11
Chapter 11: Jang Ho
Dong Bong-su ultimately decided not to kill them. Though that thought could change again, at least for now he judged there was no particular need to kill them.
Whether Do Pal-du and the riffraff knew their lives had instantly gone to the threshold of the afterlife and returned, they kept walking forward.
They took Dong Bong-su to the end of the alley, to a completely secluded spot. This place had rarely been visited by people even before. There was no way people would come in an atmosphere like these days.
Smack.
Convinced there were no people, Do Pal-du suddenly slapped Dong Bong-su's face without warning.
His palm was large and broad, just like the paw of a beast. Unless you were a Murim person, there was no way to withstand being hit by such a palm.
The sound of flesh striking rang out crisply and Dong Bong-su lay down flat on the ground.
It was the customary beating that riffraff did before extorting money. For bottom-feeding thugs, such violent acts were one of life's pleasures, no less than extorting and spending money.
For those living at the bottom, extorting and tormenting those living in the basement was a ray of amusement in their foul-smelling lives.
For those on the receiving end, it was cause for tears of blood, but violence to human scum like them?
It was the vitality of life.
Thud, thwack thwack.
Dong Bong-su silently endured the beating from Do Pal-du and the riffraff. However, his eyes facing the ground while lying prone were shining white. If Do Pal-du had seen those eyes, he would have either pissed himself or never thought to extort money from Dong Bong-su again.
Those weren't human eyes. Nor were they the murderous eyes of carnivores at the top of the food chain like lions or tigers.
Just void—eyes with no emotion whatsoever.
Those who wonder why emotionless eyes are scary can say that because they've never experienced such eyes.
All living things have emotions. They're very sensitive to the emotion of pain. However, Dong Bong-su appeared to be someone who didn't feel emotions at all, especially the emotion of pain.
Imagine eyes with no disturbance whatsoever while blood drips profusely. There would be very few who could remain unaffected even facing such eyes.
Thud, thwack...
The riffraff's violence continued as if it would never end. Their kicking stopped right after someone's voice was heard.
"What are you all doing right now?"
It was a heavy voice. Dong Bong-su raised his head while remaining in a prone position and looked toward where the voice came from. A sturdy man in black clothes who appeared to be in his thirties was standing. Seeing his solid build, at first glance he looked like another riffraff.
"Elder brother J-Jang Ho!"
"I asked what you're doing right now."
But that was Dong Bong-su's mistake.
Jang Ho was actually a member of the Black Snake Society, one of the three black gangs that controlled Bongyang's back alleys. Though the riffraff lived by thuggery, they were lowlifes even in that world.
All riffraff had to pay taxes to the black gangs that moved more gloomily in higher and darker places than them. Because the black gangs learned basic martial arts like the Three Talents Sword Technique, they were incomparably stronger than these back alley riffraff. Sometimes the riffraff even had to take the fall for incidents committed by black gang members and be dragged to the authorities.
Though Jang Ho was merely one of the lowest-ranking members of the Black Snake Society, he was an incomparable figure to Do Pal-du, the riffraff boss. Even if Jang Ho killed Do Pal-du, no one in Bongyang would care. The same went for Do Pal-du's subordinates.
Dong Bong-su realized things were flowing differently than expected. But he still didn't feel the need to eliminate them.
He quietly spat out the blood pooling in his mouth and straightened his back. In that posture, grasping Yeoro's reins that hung down, he closely observed the situation.
"Ah, ah, well, this guy was being insolent so as an example..."
Jang Ho silently looked at Dong Bong-su once, then looked at Yeoro.
"..."
A glimmer of interest overlaid his eyes.
Dong Bong-su's pupils, in contrast, sank deeper. It was because he read the ripple of greed in Jang Ho's eyes.
Clip clop clip clop.
Jang Ho turned and slowly approached Do Pal-du.
Sensing the atmosphere was ominous, Do Pal-du hesitantly retreated backward.
"Br-brother! Why, why are you...!"
Crack.
Jang Ho suddenly rushed at Do Pal-du, grabbed his arm, and bent it backward.
"Kyaaak!"
"Aren't you being insolent to me right now too?"
Judging by how Do Pal-du's arm was bizarrely bent the opposite way, he'd clearly become a cripple. He'd probably have to live as a left-hander for the rest of his life. That was the end of his position as riffraff boss too. Probably one of the other subordinate riffraff trembling as they retreated backward would become the new boss. Of course, that was contingent on surviving today.
Jang Ho had no interest whatsoever in the fact that Do Pal-du had become a cripple. After firmly stepping once on the head of Do Pal-du who was rolling on the ground in agony, he approached Dong Bong-su again.
"That's quite a fine horse. What breed is it?"
Jang Ho carefully stroked Yeoro's mane.
Dong Bong-su knew Jang Ho was asking him, but didn't answer. Wasn't he known as a mute right now? It wasn't that he couldn't answer if he wanted to, but the moment he answered, he'd have to kill everyone present. To do that, he first needed to know the opponent for certain. Since he'd already finished assessing Do Pal-du and the riffraff, he was confident he could handle them without any problems...
The problem was Jang Ho, who was pressuring him right in front.
Dong Bong-su just met him for the first time today. Needless to say, he knew nothing about Jang Ho. That made Dong Bong-su hesitate.
"I asked what breed this horse is."
Jang Ho's voice became even heavier.
Dong Bong-su read the killing intent nestled subtly deep in his voice.
'Is he targeting me?'
Dong Bong-su was certain of it. Though he didn't know the exact reason, the man in front was trying to kill him.
As he thought, Jang Ho had appeared here targeting Dong Bong-su from the start. No, more precisely, he was targeting Yeoro.
Bang Po-yeom, the head of the Black Snake Society, was a person who went crazy for good horses. He'd been coveting Yeoro, Danri Cheon-u's horse, for a long time.
But he knew well that if he wrongly touched Yeoro, the Black Snake Society could be erased from Bongyang.
However, could human greed be easily resolved just by enduring it?
For a long time, he'd had Jang Ho observe Yeoro—more precisely, the grooms who managed Yeoro. Then recently, he heard that an idiot named Sosam who couldn't speak had been put in charge of managing Yeoro.
He thought the time had finally come and ordered Jang Ho to steal Yeoro. Jang Ho had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to carry out Bang Po-yeom's order, and he judged the right time was now.
If he killed Sosam, Do Pal-du, and his gang all here and only disposed of Do Pal-du's corpse, all the blame would fall on Do Pal-du.
Crack, crackle.
Jang Ho lightly cracked the joints of both hands' fingers while slowly drawing killing intent from his body.
Now there was no choice.
'I have to fight.'
Dong Bong-su laughed inside while sensing the killing intent creeping up from Jang Ho's body. And unlike earlier, he became certain.
Certain he could take Jang Ho.
There's nothing more foolish than emanating strong killing intent in front of prey. Have you ever seen tigers and lions reveal killing intent before their hunt succeeds? Never.
A true hunter doesn't reveal killing intent until biting the prey's neck. They mustn't reveal it. If they stir up killing intent before hunting and the prey escapes, they lack qualifications as a hunter.
Moreover,
He wasn't such ordinary prey.
Jang Ho had misjudged the hunting target.
Step.
Placing a hand on one knee.
Dong Bong-su slowly rose from his spot. His head still faced the ground, and to anyone watching, he remained in a frightened state.
"I don't ask three times."
Jang Ho said that while grabbing Dong Bong-su's arm.
That was the moment.
"Then kill me. Why bother asking three times?"
It was a voice without fluctuation. If voices had high and low pitches, this voice would be one where all pitches were exactly the same. Unless it was a machine, who could produce such a voice? If not Dong Bong-su, it wouldn't be possible for anyone.
Those words were the first words Dong Bong-su spoke to someone since coming to Murim. And it was extremely like him. Not just the content of those words, but naturally the result was also like him.
"What!? You can talk?"
When Sosam, whom he knew as a mute, suddenly spoke, Jang Ho was slightly flustered. Though it seemed like nothing, that small gap—that was enough for Dong Bong-su. Dong Bong-su quickly raised his head.
Stab.
When on earth?
A blade was clenched between Dong Bong-su's upper and lower teeth.
"H-how..."
That blade had completely pierced through one side of Jang Ho's neck, digging into flesh, and the tip of the sharp dagger protruded from the opposite side of his neck, gleaming bizarrely with blood.
Crack.
Dong Bong-su grabbed the neck of Jang Ho who was asking how, and broke it just like that.
"I don't know either."
Even while losing his life, Jang Ho kept making keuk keuk sounds as if still curious about something, spewing bloody foam from his mouth. His eyes seemed to be saying 'how' about having a blade in his mouth.
The blade was already gone from Dong Bong-su's mouth. It was already in the Inventory.
"It just worked out like this."