Chapter 319

“I am Ju Hwaran, Young Bureau Head of the Yongbong Escort Bureau. I pay my respects to Great Hero Hwangbo, the Taeeul Merciless Sword.”

Ju Hwaran gave a crisp, formal clasped-hands salute.

The Taeeul Merciless Sword, Hwangbo Eom, truly lived up to his reputation. Merely meeting his gaze made her chest tighten and left her struggling to breathe.

The First Sword of Zhongnan…

The Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families—the fifteen pillars supporting the Murim of today.

The man before her was the greatest master of the Zhongnan Sect, one of those fifteen powers. The immense weight of his name pressed down on her.

But it’s all right.

She had completed an escort mission everyone had agreed was impossible.

That was why she could stand tall even if the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord himself had come instead of the Taeeul Merciless Sword.

“Well? Did you bring the item I requested?”

“Of course.”

As she answered, Ju Hwaran took the wooden casket containing the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng from inside her robes. Straw rope was wound tightly around the entire casket, and a few small words had been written on its knot.

Shandong Seongsu Jang Family.

Hwangbo Eom checked the writing and nodded.

“No mistake. It bears the seal of the Seongsu Jang Family.”

People said that if Sichuan had the Tang Family, then Shandong had the Seongsu Jang Family.

That was how renowned the Seongsu Jang Family was for its medical arts. Unlike the Sichuan Tang Clan, a Murim great family, it was a prestigious medical family with its roots in medicine.

The Zhongnan Sect had purchased the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng through that very family and entrusted its transportation to the Yongbong Escort Bureau.

“The Pill Physician, the current Family Head of the Seongsu Jang Family, personally placed the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng inside and signed the casket.”

“Oh? The Pill Physician himself?”

“Yes. Several witnesses, myself included, watched the entire process.”

“You’re remarkably thorough for someone your age.”

Hwangbo Eom stroked his white beard with wrinkled fingers.

“This old man has heard that the Junzi Sword’s¹ daughter is a gifted young woman. Thank you for handling such a difficult assignment so reliably.”

“Our Yongbong Escort Bureau does not tolerate even the slightest mistake on an escort mission.”

“That must be why you’re called the best in Shaanxi. Our sect operates an Escort Bureau as well, but it cannot compare with yours. Ha ha ha.”

Ju Hwaran’s heart pounded.

Was it because Hwangbo Eom had praised her?

No. It had nothing to do with his praise. Something else was constricting her chest, and she knew the name of that feeling.

Anxiety.

Something is wrong.

It was an intuition bordering on foresight. But before Ju Hwaran could even begin to trace its source, Hwangbo Eom spoke.

“Well, only the final procedure remains.”

They would inspect the requested item, then each leave their signature to certify that the handover was complete.

After a simple procedure that would take less than the time needed to drink a cup of tea, the four-month escort mission that had cost them so dearly would finally come to an end.

That was how it was supposed to happen.

…But would it really?

A chill unlike anything she had ever felt crept up her spine.

Hwangbo Eom’s voice pierced her frozen ears.

“What are you waiting for? Show me the item.”

Ju Hwaran slowly raised her head.

His voice was kind and gentle, yet the old man’s pitch-black eyes gleamed with a strange light.

She barely managed to force the words past her red lips.

“…Great Hero Hwangbo.”

“Open the casket. With your own hands.”

Ju Hwaran realized it then—the source of her anxiety, and that she had nowhere left to retreat.

In the end, only one choice remained.

Rustle.

Her slender, trembling fingers began to untie the knot. The wooden casket she had kept close to her heart for the past four months suddenly felt alien, as though she were seeing it for the first time.

No. No, that can’t be. I’m certain. There’s no way…

And then—

Click.

At last, the wooden casket opened, revealing what lay inside. A pure fragrance, straight roots, and a frost-covered, snow-white body.

It was unmistakably snow ginseng. Yet everyone who saw it held their breath, their eyes widening.

Hwangbo Eom’s gentle voice rang through the suffocating silence.

“How amusing.”

He crooked one wrinkled finger, releasing a powerful stream of internal energy.

The snow ginseng floated into the air through Seizing an Object Through Empty Space as he continued.

“A Hundred-Year-Old Snow Ginseng… Is this old man seeing things because his strength has waned?”

It was obvious who the question was meant for.

Every gaze turned in the same direction. The horrified Chief Escort Heo Jun and Song Ilseom, who had been standing at a slant as though he weren’t there, were no exception.

At the end of those dozens of gazes stood Ju Hwaran, her face pale and her eyes closed.

It’s over.

The moment she saw the Hundred-Year-Old Snow Ginseng inside the casket, she had shut her eyes, unable to face the sight.

Something that could not and should not have happened had happened.

I saw it myself. I even kept it in my possession.

Where had everything gone wrong?

The past few months flashed through the darkness before her eyes like scenes from a dream.

She had staked the Yongbong Escort Bureau’s very survival on this mission.

The Zhongnan Sect had offered an enormous sum for completing it. But if they failed, the Bureau would have to pay ten times that amount as a penalty.

And now that double-edged sword had plunged into the hearts of both Ju Hwaran and the Yongbong Escort Bureau.

“I won’t ask how this happened. I have no interest in whatever extraordinary circumstances caused the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng to turn into a Hundred-Year-Old Snow Ginseng. However…”

Hwangbo Eom swept a look of feigned regret over Ju Hwaran and the other members of the Yongbong Escort Bureau.

“We will have to receive compensation for this matter.”

“……!”

“Our sect has already paid the Seongsu Jang Family one hundred thousand silver nyang² for the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. And if the Yongbong Escort Bureau successfully completed the mission, we agreed to pay an escort fee of ten thousand silver nyang²—one-tenth of the cargo’s value.”

The value of the lost Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, plus the tenfold penalty the Yongbong Escort Bureau owed for failing to fulfill the contract.

Together, they amounted to the astronomical sum of two hundred thousand silver nyang². It was an amount they could cover only by selling off most of what the Yongbong Escort Bureau owned.

Blood ran from Ju Hwaran’s lips as the realization struck her, and Chief Escort Heo Jun’s face went black.

“G-Great Hero Hwangbo, that is…!”

“Two hundred thousand silver nyang². I will permit no compromise.”

“A-Ah…”

The escorts who had accompanied Ju Hwaran groaned in despair.

Every one of them except Song Ilseom.

Though the Escort Bureau where he had worked for nearly ten years now faced a desperate crisis, he showed no reaction. Only the corner of his mouth twitched once.

Hwangbo Eom caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, then held out a full cup of tea to Ju Hwaran.

“Have a cup. When the mind is troubled, nothing is better than a warm cup of tea.”

Ju Hwaran’s long, tightly shut eyelashes trembled. Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared at Hwangbo Eom.

“Is this… Is this Zhongnan’s way?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

Hwangbo Eom laughed softly and raised his own teacup to his lips.

As expected, the tea was astringent. The young owner who had inherited the teahouse from his family was still inexperienced.

And yet, for some reason, the aroma and flavor lingering in Hwangbo Eom’s mouth now were incomparable to what he had tasted a moment ago.

“Very good. I feel as though I’ve gone back thirty years.”

“……!”

“What’s wrong? Drink before it gets cold.”

Ju Hwaran silently bit her lip.

She had been completely outmaneuvered. Even after taking every precaution, she had still fallen into the trap.

For the past two years, she had led the Escort Bureau in place of her father, the Junzi Sword,¹ Ju Hogun. She had endured all kinds of mistakes and failures, both large and small, but never had she faced anything as hopeless as this.

Can I rise again like before?

She had stumbled before, but she had never stayed down. Yet two hundred thousand silver nyang² was enough to crush the Yongbong Escort Bureau out of existence.

We can pay the penalty.

It was possible.

They would have to sell every field and parcel of land owned by the Yongbong Escort Bureau for a pittance, then send away the hundreds of caravan porters, escorts, and Escort Captains whose wages they could no longer afford.

And once that entire process was over, nothing would remain of the Yongbong Escort Bureau but an empty shell.

Is it really over? Just like this?

Hwangbo Eom watched Ju Hwaran with amusement.

He had long heard that the Young Bureau Head of the Yongbong Escort Bureau was quite capable.

But to him, she was still nothing more than a naive greenhorn.

Heh. How pitiful.

Just as Hwangbo Eom chuckled inwardly—

“Hmm?”

His gaze suddenly turned toward the door of the teahouse. Several people’s qi was drawing closer.

This is…

The qi was so powerful that even Hwangbo Eom, a Supreme Peak master, could not easily ignore it.

A vast reserve of internal energy comparable to that of an Elder from the Nine Sects and One Gang steadily approached, then stopped directly outside the teahouse.

Could it be Huashan?

Hwangbo Eom’s prediction was proven spectacularly wrong the next moment.

Creaaak.

“Oh, I was just in the mood for some tea, and look at that! A teahouse, right when I needed one.”

A broad-shouldered young man opened the door and strode in at the head of the group.

Hwangbo Eom’s eyes darkened as he looked at Jin Taekyung.

Even at a glance, it was an unusual sight.

Dozens of swordsmen stood throughout the room, and the air hung heavy.

Ju Hwaran—or rather, the Yongbong Escort Bureau?

The question had barely crossed my mind when I spotted them.

On top of a table surrounded by people, slender fingers trembled faintly.

I had only met her once, but I could tell who she was just from her fingers. Funny how that worked.

Were her hands pretty?

As I scratched the back of my head, everyone’s gaze flew toward me.

A middle-aged man who appeared to be the owner of the teahouse hurried over, bowing repeatedly.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but we’re completely full right now…”

“There’s a seat over there.”

“That seat isn’t in use.”

“Then I’ll drink standing up.”

At that moment, a martial artist who appeared to be a Disciple of the Zhongnan Sect approached with measured steps.

“Are you a martial artist?”

“No, I’m fat.”

The martial artist looked me up and down as if he were staring at a complete lunatic.

“I don’t know who you are or where you come from, but an important person is here right now. You would do well to leave.”

“I’m an important son in my own family too, so why should I? There’s plenty of room anyway.”

“……You’re being troublesome. I am a Disciple of the Great Zhongnan Sect. You should understand by now, so leave.”

“Why do you keep ordering me around? I just want to sit down and have some tea.”

Cheongpung, who had been fidgeting behind me, shouted excitedly.

“Benefactor! Candied sweets too!”

“Candied sweets? Hey, Mujin. Does this teahouse sell those too?”

“Are you seriously saying that right now?”

The Zhongnan Sect disciple looked at us as if to say, What the hell is wrong with these guys? Then he spotted someone, and his face stiffened.

“H-Huashan’s Lone Crane, Baek Museong!”

Maybe it was because this was Huashan’s home ground, but quite a few people here recognized Baek Museong.

In any case, the Zhongnan Disciple’s involuntary shout had an immediate effect. Unlike when we first entered, everyone was looking at us now.

Two gazes stood out from the rest.

I waved at one of them.

“Oh, we meet again.”

“…Young Hero Jin?”

Ju Hwaran stared at me with her pale face and wide, round eyes.

Across from her sat an old man with a long white beard.

I gave Ju Hwaran a small smile, then gazed at the old man.

“Is there some problem between you and Young Lady Ju?”

The old man—the Taeeul Merciless Sword, Hwangbo Eom—stroked his beard and laughed.

“An interesting fellow has appeared.”