WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 14: I Know You're a Natural Sucker, But... (2)

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Im Chung went straight to the Heo Sword Family with Beon Saeng.

The head of the Heo Sword Family was Heo Sa. The Heo Sword Family had once been the strongest sect in Zhejiang Province, but it had been pushed into second place after the Mythic Gang appeared like a comet.

"What brings the Branch Chief here?"

"I came because I have something urgent to discuss."

"Please, go ahead."

"Do you know about the tragedy that befell the great hero Liang Qiu some time ago?"

"Of course. It was a terrible tragedy."

"I came to ask whether you might know anything related to that incident."

Heo Sa had never expected Im Chung to come over that matter. Im Chung had always seemed like someone who could barely hold on to the post of Branch Chief in some rural backwater.

"It's unfortunate, but I don't know anything else about it."

Im Chung had expected Heo Sa would not speak readily. It was time to make his move.

"I'll be frank. I believe the Mythic Gang was involved."

If Wang Gon were released like this, he certainly would not let the matter rest. If they were going to suffer regardless, they needed to seize the chance to strike back.

Heo Sa only flinched at the mention of the Mythic Gang, when greater surprise would have been expected. The muted reaction suggested that Heo Sa knew something about the matter.

"We even made an arrest today. But we're in a position where we'll have to release him for lack of evidence."

"To think something like that happened!"

Heo Sa was doubtful. The Wencheng Branch of the Murim Alliance Heo Sa knew had neither the ability nor the nerve to arrest Wang Gon.

"Are you speaking the truth?"

"Why would I lie about something that will be revealed soon enough? If the Mythic Gang was involved in this, they're finished."

Heo Sa stared at Im Chung. Whether Im Chung had come because he was cornered or because he burned with righteousness, he felt different from the Im Chung Heo Sa had seen before.

"Why did you come to me?"

"Please help me."

"How?"

Im Chung met Heo Sa's eyes, his gaze full of determination to solve this case.

"Tell me everything you know."

* * *

After returning to the branch, Im Chung and Beon Saeng immediately sought out Baek Socheon.

"The Heo Sword Family gave us information about Liang Qiu."

Im Chung's face was flushed with excitement.

"What information?"

"Apparently, Liang Qiu recently investigated the Mythic Gang's new business."

"How did the Heo Sword Family know that?"

"It was something they requested. They heard the Mythic Gang was planning some large venture, so it seems Heo Sa personally asked Liang Qiu to look into it."

It was clearly testimony that could become a lead in solving the case. Liang Qiu had been murdered while investigating at the request of a rival sect. It was reasonable to suspect that the Mythic Gang had killed him.

"What kind of business is it?"

"Ah, you wouldn't know."

Im Chung told Baek Socheon about the new venture the Mythic Gang planned to undertake in Wencheng. Now that Baek Socheon was deeply involved, Im Chung believed he should know all the facts.

After hearing the whole story, Baek Socheon tilted his head.

"The new business is building a massive ironworks in Wencheng?"

"I heard they plan to build the largest ironworks in the Central Plains."

"Then it really is strange."

Beon Saeng cut in.

"What's strange about it? The Mythic Gang said they were going to make the ironworks business their main focus from now on."

That was what Black Hand had said last time.

"That's why it's strange."

"Pardon?"

"If they build an ironworks here, at the southernmost end of Zhejiang Province, transporting the weapons they make to every corner of the Central Plains will cost a fortune. If they truly intend to expand the business as they claim, they should build it somewhere with a geographical advantage, like Henan or Hubei."

"Now that you mention it, you're right!"

Beon Saeng looked at Im Chung as if asking whether it was not a sensible guess.

Im Chung offered another possibility.

"Perhaps they only intend to supply their own people?"

"Wouldn't the scale be too large for that?"

"Or perhaps they want to avoid clashes with other ironworks?"

"The Mythic Gang doesn't seem like the kind of sect that would be so considerate."

Im Chung nodded after only a moment's thought.

Then Beon Saeng spoke.

"Fine, let's say that's true. I still don't understand. Would they really kill an entire family just because Liang Qiu investigated them starting an ironworks business?"

"He must have discovered something he wasn't meant to know."

It was Im Chung who answered.

"Then why kill his entire family instead of just Liang Qiu?"

Im Chung had no answer to that.

Beon Saeng's searching gaze turned toward Baek Socheon.

"Why do you keep asking me?"

"We have no idea at all. It just feels like you know everything, Brother."

"I said I don't know. If I were smart, would I have picked up a sword in the first place? I'd have picked up books instead."

"Even saying you're not smart makes you sound smart."

"Enough. If I had to guess, they may have wanted to make it look like Liang Qiu had a personal enemy."

Im Chung and Beon Saeng nodded. Wiping out an entire family was often the work of someone with a personal grudge. If that was why they had killed the family as well, then they were truly vicious.

"Besides, it was a warning to those behind Liang Qiu. Cause trouble, and we can slaughter all of you too."

If that was the case, it had certainly worked.

The Lord of Jo Family Manor, who had been Liang Qiu's friend, had been frightened. While the Heo Sword Family agreed to testify, they had been extremely reluctant.

"The Heo Sword Family promised to testify about Liang Qiu if other evidence turns up."

"They'll help, but they don't want to step into the spotlight."

They had taken a step forward, but they still had only circumstantial evidence and no decisive proof.

Just then, another subordinate martial artist arrived with a report.

"Unit Commander Cheon is looking for Martial Artist Baek."

"Me?"

"Yes. He ordered that you be brought to the interrogation room."

Beon Saeng was startled.

"Why would he want to meet in the interrogation room of all places?"

Baek Socheon immediately understood the intent.

"He's trying to pressure me. Judging by the way he's moving, there's a good chance Unit Commander Cheon is on their side."

"You can't go! The interrogation room is the kind of place where the pressure makes people say things they shouldn't."

Baek Socheon snorted at Beon Saeng's attempt to stop him. Once Beon Saeng learned his real history, he would realize just how funny that statement was.

"It's fine. The interrogation room feels more familiar than my own room. I've been interrogated a fair bit in my day."

"There you go bragging again! I drank with the Ten Great Evildoers in the Murim Alliance Underground Thunder Prison!"

"They're all dead now, except for two. One of those two really does love drinking."

"What? This isn't the time to brag!"

Baek Socheon had already left the room.

Alone with Im Chung, Beon Saeng asked anxiously, "He'll be all right, won't he?"

"Who knows."

Im Chung knew Baek Socheon could fight well. Yet politics within an organization was not something that could be solved through skill alone.

If the Viper of Zhejiang found Baek Socheon's weakness or used rank to pressure him, there could be trouble.

"We should go too."

Beon Saeng was impatient. Cheon Yangho was not the sort of person who went along with the flow like Beon Saeng or Im Chung. Beon Saeng worried that Cheon Yangho might harm Baek Socheon for no reason.

Im Chung, on the other hand, was relaxed.

"Don't rush so much. That brother of yours you're so proud of doesn't seem like the kind of man who'd die from a mere snakebite."

* * *

"You served in the Iron Sword Corps?"

It had not been difficult for Cheon Yangho to learn through the branch martial artists that Baek Socheon was involved in this matter. Baek Socheon had been present when Jong Bae was arrested and when Taejeong died.

"I did."

Cheon Yangho outranked him, but was not his direct superior, so Baek Socheon could answer somewhat casually.

"What was your position?"

"I was a Squad Leader."

"A Squad Leader in the Iron Sword Corps."

That cleared up some of Cheon Yangho's questions. If Baek Socheon had been a Squad Leader in the Iron Sword Corps, the Murim Alliance's most elite organization, he could have subdued Black Hand while he was off guard.

Black Hand had supposedly been sent flying with one blow. That made Cheon Yangho think it was less because of a difference in skill and more because Black Hand had been careless. Black Hand was a master even Cheon Yangho found difficult to face.

"Why were you driven all the way here?"

"Do I have to tell you even that?"

"You're at the center of this case."

"I was demoted for disobeying orders."

Given Baek Socheon's defiant attitude, Cheon Yangho thought that sounded exactly right.

"Fine. Next question. How did you know there was Hundred-Year Fleeceflower Root in the box?"

"I could smell it."

"You have quite a keen sense of smell."

"My eyesight's even better."

"Answer only what you're asked."

"Let's do that."

Cheon Yangho excused all of Baek Socheon's insolence because of his past as an Iron Sword Corps Squad Leader. This much arrogance was only natural. That preconception kept Cheon Yangho from accurately judging his opponent.

"I hear you also performed remarkably at the Mythic Gang."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Don't thank me yet. They may report you for excessive force."

"Tell them to."

Baek Socheon abruptly asked a question of his own.

"I heard the Mythic Gang has been bribing martial artists in the Zhejiang Division. Do you know anything about that?"

"No, I didn't know."

Cheon Yangho's voice trembled slightly. The sudden question had caught him off guard.

Baek Socheon was making an educated guess. If the Mythic Gang had tried to bribe Im Chung, they had surely bribed other martial artists as well. Judging from Cheon Yangho's attitude of trying to smooth over the case, there was a strong possibility that he had accepted bribes from them.

"Where did that information come from?"

Baek Socheon stared straight at Cheon Yangho.

"Is that important?"

"I'm trying to verify the facts."

"If you want to verify the facts, investigate the Zhejiang Division martial artists. If you expose the informant, do you think those bastards will leave them alone?"

"That's true."

"Once Hall Leader Wang's crimes are revealed, all the martial artists who accepted bribes from him will be implicated one after another."

"Of course they should be."

Cheon Yangho felt that control of the conversation had been taken from him.

'This bastard is no ordinary man.'

An inexperienced martial artist would be uncomfortable facing someone like him and would not even be able to meet his eyes properly.

Cheon Yangho had called Baek Socheon to the interrogation room to pressure him, yet he was the one being interrogated instead.

"All right, let's leave it at that for today."

Cheon Yangho rose from his seat. He had learned everything he could, and dragging things out would only put him at a disadvantage.

'Hall Leader Wang has provoked a very troublesome bastard.'

After Cheon Yangho left, Beon Saeng and Im Chung entered the interrogation room.

"What did he say?"

"He said they might report me for excessive force."

Im Chung spoke from behind them.

"That won't happen."

As their superior, Im Chung would do whatever he could to ensure Baek Socheon and Beon Saeng were not harmed.

Beon Saeng spoke worriedly.

"From the way things are going, Wang Gon and Black Hand will be released if we can't find solid evidence."

"I'll stop it somehow, even if I have to stake my position on it. That'll buy us a few days."

Beon Saeng sighed and blamed himself.

"It's because of me. This happened because I attacked the Great Righteous Sect."

Baek Socheon, who had been about to leave the interrogation room, turned around at the door.

"I know you're a natural sucker, but don't say this is because of you. This is all because of those maggots."

Cheon Yangho was included among those maggots.

"They only chase their own interests, so why are you blaming yourself for nothing? Stop at being a sucker. Don't cross over into being an idiot."

It was a rebuke, but it gave Beon Saeng great comfort. He nodded vigorously.

"Yes, Brother!"

Baek Socheon had already gone outside.

Beon Saeng spoke to Im Chung.

"Did you ever imagine we'd end up going through something like this just a few days ago?"

"No."

"If Brother hadn't been here, we'd have had a really hard time."

"Not really."

"Pardon?"

Beon Saeng turned to Im Chung. Im Chung let out a quiet sigh and rose from his seat.

"Nothing would have happened."

This was the sort of thing that should have caused an uproar, yet it would have passed without anything happening.

Baek Socheon had entered their lives, and that was why both Im Chung and Beon Saeng were being shaken.

But could they truly endure this kind of life? Im Chung and Beon Saeng were just ordinary people, the kind anyone could find anywhere, people who were easily influenced and even more easily hurt. They were not Baek Socheon.

Lost in thought, Im Chung left the building and stopped in front of the interrogation-room building.

Beon Saeng came up and stood beside him. Beon Saeng understood what Im Chung had meant by saying nothing would have happened.

"So... I'm going to use this opportunity to change my life."

Im Chung smiled and nodded.

They had lived together for the past year, yet they had never once shared such heartfelt thoughts. Over these past few days, the two had come to understand each other better.

Footnotes:

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