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Chapter 11: Do You Take Us For Fools? (2)
Wang Gon sat in his room sipping tea while watching his dignified, imposing martial artists move back and forth across the martial arts training grounds outside his window.
At least in southern Zhejiang Province, he was king. But he could not settle for merely this much. Crawling his way up to become the Sect Master of the Myth Sect, that was his grand ambition.
‘Just wait and see. No matter what it takes, I’ll trample everyone and rise to the top.’
Since he had already committed far too many vile deeds, and was currently in the middle of committing even more…the hypothetical conditional “no matter what it takes” wasn’t even an accurate expression.
No matter how many unjust atrocities he perpetrated, and even though countless people had died in the process, he was living comfortably, eating and living well.
Karma? Heavenly retribution? This serene afternoon was living proof that no such nonsense existed.
‘Trample others before you get trampled.’
As he was stoking his ambition, Heuksu stepped into the room.
“I have returned.”
“How did it go?”
“Five of the six landowners agreed to sell their land.”
“And the remaining one?”
“A young fellow is being stubborn, claiming it’s land handed down by his father. But it will be resolved soon enough. The guy has three kids, after all.”
Wang Gon added a sinister touch to Heuksu’s meaningful grin.
“Just make sure you handle it quietly.”
“Do not worry.”
“By the way, what about the fallopia root?”
“I delivered it to Lim Chung’s wife on my way back. If he has any brains at all, he won’t be able to refuse it any longer.”
“I should think so.”
Wang Gon flashed a satisfied smile.
‘Give a hated fellow an extra rice cake, and later you might just get served a feast.’
Just then, a subordinate arrived and reported:
“Lim Chung has come to see you.”
Wang Gon smirked as he looked at Heuksu.
“The fallopia root medicine took effect remarkably fast.”
—
Lim Chung, waiting in the reception hall, had a flushed face.
No matter how hard he tried to calm his mind, he couldn’t soothe the rage within.
‘This bastard! How dare he set foot near my home?’
Whether playing politics or making threats, there was a line that should never be crossed. Targetting someone’s family was unequivocally crossing that line.
At that moment, Wang Gon walked in.
“Branch Master Lim. Welcome.”
“Have you been well?”
“Not particularly. You know the reason well enough, I imagine.”
He didn’t explicitly mention the Taejeong Faction, since officially the Myth Sect and the Taejeong Faction had no connection whatsoever.
“My apologies.”
“No, no. I understand. It isn’t easy managing subordinates, is it?”
Lim Chung thought to himself:
‘It’s nothing compared to dealing with you.’
Of course, he couldn’t let those words show on the surface.
“Yes, it isn’t easy.”
“How do you plan to handle those who were detained?”
“I intend to transfer them to the sub-division for processing.”
“Must you go that far? Why not lock them up for a few days and let them go? Their leader is dead anyway, so they’ll pull themselves together.”
“I shall consider it.”
Lim Chung didn’t push back on the Taejeong Faction matter, as that wasn’t the reason he had sought out Wang Gon today.
Instead, Lim Chung presented the box containing the Century-Old Fallopia Root.
“I came to return this to you.”
In an instant, Wang Gon’s expression hardened. He had expected Lim Chung to pretend to yield while offering words of gratitude.
‘This stubborn bastard, all the way to the end!’
Suppressing his surging anger, Wang Gon forced a polite tone.
“Look here, is it right to disregard a person’s goodwill like this?”
“Did I not tell you before that I would accept only the thought?”
“The thought? What good is exchanging mere thoughts? If that were enough, I could be the best man in the world, since I can give thoughts to my heart’s content.”
“Then please give only that thought, and take this back.”
“Is our Branch Master far too upright, or just far too stubborn?”
“I am not an upright man. Nor am I stubborn.”
At that, Wang Gon snapped, bellowing at the top of his lungs:
“Then why won’t you take it! You bastard!”
When Wang Gon completely discarded his polite mask, Lim Chung bit his lip tightly. No matter how small a backwater branch master he was, he was still an official branch master belonging to the Murim Alliance.
“Take it!”
“I refuse.”
“I told you to give it to your son, didn’t I? Or is he not your biological son?”
“Look here! Hall Master Wang! Watch your tongue!”
This time, Lim Chung shouted back. Mentioning his son was something he could no longer endure.
Lim Chung set the box containing the Century-Old Fallopia Root down on the floor.
“Do not send something like this ever again. If you do, I will not stand idle.”
“You won’t stand idle? Are you threatening me right now?”
“I am warning you.”
Truly, if it were any other matter, he would have endured it ten or a hundred times over. But this was beyond the realm of patience. He had to draw a clear line now that the topic had been raised.
However, the same held true for Wang Gon’s side.
Heuksu, who had been watching from the side, took a slow step forward.
“Warnings are meant to be given by the strong to the weak.”
He made no effort to conceal his blatant killing intent.
Grasping the hilt of his sword, Lim Chung shouted,
“Halt! As Branch Master of the Murim Alliance, I order you, stop right where you are!”
Instead, Heuksu accelerated his pace, stepping right up into Lim Chung’s face.
“There, I just disobeyed your grand Murim Alliance Branch Master order. What are you going to do about it?”
The hand holding Lim Chung’s sword trembled violently.
Heuksu took his provocation a step further.
“When I handed over the fallopia root, I noticed your wife is quite the beauty.”
“You bastard!”
Schwing.
The sword was drawn slightly from its scabbard.
“Draw it! Why stop halfway? Looks like you don’t care much for your wife, just like your kid.”
Lim Chung’s hand trembled uncontrollably on the sword hilt. He knew the opponent was deliberately pushing his buttons.
Yet if he drew his sword, he would die. If they dumped his corpse somewhere, would anyone ever uncover that he was killed by Heuksu? Unlikely. Dying like this would be a dog’s death.
Even so, enduring it felt far too infuriating and humiliating. Above all, since the man was mocking his wife and son, Lim Chung wanted to fight to the death on the spot, even if it meant dying here.
It was right at that moment.
A noisy commotion echoed from outside.
Soon after, the doors burst open, and a martial artist of the Myth Sect entered to report,
“Martial artists from the branch have arrived!”
Following behind him, two men stepped inside. They were none other than Baek Socheon and Beon Saeng.
“Branch Master! Are you alright?”
Beon Saeng sprinted over to stand alongside Lim Chung.
“What are you doing here?”
Noticing the tense atmosphere in the room, Beon Saeng spoke quickly.
“An issue arose at the branch, so we came to escort you back, Branch Master. Let us leave at once.”
He thought that escaping this place together with Lim Chung was the top priority.
However, Wang Gon had no intention of letting them leave so easily. Since conflict had already erupted, he believed he had to completely crush Lim Chung’s spirit on this occasion.
‘These bastards! I need to thoroughly trample them today so they’ll never try to climb over me again.’
He signaled Heuksu with a glance.
Radiating overt killing intent, Heuksu yelled,
“You half-grown snapping turtles, where do you think you’re crawling into?! You two who just walked in, go over to that corner and get on your knees!”
Knowing full well what Heuksu was capable of, Beon Saeng didn’t dare talk back.
Instead, Lim Chung stepped forward and asked Wang Gon as a warning,
“Are you truly intending to oppose the Murim Alliance?”
“That damn Murim Alliance, Murim Alliance! Yeah, that cursed Murim Alliance is the only power you’ve got. That’s the only reason I even bothered trying to give a Century-Old Fallopia Root to a worthless fellow like you.”
Wang Gon dropped all pretense, revealing his true thoughts without hesitation. To show exactly what kind of man he was, he took it a step further.
“Since you can’t seem to understand plain words, let me explain it nicely for you. Now, shall we make a little assumption? As you well know, our martial artists of the black association have quite short tempers, don’t they? If we exchange quick sword strokes, an accident might happen, and you all might end up dead. Didn’t someone die by accident at your branch recently as well? Now then, let’s assume you’re all dead. Who do you think will be framed as the culprit? Ah, that’s right. Wasn’t Yang Chu’s entire family slaughtered recently? And weren’t you trying to investigate that case? If someone is vicious enough to massacre an entire family, wouldn’t they want to kill those pursuing them?”
Though he spoke at length, the threat was simple: he would kill them all and pin the blame on the culprit who massacred Yang Chu’s family.
“What do you think happens after that?”
When no one answered, Wang Gon said with an excited expression:
“There is no ‘after that.’ It just ends there. A new Branch Master and new martial artists will be sent down. They’ll raise a fuss for a month or two trying to catch the culprit. Of course, they won’t catch him. Once things settle down, I’ll bring the Century-Old Fallopia Root that you refused to the newly appointed Branch Master. Do you think that person will accept it, or won’t he? How about it? My scenario…isn’t it amusing?”
In that moment, Lim Chung could feel it intuitively:
‘The one who killed Yang Chu was this man.’
Yet he knew that the moment he voiced those words, he too would cross a point of no return.
Heuksu approached Lim Chung threateningly.
“Now, shall we finish the conversation we were having?”
Beon Saeng stepped in front to block him.
“Halt!”
At that, Heuksu shoved Beon Saeng aside. Beon Saeng tumbled backward onto the floor. Heuksu planted his foot directly on Beon Saeng’s chest. Given the vast gap in skill, Beon Saeng didn’t dare resist.
“Stop!”
Just as Lim Chung was about to step forward, Heuksu drew his sword and pointed it straight at Beon Saeng’s neck.
“Take one more step, and this guy dies.”
Lim Chung couldn’t move closer. He knew very well what kind of man Heuksu was, a man who made sure to carry out his threats. Especially when dealing with someone weaker than himself, he would go out of his way to prove that his words and actions aligned.
Lim Chung looked at Wang Gon. Far from stopping him, the arrogant glare looking down on him made it abundantly clear what Wang Gon desired.
Complete submission.
Kneeling down to apologize. Taking this opportunity to thoroughly crush him beneath his boot.
Lim Chung’s gaze shifted back to Beon Saeng, who wore an agonizing expression while pinned beneath Heuksu’s foot.
‘Right. Let’s endure it. What does dropping to my knees matter?’
That was the way to save Beon Saeng, to save himself, and by extension, to keep his family safe.
Just as Lim Chung was about to drop to his knees, a single sentence rang out across the hall,
“Shall we arrest these guys?”
The speaker of those unexpected words was Baek Socheon, standing near the back. Having been so absorbed in the dire situation, Lim Chung had forgotten that he was even here.
As everyone’s eyes locked onto him, Baek Socheon spoke once more,
“Assaulting a Murim Alliance martial artist, uttering threats, attempting bribery. For starters, this looks like more than enough to arrest them.”
Lim Chung, Beon Saeng, Wang Gon, and Heuksu…all four of them were shocked and utterly dumbfounded.
The silence was broken by Heuksu.
“Pfft… Bahaha!”
As Heuksu burst into wild laughter, Wang Gon laughed along with him.
Amidst the overflowing mockery, Lim Chung could see it clearly: Baek Socheon, looking back at him nonchalantly, was deadly serious.
Does he truly possess the skill to back that up?
Suddenly, Lim Chung recalled asking Baek Socheon about his martial skills, to which Baek Socheon had replied that he used to fight well in the past, but was terrible lately.
“Didn’t you say you’re bad at fighting lately?”
“That’s by my standards. I wasn’t comparing myself to maggots like those over there.”
In an instant, the laughter vanished from the faces of Wang Gon and Heuksu.
In all their lives, being compared to maggots was a first.
Wang Gon looked at Heuksu, wondering if he had misheard. Seeing Heuksu’s contorted face, he knew he had heard correctly.
Right then, Baek Socheon delivered the final, decisive blow:
“Where are you looking, old maggot? That’s right, I’m talking to you.”
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