Swinging the cane felt as heavy and powerful as smashing with an iron club.
But the more Hyeol-u swung it, the more he sensed something peculiar.
'It's as if my arm has grown longer.'
Before he knew it, the cane had become an extension of his body.
"GAAGHH! P-please......"
Geum Dae-gi had managed to drag his twisted body upright into a kneeling position, tears and snot streaming down his face as he begged.
He even broke into full-blown sobbing, like a child being disciplined by a wrathful elder.
"Say it again."
"Ngh, the truth is...... for every head we bring in secretly, there's a referral fee — and I kick up half of it."
"The other half?"
"That goes to......"
The moment Geum Dae-gi turned pitiful, pleading eyes toward Namgung Seong—
CRACK.
This time, the bone of his elbow jutted out at a sharp angle.
"Hrrgh, ghhh......"
He had no strength nor time to even groan properly.
HISS.
An edge of qi, keen as a razor, grazed just beneath his chin.
"Wha......?!"
RUSTLE.
His thick beard cascaded onto his kneeling lap in a heap.
Despite being a blunt cane, it had sheared through the whiskers as cleanly as a blade.
TRICKLE.
The front of Geum Dae-gi's trousers darkened and something began to pool.
'That should do it.'
From here, everything would come pouring out.
Left alone, the man would trace his ancestry back three generations and confess every last misdeed without prompting.
What Hyeol-u extracted from him was substantial.
Not only had the Grand Steward been siphoning mine revenues to purchase Immortal's View Tower and reinvest in new mine development under his own name—
But the clan's inner-chamber matriarch, Tang Mi-hwa, had a hand in it as well.
And several more people were implicated.
"Th-Third Young Master, p-please, s-spare...... I'm still a member of the clan's household...... have mercy......"
His jaw had gone slack, teeth chattering so badly that his words broke apart — but the meaning was clear enough.
And it was true: he must not be killed yet.
Evidence had to be secured first.
"You're tugging at my heartstrings here."
Hyeol-u set the broken limbs back in place, snapped a bed leg off to fashion into a splint, and even produced wound medicine to feed him.
With that, Geum Dae-gi slowly rose to his feet.
Knowing these emergency measures was essential for anyone who lived the martial world life.
In a perilous world where anything could happen anywhere at any time, survival demanded it.
"I'm giving you three days. Exactly three days from now, I'll be back — and you'll have all the documentation on this corruption ready for me. And one more thing......"
TAP.
Hyeol-u touched his cane to the Weizhong point behind Geum Dae-gi's one good knee.
"Unless I undo this personally, you'll spend the rest of your life a cripple. No — if you don't cooperate, I'll make sure you spend the rest of your days unable to stand. How does that sound?"
"Hic, anything but that......!"
"Then do as you're told."
Hyeol-u spoke as lightly as though cracking a joke, then opened the door and started out — only to turn back.
"Actually, this won't do......"
"EEK!"
The man flinched and trembled.
Hyeol-u abruptly hoisted Geum Dae-gi and set him down outside the door.
"I'll be going, so once I'm out of sight, call someone."
"Hic......!"
Before long, Namgung Seong vanished from Geum Dae-gi's sight.
***
"Young Master, the sun's going down — are we staying here?"
"Where else would we go?"
"Come on, we need to get dinner. Aren't you hungry?"
"Got any money?"
"Money? You took all my money!"
"That's the emergency fund! Shh, they're coming! The marks......"
A singing voice drifted closer.
"What's the point of living without money in this world—!"
The drunken caterwauling grew steadily louder.
From the unsteady footsteps, two men were staggering along, arms draped over each other's shoulders.
"Those bastards are wasted."
The moment the words left his mouth, the hut door burst open.
"Ohhh, my cute little lambs, did you miss me?"
"Now then! Follow us."
There was no need to weigh the circumstances.
Hyeol-u and So-i followed along meekly.
Trailing the two men a short way into the valley, they came upon a large warehouse-like building, hastily built beside a shallow ravine.
Several similar structures stood on the far side of the ditch.
CREAK—
The grating screech of rusted hinges accompanied the opening of the entrance.
A narrow corridor ran alongside a continuous stretch of floor planks leading to an exit on the far side.
Several children sat in scattered spots, their faces slack and lifeless.
"......"
Whether someone entered or not, they showed no interest — they did not even raise their eyes.
"This is the miners' dormitory. Anywhere you don't see personal belongings is an empty spot — pick one. Meals are right before sunrise and right after sunset. Fend for yourselves."
"What about wages?"
At Hyeol-u's question, Geo Ryang answered swiftly.
"One nyang of silver a month. If you quit partway through, you'll be paid by the day."
"After deducting the referral fee?"
"That's right. Now get some rest."
Jang Bo and Geo Ryang hurried outside, and Hyeol-u immediately followed.
So-i set his bundle down on an empty spot and rushed after them.
The fading sunlight cast dark mountain shadows over a deserted stretch.
Not a soul around — nothing but the sound of icy ravine water that chilled the bones.
"Hey, go back inside."
"How can I? You're the ones who found us work when we were at a total loss — it's only right that I walk my benefactors home."
"As if you know where we live! Quit the nonsense and go back. Supper's soon — if you're late, there's nothing left."
"Don't worry about that. If they run out, we'll just go buy something."
"What? You said you were broke."
Hyeol-u folded his arms and said:
"I am. But you've got the money."
"Wha— you little punk? You think I've got money just lying around for you?"
"Need something broken before you get the message......?"
The two men, having dropped all pretense of friendliness, took turns jeering and drew short blades from their coats.
At that instant.
SNAP, SNAP, CRACK—!
Hyeol-u's cane lashed out indiscriminately, hammering both men across their entire bodies.
"GYAAAH!"
"GAAGHH!"
Jang Bo went flat on his face like a turtle, skull driven into the dirt.
Geo Ryang kicked his legs skyward like a frog and lay there quivering.
"Now we see eye to eye. So — ready to talk?"
"Gnhhh...... y-yes, yes! Absolutely."
Jang Bo let out a moan, then scrambled to answer.
"Good. Hand over our money."
"What? That's......"
"The referral fee you collected. Or should I say — the price of our lives."
Jang Bo's hand shot into his coat.
But he could not produce anything right away, fingers fumbling inside.
There were multiple vouchers, and he was trying to sort them — Hyeol-u could tell at a glance.
'These bastards — the other kids in the dormitory are their handiwork too.'
"Hand over everything in your coat."
"B-but, brother......! Just this once. If I give you everything, the mouths I've got to feed will all starve to death. Please......?"
"What a joke. Since when do I have an older brother your age?"
SMACK, SNAP, SNAP—!
The topknots of both men unraveled in an instant.
Their paralyzing pressure points were struck, and they froze in place like statues.
"If you won't hand it over, I'll take it myself."
Hyeol-u rifled through the coats of both Jang Bo and Geo Ryang, and his jaw dropped.
"Good lord, you've been busy. Every last one of these is a human life's price tag?"
Vouchers alone numbered forty.
From a minimum of ten nyang to as much as fifty nyang of silver — three hundred nyang in total.
Add the gold and silver coins, and the grand sum came to five hundred nyang.
Enough for a family of four to live comfortably for a full decade.
So-i quickly tallied the amounts, and his pupils nearly popped out of his skull.
"Whoa, what is all this?"
"Scum like these don't trust anyone — so they can't leave their money anywhere but on their own person. Then they run into someone like me and end up making him rich."
Setting aside a bit of small change, Hyeol-u cleaned them out and struck several more pressure points on each.
"Half of these will release in about a double-hour. The rest — even I can't say."
SPIT—!
"Bastards! Be grateful it's our Young Master — anyone else would've killed you dead!"
So-i, his attitude swelling with newfound bravado, spat.
'Young Master? I thought we were cousins.'
The two men's eyes spun a full revolution.
In their glare, the bitter indignation of having been swindled oozed thick and heavy.
Hyeol-u and So-i stepped outside and headed for the dining area.
"Heheheh."
So-i's grin stretched so wide his mouth could not close.
"That happy?"
"Hehe, of course! Buy an inn with that money and we could live off the business for the rest of our lives."
"I've got no such plans."
"What? Don't tell me you're going to keep it all for your......"
"Depends on how you perform."
The sun had set.
The silhouettes of people coming down from the mountains were dark against the fading sky.
***
The dining area was far more crowded than expected.
They waited in a long line for quite some time before reaching the entrance and finally picking up wooden food trays.
Then more waiting, shuffling forward in a slow, grinding crawl.
Occasionally, the kitchen ran out of food even with people still waiting — a frequent enough occurrence, apparently.
So-i had stolen a glance at Hyeol-u wandering off to scan the distant mountainside, and that worry had been the first to cross his mind.
'There must be dozens of people behind us — surely they won't run out of food yet.'
The thought made his stomach churn even harder.
Then.
The area around them suddenly erupted into commotion.
"You son of a bitch! Don't cut in line!"
A young man with a triangular, serpentine face and cold features.
Maybe twenty years old.
He was snarling vile curses at a small, elderly man well past fifty.
But incidents like this were apparently commonplace — the people standing in line in front and behind simply smirked and watched.
"N-no! I didn't cut in......"
"You just shoved your way in front of me and now you're playing innocent? You think getting old makes you special?"
"H-hey! That's going too far — were you raised without a fath—"
"A father? Good, you brought it up. My old man ran off with his buddy's wife and ditched all his kids. So are you my deadbeat dad? Is that it?"
The punk shoved his body against the old man, puffing hot breath into his face.
Then the snickering cronies behind him joined in — tripping the old man and smacking him on the head.
"OW!"
The old man lost his footing and went sprawling backward.
"When you're old and working the mines, you'd better learn to read the room. Right?"
It would have ended there, if that had been all.
But he and two of his gang stomped on the old man where he lay and slapped him across the face — hard enough to knock teeth loose from weakened gums, the teeth visibly flying from his mouth.
They beat him savagely.
"HELP! Someone, please!"
"Should've thought of that before you cut in line. Am I wrong?"
"Hey, old man. Get on your knees and apologize properly. Don't want to? Huh?"
"I-I'm sorry...... I'm begging you, please......"
"Ha, you call that an apology? I said bang your head on the ground — like a real bow. Don't just flap your lips, show me."
"Hehehe, the old geezer's pissing himself!"
"Man, he's really letting it flow! How much water did this guy drink instead of working? It's like a flash flood hit the mountaintop! Hahaha!"
By now, someone — other diners, a supervisor, anyone — should have stepped in.
Yet everyone just stood frozen, guarding their spots in line.
Had the old man truly cut in front of the wrong thug?
Or was something else going on?
"Hey, you worthless bastards! That's enough!"
So-i, who had been trembling with rage watching the scene, finally snapped and shouted.
"Oh? What's this now?"
The thugs abandoned the old man and swarmed toward So-i.
"Grab this bastard."
"Ugh, hands off!"
"Nah. By the way, you've got a lot of pimples. Let big bro clean those up for you."
"EEEK!"
When So-i shook off the one who had grabbed his arm—
The others rushed him all at once and began pummeling him without mercy.
THUD, THUD—!
One-on-one, So-i's strength yielded to no one.
But against two, three — he was hopelessly outmatched.
His face was stomped on.
Clubs and boots rained down on his arms, legs, and every part of his body without exception.
"GNHHH!"
Tears streamed from his eyes.
No matter how hard he tried to hold them back, with every blow came an uncontrollable surge of fury and tears.
Those were the tears of anguish that only the weak knew.
'Wh-where on earth is the Young Master and what's he doing?!'
He wanted to scream for help, but all that came out were incoherent cries.
His vision was going dark, his mind clouding over, when—
"Ha! Would you look at these bastards......?"
A welcome voice — and in that instant, the crushing weight pinning So-i's body lifted.
"GYAAAH!"
"GAAAH!"
The feet that had been trampling So-i's body went flying.
Moments later.
"Bastards. Go to the very end of the line and put your heads on the ground."
"Y-yes, sir......!"
The three thugs all but crawled to the back of the line, locked their arms behind their backs, hiked their backsides up, and pressed their foreheads to the dirt.
"Backsides up."
"Yes sir!"
Whatever Hyeol-u had done to them, the surface looked untouched — but the insides were wrecked, seeding deep, lingering damage.
"Backsides up!"
Every time their innards gave out and their backsides sagged, their knees threatening to touch the ground, the thunderous command cracked without fail.
And then.
CLUNK.
Three bowls set before their bowed heads.
Three servings of thin, watery rice gruel with not a scrap of substance — placed right at their noses, where the broth sloshed gently.
"You pigs. It's slop. Now lap it up face-down."
GULP, GLUG, GLUG.
The three of them plunged their faces desperately into the bowls.