Moyong Baek spoke to me while I drank the alcohol Jun Pyung brought.
“Sect Leader, I will check if there is an infirmary nearby and get the needed materials.”
“You don’t have to. Have a drink.”
Pouring a drink for Moyong Baek, I say,
“Lord Hwang is the hostage we have taken. You cannot just leave the guy and go. You can feed the poison to him right here.”
“I understand.”
I look at the warriors of the clan who are busily bringing money. I didn’t think much of it at the start, but big and small boxes were piling up and even Moyong Baek sighed at what he was seeing.
“They… seem to have a lot.”
I sighed.
“There is a lot to share with the merchants. If we have to take all this, then it has to be moved to the Black Rabbit Union. You people aren’t the Great Raven, but the Great Thieves Clan.”
I say to the leader who is passing by,
“Great Thieves clan leader.”
“Yes.”
“Come here.”
He is hesitant as he comes over and puts his hands together in front of me and I ask,
“What have you been stealing? What is all of this? Isn’t this the first time you hit someone for money?”
Leader Hwang speaks in a cautious tone.
“N-No. The scale of the business is quite huge, from alcohol to tea and brewing a couple more things.”
When I flick my hand at his lower head, I choose to slap him and say,
“You have so much money and yet you still went around to collect money?”
After he falls down from the slap, he gets up and says,
“I apologize.”
I sent the guy away because watching all this made me dizzy.
“I do not understand the greed of a rich person. How do I accept this?”
“Sect Leader, I don’t know because I was never rich.”
“This isn’t a world the poor can live in.”
“Yes.”
“Moyong, let us not bother trying to understand. We need to be rich to understand this.”
“Right. We can just live without knowing this.”
I nod at Moyong Baek’s words and share a drink. This was a dangerous moment which could make us rich.
But after the drinking heat moved into my body, I yelled at Leader Hwang.
“Leader Hwang!”
“Yes!”
“First of all, take out enough money to deliver to the stores you took them from. If I go out to inspect them and they say you didn’t, it will not stop with one slap.”
“Ah, I understand.”
I am so angry now that my thoughts feel very enraged. At least, Moyong Baek is pouring me a drink without saying anything, so I am able to calm my anger.
‘What is this feeling?’
It is a situation where I am controlling the anger.
“Physician, we need to be clear on this money issue. Even if we have to stay up all night, we leave after confirming that the money divided in five quarters is spread around.”
“I understand.”
Moyong Baek speaks to me in a calm voice.
“Sect Leader, there must be many people in the world who accumulated wealth by harassing people. Calm the anger.”
I nod.
“Right. I can only feel happy when such people look like beggars. Let’s make them beggars.”
“I get it.”
The day after we managed to get the issue of the Great Raven Clan sorted, I took Leader Hwang as a hostage and put him on a carriage.
I didn’t kidnap him alone.
The funds they had saved and gathered over time were generously distributed around to infirmaries, inns, and merchants. We also paid up the escort services. Still there was a lot left so we loaded them into the carriage.
The return got delayed, and the amount of compensation for the damage to the Low-Down Sect was generous. That is how I am on my way in a carriage with a kidnapped man, my physician and money.
Inside the rattling carriage, I would often glare at Leader Hwang who sat across from me.
“Leader Hwang.”
He responds quickly to my call.
“Sect Leader.”
“How old are you?”
“Ah, I…”
“Come to think of it, I don’t know your age.”
“…”
“Whether you are 30 or 40, the fact that you wasted your age is what counts right?”
Moyong Baek nods beside me.
“Right.”
I ask Leader Hwang,
“You are married?”
“…”
He looks at me with a worried expression.
I narrow my eyes.
“You won’t answer? I might have to tie your waist to the outside of the carriage and tell them to drive faster.”
“Ah, I didn’t get married.”
“Why?”
Leader Hwang had a bitter smile.
“… what marriage when living in Kangho?”
I look wide eyed.
“Damn. Wah…” 1
Moyong Baek seems to think I reacted oddly.
“Why are you so surprised?”
I point to Leader Hwang.
“Originally, it’s supposed to be a cool statement, but it sounds so unpleasant when this guy says it. I find it so pretentious that this rotten guy says such things.”
Holding back his laughter, Moyong Baek asks,
“Ah, come to think of it, you didn’t get married either.”
I take a moment to think it through.
‘Right.’
Actually, it is because I had similar thoughts to Leader Hwang. What kind of marriage when the world is full of enemies? Unfortunately, I cannot say what that idiot just said, so I say,
“My skills are still lacking, so I don’t know when I will die. I cannot be going around with a woman right now.”
He looks at me and says,
“The same reason as Leader Hwang.”
“Hmm.”
I touched my head because this hurt me so much!
“I am hungry, let’s get off and eat now.”
With that, the coach man reduces the speed and says,
“I will stop at the nearby inn!”
I look at Leader Hwang and kick him in the shin, making him groan.
The carriage is parked on a large crossroads, and we take a seating spot with outdoor tables.
After the coachman is here, the four of us order food. And I look around to see many men drinking in broad daylight.
It seems that there is a unique thing to this place, most weapons were placed onto or against the table.
All sorts of weapons out.
It looked like a scene where food was being escorted by weapons. Strangely, it seems like there are more warriors than normal people so I ask Leader Hwang,
“Did you say, Jin Mok? What is with this town? Are they at war?”
Leader Hwang says,
“Some of it is because this place has a lot of foot traffic, and it is a place where the Demon Cult people attack frequently. There are also bandits who suddenly attack from all directions and run. So, in this place most of the servers have swords too.”
Looking around, it seems right.
“Isn’t it better to gather people and attack the bandits?”
“These bandits set up several bases somewhere in the wilderness to attract troops to fight, so attacking them to wipe them out is difficult. I heard that the boss who leads these bandits isn’t an easy one to catch.”
“Who is the boss?”
At this, the hair guy next to our table says,
“Tattooed Red Ghost.”
“Tattooed Red Ghost…”
‘A title with tattoo?’
Therefore, it seems like he is a man who has marks around the body and face. The Murim Alliance is busy now. It would have been difficult to come down here and deploy troops on a large scale.
Leader Hwang took over.
“The people this man leads are called tattooed demons.”
Still, I liked this place where everyone had their swords and weapons on.
‘Looks like they are the ones who don’t treat others right.’
Even the server had alert eyes and I ask Leader Hwang,
“Do the bandits kidnap women and children?”
“Yes.”
“I think that is good enough of a reason to report this to the alliance and ask them to clear this up.”
The server who had brought the food and sets it down on the table replies,
“… we do not want that. What happens here should be resolved by people staying here.”
“The reason for that?”
The server looks at me and says,
“Some of those bandits were actually people from Jin Muk County. They are the jerks who betrayed their town for the man there.”
I nod and say to Moyong Baek,
“The atmosphere is similar to the men of Ilyang. Where I was born. I decided.”
“What?”
“Let’s stay here for a day.”
“Yes.”
“If you don’t want to, you leave. If we are lucky we can catch and kill that Red Ghost. Leader Hwang.”
Leader Hwang notices and cautiously asks.
“Yes?”
“Your skills must be good since you fully absorbed the pill, so wouldn’t the Red Ghost be a simple issue? When I looked at your palm it was hot. If it’s you, he will be down in ten sounds. If you catch him, slap him till he dies. Let us see your skills.”
Leader Hwang nods.
“I understand.”
But when I praise Leader Hwang’s skills, everyone turns around and looks at him.
I had questions about why these people didn’t ask for help from the Murim Alliance or another organization to help wipe out the bandits. If the traitors of this place were now bandits, then the spies of bandits must still be here giving them information.
I continued to eat and praise Leader Hwang.
“If you have the skills that Leader Hwang does, you can beat down hundreds of the bandits yourself, right?”
“That is…”
“Am I wrong?”
“100 is a bit too much.”
“Then the Red Ghost? One on one.”
Leader Hwang grinned.
“Isn’t he just the leader of demons? I am confident.”
I nod with a serious expression.
“Ah, so reliable.”
But the guy doesn’t smile when I say that he is reliable. While eating, he pats his chest with his hand and drinks water right away. Anyone can see this guy is nervous.
Clearing down the food in my bowl, I ask,
“Leader Hwang, why are you so nervous?”
“N-No. Why would I be?”
“Fucking trash. You wouldn’t have felt this kind of tension when robbing down stores right? If Red Ghost came and asked you for money, you would give it up without a fight. I was right. Such people serve the strong.”
And he stared at me.
“After hearing the words of Sect Leader, I seem to be such a person.”
With the intention to have this guy cough blood, I say,
“A third-rate idiot.”
“Yes.”
“He is a leader to the subordinates who stole the money from the people who made it through hard work.”
“Yes.”
“Ugly bastard who stretches to where you cannot reach.”
“Yes.”
“An idiot who pretends to eat because he is afraid of a bandit leader.”
“Yes. That is me.”
I laugh at his compliance.
“It has been a long time since I liked a jerk like you.”
Suddenly this idiot holds the empty bowl up with both hands and says to Moyong Baek,
“Mister, please one drink.”
Moyong Baek nods and pours it for him.
“Take it.”
“Thank you.”
And he gulps it down, but his hand is shaking.
I glared at him.
“Leader Hwang.”
“Yes.”
“All the money was taken away by me. Since you are on the way to the Black Rabbit Union to get poisoned, you are nothing but an idiot who works for me with scattered subordinates, right? What are your thoughts on it?”
“There should be some people left since I treated the subordinates right.”
“Ah, really? Amazing. He says he did right.”
I point to Leader Hwang and say to Moyong Baek.
“Yah, our Leader Hwang is in control. He says men will stay back as if they are subordinates waiting for someone like him. Then I admit it, the unorthodox sects are actually corpses with loyalty.”
Moyong Baek nods his head.
“Yes.”
I left Leader Hwang and chatted with Moyong Baek over drinks. We talked about Murim Alliance, the wooden sword, stories about this and that. I treated Leader Hwang like someone who couldn’t be seen, perfectly.
Just as I asked Moyong Baek what martial arts he would focus on learning, Leader Hwang drank alone.
“Sect Leader, I have something to tell you.”
“What? Well, this bastard. Drunk now? If you are drunk it means risking your life.”
He lowers his head and points to the coachman.
“Can I send this friend to call those of the Great Raven Clan? If you allow, I will do it.”
“Why call them?”
He looks at me and says,
“… to cut down the Red Ghost.”
I crossed my arms for a while and glared at him. I turned to see even Moyong Baek crossing his arms and glaring at him.
Editor’s Notes
