Monopolizing Fortunes (9)
Monopolizing Fortunes (9)
"You raised the money to bring in the courtesans, you won the courtesans over, and you're even going to supply Sagiju to Cheonsangru?"
Wang Chil compressed what Do Tong-dal had said into a short summary.
"Yes. Now if we can just bring in Jang Yu-seom, the shape of it will mostly be set."
"You really raised the money to bring in the courtesans, you really won those women over, and you really arranged to supply Sagiju to Cheonsangru?"
Do Tong-dal, who had been looking at Wang Chil, swept his gaze around the office.
"Is there a parrot in here somewhere? Why am I hearing the same words twice?"
"You little shit! It's because I can't believe it! Is it even possible to solve those three things in a single day? Sagiju was a windfall nobody even thought of!"
Seo Wang-su voiced his agreement.
"It's practically a miracle, and with high probability a lie. But since Tong-dal isn't stupid enough to tell a lie that would be exposed right away...... I'll have to call it a miracle."
"It's a lie from that bastard! And he is stupid enough to tell a lie that'll be exposed right away!"
Seo Wang-su smacked the back of Jo Pyeong-do's head as Jo Pyeong-do raised his voice.
"You little shit, I told you to give the squad leader proper treatment!"
Do Tong-dal spoke up for Jo Pyeong-do.
"Does that happen overnight? I'm fine."
It wasn't because Jo Pyeong-do was particularly dear to him. Just the composure of the strong, one might say.
Seo Wang-su said.
"The most urgent thing right now would be stopping Gwang Hae-bong from harming the courtesans."
That was because harming them was the only thing Gwang Hae-bong could do at the moment. Do Tong-dal nodded.
"That's right. If we fail to secure the courtesans, Cheonsangru could go back to the Baekdong Branch, or it could leave the Red Tiger Society and switch sides to the Haerang Society."
Either way, the collapse of the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office could not be prevented.
"If Gwang Hae-bong means to do harm, then even if Jang Yu-seom comes, we can't stop it completely. I'll run myself ragged, but some courtesans will get hurt."
Wang Chil said.
"I'll handle that."
"How?"
"I spent twenty years in the Red Tiger Society. You think I don't have a single connection at headquarters? It's not even a big favor. It's practically the same as cutting at our own insides, so I should at least stop that much."
Wang Chil asked Do Tong-dal.
"But can you really bring Jang Yu-seom in?"
"It might be possible, I suppose......."
"Why is your answer so wishy-washy?"
"Jang Yu-seom is exceptionally strong. Even in the martial world, he'd be at the level of a first-rate master."
"Then it's impossible, isn't it? How are you supposed to last ten moves against someone like that?"
"I'm making an effort in my own way."
"If a few days of effort in your own way made you fight well, there wouldn't be a single person in the world who wasn't a master! If Jang Yu-seom doesn't come, we won't last ten days at Cheonsangru!"
Whether it was Gwang Hae-bong or the Haerang Society, the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office had a duty to stop the trouble they would cause almost every day.
If they failed to fulfill that duty, the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office would have to give up Cheonsangru.
"I'm going to be fighting a master like that, and you're not worried about me?"
"If you're not coming back with Jang Yu-seom, just die there."
* * *
Do Tong-dal stopped walking in a clearing on a wild hill. Beneath a brightly shining moon, night insects were earnestly singing their courtship songs.
He drew the blade from his waist. The hand gripping the hilt bore more than ten wounds.
They were the price of practicing familiarity with the blade even while taking a shit. Holding the blade in a reverse grip, Do Tong-dal stood upright and closed his eyes.
The freshness of the forest brushed past him, and the cries of the night insects gradually receded.
As his five senses faded, a sixth sense took their place. The feeling from when he had been Jeonsalgwi welled up from the tips of his toes, like water rising.
Do Tong-dal called to mind a time from Jeonsalgwi's past. It had been a seaside village. A fairly large fishing village of over a hundred households had been suffering chronic headaches from the Japanese raiders who appeared at all hours.
He had been dispatched to that village one day in his third year on the battlefield.
Eighty Japanese raiders, split among three ships, set foot on the sand. Fifty allied soldiers met the enemy on a white beach dazzling to the eye.
They hurled abuse at one another. He could not understand a single word, but since he could tell it was abuse, it did not matter.
Then the fighting broke out. The first raider Do Tong-dal faced brought his sword down toward the crown of his head.
Swish—.
Do Tong-dal moved just as he had on that white beach. The fight of that day replayed with strange clarity.
The raider's swung blade grazed his shoulder and dropped downward. In that instant, Do Tong-dal closed the distance and drove his blade into the man's neck.
From the neck with its carotid artery severed, a startling amount of blood gushed. Before he knew it, the night insects had stopped their cries. It was because of the killing intent Do Tong-dal was giving off.
Three steps later, a blade swung at his neck. Bending his waist and taking a long step forward, Do Tong-dal sliced the inside of the raider's thigh with his blade.
Anywhere on the body, cutting a major artery produced the same effect as stabbing the heart.
The sensation of cutting that raider back then revived vividly. The third raider also failed to wound him.
The upward slash from below was quite sharp, but it was not enough to kill Do Tong-dal.
He spun around behind the man and drove his blade into his back. The feel of it piercing flesh, burrowing through bone, and reaching the organs came through pleasantly.
The blade dance in the mountains continued. Do Tong-dal's movements, recreating those of that day, grew more skillful and faster.
The blade shadows covering a radius of one jang were so dense they seemed able to flick away even falling raindrops.
That day on the seaside white beach, he had fought for half a shichen straight, and the blade dance in the mountains had lasted just as long.
With a great breath, Do Tong-dal stopped moving, his whole body soaked with sweat.
Finding Jeonsalgwi's senses did not mean he immediately became as strong as he had been then. It was because his body could not fully keep up with his mind.
Still, he would be able to withstand ten moves from Jang Yu-seom. He could not know exactly how strong Jang Yu-seom was, but he would probably manage it.
* * *
The man Gong So-seong brought with him was a huge frame well over six cheok tall.
His bulging muscles told of long years of training.
"This is Won Tae-hyeon, who serves as a branch chief in our Haerang Society."
Won Tae-hyeon gave Jang Yu-seom a perfunctory greeting.
"I'll be in your care today."
To Jang Yu-seom, who returned the greeting, Gong So-seong said.
"He isn't the strongest in the Haerang Society, but he'll be more than enough to withstand ten moves from Jang Yu-seom."
"He looks strong."
At Jang Yu-seom's reply, Do Tong-dal thought, 'But not strong enough.'
If the opponent were a mere thug, Won Tae-hyeon would have been a sufficiently strong opponent. But against Jang Yu-seom, who had learned true martial arts, he fell far, far short.
A master could recognize another master; of course he could recognize someone weaker.
Gong So-seong looked around the yard of Jang Yu-seom's house and said.
"It's a bit narrow here. Shall we move somewhere else?"
"This much should be sufficient."
"Well, the places where the Underworld fights are mostly alleys even narrower than this. Ha ha ha!"
Gong So-seong burst into a hearty laugh and asked, "Shall we begin, then?" Jang Yu-seom picked up a stick not quite two ja long. It was about the length of a longish dagger.
"I will use this as my weapon."
Wearing a sneering smile, Won Tae-hyeon said.
"In a martial world this dangerous, no one uses a toy like that."
Won Tae-hyeon gripped the handle of the sword on his back and went on.
"You've been in the military, so you don't seem to know, but for us every day is real combat. We're different from soldiers who only do loose training."
"Branch Chief, you may use the weapon you brought."
Between a wooden stick and a long saber, the difference in weapon advantage was obvious.
Shing—.
A keen-edged blade slid from its scabbard.
"You might lose an arm and regret it. Ah! If you lose your head, there'll be nothing left to regret."
"Branch Chief Won. Show some courtesy."
Gong So-seong gave the warning, but his manner did not suggest much reproach. Standing three jang from Jang Yu-seom, Won Tae-hyeon asked.
"If I win or last ten moves, what happens to that young brat?"
Won Tae-hyeon pointed with his sword at Do Tong-dal, who stood at one side of the yard. Do Tong-dal answered at once.
"There's no chance an old-timer like you will win, so stop wasting time and just fight."
Won Tae-hyeon's already fierce face twisted even more harshly.
"You little whelp, how impudent!"
"If you want to fight with age, say so. I happen to know an old man who's lived a hundred years."
The tip of Won Tae-hyeon's sword, pointed at Do Tong-dal, wavered up and down.
"You're next, so stretch your neck out long and wait!"
"A lump that's all mouth, and the man who brought such a lump...... tsk tsk tsk......."
Gong So-seong held back Won Tae-hyeon, who was about to lunge at Do Tong-dal, and asked.
"If our Branch Chief Won lasts ten moves, what will you do?"
Do Tong-dal took a pouch from his breast.
"You'll pocket five nyang of silver as side income."
Gong So-seong was rather surprised that the young man was carrying such a large sum.
"You're telling me to wager five nyang too, I take it?"
"If you're scared, then go die."
"You make it impossible not to wager."
As it happened, Gong So-seong also had six nyang in his breast, the contract payment he was to give Jang Yu-seom today.
Gong So-seong tossed the pouch containing five nyang of silver onto the wooden veranda. Do Tong-dal placed his pouch beside it.
Do Tong-dal said to Jang Yu-seom.
"If our wager offends you, we'll call it off."
It was a markedly more courteous attitude than the one he had shown Gong So-seong and Won Tae-hyeon.
"It doesn't seem to be any concern of mine."
Jang Yu-seom only needed to fight the agreed fight.
"May we begin?"
Won Tae-hyeon was itching to show his skill quickly. A man who had only swung wooden swords in the military could not be a match for him, who had survived fiercely among live blades.
Gong So-seong also thought Jang Yu-seom was stronger than Won Tae-hyeon, but he did not believe Jang Yu-seom would win within ten moves.
A year ago, he had personally watched Won Tae-hyeon beat eight grown men to a bloody pulp. It was skill that would work not only in the Underworld but in the martial world as well.
Jang Yu-seom took his stance and said.
"Shall we begin, then?"
The moment the words fell, Won Tae-hyeon kicked off the ground. There was no mercy in the sword he swung at Jang Yu-seom.
If he killed Jang Yu-seom here, he would prove his martial skill and gain five nyang of side income besides, so there was no reason to hold back.
The blade slashing down diagonally aimed for Jang Yu-seom's shoulder. Jang Yu-seom did not move until the blade had almost reached him.
'He's frozen up at a real blade.'
Won Tae-hyeon believed so. But then Jang Yu-seom suddenly vanished, and the blade cut only empty air.
Thud!
A dull sensation reached the area of his waist. Jang Yu-seom had somehow gotten behind Won Tae-hyeon and stabbed him in the back with the wooden dagger.
"That is a vital point where the kidney sits. If you are stabbed there, a hundred times out of a hundred, you die."
Jang Yu-seom's voice came out flat and dry. Won Tae-hyeon had not actually been wounded, but since this was a spar, the outcome was as good as decided.
"I'm not dead!"
Won Tae-hyeon swung his sword at Jang Yu-seom. Jang Yu-seom let the blade pass over his head and stepped back with a leap.
"This is only a spar. I don't wish for anyone to be hurt."
"Fuck! Try actually killing me!"
Won Tae-hyeon, his Underworld nature laid bare, was about to lunge at Jang Yu-seom again.
"Stop!"
Gong So-seong's shout halted Won Tae-hyeon.
"Branch Chief Won. Don't make an ugly scene."
"But General Manager! This was just my carelessness......!"
"A blade doesn't dodge you just because you were careless."
Won Tae-hyeon's face flushed red, and his expression showed no sign of accepting defeat. At that, Jang Yu-seom said.
"If you wish, I'll give you one more chance. Provided the squad leader permits it."
With five nyang of silver on the line, no one could fault Do Tong-dal for refusing.
"If Jang Yu-seom wants it, a hundred times would be fine."
Being trusted was always a pleasant thing. So Jang Yu-seom gave Do Tong-dal a slight nod.
"If Jang Yu-seom is willing to yield......."
Gong So-seong trailed off and looked at Won Tae-hyeon. Won Tae-hyeon was poised to spring at any moment, like a mother boar that had lost her young.
"If you don't want to be humiliated again, be careful."
At Gong So-seong's words, Won Tae-hyeon flinched and let out a long breath. Surviving the perilous back alleys of the underworld had been a great education.
And so Won Tae-hyeon quickly calmed himself.
"I'll go in first."
Won Tae-hyeon closed the distance to Jang Yu-seom. It was not impatience, but the iron rule of victory through striking first.
* * *