Episode 1
Chapter 1: The Baekri Clan’s Fiancé (1)
Someone asked Sima.
“Who was the strongest warrior in this world?”
Sima answered.
“As far as I know, Jang Seonu was the only one.”
“Then who was the most human warrior in this world?”
Sima answered again.
“That, too, was Jang Seonu.”
“Then who was the most evil warrior in this world?”
Sima answered almost before the question finished, as if he had no need to think.
“Once again, it was Jang Seonu.”
“Then was this Jang Seonu a demon?”
“No. He was a nightmare. An unending nightmare. To me, he truly was a nightmare. The martial world also suffered tremendous chaos because of him. That is why he was called the Freak God.”
* * *
The Baekri Clan of Shaanxi was a prestigious family renowned even in the martial world.
Baekri Cheon, the former clan head, was a renowned expert even in the Northern Jeongmaeng, which was called the leader of the northern martial world, and the current clan head, Baekri Un, also possessed great fame as an expert.
Baekri Un had two sons and one daughter. His sons were rumored to be prodigies, and his daughter was so beautiful that marriage matchmakers came calling every day.
Baekri Un intended to choose one among the many martial families to marry off his daughter, Baekri Yuha.
But today, he was struck by a bolt from the blue.
“F-Father. What do you mean by that? Yuha already has a fiancé?”
To Baekri Un’s question, the former clan head, Baekri Cheon, let out a chortle.
Baekri Cheon was over seventy years old and suffered from severe dementia.
For a martial artist who had trained his mind and body, the dementia had come early.
“Th-that! What was it? Ah! Yes. I made a promise with a man named Jang Hamyeong. We said we would match our grandchildren together later.”
Baekri Un was momentarily dumbfounded by this memory from his father that he was hearing for the first time.
What kind of person was this Jang Hamyeong, that he had arranged a marriage for young Yuha with him?
To his knowledge, there was no person named Jang Hamyeong in the martial world.
“Is it a prestigious family of the martial world that I am unaware of?”
Just in case, Baekri Un asked.
“No. It’s that, what do you call it…… Ah! Right. He lives in a place called Hwangungok in Yodong.”
“Yodong?”
“Yes, Yodong. Or is it Yodong? I’m probably remembering right.”
As Baekri Cheon shook his head uncertainly, Baekri Un let out a deep sigh.
Hoo!
“I have already promised her in marriage to the son of Hwang Jian, a renowned expert of the Northern Cheonmaeng.”
“What?”
Baekri Cheon glared at Baekri Un, his eyes widening as he bellowed.
Baekri Un gulped as his father glared at him fiercely.
No matter how demented he was, his father, Baekri Cheon, was a formidable expert.
And he had a violent temper.
“No! Call it off! And bring Jang Hamyeong’s grandson here and marry them.”
But Baekri Un knew that this time, no matter what, he could not back down.
“That is impossible, Father. How could I marry Yuha off to some man I don’t even know?”
“Silence! That man named Jang Hamyeong is a great expert.”
At his father’s words, Baekri Un showed a hint of interest.
If he was an expert, that changed things.
“To what extent is he an expert, Father?”
“He killed the Blood Palm Demon.”
Baekri Un bowed his head deeply at his father’s answer.
The Blood Palm Demon was a demonic master who had been renowned as one of the Ten Great Experts of the martial world.
Though he was the expert who occupied the very last, tenth place.
Yet the one who had killed the Blood Palm Demon was none other than his own father, Baekri Cheon.
Through that deed, Baekri Cheon had risen to fame in the martial world.
“Father. Was it not you who killed the Blood Palm Demon?”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
When Baekri Un answered with a vigorous nod, Baekri Cheon tilted his head.
“Did I do that?”
“Yes. You definitely said so yourself.”
“I suppose I might have.”
Baekri Cheon rolled his eyes round and round, perhaps unable to remember.
“Father. May I proceed with Yuha’s marriage now?”
Thinking this was his chance, Baekri Un brought up the marriage again, and Baekri Cheon bellowed once more.
“No! If you proceed with the marriage behind my back, know that this clan will be destroyed!”
Since his father was so stubborn, Baekri Un could only sigh repeatedly.
* * *
“You must understand the situation.”
Baekri Un took his daughter, Baekri Yuha, aside and told her about the unknown fiancé.
“If you were to marry and then that certain someone came claiming to be your fiancé, our clan would be unable to show our faces to the Hwang family, would we not?”
“What do you intend to do about this matter, Father?”
When Baekri Yuha asked, her pretty lips moving, Baekri Un let out another deep sigh.
“Hoo! What choice do I have? I have no choice but to meet this so-called fiancé of yours. I hope he doesn’t remember, but if he does, I intend to persuade him to break off the engagement.”
“Then I must go as well. I need to see for myself what kind of person he is, that Grandfather would decide on a marriage without even seeing his face.”
“Yodong is quite far from here. The round trip will take a full two months.”
“It doesn’t matter. It concerns my future, so I will verify it and decide for myself.”
When his daughter showed such stubbornness, Baekri Un had no choice but to permit it.
“Then let us depart tomorrow.”
Yodong was far, very far.
It was not a distance one could cover in a day or two, even on horseback.
Moreover, this was Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha’s first time going to Yodong.
They somehow managed to ask for directions and find their way near Hwangungok in Yodong, only to find the way ahead even more obscure.
“From that mountain you see, going east about twenty ri is what they call Hwangungok.”
Hearing the old guide’s words, they felt a sigh escape them involuntarily.
Still, since they had come all this way, Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha began searching Hwangungok from the next day.
But even after searching for several days, they could not see a single house.
“I think Grandfather must have gotten the place wrong.”
“I think so too. Let us search only until today, then return home.”
Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha, who had wandered the mountain until sunset, finally gave up and began to descend.
But was that not an old man in the distance, pulling a horse hitched to a cart up the mountain path?
A strange thought occurring to him, Baekri Un rushed over to the old man.
“Allow me to ask. Is there a village in this Hwangungok?”
To Baekri Un’s question, the old man looked the father and daughter up and down, then asked with an expression that clearly showed annoyance.
“Why do you ask?”
“I have someone I must meet. They say he lives in Hwangungok, but I cannot tell where anything is……”
“Who is it you must meet?”
To the old man’s question, Baekri Un asked with anticipation.
“His name is Jang Hamyeong; do you know him?”
“If it’s him, that’s a different story. Get on.”
The old man abruptly pointed to the back of the cart.
Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha exchanged glances, then climbed aboard.
Once they were on the cart, the old man began to hum a tune and drove the horse onto the mountain path.
It was a dark, winding mountain path, but the horse the old man drove showed no hesitation, as if it knew the way.
Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha tilted their heads in confusion.
They, too, had climbed the mountain along this path.
But it had been a path that ended midway.
How long had they been climbing?
The horse suddenly turned to the right.
And continued pulling the cart into the darkness.
It was strange. Very strange.
When had this path ever existed?
“When I climbed a few days ago, there was only one path……”
“How could that be? I have traveled this path for decades.”
Since the old man spoke with such confidence, Baekri Un thought they must have been mistaken about something, and asked something else.
“Do you know this Jang Hamyeong well?”
“Know him well? He was the village chief of our village. Now his son serves as the village chief.”
Village chief. Village chief, of all things.
He had thought the man would at least be the master of a small martial hall in the village.
But a village chief?
He hadn’t expected much from a remote mountain village, but this was far too disappointing.
“Does this Jang Hamyeong have a grandson?”
Baekri Yuha asked in her father’s stead.
The old man cackled.
“Kekekeke…… You must be speaking of Young Master Seonu. He is a very fine man. Have you come to meet our young master?”
The old man asked Baekri Yuha, seeming pleased as if something had clicked.
“No.”
When Baekri Yuha denied it, the old man muttered regretfully, as if lamenting.
“He’s a truly remarkable man. If I had a granddaughter, I would try by any means to push her in as even a concubine. The village chief’s family are all remarkable, but……”
She couldn’t even sigh.
How remarkable could a village chief in a backwater village possibly be?
The cart wound around the mountain path and began descending again.
At some point, the dense forest path opened up, and in front of them, vast rice paddies and fields became visible under the moonlight.
It was a night where only the moonlight diluted the darkness, but Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha were momentarily captivated by the atmosphere of the mountain village.
Going deeper in, the village was situated in the midst of the paddies and fields, and the lights brightening the night seemed to number more than seventy households.
Moreover, the sound of falling water in the darkness—perhaps from a nearby waterfall—refreshed the heart, making it seem like a place one would want to visit when free.
The cart bypassed the village, turning onto another path toward a place slightly separated from the hamlet.
That place also seemed to form a small village, with over twenty thatched houses visible.
The old man halted the horse at the village entrance and spoke as if instructing Baekri Un.
“You must never be rude to the people living here.”
Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha were about to express their gratitude to the old man, then closed their mouths.
What did he take them for, telling them not to be rude?
“Guests have arrived!”
The old man shouted once toward the thatched houses, then climbed back onto his cart.
As soon as the old man’s cart departed, a man who looked to be in his late forties to early fifties walked out from one of the thatched houses with a bright smile.
“Welcome. I am Jang Muho, the chief of this village.”
Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha lightly cupped their fists in greeting at the village chief’s introduction.
Since the man’s surname was Jang, it seemed they had found the right family.
“I am Baekri Un of the Great Baekri Clan.”
“I am Baekri Yuha.”
“You’ve come a long way. Please, come in.”
Though it was a sudden visit, the warm welcome showed it was not a place lacking in hospitality, but it still fell far short of Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha’s expectations.
Jang Muho guided them to a thatched house, and Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha entered, hiding their displeasure.
They already knew it was a remote village and that he was a village chief, but they were people from a prestigious family renowned in the martial world.
They were not people who would ever set foot in such a thatched house even once in their lives.
At least, though it looked shabby from outside, the room was spotless, without a speck of dust.
With books visible on one side, he did not seem to be an ignorant farmer.
“This is such a remote mountain village that I have nothing proper with which to receive you.”
Baekri Un cleared his throat as Jang Muho personally poured tea from a kettle heated over a brazier to serve them.
Ahem! Hmm!
They had been traveling all day and were terribly hungry; serving nothing but tea was disappointing.
Jang Muho seemed to sense Baekri Un’s thoughts and spoke with a vague smile.
“My wife is preparing a meal. If you wait a moment, food will be served. But what brings you to a remote village like this?”
To Jang Muho’s question, Baekri Un asked in return.
“Do you know a man named Jang Hamyeong?”
At Baekri Un’s words, Jang Muho answered with a smile.
“He is my father. Have you come to find him? He is currently away from home, however.”
Baekri Un shook his head and began to recount the story he had heard from his demented father.