Monopolizing Fortunes (19)
Monopolizing Fortunes (19)
"He'll be on the second floor with the Branch Chief."
As Han Dong-san was about to step onto the second-floor stairs, he pulled three hundred mun from his pocket and handed it to a nearby thug.
"Treat the Baekdong Branch members to a meal or something."
"Oh! Thank you!"
"Thank Squad Leader Do. It's all thanks to him."
Do Tong-dal could guess why Han Dong-san was coming up with a smile spread across his face.
"Squad Leader Do!"
"Elder Han, when you come here, you look for Tong-dal before me. I'm hurt."
At that, Han Dong-san patted Wang Chil on the shoulder as if placating him.
"Today is a special day, so try to understand."
"Is there some good news?"
"Heh heh heh... Thanks to the talisman Squad Leader Do wrote for me, my daughter-in-law is with child."
"What? That's wonderful news!"
There was no one who didn't know how desperately Han Dong-san wanted a grandson.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you, thank you. It's all thanks to you, Squad Leader Do."
"I only lent a small hand. Elder Han's devotion reached the heavens."
"Do you have some time this evening? I have something urgent to ask of you."
There was no need to hear it. Do Tong-dal handed Han Dong-san the talisman he had prepared in advance.
"It's a talisman for bearing a son."
Han Dong-san's face lit up.
"A talisman for bearing a son means it helps someone have a son, right?"
"Tell your daughter-in-law to keep it on her person at all times except when bathing."
Han Dong-san grabbed Do Tong-dal's hand.
"To prepare something this precious in advance. I don't know how to express my gratitude. I'll pay you properly for the talisman."
"Please think of it as a gift from me."
"Of course it's a gift. But isn't it true that a talisman only works properly if you pay for it?"
He seemed to have heard that somewhere.
"Squad Leader Do, have you thought about coming to headquarters? As it happens, a Coordinator position is open."
A Coordinator was a post that managed each branch. In some respects, it could wield even greater power than a Branch Chief.
Even a Branch Chief moving to Coordinator was considered a promotion, so a Squad Leader moving to Coordinator was an extraordinary rise.
Wang Chil jumped up.
"Elder, are you trying to take away the Baekdong Branch's greatest asset?"
"If Squad Leader Do advances, isn't that good for you too?"
"That's true, but..."
"I can persuade the Society Leader. Think of all the merit Squad Leader Do has built up."
Do Tong-dal briefly weighed the practical benefits.
"I appreciate the offer, but I'll stay at the Baekdong Branch."
If he went to headquarters, there would be too many watching eyes, and his freedom of movement would narrow accordingly.
On top of that, a meteoric rise would obviously send Do Tong-dal's likability crashing to the bottom. As things stood, Squad Leader of Baekdong Branch's Fifth Squad was a perfect fit for him.
"That's a shame. Coordinator is a decent position."
"I'll gratefully accept the thought."
Just then, the sound of footsteps pounding up to the second floor rang out noisily.
"Branch Chief! Hwangbo Yang was attacked!"
Hwangbo Yang was Fifth Squad.
"Bo-yang?"
"Yes! His ankle is fractured and his head was split open! From what he said, it's definitely the same bastard who attacked our people on Cheonu-ro and Namgyeong-ro!"
"What kind of lunatic goes around beating up our people!"
Do Tong-dal asked.
"Did he get a look at his face?"
"He couldn't see his face because of the bamboo hat, and he says the weapon was a wooden sword."
An unidentified man in a bamboo hat carrying a wooden sword was going around back alleys beating up thugs.
So far, six members from other branches or headquarters had been hit.
"Where's Bo-yang?"
"He's on his way."
"Why bring him here? Is this a clinic?"
Do Tong-dal snapped in anger and went down to the first floor, where he saw Hwangbo Yang being carried in on someone's back.
"Let's get to the physician in black right away!"
"Huff, huff! What?"
The one carrying him looked too exhausted to go again.
"Give him to me."
"Squad Leader, there are plenty of the younger guys..."
"We have to go fast, so hand him over."
Hwangbo Yang, now on Do Tong-dal's back, fidgeted anxiously.
"Squad Leader, I'm fine. A wound like this just needs a few applications of salve."
"Idiot, that's how you end up with chronic illness. If you don't want to suffer when you're old, take care of your body while you're young. A thug's body is his fortune."
Hwangbo Yang felt tears about to burst out. Do Tong-dal was the first person who had ever said such things for his sake.
When Do Tong-dal first came to the Baekdong Branch, Hwangbo Yang had treated him with such contempt. Anyone else would have tormented Hwangbo Yang for that alone.
It wasn't a short distance, so by the time Do Tong-dal reached the physician in black's place, his whole body was drenched in sweat.
As it happened, Seon Hye-min's treatment had just ended.
"Oh my! Squad Leader Do!"
"Mrs. Seon was in the middle of her treatment. Just a moment."
Do Tong-dal laid Hwangbo Yang on the bed and urged treatment.
"Please hurry."
The physician in black grumbled that there wasn't even time to rest, but disinfected the wound and stitched it up.
"Are you hurt, Squad Leader Do?"
"No. I just brought the injured one."
After exchanging a few more words, Seon Hye-min left. By then, the treatment was finished.
"In about ten days, there'll be no problem walking."
"Thank you."
"Thank me? I just take the money and that's that."
Leaving the physician in black to light a cigarette, Do Tong-dal asked Hwangbo Yang.
"The bastard who attacked you, what kind of guy was he?"
It was something that had happened in his previous life too. There had only been injuries and no deaths, so the memory wasn't vivid.
"I couldn't see his whole face because of the bamboo hat, but from the exposed lower part of his face, he wasn't old. At most, he was around your age, Squad Leader."
"You said he used a wooden sword?"
"Yes. I drew my blade too, but fuck, I wasn't a match for him. He just went whoosh! flash! and next thing I knew, I was on the ground. Embarrassing as hell. Ugh—! If I ever meet that bastard again...!"
"If you meet him again, can you win?"
"I'd call you, Squad Leader. Heh heh!"
The physician in black gave him a crude crutch, so there was no need to carry him on the way back.
'Who is he?'
According to his memory, about ten Red Tiger Society thugs had been hit. The neighboring Haerang Society and Black Dragon Society had suffered similar damage.
The mysterious man who had stirred up the night streets of Hangzhou like that had vanished without a trace one day.
'No matter how I think about it, he's definitely from the martial world.'
Many thugs had been beaten without even putting up proper resistance. If someone around Do Tong-dal's age had that kind of skill, it was reasonable to think he was from the martial world.
'Is he just someone who hates the Underworld?'
There were too few pieces to fit together, so no picture emerged. After racking his brain, Do Tong-dal decided to simply forget it.
Even if he didn't know the wooden-sword man's identity, nothing would go wrong. But then the man appeared before Do Tong-dal.
He was on his way back alone after making a round of his managed territory. It was an alley so narrow that the fingertips of his outspread hands could touch both walls.
In the right hand of the man with the bamboo hat pulled down low was a wooden sword.
"Give me one bout."
Youth seeped through the voice he had deliberately lowered. He really was no older than Do Tong-dal's age.
"I need to know the reason before I fight."
"Because you're a thug who deserves a beating."
"That's a ridiculous reason. If you want to play wandering hero, there are better places for it."
"Once I finish my business here, I'll go to a better place. So pick up your weapon."
Do Tong-dal drew his dagger from the back of his waist. As the blade came into view, the bamboo-hat man's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as if he were nervous.
'With that skill, he gets nervous because a thug drew a blade?'
"Hoo—!"
The bamboo-hat man let out a long breath as if shaking off the tension.
Swish—.
The bamboo-hat man moved his right foot forward and raised the wooden sword to the center of his body. It was unmistakably a martial arts starting stance.
'He doesn't have much experience.'
In an alley like this, a long wooden sword was a fatal disadvantage. Unless, of course, he had the confidence to offset that disadvantage.
He was fast. The bamboo-hat man closed a distance of three jang in an instant. It was a speed Do Tong-dal had only seen from Jang Yu-seom.
The wooden sword came down aimed at Do Tong-dal's head. Do Tong-dal twisted his body to the right and blocked the wooden sword with his dagger.
The wooden sword, deflected by the short blade, grazed past Do Tong-dal's shoulder. In that brief instant, Do Tong-dal kicked off the ground.
When fighting someone who used a long wooden sword in an alley like this, close range was essential.
Do Tong-dal pressed in close and slashed upward from below with his dagger. He was probably the first thug to block the bamboo-hat man's attack.
Startled, the bamboo-hat man stepped back and thrust with the wooden sword. But there wasn't enough distance to complete the thrust.
Before his arm could even extend, Do Tong-dal drove into the bamboo-hat man's chest. He had seized the initiative by exploiting the opening, and he had to maintain that momentum to the end.
The bamboo-hat man was frantic to retreat. If the space had been wide, he could have swung the wooden sword to create distance from Do Tong-dal, but the sword he swung unconsciously kept hitting the walls.
Even so, the fact that he avoided Do Tong-dal's attacks showed he was certainly a master.
Slash!
The front of the bamboo-hat man's clothes was cut. From the feel in his hand, Do Tong-dal could tell he had only cut cloth.
'It should have been deeper.'
If he didn't subdue him quickly, the bamboo-hat man would grow accustomed to the space. Objectively speaking, the bamboo-hat man's martial arts were a cut above Do Tong-dal's.
If he had been mediocre, he would already be bleeding on the ground.
But then the bamboo-hat man's hands and feet suddenly grew clumsy. His instantaneous reactions slowed, and he was too busy retreating to even counterattack.
It had started right after Do Tong-dal's dagger cut the front of his clothes. His expression was hidden by the bamboo hat, but the bamboo-hat man was showing fear with his whole body.
No matter how outstanding one's martial arts, if a firm heart doesn't back them up, one cannot display one's true skill.
Do Tong-dal had seen countless such people on the battlefield. He had been like that at first too, and yet he had survived by luck and become Jeonsalgwi.
Do Tong-dal's dagger cut the bamboo-hat man's thigh.
"Ugh!"
The bamboo-hat man let out a stifled groan as his back hit the dead-end wall. In that instant, Do Tong-dal knocked the wooden sword aside and placed his dagger against the man's neck.
Now he could clearly see the bamboo-hat man's trembling jaw. The wooden sword rolled on the ground.
Do Tong-dal pulled off the bamboo hat. The face of a man who looked about twenty was covered in fear so pitiful it was hard to look at.
"Who are you?"
"I... I'm..."
When the blade touched his Adam's apple, the man's face went pale as a sheet of paper.
"Your name."
"I... I... Namgung Cheol-hyeon."
It wasn't a common surname, and he had heard the name somewhere before.
'Wait!'
It was a distant past, and from now, a far-off future. Because the name carried such enormous weight in the martial world, even the vermin of the Underworld had heard it.
"Are you from the Namgung Clan?"
Namgung Cheol-hyeon swallowed hard, and his Adam's apple scraped against the blade.
"You're the Young Head of the Namgung Clan, aren't you?"
There was no answer, but his expression made it clear the guess wasn't wrong.
'The Young Head of the Namgung Clan is this much of a coward? But Namgung Cheol-hyeon definitely becomes the Clan Head of the Namgung Clan and makes his name resound through the martial world.'
Namgung Cheol-hyeon's firm character could be seen from his epithet, the Iron-Blooded Sword.
"Why are you doing this?"
"S... sparring..."
He could roughly guess. To cure his own timidity, he was roaming the back alleys picking fights.
Opponents who were armed, yet too weak to pose a threat to him.
Namgung Cheol-hyeon was going through the process of overcoming his fear that way. And of all things, he had run into Do Tong-dal during that process.
'What do I do about this?'
He couldn't kill him, and he hadn't committed a capital offense. But he couldn't just send him back, either, given the considerable damage done to the Red Tiger Society.
'Anyway, he becomes the Clan Head of the Namgung Clan later.'
Compared to the Underworld, the Namgung Clan was heaven above heaven. Even if he would never be entangled with Do Tong-dal in his lifetime, building a connection might prove useful someday.
"You're going around doing foolish things."
Do Tong-dal stepped back and sheathed his dagger. Namgung Cheol-hyeon looked at Do Tong-dal with a face mixing relief and confusion.
"Do you think fighting a few thugs will make your fear disappear?"
"H... how did you...?"
"Anyone who isn't a fool could guess. Do you want to overcome your fear?"
Namgung Cheol-hyeon gulped and nodded.
"Then face real fear. Not an opponent you can use to comfort yourself that you're making an effort."
Namgung Cheol-hyeon's face reddened and he lowered his head. He knew what Do Tong-dal meant. But if he'd had the courage to face fear, he wouldn't have started doing this in the first place.
"I... don't know what to do. How do you not feel fear?"
"Who says I have no fear?"
"You have that too?"
Do Tong-dal let out a short laugh.
* * *