Chapter 14
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Fifty Years Too Late
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―Why are you here?
“To help you?”
―You? Me?
Her face remained expressionless, but the derision in her telepathic voice was unmistakable.
―Help me? You can't even take care of yourself. Should I just hand you over to the Martial Alliance? I hear they're hell-bent on catching you.
“Hmph! You think those fools can catch me?”
―Even so, they're not as foolish as you.
“Of course they're more foolish than me! You can tell just by the fact they didn't include you in the Ten Great Villains!”
―That's because I'm not a villain.
Beom Gye-wi snorted.
“Then what about the corpses at the bottom of the pond? Did the Dragon King who lives there put them there?”
He hadn't noticed at first, but the clash between the two had shattered the frozen pond in several places.
A dozen or so bodies that had been frozen within were now exposed on the overturned ice.
For a fleeting moment, a chilling light flickered in Han Seol-hwa's eyes.
Every one of them deserved to die.
They had trespassed into forbidden territory despite the warnings.
Trash blinded by lust.
She felt no need to explain this, but she was curious why that fool claimed to have come to help her.
―Tell me your real reason.
“I told you, I came to help.”
―Nonsense.
Beom Gye-wi continued, a frustrated look on his face.
“There's someone who can cure your illness!”
Han Seol-hwa froze for a moment.
―My illness?
“Yes.”
Beom Gye-wi hastily swallowed the words, ‘You’re losing your mind even now.’
―How?
Beom Gye-wi’s mind raced.
“I found the Divine Physician and the Demonic Physician.”
To be precise, it was their child who inherited their medical arts.
He couldn't reveal that the physician who would actually treat her was a child. Even he hadn't believed it until he experienced the treatment firsthand.
‘Same difference, really.’
Meanwhile, Han Seol-hwa stood there blankly for a long while.
After some time had passed...
―The Divine Physician and the Demonic Physician?
“Have you only ever been deceived?”
Seeing that she was reluctant to believe him, Beom Gye-wi quickly continued his explanation.
“Brother Cho and I are also receiving treatment.”
A strange light gleamed in Han Seol-hwa’s eyes.
There was only one person in the world Beom Gye-wi would call ‘brother’.
―The Blood Hand Honored One?
“Yes.”
―Why Brother Cho?
“The Martial Alliance got to him.”
As he answered, Beom Gye-wi tilted his head. He suddenly found something odd.
“Huh? But why is Brother Cho your ‘brother’? Witch, aren't you much older than him?”
―Shut up. If a man is cool, he’s an older brother.
“Then what about me?”
―A stupid bald man.
“Why you—!”
Han Seol-hwa sent a telepathic message to the fuming Beom Gye-wi.
―Explain properly. From the beginning. Tell me what happened.
“Now you ask?”
―Yes. I’m curious now.
“Hah! Crazy bitch.”
Han Seol-hwa didn't get angry at Beom Gye-wi's curse. Instead, she pulled up a chair in front of the thatched hut and calmly sat down.
Seeing this, Beom Gye-wi grimaced.
‘Right, I'll endure it for Doctor Dan.’
Beom Gye-wi began his explanation.
* * *
Two days later.
Two people entered Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province.
In Manchu, Harbin means ‘a place for drying fishing nets.’ This was because the Heilongjiang River was to the north, and the Songhua River was to the south.
Harbin was also called the ‘Pearl on the Swan’s Neck,’ as the course of the Heilongjiang River resembled a swan.
Despite its elegant nickname, Heilongjiang Province was a barren land, but its capital, Harbin, boasted bustling streets and shops.
Beom Gye-wi and Han Seol-hwa headed straight for the market.
A street lined with trading companies.
Han Seol-hwa stopped in front of one of them.
“You entrusted your money here? This is a trading company.”
Beom Gye-wi checked the sign that read ‘Black Dragon Trading Company’ several times.
―Only amateurs bury their money. Money grows on its own when you invest it.
“I’m sure you’re so clever. So you have enough for the treatment fee, right?”
―Three thousand silver taels a year?
“He’s giving you a special discount because I introduced you. It looks like your treatment will take a long time, so you'll probably need fifty thousand taels.”
―That's pocket change.
Beom Gye-wi cheered inwardly.
‘Is this what they call killing two birds with one stone? I get her to clean up, and I make money!’
Unaware of Beom Gye-wi's inner thoughts, Han Seol-hwa entered the trading company with an indifferent expression.
Beom Gye-wi, who had happily seen her off, waited for her to come out.
But a long time passed with no sign of her.
‘Well, it is a large sum.’
He waited, thinking it was nothing to worry about, but only for a moment.
“Huh?”
Beom Gye-wi sensed something was wrong.
Crack!
A white frost seemed to settle over the Black Dragon Trading Company building, and then the entire structure began to freeze solid.
“That crazy bitch!”
She said she’d entrusted her money, but it looked like she was trying to rob the place.
Beom Gye-wi threw open the doors of the trading company.
Whoosh!
As soon as he opened the door, a bone-chilling wind poured out from inside. A meaningful smile appeared on Beom Gye-wi's face as he pushed through it.
‘It’s already happened. She’s the main culprit anyway, so I’ll just discreetly take what I need...’
But when he stepped inside, he was met with an unexpected situation.
Han Seol-hwa, radiating a cold aura as if furious.
Across from her, a stubborn-looking middle-aged man was confronting her without backing down an inch.
“I’m sorry, but we cannot honor this certificate.”
Even though his eyebrows and beard were frozen white and dangling with icicles, the middle-aged man stood ramrod straight, making his case.
“Please, look at this.”
The middle-aged man took out a document.
“This is the transfer agreement we drafted when we acquired the company. All debts were settled at that time. The payment for the amount you invested was also completed without fail.”
Even with his life on the line, his terrifying obsession with money was palpable.
“This means that the responsibility for the money you are demanding lies not with us, but with the former owner who sold us the company.”
Beom Gye-wi snatched the document the middle-aged man had offered to Han Seol-hwa.
“Where is he now?”
The middle-aged man sighed at Beom Gye-wi's question.
“I heard he went somewhere far away, to the borderlands, but I don’t know the details myself.”
Beom Gye-wi looked at Han Seol-hwa.
In short, she had completely lost the money she had entrusted.
“What? You said you were investing your money? Looks like you invested it until it wore away to nothing.”
―…
Then, Beom Gye-wi suddenly noticed something strange.
It was the document he was holding. Not only was it old and yellowed with age, but it was also crumbling in places.
“Just how old is this thing?”
Beom Gye-wi’s eyes widened as he checked the document’s contents.
“The second year of Hongwu?”
The era name written on the document.
It was a document written fifty years ago.
“You said you invested, and you’re coming to collect it after fifty years?”
Beom Gye-wi stared intently at Han Seol-hwa.
“Do you have any right to call me stupid?”
―Shut up.
Her pride wounded, Han Seol-hwa turned to leave. But she couldn't take a step because of Beom Gye-wi's next words.
It was because of his question.
“Then what are you going to do about the treatment fee?”
―…
After a moment of thought, Han Seol-hwa approached the company owner. She pulled out her hairpin and offered it to him.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The owner frowned at her unexpected action. But it wasn't long before his eyes widened in astonishment.
“Th-This is!”
As a man who led a trading company, he recognized the hairpin's value at a glance.
Blue jade.
And not just any blue jade, but Kunlun jade, a rare type produced only in Qinghai.
The phoenix carving, with its wings spread as if about to take flight, was also extraordinary. It was a treasure worthy of being presented to the imperial court.
The owner's hand trembled slightly as he accepted the phoenix hairpin.
“Are you saying you wish to sell this item?”
A nod.
The owner examined the hairpin several times before speaking.
“I believe ten thousand taels would be a fair price. You could likely get twenty thousand in the capital, but for us, there’s profit to be made and the difficulty of transport to consider.”
Han Seol-hwa gazed at the owner for a moment, then nodded.
While the owner went to get a bank draft, Beom Gye-wi asked.
“What kind of hairpin is worth ten thousand taels?”
―A fool like you wouldn't know the value of the Keypin of Creation.
“Key? You mean that hairpin is some kind of key?”
Han Seol-hwa didn't answer. Her expression clearly showed she couldn't be bothered to explain.
Beom Gye-wi didn't particularly care either.
His only concern right now was one thing.
“What about the rest of the treatment fee?”
―Stay out of it. I’ll handle it myself.
Han Seol-hwa added.
―First, I need to confirm if what you said is true, don't I?
“I’m saying this just in case.”
―…?
“Don’t even think about trying to get your way with threats.”
Beom Gye-wi scoffed at Han Seol-hwa's hesitation. Just like a villain, her thoughts always went in the same direction.
Just then, the owner returned.
Watching him personally sign the bank draft he brought, Beom Gye-wi suddenly grew curious.
“By the way.”
Beom Gye-wi asked Han Seol-hwa as she took the draft.
“If you entrusted the money fifty years ago…”
Beom Gye-wi tilted his head.
“Just how old are you, exactly?”
―…
Han Seol-hwa did not answer.
* * *
“Let me tell you the secret to a long life.”
A middle-aged man dressed in black martial arts attire.
He wore a bamboo hat pulled down low, hiding his eyes, but the faint smile on his lips was clearly a sneer.
The man in the bamboo hat continued speaking to the silently standing Gwak.
“It’s knowing your place.”
Gwak’s eyebrow twitched.
Regardless of age, even by the order of joining the Martial Alliance, he was the man's senior by a long shot.
Yet the man in the bamboo hat was speaking to him as if admonishing a junior.
But right now, he couldn't even dare to meet his gaze.
The man's position was his weapon.
Unlike himself, a mere squad leader in the Evil-Shattering Corps, this man was an inspector dispatched directly from the Alliance headquarters. Barring the Alliance Lord and the heads of the families that supported the Alliance, he wielded absolute authority.
“I’ve been hearing stories that you’ve been crossing the line recently.”
“…I will be more careful.”
“I certainly hope so. You weren't dispatched here to pick fights with physicians, were you? Am I wrong?”
“…”
“Let's just focus on the tasks we’ve been given. Both you and I are people working for the Alliance. I don’t want to meet like this either.”
Tap.
The man in the bamboo hat placed his teacup on the table and continued.
“But what can be done? Rumors of a fox borrowing the tiger's might to run wild have reached all the way to the Gansu branch.”
Gwak had to suppress his boiling anger.
Every single word was deeply insulting. While the words themselves were unpleasant enough, the truly infuriating part was something else.
He was deliberately shaming him publicly in front of his subordinates.
“Normally, I would make an example of you to restore discipline in the Alliance, but I’ll let it go at this, considering your past efforts.”
“…Thank you.”
“Nothing to thank me for.”
The man in the bamboo hat smirked slightly.
“They call it a dispatch, but it's no different from being demoted to this remote backwater, is it? I’m human, too. I can at least show that much consideration.”
“…!”
“If you were to be disciplined here, it would be the same as telling you to leave the Alliance, wouldn't it?”
At the rebuke disguised as encouragement, Gwak lowered his head and gritted his teeth.
His pride was severely wounded, but he couldn't refute it. The man was right. If he could, he would leave the Alliance and open his own martial arts school, but that required money he didn't have.
If he were kicked out of the Alliance now, the best he could hope for was to become a guard at an escort agency.
‘Damn it!’
This whole situation was unbearably frustrating.