Chapter 266. To Think Silence Could Be So Welcome.

“I’m Yaolan.”

It was a name meaning a beautiful orchid, not the sort of name a child would have. But no other name to call her came to mind right away.

“Yaolan.”

Yaolan and I sat in front of the gambling den, watching the gamblers flee and staring at the people who gathered as they passed by, saying they wanted to see the fight.

I kept my mouth shut as much as possible.

Because I was not in good condition, and there was a chance I might commit unnecessary slaughter in front of Yaolan. After waiting a while with my trap shut, the blood-soaked Lust Demon and Ghost Demon appeared at the entrance at the same time and glared at the onlookers.

While the Ghost Demon was rubbing the blood on his shoes against the ground to wipe it off, the Lust Demon spoke to the people who had gathered.

“……Get lost before I beat you all to death. Is this a show?”

I looked up at the two of them from where I sat.

“Are you hurt?”

The Lust Demon answered.

“As if. Nothing happened.”

The Ghost Demon gave no answer.

The two plopped down beside me, caught their breath, and watched the onlookers scatter. The smell of blood entered my nose, but there was nothing to be done about it. The Lust Demon merely had traces of torn clothing where various attacks had grazed him, but the Ghost Demon had already suffered internal injuries before fighting here, so he looked somewhat strained.

The Lust Demon turned his head and asked.

“What’s the little one’s name?”

I answered for her.

“She says she’s Yaolan.”

Suddenly, the Ghost Demon reached out and called to a young woman among the onlookers.

“Come this way.”

The entertainer who had fled from Giseonhyang approached hesitantly. Feeling as though reinforcements had arrived, I introduced Yaolan to the young woman.

“This is Yaolan. Yaolan, say hello to your big sister.”

Yaolan stood up and said to the young woman.

“I’m Yaolan.”

“My name is Yaryullyeon.”

Only now did I learn the young woman’s name. Fortunately, Yaryullyeon was quick-witted, so she sat down beside Yaolan without asking anything.

In truth, it is no easy matter for bastards like us to return with a child in tow. We had to feed her and put her to bed, and all three of us were useless bastards who could never have done such things before.

I asked Yaryullyeon.

“For now, we’re thinking of returning to our hometown. Would you come with……”

Before I could finish speaking, Yaryullyeon answered.

“I’ll go too.”

I did not bother bringing up anything else at a moment like this.

“All right. Let’s go together.”

Originally, cleaning up the gambling den and the underground auction house would have been the proper course, but I gave up because of the child. More black-path experts connected to the auction house might come swarming in.

Seeing as the Ghost Demon was keeping quiet, I thought he seemed to be hiding an injury, and at times like this, the answer was simply to run.

* * *

The Moyong Medical House.

Moyong Baek, who had been drying medicinal herbs in the sunlight with the medical women inside, rose and stared blankly at us.

“……”

In my eyes, Moyong Baek’s expression looked truly complex and subtle. I looked at Moyong Baek for a while together with the Lust Demon, the Ghost Demon, Yaryullyeon, and Yaolan, then showed off my injured arm as if bragging.

“It isn’t broken.”

Moyong Baek nodded.

“Well done.”

The Lust Demon and Ghost Demon had no serious injuries, but their faces were full of needle-like wounds, and Yaryullyeon and Yaolan surely did not look like children of a wealthy family either. When people travel, they are bound to look worse than usual.

Moyong Baek looked at my arm, which had been roughly and carelessly tied with cloth, appreciated the Lust Demon’s tattered clothes, and also looked at the Ghost Demon’s face.

After examining us closely, Moyong Baek finally spoke to me.

“Have you joined the Beggars’ Sect?”

“What an astonishing idea. The sect master of a sect cannot throw aside his household and join the Beggars’ Sect.”

When I answered deliberately seriously, Moyong Baek nodded.

“My apologies. Please come in.”

Moyong Baek said to the medical women.

“……The Sect Master has sword wounds, Master Yukhap seems to have suffered some internal injuries, and give Young Master Mong a proper set of clothes. His clothes are far too torn.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Soso, you and the others look after the Sect Master first. Sua, prepare Yanghwa Decoction. Jeongha, stand guard outside for just one hour. If anyone comes, immediately shout and let us know. The child and the young lady are visiting for the first time, so I will examine them first. Put away everything that was drying and come in.”

“Understood.”

After sending the others in first, I looked at Moyong Baek.

“Have you been well? Your training?”

Moyong Baek answered.

“I have been training very fiercely.”

“Good. Let’s go in.”

“Yes.”

* * *

Heuk Soryeong, whom I had not seen in a long time, said to me.

“Sect Master, please lie down.”

When I lay down on the bedding, Heuk Soryeong drew a screen. Then Baek Soa came in carrying various tools and looked at me.

“Sect Master, hello.”

I nodded and answered.

“I am not hello. Can’t you tell at a glance?”

Baek Soa answered with a calm expression, unlike before.

“I see. Sect Master, I’ll check your arm. Oh dear, you should have come sooner. The cloth is stuck all over because of the scabs. Why did you come so late?”

A sigh escaped me on its own.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

A moment later, Heuk Soryeong also peeled away the bloodied cloth stuck to my arm, then moistened a clean cloth with water and first wiped down my entire arm. Heuk Soso and Baek Soso, whom I had not seen in a while, had changed completely in bearing.

As soon as Heuk Soryeong smeared a black medicine on the cloth, she said to me.

“Sect Master, this will sting a little.”

“Ah!”

“It’s just disinfectant. Why are you being so dramatic?”

“……”

After Heuk Soso and Baek Soso disinfected the wounded area and wiped around it with a dry towel, they looked into the largest wound.

Baek Soa said to Heuk Soryeong in a composed tone.

“We’ll have to stitch it, won’t we?”

“Shall I do it?”

“No, I’ll do it. Sect Master, we’ll have to stitch you up. Please wait.”

I asked the two of them.

“You mean you’re going to sew it? Is it that bad?”

“Yes.”

This must be why people ought to live kindly. In the past, two people had fainted because of me, but now, a short while later, Baek Soa was sticking a needle into my arm and pulling it back out. If there had been poison on it, I would have had no choice but to take it. I watched the bloodied needle rise into the air and asked.

“You’re not making it hurt on purpose, are you?”

“I have to pierce this deep.”

“There’s too much blood.”

“Of course there’s blood when I stab you with a needle.”

“Confirmed.”

A short while later, I looked at my tightly stitched arm and praised Black-White Soso.

“Your embroidery skills are excellent.”

“I was good at embroidery even before I came here. Clan Master, do you still go around fighting every single day like this?”

“Can’t you tell by looking?”

Baek Soa whispered to me.

“Ah, these days, Master Moyong has been training in martial arts very diligently too.”

From somewhere across the room came Moyong Baek’s voice.

“Be quiet.”

“Yes.”

Heuk Soa warned me.

“Clan Master, if you use your arm too much, the stitches will tear. Please be careful for the time being.”

“How long is ‘the time being’?”

“It should heal in about thirty days.”

“What happens if they tear?”

“We’ll have to stitch it again. Ah, and no drinking until it’s fully healed.”

“Ah, damn it. Fine.”

“Rest for now. I’ll bring you a medicinal decoction later.”

I said to Black-White Soso.

“Ah, and Soso. Send someone to Zaha Inn and call Cha Seongtae for me. Tell him he needs to stand guard, and he’ll more or less understand. Make a bit of a fuss when you say it. That way, it’ll be more effective.”

“Understood.”

As I lay still, Moyong Baek’s voice continued calmly. Most of his questions were things like, Did the Clan Master not buy you anything tasty? Did he drag you here by force? It left me bewildered.

‘That lunatic is asking the weirdest things.’

In any case, all I heard was that Yaryul Yeon and Yoran did not have any particular illness, and that they only needed to take some medicine to calm their startled minds.

Since Moyong Baek was here, there should not be any serious problem for us. I listened for a while to Moyong Baek and the Ghost Demon discussing internal injuries, then fell asleep without realizing it. I had stayed up most nights with my eyes wide open on the way here, so it was a rare, brief, sweet sleep.

...Half-asleep, I woke to the sound of Cha Seongtae’s voice, then fell asleep again. There are times when I sink into sleep as though being submerged in water, and this was one of them. After that, I opened my eyes to the unfamiliar sound of a tungso flute.

“……What is that? Who’s playing the tungso?”

I kicked off the blanket someone had placed over me and climbed down from the bed. After taking my wooden sword, I lifted the screen and stepped out, almost at the same time as the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon, and our eyes met.

The three of us went outside the Moyong Medical House and looked at Cha Seongtae and Moyong Baek, who were standing side by side.

“Did someone come?”

Cha Seongtae turned and answered.

“Clan Master, you’re awake. I can’t see anyone. I can only hear the sound of the tungso.”

Moyong Baek said this.

“The sound is spreading quite far. I don’t think it’s meant for us to hear.”

“I see. Cha Seongtae, how’s your training?”

Cha Seongtae looked at me and answered.

“I’m training very fiercely. But.”

“But what?”

“Whenever I ask about something I’m curious about or struggling with, Monk Dongsu explains it very clearly, so I’m receiving a lot of help.”

While chatting idly, we left the front gate of the Moyong Medical House, looked around, and then sat around the wooden platform outside.

Cha Seongtae asked me.

“Is your arm all right?”

“It’s been stitched up, so it’s fine.”

“Yes.”

The gently continuing sound of the tungso stopped, and from the wide main road, a dozen or so people of the martial world approached the Moyong Medical House. They were all well dressed, and there were some tall, handsome men among them, so I could not tell whether they were allies or enemies.

Judging by their fine clothes and faces alone, I even thought they might be experts belonging to the New Southern Six Dragons. Their ages varied from their twenties to their forties, and their levels of martial arts were all different.

I asked the man wearing the most peculiar long robe among the group that had come to find us.

“Bigaek (Flying Guest)?”

Since it was the outfit I had seen in the description notice for the public enemies of murim, recognizing him was not particularly difficult. But seeing him in person gave off a different feeling. He had a sword at his waist much longer than an ordinary longsword, and he did not look like the leader of the group that had come with him.

Bigaek said to me.

“Pleasure to meet you, Hao Clan Master.”

“What’s your reason for visiting all the way here?”

The Lust Demon suddenly lay askew on the wooden platform and hurled curses at Bigaek.

“You dumb bastard. You must’ve come here to die.”

Bigaek’s party laughed lightly as he replied.

“Young Master Mong, pleasure to meet you. You’ve been quite active here and there lately.”

“Heukhyang was one of our business partners, and I’d like to ask why you smashed it up so thoroughly. Thanks to that, we couldn’t even properly receive payment for the goods we had entrusted to them. Those rat-like gamblers went in and stole all sorts of things. How do you intend to compensate for all these losses? First, I’d like to hear the Hao Clan Master’s answer.”

“Mm. So you’re saying you people are the clients who entrusted goods to Heukhyang?”

They were being so brazen that I was slightly bewildered.

“Then does that mean you’re a mix of kidnappers, thieves, suppliers of spiritual elixirs, hunters, poison makers, producers of obscene books, and slave traders? What were you thinking, coming to find me? Are you that overflowing with confidence that you’ll survive against me? Does my arm look crippled right now, so I look like a cripple to you?”

Bigaek’s party cackled and laughed.

Still lying down, the Lust Demon sneered at those laughing men.

“You plague-ridden bastards. You don’t even know you’re about to die, and you’re laughing your asses off.”

Bigaek answered.

“Young Master Mong, if you’re confident, I’ll face you first. Will you fight me one-on-one?”

The hot-blooded Cha Seongtae answered in his stead.

“……Hey, let’s do it with me.”

Bigaek looked at Cha Seongtae.

“And who are you?”

I stopped Cha Seongtae.

“Seongtae.”

“Yes, Clan Master.”

“Seeing you step forward so bravely makes my heart feel reassured.”

“Not at all.”

“But your opponent is an expert called Bigaek, a man publicly declared an enemy of murim. He’s a little too much for you to handle.”

When Bigaek, who had heard my explanation as well, grinned, Cha Seongtae looked at him.

“Don’t laugh, you son of a bitch. Is being a public enemy of murim something to be proud of?”

“…….”

Why did Cha Seongtae’s words make my insides sting?

Now that I had taken stock of those who had gathered, I felt I could understand to some extent why these bastards were so full of confidence. Mixed in among them were some whose strength was on par with Bigaek's, and there was surely an expert in poison as well. In other words, it meant that powerful experts befitting the title of public enemies of the martial world were all jumbled together.

Gwima was keeping his mouth firmly shut due to internal injuries.

In the midst of this, Saekma reassured us.

"……Just watch. I'll kill them all."

I reached up to my eyelids and wiped away tears that weren't even falling. To think I would ever hear such dependable words from Saekma.

Bigaek nodded and extended his hand forward.

"……Come out. Young Master Mong, I must see your Binggong skills."

Saekma had been snickering while lying sprawled out when he suddenly jumped in fright and scrambled up from the bench.

We fixed our gazes on where Saekma was looking.

Saekma bowed his head respectfully and spoke.

"……Master, you have arrived."

From across the road, Geomma and Martial Uncle Dongsu came into view, walking over with their hands clasped behind their backs. Geomma walked right up without so much as a glance at Bigaek's group and sat down on the bench.

I greeted my martial uncle first.

"Baldy, you're here? Good, good."

"Yes, Sect Leader."

Without saying a single word to us, Geomma stared intently at those who had gathered.

For some reason, Bigaek's group had also suddenly fallen quiet.

I had never been so glad for such a heavy silence arriving so abruptly. I deliberately said nothing until Geomma opened his mouth. A moment later, Geomma, who had been glaring at the enemies, spoke in a calm tone.

"……Your flute playing was quite pleasant. Won't you play some more?"

Bigaek's group offered no reply.