Chapter 218
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 218
Chapter 218. Karma (7)
Jin-yu's expression was solemn, and his voice was heavy.
I said to the others,
“Please leave for a moment.”
Jin-yu shook his head.
“No, everyone needs to hear this... You will understand why I insist on taking the lead.”
He was right, so I nodded.
“Then let's take a break in a quiet place.”
After walking for about a minute, our group got off their horses.
There was no one around, and we found some rocks to sit on.
I sat down on a rock and said,
“Everyone, please sit down. Let me tell you about Jin-yu's situation.”
To be honest, I was surprised that Jin-yu had volunteered to go to the front.
He usually avoided being in the spotlight.
After hesitating slightly, Jin-yu sighed and said,
“The truth is, the Baekro-dae are the ones who killed my friends.”
“What?”
He killed his friends? What does that mean?
“Please explain further.”
“As you know, my background is that of an assassin. However, it wasn't always like that. The truth is, I am from Seolpung Palace.”
It was as I expected.
“Why did you keep your origins a secret all this time?”
“That's because... I wasn't ready to tell you. But today, I feel I must.”
“Does your Master know about this?”
“Yes. I saw him for the first time in a very long time. It's been almost twenty years.”
Twenty years?
Seolpung Palace was destroyed after that, so that means...
“I was a child entrusted to Seolpung Palace, but when I was seven, my uncle took me away.”
I heard that Seolpung Palace couldn't stop him from taking you away.
“At that time, I was happy thinking that I would be able to live with my father. But that was just my mistake.”
Jin Yu clenched his fists tightly.
So tightly that his white bones stood out.
“My father had already passed away. He left a will about me... He shouldn't have left such a will.”
“...
”At that time, my family was in poor financial condition, so they asked the Martial Alliance for help. However, the Martial Alliance demanded a blood relative in exchange for the loan, and that's when my family found out about me.“
”...
“So I was sent to the Martial Alliance against my will and trained as a secret sword fighter. It was a series of grueling training sessions.”
From Jin-yu's expression, I could guess the extent of his suffering.
Of course, I couldn't know everything since I wasn't there myself.
"When I got there, I found children in the same situation as me. There were about a hundred of them. And... more than half of them were killed by the Baekroei.
Jin-yu's story was truly horrific.
He said that the children were released into the mountains and the warriors were ordered to find and kill them.
It was the Hyakuretai who carried out this task.
They said it was to teach the children how to hide, but...
“If it had been just killing, I wouldn't have thought of revenge. They were only following orders. But...”
Jinmu turned his head and stared into space.
“They took the children they had captured... and played with them until they died.”
That “played with” couldn't mean playing with the children in the way I imagined.
“My closest friend...”
Jin-yu calmly explained what had happened to the children, and I realized once again how cruel humans could be.
“At the time, I was powerless and couldn't take revenge. But now I can.”
Jinyu bowed his head again as he looked at me.
“I beg you.”
I turned to Seo Woo.
This wasn't something that Jinyu and I could do alone.
“Those bastards deserve to die. All right. Today, let's avenge Jinyu's long-standing grudge.”
Seo Woo agreed.
“Thank you.”
Looking at him, I thought to myself.
It seemed that it wasn't just a short period of time that the Martial Alliance had been acting strangely.
“By the way, where is Jin-yu's father's family?”
“They were wiped out. I heard that they were killed by a group of mysterious people.”
Jin-yu didn't seem very sad as he said this.
Then again, if they were that kind of people, I wouldn't be sad either.
* * *
“Whoa, whoa!”
Purr.
A group of people arrived in front of Ma.
They were the Baekro Dan, one of the martial arts groups of the Martial Alliance.
The martial arts groups of the Martial Alliance are divided into two main types.
Dae and Dan.
Dae is a large military organization with over 100 members, while Dan is a much smaller military organization.
The Baekroo Dan was also a small military organization with about 20 members.
They usually had no assigned duties and moved according to the orders of the Alliance Leader.
Half of the Baekroo Dan, 10 members, had come to the Ma House.
“Welcome. I am Ma Jung, the chairman of Ma Jang.”
After introducing himself, the member of the Martial Alliance introduced the vice captain of the Baekro Dan.
“This is Vice Captain Sagu of the Baekro Dan.”
“Nice to meet you.”
On the other hand, Vice Captain Sagu only nodded his head.
“We plan to leave tomorrow morning, so please take good care of us.”
“Of course.”
Then Vice Captain Sa-gu spoke.
“I heard that the guards who worked here stole 10,000 gold coins?”
“Yes, that's right. That's why we had a hard time raising additional funds.”
At that, Vice Captain Sagu's eyes lit up.
“If I find it, can I have half?”
Honestly, it was a request that was tantamount to robbery.
However, from Chairman Ma's perspective, it was not a bad offer.
If he could find even half of the money he was looking for, it would be better than nothing.
“Yes, you may.”
“Then let's go to the county office. It doesn't seem too far from here.”
“I'll take you there.”
A short time later, they arrived at the county office of Taegyeong County.
Ji-hyun quickly came out to greet the Vice Captain of the Baekro Dan, one of the martial arts organizations of the Martial Alliance.
No matter how inviolable the martial arts world and the government were, they only had one life, and as the headquarters of the Martial Alliance, they couldn't afford to have a mere county magistrate in Henan catch their eye.
“Please come in.”
They introduced themselves and exchanged greetings.
“We've come because we heard that the people who stole Chairman Ma's money are here.”
“Yes, we are currently interrogating them.”
“Show me the way.”
“Yes.”
He said that the Henan Provincial Inspectorate had sent people to investigate the case.
This was where the incident took place, and their goal was to find Geumja.
As they headed toward the county office prison, the smell of blood grew stronger.
“Kyaaaah!”
“You bastard! Still won't talk?”
“I really don't know! Kyaaaah!”
A man dispatched from the Provincial Inspectorate was interrogating them when he saw Vice Captain Sagu and his men and approached them.
“Where are you from?”
“I am Vice Captain Sagu of the Martial Alliance's Baengnoo Corps.”
“Ah, I see.”
Vice Captain Sa-gu glanced at the badly injured warriors and said.
“I see you haven't made much progress.”
“I'm sorry.”
“No, you did your best. But their hands and feet have been cut.”
“They are first-class warriors, so we couldn't handle them.”
“You did well.”
He reported what he had found out so far.
“They said they were attacked by three men wearing smiling masks. But honestly, it's just gold. How could three men carry that?”
“That's right.”
“There are no traces of them using anything, such as horses or carriages. I think they hid it and saw hallucinations while fighting each other.”
“Hallucinations?”
“Yes, there was a hallucinogenic poison among the poisons they had. According to the person who had it, it was called 망아환각독 (hallucinogenic poison).”
“Huh? That's a hallucinogenic poison that makes you lose your memory when you're in a hallucinatory state, right? Why did they have that?”
“They say it was used to rape the women of the village. They are despicable!”
Chairman Ma quickly stepped forward and expressed his anger.
“How could I have kept such a person with me! This is unacceptable!”
If he wasn't careful, he could be accused of negligence.
Normally, it wouldn't matter, but now he had people from the Imperial Investigation Agency and the Martial Alliance in front of him.
“How dare they commit such unscrupulous acts under the guise of orthodox sects! They deserve to be torn to pieces.”
“...You're right.”
Vice Captain Sagu nodded with a hesitant look on his face.
In fact, he also had a bottle of Mangahwan Hallucinogenic Poison. Its purpose was no different from that of the warrior who was now suffering.
He cleared his throat and stepped forward.
“Hmm, I'll interrogate them.”
“Yes, sir.”
That day, the warriors who were with Chairman Ma experienced pain they had never experienced before in their lives.
That made them feel even more frustrated.
It wasn't really their fault.
But did they know?
That the pain they were suffering was nothing compared to the pain the residents of Taegyeonghyun had suffered.
They were the ones who swung their swords at anyone who met their gaze, stole things, and committed rape when they felt lust.
Even after interrogating the soldiers, Vice Captain Sagoo searched the area around where the gold was stolen without finding any clues.
However, he couldn't find the gold or even a single coin.
He had no choice but to give up, swallowing his disappointment.
He couldn't stay and investigate for days on end.
.
.
.
“Am I tired?”
Vice Captain Sagu rubbed the back of his neck.
“Well, we did search the area all night long.”
The same was true for the members of the Baekroo Corps. Still, all they had to do was move 10,000 nyang.
Most thieves and Green Forest Bandits would not dare to approach a cart flying the flag of the Martial Alliance.
Furthermore, this was Henan, the headquarters of the Martial Alliance.
Therefore, this mission was no different from a sightseeing trip.
Far from being nervous, they were joking around and walking wherever they pleased.
This was inevitable given the nature of the Baekroo Dan.
It was a place where the children of families loyal to the Martial Alliance who were troublemakers were gathered so that they could at least maintain appearances.
Of course, their martial arts skills were not that low.
If their martial arts skills were low, they would not be able to join the Martial Alliance's armed forces.
“Hmm...”
Vice Captain Sagoo, who had recently reached the peak of his martial arts, looked down at his left chest and stroked it.
For some reason, it had been throbbing today.
“I haven't been in pain since then, have I?”
A long time ago, when he was a member of the Baekroo Corps, there was a child who aimed at his heart during a mission.
The child was holding a knife made from a sharpened stone.
If it had been a well-sharpened iron sword instead of a crude stone knife, he would have been dead.
And the child ran away.
“But why did that kid try to kill me back then?”
Vice Captain Sagu couldn't remember what he had done at that time.
A member of the Martial Alliance who was standing next to him said,
“I think we should start looking for a place to spend the night.”
“Yes, we should.”
* *
I looked at the bonfire.
Ten people... No, eleven if you include the person sent by the Martial Alliance for the contract.
When I turned my head, I saw Jin Yu, who was closing his eyes.
It was because of Seo Woo's request.
“But if Jin Yu does not grant my request, I cannot agree to let him stand at the front.”
“What is that?”
“Control your emotions. Think of this as one of the tasks ordered by our Liege, not Jin Yu's revenge.”
“What?”
“If you are blinded by revenge, you will not be able to see what you should see. If you cannot see the sword pointed at our liege, isn't that absurd? If something happens to our liege because of Jin-yu, I will be the one to strike him down.”
Seeing his firm stance, Jin-yu nodded obediently.
“...You are right, Seo Woo. I cannot endanger my liege, who has given me this opportunity.”
“Don't let your guard down until the very end. You can rejoice after the job is done.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for your advice. You have helped me realize something important.”
After that, he kept his eyes closed.
Seo Woo was a reliable pillar among my bodyguards.
Perhaps his long time spent fighting himself while lying in a hospital bed had made him very strong.
I also realized something after hearing his words.
Yes, if I don't get caught up in revenge and work hard to make Eunhae Trading Company the world's best trading company, I will be able to take revenge on Baekcheon Trading Company and the Martial Alliance.
By the way, they are escorting such a large sum of money, yet they are sleeping rough and drinking alcohol... They are quite something.
But we should be grateful to them.
Soon, they began to fall asleep one by one.
I put on my mask and sent a telepathic message to the two.
Let's go.