That was Geum Ah-rin’s first impression of Geom Mugeuk.
‘He’s much younger than I thought.’
It was unbelievable.
To think that Jeon Nak had been defeated by such a young opponent.
And the Money Ghosts were defeated along with him?
It wasn't just his age; he was completely different from what she had imagined.
He was handsome and possessed an air of elegance she couldn't quite place.
She had expected a rough man, overflowing with killing intent.
Geum Ah-rin combined Geom Mugeuk’s age, her first impression, and the outcome of his deeds to reach a conclusion.
‘He is a practitioner of a supreme martial art!’
The way he so brazenly revealed himself before her, all alone, seemed to confirm it.
The question was whether he was stronger or weaker than her.
She couldn't tell just by looking at him.
“I was passing by the tavern and saw Division Lord Hwang through the window, so I came in.”
As if he were just a person who had dropped by by chance, Geom Mugeuk walked over, greeting them warmly.
“You have a guest with you.”
Acting as if he didn't know who she was, Geom Mugeuk offered a bow to Geum Ah-rin in greeting.
“If there is such a beautiful person here, I should consider expanding into the merchant world myself.”
Though he greeted her with pleasantries, Geum Ah-rin showed no particular reaction.
At that, Hwang In cautiously stepped in.
“Watch your words. The person here is not someone you should speak of so carelessly.”
It seemed like he was speaking out of respect for Geum Ah-rin, but it was actually a warning to Geom Mugeuk.
‘This is the woman. The fearsome person they said was coming is her! Don't be captivated by her looks and ruin everything!’
Hwang In was anxious that Geom Mugeuk might fall for Geum Ah-rin’s beauty.
But even without his warning, how could Geom Mugeuk not know who she was?
Geom Mugeuk had already discerned that her skills were no ordinary matter.
‘Her accomplishments are great for her age.’
Whether it was through life-threatening effort, talent, or immense support and fortuitous encounters, her level of skill was not something one saw every day.
And one more thing.
The fact that someone like Jeon Nak considered her a fearsome person meant she was not one to show mercy.
Furthermore, he could sense masters hiding around her.
‘Her status is not ordinary.’
It was rare to find masters who had also learned stealth arts.
Such individuals mostly worked as guards, and for a master of this level to be protecting her…
‘This woman must be of the Golden Dragon Clan Leader's bloodline.’
Hwang In would never know how much Geom Mugeuk had figured out in that brief moment.
Geom Mugeuk, as if he had just realized who she was, spoke with a surprised expression.
“Ah! Is this the person?”
At his words, Geum Ah-rin responded.
“How did that man introduce me?”
Geom Mugeuk answered her.
“He said a very fearsome person would be coming.”
Hwang In grew tense inwardly. ‘He introduced me like that?’ A snappy reaction like that could have come from her.
His heart pounded harder than usual.
‘Please, let today not be the day I die!’
He looked at Geom Mugeuk with a pleading expression in his eyes.
Geom Mugeuk introduced himself to Geum Ah-rin.
“I am Geom Yeon. Not the ‘yeon’ for connection, but the ‘yeon’ for smoke. After meeting you, I shall vanish like smoke.”
“I didn't ask.”
Geum Ah-rin responded coldly, without revealing her own name.
“They say you killed my subordinates.”
She asked bluntly, and Geom Mugeuk didn't bother to hide it.
“I unintentionally had a conflict with your people. For that, I apologize.”
“More than one or two have died. This is not a matter that can end with an apology.”
“Is there something else you desire?”
With a tone as cold as her gaze, she spoke.
“A life for a life.”
Geom Mugeuk stared at her and said.
“If you can take it, then try.”
In an instant, a taut tension filled the air.
Geum Ah-rin barely suppressed the urge to draw her sword and cut him down.
She was not a low-class martial artist who would draw her sword at a moment of her opponent's choosing.
Her sword would be drawn at a moment of her own choosing.
The one who broke this suffocating tension was Geom Mugeuk.
“I can't give you my life, but I can buy you a drink.”
Without a hint of fear in this situation, he turned his head toward the tavern boy and had him bring a new bottle of wine.
When Geom Mugeuk, having ordered the wine, turned his head back, a sword was already pointed at his neck.
It was a truly fast move.
Not even the sound of a slight breeze was made.
For Hwang In, who was sitting next to them, it was as if he had blinked, and the situation had unfolded.
Geom Mugeuk looked at her with a completely unsurprised expression.
At his reaction, Geum Ah-rin's gaze grew even colder.
He could have lost his life to that single move just now.
If he was a master capable of killing Jeon Nak, wouldn't he have reacted somehow?
Could it be that he knew the sword was aimed at his neck and chose not to block it? Was he certain that I wouldn't kill him?
Or was he not as skilled as I thought? If so, he couldn't be the one who killed Jeon Nak and the Money Ghosts.
She couldn't be certain of either possibility, which made her feel more uneasy.
‘This man, he's hard to read.’
Geom Mugeuk's gaze followed the blade to her.
“I cannot die.”
“And why is that?”
Geom Mugeuk paused for a moment before speaking.
“It wasn't so before, but now my death… will become my father’s justification.”
The moment he died, his father would wipe out the entire martial world.
The sorrow of losing a son would become the justification, and the martial world would turn into a battlefield.
Naturally, Geum Ah-rin had no way of knowing what he meant by that.
“Are you asking me to spare you because your father will take revenge if I kill you?”
“Well, something like that.”
“Where is your father?”
“He is at the manor. He is with my uncle.”
She had heard from Hwang In.
There were three of them in total.
She had a feeling that this man's father and uncle were no ordinary people either.
“I came out to go shopping. My father said he would cook a special meal today. You have good fortune when it comes to food, Miss. Let's go together. My father's cooking is not something you can eat easily. You can boast about it for the rest of your life.”
Geum Ah-rin had to admit at least one thing.
Whether it was an act or real, maintaining such composure at the tip of her sword was no easy feat.
With a light flick of her wrist, Geum Ah-rin sheathed her sword and said.
“I can't kill a man who's out shopping for groceries.”
Geom Mugeuk rubbed his neck and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you for sparing my life.”
Seeing this, Hwang In felt a sense of dismay.
His heart began to pound even more furiously.
‘What? Why is he showing such weakness? Don't tell me, are you weaker than this woman?’
That couldn't be.
He was definitely there when Jeon Nak and the Money Ghosts were all killed at once.
No, right? Stop playing around and cut this woman down in a single stroke and tell me.
Tell me I don't have to worry anymore.
But the situation unfolded in the complete opposite direction of his hopes.
Flick.
Flick.
She shot out her finger techniques, suppressing Geom Mugeuk’s inner energy.
Geom Mugeuk failed to dodge in time, but his composure remained.
“It’s fine. It’s not like I need inner energy to go grocery shopping.”
Geum Ah-rin looked at Geom Mugeuk with an expression that said, "What kind of man is this?"
‘Surely, you're not such a master that you can release the pressure points I've sealed.’
Now that she had suppressed her opponent's inner energy, his life was hers.
And yet he showed such composure?
His behavior was beyond her comprehension.
“My father must be waiting.”
Geom Mugeuk said as he rose from his seat.
“Now, let’s go shopping together.”
*
A single carriage was racing along.
On the outside, it looked like an old, ordinary carriage, but it was made of a sturdy material that wouldn't break even against swords and blades, and it was pulled by fine horses that could run all day without tiring.
Naturally, the person inside was no ordinary man either.
Extraordinary and radiating an air of nobility, he was none other than Yong Ja-myeong, the Merchant Lord of the Silver River Merchant Group.
Yong Ja-myeong, the master of the Silver River Merchant Group.
He could be described in many ways, but the most effective and certain description would be this.
The richest man in the world.
For that reason, not just the driver, but the people riding with him in the carriage were no ordinary masters.
They were the top masters of the Silver River Merchant Group, the ones Yong Ja-myeong trusted the most.
It was a secret journey for a man so busy that one had to make an appointment months in advance just to see his face.
The masters who came along as escorts, including the driver, numbered three in total, an unprecedented event since the Silver River Merchant Group became the number one merchant group in the Central Plains.
Even then, Yong Ja-myeong had intended to take only one.
Of course, considering the skills of these three, this journey could be considered safe.
They were the people Yong Ja-myeong trusted most in the Silver River Merchant Group and, at the same time, the three most skilled.
In particular, Baek Chong, who sat across from him, was a man who had built the Silver River Merchant Group with Yong Ja-myeong, sharing life and death with him his entire life.
“It's still not too late. Shall we turn the carriage around?”
Yong Ja-myeong smiled and asked him.
“Are you also afraid?”
Baek Chong answered honestly.
“I am afraid.”
“This is the first time I've heard you say that. The words ‘I am afraid’.”
Baek Chong was not afraid that he would die.
He was afraid that he might lose Yong Ja-myeong on this trip.
“This is too dangerous a choice.”
“Is it more dangerous than refusing the Demon Cult Master’s request?”
Baek Chong couldn't say anything.
Throughout his time building the merchant group with Yong Ja-myeong, he had weathered all sorts of storms, but the most dangerous opponent among them had always been the Demon Sect.
“If it were a simple request from the Demon Sect, I would have bought time with some other excuse. But this time, the Demon Cult Master sent a secret letter himself.”
It was even a dispatch written by the Demon Cult Master himself.
A personally written dispatch from the Demon Cult Master.
It was a truly unprecedented event.
“Then I urge you to secretly send word to the Martial Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance. If they know, they won't dare to have any foolish thoughts.”
Yong Ja-myeong knew better than anyone what Baek Chong was worried about.
But this matter was not something to be handled that way.
“The Demon Cult Master himself emphasized the word ‘secretly.’ It means we are not to contact them.”
“That's all the more reason to inform them. The Demon Sect has never acted like this before.”
This decision was not based on just a gut feeling.
It was a decision made by combining all of his past experiences and the vast amount of information recently gathered.
Yes, how could he not know? How rough and cruel the demonic practitioners were.
“We can only hope the information is true.”
“Are you speaking of the matter concerning the Young Cult Master?”
Yong Ja-myeong nodded.
It was information that a new wind was blowing within the Demon Sect.
Because of it, a three-party meeting between the Righteous, Demonic, and Unorthodox Sects had even taken place.
That was why he hoped that the reason he was summoned this time was because of that Young Cult Master.
It felt safer than being summoned by the Heavenly Demon himself.
“You know, don't you? That reality is always different from the rumors.”
“Don't worry too much. Everything will be fine.”
Yong Ja-myeong was this kind of person.
A person who tried to overcome any situation with positive thoughts rather than negative ones.
He didn't know if this would be an opportunity for the Silver River Merchant Group or if he would die because of it, but he would overcome it, just as he had always done.
He considered the Heavenly Demon's personally written dispatch a call of fate he could not refuse.
He believed he was not being summoned to be killed.
The Demon Cult Master in the information he had heard and gathered so far was not that kind of person.
He trusted the Silver River Merchant Group's information network.
He wouldn't just come back empty-handed.
He would give what he wanted and take what he wanted.
A deal is a give-and-take.
When moments of crisis like this came, he recalled his youth.
The moment he had come back from the brink of death.
Other people didn't know how much that experience had helped him in life.
Since he was living on borrowed time anyway, he would live without regrets.
Sometimes bravely, sometimes more diligently.
Perhaps because of that, he was able to become the master of the greatest merchant group in the martial world.
The carriage thus sped toward the appointed place.
‘He’s really going shopping?’
Geom Mugeuk began to buy various ingredients at the marketplace.
“For vegetables or fruits, you should choose ones with even and vibrant colors. They should be firm, not mushy, and you should avoid ones with spots like these.”
Geum Ah-rin watched in amazement as he even gave explanations while he shopped.
At first, she suspected it was a ploy to buy time.
But he was truly and carefully buying ingredients for cooking.
He even had a piece of paper with a list of what to buy.
“There, now that I've bought the meat, we're all set!”
After finishing his shopping, Geom Mugeuk intended to take her back to the manor.
“Did you think I would willingly walk into a trap you've set?”
“Are you afraid?”
Geum Ah-rin glared at Geom Mugeuk.
Even with his inner energy suppressed, she still couldn't figure him out.
What was with this composure? Or was he just a madman?
Geom Mugeuk held up the ingredients filling both his hands.
“It will be a very delicious trap.”
Geum Ah-rin spoke to Hwang In, who was with them.
“You go and tell them. If they want to save their son, they are to come alone to the place I designate.”
At that, Geom Mugeuk let out a sigh.
“My father won't come. He's not the type of person to come just because someone tells him to.”
“Even if his son will die if he doesn't?”
“He still won't come.”
Geom Mugeuk said to Hwang In.
“If you happen to see my father, don't make eye contact and act respectfully. Tell him everything that has happened.”
“I will.”
Hwang In nodded, then flinched. ‘Whose side are you on?’ Geum Ah-rin was looking at him with such a displeased expression.
Geom Mugeuk said to her.
“Well, since we've bought all the ingredients anyway, I'll cook dinner tonight. My cooking is also something you can't taste easily, so you are still a woman with the good fortune to eat well.”
Geum Ah-rin stared at Geom Mugeuk with a look of disbelief.
No one in her entire life had ever told her she was a woman with the good fortune to eat well.
“What is your true identity? Who sent you?”
Geom Mugeuk gave a smile that said she would soon find out, and started walking first.
“I'm hungry, so let's hurry up and make something to eat.”
Then he stopped and asked her.
“By the way, where should we go? Let's go to a place where I can cook.”