While Gangchan was lost deep in thought, the three members who had gone outside and Jangdal returned.
Jangdal quietly stepped forward and began his report.
“The land owned by Chilseongpa in the village is being prepared for transfer under the name of your elder brother, Master. However, due to administrative procedures, it will take a few months to complete.”
He placed the prepared report on the table.
“And as for the rest of their assets, it wasn’t much. We’ll convert it all into cash and exchange it for small vouchers from the Continental Battlefield.”
As soon as Jangdal’s report ended, Du Ilchung immediately continued.
“We tracked down six people related to Chilseongpa, from Guihon Village to Baekseong, eliminated them, and erased all traces. Now, there is no sign of Chilseongpa anywhere.”
Gangchan nodded.
“You’ve all done well. For now, get some rest and be on standby.”
He immediately turned his gaze to Jangdal.
“Manager, please send a letter to the Haomun Master asking if it’s alright for me to be away for about half a year.”
Jangdal answered right away.
“Understood.”
“And lastly, I need information on the bandits currently on the Plains. Please investigate as quickly as possible.”
“I’ll confirm it as soon as I can.”
Since he had come all the way here, Gangchan wanted to finish his personal revenge. He couldn’t guarantee he’d have the time once he returned to Hangju.
Moreover, seeing his brother’s broken body in person, he could feel all the pain and suffering his brother had endured over the past twelve years.
All this time, those bastards must have lived well, eating and drinking as they pleased.
Remembering that fact made his anger boil.
He had to make them pay for their crimes as soon as possible, even a day sooner. Gangchan immediately summoned all the members of Iljowon to the office.
Looking at the gathered Iljowon members, Gangchan slowly began to speak.
“As you all know, twelve years ago, the bandits of the Plains raided Guihon Village.”
The faces of the Iljowon members hardened with coldness.
“They mined gold from the gold mine, massacred the villagers, and disappeared. At that time, the Chun Gang Mundo defending the village was wiped out. Over a hundred died, including my father, the Cheongangmun Master.”
A chilly silence filled the room.
Gangchan’s eyes gleamed even sharper as he continued.
“And then, my elder brother was wounded while luring them away to save the villagers. Even now, he has not fully recovered and lives in pain.”
His voice dropped lower.
“This time, I intend to complete my revenge on them.”
The members’ expressions changed subtly.
After a brief pause, Gangchan added.
“This is a personal matter, so I intend to handle it alone.”
And then Gangchan issued his final order.
“After I depart, please escort my brother and Old Man Kang safely to Cheon Myung Bang.”
At that moment, Gwak Sugi glanced around and quietly spoke up.
“Master, didn’t we become one as of yesterday?”
A few members nodded at his words.
“I thought everyone here was one now, but I guess that’s not the case.”
Gwak Sugi looked Gangchan straight in the eye.
“If Master says, ‘We are not one,’ then we will obey that order.”
A brief silence followed.
Then, the youngest, Jomu, scratched his head as if waiting for his turn.
“So that’s how it is? We’re still not one yet?”
“Kid, maybe I misunderstood, too.”
Gwak Sugi chuckled and chimed in.
Jomu shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, if Master says so, then that’s how it is.”
At his words, the other members let out soft laughs.
But there was a solid determination behind those smiles.
The meaning of being one.
Gangchan looked at them in silence.
As he said nothing, Gwak Sugi stepped forward.
“Master, have you forgotten what we all did together yesterday?”
Gangchan’s eyes wavered slightly.
“You told us to act without hesitation when you give an order.”
Gwak Sugi continued, slowly.
“Then, Master, you must do the same for us.”
The Iljowon members stared straight at Gangchan.
Their eyes held only one meaning.
‘We are one.’
Gangchan gazed at them for a moment.
These people were old enough to be obvious in their words and actions.
Gangchan took a deep breath and sighed.
“So, what is it you want to say?”
No sooner had Gangchan finished than Du Ilchung stepped forward.
“From now on, everything you do, Master, is our business as well. Please allow us to join you.”
Gangchan understood their intentions, but escorting his brother and Old Man Kang to Cheon Myung Bang was still the priority.
“I know what you mean, but escorting my brother and Old Man Kang is also my responsibility and an important task.”
Then, Gwak Sugi spoke again.
“That’s right. It’s Master’s task, and ours as well.”
He slowly looked around and continued.
“If ten grown men escorted two people, it wouldn’t look right, would it? So let’s decide right here.”
Gwak Sugi began pointing at members with his finger.
“Some of us will escort Master’s brother and Old Man Kang to Hangju, and the rest will go to the Plains with Master.”
Finishing his words, Gwak Sugi looked around with satisfaction.
Surprisingly, Du Ilchung and the others looked at him with approval.
Gangchan was dumbfounded.
‘I never imagined they’d be this stubborn…’
While he was distracted, Gwak Sugi had already selected those who would head to Hangju.
“Kogu, Sau, and Yeodowi will escort your brother and Old Man Kang to Hangju. How about that?”
As Gwak Sugi naturally divided the members, Du Ilchung chimed in.
“That seems like a good plan.”
The other members began to exchange opinions, coordinating who would go to the Plains and who to Hangju.
They debated fiercely about which was better, but Gangchan realized he could no longer stop them.
Looking at their faces, this was not a simple discussion.
It meant the decision was already made.
In the end, Gangchan decided to go along with their plan.
‘It may be tough, but for them, this could also be a valuable experience.’
With that decision, Gangchan relayed the news to his brother and Old Man Kang.
Gangcheon agreed without hesitation.
Changchun, Dongbang Family.
At the center of Jilin Province, Changchun.
About five li east of Changchun’s city center, stood the Dongbang Family, the only noble house in Jilin Province with a history spanning centuries.
There were rumors that the Dongbang Family was founded by a people who migrated from the east of the Central Plains long ago, but the truth remained unknown.
Dozens of grand halls boasted their former glory.
Elegant and dignified mansions lined the grounds.
The grandest and most magnificent among them.
There, the current head of the Dongbang Family, Dongbang Hwi, sat with the few remaining subordinates.
His gaze was full of troubled contemplation.
“Should I accept this commission?”
In response, the Dongbang Family’s chief steward and cousin, Dongbang Cheol, quietly answered.
“At present… there is no other way.”
Dongbang Hwi furrowed his brow.
“Does it make sense that they made this request as if they were waiting for us to become desperate?”
“I know. But if we refuse, we won’t last much longer.”
“How long can we hold out if we refuse?”
“At the very most… a month.”
Dongbang Hwi let out a deep sigh.
“A month, huh…”
“If we manage to pull this off, we can survive this crisis.”
But that ‘if’ was far too uncertain.
A strange tension filled the quiet room.
The Dongbang Family, with a legacy spanning centuries.
But even this once-proud house now faced the end.
Dongbang Hwi fell into thought once more.
Should he accept the commission? Or reject it and face ruin?
“Even if we get through this, it will only be temporary.”
Weariness tinged Dongbang Hwi’s voice.
“Master, even so, shouldn’t we try everything we can?”
The chief steward, Dongbang Cheol, spoke carefully.
“Besides, if we succeed, we can hold out for at least a year, even if it’s only temporary.”
Dongbang Hwi nodded heavily.
“Yes… I suppose we must. How many Wulin and transporters do we have available?”
O Jojang, representing the Wulin, replied.
“Thirty Wulin and about thirty-five transporters.”
“How many wagons will we need?”
“Ten for the Continental Trading Company’s goods, three extra wagons, and two for our own supplies—fifteen should suffice.”
Dongbang Hwi tapped the table with his finger, lost in thought.
“Chief steward, when do we have to give them an answer?”
“By tomorrow. And we must depart three days later, following the Plains to make the deadline.”
Dongbang Hwi sighed deeply.
“…Very well. I’ll think it over until tomorrow and decide.”
He slowly rose from his seat and walked to the window.
“I’m tired. You may all leave.”
Left alone, Dongbang Hwi suddenly clutched his head.
A situation with no way out.
There was no clever solution.
It had been his decision, as both a martial artist and the head of the house, to establish a security escort agency to stave off their family’s decline.
But he resented the reality that left him with no other choice.
The Dongbang Family.
Once merely a minor household in the borderlands, their rise to fame in the Central Plains was all thanks to his father, the Moonshadow Sword Demon, Dongbang Suhyeok.
He was the only one to master the family’s Wolyeong Geombeop to the transformation stage.
But Wolyeong Geombeop was originally a sword art steeped in killing intent and based on yin energy.
A martial art difficult for men to fully master.
His father had an unusual yin constitution, and as a young man, he had the fortune to consume the Moonleaf Nine-Branch Grass during his travels, finally achieving mastery of the Wolyeong Geombeop at forty.
From that time, the Dongbang Family, once a small house in the borderlands, entered its heyday and made a name for itself in the Central Plains.
Talented warriors flocked to join, and the family expanded rapidly.
But it did not last long.
The war with the Demonic Sect.
All the martial sects of the Central Plains united as the Martial Alliance to oppose the Demonic Sect.
The Martial Alliance desperately requested the Dongbang Family, who had a transformation-stage master, to join the war.
In the end, the Dongbang Family entered the fray, and his father died after falling into the Demonic Sect’s elaborate trap on the fiercest battlefield.
At that time, Dongbang Hwi was just twenty.
After the war ended and Dongbang Suhyeok’s achievements were recognized, the Cheonyeon Union was formed, and the family proudly became a member.
But since that day, the Dongbang Family had declined.
The greatest problem was the Wolyeong Geombeop.
A house’s secret technique, difficult to master.
As time passed, rumors spread that it was an ‘unfinished martial art.’
The warriors gradually left, and not even a proper heir was raised.
He had trained, but his limit was seven stars. In the end, he could not save his family with martial skill alone.
So Dongbang Hwi chose money to try and save his family.
That was when he established the security escort agency.
At first, things went smoothly.
With the development of Baekseong’s gold mine, the escort agency’s role grew even larger.
But two years ago, several competitors emerged, and the situation changed rapidly.
Transportation fees dropped, and cutthroat competition began.
In the end, the escort agency, which had only operated within Jilin Province, had to expand further afield. But with no experience in long-distance transport, losses only increased the more they worked.
At that time, the Yayul Sega, allies in the Cheonyeon Union, introduced them to the Continental Trading Company that had entered Changchun.
Dongbang Hwi was immensely grateful.
So, whenever a commission came from the Continental Trading Company, he risked everything to fulfill it. But strangely, every time he took a commission from them, incidents never ceased.
Eventually, after cleaning up one accident after another, the debts piled up, and now he could not even keep up with the interest.
Left alone in the office, Dongbang Hwi slowly stood and paced around the room.
This was… the very room he had entered when he first received news of his father’s death.
At twenty, wanting so desperately to be like his father, Dongbang Hwi had never changed a thing in this room.
Just like back then. And whenever things were tough, he would touch his father’s belongings and make a promise to himself.
‘I must work harder, but I am sorry for not being able to do so…’
After wandering like that for a while, Dongbang Hwi sensed someone outside the door.
“Father, if you’re not asleep, may I come in?”
“Come in.”
Dongbang Seollin.
His daughter brought in tea and set it on the table.
“My precious Seollin, you’re serving your father tea.”
“Precious, really…”
She glared at him, but Dongbang Hwi just smiled.
“I heard the Continental Trading Company sent a commission?”
“Yes… so you knew.”
“Don’t worry too much. Whatever decision you make, the family will trust and follow you.”
“Thank you… even if it’s just words.”
Still, the decision was not easy.
The next morning.
Dongbang Hwi gathered the family members.
“…Tell them we accept the commission from the Continental Trading Company.”
His voice was resolute.
“There are many suspicious points, but whatever the case… this may be our last chance. So everyone, steel yourselves and prepare.”
“Yes, Family Head.”
It was the moment fate was decided.