Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Man in Black
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Dang Mujin moved toward the direction from which Hong Geolgae's mountain pigeon call had come.
By now, Go-eui had arrived as well. Hong Geolgae and Go-eui were pressed against a small shack no more than three zhang long, peering inside through a narrow gap with their eyes glued to it.
Dang Mujin wanted to peek inside too, but there was no suitable gap, so he pressed his ear to the wall and eavesdropped on the voices.
"So, you want to go ahead and dump the Southern Village Chief's body yourself and cook up whatever you like?"
"No, that's not..."
Slap—crash.
The sound of someone getting slapped and tumbling across the floor rang out.
The interrogator's voice was unfamiliar, but the voice of the one who answered and got beaten was all too familiar.
A thin, raspy voice that somehow came off as whiny. It belonged to the merchant who had welcomed Dang Mujin's group into the upper reaches.
"What do you mean 'no'? If not you, then who called in people to dump the Southern Village Chief's body? And I've heard all about how the guys you brought in cut off his head."
"I'm innocent. I swear, I didn't bring them. Well, I did bring them, but I had no idea what they were up to."
"Oh, so by coincidence, the guys you brought just happened to know martial arts, and by coincidence they went to the Southern Village Chief, and by coincidence they lopped off his head? You think I look like an idiot?"
Once again, a dull thud echoed, followed by the sound of someone rolling across the floor.
Hong Geolgae lowered his voice.
"That merchant guy thinks he brought us there on purpose."
"Shh. Quiet. I'm listening too."
The three focused back on the conversation.
"You little shit. You should've been satisfied scraping by on the scraps from selling Osan Rock. We didn't treat you like dirt just because you're a nobody—we showed you consideration because we knew you set this up. Where else are you gonna find good folks like us in the Black Wolf Clan? If it were anyone else, they'd have taken your head before the job even started."
"Please believe me. I swear..."
Knowing he would die if he couldn't prove his innocence, the merchant desperately proclaimed his guiltlessness.
But the black path enforcer showed no sign of buying it. The circumstances were far too coincidental to accept the merchant's claims.
"Fine, keep at it. Our boys will drag those bastards in soon enough, and then we can see if your stories match up."
Thud, thud. Dull kicks landed on flesh, accompanied by choking groans.
This time, Go-eui lowered his voice.
"Looks like that merchant arranged for the black path crew to hole up on this mountain too."
"Why would he do that? It's his livelihood on the line."
"Scraping gold dust or iron bits from ice-cold river water in the dead of winter would make anyone sick of it eventually. The pay doesn't match the hardship."
Just then, the shack door burst open with a bang.
The black path enforcer interrogating the merchant spotted the three clinging to the wall outside and his eyes went wide.
"You—!"
Before the man could shout, Go-eui thrust his sword through the enforcer's throat.
The three ignored the black path thug foaming blood from his neck and stepped inside.
The merchant lay sprawled on the floor, lips split open and face swollen like a balloon.
Through his puffy eyelids, he laboriously rolled his eyes toward the group.
Rage clearly flashed across the merchant's face. But he didn't voice it.
He had seen the black path enforcer collapse dead the moment they stepped outside, and spotted the blood on Dang Mujin and Go-eui's swords.
Go-eui squatted down in front of the merchant.
"You seemed to know these guys pretty well, so let me ask a few things. How many people around here know how to make Osan Rock?"
No immediate answer came. The merchant was weighing whether to side with the black path thugs or Dang Mujin's group.
Go-eui raised his sword and smoothly drove it into the ground. The sharp blade sank into the stone floor like it was nothing.
The merchant knew nothing of martial arts, but even he could tell Go-eui was no ordinary fighter.
Finally, the merchant spoke.
"As far as I know, the only one who knows how to make Osan Rock is Southern Village Chief Nam Ryeonbu."
"You sure I can trust that? He's already dead, so it seems convenient to sell out his name."
"It's true. The Southern Village Chief wasn't originally part of the Black Wolf Clan. They brought him in because they didn't know how to make Osan Rock themselves. Lots of people know the ingredients, but only he knew how to make it and draw out its effects."
"I'll buy that. Where do they store the ingredients?"
"The ingredients get moved to the Southern Village Chief's place as they're gathered. They say keeping them stacked on the mountain ruins the potency from the moisture."
"Hmm."
If the merchant was telling the truth, there wouldn't be much material stockpiled at the Southern Village Chief's.
Osan Rock didn't take long to make if you knew the method. No reason to let the ingredients sit around for ages.
"Looks like we're about done here."
"Just to be safe, let's mess him up enough that he can't do any mirror cinnabar work."
Osan Rock recipes varied slightly by maker. But the key ingredient was mirror cinnabar.
Without mirror cinnabar, Osan Rock couldn't induce lethargy or hallucinations.
"Thanks for cooperating."
Go-eui stood and ran his sword through the merchant's heart.
"Guh..."
The merchant hadn't made Osan Rock himself, but he was the root of all this trouble. Go-eui had no intention of letting him live.
The three stepped out of the shack.
The dark clouds in the sky had retreated by more than half.
The eastern horizon glowed faintly blue, and amid the scent of mountain grass wafted a faint metallic tang of blood—strong enough for even those with poor noses to sense something had happened.
"The sun's almost up. If we're dealing with the mirror cinnabar, we'd better hurry... Shouldn't we have asked where they mine it?"
"Saw it on the way up. We can swing by on the way down."
The three muffled their footsteps and began descending the mountain. Soon after, a small commotion spread from behind them. The Black Wolf Clan had noticed something was wrong.
Dang Mujin's group deployed lightness skills as they moved. Midway down, Hong Geolgae pulled a fist-sized slab of ore from his bosom and held it out to Dang Mujin.
"This thing of any use?"
Dang Mujin took the ore.
It felt like a lump of metal in his hand, but the surface was rough, with jagged protrusions everywhere. Like high-purity metal encrusted with a lot of impurities.
Dang Mujin raised the lump to eye level and examined it closely in the rising sunlight.
The unimpure sections weren't silvery-white or gray, but closer to ash-colored, and it weighed at least thirty percent more than ordinary iron.
He'd never seen one in person before. But Dang Mujin knew what this metal was.
"Where'd you find it?"
"Found it rummaging behind the shack earlier. What's the big deal?"
"It's magnetite."
"Magnetite's expensive, right?"
"Of course it is. Hard to work with, so they were just storing it raw. The amount's middling too."
There wasn't enough magnetite for more than a single dagger, at best.
Depending on purity, the usable amount might be even less.
The easiest way to use magnetite like this was to alloy it with ordinary iron for a superior sword. Magnetite varied in quality, but it outperformed hundred-fold refined steel in most cases.
Yet few actually mixed magnetite with plain iron to forge items. It felt like a waste to blend such a precious material with common scrap.
The Black Wolf Clan probably thought the same.
'Someday it'll come in handy.'
Dang Mujin naturally tucked the magnetite away in his bosom.
Hong Geolgae didn't find the action strange. He had an appetite for food, but little greed for possessions—especially ones he couldn't use himself.
*
The group hauled an armful of branches to the cave where they mined mirror cinnabar, then soaked them thoroughly in poison.
Dang Mujin's poison wasn't much and in small quantities, but Go-eui's—absorbed over many years—was far more abundant and vicious than imagined.
Even without direct skin contact, Dang Mujin couldn't endure it and had to flee outside the cave.
Finally, Go-eui and Dang Mujin dragged a few large boulders into the cave entrance, roughly blocking the way.
To clear the poisoned branches, they'd need to withstand the toxin—but ordinary folk couldn't move the rocks while doing that.
Unless a huge amount of time passed, no one would mine mirror cinnabar from this cave again.
"Let's go."
The three walked for about an hour before settling down to rest.
The sun hung high. Normally, time to hustle.
But after a sleepless night, fatigue weighed heavy.
They took turns keeping watch. Hong Geolgae first, then Dang Mujin woke and scanned the surroundings. Finally, Dang Mujin passed watch to Go-eui and slept.
Deep in slumber, Go-eui nudged Dang Mujin and Hong Geolgae.
Dang Mujin mumbled drowsily.
"Someone coming?"
"Yeah. They're coming. Not small fry like the ones from last night."
The serious tone chased away any sleepiness.
Dang Mujin had traveled with Go-eui for quite some time now, but this was the first he'd heard him acknowledge an opponent.
Unlike last night, Go-eui didn't hide behind a tree. He judged ambush wouldn't work.
Moments later, three men appeared, each wielding massive cleavers like those butchers used on beasts.
All wore rawhide garments with fur still attached, and their builds were enormous. Their faces and outfits screamed "bandit" loud and clear.
Among the three bandits, the one in the center stood out especially huge—his limbs so furred they resembled a beast's more than a man's.
The burliest bandit stepped forward.
"I figured some fool who doesn't value his life stirred up shit and ran, but it's a familiar face. Go-eui. What possessed you to pull this stunt?"
"Does a physician need a reason to cure an illness?"
"Illness?"
"If their meridians are clogged with impurities and their flesh rotting away isn't an illness, then what is?"
The exchange sounded mundane at first glance. But it put Dang Mujin—and even Hong Geolgae—on high alert.
Everyone who'd recognized Go-eui so far had reacted the same: bolting the moment they saw his face. That was the worth of a peak expert's name.
Yet this bandit didn't back down after identifying him.
"Speaking of which, I didn't know Giant Heavy Tyrant Blade Ak Hwi was playing around with Osan Rock peddlers. How the mighty have fallen."
"Not playing around. They wanted the mountain, and to claim one around here, they had to get past me."
"Then scram. I need a quick nap before hitting the road."
Go-eui lowered his sword, signaling no hostility.
But Ak Hwi raised his enormous cleaver high.
"Can't do that. I've already taken their protection fee."
"Protection fee?"
"Yeah. Gotta have a good excuse to collect cash. Actual fighting's rare anyway."
Go-eui tilted his head slightly and raised his sword again.
"You might regret it more if you lose your head trying to earn your pay. Don't you think?"
"No choice, even if it's risky. In this line of work, price is set by reputation. Hanging a famous head like yours lets me jack up the territory tax too."
Go-eui chuckled.
"Those old mountain beasts carried inner pills. Guess I'll gut you and check if yours is any good."
Ak Hwi grinned ferociously and charged Go-eui with speed belying his bulk.
Go-eui's sword and Ak Hwi's massive cleaver clashed at speeds too fast to follow. A faint ripple of energy burst outward.
A life-or-death duel between peak experts—the first Dang Mujin had ever witnessed.
He and Hong Geolgae wanted to take it all in, but had no chance.
The other two bandits—clearly superior to them—were charging straight at the pair.