Chapter 7
Chapter 7
7.The Shop Assistant Acts Up.
The three men sat across from me and rattled off the threats and taunts they thought they should.
"Our Jaha here, it's like your last drink, so hurry up and drink it."
"Still, this bastard was a man, huh? Coming here so confidently, drinking his liquor, and calling for Chae Hyang like a man. Wow, if I knew this guy was such a manly man, I would have half-killed him. I regret it."
"If you regret it, just beat him up properly. Dong-gwak already crippled his hand. You won't even feel wronged getting beat up today. Jaha, am I right?"
Listening to their threats, I offered them the Dukang Wine.
"Want a drink?"
But none of them reached for a cup. They suspected I might have poisoned it.
Left with no choice, I drank alone.
One of them urged me on.
"If you've drunk it, let's go."
"Yeah, get up."
I didn't reply and kept drinking. Occasionally, I looked at each of their faces in turn.
Silence is an effective way to set the mood.
Now, the three of them were quiet too. It seemed they were finally sensing something was off.
A guy who used to be a shop assistant couldn't possibly drink so calmly in front of scary people.
Even to them, my attitude showed not a hint of fear.
But there wasn't much wine to begin with. After finishing the last of it, I grabbed my sickle and said,
"My hometown friends, do you find me that funny?"
I actually found myself funny, thinking if I was such an insignificant being in the past.
"Weren't you a funny guy?"
The three men pulled out assassination daggers, slightly longer than throwing knives.
"You're making a big deal out of something that could have ended with just a beating."
"Brothers, Dong-gwak ended up like that, so this is a justified response anyway."
When I laughed like a madman, the corners of their lips also turned up. The four of us laughed together for a moment, like friendly drinking buddies.
"Hehehehehe..."
When I suddenly raised my sickle, the three men were startled and thrust their daggers forward.
At that moment, I channeled my inner energy into my thumb and flicked it, overturning the table.
Crash!
Reflexively, the three daggers plunged into the table.
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
As the blades pierced through the table, I kicked it away with my right foot and stood up.
Bang!
As the three men collided with the table and were pushed back, my sickle fell, aiming for their lower bodies.
The feet of the men, sticking out haphazardly, wriggled like snakes' heads. I thought of them as snakes' heads and swung my sickle.
After the Purple Glow Inn burned down, one of the jobs I took to make a living was grave keeping.
There, I spent all seasons cutting the overgrown grass around the graves with my sickle.
I did so much sickle work there that I was sick of it.
I even gained some enlightenment about sickle work out of nowhere.
I was probably the only man in the Martial World to gain enlightenment about weapons while cutting grass. A sickle is basically a single-edged blade, so it's closer to a saber than a sword. You also had to be careful when it bounced back because the blade was in the opposite direction. Above all, all of these things were engraved in my memory.
In short, I am a master of the sickle.
I stabbed and slashed at the knees, insteps, ankles, calves, and toes of the men wriggling like snakes' bodies. I also cut off the arms of the men sticking out from under the table.
"You stepped on me with these crippled limbs, huh?"
The screams of the three men mixed together.
"Kkyaaaaaaak!"
In an instant, chaos erupted.
In the meantime, I kicked the table at the right moments, smashing it into the faces of the three men. Each kick produced three booming sounds.
It was an efficient and one-sided beating.
By the time the woman who was so good at talking rudely opened the door, the three men had completely lost their will to fight.
The room was a mess, covered in snacks and blood.
I said to the woman, holding the blood-stained sickle,
"Auntie, bring me some more of that crappy Third Grade Dukang Wine."
The woman glared at me.
I pointed the sickle at her mouth and said,
"I don't usually hit women, but you should think a little more before opening that mouth. Bring the Dukang Wine first, and then bring any other bastards who want to be crippled. And if you flap that big mouth of yours again, I'll rip it apart with this."
It is my principle not to touch women who have not learned Martial arts unless there is a special reason. That principle includes Chae Hyang and that rude woman as well.
But threatening was my hobby.
When the woman disappeared, I cleared away the shattered table and looked at the three men. It was good to see them covered in spilled snacks.
I said with a smile.
"Laugh, you bastards. Why aren't you laughing in front of a funny guy?"
They couldn't laugh anymore, but I laughed.
"Congratulations on becoming cripples. You'll need a long time to recover. You should be grateful I didn't kill you."
At the merciful shop assistant's words, the three men tightly shut their mouths.
I changed my tone as if I had turned into a madman and opened my mouth.
"Hey, you sons of bitches, you have to beg me to spare you, or am I just going to kill you like this?"
"Spare us."
"Please spare us."
"Let's end it here. We didn't want to kill you either."
I nodded.
"Oh, really?"
Their words were so fast and accurate, it was like watching a choir.
I pulled out one of the daggers stuck in the table and held it in my left hand.
"You've mastered the art of flattery with your mouths. You're coming again."
This time, dozens of people were rushing in from the hallway. It seemed that all the martial artists the Pear Blossom Tower could mobilize were coming. Amidst the commotion, I heard the voice of Cha Seong-tae, who was the only one who had welcomed me.
"Get out of the way!"
In an instant, the hallway became quiet, and Cha Seong-tae appeared and looked around the room.
Cha Seong-tae had thin eyes, so his eyes became straight lines when he smiled or frowned, and that was the case now.
Cha Seong-tae said to me with a dumbfounded expression.
"Jaha, you're going to die if you keep doing this."
"Die?"
"Yeah, you idiot."
I looked at Cha Seong-tae's ugly eyes, channeled my inner energy into my left hand, and threw the dagger.
Whoosh!
Before Cha Seong-tae's hand could reach his face in surprise, the dagger I threw arrived first. The handle of the dagger hit Cha Seong-tae's eye accurately.
Thwack!
"Kkeuak!"
Cha Seong-tae groaned and fell backward.
I held out the blood-stained sickle to the men behind him and said,
"An eye for an eye. Anyone else want to try?"
Cha Seong-tae, who barely managed to get up, calmly gave orders even in that situation.
"Report to Luzhu at the Pear Blossom Tower. The rest of you, surround the brothel from the outside. Just keep him from getting out."
Cha Seong-tae, who was squinting his one eye that was bleeding profusely, drew a straight sword from his waist with a cool motion even in that situation.
Clang!
I returned the words I had said earlier to Cha Seong-tae, who had drawn his sword.
"Seong-tae, think before you act. You're going to die if you keep doing this."
"......"
"Why is the smartest guy in Illyang County acting like this? Do you think I just got lucky that your eye ended up like that? Huh? No, it's not. Did these three guys just get unlucky and have snacks dumped on them? No, it's not. It's not. Think if you don't want to die."
"Hmm."
While Cha Seong-tae was standing there blankly, unable to do anything, I said to the men blocking the hallway.
"And, Cha Seong-tae ended up like this in one move, so does it make sense that you guys are going to keep me from getting out? Let's do this. If you keep blocking me there, I'll show you Cha Seong-tae dying first. I'm going."
But this threat worked not on his subordinates, but on Cha Seong-tae.
The quick-witted Cha Seong-tae said to his subordinates in a surprised tone.
"Everyone, go downstairs and wait below. Jaha, it seems like you need to meet Luzhu. You came to get an apology, didn't you? Right? Or are you just planning to drink and leave? Let's hear your answer."
I nodded to Cha Seong-tae.
"That Jo guy has to come."
"Then I'll call Luzhu for now. She'll be here soon, so let's wait together."
Cha Seong-tae checked his palm as he spoke. It was covered in blood.
I asked.
"Are you blind?"
Cha Seong-tae blinked and wiped the blood around his eye before replying.
"I don't think I'm blind. I can still see."
"That's a relief. Bring some wine. Let's drink while we wait for Luzhu."
Cha Seong-tae said to the woman trembling at the end of the hallway.
"Bring the wine. No snacks needed. We'll move to the next room. Jaha, let's move rooms. Unless you're going to kill those kids, let's get them treated. Cut them some slack. It's not good to kill people from the same neighborhood, right?"
When I turned around, the three men were already on the verge of passing out.
Cha Seong-tae's way of dealing with things was definitely different from his subordinates.
Even with blood flowing from one eye, he managed to sort out the situation.
The eloquent woman who had been walking with quick steps politely pointed to the next room with both hands.
She kept her mouth shut because I had said I would rip her mouth if she spoke.
The survival skills of the bottom of the barrel are so intricate.
I went into the empty room, sat down, and placed the bright red sickle on the table.
A moment later, Cha Seong-tae, who had wiped the blood with a cloth, sat across from me and let out a long sigh.
"Did you get some kind of lucky encounter somewhere? What the hell is going on all of a sudden? This is a sudden mess."
As soon as Cha Seong-tae finished speaking, a young woman's voice was heard from outside.
"I'm bringing in the wine."
"Come in."
I chuckled when I saw the wine coming in. It was Dukang Wine, but the sealed condition was completely different from what they had given me. In other words, it was a more luxurious Dukang Wine.
"Is this perhaps First-rate Dukang Wine?"
Cha Seong-tae nodded.
"Ah, was the Third Grade gone? Oh, I'm sorry. That's how the wine has to go out to the riffraff to make a profit. This is the real First-rate Dukang Wine. Let me pour you a cup."
"Am I riffraff?"
"Not now. I'm sorry."
I snatched the First-rate Dukang Wine from Cha Seong-tae's hand. After breaking the seal, I glared at Cha Seong-tae with my nose buried in it.
"If there's poison, I'll shove it all up your nostrils."
Cha Seong-tae touched his nose without realizing it and replied.
"I'm going to drink it too, so would I have poisoned it? Madam Son, there's no poison, right?"
Madam Son, who had been waiting in the hallway, poked her head in and shook her head at Cha Seong-tae.
'There isn't.'
When Madam Son spoke only with her mouth, Cha Seong-tae asked with a puzzled expression.
"Are you mute? Why aren't you talking? Is there no poison?"
Then Madam Son ran her finger across her mouth. It was a signal that she couldn't speak.
"I said I'd rip her mouth if she spoke."
Then Cha Seong-tae nodded and said to Madam Son.
"Then keep your mouth shut. If you don't want that big mouth of yours ripped."
Madam Son bowed to Cha Seong-tae and me and disappeared back into the hallway. But she was still waiting in the hallway.
Cha Seong-tae had no idea when Luzhu would arrive.
"Madam Son's words are a bit thorny, aren't they?"
Cha Seong-tae, who was thinking about something, said to Madam Son.
"Madam Son, go and call Chae Hyang. Tell her to serve us wine."
The sound of Madam Son's footsteps was heard in the hallway.
This time, Cha Seong-tae poured Dukang Wine into a glass and asked.
"Let me have a drink first. I'm not in my right mind."
"Drink."
I watched Cha Seong-tae drink and then drank the wine. As soon as the wine went down, Cha Seong-tae asked a question as if he had finally come to his senses.
"Were you always so good at fighting? I've never heard such rumors."
"My grandfather told me not to fight, so I just held back a few times."
"Well, that kind of lie won't work. First of all, I apologize for what happened earlier. I understand why you're acting like this since my subordinates humiliated you."
"Thank you. You son of a bitch. You even understand. You're a very understanding guy."
I snorted once.
Cha Seong-tae was stalling for time by talking all sorts of nonsense.
I rolled up my sleeves and said.
"But now that I think about it, I'm getting pissed off. Seong-tae, you son of a bitch. Is this how someone who's apologizing acts? How many places do I have to break to change your tone?"
When I suddenly grabbed the sickle again, Cha Seong-tae was startled and knelt down.
"I'm sorry. I sincerely apologize. I've even knelt down, which I've never done in my life. I'm really sorry."
Cha Seong-tae's change in attitude was as swift and accurate as watching the changes in moves of top masters.
When Cha Seong-tae knelt down and lowered his head.
Chae Hyang had arrived at the door. As soon as she saw Cha Seong-tae kneeling, an earthquake was happening in Chae Hyang's pupils.
"......!"
Cha Seong-tae turned his head and said to Chae Hyang with a scary look.
"Serve the wine. And I told you to manage your facial expressions. Take some strength out of your eyes."
When Chae Hyang, with a stiff expression, naturally headed to Cha Seong-tae's side, Cha Seong-tae said in a squeezed voice.
"Are you crazy? Sit over there. Who said you were going to serve me wine? Get a grip."
Chae Hyang's expression turned pale.
I looked at Chae Hyang, who was sitting next to me with a pale face, and threw out a word.
"Oh, you're here?"
There are two types of people.
People who hold grudges and people who don't.
In my case...