Chapter 17
You Should Control Your Temper (2)
“He tried to kill my family too?”
Needless to say, Im Chung was shaken when he returned to the branch, and Beon Saeng was equally stunned.
Less than a day had passed since Cheuk Su’s release, yet he had already tried to kill them all.
It was difficult to believe, but Cheuk Su’s corpse lying before them proved that it was all true.
Rage surged in Im Chung’s heart.
It was a fierce anger that felt as though it would set his entire body ablaze.
Had Baek Socheon not been there, the corpses lying before him would have belonged to his wife and son.
Im Chung clenched his fist.
He squeezed so hard that his hand hurt, but he could not even feel the pain.
He wanted to put on the mask hanging around Cheuk Su’s neck, seek out Wang Gon immediately, and cut off his head.
His mind was filled with images of Wang Gon’s neck being severed again and again.
He had never realized that such overwhelming rage lay hidden inside him.
Baek Socheon, who had silently watched him, spoke calmly.
“There’s no need to suppress your anger. Just don’t let it swallow you whole. The enemy is perfectly fine while you’re the only one who goes mad, runs wild, and dies. That would be far too irritating, wouldn’t it?”
Hearing those words, Im Chung slowly calmed down.
Cheuk Su had failed to control his anger, but Im Chung succeeded.
That was right.
Now was not the time to rage.
It was the time to express his gratitude.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
Im Chung’s throat tightened, and tears soon streamed down his face.
“I will never forget this kindness, even after I die.”
His family was his entire life.
Baek Socheon had protected everything he treasured from being shattered.
“There’s no need for that. I only killed him because he tried to kill me as well.”
His refusal to take credit only made Im Chung feel even more grateful.
Im Chung seemed to fall into thought for a moment before coming to a decision.
He suddenly dropped to the ground and prostrated himself.
“From now on, I will also serve you as my elder brother.”
“What are you talking about? You’re older than I am.”
“No, I’m younger. I’m thirty-six.”
Beon Saeng was even more shocked than Baek Socheon.
“Liar!”
“It’s true.”
“Branch Leader, are you really only that old?”
“How old did you think I was?”
“Fifty?”
“Do you want to die?”
“My goodness! It seems our Branch Leader fought the war against the Cheukcheon Alliance with his face.”
Like Beon Saeng, Baek Socheon had also assumed that Im Chung was in his fifties.
Beon Saeng looked back and forth between Baek Socheon and Im Chung.
“A showdown between the most youthful face and the oldest-looking face. This duel is truly too close to call.”
Normally, Im Chung might have rebuked him for such teasing, but he was focused solely on his relationship with Baek Socheon.
He bowed his head and pleaded.
“Please accept me as your younger brother.”
Im Chung had always believed that he was not an impulsive man like Beon Saeng.
Apparently, however, he was just as impulsive.
The desire to become this man’s younger brother surged from deep inside his heart, and he chose not to suppress it.
“Why is everyone so desperate to become my younger brother?”
Still prostrated, Im Chung replied,
“It is because we are all underpaid. Rather than a friend or younger brother we have to treat, we need an elder brother who will buy us meals.”
It was the sort of joke no one would have expected from Im Chung.
In the end, Baek Socheon let out a faint chuckle.
“Call me whatever you like. But I’ll say it again. I am not your elder brother.”
“Thank you, Brother. And once again, thank you for saving my family.”
That reason alone was enough for Im Chung to pledge his life and loyalty.
“There would be more than ten carts packed full of people who owe me their lives. So don’t feel too burdened by it.”
Beon Saeng, who had been watching, grinned.
“Here comes another one of our brother’s exaggerated tales about his past.”
“Ten carts is me being modest. In reality, there would be more than a hundred.”
“Haha. Let’s just say that’s true.”
Im Chung did not believe it either, but he lowered his head and said,
“Whether I am the tenth or the hundredth, I will quietly ride in the final cart.”
Beon Saeng dropped to the ground beside him and prostrated himself as well.
“Thank you for protecting the youngest brother’s family.”
Still prostrated, Im Chung turned to look at him.
“The youngest?”
“Am I not? I became his younger brother first.”
“No.”
A brief silence followed.
“I was joking, Second Brother! Of course I should be the youngest.”
“That is not right either.”
“Yes, Branch Leader. It was a joke. Just a joke. Hahaha. Please laugh.”
Baek Socheon spoke to them both.
“That’s enough. Get up.”
The two immediately sprang to their feet.
The relationship among the three had been settled, but the corpse remained.
“Now then, what should we do with this body?”
“What should we do?”
Naturally, this was a matter that should be reported to the regional headquarters, but Im Chung was conflicted.
“You’re the Branch Leader. You should decide.”
Im Chung first considered what would happen if they revealed the incident to the world.
Even if they announced that Cheuk Su had come to kill his family, they would not be able to implicate Wang Gon.
Cheuk Su was already dead, so Wang Gon would never admit to it.
Even had Cheuk Su survived, Wang Gon would have denied it vehemently.
Furthermore, even the Heavenly Poison Sect was on their side.
In the end, the matter would conclude with Cheuk Su’s death alone.
On the other hand, if the truth became public, it would also be revealed that Baek Socheon had killed him.
Baek Socheon appeared indifferent to whether his identity was exposed, but now that Im Chung had decided to regard him as an elder brother, he wanted to protect him.
“Let us say that Cheuk Su never came here.”
It sounded like a simple decision, but for a warrior of the Martial Alliance, it was anything but easy.
Baek Socheon, however, replied without hesitation.
“Good. Then bury him here.”
“This is the courtyard of the house where you sleep, Brother. Are you sure?”
“It’s fine. In the old days, I used to eat and sleep among corpses.”
Beon Saeng laughed and joined in.
“Of course. Our brother is the Battle God of the battlefield, after all.”
“How did you know that Battle God was my nickname?”
“Hahahaha! This is exactly why I like you, Brother.”
Im Chung and Beon Saeng brought shovels and buried Cheuk Su’s body there.
As they covered his cold corpse with earth, the situation still did not feel real.
“Serves you right, you bastard. Be born as a decent person in your next life.”
Unlike Beon Saeng, Im Chung could not even bring himself to say something like that.
Whenever he remembered that Cheuk Su had tried to kill his family, he felt like digging him up and mutilating his corpse several times over.
After shoveling for a while, Beon Saeng asked Baek Socheon,
“When you are as skilled at fighting as you are, Brother, don’t you ever feel like ignoring everything else and simply killing them all?”
If Baek Socheon could kill Cheuk Su today, then he could also have killed him on the day of his arrest.
Beon Saeng was asking whether Baek Socheon had not wanted to kill him that day instead of waiting until matters reached this point.
“I do.”
“How do you restrain yourself?”
“Because I know that nothing will change even if I do. In fact, the wounds I inflict upon myself would only grow deeper.”
Those words struck Im Chung deeply, as resentment and rage still lingered within his heart.
“The laws of the Martial Alliance are frustrating, aren’t they? You have to imprison criminals, find evidence, and follow procedure. Meanwhile, the enemy uses their power, applies pressure, and overturns the verdict. But do you know something? Those frustrating laws were not created for the villains.”
“What?”
“They were created for the people who fight those villains.”
“...!”
“So they do not suffer wounds too deep while struggling against demons. So that once in a while, they can rest within the boundaries of the law.”
“I do not restrain myself because I am exceptionally patient, nor because I firmly believe that the law must always be obeyed. I simply do it to protect myself. So you should obey it for your own sake as well.”
“Yes!”
Im Chung had never once considered the matter from Baek Socheon’s perspective.
As he finished filling the grave, countless thoughts passed through his mind.
Once the body had been completely buried, Baek Socheon asked,
“How did your investigation go?”
“We gained nothing. We returned to Yang Chu’s estate, where the incident occurred, and searched it again, but we found nothing.”
“That wasn’t where you should have gone.”
“What? Then where should we have gone?”
Baek Socheon took the lead and began walking away.
“Shall we go together?”
For the time being, Wang Gon would be preoccupied with Cheuk Su’s disappearance.
During that period, both the branch and Im Chung’s family would be safe.
***
Baek Socheon led the two of them to a field located far from the branch.
“Where is this?”
Baek Socheon gave an unexpected answer.
“The place where the Shinhwa Sect plans to build an ironworks.”
“Ah!”
Only then did Im Chung and Beon Saeng realize their mistake.
Of course they should have investigated this place as well.
They had been too focused on the fact that the Shinhwa Sect was entering the ironworking business.
“Why would the Shinhwa Sect build an ironworks in a place like this?”
Baek Socheon had raised the question before.
If they intended to launch such a major enterprise, why begin in Munseong, at the southern edge of Zhejiang Province?
“You said Yang Chu was killed while investigating a new business venture, didn’t you? He must have visited this place as well.”
Im Chung and Beon Saeng now realized anew that this place was the heart of the case.
“When did you investigate this place?”
“I told you, didn’t I? Either ignore something entirely, or handle it properly once you get involved. Now, let us look around. I only knew the location before. This is my first time seeing it in person.”
Baek Socheon slowly surveyed the area.
“What did Yang Chu discover here that caused him to be killed?”
The three searched the area.
Im Chung and Beon Saeng used every ounce of their observational ability, but they could not determine anything.
Baek Socheon, however, noticed something.
“Was it truly an ironworks they intended to build here?”
“What?”
“Look at the terrain. This is an ideal location for a fortress.”
The mention of a fortress startled the other two.
“The rear is surrounded by tall mountains like walls. Anyone entering this place must pass through that narrow path. The terrain on both sides of the passage is perfect for an ambush. It is the ideal ground for one man to fight ten.”
“Now that you mention it, you’re right.”
“On the surface, it would be an ironworks. In reality, they intended to build a fortress. It appears Yang Chu realized that.”
“Ah!”
This fortress had a purpose secret enough that the entire Yang family had to be killed to silence them.
Only now did Im Chung and Beon Saeng understand the tragedy that had befallen Yang Chu’s household.
They also realized that the matter had a far more complicated background than they had imagined.
“This incident... Even if Wang Gon committed the murders, this was not solely his doing.”
Baek Socheon nodded at Im Chung’s words.
“The entire Shinhwa Sect is involved. The order to kill Yang Chu may even have come directly from the leader of the Shinhwa Sect. In other words, if we arrest Wang Gon, the Shinhwa Sect will intervene. Judging by their behavior so far, they will probably try to kill every one of us and bury the entire matter.”
Im Chung and Beon Saeng silently swallowed.
Even reaching this point had not been easy.
They had mustered every shred of courage they possessed simply to decide that they would fight Wang Gon.
They had even borrowed courage from their future selves and added it to the present.
But now they had to fight the entire Shinhwa Sect?
A powerless, wandering Branch Leader with no backing, and a mere squad leader from a rural branch who had only experienced his first real battle?
“I think I’m going to vomit.”
As Beon Saeng bent over, Im Chung gently patted his back.
Leaving the two of them behind, Baek Socheon began walking away.
Im Chung called out to him from behind.
“...Brother!”
Baek Socheon stopped but did not turn around.
“I don’t know what you’re about to say, but say it tomorrow. Think it over carefully and tell me tomorrow. At the very least, nothing will happen for the rest of today.”
A few clear source-text typos were interpreted contextually, including malformed words such as “행님,” “실좋,” and “밀,” which were rendered as “elder brother,” “disappearance,” and “matter,” respectively.