The carriage passed through Chongqing and headed for Shaanxi.
Since they were traveling with Geum Arin, they decided to stop by the secret vault the head of the Eunha Merchant Guild had given them as thanks on the way back.
“Aren’t you curious what’s in there?”
Even at Geom Mugeuk’s question, Geom Ujin merely gazed out the window, as if he had no interest whatsoever.
“Please give me thirty chances to choose too!”
At the words “thirty chances,” Geom Ujin turned his head and looked at his son.
“I figured I’d have to start around there if I wanted to get even three later.”
Geom Mugeuk saw it—the corner of his father’s mouth wavering, unsure whether to rise or not. Yes, he’d at least give him three.
Geom Mugeuk followed his father’s gaze and looked out the window.
“How long has it been since you were last in Chongqing?”
“A long time.”
Geom Ujin thought of the Chongqing of the past, while Geom Mugeuk thought of the Chongqing of the future. Long ago, Geom Ujin had roamed through this place with the Fist Demon, and Geom Mugeuk had wandered here searching for materials for the great ritual.
Just then, Geom Ujin looked at an inn up ahead and said,
“Let us rest there today.”
At his father’s words, Hwi answered.
“Understood.”
Until now, his father had silently followed the schedule as Hwi and Im Hyeok led it. If they went to an inn, he went; if they camped outdoors, he camped.
But today, he was the first to say they should rest at that inn.
After sending word to Geum Arin’s carriage ahead, Hwi brought the carriage to the inn.
Geom Mugeuk was curious. Had there been some meaningful memory here in the past? Perhaps the innkeeper might remember his father. Thank you so much for helping me back then.
But no such thing happened.
‘Then why did he suggest staying here?’
After they unpacked, Geom Ujin took Hwi and went outside. He did not bring Geom Mugeuk.
“You stay here and wait.”
“Please take me with you. Where are you two going by yourselves?”
“You need not know.”
Leaving only that question behind, Geom Ujin and Hwi left the inn.
After the two had walked for quite some time, Geom Ujin asked quietly,
“This is the place, is it not?”
At Geom Ujin’s question, Hwi asked with a surprised expression,
“You knew?”
Geom Ujin nodded. This was Hwi’s hometown. Even Hwi himself had not imagined that the Cult Leader had known it was his hometown and had stopped here for that reason.
“I left when I was young, so I feel nothing in particular. My parents passed away, and I left right afterward.”
“Even so, since it lies along our path, you should visit at least once. Where is your old home?”
“It is a mountain village beyond that ridge.”
Geom Ujin moved first, and Hwi quietly followed behind him.
He was surprised that the Cult Leader remembered his hometown, and even more surprised that he had stopped there and was now going with him like this.
‘The Cult Leader truly has changed.’
Hwi had watched him more closely than anyone, right at Geom Ujin’s side. The Cult Leader was a man with deep affection within him, but he was not someone who expressed it like this. Hwi knew better than anyone where this change had come from.
Hwi thought of Geom Mugeuk. Throughout this journey, the Young Cult Leader had kept pushing him to take time for himself.
—Why are you going this far for me?
—These days, a wave of change is sweeping through our cult, isn’t it? I’m trying to make sure you’re not left out, Uncle.
Yes, he understood better than anyone what kind of change that was. That was why he had been able to ask.
—Where is this change leading us?
The Young Cult Leader, who had created so many changes, had answered like this.
—I do not know either.
When he heard that he did not know, Hwi had instead felt relieved.
And so the two arrived at the place where Hwi had been born.
Surprisingly, the house was still there, though other people were living in it.
No one remembered Hwi. It would have been stranger for anyone to remember a boy who had left the village as a child, or the middle-aged martial artist who had returned.
He had said he felt nothing for his hometown, but the house where he had lived was different.
His childhood came back to him, and he was immersed in memories.
What he especially remembered was his mother calling out for him to come eat when he was playing with his friends in the alley in front of the house. The memory of the children scattering one by one and running home came back to him faintly.
After looking around the house and the alley before it for a long while, the two ate noodles together at a small noodle shop in the village.
Geom Mugeuk kept telling him that he had to change, that he should change, but Hwi himself had already changed a great deal. After all, was he not sitting in the same place as the Cult Leader, eating noodles together?
Without a word, they finished a bowl of noodles and returned to the inn.
They did not exchange any special conversation. But even with just that, Hwi could fully feel Geom Ujin’s heart. In his own way, the Cult Leader had shown that he cherished him.
At the entrance of the inn, Hwi said,
“Thank you.”
Then Geom Ujin replied,
“I am the one who should be grateful.”
It was Geom Ujin’s heart for the man who had always protected him. He had now begun expressing himself to those closest to him.
At that time, Geom Mugeuk was using the Space-Time Transposition Art to train in martial arts through the Sicheon Secret Art. Throughout the journey here, whenever he had time, he had focused on martial training.
He always thought that his strength lay not in his techniques, but in his relationships with people—but such a thought was only possible when he could block the enemy’s attacks as they came flying at him. For the days spent together with others to shine, he had to shed blood and sweat through the nights.
And so Geom Mugeuk’s nights were long.
* * *
The carriage ran and ran, finally arriving at the Golden Dragon Clan in Shaanxi.
Geom Mugeuk parted with his father at a place where the clan’s buildings could be seen in the distance.
“I will go ahead as the scouting party.”
He had judged that there was no need to go to the Golden Dragon Clan with his father from the very beginning.
“The main character is supposed to appear later, is he not?”
No matter how one tried to hide it, how could his father’s presence be concealed?
Moreover, since they did not know how the head of the clan would react, it was the wiser choice for him to go alone first and gauge the atmosphere.
Geom Ujin also guessed his son’s intention, and so he accepted it without objection. Besides, he also had to receive the report from Tongcheon Pavilion and take care of piled-up matters.
“I will wait at the safe house.”
There was a safe house of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult not far away, so if help was needed, he would be able to come quickly.
“I will send word.”
The carriage carrying his father departed in the opposite direction.
Geom Mugeuk rejoined Geum Arin’s carriage.
Geum Arin nearly said that it might be better for the two of them to come as well, but stopped herself. Trust him. Trust this man. He must have thought it through.
The carriage arrived at the entrance of the Golden Dragon Clan.
Above the magnificent main gate hung a golden signboard, its calligraphy powerful, as if a dragon were sweeping through the air in flight.
The gate opened, and the carriage entered.
Those guarding the entrance were imposing like martial artists of a martial household, with the eyes of men well trained.
Inside the gate, the broad courtyard, gardens, and pond were arranged in harmonious beauty. The buildings were grand, and golden dragons symbolizing the Golden Dragon Clan were carved here and there.
There were many intentions visible everywhere, all meant to overwhelm those who entered, but they had no effect on Geom Mugeuk, who had grown up looking at the enormous demon statues of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
As they drew closer to the clan head’s hall, he could feel Geum Arin growing even more tense.
“Are you nervous?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s question, Geum Arin nodded that she was. Now was not the time to hide her feelings, but to prepare for her father’s reaction.
“My father may roar at you.”
“You need not worry about that. When it comes to ‘terrifying fathers,’ I have more experience than anyone.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Are you truly not worried? How could he be this calm?
Waiting in front of the clan head’s hall was the second son, Geum Ajong, who had arrived first.
“You have come?”
Having completely misunderstood Geom Mugeuk’s identity, he looked at him with a different feeling from before.
‘You little swindler! You adorable bastard who will change my fate!’
His heart was filled with the desire to quickly connect this swindler with his elder brother and bring his brother to ruin.
“Was the journey here difficult?”
“It was fine.”
“Let us share a drink when there is time. Since you are a guest of our house, I will treat you.”
“Let us do that.”
Geom Mugeuk readily accepted his offer.
After parting from Geum Ajong, Geom Mugeuk and Geum Arin entered the clan head’s hall.
As they walked down the corridor, Geum Arin said,
“This is suspicious.”
“What is?”
“There is no way my elder brother would be kind to you. He is overdoing it right now.”
She certainly was quick-witted.
“There is no harm in becoming close, is there?”
“You just saw him. Someone there is harm in becoming close to.”
And so the two entered the clan head’s hall.
There, the clan head, Geum Cheonbang, was waiting.
Unlike ordinary magnates, who tended to have pleasant faces and impressive bearing, Geum Cheonbang had a small build and a somewhat irritable appearance. Fortunately, it seemed both Geum Arin and Geum Ajong had taken after their mother.
Considering that he had made the Golden Dragon Clan one of the top five in the Central Plains with such an impression, one could say his ability was all the more extraordinary.
Geum Arin had thought her father might thunder at her as soon as he saw her, but unexpectedly, her father was calm.
“I have returned, Father.”
“You have come?”
Geum Cheonbang’s gaze turned toward Geom Mugeuk.
“I am Geom Yeon of the Seodo Sect.”
When he greeted him politely with a fist-and-palm salute, Geum Cheonbang also received the greeting gently.
“It is good to meet you.”
Geum Arin grew even more tense at the sight of her father smiling as he looked at Geom Mugeuk. He was not the kind of person to smile like that at someone who had taken an enormous sum of two million nyang.
Moreover, this man’s father and the man said to be his uncle had not even come with him. In other words, her father might think that after swallowing two million nyang, they had sent a young fellow in their place.
But her father did not reveal the slightest displeasure. That was why she felt even more uneasy. Her elder brother, and now her father as well. They were both acting outside her expectations.
“I have heard the story. You have decided to help our Arin?”
“That is correct.”
“My daughter has a good eye for people.”
“Seeing as she chose me, it certainly seems that way.”
Even Geom Mugeuk’s joke was met with a smile by Geum Cheonbang.
“But I heard there were three of you?”
“My father and uncle had somewhere to stop by briefly, so they decided to come later.”
“I see.”
This was precisely the reason Geum Cheonbang was being cautious.
‘The head of the Eunha Merchant Guild personally went to meet these people?’
He knew better than anyone what kind of position the head of the Eunha Merchant Guild held. He was a man who summoned others to where he was, no matter who the other party might be.
If such a man had moved personally, then they must surely be special people.
As if to prove it, they had even dared to break the contract they had made with him and enter a new one with his daughter.
‘Just how great are their skills?’
Geom Mugeuk was also observing him closely.
That was because Geom Mugeuk considered this Geum Cheonbang the core of the matter.
‘Do you know to whom your money is going?’
And so their probing of one another came to an end.
The first to speak was Geum Cheonbang.
“I am a merchant. My principle is that goods must be bought at their proper price and sold at their proper price.”
And a man like that ran a secret organization and tried to absorb the Ju Clan Sword Family?
“It must be because you possess such excellent principles that you have built such a great enterprise.”
“I am grateful you say so. In that case, may I ask one favor of you?”
It meant that since he had received two million nyang, he should prove his worth.
“What favor?”
“The Golden Dragon Clan conducts countless transactions. Even at this very moment, while I am speaking with you, transactions are surely being made somewhere. There are good transactions, but naturally there are bad ones as well. There are several places that have caused us great losses and then washed their hands of it. Among them, there is one that has tormented us for a long time.”
Geum Cheonbang looked at Geom Mugeuk and narrowed his eyes.
“Could you go there and collect the debt for us?”
“Who are those shameless people?”
Geum Cheonbang let out a deliberate sigh and answered.
“The Baixian Gang.”
The Baixian Gang. Though its name meant a gang where a hundred immortals gathered, if it had truly been a place where such people gathered, they would not have named it that in the first place.
The Baixian Gang was, quite literally, a den of demons. Geom Mugeuk knew of them as well.
Only now did Geum Arin understand why her father had been so kind. He did not intend to let it end with merely getting angry and shouting.
‘He is trying to kill this man.’
The Baixian Gang was more than an old headache for the Golden Dragon Clan—it was an utterly wicked and dangerous existence.
Even they, the Geumryong Family, had yet to recover the money that had been extorted from them. Telling these people to collect it was a request laced with malice far beyond a mere test of skill.
“Father, entrusting that task to them is…”
At that moment, Geum Cheonbang looked at her with icy eyes. Geum Arin could say no more. She could feel just how furious her father was.
Geom Mugeuk, on the other hand, was at ease.
“How much money is owed?”
“The amount has accumulated over the years. The sum to be collected is three million nyang.”
It would be more accurate to say it was money they had extorted under all sorts of pretexts. It was money they did not even recognize as having borrowed, and for that very reason, collecting it was impossible. Baekseonbang was crawling with experts, and they were men whose viciousness had reached its peak.
Geum Cheonbang wondered how Geom Mugeuk would react.
‘Will he accept even in a situation like this?’
This was a kind of probing exchange, and a test as well. A test to see how he would react.
Geum Arin hurriedly sent Geom Mugeuk a voice transmission.
—Refuse! No matter how capable you are, you can’t deal with them!
She had staked everything on this man. She could not lose him like this. She had to stop him, even if she had to throw herself in his way.
Of course, Geom Mugeuk was not someone who moved according to her wishes.
—When you asked me to make you the successor, what did I ask you?
She remembered the question Geom Mugeuk had asked her.
How far can you trust me?
Even so, to be put to such a test already…
While she hesitated to answer, Geom Mugeuk gave his reply first.
“I’ll collect it.”
Geum Cheonbang smiled strangely.
‘He’ll do it? Is that a decision he made because he doesn’t know who Baekseonbang is? Or because he does?’
Of course, Geom Mugeuk was not the sort to accept such a demand meekly.
“Then what share will you give me in return?”
“What?”
To the startled Geum Cheonbang, Geom Mugeuk explained calmly.
“I am not your subordinate, Family Head. I am someone who has joined hands with Miss Geum here, am I not? Right now, I am about to do something my leader is trying to stop me from doing, so naturally I should receive appropriate compensation. Am I wrong in what I’m asking?”
Geum Cheonbang could not refute him. It was true enough. Strictly speaking, he was not a subordinate Geum Cheonbang had hired.
But he had already taken two million nyang, and now he was asking for more? Under normal circumstances it would have been an absurd demand, but the present situation was special.
“How much do you want?”
“You said it has been a long time since you were able to collect the money, so it is a bad debt. You must have already assumed you would never receive it anyway. And since even you, Family Head, could not collect it, they must be that dangerous.”
After laying down one premise after another, Geom Mugeuk made a bold move.
“I will need half.”
Absolute Regression, Chapter 472