Ch. 30
They were simple people, but they lacked skill.
But for a martial family's martial force, lacking skill might as well mean being evil.
They were people who couldn't even protect the cargo entrusted to them by their clients.
They were people who brought shame to the other members of the family.
If you didn't know them personally, that was the harsh evaluation they would be given.
If things had been normal, I could have just spent my time here as the youngest, learning slowly, but the situation didn't turn out that way.
The first security escort I went on failed, and I even had to pay a penalty.
My pride wouldn't allow that.
Even if I tried to discuss it with others, there was no one to discuss it with.
To be honest, I didn't trust anyone in the Silver Wind Force.
Considering that they hadn't disbanded the Silver Wind Force until now, the family head of the Danli family must be a bodhisattva.
After thinking it over and over, I went to see the family head.
The family head had told me to come to him if I needed help, but he looked surprised, as if he hadn't expected me to actually come.
The reaction of the people guarding the front of the family head's residence when I appeared was similar.
A face that said, 'Why is that kid here?'
And they seemed to be confused for a moment about whether it was right to inform the family head that I had come.
I mentioned the promise the family head had made before, and in the end, I was able to meet him.
"Welcome, Yasocheong. I didn't expect you to actually come. So, what is it?"
He deliberately emphasized that he hadn't expected me to actually come.
He seemed to think that if he said that, I would be embarrassed, but I was not the type to blush at such things.
"I came because I have a favor to ask."
"It seems you want to tell me not to disband the Silver Wind Force. I did say to come if you needed help, but I can't grant that. It's a shame that the place you belong to has become like that, but the Silver Wind Force is no longer needed by the main family. It would be better to just close the security escort business altogether. There is no reason to maintain the Silver Wind Force, which only brings shame to the main family."
Then he put on a kind smile and continued.
"But don't worry. I will prepare a place for you to go. Just because the Silver Wind Force disappears, do you think there won't be a martial force in the main family that will accept you?"
"That's not what I came to ask for. Please give me a month. Since you've been waiting until now, it won't be too difficult to wait another month. Aren't you the family head who even gave me an elixir? So please give me time this time."
He looked at me with an amused face.
"What are you going to do during that time?"
Then, as if it were really funny, he burst out laughing.
"I will try to change. But that's not all I have to ask of you, family head."
"You mean there's more?"
"Yes. Please accept a request for a security escort. I would like it to be at least ten cases."
"A request for a security escort. Did you want to try a security escort?"
He asked, as if he didn't understand.
"It's necessary for the Silver Wind Force to change."
"What kind of security escort?"
"It has to be quite large in scale. And the security escort distance should not be short."
On the spot, I told him the places that each security escort group had to pass through.
"It must be a security escort that passes through those places. They must not overlap."
He seemed to be more surprised by how specific my requests were.
If it weren't for someone of the family head's stature, it might have been difficult to grant that request.
That's why I had come to see the family head, leaving behind the countless people who had told me to come to them if I needed help.
The family head could not answer right away.
Since it was a very difficult request, he would also need time to think.
"I understand. I will try to do so."
Until now, all the family head had to do was click his tongue when the Silver Wind Force returned after failing a security escort, and it seemed that he had never done anything that was beyond his power.
For example, just negotiating with others to receive a request for a security escort like the one I had just mentioned.
If the family head stepped up himself, there were parts of the negotiation that his subordinates could not achieve.
But whether it was because of his pride or something else, he had not done that until now.
If they had decided to do it in the family using a martial force called the Silver Wind Force without running a separate security escort agency, it would have been better for the family head to take on a certain part, but since he had not done that, that much of the responsibility was on him.
After leaving the family head's residence, I returned to the Silver Wind Force.
Then I went straight to the grandmaster and told him that I would be taking care of personal business for at least the next three or four days.
He seemed to think that since the Silver Wind Force would be disbanded, I was trying to find a place to stay in the future.
As he made a face that said he understood everything, I said to him.
"Difficult security escorts will be scheduled one after another for the next month."
Then I told him the route of the security escort.
"There will be many people who will not be able to return alive from there. And even so, you will have to go on the next security escort, and the more you go, the lower the chances of success will be. No one knows how many people will survive in the end. If you want to live even a little longer, there is no answer but training. Sleeping for an hour a day may be a lot. For at least a month, bet everything for honor, and for your life."
No matter how much they had doted on me and treated me cutely, they probably wouldn't have wanted to hear such words.
They might even be trembling with humiliation by now.
I said that much and left the place.
It wasn't a pleasant thing to say, and I had a lot to do from now on.
After leaving the Danli family, I went to the Cho family.
Even though I had seen Pae Maseong so many times, I had never met him at the Cho family.
It was a different experience to go to the Cho family to see him after coming to the Heavenly Demon Sect.
It was amazing that I had become a person who could easily go to a place like the Cho family now.
When I went there, identified myself as Yasocheong, and said that I had come to see Pae Maseong, the person guarding the main gate was puzzled, but in the end, he took me to Pae Maseong.
Pae Maseong was receiving unbelievably good treatment, and his performance there was already great.
When such a Pae Maseong heard that I had come and ran over, unable to contain his joy, the gazes of the people looking at me also changed.
"Socheong, how did you get here?"
To Pae Maseong, who seemed to have many questions, I asked if we could talk separately in a quiet place, and he immediately nodded.
Then he took me to a quiet small garden.
He said it was where he lived.
I was living in a large dormitory with other members, but Pae Maseong was also using a separate residence.
To be honest, I was a little envious of that.
There was also a rear garden, and from there, Pae Maseong's private training ground was directly connected.
"It seems you're living a recognized life. That's a relief."
At that, Pae Maseong was embarrassed.
He had a face that seemed a little sorry that only he was living in a place like this.
"Pae Maseong, I have a favor to ask you. Can you go with me for a month?"
"A month? Why? Is something wrong?"
Pae Maseong asked with a worried face.
"Yes, I need to subjugate a mountain bandit stronghold, and I need your help."
"Subjugate a mountain bandit stronghold?"
He had a face as if he had heard something completely unexpected, so I explained.
"I went to the Danli family and became a member of a place called the Silver Wind Force. It's a place that does security escort work."
Starting from there, when I told him about the security escort we had been on, Pae Maseong's expression changed.
He seemed to be worried, knowing that I could have died while he didn't even know.
"But even if you subjugate that mountain bandit stronghold now, isn't the Silver Wind Force going to be disbanded?"
Looking at Pae Maseong, who still didn't seem to understand, I shook my head.
"From now on, I will make it so that mountain bandits can't appear on the path that our Silver Wind Force's security escort group takes. I will make them realize that once they touch us, they will be completely wiped out. Without a single exception."
"...Huh? Suddenly now?"
"Yes, I told the family head and asked him to accept a request for a security escort to be transported for a month. If there are places that attack us, please subjugate all of them. I'm not telling you to do it alone. I'll go with you."
As I said it as if I were doing him a great favor, Pae Maseong tilted his head.
"Are you saying the two of us should subjugate all the mountain bandit strongholds?"
"Yes. We can do it. Why, can't you?"
"No."
Pae Maseong laughed as if it were fun.
As time went on, his laughter grew louder.
The more he thought about it, the more fun it seemed.
"When should we go? Should we go right now, Socheong?"
"You have to tell your superiors too. You must have work you were doing here."
"It doesn't matter. I can just say I can't do it for about a month."
Pae Maseong was really amazing.
Other people would never be able to say it so simply.
He was talking comfortably now, but in fact, the work entrusted to him at the Cho family would by no means be simple.
But he spoke as if he could adjust everything just by saying it, and that would also be true.
Since it was a job that couldn't be done without Pae Maseong, everyone had no choice but to follow his will.
Pae Maseong's power was already being demonstrated.
"Okay, then come to the Danli family tomorrow. You can come to the Silver Wind Residence. I live there. If you ask people, they'll tell you."
"Okay, I got it."
"Think that you won't be able to come back for about a month and prepare everything you need."
"Okay."
Pae Maseong had a face that seemed to be very much looking forward to it.
* * *
Early the next morning, the grandmaster of the Silver Wind Force woke me up.
His face was full of tension.
"Socheong, tell me what's going on."
"What do you mean?"
"The family head has scheduled a security escort. It's a schedule that will take a whole month."
"Ah."
"Is this related to you?"
"Yes."
There was no reason to pretend I didn't know.
"Did you train them after I told you yesterday?"
"Yes."
I thought he would pretend not to know, but it seems he did it anyway.
"My friend is coming today."
"Is it Pae Maseong?"
The person who had been looking downcast until then brightened up greatly after hearing those words.
Has it become known that I have no friends other than Pae Maseong?
While looking at Pae Maseong, I had been clicking my tongue inwardly, saying that he had no friends other than me, but looking at it, it seemed that I was in the same situation.
In any case, the grandmaster seemed to think that Pae Maseong would be going on the security escort with us.
So I crushed his hope.
(End of Chapter)