Chapter 12: Why Is It Like This From the Start (1)

Although I had made up my mind to join the escort mission after hearing Baek Mu-ho’s words, the declaration that we would leave for the escort mission the very next day was too sudden.

When I told my family about the suddenly decided matter, they each showed different reactions.

“At your age, you are fully grown. Why is there a need to get our permission one by one? Deal with it on your own.”

My father put on a heavy air.

Since he was someone who believed that if one knows how to choose and advance their own future, no matter how young, they are like an adult.

In that aspect, he was a person who subtly resembled my grandfather.

“……Take enough travel money.”

At the same time, showing a weak side behind the scenes from time to time was another appearance different from my grandfather.

Looking at the stain on the pouch he handed over, it seemed to be emergency money he had gathered thriftily over quite some time.

If I refused, he would take it back as if nothing happened, but it was obvious he would be dejected behind the scenes, so I quickly accepted it.

Everything was filial piety for my father. It would be troublesome to misunderstand.

My mother, well.

“You rascal! Oh, you rascal!”

She was just like my mother. I felt like my back wouldn’t remain intact.

In the end, she did permit it.

My grandfather just ended by patting my shoulder, saying, “Have a good trip.” Since grandfather’s personality was that no matter what you do, once you make up your mind, see it through to the end.

As long as I wasn’t trying to deviate from the path, he was a person who would support whatever I did.

And the most difficult obstacle.

“Brother.”

My younger brother Cheong-u.

My brother, who I thought would cling to me and tell me not to go, held my leg tightly and said tearfully.

“If you come back hurt, I will hate you.”

He reluctantly permitted it, but spoke in a clear voice even while tearful, as if he couldn’t tolerate this alone.

[Know that you are blessed. There is no other brother like him.]

Master Zhang Sanfeng said while clicking his tongue.

No, why are the ones who pushed my back saying real combat was necessary acting like this?

By the way, in the midst of that, Master Bodhidharma was silent.

Is he drawing another picture?

[Good.]

It seemed to be the correct answer.

What kind of picture was it that Master Zhang Sanfeng’s reaction was so consistent?

Anyway.

Although it wasn’t in the same way, my family supported my choice.

As if it was the family’s role to support and back up the choice when a child, a grandson, or a brother decided.

The driving force that kept me stubbornly holding on despite receiving such terrible treatment at the Wudang Sect must have been here.

The people who support me.

And the people I must support.

Family.

Toward such a family, I also spoke with sincerity.

“I’ll be back.”

Just as those words meant.

Without any injury.

I will return again.

To this house.

***

“Let’s do some review.”

“Where are you planning to beat me up again?”

“It’s not about beating you up. Who do you take me for, a psycho?”

“…….”

“You need to be thrashed a bit more later.”

When conversing, even if I don’t want to, I can see what Baek Mu-ho is thinking, so my hands keep itching.

I’ve felt this since long ago, but whenever I’m next to this guy, I feel like my personality is changing. Was he born with some bad energy that ruins the temper of the people around him?

“Explain this escort mission to me again.”

Because yesterday I was busy kissing his face to the ground, so I couldn’t hear the explanation properly.

As I said, I definitely did not beat him up.

I merely threw him a bit.

Anyway, I didn’t beat him.

If you care about the details with a headache, you lose.

[I’ve felt this since long ago, but your mental state is truly sturdy.]

Master Zhang Sanfeng’s words that seemed like praise but also not.

Let’s just take it as praise.

While my sturdy mental state, as Master Zhang Sanfeng said, was digesting Master Zhang Sanfeng’s words well, Baek Mu-ho nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“It’s a request from the Jungshin Merchant Group. You remember this?”

“I remember that part.”

Because I know well about the master of the Jungshin Merchant Group.

Jong In-geol.

Commonly called Lord Jong, he is quite a famous figure in this vicinity.

Even if someone’s name is known to some extent in a field, it is normal not to know them if they have no relation to you, but in my case, I knew this name well.

In a way, because his path had parts similar to my grandfather’s, I often heard people talking about him in connection with grandfather.

Jong In-geol was an official like my grandfather. Well, he wasn’t successful enough to advance to the center like grandfather, but he was someone who had worked continuously here in Hubei.

Thanks to that, his connections in Hubei were said to be very well established.

As I said he was a type similar to grandfather, he was a person who actively made friends and liked making connections while serving as an official for a long time in Hubei.

If there was a difference from grandfather, it was that he had calculations in making connections.

Unlike grandfather, who said that if one engages in transactions of interest even in a friendship, pure friendship is faded, Jong In-geol actively utilized those connections to set up a merchant group after leaving his official post.

The result was a grand success.

His Jungshin Merchant Group, which united several merchants and formed a large group, could grow to the point of pushing out the existing vested interests that held the position.

If there was one interesting part, it was that among the vested interests pushed out by the Jungshin Merchant Group, there were quite a few people who helped when the early Jungshin Merchant Group was settling down.

It meant they thought it would be hard for a man who had only been an official all his life to settle down properly, so they helped him, only to be hit hard in the back of the head and have their influence taken away.

It was a part that proved how thoroughly Jong In-geol had prepared for his post-retirement and how calculating he was when making connections.

Therefore, I didn’t have much liking for the person named Jong In-geol.

Although he walked a path similar to grandfather’s, if one only considered his inclination, it was no exaggeration to say he was at the opposite pole of grandfather’s.

Above all, because he was often mentioned in connection with grandfather, there was also that part.

It was uncomfortable just to be mentioned together, and there were even some people who made strange, irritating comparisons.

While some people praised Jong In-geol as a great person who blossomed his capabilities, they criticized grandfather as a hollow luxury.

If one looked only at the surface, I thought they could judge that way. Using that to judge by what a person achieved rather than looking at the person.

In fact, close people who could be called acquaintances were making completely different judgments.

So he was a figure I could like even less.

“We are to merge with the Bright Fate Escort Agency at the midpoint like this. And there, we combine forces with the Bright Fate Escort Agency to deliver the goods, and that’s it.”

“That’s the part I don’t understand well. Is it common for escort agencies to form alliances?”

An escort agency is a professional group hired by paying a fee for the purpose of transporting goods safely.

Naturally, there must be trust in the ones hired.

Mobilizing two escort agencies sounded like wanting to gather greater strength at first, but in other words, it was also a sign of distrust, meaning one couldn’t trust just one place.

From the escort agency’s perspective, it was a matter of pride and a matter of reputation being chipped away.

I pointed out that part. Because it was true I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to be called an expert in this industry.

But even from my perspective as a layman, it was a strange part.

At my question, Baek Mu-ho scratched his cheek.

“Well, normally it doesn’t happen. Honestly, if such a request came to us, we would have snorted and rejected it. But we owed a debt to the Bright Fate Escort Agency in the past.”

“Meaning we are saving face for that side.”

“The one to whom the request went was that side. The one who requested help was also that side. The one who responded to the request was this side. Looking at it that way, our face won’t be chipped.”

Paying back a debt owed in the past. The subject performing the escort mission is the Bright Fate Escort Agency, and the Baek Family Escort is in the position of adding strength as a helper.

I understood up to here.

“Then what are these escort goods?”

“This?”

Where Baek Mu-ho and I were sitting was on top of the baggage wagon carrying the escort goods.

Since the subject of the request was the Bright Fate Escort Agency, why was the Baek Family Escort moving the escort goods here?

At this question, as if there was a quite interesting story, Baek Mu-ho chuckled.

“It’s a fake.”

“Huh?”

“It’s for deception.”

“You have a talent for tangling stories quite a bit?”

It was a story that wasn’t understood at once.

What was the fake story suddenly about?

“The one who is good at tangling stories is not me, but Jong In-geol, that old man. What did he call it? Blending the real and the fake? He said it was something like that.”

A strategy of presenting the fake and plotting the real. Hearing Baek Mu-ho mention a strategy of deceiving the enemy by mixing the fake and the real made my brow furrow for nothing.

“Meaning there is someone to deceive……”

“Growing influence rapidly means you’ve turned that many places into enemies. Among them, if we have to name the one the Jungshin Merchant Group is most wary of, it would be the Hongmu Sect. As the Jungshin Merchant Group grew, they tore away quite a bit of the Hongmu Sect’s interests. The Hongmu Sect is gritting their teeth, but I heard they couldn’t take action because Jong In-geol’s connections are so formidable. Well, they say that is also shaking slightly as the Counselor of the Ministry of Personnel newly assumed office this time.”

“The newly assumed Counselor of the Ministry of Personnel of the Hubei Provincial Administration Commission.”

The Ministry of Personnel is in charge of appointments. It is a place that selects people. Naturally, the authority cannot but be mighty. Since the Counselor is the head of such a place, if such a person newly assumed office, for Jong In-geol, who valued connections, he was definitely a person to form a connection with.

The Jungshin Merchant Group using connections as a shield.

The Hongmu Sect wanting to attack such a Jungshin Merchant Group.

Jong In-geol’s connections shaken by the newly assumed head of the Ministry of Personnel.

If you combine all of these, the substance of this escort goods is visible.

“This is a bribe.”

No, since Baek Mu-ho said it was blending the real and the fake.

“To be precise, a bait pretending to be a bribe.”

“Probably so.”

Jong In-geol moved two escort agencies. Instead of moving quietly when he should have, he moved as loudly as possible to draw attention.

“Moving two escort agencies to draw attention while the real one moves quietly elsewhere?”

The story was slowly getting organized.

But I didn’t like the organized story.

Throb!

Was it because I used my brain? Suddenly, I felt a throb in the center of my head. It was a tingling sensation.

A sensation I felt like I had experienced before. In my subconscious, I recalled something similar to this sensation.

A sensation as if someone else’s mind was colliding.

I had received this feeling when dealing with the rookie escort warriors who threw hostility at the Baek Family Escort.

This was denser than that.

Should I call it killing intent.

I carefully scanned the surroundings.

Even during that, Baek Mu-ho’s words continued.

“Is he still exuding an official’s smell? Disgusting.”

The world of officials is a hierarchical society.

Obeying superiors. A superior gives orders to an inferior.

Baek Mu-ho lamented that it literally felt like being treated like a chess piece.

If it weren’t for the sensation I felt just now, I would have chimed in with those words, but the immediate concern could not be that.

“Stop!”

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who felt it.

“Alert!”

Mister Baek Jin-seong’s voice, leading the escort mission at the front, rang out vibrantly.

Those who realized the atmosphere was bad drew their weapons.

But even after a long time, the surroundings were only quiet.

Wondering if Mister Baek Jin-seong had made a mistake, the attention of some rookie escort warriors with shallow experience drifted.

At the behavior of those rookie escort warriors, I shouted.

“Look front!”

Mister Baek Jin-seong had detected the existence of the enemy at a far distance.

To the point of it being amazing how he noticed it.

Though I was also in the position of noticing it, I had no time to find it amazing right now.

[Now it’s the real first combat.]

Master Zhang Sanfeng spoke as if it was an interesting spectacle, but I was already throwing my body before those words.

Was he called Nam Dong-bak?

The moment the enemy suddenly tore the bushes by the road and sprang out, that rookie escort warrior’s movement was seen freezing.

A single blade splitting the disrupted attention.

My intervention was in that split second.

Thud! Bam!

It was two movements, quick and precise.

Rushing like a tiger, I crushed the elbow of the arm swinging the blade with my foot, and the subsequent fist crushed the jaw.

Amidst everyone being astonished by my movement of crushing the enemy who sprang out in an instant,

[Haha, is it Shaolin Fist this time?]

Master Bodhidharma’s laughter rang in my head.