Chapter 14: I Understand That Being a Pushover Is in Your Nature (2)
From there, Lim Chung headed straight to the Heo Sword Family with Beon Saeng.
The head of the Heo Sword Family was Heo Sa. Originally, the Heo Sword Family had been the strongest sect in Zhejiang Province. However, after the Divine Transformation Gang had risen like a comet, they had been pushed down to second place.
“What brings the Branch Leader here?”
“I came because there is something important I wished to discuss.”
“Please, speak.”
“By any chance, are you aware of the tragedy that befell Great Hero Liang Qiu some time ago?”
“Of course. It was a truly tragic incident.”
“I came to ask whether you might know anything related to that matter.”
Heo Sa had never expected Lim Chung to come to him over that incident. The Lim Chung he had known was merely someone barely clinging to the position of Branch Leader in some rural backwater.
“It’s regrettable, but I know nothing more about the matter.”
Lim Chung had expected he would not speak so readily. It was time to play his trump card.
“I’ll be frank. I believe the Divine Transformation Gang was involved in that incident.”
If Wang Gon were released like this, he would never let the matter rest. Since they would be targeted anyway, they had to seize the opportunity to strike back.
The moment the Divine Transformation Gang was mentioned, Heo Sa flinched. It was exactly the sort of reaction someone would have if caught off guard, and from that response alone, Lim Chung could infer that he knew something about the incident.
“In fact, we arrested someone today. But due to insufficient evidence, we’re in a position where we’ll have to release him.”
“Such a thing happened!”
Heo Sa found it hard to believe. The Martial Alliance’s Wencheng Branch he knew had neither the ability nor the nerve to arrest Wang Gon.
“Is what you said true?”
“Why would I lie about something that will eventually come to light? If it’s true that the Divine Transformation Gang was involved, they’ll be finished.”
Heo Sa stared at Lim Chung. Whether the man had come because he had been cornered or because he burned with righteousness, he felt different from the Lim Chung he had known before.
“Why did you come to me?”
“Please help me.”
“How?”
Looking him straight in the eye, Lim Chung revealed his unwavering determination to solve this case.
“Please tell me everything you know.”
After returning to the branch, Lim Chung and Beon Saeng immediately sought out Baek Socheon.
“The Heo Sword Family gave us information regarding Liang Qiu.”
Lim Chung’s face was flushed with excitement.
“What information?”
“They said Liang Qiu had recently been investigating the Divine Transformation Gang’s new business.”
“How did the Heo Sword Family know about that?”
“They were the ones who asked him to do it. They had learned that the Divine Transformation Gang was planning a major new venture, so Family Head Heo Sa personally requested Liang Qiu to investigate it.”
It was certainly testimony that could serve as a clue to solving the case. Liang Qiu had been killed while investigating at the request of a rival sect? That made it entirely reasonable to suspect the Divine Transformation Gang had murdered him.
“What is this new business?”
“Ah, you wouldn’t know.”
Lim Chung explained the new business the Divine Transformation Gang was planning in Wencheng. Since Baek Socheon had now become deeply involved, Lim Chung felt he needed to know everything.
After hearing the whole story, Baek Socheon tilted his head.
“The new business is constructing a massive iron workshop in Wencheng?”
“I heard they intend to build the largest iron workshop in the Central Plains.”
“Then that’s truly strange.”
Beon Saeng cut in.
“There’s nothing strange about it. The Divine Transformation Gang said they intended to make the iron workshop business their main focus from now on.”
That was what they had heard from Black Hand before.
“That’s exactly why it’s strange.”
“Huh?”
“If they build an iron workshop all the way down here at the southernmost part of Zhejiang Province, transporting the weapons they produce throughout the Central Plains would cost a fortune. If they truly intended to expand the business as they claimed, they should build it somewhere with geographical advantages, like Henan or Hubei.”
“Ah! Now that you mention it, you’re right!”
Beon Saeng looked at Lim Chung as if asking whether that wasn’t a reasonable theory.
Lim Chung proposed another possibility.
“Perhaps they’re only planning to supply themselves?”
“But wouldn’t the scale be far too large for that?”
“Or perhaps they’re trying to avoid conflict with other iron workshops?”
“The Divine Transformation Gang doesn’t strike me as the kind of sect that’s so considerate.”
Without thinking long, Lim Chung nodded.
Then Beon Saeng spoke again.
“All right, let’s say that’s true. But I still don’t understand. Would investigating an iron workshop business really be enough reason to wipe out an entire family?”
“He must have uncovered something he never should have learned.”
It was Lim Chung who answered.
“Then why kill his whole family instead of just Liang Qiu?”
This time, Lim Chung had no answer.
Beon Saeng’s searching gaze naturally shifted toward Baek Socheon.
“Why do you keep asking me?”
“We have absolutely no idea. But somehow it feels like you know everything, Brother.”
“I don’t know. I really don’t. If I were that clever, would I have picked up a sword in the first place? I’d have picked up books instead.”
“Even saying you’re not smart somehow makes you sound smart.”
“Enough. If I had to guess, they may have wanted to make it look like a personal grudge against Liang Qiu.”
Lim Chung and Beon Saeng both nodded. Slaughtering an entire family was often associated with personal vendettas. If that was why they had murdered everyone, then the perpetrators were truly vicious.
“Besides, it served as a warning to whoever was backing Liang Qiu. ‘If you meddle, we’ll wipe out your families too.’”
If that had been the intention, it had certainly worked.
The Manor Lord of the Jo Family Manor, who had been Liang Qiu’s close friend, had been frightened, and although the Heo Sword Family had agreed to testify, they had remained extremely cautious.
“The Heo Sword Family promised to testify about Liang Qiu once we find additional evidence.”
“So they’ll help, but they won’t step into the spotlight.”
They had moved one step forward, but they still had only circumstantial evidence, with nothing decisive.
Just then, another subordinate martial artist came to report.
“Commander Cheon is looking for Martial Artist Baek.”
“For me?”
“Yes. He instructed me to bring you to the interrogation room.”
Beon Saeng jumped in surprise.
“Why the interrogation room of all places?”
Baek Socheon immediately understood the intention.
“He’s trying to pressure me. Judging by how he’s acting, there’s a good chance Commander Cheon is on their side.”
“You mustn’t go! Once you’re in the interrogation room, the pressure makes you say things you shouldn’t.”
Baek Socheon chuckled at Beon Saeng’s concern. Someday, when the young man learned his true past, he would realise just how amusing those words were.
“It’s fine. The interrogation room feels more familiar to me than my own room. Back in the day, I was interrogated quite a bit.”
“There you go bragging again! Back in the day, I drank with the Ten Great Evildoers in the Martial Alliance’s underground Thunder Prison!”
“They’re all dead now. Only two of us are left. One of the two really likes to drink.”
“What? No, this isn’t the time for your tall tales!”
Baek Socheon had already left the room.
Once only the two of them remained, Beon Saeng asked anxiously,
“He’ll be all right, won’t he?”
“Who knows.”
There was no doubt Baek Socheon was an exceptional fighter. But politics within an organisation could not be solved through strength alone.
If Thousand Vipers found a weakness to exploit, or used his rank to pressure him, things could become troublesome.
“Let’s hurry over too.”
Beon Saeng was growing increasingly anxious. Cheon Yangho was nothing like him or Lim Chung, who merely drifted along with the current. He worried that the man might harm Baek Socheon.
By contrast, Lim Chung remained calm.
“Don’t rush so much. Somehow, I don’t think your great and mighty brother is the sort of man who’d die from a snake bite.”
“You were with the Iron Sword Corps?”
It had not been difficult for Cheon Yangho to learn through the branch’s martial artists that Baek Socheon had been involved in this affair. He had been present both when Jongpyo was arrested and when Taejeong had died.
“I was.”
Although Cheon Yangho outranked him, he was not Baek Socheon’s direct superior, allowing him to answer rather casually.
“What was your position?”
“Squad Leader.”
“A Squad Leader of the Iron Sword Corps.”
That answered some of Cheon Yangho’s questions. If Baek Socheon had been a Squad Leader in the Martial Alliance’s elite Iron Sword Corps, then subduing an off-guard Black Hand would have been entirely possible.
Black Hand had supposedly gone down in a single strike. Rather than a difference in skill, Cheon Yangho believed he had simply been caught off guard. After all, Black Hand was a master whom even he would struggle to defeat.
“Why were you driven all the way here?”
“Do I have to answer that too?”
“You’re at the centre of this case.”
“I was demoted for disobeying orders.”
Judging by Baek Socheon’s insolent attitude, that sounded entirely plausible to Cheon Yangho.
“Very well. Next question. How did you know the box contained Hundred-Year He Shou Wu?”
“I recognised it by the smell.”
“You have an excellent sense of smell.”
“My eyesight is even better.”
“Answer only what you’re asked.”
“Fine by me.”
Cheon Yangho attributed all of his insolence to the fact that he had once been a Squad Leader of the Iron Sword Corps. Someone from such a background was naturally arrogant. That preconception prevented him from accurately judging his opponent.
“I heard you made quite a name for yourself with the Divine Transformation Gang.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Don’t thank me yet. They might report you for excessive use of force.”
“Let them.”
Then Baek Socheon abruptly asked,
“I heard the Divine Transformation Gang has been bribing martial artists of the Zhejiang Branch. Do you happen to know anything about that?”
“No, I don’t.”
Cheon Yangho’s voice trembled slightly. The sudden question had caught him off guard.
This was merely Baek Socheon’s speculation.
If they had tried to bribe Lim Chung, then they must have bribed other martial artists as well. Judging by Cheon Yangho’s efforts to bury the case, there was a high possibility that he had accepted bribes himself.
“Where did you hear that?”
Baek Socheon stared directly at Cheon Yangho.
“Does that matter?”
“I’m trying to verify the facts.”
“If you want to verify the facts, you investigate the branch’s martial artists. If you expose the informant, do you think those bastards will just sit still?”
“I suppose not.”
“Once Hall Leader Wang’s crimes are exposed, every martial artist who accepted his bribes will be dragged into it as well.”
“Of course they should.”
Cheon Yangho realised he had lost control of the conversation.
‘This bastard is no ordinary man.’
An inexperienced martial artist would have been uncomfortable in this situation, unable even to meet his eyes properly.
He had summoned Baek Socheon to the interrogation room intending to pressure him, yet somehow he had become the one being interrogated.
“Well, let’s end it here for today.”
Cheon Yangho rose to his feet. He had already learned everything he needed, and prolonging the conversation would only put him at a disadvantage.
‘Hall Leader Wang has provoked an extremely troublesome opponent.’
As soon as Cheon Yangho left, Beon Saeng and Lim Chung entered the interrogation room.
“What did he say?”
“He said they might report me for excessive use of force.”
Then Lim Chung spoke from behind.
“That won’t happen.”
As their superior, he would make sure neither Baek Socheon nor Beon Saeng suffered any consequences.
Beon Saeng said worriedly,
“At this rate, unless we find conclusive evidence, Wang Gon and Black Hand are going to be released.”
“I’ll stop it somehow, even if I have to stake my position on it. That should buy us a few days.”
Beon Saeng let out a sigh and blamed himself.
“This is all because of me. If I hadn’t attacked the Taejeong Sect, none of this would’ve happened.”
Baek Socheon, who had been about to leave first, stopped at the doorway and turned around.
“I understand that being a pushover is in your nature, but don’t ever say this is your fault. It’s all because of those maggots.”
The moment he said “those maggots,” Cheon Yangho was included among them.
“They’re only interested in chasing their own profits, so why are you wasting your time blaming yourself? Stay a pushover if you must. Just don’t become an idiot.”
Though it sounded like a rebuke, it brought Beon Saeng great comfort. He nodded vigorously.
“Yes, Brother!”
Baek Socheon had already walked outside.
Beon Saeng turned to Lim Chung.
“Could you have imagined we’d end up going through something like this just a few days ago?”
“No.”
“If Brother hadn’t been here, things would’ve been truly difficult for us.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Huh?”
Beon Saeng looked at Lim Chung.
With a soft sigh, Lim Chung rose from his seat.
“Nothing would’ve happened.”
Originally, this was exactly the sort of incident that should have caused a huge uproar.
Instead, it would have passed by as though nothing had happened.
Because Baek Socheon had entered their lives…
…both he and Beon Saeng had begun to change.
But…
Could they truly bear such a life?
He and Beon Saeng were merely ordinary people one could find anywhere. People easily influenced, and even more easily wounded…
They were not Baek Socheon.
Lost in thought, Lim Chung stepped outside and stopped in front of the interrogation hall.
Beon Saeng came to stand beside him.
He now understood what Lim Chung had meant when he said nothing would have happened.
“So… I’m going to treat this opportunity as my chance to change my life.”
Smiling, Lim Chung nodded.
Over the past year they had lived together, they had never once shared such heartfelt thoughts.
During these past few days, the two of them had come to understand one another far more deeply.
Sign up to join the discussion...
Already have an account? Log in
No comments yet. Be the first to discuss this chapter.