Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 100

Do Pyeong-su spoke as they left the cave.
“Then we’ll have to uproot trees without sleeping.”
“Wouldn’t negotiation be better than that?”
“Negotiation? We can’t negotiate without finding Bihhwagok first.”
“What if we make them come find us instead?”
“How?”
Yeon Geum-hong drew out a brush and a small bottle of Oseong Wine from the pouch at her waist.
“If we lie low, they might return here.”
She wrote a message and placed the tiny bottle of Oseong Wine on top of the letter.
“Will that work?”
“They won’t want to abandon a hideout they’ve kept hidden so well for so long.”

***

“Can we trust it?”
After half a day of quiet, they sent Gok-do to scout, and he returned with wine and a letter from their former location.
Lord Hwang So-san sniffed the wine. Though he wasn’t particularly fond of spirits, the aroma alone made his mouth water.
“There might be poison in the wine.”
Despite Jo Seok-chan’s warning, Hwang So-san poured the wine into a cup.
“I’ve built immunity to most poisons. I’ll be fine.”
He couldn’t help but be curious about the taste of a spirit with such an enchanting fragrance.
Still, he cautiously touched only his lips to the cup and tasted it.
“Ah!”
The exclamation escaped him unbidden.
They made their own spirits and prided themselves on them, but this drink they’d left behind under the name Oseong Wine didn’t taste like wine at all.
It was unmistakably wine—tart and bracing—yet utterly unlike any spirit recorded in history; it was a taste that seemed to belong only in the Immortal Realm.
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s nothing.”
The moment he realized his reluctance came from not wanting to share the Oseong Wine with anyone else, the others pressed their cups toward him.
“Let me taste it.”
Jo Seok-chan, with a puzzled expression, brushed only his lips against the cup as Hwang So-san had done. He let out the same exclamation.
“It is wine, yet it tastes unlike any wine.”
“Doesn’t it taste like something the immortals themselves would drink?”
“An apt description.”
Only after each man had taken another sip did they remember there was a letter.
—We require only the Hwagok-chim. Nothing else.
“It’s remarkable that someone still remembers our Hwagok-chim. Who in the world could they be?”
Whoever had reduced Guryong Mountain to rubble was no ordinary Murim Martial Artist.
“Why not try talking with them?”
Hwang So-san accepted Jo Seok-chan’s tentative suggestion.
If they could settle this without leaving, wouldn’t that be the best outcome?
“How do we convey our intentions?”
“Why not leave a letter in the same place where we found the wine and the first letter?”
“What should the letter say?”
“We’ll need to meet and talk about it.”
“I’m not keen on meeting outsiders.”
Meeting strangers had always filled him with a dread that made his heart race. On top of that, they couldn’t fulfill the other side’s demands.
“I’ll meet them.”
“Are you certain? We can’t even give them the Hwagok-chim.”

***

The three of them waited at the summit of Chim-eo Peak, just as the letter from Bihhwagok had instructed. While the mountainside below sprawled with dense forest, the peak itself was desolate and barren, with a flat rock laid out at its center.
“They’ve come?”
“You’ve come.”
“What should we do? Should we just grab him?”
“No, let’s wait a moment longer.”
From fifty paces away, they sensed five presences. One of them approached cautiously before concealing himself. The three didn’t move at all, so they seemed to think he’d hidden well—but in truth, the three detected everything about him, even the sound of him passing wind.
“Why aren’t they coming? Let’s just grab them and talk afterward.”
Seo Seok-san spoke with impatience, and Yeon Geum-hong answered.
“Wait just a quarter hour longer.”
Fortunately, before the three moved, the one who’d stepped forward revealed himself.
Jo Seok-chan was terrified, but he forced himself to climb toward the summit where the three waited.
“Phew! This is exhausting.”
Jo Seok-chan managed a friendly smile. It had been so long since he’d seen anyone from outside that everything felt awkward.
Seo Seok-san spoke.
“We’ve written our purpose in the letter—what is your answer?”
“I cannot provide the Hwagok-chim.”
Crack!
The moment he finished speaking, the stone fractured and a chunk broke away at the edge.
“That’s not the answer we want to hear.”
Jo Seok-chan, startled, spoke in a flurry.
“Ah, it’s not that I won’t provide it—I… I can’t provide it.”
“Why not?”
“For the past thirty years, we’ve been unable to produce Hwagok-chim. We were raising Hwabongs that could make Hwagok-chim, but one day they all died, and so we’ve lost the ability to manufacture it.”
Do Pyeong-su growled.
“If there’s no Hwagok-chim, you deserve to die. Not just you—I’ll kill every last one of those Bihhwagok wretches.”
Seo Seok-san stopped Do Pyeong-su from continuing.
“Calm yourself. If there were no way to make it at all, he wouldn’t have brought it up, would he? Isn’t that so?”
“W-well, it’s not that there’s no method. All the Hwabongs we raised are dead, but wild Hwabongs do exist. However, we need Hwabongs—especially the queen bee—and she’s in a place we cannot reach.”
“Where is that?”
“A place called So-yang Cliff—you can see it over there…”
“The cliff at Dohwa Peak.”
“You know well. There are several nests in the middle of So-yang Cliff, and given the location and the terrible toxin of the Hwabongs, we dared not approach. Besides, there was no pressing reason to manufacture Hwagok-chim anyway.”
Hwagok-chim was rarely needed unless one suffered from a specific ailment or was a Murim Martial Artist.
“If we merely capture the queen bee of the Hwabongs, you can produce Hwagok-chim, yes?”
“That is correct. We need three.”
“We only need one.”
“Since we’re making them anyway, I thought to prepare two more.”
“I understand. Three queen bees from the Hwabongs will suffice, then?”
“And if you could provide one more bottle of that Oseong Wine, we would be grateful. This is a special request from the Lord.”
If only they could obtain the Hwagok-chim, they could spare a hundred bottles of Oseong Wine without hesitation.
“Is there anything else you need?”
When Do Pyeong-su asked, Jo Seok-chan hastily waved both hands.
“Those two things alone will suffice. If you can just obtain the Hwabong queen bees… how quickly can you manage it?”
“Right this instant.”
Do Pyeong-su seized Jo Seok-chan by the back of his neck.
“You’re grabbing me instead of the Hwabong queens—aaaah!”
Jo Seok-chan experienced flight for the first time in his life.
What would have taken him half a day to walk, they covered in merely a quarter hour.
Do Pyeong-su tossed Jo Seok-chan carelessly onto the cliff.
“Wait here. I’ll bring them down.”
Yeon Geum-hong asked at Seo Seok-san’s words.
“Do you know what a queen bee looks like?”
“Just catch the largest bee, right?”
Jo Seok-chan nodded eagerly under Seo Seok-san’s gaze.
“Exactly. She’s larger than the others and has a reddish head, so she’s easy to identify. She’s probably deep in the nest.”
“It’s fine if she’s dead?”
“A living one is preferable, but yes, a dead one works as well.”
Seo Seok-san leaped off the cliff like a man courting death. While Seo Seok-san went to catch the queen bee, Do Pyeong-su asked.
“How long does it take to make Hwagok-chim?”
“A fortnight should be sufficient.”
Do Pyeong-su laughed wickedly.
“I’d prefer it faster than that. The sooner you finish, the sooner we can leave this place.”
“I’ll make sure we move as quickly as possible.”

***

Sibi was startled when she entered Geom U-bin’s room to tidy it.
Short hairs, like whiskers, had accumulated thickly on the bedsheet.
“The Lord’s illness has returned!”
Alarmed, she hurried out with the bedsheet. Se-hwa, who had just finished her morning training, nearly collided with her.
“Se-hwa! Se-hwa!”
“What is it?”
“Look at this!”
Se-hwa’s expression hardened as she saw the bedsheet Sibi held out.
“Surely not…….”
“Could his illness have relapsed?”
There was no other reason his hair would be falling out again.
“Don’t tell anyone about this.”
Se-hwa swore Sibi to secrecy and made her way to the Back Garden. Thanks to Geom U-bin’s recovery, Oseong Jang-won had regained its vitality.
‘The Lord’s despair will only deepen now.’
As Se-hwa entered the Back Garden, anxious and troubled, she heard Geom U-bin’s voice.
“You’re still not going easy on me, are you.”
“Of course not. Thanks to you, I’ve discovered the true joy of martial arts—I have no intention of holding back now.”
Gong Seong-tak stood three paces before Geom U-bin, his face bright with an easy smile.
Jang Man-dok, standing at a distance with his arms crossed, bore an expression of evident displeasure.
Se-hwa first examined the crown of Geom U-bin’s head.
The short hair indeed showed many bare patches.
‘So the illness has truly returned.’
Yet Geom U-bin’s expression was brighter than ever—clearly he didn’t yet know his hair was falling out.
‘Should I tell him?’
He would discover it soon enough on his own, but the sooner he knew, the sooner he could act.
She ought to tell him—yet Se-hwa found the matter of his hair slip from her mind entirely.
Geom U-bin and Gong Seong-tak had begun their sparring match.
Se-hwa had been training in martial arts herself and had by now reached a respectable level. Despite her late start, her unusually keen aptitude—combined with an excellent teacher and various elixirs—had shown remarkable progress in a short time.
Yet the martial arts Geom U-bin and Gong Seong-tak displayed were in an entirely different dimension from anything she knew or could perform.
‘The depths of martial arts seem boundless.’
Lost in admiration as she watched their bout, Se-hwa even forgot why she had come.
Only when the half-hour sparring match ended and Geom U-bin called out, “Please, teach me again tomorrow!” did she suddenly remember.
She had considered telling Jang Man-dok, but realized it would be better to speak directly to Geom U-bin, who might actually respond.
“Lord.”
Geom U-bin, wiping the sweat from his face with a towel, greeted her warmly.
“Se-hwa. What brings you here?”
“I… there’s something I need to tell you.”
His bright expression suggested he was unaware of his illness’s return. Se-hwa chose her words carefully.
“Lord, I’m afraid your illness may not have fully healed.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Se-hwa told him about the short hairs that had covered his bedsheet. At this, Geom U-bin’s expression grew light, as if it were nothing serious.
“Ah! That happened during an experiment. It’ll get better once I set my mind to it—don’t worry.”
“An experiment, sir?”
Geom U-bin began to explain, then quickly waved his hand.
“No, no—it’s not the right time to tell you yet. In any case, it’s not a relapse of the illness, so rest assured.”
Since he spoke with such conviction, pressing further would have been rude. By his expression, it seemed Se-hwa’s concern had been unfounded.
“Then that’s a relief.”
As Se-hwa turned to leave, Jang Man-dok asked what the matter was.
“I had all the side effects the other three teachers suffered from. Since I cured myself, shouldn’t I be able to cure them as well?”
—But the four martial disciplines must harmonize with one another. To train the three of you to the same level would take thirty years. It’s easier simply to live as you are now.
Even Yeon Geum-hong, who had practiced the Ban-no-hwan-dong technique, would not reach perfection, but the other three would grow old and die before mastering their arts.
“Still, I have to try. There might be other methods. For instance, Seo’s martial art was likely causing hair loss because it overstimulated the Baekhoesul Point. I deliberately focused my practice on Seo’s technique alone, and sure enough—my hair fell out again.”
—And if it doesn’t grow back? What then?
“It will.”
—This is far too dangerous.
“For the teachers’ sake, I have to take that risk. Now that I’ve found the cause, I just need to find the cure. It might come to me through research. Yes—since we’re on the subject, I need to understand exactly how the Baekhoesul Point’s stimulation works. Jang, I’ll need your help with this.”
“How would that help?”
“I need you to place a needle at the Baekhoesul Point.”
“What? No, absolutely not! Needling the Baekhoesul Point in any form is far too dangerous!”
“I understand.”
Jang Man-dok had taught her medicine bit by bit over the years, and by now she surpassed most physicians.
“But I need external stimulation to feel it clearly.”
Using acupuncture to sense the flow of Qi was nothing new. It was only because the target was the Baekhoesul Point that Jang Man-dok had reacted with such alarm.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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