Chapter 46. Education (1)

That night.

Having finished our treatment and rest, I led Nam Geon out of the inn.

It was because of information I had learned while interrogating the remnants of the Black Market.

I found out that the slave trader I had killed was the leader of a group called the Wolhyang Merchant Group.

Also, the fact that the Zunyi Black Market had taken control of the Wolhyang Merchant Group, which was in chaos after its leader's death.

And tonight.

The Wolhyang Merchant Group was scheduled to bring slaves to this place.

If it had been a few days later, it would be another story.

Since it was tonight, I decided to stay here a little longer to rest and treat my wounds.

Trash had to be cleaned up in advance whenever it was seen.

At a quiet hour when only the moonlight faintly illuminated the world.

We ambushed a carriage that was secretly entering the village.

After subduing three slave traders, I checked inside the carriage and found three women trapped there.

Their limbs were bound, and their mouths were gagged.

After untying the ropes and removing the gags from the women.

I interrogated the three subdued slave traders.

“Do you know anything about the Black Market?”

There was a lot of information I had found out while interrogating the remnants of the Zunyi Black Market, but I couldn't find the exact location of other Black Markets.

They were operating as a cell organization.

Instead, I was able to find out the meeting place where members of different Black Markets contacted each other.

It meant I had to raid that meeting place to find the other Black Markets.

It was a troublesome matter in many ways.

I asked, just in case these slave traders might know the exact location of other Black Markets.

However, the slave traders knew nothing.

I swung my sword without any lingering attachment.

Slice.

After neatly killing the three of them.

I turned back and looked at the women.

For some reason.

The faces of the freed women were all deathly pale.

I had avenged them against the madmen who tried to buy and sell them, so why were they so afraid?

But I couldn't question these poor victims about such things.

To reassure them, I smiled as kindly as I could.

I couldn't understand why after seeing my smile, one fainted and another started hiccuping.

***

Early the next morning.

I drove the carriage and left Zunyi with the women.

I couldn't let the women stay in the place where they had been kidnapped and dragged to.

After traveling by carriage for a while.

As if the quiet atmosphere was awkward, the three women began to chatter.

The main topic of their conversation was what kind of lives they had lived before being dragged away.

It was just sad that the end of every conversation was kidnapping.

“I-I wasn't kidnapped.”

The youngest of the three women.

A woman who was closer to a girl than a woman opened her mouth.

“M-my father got addicted to gambling and became a debtor. I was sold off because of the debt.”

“……Is there a gambling den that accepts that?”

As I, who had been quietly driving the carriage and listening, asked, the girl flinched and then carefully opened her mouth.

“Yes. My hometown is a place called Gaeri, and t-there’s a gambling den there.”

“Can people be bet as stakes there?”

“I-I heard you can bet anything.”

At the words of the girl who was sold by her father's hands, silence once again fell upon the carriage.

I calculated the distance in my head.

Gaeri.

The place I had originally intended to go was Gojang in Hunan province, where the Black Market members' meeting place was said to be.

If I stopped by Gaeri on the way, I would have to take a slight detour, but it wasn't a route that was completely off track anyway.

“I’ll have to clean up some trash on the way.”

At my mutter, Nam Geon asked.

“A-are gamblers b-bad guys too, brother?”

“Gambling is just them playing among themselves, so what's there to call bad? But, the guys who run the gambling dens are mostly trash. Especially since they even engage in human trafficking, there’s no room for hesitation.”

“O-okay, brother.”

After that, we quietly drove the carriage and moved for half a day.

As the sun was setting.

We arrived at a reasonably large village.

I sold the carriage and horse, divided the proceeds into three, and handed them to the women.

From my perspective, where I had to train while moving anyway, the carriage was just a hindrance.

Also, I had handled things this way when I dealt with the Hegemonic Tiger Gang in Dongin.

A portion of the Hegemonic Tiger Gang’s wealth was distributed to the slaves they had bought as courtesans.

So that they could quit being courtesans and leave for another place to live a new life.

“This money should be enough to last for at least a full month.”

In addition, I asked the girl who said she was from Gaeri.

“We are planning to go to Gaeri from now on. By any chance, do you have any intention of returning to Gaeri?”

At my question, the girl thought for a moment and then shook her head.

“T-the unnies told me. That it will only get harder if I go back.”

Instead of trying to persuade her, I nodded.

It was bitter, but this was reality.

Whether kidnapped or sold, when a woman who had disappeared for a bad reason returned.

The residents might welcome her at first, but behind her back, they would exchange bad stories.

In the sense that she had already been sullied.

For me, it was completely incomprehensible.

There were times I was so angry I was about to draw my sword.

But I couldn't bring myself to kill them.

If I went around killing people just because they gossiped, I would probably have to kill half of the commoners in the Central Plains.

“I wish you well.”

After exchanging final greetings with the women.

We moved on.

The women who couldn't return to their hometowns.

I had given them the minimum amount of money, but it's not that I wasn't worried.

But it couldn't be helped.

I was not of a disposition to live while taking care of someone.

While there were those who settled in one place and protected the people there, I couldn't do that.

At every single moment.

The thought of those who were suffering from trash like the underworld or bandits somewhere in Jianghu came to my mind, so I couldn't bear to stay in one place.

That’s why I don’t think of myself as a Chivalrous Hero.

My goal is simply to kill as much trash as possible.

If the trash that dirties the world decreases, I thought that someone else would take care of the unfortunate ones.

Naturally, one man came to mind.

The man who taught me about chivalry.

A man who was a scholar but had his heart set on Jianghu.

And, that man who was murdered by the Golden Demon.

My life before returning.

Before he was killed by the Golden Demon.

One day, after we had gone to kill trash in various parts of Jianghu as usual, we met after a long time to catch up.

I had said this to him.

- I went to a place where I had killed underworld figures a year ago, but a new underworld had already formed. I don't know if the world will change just because the two of us go around killing villains.

My younger self back then was weak.

At my complaint, that scholar smiled gently and replied.

- Hahaha. Do you think we are the only ones in this world with a heart for chivalry? Surely, it will get better little by little.

- Haa. I don't know about that.

Did I look depressed?

The man took a sip of his drink and, with a smile, brought up an unexpected story.

- Brother Jin. By any chance, have you heard the story of Mencius' mother's three moves?

- I have not.

- It's the anecdote about Mencius' mother that I told you about before.

I remembered Mencius.

The four hearts that a human should possess.

A Confucian scholar who discussed the Feeling of Commiseration, the Feeling of Shame and Dislike, the Feeling of Modesty and Compliance, and the Feeling of Right and Wrong.

Since it could be said to be a way to distinguish between humans and trash less than beasts, I was always mindful of it.

- When Mencius was young, the place he lived was near a public cemetery, and one day, Mencius started imitating the sounds of funerals. So his mother moved to another place, but that place was where a market was held, so Mencius imitated the merchants. Mencius' mother, who watched this, moved to a place near a shrine, and from then on, Mencius started imitating studying.

- So that was Mencius' mother's three moves.

- That's right. And in my opinion, there are two lessons in this story. The first is the environment. Just like the saying, 'one who is near ink will be stained black' (近墨者黑), people are easily influenced by their surroundings.

I nodded.

- Among those who have been wronged by the underworld, there are many who start to commit the same evil deeds as them.

- That's right. Also, even if they are not harmed, if there are many such villains around, they naturally end up following them. Without even knowing that it is a sin.

- Then, what is the second lesson?

- Education. The one who imitated funerals and merchants grew up to be a scholar who would remain in history through education. That's how important education is.

The man smiled slightly and added.

- So I am first fighting the underworld to prevent people from being tainted by evil. But it shouldn't end there. We must teach the children who have already seen and experienced the underworld about the right way to live.

He raised his head and looked at the moon in the night sky.

- Actually, after every fight with the underworld, I teach the children of that village basic sword arts and the principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. Who knows? Someday, some of those children might grow up to walk the same path as us, don't you think?

Perhaps because of the moonlight reflected in his eyes, his gaze looked brilliant for some reason.

- If the number of Chivalrous Heroes increases little by little, and conversely, the villains decrease little by little, someday a better world to live in than now will open up. I believe so.

However, that man’s ideal never came to fruition.

A few months later.

That scholar-Chivalrous Hero lost his life to the Golden Demon.

Even after hearing of the man's death, I didn't teach children like he did.

I ignored the man's teachings.

At that time, I was unknowingly bound by an inferiority complex.

I wondered if it was even appropriate for me, who knew little about swordsmanship or the principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, to teach someone.

Suddenly, such a thought occurred to me.

If it were that man, wouldn't he also know a way to solve the situation those women were in?

Not just killing the slave traders and being done with it like me.

I felt that I wanted to see that man who had passed away first.

I shook my head.

Even if I were to visit him, it was not now.

At this time, it was before he had set his heart on Jianghu.

I couldn't drag a friend who was engrossed in his studies down a bad path.

Also.

“First, Hyeok Ilso.”

The one who is scheduled to kill that friend in the future.

I felt I could visit that scholar with a peaceful mind only after I first found and killed the Golden Demon Hyeok Ilso.

***

After several days of moving while balancing training.

We arrived in Gaeri.

While walking the streets.

I found an old man leisurely basking in the sun and asked.

“By any chance, is there a gambling den here?”

For some reason, the old man let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky.

“Good heavens. Now, even beggars are coming here to gamble. How did such a good village come to this.”

Seeing our beggar-like appearance, he seemed to have some misunderstanding.

“We didn't come to gamble. For now, could you just tell us the location of that gambling den?”

The old man shook his head from side to side.

Then, with a pathetic expression, he told us the location of the gambling den.

Thanks to the old man's kind explanation, we were able to find the gambling den located on the outskirts of Gaeri without much difficulty.

I saw two underworld figures, each with a blade at their side, guarding the entrance of the gambling den.

And, a man in front of those two, shouting with bloodshot eyes.

“H-here, I’ll bet my daughter!”

That man was shouting while grabbing the arm of a girl who looked to be thirteen or fourteen at most.

“I-it hurts, Dad.”

“Shut up!!”

The man shouted at his daughter and then turned his head again, speaking to the underworld figures with a servile face.

“L-look at this face. I’m not just saying this because she's my daughter, isn't she pretty just by looking at her? S-so, t-ten silver taels! Please give me just ten silver taels!”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Because the tragic story that the girl who was captured as a slave had told was unfolding right before my eyes.

“D-dad. W-why are you doing this?”

“You fucking bitch!! How did your mother teach you to talk back to your father!”

While the father was cursing at his daughter, the underworld figures were examining the girl as if to appraise her.

As my killing intent naturally stirred, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

To be precise, from right after I saw the girl's face.

It was a face I had seen somewhere before.

“Is it because of that girl?”

I wondered if it was because her story overlapped with the girl who had told me about this gambling den.

Shaking off my thoughts, as I was approaching the gambling den again.

A woman runs over in a hurry, shouting.

“W-what are you doing, you!!”

She seemed to be the wife of that gambling-addicted man.

“Why are you bitches ganging up on me!! I can just win and pay it back!! Win and pay it back!!”

At the man's shout, which made me want to cut his neck right away, his wife quickly grabbed his arm and shouted.

“Let go of Sohyang first!!”

As I was advancing towards the gambling den to cut his neck.

My steps stopped dead at the unexpected name.

“Brother?”

Now I finally realized why that girl's face was familiar.

It was a face I had seen in a wanted poster in my life before returning.

The name Sohyang was also impossible to forget.

“Lust Disaster.”

Because it was the name that referred to a member of the Three Disasters and the greatest, worst madwoman in Jianghu.

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