Chapter 83. Because He Was a Man 1
“Please wait a moment.”
I had come alone after receiving the Nammyeong Society’s invitation.
The important part wasn’t that I came alone, but that I came personally. Many of my subordinates wanted to accompany me, but I knew the Nammyeong Society better than they did.
If they ended up clashing with my forces for no reason, things would only end after I killed every last member of the Nammyeong Society. They were a force tightly bound together from top to bottom.
I had no particular feelings about wiping out an underworld faction, but dozens of my men would die as well.
Because I did not want that, I had come to meet the Nammyeong Society Leader alone.
The doors to the main hall opened, and the Nammyeong Society’s executives appeared one by one, taking seats at the long table where I was sitting.
Nam Yeonpung was among them.
Perhaps because the organization was rather strict about discipline, the executives, including Nam Yeonpung, did not utter a single word in the main hall.
I looked over the executives’ faces, then dozed off where I sat.
“…….”
The reason I had been dozing off often these days was because I spent many nights circulating my qi and regulating my breath. It felt as if I were painstakingly peeling away the internal energy clinging to the Heavenly Jade by hand. There was also the fatigue that came from having reached the Fighting Rooster realm too quickly. I was not especially worried about dozing off like this. In any case, when it came to surprise attacks, my body’s reaction was faster than my awareness.
Perhaps it really was an organization with strict discipline, because even when I dozed off, not a single person shouted at me or clicked their tongue.
Thanks to that, I enjoyed a brief but sweet sleep.
Just as I felt saliva gathering at the corner of my mouth, someone’s voice reached my ears.
“Is everyone here?”
“Yes.”
I opened my eyes and watched Nam Garak, the Nammyeong Society Leader, walk in.
‘Ah, so that’s him.’
As Nam Garak took the seat of honor, he asked his subordinates.
“Bring in the Black Cat Gang Leader.”
Nam Garak gave the order to his men without noticing me mixed in among the executives. Then an executive seated to Nam Garak’s left spoke in a quiet tone.
“Society Leader, he is here.”
“What?”
I wiped away the drool with my thumb and met Nam Garak’s eyes. When I deliberately opened my eyes wide, I felt as if double eyelids were forming.
Nam Garak narrowed his brow and asked me.
“The Black Cat Gang Leader?”
I yawned, then replied.
“That’s me.”
For a moment, silence settled over the main hall.
Nam Garak looked at the executives’ expressions, then asked me again.
“You came alone?”
“I came alone.”
I nodded, then spoke to the maidservant standing by.
“At least bring me some water. What kind of way is this to treat a guest?”
The maidservant lowered her head and replied.
“Understood.”
As soon as she answered, she looked at the executives’ expressions and realized she had made a mistake. As the maidservant froze like a statue, Nam Yeonpung stepped in.
“It’s fine, bring him water.”
“Yes, Unit Leader.”
Only then did Nam Garak seem to gather himself somewhat from his bewilderment and speak to the executives.
“You all stand.”
The executives rose to their feet at the same time, moved away from the table, and took positions as if surrounding the main hall.
Nam Garak looked at me and introduced himself.
“I am Nam Garak of the Nammyeong Society.”
I introduced myself properly as well.
“I am the Black Cat Gang Leader, I Jaha. The waiter of Ilyang County….”
It seemed I had not fully woken up yet.
The maidservant set down a cup, then personally tilted the pitcher and filled it with water. I looked at the maidservant once, then said.
“There’s no poison, right?”
The maidservant bowed her head and withdrew.
“Yes, there is none.”
I drank the water in one refreshing gulp, then exhaled deeply. I was finally starting to wake up.
“Phew…….”
As I slapped my cheeks with both hands, Nam Garak asked.
“Were you dozing off here?”
I nodded and replied.
“That’s how it turned out.”
“What were you thinking, coming alone? I heard you had quite a few subordinates.”
“If one receives an invitation, it is only natural to come. Bringing my subordinates was bothersome, so I came alone.”
Nam Garak laughed with an incredulous expression.
“Ha.”
Only then did I study Nam Garak closely.
He was fairly young, appearing to be in his late twenties or early thirties. His face was handsome, but his eyes were too sharp, and an utterly frightening aura hovered over his entire face, making him the type of man women would likely be quite afraid of.
If Dugu Sheng was frightening because he charged ahead recklessly with no plan, this man’s expression revealed the trait of someone with a heavy sense of responsibility. Men who had been in the position of leader from a fairly young age often had this sort of air about them.
Nam Garak continued observing me as he said.
“Why did you kill Ouyang Fu?”
“I went there to participate in duel gambling, but it turned out to be rigged. They even sent women who had hidden aphrodisiacs in their hair ornaments, and then they got caught by me.”
“A man who calls himself a gang leader went to take part in duel gambling?”
I nodded.
“I went because I heard someone called Dongfang Yan was rather good at fighting. They said his epithet was the King of Duel Gambling, but his actual skill did not live up to the title.”
Nam Garak said.
“I heard Ouyang Fu revealed before he died that he paid tribute to the Nammyeong Society.”
“He did.”
“And yet you killed him.”
I looked at Nam Garak with a calm expression.
“Would you have spared him?”
“…….”
Nam Garak could not answer.
It seemed he had intended to summon me, scold me harshly, and then perhaps demand tribute, but his expression changed moment by moment as we spoke.
In any case, Nam Garak had not committed any offense against me, so I was being as polite as possible while merely speaking informally. It was surprising even to me that I had not cursed.
Nam Garak asked the executives.
“Did the Gang Leader really come alone?”
It also sounded as if he was asking whether this bastard truly was the Black Cat Gang Leader.
The executives answered.
“That is correct.”
The executives seemed bewildered, and so did Nam Garak. It was probably because the leader of a faction involved in a dispute had never appeared like this before.
Perhaps because Nam Garak ultimately had nothing to say, he brought up the matter of money.
“I heard you swept away all of Ouyang Fu’s assets. What do you intend to do about the money that the Narak Society had been paying as tribute?”
The moment I heard him bring up money, my mood soured completely.
“What are you, a beggar? What do you want me to do? Pay tribute to you? Are you declaring war, or what?”
Nam Garak’s face turned bright red.
In the end, one of the officers who had been watching seemed to be the first to explode, and he spoke toward Nam Garak.
“Society Leader……”
Nam Garak cut him off, pointing a finger at him.
“Shut up.”
I asked Nam Garak,
“Society Leader Nam, did your men not report properly?”
“Report what?”
“I called the entire Narak Society to the arena and faced them alone. It was a wagered duel that Guyang Bok agreed to as well. The winner would take everything. A duel is a duel, and a wager is a wager. Since I won, I ended up with Guyang Bok’s wealth. In any case, Guyang Bok earned all that money through gambling too. Even if Guyang Bok came back to life, he wouldn’t be able to argue with me over money.”
I also hinted at what had happened when I killed the Great Rakshasa.
“I killed the former Black Cat Gang Leader and his master, the Great Rakshasa, alone as well. That’s how I became the Black Cat Gang Leader. And yet you ask me what should be done with the money that was being paid to me as tribute? Your question is very off the mark.”
If he still did not understand after I explained this much, then I had nothing else to say. I would have no choice but to drive the Flash Dagger into the table…….
Nam Garak replied briefly.
“That is a fair point. Then why did you come here?”
“You invited me, so I came.”
The officers here and there cleared their throats.
I looked around at the officers once, then nodded.
Considering they were the men who had thrown their lives into the fight after Nam Garak died at Ilwido-gang’s hands, they all looked brave. So I intended to overlook a certain amount of insolent behavior. Men who could stake their lives deserved respect.
Nam Garak had probably called me here to either kill me or make me his subordinate. But I had come because I wanted to see Nam Garak and his men for myself.
“I heard from my men that the Nammyeong Society has refused the demand to join the Paegeom Society (覇劍會), a massive faction, and has also ignored the invitation from the Namcheon Alliance (南天陽), maintaining its power independently quite well. I came because I was curious what kind of people you were. At any rate, if you keep refusing the demands of the Paegeom Society or the Namcheon Alliance, you’ll end up seeing blood one way or another. Do you have any plan?”
In truth, that was not what my men had told me, but what I had guessed.
Whatever the case, Ilwido-gang was an assassin organization, and someone must have commissioned them to kill the Nammyeong Society Leader. Of course, because of that commission, Ilwido-gang also staggered, and the Nammyeong Society was annihilated. So I suspected that powerful figures of the Black Path, on the level of the Paegeom Society or the Namcheon Alliance, had used their heads and dealt with both at once. In particular, Ilwido-gang’s fees were extremely high, so most sects could ruin their household finances if they hired them.
Nam Garak said,
“I have no such plan. Nor do I intend to bow my head to the Paegeom Society or the Namcheon Alliance. If we see blood, then we see blood.”
I nodded.
“Straight ahead, huh.”
Since it was an expression only I enjoyed using, there was no reaction at all. In any case, a manly man deserved respect in and of himself.
I made this proposal to Nam Garak.
“Listen, Society Leader Nam. Just as not everyone on the White Path is fair and honorable, not everyone on the Black Path is trash like Guyang Bok. I deal with people by sorting the jade from the stones. If the Paegeom Society or the Namcheon Alliance harasses you, I can help.”
“…….”
Nam Garak, who had briefly looked bewildered, burst into laughter, and the waiting officers also chuckled here and there.
After laughing for a long while, Nam Garak said,
“Then are you telling me to pay tribute to you?”
“No need. I don’t take tribute from the Black Cat Gang, the Black Cicada Fort, Teacher Su, the Four Divine Generals, or my subordinates in Ilyang County. I already distributed much of Guyang Bok’s funds to my men. I funded those who wanted to farm so they could farm, and told those who wanted to do business to leave and do so. I also supported people who wanted to learn carpentry or work in an iron workshop. Only those who don’t know what they want to do are still clinging to me. In truth, I didn’t kill many of Guyang Bok’s men either. I think I killed only five or six. As for the rest, since the gambling house disappeared, they must be finding their own ways to survive.”
I was trying to tell him that I was not the Black Path man he imagined, but Nam Garak seemed never to have seen someone like me before, and did not appear to understand properly.
“To do such things with another man’s money.”
“Even if Guyang Bok had kept it, it would have been useless money. If even one person finds what he wants to do, that is the better thing. I’m not someone who looks after the circumstances of crippled fools, but if a man sets his will on something and says he wants to try, I’m someone who supports him. I asked just one thing of them. That someday, when I ask for help, they gather again under the name of the Hao Gate.”
Somehow, I ended up explaining even the Hao Gate.
Nam Garak said,
“Then was your original identity the Hao Gate Master?”
“Something like that.”
I rose from my seat.
“If you want to wage war against me, do so. If you want to enter the Hao Gate, that is fine too. Enemy or ally, whatever you choose, I will respect it. But don’t tell me to pay tribute, don’t threaten me, and don’t harass my subordinates. Also, don’t let news reach my ears that the Nammyeong Society is harassing merchants or people who have not learned martial arts. When that happens, it will be war. The Hao Gate is that kind of organization. Since there has never been such an organization until now, I came personally to explain it.”
I notified Nam Garak, who was listening to me with his eyes wide open.
“Think it over and give me your answer.”
I looked around at the officers, then walked toward the entrance of the main hall. Then Nam Garak called me to a stop.
“Hey, Hao Gate Master.”
“What?”
“Shouldn’t you show me your skills before I decide?”
I turned around and looked at Nam Garak, then smiled.
“Society Leader Nam, don’t get cocky just because you have some men. Can you see my skill?”
“…….”
I pointed at the officers with my finger, then said to Nam Garak,
“I can line up the bastards in this main hall in order of skill. I can tell just by looking.”
After reaching the Fighting Rooster realm, I had become even more sensitive to sensing an opponent’s bearing (氣度).
Bearing referred to the overall energy circulating through the body, but when people of the jianghu mentioned bearing, they often examined not only that energy, but also one’s atmosphere, temperament, and the degree of completion of one’s body. In other words, just as physiognomy roughly guesses a person’s personality or fate, people of the jianghu could roughly infer an opponent’s skill by observing their bearing.
Nam Garak asked me,
“Excluding you, who looks the strongest here?”
I answered the obvious question simply.
“You.”
Nam Garak stood up.
“Then let’s fight first, and continue the conversation afterward. One-on-one.”
Hm, was it finally the one-on-one I liked?
Nam Garak said in a calm tone,
“If you lose, all forces of the Hao Gate go under the Nammyeong Society. I thought you were a madman because you were dozing off, but my mind changed as we talked. You’re a man who keeps the words he speaks. Will you accept a duel with conditions?”
“If you lose.”
Nam Garak looked around at his men and replied with his brows furrowed into the shape of the character eight (八).
“As if that would happen? How absurd.”
“Hahahaha.”
Only then did his men burst out laughing. I, too, laughed cheerfully along with the entire Nammyeong Association and replied.
“Unbelievable. I’m speechless. The millstone’s missing its handle. Utterly absurd. It doesn’t make a lick of sense.”
“…….”
“It’s so preposterous and bewildering that I’m getting goosebumps.”
The laughter gone from his face, Nam Garak opened his mouth with a stiff expression.
“Enough.”
I mimicked Nam Garak’s expression as well, furrowing my brow into the shape of the character eight.
“……Unbelievable.”
A man who had to win even a war of words, a man who had been unfit to become a chivalrous hero from his past life to this one, a man who had deliberately dozed off and made the atmosphere of the meeting proceed in a strange direction, a man who had barged in alone and, in the end, drawn out a one-on-one duel—unbelievable as it might be, that was me.