Volume 5 Chapter 18 – Golden Leech

===================

Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

The Luoyang Sword Family, the Second Young Master’s camp.

Tactician Han Myeong-hwi’s office.

Han Myeong-hwi asked back in a voice that trembled unconsciously.

“…Empty-handed?”

“…I am sorry.”

The attitude of the Sheathed Blade Hound, a contractor also called a killer hound in Fuzhou, showed a demeanor unbecoming of his notoriety.

“…Empty-handed again?”

“…I am sorry.”

He bowed his head like a dog kicked by a foot tucking its tail.

“At least explain.”

Clutching his head, Han Myeong-hwi spoke through gritted teeth.

Han Myeong-hwi’s subordinate, who had moved together with the Sheathed Blade Hound, carefully opened his mouth instead.

“To recover the Sword Family Bronze Plaque that the Golden Spider possessed, we, who were tracking the existence called the Dark Venerable…”

“I do not need the introduction.”

The subordinate swallowed dry saliva and moved to the main point.

“The last sighting of the Dark Venerable was near the Valley of Sin. However…”

Han Myeong-hwi spoke instead, as if he had been at the scene.

“The Valley of Sin is already under the Fourth Young Master’s control, so you wouldn’t have even been able to investigate properly. Since that place, of all places, is the business district of the Fourth Young Master and the Eldest Young Master.”

“…”

“Thanks to that fellow, only the Eldest Young Master and the Fourth Young Master reaped easy benefits.”

The subordinates could say nothing.

“…Any news of the Inspection Department?”

“There is no information yet that the Inspection Department has moved to recover the Sword Family Bronze Plaque, but…”

“But the movements of the Central Inspection Department are unknown. So there is a possibility they have already moved. Since it is of a different nature than normal cases related to the Sword Family Bronze Plaque.”

Han Myeong-hwi, who had only been in the office, was speaking all the words that they, who had personally run around the field, should have said.

“…”

The subordinates shut their mouths.

For it meant nothing other than that their investigation was that lacking.

“…So just what on earth is that fellow called the Dark Venerable’s identity?”

No one could answer.

This time, it was a question not even Han Myeong-hwi could guess.

“Instead of the bullshit told by fortunetellers about ghosts or whatever like in the last investigation, and instead of the stories of eyewitnesses speaking nonsense, is there no decent information?”

“…”

First was the Golden Spider, whom he had recommended for the presentation of the Sword Family Bronze Plaque.

Next was the Valley of Sin, which had become the business site of the Eldest Young Master and the Fourth Young Master whom he had to face.

It was to the extent that he felt as if this fellow called the Dark Venerable was born solely to torment him.

“…Everyone, get out.”

The subordinates hastily vacated the office.

The veins bulging and writhing at Han Myeong-hwi’s temples allowed one to guess his rage.

The Dark Venerable, the Golden Spider, the Sword Family Bronze Plaque, the business of the Eldest Young Master and the Fourth Young Master. The new commander Elder Son was said to have invited.

Not a single thing was going properly.

Before the person called the new commander arrived, he did his best to obstruct the business of the Eldest Young Master and the Fourth Young Master.

He wanted to prove his usefulness somehow.

But all the means he devised and attempted were already shattered.

‘I expected that it would at least be able to buy some time…’

It was an administrative delay operation carried out by mobilizing every single connection and even going into debt for connections he did not have.

Even Tactician Choi, in charge of the Fourth Young Master, had joined in with the mind of sharing the same fate, but it was blown away cleanly.

“Eldest Young Master…!”

Han Myeong-hwi tore at his hair.

Just what kind of means did that monster-like fellow use, borrowing the power of giants he could not even attempt to approach, to sweep away the administration’s bureaucrats all at once.

Elder Son had not explicitly told him, but this time even he seemed not a little flustered.

Although he did not want to admit it…

‘Was the Eldest Young Master from the beginning not an existence of a scale that I could face?’

While admitting the opponent’s skill on one hand, he did not stop thinking on the other.

‘I am Han Myeong-hwi… I will not fall like this…’

For the power of thought was all he possessed, and the grit raised in the Shuraba of Shanghai was his foundation.

“…Even if I die, when I die, I will at least bite through his ankle ligaments.”

He sprang up from his seat.

The chair fell backward, but he did not care.

‘Yes. Let’s admit it. The opponent is larger than me. Stronger than me.’

Having gained an opportunity to come to the Luoyang Sword Family, which was not even in his destiny, he had been acting heavy, pretending to be dignified until now.

Leaning on the Second Young Master’s power, he had fallen into the fun of suppressing and playing tricks on those smaller than the Second Young Master.

‘But originally, my specialty was this side…’

Since that day in his childhood when he lost both parents and had to survive in the illegal slave market of Shanghai.

He was one who had survived by dragging big fellows into the mud and devouring them.

“Yes… the mud.”

To plunge the opponent into the mud, he had to dirty his own hands.

His head spun as if a layer of grime had been peeled off.

To the point it felt refreshing.

Soon, he was able to think of a single name he needed.

“Golden Leech.”

One of the six rulers reigning over the underworld of Luoyang, and the foster father of the Golden Spider.

Until now, there was no proper exchange between him and himself, and he was someone without any credibility to deal with.

He was an opponent far larger than Han Myeong-hwi, but it did not matter now.

He had already lost his foster daughter and the Black Bone Gang, which she had raised well, to the Dark Venerable.

And because of the business of the Eldest Young Master and the Fourth Young Master, he would be in a situation where he had no choice but to give up on rebuilding the businesses that were not a few in the Valley of Sin.

Whether he had grievances toward the Dark Venerable or the Eldest Young Master, he would have sufficient willingness to deal with himself.

Han Myeong-hwi immediately rushed out of his office.

* * *

“What?”

However, contrary to his high-spirited exit, Han Myeong-hwi felt the plan getting tangled from the very start.

“Uh, we are sorry, Tactician Han. We also do not have a contact method for the one called Golden Leech.”

Han Myeong-hwi scratched his forehead at the other’s absurd reply.

“Even the Great Immortal Merchant Group doesn’t know the contact method?”

Although the Great Immortal Merchant Group disguised itself under the name of a merchant group, it was in fact an information operations organization directly under the Second Young Master.

“Surely, were we and that Golden Leech fellow not in a cooperative relationship?”

“…That is true, but.”

The member of the Great Immortal Merchant Group, hesitating for a moment, rose from his seat.

“Please wait for a moment.”

While the member opened the door and left, Han Myeong-hwi stroked his chin with a puzzled expression.

‘Even at the headquarters of the South of the River Division, and even at the Great Immortal Merchant Group, they don’t know the contact method or meeting method for the Golden Leech?’

It was a strange thing.

‘But how could this so-called cooperative relationship have been established all this time?’

“Are you Tactician Han Myeong-hwi?”

When Han Myeong-hwi turned around, a high official of the Great Immortal Merchant Group was there.

* * *

‘Even the official of the Great Immortal Merchant Group knows nothing of the Golden Leech?’

Han Myeong-hwi returned to the headquarters of the South of the River Division and was searching through the records room.

‘Surely that official also seemed to know nothing. Just what on earth is going on?’

Although there were secrets of the Luoyang Sword Family that must never be leaked to the outside inside the records room at the South of the River Division headquarters, there was no information inaccessible to him who possessed access authority to the highest-grade secrets of the South of the River Division.

However.

“…Hey!”

As Han Myeong-hwi called, the records room management scribe, who had been buried under unclassified documents, sprang up.

“Yes! Tactician!”

Han Myeong-hwi shook a few thin documents and asked him.

“Are these documents all there is on the Golden Leech?”

The scribe received the documents from him, checked the index, and searched through the materials list.

“Uh… yes. That is correct. This is all of it.”

“…”

At that moment, Han Myeong-hwi was certain that he was approaching something ominous.

* * *

The Golden Leech.

The information remaining on him was merely the level of information Han Myeong-hwi had investigated as a formality before dealing with the Golden Spider.

An individual who appeared in Luoyang one day in the past and rapidly expanded his influence through high-interest private loans, human trafficking, and operating gambling houses.

That process was extremely efficient, brutal, and effective, so it did not take very long for him to become a giant of the Luoyang underworld.

“Why is there only this level of information…”

While Han Myeong-hwi sat in his empty office lost in thought, the door opened without even asking for permission.

“Who…?”

“Tactician Han…!”

The one who showed himself was Tactician Choi, in charge of the Fourth Young Master.

“…What is the matter?”

“Shh!”

Ignoring Han Myeong-hwi’s question, Tactician Choi verified that no one was outside, locked the door, and then approached Han Myeong-hwi.

“Answer quietly.”

Even then, Tactician Choi spoke with his voice lowered as much as possible.

“…Just what on earth did you do today? An emergency report regarding you has gone to Elder Son from the Great Immortal Merchant Group.”

Indeed, it was certain that something was there.

After hesitating for a moment, Han Myeong-hwi laid bare all the talk concerning the Golden Leech.

“…Indeed, it was because of ‘that man’ that the Great Immortal Merchant Group sent the emergency report.”

“That man? Do you know something about the Golden Leech?”

Tactician Choi hastily blocked Han Myeong-hwi’s mouth.

“Do not speak that man’s name aloud…!”

With his mouth blocked, Han Myeong-hwi looked at Tactician Choi with a face that asked what he meant.

“If I tell you not to speak it, do not do it! Understood?!”

When Han Myeong-hwi nodded, only then did Tactician Choi remove his hand from blocking Han Myeong-hwi’s mouth.

“…Just who is that man? What kind of fellow is he that we cannot even speak his name?”

At Han Myeong-hwi’s question, Tactician Choi sighed.

“I do not know either.”

“No, are you playing around with me now…!”

Just as Han Myeong-hwi was about to lose his temper, Tactician Choi’s words followed.

“But I know that if you speak that man’s name, you will be cursed before you even know it.”

“…A curse?”

Han Myeong-hwi’s face distorted completely.

“Were you a person who believed in such superstitions?”

Tactician Choi replied seriously.

“Whether I believe it or not, that is not important.”

“Think logically, please, logically.”

Han Myeong-hwi let out a sigh.

“If simply speaking that name would trigger that so-called curse or whatever in the first place, wouldn’t more than half the people living in Luoyang have had problems?”

However, at Tactician Choi’s following words, Han Myeong-hwi also shut his mouth.

“But even Elder Son never speaks that man’s name.”

“…”

Elder Son was one of the people furthest from superstition whom Han Myeong-hwi knew.

“In the past, I had investigated that man for some reason. Just like you now. And I received a warning from Elder Son to not try to look into him anymore. Probably, in a little while, you too will hear it directly from Elder Son.”

“…”

“One of the things I found out at that time was…”

Tactician Choi lowered his voice even further.

“…That man, only the Second Young Master, our Lord, knows his contact method.”

“…Only our Lord?”

Han Myeong-hwi realized now that he was not approaching something ominous, but was pushing his head first into the maw of some terrible thing.

“Just who on earth is that man…”

Just as Han Myeong-hwi was about to say something, the sound of knocking on his office door drifted over.

“Tactician Han Myeong-hwi. Elder Son is looking for you urgently.”

“…”

To Han Myeong-hwi, who was swallowing dry saliva, Tactician Choi quickly advised.

“Just answer that you understand no matter what. Understood?”

At that moment, Han Myeong-hwi thought.

If it was a person that dangerous, he could easily drag the Eldest Young Master or the Dark Venerable into the mud.