Chapter 7

The dagger was buried nearly to the hilt.

I let go and turned my head.

The beggars were staring at me with fear in their eyes.

I ignored them.

“Who's the deputy branch leader?”

One man raised his trembling hand.

“M-Me... it's me...”

“Name.”

“J-Jang Seok.”

“Jang Jang-seok?”

“No, sir. Just Jang Seok.”

“Jang Seok, huh... Starting today, you’re the branch leader.”

“...Me...?”

“The previous branch leader is dead. Naturally, the deputy should take over, don’t you think?”

“Y-Yes. That’s right.”

I walked toward him. Jang Seok stumbled backward on shaky legs until his back hit a bookshelf. With nowhere else to run, his face collapsed into despair.

Smiling, I placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You’ve been promoted.”

“...S-Sir?”

“Congratulations on becoming the branch leader. So tell me—who do you think owns Snow Compression?”

“...Do you want the honest answer?”

I nodded, and Jang Seok spoke aloud the truth everyone knew but never dared to say.

“...The true owner is Lord Seol Jungcheon of the Everlasting Snow Palace.”

My father. The Lord of the Palace.

Seol Jungcheon, Sovereign of the Frozen Heavens.

“...Officially, Lord Seol Jungcheon is the master of Snow Compression. But in practice, I believe the one who governs this place is the branch master of the Snow Compression Branch.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The owner of Snow Compression wasn’t me—it was my father.

I’d only been delegated authority to manage it.

So, technically, I wasn’t the owner—but I wasn’t not the owner either.

I stood somewhere in the middle. Claiming ownership wasn’t exactly false.

This was my domain to oversee, and not every commander is also the administrator.

“Good answer.”

“...Thank you.”

“At the very least, you’re better than the filth rotting over there.”

“...That too—I appreciate.”

“So then, what are you going to do about my money?”

Jang Seok swallowed hard, but he began speaking as if he had already prepared a plan.

“First... I’ll raid Chu Uigye’s residence over there.”

“But do you think all the money will still be there?”

“...No, I doubt it. Everyone knows Chu Uigye’s been offering bribes to higher-ups in the Beggar’s Union. At best, he’ll only have a portion left.”

“Then how do you plan to make up for the shortfall?”

Jang Seok was a quick thinker.

Turning a crisis into an opportunity isn’t easy. But there are always those who try.

Jang Seok was one of them.

“We’re the Beggar’s Union. I will offer the Union’s intelligence network to you, sir.”

“Sir, huh...”

“...If you don’t like the title—”

“It’s not that I dislike it. So you’re saying you’ll compensate the remaining balance with information?”

“...Yes. We usually charge a fee for intelligence, but we won’t charge the full rate. At most, we’ll reduce it by fifty percent. At minimum, thirty. We’ll deduct that from the amount owed.”

I liked that.

I gave his shoulder a friendly pat.

“To celebrate your promotion, I’ll give you a gift.”

“...Whatever it is, I’ll gladly accept it.”

“Write a detailed report about everything that happened here today and send it to your higher-ups.”

“...Excuse me?”

“I mean don’t twist the situation or try to excuse anything.”

“......”

“I broke the First Tie’s bones. I killed that nameless beggar. And I killed Chu Uigye. When the Beggar’s Union sends someone to investigate—and they will—you’ll tell them everything exactly as it happened. And send them to me.”

“...Understood.”

I turned and walked away. The beggars cleared the path without needing to be told.

Just as I reached the entrance, I stopped and turned my head like I had just remembered something.

“When you bring the money to the Snow Compression Branch, bring along a piece of intelligence good enough to tempt me.”

“...I’ll do my best to prepare something.”

It was then, just as I was about to return to the branch.

Jang Seok swallowed hard, bowed formally with a martial salute, and said,

“Safe travels.”

How polite.

If you’re going to leech off someone else’s money, you’d best have at least that much tact and courtesy.

I walked away without another word.

****

Seol Unwi returned to the branch, his long coat soaked in blood.

He stepped inside silently.

Cheonpung sat on the floor, wounded. Four branch members were with him, all showing signs of damage. And standing nearby, gasping for breath as though he’d run a marathon, was Inspector Seong.

Seol Unwi glanced at each of them in turn, then looked toward the center of the room—where the recovered items were piled neatly.

As if this was all expected.

As if it had gone exactly how he wanted.

Seol Unwi moved without hesitation.

“Inspector Seong.”

“...Yes, Young Master.”

“Is the sorting done?”

“...That’s not the issue right now...”

“To me, it is.”

“......”

“Is the sorting done?”

“...Yes. It’s finished.”

Inspector Seong handed him a crisp, freshly prepared bundle of documents.

Seol Unwi took the papers, walked over to the goods, and began comparing what was written to what lay before him.

Everyone fell silent.

And Seol Unwi got to work.

He examined the pills carefully and asked,

“What about the cultivation pills I mentioned earlier?”

“...We placed those in your quarters.”

“I see.”

Seol Unwi shifted his gaze back toward the stack of goods and picked up a dagger and a sword.

It was the Cold Ice Dagger and the Snowwhite Sword.

The Cold Ice Dagger was, just as the name suggested, a blade imbued with a chilling energy. Once it pierced the body, cold would naturally spread from the wound outward. It was classified as a mid-grade weapon on the market.

A shame there was only one—but it was fine.

The Snowwhite Sword was forged from Cold Ridge Jade Crystal. It wasn’t quite a legendary blade, but it wasn’t a common one either. Very practical. For a martial artist in the Four Realms of Refined Qi, it was more than adequate.

Seol Unwi quietly planted the Snowwhite Sword into the ground and turned his eyes to Cheonpung.

“Cheonpung.”

“...Yes, Branch Master.”

“Looks like we’re short on branch members.”

Of course they were.

They’d all fled.

Seol Unwi had been treated like a scarecrow for six whole years.

The fact that some lowly First Tie from the Beggar’s Union had dared to speak casually to him—and that their branch leader had done the same without hesitation—was all the proof needed.

If only two of the branch members who had followed Yawoon Sang had died, that would’ve been more suspicious.

Of the eighteen branch members aside from Yawoon Sang, all but five had been his loyal dogs.

The two who died earlier had only been involved because of matters related to the Cheongwoon Trading Company. The rest had been busy helping Yawoon Sang with various affairs—embezzling funds, exploiting their positions, chasing their own gain.

That was why they’d looked so afraid when Seol Unwi found the ledgers.

Cheonpung responded.

“...They ran away.”

“I figured.”

“You knew?”

Seol Unwi offered a small smile and sat down under the eaves.

“A new system needs to be built. And putting unverified men in positions of trust would be sheer stupidity.”

Eleven had fled in total.

“There seem to be a few things missing from the inventory.”

“...We tried to stop them, but we couldn’t block everything.”

“I see.”

Seol Unwi crossed one leg over the other.

“Stop standing around. Come here.”

Cheonpung stepped forward first, followed by the other four branch members.

Seol Unwi asked,

“Why are you living as branch members in Snow Compression?”

Each had their reasons.

The salary was decent.

Even as the lowest rank, they could still learn martial arts from the Everlasting Snow Palace.

In the end, they were all martial artists.

And what martial artist doesn’t crave stronger techniques?

“The world is vast. But in that vastness, to find opportunity—that’s like plucking a star from the sky.”

“......”

“I’m giving you that opportunity now.”

All five branch members looked up at Seol Unwi—along with Inspector Seong, still sitting in the corner.

“Two hundred years ago, there was a lone wanderer who stirred the martial world.”

His quiet voice carried a subtle weight.

“His name was Han Cheol—a man like a wolf. His martial arts, too, were like a wolf’s.”

He paused, then began to chant a verse in a soft, measured tone:

The bright moon and myriad stars reveal a cold gleam.

A pack of wolves roams the skies, forever cleaving the void.

All creation falls silent, and the whistle of wind rises.

A single sword seals the heavens, never to return.

As the chant continued, the branch members’ eyes widened.

They were martial artists. And because of that—they understood.

That verse was no ordinary mantra.

Not only did it hold the secrets of ascension, it reeked of an aggressive, battle-oriented martial art.

Clearly not something anyone could learn—or even know of.

And oddly enough...

Inspector Seong, who was widely believed to be an ordinary civilian, sat with his mouth agape.

As if he recognized the verses.

As if he understood them.

But Seol Unwi paid him no mind. He simply continued, calm and unwavering.

“The line between success and failure is thinner than a strand of hair. The world has reached its present state through countless cycles. The lonely howl of a wolf echoes beneath the moon, and cold frost cleaves through the sky. This is the Heaven-Slaying Wolf Star Technique—an ascension martial art made up of three forms.”

Seol Unwi’s eyes slowly moved from one branch member to the next.

“I want to test you. I want to see how faithfully you obey orders. Whether you can raise your blades against those who were your comrades until yesterday—but are now proven traitors.”

None of them needed clarification.

“Track down and kill every last one of the deserters.”

“...B-Branch Master...!”

“Don’t bother bringing me their limbs. Cut off their heads—or bring them back alive. And retrieve everything they stole.”

Cheonpung was sharp.

He set his jaw with resolve. The other four, though shaken, also sensed what this meant.

A chance.

“Avenge this betrayal and return with all eleven heads—and I will teach you the three forms of the Heaven-Slaying Wolf Star Technique. You’ll need cultivation pills as well, of course.”

Seol Unwi pointed toward the pile of goods.

“There are pills and resources stacked right there. If you satisfy me, you’ll receive a reward that matches your worth. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Your eyes have changed. I like that. Go.”

“At your command!”

Cheonpung and the rest sprinted out like madmen.

Their faces were those of men who had seized a rare chance—and who had no # Nоvеlight # intention of letting it slip through their fingers.

The branch fell silent in an instant.

Seol Unwi spoke.

“Inspector Seong.”

“...Y-Yes, Young Master.”

“How long are you going to sit there like that?”

“Ah... Forgive me.”

Inspector Seong quickly rose and approached Seol Unwi.