Monopolizing Fortunes (77)
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Monopolizing Fortunes (77)
"If you aren't a martial artist and don't involve yourself in affairs of the martial world, there's no reason for us to become enemies."
"Are you the one who set the orthodox and unorthodox factions against each other?"
Do Tong-dal asked abruptly. The veiled woman's answer came after a brief pause.
"If I had, do you think you would still be alive right now?"
"I'll choose to believe you."
"Did you really just happen to pass by and resolve that matter?"
Do Tong-dal's answer came immediately.
"Of course."
"Who was the person you were waiting for?"
"That's a secret."
"You're not exactly in a position to hide things from me."
"Then try torturing me."
The veiled woman stared at Do Tong-dal. Like Do Tong-dal, she was trying to read something from his expression and gestures, but she would find nothing.
"You are the first person I've found this difficult to read."
"Why not start by exchanging names like normal people? I am Do Tong-dal."
"Do you think I'll be taken in that easily?"
"You're dismissing my goodwill. Do you think I won't figure out who you are eventually? Someone as distinctive as you?"
"Aside from wearing a veil, what is so distinctive about me?"
"Ah! There's no reason for me to stay here any longer."
Do Tong-dal, who had been glancing around the hut, spotted his clothes hanging in front of the fireplace. Judging by how thoroughly dry they were, he must have been here for quite a while.
Thinking, 'Seol-rin must be worried,' he gathered up the clothes in front of the fireplace and put them on.
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving."
"Do you think you can leave without my permission?"
"You said that if I'm not a martial artist, I'm not your enemy, right? Well, it's roughly the same thing, isn't it?"
"And?"
"The fact that I don't know you is proof that I'm not a martial artist."
"Are you saying I'm that famous?"
"You don't wear that veil only in front of me. Whether you wear it because you're too beautiful or too ugly, you'd wear it in front of everyone."
"So?"
"A female master of your caliber would rank among the top three in the martial world, and there couldn't possibly be two young women among them who cover their faces with veils. In other words, if I were a martial artist, I would have recognized you instantly just from your appearance."
"I might be trying to hide my face from you specifically."
"Then that's even better. If you intended to kill me, you wouldn't bother hiding your face."
"Fine. I'll believe you're not a martial artist. But I have no assurance you won't get entangled with the martial world in the future. You've learned martial arts, and today you interfered in its affairs."
"Are you afraid I might become your enemy? Me, someone who is truly nobody in the martial world?"
"I am afraid. I'm more afraid now than when I brought you here. Since I was thirteen, you are the only person whose mind I cannot read at all. A person who hides himself well while reading others easily. A person with the eloquence to captivate a crowd and the ability to construct logic that makes others believe his thoughts. If such a person became my enemy, of course I would have to fear him."
"You and I should never end up on the same side."
"Why not?"
"Because our enemies would be too pitiful."
The veil trembled slightly, and the corners of her eyes tilted downward a little.
"Earlier you said there were two possibilities. Now I know for certain."
"What possibilities?"
"You wear the veil because you are too beautiful."
"Are you trying to flatter your way out of this?"
"Is it not working?"
"I can't find a reason to kill you right now. Tell me where you live and what you do, and you may go."
"I have a condition."
"I'm letting you live, so don't be difficult."
"Let me see your face, my lady."
"What?"
"Honestly, I'm not a very curious person. There are few things that pique my curiosity. But if I don't see your face now, I feel like I'll be tormented for years."
"Where you live and what you do."
"I'm a thug from the Red Tiger Society in Hangzhou."
"What?"
Do Tong-dal repeated the same words.
"A thug......?"
"That's right."
"Should I believe that?"
"If I tell the truth and you think it's a lie, there's nothing I can do."
The woman's veil fluttered lightly with a sigh.
"I'll choose to believe you. An Underworld thug, of all things."
Muttering, she looked out the window. The rain that had been pouring so fiercely had stopped before she knew it. The gradually brightening window told her it was not night.
"It's time for you to leave now."
The veiled woman opened the door and was about to leave when she turned back.
"Don't regret it."
"Regret what?"
"Saying you wanted to see my face."
She lowered her veil.
"Ah!"
He could swear he had never seen a woman so beautiful. No beauty painted by any artist in history was as beautiful as her.
No flowery praise about a perfect creation of the gods could describe her appearance.
Only after the woman put her veil back on could Do Tong-dal breathe again. Then he spoke.
"As expected, my guess was right."
Do Tong-dal smiled, and the woman tilted her head slightly to the side.
"I hope you won't wander the martial world looking for me."
"That won't happen. If I wanted to find you, I could go straight to you."
"Is that so?"
The veiled woman left those words behind and vanished. Because she disappeared so suddenly, he even wondered if the entire encounter with her had been a dream.
"What an unreal appearance."
He had been surprised by her face, but it was so perfect that it felt alien rather than attractive.
Stepping out of the hut, Do Tong-dal shaded his eyes against the intense sunlight. The sunlight piercing through the leaves was dazzling, as if the rain had never poured at all.
"But which way should I go?"
He regretted not asking the veiled woman for directions. For now, Do Tong-dal followed the narrow path in front of the hut.
After crossing two ridges, a village appeared in the distance. Even from afar, he could tell it was a fairly large city.
"I hope that's Jigang County."
A river flowed along the outskirts of the village, and something like a large lake was visible.
Do Tong-dal quickened his pace. His cold was completely gone, and his steps were light. He was just hungry. So his steps grew even faster.
He picked and ate wild berries, and along the way he filled his stomach with water from a stream. Trudging along like that, he finally arrived at the city.
The three characters for Jigang County on a milestone standing beside the main road had never been so welcome.
Do Tong-dal walked toward the town center. The number of passersby gradually increased, but strangely, he saw no martial artists.
"Strange. By now this place should be crawling with them."
He passed through an area lined with farmhouses on both sides and entered a bustling district where the number of shops increased.
"I'm telling you, it's already too late if we go now!"
"But you never know! If we stay here, our chances of getting the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King are zero, but if we go there, at least there's a chance!"
"Damn it, so we have to climb the mountain again for a slim chance? The rain just stopped, so it's all muddy."
"We came all this way, so we should at least put in that much effort! Let's hurry!"
Two martial artists came out of a restaurant on the left and disappeared down the road. The location of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King must have become known, and all the martial artists had gone there.
"I wonder if he's fallen off a cliff by now."
Muttering, Do Tong-dal stopped in his tracks. Far ahead, he saw Namgung Seol-rin standing in the middle of the main road.
Joy surged through him, and he quickened his pace. Namgung Seol-rin also ran toward him. He thought she would hug him in delight.
But instead, she grabbed the collar of the beaming Do Tong-dal.
"Where have you been all this time?! Do you know how worried I've been?!"
He could tell. Her eyes, as she shouted at him, were glistening with tears that seemed ready to fall at any moment.
"W-Well, I was suddenly kidnapped......"
"Kidnapped? Who kidnapped you? What bastard?"
"Some woman......"
Squeeze—!
Namgung Seol-rin's hand tightened on his collar.
"Gah! Th-This...... I...... You're killing......"
"What bitch? What bitch kidnapped you for two days?"
"L-Let go...... s-so I can...... talk......"
Namgung Seol-rin loosened her grip just enough for Do Tong-dal to speak. She still held his collar, ready to choke him again at any moment.
"Talk. Now."
"I don't know exactly who she is either."
"Does it make sense that you, of all people, spent two whole days with someone and couldn't figure out who she was?"
"The time we actually talked after I came to my senses was less than half a shichen! I was completely out of it because of a cold!"
"If you're going to make excuses, at least make them believable! A martial artist catching a cold?!"
"What martial artist?! I'm an Underworld thug!"
"But you still know martial arts......!"
Namgung Seol-rin, who had been shouting, realized that Do Tong-dal had not yet refined his Internal Energy. Without Internal Energy, he was just a person sturdier than the average man.
"Why did that woman kidnap you?"
"Because I'm too handsome?"
From the changing expression on Namgung Seol-rin's face, he realized this was not the time for jokes.
"She must have seen me in that chaos you pushed me into. She kidnapped me to find out whether I was an enemy or an ally."
"What did she look like?"
"She wore a veil below her eyes...... Gah! Y-Your hand!"
"Ah! Sorry."
When Namgung Seol-rin let go of his collar, Do Tong-dal yelled.
"I thought my neck was going to snap!"
"I was just so surprised. Do you happen to know how strong her martial arts are?"
"I was woozy from the cold, but judging by how easily she subdued me, she's probably stronger than you."
After saying that, Do Tong-dal prepared to retreat at any moment. He expected her to throw a punch and say, 'We'd have to fight to find out!' but Namgung Seol-rin only wore a serious expression.
"It seems you have someone in mind."
"If it's a veiled woman who is a first-class master, there's only one person in the martial world."
"Who is that?"
"Ha Su-ran, the Ten Stratagems."
"I asked who that is."
"The strategist of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance."
He had expected her to be someone formidable, so it wasn't very surprising. The only unexpected part was that she belonged to the unorthodox faction.
"Well, if she thought I might become her enemy, she would have killed me without hesitation."
"She must have become quite curious about you after you stopped the orthodox-unorthodox war. For Ha Su-ran to personally step in......"
"What I did wasn't that grand."
"No. If it weren't for you, a war between the orthodox and unorthodox factions would definitely have broken out. Everyone was on edge because of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King, and the atmosphere was more hostile than ever."
"So you pushed me into that sharp, hostile atmosphere? I could have died if I'd made one wrong move."
"There's no way you would have died."
"Why? Because I'm an Underworld thug with the tenacious vitality of a cockroach?"
"Because you're Do Tong-dal, the Red Tiger of the Hangzhou Red Tiger Society, who can resolve anything. You're the man I trust most in this world."
"Hmph! Your eye for people has improved."
Namgung Seol-rin turned and started walking, then stopped after three steps.
"But......"
"What?"
"Did you......?"
"Did I what?"
"Did you see Ha Su-ran's face? Of course, there's no way you did...... No one has seen her face in five years...... But...... did you?"
"Why are you asking something like that so hesitantly?"
"Did you see it or not?!"
"Yeah."
Namgung Seol-rin spun around.
"Really? You really saw it?"
"Why would I lie?"
"So? What did you think?"
"About what?"
"That woman...... Do you keep thinking about her?"
Do Tong-dal thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Now that you mention it, I do think of her. She was pretty."
"That's all?"
"What else should there be?"
"Ha Su-ran is more famous as the greatest beauty of all time than for her title of Ten Stratagems."
"If she always wears a veil, how do people know Ha Su-ran is a beauty?"
"She started wearing the veil after more than thirty promising young orthodox and unorthodox warriors took their own lives because of her. It happened when Ha Su-ran was only seventeen. She didn't wear the veil because she wanted to; it was forced on her."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk...... They weren't even dumped after dating her. They killed themselves just because they were infatuated with her looks? Pathetic bastards."
"Are you really unaffected? Thirty people took their own lives out of love for Ha Su-ran, but far more promising young warriors became broken shells."
"She was pretty. But she's too unreal. It's not like she's a fairy descended from heaven. A face like yours, Seol-rin, is realistic and just right."
Smack—!
"Ow! Why did you hit me?!"
"I don't know! Something about that pissed me off!"
Namgung Seol-rin spun around and strode off.
"This girl's hits hurt more every day! Ow, my back stings."
"A grown man making such a fuss over that!"
"Men feel pain too when they're hit!"
Namgung Seol-rin asked.
"Where are you going?"
Do Tong-dal squinted at the bright sun, then answered.
"Sohyeon Lake."
* * *