First, since there are still a few days left until Captain Yong Eung–wan finishes selecting the crew, I should use that time to look into this Golden Rooster Pavilion a bit.
It’s not just because I’m bored or anything like that.
I’ve already got more than enough on my plate right now!
It’s just that if a place that can serve food good enough to move me and my parents disappears, that’d be way too heartbreaking.
After we finished eating, we headed down to the first floor.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“It was really delicious.”
We exchanged farewells with Proprietress Jang Eun-ok and left the Golden Rooster Pavilion.
“Father, Mother, please go on ahead. I’ll settle the bill and catch up with you.”
“All right.”
I turned to the proprietress and asked.
“How much is it altogether?”
“Yes, in total it comes to…”
Wow, the bill came out way heftier than I expected.
But for food of this level, it really isn’t a waste of money.
“Also, I’d like to reserve the third floor for tomorrow evening. Would that be possible?”
“Yes. That’s possible.”
Tomorrow I’m planning to have a get–together with some peers I rarely get to see.
“Then I’ll reserve the third floor for tomorrow evening as well.”
“Understood. We’ll have everything ready.”
“Then I’ll be on my way.”
I cupped my fists in farewell, then left the place.
Once we had gotten a fair bit away from the Golden Rooster Pavilion, Escort Guard Jin Yu spoke up.
“My lord, about Head Cook Hwang from earlier.”
“Yeah?”
So Jin Yu felt something off too?
A martial artist working as a cook in a place like that was odd enough, and his aura had felt a little strange…
“He was an assassin.”
Ah… only then did I realize why his aura had felt so peculiar.
Almost like he was right in front of me, yet somehow not really there?
That lack of presence seemed to be a trait of his inner strength.
Setting that aside for now, what mattered was why someone like that was working there in the first place.
“If he’s an assassin, does that mean he’s working as a cook there to kill someone?”
“Hm, I don’t think that’s the case.”
Escort Guard Jin Yu shook his head.
“He definitely used to be an assassin, but he isn’t one anymore.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“There’s no smell of blood on him.”
At Jin Yu’s words, I tilted my head.
“By the way, how exactly do you sense that ‘smell of blood’?”
“Sir?”
“Honestly, I don’t really get it.”
Sometimes when I look at someone I get a chill or my guard goes up.
Thanks to that, I’d managed to dodge death more than a few times.
But Jin Yu had called it the smell of blood, plain and simple, and that’s what I was curious about.
“Does it literally smell like blood?”
At my question, Jin Yu nodded.
“Yes. It does.”
“Huh? For real?”
I wasn’t the only one surprised. The other Escort Guards were staring with startled looks too.
Escort Guard Seo Wu stroked his chin and said.
“Come to think of it, I heard something before. Once assassins reach a certain level, they can literally smell others of their kind.”
Jin Yu nodded again.
“That ability appeared after I’d brushed past death around thirty times.”
“…”
His words left me speechless.
Jin Yu had told me before that training assassins meant staring straight into the very end of ruthlessness.
Gaining an ability like that meant the pain he’d gone through was just as extreme.
It was almost a miracle he hadn’t gone mad, after crossing the line between life and death so many times.
He’d probably only held on because he had something to support him.
I still didn’t know what that something was, though.
“Anyway, ever since then I’ve been able to locate assassins wherever they are, and gauge their realm as well.”
Ah… so that’s why he was always so good at sniffing assassins out.
“Ah, and by realm, I don’t mean a martial arts realm, but an assassin’s realm.”
At that, Seo Wu added an explanation.
“Of course, the higher the realm, the better you are at killing someone.”
Well, that’s true.
Even if martial arts are often used for self–cultivation, at the end of the day they’re still techniques for killing.
“But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good at assassination. Martial artists tend to kill people head–on, not from the shadows.”
“That’s true enough.”
That’s why people of the martial world end up bound by so many chains of grudges and debts.
“The realm Jin Yu’s talking about is how secretly you can kill someone.”
“So assassins have their own ranking system too, huh.”
“Yes, they do.”
Jin Yu’s voice transmission echoed directly in my head.
“– At the very top of that ranking sits the ‘King of Assassins’.”
King of Assassins? If it’s the King of Assassins…
I turned my head to look at Palgap.
Palgap, who was always right beside me yet barely noticeable.
“Do you have anything for me to do, sir?”
“…No.”
After finishing up in the kitchen, Hwang Seok stepped outside.
“All done cleaning up?”
“Ah, Eun-ok.”
The one calling to him was the proprietress, Jang Eun-ok.
She was also his wife, someone he could look at over and over and still never get tired of.
Wrapping both arms around his waist from behind, she asked.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
He gently stroked her arms and said.
“It’s nothing, it’s just… autumn’s coming.”
“I see.”
Autumn.
Autumn was a special season for the couple. It was in autumn that Hwang Seok had set aside his sword and picked up his kitchen knife.
“You worked hard again today.”
“You’re the one who worked hard.”
They’d had quite a number of large parties that evening. The Eunhae Merchant Group had rented out the entire third floor to dine.
Preparing that much food had been exhausting, but the earnings were good enough that they could give the servers some extra pay.
“You must be tired, so go on in and get some sleep first.”
“I’d like to stay out here like this just a little longer.”
At her words, Hwang Seok smiled softly.
Honestly, before he met her, he’d never even imagined a future like this.
“‘I probably would’ve died under torture after failing a mission, or ended up taking my own life.’”
She was the one who had given meaning and courage to the life of a man who’d had no dreams and no hope.
Because of her, he’d been able to walk away from the path of an assassin.
He recalled how tense he’d been a few days ago.
An assassin had come to the Golden Rooster Pavilion as a customer.
And not just any assassin, but one who’d reached the Assassin Immortal realm.
Assassins had their own realms, too.
Your very first kill was called an Assassin Child. Because at that stage, you were no different from a child.
Once the act of killing became somewhat familiar, you became an Assassin Lord.
When you became a true assassin, that was when you were called an Assassin Immortal.
Above that lay the highest realm of all, the King of Assassins.
A realm where, if you put your mind to it, there was no one you couldn’t kill.
The strange thing was that among the Assassin Immortal’s companions, there’d been someone carrying the aura of a King of Assassins.
For people like that to visit the restaurant where he worked, they had to have some purpose.
Had they heard about him and come to recruit him back?
Either way, it was nothing he welcomed.
So he’d been wound tight with nerves…
“Wow! This is seriously good!”
“Ain’t that the truth. Can we order this one more time?”
“We already ordered an extra serving of that.”
“…Can’t we?”
“…Order it.”
In the end, they did nothing but gorge themselves on braised chicken and leave.
He even checked carefully between the bones in case they’d hidden something there… but there was nothing.
All he could tell was that they’d stripped the meat clean, leaving the bones perfectly bare.
To the point he couldn’t even tell whether the braised chicken he’d made had been the spicy kind or the soy–sauce kind.
He’d been left puzzled, and then they came again as customers.
Only then did he learn that they were members of the Eunhae Merchant Group.
That day, the Eunhae Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord had summoned him, saying he wanted to thank him personally.
Frankly, he didn’t want to meet, but he couldn’t refuse a guest’s request.
And… once he saw them up close, he understood.
That the one at the Assassin Immortal realm had stopped killing quite some time ago.
The smell of blood on that person was barely there.
And from the one with the aura of a King of Assassins, he couldn’t sense any smell of blood at all.
They said a King of Assassins could hide the smell of blood, but this felt different from that.
He was just an attendant.
Only then did he realize he’d been overly sensitive.
“Hwang.”
“Yes, dear?”
“Hwang, do you regret leaving that path?”
“How could I? What I regret is not leaving that path much sooner.”
He turned, gently cupping Jang Eun-ok’s face as he spoke.
“You look tired, so go on in and get some rest.”
“Let me stay just a little longer.”
“I’ll come in shortly too, so go on ahead.”
Only then did she nod and head back inside.
Hwang Seok watched her retreating back until she was completely out of sight, then turned around and spoke.
“You can come out now.”
At those words, someone immediately revealed themselves in front of him.
“We just saw each other earlier, and here we are again.”
“I greet you, senior.”
“Tsk tsk, ‘senior,’ you say? I’m not your senior anymore, not after leaving that path behind.”
“That’s exactly why I call you senior.”
“…?”
“Because I’ve left that path as well.”
“So then… why did you come looking for me?”
“I came to relay my lord’s message.”
“A message?”
“Yes. He said that if anything ever happens to the Golden Rooster Pavilion, if something comes up that means he can’t eat spicy braised chicken there anymore, you should ask for his help at any time.”
“…?”
“It seems my lord took quite a liking to your spicy braised chicken.”
“Is that so?”
At that moment, a question suddenly occurred to him.
“By the way… does your lord know where you really come from?”
“Of course. He’s the one who personally pulled me out of that place.”
“Then what about the one who carries the aura of a King of Assassins?”
“Ah, that’s the attendant.”
“The attendant?”
“Yes, my lord’s attendant. Both he and my lord are well aware of his talent.”
“And he’s not using that talent to its fullest?”
“He’s already making full use of it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? From what I see, he’s just an attendant…”
“Yes. As an attendant, he’s making excellent use of that talent. I’ve been teaching him assassin techniques… and he’s happy because he says they help him serve better as an attendant.”
“And your lord?”
“He doesn’t mind in the slightest.”
“Your lord truly is a strange person…”
“Rather than strange, he’s an incredible person.”
Having said that, Jin Yu continued.
“So I hope you won’t forget my lord’s message.”
As soon as I returned to the Green Mountain Inn, I went straight back to my room.
I had a backlog of work to take care of.
I worked for a while like that.
“My lord. It’s Jin Yu.”
“Ah, come in.”
The door opened and Escort Guard Jin Yu stepped inside.
“Did you pass on what I said?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
I’d asked him to deliver a message to the Golden Rooster Pavilion’s head cook.
Because if my memories from my previous life were right, something was going to happen soon that would erase the Golden Rooster Pavilion from the map.
I didn’t know exactly what that incident would be.
But I still thought it was better than just doing nothing and watching the place disappear.
Besides, Captain Yong Eung–wan still needed time to finish selecting his crew, and Father had said he had business here and would be staying a bit longer.
.
.
.
Morning came.
Today, I was heading to the White Flame Merchant Group.
Merchant Lord Ho Ju-shin of the White Flame Merchant Group had formally invited me.
And this evening, I was going to have dinner with Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun, Deputy Merchant Lord Sa Gang, Deputy Merchant Lord Han Baek–geon, and Deputy Merchant Lord Dam Sim, who were still staying in Jinan.
The place, of course, was the Golden Rooster Pavilion.
When you find a place that good, you’ve got to spread the word.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“Go and come back safely.”
“Be careful on your way.”
“Yes.”
I said my goodbyes to my parents and left the inn.
On the way, I stopped by the marketplace to buy an appropriate gift, then headed for the White Flame Merchant Group.
“Where have you come from?”
Maybe it was because they dealt with metalwork, or because of some recent trouble.
Either way, the gatekeeper’s aura was extremely stern.
“I’m Eun Seo-ho from the Eunhae Merchant Group. Today the Merchant Lord…”
Before I could even finish, he bowed his head politely.
“I greet you, Deputy Merchant Lord Eun.”
“Welcome! We’ve been waiting for you.”
His sudden change in attitude was enough to catch even me off guard.
“And…”
The gatekeeper went on.
“I heard that you saved our young master that time. We’re truly grateful.”
From that, I could tell just how dearly the merchant group cherished Young Master Ho Gyeong.
I answered calmly.
“I only did what anyone should’ve done.”
“I thought you’d say that. Allow me to guide you in.”
I followed his lead inside, then walked after the attendant who’d come to receive me to the reception room.
As soon as I sat down in a chair in the reception room, a maid brought out tea and refreshments.
“Wow…”
I couldn’t help breathing out in admiration at the sight of the spread.
It told me exactly what the White Flame Merchant Group thought of me.
In theory, you ought to treat every guest the same, but in practice, that’s not easy.
The cost of refreshments varies wildly, and you can’t serve extravagant snacks to every single guest.
So those with experience can usually judge how they’re being treated by looking at what’s placed in front of them.
And they should.
So they don’t overstep and wreck relationships by acting above their station.
The pastry in front of me right now had dried apricots on top, drizzled with honey, and even sprinkled with gold flakes…
This… it’s actually okay to eat this, right?
I guess it meant they were that grateful to me.
Sipping my tea, I once again felt I’d done well to save Young Master Ho Gyeong.
Suddenly, the sense of incongruity I’d felt when I first saw him floated up in my mind.
What was that again?
–TL Notes–
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