Chapter 337
Chapter 337
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 345
Chapter Title: Warehouse Trap
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Do Jangban groaned as he pried his eyes open.
“……W-what the hell…….”
Even getting struck by lightning out of a clear sky wouldn’t leave him this flustered and shocked.
“You vicious bastards…….”
Black Wind Corps?
These were the roughest thugs he’d ever laid eyes on in his life.
Did they think a human body was some kind of drum skin?
No, even a drum skin wouldn’t get pounded like this.
Hell, even beggars beating a dog before boiling it wouldn’t hit it this hard.
“Ugh, ugh…….”
His muscles were honed like any Hwangbo family warrior, but right now, he wished they’d just tear right off.
They felt like a thousand catties of endless agony weighing him down.
“Y-Young Lord!”
That’s when Do Jangban spotted the battered Hwangbo Chung and freaked out.
‘C-crazy! Who the hell stomps a person like a dirty rag!’
Do Jangban shook the ragdoll-like Hwangbo Chung.
“Young Lord, snap out of it! Open your eyes! You’re gonna die!”
Hwangbo Chung, who’d been passed out face-down, twitched his eyelids.
Flash!
“B-Black Wind Corps, you sons of bitches!”
“Snap out of it!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Black Wind elders! Stop hitting, stop the violence! Please!”
Hwangbo Chung clasped his hands together desperately toward empty air, shoulders trembling.
“Ah, there’s no one here.”
“H-heek! What?”
No one?
Hwangbo Chung’s pupils shook.
“Those bastards are gone.”
“T-that’s impossible…… Those evil fucks…….”
“No, it’s true. I raised my senses, and there’s nobody.”
Hwangbo Chung rolled his eyes wildly at Do Jangban’s labored words.
‘What the hell were they thinking, pulling this shit?’
This went beyond absurd—it crossed every line.
Messing with him, the eldest son of the Hwangbo family, and locking up the Guangmu Corps in a warehouse!
‘Namgung Hyeok, you piece of shit I’d devour raw!’
Who’d have thought they’d ambush like this!
‘Using me to force another meeting?’
It was plenty plausible.
Why else would those bastards without any demands lock him up here?
He scanned the surroundings and then eyed Do Jangban.
‘Can’t trust this guy either.’
Hwangbo Chung hadn’t forgotten how Do Jangban faked passing out to save his own skin.
As he surveyed the area, Hwangbo Chung suddenly flinched.
‘……It’s loose.’
The ropes binding him were gone, and the sealed acupoints had been released.
His facial muscles and limbs were just numb from the endless beating, nothing more.
“Urgh!”
Hwangbo Chung staggered to his feet.
‘As expected of the Young Lord! The Family Head’s true heir!’
Do Jangban marveled as Hwangbo Chung—who looked ready to collapse, practically beaten to a pulp—managed to stand.
‘The future of the Hwangbo family is bright.’
Even in this mess, seeing Hwangbo Chung’s sturdy frame, blessed with divine power as the family’s direct descendant, made his chest swell with pride.
Hwangbo Chung crept to the window more cautiously than a stray cat.
He heightened his senses and peered out, eyes sharp.
‘Gone. Nothing. Nobody at all.’
Outside the warehouse, only the bright moon hung lonely in the sky.
The surroundings were pitch black, filled with the racket of chirping insects.
“Those fucking dogs. They got careless!”
That’s why they’d left him shut in here alone!
“You idiots!”
Daring to mess with the Hwangbo family?
‘I’ll get revenge. I’ll make them pay! I’ll bust their eyes open—three times over!’
Crunch!
“Ah, ow.”
He gritted his teeth in rage, then clutched his jaw in pain, eyes tearing up.
Do Jangban said boldly,
“Young Lord! Circulate your qi first!”
“Circulate my ass! We need to get out of here now. Who knows when those demons’ll come back!”
“Y-you mean the Black Wind Corps?”
“Black Wind my ass! You think I don’t know those bastards are Namgung Hyeok and Paeng Jung-hyeok! Argh! My, my neck…….”
“Hold steady, Young Lord!”
“Outta my way! We’re heading straight to the main house.”
Hwangbo Chung dragged his feet toward the entrance.
“You morons, you should’ve finished the job!”
Him, the Hwangbo direct descendant born with heavenly bones, brought down by a mere beating? What a joke!
“Underestimating me?”
Rattle, rattle!
Hwangbo Chung bellowed in fury.
“I, Hwangbo Chung, will have my revenge!”
He ground his teeth and flexed his arms.
As he channeled the Heavenly King Divine Art, veins bulged on his forearms.
Crunch, crunch! Crack!
“Hup!”
The warehouse door crumpled and shattered in one go.
“It’s open!”
Hwangbo Chung stepped forward amid Do Jangban’s cheers, then froze.
His gaze flicked to the ceiling, and something plopped to the floor.
Hwangbo Chung tilted his head.
“……A beehive?”
It was unmistakably a beehive, dark and etched with geometric patterns.
“Hmph!”
Hwangbo Chung snorted dismissively and strode past it.
That’s when it happened.
Plop! Plop, plop!
Whirrrrr! Whirrrrr!
The shattered hive burst with furious wingbeats as hornets swarmed out.
“C-crazy!”
In an instant, a curtain of hornets blotted out his vision, flooding the warehouse.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The hornet swarm dove madly at Hwangbo Chung, who dodged into the back of the warehouse.
Stung by the hornets, Hwangbo Chung let out an agonized scream.
“Kaaaaaaaagh!”
Do Jangban yelled,
“T-that’s Red Needles! Why the hell are Southern Barbarian hornets here?!”
“Gaaaaah!”
“Heeeek!”
The threatening buzz grew as Red Needles flew toward the writhing Guangmu Corps members, jabbing their stingers.
“W-what the?!”
Hwangbo Chung panicked.
“Kaaaaaaaagh!”
“R-run, Young Lord, run!”
“Urgh!”
Every sting felt like his head was being ripped off. In his mad pain, Hwangbo Chung bolted out of the warehouse, only to scream again.
Thud!
The ground gave way beneath him, and dozens of whistling steel needles shot from the walls.
Pew pew pew pew!
“Kaaaaagh!”
Hwangbo Chung collapsed from the steel needles, only for a trap to spring from below, snaring his foot.
Snap!
“Kieeeek! S-save meee! Aaaagh!”
“Yooooung Looord!”
“Kaaaaagh!”
The Guangmu Corps, fleeing the Southern Barbarian Red Needles, triggered traps around the warehouse and flailed helplessly.
Tears streaming, Hwangbo Chung wailed desperately.
“F-fuuuck! D-Dad, save meeeee!”
* * *
Paeng Jung-hyeok cackled.
“Heh heh, feels damn good.”
Fist clenching and unclenching, he looked every inch the street thug.
Hell, you’d believe him as some mountain bandit chief.
So Geolgae let out a hollow chuckle.
“Aren’t you on good terms with the Hwangbo Young Lord?”
Paeng Jung-hyeok, grinning wickedly, put on a stern face.
“Business is business.”
……You psycho, if you’re separating business, you don’t beat ’em like that.
“The Hwangbo family broke the agreement first! Paying the price is only fair, right?”
……Quit acting all serious, you bear.
‘He’s starting to look more like Gwangryong every day. Got weirder since the meeting.’
Side effect of hanging with Namgung Hyeok.
Paeng Jung-hyeok snorted.
“That punk needed a beating!”
“……You just wanted to hit him?”
“I hit him ’cause he needed it.”
“……Not with poison, though…….”
“That was the Tang family’s doing.”
Dang Myeong-ok chimed in as he spoke so brazenly.
“They can’t escape. We laid non-lethal poison and hidden weapons everywhere.”
Didn’t look non-lethal.
One wrong hit from those whistling steel needles and you’re dead.
Thousands of Southern Barbarian Red Needle stings? Seizure city.
Whoa, he just averted his eyes.
So Geolgae shook his head.
‘Not a sane one in the bunch.’
That’s when Namgung Hyeok smirked and asked,
“Did you send it?”
“……Did as you said.”
“And?”
“Did you have to go this far?”
“With what?”
“Dragging kids into adult fights feels a bit dirty…….”
“Dirty? Diiirty?”
“Ah, no. Don’t glare like that.”
“The dirty ones are the bastards who signed the deal then stabbed us in the back!”
Fair point.
The promise-breakers were in the wrong.
Tsk tsk. Hwangbo fools, messing with Gwangryong of all people.
So Geolgae shook his head at Namgung Hyeok’s gleaming eyes.
Yeah, Namgung Hyeok doesn’t take getting screwed lying down.
Once he’s off, no looking back.
That’s when—
“Young Master, we’re here!”
Geum Cheom-sang raised a finger.
The swift boat carrying them sliced through the currents up the Yellow River tributary and docked at the wharf.
Jiaozhou in Shandong glowed like a city that never slept.
Geum Cheom-sang broke into a cold sweat.
‘How’d things spiral this far?’
He blinked, and suddenly they were boating to Shandong.
‘……I remember the thrill of that beating.’
Born a Namgung servant, slapping the Hwangbo Young Lord’s cheeks? The high must’ve carried him here.
‘……Who’d think I’d use those pirate logs here.’
He’d never dreamed of entering Shandong via the Black Dragon Sect’s smuggling route, and sighed unwittingly.
But no turning back now.
Swish.
Namgung Hyeok donned a mask, eyes gleaming.
“I’ve never lost a blade fight. How’d I get this far? Kicked out the hotshots, sent the weaklings ahead, smashed the traitors.”
……Dude, it’s been barely a year since you got outta bed.
What the……
Absurd, but coming from Namgung Hyeok, it sounded badass.
Namgung Hyeok strode off the boat.
“So I pay back what I get—with interest.”
“……More than what you got?”
“The rest is interest.”
Hah, crazy Gwangryong.
Namgung Hyeok asked,
“That the place?”
Geum Cheom-sang nodded.
“Yes. Heard all the money deals go down there.”
“Prepare to row.”
“……Yes!”
As Geum Cheom-sang replied, Namgung Hyeok’s gaze shifted.
A lavish hall with a golden roof gleaming red caught his eye.
Golden Flower Money House.
The dazzling vault where the Hwangbo family handled their finances.
Namgung Hyeok’s lips curled evilly.
“I reached out nice, and they backstabbed me? Time to smash their skulls.”
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
That’s unorthodoxy for you.
So Geolgae voiced his concern cautiously.
“……Things could blow up.”
“Hey, raiding a vault blow up?”
“Mess with the ledgers and it won’t flip the world?”
“Flip it by messing with the ledgers?”
Gasp.
Shit……
As eyes turned sharp, So Geolgae clamped his mouth, looking wronged.
Namgung Hyeok chuckled.
“Then we mess with the ledgers and make it blow up.”
“Y-Young Master……?”
“Blow it sky-high. Let’s see how big.”
No way anyone interprets it like thaaat!
How’s a human this backward?!
Namgung Hyeok said lightly,
“Let’s go!”
He unleashed Blood Wind God toward the Golden Flower Money House, aglow with splendor.
As So Geolgae shuddered at Namgung Hyeok’s madness, Namgung Ryong moved.
Paeng Jung-hyeok and Dang Myeong-ok leaped almost simultaneously.
“Let’s roll!”
“Go!”
“…….”
So Geolgae gaped.
“Crazy, why’re they like that?”
As So Geolgae gawked, Geon Cheon-hwi shook his head.
“Leave ’em. He says he’ll fix it.”
“……Fix it?”
Fix what?
Without waiting, the Thunder Dragon trio masked up and chased the three ahead.
As So Geolgae puzzled—
Whoosh!
Namgung Hyeok soared five zhang, flapping down like a great peng onto the Golden Flower Money House roof.
Dang Myeong-jin, following Dang Myeong-ok, freaked.
“They’re raiding straight-up?!”
Charging the Hwangbo’s main money house head-on?
Dang Myeong-jin whipped around.
“Sis……!”
“What? Prep the knockout powder.”
“W-what?”
“Put ’em all to sleep! Back up the Young Master!”
“……!”
Sis, get a grip.
That’s Seven Treasure Soul-Scattering Poison.
“Gonna kill ’em all?”
“……Oh, right.”
“Even that much’ll kill!”
“It won’t!”
Only ’cause we’re Tang folks…… this is insane.
But Dang Myeong-ok was already unleashing.
Her sleeve flicked, hand thrusting forward, scattering the Tang family’s famed Thousand Days Sleep Powder.
One pinch sends you snoozing a thousand days—the powder engulfed the Money House guards in seconds.
Guards at the gate, startled by charging masked figures, dropped asleep on the spot.
Whoosh!
“I-intruders……!”
Paeng Jung-hyeok charged at the shocked Money House guards spotting the masked intruders.
As Namgung Hyeok leaped in, Paeng Jung-hyeok bull-rushed the main gate, leg thrusting powerfully.
Boom!
Thud!
One kick sent six or seven flying into the corners.
Namgung Hyeok smirked.
“Wonder where the ledgers are?”
He muttered, shoving past the panicking guards.