There was a time when she didn't show her refined side like she does now.
-Hey.
The time when she was called Seolbong (Snow Phoenix) rather than by her name.
Days from a time no one can remember now.
A time when we were on edge with each other, trying our best not to cross paths.
Even though running into each other meant no good words would come out, it was a period when she, in particular, sought me out.
Seeing Seolbong looking for me, I scowled deeply.
She was the same, but Seolbong spat out her words bluntly as she looked at me.
-Eat.
-I'm not eating.
Showing up out of nowhere to ask me to eat? It was absurd, yet somewhat familiar.
That was because whenever Seolbong came looking for me, it was either to talk about food or to curse me out.
-Eat. The others have all started eating too.
-Is that even food?
It wasn't proper food.
It was merely cooking the meat of captured demonic beasts however possible just to fill our stomachs.
Especially since we didn't even have that much, it was a time when everyone was enduring hunger.
Hearing my words, Moyong Huia made an expression of utter contempt and spoke.
-Are you going to be a picky eater after coming all the way here? Just eat what's given to you.
-That's exactly why I said I won't eat. Are your ears clogged? Why do you keep making me repeat myself?
-Then what, are you going to starve to death?
-Living here might be worse than dyi—
Smack—!
-Ugh!
My head shook from the pain.
It was because Seolbong, who had approached me, smacked the back of my head.
It hurt so much I almost passed out for a moment.
-You crazy bitch…!
Just as I was about to vent my rising anger at Seolbong—
-Don't spout bullshit when everyone else is struggling to survive.
I momentarily faltered when I saw Seolbong's eyes.
-I know you're a piece of trash. I also know you're someone who wouldn't be surprising to drop dead at any moment.
-Then instead of coming here and being annoying, just fuck off. Why do you care? You hate me, and I hate you.
-That's right. I hate you. I really hate a person like you who doesn't know the value of life and lives recklessly.
-Then why...
-I still can't let you die like this.
-What...?
You hate me, but you can't let me die as I please? What kind of bullshit is this?
Just as I was about to burst into curses from the surging irritation—
-It's not like the food will run out just because you eat one more portion. So stop worrying about it and come eat.
-…!
My mouth shut involuntarily at Seolbong's words.
-Did you think I wouldn't know? Everyone else knows too. Why you're staying out here. So stop acting like trash and come eat. You're so weak that standing watch out here wouldn't even stop the demonic beasts from coming anyway.
-…Fuck. What are you talking about? Why would I stand watch? I'm just out here because I don't want to see your faces.
I tried to argue, but Seolbong didn't show a single sign of believing me.
-I don't know what your intentions are for doing this. And I don't care. So I won't even say thank you.
-Why are you saying that to me? I'm doing this because I just want to die, so please fuck off!
Eventually, only after I yelled did Seolbong turn her back and disappear without adding another word.
Thinking about it now, I feel like I understand why Seolbong was so obsessed with life.
It must have been because of the illness she had.
Seolbong was the one who struggled more than anyone else here to survive.
In her eyes, I must have looked like a real piece of shit.
Because I didn't care when I died and had absolutely no desire to live.
Even if I look at it now, I would have wanted to tear the me from back then to pieces.
No, I definitely would have torn him to pieces.
I was that much of an idiot.
And because of that.
There was something I couldn't understand even more.
Right after we had that argument.
Seolbong appeared before me again not long after.
-I told you to fuck off, so why are you here again...
I frowned at the sight of Seolbong reappearing.
Because her hands were full of something.
-Eat.
It was demonic beast meat.
Food they had gathered to eat.
-Wow, are you really a crazy bitch?
-That's right. I'm a crazy bitch. So eat.
I was going crazy. Why did she bring this?
Why, when I was sitting out here trying to escape it all?
Moreover, the amount was huge.
With that much, there must have been people who couldn't eat.
-What am I supposed to do if you bring it like this?
-If you don't eat, I'll bring more. If you still don't eat then, I'll just throw it all on the ground so no one can eat it.
-Ha...?
No matter what I said, Seolbong genuinely intended to do exactly that.
Her eyes were dead serious.
She really planned to throw it all away if I didn't eat.
Just why?
Why on earth was she going this far for me? I stared at Seolbong, completely unable to understand.
-So eat.
Seolbong threw the exact same words at me as she did at first.
-And live. I don't know about situations where you have no choice. But if it's a situation where you can live, then live.
-…You.
It was an abnormal obsession with life. She was a woman who seemed to have no openings, yet she looked somehow broken.
Why was she so obsessed?
I couldn't understand the reason back then.
I was too young and lacking at the time to figure it out.
But the one thing I could roughly understand from that was,
That the woman named Seolbong was twisted in some way, just like me.
And I felt a faint sense of kinship from that.
Surely, that must have been why.
-…Tsk.
The reason I accepted the food while stubbornly holding onto my pride.
The reason I agreed without a word when Seolbong later asked me to sacrifice myself.
It was probably all because of this short memory.
"…Why are you looking at me like that?"
Moyong Huia tilts her head at my gaze.
Right, it's not Seolbong (Snow Phoenix), but Moyong Huia.
"Just, suddenly remembered the old days."
"The old days? When? When we first met?"
"Something like that."
"Come to think of it, it's already been a few years. You were younger then and prettier, you know."
Moyong Huia says, as if disappointed.
That was really funny.
It hasn't even been that long.
"You're smiling again. What's so funny? Or is it really because you were prettier back then?"
"Well."
I thought about it for a moment and then casually let out,
"I didn't know back then. But you seem pretty now."
"…What?"
In those days when I didn't even have the energy to examine Moyong Huia's face.
Unlike those times when I didn't even try to look into her, our relationship has changed a lot.
'You no longer scowl at me.'
Ah, she does sometimes, but I could catch a glimpse of the emotions in her eyes, so it didn't feel bad.
That's why I've been making an effort to look at her face lately.
And looking at her, I realized she is kind of pretty.
"Wh-what? Why are you saying that all of a sudden?"
Moyong Huia's face turns red at my words.
Her skin is so white that it was very noticeable.
"Did the skewer go bad...? No, that's strange...."
"How can you look at a person like that."
"Are you very sick, Young Master? The Divine Physician didn't say anything, though...?"
"Sick? Who's sick... wait."
One thing caught my attention from Moyong Huia's words.
"Why is the Divine Physician coming up here?"
"Ah."
At my pointing it out, Moyong Huia makes an 'oops' expression.
"Don't tell me.... Are you going around asking the Divine Physician about the condition of my body?"
"No. That couldn't be."
"..."
I look at her suspiciously.
The Divine Physician wasn't the type to carelessly go around talking about a patient's condition.
I believed she definitely wouldn't.
"Ah, it's hot. It's really hot, isn't it, Young Master? Let's go eat something cool."
Moyong Huia walks ahead as if trying to change the subject.
Looking at her back, I chuckled.
"Good grief."
Perhaps because Moyong Huia never usually made mistakes, she would get quite flustered whenever she did make one.
That sight was a little cute....
'…Hmm?'
I stopped mid-thought and froze.
Cute? Did I just think Moyong Huia was cute?
'I must be really tired.'
I must not be in my right mind.
Otherwise, there was no way I'd think that.
I shook my head and followed Moyong Huia, who was walking ahead, but
"Wait. We have to go together."
Moyong Huia, whose ears had turned red, didn't stop walking even when I called out to her.
******************
After that, we visited a few more inns.
Fortunately, unlike the trading company and inn we saw earlier, there was nothing particularly strange.
It was around the time we reached the afternoon, having passed noon.
"This concludes the trading company business."
Moyong Huia said, holding a thick stack of letters in her hand, unlike at first.
Hearing that, I couldn't help but scowl.
"What do you mean, 'this concludes the trading company business'?"
"Yes?"
"Then you're saying there's more work?"
When I asked, seemingly flustered, Moyong Huia smiled and said,
"Don't worry. The rest won't take that long."
So there is more work, is what she's saying.
"…Do you usually work this much?"
"No. It's also the settlement day that comes once every two months. And it's easier to rotate personnel if I make a surprise visit."
Rotate personnel... It definitely wouldn't mean actual water, but people.
"Did I really have to get dragged out on a day like this?"
"It's not 'a day like this'. I deliberately brought you out on this day."
"What...?"
"That way, it makes for a good excuse to keep you around for a long time, doesn't it?"
Moyong Huia continued walking, letting out her characteristic honeyed tone.
All the while, she never let go of my arm that she was holding to drag me along.
Unlike earlier when we wandered around town, we were now walking along a forest path.
"Where are we going now?"
No matter how I looked at it, it didn't seem like a place where a trading company would be.
Because it was summer, there were a lot of bugs, and the heat and humidity were palpable.
Since Moyong Huia absolutely detested bugs, I spread my Qi network around the vicinity so they wouldn't touch her.
"There's a task the Master has been working on recently."
"A task?"
"Yes. She bought a plot of land on one side of the forest and is constructing a building."
I've heard of it.
The reason Beomdong came to visit me before was also because of that.
'It was because Ttoltori landed on the land purchased by the Baekhwa Trading Company.'
Thinking about it that way.
"…Here."
"That's right. That's the place. The land where you arrived."
It was exactly the spot where I had arrived riding Ttoltori.
"Part of the reason is also to keep a tighter grip on our affiliated trading companies and inns because of that."
"What on earth is she trying to build?"
"An Escort Agency (Biauju)."
"…What?"
I tilted my head as soon as I heard the words.
An Escort Agency?
"Baekhwa Trading Company is establishing an Escort Agency?"
"Yes."
It didn't make sense.
A trading company establishing an escort agency.
That wasn't particularly strange.
Especially in a time like this when demonic beasts were rampant, there were cases where trading companies operated their own escort agencies.
Since they couldn't always rely on hiring martial artists for escort duties, they would sometimes set up their own escort agency to use.
Given that.
"Baekhwa Trading Company already has one."
Baekhwa Trading Company also already operated an escort agency.
Was it the Baekhwa Escort Agency? I had heard it was operated alongside the main branch of the Baekhwa Trading Company, but in that situation....
'They're building another Escort Agency in Henan?'
And of all places, Henan.
It was a location where no one even thought of establishing an escort agency because the Murim Alliance and Shaolin were there.
Also.
"…Did the Alliance approve this?"
To establish an escort agency here, they had to officially receive permission from the Alliance.
However, I had never heard of the Alliance approving the establishment of an escort agency in Henan until now.
"That part is still before approval, but... the Master said she has a way."
She has a way.
If Lady Mi was saying that much, she definitely had something up her sleeve.
"So, she just bought the land first and is now putting up the building?"
"Yes. I heard they started preparations today, so we're on our way to see it."
Not long after hearing that, sounds could be heard from within the forest.
Thump-! Thump-!
-Hey! Be careful with the wood!
-Master Jang-!! The framework here doesn't fit-!!
It sounded like master carpenters constructing a building.
Do I just head that way?
Just as I was about to follow the sound and move,
"Not that way, Young Master."
"Hmm?"
Moyong Huia pulled my arm and started heading in a different direction.
"Where are we going? The construction is happening over there."
"You can see the building later. Since they just started raising it today, there's no need to go out of your way to look."
"Hmm?"
"What we... no, precisely, what you need to see is not the building, but the people."
"Hmm?"
She wants me to look at people?
I wondered what she meant by such unexpected words.
Walking as if being dragged along, an empty lot appeared not far away.
It didn't seem like it was naturally formed.
It looked like a place that had been artificially cleared.
And from there, I could feel a dense, viscous aura.
'What is this.'
People were gathered in the empty lot, and this was the aura emanating from them.
An aura that was incredibly dense, at that.
Even at a rough glance, there were over dozens of people, but....
'They're all at least First-Rate.'
Their individual levels were extraordinary.
"Who are these people?"
Wondering what the situation was, I asked Moyong Huia.
"They're all prospective Biaoshi (Escort Guards)."
"…?"
All of those people are Biaoshi?
Prospective Biaoshi, at that?
'But why are their levels like that?'
A First-Rate Biaoshi would be at the level of a Biaotou (Escort Head), but they aren't even Biaoshi, just prospective Biaoshi?
Unable to understand, I was about to voice my questions when,
"It seems the Master intends to create a rather special Escort Agency."
Moyong Huia, as if noticing my question, added an explanation.
"So she gathered people of that caliber just for that?"
First-Rate was the bare minimum, and there were those above that.
It meant that the vast majority were far too outstanding to be mere escort guards.
"Anyway, that's why I'd like you to help out with something."
"…What kind of help?"
"We need to select exactly seven from over there... I think it would be fine if you screen them and pick out the good ones."
"..."
She was asking me to be a judge.
A judge for selecting Biaoshi.
Feeling somewhat absurd at the situation, I let out a hollow laugh and looked at the people.
The dozens of people all had terrible expressions.
Well, being gathered under the scorching sun for an examination, they wouldn't be too pleased.
Especially for First-Rate experts, they must have absolutely no patience for this.
Listening to her, I looked around.
'Fifteen First-Rate and nine Peak... And there's even a Perfected Peak?'
How could people of that level come to be Biaoshi? It was a wonder she could even gather them.
Just as I was casually observing them one by one,
"…Huh?"
My moving gaze locked onto a specific spot.
At the very back of the numerous people.
While everyone else was visibly full of irritation, there was one person who was uniquely expressionless.
My gaze was fixed on that spot.
'…What…?'
My eyes widened the moment I saw the person.
Not only was it a familiar face, but it was also a face that shouldn't be here.
Our eyes met.
The other person had already noticed me, and as our eyes met, they lightly waved their hand at me.
It seemed like a gesture of greeting, but I couldn't react to it.
Just why.
'…Why is that person here?'
Why is the Cheonma (Heavenly Demon) here?
I couldn't understand it at all.