The Poison Demon, the Master, and the Thugs (1)
In my past life, I learned many martial arts and techniques. Most of them were things I took by force from my enemies or obtained through torture. But sometimes. There were cases where neither force nor torture worked. ......There were also people I shouldn't use them on.
At that time, there was a blacksmith. One who called himself the 'Iron Instrument God (鐵器神)', and yet that name was not shameful at all—the greatest blacksmith.
Although I focused on poison arts and swordsmanship as my main martial arts, befitting my Sacheondang Family origins, I was also learning hidden weapon techniques. However, the refining skills to make hidden weapons weren't something I could use just by knowing them in my head. There were separate craftsmen, and the Dang Family's hidden weapons were born from their hands.
When such a family suffered the calamity of extermination, all our Dang Family's treasured hidden weapons were taken away. I needed hidden weapons to survive, but what good is it if nothing remains to use!
Of course, at first I thought I could just make them. I tried this and that on my own with the knowledge I'd memorized. All failures. I needed proper teaching. To self-teach the delicate skills of handling fire and iron would clearly take decades.
Why not commission their manufacture, you ask? That's right. But could I hand over the manufacturing methods of hidden weapons that concentrated all the techniques of our 500-year-old Sacheondang Family? At that time, the Murim Alliance Leader and others ruled the world, and I couldn't let the Dang Family's hidden weapon manufacturing methods fall into their hands either.
So after much inquiry, I sought out the Iron Instrument God.
But.
"I have no intention of teaching you."
Was it because of the stubbornly clinging smell of blood? Was it because of the killing intent that bloomed with every breath?
Tang tang!
The white-haired Iron Instrument God hammered away and turned his back.
"Please teach me."
I visited him for days, for weeks. He was as stubborn as a mule. He wouldn't budge. I visited for a whole month like that.
"......"
Thorough disregard.
Thanks to that, I ultimately couldn't receive his teachings. I had no choice but to give up.
And 5 years passed.
The Iron Instrument God was murdered. The Evil Path Alliance Leader asked him to make a sword, and when he refused, his head was cut off.
So I was able to learn.
"I am the Iron Instrument God's son. Please avenge my father!"
Not from him, but from his son.
......Fate was truly mysterious.
At that time. What if I had tried a little harder and moved the Iron Instrument God's heart? Perhaps. The Iron Instrument God might not have died?
***
"Hey, old woman!"
The thugs approached the Master's cart with upturned eyes.
"......"
The Master didn't answer and just continued cleaning up.
"Old woman! When someone talks to you, you should answer!"
Kwang!
Thug A kicked the cart. The cart shook with a creaking sound. Still, the Master didn't respond.
"Ah, really, did granny's ears rot away?"
Thug A cursed, and Thug B flashed a rotten smile as he approached the Master.
"Granny. You need to pay back the money."
"What money! I paid it all back ages ago!"
The Master reacted this time.
"That was the interest. The principal and overdue interest still remain. Don't you know? O-ver-due in-ter-est."
Thug B said each syllable with emphasis.
"I don't know about such things. I paid back all my dead man's debts!"
"Hehe. Granny's talking nonsense again. Even if the old man dies, the debt is inherited. Right? If granny won't pay, should we make your son pay?"
"Don't touch my son! Why would you touch a kid who's trying to get his life together now—."
Kwang!
Thug A, interrupting the Master's words, kicked the cart again and threatened.
"That's why you should pay. Before we visit your son."
"......"
The Master bit her lips, then fumbled and took out money from her purse. 200,000 won. All the money earned from selling 200 bungeoppang today.
"You should have done that from the start."
The thugs laughed.
"Old woman! Sell more. Business is going so well, but if you only make exactly 200 every day, when will you pay back all that money?"
Just as Thug B reached out to the grandmother to snatch that money.
"Wow, thugs."
Deopseok!
I grabbed the thug's hand.
"What?"
"Me? The person who's about to become a disciple."
"What are you saying? Let go of this?"
Thug B tried to shake off my hand, but fat chance.
Kwadeudeudeuk!
"Uaaaaak!"
Thug B sat down, clutching his crushed hand.
Then.
"This fucking bastard is gonna di—."
Thug A raised his hand to slap my face.
Eudeudeudeuk!
I crushed the guy's instep first.
"Aaaaaak!"
The sound of their screams is fragrant. Ahh, the screams of evildoers are always pleasant to hear.
"Oh my! Student! What are you doing right now?"
The Master jumped out of the cart and grabbed me.
......It's already all over, though? If you're going to stop me, do it from the start.
"Oh my. What do we do about this?!"
The Master made a fuss as if something terrible had happened. But I know.
【The Master is pleased. +100 Happiness】
That she's pleased.
"Thugs, anything more you'd like to say?"
"This son of a bi—!"
Eudeudeudeuk!
I crushed the other instep of cursing Thug A as well.
"Aaaak!"
"Want more?"
Thug B glanced at me, then hesitantly took Thug A and disappeared.
......Disappointing? Something seems missing—.
"Just you wait, you bastard!"
Ah, this is it. That's right. This line needs to come out.
I smiled and waved at the disappearing thugs. The Master looked at me.
"Let's move for now. Someone might have heard the noise and reported it."
"Yes."
The Master roughly loaded the equipment onto the cart and tried to pull it away.
"I'll do it."
Thinking this was my chance, I grabbed and pulled the cart.
***
A secluded warehouse. It was the place where the Master stored her cart.
After finishing parking, I dusted off my hands and lowered the warehouse shutter.
Deureureuk—.
"Good work. And thank you."
"Don't mention it."
"......"
My expectant gaze.
"Still won't teach you."
"Aw!"
The Master was resolute.
"Why would a young person want to learn something like this? This is a seasonal business. And there's not much profit either."
"Isn't it because you sell too cheaply? These days they go for 2,000 won each. Some even more."
"Bungeoppang should be 1,000 won."
"Master's bungeoppang could sell for several times that. They're tasty enough to sell even at 3,000 won...... No, 5,000 won—."
"1,000 won."
Resolute Master. I closed my mouth.
Soon, the Master asked.
"Have you eaten?"
"No."
"Follow me. I should at least treat you to dinner."
Ooh. How delicious must dinner prepared by the Master be?
But.
"......"
"Why? Doesn't it taste good?"
"No! It's incredibly delicious."
Wagu wagu.
......It's tasteless. Her talent is completely all-in on bungeoppang.
After finishing the meal, the Master cleared the table.
"Go now. And don't come from tomorrow."
"Those thugs will come again."
"I'll handle it myself."
"Since I touched them, it'll be worse from next time."
I know. The habits of such ruffians. In my past life, I would have split them in half and killed them, but this is the Republic of Korea. Before even trying to climb the Murim Tower, I have no intention of killing thousands of police chasing me.
"Still, don't come."
The Master went to the refrigerator to get water, and during that time, I looked around the Master's house.
A small two-story detached house. Though handprints were everywhere, it was a well-maintained house with affection. In a small frame was an old photograph. A husband and one son. Seeing no traces of other people in the house, they probably live separately. The husband must have passed away.
And next to the old TV was something peculiar.
[English Master! You Can Also Be Good at English!]
It's an English textbook. The book was so worn from how many times she'd looked at it. When I flipped through it, there were traces of the Master drawing lines everywhere and even highlighting.
And one phrase.
'Age is just a number.'
The Master's handwriting.......
Come to think of it, English books were visible here and there around the house. Becoming an English teacher must have been the Master's childhood dream.
"Here."
The Master poured water for me.
Holding the water cup, I asked.
"It seems you have debt. Of course, not debt you incurred yourself."
"......"
"The debt must have been inherited? To the remaining family."
"It's not your concern."
Haa, stubborn person.
I was about to stand up, thinking of giving up. There's no mission message anyway. If the mission said 'Resolve the Master's grudge', I'd try hard. But since there's nothing like that, I should leave. I'm an efficient person. I need to use my remaining time wisely.
But.
......The Iron Instrument God (鐵器神). He and the Master kept overlapping.
Right. It was the same back then. I grumbled about a stubborn old person and turned away, and the Iron Instrument God......
Haa.
I made up my mind.
"I think I can help you."
"I told you not to worry about it."
"Those thugs bastards might visit your son."
"I can call the police."
"You just keep saying police, police, but you won't be able to call them."
The Master's eyes widened.
"If you wanted help from a public authority, you would have done so already. But you can't. I don't know the reason, but."
"......"
"Please tell me."
The Master looked at me quietly.
"But why do you keep calling me Master?"
"Should I call you Absolute Master instead?"
"Oh my, President Choi abandoned a child."
***
The Master's story was this.
The Master's husband, a drug addict. He took all the money the Master saved penny by penny and bought drugs. When money wasn't enough, he even borrowed from loan sharks. And died. Leaving behind a loan certificate for 30 million won principal with an absurd 20% monthly interest.
Of course, I didn't believe the 30 million won principal either. Who would lend 30 million won to an incompetent drug addict with no collateral or credit? Probably barely gave him 3 million won. Or less.
The problem is that debt is inherited. She could have done an inheritance waiver or something, but the Master said she didn't even know about that debt. One day, thugs came to the Master and told her to pay the debt. At first, she ignored them. She called the police, too.
When threats and extortion didn't work on them, this time the thugs brought up the Master's son.
In childhood. A son so precious she wouldn't feel pain even putting him in her eye.
"Son, you like bungeoppang that much?"
"Yeah, Mom! Bungeoppang is the most delicious thing in the world. All my friends like them too. For 1,000 won, they make people feel this good."
"Eat lots. I'll buy you more."
That son was. But now. A drug addict son.
The son who fell into drugs like his father raised hollow eyes to the Master and said.
"Debt...... Must pay. Only then...... Drugs too."
That day, the Master gave out all the money she had and cried all night with a wailing voice. And beat her chest, blaming her dead husband.
"Oh my...... Having nothing to leave behind, you even left behind a druggie! Oh my, this man."
The Master went to the police station the next day.
......Telling them to arrest and lock up her son for doing drugs.
The arrested son shouted at the Master with bloodshot eyes.
"You call yourself a mother doing this? How can a mother report her own son!"
The Master cried.
With long experience, she knew. Those druggies can't be cured by coaxing or begging. The only somewhat effective thing is going to jail and breaking off the drugs.
It was from then. That the Master started baking bungeoppang.
The day her son was released. The Master went to the prison with a white bag full of bungeoppang.
But.
"You want me to eat this crap?"
Tak!
Bungeoppang spilled on the floor.
"You're not my mother! I don't have a mother."
And her son disappeared.
But where would that bastard go? Not long after, the son who reappeared started doing drugs again, looking haggard and hollow-eyed.
"......"
The Master went to the police station again.
"Grandmother. What's the matter? Are you here to report?"
"......N-no."
This time, she couldn't tell them to arrest and lock up her son.
Thugs came.
"Granny. What? You'll call the police? Call them. Then will we get caught? Or will Granny's son get caught?"
"......"
Those hyena-like bastards bit and held onto the Master's weakness. When they brought up her drug addict son, she couldn't even receive help from the police. The debt that had inflated to an unbelievable degree in the meantime was unbearable.
So every day 200,000 won, 300,000 won....... For years, the extortion continued.
***
"Boring, right? An old woman's life story."
"......You've suffered."
The Master lowered her head. Tears welled up in her eyes.
I see. The reason the Master's bungeoppang is 1,000 won.
I received a flyer from the Master and went outside.
'Same-day loan! Easy loan! Happy loan! Happy Loan Office!'
It was the thugs' office. The word 'Happy' is written on the yellow flyer.
"You guys have no right to mention happiness."
I called the phone number written on it.
"I'd like to get a loan. Where should I go?"
***
[Happy Loan Office]
Inside an office with a rusty sign hanging.
Peueok!
The sound of beating was loud.
"So you just came back without saying anything?"
Peueok!
The one who appeared to be the boss slapped the two men in front of him with his palm while fuming.
"Th-that's......"
The thugs showed their casted hands and feet, trying to say something as if wronged.
Peueok!
"Uuk!"
The boss didn't give them a chance to make excuses.
"You bastards! Is it that hard to get money from that one old woman every day?"
"That's not it—."
Peueok!
"You fucking bastards still have something to say?!"
The thugs started bleeding from their noses.
After slapping them for a while, the boss finally seemed to have cooled down a bit. Another thug nearby cautiously approached. A man with a sturdy build, sports hair, and sharp eyes.
"Boss. From what I hear, it seems that bungeoppang granny hired a man."
"A man?"
"He's good at fighting, they say."
"Is he a Dan holder?"
"I'm not sure about that either...... Anyway, it seems certain that he's at a level these guys can't handle."
The boss said to the man.
"So?"
"I'll take care of it. I may not look it, but I'm a former mixed martial arts fighter."
"Ah, that's right. Seon-chul! If it's you, even that Dan holder or whatever will tremble."
"Just leave it to me!"
The former fighter thug thump thumped his muscular chest.
"Alright. You handle it."
"Yes! I'll go right away."
When the thug bowed and was about to go outside the office, grabbing the doorknob.
Ujikeun!
Suddenly, the door was kicked by someone and flew broken. The former fighter thug also flew backward with the door and crashed into a desk.
Kwang!
Through the white dust, a handsome man with a slender build appeared. The eyes of the youth scattered green light, and the boss met.
The youth asked in a low voice.
"The bastard who made my Master cry...... Is it you?"