85 Chapter 84 (2/2)
”Sorry?”
Kang-hyuk looked at his hands.
He wasn't certain exactly how many lives had been taken with his hands, but he was certain that it was a hundred times the amount of people Ha Go-jun had killed.
He wasn't regretful of this.
”Damn it! If you hadn't killed your opponent, you would have died! You killed those people because you didn't wish to die yourself, right?”
”Th-that's right. It's because I can't die yet…”
”Exactly, so stop prostrating on the floor so pitifully, wipe your tears, and stand up. I'm not going to arrest you and send you to the government office.”
”Thank you! Thank you so much!”
”Anyway, how old are you?”
Ha Go-jun wiped his tears and replied, ”I'm nineteen.”
”....”
Kang-hyuk was momentarily at a loss for words.
”Did you just say nineteen?”
”Yes.”
Kang-hyuk's feeling of remorse for Ha Go-jun's situation increased. His current appearance was so rough as a result of the difficult times he had endured that he didn't look his age.
”Ae-rin-ah.”
”Yes, Seonsaengnim?”
”Take him to the inn and tell Baek-gap to take care of feeding him and cleaning him up.”
”Understood. But…Seonsaengnim?”
Byeok Ae-rin pointed at the back of Ha Go-jun's neck.
”What are we going to do about the mark on his neck?”
”Mark?”
”Yes, I've looked and he has a branding on the back of his neck. It's the dog character.”
Kang-hyuk promptly examined Ha Go-jun's neck.
”Dog-like fellows do dog-like deeds, I guess.”
The branding was done by heating up a stamp, and then pressing the heated stamp onto the skin, effectively burning the imprint into it. Kang-hyuk knew that Ha Go-jun must have experienced a great deal of pain during the process.
But of course, he felt more apologetic towards his grandfather, Ha Du-gyeong.
Kang-hyuk took a small box out of his sleeve, then presented Byeok Ae-rin with a small bottle that was inside of it.
”This will do the trick.”
”Ah! It will, indeed.”
Byeok Ae-rin grinned as she accepted the bottle, being aware of what it was.
”Oh yes, Ae-rin-ah. I also have another favour to ask of you.”
”Yes, please say.”
”The closest clan branch to this village is the Hanam branch, right?”
”It is.”
”Tell the branch head bastard to come running over here right away.”
***
*Bang!*
The location was the blood fighting venue of Hwagyeon Village.
The only office in the venue was the office of the venue owner. The venue owner sitting behind the desk banged on it with his fist.
He had just heard news of what had happened.
”What? Blood Ghost escaped? What on earth were you bastards doing whilst he escaped?”
”....”
The venue owner continued to vent his fury at the silence of the warriors.
”And not only that, but you also ran into an elder of the Hwacheon Clan? Didn't I tell you to keep out of their sight?”
*Bang!*
His fist collided with the desk in front of him once more.
”Go and find him immediately! That lad is the source of my money! There's no one that can fight as well as him!”
The owner of the blood fighting venue, Yeom-jung, was distressed.
He loved money. It was as the saying went, if one has money, they can even handle a ghost. He liked money so much because it made everything possible.
This was why Yeom-jung had mulled over what would bring him the greatest wealth, and concluded that blood fighting was the way.
When he first began, he had set up various connections with people, and bribed those that needed to be bribed. He was well aware that the practice was outlawed by the government, and that if they were discovered by the Hwacheon Clan, his business would be wiped out.
But nevertheless, the practice couldn't be entirely eradicated.
He knew that if he set up his business well, taking all the necessary precautions, he would make a lot of money.
When he had been trying to make his venue impossible to detect, he became aware that there was a sound-blocking artefact.
That artefact was with a prestigious family of Nakyang, the Munyun Ha Family.
Yeom-jung attempted to visit the family to ask them for the artefact, but they had refused to even see him.
But as the matter involved making money, Yeom-jung didn't give up.
He bribed a servant of the family into adding poison into their food.
As a result of this, the master and mistress of the family became ill with an illness that was said to be incurable, regardless of what doctor they visited.
This was because the poison had come from the Dark Medicine Valley. Money was indeed power just as he thought.
In a matter of six months, the couple had died, and the family had been left with staggering debts.
Unfortunately, there was no one that had stepped forward to help the family.
Yeom-jung had won over several families and groups that had great enmity with the Ha Family.
After that, things had gone how he had wanted.
The merciless debt collector had sold off the two children of the family as slaves, and had sold all of the objects within the house.
As a result, Yeom-jun had been able to gain the artefact he had worked so hard to attain.
'I worked so hard for this!'
He looked at a vase in his office. The vase contained yellow flowers.
It was a white porcelain vase that was completely undecorated.
That was the artefact that he had worked so hard to obtain, the artefact that blocked all sound.
The condition for activating the artefact was flowers. The vase had to have flowers inside of it for it to work.
He cried out at the warriors standing in front of him.
”I have no other choice! If you can't come back with him, you'll all be killed! If the elder of the clan finds out about this place, it's all over!”
The warriors dashed outside at his warning.
Yeom-jun had regularly sent bribes to the nearby branch of the clan, as well as government officials, but an elder of the clan was another matter altogether.
He wished that the elder would leave Hwagyeong Village as soon as possible. Sadly for him, Yeom-jung was in the dark.
He was unaware that a mad dog, someone that was worse than Shim-gu, was now in his blood fighting venue, and that a catastrophe greater than he could imagine was now coming his way.
[1] Li Po was an acclaimed Tang Dynasty poet famous for his poetry on the pleasures of drinking wine, and general drunkenness