The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 87 : Avoiding the Tiger (2)

The ruffians who had come to their senses were one by one, with difficulty, pulling their bodies, which had been stuck in the walls or the ceiling. Jang Hyeon-ik, who had somehow managed to pull his body, which had been stuck in the ceiling, out and barely put his two feet on the ground, sneezed loudly in the cold wind.

After taking a breath, he saw that the little child, who had been swinging people around like a Diamond Guardian, was chewing on beef jerky right next to him.

"Ugh!"

Jang Hyeon-ik, frightened by his own accord, did the 'lazy donkey rolling on the ground'. Startled, he rolled his body once.

It wasn't just him; the others also created distance with the 'lazy donkey rolling on the ground'. The sight of them screaming and rolling in turn was so funny that Jang So-gil let out a chuckle.

"Look at those guys with bodies the size of mountains, rolling around... If you have two balls, take one off."

"Uh, uh. Uh, damn. Since I said it, I can't even say anything."

Jang Hyeon-ik, embarrassed, scratched the back of his head and licked his lips.

But what was this? When he came to his senses, wasn't his lovely wife kneeling in front of the complete scoundrel from the Martial Alliance?

"This can't be, honey! I'll save you!"

My poor wife! How much must she have been intimidated while I was unconscious!

Jang Hyeon-ik, for his wife's sake, firmly gripped his greatsword and took a step forward.

He really couldn't see anything. Jang So-gil pressed his brow firmly.

"A bastard who rushed at me with a sword, saying he would bury me, is throwing a fit. If you pretend to be a victim, I get a little pissed off."

"I'm sorry. I'll quiet him down."

"Tsk."

His wife turned around with a glare and opened her eyes wide. It was a sign that she was very angry.

Startled, Son Chun threatened Jang Hyeon-ik, who was pulling his body back.

"Honey, sit there quietly."

"But..."

"Are you going to make me say it twice?"

"..."

Jang Hyeon-ik could not understand how things were going. But since he was scared of his wife, he sat down and watched.

What on earth was going on?

Jang So-gil nonchalantly brought up the subject.

"Looking at him, I remembered something I had forgotten."

"What are you talking about, great person?"

"It's about the obstruction of public duty, threats, and attempted injury, of course."

"Ah..."

"Our Dharma Protector Ye was so surprised that she's still just standing there, tearing at beef jerky, isn't she? I will claim two hundred taels each for the crime of contempt and for the compensation for mental damage. If you pay up right now, I'll let it go for one hundred taels per count. What will you do? Will you compensate now, or will you compensate later?"

To think he was pretending to have just thought of it when he had planned it from the beginning!

On top of that, he was claiming four hundred taels, two hundred each?

The money to be taken by the Martial Alliance was just over three hundred taels, and the money he was asking for as compensation for damages was four hundred taels!

If he paid up right now, it would be discounted to half, two hundred taels. Was he thinking it was conscientious because the belly button was at least smaller than the belly?

But she couldn't say anything.

It was true that she had obstructed the execution of public duty. It was also true that she had tried to kill and bury him.

Since all her attempts to bribe him had failed, it was a relief if she could get away with it with money.

Because in this situation, she couldn't complain even if her head was cut off right now.

Son Chun, with a fake smile, tried to cover her bitter feelings.

And she replied with a smiling eye.

"Is there any doubt, great person? I will prepare it right away."

"Good."

She glanced at Jang Hyeon-ik and glared at him.

'I told you to stop from the beginning!'

'W-what, I don't know what it is, but I'm sorry.'

'When these people are all gone. You, be prepared.'

'Heek-!'

Jang So-gil can see the usual relationship between the couple.

As Jang So-gil grinned, Ye-er stealthily approached and asked.

"I earned two hundred taels, so did I do well?"

"You did well. Very well."

The appearance of Yang Gwan, which gave pressure, was a good talent as a Dharma protector because it could prevent fights in advance. In contrast, the appearance of Ye-er, which made the opponent underestimate her, was not a very good talent as a Dharma protector.

But this was an unspeakably good talent for the talent of fraud and extortion. Because the talent of calling for the opponent's first punch was an ability that could not be easily seen in a master.

Anyway, the one who tried to hit first was in the wrong. The opponent had obstructed the execution of public duty and had made him feel a threat to his life by using force.

This was not a bribe or illegal accumulation of wealth, but a just demand for compensation for damages. If he went around with Ye-er, he would be able to pocket a handsome side income.

"How long are you going to make my hand feel awkward?"

"U-uh. H-h-here it is."

His precious, hard-earned money was being torn away. Son Chun held out the bill with a trembling hand.

Two hundred taels. For free money, it was too much.

Putting it in his bosom, Jang So-gil smiled faintly.

"Dharma Protector Ye, for the next ten days, order whatever you want to eat."

"Ten days? Really. Everything I want to eat?"

"Of course. You can order everything."

"Five-spice pork and. Tanghulu too?"

"Are you going to be satisfied with just that?"

"Then?"

"How about bird's nest soup?"

Five-spice pork was a dish of pork braised with five spices and soy sauce. Tanghulu was a snack of hawthorn berries coated with malt and honey and frozen.

And bird's nest soup was a dish made from the nest of a swiftlet, and it was a very expensive high-class dish loved by emperors because its texture was good and it was very nutritious.

Even though Ye-er was the young palace lord of the Nan Yue Beast Palace, she was still a person of Nan Yue. Even the palace lord, Ye Daesan, could not easily eat bird's nest soup.

He had heard that she had eaten it only once in the central plains in the past.

To think she could eat bird's nest soup, a food of imagination?

Saliva naturally pooled in Ye-er's mouth.

In fact, even Jang So-gil, who was speaking calmly, had never eaten bird's nest soup.

Because that was a food that emperors or great powerful people ate.

"Isn't it expensive?"

"One serving will probably be about twenty silver taels."

"Twenty!"

The price was beyond imagination, and she was dumbfounded.

As Ye-er looked with trembling eyes, Jang So-gil grinned.

"It's an incredibly expensive dish, but well, it's not money I earned, but money you earned. Eat up."

Ye-er's eyes sparkled.

Jang So-gil turned his gaze from such a Ye-er and accepted the document that Son Chun had written.

The illegal acts that those under the influence of the Jangchun Store and those who were not had committed were written down in detail. Not only the embezzlement using the special circumstances of the Western Great Mountain, the tax exemption privilege of the Daoist sects, but also a lot of other shames. Reading the document, Jang So-gil clicked his tongue.

'To think they were gathering such information. I wonder if they were planning to seize the entire Western Great Mountain someday instead of staying in this area, or if they were gathering information as insurance.'

From now on, he would have to cross-verify whether the contents of this denunciation were reliable information.

It would not be difficult.

Since Son Chun had broken the dam of trust by selling the information of her colleagues in the same industry, the response of those who had been ambushed was only one.

Jang So-gil grinned and asked Ye-er.

"Do you know how much lightness skill is needed to escape from a tiger?"

"Escape? I don't run away. I fight back."

"That's the answer of a martial artist. Then shall we hear the answer of a merchant? Madam Son, do you know how fast you have to be to escape from a tiger?"

Son Chun's body stiffened.

She had easily read Jang So-gil's intention. Because this was a rather famous maxim in the commercial world.

A tiger had appeared in the peaceful Huashan.

His name was Jang So-gil. A ferocious tiger with the prestige of the Martial Alliance on its back.

What should one do to avoid this tiger?

An ordinary person cannot run faster than a tiger.

Moreover, the tiger named Jang So-gil was not just a tiger, but a mountain lord. He read people's minds using mysterious Daoist arts and sorcery, and he smashed things that bothered him with his thick front paws.

Then what should one do?

"You wouldn't need a level faster than a tiger."

"Then?"

"You just have to be a little faster than the person next to you."

You can't be faster than a tiger. You don't need to be.

You just have to be faster than the person next to you, and you just have to trip the person next to you.

If you fell first, there's even less you can do. You have to make the person next to you fall too.

That way, you get eaten together.

That way, I get eaten less.

Son Chun, who answered while hesitating and hesitating. Hearing her small, whispering voice, Jang So-gil smiled with satisfaction.

"This is the answer of a merchant. It's the right answer."

Jang So-gil, who had heard the answer he wanted to hear, stood up from his seat.

"Madam Son is wise, so you will be able to recover sufficiently even after paying all the money. In consideration of your denunciation, I will not pursue the other crimes."

To think she was the first to decide to trip the person next to her, what a wise merchant she was.

Jang So-gil smiled faintly and patted Son Chun's shoulder.

Although she had received a compliment, she was not happy at all.

* * *

From that day on, Jang So-gil set up a place in a suitable inn and began to leisurely take care of his business. It was because there was no need to hurry so much from now on.

Now, even if he just stayed still, the ghost sects of the Western Great Mountain would get antsy and denounce each other. They would not tolerate even one person getting away without a loss and would move to push each other into Jang So-gil's net.

"So, it's right to deal with them one by one for sure, but, let's just deal with two places a day."

"Yes."

Ye-er, who had ordered a lot of expensive food and was eating, nodded her head excitedly.

The food of the central plains was much more delicious than that of Nan Yue. Expensive food was faaar more delicious. Since he was letting her eat delicious things, she liked this job very much.

As she was happily eating the fragrant vegetables, she suddenly asked.

"But."

"Yes?"

"Why does So-gil do this kind of work?"

"This kind of work, this kind of work. What do you mean?"

"Taxes, aren't they the country's business?"

"That's a very sound argument."

Even Ye-er knew it. The other merchants and Daoists would probably think so too. Jang So-gil nodded his head and shook his chopsticks.

"You're right. Although this matter involves the martial world, so it's also under the jurisdiction of the Martial Alliance. But since the majority of the amount to be collected is the country's taxes, it's actually closer to the work of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. If I were to collect a thousand taels, the country would take nine hundred of it first, and the money that falls to the Martial Alliance would be less than a hundred taels. It's just one-tenth."

"Ung."

"As an inspector of the Martial Alliance, I have the right to take one-tenth of the amount I have collected. But since it's one-tenth of the one-tenth that the Martial Alliance takes, how many pennies would that be? It's not really a job I have to do."

"Then why do you do it?"

"It would be a rather long story if I were to tell it at length. Do you really want to hear it now?"

"No. I'll focus on my food."

"A wise decision. I also don't like talking about work while eating. Waiter, another bowl of knife-cut noodles here."

Really, no matter how much he ate, he never got tired of the knife-cut noodles of Huashan.

It was when Jang So-gil was smiling and resting his chin on his hand.

A man approached.

A black Daoist robe. Beautiful plum blossoms embroidered on the sleeves and the long hem of the robe.

A Daoist sword tied to his waist. A plum blossom ornament hanging from the end of that Daoist sword.

The man, who had gathered the gazes of his surroundings in one body, spoke to Jang So-gil.

"I would really like to hear that story."

At a glance, he was a Plum Blossom Swordsman of the Huashan Sect.

(End of Chapter)