Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 210

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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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#210

Eun Bi-yeon sighed and shook her head slowly. She understood the impulse behind Eun Yi-seol’s desire—as Palace Master, to sever with her own hands the tangled web of complications that bound the Northern Ice Palace. But it was reckless.
For one thing, she had no way of knowing the Ya Wang Moon Master’s true martial prowess. For another, Eun Yi-seol was exhausted.
Her internal energy reserves were depleted, her physical strength spent. To face an unknown opponent in such a state was madness.
“So these people won’t interfere in our sparring, and even if you die by my hand, they’ll simply leave the Northern Ice Palace without laying a finger on me? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes!”
“I’m afraid the Palace Master’s word alone isn’t enough for me to trust.”
Eun Yi-seol walked toward where Geom U-bin and his companions stood.
“Aunt, please make them a promise.”
“There’s no need for you to kill him with your own hands.”
This is the Northern Ice Palace’s affair. I must resolve it myself as its Palace Master. Only then can I truly mend what’s been torn.”
All of this tragedy had befallen the palace because of her own weakness.
“I want to tie my own knot.”
Eun Bi-yeon couldn’t refuse her. Not when Eun Yi-seol’s reasoning served the palace itself.
“Very well. I won’t interfere.”
“Thank you.”
Eun Yi-seol turned and addressed the Ya Wang Moon Master.
“Is that settled?”
The Ya Wang Moon Master fought to suppress a smile. Everything had seemed lost—but now Eun Yi-seol’s youthful impetuousness was handing him the keys to victory.
He stepped toward Geom U-bin and his companions as if to display his confidence.
“I have one person’s consent, but I haven’t heard from the others yet.”
“They’ll all agree.”
“I prefer certainty.”
His gaze turned toward Yeon Geum-hong.
“If I prevail in our sparring, will you leave the Northern Ice Palace without incident?”
“This bastard, just—!”
“Aunt! Please…”
Eun Yi-seol’s pleading look forced Yeon Geum-hong to swallow her rage.
“I give my word.”
Having watched Eun Yi-seol spar with Baek Gang, Yeon Geum-hong didn’t think her an easy mark. Seo Seok-san, questioned next, had no choice but to make the same concession.
“And you there—you must make a promise as well.”
The Ya Wang Moon Master’s next target was Jang Man-dok. The muscles around Jang Man-dok’s jaw twitched, but no sound came forth.
“Your silence suggests you intend to interfere in our sparring?”
Jang Man-dok’s jaw muscles twitched again.
“You refuse to promise?”
Do Pyeong-su, watching from the side, stepped in.
“He just said he wouldn’t interfere!”
“I’m afraid I didn’t hear that.”
“Well, count it as his answer! You couldn’t hear him anyway!”
“I’m not deaf, and if someone speaks, I can certainly hear them. Let me ask once more, clearly: regardless of this sparring’s outcome, will you leave the Northern Ice Palace?”
“Uh-uh.”
Jang Man-dok finally opened his mouth, but what came out was barely intelligible.
“I’m sorry, what was that? You need to speak clearly.”
“Uh-uh-uh!”
“Really now, if you keep making those noises instead of giving a proper answer…”
Thwack!
The Ya Wang Moon Master’s severed head flew five feet before rolling across the ground. The sound of the headless body striking earth was quiet, yet made every shoulder in the room flinch.
Do Pyeong-su, staring at the bisected corpse, clicked his tongue.
“There. The bastard just kept needling you about your answer, kept pushing until he made Man-dok angry. It’s not your fault you couldn’t make him understand, Man-dok. You did what you had to do.”
Do Pyeong-su patted Jang Man-dok’s shoulder—after having crushed the only man he needed to show restraint toward into two pieces.
Eun Yi-seol’s plan to defeat the Ya Wang Moon Master and reunify the fractured Northern Ice Palace evaporated in that instant.
Yet she couldn’t protest. How could she possibly remonstrate with someone who had just decapitated an opponent with nothing but his bare fist?
“Since things have come to this, we’d best subdue the ones who came with the Ya Wang Moon Master.”
As Yeon Geum-hong spoke, her hand moved, and twelve men fell simultaneously.
No blade-thin murder weapon was visible—it seemed as though she had simply waved her hand, and they were gone.
Somehow, during the sparring between Eun Yi-seol and Baek Gang, fourteen corpses had accumulated.
Geom U-bin took stock of the situation.
“It seems Oseong Jang-won has completed everything it needed to do at Northern Ice Palace.”
More riddles had piled up than been solved, but it had still been a journey of considerable gains.
Resolving the remaining issues at Northern Ice Palace would fall to Eun Yi-seol.
“I’ll need to stay here a while longer. Do Pyeong-su, is that all right with you?”
At Eun Bi-yeon’s words, Do Pyeong-su laughed and nodded vigorously.
“Of course! Stay as long as you need—even longer, if you like!”
The price of that remark was a blow to Do Pyeong-su’s back. If it meant being parted from Eun Bi-yeon for a while, he could have taken ten such blows.
Watching Do Pyeong-su hum to himself, Seo Seok-san spoke up.
“If you dislike her so much, why not just say goodbye cleanly instead of dragging it out?”
“Who says I dislike her?”
“Then why are you so pleased when you don’t have to see her face?”
“When you’ve been eating meat every day and suddenly taste greens after a long time, even those are delicious.”
“You’re like a man who’s been eating nothing but vegetables for ten years and just tasted meat.”
With light steps, they passed through Heilongjiang Province and crossed into Jilin Province.
“Do you think Kang Chan-sik is still in Beijing?”
The reason they’d decided to stop in Beijing on the way back was because of Kang Chan-sik.
Seo Seok-san’s curiosity was answered by Gal Ma-pyeong.
“Yes, we received a message by carrier pigeon saying he’s met the Emperor.”
Do Pyeong-su asked.
“He’s still alive after meeting the Emperor?”
“If he were dead, he wouldn’t have sent a message.”
“What a shame. I was planning to use his death as an excuse to at least catch a glimpse of the Emperor’s face.”
Do Pyeong-su had said it as a joke, but it sounded nothing like one.
“He received the position of Provincial Governor of Hangju as a reward.”
“What? Kang Chan-sik is becoming Provincial Governor?”
“Yes, he’s been delayed getting to Hangju because he’s undergoing training in Beijing for the position.”
“Kang Chan-sik, the Guild Master of Heuksahoe, as Provincial Governor.”
Seo Seok-san, who had paused to consider this, remarked, “That’s not a bad outcome at all.”
“Shall we hurry on and meet the highest official in Hangju?”
As they tried to increase their pace on the mountain path using Lightness Technique, they slowed instead. Bodies lay scattered across the road ahead.
“Bandits?”
“They’re holding weapons and wearing coordinated robes, so it doesn’t look like they fell to bandits—”
Their gazes turned toward the forest on the right. They sensed more than a dozen figures approaching from that direction.
Seeing the foremost figure emerge from the trees, Geom U-bin started in surprise.
“Master Hak!”
The man with long hair falling to his shoulders, still disheveled in appearance, was Hak Jin-pung.
“Ah? It’s not— rather, Lord Geom. And I see the fearsome lords have come as well.”
Fresh blood stained Hak Jin-pung’s clothes and face, as though he’d just finished a fierce battle.
When Geom U-bin’s gaze lingered on the corpses, Hak Jin-pung spoke.
“Members of Ya Wang Moon. They’ve been troubling Sae-oe for so long that their punishment was long overdue.”
Hak Jin-pung had never wanted to be a Sect Master, nor did he desire to rise above others.
Hak Jin-pung, who wished only to live as a free spirit, felt his position as a shackle around his wrists.
“To realize at nearly forty that one cannot escape one’s fate—I must truly be a fraud for ever being called a genius.”
“So you decided to pacify Sae-oe?”
“Pacify is too strong a word. I simply wish to restore what peace it once had.”
The Ya Wang Moon’s master, who had been manipulated by Sado Ryeon, was dead, and if Hak Jin-pung eliminated the remnants, Sae-oe’s peace would soon return.
“Please tell Mi-ryeo to visit her homeland someday. Things will be different now.”
“I will.”
Hak Jin-pung bowed deeply to Geom U-bin with sincerity.
“I have learned much thanks to you.”

***

The Beijing branch of Oseong Merchant Association was always bustling with incoming goods.
It had started small with supplying tea to the Forbidden City, but now it had grown into a major merchant house handling not only tea but also silk, dried seafood, and eleven other categories of goods.
“I’ve told you a hundred times that goes to the second warehouse! Hey! Watch out there! Do you know how much that tea costs!”
Gwon Chang-sun, the branch leader weaving between the bustling workers, froze in astonishment.
At first he thought it was someone who resembled him, but it was Kang Chan-sik, who had been Guild Master of Oseong Merchant Association in Hangju and would soon be appointed Provincial Governor of Hangju, carrying cargo among the porters.
“Aren’t you the Provincial Governor?”
Kang Chan-sik, his brow beaded with sweat despite the cold, waved his hand dismissively.
“Provincial Governor? Just call me Guild Master.”
“Guild Master or Provincial Governor, what are you doing out here?”
“I’ve been cooped up in that cramped office all day staring at documents, and I’m going mad. Honestly, physical work suits my nature far better.”
“Still, that’s no excuse. It won’t do for a Guild Master to be hauling cargo around.”
“I’m doing this because I want to, so just pretend you didn’t see anything.”
Despite Gwon Chang-sun’s objections, Kang Chan-sik hoisted heavy loads onto his shoulders and carried them to the warehouse again and again.
Just then a bell rang out announcing the break time, giving Gwon Chang-sun an opening to speak his mind.
“Shouldn’t the documents and provincial governor’s seal for your appointment to Hangju be arriving soon?”
Kang Chan-sik heaved a long sigh.
“Could come any day now.”
“You don’t look pleased about it.”
“At first I was happy about becoming Provincial Governor, but now that it’s really happening… does it even make sense for a Triad Guild Master to become a Provincial Governor?”
“Though Hangju and Beijing are far apart, news reaches us eventually. From what I hear about you here and there, the gossip is almost all favorable. In all the Gangho, I can’t think of another Triad Guild Master with the reputation you have. If you ask me, the people of Hangju are lucky that you’re becoming their Provincial Governor.”
“That’s kind of you to say. Ha!”
As Kang Chan-sik was finishing the last of the noodle broth from his break, commotion erupted on one side of the warehouse.
“Why are the Imperial Guard here?”
“Is the Branch Leader being arrested?”
Among the murmuring crowd, an Imperial Guard officer appeared—it was Dan Jeong-cheol.
“Brother! What are you doing here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“I told you I was coming here. What’s happened?”
Dan Jeong-cheol pulled a sealed envelope and a wooden official seal from his coat.
“It’s finally arrived!”
Kang Chan-sik leaped to his feet and stared at the documents and seal with complicated eyes.
“So I really am becoming Provincial Governor of Hangju.”
“When will you depart for Hangju?”
At the thought of returning to Hangju, he felt a sudden longing for the place, like a salmon swimming upstream toward home.
“Tomorrow. I’d like to leave at once, but surely we should share a drink, shouldn’t we?”
“Of course we should.”
Since Dan Jeong-cheol was still on duty, they agreed to meet at the Hang-o Juju House after he finished work.
Now that the documents and seal had arrived, Kang Chan-sik was officially a Provincial Governor. Yet he stayed to finish the day’s work with his laborers before heading to the Hang-o Juju House.
Dan Jeong-cheol, who had arrived first, had already ordered drinks and appetizers.
“When you leave Beijing for Hangju, I thought it would feel lonely, but as it happens, I too am leaving Beijing soon.”
“Really? Are you going to Hangju too?”
“I wish I were, but the place I’m going is Nanjing.”
“All the way there? Why?”
“We thought the Demon Way incident had ended, but someone else is still out there.”
“Who?”
“If we knew, we’d have already caught them. We’ve realized for some time now that there must be someone inside the Demon Way organization helping from the shadows—otherwise, there’s no way the Demon Way could have known the exact locations of imperial family members and high-ranking officials. We’ve been conducting a secret investigation because of that, and we’ve already caught one person.”

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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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