Chapter 219: Son of a Bitch (2)

Hu gae a title reserved for the Beggars’ Gang's Seven-Knot Beggar and the disciple of the Chief himself.

When news arrived that this beggar had come calling, Il-mok frowned and asked, "Is he at the branch office right now?"

"No, Young Master. He's been lurking around the Maitreya Luminous Cult's estate since yesterday."

The Branch Leader's explanation made Il-mok let out a light sigh. "Well then, guess I have to go meet him."

Seeing Il-mok's reluctant response, Jin Hayeon who was standing nearby asked, "Is it really necessary to meet with the beggar, Young Master?"

"We'll make sure there's no evidence left behind, Big Brother," Seon-ah added with a smile. It was a smile that promised a bloody death.

"Ahem. I appreciate the thought, but there's no need for that."

He wasn't saying no because he thought they'd fail. To be honest, if she coordinated with Dam Bin and the personnel at the Hidden Guard Pavilion, they could probably pull it off somehow.

The real issue was that killing him would be a waste. In fact, if they played their cards right, keeping him alive would be far more beneficial.

"We can use this opportunity to tell him about what happened at Mount Kongtong. That way, the one who’ll work is the Beggars’ Gang, not us.”

"You mean, investigate the Blood Cult?" Seon-ah asked.

Jin Hayeon answered in his stead. "The Beggars’ Gang is famous throughout the Central Plains as an information network. When it comes to gathering intel in the Central Plains, they'd definitely be faster than our Divine Cult."

As Il-mok nodded in agreement, Dam Bin spoke up. "What those lunatics on the mountain did was unforgivable, and I agree we should hunt down anyone involved. But we have no actual proof this was the Blood Cult’s doing, Young Master."

At her words, Il-mok shrugged his shoulders and replied casually, "Doesn't matter if they were connected or not. The point is to get the Beggars' Gang to think they were, and go chasing them."

For a moment, everyone looked confused. Wasn't that the same thing? But Dam Bin, with her wealth of experience, was the first to catch onto Il-mok's real intention.

"Your primary objective is to redirect the beggars' attention away from us and toward the Blood Cult."

Only then did the others grasp Il-mok's true plan, and they looked at him with various expressions.

"Even though we're operating under fake names, the last thing we need is the Beggars' Gang breathing down our necks."

But internally, he was thinking something else entirely.

And there's the problem of the cleanup.'

His mind went back to Pingliang County, and he glanced down at the sword hanging at his hip.

They were already short on manpower. If he could get the Beggars' Gang involved, he could trick them into providing the manpower he needed to fix the town.

While Il-mok was lost in thoughts about Pingliang County, Seon-ah noticed something odd and asked, "But Big Brother, if that's the case, why were you so reluctant to meet the beggar?"

At the young girl's question, Il-mok's body trembled as he answered, "Because he's a beggar. The thought of having to stand near a beggar... It's making my skin crawl."

Il-mok still hadn't freed himself from his hygiene obsession.

"So for now, could you bring me some water to wash with, Branch Leader? I feel disgusting after traveling all day."

***

Lanzhou’s market.

As always, Byeok was humming hymns with his father as they continued their business.

Suddenly, he snapped his fingers with an "Ah!" as if remembering something and shouted at his father, “Dad, it’s time for class! I'll head to the Maitreya Luminous Cult's estate now!"

To anyone watching, he looked like the most dedicated student in the world. But in reality, he'd been dying to get out of work all day.

His father, of course, wasn't fooled for a second.

"You little brat! If you're just going to run off and chase skirts again, you can stay here and man the shop. I'll go to class in your place!"

Caught red-handed, Byeok laughed awkwardly. "Ahaha. Th-that's not it, Dad! I'm going to learn how to read, I swear!"

His father sighed at the terrible acting.

'Tch. He's grown on the outside, but he's still just a kid inside!'

Parents always see their kids as children, but this was something else.

Still, this was a chance for his son to finally become literate, and he wasn't going to stand in the way of that.

When Byeok was a boy, his father had been too broke to afford a real education for him.

Both father and son had only learned a handful of numbers needed for business and a few basic characters.

"When you come home tonight, you have to teach me the characters you learned today! If you come back without remembering them, next time I'll be the one going to lessons instead, you hear?"

At his father's stern warning, Byeok's face brightened immediately. "You bet, Dad!"

Finding his son's attitude suspicious, the father quickly grabbed a cloth and wrapped up a few pieces of their best fruit.

Since he couldn't trust his son, he decided to send a small gift to the teachers to ask them to keep a good eye on his hopeless son.

"Take these with you! This is for the teachers. If I hear you gave them to girls instead while chasing after them, you'll be in serious trouble. You hear me?

"Yes, Dad!"

Knowing he'd only get more nagging if he stayed, Byeok quickly grabbed the bundle and left the fruit shop.

Similar scenes were playing out all across Lanzhou.

At a brothel tucked away in the red-light district, several courtesans who had only fallen asleep at dawn were now waking up and preparing to head out.

"Haaaaah."

Awakened by the sound of their movements, another courtesan looked at them with tired eyes as they hurried about. "You're all so diligent. How is learning a few letters going to change our lives?"

"Haven't you heard the story? Some of the girls who learned to read ended up working at the clinic there. Why can't that be us?"

"So what, you want to become a female physician?"

"Why not~?"

The young courtesan replied with a humming voice and left the red-light district with eyes that shone too bright for someone working in a brothel.

People from all over Lanzhou were gathering at an estate with a plaque that read [Maitreya Luminous Cult].

Some were happy simply to learn how to read after living their entire lives illiterate. Others imagined a future that would change through literacy.

And some were just there to meet cute girls.

But no matter why they came, the place was buzzing with life.

And it wasn't just those heading to the hall with the [School] sign.

"Oh, Physician!"

Those gathered at the building marked [Clinic] might have been expected to have a gloomy atmosphere, since they were all ill, but their eyes held hope, all thanks to the physician who offered free treatment.

And it wasn't just the patients.

"I don't have time to teach this twice, so watch carefully."

As Physician Seo Jae-pil treated patients, the women beside him did their best to record every detail of his treatment process with brushes and papers they'd brought.

They were all former courtesans from the red-light district who had quit to become medical assistants.

But in one quiet corner of this bustling estate, two beggars lay sprawled out.

One of them had three knots tied to their sash, while the other had seven,

The Three-Knot Beggar was the same one who had traveled from Lanzhou to the Beggars’ Gang headquarters, and the Seven-Knot Beggar was none other than the disciple of the Chief, Little Tiger Beggar.

"Wow. I couldn't enter Beijing since I'm a beggar, so I've never been there, but I've never seen such a hopeful place anywhere in the world."

"Tell me about it, sir. While I was traveling to headquarters and back, I never thought they'd built all of this in the short time I was gone."

"You're telling me. They've even got construction going on in the back area."

"Most of the workers there used to be beggars we looked after."

"That's what I'm saying. And I heard that school even teaches beggars with physical disabilities."

For a man who had seen almost everything, this place was something else entirely.

He continued observing the Maitreya Luminous Cult's estate with an intrigued expression for a while longer.

Just then, the crowd bustling around the estate parted to both sides, and a man wearing a wrathful deity mask appeared.

And that masked man is heading straight for the Little Tiger Beggar.

'According to what the Branch Leader Hong Gae said, he should be a shaman or something...?'

But the vibe he was getting was weird.

As the future leader of the Beggars' Gang, the Little Tiger Beggar was a top-tier master himself. He could tell the masked man was dangerous. Seriously dangerous.

The problem was that's all he could tell. He couldn't pin down exactly what level they were at, whether they were really a shaman, sorcerer, or if they'd learned martial arts. Nothing. It was like trying to see through fog.

'The Heavenly Orchid Society Leader who originally controlled this area was said to be at the Supreme Peak Realm, so this is probably the one who killed him.'

While the Little Tiger Beggar roughly assessed his opponent, the man stopped about ten feet away.

"It seems you have come with some business for our Maitreya Luminous Cult. Follow me."

The masked man turned around and headed toward an empty hall.

"Oho."

His interest piqued, Little Tiger Beggar scratched his beard and stood up.

"You wait here."

Leaving the Three-Knot Beggar behind, Little Tiger Beggar followed the masked man into the hall and sat across from him.

"Not planning to take off that mask?"

"No."

"Hmm. Everyone who hides their face has something shady to hide."

"Hiding among beggars isn't any different, is it?"

"Hahaha. That's an interesting point. But we do it to protect the beggars."

"And we do it to protect the common folks. If no one knows who the Incarnation of Maitreya is among the common folks, the evil men will think twice before hurting them, won't they?

"Hmm."

Sensing he couldn't shake his opponent with this topic, Little Tiger Beggar changed the subject.

"I've been watching you folks for the past few days, and I’d say your concern for the common folks is truly admirable. But in this world, nobody gives away that much money for nothing."

"Is that how the Beggars' Gang works? You only help beggars because you want something? Ah, that's right. You run the world's biggest spy network. I'm sure that's just a coincidence."

"Are you mocking our Beggars’ Gang right now?"

Little Tiger Beggar's face twisted as he asked, but the masked man just shrugged with indifferent eyes.

"I meant we're two of a kind. Just as the Beggars’ Gang helps beggars, we simply wish to help the common people."

He'd deliberately tried to gauge his opponent's reaction, but Little Tiger Beggar gained nothing from it.

The eyes behind the mask didn't even flicker.

'This guy's an old fox who's weathered every storm in life.'

To put it nicely, they had shrewd eyes. To put it harshly, they were the dead fish eyes of someone already jaded by life.

Realizing these mind games were getting him nowhere, Little Tiger Beggar decided to get straight to the point. "Good. Glad we're on the same side. But our Beggars’ Gang is so poor we have to sell secrets just to feed our people. Where on earth are you getting the cash for all this?"

"We took it from the criminals we killed. The old gangs that used to run this city and others."

"And what happens when that money's gone? Don't tell me you plan to rob innocent people?"

"When the money's gone, we stop. Why would we rob people?"

When his opponent asked back as if confused, Little Tiger Beggar pressed him, "Wait, so you're saying once that money's gone, you won't help people anymore?"

"Obviously."

Little Tiger Beggar was about to argue, but the masked man's words came faster.

"Why do you think we're teaching them to read? Why do you think we're training them to be doctors and carpenters? Ever hear the saying, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’?”

It was an old saying meaning to teach people the method rather than just giving them charity.

Only then did Little Tiger Beggar grasp what the man was really saying, and the scenes he'd witnessed in Lanzhou over the past two days came flooding back.

'No way... I didn't think they'd considered it that far.'

He suddenly felt a little embarrassed. All his gang had ever done was sell secrets to give their people handouts.

At this point, they are even more benevolent than some of the Orthodox Faction’s sects. But he couldn't let it go just yet.

As the heir of the Beggars’ Gang, Little Tiger Beggar still had one more thing to confirm.

Lanzhou was in Gansu province. And everyone knew what evil lurked in Gansu.

"Just one more thing. Repeat after me. You do this one thing, and I'll apologize for everything I’ve said."

The top brass in the Beggars' Gang all knew a secret phrase. A code word. Say it to a member of that evil cult, and they'd fly into a rage.

"Say this 'Heavenly Demon, Son of a Dog.'"

At Little Tiger Beggar's insult, the corners of the masked man's mouth twitched.