The Reckoning
As flames of rage blazed in Dan Hyunwoo's chest, a man came rushing forward with a shout.
"Who the hell are you to cause trouble in the Mokhwa Merchant Group? You must be completely out of your mind!"
A well-dressed man in his late thirties with a handsome face.
Dan Hyunwoo recognized him at a glance as the head of the Mokhwa Merchant Group.
The man continued.
"Do you even know where you are? This is the Mokhwa Merchant Group, backed by the Guryong Sect—the greatest black-path murim faction in Hangzhou—and personally cherished by Yu Sucheon, the Blood-Killing Demon Sword, one of the strongest experts in the city!"
"So you're the head?"
"So? Did my ears deceive me? What insolence. In all of Hangzhou, you're the only one who would dare address me, the head of Mokhwa, like that."
With two towering figures like the Guryong Sect and Yu Sucheon supporting it, this was a merchant group that made even the biggest loudmouths in Hangzhou bow their heads.
Yet the head of Mokhwa was utterly speechless at the shabby, dirt-stained man who looked like he couldn't even muster a fart.
He must be some drifter who recently returned to his hometown and wandered into Hangzhou. In that case, it's possible he doesn't know about the Blood-Killing Demon Sword or the Guryong Sect. But if I don't teach him a proper lesson now, he might try climbing over us again later.
It happened sometimes—young fools who acted without knowing their place.
People wore plausible chivalry like an outer coat until a hole was punched through their gut, all while shouting about the righteous path.
Just how thick was this bastard's coat of chivalry?
Cheon Ilseong let out a snort of laughter.
"The Guryong Sect is Hangzhou's greatest black-path murim faction, with three hundred warriors. And the Blood-Killing Demon Sword Yu Sucheon is a man even the five great experts of Zhejiang Province tread carefully around."
"They sound scary."
"Do you understand now what it means to have such people watching our backs?"
"It means you've got one hell of a backer."
"Hahaha! Looks like you've finally caught on. These are people a greenhorn like you—with barely any blood on that fresh face of yours—could never touch! Someone come here! Send word to the Guryong Sect and the Blood-Killing Demon Sword! Teach this fool the true terrors of the world!"
As Cheon Ilseong gave the order with a triumphant expression, his eyes fell on the two men standing behind the intruder.
Their faces were swollen like balloons and looked downright ridiculous, but...
There was something strangely familiar about those faces.
Were there men like this in the Mokhwa Merchant Group? No, their faces are familiar. I've definitely seen them somewhere before...
The two swollen-faced men stared at him blankly.
The more he looked, the more affectionate and familiar their faces seemed. The more he traced their features, the more cold sweat trickled down his back and goosebumps rose across his skin.
Why did they look more and more like Jeon Akgwan, the boss of the Guryong Sect, and Yu Sucheon, the Blood-Killing Demon Sword?
Su... surely not?
The two swollen men looked at him with rotten, pitying expressions.
Why are you looking at me with those eyes! Those... those guys... Could that greenhorn really have done this to them?
His throat closed up.
Jeon Akgwan's gaze shifted toward Dan Hyunwoo.
There was no need to ask.
That nonchalant attitude, those eyes like frozen blades. The way Jeon Akgwan trembled and Yu Sucheon kept wiping the blood dripping from his nose.
Cheon Ilseong stumbled backward, then broke into a frantic run.
No thoughts formed in his head.
Loyalty? We've come this far together, so let's see it through to the end? All he could think was screw that.
The moment he met those eyes, his mind went completely blank.
I have to run! Those aren't the eyes of some ronin or third-rate murim drifter!
He sprinted like a madman.
He could feel Jeon Akgwan and Yu Sucheon watching him.
What do you want from me! The words rose in his throat.
His legs sliced wildly through the air.
Grab!
Before his feet could even kick the ground twice, his collar was already caught in Dan Hyunwoo's grip.
Like the Monkey King who could never escape the Buddha's palm.
Cheon Ilseong's eyes widened.
"Y-Young Master! That's not what I—"
"I won't kill you."
"R-Really?"
"Not yet, anyway."
"...?!"
Thud!
Dan Hyunwoo's fist slammed down into Cheon Ilseong's face.
"Aaaaagh!"
He tumbled across the floor, body sliding helplessly.
He had never experienced pain like this in his entire life.
As Cheon Ilseong tried to crawl to his feet, his eyes widened again.
Dan Hyunwoo had already mounted him.
Slowly.
With his body pinned so he couldn't even twitch, Dan Hyunwoo's fist—laden with pure fury—rose high and drove straight down.
Thud! Thuuud! Thud!
Blood sprayed everywhere, as if it were gushing from a fountain.
If Yu Sucheon and Jeon Akgwan had been beaten into rice cakes, Cheon Ilseong was being pounded into a bloody pulp.
Yu Sucheon and Jeon Akgwan turned their eyes away.
They had inner force to protect their bodies.
But Cheon Ilseong was nothing more than an ordinary merchant who had never learned martial arts.
Even with inner force shielding them, the blows had felt like their entire bodies were being torn apart. Cheon Ilseong was taking every strike with nothing but raw flesh.
Watching the human shape slowly disappear from Cheon Ilseong's face, they couldn't treat it as someone else's problem.
We somehow survived those fists. But this guy... he might actually die.
Cheon Ilseong had taken exactly twice the beating Yu Sucheon and Jeon Akgwan had received.
For half an hour.
Dan Hyunwoo shook the blood from his dripping fist, flinging the droplets away, then spoke to Yu Sucheon.
"Round up every bastard in the Mokhwa Merchant Group who did dirty work and bring them here tied up."
"Eh? Y-Yes!"
Though reluctance flickered across his face, Yu Sucheon nodded and moved quickly.
One more hit and his own face would look just like Cheon Ilseong's.
Yu Sucheon swiftly bound the general manager and several others from the Mokhwa Merchant Group and dragged them over.
He also sat the bloodied pulp that was Cheon Ilseong down on a chair inside the room.
Yu Sucheon said respectfully, "I've prepared them nicely so the Young Master can handle them with ease."
"You two, come inside as well."
Cheon Ilseong's trembling eyes seemed to scream at Jeon Akgwan and Yu Sucheon: If you'd warned me earlier, it wouldn't have come to this!
Jeon Akgwan and Yu Sucheon answered with expressions that said: If we'd given you any hint, we would've been the ones killed.
Cheon Ilseong let out a sigh of resignation.
With Hangzhou's greatest black-path leader and its strongest expert both swollen and frozen in terror, there was nothing a mere merchant like him could do.
Perhaps because of that, when Dan Hyunwoo presented the document demanding repayment of twenty thousand gold taels, Cheon Ilseong stamped his blood seal on it without resistance.
Now the three of them owed sixty thousand gold taels in total.
After confirming the blood seal, Dan Hyunwoo tucked the document into his sleeve and spoke to the bound general manager of the Mokhwa Merchant Group.
"What's your name?"
"U... Un Cho-hak, sir."
"I'm Dan Hyunwoo. From now on, I'm the head of the Mokhwa Merchant Group."
"I... I will obey."
"The first order of business is to improve the treatment of the people who were worked like slaves here. Only make them work set hours and give them fair pay for their labor. I trust you understand the rest without me spelling it out?"
"We will provide proper meals, pay all overdue wages in full, and of course ensure they receive sufficient rest."
"You're quick on the uptake. Keep that up, and I'll be able to face the general manager with a smile."
"I will not disappoint you."
He had been with the merchant group for thirty-five years.
It wasn't merely the shrewdness gained over those decades that made Un Cho-hak bow his head so deeply.
More than that, the sight of the merchant head turned into a bloody pulp while Yu Sucheon and Jeon Akgwan had been beaten into rice cakes was simply too shocking.
Because of it, an excessive wave of loyalty toward Dan Hyunwoo flooded Un Cho-hak's heart.
"Follow me."
Dan Hyunwoo left the management of the merchant group to Un Cho-hak and gave orders to Yu Sucheon, Jeon Akgwan, and Cheon Ilseong.
Unease churned violently in their chests, but at a single word they could not refuse, they followed behind Dan Hyunwoo.
Just where were they being taken?
"Will Uncle really be all right? What if he gets seriously hurt..."
Eun Doyun fidgeted anxiously, staring at the front gate his uncle had left through.
It had already been two hours since Uncle left.
His uncle, who had disappeared alongside the Guryong Sect, still hadn't returned.
This had happened before.
When the head of the Dan family, Dan Yuseon, had followed the Guryong Sect, he hadn't returned for over two hours either.
When Dan Yuseon finally came back after nearly three hours, he had been bleeding profusely.
He had been stabbed.
The fear that the same thing might happen again gripped him.
Not just Eun Doyun—the entire family felt their hearts pounding like war drums with ominous dread.
The memory of the head groaning in pain from that blood-soaked wound was still vivid.
Such a thing must never happen again.
No matter how strong Uncle's martial arts are, facing the boss of the Guryong Sect won't be easy. I've heard the boss's martial prowess is incredible.
Even if his uncle was a powerful murim expert, it would be no different from an egg striking a boulder.
And the Guryong Sect was a massive boulder with over three hundred subordinates.
There was no chance Dan Hyunwoo would return safely.
Yet none of the family spoke those fears aloud.
They suffered in silence, terrified that voicing it would make it come true.
Creak.
At that moment, the gate—half-destroyed by the Guryong Sect—swung open with a groan.
Reflexively, Eun Doyun and the rest of the family turned their gazes toward it.
Dan Hyunwoo was stepping through the door.
"Uncle!"
Eun Doyun and the family rushed forward in a single wave, patting down Dan Hyunwoo's body.
Checking for any holes.
"Hahaha, I'm perfectly fine."
"Thank goodness. Oh, thank goodness."
Eun Doyun and Jin Yeongyeong let out sighs of relief.
Dan Hyunwoo gently stroked the head of the worried Eun Doyun.
Those hollow eyes told the story of how much the boy had suffered inside.
To worry this much about an uncle he'd only recently met—what a good child.
In contrast, Dan Seoyeon gave her brother a slight glare, her gaze almost scolding.
"Making everyone worry like this."
Her words and actions were exactly the same as when she was young, and a smile came naturally.
She spoke curtly, but it was precisely because she had been so worried that such bluntness came out.
It felt good that some things remained unchanged.
It was as if she were telling him it was all right for him to be here.
Dan Hyunwoo ruffled Dan Seoyeon's hair just as he had Eun Doyun's.
Though she frowned, Dan Seoyeon only glared and did not pull away from his hand.
Dan Seoyeon asked, "You followed the Guryong Sect warriors out. Are you truly unharmed? They didn't threaten you or anything, did they?"
At her question, Jin Yeongyeong also stared at Dan Hyunwoo, urging him to answer.
With a slightly awkward expression, Dan Hyunwoo replied.
"The Dan family's debt is gone now. We've also taken back the Danhwa Silk Shop."
"Wh... what? The debt is cleared and we've recovered the Danhwa Silk Shop? There's no way those Guryong Sect bastards would just hand back what they stole!"
"I resolved it nicely through conversation."
"You only talked, and the Guryong Sect listened?"
"Yes."
Jin Yeongyeong and Dan Seoyeon's eyes met.
Only a fool would believe that story.
Yet their son didn't seem to be lying.
"How strange. There's no way those men would ever do that..."
Doubts lingered, but Jin Yeongyeong and Dan Seoyeon soon understood that Dan Hyunwoo's words were true.
Because Jeon Akgwan, Yu Sucheon, and Cheon Ilseong—with their faces swollen like balloons—were standing right behind him.
Dan Seoyeon and Jin Yeongyeong were stunned.
One was the bastard who had stabbed the head of the Dan family.
Another was the one who had swept away all their silk.
The last was the head of the Mokhwa Merchant Group.
The moment they saw them, their hearts pounded violently and their entire bodies seemed to freeze over.
But what shocked them even more was—
Hyunwoo's martial arts were at this level?
Brother turned Yu Sucheon—someone even the five great experts of Zhejiang fear—into that?
The scene made it clear he hadn't persuaded them with words, but with fists and feet. It left them utterly speechless.
The way the three trembled showed they genuinely feared Dan Hyunwoo.
They had acted so viciously before, yet after submitting they had become this pathetic.
Their hands shook.
After inflicting pain that felt like their guts were being torn apart, why were they making such expressions now?
It was wonderful that the Dan family's debt had vanished, but their hearts were already rotten to the core.
Jin Yeongyeong poured out the dark resentment that had built up inside her.
"You bastards! How dare you set foot here! This is the house where the head of the Dan family you stabbed lies half out of his mind and dying! No matter how thick your faces are, this is no place for the likes of you!"
"......"
"Even if Hyunwoo forgives you, I cannot. Get out right now! Seoyeon! Bring the salt!"
Tears flowed as she spat out the black thing lodged in her chest.
What she was vomiting now was not words.
It was the pain of spitting blood.
Dan Hyunwoo embraced the trembling Jin Yeongyeong and said, "Mother, if you truly cannot forgive them, shall I 'dispose' of these three starting now?"
"Dispose?"
The instant the single word dispose left Dan Hyunwoo's mouth, Yu Sucheon, Jeon Akgwan, and Cheon Ilseong all sucked in a sharp breath.
The plea to spare their lives surged right up to their throats.
They wanted to grab his pants leg and swear they would do anything he ordered.
But Dan Hyunwoo's fierce gaze kept their mouths sealed.
His eyes carried the clear killing intent that said opening their mouths would mean death.
We're finished.
Their lives now rested entirely in Jin Yeongyeong's hands.
The agonizing wait made their flesh tremble as cold sweat dripped down.
Then Jin Yeongyeong's lips moved.
"These bastards right now..."