Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 182

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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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#182

Kang Chan-sik slipped through the main gate, and the dogs, true to form, cleared the wall after him.
He hadn’t expected it to be easy, but bathing the dogs turned out to be far harder than he’d anticipated.
Whenever Dan Jeong-cheol approached, they’d growl so fiercely he couldn’t even bring the soap—made from ash and mung beans—near them.
But the moment Kang Chan-sik began lathering them, they’d surrender their bodies with docile compliance.
‘Clever creatures, certainly. But not exactly lovable!’
In any case, that day they managed to accomplish the difficult task of washing the dogs, thanks to Kang Chan-sik’s intervention.
“I’m grateful. Without you, I never would have dared attempt to clean those beasts,” Dan Jeong-cheol said.
“If time permits, I’ll help until you grow accustomed to it,” Kang Chan-sik replied.
“Thank you.”
The Imperial Guard’s posture, accustomed only to standing with hands clasped behind his back, had softened considerably since arriving at Oseong Jang-won. Now he bowed respectfully to Kang Chan-sik.
Somewhere along the way, the titles of Triad Leader and Imperial Guard had vanished, leaving only two men in their place.

***

The journey itself had been arduous, and with Do Pyeong-su deliberately choosing remote mountain paths to avoid travelers, they made camp that night as well.
Gal Ma-pyeong came to regret it.
“You sleep in the middle,” Do Pyeong-su said.
“I beg your pardon? In the middle?”
Do Pyeong-su pointed to the center of three blankets laid on the ground.
“Sleep here.”
“But… I could take this and go far over there…”
“Hmph! That would suit you well. If you’re close by, I might lose control and throw a punch without meaning to,” Eun Bi-yeon said.
With both of them decided, Gal Ma-pyeong had no right of refusal. More uncomfortable than a bed of needles, and the biting cold radiating from Eun Bi-yeon cut right through to his bones.
‘I should have broken my legs to avoid coming along!’
Gal Ma-pyeong keenly felt the truth that regret, no matter how swift, always arrives too late. With such an uncomfortable bed, sleep brought no rest at all.
From waking repeatedly throughout the night, even the sleep he’d managed felt exhausting—every muscle ached and protested. Even a full night of running would have left him less weary.
But Gal Ma-pyeong took care to hide his suffering. Now he had one goal and one alone: to reach the Northern Ice Palace as quickly as possible.
It was the only way to escape those two.
So he ran as if his life depended on it—pushed so hard that Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon exchanged glances wondering if such a pace was even possible.
In the end, he collapsed from exhaustion. As Gal Ma-pyeong lay unconscious with his face pressed into the earth, Do Pyeong-su steadied his turbulent breathing and said:
“It looks like we’ll need to put him up for the night in a warm room at an inn.”
Gal Ma-pyeong’s self-sacrifice brought an unspoken truce between Do Pyeong-su and Eun Bi-yeon. Fortunately, the provincial city of Shenyang in Liaoning Province wasn’t far—they arrived in half a watch.
Gal Ma-pyeong awoke in a room at the inn. The moment his eyes opened and he realized he lay in an enclosed space on all sides, he startled.
He sat bolt upright and examined his surroundings before confirming he was indeed in an inn room.
“We’ve reached Shenyang!”
They had set foot in precisely the place they were supposed to avoid absolutely on their way to the Northern Ice Palace.
“Where are the Master and his lady?” Gal Ma-pyeong asked urgently.
He found only emptiness where they should have been—like leaving two children alone by a river. His anxiety spiked.
As Gal Ma-pyeong hurried from the bed, a loud crash erupted from outside.
“Don’t tell me—!”
Gal Ma-pyeong rushed to the window.

***

“Good heavens!”
Startled, Dan Jeong-cheol stumbled backward and tripped over his own feet. It was an undignified sight for a martial master of the Imperial Guard, but embarrassment was forgotten in the face of the spectacle before his eyes.
The dogs clearing the wall had long since become routine, but what gave him pause was the menagerie of impossible things clenched in their jaws.
The first thing that caught his eye was a tiger. Boram-i had brought it back—a beast nearly as large as himself.
His initial assessment had been correct: even a tiger was nothing but prey to these dogs.
At least Kkot-nim-i had brought back only a wild boar, so the shock was somewhat less. But what Jang Su carried in his mouth drew Dan Jeong-cheol’s gaze.
“Is that… wild ginseng?”
It was unmistakably so—not ordinary ginseng, but a specimen easily over a hundred years old.
Mu Byeong-i and Oseong-i both carried medicinal herbs in their mouths, and by the fragrance they released, these were no common plants.
Now he understood why those dogs could be fed such precious rare herbs.
“Good grief, Boram-i, you rascal! I told you to stop catching tigers! At this rate you’ll hunt the whole region to extinction!”
At Go Seo-bang’s scolding, Boram-i rubbed his face with his paws and whined pitifully.
The other dogs nudged him playfully with their front legs.
“You’re all the same! Well, thanks to you lot, everyone will have tiger-skin coats ready for winter, at least.”
Go Seo-bang collected the tigers and wild boars the dogs had brought, along with ginseng and medicinal herbs.
It was a routine occurrence, so his movements were practiced and efficient.
“This ginseng is decent. A three-hundred-year specimen like this would be just right to offer the Master.”
Go Seo-bang disappeared quickly, carrying the ginseng—worth whatever one cared to ask for it—and herbs of equal rarity.
Dan Jeong-cheol watched the five dogs playing among themselves and muttered aloud.
“No wonder they’re so beloved.”
Once the novelty had worn off, tedium crept in. Feeding and bathing them was exhausting, but every other hour hung empty and endless.
Guarding Go Shin-ji was his duty, and yet he felt foolish even tensing with vigilance over it.
The Imperial Guard members who could be spared to protect Go Shin-ji were the lowest rank of all.
“I’ve become utterly useless.”
If he stayed much longer at Oseong Jang-won like this, he’d shave his head from pure self-loathing.
“Seems like there’s nothing to do here. Want to head into the city with me?”
Gong Seong-tak’s proposal—made while shouldering an A-frame laden with agricultural tools: hoes, spades, and the like—was welcome indeed.
“But I’m supposed to guard the Princess…”
“Don’t go if you don’t want to.”
“No, no—I’ll go.”
Dan Jeong-cheol knew his presence made no difference to Go Shin-ji’s safety, so he set out after Gong Seong-tak without further hesitation.
Beijing overwhelmed Hangju in sheer scale, yet Hangju possessed a beauty all its own.
There was reason to the saying that heaven exists above and Hangju and Suzhou exist below—it was no idle boast.
Of course, Dan Jeong-cheol had only glimpsed the city streets in passing on his way to Oseong Jang-won.
“They say Hangju is especially beautiful at night—is it really so?”
“Can’t say for myself. I found it dizzying and chaotic. If you want to see the city, just follow Main Street straight ahead. I’m heading to the ironmonger’s, so I’m taking this alley instead.”
“Understood. I’ll explore the city and be back by feeding time.”
As they walked along Main Street, the crowd thickened and the feeling of being in a true city settled over them.
‘Maybe I’ll grab something good to eat.’
As Dan Jeong-cheol looked for a restaurant to satisfy his hunger, Kang Chan-sik was emerging from one, patting his belly.
“Malatang in the cold—there’s nothing better. Urp!”
A belch escaped him, and white steam lingered briefly at the corner of his mouth before fading. Wang Bong-seok, though he’d finished eating some time ago, still held water in his mouth.
“Master, how can you swallow that fiery malatang so easily? Gulp!”
“Come to Oseong Jang-won a few times, and you’ll realize malatang is nothing. Where do we need to go next?”
“We’re supposed to meet with someone named Jang on Buk-hyeon Street…”
Wang Bong-seok was still speaking when Kang Chan-sik suddenly rushed off.
“Ah, Grandmother Yang! Your back’s not good—why are you trying to lift that heavy bucket?”
Kang Chan-sik forcibly took the bucket of filthy water from the hands of Yang Grandmother, who’d run a noodle stall at the corner of the market for forty years.
“It’s fine. I do it every day anyway. Ow, my back.”
“And your grandson? What’s his name—oh, Dong Pan-i. I hear he’s been helping out at the restaurant and keeping his nose to the grindstone lately?”
A sigh as deep as the years etched into Yang Grandmother’s face escaped her lips.
“Pah! Three days of determination, that’s all. He’s probably at some gambling den or somewhere drowning himself in wine. These days the Oseong Merchant Association members feel more like blood relatives to me.”
“That Dong Pan-i—if I catch him, I’ll give him a piece of my mind.”
At first, they’d helped only because of Oseong Jang-won’s name. These men, who’d spent their lives as backstreet toughs, could hardly be expected to show genuine kindness to others.
But do something enough times and it becomes habit, and habit shapes a person.
Their sincerity showed through in their actions, and Hangju’s people gradually opened their hearts to the Oseong Merchant Association. No one thought of them as mere thugs anymore.
“Let me find Dong Pan-i and send him back to you right away…”
Kang Chan-sik emptied the bucket’s contents into the street while speaking to Yang Grandmother. In doing so, he failed to notice two passersby, and the water splashed across their trouser cuffs.
“What in blazes are you doing!”
At the sharp rebuke, Kang Chan-sik spun around in alarm. Of the two men in blue official robes, one’s face was familiar to him.
“My apologies, Officer Sang.”
Patrol Officer Sang Seo-myeong quickly recognized Kang Chan-sik and softened his expression.
“Ah, Master Kang! What brings you to this part of town?”
Yang Grandmother stepped forward.
“Master Kang was just helping me. I’m sorry about this.”
“It’s only a little water on his trouser cuffs…”
A voice cut through Sang Seo-myeong’s words.
“But my colleague there caught it on his clothes too, and if you forgive everyone, justice isn’t served.”
The man in his mid-thirties, with his eyes narrowed and lips pressed thin, wore the bearing of a Police Chief—a rank you could sense from the cut of his clothes.
Hangju’s administrative offices employed several Police Chiefs, but this face was new to him—evidently a recent appointment.
“Chief Kang, this is Dang Seol-an, the new Police Chief just arrived from Beijing. And this is Kang Chan-sik, who oversees the Oseong Merchant Association. Chief Dang.”
“The Oseong Merchant Association? Isn’t that a triad?”
“Yes, it is a triad, but it’s different from ordinary triads…….”
“A triad is a triad. Does that make it food just because you stick it in front of garbage? Garbage is garbage, nothing more.”
Since the man was a police chief, there was nothing to do but bow and accept it.
“If we’ve offended you, I apologize. We’ll cover the cleaning costs.”
“Oh, so there’s a triad trying to bribe a magistrate in broad daylight.”
“No, it’s not a bribe, it’s…….”
“You’re offering money? How much are you thinking of giving?”
His blunt provocation could mean he truly despised triads, or it could mean he simply wanted money.
“It’s not much, but for the cleaning costs, and perhaps the two of you could join us for drinks this evening…….”
“A hundred coins?”
When Dang Seol-an spoke the amount, his face clearly showed his displeasure.
Dang Seol-an stepped closer and whispered directly into Kang Chan-sik’s ear.
“You bastard, what do you take me for—a beggar? Destroying your triad would be child’s play. If you’re going to offer, do it properly. Thug.”
After the whisper, his grin revealed his true intent. He genuinely wanted money, and if Kang Chan-sik didn’t comply, he meant to wield his authority as police chief.
Of course, magistrates didn’t go without bribes, but Kang Chan-sik had never encountered an official quite so brazenly demanding a payoff like this.
Kang Chan-sik smiled back and replied.
“Dig ten feet into the ground. See if you find even a single coin.”
Kang Chan-sik put the coins back in his pocket. At this clear refusal, Dang Seol-an’s face flushed red with anger.
“You gangster bastard, what kind of fool do you take a police chief for!”
A hand flew at him suddenly. They were so close and it came so fast that Kang Chan-sik had no chance to dodge.
Crack!
With a sharp sound, Kang Chan-sik’s head snapped to the side from the blow to his cheek. His fist remained unclenched—a restraint born of lately grown patience.
He wasn’t afraid of some police chief. Behind Kang Chan-sik stood a power that could sweep away not just a police chief, but a Provincial Governor himself.
Yet no matter what, a triad leader couldn’t go around beating up a police chief in the street.
It would bring shame on those who supported the Oseong Jang-won.
“You bastard! Remember this! I’ll wipe out your Oseong Merchant Association or whatever it is, and throw you in prison to rot for the rest of your life!”
At that moment, Dan Jeong-cheol’s voice cut through.
“Who said they were sending whom to prison?”
“Eh? Guard Dan, what brings you to the city?”
“I just came out for a bit of air. But what’s all this commotion?”
“Who are you? A ‘guard,’ you say? Looks like some kind of gatekeeper to me!”
At Dang Seol-an’s harsh tone, Dan Jeong-cheol’s face hardened.
“What did you just say?”
“You? Don’t you see this official robe I’m wearing?”
“I see the robe you’re wearing well enough. You’re a police chief, it seems.”
Dang Seol-an apparently believed that the position of police chief was the highest rank in the world.
“So you know I’m a police chief, yet you act like that as a mere guard? You must be asking for death. Back in Beijing where I came from, there are sometimes fools like you who don’t know their place. Do you know what happened to them?”
Dang Seol-an drew a short cudgel from his belt and licked his lips with his tongue.
“Five men became cripples who couldn’t walk properly from this cudgel of mine. You’ll be number six today.”
Deep lines creased the corners of Dan Jeong-cheol’s eyes.
“A man who brings disgrace to an official who eats the state’s rice. How much blood have you sucked from the people through that worthless police chief’s coat?”
“A whelp dares lecture me!”
Dang Seol-an raised the cudgel over his head, and Dan Jeong-cheol pushed back his outer robe that had been covering the front of his pants.

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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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