Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 25

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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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#025

So the location was settled on a spot not far from their original house. The greater problem lay in how to build it at all.
Hyeolpung Saja wasn’t about to hammer it together himself, and he’d never ordered construction work before in his life.
“I know someone who builds houses!”
Se-hwa spoke with confidence, having heard their dilemma.
“You? A child of twenty-five?”
To Hyeolpung Saja, twenty-five was hardly more than a stripling.
“At the Giru, all sorts of patrons come through, you see.”
Seo Seok-san posed the question.
“We’d have to go into the city to meet such people, then?”
“That’s right.”
The smile that flickered across Seo Seok-san’s lips sent a chill down Se-hwa’s spine.
“We’ll need money for contracts and such.”
Seo Seok-san tossed her a purse containing four hundred silver coins.
“Go meet those people.”
“Yes.”
As she rose to her feet, a shadow crept into Seo Seok-san’s voice.
“This house business won’t cut into your practice time one bit. Going into town and meeting people will take at least three hours—so you won’t be sleeping tonight.”
Se-hwa’s face twisted.
She’d thought taking on this errand would spare her from the hellish practice sessions.
“M-master… that’s too cruel.”
“Then run away. You have plenty of money.”
“I-I would never run away!”
Se-hwa went into the city and met with a contractor.
Since it wasn’t her own money, she agreed to whatever price he asked. Then she trudged back along a road she dreaded every step of the way.
What if she just ran?
Temptation seized her hair and pulled her mind away from the house, toward the opposite direction.
“Last carriage to Guangdong Province!”
At someone’s shout, she lifted her head by habit, and five characters caught her eye.
—Long-distance carriage.
The destination was Guangdong Province.
So distant she’d never been there—which meant far enough that Hyeolpung Saja couldn’t chase her.
Se-hwa’s heart hammered in her chest.
If she just climbed aboard, she could escape the hellish Hyeolpung Saja forever.
Without thinking, her feet moved toward the carriage, and without thinking, she asked the price.
The fare was only one hundred and twenty copper coins. The cramped bench seemed inviting, and even the musty reek inside the carriage smelled like flowers.
As she reached for her purse to pay, O Tong-su’s words flickered through her mind.
—There’s this fragrance called Manrihyang. You put it on your body, and no matter how much you bathe, the scent won’t wash off for a month. How far does it travel? It’s called Manrihyang for a reason. I bet Hyeolpung Saja rubbed it all over us. You can’t smell it yourself—only the person who applied it can. So why would Hyeolpung Saja let us roam free like this? He must trust something. That’s all there is to it.
She lifted her sleeve and sniffed, but—just as she thought—she detected nothing but her own scent.
‘Manrihyang? There’s no such thing!’
The carriage drawn by six horses looked swift.
Of course Hyeolpung Saja was faster, but how could he possibly know she’d boarded this carriage?
No matter how she scanned the area, there was no sign of them. They were simply careless.
‘I’m not a coward like Gangseо Samak!’
Se-hwa pulled out the silver coins she’d been fidgeting with.
“Se-hwa!”
The call startled her so badly she dropped the coins from her hand. She turned her head to find Geom U-bin standing there with a bag slung over his shoulder.
“G-great lord!”
“What are you doing here?”
Caught in front of the long-distance carriage—there was no way out of this.
“Ah! Haggling over goods, I see? Long-distance carriages sometimes come to buy and sell merchandise, don’t they?”
“Yes? Yes! That’s right. I was hoping to find a nice fragrance.”
“No need to look so far away. Hangju has plenty of fine fragrances. I’ll buy you one later. Since I’m headed back to the house anyway, would you like to come with me?”
Se-hwa had no choice but to follow Geom U-bin.
‘Thank goodness the boy made such a stupid assumption.’
As she caught a glimpse of Geom U-bin’s profile while thinking this, Se-hwa realized she had been mistaken all along.
He was the eldest of the Bloodwind Four Lions.
Though barely ten years old, Geom U-bin was surely the most brilliant child in all of Zhongyuan for his age.
‘Surely not…….’
Geom U-bin couldn’t possibly have fallen for such a foolish misunderstanding.
‘He was covering for me running away…….’
That had to be it.
But why? She had sent the Gangseо Samak after him to drive away the Bloodwind Four Lions.
It only made sense that she should hate them, that she should regard them as thorns in her side.
Yet when she thought about it, Geom U-bin had never once scolded or mistreated them. Instead, he spoke to them with such unfailing courtesy that he made things harder on them.
“Se-hwa.”
“Yes?”
“It’s difficult, isn’t it?”
Just a few words.
But suddenly tears threatened to spill over—because of the sincerity in Geom U-bin’s voice.
“D-difficult? No, not at all. The four of you are so kind to me.”
Se-hwa changed the subject because she didn’t want Geom U-bin to see her cry.
“How did you become the eldest of the Bloodwind…… I mean, Hangju Sabyon?”
“That’s difficult to explain right now. It’s not really a secret, but to tell the story, shouldn’t I have my brothers’ consent? What I can say for certain is that they are my family. For an orphan like me, they’re like the one blessing Heaven granted. Hehe!”
That final laugh seemed somehow sad.
“What of your family, Se-hwa?”
“Both my parents have passed away.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, it’s fine. They were never much of a family anyway.”
“You’re so beautiful, Se-hwa—I imagine you received a great deal of love.”
‘Love…….’
Fragments of the past flickered through Se-hwa’s mind, and her eyes grew distant.
“I received far more hatred than love. It’s the inescapable fate of a concubine’s child born into wealth.”
The past she had never told anyone and never intended to tell flowed out as if of its own accord.
“My father loved my mother dearly, but love alone wasn’t enough to bring happiness. She was a concubine in a wealthy household—a common story. She spent her life under the cruelty of the first wife and her children, and when I was sixteen, she died. When my mother passed, that cruelty turned entirely toward me. Unable to bear it any longer, my father had me sent away from the household. But because we were wealthy, I was given a considerable fortune. From childhood, I had an interest in calligraphy and painting, and I eventually began studying music under a courtesan, which led me to this life.”
She continued speaking, wishing for a cup of wine.
“Even so, compared to other courtesans, I’ve walked a flower-strewn path. With so much money, I could refuse unwanted clients, and so many wanted to see me for my looks. After a few years, the name ‘Gangseо’s First Beauty’ had somehow attached itself to me.”
“There’s no flower-strewn path in selling laughter. Your feet must be covered in wounds, Se-hwa.”
She had never received comfort from anyone. Even her father had only ever repeated “be patient” like a broken record.
This first consolation she had ever received in her life stirred her emotions so deeply that tears finally came.
While Se-hwa wept, Geom U-bin stood silently by her side.
That alone was enough to fill her with boundless gratitude toward this ten-year-old boy.

***

“Really, it’s been a month since construction started and we’re only now raising the roof? What’s the plan here?”
Yeon Geum-hong chided Do Pyeong-su for his grumbling.
“Look at the scale of it, the scale. A garden that spacious with a pond and fifty rooms—you expect it to be finished in a month?”
“Then why make so many useless spaces? What good are fifty rooms?”
“Our eldest brother will become the premier musician in Gangseо, so it should be at least this grand.”
“Hmm…… I suppose you’re right.”
Do Pyeong-su nodded as he spoke.
“Well, since we’re already building on this scale, why don’t we establish a sect?”
“Good idea. You handle the management.”
“Management? What management?”
“Our eldest brother will be the sect master, of course, but there’ll be children pouring in from below. You’re just going to leave them alone?”
Do Pyeong-su waved his hands dismissively.
“Ah, someone else will do it. How am I supposed to handle something so troublesome?”
“No plan really is the best plan, I see. Just make your wine and don’t do anything else. Every time you try something, it becomes a disaster, and every time you open your mouth, it’s a mistake.”
Do Pyeong-su was about to protest when Seo Seok-san called out to them.
“The eldest is looking for you!”
The moment they heard Geom U-bin was calling, they rushed over and were sitting before him in less than half an incense-stick’s time.
“Elder brother, what is it?”
“I wanted to discuss something about the Gangseо Samak and Se-hwa.”
“About the Hangju Sabyon?”
Dog dung, cow dung, horse dung, and bird droppings besides—the epithet “Hangju Sabyon” was perfectly fitting.
Do Pyeong-su asked.
“Did those wretches do something wrong to you? I’ll break their legs right now!”
Geom U-bin quickly calmed the already-agitated Do Pyeong-su.
“No, no. I was thinking it might help if we taught them some work.”
“Taught them work?”
“When we move to the new place, we’ll need to increase production of the liquor, so the disciples will be busy. It would lighten their load.”
Do Pyeong-su spoke.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll keep them in line.”
He kept the thought ‘Make sure they run away!’ to himself.
“If we teach them how to make the liquor, wouldn’t the disciples have an easier time?”
That much, at least, Geom U-bin was right about.
Having everything pass through their hands from start to finish was more tedious than it was worth.
Yeon Geum-hong spoke.
“I understand. From now on, I’ll make proper workers out of them.”

***

The estate was finished.
Geom U-bin and Hyeolpung Saja named it Oseong Jang-won—a fitting name, since it was being called the Hangju Estate and the Suzhou Estate.
While they celebrated raising the nameplate that Seo Seok-san had written, Gangseо Samak and Se-hwa wandered the grounds in deep despair.
“You… what were you thinking, building an estate this enormous?”
O Tong-su’s question was naturally directed at Se-hwa.
She had chosen the people for everything from design to construction and had deferred entirely to their judgment.
“I was just trying to spend Hyeolpung Saja’s money freely—”
“This place is going to drain our lives managing it!”
Fifteen buildings, with more than fifty rooms among them.
An elaborately landscaped garden with five courtyards large and small, a pond with a pavilion—it was far too vast a space for the four of them to manage, and besides maintaining the estate, the work was insurmountable.
“Then run away! Why are you taking it out on me?”
“How dare you throw a tantrum! Whose fault is it we’re in this mess?”
“Who came running here anyway!”
If Go Seo-bang hadn’t stepped in, O Tong-su would have broken something in Se-hwa.
“Stop. If we’re seen quarreling among ourselves, we’ll be the ones paying the price.”
Their mood as they headed toward the garden was desperate. Se-hwa’s eyes brightened as she walked with slumped shoulders.
“Master!”
Seeing Se-hwa hurrying toward him, Geom U-bin broke into a wide smile.
“Miss Se-hwa, I’m delighted with the estate. You’ve worked hard.”
“Hard work? I’m just relieved you’re pleased with it, Master.”
O Tong-su muttered under his breath.
“Look at her wagging that tail. She’s shaking it so much it looks like a hundred of them.”
Geom U-bin called out to the distant three.
“You three have worked hard as well!”
Gangseо Samak immediately bowed with artificial smiles plastered across their faces.
“Thank you, Master!”
The moment Hyeolpung Saja appeared at the main gate, their bodies went rigid. They understood now how a mouse must feel, frozen at the sight of a snake.
“You’re being too kind to those wretches. You should just call them Dog and Cow and work them hard.”
“But they’re my elders. How could I do that?”
“Elders? They deserve to be grateful just for having their lives spared after what they were planning to do. We should clarify the hierarchy while we’re at it.”
“Clarify the hierarchy?”
“You shouldn’t keep showing formal courtesy to them.”
Yeon Geum-hong agreed with Do Pyeong-su’s words.
“There is indeed a clear hierarchy, so for once Pyeong-su’s words are surprisingly sound.”
Seo Seok-san and Jang Man-dok also nodded, and for the first time in a long while, Hyeolpung Saja’s opinion had unanimity.
Geom U-bin scratched his head with a troubled expression.
“Still, that’s a bit—”
“What do you all think?”
At Seo Seok-san’s question, Hangju Sabyon, startled, answered in unison.
“We don’t mind however you address us!”
“Then from today on, we’ll call you Dog and Cow.”
Geom U-bin, after a moment’s thought, made a proposal.

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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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