Chapter 68: Chapter 68
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Gal Woong slowly regained consciousness as he felt blood rushing to his head, causing it to throb. Keeping his eyes closed, he tried to stroke his aching head, but realized that his body would not move at all. Startled, he snapped his eyes open.
He was tied up tightly by his hands and feet, hanging upside down.
“···Th-this··· what is···”
“Huh? Brother Jang, this guy snapped back to his senses?”
Because he was hanging upside down, Gal Woong could not immediately recognize the other person’s face. However, he could tell that he looked somewhat sly.
“Wh-who are you···?”
“Who am I? Who do you think I am?”
That answer, combined with a smirk, created an expression that provoked an inexplicable anger. Bemused by that hostility, Gal Woong barely managed to think of looking around his surroundings.
The ground and sky possessed the same black color, distinguishing each other only by dark and pale shades. Above his head was pitch-black hardened earth, and beneath his feet was a dark blue shimmering sky. That dark blue shimmering held thousands, tens of thousands of Milky Ways, becoming an endlessly deep and transparent sea of stars.
Gal Woong, who tried to look around, was overwhelmed and dazed by a scenery that was always repeated yet simultaneously existed only at this single moment. A moment later, someone struck the back of his head hard. It was that sly man from just now.
“Hey you, what are you staring blankly for? Does the night scenery look good to you? Shall I bury you right under that scenery?”
His sentimental mood broken, Gal Woong gritted his teeth and contorted his expression, then heard the sound of footsteps stepping on dirt from behind his back. Realizing that sound, a reddish light was also faintly shining from behind his back. He had been hanging facing the opposite side of a tree a short distance away from where some people had set up a campsite.
“You fellow··· reveal your identity! Do you think you’ll be safe after treating me like this!”
“Ha. This guy hasn’t come to his senses yet.”
Gal Woong squirmed to break free from the bindings on his hands and feet. But the tightly tied rope did not untie so easily. While he was squirming like that, the owner of the footsteps behind his back trudged around and entered his field of vision.
Gal Woong, who was squirming, stopped moving. Just as it took a bit of time to recognize the sly man’s face, there was a brief hesitation in recognizing her face properly as well.
“···Li Yeon! You! It’s Li Yeon! Then that bastard as well···”
When Gal Woong, recognizing Li Yeon, tried to shout like that, a man suddenly appeared in his field of vision without a sound or presence of footsteps. Unlike the other two people, it didn’t take very long to recognize that man.
“Jang Geon···!”
Only then did Gal Woong realize that he had been captured, that he had failed and lost his subordinates. His face contorted with mental anguish.
However, Jang Geon looked at it quietly without any particular expression, then said:
“Let’s keep it short.”
And before Gal Woong could answer how or what, he began poking his body with his index and middle fingers held straight. Hanging bound, Gal Woong could not dodge it in any way. Seeing that, Yang Goeng and Li Yeon wore puzzled expressions.
Having defeated Gal Woong’s gang, they immediately rode their horses and arrived at a place far away from the battle location. Lighting a campfire and hanging Gal Woong up, they agreed that they first needed to find out the identity of this man named Gal Woong and the organization he belonged to.
In that process, they decided to resort to torture if necessary, so Yang Goeng guessed that he would witness some gruesome sights today. Because it was hard to think that Jang Geon or Li Yeon would do things like slashing flesh or pulling out fingernails.
“Ggghhh···!”
However, that thought completely disappeared as he saw Gal Woong’s face contorting bumpily. Without knowing what he had done, seeing Gal Woong’s face, which had been red from hanging upside down, turning beyond red to a dead black, his pain could be guessed.
A very short time passed, yet a time sufficient for the expressions of Li Yeon and Yang Goeng watching him to turn pale, after which Jang Geon lightly tapped Gal Woong’s body again. Along with that, as the acupoints were unsealed and his strength loosened, Gal Woong’s eyes rolled back and he passed out. However, Jang Geon’s hand did not let him rest. As he poked several acupoints repeatedly again, Gal Woong inhaled with a gasp and regained consciousness.
Jang Geon squatted in front of Gal Woong, who was out of his mind and trembling uncontrollably, matching his eye level, and opened his mouth:
“Right now I did this to the extent that no permanent disability remains on your body. If you endure further here, then at that time it can’t be helped.”
Gal Woong barely answered while meeting Jang Geon’s gaze with half-rolled eyes:
“Wh-what··· what? You have to ask something for me to···”
“Then I should ask now. Will you answer well?”
“···Y-yes, yes··· I will answer, answer···”
At his answer, Jang Geon nodded his head and asked:
“First, tell me about yourself. Who are you, where do you live, and what kind of guy are you. Start with your name.”
Gal Woong paused for a moment at the instruction to start with the name he would already know, but soon seeing Jang Geon’s calm eyes, he involuntarily opened his mouth and began babbling.
“M-my name is Gal Woong. My house belongs to a merchant family dealing in furs in New Sichuan, and I am the second son of that house. Uh, th-and right now I am in the Great Peace Band···”
Jang Geon did not ask what the Great Peace Band was. He merely stared quietly at Gal Woong. And Gal Woong had no choice but to open his mouth again under that gaze.
“···Th-the Great Peace Band is a secret society gathered by those who were indignant at the fact that the economic power of this New Continent is subordinate to the Han Empire across the ocean, being practically plundered··· those who resolved that they must rise up against the sight of common people being endlessly exploited···”
Listening in front, Jang Geon stayed still, but Yang Goeng beside him let out a dry chuckle.
“My goodness, commoner exploitation my ass. The taxes imposed on the New Continent are only when goods enter the Empire! Commoners farming their fields have nothing squeezed by the Empire except paying a bit of protection money to their regional Martial Alliance or sects, you idiot!”
“Gamsan, New Sichuan, and Heavenly Empress City are different! Do you even know how much tax is levied on commercial transactions in those three places? Not to mention sugar, liquor, and silk, taxes are levied even on cotton cloth transactions! And! When those goods enter the Empire! Do you even know how murderous those customs and transit duties are? Even after paying those taxes, in order to compete with Central Plains goods, transactions are conducted almost at a loss!”
Yang Goeng flinched in surprise at the loud shout of the person who was trembling in pain until just a moment ago. And because he was startled by a tied-up person, he reflexively tried to strike his head, but stopped dead at the gaze of Jang Geon looking back at him while squatted.
“···Hehe, this fellow was talking a bit recklessly.”
Jang Geon silently turned his eyes back to Gal Woong, and Gal Woong, realizing that he was in no position to be excited, quietly continued speaking:
“···Our goal is for our New Continent to no longer be merely called the New Continent, but to gain independence as a new country. Not to merely fatten the well-fed pigs of the Central Plains, but to ensure that the people of this land, of this country, are no longer hungry. Reminding ourselves of why our fathers and grandfathers crossed over to this land in the first place, it is a matter that naturally ought to be accomplished.”
Gal Woong spoke up to there and firmly shut his mouth. Jang Geon looked at that face, then with slow movements pulled out a small wooden box and a small paper from his chest. While Gal Woong sent anxious glances, Jang Geon pulled out dried tobacco from there, calmly rolled a cigarette, and held it in his mouth. And he struck a spark with his index finger, at which Gal Woong blinked both eyes for a moment trying to find where the spark was on his hand.
Jang Geon, who ignited the tip of the tobacco with internal power like a trick, lightly drew in a breath, then puffed smoke toward the night sky. The smoke rose into the air and dispersed thinly.
“…A new country, huh. Sounding grand.”
Hearing Jang Geon’s words, Gal Woong raised his head with eyes full of conviction.
“It is not just sounding grand! It is a righteous cause! Why must we be exploited by an Emperor who lives thousands of miles away across the ocean? Why must the blood and sweat of the people of this land flow into the pockets of the imperial family?”
Jang Geon exhaled smoke and spoke calmly.
“So to establish that country, you kidnap innocent young girls and slaughter merchant crews?”
Gal Woong’s conviction faltered slightly at those words.
“That… that is a necessary sacrifice for the great cause! Great work cannot be accomplished with clean hands!”
“Great cause, huh.”
Jang Geon flicked the ash off his cigarette.
“The grander the cause, the more convenient it is to hide one’s own ugly desires behind it. But when you strip away those grand words, what remains is just a group of bandits murdering and robbing for their own greed.”
Gal Woong gritted his teeth, unable to refute Jang Geon’s words. Jang Geon took another drag of his cigarette, then looked at Gal Woong quietly.
“Who is your leader? Who commands the Great Peace Band?”
Gal Woong closed his mouth firmly.
“I cannot say. Kill me if you want, but I will never betray the leader.”
Jang Geon didn’t even blink. He raised his hand and poked Gal Woong’s acupoints once more.
“GAAAAAAAHHH!”
A scream tore through the night sky.
*
After several rounds of acupoint stimulation, Gal Woong, now completely broken, spilled everything he knew. The leader of the Great Peace Band was none other than a high-ranking official within the New Sichuan Merchant Association, conspiring with various rogue martial artists and corrupt officials across the region.
Having obtained the necessary information, Jang Geon unsealed Gal Woong’s acupoints, leaving him unconscious and limp.
Yang Goeng wiped cold sweat from his forehead, looking at Jang Geon with newfound awe and dread.
“Brother Jang… you are truly terrifying when you get serious.”
Jang Geon stood up, tossing the cigarette butt onto the ground and stepping on it.
“We have what we need. Tomorrow morning, we enter New Sichuan.”
Li Yeon nodded, her eyes shining with determination as she looked toward the eastern horizon where the first hints of dawn were beginning to break.