Chapter 47
“Hey, server! Over here.”
A middle-aged man burst into the bustling Hwayoung Inn, shouting for the server without hesitation. He claimed a table and sat down as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
His arrival drew no attention. Dressed in plain clothes with a face as ordinary as any passerby’s, he was the kind of man you’d forget after a few steps.
“Yes, sir! Coming right up,” responded the server, Wang Sam, glancing at the man’s face before quickly hurrying over.
“What a fine day, sir. What would you like to order?”
He placed a cup of water on the table and rubbed his hands together politely.
“I’ll have a bowl of wheat noodles and a side of stir-fried vegetables.”
As he gave his simple order, his hands moved quickly. While appearing to spill a bit of water onto the table, his fingers traced swift strokes on the wooden surface, forming a character:
言 (speech).
“Would you like anything else?” Wang Sam asked, nodding as if he understood the secret message.
The man quickly wiped away the character.
“No. That’ll be all.”
“Very well. I’ll have it out in a flash.”
With a respectful bow, Wang Sam turned on his heel and sped off.
The food came out quickly. The man slurped his noodles down with hearty gusto.
Though the Hwayoung Inn was famous for its luxurious cuisine, its humble wheat noodles were equally well known for their taste.
After finishing the noodles, the man even tilted the bowl to drink down the last drop of broth.
“Damn. That hit the spot,” he said, smacking his lips in satisfaction.
Staring regretfully at the empty bowl, he finally rose from his seat.
“Check, please.”
“Oh my, finished already, sir?”
“Yeah. That was excellent.”
He dropped a few iron coins into Wang Sam’s waiting hand and turned to leave.
“Come again, sir!”
Wang Sam’s voice followed him, but the man didn’t look back.
“Chief,” Wang Sam said, approaching the head clerk and handing over the coins. “I’m heading upstairs.”
“All right. He’s an important guest. Make sure to treat him well.”
“Oh, come now, Chief! Don’t you trust your best server, Wang Sam?”
He beat his chest with his fist and grinned proudly.
“Tch. Stop your yapping and get up there. The guest is waiting.”
The man addressed as Chief waved him off without another glance.
“Yes, sir. At once!”
With a theatrical bow, Wang Sam scurried up the stairs.
“Ugh. These damn stairs. They never end!”
His muttering ceased only when he reached the very top floor.
Gone was his usual servile grin. Now, his expression was blank, almost cold. With quiet urgency, Wang Sam headed to the end of the hallway.
After checking the surroundings, he placed his hand on a flower painting hanging on the wall. His fingers found a small, raised mechanism.
Click.
A hidden door opened, revealing a stairway leading even higher.
Though the Hwayoung Inn was known to have eight floors, there was one more level that no one in the world knew about.
Wang Sam ascended with the stealth of a shadow and entered an ornately decorated room. Inside stood the man who had eaten the noodles earlier, his demeanor now entirely different—serious, intense.
“Oh, you’re already here? You’re always so fast,” Wang Sam greeted casually, pulling off his headscarf. A cascade of long hair tumbled down.
Wang Sam, the inn’s humble server, was in fact a young girl in disguise.
Her name was Yeo Haeshin, the fifth disciple of the Hao Clan Master. She had used face-changing techniques and men’s clothing to hide in plain sight.
No one had ever suspected that Wang Sam was a girl. That’s how people were—only seeing what they expected to see. And no one had any reason to scrutinize a lowly inn server.
The man, Gu Jabok, rose from his seat, knelt on one knee, and gave a respectful martial bow.
“I greet the Division Leader.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get up already,” Haeshin waved him off.
She grabbed a hairpin from the table and fixed her hair into a bun.
“How have you been? This room looks good.”
“Indeed. The others decorated it nicely,” she said with a dry chuckle.
At fifteen, Yeo Haeshin was the youngest of the Master’s five disciples—and the most beloved. Those who served her knew it, and spared no effort to care for her well-being.
“You look quite natural in your role,” Gu Jabok remarked.
“Well, I have to make a living somehow.”
“I’ve heard bits and pieces about—”
“Jabok. Enough. You came with a message, right?”
Her tone was disinterested, urging him to get on with it. Jabok sighed and answered.
“Yes, Division Leader. The Clan Master sent me.”
“Oh? So the Master sent—”
Haeshin didn’t finish her sentence. Her head, previously tilted lazily, slowly straightened.
“You said… the Master sent you?”
“Uh… yes. That’s right.”
Her voice trembled with disbelief.
“From now on, I’ll be assisting you personally,” Jabok announced with a gleeful smile.
“…What? That’s absurd!”
Haeshin sprang to her feet.
“Has the Master lost his mind? No, wait—he has been mentally unstable. This is insane!”
“Division Leader, please refrain from such disrespectful remarks,” Gu Jabok chided sternly.
It made sense—though a member of the secret Shadow Division, he was also the one who had raised Haeshin.
She had been a child abandoned on the streets until the Clan Master took her in as a disciple. But it was Gu Jabok who raised and trained her.
To Haeshin, he was more like a parent than anything else.
“I’ve been doing fine on my own! Just look at the intel flowing from Wuhuan to the main branch—I’ve done great!”
After being stationed in Wuhuan, Haeshin had finally broken free of Gu Jabok’s strict guidance.
Now that he was back, she felt conflicted. It was like family—precious, but best kept at a healthy distance.
She had grown fond of her freedom.
“Well, not bad. The Wuhuan branch leader praised you highly. However…”
“However?”
“You are not just a branch leader. You are the Division Leader. You cannot operate at the level of a local officer.”
“There is something, though.”
Haeshin quickly tried to come up with an excuse.
“Don’t try to wiggle out again.”
“I mean it! There’s the Seol family estate.”
She recalled intel she had received just days earlier.
Yes—if anything could convince Jabok, this would.
“Seol family? There are dozens of those in the Central Plains. Which one?”
“Hong’an. The Seol family estate in Hong’an.”
“Never heard of it. What’s there to see in some remote little village? They’re not even a martial family.”
Jabok looked unimpressed.
“Exactly!”
Haeshin’s eyes sparkled.
“What do you mean, ‘exactly’?”
“Something is worth seeing now.”
“…Really?” Jabok’s eyes sharpened. His instincts as an intelligence officer kicked in.
“Take a look at this.”
Haeshin fished out two slips of paper from a pile and handed them over.
“Zhuge family’s young master… and…”
She let the sentence hang. Jabok gulped audibly.
“The Namgung clan’s eldest son is staying at the Seol estate. In some no-name place like Hong’an! Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”
Jabok’s eyes widened to the limit.
“Interesting, right?”
Haeshin waved the paper with a grin.
She might act like an untamed colt, but Jabok couldn’t deny it:
“This child… is the one meant to succeed the Master.”
He bowed his head deeply, steeling his resolve.
“I will serve you well, Division Leader.”
“So, have you made a plan?” he asked.
“Of course.”
But her answer was light as paper—still fluttering in the wind.
