Chapter 297 - Why Me?

Jeok Pae felt no sorrow over losing his trusted subordinate. The dead were simply dead. If this was how he reacted to losing his right-hand man, Ju Yang hardly needed to ask what he thought of him.

"Keep him here until I return."

Knowing Jeok Pae's temperament well, Ju Yang understood: if Geom Mugeuk got away, he would die. He was already straddling the line between life and death. For now, his duty was to keep faithfully collecting the interest.

The swordsman sent to collect the interest the next day returned with a ruined hand. The same happened the following day. Ju Yang had hoped Geom Mugeuk might show leniency on the second day, but he showed none.

After men returned with ruined hands two days in a row, the Money Exchange's swordsmen grew restless. Some suddenly took to their beds with illnesses, while others vanished, claiming urgent business had come up. They cursed Geom Mugeuk for his ruthlessness, but Ju Yang thought the opposite. The man was showing mercy. Had he truly been ruthless, no one at the Money Exchange would still be alive.

'Why didn't he kill us all that day?'

When Geom Mugeuk closed the eyes of the man Jan Hak had tortured, Ju Yang had despaired, thinking, 'Ah, now we're all going to be slaughtered.' Yet Geom Mugeuk had done no such thing. There had to be a reason he had spared them.

Regardless, the interest still had to be collected today.

"I'll go myself today."

The swordsmen, who had been anxiously wondering which of them would be chosen, brightened at his words. As their manager, he could only keep sending them blindly into danger for so long, so he had stepped forward himself. With a bitter feeling, he left the Money Exchange, watching as not a single man offered to accompany him as an escort. Yes, he understood. He would not have gone along either.

Geom Mugeuk greeted him more warmly than his own subordinates had.

"Why did you come? Have you already run out of men?"

"They're all afraid."

"Still, you hardly strike me as a man who worries about his subordinates."

"What do you know about me?"

Geom Mugeuk stared at him.

"You're brimming with confidence. Has someone gone to fetch an extraordinary master?"

The question struck home, but Ju Yang struggled not to show his surprise.

'He's far too perceptive.'

He had been pretending to be frightened. How on earth had Geom Mugeuk noticed?

"It won't be easy to find someone stronger than the man sent to kill me last time."

Ju Yang knew he meant Jeok Pae's right-hand man. He was right. That was precisely why Jeok Pae had gone to ask the Demonic Cult for help. Rather than answer, Ju Yang changed the subject with a question.

"Why didn't you ruin my hands?"

That was what he wanted to know most. He had done nothing in particular to earn the man's goodwill. Geom Mugeuk took out two coins and set them on the table.

"Because I might need those hands of yours."

The unexpected answer puzzled Ju Yang, but Geom Mugeuk offered no further explanation and went upstairs to his room. Ju Yang picked up the coins from the table. He was about to leave when he suddenly looked down at his hands. He needed these hands? What on earth for?

* * *

"It appears the branch head has begun digging into your affairs, Squad Leader."

A grunt emerged from beneath a boulder the size of a house. Astonishingly, a man was carrying that immense rock on his back. Even allowing for internal energy, the sight made one wonder how anyone could lift a boulder that large.

THUD.

The boulder dropped to the ground, and a man emerged from behind it. He had a powerful build and a fierce countenance. If one had to compare him to an animal, he was a tiger.

Jung Ak, leader of the Demonic Sword Squad. That single description explained everything about the man.

The Demonic Sword Squad was one of the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon's most elite fighting units, stationed at the frontline Jiangxi branch in preparation for war. As befitted the leader of such an elite unit, Jung Ak was a master of formidable martial arts with extensive battlefield experience.

"Giving me a report like that while I'm holding something this heavy—you're trying to kill me, aren't you?"

The subordinate who had delivered the report was Cha Hoe, the Demonic Sword Squad's First Team Leader and Jung Ak's trusted aide.

"Surely I ought to get a turn as squad leader before I retire?"

Jung Ak was so cold and uncompromising that even the martial artists of his own squad feared him. Cha Hoe alone spoke freely with him. His loyalty ran deep enough that there were no secrets between them.

"That man is investigating me?"

"Yes. He's quietly sent people out."

In formal rank, a corps commander stood above a squad leader. But elite units such as the Demonic Sword Squad possessed authority beyond their rank. In such cases, both sides ordinarily maintained a show of mutual respect. At the Jiangxi branch, however, that convention was not being properly observed.

"He certainly loves making enemies. And we're the ones who've done all the fighting."

Jung Ak stripped off his sweat-soaked clothes and washed in running water. His entire body was covered in scars, a testament to the history a man needed behind him to become leader of the Demonic Sword Squad. As he washed, he continued.

"Why not just get along with everyone? Live comfortably among people who are neither enemies nor friends."

"Who knows what schemes he's hiding behind that pretense of integrity?"

"No, it's simply a sickness with him. He can't bear not acting superior."

Finished washing, he put on the fresh clothes that had been laid out for him.

"So? Is there anything that could cause trouble?"

"For now, I've told everyone to keep their mouths shut."

Just as the branch head suspected, Jung Ak was corrupt. He secretly took bribes from various sects throughout Jiangxi. By contrast, the branch head who had arrived the previous year was a man of integrity who would not tolerate bribery. As a result, even more bribes flowed to Jung Ak. He pocketed every offering.

"They're offering to share their overflowing wealth. I don't know why he insists on making life so difficult. All you have to do is pocket the money those vermin hand over, then make whatever decisions you please."

That was exactly what he did. Accepting a bribe did not mean he granted every request. He ignored whatever he judged unacceptable and obliged when he thought it harmless enough. What made that possible was his title: leader of the Demonic Sword Squad.

Of course, most of their bribes were insurance against things that had not yet happened.

"We're fighting their anxieties for them, aren't we? What could be better?"

Cha Hoe smiled faintly at Jung Ak's joke. The problem was that this matter could not simply be laughed away.

"As you know, he's exceptionally exacting. Once he starts digging like this, he'll eventually find out."

Jung Ak's eyes gleamed coldly. The branch head's decision to investigate him meant that he, too, had staked everything. Their relationship had been quite good at first. Where had it all gone wrong?

Jung Ak walked slowly over to the boulder and drew his sword. He swung it lightly, as though cutting a branch.

CRAAACK.

The enormous boulder split in half. At this astonishing move, Cha Hoe clasped his fist in his palm in a salute of respect.

"For the sake of peace in the martial world, if nothing else..."

Jung Ak ran his hand over the rock's smooth cut surface and added,

"Branch heads may change, but we must remain."

At that very moment, as though fate had arranged it, a visitor arrived. Another subordinate came to report.

"You have a guest."

* * *

The man waiting in the secret chamber was Jeok Pae. Jung Ak used this room for clandestine meetings. To conceal his identity, Jeok Pae wore a bamboo hat and a shabby long robe.

When Jung Ak entered, Jeok Pae sprang to his feet and greeted him respectfully.

"It's been a long time."

"I believe I told you not to visit unless I summoned you."

Jung Ak's response was cold. He had always openly looked down on Jeok Pae for running a Hell King Debt operation.

'Then you should have looked down on my money, too.'

Hiding that thought, Jeok Pae promptly prostrated himself.

"Would I have come like this if I weren't desperate?"

"What is it?"

"A man posing as a demonic martial artist has interfered with our affairs. He's a master beyond our ability to deal with."

He deliberately omitted the claim to be the Demonic Cult's young lord. Knowing Jung Ak, he would surely ask whether they expected him to deal with such a lunatic and use that as an excuse to stay out of it.

"Falsely claiming affiliation with the Cult is a grave crime. Just how skilled is he?"

"Skilled enough to make me come running here. Please, help me!"

With the branch head already suspicious of him, Jung Ak would ordinarily have refused outright. But an idea flashed through his mind.

"Very well. I'll deal with him for you."

"Thank you."

The ready agreement left Jeok Pae more bewildered than relieved.

"But there is one thing you must do in return."

"Give me your orders."

"Make sure word reaches the branch head that someone is posing as a demonic martial artist. I cannot handle a matter like this on my own authority."

Jeok Pae understood.

'Now that he's heard the man is a master, he intends to have the branch head eliminate him instead of moving himself. Always scheming.'

It made no difference. All that mattered was getting rid of the man.

"I'll do as you command."

In truth, Jung Ak was devising a far more ruthless plan than Jeok Pae imagined. The Jiangxi branch leader would die while pursuing a man falsely claiming affiliation with the Demonic Cult, and the Demonic Sword Squad would avenge him. Would it work? Had Jung Ak spent his life doubting, he would never have risen this far. He would make it work. That was how Jung Ak had lived his life.

* * *

Ju Yang came again the next day.

"Our Mr. Ju has learned to come alone without fear."

"You said you needed my hands, at least. Doesn't that mean I can keep them?"

Curiosity had kept Ju Yang awake all night.

"Why on earth do you need my hands?"

Then Geom Mugeuk said the most astonishing thing Ju Yang had ever heard.

"I'm considering making you the head of the new Money Exchange."

Ju Yang shouted before he could stop himself.

"That's absurd!"

Geom Mugeuk, by contrast, remained calm.

"Why do you think it's absurd?"

"Well..."

There were many reasons. But they were reasons he had never considered or put into words before.

"Weren't you going to kill me?"

From what he had seen, Geom Mugeuk was not someone who left evildoers alone.

"Yes. I originally intended to kill you, but now I need a villain."

Geom Mugeuk revealed his plan.

"If you people are a necessary evil anyway, I intend to make you a proper necessary evil. From now on, the Money Exchange in the Central Plains will lend money at reasonable interest rates. For now, it's only the Money Exchange, but someday I'll change every Hell King Debt operation in the Central Plains in the same way."

Only now did Ju Yang understand why he had been spared, and why his hands had been left intact. It meant he was to keep working an abacus with those hands.

The man before him was dreaming a truly preposterous dream. The words burst out of their own accord.

"Who the hell are you?"

The answer he had heard several times came again.

"The Demonic Cult's young lord."

"You're just a lunatic!"

This was a man who had punched a hole through someone's forehead and shattered swordsmen's hands, yet he kept making Ju Yang shout at him like this. He kept making him lower his guard.

"So even a loan shark calls me that in the end. If the Demon Supremes had heard you, they'd have roared with laughter. They'd be too busy teasing me to do anything else for a while."

Ju Yang shook his head. Either the man was thoroughly insane... or Ju Yang was truly making a fool of himself before the Demonic Cult's young lord.

"Do you think that's possible?"

"I wouldn't know. You'll be the one in charge of making it happen."

How could he not be bewildered by this?

"No matter how powerful your martial arts are... you're going to die anyway."

"Then help me."

"What sort of Demonic Cult young lord asks a loan shark for help?"

Ju Yang found his own joke funny enough to laugh to himself, then quickly sobered. Spending time with a lunatic was driving him mad, too.

"All right, let's suppose that's true. Why me? You could appoint someone suitable. Not a bastard like me—someone who isn't greedy for money." This was what Ju Yang personally wanted to know most.

"A place like this handles so much money that it would corrupt that person, too. You, on the other hand, have no further to fall. And if you break your promise to me and pull any stupid tricks, it'll be easy to kill you without a shred of guilt."

He had never imagined such a reason.

"That's a bit much to say to a man's face."

"You're mistaken if you think I'm letting you off. This won't be easy for you. You'll have to manage the organization rigorously, and you won't be allowed to siphon off even a single coin."

This was the punishment Geom Mugeuk had chosen for him.

"Just like the people who paid you interest, you'll have to work yourself to the bone until the day you die. You'll spend your life collecting fairly the interest you once collected unjustly."

"And if I refuse?"

"You'll die the same day Jeok Pae does."

Geom Mugeuk took out two coins and placed them on the table one after the other. The gesture seemed to say: this coin is for Jeok Pae, and this one is for you.

At the sight of the coins, Ju Yang's heart began pounding wildly again. At this rate, his heart might burst and kill him before one of those coins pierced his forehead. Was it fear of death, vanity at the prospect of owning the Money Exchange, or the oppressive thought of spending his whole life doing joyless work? Whenever he was with this man, his heart kept racing like this.

As though he could hear Ju Yang's heartbeat, Geom Mugeuk asked calmly,

"Are you afraid?"

"How could I not be?"

"Even if you fall into the sea, you can survive with just this much space to keep your nose and mouth above water. No matter how vast the sea is, all you need is this much."

Geom Mugeuk curved his hand into a tube in front of his face.

"Think carefully about who gives you that little breathing space: me, or your boss. You'll have to decide quickly. A great wave will soon come crashing down."

Ju Yang was staring down at the coins on the table. Those two coins were about to change his fate.

How did he feel? He wanted to live. He had neither the spirit nor the courage to declare that he would rather choose death than spend his entire life atoning.

This man would soon be torn to pieces when the real Demonic Cult stepped in. So why did Ju Yang keep wavering? Why did he want to cry out even now, "I'll do as you wish, so spare me!"? Why did it feel as though he had to?

Ju Yang gathered up the coins and spoke as he left.

"That wave is coming for you first. You'd better find your own breathing space."