Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 143

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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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#Chapter 143

“Magnificent! This is the finest Guan Yu Statue I’ve ever laid eyes on. He looks like he might step right down from there!”
“Isn’t it just? I knew Seo the craftsman was skilled, but I never expected work of this caliber.”
The wooden statue of Guan Yu placed in the Main Hall had surpassed everyone’s expectations.
The workers cleared away the old Guan Yu Statue with its peeling lacquer and set the new one in its place.
Once four workers finished installing the Guan Yu Statue, Jang Do-gang, the master of the estate, emerged.
After last night’s heavy drinking, Jang Do-gang cast a bleary-eyed glance at the statue and nodded.
“It’ll do.”
Steward Wang Ja-gil chuckled.
“Ha ha ha… Quite so? Even though we haggled hard for the price, he crafted the piece excellently.”
Jang Do-gang spoke flatly.
“If having a Guan Yu Statue brought wealth, the whole world would be nothing but Guan Yu Statues.”
“Sir?”
“Never mind. Get to work.”
With a dismissive wave, Jang Do-gang sent Wang Ja-gil on his way and released a long sigh.
“What good is earning piles of money when none of it’s truly mine?”
As the grumbling Jang Do-gang turned to leave, the statue’s eyes moved.
‘I should never have agreed to this!’
Go Seo-bang was discovering firsthand that regret, no matter how swift, always came too late.
Rolling his eyes left and right to confirm no one was watching, Go Seo-bang slowly brought his left hand toward his head.
His scalp, itching unbearably since this morning, had reached the point where he wanted to claw it off. But he had to quickly pull his hand back down.
Three women who appeared to be workers had entered the Main Hall.
“A brand new Guan Yu Statue.”
“Should we offer up a prayer or two?”
“Will it even work?”
“Why not? There’s nobody around.”
‘I’m here! I’m here! Get out, all of you!’
But the three women leisurely lit incense and held it between their fingers.
“Please, just this year, don’t let my husband stray from home.”
“Song-yang, this is a Guan Yu Statue. You should be praying for wealth to come in.”
“Him staying faithful is the same as making money. If I’d saved just the coin he’s squandered on his other women, I could’ve bought three houses by now.”
“Ha ha ha! That’s certainly true.”
Go Seo-bang’s patience was reaching its absolute limit.
He felt an almost overwhelming urge to slash all three women’s throats with the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in his right hand and scratch his head raw.
“How long has it been since I sent you on that errand? And you’re still dawdling here?”
Fortunately, an older woman appeared and chased the three away. As she drove them off, she gave Go Seo-bang a long, hard look before muttering “Later, then” and disappearing.
Go Seo-bang could hold back no longer and scratched his head vigorously with his fingers. Ordinarily, when one scratched their scalp, one’s ears would ring so loudly that other sounds became hard to hear.
That’s why he was slow to notice the footsteps approaching from the corridor behind him. Startled, Go Seo-bang froze in place, and the man who spotted him was equally taken aback.
“What? A Guan Yu Statue in that position?”
‘Yes! Do you think you know every Guan Yu Statue in the world? Just keep walking!’
Whether or not his silent protest had an effect, the man tilted his head in confusion and simply moved on.
“Phew! I should never have taken this job.”
He was swaddled head to toe in armor, with his face painted in a clay-paper mixture, and even wore a false beard.
Since the beard was fake anyway, whether Go Seo-bang had real whiskers or not made no difference.
‘Se-hwa definitely has it in for me.’
She’d said to hold out for just two days, but even two hours were proving insufferable. An urgent need was beginning to make itself known.
Of course, he could simply relieve himself as he stood.
Se-hwa’s meticulous nature had even equipped him with an undergarment for the purpose.
But it wasn’t that simple. If he soiled the undergarment, he’d be the butt of jokes for at least three years.
‘But does standing here motionless even count as surveillance?’
The Main Hall saw frequent foot traffic, and the master occasionally passed through. Yet Go Seo-bang’s real task was to keep watch on the master—except that now it seemed the master was the one doing the watching, not him.
‘I have a feeling Se-hwa’s pulled something over on me.’
There was no doubt about it.
This was no way to properly monitor the master.
Since he’d figured it out now, he needed to find a way out.
‘What if I just walked out?’
Word would spread far and wide—ghost stories about Soyang County. No one would dare attack the Guan Yu Statue walking out on its own feet.
‘Not a bad approach.’
His bladder was filling slowly, steadily. He had to decide quickly.
‘I can move. What else could happen besides people being startled?’
Go Seo-bang’s patience was wearing past its limits. Even as he fought to stay still, his body twisted involuntarily.
Just as Go Seo-bang steeled himself to take the first step, the master Jang Do-gang appeared.
Jang Do-gang ascended into the Main Hall and stopped before Go Seo-bang.
Though he’d resolved to walk out, now that someone stood before him, he found himself frozen like a statue.
His bladder had reached the breaking point.
‘Damn this master!’
Then another figure entered—an elderly man with white hair, a threadbare beard, and a stooped frame.
The old man took his place beside the master with a deferential bow. Jang Do-gang glanced around the room and spoke.
“This disciple still hasn’t sent word.”
‘What?’
Go Seo-bang wondered if he’d misheard. Jang Do-gang was showing respect to this shabby old man.
“Who knows what trouble that wretch is causing elsewhere. I hear he took money—how much?”
This question came unmistakably from the old man.
“Five hundred thousand taels, sir.”
“That mad fool!”
The old man’s voice rose unexpectedly. He clutched the back of his neck and asked, “How do you manage finances? How could you let that wretch walk away with five hundred thousand taels?”
“During my absence, it seems he coerced the treasurer, sir.”
“Hmph! I never should have taken him as a disciple. He seemed promising, useful to the Haowen Faction, but all he has is greed. What a waste!”
“According to gathered intelligence, this disciple appears to have had a falling-out with Oseong Jang-won in Hangju. Should we be concerned?”
“Oseong Jang-won? That fool is trying to destroy the Haowen Faction! Of all places, why had to be Oseong Jang-won!”
“At least it’s better than Dongsi Doga, sir.”
“You’re just as foolish. We know Dongsi Doga well enough, but Oseong Jang-won—that’s a coiled serpent. When it stretches, we can’t even gauge its full length. Such places must never be touched until we’re certain. Qing Yuk, bring that wretch here at once.”
“We haven’t yet determined his whereabouts, sir.”
“The Haowen Faction’s intelligence network is so incompetent it can’t even find my own disciple?”
“No, sir. I will immediately mobilize all resources to bring him in.”
“Bring him in? Beat him like a dog and drag him here.”
“Understood, Faction Leader.”
Listening to the conversation, Go Seo-bang realized with certainty that this shabby old man was the Faction Leader of the Haowen Faction.
The joy of finally finding the Faction Leader distracted his bladder’s vigilance.
‘What?’
By the time he realized, it was too late.
The urine that had filled his bladder to bursting now flowed down his urethra like a flood beyond control.
Even the greatest master cannot overcome biological functions.
Go Seo-bang could only feel helplessly as urine soaked through his undergarment.
The damp warmth against his skin was unpleasant, yet oddly relieving.
“Hmm? Did that Guan Yu Statue just tremble?”
“Pardon? What do you mean, sir?”
“I clearly saw it. You think my eyes have grown dim with age?”
“No, sir, not at all.”
“It definitely trembled just now.”
The Haowen Faction Leader circled the altar and approached Go Seo-bang.
“This Guan Yu Statue is truly peculiar….”
Just as the Faction Leader reached out to touch Go Seo-bang’s face, Go Seo-bang could restrain himself no longer. He grabbed the Faction Leader by the collar.
“Aaaah! Ahhh! Aaaaahhh!”
The Faction Leader shrieked, and Jang Do-gang, who had been watching, screamed as well.
The Guan Yu Statue was moving, alive—of course their hearts were about to burst from terror.
“I bring divine punishment upon you!”
Go Seo-bang hurled the Faction Leader upward with all his might.
Crash!
The ceiling where Go Seo-bang struck gave way easily. Bursting through the roof, Go Seo-bang launched himself clear of the Geonyangchang Estate.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
The Faction Leader’s screams continued, but Go Seo-bang chose to ignore them—a reasonable choice under the circumstances.
As he vaulted across several rooftops, the remaining members of the Hangju Faction who had been watching the estate gave chase.
“Where do you think you’re going?”

O Tong-su rushed to catch up, asking urgently, while Go Seo-bang answered as they left the city behind.
“This man is the Faction Leader of the Haowen Faction!”
“You’re certain?”
“Who do you think I am?”
“The Guan Yu Statue?”
“Quiet!”
They led the Faction Leader into the mountains, away from the city.
During the journey there, no more screams came from the Faction Leader.
Go Seo-bang stopped in front of three graves standing in a row.
Once he removed the mask-like thing stuck to his face and stripped off his armor, he could finally breathe freely.
“Phew! Now I feel like I can actually live.”
O Tong-su, Gal Ma-pyeong, and Se-hwa stared intently at a certain part of Go Seo-bang as he exhaled deeply.
“What is it?”
Following their gaze, Go Seo-bang’s heart sank as he looked down.
He had thought that as long as he didn’t speak, he could hide it perfectly. But the world overflowed with evidence far more powerful than words.
Go Seo-bang’s trousers were one such powerful piece of evidence.
The moisture, spreading left and right, the subtle wetness of a color distinctly different from water. He tried to cover it with his hands in panic, but the affected area was too broad to hide entirely.
“You soiled yourself?”
“No, I didn’t.”
At Go Seo-bang’s denial, Gal Ma-pyeong nodded as though he understood.
“You couldn’t help it. Who can control biological functions?”
O Tong-su joined in with consolation.
“Exactly. After all you’ve endured. You even brought back the Faction Leader of the Haowen Faction. Your merit is the greatest.”
As the mood shifted this way, Go Seo-bang’s anxieties eased.
“Right? Truth is, I could have held it, but when it suddenly came out that he was the Faction Leader, I let my guard down.”
Kindly, the Hangju Faction understood Go Seo-bang and even pointed him toward a stream where he could wash.
There were no spare clothes, but that hardly mattered.
After bathing, he used a fire to dry his trousers in no time.
When he returned, the Faction Leader was surrounded by three people and undergoing interrogation.
“So your name is Seong Sang-do, and you’re just a laborer working on an estate?”
“Y-yes, sir. Look at my appearance. How could I possibly be the… the… how could I be the leader of such a place?”
“It does seem that way to me. But the thing is……”
Gal Ma-pyeong glanced at Go Seo-bang shuffling toward them and continued.
“That man went in there determined to catch the Faction Leader of the Haowen Faction and came out having wet himself, no less. After suffering such humiliation, what do you think will happen to you if we conclude you were wrongly captured? We can always go back and catch the real Haowen Faction Leader, but you……”
Gal Ma-pyeong clicked his tongue with a pitying expression.
“Is this old man seriously insisting he’s not the Haowen Faction Leader? What nonsense.”
Se-hwa spoke up.
“Look at him. How could this old man possibly be the Haowen Faction Leader? Looks like we’ve mistaken a laborer for him.”
“After the sacrifice of soiling his trousers……”
“Silence!”
Go Seo-bang, cutting off O Tong-su’s words, stepped in front of Seong Sang-do.
“So? You’re saying you’re not the Haowen Faction Leader?”
Seong Sang-do saw the anger burning in Go Seo-bang’s eyes.
If he merely shook his head here, there was no doubt that head would be severed or broken.
“I am indeed the Faction Leader of the Haowen Faction.”
He spoke with the most respectful expression and bearing of his sixty years of life.
“There you have it.”
Unlike the triumphant Go Seo-bang, the three others still wore suspicious expressions.
“Doesn’t quite seem right. Even if the Haowen Faction is made up of lower-class people, you’d think the Faction Leader wouldn’t look quite so much like a commoner.”
“This is a disguise! A disguise!”
“Even for the Haowen Faction, as important as a Faction Leader, your martial arts seem rather poor.”
In that instant, Seong Sang-do’s feet left the ground.
He unleashed his Lightness Skill like an arrow toward the three graves that weren’t surrounded by the three people. But before he’d covered thirty paces, Se-hwa blocked his path ahead, O Tong-su took the left, and Gal Ma-pyeong took the right.
Go Seo-bang, who held the rear, spoke.
“Your martial arts really are poor.”
Seong Sang-do, swallowing thickly with a tense expression, let out a pathetic laugh.
“Hehe… I was just demonstrating that I knew martial arts, not trying to escape at all.”
“The scheming of a Haowen Faction Leader through and through.”
Se-hwa, who had spoken, grabbed Seong Sang-do by the back of the neck and brought him back to where the graves were.
“Verifying is simple enough. Show us your Faction Insignia.”
“What?”
“The Haowen Faction Leader’s faction insignia—you know, like the Bang-ju’s tapered rod.”
Seong Sang-do swiftly withdrew an object from his pocket—something with a handle from which two small balls hung.
“Miss, you seem quite knowledgeable about the Haowen Faction. The fact that the Faction Leader possesses a faction insignia is something almost no one knows except the disciples.”
What Seong Sang-do had produced was impossible to discern at first glance—its purpose entirely obscure.
“That’s right, isn’t it?”

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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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