Chapter 116. Enlightenment (3)
The only strange thing was that two requests had come in at the same time.
If he had to point out one more thing,
"It seems the client is a craftsman."
it was the fact that the portrait drawn on the request slip was extremely well drawn. Hu Jang-rang did not know much about paintings, but anyone could tell at a glance that this was a masterpiece.
Even though it was drawn only with ink, it was a lively ink portrait that looked as if it might come to life at any moment.
A man whose hair was drawn very lightly.
It was probably meant to express that his hair had been bleached. More than half of the man's face was covered by his bangs, and that alone made him quite distinctive.
And.
A young woman with a mischievous-looking impression.
She was a very youthful-looking beauty, and it felt like she might jump out of the painting at any moment and ask him to play with her.
However.
Chwak!
Hu Jang-rang quickly folded the request slip again and ended his brief appreciation of the painting.
In any case, whatever the identity of the client or the 'items' might be, it was none of his concern.
The client was someone he would never meet again after this job, and the items would literally soon turn into chunks of meat.
He held out the rolled-up request slip to Palgeuk and said,
"What about the items?"
He was asking at the same time about the accuracy of the information written on the request slip and the current location of the items.
Palgeuk answered right away.
"One has been confirmed."
Confirmed. It was a compound expression meaning both that it was accurate and that it had been found.
"Then handle it immediately."
Hu Jang-rang approved taking over the job.
"Yes, then we will begin right away. But who should we assign as the executors?"
At Palgeuk's follow-up question, Hu Jang-rang frowned. He had asked something that did not need to be asked.
"Why ask something like that? Send three third-grade assassins to each. That's already spending quite a lot."
Three third-grade assassins would be more than enough to easily clean up some novice who had not been in the martial world for very long. That was Hu Jang-rang's judgment.
However, after hearing his order, Palgeuk did not leave and remained standing there, then opened his mouth again.
"But... the money the client is offering is a bit concerning."
"What do you mean?"
"It's half a guan of gold (1.875 kg)."
"... What nonsense is that? Are you saying the one who made the request put up half a guan of gold just to deal with these two, or what?"
Half a guan of gold was a huge sum that an ordinary person could not gather even in a lifetime, no, even over several generations. And they had put up such an enormous amount for a request?
Thud.
"They say they will give another half a guan each time we take over one item."
"...!"
Palgeuk took out a large gold ingot from his bosom and placed it on the table beside the bed where Hu Jang-rang was lying. A heavy sound echoed through the room.
Hu Jang-rang was shocked.
"... Don't tell me that's the advance payment the client gave?"
"Yes, provincial lord."
"That's a madman..."
The advance payment was half a guan of gold, and another half a guan per item.
Then the total bounty hanging on the necks of these two would be one and a half guan of gold. A terrifying amount.
Who in the world were the targets worth putting up that kind of money?
Hu Jang-rang, who had completely woken up at the sight of the gold ingot, finally got fully out of bed. Then, roughly throwing on his clothes, he said,
"Did you confirm the identity of the client?"
"We couldn't. The client sent the order through a child."
It was a method often used by clients who did not want to reveal their identity, and also the most reliable one.
If they went through several children in the process, the identity of the original client would inevitably become vague. And if the children failed to carry out the task properly, the client could just watch from hiding and then disappear.
However, with this method, the children who knew nothing and were just running errands could end up in trouble. In the worst case, they could even die.
Therefore, this client...
Is extremely cautious. And extremely cruel as well.
Among those who want to hide their identity, there is no one who is not dangerous. And if, on top of that, they are cruel enough to use children without a second thought, what more needs to be said?
Hu Jang-rang's long experience was warning him about the danger of this client.
What should he do?
"How did they say they would pay the remaining bounty after we take over the items?"
Palgeuk answered immediately.
"They said that the moment the order is completed, we will naturally receive it, so it seems the items are carrying gold ingots."
"Hmm...."
In the meantime, Hu Jang-rang, who had finished getting dressed, turned the gold ingot on the table this way and that. Just in case, but it really was gold.
A client who could casually throw this much money even before the job had started.
Just who could it be?
And the two items that such a client had ordered.
What kind of people were they?
"What's the time limit?"
He was asking about the deadline to complete the request.
Palgeuk answered right away.
"They said to finish it before Awakening of Insects."
Before Awakening of Insects?
Only then did Hu Jang-rang seem to understand what the client wanted.
"Eliminating competitors."
This All-Under-Heaven Youth Martial Arts Tournament was, in both name and reality, a competition to select the best rising stars of the orthodox path. Naturally, the winner of the tournament would be a person qualified to challenge for the next Martial Alliance leadership and would surely receive the attention of the martial elders.
Fierce competition was only natural.
Therefore, the purpose of this request seemed very clear.
However...
There was one strange point.
"Why are the targets those kinds of items instead of Three Stars, Five Phoenixes, and Nine Dragons?"
That point bothered him.
But Hu Jang-rang soon set aside that doubt. He was just an assassin. It was a principle not to make unnecessary political judgments.
He had taken the money.
Then he just had to kill. An assassin did not need any more reasons or justification than that.
The eyes of Hu Jang-rang, who had been soaked in fatigue, suddenly sparkled as if nothing had happened, and he looked at Palgeuk.
"Put in first-grade assassins."
"How many should we send?"
"Five."
"Five? Then which side do we assign two to?"
"No. That's not it. Five for each."
"... What?"
Palgeuk was shocked.
A single first-grade assassin, if launching a surprise attack, could kill even an elder-level expert of a medium or small sect. And he was ordering five of them to be deployed. No wonder he was surprised.
Moreover, it cost ten taels of silver per person just to mobilize one first-grade assassin once. But if they sent five each, ten in total...
That was a full hundred taels!
They had received a large advance payment, but even compared to that, it was an excessive amount.
However, to Palgeuk, who was thinking that, Hu Jang-rang's words continued again.
"We took the money."
Money.
To a group that stood between orthodox and unorthodox like the Dead Blood Gang, money was justice. If money was given, an assassin had to cut down even their own father or child.
"... Yes, provincial lord. We will follow your command."
Palgeuk answered with a stiff expression and bowed his head. Then, just as he was about to leave the room, he turned around again.
"However, one of the items that has been revealed is not leaving Zhengzhou city."
Did that mean it would be impossible to handle it quietly?
Hu Jang-rang frowned for a moment, then repeated the same line of reasoning to Palgeuk.
"We took the money. That alone already makes the request valid."
"Yes, provincial lord. We will follow your command..."
After giving his final answer, Palgeuk left the room.
Hu Jang-rang waited until Palgeuk had gone out, then fell back asleep. He was not fully rested yet.
By the time he woke up again, the order would probably be completed.
Kool-.
Breath carrying a faint smell of alcohol slowly permeated the room.
Dead Blood Gang, Zhengzhou branch.
From there, two orders were sent out.
Just now.
***
Whiririck-.
A small pebble flew like a butterfly.
Yes. It looked a bit strange, but the stone really was flying like a butterfly.
Tak.
The stone flew vigorously and quietly landed on its destination, the stone tower. As a result, the height and volume of the stone tower, which had grown as big as a house, became a little taller and a little bigger.
"Wow -!"
"Amazing!"
"Mister, you're the best!"
The neighborhood kids stared at the stone tower and gaped in amazement, each and every one of them. A few days ago, they had been amazed by a few trivial paintings he drew, and now they were exclaiming in admiration at his stone throwing.
Dong Bong-su paid them no mind and picked up another stone and threw it.
Tadak.
Another member joined the stone tower family.
"Wow!"
At each of his trivial actions, the kids burst into excitement.
He clearly threw it forward, but the stone flew along a strange trajectory, and that looked very fascinating to their eyes.
"Mister, but why are you making this tower?"
One child who could not contain his curiosity came up and asked.
It would be only natural to be curious about a white-haired man who had been standing in the same place for days, drawing and throwing stones.
"Waiting."
Dong Bong-su said.
If he did not answer, the child would keep bothering him. He knew that well even without experiencing it. Children were annoying beings everywhere. And it was also because they were not yet ripe enough to be dealt with, and you do not eat unripe persimmons.
"Huh? Who are you waiting for? You've been standing here for three days, you know?"
"Aggro."
"Agro? What's that?"
The lisping questions of the little kid continued.
Even so, Dong Bong-su continued speaking without any sign of annoyance.
"Something... to satisfy hunger."
"Hunger? Ah, food! Mister, are you hungry? I guess you haven't been able to eat properly here. Poor thing."
Poor thing?
Well, he might look that way. Dong Bong-su absentmindedly nodded once and threw another stone.
Plop, plop, plop......
This time, the stone skimmed across the stream horizontally and flew away in skipping-stone jumps to somewhere far out of sight. The ripples made by the skipping stone followed after it, but could not keep up with the stone. Some of the kids found that fascinating and ran off after it in a group.
However, the lisping kid who had spoken to Dong Bong-su was still looking at him with pity in his eyes.
'A pure kid.'
He knew the word pure because he had learned it, but he had never actually met a truly pure person before. But perhaps this kid in front of him might be one, Dong Bong-su thought.
The kid pondered for a long time as if thinking about something, then rummaged around in his clothes. Soon, a small piece of moon cake, soaked in sweat, came out in the kid's tiny hand. Then he held it out to Dong Bong-su and said,
"Here. Eat it. I'm definitely not giving it to you because I like you, mister!"
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