The Reckoning
His face would be unrecognizable, beaten beyond recognition. That much was certain.
Yu Sucheon’s pride, the pride of Hangzhou’s top expert, lay shattered on the floor. His hands and feet trembled uncontrollably. He could not believe that some unknown man who had suddenly appeared had reduced him to this state. Never in his life had Yu Sucheon suffered so much as a scratch on his face, so the shock was immense.
Seeing that Yu Sucheon still refused to accept reality, Dan Hyunwoo spoke.
“From now on, answer my questions immediately. I won’t ask twice.”
A wave of resistance and defiance rose in Yu Sucheon’s chest, but he nodded. If he didn’t answer properly, his face would swell three times its size.
Damn it all.
Yu Sucheon answered quickly.
“Understood.”
“……That’s it?”
“Understood, sir!”
“Who is the leader of the Guryong Sect?”
“That man over there.”
Without hesitation, his finger pointed at Jeon Akgwan. Pride, reputation as Hangzhou’s strongest—none of it mattered anymore.
Dan Hyunwoo slowly turned his head toward Jeon Akgwan. Blood trickled from the wound on Yu Sucheon’s stomach where the sword had cut him. Jeon Akgwan was biting his lip, enduring the pain through sheer stubbornness and pride. The agony was so great he barely registered that Yu Sucheon had betrayed him and thrown himself at Dan Hyunwoo’s mercy. But from now on, he would care.
Dan Hyunwoo addressed Gwak Daesam.
“Where is the leader’s room?”
“The fifth floor.”
“Carry the leader there. Take this swollen-faced one as well.”
“The Blood-Killing Demon Sword too?”
“I won’t repeat myself.”
When Gwak Daesam looked at Yu Sucheon, the latter waved his hands frantically. Though he harbored selfish motives, he was merely a guest and had no desire to be dragged into this mess. Of course, he couldn’t say that aloud. Dan Hyunwoo’s icy gaze was already fixed on him as if ready to kill.
Gwak Daesam, catching that look, quickly moved to support Jeon Akgwan.
Hahaha. Best to obey. Even the great Blood-Killing Demon Sword of Hangzhou has been reduced to a pulp.
Quick-witted, several Guryong Sect underlings rushed to help Gwak Daesam support both Jeon Akgwan and Yu Sucheon. They had abandoned the rotten rope that was the Guryong Sect and Yu Sucheon, and were now grasping the new rope that was Dan Hyunwoo.
Once inside the room, Yu Sucheon and Jeon Akgwan were seated at the lowest positions. Dan Hyunwoo regarded the heavily breathing Jeon Akgwan and took the highest seat, paying no mind to the blood still flowing from the man’s wounds.
“How much money does Danga Manor owe the Guryong Sect?”
“W-Was it someone from Danga Manor who came?”
“……Oh? Everyone here speaks so informally.”
“W-Was it someone from Danga Manor, sir?”
“You don’t need to know who I am. Just tell me how much Danga Manor owes the Guryong Sect.”
Jeon Akgwan could not easily open his mouth to answer. One thousand gold ingots. The reason he hesitated to say those simple words was because the principal was only ten gold ingots. The interest alone amounted to nine hundred and ninety. Ninety-nine times the principal.
If I tell the truth, my head might fly off.
Jeon Akgwan racked his brain before giving an honest answer. A wrong answer would mean death at the hands of the monster before him—the same monster who had toyed with Yu Sucheon like a child. For a moment, his own death flashed vividly before his eyes.
“W-Well… fifty gold ingots.”
“A considerable sum. What was the principal?”
“T-Ten gold ingots.”
“So forty gold ingots in interest?”
Dan Hyunwoo’s frost-laden eyes urged an answer. Under that gaze, Jeon Akgwan felt his very heart freeze over.
Did I name the wrong amount? Or did I miss something?
The chill that had settled over him refused to lift. Why hadn’t he simply said they would only collect the principal?
Yu Sucheon and Jeon Akgwan flinched as Dan Hyunwoo slowly rose to his feet. Every movement he made was deliberate, without wasted motion—except this time.
Dan Hyunwoo walked toward an empty stretch of wall. Hidden there was the secret that belonged to Yu Sucheon and the Guryong Sect. A hidden safe was embedded in that wall.
Don’t panic. No one could ever find that.
Though tension made his throat tighten, Jeon Akgwan remained confident that the safe would stay undiscovered. Yet when Dan Hyunwoo reached out and touched the wall, that confidence cracked.
Click.
Dan Hyunwoo pressed a tiny seam in the wall. The hidden safe revealed itself, and Dan Hyunwoo smirked. That smile sent chills down Jeon Akgwan’s and Yu Sucheon’s spines, and they squeezed their eyes shut.
The ledger they had believed would never be found now rested in Dan Hyunwoo’s hands.
Just who the hell is this man? How did he know the safe was there? No one had ever found it!
Over the years serving under imperial orders, Dan Hyunwoo had searched the rooms of corrupt high officials countless times. Finding a hidden safe was child’s play to him.
Dan Hyunwoo selected several ledgers, flipped through a page, and smiled. It was the smile of a grim reaper. The deeper that smile grew, the more Yu Sucheon and Jeon Akgwan felt as though holes had been punched through their hearts.
When Dan Hyunwoo finally closed the ledger after reading every single character, both men’s faces had turned deathly pale.
“Not fifty gold ingots. One thousand?”
Five coins bought a bowl of noodles. One hundred coins equaled a day’s wage for a strong laborer—one silver coin. Ten silver coins made one gold coin. One gold coin covered a month’s living expenses for an ordinary household. One hundred gold coins made one gold ingot. A gold ingot was literally a lump of gold—the very thing the Emperor had tried to shower upon Dan Hyunwoo until he was buried beneath it.
Nine hundred and ninety of those, just in interest. There was no way he could keep from laughing. In the end, Dan Hyunwoo laughed aloud. It was a hollow, bitter laugh.
Now he understood why his father had collapsed. He knew why Seohyeon had to work herself to the bone at the inn, why his mother’s body had grown so pitifully thin. The more he learned, the colder his heart became—matching the frost in his eyes.
Interest so vicious it made even the most exorbitant loans seem generous. Not compound interest, not double compound interest, but interest so predatory that the word “compound” had to be repeated a hundred times. They had lived under that burden all this time. As the thought sank in, his father’s suffering played out before his eyes. His chest tightened, and tears blurred his vision.
Dan Hyunwoo spoke to the two men whose faces had turned as white as paper.
“The borrowed money will be repaid. However, the calculations will have to be redone.”
Jeon Akgwan nodded. If he survived, he could find some way out later. For now, he would pretend to obey. In front of Jeon Akgwan, Dan Hyunwoo began writing a new document. With every character that filled the white paper, Jeon Akgwan’s fear grew. A master of such martial prowess could simply refuse to repay and no one could object. Yet here he was, offering to repay while recalculating everything.
What is he thinking? In the martial world, the strong never return what they take from the weak.
Unease gnawed at him. That unease became reality the moment Dan Hyunwoo presented the completed document.
“You want us to pay back ten thousand gold ingots instead?!”
Jeon Akgwan leapt up despite the blood pouring from his wounds. This man’s thinking defied all imagination. Not only did he demand repayment—he wanted them to pay him.
Even facing such overwhelming power, Jeon Akgwan could not maintain his composure. He glared at Dan Hyunwoo with sharp, furious eyes. Dan Hyunwoo spoke with a mocking smile on his lips.
“There is national law. The price for turning a blind eye to the illegal interest you charged. Compensation for driving Danga Manor to ruin with usurious rates. Compensation for the illness and collapse of Danga Manor’s master due to your tyranny. Compensation for the harm done to Danga Manor’s household as they struggled to repay the interest. Compensation for repeatedly threatening the young master of Danga Manor, and so on.”
Dan Hyunwoo read through the list of compensations one after another. With each item, the amount of gold ingots owed increased. And at the very end—
“Repair costs for Danga Manor’s main gate?”
Even the cost of fixing the gate Gwak Daesam had broken was listed.
“Hahaha.”
Jeon Akgwan laughed like a madman, just as Dan Hyunwoo had laughed while reading the ledger. When something is too absurd, laughter comes before anger. But Jeon Akgwan’s laughter died quickly when Dan Hyunwoo spoke again, holding up the list.
“Press your thumbprint here.”
“Young master! Ten thousand gold ingots? Where is the justice in this?”
“After repaying the fifty gold ingots Danga Manor borrowed from the Guryong Sect, this is the remaining amount. I’ve already been quite generous.”
“No! We never did anything wrong! If someone borrows money and can’t repay, they should pay with their body. We’ve been lenient until now!”
“Well said.”
“What?”
“Then the Guryong Sect should hand over all its land, estates, and buildings. Whatever remains unpaid will be settled with your bodies.”
“Our bodies…? You mean… you want us to become slaves?”
“I didn’t say you had to become slaves, but if you can’t pay, that’s what will happen.”
“This is absurd!”
“Was it not absurd when you charged Danga Manor nine hundred and ninety gold ingots in interest?”
“……”
They had gone too far. Far beyond reason.
But even so—slaves? Me? Jeon Akgwan, who built the Guryong Sect into what it is today? Damn it, I’m going to lose my mind!
He was losing his mind, but the fact that he couldn’t voice it made it worse. The moment he spoke, he would become minced meat. At this rate, slavery was certain.
The fortune he had amassed through ruthless methods to turn the Guryong Sect into the Guryong Society amounted to five hundred gold ingots. Even if they sold the sect’s land, estates, and buildings, they would only get about a thousand gold ingots. To repay the rest, how many years would they have to live as slaves? No calculation was needed. It would be a lifetime.
Jeon Akgwan stared at the document with bloodshot eyes. Thumbprint it and become a slave. Refuse and become minced meat. Why were there only two choices to begin with?
“Kh!”
“……”
If he had known such a monster existed at Danga Manor, he would never have touched them in the first place.
I’m completely screwed.
This was a nightmare. Just as the Guryong Sect was about to become the Guryong Society, just as he was about to ascend to the ranks of Hangzhou’s absolute powers, everything had shattered because of this one monstrous man. Now he would never wake from this nightmare.
Dan Hyunwoo spoke to Jeon Akgwan, who stood dazed before the document.
“I clearly told you not to make me repeat myself.”
His hands trembled violently. Jeon Akgwan pressed his thumbprint onto the paper. To survive. And to plan for the future. He still had one card left to play. This humiliation would surely be repaid.
Dan Hyunwoo tucked the signed document into his robes and produced another sheet. Jeon Akgwan trembled, thinking, Is he going to increase the debt again with some new excuse? But the document was extended toward Yu Sucheon.
Yu Sucheon, his face swollen and eyes dazed, looked at Dan Hyunwoo.
“What is this document?”
He asked first, then read the paper with quick understanding. Dan Hyunwoo’s cold gaze had promised death if he refused to read it. When Yu Sucheon finished, his already swollen eyes grew even larger. His hands trembled more violently than Jeon Akgwan’s had.
“W-Why me? What did I do to owe ten thousand gold ingots?!”
What kind of ridiculous document was this? Jeon Akgwan had caused the trouble. Yu Sucheon knew of Jeon Akgwan’s crimes, but he himself was merely a guest who had come to visit the Guryong Sect.
“It seems there’s been some misunderstanding, young master. I have no connection whatsoever with the Guryong Sect.”
“I don’t make mistakes like that.”
“I’m merely sworn brothers with the Guryong Sect’s leader. I know nothing about their affairs! The usurious interest they charged Danga Manor has nothing to do with me.”
“Can you swear to that?”
“Of course. I’ll swear on my life.”
Yu Sucheon spoke with confidence. Though his mouth was battered from the beating, he enunciated clearly this time. But Dan Hyunwoo merely smiled faintly and pointed at the clothes Yu Sucheon was wearing.
“The clothes you’re wearing right now.”
“……?!”
A spasm ran across his swollen eyelids. He had dipped his toes into this affair because he coveted Danga Manor’s silk. He had even given advice from behind—do this, do that. He knew full well the suffering Danga Manor’s household had endured.
Don’t tell me he figured it out just because I’m wearing clothes made from Danga Manor’s silk?
In that instant, Yu Sucheon’s assessment of Dan Hyunwoo changed. This man was not merely strong in martial arts.
His head is as sharp as his martial prowess? Damn it!