Gu Yasu (具冶洙), leader of the Beast Faction, was watching his men count money. It was silver they had collected as tribute from the marketplace.
“Three hundred nyang.”
One of his men brought over a heavy money pouch.
“One crippled bastard is going to ruin our household finances. Where is that son of a bitch Gongpae right now?”
At that, Yang (梁), the right-hand man standing beside him, answered.
“He was released from the Murim Alliance branch, so he’s probably drinking somewhere.”
“When he comes in, tell him to come to me at once.”
“Yes, sir.”
This three hundred nyang was a bribe meant for the Murim Alliance branch chief. If they had been taking money every month as usual, they ought to let things slide at times like this, yet they had demanded as much as three hundred nyang in exchange for releasing Gongpae.
Even so, they could not simply leave Gongpae rotting in a prison cell. Gongpae was necessary to the Beast Faction. Only when they had a dog like him would the merchants be frightened and obediently hand over money.
“What about the wench who reported him? She didn’t run, did she?”
“Her mother is ill, so she won’t be able to flee.”
“You said she had a pretty face? Well, of course. That must be why Gongpae got himself all worked up. Once things quiet down, sell her off to some distant brothel. We should at least make up half of the money we lost because of that bitch.”
“Understood.”
“And make sure that idiot Gongpae can’t touch her.”
“Understood. Ah, and the Jangdo Faction has invaded our territory again.”
“Those bastards!”
The Jangdo Faction was a black-path gang from a nearby area that competed with the Beast Faction. Whenever a dispute over interests arose, they always clashed with them.
“There’s a rumor that they recruited an expert.”
“What kind of expert?”
“I don’t know. They say he’s an unknown expert, and I suspect they’re acting up because they trust in him.”
Gu Yasu was snorting in derision when one of his men came running in from outside and reported urgently.
“There are intruders.”
At the word intruders, Gu Yasu immediately ordered someone to be called.
“Call Martial Artist Cheon.”
The reason he could leisurely snort even after hearing that the Jangdo Faction had recruited a new expert was precisely because of the expert called Cheon. There was a secret regarding Cheon that only Gu Yasu knew. It was that Cheon came from the Demon Cult.
A Demon Cult expert, Cheon!
Because he was here, the Beast Faction had been able to grow like this.
When Gu Yasu and Yang came outside, the intruders were walking across the training yard.
Seeing the two walking toward them from afar, Gu Yasu flinched in surprise.
“What the hell?”
There were two intruders: an immensely muscular man and a slender young man. Their relaxed stride made them look more like visitors than intruders. Of course, they were Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon.
Yang quickly said,
“They seem to be men sent by the Jangdo Faction.”
“The expert those bastards supposedly hired this time?”
“Yes. Who else could they be if not them?”
Gu Yasu nodded. In this area, the only ones who would dare attack them were the Jangdo Faction.
“Where is Martial Artist Cheon?”
“He will be out soon.”
About twenty Beast Faction members sprang out from all sides, drew their weapons, and surrounded the two men.
“Where have you gentlemen come from?”
At Gu Yasu’s question, Geom Mugeuk looked around and said,
“You’ve turned the outside into hell, yet you live quite nicely in here.”
The Beast Faction’s headquarters was a newly built manor. In particular, the building Gu Yasu occupied had been lavishly constructed with no expense spared on costly materials.
“I asked who you were.”
Kill them, or make them kneel. Under normal circumstances, such an order would have left his mouth already, but it did not come out.
It was because of the muscular man beside the young man. Gu Yasu, who had gone through all manner of hardships in the black path, had seen every sort of vicious-looking bastard, but this was the first time he had seen someone who looked this terrifying.
Geom Mugeuk said to Gu Yasu,
“Do you know why you keep asking who I am instead of asking why I came? It’s because you’ve gotten into the habit of deciding first whether this bastard is someone you can kill or not.”
After finishing his words, Geom Mugeuk began striding toward Gu Yasu.
Startled, Gu Yasu shouted to his men,
“Kill him!”
The Beast Faction members rushed at Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk dodged the incoming attacks and began swinging his fists.
To Gu Yasu’s eyes, they did not look powerful at all. Just a light thud. Then another light thud.
He dodged well, too. While lightly evading attacks coming from every direction, he struck each man once. One in the face. Another in the stomach.
The attacks were quick, but since they did not seem powerful, Gu Yasu felt relieved inside.
‘He’s nothing much!’
That was truly the thought that came to him. Rather, he felt that the muscular man standing there without joining the fight was the real problem.
“Get up! Get up and attack together! Stab him in the back!”
But the subordinates who had been hit once and fallen did not get up.
“Stop pretending and get up! You useless bastards!”
He understood. If they thought that getting up meant they had to fight that muscular man, even he would probably pretend to be unconscious.
“Damn it. To think I trusted trash like that.”
Meanwhile, all twenty or so men who had stepped forward had fallen.
Yang kicked a subordinate lying nearby to wake him up. Geom Mugeuk simply let him do as he pleased.
“If you don’t want to die, get up already!”
They had been tapped so lightly and lost consciousness? Anyone could see they were pretending to be knocked out.
Even when kicked, he did not move. Feeling that something was strange, Yang carefully examined the fallen subordinate.
Yang flinched in shock. The subordinate was dead. He examined the subordinate fallen beside him, and he too was dead. Yang understood. All of the subordinates were dead.
Yang slowly looked up at Geom Mugeuk.
At that moment, his eyes met Geom Mugeuk’s. The gaze that looked at him indifferently was cold and eerie.
‘He’s a true expert!’
Yang realized that if he said even one wrong word, he would die on the spot.
Geom Mugeuk had shown no mercy in his hands. It was to ensure that no one would survive and harm Seok’s family in the name of revenge.
Just then, Cheon appeared. Perhaps because he had drunk heavily the day before, his hair was disheveled, and with his unshaven beard, he looked extremely haggard. He had also gained a lot of weight compared to when he had first entered the Beast Faction. Still, Gu Yasu was fine with it. Until now, there had never been an enemy Cheon could not deal with.
“Get rid of both of those bastards.”
Cheon strode forward. He paid no attention to the fallen Beast Faction members. The skills of thugs were obvious anyway.
As it happened, he had once been an Iron Fist of Donggwonmun. He had risen as far as Blue Fist, but in the end, he could not endure the harsh training and fled the Demon Cult.
After that, he had been hiding within the Beast Faction. All sorts of people had targeted Gu Yasu until now, but they had all died by his hand. In exchange, he received enough money to indulge in pleasure. In any case, in this third-rate black-path world, with only Blue Fist-level skill, he was the Fist Demon.
Whoosh.
Cheon’s fist, thrust out to smash Geom Mugeuk’s head, stopped in midair.
The problem was not that his attack had been dodged far too easily. The problem was Geom Mugeuk’s next words.
“This is Blue Fist martial arts, isn’t it?”
Cheon was horrified. It was the first time anyone had recognized his martial arts.
It was at that very moment that one person finally entered Cheon’s eyes properly. The large man who had been standing with his back turned, looking up at the sky, turned his head toward him.
The instant he saw that face!
“Aaaaargh!”
A scream truly burst from Cheon’s mouth. He was so shocked that he thought his heart would burst. The hangover that had tormented him all day vanished in an instant.
Gu Yasu, who was looking at Cheon’s back, could not see it, but Yang could.
Cheon’s distorted face. He wondered if such deep despair and fear could dwell in a human face.
The Fist Demon spoke quietly, as if talking to himself.
“You used my martial arts to serve as the fist of a black-path thug?”
There was no emotion in the Fist Demon’s words. The moment his words ended.
Thud! Crack!
Cheon struck his own crown and took his life. He knew. He could not run away, and he could not be forgiven. If he died by the Fist Demon’s hand, he would die in far greater agony.
At that sight, Gu Yasu’s mind went blank. Because something so strange had happened, he could not think at all.
Geom Mugeuk walked past Yang and said,
“Follow me.”
“Yes!”
As if Geom Mugeuk were the leader, Yang respectfully obeyed the command.
When Geom Mugeuk came right up before him, Gu Yasu came to his senses. Now there was only one thing he could rely on.
“Do you know who stands behind us? If you touch us, there will be consequences.”
“Who’s behind you?”
“The Murim Alliance.”
“Does the entire Murim Alliance belong to you?”
“The branch chief here has my back. If you touch me, he won’t stand still.”
Geom Mugeuk said to Yang,
“You can bring the branch chief here, can’t you?”
As if it were not an easy task, Yang hesitated.
“If you just bring him here, you will be the Beast Faction’s leader from now on.”
“I will bring him here by any means necessary.”
Gu Yasu glared murderously at Yang as he ran off without hesitation.
“Damned bastard.”
He had not expected him to betray him so easily. And he had called himself his right-hand man.
After Yang left, Geom Mugeuk said,
“No need to get so angry. That part about making him the leader was a lie.”
Just as Gu Yasu’s expression eased slightly,
“You haven’t lived in the black path for only a day or two. You know everyone dies, don’t you?”
Gu Yasu’s expression stiffened again. He sensed that he too was included in that everyone Geom Mugeuk had mentioned.
“Please spare me.”
Geom Mugeuk said to him,
“If you hand over evidence that you bribed the branch chief.”
Gu Yasu’s eyes shifted.
“If you don’t have any, then just die.”
The moment Geom Mugeuk clenched his fist, Gu Yasu shouted,
“I have it! It’s inside the safe.”
Geom Mugeuk put him in front and went to the safe. His hands trembled as he opened it. The thought of what am I doing right now occurred to him, and belated fear surged in. The fact that Cheon, whom he had trusted so much, had killed himself was a great shock.
“Here it is.”
He took a ledger out of the safe and handed it over. It contained the details of the bribes given to the Murim Alliance branch chief and all sorts of corruption the branch chief had committed.
“You go move the corpses somewhere they can’t be seen.”
Gu Yasu walked toward the corpses.
‘This is my chance!’
He made up his mind to seize an opening and run away, but before he knew it, the internal energy in his dantian had been suppressed and he could no longer use it.
‘When on earth did he do that?’
With no choice, Gu Yasu moved the corpses. Having to move over twenty corpses without internal energy made sweat pour down his body. After living his whole life without lifting a finger, even this kind of work was enough to make him feel like he was dying.
After struggling to move all the corpses, Gu Yasu went to Geom Mugeuk.
“I moved them all.”
“It was hard, wasn’t it? You felt powerless?”
“……Yes.”
“The emotions felt by the people you’ve victimized until now were probably a hundred, a thousand times greater than that. When each of you is taken alone, you’re truly insignificant, yet you gather like a pack of dogs and frighten people, steal from them, beat them, and kill them.”
“I will turn over a new leaf from now on.”
“A black-path man repenting? How unsophisticated. Keep doing evil. But do it in the place I introduce you to. There will be plenty of others in your line of work there too, so it should be fine.”
“Where is that?”
“Here.”
Geom Mugeuk’s fist flew toward him.
Second Fist, Thunderbolt Asura.
Thudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthud!
Dozens of fists, swift as lightning, struck him, and he died as a bloody pulp without even having time to scream.
Geom Mugeuk threw his corpse into the storage room with the other bodies. He attached no meaning whatsoever to the bastard’s death.
A short while later, Murim Alliance branch chief Baek Chul (伯出) came to the place.
“Why does it smell so much like blood? You bastards, didn’t I tell you to stop killing so many people?”
Baek Chul nagged Yang as he entered. He must have come and gone so often that he treated the place as comfortably as his own home.
“What is so important that you called a busy man all the way here?”
When he saw Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon, he flinched in surprise.
“Who are they?”
“They are warriors we newly recruited this time.”
At Yang’s shameless reply, Baek Chul looked astonished.
“Where did you find a hulking brute like that? Just standing him there would be enough for him to earn his keep. But where did your master go?”
Yang replied calmly.
“It seems he stepped away for a moment.”
Just then, Geom Mugeuk said to Baek Chul,
“How could you simply release a man who beat and even violated a young girl?”
Baek Chul turned to Yang with a look that said, What is this? They’re new, so they don’t know me? Didn’t you train them properly?
But Yang merely watched the situation in silence. At Yang’s reaction, different from usual, Baek Chul instinctively realized that something had gone wrong.
Baek Chul answered calmly.
“Ah, that case lacked evidence, so I released him.”
“Her entire body was left in tatters, and Gongpae was said to have blabbered and boasted of the deed to those dark path bastards—what’s all this talk of evidence? You haven’t even investigated, have you?”
Baekchul was inwardly boiling with rage, but the atmosphere being what it was, he could not retort.
“If this had happened to your family, would you have simply let them go?”
At the mention of family, Baekchul’s face hardened instantly.
“This bastard, the more I see of him...”
“Does talking about family make you feel bad? Your family is this precious to you, while other people’s families are cheap and loathsome things to be preyed upon?”
In that moment, Baekchul debated whether to draw his sword, but endured for now.
‘I’ll throw them all in prison later.’
Surviving this situation was the priority. Baekchul forced a smile and spoke amiably.
“Do try to understand. Even the main alliance must abide by laws.”
“Laws for whose sake? You? The Beast Sect? Who exactly?”
At Geommugeuk’s cold momentum, Baekchul took a step back.
“No matter who you are, I am the Murim Alliance branch chief. Touch me, and you become a public enemy of Murim!”
“That won’t happen. I have someone I know in the Murim Alliance, and I intend to send a letter informing them of your crimes and everything that has transpired here.”
“To whom?”
“There’s a high-ranking figure up there. One who once tried to take me as a son-in-law.”
Baekchul thought this was utter nonsense, but held his tongue for now.
“My crimes? What evidence do you have?”
Geommugeuk produced the ledger he had obtained from the Beast Sect.
“You’ve taken plenty of bribes from the Beast Sect. You’ve even had them kill people over vested interests.”
“What nonsense? I have never done such a thing.”
“Is this something to deny? Those bastards kept diligent records of everything.”
Baekchul’s expression hardened.
“They’re framing me!”
“That’s not it. They were not in a situation to lie.”
Baekchul resolved to obtain that ledger by any means necessary. Eliminating them would come after.
“How much would it take? How much for that ledger...”
Whiiiiish.
Boom!
Baekchul vanished before their eyes.
Baekchul, who had flown far away and been embedded in the wall, died instantly, his entire body shattered.
Now Yang, left alone, spoke while gauging the mood.
“Then from now on, I shall be the leader of the Beast Sect...”
Whiish.
Boom!
Yang also vanished before their eyes.
Sent flying in the opposite direction, he too rolled about as a bloodied pulp.
The one who had sent the two flying was Gwonma. He had dispatched them to the afterlife with a single punch.
“Come.”
It was a gaze asking why Geommugeuk was exchanging words with such trash.
“I was going to ask for about a million nyang for the ledger.”
“Stop your nonsense.”
“Wait a moment.”
Geommugeuk buried the ledger in a corner of the courtyard.
If he reported that it was buried there, the investigator sent by the Alliance Leader would handle it properly. He also intended to include in the letter a request to look after Seok’s family.
Watching Geommugeuk like this, Gwonma spoke.
“You are quite meticulous.”
“You must be meticulous when helping people. Helping others is all well and good, but if you don’t clean up the loose ends properly just because it’s a bother, the one who ultimately suffers is the one you helped. I get to feel good about myself while they suffer the consequences. That wouldn’t do, would it?”
Unexpected words came from Gwonma’s mouth.
“I don’t think you should become the Heavenly Demon.”
“Why is that?”
“How many people must the Heavenly Demon face? Can you endure with such a mindset? If you tend to everything so meticulously, you will be the first to go mad.”
“Now that I hear it, you are right. Very well. Instead of the Heavenly Demon, I shall simply become your disciple, Gwonma.”
Gwonma stared at me quietly and smiled faintly.
“That was the best attempt yet.”
“You almost fell for it. A pity.”
Geommugeuk and Gwonma walked out of the estate side by side. Just as when they had entered, Gwonma’s back filled the entrance as they left.
Fortunately, Gwonma was not suggesting they return to the crossing. At his gaze asking where they would go now, Geommugeuk smiled and said.
“This time, it is a place where you, Gwonma, will enjoy yourself more than I.”