Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 26

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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 26

“What do you think of this?”
Geom U-bin glanced around as he spoke.
“Those people should get something out of it, too. After all, they’re taking orders from a ten-year-old child.”
“It’s only natural, so what’s the—”
Yeon Geum-hong jabbed Do Pyeong-su in the ribs, cutting him off.
“Did you have something in mind, Hang Ju-sa-ung?”
“Nothing grand. It’s just that managing such a vast estate with only those four people is no small task. And they have to make Sagi-ju on top of everything else.”
“That’s true enough, though the estate is rather large.”
“Yes, so I was thinking—what if we hired about ten workers? Then those four could focus entirely on making Sagi-ju, and managing the estate would become much easier.”
The moment the word “workers” crossed his lips, Hang Ju-sa-ung’s face brightened.
Workers! Ten whole workers!
The four of them turned their gaze toward Hyeolpung Saja, their eyes burning with such fervent longing that they seemed ready to call Geom U-bin not merely their lord but the Emperor himself if only they could have ten workers beneath them.
Do Pyeong-su muttered something that sounded distinctly disapproving.
“Those fools would get too comfortable. Comfort makes people idle and prone to wandering thoughts.”
“We swear we won’t! We’ll become even more diligent workers than we are now!”
O Tong-su’s desperate cry spoke for all of Hang Ju-sa-ung’s heart.
Yeon Geum-hong let out a soft sigh.
“Our Hang Ju-sa-ung is too kind. Fine. I’ll go along with your wish.”
The moment permission was granted, Hang Ju-sa-ung thrust both arms skyward and erupted in cheers.
As the four danced with unbridled joy at the prospect of ten workers entering their ranks, they had already forgotten that they were once the Kangseong Samak—the very name that had once sent Kangseong Province trembling in terror.

***

“Starting next month, I think we can deliver about ten more bottles. Would you be able to take them?”
At Geom U-bin’s question, Ha Seok-mun’s eyes lit up.
“Ten bottles? Why, I could take a hundred more than that. But how did you suddenly find the capacity to increase production?”
“Yes, well. My aunt and uncle hired more workers to help with the business.”
“That’s wonderful news. In fact, I heard they’d moved to a new house. Is that right?”
“Yes, and they’ve enlarged the workshop as well.”
“Is that so? Then you could make even more, couldn’t you?”
“Yes, we’ll produce more. But I’m afraid we can’t supply any more to the Wolha Pavilion than we already do.”
Ha Seok-mun looked startled.
“Why? Are you planning to sell to other pavilions? Have I done something wrong? If the price doesn’t suit you, let’s negotiate again.”
“No, not at all. I can’t betray the faith that you, Ha Zong-guan, showed us by accepting the Sagi-ju in the first place. We want to sell in other provinces, not just in Hangju.”
“Even if you produce a hundred times more, Hangju alone could absorb it all, but…”
“My uncle and aunt wish for more people in more places to taste it.”
Ha Seok-mun nodded and asked, “That’s fair. It would be greedy of us to keep the Sagi-ju all to ourselves. But do you know what day it is five days from now? Will you refuse again this time?”
“Yes, I’m afraid I don’t have the time.”
“You look quite exhausted, I must say.”
Geom U-bin was still pushing himself to the limit through Martial Arts training.
“I don’t understand why the Seoyang Pyo Country is having you deliver the Sovereign’s birthday wine.”
Ha Seok-mun’s eyes hinted that he hoped for an explanation, but Geom U-bin simply offered his respects and left the Wolha Pavilion.
It must surely be Namgung Hye-yeon’s doing, but he truly had no time to spare. Even this wine delivery he was making only because Hyeolpung Saja had literally pushed him out the door.
If he had his choice, he would pour every moment except eating and sleeping into his cultivation practice.
Right now, he had no room in his mind for women.

She had thought it was time to move on, but it seemed the resentment between her and Geom U-bin had not yet faded.
“He must truly be very busy,” offered Jang Se-jeong, trying to console her.
But her words brought no comfort. A bitter smile twisted at the corners of Namgung Hye-yeon’s mouth.
“After being stood up twice, I suppose I should give up. Perhaps we’ll meet again someday.”

Jang Se-jeong read a deep wistfulness in Namgung Hye-yeon’s eyes.
“Why not pay her a visit?”
Jang Se-jeong asked the question gently.
“Should we manufacture a reason to go?”
“No, no. There’s no need to go out of our way.”
Namgung Hye-yeon gazed out the window as she spoke. By now, the smell of food was drifting in from beyond the glass.
“It seems the banquet has begun.”
“Yes, indeed.”

***

What Geom U-bin pulled from his empty wine sack were four puppies. Do Pyeong-su swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry.
“Brother, dog meat today, then? Young ones have such tender meat, don’t they?”
“The disciples will raise them.”
The Bloodwind Four Lions, who had not grasped his meaning, spoke simultaneously.
“What exactly are we supposed to do?”
“I found them in an alley on the way here. Their mother was dead, but they didn’t know it—they were still trying to nurse.”
Geom U-bin’s expression darkened.
“There are exactly four of them too…… It reminded me of all of you.”
Before Geom U-bin had finished speaking, Yeon Geum-hong snatched up one of the puppies.
“I’ll raise this one.”
The other three each picked one for themselves.
With a pleased expression, Geom U-bin excused himself to attend to his martial arts training, and the Bloodwind Four Lions found themselves staring down at their whimpering charges with bewilderment.
“What do we do with these?”
One puppy scrambled up Do Pyeong-su’s leg, whining. Do Pyeong-su shoved it away gently.
“How do you even raise something like this?”
He knew thirteen hundred ways to kill, but not a single method for raising an animal.
“Should we bury it and claim it died suddenly?”
Yeon Geum-hong took up Seo Seok-san’s suggestion.
“Brother would be disappointed.”
“Disappointed over a damn dog?”
“Brother didn’t bring the puppy here for nothing. This is a test of sorts.”
“A test?”
“He’s trying to teach us the preciousness of life. He may have even paid dearly for them somewhere.”
Above all else, they feared disappointing Geom U-bin.
“So we have to raise these things?”
At Do Pyeong-su’s question, Yeon Geum-hong grabbed her puppy by the scruff of the neck and headed out.
“You can bury yours if you want. I’m keeping mine.”
“Ha!”
All three laughed in frustration. Do Pyeong-su spoke urgently.
“Seok-san, you bury yours! I’ll raise mine and earn the praise.”
Do Pyeong-su had barely finished speaking when Jang Man-dok clutched one puppy and vaulted over the wall.
“That sneaky bastard.”
“Well then, I’m off too.”
Do Pyeong-su tucked a puppy under his arm and left.
“I can’t let those two have all the glory anyway.”
And so the Bloodwind Four Lions began raising their puppies with purpose, each finding meaning in Geom U-bin’s gift.
They raised them well, did Hang Ju-sa-ung and his companions.
“If your puppy dies, you die. If you die, does your puppy die? No. So you understand who matters more, don’t you?”
The Bloodwind Four Lions became perhaps the first people (though perhaps not) whose lives depended on raising dogs.
Mongrels that grew fine even when neglected couldn’t help but thrive when raised with life-and-death stakes.
Ten days passed without incident.
Fed better than the servants and given proper exercise, the puppies grew sturdy and strong.
But had everything gone smoothly, the Bloodwind Four Lions and Se-hwa would never have earned such an bizarre reputation.
“Jangsu! What’s wrong with you?”
The puppy they had named Jangsu—a name meaning longevity—was stumbling, and Go Seo-bang, who bore responsibility for its long life, descended into panic.
Jangsu staggered to one side and fell, then erupted in a hacking cough. When Go Seo-bang saw blood mixed in with the cough, he went pale as a corpse.
“Jangsu! Where does it hurt? What is it? Did you eat something bad?”
Whine! Whimper!
Jangsu couldn’t understand Go Seo-bang’s words, and Go Seo-bang understood just as little of the puppy’s plaintive whining.
Go Seo-bang cradled Jangsu and crossed the back courtyard.
“Someone help! Someone, please!”
It was Jangsu who was dying, but if Jangsu died, Go Seo-bang’s neck would roll from Seo Seok-san’s hand as well—so the cry wasn’t entirely misplaced.
The amount of blood flowing from Jangsu’s mouth grew alarming.
Worse still, it had taken on an ominous dark hue.
“What is all this commotion about?”
Do Pyeong-su appeared at just that moment.
Normally, Go Seo-bang would have spun around and fled at the mere shadow of him, but now he could not have been more grateful.
“Jangsu—Jangsu is something wrong! Jangsu’s strange!”
Even his voice trembled; Go Seo-bang looked ready to burst into tears at any second.
“Jangsu?”
Do Pyeong-su, startled, examined Jangsu’s condition.
The heartbeat was faint, and blood dripped from his mouth—to anyone’s eye, death seemed to loom near.
“From the color of the blood, it looks like poisoning.”
“Poisoning? You mean someone tried to assassinate Jangsu? As important as a dog may be, it’s still just a mutt, after all……”
“It could have been aimed at you. If Jangsu dies, then……?”
“There’s someone in this estate trying to kill me?”
“Nothing strange about that. You’ve always been a bad sort.”
“I haven’t had time to be bad since meeting those Bloodwind Four Lions! No, never mind that—please, save Jangsu! If Jangsu dies, I’m truly finished!”
Do Pyeong-su had already sent a telepathic message to Jang Man-dok.
Had he hurried, he would have come sooner, but since it wasn’t his own dog, Jang Man-dok’s pace remained unhurried.
“You’re certain it’s poisoning?”
Jang Man-dok sniffed deeply.
“From the scent, it’s a plant poison—Hwangsa Herb? What is Hwangsa Herb? Such a plant exists? Ah, I see.”
Go Seo-bang asked:
“Can it be cured?”
“Easy enough for a person, but whether the antidote will work on a mutt, I couldn’t say.”
Do Pyeong-su never tired of marveling at how he could read Jang Man-dok’s mind without a word spoken. Yet this was no time for wonder.
Go Seo-bang dropped to his knees and bowed his head to the ground.
“Please, I beg you—save Jangsu! If I’m gone, who will grill the fish? Who will make the duck soup?”
In the face of such desperate supplication, Jang Man-dok relented.
“I’ll attempt treatment. But I cannot promise he’ll survive.”
Despite his lukewarm response, Jang Man-dok nonetheless saved Jangsu’s life.
“Now that he’s passed the crisis, he’ll live up to his name.”
Learning the news belatedly, Seo Seok-san rushed over and fixed a suspicious gaze on the three Bloodwind Four Lions.
“The culprit is among you.”
“I just came back from watching picture stories of Gim Jeon down in the marketplace. Why would we kill Jangsu?”
“To make you hate me!”
“At least not me. If I wanted to kill something, I wouldn’t use poison—then I’d lose the meat.”
Do Pyeong-su spoke those words and vanished, while Jang Man-dok simply disappeared.
“You should manage things more carefully. How does a dog end up poisoned and nearly die? Tsk, tsk, tsk……”
Yeon Geum-hong clicked her tongue and walked away.
As for Go Seo-bang, who had failed in his management duties, he was currently paying the price, hanging upside down from the eaves.
Had Geom U-bin returned even slightly late from his alcohol delivery run, all the blood would have rushed to his head and he might well have died a beet-red death.
Once Geom U-bin heard the circumstances, he resolved the entire affair in barely a quarter hour.
Jang Man-dok had left dried Hwangsa Herb for his Chheolhyeol Art, and Jangsu had eaten it.
“There are paw prints, see? The soil is torn up here—that’s from writhing in pain. And there’s even a bit of dog droppings, so there’s no doubt about it.”
Seo Seok-san bellowed at Jang Man-dok.
“Why did you use poisonous herbs in your Chheolhyeol Art!”
“Poison, properly controlled, becomes medicine.”
“If you’re going to use poison, you have to manage it properly! What if Jangsu had died?”
“I’m sorry?”
Jang Man-dok’s apology, delivered through Do Pyeong-su’s mouth, did nothing to soothe Seo Seok-san’s fury.
“Apologize with your own mouth, you bastard! Because of you, Jangsu should become immune to all poisons!”
Of course, Seo Seok-san’s wish never came to pass.
But after that, Jangsu regularly consumed the dregs of Healing Elixir left over from Geom U-bin’s use, and the three other dogs soon joined in.
And so they all grew robust and healthy.

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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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