Gotta Control the Anger (3)
"This bastard tried to kill my family too?"
Im Choong, who had returned to the branch office, was beside himself, and Beon Saeng was equally shocked. They'd been released less than a day ago, and already they'd come gunning for everyone.
It was unbelievable, but the corpse of Heuk Su lying right there in front of them proved it was all true.
A fierce rage boiled up inside Im Choong. It burned through his entire body like wildfire. If Baek So-cheon hadn't been there, the body in front of him would have been his wife and son.
Im Choong clenched his fists. He gripped them so hard his hands ached, but he couldn't even feel the pain right now.
He wanted to slap on that mask hanging around Heuk Su's neck and storm straight to Wang Gon, hacking off his head. His mind was filled with visions of severing Wang Gon's neck over and over.
He'd never known such powerful anger lurked within him.
Baek So-cheon, who had been watching silently, spoke calmly.
"No need to suppress the anger. Just make sure it doesn't swallow you whole. It's frustrating as hell to go mad and die while the other side's sitting pretty."
Those words slowly calmed his heart. Heuk Su had failed at anger control, but Im Choong had succeeded.
Yeah, he thought. This isn't the time for anger. It's time to express gratitude.
"Thank you. Truly, thank you."
Im Choong's voice choked up, and tears soon followed.
"I'll never forget this favor, even in death."
To him, his family was his entire life. Baek So-cheon had saved that life from being shattered.
"No need. I killed him because he came for me too."
He wasn't boasting, which only made Im Choong more grateful.
Im Choong paused in thought for a moment, then made a firm decision.
Suddenly, he bowed deeply, prostrating himself on the spot.
"From now on, I'll serve you as my big brother."
"You're older than me. What are you talking about?"
"No, sir. I'm the younger one. I'm thirty-six."
Beon Saeng was more shocked than Baek So-cheon.
"No way!"
"It's true."
"Branch leader, you're really only that old?"
"How old did you think I was?"
"Fifty?"
"Wanna die?"
"My god! Did our branch leader fight the Black Heaven Alliance war with his baby face?"
Like Beon Saeng, Baek So-cheon had assumed he was in his fifties too.
Beon Saeng glanced back and forth between Baek So-cheon and Im Choong.
"A showdown between the ultimate baby face and the ultimate old face. This sparring match is gonna be close."
Normally, he'd have quipped back at Beon Saeng's teasing, but Im Choong was focused solely on his bond with Baek So-cheon.
He bowed his head and pleaded.
"Please accept me as your little brother."
Im Choong had always thought he wasn't impulsive like Beon Saeng.
But apparently, he was just as impulsive deep down. A burning desire to become this man's little brother surged from the depths of his heart, and he couldn't hold it back.
"Why's everyone so desperate to be little brothers?"
Still prostrated, Im Choong replied.
"We're all broke. Better to have a big brother who feeds us than friends or little bros."
Who'd have thought Im Choong would crack a joke like that? In the end, Baek So-cheon couldn't help but chuckle.
"Call me whatever you want. But like I said, I'm not your big brother."
"Thank you, big brother. Thank you again for saving my family."
That reason alone was enough to pledge his life in loyalty.
"I've got enough people owing me their lives to fill ten carts tight. No need to feel burdened."
Beon Saeng, watching, grinned.
"There goes big bro bragging about his past again."
"Humbly, ten carts. Actually, over a hundred."
"Haha, sure, let's say so."
Im Choong didn't quite believe it either, but he bowed his head.
"Tenth cart or hundredth, I'll quietly hop on the last one."
Beon Saeng prostrated himself too.
"Thank you for protecting the maknae's family."
Im Choong turned to look at him while still bowed.
"Maknae?"
"Am I not? I became the little brother first."
"Nope."
A brief silence fell.
"Kidding. Second big bro! I gotta be the maknae."
"That's not it either."
"Yes, branch leader. Just kidding, kidding. Haha, smile!"
Baek So-cheon said to the two.
"Get up already."
They sprang to their feet.
Their relationship was settled, but the corpse was still there.
"So, what do we do with this body?"
"What should we do?"
It was obviously something to report to the branch, but Im Choong hesitated.
"You're the branch leader. You decide."
Im Choong first considered what would happen if he revealed this to the world.
Even if he announced that Heuk Su had come to kill his family, he couldn't drag Wang Gon into it. With Heuk Su dead, Wang Gon would never admit it. Even if Heuk Su were alive, he'd deny it vehemently.
Plus, with Cheon Yang-ho—the Heavenly Poison Snake—on their side.
In the end, it'd just be the death of one Heuk Su assassin.
On the other hand, if the truth got out, it would also reveal that Baek So-cheon had killed him. Baek So-cheon seemed indifferent, but now that Im Choong had decided to call him big brother, he wanted to protect him.
"Let's say Heuk Su never came here."
It seemed like an easy call, but for a Murim Alliance warrior like him, it was anything but.
Baek So-cheon, however, said it casually.
"Good. Bury him here then."
"In the yard of the house where you sleep?"
"It's fine. Back in the day, I ate and slept among corpses."
Beon Saeng laughed and chimed in.
"Of course! Our big bro's the War God of the battlefield."
"How'd you know my nickname's Fighting God?"
"Hahaha, that's why I like you, big bro!"
Im Choong and Beon Saeng fetched shovels and buried Heuk Su's body there.
As they shoveled the cold, stiff corpse into the ground, it didn't feel real.
"Serves you right, you bastard. Be a good person in your next life."
Unlike Beon Saeng, Im Choong didn't even say that much. Remembering the attempt on his family made him want to hack the body apart a few times over.
After digging for a while, Beon Saeng asked Baek So-cheon.
"Don't you ever get the urge if you're as good at fighting as you? Like, screw it, just kill 'em all without mercy."
If he could kill today, he could've on the day of capture too. So why wait for them to come again? Why not end it then? That was the question.
"I do."
"How do you hold back?"
"Because I know nothing changes if I do. It just wounds me deeper."
Im Choong's heart still burned with vengeance and rage, so those words hit deep.
"Isn't Murim Alliance law frustrating? Gotta lock 'em in prison, gather evidence. They use power and pressure to flip verdicts. But you know? That frustrating law wasn't made for villains. It was made for the ones fighting them."
"Huh?"
"So you don't get too scarred battling demons. Sometimes, rest within the law's bounds."
"...!"
"I hold back not from endless patience or blind faith in the law. It's to protect myself. So you should too—for your own sake."
"Yes, sir!"
Im Choong had never thought of it that way before. As he covered the grave, various thoughts swirled.
Once the body was fully buried, Baek So-cheon asked.
"What about your outing?"
"No leads. We went back to Yang Chu's estate where it happened, checked again, but found nothing."
"Shouldn't have gone there."
"Pardon? Then where?"
Baek So-cheon led the way out.
"Shall we check it out together?"
Wang Gon would be busy with Heuk Su's disappearance for a while, so the branch and Im Choong's family should be safe.
Baek So-cheon took the two to a field far from the branch.
"Where's this?"
Then came an unexpected answer from Baek So-cheon.
"Where Shin-hwa-bang plans to build their iron workshop."
"Ah!"
Im Choong and Beon Saeng belatedly realized. They should've checked here too, but they'd fixated on Shin-hwa-bang's iron business.
"Why would Shin-hwa-bang build an iron workshop in a place like this?"
Baek So-cheon had raised the question earlier. Why start a big venture in Mun-seong, the southern tip of Jeol-gang Province?
"Yang Chu died investigating a new business, right? He probably came here too."
Im Choong and Beon Saeng realized the core of this case was right here.
"When did you figure this out?"
"I told you. Ignore it completely, or dig in deep. Come on, let's look around. I only knew the location—first time seeing it myself."
Baek So-cheon slowly surveyed the area.
"What did Yang Chu discover here that got him killed?"
The three explored.
Im Choong and Beon Saeng used every ounce of observation, but found nothing.
But Baek So-cheon noticed something.
"Was it really an iron workshop they planned here?"
"Pardon?"
"Look at the terrain. Perfect for a fortress."
The word "fortress" startled them.
"Tall mountains block the rear like a wall. Only one narrow pass to enter. Ambushes ideal on both sides. One man could hold off ten here—prime defensives."
"You're right."
"Looks like an iron workshop on the surface, but really a fortress. Yang Chu must've figured it out."
"Ah!"
This fortress had such a secretive purpose that they had to wipe out Yang Chu's entire family to silence him.
Now Im Choong and Beon Saeng understood the tragedy and the deeper complexities behind it.
"This incident... even if Wang Gon did it, it's not just him."
Baek So-cheon nodded at Im Choong's words.
"Whole Shin-hwa-bang's involved. The order to kill Yang Chu might've come from the Shin-hwa-bang lord himself. Catch Wang Gon, and Shin-hwa-bang steps in. Given their moves so far, they'll try to kill us all and bury it."
Im Choong and Beon Saeng swallowed hard in silence.
It hadn't been easy getting this far. Declaring war on Wang Gon had taken all their courage—even borrowing from the future.
But the entire Shin-hwa-bang?
A branch leader with no backing, and a rookie squad leader from a backwater branch on his first real fight?
"I think I'm gonna puke."
As Beon Saeng bent over, Im Choong patted his back.
Leaving them, Baek So-cheon walked ahead.
Im Choong called from behind.
"...Big brother!"
Baek So-cheon stopped but didn't turn.
"I don't know what you're gonna say, but tomorrow. Think it over carefully till then. At least today, nothing'll happen."