"Is it really because of money?"
The Master's voice was kind, gentle, and filled with deep insight. As she suggested, money was merely a secondary pursuit, a mere trickle of what truly mattered. What Yoon Taehee genuinely desired was something else.
Instilling a sense of crisis within the Naryecheong—this was the true goal of him as the Leader.
"..."
After a brief silence, Yoon Taehee quietly spoke.
"No. Honestly, I could do without money."
He chuckled softly and lowered his gaze.
"The truth is, I want to play in bigger waters."
Bigger waters... The Master took out another cigarette, lit it, and took a drag of it.
"And what reason do you have for wanting to go to the bigger waters?"
"To become a dragon, you need to be in the big waters."
She let out a raspy laugh, amused by the clever response that addressed her earlier remark about the 'serpent' in his belly.
"And why do you want to become a dragon?"
"To confront the tiger, you at least need to be a dragon."
The Master, meeting his unwavering gaze, smiled as if finding this exchange entertaining.
"You're planning to fight the tiger?"
"Yes."
"And what is your reason for that?"
"I'm sick and tired of watching it, and I can't stand it anymore."
The enigmatic exchange of words between them continued, as if they were probing each other's thoughts.
"Sick and tired? ...So, what exactly is so repulsive?"
"The fact that it acts like it owns this land."
The Master, after a brief pause, looked steadily at Yoon Taehee.
"Then who do you think is the rightful owner of this land?"
"Well..."
Yoon Taehee trailed off, rubbing his chin with a slight grin.
"The sun rises during the day, and the moon rises at night. If someone asked you whether the sun or the moon is the owner of the sky, what would you say, master?"
The Master's eyes widened in surprise before she burst out laughing heartily. Nodding in agreement, she chuckled.
"Ah, indeed. Both the sun and the moon simply just exist there."
Although the conversation was full of metaphors, the wise Master understood what the young man before her was daring to imply.
Humans and ghosts, gods and mythical beings, and countless other beings live on this land, yet why do humans alone act as if they are the sole rulers?
The Master, her gaze steady and thoughtful, spoke.
"You would have been better off coming to this side rather than staying on that side."
Like most shamans, she didn't think highly of the Naryecheong. She assumed it was filled with people who cared only for humans, but this young man before her was quite a unique individual. Judging from their earlier exchange, it seemed he harbored a strong resentment toward the human-centric ways of the Narayecheong
"I have a soft spot for rebels. However..."
The Master, fiddling with the janggi piece in her hand, finally spoke after a long pause.
"I am a shaman who connects heaven and earth. Whether it's the tiger or the dragon that claims to be the ruler, it doesn't concern me. I have no desire to get caught in the crossfire."
She shook her head as she flicked the ash from her cigarette.
Though her words were ambiguous, Yoon Taehee understood their meaning and smiled faintly.
"I'm old and don't have much time left. My hearing is dull, and I forget things as soon as I hear them. So, whatever we talked about, this old lady can't help you. Let's just finish this game of janggi and you can be on your way."
She was a very wise person. With her gentle refusal, she subtly implied that all the conversation they had just shared would be forgotten.
"I understand."
Yoon Taehee quietly responded, and with that, the cryptic exchange came to an end. The two of them continued playing janggi in silence for a while. At some point, he smiled and spoke up again.
"Checkmate."
It meant that in the next move, he would capture her king. After a back-and-forth battle, the outcome was decided. The Master widened her eyes in surprise, then burst into laughter. It was an unavoidable checkmate.
"Hoho, If I had taken off the cannon and chariot, I would have been in big trouble..."
She scratched her head as she adjusted her sitting posture.
"How does a young man like you manage to beat an old woman?"
"Even my grandfather never once beat me either."
"What? If you're that good, why didn't you ask me to take off the cannon and chariot?"
The Master playfully scolded him, and Yoon Taehee laughed out loud.
"Aye, if you had only moved back one piece, you wouldn't have needed to cut the jujube price..."
As promised, the Master attempted to lower the price of the jujubes. However, Yoon Taehee shook his head and said, "I was just joking," then paid the full price. Though it would have been polite for the Master to wave it off, she accepted the money without a word and filled a plastic bag with jujubes.
But the jujubes she packed were all bruised or worm-eaten.
"If you can't eat them, use them as compost or whatever you want."
As Yoon Taehee peered into the bag, a slow smile spread across his face.
"..."
He lifted his head, locking eyes with the other person. Despite her old age, her eyes gleamed with a sharp, intelligent light.
"The human heart is really strange. It always leans to one side..."
The Master, who had deliberately chosen only the 'dregs' to give him, smiled softly.
"Next time, ask me to take off the cannon and chariot. Do you understand what I mean?"
***
From that time on, Master Yeohye became secretly aligned with the Leader. She began passing on high-risk requests or tasks that a shaman couldn't handle to Byeoksadan.
The insightful shaman Master Yeohye served as a bridge and broker, connecting clients to Byeoksadan.
The Leader kept Byeoksadan's headquarters deeply hidden in the mountains, accepting clients solely through her. Most of Master's clients were high-ranking officials, and Leader would demand an outrageous amount of money on a whim. The impression that he was a ruthless, money-grubbing person who would do anything for cash ironically gave a strange sense of trust.
Despite being incredibly busy, he visited the mountain headquarters two or three times a month to meet clients. Over the past few years, nearly 200 people had passed through Byeoksadan. Rumors about them began circulating around that time.
People said that the Master was using Byeoksadan for her work, that the leader of Byeoksadan could change appearances at will, and that touching his red robe would grant a divine vision.
All of these were baseless rumors. Every single one of them was false, deliberately spread by Yoon Taehee to mislead others.
"By the way, what happened to those people earlier?"
The Leader suddenly remembered the presence of Kim Seokchul and Seo Jeongtak.
'They're in the next room. Both of them are still unconscious."
"And their hands?"
His robe was imbued with a very malevolent and powerful grudge.
Ordinary people couldn't handle such an item soaked in such dark energy. Although Kim Seokchul wasn't an ordinary person but a gwijae, he hadn't opened his spiritual senses for years, even after receiving divine powers. So, he couldn't be considered a particularly exceptional vessel. When you try to fill a fragile vessel beyond its capacity, it naturally breaks. That's why Kim Seokchul's hand had fallen off. It was fortunate that it was dealt with quickly; otherwise, he would have permanently lost his hand.
"I reattached them."
Nodding, the Leader leaned back slightly and raised his voice.
"Heukje."
Not long after, the door creaked open, and Heukje, dressed in a pristine white robe, appeared. With feather-light steps, he approached Leader and bowed.
"You called, Leader-nim."
"A fly got in. Mix up their memories."
The Leader pointed to the next room with his finger.
"Make them dream multiple layers of dreams so they can't tell what's real and what's not."
The reason he spread false rumors was to confuse the information network of the Naryecheong. It was a strategy to shroud his identity in mystery, which worked. No one seemed to think that the leader of Byeoksadan could possibly be human. By now, the Leader in the rumors had become an intelligent ghost.
"Then, dispose of them in a suitable place."
"Yes, understood."
However, he hadn't expected that someone would hear the rumors and come looking for him directly. It was a sign that the rumors were spreading well, but it also indicated that information about Byeoksadan's location had leaked out or that there was a security breach.
This time, Heukje could clean up the mess by overlaying dreams to muddle their memories, but once intruders had penetrated the place, it was no longer safe.
"Oh, and..."
Resting his chin on his hand, the Leader stared at the adjacent room before suddenly speaking.
"What about the task I asked you to do yesterday?"
Heukje immediately understood what Leader was referring to.
Last night, he had ordered Heukje to enter a boy's dream.