Chapter 154
Chapter 154
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: Brotherly Discipline
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Black-and-blue bruised eye sockets and cheeks puffed up plump on both sides, like he had stuffed two apples in his mouth.
Sniffle, sniffle.
Namgung Chang, in his wretched state, hung his head low as he sucked up his nosebleed.
Both hands were politely clasped in front of his knees, his shoulders trembling faintly as he bit down hard on his lower lip.
“Hey, what a spectacle this guy is?”
Namgung Chang flinched at the sound of Namgung Hyuk’s voice.
“Pipe, liquor bottle, tobacco leaves. Well now? Aren’t these mahjong tiles? Huh? Erotic books?”
“Sniff… sniff.”
“A Black Dao King has been born in the House of Namgung.”
Namgung Hyuk let out a hollow laugh as he tapped Namgung Chang’s head with the pipe clutched in his hand.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
“Ow! Ow! Ow!”
Namgung Chang flinched and shrunk with every tap on his skull.
“Nothing else? That’s all?”
“…None.”
“None?”
“…No, there isn’t.”
“Why none?”
“Huh?”
“Where’s my gift? You telling a martial artist to suck on a pipe or what?”
Crack! Crack! Crack!
“Aaack!”
Namgung Chang rubbed the crown of his head furiously as tears welled in his eyes.
Namgung Hyuk rummaged through Namgung Chang’s body, then rolled up his sleeve and glared.
“Hah, tattoos too?”
“Th-this is a s-symbol of f-fraternity…”
“Tattoo? I’ll turn it into bruises for you. This is a tattoo of brotherly love.”
Sh, shit?
Namgung Hyuk swung the pipe hard at Namgung Chang’s head.
Boom!
“Kugh!”
Namgung Chang screamed at the unimaginable sound of impact and rolled across the ground.
‘What the hell is this?’
The Namgung Hyuk he remembered from two years ago had never been like this.
A guy with no more presence than air, fragile as porcelain and breaking everywhere!
He had considered Namgung Hyuk beneath him since the age of seven.
And yet!
The one delivering this horrific beating was none other than Namgung Hyuk!
That worthless Namgung Hyuk!
Smack!
“What’re you mumbling to yourself?”
“Aaack!”
Namgung Chang screamed from the pain surging through his skull.
He had never in his life endured such a vicious beating.
Who beats a person like a dog!
Where the hell did this cruelty come from…
“Still going easy on him ’cause he’s my little brother.”
What?
“Kuhahaha! That much’ll wash right off with water.”
This is?
“Discrimination, that’s what this is. If it were some other guy, I’d bury him in the dirt first or dunk his head in that canal over there.”
No, you bastards!
Then I’d die!
What the hell are these guys, blabbering so casually?
Namgung Chang, his face drained white, shot bewildered glances at Geon Cheon-hwi, Tak Hyeok-dong, and Jang Woong.
Then, the pain throbbing in his skull instinctively drove him to plead for help.
“P-please spare me, brothers!”
Namgung Chang looked toward Namgung Yong, who had stepped aside.
“Big brother! Save me, please save me! This second bastard’s trying to kill me, brother!”
Namgung Chang scrambled over and grabbed Namgung Yong’s pant leg.
‘Yeah, even if he’s taciturn, only big brother ever truly cared for me!’
His martial arts were strong, he didn’t talk much, he was strict, but still, he looked out for me…
Smaaack!
An enormous shock pierced straight through the crown of his head, wrenching a bizarre scream from Namgung Chang as he blacked out.
“Queeek?!”
In his fading mind, he caught sight of Namgung Yong looming above, pipe gripped high overhead.
What?
Why’s big brother hitting me?
Wait.
Wait…
Thud! Thud-thud! Thud-thud!
The pipe hammered down on Namgung Chang’s skull like a club.
Namgung Chang clutched his head and screamed nonstop.
The impacts slamming into his head and shoulders were three times stronger than Namgung Hyuk’s… head and shoulders?
Namgung Yong’s bonus beating commenced.
Betrayal and agony tore sobs from Namgung Chang.
Namgung Hyuk, watching from the side, cracked his mouth open slightly.
“…Hey, suddenly going at it like that. You’ll kill the kid.”
It evoked the image of Namgung Yong pounding Black Dao thugs like rats.
Namgung Yong’s eyes blazed as he tightened his grip on the pipe.
“Father…”
“…”
“…expects.”
“…”
“Discipline…”
That’s not discipline-level?
“…Punish. Expects… punish!”
Thwack-thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!
Namgung Chang’s screams, which had soared to the heavens amid Namgung Yong’s brutish violence, began to die down.
Meanwhile, as the violence raged on one side, Namgung Hyuk stared hard at Yi Se-gon.
Shiver, shiver, shiver.
Yi Se-gon trembled like a frog before a snake.
Namgung Hyuk shook the money pouch he’d swiped from Namgung Chang.
“What’re you?”
Shiver.
“…I-I-I, I’m Yi Se-gon! Little brother!”
“Why’re you hanging around there?”
“…Came to s-serve brother.”
“Oh. Hey, you kinda look like someone I know?”
“An h-honor, brother!”
Yi Se-gon’s pupils began quivering wildly.
He dropped to his knees and bowed his head politely.
Namgung Hyuk smiled faintly.
“Relax, relax.”
“…Th-this is me relaxed, brother.”
“Yeah. You into pipes too?”
“…I d-don’t do that sort of thing.”
“Good. Rest easy, then take him when you go.”
“Yes!”
Yi Se-gon swallowed hard and glanced at Namgung Chang, still taking hits.
‘…A-as expected, they’re brother’s brothers. So the House of Namgung is this terrifying.’
Yi Se-gon drew a sharp breath and froze solid.
Namgung Hyuk stretched with a yawn and glanced to the side.
Namgung Yong was beating Namgung Chang just as indifferently as his own expression.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Kaaaaack! Brother, big brother! Aaaaack! This bas… Kraaack!”
“Watch your mouth!”
“Euaaaack! P-please spare me! Spare me, brother! I’m the baby brother, ba… Kraaaack!”
“Bastard…? At your brother!”
His hands moved several times faster than his words.
Namgung Chang writhed and screamed.
“Hueeeeeeng!”
Screams and sobs mingled, echoing through the alley.
Namgung Hyuk clicked his tongue.
“Geez, gonna kill the kid.”
Geon Cheon-hwi, Tak Hyeok-dong, and Jang Woong’s gazes slowly turned to Namgung Hyuk.
As the stares converged one by one, Namgung Hyuk narrowed his eyes.
“What? Why? I set him on the straight and narrow, straight and narrow.”
Geon Cheon-hwi awkwardly smoothed his expression before replying.
“…Yes. Seems like no trouble was caused.”
“Huh?”
Yeah, right.
This doesn’t even count as trouble.
Even as Namgung Hyuk nodded, Namgung Chang’s screams only grew louder.
“P-please save meeeeee, hueeeeeeng!”
* * *
Scribble, scribble!
Namgung Chang knelt before the table, wielding his brush across the paper.
Sniffle, sniffle!
Each stroke of the brush brought two sniffs in tow.
Namgung Hyuk sat with legs crossed, scratching his head with the pipe.
“Little shit strips buck naked and chews on a pipe?”
“Hic! Hic! I’ll b-be good, sir.”
His puffy cheeks garbled his words, drawing even more pitiful sniffs from Namgung Chang.
But even so, he kept the brush moving diligently.
“Hic! Never again! Hic! No more pipe! Hic, won’t touch it!”
“Voice is too quiet.”
“Never! Mahjong! Won’t touch again!”
Namgung Chang filled the self-reflection essay, his face twisted in pain as he repeated the lines.
Namgung Yong peered at the self-reflection from the side and furrowed his brow.
“Wrong.”
“Yes?!”
Slaaap!
Namgung Yong’s palm lashed across his back, bending it like a bow.
“Ahic!”
Namgung Chang screamed and writhed.
Namgung Yong spoke in a cold, sharp tone.
“Again.”
“Hic hic!”
“Again!”
“Hwik!”
As Namgung Yong’s voice hardened, Namgung Chang sniffled and gripped the brush anew.
“Wow, our young master’s got some spine.”
“Discipline…”
“Strict, strict. Beatings are essential for discipline.”
“…Punish.”
“Keep punishing and the kid croaks.”
Namgung Hyuk chuckled as he eyed the back of Namgung Chang’s head.
“But sixteen and can’t even recite the Thousand Character Classic properly? That’s a problem. Expectations or not…”
“Will make him recite.”
“Who?”
“Me. In three days.”
Flames leaped in Namgung Yong’s eyes.
Namgung Chang shivered at the murderous glare.
Fear and anxiety bloomed across Namgung Chang’s face at the sudden demand to memorize the Thousand Character Classic.
Namgung Hyuk spun the pipe in his fingers and chuckled.
‘Vicious one, vicious.’
One word gets ten hits—who’d dare resist?
Namgung Yong had a subtly ruthless streak.
Slurp!
Namgung Hyuk sipped the tea poured by Kim Cheom-sang.
“By the way, what’d the kid learn in the Righteous Heaven Alliance to end up like this? He plays mahjong too?”
Kim Cheom-sang, mid-pour, snapped his head up.
“Yes? Touched mahjong again?”
“Yeah? Again?”
“No, two years back he got caught with mahjong and took a real thrashing from the Family Head…”
Namgung Hyuk stared at Namgung Chang.
“Oh?”
Rotten to the core, huh?
“Damn it!”
Smack!
“Keurk!”
Namgung Chang face-planted into the table from the hit to the back of his head.
Namgung Hyuk clicked his tongue.
“House of Namgung’s doing just fine, turning out great.”
Sword King, you seeing this?
Your descendants were into mahjong at fourteen, oh dear.
Couldn’t even dream of it in my day.
What’s with kids nowadays?
The House of Namgung’s future sure is…
‘Without me, what would’ve happened to you, Sword King?’
Eldest’s taciturn and rigid, youngest’s a gambler?
Ha, I just saved the whole clan.
Namgung Hyuk nodded to himself, feeling an odd sense of fulfillment.
Of course, the Sword King might disagree—who cares?
If you’re mad, don’t die.
Namgung Hyuk chuckled and crunched heartily on the snacks.
* * *
The next morning.
Namgung Chang dragged his feet outside, his face swollen puffy and black-and-blue, now haggard on top for a truly wretched sight.
‘…Shiiibal, shiiibal.’
What the hell is this!
What kind of situation is this?!
‘No way. How’d that weakling turn into that?! Did he really overcome the Nine Yin Severed Meridians or what?’
What happened over these two years for the walking corpse Namgung Hyuk to get that strong?
‘And why’d his personality turn so damn nasty?’
Thug? No, bandit?
Nah.
Even the mindsets they teach in the Righteous Heaven Alliance aren’t that vicious.
Flat-out inhuman.
Hit the sore spots, hit even when he passed out, hit till he woke screaming in pain and passed out again.
Lost count of the blows just writing one self-reflection.
But the real tragedy is…
‘Big bro changed too. No, got even worse. My back… shiiibal, shiiibal!’
His back, beaten through the night, felt like it was bleeding.
Beaten till he memorized the Thousand Character Classic—crawling out alive was a miracle.
“Hwik, shibal… hwik!”
Sobs rose from the surging sorrow.
Family he hadn’t seen in two years, beating him like this!
Even total strangers wouldn’t go that far.
Namgung Chang sniffled and ground his teeth.
‘Namgung Hyuk, you bastard! I’ll get revenge someday!’
Little brother?
Fuck that, you were my bitch from the start!
Grown over two years—how much could you have?
‘Round up every last one of my Hoyoung Squad guys and stomp you flat. You’re done for, for real!’
Namgung Chang clenched his teeth in resolve.
If he gathered his underlings, dispatching one Namgung Hyuk would be a breeze.
He was lost in dreams of revenge’s blade and fraternal strife(?) when—
“Hey, Gong-chang!”
A gravelly voice rang out from the side, making Namgung Chang jolt.
His gaze turned slowly, stiffly, toward the source of the sound.
There stood a hulking boy in navy Taoist robes.
It was Hae Dong, fourth-generation disciple of the Zhongnan Sect.
Two fellow Zhongnan fourth-generation disciples in matching robes flanked him like escorts.
They were geniuses of the Heroes’ Pavilion Dragon-Phoenix Class.
‘Fuck, why’re these assholes here?’
Namgung Chang flinched and eyed Hae Dong.
He backed away hesitantly, scanning his surroundings—no one else.
“…Hae Dong, you dog bastard—told you not to call me that.”
Namgung Chang glared at Zhongnan Sect’s Hae Dong through puffy eyes.
Hae Dong stared back in bewilderment.
“Dude, where’d you get thrashed this time?”
“…”
“Anyway. Perfect timing, Gong-chang.”
Zhongnan Sect’s Hae Dong chuckled low. A sleazy grin utterly unfit for a Taoist.