Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Just Torture Me Instead
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Just torture me instead.
“Where shall we go today?”
“To the Fallen Flower Pavilion.”
“What? You’re going there again?”
The Fallen Flower Pavilion was the next courtesan house Byeok Taesan had completely conquered after the Scented Flower Pavilion. He had since conquered several more.
Byeok Taesan grinned.
“I heard a new girl worth challenging has arrived.”
At the word “challenge,” Cheon Gyeongwan sighed unconsciously.
Whenever Byeok Taesan spoke of such a “challenge,” a courtesan would show up at the Golden Jade Manor the next day.
Three had already come, and it seemed another was about to be added to the list.
Listening to their conversation, Yu Seoyeon’s expression hardened.
The memory of Yeon Harin’s worried face as she earnestly pleaded with her came to mind.
‘My lady… perhaps it is time you give up on him.’
As Yu Seoyeon was lost in thought, Byeok Taesan suddenly stopped walking.
“What is it?”
After asking, Yu Seoyeon flinched and looked at Cheon Gyeongwan.
Cheon Gyeongwan was subtly gripping his sword, a sharp, blade-like aura rising grimly from his entire body.
“What in the world…”
Yu Seoyeon couldn’t finish her sentence. A powerful presence could be felt from the darkness far ahead.
An aura, a perfect mix of fighting spirit and killing intent, was approaching, scattering its presence.
With a stern expression, Yu Seoyeon tightly gripped the sword at her waist.
Her face was a mask of utter confusion.
‘No, I must have seen wrong.’
Just now, it seemed Byeok Taesan had sensed the killing intent and stopped even before Cheon Gyeongwan did.
But that couldn’t possibly be true.
Someone slowly emerged from the darkness.
It wasn’t one person, but four.
‘Three of them are nobodies, but one is a bit dangerous.’
The three men in front were common thugs from the underworld. Their energy and the aura they emitted were just that—average.
But the man standing behind them, staring this way with gleaming eyes, was different.
He was definitely not some common underworld riffraff.
He was a formidable opponent, one she couldn’t guarantee victory against.
As Yu Seoyeon was assessing her opponents, the three underworld thugs swaggered a few steps forward.
Too scared to get any closer, they only managed a couple of steps.
“You three there, you’re going to have to come with us.”
At those words, Byeok Taesan scoffed.
“Why so polite?”
Byeok Taesan whipped his head around to look at Cheon Gyeongwan and said,
“Hey, look, another coward.”
Cheon Gyeongwan maintained a deadpan expression.
He couldn’t fall for that “coward” taunt. Not if he didn’t want to be the only one looking like a fool.
“Size him up.”
To Byeok Taesan’s sudden command, Cheon Gyeongwan replied immediately.
“I am at least three moves ahead of him.”
“What are you waiting for?”
“Sir?”
“If you’ve sized him up, you need to confirm it.”
Only then did Cheon Gyeongwan nod and look at Yu Seoyeon.
“Please take care of the Young Master.”
With those words, Cheon Gyeongwan strode forward.
“W-wait a minute!”
Yu Seoyeon called out in alarm, but Cheon Gyeongwan didn’t respond, focusing on the task at hand.
As Cheon Gyeongwan approached, the three underworld men in front grew flustered. But there was only one thing they could do. They quickly stepped aside.
Cheon Gyeongwan slipped past them. But none of them even thought of attacking him.
Soon, Cheon Gyeongwan stood before the man exuding a dangerous aura.
The man wore dark red clothes, from which a faint scent of blood emanated.
“How about you drop the pointless bravado and just come quietly?”
As the man spoke, he swung his sword. It was a stealthy attack that made not even the sound of wind.
Swoosh!
Cheon Gyeongwan leaned his upper body back, narrowly dodging the sword that flew at his neck.
Cold sweat trickled down his spine.
If he had been careless, he would have been struck down by that single move. It was that stealthy, a surprise attack that struck in the gap between breaths.
But now that he had dodged it, the advantage was his.
Cheon Gyeongwan’s sword left its sheath, unleashing a violent aura.
Clang!
Sword met sword, and a rough wave of energy swept through the area.
The man’s skill was considerable, as was Cheon Gyeongwan’s.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
A series of sword strikes followed.
At first, they seemed evenly matched. But soon, the upper hand became clear.
After blocking five of Cheon Gyeongwan’s strikes, the man scowled and retreated.
Of course, Cheon Gyeongwan didn’t let him retreat so easily.
Shlick!
The man’s arm flew through the air, spraying blood.
He had given up an arm to save his life.
Cheon Gyeongwan flicked his sword, shaking off the blood.
Watching the entire scene unfold, Yu Seoyeon’s mouth fell slightly open.
It was beyond imagination.
She knew Cheon Gyeongwan had broken through a barrier and reached a new level, but she hadn’t realized the difference would be this great.
As she stared blankly at Cheon Gyeongwan, she heard Byeok Taesan mutter.
“Pathetic.”
His words snapped Yu Seoyeon back to her senses. She looked at Byeok Taesan.
The three underworld thugs had already lost all will to fight and were trembling from a distance.
“What are you doing? Go get them.”
At Byeok Taesan’s words, Yu Seoyeon’s face showed a flicker of realization as she quickly moved.
She subdued the three underworld men in a single breath.
Striking the pressure points of enemies who had lost their will to fight was a simple task for Yu Seoyeon.
And in that time, the man with the severed arm disappeared back into the darkness.
Cheon Gyeongwan tried to catch him, but the fleeing man was too fast.
His ability to hide his presence in the dark was especially formidable, making him impossible to catch once he was set on escaping.
Moreover, Cheon Gyeongwan couldn’t chase him too far. His top priority was Byeok Taesan’s safety.
If something were to happen in his absence, he would likely never forgive himself.
When Cheon Gyeongwan returned to Byeok Taesan’s side, he saw the three men kneeling with their heads bowed.
“My apologies, Young Master. I let him get away.”
Byeok Taesan stared at Cheon Gyeongwan for a moment, then shook his head.
“I’ve gotten soft too.”
The Heavenly Demon would never have forgiven someone for such a mistake.
He wouldn’t have killed him over something so minor, but the man would never have been able to stand before the Heavenly Demon again.
But now, for some reason, he didn’t feel angry at all.
“I’ll have to think about how to make a man out of him.”
Byeok Taesan muttered to himself and chuckled.
He thought about how much he had truly changed.
Cheon Gyeongwan stood with his head bowed low. He had nothing to say.
“Well then, shall we deal with these guys? Just killing them would be best, wouldn’t it?”
At his words, the underworld men’s faces turned pale.
Somehow, they felt he might actually just kill them.
The sincerity in Byeok Taesan’s voice struck a chord of crisis within them.
“P-please spare us!”
“We’ll answer anything you ask!”
Byeok Taesan let out a disbelieving laugh.
“These guys still don’t get it. Yeah, just killing them is better.”
The underworld men shook their heads furiously.
“No! We get it now!”
“We’ll tell you everything!”
Byeok Taesan just stared at them silently.
The underworld men, unsure of what to do, just exchanged glances.
Byeok Taesan spoke, sounding frustrated.
“You said you’d tell me everything, didn’t you? Why aren’t you talking? What, did you actually want to die? That would be the easiest way, I suppose.”
“No! No! We’ll talk!”
“We’re from the Red Dragon Gang!”
“We came here on the Vice-Leader’s orders!”
“This morning, we caught a guy who didn’t pay his protection fee and beat him up!”
The last one to speak flinched and shut his mouth. The other two glared at him.
It was a rebuke for adding unnecessary information.
Byeok Taesan grinned.
“Interesting. Just like that. I’ll let you live as long as you keep talking.”
Byeok Taesan gestured to Cheon Gyeongwan with his chin.
“Carry them and follow me.”
Cheon Gyeongwan asked with surprised eyes.
“Are you taking these men to the Fallen Flower Pavilion as well?”
“I told you. I’ll let them live as long as they talk. Find a few people at the Fallen Flower Pavilion and have them write down everything these guys say. The moment they stop talking, just kill them.”
Cheon Gyeongwan bowed his head slightly and answered.
“Understood.”
Yu Seoyeon stared back and forth in bewilderment at Cheon Gyeongwan, Byeok Taesan, and the kneeling underworld men.
Her gaze shifted between disbelief and confusion.
“You’re still going to the courtesan house after all this?”
Byeok Taesan looked at Yu Seoyeon as if asking what kind of nonsense she was spouting.
“So I should give up what I was planning to do because of some kindling like them?”
Yu Seoyeon stared blankly at Byeok Taesan.
She wondered if this was really the same Byeok Taesan from before.
* * *
Yu Seoyeon stared blankly at Cheon Gyeongwan.
Byeok Taesan had already taken the courtesan he had his eye on and entered the pavilion.
Honestly, she had been dumbfounded when she saw the courtesan.
Since Byeok Taesan had picked her, she had been curious about how remarkable the courtesan would be.
But upon seeing her, she couldn’t understand why he had sought out such a woman.
Putting aside the fact that she couldn’t compare to Yeon Harin, she seemed inferior to any other courtesan they had encountered here.
But Cheon Gyeongwan was doing something even more absurd.
He had actually gathered people from the Fallen Flower Pavilion who knew how to write.
And he had ordered them to transcribe what the captured underworld thugs were saying.
She never thought he would actually do as he was told.
What was the meaning of all this?
The underworld thugs could be seen with miserable faces, wracking their brains to keep talking.
Whenever their words paused even for a moment, Cheon Gyeongwan would draw his sword and press it to their necks.
Just having the sword, coursing with killing intent, against their necks made the thugs feel the threat of death, and they blurted out whatever came to mind.
And the people in front of them diligently wrote it all down.
Everything they had ever done came pouring out.
Their daily routines were mentioned, and the evil deeds the Red Dragon Gang planned for the future also spilled out incoherently.
They were truly talking for their lives.
It seemed they couldn’t even think of lying.
‘How long is he planning to keep this up?’
Yu Seoyeon glanced at the expressionless Cheon Gyeongwan, who stood with his sword drawn.
‘So rigid.’
But for some reason, she didn’t dislike that rigidity.
Just then, a woman’s scream came from the pavilion.
“Hyaaah!”
Startled, Yu Seoyeon looked toward the pavilion. She was about to rush in, but Cheon Gyeongwan, who had approached without her noticing, blocked her path.
“Wh-what was that? What was that just now!”
“This is why I was reluctant to bring you along.”
Yu Seoyeon looked back and forth between Cheon Gyeongwan and the towering pavilion behind him with a look of horror.
Sounds that could be screams or moans were still flowing from inside the pavilion.
Yu Seoyeon’s mouth opened wider and wider.
“Uh, uh, s-so, that means…!”
Her gaze darted between Cheon Gyeongwan and the pavilion much faster than before.
Her face turned pale.
‘My lady, you really should reconsider.’
To Yu Seoyeon’s ears, those sounds were like cries of pain.
But the others, especially the three underworld men, didn’t see it that way.
They fidgeted restlessly, squirming in their seats.
The scent of powder wafting from all around and the sounds from the pavilion stimulated their senses.
‘Damn it, just torture me instead!’
Among the people here, only Cheon Gyeongwan knew that these sounds would continue for about six more hours.