Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 144

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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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#144

When Seong Sang-do posed the question, Gang Seo Samak glanced at Se-hwa.
“Am I right?”
“I couldn’t say for certain. Why would the leader of the Sect carry a talisman? With so many beggars about, there’s no way he’d know every one by sight—he’d need some proof of identity. The Sect does it that way, so I figured Haowen would too. But then again…”
Se-hwa narrowed her eyes and studied the leader’s talisman.
“Something about it feels off.”
“This works wonderfully when your shoulders or knees ache—just rub it and the pain fades.”
Seong Sang-do demonstrated, putting on an expression of relief. If you held it that way and massaged it, sure, but if you gripped it the other way around…
“It’s got balls hanging off the damn thing.”
Gal Ma-pyeong finally said it plainly.
Se-hwa extended her hand toward Seong Sang-do.
“Let me see it.”
“But this is the leader’s talisman…”
“The Sect’s Tagu Bong nearly ended up as kindling. I don’t see why some Haowen leader’s talisman is worth making a fuss over.”
Seong Sang-do had no choice but to hand the ridiculous thing to Se-hwa.
As Se-hwa examined the talisman, Gang Seo Samak deliberately looked away.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just… seeing the young lady holding that thing is a bit…”
“Aha! As I thought!”
Click!
With a sharp sound, a blade roughly a hand’s span long sprang forth from between the two spheres.
It was no mere massage tool—it was a Short Blade.
“So Haowen’s secret martial art uses short blades as weapons. How fitting for their leader to carry such a talisman.”
“Y-yes, quite so.”
Go Seo-bang suddenly seized Seong Sang-do by the collar.
“You were planning to ambush us with that!”
“Gack! N-no, I was going to tell you, I swear—the young lady simply discovered it first!”
As Se-hwa retracted the blade, O Tong-su started to say that it looked like a regular knife to him, but fell silent under her sharp glare.
“If he’s really the Haowen leader, just kill him. We came here to kill anyway.”
At Se-hwa’s words, Go Seo-bang tightened his grip.
“Might as well.”
“W-wait… what is this all about?”
It struck Seong Sang-do then that he didn’t even know who these people were, let alone why he was suffering this ordeal.
“If you’re going to die anyway, you should at least know why. Seems only fair.”
After a moment’s thought, Go Seo-bang loosened his grip.
“This won’t take long.”
He released Seong Sang-do and spoke.
“We come from Oseong Jang-won. That alone is reason enough for you to die.”
The cough that had been rising from Seong Sang-do’s throat became a long, resigned sigh.
“So Cheonuk’s folly finally caught up with us…”
“And yet you speak as though you were uninvolved?”
“I swear on my life—I had nothing to do with this. Cheonuk overreached, coveted beyond his means, and that’s how this mess started.”
Go Seo-bang knew from what he’d heard when he was disguised as an official that Seong Sang-do’s words held truth.
Still, the fact remained that Haowen had touched Oseong Jang-won, and retribution had to follow.
“You four… are you the Hangju Four Heroes?”
Gal Ma-pyeong clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk! Because the Haowen leader’s eyes see only this far, Haowen has fallen to ruin. If the Lords themselves had come, your Haowen would already be dust scattered on the wind.”
“Then… who are you?”
“We are the superintendents of Oseong Jang-won. Now that you know why you must die, we can proceed.”
“Wait, please! I admit Cheonuk has brought grave shame upon Haowen, but considering your martial prowess, surely you haven’t suffered damage severe enough to warrant my death?”
“If a dog bites a man, must the man die for the dog to be killed? No—a dog that bites a man simply dies, as it should.”
Of course, Gal Ma-pyeong had nearly died because of that dog’s tail, but that was beside the point.
“But wouldn’t it be more advantageous to spare me? If you kill me, your anger is sated—but if you let me live, I will serve Oseong Jang-won with unwavering loyalty from this day forward.”
“What good could Haowen possibly be to us?”
“Well, our intelligence network is still quite…”
“The Sect’s lords can do nothing against us. Do you have better intelligence than the Sect?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Why would I lie to a man about to die?”
“I see. However, Haowen has access to specialized intelligence all its own. Information from the underworld, the dark paths, or even the righteous paths—depending on circumstances, we can obtain it more accurately than the Sect. After all, beggars and common laborers exist everywhere, and they see things others miss.”
Se-hwa asked.
“How can we trust that Haowen will truly show loyalty and devotion to Oseong Jang-won?”
“Of course, I cannot prove it to you.”
“So we’re just supposed to take your word? From the leader of a low-class organization—beggars, courtesans, servants, performers?”
The reputation that came with the name Haowen made it genuinely difficult to believe in the leader’s sincerity, no matter how earnestly he spoke of loyalty.
O Tong-su spoke.
“Why not just kill him and be done with it? What would we lose without Haowen? The Sect can provide us with all the intelligence we need.”
Seong Sang-do opened his mouth carefully.
“It could create a troublesome enemy. If you kill me, my disciples might seek revenge.”
“Speaking of disciples—I’m curious about your third disciple.”
Seong Sang-do’s expression clouded with confusion.
“My third disciple? I only have two disciples.”
“You don’t have a third disciple?”
“That Cheonuk caused such trouble wherever he went that I lost all desire to take on more students.”
Se-hwa studied Seong Sang-do intently.
“Then you don’t know who the Third Agent is?”
In her gaze, Seong Sang-do glimpsed a thread of hope for his survival.
“Would you like me to find out?”
“It’s only a common title—Third Agent.”
“But under what circumstances did that title come up?”
Se-hwa told him what had happened at the inn.
“From the moment Cheonuk brought Baek Ryeon-gwang in as the leader of Heuksadang, I found it suspicious. In any case, there is no one in our Haowen who uses the title Third Agent. If someone of Baek Ryeon-gwang’s caliber called them that, they might not be from Haowen at all. I take full responsibility for finding this Third Agent for you.”
Gal Ma-pyeong spoke.
“It only appeared once. We could just ignore it.”
“But something about it bothers me.”
“Then we should settle what’s troubling us.”
Seong Sang-do gazed at Se-hwa with desperate hope.
From the atmosphere, it seemed clear that Se-hwa alone held the power to spare his aging life.
“You mean it sincerely when you say you’ll show loyalty and devotion to Oseong Jang-won?”
“Of course. I stake my life on that promise.”
“I’ve found the leader once. I can find him twice, three times if needed. It will be even easier now that I know your face.”
Se-hwa smiled with dark amusement, her voice dropping to barely above a whisper.
“You know well how sharp the Sect’s intelligence network is, don’t you?”
Seong Sang-do swallowed hard.
His words about loyalty and devotion had been nothing but survival instinct at first, but now they had become a binding oath.
“I won’t make unreasonable demands. First, find this Third Agent for us, as you promised. And if our Oseong Jang-won’s business expands and we establish operations in territories where Haowen has branches, you’ll know what you must do.”
“Show full loyalty and devotion in supporting you.”
“Loyalty and devotion—that phrase sits well on your tongue.”
Go Seo-bang asked.
“So we’re letting this old man live?”
“He simply raised a reckless disciple. That hardly warrants death, does it?”
Haowen, properly considered, made a capable ally.
“One more thing you must remember, leader.”
“What is that?”
“Don’t commit truly heinous acts. Our great master abhors such things deeply.”
“And what exactly constitutes a truly heinous act, as opposed to merely a bad one?”
“At your age, you should be wise enough to judge that yourself. I’ll be in touch soon, so don’t stray far from the estate.”
Gang Seo Samak simply chose to follow Se-hwa’s decision.
Having resolved the Haowen matter, he felt certain there would be no harm in heeding her counsel.
Go Seo-bang, having seen Seong Sang-do off, stretched at length.
“We’ve wrapped up the case well enough. Shall we head back to the estate? I’m already missing home.”
“True. The swordmaster and the masters should be back by now.”
Se-hwa walked toward the forest as she spoke.
“I need to relieve myself first.”
“Me too.”
“Same here.”
And all three spoke at once.
“One of us already took care of his business, didn’t he?”
Go Seo-bang felt ice slide down his spine.
‘These bastards aren’t going to let this go.’

***

“I’m not the only one starving, am I?”
At Go Seo-bang’s question, Gal Ma-pyeong pointed to a restaurant nearby.
“Let’s eat. We won’t have time for a meal once we reach the estate.”
It would take considerable time to brief Geom U-bin and Hyeolpung Saja on everything that had happened in the fight with Haowen.
“Since you didn’t wear a diaper, try not to drink too much water.”
“Didn’t you wear one?”
“The volume was so enormous the diaper couldn’t handle it.”
“Stop it!”
Hearing the word diaper alone sent his blood pressure soaring to the crown of his head.
Go Seo-bang wanted nothing more than to distance himself from the three of them at that moment, but hunger overcame his anger.
As they entered, a server who habitually greeted customers with “Welcome!” approached with an even brighter smile.
“Well! The Hangju Four Heroes have graced our humble restaurant!”
“Hangju Four Heroes? When did we turn into bears?”
“Hehe! You really do have a sharp wit. Not bears—heroes, of course. Yes indeed.”
“Us? Why?”
“You dispatched Haowen and the water bandits so splendidly at Haenyeong Harbor and Haenyeom Harbor! As they say, there are no weaklings under a fierce general—truly befitting the superintendents of Oseong Jang-won. Oh, forgive me! What would you like to order?”
Each ordered something simple—vegetables, dumplings, thin noodles—and exchanged glances.
“The Hangju Four Heroes?”
Though only a single character had changed, it felt strange.
They were far more accustomed to the Hangju Four Changes, and they had no particular objection to that name.
The name that Hyeolpung Saja had given them was odd at first, but had transformed into something they felt affection for over time. Yet no matter how one might embellish it, the meaning itself could never be made to sound right.
“Still, isn’t the Hangju Four Heroes better than the Hangju Four Changes?”
“That may be true, but would our masters approve? We’ve only dealt with Haowen and the water bandits.”
To ordinary people, Haowen and the water bandits might seem formidable, but from Hyeolpung Saja’s perspective, these two were insignificant enough to fly a hundred li with a flick of a finger.
“Let’s not mention this to our masters.”
At Go Seo-bang’s words, they all nodded in agreement.
“Of course. They might come up with something even more outlandish and bizarre.”
The Hangju Four Heroes, who had unexpectedly feasted when a complimentary five-spice pork dish arrived unbidden, finally arrived at a place where Oseong Jang-won came into view.
“There’s no place like home.”

***

Upon reaching Haenyeom Harbor, Yang Dae-gong led ten subordinates to where the Geumryongchai had been located.
“Search everywhere. Take anything worth money. Get caught skimming, and you’re dead.”
No one would dare pocket anything, knowing Yang Dae-gong’s nature well enough even without the warning.
The Geumryongchai were particularly devious bandits.
Water bandits typically used plundered money to build fine structures and live in luxury, but the Geumryongchai had neither fine buildings nor any sign of such indulgence.
Their base was a cave facing the sea.
The easiest approach was by boat, though one could also enter by land through a passage so narrow that a person had to bend nearly double to squeeze through.
After lighting a torch, Yang Dae-gong advanced some thirty paces before he could finally straighten his back.
The cave widened gradually, then opened into an underground plaza roughly two hundred paces across.
Stone pillars rose at intervals throughout, and some thirty beds were arranged within.
One section of the plaza served as a kitchen, and a pungent smell of medicinal materials filled the air.
“This looks less like a bandit den and more like a prison.”
He’d come to haul away anything of value, but nothing seemed worth taking.
The only thing that caught the eye was medicinal materials crammed along one wall, though whether they held any worth was uncertain.
Several passages branched off from the plaza in all directions. Yang Dae-gong sent his subordinates to explore them.
Dang San-myeong, who had been a deputy leader under Guwaengchai, approached him.
“It seems there’s nothing to salvage here?”
“That’s strange. The Geumryongchai were supposed to be fairly famous bandits. Why do they have so little?”
“The rumor must have been true.”
“What rumor?”
“They say the Geumryongchai were practicing some unusual demonic cultivation. Look at those medicinal materials over there. Don’t you think they spent all their money acquiring things like that for that demonic art?”
The rumors Dang San-myeong had picked up were no mere hearsay—they were remarkably accurate intelligence.
“Then should we send those medicinal materials to Oseong Jang-won?”
As Yang Dae-gong wrestled with the question, one of his men who had been searching came sprinting back, breathless and wild-eyed.
“Lord Chai! There’s something strange over there!”
Following his subordinate through the winding cave for about twenty paces, Yang Dae-gong came face to face with a rusted iron gate.
The sight beyond the gate made his mouth fall open of its own accord.
“What in the…?”

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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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