Chapter 133: Chasing the Night Pursuer (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 133: Chasing the Night Pursuer (1)
On the way back from the drinking session, Chu Bong-hwa asked me, "This is a dangerous place. Are you aware? There are masters lying in ambush everywhere."
Seeing as she sensed presence that even my Circulating Dantian couldn't detect, Chu Bong-hwa was indeed a formidable master.
"Don't worry about it. They're connected to me."
At my words, Chu Bong-hwa replied, "The more I get to know you, the less I understand."
As soon as I returned to my room, Chu Bong-hwa began to walk back into the darkness.
"Want to grab a drink together?"
Even though I asked, she vanished without a word.
It was fine by me, but from Chu Bong-hwa’s perspective, it must have been maddening. To think a master of the Extreme Intent Realm had to stand guard every moment because she didn't know when I might drop dead—one couldn't truly understand the frustration without experiencing it.
Was it because I was drunk? I felt a strange twinge of guilt.
However, I couldn't throw away the greatest shield of my life over a fleeting moment of conscience.
Just think of guarding me as your karma.
The Blood Wind Squad was already dead drunk. Since it had been a while since they’d had a drink, it seemed they had indulged themselves without using their internal energy to regulate the alcohol.
At least the Twin Heroes of Guiyang and Jeok Yeong were still sober. I sent them all back to Ten Thousand Dragons Fortress.
"Where are you going, my lord?" the Twin Heroes of Guiyang asked before leaving.
"I'm going to take a little walk."
Knowing that I usually enjoyed taking walks, the Twin Heroes and Jeok Yeong withdrew without nagging. They knew there were no longer any immediate threats, nor were there any masters left who could threaten both me and the Blood Witch.
Specifically, with an Extreme Intent Realm master like Chu Bong-hwa by my side, there wasn't much to worry about.
Of course, they had initially opposed her being near me due to her notorious reputation, but they were reassured when I told them I had placed a restriction on her that would kill her if I died. And after seeing Chu Bong-hwa actually intercepting assassins to protect me, they had begun to trust the arrangement to some extent.
If they hadn't, the Twin Heroes of Guiyang would have insisted on following me on my walk.
After sending everyone away, I took a leisurely stroll, breathing in the night air.
The shock was greater than I expected.
The fact that Seol A-young was part of the Candlelit Shadows, and that Wol Hwa, whom I had known long ago, was also one of them, was a bit jarring. Wol Hwa was a woman I had shared an intimate connection with back when I was a mere third-rate weakling and we knew nothing of each other's circumstances.
Yet, all these things had approached me as if they were inevitable fates, whether I knew it or not. My heart felt heavy. The news of the internal strife within the White Hero Sect that I’d heard from Seol A-young also weighed on my mind.
As I stopped walking and hopped onto a roof, Chu Bong-hwa followed and asked, "You said you were going for a walk. Why the roof?"
"To take a piss."
"What?"
Chu Bong-hwa stared at me, looking utterly dumbfounded.
"I have a habit of pissing from rooftops."
In truth, it was a habit I’d picked up ever since I first learned lightness skills and started pissing from the pavilions of Ten Thousand Dragons Fortress.
"You filthy bastard. No wonder you were so eager to let it rip."
I replied to her remark, "Don't curse me too much. Back then, I was just struggling to survive."
Chu Bong-hwa watched me from behind as I finished and muttered, "You've lived a life of oppression until now. Whatever the cause was. That's why you want to reign over the world in this way. You feel a sense of catharsis by pouring your filth onto the world from above. Looking at this, you were either abused by your father or mother, or you experienced a wretched life at the very bottom. Your motive for pissing from roofs must be a desire for revenge to pay back those experiences."
I felt a sting at her words. Having spent my life drifting as a bottom-tier weakling, I had indeed been tasting a sense of superiority by pissing from rooftops.
"You just don't understand the Vast and Mighty Energy of a real man."
I made that excuse and climbed down from the roof.
"Where are you going now?" Chu Bong-hwa asked as she followed.
I walked on without answering. In fact, the reason I had sent Jeok Yeong and the Twin Heroes back wasn't just for a walk.
I stopped at a certain spot while walking through the main district. Behind me, Chu Bong-hwa looked at the plaque of a large building and recited the name.
"Jangak Bakmyeong Inn! That's a rather unique name for a tavern."
"Did you come to drink more? Are you a regular here?"
It was a reasonable assumption, considering we had just come from drinking at Night Candle's Radiance.
"No. I worked here as a waiter when I was young."
"Is that so? Did you come back because you're feeling sentimental now that you've become a master?"
"No. I came to do something I promised myself I'd do once I became a master."
I opened the door to the inn and stepped inside. A waiter bowed his head in greeting.
"Welcome!"
I sat where the waiter led me. Since it was past mealtime, there were only a few customers in the inn.
Sitting at a table with Chu Bong-hwa felt surreal. This woman who had tried to kill me—a master whose level I couldn't even gauge, whether she was at the Peak, Extreme Intent, or even the Transcendence Realm—was now my guard. Looking at her closely, she was truly a beauty among beauties.
Come to think of it, have I become a man guarded by a beautiful woman?
It was a pleasant thought, to say the least.
However, my mood soured the moment I saw a man coming down from the second-floor guest area. Of all the places I’d worked as a waiter, my time here had been the shortest. Yet, the reason this place remained so vivid in my memory was solely because of that man.
Eo Cheong-suk.
He was the owner of this inn and a man who practiced martial arts. He was nearly fifty and dressed in fine silks. I didn't know where he’d learned it, but he possessed martial skills roughly at the second-rate level.
Living here while being beaten by that malicious bastard was nothing short of torture. Because he knew martial arts, he only struck the most painful spots, and broken limbs were a common occurrence. There were even waiters who had died under his hand. Since he only took in orphans to exploit them, no one could protest even when they died like that.
If I turned out the inn's candles too late, or even too early, he would beat me until my whole body was limp. Simply put, he was a man who found pleasure in inflicting pain on others.
I had vowed that if I ever became a master, I would definitely deal with him. Even now, my teeth ground together when I thought of the waiter my age who had been beaten to death during a harsh winter.
Please don't ask why I didn't just run away. During a brutal winter, the probability of freezing to death outside was higher than the probability of being beaten to death, so I simply endured.
I learned at a young age that this is how the sorrow of the weak begins. The realization that one must endure. That one must endure even when it feels like death is coming. That is the sorrow of the weak and the starting point of a life at the bottom.
Patience was not a virtue for the strong. What strong person ever truly humbles themselves and endures? Do they not get angry at disadvantages and rage against injustice? They call that being a chivalrous hero, but for those of us at the bottom, rage was merely a luxury reserved for the powerful.
Now that I had become stronger than that dog, Eo Cheong-suk, was there any need for me to endure?
As killing intent flickered in my eyes, Chu Bong-hwa spoke up. "Do you have a grudge against that man?"
"I do."
"Then why are you just sitting there instead of settling it?"
"I was going to forgive him if he had changed."
"And if he hasn't?"
"Then he'll have to beg for his food for the rest of his life."
"Hmph."
Chu Bong-hwa seemed interested now that I was showing such venom.
"I wonder what kind of insane fool earned a grudge from the New Dragon of Sichuan himself? How does he plan to handle that wrath?"
Chu Bong-hwa mocked me, but I paid her no mind. My eyes were fixed solely on the innkeeper, Eo Cheong-suk.
That man had bullied and beaten me even more because we shared the same surname. I once lost consciousness for half a day after being struck by his hand, which was as large as a pot lid. Even though I could have died from a brain injury, he had kicked my unconscious body.
"What's this?"
When a limping waiter lost his balance and accidentally brushed against him, Eo Cheong-suk immediately kicked the boy in the stomach. It was a strike infused with internal energy, and the waiter collapsed without even being able to scream.
"You useless brat! I swear, you vermin only listen when you're beaten into submission."
I had once wondered if a person could be infinitely evil. Looking at Mencius's theory of original goodness versus Xunzi's theory of original evil, looking at that man made me think Xunzi was right.
Later, when I asked a drunken failed scholar about this, he gave me a clear answer. He said that Xunzi's theory didn't mean humans are inherently evil, but rather that humans are beings who pursue desire, and they become evil when they fail to control those desires. He said people misunderstand by interpreting the words too literally.
In other words, because humans are fundamentally driven by desire, they are "evil." Therefore, Xunzi argued that desire must be controlled to realize "goodness." While Mencius said humans are born with the virtue to practice righteousness, Xunzi emphasized that humans are capable of evil and must strive through artificial effort to do good.
I wanted to follow Xunzi's argument completely. If he couldn't control his own desires, then I would be the one to control them for him.
Especially for that man.
"That's enough," I said quietly.
Eo Cheong-suk’s foot, which was about to stomp on the waiter's face, faltered.
"This is none of your business, guest. These brats don't listen unless they're beaten daily."
"So you're saying you beat them every day?"
When I asked, Eo Cheong-suk’s expression soured.
"Look here, didn't I say it's not for a guest to interfere?"
"I came here to pay for a meal, but if the owner ruins the guest's appetite, shouldn't he take responsibility?"
"Are you looking for a fight?"
He was always like this. He acted threateningly even toward guests if they looked weak. I’d heard rumors that he was in league with the local thugs, and it seemed they were true. To think he would even browbeat a customer. He’d aged since the old days, but his insides hadn't changed a bit.
"It's not a fight; it's the owner depriving the guest of his right to enjoy a meal."
When I spoke somewhat firmly, his head tilted aggressively.
"Is this your first time visiting this inn, guest?"
When I didn't answer, he began a heated rant.
"You know, there's a famous inn known as the 'Cursing Old Woman's House.' They say customers go there specifically to be cursed at. That's why that old woman is so famous. I heard she even received a plaque of appreciation from the newly appointed magistrate recently. I'm doing this because I plan to follow her example. I want to get a plaque from the magistrate too. Don't you think picking fights with customers and treating waiters harshly will make me popular?"
I was speechless at the sophistry coming out of his mouth. But his words gave me the perfect opening.
"If that's the case, then I suppose it's fine to think that a guest treating the owner harshly would also be popular with the other customers? It would be even better if it's a tradition."
At my words, his eyes turned into those of a beast. Indeed, a wicked man’s gaze resembled a predator's.
"Close the doors!"
As the situation turned grim, the few remaining customers quickly fled the inn. He probably thought that since my clothes were plain, there would be no consequences for causing trouble. You've really picked the wrong day, you bastard.
"It seems the guest was intent on picking a fight from the start, but you've made a grave mistake."
He approached me with a smirk. Only then did I raise my head and look him in the eye.
Suddenly, one of the men behind Eo Cheong-suk recognized me and shouted, "The New Dragon of Sichuan?"
At those words, Eo Cheong-suk’s body froze mid-step.
"Are you... are you perhaps the Great Hero Eo Ja-seo, the New Dragon of Sichuan who resides at Ten Thousand Dragons Fortress?" the man following Eo Cheong-suk asked tentatively.
"That is what people call me."
"Then, that lady is...?"
The man pointed toward Chu Bong-hwa.
"Others call her the Blood Witch."
Only then did the man and Eo Cheong-suk realize the gravity of the situation, their faces turning pale.
"Oh, my! I didn't recognize the hero of Sichuan and spoke such nonsense."
Eo Cheong-suk suddenly let out a servile laugh and smiled at me.
"Look at me closely. See who I am."
I approached Eo Cheong-suk and spoke. He stared at me intently, and then his expression changed drastically.
"You... you're the waiter, Eo Ja-seo?"
"That's right. I see you finally remember."
"To think the waiter Eo Ja-seo would be the New Dragon of Sichuan..."
He turned ashen, his lips trembling violently.
"I assume you're prepared? Now that I've become a martial artist, I've heard people say that a gentleman's revenge is not too late even after ten years. I feel like those words were meant for me."
"Haha, what are you saying, Great Hero Eo? You are the finest chivalrous hero in all of Sichuan—"
"Cut the crap."
Thwack!
I broke off a leg from a table and began to beat him. The men who followed Eo Cheong-suk were paralyzed with fear.
I beat him for half an hour before tossing the makeshift club aside. He lay on the floor, twitching and unconscious.
"I'll be back to see how you're doing," I said, glaring at him before turning away.
"Is that supposed to be a lesson? You're far too soft."
I ignored her and headed for the door. However, Chu Bong-hwa approached the man and raised her hand.