Chapter 74
Haomun Leader Dang Wolhwa.
My connection with her was so intense that it couldn’t be easily forgotten.
Trying out Hoppa Work for the first time in Sichuan, fighting that fucking difficult bastard, the Sichuan Tang Family’s Grand Elder…
It all stemmed from my encounter with her.
And even back then…
“Since you have given me a new life, my life from now on belongs solely to you, Great Hero.”
“…”
Recalling that dizzying moment made it feel like heat was rising to my head.
Whether she knew what was going on in my head or not, the Haomun Leader smiled brightly and continued speaking.
“After what happened in Sichuan, I wanted to come straight here too, but I had too much work to do and couldn’t.”
“Did you resolve the conflict with the Sichuan Tang Family well?”
“I just finished everything with them and came right over.”
Her face looked truly relieved as she said that.
Even though she killed her father, the Grand Elder of the Sichuan Tang Family, the blood of the Tang Family still flowed in her veins.
The Tang Family wouldn’t have easily given up on using the Haomun Leader, nor would they have tolerated the death of their Grand Elder.
The Tang Family are a persistent bunch, so it couldn’t have been an easy fight for the Haomun Leader either.
Still, looking at her face, it seemed things had been resolved well enough in her own way.
I stepped closer to her and patted her on the shoulder.
“That’s good. That’s really good.”
“Great Hero…”
“Alright, I’ve congratulated you, so go back now.”
“Yes, now I will…Excuse me?”
She was nodding her head before her eyes widened, as if she suddenly realized something was wrong.
But by then, I had already turned her around and was pushing her back.
“I said I congratulated you, so go back. To Sichuan or wherever, just not here. Hurry up and go. Shoo!”
“W-Wait a minute, Great Hero!”
The Haomun Leader let out a very rare, flustered voice, clearly not expecting me to act like this.
“…Why, why are you treating me so poorly? You haven’t even heard the reason why I came all the way here!”
“The reason? It’s obvious.”
You came to seduce me.
It wasn’t me being delusional or having a prince complex; this was a perfectly reasonable deduction.
Because, after all…
“You are what I desire most in my life, Great Hero.”
“I will definitely make you mine, Great Hero.”
…The Haomun Leader had a history of spouting such words.
She must have handled only her most urgent tasks and rushed straight to me to put her words into practice.
‘Sneaky girl, impure girl. Did you think I’d fall for that?’
Of course, the Haomun Leader was someone I needed, but it didn’t matter because I had Munseok and the Haomun Leader's Ring as her substitutes.
“No one can easily have my pure heart. If you try your best to seduce me, I will try my best to abandon you.”
Thinking that, I firmly pushed the Haomun Leader’s back. Naturally, since her martial prowess was lower than mine, she had no choice but to keep being pushed away.
“…Kyaak! G-Great Hero! Don’t you need Haomun, Great Hero? I-If you have me…”
“Yeah, I’m putting the ring you gave me to good use. With just that, the Haomun kids can’t even lift a finger against me.”
“…S-Still, you need someone of high rank to carry out your orders to properly run Haomun…”
“I have Munseok. From what I can tell, Munseok seems more capable than you.”
“No, how could you say such a thing…”
The face she turned toward me for a moment was filled with genuine disappointment. It seemed my words had actually hurt her this time.
“Was that too harsh…?”
“I’m still the Sect Leader, though…”
“…I get it, so please go. Yeah? Let’s just be people who meet up occasionally.”
If the Haomun Leader decided to settle down here like Somyung-i, there would be no bigger headache. I stubbornly pushed her resisting back.
“Ah, wait…! Great Hero!”
Realizing I was serious, the Haomun Leader groaned. And then…
“…I didn’t come here empty-handed.”
“…”
At those words, I immediately scanned her body.
I didn’t see anything that looked like luggage. Nor did it seem like she had another Attendant by her side.
“It doesn’t look like you have anything on you… So what did you bring?”
“It’s obvious what the Haomun Leader would bring as a gift. I brought information.”
Information?
As soon as I heard that, my interest was piqued and I stopped pushing her. As if she knew this would happen, the Haomun Leader smiled and turned around.
“I have some information worth your time, Great Hero.”
“…What is it.”
“In a few days, an escort mission will pass through here.”
I listened to her words seriously.
* * *
A few days later.
A Mountain Path in Hunan Province. Although it had been cleared for a while, it was a place where people rarely passed by due to the sparse foot traffic.
Right now, dozens of people were walking through that very place.
While a rather grim determination could be seen on each of their faces, the one standing at the very front shouted grandly.
“Everyone, step aside - ! It is the escort mission of the Moran Caravan Agency!”
“Hwang Pyodu… You don’t have to do that when there’s no one around.”
“Ah, is that so?”
…Of course, not everything was perfect.
“This dim-witted bastard…”
At the head Escort’s frustrating display, Gong Huiran, the General Manager of this escort mission, let out a sigh.
“How did the Moran Caravan Agency end up like this…”
The Moran Caravan Agency was originally the largest Escort Agency in Guangxi Province.
Located in the southern corner, Guangxi Province couldn’t trade smoothly with the Central Plains. Despite this, the Moran Caravan Agency boasted an escort success rate of over ninety percent, exerting a profound influence far and wide.
But that was a few years ago.
Ever since Gong Huiran’s father, the Agency Head of the Moran Caravan Agency, collapsed three years ago, the agency had suffered a rapid decline.
Successive failures of escort missions, and the massive penalty fees they had to bear as a result.
More than anything, the most painful blow to the Moran Caravan Agency was losing many talented individuals due to those consecutive failures.
With the failure of their last escort mission, the Moran Caravan Agency lost most of its capable and highly loyal Escorts.
‘That’s why Hwang Pyosa, who is still severely lacking, had no choice but to take on the role of head Escort…’
The massive debt that still remained, the trust that had already hit rock bottom, the bedridden Agency Head, and the absence of capable Escorts…
The Moran Caravan Agency was truly sinking fast. And all of this had to be borne by her, the Young Agency Head, in place of her collapsed father.
She had been praised for her talent in commerce since childhood, but at only twenty-two years old, all of this felt incredibly heavy to her.
With the continuous failures and pouring criticism, she even felt like throwing away and running from the family business that had lasted for over a hundred years.
However…
“This is really… our last chance…”
…Like a lie, a final opportunity had come to the Moran Caravan Agency.
One day, a mysterious locked cargo and an anonymous request letter arrived at the Moran Caravan Agency. Along with… an advance payment large enough to somewhat resolve the agency’s debts.
The request letter, which didn’t even list a Client, stated that if they simply delivered the cargo to the Jinhua Caravan Agency in Qinghai, they would be paid double the advance payment they had already received.
The most fundamental aspect of an escort mission is operating based on trust and safety.
But the Client wasn’t clearly identified, and to the Jinhua Caravan Agency in Qinghai, of all places.
‘It’s a name I’ve never even heard of before…’
The destination of the escort mission, the Jinhua Caravan Agency, was an unknown entity in itself.
If the Moran Caravan Agency had been like it was in the past, they wouldn’t have accepted this request no matter how large the advance payment was.
However…
“To meet the repayment deadline, this is the only answer…”
…The current situation of the Moran Caravan Agency had reached such an extreme that they could only avoid bankruptcy if the Client kept their promise and paid double the advance payment.
No matter how hard it was, she ultimately couldn’t abandon the agency. Perhaps… this was all someone’s trick… but she decided to stake everything on this escort mission.
Of course…
“…Uh-oh, everyone watch out for the rocks here - !”
“Whoa - !”
…With the Moran Caravan Agency’s current state, it was unclear if they could even make it safely to Qinghai.
Still, as she steeled her resolve and continued down the path, Hwang Pyodu approached Gong Huiran and whispered.
“Um… Young Agency Head.”
“What is it, Hwang Pyodu. Is there a problem…?”
“It’s not that, it’s just that I feel very uneasy about this.”
Hwang Pyodu looked around anxiously and continued.
“This place… we chose it because it saves time, but isn’t it ultimately a path run by Bandits? We can’t trust those Bandit bastards. What if they’re aiming for our cargo and plan to stab us in the back…”
“Ah, don’t worry too much about that, Hwang Pyodu. The reliability of this path has been guaranteed for quite some time now.”
“Reliability?”
Trusting a Bandit sounded as absurd as looking for hot scorched rice water in a well, but Gong Huiran nodded with certainty.
“This Mountain Path is a place tolerated by none other than the Murim Alliance. Many Escort Agencies have used it safely in the meantime… Did you perhaps not see the sign at the Entrance Pavilion that said 200 days accident-free, Hwang Pyodu?”
“Ah… you mean that wooden one? I saw it.”
“That means there hasn’t been a single incident or accident for 200 days since the Mountain Path was established. One of the important things in an escort mission is the certainty that we are heading the right way. If the head Escort is anxious, the other Escorts will be anxious too, so please put your mind at ease, Hwang Pyodu.”
“…Yes, understood.”
At Gong Huiran’s explanation, Hwang Pyodu nodded as if he understood. Only after seeing that could Gong Huiran recheck the upcoming escort schedule.
As she had told Hwang Pyodu earlier, Gong Huiran had a certain level of trust in this Mountain Path. The problem was what came next. After completely exiting this Mountain Path. Once they left this Mountain Path, they would reach Sichuan’s Black Cat Mountain, and there were rumors of a notorious Bandit operating there…
It was then.
“Hey, everyone there, stop.”
“…?”
“Ah, stop means to halt.”
The smoothly traveling escort mission came to a halt, and looking ahead, a rather pretty-faced man was standing in the middle of the road, blocking their way.
“…What is this?”
Though momentarily flustered by his appearance without any presence, Hwang Pyodu, who was the first to regain his senses, stepped to the front and shouted his prepared lines.
“We are the escort mission of the Moran Caravan Agency! Step aside - !”
“Ah, I don’t know if it’s the Moran Caravan Agency or the Mugunghwa Escort Agency, but I am the Hunan Green Forest General Stronghold Master.”
“General Stronghold Master…!”
As soon as she heard those words, Gong Huiran hurriedly performed a Cupped Fist Salute and stepped forward.
“I greet the Master of the Mountain Path! I am Gong Huiran, the Young Agency Head of the Moran Caravan Agency! For what reason has the General Stronghold Master come to us…!”
“Well, what reason would a Bandit have for appearing in front of an escort mission.”
“…Excuse me?”
“To rob your cargo, of course.”
“…”
Gong Huiran felt her blood run cold as she asked in a stiff voice.
“…I heard that the safety of Travelers on this Mountain Path is guaranteed by the Green Forest.”
“That’s what they say. Doing my main job after so long makes me nervous too. Boys.”
Rustle, rustle - .
“…!”
As soon as the General Stronghold Master raised his hand, the Green Forest Members hiding in the tall grass revealed themselves and began to surround the escort mission.
Seeing that, the General Stronghold Master let out a small sigh and continued.
“Hey, don’t kill them. Control your strength properly.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Strike.”
“Waaaaah - !”
And as soon as his order fell, the Green Forest Members' eyes rolled back as they charged at the escort mission.