Chapter 508: Side Story 8

Chapter side_8

Have you ever felt the sensation of being played with in the palm of someone’s hand?

Slumped at the entrance of an alleyway where few people passed by, Jang Sam-tae dropped his shoulders as he felt that very sensation. He thought he had finally escaped from Dan Woo-hyun’s clutches, only to realize that all of it had been part of Dan Woo-hyun’s calculations.

Taking the money pouch was undoubtedly to prepare for a situation like this.

‘Son of a bitch!’

His complaints were endless.

Even so, to lay hands on someone else’s pocket.

Even for the great Dan Woo-hyun, there were things he could and couldn’t do, and this time he had gone a bit too far.

‘Should I just tattle to the county office?’

Jang Sam-tae thought to himself.

The image of Dan Woo-hyun being tied up by the constables.

The sight of him kneeling in the middle of the county office, being called a thief.

Just thinking about it seemed to amuse him, bringing a smile to his lips.

“But things wouldn’t go my way like that…”

Soon stopping his laughter, Jang Sam-tae leaned heavily against the wall and sighed. Imagination was always just imagination.

Even if he dragged Dan Woo-hyun to the county office to screw him over, would they believe the words of the Hunan Dan Family’s manor lord, or the words of a penniless beggar servant?

Any county magistrate would believe Dan Woo-hyun, and even if they didn’t, considering Dan Woo-hyun’s prestige heard around the world and his relationship with Hong Won-chang, it was an unwinnable battle no matter what he did.

“Damn it…”

If it came to this, he had no choice but to get money using whatever method possible. The journey was one thing, but he had no desire to return to Dan Woo-hyun again, so he was in a situation where he had to pioneer his own path.

The easiest method would be… pickpocketing?

Pondering for a moment, Jang Sam-tae shook his head from side to side.

He had washed his hands of it.

Hadn’t he vowed never to do such a thing again right after meeting Dan So-mi?

A thief turning over a new leaf was an absurd thing to say, but still, Jang Sam-tae wanted to keep his promise to Dan So-mi without fail.

Then, excluding such illegal activities, what was the easiest way to earn money?

‘The Hao Clan?’

Going into the Hao Clan and extorting money?

Come to think of it, pickpocketing and this seemed quite similar, but since he would be receiving it politely, he figured he wouldn’t feel a hint of guilt.

However, Jang Sam-tae shook his head from side to side. If he did that, it was obvious his location would be instantly exposed to Dan Woo-hyun.

So, the other method he thought of besides that was to catch criminals and claim the bounty.

Or to extort money from such people.

Jang Sam-tae stood up and headed for the market streets. Since it was the place with the most people coming and going, it was also a place where incidents and accidents occurred frequently.

‘Ruffians or whatever, just let anyone get caught by me.’

Jang Sam-tae’s eyes flashed as he looked around like a hawk.

His targeting gaze was so fierce, it seemed he was full of thoughts to rip off a ton from whoever he caught, be it a fist gang or anyone else.

Since he would be reprimanding them and rightfully taking money earned through crime, he appeared to have not a shred of guilt, but he himself seemed unaware that this behavior of his closely resembled Dan Woo-hyun.

Having been looking around for a long time, Jang Sam-tae suddenly fixed his gaze on a certain person. The person had a piece of cloth pulled deeply over their head so that their face couldn’t even be seen, and their movements were quite bizarre as well.

They had a sturdy build, suggesting they practiced martial arts to some extent, but since their face was hidden, it was impossible to tell how old they were.

However, the issue lay in their hand movements.

In an instant, they closed the distance with the people and brushed past them. The time it took for the carefully hidden money pouches to slip out was truly a split second.

The victims didn’t even realize they had been robbed, so that man’s thieving skills had truly reached the heavens.

“Hey! Stop right there!”

Dashing out hastily, Jang Sam-tae shouted roughly. The man, who was trying to slip away by secretly mixing in with the crowd, flinched and immediately threw his body forward.

“Gasp?”

“Oh my!”

He vanished from sight in an instant.

It was an immense speed, enough to make one wonder if a person could be this fast. It was to the point where even Jang Sam-tae, who considered his lightness art second to none, clicked his tongue in awe.

“This bastard!”

However, Jang Sam-tae was also someone who had made a living entirely out of his lightness art. With eyes gleaming with a determination to never lose him, Jang Sam-tae also threw his body forward.

In the first place, if one wanted to beat Jang Sam-tae in lightness art in this Central Plains Murim, they would have to be someone on the level of the Five Emperors.

Flying like an arrow, Jang Sam-tae chased the tail of the person who had quickly disappeared.

No matter how fast the other was, he was moving even faster, so there was no way he would lose his trace right before his eyes. He didn’t even need to use tracking skills to find the traces.

“Hey, you bastard! Do you dare think you can escape from me? Drop the money pouches and leave!”

Jang Sam-tae shouted in a booming voice.

Seeing the distance between him and his opponent gradually narrowing, he smirked. Having confirmed quite a few bulky money pouches, he wouldn’t have any trouble making a living even if he only got a little.

This was truly a godsend.

Therefore, Jang Sam-tae had absolutely no intention of letting him go.

Soon, he perfectly closed the distance, and the moment he tried to grab his collar.

Pat!

The hand of the man whose back was turned flew towards him.

He was fast.

A grappling hand technique like a flash of lightning.

However, at the somewhat familiar feeling, Jang Sam-tae frowned. Lightly deflecting the incoming hand movement, he grabbed his opponent’s collar and slammed him straight into the ground.

Bang!

A heavy sound echoed.

“Aigoo-!”

Soon, a voice that sounded like an old man’s was heard, and standing blankly in front of him, Jang Sam-tae widened his eyes and stared blankly at the person whose cloth had been taken off.

“Aigoo… I’m dying. Hey, you bastard! Are you trying to kill an old man? If you’re going to catch me, you should’ve caught me gently!”

A sharp, raspy voice was heard shortly after.

At the familiar voice ringing in his ears, Jang Sam-tae stared at his face for a moment, lost for words. Then, as their eyes met, both of them flinched at the same time.

Jang Sam-tae quickly covered his face, and the old man who had been screaming in pain suddenly stood up.

“You… You!”

“Do… Do you know me?”

Cold sweat ran down Jang Sam-tae.

There are always people one never wants to meet. And even more so if it’s someone they hold bad memories of.

That was how Jang Sam-tae felt right now.

Although he looked much older than the last time he saw him in the past, he could recognize him at first glance.

“How could I not recognize you! It’s me, me! Geum Dae-ryang! Aren’t I your master?”

“Ha, haha, wha… what are you talking about? I don’t have a master or anything like that, though?”

Geum Dae-ryang of the Golden King Hands.

He was the one who had briefly taught Jang Sam-tae lightness art, and he was also a legendary figure who was still called the greatest thief.

Although he was now nothing more than an old man pickpocketing in the market streets, in the past he had been so incredible that rumors said there was no place he couldn’t rob.

But to Jang Sam-tae, he was a person he really didn’t want to meet.

“Look at this guy, look at this guy! N-No! How are you still alive?”

Geum Dae-ryang looked at Jang Sam-tae with an expression of disbelief.

“You mean the Golden King Hands?”

“Yes. It’s because it’s bizarre. He is practicing a lightness art that draws on innate ki… yet how is that person still alive?”

Dan Woo-hyun asked what he had been most curious about until now. Since he wasn’t particularly interested, he had kept it buried until now, but as they talked about Jang Sam-tae, it naturally slipped out.

In the first place, innate ki was life itself.

Drawing on it was ultimately no different from heading towards death, yet the person known as the Golden King Hands had been living for quite a long time.

Considering that the name Golden King Hands could still be heard even now, wasn’t it a bizarre occurrence?

“Hmm… Well… To be honest, this old man is curious about that point too.”

Namgung Cheon also nodded in agreement.

When he knew nothing, he just thought they were practicing a rare lightness art, but the moment he checked Jang Sam-tae’s physical condition, he realized that wasn’t it.

If so, it was quite a feat for that old man to be alive when he rightly should have been dead.

“Why are you thinking so seriously, you guys?”

“Hm? Do you know something?”

Dan Woo-hyun’s gaze turned towards Sa Do-hak.

Walking with a nonchalant expression and gnawing on the arrowroot he had just plucked, Sa Do-hak found the two men with their questioning expressions to be quite amusing.

“That old man, you see. He spends all his money buying spirit medicines. Innate ki is ultimately just energy, so there’s no way there wouldn’t be spirit medicines to manage it.”

“Haha, so in the end, stealing was also to survive.”

Namgung Cheon finally understood and nodded.

He was someone who went around stealing in the first place.

He wouldn’t need to use much internal energy, and he just had to avoid fighting. Furthermore, he wouldn’t need to use his lightness art when breaking in as long as he wasn’t caught, so he could conserve his innate ki as much as possible.

By taking spirit medicines to restore his depleted energy, he naturally underwent some degree of healing, even if not entirely.

Therefore, he was still alive.

“It’s funny. Stealing to survive, yet dying every time he steals.”

“Isn’t that their nature? Honestly, if he successfully robs one place properly, he’ll have more than enough money to buy spirit medicines, so it’s killing two birds with one stone.”

“It’s amazing that the ones called Golden King Hands have been like that for generations… I would have been completely fed up.”

Namgung Cheon shook his head side to side.

Knowing the fact that they are dying, yet unable to quit stealing. In the first place, they were destined to be thieves the moment they inherited the name Golden King Hands.

But upon realizing that their lives are being whittled away the moment they steal and use lightness art, they become unable to quit in order to survive.

The vicious cycle continues endlessly.

Namgung Cheon clicked his tongue, tsk tsk.

“This is why you shouldn’t practice those things called demonic arts.”

“Demonic arts have their own levels. Are you comparing that trash martial art with this elder’s martial art?”

Sa Do-hak, who had been following from behind, suddenly stopped walking.

He didn’t like Namgung Cheon’s attitude of looking down on demonic arts.

As he fiercely frowned and glared in displeasure, Namgung Cheon, who had been walking ahead, also stopped and chuckled while looking at Sa Do-hak.

“It’s not wrong, is it? Has there ever been anyone decent who practiced demonic arts?”

“There is, isn’t there? Me!”

“Not you, you bastard!”

“Then are you saying the other guys in the Demonic Cult are all moronic idiots?”

At Sa Do-hak’s words, Namgung Cheon chuckled again.

The way he didn’t answer made it seem as if he was agreeing.

A fierce wind surged around Sa Do-hak, who was glaring in displeasure.

As an aura completely different from before began to disperse, Namgung Cheon’s gentle energy also flowed out as if to fight back.

Dan Woo-hyun quietly watched the two men.

The swirling fierce winds and fierce auras clashed, creating a tremendous sense of intimidation.

However, sensing the auras they exuded, Dan Woo-hyun let out a small sigh.

“Do you have nothing better to fight about? You’re worse than kids, tsk tsk.”

Uttering such words, he slowly walked ahead.

The two old men, who were about to clash violently, flinched at the voice and slowly calmed their energies with awkward expressions.

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