Monopolizing Fortunes (35)
Monopolizing Fortunes (35)
Hwang Seon-jung knew perfectly well that Do Tong-dal was a figurehead Deputy Branch Chief who got tormented by Seo Cheol-bang every day.
"All right. I'll promise you the Branch Chief seat here at the Seo-ung Branch. I'll stake my honor on getting the Society Leader to agree."
He'd thought it was an extraordinary offer, but Do Tong-dal's reaction was lukewarm.
"What would I do as Branch Chief of the Seo-ung Branch, where there's not even anything decent to eat? The Namgyeong Branch Chief, now, that'd be different."
"Th-the Namgyeong Branch?"
The Namgyeong Branch could be called the heart of the Red Tiger Society. It was lined with the finest pleasure houses, and it even had two gambling halls that did excellent business.
The Namgyeong Branch, which produced four-tenths of the Red Tiger Society's income, was therefore managed directly by the Society Leader.
"You know as well as I do that the Namgyeong Branch belongs to the Society Leader."
"I know."
"And you're asking for it?"
"If I go in as Branch Chief, does that make it mine? I'd just be managing it."
Hwang Seon-jung shook his head from side to side.
"There's no way the Society Leader would give you that."
* * *
"Give it to him."
"Pardon?"
"Seat Do Tong-dal as Branch Chief of the Namgyeong Branch."
"Do you know how much income that place brings in a month? If you're going to do that, it'd be better to hire a master fighter the way I suggested!"
"Hiring a master fighter costs three hundred nyang right away."
"But if you think long-term—"
"Why think long-term? Once the rabbit hunt is over, what happens to the hunting dog?"
Hwang Seon-jung thought for a moment, then answered.
"It'd go catch a wild boar, I suppose."
"And yet he calls himself a Protector and doesn't even know the old saying about cooking the hound once the hares are gone. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Since when did book learning become a requirement for a thug, Jo Chi-un said.
"Once my brother is dealt with, we can just cut Do Tong-dal loose."
"But no matter how much you're the Society Leader, you can't cut a Branch Chief without a legitimate reason, can you?"
Because it touched a thug's livelihood, they needed at least a minimal reason people could accept.
"Does it make any sense for a cripple to be Branch Chief? That's reason enough."
"Then isn't seating him as Branch Chief in the first place the problem?"
"We can just fumble our way through that when the time comes. We have to put out the fire at our feet first! Tell Do Tong-dal he's getting the Branch Chief seat!"
* * *
"What? Five to five?"
"Yes. That is Do Tong-dal's demand."
"This lunatic! Seven to three would be more than generous, and he wants five to five?"
Jo Chi-un swallowed the words "Call it off right now!" The man would be discarded anyway once the Jo Gwang-un problem was resolved.
"Fine. Let him scrape up a little more coin."
"Pardon? You're really going to give Do Tong-dal five-tenths of the Namgyeong Branch's income?"
"In exchange, tell him to settle it within three days."
"Society Leader, Do Tong-dal is clearly scheming something. Do you think that bastard doesn't know what you're thinking?"
"Even if he knows, what method does he have? Do you have one?"
"I don't, but—"
"He might have some plausible plan. But I'm the one who's the Red Tiger Society Leader. That's what makes me unbeatable."
* * *
The Namgyeong Branch sat in the middle of the Namgyeong-ro entertainment district. It was a two-story brick building, a full seventy pyeong in size.
Looking at the signboard reading "Red Tiger Society Namgyeong Branch," Do Tong-dal drew a deep breath.
"Hoo—! The smell of money is thick in the air."
Do Tong-dal entered the Namgyeong Branch. In this place, the richest plum of all the branches, no fewer than forty thugs were at work.
"We greet the Branch Chief!"
The moment he crossed the threshold, the thugs bent at the waist and let out booming voices.
Do Tong-dal looked first at the angle of their bows. You could tell at a glance the difference between a sincere greeting and a perfunctory bend of the waist.
He swept his eyes over their faces just as quickly. Reading the expressions of ordinary thugs was easier than the Thousand Character Classic.
'About six of them are sincere toward me. Twelve are openly showing their displeasure.'
The mood of the Namgyeong Branch was one where hostility ran twice as deep as goodwill. That was only natural, since a peach-fuzzed eighteen-year-old had plopped himself down on the Red Tiger Society's choicest plum.
If anything, it was surprising that as many as six subordinates showed him goodwill.
"Get back to work."
Do Tong-dal said it lightly and went up to the second floor.
"You've come earlier than I expected, Branch Chief."
The person greeting him with perfect courtesy was Jo Jin-ho. At Do Tong-dal's request, Jo Jin-ho had been seated as Deputy Branch Chief of the Namgyeong Branch.
"I'm sorry. It feels as though I've become your master."
"I'm the one who's grateful you called for me."
On Jo Jin-ho's smiling face, there was not the slightest trace of displeasure at serving Do Tong-dal as his superior.
"Treat me comfortably, the way you always have."
"Even so, there's such a thing as hierarchy. I can't do that. Please raise me to a higher position later."
"I promise you that. For the time being, handle the work as you see fit, and double the men's monthly pay."
"Double?"
"Yes. The Namgyeong Branch brings in so much money that even after paying that much, there'll still be a fair amount left over."
"That may be true, but we'll hear grumbling from the other branches."
"No need to worry about the other branches. We're going to be operating separately anyway."
"Operating separately?"
"You'll come to understand naturally as time passes."
Jo Jin-ho asked in a low, meaningful voice.
"I heard you've agreed to deal with Jo Gwang-un within three days?"
"That's the Society Leader's wish."
"I heard you became Namgyeong Branch Chief on that condition."
"That's true. But not every promise in this world gets kept, does it? I'll just protect my own territory."
"So you intend to leave Jo Gwang-un alone as long as he doesn't touch the Namgyeong Branch's territory."
"It'd be troublesome if the Society Leader's worries disappeared too soon."
* * *
Jo Gwang-un's footsteps turned onto Namgyeong-ro.
"The smell of powder is fine, and the lights are dazzling. This place is heaven on earth."
The pack now sweeping through the night streets with Jo Gwang-un had grown to eight men.
In the meantime, Jo Chi-un had attacked three times to eliminate them, but they possessed martial force that numbers alone could not overcome.
With a direct blow being dealt to the Red Tiger Society's income, cracks were slowly spreading even among the leadership.
If he tightened the screws just a little more, the Red Tiger Society would snap clean in half. Even if Jo Gwang-un absorbed only three-tenths of the Red Tiger Society's forces, he was confident he would win in the end.
"Where shall we flip over today?"
There were so many pleasure houses on both sides of the street that he felt he might fall into decision paralysis.
Go Byeong-cheol, who had been walking shoulder to shoulder with him, pointed at the Daseong Pleasure House up ahead.
"Boss, let's do that place today."
"Why?"
"The girl standing out front is ugly."
It was a trivial reason, but they had no need for grand reasons.
"Let's do it."
The passersby filling the street scattered to either side, cowed by their momentum. But not every passerby avoided them.
There were some who came straight toward them and stopped right in their path. They were several men, yet somehow they felt like a single body.
The one with both arms hanging slack at his sides made no move to get out of the way even when Jo Gwang-un drew near. Behind him, a white-masked figure wearing a bamboo hat stood wrapped in a leather wind-cloak despite there being no wind.
Jo Gwang-un stopped with barely three ja between himself and the man. He could have simply thrown a punch and knocked him down, but the man coming toward him was staring at him so fixedly that he had no choice but to stop.
"Do you know me?"
"If I didn't know the mad dog everyone in Hangzhou is talking about these days, I shouldn't be walking the streets at night."
Calling Jo Gwang-un a mad dog was open provocation.
"Who are you?"
"I'm called Do Tong-dal, Branch Chief of the Namgyeong Branch."
"Do Tong-dal?"
Hwang Pal-dal, standing behind Jo Gwang-un, whispered into his ear and told him who Do Tong-dal was.
"The one who was a decent fighter but ended up a cripple with a ruined arm?"
There hadn't even been any need to whisper. Jo Gwang-un pointed at the masked figure.
"And that one?"
Realizing there was no need to whisper, Hwang Pal-dal simply spoke aloud.
"They call that person Do Tong-dal's arm, but it's just someone who follows him around."
"Seeing the sword on that person's back, the figure must be a bodyguard. A brat going around with a bodyguard—how impudent."
"You go around dragging eight dogs with you."
Hwang Pal-dal flared up.
"This little bastard must be dying to get himself killed!"
Jo Gwang-un spoke.
"If this bastard has committed a capital offense, I'll be the one to kill him, so stay still."
"Yes, Boss."
"What's your reason for blocking my path?"
"I'd like you to pass through Namgyeong-ro quietly."
"And if I don't pass quietly?"
"Then my arm will have to step forward."
Jo Gwang-un glanced sidelong at the masked figure. The person was not very tall, and the build was slender. But judging a person's strength by appearance alone was a taboo of the martial world.
There was a reason the martial world said to beware of old men and children.
"Are you saying your arm is strong enough to take on all of us?"
"More than enough."
"And if I refuse?"
Do Tong-dal grinned.
"For a mad dog, a club is the cure."
He had already heard the words "mad dog" so many times that further patience was impossible. He was about to throw a punch when Do Tong-dal stepped back, faster than he could act.
As if by prior arrangement, the moment Do Tong-dal withdrew, the masked figure stepped forward.
"Shall I kill them?"
A woman.
"No. Beat them a few times and chase them off—though I suppose you'll have to beat them badly enough that they never set foot on Namgyeong-ro again."
The masked figure gripped the sword. By tying the scabbard and the sword hilt together with a cord, she showed she had no intention of drawing the blade.
Jo Gwang-un's group also drew daggers and short blades.
"You lot! What do you think you're doing there!"
Jo Gwang-un, who had been about to charge at the masked figure, hastily shoved his dagger back into its sheath.
No matter how much he rampaged like a mad dog, he could not start a fight against government officers.
Four officers carrying six-sided clubs came running and planted themselves between the two groups. They were one constable chief and three constables who had been patrolling the street.
"You bastards have no fear, brawling in the middle of the main road! If you're going to fight, go find some secluded back alley or something!"
"Isn't that Chief Constable Ju?"
"Who is—! Oh? Well, if it isn't Do Tong-dal."
The blustering Chief Constable Ju's back bent smoothly.
"You must be on patrol."
"Yes. A man has to earn his keep."
"Then please continue your patrol."
Chief Constable Ju looked back and forth between Do Tong-dal and Jo Gwang-un. He could see it was a brawl between thugs, but with Do Tong-dal present, he could not recklessly intervene.
There was no one in the government office who did not know that Do Tong-dal was on close terms with the county magistrate.
No matter that Do Tong-dal was part of the Underworld, he did not want to commit the folly of plucking a tiger's nose hairs.
"So you were in the middle of business. Then I'll continue with what I was doing. There are many eyes watching, so please finish as quickly as possible."
"No ordinary citizens will be hurt, so rest easy."
"Then I'll go, trusting you, Do Tong-dal."
The officers even bowed before moving off. Watching this, Jo Gwang-un was dumbfounded.
Officers were the sort who took every bribe they could get while treating thugs like vermin. And being unable to so much as squeak at such officers was the pitiful fate of a thug.
Yet Do Tong-dal had made an officer bend his back.
"You—are you swaggering around leaning on the power of the government office?"
Do Tong-dal let out a thin sigh and called to Namgung Seol-rin.
"My Arm."
"Yes, Master."
"Clean up the trash quickly."
Namgung Seol-rin swung the sword. In an instant, the street was covered with the sounds of impact and screams.
Even Jo Gwang-un, the strongest of the nine, was no different from the other eight.
To a tiger, a dog and a rabbit are both nothing but prey.
"S-stop......"
"P-please spare us......"
Only after pleas that sounded close to death came out did Do Tong-dal make Namgung Seol-rin withdraw.
Namgung Seol-rin had beaten them skillfully, so that although blood was visible, nothing was broken.
Do Tong-dal stood in front of Jo Gwang-un, who kept trying to rise only to collapse again. Jo Gwang-un spat out words mixed with ragged breath.
"Are you going to kill me?"
"If you show yourself on Namgyeong-ro once more, that will certainly happen."
"So you're saying that as long as I don't come to Namgyeong-ro, you won't touch me?"
"I didn't say that. In any case, let's not meet on Namgyeong-ro. At that time, my arm's blade will be bared. Now move along! Quickly! The passersby need to get through, and the shops on both sides of the street need to do business!"
At Do Tong-dal's urging, Jo Gwang-un's group forced themselves to their feet. Limping down the street in a wretched state was as shameful as dying, but it was still better than death.
Jo Gwang-un, who had been moving away, stopped and looked at Do Tong-dal.
"You don't like Chi-un, do you?"
"Is there some pervert who likes the Society Leader?"
Jo Gwang-un let out a short laugh.
"Then you'd be fine with me becoming the Red Tiger Society Leader?"
"That depends on your ability."
Jo Gwang-un waved a hand behind his back.
"Let's see each other often from now on."
When Jo Gwang-un had vanished beyond the lights, Do Tong-dal muttered.
"I don't know if you'll get the chance to see me."
* * *