“It’s not necessary.”
Im Ha-yeon firmly rejected my proposal like a fish that already knows the angler’s bait, gracefully swimming away.
“Don’t feel burdened. How could I turn my back on the daughter of my sworn brother in distress?”
“No. Just turn your back.”
She was as resolute as a finely sliced pumpkin. Keep this up and you’ll regret it. Do you think murderous intent in the Central Plains is a joke?
In a place where one gets looked down on while sleeping in dilapidated houses with no roofs, getting soaked by rain and feeling starved, regret comes too late.
Finding someone to rely on in a place with no refuge is so precious.
If she had randomly met her father’s brother, wouldn’t it be natural to ask him for a meal with a cute, sad face? Who would turn away?
“Is there no one else you can rely on?”
I asked her with a puzzled expression. I could guess, but I wanted to hear her out.
“No. And don’t you dare try to help that man. I don’t want his help.”
“Is there a rift between father and daughter?”
“That man… I haven’t seen him for over ten years.”
I had to forcibly swallow her words.
Since she learned martial arts from her legendary father, I thought there might be something there, but it turned out to be right.
“Your brother must have his reasons…”
“What reason is there for not seeing a daughter and her mother in ten years?”
I wouldn’t know.
She glared at me with a furious gaze that felt like it could pierce through me, as if blaming someone beyond my face.
At this point, it felt more like an enmity than a father-daughter relationship. Perhaps the sworn brother concept was a bad approach.
I was trying to create a deeper relationship than just being indebted for saving her, but it seems I stepped on a landmine.
I don’t know why Uncle Wang went missing, but he should have visited his daughter every holiday for my hero search.
I looked at Im Ha-yeon, hoping tomorrow’s brunch set would taste worse than usual, thinking about Uncle Wang in Chilgok County.
Im Ha-yeon lives in Hao Mun. Your father’s sworn brother will go to the Tea Bookstore. If it comes to that, she might not even consider the Tea Bookstore when she needs help.
Let’s keep pushing this sworn brother concept.
“I don’t know the details of your brother’s situation. However, when he spoke about Im Ha-yeon, his face was filled with nostalgia and longing. Surely there’s a deep matter buried in his heart.”
Honestly, I can’t quite recall his expression when he mentioned that he had a daughter with a courtesan. Still, I need to package up Uncle Wang to increase my likability.
“That man found a rather good sworn brother. A thief and a rogue merchant? What a pretty pair of sworn brothers!”
Im Ha-yeon seemed displeased that I was defending Uncle Wang, speaking a bit sarcastically.
It’s only natural to have no good feelings towards parents who abandoned you.
With a bitter smile, I spoke in a way that suggested I understood her feelings.
“I understand your feelings. However, if I hadn’t been able to get help from your brother a long time ago, I wouldn’t have been at Umbrella Port that day.”
After defending Uncle Wang, I mentioned the incident at the Umbrella without thinking, knowing that even a sharp-tongued girl like her would relent.
“So…”
Mentioning the Umbrella incident did seem to soften her tone a little.
The bad feelings between father and daughter are unavoidable. I have no obligation to improve their relationship.
What I need is just a link between her and me.
“If you find my relationship with your brother uncomfortable, you don’t need to worry. However, I do not want the woman I saved twice to fall into trouble again. I also don’t want the woman who helped me once to be in difficulty. So feel free to knock on the doors of the Tea Bookstore whenever you need.”
At times like this, I have to act like a hero. Having saved her twice should work out quite well.
I offered her a concerned look as I presented it seriously.
The rough winds might have her pulling tighter on her clothes, but warm winds would loosen the buttons.
Im Ha-yeon pouted at my worried gaze, then quickly turned her head as if she couldn’t hold back any longer.
“…I’ll go.”
Well, she didn’t reject me, so that’s a relief.
“Your brother doesn’t want to get involved in martial affairs anymore. So I hope you don’t stir things up in Hao Mun unnecessarily.”
I don’t want to get dragged into it either. I wrapped up my most important request last so it would be relayed directly to Hao Mun.
“If Hao Mun stays hidden from the rebellion, there’s no reason to look for them. I’ll get that message across.”
“Got it.”
“Now I’ll leave.”
“Lady.”
I called out to her as she was about to disappear.
“Why again?”
“Hao Mun is that way.”
Why aren’t you going back the way you came? I pointed back with my finger.
“Ah… there’s a shortcut.”
“……”
Are you out of your mind?
“I-I’m going!”
Her face turned red as she hurriedly disappeared.
She seems sharp but is strangely missing a screw or two.
*
When Im Ha-yeon stepped back into the Hao Mun Yichang Branch, chaos reigned inside.
“Branch Master! This guy is bleeding a lot from his hand!”
Another Hao Mun disciple who had been beaten by Kang Yoon-ho grabbed the injured man’s hand and shouted to the branch master.
“Why the hell is this punk still standing there?”
The branch master approached the injured man with an annoyed expression.
“If I act weak and go out, it’ll ruin Hao Mun’s reputation!”
“You holding a sword and causing trouble was what ruined the reputation!”
“Brother! That’s too much!”
“Who’s your brother? Let me see. Woah… What the hell. Hey, don’t pull it out.”
The branch master stared in astonishment at the injured man’s hand and then warned him in a cold tone.
“Don’t pull it out, okay? Am I in big trouble or something? I can’t even grip my hand.”
The injured man, realizing the situation was dire, spoke in fear and fidgeted.
“Some bookshop owner punctured right into my acupoint. Wow, if I pull this out carelessly, I’ll be in big trouble. I need to see a doctor right away.”
Did that dark-haired Joseon person even learn martial arts from the Tang Family? The branch master admired his memory skills in silence.
“Help me! Brother! I lost all my money gambling and can’t pay for treatment!”
“I told you to call me branch master. You little punk with Hao Mun’s name, just go to the doctor and have it extracted properly. Pay me back for the treatment later. Take this punk away!”
“Yes!”
“Wahhh! Thank you, brother!”
The injured man left the branch master’s office with other Hao Mun followers.
“Did that punk leave? Hey, take half his salary for the next six months.”
“Yup.”
The branch master was thorough with his calculations.
“Did he send you off well?”
The branch master turned his head and asked Im Ha-yeon, who was watching the situation.
“Yes.”
“Who would’ve thought the Shadowless Thief was still alive? I thought he died over ten years ago.”
The branch master sat down in his chair as if he collapsed and sighed while looking at the bloodline of the Shadowless Thief, his successor.
“Alive or dead, doesn’t matter.”
“No, still, he is the father… Cough.”
The branch master awkwardly coughed, cutting off his words at the sight of Im Ha-yeon’s rage-filled gaze.
He knew both sides of the father-daughter relationship well. Now that he knew he was alive, bringing it up could hurt the woman who might become the Shadowless Thief.
“Do you have any information about Kang Yoon-ho?”
With the sudden appearance of the Shadowless Thief’s sworn brother, Im Ha-yeon wondered if the Yichang Hao Mun would have detailed information on him and asked the branch master.
“Everything you know is probably what we have. The bookshop owner of the Tea Bookstore. The one who made Ho Pil write ‘The Rise of the Tang Family,’ making his name known far and wide with his brilliant trade skills. Right! We were going to add something! A man of loyalty who would lay down his life for his friends, knowing ethics enough to protect the writer no matter what.”
The branch master was also quick to adjust to new information as befits a Hao Mun disciple.
“Is that all?”
“He’s been in Yichang for less than a year. Naturally, the information will be less.”
“He’s famous for his unbelievable business skills.”
“Just because a fishmonger can sell fish well doesn’t mean he knows all about that person’s life. He’s not even a martial artist, so it’s normal for the bookshop owner’s background to be this light.”
“Have you not investigated where he came from or what he did before?”
“Do you think this place is a land of Hao Mun power? Hubei Province is ruled by Mount Wu and the Zhuge family. Even the Sichuan Tang individuals are trying to take a piece of the pie, so being able to find this much in Yichang is high praise.”
The branch master spoke with slight irritation at Im Ha-yeon’s critical tone, warning her not to overstep, even when they were close.
“I’m sorry. Then what about Ho Pil?”
She shrank a bit and asked again.
“It’s a foggy situation as well. Unlike Kang Yoon-ho, there have been requests for him to unveil his identity, but he hasn’t shown his face at all.”
“Is that so?”
Im Ha-yeon sighed softly, showing her disappointment.
“Information about the Tea Bookstore is hard to come by anyway.”
“Why is that?”
Im Ha-yeon tilted her head and asked the branch master.
“Hao Mun disciples are unlikely to be friendly with books.”
“Ah…”
This was a faction of lowly lives, hence the name Hao Mun (Lower Dirty Gate). Naturally, they would be far from anything involving reading.
“The Hao Mun disciples aren’t employees at the Tea Bookstore, nor do they visit often. In fact, it’s likely they are less familiar with it than government offices. Since the shopkeeper, Kang, himself is low-key, gathering information is extremely challenging.”
The information of Hao Mun disciples does not come from professional sources.
It is gathered from hearsay by the small shopkeepers, words from the carriage drivers, and tales from courtesans during drink.
They sell any potentially useful information for money and bundle it all together to resell to others.
Unless in a region where Hao Mun had a stronghold, in general, it was impossible to find anything more than gossip or shallow insights.
“Indeed, it makes sense that the information would be scarce.”
“There are hypotheses about Ho Pil’s identity, but there’s no confirmation. It feels like chasing a ghost. So when the shopkeeper brought the black token, I thought maybe the Shadowless Thief was Ho Pil’s true identity.”
“No way. That man is more into money than books.”
He was the kind of man who told you to learn martial arts through practice, not through reading. Im Ha-yeon’s tone was as firm as it could be.
“I know he hates the smell of ink, but he must have liked good conversations or educated people. So I wondered if he changed as he got older.”
“People don’t change overnight. It can’t be Ho Pil.”
There is no way he would be the same person as a writer she respected. Im Ha-yeon spoke with distaste.
“Ultimately, it was a wasted effort. The shopkeeper turned out to be the sworn brother of the Shadowless Thief. If someone heard that, I’d be surprised. Who exactly thought of the black token and the secret code?”
“…Only that man and I know.”
“To reveal the secret code only to his daughter must mean that the sworn brotherhood holds some truth.”
“If it were a rebel faction, they would never have shared the secret code with me, so it’s certain.”
The fact that she handed it over to the notoriously infamous Kang Yoon-ho was just the cherry on top. Im Ha-yeon swallowed her words.
“Alright. Here, take this!”
The branch master pulled out a bag from his pocket and tossed it to Im Ha-yeon.
“Isn’t this too little for confirming the black token?”
Im Ha-yeon looked into the bag of copper coins, expressing her dissatisfaction.
“What, you’re gonna complain even after I give it to you? Then give it back.”
“N-NO!”
“How’s the plan to become a writer going?”
The branch master hurriedly asked about her latest situation as she hid the bag away.
“I bought some writing materials yesterday… They were quite expensive.”
“Can’t pay you more than that.”
“Gee.”
“But why are you so intent on becoming a writer? No matter how great your writing is, it needs to be seen by someone. It’s not like you’re done after writing one book.”
“That’s true.”
“If you have no money and don’t want to make money from what you’ve learned, you have to find a bookstore to sponsor your writing, but obviously, a stranger wouldn’t know about any bookstores.”
To become a writer, writing just one book isn’t enough. To earn as a writer, you have to sign contracts with bookstores to publish your work. However, there’s no way a rookie like Im Ha-yeon would find a bookstore willing to sponsor her.
“Exactly.”
When the branch master mentioned reality, Im Ha-yeon’s expression darkened slightly.
“I have a proposal, how about that?”
“A proposal? What kind of proposal?”
Could it be a good plan? Im Ha-yeon leaned forward, looking excitedly at the branch master.
“Hao Mun.”
The branch master’s suggestion was something she never considered at all.
“Huh?”
“Why don’t you try becoming an employee at the Tea Bookstore?”
