Chapter 330

In that moment, the clerk felt a chill run down his spine. Goosebumps rose from his cervical vertebrae to the nape of his neck.

When he cautiously looked back, Pyo Wol was standing right in front of him.

“Wh-when?”

The clerk was so startled that he collapsed to the floor. But Pyo Wol didn’t even glance at him, instead looking inside the small window.

He could see Do Yeon-san crouching beyond the window.

Do Yeon-san wore a dazed expression, as if the world had crumbled. He didn’t even notice Pyo Wol watching him, just staring blankly into the air.

It was an expression only someone who had experienced a great loss could make.

“Do Yeon-san!”

Pyo Wol called out to Do Yeon-san, but he didn’t even stir.

Right now, Do Yeon-san was trapped inside a large egg of his own making. Unless he broke the shell and came out himself, no one could get him out.

Pyo Wol threw the necklace inside the window.

The necklace landed precisely on top of Do Yeon-san’s foot.

Pyo Wol said,

“This is the necklace that was on the body of a young girl found in the river near Tai Lake a little while ago.”

“……”

“The body showed signs of being violated and tortured by someone. The pattern on the Feather Needles I bought and the pattern engraved on the necklace were identical, so I brought it. The authorities have collected the body.”

“……”

Do Yeon-san still didn’t answer.

He just stared blankly into the air, as if he hadn’t heard Pyo Wol’s words.

Pyo Wol watched his face for a moment, then turned around.

With this, he had done all he could.

What happened next was all up to Do Yeon-san.

Whether he came to his senses and dealt with the situation, or remained lost in his own world, it was entirely his responsibility.

“H-hey?”

The clerk, who had collapsed on the floor, could only move his lips as he watched Pyo Wol’s back. He didn’t dare try to stop Pyo Wol.

He knew all too well what happened when you messed with a Martial Artist like Pyo Wol.

“What should I do?”

Normally, he should have reported everything that happened in the workshop to Tang Ikgi. But since Pyo Wol had just left and nothing particular had happened, he was hesitant to report it.

There was a high probability he would get beaten up for needlessly upsetting Tang Ikgi.

“Surely nothing will come of it, right?”

In the end, the clerk decided to bury what had happened today.

He closed the small window of the warehouse and returned to his original spot.

As the window closed, the light that had been entering the warehouse was completely blocked out.

At that moment, tears streamed down from Do Yeon-san’s unfocused eyes.

“Heuk!”

Suddenly, he began to sob.

Do Yeon-san carefully picked up the necklace that had been placed on his foot.

He knew without having to look.

He had made this necklace himself. The pattern he felt at his fingertips proved it.

“Heuk! Uoooh!”

Do Yeon-san let out a beast-like cry, curled up.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Do Yeon-san was no longer crying.

Instead, he began to think.

When people are faced with extreme situations, most want to escape. With his parents’ death, Do Yeon-san had also been denying reality and escaping into his own world.

But the news of his younger sister’s death pulled him back to reality.

His tears seemed to have dried up, as no more would come out.

“I will have my revenge.”

Do Yeon-san stood up.

His body was a wreck from being beaten by Tang Ikgi, and he had been crouching for a long time, so the simple act of standing up made his whole body scream. Still, Do Yeon-san endured the pain and moved.

He didn’t know why his life had become like this overnight, but he knew what he had to do right now.

Do Yeon-san put his sister’s necklace around his neck. Then he approached a corner of the warehouse wall.

This was a warehouse where the materials for the items made at the Iron Mountain Workshop were stored. Various materials were piled up on one side of the warehouse.

Until now, organizing this place had been Do Yeon-san’s job. This was because all the other Do-je had pushed the work onto him.

Thanks to that, Do Yeon-san knew well what materials were here. And he also knew the layout of the warehouse like the back of his hand. They didn’t know that the warehouse could be entered and exited by means other than the door.

Locking him in here was the wrong choice.

Do Yeon-san rummaged through the warehouse and found the items he wanted. Then he quietly slipped out of the warehouse.

The people of the Iron Mountain Workshop didn’t realize Do Yeon-san was gone until the next morning.

“What? Where did this bastard go?”

＊＊＊

Pyo Wol woke up early in the morning and had a meal.

By now, the cook and the Waiter brought him his meals on their own. Thanks to them, Pyo Wol didn’t have to worry about choosing his food.

Pyo Wol ate his meal while admiring the morning scenery as the sun rose.

No matter how delicious the food was, Pyo Wol never ate in a hurry. It was his habit to eat slowly, a little at a time.

The way Pyo Wol calmly moved his chopsticks was even elegant. Slowly but surely, the food on the plate was being cleared.

While eating, Pyo Wol gazed at the surface of Tai Lake, where the sunlight shattered. It was a scene he had seen several times already. But no matter how many times he saw it, he never got tired of it.

Pyo Wol thought he was living quite luxuriously.

He was just grateful for the current leisure of being able to eat a normal meal like other people and admire the surrounding scenery.

When he finished his meal, the Waiter brought him a teacup.

It wasn’t a famous tea, but the fragrant aroma told him it was of quite good quality.

Jjoreureuk!

Pyo Wol poured the tea into the cup and brought it to his lips.

He held the tea in his mouth for a moment, enjoying the aroma. His mouth felt refreshed, and his mood improved.

Pyo Wol was quite satisfied with this moment.

He lived in the harsh Jianghu where he didn’t know what would happen in the next Shichen, but a moment of leisure like this made him forget all his worries and anxieties. But Pyo Wol’s peace did not last long.

Kwang!

The door of the Inn was violently thrown open as if it would break from someone’s kick.

A group of people entered through the open door of the Inn.

“Aigoo!”

“They’re the Martial Artists of the Sword Flower Pavilion.”

The customers were the first to recognize the identity of those who had stormed into the Inn.

The people who entered the Inn were, unusually, all female Martial Artists. At the waists of the female Martial Artists were swords engraved with the same pattern.

The sword, engraved with a brightly blooming rose pattern, was the symbol of the Sword Flower Pavilion.

As if to prove that fact, Eum Yujeong stood at the head of the female Martial Artists. And next to Eum Yujeong, a middle-aged woman with a dignified appearance was looking at Pyo Wol with her back held straight.

Although she had aged, the middle-aged woman, who boasted an unapproachable atmosphere and a mature beauty, was none other than Go Yeon-su, the master of the Sword Flower Pavilion.

Go Yeon-su was one of the top Experts in Jiangsu Province.

With a woman’s body, she possessed such great martial prowess that she stood shoulder to shoulder with the hegemons of Jiangsu Province.

It was said that when Go Yeon-su was young, bloody battles were fought among young martial artists to win her. But in the end, Go Yeon-su chose to live alone, not embracing any man.

She secluded herself in the Sword Flower Pavilion and only trained in Martial Arts, and as a result, she was able to achieve her current accomplishments.

A frosty aura emanated from Go Yeon-su’s entire body. Under her aura, the customers in the Inn could barely even breathe.

Some of them, their faces pale, were just gaping like goldfish.

Go Yeon-su’s gaze was directed at Pyo Wol.

“Are you Pyo Wol?”

A thorny voice suddenly flowed from Go Yeon-su’s mouth.

Only then did Pyo Wol put down his teacup and look at Go Yeon-su.

Go Yeon-su’s expression as she looked at Pyo Wol was filled with disgust, as if she were about to die from it. It was as if she were looking at the filthiest thing in the world.

Pyo Wol was skilled at reading people’s psychology. Just by looking at Go Yeon-su’s eyes, he instantly understood what kind of feelings she had as she looked at him.

Pyo Wol hid his inner thoughts and said calmly,

“I never knew the master of the Sword Flower Pavilion was such a rude person.”

“How did you know I am the master of the Sword Flower Pavilion?”

“Wouldn’t it be stranger not to know? Is there any group in Tai Lake other than the Sword Flower Pavilion that would swarm in like this with only female Martial Artists?”

“You have a good head on your shoulders. I suppose that’s why you tried to rape a woman and cover it up.”

“Rape?”

“It’s no use denying it. We have a witness.”

Pyo Wol crossed his arms and looked at the Sword Flower Pavilion Martial Artists.

It was to grasp how the situation was unfolding.

He saw Eum Yujeong bowing her head behind Go Yeon-su. Eum Yujeong bowed her head to hide her expression, but Pyo Wol could clearly see the corners of her mouth turning up.

Pyo Wol’s gaze swept over the other female Martial Artists.

Some glared at Pyo Wol as if looking at an insect. Their eyes were filled with deep disgust. But a few Martial Artists avoided Pyo Wol’s gaze, or rather, looked at him with pitying eyes.

With just that, Pyo Wol could grasp their atmosphere.

Pyo Wol looked at Go Yeon-su again.

“So you’re saying I committed rape?”

“That’s right.”

“The proof?”

“I brought the victim. Let’s see if you can be so shameless in front of the victim.”

Go Yeon-su gestured. Then, the female Disciples who were outside the door brought in a woman in her late twenties.

The woman who entered was very beautiful. But her eyelids were deeply bruised as if she had been assaulted last night, and the parts of her body exposed outside her clothes also showed clear signs of assault.

The woman trembled as if she were afraid to even look at Pyo Wol.

Go Yeon-su pointed at the woman and said,

“This is the woman who was raped by you last night. She was raped by you who secretly broke into her house while she was sleeping.”

“What’s the proof that I did it?”

“This woman’s testimony is the proof.”

Go Yeon-su answered confidently.

The corners of her mouth, like Eum Yujeong’s, were drawing an arc.

Go Yeon-su knew very well how much of a stretch this was. But she also knew that this was a surprisingly effective method.

In this place right now, not only Pyo Wol but also others were eating. They were watching the situation with shining eyes, like wolves that had found their prey.

Through their mouths, what happened here now would spread throughout Tai Lake.

For now, it would be limited to Tai Lake, but soon it would spread beyond Jiangsu Province to the entire Jianghu.

The truth didn’t matter.

People only hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see.

Just by the rumor spreading that he forcibly raped a woman, Pyo Wol’s reputation would suffer a fatal blow.

It was difficult for a person to gain a reputation, but falling into the abyss was instantaneous.

Go Yeon-su knew this characteristic well and had learned how to maximize the effect.

‘No matter how strong his Martial Arts are, he can’t have much experience in the Jianghu.’

Go Yeon-su licked her lips with her red tongue.

Pyo Wol was a delicious prey.

It wasn’t just because he was young and handsome.

If the information secretly circulating in the Jianghu was true, there was no blade as useful as Pyo Wol.

Depending on how he was used, he could become a tremendous weapon.

The Sword Flower Pavilion’s power was inferior compared to the Nanjing Jo Family or the Janggang Stronghold.

The fact that all its Disciples were women could never be an advantage. Because no one wanted to get their hands dirty with filthy work.

If the Sword Flower Pavilion were to truly be reborn as a Sect representing Jiangsu Province, it needed a fixer who would take on the dirty work.

That was the reason Go Yeon-su had come to find Pyo Wol since morning.

There are many ways to subdue a newcomer to the Jianghu.

Among them, the most effective was the honey trap. But the honey trap had already been attempted by Eum Yujeong and had come to nothing, so it couldn’t be used again. So the choice was a frame-up.

If a promising young Martial Artist is branded with the stigma of having raped a woman, he will not be able to show his face in the Jianghu.

The truth didn’t matter.

It was useless even if the truth was revealed later.

Once such a perception is imprinted, it cannot be erased no matter how much time passes.

Go Yeon-su thought Pyo Wol would tremble and be flustered. But Pyo Wol neither trembled nor got excited as she had expected.

He just looked at Go Yeon-su with deeply sunken eyes.

Go Yeon-su momentarily felt a certain eerie emotion that could not be expressed in words.

It was as if her chest was being gouged by a sharp awl.

The smile that had been on Go Yeon-su’s face had disappeared before she knew it.

At that moment, Pyo Wol asked the woman who claimed to have been raped.

“I raped you?”

“Y-you broke into my room last night and r-raped me, didn’t you? I clearly remember your face and your breathing.”

“So you’re saying it’s true that I raped you?”

“I can swear on my honor.”

“It’s funny for a Courtesan to talk about honor.”

“What did you say?”

The woman’s voice became sharp.