Chapter 24
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: It's Paid (5)
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The front yard of the Diamond Escort Agency was bustling with voices for the first time in ages.
Dozens of people had lined up in front of the agency, all there to entrust their cargo escorts.
"Everyone! Please come in one by one, nice and easy! We'll take every request, so no worries!"
The sudden influx of business had everyone at the Diamond Escort Agency scrambling.
Even young Kang Soo-yeon, still just a child, was pitching in at the entrance to greet customers.
"Haha, wonderful. Just wonderful. To think the agency could regain this kind of vitality."
Kang So-gong, leader of the Diamond Escort Agency, gazed at the scene with eyes full of emotion.
He never imagined the place, once littered only with drifting dead leaves, would be filled with so many people again.
"This is just the beginning, Father. Things will get even busier from here."
"Haha, I can hardly wait. It's all thanks to you, Moo-jin."
"How did yesterday's escort mission go?"
In response to his son's question, Kang So-gong flexed his arm, showing off his bicep.
"Fit as a fiddle, no need to worry. Truth be told, it was quite enjoyable after so long."
"Glad to hear it, Father."
"But Moo-jin, are you sure we don't need to hire escorts?"
In a booming agency like this, the most essential thing was escorts.
Without escorts to transport the goods, they couldn't handle the flood of requests.
But escorts weren't easy to come by.
Those without martial arts couldn't do the job, and trained warriors scorned escort work as menial.
Thus, every escort agency in the Central Plains was perpetually short on escorts, especially the skilled ones, whom they'd pay extra to recruit.
"Yes, Father. We're fine."
The Diamond Escort Agency's situation was different.
"Alright, everyone! Line up straight! No line, no escort!"
At Ma Du-gwang's shout, the Crimson Flame Gang thugs, who had been milling about disorderly, quickly formed neat ranks.
Under the guidance of Ma Du-gwang—leader of the Silver Push Sect and the Crimson Flame Gang—and Kang So-gong, these former villains from evil sects had been reborn as escorts, numbering well over dozens.
The line was so long it wrapped around the training grounds.
"We have the reformed evil sect members who've finished training, plus my own subordinates. More than enough."
The Diamond Escort Agency wasn't just relying on reformed villains; Kang Moo-jin had also taken in wandering swordsmen.
Easy missions went to the Crimson Flame Gang thugs, harder ones to the swordsmen trained by Moo-jin himself.
Assigning missions by skill level had steadily filled the agency's once-empty coffers.
No failures, no delays—all requests fulfilled perfectly, and the money started rolling in.
And the agency's income wasn't limited to escort fees.
Thwack!
"Out again! Next challenger!"
Crack!
"Tough luck! Four attempts, and you almost had it this time. Still, eliminated!"
Except for days when he went on missions, Kang Moo-jin held gambling duels against martial artists every single day.
As the fame of Golden Ghost Indestructible grew, so did the challengers, and the bets kept pouring in.
Ma Du-gwang's improving salesmanship made the earnings even sweeter.
And so, one day, as the agency's vault swelled...
"...Hoo."
Kang So-gong's sweat-soaked arms trembled faintly.
His face was pale, sweat-matted hair clung to his forehead, and a foul odor like poisoning emanated from his body.
"L-Leader! Are you alright?"
Ma Du-gwang, mid-instructions to the thugs, rushed over on one leg.
"W-What's happened?!"
Seeing the leader look on the verge of death, Ma Du-gwang panicked.
"Step aside."
"Brother!"
Sensing something amiss, Kang Moo-jin brushed past Ma Du-gwang and approached his father.
"...Father."
"Yes, Moo-jin."
A faint smile touched Kang So-gong's lips as he looked at his son.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you. It's thanks to you."
"...!?"
Ma Du-gwang furrowed his brow, utterly confused.
Congratulations to someone who looked so ill!?
Did Brother overdo the drinking?
"Brother, have you lost your—"
Thwack!
Kang Moo-jin chopped Ma Du-gwang's crown with his palm.
"He's not hurt—he's exhausted. Broke through the wall, burned a ton of mental energy."
"...The wall!?"
Ma Du-gwang's eyes went wide.
Breaking through the wall!
That meant the Diamond Escort Agency's leader had surpassed the peak realm to become a transcendent expert!
"C-Congratulations, Leader! You're as strong as a major sect elder now!"
"Congratulations!"
Moo-jin's subordinates like Do-ryang and Jo-yu, along with the Crimson Flame Gang thugs, clasped their fists and bowed in unison.
"Thank you all. But this isn't my doing. Moo-jin helped me every step."
Kang So-gong looked warmly at Moo-jin.
Moo-jin's aid had been crucial in reaching the transcendent realm.
Amid his busy duels, missions, and training subordinates, he'd still guided Kang So-gong's cultivation and even transferred internal energy via Remote Energy Transmission.
And he'd saved his life from the brink of death.
Without that, Kang So-gong might never have touched transcendence.
"If you'd ever stopped for a day, Father, no amount of help from me would've sufficed."
"Brother, since when are you so soft and—"
Smack!
Kang Moo-jin palm-struck Ma Du-gwang's head again for butting in.
"..."
Kang So-gong's expression grew subtly complex as he watched.
'Even after breaking through to transcendence, I still can't see him clearly.'
Despite reaching the exalted realm of a major sect elder, Kang Moo-jin remained a blur.
Impossible to gauge his strength or limits—like peering into an endless abyss.
"Father."
"Hm?"
"I'll be stepping out for a while."
Kang Moo-jin felt it was time to search for his brothers, long postponed.
The agency had stabilized, and his father was now one of Shanxi Province's top experts, a transcendent master.
No worries if he left.
"I don't know where you're headed, but your face says it's no easy task. Care to share?"
All eyes turned to Kang Moo-jin, including Kang So-gong's.
"Yes. I'm going to find my brothers."
"Welcome."
Nok-sam greeted Kang Moo-jin at the familiar thatched hut under the bridge.
The Beggar Clan Taiyuan sub-branch leader eyed Moo-jin sourly.
"You look much better. Makes sense—you used the Beggar Clan for free."
"It helped a lot, thanks to you."
Last visit, Moo-jin had wrangled Nok-sam's hospitality for nothing.
The haggling had been fierce; Nok-sam still cringed at the memory.
"So, what's it this time? No bargaining upfront."
Kang Moo-jin smirked at Nok-sam's firm expression and plunked a heavy money pouch on the table.
"Relax. Paying full price this time."
"...That weight says you're after info on your missing brothers."
True to his non-gambling leadership role, Nok-sam nailed Moo-jin's intent instantly.
"Spot on."
"One I can give now, the other'll take time."
"...?"
Nok-sam scratched his head at Moo-jin's expectant look.
"Info on the Diamond Escort Agency's second son, Kang Moo-seon, needs more digging."
"Didn't you say a hundred taels?"
"Yeah, investigation costs a hundred. The Sichuan Yun Family area—we beggars can't even poke around right now. It'll take longer."
"Hm."
Kang Moo-jin nodded grimly.
Rumors of battles near Sword Horn Mountain by the Sichuan Yun Family—probably that.
"Fine, handle it. Hundred taels."
"I'll do my best."
Pocketing the pouch, Nok-sam softened.
"Now, the Diamond Escort Agency's eldest, Kang Moo-woong. I'll cut you a deal—I prepared knowing you'd come."
Kang Moo-jin just nodded.
Money-pincher though he was, cost didn't matter here.
"You probably know he went to Shaolin Temple for help, right?"
"Yeah."
"First off, he's alive. But... he's locked in Shaolin's Repentance Cave."
"...?"
Kang Moo-jin blinked in shock.
Locked where!?
Repentance... Cave?
"Why?!"
Shaolin's Repentance Cave was where sinful monks did wall-gazing penance.
No place for visitors or guests, no reason to enter.
Why was Kang Moo-woong there?
"Long story. As you know, your family has ties to Shaolin."
Kang Moo-jin's grandfather, founder of the agency, Kang Tae-baek, was a Shaolin lay disciple.
Shaolin valued such bonds.
Thus, Kang So-gong had trained as one too, and eldest son Kang Moo-woong had done monk training there.
"To save the agency, Moo-woong sought help from his master, Venerable Hye-myeong."
"Rings a bell."
"Yeah. Hye-myeong oversaw the Repentance Cave then, so Moo-woong headed to the nearby hall."
Nok-sam slammed the table.
"But disaster struck. The cave's formation went haywire."
"The Repentance Cave... formation malfunctioned?"
"Yep. It's sealed by powerful arrays to keep sinful warrior-monks in—and intruders out."
A supreme formation severing inside from outside: Heaven and Earth Forest Array.
"Tragic accident."
"So, the array's berserk, trapping everyone inside?"
Nok-sam nodded at Moo-jin's summary.
"Exactly. I get you want to save your brother, Golden Ghost Indestructible, but going now's pointless."
Major sects like Shaolin don't take outside help lightly.
They handle their own messes to uphold their prestige.
"Best to wait. Even if you go, you won't get near the—hey, where are you going?"
Nok-sam tilted his head as Moo-jin shot up.
"To Shaolin."