The Blue-robed Scholar 2
‘If I want to save Gong the butler, I need to know his past.’
Before Seok Geum-ryong’s thirteenth birthday arrived, he used every possible channel to dig into the past of Gong Sang-pil, the Scholar in Blue.
He had to do it without being discovered by Gong Sang-pil himself, so after careful deliberation he commissioned the Beggars’ Sect, the intelligence network representing the orthodox faction.
“That is information I already know.”
Everything they told him was just the same old, formulaic story, and most of it was already known to Seok Geum-ryong anyway.
He had expected the Beggars’ Sect to bring back something concrete, but just as he was beginning to feel disappointed, Shin Dan-woo stepped in to help.
“Young master, if you’re looking into someone’s private affairs or dark information, the Unorthodox Sect is better suited than the Beggars’ Sect.”
“The Unorthodox Sect?”
“Yes. Especially when it comes to digging into a person’s background, they’re in a class of their own. It would be better to leave it to them.”
At that, Seok Geum-ryong brightened and nodded in agreement.
In truth, if he wanted to sell Hanyeolma at a fair price, compete with Admadang within Hebei Province, and expand his reach, intelligence was the first priority above all else.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. However, unlike the Beggars’ Sect, they aren’t a place with an open door where you can just walk in and wait for service. They’re hidden somewhere only people in the know can find.”
Though Seok Geum-ryong’s birthday was only a short time away, Shin Dan-woo fortunately had a wide network across the martial world. He had connections not only in the orthodox and unorthodox factions, but even in the black market world.
He had spent years wandering the jianghu before he came to rely on Seokga Manor.
“If it’s all right with you, may I guide you there?”
Shin Dan-woo offered once more.
In fact, even he didn’t know whose background they were digging into or what information Seok Geum-ryong wanted, but because it was a matter involving him, he had gone out of his way to help.
“I’ve lived my entire life inside Seokga Manor, so my experience is shallow. In that case, I’ll trouble you.”
Seok Geum-ryong made his request to Shin Dan-woo with proper courtesy.
“Then let’s set out at once.”
The matter proceeded with remarkable speed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Shin Dan-woo slipped out with Seok Geum-ryong during the morning hours, and to his surprise, the place they headed for was the backstreets of the black market world, lined with bold courtesans in red pavilions and with gambling dens packed side by side.
On any ordinary day, he would have wondered why Shin Dan-woo had brought him to a place like this. But Seok Geum-ryong understood.
Most members of the Unorthodox Sect were courtesans, pickpockets, errand boys, and the like, people who lived in the shadows and made their living from hard, low work. It was easy enough to guess.
“Hey there, rich young master. Come to experience the back alleys?”
“We’re spectators now?! ...You made eye contact, so hand over a lump of gold!”
“Please, sir, help us. Sob...”
The dark alleys of Hebei, ruled by black-market sects, were beyond imagination.
Most of the people here were rough and shameless types, and Seok Geum-ryong and the properly dressed escort, Shin Dan-woo, looked utterly out of place amid the atmosphere, one radiating aristocratic refinement and the other standing beside him like a blade drawn in silence.
Perhaps because of that, gangsters and loafers from the black market would come up to pick a fight or beg for sympathy, but as long as they were ignored and not met with eye contact, they rarely dared to push further.
“It’s a rough, ugly neighborhood, isn’t it? I spent most of my childhood and youth in places like this.”
Shin Dan-woo smiled bitterly as he protected Seok Geum-ryong.
He was treating him like a boy, even if his martial skill was no less formidable than his own.
Seok Geum-ryong, who had never lived such a life himself, found himself looking at Shin Dan-woo anew, a man who had endured so much hardship since childhood.
“There’s one thing you should keep in mind about the black-market backstreets. Here, it’s all about momentum.”
“Pardon?”
“Most of the people trying to threaten you are bluffing or trying to frighten you, so you must never get scared or shrink back. The moment you show a weakness, most of them will stick their hands into your vitals without the slightest hesitation.”
Shin Dan-woo grinned and issued the warning.
But that warning was not only about the loafers in the alley.
“The same goes when you meet a Beggars’ Sect disciple or a branch leader later. The market price for information isn’t fixed. But if we, looking easy to exploit, go to them asking for help, they’ll try to overcharge us and bleed us dry.”
Only then did Seok Geum-ryong understand what he was getting at.
“Ah, so you mean we need to go hard, to be bold.”
“Exactly.”
As the two of them laughed and talked about how to survive in this unfamiliar world, they soon reached their destination.
It was a shabby building with no signboard, the sort of place that looked like an illegal gambling den from the outside.
The door was even shut.
Bang, bang, bang!
Without the slightest hesitation, Shin Dan-woo hammered on the ramshackle door of the gambling house, shattering the silence.
After a while, a sharp voice, soaked through with alcohol and age, barked from within.
“Who is it? Don’t you know we’re closed today?”
If it had been some drifter or a half-witted fool truly looking to gamble, he might have backed off right there. But Shin Dan-woo was different.
“I’ve come to see the crow.”
When he spoke the password used to make contact with the Hebei branch of the Unorthodox Sect, the other side fell silent, as if the irritation had never existed at all.
Creak!
At last, the shabby door gave a ghostly groan and opened, revealing a man.
Contrary to the rough voice, the one who had opened it was a young man of unusually large build.
“Ah, I see, you’re guests. Come in quickly before someone sees you.”
At the young man’s urging, Shin Dan-woo respectfully led Seok Geum-ryong inside, and Seok Geum-ryong, who was experiencing this sort of contact with the Unorthodox Sect for the first time, entered with a small smile.
The inside of the gambling den was exactly as he had expected.
It’s damp, and it stinks.
Still, one thing was impressive: along with the broad-shouldered young man, there were quite a few people inside, including a woman pouring drinks and a boy who looked like an errand runner.
The interior felt less like a gambling den and more like a tavern.
“We’ve come to meet the branch leader of the Hebei branch of the Unorthodox Sect.”
Shin Dan-woo was about to speak on Seok Geum-ryong’s behalf, but...
“Hmph! You think the branch leader is a dog or a cow, to come running just because someone called?”
“If you’ve got questions, ask them and get out.”
“Did you bring enough gold? You smell rich.”
A few of the Unorthodox Sect disciples inside the shabby gambling house were already heavily drunk in broad daylight, each of them wearing a thoroughly indifferent expression.
Hmmm.
Shin Dan-woo had hoped the owner of the place would step forward and sort out the situation, but for some reason the branch leader never showed himself, and it was hard to even guess who he might be.
There’s no helping it.
Just as Shin Dan-woo was about to rise quietly and show them what he could do...
Crash!
Someone stepped forward a beat ahead of him and hurled a powerful fist without a shred of hesitation.
There was no need to ask who it was. It was Seok Geum-ryong.
The moment one of the Unorthodox Sect men approached him and rudely tried to check his pockets, Seok Geum-ryong slammed a fist into his face as if he had been waiting for it.
“Gah! Guh-haaah!”
The man who took the hit had his nose smashed and his front teeth knocked out in an instant, blood splattering across his face.
He had underestimated him because he was only a young master in his early teens, but what was this?
“Aaaagh! Aaaagh!”
The pain was so terrible he couldn’t even get to his feet.
What was even more shocking came next.
“If you don’t know courtesy, you’re not a man, but a beast.”
Seok Geum-ryong left those words behind and began, in earnest, his lesson in manners and discipline.
“How dare this brat!”
“You come here to cause trouble in the Hebei branch of the Unorthodox Sect?!”
The men of the Unorthodox Sect, their pride thoroughly trampled by the preemptive attack from Seok Geum-ryong, who looked younger than even Shin Dan-woo’s youngest brother, all rose at once and rushed him.
But Seok Geum-ryong was not the kind to be intimidated by numbers.
“Young master. I...”
As they moved in, Shin Dan-woo tried to protect Seok Geum-ryong, but...
“No. I need to prove it myself if I want them to listen.”
Seok Geum-ryong stopped him and stepped forward.
He never used violence without reason.
He had instinctively understood the situation.
We’re exchanging pressure with the men of the Hebei branch of the Unorthodox Sect right now.
And what that meant was this: the Unorthodox Sect men were trying to look down on Seok Geum-ryong and shake him down for a large sum of gold, while Seok Geum-ryong intended to prove that he was neither a fool to be cheated nor some pampered young master ignorant of the world, but a capable man who could crush them and stand over them if he chose.
“Get him!”
“We’ll teach him a lesson!”
Thus the battle began in earnest, and while the Unorthodox Sect disciples were not especially skilled, there were quite a lot of them.
Yet Seok Geum-ryong did not waver in the slightest.
- Shadowless Movement Technique!
Far from being flustered, he did the opposite.
With nimble movement, he slipped out of the unfavorable position and lured the enemy toward a narrow table.
Because the space was cramped, no matter how many people there were, they couldn’t rush him all at once; they had to come in broken fragments, one by one.
Seok Geum-ryong deliberately provoked them into splitting apart.
And that was not all.
- Heaven-Returning Golden Needle Technique!
As soon as the enemy divided, he threw a bamboo needle at the man leading the front, as though he had been waiting for exactly that moment.
Whoosh!
It was the exquisite needle-throwing art, acupuncture art, and throwing technique of the Heaven-Returning Golden Needle Technique he had learned from the Golden Needle Venerable, Yeo Gwang-rae, and the effect was as devastating as one might imagine.
Thwip!
Though not as deadly as a gold needle, the bamboo needle, carefully carved to be remarkably sharp, carried Seok Geum-ryong’s abundant inner power and pierced straight through the enemy’s vital point.
Seok Geum-ryong’s combat instincts had already sharpened to a fine edge from his sparring with Moon Spirit Swordswoman Im So-gun.
“Kuaaaagh!”
“Aaagh! H-he’s throwing hidden weapons!”
In the blink of an eye, countless members of the Unorthodox Sect were utterly outmatched by a single young boy, forced into submission by Seok Geum-ryong alone.
No matter how they tried to coordinate in groups and seize him, the gap in skill was simply too great.
As expected of the young master!
And beside him stood the escort martial artist, Shin Dan-woo, watching in silence with growing admiration. The Unorthodox Sect men could only imagine how frightening things would become if he joined in.
[You said that in the black-market world, you can’t afford to look down on yourself, right?]
Seok Geum-ryong sent a clever telepathic message toward Shin Dan-woo, who was staring at him in admiration.
Indeed, Seok Geum-ryong was Seok Geum-ryong.
He had learned one thing and understood ten, completely suppressing the enemy’s initiative and seizing control of the atmosphere.
“Enough! Stop this at once!”
Just as most of the Unorthodox Sect disciples were either struck by bamboo needles or laid out on the floor by Seok Geum-ryong’s fists, a startling voice rang out.
Incredibly, the one raising his voice to take control of the room was none other than the young errand boy who had been carrying food and drink inside the gambling den.
“And who are you?”
Shin Dan-woo asked the errand boy, who looked to be in his late teens or early twenties.
“Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am the branch leader of the Hebei branch of the Unorthodox Sect... So O-gwi, Gyeon Ja-bok.”
To everyone’s surprise, the branch leader of the Hebei Unorthodox Sect, the man who controlled these black-clad disciples and stood above them all, was the youngest and most boyish-looking person in the entire gambling den.