Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 66

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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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#066

Go Seo-bang, who had been walking in silence, turned to Geom U-bin with a question.
“Master. Can we become good people too?”
“No.”
“Sir?”
“You’re already good people. How could you become good people again?”
“Ah, truly good people would curse me for saying that.”
“If someone worries about whether they can become a good person, then that person is already good. Did you ever have such thoughts before?”
Back when they were the Gangseо Samak?
The three men stopped walking and simultaneously recalled the past.
They had only thought about how to live lavishly with pretty women and drink, it seemed. Looking back on those days, it felt as though they had lived their entire lives in a long, narrow cave, seeing only a tiny opening ahead.
Beyond that opening lay a world this vast, yet the Gangseо Samak had never even considered stepping through.
Geom U-bin showed them a smile.
“My disciples weren’t truly evil even in the past. If they had been truly wicked, they could not have changed like this. And past mistakes cannot be undone. If debts from those days return as punishment in the present, then they must be paid—there’s no way around it. So all that’s left is to live carefully from now on.”
“But what if the sins of the past are too great to bear now?”
“Ask your masters.”
“Our masters?”
“They’re the Bloodwind Four Lions. Compared to them, we’re small fry.”
The Gangseо Samak had no choice but to nod.
When the Gangseо Samak returned to Oseong Jang-won, they treated O Tong-su’s wounds and dealt with the accumulated tasks.
Work kept slipping from their hands—they repeated orders already given to the workers, broke jars they were carrying.
After spending such a restless day, Go Seo-bang took a bottle of saegiuju to the pavilion.
He had never needed a drink so desperately before.
Why had they managed to forget the past so completely all this time? Or had they been able to?
Then again, living with the Bloodwind Four Lions made it natural. When his cup emptied for the second time, Gal Ma-pyeong appeared.
A bottle of liquor was in his hand as well.
“Drinking without food will ruin your stomach.”
“You don’t have any either.”
“Exactly. I’m trying to ruin it.”
By the time their cups were filled, even O Tong-su, still lying on his sickbed, had joined them.
“Hey! What are you doing, letting a patient drink? His wounds will reopen.”
“If I just lie here any longer, my insides will burst before the wounds reopen.”
Gal Ma-pyeong drained his cup in one gulp and spoke.
“We really did do a lot of terrible things, didn’t we?”
“Starting with when we flipped O-ryeon’s skirts?”
“Ahahaha! And when we ran, you got hit in the head with the rock she threw!”
“My head still aches when the weather turns cloudy. You, Ma-pyeong—stealing watermelons and wrecking that farmer’s whole crop, remember?”
“Hey, that only happened because you wanted to eat watermelons!”
“I was sick with measles back then, wasn’t I?”
“We thought you were dying. We said we’d grant a dying man’s last wish, and only the farmer’s livelihood got ruined. Ahahaha…….”
As they spoke of things long past, their voices grew quieter with each passing memory.
“I wish our masters were here. Surely they’ve done far worse than us?”
“How can you compare small fry like us to them? They’re the Bloodwind Four Lions.”
“Still, thanks to our masters and Master Geom, we won’t end up like the Sword Pair of Misfortune—at least not as trash.”
“That’s right. If we hadn’t met those five, we’d still be living like them now.”
“Why did we live that way?”
“Who knows.”
“In the end, you have to choose your friends well.”
The three men looked at each other’s faces, drew long sighs, then burst into laughter.
“At least we have each other, pathetic as we are!”
“It would have been better if our masters were here too! Where on earth are they anyway? As they say, even dung has its uses if you search hard enough……!”
Do Pyeong-su’s voice cut through Gal Ma-pyeong’s words.
“Who are you calling dung?”
The Gangseо Samak, who had been cheerfully raising their cups, froze.
“A cup of wine on a moonlit night by the pond. Fine times indeed.”
“We even made the liquor ourselves.”
As their gaze turned slowly toward him, Hyeolpung Saja stood with hands clasped behind his back.
Though he should have trembled at such a moment, he felt as though his dead parents had returned to life—joyous beyond measure.
“Master!”
They rushed forward as one and swept him into an embrace. The shock, it seemed, belonged to Hyeolpung Saja.
“Did these fools drug themselves with fine liquor?”
“Why are you so late?”
“Did something happen? Is it Hang Ju-sa-ung?”
“No, sir! If something had happened to you, we wouldn’t still be drinking, would we?”
“Fair point. Then we’re half-dead anyway. O Tong-su, looks like you’re already there.”
Gang Seo Samak recounted in meticulous detail everything that had occurred that day. Between the sighs that punctuated his account, the Pavilion nearly emptied of its very air.
“What should we do?”
Do Pyeong-su answered flatly.
“What do you mean, what should you do? Just live.”
“Sir? As if nothing happened?”
“The man you three couldn’t beat even together—O Tong-su defeated alone. You should be rejoicing to be alive.”
‘Of course!’
Hyeolpung Saja was Hyeolpung Saja, after all.
“These fools waste time seeing their brother with trivial matters. Go inside and sleep.”
Hyeolpung Saja departed to meet Geom U-bin, and Gang Seo Samak, left behind, studied each other’s faces.
Seeing the same expression mirrored in his two companions, he felt oddly reassured.
‘Whether I like them or not, it seems I’m meant to live with those two for the rest of my life.’
Just as Geom U-bin had said, they truly were friends, after all.

***

Geom U-bin stirred from sleep and gasped as he rolled from his bed.
When Hyeolpung Saja returned suddenly last night, everyone had chattered endlessly about the happenings in Murim.
They’d lamented earning only twelve hundred taels and sworn they would never again fight with one another and destroy the house—then the vigil in his chamber had stretched on for two hours before they finally departed to their own rooms.
Geom U-bin slipped from his room to avoid Hyeolpung Saja, who lay sprawled about in various poses.
The morning sun was just turning rich and golden when he emerged into the Estate, which bustled with activity.
Workers hired by Se-hwa were clearing rubble from the collapsed structures.
A middle-aged man who appeared to be in charge asked Se-hwa a question.
“How did the building come to this?”
“There was a bit of a quarrel.”
“A bit?”
“Yes. If it had been much more than a bit, Oseong Jang-won would have collapsed entirely.”
Se-hwa spotted Geom U-bin and ran toward him with a bright face.
“So the masters arrived last night? I was asleep and didn’t even hear them come.”
“Not knowing was a blessing.”
Geom U-bin watched the workers haul debris from Oseong Jang-won with a worried expression.
“Why do you look so concerned?”
“There’s something important hidden in that wreckage.”
“What is it?”
“A box.”
“What’s inside?”
“Something most precious to me.”
“You should tell us what it is.”
“Secret.”
O Tong-su’s voice rang out.
“Since you’re so blatantly saying it’s a secret, now I’m even more curious.”
Though he’d drunk late into the night, he’d forced himself to rise early since Hyeolpung Saja had returned.
“Everyone has secrets, you know?”
Of course he knew. But because it was Geom U-bin’s secret, he felt specially compelled to know.
“There! There it is!”
What Geom U-bin fished from the rubble was a wooden box, roughly two feet on each side, the color of chestnuts. Against all odds it had survived intact, bearing only scars and scratches from the chaos.
“Thank goodness.”
Geom U-bin clutched the box to his chest, his expression one of relief, before turning back—whereupon Hyeolpung Saja appeared, rubbing his eyes.
“Hm? Where’s Hang Ju-sa-ung?”

“Is she still here? She just left, didn’t she?”
“She did? Then make breakfast a bit hearty this morning. I’ve been running all day yesterday and I’m starving.”
Hang Ju-sa-ung nearly mentioned Geom U-bin’s box to Hyeolpung Saja, but thought better of it.
If it was a secret of Geom U-bin’s that even Hyeolpung Saja didn’t know, it seemed right to keep it.
‘I really am curious. What could his secret be?’

***

“So those three workers at Oseong Jang-won are the Gangseо Samak? They say birds of a feather flock together, and it’s true.”
Noh Dae-sul nodded, and So Gi-cheon spoke to him.
“They didn’t seem like bad people, though?”
“You mustn’t judge people by appearances alone. That’s why experience in Gangho matters. Anything else you’ve learned?”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“About Oseong Jang-won and Geom U-bin.”
“I’m not watching Geom U-bin. I’ve already told you everything.”
“Even without deliberately watching, you might stumble onto things by chance, like this time, no?”
So Gi-cheon narrowed his eyes and asked.
“What is it you want to know, sir? Why are you so interested in Oseong Jang-won and Geom U-bin?”
“You’re not ready to know yet.”
“How can I find out anything when I understand nothing?”
“Once you know, will you spy on Geom U-bin and report to this master?”
So Gi-cheon’s answer came without the slightest hesitation.
“No. I would never betray a friend.”
“Then what are you asking me to tell you for!”
“I’m curious.”
“What I’m curious about is why Wol-ha Giroo stopped selling Saegiuju.”
At the mention of Saegiuju, saliva began dripping from Noh Dae-sul’s beard.
“The original owner of Wol-ha Giroo died, and his son inherited it. But that son is a complete wreck. After the ownership changed hands, the success rate of begging fell to zero, absolutely zero!”
So Gi-cheon, trembling as though indignant, continued.
“With such a terrible owner, there’s no way a good person like Geom U-bin would keep doing business with them.”
So Gi-cheon placed particular emphasis on the word “good.”
“Hangju without Saegiuju is a wine house without substance.”
“But I’m here, a disciple of yours, aren’t I? Even if I’m your twenty-second. Or was it twenty-third?”
Noh Dae-sul brushed aside So Gi-cheon’s words with ease.
“The pittance they serve at Cheonha Jeil Gaekjan won’t do. Is there no way to get more?”
Noh Dae-sul whined and watched for So Gi-cheon’s reaction.
“There is one disciple who is close to Geom U-bin, who makes Saegiuju at Oseong Jang-won, but that one is…….”
“I won’t accept a single coin more than what’s fair from Geom U-bin. That’s our unwritten rule.”
“Unwritten rule be damned! For your master’s sake, you can ignore that much!”
“But you’re the one who said to uphold principles no matter what!”
“That principle isn’t the rule itself I meant — I was speaking of the Way of Humanity!”
“That principle is the rule itself to me!”
Noh Dae-sul, glowering at So Gi-cheon, abruptly stood up.
“Since you’re here, let me see how much your martial arts have improved.”
“M-Master…….”
“It is this master’s principle to assess the progress of his disciples’ martial arts.”
‘Damn it. I’ll be bedridden for another four days.’

***

“Why such an enigmatic expression?”
“Oh, no! I’ll go at once!”
O Tong-su quickened his pace toward Geom U-bin’s room. But the closer he drew, the more his heart clenched.
Really, there was no need for anxiety, was there?
If Geom U-bin were in the room, he wouldn’t be able to look at its contents even if he wanted to.
‘Why has my nerve shriveled so?’
Even as he berated himself, O Tong-su stood before Geom U-bin’s door and spoke in a cautious voice.
“Master, are you in?”
There was no answer.
Thump!
“Master, Do and Master Jang are looking for you.”
Again, there was no answer, no sound of movement within.
O Tong-su swallowed hard.
Geom U-bin was definitely not in the room. If he were indulging in wine, even his slightest breath would carry to ears pricked for any sign of life.
Ordinarily, O Tong-su would have simply turned and left.
With Geom U-bin absent, there was no reason to open the door at all.
Yet O Tong-su found himself reaching for the handle without thinking. Another thick swallow worked down his throat.

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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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