“… Uh?”

Deung Gyeom closed his large eyes.

He, a second-class disciple of the Ghost Clan, had just arrived after receiving orders from his superior to head to the Yangtze River. He had stopped at a mountain lodge on his way back from delivering a special package to Wuhan.

But now, the men in front of him were telling him things that made no sense.

“All you have to do is spread the word.”

“Spread the word?”

“Yes. All you need to do is spread the word that a special package delivery is happening on the ship.”

“… Why say that?”

Of course, it was one of the special delivery person’s duties to inform others about any goods escorts happening. Wasn’t that why he wore flashy clothes too?

Promotion was a form of business, too.

No matter how great the special delivery was, who would look for such a swift service if they didn’t even know it existed?

That was why they have been working hard to publicize the existence of the special delivery for the Eunha and Ghost Clan.

‘But isn’t this a different thing?’

Why spread rumors here, where there didn’t seem to be many people who would need such requests? The risks alone were strange.

“Let it spread well without giving the appearance of being too conscious of the rumors! That naturalness in spreading the word is important.”

Deung Gyeom, who was silent, saw the person standing in front of him… no, honestly, he was blankly watching this handsome young man, whom he hadn’t seen anywhere before.

And he realized one truth.

‘The heavens aren’t equal to all.’

It seems like in exchange for the face, he took some of the brain…

“Do you understand?”

“… Yes. I do understand, but… why do we have to do this? Even so, the Yangtze River is infested with pirates, and there is enough chaos in the place. If we do this, isn’t this just going to drag us down even more?”

“Y-Yes, that is it?”

“Uh?”

“That is exactly what we want.”

Deung Gyeom also smiled as he looked at Baek Cheon, who was beaming brightly.

‘He is definitely not in his right mind.’

Now that he thought about it, he remembered hearing somewhere that the people of Mount Hua were all insane but strong…

If one thought about it, this guy wasn’t kidding when he visited the Ghost Clan before…

“Then what happens after that?”

“We should take a ship.”

“… a ship?”

“Yes.”

“You spread a lot of rumors that a special package is on the ship, attract the pirates, and then actually board the ship?”

“Yes, that is it. But you don’t have to worry about it. We will ride it together. If you have any package, you don’t have to worry about losing it. Please, trust us.”

Instead of answering, Deung Gyeom slowly turned his head.

When he saw all the Mount Hua disciples wearing confident expressions, he couldn’t help but smile.

“… am I the only one around here with a special package?”

“…”

“It should be alright to call someone else…”

“Hehe. Such a joke.”

“No. I am not joking…”

“We are in a bit of an urgent situation now. Well then, thank you for your work!”

“Y-You people! Do you have ten lives or something!? At least speak what makes sense…!”

In the end, Jo Gul and Yoon Jong dragged Deung Gyeom, who was screaming and struggling.

Baek Cheon, who was watching this, sighed and expressed his doubt.

“Why don’t you understand?”

“Sasuk.”

“Uh?”

Tang Soso smiled brightly and gave kind advice.

“When you return to Mount Hua, don’t move around with Chung Myung sahyung for a while.”

“…”

“They say that if you see each other often, you resemble each other. I guess that is true.”

Was this an insult?

Right? Right?

Tang Soso, who was trembling with a red face, hastily covered her mouth.

“Pfft… pffft…”

She couldn’t laugh. She couldn’t disparage the efforts of those who prepared things for her this desperately.

But.

‘I-I cannot endure it!’

Wasn’t this really too much?

“No, w-what is this!”

Finally, she couldn’t endure it anymore and cried out. The other disciples all turned to each other, then burst out laughing, thinking that each of them looked ridiculous.

Jo Gul looked at Yoon Jong and said,

“Sahyung?”

“Uh?”

“… well, are we going to farm?”

Yoon Jong, dressed in rough cotton clothes he found around, looked like he was going to farm.

“Why are the pants rolled up?”

“… did you just follow someone who did it?”

“I guess he is a woodcutter who is out to sell the goods. It doesn’t make sense at all….”

When Jo Gul clicked his tongue in disapproval, Yoon Jong cried out in tears.

“You brat!”

“What? This is the silk clothing that is quite popular in Hangzhou these days! Tsk tsk! Even so, in Sichuan, I already….”

“Have you ever been to Hangzhou?”

“…”

Wearing silk clothes with flowers on the cloth, he looked like a man roaming the streets at night for security purposes, not some son of a rich family.

But the two were a bit better.

“Sago…”

Tang Soso couldn’t even look at Yu Yiseol and turned her head away. Still, she had nice-looking fabric, and as if the person faithfully followed their instructions, they dressed her as one who had money. The problem was that the top was yellow, the pants were blue, and the robe was red.

It felt like her eyes would go blind looking at it.

“Sago is…”

Yu Yiseol turned her head and looked at one person with a look of injustice in her eyes and said,

“I at least tried.”

And everyone’s eyes turned to one person.

“W-what can I do!”

After receiving the attention, this person vented their anger in an angry voice.

“W-what can happen if I wear different clothes! In the first place, I…”

“He is bald.”

“Right, so bald.”

“Young bald men are tough to find.”

Tears welled up in Hae Yeon’s eyes.

“Does it make sense to tell someone to disguise themselves to look rich?”

If one wore silk clothes and was bald, and if they wore leather fur and were bald, it had the same meaning.

Hae Yeon even saw a picture of a noble. No matter how much he tried to disguise himself, at best, he was a monk who ran from the temple.

So, in the end, they had no choice but to get a plain gray monk robe instead of a Shaolin yellow one.

“There are also haired monks… right?”

“Well, there is nothing we can do now.”

“I understand, monk.”

Everyone understood Hae Yeon’s situation. Tang Soso spoke firmly and clearly.

“Even if one doesn’t know monk Hae Yeon, they will know this. Please change again.”

Yoon Jong’s face had an awkward look at this.

“But Soso. When we were children, we never wore anything other than Mount Hua’s robe. So what do we wear now…?”

“Jo Gul sahyung.”

“Uh?”

“Go to a nearby shopping center and buy some clothes that merchants wear. All you have to do is pack one bag and pretend to be a merchant.”

“Uh… I didn’t think of that. Even I belong to a merchant family.”

“Go quickly.”

“Yes!”

As Jo Gul and Yoon Jong rushed out, Tang Soso sighed.

When it came to martial arts, she had to depend on them more than anyone else. Still, in normal situations, these people were worse than ordinary people.

It was then.

“Is everyone there?”

After changing clothes, Baek Cheon opened the door and entered.

“…”

“…”

Everyone looked at him with blank eyes, unable to respond. This made Baek Cheon a bit flustered.

“What? What is it?”

“No, that…”

Tang Soso frowned and chose her words.

Surprisingly, contrary to her expectations, Baek Cheon came dressed perfectly. The dark-colored clothes seemed right for someone doing bad deeds, and the hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail was a style that could be seen in normal merchants.

But…

“So odd.”

“Truly strange.”

“It is perfect that it doesn’t suit you.”

Clothes and people played separately.

As anyone could see, he looked like a kid of a rich family who ran from home, stealing the servant’s clothes.

“The world is so unfair…”

Tang Soso shook her head and pushed past Baek Sang, who sighed in frustration, she said.

“Sasuk cannot do this. So give up on being a merchant.”

“Uh?”

“Well, since this happened, let’s just move. Dress from head to toe in silk clothes so that anyone can see that you are a noble family’s kid on the ship.”

“Why should I do that?’

“…It will be so annoying for me to explain it, so just do as I tell sasuk.”

“…”

“We are to move on a ship during the day, so everyone needs to move quickly! Did you understand!”

“Ah, I-Understand.”

“I! Why aren’t you evaluating me?”

Baek Sang asked, making Tang Soso smile.

“Sasuk is fine. You can do anything.”

“What?”

“If you wear nice clothes, who will look like a noble, and if you wear dirty ones, you look like a servant. Just stick close to Baek Cheon’s side.”

“….”

Tang Soso clapped her hands loudly as she looked at Baek Sang, who looked like his soul had been stolen.

“’ What? Move quickly! We need to hurry.”

Just then, Jo Gul came back in a hurry and distributed the clothes she had bought to everyone. Everyone started picking out clothes and putting them on.

“Okay. What is this?”

“Is it really going to be fine?”

“I don’t really trust this…”

“How can this even work? I am just doing this because I was told to.”

Baek Cheon sighed listening to the complaints which came pouring in.

‘Chung Myung’

For a day to come when he could understand that brat.

Honestly, he wanted to beat them all down….

All of them…

“It is over there.”

“Let’s get on.”

Mount Hua’s disciples looked at Deung Gyeom, who was on the ship.

Surprisingly, he was performing his duties well. Thanks to this, rumors spread about Eunha’s escort being on the ship.

Yoon Jong and Jo Gul talked quietly.

“They won’t notice, right?”

“There won’t be any problem. If they reside here, the information available from the pirates’ side would be bits and pieces alone.”

“Hmm. Right?”

“I am not sure if sasuk had thought this all through.”

This bastard!

Baek Cheon, who was listening, was about to say something.

“Is that possible?”

“This is like saying we caught a mouse because the cow walked back; that could be entirely unintentional from him.”

“Even mice get unlucky like us.”

Poke. Poke.

His stomach hurt.

In the meantime, he didn’t know when he began to sympathize with Chung Myung.

And the fact that these people were so dissatisfied.

‘I hope you all die.’

Sincerely…!

“Let us go now.”

“Yes.”

Baek Cheon took the lead and walked ahead. Every time he took a step, his colorful silk robe moved.

“Uh?”

But there was no sound of people following him, so he stopped and turned around.

“You people won’t come?”

“Go ahead.”

“… Why?”

“Sasuk is a noble, and we are merchants. Wouldn’t it be odd if we all went together?”

“Take Baek Sang sasuk and go first.”

“….”

Baek Cheon asked with a bit of a shocked look.

“You aren’t saying this because you are embarrassed to come with me, right?”

All that came back was silence. Baek Cheon closed his eyes and turned around.

“Let’s go, Baek Sang.”

“… Yes, sahyung.”

There was a slight look of anxiousness as he headed to the large ship anchored at the dock.

‘The fact that there was no damage to any merchants means that they were targeting the special delivery persons alone. If my thoughts are in the right direction, they will come this time, too.’

It was a burden to fight pirates on water… if things continued like this and they wasted time, they would have no results.

‘What would he do if he were here?’

Baek Cheon slowly raised his head and looked at the sky.

Every time this happened, he felt the void of Chung Myung. Until now, Chung Myung had done things without giving Baek Cheon time to think, and all he had to do was decide whether to go ahead or stop him. But not anymore.

Baek Cheon paused for a moment, then composed himself and shook his head.

‘Be cautious, but don’t hesitate.’

Baek Cheon gathered all his courage and boarded the ship.