Chapter 201 - If Only It Weren’t for the Occasional Lunatic

“Please spare me!”

The Third Immortal helped the young man pleading on his knees to his feet.

“You’re making me feel terribly uncomfortable.”

“How am I supposed to repay you if you suddenly demand the money back?”

The Third Immortal sighed.

“There’s nothing I can do. The orders came from the Society. You know how it is. People like us have no choice but to do as we’re told.”

“But I can’t sell the house. Where would I care for my parents without it?”

The young man’s weakness was his devotion to his parents. The Third Immortal kept prodding at it.

“You’ll have to take them to a relative’s home.”

“What relative would welcome a pair of old people?”

The Third Immortal sighed.

“Isn’t that why I told you not to borrow more money?”

The young man sighed as well.

“I never imagined this would happen.”

After leaving home to learn martial arts, the young man had returned with a dream of opening a martial arts school in his hometown. He had been working hard, trying to earn enough money to make that dream come true, when the Third Immortal approached him with an offer of an Immortal Debt loan.

Of course, he had been suspicious at first.

But there was nothing wrong with the promissory note. Besides, the Third Immortal was so kind. He truly treated him like a younger brother.

He never pressured him to borrow, even at the very end. He even advised him to wait for another opportunity, saying that carrying a large debt at a young age would be difficult.

Then, when he was about to lend the Immortal Debt money to someone else, the young man grew anxious. In the end, he took the loan that very day.

He bought a run-down manor and began renovating it into a martial arts school. But an accident injured some of the workers. Construction was delayed, and he had to borrow more money to pay their medical expenses. Then the building materials were stolen, forcing him to borrow yet again.

Even so, he had intended to open the school somehow, run it diligently, and repay the debt. But this time, the completed school caught fire.

It truly felt as though the sky were falling. To make matters worse, the Third Immortal came demanding repayment. He wanted him to sell the house where his parents lived.

“I’ll do anything. But I absolutely cannot sell the house!”

“Anything? What, would you even commit murder? Don’t say such foolish things.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’ll do what I can to plead with the Society. Let’s discuss our options.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“I’ll see you again, then.”

As the Third Immortal parted with the young man and turned away, a smile formed on his thin lips.

‘It’s about time.’

All he needed was to make him commit a single crime. The moment the bastard took that first step, he could exploit him for the rest of his life. Someone as kind and naive as this young man, with such deep devotion to his parents, was practically his for the taking.

Spirit, dreams, hope, youth, family...

These bright, warm things were the bait that would lead young men into hell. Charge ahead with spirit! Dream while you’re young. Have hope! You’ve got youth on your side! Think of your family! How could hot-blooded youths possibly avoid such bait?

With a cold smile, the Third Immortal climbed into the waiting carriage.

He asked the subordinate on the driver’s seat, “Who’s next?”

“A new borrower.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s said to be the son of the Righteous Fist Sect’s leader.”

It was a sect he had heard of.

One might wonder why the son of such a well-known sect wanted to borrow money. But in his experience, the people who actually needed loans didn’t take them, while those who had no need did.

The Third Immortal leaned his head against the carriage. These days, he was so busy he scarcely had time to breathe.

The Dark Merchant Network was run by four sworn brothers who had committed every sort of evil. Upon starting this venture, they abandoned their names and became the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Immortals.

The First Immortal, who had originally founded the Dark Merchant Network, was full of cunning little schemes and utterly ruthless. He had been born without a shred of sympathy for others.

Then, out of the blue, he had procured a vast sum of money and proposed this venture. He never told them where the money had come from. Surely there was a separate financier providing these enormous funds.

At any rate, one thing was certain. Now that the merciless First Immortal had set his mind on making money, they were going to make a fortune.

To maintain secrecy, they kept their subordinates to a small, select force and strictly divided their duties.

The Fourth Immortal led the elite martial artists and acted only when force was needed. If the Fourth Immortal was their fist, the Second Immortal was their feet. His job was to find the bastards who would become their victims.

The First Immortal decided how to use this prey. He made them do all sorts of things—not only assault and murder, but even steal martial arts manuals from relatives or acquaintances. If it looked as though their secrets might leak, he killed them and made it look like suicide.

While the First Immortal was the head, the Third Immortal served as the mouth.

He traveled around soothing and comforting them, promising that a better life awaited if they could just endure a little longer. For that reason, whenever the brothers gathered, they often joked that the Third Immortal was the biggest son of a bitch of them all.

“We’ve arrived.”

The meeting place was an inn.

The subordinate pointed to a young man sitting in a corner.

“That’s him.”

The Third Immortal walked over, while his subordinate waited a short distance away.

The Third Immortal joined the young man at his table and greeted him warmly.

“Sorry. Have you been waiting long?”

“It’s fine.”

The young man answered quietly. Young men coming to borrow money were usually nervous and stiff. This one, however, seemed gloomy and depressed rather than nervous.

“What’s your name?”

“Jeong Yang.”

The man introducing himself as Jeong Yang was none other than Geom Mugeuk.

“I hear you’re the heir to the Righteous Fist Sect?”

The Righteous Fist Sect really existed, not far from here. Its youngest son was indeed named Jeong Yang.

Of course, it was a sect belonging to the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon, managed by Heaven-Reaching Pavilion. If anyone went to investigate, they would discover that it had a son who looked like Geom Mugeuk.

Like the Western Saber Sect he had used during the Young Dragon Tournament, the Orthodox Martial Alliance’s martial competition, the Righteous Fist Sect was a cover sect established for situations like this.

“Why would someone in your position need money?”

The Third Immortal asked the probing question.

Instead of answering, Geom Mugeuk asked a question of his own.

“I heard you lend without charging interest.”

“That’s right. Immortal Debt carries no interest.”

Geom Mugeuk raised his head to look at the Third Immortal. Unlike his usual self, he was projecting a gloomy air.

He could have acted arrogantly, or behaved like the scion of a prestigious family. But Go Wol had asked him to approach the man this way.

“How much can you lend me?”

“How much do you need?”

“One hundred thousand taels.”

The Third Immortal was startled. No one had ever asked him to lend a hundred thousand taels in one go before.

“What do you intend to do with such an enormous sum?”

Geom Mugeuk lowered his head and said nothing.

“Listen. How you use the money you borrow is your business, but a hundred thousand taels is a truly substantial sum. Surely I ought to know what it’s for?”

The Third Immortal thought to himself,

‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’

He was just deciding not to lend him the money when it happened.

As though unable to contain his anger, Geom Mugeuk suddenly thrust his fist toward the floor from his seat.

Though his fist never touched it, the inn’s floor caved inward.

The Third Immortal was stunned. Even more astonishing was how little sound it made—not enough for the people at the next table to notice. His internal power was profound for his age.

“Forget it. Let’s pretend this never happened.”

Geom Mugeuk made to leave, as though regretting coming at all, but the Third Immortal stopped him.

“Wait! Why the rush?”

Geom Mugeuk acted as though he was still wrestling with whether to take the loan.

“Come now. Sit down first.”

The Third Immortal had stopped Geom Mugeuk because of his skill.

‘He’s exactly who the First Immortal is looking for!’

The First Immortal was searching for an expert to use on a major job. He had even ordered them to make certain they secured any expert who took the bait.

“All right. I’ll lend you the money. What you spend it on is your own business, so I won’t ask any more.”

A hint of pleasure crossed Geom Mugeuk’s face.

“I’m lending you such a large sum, and you won’t even say thank you?”

Geom Mugeuk answered in a barely audible voice.

“Nothing in this world is free. Sooner or later, you’ll use this loan to get something out of me.”

He glared at the Third Immortal with eyes that said, You can’t fool me.

The Third Immortal had never met anyone who gave him quite this impression. The bastard made him uneasy, yet had a strange pull. He looked like someone who would cause serious trouble—which also meant he could earn them serious money.

“All right! Let’s fill out the promissory note.”

Geom Mugeuk examined the promissory note from every angle.

“There really is no repayment date, just as I heard.”

“If we wanted to make money, we’d have invested in a merchant company. We’re investing in your youth because we believe in it.”

At the word “youth,” Geom Mugeuk scoffed and continued examining the note.

“The contents won’t change if I soak this in water, will they?”

“If you’re that suspicious, go ahead and check.”

Geom Mugeuk actually splashed water on it, then brought over a lamp and applied heat. But the promissory note did not change at all.

This time, the Third Immortal scoffed inwardly.

‘Suspicious, too.’

Wouldn’t that make him difficult to exploit? No. Suspicious people had their own vulnerabilities. Once their suspicions were overcome, they tended to trust with absolute conviction instead. If you were determined to swindle someone, their personality posed no problem at all.

After examining the note for a long time, Geom Mugeuk nodded.

“Give me the money, and I’ll put my handprint on it.”

At the Third Immortal’s command, the subordinate who had driven the carriage fetched banknotes. After receiving the money, Geom Mugeuk left his handprint on the promissory note.

“Until next time.”

When Geom Mugeuk took the money and left without looking back, the Third Immortal ordered his subordinate,

“Send out the surveillance team. Find out where he spends the money.”

“Understood.”

The two men left the inn, boarded their carriage, and departed.

Geom Mugeuk and Go Wol watched them leave from an alley beside the building across the street.

“You did well.”

Geom Mugeuk had made himself look as gloomy and depressed as possible, just as Go Wol had instructed.

“Checking the promissory note was a good move.”

Splashing it with water and heating it had been Geom Mugeuk’s improvisation. He had reasoned that someone approaching with malicious intentions would not make such a fuss over inspecting the promissory note.

“Strategist Go, wouldn’t it be easier to grab him and torture him into telling us where the others are?”

Go Wol shook his head at Geom Mugeuk’s question.

“The man who planned this is clever. If we make the wrong move, he’ll cut off the loose ends and disappear.”

“What do we do now, then?”

“Use the hundred thousand taels you borrowed to buy one item.”

“What item?”

Go Wol smiled as though he already had everything planned.

“Something that will give them quite a shock.”

* * *

Three days later, the subordinate returned to report to the Third Immortal.

“Jeong Yang went to a local black-market merchant and spent the hundred thousand taels on poison.”

Black-market merchants, also known as shadow merchants, sold concealed weapons, other weapons, and poisons banned by the Orthodox Martial Alliance.

“He bought poison? What kind?”

“Formless Poison.”

The Third Immortal was startled. Formless Poison was so expensive that it was difficult to obtain.

“Can you buy it for a hundred thousand taels?”

“Apparently, he bought just enough for a single use.”

“Who the hell is he trying to kill?”

When his subordinate replied that he had been unable to find out that much, the Third Immortal was at a loss. The money he had lent had been spent on all manner of things, but never once on Formless Poison. Perhaps this was what the uneasy feeling he’d had that day had meant.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Though he probably hadn’t bought it for that purpose, he could even use the Formless Poison on the Third Immortal himself.

“How did he even manage to deal with a black-market merchant?”

“There’s a capable information broker in this area. It seems he made contact through them.”

“Damn it! Tell him I want to meet again.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Third Immortal sighed. He truly loved this work. Gently coaxing someone toward ruin gave him greater pleasure than bedding a woman. Even as they were dying, they relied on him alone.

He believed there was no more destructive, visceral pleasure than this. If only it weren’t for the occasional lunatic like this one.

The next day, the Third Immortal met Geom Mugeuk again.

“Why did you ask to see me?”

Now that he knew about the poison, Geom Mugeuk looked even gloomier and darker.

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

“What?”

“What did you spend the hundred thousand taels I lent you on?”

Geom Mugeuk frowned.

“Didn’t you agree not to ask?”

“I did. But there’s a strange rumor going around. They say someone bought a hundred thousand taels’ worth of Formless Poison.”

Geom Mugeuk flinched. The reaction was so obvious that there was no need to press him further.

“It wasn’t me.”

“Then show me the money. Or tell me where you spent it.”

Geom Mugeuk could say nothing.

The Third Immortal coaxed him in a kindly tone.

“The moment you bought it, we ended up in the same boat. If you cause trouble with that poison, it’ll be a problem for us, too. So tell me. If there’s anything I can do to help, I will.”

“You can’t help.”

“Who on earth are you trying to kill? If you use Formless Poison, the Orthodox Martial Alliance will investigate. This will become a serious problem. If you want someone dead, you’d be better off hiring an assassin, or...”

Then came a name he could never have imagined.

“Is there an assassin who can kill the Fist Demon?”

“!”

The Third Immortal was truly shocked. He could scarcely remember being this shocked in recent days.

“Surely you don’t mean the Demonic Cult’s Fist Demon?”

“Why wouldn’t I? That bastard deserves to be torn to pieces.”

For a moment, the Third Immortal was at a loss for words. He felt he had caught the wrong man.

‘Ah! He’s a lunatic. A complete and utter lunatic.’

If they became entangled with the Demonic Cult and things went wrong, they would all die.

“Why do you want to kill the Fist Demon?”

“The Fist Demon laid hands on my woman.”

“Why would the Fist Demon single out your woman?”

After hesitating briefly, Geom Mugeuk revealed his family’s secret, as though he had already gone too far to turn back.

“Our Righteous Fist Sect belongs to the Demonic Cult. The Fist Demon was in charge of us.”

The Third Immortal nearly screamed. They were already entangled with the Demonic Cult. This lunatic was casually spilling such a crucial secret? But there was a reason he had lost his mind.

“The Fist Demon occasionally visited our home. Then he saw my fiancée and raped her. Damn it! Even after finding out, my father told me to endure it.”

Geom Mugeuk’s eyes blazed with anger, as though he no longer cared about the consequences.

“I’m going to kill the Fist Demon.”

The Third Immortal, too, was resolving to kill. He swiftly sent a sound transmission to his subordinate waiting some distance behind him.

—Contact the Immortals. We need to get rid of this lunatic first, then get out of here fast.