Monopolizing Fortunes (56)
Monopolizing Fortunes (56)
The man's blade reached its apex and came down toward Hwang Chan-seok's neck. At that moment, Do Tong-dal kicked a pebble with his toe.
Ping—!
The pebble, slicing through the air as fast as an arrow loosed from a bowstring, struck the forehead of the man swinging the sword.
"Kuh!"
With a short cry, the man toppled backward, and the sword he had swung grazed over Hwang Chan-seok's head instead of cutting into the neck he had aimed for.
"Stop that bastard!"
The men nearby rushed in, but they couldn't match Do Tong-dal's speed.
By the time the one who had been knocked down by the pebble got back up with his sword, Do Tong-dal had landed in front of Hwang Chan-seok.
Do Tong-dal kicked the jaw of the man trying to swing his sword again, putting him to sleep, then cut the ropes binding Hwang Chan-seok.
"How is it?"
Hwang Chan-seok flashed a smile that was closer to a grimace and raised his thumb. Do Tong-dal shoved Hwang Chan-seok into an empty hut.
"Lock the door and wait."
As Do Tong-dal closed the door, the sound of the lock clicking came from inside.
"Yaaaah—!"
Mo In-sang's underlings charged in from all sides. There was even madness in the eyes of those clutching crude blades.
Before they could swing their swords, Do Tong-dal flew through the air first. He crushed the bridges of two men's noses with his knee, then spun around before hitting the ground and shattered another one's jaw.
After kicking two men in the temples to knock them out, Do Tong-dal glanced over at Jang Yu-seom and Namgung Seol-rin's fight.
Won Dae-yeon's martial arts were astonishing. Drug-soaked as he was, he could not have been in anything close to normal condition, yet he was still holding on. But that was all he was doing, and the two of them would eventually subdue him.
Whoosh—!
Ducking to let a sword pass over his head, Do Tong-dal shattered the knees of five men with the Whirlwind Kick.
"You bastards! You can't beat one man!"
Mo In-sang screamed while foaming at the mouth, but it did no good at all. Do Tong-dal rapidly whittled down the number of men still swinging swords.
He wasn't using a weapon, but the power of the Heavenly Shadow Flash Kick reliably put one man down with each move.
Still, taking down more than fifty enemies was no easy task. That was especially true for Do Tong-dal, who had never trained in Internal Energy at all.
After climbing the mountain for nearly one shichen, the fight that followed rapidly ate away at Do Tong-dal's stamina.
Attacks he could have dodged with ease at the start now sent chills through him, and he took one wound each on an arm and a leg.
Even so, Do Tong-dal ended the fight by kicking the last man in the stomach and jaw.
"Huff! Huff! Fuck, this is fucking exhausting. Hoo—!"
Straightening his bent back, Do Tong-dal's gaze turned to Mo In-sang. Mo In-sang stared blankly at his fallen, groaning subordinates.
This was not the picture he had expected. Whether they brought money or came empty-handed, his plan had been to capture whoever came and demand even more money.
"The addict bastard hasn't lost yet, so...."
Before that muttering even finished, Namgung Seol-rin's sword struck Won Dae-yeon's knee. It wasn't a cut with the blade—it was a strike with the flat of the sword.
As his knee buckled and he staggered, Jang Yu-seom's sword came down on his shoulder. Because he used the back of the blade, it didn't cut, but that didn't mean the impact was small.
In the end, Namgung Seol-rin's instep slammed into the jaw of Won Dae-yeon as he knelt. Spinning a full circle from his seated position, Won Dae-yeon collapsed face-first.
He didn't move at all, as if he were dead.
"Now only you remain."
Mo In-sang spun around three times on the spot but couldn't find a single subordinate still standing.
"Heh heh heh... So it seems. What do you want? The money's over there in my house."
No one followed the tip of Mo In-sang's finger.
"Fuck, you can just take the money and go! What more do you want! It's all money! You're doing this because of money, aren't you!"
Do Tong-dal closed the distance and spoke.
"Money, sure. But sometimes there are things money can't settle."
"What the fuck are you talking about?! You can even buy a person's life with money! Right?"
"No. Even if you offered a fortune, you couldn't buy your own life."
"What do you get by killing me? Not a single copper coin would come of it."
"At the very least, my mood would improve."
"You son of a bitch! You think you can kill me!"
He could kill him. Kicking off the ground, Do Tong-dal was faster than Mo In-sang could even swing a sword.
The kicked chest caved inward, and the jaw caught by his instep shattered. Mo In-sang, sent tumbling a full jang, could no longer move.
"Hoo—! It's over. The bastard went and did pointless shit and put people through hell."
"It wasn't pointless. Thanks to it, we saved Won Dae-yeon."
At Namgung Seol-rin's words, Do Tong-dal looked at Won Dae-yeon.
"Can you call that saving him?"
"He can be treated."
Namgung Seol-rin had a naive idea. Not knowing opium addiction, she would think of it as an illness that could be cured.
But addiction to a drug was different from being injured in a fight or falling ill.
His mind was twisted by an endless craving for the drug, and his body had been eaten away to the marrow. He was little more than a corpse driven by instinct.
Do Tong-dal had seen countless addicts in his past life, but among them, those who had quit the drug and returned to their former lives numbered fewer than three.
Even those three had only managed it because they were in the early stages of addiction; had they gone deeper, they would have walked the same path as the other addicts.
"Don't get your hopes up. If he's addicted that deeply, it won't be easy to escape its grip."
"Won Dae-yeon can overcome it. He is not only the greatest hero in the current martial world, but a master second only to my father."
"Drugs don't discriminate between masters and ordinary people."
Screech—!
The hut door opened and Hwang Chan-seok poked his face out.
"Is it over?"
Since Hwang Chan-seok was moving, he didn't seem likely to die. Do Tong-dal pointed at the man collapsed clutching his knees.
"Find out from that bastard where Mo In-sang's assets are."
Jang Yu-seom and Namgung Seol-rin's gazes said, "In this situation?"
"Only when you grab hold of whatever can be grabbed, whenever and wherever, can you truly be called a proper thug."
"Money grubber."
"Grubber is a bit much—let's go with money fiend."
"Sure, I'm the only shallow one."
Hwang Chan-seok, who had bolted out of the hut, shouted.
"Coordinator Do! Look at this!"
The face that had been half-dead just moments ago now bloomed with vitality like a freshly opened flower.
Entering the hut, Do Tong-dal let out an "Ooh!" of admiration, and Jang Yu-seom and Namgung Seol-rin's mouths fell open too.
A chest roughly one ja on each side was filled to the brim with gold ingots.
"You made a lot of money off opium."
Hwang Chan-seok spoke.
"This much should be about two thousand nyang in silver, don't you think?"
"More than that. Coming all the way out here was worth it."
"Heh heh heh... This is all thanks to me getting kidnapped."
"Getting kidnapped is a big contribution, huh?"
"For this much money, I'm always ready to sacrifice myself."
Hwang Chan-seok shot Do Tong-dal a look that said, "I'll at least get some crumbs, right?"
"Clear reward and punishment is exactly the value I pursue."
"Thank you!"
"While you're at it, find out where the opium field is. Since we're here, we should burn it all down."
"What? But it's such a waste...."
"The Red Tiger Society doesn't deal in opium, so there's nothing to waste. Leave it alone and we'd just be doing some other bastard a favor."
"So you're stabbing the persimmon you can't eat so no one else can eat it?"
"That's right."
"I'll find out right away."
The opium field wasn't far from the hut. On a vast field cleared from the mountain ridge, red flowers bloomed in riotous profusion.
Seeing poppy flowers for the first time, Namgung Seol-rin let out an exclamation at their beauty.
They poured all the oil they had brought over the poppy field and set it alight. There was no need to watch the fiercely blazing flames.
As they descended the mountain, Jang Yu-seom spoke to Do Tong-dal.
"Your arm seems almost healed?"
"It's hard to exert strength above a certain angle, but it does seem like it'll fully recover."
"A blessing in disguise."
"A blessing in disguise, sure."
Jang Yu-seom's gaze followed Namgung Seol-rin, who was carrying Won Dae-yeon on her shoulders as she descended.
"You've gained a good person, haven't you? And martial arts to boot."
"The martial arts are good, but the person...."
Jang Yu-seom nudged him with his elbow.
"You like Protector Namgung, don't you?"
"Me? Why would you think that?"
"Because my wife says so. And I've never seen her be wrong."
"She's wrong this time."
"Is she? It's too early to tell yet."
"Everyone seems to have received some divine power."
"You don't need to learn the Mind-Reading Art like Coordinator Do to see some things."
"Huh? That I learned the Mind-Reading Art... That tomboy told you."
"She said it was a secret, but I suppose it's better to let you know that we know."
"If it's the two of you, it's fine."
Among the few people who would never do anything to harm Do Tong-dal, two of them were Jang Yu-seom and Seon Hye-min.
Won Dae-yeon regained consciousness in the carriage. Because his pressure points had been sealed, the only part he could move was above his shoulders.
"You should have killed me."
Those were the first words out of his mouth.
"How could I possibly kill Won Dae-yeon?"
Self-mockery tugged at Won Dae-yeon's lips.
"The world would be better off if even one opium addict disappeared."
"You can recover."
The only part he could move—his head—shook from side to side.
"You don't know opium. This isn't an illness."
"If it's not an illness, then what?"
"A curse. A curse that will never lift until I die. Please, I'm begging you, kill me."
Instead of Namgung Seol-rin, who was only biting her lip, Do Tong-dal spoke.
"If you want to die that badly, do it yourself."
"Who are you?"
"The superior of the person you kidnapped."
Of all the titles that could describe Do Tong-dal, he gave the least impressive one.
"I'm a coward who doesn't even have the courage to kill himself. So someone, anyone, please kill me."
Namgung Seol-rin, who had looked on the verge of tears, suddenly shouted.
"How did you end up like this! You were the greatest hero in the martial world! You possess martial arts so strong that even the Ten Great Masters of the martial world found you troublesome! So why! Why! Why... did you end up like this."
"That martial art, that heroism—they made me this way. If my martial arts had been weaker, if my chivalrous spirit had been even a little lacking, my family... my wife and two daughters would still be alive."
That tragedy was the backlash created by Won Dae-yeon's heroic deeds. The one who bore a grudge against Won Dae-yeon took revenge by killing his family instead of Won Dae-yeon, who was too strong.
He was a villain as petty as they came, with not a shred of honor to his name.
If he had brought that villain to justice, Won Dae-yeon would not have fallen into such a deep abyss. Even if revenge had begotten revenge in an endless cycle, that would have been strength for Won Dae-yeon.
But Won Dae-yeon could not take his revenge. The one who killed his family vanished without a trace. Even the Beggars' Sect, the greatest information network in the martial world, failed to find Won Dae-yeon's enemy.
Ten years. In all that time, there was nowhere in the Central Plains he had not set foot. Hope had turned to despair, and helplessness had settled over it.
The name of the Greatest Hero Under Heaven had killed his family, and his peerless martial arts had been utterly useless.
At first, alcohol destroyed his body and mind, and his broken spirit led him to reach for opium.
That was how Won Dae-yeon went from the Greatest Hero Under Heaven to an opium addict. The higher the mountain, the deeper the valley; the loftier he had once stood, the deeper the abyss into which he fell.
Namgung Seol-rin, who knew all of Won Dae-yeon's story, could not condemn him.
Won Dae-yeon, who had been groaning in agony the entire carriage ride, went into convulsions just as they were nearly arriving in Hangzhou.
"Give me the drug! The drug! I said give me the drug!"
Foam bubbled at his mouth, and the bloodshot veins in his eyes were so red they looked ready to burst.
"Won Dae-yeon! Endure it!"
"Give me the drug! You sons of bitches!"
At first he screamed curses at the top of his lungs, and later he wept and begged. In the man smeared with tears and snot, there was no trace of the hero he had once been.
Do Tong-dal brought Won Dae-yeon—now nothing but a drug-soaked addict—to the physician in black. Seeing Won Dae-yeon trembling all over and begging for the drug, the physician in black spoke.
"Why did you bring a corpse here?"
"Aren't you a divine physician who can even revive the dead?"
"Dig up a corpse from a grave and lay it on my bed. Maybe I can revive it. The odds of that would be higher than fixing that junkie."
"Please cure him."
At Namgung Seol-rin's plea, the physician in black shook their head.
"The opium poison has spread to his marrow. An ordinary person would already be dead. It's remarkable he's even holding on like that."
Do Tong-dal spoke.
"Just try. If it doesn't work, there's nothing we can do."
The physician in black, who had been deliberating, asked.
"Even if the result isn't good, the treatment fee still gets paid, right?"
* * *