Chapter 87: Chapter 87
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In the special room on the third floor of Great Peace Pavilion, there was an open window where parts of the wall could be adjusted to look down on the street. Jang Geon sat in front of that open window, sipping his liquor cup while looking down at Gamsan’s courtesan house street glowing brilliantly even in the middle of the night.
It had already been three days since he stayed at Great Peace Pavilion, a duration long enough to make both Great Peace Pavilion Master Gwan Su-chan, who told him to leave because it was dangerous, and Jang Geon, who said the Master would be the one feeling sorry, feel slightly awkward.
During those three days, no thugs or martial artists attacked Great Peace Pavilion. Even now, Great Peace Pavilion was operating normally, accepting guests on the lower floors with boisterous string pluckings, flute playing, and singing. Courtesans and musicians enchanted guests, and dishes and liquor constantly left the kitchen.
At times, some guests asked where the warrior who drove away the thugs yesterday was. Jang Geon’s act of driving away the thugs had been slightly distorted into a rumor that he was this courtesan house’s new guard warrior. To that, the courtesans all showed ambiguous attitudes, and thanks to that, Jang Geon’s mystery grew day by day.
Master Gwan Su-chan and the courtesans seemed to intend to build up his mystery so thugs wouldn’t attack easily. From Jang Geon’s perspective, it was an unnecessary action, but he didn’t stop them either. In the first place, the fact that they hadn’t swarmed over from the beginning allowed him to guess that the organization’s current situation was abnormal.
“The city’s back alleys running wild, the Martial Alliance branch turning a blind eye, the Imperial Army showing no movement since the last purge… Yet in the very back alleys that should be running wild, they are taking this long to handle a single warrior who ignored them… Where did this city’s turmoil come from, and what is the Black Blood Gang’s scheme in not moving right now?”
Looking down at the street, Jang Geon turned his head at the voice beside him. Gwan-ryang was standing there wearing a serious expression, and when their eyes met, he grinned. Jang Geon also smirked and asked,
“Did your father tell you that?”
“Yes. To be exact, I overheard him muttering seriously to himself. I don’t know why Dad worries about that. Don’t we just need to guard this courtesan house well?”
“Your father must have his own thoughts.”
Great Peace Pavilion was a courtesan house established over ten years ago by Gwan Su-chan, who came over from the Central Plains. He didn’t share detailed circumstances, but judging from observing him over the past three days, he was clearly a descendant of a prominent clan.
His statement to the thugs recently that he could no longer pay protection fees was because there were too many entities demanding money due to the current turmoil in the underworld. Thus, asking them to drive away the other entities or lower the fee led straight to the commotion.
“The fortunate thing is that since those guys are holding back, the others seem to be watching the situation and not coming to collect protection fees either.”
Great Peace Pavilion paid association fees to the courtesan house street association, land usage fees to the Martial Alliance Gamsan Branch, and had money extorted by three back alley organizations. Subtracting courtesan house maintenance costs, almost everything earned was handed over to them.
However, after Jang Geon drove away the thugs, when their organization, the Black Blood Gang, failed to move, the other two organizations also refrained from coming to collect protection fees, as if waiting to see how things unfolded. For the past three days, the courtesan house had been truly peaceful, except for the guests.
Jang Geon poured liquor into his empty cup and looked at Gwan-ryang. The kid was hanging around the food set on the table, sneaking bites while spending time in this room.
The ostensible reason he was in this room was as Jang Geon’s errand boy, and he actually performed well when given tasks. Of course, the real reason was that Gwan-ryang wanted to see Jang Geon’s martial arts and perhaps learn a thing or two by hanging around.
Jang Geon didn’t drive him out or keep him at a distance. Honestly, spending three days in this room sipping liquor had its limits, and he didn’t intend to get drunk, so he couldn’t just keep drinking. In the end, Jang Geon spent the past three days listening to stories of Great Peace Pavilion’s people from Gwan-ryang or cracking jokes.
Gwan-ryang ate a piece of food, licked the sauce off his fingers, and spoke to Jang Geon,
“I don’t understand why the Martial Alliance isn’t moving. Even this morning, a body turned up in a back alley. Wasn’t the Martial Alliance created to stop the misdeeds of such unorthodox factions? If they slack off like this, doesn’t the Inspectorate from the Martial Alliance headquarters in New Sichuan come and round up corrupt Alliance members? I really don’t know what they are thinking.”
Jang Geon didn’t bother explaining the internal factions of the Martial Alliance formed by location differences or other factors, nor how someone of the Gamsan Branch Head’s standing could even suppress inspectors sent to purge him with force. It wasn’t certain, and Gwan-ryang hadn’t spoken expecting grand insights anyway.
He said something else instead.
“Guests have arrived. You should head down now.”
“Pardon? Guests? No, guests are plentiful on the lower—”
Just then, the door slid open quietly. Gwan-ryang looked back in surprise. Jang A-yeong was standing outside the door. Bowing to Jang Geon, she spoke,
“Guests have arrived from the Black Blood Gang. Only two of them came. They are coming upstairs right now… May I take Ryang with me?”
Jang Geon raised his cup to his lips and nodded. Bowing once more, Jang A-yeong stepped inside and grabbed Gwan-ryang to pull him out.
“Wait, Aunt Jang! I’ll stay quietly in the corner!”
“Ryang! Don’t bother the Warrior-nim, come out quickly!”
Gwan-ryang was dragged out by his ear. Shortly after the two left, the sound of someone walking down the third-floor corridor followed. They approached without hesitation right up to the open door, stopped short, and looked at Jang Geon inside.
Jang Geon also looked back at them.
Two men appearing to be in their thirties. They resembled each other like brothers, wearing black silk robes with broad sleeves, standing straight with hands behind their backs. Their attire and posture stood in sharp contrast to Jang Geon sitting with a liquor cup in hand.
The one on the right with a goatee spoke first.
“Are you the warrior who harassed our subordinate three days ago?”
“Harassed? They harassed me, not the other way around.”
At Jang Geon’s counterquestion, the smooth-chinned man on the left took over the conversation.
“Great Peace Pavilion is strictly our Black Blood Gang’s business domain. If that domain tries to act arbitrarily, it is only natural to enforce discipline. You are an uninvited guest who suddenly barged into our business.”
Even at the word ‘uninvited guest’, Jang Geon merely shrugged, then drank down the liquor in his cup. Setting down the empty cup, he spoke,
“I expected a crowd of thugs, but only two came.”
“There is no need for a crowd to handle a clumsy bastard.”
Following the hairless man’s words, this time the goatee man took over.
“Now, how shall we treat you? By our leader’s mercy, we decided not to take your life. We will cut off just one of your arms or legs. We will specially let you choose which one to cut.”
Yet despite his bloodthirsty words, Jang Geon stroked his chin while gazing at them with dull eyes. As their expressions hardened slightly at that reaction, he spoke again,
“Seeing that only you two are moving, you must be the Black Blood Gang’s enforcers. Why would the gang’s enforcers step out to handle a single wandering warrior? And within three days, for someone whose strength hasn’t even been accurately measured. Is it because you have no troops to move?”
The two men glanced at each other, unclasped their hands from behind their backs, and let them hang naturally. Their voluminous sleeves covered their hands.
“You talk nonsense. It seems you don’t value your limbs.”
“…Do you have some backing to rely on that makes you act so brazenly?”
“I am Jang Geon. I have no backing. Just myself.”
They kept silent for a moment at Jang Geon’s confidence. Judging from the beaten thugs saying they couldn’t even see his fists properly, he clearly had skill, but the guy who had been loitering in the courtesan house for the past three days didn’t seem to be hiding any backing force.
“…I am Ja-myeong.”
“I am Ja-un.”
The goatee Ja-myeong and smooth-chin Ja-un thus revealed their names. And they slowly crossed the threshold and stepped into the room. Jang Geon, who was leaning against the pillar farthest from the door, stood up leisurely upon seeing them.
Goatee Ja-myeong spoke as he watched,
“Wherever you rolled in from, crossing our Black Blood Gang was a grave mistake.”
“For we will soon unify Gamsan’s underworld and rise as the rulers of this region.”
Smooth-chin Ja-un spoke thus and stopped short. As he halted, Ja-myeong also stopped and glared at Jang Geon.
Jang Geon stood with his back to the wide-open window, and the two men stood at positions forming a triangle with Jang Geon as the apex. As they did, their weapons hidden by their voluminous sleeves were revealed. Eccentric weapons commonly called tiger gauntlets, featuring steel claws protruding from the back of the hand like beast talons. A pair on each hand, eight steel claws glinted aimed at Jang Geon.
While Jang Geon looked at their revealed weapons, Ja-myeong and Ja-un exchanged glances. Jang Geon had no visible weapon on him. The sword that appeared to be his was leaning against the window several paces away. In Martial World where encounters were decided in a single stroke, those few paces were a distance that could never be reached in time.
Considering it an opportunity, the two subtly bent their knees and lowered their waists. Yet Jang Geon simply remained standing naturally, showing no particular stance to respond.
From the open window, cool night air flowed in along with the songs and shouts of drunken passersby on the street. Furthermore, Ja-myeong and Ja-un seemed to have caused no major trouble coming in, as the sound of zither, flute, and courtesans singing on the lower floors continued.
Three lamps lit in the room were all near Jang Geon’s side. Thanks to that, the room was quite dim, and the figures and shadows of the three standing in one part of that dark shadow created a bizarre mood.
Ja-un, glancing at Ja-myeong and Jang Geon’s condition, soon sent their unique brothers’ signal to his elder brother and kicked off the floor. The blades half-hidden by his sleeve flashed sharply in the dim room, moving toward Jang Geon.
Simultaneously with his movement, Jang Geon moved as well.
Jang Geon’s foot lightly flicked the liquor cup sitting on the table beside him. Thereupon, that liquor cup flew toward smooth-chin Ja-un as if thrown with someone’s full strength.
Startled, he had to stop on the spot and cross both hands to block the flying cup.
A *purk!* sound erupted as steel tiger gauntlets collided with the porcelain cup. Ja-un unconsciously made a sharp teeth sound and was pushed back slightly. Pain shot through both arms as if struck by a sledgehammer.
However, he was not the only one who moved. Having received the signal, goatee Ja-myeong was already closing in on Jang Geon, thrusting the tiger gauntlets of both hands.
Jang Geon, who blocked Ja-un by kicking the cup, extended both hands straight toward Ja-myeong’s tiger gauntlets whistling through the air.
Rather than thinking about what Jang Geon relied on to extend his hands, Ja-myeong thrust his gauntlets deeper, intending to tear those hands apart. Jang Geon’s hands seemed destined to be sliced apart by those sharp blades.
Just then, his hands showed an eerie movement. Moving toward the gauntlets seamlessly fast yet slow, Jang Geon’s hands displayed a circular motion incomprehensible to Ja-myeong’s eyes, dodging the blades and penetrating to his wrists.
And the next moment, as Jang Geon’s hands pulled back, Ja-myeong’s tiger gauntlets were yanked out along with them. Simultaneously, Jang Geon’s foot kicked his stomach.
Having his weapons stripped and his abdomen struck in a single move, Ja-myeong uttered a single gasp and rolled into a corner of the room.
“Brother!”
As Ja-un, who had blocked the cup, tried to move in shock, Jang Geon threw one of the confiscated tiger gauntlets with a *hwik*. That blade flew straight and embedded into Ja-un’s shoulder. He grit his teeth at the searing pain in his shoulder.
“Ack!”
However, when the consecutive tiger gauntlet pierced his left thigh, he could no longer hold back and let out a screaming death cry. He naturally dropped onto one knee.
Feeling the pain in his right shoulder and left thigh, he looked up at Jang Geon. Realizing that he was not a simple wandering warrior but an expert beyond imagination, his face turned pale. An expert wandering without revealing affiliation was highly likely an Imperial Army expert hiding his identity or an ancient noble clan warrior.
Hoping desperately it was not that, he hesitated and spoke,
“…Wh-what is your identity? Are you an expert hired by other bastards to crush our power?”
Having lightly defeated the two, Jang Geon ambled back toward the table, picked up a liquor bottle, took a gulp directly from it, and stood leaning his back against the window railing,
“That power. Tell me everything you know about those underworld powers currently throwing Gamsan’s back alleys into chaos.”