Juhyangwol returned home.
As expected, her mother had been waiting only for her return.
“What happened?”
Before answering, Juhyangwol asked her mother.
“Did you know that Hwangin was bringing the agreement today?”
“I didn’t know.”
Had she truly not known? Suspicion arose immediately. That was the reality of the relationship between her mother and herself.
“So? Did you sign the agreement?”
And just from this reaction, Juhyangwol could tell how much her mother was rushing.
Normally, she should have said something like this:
“They presented the agreement to you? Without sending it to us beforehand?”
And she should have asked worriedly,
“Surely you didn’t sign that agreement?”
But now her mother was looking at her with worried eyes. Eyes that asked, *Surely you didn’t fail to sign it?*
She recalled the paper she had tucked into her bosom. She had written down everything she wanted to say to her mother, just as Geommugeuk had advised.
She hadn’t simply written it down. She had anticipated various situations and even written how to respond to each. Among what she had written was this very situation.
“No, I put it off.”
A look of disappointment crossed her mother’s face. She had anticipated disappointment as well, so she had written what to say in this moment.
The fortunate thing was that her mother had a predictable personality. That was why they fought so much, and that was why Juhyangwol could never truly hate her.
That was why, at the very top of all her writing, she had written this first:
*Don’t shout no matter what! Speak softly!*
Because the moment she raised her voice in conversation with her mother, she had never once properly finished talking. Though she well knew that a low voice carried strength and that her emotions were conveyed best when she spoke calmly, with her mother alone, this never worked well.
But today, she was doing well.
“It’s something that must be handled carefully.”
There was no point telling her about what had happened at the inn earlier; her mother would never accept it. Having entrusted the agreement to someone she had just met was enough to make her mother jump in shock.
“We need to learn more about the Hwangdo Merchant Guild and have an expert look over the agreement to see if there are any unfavorable conditions for us.”
If this were the past, she would definitely have added this:
*“Did you look into it properly? You didn’t, did you? It’s always like this with you.”*
It would have been the opening act that signaled the start of a fight and raised both their voices. But on the paper she had written today, those words were not there.
It seemed her mentioning that she would entrust it to an expert was a bit unexpected. Her mother asked with a surprised expression.
“Which expert?”
“I’ll tell you once the results come out.”
She said what she had to say more calmly than ever before.
“I know the main family’s situation is difficult right now. I think we need to be all the more careful at times like this.”
The emotion contained in her mother’s puzzled eyes was this: *Since when were you careful? Since when did you care about the family’s difficulties?*
If this were the past, she would have snapped back fiercely. But instead, she spoke even more softly.
“I’m all grown up now, aren’t I? From now on, I’ll do my best to help you, Mother.”
She bid her mother farewell and went outside. Somewhat taken aback by her daughter’s somehow different demeanor, her mother was unable to say anything.
Juhyangwol, now outside, let out a sigh.
She took out the paper from her bosom. She hadn’t even said half of half of what was written, but the conversation was clearly different from usual. Whether she wrote it down or not, there was definitely a difference.
*Ah! I didn’t say this.*
Before leaving, she had even underlined the words telling her mother not to worry too much about family affairs and to take good care of her meals, but she had simply walked out.
Anyway, today they hadn’t shouted at each other.
* * *
Hwangin had been trained since childhood not to show his emotions. He had learned that this was the most important thing for living as a merchant.
But at least for this moment, hiding his emotions was not easy.
It was when he stood before Quan Luo.
He was the devil with whom Hwangin had joined hands.
“He is too dangerous a man. You must not join hands with them.”
When his father tried to dissuade him, he had said this:
“I do not wish to spend the rest of my life as the chief of a backwater merchant guild.”
Because he had not wanted to live such a life. Because he had held the ambition to make the Hwangdo Merchant Guild the greatest merchant guild of the Central Plains.
And so the one with whom he had joined hands was this Quan Luo. Once they joined hands, he knew for certain—that he was the same kind of person as Quan Luo.
That while Quan Luo wielded a sword, he merely wielded an abacus. That when Quan Luo glared coldly, he merely smiled—the only difference between them was this. Ultimately, they were the same kind of person.
Perhaps that was why. After joining hands with Quan Luo, the Hwangdo Merchant Guild had grown rapidly.
And there was one other fact he had learned. He had learned that this Quan Luo was nothing more than a subordinate taking someone else’s orders. He had naturally realized this while talking with him.
He sometimes worried about just what whirlwind he had been swept up in, but it was already too late to turn back. The only choice left was whether to make the Hwangdo Merchant Guild the greatest under heaven, or to die by Quan Luo’s hand.
“The agreement fell through?”
Quan Luo spoke with the same polite, low tone as always.
But whenever Hwangin heard his voice, he always got chills.
Because he knew. He knew that Quan Luo was a butcher without blood or tears. Because he felt that even if they stood on the same side for the next thirty years, the moment it became necessary to kill him, Quan Luo would not hesitate for an instant.
“That is correct.”
“Did you not say you were confident about this matter?”
“The Sword Family brought in outside help.”
“Whom?”
“It is the Xidao Sect of Gansu. They say the sect leader of the Xidao Sect owes a debt to the late head of the Sword Family.”
Just as Geommugeuk had expected, he had not moved directly but had instead used an information broker to find out their identities. He had found out faster than expected. The broker had already possessed information on them.
When he realized that his opponent was the Xidao Sect, Hwangin felt relieved.
The people he had met at the inn had given him a strange, indescribable feeling. An inexplicable, strange leisure had weighed on his mind the whole time, but now he could guess the true nature of that leisure.
*Is it because they’re a clan that produced a winner of the Lesser Dragon Tournament?*
That incomprehensible leisure had come from precisely that. And because of that, he felt relieved instead.
*If that is the only reason?*
They were opponents he could handle with confidence.
Quan Luo spoke in a dry tone.
“Understood. I shall handle the rest.”
Hwangin knew. He knew what sort of method Quan Luo meant by “handling” it. Quan Luo would kill the three people from the Xidao Sect and retrieve the agreement. He had always liked his work handled cleanly.
But Hwangin wanted to handle this matter himself.
“Though the Xidao Sect is merely a regional sect, by producing a winner of the Lesser Dragon Tournament, they have also formed ties with the Martial Alliance. If we mishandle them, the Martial Alliance may intervene. This matter must be handled with care.”
This was precisely why Geommugeuk had chosen the Xidao Sect for his disguise—so that the opponent would not try to resolve things through force, but choose another method. Geommugeuk had intended to find out who was behind them through this.
“Please lend me the Qian Gui.”
Money ghosts. That was what Quan Luo called the experts he kept with him.
They were truly like ghosts when it came to money. Whenever they had moved until now, every matter had been resolved.
Those who had stubbornly refused changed their minds; those who had pointed swords met with accidents; those who had cursed vanished without a trace.
In short, when they intervened, the very next day a signed contract would land in one’s hands.
“I believe this matter calls for a merchant rather than a martial artist. If I cannot resolve things through persuasion, then it will not be too late to handle matters as originally planned.”
Soon, Quan Luo opened his mouth.
“How many do you need?”
“Enough to suppress the Xidao Sect’s leader.”
Hwangin spoke with eyes that asked to be trusted.
“Do not worry. Would a merchant ever make a losing deal?”
* * *
That evening, Hwangin came to find Geommugeuk.
Geommugeuk’s group was staying in a small manor slightly removed from the main street.
From Hwangin’s perspective, it was rather fortunate that they were not staying at a conspicuous inn.
As he resolved this matter, Hwangin wanted to see Geommugeuk pleading.
Pay for the inn costs and leave? A merchant should keep proper accounts? He had been humiliated when he called the innkeeper to settle the bill.
How dare he lecture a merchant about accounting before his very eyes!
He didn’t intend to kill the man, but he planned to humiliate him thoroughly before sending him off.
When leaving the inn, he had told him: he was a man who always repaid his debts.
When he entered the courtyard guided by Hwi, Geommugeuk was making something where the trees were planted.
“Welcome!”
Geommugeuk greeted him gladly. As if he had forgotten what happened at the inn earlier, anyone watching would have thought they were close friends.
“You’ve come at just the right time. Please hold this rope for me.”
In a daze, Hwangin took the rope Geommugeuk held out. Geommugeuk tied the other end to a tree opposite.
In the middle, fixed between both sides, was a net large enough for one adult to lie upon.
“It’s a net bed. Originally, it’s a bed you make temporarily in regions with many venomous insects to sleep in.”
Another one had already been made a short distance away.
“That one is for my father. Tonight, I plan to lie here side by side with my father and look up at the night sky.”
Just thinking about it seemed to put Geommugeuk in a good mood, and he smiled happily.
“You seem to truly like your father, young hero.”
“Of course. Though my father does not trust me, I like him more than anyone else in the world.”
Geommugeuk spoke loudly on purpose so that it would be heard inside the building. Though his father must have been able to hear even whispered conversations here, no answer came from inside.
“Now that it’s finished, let’s give it a try.”
Geommugeuk lay in the net. When he swayed his body, the net swayed gently between the trees.
“This is so comfortable and nice.”
Hwangin quietly looked down at Geommugeuk like that.
He had felt it at the inn as well, but this was truly not a common sort of person. Perhaps that was why he asked such a question in this situation.
“What is your father like?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question about his father, Hwangin was inwardly flustered.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, does your father not startle his son? I was quite surprised then. I didn’t know your father would step forward for that woman.”
Hwangin did not know what to say about his father.
*My father…….*
His father had joined hands with Quan Luo according to his son’s wishes. Had it been a choice for his child? Or had his father harbored the same ambition as him? Hwangin could not know his father’s true thoughts exactly.
“I suppose a father is the easiest person in the world to know, and also the most difficult.”
At Geommugeuk’s words, Hwangin said nothing.
Then Geommugeuk suddenly raised himself from the net.
“You lie down too.”
“I am fine.”
“I said lie down.”
He forced Hwangin to lie down there.
“Look up at the sky from there. How is it?”
It was his first time lying in such a bed, and it was more comfortable than he had thought.
But then, suddenly thinking that now was not the time for this, he raised himself up.
As he did, he staggered and nearly toppled to the ground, but Geommugeuk caught him.
“Thank you.”
“It’s because you’re not used to it.”
What he wasn’t used to was Geommugeuk’s attitude. He was treating him far more familiarly than he had at the inn earlier.
“Don’t think this means I’ll let this matter slide.”
On the wall Hwangin looked at, three men were already standing with arms crossed, looking this way.
They were the Qian Gui he had brought with him—ones Quan Luo particularly cherished. They were experts who could easily handle a sect leader of a regional sect like the Xidao Sect.
“You said you were a mere merchant, but you are no mere merchant.”
“There are many who look down on merchants and try to resolve things through force, so I cannot help but seek assistance at times.”
“If that is the reason, you could have come alone. As you can see, I am a man who prefers conversation with his mouth to conversation with a sword.”
Hwangin stared intently at Geommugeuk.
*Just what are you counting on?*
Though he had brought experts capable of killing even his father, Geommugeuk showed no sign of being cowed or dispirited. Did he even understand what situation he was in?
“At my command, they will seize the agreement by force if necessary.”
Then, unexpected words spilled from Geommugeuk’s mouth.
“Will those three be enough? If you want to make my father draw his sword, you’d need about three hundred people like them.”
At that, the War Ghosts burst into laughter all at once.
They were experts, but not experts enough to see through Geom Mugeuk’s true depths. More than anything, the problem was that they already knew who their opponent was.
The heir to the Seodo Sect.
Since they already thought of him that way, he was nothing but laughable. On top of that, before coming here, Hwang In had told them that the man had quite the tongue on him.
“If you hand over the agreement quietly, offer a proper apology, and leave, nothing will happen.”
“My father will never hand it over. He’s already made a promise to that woman.”
“If you want to save your father, go persuade him yourself.”
Geom Mugeuk sighed and said,
“That is impossible. My father is the sort of man who would require at least five years to persuade.”
Five years? What on earth was he talking about? Hwang In gave him a puzzled look, but Geom Mugeuk remained perfectly at ease.
The three men who had been watching from atop the wall until then lightly leaped down.
“Once they begin to move, I won’t be able to stop them. This is your last chance. Go persuade your father and bring back the agreement.”
One of the three War Ghosts stepped forward.
“There’s no need for all three of us to go. I’ll go and bring it back. I’ll bring your father too and toss him into that hammock.”
Even as he strode toward the building, Geom Mugeuk lay calmly in the hammock.
“Aren’t you worried about your father?”
“Even if I worried about everyone else in the world, he is the one person I need not worry about.”
Hwang In guessed the source of that composure like this.
‘Does he perhaps believe the Murim Alliance will protect him?’
Perhaps that was indeed the case. The confidence that no one would dare act recklessly against the family that had produced the winner of the Little Dragon Tournament. Yes, that had to be the only thing the Seodo Sect could trust in.
‘That half-baked pride of yours is what ruined you!’
How much time had passed like that?
The War Ghost who had gone inside showed no sign of coming back out. Yet no sounds of quarrelling or fighting could be heard from within either. Only silence flowed from the building.
The second War Ghost, tired of waiting, stepped forward.
“I’ll go see.”
He walked into the building. In skill, he was no less than the first War Ghost, and on top of that, he possessed a calmer temperament.
But there was no word from him either.
The expression of the remaining War Ghost hardened. He realized that something had gone wrong. They should have gone in together from the start.
“It could be a trap!”
At Hwang In’s attempt to stop him, the third War Ghost said coldly,
“Then do you think this place is safe?”
The third War Ghost drew his sword and carefully entered the building.
Three men as ferocious as could be had gone in, yet the fact that not even the sound of a chair toppling over could be heard was all the more frightening and astonishing.
There was no word from the third War Ghost either.
Hwang In, who had been staring at the building in fear, turned his gaze toward Geom Mugeuk.
At last, Geom Mugeuk rose from the hammock. In the distance, the sun was beginning to set. A red glow spread through the world like ink bleeding into paper, and the sky seemed wider than ever.
With mysterious eyes that held the sunset within them, Geom Mugeuk asked calmly,
“If you are truly a merchant, shouldn’t you be making a deal instead of waving blades and issuing threats?”
Absolute Regression Chapter 455