Chapter 106 : Chapter 106

Chapter 106. Hoyeon Clan (1)

My Junior Sister handed the spare food to the young man.

I could see Nam Geon trying hard to soothe his disappointment.

“Hmph……”

I turned my head and looked at the young man again.

It was a sight that made me wonder if there were two Nam Geons.

The young man was literally stuffing the food into his mouth ravenously.

“Have some water. You’ll get indigestion at this rate.”

When the Dang Clan fellow offered the man a gourd, he also gulped down the water.

Having finished his meal in the blink of an eye, the man, perhaps having come to his senses, hastily clasped his hands in a greeting towards us.

“I am Hoyeon Myeong of the Hoyeon Clan. I will engrave this kindness on my bones.”

Only after hearing the man’s introduction did I realize the source of the déjà vu.

Hoyeon Myeong.

He was a man I had met in my past life.

But his face was quite different.

The Hoyeon Myeong I had met was a middle-aged man, and above all, a man whose face and entire body were covered in scars.

On the other hand, although that man was in a beggar’s state, he had neither wrinkles nor scars on his face.

Looking at a face completely different from the one in my memory, I thought what a strange fate this was.

***

Hoyeon Myeong.

In my past life, he was a chivalrous hero who was mainly active in the eastern regions of the Central Plains, such as Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu.

As I was someone who wandered the Nine Provinces and Eight Wastelands, I had happened to encounter him near Jiangsu while cleaning up trash.

As much as I detested trash, I respected chivalrous heroes, so I willingly showed him respect.

- It is a true pleasure to meet you like this, Great Hero.

Hoyeon Myeong had also accepted my greeting with a smile.

Because of his scar-covered face, it was a terrifying smile if you glanced at it.

- I have also heard much of the Great Hero's reputation. Hahaha.

- Great Hero, I am not worthy of such a title.

Perhaps because we had been doing similar things, even though it was our first meeting, we were able to share various stories.

For a long while, we tilted our wine cups together like that.

Was it because he was drunk?

The man with the scar-covered face spoke with a bitter expression.

- Actually, I am not a chivalrous hero. Just a coward who ran away even after seeing injustice.

It was a statement that truly didn’t feel like someone else’s problem.

- The same goes for me. The coward who sees injustice and only seeks out those he can kill is me.

When I complained about how pathetic I was, the man told me his story with a complicated expression.

- Originally, in Chongqing where our Hoyeon Clan is located, there was a place called the Yun Clan. Hypocrites who pretended to be a righteous sect on the outside. I had lived with great pride in our Hoyeon Clan, which stood against such a Yun Clan.

Was it because of the formidable rival, the Yun Clan, that had to be defeated?

The Hoyeon Clan had steadily built up its strength and finally succeeded in driving the Yun Clan out of Chongqing.

- Once the Yun Clan was gone, Chongqing was entirely the Hoyeon Clan’s. And from then on, something changed.

The warriors of the clan became dissolute, and at some point, the people of the Hoyeon Clan began to treat the common people of Chongqing as their inferiors.

But Hoyeon Myeong said he had not noticed this.

- Still, I thought it was a rather just act because we punished the likes of the underworld active in the vicinity of Chongqing. No. I had been lying to myself like that. Thinking about it now, I just didn’t have the courage to speak directly to the Clan Head.

Then one day, he came to know something he should not have.

He had witnessed the Hoyeon Clan's Young Master exchanging secret talks with a master of the underworld.

- I worried whether I should report this to the Clan Head, but it was an utterly foolish thought.

For several days, he spent his time worrying in anguish.

A mission was given to the Hoyeon Clan warriors to attack a Black Market near Chongqing.

And there, as he had heard in the secret talk that night, a peerless beauty was captured as a slave.

They ‘rescued’ the peerless beauty while cleaning up that Black Market, and accepted the pitiful woman as a member of the clan.

As the Clan Head's concubine.

As I quietly listened to the story, the tale I had heard from the Scholar Chivalrous Hero naturally came to mind.

- ……Isn’t that the method that Hyeok Ilso fellow mainly uses?

- You knew as well.

Hoyeon Myeong, who had shown a surprised reaction for a moment, continued his story.

Having vaguely realized the truth, he secretly conducted his own investigations while carrying out the missions given by the clan.

Those he had killed, believing them to be of the underworld as per the Clan Head’s orders.

The majority of them were not from the underworld.

They were just people who did not follow the Hoyeon Clan’s orders.

Furthermore, the direct descendants of the Hoyeon Clan had made various deals with the Black Market with the wealth accumulated by tormenting the common people of Chongqing.

- Even knowing the truth, I could not speak directly to the Clan Head. I was afraid of dying. So I ran away from the clan. And I was so ashamed of that fact that I was struggling to atone for my sins even here.

I, who had been listening quietly, said a word to the heavily drunk man.

- It is said that a Confucian scholar named Mencius once said this in the past. He said that if one does not know how to be ashamed of one's wrongdoings, he is not a human, referring to the Feeling of Shame and Dislike. On the contrary, since you, Great Hero, know shame, you are fully qualified to be called a Great Hero.

Hoyeon Myeong stared at me blankly for a moment, then smirked with his scar-covered face and said.

- You know more than you look.

- It was a story I heard from someone like a master to me.

- Heo. I would love to meet him someday.

- He is dead. By Hyeok Ilso.

Like that, we talked about our respective shames, or our respective sorrows, and then parted ways.

***

While I was reminiscing about the half-forgotten memory.

Hoyeon Myeong, having sated his hunger, spoke first.

“Come to think of it, did you have business in Chongqing?”

“That’s right. There’s something I need to find out about the Hoyeon Clan.”

As soon as my answer ended, a shadow was cast over Hoyeon Myeong’s face.

This was also strange.

The middle-aged Hoyeon Myeong had argued that he had great pride in the clan when he was young.

But why was he making such an expression?

Soon, something completely unexpected came out of Hoyeon Myeong’s mouth.

“……The Hoyeon Clan no longer remains in this world.”

The Hoyeon Clan is not in this world?

Why would a place that was perfectly fine until I died disappear?

As I was about to ask something out of curiosity, I felt a small presence from far away.

I turned my head towards that direction and grabbed the hilt of the Restoring Name Sword with my right hand.

Was it because they thought my atmosphere was unusual?

My comrades, who had been resting, got up one by one.

Only then did Hoyeon Myeong also notice something and crumpled his face.

“Damn it.”

Soon, he hurriedly got up and clasped his hands in a greeting towards us.

“I am sorry for getting you involved in an unnecessary matter. I will be on my way now.”

I didn’t know what the situation was, but it was a gesture of trying to endure it alone instead of asking for help.

I answered Hoyeon Myeong while keeping my head fixed on the bushes where the presence was gradually approaching.

“Stay here for now.”

“I am fine. I cannot involve you in such a matter on our first meeting.”

“Just stay.”

It seemed he had greatly misunderstood something.

It was not particularly because of the connection from my past life that I was trying to help Hoyeon Myeong.

The situation had changed from the future I knew.

To grasp the detailed situation, I needed to keep this person by my side.

“……Thank you, chivalrous warrior.”

Ignoring Hoyeon Myeong’s thanks, I watched the bushes for a moment.

A group of about a dozen people emerged, pushing through the bushes.

Men dressed in unified yellow martial arts uniforms.

They looked at us with a somewhat high-handed attitude.

A middle-aged man who was in the center of them took a step forward.

“Young brothers. Do you know who that person you are currently looking after is?”

A tone as if chiding a foolish young brat.

“If you send him over here now, I will pretend this never happened.”

I held back a scoff and asked back.

“Shouldn’t you first tell me what crime this person has committed so that I can decide whether to send him to you or not?”

At that, the warriors behind the middle-aged man had a fit.

“How dare a young upstart!!”

“Do you know who that is to be so rude!”

At the warriors’ fit, the middle-aged man who had stepped forward waved his arm towards the back as if to calm them down.

“Enough. We have not even exchanged names, how would they know me.”

A gesture of pretending to follow etiquette while acting high-handed and seeming to value face.

The unique atmosphere of hypocrites who were full of pretense, acting as a righteous sect, was strongly emanating.

While I was sizing up the bastards, the middle-aged man spoke with a face full of pride.

“I am Yun Geohak of the Chongqing Yun Clan. In the world, I am commonly known as one of the Five Spears of Chongqing.”

I had never even heard of the alias Five Spears of Chongqing, but I didn’t know why he was so confident.

“My surname is Jin, and my name is Yuseong. I don’t belong anywhere in particular. So what did this person do wrong?”

“The Hoyeon Clan that he belongs to were bastards who dealt with the wicked underworld. So our Chongqing Yun Clan rose up and punished them, but unfortunately, a few of the bastards who had left Chongqing that day remained.”

As soon as Yun Geohak’s explanation ended, Hoyeon Myeong shouted as if having a fit.

“It’s a frame-up!! When on earth did we deal with the underworld!”

Listening to the conversation of the two who had started to argue, I organized my thoughts.

According to the middle-aged Hoyeon Myeong, the Hoyeon Clan had fallen into corruption after they had pushed out the Yun Clan.

But I did not fully believe those words.

To fall into corruption just because a competitor disappeared?

It could be so, but the possibility that they were hypocrites from the start was higher.

I thought that the young Hoyeon Myeong, not being a key figure of the clan, might not have noticed.

But now, whether the Hoyeon Clan was a hypocrite or not was no longer important.

The Hoyeon Clan, which should have driven out the Yun Clan and unified Chongqing in the future, had suddenly disappeared.

If the past and present had changed, the cause could only be me.

To be precise, the flow of change resulting from my different actions from my past life.

Hyeok Ilso naturally came to mind.

The fellow who should have been the Branch Leader of the Iyang Black Market had become the Unit Leader of a martial unit and had come here earlier than in his past life.

While I was organizing my thoughts, the argument between Yun Geohak and Hoyeon Myeong continued.

“The ledgers and stolen goods from the dealings with the underworld bastards have all been found in the Hoyeon Clan manor. Where are you acting innocent. Blood can’t be denied, after all. Just like the wicked barbarian tribes.”

“That too was a scheme you bastards cooked up! It is said, ‘to cover the sky with one hand’! Someday, you bastards will also receive heaven’s punishment!”

I willingly joined their conversation and asked Yun Geohak.

“Did the Yun Clan truly punish the Hoyeon Clan?”

“That is correct.”

“With the Yun Clan’s strength alone?”

Yun Geohak frowned at my question.

“What is your intention in asking that?”

“Isn’t it strange? As far as I know, the military strength of the Yun Clan and the Hoyeon Clan are not much different.”

“Hmph. What does that matter when punishing a wicked group.”

He was right.

Engaging in chivalrous acts while considering the opponent’s strength was something only a coward like my past self would do.

But the Yun Clan was not a coward.

They were hypocrites, worse than cowards.

“On the day you attacked the Hoyeon Clan, were there truly only the warriors of the Yun Clan?”

My past experiences, and the information I had gathered so far, were telling me.

That Hyeok Ilso was involved in this matter.

At my question, Yun Geohak frowned instead of answering.

“For some reason, the way you speak makes you seem like a rather impure fellow.”

Having said that, Yun Geohak drew his spear and shouted again.

“Those bastards are surely also involved with the underworld! In the name of the Yun Clan, let’s execute all those wicked people!!”

Conspiring with the underworld bastards who are worse than trash.

It was the most disgusting accusation in the world, but I exercised extreme patience.

“Capture them alive. It seems there’s much to ask.”

“O-Okay, big bro.”

“Yes, Senior Brother!”

“Oh. For once, you’re not killing people?”

Ignoring the nonsense from the Dang Clan fellow that came last, I rushed towards Yun Geohak.

Yun Geohak thrust his spear as if he had been prepared in advance.

Perhaps because he was a fellow of some skill, the spear blade imbued with spear qi flew in a straight trajectory.

But compared to the bastards I had recently faced, it was not a very threatening technique.

Without slowing down my rush, I dodged by twisting only my upper body minimally.

Yun Geohak hastily took a step back.

“For a mere kid!”

He shouted that and continuously thrust his spear.

After dodging a few times and deflecting a few with the Restoring Name Sword, I had closed the distance to within arm’s reach.

Pababak.

After striking and subduing his paralysis points in succession, I turned my body to help my comrades.

But it didn’t seem like help was particularly needed.

The spear blades that struck Nam Geon broke one after another.

Clang!

“I-It tickles!”

Instead of specifically attacking people, Nam Geon would often grab the spear shafts or blades they swung with his bare hands.

Every time, the spear shafts or blades they were holding would break like tree branches.

While they were surprised by Nam Geon’s toughness and strength, the iron needles thrown by the Dang Clan fellow secretly lodged in their paralysis points.

Thwack.

My Junior Sister also approached the spearmen who had lost their spears and easily subdued them.

It took less than a quarter of an hour to subdue all the warriors from the Chongqing Yun Clan.

For some reason, Hoyeon Myeong was looking at us with a dazed expression.

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