Episode 182

“Hmmm…”

After hearing his subordinate’s report, Ga Jong-pyung took a sip of his drink and pondered. It was odd for the Golden Ring Merchant Union Leader to suddenly head to Beijing for the trade.

‘He has enough supplies and money left to carry on?’

The amount of alcohol and silk which they robbed was just too much. No matter how much alcohol Ho Yeon-ji managed to make in a night, she wouldn’t even refill half of what they had stolen.

But, if it was possible to take their leftover liquor to Beijing, then it would be a huge profit breakthrough for Geum Eun-hak, who was now in trouble.

To sell liquor to a place which was the capital of the nation, Beijing. And the capital will surely need more alcohol.

Moreover, since it was a place where many high-ranking officials resided, many would seek the liquor of the Ho Yeon family.

What would happen if the Ho Yeon family, which had now begun to sell alcohol that was even better than the one from the past, stepped in?

‘The Jumun family will fall.’

Most of the alcohol consumed in Beijing was from the Jumun family. If it were to happen that the alcohol of the Ho Yeon family got there, they wouldn’t purchase from the Jumun family.

‘But…’

He had no ideas on how to handle this.

It was none other than Ga Jong-pyung who came up with this plan to wipe out the bastards using fake reasons.

And it has failed, and now the Golden Ring Merchant Union was preparing to go even higher.

There was a high chance of it being a trap too.

If they decided to step in without any information, they could get attacked in the same way too. But he couldn’t just leave it like that.

If, by chance, the upward movement to Beijing was indeed true, then it might be over for him. At that moment, the door opened with someone rushing in.

“Commander!”

It was Mak Chung-heon.

He came rushing in, his entire body drenched in sweat, and his gaze was fierce and enraged as if something had pissed him off.

“The Golden Ring merchants are traveling to Beijing!?”

“Ughh… it seems like it….”

“Then what are you all doing now!? We need to stop those fools who don’t know their place right now!”

“That is what, it all feels too perfect. It could be a trap.”

“Have you lost your mind!”

Mak Chung-heon raised his voice and grunted.

The man had his killing intent on the rise, like he would kill Ga Jong-pyung at any moment.

Ga Jong-pyung caught his breath for a moment.

“You deserve to be criticized for this! Don’t you know that there is a time to be sure and not act and a time to act first!”

“But the Merchant Leader… right now…”

“Call for Go Chwi-san right now, tell him to pick a few men and get over there!”

Ga Jong-pyung’s eyes shone upon hearing Go Chwi-san’s name.

Now that he thought of it, why didn’t he think of this? In a situation with no answer, it was easiest to use people who possessed the strength to suppress the opponent.

Even if this was a trap, Go Chwi-san had the strength to escape.

Ga Jong-pyung nodded.

“I understand.”

And he bowed with a pleasant smile.

If one used Go Chwi-san to attack the Golden Ring merchants, there was no way he would fail, regardless of whether it was a trap or not, so the plans of the Hunan Dan family and the Golden Ring Merchant Union would amount to nothing.

And with everyone focused there, if they managed to get rid of the stolen goods for money, then the profit would be immense.

“And call Geon So-chun too. It would be best for him to take the stolen goods.”

As expected, it was Mak Chung-heon who said the right things.

“As you wish…”

Although it was said that he rose to his position through the strength of the Jumun family backing him, he possessed considerable evaluation skills suitable to conduct business.

‐‐‐

Attacks normally happened at night rather than during the day because the darkness narrows the vision and instills fear.

Go Chwi-san was looking at a place where the light shone in the middle of the night.

The exact number wasn’t counted, but there seemed to be fifty or so people, including those participating.

It didn’t seem like the people gathered there had great skills.

“Are they giving me a hundred silver coins to trample those things?”

Go Chwi-san glanced back and asked.

Ga Jong-pyung was standing there.

The slight nod of his head didn’t seem like it was a lie.

“Nice. It is a simple task.”

“The others can be missed but don’t leave out Geum Eun-hak. And, you know not to damage the goods, right?”

“Yes.”

Go Chwi-san grinned.

He was a man who ran away from the Demonic Cult. He had such good skills that he was considered to be one of the great warriors in the world, and his fists were known to crush rocks.

Moreover, he was a warrior of great physical strength, and some say he was the closest to achieving the Unbreakable Buddha Body, which was now history in the Central Plains.

“I think today’s work is no different from lying down and having a meal, Captain.”

“Don’t let your guard down. Because this is a job that has been entrusted by those who don’t want this coming out.”

“Haha!”

Ga Jong-pyung burst into laughter at those words. It might seem like an easy task on the surface but if someone was trying to wear a mask, then it meant this wasn’t an easy task.

“You stay here and watch… Get down there when things calm down.”

“Of course.”

Go Chwi-san saw Ga Jong-pyung nod, and moved.

It was a simple matter of going up and down the mountain, and with such a group of wanderers who were nothing more than trash to be abandoned, it was no different from punching a bag.

It would have been better to finish the task quickly.

Go Chwi-san quickly approached his subordinates. Because it was late, most people were resting and other than those standing guard, there seemed to be no one else.

But the strange thing was that the person believed to be Geum Eun-hak wasn’t there.

‘Well, if we start the killing he will come out.’

He laughed and threw himself down.

Huk!

His body took flight with the sound of the wind.

Thud!

As he landed in the middle at that instant, the ground shook violently. Those who were sleeping woke up in shock and those on guard looked around.

“Who is this Geum Eun-hak?”

Everyone was shocked at the loud noise.

Through the internal qi being projected in his voice, one could guess that the other person wasn’t an ordinary man.

The people were scared speechless and looked shocked.

“Someone will have to die for you to come to your senses!”

The moment he clenched his fist and was about to hit the one closest to him.

Pang!

Two blurry images approached him.

“Euk!?’

Go Chwi-san had sharply swung his sword towards the opponent and bowed back.

But, he could feel two swords being brought close to his head at the same time.

How creepy!

A swift move and in the end he had to take two steps back.

The men wielding the two swords were also leisurely looking and keeping an eye on Go Chwi-san and his subordinates.

“Ugh… koak!”

At that time, the guards, including the wanderers, began to run screaming; they didn’t even care about guarding the goods.

“Help me!!”

“I-I wasn’t informed about this!”

Not just the guards, who raised their sword, but every single one around had fled.

As soon as the clashing began, the entire place was a mess.

“Puah… puahahaha!”

Go Chwi-san burst into laughter. He had done so many things until now, but it was his first time seeing so many people run without guarding the goods.

“Is this the level of the Golden Ring Merchant Union? This is too funny!”

Even Go Chwi-san’s subordinates couldn’t stop laughing. At the same time, the two people who aimed their swords, also slowly backed away and started to run.

“Do not let them go!”

Go Chwi-san decided that these two couldn’t be allowed to escape. Because these two probably knew where Geum Eun-hak was.

The moment when he was ready to jump and make a move, a blade moved swifter than him, almost coming for his neck.

It was so cold.

Like a chill running through his body.

Go Chwi-san realized that this was a move that must be avoided. He barely managed to avoid the blade, but the man who was standing there threw something he had in his hand.

Pang! Bang!

A smoke bomb.

He couldn’t see clearly in the darkness, but as smoke spread, everything became darker.

He tried to use his internal qi to detect the presence of the other person, but he couldn’t chase after them as they disappeared in an instant.

Their footwork was a lot swifter than he thought, and no matter how good his vision was at night, it wasn’t a wise choice to follow someone like that.

And the opponent was clearly aiming to attack.

Even though the guards and others ran away, there was a strong chance that they would fall into a trap if he followed. Weren’t all the baggage and luggage put here prepared for a trip?

“They are all nothing.”

Go Chwi-san shook his head with a sigh. He was excited but the work was over before he could do anything right.

Ten carts were all left behind without men, and there wasn’t a single person to be found.

“Captain… is this for real?”

“Hmmm…”

As the situation came to an end, Ga Jong-pyung groaned.

Two people forced Go Chwi-san to step back, and yet Geum Eun-hak wasn’t there.

There weren’t many with masks.

It seemed like a good chance, but he backed out.

“Could it be that there is another plan? Or is there nothing in the cart?”

Ga Jong-pyung said while looking at Go Chwi-san.

“I’m sorry, but would you mind taking the cloth off from the cart?”

“That’s nothing.”

Go Chwi-san glanced at the subordinates with an angry look and one by one, they stood in front of the carts and used knives to cut the cloths on the carts.

Dozens of jars were loaded onto the cart.

“This is the Ho Yeon family liquor, right? Hahahah! They really did leave their goods behind and ran.”

Ga Jong-pyung was even more shocked at this.

Indeed, they were all alcohol jars, with the seal of the Ho Yeon family on them.

There were dozens per cart.

If this much alcohol was pushed into Beijing, it would bring in such a huge profit. If that was the case, then shouldn’t the Golden Ring Merchant Union have defended them even more?

This made Ga Jong-pyung feel more complicated.

He frowned and tore the seal off one of the alcohol bottles.

The moment he picked it up with his fingers and brought it to his mouth.

“…!?”

Ga Jong-pyung was shocked.

His eyes fluttered and he was frozen, unable to move. His face looked like he was enraged.

“What? Is it that good?”

Go Chwi-San had a bright smile as he threw the alcohol bottles to his subordinates.

Since it was already a very famous alcohol, they would want to try it, so this was like killing two birds with one stone.

The moment they tore off the seals and took a sip.

“Puaaack!”

“Euykkk!”

“Kuaaak!”

Go Chwi-San and his subordinates all coughed out the alcohol.

People continued to spit and cough and puke to get rid of the foul smell which filled their mouths.

Soon, Go Chwi-San, who couldn’t understand it, grabbed Ga Jong-pyung by the collar.

“Fuck! This is piss!”

They were tricked.

‘What were those people thinking when they planned this?’

Ga Jong-pyung couldn’t snap out of his shock at all.