Chapter 988: Live a Good Life (1)

Qing always had an annoyingly high level of initiative, so she tended to move first without thinking about what came after.

But that only meant she was rash when she’d be the one paying the price for it.

If it looked like her actions might harm someone else, she was actually fairly cautious.

It wasn’t that Qing had some rare personality trait—she was the kind of common human type you could find anywhere.

That was why it was only natural that Qing went to find Seolga-nom.

“Seolga-nom, did you hear about it?”

“Senior Sasa, you mean?”

“Oh.”

They said if you got the gist, you got the gist—smart people understood with half a sentence.

As expected of the sharpest mind among crossdressing men, with that ridiculous sense and insight.

“So? You weren’t going to just let him leave like that.”

“I have a few things in mind, but it isn’t something I can decide alone, so I was waiting for you to come.”

“Huh. Me?”

“The trading house has multiple branches. Would it really be hard to prepare one position where we could host him? The problem is we’d need to give him a new identity. And you know... even if he always says it’s just a meaningless, trivial nickname, it’s still his entire life. It’s him. His feelings would be miserable beyond words.”

Then he looked at Qing with a subtle gaze, continuing as if he were quietly expecting something.

“When I lost the pleasure of my male organ and it stopped standing—ah, I mean erectile dysfunction. It’s when the male organ hardens so it can push into a woman’s—anyway, when I could no longer function as a man, it didn’t feel like I was living even if I was alive. Of course, you wouldn’t understand.”

Seolga-nom knew perfectly well it wouldn’t land, and yet he kept tossing out harassment anyway.

At this point, you could call it stubbornness. Or pride.

The pride of a professional harasser, vowing he’d see the Thousand-Kill Ancient Star blush at least once—a relentless challenge staked on his reputation.

But—

Qing nodded with a serious expression, as though she’d just heard something perfectly rational and principled.

“Erectile dysfunction is a major issue. You can tease baldness, but you don’t tease erectile dysfunction. Seolga-nom must’ve suffered a lot.”

“......You shouldn’t tease baldness either. You can make someone your lifelong enemy. Don’t you know the bald ghost? The resentment of people who lose their hair runs very, very deep.”

The bald ghost was a common Central Plains folktale—written with the character for “bald,” so they called it the Bald Ghost.

In some village or town or city, people would wake up and find clumps of hair falling out every single morning, so they called in a skilled Taoist, a monk, a fortune-teller—someone—only to discover the culprit was the Bald Ghost.

When they found it and demanded to know why it was harming them, the Bald Ghost cried and said that when it was alive, the bitterness of having no hair had sunk so deep that its hands moved without it realizing—it kept ripping hair out because it wanted to stick it onto its own head.

And everyone fell silent.

Depending on the region, there were variations afterward—some built a shrine and offered hair, some said a monk took it away to cultivate the Buddhist path, and so on.

“Well. I don’t think you’ll like this plan. If we want Senior Sasa to stay, I’ll try to work something out in the merchant-house way—but that could bring trouble to your sect. Either way, it’s something we should ask you about before deciding, isn’t it?”

To be precise, it wasn’t the “merchant-house way” at all—it was the Demonic Cult’s way.

And the Priestess Order was just an excuse. What mattered was the intention of the supreme, highest, most exalted wise Maitreya Goddess within the cult.

But as expected of the sharpest mind among crossdressing men, Seolga-nom spun a logical, persuasive lie so naturally you could barely see the seams.

Qing narrowed her eyes.

“Is it really the merchant-house way?”

“Hm?”

“No, because I know everything.”

Seolga-nom flinched.

“You knew......?”

Qing clicked her tongue.

“You think I wouldn’t? Even if you pretend you aren’t, it’s obvious you’ve learned martial arts. And not just one or two of you—you’ve got several people who seem like they’re masters, too. They’re all people who fled the Demonic Cult. You’re trying to mobilize them, aren’t you?”

“Ah. Right. I see. Yes. Well. Yes.”

“Then fine. But it’s a little much to tell people who chose to live quietly and ordinarily—when they could’ve joined some estate or opened a martial school and strutted as masters—to pick up swords again.”

Seolga-nom stared at Qing for a moment, blankly.

“......Come to think of it, you were a righteous chivalrous hero. It really hits me now.”

“Chivalrous hero, my ass. Wait—what do you mean, ‘come to think of it’?”

“Just let it go. So—what do you plan to do?”

“First, where is that Yeom bastard right now? He used to crawl out whenever he wasn’t needed and make my skin crawl, but now that I actually have a use for him, he’s nowhere to be seen. Can you reach him?”

“He’s hiding because your master is here. The Great Matron will know soon enough, but it’d be awkward—and you’d hate it—for you to be the one to introduce him.”

“Oh, so that’s why he’s hiding? What is this—he’s got an unexpectedly decent side?”

“He’s devoted to his mother in a way you’d never expect. There isn’t a more filial son under heaven. While the Great Matron was away, he stayed planted in Jagwi County in case anything happened. So his mother wouldn’t be hurt. You have an excellent son.”

“Auuugh, don’t do that.”

Qing shrank her fingers in and out, recoiling like she’d touched something vile.

Seolga-nom’s eyes flashed.

“He’s deeper than he looks. As a mother, you should hold him a little. Aren’t you a bit too cold?”

“Ggh—stop. Please. Ten percent less.”

“Alright. He’s at the warehouse. If you call, he’ll come running. But what are you going to do with him?”

“Well....”

Qing poured out what she’d been thinking.

Ohhh. Mm. Ah, I see.

Seolga-nom nodded along, making approving noises, occasionally cutting in with an opinion.

“That part—actually....”

“Oh, that’s good. Then....”

A maddening harmony between the girl who got smart only when she was ruining someone, and the man who was smart all the time.

*****

“Have you heard?”

It was a phrase people in the Central Plains said easily.

In fact, if you sat quietly in an inn and listened in on other conversations, you’d hear it constantly.

It was also the line the Central Plains people—always writhing with boredom and starving for entertainment—loved most.

“What is it now? Something happen again?”

“Ahem. My throat feels a little dry.”

“How am I supposed to know if I know the story or not if you don’t say it?”

“The Evil Path Alliance’s special-grade combat unit, the Golden Hawk Unit—cough. Ahem. Ah, my throat is rough.”

“I thought you were going to say something big. It’s already everywhere. You mean they went to grab Senior Sasa?”

“Hey—what, is Senior Sasa your friend? ‘Sasa’—it’s Senior Sasa. Do you know how many lives he’s saved? Tons of people call him a divine physician. Talk like that and you’ll get yourself killed.”

“Tsk, tsk. That’s the dark world for you. A demonic master tries to turn over a new leaf and do something decent, and they come running like rabid dogs to sabotage it....”

When the Central Plains people were thirsty for interesting news, word about famous bastards like the Golden Hawk Unit spread fast.

Even so, the fact that it had spread all the way to nearby cities when only seven days and nights had passed since the Golden Hawk Unit unpacked in Jagwi County—

That speed was suspiciously fast.

As if someone had deliberately spread the rumor widely.

Either way.

Seven days and nights—seven days—had already passed.

It had been seven days since the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition’s special-grade combat unit, the Golden Hawk Unit, rented rooms and stayed at Jagwi County’s premier inn, the Divine Flame Pavilion.

And for something like that, it had been a shockingly peaceful seven days.

Part of it was because the Priestess Order—the sect that effectively ruled Jagwi County—acted as if they’d never even heard the news.

But the biggest reason was that the demonic masters of the Golden Hawk Unit had been astonishingly quiet.

Because in this situation, even the usual dark-world behavior could ruin everything.

If they gave the Priestess Order even a pretext, they could all end up dead.

And the Priestess Order itself might not be frightening, but the Great Matron was.

The Great Matron was probably watching quietly with feigned ignorance, waiting to seize on even a single fault—

*****

In truth, that was exactly right.

The Priestess Order stayed silent partly because Qing had persuaded the Priestess Order’s leader and Ximen Surin, claiming she had a plan.

And besides—if the Golden Hawk Unit started acting vicious?

Then there wouldn’t even be a need for Qing’s schemes.

Ximen Surin could simply charge out at the front and beat the dark-world bastards to death. That would be the end of it.

So Hyung Taejak gave strict orders to his men:

The Priestess Order might deliberately provoke them to build justification.

Endure it. Absolutely endure it.

And any bastard who couldn’t break his habits—he’d make sure that bastard couldn’t die.

“Couldn’t die” meant he’d make it so they couldn’t die even if they wanted to.

*****

On the seventh day.

Sasa stepped into the Divine Flame Pavilion.

They’d rented an entire floor, and the moment Sasa entered the best room—

Hyung Taejak, the Golden Hawk Unit Commander, raised his glass. He’d had a liquor bottle in front of him since broad daylight.

“Heh-heh. Senior Sasa. You came? So—have you decided? Since we’re at it, let’s go together. As long as you keep doing the good work you’ve been doing, that’s all there is to it.”

“Thinking it over, that’s true. But if the academy were my academy, I’d decide immediately. The problem is... there’s a separate money backer.”

A “money backer”—the one who financed a business.

When the business had a dirty side, people liked to pronounce it in a way that made it sound like “cash backer.”

“You’re saying you’ll run the academy with the Evil Path Alliance’s money? Of course, if you’ll keep offering free charity treatment, no one has a reason to oppose it. Still, shouldn’t you ask the money backer first?”

“Well, even if that weren’t true, who would have the guts to refuse an Evil Path Alliance event? But yes, that’s the right order. So where is this money backer? Who is he? Ah—don’t tell me it’s that friend who came with you? Outside?”

“Yes.”

“Heh. Then there’s no reason to drag this out. We can settle it right here. Look at this—Senior Sasa is cooperating properly. How good is that? Boys. Tell him to come in.”

RATTLE.

The room’s door slid open, and the money backer stepped inside.

For someone who’d poured out a fortune to build a large academy and fund free treatment, he was surprisingly young.

The strange part was that he’d apparently sold off one of his eyes somewhere along the way—he had an artificial eye set in.

But even the artificial eye looked like it had been carved from expensive white jade.

So he really was rich.

The money backer—the one-eyed young man—performed a fist-and-palm salute.

“I am Yeom Hwiyoung. ‘Hwi’ as in shining, ‘young’ as in peaceful. My mother named me with the meaning that I should become a light that shines in peace. If I can shine without dazzling others, that would be truly delightful. A very fine name, isn’t it?”

At Yeom Hwiyoung’s words, Hyung Taejak’s eyebrow rose quietly.

Look at this bastard, his expression said.

Because right in front of the Golden Hawk Unit Commander, some mere merchant—

A brat, no less—

Was speaking with easy formality as if it were natural.

And the kid looked like the kind of pale scholar who’d never even seen martial arts in his life, and yet he still acted like this.

It was like watching a tiger as a day-old puppy bared its teeth.

If Hyung Taejak followed his temper, he would’ve slapped him first and asked whether he’d been raised properly.

But right now, the timing was bad.

And a man who ran a charity project this large was usually either a local powerholder or close to them.

Picking a fight would only bring losses.

So he forced himself to endure.

“If you’re born a man, you should shine so brilliantly that other bastards can’t even dare to look up at you. That stingy little ‘don’t dazzle anyone’—pathetic.”

If he was going to endure, he should’ve endured all the way through.

But of course he couldn’t resist showing his bitterness.

That, too, was very in line with the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition.

At that moment, the corner of Yeom Hwiyoung’s mouth lifted slightly.

Like he was saying, Look at this bastard.

And for anyone who knew Yeom Hwiyoung’s temperament, it was the expression they never wanted to see.

An expression people said gave them chills even when it showed up in a dream.

That expression.