Rub, rub.
Jang Chil-sam, who had brought every Beggars' Sect member from the Yichang Branch, rubbed his eyes.
Blink, blink.
He even closed and opened his eyes several times, but the scene before him remained the same.
"Wang Pal, what is...... this?"
"I-I don't know either."
By the time the commotion had settled, the Beggars' Sect members who had arrived at Jin Cheong-un's request all wore expressions similar to Jang Chil-sam's.
"Tsk, doesn't look like that one's tied properly."
"I-I'll retie it right away! Hyung-nim!"
"Hm, this one here is tied well."
"Thank you! Hyung-nim!"
"You there—don't tell me you're slacking off. Loosening the rope just enough to run for it?"
"S-sorry! I'll fix it right away!"
"No, go ahead and run. If you run, that's one less headache for me."
"I wouldn't run even if it killed me!"
Their eyes bruised until they looked like ripe chestnuts, the Black Tiger Gang members were tying each other up with rope.
Men of the underworld who lived and died by their pride alone were obeying Jin Cheong-un's every word, falling over themselves to comply.
'What in the world is this mess?'
And what was with the Hyung-nim business?
"Ah, you're here."
Just then, Jin Cheong-un spotted them and unclasped his hands from behind his back to offer a greeting.
"W-we're sorry for being late."
Jang Chil-sam found himself clasping his hands together in a polite bow before he even realized it.
"What is all this?"
"Well, you see."
Jin Cheong-un started to explain from the beginning but suddenly felt it was too much trouble, so he summarized.
"A fight broke out, it worked out well, and the gang members repented their sins and decided to start new lives."
"......Ah, I see."
Wasn't quite a bit skipped in the middle there? That was practically fabrication.
"And the, the Black Tiger Gang Master......?"
"Over there."
Where Jin Cheong-un pointed lay a corpse in a pool of blood.
Jang Chil-sam paused for a moment, then nodded.
"Are there any other casualties?"
"Probably not."
"Pardon?"
"Why so surprised?"
"N-no reason. Understood."
What surprised Jang Chil-sam was not that there was a corpse, but rather that only the Gang Master had died.
'I had braced myself for a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.'
He stole a glance at Jin Cheong-un.
After all, it was not for nothing that aliases like Asura, Ghost, and Yama clung to Jin Cheong-un despite his being a member of the Orthodox Faction.
Missions where the Black Dragon Corps Captain appeared were ones that made even battle-hardened veterans shudder.
Even Jang Chil-sam himself had needed to steel his nerves before visiting any site Jin Cheong-un had passed through.
'Has he really...... changed?'
Jang Chil-sam quietly observed Jin Cheong-un.
SMACK—!
At that very moment, Jin Cheong-un backhanded a gang member across the face.
The gang member's jaw twisted sideways as he crumpled to the ground.
Jang Chil-sam's mouth fell open.
"Ah. He had a dagger hidden in his clothes."
"......"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"N-no reason."
"Then I'll leave the cleanup to you."
"Ah, of course. But...... isn't it mostly taken care of already?"
"More or less, but."
Jin Cheong-un pointed to a stack of crates piled to one side.
Jang Chil-sam tilted his head, wondering what it could be.
"They had gunpowder."
"......!"
His expression changed in an instant.
Unless they were lunatics like the Esoteric Sect, even most unorthodox sect members wouldn't touch gunpowder.
This was not something that could simply be overlooked.
"These underworld scum......! Understood. If it's alright with you, could you keep this......?"
"I won't breathe a word of it anywhere, so don't worry. I don't want the attention either."
"Yes! Thank you!"
Jang Chil-sam wiped the cold sweat from his brow and continued.
"Come to think of it, we caught someone fleeing on our way here."
"Someone escaped?"
Just then, a commotion erupted from behind.
"Let go! Get off me! You beggar bastards!"
Jang Chil-sam glanced in that direction and spoke.
"The Black Tiger Gang's Chief Steward and Young Master."
Ah, right. Those two.
Jin Cheong-un gazed at the pair with a disinterested expression.
Yeop Gun-pyeong was thrashing about in terror, while Baek Seo-gun had already resigned himself, head drooping low as he was dragged along.
When Jin Cheong-un trudged toward them, Yeop Gun-pyeong sprang up as though having a fit.
"Y-you beggar bastards! Instead of catching me, you should be catching him!"
"......"
"Honestly, what did we even do wrong?! The ones who borrowed money and didn't pay it back are the guilty ones! What right does a debtor have to act so high and mighty?! So we burned down a manor that was going to be ours anyway over some debts......!"
CRACK—!
A sudden splitting sound, and Yeop Gun-pyeong went limp.
Trickle.
Bright red blood streamed down from the crown of his head.
The Beggars' Sect members stared at Jin Cheong-un with dumbfounded faces.
"Ah, sorry. I couldn't help myself."
Jin Cheong-un pulled back his fist with an oops expression, and the Beggars' Sect members exchanged uneasy glances.
'Is he dead? No, he's still breathing.'
'Normally, you at least let someone finish talking before you hit them......'
Jin Cheong-un turned to Jang Chil-sam.
"Should I wake him?"
Jang Chil-sam was slightly curious how he planned to do that, but chose not to ask.
"Oh goodness, no. Better this way—nice and quiet."
Shortly after, having read the room, Jang Chil-sam cautiously spoke up.
"Would it be alright if we took custody of those two? The Fierce Tiger Captain as well."
"What are you planning?"
"I intend to take them in for investigation."
Jang Chil-sam's eyes gleamed.
"The Chief Steward knows the Black Tiger Gang's internal affairs inside and out, and as for the Young Master...... well, with the Gang Master dead, someone needs to be held responsible."
"......"
"Y-you know how it is. Heh heh. I wouldn't call it a trade, exactly, but in return, I'll make sure there are no loose ends—I'll clean up everything, right down to the government officials who were backing the Black Tiger Gang."
Jang Chil-sam grinned meaningfully, rubbing his hands together.
It seemed he intended to go through a complex process to handle things quietly.
"Do as you see fit."
He was clearly looking to rack up some merit.
All the better.
With the situation already wrapped up, Jin Cheong-un had no desire to get further tangled in affairs.
Yeop Gun-pyeong's end would likely be far from pretty.
This was why parents must raise their children well, and children must be born to good parents. If both fell short, then at the very least, one should find a worthy teacher.
"This is why education matters."
Jin Cheong-un muttered to himself, inwardly resolving to teach his disciples well.
Of course, the Beggars' Sect members watching the scene merely shuddered at the non sequitur, rubbing the goosebumps from their arms.
'At any rate, I can finally stretch out and rest easy.'
Jin Cheong-un let out a long, long sigh.
Well then. Time to go home.
***
Yinghua Village.
The townspeople had all gathered along the roadside, whispering among themselves.
"Wh-what in the world is that?"
"Ain't those the Black Tiger Gang?"
"Why are they all......?"
Tromp, tromp, tromp.
Dozens of men, bound like criminals, walked in a long procession.
And the man standing where the procession was headed looked as though he might burst into tears at any moment, stammering his words.
"Th-th-this, wh-what, I mean......"
Geum Tae-bang, Chief Constable of Yinghua Village.
A man whose greatest aspiration in life was peace and quiet, contentment with one's lot, and a long, uneventful career—he stared at the one responsible for all of this.
"......School Master Jin?"
"Good to see you again, Chief Constable Geum."
"Wh-what is all this?"
"Black Tiger Gang members."
Kid! You think I don't know that?!
Why did you tie them up in a line and drag them here?!
Jin Cheong-un spoke evenly.
"Chief Constable Geum, it appears the villains disrupting Yichang's peace have been subjugated, so I brought them in."
Geum Tae-bang wiped cold sweat from his brow as he asked.
"But...... I heard the Black Tiger Gang Master was a formidable expert. How did he......?"
"Gang Master Yeop has......"
Jin Cheong-un gazed wistfully at the distant mountains.
"Departed on a long journey."
You killed him!
Stop making that wistful face after killing him!
"D-did you do this, School Master Jin?"
"No, how could I possibly?"
"Hm? Then who?"
Jin Cheong-un kept his mouth firmly shut on that point.
He seemed to think for a moment, then said:
"A passing expert seems to have taken care of it. I merely bound them and brought them here."
There were always passing experts aplenty in the jianghu, after all.
Jin Cheong-un was inwardly pleased, thinking it a perfectly adequate answer.
'Read the room, Tae-bang! The man's out of his mind! If you push back here, he might cut you down too! Just nod along!'
Of course, it was an answer that fooled absolutely no one, but Geum Tae-bang nodded so frantically he nearly pulled a muscle in his neck.
"I understand the gist of it, but...... why did you bring them here?"
"Well, where else would you take criminals but to the authorities?"
"The-the county office in Yichang proper is bigger, though...... Or since this is jianghu business, perhaps the Murim Alliance......"
"Ha ha. Am I not a resident of Yinghua Village?"
"Y-yes, and?"
"I owe you my gratitude for many things...... so I thought I'd do Chief Constable Geum a favor while I was at it...... ha ha, you understand what I mean?"
"I-I never asked for such a......"
Just living quietly was his dream—why was this man dumping all this on him?
And a favor? What favor?
Hauling in men tangled up with who knows how many powerful people—would his superiors praise him for it? More likely he'd hear, "Why are you sticking your nose where it doesn't belong?"
But all Geum Tae-bang could manage was:
"How very kiiiind of you......"
"No need for such gratitude. We're practically family."
"......"
"I was worried it might be too much of a burden, so I let the ones with extenuating circumstances or room for leniency go. Is that alright?"
"Th-that's fine. I'm sure you handled it well, School Master Jin......"
He had seen some men heading toward Jeong Manor to work this morning—could those have been them?
Just then, he noticed something and narrowed his eyes.
"But what's all that loaded on those carts?"
Two whole oxcarts—though being hauled by panting gang members instead of oxen—were piled high with what looked like ledgers and letters.
That the carts were being pulled by humans rather than animals no longer even seemed strange.
"I gathered the ledgers and correspondence from the Gang Master and Chief Steward's offices—evidence, you see."
"And why would you......?"
"You'll need it to pass judgment, won't you? I collected it all to make your job easier, Chief Constable."
"......"
"It's all documented in there—the Black Tiger Gang's dealings with their backers, their bribes, their illegal extortion of money, and so on. Consider it a personal gift from me."
Silence hung in the air.
Jin Cheong-un stood there with the look of a man expecting something, smiling brightly and showing no sign of leaving.
Geum Tae-bang stared at Jin Cheong-un with the hollow, vacant eyes of a dried fish.
Then, with trembling hands, he fumbled out his coin purse and held it out to Jin Cheong-un.
"This is...... all I have on me at the moment."
His moist eyes looked inexpressibly sad.
"As for the remaining bounty...... I'll contact my superiors and see what I can arrange."
Jin Cheong-un snatched up the coin purse without hesitation.
"As expected of you, Chief Constable Geum. Thank you."
Geum Tae-bang squeezed his eyes shut.
Between his thick, furrowed brows, dew formed and trickled down.
Around that time, the overcast sky had begun to clear.
As bright sunlight settled upon the village—
"Master!"
Turning at the familiar voice, he saw his disciples running out from the magistrate's office where they had been staying.
"You waited a long time, didn't you? Let's go home."
Watching Jeong So-so and Jeong So-ryong come scampering over, Jin Cheong-un broke into a gentle smile.