Chapter 133. And So, Silence Fell.
The day after I drank myself senseless.
I stared blankly at the backs of the Sword Demon, the Lust Demon, and Sima Bi, who had packed his things and were leaving for Baekeungji.
I had no way of knowing what effect our brief companionship had on the Sword Demon and the Lust Demon.
I do not know whether the Sword Demon and the Lust Demon realize it, but……
I did my utmost for the two of them.
I fed them pork bones, gave them rooms at Maehwa Pavilion, and shared Dukang wine with them.
I invited them to my hometown, showed them the forge where my weapons were being made, and even showed them Zaha Inn, which was still under construction.
If I had treated the two of them as enemies, I would not have allowed even one of those things.
I treated them with the hope that their lives might change.
I hope the Sword Demon will not one day wander through some desolate place and meet a lonely death.
And I hope the Lust Demon will not be driven into becoming a public enemy and flee to the Demon Cult.
That is my wish.
But everyone has their own life.
Now we must scatter again, train our martial arts, and resolve the problems life throws at each of us. If, in the meantime, the Sword Demon suddenly falls victim to the Demon Cult, and the Lust Demon causes trouble so that things flow similarly to my past life, then that too is an unavoidable fate.
Suddenly, on the hill road where they seemed about to disappear, the Sword Demon, the Lust Demon, and Sima Bi stopped walking and looked back at me, who was watching from the window of Maehwa Pavilion.
With my arms crossed, I exchanged glances with the Sword Demon.
“……”
Meanwhile, the Lust Demon threw away the strip of cloth he had stuffed in his nose.
Sima Bi bowed his head toward me.
I awkwardly raised a hand once.
“……See you again.”
The Sword Demon nodded, then turned around and soon vanished over the hill with his disciple and Sima Bi.
Now that Lust Demon bastard would train in ice arts again.
The Sword Demon would train with his wooden sword.
The same went for me.
Come to think of it, even that individually inclined Sword Demon left me with advice. His warning not to neglect my training while chasing my enemies. He was right.
That Lust Demon bastard, too, showed a measure of patience.
Though we fed each other dirt, grabbed each other by the hair, and amicably exchanged fists and slaps, what mattered was that, even while fighting so disgracefully, we never used our internal energy to the very end.
Even while going mad over women, suffering from madness, and overcoming heart demons……
A promise was a promise.
After harassing and threatening Hyeokryeon Hong, who had received the handover from Sima Bi regarding the affairs of Ilyang County, in all manner of words once more, I patrolled Ilyang County for the first time in a while.
Only after confirming with my own eyes that people were starting their daily lives without any particular trouble, no different from usual, did I quietly leave Ilyang County.
Where the Hao Sect Leader was staying, and what he was doing……
There was no need for the Hao Sect members to know in detail.
***
I kicked the main gate of the Black Cat Gang wide open and entered as if launching a surprise attack.
All of the Black Cat Gang’s men had their heads planted against the ground, hands clasped behind their backs.
“……”
So Gunpyeong approached me in alarm.
“You’ve arrived?”
I nodded, then looked at the men. One of them suddenly sprang to his feet and cupped his fist to me.
“Gang Leader, you’ve arrived!”
Then all the men who had been hesitating sprang to their feet and cupped their fists to me in unison.
“Gang Leader, you’ve arrived!”
“Yeah, sure.”
I asked So Gunpyeong.
“Did something happen? Why is everyone planting their heads?”
So Gunpyeong replied.
“Yes, Gang Leader. Lately, more of them have been slacking off, so we were specially training their foreheads.”
I answered in a solemn tone.
“Good. Forehead training is essential for people of the jianghu.”
“It is.”
“It’s effective when defending against forehead flicks, too.”
“Correct.”
I said to the men.
“Plant your heads until you have foreheads of steel.”
“Yes!”
As the men planted their heads again, I passed by So Gunpyeong and said,
“You’re working hard.”
So Gunpyeong replied with a broad grin.
“Yes.”
When I passed through the outer courtyard and entered the inner courtyard, a sparring match was in full swing. My junior brothers of the Twelve Divine Generals and Ho Yeoncheong were seated around, watching the match. In the center, Cha Seongtae was being joyfully beaten by someone.
Cha Seongtae had, out of nowhere, wrapped a white band around his head, and each time he swung his sword, he was invariably struck by a fan and grimaced hard.
From the looks of it, Junior Brother Baek Yu was busily thrashing Cha Seongtae.
A moment later, Cha Seongtae was struck squarely on the forehead by the fan and fell on his backside.
Baek Yu was the first to notice me and spoke.
“Eldest Senior Brother, you’ve arrived.”
After receiving the greetings of my junior brothers and Ho Yeoncheong, I glared at Cha Seongtae, who was sitting collapsed on the ground.
“Seongtae, it’s truly commendable that you’re still alive.”
Cha Seongtae touched his own forehead and said to me,
“You’ve arrived, Sect Leader.”
Blood spread from Cha Seongtae’s forehead, and the white band was gradually being dyed red. I naturally checked Baek Yu’s condition.
To my surprise, Baek Yu was sweating from his forehead.
I said to Baek Yu,
“Junior Brother Rooster, I guess even beating Cha Seongtae makes you sweat a little?”
Baek Yu smiled awkwardly and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“No? I was sweating because it’s hot.”
“It is hot.”
“Yes.”
I held out my hand to Cha Seongtae, who was too exhausted to even stand. Cha Seongtae grabbed my hand and got to his feet.
I looked around at those in the inner courtyard and said,
“Has everyone been well?”
“Yes.”
“Why does it feel like it’s been so long since I last saw you?”
Cha Seongtae replied,
“Because it really has been a long time.”
I looked at the blood flowing from Cha Seongtae’s forehead and answered,
“You’ve become wise while I wasn’t looking.”
“Thank you.”
“Wipe the blood.”
“Yes.”
“Your skull isn’t cracked, is it?”
“It didn’t break.”
“Good. Continue.”
Only then did I step into the main hall, only to stop short. The top of the long table set up in the hall was in utter disarray.
It was a chaotic sight, as if someone had arranged a formation out of documents.
Chief Steward Byeok sprang up from his seat, then grimaced and grabbed his back.
“Aigo, my back……”
“……”
“Y-you’ve arrived.”
“Chief Steward Byeok, you’ll run out of breath. Get up a little more slowly.”
“Yes.”
I moved to the seat of honor while looking at the documents scattered messily across the table.
“Wow, what is this, some formation made of paperwork? Even Zhuge Liang would get trapped in this.”
“Haha… You flatter me.”
“That wasn’t praise.”
“Yes.”
To be honest, if all of this had been drawings by Chief Steward Byeok, I would have suffered qi deviation, but fortunately, it was all paperwork.
When I looked over the documents briefly, most of them concerned cash receipts and disbursements.
“Why have you made the cash ledger this messy?”
Chief Steward Byeok answered.
“Ah, I am practicing a format for recording cash receipts and disbursements. That is, Gate Master, you have quite a number of forces under you, do you not? It is difficult to organize them all at once, so……”
“In summary?”
“In other words, on the top row I write categories such as the Black Cat Gang, Plum Blossom Pavilion, Sihwaru, Black Fan Fort, and the Paegeom Society, and on the left-hand line I first write the order, while in the center I enter the amount. I am not sure whether I explained that properly.”
“Oh, so you researched and drafted a cash ledger format that lets everything be understood efficiently at a glance. Is that it?”
Chief Steward Byeok answered with a delighted expression.
“That is correct. No one understood what I was doing, but you grasped it at once.”
I nodded.
‘I pretty much guessed right.’
Chief Steward Byeok explained.
“I intend to complete about three of these formats and pass them on to the deputy stewards of each branch.”
“Who are the deputy stewards?”
“That is something you will have to decide in due course, Gate Master.”
“I see. This time, I visited a force called the Blood Night Palace.”
“Yes.”
“One of their elders was a hundred and eleven years old.”
“That is an extraordinary old man.”
I tapped the table.
“Chief Steward Byeok, don’t work alone either. Teach a disciple. You need to divide up the easier tasks if you want to work for a long time. What is all this? Just looking at the table makes me feel like I’m falling into a formation. Clear it all away.”
“Understood.”
I shouted toward the inner quarters.
“Madam Son!”
A moment later, there was a clatter as Madam Son came running out.
“Gate Master, you’re here?”
“Our Son Soso, Madam Son.”
“Yes.”
“As of today, I appoint you as Chief Steward Byeok’s disciple.”
“Pardon?”
“Shut up. Learn every task related to cash receipts and disbursements. I’ll appoint you as chief deputy steward in a hundred days, so learn properly.”
“Understood.”
“Help him organize this.”
I said to the two of them as they cleared the table.
“Make it so that the two of you can later train the stewards of each branch.”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, when I looked outside the wide-open main hall, Cha Seongtae was flying through the air. It did not look like he was flying by using lightness skill, but rather like he was flying after being beaten.
“Aigo, he lives so diligently. So diligently.”
As Chief Steward Byeok organized the documents, he reported only the essentials to me.
“The wealth the Paegeom Society had accumulated was tremendous. Hong Shin and Divine General Geumhae worked hard transporting it, and following Divine General Geumhae’s suggestion, they safely deposited it in the Ten Thousand Gold Bank.”
“Ten Thousand Gold Bank?”
“Yes.”
“Why, of all places, the Ten Thousand Gold Bank……”
“Do you know it?”
“Isn’t it a bank protected by the Martial Alliance? They would have asked about the source of the funds, and the procedures must have been complicated.”
“That is correct. Which means it can be called the safest bank. And when Divine General Geumhae entrusted the funds to them, he revealed that we were the Hao Gate and used your name, Gate Master. Surprisingly, the Ten Thousand Gold Bank requested information from the Martial Alliance, and approval came after only three days, so we were able to entrust it to them. If we had been refused, we would have suffered moving it again.”
“The Martial Alliance approved it right away?”
“Yes.”
“Is Alliance Leader Im that meticulous with his work?”
Chief Steward Byeok looked at me in surprise.
“You know the Alliance Leader?”
“I met him briefly this time.”
“You went to the Martial Alliance?”
“It’ll be a long story if I talk about it, so let’s skip it.”
“Yes.”
“In any case, this means the name Hao Gate has been reported to the Martial Alliance.”
It felt as though I had moved one step farther away from being a public enemy of the martial world. Why was it that, while I felt relieved, a part of me also felt slightly disappointed?
Causing trouble was something I could do at any time, so even if I felt disappointed, there was nothing to be done.
Chief Steward Byeok, having more or less finished organizing the documents, sat down and said,
“From what I heard this time, it seems the Martial Alliance is gathering alliance members on a large scale. They are holding a martial contest, there are special recruitments, and they have posted notices here and there urging public enemies to turn themselves in. In particular, depending on one’s results in the martial contest, the Martial Alliance will select people as alliance members and external alliance members. Do you have no interest, Gate Master?”
I nodded.
“None.”
“Yes.”
Chief Steward Byeok looked at me with a broad grin.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Gate Master, in that case, how about sending some of our disciples?”
“Hm?”
“With the Twelve Divine Generals’ skills, one or two of them could enter the Martial Alliance through the martial contest.”
“That sounds like you’re suggesting we plant spies in the Martial Alliance. Do we need to do that?”
Chief Steward Byeok smiled craftily once again.
“One never knows what will happen in the world. Rather than using the unpleasant expression ‘spies,’ you can simply think of it as sending them to study abroad. It is not as if we are some evil black path force.”
“Wasn’t the Black Cat Gang part of the black path?”
Chief Steward Byeok answered in a firm tone.
“We are the Hao Gate.”
As the person who had created the Hao Gate himself, those words sounded unexpectedly refreshing.
“I forgot. I’ll think it over, so go see to your duties.”
After dismissing Chief Steward Byeok and Madam Son, I leaned my head back and put both feet up on the table.
“Haa…….”
Sleep was truly pouring over me like a waterfall.
If I closed my eyes like this, such exhaustion and drowsiness washed over me that I could not tell whether I would be falling asleep or falling into qi deviation.
When I let out a long, dragging yawn, tears welled slightly from both eyes.
As for how tired I was…….
I was tired enough that I could not get up and walk to the bed. With my eyes closed for a moment, I focused on the sounds coming from the Black Cat Gang.
“…….”
In the outer courtyard, So Gunpyeong was still roaring at his subordinates.
From the inner courtyard came sounds as if they were taking turns sparring, mixed with the laughter of the junior disciples teasing Cha Seongtae.
Farther inside, I could hear the maids whispering and the conversation between Chief Steward Byeok and Madam Son.
All these miscellaneous noises…….
barely settled the first symptoms of qi deviation that had nearly come upon me without warning. As light sleep and imagination mingled, the image of Sima Bi walking down the road with his traveling pack suddenly came to mind.
The Sword Demon’s expression, his mouth clamped shut once more…….
The Lust Demon, fussing with his hair this way and that even while walking down the road.
I also thought of Elder Heo’s face as he strolled through the Blood Night Palace with Yongmyeong’s support.
Suddenly, this thought came to me.
Like them, I, too, was living with all my might…….
The weight of sleep covering my entire body was proof of that.
Still, I could not afford to let my guard down, so I took the Flash Dagger from my robes, stuck it into the table, and then sought sleep. A mutter, directed at no one in particular, slipped out on its own.
“I’m going to sleep now.”
.
.
.
A short while later.
The Black Cat Gang was enveloped in a quiet stillness.
Because the returned Haomun Sect Leader was asleep.