Tales Of The Nine Dragons [EN]: Chapter 24

Ninth Dragon Chronicles (24)

After obtaining information from Miok, Hwarin learned a few days later that someone besides the Hao Moon [a mysterious group] was also watching him. After capturing and questioning the individual, he discovered they were sent by the Hwamyeong Merchant Guild.

The Hwamyeong Merchant Guild also mistakenly believed the Nine Dragon Hall was a manor funded by them and wanted to prevent its further growth.

Interestingly, while the Hao Moon mentioned the Ten Great Merchant Guilds, the Hwamyeong Merchant Guild referred to guilds of a lower tier.

“Interesting, seeing them scheme and maneuver like this amongst themselves. Now that I’ve started, I should create a proper merchant guild and move forward. Hwamyeong Merchant Guild, was it?”

The late Danri Hyukgwang had entrusted his two younger siblings to Hwarin, and Hwarin was determined to create a secure environment for them.

Initially, he considered teaching them martial arts, but decided his role was to provide the conditions for them to live comfortably as ordinary people, not martial artists.

That’s why he had them running a fabric store, learning to cook at an inn, and acquiring the basic knowledge and skills to manage an inn. But with the situation evolving, he thought creating a small merchant guild to pass on to Danri Soso and Danri Hyukjin might be a good idea.

“I need to study this a bit.”

He knew book learning differed from real-world experience, but also knew even a little knowledge from books was better than starting completely from scratch.

“Before that, I need to get some help.”

Hwarin headed to Osong House. The red-light district, Osong House, was closed in the morning and opened late in the afternoon.

Hwarin visited Osong House around lunchtime.

“Welcome, Lord of the Nine Dragon Hall.”

Miok, the madam of Osong House, greeted Hwarin. She treated him formally, seemingly not recalling their past encounter.

“I never expected you to visit a red-light district in broad daylight.”

“I came to make you a proposition, Madam.”

“To me?”

“Yes. You likely know I’m taking over the brothel run by the Black Snake Society and buying the surrounding buildings and land to begin construction.”

Miok nodded.

“I’m building a structure there that will house a casino alongside the brothel.”

“A brothel and a casino together?”

“Yes. I’ve heard you’ve been in the entertainment industry for a long time and were excellent at singing and playing the geomungo [Korean zither] in your youth.”

“That’s a story of the past. Now that I’m old, no one comes to see me.”

“It appears so to me too.”

Miok stared blankly at Hwarin’s words for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“It’s sad because it’s true, Lord. A woman is still a woman, even when she’s old.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“What’s the reason you want to meet me, given my singing and geomungo playing? Are you perhaps trying to recruit me?”

“That’s right. I want you to sell me Osong House, and I want you to be in charge of educating the courtesans in the brothel I’m building.”

“Educating the courtesans?”

“Yes. I’m not planning to do business with the people of Sanyang County. I’m targeting travelers to and from Seosan, Jangan Seosan, and Hwaeum County, all over Seoseo Province.”

Hwarin explained his business plan, and Miok’s eyes sparkled.

“Casinos are illegal.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already received permission from the Lord.”

“The Lord? Are you talking about Yi Do-baek, the Lord of Seoseo Province?”

“Yes. Who else could be called the Lord in Seoseo Province if not him?”

‘Casino permits are not easy to obtain. Is he connected to the government rather than someone from the merchant guilds?’ Miok wondered.

Of course, you can get a casino license by spending a lot of money, but even that is not easy.

The casino license is under the authority of the Lord, but it is also a place that the imperial palace is interested in and manages.

“That’s amazing. To get a casino license from Lord Yi Do-baek.”

“Since we’re doing it, we have to do it without any problems, right? A lot of money went into it from the Lord, as well as from Dongchang and other places.”

“Dongchang and other places?”

“There are such things. If you take charge of educating the courtesans, the quality of the brothel will improve significantly.”

“Hmm…….”

“If we get good results in Seoseo Province, it won’t be too difficult to open branches in each province based on that.”

“Branches?”

“That’s right. I don’t intend to stop with just one.”

“Hmm…….”

“I don’t know how much profit you make running this brothel, but it might not be so bad to come to the place I’m planning and live comfortably in your old age as a teacher of courtesans.”

“That’s a very good offer. What are you going to do after you buy this place?”

“I will still use it as a red-light district.”

“As a red-light district?”

“Brothels need young and talented children, but if they get old and don’t have any skills, it’s only natural that they end up going to the red-light district to sell their bodies, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“So there’s no reason to close this place. However, the building is old, so we will either renovate it or build a new one to start over with a fresh feel.”

“Hmm…….”

The conditions Hwarin offered were appealing.

“I will treat you well, Madam.”

“I may be the madam, but I have many dependents under me. I think I need to discuss it with them.”

“Of course, you should. There is still time, so please talk it over thoroughly and let me know.”

“I will.”

* * *

“So, you’re saying there are at least two, and possibly three, people who killed the warriors of the Red Tiger Gate?”

“That’s right.”

Geol Chung-seon, the head of the Beggars’ Union’s Seoseo Province branch, informed the Jeongcheon Alliance’s Seoseo branch of the investigation into the Red Tiger Gate’s destruction.

Cheongmyeong Jin-in of Hwasan [a Taoist title], the head of the Jeongcheon Alliance’s Seoseo branch, and Jongbaek of Jongnam, the deputy head, looked a little taken aback after hearing Geol Chung-seon’s findings.

“The Hao Moon said there were two sword wounds, one unknown and one caused by the Sixteen Deadly Sword Techniques. And the head of the Red Tiger Gate, Min Hyung-doo, had his head pierced by a finger flick, and traces of something similar to an iron coin were found embedded in the pillar.”

“So you’re saying a master who has mastered the Sixteen Deadly Sword Techniques has appeared in the Murim [martial arts world].”

“That’s right. The Hao Moon speculated it might be a young man new to the Murim. And after investigating the other sword wound, it seems similar to the Thousand Blossom Dance, the unique sword technique of Hwa Geom, Heo Nan-seol.”

“Thousand Blossom Dance!”

Cheongmyeong asked, widening his eyes in surprise.

“That’s right. Here is a sample of the sword wound taken from the bodies of those who were injured.”

Geol Chung-seon cut out the skin from the wound or area and showed it with a sample made using ink on paper.

“Hmm…….”

“The sword wounds were similar, so I couldn’t be sure, but according to the literature, if you are injured by the sword flower of the Thousand Blossom Dance, it leaves a mark like a flower blooming on a branch, so I compared it and confirmed it was similar to the Thousand Blossom Dance.”

Heo Nan-seol is a secular disciple of Hwasan [a famous Taoist sect]. Because she was a secular disciple, she could not learn Hwasan’s Jin-san martial arts, but despite that, she showed a genius-like talent in martial arts and created the unprecedented swordsmanship called Jin-san Seven Plum Swords with Hwasan’s basic sword skills, and based on the Jin-san Seven Plum Swords, she completed the Thousand Blossom Dance, which can be said to be her unique martial art.

She devoted herself to the idea of blooming plum blossoms only with her sword, and as a result, she was able to complete the Thousand Blossom Dance and bloom sword flowers, even if they were not plum blossoms.

Her martial arts were more amazing than what was known in the Murim, and Hwasan tried every means to recover her martial arts, but she disappeared like a lie, and her swordsmanship has been lost to this day.

In the midst of this, traces of the Thousand Blossom Dance appeared, so it was natural for Cheongmyeong Jin-in to be surprised.

“The fact that the Sixteen Deadly Sword Techniques and the Thousand Blossom Dance appeared in the same place means that the new stars of the Murim, who do not know the situation of the Murim well, so they have just come out, met and got into a fight with the Red Tiger Gate and destroyed them.”

“The Thousand Blossom Dance is one thing, but the Sixteen Deadly Sword Techniques seems to be a problem… I heard that Yuk Mun-sik, who was obsessed with evil arts, completed his martial arts by massacring civilians, so his evilness must be completely melted into his martial arts.”

Jongbaek of Jongnam said with a worried expression.

Usually, those who have mastered demonic arts are affected by the demonic arts and gradually become violent and their personalities change drastically, and those who have mastered evil arts are affected by the evil arts and their personalities gradually become cold and cruel.

The stage of demonic arts is divided into five stages: entering the demonic nature while learning demonic arts, being able to control oneself while being infected with demonic nature, transcending the demonic nature, escaping the demonic nature, and becoming a great villain beyond the demonic nature.

The same is true for evil arts, which are also divided into five stages.

“The fact that the Red Tiger Gate was destroyed by a simple fight means that the person who mastered the Sixteen Deadly Sword Techniques is in the process of transcending the demonic nature, doesn’t it?”

He committed this kind of act in the process of overcoming evil arts, so it also meant that it was impossible to know how many more murders he would commit in the future.

“Shouldn’t we send masters to track down their traces? Sangnam County is not far from Jongnam and Hwasan, and the capital city of Seoseo, Seosan.”

Jongbaek suggested sending masters to track down their traces and capture them.

“We should do that. The person who mastered the Thousand Blossom Dance is also still traveling with people from the evil faction, so it seems like he is a new star in the Murim who doesn’t know anything. It would be good to bring him in and tell him in detail before he commits other major crimes.”

“But he is a person who can use Tanjisin Gong [a powerful martial art]. To catch two or three masters of that level, we need to send at least six or seven people.”

Geol Chung-seon said.

Since he could not be sure about the opponent’s martial arts, he had to send people with similar levels of martial arts, but he said that he wanted to send more people to handle the job for sure, fearing that an unfortunate event would occur if he sent one or two people.

“There are not that many people in the branch, so how about contacting Jongnam and Hwasan and asking them to send people?”

“Let’s do that. We need to prepare as much as the opponent is. I will contact Hwasan and request that the Plum Blossom Swordsman be dispatched.”

“Then I will contact Jongnam and ask them to send the Tae-eul Swordsmen.”

The Tae-eul Swordsmen were swordsmen representing Jongnam, like the Plum Blossom Swordsmen of the Hwasan Sect.

Hearing the words requesting the Plum Blossom Swordsmen and the Tae-eul Swordsmen, Geol Chung-seon finally looked relieved.

There may be differences in martial arts among the Plum Blossom Swordsmen and the Tae-eul Swordsmen, but they were all masters of the highest level and represented the sects, so he thought that no matter how much the people who mastered the Sixteen Deadly Sword Techniques and the Thousand Blossom Dance were, they would not be able to stand up to them.

“Then I will contact other branches of the Beggars’ Union and secretly find out where they are.”

“Please do so. And ask the Hao Moon for help.”

“I understand. I will.”