The Easy Job
The place Ja Gangcheon and his party reached was a harbor.
At the stretch where the Gyounam branch of the Shandong Trading Company and the outpost of the Shandong Escort Agency stood side by side, three people arrived—along with one more figure who might have been luggage or a man.
"Wait here a moment."
"Hyung-nim! Let me go with you!"
"I'll take care of the easy work first. Hyung has the hard part, so just hold on a little. Got it?"
"Ah! So that's how it is! Understood!"
Ja Gangcheon kicked off the ground and shot upward for that easy job. His destination was the Shandong Escort Agency banner snapping in the sea wind.
Riiip!
He tore the soaring flag free and dropped into the agency courtyard.
Rumble!
A fierce wave of internal energy exploded outward from the spot where he landed. The blue flagstones of the yard shattered and leapt into the air all at once; nearby pavilions shook as if struck by an earthquake.
"Aaaargh!"
"Wh-what the hell?!"
People thrown down by the shock screamed and shouted. Through the chaos Ja Gangcheon called out:
"Anyone not involved should clear out. You'll really die."
The tone was the same as ever, yet the voice, heavy with internal energy, reached every ear with perfect clarity. Reactions split sharply at the warning. Locals rooted in Gyounam who had only been hired as laborers edged backward, while others took one look at Ja Gangcheon and immediately glared daggers.
"What bastard dares raise a ruckus in the Shandong Escort Agency?!"
These were men dispatched from the headquarters of the Shandong Escort Agency. Ever since Gu Donggu's capture they had been on guard. Outwardly they looked like ordinary escorts, but among them were martial artists sent straight from the main house—proof that the Hwangbo Clan itself already understood the situation.
A middle-aged warrior hungry for merit flushed crimson the moment Ja Gangcheon appeared.
"The fool has walked into his own grave! Cut him down!"
As if they had been waiting for the order, the warriors charged.
"Faces I haven't seen before."
Even their aura alone made it plain they were no ordinary escort runners or porters.
Boom!
Ja Gangcheon slammed his shoulder into the young warrior leading the rush. Instantly the man's body flew as if struck by a charging bull and crashed into a wall.
Crack!
The impact was hard enough to split the wall. The warrior crumpled face-first. Blood streamed from the back of his head, and the onlookers went pale with horror.
"He… he actually killed a man of the Hwangbo Clan…"
To lay a hand on the Shandong Escort Agency meant exactly that.
"You came at me without even that much resolve?"
A cold, mocking smile curved Ja Gangcheon's lips. He was genuinely laughing at them.
"So this is the price of the name you trust. Cheaper than I expected."
"You bastard!"
Unable to endure it, the middle-aged warrior lunged. Yet the Thunderclap Divine Fist he had boasted about every night over wine posed no threat whatsoever to Ja Gangcheon.
Thok.
A light push of the back of his hand against the incoming fist was enough. The warrior's center of gravity collapsed forward. Ja Gangcheon seized the nape of the falling man and smashed him straight into the ground.
Crash!
Face driven into the flagstones, the warrior twitched once and then lay still. Watching the scene, the remaining escort warriors finally grasped that Ja Gangcheon was someone they could not handle. They had heard the rumors of his martial level, but none of them had imagined he would actually kill people of the Hwangbo Clan.
If a man did not fear the Hwangbo Clan, there was nothing left for them to do.
"Why are you stopping? I have no intention of stopping."
Ja Gangcheon walked forward at a leisurely pace. Even facing opponents who had already lost all will to fight, he showed no mercy.
"Once a fight starts, there is no chance to quit."
He closed his hand around the throat of a warrior who was backpedaling. At that moment—
"Stop!"
Someone appeared at the agency gate and roared.
"What in heaven's name do you think you are doing?!"
The furious man was Hwangbo Jeong, master of the Shandong Trading Company. His eyes bulged as if he might charge at any second.
"This has nothing to do with the Shandong Trading Company. I clearly warned you not to interfere."
"The Shandong Escort Agency lives under the same roof of the Hwangbo Clan. Did you truly believe our Hwangbo Trading Company would simply stand by and watch?"
"So that means you're on the same side, then?"
Ja Gangcheon flicked a signal. A giant bearing an A-frame pack vaulted the wall and landed beside him.
"Here's the outpost master of the Shandong Escort Agency. I'll explain to everyone exactly why I have to do this. Listen carefully."
That was why he had dragged Gu Donggu all the way here. The moment Hwangbo Jeong saw the man, he felt the jaws of a trap closing—yet he could not retreat now.
"What scheme are you cooking up?"
"I'm only clarifying cause and effect. Is there some reason that shouldn't be allowed?"
When Hwangbo Jeong failed to answer, Ja Gangcheon signaled Cheongu. Cheongu raised his voice like a judge and addressed Gu Donggu.
"You said you paid bribes on the way to becoming outpost master. To whom, and how much?"
"If I list them one by one it would take forever. I started with the escorts of the Shandong Escort Agency. It took three years of entertaining the deputy chief, and after that I greased the palms of the two deputy chiefs Hwangbo Seung and Hwangbo Jin for a full ten years. The wealth I poured out in that time alone would buy two outposts like this one."
"And once you obtained the post, what was the first thing you did?"
"I built a secret brothel in Jisanpo. There was no other way to recover the bribes I had already paid."
"Tell them what you did while serving Hwangbo Taeseong there."
"Enough!"
Hwangbo Jeong finally cut in. With spectators already crowding around, he could not allow the dirty laundry of the Hwangbo Clan to be aired. Half the onlookers were sailors; the rumor would race across the entire country in a heartbeat.
"Continue."
Ja Gangcheon ignored Hwangbo Jeong and gave the order. Gu Donggu opened his mouth at once, like a slave who had received a command.
"I told you to stop!"
Hwangbo Jeong moved. Once upon a time he had contended for the seat of clan head; his personal martial skill was far from weak. He shot forward like a thunderbolt. Neither Gu Donggu nor even Cheongu beside him could react. Hwangbo Jeong's fist, heavy as if it clenched the very air, streaked toward Gu Donggu's face.
Gu Donggu's eyes flew wide; he pictured his own skull bursting. In that instant—
Boom!
Two waves of energy collided right in front of his face. The shock left him dizzy, but he was unmistakably alive.
"That would be inconvenient."
The one who had stopped Hwangbo Jeong's fist with a fist of his own was Ja Gangcheon.
"You started this fight."
"What…?"
Hwangbo Jeong could not believe it—because Ja Gangcheon's fist was already flying straight at his own face.
"Kh—!"
Instinct crossed his arms to block. At that exact moment—
Thud!
The instep of Ja Gangcheon's foot drove into his side.
"Guh!"
Breath locked in his throat; his body tilted. Their eyes met.
How…?
It was the look of someone gazing down on an inferior.
"Stop him!"
His bodyguards, late to grasp the situation, rushed forward—but Ja Gangcheon was faster.
Crack!
A blow to the back of the head sent Hwangbo Jeong sprawling in an undignified heap.
"Calm down. I didn't kill him."
Ja Gangcheon set a foot on Hwangbo Jeong's back. The bodyguards froze in place. The surrounding crowd grew restless.
"He really did it."
"Is he allowed to go this far?"
"Even if he is a manor lord…"
Ja Gangcheon tilted his head at the murmurs.
"Everyone, settle down. I only followed the laws of the jianghu."
With that he heaved the unconscious Hwangbo Jeong onto his shoulder like a sack of cargo.
"Let's go."
Just as suddenly as they had appeared, Ja Gangcheon and his party vanished.
"Hm. You really did bring him."
Song Jain regarded the man Ja Gangcheon had delivered with a half-doubting expression. The middle-aged figure sprawled motionless on the floor was, without question, Hwangbo Jeong.
"You struck him on the back of the head."
"How did you know?"
"There's a lump."
"Ah!"
A clear swelling rose on Hwangbo Jeong's occiput.
"Lord, do you truly intend to proceed exactly as planned?"
"It's already begun. There's no turning back now."
"The Hwangbo Clan is no easy opponent."
"That's why we fight. A clan with that much power will never simply leave us alone."
Song Jain could not quite follow his meaning.
"Lord… is there something you still haven't told me?"
"Why would you think that?"
"From the very moment this matter started, you were certain the Hwangbo Clan would attack our manor."
It was the question she had never quite managed to erase.
"I suppose I still lack experience. I should have buried it deeper."
Ja Gangcheon wore the relieved look of a man who had almost wanted to be caught.
"To be honest, I felt bad toward Cheongu and Aunt. Having a secret all to myself."
"You mean you didn't even tell the chief manager?"
Cheongu, standing nearby, nodded.
"I simply trusted Gangcheon's judgment. I knew there was something he wasn't saying, but I figured he would tell us when the time came."
"You thought it was strange too?"
"Of course. There wasn't a shred of hesitation when he decided to fight. Normally he would never push things this far just because he hates the idea of our people getting hurt."
Cheongu glanced at the unconscious Hwangbo Jeong.
"But this time it's different. There's definitely a reason."
At that point Ja Gangcheon had no choice. Face flushed with embarrassment, he spoke to Panseok.
"Tie these bastards up in the warehouse and come to the rear garden. I'll tell you everything."
A short while later, gathered once more in the rear garden, Ja Gangcheon laid out the truth.
"The Hwangbo Clan will never leave us alone. First, the fact that we're entangled with them in any way. Second, Deungmyeong Medicines and the Bing-okgo. We already have a grudge between us, and they have things they want to take from us."
"That much I understand. But can you be certain?"
"Yes. Absolutely certain. That's the method the Hwangbo Clan used to seize control of Shandong Province."
Even that was not enough. So Ja Gangcheon told them the story he had kept hidden.
"Jangpung Express. I met the former head of an escort agency the Hwangbo Clan destroyed. From him I heard exactly how the Hwangbo Clan expands its power."
"Jangpung Express… you mean the ones who use the Ak Family Spear Art?"
At Song Jain's question Ja Gangcheon nodded.
"The place that brought down Jangpung Express and simply took over its business is none other than the Shandong Escort Agency."
He recounted everything that had happened on the road back from meeting the Chosan Society. When the tale ended, a stifling silence settled over the pavilion in the rear garden. The one who broke it was Ja Gangcheon himself, who had done all the talking until then.
"I'm sorry. I wanted to protect Uncle Ak Pungjin's secret. I thought the fewer people who knew, the better."
"I understand. That doesn't mean I'm not a little hurt."
"I was wrong this time. I just clamped my mouth shut because I thought of it as a secret. Next time I'll discuss it with everyone here."
At Ja Gangcheon's frank apology and promise, Song Jain and Cheongu both nodded their acceptance.
"If what he said is true, then Gangcheon is right. They won't leave us alone."
"Uncle Ak Pungjin put it this way: they believe that anything valuable inside Shandong Province already belongs to them."
"It's true the Hwangbo Clan's business expansion has been excessive. I've even heard the authorities are starting to keep them in check."
By now Song Jain and Cheongu had reached the same conclusion.
"The lord's judgment was correct."
"In the end we'll have to settle things with the Hwangbo Clan once and for all."
"Right. If we sit still we'll be swallowed whole. To survive we have to do everything we can."
Just as their doubts cleared and their resolve hardened—
"But… can we actually beat the Hwangbo Clan?"
Panseok pointed out the most fundamental problem.
"Of course. Against any other great clan it might be different, but the Hwangbo Clan we can definitely beat."
Ja Gangcheon's confidence startled not only Panseok but Song Jain as well. Cheongu alone had heard something on this point and simply listened in silence.
"Have you ever heard of the Falling Phoenix Gauntlets?"
From Ja Gangcheon's mouth came the name of the Hwangbo Clan head's personal treasure.