Novel Test - Chapter 5.8

Episode 3

Journey ― Thinking I might read your fortune (2)

 

 

 

 

 

Cheonyo’s destination was not the Murim Alliance’s main base.

Shanxi Province (山西省).

Cheonyo had come here because of a letter Baek Bul-in, the Murim Alliance Leader, had given him when he visited.

Baek Bul-in had written in the letter the name of someone who would help Cheonyo and where that person was.

Basing himself on that, the place he came looking for was Pingyao (平遙) in Shanxi Province.

Here stood none other than the Murim Alliance’s Shanxi branch. Though much smaller than the main base, it was still a branch of the Murim Alliance. An enormous number of martial artists thronged the streets.

Sssshhh.

Pouring rain.

Cheonyo walked through it wearing a bamboo hat and a raincoat.

Then Cheonyo spotted a middle-aged man taking shelter under the eaves and approached him.

“Let me ask you for directions.”

The man cast a quick glance at the tightly bundled Cheonyo and answered.

“Where are you looking for?”

“Do you know where the Un Family Apothecary is?”

“There’s no one in this town who doesn’t know the Un Family Apothecary. Head that way and you’ll come to the main road. From there, go straight for about a quarter of an hour. You’ll see a large apothecary—that’s the Un Family Apothecary.”

The Un Family Apothecary sat at the gateway to the busy district. Thanks to its prime location, many people came and went, so it wasn’t hard for Cheonyo to find.

Inside the Un Family Apothecary, there were quite a few people despite the rainy day.

Cheonyo stepped inside, then looked around for someone.

‘He said the one in green.’

What he was looking for was the person in green specified in the letter Baek Bul-in had given him. And as he looked around, there was exactly one person in the Un Family Apothecary who fit that description.

A young boy, a bit apart from the customers, sorting medicinal herbs.

The child was wearing green.

Cheonyo approached the boy.

Sensing Cheonyo come up to him, the boy turned and spoke.

“Are you looking for something?”

“I’ve come to find a medicinal herb from the north that’s sweet and bitter but not spicy.”

This phrase too was written in the letter received from Baek Bul-in.

It was a passphrase.

If this child wasn’t the person Baek Bul-in had mentioned, he wouldn’t understand these words…….

The boy bobbed his head.

“Ah, it’s prepared just in time. Please come inside.”

With that, the boy walked toward a side door nearby. Cheonyo followed right after him.

Passing through the side door revealed a spacious compound.

This place held various buildings, such as warehouses where the Un Family Apothecary stored its herbs. The boy said nothing and simply walked toward somewhere.

Naturally, Cheonyo, too, wordlessly followed behind.

The place where the boy, leading Cheonyo along, stopped was in front of a building toward the back.

The boy spoke toward the inside.

“Sir, the guest you were waiting for has arrived.”

The moment those words fell.

Clatter.

A door swung open in haste, and out rushed a man who looked to be in his mid-forties.

He raked Cheonyo up and down with his eyes.

Cheonyo slowly removed the bamboo hat he had been wearing and met the man’s gaze.

The excitement in the man’s eyes gradually gave way to a tinge of disappointment.

It was because Cheonyo was plainly too young at a glance.

Shabby clothes—though he was strikingly handsome, that had nothing to do with a martial artist’s ability.

Cheonyo read that emotion in the other’s gaze.

“Disappointed I’m not the man you were hoping for?”

“Ahem.”

At Cheonyo’s words, the man hurriedly cleared his throat in embarrassment. Even if the other looked unimpressive, if he truly was the one he had been waiting for, he couldn’t be slighted.

The man gestured to the boy who had led Cheonyo here.

At the signal to withdraw, the boy bowed and took his leave.

Cheonyo spoke.

“May I come in?”

“O-of course.”

When the man nodded, Cheonyo climbed the steps and entered the building. With rain still dripping off his raincoat, he stepped into the room and sat in the chair right before him.

Sitting opposite him, the man asked,

“Are you really that person?”

“If you’re asking whether I’m the one sent by the old Alliance Leader, yes.”

Only after hearing that answer could the man be sure that Cheonyo was indeed the one sent by the Murim Alliance Leader.

Though it was hard to believe…….

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Unhak.”

“Cheonyo.”

Hearing the name, Unhak thought for a moment.

Whether he had ever heard such a name. Unfortunately, he had never once heard the name Cheonyo.

‘What in the world was the Alliance Leader thinking, sending someone like this…….’

He couldn’t make sense of it, but Unhak was the Murim Alliance Leader’s loyal confidant. He had a duty to carry out the orders handed down by the Alliance Leader.

Just then, Cheonyo asked,

“Judging by the fact you told me to come here, the Murim Alliance Leader’s granddaughter must be at the Murim Alliance’s Shanxi branch.”

At that one line, Unhak flinched.

Even though he hadn’t been told anything, Cheonyo had gone straight to the heart of it.

A secret the Murim Alliance was hiding tightly from All Under Heaven: that Baek Sang-ah, said to be sealing Hyeol Murin, had been secretly brought here to the Murim Alliance’s Shanxi branch.

Yet Cheonyo grasped that fact in an instant.

Unhak stared at Cheonyo with wide, astonished eyes.

‘Perhaps he isn’t an ordinary man after all?’

His surprise was brief; Unhak answered,

“That’s right.”

“So I’m to rescue the girl here, then?”

“Yes. The Murim Alliance’s higher-ups are currently planning to confine the Alliance Leader’s granddaughter in Manjangok (萬藏獄). If she’s imprisoned there, we won’t be able to save her. We have to settle this before that.”

Manjangok was a prison made by the Murim Alliance.

Called a living hell, Manjangok let in not a single ray of sunlight and was suffused with tremendous yin energy; stay long enough and you would suffer every manner of illness, your whole body rotting away.

It was the worst prison, said to be a place from which once you entered, you would never see the world again.

The Murim Alliance was trying to lock Baek Sang-ah, the Alliance Leader’s granddaughter, who had done no wrong, in a place that horrific.

It was proof of how much they feared the return of Hyeol Murin.

Baek Sang-ah, the child targeted by the demonic cult. For that reason, the orthodox sects were trying to confine her in Manjangok so the demonic cult couldn’t seize her.

Unhak asked.

“How do you plan to rescue your granddaughter? What can I do to help?”

Cheonyo, who had been lost in thought for a moment, spoke.

“What you need to do is clear.”

“And what is that?”

“Give me a map of the Murim Alliance’s Shanxi branch.”

“And?”

“That’s all.”

“That’s all, you say?”

“Yes.”

Watching Cheonyo speak so nonchalantly, Unhak looked around and said,

“Did you at least bring companions?”

“I’m alone.”

“Then…… you’re going to rescue the child by yourself?”

“Of course.”

“Are you crazy? The place where the Murim Alliance Leader’s granddaughter is being held is the Murim Alliance’s Shanxi branch. Even if it’s not the Murim Alliance’s main base, that place is…….”

“Even if the child were locked up at the Murim Alliance’s main base, nothing would change for me. It would merely take a bit longer.”

“No matter how stealthily you infiltrate, there’s no way to retrieve the granddaughter without a clash.”

“I know.”

“They aren’t third-rate fighters. Even if, because she was brought in secret, the watch isn’t airtight, in the worst case more than a hundred elite warriors of the Murim Alliance will block the way. You’d have to break through them.”

“That is not difficult for me.”

To Unhak’s anxious warning came Cheonyo’s answer, brimming with confidence.

How was he supposed to take that?

Arrogance? Confidence?

But no matter how he looked at it, going alone was unreasonable.

Unhak shook his head and shouted.

“It’s impossible!”

As he raised his voice, saying it was impossible, Cheonyo gazed at him quietly.

“What did the old Alliance Leader tell you?”

“……To trust you completely.”

“Exactly. So here’s what you need to do. First, get the map. Second, trust me.”

“Nngh.”

Clutching his forehead, Unhak thought,

Not ordinary stubbornness.

However, even knowing that, Unhak couldn’t back down. This was a single chance. If they failed to save her here and now, under ever-tightening surveillance, Baek Sang-ah would be confined in Manjangok.

Unhak sprang to his feet.

“Please wait a moment.”

With that, he strode to the entrance and flung the door wide. Then, imbuing his voice with internal energy, he shouted.

“Assemble!”

It was only moments after that cry rang out.

Whoosh!

Fifteen warriors appeared from all directions and assembled before Unhak’s quarters. Cheonyo, still seated in his chair, quietly watched them.

Unhak said,

“These are my trusted subordinates. It’d be better to have help than go alone. Let’s go together.”

The warriors stood outside, getting rained on.

Every one of them looked fairly skilled…….

‘Not enough.’

Having numbers on your side isn’t a rule that always holds. All the more in this mission, middling warriors would only be a burden.

The opponent was the Murim Alliance.

With them, he’d only be dragged down.

Heh.

Cheonyo let out a derisive chuckle.

“Looks like you don’t trust me.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you; I want to make it more certain.”

At that moment, Cheonyo’s gaze left Unhak and turned to the table right in front. One side of it was piled high with talismans.

“Quite a lot of talismans. Do you believe in shamans?”

“Why bring that up so suddenly…….”

“I thought I’d do a reading in a shaman’s stead.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Cheonyo suddenly slammed his palm down on the table.

Thwack!

In that instant, something astonishing happened.

Flutter!

Dozens of talismans stacked on one side of the table rose into the air.

The talismans floated in midair, separated one by one.

At that moment, Cheonyo swept his hand.

Then.

Fweeeee!

The talismans fanned out and flew in all directions as if they had become daggers.

Papapap!

“Urgh!”

Cries burst out around them.

Amazingly, the talismans Cheonyo had flung flew to Unhak’s subordinates and, without a hair’s breadth of error, avoided their vital points and lodged precisely in their shoulders.

Fifteen warriors clutched their bleeding shoulders.

They were warriors of a decent first-rate caliber. So stunned by the martial prowess with which Cheonyo subdued all fifteen in a single move, Unhak could only stare blankly outside.

Then Cheonyo rose from his seat. He stood beside the frozen-stiff Unhak.

“I read the omen, and sadly, they aren’t fated to accompany us today. Please have the map ready by this evening.”

Tap, tap.

With those words, Cheonyo lightly tapped Unhak on the shoulder.

And then, when Cheonyo made a sudden snatching motion with his hand backward…….

Fwip!

All the talismans embedded in the warriors’ shoulders were yanked out and snapped backward.

After that, Cheonyo stepped down and walked out into the rain.

Step, step.

With his steps, droplets mixed of the warriors’ blood and rainwater splashed outward.

Cheonyo walked over it as if it were nothing. He opened the door of the storehouse right beside them and soon disappeared inside.

Right after Cheonyo vanished like that.

Unhak, looking at his injured subordinates, slowly opened his mouth.

“……All of you, go back and tend to your wounds.”

“Then the mission…….”

When one of the subordinates asked cautiously, Unhak looked at the building Cheonyo had vanished into and replied,

“He’s going alone.”