Chapter 158 : A Life-Risking Escape

“So, the debt of Miss Yu here is twelve thousand nyang?”

“Ah, i-it’s ten thousand nyang.”

“Why?”

“That’s… this wench… ah, no… because of Yuha, the sales of the Bongrugak dropped by about half… so she has to… take responsibility…”

Gakgwi, the master of the Bongrugak, was truly at his wit’s end.

Jin Sohyun was one thing.

But the man who called himself the Fist King’s disciple was glaring at him as if to kill him, so he couldn't even breathe properly.

“I’ll pay that debt instead.”

“Young Master… are you saying you’ll pay the debt instead?”

Not only Gakgwi, but also Yuha was surprised and her eyes widened.

How much was ten thousand nyang?

For an ordinary family of four, ten thousand nyang was enough money to live on for five years without doing anything.

Moreover, it was enough money to buy a small estate.

To say that he would pay such a large sum of money instead, Gakgwi was suspicious at first.

“Can you really pay it instead?”

“Yeah. Is there a pawnshop nearby?”

“Of course. There’s no way an entertainment city wouldn’t have a pawnshop.”

There was no way the city of entertainment, Honggang, wouldn't have a pawnshop.

Because this place was full of people who would even sell the gold trinkets their parents had left them at a low price at a pawnshop just to enjoy the entertainment.

Jin Sohyun and Beomgang left the Bongrugak with Yuha on the condition that they would pay the money the next day.

Yuha, who was exhausted both mentally and physically, fell asleep as if she had fainted, carried on Beomgang’s back.

“By the way, little brother.”

“What?”

“I’m a layman in these matters, but the fact that they let Miss Yu go so easily means they’re confident they can find us anytime, right?”

Beomgang was smarter than he thought.

As he said, the reason Gakgwi had let them go so obediently was that he was confident he could find them anytime.

“What are you going to do now?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do? I have to pay the money as promised.”

“It’s a whopping ten thousand nyang. Are you going to pay all of it?”

Although he wasn't very good with finances, even Beomgang knew how much money ten thousand nyang was.

And in the first place, it was absurd to make a courtesan incur a debt of ten thousand nyang.

“I know it’s an unfair contract. But I promised, so I have no choice.”

Having no choice, Jin Sohyun, the son of a merchant, was thorough about keeping his promises about money.

“Do you have a way?”

Jin Sohyun patted the shoulder of Beomgang, who was asking again as if he were worried, and nodded his head.

“Don’t worry and take good care of Miss Yu.”

“Leave it to me.”

While Beomgang, who had arrived at the Jahong Inn, took Yuha to an empty room with Dongpyeong’s kindness, Jin Sohyun looked around outside the Jahong Inn.

“A lot of them have come.”

Since leaving the Cheonhwagak, the number of eyes watching him had doubled.

Moreover, they no longer even suppressed their presence.

‘Do they know I won’t touch them?’

It was a kind of mutual agreement.

Since they knew it was useless to hide anyway, they were letting him know they were watching by revealing their presence.

As the situation was like this, Jin Sohyun couldn't do anything about the people who were openly watching him.

He just felt it was troublesome.

“I’ll have to go to the pawnshop tomorrow morning. What should I tell my father?”

Currently, his family, including Jin Seomok, thought that Jin Sohyun was being lazy in the annex, as he had been his whole life.

Contemplating an excuse, Jin Sohyun entered the Jahong Inn.

***

The next morning.

A woman with a robe pulled down over her head came to the quiet Jahong Inn.

Jin Sohyun, who had woken up early to go to the pawnshop, discovered her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Your voice is full of hostility.”

The woman with the robe pulled down sat down opposite Jin Sohyun without permission.

“Thanks to someone, I fell from the highest place in the Cheonhwagak to the lowest.”

As she took off the robe, a beautiful woman’s face was revealed.

The woman’s identity was Baekhwa.

She was a courtesan of the Cheonhwagak who had been demoted from a top-class courtesan to a low-class courtesan overnight.

“That’s your karma.”

“You’re more cruel than I thought.”

Baekhwa said this and tilted her head to the side.

At that, a pattern he had never seen before came into his sight.

A black pattern in the shape of a hook.

Jin Sohyun had a curious expression at the ugly pattern that continued from under her left ear to below her neck.

“Was there such a pattern?”

“There wasn’t when I met you, Young Master. This… appeared last night.”

Saying this, Baekhwa smiled faintly and offered a cup.

Jin Sohyun personally poured tea into the cup she offered.

“This is a brand.”

“A brand?”

“A brand that is stamped on the bodies of courtesans who have committed a crime or caused great damage to the brothel. Through this, it is conveyed to the people of Honggang. That this wench is a troublesome wench.”

“…”

Jin Sohyun’s expression distorted as he learned the truth of the pattern.

“I’m sorry.”

At the unhesitating apology, Baekhwa gave an eye-smile.

“A sincere apology… I didn’t come all this way to see that face. I just came to tell you an interesting story.”

“What story?”

“I heard that there is a foolish man here who foolishly bought a low-class prostitute for a whopping ten thousand nyang.”

“The rumor spread fast.”

“All rumors in Honggang inevitably pass through the Cheonhwagak.”

“That’s right. It’s true.”

“Why?”

Baekhwa asked, her expression changing.

With a serious face without a smile.

At her serious question, Jin Sohyun answered calmly.

“Because I owed a debt.”

“Even if Yuha wasn’t there, there would have been no problem with your safety, Young Master?”

“That’s not important. Anyway, Miss Yu tried to help me, whom she had never met before, and because of that, she was almost subjected to a terrible thing. So this time, I’m helping her. Because I don’t like living with a debt.”

“…”

Baekhwa stared at Jin Sohyun with her large eyes.

Soon, a small amount of moisture formed in her jade-like eyes.

“Why is a man like you in Honggang… in that case, shall I also bestow a small kindness?”

Baekhwa said, tucking her side hair behind her ear with her slender fingers.

“Yuha will go back to the Bongrugak.”

“Why?”

“Young Master. How many women do you think became courtesans in this Honggang because they wanted to?”

At the question he had never thought of, Jin Sohyun closed his mouth as if he had forgotten how to speak.

As if she had known, Baekhwa continued.

“Originally, Honggang was not such a bustling entertainment city. Naturally, there weren’t this many brothels either. But how did it become the best entertainment city in Shanxi Province?”

Jin Sohyun, who was contemplating, slowly opened his mouth.

“Did someone turn Honggang into an entertainment city?”

“That’s correct. You’re as smart as you are skilled in martial arts.”

“Hao Sect.”

The startled Baekhwa quickly looked around and then brought her finger to her lips.

“If you want to live long, you’d better not let that name out of your mouth.”

“Thank you.”

At Jin Sohyun’s sincere thanks, Baekhwa stood up from her seat with a sigh.

“I’ve said all I have to say, so I’ll be on my way. I don’t think I’ll live to my full age if I stay here any longer.”

Baekhwa stood at the doorway of the Jahong Inn and smiled.

“No matter how much of a dung heap it is, this life is better than the afterlife, isn’t it?”

Having finished her words, Baekhwa left the Jahong Inn as she was.

After Baekhwa left, Jin Sohyun leaned back in his chair and was lost in thought.

“Beomgang.”

At his call, Beomgang, who was on the second floor, came down, scratching his head.

“You’re up early. Little brother.”

“What should we do?”

“What? What do you mean, what should we do?”

“You heard it too.”

“Tsk. You knew.”

Jin Sohyun, who had stood up from his chair, left the Jahong Inn with Beomgang.

The gazes of the two were directed at the high tower that was designed to be visible from anywhere in Honggang.

The Cheonhwagak.

A golden pagoda built with the blood and tears of innocent people.

It was unpleasant that such a thing existed in Shanxi Province.

No, the fact that it existed in the world was unpleasant beyond words.

“But little brother. Can we win on our own?”

“We don’t have to face all of them.”

A quick battle.

He had to catch Jeokmyeon, who had not yet revealed himself.

For that.

“We have to enter the center.”

***

“Damn it…”

Neung Gap tried to chew the meat several times, but even that was too much.

“Boss. Here you go.”

In the end, Neung Gap put the meat that one of his subordinates had finely chopped into his mouth.

“Ugh…!”

Neung Gap felt anger at his miserable situation.

After he had been beaten like a dog by Jin Sohyun, who was a waiter at the Bongrugak, and had been kicked out, the Heungno Gang, which had over twenty members, now had only five left.

And even then, most of them were those who had nowhere else to go.

‘If it weren’t for that bastard.’

Even now, when he thought of Jin Sohyun, he felt goosebumps all over his body.

Overwhelming strength.

Neung Gap, who had become a cripple without even being able to use his hands, spent another day drinking cheap grain wine.

“You bastard! Bring… bring me some alcohol!”

“Boss… there’s no alcohol left.”

“Shut up! Bring… bring me some alcohol!”

A bottle of alcohol famous for its good taste appeared in front of Neung Gap, who was begging for alcohol.

Neung Gap, who had accepted it in a daze, smiled slyly.

“Good?”

“Huh!”

Neung Gap’s face turned white as he belatedly discovered the man who had given him the alcohol.

The person who had brought him the alcohol was none other than Jin Sohyun.

“You… you! How did you get here!”

“I asked where the Heungno Gang was, and they told me.”

“You bastard… why… why did you come.”

“It’s nothing else, I just need something.”

Jin Sohyun’s hand suddenly came forward.

“Let me borrow your sword.”

***

“Keuk…!”

Black blood gushed from the mouth of Bieunggaek, who was leaning against a tree.

His hands and feet trembled, and his lips turned a dark blue.

“Not… not yet…”

The poisonous energy that had deeply penetrated between his pressure points was rapidly eating away at his life force.

Bieunggaek gritted his teeth and drove the accumulated poisonous energy into his left hand.

As his left hand turned a dark blue from the fingertips to just below the shoulder, Bieunggaek tore his sleeve long and tied it to his shoulder.

‘There’s no time to hesitate.’

The wild dogs that had smelled the blood would soon follow.

Bieunggaek did not hesitate and cut his left hand with the dagger he always carried.

The blade, imbued with internal energy, cut off his arm in one go.

Thud—!

A dizzying pain was felt, but Bieunggaek didn't even have time to feel the pain.

He could already feel the presence of the wild dogs that had come close.

“It’s around here!”

“We must not lose him!”

The voices of the wild dogs coming from all directions.

If he recklessly raised his internal energy, the remaining poisonous energy would spread throughout his body, but he had no choice.

Bieunggaek kicked off the ground with his two legs imbued with internal energy and flew up.

The number one divine thief of the world began a life-risking escape.

Meanwhile, at the Mok Family estate, Ma Seongun’s two closed eyes opened wide.

“Phew—!”

The poisonous energy that had imbued his entire body was absorbed by the Blood Jade that was deeply implanted in his body and disappeared.

‘Formless Earth Killing Poison… even the exterminating poison of the Sichuan Tang Clan can’t kill me.’

Even the most evil poison with no antidote was nothing but a snack for the Blood Jade.

At this, Ma Seongun was greatly pleased and stood up.

But there was one problem.

“Are you okay?”

As the middle-aged martial artist who was leading this operation approached and asked worriedly, Ma Seongun said.

“Why did you open the door?”

“Th-that’s… I didn’t know Bieunggaek had the Formless Earth Killing Poison. In case Young Master Ma was in danger…”

It was something no one had expected.

Bieunggaek, who had judged that he could not escape, had detonated the iron poison pill of the Formless Earth Killing Poison that he had secretly stolen in front of Ma Seongun’s face.

Because of this, Bieunggaek was also poisoned by the Formless Earth Killing Poison, but he didn't seem to care much.

The ones who were surprised by Bieunggaek’s suicide attack using the Formless Earth Killing Poison were the martial artists of the Hao Sect sent by Ok Myeon.

They were surprised by the appearance of the Formless Earth Killing Poison and opened the door of the underground prison where he was confined.

Of course, it was to save Ma Seongun, but this was like opening a path for the number one divine thief of the world.

Bieunggaek escaped through the open gap in the door at an incredible speed, and Ma Seongun had to struggle to drive out the poisonous energy of the Formless Earth Killing Poison.

As a result, Ma Seongun, who had even conquered the poisonous energy of the Formless Earth Killing Poison, gripped his sword and stood up.

“Guide me to Bieunggaek.”

(End of Chapter)