Chapter 511: Side Story 11
Chapter 11
Late at night.
Jang Sam-tae sat inside a brothel in the red-light district, tipping his glass. He didn’t enter a private room, but perhaps because he seemed quite wealthy, courtesans were gathered around him, chattering and giving off all sorts of fragrances.
This was the life Jang Sam-tae had originally intended to live, yet he was bizarrely calm and expressionless. He almost looked as if he were in a bad mood.
“Oh my, why aren’t you drinking?”
“Hoho, please try some of this.”
The courtesans’ soft touches and laughter dug into his ears.
Each time, wine glasses were exchanged and strong liquor flowed down his throat. The sullen Jang Sam-tae, who showed no reaction despite feeling the gentle touches of the women, appeared quite bizarre.
From the women’s perspective, it was a good thing.
Even though he had ordered a considerable amount of alcohol, he continued to empty the bottles, and he paid no mind even when expensive food was brought out. Since every bottle of liquor and every snack added to their income, it was as if the perfect pushover had appeared.
“Damn it… I don’t get drunk no matter how much I drink… Why did I even learn this martial arts?”
Just then, Jang Sam-tae scowled as he gulped straight from the bottle.
The alcohol went in, but it was naturally detoxified. Jang Sam-tae felt he finally understood a little why people like Namgung Cheon and Sado Hak never got drunk despite drinking so much.
Of course, he wasn’t completely sober.
A certain level of tipsiness rose, but that was it.
That wasn’t enough to soothe this awful mood.
“Did you learn martial arts?”
“Yes, an incredible martial arts at that!”
Jang Sam-tae puffed out his chest and thumped it.
He was overflowing with pride, as if to say, show me someone who climbed up from the third-rate all the way here.
Although he didn’t know his exact level of skill, he knew well enough that his abilities were not low, as he was now quite superior even within the manor.
The thugs and third-rate martial artists he used to fear in the past were no longer even worth his attention.
‘And killing people…’
The moment he thought that, he unknowingly scowled.
He didn’t hesitate to kill either.
The moment he made up his mind to kill, he had to snap their necks.
The life of a martial artist wasn’t all that great, but even so, Jang Sam-tae couldn’t give these things up.
Wasn’t the reason he learned martial arts in the first place to protect Dan So-mi?
He didn’t want to act recklessly again by solely trusting his lightness art.
“Damn it!”
Reaching that thought, Jang Sam-tae chugged the liquor bottle again. The face of the person who had been captured while messing around, relying only on his lightness art, came to mind.
It wasn’t someone he had liked much since childhood.
However, just as the current Jang Sam-tae wouldn’t exist without Dan Woo-hyun, it was glaringly obvious that if it weren’t for Geum Dae-ryang, he would have long since become a corpse buried somewhere.
Since he had survived because of him and met Dan Woo-hyun in the first place, it was an awkward situation to call him an old man who was of no help in his life.
Just then, a courtesan’s soft voice was heard.
“If you’ve learned martial arts, then you must know those people over there too?”
“Over there?”
Following her gaze with a glance, he saw a group of people huddled together.
Three or four people were taking up a large table, drinking with countless courtesans by their sides, visibly pleased about something.
Their booming voices, which he hadn’t noticed until now due to his foul mood, lingered in his ears.
“Hahaha! Drink! The sect leader is treating us grandly today!”
“Thank you, senior brother! I never dreamed a day like this would come!”
It seemed they were from a sect, talking loudly and tipping their glasses. Perhaps because each person had a sword next to them, others were reluctant to go near them.
It was because they feared a disaster might strike them.
Only the men and the courtesans seemed to be in high spirits.
If they were going to act like that, why didn’t they get a private room instead of drinking here?
The moment Jang Sam-tae was making an utterly perplexed expression.
“So, now that we’ve caught that old man, all we have to do is make him spit out who the guy he was with is?”
“Exactly! The sect leader came in person and said he would torture him, so he won’t last long.”
“Won’t he die like that?”
Contrary to his worried words, the man’s voice was quite calm. They weren’t the type to bat an eye at the death of someone who wasn’t even a relative anyway.
Jang Sam-tae’s ears perked up.
His gaze naturally focused on them.
“But does it really exist?”
“Well… It must be certain. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be running away like that.”
“I heard the source wasn’t clear…”
Their voices reached him, sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly.
Jang Sam-tae’s every nerve was directed at each sound striking his ears. As soon as he heard what he wanted, he gripped the liquor bottle tightly.
“Anyway, that old man is going to die. One way or another, it’s certain there will be a bad aftermath.”
“Probably. But he’ll wish he were dead before then.”
A smirk of derision was heard.
This was a smile that emerged because they already knew what kind of torture the sect leader would inflict. Even trained individuals couldn’t easily endure proper torture, so shaking up a dying old man was nothing.
Crash-!
At that moment, the liquor bottle Jang Sam-tae was holding shattered.
As the shards flew everywhere and liquor soaked the floor, everyone was startled.
Not only the Gongcheon Sect disciples who were talking, but even the courtesans beside Jang Sam-tae opened their eyes wide in shock.
Jang Sam-tae stood up from his seat without a word.
Then, with an expressionless face, he strode toward the Gongcheon Sect disciples.
Was it because of his murderous momentum?
The Gongcheon Sect disciples who had been watching quietly picked up the swords they had placed beside them one by one, and the people who realized the atmosphere was unusual began to sneak outside.
“What is it?”
The one who appeared to be the eldest brother stared fixedly at Jang Sam-tae, who had stopped right in front of his nose. A killing intent surged, making it seem like he would cut off his head at a single wrong word.
This was because their enjoyment had been interrupted.
At that moment, Jang Sam-tae simply reached out and grabbed the eldest brother’s hair.
Before anyone could even gasp, he slammed his head right into the plate of snacks.
Smack!
A heavy sound echoed.
The plate shattered, and the man’s face, which had been slammed into it, became a mess with all kinds of food. Blood even trickled down, perhaps because his head had been busted when the plate broke.
“You rotten bastards… I held it in and held it in, do I look like a joke to you?”
Jang Sam-tae sharply glared at the remaining men.
His killing intent was fierce.
His glaring gaze seemed completely devoid of fear toward them. The moment he spat out the words, a man nearby swiftly thrust his sword.
“You bastard!”
“Bastard my ass!”
The incoming sword was quite slow.
To Jang Sam-tae, who had watched the swords of people like Namgung So-hye, Zhuge Yeon, and Gwon Mu-jin for a long time, it just felt like a turtle.
With a slight turn of his head, the blade grazed past, and Jang Sam-tae kicked out, smashing the chair the man had been sitting on.
Smash!
The chair broke with a violent sound.
The splinters flew into the chest of the man who had drawn his sword.
“Keugh!”
The moment the man’s body flew into the air from the massive impact and hit the wall, Jang Sam-tae didn’t stop; he kicked the table, striking the face of the man on the opposite side.
Crash-!
With a violent crash, another man fell over.
His appearance of subduing three or four people in an instant truly made him look like a master among masters, and it seemed no one here could defeat Jang Sam-tae.
Jang Sam-tae threw the eldest brother he held by the hair.
With a ‘thud’, the moment his body fell from the air and touched the floor, he let out a bizarre scream and gasped for breath.
“Keu-aaak!”
“Beggar bastards… Acting all high and mighty when you’re nothing? Yeah, where is that sect leader of yours? Let’s hear it.”
Jang Sam-tae reached out his foot and stepped on the chest of the sprawled eldest brother, gradually applying pressure. The faint sound of grinding could be heard, making it seem like his bones would shatter if he pressed down just a little harder.
The face of the eldest brother, who barely regained his senses, turned pale, and at the same time, realizing death was near, he looked at Jang Sam-tae with eyes drenched in terror.
* * *
“Kuaaaak!”
Geum Dae-ryang let out a scream.
The unbearable pain rushing in was beyond words. His head shook, and even his legs trembled violently.
A sensation as if all the bones, flesh, and even nerves in his entire body were being severed. If that were actually happening, he would have inevitably died, but it was amazing that he only felt such a sensation and still had his life intact.
He spewed out rough breaths.
Saliva trickled down from his mouth, and his eyes lacked focus.
He only realized the fact that someone was standing in front of him.
“I… I really… don’t have it…”
He barely managed to spit out the words.
Since he knew what the other party wanted, he fiercely denied having it and begged them to spare his life.
However, the other party paid no mind at all.
Instead, he had a dumbfounded expression.
“Of course you’d say you don’t have it. But which is more important, your life or the manual? It’s the same either way since you lose everything if you die.”
“I-I really don’t have it, some… someone st, stole it and r, ran away.”
“Haha, you expect me to believe that the worldly Geum Wang-su was robbed?”
Gongcheon Sect Leader Gong Ma-jung wore a sneer.
This was none other than the worldly Geum Wang-su.
He was known as one of the best thieves in the world and was considered a legend among thieves. Was he telling him to believe that such a person, no matter how old, had his item stolen?
Moreover, those words just now…
“Anyway, it seems the manual really does exist.”
“…”
The existence of the manual was confirmed by Geum Dae-ryang’s single phrase.
Gong Ma-jung’s body trembled violently.
The legendary manual of the Martial God. If he got his hands on it, he would not only regain the influence that had begun to be taken by the Heavenly Path Society, but also acquire all the honors of being the world’s best sect and the world’s best martial artist.
It meant being at the very top of this Murim.
His desire boiled even more with the sense of euphoria he felt the more he thought about it.
He wanted to get his hands on it right now.
He wanted to have it quickly.
Since he was sure that Geum Dae-ryang had it, he would definitely get his hands on it no matter what method he had to take.
In Gong Ma-jung’s eyes, distorted by desire, the light in Geum Dae-ryang’s eyes telling the truth seemed invisible.
“Speak! Speak up quickly! Where is it!”
“Kuaaaaaak!”
The moment Gong Ma-jung pressed Geum Dae-ryang’s pressure point again, a tremendous, bizarre scream echoed. His appearance, trembling and thrashing about like a madman, was truly too gruesome to watch with open eyes.
However, Gong Ma-jung focused on it.
The smile on his lips was like a demon’s, and his desire-soaked eyes were disgusting.
Just then.
Bang-!
A resounding noise was heard from somewhere.
Startled, Gong Ma-jung hastily removed his hand from the pressure point and turned his gaze. He couldn’t see anything because it was blocked on all sides, but the look in his eyes as he stared in the direction of the sound was somehow bizarre.
[Hey, you bastard! Where are you-!]
Boom-!
It was right at that moment that a man’s voice was heard.
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