WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Alyo
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Memoir of a Regressor ◈
Chapter 80: Beggar’s Gate
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Soon, the carrier pigeon overhead descended onto Han Beom-seong’s head. Myeong-hyeon snickered, caught it, and read the message.
“It seems Gong Wi-ryang was in a hurry. He was trying to call Han Beom-seong back.”
“Can you imitate the handwriting?”
“...Not immediately, but if you give me a day, I can manage a few simple characters.”
A day was too uncertain.
I spoke to Myeong-hyeon, who held the pigeon.
“Just let it go.”
Myeong-hyeon nodded.
The carrier pigeon flew high into the sky. It would head straight for the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect, carrying no reply.
Everyone would find it strange.
Because from today onward, Han Beom-seong would be considered missing.
“Branch Master, please return first.”
I shook my head.
“I have something to do.”
The two did not ask what it was.
Because they had both roughly guessed already.
I dropped Han Beom-seong’s head from my hand.
Thud.
The head hit the ground.
I turned my head.
The bushes.
I kicked off toward them.
A sound came from the bushes. A man was fleeing with his back turned.
I poured Properly Aligned Qi into my legs.
I was exhausted and my reserves were nearly depleted, but I could still manage several leaps.
Flying Dragon Chasing Lightning at its pinnacle unfolded. The surrounding scenery rushed past in an instant. I reached out.
My left hand seized the back of the man’s head.
Then I slammed him into the ground.
Baaam!
“Urgh...”
I lifted him up while gripping the back of his head.
A goatee, crooked brows, a low nose.
I had never seen this man before.
But his clothes, the intent I sensed from him...
And my instincts.
It was obvious.
“Beggar’s Gate?”
“...I... I do not know what you mean... I am merely a passerby... Please let me go...”
“If you are not a Beggar’s Gate disciple, I have no reason to speak with you. Will you die here, or will you tell me the truth?”
The man swallowed hard before speaking.
“...I am Jeong Yeong, a first-generation disciple of Beggar’s Gate.”
A smile formed on my face.
“How nice. You are being honest.”
“...Then will you spare me?”
“That depends on what you tell me.”
“...”
“Were you planning to report what happened here today to Beggar’s Gate?”
“...I was, but if you tell me not to, I will not report it... However.”
“However?”
“...As a disciple of Beggar’s Gate, I do not know what may happen later if I conceal information I obtained. So...”
“You want something in return?”
“...Yes.”
“Do you not think you are asking for too much?”
“...What else can I do? You frighten me, but someone sent me here. The Branch Head of Beggar’s Gate’s Jangam County branch. He may not know what I witnessed here, but he at least knows I was here.”
If I killed him, the Beggar’s Gate Branch Head would eventually know I was the killer.
Well...
Calling it a threat felt a little clichéd.
It was more of a warning.
“Is that not strange?”
“...What do you mean...?”
“Why is there not a single person from the Heavenly Intelligence Gate here?”
“...”
“And all those martial artists from the many sects in Jangam County are absent. Even the wandering martial artists who happened to be in Jangam County are gone. Why do you think they are not here?”
“...”
“Is Beggar’s Gate, which claims to deal in information, truly this oblivious? Those who should know what is happening here and those who should not are clearly divided. Those who noticed did not come. Idiots like you, who did not notice, came here instead. Do you understand?”
“...It was... a mistake. We merely...”
He could not finish.
Crack.
If someone could talk with their neck broken, they would be a monster, not a human.
I stood and extended my senses.
There had been two outsiders caught in my senses during the earlier battle.
I listened closely. Faintly, I could hear footsteps running madly away.
I turned my head and kicked off at once.
Perhaps they had not gotten far. A martial artist who appeared to be around the Circulation Realm was running through the bushes.
I drew the Cloud Dragon Sword and threw it.
Thunk!
“Gah!”
He fell facedown on the ground. I walked over slowly and pulled out my sword.
“...P-please spare me...”
“Why did you come here?”
“...That is...”
“Did the Beggar’s Gate Branch Head order you to come and see what was happening?”
“Y-yes, that is right.”
“The Beggar’s Gate Branch Head must be quite a capable man.”
“...What?”
“He dares accept small handouts in Jangam County, yet gives me no information. Then he even sends people to dig up information about me? They are oblivious and arrogant. It has reached the point of being impressive.”
I reversed my grip on the Cloud Dragon Sword and drove it down.
Thwack!
The man’s neck was severed.
I turned my head.
Having apparently finished their work, Myeong-hyeon and Un Do-hyeon approached me. Un Do-hyeon carried Han Beom-seong’s head.
He was not simply holding it. It was wrapped in the assassins’ clothes. Unless Un Do-hyeon showed it to someone, no one would know whose head it was.
“Finished?”
“Yes. We cleaned everything up. We covered the gouged ground and broken trees with the martial arts of the Deputy Branch Leader here, then moved some of the assassins’ bodies around. No matter who comes, they will not notice. There are also quite a few wild dogs around here. They will take care of the scene themselves.”
If it was Myeong-hyeon saying so, that was enough for me. This was not his first or second time doing something like this.
He was Yaksha.
I could not forget that.
“By the way... They seemed to be Beggar’s Gate disciples. What will you do?”
What was there to do?
“Carry those two heads and follow me.”
As though rest was no longer an option, Myeong-hyeon sighed. He picked up the head of the Beggar’s Gate disciple in his right hand and the head of Jeong Yeong, whom I had killed earlier, in his left, then followed.
* * *
Beggar’s Gate, renowned as one of the two great pillars of the information world, had branches throughout the country.
There was no branch in Three Phoenix County, but Jangam County was different.
There was a Beggar’s Gate branch here in Jangam County.
And Yi Do kicked in its door.
Baaang!!
The door shattered completely, and chaos erupted inside.
Yi Do, Myeong-hyeon, and Un Do-hyeon slowly entered.
“Who are you?! This is Beggar’s Gate... Gah...”
They dealt in information and had established a branch in Jangam County.
If they did not know who ruled Jangam County, they should tear down their sign and go die.
“I will count to five. The Branch Head will come out at once.”
Yi Do drew the Cloud Dragon Sword with his left hand.
“If not, I will kill everyone in this building.”
At the killing intent released by a master of Five Qis Return to Origin, everyone in Beggar’s Gate began to tremble.
Yi Do began counting.
Just as he reached three, Cheon Chung-myeon, the Branch Head of Beggar’s Gate’s Jangam County branch, came racing down from the upper floor.
“W-what do you think you are doing?!”
Yi Do looked at the shouting Cheon Chung-myeon and spoke.
“Myeong-hyeon.”
“Yes, Branch Master.”
Myeong-hyeon threw the two heads he held at Cheon Chung-myeon. Cheon Chung-myeon caught them and recoiled in horror.
He knew them.
They were the two Beggar’s Gate disciples he had ordered to follow those three earlier.
“...You... You killed Beggar’s Gate disciples? Have you lost your...”
“Cheon Chung-myeon.”
At Yi Do’s low voice, Cheon Chung-myeon stopped speaking and swallowed.
A chill ran through his whole body. It felt as if thousands of swords were aimed at him.
“Do you still not understand the situation?”
“...Th-that...”
Yi Do turned, sat in a chair in the corner, and gestured with his chin toward the chair opposite him.
“Sit.”
“...”
“If I have to tell you to sit one more time, I will immediately tear off your limbs and kill every man in this branch.”
Cheon Chung-myeon knew Yi Do was a man who did what he said. He hurriedly went over and sat across from him.
“...Please tell me... why you are doing this.”
“Are you asking because you truly do not know?”
“...”
“I do not care what your Beggar’s Gate does. I do not even give it a thought. You buy and sell information, purchase food, place people in inns, keep track of every development, and gather information. I have no interest in any of it.”
Cheon Chung-myeon’s eyes shook violently. He could roughly guess what Yi Do would say next.
“However, information about me is another matter.”
“...”
“From around the Hour of the Dog onward, I prohibited entry through the western entrance of Jangam County. Neither the government troops nor the wandering martial artists in Jangam County, nor the Heavenly Intelligence Gate or the warriors of any family based in Jangam County, passed through there. None of them did. Only you.”
“Th-that...”
“The Heavenly Intelligence Gate and the other sects knew something would happen there. Even so, they did not try to find out what. If it had been something they needed to know, I would not have barred entry. You knew that as well. Am I wrong?”
“...You are not.”
Silence settled over the room.
Drip. Drip.
Only the sound of blood falling from Myeong-hyeon and Un Do-hyeon’s bodies spread through the room.
Yi Do broke the silence.
“I do not care about other regions. But in the region where I am, the region I govern, gathering information about me and trying to sell it to someone requires my permission.”
“What kind of... What law is that?”
“A law I made. Because Jangam County is mine.”
“...You intend to control things to that extent? I understand your intent, but is that not excessive?”
Yi Do snickered.
“Whether it is excessive or not is not for you to judge. This is my rule. If you do not follow it, what else is there to do? You all have to die.”
“You would make an enemy of Beggar’s Gate...? Can you bear the consequences?”
“Do you think I cannot?”
“...”
“Do you believe you are the greatest family under heaven simply because you travel throughout the martial world gathering information?”
“...”
“It is tiresome to watch worms who do nothing but deal in information forget their place. Give me one month. Within that month, I can destroy one hundred Beggar’s Gate branches, take the heads of one hundred Branch Heads, and kill half of Beggar’s Gate’s Fourteen Elders hiding across the country.”
Cheon Chung-myeon was aghast.
“...Have you gone mad?”
“Of course not. And if Beggar’s Gate still refuses to yield after I have done all that...”
A smile formed at Yi Do’s lips.
“The Heavenly Intelligence Gate will become the greatest information family in the martial world, and Beggar’s Gate will vanish from this world.”
The color drained from Cheon Chung-myeon’s face. The Heavenly Intelligence Gate would surely see this as a perfect opportunity to remove the troublesome Beggar’s Gate. And if that judgment came from its leadership, Beggar’s Gate would unquestionably suffer a devastating blow.
“I have talked for too long, and now I am growing irritated. Un Do-hyeon.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I will now ask this man a question. If his answer is anything other than yes, cut off his head immediately.”
Shing.
Un Do-hyeon drew his sword.
Cheon Chung-myeon looked as though he were watching madmen. What on earth had Yi Do done to earn such loyalty from someone?
“Myeong-hyeon.”
“Yes, Branch Master.”
“It will be difficult, but move a little more. If Un Do-hyeon cuts off this man’s head, immediately capture and kill every Beggar’s Gate disciple in Jangam County.”
Myeong-hyeon grinned.
“How about making it look like the assassins did it?”
“That would not be a bad idea.”
Yi Do paused, then glared at Cheon Chung-myeon as he continued.
“This man may decide to make an enemy of me, but Beggar’s Gate’s higher-ups may not think the same way. Leave just enough evidence that I did it. They should be given an opportunity as well.”
Myeong-hyeon looked as though he could die from amusement.
When he watched from a step away, Yi Do’s actions went beyond mere decisiveness. He had wondered how Yi Do could possibly clean up after all this.
But now that it involved him personally, it was interesting.
Enough that he was looking forward to it.
“I am good at that sort of thing. I will make sure they die properly.”
Every hair on Cheon Chung-myeon’s body stood on end.
How could he not shudder when someone who looked as though he had bathed in blood smiled like that?
“Now, Cheon Chung-myeon. Think carefully and answer me. Your one answer will decide the lives of you and every Beggar’s Gate disciple here. Will you follow the rules I have made?”
Cheon Chung-myeon swallowed hard.
These madmen were serious.
Beggar’s Gate might protect him, but...
He did not know.
If a justification was created, Beggar’s Gate would choose to join hands with Yi Do rather than protect him.
After all, the Cruel Demonic Way was a rising star among rising stars, with his name spreading throughout the entire martial world.
He even had the Asura Sword Sect behind him. To make an enemy of him was to make an enemy of the Asura Sword Sect as well.
If Beggar’s Gate responded by drawing in the other Eight Great Sects, would they truly make an enemy of the Asura Sword Sect without demanding anything in return?
Of course not.
They would demand something. Whatever it might be, Beggar’s Gate was bound to lose out somehow.
There was nothing more to consider.
“Yes... I will follow your rules.”
“Good. And one more thing.”
Yi Do reached out, grabbed Cheon Chung-myeon by the hair, and slammed his head onto the table.
Yi Do’s cold gaze bored into Cheon Chung-myeon. Fear seeped into him.
“Never crawl above your station again. Do not forget your place. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes... I understand...”
Yi Do glared at Cheon Chung-myeon for a moment longer, then threw him aside.
His body flew into a bookshelf across the room. The books on its shelves spilled out, but Cheon Chung-myeon could not move.
Yi Do’s gaze was still fixed on him.
He was afraid.
Truly afraid.
Yi Do turned.
“We are returning to the branch.”
“Yes, sir!”
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