Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Jin Won-sang followed closely behind Jang Geon, who was advancing without hesitation, and asked,

“Do… Do you know something while going?”

“Didn’t you say her husband is a laborer doing hard work? In this Salt Lake City, the only thing that can be called hard work is ultimately a salt laborer. There are several taverns that those laborers mainly frequent. We’ll look for a laborer with a sick daughter while turning around those places.”

“A sick daughter… Doing it that way will certainly reduce the number of people to check significantly.”

On the street, people hunched over in the chilly weather passed by Jang Geon and Jin Won-sang at a fast pace. Jang Geon naturally dodged them and continued speaking,

“If you want to narrow down the range further, you can recall the features of that woman named Yang So-so.”

“Features? But as I already told the innkeeper…”

“Besides just being pretty. Even on a pretty face, there will be features. Whether her nose is particularly high, or if there’s a mole near her mouth or eyes. There could be scars too.”

Jin Won-sang, walking behind Jang Geon, heard those words and slowly stopped his steps. Jang Geon, who had walked a few steps ahead, also stopped and looked back, seeing Jin Won-sang lowering his hazy eyes in deep thought. And then, for some reason, he smiled faintly.

“…A mole. Yes, there was one mole. On her left cheek, close to her nose, there was a mole. It was a cute mole that squirmed softly whenever she smiled brightly. I liked it, but she herself thought of it as a flaw and felt embarrassed about it.”

His faint smile and expression were dreamlike as if falling into a beautiful past. However, perhaps because that dream was ultimately a past he could not return to, it was a smile that also looked bitter.

Looking at that smile for a moment, Jang Geon spoke briefly,

“A mole on her left cheek close to her nose. We can narrow down the range further.”

Turning around to lead the way again, Jang Geon thought. That the woman Jin Won-sang was looking for was definitely not his sister. That expression was not one that could be made while recalling the past with a sister. Jang Geon merely hoped that this naive-looking monk would not be hurt by his altered memories.

Afterward, the two people entered the bustling street of Salt Lake City without any particular conversation. Even though the sun had not completely fallen yet, there were already many taverns with lit lanterns.

“If we look around a couple of places, laborers who finished work will pour out. Let’s find out slowly.”

Jang Geon led the hesitating Jin Won-sang into the tavern. Already drinkers chugging alcohol were visible here and there, from martial artists carrying blades not much different from laborers to a person huddled in a corner hiding his face with a bamboo hat, the tavern seats were already more than half filled with all sorts of people from the New Continent.

Jang Geon pushed his way through them and called the tavern owner,

“Here. Give us two cups of something strong.”

The tavern owner soon brought two cups filled with alcohol. Jang Geon took them, handed one to the fidgeting Jin Won-sang, and spoke seeing his bewildered expression,

“Laborers working at the salt furnaces and the lake are mostly lower-class laborers, so they can barely earn enough to scrape by with their families. To the extent that buying a single bottle of average liquor is burdensome. So the taverns here thought of a scheme. What if they sold it by the cup instead of by the bottle? Thanks to that, laborers can taste alcohol that was hard to taste normally one cup at a time, and taverns came to see profit even if it’s more troublesome than selling by the bottle.”

Having spoken like that, Jang Geon downed his cup in one gulp. And he gestured with his chin to Jin Won-sang to drink as well. Jin Won-sang hesitated for a moment, then whispered,

“As you might guess, I’ve never drunk alcohol because of my sect.”

“Then take this opportunity to try drinking.”

He maintained a nonchalant attitude. Looking at Jang Geon’s calm face for a long time, he eventually closed both eyes tight and gulped down the liquor. And immediately he choked and coughed heavily. Waiting for him to empty his cup, Jang Geon burst into laughter, which he had been holding back, at Jin Won-sang’s face turning bright red as he coughed.

“Cough, kehh… What on earth is delicious about this…?”

Jang Geon patted Jin Won-sang’s shoulder with a thud.

“Would anyone drink alcohol for the taste? You drink to get drunk. At any rate, if we want to talk with laborers, we should smell of alcohol from our bodies too. Now let’s begin.”

In truth, it was just a joke he made wanting him to relax his tension a bit. Afterward, Jang Geon led Jin Won-sang, whose face had turned red, and began walking around this tavern and that tavern. He caught tavern owners or moderately drunk laborers, bought them a cup of alcohol each, and asked,

“By any chance, is there a person among the laborers whose daughter is sick?”

“Huh? A person with a sick daughter? Why are you asking about such a thing?”

Those who asked back in puzzle also just answered with a smile once bought alcohol.

“Weeell. They say Old Man Jung’s daughter over there has had a fever since yesterday.”

At that story, Jang Geon turned to Jin Won-sang,

“How sick is that woman’s daughter? Just a cold? Or does she have a chronic illness?”

“…She probably hasn’t been able to get up from bed for a long time.”

“You don’t know what illness it is?”

Jin Won-sang let out a sigh and answered,

“…The people here won’t know. Because it’s a rare illness.”

Afterward, there were many laborers with daughters, but among them, few had long-standing illnesses. And those few also shook their heads when asked further about Yang So-so.

While walking around like that, before anyone noticed, the sun set and the surroundings grew dark. However, the bustling street of Salt Lake City shone brighter than daytime, tempting drunk laborers. The dry sweat smell of salt laborers walking the road, the burnt smell infused into clothes from furnaces, and the aromas leaking from taverns and eateries mixed together through the movements of people passing the street, a strange atmosphere that was hard to explain hovering over the street.

Jin Won-sang suddenly stopped his steps in the middle of it and stared blankly at the people. Having been doing that for a long time, he only snapped back to his senses after Jang Geon, who was walking ahead, turned around, returned, and flicked his fingers in front of his eyes.

“…Passing through Hangzhou and Heavenly Empress City, I thought I wouldn’t be flustered anymore by there being many people. Because those places really had more people and were more complex than here. But this… this is different again. Here it’s not simply that there are many people, but… the end of the day of people who spent a hard daily life… gathers and flows here…”

Listening quietly to his words, Jang Geon tapped him to wake him up from falling back into a daze,

“Get a grip. Do your meditation later by catching a quiet room. If you do that on the street, it’s no different than broadcasting to please pickpocket you.”

“…Haha. Pickpocket. Did you experience it yourself?”

Jang Geon did not answer and merely put on a strange smile. After that, the two people walking the street came to return to the tavern they had first entered. Though it didn’t seem like much time had passed, the people packed inside seemed to have doubled.

Jang Geon bought one more cup of alcohol for a person who looked in a good mood as he had been doing, asking in passing. But this time, a slightly different answer came out.

“…Who are you? Why are you going around asking about such a thing?”

It was a sturdy old man with a white beard. Jang Geon noticed that he was no ordinary laborer.

“Because that child’s mother is a hometown friend. She sent a letter saying her daughter was very sick and she was worried, and since I had business passing through here this time, I came looking to lend a hand. But thinking about it, didn’t I realize I didn’t even know where this friend lives in Salt Lake City? Besides, she might have changed her name upon marrying, so I couldn’t find her by her childhood name. Since her husband conveniently does heavy labor, I decided to look from this side first.”

It was a story roughly twisted based on Jin Won-sang’s story. But how much of it was the truth, Jin Won-sang was looking at Jang Geon with wide-open eyes.

Meanwhile, the old man did not smooth his stiff face even at Jang Geon’s story.

“…A hometown friend. I watched you catching this guy and that guy to ask. Thanks to that, I think I know who you’re looking for.”

“That’s fortunate. Then could you please tell us?”

The old man met eyes with Jang Geon with his stiff face. Staring into each other’s eyes like that for a moment, the old man said sternly,

“Go back. Even if you keep looking, you won’t see anything good.”

While Jang Geon furrowed his brows thinking about the underlying intent behind those words, Jin Won-sang, who finally found a clue, stepped forward involuntarily and asked,

“Alms-giver, ah, no. I mean, Elder! I beg of you! I must meet So-so. Absolutely, I must.”

“…Now that I look, this side was the one searching. Still, nothing changes. Go back.”

“Elder!”

Slightly excited, Jin Won-sang approached the old man and grabbed his arm. At that, the laborers around them pushed back their chairs with a rattle and stood up abruptly.

“Hey, let go of that hand.”

“These bastards, what insolence toward Elder Yeom…”

However, when the old man raised his hand, they all stopped in place. Stopping the laborers, the old man looked at Jin Won-sang and said,

“Drink alcohol heavily, and when the sun rises tomorrow, leave this city. I’m saying this for your sake.”

“…Elder, I beg of you. I cannot leave like this. Please help me so I can see her and the child even from afar.”

At Jin Won-sang’s attitude of not backing down despite the old man’s words, the standing laborer shouted loudly,

“You bastard! Didn’t you hear Elder’s words! He told you to get lost!”

Shouting like that, he threw a fist at Jin Won-sang out of nowhere. However, that fist couldn’t even touch Jin Won-sang’s face and stopped abruptly. Because Jang Geon had grabbed his wrist.

“Look here, we have no intention of fighting. We’re just…”

“Damn it!”

Jang Geon blocked the fist and tried to speak calmly, but the laborer whose wrist was grabbed shouted curses again and threw a fist with the opposite hand. In the end, Jang Geon pulled the grabbed wrist sharply, spun around, and lightly bent the laborer’s arm behind his back. The laborer screamed,

“Argh!”

“I held it lightly, kid. Don’t fake illness, ”

Just then, someone shouted,

“Holy shit! It’s a fight,!”

“Wooo-aah,!”

“It’s a fight,!”

Seeing the shouts bursting inside the tavern and the drunkards catching anyone to throw punches in a riot following right after, Jang Geon furrowed his eyebrows and let out a deep sigh. Turning his head, the old man had already vanished before anyone noticed, and Jin Won-sang was flustered while dodging the fists of laborers aimed at him.

Kicking the butt of the laborer whose wrist he was holding to send him rolling into a corner of the tavern, Jang Geon walked steadily toward Jin Won-sang. There were laborers targeting him in between, but Jang Geon gently parried those fists and landed a light blow on each of their faces to finish it. After knocking out four like that, no drunkard dared to charge at him anymore.

Dusting off his hands with a thud, Jang Geon spoke to Jin Won-sang, who was still only dodging fists,

“Don’t just dodge, attack.”

“A-Attack? But these people are civilians, so they’ll get hurt!”

“You can hit lightly.”

Contemplating for a moment at Jang Geon’s words, Jin Won-sang soon made up his mind and clenched his two fists. Fists forged like cobblestones wriggled. However, he quickly changed his mind and opened his fists so his palms were revealed.

And in the next instant, along with a crisp sound of a slap, one laborer’s head snapped around and he collapsed onto the floor. The collapsed laborer had his eyes completely unfocused. Jin Won-sang had slapped his cheek. To the point of knocking him out.

While Jang Geon let out a soft laugh, crisp slapping sounds rang out three or four more times, and thudding falling sounds also echoed three or four times. The laborers who had tried to attack Jin Won-sang and Jang Geon put on appalled expressions. As Jin Won-sang looked at them and the fallen laborers with pity, Jang Geon tapped his arm.

“I hear whistle sounds. It seems the Sword Dragon Sect works hard on public order activities. Let’s go before trouble arises.”

“Huh? B-But earlier that Elder is…”

“Seeing him called Yeom-gong, he’s a master artisan who handles salt furnaces. There are many laborers who just use strength, but there are few artisans who handle furnaces. We’ll be able to find him again soon. Hiding your identity seems to come first right now.”

The Sword Dragon Sect, who were practically the masters of this area, would unmask Jin Won-sang’s head cloth and upon learning his identity, would try to detain him first and find out his purpose. And if there was no political element in that, they would create one forcibly to tie themselves to profit. That was the way of ancient noble clans, and a method that heavy-weight sects of the Martial Alliance had copied and learned cleanly.

Understanding that meaning, Jin Won-sang nodded his head. Leaving the knocked-out laborers behind, the two naturally blended among the people falling into chaos and left the tavern.

And behind them, two people wearing black cloaks and bamboo hats followed out. They were those who had occupied a corner seat since Jang Geon and Jin Won-sang first searched this tavern, and were those who maintained their seats peacefully even amid the tavern’s chaos. They blended into the street with movements as natural and secret as the two who had left first, pursuing their rear.

The tavern’s chaos stopped only after Sword Dragon Sect martial artists stormed in a moment later and blew whistles to pierce ears. The Sword Dragon Sect martial artists even lined up surrounding onlookers to find the origin of the fight, but naturally could not find Jang Geon and Jin Won-sang, who had already left.