Chapter 22

Jang Chun-sik’s intuition screamed a warning.

‘These people are dangerous!’

His gut told him: never touch them.

But his underling ignored Jang Chun-sik’s warning.

“Hey, didn’t you hear me? We don’t do business here. Get out of the way!”

Unfazed, the underling stepped toward the masked stranger in the cloaked robe.

Jang Chun-sik shouted in his head—No, stop!—but his mouth froze and he couldn’t form a sound.

Then it happened.

Swoosh!

The stranger’s robe fluttered and something flashed.

Moments later the underling’s head was severed and rolled across the floor.

“…!”

“Everyone, quiet.” Before anyone could scream, the stranger raised a hand to his mouth.

“From now on, anyone who opens their mouth without permission will be killed first.”

He didn’t mean he’d kill whoever opened their mouth—he meant those who opened it first. Everyone present, then, was a target.

The stranger wore a three-pronged silver claw that curved like a hooked talon. As leader of the Cocoon Silkworm Clan, Jang Chun-sik recognized the weapon at once.

“Lonely Claw Troops!”

The silver-clawed stranger glanced toward Jang Chun-sik.

“You recognize us. We’ve come at the right time.”

Clang!

At that signal, the remaining men thrust their hands from beneath their cloaks—both hands fitted with copper claws matching the stranger’s.

We’re screwed, Jang thought. Today was the day of his funeral.

The Lonely Claw Troops, the martial force under Sixth Young Master Bukgung Bi-beom: warriors who fought with claws, experts beyond the reach of the third-rate Cocoon Silkworm Clan street thugs.

“Are you Jang Chun-sik?”

“Y-Yes…”

Jang answered honestly; denial would make things worse. If they were asking, there might be room for talk.

“How could a guest of the illustrious Lonely Claw Troops be found in such a squalid place…?”

The Lonely Claw Troops ranked from gold to silver to copper. A silver-claw warrior surpassed ordinary first-rate murim fighters and was never treated poorly.

The silver-clawed man smiled when Jang recognized him, then said plainly, “I came to kill you.”

Fuck. That wasn’t an invitation to negotiate.

“Why on earth!”

“You’ve been digging into the secrets of our troops, haven’t you?”

Jang fell silent; guilt pricked him.

“What secrets are you talking about…?”

Thud!

When the silver-clawed man stamped his foot the wooden tables jumped.

“Are you really asking because you don’t know? Or are you too proud to stop prying? Do you think you’re in any position to ask questions right now?”

Jang swallowed his pride and nodded desperately.

“Our Lord was greatly angered because of that. So shut your mouth and die quietly. We already spent days finding you sewer rats’ base—pointless resistance will only increase your suffering.”

At the silver-clawed man’s words, the copper-clawed men scraped their iron talons with a rasping sound.

Yeon Mujin, you son of a bitch, Jang cursed inwardly. I told him not to! A man’s life already overflows with regrets—oh, the hoarded money, the endless feasts I dreamed of, the miserably burdened life of Jang Chun-sik!

“Guys, kill them all.”

The silver-clawed man raised his hand. The moment it fell, Jang Chun-sik’s neck would follow—and with it the Cocoon Silkworm Clan’s name and the piles of hidden money would vanish from Taiyuan’s history.

…That can’t happen!

“Wait!”

Jang shouted as quietly as possible—loud mouths died first—and, before the silver-clawed man could react, dropped to his knees with astonishing speed.

Light as a feather, he cried, “I swear my loyalty!”

The silver-clawed man’s hand froze in midair.

He blinked in bewilderment. “What are you doing?”

“I am Jang Chun-sik—a leech of Taiyuan’s back alleys, siphoning information from the Bukgung Family. But if you take me in, you won’t regret it. I’ve spent my life gathering the Bukgung Family’s scandals. Use me like a dog instead of killing me.”

As he spoke he repeatedly banged his head on the floor—Thud! Thud! Thud!—the sound echoing through the Ten Flowers Guesthouse.

He hoped to steal the decision from the silver-clawed man, to plant the idea that sparing him could be useful.

The silver-clawed man said nothing at first, staring at Jang with a pensive look.

Please, Jang begged silently.

After what felt like an eternity, the silver-clawed man finally said, “This isn’t my call, so I’ll take you and report to our Lord. It’s not too late to kill you after hearing our Lord’s answer.”

It worked, Jang silently cheered.

“Kill the rest.”

“Wait! Wait!”

An uproar erupted immediately.

“We swear our loyalty too! That so-called leader’s leader in name only—he doesn’t do anything. It’s actually us who bring in the informants!”

“That’s right! Kill the leader and take us instead! We’re better for the job!”

“We’ll bark when told and crawl when told. Please…!”

“That son of a bitch! He abandoned us to survive on his own!”

“Woo! Kill the leader!”

It was a grotesque display of the Cocoon Silkworm Clan’s ‘brotherly affection.’ Jang’s neck veins throbbed as he took each insult.

“You bastards! Haven’t you heard of sacrificing the small ones for the sake of the family? Just die! Sacrifice yourselves for the future of the Cocoon Silkworm Clan!”

“What bullshit—you’re all useless!”

“I’ve endured your disrespect since you were young! If anyone’s going to die, die yourself!”

The guesthouse grew louder than a marketplace.

The silver-clawed man gathered his internal qi and stamped the floor. Thud!

“Shut up!”

He then looked at those who had clamped their mouths shut and ordered, “Kill half of the noisy ones. We’ll only take half.”

Then, directing a single word at Jang Chun-sik, he added, “Leave the leader alive.”

A silent commotion spread. Men shoved and argued over who would live and who would die. It was a living hell.

“Wait!”

“What now!”

This time the voice didn’t come from the clan men. Heads turned to the guesthouse entrance.

A new stranger stood there: a man in a shabby gray martial robe with a worn sword at his waist that looked like it might snap at any moment. The peculiar thing was the cheap mask over his face—a ridiculous mask shaped like a drunken dog.

“Who the hell are you!” the silver-clawed man barked, already on edge.

“It’s me,” the Drunken Dog man replied in a rough tone, acting as if he’d come to his own home.

The silver-clawed stranger glanced back at Jang Chun-sik.

‘Is he your guest?’ their looks asked.

Coincidentally, Jang was staring at the masked man, thinking, ‘Are you on his side?’

They confirmed each other’s suspicion.

Then the madman shouted, “Leader Jang! Just as you said, they swarmed in! The official troops will arrive soon. I’ve bought us some time!”

“What kind of dog shit is that!” Jang cried in alarm.

Ridiculous as it was, the man really did wear a drunken dog mask.

“Leader Jang! You don’t need to pretend any longer! Everything has proceeded step by step according to your plan! Truly the Bukgung Family’s nemesis—‘Heaven’s Net Is Wide,’ Jang Chun-sik indeed!”

Heaven’s Net Is Wide—sparse yet nothing escapes—meant the net of heaven may look broad but catches everything. Jang had never heard such an epithet before.

“What the hell kind of nonsense is this!” The absurdity made his head spin and his replies slow.

The silver-clawed man grew more suspicious. ‘Is this bastard really digging a trap to target us? Dare he aim at the Lonely Claw Troops?’

But in Jang’s mind another thought had surfaced.

That brazen, nauseating voice—could it be…?

He knew that voice. Not just knew it—this was a voice Jang would never want to hear even in his dreams.

‘Yeon Mujin, you son of a bitch…!’

Why show up now and ruin everything when it’s all set? What on earth did he have against Jang?

“As per the leader’s orders, I reported to the magistrate that the recent massacre at the Wang Merchants was the work of the Lonely Claw Troops! You bastards! Aren’t you afraid of heaven? What do you think human life is?!”

The silver-clawed man’s expression hardened.

“So you’ve been putting on an act all along. Even begging for mercy was just to buy time.”

“No! It’s all a misunderstanding! I never meant that…”

“Leader Jang! Are these the ‘no good’ men you mentioned?”

“What did you say?”

The silver-clawed man and Jang Chun-sik turned to Yeon Mujin.

“You said men who grow their nails like women would come, didn’t you?”

“…No good?”

At that, the Lonely Claw Troops’ murderous intent intensified tenfold. The faces of Jang and his clan drained to near corpse-white.

“You no-good men! What were you going to do to Leader Jang? Drag him to the back alley, strip him, and do unspeakable things?”

The silver-clawed man could no longer hold back and released a blast of qi that stung the eyes of everyone nearby.

“What did you just say?”

“I said ‘no good.’ Why make an issue out of it? You can’t call your father ‘father,’ and you can’t even call a no-good a no-good?”

Screeeech!

The sound of metal claws scraping rang sharp and cold. Since rising to silver-claw rank, he’d never had anyone speak to him like that.

“You crazy bastard who wants to die.”

At the silver-clawed man’s nod, one of the copper-claw men lunged at Yeon Mujin.

Yeon Mujin took a slow step back and said, “Huh? Attack? Are you crazy? The official troops will be here any moment!”

“Don’t worry. It’ll be over before then.”

The silver-clawed man swept his gaze over the pale-faced clan members. “I’ll kill every last one of them without leaving a single man.”

With that the copper-claw warrior charged.

The others prepared to finish their task—expecting to return alive today.

However, a dull thud reverberated from behind them. The metal talons couldn’t make such a sound.

When the copper-claw men turned, they saw a comrade collapsed, clutching his abdomen and foaming at the mouth.

“…?”

The silver-clawed man stared at Yeon Mujin with a look sharper than before. He had thought Yeon Mujin all talk; it turned out this masked madman was a true martial artist. The sword at his waist had been a deception.

“Where did you come from?” the silver-clawed man asked.

“I came from Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province.”

“Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province? You traveled all the way here just to die?”

“Yes. There is a city called Nanchang beside Poyang Lake. I’m from there.”

“…”