EP.5 Haomen (1)
Haomen (1)
A time when Geomjon was still called the Jilpunggeom (疾風劍).
The Black Dragon Sword attacked the Tang family while they were away due to the opening of the Jinma Gyeongmun near Sacheon.
The number of Black Dragon Sword and Black Dragon Corps is at least in the hundreds.
The Black Dragon Sword was a martial artist who had surpassed the peak, and most of the Black Dragon Corps’ members were first-class martial artists.
It was still a long time before the head of the Tang clan received the letter and arrived at Sega.
It was the plan of the Black Dragon Sword to swallow up the Tang family, the ruler of Sacheon, and rule over all of Sacheon while the Tang family’s head, Tang Ji-ak, was absent.
If there had been no special change, the Tang clan might have been destroyed that day.
However, unfortunately, there was a change in the Black Dragon Sword.
The strange thing is that at that time, there happened to be a whirlwind sword in the Tang family.
What happened next would be unbelievable to those who didn’t see it with their own eyes.
Hundreds of Black Dragons and the pinnacle Black Dragon Sword were all killed by the Whirlwind Sword.
Someone who watched the wind sword fight hundreds of people alone from afar said,
The sword dance swung by the wind sword was as beautiful as the crescent moon rising in the night sky at that time.
He said that the path the sword passed through was nothing but cruel.
After a long and bloody battle, all that remained were hundreds of corpses and the whirlwind sword.
After this incident, the Tang family took out the Mannyeonhancheol and made a sword for Jilpunggeom as a gift.
Even after he became the Sword Master, he carried that black wind sword around as his beloved weapon.
Moonlight Sword.
This is the name of a sword made by numerous craftsmen with all their might in a Tang family known for being the best in handling iron in the Central Plains.
But where did that black work of art go… … .
“It’s a broom, it’s a broom.”
In Geomjon’s hand was a broom.
…is this really true?
******************
The time just after midnight (13:00-15:00).
I was sitting on the deck, enjoying the warm sunlight.
What I do is, I guess, meditation.
Digging deeper, I saw a small back far away, diligently sweeping the floor.
An old man with a lush white hair and a slightly hunched back was sweeping the floor slowly and vigorously.
It was hard for him to believe, but the old man was a swordsman.
“… I saw Geomjon sweeping the floor with a broom in our house.”
Is this really true?
Two days have passed since Geomjon and Wisul-ah came to my residence as servants to assist me.
I’ve been half out of my mind for a while now.
I asked the general why they suddenly came in.
‘It is the lord’s command.’
It ended with those words. In fact, it was the answer I expected.
But it was not possible to suddenly storm into Gaju’s office and question Gu Cheol-woon. Right? Wouldn’t it have been better to question him instead?
I thought about it a lot, but I couldn’t easily come to a conclusion and time passed.
I wondered if it was okay to leave it like this. I wondered if kicking them out by causing a ruckus would be the right choice for the future.
I didn’t have enough lives to dare cause trouble for the Sword Master, so I gave up on that for now.
As I turn my tired head away from the sword, I see another problem.
“Seol-ah, it’s dangerous to lift too much alone. Should I lift it with my older sister?”
“No! Seol-ah, you can do it!”
“Hey, hey! Seol-ah! There’s a rock in front…!”
“Huh? Oh my god!”
“… .”
I turned my gaze to see the sight.
It seemed that Wi Seol-ah was treated like the youngest sister among the servants and was loved.
The work was not going well.
As a warrior, you must have outstanding talent, but how can you not do things with your body like that?
Haven’t you ever spilled your laundry while carrying it?
The servants comfort and soothe the sad-looking Wi Seol-ah.
But that doesn’t mean the laundry that rolled around on the dirt floor will come back.
Fortunately, it hadn’t been washed yet. I just got up after seeing that.
Wi Seol-ah suddenly runs towards me as if she saw me trying to move.
“Why aren’t you doing what you were doing?”
“The master told me to follow him wherever he goes!”
“…Who said that?”
“Grandpa!”
“….okay.”
Why did you do that… .
In name only, it seemed like a direct servant.
In my view, it was just a passing thing.
In fact, the reason why other employees are so kind to Wi Seol-ah might be because they force her to do the things they hate the most.
The uncomfortable atmosphere in the room where I was always watching my step was also relieved by Weeseol-ah’s arrival.
He’s a child of a noble family, so how can he just arbitrarily appoint a dedicated servant like this?
Since it was a matter related to the household servant, it was clearly something that the governor had a hand in.
‘Does my father and even the commander-in-chief actually know the true identity of the swordsman? Or did the servants neglect their work so much that they decided not to know?’
There must have been some reason, since the director couldn’t have been unaware of what was happening at Sega.
… . When I saw it, I thought it was the latter
Wi Seol-ah, who came in after me, tried to adjust my clothes, but I stopped her because of her poor skills and said I would do it myself in the end.
I could see tears welling up in his eyes, perhaps because he was upset about being rejected.
But since he was not very dexterous, it was still difficult to entrust him with the job.
‘No, is it even okay to do something like this in the first place?’
It seemed like there was still a lot of time left, but if you put on a sense of anxiety, there was no need to move in a hurry.
That was one of the reasons why I was leaving Sega now.
After finishing preparing to go out, he sent Wi Seol-ah, who was about to follow him to the market, to another servant.
It was easy to send him away because there was an excuse that he wasn’t finished learning the job yet.
Wi Seol-ah looked regretful at the fact that she couldn’t go out.
It was difficult for me to know how to deal with Wi Seol-ah.
It was really hard to think about the future when treating him as a servant, and it was also difficult to treat him differently.
As I was leaving the residence, my eyes met with Geomjon’s.
Then, Geomjon bows his head and gives an example.
I felt extremely uncomfortable and quickly stepped out of the room.
When I left the residence, my escort, Muyeon, was waiting for me.
“I heard from the general. He said he was going out to the market.”
“It won’t take long. I’ll probably be back in Sega before the sun sets.”
“All right.”
I didn’t ask about the other parts. It seemed like she was well-trained as an escort.
‘The problem is that I’m the one being escorted, which is a bit pitiful.’
As I left Sega and walked about a mile, I came across the market street where I first met Wi Seol-ah.
I felt it last time too, but I felt out of breath after walking just a little bit because I hadn’t practiced for so long.
I felt like taking a short break, but I had to hurry because I had to get in before the sun went down.
People walked through crowded streets and searched through alleys.
Although he expressed concern that the area was dangerous, he did not stop me from doing so.
“Found it.”
After searching for a while, I finally found a building with a sign.
It was an old and shabby looking building, but it was definitely the place I was looking for.
“I was worried that there might not be any at this time, but it turned out to be a needless worry.”
“Your Majesty… why on earth did you come here?”
“Why? Does it look weird?”
“Yes… Honestly, that’s true. The building is okay, but the surroundings don’t feel very good.”
“That feels really good, that’s right, that’s it.”
Squeak
As I opened the old door and went in, the eyes of the people inside were focused on me.
“What the heck, who’s that kid? Did someone secretly have a baby?”
“What the hell are you talking about. You must have taken the wrong path.”
“What’s that guy standing behind you? Look at him. He’s carrying a knife.”
In the dark interior of the building and the aggressive atmosphere that was evident at first glance, Muyeon put his hand on the handle of his sword. The guys didn’t care whether he did or not.
One of them said to me.
“Kid, this must not be the most peaceful neighborhood since you keep running around like that. How did you end up here?”
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way. I’ve been treated like a higher-up lately, so being treated like this feels familiar and comfortable.
I smiled slightly and answered the man’s words.
“Why did you come here? You came as a guest.”
“My kid is really short on words. Should I shorten his tongue to that extent too so he comes to his senses?”
As the guy was giggling, Muyeon finally tried to draw her sword, but I quickly stopped her.
“Your Majesty, how dare this guy now.”
“Just stay still for a moment.”
I spoke to the guy who was just smiling bitterly in front of Muyeon, who looked like he was going to swing his sword at any moment.
“You probably know who I am anyway, and you’ve known since the moment you set foot in this area. Let’s take it easy.”
I wanted to fit in with the mood and mingle a bit, but unfortunately I didn’t have much time to go out.
The smile he had been wearing disappeared at the words I spoke.
“Let’s not go and see, I don’t have much time. I already knew everything, so let’s stop acting like this.”
“What the hell are you talking about!”
At my words, the guy tried to act again, but it was too late to turn back his broken expression.
“I think they’re worried that the old family will find out and kick us out. Not only is there no reason to do that, but if they fight, it’ll be a loss for us too.”
I can see cold sweat running down the man’s cheek.
“As I said, I’m a bit pressed for time. I’m here as a customer, so hurry up and call the branch manager. Before you guys create a situation that makes you worry so much.”
The man’s pupils shake at my threats.
In fact, they don’t have the ability to do that, but they’re the kind of people who would understand if they just tried it out.
Moo-yeon asked in a bewildered voice in a situation where something seemed to have changed.
“..Your Majesty. What on earth is going on here….”
“It’s nothing, I was originally going to go to Gaebong to find out something, but there was a bit of a problem.”
Moo-yeon flinched. Could it be because my words had an unexpected direction? He was a friend who had much better intuition than I thought.
It would have been nice if I could have just left, but in my current state, it was impossible for me to do that.
“I’m sorry for dragging you here, but I couldn’t help it.”
Gaebong (丐幇), who was able to take the position of Gupa Ilbang (九派一幇) with only information, not force. If it were normal, it would have been easier to go to Gaebong and ask for a favor.
The Open Party is a party, so it doesn’t do anything that could be problematic.
Well, that would be different if you made a fortune overnight.
Anyway, there was a problem with the opening of the request I was making, so I had no choice but to look for somewhere else.
If the political party believes that openness is the most important thing in terms of information power.
If it was Sapa’s information power, it was here.
Haomen (下汚門). I came to Haomen.
*************************
It didn’t take long for Haomen to provide proper guidance.
After the man made contact, he guided us to the basement at the back of the building.
Moo-yeon said, “I can’t just take the young master to such a dangerous place!” but since there was no time to persuade him, he ignored it, saying it was just an order.
When we went down to the basement, a young man with a snake-like face and cross-eyed expression was waiting for us.
“My name is Do-un-chu, branch manager of the Shanxi branch.”
He was quite handsome with white skin. Of course, since he was Haomen, it was obvious that he would have a human skin mask.
“I apologize for appearing so unexpectedly aggressive towards you as someone who came to us.”
“The apple is fine, so are you going to take on the request?”
“Before that, may I ask why you went to such a prestigious family like Guga to look for a sectarian idiot like us?”
“You keep asking me strange questions. I told you I came to ask you a favor.”
“I’m asking why you came to us when you were open.”
Why did you come all the way to Sapa to ask for help when you are in the same political party?
“You must have come because it was a request that Haomun could do, but you couldn’t open it. You must have known this clearly, so why do you keep trying to confirm it?”
The snake-eyed young man smiled slightly as he heard her voice become slightly rude.
“I apologize if I offended you. Since the rumors about your Majesty are just rumors, I think we need to check them out a bit… .”
A boy who was barely fifteen at best. It was understandable that a troublemaker who seemed to have been abandoned by his family would come to him and ask for a favor.
“Even in this situation, the reason I, the branch manager, appeared in front of Confucius in person was only because of Confucius’s surname.”
“I know, my name is Name, so you asked me if I would take a request. This is already the third time, you know?”
“Haomen never refuses a request. As long as the price is right.”
Do-un-chu relaxed his posture slightly. It was a sign that he was willing to listen to the request.
I guess I can finally talk now.
“I’m looking for a person. A boy a little over ten years old.”
I handed over to Do-un-chu a piece of paper with the description of my impressions and the region I had written down.
Do-un-chu, who received the paper, spoke with a strange expression.
“I don’t quite understand, Confucius. If it’s about finding people, there’s no reason to go to Haomen.”
“The area is a bit far and the scope of my knowledge is limited. Opening it up would be expensive.”
As it is well known that it is a sect of the old file room, its credibility is high.
And the commission fee was also high.
If I handed over the same request to Haomun now to Gaeboong, Haomun would probably receive twice as much.
There’s just a little problem.
“Your Majesty, we don’t run on such a small amount of money either.”
Even if it was twice as cheap, it didn’t mean it was cheap.
“I know, but I came here because I could get it from Haomen.”
Dounchu was looking at the paper I handed him.
“It is true that it is easy to find because the impression is unique, but it is not an easy request because the area is large and far from the mountains.”
“I guess that means it’s expensive?”
Dounchu said the appropriate amount.
Mooyeon, who was behind him, swallowed his breath when he heard the amount.
I wondered how much money I would have to save up to be given by Sega. It was a scary amount to even imagine.
But it didn’t matter.
“The price will go down the more I can’t find it, but for now, this amount is….”
“Sorry, we don’t have any money to pay.”
“…What did you say?”
As a person of the Jeongpa faction, it was a dangerous thing to seek out Haomen and ask for help.
It was like that in itself, wearing the name tag of Guga and getting involved with Sapa.
However, the reason I came to Haomen was because I was sure that they would not be able to go anywhere and talk carelessly, and that they would definitely listen to my request.
“I have some really good information, and I think I can get by with it.”
“… . Confucius. Have you forgotten where this place is?”
In terms of the amount of information in the Central Plains, it is a place that is on par with openness.
“I dare say that we have more information than is open.”
Openness may not be easy to achieve due to the justification of being a political party, but Haomen is not picky about the means and methods.
Perhaps it is because of that difference that he can make such an arrogant statement.
“Moreover, it is impossible for us not to know what Confucius knows. If there were no commission, this incident would not have happened… .”
“The master of the lower clan.”
Branch Manager Do-un Chu stopped talking at the casual remark.
The face, whose expression could not be seen clearly, was filled with shock.
“Aren’t you curious about the location of the missing Hao Wenzhou?”
As soon as I finished speaking, a sword blade rushed at me.
