Chapter 61 — Shoot Flying Twin Swords, Ak Wi-cheon
Yi Do turned his head.
Unexpectedly, the four guardians of the Three Flowers' Drunken Gathering made no move at all.
They merely asked him.
"No regrets?"
"Should I have them?"
"……Most men do. If you don't…… very well."
That was all. None of the four acted. They didn't draw their weapons, and they didn't raise the stakes.
Yi Do, who had been staring at them coolly, let out a dry chuckle. It was a plainly obvious signal that they intended to do nothing. He slid the Cloud Dragon Sword back into its sheath.
His gaze shifted to the man sprawled on the floor.
"You. What's your name?"
"M-me…… me, sir?"
Yi Do repeated himself.
"I asked what your name is."
"I…… I am…… Ok…… Ok Ui-gyeong."
"Ok Ui-gyeong. As of today, you are the branch head."
"……Pardon?"
"I trust you'll make a different choice than your predecessor did."
Ok Ui-gyeong was dumbstruck.
He had no choice but to be.
What in the world is this lunatic saying?
Then Yi Do turned on his heel and simply walked out. Myeong Hyeon and Un Dohyeon followed behind him.
None of it made sense.
Weren't you going to kill us all……?
And that very evening, the entirety of Cheonlim's Sambong branch, Ok Ui-gyeong included, was left in stunned disbelief.
"Halt-! Not a single soul moves."
Dozens of men in golden robes came crashing into the Cheonlim branch office.
"By order of the magistrate! Stop what you're doing this instant and kneel where you stand!"
Jaws hung wide open.
That deranged bastard Yi Do.
"Heh heh heh…… Will this much suffice?"
I nodded at No Dae-won's words. He was a man who was remarkably easy to deal with.
"What should we use as the official justification?"
"Aren't there plenty? Illegal trade, attempted smuggling of goods the state never sanctioned, tax evasion — tack on anything you like. And if you wish to make it a little bigger, throw in human trafficking as well."
Any pretext would do. It was a black market, after all.
How would anyone know what actually went on inside a black market?
In a forgotten corner of Cheonlim's black market, human trafficking had in fact been happening without anyone's knowledge. Announce it publicly, press a few captured criminals into testifying that we were the true victims of that trafficking, and true or not, Cheonlim's reputation would surely plummet into the dirt.
Cheonlim would inevitably protest and try to fight back, but this time even they wouldn't be able to move freely.
Because the magistrate's office was involved.
Cases like mine — people who touched the government and walked away unscathed — were vanishingly rare. However impressive Cheonlim was, in the end they were nothing more than merchants.
"Incidentally, this haul is truly staggering."
"As promised, I'll take half, and the magistrate takes half."
At that, No Dae-won shook his head.
"Tsk, what kind of talk is that? If you insist on that, you'll only wound me."
As I tried to parse the true meaning behind his words, No Dae-won said with a smile,
"Take seventy percent. I'll content myself with thirty."
I was genuinely startled. If I may emphasize the point once more — I was truly, genuinely startled.
"Honestly, what have I even done? I merely summoned a few constables and stepped out for a brief excursion. Thirty percent is more than sufficient, I'd say."
"Truly. To govern state affairs with such boldness — I'm impressed for the first time in a long while. You are clearly a man worthy of far more than a county magistracy."
"Heh heh heh. Now, now, no need for such flattery."
No Dae-won drew a little closer and murmured under his breath.
"That matter you spoke of before — I place it in your hands. And I trust you'll see this affair through cleanly as well."
I laughed.
"Worry not."
"Heh heh heh. Then I shall take my leave. You there! From that pile to that one — it looks to be roughly thirty percent. Carry only that and return to the office."
"Yes, Magistrate."
And so No Dae-won departed.
The goods were piled up in staggering quantity.
"Un Dohyeon."
"Y-yes!"
I handed the ledger I'd been holding to the young man.
"Compare what the magistrate just took against what remains, and mark it down accordingly."
"Yes. I will see to it."
"And don't touch the elixirs, but if there's any armament that catches your eye, take it."
"Wh— no, Sect Master, I couldn't possibly. How could I deserve such……"
"Take it."
"……Yes. Understood."
"Myeong Hyeon, you too."
"……Really?"
"Yes."
Myeong Hyeon smiled awkwardly. There was an undercurrent of unease in that smile, and understandably so.
Because he knew exactly what was coming next.
"They say even a ghost dead of gluttony cuts a fine figure, so very well. I'll eat first and worry later."
Around the hour of the Pig (9 to 11 in the evening), a man appeared before the Sambong branch.
Wearing a black bamboo hat and a mask, even his long robe was black — anyone unfamiliar might have mistaken him for an assassin. The two swords at his waist were anything but ordinary from their scabbards alone: one bore a white tiger painted upon it, the other a white dragon.
Standing before the entrance of the Sambong branch, the man let out a soft, involuntary laugh.
How curious.
What a fascinating man.
He was not referring to himself.
He had pushed the door open.
He meant the man sitting directly across from him.
That man, legs crossed, hand resting on the hilt of the Cloud Dragon Sword driven into the floor — truly…… he was an infuriating man.
The Cruel Mad Devil, Yi Do.
Yi Do spoke.
"You're late."
"……You were waiting for me?"
"I assumed you'd come by day's end, but I hadn't realized you'd be this slow. I nearly fell asleep, you know."
Heh.
Look at that confidence.
Truly.
Enough to drive a man mad.
The man removed his bamboo hat, then pulled down his mask.
He looked to be in his early forties. A head of moderate size, eyes that weren't small, a nose neither low nor plain. Taken as a whole, it was the face of a man who might once have been called handsome in his youth.
Yi Do's reaction was flat.
"……I take it you don't know me."
"I don't."
"I'm called Shoot Flying Twin Swords. You still don't?"
"Am I supposed to?"
"……Most men would. But fine. I am Ak Wi-cheon."
"From Cheonlim, then."
"Yes, from Cheonlim. You know full well why I've come."
A dry chuckle broke across Yi Do's lips.
"Then say it with your own mouth."
"……Your tone sounds like an order. Do I look like one of your branch underlings?"
"Hardly. If anything, I look down on you from below that."
Crack — veins stood out on Ak Wi-cheon's forehead.
Hoo.
He drew in a long breath.
"I've come to take back Cheonlim's property."
Yi Do sneered.
"I haven't the faintest idea what you mean."
"……Your games go too far. Hand it over. It is ours."
"No. It isn't yours anymore. It's mine now."
"Then pay the price for keeping it."
"Haven't I already paid it?"
"……What?"
"Have you forgotten what happened in Jushin County?"
Yi Do's expression did not waver.
"Things have escalated this far, and still you tell me lies."
"……"
"There are limits even to shamelessness. Deny it one more time, and I will stake everything I have to crush every black market you possess, down to the last one."
"……Have you lost your mind?"
"No, I am perfectly sane. Yeonseong. Changdeokjin. Seogwang Commandery. Haeyeong Commandery. Hwangdeok Commandery. Seongnyong County. Gwanmun Commandery. Wolgang Commandery. Seongju Commandery."
With each name from Yi Do's lips, Ak Wi-cheon's face hardened further.
"Shall I walk you through it? Starting today, I will set aside every matter in Sambong County and make the rounds of every region I just named. I will reduce them all to rubble, and I will distribute everything inside them, every last item, to the common people of those regions."
"……"
"The elixirs, we will eat until there are no more to eat, and once we're too bloated to swallow another, we'll scatter what remains. And if scattering still leaves some behind, we'll stomp them into garbage. Then I will demolish every supply line that feeds goods to your Cheonlim."
Yi Do rose from his seat and drew the Cloud Dragon Sword.
He walked slowly toward Ak Wi-cheon.
Close. Close enough to smell his breath, Yi Do stopped and looked down at him.
"And then I will use the magistrate's office to brand Cheonlim as a human trafficking syndicate."
"……You believe that would actually work?"
"You still don't seem to understand."
"What is it I fail to understand?"
"When I intend for something to happen, it does happen. Right now, you have not one but two chances to stop me. Care to hear them?"
"……Go ahead."
"The first is to kill me here and now. If, by some miracle, I die, Cheonlim will be named the mastermind — briefly. There's no evidence, after all. Isn't that right?"
"……And the second?"
"To admit the truth."
"……Admit?"
"You started this fight. I paid a proper, honest price for the goods I bought in Wi County. And you sold my information anyway. And now here you are, standing in front of me, denying it again and again. Dragging a conversation out this long with worthless trash has left my mouth sore. Make your choice."
Ak Wi-cheon clenched his teeth.
"……I admit it."
"Admit what?"
"……That our Cheonlim sold your information."
"Why?"
"The five-hundred-year ginseng and the Cloud Dragon Sword were both items we had our eyes on. The ginseng was one thing, but there was a noble willing to pay five thousand nyang in gold for the Cloud Dragon Sword."
Yi Do had a good guess as to who that was.
"Bang Ju-hon of the Imperial Sword Sect?"
"……Sharp as a ghost, aren't you. Correct."
"So you sold my information."
"Yes. Consider it a warning."
Yi Do's brow twitched.
"I looked into your back trail and found you'd done plenty of interesting things. Killed the Gold Army, subdued that Blood-Blood Asura and made him your underling. Fascinating. And I scattered word of your deeds to the Killing Curtain, the Murim Alliance, and to the Heaven Battle Gate and the Lower Gate."
Put simply, he had taken revenge on the man responsible for squandering an opportunity to reap an enormous profit.
By Cheonlim's standards, of course.
A smile spread across Yi Do's lips.
"I like you much better now that you've admitted it."
"……I won't demand the life of Wi Won-gwang or the goods the magistrate seized. So hand over the rest of Cheonlim's property."
Yi Do spoke as though the words itself were absurd.
"Cheonlim's property? There's nothing here but my own things."
"You said you'd give it back if I admitted it."
What followed left Ak Wi-cheon utterly flabbergasted. Yi Do pressed his left index finger firmly against Ak Wi-cheon's forehead.
"Why can't you grasp plain speech?"
"……What?"
"I said that if you admitted the truth, I would stop demolishing your other Cheonlim branches. The branch I smashed today isn't among them. Is that so hard to understand?"
Ak Wi-cheon slapped the finger away.
"So you intend to keep all of it? Knowing full well it belongs to Cheonlim?"
"And why shouldn't I?"
"……"
"You sold my information, so I will take your goods. If merchants are this slow at arithmetic, how do you expect to run a market at all?"
Ak Wi-cheon closed his eyes.
It seemed he had resolved upon something. He opened them. Yi Do saw the two eyes, sunken and dark. He licked his lips.
The corners of Ak Wi-cheon's mouth, which had been glaring at Yi Do in silence, slowly curled upward.
"Ha…… hahahahahaha!"
He burst into wild laughter. Then, abruptly, it stopped.
"……I'd known you were no ordinary man, but I never imagined this. Fine. Take every single item that came out of Sambong County's black market. With that, the debt and grievance between you and our Cheonlim is settled, clean and whole. Will you accept that understanding?"
Yi Do nodded. And to him, Ak Wi-cheon added,
"Then let me bring out my new business."
"Go ahead."
"We want to reopen a black market in Sambong County. Is there anything you want in return?"
A smile spread across Yi Do's lips. Truly.
"Now we're finally speaking the same language."
Who ruled Sambong County?
The name of one man, beyond all dispute, had been seared into everyone's mind. Yi Do.
Yi Do ruled Sambong County. Not the Asura Sword Sect — Yi Do.
Reopening a black market here required Yi Do's permission.
Sambong County's position was excellent. Situated near the border, it was a place where every manner of martial artist passed through in search of cheap goods, and its commerce had flourished accordingly. The local clans here were no pushovers either.
It was a place where money flowed. That much was certain.
Yi Do spoke.
"Bring me twenty percent of the black market's gross revenue."
Ak Wi-cheon's brow twitched.
"Twenty percent of gross revenue?"
"Yes. Gross revenue."
Not gross profit — gross revenue. That was an enormous difference.
If the market took in one hundred nyang of silver, Yi Do was demanding twenty.
But when the market grossed one hundred nyang, its actual take was at most around forty nyang. Demanding half of that — this was far too steep.
"Is there room to negotiate?"
"That depends entirely on what you say next."
"……Ten percent of net profit. And every month, we'll send ten century-old ginseng roots to this Sambong branch."
"Now you sound like a merchant. Ten percent of net profit, and twenty century-old ginsengs a month — that seems about right."
"……One more condition, then. I'd like your branch members to provide escorts."
"Escorts?"
"Have at least half your people guard the market from its opening to its close. It's not a bad offer for you, either. Touching the ledgers is absolutely forbidden, but if you watch the entire process of goods being bought and sold, gauging roughly what revenue was taken becomes a simple matter. What do you say to my proposal?"
"Deal."
Ak Wi-cheon extended his hand.
Yi Do clasped it.
Yi Do asked,
"I'm curious about one thing. Care to answer?"
"Go ahead."
"Why did you go along with my deal?"
It would have been an utterly out-of-nowhere question.
But both of them knew. Everything said just moments ago had been spoken for one purpose — to provoke Ak Wi-cheon in one way or another.
Yi Do had no intention of bowing to Cheonlim, and no intention of handing over Cheonlim's goods either. If it came to it, he would have killed Ak Wi-cheon on the spot and trampled everything Cheonlim possessed. And Ak Wi-cheon knew that with absolute certainty.
He answered.
"……It wasn't the outcome I wanted, but I judged that rather than make a lunatic like you my enemy, better to join hands. I have no regrets. Even if I take heat from above, this decision will not change."
"Good to hear."
"Now, will you let go of my hand?"
Yi Do released his grip. A vivid red handprint from Yi Do's fingers was stamped across Ak Wi-cheon's palm.
"Quite a grip you have. And remarkably pure internal energy, too."
Ak Wi-cheon turned without another word. As he opened the door to leave, he paused for a moment and looked back at Yi Do.
"Dragging the magistrate into this — I never saw that coming. Impressive."
"And?"
"I'd like Cheonlim's people in your jail released by the end of the day."
Yi Do nodded. They now had reason to accommodate one another. Business partners now.
Though partners with a very clear hierarchy.
"Worry not. They'll be out before tomorrow morning."
"……Understood."
And with that, Ak Wi-cheon was gone.
Only then did Myeong Hyeon, who had been waiting behind the door, step out.
"……Truly. You're incredible."
Yi Do's gaze turned to Myeong Hyeon.
"In what way?"
"……That was Ak Wi-cheon, sir. Shoot Flying Twin Swords — a master on the very threshold of the Realm of Harmony. A former elder of the Ganghwa Sword Gate in the Yeon Nation's Geumgwang Commandery, a master among masters who once dominated that entire region."
Yi Do hadn't known.
But even knowing would have changed nothing. In a serious exchange, the distance between them was simply too close. If he'd been prepared to take a wound or two, he could inevitably have taken Ak Wi-cheon's head. A prolonged fight might have worked against him, but Yi Do's strength lay in instantaneous firepower.
His raw explosive power rivaled that of a martial artist standing at the very peak of the Five Qi Origin Realm. Perhaps it stood even higher.
He had been confident, without question.
"……Just…… incredible. Beyond words, honestly."
Un Dohyeon, standing beside him, wholeheartedly agreed.
He constantly shattered common sense with his actions — and then somehow twisted every one of them into profit.
Incredible was exactly the right word.
Yi Do laughed.
"Now all that's left is to wait for Cheonlim's swift intelligence to spread."
Un Dohyeon nodded his head vigorously, his face brimming with admiration.
And the next morning —
A royal dispatch bearing the seal of the Asura Sword Sect's sect master, bearing the highest-tier ninefold mark, arrived in Sambong County.