SMACK!
“H-help me!”
“No one’s here to help you.”
SMACK! SMACK!
“S-save me!”
“No, can’t do. Go away.”
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
“P-please, just kill…”
“Nah, you’re still fine. Words are still coming out of that trap of yours.”
SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK!
“Hic, sob…”
“Yes, that’s the reaction I was looking for.”
Only then did I finally stop my hands.
The once-passable face of the young noble was now swollen like a steamed bun, and instead of a rosy flush, his cheeks were etched with dark blue bruises.
“Our little Jin-tae. Did you do wrong, or not?”
“Hic…”
Seeing the wretched figure sobbing, I suddenly felt a pang of pity. Right, he’s someone’s precious son, too…
“You did wrong, didn’t you?”
“Sob, hic!”
“Then why did you ignore what I said? It would have been so much better if you had just apologized when I told you to. Right?”
“Huuu…”
“Let’s live a good life from now on. Got it?”
“Hic.”
I watched Wu Jin-tae nod his head furiously for a moment before speaking again.
“But you…”
“Hic?”
“Why have you been answering me like that? Can’t you speak like a human?”
For a moment, his sobbing stopped cold.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“So you can speak? You could, but you chose not to? Why were you crying? To show off how much you were hurting? Is that it?”
“No, sir!”
“Oh, your voice is getting louder now? Good lungs on you. Practicing your diaphragm breathing? Trying to escape this crisis by bursting my eardrums?”
“No, sir. Absolutely not. Please, just stop now, hic, sob…”
“Huh? Crying again? You think you have a reason to cry? You think crying will solve anything? And what’s this about ‘stop’? Anyone would think I’m the perpetrator here.”
“I’m sorry. I won’t cry.”
“Wow, look at him stop crying on a dime. What a creepy bastard. If I were you, I would have cried myself unconscious out of guilt for messing with an innocent person. Are you really sorry?”
“P-please, just a moment, if you would just listen to what I have to say…”
“Listen to what? Do you even have the right to speak? Is this some kind of awards ceremony? Am I supposed to wait quietly while you talk and then give you a warm round of applause?”
“Now you’re not even answering. You must be full without even eating, huh? Right? Chewing up other people’s words like this must feel so good—”
Just as I was about to continue, Wu Jin-tae slammed the back of his own head onto the floor with the speed of lightning.
THUD!
Flop.
What a shame. I could have tormented him for at least another shichen.
As I turned away from the unconscious Wu Jin-tae, countless gazes flew and fixed upon me.
“The Young Escort Chief of the Seong-un Escort Agency… defeated so easily.”
“That young punk, who in the world is he?”
“His skills are one thing, but his tongue is like a viper’s.”
A murmur mixed with surprise and fear spread like ripples. There were at least a hundred patrons on the first floor. It was no surprise that some of them were beginning to recognize my face.
“I-it’s the Hidden Dragon of Shanxi!”
“What? From the Taiyuan Jin family?”
“Do you think there are two Hidden Dragons of Shanxi? No wonder his face looked familiar.”
The fame of the Hidden Dragon of Shanxi truly shakes the heavens.
Just as I was about to wave to the crowd with a pleased smile, someone spoke up.
“Are you sure? I saw the Hidden Dragon of Shanxi once at the Crimson Flower Pavilion around this time last year, and he looks a bit different from what I remember…”
“My good man, don’t you remember we were there together?”
“Oh, were we?”
“Yes. His build and aura have changed a lot, but that’s definitely the Hidden Dragon of Shanxi. The sight of that scion of the Taiyuan Jin family throwing a tantrum, insisting on taking a courtesan back to his family home, is still fresh in my mind.”
Damn it. They remember everything.
As I awkwardly lowered my hand, a few among the gossiping patrons raised their hands high.
“I was there, too!”
“You too, brother?”
“I remember it clearly. That punk, no, that gentleman, tripped on the stairs and grabbed my… ahem. Whew, just thinking about it now makes me dizzy.”
“Heavens, how scandalous. Are you alright now?”
“Fortunately, I’m fine. Not only that, but I think it’s gotten a little longer since then.”
Is that even possible?
I barely suppressed the urge to ask the man how much bigger it had gotten. I still had to deal with the dregs of the so-called Five Sects of Shanxi.
But…
“Huh?”
What came into my view were four of the young talents on the ground with their heads bowed, and Hyeok Mujin standing with his neck strangely stiff.
“Preparations are complete.”
“Did you tell them to do this?”
“As they say, even the dog at a schoolhouse learns to recite poetry after three years. Don’t we have a perfect understanding now, sir?”
“You little…”
I was seized by an indescribable emotion. I thought he was a fool at first, but he seems to be getting smarter by the day. It was almost suspicious, as if he were leveling up his Intelligence stat on my behalf.
“You’ve grown. I commend you.”
“You praise me too highly, sir. More importantly, what should we do with these ones?”
“Give me the scabbard.”
“As you command.”
It was like a scene out of a historical drama. I took the scabbard Hyeok Mujin handed me and slapped it against my palm. The grip was good, and the feel of the impact was good, too.
“All of you, on your feet.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, the four young talents shot up. Ignoring their fear-filled gazes, I scanned their level windows again. As expected, they were all punks who had barely reached the first-rate level.
“You all know what you did wrong… and you’re the successors of the Five Sects of Shanxi?”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“The third son, the youngest daughter, something like that?”
“No, sir!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, that’s correct!”
Their disciplined shouts echoed loudly inside the guesthouse. I tapped the scabbard and muttered, “Really? Then the Five Sects of Shanxi aren’t such a big deal, are they?”
Their faces flushed red with shame, but none of them could say a word. They knew my identity now. Even setting aside the difference in our martial prowess, an entity like the Five Sects of Shanxi could not hold its head high before the name of the Taiyuan Jin family.
“Life’s been good to you until now, hasn’t it?”
“…No, sir.”
“What do you mean, no? No money worries, a strong backing. You’ve been riding on that, acting all high and mighty, haven’t you? Hm? Picking fights here and there.”
“But then a war broke out between the Taiyuan Jin family and the Hengshan Sword Sect, right? You usually treated the Taiyuan Jin family well, but you were scared of retaliation if Hengshan won, so you cautiously watched from the sidelines until you ended up here. Am I wrong?”
“T-that is, we don’t really know…”
“Aren’t you all successors? Young sect masters, young family heads, something like that? Oh, right, that guy over there was a young escort chief.”
The four of them instinctively turned to where I was pointing and shivered. Wu Jin-tae, unable to withstand the relentless slaps and trash talk, had chosen to knock himself out and was lying on the floor like a corpse.
“Anyway, if that’s the situation, you should have just laid low. What right do you have to come here and act so arrogantly? Does the Taiyuan Jin family look like a joke to you? Do I need to get ‘Hidden Dragon of Shanxi’ tattooed on my forehead?”
“W-we’re sorry.”
“And it’s all over if you’re sorry? Should I beat you to a pulp and then apologize?”
“Eek!”
Look at those terrified eyes. I felt like a walking disaster.
No more words were necessary. I raised the scabbard.
“Historically, this has always been the best medicine. All of you, get in the push-up position.”
As they trembled and got on the ground, I asked in a chilling voice, “How many hits will it take for you to reflect on your actions? Speak up, one by one.”
“Y-yes?”
“I said, speak. That punk Wu Jin-tae was acting up, so I hit him like that. But you lot turned yourselves in, so I’ll take that into consideration.”
A heavy silence fell. After a quick exchange of glances, the four of them shouted in one voice.
“J-just one hit each, please!”
“One hit? Will that be enough?”
“Yes!”
“If you get hit once, you’ll never do this again?”
“We swear to the gods of heaven and earth!”
I gripped the scabbard tightly.
“Alright. Then ten hits each.”
“I just asked the gods of heaven and earth, and they said one hit is nowhere near enough for you. So, ten hits.”
I never thought I’d experience a situation like this in my life. I felt like the gym teacher from my school days who used to swing his bat at every opportunity. Soaked in a strange nostalgia, I swung the bat, no, the scabbard.
WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!
“Keoheok!”
“Don’t move. You’ll break a bone. Now, again.”
It must have been a rare spectacle for the people filling the Crimson Flower Pavilion. The so-called successors of the Five Sects of Shanxi were writhing on the floor like inchworms. And there were even two women among them.
The murmurs of the people surrounding us drifted to my ears.
“Is he, is he allowed to do that?”
“I know, right? It’s the Five Sects of Shanxi, after all… I hope this doesn’t lead to another big fight in the martial world over some grudges.”
“You’re so clueless. You really don’t know what’s going on these days, do you? If the Hengshan Sword Sect were still standing, it might be a different story, but as it is now, even if all the minor sects in Shanxi banded together, it’s doubtful they could stop the Taiyuan Jin family.”
“Is it that serious?”
“They might have more numbers if they all gather, but the level of skill is different. You can tell just by looking at the Hidden Dragon of Shanxi, can’t you?”
“That’s true. They strut around calling themselves successors and rising talents of the Five Sects of Shanxi, but they’re nothing compared to the Hidden Dragon of Shanxi.”
“Besides, wasn’t it their side that started the trouble in the first place?”
“That’s also true.”
“And while we’re on the topic, those folks calling themselves the Five Sects of Shanxi these days smell fishy.”
“Fishy?”
“They call themselves the Orthodox Faction, but they’re known for secretly exploiting the common people. Just look at the Seong-un Escort Agency, think of all the talk about them among the merchants.”
“Were those rumors true?”
“On the other hand, how is the Taiyuan Jin family? Ten years ago, when there was a famine, they distributed relief grain, and long before that, they even fought off the Demonic Cult. Those bastards are murderous fiends[1] who kill commoners like us. If it weren’t for the Taiyuan Jin family… ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.”
“That’s right, I heard it was the Taiyuan Jin family that drove away the bandits from the highlands this time, too.”
“Is there anyone who hasn’t heard that rumor yet? They say the Heavenly-Shaking Sword and the Hidden Dragon of Shanxi wiped them all out.”
“Hoooo.”
“So, even if a war were to break out again, what would be the problem? I swear, if the Five Sects of Shanxi make an issue out of this, I will immediately enter the Taiyuan Jin family and fight!”
“Ooooh!”
“For a young man, you have a great heroic spirit[2]. Hearing you speak, I think you’re right. Here, have a drink on me!”
WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!
After turning three of the four young talents into inchworms, I turned my head toward the source of the voices. He was defending the Taiyuan Jin family so fervently that even I felt like buying him a drink.
With that kind of mindset, he’s already one of us.
If his level was high enough, he’d be my number one recruitment target. I smiled with satisfaction and checked the great orator’s level window.
[Lv.15 Jang Childeuk]
“…The hell?”
Jang Childeuk? The Jang Childeuk I know?
I looked again, and it was indeed a familiar face. The servant who had diligently brought us meals back when I was receiving one-on-one intensive training from Jin Mu-gyeong. That very same Jang Childeuk was the great orator.
Wow, holy crap. Goosebumps.
No wonder he was so biased toward the Taiyuan Jin family. Of course, he wasn’t wrong, but to manipulate public opinion like that… I felt like I had discovered some grand political conspiracy, and a shiver ran down my spine.
It was then that I was brought back to reality.
“Excuse me…”
The one person I had momentarily forgotten about, Cheong Pung, spoke up with his clear eyes.
“There’s still one person left.”
“Gasp.”
The last one lying face down on the ground flinched. This Cheong Pung fellow, he seemed innocent, but he was a terrifying one in his own way. Not that I was planning on letting the last one go, anyway.
“I was just about to hit her.”
As I was about to swing the scabbard, Cheong Pung spoke again.
“Umm. Could I ask for a difficult favor?”
“We’re out of bingtanghulu.”
“That’s not it, umm…”
Cheong Pung hesitated for a moment, then quietly pointed at the scabbard.
“I was wondering if I could hit the last one.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve never done something like this before…”
In my life, I had met all sorts of weirdos, but this was my first time meeting a “first experience villain.”