Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
Having just turned thirty this year, Gu Ak was six years Baek Muryang’s junior and a full twenty-two years older than Yanghwi.
At such an age, he certainly never anticipated being addressed as “Brother” by a mere slip of a boy.
Yet Yanghwi casually used the very same title once again, carrying himself with an audacity so brazen it bordered on utter innocence.
“Brother Gu! This little brother offers his greetings!”
“Insolent little rat, who under the heavens do you think you are?”
“My name is Yanghwi, and before long, I will be the son of none other than the Peerless in Chivalry, the great hero Baek Muryang!”
“What?”
“Until barely one shichen ago, I was nothing more than an unfortunate boy slated for the slave trade, abducted by the hounds of the Nahak Gang—wretches who perpetrated misdeeds viler than mongrel beasts under the grand banner of the Great Honggyo Gang.”
Gu Ak’s brow twitched sharply.
Yanghwi’s accusation held a distinct double edge.
The first possibility was that the Nahak Gang had hoodwinked the Honggyo Gang while running rampant with their own villainy.
The second was that those flying the Honggyo Gang’s colors had committed heinous acts that no righteous faction could ever overlook.
“I, the Blood Axe, find no amusement in butchering whelps, little rat. But if you harbor any notion of babbling nonsense as a witness, abandon any hope of leaving this place on your own two feet.”
“Why would I ever do anything to trouble Brother Gu? Hahaha.”
Laughing with easy bluster, Yanghwi deliberately dropped the title Brother Gu once more while quietly measuring the man’s demeanor.
“Anyone blessed with sight can tell I have thirty years on you. What is this ridiculous ‘Brother’ farce?”
His tone had softened slightly. He must have deduced that I pose no threat to him.
With that realization, Yanghwi pressed forward without a shred of shame.
“Is it not said that all men under heaven walk the common path? In that light, are we not practically kinsmen?”
“If that is your logic, shouldn’t you be calling me Uncle instead of Brother?”
“Were I to do that, Brother Gu would become sworn brothers with my father.”
“……”
For a fleeting second, Gu Ak was rendered dumbstruck by his own internal reaction.
And you honestly believe becoming sworn brothers with a brat like you makes any sense at all……?
Had this child lost his mind? Where did such reckless fearlessness come from?
“You brazen little rat whose guts must have burst through your belly, what is it you actually came here to say?”
“It is quite straightforward. I wish to repay enmity with benevolence.”
“A runty rat like you dares claim he can grant our gang a kindness that eclipses the blood debt forged today?”
“You grasp my meaning entirely, Brother Gu.”
Gu Ak let out a mocking sneer.
“If you can truly pull that off, I will gladly call you Brother instead.”
“On your honor? A true man never goes back on his word, does he?”
With the corners of his mouth curving upward into a sharp grin, Yanghwi let slip a single, deliberate phrase.
“An infiltrator from the Cheongsa Gang. You have been searching for one, have you not?”
In that solitary heartbeat, the expressions of both Gu Ak and Buk Aksin froze completely.
“Little rat, where did you hear of that?”
The Cheongsa Gang was one of the fiercest dark-path factions currently locked in a brutal territorial struggle against the Honggyo Gang.
“Two shichen ago, I was just a pitiful vagrant boy bound for the slave markets, but until three days ago, I was wandering every alleyway begging for scraps. Living like that means one overhears all manner of secrets in every corner.”
“Drop the useless chatter and cut straight to the core, little rat.”
“As you wish. Perhaps you might step a little closer to this little brother?”
Gu Ak’s lips curled in instant displeasure.
“I have indulged your tongue thus far, but your insolence is getting out of hand, little rat. How dare you order me about!”
Yanghwi responded with total composure.
“Then instruct your sworn younger brother to withdraw a fair distance. If you do that, I will approach Brother Gu on my own.”
“What sort of pitiful trick are you trying to spin now?!”
“Hear what I have to say first. If my words prove to be nothing more than deceit, you may sever my life thread right where I stand, and I shall not voice a single word of complaint.”
Gu Ak scrutinized Yanghwi’s features, taking in the sheer indifference with which the boy staked his own mortality.
“Your gall truly knows no bounds. Very well. Aksin, fall back ten zhang.”
“Big Brother, why must we indulge the cheap games of a guttersnipe like him?”
“Does it not amuse you? A mere pup is wagering his very life on this.”
“……”
Masking his face behind an indecipherable expression, Buk Aksin gradually retreated.
“There. Come here, little rat, and speak your piece.”
Hurrying forward, Yanghwi leaned in and brought his mouth directly against Gu Ak’s ear.
“Have you never found it strange how, whenever a skirmish breaks out, the Cheongsa Gang maneuvers as if they have already read the deepest thoughts of the Honggyo Gang? That is why you have spent sleepless nights hunting for their spy. By the way, that tattoo upon your forearm is truly striking, Brother Gu.”
Inscribed near Gu Ak’s shoulder was an ornate rendering of a crimson sedan chair.
It was an insignia declaring absolute allegiance to the Honggyo Gang. Brutes of the dark path never failed to etch such marks into their skin.
Given the volatile climate of the dark path—where betrayal, shifting loyalties, and treacherous thoughts were everyday occurrences—they branded their men directly to ensure their subjugation.
“Little rat, I recall telling you to get straight to the point.”
He certainly lacks patience.
Yanghwi wasted no time continuing.
“You must already know that members of the Cheongsa Gang bear a brand shaped like an azure serpent. Inspect the flesh of Buk Aksin.”
Gu Ak’s already fierce countenance contorted violently as his hand shot out, seizing Yanghwi by the collar.
“You have finally overstepped your bounds. Are you daring to claim that my own sworn brother is a traitor?”
“That is precisely what I am saying.”
“Then your life thread belongs to me this very second. I have already personally examined my brother’s body.”
“The last time you did so must have been more than a year ago. It was likely when he first entered your ranks and received his brand, was it not?”
Gu Ak spat out a scoff.
“You are mistaken. Merely a month ago, I inspected the bodies of every single man under my command. My brother even stepped forward ahead of everyone else, stripping bare to prove his unyielding loyalty.”
Despite the harsh retort, Yanghwi’s pulse remained entirely steady.
“Is that so? He may have dropped his trousers, but did Buk Aksin remove his undergarments as well?”
“……”
Of course he never did. Buk Aksin volunteered precisely because he knew you would never go so far as to strip him of his undergarments.
Gu Ak stood frozen, as though struck squarely across a vital point. Yanghwi pressed the advantage smoothly.
“The Cheongsa Gang required certainty that their mole would not turn against them, while the spy himself desired a brand placed where no eye would ever gaze upon it. Therefore, the spot selected was the groin—specifically, tucked deep within the inner thigh.”
Unlike the absurd notions spun in teahouse gossip and cheap novels, such as hiding it beneath the hair on the crown of the head, this was a place no man would ever willingly expose to another.
It was, in truth, an ingenious location.
“……How could you possibly know of this?”
Because in the days to come, a turncoat will surrender and expose the identity of every last hidden agent, naturally.
Of course, that was an answer he could never utter aloud.
“Who would ever catch sight of another man’s inner thigh? While begging in the shadow of a pleasure quarter, I happened to overhear courtesans whispering about a customer who bore the ink of an azure serpent hidden deep along his groin.”
Yanghwi cast an unsubtle, mocking smirk straight toward Buk Aksin.
“Since I was already aware of what the azure serpent represented, I took special care to identify the man in question. It seems that while he possessed the nerve to act as an infiltrator, restraining his carnal appetites proved entirely beyond him.”
“……”
Gu Ak turned and began striding deliberately toward Buk Aksin, silently signaling his men with a sweep of his hand.
Realizing he had suddenly been surrounded, Buk Aksin cried out in sheer panic.
“Big Brother! I cannot fathom what vile slander that mongrel whispered in your ear, but what is the meaning of this?!”
“Aksin. Strip. Down to your undergarments.”
Buk Aksin’s entire frame jolted as if struck by a lightning bolt.
“Brother! Do you truly intend to subject this younger brother to such humiliation?!”
“It will take no more than an instant to verify. If the mark is absent, I shall drop to my knees and beg your forgiveness myself.”
“……”
Plunged into breathless silence, Buk Aksin chose escape.
The bastard certainly does not waste time deciding.
Now that matters had deteriorated to this point, whether handled in the shadows or out in the open, the inspection was utterly unavoidable.
Grasping that reality, he must have concluded that fleeing was his sole path to survival.
A pity for him that he cannot match Gu Ak’s speed.
Before Buk Aksin could even shatter the closing cordon, the heavy weapon that had earned Gu Ak the terrifying moniker of Blood Axe crashed brutally into his lower leg.
“GRAAAAH!”
Buk Aksin’s agonized wail tore through the air, drowning beneath Gu Ak’s thunderous fury.
“Buk Aksiiin! You treacherous dog! After all the brotherly warmth I showered upon you, you dared to plunge a blade into my back?!”
The edge of the axe shredded Buk Aksin’s garments away. Owing to the savage violence of the blow, the flesh of his thigh was ripped open in tandem, blood spraying wildly, yet the carnage did nothing to obscure the brand of the azure serpent coiled upon his skin.
“The mark is truly there.”
“Big Brother! Big Brother! I was blind! Please grant this younger brother a chance to explain, GRAAAAH!”
A spray of blood mixed with shattered white fragments burst from Buk Aksin’s mouth.
Having silenced the traitor’s pleas with a fist like tempered iron, Gu Ak was far from finished.
He will not slaughter him immediately. Now that his identity as a spy is confirmed, he must drag him away for brutal interrogation.
As Gu Ak systematically broke Buk Aksin’s limbs to ensure he could neither run nor fight back, a sudden shadow fell across Yanghwi’s vision.
A rough, calloused hand had covered his eyes. It was Baek Muryang.
“This is a sight far too grim for a child to behold.”
“……”
Quietly appreciating that warmth for a brief moment, Yanghwi reached up with both hands, gently grasping Baek Muryang’s fingers and guiding them downward.
“I am unhurt, Lord of the House. Furthermore, I still have words left to deliver.”
With that, he stepped forward once more.
“Brother Gu.”
Still breathing heavily with lingering fury after breaking the traitor’s bones, Gu Ak turned his head.
“Little Brother.”
The moniker had shifted from “little rat” to “Little Brother.”
“I presume this should serve as ample compensation to settle the grievance regarding the destruction of that rabble. What say you?”
“……I concede it. I find myself indebted to you, Little Brother.”
For a passing instant, Yanghwi nearly let his old wanderer’s habits slip out, sorely tempted to respond by teasingly calling him “Younger Brother Gu” instead.
Yet playing such a dangerous game under these circumstances would truly be the height of sheer madness.
I will save that jest for another day.
“Allow me to confirm this once more. Now that this debt has been balanced through an act of goodwill, is it agreed that all hostilities and grievances between the Honggyo Gang and our household are resolved?”
“Speaking as the son of the Great Leader of the Honggyo Gang and commander of the Hongho squad, I give you my absolute word: the debt and the grievance are settled in full.”
The retainers of the Baek Estate, who had remained tense throughout the ordeal, finally released a collective sigh of profound relief. Even Baek Muryang, while upholding the stern dignity required of a clan head, could not fully suppress the quiet brightening of his expression.
However.
Yanghwi had no intention of letting matters conclude here.
“Then there remains another account we must balance.”
“An account? What possible ledger could be left unsettled, Little Brother?”
“The blood feud was balanced and dissolved, but another grievance remains standing. And this time, it belongs entirely to our Baek Estate.”
Yanghwi extended his finger toward the splintered remnants of the entrance.
“How does Brother Gu plan to resolve this?”
To state the matter plainly, the grand gate of a martial residence was the very bastion of a clan’s dignity and prestige.
To reduce that threshold to splinters and storm the grounds uninvited was a slight far more egregious than slaughtering a handful of third-rate ruffians.
In all honesty, measured strictly by the weight of the insult, our side holds the heavier grievance. Heavy enough that a battle to the death here and now would be entirely justified.
Gu Ak had acted rashly because he believed righteousness stood on his side, but the scales had tilted irrevocably.
“I imagine you are well aware that our Lord of the House, much like Brother Gu, possesses a sworn brother of his own.”
Baek Muryang’s sworn brother was a high-born scion of a renowned noble lineage. He was a formidable, unwavering ally who could never be compared to the treacherous likes of Buk Aksin.
As Yanghwi cast his thoughts back to the memories of that sworn brother from his previous life, Baek Muryang turned to him, wearing an expression of sheer mystification.
“Hwi, from where did you learn that I possessed a sworn brother?”
“When a boy sleeps upon the dusty roads and beneath the open skies, many whispers reach his ears. I also know that your brotherhood is so profound that he would strip off his sleeves and ride forth the instant word of today’s affront reached his ears.”
Offering his reply with respectful poise, Yanghwi shifted his gaze toward Gu Ak, whose face had darkened perceptibly.
Gu Ak, too, evidently knew the terrifying stature of Baek Muryang’s sworn brother.
He had known all along, yet had assumed the man would have no cause to intervene so long as moral justification favored the Honggyo Gang.
“It is as you say. Since the original debts cancelled one another out, only this singular grievance remains. What is it that you desire, Little Brother?”
“Our Lord of the House is not a man to harbor pettiness over minor troubles. Should you merely provide the coin required to mend the broken gate, he will undoubtedly laugh away the matter and let it rest.”
Coin to mend the gate. Grasping the true humiliation concealed behind those soft words, Gu Ak could only shake his head in reluctant awe.
“Little Brother…… your cunning far outstrips your years.”
“I shall graciously accept that as praise.”
Releasing a heavy breath, Gu Ak turned to glare at his entourage.
“Every last one of you, unfasten your coin pouches and cast them to the earth.”
Untying his own bulging purse and tossing it to the dirt, Gu Ak reached down to strip Buk Aksin’s coin pouch as well before clasping his fists in a formal salute toward Baek Muryang.
“Peerless in Chivalry. I offer my deepest apologies for the sheer insolence committed today. As an earnest token of our regret, I leave behind every speck of coin on our persons to cover the reconstruction of your gate.”
Once news of this confrontation spread through the world, what manner of rumors would take root?
Without question, people would whisper that the mighty Honggyo Gang had shattered the threshold of the Baek house, only to be stripped of their very last coin before being sent scuttling into the dust.
The honor of the clan will not be dragged through the mud as it was in my past life.
Observing the spectacle, Yanghwi allowed a quiet, satisfied smile to grace his face.
He had taken the tragic fate of his former existence and completely turned it on its head.
“With this, let every debt and grievance between our gang and the Baek house be recognized as having vanished entirely into the wind. We take our leave. Men, withdraw.”
As Gu Ak and the multitude of the Honggyo Gang receded like an ebbing tide,
Yanghwi turned around, casting a knowing smirk directly at Steward Han.
“Allow me to present myself once more. I am Baek Yanghwi of the Baek house.”
“……”
A heavy silence descended upon the courtyard. Not a single soul among the household retainers could muster the breath to deny his claim.
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