Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 199

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

#Episode 199

“So you’re Yi-seol, Bi-yeon’s niece.”
“You know my aunt?”
Just then, Eun Bi-yeon appeared.
She’d rushed over after hearing from Gal Ma-pyeong that Yeon Geum-hong had arrived.
“Sister!”
“Why are you putting on such a happy face?”
“I am happy. Did you come alone?”
“Having a crowd along would only be a nuisance.”
“What brings you here? How long are you staying?”
Yeon Geum-hong studied Eun Bi-yeon for a moment before asking her question.
“You’re bored here, aren’t you?”
“Well, not so much bored as……”
“Do Pyeong-su won’t keep you company?”
“When would there be time to play with him? I’ve been helping Yi-seol with her martial arts training all day long.”
“You? But you and Ma-pyeong seemed to have such good chemistry.”
“Well, he’s my betrothed, after all.”
“Betrothed?”
Yeon Geum-hong’s eyes widened in surprise. Eun Bi-yeon promptly told her about the arrangement between Gal Ma-pyeong and Eun Yi-seol.
Listening to the account while nodding, Eun Bi-yeon spoke.
“So the false can become true, then.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Before Eun Bi-yeon could answer, Do Pyeong-su appeared.
“Geum-hong!”
This was the first time Do Pyeong-su had greeted Yeon Geum-hong with such joy—and likely the last.
Both Eun Bi-yeon and Do Pyeong-su showed reactions quite unlike their usual manner toward Yeon Geum-hong.
“You two really were bored out of your minds here, weren’t you?”
Eun Bi-yeon denied it, but Do Pyeong-su nodded vigorously.
“I thought I’d die! Did you come alone? What about my brother?”
“He and another are in Sae-oe.”
Yeon Geum-hong told him what had transpired in the meantime, then asked him a question.
“Do you have any new information?”
“Of course I do.”
Do Pyeong-su drew upon every scrap of memory and relayed it all to Yeon Geum-hong.
“At least you’ve earned your keep. I’ll see you later.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Just like that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Stay a while longer.”
“You must be truly desperate for entertainment.”
“Maybe I should just come with you?”
“You have work to do here.”
“I don’t have anything to do until the sparring matches!”
“Then bore yourself to death, I suppose.”
With that, Yeon Geum-hong departed as coldly as she’d arrived. By the time she returned to Gwak Rim Gwak Teuk, her visit with Do Pyeong-su was already a fading memory.
As she laid out what Do Pyeong-su had told her, the shock was considerable.
“The Moyong Clan is involved in this matter?”
Geom U-bin posed the question, and Yeon Geum-hong nodded in response.
“Yes. This isn’t the sort of thing the Orthodox Faction would do.”
Seo Seok-san spoke up.
“It seems this problem extends beyond just the Northern Ice Palace.”
“You’re right. If both the Northern Ice Palace and the Moyong Clan are in Sae-oe, then other sects must be involved as well. We absolutely need to capture Sam Gongja and interrogate him.”
“But there’s no clear way to capture him.”
One couldn’t simply go around asking if anyone knew Sam Gongja.
“Seo, take charge of watching the Moyong Clan for us. The three of us will head to Seoreum Lake.”
“Why must I be separated alone?”
“We can’t send Jang.”
There had formed an unspoken consensus that Jang Man-dok shouldn’t be sent anywhere by himself.
“You’ve already been to the Northern Ice Palace. Of course, I could go instead——”
“No. I’ll go. I can’t leave the head alone.”
After Seo Seok-san departed for the Moyong Clan, the remaining group set out toward Seoreum Lake, where Yawangmun was located.
Seoreum Lake bore the glory of the Mongol Empire, yet it was not a place fit for human habitation.
Most of it was steppe covered in low grass—a land of sheep and goats far outnumbering people, which was what Sae-oe truly was.
The Seoreum Lake they reached had at least formed a sizeable village centered around a great lake.
Even there, Geom U-bin, Yeon Geum-hong, and Jang Man-dok divided their tasks.
“The two of you keep watch over the Yawangmun master. I’ll go into town and search for someone named Hak Jin-pung, whom that young lady mentioned.”
With so little knowledge of Sae-oe between them, they needed to gather what help they could.
“Will you be all right alone? The folk of Sae-oe have rough natures, after all.”
Yeon Geum-hong’s concern drew an amused response from Geom U-bin.
“Shouldn’t it be the people who bother me who ought to worry?”
“That’s a fair point.”
The three parted ways at a place with a view of the distant town.
Yawangmun lay some ten li to the north, away from the town proper.
After sending the other two off, Geom U-bin made for the town center of Seoreum Lake alone. The outskirts held ordinary dwellings, but as he pressed inward, shops began to catch the eye.
Surprisingly, there were quite a few passersby, and roughly half of them wore swords at their waists.
Though officials existed in the area, they wielded little authority in this remote backland. Here, distant from both Zhongyuan and from Mongol, power itself became law.
Geom U-bin entered a nearby tavern.
Past the dinner hour, the establishment held only four other patrons.
Geom U-bin, ordering dumplings and thin noodles without expecting much, surveyed his surroundings.
The four diners appeared to be merchants passing through Sae-oe rather than locals.
‘I need to meet someone from this region.’
A voice cut into his thoughts.
“Haven’t seen your face before.”
He hadn’t thought the remark was directed at him, yet the middle-aged man who spoke had his gaze fixed squarely on Geom U-bin.
“I’m waiting for my group. Don’t concern yourself.”
Geom U-bin deliberately affected the manner of a rough-hewn ruffian.
“Where are you from?”
“What’s it to you?”
Three men with swords and blades at their sides closed in around Geom U-bin with a menacing air.
“Have you forgotten this is Yawangmun territory? We are Yawangmun warriors! Don’t you see our mark?”
The middle-aged man thrust his chest out proudly, bearing a symbol of the Big Dipper—seven stars set in white against black.
“Tch! I’ve heard the Yawangmun muscle here is nothing but a nuisance.”
“What did you just say?”
The middle-aged man reached for the back of Geom U-bin’s neck, but the hand Geom U-bin swung sent him stumbling backward without force.
“Oof!”
“Come now, broadly speaking we’re all one family. No need to be so rigid about it.”
“What makes you think you and we are family?”
“I came a long way from the Hyecheong Faction because I heard there’d be work here.”
“You’re under the Hyecheong Faction?”
“If not, why would I be in a place where all you taste is sand?”
“You don’t look like someone born in Sae-oe……”
He was pointing out Geom U-bin’s pale complexion.
“What would you have me do about the way I was born?”
“We’ll test it and find out.”
The man suddenly threw a punch at his face.
However sudden the attack, it was still far too slow to land cleanly.
Yet Geom U-bin narrowly slipped the punch and cried out.
“Is that really how you want to do this? Don’t cry foul when my Manhye Fist Technique gets the better of you!”
Geom U-bin traded blows with the middle-aged man in the style of the Hyecheong Faction’s techniques.
He had watched Jeon Mi-ryeo practice, and sparred with her occasionally, so he could mimic the form well enough.
Geom U-bin deliberately refrained from winning outright.
A young man like him defeating a middle-aged opponent would draw unwanted attention.
The middle-aged man, retreating with a large step, brushed off his clothes.
“You’re Hyecheong Faction all right. There’s been strict orders to verify anyone who comes through these days.”
“I know.”
“Did you come here to capture Hak Jin-pung as well?”
‘Capture Hak Jin-pung?’
It was the first time Geom U-bin had heard such a thing, but he nodded anyway.
“Why else would I have come all this way?”
“Hehehehe! So Hak Jin-pung’s head commands quite the price, does it? If the Hyecheong Faction sent even a pup like you, you must be serious. Put in the effort—if you manage to distinguish yourself in capturing Hak Jin-pung, you might live comfortably in Zhongyuan.”
Having deceived the middle-aged man, Geom U-bin wandered the streets aimlessly. He spotted several people bearing the Yawangmun insignia without difficulty, yet not a single one could be called a true master.
‘The influence of the Saeoe Five Kings has weakened considerably, it seems. If the warriors of Yawangmun—their strongest faction—are at this level…’
After purchasing a half-withered apple and paying for it, a boy of about sixteen approached him.
“You’re from the Hyecheong Faction?”
The question was posed casually, but it was anything but lighthearted. Even if the boy were a natural-born liar who had lived his entire life in deception, he could not deceive Geom U-bin’s eyes at his mere sixteen years.
Geom U-bin shrugged.
“More or less.”
“More or less?”
“If you’ve learned the Hyecheong Faction’s Martial Arts, you’re Hyecheong, aren’t you?”
“So you’re not a formal Hyecheong disciple?”
“Who are you to press me like this?”
“Me? Na So-myeong.”
Na So-myeong spoke with confidence.
“You don’t know me? I’m a Hyecheong disciple.”
“That so?”
Geom U-bin was somewhat taken aback, but he answered coolly on the surface.
“Who taught you the Hyecheong Faction’s Martial Arts?”
“All I know is that his surname was Jang. I met him in Zhongyuan and stayed with him for about a year while he taught me various things.”
Geom U-bin had given the most common surname, Jang.
Every faction has disciples who depart for one reason or another, and a faction like the Hyecheong would have more than just one or two.
“You’re passing yourself off as a Hyecheong disciple after learning just a handful of techniques?”
“I’ve learned the Martial Arts, so I’m hardly an outsider, am I? Such distinctions can be overlooked.”
Na So-myeong, who had been about to protest, instead let out a weary sigh like an old man’s.
“Fine. By the look of you, you’re from Zhongyuan—so what brings you to Saeoe?”
“Trying to advance myself.”
“In Saeoe?”
“I heard that capturing someone named Hak Jin-pung would practically guarantee my advancement.”
The brief flash of annoyance on Na So-myeong’s face was quickly masked by a smile.
“You’ve barely scratched the surface of the Hyecheong Faction’s Martial Arts—how do you plan to capture Hak Jin-pung?”
“Is Hak Jin-pung really that formidable?”
“You’re going to capture someone without even knowing who he is?”
“I’m hardly fool enough to think I could do it myself. I figure if fortune smiles and he’s captured, being in on it is better than scraping by in dreary Zhongyuan.”
“So you have a Pursuit Marker, then?”
“A Pursuit Marker?”
“You really came here completely blind, didn’t you?”
Na So-myeong pulled a piece of paper the size of his palm from his pocket and waved it.
“This. You need this to join the pursuit group hunting Hak Jin-pung, and if you capture him, you get a Silver Coin as reward.”
“Where do you get one of those?”
Na So-myeong checked the sky and shook his head.
“It’s already too late.”
“No! I need to join the pursuit group! I’ve come all this way—I can’t leave empty-handed!”
“Just write off that Silver Coin as lost. There’s no way we’ll actually manage to capture Hak Jin-pung anyway.”
“Don’t say that! I’m going to distinguish myself!”
Geom U-bin asked in a measured tone.
“Would you consider selling me that marker?”
“It’s worth a whole Silver Coin—I can’t just give it away!”
If Jang Man-dok and Yeon Geum-hong could not find Sam Gongja in Yawangmun, then Hak Jin-pung was the greatest possibility for locating him.
So he absolutely had to join Hak Jin-pung’s pursuit group.
“I notice your name isn’t written on that marker—only the faction name and seal.”
“So?”
“You were just after that Silver Coin to join the group, weren’t you? I’ll give you the money myself—what if you sold the marker to me?”
“Give a Silver Coin and buy this? It’s worthless scrap paper if we don’t capture Hak Jin-pung.”
“We will capture him! We absolutely must!”
“Is that how badly you want to advance?”
“If I’d been born a man, I’d have made a name for myself in this world!”
“What’s your name?”
It was better to hide one’s real name, just in case.
“Fifth King of Saeoe.”
Geom U-bin, having blurted out the name without thinking, mentally slapped himself.
‘My naming sense is this pathetic? Fifth King of Saeoe? Fifth King of Saeoe?’
“That’s quite a grandiose name.”
Na So-myeong, who had been thinking for a moment, extended his hand.
“Money.”
“The marker first.”
“I’m certain I have the marker, but I’m suspicious whether you actually have a whole silver coin—that’s serious money.”
Geom U-bin reached into his pocket and withdrew a silver coin from inside, moving with extreme caution to keep the coins from clinking against each other.
As he handed over the silver coin with a look of great reluctance, his hand trembling, the pursuit marker was transferred to him.
“The pursuit party will gather at Sanggeonho at first light tomorrow and then depart.”
Sanggeonho was the name of a lake in this place.
“I wish you luck. Don’t ask for your money back if you don’t catch Hak Jin-pung. Though you probably won’t even see me again.”
Na So-myeong said this and disappeared, whistling.
He’d joined the pursuit party to earn a single silver coin, but he’d earned that coin without any hardship—quite the profitable transaction.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————