Chapter 998: Live a Good Life (11)

The Priestess Order Temple had, in the past, attended the Empress and performed state rites, and the Empress—moved by that devotion and their divine efficacy—granted them all of Musan and the surrounding lands.

The inside story was that this was a mother’s private affection—take this, and please look kindly on my daughter—but.

Anyway, for that reason, every inch of land in Jagwi County belongs to the Priestess Order Temple until the Son of Heaven takes it back again.

“Of course, the Priestess Order Temple’s Taoist priests don’t exactly take an interest in worldly affairs, but even so, I don’t think they’d ever give permission for something as far as hanging an Evil Path Alliance signboard......”

“What? Since when was there a law like that! I’m supposed to get permission just to hang one signboard at my medical academy? Fine—if it can’t be helped at your level, is that it? Then I’ll have to see the County Magistrate—no, I’ll have to speak directly to the Magistrate.”

“Ehh, even if you go see the Prefect, it’ll be the same, sir. What insane official in this world would dare to mess with land granted by an imperial decree.......”

At the words imperial decree, Hyung Taejak’s mind snapped awake.

Those officials were greedy to the bone—slip them a little under-the-table money and most things got solved by those rotten bastards—but there was one thing they never compromised on, and that was an imperial decree.

*****

In the end, Hyung Taejak came trudging back out of the government office, unable to fulfill his dream of the signboard.

Inside, he was wronged and furious, boiling over.

No, those righteous-orthodox bastards are nothing but knife-carrying street thugs too—what’s so different about them that the Son of Heaven hands them land by the wagonload and they get to act like that?

Fuck—those hypocritical righteous-orthodox bastards, if you peel them open, they’re not any different from us Evil Path thugs either, but the whole world praises the righteous-orthodox and spits on the Evil Path—god, it’s so filthy I can’t even stand being an Evil Path thug anymore......

Hyung Taejak was the kind of man who could think up the correct answer and still not understand what the problem was.

Because it was the problem of hypocrisy. Even a good deed done because you were ordered to do it was still a good deed, and even a donation wrung out by force was still a donation—if you put on the hypocrisy, what people saw was “good.”

But if you don’t even bother putting on hypocrisy and then you say that kind of thing, well.

Anyway, whether Hyung Taejak was angry or the bitterness was surging up, what could he even do?

The best he could manage was to breathe hard and make a show of being pissed off.

And on top of that, he felt blocked-in—truly blocked-in.

He couldn’t hang the signboard?

If he ran a charity clinic without hanging the signboard, how would anyone have any way of knowing whether the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition was running it or not?

Or was he supposed to make the physicians announce, every single time they took a pulse, that it was all thanks to the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition?

But if he made too much of a show of it, that would look pathetic too.

Then what if he didn’t hang it on the main gate, but put up lots of plaques inside with the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition’s name on them—would that still violate national law?

That one-eyed bastard said he was a Beijing noble—so if he asked about national law—

That thought hit Hyung Taejak, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

Wait. That one-eyed bastard.

If this whole area was the Priestess Order Temple’s land, then that bastard—who’d been doing business here—obviously knew about it too.

This bastard knew everything and kept his mouth shut while he just watched?

Come to think of it, that little crippled-eyed punk had pissed him off from the start.

A Beijing noble? He was just born into a good family—he’d never once had to worry about eating, so of course he’d toss money around without knowing what it meant to be stingy.

A bastard without a single callus on his hands.

A punk who’d never suffered once in his life—how dare he try to act like he could stand on equal ground with Hyung Taejak, who had seized the post of unit commander of the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition’s elite combat unit with nothing but pure ability?

Now that he thought about it, it felt like he’d been far too indulgent with that pale-faced scholar (Mystical Realm).

A sheltered young master (Mystical Realm) like that—if you so much as gave him a little scare, he’d piss himself.

A Beijing noble (Mystical Realm), so what? Fists are close, and Beijing is far.

I’m a Transformation martial artist—someone that frail (Mystical Realm), if I just grabbed his collar and let out a little killing intent, he’d flip over and expose his belly like a mangy dog that just tucked its tail.

If other people knew, they’d have thought: if you want to die, just hang yourself quietly or drink poison.

But Hyung Taejak didn’t know the truth inside those parentheses—so you could say he’d actually held back a lot.

Hyung Taejak let out a soft, smiling breath and started walking toward the medical academy almost at a jog; from his expression, it wasn’t so much spite as it was the look of someone who’d found a target to vent on right now.

So, Sasa Medical Academy.

Ignoring the carpenters who’d asked if the tax clerk was coming, Hyung Taejak strode straight in and started hunting for Yeom Hwiyoung.

Yeom Hwiyoung was in the back garden, looking down into the pond, like he was watching the carp swim leisurely around.

“Hey. You. Are you really going to do it like this? If you do it like this, it’s not fun.”

Only then did Yeom Hwiyoung slowly turn his head as if he’d finally noticed Hyung Taejak had arrived, and he narrowed his one eye.

“What is it?”

“What is it? What is it? You’re asking because you don’t know? You—did you know this land belongs to those Priestess Order bitches?”

“Of course I did. Isn’t that obvious? If you’re doing business, you can’t not know who owns the land.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything!”

Yeom Hwiyoung looked genuinely surprised.

“No—are you telling me you didn’t know until now? You said you were going to do business, and you charged in without even knowing who owned the land? Is that really true?”

That question back at him made Hyung Taejak’s mouth clamp shut.

Because it was right, every word of it.

But Hyung Taejak felt wronged.

Because when an Evil Path thug started a business, they normally didn’t give a damn who owned the land.

Who was the landowner with the guts to oppose an Evil Path thug’s business? Unless they didn’t value their life.

Of course, when people said “landowner,” they usually meant someone who held rights of use or cultivation—but in the Priestess Order Temple’s case, they were truly the owners of the land, so the meaning was completely different... but still.

“When I heard the Evil Path Alliance was taking over the medical academy, I assumed it meant everything had already been settled with the Priestess Order Temple.”

“How does that make any sense! You think the Priestess Order Temple is going to just sit there and watch us—Evil Path Thugs of the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition—run a business in their front yard?”

“......? Why wouldn’t it make sense?”

“Why wouldn’t it—? The Priestess Order Temple is righteous-orthodox! We’re Evil Path thugs! Of course it doesn’t make sense!”

“So? What does that have to do with charity work? What does righteous-orthodox versus Evil Path have to do with doing something good? The Priestess Order Temple is a temple that exists for the peace of the world, isn’t it? If the Evil Path Alliance is doing charity work, they should welcome it, not oppose it.”

“No......! What—no......!”

This is what happens when you deal with someone who isn’t a martial artist!

This bastard really doesn’t understand how the world works!

Hyung Taejak felt like he was going to suffocate.

“On top of that, isn’t the very teacher currently serving as academy lord—Teacher Sasa—an Evil Path thug, in the way you’re using the term? And yet the Priestess Order Temple hasn’t interfered even once up to now.”

“That’s because Teacher Sasa is a traitor to the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition! If the Priestess Order Temple runs a charity clinic while sheltering that traitor, from their perspective it’s a perfect opportunity to spout some nonsense about reform and redemption!”

Yeom Hwiyoung went, “Hmm,” pretending to think.

“Sounds like the Evil Path world is complicated. Fine, then. Will you call off the takeover? If so, I’ll return the forty-five strings of gold.”

“Forty-five strings? Why isn’t it fifty strings?”

“Because you owe me five strings.”

“What do you mean I owe you? You said we can’t hang the signboard! We wasted money because you didn’t tell us in the first place—how can you call it a debt?”

“Is that so? Then take fifty strings and leave the signboard. You got your hands on Master Brush Divine Mak Sunda’s calligraphy and this is what you’re doing? Anyway—this is why martial artists are the worst. If anything, I should say thank you.”

Hyung Taejak flinched.

Now that he thought about it, hadn’t he been told that writing was a true treasure? Even he, who didn’t know calligraphy, could tell it was the kind of writing that made you think damn, that’s good.

“Ahem. Come to think of it, that won’t do. How can I leave the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition’s signboard in an outsider’s hands.”

“Then take forty-five strings. At this point, open your charity clinic in Evil Path Alliance territory instead. You worked hard. I won’t walk you out.”

Yeah? Then get lost.

It was a remarkably blunt farewell.

And it was also the moment Hyung Taejak’s mind snapped awake.

They’d been robbed of eighty strings of gold, and they’d barely managed to claw back fifty strings.

This business had mobilized one hundred and thirty strings in total—so it was obvious how seriously the Coalition took it.

But if he went back now and said, turns out it’s Priestess Order Temple land so we can’t hang the signboard, and the reason was that he only realized it after they’d already made the signboard—

Wouldn’t he just become the greatest idiot under heaven?

Only then did Hyung Taejak realize: he was already past the point where he could quit the takeover.

So then what?

There was only one way.

The Evil Path thug way.

If it can’t be done, make it doable. How do you make the impossible possible? You beat it until it becomes possible.

“Ahem. If you do it like this, it’s not fun.”

“What now?”

“This charity project is also the last chance given to Teacher Sasa, you know? We agreed to forgive the betrayal in exchange for having Teacher Sasa run the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition’s medical academy—so if you’re going to back out of the takeover, then I can’t help it. I’ll have to take Teacher Sasa with me.”

“What kind of dogshit is that?”

“Heh. So you should help me out. Who cares if we don’t hang the signboard? As long as we spread it widely that it’s an Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition event, that’s enough. If hanging the signboard is the problem, then hanging a plaque shouldn’t matter, right? Or we can have the physicians clearly announce, every time they treat someone, that it’s all thanks to the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition.”

“Hah. Now I see it. Charity is just an afterthought—you’re nothing but a martial artist’s feud. Forget it. I have no intention of handing the medical academy over to someone like you, and Teacher Sasa isn’t a criminal—and your Evil Path Alliance isn’t a government office, so you can’t take anyone anyway. So get the hell out.”

Hyung Taejak curled his lips into a vile smile.

“Ahem. You little brat—talking back like that? This elder is finally trying to do a good deed, and you’re going to come at me like this? I’m not a gentle person by nature. I tried to talk nicely, so now you think I’m easy?”

“Trying to do a good deed?”

“That’s right. I thought about it, and I’ve lived a life full of sins. Even if it was for the sake of being an Evil Path thug, I’ve cut down countless people—so I’m saying I should do something good now, even if it’s late, and atone. But if you don’t help and you come out here to obstruct me like this, then I’ve got no choice but to live the way I used to.”

Hyung Taejak let his momentum swell.

“So. Help me do a good deed.”

“......”

“I’m telling you—whether this elder becomes a good person or becomes a demonic master bastard depends on you. So—will you make me a good person?”

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. Fine. I’ll take responsibility and make you a good person.”

Ha—so the bastard’s got pride—

That was the moment it happened.

All at once, Hyung Taejak’s vision turned white, and—SPLASH—water rushed into his mouth and nose, and before he could even gather himself, he burst into harsh, choking coughs.

He thrashed on instinct for a moment, and when he finally managed to stand up, he realized he was upright in the pond, submerged to the waist.

A thin, whistling tone kept singing inside his ears without stopping, his head spun like it had been kneaded into dough, and his cheek burned hot like it was on fire.

Only then did Hyung Taejak understand what had happened.

He’d been slapped hard—and with that vile ambush, he’d been shoved straight into the pond.

“You—bastard—how dare you!”

With his eyes rolling back, Hyung Taejak launched himself, throwing up a huge spray of water.

And in the next moment, he was again flailing in panic as water drove deep into his nose and mouth, and he came back to his senses—

A master!

Once might’ve been a fluke, but after it happened twice, it was clear.

But what the hell was this?

What kind of method had he been hit with?

And what does a martial artist usually say after getting taken down by something they don’t even understand?

“W-what—what kind of sorcery is this!”

“Sorcery?”

Yeom Hwiyoung squatted by the pond with an infuriating smile—professionally speaking, he was grinning like an asshole.

That rigid pale-faced scholar from a moment ago was nowhere to be seen; now he was squatting crooked and loose, carrying himself like a street punk.

“I’ve held back for a long time, haven’t I?”

But Hyung Taejak couldn’t move.

It was a massive presence that felt like it was strangling his whole body—like the young man squatting there was casting a shadow as huge as Mount Tai.

Hyung Taejak had felt this presence before—more than once—because whenever their revered Grand Leader granted them sparring, he would block the way with precisely this kind of obstacle.

“Honestly, I used to do plenty of bad things too. Then I finally got my head on straight and started living properly, and some brat who’s only Transformation keeps poking and scratching at me? Hey—what, is Transformation a title? If you were at least at the late stage, sure, but you’re only mid-stage. Where the hell do you get the confidence?”

Only Transformation. Just mid-stage.

There was only one kind of being that could treat a Transformation martial artist as only.

A creature who had long since surpassed the human realm and reached the cosmos itself—an inhuman, true monster.

Mystical Realm.

“Reveal—reveal who you are!”

“Me? I told you, I’m Yeom Hwiyoung. You think I’d use a fake name against trash like you and embarrass myself?”

“I-I’ve never even heard that name.”

“You have now, haven’t you? But hey, bastard—your speech keeps getting short. It keeps getting short. Ah, it’s fine. Bad guys always talk like that. But if you know you’re a bad guy, and you’ve got the will to become good, you can change as much as you want, right?”

And then Yeom Hwiyoung grinned.

“You asked me to make you a good person, didn’t you? Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility and make you a very, very good person.”