Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Welcome to Hao Gate (Lower Filth Gate)
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Opening the door revealed a cramped back room with a single desk and a few chairs.
No one was there, so I took a seat with practiced ease.
“Big bro, is it okay if I sit…?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Take a seat. Someone’ll be here soon.”
I calmed the maknae’s anxious look and sat him down. Then time dragged on.
‘Ah, shit, why the hell isn’t he coming?’
Even I, who’d told the maknae it was all good, was starting to feel uneasy after quite a while.
Had the Sichuan branch chief changed? It had been a year and a half since I’d last been here, so it wasn’t impossible.
‘If the guy’s changed, I’m totally screwed….’
As my confidence started to wane bit by bit….
Creak—.
“…!”
I sensed the door opening behind me.
Turning around, I came face-to-face with….
“You asshole, why’re you so late? I thought you’d been fired.”
“Khaha! As if. I got held up with some business—what can you do? Sorry about that.”
…a mild-mannered middle-aged man’s face.
Relieved to see him, I grinned, and he spread his arms wide with a smile of his own.
“Welcome to the Hao Gate, my friend.”
The place I’d come to was none other than the Hao Gate. More precisely, its Sichuan branch.
And the middle-aged man who’d come to greet me was the Sichuan branch chief, Mun Seok.
**
The Hao Gate (Lower Filth Gate).
True to its name, it meant the sect of the lowly (下) and filthy (汚)—and the organization matched that image perfectly.
Its members were the outcasts of the martial world: waiters, courtesans, butchers, blacksmiths, assassins, low-rank martial artists, and the like.
Yet few in the jianghu dared to look down on the Hao Gate.
Its fearsome power came from sheer numbers. The group was a loose coalition of factions to begin with, so even the Hao Gate itself had no exact count of its disciples—not to mention that it encompassed nearly every outcast in the jianghu, making its scale immense.
‘In fact, it’s the largest and strongest unorthodox sect in this world.’
Individuals might be weak, but the collective force was overwhelming. Plus, being a gathering of folks who’d handled dirty work before, they specialized in illicit dealings.
And those illicit dealings included fencing stolen goods.
That’s right.
I planned to sell the Shanxi Yu Clan’s items to the Hao Gate.
To squeeze every last coin out of them, succeeding in the negotiations was key, so I sipped the tea he offered and began probing.
Probing usually started with casual chit-chat or catching up on recent events.
But….
“The last time I saw you was… about a year and a half ago? You looked like a total bum back then, but now you’re all cleaned up!”
“Ah… that was a rough patch…. Anyway, you’re looking pretty healthy yourself, old man.”
“Haha! Really? Thanks, even if it’s just flattery! So, Muyeon. What brings you all the way here after a year and a half?”
“Well, uh, just sorta…. Hold on….”
Sensing something off in the conversation, I spat out the tea I’d been drinking.
“How do you know the name Muyeon…?”
“…….”
I’d never leaked so much as a hint about my name to anyone in the Hao Gate.
So how the hell was this guy dropping it so casually?
When I asked, flustered, the smile vanished from Mun Seok’s face.
“You think the Hao Gate doesn’t know something?”
“…….”
The way he said it was straight out of a horror flick—like the black幕 villain revealing himself as the culprit.
Overwhelmed by his presence, I froze for a moment….
“…Pfft.”
“…?”
“…Uhahahaha! So you do know how to tense up, huh! Ahahaha—!”
My stiff expression must’ve cracked him up, because Mun Seok suddenly burst out laughing.
“…What the fuck.”
Unable to grasp the situation, I stared, which only made him laugh harder.
“Kuhahaha! Did you fall out of a fruit tree or something in the last year and a half? That spark in your eyes is totally gone! Ahahaha—!”
“…Shut up and tell me how you know the name Muyeon.”
“Plenty of people in the world know your name by now. Hold on. I’ve got something to show you.”
Mun Seok told us to wait a sec, then left through the door he’d come in, grinning all the while. He was back in no time.
In his hand was a sheet of paper.
He handed it over for me and the maknae to see, and on it was….
“What… the hell is this?”
“Looks like your face, big bro…?”
A sketch of my likeness. And below it….
“Name: Muyeon. Bring him in alive… 10 gold crowns?”
…a ridiculous bounty of 10 gold crowns.
Naturally, I was floored.
“Fuck, who is it? Who’s outing my name and face to try and nab me?”
“We at the Hao Gate don’t know the reason. But we do know who issued the order.”
“Who?! I’ll go rip them apart right now.”
Excited, I demanded, and Mun Seok smiled faintly as he answered.
“The Shanxi Yu Clan.”
“What…?”
“More precisely, their prized daughter, Yu Somyeong.”
“That girl… she’s the one who put a bounty on me?”
“That’s right.”
Only then did I recall what had happened at the Shanxi Yu Clan.
‘Then… at least… your… name… please… I want to know the name of my benefactor….’
‘…Muyeon.’
Ah.
Normally, I never would’ve told her.
But back then, I’d been swayed by Yu Somyeong’s teary eyes and spilled my name.
I’d regretted it later, but figured nothing would come of it. This fucking bitch….
“That dog of a girl… repaying kindness with enmity.”
“Hoo… so the Shanxi Yu Clan stabbed you in the back?”
When Mun Seok probed slyly, I nodded weakly.
I hadn’t expected it from Somyeong…. Betrayal left my head ringing.
Mun Seok eyed me, then asked again.
“So, you coming here must be about the Shanxi Yu Clan too, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What exactly? Tell me.”
At this point, the probing was pointless, so I decided to lay all my cards on the table. I nodded to the maknae, then piled our goods on the desk.
“I stole a bunch of stuff from the Shanxi Yu Clan, and I want to sell it to the Hao Gate.”
“……These… you mean the manuals and elixirs? They all look like treasures from the Shanxi Yu Clan. You stole all this…?”
“Yeah.”
I answered boldly, but Mun Seok looked utterly baffled instead.
“Wait, earlier you were acting all wronged! Didn’t you say the Shanxi Yu Clan screwed you over? Repaid kindness with enmity? Isn’t this just them getting righteous revenge?”
I’d have put a bounty on my head too!
That’s what Mun Seok seemed to say. But from my perspective, I was truly wronged.
“No, I saved their clan from ruin, saved her life. I did all that—can’t I take this much?”
“Heh, your shamelessness hasn’t changed a bit. Well… honestly, the full story doesn’t matter much to me. What’s important to us right now is….”
The air grew heavy in an instant.
“How much we pay for these Shanxi Yu Clan goods, right?”
“…….”
Now the real negotiation began.
The Hao Gate’s Sichuan branch chief.
A battle-hardened veteran like Mun Seok opened first.
“50 gold crowns.”
“Shut it.”
“60 gold crowns.”
“Bullshit.”
But this guy. He was playing real hardball. Was 60 gold crowns anywhere near the value of these items?
I rejected him firmly, but Mun Seok was just as unyielding. Smirking like he found me laughable, he continued.
“Sorry. The Hao Gate’s short on funds these days. Can’t go above 60 gold crowns.”
“You guys pretending to be broke isn’t new. You think I don’t know all the inns, taverns, and brothels in Sichuan are Hao Gate turf? Where’s this ‘short on funds’ crap coming from?”
“Hmm… you leave no gaps, as expected.”
“So if you get it, just up the price without—”
“Even so, the Hao Gate can’t pay more.”
“…….”
Mun Seok’s words cut like a blade, shutting me down.
He meant it—no joke—so I unleashed my own aura to convey my sincerity.
“…….”
“…….”
It was a decent intimidation, but Mun Seok didn’t blink. Killing intent would’ve been overkill, so I backed down first.
“Sigh… hey, Uncle Mun Seok. You know how hard I worked to steal that stuff? If I was getting just 60 gold crowns, I wouldn’t have risked it.”
“I get that you feel hard done by. But the Hao Gate can’t go higher—that’s our stance. Since we go way back, though, I’ll stretch to 65 gold crowns out of my own pocket.”
“No, 60 or 65 gold crowns is still fu—”
“Then just take the 60? Or grab the 65 while I’m offering. Either way, you….”
Mun Seok slurped his tea and landed the finishing blow.
“No one but the Hao Gate will buy this stuff, right?”
“…….”
Only the Hao Gate could fence Shanxi Yu Clan goods.
That was the crux of this negotiation—the Hao Gate’s ultimate trump card.
Mun Seok probably thought I had no choice but to sell for 65 gold crowns.
…And honestly, he wasn’t wrong.
‘Ah… fuck. These Hao Gate bastards are real stingy…. Hitting the price without even negotiating.’
Truth be told, I’d anticipated them coming on strong before arriving. I’d braced for tough talks.
…Up until I entered this room.
But the moment I stepped in, I knew I’d won this negotiation.
Thud.
I deliberately slammed my hand on the desk and smiled.
“Sigh… this bowl’s too small for me to deal with you, Uncle Mun Seok. Can I talk to someone else?”
“Heh, sorry my bowl’s small, but I’m the only one you’ll talk to—bear with it.”
“What’re you talking about? There’s someone else here besides you.”
“…What?”
Mun Seok looked flustered at my words. So did the maknae beside me.
“You mean that other person, big bro?”
“Bow out when you should, maknae.”
“Eek.”
After shoving out the maknae—who wasn’t on this level—I turned back to Mun Seok. My face was already brimming with confidence.
And why not? I’d just landed a sneaky hit on them.
These arrogant Hao Gate folks had assumed I didn’t know and exposed their weakness right from the start.
So I had no choice but to sink my teeth into the throat dangling in front of me.
“Someone higher than the Sichuan branch chief… that’d be the Hao Gate Leader, right?”
“…What exactly are you implying?”
Mun Seok’s voice had long gone ice-cold. I spelled it out for him, word for word.
“I want to talk directly to the Hao Gate Leader who’s been skulking around like a rat in here…. That’s what I mean.”
“…….”
This old man.
He could make eyes like that, huh.
I’d held back my killing intent, but Mun Seok hadn’t.
Just his aura alone made the room feel degrees colder.