WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 8: If We Don't Protect Them (3)

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The small holding cell at the Wencheng Branch was full.

It was the first time it had filled since the branch had been established.

Elder Go and the nearby merchants had also been brought in to give statements. As a result, the Wencheng Branch was as bustling as a marketplace.

The martial artists stationed at the branch were surprised, but Im Chung was the most shocked of all.

"What in the world happened here?"

"We handled a complaint."

Im Chung stared at Beon Saeng in disbelief, then turned his gaze toward Baek Socheon. As though he had nothing to do with the matter, Baek Socheon sat at his desk, taking statements from the merchants.

"Squad Leader Beon, come with me."

Im Chung took Beon Saeng into his office. The moment he shut the door, he exploded.

"You bastard! Have you lost your mind?"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not asking for an apology. What the hell is this about?"

Beon Saeng hung his head. Im Chung had sensed that Beon Saeng had been on edge ever since they drank together the night before, but he had never expected him to cause such a major incident.

"This is because of Martial Artist Baek, isn't it?"

"No."

"It is, isn't it?"

"It was my decision. I couldn't overlook their tyranny any longer. How long were we supposed to keep pretending not to see it?"

Still, Im Chung was certain that all of this was Baek Socheon's influence.

'That man really is remarkable. He has not even been here three days, yet he has shaken someone up this much.'

It was not that Baek Socheon or his influence was bad. This was simply a matter of ideals and reality.

"So? What do you plan to do now?"

"First, I'll escort those we arrested to the Zhejiang Division."

"Do you think the Zhejiang Division will accept them? They'll release every last one of them, and you'll be disciplined for disregarding procedure."

"Disciplined? If I'm disciplined for arresting Black Society bastards, isn't that what is wrong? Fine. I'll gladly accept the punishment. But before that, please authorize the arrest of the Great Righteous Sect's leader."

There was no point in arresting small fry like these. They needed to catch the leader of the Great Righteous Sect.

"Do you hear yourself? No! Absolutely not!"

"Why not?"

"You bastard! Do you really need to ask? Have you gone completely insane?"

"Yes. I've gone insane. Since I'm already insane, I might as well do it properly."

"You brat! Do you think I endure this because I don't have a temper? Do you really want to be thrown out of the Murim Alliance? Being thrown out will not even be the problem. You could die without a soul knowing."

Beon Saeng had been worked up, but he could no longer raise his voice once his own death became part of the possible outcome.

"For now, keep taking statements. We can't undo what happened, but we need to clean up the aftermath."

"Where are you going?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

The branch had no dealings with the Great Righteous Sect, so Im Chung intended to find Wang Gon of the Mythic Gang.

"If you cause any more trouble before I get back, I swear you'll die by my hand."

Without waiting for an answer, Im Chung immediately left the office. He deliberately did not look toward Baek Socheon on his way out. Meeting Hall Leader Wang Gon and settling this matter came before rebuking Baek Socheon.

Beon Saeng returned to his desk after leaving the office. The branch martial artists taking the merchants' statements looked at him anew.

They were surprised he had this side to him and worried about what would happen next.

From across the room, Elder Go smiled at Beon Saeng. A smile bloomed amid the dark red bruises on Elder Go's face, and Beon Saeng returned it with a broad smile.

'Right. Let's not regret this.'

Yet his difficult day did not seem to be over. Two men burst in, radiating a fierce aura.

"Is the branch chief here?"

The man in front was Taejeong, leader of the Great Righteous Sect. Upon hearing that his men had been arrested, he had overturned the table where he was eating and rushed over at once. The other man was Taejeong's right-hand man, the second-strongest fighter in the Great Righteous Sect.

Beon Saeng greeted him, tense from head to toe.

"The branch chief is out at the moment."

It would have been nice if they simply left, but the man accompanying Taejeong whispered something in his ear.

Taejeong's gaze on Beon Saeng changed immediately.

"So you're the one who arrested my men."

"That's right. I brought them in."

Beon Saeng answered, bracing himself.

'Don't be afraid!'

Taejeong was still being polite.

"Did my men make some sort of mistake?"

"They assaulted merchants and repeatedly extorted money from them."

"Who did they extort money from?"

Taejeong glared at the merchants gathered there. Afraid of even meeting his eyes, they turned their heads away. Everyone knew how vicious Taejeong was.

Only Elder Go did not avert his gaze. Instead, he pressed Taejeong for an answer.

"You should know. All that money went into your pocket."

"Elder, you misunderstand. Don't we need funds if we're to protect people like you?"

"Rubbish! You're the ones who take even the money needed to buy medicine for children. Who exactly are you protecting us from?"

Taejeong's scant patience quickly ran out.

"You're an old man who cannot understand even when people speak nicely to you."

He glared coldly at Elder Go.

"Your daughter lives in Shaanxi, doesn't she?"

At the sudden mention of his daughter, Elder Go, who had not shown fear even once until then, turned pale.

"She has two children too. One boy and one girl."

When he even mentioned Elder Go's grandson and granddaughter, Elder Go's shock became terror.

His daughter had married far away, and he could barely see her once every few years. Recently, he had not seen her at all. He had lived believing no news was good news.

He had never imagined they would threaten him with his daughter and grandchildren.

"Shaanxi may be far away, but it isn't somewhere we can't reach if we decide to go. What is this old bag of bones relying on to act so boldly?"

It was an outright threat, made openly inside a Murim Alliance branch, in full view of Murim Alliance martial artists.

Elder Go could no longer say anything and hung his head. Belated guilt and fear tormented him.

'If anything happens to my daughter or grandchildren...'

He would not be able to close his eyes even in death.

Watching him, Beon Saeng clenched his fists until they seemed ready to burst.

'How lightly must they have always regarded us?'

How else could they make such a cruel threat right in front of them?

As though he were in charge of the place, Taejeong spoke to the merchants.

"Come now, don't make a big issue out of something so trivial. Go home, all of you."

He said the same to Beon Saeng.

"It seems there has been a misunderstanding, so release my men at once."

The merchants and branch martial artists all looked at Beon Saeng. With the branch chief absent, Beon Saeng was the one who had to make the decision.

Without realizing it, Beon Saeng looked at Baek Socheon.

Baek Socheon only watched, as though all authority to decide belonged to Beon Saeng.

That irritatingly calm face gave him courage for some reason, even though all he had done was look at it.

'Fine, you quack. You win.'

Certain that Beon Saeng would obey, Taejeong turned away without even waiting for an answer. Then a resolute voice rang out behind him.

"No."

Taejeong stopped walking. Without turning around, he asked in a low, threatening voice.

"No?"

"No. Go back."

Taejeong's eyes sharpened angrily. Still showing his back, he spoke as if to himself.

"You worm-like bastards. You won't listen when I'm being nice, will you?"

He spoke quietly, but everyone heard him clearly.

Taejeong slowly turned around and glared coldly at Beon Saeng.

"Do you want to die?"

Everyone in the room tensed. The merchants were distressed. This had all started because Beon Saeng wanted to help them. Elder Go's heart was especially torn. He wanted to step forward and stop them, but the earlier threat against his daughter kept him from speaking.

Beon Saeng spoke clearly and precisely to Taejeong.

"I am arresting you for threatening a Murim Alliance martial artist and victims of assault. Put down your sword and kneel."

Silence fell.

Everyone stared at Beon Saeng in horror.

Beon Saeng, on the other hand, remained calm.

This was on an entirely different level from what he had done earlier. The Great Righteous Sect underlings were opponents he could handle, but Taejeong's martial arts were stronger than his. One wrong move, and Taejeong could kill him.

Still, Beon Saeng thought this.

This was a man who not only beat and extorted people, but threatened to kill family members living far away. The merchants were completely defenseless before someone like that.

'Right. If we don't protect them, who will?'

Taejeong, meanwhile, was so dumbfounded that he could not even laugh.

"What is that brat saying?"

Taejeong's subordinate behind him said, "The heat must have cooked his brain completely."

Beon Saeng warned him once more.

"Put down your sword immediately."

"And if I refuse?"

Taejeong conspicuously gripped the hilt of his sword. He had spent his entire life in the Black Society. When it came to nerve, he would not lose to anyone.

Even so, he was not foolish enough to draw his sword first inside a Murim Alliance branch.

This branch was no more than a hair on the Murim Alliance's tail, but it was still attached to the body of the Murim Alliance.

Just as the tension reached its peak, someone spoke.

"Don't draw it. If you draw that sword, you'll die."

Everyone turned toward the person who had issued the warning.

It was Baek Socheon.

"If you ignore a Murim Alliance martial artist's warning and draw your sword inside a Murim Alliance building, we can legally kill you. It's a law strictly enforced without exception."

Taejeong looked at his subordinate, silently asking where this dung beetle had crawled out from. Yet his subordinate did not know Baek Socheon either. Thinking he might be a master, Taejeong cautiously asked, "I've never seen you before. Who are you?"

"This esteemed gentleman is newly assigned from the Murim Alliance. Squad Leader Beon over there is my senior."

At those words, Taejeong relaxed and shook his head.

"You people really are something else. Now even a new recruit doesn't know his place and is sticking his nose in."

Baek Socheon provoked him again.

"Hey, listen to Squad Leader Beon while he's asking nicely. He's even looking out for the lives of scoundrels like you. So take your hand off that sword."

Taejeong finally lost his patience and drew his sword.

Shing.

"I drew it. So what are you going to do now?"

Baek Socheon suddenly shouted.

"Ambush! Protect the witnesses!"

Baek Socheon vaulted over a desk and charged Taejeong.

From Taejeong's perspective, it was an absurd response. He had drawn his sword only to scare them. He had no intention of fighting.

Yet Baek Socheon shouted as though Taejeong had been about to kill the merchants, then rushed him.

Baek Socheon leaped over the desk, flew through the air, and kicked Taejeong.

Thud!

It was an attack Taejeong had not expected. He failed to dodge in time, took the kick to the face, and flew backward.

At that sight, Taejeong's subordinate drew his sword.

Beon Saeng also drew his sword and shouted, "Subdue him!"

Beon Saeng and the branch martial artists joined forces against the martial artist who had come with Taejeong.

A sword fight broke out in an instant. The merchants retreated into a corner.

They might have been martial artists from a rural branch, but they had still passed the Murim Alliance entrance examination and become official martial artists. With four martial artists, led by Beon Saeng, attacking together, the man's movements quickly became frantic.

In the end, he was cut down by swords striking from every direction. His martial arts had been formidable enough that they could not subdue him without killing him.

After killing the man, Beon Saeng turned to help Baek Socheon.

Then he stopped.

Taejeong was still lying on the floor, while Baek Socheon stood a short distance away.

Beon Saeng hurried over to Taejeong. He moved Taejeong's sword far away, sealed his acupoints to suppress his internal energy, then shook him, trying to wake him.

"Hey, get up."

Taejeong did not move.

"Hey, wake up!"

Beon Saeng slapped Taejeong's cheek. The strange sensation startled him. He checked whether Taejeong was breathing.

"Is he dead?"

Taejeong had already become a cold corpse.

Everyone was shocked.

Beon Saeng looked at Baek Socheon. With a flustered expression, Baek Socheon said to everyone, "I think he hit his head badly when he fell."

The moment he heard that, one thought flashed through Beon Saeng's mind.

'He killed him on purpose.'

Baek Socheon's earlier words had not been meant to stop Taejeong. They had been intended to lead him into drawing his sword.

By calling himself Beon Saeng's junior and provoking Taejeong by calling him a scoundrel, Baek Socheon had tried to make Taejeong draw his sword.

Even rushing him the moment he drew it...

It made Beon Saeng think Baek Socheon might have intended to kill him from the beginning.

Beon Saeng immediately took Baek Socheon's side.

"Right. Taejeong wasn't someone who would easily lose to an unarmed opponent. He must have fallen badly after being hit. You all saw it, right?"

The merchants all nodded. The truth was that all they had seen was a thud and a crash, but they were on the side of the Murim Alliance martial artists.

Instead of intentional murder, it became an unavoidable accident that had occurred while subduing him. Since Taejeong had drawn his sword inside a Murim Alliance branch, it would not have been a problem even if they had killed him deliberately. If it had been an accident, there would be no issue at all.

Elder Go said with a satisfied expression, "That wicked bastard received heavenly punishment. Heavenly punishment."

The merchants smiled brightly and nodded along.

Beon Saeng told them, "There is something else we need you to provide statements about."

"Of course we will. This happened while you were trying to protect us."

They had happily come to testify, but each of them had still carried some fear of Taejeong in their hearts. Now Taejeong had died right before their eyes.

Elder Go, who had been threatened through his daughter and grandchildren, bowed repeatedly to Beon Saeng.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"You shouldn't be thanking me..."

Beon Saeng turned his head.

Baek Socheon stood by the office window, leaning against it and looking outside as though nothing had happened. As he blankly gazed up at the sky, Beon Saeng was reminded of Baek Socheon looking up at the sky in the lodging courtyard on his first day.

They say a lonely-looking back belongs to someone who is truly lonely.

Then he heard his subordinates talking behind him.

"Still, the branch chief is going to faint when he gets back."

"But it's not like we did anything wrong, right?"

At that moment, Beon Saeng realized something.

'Ah! Come to think of it...'

Baek Socheon had made all these events happen within the bounds of the law. He had stopped Beon Saeng from killing Jong Bae and made Taejeong's death look like an accident. That way, when the District Headquarters or main headquarters came to investigate, their side would not suffer much damage.

'Could all of it have been deliberate?'

A thought suddenly occurred to him. Perhaps Baek Socheon truly belonged to an entirely different world, and wanting to serve a person like that as his elder brother was really...

'Am I really doing something completely absurd?'

Footnotes:

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