Chapter 6
Chapter 6
6.Jokes and Truths
Unbidden side dishes appeared one after another, and finally, a bottle of wine sealed with a red band was presented.
"What's that?"
A woman in her late twenties, whom I was seeing for the first time, replied with a bright smile.
"It's First-rate Dukang Wine."
"First-rate? Really?"
"Of course. Let me pour you a glass."
I received the Dukang Wine that the woman opened into my glass and replied.
"You wouldn't be playing tricks with the wine on a Shop Assistant, would you? It smells too strong."
The woman's face hardened slightly at the word "Shop Assistant." She tried to maintain her composure and said.
"Why would we play tricks with the wine? Absolutely not. Are you perhaps looking for a particular Performing Girl?"
"Yes. Chae Hyang. Is she here?"
She probably was.
"Yes, she is. But Chae Hyang has many prior engagements, so let me check and come back."
"Busy, huh? It'll only take a moment."
"Indeed. She's the busiest. If Chae Hyang isn't available, would another girl be alright?"
"No, she wouldn't."
"I'll have someone attend to your drinks, and if Chae Hyang has some free time, I'll bring her over. There are so many guests who want to hear even just one song from Chae Hyang."
"I don't want to hear a song, I just need Chae Hyang to come for a moment. By the way, do you not know who I am?"
"Who are you? I mainly stay here."
I pointed to my eye with my finger and said.
"Can't you see?"
"You have a bruise?"
"The infamous Purple Glow Inn Shop Assistant, the guy who's been saving up money like a miser to sleep with Chae Hyang. That's me."
"Ah... so that's why it was a bit noisy downstairs."
The expression of the woman managing the floor changed every moment. Her eyes narrowed, and a mocking emotion flickered in her gaze.
"So today is the day. But do you really want to see Chae Hyang?"
"Why? Can't I?"
"I just think Luzhu might be upset. You got beaten up a few days ago, right? I thought that meant you shouldn't come to the Plum Blossom Brothel looking for Chae Hyang. Didn't you think about that?"
She was a woman who spoke very politely but with a sharp tongue.
"Oh, I didn't think about that. By the way, our middle-aged auntie here is quite the smooth talker."
"Middle-aged? I'm not even thirty yet. And wasn't it just a joke to begin with? I thought it was a joke. I'll go and tell her. Please wait a moment."
"Wait! You thought it was a joke?"
The woman stared at me and then nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why did I get beaten up?"
"Maybe you got beaten up for making a joke."
The woman smiled, and a dimple deepened on one cheek.
I pointed at the woman with my finger.
"What a sly auntie pretending to be an innocent girl."
"Please be kind. It's a joke."
A joke was treated as the truth, and then I was even told that it wasn't a joke after all.
The meaning contained in words often changes arbitrarily.
That's why words are scary.
After the talkative woman disappeared, I smelled the Dukang Wine.
It was supposed to be First-rate Dukang Wine, but it wasn't even Third-rate quality. And yet, they were trying to charge the price of First-rate.
A joke being treated as the truth, and a fake being treated as genuine.
This is generally what those who live as they please do.
"Playing tricks from the first drink, huh."
This is definitely not First-rate Dukang Wine.
To dare to play tricks with the wine on a Purple Glow Inn Shop Assistant...
The morality of the Martial World has fallen this low.
Glug, glug— The Third-rate Dukang Wine poured into the glass with a sound, and I drank it. As the third cup passed down my throat, I heard thumping footsteps in the hallway.
It seemed the rumor that the Purple Glow Inn Shop Assistant had come to the Plum Blossom Brothel had finally reached the ears of the guys who participated in the assault.
The footsteps contained rough emotions.
Thud!
The door opened, and as soon as someone identified me, they spat out a refreshing curse.
"Hey, you son of a bitch. What the hell are you doing here? Are you crazy?"
I couldn't help but sigh.
Seriously, is it so wrong for a Shop Assistant to come to a brothel?
Why do I keep becoming a son of a bitch when there are perfectly good names to call me?
Still, the fact that they didn't curse my parents meant they were definitely kinder than the Demonic Sect's monkeys.
I identified the man's face.
It was a guy whose face I knew and whose name I knew. I had a habit of identifying the personal details of the guys who hit me, whether in the past or now.
I gestured for the man named Dong-gwak to come in and said.
"Why are you guys acting like this when I'm just trying to drink with my own money? Come on in. I'll give you a drink."
The man was immediately at a loss for words.
That was understandable.
The guy who had been beaten up a few days ago had come back, speaking informally, making arrogant gestures, and even offering a drink. It was bound to be absurd.
The guy named Dong-gwak came in and plopped down across from me.
"Did this bastard eat something wrong today?"
"I ate bibimbap."
"What?"
As I poured Dukang Wine, Dong-gwak grabbed the glass and said.
"Anyway, just drink this and get out quietly. Before things get out of hand."
After pouring the Dukang Wine, I said to Dong-gwak.
"Dong-gwak, you son of a bitch."
As I mixed informal speech with curses, Dong-gwak, who had been sitting, got up and swung his right hand at my cheek.
I grabbed Dong-gwak's hand with my left hand, placed it on the table, and simultaneously drove the chopsticks I had picked up into the back of his hand.
Thwack!
"Ugh."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Why are these chopsticks so sharp?"
I hadn't actually intended to go this far.
It was an instinctive reaction that came from living as a martial artist for so long.
It took Dong-gwak a moment to understand the situation. Even with a distorted expression, he struggled to figure out what had happened.
Only then did I take out the sickle and tap the chopsticks embedded in the back of his hand.
Tap, tap.
"A hole in the back of your hand can heal, but there's nothing you can do about a severed wrist. Let me cut it off."
"Ah, don't do it."
"Don't do it?"
"I said don't."
I pointed the sickle at Dong-gwak.
"I was just going to drink quietly and see Chae Hyang for a moment, so why are you acting like a horny dog? Is the Plum Blossom Brothel going to go bankrupt if I meet Chae Hyang?"
At that moment, the door burst open again, and the Chae Hyang in question appeared, looking at what had happened around the table.
"Dong-gwak, leave. I'm here."
I looked at Chae Hyang.
'Long time no see.'
She was quite famous for being pretty here, but since I had seen all the most beautiful women in the Central Plains, Chae Hyang now looked like a girl from the countryside who was being picky based solely on her looks.
Judging by the anger mixed in her expression, it seemed she had come after being ordered to go in and squeeze out some money.
However, since Dong-gwak couldn't move, I kindly pulled out the chopsticks for him.
"Ugh."
As the blood that gushed from the back of his hand with a scream soared into the air, I held out my glass and accurately caught the blood.
It was a meaningless action.
But it had meaning for Dong-gwak.
As he blocked the hole in his hand without saying a word and left, Chae Hyang sat across from me as if taking over a shift.
As soon as I saw Chae Hyang, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Why are you laughing?"
It was Chae Hyang's annoyed question.
I was about to say the same thing to this Performing Girl that I had said to the Demonic Sect's Vice Master.
"I should laugh when I want to laugh. Why? Does a Shop Assistant have to manage his expression even when he comes to a place like this?"
"Do you find this situation funny?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Why did you make Dong-gwak's hand look like that? Do you think Seong-tae or Luzhu will let this go?"
"Do you think the men of Illyang County will let this go? They won't."
"I'm telling you this for your own good. My value has already increased since I came here. The liquor is quite expensive because it's Dukang Wine. And it looks like you'll have to pay for Dong-gwak's medical treatment as well. Just pay the money and go back. I'm telling you this for your own good."
Why was she so angry?
"Don't nag. How do you know how much money I have?"
"You don't have much. The rumor that the noodles are bad has spread everywhere."
Laughter flowed out of my mouth.
"I don't know why you're so popular. Your face is pretty, but your thoughts, speech, expression, and eyes. Everything is, how should I put it."
"......"
I had no intention of threatening such a fragile woman, but I conveyed my inner thoughts in a calm tone.
"Don't act up just because you have a pretty face. You're not a woman worth it."
Chae Hyang's eyes widened, and she flared up like a master of the Emei Sect.
"Worth? Did you just say worth to me?"
"Your speech is uglier than any ugly woman who's rumored to be ugly. Haha."
Unexpectedly, Chae Hyang burst into laughter at my words.
"No, were you so upset about getting beaten up the other day? You're going to waste the money you've been saving up as a Shop Assistant all this time just to say something like this? Why would I sleep with you in the first place? I wouldn't sleep with you even if you brought a bundle of gold and silver treasures. Did you think I was the kind of woman who sleeps with just anyone? I've never worked like that here. Do you think all Performing Girls are prostitutes who sleep with anyone?"
Chae Hyang shouted.
Ah, so that's why she was so angry with me. It seemed there was also Chae Hyang's own position to consider.
"Selling Art, Not Body, huh."
When I asked if she meant that she sold her skills but not her body, Chae Hyang shook her head.
"Don't use written language."
"Sorry."
"Anyway, that's how I've lived. Not all Performing Girls are prostitutes."
I offered Dukang Wine to Chae Hyang, who was very angry.
"I see. I never thought you were the kind of woman who sleeps with just anyone. I'll give you a drink as an apology."
As Chae Hyang held out her glass, I filled it with wine and said.
"Let me make it clear. I never said I was going to save up money and sleep with you in the first place. All I said was that I wanted to hear a song. As you said, you're a Performing Girl. Even that was actually a joke I made at the Purple Glow Inn, but even that was clearly a joke. I never had any intention of doing that in the first place. I wasn't in a position to do that either."
"Excuse me? What I heard......"
"Don't interrupt. The joke spread more and more because it was funny. In fact, everyone except you probably found it funny. It was a funny joke, so it probably spread more and more. But the joke became a truth that I couldn't change. It's the wicked power of words. And I was someone who didn't have the power to change that truth back into a joke. This is a case where words can kill people. Look at my eyes, I almost went blind because of it."
It wasn't so much that I was talking to Chae Hyang, but rather that I was reminiscing about my past.
Chae Hyang, on the other hand, had a bewildered expression when I came here and said these things. She must have felt that I had changed no matter how she thought about it.
"Drink."
I shared a glass of Dukang Wine with Chae Hyang like someone without any emotions.
"But Selling Art, Not Body is a joke. You shouldn't have come to a brothel in the first place. The reason I asked you to come is over, so leave."
"Excuse me?"
This time, I poured Dukang Wine only into my glass and said again.
"Get out. Before I grab your hair and drag you out."
Chae Hyang suddenly noticed the sickle on the table. Then she checked my expression and eyes.
She was a perceptive woman.
"Yes, I understand. But coming to a brothel wasn't my choice."
"Stop talking nonsense."
"It's true."
At that moment, Chae Hyang's footsteps overlapped with the thumping footsteps of the men. Since a colleague's hand had been pierced, the other perpetrators of the assault must have heard the news and become excited. Sensing that a sword fight was about to break out, Chae Hyang fled the room.
In an instant, three perfectly fine men arrived and roughly opened the door again.
By the way, why were they so angry?
They seemed so happy when they were hitting me.
A guy named Won Han-yeol asked me.
"Jaha, will that one sickle be enough? It looks like you came here to die. Why didn't you bring a long sword or something? Oh, you didn't have money to buy a sword?"
The guy next to him chimed in.
"Let's go outside. It's hard to clean up if blood splatters here."
Without replying, I poured Third-rate Dukang Wine into my glass and smelled it. Suddenly, it felt like First-rate Dukang Wine.
The taste of alcohol changes depending on the atmosphere.
Since the Shop Assistant wasn't replying and was just drinking, it was clear that fists would fly like yesterday.
Even as I passed the Dukang Wine down my throat, my gaze was directed at the three men.
Reading the expressions of the three men, it seemed they were wondering whether they should kill me here or not.
I said to the excited guys in a calm tone.
"You all have the confidence to kill someone like me, right? Let's finish the drink and go out."
Everyone, there's no need to rush.
'Calm down......'
In fact, I felt that if I beat them calmly, things would end less brutally.
Killing local thugs would only make my hands dirty.