“She isn’t human.”
I nodded at Bow Ghost’s assessment of Hoyeon.
And I had to admit it—her instincts really were sharp.
From what I’d seen so far, that much was obvious.
Quite apart from having something like Ghost Eyes or divine sight the way I did—
Sensing a soul-form as a spirit is a different matter entirely.
It was a more instinctive kind of reaction.
If there really was such a thing as talent, the kind people talked about in awe, then I’d call that her talent as a shaman.
Of course, someone might ask whether I had any right to judge the talent of someone who was already one of the beings beyond heaven.
But—
This is one area where I’ve always had confidence.
If it wasn’t Chief Baek or Grandmother, there weren’t many people anywhere who could beat me in this field.
And after coming to the Central Plains, I’d only become more certain of it.
The so-called shamans here...
Were frauds who didn’t know a damn thing.
At least, that was how they looked to me.
So from that perspective, Bow Ghost was—
Decent, at least.
That was my judgment.
Even now, the proof was right in front of me.
She noticed it.
She’d immediately recognized something was wrong with Hoyeon.
I rated that highly.
Because yes—Hoyeon’s wrongness was something ordinary people couldn’t see.
The reason I’d been able to get mixed up with the Hao Clan in the first place was because I’d noticed that same wrongness in her.
I fixed that chronic problem of hers and got some help from the Hao Clan in return.
In more ways than one.
“...What exactly is that woman?”
“You can tell just by looking.”
What else was there to ask?
“You say that like it’s obvious. Don’t be absurd.”
Bow Ghost frowned.
“I have never seen a spirit form shake that badly and leak away like that. A human should not be capable of such a thing. She is no different from a walking corpse. How is she still alive?”
A walking corpse.
That was exactly right.
Hoyeon’s vessel is broken.
The vessel that should have held her soul properly in place had been crushed and ruined.
It had been that way from the very first moment I saw her.
Which meant her soul should have leaked out and she should have died long ago.
How could a body without a soul still be alive?
Hoyeon’s body had already lost its center.
It should have met death ages ago because of that, but—
“How else? Someone blocked it off so her soul couldn’t leak out.”
“...That’s possible?”
Once the signs of people around us thinned out, I switched back to polite speech.
Bow Ghost reacted in surprise.
“It’s difficult. But not impossible.”
“Don’t tell me... you did it?”
“Of course I did. Otherwise...”
That terrifying woman would never have shown me that much leniency.
“...I wouldn’t be walking these streets in peace.”
It wasn’t quite right to say the Hao Clan ruled this area, but this was their turf.
Liaoning might officially be under the Mo Yong Family’s control, but the Hao Clan still had influence here whether people realized it or not, and this was the sort of place the Murim Alliance and other orthodox faction people didn’t come near lightly.
“...And an orthodox-family martial artist—one hailed as the Murim Alliance’s hope—is walking in and out of a place like this?”
“When you put it like that, it sounds impressive.”
Even though it really wasn’t.
“You are a strange one. For all his faults, your master never involved himself with unorthodox trash like this.”
“Really?”
Would Yoo Cheongil have been like that?
Thinking about his personality, I didn’t actually find that very believable.
Then again, maybe he just killed every unorthodox bastard he came across.
Oh. Honestly, that sounded just as plausible.
Not that it mattered.
Whatever kind of life that old man had lived had nothing to do with me.
“It’s not that I particularly like the unorthodox faction either. It’s just...”
If I had to name a reason—
“If something can be used, then you use it. That’s all.”
“...”
“If you cling to pointless stubbornness, all that grows is the number of ways you can die.”
“Hmm.”
Bow Ghost looked at me like she hadn’t expected that answer.
“...You’re better than that bastard in this respect, at least.”
Was that a compliment?
I didn’t react.
I just glanced at Bow Ghost for a moment and kept walking.
“You’re heading straight back?”
“No. I’m going to look around the county town a bit.”
“The county town?”
“Yes. I need to do a little shopping before we go.”
“...Shopping?”
Bow Ghost’s expression turned strange.
It was the face of someone wondering why a blood member of a great family would be doing something like that.
“Call it taking care of things while I’m here.”
In a family that was barely holding itself together, who had time to be precious about that kind of thing?
Since I was here, I had things to do.
*****
“Oh! Look who it is!”
“Isn’t that Young Master Bang!”
“My goodness, isn’t that Young Master Seongyeon?”
“They said you were back...!”
Everywhere I walked through the county town, voices rang out.
Caught in the middle of people welcoming me like I’d returned from the dead, I smiled awkwardly and said,
“I’ll take a few of these.”
“Ha! If our young master wants them, I ought to give you the whole lot! What’s a few?”
“...If you give me all of them, they’ll go bad, uncle. Just give me a reasonable amount.”
“Take this too. I’ll give it to you for free.”
“Ah, stop stuffing things into my hands. I don’t have that many.”
I hadn’t even made it all the way around once, and I was already carrying far too much.
And I hadn’t even bought that much to begin with.
“...Ugh...”
Bow Ghost groaned behind me.
She was carrying things too.
The ones I physically couldn’t hold anymore.
“...Heavy... so heavy...”
“See? Spot’s having a hard time too, uncle.”
“Spot? Is that little girl one of yours, young master?”
“One of mine...? Let’s call her a servant.”
“Oh. A servant.”
The man smiled brightly at that.
“She’s cute. Our young master’s doing another good deed, I see.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Come on now, of course it is. How many kids around here have you fed and raised by now?”
“What do you mean how many? There aren’t any.”
What kind of nonsense was that?
Since when had I done anything like that?
“You’re going to stop by the academy too, aren’t you? The kids will be thrilled.”
“...I’ll probably stop by.”
“Really? Then take this too. You can give some to the children while you’re there.”
“Ah! Enough already!”
Another thing got piled on.
At this rate my arms were going to block my vision entirely.
I should’ve only gone halfway around.
I’d only meant to buy the things I needed, and somehow it had spiraled like this.
By the time I finally stopped, I could barely see over what I was carrying.
“Ugh... ngh...”
Bow Ghost staggered.
That woman genuinely had no strength.
She was one of the beings beyond heaven, and yet this was pathetic.
Forget impressive—she was like a paper doll.
“...Why... why am I carrying all this...!”
“Because I don’t have enough hands. Can’t you see both mine are full too?”
Still, for all her whining, she kept doing what I told her.
The only problem was how loud the whining was.
Dragging Bow Ghost along while she muttered under her breath, I headed somewhere else.
The building in front of us had a signboard hanging over it.
Manyeon Academy.
“Who are—”
Someone at the entrance stepped forward at the sight of us, but then—
“Huh! Young Master Bang!”
The moment he recognized me, his eyes went wide.
“Is it really you, Young Master Bang?”
“...Brother Chu. Take this first.”
“Oh!”
The man I called Brother Chu hurried over and took the load from Spot’s arms.
“Ughhh...”
Only then did Spot—no, Bow Ghost—drop into a crouch.
“I heard you’d returned, but... I didn’t expect you to come here so suddenly.”
“I had something to do in town. You’ve been well?”
“...Me? I’m always doing well, thanks to you, Young Master Bang.”
“What do you mean thanks to me? You’re doing fine on your own.”
“Are you coming in? The children will be happy.”
“...I’ll just show my face for a moment.”
At that, Brother Chu looked so moved you’d think I’d handed him a kingdom, and he quickly opened the door.
The doors to Manyeon Academy opened, and I stepped inside.
“Kids! Look who’s here!”
At Brother Chu’s booming voice, the children inside turned to look.
“Oh!”
“Brother Seongyeon?”
“Big brother!”
Children who looked around fifteen at most stopped what they were doing and rushed over.
There were fewer than twenty of them.
“You came back?”
“Wow, it’s really him!”
Just seeing their excited faces was enough to sap my energy.
“Kids, give me some space. I’m tired.”
“Yes.”
At least they listened.
They immediately stepped back.
“You’ve all been doing well?”
“Yes!”
The chorus sounded like a flock of birds crying out together.
“You look fine, so I’ll take that as yes. You’ve been eating properly too, right?”
This time the answer was even louder.
“Why didn’t you come sooner!”
“I’ve been busy.”
“You always say that...”
“Seriously. Always busy.”
I thought I was going to lose my mind.
“You didn’t even send letters...”
One of the girls spoke in a sullen voice.
I snorted and reached out to ruffle her hair.
“Yeonhwa, you’ve gotten bigger too.”
“That’s right. I’ve grown a lot. I think I’m old enough to marry you now, big brother.”
“I’ll pass on that. You need to grow a lot more first.”
“...Tch.”
“...Who taught you to click your tongue like that?”
“Brother Chu.”
“Brother Chu, you and I need to have a talk later.”
“Hik!”
Brother Chu flinched in horror behind us.
Even that was funny.
Yeah.
This was about the age when adolescence started kicking in.
“Take what I brought to the kitchen. I bought snacks too, so hand them out.”
“You’re not going to see the headmaster?”
“Later. Today I really just came to show my face.”
“Understood. Then... is that girl as well?”
He looked toward Bow Ghost as he asked.
I shook my head.
“No. She’s just a servant.”
“...Ah. I see.”
Brother Chu nodded.
“Kids, I’m going.”
“Huh? Already? Why?”
“Don’t go! You just got here!”
“I’ll come back again. Probably tomorrow.”
Leaving the disappointed voices behind me, I stepped back outside.
A few of them looked like they wanted to grab onto me, but thankfully, none of them actually caught at my sleeves.
They already knew I wouldn’t get caught even if they tried.
*****
“That’s done.”
Once I was out of the academy, I felt a stare on me.
It was Bow Ghost.
“What are you looking at?”
“What are those children?”
“It’s nothing.”
Just—
“The result of me sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.”
“Sticking your nose where it didn’t belong?”
“That’s all. Just something that came from being nosy for no good reason.”
“That being the case, the souls of those children were awfully clean.”
“...Oh. So you can see that.”
The purity of their souls.
Those children’s souls were unusually clean.
They couldn’t help but be.
Because their parents took the karma with them.
Children who had lost their parents.
And yet whose parents had still wrapped them in protection at the very end.
Whether they died by another person’s hand or by the will of heaven—
There had been people who gave up their own souls to bless their children before they left.
Calling it nosiness was really giving myself too much credit. It was closer to greed on my part.
When I kept souls like that near me, or offered them help, the karma piled onto me would wash away a little.
That was why.
That was all.
And after helping little by little, before I knew it...
An academy had appeared.
Well, it wasn’t exactly that I’d invested my own money in it—
It was closer to getting help from the Mo Yong Family.
The Mo Yong Family had supported the place.
You could basically call it an orphanage for children with nowhere else to go.
“...The more I look at you, the stranger you get. You don’t seem like the sort, and yet you keep doing things like this.”
“I did it for my own sake.”
That really was all it was.
Truly.
“Anyway, the Mo Yong Family handles the management. I just show my face once in a while.”
That was right.
I showed up sometimes, and whenever I found children who had nowhere to go, I tossed them there.
“Other people are the ones who take responsibility.”
“Yes. I’m the one taking responsibility for that.”
“That’s why I’m saying I’m gratef—ah.”
That voice wasn’t Bow Ghost’s.
The sudden interruption made my throat go dry.
Ah.
I turned around.
And the moment I saw who was standing there, every muscle in my body tightened.
Right.
“That woman...”
Bow Ghost narrowed her eyes at the figure.
“Hey.”
The woman was looking at me and Bow Ghost.
Her face was absolutely furious.
Right.
Coming back to Liaoning meant running into her again.
I forgot.
I had completely forgotten.
“You look healthy.”
She grinned at my startled face.
It was a chilling smile.
“Do you actually want to die?”
The woman came toward me with that savage smile still on her face.
My former fiancée.
The treasured jewel of the Mo Yong Family.
Looking at Mo Yong Yeongsun, I had no choice but to take a step back.
