CHAPTER~21
The inn boy was certain he was already dead.
That strike—just the sound, the pressure in the air—had been enough to make him feel as if the gates of the underworld had swung open right in front of him.
Yet… why wasn’t he in pain?
Did it end so quickly that he didn’t even have time to feel it?
Maybe.
Damn it, he thought faintly. Fifteen years working in this inn, and I’ve never met a beggar-looking martial artist this confusing.
If he’d known it would turn out like this, he would’ve just treated every beggar that came by with fake politeness and saved himself the trouble.
“Damn it.”
…Wait.
“Why do you always show up too early when it’s the worst possible time?”
Woo-hee, her face twisted with irritation, glared at the newcomer who’d intercepted her strike.
“Ah, so that’s why you kept bringing up the inn boy,” she snapped. “You were planning this little preview all along, weren’t you?”
Of course, the man who had blocked her was Young-ho.
He looked like he’d just climbed out of a lake, dripping wet from head to toe—completely disheveled.
“If you were gonna show up,” Woo-hee huffed, “you could’ve at least washed up first! Why barge in now and ruin my fun?”
“After thinking it over,” Young-ho said dryly, “I realized that throwing my junior into the martial world this early might not be the wisest decision. There’s no need to meet expectations this quickly. As always, you exceed them in the worst possible way.”
“…Wait. You just insulted me, didn’t you?”
“Yes. And if that sounded like a compliment to you, you might want to get your head checked.”
Whoosh!
Woo-hee swung her tattered sword at him, but once again, he blocked her effortlessly.
“Seriously,” Young-ho sighed, “drawing your sword against an inn boy? You have no shame.”
“Wha—what?!”
“What, do you have something to say?”
“He’s the one who started it! He called me a begging piece of trash!”
“Did he lie?” Young-ho asked, calm as ever. “You walked into an inn looking like a homeless ghost and without a single coin. Of course he treated you like a beggar.”
Woo-hee froze.
He wasn’t wrong.
Then, realization struck her like lightning.
“You—! You bastard! You knew! You knew I left all my money with you and still abandoned me!”
He had known. Every last coin was in his care. And he had the nerve to leave her broke and hungry in a world that treated ‘no money’ as a crime.
This man was a failure as a senior, a subordinate, a family member, a guard, a carrier—and most of all, a human being.
“You!”
Woo-hee, face blazing red, turned to the petrified inn boy instead.
“Y-yes, ma’am! I mean—sir! I mean—great warrior!”
“Money’s here now, so bring me food!”
“…Excuse me?”
“I said, bring me everything! The most expensive, the most delicious dishes you’ve got in this whole inn!”
And just like that, she snatched Young-ho’s coin pouch from his waist as if it were her own, and hurled it at the inn boy.
“O-oh!”
The boy barely managed to catch it, fumbling as he peeked inside. His eyes widened until they nearly popped out.
The pouch was heavy. So heavy that his instincts told him exactly what it was before he even looked.
And when he did—
Inside, large chunks of pure, polished silver gleamed, not a trace of impurity or a single cut mark in sight.
“Y-you… you’re one lucky soul today,” Woo-hee said coolly.
In the underworld, this kind of behavior—tossing around that much silver without a second thought—would’ve gotten someone killed twelve times over. But this was the Central Plains, under righteous sect control.
With a regretful sigh for the blood she wouldn’t be spilling today, Woo-hee crossed her arms. Starting her villain career by beating up an inn boy in broad daylight wasn’t exactly the most impressive debut.
“Today was supposed to be the day you remembered forever as your funeral anniversary,” she muttered. “But fine. That’d be too cliché. I’ll let it slide.”
The boy nodded rapidly, unable to understand half the nonsense coming from the ragged woman’s mouth.
Not that he needed to.
All that mattered was the mountain of silver in his hands.
His body moved on instinct. He bowed so deeply his back nearly folded in half, voice shaking as he shouted toward the kitchen:
“Two honored heroes have entered the inn!”
Yoon Chang-sam, second son of the Horong Inn and lifelong errand boy, had thought his life would be simple. He’d been born a server, raised a server, and expected to die a server.
Until today.
Because today… he had witnessed a miracle.
Well—“miracle” might not be the right word.
It wasn’t the kind of miracle you bragged about to your friends.
At the largest table in the inn—three long tables shoved together to make one giant banquet space—sat two people.
One was calm and composed. The other…
Was devouring food like a starving beast.
Piles of empty plates formed mountains. Rivers of sauce and broth overflowed like floods.
Calling it eating was wrong.
It was absorption.
Chang-sam had never seen a human eat like that.
He was half-terrified, half-fascinated, and mostly confused as to how that person’s stomach hadn’t exploded yet.
How could anyone eat that much and keep going at full speed?
Was that even human?
“Chang-sam, bring me another jar of pickled gourd. The venison’s too dry—it needs something to go with it.”
No. The venison wasn’t dry. She’d just eaten too much.
Still, Chang-sam forced a bright smile and sang out,
“Yes, one more jar of pickled gourd, coming right up!”
Woo-hee had already cleared multiple dishes of roasted and stir-fried deer, quail, duck, chicken, and pork. Between them, she’d ordered noodle soups and dumplings as “palate cleansers.”
The entire first floor of the inn—which normally buzzed with chatter—had gone dead silent.
Every eye in the room was fixed on her.
Even the drunkards had stopped mid-drink.
“Chang-sam,” she said again.
“Yes, ma’am—uh, I mean, yes, honored guest! What else shall I bring?”
“No, not that. I mean them.”
She nodded toward the other customers.
“Why are they staring like that? They’ve got their own food right in front of them.”
“….”
Chang-sam swallowed hard.
You really don’t get it, do you?
But he couldn’t say that out loud. So instead, he rubbed his hands together with a greasy smile and said,
“Well, great warrior, your way of dining is so… bold and magnificent that they can’t help but admire you! They’re simply struck with awe by your generosity and grand spirit! To eat so freely—ah, such grace and inspiration!”
Bullshit, he thought silently. They’re just watching a pig eat itself to death.
“…Really?” Woo-hee asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
Her face was cleaner now after washing up, and though her clothes were still plain, she actually looked… respectable. At least from the outside.
“Of course!” Chang-sam continued, forcing his voice higher. “You are broad-minded as the sea itself, great hero! You graciously allow these humble commoners to witness the might of your appetite! Such tolerance, such generosity—truly, the mark of a true hero among heroes!”
It was
less flattery and more a desperate prayer: Please, just keep eating and don’t kill anyone.
