Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 171

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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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#171

Yeon Geum-hong asked.
“So what should we do?”
“First, let’s search Jang Mun-in’s quarters and see what turns up. A man with secrets tends to keep certain objects close. If we find something, we’ll craft our plan around it. If we find nothing, we’ll adapt accordingly.”
“Understood. I’ll slip out and back before you know it.”
Do Pyeong-su spoke to Yeon Geum-hong.
“Don’t get caught on purpose just to test your combat experience.”
“Do you even know me?”
Yeon Geum-hong departed for the Huashan Sect, and the rest returned to the inn. Less than half a watch had passed when they received an unexpected visitor.
A pale-faced man gasping for breath—it was Go Seo-bang.
“Go Seo-bang! What brings you here at this hour?”
“Has something happened at the estate?”
“That is… I needed to… inform you… urgently… huff!”
Geom U-bin quickly offered a cup of water.
“Catch your breath first.”
After running without pause, Go Seo-bang drained three cups of water in succession. Geom U-bin tapped the pressure points along his spine to help him breathe more easily.
“Take your time. Tell us slowly.”
“Phew! Master, thank you.”
Once Go Seo-bang’s breathing had steadied, Geom U-bin asked.
“What happened at the estate?”
“The Oseong Pavilion and the Oseong Merchant Association came under attack by government officials.”
“An attack by officials?”
“It was the work of the Daseong Merchant Association.”
And so Go Seo-bang’s account began. When he spoke of Se-hwa and Gwak Bong being captured, they erupted in anger. When he reached the part where Go Shin-ji resolved matters, they all fell silent in confusion.
“Ji-u’s mother did?”
“Yes. As it turned out, the lady was of imperial blood.”
“Imperial blood? Of the emperor’s line?”
“Yes.”
Do Pyeong-su nodded slowly.
“That explains her dignified bearing. Blood doesn’t lie, as they say.”
Geom U-bin asked.
“Then it’s completely resolved?”
“Indeed. The officials, from the Provincial Governor on down, were thoroughly cowed.”
“If it’s resolved, there’s no reason to run here in such a panic.”
“Well, yes—Hangju is settled. But come tomorrow, I suspect the Daseong Merchant Association will be in complete turmoil. The lady has already set things in motion. It would take a hundred carrier pigeons to spread word of all this, so I came myself to deliver the news directly. May I have another cup of water?”
As Go Seo-bang gulped down more water, Seo Seok-san spoke.
“Now I understand why you rushed here. With the Daseong Merchant Association in that state, the advantage falls squarely into our hands, doesn’t it?”
A thin smile played at the corners of Geom U-bin’s mouth.
“We’ll be able to collect interest on top of the principal quite handsomely.”
“Master.”
“Yes?”
“That smile just now—it looks remarkably like the one Yeon Geum-hong wears when she’s in a very good mood.”
Go Seo-bang chimed in.
“Yes. I felt rather chilled by it myself.”
“They must be made to pay a proper price. What would have become of us if the lady hadn’t been of imperial blood?”
Do Pyeong-su answered sharply.
“The officials would be utterly extinct.”
The Bloodwind Four Lions would never have shown mercy to officials; in a sense, Go Shin-ji had actually saved the government from annihilation.
“Had things gone that way, we might have been forced to abandon Hangju entirely.”
Of course Geom U-bin would have found some way around it, but in the worst case, they would have had to relocate once the Bloodwind Four Lions swept away the entire administration.
“This is the moment to demonstrate what happens to anyone who dares lay a hand on the Oseong Jang-won.”
“They die.”
Seo Seok-san reproached Do Pyeong-su for his blunt words.
“Must you always talk of nothing but death? Master, what exactly do you intend to do?”
“What if we simply erased the Daseong Merchant Association from existence?”
“What?”
“I watched how the Daseong Merchant Association grew — by sucking the blood of honest people. There’s no reason to hesitate in tearing down such an enterprise.”
“That’s true enough, but the method is the problem.”
“Kill the Merchant Guild Leader.”
Seo Seok-san shook his head firmly.
“That won’t work. Won’t work at all.”
“The authorities are on our side now. We use them to destabilize the Daseong Merchant Association, then strike where the Oseong Merchant Association is weak. I’ve grasped the outline of their main operations — it shouldn’t be difficult.”
Geom U-bin was likely the only person in the world who would call the destruction of Shaanxi Province’s wealthiest merchant a simple task.
“At minimum, we can definitely dismantle their loan-sharking operations.”
“How?”
“Why would they resort to high-interest loans if they had a choice?”
“Because their credit is ruined — legitimate money houses won’t lend to them.”
“So we vouch for them at the Cheonha Money House or the Zhongyuan Money House, and force the Daseong Merchant Association to repay through regular channels.”
Seo Seok-san spoke with concern in his voice.
“There’s a reason their credit is so damaged.”
“I know — they might default entirely.”
“And given your nature, you’re hardly the type to pursue them with ruthless debt collection.”
“That’s why we hire those kinds of people. We’ll need them anyway if we’re doing business in Shaanxi Province.”
The plan wasn’t easy, certainly, but it wasn’t impossible either. Geom U-bin had proven as much by building the Oseong Merchant Association in Zhejiang Province.
“We need to use the authorities’ pressure to cut off the Daseong Merchant Association’s cash flow.”
“How do you manage that?”
“I hold a promissory note worth six hundred and twenty thousand silver pieces. The Merchant Guild Leader gave me the freedom to set the interest rate as I see fit. That should be enough.”
While they were laying out their plans, Yeon Geum-hong returned from the Hwasan Sect.
Go Seo-bang bowed respectfully, and Yeon Geum-hong’s expression shifted to surprise.
“What brings you here, Seo-bang?”
Geom U-bin gave a brief explanation of how Go Seo-bang had arrived, and Seo Seok-san finished by saying they’d decided to dismantle the Daseong Merchant Association.
“Anyone who won’t pay their debts deserves to be ruined.”
“You owed me money twenty years ago—”
Yeon Geum-hong waved her hand to cut off Do Pyeong-su’s words.
“That’s ancient history. Let’s forget about it.”
“What happened at the Sect?”
In response to Geom U-bin’s question, Yeon Geum-hong withdrew a wooden box, stained brown with age, from her robes.
“I was hoping to find documents, but found nothing like that. I discovered this hidden behind a bookcase in a secret chamber.”
When she opened the lid, the interior revealed ten compartments. Eight lay empty; the other two held black poison pills.
“What is this?”
“That’s Jang Man-dok’s specialty.”
Jang Man-dok’s face hardened as he brought the poison pill to his nose and inhaled.
“What’s wrong? What? A poison from the Demonic Cult? Wait, hold on — you ate that?”
Jang Man-dok closed his eyes and worked the poison pill around in his mouth for a long time before spitting it out.
The fact that he rinsed his mouth thoroughly with water suggested the poison was extraordinarily potent.
“So what kind of poison is it? Wol-hyeol Poison? You need the antidote once a month or your blood hardens and you die? And if you die that way, no one can tell the cause? And it’s from the Demonic Cult?”
Seo Seok-san spoke up.
“The Demonic Cult disappeared two hundred years ago.”
The Orthodox Faction had suffered catastrophic losses in their war against the Demonic Cult and spent thirty years recovering from those wounds.
When the Hyeolgyeong appeared, the Orthodox Faction’s frenzied response was rooted in that history with the Demonic Cult. Though never officially confirmed, they believed the Hyeolgyeong to be remnants of the Demonic Cult’s forces.
“If it is the Demonic Cult, this is grave.”
Do Pyeong-su rarely agreed with such sentiment, yet he did now.
“Indeed. Master took up the suppression of the Hyeolgyeong because of the Demonic Cult.”
Unknown to the broader Murim, it was Ma Gun-ja who had worked most zealously to eliminate the Hyeolgyeong.
Geom U-bin spoke.
“Master’s journey to Yunnan Province might very well be connected to the Hyeolgyeong.”
The Orthodox Faction had traveled to Yunnan Province to suppress the Hyeolgyeong; Ma Gun-ja could have done the same.
After a long silence, Geom U-bin opened her mouth.
“We have no information to speculate on Master’s whereabouts right now, so let’s focus on the matter of Jang Mun-in. The Wol-hyeol Poison was found in Jang Mun-in’s chamber, and only two pills remain — that means Jang Mun-in was taking it himself.”
“That’s how it appears.”
“So there’s an organization using poison to control the Sect Leader of Hwasan.”
No less than the leader of the Gudaemun Faction. Yeon Geum-hong spoke like a groan.
“Could it really be that the Demonic Cult has returned?”
No other organization she could think of possessed the means to control a Sect Leader through poison.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet. We should keep it in mind, but not settle on it prematurely.”
Geom U-bin asked Jang Man-dok.
“Can you trace where the Wol-hyeol Poison was made?”
Jang Man-dok paused in thought before nodding.
“To make Wol-hyeol Poison, you need special ingredients, so if we trace where those materials come from, we should be able to find it. I understand.”
“What about the Huashan Faction? If Jang Mun-in was being controlled, that means there must be someone watching from within the sect, doesn’t it?”
“There could be, certainly, but the Huashan Faction itself probably isn’t under their control. If it were, Jang Mun-in wouldn’t have come alone to kill me. Since Jang Mun-in has disappeared, the Huashan Faction will make some kind of move. We’ll respond as we see what happens.”
Baek Jong-dan’s death was nothing in itself, but the traces of the Demonic Cult that lay behind it weighed heavy on their hearts.
“Go Seo-bang, bring out that liquor you brought with you.”
At Do Pyeong-su’s words, Go Seo-bang, who had been crouched to one side listening, startled.
“What? Liquor, you say?”
“You must have brought Oseong Wine. We’ve already finished ours. Surely you didn’t come all the way here without Oseong Wine?”
“It’s just… things were so rushed when I left…”
“You didn’t bring it? And I’ve been receiving your service for years, yet you lack even that much discernment?”
Geom U-bin stepped in to shield Go Seo-bang.
“It’s almost dawn, so we should sleep today. Tomorrow looks like it’s going to be very busy. And Go Seo-bang—head straight for Oseong Jang-won as soon as it’s light and bring them word of us.”
Geom U-bin’s consideration came from knowing that Go Seo-bang would suffer hard labor waiting on the Hyeolpung Saja if he stayed.
Go Seo-bang, sharp-witted as he was, could hardly fail to understand Geom U-bin’s kindness.
—Master. Thank you.
If not for the Hyeolpung Saja’s presence, he would have made a deep bow.

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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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