The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 488

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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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Chapter 488. See You Later

 

 

Gong Yeop-myeong set down his wine cup.

His face showed an expression of resignation.

It seemed as if he had let everything flow away with that one cup of wine.

“Will you sell it?”

Ha Mu-baek asked.

Gong Yeop-myeong nodded.

“We were barely managing to hold on thanks to the laborers from the workshop… but now that they’ve reached even there. I have to sell.”

He tried to speak as if relieved, but his words were dripping with lingering attachment.

However, having made his decision, he seemed determined not to look back.

“I’m thinking of leaving Luoyang.”

Once he made the decision, he quickly settled on his next course of action.

It seemed he had been contemplating various things knowingly and unknowingly all this time.

“To your hometown?”

“I already have experience traveling All Under Heaven in my youth. For Jun and Bin’s sake, I must leave. Those children won’t be able to bear seeing this building disappear. Just selling it will be a huge shock to them.”

Ha Mu-baek nodded.

It was an extremely rational judgment.

As a son, he had tried to keep his father’s dying wish, but when that became impossible, the first thing that came to mind was the children.

The sole criterion for his current actions was Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun, the two children.

Gong Yeop-myeong was a father.

“Have you decided where to go?”

“I have a few places in mind. I’ll have to choose among them.”

“Then when will you sell it?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, Gong Yeop-myeong looked around the kitchen.

Ha Mu-baek could see the lingering attachment dripping from him.

In a place where everyone who entered had failed, he had managed to establish himself somewhat, only to face this situation – it was understandable.

“Once I use up all the ingredients I have in stock, I plan to visit the Jeon Family Merchant Guild.”

“That would be within two days.”

Gong Yeop-myeong nodded at Ha Mu-baek’s words.

Due to storage issues, he wouldn’t have kept too large a quantity of ingredients in stock.

Still, since the expected customers hadn’t come, quite a lot would remain.

“Probably after you leave, I’ll go to settle things then.”

After saying that, he emptied his wine cup.

Ha Mu-baek lifted the bottle, but there was no more wine left.

It had been the last cup.

“Thank you.”

Gong Yeop-myeong stood up and bowed deeply.

“What are you saying? Rather, I should thank you and apologize. I pried into someone else’s family affairs out of mere curiosity.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s response, Gong Yeop-myeong shook his head.

“I also wanted to pour out this heart-fire somewhere. Thank you for listening to my lamentations, which weren’t even good stories.”

Ha Mu-baek took out three taels of silver from his chest and handed them over.

“Ah, no…”

Gong Yeop-myeong waved his hands in surprise.

“Since I was the one who suggested having a drink, I should pay for the wine.”

After forcibly pressing the silver into Gong Yeop-myeong’s hand, Ha Mu-baek left the inn.

Walking with dragging steps, Ha Mu-baek was heading back to the Jeongcheon Alliance.

In truth, Ha Mu-baek had no idea what he should do.

Whether to actively step forward to help them, or just let things flow as they were.

No answer came.

If there was someone he could seek advice from, it would be Elder Gongsun, but after sneaking out like that this morning, to go back and ask for advice?

Even Ha Mu-baek had that much shame.

So the person he thought of was.

“Huh? Dan-ju?”

A small single-story building beside the Alliance Leader’s Hall, the Hocheon Corps.

Dam Mu-heun, who had been doing paperwork in the vice-commander’s office, was startled by the sudden visitor.

He had appeared before his eyes like a ghost without any presence.

“When did you die and become a ghost?”

When the startled Dam Mu-heun asked this, Ha Mu-baek chuckled.

“Not funny.”

Dam Mu-heun approached Ha Mu-baek, who sat down in a chair at the tea table.

“Wipe that smile off your lips before saying it’s not funny.”

He said as he sat across from him.

“Really, what’s the matter? I heard this morning that you completely fleeced Pavilion Master Gongsun.”

Gongsun Dan-gyeong must have reported to So Hwi-ung, and a nearby Hocheon Corps member must have spread the news.

Those closest to the Alliance’s secrets were the Hocheon Corps.

Since they were the ones guarding right beside the Alliance Leader.

“There’s a problem I can’t find an answer to.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s words, Dam Mu-heun showed a surprised expression.

The Ha Mu-baek he knew had never said such things.

Even when everyone else said there was no answer, he was someone who would create an answer even if he had to smash through everything.

How many villains from the Demon Cult and Blood Cult had died at the hands of such a Dan-ju?

“Are you really Dan-ju?”

Dam Mu-heun asked as if he couldn’t believe it.

“I’m not Dan-ju though?”

“Right.”

At the answer that came back as a question, Dam Mu-heun let out a chuckle.

“So what problem could our great Dan-ju not find an answer to that he came to find insignificant me? You don’t have the nerve to go find Pavilion Master Gongsun, so you just came here?”

Regarding matters between people, Dam Mu-heun was this perceptive.

It was thanks to his characteristically meddlesome nature.

“Do you know Sohaeng Inn?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, Dam Mu-heun immediately nodded.

“You mean the inn that opened in the back alleys of the western main road a few months ago?”

Ha Mu-baek nodded with a surprised face.

“What, something like that. Dan-ju really did leave the Hocheon Corps. Your senses have dulled. The Cheonmok Pavilion secretly monitors all newly established places in Luoyang to prepare for potential dangers, and that information comes to us.”

That was correct.

It was work done for the Alliance Leader’s protection and the Jeongcheon Alliance’s control over Luoyang.

In that process, if there were no particular unusual circumstances, things just passed by.

“And did you think I wouldn’t know about a newly opened tavern?”

At the following words, Ha Mu-baek made an expression of disbelief.

Luoyang was a large capital city.

A place where one or two establishments opened and closed every day.

The reason he still remembered an inn that opened months ago was probably because it was a place that served alcohol.

“From what I heard, it was supposedly quite delicious… but there’s been no word about it recently, so I was already feeling regretful. Wondering if those rumors were just opening hype. I was planning to visit once people had finished their evaluation. Tsk.”

Dam Mu-heun clicked his tongue regretfully as he spoke.

“Delicious. That place.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s brief words, Dam Mu-heun’s eyes widened.

He couldn’t help it, since he knew well that the Dan-ju before him was truly sincere when it came to food, at least.

Just as he himself was sincere about alcohol.

“Oh. Is that so? Then what about the alcohol?”

Dam Mu-heun’s eyes sparkled.

“They had Seobongju. The rice wine was decent too.”

Dam Mu-heun’s eyes sparkled even more.

As far as he knew, it was a small inn, but if they stocked Seobongju, it meant the Head Cook was proper.

“So why that inn?”

He asked about the story.

Ha Mu-baek slowly unfolded the tale he had heard.

“Hmm.”

Dam Mu-heun crossed his arms and frowned.

“So that was the matter.”

He spoke as if understanding.

“I heard that the Jeon Family Merchant Guild was purchasing land to build a new estate. But the Alliance cannot interfere with a merchant guild’s normal transactions.”

“I know that too. But I’m not the Alliance, am I not?”

“You’re thinking of taking direct action?”

Dam Mu-heun asked as if surprised.

“I’m not sure about that.”

“Ah…”

Dam Mu-heun nodded.

The uncertainty wasn’t about how to help the inn, but whether Ha Mu-baek would directly intervene or just watch.

“There’s something Dan-ju always tells us, isn’t there? If you take action once, take responsibility to the end. Can you do that? You said you need to go to the Jiangxi Province border.”

That was Dam Mu-heun’s answer.

“Those bastards from the Jeon Family Merchant Guild are the Luoyang First Merchant Guild. But they’re not such good people. They don’t discriminate between means and methods, staying just within the line.”

Either Ha Mu-baek stays in Luoyang and continues helping them, or he takes them with him and takes responsibility.

If it wasn’t one of those two cases, Dam Mu-heun was saying not to take action.

“Still, they said they’d buy at market price. Though no matter how bad that location is, it’s still Luoyang, so they can’t buy it dirt cheap. The inn has established itself to some degree now. But the money from selling that place won’t be enough to buy another building in Luoyang and run an inn again.”

Ha Mu-baek didn’t know the details about such matters.

It was Dam Mu-heun’s area of expertise.

“That’s probably why. Because of the Jeon Family Merchant Guild, the value drops, and with the money from selling the building, if they want to set up a proper inn or restaurant again, it would be better to leave Luoyang. They made the decision considering various factors. That Head Cook fellow seems more clever than Dan-ju, doesn’t he?”

Dam Mu-heun looked at Ha Mu-baek with a subtly teasing gaze as he spoke.

He expected Ha Mu-baek to react indignantly, but when he just nodded, Dam Mu-heun made a bored expression.

“He’s an amazing person.”

“How boring.”

“Parents are amazing people.”

Ha Mu-baek said while thinking of Gong Yeop-myeong and Eun Cheong-seon.

At the same time.

The images of his own father and mother came to mind.

Their final moments, that is.

The image of those two making resolute expressions while placing Seol-ran in his arms and hiding her.

In the past, when he recalled that scene, anger toward the Blood Cult and Demon Cult would surge, and the evil spirit within would flash with killing intent.

But.

Now it was different.

Was it because he had seen Gong Yeop-myeong and Eun Cheong-seon in such a state?

It was amazing, wonderful, and also heartbreaking.

He had thought his heart protecting Seol-ran wouldn’t be much different from a parent’s heart protecting their child.

Having experienced it, it was subtly different.

Indeed, a parent’s heart toward their child was incomparable to anything in the world.

“Not all parents are like that. There are bastards who sell their own children.”

Dam Mu-heun said with a bitter smile.

Ha Mu-baek didn’t bother to argue.

He too had seen too many bastards and pieces of trash for that.

“Hmm. Anyway, I understand wanting to help them, but if Dan-ju takes action, that wouldn’t be helping, so we can only watch. Well, small help might be possible.”

“Small help?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, Dam Mu-heun nodded.

“Since they’re leaving Luoyang, we could at least contribute to their travel expenses.”

“They’re not people who would accept charity.”

At those words, Dam Mu-heun grinned.

“Just from Dan-ju’s story, I can tell that much. Didn’t you say they plan to use up all the ingredients they bought? We could just buy from them.”

“Huh?”

Buy from them.

It was the best method, but there were limits to what Ha Mu-baek could buy.

“Let’s see. The guys who are off duty today…”

Dam Mu-heun counted on his fingers.

“I’m also off duty from this afternoon.”

Right now he was in the office for paperwork, but strictly speaking, it was currently Dam Mu-heun’s work hours.

He just wasn’t guarding the Alliance Leader.

“See you later. I have a pile of work.”

Dam Mu-heun pointed to the stack of documents on his desk.

It was natural.

Just organizing everything that happened during this Sanwol Demon Forest expedition.

Though the Hocheon Corps’ main duty was guarding the Alliance Leader, given what they had experienced, there was much to write and report.

The Dan-ju position was vacant, and Dam Mu-heun was the only vice-Dan-ju, so ultimately all those tremendous documents had to be processed by him.

At Dam Mu-heun’s dismissal, Ha Mu-baek got up and headed to Sohaeng Inn.

No matter how he thought about it, it was strange.

Suddenly building an estate in that location.

There seemed to be something behind it.

Ha Mu-baek’s intuition was telling him so, but he didn’t move immediately.

Since Gong Yeop-myeong said he would leave Luoyang, he planned to investigate afterward.

 

***

 

“Haah.”

Gong Hae-jun sighed deeply enough to sink the ground.

It was a deep sigh unbefitting his young age of ten.

And for good reason, because of the menacing ruffians positioned around the inn.

Whenever someone tried to head toward the inn, they would glare with fierce eyes.

Sohaeng Inn had no way to deal with those ruffians.

Those bastards didn’t touch martial artists either, but this area had almost no martial artists.

That’s why Gong Hae-jun had gone out to the main road to solicit martial artists as customers.

Just then.

Ha Mu-baek returned.

It was slightly past lunchtime.

Ha Mu-baek headed toward Sohaeng Inn, but those ruffians turned their gazes away.

They recognized at a glance that he was a martial artist.

Ha Mu-baek glared at each of those ruffians.

“Tsk.”

He clicked his tongue and went straight into the Sohaeng Inn.

Standing at the entrance, he patted Gong Hae-jun’s head once as the man sighed while looking outside.

“One serving of fried chicken, please.”

He took a seat.

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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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