“Is this the brewery where Sagi wine is brewed?” Asked Jo Cheol-joong.
“Sagi wine? I think I somewhat heard that the liquor we brew is called like that. Let’s just say yes, so what about it?”
The bulky guy of the six tough-looking guys rode the horse until the yard, but still, there was no such thing as tension on the middle-aged guy’s expression.
On the contrary, the twitching of the corner of his lips made it look like he was smirking.
“As there was a rumor that the liquor tastes great, I thought of learning the secret method of brewing it.”
“You want to become a student?”
“Student my foot, a triad member has his pride. Just let us know. Then, I’ll let you off the hook of making your half-baldness into complete baldness. Hahaha!”
The men burst out laughing noisily at the joke that wasn’t even funny, and the moment the talk about Seo seok-san’s hair came out his face stiffened.
“You don’t even have enough hands to dig into a hole, so you’re crawling on your own feet, I see.”
When Seo Seok-san was just about to use his hands, Yeon Geum-hong’s voice was heard.
“Oh my! Looks like we’re having visitors!”
The gangsters’ eyes widened as Yeon Geum-hong came smiling broadly.
“You never said about the presence of such a beauty! This is literally what you call as having the best of both worlds.”
While Jo Cheol-joong was wiping the saliva off his lips, Yeon Geum-hong asked Seo Seok-san.
“Older brother, for what purpose have they come?”
“What do you mean older brother! Is this old granny insane!”
“Old, old granny?”
Yeon Geum-hong who was about to get angry controlled herself.
“Hahaha! Older brother, your jokes are quite….”
“What’s up with you holding it up all inside?”
“My foot, nothing’s up with me. It was boring and we’re just playing with the playthings that just came here on their own. As there are six, it’ll be perfect if we just take two or three, right?”
“Those guys were mocking at my hair, how am I going to get back to you guys!”
“It’s not like they denied about something you possess, is it a sin to be honest?”
At that time Jang Man-dok came out to the yard and moved towards the gangsters.
“Hey! What are you doing!”
As usual, Jang Man-dok didn’t speak. It was only the screams of the gangsters.
The sound of bones cracking was heard.
Snap! Crackle!
Argh!
The arms and legs of the gangsters who tumbled down the horse were shaking like those of a broken puppet.
Seo Seok-san, whose grudge reached the sky, or Yeon Geum-hong’s wish of playing with them friendly in groups of three, was shattered into pieces.
“Jang Man-dok! How can you enjoy it by yourself while turning up suddenly!”
As Yeon Geum-hong yelled fiercely, Seo Seok-san approached the gangsters who were rolling on the floor.
“As you’re still alive, you will have to pay a price for insulting my hair.”
Jang Man-dok pointed to the path towards those guys.
“What? Speak up! Are we Do Pyeong-su?”
Since Do Pyeong-su was guarding Geom Woo-bin, he was unable to converse with Jang Man-dok.
Jang Man-dok pointed to his ears with his hands.
“Why ears?”
Yeon Geum-hong who questioned, was too late when she sensed someone approaching home.
“Oh! I think abolition is returning home!”
“Has it been time already?”
Geom Woo-bin wouldn’t feel good if he sees how things stand.
“Quickly stop their screaming!”
They quickly hit the gangsters’ pressure point of muteness.
“Should we kill and chop them into pieces?”
Seo Seok-san’s opinion was ignored by Yeon Geum-hong.
“Where do we have the time for it?”
Yeon Geum-hong looked at the surrounding, grasped one of the gangsters by his nape, and threw him away towards the river. As she did so, Seo Seok-san and Jang Man-dok started to throw off the rest of the gangsters towards the river.
The six of them who went flying without even screaming flowed down and down along with the river water.
“Oh? What’s this horse?”
As they didn’t have time, they couldn’t take care of the horses the gangsters came riding on.
“Sorry? Ah! Hahaha! Now you will also have to slowly learn the horsemanship.”
“If I use Qinggong (light skill) it will be much faster, but what am I going to do by learning horsemanship?”
“A person who appreciates art should at least learn some horsemanship.” Said Seo Seok-san.
“But, why are there six horses? We are a family of five.”
“There… there should be at least one extra horse, right?”
“Of course, of course.”
Geom Woo-bin sensed that the priests were hiding something, but he didn’t go to nitpick anymore.
“Jang Man-dok says he needs the ten-thousand-year-old Sanghuang (Phellinus linteus).”
Upon that, Yeon Geum-hong skimmed through the book ‘Various Treasures’.
“It says it’s there in Jiangxi and Shaanxi.”
“Shaanxi is a village that’s too far, so I’ll have to go to Jiangxi.”
“Geographically, Jiangxi is closer, but it is in Namchang Gwon-ga.”
“Is it Gwonbeop clan where Gwon Do-baek is the head of the family?”
Yeon Geum-hong nodded at Seo Seok-san’s question.
“What’s so great about Namchang Gwon-ga? I’ll go and get it.”
Yeon Geum-hong said as Do Pyeong-su was struggling as if he was ready to leave any moment.
“It’s nothing but stealing it. The problem is, it will surely become fussy, and rumors will spread around Moorim. Imagine that rumor going into the abolition’s ears?”
Kind-hearted Geom Woo-bin will not be satisfied getting it that way. In the worst-case scenario, what are they going to do if he insists on not eating it? It might even end up becoming a sight of just making it happen.
More than anything, the scariest thing right now for the four of them was Geom Woo-bin’s resentment.
“No way, would such rumor get into abolition’s ears?”
“The place all kinds of scandal-mongers gather is a bar, and the abolition goes around selling liquor to such bars, right?”
“That’s also true. Then…. isn’t there a way to bring it down secretly?”
Seo Seok-san snapped his finger as if he got a good idea.
“It’s not a must that we need to bring it, is it?”
“If it’s not for us, who would bring it.”
“Have you heard about the guy who says even the emperor’s Ghuzeng can be stolen?”
Do Pyeong-su thought of a name.
“Shintu Mao Liang?”
“If it’s for that guy, the ten-thousand-year-old Sanghuang can be stolen without anyone’s knowledge.”
“Do you know where Mao Liang is?”
“If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have even brought up this talk. Fortunately, Jiangxi is the place where the guy is also there.”
Among the six people who fell into the river, three of them were not fortunate.
Jo Cheol-joong was also one among the three people who had a misfortune called death. And, Jo Cheol-joong was the younger brother of Jo Man-joong, the head of Yagwihoe.
Jo Man-joong was watching the corpse of his younger brother for a long time, whose figure was not even clear because he was swollen in the water.
His subordinates came just before he blew up the anger that was piled up inside him, who had a large body like a bear.
“Owner, I caught him.”
It was Kwak Jung-man with a bandaged arm, who was dragged into the hands of the subordinates.
Kwak Jung-man’s face was full of new scars as if he was already attacked by the subordinates.
“Who killed my younger brother?”
The place that dominated the night of Hangzhou was Muyeonghoe, and Yagihoe had the greatest power among the twelve triads that were under Muyeonghoe.
Because of that, there was a rumor that was spoken publicly in Hangzhou, that you can even kick the balls of Yama (King of Hell), but should never mess with Jo Man-joong’s temper, and Jo Mang-joong had a temper that was as ferocious as the rumor.
Kwak Jung-man couldn’t even breathe loud in front of such Jo Mang-joong.
“I asked you who killed my younger brother.”
“It’s… it’s those guys from the brewery who brew the Sagi wine.”
“Those guys?”
Kwak Jung-man told about the incident that happened infrequently.
“Those guys broke your limbs and threw you to the river that has a twenty-field drop?”
The summary was accurate to the point Kwak Jung-man nodded until his neck bones could break.
“You bastard! You should say something that makes sense! With what skill would the guys who brew liquor do something like that!”
“It’s….it’s for real! It was very quick that I couldn’t even see how my arm broke!
“Is that so? This time you’re lucky, I see. As you can see how your neck breaks.”
“Brother, you have wrongly picked the target of your vengeance.”
The guy who appeared with a faint voice like a woman was the third, Jo Hae-joong.
Unlike the three of the abolitions, he was a guy who took after the mother and had narrow facial features.
“I’m going to kill this fellow, and chew up the intestines of those guys from the brewery.”
“Even if you kill don’t eat the intestines. You won’t be able to jump rope.”
“Your second brother died, and are you joking?”
Jo Hae-joong stared blankly at Jo Cheol-joong’s corpse.
“Vengeance is done with a burning heart and a cold mind. As you’ve got the burning heart I’ll go with the cold mind.”
The head of Yagwihoe is Jo Mang-joong, but the person who substantially leads the group was Jo Hae-joong.
“That guy sounds absurd, but nothing is wrong in being cautious. It would be great if we could make a move after listening to the words of the two subordinates who still have not recovered their minds.”
“You know when those fellows will recover their minds! I can’t wait until that!”
Most of the time it’s Jo Mang-joong who accepts Jo Hae-joong’s advice, but just this time he didn’t break his stubbornness.
“Then, how about we go with a safe and easy way?”
“Safe and easy way?”
“I found out that the kid who goes to sell the liquor is their nephew. Let’s catch the kid and start with chaining their hands and feet.”
Geom Woo-bin put the pouch that was holding the heavy silver coins in his chest.
“I can’t sell that expensive liquor because there is no stock of it. There are many rich drinkers in Hangzhou, I see.”
Geom Woo-bin who was mumbling adjusted his collars in the cold wind that penetrated his chest.
Geom Woo-bin was walking at a fast pace and suddenly felt strange.
The alley which was always crowded with people at this time was quiet today. Not only that, even the shops lined up on the left and right closed down as soon as Geom Woo-bin appeared.
“What’s going on?”
Then, two bulky men appeared from a dry good store on the left.
“Kid, you will have to go with us.”
The bulky men were blocking the way standing at the end of each side of the twenty-field alley.
“Why are you doing this?”
There was a higher chance that they were robbers who were eyeing Geom Woo-bin’s money. But the guy’s words erased that possibility.
“I’ll let you go if you stop your uncles’ business.”
It seemed to have something to do with the blood-lions.
“Okay, let’s go. Priestess! Don’t come out!”
The two bulky guys who were trying to take Geom Woo-bin looked puzzled. The fact that he said let’s go as if it’s not a big deal looked strange, and they couldn’t understand the last part any better.
“Don’t come out? Whom are you talking to?”
“No. Let’s go quickly.”
The two bulky men took Geom Woo-bin inside the dry good store with a dubious look on their faces.
Yeon Geum-hong had no choice but to watch it.
“Since when did the abolition know that we’re protecting him?”
Meanwhile, Geom Woo-bin was pretending not to know anything by dancing to their tune.
“Anyways, it’s bothersome. It looks like they’re the gangsters who came to the brewery.”
Geom Woo-bin didn’t worry much.
They’re not Moorim people, and the small triad was not even a threat to the current Geom Woo-bin.
“They’ll find out that we threw those guys into the river. However, there was nothing wrong with it.”
Geom Woo-bin who was dragged by the bulky men went into a random basement.
In the middle of the basement there was a chair made of iron and on the table next to it were things like a hammer, gimlet, and tongs.
The bloodstain on the floor and the wall explained the purpose of this basement.
“Welcome! It’s your first time at a torture chamber, right?”
A guy with a fine face like a woman grinned at Geom Woo-bin.
“I’m Jo Hae-joong, younger brother of Jo Cheol-joong, whom your uncles killed. First of all, sit here.”
Jo Hae-joong tapped the steel chair. Geom Woo-bin stroked the needle sleeve and sat down on the chair without hesitation.
“As I look at your expression, it seems like you still don’t understand the situation, I see.”
“What I don’t understand is, why my uncles killed your brother.”
“Why? Why? Hey kid. Sometimes, that ‘why’ does not matter at all. Your uncles messed with the people they shouldn’t have messed with. So, now what matters is not ‘why’ but ‘who’.”
“Then, do you know with whom you are messing with?”
“The kid is daring, I see. Alright, let me ask you. Whom are we messing with?”
“If you tell me the ‘why’, I’ll also let you know the ‘who’.”
He’s not just daring but he’s confident.
It’s a reaction that cannot be seen unless there is fairy a believable side to it.
Jo Hae-joong said while picking up the scissors from the table.
“I think I was too kind. Anyways, we have to send the proof that you’re in our hands, so, let’s first start with cutting off one of the fingers. By showing my generosity, let me give you the right to choose which finger to cut off. For your kind information, do not choose your pinky finger. As it’s quite a useful finger when digging your nostrils.”
Geom Woo-bin stared blankly at Jo Hae-joong and let out a sigh that didn’t seem like that of a child’s.
“I wouldn’t need to know why. A person who says he will cut off a child’s finger can’t be a good person. I’ll just let you know the ‘who’ you’re curious about. No, see it yourself.”
Geom Woo-bin motioned towards one side of the basement with his chin.