Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: New Residence
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Se Yeong inspected the bandits' thatched huts.
The walls were built with sturdy logs packed tightly together instead of mere grass stems or twigs, and the gaps were filled with mud to keep out the wind.
Even the chairs and beds were solidly made.
'Those guys come to mind.'
The bandits' stronghold at Yellow Gate Mountain had been much like this one.
The huts they used as warehouses were piled high with silk and cotton cloth pilfered from merchants, along with medicinal herbs.
Other storehouses were stuffed full of rice, salt, and dried fish.
They had probably killed merchants at inns and taken their goods.
As Se Yeong examined the huts, Paeng Se Gi returned.
"Hyungnim. I've buried all the bodies. What should we do with the survivors?"
"They're nothing but trouble for the world. No reason to let them live."
Paeng Se Gi shared Se Yeong's view.
Spare them, and they'd just join another stronghold and repeat their crimes.
But he had a slightly different idea.
"How about we make this place our new base?"
Hahaha...
"Why? You like it here?"
Se Yeong burst out laughing.
He'd been thinking the same thing.
"We don't have anywhere set in stone, right, hyungnim? It'd be better to stay here for a while and rebuild the manor."
'This guy's sharp, as expected.'
Se Yeong nodded and asked,
"So, what do you want to do?"
"I want to use the chief as a slave, hyungnim. Make him truly feel that dying would hurt less than living."
Se Yeong shook his head.
They might feel that way now, but his squadmates weren't that ruthless.
They'd work the chief hard at first, but seeing him suffer day after day would stir pity.
The squad hadn't realized that yet.
"If you're confident you can kill him later, use him as a slave. Same for the rest."
"Thank you, hyungnim."
Paeng Se Gi lit up and hurried off.
Haa...
"Poor bastards. It'll only get harder for them later."
Se Yeong sighed as he watched Paeng Se Gi's back.
The Strategist took the iron rod from the young retainer of the Yi Family with wide-eyed surprise.
"So this is Han Se Yeong's iron rod..."
The soot-blackened rod was hefty and matched the shape of Se Yeong's weapon.
Hmm...
After examining it closely for a long while, he asked,
"You said Han Se Yeong is dead?"
The young retainer of the Yi Family bowed deeply at the question.
It was his first time entering the Murim Alliance, which he'd only heard of in rumors, and facing the Strategist himself made him tense.
"Yes. The workers at the manor said the young ones—no, the young heroes—scattered in all directions searching for Han Se Yeong. Then when we arrived at the manor... we found the sword—no, the iron rod—among countless skulls."
The young retainer stammered so badly he was hard to understand.
But the Strategist grasped every word perfectly.
"So the Tenth Squad members didn't die."
"Th-that's right. Those guys—no, the young heroes—are believed to have retreated first."
"Three thousand bandits attacked?"
"Yes. Just the corpses strewn around the manor numbered over a hundred—no, over a thousand."
Over a thousand corpses made sense of the claim that three thousand had attacked.
That much lent credence to Han Se Yeong's death.
Yet the Strategist couldn't quite believe it.
'Why would the Green Forest go after him?'
Mobilizing three thousand bandits meant a blood feud.
But as far as he knew, Se Yeong had no ties to the Green Forest.
"What was done with the bandits' corpses?"
"The family head ordered all the bandits—no, the corpses—collected and burned."
"Tell them they've done well. And send this young retainer to the Murim Alliance around next year."
Sending a retainer to the Alliance meant accepting him into the Elusive Squadron.
Realizing this, the young retainer bowed low.
"Truly... thank you so much, Strategist."
Tears of gratitude welled in his eyes.
'Is Han Se Yeong really dead?'
Judging by the iron rod alone, he surely was.
No murim man abandoned his beloved weapon.
They never parted from it even in death.
'Blinded by the fifty thousand nyang, or trying to show off the Green Forest's might by killing Han Se Yeong?'
The Strategist shook his head.
The Green Forest never meddled in matters unrelated to them.
Among the world's powers, the Green Forest and the Waterway Alliance were the greediest.
Their priorities: first, their own safety; second, silver and treasures.
'Disgusting lot.'
The Strategist despised the Green Forest and Waterway Alliance more than anyone.
Some had become bandits or river pirates fleeing corrupt officials, but they all ended up slaughtering common folk and plundering wealth like true brigands.
He stroked the iron rod and sighed.
Haa...
"Are you... really dead, Han Se Yeong?"
Paeng Se Gi swaggered up and kicked the stronghold chief in the back as he shuffled along.
Thud...!
Urk...!
The chief let out a pained scream and toppled forward.
"Move faster."
"Sorry. I'm sorry."
The chief scrambled up, face twisted in agony, and resumed carrying the firewood.
'Damn it. Some snot-nosed kid...'
As he cursed inwardly, Se Yeong appeared.
Se Yeong read the chief's expression and beckoned the siblings over.
"Get about a dozen wooden clubs."
The siblings grabbed their sickles and went out, cutting suitable branches for clubs.
"Here you go, Hero Han."
Once the siblings returned with over a dozen sticks, Se Yeong called the chief.
"Come here."
"Pardon?"
The chief blinked stupidly before rushing over and bowing his head.
Ha ha...
Se Yeong chuckled at the sight.
This guy thought he was safe now.
His fear had faded, replaced by anger.
Crunch.
Se Yeong grabbed the chief's throat.
Gurk.
A choking gasp escaped the chief as his body lifted into the air.
Thud!
His body spun and slammed headfirst into the ground.
Kwaaaagh...!
A scream full of agony burst from the chief, blood trickling from his cracked skull.
Se Yeong turned to the squadmates who had rushed over at the scream.
"Weak pain only breeds defiance. You have to make it hurt enough that they can't even think of rebelling."
"Sorry, hyungnim."
"We'll remember, Hero Han."
The squadmates bowed their heads.
Se Yeong's gaze shifted to the terrified bandits.
"You two on the left, step forward."
As the bandits shuffled out with heads bowed, Se Yeong pointed to the clubs.
"Pick them up. You siblings too, grab one each."
The siblings and bandits each took a wooden club.
"Now, let's see who's stronger. Beat each other with all you've got."
The siblings hesitated at Se Yeong's words but charged the bandits.
Eh?
The startled bandits raised their clubs hastily, but the siblings ducked low and struck their waists.
Thwack...!
Urk! Gah!
As the bandits collapsed, the siblings battered their bodies relentlessly.
Thud! Thwack! Thud...!
Urk! Gah! Aaaagh...! Ack...!
Amid the deafening screams, Se Yeong called Sa Sa Un.
"You too, grab a club. Chief, get up."
Sa Sa Un snatched a club nimbly, while the chief staggered to his feet and took one.
"Begin."
At the word, Sa Sa Un lunged at the chief.
The chief swung his club too—he wasn't about to take it lying down.
Crack! Thud! Crack...!
He was the leader of a mere thirty-man stronghold, but his swordsmanship was decent.
Yet he couldn't match Sa Sa Un.
Their clubs clashed fiercely until the chief's snapped and flew away.
Thwack!
Sa Sa Un's club smashed into the chief's already cracked head.
Kwaaaagh...!
The chief staggered, then collapsed to the ground.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The wooden club kept pounding his shattered skull.
'Gotta crush him so he never rises again.'
Aaagh...! Kwaaagh...!
"Th-that guy's brutal."
The squadmates clicked their tongues at Sa Sa Un.
"Hey! Stop it!"
"Any more and he'll be crippled."
Finally, Yeong Gak and Yi Cheon Yeong shouted to intervene.
Guuuh... Guh...
Sa Sa Un stopped, but guttural moans still leaked from the chief.
Huff... Hah...
Breathing heavily from the excitement, Sa Sa Un dropped the club.
'That should do it.'
Se Yeong addressed the chief and bandits.
"Every time you try to run from this place, you'll lose a hand or foot. Bark when told to bark, die when told to die."
The fear-stricken bandits couldn't even respond.
Se Yeong scanned them coldly before turning back to his squad.
"I have somewhere to go, so I'll be away for a bit. Don't take your eyes off them while I'm gone."
Paeng Se Gi and Elder Kang stepped forward.
"I'll go with you, hyungnim."
"This old man will join you too."
But Se Yeong waved them off.
"This is something I have to do alone, Elder. Take care of the squad. Se Gi, don't even think about following."
Se Yeong hurriedly prepared to depart early that morning.
But the chief's condition was off.
Heh heh heh...
Drool dribbled from his mouth as he sprawled on the ground, giggling.
"What's wrong with him?"
At Se Yeong's question, the squad glanced at Sa Sa Un.
Sa Sa Un shook the chief's body in confusion.
"Hey, snap out of it."
But he stared blankly at the sky with unfocused eyes, still chuckling.
Heh heh heh...
Yi Cheon Yeong spoke up as he watched.
"Looks like his head took too many hits and he went dumb, Hero Han."
"Om mani padme hum. Karma's come calling. With all his evil deeds piling up karma, how could he escape retribution?"
Yeong Gak clasped his hands and feigned piety.
"Hyungnim. What should we do?"
Paeng Se Gi asked with a troubled look.
Se Yeong turned the question back on them.
"What do you think we should do?"
The squad hemmed and hawed before sharing their thoughts.
"He's a bastard who deserves death, but I think he's suffered enough."
"Right, Hero Han. Even if we let him go, he'll wander off and die somewhere."
"Better to just release him."
Even the siblings pitied the chief.
Only Elder Kang differed.
"Going dumb doesn't erase his crimes. Best to kill him outright."
After hearing the squad and Elder Kang, Se Yeong approached the chief.
Snap! Snap!
He snapped his fingers in front of the chief's eyes, but the blank stare didn't return.
He didn't even seem to hear the sound.
Hmm...
After deep thought, Se Yeong decided.
"He deserves to die, but we can't punish him like this. He'd be useless at the stronghold anyway. Just go. Wander the villages, beg, and scrape by."
The squad nodded at the decision.
Then something astonishing happened.
The dazed chief slowly rose and shuffled out of the stronghold.
"Beat him half to death."
At Se Yeong's cold command, the baffled squad charged.
"You're dead!"
"You son of a bitch!"
"Om mani padme hum. May Buddha pause for a moment."