Chapter 43
43.
When Bad Thoughts Meet a Shop Assistant
I didn't bother to nag Cha Seong-tae, who had lost to Sima Fei ten times. Sima Fei was inherently the stronger man, so it was a natural outcome.
He could either accept the defeat as a humiliation and awaken, or accept it with an attitude of resignation and settle down.
It was up to Cha Seong-tae to choose.
If Cha Seong-tae accepted it as a humiliation and awakened, I was willing to help.
Until then, I didn't plan to pay any attention.
Because a person has to take the first step themselves to change.
On my way back, I looked back at the Plum Blossom Brothel from a short distance, and after a while, I quietly passed by the Dragon Head Smithy. While the people of my hometown were doing their respective jobs, I turned my steps towards the Black Cat Clan.
The Low Filth Sect Leader's immediate task was in Heukdo.
To systematically crush and organize the Heukdo forces that were widely surrounding Ilyang Prefecture.
Because I had used Light Body Skill excessively due to Hongshin, I walked slowly on the way back. When I entered a secluded path, about a dozen Martial World people were silently approaching from the front.
They all had their mouths shut and seemed to be moving towards the direction I had been walking from, that is, Ilyang Prefecture.
I looked at the group of Martial World people, and as the group of Martial World people passed by, they all looked at me at once.
After the dozen or so men crossed paths with me as if exchanging places, I took another three or four steps...
The group of Martial World people stopped first.
I also turned around.
Looking around, they were all guys with intense killing intent.
While I was staring blankly at the group of Martial World people, one man took something out of his pocket and checked it.
I thought what he was looking at was an Appearance Sketch. Sure enough, the guy who checked the Appearance Sketch raised his head and reconfirmed my face.
"Looks like Lee Jaha."
Three or four people gathered around the man holding the Appearance Sketch and checked it together. The leader of the group, whose complexion was particularly dark, said to his subordinates.
"Is it him?"
"Yes, it is."
"He wasn't seen in Ilyang Prefecture, so why is he there?"
"I don't know."
What kind of conversation is this?
The guys looking for me were saying they were going to Ilyang Prefecture, where I wasn't.
I asked the leader of the group.
"Are you the leftovers from the Black Fan Stronghold?"
The leader responded to my question with a question.
"You're Lee Jaha, right?"
Questions collided with questions, but there were no answers to each other.
Anyway, the atmosphere was different from the subordinates of the Twelve Divine Generals. The Black Fan Stronghold has a unique atmosphere. They are mostly guys who have been rotting in a gambling den for about ten days, then grab a sword and come out after a long time.
One man asked the leader.
"What should we do? I didn't know Lee Jaha would be here."
I couldn't help but let out a snort.
Considering the meaning of the words, I thought they were moving to wreak havoc in Ilyang Prefecture.
I felt strange.
A feeling of heavy sinking, so to speak.
In fact, after returning, the Madness of my past life felt as if it had never existed.
This was because the fact that I had returned to the past felt somewhat like a pleasant game.
The leader of the group, who was watching my expression, stepped forward.
"I am Dokgo Saeng of the Black Fan Stronghold. I heard you killed Neung Ji-seok, Wi Seon-woo, and Gu Yang-su? The owner of the Black Fan Stronghold has offered thirty Gold Coins as a bounty. The clients are the Tiger's Howl Clan and the Three Sword Selling Sons. We were on our way to post a wanted notice in Ilyang Prefecture, but you can read it yourself."
Dokgo Saeng nodded to his subordinate, and one of them came to me and handed me a notice with the contents written on it.
It is proper not to accept what Heukdo gives.
When I didn't receive the notice, Dokgo Saeng continued.
"There was a rumor that you disappeared from Ilyang Prefecture, so we were looking for you. If you come to the Black Fan Stronghold with dignity and face the Stronghold Lord directly, he will pay appropriate compensation to the Tiger's Howl Clan and the Three Sword Selling Sons and withdraw the bounty. What will you do?"
Originally, a common method used by Heukdo is to harass the people around the target so that the target cannot escape.
These guys probably went into Ilyang Prefecture, wreaked havoc, and then posted the notice. The more confident Heukdo is, the more they suggest that the parties involved face each other and resolve the issue. The case where Geumbong Kakju died after calling me was a similar example.
I counted the number of them and then replied.
"There are eleven of you in total. That's too many just to post a wanted notice."
Dokgo Saeng retorted.
"We just stick together because there's a rumor that you're skilled."
"That's a suitable excuse. It's a hassle to go meet your Stronghold Lord right now. I'll go soon."
Dokgo Saeng glared at me.
"If you don't go, we'll go to Ilyang Prefecture."
I scratched my chin with a nonchalant expression.
"I said I'll go later."
"It would be better to go with us now."
I picked my nose with my little finger and replied.
"Dokgo Saeng, why are you trying to die right now with ten subordinates? Let me ask why."
"We can't accept the attitude of killing Neung Ji-seok, Wi Seon-woo, and Gu Yang-su arbitrarily and then saying you'll come later to explain."
"That's not the point of the conversation right now."
There are days when I feel strange.
Some days, I can beat people to death indiscriminately without any emotion, and some days, I want to avoid killing without any particular thought, and today is one of those days.
I don't even know the reason.
If my actions were consistent, I wouldn't have been called Gwangma.
I'm just a person who became Gwangma by living each day according to my feelings.
Maybe it's because I often imagined leading the Black Cat Clan and clashing with the Black Fan Stronghold.
But things in the world don't always go as planned.
Dokgo Saeng was not afraid of death.
"Whether you kill us all and go to the Black Fan Stronghold later, or go to the Black Fan Stronghold with us now, it's the same. Either way, the later you go, the more you'll have to deal with the Tiger's Howl Clan and the Three Sword Selling Sons first. It's tiring either way, Lee Jaha."
Here, I decided.
"Let's go to the Black Fan Stronghold."
A headwind blew in my heart.
The feeling that I didn't want to kill in the first place was gradually suppressed by something, like being heated in a fire.
Going back and forth like this is also me.
If I wear the mask, I'm the Black Cat Clan Leader who grows the Heukdo forces.
If I take off the mask, it seems to be a life where I become Gwangma again.
In Ilyang Prefecture, I'm the Low Filth Sect Leader, but as I get further away from Ilyang Prefecture with the Black Fan Stronghold's group, I stop thinking normally.
When bad thoughts and the Shop Assistant Lee Jaha combine, they become Gwangma.
It's a sad thing.
The evil deeds of my past life were considerable, but I don't know how to handle the evil deeds of this life.
I suddenly thought of the unidentified man who was presumed to be imprisoned in the celestial realm. I guessed that my cell would probably be next to the man's cell.
I am such a sinful human being.
Most of my actions to protect the weak involve killing people.
I understand why the Murim Alliance hated me so much in my past life.
I arrived at the lower reaches of the Horned Dragon River with the Black Fan Stronghold group and boarded a ship. I looked at the waves of the Horned Dragon River, which were swaying after a long time, and waved my hand towards Ilyang Prefecture, which was getting smaller in the distance.
"Goodbye. My hometown, I'm leaving to make money. I'll come back successful. When I come back successful, please welcome me. That's how the Shop Assistant left on a ship."
As I waved my hand towards my hometown and spouted nonsense, the Black Fan Stronghold group frowned and looked at me. I could hear their thoughts like hallucinations.
'Is he crazy?'
I looked at the Black Fan Stronghold's underlings one by one with a nonchalant expression and said.
"You all look really ugly. I don't know if you live doing ugly things because you look ugly, but you can't know the things of the world."
"……."
No one answered my words, but I continued to say what I wanted to say.
"But when I see a handsome guy I know doing ugly perverted things, it seems that looks don't have much to do with ugly things. Even considering that, it's really amazing how you all look so unlucky. Is it because you're rotting in a gambling den? When I think about it, you probably weren't born looking like this from the beginning. Maybe it's because the things you see around you every day are shitty, and that affected your faces. Slave auctions, things like that."
One guy, who had been enduring his anger and listening, said to me.
"Can't you just shut your mouth and go?"
I examined the guy's physiognomy and replied.
"Why do you have so few eyebrows? You have the physiognomy of a rat. Your eyes are dull. Your skin is like a battlefield. When you open your mouth, the smell of rot comes all the way here. Why are you sticking with the Black Fan Stronghold? If you want to make a living, work. You bastard. What do you think when you watch the slave auctions?"
The guy replied to my words.
"I was thinking that I should make money and buy a slave, too."
The Black Fan Stronghold's underlings burst into laughter at the same time.
"Hahahaha."
I suddenly looked at Dokgo Saeng's expression. Dokgo Saeng hadn't been laughing the whole time.
"Dokgo Saeng, why aren't you laughing?"
At my question, Dokgo Saeng poured out curses at his subordinates.
"Shut your mouths. Before I kill you, you crazy bastards. He's the man the Stronghold Lord will face, and you pathetic guys are laughing at the guest? I'll cut off the arms of anyone who opens their mouths until we arrive."
At Dokgo Saeng's threat, the underlings all shut their mouths.
Dokgo Saeng said to me.
"Keep talking. You have a nice voice."
I nodded and then asked Dokgo Saeng.
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-five."
"Married?"
Dokgo Saeng sighed.
"What marriage? I live in Heukdo."
It was an answer that said why would he ask about marriage when he doesn't know when he'll die.
This guy wasn't normal either.
Sure enough, Dokgo Saeng suddenly got angry and poured out curses while looking at me.
"How old are you? Why are you asking about marriage? You crazy bastard. Why did you kill those three? Why did you kill them and make people so tired? Are you that good at fighting? You're crazy, right? You have enough skill to kill all the pathetic guys here and even me, right? I understand. But how are you going to face the entire Black Fan Stronghold alone, so you killed people without considering the consequences? You crazy bastard. Do you even know how many people are in the Black Fan Stronghold?"
I replied briefly.
"How many are there?"
"I don't know either, you little brat. There are over five hundred."
A guy next to Dokgo Saeng suddenly chimed in.
"There are over six hundred."
Then Dokgo Saeng kept hitting the guy's head without saying anything. After punching him until the man's face was covered in blood, he said.
"If I tell you something, understand it. A little. I told you to shut up, didn't I?"
At that moment, Dokgo Saeng suddenly grabbed the bloody guy by the collar and threw him into the Horned Dragon River. Splash— A sound was heard, and the guy shouted.
"Squad Leader! Save me. I'm not good at swimming..."
Dokgo Saeng shouted loudly.
"If you can't swim, die. You bastard."
I watched the man floundering in the river with the Black Fan Stronghold's group.
The river looked deep.
I looked at the guy who fell into the water with pity.
"The fish have to eat to live, too. Achieve enlightenment. The heartless Heukdo bastards, anyway."
It was a hassle for me to save him, too.
Dokgo Saeng asked his subordinates.
"Is there anyone else who's going to talk?"
I replied instead of Dokgo Saeng's words.
"Would there be?"
I looked at the swaying Horned Dragon River and sighed deeply.
"Ah, I should have stormed in with the Black Cat Clan and finished it. Or, it would have been good to aim for mutual destruction by getting involved with Daenachal. In the end, things are turning out like this. You can't predict people's lives."
At this time, Dokgo Saeng took out a small tool, whether it was Forget Worry Grass or Illusion Grass, from his pocket and skillfully lit it and took a puff.
The white smoke coming out of Dokgo Saeng's mouth scattered meaninglessly over the waves of the Horned Dragon River. Dokgo Saeng, who was exhaling smoke while taking a few deep puffs, asked me.
"So Lee Jaha, are you going to spare us?"
Dokgo Saeng waited for my answer while inhaling the smoke deeply again. Dokgo Saeng, who asked a question that didn't match his tone or actions at all, waited for my answer.
It was as if he had expected it from the first time we met.
Dokgo Saeng said again.
"I'm asking. Are you going to spare us?"
I shook my head and looked at the swaying river. I tried hard to erase the bad thoughts to calm down the Madness.
A person has to take the first step themselves to change. With the thought of not living like the Gwangma of my past life, I replied like this.
"I'll spare one survivor. I promise. Decide among yourselves."
It means to kill each other.
Does this work?
As soon as I finished speaking, everyone, including Dokgo Saeng, grabbed their swords to kill each other.
Heukdo are guys like this.