Ah, in his anger, he rushed out without asking for the gambling den's location.
"Damn it! Because of Gongsun Cheok!"
Cheonyeong, who blad all his mistakes on Gongsun Cheok, examined the alley with bloodshot eyes.
What if he didn't ask?
It was evening.
There were people to ask anywhere.
Even though the moon hadn't yet tilted, there were drunks walking zigzag and staggering, hustlers ard with kind smiles trying to fleece them, and courtesans.
And.
"You bastard! I told you to bring money by today!"
Loan sharks threatening with fists and extorting money from unfortunate people.
Bang!
At that sound tickling his ears, Cheonyeong changed direction toward a shadowy alley.
"You bastard... huh?"
In the shadowy alley.
The large, ugly-faced n surrounding and threatening soone by the collar suddenly turned their heads at the chilling aura felt from behind.
"Haa, haa... are you loan sharks?"
At Cheonyeong's sudden question, the n exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
"What's this guy?"
"Right?"
Then one man spoke with his face contorted.
"Sigh, no matter where you go, there are these thoughtless bastards?"
The man with a dirty beard shook his head and approached Cheonyeong.
"Hey kid, you seem to be poking around with so misplaced sense of justice, but we're scary people, okay? We don't have business with you, so don't pretend to be a righteous hero and get lost. Alright?"
"Yunbaek! Don't be too rough. The kid looks like he has a long life ahead. What if he gets so scared he can't even pee at night?"
As the man holding the collar made a joke, Jang Yunbaek, who had been approaching Cheonyeong, waved his hand reassuringly and laughed.
"Listen, young friend. Since this is your first ti at Dongting Lake and you don't know us, look at this. See the character 山 (mountain) on my arm? We're the Goshan Faction... huh?"
Jang Yunbaek showed his arm.
Cheonyeong, staring at the character 山 (mountain) carved in ink, grabbed his wrist.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
His eyes were indifferent.
Cheonyeong twisted the wrist lightly.
Crack!
"Ugh... ahhhhh!"
With his wrist bent and held, Jang Yunbaek was forced to kneel and cried out in pain.
"Th-This bastard?"
"Hey! Let go, damn it!"
The n with him drew weapons and shouted with wide eyes.
Crunch.
"Ahhhhh!"
This ti, as Cheonyeong twisted Jang Yunbaek's wrist the other way and looked down with chilling eyes, the n flinched and took a step back.
"You said Goshan Faction? Then you're loan sharks. Do you happen to know where the gambling den is?"
Cheonyeong, unconcerned, dragged Jang Yunbaek forward by his twisted wrist.
But a gambling den?
The n's eyes widened as they looked at each other, and without hesitation, they spoke.
"W-Wait."
"Yeah. Calm down, young friend. This won't be good for either of us."
Bad things had already happened.
To them.
"The gambling den's location."
With each step Cheonyeong took, his eyes grew colder and the killing intent radiating from his body intensified.
"Ugh, eight! Eight!"
As Jang Yunbaek scread and tried to pull his wrist free, Cheonyeong said irritably.
"Annoying..."
Crack!
"Ahhhhh!"
After twisting the wrist once more with cruel force, Cheonyeong struck Jang Yunbaek's face.
Thwack!
Jang Yunbaek collapsed without even managing a scream.
"Now it's quiet."
His cold words froze the n's bodies instantly.
The sight of Cheonyeong dragging the unconscious Jang Yunbaek by the wrist was terror itself.
Thud, thud.
His footsteps sounded like thunder in their ears, and the aura radiating from his body oppressed the surroundings, making it difficult even to breathe.
Though they held swords, they unconsciously stepped backward. The wall touched their backs.
There was nowhere to run.
Resistance?
He was a master they couldn't even look at.
With such overwhelming killing intent, the sword blades in their hands trembled. How could they possibly resist?
The characteristics of ruffians were similar.
Strong against the weak, weak against the strong.
That's how they lived well and long.
Thud.
Simultaneously, the n fell on their backsides and begged with terrified expressions.
"P-Please spare us! Great hero!"
"We've committed a grave sin."
Whether their companion Jang Yunbaek was captured or not, whether the man they had been holding by the collar had quickly escaped or not, they needed to save themselves first.
"Just tell the gambling den's location. Then nothing will happen."
At his clenched question, the n quickly pointed with their fingers and spoke.
"Th-There's a shabby shantytown north of Yajang Street!"
"That's right! That's the entrance!"
"The biggest gas are held on the south side. Everyone in Dongting Lake who gambles is there."
"It's run by the Heukgal Faction!"
He only asked for the location.
But under Cheonyeong's piercing gaze, the n pressed against the wall vomited out every word that ca to mind.
"Yajang Street north, shantytown. Heukgal Faction."
Cheonyeong repeated it as if morizing, then finally released Jang Yunbaek's wrist.
Thud.
As Jang Yunbaek's limp body hit the ground, the n trembled like aspen leaves and watched Cheonyeong's expression.
Cheonyeong turned away as if he only needed answers to his questions.
"Phew..."
As Cheonyeong took a step, the n exhaled deeply with relief that they were alive.
"Ah!"
"Yes?"
Suddenly, Cheonyeong stopped at the alley's end and turned his head as if rembering sothing, and the n's eyes widened again in surprise.
"You guys, you said you were Goshan Faction?"
"Yes."
"By any chance, do you have any connection to the Gongsun family?"
"No."
"We've never even set foot near the Gongsun family. Really."
There truly wasn't any.
Goshan Faction was just a small-ti gang doing petty money dealings on Dongting Lake's wine house street.
Even if there had been, they should have said no.
"Good then. Anyway, don't get involved with the Gongsun family. That day will be their morial day."
"We'll keep that in mind!"
"And from now on, don't threaten people in back alleys and extort money. If you catch my eye again, that day you die."
"Gulp!"
With those words, Cheonyeong disappeared.
The n couldn't breathe for a long ti.
Worried he might co back.
"Whew."
Only after counting to a hundred in their minds did the n finally exhale the breath they had been holding.
Their fingertips were still trembling.
"Gwan-il."
"Huh?"
"We don't have any connection to the Gongsun family, right?"
"We shouldn't have."
"What if we did?"
"..."
"..."
After silently staring at each other, the n swallowed hard and ran off.
They were heading back to Goshan Faction's headquarters to verify.
And in the now-empty alley, only the unconscious Jang Yunbaek remained, lonely and abandoned.
* * *
On the outskirts of Dongting Lake, filled with taverns and wine houses.
Bang bang bang!
Even at the late hour, the sound of sweating workers' hamrs echoed.
"Damn it, Gongsun Cheok, you bastard."
His anger seed to intensify by the mont.
He sold a mortgaged estate?
The fact that he, who had always seed so clever, had been tricked by such a fool made him even angrier.
To be fooled so absurdly.
He had only been pleased with the thought that he could return Gongsun Seung's family and estate to him.
Gongsun Cheok, deeply trapped in the swamp of greed, was foolish, and his foolishness ant he hadn't properly verified things—that was his mistake.
"If I catch him, I'll break every bone in his body."
Cheonyeong, grinding his teeth, walked toward the shantytown located at the far end of Yajang Street.
Thud, thud, thud.
As the sound of hamring faded and he walked toward the shantytown under moonlight, Cheonyeong stopped.
A presence?
As he spread his senses with narrowed eyes, he felt ssy auras all around.
Thump, thump.
A large man erged from the darkness.
"You have good instincts, young master?"
The man who appeared near Cheonyeong with a laugh had impressive white teeth.
"An invitation."
"An invitation?"
"Huh?"
At his sudden extended hand, Cheonyeong frowned.
An invitation?
Did you need such a thing to enter a gambling den?
"What? You don't have one? Ha!"
The man laughed as if it were absurd.
"Then a referral?"
"A referral?"
Everything had requirents.
These bastards hiding in a shantytown running a gambling den.
"What? No invitation and no referral? But how did you find this place?"
There was a way.
Goshan Faction... those guys.
But as Cheonyeong stood silently, the man shook his head and waved his hand in the darkness.
"Damn, this rookie must have picked up so rumor sowhere. Just leave. This isn't a place for a fool like you."
He was irritated.
Already angry because of Gongsun Cheok, and now this nobody appeared to block his path.
"Get out of the way. I have no business with you."
As Cheonyeong spoke quietly and walked, the man's eyes changed.
"Hey, that's far enough. Don't co any closer."
Before he finished speaking, n who had been hiding all around revealed themselves before Cheonyeong.
He had known for a while how many were hiding.
But directly seeing the number of n revealed under moonlight was still surprising.
Ten n.
Clearly gambling den guards, and quite a few.
When he ca before, there were almost none of these guys, so it was unexpected.
When did Dongting Lake beco the domain of these ruffians?
It was strange.
Dongting Lake had no particular faction or force that could be called its master, and nearby martial forces didn't covet it either, so it was treated as unclaid territory.
Like Beggar Gang with its branches and a few people...
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Cheonyeong's mind and he nodded.
Sanggun, or rather Zhulong Namgwangro.
All this ti, he had been at Gunsan Island in Dongting.
Because his notorious presence was uncomfortable, even if there were branches near Dongting Lake, no one claid it as their territory.
But after Gunsan Faction beca able to make a living thanks to the Tang Family, they didn't actively seize others' territory, so the unclaid land beca a battlefield for greedy ruffian gangs.
"Sigh, it was because of after all."
Cheonyeong shook his head with a self-deprecating expression.
"This bastard, laughing?"
That laugh seed to look that way to the gambling den guards.
Yes, it's my fault.
It's all my fault.
If Gunsan Faction had continued as always, plundering passing boats, and when money ran short, extorting money from nearby taverns and wine houses, guys like you wouldn't exist... and the Gongsun family wouldn't have collapsed so easily.
Nothing would have changed.
Cheonyeong, reflecting on the negative influence he had brought to Dongting Lake, spoke coldly to the n blocking his path.
"Phew. You guys, today isn't your day? So get out of the way."
"What are you saying? You pretty boy bastard!"
He expected them to react this way.
That's why he prepared.
Clench.
His fist tightened, and pushing off the ground, Cheonyeong's figure leaped forward and reached the man's front in an instant.
"Gasp!"
Before the startled man could even step back, Cheonyeong's punch struck his face powerfully.
Crunch crunch crunch!
"Here's your invitation."
(End of Chapter)
Reviews
All reviews (0)