Book 1 Chapter 13: The Place my Sword Points to (4)
Translated By: Hwarang
Edited By: Jay
I wiped the blood off my blade and picked up the cudgel.
Although Yang Gi Chul received a critical injury, he was still able to talk. "…So this is how you deal with Hyeol Gun and the Yang Clan."
"Not the entire Yang Clan, but just you. I'm going to say Hyeol Gun ran off after killing you."
Yang Gi Chul looked at me with a sorrowful look. "If you let me live… I will do anything."
I just kept walking as if I didn't hear anything.
He barely clung onto a wall as he said, "Wait… Please! Wait!" He quickly pressed some mechanism which opened his safe. "If you let me live, I will give everything to you."
"Making conditions. Ha, it seems that you still think you are in the position to make conditions!"
I slowly approached him raised the cudgel.
It is said that the more one is pressured, the more one will open his safe. He didn't even have the chance to make a deal with me, yet he ended up opening his safe for me. Someone like him, who only thought about himself, would do at anything to preserve his life. So even if he tried to make a deal with me I wouldn't budge. His safe was fully stacked with banknotes and gold.
On the wall Yang Gi Chul said with all of his energy, "There are over thirty thousand Nyang here. So please…!"
I stared at him with cold eyes. "Didn't you say before that there are only two type of people in Kang Ho? The strong and the weak. It's where the strong rule, while the weak die."
"Today you are that weak one."
Smack!
I brought down the cudgel to his head. With a loud smack, there was a sound of bones cracking. I am not a merciful person. I will not allow the person who threatened my family to live.
Smack!
This time I smacked towards his chest. His ribcage collapsed, showing the results of my attack. Then I went to deal with Hyeol Gun. Because I couldn't leave any hint of my work, I had to properly take care of this.
As I expected, Jung Yeo was standing outside throughout the fight.
"Come in." He carefully came in and looked around, half surprised. He was only half surprised because he had somewhat expected this to happen.
I put everything from the safe in a bag and slung it across my back. "Hyeol Gun left with all the money after killing your Bangju and his son."
Jung Yeo looked at the corpse and swallowed his saliva. I was certain that he would take care of the corpses and the story, not because he was scared, but because of what I was about to say.
"Now, you are the Yang Clan's Gaju."
When I came back to the inn with my bag full of banknotes and gold, I saw Kwang Du mindlessly sitting at one of the tables. After staring at me blankly for a second, he quickly got up and went towards the latrine. I was expecting him to rush towards me and greet me with a smile, but he left without saying anything.
Then one of the waiter said "Please wait. That's his first meal after you left. He has been sitting at that table without sleeping, waiting for your return."
When I looked back at the where Kwang Du was sitting I saw that he ordered the cheapest food so that he could save money. So I decided to order some more food that Kwang Du might like.
Soon after, Kwang Du returned to the table with red eyes. It seemed that after seeing me return, he couldn't hold back his tears and let his emotion overtake him.
"One more bowl of rice!" Even though I wasn't hungry I stilled ordered it for Kwang Du, since he wouldn't be able to eat by himself.
"How can you swallow your food after sending your young master to the lion's den?"
"If you don't eat properly you can get heartburn. And young master, why are you joking with me, saying that I sent you to the lion's den?"
"I'm hungry, so let's just eat."
We emptied our plates as the new dishes came out.
Kwang Du said after rubbing his full stomach, "It's good."
"Is it?" What he said was true, there was nothing better than living like this. Being able to eat in comfort until you are full. When I saw someone take some Nyang out of their pouch I thought, 'Being able to eat like this will satisfy most people, but for someone like Yang Gi Chul, his wild ambition made him lose everything.'
"It's not true, right?"
"What's not true?"
"There are some rumors going around that Hyeol Gun killed Lord Yang and took off with his money. Some of the other martial artists that came by said this, young master."
"Oh, so something like that happened?"
"It's something that you did, right young master?"
"Didn't you say Hyeol Gun did it?"
"Yes? Of course, it couldn't have been you. How can you, young master, have defeated Hyeol Gun, the mercenary who have even killed Yang GI Chul, his employer? The fate was on our side this time, right young master? But… something seems.... This is something that couldn't have happened by chance. What did you do?"
"I did say I was going to kill them."
"Oh my god!" Kwang Du covered his mouth looking flabbergasted. "You did it personally?!?"
"Yes, with my own hand."
"Then all things that Hyeol Gun stole... You stole them, right?"
"Stole? It's our compensation."
"Compensation?"
"Compensation for threatening my father and mother, you and me, and all of our Clan members. After destroying our Clan, he planned on looting everything we had. He had a very sinister heart. So, I took all of his treasure from him."
I truly wanted to rob him of everything down to his silver spoon and chopsticks, but that wasn't physically possible. So, I just took everything that I could possibly carry. "How much did you take? No, don't tell me. I don't want to know."
"Why? Aren't you curious?"
"No! I don't want to know! I'm scared. They say curiosity killed the cat."
"Ho. Ho. Ho."
"Please don't laugh like that, it's scaring me!"
If I were to exchange everything I took from him, it would come out to be about thirty thousand Nyang. Had I stayed longer and took more things from them, I could have made more; but I didn't. The only thing that was in my mind was leaving the premise as cleanly as possible. If I was greedier and stayed longer, my identity could have been exposed and there could have been repercussions.
Before I left, Jung Yeo most likely figured out that I was the Young Master of the Byuk Clan, but he couldn't raise his hand against me because he was afraid of me. Of all the people that he knew, there wasn't anyone who could deal with both Hyeol Gun and Yang Gi Chul at the same time.
He assumed that I was a sleeping dragon who was hiding his martial arts, so he swore his loyalty to me. But I wasn't so stupid as to fully trust his loyalty. I was just going to use him while keeping him at an arm's distance. Since he was involved with everything, he wouldn't tell the truth regarding this matter.
Kwang Du asked me with a shaking voice, "Did you really kill Yang Gi Kang as well?"
I nodded and Kwang Du's face darkened. "Why, do you feel pity for him?"
"But he was still so young."
"He isn't a child anymore; he was already twenty. But, what does that matter to me? Whether you are old or young, if you do something that deserves death then I will show no mercy."
Not counting the time that he tried to kill me, he still did many things that were deserving of death.
"Even so." This was what I liked about Kwang Du. He was very innocent. Even though we lived in a world where kindness can become weakness and innocence can become ignorance, he still held these traits. That's what I liked about him.
"I didn't kill him because of you. He wanted to kill me the other day. I just paid him back with interest." I said this so that he wouldn't blame himself.
"Come follow me for a bit." I took Kwang Du deep inside the forest where there was no one around.
Looking around the forest he asked me, "Is this where I say my last words?"
"If it is?"
"Thank You for everything, young master."
"Why are you thanking the person who is trying to kill you?"
"Even so." Even though he said it jokingly, he truly meant it. Even if he were to die right now, he would be thankful.
"Hey, Kwang Du."
"Yes, young master?"
"I going to start teaching you martial arts."
His face was full of surprise and worry. This was the first time since we met that he gave this this kind of expression. "Not some fake martial arts, but the real deal."
"You are saying this truthfully, right?"
"Yes, from the bottom of my heart."
"Is it your personal technique? The Brightmoon…"
"No what you will learn is going to be something different. This is something that you can learn easily."
After hesitating for a second, "Even if I wanted to learn young master, isn't it too late for me to learn? I am already twenty five this year."
"You don't have to worry about a thing."
Even though he was too old to learn martial arts, the person who was going to teach him was me. Although he was a bit too old to start, this was something I could easily compensate for.
"Answer me after giving it some thought. This is something that will change your future and your whole life. Will you learn martial arts from me?"
He replied rather quickly, "Yes, I will learn it."
"Can I ask you why you want to learn?"
"It's because of you. After that incident, you have changed, and after this … I don't know … but I felt like I wanted to change as well. I want to change like you."
"Let me ask you one more question."
"Yes, young master?"
"Why are you treating me so well, even after all the things that I have done?"
"Because of what happened in the past."
"What?"
"When you were little, you were a good person. Especially to me. This was something that happened in the past. When I was fifteen and you were ten, I became very sick. I was burning up with fever and lost consciousness. When I regained my consciousness, I saw you taking care of me. I still remember your worried face. That was the first and the only time in my life that someone worried about me that much."
"You're so foolish. Still living in the past."
"Even though it might be something that might have happened in the past for you, but for me, it was an event that I will never forget." Kwang Du gave me a bright smile.
So someone as trash as Byuk Lee Dan had a past like this. I was quite baffled.
"So what is the martial arts that I am going to learn?"
Living as the Strongest Under Heaven and as the Alliance master for the majority of my life, I had known quite a few good martial arts. The one that chose for Kwang Du was "Seven Techniques of the Northern Sea."
"Seven Techniques of the Northern Sea!" He repeated it a couple of times.
I chose this martial art because it was an easy to master, and there were many who practiced this martial art, so it was less likely for him to get into a troublesome situation.
"You have to memorize everything that I teach you." First I taught the breathing technique related to the Seven Techniques of the Northern Sea. Kwang Du was definitely smart. After telling him a couple of times, he was able to perfectly memorize it.
"Pretty smart."
"Ehhh, this is nothing." He was showing a small smile with pride.
Then I taught him about the Dantian, meridian and profound veins. How they are related and how to circulate ki throughout his body. He was able to understand everything that I taught him with ease.
"You need to first practice your breathing and cultivation technique. It will take at least ten days to be able to fully control your ki. I'll tell you the basics afterwards."
I was excited and nervous, since I had never reared a disciple in my previous life. So he was going to be my first disciple.
"You can't become an expert overnight."
"Of course not, young master. Cleaning the yard also requires practice."
"How do you feel right now?"
"I feel really good. I feel like I can fly."
"Never forget this feeling. Never forget how you feel at this very moment."
Saying this, I was reminiscing about the past and the time that I first learned martial arts. Even though it was such a long time ago, I still vividly remembered the past.
It is said teaching is also part of learning. By teaching others, you are able to look back and realize your shortcomings, and are able to learn from it. So, I was curious what I was going to learn from teaching Kwang Du.
"But I have a question, young master. When and how did you learn this martial art?"
"It was by chance."
He looked at me with a face full of questions. He truly wanted to ask me what, how, when and where. Forget it, you fool. Compared to the things that you will face in the future, this is nothing.
"You are no longer my servant, but my subordinate."
Kwang Du looked at me funny. "I guess I am your right-hand man now."
"You could… or you could be my pinky."
"No, I will become your right hand. No matter how hard it is, I will become your right hand. I must be there by your side wherever you go." Then he bowed to me.
"Don't they say when the disciple greets his master they bow like this?"
"Alright. I will receive your bow."
I didn't have any thought of taking him as my personal disciple. All that I was going to do was lead him in the right direction and give him pointers since he was my subordinate. But I received the bow gratefully.
Through this even I achieved three things. I took care of the Yang Clan. I was able to earn some money and was able to gain a proud and loyal subordinate.
"Let's go home now."