WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
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◈ Murim in my Hometown ◈
Chapter 38: Severed Head
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“Stabbing your client in the back. You really are gutter filth. The Hao clan is a fitting name for you.”
Though Choi Sadeuk openly scorned their sect, the Hao clan members did not respond. Someone else would speak for the group.
Yehyang stepped forward.
Everything about her was different from the previous evening, when she had faced Choi Sadeuk with a pipa in her hands.
A sword hung at her waist, and her face, no longer concealing her emotions, was filled with deep-seated hostility. Her voice was cold and sharp as well.
“The Hao clan keeps faith with its clients until a commission is complete. But enemies of our clan are an exception. We will collect blood payment by any means necessary.”
“Enemies? Don't talk nonsense! Didn't you join hands with the Black Night Gang to swallow up my estate? What grudge could I possibly have against the Hao clan?”
Yehyang glared at Choi Sadeuk and spoke coldly.
“The Dogok Branch of the Hao clan in Jiangxi.”
Choi Sadeuk's eyes twitched.
“Eight years ago, you massacred them. Branch Leader Oh Jonggeum and all seventeen Hao clan members under his command.”
At the mention of the massacre, the killing intent of the Hao clan members intensified. The blades in their hands trembled as though they had caught the scent of blood.
“At first, our clan thought it was the work of unorthodox factions. Jiangxi is territory of the unorthodox factions, where even the Nine Sects have little influence. The Clan Leader combed through every sect and gang in Jiangxi, but found nothing. Then we caught the murderers' trail somewhere unexpected. The last commission the Dogok Branch Leader accepted was the key...”
The commission had been to obtain information about an opium crackdown.
It had come just after the newly appointed Regional Military Commissioner, sent under imperial orders, announced a large-scale campaign to wipe out the opium-smuggling network.
That very night, after the Dogok Branch passed information bought from officials with bribes to their client, it was attacked.
“It was to erase the witnesses. We interrogated and investigated every opium dealer in Jiangxi and learned that the murderers had taken a smuggling ship up the Yangtze River. They burned the ship near Hubei and fled. After that, we could not find them. It was as though they had risen into the sky. We could not find a trace of them anywhere.”
Choi Sadeuk glared murderously, but Yehyang did not stop.
“The seasons changed, years passed, and still there was no news. We wasted seven years and had nothing to show for it. Until last winter, when an acquaintance of our enemy brought a commission to the Hao clan. Do you still think the Hao clan broke faith?”
Choi Sadeuk ground his teeth.
“Damn it... I should have dealt with those bastards long ago.”
“Why did you massacre the Dogok Branch?”
“Heh heh heh. You don't even know that? Stupid bitch. The Regional Military Commissioner offered a pardon and one thousand taels of silver to anyone who provided information on the opium network.”
Choi Sadeuk narrowed his eyes with a sinister expression.
“With one thousand taels of silver on the line, anyone would lose their head. Parents would report their children, and brothers would strangle one another. A few of my men started wavering too. Only after I chopped them into pieces and fed them to the fish did things finally settle down.”
Perhaps recalling that time, Choi Sadeuk stared intently at the Wind-Splitting Saber in his hand.
“Do you think the Hao clan would have been any different? If I had hesitated even a little, the Dogok Branch would have followed my trail and reported me to the Regional Military Commissioner. I merely struck first. In the martial world, blaming your opponent because you were too slow is nothing but the pointless whining of the weak.”
Yehyang drew her sword.
“The enemy has confessed to his crime. In the name of the Hao clan, I will collect blood payment.”
Choi Sadeuk pointed the Wind-Splitting Saber forward and took a stance. His bloodshot eyes gleamed like a beast's.
“Come, then. I'll split your skull wide open too.”
Yehyang kicked off the ground and charged. The twenty Hao clan members moved at the same time, as though they had been waiting for it.
No matter how great a master someone was, having dozens of blades fly at them from every direction could make their mind go blank. They would freeze, hesitate, and often end up becoming minced meat.
Choi Sadeuk was not like that.
He did not even look at the other blades. He rushed straight at Yehyang and swung the Wind-Splitting Saber without hesitation.
Clang!
Yehyang deflected the strike with supple swordsmanship, but the difference in strength forced her back a step.
Having seized the momentum, Choi Sadeuk thrust his saber forward. From the side, I brought my long saber down on his arm, breaking the flow of his attack. Choi Sadeuk jolted in alarm and twisted away.
Seeing the surrounding blades close in, he whirled the Wind-Splitting Saber in wide arcs as if dancing, forcing the Hao clan members back.
No matter how many people there were, only so many could attack at once.
Choi Sadeuk understood that well. Perhaps he was accustomed to chaotic fights, because he did not shrink back at all.
Yehyang's sword curved sharply like a snake and aimed for Choi Sadeuk's neck.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Her sword forms were not fully developed yet, but their foundation was firm, and they were quite cunning.
Choi Sadeuk's saber art, honed while fighting water bandits aboard smuggling ships along the Yangtze River, carried more killing intent than technique.
Like all blade work learned through bloody battles, it was vicious but full of openings. There were plenty of needless tricks, as well as careless gaps that seemed left to chance.
I could have finished him easily with the Heavenly Steel Saber Method, but I focused on guarding Yehyang.
Revenge belonged to Yehyang and the Hao clan members.
“Grrraaah!”
The Hao clan members' blades began to reach Choi Sadeuk's back.
They were not fatal wounds, but as blood soaked his back, Choi Sadeuk grew anxious. Clenching his teeth, he hurled himself forward.
His savage all-or-nothing thrust, driven by his whole body, targeted Yehyang's neck.
The end was drawing near.
Using footwork, I slipped diagonally into his blind spot and drew my long saber upward from below.
Clang!!
The Wind-Splitting Saber bounced upward with a heavy metallic ring.
For an instant, Choi Sadeuk's chest was completely exposed. Yehyang did not miss the chance. She stepped in quickly, put force into her sword, and thrust.
Her sword traced a strangely familiar sword path as it pierced Choi Sadeuk's left chest and burst out through his back.
“Guh!”
When she pulled out the sword, Choi Sadeuk collapsed.
Yehyang kicked the Wind-Splitting Saber away, then knelt before Choi Sadeuk and held her sword to his neck.
“Cough, cough. Who the hell are you? Yesterday, when you played the pipa, you were stiff as a virgin. Today, you're full of venom like a late-autumn viper. Are you one of the women I sold?”
Yehyang spoke with merciless eyes.
“Ha Ungil. He was my father. A Hao clan member of the Dogok Branch. You killed him. Geum Yeongyeong. She was my mother. After the Dogok Branch fell, she and I were kidnapped by nearby Black Path factions. My two older brothers fought back with swords and were brutally killed. My mother died in a brothel. I...”
Perhaps the pent-up emotions were rushing up all at once. Yehyang's voice grew hoarse and faded.
She took a deep breath and stared directly at her enemy.
“I am Ha Choyeon. With the help of an old acquaintance of my father who recognized me, I returned to the Hao clan. I have waited only for the day I could cut off your head, pull out your guts, and chew them.”
Choi Sadeuk gave up resisting and bared his neck.
“Heh heh heh. Kill me. I've lived one life without regrets, so dying like this would be a good death.”
As though refusing to make her revenge easy, Choi Sadeuk sneered mockingly.
Yehyang's face twisted at his shameless expression, as though he had transcended life and death. Biting her lip, she raised her sword.
It looked as though she meant to cut off one of his arms and let him writhe in agony until death.
Then, perhaps remembering what true pain was, Yehyang's expression calmed. Her sword slowly lowered.
She spoke in a voice completely devoid of emotion.
“Don't worry about the family you hid with your in-laws. The Shaanxi Branch has already moved, so you will see them soon enough. I hear your only son is quite clever. He has already finished the Elementary Learning, hasn't he?”
The moment she threatened his family, Choi Sadeuk's expression turned savage.
“You bitch. If you lay even a finger on Won, I'll tear you apart and kill you...”
Slice.
Yehyang's sword cut through Choi Sadeuk's neck.
Choi Sadeuk's head rolled once across the ground before facing the sky. His eyes were chillingly wide open, as though he could not close them even in death because he was thinking of the family that would suffer.
Yehyang seemed pleased with that expression.
For the first time, something like a smile formed at the corner of her lips.
At last, I thought I understood why Hong Hui had entrusted Yehyang with this mission.
It was not simply to give their cherished adopted daughter the opportunity to resolve her grudge and take revenge. It was a kind of test, meant for her to earn merit and grow stronger.
The position of Hao clan branch leader could not simply be handed to someone favored.
They needed permission from the Clan Leader above, and they had to prove to the members below that they could lead the organization and earn their trust and loyalty.
It also made for a good story. Ha Ungil's daughter personally took revenge on the enemy who had unjustly murdered her father.
This matter would be reported to the Hao clan leader as well, so Yehyang would be acknowledged as Hong Hui's successor.
Yehyang bent down and gripped Choi Sadeuk's hair with her long, slender fingers.
When she rose, blood streamed from the severed neck of the head in her hand.
She turned and walked toward the carriage. Drops of blood fell with every step, forming a long trail.
Yehyang had faced the greatest terror of her life head-on to walk this far. In one hand, she carried her enemy's severed head. In the other, she held a sword stained with his blood.
That was the path the next Seochon Branch Leader of the Hao clan would walk.
* * *
Choi Estate changed its signboard to that of a small escort agency. It was not a real escort agency, but a Hao clan front and safe house.
Every servant and maid working at Choi Estate became a Hao clan member without exception. They had nowhere else to go even if told to leave, so they readily accepted their new master.
Publicly, Choi Sadeuk was said to have died of illness. Since it was a situation bound to cause gossip, the Pavilion Master invited the County Magistrate and local notables to Simhyang Pavilion.
Chests filled with silver ingots were loaded onto carriages, and the Prefectural Magistrate honored the gathering with their presence.
That night, every connection that could have put in a word with the authorities for Choi Sadeuk was cut off. Everything was settled as smoothly as flowing water.
The clash among Black Path factions in the mountains near Seochon was even easier to resolve.
Gossip lovers eagerly used it as drinking-table conversation, but the officials only took one look at the bodies scattered across the foothills before leaving.
There were dozens of bodies from the Blood History Gang and Heaven-Breaking Sect. Not a single corpse belonged to the Black Night Gang.
The bodies no one came to claim were eventually taken by crows and mountain beasts.
Even if people tried to keep a matter of this scale completely secret, rumors would spread somehow.
So the Hao clan did not silence anyone. Instead, they tailored the content and direction of the rumors to favor themselves, creating a tale of revenge.
Did the martial artists criticize the Hao clan for betraying a client's trust?
They did not.
More than anywhere else in the world, the martial world was a place where favors and grudges were settled clearly.
The Hao clan's reputation actually rose after it properly avenged the grievances of its unjustly murdered members.
Yehyang's pipa playing had already been famous, but it became even more renowned afterward.
They said that where it had once simply stirred the heart with sorrow, it now carried a wider range of emotions and richer expression.
They even said it had gained a freshness like new buds sprouting after the northern wind and snow had passed, though I could not really tell even after listening.
This commission had been quite troublesome and full of twists and turns. Since I was not a Hao clan member, I could not know all the details of what had happened.
Still, the payment was satisfying.
“You said you were looking for a spirit herb before, correct?”
Inside the wooden box Geuk Hwan held out was a fist-sized herb bearing bright red fruit.
Unlike the Tianshan Snow Ginseng, it gave off a faint yang energy, but it was certainly a spirit herb.
“It is Sun-Seeking Ginseng Herb. It was difficult to obtain...”
“Don't you have another root?”
“...No.”
I tucked the spirit herb into my clothes, left Simhyang Pavilion, and went straight to Old Physician Sang.
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