A Sect of Bandits Is Still a Sect of Bandits
Dong Ung glared at Im So-byeong with bloodshot eyes, looking as if he meant to kill him on the spot.
But Im So-byeong only kept grinning shamelessly.
“You little rat. You dragged the righteous sect bastards into Green Forest business?”
“I was just trying to make a living. I had to improvise.”
“And you don’t even know enough to be ashamed?”
“Ah, come on. I just picked good friends.”
Dong Ung’s eyes spat murder.
“The Chaeju will chew your flesh to pieces! For breaking Green Forest law and bringing outsiders in, he’ll make you pay with your own body—”
THWACK!
In that instant, Dong Ung’s head jerked forward so violently it looked as if his neck might snap.
His eyes bulged, and blood burst from the tongue he had bitten before he could even get it into his mouth.
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”
“And now what, you bastard?”
Watching Dong Ung clutch the back of his head and scream, Chung Myung’s eyes flashed wildly.
“You’re a prisoner, so why the hell is your tongue so long? I ought to rip it right out!”
“Ughhh….”
“And what was that? Law? Law, you say?”
SMACK!
Chung Myung’s hand came down on the back of Dong Ung’s head again without mercy.
“You’re wearing human skin, at least pretend to have a little conscience! You’re a bandit who lives off robbery, so how dare you put ‘law’ in your mouth? Wait, no, actually—that’s right. A guy with a conscience would never become a bandit. You’re practically living your profession, you bastard!”
“N-no, that’s not what I—”
“And where do you get off baring your killing intent in front of your elders? No manners at all? Fine. Great. I’ll carve some manners into your bones today!”
CRACK.
Then, without warning, Chung Myung drove a fist into Dong Ung’s jaw and twisted his face around. He climbed right on top of him and began raining down his fists like thunderbolts.
“Khk! Kheuk! S-sect brother, please spare me—!”
“You’re not dying! You’re not dying! You think you’d die from just this little bit?”
“I-I feel like I’m going to die…! Kugh! Kheuk!”
“I said you’re not dying, you bastard! What, have you been living your whole life getting fooled?”
Chung Myung’s fists busily spun Dong Ung’s face this way and that.
And at that thoroughly diligent display, Hyun Young smiled in deep satisfaction.
“Oh my, my precious boy. How could he hit so well? So crisply, too.”
“……”
The faces of the Mount Hua disciples all twisted in horror.
Was that really the sort of thing a Taoist priest should be doing, and the sort of thing a Taoist priest should be saying?
“Huff!”
Apparently he had really been working hard, because Chung Myung even stood up, breathing heavily.
“Honestly, you’re all rotten to the core.”
“……”
Dong Ung lay sprawled on the ground, so battered that it was hard to tell where his eyes were. He swallowed down the tears trying to rise in the corners of his eyes.
These guys are worse than bandits.
No matter how vicious a bandit was, he wouldn’t beat a man already stabbed all over his body like this. What kind of people were these, wearing robes and refusing even to treat the injured like injured people?
Didn’t the Primordial Lord or whatever-his-name-was have any conscience at all?
“Hey.”
“Y-yes!”
But separate from his thoughts, his body was brutally honest in the face of violence.
The instant he heard that “hey,” his body ignored the pain and sprang upright.
This bastard is a professional.
The way he beat people up was not the work of someone doing it for the first time or the second. The threat of being hit one more time made his tone painfully obedient.
Chung Myung said casually, “Spit it out.”
“Huh? Spit out what…?”
SMACK!
Chung Myung’s hand came down hard on the back of Dong Ung’s head again.
“Information! Information, you bastard! What, did you think I was beating you just to learn your family register?”
“I-if it’s information, you mean about Green Fortress?”
“What else?”
Dong Ung cautiously glanced at Im So-byeong.
He had just been loudly accused of violating Green Forest law.
It wasn’t entirely baseless. Bringing in outsiders was definitely a crime. But leaking internal information was a far greater crime.
So…
“What are you rolling your eyes for?”
“N-no! No, sir! I’ll tell you!”
Dong Ung shouted in terror, then swallowed back tears inside.
What exactly is this guy?
What sort of person was he, to act this outrageously in front of so many elders and high-ranking people?
Even more shocking was that not a single person seemed inclined to stop him.
Dong Ung pointed with his eyes at Im So-byeong and stammered, “Th-the truth is, the information about Green Fortress is probably something that gentleman knows better than I—”
“Hah.”
Chung Myung let out a heavy sigh and nodded.
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
“T-thank you for understanding….”
“You’re an evil sect guy. I’ve been hanging around with only soft little lambs lately, so I blanked out for a second. Evil sect guys aren’t the type you need to beat.”
With a sharp shrring, Chung Myung drew his sword, and Dong Ung’s eyeballs practically popped out of his skull.
Why is he drawing a sword now?
“I should’ve started by cutting off one of your arms and legs….”
“Aaaaaaaagh! Green Fortress! Green Fortress is under Dae-byeol Bandit Band control right now! Most of Dae-byeol Bandit Band has already moved into Green Fortress, and in Mount Heng, where Green Fortress is located, not only Dae-byeol Bandit Band but also Red Bear Bandit Band from Mount O-dae and Blood Wolf Bandit Band from Mount Ok are staying there!”
After hearing the torrent of words come pouring out of Dong Ung like a gunshot, Chung Myung turned to Im So-byeong and asked, “Why don’t these guys have tiger in their names? I mean, there’s all these names like Yellow Tiger Gang and Red Tiger Gang, but not one of them uses tiger?”
“……That’s a common trait of newly founded bandit bands. Things that don’t usually exist tend to want to look strong.”
“Then Red Bear and Blood Wolf don’t sound weak?”
“……Let’s just call it their personal style.”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue and fixed his gaze on Dong Ung again.
“Why is it only Dae-byeol Bandit Band in Green Fortress? Where are the others?”
“T-that is….”
This time, Im So-byeong answered for him.
“They’re said to have joined forces, but the three bandit bands aren’t exactly on good terms. All three have been competing for the top position among Green Forest forces, so relations between them have never been great.”
“So let me get this straight…”
Chung Myung said in disbelief, “Even while plotting a rebellion together, they still don’t like each other enough that they have to use separate lodgings?”
“Precisely.”
“I’ve never seen such a mess in my life. What the hell are they doing?”
“What do you expect from bandits? That’s why they’re bandits. Isn’t ‘a mob of idiots’ basically the definition of bandits? Hahahahaha!”
Hey. You’re the boss of those bandits, aren’t you?
Weren’t you the Green Forest King?
Im So-byeong, who had been snickering, caught the eyes turning toward him, stopped laughing, and gave an awkward cough.
“I have tried, in my own way, to improve things, but nature is nature.”
“Right. Next bandit chief.”
“Malko….”
“What?”
“O-over there, that horse-nose fellow has something on his nose! I should go wipe it off.”
As Im So-byeong scrambled to change the subject, Chung Myung gave him a flat look. Then, with an awkward smile, Im So-byeong continued, “Dae-byeol Bandit Band, Red Bear Bandit Band, and Blood Wolf Bandit Band are each considered the strongest among Green Forest’s forces. If those three have joined up, they’re certainly worth more than two-tenths of Green Forest’s total strength.”
Chung Myung narrowed his eyes and glared at Dong Ung.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes!”
“Is that all the bandits there are?”
“A-as far as I know, yes.”
“Let’s be clear. I like lying, but I don’t like people lying to me.”
Seeing the fist clench with a grinding crack, Dong Ung broke out in a cold sweat.
“I-it’s true. That’s all I saw with my own eyes. The Chaeju doesn’t tell us everything, either. We only learned about the attack on Green Fortress on the day it happened.”
“Hmm. Useless. Completely useless.”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue in disgust and turned to Im So-byeong.
“What do you think?”
“If we’re talking about bandit bands actually inside Mount Heng, those three would likely be all of them.”
“So the other bandit bands didn’t come to help with this?”
“No. What I mean is that, considering the size of Mount Heng, if four or more bandit bands had moved in, there would definitely have been fighting already.”
“……”
Im So-byeong smiled faintly.
“Bandits are all the same. They don’t think.”
“……”
Come to think of it, this man didn’t seem like a bandit at all. He seemed like someone who hated bandits.
“……Fine, whatever. That’s enough about that.”
Chung Myung gave up on asking further and scratched his chin.
“How many bandits are in one of those camps?”
“D-Dae-byeol Bandit Band has five hundred in total.”
“Five hundred?”
Chung Myung’s eyes widened slightly.
“Yes! If you exclude our Yacha Hall, there’d still be just under four hundred left!”
“What about the other bandit bands? Are they all around five hundred too?”
“T-the numbers are almost the same. If you count the people left behind at their main camps, that’s probably about right for all of them.”
“So there are fifteen hundred bandits on that mountain alone?”
Dong Ung nodded rapidly and forcefully. Chung Myung muttered with a blank face, “What the hell…? It’s not even a bandit kingdom. Why the hell are there fifteen hundred bandits? What are the authorities doing?”
Good grief.
He had thought the world had changed a great deal when some random bandits were being called one of the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu or whatever.
As if reading Chung Myung’s thoughts, Im So-byeong said, “Heh. It’s a very good era for making a living as a bandit….”
“……If you don’t want to be handed over to the magistrate, shut it.”
“Yessir.”
Im So-byeong shut his mouth at once with a quick, obedient grin. Chung Myung shook his head.
“Fifteen hundred, huh.”
“Even so, they’re still a mob of rabble….”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Yes, sir!”
After a moment’s thought, Chung Myung looked toward Hyun Sang and Hyun Young.
“That’s what it is.”
“Hmm.”
Hyun Sang looked at the Un generation with a slightly hardened expression.
“What do you think? Fifteen hundred is still a troublesome number.”
But Un Geom looked back at him with unwavering eyes.
“There is no path of cooperation that does not involve taking risks.”
“Mm.”
“They came down the mountain with a purpose and attacked a fortress where common people live. Who can guarantee this will not happen again? Even if we were not here to fight them, but merely happened upon this sight as we passed by, we could not simply ignore it, Elder.”
“I see.”
It was pure, straightforward principle, and a reply full of conviction. But Hyun Sang, who had hoped for a somewhat more practical answer, turned next to Unam.
“And you? What do you think?”
“I think that is a question you should ask that child over there.”
“Hmm?”
Smiling, Unam pointed at Baek Cheon.
When Hyun Sang’s gaze fell on him, Baek Cheon answered before even being asked, his voice firm.
“There is no reason to hesitate.”
“Oh?”
“The stronger the enemy, the more the disciples can learn. Of course it is dangerous, but if we do not dare danger, then what can we possibly gain?”
The corners of Hyun Sang’s mouth finally curved into a smile he could not hide.
Of course, he did not want the children to take risks. But there was no helping the pride he felt at hearing them declare they would face danger without hesitation.
“Yes. Then….”
“What are you all hesitating for?”
“……”
At that moment, Chung Myung cut in bluntly, frowning.
“Even if you dress it up, they’re just bandits. We should just go up there and sweep the lot of them away.”
Hyun Sang smiled with satisfaction at those words.
Yes, Chung Myung.
I didn’t ask you because I knew damn well you’d say exactly that.
How can one person be so consistently himself?
“Ahem.”
Clearing his throat, Hyun Sang nodded.
“Fighting those on the mountain will not be easy. We must prepare thoroughly and strike with care.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“Unam.”
“Yes!”
“Learn the terrain from the Green Forest King and determine our advance route.”
“Yes!”
“Un Geom.”
“Yes!”
“Check the disciples’ condition and make sure everything is prepared perfectly.”
“Yes!”
“Baek Cheon, work with the Un generation to establish our overall strategy and memorize every possible situation! Your role is crucial.”
“I will make it happen.”
“Good. And… Chung Myung.”
“Yes!”
“Don’t cause trouble.”
“……Yes, sir.”
Hyun Sang nodded and announced, “We move at dawn tomorrow!”
His voice rang with burning resolve. Hyun Sang swept his gaze over everyone, each face faintly flushed with excitement, and said, “Building cooperation is important. So is achieving our goal. But never forget that what our sect truly wants from you is for none of you to be hurt and for the matter to be concluded safely.”
“We’ll keep that in mind, Elder!”
“Let us show them exactly what Mount Hua is made of.”
With Hyun Sang’s bold declaration, the suppression of Mount Heng was decided.
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