— Why did you come here?
"To help you, maybe?"
— You? Help me?
Her expression was still blank, but there was an unmistakable note of sarcasm in her voice.
— You, who can't even take care of yourself, are going to help me? Should I just hand you over to the Murim Alliance? They've been dying to catch you, you know.
"Hmph! You think those fools can actually capture me?"
— Even so, I’m sure they're not as bad as you.
"Of course, they’re much stupider! You can tell just from the fact that they didn’t put you on the Ten Great Evils list!"
— I'm not evil.
Beom Gye-wi scoffed.
"So, what about those bodies at the bottom of the pond? Was it the Dragon King down there who did it?"
At first, it hadn’t been obvious, but the clash between the two had shattered and cracked various parts of the frozen pond.
With the pond’s surface upturned, a dozen frozen corpses were now exposed.
Just for a split second, a chilling glint flashed in Han Seol-hwa’s eyes.
Each of them had deserved to die. They had stepped heedlessly into forbidden ground, ignoring warnings.
They were filth, blinded by lust.
There was no need to explain that, but she was still curious as to why this fool had come, supposedly to help her.
— Tell me your real purpose.
"I'm telling you, I came to help you."
— Nonsense.
Beom Gye-wi continued, looking exasperated.
"There's someone who can cure your illness!"
Han Seol-hwa paused for a moment.
— My illness?
"Yes."
Beom Gye-wi hurriedly swallowed the words, "You're still not fully in your right mind, are you?"
— How?
Beom Gye-wi quickly spun up an explanation.
"I found the Divine Doctor and the Demonic Doctor."
Strictly speaking, it was their child he found. The child who had inherited the medical skills of those two.
But he couldn’t reveal that his doctor was merely a child. Even he hadn’t believed in Doctor Dan's skills until experiencing them firsthand.
‘Either way, it’s all the same.’
Meanwhile, Han Seol-hwa stood there in a daze for a long while.
How much time passed like that?
— Divine Doctor and the Demonic Doctor?
"Have you been living under a rock?"
Seeing her obvious disbelief, Beom Gye-wi quickly continued his explanation.
"Cho hyung and I are also being treated by them."
Han Seol-hwa’s eyes sparkled with interest.
There was only one person in the world that Beom Gye-wi would call "hyung."
— The Blood Demon?
"Yes."
— Why Cho orabeoni*? (T/N: A respectful form of big brother that females use.)
"He got attacked by the Murim Alliance."
The responding Beom Gye-wi tilted his head in confusion, sensing something strange.
"Huh? But why do you call Cho hyung orabeoni? Isn’t he much younger than you, Witch?"
— Shut up. If he’s cool, he’s orabeoni.
"And what about me?"
— A clueless bald guy.
"You little...!"
As Beom Gye-wi bristled, Han Seol-hwa sent a direct message his way.
— Explain it properly. From the beginning. What exactly happened?
"Now, all of a sudden?"
— Yes. I got curious.
"Ha! Crazy woman."
Han Seol-hwa didn’t get angry at Beom Gye-wi’s insult. Instead, she dragged a chair over to sit calmly in front of the old house.
Seeing her like that, Beom Gye-wi clicked his tongue in resignation.
‘Alright, I’ll bear it... for Doctor Dan’s sake.’
Beom Gye-wi began his explanation.
* * *
Two days later.
Two people entered the capital of Heilongjiang Province, Harbin.
In Manchu, "Harbin" means "a place to dry nets," as the Heilong River lies to the north and the Songhua River to the south.
Harbin was also called the "Pearl on the Swan's Neck," a name inspired by the swan-like flow of the Heilong River.
Despite its elegant nickname, Heilongjiang Province was a harsh, rugged land, though its capital, Harbin, still boasted fairly bustling streets and shops.
Beom Gye-wi and Han Seol-hwa entered the market directly.
The street was lined with merchant guilds.
Han Seol-hwa stopped in front of one of them.
“You left your money here? This is a merchant guild, isn't it?”
Beom Gye-wi double-checked the sign that read Black Dragon Merchant Guild several times.
— Burying money is for amateurs. If you invest, it grows on its own.
“Oh, of course. So, you’re saying there's enough to cover the treatment?”
— Three thousand silver nyang a year, right?
“I'm getting you a special discount through my connection. Judging by the look of you, your treatment might take a while, so you'll probably need at least fifty thousand nyang.”
— That’s pocket change.
Inside, Beom Gye-wi was cheering.
‘Is this what they call killing two birds with one stone? I can get her to clean up and make money at the same time!’
Unaware of Beom Gye-wi’s inner thoughts, Han Seol-hwa entered the guild with an indifferent expression.
Beom Gye-wi watched her go, feeling delighted, and waited for her to come back out.
But as time went by, there was no sign of her.
‘Well, the amount is big, after all.’
He didn’t think much of it at first and continued waiting.
“Huh?”
Beom Gye-wi sensed something was amiss.
Crack!
A layer of white frost started to settle on the building of the Black Dragon Merchant Guild, and then it began to freeze solid from top to bottom.
“You crazy woman!”
She said she’d stored her money here, but it looked like she was trying to rob the place.
Beom Gye-wi threw open the door at the top.
Whoosh!
As soon as the door opened, a chilling gust poured out from inside the building. Pushing through it, a meaningful smile appeared on Beom Gye-wi's face.
"What's done is done. Anyway, that woman is the main culprit, so I’ll just take what I need..."
However, as soon as he entered, he encountered an unexpected situation.
Han Seol-hwa was exuding a freezing aura, clearly furious.
Facing her, an obstinate-looking middle-aged man stood his ground without budging.
"I’m sorry, but I cannot recognize this document."
Despite his eyebrows and beard being frosted over with icicles forming, the middle-aged man stood upright, firmly presenting his case.
"Take a look at this."
The man held up a document.
"This is the transfer contract we drew up when we acquired the guild. All outstanding debts were settled at that time. We also ensured that the amount you invested was fully repaid."
Even in a life-or-death situation, his terrifying obsession with money was palpable.
"The money you’re requesting is the responsibility of the previous guild owner who handed the guild over to us—not ours."
Beom Gye-wi snatched the document that the man had handed to Han Seol-hwa.
"Where is that person now?"
The middle-aged man sighed at Beom Gye-wi's question.
"I only heard he went far off to some remote area, but I don’t know any details."
Beom Gye-wi looked at Han Seol-hwa.
In short, the entrusted money was as good as gone.
"What’s this? You said you’d invest it. Now, after rolling it over and over, it’s completely worn out?"
― ……
Then, Beom Gye-wi suddenly sensed something odd.
It was because of the document he was holding. Not only was it old and yellowed with age, but parts of it were even crumbling.
“When on earth was this written?”
Beom Gye-wi’s eyes widened as he checked the document’s contents.
“The second year of Hongmu?”
The era name written on the document.
It was a document drafted a staggering fifty years ago.
“So you invested and then waited fifty years to claim it?”
Beom Gye-wi stared intently at Han Seol-hwa.
“Do you really have the right to call me stupid?”
― Shut up.
Han Seol-hwa, her pride hurt, turned away immediately. But Beom Gye-wi’s next words stopped her in her tracks.
It was his question that did it.
“So, what about the medical expenses?”
― ……
After a moment of hesitation, Han Seol-hwa approached the merchant chief. She pulled out her ornamental hairpin and handed it to him.
“What… what is the meaning of this?”
The merchant chief frowned at her unexpected action. But soon enough, his eyes widened in astonishment.
“Th-this is…!”
As a seasoned merchant, he instantly recognized the value of the hairpin.
Blue jade.
It was none other than the legendary Kunlun jade, a rare gem produced solely in Cheonghae.
The phoenix carving, with its wings poised as if ready to take flight at any moment, was also extraordinary. This was a treasure worthy of a royal tribute.
The merchant chief’s hands trembled slightly as he received the phoenix hairpin.
"Are you saying you wish to sell this item?"
A nod.
After examining the hairpin several times, the merchant chief spoke.
"Ten thousand nyang seems reasonable. In Seongdo, you could easily get twenty thousand, but for us, there are challenges in both profit and transportation."
Han Seol-hwa gazed silently at the merchant chief before giving a slight nod.
While the merchant chief went to fetch the payment slip, Beom Gye-wi asked,
"What kind of hairpin costs ten thousand nyang?"
— A fool like you could never understand the worth of a Creation Key Hairpin.
"A key? Are you saying that hairpin is some kind of key?"
Han Seol-hwa did not answer, her expression clearly showing she had no interest in explaining.
Beom Gye-wi, too, didn’t press the matter.
Right now, he had only one concern.
"What about the rest of the medical fees?"
— Mind your own business. I’ll handle it.
Han Seol-hwa added:
— First, shouldn’t we check if what you said is true?
"Just asking, on the off chance."
— …?
"Don’t think you can solve anything with threats."
Beom Gye-wi chuckled at Han Seol-hwa’s slight hesitation. It's always the same with people like him; they all think alike.
Just then, the merchant chief returned.
Watching the chief sign the invoice he’d brought, Beom Gye-wi suddenly became curious.
“By the way,” he asked, looking toward Han Seol-hwa, who was receiving the document.
“If you deposited money fifty years ago…”
Beom Gye-wi tilted his head in confusion.
“Just how old are you now?”
― …….
Han Seol-hwa didn’t answer.
* * *
“I’ll let you in on a little secret to a long life.”
A middle-aged man in black attire.
Though his eyes were hidden beneath a deeply pulled hat, the faint smile on his lips was undoubtedly mocking.
The man with the bamboo hat continued speaking to Gwak Ga, who stood silently.
“It’s all about knowing your place.”
Gwak Ga’s brow twitched.
Even by the order of entry into the Murim Alliance, he was by far his senior.
Yet the man with the bamboo hat was speaking to him as though lecturing a junior.
But right now, he couldn’t even meet the man’s gaze.
Because authority was everything here.
Unlike himself, who was just a mere squad leader in the faction, the man in front of him was an inspector directly dispatched by the Alliance. Excluding the Alliance Leader and the heads of the families supporting the Alliance, he was a figure of unparalleled authority within the organization.
"I hear you've been overstepping boundaries lately."
"I... will be more cautious."
"I’d appreciate it if you actually would. You weren't sent here to cause disputes with the doctors, were you? Isn’t that right?"
"..."
"Let's just focus on our assigned duties. Both you and I are here putting in effort for the Alliance. I’d prefer not to have meetings like this."
Clack.
Setting down his teacup on the table, the man in the bamboo hat continued speaking.
"But what can we do? Rumors have reached even the Gansu branch that a fox has been strutting about, borrowing the tiger’s power."
Gwak Ga struggled to suppress his boiling anger.
Each word was unbearably humiliating. The words alone were offensive enough, but what truly irked him was something else.
He was deliberately being humiliated in front of his subordinates.
"Under normal circumstances, I’d make an example out of you to re-establish discipline in the Alliance, but in recognition of your efforts thus far, I’ll let it slide at this."
"...Thank you."
"Thank me for what?"
The man in the bamboo hat gave a faint, mocking smile.
"Calling it a ‘dispatch’ sounds nice, but isn’t it practically a demotion, being sent out to this remote corner? I’m only human; I have to show some leniency."
"...!"
"Getting disciplinary action here would basically mean leaving the Alliance, wouldn’t it?"
Gwak Ga gritted his teeth, bowing his head as he endured the scolding disguised as encouragement.
His pride was deeply wounded, but he couldn’t argue back. It was exactly as the other had said. If he could, he would have left the Alliance and set up as an independent warrior, but even that would require savings he didn’t have.
If he got expelled from the Alliance like this, the best he could hope for was to become a mere guard at an escort agency.
“Damn it!”
This situation was unbearably frustrating for him.
