abcnovels
Chapter 67
Chapter 67
Chapter 67 – You Don’t Know (2)
I wanted to trail Cho Byeok and find out something, but the bastard didn’t leave the Martial Righteous Alliance.
The Righteous Thought Pavilion, where Commander-in-Chief Sima Cheon resided, was in the inner courtyard of the Martial Righteous Alliance. It wasn’t a place one could easily infiltrate. With my current inner energy, I could attempt it once, but there was no reason to take such a risk.
It was unlikely that his source of money was inside the Martial Righteous Alliance, and even if it were, there was no chance it would be revealed at the exact moment I infiltrated.
If it could be easily discovered, it would have come out during the Heaven’s Net Association’s investigation. His money source must be something very secret.
I decided to dig into the Three Shadows instead.
If Cho Byeok was Sima Cheon’s arm, the Three Shadows were like his fingers. Having worked for Cho Byeok for a long time, they must know something.
I infiltrated the Summer Moon Pavilion[1], where they had been partying for two days straight.
Summer Moon Pavilion was a medium-sized pleasure house with twenty-five rooms and fifty courtesans. Among the twenty-five rooms, the Three Shadows were enjoying themselves in the fourth room of the annex.
They partied until dawn, slept in the guest rooms provided by the pleasure house, and came out again late in the evening to drink and enjoy themselves. They were truly living it up, eating, sleeping, and indulging in the pleasure house.
I hid in the ceiling of their room to eavesdrop on their conversations. The musty smell, crawling insects, and uncomfortable posture were unbearable, and I couldn’t relax for a moment as I had to conceal my presence.
This kind of surveillance was truly something I had never experienced in my entire past life.
When I was young, there were no obstacles. I only had to think about myself, so I just cut down all the villains. I didn’t think about the consequences.
After becoming the Alliance Leader, even if I wanted to experience such hardship, there was no opportunity. I lived a life where everything was resolved with just one word.
The fact that I was now enduring their vulgar talk was, of course, for Baek Pyo’s sake. It was to protect his life completely.
Baek Pyo would have protected me like this too. Sometimes from the ceiling, sometimes from behind a narrow wall.
I was only on my second day. He had protected me like this for a lifetime. So how could I think this was difficult?
Anyway, hiding here and observing them, I was able to learn several facts.
The hairy one was First Shadow, the burly one was Second Shadow, and the ugly one was Third Shadow. First and Third Shadow used swords, while Second Shadow used a large axe befitting his size.
Surprisingly, they talked about everything.
They spoke of the times when they first got together, where they had raped and killed people, shamelessly recounting their evil deeds even with courtesans present.
It must have been partly due to the alcohol, but they also had confidence that the courtesans wouldn’t dare disclose such words carelessly.
Gal Saryang had once told me something like that.
“Our Righteous Thought Pavilion is difficult due to external attention, but general intelligence organizations often plant spies in pleasure houses. Men want to boast in front of women when they’re drunk. As long as that nature doesn’t change, pleasure houses will always be the place where the most secrets are leaked.”
As I listened to their past misdeeds, I directly felt the truth of those words.
Just after midnight, the moment I had been waiting for finally came.
“I’m bored here and can’t enjoy it anymore.”
Second Shadow, who had been lying with his head on a woman’s lap, suddenly sat up.
First Shadow, who was fondling a woman across from him, glanced over and said,
“Hearing that you’re bored in a wench’s embrace, it seems you’re ready to die too.”
“Being bored is still being bored. Let’s go there.”
“Where?”
“You know where.”
First Shadow shook his head.
“Forget it. If you’re bored, just drink more and go to sleep.”
“Don’t be like that, let’s go. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the kids too.”
“Didn’t the boss say? To refrain from visiting as much as possible.”
“If it weren’t for us, they couldn’t have even started the place. Refraining from visiting my ass. Let’s go.”
At that moment, I tensed up. The “boss” they mentioned must surely mean Cho Byeok. They were talking about some secret place related to Cho Byeok.
The two looked at the youngest who hadn’t expressed his opinion until then. He didn’t seem very keen on going, but when the burly one frowned, he finally nodded.
The three left the pleasure house.
The place they arrived at was a secluded estate not far from the marketplace. It was in a location that would be impossible to find unless you knew exactly where it was, accessible only by a small path too narrow even for a carriage to pass through.
Despite the late hour, a response came from inside as soon as they knocked on the door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s us.”
When there was no reply from inside, the burly one peered through the gap in the door and said,
“Are you going to open up before I dig out your earwax?”
Only then did the door open quickly, seemingly recognizing the burly man.
“What brings you here without any notice?”
Though he bowed slightly, the man didn’t seem particularly welcoming.
The burly man grinned and said,
“Have you ever been folded in half? Not like this, but like this.”
He then demonstrated with his hands how the spine would bend backwards.
The man frowned slightly and led them in.
“Follow me.”
“You little shit, you should have done that from the start.”
The three followed the man into the building.
The inside was ordinary. It looked like the interior of any common estate.
They walked down the corridor and stopped between two rooms. The man manipulated a lantern hanging on the opposite wall, and the wall opened.
Usually, secret passages are behind bookshelves in studies or under beds, but this one was in a completely unexpected location.
Through there, they entered a large hall.
There were five drinking tables, all full of guests, with women serving drinks at each table.
It was like a mix between a pleasure house and a tavern. While pleasure houses usually serve drinks in separate rooms, here they were drinking in an open space like a tavern. But like a pleasure house, women were serving them.
There was one thing different from ordinary pleasure houses.
The courtesans were very young girls. Girls who looked no older than thirteen or fourteen were serving drinks and attending to the guests.
The Three Shadows conversed as they looked around the interior.
“Business is good. Our boss must be making a lot of money.”
As First Shadow said, all five tables were full of customers.
“Why don’t they add more tables?”
“That’s the secret to its popularity, isn’t it? If it’s too easy to come, people get bored quickly.”
“Our boss sure knows how to use his head.”
“That one’s grown a lot. Isn’t that the one from back then?”
“Yep. We ended up killing her parents too when the older sister woke up, remember?”
“She’s grown a lot.”
“These kids grow up so fast. Hey girl, don’t grow up too much. You’ll die if you do.”
The three chuckled simultaneously.
This was the secret pleasure house operated by Cho Byeok.
All the children here were kidnapped from various places across the Central Plains.
The customers were old men who wanted to embrace young girls to regain their youth.
Cho Byeok recruited only a small number of rich men and charged prices incomparably higher than ordinary pleasure houses. But this place was always full.
When this place first opened, these Three Shadows had kidnapped the girls.
To maintain secrecy, there were only three swordsmen guarding this place, including the man who had opened the front door earlier.
“I was hoping a seat would be empty.”
Second Shadow licked his lips, and the other two expressed similar disappointment.
“Let’s go. Let’s just go back and fondle those wenches’ breasts some more. We’re out of money anyway, so we’ll have to start working again from tomorrow.”
“After seeing these fresh ones, looking at those will really put me off.”
“You crazy bastard!”
Just then, the man who had opened the front door earlier came up on a small stage to the side, leading a young girl. She looked about twelve or thirteen, a very cute child.
“Now, you’ve waited long. This is a girl who’s come for the first time today. Of course, she has never experienced a man.”
The old men licked their lips, swallowing their lust.
The child trembled in fear. Those desire-filled gazes directed at her were already undressing her.
“Now, we’ll start the bidding at 500 taels.”
This is how they auctioned off a child when she first arrived.
The five old men started raising the price. Each time they raised their hand, the price went up by 100 taels.
In an instant, it surpassed 1,000 taels, then 2,000 taels.
In between, the man threw out words to tempt the old men.
“Look at this skin. It’s cleaner than the snow on a winter field.”
The rising price stopped at 7,500 taels. It was an enormous amount for just one night.
“If no one bids by the count of three, it’s decided.”
Seeing that no one else was likely to bid, the old man grinned broadly.
“One, two…”
Just then, a quiet voice came from behind.
“One hundred million taels.”
Everyone was startled and looked towards where the voice had come from.
I was standing there, at the focus of everyone’s gaze.
“How could that child be worth only one hundred million taels?”
I coldly asked the old man who had been trying to buy the child.
“Would you sell your granddaughter for 7,500 taels?”
The old man’s face turned red and blue. Seeing that the opponent was a martial artist, he didn’t dare to curse but turned to look at the man on the stage.
The man on the stage gave a signal with his eyes, and two sword-wielding men standing to the side rushed at me.
I easily dodged the flying swords and struck one man’s neck with the edge of my hand.
Crack!
His neck bone broke and he collapsed.
I slammed the other man into the floor with a throw.
Bang! With a heavy sound, the man’s spine shattered.
After subduing the two men in an instant, the man on the stage looked at the Three Shadows.
The Three Shadows leapt and landed in front of me.
Second Shadow turned to look at the other two and said,
“I felt strangely like coming today. What would have happened if we hadn’t come?”
Just then, First Shadow cried out in surprise.
“Watch ou-“
Before he could finish saying “Watch out,” my kick struck the back of Second Shadow’s head. I had rushed in the moment he turned his head.
With a thud and a sound of something bursting inside his head, the massive body fell forward.
I leapt once more and brought my knee down on his head.
Crash!
His skull was crushed to powder. His body twitched once or twice before going still. He never even had a chance to draw the large axe at his waist.
Looking down at the corpse, I said quietly,
“Why turn your back when the enemy is in front of you?”
The technique I used to kill him was the Immortal Crane Secret Art.
First and Third Shadow were glaring at me with wide eyes.
Even though it was a surprise attack, killing Second Shadow, who boasted iron-like external martial arts, in just two moves was a shock to them.
First and Third Shadow nodded at each other after exchanging glances. As soon as their signal to attack together ended, both of them rushed at me simultaneously.
I also countered them with the Immortal Crane Secret Art.
Dodging the incoming sword, I twisted my body and charged at the man. It was a completely unexpected movement, so my shoulder accurately struck First Shadow’s shoulder.
With a thud, he slid back. He tried to counterattack, but instead of attacking, he let out a scream.
“Arghhhh!”
His shoulder had been shattered by that single attack.
As he tried to attack again with his dangling arm, I wrapped my hand around his neck.
Crack.
His neck bent at a right angle, killing him instantly.
Even while attacking First Shadow, my gaze was fixed on Third Shadow.
“Spare me! I’ll just leave!”
The terrified Third Shadow threw away his sword and ran towards the door without waiting for my response.
I kicked the fallen man’s sword on the floor.
Swish! Thud!
The flying sword pierced Third Shadow’s back. He flailed his hands in the air for a moment before falling forward.
The man who had been auctioning the child on the stage had disappeared. I had seen him escape when the fight with the Three Shadows first started, but I deliberately let him go.
He needed to leave to bring the one person I absolutely had to kill today.
While waiting for Cho Byeok, I beat up the old men who were there.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Teeth were broken, arms and legs were fractured. The old men screamed that they were dying.
“Please spare me!”
These old and ugly men didn’t ask to be killed. Even in this situation, they wanted to live.
“Fine, I’ll spare you as you wish.”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
I beat them mercilessly. I crippled them but didn’t kill them. What would be the point of killing these old men who were already near death?
I will expose what they did here to the world. It will be revealed to their families, and they will spend the rest of their lives in prison cells with their bodies broken. They will have to eat only rice gruel with all their teeth broken, living a life that’s not really living. I will make sure they die in shame and agony in the end.
The young girls were gathered to one side, watching this scene with faces that were both delighted and terrified.
I asked the children,
“Do you miss your mothers?”
At my words, tears welled up in all the children’s eyes at once.
“I’ll send you home.”
Seeing the falling tears, I felt sorry for the children.
I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.
What happened here will be an unforgettable scar for these children. Children who were brought here before they even knew what the world was, this place was their entire world.
It was uncertain whether they could live normal lives.
This was why I was showing all of this to the children. If they can’t forget anyway, then don’t forget this satisfying moment when these bastards are being punished.
I believed this was the way to help heal the children’s wounds. That’s why I intend to show them everything.
Creak.
Just then, the door opened. It seems Cho Byeok has arrived.
So watch carefully. Everything that happens from now on, after that door opens.