Monopolizing Fortunes (60)
Monopolizing Fortunes (60)
As Namgung Cheol-hyeon came walking around the table, Yeon Ja-yeon spoke to him.
"Please don't disturb the other guests. And be careful not to break anything. Actually, since Coordinator Do will be paying for the damages anyway, if something breaks, we can replace it with new ones this time."
Do Tong-dal said, "Be careful not to break anything." Namgung Cheol-hyeon, now standing in front of the men, asked Do Tong-dal.
"By the way, how far can I beat them?"
"As long as you don't kill them. No, wait—they're martial artists, so you can kill them."
"Then I don't need to be careful."
"This bastard, right in front of us!"
The two men rushed Namgung Cheol-hyeon at the same time. They were called martial artists, but their movements weren't much different from thugs'.
Namgung Cheol-hyeon, who had never fought such weak opponents before, was slightly flustered. One wrong move in controlling his strength and they might die.
So he only dodged, and Namgung Seol-rin shouted angrily.
"Finish it quickly! You're ruining the precious wine!"
She had even dropped the polite speech. His hand moved on instinct.
Thunk!
The one swinging a fist took a blow to the jaw and crumpled to the floor.
Smack—!
The other one was struck across the cheek and sent tumbling far away. Looking at the two men who lay completely still, Namgung Cheol-hyeon said.
"I hit them gently, so they're not dead, right?"
Shing—!
"You've got some skill!"
The middle-aged man shouted as he drew his sword. Do Tong-dal said.
"That's a sword that can even shatter the heavens. Be careful."
"If you defeat the Heaven-Shattering Divine Sword, big brother becomes the true king among swords! You can do it!"
"Hah—!"
The middle-aged man raised his sword and charged. The claim that he was a martial artist didn't seem false—he was faster than the two men before him. The sword he brought down toward Namgung Cheol-hyeon's crown had a fair amount of force behind it.
Clack!
Of course, neither his speed nor his strength was sufficient, so the sword was caught in Namgung Cheol-hyeon's bare hand. Namgung Cheol-hyeon gripped the flat of the blade with three fingers and applied force.
Clang!
The sword broke as easily as if it were made of glass. The middle-aged man stared blankly down at the sword now broken in half.
"H-how can you catch a sword with your bare hand......."
It was something utterly impossible unless one was a first-rate master of the martial world. And there was no way a mere Underworld thug could be a first-rate master.
The middle-aged man never got another chance to confirm it.
Crunch!
Namgung Cheol-hyeon smashed the middle-aged man's nose flat. Since the man had drawn a weapon, he deserved harsher punishment than the two before him.
Namgung Cheol-hyeon looked around with a satisfied expression.
"Nothing broken. Nice and clean."
Namgung Cheol-hyeon's gaze turned to the man trembling in the corner of the room.
"Got anyone else to bring?"
Startled by Namgung Cheol-hyeon's question, the man shook his head vigorously from side to side.
"Then take these bastards and go."
"Yes, understood!"
At that moment, Do Tong-dal clicked his tongue and stepped forward.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk...... Cheol-hyeon, you're still a long way from being Underworld material."
"I have no intention of becoming Underworld......."
"Punishment for a crime should be fair and thorough."
"You're saying this much isn't enough?"
"It's a little lacking, but I could show some generosity to the three you disciplined. Hand it over."
Namgung Cheol-hyeon handed Do Tong-dal the sword fragment in his hand. Taking the fragment, Do Tong-dal asked the man standing awkwardly.
"Which hand touched Protector Namgung's backside?"
"Huh?"
"I asked which one."
"No, that's......."
"If you can't remember, it's your loss."
Do Tong-dal kicked his ankle, and the man pitched forward roughly. Do Tong-dal stretched the man's arms out in front of him and pressed his palms together.
Then he drove the sword fragment through the backs of those hands. The man was in so much pain that he could only gape, unable even to scream.
"You little shit, how dare you touch someone's backside!"
Watching this, Yeon Ja-yeon whispered to Namgung Seol-rin.
"You must be pleased?"
A smile tugged at Namgung Seol-rin's lips.
"He does things like that and still insists he doesn't like me."
"I'm jealous enough to want a drink. What are you doing? Clear them out already!"
The thugs who had belatedly scrambled up dragged the men out. Do Tong-dal, about to return to his seat, stopped short.
Namgung Seol-rin's gaze on him was so hot it felt like it might burn him.
"I...... I need to piss......."
He dashed out, smacking himself on the head.
"I did something pointless! Pointless!"
But if he hadn't done it, the anger would have lingered in his chest for a long time. He walked down the corridor berating himself when an old man passing by called out, "Hey!"
The old man, who looked around sixty, had graying hair, a short beard, and a belly that protruded excessively.
"So you're Do Tong-dal."
"Who......?"
"You snatched away a girl I'd spent a full three years cultivating. The magistrate said he bought her, but the truth is you pulled some trick, didn't you?"
By the time the conversation reached that point, he could guess who the old man was. It was Gong So-yang, one of the Three Great Merchants of Hangzhou, who had reserved Ja Su-yeong's first night for purchase.
But Do Tong-dal pretended not to know.
"What on earth are you talking about? Let's not pick a fight for no reason."
"Your reputation is all over the night streets of Hangzhou. You must think Hangzhou is your world. But the plain fact is that you're nothing but a maggot of a thug."
"What is it you want to say?"
"I don't know how you sweet-talked the magistrate, but do you think the magistrate shielding you will stay in Hangzhou forever? The day he leaves is the day of your memorial rite."
"You've even picked the date of my memorial rite. How thoughtful. I'd like to make a bet on whose memorial rite comes first, but I'm in a bit of a hurry."
Gong So-yang shouted after Do Tong-dal as he walked away quickly.
"No one who gets on my bad side in Hangzhou can ever be safe!"
* * *
Won Dae-yeon threw Ju Ja-bang to the ground and released his pressure points. The shaded mountainside still held the frost that had fallen before dawn.
Even with his pressure points released, Ju Ja-bang did not move. A kind of resignation showed in his eyes.
"Thank you for staying alive."
Won Dae-yeon truly felt that way.
"Heh heh heh...... To hear thanks from you. Life's worth living after all."
He had thought he would have many words when he met Ju Ja-bang. He had thought he would at least curse him out for one shichen.
But no words came to mind. The rage that had felt like it would blow his head apart had, in front of Ju Ja-bang, cooled as cold as ice.
It must have been too many years. Over more than ten years, he had killed Ju Ja-bang tens of thousands of times in his imagination, so the real man before him could be met with coldness.
"Kill me. I knew a day like this would come someday, but fuck, I lived longer than I thought."
Would he feel better than he did now if Ju Ja-bang had begged for his life? No—Won Dae-yeon himself couldn't tell what he was feeling right now.
His chest ought to be bursting with overwhelming joy, so what was this calmness?
"How should I kill you? Should I stab you with a sword the way you did to my children? Should I strangle you the way you killed my wife?"
As the words left his mouth, the bodies of his family rose before him as if it were yesterday. That vivid image slowly reheated his cooled rage.
"Fuck, do whatever you want. However I die, dying is dying."
"Is that so?"
Won Dae-yeon took out a rope.
"I imagined countless ways to kill you. The way I did it would depend on where I caught you......."
He bound Ju Ja-bang's legs with the rope.
"H-hey! What are you doing!"
He looped the rope over a tree branch and pulled, and Ju Ja-bang was hoisted upside down.
"This is a mountain, and I have a rope, so this method is the most fitting."
He drew a dagger from his waist.
"All deaths are the same death? Wrong. There are deaths where you don't even have time to feel pain, and there are deaths that feel as long as an eternity."
"You bastard! Just kill me!"
Won Dae-yeon also bound Ju Ja-bang's hands behind his back.
"If I tie you upside down like this, the blood rushes to your head and you'll die within two ke."
"Enjoy yourself for two ke! You perverted bastard!"
"Two ke? You're hoping for too easy a death. Shameless."
Won Dae-yeon placed his fingers against Ju Ja-bang's neck.
"This is the carotid artery. If I cut here, you'll die in an instant from massive bleeding. And this is the vein. Even if I cut it, the blood flows slowly. The blood that should go to your head will slowly drain out through the vein. How much blood has to leave your body before you can die?"
The dagger cut the vein. Gush! The flowing blood ran down Ju Ja-bang's cheek and the back of his ear, then dripped steadily from around his temple.
"You fucking bastard! Just kill me! Kill me!"
Hanging upside down was painful enough. But what made Ju Ja-bang thrash was fear more than pain.
He had tried to act indifferent, but the fear of death was the instinct of the living.
The sensation of warm blood slowly draining along his skin could only be the greatest fear in the world.
Won Dae-yeon sat on a rock and stared blankly at the writhing Ju Ja-bang. The enemy who had slaughtered his family was bleeding and squirming like a huge worm.
There was no soaring joy. What settled into his chest was simply relief—a sense of release, as though the ropes binding his whole body had finally snapped.
"It's over."
His gaze turned to a distant mountain peak.
"What do I do now?"
* * *
"It looks like I'll be going to Beijing before long."
At Yang Su-pan's words, Do Tong-dal, who had been lifting his teacup, nodded.
"It's much later than I expected."
"The Forbidden City is a place where decent posts rarely open up. This is fast, if anything."
"Where are you going?"
"That hasn't been decided yet."
"They're calling you to Beijing before they've even decided where to put you?"
"They're telling me to wait there. Good posts don't stay open for long."
"I thought I'd feel relieved once the troublesome magistrate left, but I'm a little sorry to see you go."
"Do you think I'm leaving forever?"
"Pardon?"
"Our connection isn't so shallow that it ends here, is it?"
"You want to keep a connection with a thug like me?"
"You saved my life, gave me bribes enough to keep food on the table, and even gave me a lifeline to advancement. Of course I want to keep our connection. Heh heh heh......."
"Tch! Just put in a good word for me with the next magistrate."
"Don't worry. I'll make sure to speak to him firmly about it."
Leaving the government office, Do Tong-dal set off for the headquarters. The snow that had fallen before dawn hadn't melted, so every step he took made a crunching sound.
"Now that I hear the old man is leaving, I really am going to miss him."
Thinking that he should visit Beijing sometime when he had the leisure, he entered the headquarters.
Leaving behind the thugs who greeted him, he climbed to the second floor, where an unexpected figure was waiting.
"It's been a while."
"Won Dae-yeon."
Won Dae-yeon was smiling brightly at him. He had never imagined a smile could appear on that face.
"Looks like everything worked out."
"Thanks to you."
"You didn't need to come all the way to say hello."
"I didn't come to say hello. I came to get a job."
"A job?"
Namgung Seol-rin stepped in.
"Won Dae-yeon has decided to join the Red Tiger Society."
"What?"
"If you'll have me, will you accept me?"
"No, wait. You're the greatest chivalrous hero in the martial world, aren't you? And your martial arts are said to rival the Ten Greatest Masters Under Heaven?"
"That's an exaggeration."
"Exaggeration or not, you're an incredible master. Why would someone like you become a thug?"
"Because the person who reached out to me when I was most desperate was that thug."
Namgung Seol-rin whispered, "That's his specialty."
"Think it over again. The Underworld is, so to speak, the unorthodox path. There's plenty of dirty work, and if things go wrong you could get arrested and serve time in prison. Either way, it's a place far removed from chivalry."
"I've lived my whole life as a chivalrous hero. I believed the only path a martial artist should walk was chivalry and righteousness. But after avenging my enemy and sitting there blankly, that chivalry and righteousness seemed so ridiculous. For whom was the chivalry, and for what was the righteousness? The name of the greatest chivalrous hero under heaven was forgotten in less than ten years, and all that remained in its place was an opium addict. And then I realized. The greatest chivalrous hero under heaven died the moment my family died. The man who wandered the Central Plains for more than ten years to avenge his enemy was nothing but a corpse. You're the one who brought that corpse back to life. So you should take responsibility for the life you saved."
Do Tong-dal, blinking, said.
"I told him a chivalrous hero and the Underworld don't suit each other, and he answered by telling me to take responsibility for him."
* * *