Chapter 15: How Dare You Try to Skim My Money?
Yi Yeok's head was still bowed, his expression unreadable. But the voice that followed dripped with even deeper servility.
"Honored elder, surely you're not thinking of snatching away the pocket change of powerless little folk like us?"
Yeo Gwi sighed. With Yi Yeok coming out like that, this was unlikely to end amicably.
An Eunchae, who knew Yi Yeok's ways all too well, had gone pale as well.
"Chief Steward Im, I give you my word—they're innocent. If not for them, we would never have made it here in one piece."
"Young miss, attending to you is my most solemn duty. But I follow only the City Lord's orders, and in his absence, my own judgment. Leave the matter of these two to me."
Chief Steward Im was addressing An Eunchae, yet his gaze bored straight through Yi Yeok and Yeo Gwi.
"Escort the young miss inside."
An Eunchae went off with the steward's men as though being dragged along without a will of her own. She had, in truth, cultivated quite a bit of backbone over the past few days, but the moment she returned to somewhere safe, she seemed to revert to the same helpless girl she had always been.
"Please, I'm begging you! You mustn't cause trouble here!"
Her desperate plea faded into nothing almost at once.
Several warriors drew their weapons and leveled them at Yi Yeok and Yeo Gwi.
"Out of regard for the young miss's face, I will warn you one final time. Withdraw. Now."
Chief Steward Im's voice was cold as frost. Yeo Gwi's face was blank, while Yi Yeok—who at some point had straightened his stiff neck—was grinning vacantly to himself.
"Hah, unbelievable. We went through hell dragging her all the way here, and this is the treatment we get."
"Treatment, respect—don't need either. Just give me the money," Yeo Gwi said, his hand closing around his sword hilt.
"Though it seems the old man means to pocket even that."
"They say a gentleman waits ten years to repay a grudge. But a petty man settles his debts morning and night alike, on the spot. Turtle—are you, by any chance, a gentleman?"
"You lunatic. Can't you tell just by looking?"
Yeo Gwi drew his sword.
The instant Chief Steward Im moved to order the attack, Yi Yeok vanished.
The steward's expression froze.
"Cut them down!"
With the shriek of blades cleaving the air, the steward's men collapsed where they stood. They never had a chance to respond at all.
The next moment, Yi Yeok was leveling his blood-soaked Yojiyu at Chief Steward Im.
"How dare you try to skim my money?"
Chief Steward Im finally understood that the two thugs' skill—above all, that blinding speed—was anything but ordinary. He raised his voice and roared loud enough to carry clearly inside the main gate.
"Have you no fear! This is Jin City, and this ground is the City Lord's own domain! You think you'll walk out of here alive?"
At once, urgent footsteps thundered from deep within the estate. In a blink, dozens of guards came pouring out and formed ranks around Chief Steward Im.
Yeo Gwi grumbled.
"You want me to kill this many for free?"
"I granted you chance after chance out of regard for the young miss, and this is how you repay it—a crime even your necks cannot pay for! It is far too late to run now!"
Chief Steward Im bellowed, swelling with confidence.
Yi Yeok merely flashed a smirk.
"Chief Steward Im. When your opponent shows you humility, do not answer with arrogance. Do be sure to remember that in your next life."
Im's brows shot up in fury. The guards, too, bristled at the thugs' insolence.
"How dare—!"
"Do not act rashly!"
Chief Steward Im's frantic cry came too late.
The guard who had lunged forward took Yi Yeok's strike to the chest and Yeo Gwi's to the thigh, and went rolling across the ground.
"Do not lose your heads! That is no common thug's skill. Strike in concert—attack together!"
But the guards had all witnessed exactly what had just happened, and none dared move rashly. The two men and the guards slid into a brief standoff.
Just then, An Eunchae's cry rang out faintly from inside the estate once more.
"Please, stop this! I'll see to it that you receive the payment I promised, however I must! Just go home today, I beg you!"
For all anyone could tell, An Eunchae had shaken off her guards and rushed outside alone to shout toward the gate, only to be hauled back inside once more. Yi Yeok snorted.
"What'll it be, Turtle?"
"Even if we cut down every last one of them, we won't see a single coin. For now, there's nothing for it but to take the woman at her word."
"Good." Yi Yeok nodded.
"But we can't let that old man off gently."
Yi Yeok pointed at Chief Steward Im. The steward flinched.
"Cut them down!"
"Don't kill the riffraff, Turtle. We ought to spare the young miss's face."
Yeo Gwi nodded, and began carving into the guards, swinging his sword with the blade still sheathed.
Even so, neither his ferocity nor his speed diminished in the slightest. It got to the point where hardly any guard could endure even a single blow.
"Fools...! And you dare call yourselves the elite guards of Jin City...!"
Chief Steward Im realized his voice was failing him. He could not fathom why. Not until the moment he crumpled and breathed his last did it ever occur to him that the crescent blade of the Yojiyu was buried beneath his chin.
Yi Yeok smirked.
"Why do they even bother? Money, riches—all of it worthless in the end. It's not as if you can take it with you when you die."
Yeo Gwi, standing amid the guards sprawled broken all around—some unconscious, some groaning—spoke as if the very notion were absurd.
"And you're one to talk, you money-grubbing bastard."
"Let's go before more of them show up. But the payment we were promised—I will collect it, whatever it takes."
"Does it really have to come to that? It's not as if you can take it with you when you die," Yeo Gwi jeered.
"Relax. I've no intention of taking it with me. I'll spend every last coin before I die."
The next moment, Yi Yeok and Yeo Gwi were gone without a trace.
Before long, countless guards and masters came swarming to the estate grounds, now a scene of utter pandemonium.
Many were wounded so gravely they would never grip a sword again, but as if a sliver of fortune lurked within the misfortune, the death toll was exactly one: Chief Steward Im.
And even that was no trivial affair. Not once in the past hundred years had a servant of the City Lord been murdered within Jin City's domain. Worse, the dead man, though no bloodkin of the ruling family, was Chief Steward Im—whose decades of loyalty and devotion had been formally honored.
"Begin the search, now!"
An enraged late-stage master of the Ohyeol Realm roared.
"Send men after them! They must be captured alive!"
While all of Jin City was being turned on its head, the culprits behind it all, Yi Yeok and Yeo Gwi, were drinking at Wenxiang House.
Wenxiang House was the most famous courtesan house in Jin City—vast in scale and always bustling with patrons.
"Hey there, Madame Ma."
Yi Yeok said, with an air of utter arrogance.
"I do believe I made myself perfectly clear. We want Hwahyang."
At Yi Yeok's side sat an elderly woman caked in makeup, laughing as she fluttered her fan.
"Oh my, young master. Hwahyang is already entertaining a guest, you see. There is only one Hwahyang in this world—how am I to conjure up another? Our house has ever so many pretty girls besides her. Do have the both of you pick whichever ones take your fancy."
"Honestly, it's all the same to me, but this turtle fellow here takes it personal. He heard the name of Hwahyang of Wenxiang House was famed far and wide, and he came racing a thousand li on an ox cart. In light of devotion like that, you can't turn us away like this. When he gets angry, even I can't hold him back. How exactly do you plan to handle that?"
"Aigoo, our young master is such a handsome man, even in his anger."
Madame Ma signaled with a flick of her eyes, and a fresh bottle of wine appeared.
"Young master, there was truly nothing to be done. Had you come only a little earlier, I would most certainly have kept her free for you. This wine is my humble apology. Please, do let your anger cool."
"So we're simply to wait, then? The girl only just took a guest—she won't be in any mood for it. People need a little rest between work, don't they?"
"Shall I go take a look myself?"
Yeo Gwi, who until then had been silently emptying his cup, spoke up. Madame Ma kept her expression in check, but the contempt in her eyes was plain to see.
"Finely dressed young master, you would do well to restrain yourself. The guest Hwahyang is attending at this very moment is Lord Seong."
"Just as I thought, hm? Seong Won. That's the fellow, isn't it?"
Madame Ma's face went rigid. These young whelps seemed to already know all about Lord Seong.
Which made their attitude all the more baffling. Lord Seong was one of Jin City's most prominent magnates and powerbrokers, notorious besides for seizing land and defiling women. Two young—no, barely grown—thugs were no match for a man like him. Even a petty quarrel could cost them their lives.
"I've got some business to take care of."
Yeo Gwi drained one more cup, sprang to his feet, and headed upstairs. Madame Ma scrambled after him in alarm.
"Young master, wait—!"
Yi Yeok caught Madame Ma by the wrist and pulled her down into a seat.
"Madame Ma. Stay right there. If your luck runs out, you might just die to a stray swing of that turtle's blade."
A short while later, Yeo Gwi kicked open the door of a luxurious room and strode inside. A scream rang out. The next moment, a fat head came rolling out the door and dropped onto Yi Yeok's table.
Yi Yeok clicked his tongue.
"You damn turtle. You aimed that here on purpose, didn't you?"
