Chapter 48: Closer Than Ever(1)

Translator: hwarang

Editor: Klaurem

A single decorated carriage arrived at a manor.

The individuals inside of the carriage were the San Dong Merchants’ owner Ko Soon Kyung and the financial advisor Baek Joong.

When the carriage came to a halt, Baek Joong said with a nervous expression, “Master, meeting him personally will be very dangerous. Please wait here and allow me to meet him.”

“It’s alright.”

 Ko Soon Kyung opened the carriage door and got out, Baek Joong quickly rushed after him. The place that these two old men arrived at without a single bodyguard was the headquarters of the Dark Merchant Guild.

There were many Dark merchants in various places, especially near major cities like San Dong. However no one knew if they were a single organization or different ent.i.ties since they were shrouded in mystery.  

But they had one thing in common. Regardless of their location and size all Dark merchants were ruthless and greedy; thus, they were a fearful ent.i.ties.

The Dark Merchant that Ko Soon Kyung arrived at was the biggest organization in San Dong.

When the two men arrived, an ordinary looking youth brought the two men inside. Although this youth looked calm and relaxed, thinking about the fact that this youth was part of the guild made the two merchants fearful.

Inside the room, a fifty-year-old man was waiting for them. Though since this man was wearing a face-alteration mask his age didn’t matter much.

Then he introduced himself as Ya Chun.

“So, I heard that you lost the money before even being able to use it.”

“Yes, that was the case.”

Ko Soon Kyung was desperate. After losing that money he became so senseless that he would even ask his lender to aid him.

“Please help me.”

“What do you want us to do?”

“Please help me get my money back.”

“Hu Hu, you think this a lost toy or something? How can it be that easy?”

“If I can’t find that money then my guild will go bankrupt, and you will never be able to receive your payment”

At that moment the amus.e.m.e.nt in Ya Chun’s face was gone and all was left was a cold expression. But since he was wearing a face alteration mask they could only imagine what his real expression was.

His calm and composed att.i.tude changed as well

“Hey, are you belittling us?”

As raised his voice his killing intent could be felt.  

Even though he was in this situation, Ko Soon Kyung didn’t back down.

“How could we even think of such thing? I am just telling you the truth.”

“Shut up, Before I rip open your mouth.”

The killing intent driven out by Ya Chun was felt by Ko Soon Kyung’s skin which made him unable to open his mouth.

Ya Chun coldly warned him, “I will tell you what is going to happen if you cannot pay your debt.

First I will send your wife to the homeless and she will have to serve at least a hundred homeless every day. Your daughter, I will sell as a prost.i.tute. I will make your son a slave for a cargo company on the sh.o.r.e, I am going to overwork him but will never allow him to kill himself. Finally, I will carve out your eyes, rip out your tongue, and leave you on the streets. I am sure that some people will pity you and give you a couple of nyang here and there.”

Ko Soon Kyung’s face turned pale.

“So if you don’t want to pay then you don’t have to. I am just going to say I paid a hundred thousand nyang to watch this good show.”

Ko Soon Kyung swallowed and said with a darkened face, “I know who stole the money”

“Good, then go and get it”

“But I don’t have to ability to”

“Who is it?”

“Ma Jung Soo”

Ya Chun’s eyes lit, “Isn’t he the person who you were supposed to give hundred thousand nyang to?”

“Yes, I am sure he plans on getting double the amount from me.”

“Your proof is?”

“He has subordinates who are capable of stealing money from me.”

“There are hundreds of experts in Kang Ho who could do that. That evidence is a bit lacking.”

“No! I am sure, it has to be him. Who in their right mind would try to take the money that is going to be used by Heavenly Dao Gate?”

Seeing Ya Chun nod in agreement, Ko Soon Kyung quickly said, “If you can get us back our money I will give you thirty thousand more nyang than promised. So please.”

“So you want us to face Heavenly Dao Gate? What happens if we get wiped out? Then you don’t have to pay back your debt right. Isn’t that what you are thinking.”

“No, that’s not what I meant”

Ya Chun made a smile. This expression was even scarier than being angry.

Then he said in a calm voice, “Go back, and think about getting back my money. I am sure you are not a person who is going to fall that easily. That is the reason why I gave you the money as well. Go, and remember that I said.”

Ko Soon Kyung left the room more depressed than ever.

When they got into their carriage and left, Baek Joong who silent until now opened his mouth, “What did I say? Didn’t I say it was going to be useless?”

Ko Soon Kyung became calm and regained his composure.

“I already predicted that he would respond this way.”

“Then why did you go visit him?”

“He was bound to find out that I lost the money. No, maybe he already predicted that I would lose the money. Anyway, he was bound to find out that I wouldn’t be able to repay the money for some time. I went to him to buy some time. If I told him that Ma Jung Soo had the money he wouldn’t be able to get back the money that easily, so I bought us some time.”

“Oh!”

Baek Joong was amazed by Ko Soon Kyung. Even though things didn’t go very well, he was amazed at how calculating his master was.

“Do you believe it was them?”

Ko Soon Kyung gave a sigh and answered, “Who else could it be besides them.”

Sometime after the two men left, another man names Koo Chul came into the room. This was one of Ya Chun’s subordinate who he took a liking to.

“Someone got a lead on the person who stole the hundred thousand nyang.”

“Who was it?”

“He didn’t show himself, but sent a letter. What will you do?”

Ya Chun was in a deep thought for a bit. But he already made his decision. No matter the risk, a hundred thousand nyang was a huge sum of money.

“Go and verify, but be prepared to die if you have to.”

When Si Gon opened his eyes he was in a middle of a forest.

The first thought he had was, ‘Why didn’t they kill me?’

If this was the same individual that attacked him before, then he was more than capable of killing him. He truly didn’t understand.

Was it because he had too much alcohol?  Or was it because he was. .h.i.t in the head? He was truly confused.

‘I must get out of here first.’

He quickly hastened his pace. Then, ten or so men who had a suspicious aura showed themselves.

Although they were all armed with a sword it didn’t look like they were real Kang ho-in. Though that didn’t mean that they were street thugs either. They weren’t bandits nor a.s.sa.s.sins, but they were giving off some bad vibes.

Si Gon grabbed the hilt of his sword and asked, “Who are you?”

One of the men stepped forward. He was Koo Chul the man sent by Ya Chun.

“Dark Merchant”

These two words said it all and Si Gon could feel it. His opponent took pride in being a martial artist from the Dark Merchants Guild and that he wanted Si Gon to feel intimidated.

However Si Gon had no intention of playing this game with them. He considered the Black Merchants as no more than street thugs.

“Do you know who I am?”

“You are someone who is either crazy or has the b.a.l.l.s to mess with our money”

This wasn’t the response that he was expecting. ‘What kind of bulls*t are they saying?’ Si Gon didn’t clearly understand the situation since he believed they were men sent by Old Man Flower Fan. Since he and the Old Man Flower Fan had bad blood with each other, he thought they were here for him.

With a questioning tone Si Gon asked, “I don’t know why you are acting like this but I am sure that this is a misunderstanding.”

Then Koo Chul looked at Si Gon as if he should beg for forgiveness.

“If there is a misunderstanding, shouldn’t we try to solve it?”

Si Gon couldn’t say anything because he was baffled. He was going to say that they were betrayed by Old Man Flower Fan, but since they came out like this he couldn’t say anything.

Si Gon was boiling with anger. He wanted to kill these sc.u.ms to vent out his anger. But thinking about what happened yesterday with Ma Jung Soo, he couldn’t get into any more trouble. Thus he bit his tongue and tried to hold it in when they said.

“Let me see your wallet.”

“What? You want to search me now?”

“Lets not make it too difficult since we are in the same boat. I need something to report to the top. If you tell us truthfully, things can go much easier.”

Si Gon was now exploding with anger, “You punks, if you know anything I am going to crush your skulls…”

When Si Gon put his hands in his pocket, he froze. He slowly took out the contents of his pocket.

It was full of crumpled bank notes.

Then Koo Chul said jokingly, “Ah you see, aren’t you rich”

“This isn’t... my money.”

“Of course it isn’t. Since it is ours.”

“Son of a! This is a setup! Who told you that I was here? It must be the person that told you. He wants to place that blame on me! If not then why do I have this? You must have some brain to comprehend what I just told you right.”

Koo Chul nodded, “Alright, I believe you, but you must come with us. You must report it directly to my master.”

Si Gon knew that regardless of whether or not they trusted him if he went with them then he would be in deep trouble.

He was about to explode with rage. So he made the decision, ‘let’s think about it after killing them all’

After making this decision he unsheathed his sword and charged at them. Then the men who were protecting Koo Chul took out their weapons and stood in front of him.

Slash!

Si Gon killed the two closest guards.

When he was about to get to the third, Koo Chul threw something from his hand.

Fwoom!

With a loud explosion Koo Chul’s compressed killing intent exploded.

Si Gon retreated few steps while swinging his sword to deflect it. The blast was so strong that he thought he would drop his weapon.

However this was not the end of it. Another man threw something that exploded.

Fwoom!

This time he tilted his body but he couldn’t dodge it completely.

Stab!

A very sharp object lodged into his shoulder.

Fliing! Stab!

Si Gon swung his sword toward the man who threw that last dagger. It penetrated his chest.

Then he grabbed the object that was stuck in his shoulder and tried to take it out. Unfortunately he couldn’t take it out all the way since he started losing strength in his arms. Then he realized that it was poison.The dagger that he was. .h.i.t with was smeared with poison.

Fwoong!

This was the third attack of Koo Chul and this time it found its mark, square in Si Gon’s back.

“Kahhhh!”

Si Gon screamed like a madman and swung his sword wildly. Another man was cut down by Si Gon.

But his movements started to slow down.

Stab!

The men who was standing around him stabbed him in the back. Fountain of blood started rushing out.

“… these pieces of trash…”

He swung his sword to no avail. He couldn’t hit anyone, but rather he was getting stabbed by them.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

Since he couldn’t stand anymore he collapsed. If this was a normal fight this would have never happened. Unfortunately this was not a normal fight since they used were using forbidden techniques of Kang Ho, on top of which they even used poison.

Koo Chul stabbed the dead body to make sure he was dead.

“This punk! He dares to raise his blade against us!”

Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!

Koo Chul as well as his men were defiling the body.

I was staring at them coldly from afar. Now, I had taken out both of Ma Jung Soo’s wings. I didn’t invite the Black Merchants just to kill Si Gon. If I wanted that, I could have dealt with him by myself. I had a bigger plan for them.

The real reason why I used the Black Merchant was so that I could place the blame of Ma Jung Soo’s death on them after I kill him.

I really didn’t care what happened to the Black Merchants since they were ent.i.ties that should be exterminated from this Kang Ho. If they weren’t exterminated by the Heavenly Dao Gate, then I would personally get rid of them later.

Now the only problem was that mysterious woman. From the beginning that woman was only observing this whole situation.

If she wanted to protect Si Gon then she wouldn’t let him leave by himself after finding out that Old Man Flower Fan betrayed them. Unfortunately she had no interest in them. From this, I had two questions. First, would she still be pa.s.sive even if Ma Jung Soo died? Second, what is her real skill level?