Chapter 135: A Troublesome Matter
The current Chief Escort Captain of the Waterway Camp was Won Hu-hyeok.
He spoke with the most earnest and sincere look he had ever had in his life.
‘Big brother, we really weren’t the ones.’
Jin Seong-un, who had been calmly studying that gaze, soon nodded.
Indeed, from the conversations Jang Gwang and Won Hu-hyeok often exchanged, it seemed that the Waterway Camp did not habitually kill people.
Jin Seong-un asked the man who had introduced himself as the chief steward of the Red Cliff Escort Agency.
“Is it certain that your Agency Master really met such a fate at the Waterway Camp?”
Even as he spoke his tongue felt rough.
Only a few days earlier they had been joking and laughing out front of this inn.
The steward narrowed his eyes at Jin Seong-un’s question and answered.
“Yes. According to our Agency’s investigation, that is so. Moreover, the Murim Alliance has already begun to move.”
“I see.”
Jin Seong-un found it hard to shake the unpleasant feeling.
He had previously met the steward of the Red Cliff Escort Agency who had come with Bang Man-bok. Of course, this visiting man was not the same one he had met then.
Well, for a huge trading company like the Red Cliff Escort Agency it would not be unheard of to have two or so stewards.
‘Not common, but not impossible.’
Jin Seong-un watched the steward’s manner closely.
After all, the man conveyed the death of a figure who had led the Agency for decades with not the slightest trace of grief.
If anything, his attitude hinted that it was of little consequence.
Sensing that look, the steward smacked his lips and spoke.
“Because of it our Agency’s atmosphere has been unsettled. The only heir, the Young Master, also met the same fate……”
“I heard there was an eldest son.”
“Ah, the Eldest Young Master.”
The steward made an awkward expression.
When Jin Seong-un looked him squarely in the face, the steward felt an odd pressure.
He had, after all, heard rumors about the Guest Dragon.
He quickly added, as if excusing himself.
“It is difficult for me to explain the full details to an outsider, but the Eldest Young Master is not someone who would run the Agency. At the start, no one even knew where he was.”
“What? Even though his father and younger brother died, he didn’t come to the Agency?”
“That’s not what I meant. One must know where that person is before one can inform him of anything.”
“Hmm.”
Jin Seong-un reluctantly nodded. From what Bang Man-bok had mentioned, the eldest son was a pleasure-seeking gentleman who wandered the world like the wind.
‘Still, even so—’
For an outfit the size of the Red Cliff Escort Agency, surely finding the eldest son would be the first priority, even using all of their information network.
While thinking this, the steward pursed his lips for a moment and then spoke cautiously.
“As for the Bamboo-Shadow Mushroom—our previous Agency Master had promised to send it periodically to the Seong-un Inn.”
“…….”
“Ahem. That’s not my decision, of course, but it will probably be difficult to provide it for the time being. The Agency Master had decided that unilaterally, and there was a lot of internal opposition. Even if they decide to provide it again, I suppose it will only be possible after the internal situation is somewhat settled.”
Jin Seong-un nodded.
Because it had been a favor Bang Man-bok had promised personally, it would be awkward to force the survivors to keep that promise.
More pressing than the Bamboo-Shadow Mushroom was the fact of Bang Man-bok’s death itself.
“How did the funeral go?”
“We could not recover the body.”
“Why not?”
“Why, you ask?”
Jin Seong-un stared at the steward for a moment and then said.
“Didn’t you say the Waterway Camp dealt with them? As far as I know, the Waterway Camp did not send bodies floating away on the river. They would bury bodies at each water stronghold.”
There were eighteen water strongholds along the Yangtze.
If a body departed from an upstream stronghold it would drift toward downstream strongholds. For that reason, the river men had been said not to send bodies into the current unless there was no choice.
The steward let out an affected cough.
“Ah, is that so? That’s valuable information. Based on that we can investigate the strongholds more thoroughly.”
“You couldn’t find the body—how could you be certain they were dealt with by the river men?”
“I feel a bit strange hearing this. It shouldn’t be, but surely the Guest Dragon, the Great Hero, does not hold some odd suspicion—?”
“Not that they were river men, but that someone else might have done it. That sort of thought, you know?”
The steward shut his mouth and glared at Jin Seong-un.
Whether he did or not, Jin Seong-un continued.
“The Agency Master had said in life that there might be a spy inside the Agency and that they were investigating. I think the timing is suspicious.”
“Yes. We, too, conducted investigations with that possibility in mind. As I said several times, please understand it is difficult for me to explain the details to an outsider like Guest Dragon, the Great Hero.”
The steward bowed his head. His tone was polite, but his attitude looked full of displeasure.
Then he turned as if he had achieved the purpose of his visit. As he left the Seong-un Inn, his back felt prickly, but Jin Seong-un did not bother to call him back.
‘What a madman, why did he care so much about other people’s business?’
This was why mingling with murim people was hard. A man who merely ran an inn dared to interrogate the Agency as if he were pursuing them.
He probably trusted his own martial power.
The steward clicked his tongue inwardly even as he hastened his steps.
.
.
.
After the steward departed, the inn’s people who had heard the news could not hide their shock.
Soon Jang Gwang, Seomun Ak, and Seo Yu-gyeom surrounded Won Hu-hyeok. Seo Yu-gyeom casually drew the Heaven-Slaying Dagger and asked.
“Are you really not the ones?”
“Ah, I said we weren’t.”
“How would you know? How many men does the Waterway Camp have? Maybe some madman with wild eyes ambushed the escort ships without you knowing.”
Won Hu-hyeok sprang up and exclaimed.
“If such a thing had happened I would have known before those Agency men! How many men stay at a single stronghold? Could such a thing have been done in secret?”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
Seo Yu-gyeom nodded and took a step back. He had worked hard to develop a Bamboo-Shadow Mushroom dish, and it was bitter that they could no longer make it. He felt uneasy because he had grown somewhat fond of Bang Man-bok.
Jang Gwang stared at Won Hu-hyeok for a moment and then asked.
“You’re really not involved?”
“……Brother.”
No more words were necessary. The two of them had been together for roughly twenty years.
Jang Gwang gave a deep sigh and then said to Jin Seong-un.
“Innkeeper, if you permit it, I will go with this fellow to the Waterway Camp and confirm it personally. Of course, I believe what he says. The previous Chief Escort Captain was an unusually madman; the Waterway Camp did not typically kill people.”
Especially for those who had traded with the Red Cliff Escort Agency for decades, that was even more so.
With Jin Seong-un’s consent, Jang Gwang and Won Hu-hyeok soon headed for the Waterway Camp.
A peculiar heaviness hung over the inn.
Seomun Ak sighed deeply and said.
“It was a bit… that way. He was a good person.”
“How good could he have been for you to call him a good person?”
“Well, you fool. You liked the man too. Whenever he brought the Bamboo-Shadow Mushroom he’d be all smiles.”
“That was then.”
When Seo Yu-gyeom spoke somewhat coldly, Seomun Ak glared.
Regardless, Seo Yu-gyeom continued in a firm tone.
“Then shall we tell the customers outside that we’re closing for the day because we’re a bit sad and ask them to go home?”
Only then did Seomun Ak look outside.
Although it was still before business hours, a long line had already formed.
Seomun Ak sighed, shot Seo Yu-gyeom a look, and quietly adjusted the menu.
Shaking his head, Seo Yu-gyeom entered the kitchen and muttered to himself as if to no one.
“The jianghu has always been like that. People die today and people die tomorrow. We’re no longer murim people, but we still carry death on our shoulders. If we mourn every single one, how would we live?”
Watching his back, Jin Seong-un suspected Seo Yu-gyeom was putting on a show. After all, hadn’t Seo Yu-gyeom been the one who had glared at and pressed Won Hu-hyeok earlier?
Neither Jin Seong-un nor Seo Yu-gyeom called themselves murim people. Yet their actions had been more radical than many murim.
They had fought more and fought harder than most later-generation prodigies. They had always woven ties across the jianghu.
Those murim who had become close still roamed the jianghu. Tang So-yeon had done so, Baek Sang and Baek Seol had done so.
Seo Yu-gyeom had been right. Jin Seong-un, Seo Yu-gyeom, and Seomun Ak all carried death on their shoulders.
They worked at an inn, but they had countless enemies and friends scattered through the jianghu.
Jin Seong-un stood for a moment, lost in thought. It was the question Seo Yu-gyeom had thrown at him.
‘Does that mean we should accept it as inevitable?’
After a brief pause, Jin Seong-un headed to his quarters. When he returned, an iron sword hung at his waist.
Seo Yu-gyeom, as if already knowing Jin Seong-un’s answer, was sharpening the Heaven-Slaying Dagger to a keen edge.
Having finished preparing for business alone, Seomun Ak looked at the two with a bewildered expression.
Seo Yu-gyeom spoke.
“Aren’t you coming? You heartless son of a—”
“…….”
Seomun Ak said in astonishment.
“That guy is impossible to read. Weren’t we supposed to be working today?”
“Let’s at least do what’s right.”
“……Is he insane?”
In any case, moving immediately suited Seomun Ak’s temper more than doing business in this mood.
Seomun Ak nodded and finished his preparations. As a fist specialist, he had little else to gather, so it was convenient.
Gamri Stronghold.
A water stronghold located somewhere between Yichang and Jingzhou, before reaching Hongho.
Jang Gwang and Won Hu-hyeok headed straight for Gamri Stronghold.
The reason was simple.
There were five strongholds along the Yangtze in Hubei Province.
Of those, four had been overseen by the previous Chief Escort Captain, and Hongho Stronghold—where Jang Gwang had originally served as stronghold head—was personally governed by Won Hu-hyeok.
In other words, if something had happened, the only remaining candidate was Gamri Stronghold.
Understandably, Han Mu-geon, the Gamri Stronghold head, protested vehemently to the two men’s accusations.
“No, brother. Chief Escort Captain. Are we mad enough to attack the Red Cliff Escort Agency? Especially a convoy led by the Agency Master himself.”
It was true that Bang Man-bok and his son had passed through here with the convoy they personally led.
However, Han Mu-geon swore by heaven and earth that Gamri Stronghold had not touched them and had let them pass.
Jang Gwang nodded, as he had expected, and said.
“Then why would the Red Cliff Escort Agency make such a claim?”
“How should I know? It’s maddening. Those Agency men didn’t even come here. They didn’t investigate, so I don’t know why they’re saying such things. I don’t.”
Jang Gwang’s eyes narrowed.
He strongly suspected that something had gone wrong within the Red Cliff Escort Agency, and they were trying to pin it on the Waterway Camp.
Surprisingly, that tactic would likely succeed to some extent. The Murim Alliance would believe the Red Cliff Escort Agency—which mainly dealt with orthodox factions—over the river men.
“What a troublesome affair to be caught up in.”
“This is all my fault for being inadequate.”
Won Hu-hyeok spoke as if blaming himself.
If the previous Chief Escort Captain had been alive, would the Red Cliff Escort Agency have dared to do such a thing?
The former Chief Escort Captain had been powerful in martial arts and perpetually mad; when his eyes rolled, he would grab an axe and march straight to the Agency.
Won Hu-hyeok was not that strong. Moreover, he had chosen to follow the temperaments of Jang Gwang and Jin Seong-un, so he could not behave brutally or cruelly.
In short, the contemporary Yangtze Waterway Camp had become an object of open contempt across the Central Plains.
As Won Hu-hyeok let out a long sigh,
several boats were drifting toward them from afar. All aboard were murim people.
It was not hard to guess their identity; flags bearing the character for “Alliance” fluttered high.
Soon the murim folk disembarked en masse with drawn swords.
The startled river men of Gamri Stronghold raised axes and broad daggers, looking tense.
From the group of Murim Alliance members, a man stepped forward with a relaxed gait.
He might have been just past thirty.
He was young. Yet everyone instinctively felt he was stronger than anyone present. His presence alone dominated the place.
He stared at the river men with eyes full of disgust and contempt, as if he were lifting a rock by the riverbank to look at insects.
Meanwhile, the contemporary Chief Escort Captain, Won Hu-hyeok, stepped forward and said.
“Ahem, let me say this in advance. Our Yangtze Waterway Camp does not agree with the Red Cliff Escort Agency’s claim. If an investigation is needed, we are willing to cooperate actively—”
“Kill them all.”
Suddenly, the man’s order fell.
At the same moment, the Murim Alliance members’ murderous auras tightened around the river men’s entire bodies.