Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 33

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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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#033

An innocent life had been taken. By right, she ought to pay for it with her own. And yet Geom U-bin could not bear to lose Gangseо Samak this way.
Whatever had passed before, the members of Gangseо Samak were people under Geom U-bin’s protection.
It was a moment when the old saying—that the elbow bends inward—became viscerally real. As they arrived at the estate, Hang Ju-sa-byeon was waiting for them, crouched low to the ground.
Still in that squat.
“Master!”
The moment Hang Ju-sa-byeon confirmed that Geom U-bin was unharmed, he embraced her without hesitation, his relief pouring out in that single gesture.
Dead parents coming back to life could not bring such joy.
Had anything happened to Geom U-bin, the already difficult life at Oseong Jang-won would have become a living hell.
Geom U-bin was the sole sanctuary that protected them from the bloodthirsty Hyeolpung Saja.
“Look at this lot—getting cocky and stretching their legs.”
Do Pyeong-su’s growl startled Hang Ju-sa-byeon back into a proper squat without protest. Even Geom U-bin did not take his side this time.
Seo Seok-san grabbed Gwak Bong by the scruff of the neck and set her down directly in front of Gangseо Samak.
“Do you know this one?”
“I’ve never seen her before.”
“Of course you haven’t! I was barely ten years old back then!”
Seo Seok-san lowered himself to meet Gangseо Samak at eye level.
“Depending on what happened, you could all die today.”
From their time spent with Hyeolpung Saja, they understood that Seo Seok-san’s words were no mere threat.
“M-Master, what is this about?”
“Twenty years ago in Luoyang. A man named Gwak Bang-u.”
Seo Seok-san relayed to them the time, the place, and the name exactly as Gwak Bong had told it. Gangseо Samak’s memory seized upon those details and began clawing backward through twenty years.
With their lives on the line, they had to remember—no matter what.
“Ah! We were in Luoyang for about three or four days back then!”
At O Tong-su’s words, Go Seo-bang and Gal Ma-pyeong exchanged bewildered glances.
“We were all there?”
“We weren’t called Gangseо Samak back then—we were Gangseо Samchung!”
The character in their old epithet—the one meaning “worm”—told you everything about how they’d been living in those days.
“We all went to Luoyang for the first time then. Why can’t you remember?”
Gal Ma-pyeong clapped his hands together.
“That’s right! We took a seal from someone and got hired to deliver it to another person!”
Go Seo-bang had remembered too.
“And they paid us one silver coin for the job!”
Their lives had been cheap back then. Seo Seok-san turned to Gwak Bong. “The man you stole the seal from—was that your father?”
“Yes.”

Seo Seok-san’s next question aimed at Gangseо Samak.
“And when you took the seal, you killed him?”
Three heads shook simultaneously, side to side.
“No. We only took the seal. It was just a snatch-and-grab—the man wasn’t even hurt.”
“And?”
“We handed off the seal and left Luoyang right away. It was just a commission we’d picked up while passing through during a tour of Zhongyuan, so there was no reason to stay long.”
All eyes turned toward Gwak Bong.
“If what they’re saying is true, you’ve got the wrong enemy, girl.”
“No—I found the right one! Because of that seal being stolen, Father couldn’t complete an important contract. A month later, he was killed by an assassin’s blade!”
“What does the seal have to do with the assassin?”
“If Father had finished the contract and received the money, he could have hired an escort with it to protect himself from the assassin! Because of Gangseо Samak, he couldn’t hire that escort, so Gangseо Samak killed my father as surely as if they’d wielded the blade themselves! Am I wrong?”
The logic was forced, twisted to fit at the seams—and badly at that. Seo Seok-san exhaled a long, weary breath before speaking to Gwak Bong again.
“You should have gone after the assassin and the one who hired them. That’s only sense.”
“I already found them and killed them. Three years ago.”
“Then your revenge is finished! So why are you here causing trouble?”
“B-because Gangseо Samak bears some responsibility for Father’s death too…… at least a little, even just the smallest bit…….”
Yeon Geum-hong thought she could understand Gwak Bong’s position, the desperation etched across her face.
“You trained ferociously in martial arts for the sake of vengeance. Then you got your revenge, and suddenly it felt hollow. Now you don’t know what to do, how to go on living. So you’ve widened the net of revenge and come all this way to find Gangseо Samak?”
Gwak Bong had no answer. Yeon Geum-hong continued.
“You know as well as I do that Hangju Saja—or the Gangseо Samak, really—had nothing to do with your parents’ deaths, don’t you?”
Gwak Bong spoke in a voice that crept lower and lower.
“They’re bad people anyway.”
In the end, Do Pyeong-su’s palm came down on the back of Gwak Bong’s head. Once he’d heard the story, even the urge to kill had faded.
But knowing that Hyeolpung Saja was here, they couldn’t simply let him walk free.
“If we release this one, he’ll spread word of us all over the place.”
Gwak Bong didn’t deny it.
“Master.”
Se-hwa called to Yeon Geum-hong carefully.
“What?”
“You’re not going to kill him, are you?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“I know, but… he’s so pitiful.”
Se-hwa’s expression was like watching a shivering puppy in the rain. Something flashed in Gwak Bong’s mind—spark!—and his heart began to race.
“If he leaves here, he might tell the whole neighborhood that Hyeolpung Saja lives at this estate. I can’t even trust my own mouth, you see.”
Hyeolpung Saja could only stare in bewilderment at Gwak Bong’s words.
“Are you washing your neck and begging to have your head cut off?”
Geom U-bin spoke.
“For now, let’s keep him here until we think of a better solution. You won’t run away, will you?”
Gwak Bong, addressed by Geom U-bin’s question, shook his head firmly.
“Even if you chase me out, I won’t go!”
Gwak Bong struck first and only afterward learned the reason he’d been struck.
“Show proper respect to your senior.”

***

“You must obey the masters absolutely, and hold all respect for your senior. Do you understand?”
Gwak Bong nodded his head and asked Se-hwa a question.
“But why are you crouching down like that? Yesterday I saw you standing up just fine.”
“It’s martial arts training.”
“What kind of bizarre martial art are you learning?”
Se-hwa released a long sigh.
“It’s called Lower Body Conditioning. To be honest, I’m not even sure if this counts as martial arts training or if the masters just do this to torment us…”
That’s when something came flying over the wall. Vaulting over a perfectly good gate suggested anything but good intentions.
Gwak Bong sprang to his feet and quickly moved to shield Se-hwa.
Clang! A low rumbling growl…
A dog. An enormous dog at that. With fur twice the size of an ordinary dog’s, gleaming with a lustrous sheen, it bore down on Gwak Bong with a savagery that suggested it might pounce at any moment.
“Jang-su! It’s all right! It’s a guest!”
As Se-hwa waddled toward the dog, the one called Jang-su wagged its tail enthusiastically.
“So you went hunting again this morning?”
Gwak Bong belatedly noticed a dead doe hanging limply behind Jang-su.
‘A dog hunted a doe on its own?’
Then another dog came over the wall. This one had a wild boar clenched in its jaws—easily as large as itself.
“Kkot-nim-i brought a boar!”
Kkot-nim-i, which had been wearing a pleased expression under Se-hwa’s touch, spotted Gwak Bong and growled, lowering its body.
Se-hwa had to say “It’s all right, it’s a guest” again, and then twice more after that.
Four dogs came back in succession, each with something in its mouth. The first two had caught game, so Gwak Bong let it pass.
But the two that came later were carrying something different.
“Oh my! Our Bo-ram-i found ginseng after so long. That must be a hundred years old. And what does Mu-byeong-i have in its mouth? Deodeok Root? Wow! That’s over two hundred years! Today the senior and the masters will have a feast!”
Se-hwa hefted the heavy boar and doe across both shoulders and gripped the ginseng and deodeok root in her hands as she waddled away.
The four dogs trotted along behind her in a procession that seemed utterly unreal to Gwak Bong.
“The little one is Hyeolpung Saja’s senior, Gangseо Samak are Hyeolpung Saja’s disciples, and four dogs are hunters and herb-gatherers? There’s nothing ordinary about this place.”

***

Dozens of workers hurried back and forth, and many carriages came and went, making the place very crowded.
So it was hardly unusual when a man trying to avoid Geom U-bin bumped into a carriage and fell. But the pouch that tumbled from the fallen man’s breast caught Geom U-bin’s attention.
A black leather pouch the size of a palm seemed ordinary enough, but its slightly open mouth spilled contents that were familiar to Geom U-bin.
‘Hwamyeon Herb?’
From spending time with Jang Man-dok, Geom U-bin had come into contact with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of medicinal herbs. Hwamyeon Herb was one of those many plants—familiar to Geom U-bin, but hardly common.
An escort saw the man quickly stuffing something into his pocket and shouted.
“You there! What are you doing lying around? The cargo loaded on that cart weighs a mountain—a mountain, I tell you!”
“Yes! Yes!”
He appeared to work for the Seoyang Merchant House.
‘None of my concern.’
She had no desire to poke her nose into suspicious matters. As Geom U-bin left the Seoyang Merchant House, the manager reminded her once more not to be late tomorrow.
‘At last, we leave tomorrow.’
Geom U-bin thrummed with anticipation, while the Hyeolpung Saja fidgeted.
“Consider it once more, won’t you? How treacherous the world out there is?”
“Close your eyes and they’ll cut off your nose. Reach out and they’ll empty your purse.”
“Murim seethes with villains and killers.”
The Hyeolpung Saja took turns trying to frighten Geom U-bin.
“Why not travel with us instead?”
For days now, their refrain had always circled back to the same plea: come with us. Yet Geom U-bin’s resolve remained unwavering.
“I want to go alone. I can’t spend my whole life sheltered in the protection of my teachers.”
“Thirteen years old is still an age when one deserves protection. What kind of Budding Prodigy makes their debut in Murim so early?”
“I’m not a Budding Prodigy and this isn’t my debut—I’m simply going along on an escort mission. There are capable masters among the escorts on this trip, so please don’t worry.”
“Even the Seoyang Merchant House lord’s Martial Arts can’t match yours, so what good would a few paltry escorts be?”
At Do Pyeong-su’s words, Geom U-bin laughed softly.
“You’re right—I’m stronger than the Seoyang Merchant House lord anyway.”
The other three shot Do Pyeong-su looks of reproach for his slip of the tongue. As always, the Hyeolpung Saja could not outwit Geom U-bin.
Though Geom U-bin had finished all her preparations two days earlier, that night she made one additional arrangement to guard against any contingency.
Since the escort mission departed at dawn, Geom U-bin left the Estate early as well.
To see off Geom U-bin on her distant journey, not only the Hyeolpung Saja waited at the gate, but also four dogs.
“It seems the Do disciple has already left?”
Last night, Do Pyeong-su had said something urgent had come up and that he wouldn’t be able to see her off.
“Yes. He left at dawn. And…….”
Seo Seok-san pulled forward a man standing behind him—an old man with a pronounced hunch and a bristling beard.
“An old friend we’ve known for years. He keeps his mouth shut and his wits sharp, so feel free to send him on errands while you’re away.”
“Is that so?”
Geom U-bin bent at the waist to meet the hunchbacked old man’s gaze and said one thing.
“Do Disciple.”
The old man’s eyes widened in alarm, darting left and right before dropping downward. Seo Seok-san let out an awkward laugh.
“Ha-ha-ha! Why are you looking for Pyeong-su, when he’s not even here?”
Seo Seok-san’s words were ignored.
“You smell like the Do Disciple.”
She stared intently at him. The silence stretched longer and longer. The old man’s eyes moved frantically, and three of the Hyeolpung Saja sent urgent signals with their eyes.
Hold on. Hold on!
But he couldn’t hold on.
“Sniff! Sniff! I bathed yesterday—why would I have a scent?”
Yeon Geum-hong kicked Do Pyeong-su’s backside.
“Good heavens! This bald fool! Can’t you hold your tongue?”
“I don’t smell—you’re the one who said I did!”
Do Pyeong-su, who had been disguised as the hunchbacked old man, straightened up and returned to his true height.
“You really do smell, Do Disciple.”
“Really?”
“Everyone has their own particular scent. Your disguise attempt was…… frankly not even skillful. Did you truly think I’d fall for it?”
Yeon Geum-hong said this with a smile.
“I thought you might play along, at least.”
The noisy farewell ended, and Geom U-bin departed from the Estate. She had always been alone and thought she always would be, yet traveling solo now felt strangely hollow.
‘Should I have asked them to come along after all?’

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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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