“Nngh…”

Mun Seok paced the room, unable to settle, like a puppy that needed to relieve itself.

Song Biryeong finally could not watch it any longer and barked at him.

“Hey! Can’t you stand still?!”

Mun Seok flinched and shrank into himself.

“S-sorry…”

He apologized, but from where Mun Seok stood there was something to resent in all this.

A man calling himself a warrior of the Dark Alliance had appeared out of nowhere and hauled him here on the Alliance Lord’s orders.

And more bewildering than that was the man over there sipping tea as though nothing were happening.

“Don’t be so anxious. You’re the boss who rules the back alleys of Ningbo, after all. You ought to keep your composure.”

At Seo Woojin’s untroubled comfort, curses came up to the very edge of Mun Seok’s mouth.

But he had no choice except to swallow them.

He had already had a taste of how frightening the man was, and now, on top of that, he was the Dark Alliance Lord.

“Ha, haha… Yes. I’m all right…”

Mun Seok forced a smile, and Seo Woojin’s smile deepened.

“Your little brother will be safe. Muk-yeong, whom you met before, will be watching him.”

Mun Seok let out a deep sigh.

“Nngh. It’s your doing, Alliance Lord, so of course I trust it, but… I still can’t figure out why we had to put out a rumor like that…”

Mun Seok worked up the courage to voice a very small complaint, and the answer came straight back.

“Ah, come on. You chirp a lot for a grown man! Weren’t you listening? He said we’re taking the Gok Clan’s Young Clan Head!”

Song Biryeong’s roar had him pulling his head in again, but this time he did not retreat.

“Er… I wasn’t told that?”

“Hm? You weren’t?”

Song Biryeong blinked, thrown for a moment, and Mun Seok’s voice came up a little.

“Th-the second I was dragged in here, all I got was an order to do a job! Details later, get going, it’s urgent! Which is why my other brothers are out running around the streets of Hangzhou this minute asking after a gambling den!!”

Once his mouth was open there was no stopping it.

At the complaints pouring out fast, Song Biryeong coughed a little and looked away.

“Ahem. I didn’t know.”

Mun Seok snorted through his nose and went on sulking, and a small laugh escaped Seo Woojin.

“My apologies, Brother Mun. It really was urgent, so there was no detailed explanation.”

Being spoken to respectfully by the Dark Alliance Lord himself, and apologized to on top of it, only put a chill down his spine.

Mun Seok bowed his head quickly and pleaded.

“Aigoo, Alliance Lord. Please, speak plainly to this humble one. I’m truly afraid of who might hear. And how could I have any complaint about your business? I only made a fuss because I care for my brother.”

Seo Woojin smiled and nodded.

“For my part it makes me uncomfortable when you put yourself that low. Well. If it bothers you that much, I’ll speak plainly.”

“Yes, yes. Please do.”

Seo Woojin turned his head and looked at Woon Seorin.

“It’s about time you explained.”

Woon Seorin ran her eyes over Mun Seok as though she still did not find him reliable, but Seo Woojin had recommended him, so she spoke without argument.

“As you heard, we’re going after the Gok Clan’s Young Clan Head.”

Mun Seok nodded deeply.

“Yes. But how would we ever… The Gok Clan Young Clan Head’s bad reputation reached even to Ningbo. How could someone like me possibly…”

“The man called Kang Boksu has had separate instructions. Kang Boksu will bring Gok Taejun to whatever gambling den you set up.”

“Ah…”

“After that it’s simple. It’s the sort of thing you people do all the time, isn’t it?”

Mun Seok gave a small, embarrassed cough. She was right — fleecing gullible men was their specialty.

“Ahem. But the ones we work on are mostly gullible fools who can’t master their own appetites—”

A small laugh escaped Woon Seorin.

“Hoho. You may not know it, but the more a man thinks well of himself, the more likely he is to be exactly that. A fool. And Gok Taejun is a specimen, if anything.”

“Ah. Is-is that so?”

“So do exactly what you always do. You’re the expert there, so I won’t add anything.”

“U-understood.”

Once again Seo Woojin had to hold back a laugh that wanted out.

Woon Seorin explaining only in outline because she did not entirely trust Mun Seok, and Mun Seok accepting it anyway — the pair of them were funny.

“Let’s just wait and not worry for now. Trusting that Kang Boksu will do well.”

Thud!

“Aigoo!”

Kang Boksu, knocked onto his back, pushed himself backward with his feet in a hurry, fear all over his face.

The face of the man who had thrown him to the floor was twisted like a vicious demon-god’s.

“What did you just say!”

Kang Boksu answered fast, his voice shaking.

“Th-that I’m not the source of that rumor—!”

Thud!

Gok Taejun stamped once, and the underground room rang heavily with it.

“And then!!”

Kang Boksu flattened himself and put his head to the floor.

“Th-that I can’t tell you who it was! I-if they knew I’d told, my head would come off without a soul the wiser—”

Step. Step.

Gok Taejun walked over to him.

Grab!

He bent his knees and took a brutal fistful of Kang Boksu’s hair.

“Guh!”

Kang Boksu’s head was wrenched up, and as he groaned under it, the corner of Gok Taejun’s mouth climbed.

“You don’t seem to understand the situation yet, so let me be kind and explain it. If you don’t talk, your head comes off right now. Well? Care to die this minute?”

Something wavered hard in Kang Boksu’s eyes.

“B-but…”

“Tsk, tsk.”

Gok Taejun clicked his tongue and put a hand out behind him.

Wi Jinho passed him a white cloth as though he had been waiting for it.

Gok Taejun wiped the blood off Kang Boksu’s face and spoke almost in a whisper.

“My friend. Don’t you know who I am? I am Gok Taejun, the Gok Clan’s heir. If you do me a service, do you imagine I’d turn my back on you? I don’t know what you’re afraid of, but I am well able to shield you from it. And not only that — I intend to give you more wealth as a reward than you could handle in a lifetime. Well? Is the scale in your heart tipping a little now?”

Kang Boksu coughed a little, seemingly flustered. His eyes could not settle anywhere and moved busily from place to place.

The sight of it put a satisfied look on Gok Taejun’s face.

Because that was exactly how a man looks a moment before he gives in.

Gok Taejun threw the cloth on the floor and waited without a word. Right now patience was more effective than pressing.

And as he had expected, before long Kang Boksu lifted his head.

His eyes had already gone the color of greed.

“Ah… forgive the presumption, but how much wealth would…”

Gok Taejun grinned, pulled Kang Boksu to his feet, and sat him down at a desk to one side.

“You’ve caught me in a good mood. If the rumor you spread turns out to be true, I’ll give you everything you ask for. Well? Does that suit you?”

Kang Boksu swallowed and set his mouth. He wore the look of a man who had decided something.

He drew a deep breath, and then spoke, slowly.

“I’m a Ningbo man, originally. I run a gambling den there.”

“Ho. Is that so?”

Gok Taejun sat down across from him and played along.

Kang Boksu, warming to it, kept going.

“You may or may not know of the Black Tide Gang, but it’s a fair-sized organization for Ningbo. Which makes the den a fair size too. And there was a mark who came to our den often. Ah — no. A customer.”

“Right. That’s the one, then. The source of the rumor.”

“Yes. He never said who he was, but one look and you could tell he was a righteous-path warrior. People like us can tell at a glance, can’t we? That smell righteous-path types have. The smell of hypocrisy.”

“True enough. The sight of them twists your gut and brings the anger up.”

Kang Boksu nodded deeply and wore a mean little smile.

“Exactly. Deeply unpleasant men. So we didn’t feel like letting a righteous-path man off. The gall of the righteous-path bastard, in a place like ours!”

He got himself worked up cursing the righteous-path warrior, and then Kang Boksu went on fast.

“We’re honest most of the time, but we decided to work that one over.”

Gok Taejun had been wondering whether he should start pressing the man to get to the point, and his eyes lit.

“And?”

“Yes. Where would a righteous-path man ever have run into that before? We shook him down to nothing, hahaha. Being the hypocrite he was, he had a fair amount of money on him. But here’s where the problem is.”

“Right. Go on, quickly.”

“As the Gok Clan’s Young Clan Head will know, righteous-path men have nothing to their names and nothing but pride, don’t they? The man had no money left and still put something else up as a stake.”

“Something else?”

“Information. He staked information.”

Gok Taejun’s eyes went as wide as lantern bowls.

“Information! Then—?”

“Yes. It turned out he worked in the Murim Alliance’s intelligence organization, and he was in Zhejiang this time to attend on a superior. And that’s where I heard it. The dark path’s new sky has taken secret orders from the Murim Alliance Lord.“

Gok Taejun almost clenched his fist and shouted without meaning to.

Face flushed, unable to hide his excitement, he asked again.

“And that is the truth, is it?”

At the raw edge in his eyes, Kang Boksu blanched and nodded over and over.

“Aigoo, whose presence do you think I’m in, that I’d tell a lie! It’s all true! O-only…”

“Only?”

“Only he said he’d raise the money again, so we weren’t to spread that information. That if he heard a rumor like that on the streets he’d cut our throats without a soul the wiser… But I’d had far too much to drink, and before I knew it…”

At Kang Boksu’s hemming and hawing, Gok Taejun burst into wild laughter.

“Hahahaha!! Don’t you worry! I’m not trash who takes everything he wants and then throws a man away! I gave my word, so I’ll protect that neck of yours!”

Kang Boksu bowed his head again and again, moved.

“Thank you! Thank you! This humble one trusts in nobody but the Young Clan Head!”

Tak!

Gok Taejun braced a hand hard on the desk and leaned in slightly.

“Let me ask one last thing.”

“Yes, yes. Ask me anything at all.”

“Do you have proof of what you’ve said?”

Kang Boksu flinched.

“P-proof, you say?”

“Yes. Frankly, who would believe a claim with no proof behind it at all? Do you have proof, or don’t you.”

Kang Boksu had to keep swallowing under the killing intent Gok Taejun was firing at him. But he could not stay silent forever.

“Proof… I don’t have…”

Gok Taejun’s face buckled at once.

Kang Boksu started and spoke again quickly.

“B-but there’s a chance to get proof!! The man definitely said he’d raise the money and come back! I-if we work him over again then, this time he’ll cough up proof as well! M-maybe even the letters the Dark Alliance Lord exchanged with the Murim Alliance—”

Bang!

Gok Taejun struck the table.

Kang Boksu screwed his eyes shut and cringed, but Gok Taejun’s face wore nothing but a bright smile.

“I like this bastard. Sharp enough, isn’t he?”

All Kang Boksu had done was open his mouth, but even that looked lovely to Gok Taejun.

Gok Taejun grinned and asked him,

“So. When is he coming?”

Kang Boksu stammered through it.

“H-he might not come at all, so we made him an offer. That if coming all the way to Ningbo was hard, we’d set up a den somewhere convenient for him. A-and as it happens he said he was staying in Hangzhou to attend on his superior…”

“Ho. And so?”

“Th-that’s why a Ningbo man like me is in Hangzhou. Heheh. Tomorrow night. A new gambling den opens in Hangzhou, and he’ll be there.”

Gok Taejun looked back over his shoulder.

“Squad Leader Wi.”

“Yes.”

“A day is enough, isn’t it?”

It made no sense on its face.

But Wi Jinho had an answer ready at once.

“I’ve already begun looking into him. Whether he really is a Ningbo man, whether a place called the Black Tide Gang actually exists. We’ll have all of it before tomorrow night.”

Kang Boksu’s eyes widened.

He had taken them for fools who swallowed whatever came out of his mouth, and had not expected thoroughness like that at all.

Seeing the surprise on Kang Boksu’s face, Gok Taejun let out a mean little laugh.

“Heheheh. Don’t be so startled. There are so many swindling bastards in this world that we make a point of being careful. Ah, and of course what you’ve said will be the truth, so you don’t have anything to worry about. All you have to do is take me to the den tomorrow. But if there’s so much as one lie in it…”

“…If there is?”

Gok Taejun ran his eyes over Kang Boksu once.

“I wonder if you know. That human organs sell pretty well on the black market.”

Gooseflesh rose all over him, and all Kang Boksu could manage was an awkward smile.

Judging that the man was frightened enough, Gok Taejun got up from his seat.

Then he threw an arm around Kang Boksu’s shoulder and played the friend.

“What you’ve said will be the truth, naturally, so don’t be so afraid. More to the point — I’ll be sitting at that table myself. So walk me through how you people work a mark, step by step. Hahahahaha.”

Listening to Gok Taejun’s wild laughter.

Kang Boksu thought.

‘Damn it… I should never have gotten mixed up in this.’

Thinking of Seo Woojin, wearing the face of the finest man alive and that gentle smile of his.

Kang Boksu held on to his shaking legs and let Gok Taejun lead him away.

(End of Chapter 54)