Monopolizing Fortunes (63)
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Monopolizing Fortunes (63)
He begged without even knowing who his attackers were. He even told them the money was in the inner pocket of his outer robe and that they could take it.
He didn't know how many times he'd been hit. One eye was swollen shut, and his stomach hurt so much he couldn't straighten his back.
"You little shit, you think you can betray the Red Tiger Society and get away with it?"
"I'm sorry...... I'm sorry......."
Dong Bong-gil simply begged.
"Save that for Coordinator Do! You son of a bitch!"
It was too dark to tell how many people were beating him, and he didn't care. As long as he survived, that was enough.
"Go to Coordinator Do tomorrow and beg for forgiveness. If you don't, we'll come find you again."
Dong Bong-gil was slammed to the ground, and the men disappeared. To the very end, he never knew how many of them had beaten him.
Woof! Woof!
At the sound of a dog barking somewhere, Dong Bong-gil flinched. As he tried to get up, his whole body screamed in protest.
The men were completely gone, and he was still alive. At least he had escaped with his life.
"Do Tong-dal, you son of a bitch!"
* * *
"You thug! You think you can lay hands on a high-ranking official of the magistrate's office and get away with it?! You fucking bastard!"
Dong Bong-gil hurled every curse he knew through the iron bars. By the time his repertoire of insults was nearly exhausted, Do Tong-dal opened his mouth.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play dumb with me, you bastard!"
"Do you have proof?"
"The fact that I got beaten is proof, and what I heard is proof!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... For a man holding the office of Chief Clerk, you certainly don't know the law."
Dong Bong-gil trembled all over. Do Tong-dal was right. The only evidence that Do Tong-dal had ordered the assault was the word of the men who'd beaten him, which could hardly be called evidence at all.
"You bastard, just you wait. I'll make sure you experience just how miserable prison can be."
Do Tong-dal didn't so much as blink at Dong Bong-gil's threat.
"Chief Clerk Dong. Those are some serious injuries, but it looks like you didn't get hit enough. You'd better be more careful on the streets at night from now on. This time it ended with a beating, but next time it might be steel that comes for you."
At Do Tong-dal's whisper, Dong Bong-gil's anger vanished, replaced by a creeping chill.
Do Tong-dal's low voice continued.
"If I really did order them to beat you, next time I might order them to kill you. The way you're acting right now is giving me that kind of urge."
Dong Bong-gil swallowed hard. They said they'd arrested the Red Tiger Society's leadership, but the streets were still crawling with the society's countless thugs.
"I-if you kill me, y-you...... you won't get away with it either."
"How would you prove I killed you? I'm in prison. Aren't I?"
Dong Bong-gil backed away step by step, then fled the prison as if running for his life. He went straight to Gong Myeong-un.
"Your Honor! Please, save me!"
He began with a plea, then reported what had happened the previous night. Gong Myeong-un, thankfully, assigned five officials to serve as his bodyguards.
His walk home that night was peaceful. The five officials guarded not only his journey home but also his house.
The wounds from yesterday's beating still throbbed, but his mind was at ease. However, that peace did not last the night.
"Aaaah—!"
The scream burst from his wife Jang Mi-yeong, who was sleeping beside him. Startled awake, Dong Bong-gil felt something wet dripping onto his forehead.
"Hurk—!"
His heart felt like it was leaping into his throat. Two chickens were slowly swaying above his and Jang Mi-yeong's faces.
What had dripped onto their foreheads was blood from the chickens, their necks half-severed. Jang Mi-yeong's screams did not stop easily, continuing for a long while even after the guarding officials rushed in.
"H-how did this happen? We were guarding the place like a fortress......."
At the official's words, Dong Bong-gil snapped.
"Fortress, my ass! Someone hung chickens right over our heads, and you so-called officials didn't even notice!"
"We apologize. We'll catch the culprit immediately!"
But the official's promise was not kept. They searched everywhere and ran diligently through the alleys, but in the end, they failed to catch the culprit.
Meanwhile, Jang Mi-yeong alternated between crying and screaming.
"Woman! Be quiet!"
The chickens were removed and the bloodstained blankets and pillows replaced, but his trembling body would not calm down.
Even with officials standing guard, Do Tong-dal had proven he could kill him at any time.
'Should I not have made an enemy of Do Tong-dal?'
If the magistrate was his enemy, the worst case was losing his job. But if Do Tong-dal was his enemy, what he'd lose was his life. He had felt that keenly yesterday and today.
Scrape—!
A scraping sound came from the ceiling, and a small hole appeared. Jang Mi-yeong, startled, was about to scream, but Dong Bong-gil hastily stopped her.
Plop!
A note dropped through the hole, which then closed again. Dong Bong-gil's face went pale as he unfolded it.
―Next time, it's your children.
There was no threat more terrifying than this. Jang Mi-yeong saw the note and dashed out of the room.
"My babies! My babies!"
When she finally returned after a long while, she collapsed onto the bed.
"Dear."
"What?"
"If you keep being the magistrate's lapdog, I'll kill you myself."
"H-have you lost your mind, woman?!"
"You're the one who's lost his mind! Why did you lick the magistrate's boots in the first place? Do you think that green young punk can stand against the Red Tiger Society? What happens if the Red Tiger Society drives the magistrate out?"
Various scenarios painted themselves in his mind, but even the best one was the whole family being kicked out of Hangzhou penniless.
That was the best-case scenario.
Jang Mi-yeong continued.
"How many people in the office are actually on the magistrate's side?"
"The officials are all on the magistrate's side, of course."
"Really? Are they truly on his side?"
When she pressed him again, he could not give a confident answer. Now that he thought about it, of the Six Bureaus, only the Chief Clerk worked diligently on the magistrate's orders; the other five merely went through the motions.
The officials were the same. He'd seen them look the other way for the imprisoned Red Tiger Society thugs more than once or twice. He'd assumed it was because they'd been paid off, but thinking about it now, they all believed in the Red Tiger Society's victory.
"Can the magistrate really not beat a mere Underworld group? He's even allied with Sir Gong, one of the Three Great Merchants of Hangzhou."
"Do you still think the Red Tiger Society is an ordinary underworld group? Think about what they've done. If you believe they're the same as all the countless other underworld groups in the Central Plains, you're a fool."
Jang Mi-yeong's words hit Dong Bong-gil like a blow to the back of the head. He had simply thought in terms of common sense. The belief that the underworld could never defeat the authorities had instinctively made him side with the magistrate.
But Do Tong-dal was a man to whom common sense did not apply. He had wiped out the Red Dragon Society and the Haerang Society, which had firmly ruled Hangzhou's nights, and forced two martial sects to flee.
Do Tong-dal had already shattered common sense there. And looking at the current situation, far more people were betting on the Red Tiger Society's victory in this fight than on the magistrate's.
'Was I the only fool all along?'
* * *
Dong Bong-gil dropped to his knees before Do Tong-dal.
"I...... I was wrong. I must have had shit in my eyes all this time, couldn't tell shit from piss, and acted like a madman. I'm truly sorry."
"Chief Clerk Dong, lift your head and look at me."
Do Tong-dal stared quietly into Dong Bong-gil's anxiously trembling eyes.
"It seems you've done a lot of reflecting."
"Of course. My wife gave me an earful, too."
"Then I can trust you with a task, Chief Clerk Dong?"
"I'll give it my all."
Do Tong-dal took an envelope from his chest and passed it through the iron bars.
"Ten nyang of silver."
A prisoner carrying silver! It was clear that the head constables and constables guarding the prison were all on Do Tong-dal's side.
"You know who the most capable litigation attorney in Hangzhou is, right?"
A litigation attorney was someone tasked with defending an accused person. Private litigation attorneys were so expensive that most commoners had to rely on those provided by the magistrate's office.
However, it was extremely rare for a magistrate-appointed litigation attorney to argue that a defendant was innocent. Their role was usually limited to a formal plea for leniency during sentencing.
"I know. It's Jong Ji-min, isn't it?"
"This is a retainer. Tell him that if the Red Tiger Society members are released without charges, he'll receive ten times this amount."
It was unprecedented for the Chief Clerk to hire a litigation attorney on behalf of an accused person. If this became known, he would have to resign immediately.
"Why? Can't you do it?"
"No! I've already decided to side with you, so what do I have to fear? I'll go right away!"
Since things had come to this, he had to do his best to help Do Tong-dal win. Do Tong-dal reached through the iron bars and took Dong Bong-gil's hand.
"You'll have a lot of work to do from now on, Chief Clerk Dong."
* * *
"don't worry. There are plenty of organization members who will give testimony against Do Tong-dal, the Society Leader, and the rest of the leadership."
At Gong So-yang's confident assurance, Gong Myeong-un smiled.
"With testimony from organization members, the trial is as good as over. What about the matter of absorbing the Red Tiger Society?"
"The Red Wind Sword Sect has already sent its experts down."
"You managed to persuade them."
"Those martial artists have no nerve. They only changed their minds after hearing that the Red Tiger Society leadership, including Do Tong-dal, had all been arrested by the authorities."
"And the split?"
"Fifty-fifty. We just sit back and collect the money that comes in every month. Heh heh heh......."
As long as Gong Myeong-un was magistrate, the Red Wind Sword Sect would have no reason to get any other ideas.
"Will the Red Wind Sword Sect be able to properly take over Hangzhou's nights?"
"They're a martial arts faction in name, so can't they handle one underworld group?"
"But they were driven out before, weren't they?"
"That was when Do Tong-dal had the backing of the authorities. Now there's no Do Tong-dal and no authorities, so it'll be a piece of cake."
Everything was going smoothly. No matter how great the underworld's martial force was, the absolute force was still the authorities.
"That bastard Do Tong-dal should get at least twenty years."
"He's an underworld figure, so he must have committed crimes like murder and disposing of bodies. The death penalty is also possible."
"Is that so? Heh heh heh...... I'll have to get the witnesses' stories straight."
* * *
The Punishment Bureau chief came over, silently handed Do Tong-dal a sheet of paper, and left. Twelve names were written on it.
Wang Chil, who had dragged himself over on his rear, asked.
"What's that?"
"The names of Red Tiger Society members who will give testimony against us."
"What? You mean there are bastards who'll betray us?"
"Why are you so surprised? We absorbed the Black Dragon Society and the Haerang Society, so how many thugs do we have under us? It'd be strange if there weren't any."
Wang Chil scanned the list and spoke as if it were nothing.
"I don't recognize a single name. They probably don't know anything about us, so what kind of damaging testimony could they give?"
"Good grief, my naive brother. How on earth do you manage to serve as the Society Leader of an Underworld outfit like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think these guys will actually confess our real crimes? They'll just make up any old charge and spout nonsense."
"There's no evidence! No evidence!"
"What use is evidence in a shitty trial like this? Testimony is all it takes."
"Th-then what do we do?"
Do Tong-dal shook the paper and said.
"We have to stop them from testifying. We need to seal it off completely so not a speck of dust gets out."
* * *
Yeo Cheol-seon had been filled with rage ever since coming to Hangzhou. They had tucked their tails and run. They'd dressed it up with the noble phrase "tactical retreat," but the fact that they'd fled out of fear of the Red Tiger Society didn't change.
And now, hearing that the Red Tiger Society leadership was locked up and powerless, he'd returned to Hangzhou like an opportunist.
Yeo Cheol-seon had said he didn't want to come. If they were sending him to fight with his life on the line, he would have followed orders without complaint.
But they had chosen him to be the fox playing king in a mountain without a tiger, and his pride was wounded beyond measure.
He had refused several times, but in the end, he could not defy the order of Sect Leader Hwang Tae-gun.
Yeo Cheol-seon, expelled from the sect once again, came to Hangzhou. The group was far larger than before, with six Hall Masters and one hundred twenty sect members.
Since the Red Wind Sword Sect was to devour Hangzhou's nights alone, rather than splitting it with the Black River Blade Sect, the increase in numbers was only natural.
As expected, it did not go smoothly.
* * *