Chapter 03…
Invincible Sword Spirit (3)
The Black Tiger Gang
“Uncle! Where should I deliver this today?”
“You’re here, Sword Spirit. Take it over the ridge to the Nang family manor.”
“Is there some kind of feast going on?”
Since working as a courier for the Gangnam Escort Bureau, Sword Spirit had gotten familiar with the merchants in the market and shopping streets. He treated them casually, and they, in turn, treated him warmly without hesitation.
“They say the Nang family’s eldest son’s wedding banquet is in ten days. That must be why they need so much fabric.”
“Then I suppose the other uncles have goods to deliver to the Nang family as well?”
“Perhaps so. Most likely.”
“Seems like work will be easy today. Take care, sir.”
Sword Spirit lifted a bundle of ten bolts of silk from the fabric shop. It looked like a lot, but not so much that he couldn’t carry it.
They must be keeping an eye on me after yesterday…
He knew Seonamchun was tailing him from behind.
“Well, doesn’t matter.”
Panting heavily, Seonamchun stood in the street, catching his breath.
“His stamina is truly something else…”
He himself prided on his physical strength thanks to martial training for self-defense, but today he had met his match.
Since morning, he had been trailing Sword Spirit, yet within less than half an hour, he lost him.
More precisely, he simply couldn’t keep up.
He had asked the owners of the twelve shops Sword Spirit had visited yesterday, and every one of them confirmed that he had indeed stopped by.
How could anyone manage to visit twelve places in under two hours? He thought about it, but no reasonable answer came.
Well, there was one answer—if Sword Spirit were a martial master, it would be possible. Or perhaps a master of light footwork. But he dismissed the idea: the boy wasn’t even twenty yet.
Still, just in case, he had tailed Sword Spirit today, but in the end, his stamina gave out and he had to give up.
“I’ll need to train harder.”
Resigned, Seonamchun turned back toward the escort bureau.
“Hey! When have I ever slacked off? I finish my work, then I play!”
Hearing Sword Spirit’s voice from outside the walls of the bureau, Seonamchun narrowed his eyes and ran inside on impulse.
There, he saw Sword Spirit quarreling with Jin Aseol, the daughter of the bureau chief.
“Tch, you always claim to be some great martial master, but all you do is slack off. Father said if you don’t work, you won’t eat!”
“I told you I finished work! Look—these receipts prove it.”
Sword Spirit pulled out the slips of proof, but—whoosh!—a sudden gust snatched them from his hand. Seonamchun was suddenly standing beside them, holding the slips.
When he checked them, his eyes widened.
The first shop had been the fabric seller, Mr. Jeon. He himself had seen Sword Spirit running toward the Nang family manor with ten bolts of silk.
Yet within the half-hour it took to return from there to the escort bureau, he had somehow made deliveries to five other places. Unbelievable.
“Did you really visit all these places?”
“You followed me, didn’t you?”
Seonamchun blinked.
“Come on, stop pretending. I knew you were tailing me. See? Even the Chief knows I did my work.”
Sword Spirit’s bold declaration made Jin Aseol pout.
“My brother’s not a liar, so fine. And here!”
Sword Spirit handed her a pretty trinket.
“Wow, it’s beautiful!”
“It’s a gift for the ice cream you gave me yesterday.”
Beaming, Jin Aseol clutched the ornament.
Watching the two of them play, Seonamchun couldn’t gather his thoughts.
“Hey, Sword Spirit!”
“Yes?”
“Have you… trained in martial arts? Light footwork, maybe?”
Before he could answer, Jin Aseol piped in:
“He said he’s a martial master! Stronger than even his teacher!”
Seonamchun looked at Sword Spirit.
“Just words. Anyway, shouldn’t you get back to work?”
“Ah, right. I should.”
Though puzzled, Seonamchun decided it couldn’t possibly be true. A boy barely sixteen or seventeen couldn’t be such an expert.
“Tch, you’re just trying to trick me ‘cause I’m young.”
“No, really! I was a disciple of the greatest martial master in the land!”
“Liar.”
“It’s true!”
Hearing their argument, Seonamchun shook his head hard in confusion.
“Then teach me martial arts too!”
Jin Aseol demanded, but Sword Spirit hesitated.
“See? You’re not really a master, that’s why you won’t teach me.”
“Why should I teach you?”
“You said you’re a master.”
“So what? Do all masters have to teach? Real masters don’t hand out martial arts carelessly.”
Deciding it best to leave, Seonamchun slipped away.
“I can’t make sense of this.”
“Hmph! I’m not playing with you anymore!”
Thinking she’d been teased, Jin Aseol turned and stormed into the inner quarters.
“Hey, I told you to call me brother, not uncle!”
When the couriers returned from escort duties, the bureau bustled with people.
“This is Sword Spirit, who’ll be living and working with us. Please look after me.”
“Welcome. I’m Jeon Gu.”
“I’m Lee Cheong.”
After exchanging greetings, Sword Spirit asked,
“I heard you just returned from a job. Where was it?”
“Guangzhou.”
Guangzhou was the capital of Guangdong Province.
“Isn’t escort duty more lucrative than working here in town?”
“Money… we just get a bit more allowance.”
While escort jobs did come with bonuses, the extra pay wasn’t much for the couriers themselves.
“Still, more than the monthly wage, right?”
“Well, yes. But why ask?”
“I want to travel around the Central Plains. But I’ll need travel money, and I don’t have any.”
The couriers chuckled faintly, thinking him naive.
“Lack of money doesn’t mean you can’t travel. If you meet a kind innkeeper on the way, you’ll get meals.”
“True, but my elders always said a man shouldn’t beg. That’s why I want to earn the money.”
“Then escorting jobs might be the way. Each trip takes you somewhere new.”
Sword Spirit’s eyes lit up.
“Do escort jobs go far?”
“Of course. From here, rich in seafood, there’s no place we don’t go.”
Sword Spirit nodded.
“Then please let me know next time there’s a job.”
“Sure, we will.”
The Black Tiger Gang was the name of the local thugs who controlled the markets and streets of Xiangjiang.
They didn’t truly belong to the dark martial world, as none had proper martial training. At best, they were back-alley thugs.
Still, to the merchants of Xiangjiang’s markets, they were a fearful presence.
“Mr. Jeon! Rumor has it business has been booming for you.”
The Black Tiger Gang’s deputy leader, Manseong, had come to see the fabric seller Jeon, along with his cronies.
“Business… is so-so.”
With a twisted smile, Jeon pulled some money from his pocket and handed it over.
Manseong frowned at the small amount.
“Word is you made a fortune thanks to the Nang family’s banquet.”
At his words, Jeon’s forced smile faltered completely.
“We need to eat too, don’t we? After labor and material costs, nothing’s left.”
Manseong sneered, running his hand over the fabrics displayed at the front.
“Imagine how much you’d lose if all this got ruined…”
Cornered, Jeon had no choice but to give him a bit more than usual.
“See? If you’d done this from the start, we wouldn’t have had any bad blood.”
Jeon swallowed his anger and said nothing.
“Well then, until next time.”
As they left, Jeon cursed them under his breath.
“Damn bastards… Huh?!”
Startled, he turned to see a young man standing before him.
“When did you get in here?”
“I’ve been here a while. Why did you give them money? You don’t owe them, do you?”
It was Sword Spirit.
He had watched from the start as Manseong and his gang extorted money.
“That’s none of your concern.”
“Even so, please tell me. I need to earn money too, and they seem to have an easy way. I’d like to know their method.”
Jeon frowned, thinking the boy was mocking him.
“Just go do your work.”
“Can’t you tell me? Why just hand them money?”
He pressed. Jeon worried the boy might get hurt, so he urged him to leave it alone. But Sword Spirit refused to budge, insisting he explain.
After nearly an hour of back-and-forth, Jeon finally gave in.
“They belong to the Black Tiger Gang, a band of thugs. They’re parasites who extort ‘protection fees’ from merchants in the markets.”
Listening, Sword Spirit thought they sounded just like the dark martial artists Yu Ryeong Maje Gu Yeongcheol had once described.
“So, are they part of the dark martial world? I heard those kinds prey on the weak.”
“Martial artists? Bah! They’re nothing but street punks who bully defenseless merchants. They don’t dare mess with your escort bureau because they fear the couriers.”
Sword Spirit smiled faintly, gathering his thoughts.
“I see. Then where do they live?”
“Why do you ask?”
“In case I’m ever asked to deliver something there. I should avoid it, shouldn’t I? If Chief Seo pays us meager wages, and they take it all, what then?”
Finding that reasonable, Jeon told him.
“They hole up in Hong-a-ru, a brothel alley.”
“Oh, I know Hong-a-ru. I’ve delivered there before.”
“Yes, that’s their den. They founded it themselves. The courtesans there were all sold for money or…”
“So they’re villains who shouldn’t exist. And yet, the authorities or the martial world do nothing? From what I’ve heard…”
