaned up his identity, even met a beautiful woman.
If Elder Bi found out the truth... Would he praise him?
He’d be lucky not to get beaten to death on the spot.
Jong Bi, eyes squeezed shut, turned around, smacking his trembling thigh with a spatula as he hurried back to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
Won Seung looked up at the kite again.
Swaying in the evening breeze, it felt ominous, as if it were watching him.
"Let’s go inside."
The two returned to the gloomy room.
"Let’s just ignore it! Pretend we didn’t see anything. We could say we weren’t in Xiangyang, or that we missed it because we were sleeping."
"Then he’ll look for us through the branch."
Gasp. That would be even worse.
"When did the kite go up?"
"It wasn’t there this afternoon. I saw it when I went out to fetch Teacher Woo for dinner."
"Speaking of which, Teacher Woo didn’t eat dinner either. Where did he go?"
Jong Bi’s eyes went blank for a moment, then he remembered.
"The guys from Wu Yangzheng took him out to eat."
"Wu Yangzheng? The Black Path group managing the Hundred Flowers Pavilion?"
"Are they the ones running things here? I didn’t know... Do they collect money? Should I just kill those bastards?"
Ten Perfect Servant Jong Bi was far too busy.
He handled housework, looked after Blood Flower, kept tabs on Yong Jo-woon... Lately, he was even coordinating the Three-way Martial Arts Duel, so he barely had time to keep up with the Hundred Flowers Pavilion’s affairs.
But if Wu Yangzheng was extorting money... Well, then they deserved to die.
Wanting to escape reality, Jong Bi’s eyes turned red with a murderous impulse.
Smack!
Won Seung slapped him.
"Get a grip. Now’s not the time to deal with those Black Path thugs."
"Huh?"
Jong Bi snapped back to his senses.
Even if he killed the Wu Yangzheng guys... He’d still get beaten to death by Elder Bi.
"Hmm. How long will Elder Bi wait if we don’t contact him?"
"For emergency summons, it’s usually three hours."
"Then we still have time. Let’s come up with a plan."
Won Seung went to his study and read through the reports he’d sent Elder Bi. He’d kept copies of every report.
There were four letters in total. Four months had already passed...
"I entered the Clear Water Sect, left, stayed briefly at the Cloud Flower Pavilion, then set up a safe house... After that, I’ve been gathering intel around the Clear Water Sect..."
"Yeah, that’s the most recent one you sent."
Won Seung read it again and slapped the letter with his palm.
"Perfect! Nothing to nitpick. What more could a trainee do? The target’s a Peak Master. The fact that I’m still alive and undetected is a miracle."
Jong Bi chimed in.
"You could have killed the magistrate of Choyang County. Or Lee Eon-pae of Jungyang County..."
"I can kill the magistrate anytime. As for Lee Eon-pae, I’m still working on him."
Won Seung answered shamelessly, prompting Jong Bi to ask again.
"You should’ve killed Hwa Cheon-gang when you were at the Clear Water Sect."
"Jo Bang-un was watching me like a hawk."
"Was it because you were distracted by Hua Yeo-wol’s beauty?"
"How would Elder Bi know to ask that? Focus! Our lives are on the line here."
Won Seung scowled, and Jong Bi asked another question.
"Fine. Why are you hanging around with Yong Jo-woon?"
"That’s not in the report. Only ask about what’s in the report."
Jong Bi thought for a moment, then asked,
"Then... why did you pretend to be from Seongwang House?"
"I got info that the Sky-Gazing Pavilion was colluding with Seongwang House and used it."
"Why did you pick the alias Pung Un-saeng?"
"Because it sounds cool."
Won Seung and Jong Bi kept grilling each other, looking for any loopholes.
"But where did you get all this money to spend like water?"
"..."
"How did you afford the safe house?"
"..."
After a storm of questions, the only thing they couldn’t explain was the source of the money.
"We’re short on time, so let’s set up the safe house first. It’s just a temporary place, so it won’t take long."
The newly renovated house next door still had no furniture or household goods.
Won Seung and Jong Bi grabbed a few pots and bowls, tossed some old blankets on the floor, and called it good.
They brought in night clothes, weapons hidden in the storeroom, some shabby herbal medicine and poison bottles, and scattered them around one room.
They even brought in trash and spread it everywhere, rolling empty liquor bottles around the living room.
When they finished, Won Seung looked around with satisfaction.
"Looks good, right? Like a rundown assassin’s hideout."
"Shouldn’t there be some bloodstains? Maybe some torture tools, too..."
Jong Bi looked around and suggested.
"Oh... That’s a good idea."
Won Seung drew his small knife and slashed Jong Bi’s arm.
"Ouch!"
"It’s not deep. Squeeze out some blood and splatter it around."
Jong Bi swung his arm, spraying blood here and there.
As he applied wound medicine and bandaged the cut, Won Seung said,
"It’s unheard of for Elder Bi to meet a trainee in person. I haven’t even officially joined Red Blood Mountain yet, right? So, Jong Bi, he’s probably calling you in to get a read on me."
"That makes sense."
"I’ve been thinking... We’re not the real target. I might be talented, but there’s no reason for a Main Branch Elder to supervise a trainee’s fieldwork."
"You think so?"
Jong Bi looked a bit relieved.
"My guess is, he’s here to watch the Three-way Martial Arts Duel."
"Ah, the Hundred Great Experts Three-way Duel!"
Jong Bi smacked his palm with his fist.
"Exactly. Only something that big would get a Main Branch Elder to move."
Jong Bi’s spirit returned.
But his eyes soon wavered again.
"But the Three-way Duel... We’re the ones running it. What if Elder Bi finds out?"
"Get a grip. Officially, we have nothing to do with it."
Really?
Jong Bi widened his eyes and thought it over.
That’s true.
Officially, it was known that Cheon Il-hae of the Sky-Gazing Pavilion stepped in because Hwa Cheon-gang of the Clear Water Sect kept avoiding the challenge from the Descendant of the Yong Clan. Cheon Il-hae proposed the Three-way Martial Arts Duel in the name of Xiangyang’s martial artists, and Hwa Cheon-gang and Yong Jo-woon accepted.
Everyone assumed the Sky-Gazing Pavilion and Clear Water Sect were handling the duel.
All expenses—setting up the Martial Arts Stage, inviting observers, security—were paid in silver coins, and everything was done under the names of the Sky-Gazing Pavilion Master, Hwa Cheon-gang, or Yong Jo-woon.
The names Pung Un-saeng, Songmyeong, and Ohgu were nowhere to be found.
They were just... errand boys.
But the people involved knew the truth.
Won Seung said,
"The Three-way Martial Arts Duel Agreement is a secret document. There’s a confidentiality clause right in the terms."
Oh... Is that so?
Still... the only one who keeps secrets best is a dead man...
The magistrate, the Hwa Family, Cheon Il-hae, Gu Ja-ang, Yong Jo-woon... Who else was there?
No one he could silence personally.
Ah, Jo Bang-un. The only one he could have killed... ended up dying on his own.
As Jong Bi sighed, Won Seung nodded in sympathy.
"Still, you never know. Things are so tangled, some connection might surface somewhere. So just say I’m doing something to use the Three-way Duel as an excuse to get a shot at killing Hwa Cheon-gang."
"Huh? Tell him the truth?"
"No. Just be vague—say it seems like I’m up to something. If he presses for details, say you don’t know. Tell him I’m keeping it secret even from you. It’s only natural for an assassin to hide his plans, right?"
"Of course! An assassin’s strategy should be known only to himself."
That makes sense.
"The most important thing is the source of the money. If we can explain that, the safe house is covered."
"Don’t say I helped. That’s against the rules, and I’d get punished too."
"Hmm... I’ll handle that. Now go meet Elder Bi and find out why he’s here."
"Alright."
Jong Bi left, looking pale.
*
While Won Seung and Jong Bi were busy with their covert move, Ohgu was climbing the grand staircase of Flower Clear Pavilion.
As one of Xiangyang’s most renowned pleasure houses, it was decked out with every kind of lantern and ornament, creating a wonderland.
On this summer night, the garden was aglow with red, yellow, and blue lanterns, and the air was filled with the boisterous laughter of men and the chorus of women.
Built along a branch of the Xiang River, Flower Clear Pavilion was a massive establishment with many halls and annexes, named after its five-story main tower.
Everywhere else was noisy and bustling, but Flower Clear Pavilion and its surroundings were quiet. In fact, the contrast with the nearby revelry made it feel almost eerie.
Hama Cho, a step ahead, climbed the stairs, chattering nonstop.
"Teacher Woo, are you from another world? One day you just appeared in the middle of Xiangyang and set up the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. You can’t hide your roots forever, you know. Using art... That was clever. It’s the perfect way to launder money, isn’t it?"
Hama Cho was a talker. He hadn’t stopped the whole way, complaining about the meager taxes from the art street to worrying about Wu Yangzheng’s future.
Loose lips are easy to pull teeth from...
Ohgu thought as he listened in silence.
"If you ask me, Teacher Woo is definitely one of us. Someone who knows the world of rough men. Sure, you look gentle... but inside, you’re one of us. Right?"
"One of us? What do you mean by that?"
Ohgu asked, and Hama Cho spun around, leaning in close.
Hama Cho had a slightly round face and was chubby, but his eyes were sharp.
"I told you. Those who walk the underside of the world... What people call the Black Path."