The Former Supreme Master [Novel] Chapter 17

Chapter 17: I Need to Control My Anger (3)

“That bastard tried to kill my family too?”

Not only Lim Chung upon returning to the branch, but Beon Saeng as well was deeply shocked. Less than a single day after being released, Heuksu had attempted to murder everyone.

It was unbelievable, yet the corpse of Heuksu lying before their eyes proved that every bit of it was true.

Rage surged in Lim Chung’s heart…a fierce, scorching anger that felt like it would burn his entire body. Had Baek Socheon not been here, the corpse lying before them would have been his wife and son.

Lim Chung clenched his fists. He squeezed so hard his hands hurt, but right now, he couldn’t even feel the pain.

He wanted to put on the mask hanging around Heuksu’s neck, march right over to Wang Gon, and sever his head on the spot. Scenes of cutting and recutting Wang Gon’s neck filled his head completely.

He hadn’t realized such intense fury lay hidden inside his heart.

Watching him silently, Baek Socheon spoke calmly:

“There is no need to suppress your anger. Just do not let it consume you. They are over there perfectly fine; it would be far too frustrating if only our side went wild with rage and ended up dead, wouldn’t it?”

Hearing those words, his mind slowly settled. Where Heuksu had failed at anger management, Lim Chung succeeded.

Right, now was not the time to give in to anger, but to convey his gratitude.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Lim Chung’s throat tightened, and tears streamed down his face immediately.

“I will never forget this debt of gratitude, even after I die.”

To him, his family was his entire life. Baek Socheon had protected that entire life right when it was on the brink of being shattered.

“There is no need for that. I simply killed him because he tried to kill me too.”

Because he didn’t boast or claim credit, Lim Chung felt even more grateful to him.

Lim Chung seemed lost in thought for a brief moment before firmly making up his mind.

He suddenly bowed low, prostrating himself on the spot.

“I will also serve you as my older brother from now on.”

“What nonsense is this when you’re older than me?”

“No, I am younger. I am thirty-six.”

Beon Saeng was even more shocked than Baek Socheon.

“Lies!”

“It’s true.”

“Are you really only that age, Branch Master?”

“How old did you think I was?”

“Fifty?”

“Do you want to die?”

“Good grief! Did you fight the war against the Dark Heaven Alliance with your face, Branch Master?”

Just like Beon Saeng, Baek Socheon had also assumed he was in his fifties.

Beon Saeng looked back and forth between Baek Socheon and Lim Chung.

“A clash between the ultimate youthful face and the ultimate aged face. This duel is remarkably neck and neck.”

Normally, Lim Chung would have had a word to say about Beon Saeng’s banter, but right now he was focused entirely on his relationship with Baek Socheon.

He bowed his head deeply, pleading:

“Please accept me as your younger brother.”

Lim Chung had always thought of himself as someone who wasn’t impulsive like Beon Saeng.

Yet it seemed he was just as impulsive after all. A deep desire to become this man’s younger brother surged from the depths of his heart, and he didn’t hold that urge back.

“Why is everyone so eager to become a younger brother?”

Lim Chung spoke while remaining prostrate:

“It’s because we all earn miserable pay. Rather than friends or younger brothers, we need an older brother we can get free meals from.”

Lim Chung didn’t seem like the type to make such a joke, causing Baek Socheon to burst into a brief chuckle.

“Call me whatever you want. But I’ll say it again, I am not your older brother.”

“Thank you, Brother. Thank you once again for saving my family.”

For that reason alone, he could pledge his loyalty at the cost of his life.

“The number of people who owe their lives to me could easily fill more than ten carts. So don’t feel too burdened.”

Watching from the side, Beon Saeng smirked.

“There goes our Big Brother bragging about his past again.”

“Ten carts is being modest. In truth, it would be well over a hundred carts.”

“Haha, sure, let’s say it is.”

In truth, Lim Chung didn’t believe it either, but he bowed his head and said:

“Whether it is the tenth cart or the hundredth, I will quietly ride in the very last one.”

Beon Saeng bowed low alongside him.

“Thank you for protecting our youngest’s family.”

Lim Chung turned his head while still prostrate and looked at him.

“Youngest?”

“Isn’t it true? I became his younger brother first.”

“It’s not.”

A moment of silence passed.

“Just kidding. Second Brother! Of course I should be the youngest.”

“It’s still not.”

“Yes, Branch Master. It was a joke, a joke. Hahaha, please laugh.”

Baek Socheon spoke to the two of them:

“Get up already.”

The two bolted upright.

Though the relationships among the three were sorted out, the corpse still remained where it was.

“Now, how should we handle this corpse?”

“What should we do?”

Naturally, this was a matter that ought to be reported to the sub-division, but Lim Chung was conflicted.

“That’s for you, as Branch Master, to decide.”

Lim Chung first considered what would happen if he revealed this incident to the world.

Even if he revealed that Heuksu had come to kill his family, he wouldn’t be able to drag Wang Gon down with it. Since Heuksu was already dead, Wang Gon would never admit to it. Even if Heuksu were alive, Wang Gon would have fiercely denied it anyway.

Furthermore, even the Venomous Viper was on their side.

Ultimately, it would end as nothing more than the death of a single man named Heuksu.

On the other hand, if this fact became known to the world, the fact that Baek Socheon had killed him would also be revealed. Baek Socheon seemed completely unbothered whether it was revealed or not, but having resolved to take him as an older brother, Lim Chung wanted to protect him.

“Let’s handle it as though Heuksu never came here.”

It seemed like an easy decision, but for him, a martial artist of the Murim Alliance, it was by no means an easy choice.

Baek Socheon, however, spoke with absolute ease:

“Good. Then bury him here.”

“This is the courtyard of the house where you sleep, Brother; will that be alright?”

“It’s fine. In the past, I used to eat and sleep among corpses.”

Beon Saeng chimed in with a laugh:

“Of course! Our Big Brother is a God of War on the battlefield.”

“How did you know my nickname was God of War?”

“Hahahahaha! This is exactly why I love you, Big Brother.”

—

Lim Chung and Beon Saeng brought shovels and buried Heuksu’s corpse in the yard.

As they buried his cold, lifeless body, it felt surreal.

“Serves you right, you bastard. Be born a good person in your next life.”

Lim Chung didn’t even say things like that, unlike Beon Saeng. Remembering that this man had tried to kill his family, he felt an urge to desecrate the corpse multiple times over.

After shoveling for a good while, Beon Saeng asked Baek Socheon:

“When you’re as good at fighting as you are, Big Brother, don’t you ever think like this? Just wanting to brutally kill everyone without bothering with anything else?”

If he could kill him today, he could have killed him on the day of the initial arrest as well. So his question was whether Baek Socheon hadn’t wanted to kill him that day instead of waiting until he came like this.

“I do.”

“How do you endure it?”

“Because I know that doing so changes nothing. Rather, the wounds I inflict upon myself would only be greater.”

Because revenge and anger still lingered in Lim Chung’s heart, those words resonated deeply within him.

“The laws of the Murim Alliance are frustrating, aren’t they? Having to lock them in prison, having to find evidence. Meanwhile, the enemy uses power and pressure to overturn verdicts. But do you know something? Those frustrating laws weren’t made because of evil men. They were made for those who stand up against evil men.”

“Pardon?”

“So that you don’t suffer deep emotional wounds while fighting against evil demons. So that occasionally, you can take a temporary rest within the boundaries of the law.”

“…!”

“The reason I hold back isn’t because I have immense patience or because I believe the law must be upheld at all costs. I am simply protecting myself. So you two should protect yourselves for your own sakes as well.”

“Yes!”

Lim Chung had never once thought about what Baek Socheon had just said. That was why, as he finished covering the pit, various thoughts floated through his mind.

Once the corpse was completely buried, Baek Socheon asked:

“What about your trip out earlier?”

“There was no real gain. We went all the way back to Hero Yang’s manor where the incident occurred and checked again, but we found nothing.”

“That wasn’t where you should have gone.”

“Huh? Then where should we have gone?”

Baek Socheon took the lead and walked out.

“Shall we go take a look together?”

For the time being, Wang Gon would be focused on Heuksu’s disappearance, so the branch and Lim Chung’s family would be safe in the meantime.

—

The place Baek Socheon brought the two to was a field located far from the branch.

“Where is this place?”

Then an unexpected location came out of Baek Socheon’s mouth.

“The site where the Myth Sect intends to build their iron foundry.”

“Ah!”

Lim Chung and Beon Saeng gasped in belated realization. They should have obviously visited here too, but they had focused solely on the fact that the Myth Sect was conducting an iron foundry business.

“Why would the Myth Sect try to build an iron foundry in a place like this?”

Earlier, Baek Socheon had raised that very question, why a major business venture was being started in Munseong, at the southern tip of Zhejiang Province.

“You said Yang Chu died while investigating a new business, right? He likely came here as well.”

Lim Chung and Beon Saeng realized anew that the key to this entire incident lay right here.

“When did you look into this place?”

“Didn’t I tell you? If you’re going to ignore something, ignore it completely; if you’re going to get involved, do it thoroughly. Now, let’s look around. I only knew the location, so this is my first time seeing it in person as well.”

Baek Socheon slowly looked around the area.

“What did Yang Chu discover here that got him killed?”

The three of them surveyed the area.

Lim Chung and Beon Saeng exercised all the observational skills they possessed, but they couldn’t figure out a thing.

Baek Socheon, however, noticed something.

“Was what they intended to build here really an iron foundry?”

“Pardon?”

“Look at the terrain here. This terrain is ideal for building a fortress.”

At the word ‘fortress’, the two were startled.

“The high mountains behind it encircle the area like a wall, and to enter this place, one must pass through that narrow path over there. The terrain on both sides of the path is perfect for ambushes. It is truly top-tier terrain where a single man can hold off ten.”

“Now that you mention it, it really is.”

“On the surface, it’s an iron foundry, but in reality, they intended to build a fortress. Yang Chu must have realized that fact.”

“Ah!”

This fortress was a site with a purpose so secret that they had to massacre Yang Chu’s entire family just to shut their mouths.

Only now did Lim Chung and Beon Saeng come to understand the tragedy of Yang Chu’s family, realizing that there was a far more complex background behind this incident than they had imagined.

“This incident… even if Wang Gon was the one who carried it out, it isn’t just Wang Gon’s doing alone.”

At Lim Chung’s words, Baek Socheon nodded.

“It is an incident involving the entire Myth Sect. Perhaps the order to kill Yang Chu came directly from the Sect Master of the Myth Sect himself. In other words, if we arrest Wang Gon, the Myth Sect will step in. Judging by how those bastards have acted so far, they will probably try to cover up this incident by wiping all of us out.”

Lim Chung and Beon Saeng gulped in silence.

Getting to this point hadn’t been easy. They had summoned every drop of courage they possessed just to make up their minds to fight Wang Gon—even borrowing courage reserved for their future.

And now they had to fight the entire Myth Sect?

A floating, backgroundless Branch Master with no power, and a single Squad Leader of a rural branch who had just experienced actual combat for the first time?

“I feel like throwing up.”

As Beon Saeng bent over, Lim Chung patted him on the back.

Leaving the two behind, Baek Socheon took a step forward first.

From behind, Lim Chung called out to Baek Socheon:

“…Brother!”

Baek Socheon stopped in his tracks and replied without turning around:

“Whatever you’re going to say, keep it for tomorrow. Think it over carefully and tell me tomorrow. At least for today, nothing is going to happen.”