Chapter 49: Closer than Ever (2)

Translator: Hwarang

Editor: Klaurem

The headquarters of the Dark Merchants was turned upside down after it was discovered that the person that they killed was Si Gon of Heavenly Dao Gate.

"You crazy punk! How could you kill him?"

Koo Chul expressed his chagrin, "I didn"t plan on killing him. In the blink of an eye, he charged us with a sword in his hand. You can ask the others."

"Regardless you punk!"

Koo Chul quickly retreated a couple of steps since he thought he was going to be slapped in the face.

Ya Chun said with a sigh, "Why does it have to be the Heavenly Dao Gate."

"Don"t worry, there were no witnesses. We also got rid of him without a trace."

"But there is someone who knows about this."

"Who? Who saw us do it?"

"The person who told us where he was."

"Oh!"

The reason why Ya Chun was so agitated was also because of this. There was someone who knew what happened. This was even more of a problem than them killing Si Gon.

"We were played like a fool by him."

"I am sorry."

This was when Koo Chul understood the gravity of the situation and lowered his head.

Ya Chun decided not to blame him any further. This wasn"t Koo Chul"s fault, it his own mistake for sending him to a place when he should have gone himself.

However, he wanted to know why the person who told him where Si Gon was would go to such lengths.

What was that person"s motive?

"If he was able to steal the money from San Dong Merchants and make such a trap… then he could have easily got rid of Si Gon. So why?"

Then he thought of something, "Is it because he was targeting us?"

"Of course, that must be it."

"Whoever it is, I will rip him to pieces."

"If you want to do that, we must first find out who it is. This must be something related to Ma Jung Soo. Try to find out anything about Ma Jung Soo in secret."

"Can we put our hands on them?"

"Since it came to be like this, be proactive about it. If we don"t then we are going to die without knowing who it was. But first, find out everything about Ma Jung Soo."

"Please leave that to me"

Koo Chul left.

Ya Chun went to a window and gazed outside. He was certain that something was happening without him knowing about it. It had been a while since he felt his heartbeat and his skin tingle, but it wasn"t this terrible. There was bound to be a huge reward after such a dangerous situation.

Ma Jung Soo was walking back and forth in his room aimlessly. Si Gon didn"t come back the next day.

At first, he was angry at him. Did he leave just because of that? How childish of him.

In the afternoon, he started to worry since Si Gon wasn"t back yet. Though he shook off his concern thinking that Si Gon wasn"t someone who would get done in so easily. During that process, another table was broken. No one knew how many tables he had broken now. Then in the evening since Si Gon wasn"t back, he determined that Si Gon was dead. Si Gon wasn"t the type to disappear without a note, he believed that something must have happened to him.

Ma Jung Soo was boiling with anger, "Son of a b*tch. No matter what you do I will never back down."

The people he was angry at were his brothers. He believed it was done by one of his brothers since there was no one else who he could think of who could pull off such a thing.

Ever since he was young, he never wanted to lose to them. He was bullied by his brothers since a young age because he was born from a concubine. Thus he couldn"t forgive them even more.

"Watch and see how I will get my revenge."

From a half-opened door, there was someone who was looking at him. It was that woman.

"Hey look!"

The woman was always emotionless regardless of what happened.

"Yeah, report everything. Make sure you don"t leave anything behind. But make sure you report how I overcome this. You understand, b*tch?!"

The woman didn"t say anything.

"I said, do you understand?!"

She didn"t say anything and left.

"Foolish b*tch. She must not have any emotion. If I become the successor just wait and see what  is going to happen to you."

His words slipped through the crack of the door and into the woman"s ear. Listening to his words the woman"s expressionless face became colder than ever.

The next day, Ma Jung Soo went to look for Jung Yeo.

Since even Si Gon was gone he couldn"t forgive what had happened.

"Why are you looking for me this early in the morning?"

"I came here since I have a couple of requests that I must ask of you."

Although he was surprised by the sudden visit he tried to stay cool.

"Please tell me what you need."

"I am sure you must already have heard the rumors. My deal with San Dong Merchant was canceled."

"I heard that there were some odd circ.u.mstances. But I am sure that you will recover soon."

"Regarding that, I might need your help."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I cannot start the construction of Martial Arts School like this. Could you, Jung Bangju help me?"

Jung Yeo couldn"t reply immediately. What did he mean by helping him? Did he want money? Maybe his men?

"I am just afraid that my men and I would only hold you back from achieving your goals."

Jung Yeo declined nicely but Ma Jung Soo didn"t back down.

"Isn"t the Yang Clan the strongest Clan in San Dong? If you help me this time I will never forget your deeds."

Ma Jung Soo was in a position where he had to set up the Heavenly Dao Gate"s Martial Arts School. If he couldn"t do this, it meant that he failed his successor test.

He just needed to get over this hurdle.

Although the contract became void it was only a matter of paying them. If he could get the money to pay them then everything will go back to normal.

At first, he didn"t use the Yang Clan because he didn"t need to. He was also warned by Old Man Flower Fan not to trust outsiders that easily.

But now things were different.

If he was able to successfully accomplish this mission with the help of the Yang Clan then he would have pa.s.sed his first test.

He decided that for the next test, he would accomplish it better with new men and subordinates. However, since he was set back so much by his brothers, he was going to get his revenge on the next test. He wasn"t the type to let go of grudges easily.

"I understand your intention. Please give me some time to think about it."

"Alright. But don"t make me wait too long."

As Ma Jung Soo was leaving the room he said to himself, "Ha! It won"t be that easy to get out of this one."

He planned on using everything that he could.

"Just watch me, I won"t go down alone. Just think about how I got here."

After sending Ma Jung Soo away he entered my room and reported everything that happened with Ma Jung Soo.

"How should we proceed now?"

This was truly a troublesome situation. Once they started helping someone that greedy then the Yang Clan wouldn"t be able to make it out in one piece.

"He is planning on using the Yang Clan as a sacrificial lamb"

"That is what I believe as well sir"

It looked as if Jung Yeo wanted to curse Ma Jung Soo, so I said it for him, "Dirty son of a b*tch. I am sure that you want to crush him and beat him to pieces."

"I want to trample him."

By cursing at Ma Jung Soo it seemed he was able to vent out some of his anger.

"Don"t worry, his final destination is not far off."

I already made a plan to get rid of him along with Black Merchants. Except there were a few components that were missing. One of these was the mysterious woman.

"Rather, this is a good opportunity."

"What do you plan on doing sir?"

I replied to him with a smile, "Since he is digging his own grave let"s lend him a hand."

The next day I followed Jung Yeo to meet Ma Jung Soo.

Jung Yeo calmly started the conversation, "As you know I haven"t been the Bangju for a while. So I am still not in full control of the Clan, and there some things that I must personally attend to. Thus, I brought him to act in my place to help achieve whatever you wish to achieve."

Ma Jung Soo looked at me cautiously.

Since I was wearing a face-alteration mask and had changed my voice he didn"t recognize me. I was wearing the top-tiered mask, so unless it was a master of disguise no one would know the difference. Although this mask may have cost a lot it was worth it since this was a very important task.

"He is one of my men who I trust the most. He has great skill, and is reliable. I brought him since he might be of great a.s.sistance to you."

Through Jung Yeo"s introduction I bowed in greeting.

"It is the first time meeting you sir. My name is Kal Pyo"

I created this name by putting together Kal Sa Ryang and Baek Pyo"s names together.

I took this opportunity to find out anything I could about that woman.

Since there was a saying that goes like this, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."

Ma Jung Soo still had the unsatisfied look on his face so Jung Yeo quickly said, "Don"t worry the Yang Clan will help you in anyway we can."

Hearing this Ma Jung Soo"s face finally brightened a bit.

"Good, Since he is someone who was recommended by you, I will trust him."

"Thank you for trusting me."

Jung Yeo looked at me and said, "He is a very important person so you cannot make any mistake."

I respectfully bowed to Jung Yeo and said, "I obey your order."

I took residence in the room where Old Man Flower Fan once was. As I unpacked my belongings and went out the corridor, I saw that woman.

She was walking this way from the other end of the corridor. So I stood outside the door and watched as she walked.

I was nervous, but I didn"t hide that nervousness. I perfectly controlled myself and only revealed what I wanted to make me look like Kal Pyo.

When I saw her face up close, it wasn"t that beautiful or fascinating. Was it because she didn"t have any makeup on that she looks cold? The aura that she was giving out was one that was empty and cold, like a doll.

Then we exchanged glances with one another. Even her eyes were devoid of emotion. I remember seeing those eye before. That was the look of the a.s.sa.s.sins reared by the thirteen demonic alliances. Since when they were young they were conditioned to be devoid of all emotion so that they could accomplish any task that was given to them.

Now that I think about it, the a.s.sa.s.sins who were sent to kill me all had that look.

Could it be this woman was one of them?

Did Ma Bong Gi really raise this woman? Then when did he even start? From the looks of it, she must have started training at least twenty years ago. This was not something that the Ma Bong Gi that

I knew would do.

Or did she only give off that sort of gaze? There was no way to determine an enemy only with their glance. So it could be that she just have this look.

When she was right in front of me I greeted her first, "My name is Kal Pyo"

She turned her head to look at me, but that was it. She didn"t stop walking and marched on without saying anything.

"Excuse me! Since I introduced myself shouldn"t I get a greeting or something in return? Hey, what is your name!"

The woman disappeared into the corridor.

The next time that I saw her was that night.

Since I couldn"t sleep I went out to the pond to get some air. There I saw there standing by the pond.

Was it because of the moon reflecting on her? Or was it because she was staring down at the pond?

I felt loneliness from her.

The loneliness that she had was due to her emptiness.

The loneliness where you couldn"t even comfort yourself because you were empty.

I just looked at her from afar. I couldn"t tell if she knew that I was observing her from afar, but that was when I started observing her.