Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Crack.

Blood vessels bulged on the forehead of Ghost Lady, the Kaifeng Hao Clan branch head.

“Auntie?”

“Auntie” to an unmarried maiden!

She was already worried about wrinkles appearing lately, and now he directly called her “auntie”!

“I’m telling you, I’m really not a Beggar’s Sect member.”

“…How will you prove it?”

“How do I prove that? This auntie is being ridiculous. Auntie, are you really from the Hao Clan?”

“That’s right.”

“How are you going to prove it?”

“Because I’m here.”

“Then I’m also from the Hao Clan. Because I’m here.”

“I have someone who can testify for me.”

“I also have this beggar here saying I’m not from the Beggar’s Sect.”

“He cannot be trusted.”

“Then go ask other Beggar’s Sect beggars.”

“…”

“And isn’t this place supposed to be an information organization? An information organization doesn’t know whether I’m a Beggar’s Sect beggar or not? And yet you make a living selling information? You lack the basics, the basics.”

Blood vessels bulged on Ghost Lady’s forehead.

“Kong-mu.”

“Yes.”

When Ghost Lady opened her mouth, a voice was heard from the air.

“What is this person’s identity?”

“Unknown. However, he is not from the Beggar’s Sect.”

Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.

“See?”

“…”

Looking at Wei Yan-ho’s triumphant face, Ghost Lady wanted to throw a punch.

Watching a skull-like face mock her would probably be an experience she’d never have again in her lifetime.

“Then now I can sell information, right?”

“I won’t sell it.”

“What?”

“I’m in a bad mood, so I won’t sell it! Get out!”

Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh.

“Commercial ethics have hit rock bottom. Even when someone offers to pay, you won’t sell. The Hao Clan’s days are numbered.”

“You’d better watch that mouth of yours.”

“Well, it’s not exactly wrong.”

“Kong-mu.”

“Yes.”

“Teach him some manners.”

“Yes.”

At that moment, a pale figure appeared in front of Wei Yan-ho.

“Tsk!”

Jang-il was tensing up, feeling the situation was going wrong, when someone appeared like a ghost in front of them. He reached out his hand to save Wei Yan-ho.

At that moment…

Thwack!

With a crisp striking sound, the pale figure was flung away at tremendous speed and crashed into the wall.

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

Jang-il and Ghost Lady simultaneously opened their mouths.

But Wei Yan-ho, startled, ran to the person embedded in the wall.

“Are you okay?”

“…”

“Ah, sorry. I’ve been getting beaten up so much by that senile old man that when someone tries to hit me, I reflexively counterattack without realizing it. So if you had announced your attack beforehand, I could have somehow controlled it better…”

Kong-mu looked at Wei Yan-ho with dazed eyes.

He couldn’t properly grasp how he had been counterattacked and flung away. He had definitely reached out to grab Wei Yan-ho’s neck, but when he came to his senses, he was embedded in the floor.

A master.

And an unimaginably skilled master at that.

And…

“Does it hurt a lot?”

An incredibly heart-wrenching master.

Ghost Lady’s attitude changed.

“I didn’t know such an esteemed person had graced us with his presence.”

“What are you talking about? We’ve been having a conversation for quite a while.”

But at Wei Yan-ho’s words, Ghost Lady no longer got excited. Someone who could blow away Kong-mu with a single strike couldn’t be an ordinary person.

Jang-il was equally surprised.

‘I thought he might be learning martial arts, but…’

If an ordinary person became so emaciated, they would naturally die. For such a person to walk around normally meant they were naturally learning martial arts.

But the technique Wei Yan-ho had just displayed was something Jang-il couldn’t comprehend—a truly lightning-fast technique.

‘A monster.’

The Kaifeng branch of the Hao Clan was, in some ways, the most dangerous place.

Located right in front of the Beggar’s Sect headquarters, its importance was indescribable.

Therefore, the Kaifeng branch was staffed with the elite of the elite chosen by the Hao Clan.

Originally, it should have been operated by the absolute elite who handled assassination and force rather than information.

No matter how much the Hao Clan wasn’t specialized in force, living by dealing with the world’s dark information meant constantly facing threats.

Therefore, the Hao Clan spared no money or time in training elites. The Hao Clan’s elite were certainly not inferior to the elite of any martial family.

‘And yet he was knocked out with a single blow.’

Jang-il pondered.

Could he achieve the same result as Wei Yan-ho?

Jang-il shook his head.

He would need at least twenty seconds.

In other words, Wei Yan-ho was much stronger than Jang-il.

This had quite significant implications.

Ghost Lady looked at Jang-il with cold eyes.

“It doesn’t seem like you came with good intentions.”

Jang-il let out a deep sigh.

“Branch Head Gui, I don’t know if you’ll believe my words, but I really didn’t come with such intentions. It’s just that there’s information the Beggar’s Sect can’t handle, so I came to ask for help.”

“And the reason you brought that person was for that?”

“That’s right.”

“You drag a tiger into a rabbit hole and say you only came to look for fur?”

“It’s hard to believe, but… it’s the truth.”

Ghost Lady quietly looked at Jang-il and then nodded.

“I’ll trust the words of the Kaifeng Branch Head.”

“Thank you.”

“However, giving you information is a separate matter. In any case, it’s true that he injured our personnel. We must receive appropriate compensation for that.”

“Compensation?”

“There’s no special compensation in the underworld. Blood for blood, life for life. Four Shadows.”

Instantly, four black-clad figures revealed themselves from the floor.

Wei Yan-ho was impressed.

“Everyone here appears in mysterious ways?”

Ghost Lady looked at the calm Wei Yan-ho and spoke.

“I don’t know what your purpose is, but since you injured our personnel, you won’t be leaving nicely either.”

“I told you it wasn’t intentional. You tried to hit me first, so I unconsciously gave you a little tap.”

“…”

Ghost Lady frowned at Wei Yan-ho’s frivolous appearance.

Four Shadows.

They were beings stationed at the branch in preparation for possible conflicts with the Beggar’s Sect.

Even though such people had revealed themselves, that skull-like bastard was completely at ease as if it wasn’t a problem at all.

“The underworld’s method is simple. If an arm is cut, we cut limbs, and if a cheek is slapped, we slice off the cheek.”

“Like a loan shark’s calculation.”

“So we’ll be generous and only slice off the flesh from your face.”

“Hmm, well, then…”

Wei Yan-ho lightly touched his face and made a sad expression.

“Um…”

“What?”

“Sorry, but I don’t have any flesh on my face. I haven’t been eating well lately.”

“To the very end…”

Demonic fire rose in Ghost Lady’s eyes.

“Kill him!”

The Four Shadows rushed at Wei Yan-ho with lightning speed.

“Wait, you said you’d slice off facial flesh, now you’re saying kill again. Interest is compounding in an instant. Scary compounding interest!”

Wei Yan-ho trembled as he looked at the wickedly flying black swords.

Obviously, those black swords seemed to be coated with poison so potent that even a scratch would melt flesh.

But Wei Yan-ho didn’t move.

“Dodge!”

Even as Jang-il shouted, Wei Yan-ho remained calm.

Finally, as the four swords were about to skewer Wei Yan-ho’s body like a kebab!

Wei Yan-ho still didn’t move.

Swoosh!

Instead, with a strange air-cutting sound, all four swords passed right through Wei Yan-ho’s body.

Ghost Lady let out a sigh of relief.

Ghost Lady figured that since he had the skill to blow away Kong-mu with a single strike, she might lose two or three of the Four Shadows.

Nevertheless, fortunately, Wei Yan-ho offered his body without any particular resistance.

“This is the price for rampaging in the Hao Clan.”

An immediate response came to Ghost Lady’s words.

“I never rampaged.”

Ghost Lady looked at Wei Yan-ho in shock.

Wei Yan-ho was standing calmly.

Even though the Four Shadows’ swords had pierced through him, he stood there as if nothing had happened.

“Wh-what?”

She had clearly seen the Four Shadows’ swords slice through his body.

But why was he standing there so calmly without a single wound?

Even if he had been grazed, the Seven-Step Soul-Severing Poison coated on the swords should have ended his life!

“How?”

“I dodged.”

“Wh-when?”

“When? I just dodged them one by one.”

“…”

“Ki—”

“Don’t move.”

Instantly, the Four Shadows’ movement to thrust their swords into Wei Yan-ho’s body again stopped completely.

It wasn’t their own will.

The moment Wei Yan-ho spoke, they couldn’t move a muscle as if their bodies were caught in a spider’s web.

Their bodies had escaped their control.

‘What the hell?’

Could someone do this just because their martial arts were strong?

What kind of supernatural power was this?

Wei Yan-ho quietly spoke.

“My master said you can forgive once, but you shouldn’t forgive twice. Those who attack twice can attack three or four times, so never leave future troubles behind.”

“…”

“I hate that old geezer, but one thing’s certain—he never says anything wrong. So if you attack me once more, I’ll eliminate future troubles. But I still don’t want to kill people. So don’t move.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Ghost Lady.

“Father said so too. If you’re going to use your hands, never think of mercy. My brother said the same thing. Half-hearted feelings will strangle me. Once I take action, I won’t stop halfway.”

Ghost Lady, meeting Wei Yan-ho’s eyes, felt a terror as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

This was something different from martial arts.

An indefinable, fundamental terror.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Ghost Lady unconsciously nodded.

“Then give the order.”

“St-stand down…”

“Prop-er-ly.”

“Stand down!”

Ghost Lady screamed as if shrieking.

Thud, thud.

The Four Shadows collapsed to the ground as if falling.

Their clothes had long been soaked with cold sweat.

The humiliation and despair of having their bodies under another’s will, and the terror that they could be killed instantly if he so desired.

That terror had completely exhausted them.

Ghost Lady finally realized.

The person before her was not someone they could handle.

Even now, if he wanted to, he could take her life in the blink of an eye.

He was someone who should never be touched.

Ghost Lady bit her lips tightly.

She had to pull herself together now.

They had already stuck their heads into a tiger’s mouth.

If she couldn’t pull herself together, the Hao Clan’s Kaifeng branch might disappear today.

“…What do you want?”

If force didn’t work, all that remained was negotiation.

If he made unreasonable demands, the Kaifeng branch would be doomed today.

“Information, I told you.”

“So what kind of information?”

“Eh, that… where did that document go?”

Jang-il took out a document from his bosom.

“I have it. Here.”

Jang-il handed the document to Ghost Lady.

“Please fill in the blanks.”

Ghost Lady opened the document with trembling hands.

“Eh?”

After reading the document for a long time, Ghost Lady quietly raised her head and looked at Jang-il.

“This?”

“Yes.”

“This information?”

“That’s right.”

“You couldn’t handle this?”

“No, rather, it’s so trivial that…”

“…”

Demonic fire rose in Ghost Lady’s eyes.

“Kaifeng Branch Head.”

“Yes.”

“I. Will. Definitely. Repay. This. Favor.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Jang-il bowed his head deeply.

Seeing Ghost Lady’s resentment-filled eyes, he thought that sleeping peacefully was over starting today.

The cold rice he begged for would be poisoned, and when he slept, poison needles would pour from the roof.

Ghost Lady trembled as she glared at Jang-il for a long time, then turned to Wei Yan-ho.

“Is this really the information you want?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying.”

“It’s not difficult. However, it’ll take some time to find the information. Can you wait?”

“Yes.”

“Then please wait just a moment. And Kaifeng Branch Head.”

“…Yes.”

“Could you step aside with me for a moment?”

“…Yes.”

Jang-il followed Ghost Lady like a cow being led to slaughter.

From Jang-il’s perspective, it might be unfair, but since he was the cause of all this trouble, he had nothing to say in his defense.

Since his position overlapped with Ghost Lady’s, they had some friendship and acquaintance, making it difficult to ignore her.

Jang-il returned a little later with his eyes bruised blue-black.

Seeing this, Wei Yan-ho burst into laughter.

“Kahahahaha! Did you get hit?”

“…Be quiet.”

“No, but how does someone who’s a Branch Head of the Beggar’s Sect get beaten up!”

“You don’t know how vicious that woman is. It’s better to just take one hit and be done with it.”

“You’re really a pushover.”

“Don’t do that…”

“Why? You are a pushover.”

“I said don’t!”

Wei Yan-ho flinched and asked.

“Are you going to hit me?”

“Ugh…”

Jang-il carefully lowered his raised fist.

If it had been a little while ago, he would have had the courage to charge forward snarling, but after witnessing Wei Yan-ho’s martial arts, he had gained enough judgment to distinguish whether that was suicide or not.

“The Beggar’s Sect isn’t much either. Getting beaten up by the Hao Clan.”

“Is that woman just any ordinary Hao Clan member?”

“Isn’t a clan head or branch head about the same level?”

“That woman… is the Hao Clan leader’s daughter.”

“Huh?”

“The next clan leader, next clan leader! A woman who grew up eating Spiritual Medicine like rice and chewing Spiritual Pills like iron bars! How could I possibly handle her!”

“Well, still, your positions are the same.”

“Ugh.”

Just then, Ghost Lady entered.

“I’ve brought the information you requested.”