Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

And so Wei Yan-ho seized control of the Kaifeng subdivision in an instant.

“I’m thirsty…”

“Bring me water!”

“…The bowl is dirty.”

“Bring it in a new bowl, you senseless beggar bastard!”

“It’s lukewarm?”

“Go up to the mountains and bring back cold, clean water! How many times do I have to tell you before you understand!”

Wei Yan-ho felt like he had come to heaven. Everything was resolved the moment he opened his mouth. Even when he was at home in the past, he had never enjoyed such luxury while lying still.

‘Am I naturally suited to being a beggar?’

Once he let go of everything and accepted being a beggar, a new world opened up.

Conversely, the Beggar’s Sect beggars were wandering through hell.

“Hey, hasn’t the information we requested from headquarters arrived yet?”

“Well, they said it would take seven days and nights…”

“Which bastard said that kind of information would take seven days and nights? Tell them to bring the information before I go and smash everything up!”

“Yes! Understood!”

Wei Yan-ho stretched.

“Hmm, would it be okay if I went out for a bit?”

“Wh-what’s the matter? What reason would you have to move?”

Cold sweat dripped down Jang-il’s forehead.

From their perspective, Wei Yan-ho was like a walking bomb. Even without begging, just being seen by people was enough to threaten their survival—he was a terrifying disaster god.

“I just want to bask in some warm sunlight.”

“What’s the problem with that! Beggars, tear down the roof!”

“Th-the roof? Branch Head sir! Without even that roof, we’ll all freeze to death in the rain.”

“Do you want me to rip your guts out?”

“I’ll tear it down.”

Wei Yan-ho frowned.

“But then it’ll be cold at night.”

“You heard him? Put it back up at night!”

“…Yes.”

During the three days of waiting for information, Jang-il’s blood ran dry.

Food wouldn’t go down his throat, and cold sweat naturally streamed down. Meanwhile, Wei Yan-ho spent his time rolling around on the bed.

No matter how much people around him supported him, anyone would get bored lying down for three days, but Wei Yan-ho had no intention of getting up at all.

The finest cuisine was provided for every meal, and even a single sip of water was first-class, clear, cold, and clean water freshly drawn from mountain valley streams.

When it was hot, fanning came from all directions, and when it was cold, the finest mandarin duck down comforter was provided. Though it was a bit dirty, by Wei Yan-ho’s standards, this place was exactly paradise.

During those three days, Jang-il and the beggars were reduced to skin and bones.

“Branch Head sir, at this rate we’ll die first.”

“Ugh, is the information still far off?”

“They say they’ll send it soon. However, when exactly that ‘soon’ will be…”

“Should I really go meet the Beggar King!”

“Instead of this, how about we devise another plan?”

“Another plan?”

“Well, anyway, there’s nowhere for it to leak out, so quietly like mice and birds…”

“Are you a demonic sect leader? How can you think of killing a person!”

“But the situation is…”

“Ugh.”

Actually, Jang-il had not considered such thoughts.

However, the problem was that if word spread that Beggar’s Sect beggars had killed a poor merchant beggar, the seed of beggars in Kaifeng might truly dry up.

“Let’s wait for now. And discreetly spread word that Beggar’s Sect beggars have taken in and are feeding that poor beggar.”

“Shall we enter public opinion manipulation?”

“…Discreetly.”

“Understood.”

Another day passed like that, and contact came from headquarters. Jang-il grabbed the document that had arrived and rushed to Wei Yan-ho like the wind.

“H-here! The information you wanted is here!”

“Oh, really? It came early?”

“Hurry, hurry and read it. And…”

‘Please just disappear, you bastard who’ll die drowning in shit water!’

The latter words couldn’t come out of his mouth.

“Hmm…”

Wei Yan-ho, who had been flipping through the document, frowned.

“This is all there is?”

“Huh?”

“You’re going to sell this as information?”

Jang-il snatched the document from Wei Yan-ho.

Then he frantically read through it.

“Ugh.”

What had arrived as information was half-written and half-marked as unknown.

It was a half-baked document with sparse information scattered throughout.

“Th-this is the best they could do…”

“Are you sure?”

“What beggars can know is only rumors and hearsay. Besides, we tend to focus on martial arts information…”

“The Beggar’s Sect isn’t much either? Can’t beg, can’t gather information.”

“Ugh.”

Jang-il’s pride as a Beggar’s Sect member was shattered to pieces.

“Even so, you need to fill in what should be filled in. What is this? What am I supposed to do with this? Sigh, well, it can’t be helped. I’ll wait a bit longer, so when you gather proper information, tell me again.”

“…More?”

“Of course?”

“No, we… if you want information beyond this, the price goes up a lot…”

Wei Yan-ho stood up from his seat.

“Then there’s no choice.”

“Are you leaving?”

“I’ll be back in the evening.”

“Huh? Where are you going?”

“You said you need money, right? I have to earn money.”

Jang-il rushed over desperately and pulled Wei Yan-ho back down to sit.

“C-calm down! There must be a way, a way!”

“Money is the way.”

“To be honest, this isn’t information that the Beggar’s Sect can gather. No matter how much money you pour in, you can’t get the systematic information you want!”

“Hmm?”

“This is more than our specialty… um, yes! That would work!”

“What?”

“Follow me! I’ll give you information!”

Wei Yan-ho and Jang-il went out to Kaifeng’s bustling district.

“You’re going to give me information here?”

“No, to be precise, it’s inside here.”

Having realized Jang-il’s incompetence, Wei Yan-ho had somehow become curt in his speech. Wei Yan-ho’s way of speaking changed from the start when dealing with capable people versus incapable people.

“Huh?”

Jang-il entered an alley in the corner of the bustling district.

“Why do you keep going into dark places? Murder and extermination?”

“No! This is the destination!”

Jang-il protested as if wronged.

Murder and extermination!

Even though the Beggar’s Sect was a prestigious orthodox sect, there was no way he, a branch head, would do such a thing.

Then he went through alley after alley and knocked on a side door located in the deepest place.

After waiting a bit, an irritated voice flowed out from inside.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Jang-il.”

“Jang-il?”

“Beggar Jang-il.”

“…Come in.”

When the door opened, Jang-il pulled Wei Yan-ho inside. Unlike the shabby exterior, the interior was quite spacious.

Gambling was taking place throughout the space filled with acrid smoke.

“A gambling den?”

“Follow me.”

Jang-il unhesitatingly headed inside, then stood in front of a door in the corner. Then the men blocking the door stood in Jang-il’s way.

“What is it?”

“Beggar’s Sect member Jang-il has come to meet the branch leader.”

“Jang-il?”

The men looked Jang-il up and down, then nodded.

“Wait.”

A man went inside the door, and after a while, the door opened.

Jang-il strode inside, and Wei Yan-ho followed behind.

When they entered through the door, the outside appeared again.

“A house?”

They had entered a building, but in front of them was a fairly large house.

However, the house was blocked by walls on all sides, and this door was the only way to get outside.

Jang-il opened the door and went inside.

“Is the branch leader here?”

Then a woman from inside greeted Jang-il.

“This is unusual, for Fox-Dog to come looking for this place.”

She was a woman with very distinctive attire, but Wei Yan-ho’s interest wasn’t there.

“Fox-Dog?”

Jang-il smiled bitterly.

“It’s my epithet.”

“Your epithet is Fox-Dog? Because you’re like a fox and like a dog?”

“Because I’m smart and loyal!”

“Same difference. Anyway, Fox-Dog… Fox-Dog? Fox-Dog? Your epithet is Fox-Dog?”

“Ugh…”

Jang-il held his head in his hands.

“Fox-Dog? Your epithet is Fox-Dog? What kind of Fox-Dog-like epithet is that?”

Clear dew formed in Jang-il’s eyes.

How did he end up with such a Fox-Dog-like epithet?

Jang-il desperately ignored Wei Yan-ho, who was holding his stomach and laughing, and spoke to the woman in front of him.

“I need information.”

“This is really unusual. The Kaifeng Branch Head comes to Hao Gate asking for information?”

“…The situation became like that.”

“Is the Beggar’s Sect making an official request?”

“That’s not it.”

At Jang-il’s firm words, the woman waved her hand dismissively.

“Then there’s no reason to answer. Leave.”

“It’s not what I want! I’ve brought a customer here.”

“A customer?”

“This person.”

Jang-il pointed at Wei Yan-ho.

The woman honestly expressed her impression of Wei Yan-ho.

“…A beggar.”

“I keep telling you it’s not like that. Really!”

Wei Yan-ho felt wronged. But the woman looked even more bewildered.

“Are you joking right now? It’s not even a request from the Beggar’s Sect, and the client is a beggar?”

“J-just because someone’s a beggar doesn’t mean they’re all Beggar’s Sect! I swear, this person is absolutely not a Beggar’s Sect member!”

“For something Fox-Dog is saying, the trick is too shallow. There’s nothing here, so please leave.”

“I keep telling you it’s really not. Sigh, geez, this is frustrating.”

Jang-il felt like going crazy and jumping around.

He had to somehow resolve this here to send away this damned incarnation of disaster, but the Kaifeng branch leader of Hao Gate absolutely wouldn’t believe his words.

“Say something.”

“I’m not from the Beggar’s Sect.”

“Don’t joke around with us.”

“I’m serious though?”

“…”

The woman’s irritation peaked.

Kaifeng is where the Beggar’s Sect headquarters is located.

The existence that Hao Gate, which lives off information, finds most troublesome is precisely the Beggar’s Sect, and thanks to that, Kaifeng’s Hao Gate branch was in some sense one of the most dangerous and most important places.

Since they acknowledge each other’s existence, they don’t openly persecute each other, but implicit checks always occurred.

They live together but are simultaneously the most dangerous enemies—that’s the relationship between the Beggar’s Sect and Hao Gate.

And now the branch head of that Beggar’s Sect, and not just any branch head but the Kaifeng branch head, had come to Hao Gate asking for information, pulling such tricks.

And such an obviously transparent trick at that. Bringing someone who was clearly a beggar to anyone’s eyes and saying they’re not a Beggar’s Sect member so we should give them information.

This was provocation and mockery.

If they let this slide, Hao Gate’s reputation would fall to the ground.

“If you keep mocking us like this, we won’t stand for it. Please keep in mind that we have our pride too.”

“I’m not mocking you. What would make you believe me?”

“…Hmm, then the branch head and that person are complete strangers?”

“That’s right!”

“Then it wouldn’t matter if that person died?”

Jang-il sighed. He understood what the woman in front of him meant. It was also the surest way to prove they had no relationship.

“That’s true, but he’s someone I brought.”

“So what are you trying to do?”

“Well…”

Jang-il was equally frustrated.

If he wanted to get rid of Wei Yan-ho, he needed to give him information from Hao Gate.

But Hao Gate wasn’t a place that sold information just because Wei Yan-ho went alone. The information handled by Hao Gate had so many secret elements that selling it to just anyone could easily cause big problems.

In the end, to get this far, they needed Jang-il with his confirmed identity, but conversely, because Jang-il had come, they wouldn’t sell information.

It was a situation where they could neither do this nor that.

‘How did I get involved in such a thing?’

Jang-il agonized to find the best solution.

Just then, Wei Yan-ho stepped forward.

“Excuse me, lady.”