Chapter 195 - An Underworld Man Repenting? How Corny

Gu Yasu, leader of the Beast Gang, watched his subordinates count the money. It was silver extorted from the marketplace.

"Three hundred taels."

A subordinate brought him a heavy money pouch.

"One fucking idiot is going to bankrupt us. Where's that bastard Gong Pae now?"

Yang, his right-hand man standing beside him, answered.

"He's been released from the Orthodox Martial Alliance branch. He's probably guzzling liquor somewhere."

"Tell him to come straight to me when he gets back."

"Yes, sir."

The three hundred taels were a bribe for the Orthodox Martial Alliance branch leader. The man already pocketed money from them every month; he ought to have let something like this slide. Instead, he had demanded a full three hundred taels to release Gong Pae.

But Gu Yasu couldn't simply leave Gong Pae rotting in prison. The Beast Gang needed him. It took a vicious bastard like that to scare merchants into handing over their money without a fuss.

"What about the bitch who reported him? She hasn't run off, has she?"

"Her mother's ill. She won't be able to flee."

"You said she was pretty? Makes sense. That's why Gong Pae went into heat. Once things quiet down, sell her to a pleasure house far away. We need to recoup at least half the money that bitch cost us."

"Understood."

"And don't let that idiot Gong Pae touch her."

"Understood. Oh, and the Long Saber Gang has encroached on our territory again."

"Those bastards!"

The Long Saber Gang was an underworld gang in the neighboring area that competed with the Beast Gang. Any struggle over profits invariably brought them into conflict.

"There's a rumor they've recruited an expert."

"What kind of expert?"

"I don't know. They say he's unknown. I suspect they're throwing their weight around because they trust him to back them up."

Just as Gu Yasu snorted, a subordinate rushed in from outside with an urgent report.

"We have intruders."

At the word, Gu Yasu immediately ordered someone summoned.

"Call Warrior Cheon."

The expert called Cheon was the reason Gu Yasu could afford to scoff at the Long Saber Gang recruiting someone new. Gu Yasu alone knew a secret about him: Cheon had come from the Demonic Cult.

Cheon, an expert from the Demonic Cult!

It was thanks to him that the Beast Gang had grown this much.

When Gu Yasu and Yang came outside, the intruders were walking across the training ground.

Gu Yasu flinched at the sight of them approaching from afar.

"What the hell?"

There were two intruders: an enormously muscular man and a slender young man. Their leisurely pace made this look more like a visit than an intrusion. They were, of course, Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon.

Yang quickly spoke.

"They seem to have been sent by the Long Saber Gang."

"The expert they supposedly recruited?"

"Yes. Who else could they be?"

Gu Yasu nodded. In this area, only the Long Saber Gang would dare attack them.

"Where's Warrior Cheon?"

"He'll be out shortly."

Some twenty Beast Gang members emerged from all directions, drew their weapons, and surrounded the pair.

"Where have you gentlemen come from?"

Geom Mugeuk looked around as he answered Gu Yasu.

"You turn the world outside into hell, but you've made yourselves quite comfortable here."

The Beast Gang's headquarters was a newly built manor. The building Gu Yasu lived in was particularly lavish, built with expensive materials at no expense spared.

"I asked who you were."

Kill them or make them kneel—either command would ordinarily have come readily to his lips. Now neither would.

It was because of the muscular man beside the youth. Gu Yasu had weathered every kind of hardship in the underworld and seen all sorts of nasty-looking bastards, but never anyone who looked this frightening.

Geom Mugeuk said to him,

"Do you know why you keep asking who we are instead of why we're here? Because you've made a habit of deciding that first: is this a bastard I can kill, or isn't he?"

With that, he began striding toward Gu Yasu.

Alarmed, Gu Yasu shouted to his men.

"Kill him!"

The Beast Gang members rushed Geom Mugeuk.

He began swinging his fists, dodging the incoming attacks.

To Gu Yasu, the blows looked utterly harmless. Just a light thump. Then another light thump.

He dodged well, too. Evading attacks from every direction with ease, he delivered one punch to each man. One in the face. Another in the stomach.

The attacks were fast, but Gu Yasu felt inwardly relieved by their apparent lack of force.

'He's nothing special!'

That was exactly what he thought. If anything, the muscular man standing out of the fight seemed like the real problem.

"Get up! Get up and attack together! Stab him in the back!"

But the men who had fallen after a single blow did not rise.

"Stop pretending it hurts and get up! You idiots!"

He could understand it. If getting up meant having to fight that muscular man, he might have pretended to be unconscious himself.

"Ugh. And I trusted these useless fools."

Meanwhile, all twenty-odd men who had stepped forward went down.

Yang kicked a subordinate lying nearby to wake him. Geom Mugeuk simply let him do as he pleased.

"Get up if you don't want to die!"

Unconscious from a little tap? Anyone could tell he was faking it.

Yet even a kick produced no movement. Uneasy now, Yang examined the fallen man closely.

He flinched. The man was dead. He checked the subordinate beside him, who was dead as well. Yang knew then: every one of them was dead.

Yang slowly looked up at Geom Mugeuk.

Their eyes met. The indifferent gaze fixed on him was cold and chilling.

'He's a real expert!'

Yang realized that a single ill-chosen word would get him killed on the spot.

Geom Mugeuk had shown no mercy. He did not want anyone surviving to harm Seok's family in the name of revenge.

Then Cheon appeared. Perhaps he'd drunk too much the previous night; his hair was disheveled, and his unshaven beard made him look terribly haggard. His belly had grown considerably since he first joined the Beast Gang, too. Gu Yasu didn't mind. There had never been an enemy Cheon couldn't dispose of.

"Get rid of both of them."

Cheon strode forward without sparing the fallen Beast Gang members a glance. There was no need to wonder how skilled those hoodlums were.

As it happened, he had once belonged to the Eastern Fist School's Iron Fists. He had risen as far as the Blue Fists, but ultimately fled the Demonic Cult, unable to endure the grueling training.

Since then, he had been hiding with the Beast Gang. All sorts of men had targeted Gu Yasu, and every one had died at his hands. In return, he received enough money to indulge in every pleasure. In this third-rate underworld, even the skills of a Blue Fist made him a Fist Demon.

WHOOSH.

The fist Cheon thrust out to smash Geom Mugeuk's skull stopped in empty air.

The problem wasn't how effortlessly his attack had been dodged. It was what Geom Mugeuk said next.

"That's the Blue Fists' martial art, isn't it?"

Cheon was startled out of his wits. No one had ever recognized his martial art before.

Only then did Cheon truly notice one other person. The huge man, who had been gazing at the sky with his back turned, looked around at him.

The instant Cheon saw that face—

"Aaaaargh!"

A scream really did burst from his lips. He was so shocked he thought his heart would burst. The hangover that had plagued him all day vanished in an instant.

Gu Yasu, facing Cheon's back, couldn't see it, but Yang could.

Cheon's contorted face. Could a human face really hold such profound despair and terror?

The Fist Demon spoke softly, almost to himself.

"You used my martial arts to serve as an underworld thug's fists?"

There was no emotion in his voice. The moment he finished speaking—

THUD! CRACK!

Cheon struck the crown of his own head and killed himself. He knew there was no escape and no hope of forgiveness. Death at the Fist Demon's hands would be far more agonizing.

Gu Yasu's mind went blank at the sight. What had happened was so bizarre that he couldn't think at all.

Walking past Yang, Geom Mugeuk said,

"Follow me."

"Yes, sir!"

Yang obeyed respectfully, as though Geom Mugeuk were his leader.

When the young man came right up to him, Gu Yasu regained his senses. He had only one thing left to rely on.

"Do you know who's behind us? Touch us and there will be consequences."

"Who's behind you?"

"The Orthodox Martial Alliance."

"You own the whole Alliance, do you?"

"The local branch leader backs me. He won't stand idle if you touch me."

Geom Mugeuk addressed Yang.

"You can bring the branch leader here, can't you?"

Yang hesitated, apparently finding the task difficult.

"Bring him here, and you're the new leader of the Beast Gang."

"I'll bring him by whatever means it takes."

Gu Yasu glared murderously as Yang ran out without hesitation.

"Fucking bastard."

He hadn't expected such an easy betrayal. The man was supposed to be his right-hand man, after all.

Once Yang had left, Geom Mugeuk spoke.

"No need to get so angry. I lied about making him leader."

Just as Gu Yasu's expression eased a little, he added,

"You're not new to the underworld. You know everyone dies, don't you?"

Gu Yasu's face stiffened again. He sensed that he was included in that 'everyone.'

"Please spare me."

Geom Mugeuk answered,

"If you hand over proof that you bribed the branch leader."

Gu Yasu's eyes darted about.

"If you don't have any, just die."

The instant Geom Mugeuk clenched his fist, Gu Yasu shouted,

"I have it! It's in the safe!"

Geom Mugeuk made him lead the way to the safe. His hands shook violently as he opened it. What am I doing? he wondered, and belated terror washed over him. The suicide of Cheon, whom he had trusted so completely, had shaken him badly.

"Here it is."

He took a ledger from the safe and handed it over. It recorded the bribes paid to the Orthodox Martial Alliance branch leader, along with all manner of corruption the man had committed.

"Go move the bodies somewhere out of sight."

Gu Yasu walked toward the corpses.

'This is my chance!'

He intended to find an opening and flee, but the internal energy in his dantian had already been suppressed, leaving him unable to use it.

'When the hell did that happen?'

With no choice, he moved the bodies. Shifting more than twenty corpses without internal energy left him drenched in sweat. After a lifetime of never lifting a finger, even this work felt like it was killing him.

Having laboriously cleared away all the bodies, Gu Yasu went to Geom Mugeuk.

"I've moved them all."

"Exhausted? Helpless?"

"... Yes."

"What your victims felt was a hundred, a thousand times worse. Taken one at a time, you're all so utterly insignificant. But you roam around like packs of dogs, frightening people, robbing them, beating them, killing them."

"I'll turn over a new leaf."

"An underworld man repenting? How corny. Keep doing your wicked deeds. Just do them in the place I recommend. You'll have plenty of fellow practitioners there, so you'll be fine."

"Where is it?"

"Here."

Geom Mugeuk's fist flew at him.

Second Fist Form: Thunderbolt Asura.

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!

Dozens of punches struck him with lightning speed. Before he could utter a single scream, he was reduced to a bloody pulp and killed.

Geom Mugeuk tossed his corpse into the storehouse with the other bodies. He attached no significance whatsoever to the bastard's death.

A little later, Baek Chul, the Orthodox Martial Alliance branch leader, arrived.

"Why does it reek of blood? You bastards, didn't I tell you to stop killing so many people?"

He entered while scolding Yang. He must have come and gone often enough to feel as comfortable here as in his own home.

"What could be so important that you drag a busy man all the way here?"

He flinched at the sight of Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon.

"Who are they?"

"Martial artists we've recently recruited."

At Yang's perfectly nonchalant answer, Baek Chul looked impressed.

"Where did you find someone that huge? He'd earn his keep just standing there. But where's your boss?"

Yang replied just as smoothly.

"He seems to have stepped out for a moment."

Then Geom Mugeuk addressed Baek Chul.

"How could you simply release a man who beat and raped a young girl?"

Baek Chul turned toward Yang with a look that said, What the hell is this? Do these new bastards not know who I am? Haven't you trained them properly?

But Yang merely watched in silence. His unusual reaction told Baek Chul instinctively that something was wrong.

Baek Chul answered calmly.

"Ah, we released him because there wasn't enough evidence in that case."

"The girl's whole body was battered, and Gong Pae supposedly bragged about it to his fellow thugs. What is this bullshit about evidence? You didn't even investigate, did you?"

Anger surged within Baek Chul, but given the atmosphere, he couldn't argue back.

"Would you have released him if it had happened to your family?"

At the mention of his family, Baek Chul's face hardened.

"I've put up with enough from you, you little bastard."

"Does talking about your family upset you? Your family is precious, but everyone else's is some tiresome burden that deserves whatever happens to them?"

For a moment, Baek Chul debated drawing his sword, but held back.

'I'll throw every last one of you in prison later.'

Getting out of this situation came first. Baek Chul smiled and spoke pleasantly.

"Please understand. The Alliance has laws to follow."

"Laws for whom? You? The Beast Gang? Who, exactly?"

Faced with Geom Mugeuk's cold presence, Baek Chul took a step backward.

"I don't know who you are, but I'm an Orthodox Martial Alliance branch leader. Touch me and you'll become an enemy of the entire martial world!"

"That won't happen. I know someone in the Alliance. I'll send a carrier pigeon with a full account of your crimes and the situation here."

"To whom?"

"Someone high up. A man who once wanted me for his son-in-law."

Baek Chul wondered what sort of bullshit this was, but swallowed his reaction for now.

"My crimes? Do you have proof?"

Geom Mugeuk took out the ledger he had obtained from the Beast Gang.

"You've pocketed plenty of bribes from them. You even had them kill people over financial interests."

"What are you talking about? I've never done that."

"Can you really deny your way out of this? They've diligently recorded everything."

Baek Chul's expression stiffened.

"He's framing me!"

"I doubt that. He wasn't in a position to lie."

Baek Chul decided he had to obtain that ledger first, whatever it took. Eliminating these men could come afterward.

"How much do you want? How much for that ledger..."

WHOOOOSH.

BANG!

Baek Chul vanished from before their eyes.

He flew into a distant wall and died instantly, his entire body shattered.

Now the only one left, Yang spoke cautiously, gauging their mood.

"Then from now on, I'm the leader of the Beast Gang..."

WHOOSH!

BANG!

Yang, too, vanished from sight.

Sent flying in the opposite direction, he tumbled to the ground as a bloody pulp.

The Fist Demon had sent both men flying, dispatching each to the next world with a single punch.

"Let's go."

The Fist Demon's look said, Why are you wasting words on bastards like these?

"I was about to ask for a million taels for the ledger."

"Enough nonsense."

"Just a moment."

Geom Mugeuk buried the ledger in a corner of the courtyard.

Once he informed the alliance leader where it was buried, the investigator sent here would take care of everything. He also intended to remember to ask, in his message, that Seok's family be well looked after.

Watching him, the Fist Demon spoke.

"You're certainly thorough."

"You have to be thorough when helping people. Helping others is all well and good, but if you don't finish things properly because it's a nuisance, the person you helped ends up suffering for it. I get to feel good, and they bear the consequences. That wouldn't be right, would it?"

An unexpected remark came from the Fist Demon's lips.

"I don't think you should become Heavenly Demon."

"Why not?"

"Think how many people the Heavenly Demon must deal with. Could you endure it with a heart like yours? If you try to look after everyone this thoroughly, you'll go mad first."

"Now that you mention it, you're right. Very well. Instead of becoming Heavenly Demon, I'll just become your disciple."

The Fist Demon gazed at me quietly, then smiled faintly.

"That was your best attempt yet."

"You almost fell for it. What a shame."

Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon walked out of the manor side by side. Just as when they entered, the Fist Demon's broad back filled the gateway on their way out.

Fortunately, he had not suggested returning to the Cult. At his questioning look—Where to now?—Geom Mugeuk smiled and said,

"This time, we're going somewhere you'll enjoy even more than I will."