My Younger Siblings Are the Greatest Masters in the World - Chapter 22
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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22.
Seol Changho placed his palm on the back of Byeon Taebang, who was sitting in lotus position.
As Byeon Taebang began qi circulation, he could feel the flow of energy.
The energy that should flow like water along a straight river was getting caught everywhere, as if passing through a rocky, dry stream.
The reason it took only two hours to complete one cycle circulation was because he felt pain during energy circulation.
“Tsk tsk tsk… Foolish fellow. Have you been continuing your internal energy cultivation in this state?”
Byeon Taebang sighed at Seol Changho’s scolding.
“Then what else could I do? I have to make a living too.”
Seol Ryeoseon, who had been flipping through the secret manual, spoke up.
“This seems quite useful?”
Seol Changho nodded.
“Of course it would be fine.”
“Should I teach it to big brother?”
“Huh?”
“Big brother can’t learn Mingjiao martial arts right away. If he makes a mistake, he might be branded as a public enemy of Murim.”
Seol Changho nodded.
“That’s a good idea? Let me see.”
Seol Ryeoseon and Seol Changho could grasp the strengths and weaknesses of both martial arts just by reading through them once.
“The internal energy method is good for quick mastery, but the depth is somewhat shallow. Brother, you’d be better off continuing with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.”
“The Ten Thousand Changes Sword looks quite decent? If we just improve the crude connections between a few martial techniques, it would become an excellent sword technique no less than Mingjiao’s Heavenly Demon Sovereign Sword.”
Seol Mantong was greatly surprised.
“That good?”
Seol Ryeoseon patted Byeon Taebang’s head.
“You’re giving us a very nice gift. Well done.”
“What? No, that being a gift is…”
Seol Ryeoseon’s hand that was patting his head stopped.
“Gift is what?”
If he chose his words wrong, it seemed like the hand that was patting would turn into a hand that would smash.
“Well, I meant it’s a modest gift. Hahaha!”
From outside came the voice of an attendant: ‘Physician! Many patients are waiting!’
“Oh right! The patients!”
Seol Mantong said to Yeon Gok, who belatedly realized.
“Are patients important right now?”
“Patients are important to a physician.”
“Send them away.”
“But…”
“Sigh—!”
Yeon Gok, who let out a deep sigh, shouted to the attendant.
“The medical clinic is closed today!”
“What? But there are patients full outside….”
“Hey! I’m about to die! Tell them to come tomorrow!”
Seol Changho, sitting in the chair, gestured to Yeon Gok and Byeon Taebang.
“You two come here.”
As the two people approached hesitantly and took their positions, Seol Changho asked.
“Do you know anything about business?”
“Business?”
“We need to set up a brewery.”
***
The Triplets headed to the medical clinic as soon as Seol Mujin left for work.
As always, patients were filling up the courtyard one by one.
When they entered the medicine storage room, Byeon Taebang, who had arrived first, jumped to his feet.
“I greet Samtaesang!”
“Be quiet. Do you want to spread rumors throughout the neighborhood that we’re Bright Cult elders?”
“Where’s Yeon Gok?”
“He said he went on house calls early but hasn’t returned yet.”
Seol Ryeoseon said jokingly.
“Did brother go to treat those Wangho Gang guys he beat up?”
Before long, Yeon Gok returned.
“Where did you go?”
“To the Black Society called Wangho Gang.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes. They were completely devastated. The gang leader with six broken ribs has almost no teeth left, so he’ll have to eat porridge for the rest of his life.”
Seol Mantong hit the back of Yeon Gok’s head.
“Geez! You fool!”
“Why are you hitting me?”
“Your brother beat them up and you treat them?”
“What? The person who destroyed Wangho Gang was Hero Seol?”
Seol Mujin was promoted from Young Hero to Hero.
“It’s karma.”
Seol Ryeoseon corrected Seol Mantong’s words.
“Cause and effect! What do you mean poop…. Are you taking a dump?”
“Things that inevitably come are similar though.”
Seol Changho changed the subject.
“Did you look into locations for the brewery?”
Byeon Taebang, who received the question, answered.
“There is a suitable place a little away from downtown. It used to be a mill, but it’s closed now.”
“You found out quite well for someone who hasn’t even lived in Jinan for a year.”
“Hehe! I naturally become well-connected wherever I go.”
“That… we have to buy it, right?”
“Pardon?”
“Do we have to pay money for it?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Of course it’s obvious! About how much…?”
“I didn’t ask about the price, but since the land is quite large, they’ll probably ask for around twenty thousand nyang.”
Samtaesang wasn’t surprised.
That was because he had no idea how much twenty thousand nyang actually was.
“That’s a lot, right?”
At Seol Mantong’s whispered question, Seol Ryeoseon nodded.
“Probably?”
Yeon Gok let out a deeply troubled sigh.
“To give you an idea of how much twenty thousand nyang is, an ordinary person couldn’t save that much even if they saved everything they earned for a hundred years without spending a single penny.”
“We’re not ordinary people though.”
“That’s exactly the problem. Are you going to work to earn money?”
Samtaesang looked at each other and shook their heads as if they had made a pact.
“Money is something that’s commonly lying around outside.”
“On battlefields, money is just piled up everywhere.”
Yeon Gok said.
“You’re people who would steal land without paying for it too.”
Seol Mantong snapped his fingers.
“That method exists! If we go and threaten the landowner by pressing his Seonggu Acupoint firmly, he’ll hand it over immediately, right?”
Seol Ryeoseon quickly said.
“Should I go?”
Seol Changho ignored the two who were going back and forth and spoke to Yeon Gok.
“That’s why we’re trying to run a brewery to earn money.”
“Whether it’s trade or business, you need seed money to start. There’s even a saying that even a cow needs a hill to rub against.”
Seol Mantong grumbled.
“To earn money, you need to have money. If you have money, why would you go through the trouble of trying to earn more?”
Living in this world is truly difficult.
***
Constable Bae Pansik put the hundred nyang silver coin bank note he received from Wangho Gang Leader Wang Seongil into his chest.
“That bastard needs to rot in prison forever, or be killed outright.”
With missing teeth making his pronunciation a mess, Wang Seongil ground his few remaining teeth.
“No matter how much that guy flies and crawls around, he’s just a mouse before a cat when facing government authority. Don’t worry, big brother.”
Black Society leaders and government officials calling each other brothers is something that happens frequently everywhere.
However, involving government officials in Black Society fights almost never happens.
Because that’s an unwritten rule.
Wang Seongil ignored the unwritten rule with the words ‘That bastard isn’t part of the Black Society anyway.’
‘Hehehe… I’ll get to pound courtesan asses to my heart’s content for a month.’
Bae Pansik, gleeful inside, headed to Yeonji-ru with the three constables waiting outside.
At that moment, Seol Mujin was bowing his head before Hwa Seonhwa.
“I told you not to get involved.”
The rumor that the Wangho Gang had been smashed by someone spread throughout the neighborhood in less than a day.
When Hwa Seonhwa asked ‘Did you do that?’, Seol Mujin didn’t lie.
“I have to protect my own home. You said Yeonji-ru was my home, Master Ruju.”
Hwa Seonhwa, who muttered ‘Men, honestly.’, asked if he was hurt anywhere.
“I’m fine, as you can see.”
Just then, Yeon Seobi burst through the door.
“Madam! Something terrible has happened!”
“What’s wrong?”
“From the government office… Oh my!”
Yeon Seobi was pushed aside and a head constable took her place.
“Are you the one called Seol Mujin?”
It was a head constable in Hwa Seonhwa’s memory.
“Head Constable Bae. What brings you here?”
“Hmph! I’ve come to arrest a criminal.”
Bae Pansik couldn’t treat her roughly since he occasionally received pocket money and free drinks from Hwa Seonhwa.
“What crime has our Mujin-i committed?”
“Assault and attempted murder.”
***
Go Bongsu watched Clerk Yi leaving the office with disapproving eyes.
It often happens that government officials, especially the Six Departments, give new magistrates a hard time.
Since it was a kind of territorial behavior, new magistrates just accepted it.
After all, time would close the distance and they would become one body.
But these guys were going too far.
They wouldn’t tell him about the county’s finances, claiming the accounts hadn’t been settled yet, and whenever the magistrate tried to do something, they just cried impossibility with various excuses.
Even the meetings held once every five days were perfunctory, so he still couldn’t grasp how Jinan was being run.
But if he dismissed the Six Departments, Go Bongsu would have nothing left to do.
Since he knew nothing about Jinan, if he cut off his current hands and feet, he couldn’t find new ones.
“These bastards think I’m just a scarecrow…”
While his insides were boiling with frustration, Seo Unsang’s voice was heard from outside.
“My lord, you have a visitor.”
Among the government officials, Seo Unsang was relatively favorable toward Go Bongsu.
So he told whoever the visitor was to come in.
But when the door opened and the person entered his office, it was unexpected for Go Bongsu.
He hadn’t expected such a beautiful woman to come looking for him.
Go Bongsu, who had half-risen from his seat, asked the ambiguous question, “Who…?”
“I am Hwa Seonhwa, who runs a pleasure house called Yeonji-ru.”
From Hwa Seonhwa emanated an elegance that didn’t suit a pleasure house owner.
“What business brings the pleasure house owner to seek this official…?”
Hwa Seonhwa took out an envelope from her bosom and pushed it toward Go Bongsu.
Go Bongsu was shocked when he checked the contents of the envelope placed before him.
It contained an eight thousand nyang silver certificate.
He was surprised by the amount and puzzled by the reason for offering it.
“This is my entire fortune. If it’s insufficient, I’m prepared to sell the pleasure house. That would be worth at least twenty thousand nyang.”
It was such a large sum that his jaw dropped.
“I’m bewildered. What’s the reason for giving me this money?”
“The government office arrested a boy who works for me.”
Go Bongsu’s brow furrowed.
“Are you asking me to release a criminal who broke the law?”
Though Go Bongsu wasn’t an incorruptible official, he wasn’t corrupt enough to take money and release criminals.
“If that boy had really done something bad, I wouldn’t even make this request.”
“Are you saying he was falsely accused?”
“There was a conflict with a black society called the Wangho Gang, and he was arrested on charges of assault and attempted murder.”
It was an unspoken rule that the government office didn’t intervene in fights between black societies.
“Is that really all there is to it?”
“Yes.”
During their conversation, Hwa Seonhwa never once avoided Go Bongsu’s gaze.
It was the first time he’d seen someone so confident while making a request.
So he became curious about who the arrested person was.
“What is that person’s name?”
“Seol Mujin.”
“I’ll look into it, but…”
Go Bongsu returned the envelope.
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t tempted.
However, Go Bongsu was an official who never crossed lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
“I can’t promise to release him.”
***
The criminal leaning against the prison wall had handcuffs and leg shackles on his wrists and ankles.
The thirteen prison cells each held three or four prisoners, but in the innermost cell, Seol Mujin was alone.
His face wasn’t visible because his head was bowed.
“Why would you want to meet such a vicious criminal, sir?”
Go Bongsu ignored the prison guard’s question and spoke to Seol Mujin.
“Lift your head.”
I need to see your face first.
Seol Mujin’s face became visible through the thick wooden bars arranged in a grid pattern.
Go Bongsu recognized that face immediately.
He was the young man who had shown the only interest when he was chasing the kidnapped children.
He was the righteous person who had chased the carriage in his place.
He was the hero who had saved the children while getting injured.
He was the good person who had felt sorry for not being able to do more for those children.
So he had hoped to meet him again, but had almost given up.
Yet the faint string of fate had somehow connected him and the young man like this.
Go Bongsu calmed his heart with a long breath and spoke to the prison guard.
“Open the door and step outside.”
“What? That man is a dangerous criminal who committed assault and attempted murder.”
“I said open the door and get out.”
Since Go Bongsu’s tone was firm, the prison guard moved as instructed.
When Go Bongsu entered the prison, Seol Mujin wore a puzzled expression.
“You don’t remember me.”
“Who are you?”
“The person who was chasing the carriage.”
“Ah!”
Seol Mujin remembered Go Bongsu with just those words.
Then he bowed his head respectfully.
“Thanks to you, I was able to save the children. Thank you.”
They were children he had no connection with, and he was the one who had saved them, yet he was thanking Go Bongsu.
“I heard you were arrested for assault and attempted murder. What happened?”
“I lived with good people for too long and forgot what the real world is like, I suppose.”
It was a complex answer to come from the mouth of a seventeen-year-old.
Go Bongsu sat down heavily on the dirty prison floor.
“Well then, let me hear about what happened to you in that real world.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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