Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Gyeom Sa-ik accepted the blade, walked back to his chair, and sat down. Then he gestured forward. An invitation to sit across from him.
“I’m giving you exactly one chance. Think carefully. What’s the real reason you want to quit?”
Jang I-seo cast one lingering glance at the Gold-Cleaving Blade, scratched his head, and stepped forward.
“I want to reclaim some honor now. What’s the point of making money? I’m only a Seventh Grade Ghost. Can’t even spend it properly. I figure I’ll try for a respectable upper-rank position.”
“So you’ve finally lost your mind. A man with no clan, no backing. How exactly are you going to land an upper-rank position? Did you catch a line with someone? Who? The First Young Master? Tell me, just between us.”
Just between us. As if he didn’t know someone was behind that folding screen. Of course he knew.
Third Young Lady Sa Hae-ryeong and her adjutant Narak. The two of them were surely behind the screen, faces flushed, silently fuming through their noses.
The probing question was so laughable that Jang I-seo smirked and replied.
“A line? What line? I just heard an adjutant position was vacant, so I figured I’d take a shot at it.”
“Adjutant?”
“Yeah. Land that and I jump straight to Third Grade Ghost. The Seventh Young Master’s adjutant. That seat’s been empty for years, right? Who knows. Maybe I’ll pass and come back in triumph. So help me out, Commander. We’re family, aren’t we?”
Hah, this lunatic. Gyeom Sa-ik let out a long breath of relief. That was more like it. A mad dog who’d bite his own master didn’t catch lines with anyone. Jang I-seo wasn’t allied with anyone. He was simply being greedy.
But at the same time, a pang of bitterness rose. Because he knew full well that youthful bravado alone couldn’t accomplish everything.
He glanced at the folding screen. Sa Hae-ryeong must have realized by now that Jang I-seo was innocent.
Time to end this conversation.
“Denied.”
“Why!”
Gyeom Sa-ik rejected the demand flatly. If Jang I-seo, that greed-obsessed maniac, was serious enough to offer up the Gold-Cleaving Blade, Gyeom had no intention of blocking his subordinate’s ambition.
But a man already marked by the Third Young Lady had no chance of landing the Seventh Young Master’s adjutant position.
A waste of time.
“What? Is it because of the kickbacks? What are you even hoarding all that money for? Reclaiming wasteland? Then just say so. I’ll invest. How much do you need?”
“Your mouth!”
“So let me go. Just write one recommendation letter. I’ll handle the rest. Or give the sword back.”
Gyeom Sa-ik flinched and glared. Then.
[Please grant it.]
The Third Young Lady’s clear voice seeped into Gyeom Sa-ik’s mind. Sound Transmission. A high-level martial art that conveyed one’s intentions without speaking. Difficult both to learn and to execute. When had she mastered even this?
[Let Jang I-seo have his way.]
Her voice flowed in again. Hmm. A swallow of silence. Personnel matters for his subordinates fell under his authority. Even she had no right to interfere.
But…
His gaze drifted to the Gold-Cleaving Blade.
“Are you truly certain you won’t regret this?”
“Yeah. So please, Commander.”
“Hah… you foolish bastard.”
BANG! Gyeom Sa-ik’s hand brought the stamp down. A grin spread wide across Jang I-seo’s face.
“Thank you!”
At Jang I-seo’s bow, Gyeom Sa-ik buckled the Gold-Cleaving Blade at his waist with a grave expression and spoke.
“It’s not just because of this blade. I believe that supporting a subordinate’s ambition is also a commander’s duty.”
“Don’t say that while not even looking at the person. And stop smiling at the sword. You’re going to scare me.”
“Go find the Quake Mountain Grandmother of Wolha Village. She’s the one in charge.”
“Will do. Thank you for everything, Commander.”
Clasp. Jang I-seo performed a fist-and-palm salute. A rather understated farewell for ten years of service. But that was precisely how they operated.
Gyeom Sa-ik turned his head away as if he couldn’t bear to look.
A dismissal. Fair enough.
“Jang I-seo.”
Just as Jang I-seo opened the door to leave, Gyeom Sa-ik spoke.
“Wherever you go, you’re still my family. So don’t let anyone break your spirit. Not that you’d need me to tell you that.”
The corners of his mouth rose. Gyeom Sa-ik. An impossible man to hate.
“I’m off.”
Jang I-seo bowed and turned away.
One hurdle cleared. The recommendation was secured. Now all that remained was passing the test.
‘Quake Mountain Grandmother, was it? Don’t disappoint me, Third Young Lady.’
Creeeak, SLAM! Jang I-seo grinned, shot one last glance sideways, and strode out the door.
And…
“Are you alright?”
Narak moved the folding screen aside and regarded her with a troubled expression.
Third Young Lady Sa Hae-ryeong.
For the first time in her life, she had suffered the humiliation of hiding behind a folding screen.
A chill thick enough to make teeth chatter permeated the room.
“Jang I-seo. Whether you have the right to do this to me. I’ll verify that myself.”
Her ominous declaration fell like a guillotine.
Meanwhile, Gyeom Sa-ik polished the Gold-Cleaving Blade, beaming from ear to ear.
*
When most people pictured a spy, they imagined someone who hid themselves as thoroughly as possible, moving in utmost secrecy. But that was only half right.
The top priority was always carrying out the mission.
Depending on the need, a spy might become a taciturn underling or an imposing public figure.
And if Jang I-seo had been the former until yesterday, today he needed to be the latter.
‘I got the recommendation, but I’m still just a Seventh Grade Ghost. A shabby calling card for an adjutant position.’
Rumble!
Back at his quarters, Jang I-seo descended into the Heavenly Demon Treasury, lost in thought.
Third Grade Ghost. Adjutant.
At a glance, it might look like a glorified attendant for the Cult Leader’s children, but it was by no means a seat just anyone could fill.
Take Narak, beside the Third Young Lady. He had originally been one of the Five Dragon Hall Masters, the most powerful figures in the Demonic Cult. Not just any Hall Master, but the Mad Dragon Hall Master, responsible for annihilating enemy strongholds. In terms of martial prowess, he ranked among the very top of all Hall Masters.
Then there was Hwan-sa, the First Young Master’s adjutant. He was wrapped head to toe in bandages covered in red eye patterns. Twenty-one years ago, he had unleashed a bloodbath across the Gangho as the great demonic warlord Phantom Demon Lord.
In other words.
‘The adjutant position is filled with monsters. Men who could rise to second-in-command of the entire cult at any time.’
That was what it meant.
If the person an adjutant served became the next Cult Leader, the adjutant was virtually guaranteed a spot among the First Grade Ghosts, the Left and Right Emissaries and Guardians. The highest positions in the cult.
Why else would an adjutant rank above a Division Commander at Third Grade Ghost?
There was a good reason for it.
Furthermore, until the Cult Leader’s children were named Young Cult Leader, they were forbidden from participating in politics beyond managing their own palace.
They could neither appoint nor dismiss officials.
So the norm was to select the single most capable or trustworthy candidate as their one and only adjutant.
‘For a mere Seventh Grade Ghost, Third Squad Leader of the Counter-Espionage Division, to apply for an adjutant role. From the Third Young Lady’s perspective, a snort is the least I’d deserve.’
He could picture her sneering from behind that folding screen. But this was exactly what Jang I-seo had counted on, leveraging her psychology.
She was the type who couldn’t rest until she personally untangled anything that sat wrong with her. He’d judged that hearing Jang I-seo’s arrogance with her own ears would be too much to simply let slide.
Why?
Because she’d want to teach him a lesson. To show him just how foolish a Seventh Grade Ghost was being.
And that had worked perfectly.
After all, he’d gotten his recommendation.
‘But the upcoming test won’t be easy.’
Jang I-seo reflected. That was why Gyeom Sa-ik had told him not to lose heart, no matter what happened. He’d anticipated as much.
But neither of them knew.
From the moment Gyeom Sa-ik had told him to find the Quake Mountain Grandmother. No, from the moment Jang I-seo had walked into the Counter-Espionage Division Commander’s office. Everything had been woven into Jang I-seo’s plan.
And that Jang I-seo happened to be the Demonic Cult’s mad dog, and the Hidden Pavilion’s finest operative.
‘Should vacate the house for a while. Next attempt is on hold until then.’
BZZZT!
He, too, was a monster worthy of an adjutant’s seat.
A monster nurtured on the fortunes of the Heavenly Demon Treasury.
*
Two weeks passed since Jang I-seo left the Counter-Espionage Division.
Third Young Lady Sa Hae-ryeong sat in her office at the Third Small Palace, receiving Narak’s report.
But her expression was far from pleasant. It had been that way for days. Today especially, she kept drumming her hand against her waist as if she’d cleave anything that irritated her. She looked high-strung.
It was all because of him.
“Jang I-seo. You’re telling me he still hasn’t shown up?”
“Yes.”
The office was as immaculate as her temperament, not a speck of dust. That had always been the case. She preferred things clean, whether work or anything else.
But matters involving Jang I-seo felt inexplicably murky, as if shrouded in fog with a stale stench.
“I told him to find the Quake Mountain Grandmother in Wolha Village, and it’s been two weeks with zero contact? Holed up in an inn the entire time?”
“Yes.”
Narak reported exactly what he’d seen.
The truth was, the Quake Mountain Grandmother had never existed. It was a trap laid for Jang I-seo. The plan was to feed him false intelligence, and when he showed up, use the test as a pretext to teach him a lesson.
The preparations had been extensive. Mechanisms and formations were installed in the building identified as the Quake Mountain Grandmother’s residence. A wrong step would plunge him into a deep pit. And even if he made it inside, first-rate warriors with bared blades would be waiting.
But he never came.
Wondering if he had some other scheme, Narak had even tailed him. But the man was supposedly holed up in an inn called Chiseonru.
“He didn’t seek out Mao first? If it’s Chiseonru, wouldn’t that be a place Mao frequents?”
“It is true that the Seventh Young Master visits often. But there was no evidence of any meeting between them.”
“Then… he really is just holed up there celebrating his retirement?”
“It would appear so.”
“Crazy bastard.”
A vicious curse escaped Sa Hae-ryeong’s lips.
So that was it.
Honestly, slight as it was, she’d held a sliver of expectation. Others called the Seventh Young Master Mao a good-for-nothing, but she knew better. She knew the story of how a once-promising boy had fallen so far.
So when he’d declared he’d serve as Mao’s adjutant, she’d found it presumptuous but bold. And so she’d allowed herself that faint hope.
‘But… holed up in an inn, chasing women…?’
Sa Hae-ryeong rose from her seat, murder flashing in her eyes.
The Fire Heaven Sword and Ice Sea Sword at her waist caught the sunlight. The moment she arrived, Jang I-seo’s life was forfeit.
But. In Narak’s assessment, the Third Young Lady needed to minimize her movements right now.
Because the First Young Master and the Second Young Master were most likely to target her first.
The two of them were already locked in a stalemate, an evenly balanced scale. But if the Third Young Lady threw her weight behind either side? The equilibrium would shatter completely.
And Narak judged that rather than try to win her over, the two brothers would more likely agree to eliminate the threat entirely.
“I’ll handle it.”
After much deliberation, Narak finally spoke. But Sa Hae-ryeong’s will was firm.
“No. You go meet the Hall Masters in my stead. Meet them and deliver one message. That I, Sa Hae-ryeong, repay both debts and grudges twofold.”
“It could be dangerous.”
“No one in Cheonsan dares to endanger me.”
An arrogant and bold declaration indeed. But it was precisely this unshakable confidence that kept Narak at her side.
He reluctantly voiced his acceptance, then dissolved into dust and vanished.
He’d gone to the Hall Masters.
But there would be little to gain. Mere formalities at best.
Even though Sa Hae-ryeong had proved her ability by receiving two divine artifacts from the Cult Leader, being a woman remained a shackle.
But precisely because of that.
“She won’t lose to her brothers.”
Sa Hae-ryeong burned with ambition for the seat of Young Cult Leader.