Chapter 217 - May I Step In?

“Master Yang, didn't I tell you? You can't go through life only making a profit. Sometimes you have to take a loss. But what do you do? You lose a few lousy coins and ask the Orthodox Martial Alliance for help? Is the Alliance supposed to solve every problem in your life? At the slightest thing, you threaten to run and tell them. The Alliance is busy, too. Those bastards are busy lining their own pockets. So don't ever do this again. Understand?”

But the man called Master Yang, who lay before him, gave no answer. He was already dead. The man lecturing him despite knowing he was dead was Ji Saeng, the Golden Pig.

He had a peevish look about him. Contrary to his nickname, he was painfully thin, and he tolerated no mistakes. His subordinates hardly dared breathe in his presence.

“Search his house and liquidate anything worth money. Kill anyone who might cause trouble later.”

“Yes, sir!”

The subordinate who received the order went outside. As always, they would make it look as though wandering martial artists had looted the place, then burn it down.

For the time being, he had to squeeze the surrounding area dry, even if it meant resorting to this. It was all because of that damned Immortal Debt.

Ji Saeng hounded another subordinate.

“Have you found those bastards?”

“Not yet, sir. We've sent more men out, so we should have news soon.”

The bastards entrusted with Immortal Debt had withdrawn all the funds and fled, leaving his finances in serious trouble.

According to the investigation, First Immortal and Second Immortal, who had managed Immortal Debt, had gone to the money house in person to withdraw the money. They had even liquidated all their other assets before disappearing. Just thinking of them made his blood boil.

'Idiots!'

They could have earned far more if they had kept working under him.

He couldn't speak for the other one, but First Immortal was clever and cautious. He had never expected him to sacrifice so much for a petty gain.

There was no way to know exactly what they had been thinking or what had happened. They might have fought among themselves, or some other problem might have arisen. Perhaps someone else had gotten to them.

The scent of money was like the scent of blood: it inevitably drew packs of jackals. Whatever the reason, he intended to tear them apart alive once he caught them. Even if someone else had killed them, he would kill them again.

“Find them, no matter what it takes! If you don't, you'll die in their place.”

“Yes, sir! Understood!”

Knowing he wasn't joking, the subordinate went deathly pale and ran out.

Just then, another subordinate came to report.

“Great Tiger is waiting at the western residence.”

The Four Iron Sword Tigers.

Ji Saeng had recruited these men, who had earned considerable notoriety among the unorthodox factions. He intended to put them in charge of Immortal Debt.

He would have preferred to have his own direct subordinates handle the operation, but the nature of Immortal Debt made that impossible. In case anything went wrong, its operators had to have no connection whatsoever to the Unorthodox Alliance. It would be especially troublesome if the Orthodox Martial Alliance took issue with the operation.

Ji Saeng left the building and walked toward his carriage. A round-faced man sat in the driver's seat, looking up at the sky.

As Ji Saeng emerged, the driver greeted him respectfully.

“Let's go to West Lake Hall.”

The carriage set off, with his subordinates following on horseback.

Ji Saeng sent a sound transmission to the driver.

“Elder, please see whether the Four Iron Sword Tigers are suitable.”

His tone could not have been more polite or respectful.

The man posing as the driver was, in fact, the real Ji Saeng, the Golden Pig.

Second Immortal had once told Geom Mugeuk that he had seen a tattoo on Ji Saeng's driver. This was that very man.

“Aren't you a good judge of people yourself by now?”

“I haven't learned even a hundredth of your discernment, Elder.”

“Excessive humility is flattery.”

“My apologies, Elder.”

“Trust your own judgment.”

The man had been living as the false Ji Saeng for over ten years already. He thought like Ji Saeng and lived like Ji Saeng. Sometimes, he even felt that he was the real Ji Saeng.

In all those years, there had never been a crisis serious enough to threaten his life. One might have thought it was safe to reveal himself now, but the real Ji Saeng continued to keep himself thoroughly hidden.

The man thought Ji Saeng was truly remarkable. Even the wealth he knew about was more than Ji Saeng could spend in a lifetime. He himself could never have worn those shabby clothes and played the part of a mere driver.

“How are our finances this month?”

“We're still twenty thousand taels short of the money we must send to our superiors.”

He couldn't report that, because of this or that problem, they would be unable to send this month's payment.

That's your problem.

That was always the position of those above them.

“Please don't worry. Whatever it takes, I'll handle it so that neither you nor our superiors are inconvenienced.”

“See that you do.”

Whenever something like this happened, the real Ji Saeng had never once offered to cover that month's shortfall with his own money. Usually, the impostor thought him a truly remarkable man, but this side of him was disappointing. Did he really have to be so obsessed with money?

Then again, in a sense, even that was remarkable. His outlook on money was unwavering. He lived for the pleasure of earning and hoarding it. Money was everything to him.

That was why he had once asked him:

[“Why don't you strike out on your own?”]

With the real Ji Saeng's intelligence, he was sure the man could amass enormous wealth wherever he went. As things stood, he handed over more than two-thirds of his earnings to Yelü Han.

The real Ji Saeng had answered:

[“No matter how much I earn, someone like me will eventually squeeze every last coin out of me.”]

He meant that someone with powerful backing would eventually take it all.

[“Excessive greed brings disaster.”]

Hearing that from the greediest man he knew had left the false Ji Saeng with a peculiar feeling. If excessive greed truly brought disaster, then Ji Saeng was disaster itself.

The carriage arrived at West Lake Hall.

The false Ji Saeng and his subordinates went inside first, while the real Ji Saeng stepped down from the carriage. In truth, this was his favorite moment after making money.

Watching the world unseen, his identity concealed.

The strange pleasure of knowing that no one recognized his true self. The joy of becoming a god and manipulating humans like pieces on a game board.

With his hands clasped behind his back, the real Ji Saeng began strolling around the courtyard.

* * *

The man waiting for Ji Saeng in the reception room was Great Tiger, the eldest of the Four Iron Sword Tigers.

A blind hung between them, put up by the subordinates. It was specially made so that Ji Saeng could see through it, while the man on the other side could not see him.

“It is an honor to meet you.”

This was the moment when the false Ji Saeng had to become the real one.

The impostor, too, felt a peculiar pleasure. In this moment, he became the imposing figure known as Ji Saeng, one of the four henchmen of Yelü Han, the Unorthodox Alliance's second-in-command.

Everyone bowed their heads before him, and he wanted the pleasure of power to last forever.

“You've come a long way.”

“When you summon me, Elder, I would race here even from ten thousand li away.”

Ji Saeng looked at the man seated before him and was inwardly pleased.

'Just right.'

He had been Ji Saeng's favorite among the candidates from the start. To his eyes, the man was no tiger, but a feral dog. That made him perfect.

No one in their right mind could run something like Immortal Debt. Only those who could destroy people's souls without the slightest pang of conscience were capable of it. This was work for feral dogs, not tigers.

In that respect, the Four Iron Sword Tigers were suitable in every way. Their past lives proved it. They had committed all manner of atrocities too vile even to speak of.

“I'll be frank with you. The previous operators developed other intentions, so I dealt with them personally.”

The fact that they had fled with the money must never become known.

“Betrayal means death.”

“I will serve you faithfully until I die.”

“Once the operation is underway, even mentioning our Alliance will mean death.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“As long as you observe those two rules, you can make a great deal of money.”

“I'll work like an ox.”

Great Tiger smiled. His smile revealed a vulgarity he could never conceal.

“I'd also like to meet your brothers sometime soon.”

“They came with me. Send word whenever it suits you.”

“I'll be in touch soon.”

“Understood.”

With a respectful farewell, Great Tiger withdrew.

After he left West Lake Hall, the false Ji Saeng emerged from the building and climbed into the carriage.

“What do you think?”

“His features reveal plenty of greed and pettiness, but at least he doesn't look like someone who would readily betray us. He seems suitable for this job.”

“Then I'll proceed.”

The carriage, too, departed.

* * *

Great Tiger returned to his lodgings.

He was in a good mood. He had always gone around declaring that he had been born evil, but even he was growing tired of committing atrocities. Just when he had been thinking of making one big score and retiring, Ji Saeng had chosen them.

“You bastards! We got it!”

The instant Great Tiger opened the door and stepped inside, he started in surprise.

Second Tiger, Third Tiger, and Fourth Tiger were asleep in a row of chairs.

An unfamiliar young man sat among them.

At first, he thought his younger brothers had invited the young man over.

'I told them not to bring in outsiders.'

But another thought immediately struck him. They had invited someone over, then fallen asleep? Or were they playing a joke on him? Doing something they had never done in their lives?

Those thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

Great Tiger did not deliberate for long. He turned with lightning speed to flee—but at that very moment, his entire body froze.

A man in a white mask stood behind him. He had no idea when he had arrived. The instant his gaze met those icy eyes behind the mask, his body froze. He had met all kinds of villains, but never anyone with such terrifying eyes.

The Wicked Laughing Demon slowly reached out and effortlessly suppressed Great Tiger's internal energy. Great Tiger had spent more than enough years in Murim to know its ways, yet he could not so much as move a finger as the man touched the pressure point at his dantian.

Two more men entered behind the Wicked Laughing Demon: the Poison King and Seo Daeryong.

“I'm only going to watch. I won't interfere.”

The Poison King walked past Great Tiger and perched on a desk, while Seo Daeryong closed the door.

Geom Mugeuk called to Great Tiger.

“Come here.”

Great Tiger slowly walked toward him.

'Keep your wits about you if you want to live!'

That was his only thought.

Only when he drew close to Geom Mugeuk could he get a proper look at Second Tiger, Third Tiger, and Fourth Tiger. Their bodies were already stiff.

'They're all dead!'

Great Tiger's heart sank. There were no wounds on their bodies, and it looked as though they had been killed before they could even draw their swords. Who in the world were these people?

“Do you know who we are?”

“The Four Iron Sword Tigers. You're the eldest, Great Tiger.”

When Geom Mugeuk identified them precisely, Great Tiger hurriedly spoke.

“We've been entrusted with important work. You've made a grave mistake.”

“You mean running Immortal Debt for the Unorthodox Alliance? What's so important about that?”

Great Tiger was shocked by Geom Mugeuk's words.

“You did this knowing who's behind us?”

The Wicked Laughing Demon stepped forward, stared at Great Tiger, and spoke.

“There's no need to waste time. Give me just half a quarter-hour. I'll turn him into an obedient dog for you.”

Every hair on Great Tiger's body stood on end, and he began to tremble.

Then the Poison King addressed the Wicked Laughing Demon politely.

“May I step in?”

The Wicked Laughing Demon looked at him. The Poison King could not meet his eyes.

The Wicked Laughing Demon readily nodded and took a step back.

“By all means.”

It was the first moment of rapport between them since leaving the Cult.

The Poison King rummaged through his bag and took out a medicine vial as he spoke to Geom Mugeuk.

“How can you trust a man like that to carry out the job? A venomous parasite, on the other hand, is perfectly reliable.”

A hideous insect writhed inside the vial.

“Once this little fellow settles in his brain, he'll cut off his own arm if you tell him to.”

Great Tiger turned deathly pale. Just imagining that disgusting thing inside his head made him feel sick already.

Geom Mugeuk smiled and asked the Poison King:

“Didn't you say you wouldn't interfere?”

“Now that I've seen him, I want to test it out. It's been quite a while since I tried it on a person.”

“Unfortunately, we don't have time to test your parasite.”

“Then at least make him drink this.”

The Poison King took another vial of poison from his bag.

“Unless he takes the antidote every day, his organs will all dissolve and he'll die. Tell him he's welcome to try betraying us.”

“We mustn't leave any traces of poison afterward.”

“Whose poison do you think this is?”

“Then this is perfect!”

The next instant, Great Tiger cried out desperately.

“Please spare me! What do you need me to do?”

All four men turned their eyes toward him. Great Tiger trembled from head to toe. They were a bizarre combination, looking neither like villains nor chivalrous heroes.

He had encountered every kind of villain, but never anyone who inspired such primal fear. No trick he tried seemed likely to work against them.

Geom Mugeuk approached him and spoke gently.

“Eldest brother, I look forward to working with you.”

The moment he heard those words, Great Tiger understood. These men intended to play the parts of his brothers. That was why they had already killed all three of his younger brothers.

Geom Mugeuk held out the Poison King's poison to him.

“Eldest brother, drink this first, and then let's discuss what you need to do.”

“There's no need for me to drink it! If you spare me, I'll do anything you say! I swear on my name, on my parents—no, before all the gods of heaven and earth! If I break my word, may heaven strike me dead!”

Geom Mugeuk pried his mouth open and poured in the poison.

“I don't believe you. Now, drink up!”