I Will Start Doing Business In Jungwon From Today [EN]: Chapter 82

Even in the most secluded part of the Namgung Clan compound, the loud shouts of the invaders could be heard. Soon, the sounds of clashing weapons echoed, and screams pierced the air.

‘So, this family is finally collapsing.’

A young, beautiful woman sitting in a modest room in the annex sighed.

After ending up in a Gibang [a traditional Korean house of entertainment] in Hapbi, she had hoped to finally earn money in comfort. But then, an old man appeared and shattered that dream.

He dragged her into his home and forced her to live as his concubine, a life she never imagined.

She didn’t know how much he had paid for her, but as if determined to get his money’s worth, he demanded her presence every night.

She figured she wouldn’t have to endure old man Namgung Hyun’s scent much longer. Battles were meant to be fought outside the walls; she had never heard of a family surviving a fight within their own compound.

Even amidst this chaos, she wasn’t worried about death. She understood men’s desires well—her innate beauty and figure were too valuable to waste on a quick demise.

As always, only the house would change. And, of course, the man too.

She only hoped to move to an even wealthier household, similar to this one.

“Madam, please come out quickly.”

The servant attending her urgently opened the door and shouted.

“What am I supposed to do outside? Get stabbed and die? It’s better to stay here quietly. Go away!”

She even took out her makeup case and began preparing her face. If she had to meet a new master, she wanted to look as beautiful and alluring as possible.

The servant was frantic. She grabbed her arm and pulled.

“That’s not it! There’s a carriage waiting outside. The elder prepared it. He said to evacuate Madam first if something happened…”

“What? A carriage?”

She was dumbfounded. The family was collapsing, and he was thinking of saving his concubine first. Her first thought was whether that old man was still trying to get his money’s worth.

Well, he was skilled in martial arts, so he must be confident in surviving.

If that old man survived, she would check his savings and decide whether to stay with him or leave him.

The woman got up and gathered the jewelry hidden deep in the dresser and wardrobe. This jewelry was her fund to survive until she met another wealthy man.

She packed the jewelry in a silk bundle, led the servant, and left the house through the most secluded side gate.

As she boarded the carriage the servant guided her to, a man stared at her, his mouth agape.

Men are all the same!

“Where are we going?”

She plopped down in the carriage and asked, but the man couldn’t say a word, his mouth still open.

“Hey!”

She kicked the floor of the carriage and shouted, and the man finally snapped out of it.

“I asked where we’re going!”

“Ah, yes. To, to Hapbi.”

At best, she was a concubine; at best, a courtesan. The man was about to speak informally, but honorifics came out involuntarily.

“Hapbi? Don’t tell me we’re going back to the Gibang?”

She shouted sharply.

If this old man had used her up and was now reselling her to the Gibang, she wouldn’t accept it.

“This… That son of a bitch. Now he’s trying to…”

The man couldn’t believe the woman suddenly cursing at him.

How could such vulgar words come from the mouth of a woman with such a beautiful and refined face?

“Gibang? What are you talking about?”

“If not the Gibang, then why are we going to Hapbi?”

“Young lady, I am only following orders. My job is to wait for the head of the family in Hapbi.”

“Head of the family…?”

If he was the head of the family, he was either a merchant or a wealthy landowner. Realizing that the one who prepared this carriage wasn’t the old man, she felt a sudden fear.

“Wh-Who are you?”

“Don’t be alarmed. Our head of the family is evacuating the young lady from the Namgung Clan, which will soon be a bloodbath. He strictly ordered that not a single hair on your head should be harmed, so there will be no mishaps. Rest assured.”

Seeing the man’s sincere expression, she felt somewhat relieved.

“Then who is this head of the family you speak of?”

“It’s Jo Gwang-yun, the head of the Jo family. Have you ever heard of him?”

Even though she was confined to the back chambers, she had heard things.

She had heard that he was the reckless man who started a fight with the Namgung Clan and a rising merchant in the Central Plains who was amassing a fortune.

The old man disappeared, and a young tycoon appeared.

She let out a long sigh of relief and smiled brightly. The man almost stopped breathing at her smile.

“Yes, I’ve heard he’s a very impressive merchant.”

She now began to pray that the Namgung Clan would collapse so completely in this battle that they would never rise again.

* * *

They said Namgung Hyo-shin was a martial prodigy blessed by the heavens; anyone who stood in his way was like a pig in a slaughterhouse. Each flash of his sword brought down death.

More than twenty souls had been claimed by death, yet they hadn’t even touched Namgung Hyo-shin’s clothes. His martial prowess was enough to claim a hundred more lives.

This battle had turned into a wolf freely hunting among sheep.

The ten experts from the Silent Path Society, watching this horrific scene from a safe distance, repeatedly expressed their admiration.

“Did that bastard grow up eating Gongcheong Seokyu [a mythical herb that enhances inner energy]? His inner energy is… I’m speechless.”

“Look at the aura coming from the tip of his sword. It’s just ringing!”

“That bastard is a true swordsman. How many people in our Silent Path Society could take him on?”

“The Society Leader would have no problem… What about Brother Hak-lin?”

“If Brother Hak-lin conceded three moves, the outcome would be unpredictable.”

“Only two?”

“Hey! In the Martial Alliance, it would only be Mo Yong-hwi.”

“What about us?”

When someone asked the most sensitive question, everyone looked at Namgung Hyo-shin and fell silent, busy calculating their chances.

Finally, someone offered an answer to the sensitive question.

“Looking at it, even though he’s impressive, doesn’t he seem a bit less formidable than his reputation suggests?”

“Really? I don’t see any opening, no matter how I look at it.”

“No, if we play our cards right, we might even achieve a mutually destructive outcome. Watch closely.”

Suddenly, he squatted down and began to explain, drawing a circle on the ground.

“First, four of us surround and corner him…”

But the explanation couldn’t continue. One of them suddenly drew his sword and swung it.

“Oh, my, you scared me. When did they get so close?”

Blood dripped from his sword.

“Kugh-!”

Someone clutched their chest, staggering backward. There was a sword wound on their chest, but it didn’t seem fatal.

Behind the ten were five men from the Namgung Clan. In their bloodshot eyes, there was disbelief close to shock.

The eldest brother, the strongest of the five brothers, couldn’t block a single sword strike and was injured!

They had just discovered their father’s body with throwing knives stuck in his back and side, but they hadn’t found his head yet.

They couldn’t accept their father’s death.

They couldn’t believe their powerful father had been defeated by mere third-rate martial artists.

Moreover, the sight of his severed head added to the shock, making their blood run cold.

But just now, they had witnessed a martial art that even the eldest brother couldn’t avoid.

The five Namgung brothers were convinced that the ten men in front of them were the ones who killed their father.

“It’s unbelievable that the Changryong Gate produced such experts, but you are the culprits.”

Five swords pointed at the Silent Path Society’s warriors.

“What are they saying?”

“I don’t know. In this place, which is essentially a battlefield, talking about culprits just proves they’re a bit naive, doesn’t it?”

None of them looked nervous. As the five brothers realized they were facing experts beyond their imagination, they began to sweat.

“Hey! Who are you guys? What’s your relationship with Namgung Hyun?”

“You bastards! How dare you utter my uncle’s name so carelessly!”

“Uncle? So they’re nephews.”

Their conversation didn’t last long.

The man who had been drawing circles on the ground drew his sword.

“These bastards! I came up with a really good plan, but you made me forget it all!”

He shouted and charged at the five brothers, and two of them fell instantly. The remaining three were no different. They couldn’t even display a proper martial art before falling under the blades of the other two who charged in.

Their expressions didn’t change much. It was as if they had chased away a few dogs blocking their path.

“What do you want to do? Want to try fighting that guy?”

When someone pointed at Namgung Hyo-shin, a strong desire for victory appeared in their eyes. They were martial artists too.

“Let’s try it. If things get tough, we can just run. He won’t be able to chase us even if we run, so it won’t get too dangerous.”

The dozens of warriors surrounding Namgung Hyo-shin would block his path if he tried to chase them.

“And… doesn’t he look a bit tired?”

The word ‘tired’ spurred them on.

The ten approached cautiously, muffling their footsteps.

They didn’t act like dignified martial artists. They infiltrated among the Changryong Gate disciples, waiting for an opportunity.

When Namgung Hyo-shin swung his sword again at the flock of sheep, they lunged at Namgung Hyo-shin as if they were one body.

As ten blades pressed against his entire body without a gap, Namgung Hyo-shin kicked off the ground and soared into the air.

This was the first time he had faced such a coordinated attack. Looking down from the air, he saw the tips of ten swords chasing after him.

Was there anyone in the Changryong Gate capable of such light footwork?

It was unbelievable. But the blades chasing relentlessly told him it was real.

Moreover, they were undoubtedly skilled in coordinated attacks. Ten swords were accurately targeting ten vital points.

He pulled up his protective energy to the maximum.

His whole body screamed. Even a wolf hunting sheep couldn’t avoid exhausting his energy.

He gritted his teeth and waited for the tips of the ten swords to converge.

When the sword tips touched his protective energy, he swung his sword with all his might.

It was a bit late.

Nine blades scattered, but one blade pierced through his protective energy and stabbed his thigh. Fortunately, it wasn’t too deep.

He chased after one of the scattered nine and swung again, but three swords collided, blocking his path.

If they were this quick at switching between offense and defense…?!

As expected, he felt a chill behind his back. Two swords were rushing in, and he didn’t know where the others were.

Namgung Hyo-shin eventually had to endure the humiliation of rolling on the ground to avoid the attacks.

The Changryong Gate disciples watched the sudden exchange, unable to close their mouths. They were definitely wearing mourning clothes. Were there such experts in the Changryong Gate?

“You bastards. Who are you?”

Namgung Hyo-shin, gripping his sword again, asked through gritted teeth.

“As you guessed, we’re probably not from the Changryong Gate, right?”

Seeing the guy speaking with a smirk, he could sense their confidence.

“Jo Gwang-yun, that son of a bitch… He brought in the Black Road [a term for mercenaries or assassins]. We were right.”

“Oh, my. So? Are we all going to put down our swords and discuss who’s right and wrong?”

“We will. With your deaths!”

Namgung Hyo-shin’s figure began to move like lightning, and the ten’s movements also quickened.

Their flashing blades sparked, and occasionally they cut down Changryong Gate disciples who were no different from spectators.

As the movements of the experts quickened, they became invisible, obscured by the dust.

Suddenly, a powerful explosion erupted, and as the dust settled, only Namgung Hyo-shin, breathing heavily, could be seen.

His silk clothes were tattered, but he didn’t seem to have any fatal injuries.

“You bastards. Where did you hide? Why don’t you come out quickly?!”

But the ten Silent Path Society warriors secretly withdrew, using the Changryong Gate disciples as shields.

As Namgung Hyo-shin began hunting the hesitant sheep again, they were already far away, catching their breath as they watched him.

“That bastard is too tough. Let’s just find other guys. We’ll just kill a bunch of easy ones and fill the quota.”

“Yeah, that’s better. Even if we only kill those guys at the level of those five from earlier, we’ll have earned our keep.”

They stole a glance at Namgung Hyo-shin, who was trapped among the flock of sheep, unable to move freely, and quickly moved their feet. Then, they began to pick out and kill only the easy targets.