Chapter 104. That Supposedly Dangerous... Old Man and Child Clash
Won Seung glanced around at everyone and spoke up.
"If we just proceed with this martial duel as is, it'll only plant the seeds for more bloodshed down the line. Use your heads! A little brainpower is all it takes! No matter how ancient the event, a bit of thinking will uncover the truth."
These blockheads. Think for once.
He glared at them, but the thick-skulled lot didn't even pretend to listen.
How the hell are we supposed to uncover the truth from twenty years ago? We settle it with swords.
The crowd was growing irritated as the fight they came to watch kept getting delayed.
They'd shown up expecting a bloody brawl, not this endless jawing.
Ignoring them, Won Seung swept his gaze over the observers' seats and continued.
"Everyone here is a Sangyang native, and plenty old enough to remember the Yong family massacre twenty years ago."
The people in the observers' seats were all middle-aged or older. Even the youngest looked to be in his forties. Among them, Deung Noya was the eldest at over seventy.
"That gentleman over there? He looks exactly the age to have tangled with the Sang River's water dragon spirits."
Won Seung singled out Deung Noya with a point.
Suddenly dubbed the Sang River's water dragon, Deung Noya stared at Won Seung with a blank expression.
"Ah, no insult intended with the water dragon bit. I meant it as a nod to your impending ascension to true dragonhood. After guarding the Sang River's peace for decades, becoming the Sang River Dragon is only fitting."
Won Seung offered the blessing of Deung Noya's ascension.
Deung Noya, who surely grasped the implication, flushed red despite his impeccable character. His well-groomed beard trembled uncontrollably.
What's with this punk?
Meek as a lamb this morning... and now?
In that instant, Deung Noya realized the real power behind Baekhwa Pavilion was this kid.
And the one who killed Gu Ak-pyeong... was him too.
Convinced, Deung Noya flashed Won Seung a smile laced with killing intent.
Won Seung met the thick-skinned grin with eyes of his own murder and asked,
"But who might you be, sir?"
"Watch your tongue! This is the head of the Sang River Shipowners' Association!"
Someone else answered for him.
"Ah, forgive my ignorance. So you're the head of the Sang River Shipowners' Association. I've heard of you. Your name is Deung... Deung...?"
Deung Noya, still wearing his mild smile, replied,
"What's an old man's name matter to you? What is it you want to say, young one?"
In the jianghu, they say to beware old men, children, and women.
Right now, that supposedly dangerous matchup—an old man and a child—was underway.
Won Seung locked eyes with Deung Noya's mild... yet poisonously murderous gaze and said,
"I just have a few questions I'd like to ask."
No hard feelings... so quit glaring.
In the past few days, Won Seung had learned that Sangyang's underworld ran deep.
Even Hwa Cheon-un didn't know who the true black society boss was. He was newly amazed at how Jeokhyeolsan had known about Deung Noya.
So he figured a man as capable as this couldn't possibly be ignorant of the Yong family bloodbath twenty years back.
Their gazes tangled in midair.
What the hell are you playing at?
You want to prop Ogu up as the new black society pants? No, wait—fake painting as bait? Then you'll have to pay the price.
And know this: if you use my fake like you did with Gu Ak-pyeong—letting it take all the heat before discarding it—I'll be livid.
We'll settle up later.
And so on—their eyes conversed.
Won Seung smiled and asked Deung Noya,
"Having led the Shipowners' Association for a full forty years, you must know the Sang River's history inside out. Surely you remember the Yong family massacre too."
Won Seung's voice suddenly turned grave and stern.
It was as if he'd become another person entirely, startling the onlookers inwardly.
Won Seung was desperate.
Lives hung in the balance this very moment. Two of them closely tied to him—he couldn't afford to treat it lightly.
The look in Won Seung's eyes as he stared at Deung Noya was sharp as a blade, his words crashing down like lightning.
"You were head of the Shipowners' Association back then too! A calamity that shook the Sang River's power balance to its core—you must have looked into it!"
"You were head!" "Must have!" The phrases stabbed into everyone's ears.
Won Seung's calm yet deliberate words drew fresh light to Kwon-wang's eyes once more, and all eyes turned to Deung Noya.
Even if Deung Noya claimed ignorance now, no one would buy it. A slacker like that couldn't have held the post for decades.
Resigned, Deung Noya smiled faintly and slowly opened his mouth.
"Of course I looked into it... but I couldn't pinpoint the culprits. No clues were left behind."
This old fox. Wrong answer. You need to say it wasn't Cheongsu Gate!
Deung Noya turned to the observers and said,
"You all remember, don't you? The authorities investigated and pinned it on river pirates... that's how I recall it, at least?"
"Yes, that's right. They announced it officially, and that's what we all believed."
A few in the observers' seats nodded in agreement.
"Truth be told, I only recently learned the Hwa brothers of Cheongsu Gate were involved in the Yong family head's death."
Deung Noya gazed sympathetically at Yong Jo-un and continued.
"What a tragedy. It brings back memories of the late Yong family head in his prime. That son standing on the arena stage is the spitting image."
As a finale, Deung Noya sighed toward Sangyang.
"So many young lives lost to those blue waters of the Sang River. This old man never crossed lines—just lived cautiously. That's all I know."
As Deung Noya tried to extricate himself, Won Seung grabbed his ankle.
"If you claim no knowledge of the massacre itself, fair enough. But you must have taken measures, right? The Yong family controlled the Sang River Wharf Laborers' Association. When they were wiped out, the group would've shaken—surely the Shipowners' head had to prepare for that?"
Won Seung pressed again. Few grasped the implication. Only the Hwa brothers of Cheongsu Gate, Pyeong In-gang of Gwancheonbang, and the association heads in the observers' seats truly understood.
It pierced the heart of the Shipowners' and Laborers' Associations' relationship.
Investigating Cheongsu Gate, Won Seung had learned how lucrative Sang River logistics were. Everyone wanted a straw in it—that's why Cheon Il-hae demanded shares in the North Wharf Laborers' Association.
After learning Deung Noya was Sangyang's black society boss, he'd dug into the associations' ties.
Among Sang River's groups, the Shipowners' and Wharf Laborers' held the most sway. Symbiotic, sharing logistics profits.
Essential to each other, splitting the revenue.
If one takes too much, the other starves.
Raising laborers' wages boosted the Laborers' income but hiked Shipowners' costs.
An adversarial symbiosis, in other words.
One more intriguing fact from probing Deung Noya:
Previously, shipowners contracted laborers directly, setting fees individually. But as Sang River trade boomed and shipowners vied for workers, fees skyrocketed.
That's when young Deung Noya formed the Shipowners' Association.
He created the cartel and drove fee collusion.
Deung Noya had sunk his straw into Sangyang decades ago and been sucking ever since.
Shipowners colluded on fees, squeezing laborers' earnings day by day. Then Yong Cheol-hyeong of the Yong family stepped up, uniting boatmen and wharf workers into the Laborers' Association to negotiate with the Shipowners.
Since then, the two groups constantly sparred over fee calculations.
That was the history of Sang River's Shipowners' and Laborers' Associations.
The Laborers' Association, founded by the Yong family, wielded massive power.
Anyone wanting Sang River loading work went through them. Sideline it, and you'd catch a blade in a dark alley.
Shipowners had no choice but to pay up properly, tears and all.
The Yong family gripped all Sang River labor, a thorn in the Shipowners' side... and then, conveniently, they were exterminated. The association split into Cheongsu Gate's South Wharf Laborers' and Gwancheonbang's North Wharf Laborers'.
Post-massacre, with labor split north-south, Shipowners could pick the cheaper wharf.
Thus, Cheongsu Gate and Gwancheonbang competed yet collaborated when needed, agreeing on fee floors to counter the Shipowners.
As Won Seung hounded him, Deung Noya chuckled softly, stroking his beard.
"No need for measures. Fortunately, Cheongsu Gate and Gwancheonbang took over the Laborers' Association right away, stabilizing Sang River logistics."
As he tried to sever the tail, Won Seung bit harder.
"Then! Cheongsu Gate and Gwancheonbang profited from the Yong family's fall! The Hwa brothers killed the Yong head for revenge and took his business. But Gwancheonbang? Where the hell did Cheon Il-hae pop out from?"
He turned to Yong Jo-un.
"Young Hero Yong! Didn't you say Cheon Il-hae worked for the Yong family? I figured he stole their assets to build Gwancheonbang."
Yong Jo-un nodded.
Won Seung suddenly grew solemn, scanning the crowd.
"A fair guess, no? The fiends who ambushed the Yong estate, slaughtered over a hundred retainers, and vanished—could've been Cheon Il-hae. As an insider, he'd know about the Yong head's deathmatch with the Hwa brothers. Maybe he used it to seize the business? How else could he snap up the North Wharf Laborers' Association so fast without prior scheming?"
Finishing, he eyed Deung Noya.
Dead men tell no tales. Pin it all on him. Back me up here.
Deung Noya ignored the overture, merely nodding with an "Ahem."
Won Seung's aim was to delay the Hwa brothers' duel with Yong Jo-un by sowing doubt over the true Yong massacre culprits.
If not the Hwa brothers... then Yong Jo-un's revenge play crossed into vigilantism.
The Hwas had paternal vengeance as justification, plus a formal deathmatch challenge. Sure, ganging up drew flak, but the Yong head was Sangyang's top expert—mitigating circumstances aplenty.
And if Won Seung was right and Cheon Il-hae exploited their challenge to strike... then he was Yong Jo-un's blood enemy.
Young Hero Yong, don't we need to uncover the real clan exterminators first?
Won Seung urged Yong Jo-un inwardly, eyes intense.
Now Yong Jo-un had to pursue the true culprits—meaning postpone the duel.
Die in it, and the massacre's truth died forever, leaving a hundred souls unrested.
"……."
Silence fell for a moment.
Won Seung's words had planted seeds of doubt in every heart.