TRDS 08

 Chapter 8

Return of the Sword 

“Young Master, are you perhaps planning to open an inn?”

At Chief Steward Lim Ho-pil’s suspicious question, Heoncheon immediately shook his head.

“No.”

“Then what are all these?”

Lim Ho-pil pointed toward the pile of whole chickens fried in oil that were stacked along one side of the kitchen.

“Oh, those? They’re just failed experiments. Leave them there.”

“Failed experiments?”

For something he called a failure, they smelled quite delicious, and their appearance was surprisingly appetizing.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Lim Ho-pil secretly tore off a piece and took a bite.

‘What……?! What is this flavor?’

It looked like the chicken had simply been deep-fried in oil, yet somehow the meat was perfectly seasoned, while the crispy texture of the skin was nothing short of exquisite.

Amazed by the taste, Lim Ho-pil hurriedly asked Heoncheon,

“Young Master, is this really a failure?”

“Yeah. I just couldn’t get the flavor I wanted.”

“Good heavens……”

What kind of flavor was Heoncheon looking for that he was not satisfied even with something this delicious?

“What exactly is this dish?”

“Ahhh, this is called old-fashioned whole fried chicken.”

It was what people in Korea also called market-style chicken. Although it had now been pushed aside by the more popular half-and-half fried and seasoned chicken, it had once been the undisputed king of the chicken market.

It was nothing more than a chicken that had been seasoned and coated with a thin batter before being fried, but its simple and clean flavor was precisely what made it appealing.

Given Heoncheon’s current circumstances, there was absolutely no way to recreate the crispy coating unique to Korean fried chicken.

So this was the dish he had attempted as a last resort.

“Old-fashioned whole fried chicken? You mean there used to be a chicken dish like this?”

“Ah, it’s from somewhere other than the Central Plains.”

“Somewhere else? Do you mean that foreign place you mentioned before, Japan or whatever it was?”

“Something like that.”

There was chicken in Japan, too.

Of course, it was clearly different from Korean fried chicken, but correcting him seemed like too much trouble, so Heoncheon simply let it slide.

“I see. By the way, Young Master, where did you learn how to make something like this? Did you perhaps work at an inn before?”

“Not really. Someone I knew apparently tried to make a living selling this stuff once and ended up going bankrupt. I heard the story from him and happened to learn how to make it at the same time.”

More precisely, Heoncheon had learned it while chatting with a man in his mid-fifties whom he had happened to meet at a construction site.

‘He said he used to work for some well-known IT company.’

But like many retirees from the IT industry, the man had recklessly opened his own little chicken restaurant, gone completely bankrupt, and eventually ended up working construction.

Hearing Heoncheon’s story, Lim Ho-pil looked genuinely saddened on the man’s behalf.

“How unfortunate. Even someone who could make such a delicious dish went bankrupt. Running a business truly is not easy.”

“You said it.”

Indeed.

Korea was, without question, a chicken-loving nation recognized around the world.

It was a merciless market where mediocre chicken simply could not survive.

“But what brings you here at this hour, Chief Steward?”

Unlike Heoncheon, whose schedule was relatively free aside from improving the He Family’s martial arts, Lim Ho-pil had a fairly packed schedule because he was responsible for managing the entire estate.

At Heoncheon’s question, Lim Ho-pil slapped his forehead.

“Goodness, look at me. I nearly forgot. I came to ask how much progress you have made on improving the other martial arts besides the cultivation method.”

“Oh?”

A glint appeared in Heoncheon’s eyes.

There was nothing particularly strange about asking how the improvements were progressing.

However, the fact that Lim Ho-pil, despite being so busy, had personally come all the way to find Heoncheon and ask about it was clearly unusual.

Heoncheon could more or less guess the reason.

“Why? Do the martial artists here think I’m not very trustworthy?”

Lim Ho-pil flinched at the blunt question, but soon shook his head with a smile as if nothing had happened.

“Hahaha, of course not. It’s just that they didn’t grow up watching you the way I did, Young Master, so there are simply some minor misunderstandings.”

He was clearly trying to defend the others as much as possible, but that only irritated Heoncheon further.

“I’ll make sure to talk some sense into them, so please don’t concern yourself with—”

“Hey, Chief Steward Lim.”

“Yes?”

“Who am I?”

Not only had Heoncheon interrupted him, he had suddenly asked a question of his own.

Lim Ho-pil was puzzled inwardly, but he concealed it and answered.

“You are the eldest son of our current family head and the Young Master of the He Family.”

Heoncheon had not yet been formally recognized as the next family head, but he was the only legitimate heir of the He Family.

He might technically only be called the Young Master, but in practice, he was no different from the future head of the family.

“Right. I’m the Young Master here. That’s something everyone in the He Family knows, not just you, Chief Steward Lim. And yet you’re telling me that the martial artists of this family have misunderstandings about me? What kind of misunderstandings? In the first place, who gave them the right to judge me so casually? Just what makes them qualified to do that?”

The smile had disappeared from Heoncheon’s face.

At the same time, his tone became stiff and cold, completely different from the lighthearted and friendly way he had spoken until now.

“Answer me, Chief Steward Lim. Tell me exactly what those men said about me. Every last word. Leave nothing out.”

“Th-That…….”

Lim Ho-pil could not answer. Cold sweat trickled down his face.

Heoncheon gave a small sigh before speaking.

“Chief Steward Lim. I understand why you’re trying to protect the people under you. I really do. But even so, isn’t it clearly wrong to cover up their mistakes and faults as well? What do you think?”

“…….”

Lim Ho-pil remained silent.

No, he simply could not answer.

Anyone listening would have to admit that Heoncheon was right.

Eventually, Lim Ho-pil lowered his head apologetically.

“……I was thoughtless. Please forgive me.”

“Forgive you?”

Heoncheon barely held back a hollow laugh.

‘Maybe it’s because he’s gotten older. Chief Steward Lim seems much softer than he used to be. No, maybe he’s just become easier to push around.’

Calling him soft was already putting it mildly.

He was practically a complete pushover.

He had lowered his head so easily over mistakes that were not even his own.

And there had to be more to it than simply getting older.

‘Father collapsed, and the Chief Steward said he took over running the He Family in his place, right?’

Madam Jo had helped, of course, but most of the day-to-day work must have fallen on Lim Ho-pil.

As a result, he had probably come to rely heavily on the people beneath him without even realizing it.

‘And among them, there must have been a few who gradually started crossing the line.’

He probably knew what they were doing and deliberately turned a blind eye to it.

If those people left the He Family, after all, it would create a serious gap in the family’s fighting strength.

It was the so-called abuse of authority by those in a weaker position.

‘Looks like I can’t just leave this alone.’

Heoncheon had already been planning to deal with the situation.

He had not forgotten what happened on the very day he first arrived at the He Family Estate.

While he had been treating his father’s qi deviation, he had explicitly ordered everyone not to enter until he gave permission.

Yet the martial artists of the He Family had still gone to Lim Ho-pil to ask what they should do.

That was clearly unacceptable behavior for martial artists of the He Family.

It had been obvious enough from the way Lim Ho-pil had scolded them at the time.

‘The whole place was a complete mess.’

Heoncheon decided that this was the perfect opportunity to set everything straight.

“Enough. Chief Steward Lim, tell every martial artist in the family to gather in the training ground within half a quarter of an hour. Not a single person is to be absent.”

“All of them within half a quarter of an hour?”

“Yes. Every single one.”

“……Understood.”

Half a quarter of an hour later.

Every martial artist of the He Family had gathered in the training ground.

There were thirty of them in total.

That was a small number for a Murim sect, but because of Hangzhou’s particular circumstances, there were few martial factions that commanded more than a hundred martial artists.

In fact, thirty was about average.

They could not hide their confusion at the sudden summons.

‘Why did the Young Master suddenly call all of us here?’

‘Seriously, what a pain. What is it this time?’

Some openly showed curiosity, while others made no attempt to hide their displeasure.

Overall, the discipline of the group had completely fallen apart.

Amid all this, Heoncheon finally appeared in the training ground.

“You’re all here. I told Chief Steward Lim to have you here within half a quarter of an hour, but you actually arrived exactly on time? Wow. I had no idea this place was so huge. I guess the estate must have gotten bigger while I was away.”

Some of the He Family martial artists flinched.

They realized that Heoncheon was openly mocking them for not arriving sooner, even though they could easily have come earlier if they had wanted to.

The others soon caught on as well, and the atmosphere in the training ground instantly turned cold.

At that moment, a burly man in his early forties with a square face stepped forward.

“Young Master, may I ask why you summoned us?”

“Hm? Who are you?”

“My name is Yeon Doseung.”

“Yeon Doseung. How long have you been with the He Family?”

“This is my fifteenth year.”

“Oh? Fifteen years.”

With that much experience, Yeon Doseung was practically the most senior martial artist in the He Family.

And he did not merely have seniority.

His aura was quite well-refined for a Second-Class martial artist, and there was nothing wrong with his eyes, either.

‘He’s just short of reaching the First-Class Realm. Not bad.’

He was a talent, in his own way.

Of course, compared to Heoncheon’s standards, he was still far from impressive.

Even so, Heoncheon could understand why Yeon Doseung had stepped forward as their representative.

“Martial Artist Yeon, you know that I’ve been working on improving the martial arts of this family lately, right?”

“Yes.”

“I hear that you and the other martial artists of the family have quite a few complaints about it. Is that true?”

“That……”

Yeon Doseung, who had answered every question without hesitation until then, finally fell silent.

An awkward expression appeared on his face.

It was true that some of them were dissatisfied.

But he could not decide whether he should tell the truth outright or pretend that he knew nothing.

As he hesitated—

“It’s true. We all know that the Young Master is an incredible martial artist. But I believe that has nothing to do with whether you should interfere with the He Family’s martial arts.”

“Hey, Chugang! What the hell are you doing?!”

Yeon Doseung was horrified when a bearded, burly man in his mid-thirties named Chugang suddenly interrupted the conversation.

Heoncheon looked at the bearded man with curiosity, though his gaze remained cold.

“And who are you?”

“My name is Jeong Chugang.”

“Jeong Chugang. Since you’ve already joined the conversation, go ahead and explain. Why do you think that way?”

At Heoncheon’s question, Jeong Chugang answered as though he had been waiting for the opportunity.

“No matter how skilled someone is, nobody can be proficient in every martial art. And besides, Young Master, you have been away from this family for a very long time.”

“In other words, you doubt whether someone like me, who is practically an outsider, can properly understand the He Family’s martial arts?”

“With all due respect, yes.”

“Oh? Is that so? Then can I take it to mean that you people understand the He Family’s martial arts better than I do?”

“What? No, that’s not……”

Jeong Chugang was about to say that he had not meant it to that extent, but Heoncheon spoke first.

“Good. Then how about we take this opportunity to see exactly what level the martial artists of this family are at? Let’s have a sparring match, one by one.”

“A sparring match?”

“With the Young Master?”

Most of the martial artists were not particularly pleased by Heoncheon’s proposal.

‘Is he planning to teach us a lesson under the excuse of sparring?’

‘Damn it. What rotten luck.’

Just as everyone was looking troubled, Heoncheon unexpectedly added,

“Ah, obviously, none of you would stand a chance if we fought normally. So I’ll specially restrict my internal energy to match your level, and I’ll only use the He Family’s basic martial arts. How about that? That should make things a little more manageable, right?”

“Hmm……”

Not only would he restrict his internal energy, but he would also limit himself to the He Family’s basic techniques?

At that point, it was practically the same as fighting with both arms and legs tied.

Surely, under those conditions, they could at least put up a fight.

And yet, nobody volunteered.

As everyone nervously looked around at one another, the corner of Heoncheon’s mouth curled into a cold, mocking smile.

“Wow. Even after I’ve gone this far, nobody wants to step forward? You people really are something. Or maybe the martial artists of this family are……”

Heoncheon paused and slowly swept his gaze across every martial artist of the He Family.

As everyone wondered what that strange look meant, Heoncheon finished his sentence.

“Nothing but cowards who are good at talking?”

“……!”