Episode 44. Are You Crazy?
Just as every person has their own distinct characteristics, the dark path is also diverse.
However, even I hadn't seen many men of the dark path who slaughtered their own subordinates like this.
The brawl that had erupted into a tangled mess at the promise that only one would be spared ended after Dokgo Saeng killed all of his own men. The bastard turned to face me from the bow, his face covered in blood.
“I killed them all. Will you spare me as promised?”
This bastard couldn't trust me until the very end. As though he were gauging the situation, ready to leap into the river at any moment.
Even I had to admit that Dokgo Saeng's mindset was impressive.
“I will spare you.”
Only then did Dokgo Saeng collapse onto the deck with a thud, exhaling a breath of relief.
“Phew.”
“How are things at Heukseonbo these days?”
Dokgo Saeng replied, his tone still sharp.
“What's there to say? It's full of idiots. Can I run off now? Or do I have to keep escorting you?”
“I kept you alive to be my guide. Where do you think you're going?”
“Got it. What about those sailors?”
Dokgo Saeng pointed at the sailors trembling before his blood-stained blade. He was asking if he should kill them too.
Naturally, I shook my head.
“Don't kill working folk indiscriminately.”
Dokgo Saeng nodded, then rose as if his break had ended and threw the dead subordinates into the river.
Splashes rang out in succession.
A question arose in me regarding Dokgo Saeng's bizarre way of handling things.
“Didn't you say there are six hundred men? Did you expect me to survive even after going to Heukseonbo?”
Dokgo Saeng answered while throwing the corpses into the river.
“How would I know that? I just knew the moment I saw you that you were a madman. I figured you'd kill us all. I don't know what happens after that.”
Indeed, it was the answer of a man who didn't think about what came after.
Shortly after, the boat moored near the Black Sand Ancient City, and only Dokgo Saeng and I disembarked before heading toward Heukseonbo.
Heukseonbo's main stronghold was situated inside a long wall that ethnic minorities had built to resist outside forces, clustered together like a village.
It is said that the old sailors and fishermen of this place used to gather in threes and fives on rough, stormy days to pass the time with gambling. Surprisingly, the Heukseonbo faction began from that small gambling den. At first, the founding chief of Heukseonbo organized it under the pretext of protecting the fishermen, but in reality, he focused on the gambling business.
The very intention of protecting fishermen was similar to my reason for founding Haomun.
But the business that started from a gambling den had grown before anyone knew it to the point of controlling auctions, gambling, and even some waterways to collect tolls. Thus, Heukseonbo is both an underworld faction and river pirates.
If you trace back the origins of a force that preys on the powerless, you arrive at the conclusion that they, too, were originally powerless.
Dokgo Saeng thrust his blade at the subordinate guarding the crumbling gate.
“I've brought I Jaha, whom the Chief seeks. Open the gate.”
The so-called gatekeeper opened the gate hurriedly without a word in reply. Dokgo Saeng was clearly quite the unruly one even within Heukseonbo.
Dokgo Saeng, having entered the grounds of Heukseonbo, asked me.
“How long do I have to escort you? I'd like to slip away early.”
“You will accompany me until I leave Heukseonbo.”
Dokgo Saeng replied with a deeply furrowed brow.
“Understood.”
The peculiar thing about Dokgo Saeng was that despite fearing me, he never once used honorifics, yet he maintained an attitude of keeping his word unconditionally once he spoke it.
Several times, whenever someone tried to speak to us or someone appeared asking about my identity, Dokgo Saeng would first thrust out his blood-stained blade.
“We're busy, so don't shove your ugly mugs in our way. Get lost before I carve up your faces! Out, out, out!”
Dokgo Saeng escorted me straight through Heukseonbo's grounds like Guan Yu breaking through the five passes.
There were certainly a lot of people inside Heukseonbo.
There were men asking who we were, and occasionally men telling us to stop, but Dokgo Saeng bluntly thrust out his blade and spewed a torrent of curses, making people back away.
The figure of six hundred was correct, but not all of them could be called martial artists. If all six hundred were martial artists, Heukseonbo would have become one of the foremost underworld forces in the Central Plains. However, the six hundred mentioned by the dead man was a number that included even those with ordinary occupations inside the compound.
Dokgo Saeng finally pointed at a building visible up ahead and spoke to me.
“I'll go ahead and report, so take your time. I won't run away. As promised, if you survive and escape Heukseonbo, you must spare me.”
Should I call it formidable survival instinct? Or should I call it the antics of a madman?
Dokgo Saeng's steps quickened. He was likely planning to deliver the news of my arrival in advance and then slip away nearby.
The man guarding the entrance to the main stronghold spoke to Dokgo Saeng.
“Squad Leader Dokgo, what's going on?”
“I've brought I Jaha. Inform the Chief.”
“Who is I Jaha?”
“The guy who killed Squad Leader Wi.”
“Ah!”
I looked around the surroundings and then entered the largest building in the grounds. Perhaps because these were men who made money through gambling, the atmosphere of the building inside the crude walls was more splendid than expected.
It felt somewhat overdone, as if built to excess to preserve the Chief's dignity.
However, the main hall of the stronghold was as empty as the interior of a command tent set up on a battlefield. The seat of honor for the commander had been prepared, and chairs were lined up to the left and right, while all manner of weapons were displayed along the left wall.
As if a meeting had just ended, the executives of Heukseonbo were chatting amongst themselves. I glanced roughly around the interior and spoke.
“There sure are a lot of old bastards.”
It felt more like a gathering of elders than ordinary executives. An executive who had received the report spoke to a subordinate.
“Tell the Chief that it seems he needs to come out again.”
“Yes.”
The briefly chaotic atmosphere quickly settled, and everyone either sat in their chairs with closed mouths or moved to the walls to stand by like guards.
Looking for a chair, I addressed an executive sitting in the lowest seat.
“Give me your chair.”
I slapped the bastard looking up at me in silence and sent him flying out of the chair. With a crash, the man rolled across the floor and sprang to his feet. As I took the chair and moved to the center, a man near the seat of honor opened his mouth.
“Wait in the back.”
The man who had his chair taken obediently moved to the wall and glared at me without a word.
Sitting in the chair and looking around, I saw Dokgo Saeng leaning against the wall, standing crookedly.
Not long after, the Heukseonbo Chief walked out.
He was a man who appeared to be over sixty, with dark skin and white eyebrows.
The executives all looked at me in unison, and the Heukseonbo Chief sat in the seat of honor, keeping his eyes fixed on me.
“I Jaha, you've had a hard time getting here.”
I nodded and replied.
“I said I'd come next time, but your subordinates insisted on bringing me anyway.”
“Who brought you?”
Dokgo Saeng, who was leaning against the wall, answered.
“It was me, my lord.”
The Lord of Heukseonbo looked at Dokgo Saeng and said,
“Dokgo Saeng, you’ve had it hard. Good work.”
To my surprise, Dokgo Saeng replied like this.
“What kind of pointless joke is that?”
When Dokgo Saeng spoke so rudely, the other executives cursed him in unison.
“That ill-mannered bastard won’t come to his senses until we tear his mouth open.”
The Lord of Heukseonbo raised a hand and quieted the commotion.
“Yi Jaha of Ilyang County has come here. State your opinions on what should be done.”
At the Lord of Heukseonbo’s question, everyone suddenly shut their mouths.
“If there are no opinions, I’ll handle it myself.”
“Please do.”
“Yi Jaha, you killed three men of Heukseonbo. I hear it was because they burned down your house. Is that correct?”
“Probably.”
My memory was a little hazy too.
It hadn’t been anything terribly important, so I hadn’t bothered dwelling on it.
The Lord of Heukseonbo said,
“Our people were the ones who provided the cause first, so cut off only three fingers and leave.”
What sort of bizarre judgment was this now?
I spread out three fingers and replied,
“I cannot carelessly cut the body my parents gave me. Refused.”
The Lord of Heukseonbo nodded.
“Then substitute one hundred gold coins for each finger. Yi Jaha will henceforth be placed under Heukseonbo’s surveillance while he repays the damages. That is all.”
It seemed the Lord of Heukseonbo had lived like a king.
As if the judgment was over and I should get lost, he waved his hand a few times.
A sigh escaped me on its own.
Fellow brethren of the jianghu, there are this many madmen in the world.
The other executives also accepted the Lord of Heukseonbo’s judgment as if a minor trial had ended without any great trouble.
“Thank you for your efforts.”
I let out a sigh, then said,
“I don’t have that kind of money. And even if I did, I wouldn’t repay it.”
The executives who had been lifting their backsides from their chairs sat back down and glared at me.
This time, even the Lord of Heukseonbo glared at me with an displeased expression.
“Yi Jaha, did you enter this place not knowing what kind of place it is?”
“I didn’t know, which is why I came in by boat.”
“Heukseonbo is a place that collects money no matter what. Your family will have to bear the repayment amount. Will that be all right?”
“I have no family. I miss them again today. I miss the taste of noodles too.”
“If you have no family, then the people in Ilyang County will be forced to repay it. Will that be all right?”
“Tch.”
I called to Dokgo Saeng, who was leaning against the wall.
“Dokgo Saeng, you son of a bitch, come here.”
Dokgo Saeng frowned as he replied,
“Why the hell are you taking it out on me?”
I reached my hand toward Dokgo Saeng’s sword and said,
“Give it.”
Dokgo Saeng strode over, handed me the sword, and then returned to the wall while grumbling.
Holding Dokgo Saeng’s sword upright, I said to the Lord of Heukseonbo,
“Old man, are you insane?”
“……”
These bastards were so mad that even I, who had been the Mad Demon in my previous life, was slightly taken aback. I looked around at the executives and said,
“This is a whole pack of lunatics.”
Even in the midst of that, the Lord of Heukseonbo spoke calmly.
“It has been over ten years since the executives and I personally saw blood.”
One executive cut in.
“Not me.”
“Shut up. However, we have never once avoided this kind of fight. Not without offering another method of resolution. Are you determined to end it like this?”
Come to think of it, everyone seated in the executives’ chairs looked well over forty. And most of the men waiting near the walls were young.
Was this an underworld faction that thoroughly respected the elderly? It seemed they had completely shut out the outside world and created a great many laws to uphold among themselves.
I asked,
“How many executives are there in all?”
Dokgo Saeng answered at once.
“Twenty-one, including the lord.”
I stood up with the sword in hand and said to the Lord of Heukseonbo,
“Old man, either crawl all the way here on your knees and lick my foot, or all twenty-one of you die. Choose.”
Suddenly, my memories of my previous life grew hazy, and it left me feeling stifled. Back when I was in the middle of learning martial arts, there had been news that Heukseonbo had been annihilated by some master, but I couldn’t remember who it had been.
In any case, it wasn’t me. At the time, I had been dragged around by a very troublesome person under the pretext of learning martial arts.
These bastards were a force that deserved to be wiped out.
Since they were this peculiar, their ancestors must have built fortress walls near the river to keep foreign powers out.
Their attitude of handing down judgments and punishments to outsiders as if it were the most natural thing in the world made them less an underworld faction and more a tiny dictatorship.
It felt as though I had come sightseeing in a kingdom full of madmen.
When the Lord of Heukseonbo stood, two waiting subordinates approached and presented him with a podao each.
The Lord of Heukseonbo held a podao in each hand, then clicked his tongue.
“Young man, must you really see blood like this?”
The rest of the elders also rose from their chairs, went to where the weapons were displayed, and each grabbed a weapon. I stared blankly at the weapons the elders were holding.
Three-pointed blades, hwando, straight sabers, judge’s pens, iron cudgels, wolf-tooth clubs, hook-sickle spears…….
And most of them turned around holding some kind of iron skewer whose name I didn’t even know. Those were probably harpoons.
Dokgo Saeng said,
“No, it’s cramped as hell in here. Why are you fighting here?”
At that moment, one elder holding an iron skewer hurled it straight at Dokgo Saeng’s forehead. Dokgo Saeng dodged with a flick of his head, and with a thuk—the skewer embedded itself in the wall.
Dokgo Saeng’s eyes went wide as he said,
“You damned old bastard.”
The elder who had thrown the skewer replied with a composed expression.
“Shut your mouth. Before I kill you first.”
At that moment, Dokgo Saeng said something that caught my ear perfectly.
“Try it, then. You should only have seven fingers left by now.”
It seemed that if someone killed another member of Heukseonbo, they cut off one finger. I couldn’t immediately tell whether this was a proper judgment or not.
In any case, I was greatly impressed by every single thing Heukseonbo was doing.
“Wow, you really are an incredibly insane bunch.”
While the Lord of Heukseonbo stood still like some commander-in-chief, no fewer than twenty old jianghu veterans charged at me.
The weapons surging toward me all at once included a three-pronged blade, a ring-pommel saber, skewers, straight sabers…….
Ah, to hell with it.
I swung my sword too.