Episode 73: Resentment

Dang Mujin carried the body of Goeui on his back, heading towards the Hui Province. He wanted Goeui to rest peacefully beside his family, rather than in some forgotten corner of Cheonghaeseong.

The journey was anything but easy. The distance was considerable, and despite winter’s end, the weather was bitterly cold.

As he trudged along, his fingers and toes frequently went numb, forcing him to channel his inner energy to ward off frostbite. He never imagined that the martial arts techniques he learned long ago would come in handy in such a way.

Yet, despite the discomfort, Dang Mujin was grateful for the cold.

If the weather warmed, the body would start to decompose. It might hold up for a couple of days, but once it began to deteriorate, things would become dire.

Faced with that possibility, he preferred to battle the cold as he traveled.

Another issue was the difficulty of encountering people while carrying a corpse. Dang Mujin had to stick to deserted paths.

This meant his nightly resting place was the snow-covered ground. He didn’t even dare to light a fire, fearing it might worsen the condition of the body.

Of course, he could have lit a fire and kept the body at a distance, but if he were going to do that, he wouldn’t be sleeping outside the village.

Dang Mujin didn’t want to leave Goeui’s body in the cold while he warmed himself. It felt like a betrayal.

He believed that now was a time to be stubborn, so he was.

Sitting in front of Goeui’s body, eating cold, hard food, his mind was flooded with thoughts.

It felt as if Goeui might sit up at any moment and grumble.

“It’s freezing. What, you’re eating alone?” he could almost hear him say. Sometimes, he even heard phantom voices.

But when he snapped back to reality, Goeui lay motionless.

Dang Mujin walked alone for twenty days.

By the time he reached Hui Province, Dang Mujin looked like a complete vagrant.

To be honest, he was far more disheveled than Hong Geolge when they first met. Unlike Hong Geolge, who occasionally washed in streams, Dang Mujin hadn’t washed once during his long journey.

He waited until nightfall, then climbed the hill where walnut trees grew. Two graves, large and small, awaited a husband and father.

Dang Mujin settled beside the graves and began digging with his bare hands.

When he had dug up the Myungbyeongse in the fall, it seemed manageable, but now the earth was hard and unyielding, leaving his fingers raw. The ground was frozen from winter, and he was hungry and exhausted.

He unfastened his sword and used the scabbard’s end to dig. It was better than his hands, but at this rate, who knew how long it would take to dig a grave? The scabbard might break before he finished.

In the end, he snuck into the village and borrowed a decent shovel.

After digging a deep hole and burying Goeui, the night was nearly over, and the eastern sky began to lighten.

Covered in dirt, Dang Mujin lay down beside the grave, staring blankly at the morning star.

He thought he would feel relieved after laying Goeui to rest, but he didn’t. His heart still churned with turmoil.

He pondered for a long time about what this feeling was.

Anger towards the assassins? Regret for Goeui, who left so suddenly and died so easily?

No, it was guilt.

Dang Mujin fiddled with the Gudokseo he found on Goeui’s body.

True to its name, the book contained knowledge about poisons.

How to mix poisons to create a more potent one. How to enhance a poison’s effects. How to neutralize poisons.

Just from the contents, it was clear that the Gudokseo was a medical text left by a dark physician.

The dark physician was known for being better at killing than healing.

In other words, Goeui had successfully obtained the dark physician’s medical text. Whether he received it peacefully or took it by force was unknown.

But on his way back after achieving his goal, Goeui encountered assassins and was killed.

“Could Baek Chuseo have hired the assassins?”

It’s uncertain, but the likelihood is high.

If Baek Chuseo had been killed in time, the assassins might not have pursued Goeui.

“If I hadn’t stopped the old man from killing Baek Chuseo…”

Goeui might have survived.

All of this happened because of my indecisive decision. Dang Mujin thought as he bit his lip.

“If I hadn’t stopped the old man, at least I should have gone with him.”

Dang Mujin recalled the bodies of the assassins he found in Cheonghae and the one he killed himself.

Goeui had killed five out of six assassins. The one who survived was merely a scout, not involved in the fight. Goeui had fought evenly against five opponents alone.

If, instead of facing five alone, Dang Mujin had helped, and they had faced them together, Goeui might have survived.

Dang Mujin had left Baek Chuseo alive, allowing the assassins to pursue Goeui, and even knowing they were after him, he let Goeui travel alone. He had naively thought, “The old man will be fine.”

He had prevented a simple problem from being resolved and left the aftermath and danger to Goeui.

Yes, my indecisive thinking led to this situation.

Dang Mujin sat there for a long time before finally standing up and heading southeast.

The boundary between seasons is subtle.

Some people think spring has arrived with a single warm breeze, while others wait for the snow to melt and green sprouts to emerge.

It was a time when opinions varied on whether it was still winter or spring, but Baek Chuseo had believed spring had arrived for quite some time.

Once the harshest and coldest period had passed, wasn’t it spring?

Last year, Baek Chuseo’s winter had begun earlier than others.

The day when thugs disguised as doctors kidnapped Baek Hyang-a and plotted their schemes. From that day, it was winter.

No one died or was injured in the incident, but life felt empty.

Every time his cherished Hyang-a showed subtle distance, Baek Chuseo’s heart sank.

It seemed less painful to return to the days when he didn’t know about Hyang-a’s condition, when her health was poor, when she was slowly dying.

Moreover, the harsh words Goeui had spoken lingered in his mind.

“If your abilities are lacking, even ordinary dreams can be excessive.”

The memory of those words drove him to madness.

Just seeing a sword reminded him of those words, making his hands tremble so much that he had to skip nearly ten days of training, which he had never missed in his life.

But both problems were resolved soon enough.

The issue with Hyang-a was resolved by distancing himself from her.

Mu-ryangja, the head of the Gongdong Sect, who was close to Baek Chuseo, recognized Hyang-a’s talent and took her as a disciple.

With no need to face her, there were no awkward moments.

In fact, according to a recent letter from Mu-ryangja, Hyang-a not only had a lot of inner energy but also showed great talent in martial arts.

Considering Mu-ryangja’s stinginess with praise, it was certain that Hyang-a was a promising figure for the Jeweon Baek family.

And the harsh words that haunted him were resolved when Salmak’s Jeweon branch leader visited a few months ago.

“Lord Baek, about the failed request last time.”

“What brings you here so boldly? Do you think you have some leverage over me?”

“No, sir. I sent a letter to the higher-ups, and it turns out that person wasn’t ordinary. Lee Gyun wasn’t his real name.”

“Then?”

“That person was Goeui Lee Chung.”

“Goeui Lee Chung! So, what about the request? Are you giving up?”

“No, sir. It just so happens that the higher-ups were also eager to eliminate Goeui, so they gathered five top assassins. No matter what, Goeui won’t survive.”

“Excellent!”

“But there will be additional costs. Is that alright with you?”

“I don’t mind.”

There wasn’t much money left in the household after arranging payment for Salmak, but that was a minor issue.

Baek Chuseo had never been extravagant, and the household staff could be counted on one hand.

The remaining money would last a few years. After that, Hyang-a would manage somehow.

They say hardship matures a person. Once he rid himself of worries, everything started to fall into place.

Even his martial arts training, which had been stagnant for over a decade, seemed to be making progress.

He hadn’t suddenly become much stronger, but he felt like he was moving forward.

When Salmak delivered the good news of Goeui’s demise, he thought he might even stand before the wall of mastery. If luck was on his side, he might even surpass it.

“If I’m lucky, I might reach mastery before Hyang-a.”

Today, Baek Chuseo enthusiastically practiced the Baek family sword technique and returned to his quarters in the main hall.

Just as he was about to lie down, he sensed a faint presence. Looking around the room, he saw a figure dressed in black standing in a corner.

Most people would have been startled and drawn their swords immediately, but Baek Chuseo was overjoyed.

He had been waiting anxiously for news from the assassination guild, his neck craning with anticipation.

As he listened intently, hoping to hear the words he longed for, the man in black finally spoke.

“The mission is complete. The monster is dead.”

A surge of intense joy shot through Baek Chuseo, as if a bolt of lightning had struck his mind.

With this exhilaration, he felt he could break through any barrier in his training.

“Excellent! Where’s the monster’s head? I need to see its face before I can pay the rest.”

The man in black paused before responding, his answer coming a beat later.

”…You’ll see it soon enough.”

“I can’t wait. I’d like to see it before it starts to rot.”

Baek Chuseo wasn’t disappointed. He had expected the monster’s head to pass through several hands before reaching him, given that many had pooled their resources for the assassination.

When he first heard from the guild’s branch leader that numerous people had commissioned the monster’s assassination, Baek Chuseo felt a sense of satisfaction.

It was a reaffirmation that the monster was no saint, but rather a villain who had earned the enmity of many.

Even those who had the means to contact the guild and pay for the job were just a fraction of those who wished for the monster’s demise.

Commissioning the assassination filled Baek Chuseo with a sense of righteousness.

As a chivalrous hero of the orthodox sect, he felt as though he was avenging the weak and powerless by eliminating a villain.

Since it was for a just cause, using the guild’s unsavory services didn’t seem like a significant issue.

In fact, it was even better to use the guild. There’s a saying about using evil to fight greater evil. A brilliant method with a brilliant outcome.

‘It would be ideal if both the monster and the guild’s assassins were wiped out together.’

Just then, the man in black asked Baek Chuseo, “Where is Miss Baek? She should hear that the mission is complete.”

Baek Chuseo was taken aback by the unexpected question.

While he didn’t think commissioning the guild was a crime, he certainly didn’t want his daughter to know about it.

“What are you talking about? Why would you tell her? If you mention this to Hyang-ah, you won’t see a single coin of the payment!”

When Baek Chuseo cut him off sharply, the man in black muttered, “So you commissioned the job, and Miss Baek doesn’t know about it.”

A sharp sense of unease crept over Baek Chuseo. The guild should know who their client is.

”…What did you say? Are you really from the guild? Where’s the branch leader?”

“The branch leader? I don’t know.”

As the man in black removed his hood, a young man’s face was revealed.

It was a face Baek Chuseo vaguely recognized, one that hadn’t completely faded from his memory.

A man who seemed to be one of the monster’s subordinates. Baek Chuseo gasped.

Dang Mujin glared at Baek Chuseo with eyes burning with fury.

“Now it’s your turn to tell me where this so-called branch leader is.”

As Dang Mujin finished speaking, a wave of murderous intent surged from all directions, enveloping Baek Chuseo.