The sedan chair stopped.
In front of the red gate. It was already late enough for the eaves' shadow to stretch long across the ground. When the four bearers lowered their shoulders, the curtain lifted. A small pair of eyes appeared first on a greasy face. It was Jwa Woryang.
He did not get out of the sedan chair.
"Jang Isu."
"Yes."
"You left your post last night, but today you aren't even running away."
"I've never left this gate."
Jwa Woryang's small eyes narrowed. He lightly pushed up the curtain and looked inside. Several attendants near the main gate were slowing their steps. The rumors that had continued since yesterday seemed to have rooted them to the spot.
"I believe I sent a request through one of my men."
"I already told him I couldn't return it."
"What will you do when it stops being a request?"
"That isn't for the Vice Chief to decide."
Jwa Woryang let out a short laugh. The sound rumbled low inside the sedan chair.
"I came here in person just to meet one Gatekeeper. That alone tells you exactly what you're worth. The Estate Master knows I'm here tonight. So does the Celestial Blossom Gang. And yet you're still willing to risk your neck over a single piece of paper?"
"I don't think that means the paper I have is worth less than my life."
"Black Wind Stockade."
It was the first time Jang Isu had spoken the name aloud. The smile vanished from Jwa Woryang's face.
"This paper knows whose hand the men who came to the alley yesterday belonged to."
"…What could a piece of paper know?"
"It doesn't have to know. You do."
Jwa Woryang was silent for a moment. The curtain dropped back inside, then lifted again.
"Jang Isu. I don't know what you're holding, but if you think you can rattle me with it, you're mistaken. I'm the Vice Chief of the Celestial Blossom Gang. I can pull a contract from an estate like this in a single night, and by tomorrow morning I can make sure a nobody like you doesn't even leave a name behind."
"If you could, you would have done it already."
"What did you say?"
"You sent four men yesterday. And today, you came in person. You've got the order backward. The side with power doesn't get desperate."
Jwa Woryang's hand gripped the armrest of the sedan chair. His knuckles turned white.
"You little—"
"Take him."
Jwa Woryang spat out the words. The three attendants following behind the sedan chair stepped forward at once. Unlike the four from yesterday, these men wore the formal uniform of the mountain estate. One of them reached out from the front to grab Jang Isu by the shoulder.
"We should search you. Cooperate, and you won't get hurt."
"There's no need."
"That's not for you to decide."
Just before the hand touched his shoulder, Jang Isu merely took half a step back. He only turned his toes. The man's weight pitched forward. The other man shoving alongside him tried to catch him and lost his balance. The two grabbed each other's arms and stumbled onto the stone step beside the gate, dropping to their knees side by side. The third man hesitated at the sight, then misstepped on his own and caught himself with both hands in the mud.
Jwa Woryang's face reddened inside the sedan chair. But at that moment, other footsteps approached from the far end of the street outside the gate. More than one pair.
"Vice Chief."
The voice was rough. Three men with half their faces covered in black cloth emerged from the darkness. The one in front stopped directly before Jwa Woryang's sedan chair.
"We haven't settled yesterday's business yet."
Jwa Woryang's eyes wavered. "…This isn't the place to discuss it."
"If not here, then where?" The man didn't lower his voice. "We sent four men, but one had his arm sliced open, and the other three came running back. You promised us twenty nyang of silver each. We didn't find the goods, and our men got hurt, so we'll have to charge double."
The attendants who had been slowing their steps around them had now stopped altogether. Several laborers unloading cargo from an escort contract turned their heads as well. The Escort Bureau Master who had passed by around noon happened to have come out to exchange evening greetings, only to find himself face-to-face with the scene.
"You did business with Black Wind Stockade, Vice Chief?" There was more interest than surprise in the Escort Bureau Master's voice. "And you had them come collect payment right in front of the estate's gate."
The color drained from Jwa Woryang's face. He hurriedly tried to get down from the sedan chair, but the man in black had already placed a hand on the armrest.
"Let's settle the account first."
"…Now isn't—now isn't a good time."
"Then when is?" The man gave a low laugh. "Your dignity belongs to you, my lord. It doesn't cover what we're owed."
The three attendants behind the sedan chair still couldn't get up from the mud. Everyone passing by saw the estate's formal swordsmen standing helplessly before the black-road debt collectors. Jwa Woryang had come all the way here in person to threaten one Gatekeeper, only to have his own men grabbed by the collar in front of the gate.
"I'll have the money ready by tomorrow morning," Jwa Woryang managed to say. "Today… just leave."
"We'll take your word for it, Vice Chief." As the man in black stepped away, he cast a sidelong glance at Jang Isu. "We have no grudge against you. Today's business is only about what we're owed."
The three men disappeared into the darkness. Jwa Woryang lowered the sedan chair's curtain roughly. No one could see what expression he wore inside.
"Jang Isu." Only his voice seeped out past the curtain. "Don't think this is over."
"I never said it was over."
The sedan chair turned around. The three attendants who had knelt in the mud limped after it. The Escort Bureau Master stayed until the very end, then gave Jang Isu a brief nod before going inside. Where he chose to sell what he had seen today was his own business.
Jang Isu was left alone in front of the gate. The paper inside his clothing was still there. What Jwa Woryang had lost tonight wasn't a single piece of paper, but a name he had wanted to keep hidden badly enough to come in person. His dealings with Black Wind Stockade would now pass from mouth to mouth among the people of the estate, then flow wherever the Escort Bureau Master carried it.
As he closed the gate, Jang Isu thought beyond the sound of the gate bar: What Jwa Woryang sent next would not be men. It would probably be the Celestial Blossom Gang itself.
When the gate bar was only halfway in place, a knock sounded from the other side. It wasn't hard or urgent. Exactly three times, at equal intervals.
Jang Isu drew the gate bar back.
There were no men in black from earlier, and no sedan chair belonging to Jwa Woryang. Instead, a middle-aged man in a black cotton robe stood quietly outside. Rather than a sword, a folded fan hung at his waist. There was no haste in his step or in his eyes.
"Gatekeeper."
"That's me."
"I've heard all about what happened today." The man drew an identity plaque from inside his robe and held it up. The emblem of Everblue Estate was engraved on it. "I serve the Estate Master."
Jang Isu examined the plaque with his eyes alone and did not reach for it.
"What message did the Estate Master send?"
"He says to come to the inner courtyard tomorrow morning. Bring no one else."
"Is this a summons?"
For the first time, the man gave a faint smile. It was less a smile than the briefest twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"The Estate Master uses neither summons nor invitation when calling someone. He simply tells them to come. Whether you answer or not is up to you."
"What happens if I don't?"
"Nothing." The man tucked the plaque back inside his robe. "But in all these years, the Estate Master has never personally called for the man who has stood watch at this gate for three years. What that means is for you to figure out. It's not my place to figure it out for you."
"…Yes."
"I have one question." For the first time, the man's eyes met Jang Isu's directly. "Do you still have that paper you picked up this afternoon?"
Jang Isu did not answer. He could almost feel the paper inside his clothing against his fingertips again.
"You don't have to answer." The man turned away. "By tomorrow morning, it will naturally be decided whose hand that paper belongs in."
As quietly as he had arrived, he disappeared into the darkness beyond the wall.
Jang Isu stood there for a long while. The day had begun with Jwa Woryang. Yet before that day could end, a voice calling for him had already arrived from the deepest part of the estate. The Estate Master calling for the Gatekeeper. It had never happened in three years.
Jang Isu set the gate bar again. His fingertips paused for a moment, following the grain of the wood.
Tomorrow morning, another gate would be waiting for him in the inner courtyard on the other side of this one. And where that gate opened, he would come face-to-face with a name unlike any he had known until now.
I planted the hook so the Estate Master will make his first full appearance at the start of Chapter 7. We can continue with the meeting in the inner courtyard in the next chapter.
When the gate bar was halfway in place, a knock sounded from the other side. It wasn't hard or urgent. Exactly three times, at equal intervals.
Jang Isu drew the gate bar back.
There were no men in black from earlier, and no sedan chair belonging to Jwa Woryang. Instead, a middle-aged man in a black cotton robe stood quietly outside. Rather than a sword, a folded fan hung at his waist. There was no haste in his step or in his eyes.
"Gatekeeper."
"That's me."
"I've heard all about what happened today." The man drew an identity plaque from inside his robe and held it up. The emblem of Everblue Estate was engraved on it. "I serve the Estate Master."
Jang Isu examined the plaque with his eyes alone and did not reach for it.
"What message did the Estate Master send?"
"He says to come to the inner courtyard tomorrow morning. Bring no one else."
"Is this a summons?"
For the first time, the man gave a faint smile. It was less a smile than the briefest twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"The Estate Master uses neither summons nor invitation when calling someone. He simply tells them to come. Whether you answer or not is up to you."
"What happens if I don't?"
"Nothing." The man tucked the plaque back inside his robe. "But in all these years, the Estate Master has never personally called for the man who has stood watch at this gate for three years. What that means is for you to figure out. It's not my place to figure it out for you."
"…Yes."
"I have one question." For the first time, the man's eyes met Jang Isu's directly. "Do you still have that paper you picked up this afternoon?"
Jang Isu did not answer. He could almost feel the paper inside his clothing against his fingertips again.
"You don't have to answer." The man turned away. "By tomorrow morning, it will naturally be decided whose hand that paper belongs in."
As quietly as he had arrived, he disappeared into the darkness beyond the wall.
Jang Isu stood there for a long while. The day had begun with Jwa Woryang. Yet before that day could end, a voice calling for him had already arrived from the deepest part of the estate. The Estate Master calling for the Gatekeeper. It had never happened in three years.
Jang Isu set the gate bar again. His fingertips paused for a moment, following the grain of the wood.
Tomorrow morning, another gate would be waiting for him in the inner courtyard on the other side of this one. And where that gate opened, he would come face-to-face with a name unlike any he had known until now.