Mercenary Black Mamba

"Sister... thank you for helping us until now. However, have you seen the 'haves' helping out the 'have-nots' before? It's already not enough for us 'have-nots' to look after each other, so don't you think it's terrible to steal so unabashedly as you have? I won't ask you for my missing wages, but you must promise that you'll not insult other people and pay them fairly." Kim Mal Soon spoke sage words of advice.

For all this time, she couldn't say what needed to be said and was always on the receiving end of abuse. But now that she had gotten those words off her chest, she felt indescribably refreshed.

Auntie Seoho's eyes opened wide. She thought Yeong-a's mother was a moron all this time, but that turned out to be false. "Y-Yeong-a's mother, thank you. Thank you! I'm too embarrassed to say anything other than apologize to you."

The diner lady bowed down deeply as tears streamed down her face. Her tears were the result of her relief knowing that she had survived and her resentment over the fact that she couldn't even talk back to a lecture from some woman she considered her slave.

That was how the world operated, however. A kind person should've been seen as just that, a kind person, but the world viewed them like a moron, instead.

'I see. One needs strength if they want to be treated like a human being.' Kim Mal Soon thought that to herself while tightly gripping her son's hand.

Her son was here. And he was the most outstanding son in the world, too. She felt warm emotions filling up her chest.

Mu Ssang glanced at Yeong-a. "Yeong-a, do you want me to scold that auntie?"

Yeong-a narrowed her eyes and glared at the diner lady, then shook her head. "No, the crying auntie is too pitiful."

Her tone indicated that she wanted to scold the diner lady but pity stopped her. Mu Ssang wordlessly glared at the diner lady before shaking his head. Most people were no different from this woman, anyway. They would often get lost in the pursuit of minor gains right before their eyes and failed to realize how badly they were abusing their superior positions.

Although her actions were deserving of punishment, the victim in this case, Mu Ssang's mother, had already let it go. So, that would be the end of this saga.

"Alright. I'm sure this auntie will be kinder in the future. Then, let's get going."

"Oppa, I don't have to live in this diner anymore?"

"Yup. You'll be living with me from now on."

"And my mom, too?"

"Of course. We even have a separate room for you, too."

"Really?" Yeong-a's eyes sparkled like stars.

"Yup! My house has fifty-nine rooms, you know." Mu Ssang opened and closed his fingers six times while replying to her.

"Whoa! Really!"

"Yup. My house is really huge, you see. There's a big pond there, and there's an island on that pond, and I even built a little house on top of that island, too."

"Whoa!!! Really?" Yeong-a's eyes began spinning. That house sounded like mansions in those fairy tales her mother used to tell her.

"Yeah. The pond is called Jin-Bo-Yeon, the island is called Mal-Soon-Do, and the little house on the island is named Myo-Yeon-Geo."

"Whoa! So cool! Oppa, let's go! I wanna see my room." Yeong-a cried out in elation and bounced around.

"Jin-Bo-Yeon, Mal-Soon-Do, Myo-Yeon-Geo...!" Kim Mal Soon quietly mouthed those names. The tears she barely managed to suppress began flooding down her cheeks again.

Some things her son said sounded too fantastic to be believable, but even then... Just how lonely had he been to use the names of his parents like that? Kim Mal Soon suddenly remembered the salt pan where she had to work her butt off for ten years. That place was horrible, but the island village surrounding it was rather idyllic.

That village was quite close to the salt pan. Stone walls followed along a hill's ridge around the village's perimeter. By the time dinner preparations were completed and the salt pan workers were about to come home, the grayish smoke from all the cooking wafted up beyond the stone walls and thatched roofs.

Back then, she wondered if people living beyond those walls were happy. Were the families living under those thatched roofs enjoying their lives? Envy used to tear her heart apart.

I, too, will head to my own house surrounded by homely stone walls.

I, too, will head to my own house and prepare a pot of steaming rice and doenjang stew to share with my children.

I, too, will head to my own house and sit on the sun-kissed terrace stone to watch the evening sun disappear below the horizon.

Those thoughts rushed past her mind, and more tears flooded her face.

Mu Ssang gently urged his mother on. "Mother, let's leave this place to my boys and go back to our home. Don't worry, I've prepared for everything."

"Alright. Yes, let's go." Kim Mal Soon turned around to leave.

"Ah! Mom! My doll, my clothes!" Yeong-a finally remembered her stuff and began panicking.

"Your Oppa promised to buy you lots of pretty clothes, so it's okay. And your doll's already here!" Kim Mal Soon whispered to her daughter while gently placing the ragdoll in Yeong-a's hand.

The little girl tightly held the doll, not wanting to let it go. A warm smile bloomed on Kim Mal Soon's face. She had no present for her daughter's birthday, so she ended up making this doll by herself. And Yeong-a has been looking after it for many years now. Who cares about her father's identity at this point? She was a precious child that even the manly, successful son had acknowledged as his sister, after all...

"Big brother. For wasting that much money and your time, I'm so ashamed." Nupchi lowered his head.

"Nonsense. What's visible isn't necessarily everything there is to see. All the hard work you and your boys had put in did help in some ways. I've finally found my mother, so who cares about money?"

"Big brother! Wahhh!" Emotions flooded Nupchi's heart like a tsunami. No one would be as generous and benevolent as Mu Ssang in this whole world! His loyalty began soaring automatically.

Mu Ssang could only smile wryly, though. Nupchi was right about wasting money and time on this missing person case. The dragnet spread by Samsik Service and Nupchi's own Wolsong Service had been relying on over one thousand people to do their jobs at the cost of ten billion wons. All that money had gone down the toilet now.

He suddenly felt resentful of his Master. That dang old fart! Why couldn't he have used his supernatural powers to help Mu Ssang find his mother sooner? Or help her not go through the wretched life for the last seventeen years or something! Saying the time wasn't right yet so Mu Ssang shouldn't force the issue? Was that really the right thing to do!

However, Mu Ssang knew that he was being immature. His Master certainly had achieved enlightenment in Dao, but he was still a human being at the end of the day.

It was just that Mu Ssang wanted to vent all the pain in his heart to someone after learning about how wretched his mother's life had been.

"Nupchi. After you wrap up things here, make sure to bring Nam Pal-bong with you back to the base. As for the captured yangahchis, make them sign overseas employment contracts and drag them to Eungsim-je. A man from the National Security Agency will be waiting for you at Chungmu police station to help you with the documents. Their transportation will be provided by the police themselves."

"I see, big brother. Don't worry, I'll handle it." Nupchi bowed ninety degrees at Mu Ssang. His big brother was in the same realm as God. If he said so, then so it shall be.

Vroom-

Mu Ssang's Citroën carrying a mother and daughter pair departed from the docks. With that, only Nupchi bowing his head and the still-stupefied Auntie Seoho remained in the lonesome diner.

*

Kim Mal Soon turned her head and wordlessly took in the sight of the docks getting further away. Her beloved must've taken pity on the unfortunate woman since she was guided to this town and her son came here to find her. After enduring those torturous years somehow, the day she could finally smile had come for her.

[I followed the winds to come here! And I follow the winds to leave...

But what will we do if you come here after we leave?

If you come, then follow where the winds blow...

I shall be waiting for you where the winds stop.

Peach blossom branches bend from the weight of moonlight...

When a cry of a roe deer in the back hill startles an owl and makes it fly away...

A wildflower that blooms and wilts without you noticing will call the winds...

I will also stay up at night to listen to the singing of the winds.]

Kim Mal Soon quietly hummed a song.

'Heuh-euh...'

Mu Ssang blinked his eyes to chase the layer of moisture away. The wildflower that bloomed and wilted was his mother, while the winds were both the cruel fate and his father. Chungmu was his mother's hometown, where she met her beloved for the first time.

Even though she couldn't remember, she still instinctively circled this area all these years. And she was worried about her beloved's soul wandering here alone after she leaves. Her memories might be gone, but her soul still remembered him. Just how pure and deep their love must've been!

"Mother, they wouldn't have invented the term 'How uncanny' for no reason. Father is always watching you, so you don't need to worry."

"Hhnng!" Kim Mal Soon let out a hum with a hidden meaning.

Mu Ssang suddenly pictured Jin Soon waiting for him patiently back home and wanted to see her so bad. Feeling a bit downcast, he switched on the car's stereo.

[Does anyone know this person?

A delicate figure with sparkling eyes,

Her kind heart is like the moon,

She promised me by the shore that she would,

Be with me to the ends of the earth,

Does anyone know this woman?]

A 1983 song called 'Does Anyone Know This Woman?' that turned South Korean people into sobbing wrecks came on the radio. Moon Ju-ran the singer's husky voice began tugging at the listeners' heartstrings.

"Sniffle!" Kim Mal Soon began to sob softly. Her indescribably heart-wrenching tears even managed to melt Mu Ssang's hardened heart.

"Waaaaaah!" Yeong-a also broke down in tears. But the cruel radio station continued playing the song.

[Does anyone know this person?

Her overflowing passionate red lips,

Once she sets her mind, there's no going back,

She promised in my arms to follow me and my dreams.

Does anyone know this woman?]

Mu Ssang looked through the rearview mirror to see how his mother was doing. She could be seen wiping the tears away, and all the cracks and wrinkles on the backs of her hands powerfully slammed into his eyes. His mother came from a generation that had to go through so much.

She lost her parents from the chaos of the war. After growing up in a harsh environment, she met Mu Ssang's father. But her happiness was brief; her beloved husband died tragically while she got separated from her young son later on. Who could be blamed for her tumultuous life? It was just that the era they lived in was a terrible one while people's hearts were just as bad...

Mu Ssang switched the radio off. Inside the car became deathly quiet like a funeral.

"Oppa, can we stop by the ocean before we leave?" Yeong-a began whining after the car exited Seoho's marketplace and went past Chungnyeolsa Shrine.

Mu Ssang was taken aback. "Eh? Aren't you fed up with the view of the ocean?"

"But, someone is calling out to me, saying they need help."

Mu Ssang urgently parked the car by the side of the road. "When did you start hearing that, Yeong-a?"

If it had been some other person, they would've dismissed her words as nonsense. But Mu Ssang was an Epidium. He didn't think Yeong-a was messing around for fun. Didn't he also hear someone calling out to him in his dreams while living on Wolsong Mountain?

"Mm... I think since yesterday? Maybe the day before?" Yeong-a tilted her head.

"Yeong-a, don't bother your brother with jokes like that." Kim Mal Soon tried to stop her daughter.

"Eiii. Mother, I know you also feel a bit rueful to leave just like this." Mu Ssang used his mother as a pretext to turn the car around, then took the seaside route instead. This was a good chance to change the gloomy mood in the car.

"Oppa! Over there. Someone is calling out for help!" Yeong-a pointed at Dongseom Island beyond the floating fish cages.

Screech-

The car came to a stop.

Rumble-

Mu Ssang activated his Dimensional Sight. Information on countless schools of fish and other marine lifeforms flooded his brain. He didn't detect anything notable down to the depth of 400 meters, which was his limit for detecting underwater.

He continued to scan the area only to spot a column of water shooting up from the surface of ocean far away. A pitch-black object then floated up to the surface.

Kki-woooo-

A high frequency soundwave containing hints of pain and urgency rocked his eardrum. Whales?

"Oppa, over there!" Yeong-a was getting very agitated.

Mu Ssang looked at the girl. The whales were so far away that the regular human eyesight wouldn't be able to see anything. But, if she heard the whale's thoughts from this far, then... She must be an animal Esper.

He couldn't immediately decide whether his little sister possessing superhuman ability was a good thing or not. For now, he should deal with this situation first. Mu Ssang strengthened his abdomen, then circulated the resonance wave. "Wu-ohhhhh!"

His loud howling traveled along the horizon. The powerful sound wave split the surface of the ocean as if a physical ship had traveled across the water.

Kki-woooo-

The whale replied back.

"That sounds oddly familiar?" Mu Ssang tilted his head in confusion.

Whales could make dozens of different noises and varied tones like humans. Normal people couldn't differentiate those, but Mu Ssang's hearing rivaled that of a submarine's sound analyzer.

Splaaaash-!

The water's surface split open. A huge black back of a whale sliced apart the water to rush closer to the oceanside.

Splash-!

A huge fin slapped the water's surface. Then, an ugly head emerged suddenly. It was a humpback whale.

"Goodness me?! A whale?" Kim Mal Soon cried out in shock.

"Huh? Isn't that Hoksoon?" Mu Ssang's eyes grew wide.

That had to be Hoksoon, the whale he encountered back in Cape Agulhas. Mu Ssang pulled out Kamdoong from that creature's tummy mere moments before his friend was about to get totally destroyed. Then, Ocelot's body was handed over to create the current iteration of Kamdoong. However, just how did this whale get here?

"Oppa! It's that guy!" Yeong-a jumped up and down urgently.

Hoksoon dived underwater before emerging once more. Its beak was lifting up a smaller humpback whale around eight meters long.

Kkiiiing-

Hoksoon cried out sorrowfully.

"Damn it! Looks like Hokdol got caught in some fishing nets!"

If left alone, a tragedy of a young whale drowning might occur.

"Ssang-ah, just what's going on?"

"Mother, that whale calf has been ensnared in fishing nets. And Yeong-a must've heard the mother whale calling out for help."

"Goodness me!" Kim Mal Soon's jaw dropped. What an absurd explanation that was, something not even found in fairy tales! She was the type of a person who believed that all things in existence possessed spirits, but even then, this was too much.

"Oppa! They are asking for help!" Yeong-a urgently jumped up and down in agitation.

Whoosh-

Mu Ssang kicked the ground to leap forward. He only needed to step on the water's surface a couple of times to land on the back of Hokdol.

Flash-!

His Chomolungma revealed itself. Opaque flashes of light crazily danced every which way.

Tumble-!

The fishing nets ensnaring the whale calf instantly got chopped apart and came loose. The whale, now freed from the deadly restraints, splashed back on the water. It split the waves and swam around in happiness.

Kkiiing, kkiiing-!

Hoksoon whimpered and whistled like an excited puppy.

Mu Ssang could guess what happened here. The humpback whale mother-and-calf duo must've gotten ensnared in the fishing nets while traversing the Sea of Okhotsk.

"Huh! Would you look at that!"

Hokdol approached the coastline and repeatedly breached the surface of the ocean.

Fwhooosh- Splash-!

Large sprays of water splashed all over the shore. A breaching was an event where a whale broke through the oceans' surface from below to perform a back tumble while going back under. A wondrous spectacle of a giant whale performing tricks for the delight of a young girl clapping her hands suddenly unfolded on this coastline.

"Oppa, what's that guy's name? It wants us to play together!" Yeong-a cried out happily while waving her arms around.

"In that case, let's go!" Mu Ssang flashed and landed back on the solid land.

"S-Ssang-ah! My son?!" Kim Mal Soon's expression now resembled someone who got hit by a runaway bull. She stuttered ungainly since her jaw was too stiff to form proper words.

"Mother, it seems father has sent these whales to console you."

"R-really? B-but, how can you do that?"

"I just learned a few tricks, that's all."

Kim Mal Soon's jaw dropped even further. A few tricks, he said! Her son couldn't have been a normal human being!

"Oppa, what are their names?" Yeong-a was clearly excited rather than shocked, unlike her mother.

"They are a mother whale and her son. The mother is called Hoksoon, while the son is Hokdol."

"Hokdol-ah! Let's play!"

Kkiiiing-!

Hokdol replied with another breaching. Unlike other whales, a humpback leapt high enough out of the water to reveal its entire body. The sight of a huge creature revealing its white underbelly while plunging back into the water was indeed something to behold.

"Mother, shall we go for a ride on a whale?" Mu Ssang didn't even wait for his mother's answer. He placed her and his little sister under his arms, then jumped forward. An amusement ride to console his depressed family members had presented themselves, so he didn't want to miss this chance.

"Kyah-hahaha~!"

"Goodness me?!"

Yeong-a laughed happily while Kim Mal Soon screamed.

Mu Ssang landed safely on Hoksoon's back and cried out. "Let's go!"

Hoksoon flinched momentarily after his intention was not transmitted properly to the whale. Then again, didn't he control this creature with Rakshasa back in Agulhas?

"Hoksoon-ah, let's go!" Yeong-a cried out, prompting the whale to beat its tail fin.

Fwhoooosh-!

The huge figure of the whale exploded forward as if it had stepped on the accelerator. The whale over twenty meters long swam forward at the speed of 30kph while carrying three humans on its back.

"Oh my goodness!!!" Kim Mal Soon, completely flabbergasted now, desperately clung to her son's waist.

"Oppa, I wanna ride Hokdol!"

"Sure thing!"

"Hoksoon, please slow down!"

The whale instantly slowed down. Mu Ssang nodded at this scene. There was no doubt now, Yeong-a was an Esper. Not just any, but a really powerful one at that.

Hokdol pushed its snout forward. Yeong-a's tiny hands rubbed the whale calf's snout.

"Oppa, he wants you to clean him."

"Huh. What a smart kid." Mu Ssang chuckled at that. He did clean all the barnacles and parasites sticking to the whale calf's snout back in the Agulhas.

Shu-shu-shu...

The Billion Water Armor covered his hands. Mu Ssang began rubbing the whale calf's snout with it. All the foreign matter stubbornly sticking to the creature's skin fell off. Hokdol splashed its fins around in delight.

Mu Ssang then picked Yeong-a up and carefully placed her on the back of Hokdol swimming alongside its mother. Whether it was the older brother or the younger sister, both of them were beyond common sense at this point. Hokdol carrying Yeong-a scythed through the water's surface.