Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 96

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

#096

All around became quiet.

Nearly fifty men were writhing on the floor.

Those groaning.

Those unconscious.

Those rolling around vomiting blood.

The courtesans huddled in a corner, trembling.

The musicians had all fainted from the brutal violence. Those intoxicated by aphrodisiacs and alcohol still stared into space with hazy eyes.

-Clatter.

I threw the broken pipa from my hand to the side.

There were bloodstains soaked all over my clothes, but none of that blood was mine.

Not a single injury.

Guk approached.

“My lord.”

“It took longer than expected. I had various things to test.”

Internal energy aside, I didn’t want to use Pasabeolsik on these small fry.

Rather than that, I had been desperately looking for a place to test how my body would react since the incident at Samyeong Mountain.

The unity of my thoughts and body.

I felt it clearly while moving just now.

My body moves exactly as I think.

And the result exceeded my expectations.

One-on-one fights and one-against-many group fights are completely different types.

Someone skilled in one-on-one combat might be vulnerable in group fights, and someone proficient in group combat might be miserably defeated in one-on-one battles.

In that sense, the case most similar to this fight’s pattern would be the battle in the Red Light District alley where I fought the Green Forest bandits.

There, I suffered several sword wounds even when fighting a much smaller number of Green Forest bandits than now, and I fought desperately while blocking them with Pasabeolsik’s body technique.

‘I have grown indeed.’

This time I was satisfied since I didn’t even activate Pasabeolsik itself.

“…Being late isn’t the problem.”

And Guk’s following response gave me even more confidence.

“It was truly overwhelming. The opponents even had weapons while my lord fought barehanded…”

I looked at the shattered pipa that had fallen beside me.

Next to it, I saw crushed wine bottles, blood-stained brushes. I saw flower vases. I saw pottery embedded in the head of an unconscious Black Dao Disciple.

“…Anyway, you fought barehanded. Truly magnificent.”

“Did you block the entrance well?”

“Yes.”

Guk showed me his sword sheath.

“Just as you earnestly instructed, I subdued three men by striking them with the sheath without using any martial arts.”

I nodded and pointed to the Black Dao Disciples and the remaining people.

“Everyone including the customers, press their Sakheol points and throw them outside.”

Guk made a puzzled expression.

“Sakheol? Is that one of the pressure points? I know Maheol, Saheol, Suheol, Aheol, and Hunheol, but I’ve never heard of Sakheol.”

“Ah, sorry. It would be unfamiliar. Martial artists would have no use for it. It’s a pressure point technique used temporarily on ordinary people who haven’t learned martial arts, or on martial artists with low mental resistance. It’s a point that knocks them unconscious while making about half an hour of their memories hazy. Press Hunheol deeply for three breaths, then quickly follow with Aheol and Maheol.”

“…”

Guk blinked.

“How on earth do you know that? And you said martial artists have no use for it…”

I let out a short sigh.

“Books-.”

“Of course you read it in books.”

Guk clenched his fist and stepped forward.

“Whatever the reason, what does it matter? Twice in one day! With this, I’ve become a first-class loyal retainer who has earned my lord’s trust!”

“…Right.”

“These worthless bastards! I’ll handle them right away! Please rest!”

This was the first time I’d seen Guk so excited.

‘He wasn’t originally like this.’

Leaving behind Guk frantically applying pressure points to clean up the situation, I walked along the corridor.

The Black Dao world was simple.

And perhaps because they were the overwhelming losers in the back alleys, they seemed to pay almost no attention to security.

I passed the open rooms without doors along the corridor, broke down the only door that existed, and inside was an oak desk that clearly belonged to the guild leader.

I twisted open the safe in front of it that had a fist-sized lock.

Inside were countless ledgers, certificates, and correspondence.

-Clack.

What fell between those documents was a paper stamped with the seal of Namgung Taejin, the Third Prince.

“You’ve been quite thorough.”

I cross-referenced the documents and certificates to understand.

I particularly checked the names in the correspondence and the types of business they handled.

In the deepest underworld: contraband trading, bootleg liquor, opium, brothels, gambling, even illegal betting.

On the border between the underworld and legitimate world: escort services, information, underground support and recruitment of minor sects and families, and monopolies on special products.

Behind almost everything in the underworld of Anhui, the Third Prince of the Namgung Family was connected.

“…But no matter how I look at it, the funds in the safe don’t make sense.”

It went beyond not making sense to being completely incomprehensible.

I searched the bottom of the safe but only found eight pouches of silver coins.

“…Did they store money separately…? At least they had some caution?”

I fell into thought for a moment.

“…No. No matter how I think about it, that’s not right.”

Something felt off.

At first, I thought they must have stored money separately out of caution.

But there are limits to everything.

“There are too many businesses mentioned in the certificates and documents. Compared to that, this building is too small, and the money in the safe is too ambiguous.”

The silver pouches in the safe weren’t exactly small money either.

But precisely because of that, I became convinced that I was thinking about something wrong.

This amount of money was too much for an individual to carry while managing a separate safe,

Yet too little to be the funds of an organization of the scale mentioned in the ledgers and correspondence.

In my previous life, I had built the assassination organization Ambu from scratch like banging my head against bare ground. From planning to location to system, I designed everything myself.

Therefore, I knew the flow of money more clearly than any general manager who spoke abstractly with superficial knowledge.

I memorized sect histories, customs, habits, and terrain for assassinations, but simultaneously studied the merchant world thoroughly for smooth infiltration into trading companies and bureaus.

So while I might not be a professional merchant, when I looked at a group’s size, I had at least a sense for how much went in and out, and how it should be managed, even if crudely.

Moreover, while the correspondence clearly mentioned contraband trading, bootleg liquor, opium, brothels, gambling, and illegal betting, no matter how much I examined the ledgers here, the main mentions were only about brothels and bootleg liquor.

These things meant one thing.

“…Is it a cell organization structure with each specialty handled separately?”

Once the thought occurred, the hypothesis became conviction.

“Profits are immediately sent up the chain as they’re generated – a massive organizational network centered around the Third Prince has been established.”

At first, I thought Chaejoo of Yaxiang Guild, one of the back alley rulers, had an exclusive corrupt relationship with the Third Prince.

But ultimately, Yaxiang Guild was just one of the back alley middle managers under the Third Prince’s command.

“…Third Prince, you bastard. This is how you built your power, is that it? Right, this was your foundation.”

I understand.

The position of Young Master, which guarantees rulership of the Namgung Family, one of the strongest even among the Five Great Families.

That was truly an enormous position.

For that one position, three young masters, and now with me included, four young masters are risking their lives to solidify their own power.

Each in their own way, wearing their own masks while building their own forces.

In that process, if the First Young Master and Second Young Master have already preemptively secured and solidified their power within the Namgung Family, then it’s only natural for the third to inevitably build power from the outside.

This is probably the Third Young Master’s own secret strategy and hidden trump card that he devised to survive in the gap between the First and Second Young Masters.

“…And those words apply to me as well.”

“My lord.”

Guk, who had finished collecting everyone’s blood samples, came over wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“The work is all finished, but… is there some problem?”

“Guk, simply eliminating them won’t be enough.”

“Pardon?”

“Originally, I planned to turn this place to scorched earth, including everything related to that woman Yoehwa and Chaejoo, burn it all down to make them penniless, and end it cleanly. I thought that would be true revenge against those who have everything. And I thought this would also deal an appropriate blow to my competitor, the Third Young Master, who receives funding through them.”

“That’s not a bad idea. So you’re saying your thoughts have changed now?”

I looked around the sprawling banquet hall.

I examined the structure.

From the stone walls built with great care and solidity to the pillars, and various terrains that could provide concealment.

I also recalled the location of this place within Anhui.

I nodded.

“No matter how I look at it, all the related infrastructure would be too valuable to simply destroy and tear down.”

Guk flinched.

“Surely you’re not saying you want to show mercy to these irredeemable Black Dao bastards now?”

“No. No matter how hungry I am, I don’t want to ally with this type as they are. Even if I utilize them, I’ll cleanly sweep them out and just use their framework.”

“Then…?”

“My thinking is simple.”

I said while picking up the documents and ledgers.

“Starting with this place, we’re going to devour every valuable asset we can utilize.”

***

-Bang!

The table split in half.

“What did you say?!”

Third Young Master Namgung Taejin’s face was flushed bright red.

His quivering double chin had turned as red as his face, looking ready to burst.

Thick veins bulged on the back of his neck.

Before him, a man knelt with his head bowed low.

Namgung Taejin shouted.

“Kwak Hyeong! What did you just say as my supposed strategist?!”

Cold sweat beaded on Kwak Hyeong’s forehead.

“Th-that is. I too was just shocked upon receiving the report and rushed straight here…”

“Shut your mouth!”

Namgung Taejin kicked away the table debris.

“So you’re bringing me this nonsense as a report?! This ridiculous nonsense that Yaxiang Guild was annihilated overnight!!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————