Martial Artist Lee Gwak - Chapter 42: Relationship Branches Out (2)

Light Novel: Volume 2 Chapter 17

Manhwa: Chapters 44-45

A man sat at the top of the three-story pavilion of the Red Flower Pavilion.

With his eyes sunken in thought, he gazed at the distant main gate of the Jade Heaven Alliance. The man was none other than Nam Woo-gyeong.

“They’re swallowing so much.”

The enormous procession of supplies continuously entering the Jade Heaven Alliance had yet to end.

The Jade Heaven Alliance was like a bottomless pit that never gets full, no matter how much it consumed. It was unclear how much more it would need to take before their appetite was satisfied.

At that moment, someone ascended to the pavilion.

“Woo-gyeong!”

“Master!”

Without turning around, Nam Woo-gyeong recognized who had come up to the pavilion. There was only one person who could have come and gone from where he was so brazenly.

An old man with platinum hair and grey eyes, his master, Hui Yan.¹

“Something serious has happened.”

“What is it?”

“The Iron Monarch, Ko Jin-rak, has been assassinated.”

“Really?”

“The news just came in a little while ago.”

“Good heavens!”

Nam Woo-gyeong jumped to his feet in alarm.

Ko Jin-rak was one of the highest-ranking members of the Celestial Demon Union, actively leading their forces on the battlefield. He commanded the war against the Jade Heaven Alliance with ghost-like strategies and formidable power.

Numerous warriors of the Jade Heaven Alliance had either lost their lives or faced despair at his hands. To them, he was like a nightmarish entity.

The Jade Heaven Alliance had exhausted every strategy to eliminate him, but each time, their plans were crushed by Ko Jin-rak, resulting in significant losses instead. This fact had greatly demoralized the Jade Heaven Alliance.

“Who is it? Who killed Ko Jin-rak?”

“That hasn’t been determined yet.”

“Uhmm!”

Nam Woo-gyeong let out a low murmur, indicating how seriously he took Ko Jin-rak’s death.

“Although Ko Jin-rak was leading the Celestial Demon Union’s forces on the frontline, he was a moderate. He kept the war in check as much as possible and was wary of the battlefront expanding.”

“Indeed! From what we’ve gathered, it’s definitely the case.”

“With Ko Jin-rak’s death, the Celestial Demon Union will surely seek revenge. After all, if they allow his death to just pass and go unnoticed, the honor of the Celestial Demon Union will fall to the ground.”

“The battlefront will expand then.”

“It’s a natural progression.”

“Uhmm!”

“Many more will die. I was wondering why the Jade Heaven Alliance was bringing in so many supplies today, but they must have known the battlefront would expand and were stockpiling in advance.”

Nam Woo-gyeong bit his lip, his mind racing.

Hui Yan looked at Nam Woo-gyeong wordlessly.

Even though he was his disciple, he was unable to match his insight and judgment in reading the situation of the world.

After a while, Nam Woo-gyeong spoke.

“I’m curious as to who assassinated Ko Jin-rak. Considering his combat prowess and the tight security he always had, I thought it would be impossible to assassinate him.”

“I have mobilized our elite force to dig into it, but it seems it won’t be easy to find out.”

“We still need to find out anyway. The assassin of the Jade Heaven Alliance may be targetting the ranks of the Celestial Demon Union for now, but if he turns his back towards us, we would be in danger. We need to know the assassin’s identity in advance so we can adequately prepare for defense.”

“Understood.”

Hui Yan replied with a grim expression.

One might think Nam Woo-gyeong was being overly worried, but he trusted his disciple’s insight. Nam Woo-gyeong’s judgments had never been wrong.

“By the way, I heard you revealed your identity to a kid named Lee Gwak. Is that really okay?”

“Lee Gwak is trustworthy.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Just a… feeling.”

“A feeling?”

“Yes!”

“For such a reason… no, you must have your reasons for it.”

Hwi Yan’s words brought a smile to Nam Woo-gyeong’s face. Hwi Yan knew him too well.

* * *

Lee Gwak looked up at the massive warehouse.

The size of the warehouse was astonishing, reminiscent of a mountain range. The warehouse that stored all the supplies of the Jade Heaven Alliance consisted of five large buildings, and the security was always extremely tight. Unauthorized persons couldn’t even approach it.

Lee Gwak and his Squad 13 were assigned the task of guarding the warehouse perimeter. Because of the vast amount of supplies brought in from the Ten Thousand Merchant Union, it took a long time to load them into the warehouse, so some squads were called in to help.

The porters brought by the Ten Thousand Merchant Union busily moved the supplies like ants.

The porters, each carrying loads several times their own size, moved with difficulty. They seemed on the verge of collapsing under the precarious loads but managed to maintain their balance adeptly.

Whenever they tilted to one side, they quickly shifted their balance to the other, reminiscent of the movement techniques of martial arts experts.

It was unlikely for ordinary porters to have mastered martial arts, so they must have naturally acquired such skills from years of doing the same job.

Despite being out of breath and drenched in sweat, they never rested. They used the short walk back to the carriage after carrying the loads to the warehouse to recover their strength. Once they arrived at the carriage, they would again lift and carry another tremendous load. The cycle of their labor was truly a marvel to behold.

‘Wow! How incredible.’

Lee Gwak felt an odd sense of admiration watching them.

Although they were working at the bottom of the ladder, unrecognized by anyone, they had already reached the level of masters in their own right.

Among them, one figure particularly caught Lee Gwak’s attention.

It was a young boy, letting out groans of effort as he walked and moved laboriously. He was only half the size of an adult, and he was carrying a load that was several times the size of his body.

But despite his small stature, the boy didn’t utter a word of complaint and was walking shoulder to shoulder with the other adults, matching them step by step. In fact, he seemed to be much better at balancing than the other adults.

If the load on his back felt like it was going to shift to one side, the boy would deftly move his hips to the other side to disperse the force. Through the skillful weight distribution, he spread the concentrated load on his back evenly in all directions.

Such sense was not something that could be taught. It was something innate that only the naturally gifted could possess.

Lee Gwak thought the boy’s movements resembled those of a cat, or rather, a young leopard.

The boy must have been only a teenager, probably around sixteen, but due to poor nutrition, he looked much smaller than his peers.

With his back hunched over at the waist, the boy could barely lift his head to look ahead. Despite being burdened and crushed by the heavy weight of life, his eyes never lost hope. In fact, his gritted teeth indicated he was no ordinary kid.

Just then, the man who appeared to be the leader of the workers shouted,

“Pick up the pace! We might be up all night at this rate. Move it, you fools!”

He rushed among the porters, urging them to move faster. The workers had no choice but to hasten their pace.

It was then an accident occurred.

“Argh!”

An old porter who had hurried ended up stumbling and tripping over his feet. Losing his balance, he inadvertently knocked over a precariously stacked pile of goods in the warehouse.

Crash!

With a loud crash, a mountain of goods collapsed onto the old man.

“Darn it! Old man!”

At that moment, a boy threw off the load on his back and ran toward the old porter. Running like the wind, the boy shoved the old porter with both hands. However, he couldn’t avoid the falling goods and was buried underneath them.

“Aaah!”

A scream erupted from the boy’s mouth as he was crushed under the enormous pile of goods.

“Damn it, you idiot!”

The head porter shouted, cursing at the sight. He was more concerned about the possible damage to the cargo than the boy’s safety.

“Oh no! Cheon-wol!”

“What should we do?”

Other porters tried to rush to the boy’s aid, but the head porter glared and cursed at them.

“What are you doing? You brats! Why aren’t you moving the cargo?”

Intimidated by his fierce demeanor, the workers hesitated, unable to approach the boy trapped under the cargo.

“Ah, damn it!”

The head porter let out a string of curses as he carefully removed the load that had fallen on the boy. As he checked each piece of cargo to make sure it wasn’t damaged, his pace became inevitably slow.

It was clear that he was not concerned about the boy’s well-being.

“Get out of the way!”

At that moment, someone rushed forward and pushed him out of the way.

“What the…!”

The head porter was about to explode in anger but stopped short upon seeing the newcomer’s attire.

The man who had pushed him aside and was now clearing the cargo wore a faded and worn-out hemp garment, but it was unmistakably a symbol of the Jade Heaven Alliance’s Outer Hall. The head porter wasn’t foolish enough to not recognize that.

The man who had pushed him and was clearing the cargo was undoubtedly a warrior of the Jade Heaven Alliance’s Outer Hall. And he wasn’t alone in his efforts.

“Leader!”

“Let’s do this together.”

Other warriors in similar attire joined in.

‘Leader?’

Only then did the head porter realize that the man clearing the cargo was one of the squad leaders of the Outer Hall. This caused his face to turn ashen.

Even an ordinary worker of the Jade Heaven Alliance couldn’t be talked back to, let alone someone with a position of a squad leader of the Outer Hall, a man whose status was as different from his own as heaven and earth.

The head porter couldn’t comprehend why such a person would push him and actively clear the cargo, but regardless of his understanding, the squad leader frantically continued to do so.

The leader, who was throwing the cargo aside, was Lee Gwak.

He didn’t care whether the cargo was damaged or not and continued to throw it aside. With the help of Seok Yi-cheon and Ki Jinhwi, the boy who was buried was quickly revealed.

“Oh no!”

A sound of concern involuntarily escaped from the mouths of Lee Gwak and the members of Squad 13. The boy’s condition was evidently serious.

What was particularly concerning was the boy’s right ankle which was twisted unnaturally.

Lee Gwak held the boy in his arms and called out to the head porter.

“You!”

“Y, Yes?”

“What are you doing? Hurry up and take the boy for treatment.”

“But—”

“Isn’t this child also part of the Ten Thousand Merchant Union? Please take him for treatment quickly.”

“Well—”

The head porter was at a loss, unsure of what to do. As he hesitated to answer, Lee Gwak felt his anger rise to the top of his head.

“You…!”

At that moment, someone stepped forward in front of the head porter and spoke.

“Ah, this child is not part of the Ten Thousand Merchant Union. He’s just a temporarily hired laborer. Therefore, we have no obligation to take responsibility for him.”

It was a merchant who appeared to be in his early forties.

He looked at Lee Gwak with a smug expression.

Lee Gwak picked up the boy in his arms and stood up.

“What do you mean? The boy was injured while carrying cargo for the Ten Thousand Merchant Union, and you’re saying you can’t take responsibility?”

“Didn’t I tell you? The boy was just a worker hired temporarily on the way here. He has no affiliation with the Ten Thousand Merchant Union. It’s his own fault for getting injured, so there’s no reason for the Ten Thousand Merchant Union to take responsibility.”

“Is that the official stance of the Ten Thousand Merchant Union?”

“You might say that.”

At the merchant’s nonchalant response, Lee Gwak felt a surge of indignation rising deep within him. Seeing Lee Gwak’s increasingly hardened expression, the merchant wore a curious expression. He had traveled in and out of the Jade Heaven Alliance countless times to trade, but never had he met a martial artist like Lee Gwak.

The warriors of the Jade Heaven Alliance tended to look down on warriors from other sects, so they usually didn’t treat ordinary laborers as equals.

This was the first time he had seen someone like Lee Gwak react this way, especially since Lee Gwak wasn’t just an ordinary member but a squad leader of the Outer Hall. For such a person to care about a mere porter boy was a novel experience for the merchant.

Lee Gwak glared at the merchant and said,

“Then I will take the boy and get him treated. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Of course not. As I said, the boy has nothing to do with our Ten Thousand Merchant Union.”

At the merchant’s response, Lee Gwak handed the boy over to Woo Il-yeong. Woo Il-yeong carefully carried the boy.

“Let’s go.”

Just as Lee Gwak and his men were about to leave—

“Wait a moment.”

The merchant suddenly called out to him.

“What is it?”

“May I know your name?”

“I am Lee Gwak, the leader of the Outer Hall’s Squad 13.”

“I’ll remember that name, Squad Leader Lee Gwak.”

Lee Gwak stared intently at the merchant, sensing a significant undertone in his words. Despite the intensity of his gaze, which might have been uncomfortable for many, the merchant continued to smile broadly.

Suddenly, the merchant pulled a small bronze plaque from his arm and tossed it to Lee Gwak. The surface of the plaque had an sword design embossed on it.

“What is this?”

“A token of my gratitude.”

“……”

“Don’t look so surprised. My personal opinion differs slightly from the official stance of the Ten Thousand Merchant Union. I’m grateful to you for taking care of that child. If you ever need help, go to any branch of the Ten Thousand Merchant Union, mention my name Lee Shin-chung, and show them that bronze plaque. Well then…”

Merchant Lee Shin-chung bowed his head slightly in farewell to Lee Gwak.

Lee Gwak looked at him for a moment before hurrying back to his quarters with his squad members. As they walked away, Lee Shin-chung murmured to himself,

“To think there is someone like that in the Jade Heaven Alliance.”

“My lord, you should go inside now. The leader of the Inner Court is waiting for you.”

A middle-aged martial artist with an aura as sharp as a blade approached and spoke, but Lee Shin-chung did not even glance his way.

“It’s a pity! If only his strong heart had even a little martial arts to back it up, I might have considered investing in him.”

Lee Shin-chung’s voice was filled with deep regret.

SoundlessWind21’s Notes:

Thank you for reading!

1. Hui Yan. Raws: 회안(灰眼).
   • 灰 huī – ash / dust / lime / gray / discouraged; dejected
   • 眼 yǎn – eye / small hole / crux (of a matter) 
2. Iron Monarch. Raws: 철군주(鐵君主).
   • 鐵 tiě – iron (metal)
   • 君主 jūnzhǔ – monarch, sovereign

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