Chapter 80 : Chapter 80

Chapter 80. Beggar (2)

After Jin Yuseong's words ended, Sang-gu openly showed his displeasure.

“I will not deny the fact that there are many hypocrites in the Righteous Path. But our Beggar's Gang is not one of them.”

He was saying that the reason for dragging Jin Yuseong in was not to use him as a hunting dog.

“They were simply protecting the people who originally lived in Chimju. If they were truly members of the Underworld or an Unorthodox sect, we would have punished them with our own hands without asking for your help.”

His tone was imbued with pride for the Beggar's Gang.

“So you're saying you dragged us in simply because you lacked the manpower to take care of the beggars?”

“That is correct.”

“So there's no trash to kill separately?”

“That is correct.”

At Sang-gu's firm answer, Jin Yuseong clicked his tongue lightly.

“Tsk. That's a shame.”

At that sight, the information about Jin Yuseong once again came to Sang-gu's mind.

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

Only then could Sang-gu roughly understand the person that was Jin Yuseong.

‘He may be seasoned, but a madman is a madman after all.’

***

The group, which had set out in the afternoon, returned only when the sun was completely setting.

They had gathered mushrooms and fruits and hunted animals in their own way, but the amount was not plentiful.

It couldn't be helped. The mountain they had visited was not rich in food either. It seemed the effects of the famine had reached even that mountain.

The ingredients were far from enough to feed over a hundred beggars.

The Beggar's Gang members threw the ingredients they had obtained into several large pots they had prepared in advance and boiled a clear soup.

It was a soup that had become clear not because it was intentionally made so, but because there were few ingredients compared to the amount of water.

However, for the starving beggars, even that clear soup was a delicacy.

After feeding the beggars, the group, having finished their work, went their separate ways.

“Are there any patients?”

Dang Sopyeong, as befitting someone who had learned medicine, volunteered to take care of the patients.

Those who were uncomfortable due to an injury somewhere on their body. Those suffering from minor illnesses like the common cold.

He would administer acupuncture to them or decoct medicinal herbs for them to eat.

The medicinal herbs were what he originally carried, plus what he had gathered from the mountain just a while ago.

“Thank you, physician.”

At the thanks of the beggars who received treatment, Dang Sopyeong smiled bitterly.

He had treated them, but it was not very effective.

It was an unavoidable problem.

They were in a state where they didn't even have the energy to recover on their own because they hadn't eaten enough.

The current treatment was nothing more than a temporary fix.

Meanwhile, Jin Yuseong had left the beggar village and was wandering around Chimju.

Although he had obtained some general information through Sang-gu and So Honggae, he intended to find out the situation in more detail.

He had left Baek Hyang and Nam Geon in the beggar village.

He entrusted Baek Hyang to assist Dang Sopyeong as she had a meticulous personality, and Nam Geon was suitable for physical labor, so he was entrusted with tasks like carrying things or fixing the shacks, helping the Beggar's Gang members.

While strolling through Chimju, Jin Yuseong asked the residents various questions, pretending he knew nothing.

“How did Chimju end up with so many beggars?”

“Isn't it dirtier if the beggars are all gathered in one place? Why did you drive them over there?”

Content he had already heard from Sang-gu and So Honggae.

But it was a foolish judgment to blindly trust their words.

The residents told various stories.

“There was a famine in this area for two consecutive years, so the number of beggars increased.”

There were answers similar to what he had heard from the Beggar's Gang, but there were also answers he was hearing for the first time.

“We're also having a headache because of that Beggar's Gang. Because of the beggars, the streets and the river are all getting dirty, so we're about to die too.”

In every new answer he heard, there were names that were always mixed in.

“If the head of the Choi Manor hadn't stepped in, the marketplace and riverside of Chimju would have all become a beggars' den.”

The head of the Choi Manor. Or Elder Choi Cheol. Or the moniker Heaven-Piercing Spear of Enshrouded Delusion.

Each time, Jin Yuseong felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

Because it was a name he seemed to have heard somewhere before.

Where on earth had he heard that name?

After walking around Chimju for a while, pondering such thoughts.

He found a middle-aged man who looked somehow familiar.

Jin Yuseong approached the man and asked.

“Do you perhaps know a person called the head of the Choi Manor?”

“Who in Chimju wouldn't know the head of the Choi Manor?”

“What kind of person is he?”

“Hahaha. He is a truly wonderful person.”

The moment he heard the middle-aged man's answer, Jin Yuseong realized the identity of the déjà vu he was feeling.

- Until twenty years ago, there was a place called the Choi Manor here.

In his past life, when he had stopped by this Chimju, he had heard the story from an old man who lived here by chance while looking to see if there were any underworld groups here.

- Originally, the Choi Manor was a place that protected the people of Chimju. How else would the head of the manor, Choi Cheol, have gotten the moniker Heaven-Piercing Spear of Enshrouded Delusion?

The sturdy spear that protects Chimju. However, at some point, that spear was turned towards the common people of Chimju.

- Whether he suddenly had a change of heart, or whether he was originally that kind of person, he suddenly changed. He began to steal people's wealth indiscriminately and treated people like servants. With the stolen wealth, he was said to have bought weapons and medicinal herbs. I heard that he even left Chimju and tried to absorb all the nearby Murim factions.

Jin Yuseong, who had been quietly listening to the old man's story, asked back.

- But what happened to that guy named Choi Cheol? This place seems quite peaceful.

- Hohoho. Of course, he died. He received divine punishment.

- Did he lose while attacking another Murim faction?

The old man shook his head.

- No. I heard that Choi Cheol's realm was far superior to what was known in the Jianghu, and there was no one nearby who could stop him.

- Then what on earth happened?

- As if he had suddenly gone mad, he killed all his family and subordinates with his own hands and then died, spewing blood from his seven orifices.

- …….

An ending that was even absurd.

As Jin Yuseong remained silent, the old man looked up at the sky and said.

- That's why I told you. He received divine punishment.

Jin Yuseong, who had succeeded in recalling all the memories of that day, had to try hard to hold back a hollow laugh.

“It's the same this time. If he hadn't stopped the Beggar's Gang members…”

The middle-aged man who was now boasting about Choi Cheol's wonderful character in front of him.

That man was the very same old man who had told him about Choi Cheol in his past life.

On the way back after finishing his conversation with the middle-aged man.

Jin Yuseong was lost in complicated thoughts.

First of all, he could fully understand why Sang-gu had stopped him.

On the contrary, from the perspective of the common people of Chimju, the Beggar's Gang members were the troublemakers.

It had been two years since the famine in this area.

The people of Chimju also lacked food, and in a situation where even river water was scarce, over a hundred beggars had flocked in.

This was closer to a survival problem than a problem of right and wrong.

If there was one thing that bothered him, it was the head of the Choi Manor, Choi Cheol, but this was also ambiguous to step in.

Because it was a situation where Choi Cheol had not yet revealed his true intentions.

No. Perhaps he hadn't revealed his true intentions, but had genuinely gone mad.

The old man had called it 'divine punishment', but Jin Yuseong felt he could roughly guess the truth.

Madness. Dying while spewing blood from his seven orifices.

‘Looking at the symptoms alone, it must be a mental demon and qi deviation.’

It was possible that a mental demon had come to him after repeating his training and cultivation excessively, and he had suddenly gone mad.

Then, as the mental demon reached its peak, he fell into qi deviation, killed all his family and subordinates, and then died.

In that case, would it be the right thing to kill a man who hadn't even gone mad yet?

A man who hadn't even committed a crime yet?

As he walked with such worries, Jin Yuseong had returned to the beggar village before he knew it.

Jin Yuseong's eyes caught sight of Nam Geon diligently carrying something and Baek Hyang helping a patient by Dang Sopyeong's side.

A bitter smile formed on Jin Yuseong's lips.

Because if he was going to kill them on the grounds that they would become criminals in the future, he should have killed those two as well.

Considering their cases, it was rather the right thing to do to prevent the man from falling into a mental demon.

A sense of regret suddenly arose.

‘Should I have asked exactly when the man's heart suddenly changed?’

Jin Yuseong clicked his tongue lightly.

He hadn't known that he would return to the past like this.

There was no reason at all to go around digging up the history of a madman who was already dead.

***

That night.

After the beggars had more or less fallen asleep.

Jin Yuseong and his party finished the training they had left undone before going to bed.

And in the early dawn, not many shichens later.

Someone rushed towards the shack where Jin Yuseong's group was sleeping.

“Ph-physician!”

“Young Master Dang!!”

At the shouts of the Beggar's Gang members, the group hurriedly opened their eyes.

“Wh-what is it? Has a patient appeared?”

At Dang Sopyeong's question, the Beggar's Gang members hurriedly nodded their heads.

“Yes, physician. H-his condition seems quite bad.”

“He keeps vomiting and is making a fuss. Y-you should go quickly.”

Jin Yuseong and his party hurriedly got up and followed the Beggar's Gang member.

Dang Sopyeong, who approached the patient's side, checked the patient's pulse and examined his condition.

He hurriedly placed needles and picked out a few of the leftover medicinal herbs from yesterday and handed them to a Beggar's Gang member.

“Decoct these and make a herbal medicine.”

Around the time he thought he had put out the urgent fire.

Another Beggar's Gang member came running and shouted.

“P-physician, another patient has appeared!”

New patients continued to appear.

Dang Sopyeong’s face naturally contorted.

“Damn it. Don't tell me the soup we ate together yesterday was bad?”

Jin Yuseong shook his head.

“If that were the case, we and the Beggar's Gang members would also be in an uproar.”

It was a sufficiently plausible point.

After that, they continued to take care of the newly appearing patients and figure out what they had been doing before they got sick for a while.

Before long, they were able to find the culprit.

“Water! Please bring the water these people drank!”

At Dang Sopyeong's command, a Beggar's Gang member hurriedly fetched a bucket of water.

After taking a gulp of the water and holding it in his mouth for a moment, Dang Sopyeong spat it out roughly.

“Ptooey! Are you all in your right minds? To drink such dirty water! It's full of turbid energy!”

“What are you talking about? It's the same water we used for cooking yesterday.”

“What do you mean…”

While Dang Sopyeong was making a confused expression, Jin Yuseong said urgently.

“Please guide us to the place where you drew the water.”

Jin Yuseong and his party, along with a few of the Beggar's Gang members, left the beggar village together.

The place the Beggar's Gang members guided them to was a river located near the beggar village, the lower reaches of the Chim River.

Dang Sopyeong, who was examining the place, said with a very contorted face.

“So you've been drinking this dirty water all this time? Even yesterday?”

Even at a glance, turbid water was flowing.

The water that the common people of Chimju had washed their bodies in, done their laundry in, and even relieved themselves in upstream flowed down to the lower reaches.

The beggars in the beggar village were drinking the water from those lower reaches.

So Honggae let out a sigh and answered.

“It couldn't be helped. I told you. The beggars were driven out of Chimju to this place.”

“Then you should have at least boiled it before drinking!”

“Of course we were boiling it. The soup from yesterday was also made by boiling that water.”

“……”

While Dang Sopyeong was at a loss for words, So Honggae let out a deep sigh and added.

“Haa. It seems it was purified a little by boiling it until now, but it seems we have reached the limit…”

Jin Yuseong, who glanced at the devastated faces of So Honggae and Sang-gu, asked Dang Sopyeong.

“Was there no poison?”

No matter how dirty it looked on the outside, for water that had been fine until yesterday to suddenly become so dangerous, it was a strange thing indeed.

At Jin Yuseong's question, while all the Beggar's Gang members made startled expressions, Dang Sopyeong frowned and pondered for a moment before shaking his head.

“At least, I didn't feel any poison.”

Jin Yuseong nodded his head.

“Then it must not be poison.”

Since it was the words of the most skilled person in poison among those Jin Yuseong knew, it was trustworthy for now.

“Then how about we go upstream first? If only to get some water.”

He intended to check the condition of the water upstream as well.

Even if it wasn't poison, it was a strange situation in many ways.

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