If soone suddenly barges in and asks if you know what your sin is, what should you answer? When people encounter a bewildering situation, they montarily go blank. The three people in front of Mok Wigun were the sa.
"What? Our sins?"
The three of them turned their heads, looked at each other's faces, and hesitated. It was because they were at a loss as to what to answer.
"Why? You don't know? What are your sins?"
The three of them rolled their eyes. Since a person of power had asked a question, they had to answer sothing. But if they answered wrongly, they could suffer an even greater misfortune.
The three of them desperately racked their brains to co up with a suitable answer, but their minds seed to have hardened. A situation where they had to answer quickly, but couldn't think of anything. What saved them was Mok Wigun.
"Let's see."
He took out a docunt, unfolded it, and said.
"I did so investigation into the state of the rchant guild, and what you guys did to Heo Seongon bothered a bit."
"That was our mistake..."
"That's... we also had our reasons..."
As the three of them tried to make excuses at once, Mok Wigun raised his hand.
"Didn't I tell you before? One of the things I hate the most is being interrupted."
The three of them shut their mouths at the sa ti.
"I had soone investigate and asked. Heo Seongon suffered from this. Do you know what the investigator said?"
No one opened their mouths. A silence fell in the room for a mont. The three of them found that atmosphere so uncomfortable it made them shudder. It seed it would be more comfortable to be cursed at and hit a few tis.
"They said that what Heo Seongon suffered would be on the kinder side of what you guys have done."
They didn't give the money they were supposed to give and forced him to do things he shouldn't. They cursed, ignored, and hit him. Moreover, they beat him up in front of his own child. But that was on the better side.
"In particular, there were a lot of stories about the stores that receive our goods and sell them."
The weak are the weak, and the weak are always taken advantage of.
"I asked the store owner, and he said those bastards are not human. That even hell won't accept them when they die. Because they're so dirty. That's what he said."
Mok Wigun read a little more of what was written in the docunt. What do I care if you starve to death? Do you want to stop doing business here? If you want to, there's always a way. So stop with the nonsense and do as you're told.
"No. Young Master. Everyone does that much."
"That's right. They don't listen unless you grab them tight."
All sorts of excuses ca out. Mok Wigun raised his hand again.
"Is your mory bad? Or are my words a joke? Didn't I tell you not to interrupt?"
All three of them flinched and shut their mouths.
"Alright. If you have sothing to say, say it."
The three of them looked at each other, whispered among themselves, and then the rchant guild manager opened his mouth. It seed they had agreed that he would speak on their behalf.
"We can't help it either. We just did what everyone else does. We have to make a profit that way to survive, don't we?"
"So you took that profit and diverted it sowhere else instead of the rchant guild?"
"Uh... that's..."
He hesitated for a mont and then answered.
"That was an order from above, so we couldn't help it. And it wouldn't have changed anything even if we hadn't done it."
The rchant guild manager claid that other places squeezed even more. Hearing that, Mok Wigun snickered and spat out.
"So you said you'd sell their daughters to a brothel if they didn't do as you said? And you said you'd sell their child to a black market for at if they didn't pay for the goods right away."
Mok Wigun muttered while looking at the docunt.
"The child you said you'd sell to a brothel is only thirteen? And you've actually sold one before?"
Mok Wigun's voice was very low. But the three of them were more terrified than ever before. This mont felt much scarier than when they were beaten last ti. They didn't know why. Their hearts just pounded like crazy, and a chill ran down their spines.
"Since the world is like this, I won't tell you to live kindly. How can you live kindly when the world is like this? Right?"
"No, sir. We will live kindly."
The three of them answered quickly. It felt like they would die if they didn't.
"Hah. You really don't get it. How can you survive in a world like this by just being kind? So you don't have to be kind."
Mok Wigun said that and stood up from his seat. The three of them flinched and took a step or two back.
"But you should at least live like a human! Think a little before you live!"
Mok Wigun walked forward and grabbed the rchant guild manager's cheek.
"Aah!"
"I only treat people who act like people as people. Do you know how I treat those who are not human?"
All three of them said they didn't know and shook their heads violently.
"You probably don't want to know. Because if you find out, it's one of two things. Either you're almost dead, or you're in a state where you don't want to live even if you're alive."
One of them got the hiccups, as if startled. Mok Wigun grabbed his cheek, shook it a few tis, and then let go.
"I was thinking of just ssing you all up, but I decided to give you a chance on the excuse that you were just following orders."
Mok Wigun said he would give them exactly three days.
"Three days. Within that ti, take asures that I can accept."
"Young Master. Three days is too short."
The rchant guild manager said with a tearful face. At that, Mok Wigun smiled eerily.
"That's your problem. You said that to those people too. That if you want to, there's always a way. So you show . How it's done."
The rchant guild manager shut his mouth. It was because he felt he would die on the spot if he said anything more.
"Young Master, please save us."
Suddenly, the escort captain knelt down.
"When did I tell you to die? I'm telling you a way to live."
"If we do that, we will be killed by soone else."
That's right. Lady Jang or Mok Wipyong would not leave them alone. The rchant guild manager, thinking this was an opportunity, quickly chid in.
"The young madam has repeatedly said that there should be no losses or that we should not be looked down upon."
Thinking of Lady Jang, it was a natural thing. A leopard can't change its spots. And she had actually inflicted harsh punishnts on such people.
"What I'm trying to do is for the rchant guild and the Mok family. Is there any famous rchant guild in the world that succeeded by only doing such petty things?"
Everywhere has its bad side. This is not a world where you can succeed without such things. But there is no place that has beco a famous great rchant of the world by just squeezing and exploiting.
"You might beco a successful rchant guild in that region. But you can't go beyond that."
Mok Wigun hamred in the final nail.
"That's why I'm doing this. To correct what's wrong. So choose."
After saying that, Mok Wigun left the room. People always face monts of choice. Depending on what choice they make there, their fate can change. The sa goes for the three people left behind. Their fate depended on their decision.
* * *
"How is it? Are you getting a feel for it?"
"I understand clearly now."
Captain Dan Bulseok answered Mok Wigun's question.
It had been almost ten days since the Light Wind Unit had been receiving treatnt and training. A few had already gotten the hang of it, and a few were still struggling. Captain Dan Bulseok was on the side that had gotten the hang of it.
"I can feel how my internal energy moves, and I understand a little of what you ant by knowing your internal energy properly."
What the Light Wind Unit was doing was performing their martial arts slowly. To be precise, it was the practice of moving their internal energy at a slow speed.
At first, everyone thought it wouldn't be difficult. But slowing down what they had been moving at a speed of 10 to 1 or 2 was not as easy as they thought.
"I really didn't know anything about internal energy. What have I been doing all this ti?"
"It's natural not to know. Still, Captain Dan, you're making fast progress."
I've trained nurous people. Less than five in a hundred had shown such rapid achievent. But in the Light Wind Unit, three out of seven had already shown achievent. A very encouraging thing.
"But Gyesu is strangely not getting the hang of it. He's the smartest one."
"This isn't sothing you can do well just because you're smart."
The one who was having the most trouble getting the hang of it was Hwang Gyesu. Mok Wigun walked over to Hwang Gyesu, who was tearing his hair out.
"It's not going well, is it?"
"Hah. I just can't get a feel for it."
His eyes were dark underneath, as if he had been worrying a lot. It seed he hadn't been sleeping properly either. He wasn't good at moving his internal energy slowly, and he wasn't feeling anything different.
Mok Wigun sees cases like this often. He was caught in a trap that smart people fall into. There are smart people who have very strong fixed ideas. Such people are less able to accept sothing different.
"Co here for a mont."
Mok Wigun called Hwang Gyesu over, sat him down, and talked to him.
"From what I see, you seem to be trying to accept it too much with just your head."
He didn't seem to agree much with Mok Wigun's advice. Well, that's to be expected. Since he was smarter than others, he would have been the first to grasp everything.
But the simplest in the Light Wind Unit, Dae Seokpyeong, and Gu Mungoe, who was a little better but still in the sa league, were already making progress. So he must have beco even more anxious and would have practiced all night. Of course, there would have been no results.
"I worked hard. But when I use my internal energy, I can't move slowly. It speeds up on its own. And even if I try to slow it down by force, it stops in the middle. It keeps getting cut off."
He complained, as if a little resentful.
"That's because you're trying to understand it with your head. Just feel it!"
He gave him appropriate advice, but it didn't seem to be getting through.
"Alright. I wasn't going to tell you this. But there's one thing you need to do this well."
"What is it?"
He seed to have finally beco interested when he said there was sothing he needed.
"Belief."
"Belief? What in the world do you an by that?"
Mok Wigun said with a smile.
"There's a big person. Burly and looks strong."
"Like Seokpyeong, I suppose."
"That's right. A person like that is running towards you. But a small guy is in the way of his path. Tensed up and crouched down. What would happen?"
It was a situation that didn't require much thought.
"Wouldn't he collide and be bounced away?"
"That's right. He'll probably be greatly shocked and sent tumbling. But it's the sa situation."
At Mok Wigun's words, Hwang Gyesu focused a little more.
"He's running just the sa. But this ti, he's not in front, but on the side. The big person is about to take a step as he runs, but he trips him there."
As expected, there was no need to think. Hwang Gyesu answered imdiately.
"He'll tumble down with a crash."
"That's it. It's the sa person and situation, but why is the result different?"
Hwang Gyesu's expression beca serious. It wasn't because the content was difficult, but because he was thinking about it in connection with the current situation.
"Close your eyes! And recall the sensation from when you fought with ."
Hwang Gyesu closed his eyes as he was told. But his expression was the sa.
"No. Don't think with your head, focus on the sensation!"
At those words, Hwang Gyesu felt himself being engulfed in a strange sensation.
(End of Chapter)
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