Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 197

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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 197

“Isn’t Ya Wang Moon one of the Saeoe Five Kings?”
“Mm? Yes. That’s right.”
“What are you thinking about?”
“That Third Agent the man mentioned earlier—I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere.”
“It came up when Hao Mun was causing trouble at Haenyeong Port.”
“Ah! That’s it! Who is this Third Agent fellow, and why does he keep showing up everywhere?”
As they exchanged telepathic communication, the conversation continued between the two.
“I’m not dismissing you—I’m speaking of reality. If Eun Bi-yeon gets involved in this matter, things could spiral out of control.”
“There’s nothing Eun Bi-yeon can do. At best, she might teach the Palace Master a few martial techniques. She knows that the moment she interferes, the Northern Ice Palace will shatter to pieces, so she won’t dare take action.”
“What if you win in the sparring match?”
“What can Eun Bi-yeon do about it? Even if she were stronger than me, she couldn’t lay a finger on me. If the Palace Master dies, what becomes of the Northern Ice Palace?”
“What if you entrust the succession to Eun Yi-seol?”
“Do you think Eun Yi-seol would survive a sparring match against me?”
The Ya Wang Moon Master nodded with a satisfied expression.
“That’s what I wanted to hear. It’s also what the Third Agent desires.”
“Rest assured—I will tell him that Eun Yi-seol can never survive.”
“Then I’ll inform the Third Agent that Eun Bi-yeon is no cause for concern.”
The two parted ways like that.
Do Pyeong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong, who had been listening in hiding, forgot even their original purpose.
Their minds had fixated so entirely on the name “Third Agent” that they later realized they’d failed to test Baek Gang’s martial prowess.
“Who in the world is this Third Agent?”
“How would we know that?”
“He appeared at Hao Mun, and now he’s here too. Hmm… If only Hang Ju-sa-ung were here, he might uncover something.”
Gal Ma-pyeong, while no genius himself, was still better than Do Pyeong-su—yet all he could do was scratch his head and groan.
“This won’t do. I need to inform Hang Ju-sa-ung of this immediately.”
“But he’s in Hangju—could he really deduce anything from just this information?”
“Hang Ju-sa-ung can perceive what we cannot see, imagine what we cannot think. To send a carrier pigeon, we’d have to go all the way to Beijing.”
It was no short distance.
“Why go all the way to Beijing? We can use Hao Mun.”
“Hao Mun?”
“Yes. Isn’t Hao Mun an organization that’s everywhere, like cockroaches? There’s bound to be a Hao Mun branch in Gamokmusa County, Heilongjiang Province. We send the carrier pigeon to the Beijing Hao Mun branch from there, ask them to forward it to the Beijing Oseong Merchant Association branch, and they’ll relay it to Oseong Jang-won.”
“How do we find the Hao Mun branch?”
“We captured the Hao Mun Master before, didn’t we? I noted the Hao Mun branch markers at the time. I’m also familiar with Hao Mun’s secret signals, so sending a carrier pigeon won’t be difficult.”
“Oh! Our Gal Ma-pyeong is sharp!”
Gal Ma-pyeong broke into a grin at the praise and spoke with determination.
“I’ll make a quick trip and be back!”

***

There hadn’t been enough time to have a gown made from the silk the emperor had given as a gift, so she wore a robe of the same color that happened to be on hand.
The journey began from Oseong Jang-won.
Kang Chan-sik had wanted it that way. He’d tried until the last moment to find a way to avoid going to the Forbidden City, and he’d hoped that Geom U-bin and Hyeolpung Saja would come up with a solution.
But instead of a solution, they’d only offered condolences (?) about how they’d retrieve his body if his head rolled off.
“This is really too much.”
In response to Kang Chan-sik’s complaint, Seo Seok-san spoke.
“You should have practiced martial arts diligently from the start.”
“How could I work any harder than this? If I’d worked any harder, I might have died sooner!”
Seo Seok-san smacked the back of Kang Chan-sik’s head as if to say, “Where does this brat get off rolling his eyes?”
Dan Jeong-cheol, who had arrived earlier than the scheduled time, took his leave from the residents of Oseong Jang-won.
“I’ve received much kindness during my stay here.”
“Come visit if you get bored.”
It was the gentlest thing Hyeolpung Saja could muster.
The emperor had also summoned Go Shin-ji, so she and Sang Nam-jae prepared to depart as well.
“Why do you have so much luggage? Just go and come back quickly.”
Sang Nam-jae spoke up.
“For the lords, Beijing is within reach, but it will take us a good month at least.”
Lightness Technique was out of the question, and with Go Shin-ji and the baby, they couldn’t push the carriage any faster.
“Travel safely.”
Geom U-bin waved goodbye to the departing group, and Dan Jeong-cheol made a promise to return.
‘I wish I could stay at Oseong Jang-won for just one more year.’
He loved the freedom of it all, and with Spirit Medicine to eat daily and training alongside the masters, his Martial Arts would advance by leaps and bounds.
It felt like leaving paradise behind only to return to prison.
Thump! Thump!
At the sound from behind, he turned to see five dogs bounding toward him ferociously.
“Ugh! You lot again……!”
The five dogs, charging forward with overwhelming force, skidded to a stop just short of the startled horse’s front legs.
“Don’t tell me you’ve come to see me off?”
Woof!
Oseong-i barked, and Boram-i padded closer, nudging its snout toward Dan Jeong-cheol.
“Boram-i, what do you have in your mouth?”
As Dan Jeong-cheol extended his hand, Boram-i dropped something onto his palm.
“Wait—is that ginseng?”
It looked to be three hundred years old at least, the sort of treasure whose value was spoken in whispers.
After all the trouble they’d given him, the five dogs proved to have hearts as deep as any of Oseong Jang-won’s people.
“Thank you. Stay healthy until we meet again.”
Dan Jeong-cheol left the dogs’ farewell behind and set his course for Beijing.
With so many people gone at once, Oseong Jang-won felt strangely hollow.
“They say the absence of people is harder to notice than the absence of things, but I do feel it’s a bit emptier,” Geom U-bin said, picking up Yeon Geum-hong’s thought.
Geom U-bin responded to Yeon Geum-hong’s remark.
“True enough. Still, it’s better than someone causing trouble.”
“It depends what kind of trouble. Sometimes a bit of mischief can be entertaining.”
Oseong Jang-won was at peace. But peace, it seemed, was merely another name for boredom.
Hyeolpung Saja loafed about idly, while Geom U-bin and Hang Ju-sa-ung threw themselves into Cultivation Practice.
Seo Seok-san, watching their training, spoke up.
“Should we do some Cultivation Practice too?”
“Get stronger here for what? Doesn’t feel like we could get much stronger anyway.”
“We could fix the Side Effects, though.”
Yeon Geum-hong glanced at Seo Seok-san’s bare scalp and shook her head.
“Stop struggling. It’s unseemly.”
Above their heads, pigeons suddenly flew past in a flutter.
“Wait—isn’t that a message?”
Yeon Geum-hong, Seo Seok-san, and Jang Man-dok bolted after it. They could have waited to get inside and retrieve the letter, but they couldn’t bear the delay.
Though no one said it outright, Jang Man-dok must have been the most bored—he was the one who caught the pigeon.
“What does it say? Read it! No, unfold it!”
“Where’s it from?”
Jang Man-dok pulled the slip of paper from the small tube and unfolded it.
“It’s from that scoundrel, isn’t it?”
—Ma Gun-ja found at the end that the one he sought was the Sam Gongja.
She knew it was difficult to send a long letter by Carrier Pigeon, but this was absurdly brief.
“That scoundrel must be wanting to see us. Wait, Sam Gongja…… Se-hwa!”
Se-hwa, who had been practicing Fist Technique, turned at Yeon Geum-hong’s call.
“Wasn’t the Sam Gongja the one who gave orders to that Hao Mun lackey?”
“Yes. That’s why I had the Hao Mun Master look into it. Why do you ask?”
“We’ll need to show this to the senior.”
Geom U-bin, after reading the letter, spoke up.
“I can’t piece together the picture from this alone. Se-hwa, you go to the Hao Mun Master and find out if they’ve learned anything about the Sam Gongja. As for the rest of us, we should make a trip to the Mantongmun.”
No matter how clever Geom U-bin was, this scrap of information wasn’t enough to form any real picture.
Only one person needed to go to Mantongmun, but the three who’d grown excited at having something to do all insisted on going, and Se-hwa set out toward Hao Mun as well.
Se-hwa unleashed her Lightness Technique with desperate speed at Yeon Geum-hong’s insistence that she not fall behind, but the Hao Mun Master she encountered yielded no information whatsoever.
“You have one month. Bring me information about the Sam Gongja that will satisfy me.”
She merely threatened the Hao Mun Master into action and departed. Fortunately, barely a quarter hour after she arrived back, the three returned as well.
“Everything in the letter was all they knew. That scoundrel really didn’t know anything beyond that.”
Since that was all they had, the letter had naturally been so brief.
The Sam Gongja, whom she’d thought to be some insignificant underling with no connection to Hao Mun, had now become the most important person in the world.
“I’ve already told Dungpari to track down Samgongja as well.”
Se-hwa received Yeon Geum-hong’s words.
“If Mantongmun and Hao Mun are pursuing him, we should be able to find out before long.”
Geom U-bin stood up.
“We should also ask Gi-cheon to look into it. If the Sect gets involved too, we’ll have an even better chance of finding him.”
As they left the room and descended into the courtyard, another pigeon arrived.
This time, Yeon Geum-hong caught it.
“Tsk! This one’s from Beijing.”
She naturally assumed it would be about Oseong Merchant Association business. But when she checked the letter, she cried out in surprise.
“It’s from Do Pyeong-su!”
“Do Pyeong-su wrote a letter? That’s truly surprising?”
“Gal Ma-pyeong must have written it.”
“Ah! What does it say?”
The characters were as tiny as sesame seeds, crammed into the limited space as densely as possible.
“Gal Ma-pyeong has excellent penmanship. Let me see… Oh!”
“What?”
“It says the Northern Ice Palace colluded with Ya Wang Moon, and Samgongja is behind it all!”
Geom U-bin asked, startled.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. Look.”
Geom U-bin spoke after reading the letter.
“This Samgongja operates quite extensively.”
A larger picture was taking shape in Geom U-bin’s mind.
“When he was involved with the Hao Mun affair, Samgongja tried to co-opt people and seize control of Haenyeong Port. Of course, if we hadn’t intervened, it wouldn’t have ended with just Haenyeong Port.”
Seo Seok-san spoke.
“But the Northern Ice Palace is in a league far beyond Hao Mun, isn’t it? They’re far larger.”
“Whether large or small, he’s gathering forces. He’s building a structure of power that’s tightly woven from the very bottom to the very top. Just like our Oseong Jang-won is.”
The Oseong Pavilion and Oseong Merchant Association under the mere triad of Oseong reach their apex in Oseong Jang-won, where five of the greatest masters of Murim reside.
In truth, there is likely no Murim faction stronger than Oseong Jang-won as a single unified power in the current Murim. Even Shaolin Temple, called the Taesan Bukto of Murim, would be no match for Geom U-bin and Hyeolpung Saja with Hang Ju-sa-ung.
“Then why did our master want to find Samgongja in the first place?”
At Yeon Geum-hong’s question, Geom U-bin’s head shook side to side.
“That’s something you’d have to ask Samgongja himself.”
Seo Seok-san asked, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Are we heading to the Northern Ice Palace then?”
“No. There’s no report of Samgongja appearing at the Northern Ice Palace. The fact that Ya Wang Moon Master is in contact with someone named Baek Gang suggests that Samgongja isn’t in the North.”
“Then where are we going?”
Geom U-bin wanted to leave urgently, wherever it was. After a moment’s thought, he called for Jeon Mi-ryeo.
Jeon Mi-ryeo was still training in the back garden, her breathing still rough.
“What is it… you’ve called me for? Huff! Huff!”
“What do you know about Ya Wang Moon, one of the Saeoe Five Kings?”
At the mention of Ya Wang Moon, Jeon Mi-ryeo started in surprise.
“Why Ya Wang Moon?”
Having no reason to hide it, Do Pyeong-su revealed the contents of the letter he’d sent.
“Ya Wang Moon has greater power than all the other four of the Saeoe Five Kings combined. The sect master’s martial arts are also exceptional. But you’re saying Ya Wang Moon Master went directly to the Northern Ice Palace? And on the orders of this Samgongja?”
“So it seems.”
Furrows appeared between Jeon Mi-ryeo’s brows.
“I knew Ya Wang Moon Master had ambitions to unify the forces of Saeoe and expand into Zhongyuan, but I didn’t know he was being manipulated by an outside power.”
Jeon Mi-ryeo paused in thought before continuing.
“When I left, Ya Wang Moon had absorbed almost all the minor factions of Saeoe, and only four of the Saeoe Five Kings were still resisting. Ah! Those four might have already fallen to Ya Wang Moon by now!”
“How so?”
“News from Saeoe used to arrive once a month, but it didn’t come this time. I thought it was strange, but if changes like that have occurred in Saeoe, the news might not be able to reach us.”
“If Ya Wang Moon has unified Saeoe, then Samgongja must be behind that too. And if Ya Wang Moon Master is taking orders from Samgongja, then Samgongja must naturally be in Saeoe.”
Seo Seok-san asked.
“So we’re heading to Saeoe?”

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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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