Geum Arin’s first impression of Geom Mugeuk was this.
‘He’s far younger than I expected.’
It was hard to believe. That Jeon Nak had been defeated by someone so young. And the Jeongwi had fallen along with him?
It wasn’t only his age; he was far too different from what she had imagined. He was handsome, and there was an indefinable air of dignity about him. She had expected someone extremely rough, overflowing with killing intent.
Combining Geom Mugeuk’s age, her first impression of him, and the results of what he had done, Geum Arin reached this conclusion.
‘He has learned a supreme martial art!’
The fact that he had appeared before her alone with such confidence was proof enough. The question was whether he was stronger or weaker than she was. It was impossible to tell from the outside.
“I was passing by the inn when I saw Branch Leader Hwang through the window, so I came in.”
As if he had truly just happened to stop by, Geom Mugeuk greeted them cheerfully and walked over.
“You had a guest with you.”
As though he did not know who she was, Geom Mugeuk cupped his fist toward Geum Arin in greeting.
“If a place with such a beautiful lady exists in the merchant world, then perhaps I should enter commerce myself.”
It was a pleasant greeting, but Geum Arin showed no particular reaction.
At that, Hwang In cautiously stepped in.
“Watch your tongue. The person here is not someone you may speak of so carelessly.”
It sounded as though he was speaking out of respect for Geum Arin, but in truth, it was a warning to Geom Mugeuk.
‘This woman. She’s the terrifying person they said was coming down! Don’t lose your head over her looks and ruin everything!’
Hwang In was beside himself with worry that Geom Mugeuk might be captivated by Geum Arin’s appearance.
But even without his warning, how could Geom Mugeuk not know it was her?
Geom Mugeuk had already realized that she was no ordinary martial artist.
‘Her achievements are impressive for her age.’
Whether it was through effort enough to kill a person, talent, enormous support, or some fortuitous encounter, hers was not a level of skill commonly seen around him.
And one more thing.
If someone like Jeon Nak had regarded her as terrifying, it meant she was certainly not the sort to show mercy with her hands.
On top of that, he sensed an expert hiding nearby her.
‘She is no ordinary person.’
Experts who had also mastered stealth arts were rare. Such people mostly served as protectors, and someone of this level was guarding her?
‘This woman must be blood kin of the head of the Golden Dragon Clan.’
Hwang In would never know just how much Geom Mugeuk had discerned in that brief moment.
As if only belatedly realizing who she was, Geom Mugeuk spoke with a surprised expression.
“Ah! So this is that person?”
Geum Arin reacted to those words.
“How did that man introduce me?”
Geom Mugeuk answered her.
“He said a very frightening person would be coming.”
Hwang In grew tense inwardly. She could have reacted irritably, saying, ‘He introduced me that way?’ His heart began to pound harder than usual.
‘Please, let today not become the day of my memorial rites!’
With heartfelt desperation in his eyes, he looked at Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk introduced himself to Geum Arin.
“I am called Geom Yeon. Not the yeon of fate, but the yeon of smoke. After meeting you, I will vanish like smoke.”
“I didn’t ask.”
Geum Arin responded coldly without revealing her own name.
“They say you killed my subordinates?”
She asked directly, and Geom Mugeuk did not bother to hide it.
“Unintentionally, I had a conflict with your people. For that, I apologize.”
“There was more than one dead. This is not something that can end with an apology.”
“Is there something else you want?”
In a tone as cold as her gaze, she said,
“A life for a life.”
Geom Mugeuk looked at her and said,
“If you can take it, then try.”
For a moment, a taut tension filled the air.
Geum Arin struggled to suppress the desire to draw her sword and cut him down. She was not so lowly as to draw her sword at the moment her opponent desired. Her sword would be drawn at the moment she decided.
The one who broke that suffocating tension was Geom Mugeuk.
“I cannot give you my life, but I can buy you a drink.”
In this situation, without a trace of fear, he turned toward the waiter and ordered another bottle of liquor.
When Geom Mugeuk, having ordered the liquor, turned his head back, a sword was already aimed at his throat.
It was a truly swift move. There had not even been the faintest sound of wind.
To Hwang In, who was sitting beside them, the situation had unfolded in the blink of an eye.
Geom Mugeuk looked at her with an expression that showed no surprise at all. At that reaction, Geum Arin’s eyes grew even colder. He could have lost his life just now.
If he was an expert capable of killing Jeon Nak, he should have reacted somehow.
Could it be that he knew the sword would aim for his throat and still did not stop it? Because he was certain I would not kill him?
Or is he not as skilled as I thought? If so, then he is not the one who killed Jeon Nak and the Jeongwi.
She could not be certain which of the two possibilities was true. That made her feel even more unsettled.
‘This man is hard to read.’
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze followed the blade toward her.
“I must not die.”
“Why?”
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk said,
“It was not so in the past, but now my death… would become my father’s justification.”
The moment I die, Father will sweep through the entire murim. The grief of losing his child will become his justification, and the murim will turn into a battlefield.
Naturally, Geum Arin could not understand what he meant by that.
“Are you saying that if I kill you, your father will take revenge, so I should spare you?”
“Well, something like that.”
“Where is your father?”
“He is at the manor. Together with my uncle.”
She had heard from Hwang In that there were three of them in all. Instinct told her that this man’s father and uncle would be no ordinary figures either.
“I came out to buy groceries. Father said he would make a special dish today, you see. Miss, you are blessed with good fortune when it comes to food. Come with me. My father’s cooking is not something one can easily taste. You could boast about it for the rest of your life wherever you go.”
Geum Arin had to acknowledge at least one thing. Whether it was acting or reality, maintaining such composure at the tip of her sword was no easy feat.
With a light movement of her hand, Geum Arin withdrew her sword and said,
“I cannot kill a man who came out to buy groceries.”
Geom Mugeuk rubbed his neck and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you for sparing me.”
At that sight, Hwang In inwardly felt a sense of dismay. His heart began to pound even more violently.
‘What is this? Why is he showing such weakness? Don’t tell me. Are you weaker than this woman?’
That could not be. He had certainly been there when Jeon Nak and all the Jeongwi were killed at once. Right? Stop joking around and cut this woman down in a single stroke, then tell me. Tell me I no longer need to worry.
But the situation flowed in the exact opposite direction from what he wished.
Whoosh, whoosh.
She sent out finger winds and sealed Geom Mugeuk’s inner energy.
Geom Mugeuk could not avoid them in time, but his composure remained unchanged.
“It is all right. I do not need inner energy to buy groceries anyway.”
Geum Arin looked at Geom Mugeuk with eyes that seemed to say, ‘What kind of lunatic is this?’
‘Surely you are not an expert skilled enough to undo the acupoints I have sealed.’
Now that she had sealed his inner energy, his life belonged to her. And yet he still showed such leisure? His actions went beyond her common sense.
“Father must be waiting.”
Geom Mugeuk rose from his seat and said,
“Come, let us go grocery shopping together.”
* * *
A single carriage was racing along.
Outwardly, it looked like an old and ordinary carriage, but it was made of a sturdy material that would not break even under blades, and it was drawn by fine steeds that would not tire even if they ran all day.
Naturally, the person riding inside was not ordinary either.
Extraordinary and exuding an air of nobility, he was none other than Yong Jamyeong, the guild master of the Eunha Merchant Guild.
Yong Jamyeong, the owner of the Eunha Merchant Guild.
He could be described in many ways, but the most effective and certain description would be this.
The person with the most money in the world.
That was why not only the coachman, but also the people riding in the carriage with him, were no ordinary experts. They were the strongest masters of the Eunha Merchant Guild, the ones Yong Jamyeong trusted most.
This was a secret journey by a man known to be so busy that one had to make an appointment months in advance just to see his face.
Including the coachman, there were only three experts accompanying him as guards. It was the first time such a thing had happened since the Eunha Merchant Guild became the number one merchant guild in the Central Plains. Even then, Yong Jamyeong had intended to bring only one person.
Of course, considering the skills of these three, this journey could be considered safe. They were the people Yong Jamyeong trusted most in the Eunha Merchant Guild, and at the same time, the three most skilled.
In particular, Baek Chong, who sat across from him, was a man who had shared life and death, hardship and joy with Yong Jamyeong his entire life and helped build the Eunha Merchant Guild.
“It is still not too late. Shall we turn the carriage around?”
Yong Jamyeong smiled and asked him,
“Are you afraid as well?”
Baek Chong answered honestly.
“I am.”
“That is the first time I have heard you say you are afraid.”
Baek Chong was not afraid that he himself might die. He was afraid that they might lose Yong Jamyeong on this journey.
“This is too dangerous a choice.”
“More dangerous than refusing the request of the Demonic Cult Leader?”
Baek Chong could say nothing. While growing the merchant guild together with Yong Jamyeong, they had weathered all manner of storms, but among them, the most dangerous opponent had always been the Demonic Cult.
“If it had been a simple request from the Demonic Cult, I would have found some excuse to buy time. But this time, the Demonic Cult Leader himself sent a secret letter.”
It had even been a letter written personally by the Demonic Cult Leader.
A handwritten letter from the Demonic Cult Leader.
It was truly the first time such a thing had happened.
“Then I urge you to secretly notify the Murim Alliance and the Sado Alliance. If they know, the Demonic Cult will not dare harbor any foolish thoughts.”
Yong Jamyeong understood better than anyone what Baek Chong was worried about. But this was not a matter that could be handled that way.
“The Demonic Cult Leader emphasized the word ‘secretly.’ That means we are not to contact them.”
“That is precisely why we must inform them. The Demonic Cult has never acted like this until now.”
This decision had not been made merely on instinct. It was a decision made by combining all his past experience with the vast amount of information collected recently.
Yes, how could he not know? How rough and brutal demonic practitioners were.
“We can only hope the information is true.”
“Are you speaking of the matter concerning the Young Cult Leader?”
Yong Jamyeong nodded. It was information that a new wind was blowing within the Demonic Cult. Because of it, even a tripartite conference between the righteous, unorthodox, and demonic factions had taken place.
That was why he hoped the reason he had been summoned this time was because of that Young Cult Leader. It felt safer than simply being summoned by the Heavenly Demon.
“You know this, do you not? Reality is always different from rumor.”
“Do not worry too much. Everything will turn out well.”
Yong Jamyeong was that sort of man.
A man who, at any moment, tried to overcome things with positive thoughts rather than negative ones.
He did not know whether this matter would become an opportunity for the Eunha Merchant Guild or whether he would die because of it, but as he always had, he would make his way through. He considered the Heavenly Demon’s handwritten letter a call of fate that could not be refused.
He believed he had not been summoned in order to be killed. The Demonic Cult Leader he had heard of and gathered information about was not that sort of person. He trusted the intelligence network of the Eunha Merchant Guild.
He would not return empty-handed. He would give what the other man wanted and receive what he himself wanted in return. A transaction was an exchange, after all.
Whenever such a moment of crisis came, he thought back to that time in his youth. To the moment when he had gone to the brink of death and survived. Others did not know how great a help that experience was in living his life.
A life he was living as a bonus anyway—let him live without regret.
Sometimes bravely, sometimes even more diligently.
Perhaps it was thanks to that that he had been able to become the owner of the number one merchant guild in the murim.
And so the carriage sped swiftly toward the appointed place.
* * *
‘He is really buying groceries?’
Geom Mugeuk began purchasing all sorts of ingredients at the market.
“For vegetables or fruit, you must choose ones with even, vivid colors. They must be firm, not soft, and you should avoid ones with spots like these.”
Geum Arin watched in astonishment as he shopped while even giving explanations.
At first, she suspected it was a ploy to stall for time. But he really was carefully buying ingredients for cooking. He even had a piece of paper on which he had written down what to buy.
“Now that we have bought the meat as well, that is everything!”
After finishing the shopping, Geom Mugeuk tried to take her back to the manor.
“Did you think I would obediently walk into the trap you dug?”
“Are you afraid?”
Geum Arin glared at Geom Mugeuk. Even after sealing his inner energy, she still could not come to a conclusion about him. What in the world was this composure? Or was he simply insane?
Geom Mugeuk lifted the ingredients he held in both hands.
“It will be a very delicious trap.”
Geum Arin said to Hwang In, who was with them,
“You go and deliver the message. If he wants to save his son, he is to come alone to the place I tell him.”
At that, Geom Mugeuk let out a sigh.
“My father will not come. He is not the sort of person to come just because someone tells him to.”
“His son will die if he does not come.”
“He still will not come.”
Geom Mugeuk said to Hwang In,
“If by any chance you meet my father, do not make eye contact. Behave respectfully. Tell him everything about the situation.”
“I will.”
Hwang In nodded, then flinched. It was because Geum Arin was looking at him with displeased eyes that seemed to say, ‘Whose side are you on?’
Geom Mugeuk said to her,
“Now then, since we have already bought all the ingredients, I will make dinner for you tonight. My cooking is also not easy to taste, so you are still a woman blessed with good fortune when it comes to food.”
Geum Arin looked at Geom Mugeuk with an incredulous gaze. In her entire life, no one had ever called her a woman blessed with good fortune when it came to food.
“Just what are you? Who sent you?”
With a smile that said she would soon find out, Geom Mugeuk began walking first.
“I am hungry, so let us hurry and make ourselves a meal.”
Then he stopped and asked her,
“By the way, where should we go? Let us go somewhere I can cook.”
Absolute Regression, Chapter 460