A rather small room with two simple beds, a table and chair in the left corner, and a folding screen on the right side of the room. It was an ordinary room, one could find in any village — well, almost.
What differentiated this room from ordinary ones was that its walls were plastered with talismans and its ceiling was decorated with strange stones and jades hanging from it.
Hwi was looking around the room with a frown, his eyes scrutinising every little detail. Eventually, his gaze stopped at the door leading outside. On the inner side of the door were strange, messily written characters. They looked like something you would see in stage plays or hear about in ghost stories.
Hwi had a bad feeling about his current surroundings. He doubted he would be able to get a wink of sleep tonight.
And as if this scary place wasn't enough bad luck, he also had to share a room with the Crown Prince. Hwi let his shoulders droop, sighing for what felt like the hundredth time since entering the village. He was sinking into self-pity.
"It's fortunate that he left..."
He leaned against the only wall that didn't have anything strange on it, all the energy draining from him at once.
Jongmu had immediately left after showing him the room. He had to organise his guards and check on the situation. So Hwi was now the only one in the room, but he knew that wouldn't be the case for long.
'This damn ghost day.'
Hwi clenched his teeth and stomped his foot. He had been suppressing his temper for quite some time and could barely bear it any longer. After all, no matter how insolently he had been acting, he still knew that there were certain lines he shouldn't cross, and lashing out at a prince was one of them. Otherwise, it was easy to imagine him and his family receiving an imperial criminal stamp.
It was never a good idea to get on the bad side of powerful people. Hwi would never risk dragging his family into ruin along with himself. He wasn't so foolish as to believe he could afford to lose the little favourable impression the prince had of him. Although the prince had sought him out for his abilities, that didn't mean he necessarily needed them. He could always hire other people for the job, even if that meant things would be less efficient and not as confidential.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly calmed down. Now was not the time to be acting like this. He had much more important things to worry about.
Sharing a room with someone ultimately meant risking the exposure of parts of oneself that were supposed to stay hidden.
And Hwi was someone who had quite a lot to hide. He felt as though the Manshin knew that and had deliberately put them in the same room.
It was obvious that there must have been more rooms available. She simply didn't want to go through the hassle of preparing everything for a single overnight stay.
'I just hope the day passes without any trouble.'
***
Having left the room, Jongmu was now gathering his guards and leading them inside. Ma Seung showed them a place where they could set up their tents.
"Please make yourselves comfortable. You are also welcome to join the blessing ritual at the great fire tonight."
Seung smiled politely at them, pointing downhill.
Jongmu nodded and bid her farewell. After she had disappeared from his view, he told the guards to stand in a straight line. He then observed his surroundings and frowned.
Something was bothering him. He couldn't sense it, but he was certain that something was there, listening in on their conversation.
Turning around, he met Hayeon's eyes. She had felt the same strange sensation. Both shook their heads. Neither of them had a sound-barrier talisman, so it wasn't safe to communicate directly.
The only option left was to use voice transmission. However, due to their difference in strength, the guards wouldn't be able to share transmissions with everyone, making it a mostly one-sided report. But having no other choice for the time being, he nodded towards Hayeon.
"Guards. We will be staying for one night and leaving tomorrow as soon as the Teleportation Array is ready for use. So, for today, you can enjoy your stay here." He smirked.
"Don't hesitate to visit the village, as Manshin Ma suggested. I'm sure there's plenty of interesting things to see."
"YES!"
The guards saluted in unison. They knew those friendly words were an order in disguise. The Prince wanted them to survey the village and gather useful information.
"Ninth Guard, you stay with me. The others may leave now."
Jongmu's voice sounded noticeably relaxed. It seemed he was in a good mood.
The others glanced at the guard who had to stay behind with pity, but quickly turned around and left. They weren't the usual guards who accompanied the prince. The Black Shadow Corps consisted of the Crown Prince's own personally trained guards, who accompanied him almost everywhere he went. However, because this was an official royal decree issued by the king himself, the royal guards had been chosen to accompany him instead.
Not being used to the prince's ever-changing temper, which could shift from sunny to downright terrifying, they were glad they didn't have to remain at his side for long.
Once they had left, Hayeon's overly respectful manner changed. She leaned against a tree and took off her mask, revealing a pretty face with swan-like, reddish-brown eyes, full lips, and strong yet delicate features. She was, without a doubt, a beauty, quite different from the dull appearance the mask gave her.
"I'm never going to get used to these rough, face-changing masks."
She sighed. It was only in moments like this that she stopped speaking in short, cryptic sentences.
"Hah. Then craft them yourself next time. Do you even know how difficult it is to make one look this realistic?"
Jongmu felt slightly irritated. He was the one crafting them himself, yet Hayeon always had to complain about the poor quality of his hard work.
"That's why I told you to let me do it myself. You're the one who boasted about how much you'd improved at making them. If I had known this was what you called high quality, I would've brought my own."
Hayeon raised an eyebrow and snapped back.
The two cousins worked well together on missions, but outside of them, they were always arguing. Jongmu remembered countless occasions during their childhood when he had chased after Hayeon as she mocked his clumsy handcrafting skills.
"So, what is it?"
"This Manshin Ma has something to hide. She blocked the information about the previous Manshin passing away. If I hadn't visited this village this time, I wouldn't have found out."
Jongmu paused for a moment.
"Also, the village seems quite different from the last time I visited. Something's strange."
The two began communicating through voice transmission.
"Strange...?"
Hayeon furrowed her brows. Her cousin had good intuition. If he felt something was wrong, then it was something to be taken seriously.
"Yes. The village has changed. They've rearranged it."
Jongmu pointed towards the Manshin's house and then downhill towards the village.
"Back then, the area uphill wasn't just home to the Manshin. The village elder lived there too, along with a small temple. As for the village itself... I'm not sure, since I haven't seen it yet, but I'm almost certain that it has changed as well."
Hearing his words, Hayeon realised just how strange it was. A sacred village like this wouldn't easily change something like that, especially considering it was the birthplace of the Sword Saint.
"Ah. Feng Shui."She suddenly realised something. "Why would they change it?"
"I don't know, but we'll have to find out."
Jongmu closed his eyes for a moment and massaged his temples.
"This is giving me a headache."
Hayeon let out a sigh as well. Their journey hadn't been as peaceful as they had hoped. Many troublesome things had been happening at the same time, and somehow, it seemed they were all connected.
'I should have stayed home.'
"Write a letter to your brother. Tell him to gather information about a person called Ma Seung."
"Why? If she grew up here, it'll be difficult to find out anything from so far away."
Jongmu's eyes turned serious. He wore an indifferent expression, but Hayeon could sense the agitation behind it.
"I remember the old Manshin's granddaughter being named Ma Yena not Seung."