“You’ve changed.”
Those were the first words Jin Wikyung spoke after we entered his office. He studied me carefully, then patted Jin Mukyung on the shoulder.
“You’ve worked hard.”
But despite the warm words, Jin Mukyung answered with a sullen expression.
“I almost called a mortician.”
“You really know how to say beautiful things.”
“You—whew. I’m letting that slide because Hyung-nim1 is here.”
“Thank you for that too.”
Jin Wikyung gave a short laugh and gestured for us to sit. I took a seat, sipped the warm tea, and looked around.
“This place has changed a lot too. It was a mess the last time I was here.”
The office was neat and orderly. When I had last visited fifteen days ago, the place had been a disaster, with all kinds of things strewn everywhere.
Now, even the table that should have been buried beneath stacks of documents was spotless.
“…It was a difficult time.”
Jin Wikyung muttered with a clouded expression.
“But it’s almost over. Just a little longer. I only have to hold out a little longer.”
“…”
This guy had lost half his mind too. Then again, he had handled that enormous workload all by himself. It would have been stranger if he were still perfectly sane.
If it were me, I would’ve fled in the middle of the night ages ago.
I was no exception, but martial artists were, to put it kindly, men of action and, to put it unkindly, blockheads. I wasn’t trying to disparage them. That was simply the truth.
The senior members of the family were much the same.
Some of that might have been because the Head Elder had installed puppets, but even the senior members who sided with Jin Wikyung were far from capable administrators.
Jin Wikyung had been born into a prestigious martial family, yet he was both a skilled administrator and an outstanding martial artist. In other words, he was the oddity.
“Just one day. I want to rest for just one day. I want to rest. I want to rest.”
As Jin Wikyung muttered the same words over and over like a man with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Jin Mukyung clicked his tongue.
“Thank goodness I was born second.”
I nodded.
“Agreed.”
Taking care of my family in the real world was already backbreaking. If I had entered Jin Wikyung’s body instead of Jin Taekyung’s when I first logged in…
It would have been nothing short of bleak.
The Jin Family of Taiyuan even had hundreds of retainers under its command. The only advantage was that, as the homeowner, I wouldn’t have to worry about my jeonse deposit2 going up.
“The eldest son is supposed to carry a heavy burden.”
Jin Mukyung snorted at my words.
“You have no right to say that, so shut up. Isn’t that right, Hyung-nim1?”
Jin Wikyung stared at me with moist eyes.
“How does he always manage to pick such touching things to say?”
“No, Hyung-nim1.”
“You’ve grown up. You really have.”
“…Can I curse at him?”
Despite Jin Mukyung’s icy words, Jin Wikyung seemed not to hear a thing. Still deeply moved, he spread both arms wide.
“Let me hug our youngest just once.”
“Yes, hyung1.”
“My youngest!”
Whump!
Jin Mukyung muttered with a face like he had bitten into something foul.
“This damned household. See if I ever come back.”
“Mukyung, you come here too.”
“No. I won’t, even if you beat me to death.”
“We’ve all gathered in one place for once, and you can’t grant your only older brother’s request?”
Jin Mukyung flinched at the hurt in his voice.
“…Just this once.”
The instant the words left his mouth, a hand as large as a pot lid dragged him in.
Buried against Jin Wikyung’s chest alongside me, Jin Mukyung silently mouthed:
“You. Are. Dead.”
Hmm. I’d better stay out of sight for a while.
Apparently he would be leaving soon anyway. I only had to avoid him for a few days.
If things get too bad, I can always log out.
I had completed the Quest, and I had already been thinking it was about time to return. There was also the matter of my contract with Team Leader Choi. More than anything, I was itching to test my newly refined martial arts in a Gate.
“Thank you. You two have given me strength.”
After ending the emotional embrace, Jin Wikyung dabbed at his eyes with his sleeve.
“There’s just so much work. So much work.”
“…”
He really must have been suffering.
The tears of a human weapon made me solemn in spite of myself. I patted Jin Wikyung on the back.
“Hang in there.”
Jin Mukyung, who had looked like death until moments ago, also gave Jin Wikyung a sympathetic look.
“Hyung-nim1. If it’s really that difficult, take this guy and put him to work.”
“…?”
What the hell was he talking about? Dumbfounded, I asked,
“Usually, at a time like this, shouldn’t you at least say, ‘I’ll help,’ even if you don’t mean it?”
Jin Mukyung answered confidently.
“A martial artist does not make empty promises.”
“Then why drag me into it while I’m sitting here?”
“You have plenty of time.”
“I don’t!”
“I have even less. I need to train. Besides, I’m hopeless with paperwork.”
“I was in the seventh tier at school!3”
“What nonsense is that?”
“It means I was terrible at studying.”
Jin Mukyung thought for a moment, then frowned.
“A completely useless bastard. Hyung-nim1, he does have good strength, so he would make an excellent laborer. I’ll be going now.”
“Wait.”
As Jin Mukyung swiftly turned to leave, a giant forepaw—no, hand—caught him by the nape. Its owner was, naturally, Jin Wikyung.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Pardon?”
“You have to hear why I called you two before you leave.”
“…What is it?”
Unease crept across Jin Mukyung’s face. I didn’t have a mirror, but I was probably wearing the same expression.
I smell trouble.
I had an uncanny nose for this sort of thing.
The smell of bad luck. The premonition that something bothersome was about to happen. Jin Wikyung’s next words turned that premonition into certainty.
“I need you to go to the Mount Heng Sword Sect.”
Ding.
System
- A Quest has been forcibly created.
“…”
Goddammit. Now it doesn’t even ask.
I stared at the translucent Quest window.
System
Quest
[Yesterday’s Enemy, Today’s Ally]
Now that the full truth has been revealed, the Mount Heng Sword Sect is no longer an enemy, but an ally with whom you must join hands. Invite them to the Jin Family of Taiyuan for the upcoming New Year’s Day.
Grade: First Rate
Restriction: Jin Taekyung
Mission: Deliver the invitation (Incomplete)
Reward: ???
Failure: None
After reading it two or three times, my initial bewilderment had mostly subsided.
Not bad.
The Quest wasn’t difficult, and there was no penalty for failure. It was a simple mission that would end as soon as I delivered the invitation.
More importantly…
Logout.
Ding.
System
- Would you like to log out?
That meant I could log out without any problems. Having a Quest forced on me still left a bad taste in my mouth, but this much was acceptable.
Not that I’m in a position to refuse anyway.
Unlike me, who had already accepted reality, Jin Mukyung was resisting with all his might.
“So…”
Jin Mukyung struggled to continue.
“You’re saying we should invite the Mount Heng Sword Sect for the coming New Year’s Day?”
Jin Wikyung answered,
“Yes. They are guests we cannot afford to miss.”
“Then why do we—or rather, why do I—have to go?”
“…”
Look at him, struggling to exclude himself.
Still, I agreed with part of his question.
Why us, specifically?
Jin Wikyung’s answer only made the question even bigger.
“The Sect Leader of the Mount Heng Sword Sect requested it personally.”
I blurted out a question before I could stop myself.
“The Sect Leader?”
I had watched the Blood Wolf Sword Lee Cheonbaek die right before my eyes. Lee Seogeun, the Second Young Master, had been poisoned, and the Young Sect Leader whom I had never even met had reportedly died an absurd death during a mounted-bandit raid on the undefended sect.
I thought the Mount Heng Sword Sect’s main force had been wiped out at Eight Spring Gorge too.
But the Sect Leader?
Jin Mukyung’s reaction was much the same.
“The damage must have been severe. I only heard about it through rumors, but wouldn’t it be understandable if they closed the sect’s gates?”
Jin Wikyung shook his head.
“They were once one of the pillars of Shanxi Murim. Don’t underestimate their foundations. If they have a rallying point, they can aim for a revival.”
A rallying point.
The new Sect Leader of the Mount Heng Sword Sect—the person who had requested that Jin Wikyung send Mukyung and me—seemed to be that new rallying point. I asked:
“Who is it?”
“Lee Seowol.”
“Lee Seowol? Lee Seowol…”
I had never heard the name before. Judging by the surname, there seemed to be some connection to Lee Cheonbaek.
“You don’t remember the name?”
“A hidden son? A distant relative? I’m not sure.”
“As expected, you don’t remember.”
“Pardon?”
What did he mean, I didn’t remember?
Is that someone I know?
As I tilted my head, Jin Wikyung gave me an odd look.
“The new Sect Leader of the Mount Heng Sword Sect is a woman. She is Lee Cheonbaek’s third child, the one and only younger sister of the deceased Young Sect Leader and Lee Seogeun.”
At that moment, a fragment of memory flashed through my mind.
The stage in my memory was the main arena. The actor was Lee Seogeun. His face was flushed bright red as he shouted at me:
“You shameless bastard! You tore my sister’s clothes and tried to violate her!”
Ah!
“Don’t tell me it’s her.”
“That’s right.”
“…Damn it.”
Only Jin Mukyung, who had no idea what we were talking about, blinked in confusion.
“What does that mean? Hey, do you know her?”
“Uh, well. You could say I do, and you could also say I don’t.”
“What the hell does that mean? So what exactly is your relationship with her?”
“Hmm.”
An ex-girlfriend whose face I’ve never even seen? Or a flower snake?4
One thing is certain.
Neither of us would be particularly happy to meet the other.
I let out a deep sigh.
Long story short, Jin Mukyung agreed to go to the Mount Heng Sword Sect too. Jin Wikyung had used the masterstroke he had been saving.
“I heard the Mount Heng Sword Sect has a lot of martial arts manuals…”
“Even if they do, what good is that? It’s not like I can read them.”
“It does matter.”
“Pardon?”
“The new Sect Leader has you figured out. She said she’d be willing to show you some of their Peak martial arts if you came.”
“…When are we leaving?”
“Right now.”
Everything moved at lightning speed. It had been only two hours since Jin Wikyung saw us off and we climbed into the four-horse carriage.
Jin Mukyung sat across from me, grumbling.
“A carriage? It’ll take forever just to get there.”
The land was so vast that, even by a rough estimate, it would take three days to reach Eung-hyeon, where the Mount Heng Sword Sect was located.
For Jin Mukyung, who wanted to see the Mount Heng Sword Sect’s Peak martial arts as soon as possible, three days was an eternity.
“Hey, coachman, can’t you go any faster?”
A reply came from the driver’s box beyond the partition.
“First of all, I’m not the coachman. And no, I can’t go any faster. You may not know this from inside, but it’s freezing out here, and I’m about to freeze to death. Anyway, that’s how things are.”
“Use the whip and spur the horses on! A coachman should be able to do at least that much.”
“I’ll say it again: I’m not the coachman. Also, the whip is frozen solid, so it would be more accurate to call it an icicle. If I jab the horses in the rear with this icicle, I think they’ll get very angry…”
“What? If you’re not the coachman, why are you sitting there?”
“Before we left, you shouted that the attendants were getting in your way and ordered everyone to get lost. The coachman got lost too.”
Jin Mukyung thought about it carefully, then smacked his forehead.
“Oh, right.”
“…”
As expected, this guy wasn’t normal either.
“Then who are you?”
Recalling the law of conservation of idiots, I answered,
“Hyuk Mujin.”
“Who’s Hyuk Mujin?”
“You’ll know when you see his face. Hey, Mujin!”
The partition slid down, revealing Hyuk Mujin’s frost-covered face. His teeth chattered nonstop as Jin Mukyung studied him closely, then snapped his fingers.
“Oh, that guy.”
Hyuk Mujin answered curtly,
“Yes. I’m that guy.”
“Then why didn’t you get lost too? You should’ve brought the coachman instead.”
As if he had been waiting for that question, Hyuk Mujin proudly puffed out his chest.
“I only obey my Captain’s orders.”
“Captain?”
“The Third Young Master.”
Jin Mukyung’s head snapped toward me.
“Did you call him?”
“No. He was already there without me calling him.”
“That’s what he says?”
Hyuk Mujin looked back and forth between us with a wounded expression.
“You two really are brothers, I suppose.”
“Did you say your name was Hyung Mujin? Explain exactly what you mean by that.”
Jin Mukyung bristled and spoke in a sharp voice, but I merely let out a long yawn.
Hyuk Mujin clowning around was nothing new; when it came to dealing with that, I already had a full jiazi5 of internal energy.
“It’s not Hyung Mujin. It’s Hyuk Mujin. I’ll try jabbing the horses in the rear with this thing, whether it’s a whip or an icicle.”
Clack.
Jin Mukyung glared at the partition, which had quickly slammed shut, then sighed and settled back into his seat.
“I shouldn’t have expected anything. If the water upstream is filthy, how could the water downstream be clean… What are you doing?”
I wrapped a fur hide around myself as I answered,
“I’m going to circulate my qi.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Circulate my qi.”
“Then why does it look to me like you’re getting ready to sleep?”
“You’re imagining things.”
“Then why are you covering yourself with a fur hide?”
“I get cold easily.”
I made a show of sitting cross-legged. I also pressed myself firmly against the carriage wall so I wouldn’t topple over.
I can’t entrust my precious body to that guy.
I absolutely refused to come back and find my arms or legs broken. Better to make sure he couldn’t touch me at all.
“You know what happens if you touch me, right? Huh? Do you know what qi deviation is or not?”
“Seriously, this bastard’s been getting on my nerves for a while now…”
The moment Jin Mukyung raised his fist, I hurriedly closed my eyes. From the outside, it would look as though I had begun circulating my qi. As expected, no fist came flying at me.
All right, then. Now…
Logout.
Ding.
System
- Would you like to log out?
There was only one possible answer.
Footnotes
-
Hyung is a Korean term a man uses for an older brother or older male he is close to. Hyung-nim is a more respectful form. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
-
A jeonse lease is a Korean rental arrangement in which the tenant pays a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent. ↩
-
Korean school grades use a nine-tier scale, with the first tier highest and the ninth lowest. ↩
-
Flower snake is Korean slang for a woman who seduces men to exploit them. ↩
-
A jiazi is a traditional sixty-year cycle. ↩
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