Blue Dragon Brave Corps

“By the way, the Blue Brave Corps? What are those people? Are they a sect related to state affairs? I do not think I have heard of them.”

“State affairs, my ass.”

I tilted my head and said.

“Earlier, Hall Lord, did you not clearly mention something about officialdom?”

“Well, it is similar.”

“Are they classified as black path?”

“No.”

“Then are they white path?”

“Not exactly. But they are more damned annoying. The Blue Brave Corps’ original name is the Blue Dragon Brave Corps. So… they are a private academy and martial school that trains military officers, and they are also filthy bastards who stick their noses into every kind of profitable business…. It is a bit complicated.”

“Who runs them?”

He asked with a displeased expression.

“Do you really have to ask that right now?”

I smiled broadly and answered.

“I have the sort of personality that cannot endure curiosity for even a moment.”

Then Dan Ja-myeong shook his head and briefly explained.

He said the core of the Blue Dragon Brave Corps was made up of military officers and soldiers who had quit early because they had been dismissed or injured.

Ordinary people had to earn their meals even after quitting work, and these retired soldiers were running various businesses across Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

“As you know, Sichuan is especially profitable. There are many things to do there.”

That was true.

Na Yeop-uk’s Revered Commerce Association was also active there, after all.

I smiled and said.

“There must be one or two groups like this in every major region.”

“That’s right. They mainly do work that requires muscle, but usually they use former-official courtesy… you know? Let’s not talk at length. If you get caught wrong for no reason, your head might fly.”

“I see.”

“I heard they have recently even stepped into the business of training military officers, so it means they have no hesitation when it comes to anything that makes money.”

Inwardly, I thought that was precisely a business where one could make a very solid profit.

Of course, leaving the ethical side aside.

‘It is truly a proper way to use their influence as former officials.’

He talked about a few more things, but since I did not know much about the government army, I did not know exactly what he meant, and there was no need to know more.

“But why do you hate people from the government so much?”

Dan Ja-myeong chuckled and said.

“You will understand after working with them a few times. I guarantee it.”

Just as we reached the third floor, we witnessed an unexpected sight.

A man who seemed to be around my age.

A well-dressed young man who appeared to have fairly good status was shouting in quite a loud voice.

“…So please be a little careful. This is not a pleasure house used by only you! There are many guests who are uncomfortable because you are too noisy.”

He was standing in front of a door marked White Cloud Room.

Loud voices came from inside.

“What is he saying? That pretty-boy bastard!”

“Hey! Hurry and close the door!”

“Get lost!”

“Now, now, let us not do this after coming all the way here.”

At that moment, a tall, bear-like middle-aged man popped out of the room.

Just as the young man flinched.

The bear-like man rubbed the back of his own head and said.

“Oh my. Sorry about this. It seems we were being too noisy. We will be careful.”

At that moment, the waiter guiding us was startled out of his wits and ran over there, saying.

“Guest!”

He bent so low his waist might break and said.

“I am sorry, I am sorry. Is this not our pleasure house’s responsibility? Please, both of you, calm your anger.”

The bear-like man smiled gently and said.

“That’s right. On a good day, let us all understand one another a little.”

Was it said that one could not spit on a smiling face?

In the end, the young man turned around and said.

“Then, I ask that you do.”

Click.

In that way, the door of White Cloud Room closed, and the young man, seemingly quite drunk, walked with heavy steps back to the inner room beside it, the Plum Blossom Room.

‘Oh-ho. It seems he is part of Dan Sa-bin’s group.’

A woman’s voice came from the Plum Blossom Room.

“Elder Brother. You really made them quiet down? Amazing.”

“This much is nothing. If needed, I was going to have a bout with them, but maybe they were scared….”

Click.

The door closed again, and the voices could no longer be heard clearly.

At that moment, the waiter, who had been sweating coldly, let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew—.”

I smiled gently and said.

“It seems things like this happen often.”

“Not often, but they do happen occasionally. Now! This is the place, guest.”

Dan Ja-myeong looked at the splendid door the waiter had guided us to and muttered.

“What an extremely stylish decoration. This is a room I have not been in before.”

At that moment, the waiter cleared his throat toward the inside of the door and said.

“Are you there?”

A voice leaked from inside.

“I am.”

“May the guest enter?”

“That is fine. Bring him in here.”

The waiter turned back toward us and said.

“Then please have a good time.”

“Thank you, you have worked hard. Here!”

Dan Ja-myeong took out one silver coin and handed it to the waiter.

It seemed to be a fairly large sum, so the waiter appeared to be barely holding back the corners of his mouth from reaching his ears.

‘But who on earth is the guest who arranged to meet Dan Ja-myeong at this critical time?’

If the target had been someone else, I would not have been very curious.

However.

‘Isn’t Dan Ja-myeong the external affairs officer of the Dan Clan?’

There was a possibility the other party was not ordinary.

At that moment.

Dan Ja-myeong pushed the door open so violently it was almost as if he would break it.

Bang.

I quickly rolled my eyes and checked the inside.

There were two people inside. One was a middle-aged man dressed neatly like a scholar from a well-off family, and the other was a young man around my age.

Unlike the middle-aged scholar, his attire appeared ordinary at first glance.

But at that moment.

Suddenly, the middle-aged man swung his arm toward us without warning.

‘What is this?’

In truth, to be precise, he aimed at Dan Ja-myeong.

Swish—.

I instantly grasped the situation.

The middle-aged man had picked up a wooden chopstick lying on the table and thrown it.

It happened so suddenly that there was some confusion.

Fortunately, Dan Ja-myeong spun his body and barely avoided the hidden weapon(?).

I had never seen his martial arts until now, but he possessed remarkable lightfoot skill.

‘To think someone like this remained merely the Lord of Ink Jade Hall. He had been hiding his martial arts.’

Thuk, thuk.

A pair of chopsticks embedded themselves directly into the wooden wall.

However, the middle-aged scholar was ready to throw two more pairs of chopsticks in succession.

There was nothing more to think about.

I thrust out my fist like lightning and shattered the ornate decorative porcelain placed beside the entrance.

Crash.

Then I made the sleeves of both arms rotate in a wide circle, gathered the fragments with that rotational force.

Boom!

And raised palm force, shooting them out as they were.

Sharp fragments shot out like a horizontal storm!

Then….

Ting, ting, ting.

The two pairs of chopsticks that had happened to be flying in were deflected by them and fell away.

And that was not all.

The power of the scattered fragments was much stronger than it looked.

If the two remained still, they too would suffer serious wounds from the fragments.

‘Was that too strong?’

At that moment, the middle-aged man suddenly sprang up from his chair.

He stretched both arms straight out and rapidly rotated them, and astonishingly, the fragments I had scattered were sucked toward him as if bewitched, then fell to the floor and scattered.

Rattle.

‘Is that the suction principle using inner power? What an astonishing technique I am seeing for the first time. He is an expert.’

However, I did not stop there.

Before anyone could stop me, I stretched my foot forward and overturned the huge banquet table full of delicacies and liquor bottles.

Crash, bang.

Clatter.

Crack.

Then I set the table upright and used it as a shield.

It was an expression of my will to block any chance to use other hidden weapons from the very beginning.

At the same time, I kicked up a spoon that had fallen to the floor.

Clack.

A silver spoon stuck perfectly to my hand.

Although this was merely a spoon used for eating, the moment I held it, it was no different from a shovel of hell.

However, the middle-aged man was not shaken at all.

He glared at me and prepared to rush in, and in response, I showed a posture of throwing the spoon I had grabbed forcefully.

But.

I clearly knew.

He probably did as well.

The fact that once either side made a move, an uncontrollable situation would unfold.

In that instant, our eyes were fighting a fierce decisive battle before our bodies could.

Dan Ja-myeong suddenly shouted loudly.

“Wol-bin! Stop! Stop it!”

That was the signal.

The two of us simultaneously suppressed and extinguished our fighting spirit.

If we had not, a major disaster might have occurred.

I deliberately pretended to be surprised and asked back.

“Yes? Stop? Why?”

I had already realized early on that they had no real intention of attacking.

I did not feel true killing intent.

Was it not some kind of test or prank?

However, in the martial world, one always had to surpass common sense to gain advantage.

‘Ten times bigger and bolder than what others expect!’

Perhaps I had instinctively wanted to exchange moves with this middle-aged man.

At that moment, Dan Ja-myeong said to the middle-aged scholar with an extremely troubled expression.

“I am sorry, Elder Brother.”

‘Elder Brother?’

This was a little unexpected.

A heavy silence flowed inside the inner room.

The table had been overturned.

Liquor bottles and dishes had shattered and rolled across the floor.

All kinds of delicacies had spilled onto the ground and been crushed, so now they were fit only to be thrown to the mutt raised in the backyard.

In addition.

Perhaps because the commotion the two of us had caused was extremely loud, sounds of waiters moving around outside could also be heard.

Dadadadadak.

Murmur, murmur.

“What was that?”

“What happened?”

It seemed other guests also came out of their rooms to see what on earth had happened.

The thick walls were made with soundproofing in mind, but this loud noise had rendered all of that meaningless.

In truth, the reason I acted so excessively.

Aside from the superficial reason that I was angry at the middle-aged man’s sudden provocation, was because I also had another “intention.”

‘Since I have seen the incense, I might as well hold the ritual. Shall I use this as an excuse to drag Dan Sa-bin out? To see what exactly he is doing.’

Seeing earlier, he seemed sensitive to noise, after all.

At that moment, the middle-aged scholar looked around the mess with a somewhat troubled expression and sighed.

“Good grief, this is….”

At that moment, the middle-aged woman from the entrance quickly ran over here with two large bodyguards in tow.

Originally, high-class pleasure houses like this always kept a few big fellows waiting in the back room.

The woman shouted as if her eyes would pop out in shock.

“Oh my! What happened here? Did you two fight?”

At the same time, the two large bodyguards drew the sabers they were wearing.

Shing.

Shing.

At that instant, the middle-aged woman scolded them and said.

“How dare you draw swords here! Put them back this instant!”

Then the two bodyguards looked at each other, scratched their heads, and had no choice but to put away their sabers.

The middle-aged scholar frowned deeply and said.

“First, close that door and go out. Send some waiter boys to clean this place.”

After hearing those words, the woman closed the door without further complaint and disappeared.

Under a deep silence once again.

Dan Ja-myeong turned to me and said.

“Wol-bin! How could you attack like that without warning?”

“Are you asking me? Or are you asking those people? Is the order not reversed?”

Then Dan Ja-myeong was at a loss for words for an instant.

At times like this, adults always tended to say something unrelated.

“In any case, how can you behave so rudely? Hurry and apologize.”

I tilted my head sideways and asked back with a puzzled expression.

“What am I supposed to apologize for? I only opposed people who used a sneak attack.”