89 (1/2)
Chapter 089: In the Gray Area Between the Truth and the Lie (3)
Translator: hwarang
Editor: Kidyeon
When Chu Do Chi arrived the next day, I asked him without hesitation, “I need some money.”
“What’s this about?”
“Now that I think about it, I feel like I’m taking care of the c.r.a.p that you’re giving me.”
“This punk!” However, despite his response, his stare was different than before. He knew what my purpose was, and was treating me differently.
“Since things have come to this, I want to become a proper hero.”
“And what does that have to do with you needing money?”
“Why wouldn’t it involve money? I need to get a good sword and some decent clothing. And to do that, I need money. Looking back, I think that I wasted that money going to that entertainment house.”
“It sounds to me like you want to do your part to serve lord Ma. So, how much do you need?”
“Give me twenty thousand nyang.”
“What?!” He frowned.
“Are you crazy? Do you think that we can simply toss out twenty thousand nyang?”
“No, but I know you can. That’s why I asked you. Go tell Lord Ma for me.”
He left the restaurant with an angry expression. I laughed as he left.
I knew what they were planning to do with me, so I was going to play with them a bit.
Sure, I’ll become your hero. However, you’ll have to heavily invest in me.
Since this had to do with the successor’s seat, Ma Ryung In wouldn’t refuse easily.
There were currently twenty days until the Grand Festival of Gold.
I had until then to find out what was inside that room, what sort of experiments they were doing, and how they were creating the Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret.
I need to find out these things so that I can set up countermeasures against them.
***
“That crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s demanded twenty thousand nyang.” Chu Do Chi said in an angry tone.
“Give it to him.”
“...What?”
At first, he thought that he’d misheard.
“I said, give him the money.”
Chu Do Chi exclaimed, “You mustn’t!”
Even though they might need him, investing twenty thousand nyang into him was too much.
“That’s too much money. You should, at most, only give him a couple thousand nyang.”
Ma RYung In smiled and said, “Isn’t this the first time you’ve dealt with someone like this?”
“What do you mean sir?”
“Someone that’s about to become a sacrifice getting their worth before they’re sent off.”
Ma Ryun In believed this to be a test of fate; a test he needed to pa.s.s in order to become the next mengju. His sacrifice would be that he’d pay the offering himself. It was worth it to invest at least this much.
“But twenty thousand is still too much!”
Chu Do Chi was against it. It didn’t matter how much they had, this was still too much to invest in a sacrifice.
This was something that he, a loyal subordinate, didn’t even welcome.
He was angry about it. No, it would be more appropriate to say that he was greedy.
“The more that we invest in him, the more that we should use him. Trust me on this.”
Chu Do Chi decided that he wouldn’t reject it anymore.
He sighed deeply, then said, “Yes.”
***
The next day, Chu Do Chi returned with the twenty thousand nyang I’d asked for.
I’d expected them to cut the amount in half, but they’d given me the full amount.
That Ma Ryung In was quite difficult to understand.
Combined with the reward I’d received, I now had a total of thirty six thousand nyang. I’d been able to gather quite a large sum of money in a short amount of time.
But there was one thing I was dissatisfied with, which was that the money was traceable. All of the money I’d received—from both the Alliance and Ma Ryun In—could only be used by the Nameless Warrior, not by Byuk Lee Dan. With this in mind, I planned to use it without hesitation.
As such, I rushed towards the Shrouded City Merchant. Since this was a big city, the Shrouded City was also quite large.
The person that greeted me was a middle-aged man. “I heard that you’ve come here to buy some cultivation medicine.”
“Yes. Do you have any?”
“I’m afraid not. It seems that someone has been buying it all up. It’s difficult to acquire any right now.”
I knew times were difficult, but for someone to be buying up all the cultivation medicine…. He must be monopolizing the cultivation medicine to use himself, or be using it for experiments.
If Ma Ryung In is the tail, then the hand and the foot must be the ones buying all the medicine.
“There are other things here that’re just as good as the medicine you’re looking for. Would you like to look around?”
“Sure.”
Since I planned to spend all the money I’d received, I decided that I’d follow him and buy some weapons.
This place was definitely bigger than the one in San Dong.
“There are great swords here, are you not interested in them?”
“Swords are too expensive.”
“True, swords can get pretty expensive.”
I looked around, but nothing caught my attention. Thus, I asked him, “Where do you sell armor?”
He showed me some armor.
Bulkier armor cost around nine thousand nyang, while armor that was smaller and more concealable cost around fifteen thousand nyang.
“Fifteen thousand nyang? Isn’t that a bit much?”
“Isn’t your life worth that much?”
I looked around again, then something caught my eye. There was a fis.h.i.+ng rod leaning against the wall.
“What’s that?”
“It’s the fis.h.i.+ng rod that was used by the Fisherman of the East.”
The Fisherman of the East was a person who was pretty close to me. He’d stood by my side and aided me in my fight against the Demon Alliance.