Chapter 63: It Will Be Fine
The blade danced dazzlingly before Hwa Yeon-seol’s eyes. She had never seen such swift and brilliant cuts before. Especially not from a cook.
At dawn, Seo Yu-gyeom was preparing the meal. Even if the Heavenly Poison Alliance might storm in at any moment, it was Seo Yu-gyeom’s philosophy that food must still be eaten.
Within flames that soared as if to touch the ceiling, the round cauldron swayed back and forth. Inside, meats, vegetables, and spices rolled together like waves.
Hwa Yeon-seol, lost in thought as she stared, turned her head at the sense of someone behind her.
It was Jin Seong-un. He swept and wiped the floor, lowered the chairs he had placed neatly on the table the night before, and wiped both chairs and table with a rag.
‘Is this really alright?’
The cook was cooking, and the inn’s waiter was cleaning.
It was unmistakably the scene of an inn preparing for morning business. The problem was that, just last night, dozens of Jingzhou Black Path men had been slaughtered in this very courtyard.
The same Jin Seong-un, who had cut down those feared men of Deyang with a single sword strike, was now struggling to scrub away a stubborn stain from the table.
Hwa Yeon-seol felt as if she had stepped into another world, cut off from reality.
While she lingered in a daze, Seo Yu-gyeom finished cooking and began placing dishes on the table.
The food was not lavish, yet the glossy stir-fries, their colors and scents, stirred her appetite.
“Let’s eat.”
As Seo Yu-gyeom said this and took his seat, Jin Seong-un, who had been waging a battle against stains, naturally sat across from him.
Hwa Yeon-seol stayed rooted, neither approaching nor retreating. Approaching felt awkward because of Seo Yu-gyeom, yet leaving felt impossible with her hunger.
Jin Seong-un glanced at her and said,
“You must eat if you want to fight.”
It was an invitation to join them.
After a brief hesitation, Hwa Yeon-seol sat down. As she did, she muttered awkwardly,
“I won’t be of any help……”
What she was good at was trade, not swordplay.
If the Heavenly Poison Alliance or the Black Path swarmed in now, she would be useless.
That thought left her bitter. Born and raised as the daughter of a great trading company, the skills she had mastered all her life turned out to be worthless in such crucial moments.
Seeing the shadow cross her face, Jin Seong-un spoke casually,
“Everyone has their own battle. It may look different, but in truth, it’s not so different at all.”
This was something Jin Seong-un himself had only recently realized.
When he lived as an inn waiter all his life, he hadn’t known. But after running the inn and crossing swords with Murim warriors, he had realized that everyone fought in their own way to survive.
The inn waiter fought the rush of incoming guests, the cook fought a blazing fire hotter than any demonic master’s Qi.
Even No Sang-won, who seemed carefree, sometimes sat alone in his Cloth Shop under the moonlight, groaning in deep agony.
“When our fight ends, it will be Lady Hwa Yeon-seol’s turn to fight.”
With that, Jin Seong-un returned to his meal. Tasting Seo Yu-gyeom’s cooking again made him want to finish things quickly and return home.
The meal ended quietly and peacefully.
Jin Seong-un finished cleaning the inn, Seo Yu-gyeom did the dishes, and Hwa Yeon-seol, with nothing else to do, helped Jin Seong-un.
When the three sat down again, Jin Seong-un suddenly said,
“Since preparations are complete, let us now invite the guests.”
Hwa Yeon-seol looked puzzled, but Seo Yu-gyeom seemed to understand instantly and nodded.
“If the inn gets destroyed, the Hwa-un Trading Company will repair it. That much, at least, they should do, right?”
Seo Yu-gyeom turned his eyes to Hwa Yeon-seol.
Her large eyes darted back and forth.
Then realization struck, and she exclaimed in shock,
“You mean to call them here?”
Jin Seong-un nodded calmly. He had already discussed it with Seo Yu-gyeom the night before.
“We left the corpses of the Jingzhou Black Path on purpose. Anyone who saw them this morning would be terrified. They won’t dare come near for some time.”
People had eyes and ears.
With the Four Dragons River Gang and Dark Sun Sect recently gone, they knew something ominous was stirring.
And just last night, dozens of Black Path martial artists had fallen in front of the Deyang Inn.
Everyone would know that something extraordinary was bound to happen here.
“Fighting here will minimize the damage.”
It was a decision based on something Hwa Yeon-seol herself had said the night before. The Heavenly Poison Alliance was notorious for committing any vile act to secure victory.
If they seized townsfolk or used schemes, the situation would truly become dire.
Hwa Yeon-seol stared at Jin Seong-un.
So then, was he not even considering the possibility of losing?
Confidence was good, but it was still worrying. No matter how skilled, Jin Seong-un seemed barely past twenty, while their enemies were those who had subdued the Black Path of an entire province.
“What should we write?”
Seo Yu-gyeom fetched brush and ink. Jin Seong-un frowned at the blank sheet.
Hwa Yeon-seol thought it ridiculous, but knowing it wasn’t her place to speak, she stayed silent.
After some thought, Jin Seong-un took the brush and began writing.
When Hwa Yeon-seol saw the words, she couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
Eat before you go.
Above the short line was Sa Ryeong-geuk’s name. Below it was Jin Seong-un’s.
As Hwa Yeon-seol blinked in disbelief, Jin Seong-un wore a satisfied expression.
The Hwa-un Trading Company’s Gold Hall.
The grand hall, used as both the Trading Company Master’s residence and office, was filled with fierce Black Path martial artists.
Sa Ryeong-geuk sat at the head seat as though he were already the true master of the Hwa-un Trading Company, watching the faces of the Black Path warriors with amusement.
“Tell me, Chief, doesn’t it make your heart swell to see the brothers of Deyang gathered here?”
Chief Ho Yeon-baek looked at the Jingzhou Black Path men. At the same time, they stared back at him.
Ho Yeon-baek shrank involuntarily. Their gazes felt as if they were mocking him for being pathetic.
Forcing a laugh, Ho Yeon-baek said,
“……Ha ha, indeed it does.”
The atmosphere in the hall was strange.
The Black Path of Deyang bowed their heads before Sa Ryeong-geuk, but their eyes were uneasy.
They all knew that the Heavenly Poison Alliance would soon descend upon Deyang. As men born and raised here, it was natural for them to worry.
Sa Ryeong-geuk knew their concerns too but did not bother mentioning them.
At that moment, a servant of the Hwa-un Trading Company came seeking the Chief.
With permission granted, the servant entered, flinched at the sight of the Black Path warriors, and approached Ho Yeon-baek to whisper quietly.
Ho Yeon-baek’s eyes darted.
Soon the servant handed him a letter. Looking grim, Ho Yeon-baek delivered it to Sa Ryeong-geuk.
“A letter has arrived in the name of the Vice Alliance Leader……”
Sa Ryeong-geuk opened it and read.
Eat before you go.
If one’s eyes could cut like blades, the letter would already have been shredded to pieces.
Sa Ryeong-geuk stared at the letter, then exhaled a long breath before sneering.
“It seems those slippery little fish are preparing something.”
The Deyang Inn was the inn where Hwa Yeon-seol had fled.
Ho Yeon-baek knew this, and so did Sa Ryeong-geuk.
Sa Ryeong-geuk said,
“Tonight, we go to the inn.”
At that, Ho Yeon-baek voiced his concern.
“……Will that truly be alright?”
Sa Ryeong-geuk glanced at him.
It was but a light movement, yet the flash of killing intent in his eyes made Ho Yeon-baek bow his head in haste.
Sa Ryeong-geuk said,
“What could possibly not be alright?”
As he looked around, he saw the insolent gazes of the other Black Path men, including the one-armed Master of Twilight Pavilion and the Valley Leader of Azure Wild Valley.
Particularly, the Master of Twilight Pavilion’s eyes brimmed with irreverence, prompting Sa Ryeong-geuk to ask in a dry tone,
“Do you have something to say?”
“Yes.”
Sa Ryeong-geuk chuckled.
They said the only one here in this backwater of Deyang who had the spine of a true Black Path man was the Master of Twilight Pavilion.
“Speak.”
“I have heard that by tomorrow, the Heavenly Poison Alliance’s martial artists will arrive.”
“And so?”
“The men in the Deyang Inn are monsters. They cut down dozens of martial artists with a single strike.”
“And so?”
“Is there truly a reason we must go tonight?”
Nodding, Sa Ryeong-geuk slowly rose to his feet. The Master of Twilight Pavilion, whose eyes had been sharp with force, flinched ever so slightly.
Sa Ryeong-geuk strode through the martial artists toward the Master of Twilight Pavilion.
As tension gripped everyone, Yang Gwang, the second-in-command of Twilight Pavilion, tried to block his path.
The Master of Twilight Pavilion seized Yang Gwang’s arm and began slapping him across the face.
By the time Yang Gwang’s cheeks turned red and swollen, the Master of Twilight Pavilion barked furiously,
“You damn fool, can you not even recognize your place…….”
Everyone cast reproachful looks at him. To humiliate a subordinate who stepped up for him—how disgraceful.
Yet Yang Gwang felt only gratitude toward his master. He had flared up and nearly stood against Sa Ryeong-geuk, but at that very moment, Sa Ryeong-geuk’s killing intent had grazed the back of his neck.
Had the Master of Twilight Pavilion not intervened, he would already be dead.
The Master of Twilight Pavilion, having saved Yang Gwang, bowed his head to Sa Ryeong-geuk.
“My apologies. I failed to properly control my subordinate.”
Sa Ryeong-geuk gazed into the Master of Twilight Pavilion’s eyes for a moment. The impurity lurking within them was plain to see, yet he did not point it out.
More precisely, he had no reason to.
‘He’ll be dead soon enough.’
The reason Sa Ryeong-geuk insisted on heading to the inn even before the Heavenly Poison Alliance arrived.
He intended to drag all these men there and let them die. Afterward, he would finish off the weary monsters himself.
Then, once the Heavenly Poison Alliance’s subordinates arrived, both the Hwa-un Trading Company and Deyang would naturally fall into their hands.
A clean and flawless scheme.
Sa Ryeong-geuk locked eyes with the Master of Twilight Pavilion for a while before saying,
“We go to the inn. Tonight.”
“……”
The Master of Twilight Pavilion stared into Sa Ryeong-geuk’s eyes.
He could feel, beyond all doubt, that further resistance meant death.
After a tense silence, the Master of Twilight Pavilion bowed his head.
“……Understood.”
His bowed face was cold and grim.
At dusk, when twilight clung to the eaves.
Through the open inn doors, the glow of sunset stretched long.
Hwa Yeon-seol sat at one side, staring outside, lost in thought.
From earlier on, not a single person had passed in front of the inn. Just as Jin Seong-un and Seo Yu-gyeom had said, it seemed the people of Deyang had already sensed the ominous signs.
Jin Seong-un had told her to hide for a while, but she had refused.
If Jin Seong-un and Seo Yu-gyeom were to fall, then her life was forfeit as well. No matter where she fled, that fact would not change.
‘Even if I could live in hiding for the rest of my life, it would be meaningless if the Trading Company were stolen from me.’
Just as martial artists who lost their martial arts often abandoned life itself, to her—raised in the Trading Company—it was her entire existence.
As the scene outside shifted from red to deep indigo, a long shadow suddenly stretched across the entrance. The figure was hidden, but it was clear someone stood silently at the door.
Hwa Yeon-seol leapt to her feet, unconsciously holding her breath. Her body began to tremble.
She had already experienced the presence of Sa Ryeong-geuk back at the Trading Company.
Simply being in the same space had terrified her. Now that he came bearing murderous intent, the fear was altogether different in kind.
Then, at that moment—
Someone gently placed a hand on her shoulder. At once, the trembling ceased.
“It will be fine.”
Infusing her with the compassionate inner Qi of the Women’s Moon Heart Method to calm her, Jin Seong-un stepped forward toward the entrance to greet the guest.