When people spoke of the Beggars’ Union, they usually called it a den of beggars.
But if you dug into the truth, it was not that simple.
Every martial artist in the Beggars’ Union really was a beggar, without exception.
But not every beggar in the Central Plains belonged to the Beggars’ Union.
And besides—
Not just anyone could become a beggar of the Beggars’ Union either.
Of all the Nine Great Sects, it was the one with the largest number of members.
What mattered here was that the Beggars’ Union was one of the Nine Great Sects.
Nine sects and one union. Out of all those numerous, lofty powers, there were only ten places in that circle.
That the Beggars’ Union stood among them at all was proof enough of its prestige.
And if one looked at the Beggars’ Union’s place among them, it had not risen there through martial might.
If I had to sum it up in a single phrase—
The Alliance’s eyes and ears.
That would not be wrong.
If Thousand-Mile Divine Eye was the Murim Alliance’s brain at present, then the Murim Alliance’s eyes and ears were the Beggars’ Union.
All news in the Central Plains began with the Beggars’ Union and ended with the Beggars’ Union.
There was no such thing as a secret they did not know.
In fact, when the Beggars’ Union was asked for information, they never answered, “We don’t know.”
They answered, “We cannot tell you.”
When it came to information, they were the best under heaven.
Maybe not in martial force, but by every other means, the Beggars’ Union stood at the top.
And the head of that Beggars’ Union was no ordinary man either.
Staff Strike Woo Aseok.
The Beggars’ Union Leader, and likewise a martial artist counted among the beings beyond heaven.
The Beggars’ Union had not directly participated in the Orthodox-Demonic War, but because he was there, Thousand-Mile Divine Eye had been able to grasp the Demonic Cult’s movements and strength and issue faster, more accurate orders.
And amid all that, Beggars’ Union Leader Woo Aseok had also been the one martial artist from the Beggars’ Union who personally entered battle, unlike the others who merely passed information along.
The iron old man who swung a heavy iron staff and smashed open the heads of Demonic Cultists.
They said a few swings of his staff could erase a hill.
And yet...
Looking at the old man crouched in front of me, I found myself thinking something strange.
For someone called the iron old man, his body looked remarkably frail.
A thin, skeletal frame that looked like every bone might show through.
That sight had surprised me for a moment, but—
“How did you know?”
The instant his voice and bearing changed, my heart lurched.
No.
The agitation in my chest turned meaningless.
The person before me really did seem to be exactly who I had expected.
“How could I possibly fail to recognize the great Beggars’ Union Leader?”
“Ho, ho, ho.”
Slowly, the old beggar straightened from where he had been bent over.
Then he said to me,
“I am not playing word games. Answer me, whelp.”
Hummm.
Was I imagining it?
It felt like the pounding rain had slowed a little.
As though the raindrops might stop in midair if I blinked.
“How did you recognize me?”
His soaked hair covered his eyes, but I could tell.
I could feel the gaze behind that wet hair boring straight through me.
“...This man is the Beggars’ Union Leader?”
Even Yu Yul sounded like he could not believe it.
Hearing that, I steadied my breathing.
“That’s right. This is the hero Staff Strike Woo Aseok.”
One of the beings beyond heaven.
And together with the Dark Sovereign, one of the least publicly known among them.
Looking at him, I said,
“The first reason I recognized you is nothing special.”
I pulled the letter out from my robe and held it out to him.
“It’s a letter sent by the strategist. The reason is simply that this was the place where I was told to deliver it.”
“So just because this was the meeting place, you recognized me? Are you saying you merely guessed?”
“No. The second reason is that you touched me.”
“Hm?”
“No beggar lightly grabs the leg of an armed martial artist in the middle of a storm like this just to beg.”
Rain pouring down. Ground soaked through.
In a situation that was already filthy and unpleasant, what beggar would grab hold of someone who was clearly a martial artist and beg for money?
In conditions where you could kill someone and the blood would just wash into the mud and disappear?
Was there really a beggar with that kind of nerve?
Especially here in Henan.
“And also.”
That was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the second reason.
The third was—
“There are too few beggars on this street.”
“Oh?”
“No matter how hard it rains, beggars still beg.”
I looked up at the rain crashing down in sheets.
“I don’t think a storm like this would make them all go home.”
“Is that everything?”
His reaction said it was still not enough.
At that, I smiled and answered,
“No. There’s one more. Probably the most important reason.”
The fourth reason.
It was simple.
And it was something only I could know.
His soul-form is too clean.
The power of his soul was so tightly gathered that it was almost fair to say I could not feel it at all.
Usually, if a person gave off that kind of impression—
They were one of two things.
Either someone who truly had nothing at all.
Or someone who had already entered that orbit.
The sort of being whose life had accumulated enough karma that the soul no longer wavered.
Once I put that together with the earlier reasons, it had not been difficult to identify him.
While I was thinking that—
“And the last reason?”
The Beggars’ Union Leader asked, curious.
But—
“That’s a secret.”
“What?”
I dismissed it like that.
“I don’t need to tell you everything.”
“...Ho, ho, ho.”
Woo Aseok let out a light laugh.
And at that moment—
Whoosh—!!
His hand shot toward me.
Dirty fingernails, untrimmed and grimy.
Just as the sharp strike was about to gouge out my eye—
it stopped right in front of my face.
“Those eyes. They’re a perfect blend of the two old monsters I hate most.”
The two old monsters.
At those words, my eyes narrowed.
“The Sword Saint. Thousand-Mile Divine Eye. Those damned bastards are both in there.”
“...Should I take that as a compliment?”
“Ho, ho, ho. How did it sound to you?”
“Not very flattering.”
“That answer, at least, I like.”
His fingers slowly withdrew.
“The one standing behind you. Lower your hand. I was only having a little fun, so you can stop being on guard.”
“...”
When I glanced back, Yu Yul already had a hand on his sword.
“The new sprouts of the Azure Moon Sect... I heard this time the sect had finally produced some useful ones. Looks like that was true.”
Thump, thump.
Woo Aseok rose and dusted off his back.
“Come inside.”
Leaving those words behind, he went into the shack.
We followed after him.
*****
Inside, it was little more than a dirt floor with a roof barely thrown over it.
There was another old man inside as well, and when Woo Aseok saw him, he said,
“Get out. He’s already seen through it all, so there’s no point anymore.”
“...Union Leader?”
“Ho, ho, ho. This brat’s sharper than I expected.”
So he had set up a stand-in.
The other old man stepped outside with startled eyes, and Woo Aseok dropped into one of the chairs inside.
“You’re not expecting tea from a beggar, are you?”
“No. I don’t really like tea much either.”
“Ho, ho. That’s a relief.”
Fwoosh.
The moment he said it, heat surged out.
Woo Aseok’s soaked clothes dried in an instant.
It looked like he had used inner qi to dry both his body and his clothes.
“I heard you carry Thousand-Mile Divine Eye’s blood. That seems accurate enough.”
“...It’s a little awkward to put it that way.”
I was not his direct descendant.
I was his daughter’s son.
“Blood is blood. And now that I see you, you do resemble him. That damned look in your eyes is exactly the same.”
“My eyes don’t really tilt up like that, though.”
My father’s eyes were not like that, and neither were my mother’s.
If anything, the corners of their eyes sloped down.
“Not that. That particular tired, arrogant look. That part’s the same.”
“...Ah.”
The tired part sounded right enough.
The arrogant part, I could not accept.
“I never thought you’d recognize me right away. That one really got me.”
“Want me to pretend I didn’t and do it again?”
“That’s enough wordplay. You’re better than the Zhuge young patriarch. That brat didn’t recognize me. Well? Any interest in inheriting the Zhuge Family? To my eyes, you suit it better.”
“...Sorry, but I’d have to change my surname first.”
Any interest in inheriting the Zhuge Family?
What kind of terrifying thing was that supposed to mean?
“Really? Hm. A pity.”
Rustle.
As he spoke, Woo Aseok looked over the letter Thousand-Mile Divine Eye had sent.
The reason we had come was because I had been told to deliver that letter to the Beggars’ Union Leader.
“Hm.”
After reading it all, Woo Aseok kindled flame in the hand holding it.
Fwoooosh—!!!
The letter burned away where it was.
“He’s making me do pointless work again. That damned old monster.”
“...”
“And yet, whelp. Do you realize the Beggars’ Union has barely had a moment to breathe because of what you did?”
“Me?”
“You caused trouble with that Demonic Cult bastard, and now there’s work everywhere.”
“Ah.”
He meant the fight with the Young Cult Leader.
“Just that alone has us using beggars here and there without pause, and feeding them isn’t cheap. And now he’s making us do all sorts of nonsense too.”
“...”
“Are you curious what it is?”
“No.”
I answered without hesitation.
I was not curious at all.
There was nothing I wanted to know.
And it feels like something I shouldn’t know.
I would pass.
Things were already annoying enough.
“Ho, ho.”
Woo Aseok chuckled at my answer.
“Fine. If I told you, who knows what kind of fit that bastard would throw.”
“...A fit?”
“He’s not the sort to reveal his own weakness, so this is unexpected. Whelp. What exactly did you do to him?”
“...Me? What are you talking about? What did I do to anyone?”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“If you don’t know, then fine. That’s more entertaining.”
What the hell was he talking about?
Unease rising, I folded my tongue slightly in my mouth and bit down on it.
“Well, enough of that.”
Crack.
Woo Aseok shifted his body, making his bones pop, then looked at me.
“Now then. Ask.”
“Ask what?”
Ask?
What was that supposed to mean, all of a sudden?
I tilted my head at the abrupt remark, and Woo Aseok continued.
“Thousand-Mile Divine Eye has used his opportunity. Whelp, from this moment on, you may ask me one thing—anything. And I will answer one thing for you, by the standard of gold.”
“...!”
At the words the standard of gold, my eyes widened.
The gold he spoke of was one of the Beggars’ Union’s conditions and ranks for information.
Green, Blue, Red, Purple, Gold.
In that order, the grades of information one could ask of the Beggars’ Union.
Green was the lowest.
Gold was the highest—something only elders of major sects or high-ranking figures were known to have the authority to request.
“...You gave that to me?”
“That’s right.”
Thousand-Mile Divine Eye had given me the chance to use a gold-grade question?
“It was something that bastard earned by helping the Beggars’ Union with a matter. He hadn’t used it for ten years, and now he’s passed it to you.”
“...”
Why?
That was my first thought.
Did he really need to do that?
Still—
This is a good thing.
It was an opportunity.
At best, what I could have squeezed out on my own would have been a red-grade question.
I never would have obtained anything higher than that.
This was gold. The very highest level.
“So all I have to do is ask.”
“That’s right.”
“...Senior.”
The moment I called to Yu Yul, he rose as if he had been waiting.
“I’ll wait outside?”
“...”
Quick-witted as ever, Yu Yul hummed to himself and went out before I could even ask.
As a bonus, he still paid proper respect to Woo Aseok on his way out.
Hummm.
A barrier spread out.
“Ho, ho. What are you planning to ask that you’re putting up a barrier for it?”
“You told me to ask, so I won’t waste time thinking twice.”
There was something I had wanted to ask anyway.
Something I had already been planning to investigate.
“Beggars’ Union Leader.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me about the Bang Family of Liaoning, and its head, Bang Cheonho.”
“...”
At those words, Woo Aseok’s body froze for an instant.
“...Oh. Well now.”
The eager expectation rising in me—that if it was gold-grade, then I would be able to hear it—became meaningless at once.
Because the answer that came back exceeded anything I had expected.
“That’s too expensive. The price doesn’t match. Ask something cheaper.”
