Chapter 36: Where is this wind blowing from? (3)
Translator: Hwarang
Editor: COYO
The donated amount was determined. From the clan rankings, the top three clans must donate five thousand nyang, the fourth to the tenth clans must donate three thousand nyang, and from the rest, from the eleventh to the twentieth, must donate a thousand nyang.
Clear Tree Clan Master Kwak Taek and Nine Dragon Master Suk Do Moon where the ones who spearheaded this. It may have looked like they discussed the amount for the donation with the different clans, but just by looking at how things were done I knew that this was predetermined by Ma Jung Soo.
This was no small amount. By collecting all the donations, it would add up to tens of thousands of nyang. But the bigger problem was he would not stop with this one donation.
Since he did not personally demand money he could not be accused of coercion. He just asked for some help as he introduced himself. But of course, the different clans were dissatisfied. This was no small amount of money but the real reason they were dissatisfied was because this hurt their pride. They wondered how Ma Jung Soo could disrespect them like that. But they weren’t in the position to refuse since the first person who refused would be made an example. If they were not planning of fighting against the Heavenly Dao Gate then they could only obey.
This was something that I, as the previous Mengju, could never imagine.
No one knew how to react to this situation.
Song Wu Kyung said in frustration, “When it rains it pours. I guess we could only sigh as this storm pa.s.ses.”
My father had no response
It was late in the night, since atmosphere in the room was too congested I went out for a walk.
The Byuk Clan’s garden was well decorated. Whether it was the trees or the flowers they were growing well since the person who was in charge of this garden was Elder Jong. Although he seemed mean and rough, he unexpectedly had this side to him.
As I was walked through the garden, there was already someone here. It was my father.
“Father?”
“It is late in the night, why are you still up?”
“I can’t sleep. How come you are not sleeping father?”
“I can’t seem to fall asleep as well.”
He seemed very upset. It must be because of the events that happened today since he was humiliated in front of his son. What parent wants to look weak in front of their children?
He would be upset. Since this was the hardest moment in my father’s life. On top of that he said something that wasn’t like him, “We decided to give them the donation.”
There was a slight tremor in his voice but I knew why he made such a decision. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the threat Ma Jung Soo made against him but because Ma Jung Soo made a threat against me. He was afraid that repercussions would befall me if he did not pay the donation.
I smiled and said to my father, “You did the right thing.”
He asked me, “Is that what you really think?”
“Yes, believe it was the right decision. Doesn’t it say in the art of war ‘if the enemy is too strong retreat for a bit.’ But your will and thoughts aren’t defeated. Just consider this as a small retreat for the bigger picture.”
I didn’t say these words just to comfort him. This came from heart since this also applied to me.
“Thank you for thinking that way.”
Since I respected my father… I could forgive that sc.u.m even less.
‘Father, please hold it in for a bit longer. I will definitely exact revenge on that punk.’
‘Yes, I admit, this was the first time in my life that I made such decision based on my feeling towards my father.’
That night I really wanted to put on a disguise and take his head. But I knew I couldn’t do that. That was going to be my last option. To be realistic he had Si Gong as well as Old Man Flower Fan guarding him. They were skilled experts whose skills couldn’t be treated lightly. Not only that there was also that mysterious female expert behind him. And if I did manage to get to him Ma Jung Soo wasn’t an easy target either.
I only had a chance of success if I surprised him. The problem was making that situation happen. But even then I couldn’t guarantee I would succeed.
Even if I succeeded in killing Ma Jung Soo, experts from the Heavenly Dao gate would come in flocks to find out what happened. And that wasn’t something I wanted. I didn’t want San Dong to be the center of attention just yet. I need more time to raise my strength.
“Father, how about a drink?”
I drank late into the night with my father. My father who usually doesn’t get drunk got drunk tonight, I also drank until I was drunk.
*****
The money from the various clans were collected through the Clear Tree Clan and into Ma Jung Soo’s hands. And Ma Jung Soo sent gifts as appreciation for the donation. But the prices of the gifts were not low. They were worth about half the donations that he received. This made the others less doubtful of him. There were some who were discussing whether he was really here to gather money. But of course, the one who spread that rumor were the Clear Tree Clan and the Nine Dragon Clan.
This sort of rumor was also going around. Since there was no way of stop Ma Jung Soo from building his school and increasing his forces it was better to befriend him. Whether it was good or bad, everyone was being wary of Ma Jung Soo.
He was truly intelligent. He knew how to use his strength and he also knew how to handle his men. But the ideas wouldn’t have come from just him. He had Old Man Flower Fan by his side.
I decided digging into Ma Jung Soo was the most important thing right now. So, I received five thousand nyang from Kong Su Chan. I predicted I would need to buy some information. He didn’t ask what it was for but gave me the money he had saved. Adding in what I could gather, I had a total of six thousand nyang. I was going to use this money very sparingly.
But the good thing was he was staying at the Yang Clan, which was practically my backyard. First I bought a high-grade face alteration mask with a thousand nyang. The reason why I bought this was because I couldn’t go into the Yang Clan with the face of Byuk Lee Dan so I bought this since I thought I might need to use it more than once.
After applying my face alteration mask I headed towards the Yang Clan. I was able to meet Jang Yeo secretly since I messaged him earlier.
“I brought you here since he is staying in the guest pavilion. I am sorry.”
“No, it’s alright.”
It was a better place than the guest pavilion. This room was a small room that was attached to Jung Yeo’s room. Originally this room was where the guards rested but it seemed that he sent them away for a few days. By showing me to this room which was attached to his, he was showing his loyalty to me.
It was clean with a new table and tea cups. Even the bed and the blankets were all new. For me, he must have done his best.
“What is Ma Jung Soo doing right now?”
“He is meeting people. He is meeting the people that were at the gathering one by one. Seeing that he requested to deliver wine to his table tonight, it seems that someone is coming over.”
“So he is dividing and conquering.”
“That’s what is seems.”
This was a smart method. Scare them in their first meeting then invite them over one by one to calm them down. This showed that he was different than those who just intimidated people for money without much thought. He was actually pretty smart. He was someone who prepared.
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Since he is staying at this place doesn’t that mean he has some trust in you?”
“I think he is just pretending. I think I am just his puppet. He is implicitly threatening me to not have any irregular thoughts since he is at my house.”
He wanted me to truly believe him.
“If it wasn’t for you I was going to leave this place and be lost in Kang Ho somewhere. I would be living my life without second thoughts. And I would die a miserable death that no one would know about. I am not someone who doesn’t recognize the grace that they received.”
“I’m grateful you see it that way.”
“It isn’t much.”
“Please be careful of him.”
“Don’t worry, this is my personal room.”
“Then I will take my leave.”
As I was about to leave he said, “Ah, one more thing. There is an information merchant who I use a lot. I already asked him to gather information regarding Ma Jung Soo. You can use him whenever you need to know something about Ma Jung Soo. And you are going to need this.”
He told me about the location of the information merchant and gave me a little talisman. I was really thankful for him since I was able to gather information regarding Ma Jung Soo without spending my money.
“You have my thanks. I will share the information I get with you.”
“I would be thankful if you did so. But first I will tell my subordinates that this face-alteration mask is my guest. Just show this talisman and you will be able to enter without any problems and you can use this room however you wish.”
“Many thanks.”
Since I was considerate of him he was taking care of me. If you look at it from bigger picture it wasn’t a bad investment. Since I was someone who repaid grace with grace.
Half an hour later I arrived at the information merchant that Jung Yeo told me about. I still had my face-mask on.
He told me about the information that he was able to gather, “Ma Jung Soo is one of Ma Bong Gi’s twenty two sons.”
Twenty two? This old fool really has a lot of sp.a.w.ns.
“He is one of the six who are competing for the seat of the heir. However, it is told that Ma Jung So is the least likely to succeed. Even though he isn’t likely succeed he is very intelligent and skilled. And his martial art skills aren’t lacking compared to the other successors.”
“But why is he unlikely to succeed?”
“Because his mother was a concubine.”
“So he doesn’t have the backing.”
“Yes. He is someone who raised his own strength.”
In other words he was someone who held deep resentment within his heart.
“Unluckily his mother died in an accident that happened around ten years ago when the house caught on fire. Since he doesn’t have any other relative Ma Bong Gi is the only one that shares his blood.”
“Do you know the reason why he came down here?”
“He says that he wants to create a martial arts school here but that doesn’t seem like his real objective. Most likely he came here to increase his strength.”
Finally, I asked the most important question. The question that I truly wanted to know.
“Is this Ma Jung Soo’s will or is it Ma Bong GI’s will?”
The information merchant was hesitant at my question. Then he said, “I wasn’t able to dig that deep.”
I could tell that he was very hesitant since it was something that was dealt with the Mengju. So he was going to approach this very cautiously.
Since he had only been appointed no one knew how Ma Bong Gi was going to run Kang Ho. So these merchants were very hesitant in telling these things.
“Lastly who are the experts that are following him?”
He told me about Old Man Flower Fan and Si Gon. But he could not tell me about the female.
“I have no information regarding her.”
‘In other words, she is someone who is so mysterious that she didn’t get caught within the information net. This must mean she is someone who isn’t part of the Heavenly Dao Gate since there wasn’t anyone important from the Heavenly Dao Gate that I didn’t know about. And she wasn’t someone important from the Murim Alliance since I knew the ins and out of it. Where was this woman from? ‘
“This is all that I know. I will contact you if I find anything else.”
“Alright. Thank you for your work.”
After getting out of the Information merchant I put on my straw hat and slowly walked back. Yes, there was no need for me to rush things. I will slowly cut off his resources one by one and find his weakness. I had the advantage, since he was in the light while I was in the dark.
The money that he made from all the Clans was in the tens of thousands. Within that stack there was bound to be the money that he brought. If he planned on taking over this area then he would require a considerable amount of money. Since he would not be able to gather that much money from the Clans he must have brought some money of his own.
Thinking about it made my mouth water.
Doesn’t the meat taste more delicious the more fat and meat it has?
I will suck you dry to the bone.