12 – A Scholar Dies for the One Who Knows Him (3)

“For him!”

A banquet was held at Hojungmun.

Countless tables were set up in the widest part of the courtyard, and wine and food were carried in nonstop.

Ho Yeonam, the head of Hojungmun, raised his cup high.

“To Ju Yehwa Pyoju, the top contributor of this escort mission!”

“For him!”

Countless people lifted their cups.

At the center sat the escorts who had successfully completed the mission, their faces filled with pride.

“This time, I really thought I was going to die.”

“Who would’ve thought those Black Dao Gang bastards would attack with that much determination?”

“Still, we made the deadline. If we’d slipped up even a little, we’d have had to pay the penalty.”

“To think I’d come back alive and see the main estate of Hojungmun again. It almost makes me cry.”

“In the end, we really did come back. Whew—”

Their emotions were complicated with guilt toward the dead, but the joy of having survived outweighed everything else.

Ju Yehwa Pyoju lifted her cup.

“The souls of our fallen comrades are something we’ll carry in our hearts for the rest of our lives, but just for tonight, let’s forget it all! Forget everything and enjoy the joy of the living!”

“For him!”

The escorts raised their cups as well.

Here and there, empty seats.

Faces that should have been filling those places if things were as they once were.

But for people who lived by the blade, this was something they had long grown used to.

A life where you part with faces you were with yesterday, and another where you might part tomorrow with those you are with today.

Perhaps because of this renewed sense of regret toward such a life, the banquet was even louder and more boisterous than usual.

At that moment, Ho Yeyang, who had been personally carrying wine and food, noticed something.

A boy with an expressionless face, dressed in ragged clothes.

Chui was sitting at the very end of the banquet tables.

There was no food or drink in front of Chui, while the bowls of the other stable boys beside him were piled high with food.

“…Those little punks, seriously!”

Ho Yeyang walked over with an angry expression.

She shouted at the stable boys.

“Hey! How can you eat all the food by yourselves?!”

Startled, Woo Dongwon and the other stable boys jumped.

After a moment, Woo Dongwon stammered an excuse.

“I-I was going to share it, miss.”

“If I see you discriminating again just over food, I’ll really get angry, got it?”

“Of course! We were just about to share! Really, I swear!”

When Ho Yeyang glared fiercely, Woo Dongwon hurriedly scooped meat and rice cakes from his bowl and poured them into Chui’s.

The other stable boys also scrambled to their feet and added food from their own bowls.

“….”

Chui said nothing, his face expressionless.

Ho Yeyang gave Chui a light smack on the back.

“I told you, if anyone bullies you, come straight to me.”

“….”

Chui still showed no particular reaction.

Ho Yeyang then picked up a rice cake from the bowl and forcibly stuffed it into Chui’s mouth.

Munch…

Seeing Chui chew the rice cake, Ho Yeyang broke into a bright smile.

“Eat plenty. You’re skin and bones. Are they starving you?”

Ho Yeyang then turned her gaze away from Chui and widened her eyes.

Woo Dongwon and the other stable boys immediately buried their faces in their bowls, pretending not to notice anything.

“I’ll be watching you from now on. Got it? Don’t bully Chui.”

Ho Yeyang sternly warned the stable boys.

Just then—

“Hee-ya, come here.”

From afar, Ho Yeonam’s voice called Ho Yeyang by her childhood name.

It seemed he had something to discuss with Ju Yehwa Pyoju.

Ho Yeyang looked at Chui once more and said,

“If you don’t have enough food, come to me. Understand?”

“….”

Once again, Chui gave no response.

Soon after, Ho Yeyang went over to where Ho Yeonam and Ju Yehwa were.

At that moment, Woo Dongwon’s expression immediately changed.

“How the hell did this bastard sweet-talk the miss to make her act like that?”

“Right? Hah—what nerve. The kid’s barely grown.”

The other stable boys also scowled as they looked at Chui.

Woo Dongwon picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks.

Then he threw it at Chui’s face.

“Here—pick it up and eat it.”

“Heh heh heh—if you want to taste meat at your level, you gotta eat it. What choice do you have?”

“What? You got a problem with your seniors? If you don’t like it, you should’ve joined earlier, huh?”

“Can’t even control your expression? You want your life in this stable to really go to hell?”

The stable boys began to harass Chui.

Tick—tack—splat!

Pieces of meat, chunks of rice cake, and droplets of wine started flying at Chui’s face.

*  *  *

…At that very moment.

Ju Yehwa Pyoju was sharing drinks with Ho Yeonam.

Ho Yeonam and Sa Jiwon praised Ju Yehwa Pyoju endlessly, practically drying their mouths with compliments.

“Thanks to Pyoju Ju, this escort mission ended safely. The payment came in cleanly too—thanks to you, we can finally breathe again.”

“And don’t worry about the families of the escorts who didn’t return. I swear on my honor that we’ll take care of them to the very end.”

“I only did my duty. For you to even consider the families of my comrades—I don’t know how to express my gratitude.”

Ju Yehwa Pyoju bowed deeply to the master and mistress of Hojungmun.

At that moment, Ho Yeyang sat down.

“You worked hard. Please, have a drink, Pyoju Ju.”

“Thank you, miss.”

Ju Yehwa Pyoju lifted her cup and accepted the wine Ho Yeyang poured.

Ho Yeyang suddenly spoke as if something had just occurred to her.

“Ah, about the guest mentioned in the letter you sent.”

“I was just about to ask you, miss. I didn’t see him at the head table—what happened?”

“Well… there haven’t been any visits from martial artists to Hojungmun.”

“I see. It seems he didn’t come after all.”

Disappointment colored Ju Yehwa Pyoju’s expression.

“He was a young wandering hero who used a spear. Thanks to him, we survived the attack by the Green Forest bandits—no, the Black Dao Gang. I truly wanted to meet him and personally thank him for saving our lives… but it’s unfortunate that he didn’t come to Hojungmun.”

“Was that hero really so strong?”

“Incredible. With just a single spear, he cut down countless members of the Black Dao Gang. Despite his young age, his martial prowess was truly astonishing. Otherwise, why would I have given him a gold token?”

“If someone carrying Pyoju’s gold token had come, we would have treated him as a top-tier guest. But no one came.”

“What a shame. If we could take such a master in as a retainer, the prestige of the sect would rise greatly.”

“Indeed. Just hearing about it makes it feel regrettable.”

But no amount of lingering attachment would bring back a past encounter.

Especially those eccentric wanderers who loved roaming freely—such people could never be bound by force.

Ju Yehwa Pyoju understood this well and forcibly shook off her regret.

“If he didn’t come to Hojungmun, then it can’t be helped. I’ll forget it all with this cup of wine.”

“Very well.”

Ho Yeyang smiled sweetly.

Ju Yehwa Pyoju almost forgot she was holding a cup at all when she saw that beauty.

‘It’s a relief to be able to see the miss’s smile again.’

With that thought, Ju Yehwa Pyoju lifted her cup.

Hojungmun, returned from the brink of death, was an all-too-familiar and dearly welcomed place.

People she trusted, believed in, and loved.

The estate walls and buildings, the garden, the trees and stones, even each individual pebble—all of it felt warm and precious.

Ju Yehwa Pyoju raised her cup.

Ho Yeonam, too, encouraged the other escorts and prepared for a toast.

“Give us a toast, Pyoju Ju! The hero of tonight should say a few words!”

“Ahem—well, then, though I’m lacking, I’ll say a few words!”

Holding her cup, Ju Yehwa Pyoju addressed everyone in Hojungmun.

“I hope that all of you here receive the joy, honor, and rewards you rightfully deserve.”

Starting with the honored guests seated at the head table, she swept her gaze across the middle seats and all the way to the servants at the very end.

Honored guests in silk garments, sitting at the head table with satisfied expressions.

Martial artists eating and drinking with refined smiles.

And the servants at the end, eating and drinking with abandon, as if wondering when they’d ever get to eat such delicious food again.

“Now then—cheers!”

“Cheers!”

Everyone brought their cups to their lips.

Ju Yehwa Pyoju, too, tilted her cup, about to wet her lips.

At that very moment, something caught her eye.

It was the table of the stable boys at the very end of the banquet.

“Hey, look at this bastard keeping his mouth shut like that. You wanna get hit?”

“Forget food—how about we do a little exorcism tonight?”

“This won’t do. Hey, you’re not eating this.”

“Hey—if we give him nothing, the miss will scold us again. That bastard will snitch on us.”

“Then eat these scraps instead. They suit someone at your level, you punk.”

A boy being collectively bullied by the stable boys.

Compared to the others, he wore especially tattered clothes, his face smeared with food scraps.

Swipe—

When the boy wiped the filth from his face with his sleeve—

‘…!’

From far away, Ju Yehwa Pyoju’s eyes, seated at the head table, widened like lanterns.

The wine that was about to slide smoothly down her throat suddenly felt like a mouthful of sawdust.

“Khk!?”

Ju Yehwa Pyoju spat out all the wine she had in her mouth.

Splash—

The wine sprayed straight onto Ho Yeonam’s face.

“W-What!? What is this! Pyoju Ju! What’s wrong!?”

A startled Ho Yeonam wiped his face and looked up.

But Ju Yehwa Pyoju paid no attention to his reaction at all.

Her eyes were wide open to the point of tearing, her body trembling.

She was staring at the far end of the banquet table—

At where Chui was sitting.

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