Monopolizing Fortunes (65)
xml
Monopolizing Fortunes (65)
At Jong Ji-min's words, the Punishment Bureau chief had no choice but to call the next witness. A man named Yeo Po-seok tripped over his own feet and fell while walking to the witness stand.
The Punishment Bureau chief asked as soon as Yeo Po-seok sat down.
"Witness, you saw Do Tong-dal kill a thug from a rival faction a month ago, didn't you?"
"Yes. I saw it clearly with my own two eyes!"
The gallery stirred. The Punishment Bureau chief picked up a sword and asked.
"He stabbed him twelve times with this and brutally murdered him, didn't he?"
"Yes, he stabbed him wildly with that sword!"
"This isn't a sword, it's a blade......"
"What? Is that so? My eyesight is poor......"
"Point out the person who killed the victim among the prisoners in front."
Yeo Po-seok's finger moved left and right before pointing at one spot.
"That one!"
The person singled out by Yeo Po-seok was startled.
"M-me? I didn't kill anyone!"
"Don't lie! I saw it clearly! You killed him!"
"No... I really... Chief, this is unjust. I wasn't even in Hangzhou a month ago!"
The Punishment Bureau chief let out a long sigh. The person Yeo Po-seok had pointed at was a guard holding a spear and protecting the courtroom.
When the Punishment Bureau chief somehow finished his questioning, it was Jong Ji-min's turn. Jong Ji-min held up two fingers.
"How many?"
Yeo Po-seok narrowed his eyes.
"Hey, stop waving that around."
"I'm holding still......"
"I said stop waving it. You'll make me tear up. Hmm...... five?"
Jong Ji-min's gaze turned to the Punishment Bureau chief.
"You put a man who is practically blind on the stand?"
As the Punishment Bureau chief floundered, Jong Ji-min asked again.
"If you insist this witness remains valid, I will submit a petition......"
"I-I withdraw him. The witness may leave."
Yeo Po-seok tripped over his own feet again as he left. As he got up, he drew laughter from the gallery by saying, "I can't see well today."
Witnesses continued to enter after that, but none gave testimony that would satisfy Gong Myeong-un, who sat in the high seat.
Some rambled that they hadn't seen anything or had seen things while drunk.
On top of that, four witnesses didn't even show up. If even one of the twelve prepared witnesses had given proper testimony, they could have implicated the Red Tiger Society.
But that one witness did not exist. After the last witness left, Jong Ji-min asked.
"There seem to be no witnesses to testify to a crime. Do you have evidence?"
"These weapons here are the evidence."
Jong Ji-min smirked at the Punishment Bureau chief's answer.
"Do you have proof that those weapons belong to the defendants? Do you intend to call witnesses to testify that they belong to the defendants?"
The Punishment Bureau chief floundered and finally blurted out, "There is no evidence or witnesses, but it is the truth."
Jong Ji-min looked straight at Gong Myeong-un and spoke.
"No matter how great the power of the government, the facts must be made crystal clear when a crime is disputed. Yet nothing in today's trial proved the defendants' guilt. If anything, the trial proved their innocence. For that reason, I, as their litigation attorney, demand their immediate release. If this demand is not met, I will go directly to the capital."
Gong Myeong-un's face twisted. Today was the last day they could hold them on suspicion alone. To keep the Red Tiger Society locked up any longer, they needed a valid reason.
But today's trial had been completely ruined. As Jong Ji-min said, it had become a trial that proved only their innocence.
Gong Myeong-un glared at the Punishment Bureau chief, who was crumpled to one side. This was the Punishment Bureau chief who had been so confident that the Red Tiger Society could never escape the noose of the law.
But now he looked like a dog that had barked fiercely and then tucked its tail and cowered after a single blow from a club.
In any case, the Punishment Bureau chief had to decide guilt and sentencing. If he pronounced a guilty verdict and set a sentence, the magistrate would pronounce the sentence based on that.
The trial was over, and the time had come for the Punishment Bureau chief to pronounce guilt and sentencing. The Punishment Bureau chief kept glancing at Gong Myeong-un.
When Gong Myeong-un let out a long sigh, the Punishment Bureau chief spoke as if that were a signal.
"As chief of the Hangzhou Punishment Bureau, I pronounce the defendants not guilty."
It was an expected result, but everyone was surprised. They had thought he would pronounce a guilty verdict and a prison sentence, if only to appease Gong Myeong-un.
Since the Punishment Bureau chief had pronounced them not guilty, the trial was as good as over. It wasn't a clearly erroneous trial, so Gong Myeong-un, the magistrate, couldn't step in.
"Waaah—!"
Amid the cheers of the gallery, Gong Myeong-un stormed out. The most chaotic trial in the history of the Hangzhou government office ended like that.
Only after they returned to the prison were the ropes binding the Red Tiger Society members untied. Even after being acquitted, they had to wait half a shichen in prison for the paperwork.
"What a relief!"
Seo Wang-su, who had dashed over from the gallery, rejoiced with an expression that looked ready to cry.
"Hey, does it make sense for innocent people like us to do time?"
At Wang Chil's words, Seo Wang-su retorted, "Well, it's not like Underworld thugs are innocent."
"Have you located them?"
Seo Wang-su answered Do Tong-dal's question.
"Yes. They're split between the Red Tiger Society headquarters and fifteen branches."
Do Tong-dal asked Namgung Seol-rin, who was rubbing her wrists where the ropes had been untied.
"Will you be okay?"
"Will I be okay? In the martial world, people die over far more trivial things than this."
"Then we'll each take four."
Do Tong-dal asked Seo Wang-su.
"The bastard who killed Baek-dong—you said He's at headquarters, right?"
"Yes. He is Yeo Cheol-seon, known in the martial world as the Lightning Spear."
"The headquarters is mine, Brother."
Jo Jin-ho, who had been called by Do Tong-dal, stepped forward.
"You know the branch locations well, so plan the most efficient route. And make sure the officials don't come anywhere near."
"Okay. Got it."
Do Tong-dal looked at Namgung Seol-rin, Jang Yu-seom, and Won Dae-yeon and spoke.
"I hear the Red Wind Sword Sect dispatched 126 people, including their Hall Master. We're going to kill all of them today. And this is only the beginning. We can't leave the Red Wind Sword Sect alone after they touched us."
Namgung Seol-rin asked.
"Why are you stating the obvious?"
"We're going to have to kill a lot of people from now on."
"Scared?"
"Me?"
"You're Underworld riffraff, so you might be scared."
"Hey! I'm saying this because I'm worried about you! We might have to wipe out every last Red Wind Sword Sect disciple!"
"Killing is only hard the first time. Depending on the case, the second and third times can be hard too, but eventually you get used to it. How many people do you think I've killed so far?"
"How would I know?"
"I've killed enough not to fear killing people, and I'll keep doing so."
Jang Yu-seom spoke.
"I've seen more than enough blood on the battlefield."
Won Dae-yeon asked, "You're not worried about me too, are you?" Of the four, the person with the greatest aversion to killing might actually be Do Tong-dal.
Do Tong-dal called Wang Chil.
"Brother."
"What?"
"Make sure the bodies are disposed of properly."
"Of course. But are you asking the Society Leader to handle body disposal?"
"Do you want to fight instead?"
"There's a good spot for disposing of bodies if you go to Wonyang Mountain. I know it well."
By the time they were released, Jo Jin-ho had planned the route through the branches they needed to hit.
"Let's finish quickly and have a drink at Cheonsangru."
As they left the government office, Namgung Cheol-hyeon, who had been waiting, approached. Namgung Cheol-hyeon hugged Do Tong-dal and Namgung Seol-rin fiercely in turn.
"You seem more honest with your emotions lately."
"If you're happy, you should say you're happy. Heh heh heh......"
Namgung Seol-rin asked.
"Did you come all this way because of our trial?"
"I had other business too. Something important came up in the martial world."
"What important thing?"
Namgung Cheol-hyeon lowered his voice.
"The Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King has appeared."
"What? The Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King?"
Only Namgung Seol-rin was surprised. To ordinary people, even the name Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King was unfamiliar. Do Tong-dal's reaction was only, 'I think I've heard of it somewhere.'
"I heard a ginseng digger found a Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King in Gojeon County, Fujian Province."
"And?"
Namgung Cheol-hyeon let out a thin sigh.
"It turned out to be a curse, not a blessing, for that digger. It seems the Jeonma Samryun, who operate in Fujian Province, killed the digger and stole the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King. Once word got out in the martial world, martial artists have been flocking to Fujian Province one after another."
Namgung Seol-rin had been in prison and hadn't heard any of that news.
"Are you going alone from the Namgung Clan, Brother?"
"Uncle went ahead with two Hall Masters. I stopped by briefly because it lined up with your trial schedule."
"Then you should hurry on your way."
"I should. Now that you've been released safely, I can go with a light heart."
Do Tong-dal asked.
"What? You're leaving already? Let's have a drink at Cheonsangru."
Namgung Cheol-hyeon swallowed hard but desperately shook off the temptation of Sagiju.
"I'll stop by on my way back if I have time."
Namgung Cheol-hyeon ended the brief meeting and headed for Fujian Province. Watching him grow distant, Namgung Seol-rin muttered.
"The Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King has appeared, and I have to just watch. Ugh......"
She even groaned at the thought of missing out. So Do Tong-dal asked.
"What's this Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King, anyway?"
"You don't know the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King?"
Won Dae-yeon defended Do Tong-dal.
"Coordinator Do isn't a martial artist, so he might not know. Honestly, aside from its ability to raise Internal Energy, one- or two-hundred-year-old wild ginseng has much stronger medicinal effects."
Do Tong-dal asked.
"How much does it raise your Internal Energy?"
"About two to three gapja?"
Two gapja, three gapja—those were not amounts of Internal Energy to be taken lightly. One gapja was the amount one could only accumulate after sixty years of proper Internal Energy training.
Yet simply eating it could raise one's Internal Energy by two to three gapja, so it was worth risking one's life for a martial artist.
In reality, even martial artists with one gapja of Internal Energy were rare.
"No matter how good the medicine, you have to take it properly."
The physician in black crossed one leg over the other.
"If you just chew that thing up and swallow it, it's worse than wild ginseng."
Namgung Seol-rin spoke.
"That's probably why the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King hasn't entered anyone's mouth yet. Should I go too?"
Namgung Seol-rin seriously considered it. It wasn't for herself. It was for that dull Do Tong-dal standing there blankly, knowing nothing.
If Do Tong-dal ate the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King, he would instantly experience a new realm of martial arts.
Do Tong-dal clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.
"This isn't the time for us to worry about some medicinal wild ginseng. Let's move. From now on, it's time for retribution."
* * *
Clink! Clink!
Yeo Cheol-seon assembled the three sections of his spear into one. Perhaps things had been destined to go this way from the moment he came to Hangzhou.
"Maybe this is for the best."
It had been shameful to come to a mountain without a tiger and play the fox, but that tiger had returned.
When he heard that Do Tong-dal had been acquitted and released, two thoughts came to mind.
The wise thing was to return to the Red Wind Sword Sect immediately. If Do Tong-dal and the Protectors had been there, he would never have come to Hangzhou in the first place.
Since they had returned, no one would criticize him for retreating. There might be some in the Red Wind Sword Sect who whispered that he was a coward, but since that was partly true, he could endure it.
But Yeo Cheol-seon chose the second path. His pride would not allow him to show his back twice to an opponent he had already fled from once.
The greatest thing worth risking his life to protect was his pride.
His pride had been cracked because of the Red Tiger Society, and that open wound had tormented him the whole time. If he fled again this time, his cracked pride would shatter into pieces.
Having no pride was the same as having one's soul vanish. Rather than living a life not worth living, fighting with his life on the line was the better choice.
That was why Yeo Cheol-seon gripped his spear.
"Hall Master! They're here!"
A disciple who had been watching outside came running in breathlessly and announced the Red Tiger Society's appearance.
Yeo Cheol-seon, who had been leaning on his spear like a cane, stood and stepped onto the stairs leading down to the first floor.
For someone who used a spear as his weapon, indoors was not a good place to fight.
When he stepped out the first-floor door, he saw merchants hurriedly closing their shop doors. And on both sides of the main street, thugs stood like walls, blocking pedestrians from entering or leaving.
"You even prepared a stage for me to fight on. How kind."
* * *