Chapter 74
Several days after that uproar on the river.
"I’m disappointed in you two."
Inside an inn somewhere in Wuhan, Geom Mujin looked properly disappointed.
"......"
"Kkiu...."
With his arms folded, Geom Mujin stared down at last night’s little troublemakers with severe eyes.
"Hey now, hands down?"
"!"
Flash—!
The little one’s arms, which had been slowly drooping, shot straight back up.
He’d been hung upside down from the ceiling before, but this was his first time kneeling with his hands raised like a criminal.
When Geom Mujin had first made him do it, he’d thought, deep down, that it was no big deal. It turned out it was.
Tremble—
The disciplinary punishment, carrying the ancient and time-honored tradition of child-rearing from east and west alike, was especially brutal for a child with a Goema’s body.
"My... arms... are numb...."
"Suck it up."
"......"
The child tried to complain in a tiny voice, but it did absolutely nothing.
His brows drooped miserably.
Meanwhile, someone else was thinking to himself:
-What the hell is this bullshit.
That someone, needless to say, was Sodam.
What was a little numbness compared to this?
"Kii... kkiii....!"
No matter how numb his neck got, it was practically heaven compared to that!
Vrrr—!
Sodam trembled all over like a poplar in the wind.
Right now, unlike the child, he was bent at a perfect ninety-degree angle with only his forehead and the tips of his talons touching the ground.
So-called head-banging.
That, too, was one of the punishments with deep roots in the long military history of humankind.
"Oh, I see? You’re making the angle wider? Ninety degrees was too easy for you?"
Should I tighten it down to seventy instead?
"Kkiiiii!"
Sodam clenched his beak and forced his collapsing body back upright.
Ninety degrees!
"Sodam, you’re the real problem here."
The reason he was getting a harsher punishment than the child wasn’t because Geom Mujin was a beast abuser.
"You’re supposed to be the senior. At least try to guide the junior properly. What the hell were you doing, dragging him into this?"
Actually, he had guided him properly.
The problem was that he’d guided him not back to the inn Geom Mujin had told them to return to, but onto the boat instead.
"And why’d you ignore your master’s orders in the first place? Bribed by peppermint candy? Unreal."
After everything had ended last night, Sodam had confessed his crimes in full.
It was better to turn yourself in than to get caught by someone else, and he understood that with the peculiar intelligence of a spiritual beast.
Thanks to that, ...the punishment had been reduced from a Sam-eung-tang beating to plain old head-banging. but if he’d known this would happen, maybe getting beaten senseless in the first place would have been easier.
"Kkii...."
He was at a complete loss for words.
No, in truth, he had plenty he wanted to say.
It’s not like this happened because you’ve been so busy doting on that candy-demon woman you’ve neglected me!
I really was trying to take him back to the inn, but she was the one who seduced him, okay?!
So many retorts rose to his throat, but he swallowed them down with raw force and grit.
Once again today, the beast who couldn’t speak was being wronged.
"And you, kid."
"......"
"You’re not usually like this, so why’d you suddenly pull something like that?"
He had been shocked that a kid who had always been so obedient suddenly went off-script.
"I... just... wanted to help...."
"What?"
The child mumbled something in a barely audible voice.
I sharpened my hearing.
"I wanted to help somehow...."
Until now, the child had received nothing but help from Geom Mujin, from beginning to end.
He wasn’t the type to show emotions much, so it didn’t really stand out, but he still felt them all the same.
And as he spent more time with Geom Mujin, a desire to repay him—to give back what he’d received—had quietly begun to take root.
But separate from that, there was almost nothing the child could actually do.
To him, Geom Mujin was a perfect superhuman.
He lacked strength, wealth, and knowledge; he lacked everything.
It didn’t seem like there was anything he could ever do for him.
Just as his frustration with himself was growing, Geom Mujin suggested that he try learning martial arts.
He’d been drawn in by the radiance of that sword qi he’d seen that day, yes, but he’d also thought that if he worked hard at martial arts, maybe someday he’d be able to help Geom Mujin. So he’d eagerly agreed.
Whether by chance or fate, the child turned out to have talent, and he learned martial arts faster than most.
After completing his first qi circulation, he’d been told that Geom Mujin was going to step out for a while with some three-headed monster.
The look in his eyes then was the same as when he’d last been forced into a blood-bound servitude.
He wasn’t simply going to kill an enemy; he was going to pry information out of one.
That was something the child could help with.
He had failed the last time because of that thing called shamanic magic, but this time would be different.
After all, he’d learned martial arts, and he could feel himself growing stronger!
As much as his dantian had expanded, so had his confidence, and that confidence had fused with the recklessness of youth.
The child took out the peppermint candy he’d kept carefully tucked away in his pocket.
He could tell from his current state what had become of that foolish act, but still.
"I wanted... to be helpful... I’m sorry...."
With those words, the child bowed his head deeply.
"......"
After hearing what was really on the child’s mind, I fell silent for a moment.
Should I chew him out, or should I comfort him?
It was the first time I’d ever faced a situation like this, in either my past life or this one, so I couldn’t even tell where to begin.
That he’d wanted to help me was sweet, and I was touched by it, but he’d been unbelievably reckless and had no plan at all.
So here, I should really give him a proper tongue-lashing...
"So? Are you hurt anywhere?"
But what came out of my mouth instead of a reprimand was a question about the kid’s condition.
Even though I’d already checked him several times.
"...No."
The child nodded timidly.
"This time you got lucky, but don’t get it into your head that it’ll always be that way."
Throwing himself into a brawl with Goema while drunk on the taste of blood.
Not to mention there’d been Sama Ryeong lurking behind the scenes, so the situation had been seriously dangerous.
"...Okay."
Faced with an undeniable warning, the child let out a sullen reply.
"And if I ever need your help, I’ll tell you right away."
I said it quietly, looking at the child’s drooping little head.
"!"
The child’s face showed a flicker of surprise.
"At that point, even if you cry and scream and throw a fit because you don’t want to do it, I’ll still make use of you. Got it?"
"Yeah!"
The child nodded vigorously.
"Say it properly."
Geom Mujin gave a snort of laughter and turned away.
Yeah. This should be enough.
Then I sat by the window and opened it.
From the second-floor room, I looked out over Wuhan’s streets.
Murmur, murmur—!
"Extra! Extra! Baekmun Express is finished!"
"We heard the chief, the head escort, and even the senior staff all vanished! What’s left are only clueless rookie escorts!"
All across the streets, beggars with knots tied at their waists were running about, spreading the news.
"Um..."
"Kkii...."
The child and Sodam, who had been watching the street while resting their chins in their hands, cautiously asked if they could relax their posture, but the one lost in thought gave no answer.
Should they take that silence as permission?
Their dilemma deepened.
Separate from that, Wuhan was in an uproar.
Starting with the chief and the head escort, the corpses of elite escorts had floated down the river.
The last executive, the chief clerk, who had learned the shocking news before the citizens of Wuhan did, acted immediately.
-Time for every man for himself!
He grabbed the remaining assets of the escort bureau and ran for it immediately.
That’s not stealing and making off with it.
It’s a reward and severance pay for me, after serving Bang Dupil at his side for nearly twenty years.
Sure, he did it without the permission of the rightful owner, and even took the portions belonging to the other escorts too, but still, that’s not stealing and making off with it.
He’d long since moved the assets into a nominee account, so when he fled, all he needed was his own body.
The destruction of one of the largest escort bureaus in Wuhan sent the whole city into a frenzy.
"What the hell happened!?"
"The chief and the head escort are dead!?"
The rookie escorts, who overnight had lost the head and spine of their workplace as well as their wages, were ready to flip the hell out.
"Chief Clerk! Where the hell did that bastard go!? Give me back my investment!"
"Wait! If that’s how it is, what about the commission I entrusted to you? Someone on your side has to take it!"
"Fuck off! Can’t you see the escort bureau’s been ruined!?"
"Fuck you! I already paid the deposit and everything! Either carry out the commission or give me a refund!"
"We’re telling you, the people who took the deposits are either dead or ran off in the night!"
To prepare for the operation, Bang Dupil had taken on commissions far beyond his usual load, dragging in as much money as possible.
Which meant the investors and clients of Baekmun Express were going out of their minds too.
And what happens when a bunch of out-of-their-mind people gather in one place?
That’s right: a full-on brawl!
"We already told you, we don’t know anything!"
Thwack—!
"Oof! These highway robber bastards are killing people!"
"Let’s show these shameless freeloaders the power of a group beating!"
A small scuffle instantly snowballed into a total free-for-all.
"Aaaaagh!"
"Aaagh..!"
They may have made their living in the sword trade, but no one was built to withstand a pile-on.
"Woohoo! Kill them! Kill them!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"No mercy!"
The citizens who’d come out to watch the fight pointed their thumbs down at the bloodied escorts and shouted.
You think these were just ordinary commoners? Or maybe some righteous sect bastards?
For people like them, where village-by-village yaksa-rul mixed bouts were part of everyday life, this was just another juicy bit of entertainment.
Past or present, watching a fight is a dopamine-loaded event.
Hah. Tch. Barbarians, the lot of them.
As the sole person of culture in this era, Geom Mujin crossed his legs and clicked his tongue.
Of course, if you thought about who the true mastermind behind those escorts’ miserable fate was... ahem.
Anyway, standing there and brawling while everyone else just watched was amateur hour.
If you were a true master...
"Now, now! Everyone, please calm down."
Parting the crowd, a man stepped forward.
He wore a friendly smile and soothed the enraged mob.
"And who the hell are you?"
"I am Nam Gawon from Hojung Escort Bureau."
Before long, the man had moved into the middle of the crowd and addressed those who’d been causing the group beating.
"Our bureau chief has decided to take over the commissions that had been entrusted to Baekmun Express, in order to make up for the damage suffered by the clients in this incident."
"What? So you’re saying we have to pay you another deposit and then pay the rest of the contract money too!"
The mood among the clients turned ugly.
"Not at all! Our bureau hereby declares that it will not collect the deposit already paid to Baekmun Express, and that the remaining contract amount will be charged at only half that."
And there it was: the half-price declaration!
"!?"
"!!"
The crowd started in shock at the declaration that practically screamed, The chief’s lost his mind!
"Hey! Bring the contracts over here, quick!"
"Me too! Me too!"
"Stay in line, all of you!"
If you didn’t jump on this, you were an idiot.
The clients of Baekmun Express were shouting themselves hoarse, demanding contracts at once.
Whoosh—
Then the client who’d been shoved over by an escort and had helped spark the fight quietly slipped away.
"Heh heh..."
Watching that, Geom Mujin let out a low laugh.
That fight from earlier was probably staged by Hojung Escort Bureau.
They’d stomped the rival, Baekmun Express, right into the ground, and then scooped up the displaced clients—the whole damn pie, scraped clean.
Otherwise, how could they move that fast, as if they’d been waiting for it?
Right.
When there’s prey that tasty, Murim—or rather, the world itself—comes running with its mouth open.
Self-interest, internecine struggle, survival of the fittest.
Haha, nice. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the world raw and unfiltered.
Gloating over the escort bureaus that would be a beat too late and left nursing their wounded pride, I pushed myself up from the chair.
Pop—!
"!"
"Kkiik!?"
The child and Sodam, who had been covertly loosening their posture little by little, jolted and immediately straightened up again.
We’d seen everything worth seeing here. Time to go.
"You two, get up."
I informed my party of the next destination.
"We’re going to Yunnan Province."
"?"
"?"
But the two little ones only tilted their heads.
Yunnan Province? What the hell was that, Geombung-ah.
"......"