Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 169

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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 169

After parting with Se-hwa, Go Shin-ji made her way to Seomun Banjeom. Ga Yeon-gil, the owner of the establishment and an Imperial Guard, happened to be in the restaurant at that very moment.
As Go Shin-ji entered, Ga Yeon-gil rose abruptly from his seat and bowed deeply.
“Welcome.”
“Yes. I’ve come because there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”
“There’s no need for discussion—simply tell me what you need. Is this about the Oseong Pavilion and the Oseong Merchant Association?”
Go Shin-ji’s expression registered surprise, and Ga Yeon-gil smiled faintly.
“Even if it’s just a name, an Imperial Guard ought to possess at least that much intelligence.”
“It’s convenient that you already know. Makes this easier.”
“Shall I have the imprisoned people released?”
“That’s already been done. Fortunately, the Provincial Governor was familiar with the Ssangryong Gang.”
“I see.”
“I’d like to punish the officials who handled matters improperly. Is that possible?”
Ga Yeon-gil answered with a smile.
“As I mentioned before, there is almost nothing that’s impossible.”
“Good. First, I want to deal with the officials of Hangju. I cannot leave those shameless men unpunished—the ones who took bribes from the Pavilion and the Association while pretending ignorance of such matters.”
“The Provincial Governor’s head will roll, then.”
“His head alone won’t suffice.”
“Understood. I will arrange for all corrupt officials under the Provincial Governor to be dealt with under the strictest penalties.”
“The one behind this affair is the Corruption Inspector of Shaanxi Province—Nam Jeong-nam. The Daseong Merchant Association is who moved him.”
“Nam Jeong-nam is someone I’m aware of. He rose to his position with backing from a high-ranking inspector of Shaanxi Province, and my office at the Imperial Guard has been keeping a close eye on him for bribery suspicions. This matter will merely accelerate his discipline somewhat. As for the Daseong Merchant Association, how shall we handle them?”
“I think it would be fitting to return to them what the Oseong Merchant Association suffered. In truth, there are people capable of resolving such matters, so it may not be entirely necessary, but it will make their work a bit easier.”
“Understood. If there is anything else you wish to command, please speak.”
“I think that should suffice. Thank you.”
“You speak too modestly. Protecting the Imperial Family is the duty of the Imperial Guard. While I serve at this post, I am no different from being your hands and feet—so please use me whenever you need.”
After offering her thanks once more, Go Shin-ji returned to Oseong Jang-won.
As she had anticipated, people had gathered to await her. The one most curious about what Go Shin-ji had accomplished at the government office was Sang Nam-jae.
Even her husband did not know her true identity. Sang Nam-jae believed that Go Shin-ji had become an assassination target because of the necklace she carried.
Seated around the large round table, they all regarded Go Shin-ji with eyes full of curiosity.
“First, I’d like to speak with my husband. He deserves to know before anyone else.”
At that, Sang Nam-jae waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s fine. Everyone here is like family, and what difference does a quarter hour make?”
Sang Nam-jae seemed slightly irritated, but there was no fault to find with him.
Go Shin-ji drew a deep breath and opened her mouth.
“The truth is, I’m of the Imperial Family.”
Se-hwa clapped her hands together.
“See? I told you so. I knew it. I always thought there was something aloof about you for someone with so little.”
Go Seo-bang nodded in agreement as well.
“I thought the same. Now my curiosity is satisfied.”
“So there’s a member of the Imperial Family at our estate? How extraordinary.”
While the others each offered their thoughts, Sang Nam-jae remained silent. Troubled by that silence, Go Shin-ji asked him:
“Are you angry?”
“Shouldn’t you have told me something that important?”
“I missed the opportunity to tell you, and I thought that whether you knew or not wouldn’t change anything.”
“Still……”
“You already forgave me for trying to kill you—surely you can let this go.”
Gal Ma-pyeong chuckled.
“That’s why you shouldn’t get caught with a weak spot by a woman you live with.”
“You speak as if you’ve been married yourself.”
“Do you really need to have done something to understand it?”
Hang Ju-sa-ung, who was bickering with the others, didn’t seem particularly concerned about Go Shin-ji being of the Imperial Family.
In truth, what mattered to them was that the affair of the Oseong Pavilion and the Oseong Merchant Association had been resolved; Go Shin-ji’s identity was not the issue.
It made no difference that Go Shin-ji was of the Imperial Family. Just as they had done until now, they would continue to treat her as Go Shin-ji, Ji-u’s mother.
“But I don’t see the young lady. Where is she?”
At Go Shin-ji’s question, O Tong-su spoke.
“He goes out once a month, and today is that day.”
“What business takes him out?”
“I don’t know.”
The Oseong Jang-won was a place that felt like family, yet guarded private matters scrupulously.
“Still, I think we need to inform the Director and the Masters about this.”
Gal Ma-pyeong cut in abruptly at Se-hwa’s words.
“Send a carrier pigeon.”
“If we’re to convey all of this by carrier pigeon, we’d need to send a hundred of them.”
“Then what?”
“Someone has to go.”
If someone had to go, the question of who that someone was posed a problem. No one wanted to run an errand alone to a place where the Hyeolpung Saja were gathered.
Hang Ju-sa-ung exchanged glances with the others. They all wished someone would step forward, but if it meant attending to the Hyeolpung Saja single-handedly, they’d sooner hang upside down here than do it.
Silence stretched between them, unbroken, until Kang Chan-sik’s voice came from beyond the door.
“I’ve arrived.”
Kang Chan-sik came to the Oseong Jang-won daily to train in martial arts.
Hang Ju-sa-ung took turns putting him through his paces, and today it was Se-hwa’s turn.
“I’ve just been released from the punishment cells, and now I have to conduct training too. Busy, busy, busy.”
“Anyone listening would think you’d served ten years in there.”
Kang Chan-sik’s face had grown gaunt as if he were wasting away from illness. To him, what they called training felt less like cultivation and more like torture.
Yet he couldn’t skip it. If he dared quit because it was hard, he might as well stop breathing altogether.
Se-hwa stepped outside and addressed Kang Chan-sik directly.
“Today it’s the Duck Walk around the estate a hundred times, then hanging upside down for one double hour.”
Se-hwa had meticulously recorded Kang Chan-sik’s training regimen in a notebook.
“A hundred times? I understand the Duck Walk strengthens the legs, but why the hanging? What’s the purpose of that?”
“That’s what I’d like to know too.”
“If you ask me again about it…”
“I’m just following the same regimen I received myself. So if you want answers, you’ll have to ask the Masters.”
Se-hwa flashed a grin at the end of her words—she seemed almost to relish the sadistic nature of Kang Chan-sik’s training.
“Shouldn’t we decide who’s going to Shaanxi Province first?”
At Sang Nam-jae’s question, Kang Chan-sik’s eyes gleamed.
“Shaanxi Province? Why there?”
As Kang Chan-sik could be counted among the members of the Oseong Jang-won, they explained what had transpired.
“I’ll go!”
Before Se-hwa had even finished speaking, Kang Chan-sik’s hand shot up.
“Director Kang?”
“Yes!”
Hang Ju-sa-ung broke into a radiant smile at the sudden volunteer.
“That would be a great help to us. You can arrive by tomorrow, can’t you? This is a matter of urgency.”
What had befallen them would befall the Daseong Merchant Association as well, so Geom U-bin and the Hyeolpung Saja needed to know before that happened.
“Tomorrow? How am I supposed to reach Shaanxi Province in a single day? Even on the fastest horse in the world, galloping without rest, it would take at least two days.”
The elation drained from Hang Ju-sa-ung’s face, replaced by bitter disappointment. He’d only just realized that Kang Chan-sik’s Lightness Technique left much to be desired, and that no horse could move quite that fast.
“You’d better just keep training where you are.”
“What if I arrive within four days?”
“The moment you show up having delayed the message, the Masters will have you beaten with the Punishment Staff.”
Kang Chan-sik fell silent for a moment, thinking, then stepped back.
“I suppose training here would be the safer choice.”
In the end, Hang Ju-sa-ung’s solution came down to drawing straws. They drew the lots with painstaking care.
It was a single draw that would determine whether one spent blissful days in paradise or tasted the torments of hell.
And at the end of the stick that fate had chosen was the name: Go Seo-bang.
“Ahhhhh!”
A cry as though his heart were being torn from his chest echoed through the Oseong Jang-won for a quarter hour.

***

Baek Jong-dan gripped the sword that hung on the wall. The blade his Master had given him when he became the Plum Blossom Sword Master had long since become an extension of himself.
‘It’s time to settle things.’
He could no longer sacrifice the present for the sake of the past. Having left the Huashan Faction behind, Baek Jong-dan turned his steps toward Xi’an. Thanks to deploying his Lightness Technique to its fullest, the journey took only one double hour.
Though the night was late, Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, blazed like the City of Perpetual Night.
Baek Jong-dan’s path through the city led him into the slums where shabby dwellings huddled together.
The narrow alleys were littered with refuse here and there, and young rats, startled by his footsteps, scurried hastily into their holes.
Baek Jong-dan came to a halt deep within the alley, where a ramshackle dwelling stood—the sort common to the slums.
After sensing for any presence within, he surveyed the surroundings and vaulted over the wall.
No sign of life emanated from the darkened house. The drunkard would be coming home late again, it seemed.
Baek Jong-dan deliberated for a moment, then resigned himself to waiting and stepped inside the room.
The acrid stench that assaulted his nostrils made the space indistinguishable from a refuse heap.
A half-collapsed bed, a small chair, a table, and a wooden chest for clothing huddled in the darkness of the dingy room.
His vigil stretched on for half a double hour before it ended.
Screech!
The front gate creaked open, and a slurred, humming voice drew near. Baek Jong-dan, about to grasp the sword hilt at his back, soon folded both arms neatly before him.
There was no need for a blade to dispose of garbage. The door opened and Jong Mok-jin, whom he awaited, stepped in.
The darkness concealed Baek Jong-dan, who stood with his back pressed against the wall.
“You’re late.”
Jong Mok-jin, startled as he reached to light the lantern, dropped his flint.
“Who… who is it?”
Baek Jong-dan drew his own flint and struck the lantern alight. Yet even as the flame rose, Jong Mok-jin could not place him at once.
“Twenty years, then.”
It was precisely until that point that Baek Jong-dan had last pressed coins into Jong Mok-jin’s palm.
After learning that Jong Mok-jin spent every won on drink, Baek Jong-dan had cut all ties.
“Baek… Jong-dan?”
“You remain unchanged.”
“What brings you to my home at such an hour?”
Baek Jong-dan’s sudden visit burned away Jong Mok-jin’s intoxication in an instant.
“A place I had no desire to visit. Yet in the end, it is you who has driven me here.”
“Me?”
“You spoke carelessly to Geom U-bin.”
“Geom U-bin? Who is that?”
“The young one who came from Hangju.”
“Ah! The one who bought me a drink… I said nothing of importance. We merely shared an old tale, nothing more.”
Baek Jong-dan’s ominous bearing put Jong Mok-jin on the defensive.
“The Muk Patch that I possessed.”
Jong Mok-jin swallowed hard. He’d regretted mentioning it even then, and he was right—he should never have spoken of it.
“A… a Muk Patch? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Only you knew of that patch, so you must be the one who told Geom U-bin.”
“No, I said nothing at all.”
Baek Jong-dan exhaled softly.
“Now that I have come this far, what does it matter?”
As Baek Jong-dan stepped forward, Jong Mok-jin shuffled backward. The faltering gait repulsed Baek Jong-dan, who pressed harder with his feet.
The distance between them collapsed in an instant, and Jong Mok-jin gasped, clutching his chest.
Baek Jong-dan was already past him.
“Soon you’ll have a companion.”
Jong Mok-jin fell without hearing those words—words that could offer no solace.
Baek Jong-dan turned from the cooling corpse and made for the inn where Geom U-bin lodged.
Having killed Jong Mok-jin, what did it matter to add one more body? The damage was done.
If anything, he had far more reason to kill Geom U-bin than Jong Mok-jin.
He already knew which room Geom U-bin occupied, and entry proved simple enough. What wounded his pride was that the Headmaster of Huashan Faction had to vault the wall, cross the roof, and slip through the window.
The room lay in absolute darkness, yet Baek Jong-dan could see Geom U-bin sleeping on the bed.
There was no need to rouse him for conversation. One thrust of the blade into the left chest, withdrawal, and a return to Huashan—that was all.
Baek Jong-dan’s hand grasped the sword hilt.
Whisper.
The blade slid free with a muted ring. Baek Jong-dan took four steps to the bedside.
Killing a child did not sit well with him, yet this was Geom U-bin’s doing, not his.
He should never have driven him into such a dead end. Baek Jong-dan drew a light breath and lifted the blade—only to freeze.
Geom U-bin’s eyes opened. Though he had startled awake suddenly from sleep, the absolute darkness meant he could not possibly see Baek Jong-dan.
“Headmaster of Huashan, what brings you at such a late hour?”
Shock seized Baek Jong-dan so completely that his body went rigid of its own accord.

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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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