Chapter 50: Closer Than Ever (3)
Translator: hwarang
Editor: Klaurem
She woke up early next morning. It was questionable if she was ever truly slept since she went to bed so late and woke up so early. It might be that she was just practicing a basic circulation technique during the night to drive away her weariness.
Early in the morning she went up the mountain and came back down. It seemed as if she was training up in the mountain.
After asking various people through Jung Yeo, I found out that she never missed a day to go up the mountain.
Through this I discovered a very important truth. Which was, she was not here to protect Ma Jung Soo. If she was here for his protection, then she would be guarding him all the time.However, it seemed her mission was not to "guard" but to "observe". Just like how I was observing her.
This couldn"t have been better for me since I had decided to get rid of Ma Jung Soo.
I wanted to observe what sort of training she did up in the mountain, but I decided against it. Since I didn"t want her to discover my intent, it was better to keep myself under her radar.
However, I had a sense of what sort of martial arts she practiced. I could have confirmed my theory if I could search her with my ki but I needed to stay hidden. From the looks of it, since she didn"t have any weapon, she must use some sort of bare-handed martial art. By observing how she walked I could determine that she was an expert.
Most likely she must be on par with Si Gon or slightly below him. Considering her age, this was a great achievement.
Her skills as well as her atmosphere.
I do not know which secret organization raised her, but she impressed me as well as made me a bit nervous.
Anyways, I was going to use her to my advantage. Her role as an observer was a very important one since I was going to use her to send a message back to whoever she was sent by. I would show them that Ma Jung Soo was eliminated by the Black Merchants.
The next night I stood by the pond observing it. Beautiful lotus flowers were floating on top of the garden, flowing whichever direction the fall winds took them. There were a couple of koi inside the pond but since it was late, they were barely moving.
I was curious, why did she do this? Was it because she wanted to rescue the koi? Or was it because she wanted to kill them.
I then saw the beautiful moon reflecting on the surface of the pond.
I thought maybe it wasn"t the koi, but this reflection that she was watching.
After looking at the pond for a little while longer, I turned around and saw her looking this way.
Rather than heading towards her room, she slowly came this way and stood next to me.
Without saying a word and treating me as if I was non-existent, she looked down at the pond.
"Don"t you think it is weird?"
She gave me a small glance after hearing my words.
"I asked you, Isn"t it weird not treating a person like a person when they are standing next to you?"
She said while staring at the pond, "Never"
She said it in such a small voice that most others wouldn"t have been able to hear it. However, I heard it clearly. This was the first word she had said.
Then I replied, "Regardless."
She turned her head towards me with a perplexed expression, as if questioning my last word.
"Regardless of how you live, you only live once. So, it might be better to live by yourself without intermingling with others."
Then she turned her gaze back towards the pond.
"Are you not going to tell me your name?"
After looking at the lotus flower for a bit she replied, "Are names so important?"
She may have sounded like she was talking to herself but this was the first time she completed a sentence.
"What is more important than a person"s name? You need to be called something, right? You can"t just be called "hey you"."
She didn"t say anything so I just pretended to give up and said, "Alright. Since you don"t care what your name is I guess it"s fine whether I call you pond or Koi you will be you."
She just kept looking at the pond expressionlessly.
Looking at her I felt reminiscent of myself. Since it made me realize how emotionlessly I lived my past life.
"I am sorry, I was just in the moment."
She moved her lips a little in response to my apology. It seemed as if she wanted to say something.
Then someone was calling me from far away.
"Warrior Kal."
Ma Jung Soo was waving his hand calling for me. Due to his calling the small expression on the woman"s face disappeared.
"Yes"
I replied loudly and went towards him.
Ma Jung Soo asked me with a darkened expression, "What did you ask of her?"
"Nothing much sir. I just asked for her name but she didn"t respond."
"Didn"t I tell you before? Don"t worry about her."
I could feel some frustration in his voice.
"I am sorry. We just saw each other by chance…"
"Come to my room later."
"Yes sir"
Ma Jung Soo went into the building.
When I turned my head back to the pond she was gone.
When I entered Ma Jung Soo"s room he was drinking by himself.
"Come here and have a cup from me"
He seemed to be in a lighter mood than he was before.
So I received the cup that he offered.
"Now, drink it up."
"Yes sir"
I didn"t hesitate and drunk it. As I was drinking it, I remembered another problem that I had to solve.
Which was poison.
In my previous life, I had reached the apex of poison immune physique. Thus, I could eat and drink without worry. Byuk Lee Dan"s body however was not like that.
To achieve the poison immune physique one must change one"s physique. After achieving the poison immune physique, rather than forcefully suppressing poison with ki. Those who had the poison immune physique could nullify the effect of most poisons.
Since I once had that physique I knew how difficult it was to achieve. First, you needed a very powerful poison. Not some artificial poison that could be found easily in the black market but a ridiculously powerful naturally occurring poison.
I will say this one more time, no matter how strong the poison may be, it was impossible to create a poison immune physique with an artificially created poison. Thus one must acquire the poison from a natural source.
That wasn"t the only thing that you needed. You also needed to have an antidote that you can take at the critical time. If you ate it prematurely the poison will have gone to waste and if you eat it too late you would die. So achieving the poison immune body is not an easy thing.
Another thing was even if you eat the antidote at the right time there was a possibility that you will not be able to achieve it. Consequently, only a handful of people had the poison immune physique.
One must be both brave and have the heaven"s blessing to able to reach it. Since I achieved it once I was prepared to do it again if I had the proper ingredients for it. Unfortunately collecting the proper ingredients was practically impossible.
"Jung Bangju said many compliments about you."
"I am still lacking in many ways sir"
"Here, have another cup"
I drank another cup that he offered me.
Then he asked me about the woman.
"It seems that you are interested in that woman, but I advise you to find a better woman than her."
"She must be a very bad person then."
Jokingly, Ma Jung Soo replied with a smile, "Something beyond that. She is as dangerous as a viper. You know how the saying goes, "If a man meets the wrong woman it will ruin his life
forever"."
"Yes I understand"
Even with my response, I could sense some annoyance in his face. I could tell that there was some enmity between the two. So I decided to change the subject.
After some time Ma Jung Soo told me the real reason why he called me..
"The thing is, I need some money…"
"I heard from my master that he would be providing you with some a.s.sistance in this matter."
Just to appease him, Jung Yeo gave him ten thousand nyang. Since I was going to get it back with
interest I told him to not be too stingy in lending him the money.
"The money that he lent me is a bit lacking."
"How much do you need sir?"
"One hundred thousand nyang."
I acted surprised. Since no one was supposed to know what truly happened.
"When do you need it by sir?"
"The earlier the better, but I need it within five days."
"You need to get hundred thousand nyang in five days?"
With a surprised yet worrisome and careful expression, I said "There is a solution"
"What is it?"
"Have you heard about the Dark Merchant Guild?"
"The Dark merchant? Of course, I heard of them. Don"t they lend you money with high interest? I heard that they were greedy and nasty people."
"Yes. They are people who shouldn"t be approached."
So I continued to lead him this direction, "Yes, they are nasty and greedy people. If they wanted someone dead they wouldn"t have a second thought about it. They even use the forbidden techniques that are banned in Kang Ho."
As the martial artists of the Murim Alliance kept their dignity and honor, they didn"t use any techniques pertaining to releasing compressed killing intent or using a poison-tipped weapon. If they were caught using these they would immediately be sentenced.
"So you want to borrow money from them?"
"That is the only way to get one hundred thousand nyang in five days sir"
After giving it some thought he said, "Do they have that much money?"
"From what I heard, through their last transaction, they were able to get a mountain load of money. They should be able to satisfy your financial problems."
"Alright. Let"s say that they have the money. Will they allow me to borrow it so easily? Since I don"t have any deposit."
"Why do you need a deposit?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"What better deposit then your reputation and face."
"My reputation and face?"
"You are one of the successors to the Heavenly Dao Gate. What deposit would you need?"
There was a grin on Ma Jung Soo"s face. It was easy to manipulate him like this since he was driven into a corner the last few days.
However, it was unwise to push everything to him at once. It was more effective to take things one step at a time.
"I am sorry. I I had a slip of tongue. Please disregard what I said sir."
"No. Your words have some value"
Since being driven into a cornerl he saw this as an opportunity for him to get out.
"Can you get in contact with them?"
"Of course, sir"
He and I refreshingly emptied the bottle of wine.
I am sorry to say but this would be his final drink.
The Dark Merchants received a message.
"Ma Jung Soo contacted us saying he will visit us soon."
Hearing Ya Chun"s words Koo Chul was surprised.
"Could it be that he figured out that we killed Si Gon?"
"It could be"
But no one expected Ma Jung Soo to come here himself.
"You must first hide!"
"What is going to happen if I hide?"
"I will take all the blame and meet him."
"Stupid punk! What can you do?"
"I am sorry sir."
Ya Chun was disciplining Koo Chul, but it seemed as if he was in a good mood. Even though Koo Chul was greedy and had a nasty character his loyalty was second to none.
"So what will you do sir?"
He couldn"t just run away without knowing the full reason why Ma Jung Soo was here for. He built up his face and reputation through out the years so he couldn"t just throw it away like that in front of his subordinates. Since they were coming into his turf he had nothing to be afraid of.
With a fierce gaze he was prepared for what was to come.
"Gather everyone who is skilled. We must be ready for anything that could happen. If something happens we must eliminate him. Running away is only going to come after that."
The next day, we left for the Dark Guild headquarter in a carriage.
The only people on the carriage were me and Ma Jung Soo. The mysterious woman saw us leave but didn"t come with us. Though I a.s.sumed that she was trailing us. I didn"t think she would want to miss anything that happened to Ma Jung Soo.
"Do you think he will let us borrow money?"
It seemed that he was uneasy. He would be acting differently if Si Gon and Old Man Flower Fan were by his side but now things were different.
"You must be aggressive."
"Be aggressive?"
"The thing about these people who live their life in the dark is that they are weak against the strong while they are strong against the weak. They are just wild dogs that don"t know their place. Even though they are Black Merchants they are just country b.u.mpkins in this rural city. There is nothing for you to be afraid of sir."
It seems Ma Jung Soo gained some courage after listening to my pep talk.
"I feel better with you being here."
"No need for compliments. Please entrust this task to me."
I showed him the firmness in my eyes.
"Alright" Ma Jung s...o...b..lieved that this was for the best. Since then he could place the blame on me if things went wrong.
The carriage finally arrived at their headquarter.