Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 42

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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 042

Someone called out, and when Geom U-bin turned, a man was pointing at him with one finger.
“You’re Geom U-bin, right?”
“Who…are you?”
The man’s face twisted sharply.
“How can you not recognize me? I spent three years in closed-door seclusion training because of you!”
“So who…are you?”
“I’m Dong Chang-min, the lesser heir of the Dongssa Family!”
“Ah! You’ve changed quite a bit.”
His appearance had changed, yes, but Geom U-bin had paid so little attention that the memory itself had grown faint.
“It’s fortunate we’ve met. I’ll settle the debt from three years ago.”
Geom U-bin asked Dong Chang-min, who was reaching for his sword hilt.
“You want to fight here?”
With the Gold-washed Retirement Ceremony looming just ahead, the Jegal House was the worst possible place for a sparring match.
Dong Chang-min, aware of the eyes upon him, quietly released the sword hilt he’d grasped.
“Let’s go outside.”
“Wait. I have some business at the Jegal House first.”
“To collect your bar tab? Get out here!”
Geom U-bin turned away from Dong Chang-min’s shout and headed toward the Hosil Pavilion. Before he’d taken more than a few steps, the figure called Dong Chang-min had vanished entirely from his mind.
“Friend! I didn’t expect you to visit so soon?”
Geom U-bin skipped even a greeting and got straight to his purpose.
“Do you know about the Mandok Gate?”
“It’s an incident from when I still couldn’t tell shit from shinola, but yes, I know of it. But why the Mandok Gate?”
“The Mandok Gate Master, Ma Chung-san, is here right now.”
Jegal Hoon’s face went rigid.
“Ma Chung-san? The fact that you know even that name means the intelligence is certain—you wouldn’t have come to me otherwise if it were uncertain.”
Jegal Hoon asked carefully.
“Do you happen to know where he is?”
As Geom U-bin was about to say he didn’t know the exact location, unable to reveal that disciples were watching, Seo Seok-san’s telepathic communication reached him.
―Brother, those two idiots let Ma Chung-san slip away.
So there was no need for a lie.
“I don’t know the location, but I think I have a rough sense of Ma Chung-san’s scheme.”
Geom U-bin relayed the story he’d heard from Yeon Geum-hong exactly as he’d been told it.
“Beyond those three items, there might be more, so a thorough search would be wise.”
“How did you come to know about Ma Chung-san?”
“We’re not the kind of friends who need to lay bare all our secrets.”
“Yet you still came to save me?”
“Because we’re friends.”
Geom U-bin spoke as he stepped out of the Hosil Pavilion.
“From here on, it’s out of my hands. Show me what genius can do.”
“Wait!”
Jegal Hoon rolled his wheelchair closer, his eyes gleaming like a pitiful kitten’s.
“Would you consider staying at the House?”
―Brother, that won’t do.
“Nothing dangerous will ever happen to you.”
―A promise from those who cannot protect themselves is one I cannot trust.
“I understand.”
Geom U-bin sent a telepathic message to Seo Seok-san, who was sighing.
―If I worry when Seo is here, doesn’t that mean I don’t trust him? Isn’t that right?
―That’s correct. Trust me.
His mood seemed to lift.
Jegal Hoon personally escorted Geom U-bin to his room.
“It’s right next to my room.”
What he’d been led to was not right next to the room—it was a single suite. Between them lay a space that served as both a study and a room for tea, with Jegal Hoon’s quarters to the left and Geom U-bin’s to the right.
The books in the study appeared to number well over three thousand.
“Use it all as if it were your own. I’ll go see Father for a moment.”
“What are you going to tell them about the Mandok Gate?”
“I’m the master of the Hosil Pavilion. I’ll figure something out.”
It would do no good for the Jegal House to learn that Geom U-bin had revealed the Mandok Gate’s existence to him. They would naturally demand to know how he’d come by such information, and there was no satisfactory explanation besides the Bloodwind Four Lions.
Though Jegal Hoon didn’t know about the Bloodwind Four Lions, he sensed that Geom U-bin harbored something he couldn’t speak of.
The one called a prodigy for good reason, Jegal Hoon had no intention of revealing that Geom U-bin was the source of his knowledge about the Mandok Gate.
After Jegal Hoon left the room, Geom U-bin, who had been browsing the library, retrieved the Records of the Grand Historian and withdrew to his quarters.
Though the library had chairs, reading in bed with the book resting on one’s stomach was most comfortable.
When he’d turned roughly ten pages, he sensed someone approaching the room.
“Hoon, I’m going to rest in here for a while. I didn’t sleep properly last night and I’m about to collapse. Don’t ask why I’m not in my own room.”
She’d explained it all without being asked.
“Those brutes send me a message every quarter hour, so I can’t sleep at all.”
The door creaked open and a woman with half-lidded eyes entered.
“I’m thinking of dropping the epithet ‘Snow in the Mountains.’ At first I managed my expression carefully, but now my face has gone numb and it feels like it’s going to crack like plaster. Reading, are you? I’ll rest beside you for a bit.”
With that, she shrugged off her outer robe and tossed it aside.
With her eyes barely open, she must have seen Geom U-bin, yet she crawled into the blankets nonetheless.
Fortunately, the bed was wide enough to lie sideways on comfortably.
“Why don’t you go out and make some friends…… yes, pretty young women…….”
The woman, still half-asleep, continued her murmuring and turned her head to look at Geom U-bin.
She blinked a few times before speaking.
“You’re not Hoon. Who are you?”
Her sleep-laden face showed little surprise.
“I’m a friend of Hoon’s.”
“A child from one of the Murim families? A disciple?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s fine then.”
Her eyes closed, and soon the soft sound of snoring issued from her.
He’d been invited by Jegal Hoon and was simply reading in his room when somehow a woman in undergarments had fallen asleep beside him.
―So this is Jegal Jong-ryeo, the Jegal House’s daughter. Hehehehe…….
―Seok-san, what does that last laugh mean?
―Would you like me to explain? Of course, I won’t look.
―Don’t explain anything. I’m just going to keep reading.
―How can the words possibly enter your eyes when such a beauty is sleeping right beside you in undergarments?
―If you just stay quiet, I’ll manage fine.
Seo Seok-san muttered, ‘A gift that rolls in unbidden should be enjoyed,’ and smacked his lips.
Contrary to Seo Seok-san’s misgivings, Geom U-bin absorbed the Records with fervent attention.
The Records of the Filial Emperor, which he’d never read before, made him forget about Jegal Jong-ryeo sleeping beside him.
As Geom U-bin was deep in the Records of the Filial Emperor, an odd sensation made him turn his head.
Jegal Jong-ryeo, whom he’d thought asleep, was lying prone and watching him intently.
Their eyes met only briefly, but in that strangely drawn-out moment, Jegal Jong-ryeo spoke.
“Your expression when reading is similar to Hoon’s. But are you really his friend? You look two or three years older than him.”
“I’m a year younger.”
“Oh! So you’re twelve, or thirteen? I’d heard you’re not involved with the Murim at all…… right? My mind gets a bit fuzzy when I’m sleepy.”
Even now that she’d woken up, her mind didn’t seem entirely present.
“Yes. I have nothing to do with the Murim.”
“Then you can relax your expression.”
Jegal Jong-ryeo flexed her mouth and cheeks to reset her facial muscles, then asked a question.
“What’s your name?”
“Geom U-bin.”
“Where do you live.”
“Hangju.”
“What do you do.”
“I sell liquor.”
Jegal Jong-ryeo clapped her hands together.
“Ah! So you’re that Geom U-bin!”
She’d already been told.
“Hoon mentioned you a couple of times. He said you’re called the Immortal of Fine Spirits? Your uncle and aunt, Hang Ju-sa-ung and his wife, are truly celestial beings. I want to go to Hangju too. The night scenery there was absolutely stunning.”
This woman was rather talkative.
Fortunately, Jegal Jong-ryeo’s chatter didn’t continue long. The room’s owner had returned.
Jegal Hoon’s eyes flickered between the discarded robe on the floor and Jegal Jong-ryeo.
Geom U-bin and Jegal Jong-ryeo also watched Jegal Hoon.
That strange, silent moment stretched on. Finally, Jegal Hoon wheeled himself from the room, leaving the peculiar stillness behind.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“The one acting strange is you.”
“Me? Oh! That’s a peculiar way to put it—never heard anyone use that term before. You don’t have siblings, do you? Those types usually feel awkward calling someone brother or sister.”
Jegal Jong-ryeo sat up and stretched languidly. Geom U-bin found the view quite rewarding.
“Should I go back to being Jegal Jong-ryeo and play the proper host? And I need to tell Father absolutely no Gold-washed Retirement Ceremony for me. I’d be bored to death.”
She left the room in her undergarments, then returned a moment later with a sudden “Oh? I’ve been undressed this whole time?” and hastily began pulling on her clothes.
“What in heaven’s name is going on? Why were you undressed in bed with U-bin?”
Jegal Jong-ryeo’s expression had frozen solid. She was no longer the woman she had been moments before.
An icy chill radiated from her as if the very air would freeze in her presence. Without a word, she passed Jegal Hoon and vanished.
“Why did she have to revert now, of all times? Damn it!”
All eyes turned to Geom U-bin, alone in the room.
“I was reading, and she came and fell asleep beside me. She took off her clothes because… she found it more comfortable, I suppose?”
It was a brief explanation, but it sufficed to satisfy Jegal Hoon’s confusion.
“Good grief! That scatterbrained sister of ours—loses all sense of propriety the moment she gets sleepy. Don’t misunderstand. She’s not dissolute; she’s simply oblivious. And yet that scatterbrain is one of the Six Dragons Three Peaks among the Orthodox Faction’s younger generation.”
“What happened with the earlier matter?”
Jegal Hoon broke into a wide smile.
“Just as you said—poison was found in the salt, tea, and wine. The Jegal House is moving discreetly now; we’ll be apprehending those responsible for the poisoning soon. We’re still investigating the other provisions as well.”
So long as the conspiracy remained unknown, it would have succeeded. But now that Jegal House was aware, they would be able to stop it.
“Only Father knows you provided the information. With anyone else, we can attribute the intelligence to sources at Hosil Pavilion, but Father sees through such things, doesn’t he? Don’t worry. He’s sworn to keep your secret.”
“Ah!”
“What is it?”
“Nothing. I just won’t wait here much longer.”

When one leg ached, he shifted his weight to the other, then finally leaned against the wall and crouched down. Many people passed through the gate, but Geom U-bin was nowhere to be seen.
“Has this bastard run off?”
Dong Chang-min, crouched in the warm sunlight, began to doze off.

***

The Jegal House apprehended seven members of the Mandok Gate and identified five poisoned food items—salt, tea, and three others—which they removed.
Though they went to considerable effort replacing these items, the Gold-washed Retirement Ceremony proceeded without delay.
On the appointed day, an enormous crowd gathered at the Jegal House.
Not only Murim martial artists but also spectators drawn by the rare sight of a Gold-washed Retirement Ceremony that was seldom witnessed in the Murim had come to watch.
It was a cloudless day, perfect for the ceremony.
A platform measuring ten lengths across and three lengths deep was erected at one end of the Training Grounds, with only members of the Jegal House family taking their places upon it.
In the honored seats surrounding the platform sat representatives from various sects. The Hwangbo Family and four divisions of the Gudaemun Faction had sent both their house lords and sect leaders.
With the sound of a long, resonant gong, the Gold-washed Retirement Ceremony began.
The deeds the Jegal House had performed for the Murim were recounted in exaggerated glory. Then the life of Jegal Ju-guk, who was undergoing the ceremony, was embellished and spread through the crowd.
Then came the moment when the gold-gilded wash basin was presented upon the platform. Gleaming yellow in the sunlight, the basin seemed to silence the assembly—a hush fell over the crowd.
Jegal Ju-guk, gazing at the basin with deep emotion, rolled up his sleeves.
That fifty years of accumulated karmic entanglements from his time in the Murim could be washed clean with merely the water in a gilded basin struck him as absurdly ironic.
All present waited in silence for his hands to touch the water, while the sentries’ nerves grew as keen as a well-honed blade.
Jegal Ju-guk’s hands descended into the basin as naturally as if he were washing his face each morning.
As droplets fell from his raised hands and he wiped them dry with the towel brought by Jegal Jong-ryeo, a roar of celebration erupted.
It was the moment Jegal Ju-guk finally retired from the Murim.

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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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