As Kwak Yeon turned his face away and stared out through the carriage window, Chwi Dugae shifted his gaze to Jin Cheongha and asked,
“Miss Jin, I heard your honored master took an internal injury a few years back during a clash with black-path rabble. Has your master recovered?”
“Ah!”
Jin Cheongha looked at Chwi Dugae with slightly startled eyes.
“They say that under heaven, the only thing the Beggar Clan doesn’t know is the inner affairs of the imperial palace—so it truly is so. Our Reed-Blossom Gate isn’t all that famous, yet you even know about us.”
“Miss Jin, don’t be so modest. I’ve heard more than once about the benevolence of the Clear-Water Sword, your Sect Leader. And though the Reed-Blossom Gate is small in scale, I understand it to be a righteous martial sect that traces its origin to a line of the Mount Mao Sect.”
“...!”
“Seeing Miss Jin in person today, it truly feels as though the Reed-Blossom Gate’s future will be all the brighter.”
“Sub-Branch Master, you flatter me.”
“It isn’t flattery. I’ve spent my life rolling around as a beggar, so I’ve developed a bit of an eye for people.”
Chwi Dugae shook his head firmly and continued.
“I’d heard that Nanjing’s One Flower is outstanding even in martial skill, but seeing you today, the world’s talk is far too stingy.”
“Recently, as I finished my closed-door cultivation, I was fortunate enough to cross beyond the boundary of first-rate.”
“Huh. Then the peak?”
“It’s hard to call it a realm. I’ve only just stepped onto the threshold of the peak.”
“You only finished closed-door cultivation recently—so that’s why you ended up heading to the All-Under-Heaven Heroes Assembly this late.”
Jin Cheongha nodded.
“That’s right. My master saw my attainment and said I was no longer something to be ashamed of, so my master permitted me to go.”
“Hah. To say the threshold of the peak is merely ‘not shameful’—your master is far too strict. With Miss Jin’s realm, you’re unquestionably outstanding among the younger generation. At this Heroes Assembly, the Reed-Blossom Gate’s name will shine brightly.”
After pouring out a stream of praise, Chwi Dugae suddenly turned and asked Kwak Yeon,
“You think so too, don’t you, Brother Kwak?”
Seeing Chwi Dugae wink, Kwak Yeon hurriedly nodded.
“I think so as well.”
If he didn’t humor Chwi Dugae’s bluster, he would suffer for it later.
Perhaps the duet of agreeing praises weighed on her, because Jin Cheongha quickly said,
“As for the internal injury you were concerned about, Sub-Branch Master—my master is now almost fully healed. The Pavilion of Good Medicine sent a Therapist, so the recovery was even quicker.”
Chwi Dugae flinched in surprise.
“To think the Pavilion of Good Medicine sent a Therapist—so it truly is the Clear-Water Sword.”
“...?”
When Kwak Yeon turned his head to look, Chwi Dugae said,
“Brother Kwak, you know the Pavilion of Good Medicine is famous for choosing which patients it will accept, right?”
“That’s right.”
When Kwak Yeon was on Mount Wudang, he had heard about the Pavilion of Good Medicine from laymen.
They had said Wudang requested a Therapist from that place many times to treat the Supreme Patriarch’s illness, but the Pavilion of Good Medicine refused again and again.
So hearing that the Pavilion of Good Medicine sent a Therapist to the Reed-Blossom Gate’s Sect Leader was what shocked him.
“There’s only one standard by which the Pavilion of Good Medicine chooses whom to treat—only one. As the name itself says, it’s the accumulation of good deeds. In other words, even the Pavilion of Good Medicine recognized the benevolence of the Clear-Water Sword.”
Kwak Yeon suddenly felt ashamed.
If the Pavilion of Good Medicine refused to treat the Supreme Patriarch of the Wudang Sect, didn’t that mean it did not regard the Wudang Sect as righteous?
Thinking of the current state of Wudang under the Great Elder’s direction, it wasn’t something to blame the Pavilion of Good Medicine for.
As Kwak Yeon worried with a heavy heart over Wudang’s shaken righteous energy, Chwi Dugae’s voice continued.
“In any case, I’m glad to be traveling with Miss Jin.”
“Sub-Branch Master, thank you for welcoming me.”
At Chwi Dugae’s repeated words of welcome, Kwak Yeon abruptly realized that Chwi Dugae had used the Reed-Blossom Gate’s Sect Leader’s condition as a pretext to probe Jin Cheongha.
‘Ah. Brother must’ve thought it was too coincidental as well, and had his own suspicions.’
There was a reason Chwi Dugae insisted—so long as he wasn’t drinking—he was the sharpest mind under heaven.
“Brother Kwak, the Reed-Blossom Gate’s root is the Mount Mao Sect, so broadly speaking, Miss Jin is from the same Taoist Gate as you.”
Within those words was the meaning that what he knew matched her answers, so Kwak Yeon could set aside suspicion.
Grateful for Chwi Dugae’s effort, Kwak Yeon quickly nodded.
“I see.”
At that exchange, Jin Cheongha’s eyes sparkled.
“Young Hero Kwak is of the Taoist Gate?”
Chwi Dugae said toward Kwak Yeon,
“Brother Kwak, you’ll be found out anyway—why don’t you stop hiding it now?”
Kwak Yeon had already been thinking he would say it when the chance came, so he nodded and looked at Jin Cheongha.
“I am Kwak Yeon, a lay Taoist of Samryeong Palace on Mount Wudang.”
Jin Cheongha flinched, but her expression wasn’t one of great surprise.
“So you truly were Taoist Kwak—the name whose fame resounds.”
“...?”
“Seeing you address the Beggar Clan’s Sub-Branch Master as an elder brother, I had guessed to some extent.”
In other words, the Beggar Clan’s Hu Gae—leader of the greatest faction under heaven—wouldn’t exchange brotherhood terms with just anyone.
“Brother Kwak, see? How long did you think you could hide an awl in your pouch?”
Chwi Dugae chuckled.
“Miss Jin, it seems even your beauty can’t conceal your wisdom. Isn’t that so, Brother Kwak?”
“.......”
Kwak Yeon didn’t answer. If he kept playing along, there would be no end to it.
When Kwak Yeon fell silent like that, a sudden stillness settled inside the carriage.
“.......”
“.......”
Just as the awkward silence threatened to sour the mood, Jin Cheongha spoke.
“Sub-Branch Master, may I ask you for one thing?”
With a brightened face, Chwi Dugae answered at once.
“Miss Jin, say anything.”
“It’s nothing else—please lower your speech with me. I wanted to say so from the start, but there wasn’t an opening.”
“Huh. Even so, we’ve only just met—how can I suddenly speak casually?”
“You’re far older than I am, Sub-Branch Master. And your position is much higher as well.”
When people weren’t of the same sect, they measured rank by the offices held within their factions or sects.
For Jin Cheongha, an ordinary disciple of a small sect, the respectful speech of a Hu Gae—next in line to become Beggar Clan Leader Yongdu—was indeed uncomfortable.
“Listening to your respectful speech makes me feel as though I’m sitting on a bed of needles.”
At Jin Cheongha’s troubled expression, Chwi Dugae nodded.
“Well, if you insist, then I’ll speak casually.”
“Ah, only now does my heart feel a little at ease.”
Jin Cheongha smiled brightly and continued.
“And in casual speech, the honorific ‘Miss’ doesn’t suit me, so please don’t call me Miss Jin.”
“......Then I’ll call you Sister Jin.”
“If you call me that, Sub-Branch Master, it’s truly something I’d be grateful for.”
After expressing thanks, Jin Cheongha turned her gaze to Kwak Yeon.
Kwak Yeon spoke at once.
“I will call you Miss Jin.”
Jin Cheongha nodded with flustered eyes.
“Yes. Please do.”
—CLATTER! CLATTER! CLATTER...!
The sound of the carriage on the main road gradually slowed, and Old Master Gu’s voice came from outside.
“Guests, I’ll stop the carriage for a moment. The horses are tired, and there happens to be a stream, so I’ll let them wet their throats. In the meantime, you guests should also step out and take some air.”
When the carriage stopped in an open patch beside the road and Jin Cheongha went out first, Chwi Dugae said to Kwak Yeon,
“You—why are you so stiff?”
“It isn’t easy for me to deal with a stranger yet.”
“Well, I suppose that’s true, but...”
“It seems you like traveling with Miss Jin, Brother.”
“Honestly, for us, it isn’t a bad thing, is it? If there are three of us, people will suspect less, too.”
When Kwak Yeon stared at him without a word, Chwi Dugae said with a fed-up expression,
“So what—you’re saying I’m useless because I look like a beggar?”
“.......”
“From now on I won’t move an inch inside the carriage, so don’t worry. When you eat at a restaurant, I’ll eat in here, and when you sleep at a guesthouse tavern, I’ll sleep in here too.”
As Chwi Dugae threw a needless tantrum, Kwak Yeon nodded.
“As you wish.”
“What?”
“If that’s what you want, how could your little brother stop you?”
“Huh...”
Chwi Dugae shook his head, extinguishing the sharp glare he’d been holding, and asked,
“You. Are you still uneasy about Sister Jin?”
“It’s too coincidental. And isn’t there also the saying that on the rivers and lakes you should beware women, children, and the elderly?”
“That damned suspicion disease... I was suspicious too, so I asked a few things.”
“I know.”
“And the result is that Sister Jin wasn’t making up lies. The fact that the Clear-Water Sword was injured is something the Nanjing General Branch Master learned by pure chance.”
“...!”
“And think of it this way as well. Suppose, in the one-in-ten-thousand chance, Sister Jin faked her identity to approach you. Then with that martial ability, what could she possibly do alone? And if she accompanies us all the way to the Martial Alliance, there will be eyes that recognize Nanjing’s One Flower—so a false identity would be exposed at once.”
At Chwi Dugae’s orderly, logical words, Kwak Yeon thought he was being overly sensitive.
“I must have been overly sensitive.”
Chwi Dugae nodded.
“Once you look with the eyes of suspicion, it never ends. But if you think it’s not the case, you also need to know how to let go.”
“.......”
“Now you go out and get some air too.”
“And you, Brother...?”
“There are people outside, aren’t there.”
Through the carriage window, Kwak Yeon could see travelers passing now and then along the main road.
And down by the stream below the road, he could also see Jin Cheongha washing her face with the stream water.
“You—why aren’t you going out?”
Leaning his back against the carriage seat, Kwak Yeon answered,
“If I go out alone, how am I supposed to endure your nagging, Brother?”
“I won’t nag, so go out.”
“I don’t want to.”
“.......”
Seeing Kwak Yeon close his eyes in stubborn refusal, Chwi Dugae sighed inwardly.
‘Even if you spread out the mat for him, he can’t dance.’
After a while, the carriage began running down the road again, but it didn’t go far before it had to stop once more.
—THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
From behind, an uproar of hoofbeats rushed closer, and a booming voice rang out.
“The Great Plains Livery carriage—halt right there! And that Jin bitch from Nanjing inside, if you want to live, get out this instant and bow in apology for your sins!”
Old Master Gu’s frightened voice came from outside.
“Guests—what should I do?”
You couldn’t drag a tail behind you forever. Chwi Dugae said,
“Stop the carriage.”
“Understood.”
As the carriage stopped, the hoofbeats drew close at speed.
—THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
“It’s the black-path rabble that chased me.”
Jin Cheongha rose from her seat as she spoke.
“I’ll go out and drive them off.”
Kwak Yeon said,
“Miss Jin, stay seated.”
“They aren’t foes worthy of Taoist Kwak stepping in.”
“That is why I intend to step in.”
“...?”
Since he was in a position where he had to travel as quietly as possible, Kwak Yeon said to Chwi Dugae,
“Brother, give me the buns you left unfinished earlier.”
“Huh? What a waste of buns... Can’t you use something else?”
“There isn’t anything suitable. And if I damage the carriage, the compensation will be enormous.”
“Then leave as many as you can.”
Chwi Dugae’s hand trembled as he passed over the buns wrapped in oiled paper.
‘Damn it. I pinched and saved—and now it turns into shit.’
