In the drawing room of the pavilion master’s residence, familiar house guests were already waiting.
“Well, look who it is. You left without a word, so I thought you’d become a guest who would never return, but it seems you’re alive and well.”
Won Seo-gang was as informal as ever, like the rugged wandering swordsmen.
“Have you been well too, Brother Won?”
“Nothing much has happened with me. Did things go well in Shaanxi?”
“I managed to sort it out. It’s been a while, Great Hero Hwang.”
As I clasped my fist in salute, Hwang Kang-ju also rose from his seat and brought his hands together. Won Seo-gang and I had agreed to call each other brothers, so there was no need for formalities between us, but it was different with Hwang Kang-ju.
“I heard you moved to the Western Village?”
“It happened that way, as I’ve become indebted to the Underworld Information Clan.”
It must not have been an easy decision to leave his hometown with his family and settle in the unfamiliar Western Village. It was a situation that could have been bitter, yet Hwang Kang-ju’s expression was better than before.
I wondered if it was because he seemed to have cast off the empty shell of a ‘great hero,’ one who always put others first without looking after the family he had to carry in his hometown. Come to think of it, it was Won Seo-gang who first brought Hwang Kang-ju to the Western Village.