Chapter 65: Chapter 65

The walls of the back alleys differed in height and shape, drawing a complex and chaotic pattern as varied as the number of people in New Sichuan. It was also the true face of a new city that had grown in a hundred years without any urban planning, unlike the grand and majestic pavilions.

Jang Geon stepped up onto one of the lower roofs among them and quietly lowered his posture. Down in the narrow alley below, two groups had drawn their swords and were glaring at each other. Among them, some were already bleeding as if they had collided once.

The distinction between the two groups was clear: those blocking the path were unidentified people wearing yellow masks over their faces, while the opposite side was the Je Clan group and the horse bandits who had traded the treasure map. The one bleeding was one of those horse bandits.

As Jang Geon lowered his body on top of the roof and watched them, one of the masked men stepped forward and spoke.

“Hand over the treasure map and those horse bandits. Then we will let you leave alive.”

“…Do you know who you are pointing your swords at right now?”

At Je Un-seong’s words as he stepped up at the very front, the masked man answered nonchalantly.

“Je Sang-cheon of the Je Clan, his fiancée, and you are Blood Plum Eagle Je Un-seong. You suffer much taking care of a greenhorn.”

“To be so confident even while knowing who we are. Are you not afraid of the future?”

“Why should I be? Don’t you not even know my face thanks to this mask? Besides, our Gallows Young Master’s position as clan successor is already precarious…”

“What?”

Standing behind Je Un-seong, Je Sang-cheon’s face distorted fiercely at those brief words as he stepped forward. A sharp, icy light sparkled from the treasured sword held in his hand.

“It would be better for the Gallows Young Master not to step forward. If you want to take your life with you, that is. Or do you wish to go seek the lover who departed once more?”

“You scoundrel!”

At the masked man’s mockery, Je Sang-cheon was about to raise his sword and charge immediately. However, Je Un-seong’s arm blocked his front.

“…Move this!”

“Young Master, be calm. Recklessly stepping forward like that will cause even a winning fight to suffer heavy losses.”

Without taking his eyes off the masked man, Je Un-seong applied more strength to the arm blocking Je Sang-cheon. Unable to shake off that hand, Je Sang-cheon huffed and glared at the masked man. Watching this scene, the masked man wore a subtle smirk. It was because his provocation toward Je Sang-cheon had been blocked more easily than expected.

“A winning fight, you say. Are you confident you can fight us and win?”

Pushing Je Sang-cheon back, Je Un-seong smirked.

“In a narrow alley like this, there are limits to pincer attacks. At most one or two. And I have learned the martial arts of a noble clan, nor is my skill bad. Unless you happen to be the Imperial Army or a Martial Alliance strike force, I see no reason why I should be pushed back.”

“…My word. I don’t know why you’re insisting on fighting. Don’t you know how those trash obtained that item? It’s an item they plundered after slaughtering an ordinary farmer and all his relatives. And we are simply telling you to hand over those trash and the item those trash stole. I cannot understand why you would use a clan’s thousand-year honor to protect those trash.”

“Trash, you say…”

Je Un-seong glanced behind him. Centered around the one-eyed man bleeding from his shoulder, the five horse bandits were staring at him with piteous eyes as if the fellow’s words were not true. Leaving that gaze behind, Je Un-seong took a step forward. Thereupon, his sword hilt, which had seemed invisible until now, suddenly asserted its presence from behind his back.

“I do not know who you are, nor what grudge you have against them. But what is clear right now is that even if it is a stolen item, we have already paid the price, and you pointed your blades at the Je Clan, insulting our family. No one can act with such insolence toward our Je Clan.”

“…You insist on drinking the penalty cup after all?”

The corners of Je Un-seong’s mouth drew a cold smile.

“I wonder if you guys even qualify as a penalty cup.”

At that answer, the masked men quietly gripped their weapons, while Je Sang-cheon and Seom Ji-young also tightened their grips on their swords and stood on both sides of Je Un-seong. In an instant, the atmosphere turned grim. The eyes of eight or nine masked men and the Je Clan group keenly observed each other.

It was unclear who drew a gleaming flash with their blade first. They moved almost simultaneously, and along with it, vivid red blood scattered beneath the chaotic alley. After the first exchange, it grew noisy with roars, shouts of internal energy, screams, and the clashing of blades.

And watching from afar, Jang Geon let out a hollow laugh in absurdity.

“Those bastards…”

What caught Jang Geon’s eye was neither Je Un-seong’s skill nor the movements of the masked men. It was the sight of the horse bandits sneakily climbing over the side wall to flee while they fought merrily.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, that sight was caught by the masked men’s eyes in no time.

“Those fellows are running away!”

At that moment, all gazes focused on the one-eyed man who was the last to cross the wall. Receiving those gazes, the one-eyed man froze for a moment, grinned, and vanished over the wall. Everyone engaged in battle was flustered, and while Je Un-seong also felt the absurdity, a certain uneasy intuition brushed past his mind, causing him to look back at Je Sang-cheon.

“Young Master! Are you keeping proper hold of the item?”

“Huh?”

Je Sang-cheon, who had a dazed expression with blood droplets on his face, fumbled around his clothes at those words. Then he stopped dead in his tracks and broke into a cold sweat. His complexion turned pale in an instant.

“I-It’s gone…”

“Damn it!”

Ignoring the masked man he was exchanging swords with, Je Un-seong rushed straight to the wall where the horse bandits had vanished. Je Sang-cheon and Seom Ji-young, their faces turned pale white, also quickly followed behind him. And the masked man, looking at the Je Clan group with disdainful eyes, silently waved his hand to give hand signals to the other masked men who were bleeding from cuts here and there within that short interval. Seeing that signal, the masked men all nodded and scattered individually into the alleys in a swarm.

Running along the walls and roofs, Je Un-seong’s group yelled at the horse bandits glimpses of whom could be seen in the alleys to stop immediately. But there was no way they would stop, so instead only the people in the alleys who were growing in sparse numbers grew startled, causing commotion.

Watching that scene, Jang Geon shook his head gently and began moving in a slightly different direction from them.

And before long, beneath the shadow of a dark eaves, he spotted a person walking slowly. It was the one-eyed man who had split off from the other horse bandits.

Glancing behind him, he pulled out a small scroll from his breast pocket. It was the treasure map he had traded just moments ago. Watching it, the one-eyed man was smirking to himself, wondering what thoughts were passing through his mind.

Jang Geon soundlessly dropped down onto the wall beside him and matched his pace. Then he called out to him as he smiled alone.

“Hey.”

Startled out of his wits, the one-eyed man stuck to the opposite alley wall. And looking at Jang Geon squatting on top of the wall, he asked in bewilderment.

“W-Who are you?”

Jang Geon gestured with his chin toward his hand.

“Someone who has business with that over there.”

At those words, the one-eyed man rolled his single eye around and around, then suddenly began dashing away. Whether the horse bandit bastard had diligently practiced martial arts, it was quite a fast run. However, Jang Geon merely stared blankly at him while remaining squatted, then pulled something out from his breast pocket and tossed it with a flick.

“Ugh!”

Drawing a long line as it flew, it pierced straight through the one-eyed man’s thigh. It was the long spike Jang Geon had obtained from the Dark Dragon agent previously.

With the long spike pierced through his thigh, the one-eyed man writhed on the ground while screaming in painful agony. Having no intention of letting him scream further to call people over, Jang Geon immediately descended from the wall and approached him. Then he lightly kicked the belly of the lying man first.

“Gah!”

Instantly choked of breath, the one-eyed man gasped and trembled. But Jang Geon, having no intention of showing mercy to a horse bandit, grabbed him by the collar, pulled him upright, and slapped his cheek without warning. Broken teeth and blood splattered against the wall of the dark alley.

“P-Please spare me…”

Jang Geon did not answer. He merely picked up the treasure map that had fallen and rolled onto the ground beside the trembling man. Dusting off the dirt on the outside, he unfurled the scroll to find it densely filled with complex drawings and symbols. Looking at it, Jang Geon realized that those symbols and drawings were a kind of code. It was probably the code of the Li Clan, descendants of Li Shimin.

“How were you planning to handle this after stealing it back?”

“…T-The black market roughly interpreted it for me…”

Jang Geon chuckled softly.

“You tried to gobble up the Je Clan’s money and this treasure as well?”

The one-eyed man smiled servilely with his toothless face and said.

“He-Hehe… It wasn’t like that from the start… It was because the young master over there was so defenseless… What will happen to me now?”

“Well. You’re a horse bandit, right?”

“Hehe. What else would I be?”

“And you plundered this treasure map after raiding a farmhouse and killing everyone.”

Hearing those words, he looked up into Jang Geon’s eyes. And seeing those calm, completely unswerving eyes, he could roughly guess what kind of person he was. So, as if exhausted now that everything was over, he exhaled a sigh and leaned his body down, then suddenly tried to pull out a short knife hidden in his sleeve and slash with it.

However, before the short knife and hand could extend properly, they were grabbed firmly by Jang Geon and stopped. As his surprise attack was blocked, the one-eyed man’s expression hardened and he attempted to follow up with continuous attacks. But Jang Geon’s fist striking his face like lightning was faster.

With that strike, his jaw twisted sharply with a small thud echoing through the alley. The man’s single eye turned cloudily dim as he slowly collapsed. Blood trickled down from both his eyes, nose, and ears.

Jang Geon looked down at the dead horse bandit whose mind had been turned to mush, rolled the treasure map back up, and tucked it into his breast pocket. Glancing up and listening carefully, he heard the thumping sound of running atop the roofs. Lifting the bamboo hat he had pushed behind his neck, Jang Geon put it on his head and exited the alley.

Around the time he vanished into the entrance of the alley, Je Un-seong appeared above the alley path. Spotting the fallen one-eyed man, he hurriedly descended into the alley.

“Damn it…”

The one-eyed horse bandit had ceased breathing, and the treasure map was nowhere to be seen. Muttering curses in a low voice, Je Un-seong continued rummaging through the horse bandit’s breast pocket until he discovered something thick and pulled it out. It was the paper envelope containing small bonds that Je Sang-cheon had handed over to him.

“…The treasure map is gone, but the money remains…”

Wearing a peculiar expression, Je Un-seong tapped his opposite palm with the envelope held in his hand. From down the alley, Je Sang-cheon and Seom Ji-young came running a beat late.

* * *

“Fuck, where did he go…”

Yang Goeng was wandering here and there through the alleys of New Sichuan. It had already been a long time since he lost Jang Geon’s tail in the chaos, but he had only found traces of fights inside the alleys and couldn’t find Jang Geon.

“No, fuck, but who were those bastards? Judging by their skill, they weren’t the Imperial Army, and even less so the Dark Dragon Bureau… Could it be the Demonic Palace? But there was no sign of those gloomy bastards entering New Sichuan… Ah, damn it. Should I dig into the Martial Alliance’s covert line a bit…”

Frowning, he walked down the alley talking to himself with arms crossed. However, his legs stepped boldly forward as if he knew the alleys inside out.

Right then, his steps suddenly stopped. Sensing an unknown presence, he checked the front and back of the alley. However, the sparsely populated alley was merely cool in the shade with no one around.

“…What is it?”

“What do you mean, punk? It’s me.”

Yang Goeng let out a loud shriek and rolled across the ground. Jang Geon was squatting on top of the alley wall. Leaning his back against the opposite wall, Yang Goeng flared up in anger.

“Aish, fuck! Give some sign when you walk around! You scared the living daylights out of me! No matter how you play pranks, why must it always be like this…”

As Jang Geon chuckled softly, he saw that Yang Goeng was holding a dagger in his hand, as if he still had a card up his sleeve after all. Afterwards, listening for a moment to Yang Goeng grumbling and complaining to himself, Jang Geon pulled out the scroll from his breast pocket.

Gradually spewing curses at Jang Geon who wasn’t even listening, Yang Goeng completely changed his expression upon seeing that.

“…That?”

Jang Geon tossed that scroll to Yang Goeng. Tucking away his dagger, Yang Goeng caught it flusteredly, quickly unfurled it, and checked the inside.

“Can you make it out?”

“Hmm. The Li Clan has been ruined for a long time… I can only make out rough details.”

Jang Geon questioned back.

“You can’t make it out? Didn’t you say you’re from the Dark Dragon Bureau?”

“…What, just because I’m in the Dark Dragon Bureau, must I be an expert in codes?”

Thinking of special intelligence agents, Jang Geon shook his head slowly, concluding that an intelligence agent in this world didn’t necessarily have to be like that, and asked again.

“Then what are you going to do now?”

Rolling up the unfurled scroll, Yang Goeng looked at Jang Geon on the wall and grinned broadly.

“We must go to someone who can decipher it.”

Jang Geon nodded, descended into the alley, and smacked Yang Goeng on the head.

“Ah! What was that for?”

“Hand it over.”

“…”

Unable to say anything, Yang Goeng extended the treasure map—which he had been sneakily trying to pocket in his breast pocket—back to Jang Geon. Receiving it, Jang Geon gestured with his chin for Yang Goeng to lead the way. Letting out a light sigh, Yang Goeng stepped toward the outside of the alleyway.