Chapter 85: Temporary Mother

Honghwa Brothel was the finest brothel in Beijing.

With its luxurious and splendid exterior, it was a place where elegant and talented beauties always waited.

Countless noble families, high-ranking officials, and great dignitaries lined up to visit, and the music and laughter never ceased.

Thus, Honghwa Brothel raked in money like using a rake, amassing enormous profits.

But what they were gathering wasn’t just money.

The true identity of Honghwa Brothel was none other than an information-gathering outlet for the Rogues’ Guild.

Men, by nature, had their wits clouded before beauties, and when liquor was added, they would easily spill information they should never have spoken aloud.

Careless officials leaked secrets of the Imperial Household, aristocrats boasted about their trade dealings, and sometimes even the private affairs of the imperial family slipped out.

Beneath the glittering shell of the brothel, the Rogues’ Guild was sucking up all the information spilled by the lofty and powerful.

But one day, dark clouds began to loom over what seemed to be a smooth-sailing business.

“Brothel Keeper Ok Ryeong, that arrogant bitch.”

It was because a new brothel had emerged, one that began stealing away their wealthy patrons.

That Juwol-a woman or whatever her name was, through the rumors spread by the curious, rose to become one of the Four Flowers of Beijing, and many flocked to see her.

Even key figures that the Rogues’ Guild had been working on to extract information from were snatched away by Cheonhwa Pavilion.

Among them were people who had been prepared to be brought down into Honghwa Brothel’s basement, so the damage was not small.

“But well, that will end today.”

They had poured in enormous wealth and connections to mobilize an entire fairly well-known evil sect.

Though on the other side stood a rising master called Dog-Beating Dragon, rumors said he wasn’t even capable of unleashing Sword Qi yet, just a first-rate martial artist. Against these numbers, wiping them out would be easy.

Thus, in her damp basement, she waited eagerly for good news of Cheonhwa Pavilion’s destruction.

“Hehe, don’t you think it’s better for clients if a place like Cheonhwa Pavilion disappears?”

“…Ugh!”

A man, bound tightly all over, let out muffled groans and struggled at her question.

Lying on a long bench, he stared in terror at Il Hyehyang, Mistress of the Mysterious Pavilion and Brothel Keeper.

“When it’s time to act, one must act decisively. That’s how I took part in that ‘big affair’ and seized this golden brothel keeper’s seat.”

It was an establishment she gained as a reward for betrayal, bringing immense profit.

She began to ramble as if to herself, then pulled a bottle from her bosom.

“And so, I have a gift for you, honored guest.”

If Honghwa Brothel’s method had been to sit still and let information flow to them, the Mysterious Pavilion’s approach was to actively dig for it.

Thus, at times, such secretive work was carried out in hidden places like this.

“Do you see them? These adorable little ones?”

Inside the opaque bottle, two long insects faintly writhed. When she thrust the bugs forward, the bound man sensed ominous dread and flailed desperately.

Like a moth drawn to flowers only to be caught in a spider’s web.

“Honored guest, this is called Yin-Yang Parasite. I acquired these rare creatures at a very high price from Black Spot.”

Realizing the truth, the man widened his eyes in sheer panic, trembling all over.

People said the Rogues’ Guild’s network reached across the Central Plains, but there was one place it couldn’t reach.

That place was none other than the Imperial Palace of the Imperial Capital, Beijing.

Stiff-necked, unyielding to bribes, domineering and oppressive—it was nearly impossible to create submissive collaborators there.

But if she planted this parasite inside him, then his will to survive would make him whisper inside information from the Third Princess’s palace as a spy.

“Honored guest, power is like a rope. But you chose the wrong one to hold onto. Princess Peach Blossom? Who would cling to such a rotten rope these days?”

The new Master of the Rogues’ Guild, Black Diagnosis Bird, was very different from his predecessor.

Breaking the iron law of the First Master—that the Guild must never be entangled with the court or Murim—he had leapt directly into the great flow of wealth and power.

“But you were fortunate, for you kept searching for your courtesan faithfully. Had you switched to that wench Juwol-a, things would’ve gone awry for you.”

Sneering viciously, Brothel Keeper Il Hyehyang plucked one of the horrific parasites from the bottle.

“Now, honored guest. Say, ‘ah.’ Ahhh.”

“Ugh! Ughhh!”

She removed his gag, then forced his jaws open wide. Just as the venomous parasite was about to crawl into his mouth—

CRAAAASH!

A deafening crash shook the brothel from the entrance. Il Hyehyang flinched.

Had a fight broken out between guests upstairs?

Thinking the brothel guards would handle it, she was about to continue her task when—

“You bastard! What the fuck are you doing?!”

“You son of a bitch—!”

BOOOM!

The impact shook the whole building as if the front gate had been blasted apart.

Instead of being subdued, the chaos only grew louder and larger.

“That lunatic!”

“Block him! There’s only two of them!”

Dozens of blades rang out as men charged forward.

Clang! Thud! Crack!

The clash of blades and blunt weapons resounded in rapid succession.

Heavy footsteps and the thuds of bodies crashing to the ground followed.

“Urgh!”

“What kind of monster…! Gyaaah!”

Terrified screams rang out. Unable to contain herself, Il Hyehyang rushed upstairs—only to find the once beautiful Honghwa Brothel turned into a hellish battlefield.

“If you mess with another’s business, be ready for your own to be smashed! Close up shop, you bastards!”

One madman rampaged among the guards, wielding raw, primal violence.

Beside him, a smaller youth was setting off explosions—“Boom!”—toppling the guards one after another.

“I don’t care if you’re a guest or a worker! If you get in my way, I’ll smash you all! If you don’t want to die, get the fuck out!”

A crazed brat who destroyed everything that displeased him. And on top of that, he was frighteningly skilled.

“Tch, what an insolent bastard…”

“Let’s go! Damn it, we can’t fail to subdue one mad dog!”

Despite his ferocious declaration, which had already floored more than a dozen guards, the guests clicked their tongues and streamed out like the ebbing tide.

“N-no! Do you know how hard I worked to gather these patrons…!”

Il Hyehyang screamed, face pale.

But there was no way to stop the departing guests.

“Damn it! Don’t back down! We outnumber them, damn it!”

“How can you not take down one lunatic! Get a grip!”

The squad leaders, unable to watch any longer, berated their men and stepped forward.

Two against twenty. Killing intent and fighting spirit surged across the floor.

Crackle—

The youth extended his staff, releasing a chilling aura.

Something faint yet dense coiled around the entire staff, inner strength so immense that even outsiders could see it clearly.

“Behold. This is none other than Armed Staff Qi.”

“……”

The guards, who had been forming up as if about to rush in, froze dead in their tracks at that extraordinary show of force and swallowed hard.

They muttered tensely, unable to make sense of his wordplay.

“W-what did he say, ‘a peak martial artist’?”

“Good heavens, that kid is so green….”

Dan Mujin thumped the Dog-Beating Staff against his shoulder and spoke.

“I am the Dog-Beating Dragon, Dan Mujin! Remember that name. Today I’m the one who’ll smash you all to pieces.”

A murmur ran through the guards when he revealed his identity.

“Dog-Beating Dragon? The one said to be attached to Cheonhwa Pavilion?”

“Damn it! Nobody mentioned ‘peak’ before!”

“And now that he’s come here, all the hundred-odd Jeollyongmun who raided—”

One guard swallowed what he was about to say, unwilling to finish the sentence.

Dan Mujin grinned and finished the unsaid words for them.

“Exactly! They got smashed on the end of this staff!”

A tremendous surge of inner strength rushed from his dantian through every meridian.

Dan Mujin unfurled Whirlwind Steps and charged into the enemy like an arrow loosed from a bow.

“And now it’s your turn!”

He struck like a gale. The Dog-Beating Staff generated an enormous wave of force and began to sweep through the opponents.

Puff! Puff!

Swords and blades stabbed, but the moment they struck the staff they shattered and burst apart helplessly.

“Arrgh!”

“Ugh!”

The hard staff tip bent and flew in a strange trajectory as if reading the opponent’s openings.

Dull, heavy thuds rang out from all around.

“Shoulder! Thigh! Groin! Groin! Groin!”

Dan Mujin loudly called out the strike points with a strange courtesy.

The long staff traced bizarre arcs and beat the foes like a bludgeon.

A smaller youth stood beside him, watching the scene with widening eyes.

Whack!

“Ghhk!”

The sound of skin tearing. Another opponent clutched his groin and collapsed foaming at the mouth.

The guards trembled and stepped back at the horrific sight of a man struck in his most vulnerable place.

“…Boss, why do you keep hitting only those spots?”

Ilhong, unable to bear it, paused mid-swing and asked from the side.

“If I hit the head or chest wrong they might die,” he said.

He was doing his best to estimate the force.

He had only recently reached the peak and acquired Staff Qi; he hadn’t had long to master it. Controlling the strength was difficult.

If he fought at full power like when he’d battled Hwang Geolgae, their heads might burst and they’d die.

This wasn’t a battle that would accumulate righteous deeds; there was no point racking up killing karma for someone else’s gain.

“They’d be better off dead than—” Ilhong muttered, pointing at the groaning, whimpering men.

“Then you shouldn’t have started it. And why should I spare them?” Dan Mujin replied.

They had brought a hundred armed men to disrupt his business; they deserved no mercy.

“I’ll grind this brothel to powder!”

As the guards’ morale broke, Dan Mujin instead began to smash the brothel.

After shouting “Close shop!” he struck a wooden wall with the staff thick with inner power.

Crack!

Wood splinters flew everywhere. With his monstrous strength amplified by Staff Qi, the impact blasted planks as if hit by cannon fire.

When he struck a pillar, a vertical crack split with a loud ‘creeeeak!’ and the entire building trembled as if about to collapse.

The building began to groan like a scream, and the second-floor railing crumbled as expensive ornaments tumbled down.

“No—! That lunatic! Stop right now—!”

Il Hyehyang shrieked like a madwoman and ran over.

“R-Ruju! Don’t go near that mad dog!”

The guards tried to stop her, but she was unmoved.

She had sacrificed so much to reach this position; once the brothel began to be destroyed she had already lost her mind.

“You the owner of this establishment?” Dan Mujin, who had been thinking of shouting “Owner, come out!”, recovered the staff with a pleased look.

But when he saw Il Hyehyang’s face he flinched as if startled, then narrowed his eyes.

Her face looked oddly familiar. A hazy memory from his beggar days surfaced.

“Mom…?”

The shocking exclamation burst out without warning and everyone in the brothel froze as if time had stopped.

At my words a cold silence fell over Honghwa Brothel as if time had paused.

Ilhong was the first to come to his senses and speak.

“Boss, she doesn’t have a mother.”

“Geez, the kid actually said that.”

‘You don’t have a mother’—he shook his head at how much it sounded like an insult.

“Back in beggar days, she was our temporary mom who gave us pocket money.”

When you had nothing left, the whole world became family in the streets. She had been a temporary mother who handed out spare coins.

We had once surrounded and shaken down some mark on the street; she’d been there, and perhaps Ilhong hadn’t been—he’d probably been a runaway ninja then.

That could explain the misunderstanding.

“…Wait a moment, Boss.”

Ilhong looked hard at Il Hyehyang’s face and then, as if realizing something, regarded me with a serious expression.

“That woman…she isn’t just a Ruju. That identity is fake.”

“A fake identity?”

At her whisper that she had remembered, I asked as if to clarify. Not just the Ruju?

“Her real identity is the Mysterious Pavilion’s sect chief…in fact, a high-ranking official of the Rogues’ Guild.”

“Oh ho.”

Her eyes burned like looking at a traitor.

It seemed this brothel hid more secrets than met the eye.

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