Chapter 301

Haemun, as its name suggested, was a city like a checkpoint to the sea. It was located where the Yangtze River, which snaked its way across the continent, met the sea.

The river water flowing into the sea contained an immense amount of nutrients gathered as it traversed the continent. Many fish flocked to feed on these nutrients, and fishermen launched their boats in pursuit of the fish.

Naturally, a large port was established in Haemun, and trading vessels from the Outer Regions came and went. Merchants visited for trade, and workers came in search of jobs.

In this way, Haemun naturally prospered and grew into a massive city.

Dozens of ships were docked at the port again today. Most were from the Outer Regions, and among them were some from the southern part of Jianghu.

The streets of Haemun echoed with unintelligible languages. With so many different people visiting from the Outer Regions, they each spoke their own tongue. And yet, strangely, they all seemed to be able to communicate with one another.

Haemun was a place where the sight of people with different skin and eye colors visiting an inn near the coast to eat or drink was not at all awkward.

At the port, young men with red cloths tied around their heads were pulling carts, dripping with sweat.

One of the young men asked a middle-aged man holding a thick book.

“Where are these goods headed?”

“You know the Jinju Room’s warehouse, right? They go there.”

“The Jinju Room? Understood.”

“Time is money. Get a move on.”

“Yes, yes!”

The young men with red cloths on their heads ran off, pulling the carts laden with cargo.

Heat rose from the bodies of the young men, who moved without rest like ants.

The sun beat down strongly, and the wind blowing from the sea was filled with scorching heat and salt. Because of this, the young men were working with their shirts off.

“Another ship is coming in over there.”

“Where from this time?”

The middle-aged man stared at the sea, his brow furrowed.

In the far distance, a large ship could be seen entering the port.

At a single glance, one could tell it was much larger than the other ships.

One of the young men with a red cloth on his head shouted.

“There’s a blue dragon embroidered on the flag.”

“The Sea Dragon Clan. Quick, summon more workers.”

“How many more should I call?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? Call every last one of them. You know, right? We can’t give those Sea Dragon Clan bastards any reason to find fault.”

The middle-aged man said irritably.

His name was Bang Duyul.

Bang Duyul was a middle manager for the Crimson Sword Society.

The Crimson Sword Society was an organization created to protect the rights of the workers at the port.

When the port was first built here, the workers were merely exploited for cheap wages. Because of that, a worker who had learned martial arts stepped up and created the Crimson Sword Society.

The Crimson Sword Society protected the workers from having their wages driven down by merchants and assigned workers to the ships that entered the port.

Since most of the workers at the port belonged to the Crimson Sword Society, no one dared to disregard them.

Furthermore, for the past few decades, the Crimson Sword Society had been selecting the brightest among the workers and sending them to a nearby martial arts academy to learn martial arts. This, too, was a measure for self-protection.

Thanks to this, the Crimson Sword Society grew beyond a simple collective of workers into a martial organization. All workers belonging to the Crimson Sword Society wore red cloths on their heads.

Their standing in Haemun was so great that no one dared to look down on them as mere menial laborers.

This was because if the Crimson Sword Society didn’t dispatch workers, the work at the port would grind to a halt. However, there was one group that even the Crimson Sword Society dared not treat lightly: the Sea Dragon Clan.

The Sea Dragon Clan was a sect that had settled in Haemun long ago. But as time passed, they began to encroach upon the merchants’ territory. Having grown in size, the Sea Dragon Clan eventually began to operate its own fleet of ships. They had realized that doing so could generate much greater profits.

The Sea Dragon Clan and the Crimson Sword Society had coexisted for many long years, sometimes as adversaries, and at other times, as partners.

There had been times when great bloodshed had occurred, but at present, they were on rather good terms. This was because they now acknowledged each other’s territories to a certain extent.

Whenever a Sea Dragon Clan ship returned, the Crimson Sword Society would summon all its workers. This was to preemptively block any possibility of the Sea Dragon Clan finding fault.

A short while later, workers gathered around Bang Duyul.

Their number exceeded a hundred.

Excluding the workers already on other jobs, they had scraped together even those who were resting.

“They won’t have anything to say about this, right?”

Bang Duyul wrinkled his nose.

A moment later, the Sea Dragon Clan’s merchant ship slowly entered the port.

As it had sailed the rough seas, the merchant ship was enormous. To exaggerate slightly, it felt as if a small island were floating on the sea.

Thud!

Finally, the ship docked with a heavy sound.

A gangplank was immediately lowered, and a middle-aged man in splendid clothes descended at the head of the group.

Bang Duyul recognized the man and approached him.

“You’ve worked hard on your long journey, Unit Leader Yi.”

The man’s name was Yi Seonghak, the Unit Leader responsible for the Sea Dragon Clan’s long-distance voyages.

Not only was he sharp in business, but his martial arts were also strong, and he was highly valued within the Sea Dragon Clan.

However, his personality was eccentric and he had a dogmatic streak, so his relationships with others were not smooth. He was so stubborn that he would only listen to Jang Hamun, the Boss of the Sea Dragon Clan.

Yi Seonghak looked Bang Duyul up and down and spoke.

“Looks like you’re in charge of the port today.”

“Yes! If there is anything you need, please tell me.”

“These are goods brought from the distant Ryukyu Kingdom. Most of them are valuable, so they must not be handled roughly. Make sure to give your subordinates special notice of this fact.”

“Understood. Should the goods be moved to the Sea Dragon Clan warehouse as usual?”

“Of course, they should.”

“Then please hand over the inventory list. I will check it myself as we move them.”

“Do so.”

At Yi Seonghak’s gesture, a young man dressed as a scholar approached and handed over a yellowish booklet.

It was a booklet listing the goods loaded from the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Bang Duyul carefully accepted the booklet.

His role was to check each item listed in this booklet one by one and assign them to the workers. Yi Seonghak’s trusted scholar would be watching by his side.

Bang Duyul shouted to the Crimson Sword Society workers.

“Get a move on, you slowpokes. We have to move all these goods to the Sea Dragon Clan’s warehouse by this evening.”

“Yes!”

“Don’t you worry.”

Over a hundred workers answered in unison.

Under Bang Duyul’s command, the workers boarded the Sea Dragon Clan’s ship. As if to prove it had been on a long voyage, a thick scent of salt wafted from the deck.

Just then, a few of the Sea Dragon Clan’s martial artists came out carrying the corners of a large crate.

Bang Duyul said to them.

“Ah! You don’t need to move it yourselves. We’ll move it.”

“We will move that one ourselves, so don’t you worry about it,” Yi Seonghak said from below the ship.

Bang Duyul frowned slightly. This was almost unheard of. No matter how important the goods, it was customary for the Crimson Sword Society to move everything loaded on a ship.

Yi Seonghak’s words were enough to give the impression that he didn’t trust the Crimson Sword Society. He could have picked a fight over it, but Bang Duyul decided to let it go.

He didn’t want to hurt feelings with the Sea Dragon Clan by stubbornly insisting that the Crimson Sword Society move the item.

“Then I will exclude that from the item list.”

“It wasn’t even written down. Don’t worry about it.”

“Understood.”

Bang Duyul nodded and began to inspect the other goods one by one. Then he started assigning the cargo to the workers.

“You, load this onto the cart.”

“This is an important item, so pay special attention.”

“What are you doing? Get over here, now.”

His voice echoed loudly across the ship.

Yi Seonghak walked away with a cold smile.

Although he had given a stern warning, he wasn’t worried about the goods being damaged. It was because he knew Bang Duyul’s meticulous nature.

His appearance was quite rough, but contrary to how he looked, he was a detail-oriented man. That was why the Crimson Sword Society had dispatched him as the person in charge of managing the port workers.

Thump!

The large crate carried down by the martial artists was loaded onto a cart.

For a moment, a faint movement was felt from inside the crate. But no one noticed the presence.

Yi Seonghak said to the martial artists.

“We return directly to the Sea Dragon Clan from here. Everyone move quickly.”

“Yes!”

The martial artists replied and followed behind Yi Seonghak, pulling the cart.

The main road leading to the Sea Dragon Clan was lined with numerous brothels and inns.

“Hee hee! Come over here.”

“You must have returned from a long journey. How about unwinding here today? I’ll treat you well.”

Courtesans, who could smell money like ghosts, reached out with their white hands, tempting Yi Seonghak and his martial artists.

Those who returned from long journeys like them received a lot of pay and had full pockets. The courtesans were aiming for those very pockets. But Yi Seonghak and his martial artists didn’t even give the courtesans a glance.

“Idiots!”

“Tch! Acting all serious…”

The courtesans cursed and sneered at Yi Seonghak’s group.

The courtesans here were different from those in other places.

Dealing with the rough people of the coast, their dispositions had naturally grown strong. They had more guts than most men and were not easily intimidated.

Yi Seonghak’s group knew this as well, so they didn’t even bother with the courtesans’ muttering. Getting into a verbal spat with the courtesans would only result in them being on the losing end.

Ignoring the courtesans’ muttering was the best course of action.

Just as Yi Seonghak’s group was passing the brothels, their steps came to a halt. What stopped the men, who had even ignored the courtesans’ curses, was a man approaching from the front.

“What the?”

“That bastard’s face…”

From the opposite direction, a man was approaching on horseback.

There was no doubt he was a man. His broad shoulders and the forearms visible between his sleeves were incomparably thick and firm compared to those of a delicate woman.

The problem was the man’s face.

He had a face far more beautiful than the courtesans in the brothel they had just passed, and bewitching eyes.

The man possessed a kind of appearance that could enthrall even another man.

If it were a woman, they could easily look away, but because the man was so beautiful, they couldn’t tear their eyes away.

Dust had settled on the man’s hair and shoulders, as if he had come a long way. But even that couldn’t mar the man’s beauty.

The man passed them indifferently.

In that moment, Yi Seonghak felt a chilling sensation and unknowingly hunched his shoulders.

‘What was that?’

He stared at the man’s back with a bewildered expression.

“What is it?”

“Unit Leader!”

The martial artists looked at Yi Seonghak with puzzled expressions.

Their faces showed they hadn’t sensed the chilling feeling Yi Seonghak had. So they couldn’t understand his reaction at all.

Yi Seonghak shook his head.

“It’s nothing. I think I was just being a bit oversensitive.”

“Well, that’s understandable. I’ve never seen a man that pretty before.”

“That bastard is going to be in big trouble.”

The martial artists each added a comment.

Yi Seonghak looked puzzled.

“Big trouble?”

“You know, that person. The one with the… dirty tastes.”

“Ah!”

The martial artist trailed off, but Yi Seonghak immediately understood what he was talking about.

“Should we warn him now…”

“Forget it. We’re in a hurry. He’ll manage his own path. We don’t have the luxury to worry about that. We must return to the Sea Dragon Clan as quickly as possible and deliver this.”

“Yes! Unit Leader.”

At Yi Seonghak’s cold words, the martial artists bowed their heads and replied.

They were in a tight spot themselves.

They weren’t relaxed enough to worry about the well-being of others.

Yi Seonghak turned his attention away from the man who had passed by and started walking toward the Sea Dragon Clan again.

As if someone had sent word ahead, the high-ranking members were out in front of the Sea Dragon Clan, waiting for them.

Yi Seonghak approached a middle-aged man among them who exuded a remarkable aura and greeted him.

“This humble one, Yi Seonghak, greets the Boss.”

“You’ve worked hard. A return after six months, is it?”

The middle-aged man received Yi Seonghak’s greeting with a smile.

This middle-aged man with the powerful impression of a water dragon was none other than Jang Hamun, the Boss of the Sea Dragon Clan.

“Yes! I believe it’s been about that long.”

“How was it? Was there some success?”

“There is something I must tell you about that.”

Yi Seonghak’s voice dropped a notch. In turn, Jang Hamun’s gaze also sharpened.

Yi Seonghak pointed to the crate he had brought and whispered in Jang Hamun’s ear. At that, Jang Hamun’s eyes wavered.

Jang Hamun unknowingly raised his voice.

“Is that really true?”