Monopolizing Fortunes (163)
Monopolizing Fortunes (163)
"How dare some worthless punks come into my restaurant and cause trouble! My nephew is a disciple of Mount Hua Sect! Mount Hua Sect!"
Yu Yeong-jeon did the beating, and Yu Chang-gu did the posturing. Yu Yeong-jeon spoke to the fallen thugs.
"If you ever cause trouble at my uncle's shop again, I will wipe out your entire Underworld. Remember that."
"What kind of shit-stain bastard is running his mouth about wiping out the Underworld?"
Yu Yeong-jeon turned his gaze to Wang Du-sik, who was stepping through the entrance. The slight surprise was because of that huge frame.
"Are you a thug like these bastards too?"
"Nah, I'm a different kind of thug from those bastards."
"A different thug?"
"Ignorant punk. You think all thugs are the same? Anyway, can you take responsibility for that?"
Wang Du-sik pointed at the thugs who were crawling away on all fours.
"You beat up our boys like that...... oh dear, that one's leg is broken. Tsk, tsk, tsk...... poor thing, what a shame."
The last words were aimed at Yu Yeong-jeon.
"You've probably scared a lot of people with that size, but do you think that kind of bluff will work on me?"
"Because you're a Mount Hua disciple, right?"
"You know who I am and you still intend to fight?"
"Let's see how impressive Mount Hua martial arts really are."
There were always fools who acted up just because of their size. But raw natural strength could never defeat martial arts.
"You little whelp!"
He didn't want to drag this out. Fighting thugs at all was already enough to invite ridicule.
Yu Yeong-jeon launched himself at Wang Du-sik. He was confident that he could finish it in one blow with the First Form Fist, without even needing Mount Hua's finest techniques.
Thwack!
Yu Yeong-jeon's fist slammed precisely into Wang Du-sik's jaw. But the feeling transmitted through his fist was strange.
It hadn't landed properly—it felt like punching a sandbag with a heavy body.
"What did you just do? Don't tell me that was supposed to be a punch?"
Wang Du-sik didn't even seem to have turned his head.
"What the hell is this bastard!"
Yu Yeong-jeon put Internal Energy into it and struck with full force. It might kill him, but he figured there was no helping it.
The sound of impact rang out again, but the feeling was exactly the same as the first time.
"A little girl flicking me on the forehead would hurt more than that. You little shit."
With a thwack, Yu Yeong-jeon flew backward. The pain was as if his spine had completely snapped and a hole had been punched through his stomach.
Crash!
Yu Yeong-jeon tumbled, smashing an overturned table, and tried to get up but dropped to one knee.
"Cough!"
Blood gushed from his mouth.
"What's this? It's over in one hit? Is Mount Hua really this pathetic?"
"Do not...... insult Mount Hua Sect!"
Yu Yeong-jeon drew his sword. He should have done this from the start. He had dismissed the man as a mere thug and suffered irreversible internal injuries.
He used the sword as a cane to rise to his feet. Even if he could only use half his usual Internal Energy, that alone would be enough.
Mount Hua had not given him the sobriquet Blue Wind Sword for nothing.
"Yeah. Struggle like that so I can hit you at least one more time."
Yu Yeong-jeon launched himself at the sneering Wang Du-sik. His strength wasn't properly behind it, but it was enough to cut down one man.
The sword slashed at Wang Du-sik's neck.
Thwack!
'Huh?'
The sound was strange. This was definitely not the sound of cutting. The sword had clearly touched his neck, but it could not move any further.
"This is insane......!"
Invulnerability to blades! There was no way a mere thug could have reached such a realm.
"I'm the idiot for getting my hopes up."
Wang Du-sik's fist slammed into Yu Yeong-jeon's face. His nose shattered and six teeth flew out of his mouth.
This was the result of holding back; if he had used full force, the head would have been completely smashed.
"Not killing someone isn't easy, you know."
Wang Du-sik picked up the fallen sword and slashed open the chest of the unconscious Yu Yeong-jeon. He pressed the tip of the sword to the chest, then muttered, "Ah! I can't read."
"Is there anyone among you who knows how to write?"
The thugs just looked at each other.
"I...... I know how."
The person who raised his hand with a terrified face was not a thug but a waiter.
"Bastards worse than a waiter. You, come here."
The waiter belatedly regretted raising his hand. Wang Du-sik handed the sword to the waiter who came close.
"Write 'Mount Hua idiot' on this bastard's chest."
"Excuse me?"
"Why? Don't you know how to write?"
"Ah...... I do know, but how......."
"Want me to stick this sword in your chest and show you how deep it goes?"
Leaving a scar on someone else's chest was far easier than having his own chest split open.
The waiter left the words "Mount Hua idiot" on Yu Yeong-jeon's chest in handwriting that looked like a worm crawling.
As Wang Du-sik was about to leave, his gaze landed on Yu Chang-gu, who was trembling in a corner.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk...... picking a fight with Brother like that. That old man doesn't have long to live either."
Yu Chang-gu collapsed to the ground even though no harm had come to him. That was the moment he resolved to sell off this tiresome restaurant.
* * *
Because Yu Chang-gu's nerves remained on edge, Yu Baek-sang couldn't even open his mouth about the gambling debt.
But that didn't mean he had the ability to repay one thousand five hundred nyang on his own.
While he fretted, the fifteen days the gambling house had given him passed.
'Fuck, there are national laws. They can't really cut off my wrist. If I tell them to go ahead and gut me, what can they do?'
If he just lay down and refused to pay, they would surely beg him to at least return the principal. That was the nature of the loan sharks who lent money at gambling houses.
Yu Baek-sang was fiddling with the ten nyang of silver in his pocket. His hands had been itching unbearably because he hadn't gambled for fifteen days.
"I should get in a round today. I've almost finished my work, so should I leave early?"
Just thinking about gambling made his hips twitch on their own.
"Hwang-guk!"
Yu Baek-sang called over Hwang-guk, who was working, and left him to tidy up. Yu Silk was quite large in scale.
The shop reached three hundred pyeong, and the four warehouses in the back courtyard were full of high-quality silk. It was not something that could be seized for a mere nine hundred nyang at a gambling house.
This shop alone was worth at least five thousand nyang of silver. He picked up his outer coat draped over the back of a chair and was about to leave when someone came in.
"Father......."
Yu Chang-gu grabbed Yu Baek-sang by the collar without warning.
"Gah! F...... Father...... why are you doing this?"
"Why? Why? You crazy bastard! You've set your mind on ruining this family! How could you rack up a debt of five thousand nyang at a gambling house!"
"Th...... that's not it...... it's not five thousand nyang...... it's one...... one thousand five hundred......."
At that moment, someone's voice rang out.
"It's over five thousand nyang, and I even knocked off the odd amount, so why say something so hurtful?"
The man who entered with four thugs was Wang Il-seok, the head of the Songrak Society, which had recently taken over the Jammu Society.
Yu Chang-gu was sick to death of thugs.
"Why are you here!"
"Why else? I came to collect the money I lent."
"I'm not paying! Why should I repay money lent through cheating at a gambling house! And the principal is one thousand five hundred nyang—does it make sense for it to become five thousand nyang in fifteen days!"
No matter how angry Yu Chang-gu got, Wang Il-seok answered smoothly.
"What doesn't make sense is Merchant Yu's attitude of borrowing money and refusing to repay it."
"I won't pay! I won't pay, so get the hell out!"
"Why are you being like this? If I left just because you told me to, would I be a thug? Boys, Merchant Yu says he can't pay."
A bald man with a black eyepatch over his left eye drew a blade two ja long from behind his back.
"Y...... you bastards! A...... are you not afraid of the national law!"
"We all know the officials are on our side, so let's not waste our breath."
When Wang Il-seok nodded, one thug grabbed Yu Baek-sang from behind. Then another grabbed both arms and placed Yu Baek-sang's hand on the desk.
"We said that if you couldn't repay by today, we'd cut off both wrists, so we have to keep our promise. Our reputation is our life, after all."
The one-eyed man with the blade strode forward.
"You bastards! Stop! Are you even human! Stop it!"
Yu Chang-gu's shouts were hollow, and his attempts to intervene were powerless. The one-eyed man walked past Yu Chang-gu, who was held by thugs and flailing his empty hands in the air, and stood beside Yu Baek-sang.
"Cut."
As soon as Wang Il-seok's words fell, the blade rose without hesitation. No matter how worthless a son was, no parent could watch their child's arm be cut off before their eyes.
"I'll pay! I'll give you five thousand nyang, so stop!"
"Stop!"
The blade, about to fall, halted in midair. But the one-eyed man did not sheathe it; he only looked at Wang Il-seok. Wang Il-seok spoke to Yu Chang-gu.
"If those words are a lie, both arms and even your legs will be cut off."
"I am Yu Chang-gu, owner of the Yu Merchant Company! Do you think I can't come up with a measly five thousand nyang?"
"I only trust the money in front of me."
"One month! If you give me one month......."
"One month? That's not bad. The daily interest on five thousand nyang is ten percent, so after one month......."
Even a rough calculation suggested it would easily exceed twenty thousand nyang. That was an enormous sum that couldn't be raised even by liquidating the entire Yu Merchant Company.
"You bastard! Does it make sense for daily interest to be ten percent!"
"It's not me saying it—the loan agreement is."
Yu Chang-gu, trembling with rage, let the strength drain from his body.
"I'll hand over the silk shop and the tea house as written in the loan agreement."
* * *
"Every human has a weakness. Once you find that weakness, using them isn't hard. Still, this Merchant Yu case leaves a bad taste. It was a bit harsh as a price for touching Seol-rin's backside. A thug shouldn't care about other people's circumstances, but maybe I'm not cut out to be a thug after all?"
"Brother, what are you muttering about?"
Wang Du-sik, sitting across from him, suddenly asked.
"Huh? Nothing."
Do Tong-dal emptied the cup he had been fiddling with.
"But what brings you to the pleasure house three days in a row to sit here with me? I'm happy about it, of course. Heh heh heh......."
"It's about time. They're later than I expected."
"Who?"
Do Tong-dal glanced at the door and smiled.
"Looks like they're here."
The door burst open and three men entered the room. Even for a pleasure house, barging in without announcing themselves was rude behavior.
Wang Du-sik's expression twisted sharply.
"What kind of bastards barge in while I'm having a cozy drink with Brother?"
From their blue martial uniforms alone, it was clear they were from Mount Hua Sect.
Thanks to having studied Mount Hua Sect in his spare time, he knew that the three men were Plum Blossom Swordsmen.
Plum Blossom Swordsmen was a title that only the most outstanding young disciples of Mount Hua Sect in martial arts and talent could receive.
Originally they had been called the Seventy-Two Plum Blossom Swordsmen, but now the number seventy-two had disappeared. That was because the number of Plum Blossom Swordsmen had grown to two hundred.
That didn't mean the martial level of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen had evened out. It was because so many prodigies were flocking to Mount Hua Sect, which had entered a period of revival.
"Judging by your appearance, you must be Wang Du-sik."
"And who the hell are you?"
Do Tong-dal sighed inwardly. No matter how ignorant he was of the martial world, how could he see those uniforms and not recognize Mount Hua's Plum Blossom Swordsmen?
'Should I make him study?'
He immediately dropped the thought. If he tried to make Wang Du-sik study, either Wang Du-sik would die of frustration or Do Tong-dal would crack his skull open.
"We are the Plum Blossom Swordsmen of Mount Hua Sect. Can you not tell even from these uniforms?"
"Fuck, there's no writing on them, and even if there were, I can't read, so what good is that?"
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen let out small sighs. Their faces showed self-reproach, as if asking, 'Do we really have to deal with a guy like this?'
"Are you the one who left Senior Brother Yu in that state?"
"Senior Brother Yu? Who's that?"
"I mean Yu Yeong-jeon."
"Yu Yeong-jeon, what kind of fucking... ah! That weakling from the restaurant! I heard somewhere that Mount Hua is pretty strong, but rumors really can't be trusted."
The Plum Blossom Swordsman bristled.
"You're getting cocky just because you beat one lay disciple! Today I'll make sure you learn Mount Hua's terror!"
"Heh heh heh...... so you're stronger than that weakling? I might get to enjoy myself today."
The Plum Blossom Swordsman with sharply slanted eyes that gave a fierce impression spoke.
"The words you left on my senior brother's chest alone are enough to warrant death."
"Those words, 'Mount Hua idiot'? I didn't write those."
"Are you trying to deny it now! Didn't you order the waiter to write it!"
"You know full well the waiter wrote it, yet you say I did."
"It's the same as you writing it!"
"I gave the order, and the waiter wrote it. You should get your facts straight."
* * *