Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 79

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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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#079

“That sound isn’t unpleasant either.”
It was not an easy decision for Sang Nam-jae and Go Shin-ji.
“I’m sorry. Oseong Jang-won is comfortable and would be good for our Ji-u too, but I can’t face the Lords and Administrators with a clear conscience.”
Go Shin-ji nodded in agreement with Sang Nam-jae’s words.
“I understand. Once we’ve proven ourselves, we’ll come back and repay the kindness.”
“I’ll handle the explanation. You pack our things.”
Sang Nam-jae left the room, leaving Go Shin-ji behind. Oseong Jang-won—a place where everything was peaceful. But it was no paradise granted to them.
Only after washing away every trace of blood that clung to his body would he truly have the right to live here.
Just then, Sang Nam-jae caught sight of three Administrators emerging from the Wine Cellar.
“Why does your face look like that? Is something the matter?”
“There’s something I need to tell the three of you.”
“Perfect—we were just thinking of having tea at the Pavilion. Let’s go there.”
Sang Nam-jae followed the three men and caught the subtle fragrance of wine. Go Seo-bang poured tea into Sang Nam-jae’s cup and asked.
“What is it you want to say?”
“I wish to leave Oseong Jang-won.”
“What? Why?”
“I have no right to stay here at Oseong Jang-won.”
The three men simply looked bewildered.
“I am a wicked man who took money and killed people as my trade. Someone as sinful as I am has no right to live in a place as pure as Oseong Jang-won. It would be proper to repay the kindness you’ve shown me before I leave, but I will first try to atone for my sins, then return and repay that debt. I beg your forgiveness.”
O Tong-su, who had been watching Sang Nam-jae intently, asked.
“So you’re saying that because you’re guilty, you can’t live here among good people—is that what we’re understanding?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“I don’t know what to make of this.”
“Haven’t we told you who we are and what kind of people our masters are?”
“We left before there was time for that. And with a pregnant woman present, we couldn’t very well tell such dangerous stories.”
They went back and forth until Go Seo-bang asked the other two.
“Should we tell Nam-jae who our masters are?”
“We’d need permission, wouldn’t we?”
“Wait a moment. I’ll be quick.”
Watching what they were doing, Sang Nam-jae could only feel confused.
“I don’t understand what the three of you are discussing.”
“You’ll understand soon enough—how absurd your words truly are.”
Go Seo-bang returned not long after with a bump forming on his head.
“Damn it! Got a beating just for asking something obvious.”
Go Seo-bang, muttering to himself, looked at Sang Nam-jae with a grave expression.
“Leaving is your choice. But before you do, we’ll give you the chance to learn who we and our masters truly are.”
“Please, tell me.”
“But once you know who we and our master are, you won’t be able to leave Oseong Jang-won.”
“What?”
“Promise me that, and I’ll tell you.”
It was a choice between leaving without hearing or staying after learning—a condition that had nothing to do with Sang Nam-jae’s resolve.
“No need to agonize over it. Once you hear, you won’t want to leave anyway. Or rather, would you try to flee in the night?”
At those words, his curiosity became unbearable.
“Who are these Administrators and Lords you speak of?”
“Who do you think they are?”
“Reclusive masters, I’d imagine.”
Sang Nam-jae could not venture beyond that guess.
“Have you ever heard of the Gang Seo Samak?”
As an assassin, his organization’s intelligence network was not as vast as the Sect’s, but he had some understanding of Murim’s masters. That was necessary—an assassination contract against any of them could arrive at any time.
He would have no choice but to accept or refuse such a commission.
The Gang Seo Samak was naturally among the names he’d investigated. It ranked high precisely because such wicked men would be the targets anyone would want dead.
Fortunately for the Gang Seo Samak, the Seo-baek Salsa Mun had never received a contract to kill them.
“Of course I’m aware of them.”
“That’s us.”
Sang Nam-jae’s eyes merely flickered. The three administrators were the Gangseо Samak? Those three good-hearted souls who’d ridden a thousand li without hesitation to save him—they were the Gangseо Samak?
“You’re joking, surely?”
It couldn’t be. Why would such decent people carry the character for “evil” in their epithet?
“No. If they were the Gangseо Samak, the Seo-baek Salsa Mun would have already completed their Yongmo Pagi. They don’t resemble them at all…….”
But the more he spoke, the more he could see the resemblance. O Tong-su with his pallid skin and thin lips; Go Seo-bang with his prominent nose and cultivated beard; Gal Ma-pyeong with his unusually small eyes.
“You really are…… the Gangseо Samak……?”
His voice trembled with shock.
“If you’re this startled just hearing our names, you’ll have a heart attack when you learn your masters’ epithets.”
If the Gangseо Samak were disciples, how formidable must their masters be?
“Well, since you’ve become one of our family now, you ought to know who they are. Those people…….”
Gal Ma-pyeong’s voice fell to a whisper, almost to himself.
“The Hyeolpung Saja.”
“……What? The Hyeolpung Saja?”
“Drink your tea and compose yourself.”
He drank it in one gulp and coughed violently from the heat for a long while.
“Being shocked is natural, but don’t die on us.”
“That…… that makes no sense! The Hyeolpung Saja doing…… good deeds? How could that be? They’re the worst demon heads in all the Murim!”
“Not all the rumors in the Murim are true. And even if they were once, they’re not anymore.”
The Gangseо Samak’s expression was so grave that he couldn’t dismiss it as jest.
“Are you really saying your four lords are the Hyeolpung Saja?”
“Would we jest about a name like that and risk our lives?”
“Exactly. You could die just from that kind of joke.”
“Because a bandit gang had ‘Hyeolpung’ in their name, they wiped out the Hyeolpung Dan. You have to be careful.”
“But why would people like that save me and my wife? The Hyeolpung Saja wouldn’t do such kind things.”
“That’s precisely why we all revere our first lord.”
“Your senior lord?”
“He redeemed the Hyeolpung Saja. So it’s no wonder the Gangseо Samak became a little kinder.”
Go Seo-bang spoke to Sang Nam-jae, who remained bewildered.
“Do you think the scent of blood clinging to you might be thicker than what clings to us?”
It might well be.
“Surely you don’t think your own infamy rivals that of the Hyeolpung Saja?”
At O Tong-su’s question, he could shake his head with certainty. In all the current Murim, or even searching a hundred years back, few demon heads could match the Hyeolpung Saja’s notoriety.
Gal Ma-pyeong drove the final nail into Sang Nam-jae’s conflict.
“The blood on you is trivial. Don’t be foolish—just stay here and live.”
“I…… suppose that’s what I should do.”
Yet he felt no relief.
‘How do I tell Shin-ji about this?’
But there was no need to worry.
“Who is the Hyeolpung Saja?”
There was no need to enumerate all the information that drifted through the Murim, or that the Seo-baek Salsa Mun had gathered.
“People who built quite a reputation for evil in the Murim.”
“Your lords were bad people in the past? Far worse than you?”
“Yes. So I suppose there’s no real reason for me to leave the Oseong Jang-won just because I’m a bad man. It would be rather absurd.”
“People say humans never change, but some do.”
“Eight of us, all told.”
In the end, Sang Nam-jae, his wife, and their child became new members of the Oseong Jang-won.

***

Thanks to Gwak Bong, the scattered triads of Hangju were unified and reborn under the name Oseong Huksahoe.
Geom U-bin found it awkward to attach the name Oseong to a triad, but when Gwak Bong insisted that since the name was used for the pavilion and the establishment, why not the triad, he simply let her have her way.
“Master of the Society. This is a rough organizational chart of the Oseong Huksahoe. Since we’re now Hangju’s sole triad, shouldn’t we establish proper structure? The Jayong Mun remains as a dark sect faction, but with you and the Hangju Seonbae if needed, the Jayong Mun will be well within our grasp.”
Gwak Bong glanced at the chart Kang Chan-sik had spread on the table and wore a bewildered expression.
“Did you just call me Master of the Society? I thought we settled that matter last time.”
“Surely you don’t mean I’m actually Master of the Society? I assumed you were just saying that for morale…….”
Kang Chan-sik had even worried that Gwak Bong might discard him after use—a pattern he’d seen far too often in the triad world. He’d never imagined he would become Master.
Gwak Bong tapped his own name at the very top with his index finger.
“Don’t bring this up again. The decision is already made.”
Gwak Bong brought a brush and erased his name. Naturally, the name that now occupied the topmost position was Kang Chan-sik.
“From now on, Master Kang will handle all triad affairs.”
“You’ve only just unified Hangju’s Triad, and now you’re saying you’ll hand it all over to me?”
“It’s nothing to fuss about. Just a few sleepless nights. Besides, I have work to do.”
“What could be so important that…….”
“I need to guard the Oseong Pavilion.”
“You’re throwing away the Hangju Triad Lord’s position to become a custodian of the Oseong Pavilion?”
“There’s no telling what the Wol-ha Giroo crowd might do next, so it needs careful watching. Now, run the Triad well. And don’t forget—you can’t operate the way things used to be done.”
“Of… of course.”
“If people point fingers at you, it casts a shadow on the Oseong name itself. Mind your conduct carefully. And if anyone from the Jayong Mun comes around, don’t overreach—come find me.”
Gwak Bong spoke those words and left without hesitation, heading toward the Oseong Pavilion where final construction was still underway.
Kang Chan-sik had done little more than trail along behind Gwak Bong (though, if he was honest, he’d handled somewhat more work than that), yet he found himself now serving as the Lord of the Oseong Huksahoe, master of the entire Hangju Triad.
Part of him felt joy at this, but another part stirred with unease. If this were the Triad world he’d always known, he’d have naturally celebrated with his subordinates, going to some pavilion and drinking himself senseless with them.
But what Oseong and Gwak Bong wanted was something entirely different from the past.
A virtuous Triad, in other words—as impossible as a round square.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Triad operations fall into four main categories: protection money extorted from merchants, gambling dens operating as the backbone of the money-lending business, labor management, and wholesale goods distribution to shops.
There are various smaller operations besides these, but those four are the Triad’s greatest revenue streams.
Back when multiple Triads had swarmed Hangju, they’d each carved out their share of these businesses, and whenever deals were struck, they’d sometimes fight it out to seize pieces from one another.
But now it all belonged to the Oseong Huksahoe alone. Kang Chan-sik summoned Wang Bong-seok, a man who’d once retired from the Triad life to become a bandit, then returned.
He wasn’t particularly clever, but his loyalty was genuine.
“We’ll have to close all the illegal gambling dens.”
Wang Bong-seok was taken aback.
“The gambling dens? They’re one of the Triad’s biggest sources of income.”
“If we keep running gambling operations, it’s impossible to become a virtuous Triad.”
Whether legal or illegal, gambling dens offer people a brief thrill before condemning them to endless suffering.
Moreover, money borrowed from gambling dens accrues interest upon interest, fastening an inescapable noose around the debtor’s neck.
So as long as gambling dens exist, a virtuous Triad remains nothing but a wish.
“We’ll eat less and tighten our belts a little.”
“The interests tangled up in the gambling dens are complicated—it won’t be easy to sever them cleanly.”
“Is there anyone clever enough to work through this?”
Kang Chan-sik had made it this far through the raw strength that carried weight in back alleys, and Wang Bong-seok through his loyalty to Kang Chan-sik, but neither of them could claim wit or cunning.
“In this world, there’s no one sharper than that cripple Jo Ga.”
“The one who defied the Heukgom Faction’s Do Tae-su six years ago and had his legs cut off?”
“Yes. He was the Heukgom Faction’s second-in-command until Do Tae-su cut off his legs and drove him out.”
“What’s he doing now?”
“He was running a stall in the city a few years back, but no one’s seen him lately. Who’d pay attention to a cripple?”
“Find him. We have problems our heads can’t solve, and we need him to work through them.”

***

“The construction will be finished in twenty days, and the formal opening is set for a month from now.”
Se-hwa guided Geom U-bin, who’d come to visit after a long absence, through various parts of the pavilion.
“When we open, I’ll invite you as the very first guest.”
“Hm?”
“Why? You won’t come?”
“It’s a pavilion. I’m only thirteen.”
“Come on, is a pavilion just a place where men drink with women? There’s fine music and dancing, and there are smart people there too—good conversation to be had.”
As they were heading up the stairs to view the third floor, Gwak Bong appeared at the window.

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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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