The three finished their meal with heavy hearts and decided to split up and explore the village.
Based on what the waiter boy had told them, they planned to gather, supplement, and revise information as they looked around.
After the two others left first, Baek Woo Jin who was now alone returned to his room and put a robe over his martial arts uniform.
Since the uniform underneath was not visible, he looked exactly like a scholar out on a tour.
Next, he grabbed the gourd bottle hanging from his waist.
“Even Kumgang Mountain should be seen after a drink.”
He decided to have a drink first.
The lack of alcohol in his system was suitably replenished.
Since the boy said that villagers immediately bowed their heads and acted submissively whenever they saw martial arts experts, he smeared some alcohol on his hands and dabbed it on various parts of his robe to mask his identity.
Now he was ready.
“Well, shall we go?”
Contrary to the rumors of a harsh life, the village appeared quite peaceful.
As he walked around the place while looking around with slightly relaxed eyes, he heard the sound of something breaking and shattering.
“Please, just give me one more chance!”
This was happening at a street vendor stall a short distance away.
A middle-aged man who seemed to be the owner of the stall was on his knees. He was desperately begging two rough-looking young men.
“Hey, Baek-ssi.”
Huh?
“Y-Yes!”
“I told you to have the interest ready by today, didn’t I?”
“Y-Yes, you did. But…”
“But what!”
Before the middle-aged man who was called Baek-ssi could finish his sentence, one of the young men swung his foot.
With a thud, the middle-aged man fell to the ground.
“Ugh, cough!”
“Why does our Baek-ssi always have to be like this?”
The other young man who was watching all of this said with a sly smile.
“Lazy, disrespectful, smelly. Baek-ssi has everything I hate. So just seeing you makes me want to beat you to death.”
And so began the beating.
“Ugh, argh…!”
No one stepped in; the onlookers just watched with pity.
“Hmm.”
Among the crowd, Baek Woo Jin’s mood soured as he observed the scene.
It wasn’t out of pity for the middle-aged man who was getting beaten. The problem was that the man’s name was also Baek.
“It’s making me feel bad for some reason.”
Hearing them curse out someone called Baek so specifically felt like they were cursing him, which made him feel terrible.
“Should I just knock them down?”
Clearly, they weren’t experts. After all, people going around the village collecting debts wouldn’t be experts to begin with.
“But then the plan…”
As he hesitated, the beating stopped.
“Baek-ssi, I’ll give you exactly two days. If you can’t get it by then, you know what will happen…right?”
The middle-aged man couldn’t respond; he just panted and convulsed.
“Move!”
The two young men forcibly dispersed the gathered crowd and continued walking.
As soon as they disappeared into the distance, the surrounding people began moving quickly.
“Let’s hurry to the physician!”
“Oh no, Baek-ssi!”
Other local merchants like him sprang into action.
At least, it didn’t seem like a completely heartless place. They waited since they knew stepping in would only bring more trouble for the victim. And when the troublemakers went away, only then did they rush to help.
Baek Woo Jin thought that Baek people were destined not to die, so he turned his steps elsewhere.
He headed towards where those guys were causing trouble for another merchant in the distance.
“Damn it.”
“Today’s collection isn’t going well.”
“If this keeps up, the boss is going to get angry again.”
Frustrated by the poor collection, one of the guys randomly picked up a fruit from a stall and threw it.
The fruit vendor glared at them with resentment but quickly lowered his head.
“What a bunch of hooligan bastards.”
The guys who had been collecting money around the village for a while entered a deserted alley to take a break.
After taking a swig of alcohol to kill some time, Baek Woo Jin also entered the alley.
He walked past the guys who were leaning against the walls on both sides. They were chewing on chicken skewers they had practically stolen from the merchants.
“Hey.”
Sure enough, they called out to Baek Woo Jin.
“Are you talking to me?”
Hiccup!
When he replied with a dazed look while pretending to be drunk, their lips twisted into smirks. They looked as if they thought they had met an easy target.
“Because you hit my arm, I dropped my chicken skewer.”
Baek Woo Jin exaggeratedly checked his robe, then asked with a puzzled expression on his face.
“There isn’t any sauce on my robe.”
“Huh? Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like that?”
One of the guys whose face was already menacing scowled even more as he lunged at Baek Woo Jin. He grabbed him by the collar and started shaking him.
“W-Wait a minute.”
Baek Woo Jin quickly called out to him with a pale face. The man thought that the drunkard in front of him was scared, so he got even more excited and shook him harder.
“Ugh…!”
Bleeegh!
The alcohol he drunk earlier came back up.
“Ugh!”
The vomit poured down the face of the man who was shaking him by the collar and soaked his clothes.
“I told you to stop shaking me.”
Ah, my stomach hurts.
“You… you bastard…!”
The man grew furious. He immediately reached inside his jacket and grabbed a well-sharpened dagger.
“Watch out!”
Baek Woo Jin’s dazed eyes suddenly regained their sharpness.
He grabbed the arm of the man lunging straight at him and redirected its force.
The target was the other man who had been watching the scene intently.
“Aaagh!”
It was like a bolt from the blue.
The man who had been eagerly watching how his buddy would mess up the stupid drunkard suddenly had his shoulder pierced by the flying dagger.
“H-How could this be …!”
“Ugh!”
The man who stabbed him quickly pulled the dagger out of his shoulder. This only prompted the stabbed man to scream in agony as he rolled his eyes back in pain.
“Wow… you actually pulled it out.”
Pulling it out was more painful than stabbing it in.
“Were you actually holding a grudge against him?”
When Baek Woo Jin eagerly took the opportunity to speak, the guy’s eyes shook violently as if there was an earthquake.
He finally realized that the person in front of him was an expert.
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were a distinguished person…!”
Baek Woo Jin clicked his tongue as he watched the man immediately fall flat on his face and bang his forehead against the ground.
“Wow… what are you, Udyr or something?” (TN: Uder is a character in league of legends who can change stances.)
The speed at which he changed his stance was beyond imagination.
Baek Woo Jin crouched down and made eye contact with the man who had slowly lifted his head.
“Are you that White Snake or whatever faction lackey?”
“Y-Yes, that’s right.”
“Then stand up.”
The man hesitated. Only when Baek Woo Jin glared at him again did he finally stand up.
“Take care of him.”
“Yes!”
After the man carried his comrade, who was lying on the ground with blood dripping down his shoulder, Baek Woo Jin gestured to him.
“Lead the way.”
“Where to, young master?”
“White Snake Bandits headquarters.”
I want to see your boss’s face.
The guy who stabbed and the guy who got stabbed both turned pale at the same time.
By the time the sun began to set, Shin Ye Hwa and Jegal Yeon Ji arrived at the inn after looking around the village.
“Woo Jin is late….”
“That’s right.”
Jegal Yeon Ji’s tone as she responded to Shin Ye Hwa felt different than usual.
Shin Ye Hwa glared at her with a sharp look. This was most likely directed at her pretentious behavior.
“Ha… you’re showing your true colors now?”
“True colors? I have none of that.”
Brazen and confident. Seeing this side of Jegal Yeon Ji which she had never shown before made Shin Ye Hwa feel stifled.
Woo Jin needs to see this!
She was so frustrated that she wanted to reveal Jegal Yeon Ji’s fox-like behavior to Baek Woo Jin, but instead, she was treated like the strange one which made her even more furious.
“Uh….”
As the two were having a peculiar silent battle, a man who looked like a weasel approached them.
“What do you want?”
Shin Ye Hwa asked sharply, and the weasel-looking man asked them with a confused expression on his face.
“You are Miss Shin and Miss Yeon, right?”
“I am Miss Shin, but this one….”
As she tried to correct the wrong information, Jegal Yeon Ji quickly interrupted her.
“That’s right, I am Miss Yeon.”
Shin Ye Hwa looked at Jegal Yeon Ji as if to ask her what she was talking about, but Jegal Yeon Ji paid her no mind and asked back.
“So, how did you know to find us?”
“Ah, Baek-hyungnim told me to bring the two of you.” (TN: hyungnim means big brother.)
The two women were puzzled.
This village was new to all three of them, so where did this supposed “younger brother” come from?
“Lead the way.”
When Jegal Yeon Ji spoke, the weasel-looking man started walking ahead while keeping a certain distance from the two of them.
“What on earth could this be about?”
Shin Ye Hwa asked but Jegal Yeon Ji shook her head. For once, she also couldn’t figure out what was going on.
“We’ll find out if we follow him.”
The place the weasel-looking man led them to was a huge pavilion located on the outskirts of the village.
“We’re here.”
When they reached the entrance of the pavilion, the two women read the large characters written on the plaque above the gate.
“White Snake Bandits …?”
“Huh?”
It was the headquarters of the White Snake Bandits. The target of their mission with Baek Woon Jin.
“Why is Woon Jin here…?”
Ominous thoughts flashed through their minds.
Could it be that he was caught while trailing the White Snake Bandits?
“Hurry inside; hyungnim is waiting for you.”
“……”
The other party’s attitude was too polite for Baek Woo Jin to be captured.
After they exchanged glances with each other, the two followed the weasel-looking man into the White Snake Bandits’ headquarters.
After walking a bit, they started to hear the sounds of various instruments playing and people laughing and chatting merrily.
When they finally reached the source of the noise, Shin Ye Hwa and Jegal Yeon Ji’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Come on, let’s have another drink!”
“Yes, hyungnim!”
In the front courtyard of the White Snake Bandits pavilion, Baek Woon Jin was clinking glasses and dancing with two men with his arms around their shoulders.
“What on earth…?”
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