YSEM Chapter 35

The largest company in Sungyang County, Hubei Province, was Eunhae Merchant Group.

However, Eunhae Merchant Group didn’t monopolize everything in Sungyang County, so there were several other companies.

One of them was Heiju Group.

As the name suggests, it was a place where people from the martial world supplied liquor to small taverns.

Supplying liquor was just a euphemism; in reality, it was forced sales.

The owners of weaker small taverns had no choice but to accept their coercive sales.

This situation changed starting three years ago.

Eunhae Merchant Group began its liquor supply business.

They supplied high-quality liquor at reasonable prices, so the tavern owners wanted to receive liquor from Eunhae Merchant Group.

However, Heiju Group, the existing supplier, was bound to be displeased.

When the tavern owners were wary of them, Eunhae Merchant Group made a proposal to the tavern owners.

They would request Changin Escort Agency to prevent Heiju Group from causing trouble.

Eunhae Merchant Group’s own force was quite strong, to begin with, but with Changin Escort Agency joining in, the tavern owners’ minds were swayed.

As a result, all the taverns in Sungyang County started receiving liquor from Eunhae Merchant Group.

Consequently, Heiju Group found itself in a difficult situation.

.

.

.

Bang!

Wu Dade, the leader of Heiju Group, slammed his fist on the table.

“Damn it!”

He asked the lieutenant trembling in front of him,

“So, he was caught?”

“Y-yes, that’s what I heard.”

“He gulped down a hundred nyang of my hard-earned money and got caught?”

“…”

“Answer me, you bastard!”

Wu Dade grabbed a liquor bottle and threw it.

Crash!

The lieutenant, hit by the bottle and bleeding from his forehead, crumpled to the spot.

“P-please spare me, Boss!”

“Get up! Who said I’d kill you?”

As the lieutenant shakily stood up, Wu Dade ordered him,

“Explain in detail.”

“Yes, well, that is…”

“Cut the extra explanation and be as concise as possible.”

“Yes, sir!”

The lieutenant explained to Boss Wu Dade about what had happened at the junior merchant head announcement ceremony banquet for Eun Jeong-ho, the eldest son of Eunhae Merchant Group’s head.

Hearing that explanation, Wu Dade ground his teeth.

“How stupid! What assassin carries out a hit in broad daylight with guards lined up all around?”

It was unjust for Faceless GuestFaceless Guest, but Wu Dade, who couldn’t know the detailed circumstances, had no choice but to explode in anger.

“Uh, by the way, Boss.”

Another lieutenant standing nearby cautiously asked,

“What if that idiot spills that we were behind this?”

“We’ll just deny knowing anything about it! We’ve been doing that all along, so why are you acting so surprised?”

“B-but… I think we might have messed with the wrong people this time.”

“How many places did we supply liquor to?”

“If I remember correctly, it was a hundred and sixty-eight places.”

“And how many places have we supplied liquor to in the past month?”

“…Not a single place.”

“They snatched away all our clients! Where’s their business ethics? Doesn’t it make your blood boil that we’re starving while they’re holding banquets?”

“…”

Wu Dade continued, fuming,

“That’s why I wanted to send a warning! If they mess with us, even the eldest son of that Eunhae Merchant Group will end up like that. So they should accept our liquor again.”

“So what I’m saying is, how will you handle the consequences of stirring up this kind of trouble…?”

“Dammit! Didn’t I say it? Just deny it! Do you want to die? You have a death wish?”

“I-I’m sorry! Please spare me, Boss! I spoke out of turn!”

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Just then, someone came running and shouted,

“B-big trouble, Boss!”

“What is it?”

“Government troops! Government troops are closing in.”

“Government troops? Not constables, but government troops?”

“Yes!”

“How many?”

“It looks like easily several hundred.”

When a major incident occurred, the magistrate of Sungyang County could request government troops.

But several hundred government troops meant higher-ups were involved.

At those words, one lieutenant shouted,

“Damn it! Then that means the Circuit Inspector is on the move, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t tell me everything we’ve been doing has been exposed?”

Wu Dade stood up from his seat and shouted,

“Tell them to fight to the death!”

“What?”

“They’re government troops! What do you think will happen if we get caught? Is it better to die fighting? Or to suffer all kinds of torture without even being able to die and then face death by a thousand cuts?”

At those words, the lieutenant who had reported the news bit his lip.

“I’ll die fighting.”

That lieutenant left.

As the lieutenants there watched his back, in that brief moment when they took their eyes off him,

Slice!

Stab!

Thud!

Wu Dade drew his sword and slashed and stabbed the lieutenants in the same place.

“Why… why…?”

In response to the resentment-filled question, he laughed bitterly.

“Because you know about the secret passage.”

Slice!

After killing everyone like that, Wu Dade hurriedly grabbed his bundle.

The life of a martial world outlaw was unpredictable.

So he always had things prepared for when he needed to flee.

The sound of Heiju Group’s lieutenants clashing with the government troops could be heard in the distance.

“Stupid bastards. Fight to your heart’s content. I’m leaving.”

And he opened the secret passage hidden under the desk and threw himself in.

He crawled through the small passage inside for a long time.

How far had he gone?

Soon, light appeared, and he cautiously surveyed the outside.

No one was there.

‘Of course! How would they know about this place? Hehehe.’

He hurriedly emerged from the secret passage and began walking the path he had scouted in advance.

But he soon had to stop in his tracks.

Because he heard someone’s voice from the side.

“As expected, there was a rat hole.”

***

I pointed my sword at Boss Wu Dade.

As expected, he had come out through the rat hole and was about to flee.

I was slightly delayed due to being caught by Palgap in the middle and arguing, though.

By the way, Palgap is well hidden in the bushes…

Huh?

Why can’t I sense Palgap’s presence at all?

Anyway, if I had been a bit later, I might have missed catching him.

“Who are you?”

I chuckled at that question.

“That’s not really important, is it?”

At that moment, Boss Wu Dade rushed at me.

The blade fiercely sliced through the wind, aiming for my shoulder.

Clang!

But I had no intention of giving up my shoulder to an attack of that level. I quickly swung my sword to parry the opponent’s sword.

Clang-clang-clang!

Wu Dade retreated and clicked his tongue.

“You’re no ordinary fellow!”

He adjusted his grip on the sword.

It seemed he intended to get serious.

Then it was only polite for me to face him properly as well.

I recalled the first style of the True Snow Twelve-Form Swordsmanship that I had learned in my previous life—no, recently.

Descending Snow.

Snow falling signifies the beginning of winter.

The mountains and rivers are blanketed in white, and all living things shrink from the harsh winter wind.

Likewise, the first style, Descending Snow, is the beginning and the most crucial step of the True Snow Twelve-Form Swordsmanship.

Clang!

Clang-clang!

Boss Wu Dade’s sword and my sword clashed.

My hands felt numb, but it was still far from enough.

I steadily stepped with the footwork while unfolding the sword techniques of Descending Snow.

“Ugh…”

Strength began to drain from Boss Wu Dade’s sword, and the upper hand gradually tilted in my favor.

If he were far superior to me, he would have realized the true meaning of this sword technique and chosen to break the flow instead of continuing to clash swords with me.

Because the purpose of the Descending Snow sword technique was to draw the opponent’s momentum to my side.

Of course, if I didn’t have my previous memories, I wouldn’t have been able to lead the fight like this.

Because having only learned the first style of the True Snow Twelve-Form Swordsmanship, I couldn’t properly grasp its true meaning.

But having trained in this swordsmanship for over ten years in my previous life, I was well aware of the true meaning of the Descending Snow sword technique.

And that it was the most aggressive among the twelve styles of this swordsmanship.

Clang!

The sword flew out of Boss Wu Dade’s hand and soared through the air.

Tap!

And the blade of my sword touched his neck.

“Do you surrender?”

“Ha, I surrender.”

As Boss Wu Dade said that, he tried to put his hand inside his clothes.

But there was no way I would let that slide.

I had met so many people from the martial world.

I swiftly knocked away what he held in his hand, struck his stomach with my knee, and brought down the hilt of my sword on his neck.

“Ack!”

He let out a dying scream and collapsed.

I bound him while he was unconscious.

The reason I didn’t kill him here was that it would be too merciful to let him die like this.

So he should suffer all the pain he could and then die.

I shouted toward the bushes.

“It’s all over. You can come out now.”

At my words, the bushes rustled and Palgap emerged.

I was sure I hadn’t sensed his presence…

What’s going on?

Whether he knew my thoughts or not, Palgap spoke with a surprised expression,

“Young Master? Is it really you?”

“Of course. You think I’m a ghost?”

“Ah, no, that’s not it…”

Palgap scratched his head. And glancing at the unconscious Boss Wu Dade, he asked,

“You’re much stronger than I expected… Were you hiding your skills?”

“That’s right. If others knew I had these skills, they might be wary of me.”

To be precise, it was to avoid the wariness of the martial alliance and White Heaven Merchant Group.

“Well, that makes sense, but… When did you become this strong?”

“Since I took the divine medicine.”

“Ah…”

Since Palgap knew about the strange phenomenon that happened then, he readily accepted it.

“So I’d like you to keep it a secret too.”

“Of course I will. Understood.”

Palgap nodded and asked,

“But what should we do with this bundle?”

The bundle Boss Wu Dade had been carrying.

It seemed there might be something important in it.

“Let’s open it.”

At my words, Palgap untied it, and we were startled.

“Gasp!”

“Oh my!”

It was filled with an enormous amount of gold and silver treasures.

If this went to the authorities, would it be returned to those who suffered because of Boss Wu Dade?

No.

Property confiscated from criminals is unconditionally returned to the state.

So it was right for this to go to those who suffered because of Boss Wu Dade.

I tied it up again and picked it up.

“Palgap.”

“Yes.”

“We have something to do in a hurry.”

***

Several days passed after that.

“Young Master, did you hear about that?”

I tilted my head at Palgap’s words.

“About what?”

“I heard the leader of Heiju Group was caught.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. They found him dangling from a tree.”

“It’s a good thing we hung him on the tree before leaving.”

I was going to just leave him, but then I thought he might get hurt by beasts and might crawl away to escape, so I hung him on the tree before leaving.

Palgap continued,

“Right now, people are speculating that it was done by someone with a grudge against Heiju Group.”

“I thought they would assume it was a passing swordsman…”

“Don’t you think that’s absurd, Young Master? Late at night, in a remote place, how would a passing swordsman know who he was and do that?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Anyway, I heard they’re investigating who did it.”

Palgap and I looked at each other and chuckled.

Because the ones who did it were none other than us.

“And about those silver taels we distributed.”

Palgap and I had distributed silver taels little by little to those who had suffered because of the Heiju Group.

“Oh, what happened with that?”

“The leader of Heiju Group testified that the bundle of gold and silver treasures he had brought was missing, and based on that, they believe the one who did that to the leader distributed the silver taels to people.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

“The authorities tried to collect it, claiming it was criminal proceeds…”

For a moment, something surged up inside me.

We went through so much trouble to split it into silver taels and distribute them, and they want to collect it?

“The old man asked if they had evidence that it was the criminal proceeds the leader of Heiju Group had fled with. Since it was all silver taels, not the gold taels the leader claimed to have.”

“And then?”

“So they decided to leave it be.”

“Oh, is that so?”

It was good news.

“I should visit the odds-and-ends shop later to express my gratitude.”

I’m glad the hard work of exchanging it for silver taels was worth it.

“Then I’m off to work.”

“All right.”

Leaving Palgap behind, I headed to the Chamber of Wealth Management.

It seemed it was a good decision to reveal the level of my martial arts to Palgap.

Otherwise, it would have been a hassle to create my illusion every time I went out.

And it would have been quite difficult to appease Palgap if he found out later and got upset.

Then was buying that for nothing?

Well, I’m sure it will come in handy later.

With that thought, I soon arrived at the Chamber of Wealth Management and headed to Chief of Internal Affairs Yoo’s office, receiving greetings from the staff.

Time to start work.