Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: If You're Weak, You'll Be Eaten (4)
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"Huh?"
Lady Hwang Inhwa, walking down the street, suddenly turned her head at the commotion she sensed.
A crowd of people had gathered in the distance, huddled together. They seemed to be watching something, yet hesitant to get too close.
It was a sea of people.
"What's going on?"
"Shall I check it out, my lady?"
At Myeong's question, Lady Hwang Inhwa shook her head.
"No, let's go see together."
"Yes."
With that, the two headed toward the crowd.
The closer they got, the stranger Lady Hwang Inhwa felt.
"Isn't that the Black Tiger Gang's place?"
Myeong nodded.
"That's their main headquarters."
It was laughable for a mere gang of underworld riffraff to call it their "main headquarters," but a group like the Black Tiger Gang had earned that much.
Lady Hwang Inhwa unwittingly frowned.
'What is it?'
She had a bad feeling.
As they drew nearer, voices became audible.
"One guy? Just one?"
"That's what I said! The front gate suddenly shattered, and screams echoed from inside!"
"Did some nameless master finally snap and take on the Black Tiger Gang?"
"Where are heroes like that these days? Looked like a really skinny young man to me."
"Skinny young man? Nah, probably just some debtor."
"If it was, there wouldn't be so many gangsters sprawled beyond the gate! Definitely a master!"
Lady Hwang Inhwa's eyes wavered.
'Someone attacked the Black Tiger Gang?'
Not a major unorthodox sect in the martial world, but the Black Tiger Gang was no pushover.
Of course, incomparable to her Ten Sword Sect or the Hong Sword Clan. Still, in Wuhuan, excluding those two, few forces could rival them.
The Murong family, maybe? But even they would struggle against the Black Tiger Gang now.
And apparently, it was a single nameless youth.
'Who could it be?'
Eyeing Lady Hwang Inhwa, Myeong pushed through the crowd.
"Make way."
"H-Hey? Who are you?!"
"I said, move."
He hadn't drawn his sword, but the gaze of a martial artist like Myeong was beyond what ordinary folk could handle.
"S-Sorry!"
The crowd parted naturally.
Lady Hwang Inhwa walked the path Myeong cleared. She didn't spare them a glance.
The crowd whispered.
"Isn't that Lady Hwang Inhwa of the Ten Sword Sect?"
"The sect leader's second daughter?"
"Whoa, first time seeing her up close. She really looks like a fairy."
"But her eyes seem kinda fierce, don't they?"
Myeong glared at the grumbling old man.
The man shrank back with a "Whoa!" The crowd was so dense, he was hard to spot on purpose.
The noisy atmosphere grew heavy.
The Ten Sword Sect, alongside the Hong Sword Clan, represented Wuhuan. Not an official great sect, but their wealth was immense, and they had more warriors than the Hong Sword Clan.
Naturally, commoners treaded carefully around Ten Sword Sect members—especially the sect leader's daughter and her escort.
Lady Hwang Inhwa ignored the stares.
As the sect leader's daughter, such attention was routine. Nothing new.
What mattered now was who had attacked the Black Tiger Gang, not the onlookers.
Moments later.
Reaching the Black Tiger Gang's front gate, Lady Hwang Inhwa was stunned.
"This is...?"
The gate was demolished.
The Black Tiger Gang dabbled in King Yama Debt Gang's illegal ventures and more, amassing wealth. Their walls and gates were grand and ornate.
Yet the entire gate had collapsed.
"The bolt is completely shattered."
Tension crossed Myeong's face.
"And there are faint scorch marks on the bolt and handle."
"What does that mean?"
"Someone who knows Force Emission smashed the gate. They amplified power with rotational force."
"...!"
"A true master."
Even in the Myeong family, trained systematically from age seven or eight, mastering Force Emission took at least a decade—and that for the talented. Most didn't handle it properly until their twenties.
If one's arts were mediocre or training haphazard, even past thirty, true Force Emission eluded them.
Even Myeong, the sect leader's daughter's escort, hadn't succeeded with sword Force Emission until his mid-twenties.
"Let's go in."
"My lady?"
Myeong cautioned gently.
"This could be dangerous."
Not because of the intruder.
As her close escort, Myeong knew many Ten Sword Sect secrets.
A leak could spell trouble for her and the sect.
"All the more reason to check it out."
She meant to see for herself what happened—to handle any fallout.
Myeong hesitated.
She appeared calm and wise, but she lacked experience in the martial world and was prone to making impulsive judgments.
But how could he defy her order?
"Understood. Let's limit to the outer courtyard, then."
"Good."
They entered through the ruined gate.
What greeted them was a shocking scene.
"Ugh."
"Kuh...!"
Dozens of Black Tiger Gang thugs lay sprawled.
Not one unscathed. Most—seven in ten—seemed dead, skulls crushed or chests caved in, deaths gruesome.
"Gasp!"
Lady Hwang Inhwa paled, holding her breath instinctively.
Even sect heirs rarely saw such carnage. Raised sheltered, she especially hadn't.
Swish.
Myeong stepped in front, blocking her view.
"Are you alright, my lady?"
"...I'm fine."
She forced the words, but her trembling voice betrayed her.
'Of course.'
Myeong didn't see her as weak.
Even he, battle-hardened, felt his heart race.
'Terrifying!'
Over fifty thugs down, by rough count.
Weapon racks smashed, walls cracked from bodies slamming into them.
'One man? Just one did this?'
A youth, no less.
The traces suggested not a youth, but several house-sized tigers rampaging.
Myeong said tensely,
"My lady, we should leave."
"Why?"
"This isn't an ordinary master. If he turns his sword on you, even I can't guarantee your safety."
Lady Hwang Inhwa was shocked.
Myeong, an escort but top-ten in the sect's martial prowess—he lacked confidence?
Then.
"Aaaagh!"
A chilling scream shook the Black Tiger Gang.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Thud.
Choi Ho looked up, eyes shaking.
"You hoarded quite a pile, you bastard."
The IOUs and contracts Murong Bi brought weighed nearly five geun.
But that wasn't why Choi Ho was shocked. Already beaten down, papers meant little.
"Th-That is...?!"
"What's with the red cover on this secret ledger? So flashy."
How did he find it?
Choi Ho couldn't fathom. The gang leader's room was vast, full of hiding spots.
Better the whole room burn than that ledger discovered.
Sitting on the stairs, Murong Bi opened the red ledger.
Moments later.
"Oh ho?"
A broad grin bloomed on Murong Bi's face.
But his eyes were sharp—clear, icy, blazing with fury.
"Records of all the tributes to your backers, huh?"
"S-Sir! That is...!"
"Yeah, I wondered. Not everyone's an idiot in Wuhuan—how did trash like you hang a sign and run a business?"
Murong Bi tucked the red ledger away.
"This'll be useful. I'll take it as a bonus."
"If that leaks, I'm dead!"
"And now?"
"Huh?"
"You think you won't die in my hands right now?"
"What are you saying! I gave the IOUs, the small bills with all the cash...!"
"I said repay 100,000 taels plus interest. What about it?"
"..."
"When did I say I'd let you live?"
Despair washed over Choi Ho's face.
No mere wordplay, but in his dire straits, he fell for it like any fool.
A lifetime conman, now trapped, he was no different from the duped masses.
"Have some conscience, man. Scamming martial folk might earn you 'bold' whispers, but destroying families without a trace and expecting to live? Your character is...!"
"Sir!"
"Shouldn't you beg for death instead?"
Murong Bi tilted his head.
"Drooling in limbo, clinging to this bitter world?"
"...!!"
"If you really want, I'll let you live."
His pitiful, rain-soaked stray-dog eyes turned feral in an instant.
"Hey! You bastard! What's the difference between us, you hypocrite! Don't you beat people? Extort money? Kill?!"
Choi Ho's screams overflowed with pent-up resentment.
"That's the world! Weak get eaten, strong survive! Why call me disgusting or lowly when we're the same? What did I do so wrong?!"
"That's why you're in this mess."
"What?!"
"You're weaker than me."
"...!!"
Murong Bi's lip curled.
"No conscience? That's your level. Wrecking innocents' homes? My nose is stuffy too, fine. But you messed with me."
"..."
"100 taels to 1,800? Still pisses me off. Extort moderately, does this make sense? Even twenty years ago, usury wasn't this bad, punk."
Choi Ho shuddered.
Force failed, curses bounced, logic ignored—and his crimes backfired, uprooting him in one blow.
"Kuh... ugh."
Foam bubbled at his mouth.
He'd mocked debtors foaming from rage, thinking them weak-minded. Now, he was one.
"Anyway."
Murong Bi lit a fire starter he'd set aside.
Tossing it on the gang leader's bed, black smoke soon billowed from the window.
"Today was refreshingly good. Been a while since I had a drink."
"W-Wait!"
Tears welled in Choi Ho's eyes.
"Please spare me! I'll be your dog, your horse...!"
Stab!
"Aaaagh!"
His toe's eyeball crushed. Choi Ho screamed bloody murder.
"Watch where you step, punk."
Murong Bi picked up the rolling knife and stabbed Choi Ho's waist.
Choi Ho convulsed again.
Murong Bi walked out without looking back.
Having slaughtered dozens and now committing arson, whistling as he went—it suited his Mad Demon moniker perfectly.