I Decided to Give the Contract to the Male Vassal - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 5

Chapter 2. The Connection at Bukhangnyo

Bukhangnyo is a famous bustling district in Cheonsan.

Every street corner was filled with merchants selling various goods and people who had come out for dinner.

I blended in among them and headed toward Sohongru.

The building was old but spacious inside, a place where you could drink while listening to the sound of courtesans playing the pipa.

As I entered, I could see people sharing drinks.

“Guest. Do you have a party?”

A clerk quickly appeared before me.

“Yes.”

To avoid drawing attention from others, I gathered my index and middle fingers and tapped the back of my other hand twice. The clerk’s eyes flashed, and he guided me to a separate space on the second floor.

The clerk pushed me inside with a meaningful expression.

“Then have a good time.”

The moment the door closed, suffocating silence pressed down on me.

It was a place steeped in the smell of alcohol, like aged medicinal herbs.

A man sat at the table in the center.

He didn’t even turn his head toward me.

Rather, that silence felt like even greater pressure.

The man appeared to be in his mid-to-late twenties.

His seated height was tall enough for our eyes to meet, and though he wore black clothes, his face was clearly visible.

His refined jawline and prominent nose reminded me of northern peoples, while his dark eyes felt like mirrors reflecting everything about me.

His face alone gave an intellectual impression, but his roughly tied hair and sturdy build gave the impression of a warrior.

I was surprised to see him.

He had changed so much from the appearance I had known.

‘Well, I’ve changed even more drastically.’

I chuckled inwardly as I stood before him.

Everything had changed, but there were things that remained unchanged.

“Chung-rin.”

When I called him that, he set down his wine cup.

Slowly. Very quietly.

“Chung-rin.”

He indeed knew who this body was.

“Direct lineage of Seolsan Jeokga. 22 years old. Martial arts cripple. A prospective bride hidden away by the Yeomhwa Family, not even showing her face.”

Instead of answering his words, I nodded.

“You haven’t had freedom of movement for the past 10 years, so how do you know that code and name?”

His gaze was filled with hostility. If I answered wrong, he would try to kill me.

“I came to deliver a promise that Chung-rin left behind.”

Chung-rin’s gaze wavered. A brief silence passed as if he was catching his breath.

“…Chung-rin.”

He repeated that name as if reciting it. His eyes shook as if they might crumble, then sharpened fiercely again.

“I didn’t expect to hear that name again.”

He twisted his lips and smiled shallowly.

“What is your relationship with Chung-rin?”

His pitch-black eyes sought to discern my identity.

“…I am the same as you, Chung-rin.”

At that moment, he drew in a breath.

“I learned the code from her and received advice to faithfully play the role of a powerless prospective bride.”

At those words, his gaze wavered.

It was exactly the same look as that fifteen-year-old boy I had met 13 years ago.

“Mageyo is my enemy. I will infiltrate their ranks and obtain information to bring them down. Please trust me.”

Along with that declaration filled with cold resolve, that boy had directly consumed the poison.

Even knowing he would suffer if he didn’t receive an antidote once every three months, he showed no hesitation at all.

I realized that he truly hated the Mageyo followers.

Thanks to that, he received the name Chung-rin from Sangteon-dang and headed to Cheonsan.

In reality, this was tantamount to going to die.

I hoped that boy wouldn’t die in vain.

So, I taught him the code I had created.

“This code is a signal between you and me alone. Someday I’ll come with a perfect antidote.”

I didn’t like Sangteon-dang’s rule of making spies drink poison. I wanted to set him free someday.

My life as Chung-rin had ended, but that promise still lived within me.

And Chung-rin, who had grown up so much, was before my eyes.

“Did Chung-rin send you?”

“Yes.”

This was a lie, but it was also the truth.

“Chung-rin… disappeared long ago. Chung-rin. How did you meet her?”

“Before coming to the Yeomhwa Family, I met her in Seolsan.”

Seolsan Jeokga was a mysterious family that rarely showed itself in the martial world.

It wouldn’t be strange if Chung-rin, who had lost her martial arts and wandered the martial world, had met Hee-rin there.

Then, Chung-rin rose to his feet.

The next moment he took a step.

‘Cloud Shadow Step!’

It was a movement technique learned by Sangteon-dang spies. He approached me swiftly.

The short sword in his hand was filled with killing intent.

An assassination technique that subdues opponents with minimal internal energy.

Chung-rin was executing Sangteon-dang’s techniques precisely.

Normally, the tip of the short sword would have pierced through my neck, but…

Before I knew it, my body had stepped back from him.

Avoiding that technique was as natural to me as breathing.

Unexpectedly seeing me move agilely, Chung-rin raised his eyebrows.

“So it’s true that you learned from Chung-rin.”

True to his Sangteon-dang origins, he had been testing me with suspicion.

I felt newly proud that he hadn’t forgotten the teachings even after 13 years had passed.

However, I couldn’t be satisfied with just passing his test.

So I lightly kicked off the floor.

Using Sangcheonseong, a movement technique that could be used with almost no internal energy, I flew toward him.

Chung-rin also reflexively gripped his short sword.

A swift trajectory cut through the air, rushing toward my neck.

I reflexively twisted my body to escape his attack trajectory.

His movements were meticulous and sharp, befitting a Sangteon-dang spy.

However, I could predict all of his attacks.

The next moment I deployed my movement technique, and my fingertips precisely touched his arm.

As soon as Chung-rin’s short sword went astray, I struck his wrist.

I caught his deflected short sword and returned it.

The tip of the short sword stopped in front of his chest.

Since it contained no killing intent, it wasn’t a threatening action.

But with just the possibility that ‘I could stab,’ the scales of victory tilted toward me.

It was the first time in a long while that I held the initiative.

His chest swelled. He had unconsciously drawn in a breath.

“How…”

His sword tip trembled as if he couldn’t believe it.

Chung-rin had a small habit.

This was a weakness I had discovered from teaching him directly myself.

I had simply exploited that opening.

Though I couldn’t pierce through him with this dagger, my purpose was persuasion, not subjugation anyway.

“I just tried doing it Chung-rin’s way.”

“…Yes, Chung-rin was like that too.”

He muttered with a complicated expression.

If he hadn’t used Sangteon-dang’s martial arts, it would have been difficult to achieve such a result.

I approached his side while holding the dagger.

Then I picked up the purple clay teapot on the table and filled an empty teacup.

“Do I seem qualified enough now to receive your information?”

“…About halfway? Not completely yet.”

As expected, Chung-rin was very suspicious.

“Then I’ll have to earn the remaining half as well.”

I sat across from him, briefly set down the dagger, and dipped tea water to write in code on the table.

[Chung-rin is from Cheonsan and met Chung-rin at age 13.]

[He underwent 4 months of special training, then was dispatched to Mageyo.]

Chung-rin let out a chuckle upon seeing that code.

“Fine. I’ll accept your deal. But what can you give me? Payment for all information must be upfront.”

Chung-rin’s eyes were sharp. By deliberately mentioning the rules of information trading I had taught him in his Chung-rin days, it seemed his test of me wasn’t over yet.

“Chung-rin asked me to. To keep the promise he made with you.”

During my days wandering the martial world as a cripple with ruined martial arts, I had steadily researched antidote formulations.

“I know an antidote formula that can completely eliminate the poison in your body. If you provide me with the information I want, I’ll share the ingredients and formula one by one.”

If he took that medicine over the course of a year, he would be completely free from the poison.

“I wonder. I’m not sure what meaning such an antidote would have for someone like me who voluntarily entered Sangteon-dang.”

Chung-rin glared at me as if he had no interest in the antidote whatsoever.

“Besides, I have a duty to report that you seem suspicious.”

He meant he would inform Sangteon-dang about me.

Additionally, it was a threat implying he would kill me if he judged me dangerous.

It was an exemplary answer he could give as a member of Sangteon-dang, but unfortunately, his opponent was me.

“No, you can’t report me. And you’ll come to want that antidote too.”

With those words, I picked up the dagger that had been lying on the table.

Seeing Chung-rin startle and try to back away from me, I swung the dagger across the table.

The writing made with tea water disappeared, leaving only the characters carved by the dagger on the table.

The moment he confirmed what it said, Chung-rin froze.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as if his breath had caught.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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