Reaper of the Drifting Moon

Last year and in the spring of this year, a series of big events happened in Chengdu. Both of those events greatly shook Chengdu and left great scars. However, after a few months passed, the people of Chengdu regained their stability again as if nothing had happened.

When shops opened their doors, the streets soon became full of people buying things. Among them were many merchants from outside Sichuan.

Chengdu is a very attractive place for merchants. This is because items brought in from Xizang and the specialties of Sichuan were available at the same time.

If they take the goods they get here in Chengdu to another city and sell them, they can make a pretty good profit, so many merchants and escort companies come in every day.

Somyeong Escort Corps¹ was also one of the escort companies that came in. Somyeong Escort Corps is a large company with twenty chief escorts, fifty escort warriors, and more than twenty masters.

It is quite remarkable for ninety people to be mobilized for an escort service.

It has been more than a hundred years since the Somyeong Escort Corps was established, but only three votes were mobilized by all personnel. And for the first time in decades, the entire group members were mobilized.

Only Seo Guksang, the owner of the escort company, knew what the client had requested to deliver.

Seo Guksang carried a box containing the items in his carriage and set out to march. There was only one box, but more than ninety people were protecting it.

However, none of the members of the Somyeong Escort Corps were dissatisfied.

Someone might criticize them for unnecessarily deploying a lot of personnel, but in the first place, the more important the item, the more people were mobilized.

The chief escorts and warriors of the Somyeong Escort Corps entered Chengdu while guarding the carriage on which Seo Guksang rode. They drove their horses nonstop and arrived at their destination which was the Snow Cloud Villa.²

Snow Cloud Villa was a new manor in Xintian Road.

Even in Xintian Road, which was filled with luxury mansions, the Snow Cloud Villa boasted such a huge scale that it could be considered as one of the best.

When the Somyeong Escort Corps arrived, the huge door of the Snow Cloud Villa opened.

The first thing that caught their eyes was the large training hall that could accommodate more than ninety people.

In the training hall, an old man with a thick beard and dozens of warriors, greeted the procession of the Somyeong Escort Corps.

“Welcome. You’ve worked hard on your journey.”

“No. I should be the one to thank you for greeting us personally like this, Mister Yu!”

“Heh heh! You brought a valuable item to the main house safely, so of course I have to greet you myself.”

The old man with a thick beard was Yu Gi-cheon, the owner of the Snow Cloud Villa.

Yu Gi-cheon originally operated a large merchant company in Hunan province.

He founded it with his own hands and made it into a huge company, but when his health deteriorated, he decided to return to his hometown of Chengdu.

Although he retired from the front line, the merchant company he built continued to be run by his children. The scale was now twice that of when he was the owner. Thanks to this, he was still earning a great amount of money even if he was sitting still.

Seo Guksang wink at two of the chief escorts.

The two chief escorts took out a large box from the carriage of Seo Guksang.

“This is the item that Mister Yu’s son told me to deliver.”

“Oh!”

Yu Gi-cheon’s eyes widened.

There was an emotional expression on his face.

The two chief escorts set the box down in front of Yu Gi-cheon.

Yu Gi-cheon carefully opened the box. Then he saw booklets with yellowish pages. The titles written on the old booklets were also worn out and had a sour smell.

The escort warriors looked at the booklet that came out of the box with a puzzled expression.

They were wondering what those books are, and how come a person like Yu Gi-cheon, who is considered as the richest man in the world, has such a moved expression on his face.

Yu Gi-cheon took out a booklet from the box and opened it carefully. The paper was full of strange characters whose meaning was unknown.

They were characters that could not be read even by looking at them.

“It’s the original.”

Yu Gi-cheon muttered as he carefully placed the booklet into the box.

The books in the box were considered blasphemous.

A high priest in Jungwon brought the original copy to Seo Guksang a long time ago.

All the Buddhist scriptures that exist in the present Jianghu are only translations of the originals contained in the box.

Yu Gi-cheon had been searching for the original copy for a very long time.

After retiring, he became immersed in the teachings of Buddhism. Belatedly falling into Buddhism, he pondered what would be the most meaningful work in his later years.

At that time, he heard the rumors that an original script of the Buddhist sutras existed. So he searched everywhere to find the original copy.

Fortunately, his son was able to obtain the original from Shaanxi Province, so he sent it through the Somyeong Escort Corps.

‘If I send this sutra to Shaolin Temple for storage in the future, they will like it.’

Until then, he was thinking of translating the Buddhist scriptures by himself.

After ordering the escort company to move the box of Buddhist sutras to his residence, Yu Gi-cheon looked at Seo Guksang.

“Thank you very much for safely transporting this precious treasure here. I will definitely pay you for this.”

“Don’t worry. Your son has already paid for it.”

“Heh heh! That can’t be! Do you already have a place to stay?”

“Not yet.”

“I own the Grand Guest House in the center of Chengdu. If you are resting there, I will have the secretary compensate you.”

“Oh you don’t have…”

“I insist.”

“Then I will be grateful for this favor, Mister Yu.”

Seo Guksang could not refuse any more and accepted Yu Gi-cheon’s offer.

He thought he had hit the jackpot.

If he can strengthen his relationship with Yu Gi-cheon, he can continue to do business with their merchant group where his son is the owner.

It was very important for an escort company to secure stable business partners. More so if their customer was one of the top-ranked merchant companies in the world.

Seo Guksang thanked Yu Gi-cheon again and again, before going out of the Snow Cloud Villa.

The Grand Guest House was huge enough to accommodate a large group of up to ninety people.

Seo Guksang said to the chief escorts and escort warriors.

“Everyone should stay and rest well here until I receive the reward from Mister Yu. I will pay for the alcohol today, so eat, drink and unwind as much as you like.’

“Wow!”

“My lord, you are the best!”

The members of the Somyeong Escort Corps cheered.

They immediately ordered drinks and food.

Chief escort Sagong Yun also drank with his colleagues.

Sagong Yun was a man in his early twenties. He actually lacked the experience and skill to be a leader. Nevertheless, he became one of the chief escorts because he was the nephew of Seo Guksang.

Sagong Yun was the only one with a dissatisfied expression on his face while everyone was busy laughing and talking.

‘Shit! How can I enjoy alcohol without the presence of a girl?’

He was originally famous for being a playboy in his hometown.

His father, who could not handle his antics, asked Seo Guksang to take him into the Somyeong Escort Corps. He thought that Sagong Yun would come to his senses if he wandered around the world and learned to work as an escort warrior.

Seo Guksang treated Sagong Yun like any other escort. He may have the title of a chief escort, but his job was no different from that of an escort warrior. So he had time to rest because of the arduous schedule.

The biggest complaint is that he couldn’t even smell a woman.

‘They don’t even have a girl by their side, so what are they so happy about?’

He looked at the chief escorts and the escort warriors who laughed and talked around him like they were idiots. Although they were drinking in the same place, he could not assimilate at all with the people around him.

He eventually slipped out of his seat.

“It’s better to go to a brothel at a time like this.”

He had enough money. It was thanks to his mother who generously took care of him.

He didn’t find it too difficult to find the streets where the brothels were concentrated. He only needed to look for a place where red lanterns were lit up brightly.

Fortunately, there was a red light district not far from the Grand Guest House.

Sagong Yun confidently headed to the red light district.

“Hm?”

Sagong Yun suddenly stopped.

Because a particular girl caught his attention.

“Oho!”

An exclamation came out of his mouth.

The girl looked like she was only about thirteen or fourteen years old.

The air around her was different.

She was walking with her head and eyes slightly lowered, and her brightly white neck which was exposed could not anymore become so attractive.

Sagong Yun lost his mind as he looked at the girl’s back.

Sagong Yun had dealt with many women before, but it was the first time for him to find a girl with such a unique and dreamy atmosphere.

It didn’t matter to him that the girl was still a young child.

Sagong Yun unknowingly followed the girl.

Whether or not she knew that fact, the girl continued to walk.

After following the girl for a long time, Sagong Yun suddenly felt a strong sense of discomfort.

‘That bitch, she’s blind.’

On her way here, the girl never looked around her surroundings.

When she was standing at a crossroad, she would prick her ears and fumble along the wall with her hand to determine the direction.

A person with normal eyes wouldn’t act in such a cumbersome way.

A small smile appeared on the corner of Sagong Yun’s lips.

‘It’s even better now that I know she is blind.’

His whole body suddenly heated up, and he felt his nether region tensed up.

He followed the girl more carefully.

However, the direction the girl was going was strange.

‘That’s the street where the Snow Cloud Villa was.’

From what he heard, only prominent people with power in Chengdu were able to settle down here.

‘I’ll be in trouble if I mess with the wrong person, won’t I?”

But he soon shook his head.

His target was a blind girl anyway.

Even if he commits a sin to his heart’s content, she won’t be able to recognize his face anyway. When he thought that he could commit the perfect crime, his remaining caution disappeared.

Sagong Yun boldly followed the girl.

The girl stood in front of a mansion with an impressive red pine tree.

She must have arrived at her home.

The girl knocked on the door and a servant came out to greet her.

Thud!

The door closed and the girl disappeared into the mansion.

He couldn’t stand it any longer.

Sagong Yun flew over the mansion wall. The fence was quite high, but that didn’t stop him since he had learned some martial arts. He climbed on the wall lightly like a stray cat.

It was quiet inside the mansion.

If he hadn’t seen the girl entering, he would have mistaken it for an uninhabited place.

A lamp was lit in one of the rooms.

It was clear that the girl who had just entered had turned on the light.

‘She’s in that room.’

Sagong Yun’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

Now that he has confirmed the room, all he has to do now is to go in and commit the crime. Furthermore, there seemed to be no security in the mansion. It was like an empty mountain without an owner.

Sagong Yun did not hesitate any longer.

He landed lightly on the floor.

That was then.

“Who are you?”

He suddenly heard a child’s voice coming from behind him.

For a moment, Sagong Yun felt the back of his neck becoming stiff.

“Hyuk!”

When Sagong Yun hurriedly turned around, he saw a boy about six or seven years old, smiling brightly. Seven rings hung around the boy’s neck like ornaments.

‘There was definitely no one there?’

He felt like he was haunted.

He asked cautiously,

“Who are you?”

“Me? I’m a person who lives in this house.”

The boy answered with a characteristic bright expression.

“Then what about the girl who went in a while ago?”

“My friend!”

“Don’t lie. I could tell at a glance that she is a lot older than you.”‘

“I’m sorry, brother, but it’s true. Something’s wrong with me so I don’t look my age.”

“What nonsense—”

“But, do you know?”

“W, what is it?”

“The fact that you are the 15th person who tried to sneak into this place.”

“What?”

The boy, Soma, grinned.

“Whenever Eunyo would go out and come back, flies would always follow her around like this. It’s becoming really annoying.”

In an instant, Soma’s eyes changed.

“Hyiik!”

Sagong Yun freaked out.

The boy’s eyes were hurting his own, as if being stabbed by a needle.

Sreung!

Soma pulled out one of the rings he was wearing around his neck and said,

“Because of you, your family will be completely ruined.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’d better believe what I say. All the families of the fourteen guys who have crossed the wall of this house without permission have already been ruined.”

“Stop saying bullshit.”

Unable to withstand the pressure, Sagong Yun drew his sword.

Now that things have reached this point, he plans to kill the boy and forcibly take in the girl, before completely destroying the evidence.

Shiak!

A gruesome sound rang out.

For a moment, Soma laughed.

“You can’t really don’t get it, do you?”

SoundlessWind21’s Notes

Thank you for reading!

1. Somyeong Escort Corps. Raws: 소명표국(昭明鎌局).
   • 昭 Bright, luminous, illustrious
   • 明 bright, light, brilliant, clear
   • 鎌 sickle
   • 局 bureau, office, circumstance
2. Snow Cloud Villa. Raws: 설운장(雪雲荘)
   • 雪 xue, snow, wipe away shame, avenge
   • 雲 yun, clouds, Yunnan province
   • 荘 zhuang, village, hamlet, villa