Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 109

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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 109

Between the rocks, a steel door lay hidden with deliberate cunning, its lock sealed tight.
As they tore open the lock and pushed it wide, descending stairs came into view.
“What are you doing?”
Seo Seok-san approached, the hem of his long robe—reaching to his knees and smudged with char—swaying behind him as he spoke.
“Are you hurt?”
Seo Seok-san glanced at his singed robe without concern and answered lightly.
“Just the clothes got a little burned.”
“Looks like you’re injured.”
“You think I’d get hurt by a piddling fire like that?”
“You look hurt by that piddling fire.”
“I’m telling you I’m not hurt!”
“If you’re not hurt, why are you getting angry about it?”
Do Pyeong-su, who’d ruffled Seo Seok-san’s feathers, descended the stairs. Behind them, the still-burning light cast their shadows dancing across the steps as if they were alive.
The underground cellar was not particularly deep, yet sprawled across more than fifty paces.
One wall held a towering stack of dried herbs, harvested and cured, while on the opposite side sat an enormous safe.
Do Pyeong-su showed no interest in the herbs—he moved straight to the safe. Though it was made of thick iron, a few hurls against the wall shattered it along with the stone around it.
From inside the safe spilled pouches of silver coins and several books in a tumbling cascade.
“Oh! We’ve struck gold!”
Do Pyeong-su’s interest fixed on the coins, while Seo Seok-san picked up the books scattered on the floor.
“I’d say this is the real treasure.”
“What good is a pile of books?”
“A ledger of everyone who dealt in dried herbs. Times, amounts—all documented with precision.”
“So what will you do with it?”
Seo Seok-san tucked the book into his robe as he spoke.
“I’ll earn our senior’s praise for this.”
Do Pyeong-su, pausing in thought, extended the pouch of coins toward Seo Seok-san.
“Trade places?”
“No.”
“I’m the one who found this cellar!”
“So what? If you’d come alone, you’d have left the books behind and pocketed the coins and gone.”
“Don’t be petty about it. I could just take it by force.”
“Try, if you’re capable.”
“If I told you to hand it over, you couldn’t—”
“What are you two doing down here?”
At the sudden sound of Yeon Geum-hong’s voice, both men jumped and turned toward the cellar entrance.
Framed against the flickering firelight, Yeon Geum-hong’s expression was one of utter bewilderment.
“What? You came already?”
“I’m always fast, but never mind that—what’s with this forest fire you’re starting? Where are we, anyway? Where are Jang Man-dok and our senior?”
Seo Seok-san climbed the stairs leading out of the cellar as he replied.
“It’s a long story. But how did you even know about this place?”
Yeon Geum-hong described a ship that wasn’t quite wrecked but looked as if it were.
“You’re certain it was Jang Man-dok who killed the sailors?”
“Would I not recognize his Poison Marking Technique?”
“Blast. It seems Jang Man-dok has found something out.”
“Found what out?”
“Jigcheol-seok.”
“Jigcheol-seok? Who is that?”
“Have you forgotten the incident with Jang Man-dok from thirty years ago in Sichuan?”
“How could I forget? Jang Man-dok was the one who… wait—that bastard who framed Jang Man-dok!”
“Right. Turns out Jigcheol-seok is the proprietor of Dongyeo Suche, the very organization we were meant to eliminate.”
“What? How did you find that out?”
“Do you remember Man Wang-chil?”
With the name Jigcheol-seok now spoken aloud, the memory came naturally.
“Of course I do. He’s dead.”
“He was alive.”
Seo Seok-san recounted how they’d made their way here and even started a forest fire.
“These wretches are cursed with rotten luck. Wait—”
Yeon Geum-hong stopped mid-stride.
“What if Man-dok found out where Jigcheol-seok is?”
“How?”
“If there was another spy on that boat besides Man Wang-chil, Man-dok could’ve learned the location from him!”
It was entirely plausible.
“If Man-dok found out…”
“That’s serious trouble. It won’t end with just a few spies dead. What if the Dongyeo Yunha turns to poison?”
Jang Man-dok didn’t deploy his poison arts carelessly, but once he made up his mind, things never ended lightly.
“If he goes wild, we could see the kind of innocent casualties that would horrify you.”
They knew all too well what Jang Man-dok’s rage looked like. It wasn’t the sort of anger that faded with time.
“Where is he now?”
“Probably securing a boat on the river.”
“He doesn’t have time to be leisurely hunting for boats! We have to stop him before he loses control!”
They rushed toward the Ferry Landing where Geom U-bin had gone.
With so many people in motion, the group couldn’t have traveled far.
Geom U-bin was sweating through his urgings, but most of the emaciated survivors lay sprawled across the ground, and those still drugged were crawling on their bellies.
“Sir!”
Geom U-bin paused at the sight of three figures running toward him.
“What’s the matter?”
“We need to go to Man-dok right now!”
“Isn’t the Brother-in-arms on the boat?”
“No! He might have gone after Jigcheol-seok!”
“What? How would the Brother-in-arms know where Jigcheol-seok is?”
As Yeon Geum-hong explained how she’d discovered the boat, Geom U-bin’s face darkened.
“But he might not have gone to Dongyeo Suche.”
“That’s true.”
Geom U-bin, thinking for a moment, spoke.
“Let’s track down whoever got off the boat first.”
Geom U-bin made his decision and found Jang Dang-su to speak with him.
“Rest here for now. I’ll find the rest of our people and return.”
Jang Dang-su asked with an anxious expression.
“How long will that take?”
“It shouldn’t be long. Take this, just in case.”
Geom U-bin pressed a Silver Coin into Jang Dang-su’s palm. That would keep this entire group fed well for at least five days.
The four of them headed toward the riverbank where the boat was moored.
The traces of those who’d disembarked were clear enough to follow.
Those forced ashore in this desolate place trudged along the narrow path beside the river.
It looked like watching a column of refugees fleeing war.
“You there! Stop!”
When Geom U-bin and the Hyeolpung Saja appeared, some people merely looked bewildered while others fled.
“A thief’s feet betray his guilt.”
After Seo Seok-san made several quick movements, six men were laid before Geom U-bin.
“We—we haven’t done anything wrong!”
Once forced to their knees, they first tried to deny everything.
Four were sailors and two were the boat’s guards.
Geom U-bin picked up a stone lying nearby and held it before the men. When he squeezed, the rock crumbled like dried dung.
“From now on, if you lie, your heads will look like that. Understood?”
The men’s faces went ashen.
“Why did my Brother-in-arms kill the people on the boat?”
The terrified sailors answered at once. Watching them, Do Pyeong-su whispered.
“You’ve got real talent in that direction. I didn’t think you’d ever be just a knight-errant.”
“Knight-errant be damned. You’ll become an Absolute Being that no one dares approach.”
Geom U-bin’s voice was heard.
“Was that boat the one transporting stolen children? And you knew about it.”
Geom U-bin clenched his teeth. The six men trembled and didn’t know what to do.
Geom U-bin asked again.
“So where is my Brother-in-arms now?”
“That’s… well, we don’t have much choice.”
Geom U-bin brushed the stone dust from his hands.
The gesture looked like he was cleaning his palms before crushing their heads instead.
“It’s the Quarry! You asked about it! We heard that many children were dragged there!”
“The Quarry?”
“To get through the narrow passages, they needed children.”
“Where is it?”
“North-northeast from here…….”
Since it was an operation run by Dongyeo Suche, the distance wasn’t far.
Geom U-bin launched himself forward as he spoke.
“Fortunately, it seems Master Jang didn’t hear Jigcheol-seok’s name.”
“Still, we can’t be at ease. With children involved, he’s the type who loses his head completely.”
Do Pyeong-su’s concern didn’t seem baseless.
The moment they arrived at the Quarry entrance the men had pointed out, they found four corpses.
They must have been the guards.
The Quarry was a massive excavation site—an entire mountainside carved away.
Torches burned in scattered places, and beneath each one lay a body without fail.
“No poison, as expected. Though at this scale, there’d be no need for it anyway.”
They skirted the heaps of stone scattered everywhere and headed toward the Mine Shaft.
Holes pocked the mountainside in various places, but there stood a fairly large shed with an opening about nine feet high beside it.
Seven bodies lay around the shed, and five more inside it.
“Master Jang seems thoroughly enraged.”
Geom U-bin headed straight for the Mine Shaft.
Corpses and mining tools lay scattered in all directions.
The fighters of Dongyeo Suche were dead; the forced laborers had fled.
Yeon Geum-hong spoke as she entered the shaft.
“I sense movement inside.”
Geom U-bin soon caught the same presence she had detected.
A torch flickered faintly from deeper in the shaft, then multiplied to about ten. Beneath that firelight, the face was instantly recognizable as Jang Man-dok’s.
About twenty children followed behind him.
Shock registered across Jang Man-dok’s face.
“How did you get here? You bastard! Because you left the boat like that, do you have any idea how much we’ve suffered? This is unforgivable!”
Geom U-bin held back the agitated Do Pyeong-su.
“He did it to save the children. Master Jang, you did well.”
An embarrassed smile crossed Jang Man-dok’s face. Yeon Geum-hong tapped his shoulder sharply.
“Hey! Even so, acting alone like that is foul play.”
Because he’d killed so many, Jang Man-dok was watching Geom U-bin’s expression carefully. But Geom U-bin showed no concern whatsoever.
If killing one evildoer saved ten good people, that choice was obvious.
“You all keep saying I cause trouble, but you cause far more of it than I do. We nearly died of shock when we found out you’d discovered Jigcheol-seok and raided Dongyeo Suche!”
Before anyone could stop him, Do Pyeong-su’s mouth had already run away.
“Hey! You can’t just bring that up so suddenly like——”
A low roar tore through the air.
The moment Jigcheol-seok’s name left Do Pyeong-su’s lips, a whirlwind of fury erupted from Jang Man-dok’s entire body.
“J-J…… Jeol…… Seok…… Do…… Do…… Dongyeo…….”
His speech came in fits and starts, and if he didn’t calm himself soon, he’d release Poison Mist.
As the Poison King, Jang Man-dok had no need to carry poison in his body.
His Internal Power alone could produce Extreme Poison at will.
Urgent now, Geom U-bin cupped Jang Man-dok’s face in both hands. The sight was strange, but it was the surest way to return him to reason.
“Master Jang! Please, listen to me for a moment.”
At Geom U-bin’s cry, infused with Internal Power, Jang Man-dok’s wandering gaze snapped back into focus.
“We will definitely catch Jigcheol-seok. How he’s punished will be your choice. For now, just hold on a little longer.”
Gradually, Jang Man-dok’s fury subsided, and his normal complexion returned.
Yeon Geum-hong released a relieved sigh and smacked Do Pyeong-su’s back hard.
“Everything you do causes trouble, and every word out of your mouth stirs up chaos!”
“I didn’t mean to——”
Geom U-bin spoke up.
“Since Master Jang has calmed down, it worked out. Better than running into Jigcheol-seok suddenly at Dongyeo Suche, anyway.”
Geom U-bin turned to Jang Man-dok, whose excitement still lingered.
“Master Jang, we’ll handle one quick task and then head straight to Dongyeo Suche. Yes, there’s something we absolutely must do.”
Disappointment flickered across Jang Man-dok’s face, but Geom U-bin still came before his anger.
“Let’s head back to the boat for now.”

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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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