Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Can't Hold Back on Curiosity (2)
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Yoran's tale came to an end.
Letting out a flirtatious laugh, she covered her mouth with her sleeve.
"How about it? Has that satisfied your curiosity?"
"Maybe."
"Oh dear. What a problem. Just from what you've already heard, you've racked up over thirty silver bills."
"How much is that?"
"Ten gold taels."
"I see."
Chu Un-hwi, who had been listening intently with arms crossed, chuckled at her fluttering hand gesture.
"If the information is accurate."
"Are you doubting the Hao Gate's intelligence network right now?"
"The Baek Family I know doesn't even qualify for the bottom rung of the Ten Great Families."
"That's a fact every soul in the jianghu knows!"
"No one buys information that's common knowledge. Their insides are already rotting away. They're probably starting to lose their prime businesses and racking up quite the debt by now, aren't they?"
"A family's prosperity isn't determined by gold alone."
"True. But the problem is that those assets were snatched by the Ten Great Sword Families. When your rivals grow stronger, it's only natural you look weaker by comparison, right?"
"Th-the Ten Great Sword Families made a move?"
"And that the current family head will soon name his heir? Ridiculous nonsense. The eldest son, Baek Ri-jun-yeo, botched his martial arts training—he could never become heir."
Yoran's gaze shook as if struck by an earthquake at the follow-up explanation.
The details that followed were far too precise and in-depth.
The bigger issue was...
'Could we have misinterpreted the information?'
They had already gathered similar intel themselves.
Misinterpreting critical information like this?
It could deal a massive blow to the Hao Gate's credibility.
Undeterred by her reaction, Chu Un-hwi continued.
"Ten gold taels for the info? Then triple that for the correction. And five times over to keep quiet about the Hao Gate's blunder. That makes my tab eighty gold nyang."
She had tried to squeeze ten gold out of him, and now she was in debt.
And she couldn't even argue back.
'This guy even knows the going rates.'
Rare as it was, when the Hao Gate received help correcting vital intel, the standard was triple the fee. And if promised not to leak it, five times over.
So rare few knew, but the rates reserved for a select few big shots—how did this man know them?
'I can't let him lead me around like this.'
Should she resort to force?
As Yoran considered other options...
"Too many uninvited guests for info I paid for."
Thud.
The cup in his hand vanished.
Crash!
The ceiling caved in, and a man dropped down.
Recognizing one of her guards flopping limply upside down, Yoran's face drained to pale blue.
'My god. I didn't even see him move.'
To neutralize a guard from the Oha Jamdo protecting the brothel owner.
Oha Jamdo.
Hidden blades beneath the five filth.
Elite apex experts, masters of real combat and ambushes—their reputation rang utterly hollow in this pathetic display.
This time, his chopsticks disappeared.
Thud. Thud.
The pillar and wall in the corner crumbled next, sending two more Oha Jamdo rolling across the floor.
"One or two is fine, I suppose."
He had known the Oha Jamdo's positions since entering.
An absurd master.
Her hands trembled violently.
"What are you doing? Pay with info."
"I..."
Cold sweat poured out.
Were the Oha Jamdo dead?
Three of the four guarding this place taken down in one move.
Could they have won if they had ganged up?
As fear and panic muddled her mind, a warm voice reached her.
"I don't hit women."
Clink.
Pouring liquor into a fresh cup, the demon spoke.
"I don't wish to be rude to a lady either."
Gulp.
Having shifted from ferocious beast to refined scholar in an instant, he offered the cup.
"Sorry. Deduct ten nyang for the info from eighty, leaves seventy. Minus fifty more as apology. Down to twenty gold now. Time to talk about the Infinite Pavilion."
The sudden warm breeze enveloped her, and Yoran's eyes glazed over unwittingly.
Scattering beastly aura one moment, now radiating utmost gentle warmth.
Like dipping from cold bath to hot, her mouth opened on its own.
As if hypnotized.
"The Infinite Pavilion..."
Before she knew it, she was spilling everything she knew.
"Kekekekeke."
At his old friend's words, Jegal Tan snickered.
Leaning half onto the table, his collar soaked with spilled liquor, Jegal Tan didn't care, shoulders shaking with laughter.
"Hahaha. Is that so?"
Nangong Yun-ho's gaze on his friend—who looked like a madman, a lunatic—didn't flicker.
"Yeah."
"Quite the entertaining instructor."
"Entertaining. Beyond boring... No. Sometimes I miss the old days. Having time alone, that sort of thing."
His gaze lingered vacantly on the wood grain of the pillar, as if reliving joyful memories beyond it.
"Fun. Can't remember the last time I laughed like this."
"Same as ever."
"Same as ever. Of course."
Glug glug glug.
Filling cups to overflowing, even wetting the table, Jegal Tan muttered with a silly grin.
"Living sandwiched between a brilliant little brother and an even more brilliant big brother—same as ever."
"Jegal Tan."
"Well, not all bad. Thanks to the pity, I'm living this fine life, right?"
Clink.
Flipping a silk pouch from his bosom, gold nyang poured out in a cascade.
"Heh heh heh. Money. Gold. They send plenty from home. Poor second son that I am. Deserve the pity."
"......"
Nangong Yun-ho fell silent briefly, then closed his eyes.
He now understood why his friend had fallen this far.
They bonded over shared pain, shared secrets.
Feeling kinship in being forgotten by their clans for different reasons, they knew each other's anguish intimately.
If Chu Un-hwi hadn't grabbed him, he'd be no different.
Thinking that far, Nangong Yun-ho spoke.
"Jegal Tan."
"Keh heh. What?"
Meeting his half-lidded gaze, Nangong Yun-ho proposed.
"Want to meet my instructor sometime?"
"That lunatic?"
"Won't be bad. Might gain something just from a quick meet."
Jegal Tan snickered at the offer.
"No reason to refuse a friend's recommendation. Especially when I'm bored anyway."
"Bored?"
"Was on suspension for delinquency."
"Suspension? What happened?"
"Beat up an instructor recently. Useless punk got cocky, so I pounded him near death."
"You? The lunatic who beat an instructor?"
Jegal Tan's eyes gleamed dangerously.
"Claimed he knew me, understood me—bullshit. So I smashed his mouth. Kicked his gut next, he flopped like a frog. Stomped him senseless for good measure."
"......"
"Break one more instructor's arm, and I'll flunk to Bronze Hall soon. Pretty good idea, huh?"
Seeing that chilling glint, Nangong Yun-ho wondered if he'd made a bad suggestion.
"Fine. Can't ignore my friend going this far. Kra ha ha ha!"
Watching his friend claw his head and cackle madly, Nangong Yun-ho closed his eyes.
Chu Un-hwi stood.
"Heard plenty. Thanks."
"......"
Only then did Yoran snap out of it.
"What did you do to me?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing, and I let my guard down like this?"
"Women's hearts are mysteries. Chatty when you want, now you're cold—what's that about?"
"Don't joke."
"Hahaha."
His upturned lips drew her gaze once more.
Only moments later did she jolt, realizing she'd lost consciousness, blankly watching him sip his cup.
A bizarre man.
Unfathomable aura, not a single clue to his identity.
First time in her life.
'Completely lost.'
Even coming herself, she'd gained nothing and been fleeced.
A pitying voice reached her.
"Getting acquainted with me is your best gain."
"Who are you to decide that's a gain?"
"Who knows."
"Sigh."
The enigmatic man drained his final cup and rose.
Suddenly, Yoran felt empty.
He's leaving?
The thought brought a hollow ache to her chest.
'Can't let him go like this.'
No way she'd lost composure.
Just compensating for her blunder of being led around—she desperately rationalized, urgently calling after him.
"Wait. You said you wanted to sell info too, right?"
"Yeah."
"What info?"
"Curious? It's pricey..."
"We'll pay properly."
"No thanks. You'd faint at a measly million gold nyang—you couldn't handle it."
"Tch. Let me judge that."
Snort.
Beneath fallen hair, his sealed lips curved into a smile.
"Hao Gate annihilation intel."
Expression vanished from Yoran's face.
Instinctively gripping the hidden dagger in her sleeve, she circulated qi.
"Anyone harming the Gate!"
Attack even in death.
Letting someone who spoke of her sect's doom walk free? Unthinkable.
'Mutual destruction with everyone!'
Her mind pictured striking with all her subordinates.
At least wound him once. Fellow Hao Gate members would avenge her.
As she steeled for desperate gambit, his aura shifted.
Rooooar.
Illusion?
Behind him in her vision, vast energy surged.
Jet-black mist rose, manifesting presence—she collapsed.
'No match for him.'
Pure instinct.
'Even a herd can't topple the mountain king.'
No.
Worse.
- Incomprehensible.
An impossible, unknowable being.
Crimson-black eyes glowed through thickening black mist; her pupils dilated.
Overwhelming presence bleached her mind white.
A voice came.
"Don't care what happens to the jianghu, but leaving after fanfare isn't the way. Want a taste?"
A whisper pierced her fading hearing.
- Traitors' list. Pre-sale sample.
Whisper. Whisper.
As she barely recalled the voice, Yoran forgot who she'd been talking to.
Swish.
Her gaze held only the warm seat and empty cup.
Exiting the brothel, Nangong Yun-ho waited in the distance.
Gazing at the moon, kicking roadside pebbles—Chu Un-hwi waved.
"Instructor. All done?"
"Yeah, roughly. It'll come in handy soon."
If the instructor said so.
Sniff sniff.
Sniffing, Chu Un-hwi tilted his head.
"You drank?"
"A little."
"Instructor busts his ass, and the student boozes—nice work."
"Mad?"
"Tasty?"
"Was."
"Good."
Chuckling, Chu Un-hwi slapped his shoulder.
"Skewer stand up ahead. Grab some on the way."
"From a fancy brothel to a skewer stall?"
Kids' tastes are surprisingly simple.
'Wait, not wrong?'
Petite build unfit for twenty-five.
Boyish features, skin peeking under shaggy hair.
"Coming or what?"
"Coming."
Hurrying at the nudge, Nangong Yun-ho followed.
Clear moonlight bathed their heads from the full moon above.