WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 17: We Have to Control Our Anger (3)

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"This bastard tried to kill my family too?"

Im Chung was not the only one shaken after returning to the branch. Beon Saeng was deeply shocked as well. Black Hand had been released less than a day ago, yet he had tried to kill them all.

It was hard to believe, but Black Hand's corpse lying before them proved it was all true.

Rage surged through Im Chung. It was a fierce fury that felt as though it could burn his entire body to ash. If Baek Socheon had not been there, the corpses before him would have been his wife and son.

Im Chung clenched his fists. He gripped them so tightly that his hands hurt, yet he could not feel the pain.

He wanted to put on the mask hanging around Black Hand's neck, find Wang Gon at once, and cut off his head. All he could think about was cutting off Wang Gon's head, then cutting it again and again.

He had never known such powerful rage was hidden within him.

Baek Socheon, who had watched silently, spoke calmly.

"You don't need to suppress your anger. Just don't let it swallow you. They're doing perfectly fine over there while you're the only one who goes mad, runs wild, and dies. That's incredibly irritating, isn't it?"

Im Chung slowly calmed down at those words. Black Hand had failed to control his anger, but Im Chung had succeeded.

Right. This was not the time to be angry. It was time to express his gratitude.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

Im Chung's voice caught, and tears immediately began streaming down his face.

"I will never forget this kindness, not even after I die."

His family was his entire life. Baek Socheon had protected that entire life when it was about to shatter.

"You don't need to. I only killed him because he tried to kill me too."

That made Im Chung even more grateful. Baek Socheon had not tried to take credit for it.

Im Chung seemed lost in thought for a moment, then made up his mind.

He suddenly dropped to his knees and prostrated himself.

"From now on, I will serve you as my elder brother as well."

"You're older than me. What are you talking about?"

"No. I'm younger. I'm thirty-six."

Beon Saeng was even more surprised than Baek Socheon.

"You're lying!"

"It's true."

"Branch Chief, you're really only that old?"

"How old did you think I was?"

"Fifty?"

"Want to die?"

"Good heavens! It looks like our Branch Chief fought the war against the Black Heaven Alliance with his face."

Like Beon Saeng, Baek Socheon had thought Im Chung was in his fifties.

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

"It's a showdown between the youngest-looking man and the oldest-looking man. This duel is really neck and neck."

Im Chung might have snapped back at Beon Saeng's joke, but he was focused solely on his relationship with Baek Socheon.

Lowering his head, he pleaded.

"Please accept me as your younger brother."

Im Chung had always thought he was not as impulsive as Beon Saeng.

Yet perhaps he was just as impulsive. A desire to become this man's younger brother surged up from deep within him, and he did not hold it back.

"Why is everyone so desperate to become my younger brother?"

Still prostrated on the ground, Im Chung said, "It's because we're all poorly paid. Rather than a friend or a younger brother, we need an elder brother who'll treat us to meals."

Im Chung did not seem like the sort of person who would make jokes like that. Baek Socheon finally snorted with laughter.

"Call me whatever you want. But I'll say it again, I'm not your elder brother."

"Thank you, elder brother. Thank you again for saving my family."

That alone was enough for Im Chung to devote his life to him.

"People who owe me their lives could fill more than ten carts, packed tight. So don't feel too burdened."

Beon Saeng grinned as he watched.

"There goes our elder brother bragging about his past again."

"I'm being humble by saying ten carts. In truth, it would be more than a hundred."

"Haha. Sure, let's go with that."

Im Chung did not believe him either, but he lowered his head and said, "Whether there are ten carts or a hundred, I'll quietly ride in the last one."

Beon Saeng prostrated himself beside him.

"Thank you for protecting your youngest brother's family."

Im Chung turned to look at him while still lying face-down.

"Youngest brother?"

"Am I wrong? I became his younger brother first."

"No."

A brief silence followed.

"I'm joking. Second elder brother! I should be the youngest brother."

"Not that either."

"Yes, Branch Chief. It was a joke, a joke. Hahaha, please laugh."

Baek Socheon spoke to them.

"Get up already."

The two men sprang to their feet.

Their relationship had been sorted out, but the corpse was still there.

"Now, what should we do with this body?"

"What should we do?"

It was naturally something they should report to the Zhejiang Division, but Im Chung hesitated.

"That is for you, the Branch Chief, to decide."

Im Chung first considered what would happen if this matter became public.

Even if they revealed that Black Hand had come to kill his family, they would not be able to implicate Wang Gon. Black Hand was already dead, so Wang Gon would never admit it. Even if Black Hand were alive, Wang Gon would have denied it vehemently.

And the Viper of Zhejiang was on their side as well.

In the end, it would only amount to Black Hand's death.

On the other hand, if the truth came out, it would also reveal that Baek Socheon had killed him. Baek Socheon did not seem to care whether it was exposed or not, but now that Im Chung had decided to make him his elder brother, he wanted to protect him.

"Let's say Black Hand never came here."

It sounded like an easy decision, but for a Murim Alliance martial artist like Im Chung, it was anything but easy.

Baek Socheon, on the other hand, answered easily.

"Fine. Then bury him here."

"This is the yard of the house where you're staying, elder brother. Is that all right?"

"It's fine. In the past, I ate and slept among corpses."

Beon Saeng laughed and played along.

"Of course. Our elder brother is the Fight God of the battlefield."

"How did you know my nickname was Fight God?"

"Hahahaha. This is why I like you, elder brother."

Im Chung and Beon Saeng brought shovels and buried Black Hand's corpse there.

As they covered his cold body with dirt, it did not feel real.

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

Unlike Beon Saeng, Im Chung did not say anything like that. Whenever he remembered that Black Hand had tried to kill his family, he wanted to exhume the corpse and dismember it several times over.

After shoveling for a while, Beon Saeng asked Baek Socheon, "When you're as good at fighting as you are, don't you ever feel like killing them all? Without worrying about anything else, just wiping them out?"

If Baek Socheon could kill Black Hand today, he could have killed him on the day of his arrest. Beon Saeng was asking whether Baek Socheon had not wanted to kill him that day instead of waiting until now.

"I do."

"How do you hold it in?"

"Because I know nothing changes even if I do. The wounds I suffer would only become deeper."

Im Chung still carried feelings of revenge and anger, so those words struck him deeply.

"Murim Alliance law feels stifling, doesn't it? You have to lock people in the martial prison and find evidence, while the other side uses its power and pressure to overturn the ruling. But do you know something? Those stifling laws weren't made for evil people. They were made for the people who deal with them."

"What?"

"So that you don't suffer wounds too deep in your heart while fighting demons. So that you can sometimes rest within the boundaries of the law."

"......!"

"I don't hold back because I have great patience, or because I believe the law must always be obeyed. I do it to protect myself. So follow it for your own sake as well."

"Yes!"

Im Chung had never considered what Baek Socheon said, not even once. As he finished filling the hole, all kinds of thoughts came to him.

Once they had completely buried the body, Baek Socheon asked, "What about the work you went out for?"

"We found nothing. We went all the way to Liang Qiu's estate, where the incident occurred, and investigated it again, but we didn't find anything."

"You shouldn't have gone there."

"What? Then where should we have gone?"

Baek Socheon took the lead as he walked away.

"Shall we go together?"

For the time being, Wang Gon would focus on Black Hand's disappearance. The branch and Im Chung's family would be safe in the meantime.

* * *

Baek Socheon led the two of them to a field far from the branch.

"Where are we?"

Baek Socheon then named a place they had not expected.

"The place where the Mythic Gang plans to build an ironworks."

"Ah!"

Im Chung and Beon Saeng let out belated exclamations. Of course they should have come here too, but they had focused only on the fact that the Mythic Gang was entering the ironworks business.

"Why would the Mythic Gang build an ironworks in a place like this?"

Baek Socheon had raised that question before. Why begin such a large business in Wencheng, at the southern end of Zhejiang Province?

"Liang Qiu was killed while investigating a new business, right? He probably came here too."

Im Chung and Beon Saeng realized that this place was at the heart of the case.

"When did you learn about this place?"

"Didn't I tell you? If you're going to turn a blind eye, do it completely. If you're going to get involved, do it properly. Come on, let's look around. I only knew its location. This is my first time seeing it in person."

Baek Socheon slowly surveyed the area.

"What did Liang Qiu learn here that got him killed?"

The three of them looked around.

Im Chung and Beon Saeng used every bit of observation they had, but they could not figure anything out.

Baek Socheon, however, noticed something.

"Was an ironworks really what they were planning to build here?"

"What?"

"Look at the terrain. This is ideal ground for building a fortress."

The two men were startled at the word fortress.

"A high mountain surrounds the rear like a wall, and anyone entering this place has to pass through that narrow path. The terrain on either side of the passage is perfect for an ambush. It's the ideal ground for one person to hold off ten."

"Now that you mention it, it really is."

"On the surface, it was an ironworks. In truth, they were trying to build a fortress. It seems Liang Qiu noticed that."

"Ah!"

This fortress had a purpose secret enough that they had to kill Liang Qiu's entire family to silence them.

Only then did Im Chung and Beon Saeng understand the tragedy of Liang Qiu's household, as well as the fact that this affair had a far more complicated background than they had thought.

"This incident... Even if Wang Gon did it, it isn't Wang Gon's affair alone."

Baek Socheon nodded at Im Chung's words.

"The entire Mythic Gang is involved. The order to kill Liang Qiu may have come directly from the Mythic Gang Leader. In other words, if we arrest Wang Gon, the Mythic Gang will move. Judging by how they have acted so far, they'll probably try to kill every last one of us and bury this matter."

Im Chung and Beon Saeng silently swallowed.

Even this much had not been easy. It had taken every bit of courage they had just to decide to fight Wang Gon. They had even borrowed courage from their future selves.

But now they had to fight the entire Mythic Gang?

A wandering Branch Chief with no backing or power, and an ordinary Squad Leader from a backwater branch who had only just experienced real combat for the first time?

"I think I'm going to throw up."

When Beon Saeng bent over, Im Chung patted his back.

Baek Socheon left the two behind and started walking ahead.

Im Chung called to him from behind.

"...Elder brother!"

Baek Socheon stopped, but did not turn around.

"I don't know what you mean, but say it tomorrow. Think it over carefully and tell me tomorrow. At least nothing will happen today."

Footnotes:

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