Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 154

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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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#154

Thwack!
As his chest exploded with agony, Jang Seong-bang flew backward more than five paces, skidding across the dirt.
He hadn’t even seen the middle-aged man appear before the blow landed.
“You’re the stronghold leader?”
“Ugh!”
He tried to answer, but only a groan escaped. When his reply didn’t come fast enough, a boot heel drove into his ribs.
“You’re the leader, aren’t you?”
“Ugh!”
Kicked again.
“Are you the leader?”
Jang Seong-bang abandoned any attempt at speech and nodded frantically. Every movement sent waves of pain through his body, but that was better than another kick.
“You heard the news that the Oseong Merchant Association was attacked at Eori Gogae, about two hundred li from here? Was that your doing?”
Jang Seong-bang shook his head desperately. He’d heard no rumors of it, and besides—it hadn’t been his stronghold’s work.
Something ominous flickered across the man’s face—suspicion.
“You look like the perpetrator.”
“No, no! Why would we travel two hundred li to stage a raid? I’ve never even heard rumors of the Oseong Merchant Association!”
“We’ll verify soon enough. Take me to your warehouse.”
“The warehouse? Why—”
Unwilling to engage in further conversation, the man simply slapped him across the face. But the crack that followed was wrong—hideously wrong. Jang Seong-bang’s neck twisted to an unnatural angle.
Thud.
Watching the bandit leader crumple like a felled log, Do Pyeong-su realized only then that he’d used too much force.
“So-called mountain bandit leader, and he goes down like a sack of rice?”
Do Pyeong-su glanced around, then crocked a finger at a random figure.
“You. Come here.”
The bandit, a man in his early forties, looked around uncertainly before pointing at himself with his index finger.
“Me?”
“You want to waste more time?”
The man, suddenly remembering Jang Seong-bang’s death over those four words—”why the warehouse?”—rushed forward as if his feet had wings.
“Your name.”
“Yong Tae-ryong!”
“Quite a name. Where’s the warehouse?”
Yong Tae-ryong pointed to the largest wooden structure nearby.
“Take me there.”
When the warehouse door swung open, various plundered goods lay piled inside. But there was no sign of the silk, porcelain, or tea that the Oseong Merchant Association had been transporting.
“Not here either.”
Emerging from the warehouse, Do Pyeong-su gathered every bandit who was still alive and hadn’t fled.
With roughly a hundred men assembled, Do Pyeong-su raised a portrait and spoke.
“Find the man who looks like this.”
He held the portrait aloft and rotated slowly in place, turning twice before continuing.
“If this man dies, you all die.”
Yong Tae-ryong’s face crumpled in confusion.
“Who is this man? Why do we die if he dies?”
“His name is Kang Chan-sik. Simply pray he stays safe. On the other hand, whoever brings Kang Chan-sik to me unharmed will receive a reward beyond your wildest dreams.”
At the word “reward,” every eye gleamed.
“What sort of reward are we talking about?”
“Just know that it will be extraordinary.”
Since he hadn’t thought it through, his answer came out vague.
“He went missing at Eori Gogae.”
With that, Do Pyeong-su left Guwhangchai. When he reached Woonryong-chae, where they were meant to meet, Jang Man-dok was already there waiting.
Ten men lay unconscious around Jang Man-dok, while roughly three hundred more surrounded him.
Do Pyeong-su dropped from the sky, landing beside Jang Man-dok.
“Did you find him? Not there either? Neither did I. Where the hell is Kang Chan-sik?”
Just then, the circle of bandits surrounding them parted, and a man walked out.
By his bearing and his face, it was clear he was the stronghold leader of Woonryong-chae.
“You look like elders of the Murim, so what brings such distinguished figures to our Woonryong-chae…!”
He had no way of knowing those would be his last words. The Stronghold Leader speaking them certainly didn’t know, and neither did Do Pyeong-su and Jang Man-dok, who were watching him while thinking, ‘What’s this fool muttering about?’
Crack!
Seo Seok-san, falling from the sky, stepped on the Stronghold Leader’s shoulder, folding him in half so completely he didn’t even have time to scream before crossing into the afterlife.
To Seo Seok-san, dying under his foot was much the same whether you were a bandit or an ant.
“Did you find him?”
The two men shook their heads, and disappointment flickered across Seo Seok-san’s face.
“Let’s grab the subdirector here and question him.”
Do Pyeong-su gestured with his chin at the bandit folded beneath Seo Seok-san’s foot.
“Didn’t you just crush him to death?”
“Oh? Then we’ll have to grab the sub-leader.”
Suddenly something came hurtling down from the sky and landed roughly before them.
When it struck the ground, the impact broke his neck—another bandit. Yeon Geum-hong appeared, dusting off her hands. “What about Kang Chan-sik?”
“What about Kang Chan-sik?”
All three shook their heads.
“Anything here?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Then let’s grab the subdirector and question him.”
“Seok-san crushed him to death just now.”
“Then we need the sub-leader. Who’s the sub-leader?”
At Yeon Geum-hong’s question, every eye among those surrounding them fixed on one spot—the bandit whose neck she had just broken.
“It’s quite a skill, managing to crush exactly the subdirector and sub-leader among all these bandits.”
“Let’s search the warehouse first. Where is it?”
At Do Pyeong-su’s question, the eyes of the surrounding bandits all turned at once in the same direction.
A massive structure built of logs. As the Bloodwind Four Lions moved forward, the bandits didn’t dare even think of blocking the way—they shuffled backward with each step.
However poor their judgment of character might be, even they could tell these weren’t people they could stand against.
As the Bloodwind Four Lions opened the warehouse door and began searching, a sigh escaped their lips.
“Not here either.”
Do Pyeong-su shouted at the bandits gathered in the mountain stronghold.
“Everyone, gather here!”
They had long since understood that with their subdirector and sub-leader trampled to death, even a desperate last stand would be futile.
But loyalty strong enough to risk their lives for vengeance was hardly a bandit virtue.
“Anyone know this man!”
Do Pyeong-su held up a portrait of Kang Chan-sik and turned slowly in place. Fortune, it seemed, belonged to neither them nor Kang Chan-sik—no bandit came forward who recognized him.
“He disappeared at Eori Gogae! If he’s dead, you’re dead too! But if you tell us where he is, an enormous reward awaits you!”
“What kind of reward?”
These bandits only cared about the reward, it seemed.
“Find him and bring him back! Then you’ll find out! Now move!”
Having sent all the bandits off, the Bloodwind Four Lions gathered around the campfire.
“What do we do now?”
“Judging from what Deng Ga-sik said and the traces where he was attacked, this is clearly the work of Nohklim.”
“But we’ve searched every Nohklim stronghold in the area and found no perpetrator.”
At Do Pyeong-su’s words, Seo Seok-san’s brow furrowed deeply.
“It might not be a stronghold in this area.”
“So we search farther out?”
Yeon Geum-hong spoke.
“We don’t have time to search all the Nohklim Seventy-Two Strongholds.”
“Right. So why don’t we just strike at Cheonwang-chae where the Supreme Bandit Leader is? But is Cheonwang-chae still the Supreme Bandit Leader?”
Nohklim holds a martial competition every few years to choose the Supreme Bandit Leader and Sub-Leader.
That’s why the Nohklim Seventy-Two Strongholds had no eternal victors or vanquished.
“The Supreme Bandit Leader of the Nohklim Seventy-Two Strongholds is still Cheonwang-chae.”
A bandit who had been listening to their conversation answered for them.
“Then Cheonwang-chae’s location should be the same as before.”
“Yes, it is.”
Seo Seok-san called over the bandit in his mid-twenties who had answered him.
“What’s your name?”
“Do Pyeong-sun.”
“What?”
“Do Pyeong-sun.”
The three of them burst into raucous laughter at the sight of Do Pyeong-su. Do Pyeong-su turned to the bewildered Do Pyeong-sun and said:
“A fine name. Sit here.”
Do Pyeong-sun crouched in the spot Do Pyeong-su indicated. Seo Seok-san drew two small circles on the ground with a twig.
“This is where we are now, and this is Cheonwang-chae. How many mountain strongholds of the Nohklim Seventy-Two Strongholds lie between here and Cheonwang-chae?”
Unlike Do Pyeong-su, Do Pyeong-sun was a sharp young man. After a moment’s thought, he began drawing circles as he spoke.
“Should I tell you only the ones directly in our path, or all the strongholds in the general vicinity?”
“We won’t waste much time either way, will we?”
“Destroying them all as we go would be quite effective.”
Seo Seok-san said this.
“Mark everything nearby.”
When he finished, the circles had multiplied to twenty-four.
“The nearest one on our path is Sanbong-chae, located on Bonghwang Mountain. Its stronghold leader is Seok Do-rim, with roughly two hundred men under his command. The exact location is the South Peak of Bonghwang Mountain—at the summit, so it shouldn’t be hard to find. Next is Gotang-chae.”
Do Pyeong-sun was not only sharp-witted but eloquent as well. He had memorized not only the locations of all twenty-four mountain strongholds they would pass on the way to Cheonwang-chae, but also the names of each stronghold leader and the approximate number of bandits at each.
Do Pyeong-su asked, startled.
“You actually remember all that? You’re not just making it up as you go?”
“Why would I do that? Give wrong information and I might not live to see tomorrow.”
“Is there any way to find Kang Chan-sik?”
“Might he already be dead?”
Like the clever youth he was, he’d given the most realistic answer.
“If Kang Chan-sik is dead, you die too.”
“That hardly seems fair.”
“Who told you the world was fair?”
Do Pyeong-sun sprang to his feet.
“We’d better hurry and search for him.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to run away.”
“Can’t blame a man for double duty.”
Seo Seok-san looked back and forth between Do Pyeong-su and Do Pyeong-sun.
“Same names, completely different heads.”
“At least I’m better-looking.”
“You need whatever consolation you can get.”
Yeon Geum-hong pointed to the diagram drawn on the ground.
“How do we move? All at once, or one stronghold each?”
“Kang Chan-sik’s life is on the line. We need to move fast.”
Having decided to divide the work, they each committed to memory the locations and names of the strongholds they would handle.
After staring at the diagram for some time, Do Pyeong-su turned to Do Pyeong-sun.
“You’re coming with me.”
“Me? Why?”
“Just come.”
Seo Seok-san backed Do Pyeong-su up.
“That’s right. Without you, Pyeong-su won’t reach Cheonwang-chae for another year.”
“But… I’m supposed to help search for this Kang Chan-sik…”
“You said there’s no good way to find him?”
“Still, two extra eyes would help, wouldn’t they?”
“Your eyes won’t do as much good as lending me one extra head. No more talk—just follow me.”
Do Pyeong-sun, a novice bandit three months into his new life, found himself traveling alongside Do Pyeong-su.

***

Geom U-bin and So Gi-cheon deployed their Lightness Technique on deserted stretches, and the journey to Hubei Province, where the Jegal Family resided, passed quickly.
As they traveled using their Lightness Technique, Geom U-bin found himself genuinely impressed by So Gi-cheon’s martial skill.
Since Noh Dae-sul had so many disciples, Geom U-bin had wondered whether So Gi-cheon could have received proper instruction, but the young man’s Lightness Technique was anything but ordinary.
“It seems your master trained you well in martial arts.”
“My master? Hah! He threw down a secret manual, showed up a few months later to check my progress, gave me a few pointers, then disappeared for months on end. Proper training is hardly the word for it.”
“And yet your Lightness Technique is that refined? You must have natural talent.”
“Ha! Is that what it is? Even so, I’m nowhere near your level. You’re not even breaking a sweat.”
Geom U-bin merely smiled.
The Jegal Family estate was in Yangyang County, but Geom U-bin and So Gi-cheon stopped in Yangbeon County instead.
Mealtime had arrived, and if they pressed on to the Jegal estate, they’d go hungry until evening.
Yangbeon County was more prosperous than Yangyang County, developed as it was with iron mines and quarries.
The streets bustled with shops and merchants; there were so many passersby that one couldn’t walk a step without bumping shoulders with someone.
Geom U-bin entered the largest restaurant in Yangbeon County’s commercial district.
“I’m not sure a beggar should even be eating here.”
Even as he said it, So Gi-cheon’s mouth was already half-full of saliva.
The first floor of the upscale restaurant was packed solid with customers. Jyeom Soi rushed out with a troubled expression.
“I apologize. The only available seating is the VIP Room, which requires a minimum order of two silver coins.”
So Gi-cheon was about to suggest they go elsewhere when Geom U-bin beat him to it.
“Then show us to the VIP Room.”
Jyeom Soi hesitated because their pairing looked distinctly odd. So Gi-cheon, dressed in rags, looked every bit the beggar, while Geom U-bin had the bearing of a wealthy nobleman’s son.
Geom U-bin pressed a handful of coins into Jyeom Soi’s hand.
“A table by the window with a nice view, please.”
Money makes even spirits dance—bowing a mere waiter like Jyeom Soi was nothing at all.
“At once. Please follow me to the third floor.”
The third floor was unmistakably different from the first—the tables, chairs, and interior appointments all spoke of superior quality.
The third floor was particularly lavish, like stepping into a high-class pleasure house. Plush chairs were standard, and diners could even request low tables if they wished.
Being expensive, the third floor held only about ten customers.
The table Geom U-bin and So Gi-cheon were shown to was exactly what they’d wanted—a window seat overlooking the entire city below.
“This feels like my first and last taste of luxury.”
“If you’re going to indulge, do it properly.”
Geom U-bin ordered the restaurant’s finest and most expensive dishes. Though it amounted to enough for a dozen people, there wasn’t a single thing wasted on excess.
“But those people sitting over there—they keep glaring at us, don’t they?”

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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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