I Will Start Doing Business In Jungwon From Today [EN]: Chapter 104

Stepping onto the ground after smashing the window, a surge of relief washed over me. I had escaped. The pain in my side was intense. Only then did Lee Hak-lin examine the wound.

Hyeok Si-mok’s dagger was buried deep, with only the hilt visible. The internal injuries were severe, and to make matters worse…

“You bastard. You even poisoned it.”

No wonder my qi [vital energy] flow was constantly blocked, and dark blood gushed out with even a slight cough.

Simple first aid was impossible with the wolf cubs [derogatory term for enemy subordinates] immediately on my heels. The bigger problem was figuring out which way to escape. This vast manor was a maze of buildings, and I had no idea where I could find safety.

Just then, a telepathic message arrived.

‘Did you succeed? Great Leader.’

I almost cursed aloud.

Clearly a subordinate of Jo Gwang-yun, yet in this urgent situation, he was only concerned with the mission’s success.

If I had failed, all the martial artists in this manor would be focused on securing an escape route for Jo Gwang-yun, leaving me to be torn apart by those wolf cubs.

Lee Hak-lin gritted his teeth and nodded vigorously.

Only then did the sender shout.

“Stop those bastards!”

More than a dozen martial artists, who had been lurking in the shadows, jumped out and attacked Hyeok Si-mok’s subordinates. One man rushed to Lee Hak-lin’s side.

“This way.”

Gu Seung supported Lee Hak-lin and hurried him into the darkness.

They entered a small detached house in a remote part of the manor, where Jo Gwang-yun was listening to a report.

“It’s a bit tight, but we should be able to suppress them.”

“Finish them off completely before dawn. And…”

Jo Gwang-yun saw Lee Hak-lin enter with a sword stuck in his side and jumped up.

“T, this…”

But his eyes met Gu Seung’s, and when Gu Seung nodded, he visibly relaxed and began to assess Lee Hak-lin’s condition.

“Don’t make a fuss. I know my body better than anyone.”

“Please bear with it a little longer. I’ll bring a doctor as soon as I deal with those guys.”

“Stop talking nonsense. This isn’t a wound a doctor can handle. Help me up first. I need to stop the bleeding and circulate my qi. If I don’t get rid of the poison, I might cough up blood and die on the spot. Hurry!”

Lee Hak-lin leaned on those around him and barely managed to sit upright, then spoke quietly to the three men.

“You guys are martial artists, so you know, right? Don’t touch me. Especially you.”

His gaze towards Jo Gwang-yun was fiercely sharp.

“Don’t chatter beside me.”

“I know that much. I practice my mind techniques every single day.”

Lee Hak-lin closed his eyes.

Seeing this, Jo Gwang-yun said to Gu Seung.

“You, go clean up outside quickly. Don’t let a single one of them escape.”

“I should stay here and protect…”

Jo Gwang-yun shook his head at Gu Seung’s hesitation.

“If those guys get here, it means all our martial artists are dead, right? Isn’t that so?”

The man who was with them said.

“I will protect this place.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Gu Seung patted the man on the shoulder and quickly ran out.

Jo Gwang-yun and the man fell silent and began to stare at Lee Hak-lin.

What would the qi circulation of a supreme master be like? Curiosity was equally evident in both of their eyes.

“Gasp. Th, that…”

He tried to keep his mouth shut, but he couldn’t stop the words from escaping.

The sword that was deeply embedded in Lee Hak-lin’s side was slowly being extracted. The completely removed sword fell to the floor, and what was even more surprising was that it wasn’t stained with a single drop of blood.

The two men’s fascination with Lee Hak-lin’s martial arts proved to be a fatal mistake.

They didn’t notice someone approaching the door while suppressing their presence.

“Who is it?”

It wasn’t Jo Gwang-yun who noticed the presence first; his subordinate was faster.

He quickly turned around and drew his sword, but his neck was already more than half cut through.

The strange man, who had already entered, beheaded the subordinate and looked around the room.

“What a sight… The richest man in the Central Plains is hiding like a rat? While your underlings are bleeding and collapsing outside?”

Collapsing? That couldn’t be.

Hadn’t he just received a report that suppressing them wouldn’t be a problem?

This guy must be the one who was guarding Hyeok Si-mok’s residence. He must have been tracking Lee Hak-lin without getting involved in the fight.

If these guys had gained the upper hand, they wouldn’t have approached so cautiously alone, would they?

Jo Gwang-yun suppressed his trembling heart and slowly opened his mouth. Since he hadn’t killed everyone at once, there was still a chance.

“Hyeok Si-mok is dead, and all of you will soon turn into corpses. No matter how much you swing your sword here, nothing will change. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The wolf cub, baring his teeth, chuckled.

“Are you saying that if I spare you and that bastard who killed Hyeok Si-mok, you’ll give me enough money to change my fate? As expected, a merchant thinks everything can be solved with money.”

“Money can solve everything. If you put down your sword now, you will be the only one who survives tonight. I will reward you handsomely for surviving. You can take the thirty or so horses you came on back to your hometown, loaded with sacks full of gold.”

Gold that more than thirty horses could carry.

Enough money to change not just one person’s fate, but an entire family’s fate.

Jo Gwang-yun didn’t miss the change in the wolf cub’s eyes.

* * *

Kwon Joong-won, the Quick Sword Master, who arrived in the capital in the middle of the night, grumbled as he looked back and forth between the tightly closed city gates and the high walls.

“To have to climb over walls at my age because of one disciple I took in my old age. This is not good for my reputation.”

But he couldn’t possibly camp out in the capital, so he jumped over the high walls and entered the city. He immediately frowned and grumbled once more.

“That guy really said I could easily find him once I got inside the city.”

Looking at the endless streets lined with houses and buildings that all looked the same, he thought he might not find him before dawn.

Kwon Joong-won leaped onto the roof of a tall tiled house.

“Is that it?”

Unlike the other houses and buildings, he saw an incredibly high wall, and the length of the wall was longer than usual, suggesting it was the manor his disciple had mentioned.

Moreover, bright lights were leaking from inside the high wall.

“He said it was a brothel, so it’s still bustling at this hour.”

Kwon Joong-won frowned and ran like the wind across the rooftops.

“Hmm?”

A sharp sound of swords clashing mixed in with the sound of the wind.

A sword fight in the capital, where the possession of weapons is strictly prohibited?

“What kind of trouble did this guy cause again?”

Worry crept into his frowning face.

Kwon Joong-won used his extreme lightness skill [a martial arts technique for moving swiftly and silently] to leap over the high wall and arrive at the manor.

As expected, he saw men fighting with swords everywhere.

Perhaps because he had suppressed his presence, the men fighting with swords did not notice Kwon Joong-won’s arrival.

After quietly scanning the scene, he recognized a few familiar faces.

“Are those the Azure Dragon Gate guys?”

It wasn’t just them.

There were also guys who displayed decent martial arts, putting pressure on their opponents with minimal movement.

It seemed that two groups were ganging up on one.

The side that was slowly being pushed back and falling one by one had a strong, overbearing aura. Even though they were being pushed back, they were trying to escape this situation with their individual martial power rather than cooperating.

They were like wolves who had survived in the harsh Jianghu [the martial arts world], rather than undergoing systematic training.

He briefly considered helping the Azure Dragon Gate, with whom he had a deep connection, but shook his head.

“They’re young, so they’re full of energy. That’s right. You have to fight even while sacrificing sleep to improve your martial arts. Heh heh.”

The Quick Sword Master watched with a satisfied expression, as if watching neighborhood kids bickering, then his eyebrows twitched.

He concentrated all his nerves for a very brief moment and then changed direction.

“A wounded tiger in a children’s fight…”

The Quick Sword Master ran like the wind towards a remote part of the manor.

* * *

“Are you still hesitating? You’ve served Hyeok Si-mok your whole life; that should be enough. Now you need to live your own life. How long are you going to hide in the shadow of the dead Hyeok Si-mok?”

Jo Gwang-yun spoke to the man with wavering eyes.

“No one will be able to return alive from here tonight. Even if you die here, you won’t leave a name. It’s just a dog’s death. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to live and enjoy wealth and glory? It’s not that difficult of a choice, is it?”

The man let out a long sigh and opened his mouth.

“You fucking bastard. You’re making me look so pathetic.”

Jo Gwang-yun’s mind went blank. He recognized the man’s momentarily wavering heart and the feeling of being ashamed for being swayed by money.

Now he knew from that guy’s tone and expression that persuasion and convincing were useless.

“You bastard. If you had begged me to spare you, even if it meant losing face, I might have only killed that Lee Hak-lin. How dare you mock me?”

“Then do that. Of course, I’ll give you all the gold I promised.”

The man’s mouth dropped open at Jo Gwang-yun’s words, which were uttered without even a hint of hesitation.

“What kind of bastard is this? Hey, you son of a bitch, are you saying all that while that bastard is listening? Do you know that?”

“Of course.”

Jo Gwang-yun glanced at Lee Hak-lin, who was circulating his qi. Seeing a line of blood flowing from Lee Hak-lin’s mouth, it seemed he was shocked by his words.

“Great Leader Lee will understand. If I die here, it means there will be two dog deaths. The fewer meaningless dog deaths, the better, right?”

“Shut up, you bastard!”

The man’s sword was aimed at Jo Gwang-yun.

“I’m going to kill you no matter what tonight. It’s not revenge for Hyeok Si-mok. I can’t stand seeing a despicable and selfish bastard like you living so well.”

The man thrust his sword without hesitation.

Jo Gwang-yun couldn’t believe that he had to face such a futile death, so he couldn’t even feel the pain coming from his lower abdomen.

How could he, who had struggled so hard to survive in a place called South Korea for over thirty years, die at the hands of an unknown thug!

He had obtained an absurd stroke of luck and laid the foundation to rival the chaebols [South Korean family-owned conglomerates] of South Korea, and with that foundation, he had even set up a grand plan to gain wealth and power that no one else in the world had ever possessed.

He couldn’t die like this without even starting that plan.

It wasn’t because he regretted what he had achieved so far. It was because he regretted the future that remained. He hadn’t even taken a big step yet. There was still so much to do…

Just as his vision was blurring, he faintly heard the sound of the door being smashed, and he also saw the head of the guy who had stabbed his stomach twist.

As that guy fell, he saw a familiar face in his place.

“Gwang-yun! You bastard!”

This was probably the first time this old man had called him by his name.

Wasn’t he always calling him this guy and that guy?

Kwon Joong-won kicked the guy who had fallen with his neck twisted and hugged Jo Gwang-yun.

Seeing the sword stuck in his lower abdomen, his eyes closed on their own.

To think it was the dantian [energy center in the body]…

But there was no time to hesitate.

Kwon Joong-won pulled out the sword stuck in his dantian in one swift motion and sealed several blood points to stop the bleeding.

Perhaps because of the pain when the sword was pulled out, Jo Gwang-yun, who was losing consciousness, coughed loudly and opened his eyes.

“Gwang-yun. Wake up!”

As Kwon Joong-won shouted, Jo Gwang-yun gave a weak smile.