Chapter 24 - What Will Happen Will Happen

I had some time before formally taking office as Pavilion Master of Yellow Springs Pavilion. I decided to take care of one thing in the meantime.

I intended to give the martial artists who would join the Ghost Shadow Squad the best possible treatment. Rather than wring out their youth under the pretense of loyalty, I would reward them with monthly salaries befitting their abilities.

Whether they squandered their money on the grounds that they could die at any moment, or bought land and houses and prepared for old age, was up to them—as long as they didn't gamble.

That would require an enormous amount of money, and I knew a way to make a fortune around this time.

After leaving Yi An a letter saying I was going out for some fresh air, I slipped out of the Cult.

I had lived my life with regression in mind.

I had spent most of my time struggling to obtain the materials for the grand ritual, but even amid all that, I made certain to remember what mattered. I knew exactly when and where the many incidents that had occurred in Murim over the decades would take place—especially those I could put to use.

This particular incident would take place in a village near Mount Wuyi in Fujian Province. Something I absolutely could not afford to miss would happen there.

To get some practice in along the way, I ran there using Swift Step of the Wind God's Four Steps. I had barely begun to take my first steps in the art, but the more I ran, the more absorbed I became in its profundity.

Whenever I rested, I gazed across the vast plains and lost myself in memories. When winds blowing in from the horizon swept sand and dust toward me, I sprang up and ran again.

To arrive on the day of the incident, I ran with abandon on some days and took my time on others.

After running and running, I arrived at the village below Mount Wuyi.

There was a story I had heard from an elderly wandering warrior back when I was one myself.

He said he had once run a wandering warriors' agency, earning commissions. An incident from those days—the one he always began recounting when drunk with a sigh of, "It was a terrible thing"—would happen here today.

I asked a merchant where the local wandering warriors' agency was.

The warriors gathered in an old building at the end of the market street.

Inside, a dozen or so wandering warriors sat in a space so cramped it felt suffocating. Some dozed against the walls, while others tended their weapons or chatted in small groups. A few gazes turned toward me, then drifted away when they found nothing of particular interest.

I approached a middle-aged man writing something at a desk in the corner.

Emotion welled up in me at the sight of him. This was Im Chu, the very man who had told me about today's events during my years as a wandering warrior.

"Any work available?"

Im Chu looked up at my question.

"Haven't seen you before. Who recommended you?"

"Seo Gwang told me to come here."

"How do you know Warrior Seo?"

"We've worked together before."

"On what?"

"I helped him with a job at Mount Heng."

"The Little East Sect job, right?"

"No, the Southern Peak Sect."

I could tell he had deliberately asked the wrong question despite knowing the answer. All sorts of people came here, so Im Chu was taking his own precautions to establish my identity. But I had come prepared.

"If Warrior Seo recommended you, you're trustworthy. Can you work today?"

"Of course."

"Good timing. We have a big job today. Go wait over there. We need a few more people."

I sat where he indicated. A few warriors glanced at me, but I didn't so much as look their way.

About two hours later, everyone going on the assignment had assembled. There were fifteen of us in all.

In my previous life, Im Chu had said fifty wandering warriors had been recruited for this job. The tall tales warriors told over drinks were something else.

Still, even fifteen men made this a major assignment. Usually, these jobs required two or three wandering warriors, or six or seven at most. Unless the situation was truly urgent, nobody hired so many rough drifters.

"Warrior Yang will lead you today."

The man introduced as Yang Dang was a seasoned veteran of the wandering life.

"The pay is high because the job is dangerous. Any bastard who does something fucking stupid will die by my hand first. Keep that in mind."

After warning everyone, Yang Dang approached me.

"Warrior Seo recommended you?"

"That's right."

"Can I trust your skills?"

"Who do I need to cut down to prove myself? You?"

Being too deferential wouldn't make me look like a wandering warrior, so I pushed back just enough.

"Listen, don't get cocky. In this world, that head of yours can drop off like a bead of morning dew."

I could sense he was trying to use me as an example to keep the others in line, so I didn't bother picking a fight.

"I'll follow orders. Don't worry. All I care about is getting paid."

"We'll see."

The fifteen of us set out on the horses and carriage that had been prepared.

Only after making several contacts and learning the final meeting place did we meet a woman and a boy.

Their faces looked so alike that anyone could tell they were mother and son.

Only after we met them did Yang Dang explain the assignment.

"We have to get those two safely to Nanping. We need to move as quickly as possible."

The fact that fifteen wandering warriors had been hired for an escort job meant the woman and boy were people of considerable standing. It also meant they were in grave danger.

The child in the carriage looked at me through the window. He was a cute, handsome little boy. I smiled and waved, and he bowed his head to me.

He seemed good-natured and well brought up. The woman riding with him gave me a slight nod before drawing the curtain closed. Her face was full of anxiety and worry.

The carriage carrying the two of them set off. The wandering warriors rode ahead of and behind it, escorting it as we raced along.

The carriage stopped only when the horses were too exhausted to run any farther.

While the horses rested, we also took a break and ate. Yang Dang distributed the jerky he had brought to the warriors. He gave the woman and child food prepared separately for them.

The warriors were being paid twice their usual rate for this assignment. Yang Dang, as our leader, would have pocketed several times more. Perhaps that was why he was so on edge about completing the job safely.

"There's no telling when we'll eat again. Eat your fill!"

After resting for about an hour, the carriage set off again.

How long had we been traveling?

One of the warriors tumbled from his galloping horse.

"Stop!"

The warriors stopped and examined the fallen man. He was dead, his face blackened and foam frothing at his mouth.

"He's dead."

The warrior making the report looked at the companion beside him and recoiled in shock. More precisely, they were both shocked at the sight of each other. Their eyes were bloodshot, and their faces had turned black as well.

"Poison?"

The moment the word left their mouths, they clutched their throats and fell backward.

"Ugh..."

One after another, the warriors collapsed, their faces and bodies turning black.

Only three remained standing: Yang Dang, who had led us, another warrior, and me.

From the way the two of them looked at me, I knew.

'These men administered the poison!'

Even I hadn't known this. When Im Chu told me the story in the past, he said the warriors had fallen to an outside attack and that even their bodies had never been found. I would never have imagined their leader had poisoned the food.

They had probably disposed of all the bodies to conceal their use of poison.

"Why aren't you dead?"

Yang Dang glared at me in astonishment.

"Because I didn't eat the jerky you gave me. Why would I eat food from someone I only met today?"

Many things were changing because of my regression, but some things remained unchanged. Just as the cook who put energy-dispersing poison in my meal had been fated to die that day, so too had these wandering warriors been fated to die today.

Even when I tried to prevent needless killing, things like this happened that I couldn't help. What would change would change, and what would happen would happen.

The two men drew their swords at the same time.

"You'd have been better off eating it and dying."

Just then, something unexpected happened.

SHUNK!

Yang Dang's sword pierced the other warrior's back and emerged through his chest.

"Guh!"

The man collapsed, spewing blood.

I shook my head and spoke to Yang Dang.

"Are you an idiot? You should have made him fight me before killing him. How do you know how good I am?"

"He was a calculating, selfish bastard. He'd never have fought first. If I had to step up and fight first anyway... it was better to kill him while he was distracted by you."

It seemed the two had been evenly matched.

"What a pathetic life. You all stand in a line, stabbing the man in front of you in the back. You think your turn won't come?"

"I won't let anyone stand behind me, so spare me your concern."

"What do you even plan to do with the money you've earned by killing your own companions?"

"Plenty of things. Drink. Buy women."

"You killed all these people just for that? Their ghosts will all be hanging off you. With all that weight, will you even be able to get your dick up?"

"You stupid bastard. Worry about your own life!"

He had killed his companion because he had something else to fall back on.

Four men appeared. Three wore masks; only the man who seemed to be their leader was unmasked. Their eyes and the way they walked told me they were highly skilled.

"You've arrived, sir."

Yang Dang greeted them respectfully. Judging by his tone and behavior, these newcomers appeared to have hired him.

The unmasked man paid no attention to either Yang Dang or me. He looked at the carriage and shouted.

"Come out now, before I burn you along with the carriage."

The woman and child climbed out, their faces pale with terror.

"You scurried about hiding like rats. Finding you was quite a chore."

The woman pleaded with him.

"Warrior Gwon, please spare my Yang, at least."

She seemed to know him well. The man called Gwon appeared to consider it for a moment.

"Very well. For old times' sake, I'll spare him."

The instant joy and hope flashed across her face, Gwon revealed his vile true nature.

"Did you think I'd say that, you fucking bitch? You should be on your knees begging for mercy, and you still think you can act like my mistress?"

He roared with laughter, toying with a mother's desperate love.

The frightened child clung to his mother's skirts. Her expression hardened at the humiliation inflicted by a former subordinate. But desperate to save her child somehow, she pleaded again.

"If you spare Yang, I'll give you ten times what they're paying you."

"Money may be king, but it isn't worth more than my life. Your father has already been subdued and captured. It's over."

At the news of her father's defeat, the woman let out a grief-stricken sigh.

Then the man called Gwon turned his gaze toward me.

I was smiling and waving at the child, who looked on the verge of tears, just as I had when we first met.

Finding that sight out of place in this situation, Gwon asked Yang Dang,

"What's with him? Wasn't he one of your men?"

Every gaze focused on me. In particular, the woman holding her child looked at me with eyes full of desperate hope for something that might change their fate.

I walked slowly over and stood between them and the men.

"I'm the man who was paid to take these two to their destination. And I'm also the kind of man who puts the people he must protect behind him."

At that moment, the woman who had been desperate enough to clutch at a straw found a rope woven from heavenly silkworm silk placed in her hands.