Chapter 79 : Chapter 79

Chapter 79. Beggar (1)

At the Five-Knot Beggar's question, Jin Yuseong answered calmly.

“I had to hide my identity.”

“If you want to hide your identity, you should have stayed hidden. Why did you massacre dozens of people while selling our Beggar's Gang's name is what I'm asking.”

Jin Yuseong frowned.

“They were trash. Even if I had to hide my identity, how could I just pretend not to see such trash and pass by?”

A tone that asked why he couldn't understand such an obvious principle.

The Five-Knot Beggar snorted and said.

“Hmph. So you're saying you're proud even after selling the Beggar's Gang's name?”

“I am sorry for the part about selling the name. But cleaning up the trash was the priority.”

When the words "I am sorry" came out of Jin Yuseong's mouth, for some reason, the Five-Knot Beggar grinned.

“Hehehe. At least you have a conscience. Then, as payment for that sin, help with our Beggar's Gang's work. If you do so, I will consider that matter as if it never happened.”

“No.”

At Jin Yuseong's sharp reply, the grinning Five-Knot Beggar's expression crumpled.

Dang Sopyeong, who was watching the conversation from the side, also looked at Jin Yuseong with a dumbfounded expression.

‘Th-that madman?’

Although the Beggar's Gang was often looked down upon for being a group of beggars, it was also one of the most prominent groups in the Jianghu.

To be so brazen with a Five-Knot Beggar of such a gang. In Dang Sopyeong's common sense, it was simply incomprehensible.

The Five-Knot Beggar, who had been stiff for a moment, asked with his expression further contorted.

“Does a man who says he's sorry act so brazenly?”

“There is too much trash in this world. I am busy just finding and dealing with them.”

“Hah.”

After letting out a long sigh, the Five-Knot Beggar, who had been pondering for a moment, asked with a conspiratorial expression as if he had thought of something.

“Then how about this? If you help us with our work properly, I will give you information that you might want.”

“Information, you say?”

“Yes. For example, about the ones you are chasing. The ones who run the black markets.”

The Five-Knot Beggar had an expression like a hunter dangling bait.

Although his intentions were obvious, Jin Yuseong felt a little tempted.

Because it was the words of a Five-Knot Beggar of the Beggar's Gang, not just anyone.

The Beggar's Gang was a group made up of beggars, and there was no place in this world without beggars.

Even in the prosperous city of Chengdu to the north, there were beggars.

It was safe to say that all the information from all over the Central Plains flowed into the Beggar's Gang.

“I will listen to what the job you want to entrust to me is and then decide.”

At Jin Yuseong's rather cautious answer, the Five-Knot Beggar smiled with satisfaction and said.

“Wouldn't the work our Beggar's Gang does be obvious?”

Jin Yuseong, who frowned and organized his thoughts for a moment, asked.

“Is it about taking care of beggars?”

The Beggar's Gang was known as a group of beggars, but there was a slight misunderstanding here.

In a past so long ago that no one remembered when, some righteous person who took pity on beggars protected and cared for them, which was the beginning of the Beggar's Gang, and to this day, the Beggar's Gang still followed the will of the first gang leader.

And at some point, the Beggar's Gang went beyond protecting beggars and started living as beggars just like them.

There were two main reasons for this.

One was to avoid creating a sense of incongruity, and the other was to prevent anyone from tormenting the beggars carelessly.

It was a kind of warning not to touch the beggars carelessly, as there might be Beggar's Gang members who had learned martial arts mixed in among them.

“Yes. It's about taking care of beggars. Why? Does getting close to beggars make you uncomfortable?”

At the Five-Knot Beggar's question, Jin Yuseong turned his head and looked at his companions.

“W-when I was young, I didn't have a mom and dad. I-if you don't have a mom and dad, you're a beggar. I-I was a beggar.”

“Senior Brother, it doesn't seem like a bad condition. It seems more efficient to help the beggars and get information than to just search for the black market blindly.”

“In my opinion…”

The moment Dang Sopyeong was about to say something, Jin Yuseong turned his head again and looked at the Five-Knot Beggar.

“I don't mind either. Since the three have agreed, I will accept the request.”

Whether Dang Sopyeong’s face crumpled or not, the Five-Knot Beggar laughed heartily.

“Hahaha. A good decision. Oh, I see my introduction was late. I am So Honggae of the Beggar's Gang.”

“I am Yuseong of the Jin clan.”

“I-I'm Nam Geon. N-nice to meet you.”

“I am Baek Hyang.”

Dang Sopyeong, who had been frowning, also hurriedly managed his expression and performed a clasped fist greeting.

Even if he was angry at Jin Yuseong, he couldn't take it out on a Five-Knot Beggar of the Beggar's Gang.

“Ahem. I am Sopyeong, who uses the surname Dang.”

“Hahaha. Then I will guide you to where my beggars are.”

So Honggae, who had finished the simple introductions, turned his back and headed somewhere.

The residents of Chimju held their noses or frowned and made way, and So Honggae walked with a confident stride as if this was his own land.

After walking, following So Honggae for a while.

After leaving Chimju and coming to the outskirts, Jin Yuseong frowned at the sight that unfolded before his eyes.

“……I've been had.”

A shanty town was spread out there.

Over a hundred beggars were living together.

A sight that should be called a beggars' den. Anyone seeing it would think this was the headquarters of the Beggar's Gang.

The hoarse breathing of a newborn baby, exhausted from crying of hunger.

Children who should be running around and playing at their age, walking unsteadily.

Even adults sitting blankly with eyes full of emptiness.

Jin Yuseong, who let out a sigh, asked So Honggae.

“Since when were there so many beggars in Chimju?”

Having roamed the Jianghu for over a decade, Jin Yuseong had visited Chimju and this area several times.

But he had no memory of hearing that there were many beggars here.

In fact, he had accepted So Honggae's request because he hadn't thought there would be this many beggars.

Leaving aside the filth, to take care of that many people, he would have to be tied down here for a long time.

At Jin Yuseong's question, So Honggae clicked his tongue and answered.

“Tsk. There was a famine in this area for two consecutive years, last year and this year. They are the ones who became beggars because of that. The tenant farmers from the nearby villages all gathered here, so it became like this.”

In the eyes of So Honggae as he looked around the beggar village, the emotion of compassion was deeply embedded.

Nam Geon tilted his large body and asked.

“F-famine makes beggars. I-I understand. But why d-do the beggars gather here?”

“Because there are many people here.”

Chimju was the largest town in this area, and to put it simply, it could be called a small city.

As if Jin Yuseong's brief explanation was not enough, Nam Geon still had a confused expression.

To this, Baek Hyang added.

“Isn't it because if there are many people, the probability of successful begging increases? Even if only one person in a hundred gives alms, it would be hard to receive alms even once in the countryside, but you could receive more here.”

Besides that, there were various reasons, such as trying to find odd jobs to make a living, but this was the biggest reason.

While Nam Geon was fiddling with his fingers and getting confused, saying “O-one in a hundred. A hundred? N-not enough fingers,” this time, Dang Sopyeong tilted his head and asked.

“If it's for begging, isn't it worse for all the beggars to be gathered together like this?”

It was one thing if there were one or two beggars, but if they were gathered like this, no one else would come near.

“I heard somewhere that beggars even fight over territory because of begging.”

At that point, So Honggae nodded his head.

“It wasn't like this at first. They were all driven out to this side. For reasons like the smell being terrible, or the river that the people of Chimju originally used getting dirty.”

After approaching the beggar village while roughly grasping the situation through conversation for a while, a young beggar approached them with a very angry face.

“Division Leader! Were you secretly drinking again!”

“You brat! What do you mean drinking! The way you speak to your Division Leader, just like a beggar brat.”

“Is that something for an even bigger beggar to say?”

While only Baek Hyang and Dang Sopyeong were laughing with embarrassed expressions at the conversation between the two, which had no formality whatsoever, the young beggar suddenly performed a clasped fist greeting.

“I am Sang-gu, a Three-Knot Beggar of the Beggar's Gang. What brings you all here?”

“Hehehe. They are the reinforcements I brought. I didn't just go to drink. That's what I mean.”

“I wasn't asking you, Division Leader. You smell of alcohol, so please go over there.”

Whether So Honggae’s face turned red at Sang-gu's rebuke or not, Jin Yuseong indifferently returned the clasped fist greeting.

“I am Yuseong of the Jin clan.”

Then, his companions also introduced themselves one by one.

“I-I'm Nam Geon.”

“I am Baek Hyang. A pleasure to meet you for the first time.”

“I am Sopyeong, who uses the surname Dang.”

After the brief introductions, Jin Yuseong asked.

“Specifically, what should we do?”

He felt a little deceived, but since he had already made a promise, he intended to see it through.

After all, after helping the beggars, he would be able to get information about the black market.

At Jin Yuseong's question, Sang-gu answered.

“There are more than one or two things a beggar needs, but food is the most urgent for now.”

Jin Yuseong turned his head to the side.

When his companions followed Jin Yuseong and turned their heads, a mountain was towering there.

“We will get food by hunting animals or gathering fruits and mushrooms on that mountain.”

Sang-gu nodded and said.

“It will be difficult for the four of you to prepare food for this many beggars, so we will join you.”

There was no reason to drag it out, so they set off immediately.

On the way to the mountain by unleashing their movement techniques.

Jin Yuseong asked Sang-gu.

“Who were they? The ones who persecuted the beggars.”

“What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“Neither you nor Division Leader So seem to have any intention of hiding your knots.”

At first, he thought they had revealed their knots because they had business with him.

But even after the conversation ended, So Honggae continued to show his knots. Sang-gu had also introduced himself as a Three-Knot Beggar from the beginning.

“I saw it from the moment we approached the shanty town, but the other Beggar's Gang members were also all showing their knots.”

A Beggar's Gang member not hiding the fact that he is a Beggar's Gang member.

It clearly meant that there was some kind of problem.

“Furthermore, even while going to get food for the beggars, you left the Division Leader and a few Beggar's Gang members there, didn't you?”

A problem that had to be solved by force, whether by borrowing the power of the Beggar's Gang's name or by using the military power of the Beggar's Gang members.

Furthermore, a problem that was serious enough to require borrowing their hands as well.

“Speak honestly. Didn't you drag us in for that purpose in the first place?”

“……”

Sang-gu was momentarily at a loss for words.

‘They say ninety percent of the rumors in the Jianghu are not to be trusted.’

Sang-gu also knew of Jin Yuseong's moniker.

‘Ghost Sword Young Master. A madman who doesn't let villains live if he sees them.’

To summarize the rumors known in the vicinity where Jin Yuseong had been running rampant, it was roughly like this.

But to think that the young man known as a madman had figured out the inside story so easily in that short moment.

‘He's not a brat, but rather like an old veteran who has rolled around in the Jianghu for decades.’

Sang-gu, who had revised the information on the Ghost Sword Young Master in his head, let out a light sigh and answered.

“First, there seems to be a misunderstanding. We have never received news that you were coming to Chimju. We didn't even tail you, so how could we have predicted your destination?”

“If you didn't tail us and didn't receive any news, how did Division Leader So come to find us?”

At Jin Yuseong's point, Sang-gu uttered some out-of-the-blue words.

“That gentleman. Didn't he reek of alcohol?”

“Well, that's true.”

“He must have been hiding somewhere to drink secretly from the beggars and happened to discover young warrior Jin. The reason our Beggar's Gang knows young warrior Jin's appearance is… I believe young warrior Jin also knows.”

It must be because he had been going around selling the Beggar's Gang's name.

Jin Yuseong, who nodded at the rather convincing explanation, asked.

“I understand that you weren't targeting us from the beginning.”

In the first place, this wasn't a particularly important issue.

“So just tell me who persecuted the beggars. Didn't you drag us in to avoid dirtying the Beggar's Gang's name anyway?”

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