Attempted Murder... This is a Serious Crime
Dang So-so stormed off, but Won Seung remained seated right where he was.
The onlookers stared in bewilderment.
"Yeo-wol, sit down. This stuff's all expensive. Let's eat before it gets cold."
Hwa Yeo-wol gaped at him, dumbfounded. Pung Jin-saeng glared at Won Seung with a rigid expression.
"Didn't you just say you'd come along?"
"When did I say I'd follow right away? I'm eating first, then heading out. That woman's got a real short fuse. Tell her to wait a bit."
"Hah…."
In the meantime, Dang So-so vaulted back through the window with a flourish. Damn, she's got real thief skills.
Spotting Won Seung still lounging in his seat, she snapped her eyes narrow and shouted.
"Why haven't you come out?"
"Gotta eat before fighting, right?"
"You bastard?"
Dang So-so's eyes bulged as she lunged forward, but Pung Jin-saeng grabbed her sleeve.
"So-so, calm down for a moment."
"You saw that jerk toying with me, and you're telling me to calm down?"
Won Seung snorted derisively.
"Hmph! The Dang Clan even fed me poison. I'm putting up with it for now. If I weren't holding back, I'd be cursing you out blue instead of just talking casual."
"You really expect us to believe you took Sam-o-dan-sim-san? It was all a self-staged act!"
"What? Self-staged?"
Dang So-so had followed her fiancé Pung Jin-saeng to the imperial capital's Seongwangbu. Pung Jin-saeng's grandmother was the Seong King's great-aunt. The Sichuan Pung Clan was a founding merit family, so prestigious that Emperor Geonmu had even given his daughter in marriage. Pung Jin-saeng had come to pay respects to the Seong King ahead of their wedding.
Upon arriving in the capital, Dang So-so stayed a night at the Sichuan Escort Agency, where she heard that a Dang Clan member had been seized by the Ministry of Justice and was suffering.
A escort named Joo Neung, who had come from the Sichuan Escort Agency, had vanished. With a man missing, they couldn't just sit idle, so they sent Dang In Pyo to search for him.
But the missing Joo Neung had somehow become a Ministry of Justice investigator. And he'd framed Dang In Pyo with feeding him Sam-o-dan-sim-san, throwing him into the ministry's prison.
Dang In Pyo was a distant collateral relative, hard to even call kin, but still Dang Clan blood. Hearing he'd been wrongly accused, they'd agreed to plead his case when meeting the Seong King.
On their way to Seongwangbu, they'd stopped at the famous Hwangmunwon outside the capital's outer walls for dinner—only to run into Joo Neung(?).
With Joo Neung having framed a Dang Clan man and thrown him in prison, Dang So-so wasn't about to mince words.
"Sam-o-dan-sim-san kills in fifteen to twenty days after ingestion. You're still kicking, so it has to be a fake-out!"
"This auntie? What the hell are you hearing? I said I got the antidote!"
"What… auntie?"
Already touchy about her late marriage—pushed into it by everyone nudging her—Dang So-so exploded at the "auntie" jab.
Whoosh!
She flicked her sleeve, sending a flying dagger hurtling forth.
"Gasp!"
Hwa Yeo-wol knocked aside the wine bottle in front of her, blocking the dagger.
Clang!
The bottle shattered, filling the air with the sharp reek of liquor.
Won Seung's eyes narrowed sharply.
"Trying to kill me? Hah! See that?"
He addressed the crowd around them.
"They tried to off me with Sam-o-dan-sim-san, and now they're going for a dagger to shut me up! That's how vicious the Dang Clan is. Everyone, watch out."
The people turned accusatory glares on Dang So-so.
"!"
Dang So-so realized her blunder.
She had a hot temper and couldn't control her rage when angry. It had been that way ever since she ate some poison as a kid. That's why she'd been holed up in the Dang Clan's inner quarters, training only in poisons and martial arts. Her marriage had been delayed because of it….
And now she'd nearly committed murder in front of all these people.
Hwa Yeo-wol said with a fearsome look,
"Impressive, one of the Five Great Clans. Bold enough to attempt murder right in front of witnesses. If you wanna fight that bad, fight me."
She knew Won Seung was a master, but with the Sam-o-dan-sim-san poisoning claim, his current condition was a mystery. So she stepped up instead.
Won Seung wasn't about to sit idly by.
"This is my fight, so stay out, Yeo-wol."
As he reached for Hwa Yeo-wol's sleeve, his elbow knocked the hot brazier under the table. The onban—a bronze tray holding meat and broth, kept warm by three candles underneath—tumbled to the floor. The candles rolled out right into the puddle from the shattered wine bottles. Su-baek was potent stuff, and the moment the flames touched it, whoosh—fire erupted.
"Huh? Fire!"
The patrons jumped in alarm. The flames spread greedily along the spilled liquor.
"Fire! Run—fire!"
People panicked, stampeding toward the exit. The whole floor turned into chaos in seconds.
Clang, crash!
In the shoving match to escape first, food from the tables spilled everywhere—including more strong liquor like su-baek.
Boom!
The blaze roared up fiercely, fueled by the alcohol.
A waiter who'd been watching from the side shouted,
"Everyone, stay calm! Move calmly!"
He ordered the Hwangwon guards,
"Put out the fire first!"
Then yelled at Won Seung, Dang So-so, and the others,
"You lot, don't move!"
After the warning, he told the nearby errand boy,
"You, go report to the precinct—now!"
No need—they'd already arrived. Someone must have reported it already.
"Nobody move!"
Constables drew swords and filed up.
The Hwangwon guards threw themselves into quenching the flames. In that brief time, half the floor was scorched.
The waiter bellowed in fury,
"Those people! They started the fire!"
"Nobody move! How dare you cause a ruckus in the capital?"
The lead constable bulged his eyes and roared.
"I'm not involved."
Jegal Seung-seon tried to slip away quietly, but Won Seung called him out.
"This guy's the one who started the fight."
"……?"
The main players looked puzzled, glancing between Won Seung and Jegal Seung-seon. Him, the instigator?
Won Seung and Jegal Seung-seon's eyes met.
—You knew Dang So-so was here and deliberately brought up the Dang Clan's poison bullshit, didn't you?
—I started the fire on purpose.
"Seize them all! No exceptions!"
The constable commanded sternly.
They were all hauled off to the precinct.
* * *
Jang Chil found a stream deep in the woods and washed up, applying golden sore medicine.
'Urgh!'
He'd taken iron arrows to the shoulder and left palm, and a sword gash to the side. The other wounds were minor. Not immediately fatal, but he'd lost a lot of blood, and both hands were barely usable.
And he'd been so careful… Who'd have thought there were two more?
The first time delivering the money, there'd only been two. He hadn't known Elder Gi had ordered two more sent. While those two were distracted, he'd slipped into the house and left the Boheoldan by his mother's bedside.
—Achil?
Unable to leave at his mother's sleepy call, he'd stayed by her side until dawn. When he emerged, the men were gone. Realizing he'd been made, he played dumb and slipped out—only to be ambushed, taking out one.
Up to then, he'd thought there were just two. Finish the last one, and done. But a third appeared. Lucky they wanted him alive; in the delay, he offed another and fled. Two days of chase… He got them all in the end, but they'd surely contacted headquarters by now.
His body ached with exhaustion, mind foggy. He needed sleep… but no time. Had to get home. No time to waste.
How the hell could he get his family out from under their claws…? No idea.
Jang Chil dunked his head in the stream—the shock cleared his mind a bit. Gritting his teeth, he staggered up and followed the brook downstream.
Brook to creek to river… then a road would appear.
Fleeing blindly into the woods had been a stroke of luck. Night fell, blanketing the forest in pitch black where you couldn't see a foot ahead.
Hwang Du-gong fidgeted apologetically.
"Looks like we'll have to wait for dawn to track him."
With Elder Gi chasing personally, Hwang Du-gong couldn't just sit at the branch office—he'd followed. But they'd lost the bastard.
'Four guarding him, and….'
All dead. Two near his house, two in the woods. Active assassins, felled by some assassin trainee dropout….
They'd lost his trail as night came.
Elder Gi's eyes gleamed fiercely even in the dark.
"Where's his house?"
"Pardon?"
"He'll head back home. We wait there."
"Ah! I'll guide you right away."
Elder Gi, his flanking guards, Hwang Du-gong, and ten capital branch assassins turned back down the dark forest path.
* * *
At the Capital Outer Precinct's main hall.
Constable Hwang Chung-hyeon swallowed hard. He put on a stern face, bulging his eyes….
'Shit, I think I screwed up….'
A report of young punks fighting—he'd rushed over with his men. Hwangmunwon always treated him well, so he prioritized their calls. But the patrons were heavy hitters, so he was always cautious….
Today, young folks, and the place choked with acrid smoke—he'd ordered arrests without checking faces properly. Sent the troublemakers ahead, took statements from the manager and waiter, then called for interrogation….
Caked in soot, faces blackened… but their clothes screamed high status.
'That jade ornament alone looks pricier than my year's salary….'
Three pairs of men and women before him. Not one ordinary.
But he couldn't drop the interrogation.
"State your identities."
Pung Jin-saeng stepped forward first, bowing properly.
"Pung Jin-saeng from Sichuan."
"Sichuan? Pung Clan? From the Sichuan Pung Clan?"
Sichuan Pung Clan… Yup, figured.
Hwang Chung-hyeon sighed inwardly and glanced at his aide for the next ID.
"Jegal Seung-seon from Zhongqing."
Jegal Clan? Hwang Chung-hyeon flinched. One of the Five Great Clans—no slouch.
"I'm from the Dang Clan…."
"Hwa Clan of Sangyang…."
"Joo Neung."
Each revealed themselves… Sichuan Pung direct lineage, Dang Clan's precious pearl, Jegal direct line. The weaker ones were the Sangyang sect daughter and unemployed Joo Neung.
Hwang Chung-hyeon was in a bind but kept his tone grave.
"I heard the incident details from the Hwangmunwon staff."
The waiter had given a full account, so Hwang Chung-hyeon knew the situation. But with their statuses, he aimed to smooth it over.
"Young blood running hot leads to scuffles sometimes. But fire and injuries mean consequences."
Hwang Chung-hyeon had already picked his fall guy in his mind. That one… easiest target. He pointed at Won Seung and barked.
"Heard you started the fire."
"Not started—I tried to stop it, but the onban fell from the table, sparking the blaze."
"An onban falls and causes a fire?"
Won Seung pointed at Dang So-so.
"That woman threw a flying dagger to kill me. Nearly died, but my companion blocked it with a bottle. Liquor soaked the floor, then the onban fell, igniting it. That's it. I'm filing charges against her for attempted murder."
'Groan….'
Attempted murder… that was a major crime.