An Eye for an Eye
"Listen up."
"Ah—yes, Master..."
Jin Cheong-un spoke.
"How, precisely, do we break out of this situation?"
The situation was unfavorable. A diligent young man, the proprietor of a small rural martial arts academy, had invested every coin he'd saved over a lifetime to build a future for himself—and now he was locked in a war against a pack of petty rural parasites who seemed determined to trample that dream into the mud and squeeze out his last hard-earned penny. A villainous alliance dirtier, meaner, and more shameless than the claws of the Esoteric Cult itself!
"Big sister, what does that mean?"
"So-ryong, cover your ears. Don't listen to that sort of thing. It's bad for your emotional development."
The voices of disciples who had not yet learned proper reverence for their master drifted through the air, but back to the matter at hand. The biggest problem was this: the Yichang Jianghu was the Alliance's own backyard.
The Alliance had its fingers wedged into nearly every pie that touched the Jianghu—academies, study halls, clothing shops, bookstores, blacksmith shops, you name it. The Cheongun Martial Arts Academy, meanwhile, was nothing more than a stone that had rolled into their garden.
About the only person Jin Cheong-un could count on was Chief Bailiff Geum Tae-bang, who at least considered him a benefactor. But even Geum Tae-bang had issued this warning:
"This, my friend, is the time-honored virtue of small-town territorialism. A greenhorn like you will inevitably bow before it and come to terms with the way things are."
"He—he really said it like that?"
"Not exactly, but close enough."
"There's no way! Absolutely no way! And I really don't think he considers you a benefactor at all!"
In any case, there was one thing Geum Tae-bang didn't know. The Jianghu folk assumed that a martial artist could only swing a sword and was hopelessly illiterate in worldly matters—but Jin Cheong-un had already weathered problems exactly like this one, and in no lesser place than the Murim Alliance itself.
"Tsk. A martial academy graduate, of all people..."
"You know the squad leaders have been talking about you lately? I'll be watching, so mind yourself."
"Washing the squad leaders' laundry before bed, buying snacks and drinks for the seniors—that's our unit's tradition, see. When are you supposed to sleep? Who cares! My, the new recruits these days are so thoughtful."
Jeong So-so made a face of utter disbelief and exploded.
"That's horrible! You just put up with hearing that?!"
"What else?"
"You report it to the relevant department, obviously! Or go straight to the higher-ups!"
Jin Cheong-un snorted. It was the kind of unspoiled answer only a girl who had clawed her way through hardship without ever truly tasting the filth of an organization would give.
"That would make the immediate problem disappear—but you'd never become a true member of that society or organization. Ever."
"Th-that's..."
Jeong So-ryong, who had been listening quietly beside them, looked glum.
"...So we just endure until the bullying stops?"
"No. Speaking coldly, most people see someone stubbornly enduring as easy prey, and they bully them harder. How far can he take it? they wonder."
"Then what do we do?"
"Adapt, of course."
Jin Cheong-un looked back and forth between his two disciples.
"Now, both of you, listen carefully."
His voice turned suddenly serious, and Jeong So-so and Jeong So-ryong straightened up in their seats.
"No one can live doing only what they love, because no one lives in this world alone. Sometimes, even when you hate it, you have to follow the rules."
Jeong So-ryong asked, "Even when you truly hate it?"
"Yes. Even if it's repulsive, dirty, and underhanded, only by melting into the organization and society around you can you become a truly admirable adult. And the fastest way to do that is to behave exactly as they do. Understood, both of you?"
"Yes, Master."
"Yes, I underst—huh?"
Jeong So-so froze. Something about that lesson sounded very strange. Didn't he barge into that alliance meeting precisely because he didn't want to follow along?
"Therefore, I returned every blow they dealt me in exactly the same manner."
Jin Cheong-un's eyes gleamed.
"First day after the head-shaving ceremony. The senior members said they didn't like my eyes and jumped me, so I beat them right back."
"..."
"So they started keeping me up every night under the pretext of training. I returned the favor for about a month—waking them up night after night, same as they'd done to me—and that stopped."
"..."
"Later, they treated me like I didn't exist and stopped giving me food, so at every meal I flipped the rice tins from the supply wagon so nobody could eat. And besides that..."
What am I listening to right now?
Jeong So-so's mouth flapped open and shut before she asked, aghast, "And they just... stood by and watched all that?"
"A few of them came at me with swords, saying they'd cure me of my bad habits."
"With swords?! Wh-what did you do?!"
"I grabbed a sword and chased them down, naturally."
"...!!"
"After that, the hazing vanished completely. That was the day they accepted me as one of their own."
That's not—
That's not accepting you as one of their own, that's just—!
"To adapt to an organization and a society, sometimes you have to accept their culture and become just like them, even when you'd rather not."
Even while his disciples sat paralyzed with disbelief, the master's lecture pressed on.
"So this time, we return everything the Martial Arts Alliance has done to us, tit for tat. Of course, unlike them, we have no manpower and no faction behind us. Therefore—"
Jin Cheong-un's gaze turned toward one corner of the room. Jeong So-so and Jeong So-ryong slowly turned their heads as well.
"I brought him along."
A large man who had been kneeling quietly there ducked his head with an embarrassed nod.
"Ah, um. G-good to see you again."
The face was not unfamiliar to the Jeong siblings. No—it was, in fact, a face they knew very well.
His name was Cho Sam. A man from the Black Tiger Sect, and the one who had faithfully seen to the final journey of the siblings' father, Jeong Baek-heon.
And then—
"A talented man I personally recruited to rebuild the Black Tiger Sect. Go on, all of you, get along nicely from now on."
"I... look forward to working with you."
Cho Sam scratched the back of his head with a hand the size of a cauldron lid.
'Master?'
'Yes? Rebuild what, exactly?'
The expressions on the Jeong siblings' faces went completely blank.
The Black Tiger Sect had fallen. Most of its disciples were currently roasting themselves alive in the boiling cauldrons of hell, or else receiving instruction from the Murim Alliance and the magistrate's office on how to become upright, virtuous citizens. For the record, Confucius did say that learning has no end.
But not every Black Tiger disciple had met that fate.
"The ones whose crimes were barely worth mentioning, the ones with sharp instincts, or the ones who were simply lucky—they survived."
"Come to think of it, the people you dragged here to renovate the manor and the academy were Black Tiger disciples too, weren't they?"
"That's my So-ryong. Exactly right."
Jin Cheong-un ruffled Jeong So-ryong's hair with a few smooth strokes. Jeong So-so stared at her master with clouded eyes.
I thought a passing expert was the one who destroyed the Black Tiger Sect.
So he's not even going to bother making up an excuse anymore.
In any case, those lucky Black Tiger survivors numbered more than one might expect. They had once ruled the underworld of an entire region, so rooting out every last one had been impossible—and even if it had been possible, it would have been unwise. Call them a necessary evil; exterminate them completely, and some other chaos would simply have filled the void.
"Some fled to other regions, but most were just drifting about like idle vagrants. Then they received word from you, sir."
Cho Sam grinned, an honest, rustic smile on his face. His frame was built like a mountain, but his smile fit his age just fine.
"Ah—so that's how it was. Well, it's... it's good to see you again, truly."
"Please, speak casually with me! I can hardly accept such formality, miss!"
"M-miss? No, but still, courtesy is—"
"No, no! I'm the one who should be apologizing!"
Jin Cheong-un simply watched the two of them fumbling over each other. Their tangled history had apparently left them both at a loss for how to treat one another.
Come to think of it, Cho Sam is the younger one, so formal speech from him is technically correct.
And yet something about the sight just felt... off.
Just then, Jeong So-ryong asked, "Master, so what does paying the Alliance back have to do with rebuilding the Black Tiger Sect?"
"A fine question."
Attention gathered on him once more.
"A man who has eaten meat knows how to eat well, and a man who has done a job does it well. Anything worth doing should be left to the specialists."
"...?"
"So then—who in all the world is best at picking fights, throwing their weight around, and tormenting people?"
No way.
He can't mean—
"The Black Way, naturally."
"...!"
"And as it happens, Yichang is positively overflowing with promising Black Way talents who lost their jobs overnight when the Black Tiger Sect fell. Talents with outstanding résumés, no less!"
"S-so what you're saying is..."
Jeong So-so wracked her stunned, congealing brain for an answer.
"You'll rebuild the Black Tiger Sect from behind the scenes, put young Cho Sam up as a figurehead, and... set them loose to torment the Alliance's martial academies?"
Thump!
Jin Cheong-un smacked his knee and declared, "Exactly that."
Jeong So-so's jaw dropped.
A graduate of the Murim Alliance—her own master—intended to become the head of a criminal organization. A sect, moreover, that he himself had destroyed. Around this point, Jeong So-so simply stopped thinking altogether.
The waterfront street of Baekyeon Harbor, on the south bank of Yichang County. In this spot, blessed with a gorgeous view of the Yangtze River, stood the Taecheong Sect—one of the Backbone branches of the Martial Arts Alliance.
"So they're sitting there quiet as dead mice?"
"Yes, sir. I have a friend training at an academy near Yinghua Village, and from what I hear, they can't do anything at all."
"Gwahahaha! Serves them right! Give it up already!"
Seo Cheol-yong burst out laughing at his disciple's report. His memory of strutting boldly into the alliance meeting only to be knocked flat in a single exchange was still painfully vivid—so hearing that the man was now suffering underComprehensive pressure on all fronts was deeply satisfying.
"Hmph. Ignorant fool, running his mouth about masters and disciples. If he wants to spout that kind of pie-in-the-sky nonsense, he should go join one of the great sects—why bother opening a martial academy?"
Not that those sects were any different, really—just beggars surviving on donation money and tuition from outer disciples. In the end, this world ran on money. Money let you swing a sword, train your arts, and run a sect.
"We'll be counting our coin while they starve. Let's see how long they can hold out."
Seo Cheol-yong grinned to himself as he tallied the tolls his sect now collected from the Yangtze River transport trade—a windfall that had come with the Black Tiger Sect's demise.
And then it happened.
CRASH!
"L-Lord Sect Master! It's terrible!"
"What now?! What is it this time?!"
Seo Cheol-yong, who had hurriedly swept his silver under the desk to preserve appearances, roared in fury.
"It's—thugs are causing a rampage in our place of business!"
"What? Who?!"
"They say—they say they're the Black Tiger Sect!"
The Black Tiger Sect? THE Black Tiger Sect?
"I'll go out there myself!"
After a moment of stunned stillness, Seo Cheol-yong hastily strapped on his weapons and bolted outside. And what he saw was a pack of rough-looking men sprawled around his waterfront, lounging and jeering.
"Hey, Taecheong Sect. Who said you could do business here?"
"Aww, that hurts our feelings. We've been in this territory for years, haven't we?"
Some were lying flat on the docks. Some were heckling the Taecheong Sect's disciples. And some were—
"Ah, good travelers, please don't worry. We'll be causing a bit of trouble here for a while, so just walk on past."
"We may interrupt business briefly, but we won't harm a hair on your heads, so have no fear."
"Ah—y-yes, of course, honored heroes..."
"Heroes? Please. We are no heroes. Excuse us, then."
What manner of lunatics bowed and scraped for forgiveness from the common folk—
"GET THE SECT MASTER OUT HERE!!"
—and then reserved their rampage exclusively for the Taecheong Sect's own people.
"Wh—what in the—what is the meaning of this?!"
"Well, well. If it isn't Brother Seo. What, you've forgotten my face already?"
Seo Cheol-yong flinched. "Y-you're—"
"That's right, it's Jin Tae of the Black Tiger Sect. Say, Brother. Who exactly gave you permission to do business here?"
Seo Cheol-yong's face crumpled miserably at the sight of a familiar thug he knew all too well.
"Have you lost your mind?! Get off my grounds this instant!"
"Can't do that. This was our territory to begin with. Why should we be the ones leaving?"
Gam Jin-tae, a certified madman famous throughout the area, flopped down lazily on the ground. Seo Cheol-yong was dumbfounded. A former branch thug of a completely destroyed sect—and he had the gall to pull this here?
"The Black Tiger Sect Master is dead! What in the world do you think you have to rely on, Jin Tae?! Are you insane?!"
Shing!
Seo Cheol-yong even drew his sword, intending to settle it with force, but—
"Stab me! Go on, stab me! You think I'm going to dodge?!"
"Have you genuinely lost your mind?"
"Shut up!! I've got no choice if I want to survive!!"
The frantic desperation in Gam Jin-tae's bulging eyes caught Seo Cheol-yong off guard.
Why is he so desperate?
He had no way of knowing. He didn't know that a certain academy proprietor—whom they feared even more than the Black Tiger Sect Master—had threatened them with only one instruction: do it properly.
And similar scenes were unfolding at every martial academy and business affiliated with the Alliance across the county.
An inn managed by the Baekcheong Martial Academy, on the western street inside Yiling Castle.
"Who told you to patrol these grounds?!"
"Wh-what in the world is wrong with you people?!"
"Why should YOU be collecting the seat fees, huh? Boys! Lie down!"
"Yes, sir! Formation!"
Jangga Village, Pyeongryang Township, Yichang County.
"Ah, good common folk. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience to your travel. But nothing bad will happen, so please bear with us just a little while."
"Ah, we're not moving, so do whatever you like! We're not budging until we get paid!"
"A-are you really going to let us pass without incident after all this?"
"Oh my, you're drawing your sword? Have you teachers ever actually stabbed anyone? Hm?"
Before the Baekjin Martial Academy, beneath Mount Daehong on Mount Jin, Yichang County.
"Wow! This is a martial academy? Can we enroll too?"
"N-no, why are you all doing this? There are children present, so..."
"Ah! We came here to learn martial arts too, didn't we? You said you'd teach anyone—so why won't you teach us? HUH?"
The footwork of men who had made tyranny and thuggery their lifelong trade was in a league entirely of its own. The raw menace of Black Way thugs who had lived by the blade was more than the academy disciples could handle, and the academy proprietors could do nothing but throw up their hands.
Naturally, they tried to settle things with force. The problem was that their opponents had no intention of taking a beating quietly, and in broad daylight they refused to fight at all—simply flopping down like rats in broad daylight, crying "Spare us!", leaving the academies utterly helpless.
And back at the Cheongun Martial Arts Academy—
"Heh heh."
Jin Cheong-un was lounging about in perfect peace, wearing the contented smile of a man whose scheme had come off exactly as planned.
"Let's see how long you can hold out, then."