Episode 499
Pyowol’s eyes were cold as he looked at Hong Yushin.
“Are you asking me to intervene in their fight?”
“yes!”
“Why should I?”
“Even Pyo Dae-hyeop wouldn’t want the war to grow any bigger than this. It is a war promoted by Guryongsalmak. If the war grows bigger than this, the influence of Guryongsalmak will also expand. Shouldn’t that worst-case scenario be prevented?”
Hong Yu-shin calmly replied.
Kang-ho’s confusion began when Jang Ho-yeon of Ugeom Lodge secretly requested the death of Chilhyeon Seosaeng to Baek Gwi-ryeon. However, it was Guryongsalmak that created the atmosphere and fueled the fire.
Taking advantage of the outbreak of the World War, Guryongsalmak tried to make huge profits.
Before that, Makju and Roh Tae-tae were killed in an attack by Pyo-wol, but their strength was still strong.
If left as it is, it will soon try to take advantage of it again by taking care of itself internally.
Even if it is not, it is chaos due to the World War, but if Guryongsalmak intervenes, it will lead to more chaos.
Hong Yushin was one of the few people who knew that Pyowol had been fighting Guryongsalmak for a long time.
Knowing Guryongsalmak and his favor, I can boldly ask for this.
If he knew Pyowol, he would surely listen to his request, even if it meant removing the influence of Guryongsalmak.
Hong Yu-shin’s unwavering eyes made him think that Pyo-wol was quite right.
Even if it was not Hong Yu-shin’s request, Pyo-wol had no intention of seeing Guryongsalmak’s influence grow.
So Yeo-wol took control of Guryongsalmak by an expedient rather than a normal method.
Right now, they say they can’t pay attention to Kang Ho because they’re dealing with internal turmoil.
The best way to calm internal dissatisfaction is to fight an external enemy.
So Yeo-wol will definitely intervene in the Great War to settle the issue of his legitimacy.
‘Looking at the method of Guryongsalmak so far, there is a high probability of using a group of ronin or a group of assassins.’
Guryongsalmak still possessed astronomical wealth. And he knew how to use his wealth.
Their favorite hand is to summon ronin and assassins.
It was highly likely that this time too.
‘If I can take away the options from them, it won’t be such a losing business.’
The largest and most powerful assassin group in the world was dominated by Hong Ye-seol.
In the process of subduing the former Ryeonju, Hong Ye-seol was seriously injured. When they made love over the past few days, Pyo-wol confirmed the scars left on her body like a stigma.
If the wounds were just a little deeper, she would no longer be a person in this world.
In any case, since she’s firmly in control of Baek Guryun, she won’t accept the request from Guryongsalmak. If so, there was a high probability of making a request to another group of assassins.
In Gangho, there were many assassin groups besides Baek Guryun.
These were places commonly called salmun (殺門).
There were giant slaughterhouses that gained notoriety throughout Gangho, such as Baek Guryun, but there were quite a few slaughterhouses that were only active in one region, such as the bloodyingdan where Pyowol was a member.
They were the ones who didn’t come out of their territory because they were usually paying attention to Baek Guryun. Such prostitutes were now gathering around Poyang Lake.
It’s because the biggest boom period has arrived for them.
Investigators aiming for the passage were lined up around Poyang Lake, waiting for requests to come in.
It wasn’t just about buying and selling.
The ronin were also gathering around Poyang Lake.
Some moved individually, while others moved in groups.
They smelled the money floating on the battlefield.
Many of those who gathered like that were attacking the Eunryeonhoe at the request of the Geumcheonhoe.
Those who are still watching will sooner or later join the battlefield at the same time as the contract.
They are still confused, but if Guryongsalmak intervenes and uses them, the world will fall into even greater confusion.
Pyo-wol looked at Hong Ye-seol.
“Do you know how many salmons exist in the world?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I know that there are at least a hundred or more secretly active.”
Due to the nature of Salmun, there were more unknown places than known places. There were many low-level prodigies, but there were quite a few that boasted excellent skills.
“You mean over a hundred?”
“There are very few cases where Salmun is openly active. Baek Gwi-ryeon is an exception, but other slaughterhouses thoroughly hide their existence. If you make a mistake, you may be accused of being a strongman. Due to its nature, it is difficult to determine the exact number. So we can only guess that there are over a hundred, but we don’t know the exact number.”
Pyo-wol’s eyes sank deeply at Hong Ye-seol’s answer.
It was because Pyowol did not know that there were so many Salmuns in the world.
Hong Ye-seol continued.
“All those investigations will not come to Poyang Lake. Most of them just possess substandard power.”
Not all of them are as great as Baek Gwi-Ryun or Hyeol Young-Dan.
Most of the salmun possessed power below the level. They were just scraping by with a small loan.
“At most, twenty or thirty salmuns would have built up a useful force.”
“It means that up to thirty slaughterhouses will participate.”
“In my opinion, yes.”
At Hong Ye-seol’s words, Pyo-wol nodded.
Hong Ye-seol was more familiar with the world of assassins than Pyo-wol. There was a high probability that her guess was true.
Pyowol closed her eyes.
Hong Yu-sin would also ask Pyo-wol after much thought, but it was not a simple decision.
Pyowol closed her eyes and was lost in thought.
Hong Yushin looked at Pyowol with a nervous expression.
The direction of the war will be determined by the choice Pyowol makes here.
Hong Yu-shin desperately hoped that Pyo-wol would do his favor. I thought that was the only way to reduce the damage of the World War.
Pyo-wol had been pondering whether he knew Hong Yu-shin’s wishes or not.
＊＊＊
Hong Yu-shin left Ki-yang’s abandoned house and headed for Poyang Lake.
I wanted to stay here and continue tracking the Guryongsalmak, but the rapidly changing world situation made it impossible.
The sad news came that more than 300 people had died in just one day yesterday. It was a story that if the fight continued for more than a month, almost 10,000 people would die.
Of course, it is unlikely that 10,000 people will actually die. This is because the situation of the world is not something that can be calculated only arithmetically. Still, I couldn’t be relieved. I had to see and see with my own eyes how things were going. So Hong Yu-shin couldn’t even take a proper rest and headed to Poyang Lake.
Pyo-wol looked at Hong Yu-shin’s back as he walked away with his arms crossed.
Hong Ye-seol was by his side.
Hong Ye-seol looked at Pyo-wol in silence.
He did not force any decision and did not rush to express his opinion.
Pyowol was not one to listen to anyone else.
If he made a decision and acted, it was his will.
Knowing that fact, Hong Ye-seol did not say anything.
It was then.
Someone appeared again in the direction Hong Yu-shin left.
At first, I thought Hong Yu-shin was coming back. However, upon closer inspection, it was not Hong Yu-shin. There were two people coming, not just one.
Pyo-wol and Hong Ye-seol quickly recognized their identities.
One was Salno and the other was Nam Shin-woo.
“Why CNU?”
It wasn’t unusual for Salno to come back. It was because Shinuiman decided to take her to Giga’s room and return anyway. However, it was strange that Nam Shin-woo, who had gone to meet his master, Pung-jon, returned.
Returning to the abandoned house, Nam Shin-woo’s expression was unusual.
Nam Shin-woo approached Pyo-wol and said.
“brother! The master said he followed a certain man.”
“man?”
“yes! My older sister said he was a very young man, but Master called him hyungnim.”
“older brother?”
“yes!”
“You called the younger man your brother? That abundance…”
Pyowol frowned.
Pungjon was a person with the best distribution of rivers and lakes.
It wasn’t just that he was strong in martial arts, he had lived for a long time. It was not very common to have a military man older than Pungjon in Hyeon-gangho.
“Are you a half-romantic master?”
There was a case where the body became young again when martial arts reached the highest level. It is like throwing off the existing fetus and being born in a new body.
“Half-Roh Hwan-dong…”
“Umm!”
Hong Ye-seol and Eun-yo let out their deep voices at the same time.
They, too, knew how great the banrohwandong was. For them, it was an incredible level that they could not even dare to imagine.
A state of going against the flowing time rather than simply enduring against the time.
They had never seen anyone reach that level.
Hong Ye-seol asked Nam Shin-woo.
“Do you know who he is?”
“Actually…”
Nam Shin-woo bit his lip gently.
He obviously knew something, but was hesitant to say it.
Pyowol said.
“If you’re in trouble, you don’t have to tell me.”
“No, I will tell you. Actually, I’ve heard from Master. He said he had one brother.”
“You mean real blood?”
“yes!”
Nam Shin-woo’s eyes shook anxiously.
Conflict was evident even while speaking.
Poongjon told his one and only disciple the history of his life and asked him to keep the secret. However, it is still conflicting whether it is okay to break the promise with the master. But he soon made up his mind and continued.
“Teacher’s older brother’s name is Zhang Cheonjahwaja.”
“Jang… Cheonhwa? Could it be that you are referring to the Jang Cheonhwa of Cheonmujang?”
Hong Ye-seol was startled and looked at Nam Shin-woo.
Nam Shin-woo nodded with a firm expression.
“that’s right.”
“oh my god! Could it be that Pungjon was the younger brother of Jang Cheonhwa Daehyeop, the ruler of Cheonmu?”
Hong Ye-seol was so surprised that he covered his mouth with his hand.
Cheonmujangju Jang Cheonhwa was a military man always mentioned when discussing the best in the world.
The first time he became known to people was when he killed Goh Geom-wol, the head of Shin Ma-ryun, at the end of the Macheon War.
He didn’t fight and kill him directly, but only cut off the breath of Gogeomwol, who was in a dying state due to fisherman’s geography, but that was enough to earn a fiery reputation.
Cheonmujang had previously possessed enormous financial power. As the fame of young Jang-ju increased, many people came to Cheonmu-jang to become his family.
The young Zhuang Zhuang Chun-Hwa showed amazing skills and kept the guests as part of Cheon Mu-jang’s family.
The soldiers who came simply to take care of themselves fell in love with Jang Cheon-hwa’s ability and personality and became Cheonmu-jang’s vassals.
In this way, Cheonmujang rapidly grew in power and eventually became one of the two rivers in the world together with Gwangmumun.
Zhang Tianhua’s ability and martial arts were so outstanding that he made it into the river of the world in a short time.
The killing of Gogumwol wasn’t due to skill, but only through luck. However, after that, he continued to devote himself and practiced martial arts close to the best in the world.
His military exploits were comparable to Lee Chung, the son of Lee Gwak, who was the first man in the world, and the head of Gwangmumun.
If it was Jang Chun-hwa, it wouldn’t be strange to say that he was really half-romantic.
The problem is that the fact that Jang Chun-hwa has a younger brother is not known at all.
In terms of intelligence, neither Hao Mun nor Baek Gwi-ryun, who competed for the best place in the world, did not know such a fact.
Pyowol asked.
“Is Cheonmujangju really Pungjon’s older brother?”
“I said so with Master’s mouth.”
At Shinwoo Nam’s words, Pyowol rubbed his chin with his hand.
Feng Zun was never one to talk nonsense.
Moreover, Nam Shin-woo was the only disciple of Pungjon. He had no reason to lie to his disciple.
“If so, Pungjon must have followed Chang Tianhua to Cheonmujang.”
“We have to save Master.”
“Chunmujangju could even harm him? They are blood relatives.”
“Master did not like you. He said that if he was with him, he would have to live in the shadows forever. It is said that the reason Master wanders the world without a place is to escape from his brother’s shadow.”
“…”
“If you enter Cheonmujang, Master will forever live as the shadow of Jang Daehyeop.”
Shinwoo Nam gently bit his lip.
He remembered what Feng Zun had said to him a long time ago.
―If I meet my older brother and enter Cheonmujang, you must never come near Cheonmujang.
