Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 39

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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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#039

Eun Bi-yeon set down her cup after finishing a long story, studying Geom U-bin with quiet intensity.
“Looking at you, I can see you’ve got the makings of it.”
As another wave of cold emanated from her, Yeon Geum-hong gently pressed her shoulder.
“Our brother will become someone even more remarkable than Master.”
“What? You, who revere Ma Gun-ja like a god, are saying that?”
“He’s the eldest of the Hyeolpung Saja.”
“Well then…….”
Eun Bi-yeon turned her gaze back to Geom U-bin.
“It’s truly absurd, but since you’re my sister’s eye, I’ll trust you. Oh? The cup’s empty.”
Eun Bi-yeon glanced left and right, then hopped up like a frog, bounding toward Seo Seok-san.
“Why…… why are you like this?”
“Wine.”
“You only ever come by when you need something, and act so close…….”
“Brother, don’t be like that. Give me some wine. Hehe!”
At her age, it came across as genuinely charming.
“I was saving that for the journey.”
They had no choice but to break open the Sagi Wine.
If any one of the Hyeolpung Saja acknowledged her as a sister, then she belonged to all of them.
Gathered around the rock, they ended up drinking through the night, growing dead drunk. Though they could have burned away the alcohol with their Internal Energy, none of them did.
Pleasantly intoxicated, they collapsed across the rocks and fell asleep, while Geom U-bin draped blankets over them.
“It really feels like traveling with family…….”

***

Eun Bi-yeon woke first, despite having drunk the most but consumed the least wine.
Woof! Woof!
She caught sight of Geom U-bin playing with a puppy by the pond.
As she sat up groggily, Geom U-bin broke into a broad smile. Eun Bi-yeon thought it was a genuinely bright laugh.
“You’re awake? Please wait a moment.”
Geom U-bin hurried into the cottage.
A man had entered her sacred cottage, and strangely, it didn’t anger her.
When Geom U-bin emerged from the cottage, his hands carried a steaming bowl of Yeonjatang.
“Master Do said this is best for hangovers.”
Her stomach wasn’t terribly sour, but she drained it in one go.
“That’s good. But what about that puppy?”
“That’s Oseong-i. I bought him from a nearby county.”
“A nearby county? Even with your Lightness Technique, it would take at least two double-hours for a round trip, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes. That’s about how long it took.”
Geom U-bin, holding the puppy, offered it to Eun Bi-yeon.
“It’s a gift.”
She found herself accepting the whimpering puppy almost reflexively.
“I know I can’t compare to friends, but it might ease your loneliness a little.”
Since she was seventeen, she had never received a gift from anyone.
“Th-thank you. But why is he named Oseong-i?”
“Our Estate in Hangju is called Oseong Jang-won. So you won’t forget.”
“If I come find you, what then?”
“That’s exactly why I gave him that name. It’s better to live with others than alone, isn’t it?”
Geom U-bin spoke while looking at the sleeping Hyeolpung Saja.
“I only understood that after meeting my masters.”
Eun Bi-yeon narrowed her eyes, regarding him with suspicion.
“Are you after the martial arts of the Northern Ice Palace too?”
“What? No! That can’t be it!”
“Haha! Only joking. With the Hyeolpung Saja around, what use would the Northern Ice Palace’s martial arts be?”
Young as she was, Eun Bi-yeon felt strangely unfamiliar with herself, laughing in front of this man.
‘I never thought…… I’d come to feel at ease in a situation like this.’
As the Hyeolpung Saja awakened one by one, they began eating the Yeonjatang that Geom U-bin had prepared.
And so came the turning of seasons.
With every meeting comes the inevitable hour of parting.
Geom U-bin and the three others left the cottage first, leaving Yeon Geum-hong alone.
Watching their departing figures, Eun Bi-yeon spoke.
“I never thought I’d envy you twice over.”
“Envy me? And twice at that?”
“There’s always been one thing I envied about you. Friends who would stand by your side no matter what happens. I truly envied that. And today you’ve given me reason to envy you again.”
“Our senior?”
“Senior by title, but disciple by nature? Or perhaps son?”
Yeon Geum-hong merely smiled.
“He seems like such a good child. How does he manage to grow like that, surrounded by the Hyeolpung Saja?”
“That’s precisely why we respect him. Once a person understands their own strength and grasps what they possess, nine times out of ten they become a brute…… But when you’re with him, the blood-stench that clings to us seems to fade away bit by bit.”
“Will the blood-stench that clings to my body fade away too?”
“Are you asking to leave?”
“No. There’s no point bringing it up now. I’ve already lived here for forty years. Still, I won’t forget where you are. Thanks to the puppy Ubin gave us.”

***

They secured lodgings at an inn in Yangyang County of Hubei Province, where the Jegal Family resided.
The fact that they’d rented an inn despite being only a half day’s walk away was because of Jegal Ju-guk’s retirement from the martial world.
“We should have killed him back then. It was a mistake to let him live.”
Twelve years ago, the Hyeolpung Saja had encountered Jegal Ju-guk.
And now a problem had arisen. If they went to the Jegal Family like this, their identities would be exposed. So they decided to use Disguise and Transformation.
“Blast it all! Having to use Disguise and Transformation at our age.”
“Right, why go to all that trouble? Just live as you are.”
Yeon Geum-hong pouted her lip teasingly.
Yeon Geum-hong, who had undergone the Ban-no Hwan-dong technique, was an exception and didn’t need to disguise herself. She merely applied makeup lavishly, adorning herself more beautifully.
The remaining three underwent transformation, with Jang Man-dok becoming even more sinister, Do Pyeong-su even more menacing, and Seo Seok-san having to mark his cheeks with a large mole in exchange for luxuriant hair.
“Shall we depart now?”
Yeon Geum-hong stopped the three of them.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“What do you mean? We’ve already transformed.”
“We’ll meet people from the Namgung Clan at the Jegal Family. How exactly do you plan to explain us?”
“We’ll just make something up as we go.”
“Make something up? How is that supposed to work?”
“What could possibly go wrong?”
“Stop spouting nonsense and don’t create problems for no reason. We’ll simply travel separately!”
Do Pyeong-su spoke with clear displeasure.
“Only you get to accompany him?”
“If you’re so resentful, then undergo the Ban-no Hwan-dong technique yourselves.”
“Ban-no Hwan-dong is a privilege, it seems. An honor and a privilege.”
Do Pyeong-su grumbled, tilting his head.
“But for Jegal Ju-guk to retire from the martial world…… There must be quite a tangle of old enmities and debts. What we already know is complicated enough, isn’t it?”
“Perhaps he means to clear away his debts and leave?”
“That’s a tempting thought, but in the Murim, when debts accumulate, it only becomes harder to leave. What would happen if we Hyeolpung Saja were to publicly declare a retirement from the martial world?”
Geom U-bin couldn’t imagine, but Seo Seok-san provided the answer.
“There would be a sea of blood. Those who suffered at our hands wouldn’t simply stand by and watch us retire peacefully. They’d do everything they could to settle their grievances before our retirement took effect.”
Geom U-bin asked the question.
“But what happens if someone takes revenge on a person who has declared retirement?”
“Regardless of righteousness or evil, it becomes a public crime. That is an ancient unwritten rule of the Murim. That’s why anyone wishing to retire must publicly declare it at least a year in advance. They must give people time to settle their grievances before the retirement takes effect. That too is an unwritten rule of the Murim.”
“The Murim has surprisingly many rules to uphold.”
“You needn’t concern yourself with such things. They’re merely rules that weak fools created for their own protection. We might even get to witness something entertaining if we’re lucky.”
Yeon Geum-hong rebuked Seo Seok-san.
“You hope for danger to befall us with him present?”
“We can simply protect him.”
As Seo Seok-san turned to leave the room, Geom U-bin spoke.
“Jang Man-dok. If you need to take a shit, do it before we go.”
All eyes turned to Jang Man-dok, whose expression stiffened at the words.
“You wear every feeling right on your face.”
“Jang Man-dok can’t help what comes out, apparently.”
Yeon Geum-hong spoke as she stepped toward the door.
“I feel sorry for Man-dok alone. He’ll spend his whole life with his true feelings laid bare before Hang Ju-sa-ung. Come on, let’s go ahead. You lot stay here and keep Man-dok company—and don’t cause trouble.”
With that parting warning, Yeon Geum-hong and Geom U-bin left the inn.
Though they’d taken the longer route, Yeon Geum-hong had been able to pace their arrival to roughly match the merchant convoy’s by deploying her Lightness Technique whenever boredom struck.
After asking where the convoy had gone, Geom U-bin made for the rear courtyard where the carriages were lined up.
The Jegal Family estate was roughly comparable in scale to the Namgung Clan’s, though more refined in its ornamentation.
In the rear courtyard where dozens of wagons had gathered, flags from countless merchant houses fluttered alongside those of the Seo Merchant House—nearly as many banners as there were carriages.
Geom U-bin and Yeon Geum-hong were searching for the Seo Merchant House flag among the crowd when they heard a shout.
“Hangju Sagi Wine! Anyone bringing Hangju Sagi Wine!”
The two of them pushed through the crowd to a man in his mid-thirties who wore an elaborate mustache curled at both ends.
“That’s our shipment.”
The man looked Yeon Geum-hong up and down, then turned to Geom U-bin with a question.
“You’re the one delivering the Sagi Wine?”
Had Geom U-bin not quickly seized her arm, Yeon Geum-hong would have grabbed the man by his collar and hurled him beyond the courtyard wall.
“Yes.”
“We agreed on two hundred bottles for delivery, so why do you have three hundred? Are you trying to dump the Jegal Family’s surplus stock on us?”
“No. The remaining hundred bottles are for sale elsewhere.”
“If you’re selling them somewhere else, why bring them here? You’re just creating confusion.”
“I was hoping to ask if you could store the hundred bottles for me until we depart……”
“Is this your warehouse! How dare you treat the Jegal Family like some common storage shed!”
Yeon Geum-hong could hold back no longer and let slip a quiet remark.
“You’re digging your own grave.”
“What did this woman just say?”
―Master, please restrain yourself.
Geom U-bin sent the message through Telepathic Communication, but Yeon Geum-hong’s anger would not subside. She was not the sort to tolerate some mere warehouse keeper looking down on Geom U-bin.
At that moment, someone called out to Geom U-bin.
“U-bin!”
The person rushing toward Geom U-bin with a delighted expression was Namgung Hye-yeon.
“You arrived faster than I expected! Aunt! Hello!”
Seeing Namgung Hye-yeon beam with joy at meeting Geom U-bin, the warehouse keeper sneered.
“Bringing two women to the Jegal Family for a delivery, are we? What a promising career you have ahead. An older woman and a younger one—you’ve even matched them nicely.”
Yeon Geum-hong’s expression, already poor, darkened further, and Namgung Hye-yeon’s face stiffened.
“What did you just say?”
“You? Do you know who I am before you wag your tongue so carelessly?”
Even though he guarded the warehouse, Deung Seo-dae was unquestionably a member of the Jegal Family.
The warehouse keeper harbored not merely pride but a sense of privilege that came with it. To someone like Deung Seo-dae, Geom U-bin was nothing but a petty merchant from some distillery house.
The women who came with that petty merchant seemed equally beneath notice, as did his companions. Deung Seo-dae was the sort of man who carried no courtesies whatsoever for such insignificant creatures.
“You dare bare your teeth to a member of the Jegal Family! Do you wish your eyes to be torn out?”
Had circumstances been normal, Namgung Hye-yeon would have first measured out her response carefully. But this was not such a moment.
What sort of person was Geom U-bin’s aunt?
A hotblooded supreme master who had once nearly come to blows with the head of the Namgung Clan itself. The Jegal Family would be no different, would it?
Namgung Hye-yeon stepped forward quickly and spoke.
“Aunt, might this girl be permitted to handle this?”
“You?”
Yeon Geum-hong regarded her with something like surprise.
“Go ahead. I cannot be bothered with insects like that.”
In an instant, Namgung Hye-yeon moved, and Deung Seo-dae flew backward, blood spraying from his mouth. The ground around where he tumbled was littered with teeth stained crimson.
Around the warehouse, merchant house workers and Jegal Family staff alike poured out in shock.
“What happened? What’s— Director Deung!”
“Agh! Ahhh—ahhhhh!”
Deung Seo-dae pointed at Geom U-bin’s group while shrieking and spitting blood. Though his words were unintelligible, his meaning was unmistakable.
“How dare you cause a disturbance at the Jegal Family! Do you wish to die!”
“Kneel at once!”
The workers drew weapons, and the two guards on duty unsheathed their blades.
Namgung Hye-yeon stepped forward to shield Geom U-bin and Yeon Geum-hong, her voice ringing out.
“Do you not understand your fault? Very well! I shall discipline you all, and I will take this matter directly to Uncle Jegal.”
Just as Namgung Hye-yeon was about to move, a resonant voice cut through the air.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Parting through the crowd, the figure who emerged into the hall was Jegal Pyeong, the news-keeper of the Jegal Family.
A swordsman turned to him urgently.
“An outsider has attacked one of our family members!”
“Who would dare strike a Jegal inside our own walls?”
“I did.”
At the cold voice, Jegal Pyeong’s gaze swung toward Namgung Hye-yeon.
“You, Hye-yeon? Why?”
“The man was being far too disrespectful.”
“Even so—surely he didn’t know any better. It was likely a simple mistake……”
“So if someone knows better, it’s acceptable to belittle and intimidate? And he looked at me as though I were some light-hearted woman who sold nothing but smiles and laughter, just because I’m young. Was I supposed to sit silent and accept such words?”

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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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