Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 2

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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 2

Heaven has paradise, and on earth there are Hangju and Suzhou — so goes the old saying, and it is no mere fancy.
Of the two, the nights of Hangju were especially beautiful.
The lake held boats bearing lanterns of every hue, packed so densely they seemed like scattered jewels, and the brilliance of the city streets was like gazing upon the Milky Way itself.
The great halls lining the Jeondan River that ran through Hangju were considered auspicious places and forever bustled with guests.
Yet one establishment on the Jeondan riverbank — a tavern called the Seounun Gaekjan, beloved by countless poets, scholars, and wine connoisseurs — stood empty of even a single patron.
“What did you just say?”
In the Seounun Gaekjan where the Hyeolpung Saja had descended, only the proprietor and five servers remained, trembling.
“Sir, I swear — we have not received a single guest under ten years of age for four days… no, not in the past two years.”
Under the killing intent Yeon Geum-hong had unleashed, the proprietor Wang Soo-bong’s legs gave way and he sank into a crouch. Fortunately, there was a chair behind him, sparing him the indignity of crashing to the floor.
“If you lie to us, I will not merely slaughter you — I will erase three bloodlines… no, nine.”
The power carried in her voice was not mere threat; it was certainty that it would come to pass.
“Of, of course!”
At Wang Soo-bong’s confident assurance, dismay crossed Yeon Geum-hong’s face. She had sent money and made arrangements for the boy to come here — so where on earth had he gone?
“We search this area thoroughly, starting now.”
As Seo Seok-san spoke, Yeon Geum-hong turned to go, but Do Pyeong-su addressed Wang Soo-bong.
“If we fail to find him, you die. If we find him but so much as a fingernail is damaged, you die. If anyone has harmed him, that one dies — and so do you.”
“What wrong have I done? Surely I am not at fault if a guest simply did not arrive?”
“If something happened to him, someone must answer for it! Do you expect me to?”
There was nothing to do but shake his head.
Nod, and his neck would be severed on the spot.
“Right. Of course it should be you.”
Wang Soo-bong watched the Hyeolpung Saja depart, praying with all his might to heaven and earth that this boy called “Elder” — whom he had never met — would come to no harm.
The four of them searched for a full double-hour, yet they could not find Geom U-bin.
“As promised, that innkeeper will—”
Yeon Geum-hong caught Do Pyeong-su as he moved toward the tavern.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“What if we’re scratching at the wrong place?”
“I haven’t scratched any wrong places.”
“He may never have come here in the first place.”
“Then where would he have gone?”
“Where else but back to the Sect?”
Seo Seok-san’s expression shifted to alarm.
“Surely not—”

***

Not knowing which path was correct, Do Pyeong-su and Jang Man-dok continued to search Hangju, while only Yeon Geum-hong and Seo Seok-san took the road toward the Baeklim Sect.
“Do you really think he made it back to the Sect this way?”
Considering Geom U-bin’s condition at the time, the odds seemed poor.
He had been exhausted to the point of collapse, and his wounds were far from trivial.
For him to have struggled all the way to an inn in Hangju was already improbable; the thought of him returning to the Baeklim Sect afterward was almost impossible to imagine.
“You can’t think of him as an ordinary child. This is the boy who ran a thousand li in ten days and climbed Geombong Mountain. There’s nothing common about him.”
“True enough — Master would never have taken an ordinary child as her disciple.”
The two of them proceeded on the assumption that Geom U-bin had descended from Geombong Mountain and gone straight back to the Baeklim Sect rather than to Hangju.
The moon hung obscured by clouds, and pitch darkness enveloped the land, yet the darkness posed no obstacle to ones of their martial skill.
The road Geom U-bin had taken ten days to traverse, they covered in a single day, and they reached Hwajuk Mountain.
And it took two more days to return to Hangju.
In those four days, the distance traveled by an exhausted Geom U-bin could not have been great.
If they did not find him by tonight or tomorrow morning despite using their Lightness Skill to the fullest, then either the path was wrong or Yeon Geum-hong’s reasoning was flawed.
And so, in the anxious gaze of Yeon Geum-hong, a bloodstain caught her eye.
It was a narrow mountain trail, the kind hunters and herb-gatherers might walk.
The fresh bloodstain gleamed red against the green grass leaves. Their eyes met for a brief instant before both launched themselves in the direction of the blood.
And soon they found Geom U-bin, pushing through the dense forest with labored steps. As the two descended before him, the startled boy lost his footing and fell on his rear.
Shock and pain flickered across their faces as they watched Geom U-bin.
It astonished them that he moved at all, drenched head to toe in blood, and knowing the reason behind it made their hearts ache.
“You should have gone to the inn on Main Street in Hangju. Why are you here?”
“And Grandfather? The two of you should have gone to Baeklim Sect to rescue him!”
Yeon Geum-hong let out a long sigh.
“We’ve already been to Baeklim Sect.”
“Already? Only four days have passed—or is it five?”
Geom U-bin couldn’t even properly track the passage of time.
“We’ve rescued our master.”
Geom U-bin’s body fell backward as he released a long breath of relief.
“Thank goodness.”
With those words, he lost consciousness.
“He kept going despite the pain and exhaustion. We’re blessed to have such a remarkable older brother, it seems.”

***

Geom U-bin’s face remained shadowed with deep sorrow as he bowed before the tomb on Hwajuk Mountain.
“At last you’ve gone to a peaceful place.”
An eight-year-old knew little of death itself, but having witnessed the suffering that Hwajuk Mountain had inflicted on their master in life, he could speak thus.
“I’m sorry.”
Yeon Geum-hong’s hand, which had been reaching toward Geom U-bin’s shoulder, froze at his murmured words.
“If only I’d been faster… if only I’d been stronger, I could have saved Grandfather.”
The sorrow lingering on Geom U-bin’s face mingled with self-recrimination. Yeon Geum-hong wanted to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but the words wouldn’t come. She had never comforted anyone in her life; the very situation felt foreign to her. All she could do was wait until he gathered his grief on his own.
All she could do was wait until he gathered his grief on his own.
A quarter hour later, when the clouds had lifted from Geom U-bin’s face, the five of them sat facing one another on a broad rock.
“What? I’m your older brother? Not your fellow disciple?”
Seo Seok-san spoke up.
“Yes. You became our master’s disciple first, and we were accepted as disciples just before our master passed. That makes you our senior brother.”
“But I’m only eight years old… and the only martial art our master taught me was the Internal Energy Cultivation Method…”
Do Pyeong-su, blunt as ever, added his voice.
“Nothing else matters! Our master’s first disciple is our senior brother—that’s all there is to it!”
Geom U-bin sighed with a weariness beyond his years.
“Our master said there might come older brothers and sisters one day.”
“Our master said that?”
“Six months ago. That they’d be older but unversed in the ways of the world.”
“Unversed in the ways of the world? Still, we’re certain of our debts to him…”
Seo Seok-san jabbed Do Pyeong-su sharply in the ribs with his elbow.
“Debts, yes—but not favors received.”
“Well, who among us has received favors from anyone but our master?”
Yeon Geum-hong stepped forward.
“Did our master leave any other instructions?”
“He said to guide his disciples so they wouldn’t accumulate further evil karma. I’m not sure what he meant by that, though. Do you all understand it?”
“Hehehehe!”
Yeon Geum-hong laughed openly at being called “sister,” then quickly composed herself.
“We won’t seek trouble with anyone unless provoked, so you needn’t worry about us. And from now on, instead of calling us ‘uncle’ or ‘sister,’ call us by our disciple names.”
“But I’m so young… you all seem to be around forty or forty-five, and sister seems to be about twenty-four…”
“Hehehehe! Ahem! Age isn’t what matters. Our master established the order, so all we need do is follow it…”
Yeon Geum-hong trailed off at the sound of Geom U-bin’s stomach growling.
“Seems our senior brother is hungry.”
The moment she finished speaking, three men bolted into the forest. They returned a quarter hour later, each carrying fresh game.
Do Pyeong-su had caught a wild boar, Seo Seok-san a young deer, and Jang Man-dok carried…
Yeon Geum-hong let out a sharp cry.
“A tiger? Why on earth did you bring a tiger!”
As Jang Man-dok narrowed his eyes, Do Pyeong-su spoke for him.
“Why not a tiger?”
Jang Man-dok was so taciturn it was hard to hear him speak more than once a year, yet somehow communication managed to flow—all thanks to Do Pyeong-su.
Do Pyeong-su could discern what Jang Man-dok meant from the smallest flicker of his expression.
“Tiger meat is only fit for medicine! Anything that eats meat and nothing else tastes foul!”
“I found it delicious, though.”
“Please don’t generalize from your peculiar palate.”
“Since we’ve already caught it, we might as well eat it properly. Tiger meat can be quite palatable if prepared well.”
When Geom U-bin sided with her, the corner of Jang Man-dok’s mouth twitched. Fortunately, a stream ran nearby, so butchering the game proved simple enough.
As they kindled a fire and began roasting the meat, Geom U-bin asked a question.
“But what will we do from now on? We can’t make our living as hunters, can we?”
Seo Seok-san spoke up.
“Earning money isn’t difficult.”
“How so?”
“We go where the wealthy keep their wealth, wear a scowl, and money will appear.”
“That’s… that’s robbery, isn’t it?”
“They give it willingly enough. We’ve never demanded a thing.”
“But you’d still be taking what belongs to others.”
“If that troubles you, we could always raid a bandit den instead. It’s a touch less respectable, perhaps, but it works.”
Geom U-bin shook her head.
“Master told us not to accumulate evil karma anymore. We ought to live ordinary lives. What do you do best, Seo?”
Seo Seok-san answered without hesitation.
“Kill people. I can slay thirty men before a fallen apple hits the ground.”
Do Pyeong-su let out a derisive snort.
“Pfft! Merely thirty? I can manage fifty. What’s that? Jang says he can kill a hundred? Then I’ll take two hundred!”
Yeon Geum-hong stepped into the fray.
“If there are people to kill, I could manage three hundred myself.”
The numbers kept inflating until they reached two thousand, at which point Geom U-bin intervened.
“We can’t make our living from killing! Have you forgotten Master’s last will—that we cease accumulating evil karma?”
“We’re not saying we’d live off it. We’re simply stating what we do best.”
“Then what’s the second thing you do well?”
The answer came swiftly.
“Making wine. No one but us can craft a drink to suit Master’s taste. She was especially fond of my Fengliu Wine.”
At Seo Seok-san’s words, Do Pyeong-su flared up indignantly.
“What nonsense! Master preferred my Hwagok Wine above all!”
“Stop your foolishness. Have you forgotten how Master drank my Yeogeum Wine all night and slept until morning?”
Jang Man-dok expressed his opinion by smashing the boulder beside him with his fist.
“Wait—I think I’ve found what we should do!”
All eyes turned toward Geom U-bin.
“We should start a distillery!”
They blinked at her blankly.
“What?”
Yeon Geum-hong asked.
“You mean we make wine and sell it to people?”
“Yes. Don’t you enjoy making wine?”
“Of course we do. But that was different—we made it for Master. To sell our wine to just anyone… well, it feels rather…”
“It brings happiness to many people, doesn’t it?”
“What?”
“If we can make people happy and earn money at the same time, that’s good, isn’t it?”

***

Geom U-bin lay fast asleep beside the campfire while the four others sat in a circle atop a wide stone. None of them spoke easily—the situation felt too awkward for words.
After a long silence, Do Pyeong-su broke it.
“Should we go back to the estate where we lived with Master?”
“And then what?”
“We’ll manage somehow.”
“We spent all our money searching for Master, and the estate probably hasn’t been maintained. How would we support her there?”
Faced with Yeon Geum-hong’s logical objection, Do Pyeong-su said no more about returning to the estate.
“Besides, it could put her in danger. How many enemies do we have in the Murim?”
Seo Seok-san gazed down at the sleeping Geom U-bin.
“We’ll have to protect her thoroughly. If anything happened to her, how could we face Master in the afterlife?”
“Protection aside, shouldn’t we also teach her martial arts so she can defend herself?”
At Yeon Geum-hong’s words, the three men nodded in unison.
What happened at Hwajuk Mountain and the countless conflicts involving the Bloodwind Four Lions, regardless of righteous cause or evil, had been numerous.
To the Bloodwind Four Lions, those incidents had seemed trivial, yet because of such trifles, Geom U-bin could easily be hurt.
“A nine-decade-old looking after an eight-year-old sister. What a peculiar lot we are!”
Three pairs of fierce eyes fixed on Do Pyeong-su.
“You find fault with that?”
“Fault? I’m stating fact.”
“Don’t forget when our master took us in. Without her, we’d have been carrion for crows before we turned ten—orphans and beggars with nowhere to go. She fed us, sheltered us, taught us martial arts, and made us who we are today. If she willed it, we’d walk into fire itself carrying wood on our backs. Raising a younger brother? That’s nothing at all.”
Seo Seok-san’s laughter rippled behind Yeon Geum-hong’s words.
“Hehehehe! Besides, he’s clever and handsome. Train him right and he’ll become the finest charming young lord in all Murim……”
“You planning to turn him into a philanderer across all Heaven and Earth?” Jang Man-dok asked.
“A man must know wine and refinement. Women following naturally after—that’s the way of things.”
Yeon Geum-hong spoke.
“We should make him the finest master under Heaven instead. That way, the karma we’ve built won’t lead us astray.”
Seo Seok-san’s gaze settled on Geom U-bin.
“So our elder brother will become the finest master under Heaven—and a charming young lord too.”

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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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