WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Murim in my Hometown ◈
Chapter 36: Black Night Journey
──────
Choi Sadeuk had not come out to greet us when we arrived. At the banquet, he had been too far away for me to get a proper look at his face.
Up close, he had the smooth, seasoned look of an old merchant.
Choi Sadeuk boldly declared an all-out war on the Black Night Gang, but the others only awkwardly watched one another.
After exchanging glances, a gaunt middle-aged figure, thin as an old tree, finally gathered the courage to speak.
“I fully understand how you feel, Estate Master, but... would it not be better to prepare more thoroughly?”
Perhaps they were reluctant to spill blood. One by one, the others nodded in agreement.
Choi Sadeuk’s gaze suddenly turned ominous. Everyone flinched and looked away.
“I sent word to the Blood History Gang and Heaven-Breaking Sect two days ago. They should be on their way by now. If we send them back, word will surely get out. Are you all planning to sit still until you are sucked dry to the marrow and come to a futile end?”
His words were half-polite, but his tone was clearly reproachful. I did not know what relationship Choi Sadeuk had with his four acquaintances, but their hierarchy was obvious.
“R-right. Let us do it. As long as that bastard Jeok Chuyeong is alive, how could any of us sleep peacefully?”
Apparently unable to defy Choi Sadeuk, the middle-aged figure hurriedly changed their tune.
“But will the Blood History Gang and Heaven-Breaking Sect really move as we wish?”
“Exactly. They are rootless Black Path scum. They demand ten whenever you ask them to do one thing. We might even lose the foundation of this estate.”
Choi Sadeuk narrowed his eyes and snorted.
“Do not worry. Not a single coin will leave our pockets. There is a way to handle every sort of vermin. Do you think this is the first or second time I have dealt with men like them?”
A servant hurried in and bowed.
“Master, people from the Blood History Gang and Heaven-Breaking Sect have arrived.”
Choi Sadeuk picked up the ornate saber that had seemed to hang on the wall merely as decoration.
Clang!
When he drew it, the blade, though lavishly adorned, was keenly honed and built entirely for real combat.
It was not a weapon one would expect to find in a merchant’s home, much less one without a martial background.
Holding the blood-reeking Wind-Splitting Saber, Choi Sadeuk slowly glared at the others as if carving their faces into his memory.
“From this moment on, we stand united and see this through to the end. I will not forgive anyone who talks nonsense or raises objections.”
After firmly warning them, Choi Sadeuk led the group outside.
Hoyeongeom silently watched Choi Sadeuk’s back as he left without paying the price for the robbery.
His expression was unpleasant, mixed with disappointment and anger. Yet, as though he had something in mind, Hoyeongeom did not stop Choi Sadeuk.
After glancing this way once, Hoyeongeom and the women also disappeared outside.
Only Yehyang and I remained in the empty inner room.
“This was a Hao clan operation?”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you beforehand. The Pavilion Master ordered that it be handled in utmost secrecy.”
“It’s all right. I’m not a member of the Hao clan, so it is only natural. Is it over?”
“No. It’s only beginning. Let’s go outside.”
We passed through a long corridor and emerged before the main building. Dozens of martial artists filled the courtyard, divided into two groups facing one another.
Yehyang covered her mouth with one hand and explained who they were.
“That large man carrying a broad saber diagonally across his back is Aryong, the third-ranking member of the Blood History Gang, known as the Asura Saber. He is an aggressive Black Path fighter known to always draw blood once he draws his saber...”
I could roughly picture what sort of saber art he used. Overbearing saber strikes driven by the strength of his massive body.
There had been men like that among the bandits I had dealt with before, as well as in the gangs I had clashed with in the past.
When my martial skill had been low, I had won against them with difficulty. But after learning saber arts, I had developed my own methods for dealing with them and could cut them down easily enough.
Still, it would be difficult to become the third-ranking member of a mid-sized gang with nothing but wild saber swings that relied on brute strength.
Judging from his bearing, he might know a few proper forms.
The Blood History Gang members standing behind him were much the same, ordinary Black Path lackeys. Cruel, treacherous, greedy, and petty.
The Heaven-Breaking Sect’s lot looked no different from the average Black Path rabble.
The one standing at the front wore scholar’s robes and had grown an impressive beard, but his eyes were as cold as a snake’s.
He was Gi Baeyong, the Heaven-Breaking Sect’s hall master, known as the Death Guest.
The Black Path was where murder could break out from a mere meeting of eyes.
Yet the two armed organizations only glared at each other as if competing in a staring contest.
The Blood History Gang and Heaven-Breaking Sect were bitter rivals based in the same region.
They were always eager to devour each other, yet Choi Sadeuk had somehow brought them together. It was because all three parties had a common target.
The Black Night Gang.
When the escort agency had first arrived in Seochon and people began gathering and money began circulating, Black Path factions had sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain.
It was clearly unclaimed territory, so the Blood History Gang and Heaven-Breaking Sect had eagerly rushed in as well. Then they had been crushed by the Black Night Gang led by Jeok Chuyeong.
In the process, the eldest son of the Blood History Gang’s leader and the Heaven-Breaking Sect leader’s foremost disciple had ended up as dismembered corpses thrown into a filthy gutter.
Choi Sadeuk handed the two books he had acquired earlier to the two sides.
Aryong held one upside down and pretended to read it before passing it to a subordinate.
The corner of Gi Baeyong’s mouth twitched at the sight. He seemed to be barely restraining himself from openly mocking Aryong for being illiterate.
When the subordinate whispered the contents into his ear, Aryong’s eyes widened.
“Estate Master Choi. Is what is written here true? Is this truly the Internal Energy Method our leader has been searching for...?”
“It is true. What would I gain from deceiving the Blood History Gang?”
Gi Baeyong raised what he held in his hand and spoke.
“Everything written in this ledger will be claimed by the Heaven-Breaking Sect. Do not make different claims later.”
“What? A ledger? What ledger? If it is the Black Night Gang’s property, then our Blood History Gang has a right to it as well!”
Aryong’s eyes flashed wildly with greed.
Gi Baeyong looked at him with contempt and let out a cold laugh.
“A right, you say? You illiterate fool. Write your name in this ledger. Then I will generously give you about five percent.”
“What? Illiterate? You dog bastard! Shall we see whether you can still read after I pluck out your eyeballs?”
“Enough.”
Choi Sadeuk glared at both sides with a chillingly sharp gaze. Even among such vicious Black Path fighters, his presence did not falter in the slightest.
“If we are to reach Seochon before dawn, we must hurry. Are you planning to ruin this over an argument? I only need Jeok Chuyeong’s head. Divide the rest of the Black Night Gang’s property among yourselves.”
They could avenge their organization, earn merit, and make money. There was no reason to refuse.
It would be difficult for the Blood History Gang or Heaven-Breaking Sect alone, but together, they had a chance. The fact that they had brought their subordinates all the way here meant orders had already come down from above.
“Fuck, just wait until later.”
“Hehehe. What will an illiterate see even if he looks? Everything will only look black to him.”
Once the deal was settled, everyone poured out of Choi Estate.
They climbed into the carriages scattered messily outside the gate and raced for the official road as though competing with one another.
Choi Sadeuk and the others also boarded their own carriages with their guards and swordsmen. Hoyeongeom’s group had vanished somewhere in the meantime and was nowhere to be seen.
There was no reason for Yehyang and me to remain in an estate without its owner or guests, so we boarded a carriage as well.
The moonlight was dim and the road was dark, so the driver guided the carriage as slowly as possible.
Naturally, the distance between us and the carriages ahead gradually widened.
I did not urge the driver to hurry.
Getting there early would only lengthen the time I had to watch Seochon’s streets run red with blood.
I had no fond feelings for the Black Night Gang, but I was not pleased by the thought of them being wiped out either.
Even if they were all killed, the Blood History Gang and Heaven-Breaking Sect would fight viciously over the remaining property. The streets would become a battlefield, and innocent people would be struck down by stray blades.
Whichever side won, once things settled down, they would bribe the authorities and repeat everything the Black Night Gang had done.
It was something that often happened in other cities as well. The Black Path was not the Black Path if blood was not spilled when factions or generations changed.
The only difference was that there was another instigator behind this affair.
“Manor Lord Choi seems to hold a deep grudge against the Black Night Gang?”
Without taking her eyes from the window, Yehyang answered.
“The leader of the Black Night Gang found Choi Sadeuk’s weakness and continuously extorted money from him.”
A weakness in the hands of the Black Path...
A wealthy man like that would surely have connections reaching fairly high into the government. Yet rather than relying on the authorities, he had brought in other Black Path factions to settle things by the martial world’s methods.
I could roughly guess what kind of situation it was.
No matter how hard one worked all their life, it was not easy to escape grinding poverty.
For a person to rebuild a fallen family through their own efforts required exceptional talent and heavenly luck.
Passing the civil service examinations was like plucking stars from the sky, and amassing wealth through business was no easier.
No matter how vast the world was, established merchant companies had already taken root everywhere one went. Too many people were already profiting from every lucrative trade.
If you carelessly stuck your spoon into someone else’s territory, you were likely to end up with a hole in your belly.
The only work available to latecomers was profitable but life-threatening work. Work strictly forbidden by the law.
“Choi Sadeuk was an illicit merchant?”
Yehyang flinched at my guess and turned around. Her already large eyes widened until the whites showed.
“As the Pavilion Master said, your insight is extraordinary. I only said he had a weakness...”
“If he had built up such wealth, he must have paid substantial bribes to the authorities. Yet if he is urgently using the Black Path as a borrowed knife to kill his enemy, it is obvious. His weakness must be something that can never reach the authorities.”
Yehyang nodded as though she understood how I had reached that conclusion.
“That is right. Choi Sadeuk was an illicit merchant. After greatly building up his fortune, he laundered his status and became a legitimate businessman. Before that, however, he was a notorious Black Path criminal called the Money Ghost and Evil Face, Evil Heart. Salt smuggling, human trafficking, opium distribution. He did not hesitate to do anything if it made a great deal of money. The four people with him earlier are business partners or investors.”
None of those were minor crimes.
Salt smuggling was considered high treason. Execution by beheading was the minimum punishment, and if the entire family became implicated, every neck in the household would be cut. Human trafficking and opium distribution were also punishable by death.
If someone found evidence and threatened to report him to the authorities, he would have no choice but to pay.
He could not seek help from the authorities, but neither would a vicious Black Path criminal who had smuggled salt and trafficked people meekly allow himself to be extorted.
Hoo-oo. Hoo-oo.
When we reached a dark valley, the cry of an owl sounded from somewhere. The driver cupped both hands and made a similar call.
The eastern forest stirred, and a martial artist leaped out. The driver stopped the carriage.
I rose and reached for my long saber, but Yehyang caught my wrist.
“It’s all right. They are Hao clan members.”
After confirming the driver’s identity, the martial artist gave a signal. More than twenty armed Hao clan members quietly revealed themselves.
Among them were several familiar faces I had seen at Simhyang Pavilion.
Yehyang got down from the carriage. She took a sword from beneath the driver’s seat, fastened it at her waist, and stepped forward.
“What of the Blood History Gang and Heaven-Breaking Sect?”
A senior Hao clan member approached several steps and answered.
“They passed through forty-five minutes ago.”
“And Choi Sadeuk’s group?”
“They followed at a slight distance.”
“Any sign they caught on?”
“None. They were all too busy racing ahead to keep watch for anything.”
Yehyang took a silver token from her robes.
The Hao clan members all dropped to one knee. It seemed to be a token granting the authority of Hong Hui, the head of the Hao clan’s Seochon Branch.
“Tonight, the Hao clan will seize Choi Estate.”
“We obey.”
The Hao clan members acknowledged the order, then entered the brush and brought out horses and carriages. The driver climbed back onto the seat and turned the horses around.
The Hao clan sold information, and it sold wandering martial artists.
There was nothing it did not sell, but there was only one circumstance in which it openly deployed force under the Hao clan name.
“The Hao clan’s revenge?”
Yehyang bit her lip and nodded with a grim expression. The carriage retraced its path toward Choi Estate.
Yehyang gripped the scabbard of the sword at her waist and stared into the darkness beyond the window.
I remembered what had been said earlier that day.
To see the path ahead, one had to confront and overcome the greatest fear of their life head-on.
The carriage continued onward without rest through the depths of the dark night, while the world slept around us.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
