Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 202

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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 202

The vegetable merchant’s shop stood in Rimseo, about ten miles south of Seokrimho.
Compared to other parts of Mongolia, the soil was fertile and groundwater plentiful, making it a region devoted primarily to farming. Yet without sufficient commerce, the small village had stagnated, housing barely more than a hundred households.
The vegetable shop occupied a corner at the edge of that modest settlement.
Before even a quarter hour had passed since Geom U-bin and his party began watching the shop, they spotted something suspicious.
Six pigeons kept in the back garden.
There was no reason for a simple vegetable merchant to raise birds that resembled carrier pigeons.
“Should we take him and interrogate him?”
It would be the simplest approach, but there was no guarantee the man would speak truth.
“He doesn’t seem to be the Third Agent.”
“That’s right? He only looks to be in his early thirties, but the Third Agent our master was searching for would have to be well into his fifties by now, at the very least.”
“Let’s continue watching for a while longer.”
That “while longer” stretched into two days, and just as patience was wearing dangerously thin, a carrier pigeon flew toward the vegetable shop.
Before the bird could enter, Geom U-bin sprang forward and snatched it from the air.
To be certain, he needed to read the message.
The pigeon, accustomed to resting in human hands, remained perfectly still.
As Geom U-bin read the letter, a smile played across his lips.
—Hak Jin-pung tracking failed. Sae-oe integration without issue. Awaiting further orders.
The message was brief, suited to the small scrap of paper, yet entirely clear in meaning.
Geom U-bin slipped the letter back into its tiny tube and released the pigeon. The well-trained bird flew directly back to the vegetable shop.
“It does seem like the man is the Third Agent, doesn’t it?”
At Yeon Geum-hong’s impatient remark, Geom U-bin summoned a little more patience.
“Wait just a bit longer. We’ll know soon enough.”
Geom U-bin repositioned himself to the south.
If no carrier pigeon took flight within one double hour, then whoever received it now was the decision-maker—the Third Agent himself. There would be no doubt then.
The nagging question was his age. He seemed far too young.
‘Though our disciples don’t look a hundred years old either.’
But less than a quarter hour passed before a pigeon launched from the vegetable shop. This time, Yeon Geum-hong caught it first.
It was not newly written—they’d transferred the same letter they’d seen onto a different bird and sent it on.
“Whoever receives this letter must be the Third Agent.”
No matter how meticulous a man might be, he wouldn’t filter a carrier pigeon through two hands. To do so would turn the latest intelligence into stale news.
Geom U-bin replaced the letter in its tube and spoke.
“Shall we let this pigeon guide us to him?”

***

Eun Bi-yeon exhaled a long breath while Eun Yi-seol lay utterly drained.
Exhausted, Eun Yi-seol collapsed sideways the moment Eun Bi-yeon’s palm lifted from her back. As Eun Bi-yeon took the Bing-jeong from Eun Yi-seol’s grip, she spoke with concern.
“This poison is vicious. Even using Bing-jeong, I cannot extract its roots.”
Eun Yi-seol’s martial arts, which had been advancing by leaps and bounds, suddenly halted at a certain threshold.
A poison lodged deep within her body had become an immovable wall, blocking her path forward.
Do Pyeong-su entered the training hall.
“Not working?”
“No. Right now, the more we try to drive out the poison, the more Yi-seol’s body just wastes away.”
Do Pyeong-su turned to Gal Ma-pyeong, who had come with him.
“Where does Yi-seol stand in her martial arts now?”
“She can endure about thirty seconds against me.”
From her early helplessness, this was enormous progress. Yet holding her own for thirty seconds would not be enough to overcome Baek Gang.
“If only Master Jang were here, this could be resolved cleanly.”
Jang Man-dok, who had left for Sae-oe to capture the Third Agent, was nowhere to be found.
“This is maddening.”
Do Pyeong-su looked as though he might truly collapse from frustration.
Stranded in a place with nothing to do and nothing but boredom, and now faced with a problem his abilities couldn’t solve—it was almost unbearable. At this rate, he wondered if his heart might burst from sheer exasperation.
“Let’s simply kill Baek Gang.”
Eun Bi-yeon answered his words with calm resolve.
“I told you that won’t work.”
“Blast it all! Why does everything have to be so complicated?”
Just then Cheong-yeong and Hong-yeong entered the main hall.
“A carrier pigeon has arrived for you, Brother.”
Do Pyeong-su’s face brightened instantly.
If it wasn’t from Geom U-bin’s group, there was no one else who would send him a message. Delighted, Do Pyeong-su received the letter and promptly handed it to Gal Ma-pyeong.
“We have to find some way to fix this side effect.”
Do Pyeong-su believed that his inability to master the Cheonjamun was entirely due to the side effect.
“Master Geom and the three masters are in Liaoning Province, it says. They’ve been tracking the Third Agent’s trail, and they’ll send word again once they’ve gathered new information.”
“Liaoning? That’s practically next door.”
For ordinary people it would be an impossible distance, but for Do Pyeong-su it was merely a stone’s throw away.
“But how did you manage to send a carrier pigeon from here? Last time you had to go all the way to Heilongjiang to send one.”
“I got tired of making the trip, so I set up a relay the last time I was there. If Master Geom or the masters send a pigeon to the Hao Mun branch in Heilongjiang, it’ll forward the message here.”
“Heh heh heh… my disciple’s a clever one. I’ll head to Liaoning right now and be back shortly.”
“Where in Liaoning will you be heading?”
Do Pyeong-su stopped mid-turn.
“That’s right—where should I go?”
Eun Bi-yeon spoke up.
“Try the Moyong Clan. What other reason would there be for coming to Liaoning?”
“Right, of course! Heh heh heh… I’m surrounded by brilliant minds. I’ll fetch Jang Man-dok and be on my way.”

***

“Brother, do you need to go again?”
Kang Chan-sik paused to check his body’s state and shook his head.
“No, I think I’m alright.”
He’d already gone three times this morning alone. The nervousness of meeting the Emperor kept triggering his bladder.
Go Shin-ji, watching from beside him, smiled and said, “His Majesty is just a person like us. There’s no need to be so nervous.”
“Of course, of course. He’s only fifteen years old, after all. Ha ha ha!”
Dan Jeong-cheol gasped and cautioned Kang Chan-sik urgently.
“Brother, don’t speak that way! If someone hears you calling His Majesty a child, you won’t come out of it unscathed.”
“Oh, right? In that case, I need to visit the… the privy for a moment.”
Kang Chan-sik had to relieve himself again.
‘Why am I surrounded by so many terrifying fifteen-year-olds?’
The Emperor was fearsome simply by virtue of being Emperor, and Geom U-bin was formidable in his own right.
They left the inn and mounted their horses.
Unaccustomed to riding, Kang Chan-sik kept shifting uncomfortably in the saddle, and Dan Jeong-cheol was beside himself with worry.
“Isn’t Brother Kang coming with us?”
When Kang Chan-sik asked, Go Shin-ji let out a weary sigh.
“He says he finds the saddle uncomfortable and doesn’t want to go. He’ll stay and look after Ji-u.”
“If he doesn’t want to go, he doesn’t have to. Lucky him.”
“But you’re going to receive a commendation. Most people would be thrilled for a lifetime honor, yet you seem reluctant.”
“I don’t need honors. I’m perfectly satisfied with my current life, and besides—I only did what was necessary to avenge a wrong. Why should that warrant a reward?”
He should have simply buried Ak-cheon-gil’s body in the ground and said nothing.
“Where did the nerve to behead Ak-cheon-gil go?”
Dan Jeong-cheol’s voice dropped low.
“Just think of it as meeting a fifteen-year-old child.”
In the end, that was all that could calm Kang Chan-sik.
“Right. A fifteen-year-old child… a fifteen-year-old child…”
“Please don’t repeat it so often.”
He looked as anxious as someone watching a child drowning, not merely wading.
As they crossed the vast plaza, a bridge appeared spanning the moat dug around the Forbidden City.
Beyond that bridge loomed the enormous gate of the Forbidden City itself. To Kang Chan-sik, it resembled the gaping maw of some great beast about to swallow him whole.
‘It’s just a brief meeting with a child and then we leave!’
The moment he tensed his lower abdomen, his sphincter suddenly gave way, and a loud, gurgling sound erupted.
“Ahem! Ahem!”
Dan Jeong-cheol covered the awkwardness with a discreet cough, a few soldiers nearby plugged their noses, and Go Shin-ji stifled a laugh.
“I—it didn’t leak. I was just worried there might be a misunderstanding.”
“Stop making crude noises and let’s proceed.”

After confirming their identities, they stepped into the Forbidden City. First they marveled at the scale of the main gate, then again at the grandeur and splendor of the buildings within.
Kang Chan-sik, treading across the stone-paved ground, could barely keep his eyes still—there was too much to see.
“Wow! So that’s why everyone talks about the Forbidden City. Look at that roof gleaming gold over there—that can’t actually be gold, can it?”
“It is gilded, sir.”
“Real gold?”
“Yes. Why don’t you ask His Majesty for one of those tiles?”
“Will he give it to me?”
“I was joking!”
“Ah, I see.”
Beyond each building lay a plaza, and beyond each plaza rose another immense structure—the Forbidden City sprawled so vastly it seemed to stretch to the ends of the earth itself.
Guards bearing spears or swords stood positioned like stone statues of lions and dragons.
“Are all of these men Imperial Guards like yourself?”
“They are, sir.”
“Poor devils.”
“Sir?”
Standing motionless like that for several double hours a day—I couldn’t endure it. I’d sooner spend my time training at Oseong Jang-won than stand about like that all day.”
“It is an honor to protect His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Honor my foot—babysitting some fifteen-year-old child.”
Had an ordinary commoner spoken such words, Dan Jeong-cheol would have hauled him away to be interrogated without hesitation. But he chose to let it pass with understanding.
As they passed down a side path beside a building, the plaza that opened before them was far vaster than any they had traversed until now.
Dan Jeong-cheol pointed to the structure at the far end of the plaza.
“There it is.”
The building bearing the nameplate “Taewhajeon” was so enormous Kang Chan-sik’s jaw fell open.
“What kind of house is this big!”
Every building in the Forbidden City was immense, but Taewhajeon dominated them all—a structure so massive it made everything else seem small by comparison.
More than fifty steps had to be climbed to reach Taewhajeon, and behind it stretched high walls that seemed to extend endlessly.
Along the two staircases on either side stood Imperial Guards in gleaming golden robes, arrayed with such commanding presence they seemed to fill the entire space.
Between the building’s sheer scale and the weight of so many armed men, Kang Chan-sik felt his courage beginning to shrivel.
To avoid making another mistake, Kang Chan-sik first tightened his sphincter, then drew his lower abdomen taut with effort.
‘What’s so fearsome about a building? Those poor fellows up there stand guard for a fifteen-year-old child—they’re just as pitiful as anyone else.’
As he climbed the steps, Kang Chan-sik thought of Geom U-bin.
‘Where in this world is there a fifteen-year-old more frightening than Geom?’
With that thought, his heart suddenly grew light. Dan Jeong-cheol, standing beside him, whispered softly.
“You did learn the proper protocol for meeting His Majesty, didn’t you?”
After practicing for two double hours, his knees and lower back ached with every step.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do it flawlessly.”
He didn’t sound entirely convincing, yet against Dan Jeong-cheol’s fears, Kang Chan-sik proceeded through every ceremony without a hitch.
The Emperor appeared, the full kowtow was performed, and the chorus of “Long live! Long live! Long live a thousand years!” followed—if the rhythm was slightly off, it was a fault barely worth mentioning.
From Kang Chan-sik’s perspective, it was not so difficult at all.
The Emperor seated upon the Dragon Throne looked exactly like a fifteen-year-old boy.
Strip away the elaborate crimson robes embroidered with dragons and the ornate crown upon his head, and his face was one you might see anywhere in the streets.
Of course, the subtle aura born of imperial blood and cultivated over a lifetime was certainly different from that of an ordinary child. Yet if such an aura were in question, Geom U-bin’s was stronger.
The Emperor’s aura was merely the product of his station, while Geom U-bin’s internal power had been painstakingly built through his own cultivation. There was no question which burned more fiercely.
The Emperor’s gaze, cast downward at Kang Chan-sik, carried the weight of habitual ennui—an expression far too weary for his years.
“So you are the one who freed me from my troubles. Your name is Kang, Kang… what is your family name again?”
“Kang Chan-sik, sire. Rather, I should say, your servant, Kang Chan-sik.”
The Emperor had been about to ask an attendant, but Kang Chan-sik answered immediately. Standing behind the other officials, Dan Jeong-cheol’s lips grew pale and thin.
‘I told him to speak only when absolutely necessary.’
Fortunately, the Emperor’s mood seemed none the worse for it.
“And what is your occupation?”
Kang Chan-sik had not expected such a question. He had assumed this would be a brief and formal audience—the Emperor would ask what reward was desired, Kang Chan-sik would answer, and the Emperor would grant it. Nothing more.
“I am the leader of the Heuksahoe triad, Your Majesty.”
Dan Jeong-cheol shut his eyes.

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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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