Murim Troubleshooter Dan Mujin

Chapter 47: We Need to Talk

After a turbulent escort trip, we were on our way back to Hebei.

I was sitting on the wagon, carefully maintaining the dagger that Murong Cheonghye had handed to me.

Wiping away the dust thoroughly, lightly honing the blade with a portable whetstone, and finishing it off by applying camellia oil.

Ilhong, who had also gotten a seat on the wagon for her contribution in the recent fight, looked at me curiously and asked,

“You’re treating that like a sacred relic or something… Is that dagger really that precious? A gift from a beautiful noona?”

Her voice carried a mix of envy and curiosity.

“What are you talking about. This dagger’s worth twenty silver coins. Of course I have to treasure it.”

It was like a bearer check that could be exchanged for money. Naturally, just holding it made me feel pleased.

“Ehh, we took down a former Demonic Practitioner, and they only gave you twenty silver? That’s stingy.”

Then, the daughter of a former Hao Sect leader dropped a comment that couldn’t be ignored.

“That’s not small. Even after deducting the brokerage fee, it’s still over a dozen jingling pieces of gold.”

“If the target was an infamously notorious former Demonic Practitioner, that’s not a big amount. Think about it. If someone told you to take down a peak-level martial artist for twenty silver coins, who would go?”

Now that she mentioned it, it made sense.

If someone was strong enough to handle a former Demonic Practitioner, they could probably earn just as much by swinging their sword a few times elsewhere.

Thinking that way made my spine tingle with anxiety. Don’t tell me… Murong Cheonghye tricked me again?

“Ah, twenty silver might be the base bounty provided by the Murim Alliance.”

“What? Base bounty?”

“Yeah, when the Murim Alliance puts out a basic bounty, various sects and clans who hold grudges against the target often add large rewards on top.”

The Jianghu was a web of grudges, and if someone was publicly declared a Murim criminal, they must have racked up a tremendous blood debt.

So they lay the board with a small amount of money and make profit from the brokerage fees—what a model.

This must be the business structure of the top organization in the Righteous Murim. I ought to learn a thing or two from them.

“They say he was a century-old monster who had vanished for decades. The ones who offered additional bounties probably died of old age or withdrew their offers, leaving only the base bounty. Hmm.”

So it seemed my former blood sister hadn’t deceived me after all.

I was just terribly unlucky.

“Damn it.”

It felt like finding a second-prize winning lottery ticket after the claim period had expired.

If I hadn’t known, I’d just have kept smiling like a fool, but now that I knew, I just felt bitter.

“Usually how much money is hanging on the heads of these Demonic bastards?”

Since the topic was out, I decided to ask about the market rates.

“It ranges from a few coins to several hundred. Some Murim criminals even have bounties of ten strings of gold.”

Surprisingly, bounty hunting seemed more profitable than I’d thought.

The requests from the Wanderers' Guild barely paid a few silver coins even if you wrestled wild boars and suffered for days.

In contrast, the righteous factions seemed to start with gold.

Maybe going into bounty hunting later wouldn’t be such a bad idea?

These were people who’d piled up tons of killing karma through their misdeeds. Eliminating them could be considered an act of good karma.

If left unchecked, they’d only spread harm and produce more victims—at least I wouldn’t feel guilty about it.

Though there was that one unsettling red aura, if needed, I could just capture them alive.

“Hey, but who’s the one with ten strings of gold on their head?”

I had never heard of such an amount. That much gold wouldn’t even fit in two hands.

“The Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”

“…Ah.”

Said to be the number one in the Demonic Cult and also called the number one in the Murim among gossipmongers.

Of course, many from the Righteous Murim strongly denied the latter title as nonsense.

In any case, the Murim Alliance’s requests were fine and all, but the difficulty level was too high.

Someone like me, who used to chase after the unpaid bills of old man Jang from the cloth shop, wasn’t cut out for that yet.

I’d have to at least earn a First Rate Martial Artist badge before considering it.

“Still, the ceiling is high, and I’ve got some cards to play…”

I’d rubbed shoulders with some core figures in the Demon-Slaying Unit, especially the Vice Captain… he seemed to have taken quite a liking to me. He’d probably throw some work my way.

This world doesn’t hand you jobs without connections, and by that measure, I had a pretty good starting line.

“…Hmm, I guess it’s not bad. Anyway, thanks for the info, Ilhong.”

I fiddled with the dagger that would link me to the Demon-Slaying Unit, then slid it deep into the short scabbard on my belt.

Watching quietly until then, Ilhong suddenly said,

“Then please call me noona too.”

She’d been acting weird ever since Murong Cheonghye and Tang Yeo-hye visited.

“Snap out of it, Ilhong.”

I gave her a light tap on the head—we were only a year apart.

“But how come you call those two noona and I’m just Ilhong?”

“Well, Ilhong is… Ilhong.”

“Tch, what kind of reason is that.”

She muttered that it made her feel oddly left out.

I had no idea what part made her feel that way. Girls this age had such mercurial emotions—it was impossible to understand.

“Don’t burn your competitive spirit over weird stuff. Just look ahead. We’ll see the gates of Beijing soon.”

When I first arrived, the golden dragons rising from the capital’s gates had felt unfamiliar. Now, I found them almost comforting.

After several more hours of marching, the bustling city slowly came into view.

Seeing this, the porters and Wanderers’ Guild members, despite their tired faces, lit up in joy.

“Raise the Escort Agency’s flag high! Let all know that Eunseong Escort Agency has completed the escort trip despite countless obstacles!”

At the head escort’s shout, Eunseong’s flags flapped vigorously as we crossed the gates.

Many citizens of Beijing whispered among themselves as they watched the scene.

“We’re home!”

“We’re back in Beijing!”

Though we had suffered significant losses and damage to the cargo, we had succeeded in completing the escort trip to a distant land.

And we’d even taken down a notorious former Demonic Practitioner along the way.

“Khuhuk, finally!”

“We did it, we really did it!”

As the familiar courtyard of Eunseong Trading Company came into view, many were overwhelmed with emotion.

After a two-thousand-li march, we looked like beggars—like Hwang Geolgae—but we still let out cheers of joy.

“Uwoaaaah—!”

At the call of the Trading Lord, Eun Hwaran, I dragged my exhausted body to the trading lord’s office.

Just then, as if a meeting had just ended, a group of people came streaming out the door.

Among them were individuals in attire that marked them as branch managers from other branches, and others dressed like classic usurers, clearly from trading posts.

They must have sent people from nearby trading posts to hear the results of the escort trip.

They seemed puzzled and stared at me when I approached the trading lord’s office without permission.

"Eun Hwaran noona."

As I called her in a friendly tone, Eun Hwaran widened her eyes in surprise.

“Who is that guy?”

“Did Trading Lord Eun Hwaran have a younger brother?”

“I heard her only family was Eun Yanggon, who was disowned and left the house…”

While they whispered among themselves, Eun Hwaran and the Head Escort stepped out after hearing my voice.

“Oh my, you're already here? I told you to rest up first, you must be tired from the journey.”

Damn Hwang Geolgae, he really needs to stop leaving out important information.

Anyway, perhaps sensing the stares between me and her, Eun Hwaran briefly introduced me in front of everyone.

“This young man is my sworn sibling, Dan Mujin. He is a disciple of Hwang Noya and greatly contributed to defeating the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord. Please remember him—just as he was helpful to me, he may be helpful to you someday.”

She patted my shoulder with trust in her eyes.

“Ohh, the disciple of Hwang Noya, who once drew out three feet of Sword Qi from the courtyard…”

“And at that age, he faced a Demonic Practitioner?”

“He’s a spirited young man.”

I could hear my reputation shooting up fast.

To make a name for myself as a troubleshooter, I had to gain recognition from trading lords and influential people. Thanks to Eun Hwaran, I had already made a strong impression.

I hoped that, riding on this momentum, my status in the Wanderers' Guild—currently stuck at the lower ranks—would improve.

“Thank you, noona.”

Once the guests had left, I approached her where she was seated and expressed my gratitude.

While I was at it, I gnawed on some sweets I hadn’t had in two months.

“I should be the one saying that. I heard everything from the Head Escort. He said if it weren’t for you and the heroine Tang Yeo-hye, the damage could have been two or three times worse.”

Head Escort Na Maengdal, who had been silently watching me since the battle with the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord, trying to offer me the position of the next Head Escort.

But I’m not in the military, and there’s no way I’d choose a job where all you do is march and eat.

Besides, all you see every day is dirt, grass, and roads, so there’s hardly any chance to accumulate Good Karma.

“But noona, there were quite a few casualties… Wouldn’t that lead to bad public opinion instead?”

Some of the cargo and wagons had been destroyed, too. It was far from a flawless escort trip, so I was a bit worried.

“No, actually, people are surprised the damage was this minimal considering we fought the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord. So if you ask whether it was a gain or loss, it was a gain.”

“Ah…”

True, no Escort Agency would dream of taking down a century-old, peak-level monster. They usually deal with bandits at most.

“Thanks to that, a few trading posts have decided to resume business with us. Though Man Geum Trading Post still hasn’t sent anyone…”

They must’ve had quite a few shady dealings.

Dig deep enough, and we might find connections to the Imperial Household.

Like trying to swallow a trading company through a political marriage—no matter how this ends, it’s a fight that must be settled.

“Anyway, little brother, you did well. I heard the Wanderers' Guild still just calculated and paid the set fee, even after all this? And they even deducted the brokerage fee.”

Not all wanderers are the same, yet the reward was equally meager regardless of contribution.

Eun Hwaran gently stoked my annoyance with the Wanderers' Guild and took something out from her sleeve.

Three shiny yellow gold coins, gleaming between her slender fingers.

“Here, this is from me. It’s all yours, little brother. Got it?”

A separate income beyond the standard reward.

“Hehe, you really didn’t have to.”

Of course I didn’t decline.

This is what it means to truly care for your younger sibling. That conniving Murong Cheonghye should take notes.

And since the reward matched my actual contribution this time, the Heaven-Slaying Star didn’t even have a chance to incite my greed.

Maybe that’s why the red aura was quiet.

“Oh, by the way—keep this a secret from Hwang Noya, okay?”

…Why?

What exactly did that man say about me behind my back?

I definitely needed to ask later.

With those thoughts, I shared a short moment with her and then walked out of the trading lord’s office.

“Boss, you got the bonus, right?”

The moment I stepped out, I heard that voice.

They really have a sixth sense for the scent of money.

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, you made huge contributions in the escort trip, the Trading Lord cares for you, and she’s loaded… So it’s only natural, right?”

Now that I thought about it, it wasn’t a difficult deduction.

“Heh, look. This is your Boss’s power.”

I proudly held out the dull yellow coins I had taken from my chest.

“Wow…”

Gold always had an alluring glow that made people admire it. The more coins you had, the more mesmerizing it became.

“So, what are you going to do with it, Boss?”

“Why, do you need investment?”

Back then, I had invested like pouring water into a broken pot, but during this escort trip, the Human-skin Mask and voice modulating drug proved their worth.

In other words, I got my money’s worth. So if needed, I’d help again even without a return.

“No, I just feel bad for always depending on you… Besides, the Trading Lord also gave me a separate silver coin, so I’m okay, Boss.”

“Oh, that’s what it was?”

Now that I thought about it, wasn’t Ilhong also known to be Hwang Noya’s disciple?

As expected of a seasoned Trading Lord from a major company—she was already taking care of future talent.

“So we both made a good chunk of money, huh?”

“Yeah, what should we do with it?”

That question seemed to be directed at herself too.

“How about we finally treat ourselves to something nice? Let’s call Ochil and the others and go eat Galjeotang.”

This time, let’s go to a decent inn.

We’d grown a bit, and our appearance wasn’t too shabby anymore, so we shouldn’t get kicked out like beggars.

“That sounds like a great idea.”

“Yeah, and let’s order so many meat dumplings that the table breaks.”

“Ah, and Dongpo Pork too, Captain!”

“Of course.”

That was the dish we missed out on because of Hwang Geolgae barging in.

It was quite pricey, but a must-order nonetheless.

“But Boss, is it okay to splurge like this all of a sudden? You’re usually super frugal and only spend money when I need investment.”

Whether in my past life or this one, I had always been pressed for money during childhood. It must’ve made me act like a miser without even realizing it.

“It’s nothing special. I’ve just had a change of heart lately.”

I wanted to do a good deed for once. And that meant spending money I cherished like blood.

And all of this, was because of a certain presence that kept lingering in front of my eyes.

"……."

In the hour before dawn, when everyone was asleep from exhaustion.

I opened my eyes wide and quietly stepped out into the night street.

Stars filled the night sky in a brilliant white radiance.

I quietly gazed at my own hand, just as pale and delicate. Once, this hand had been soaked in the blood of others.

But now, it had returned to its original state, as if nothing had ever happened.

Just like my emotions, eerily calm after experiencing my first kill.

Sreuk. Seureureuk.

Back when I stabbed the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord to protect my former blood sister, Hwang Geolgae once asked if there had been any changes in my condition.

At the time, I said there was nothing—but in truth, something had changed.

Tseutseutsueut—

Even when operating the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method now, the red aura would subside for a moment and then rise again.

Unlike before, it now behaved as though it had developed self-awareness, acting as if it was conscious of me.

Seuk, seuk, seueuk.

It clumped the red aura like fingers and began writing something on the dirt ground.

It deliberately wrote a character of the Central Plains.

‘殺’ (Kill)

In short, it was telling me to kill more.

I couldn’t believe it and added one more character in front.

‘不’ (Not)

Forming the word ‘不殺’—Non-kill—upon which the Heaven-Slaying Star erased the first character with a frustrated scratch.

Sweek! Sweek!

“Good grief.”

An inseparable relationship.

This marked our first, symbolic communication.