Gu Ya-soo, the leader of the Beast Gang, watched his subordinates counting money.
It was protection money collected from the market.
“Three hundred Nyang.”
A subordinate brought over a heavy money pouch.
“We’re going to go broke because of one damn bastard. Where is that bastard Gong Pae now?”
His right-hand man, Yang, who was standing beside him, answered.
“He was released from the Martial Alliance branch, so he’s probably off drinking somewhere.”
“Tell him to come see me the moment he gets back.”
“Yes.”
The three hundred Nyang was a bribe for the Martial Alliance branch leader.
Normally, they paid him monthly, so he should have just let it slide, but he demanded three hundred Nyang as the price for releasing Gong Pae.
But they couldn't just leave Gong Pae to rot in the Thunder Prison.
Gong Pae was essential to the Beast Gang.
They needed a son of a bitch like him to scare the merchants into paying up without a fuss.
“What about that girl who reported him? Did she run away?”
“Her mother is sick, so she won’t be able to flee.”
“You said she was pretty? I see. That’s why that bastard Gong Pae got all worked up. Once things quiet down, sell her to a faraway courtesan house. We need to make back at least half the money we lost because of that wench.”
“Understood.”
“And make sure that idiot Gong Pae can’t touch her.”
“Understood. Oh, and the Long Blade Gang has encroached on our territory again.”
“Those bastards!”
The Long Blade Gang was a rival dark faction from a nearby area.
Whenever there was a dispute over interests, they always clashed.
“There are rumors that they’ve recruited a master.”
“What kind of master?”
“I don’t know. They say he’s an unknown master, but I suspect they’re acting up because they’re relying on him.”
Just as Gu Ya-soo scoffed, a subordinate rushed in from outside and reported urgently.
“There are intruders.”
At the word intruders, Gu Ya-soo immediately had someone summoned.
“Call for Martial Artist Cheon.”
The reason he could afford to scoff even if the Long Blade Gang had recruited a new master was precisely because of the master called Cheon.
Gu Ya-soo was the only one who knew a secret about Cheon.
The fact that Cheon was from the Demon Sect.
A master from the Demon Sect, Cheon!
It was because of him that the Beast Gang had been able to grow this much.
When Gu Ya-soo and Yang went outside, the intruders were walking across the Training Grounds.
Seeing them approach from a distance, Gu Ya-soo was startled.
“What?”
There were two intruders, a man with incredible muscles and a slender young man.
Their leisurely pace seemed more like a visit than an intrusion.
Of course, they were Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon.
Yang quickly said, “I think they were sent by the Long Blade Gang.”
“The master they supposedly recruited this time?”
“Yes. Who else could it be?”
Gu Ya-soo nodded.
In this area, the only ones who would dare attack them were the Long Blade Gang.
“Where is Martial Artist Cheon?”
“He will be out shortly.”
About twenty members of the Beast Gang emerged from all sides, drawing their weapons and surrounding the two men.
“Who are you?”
At Gu Ya-soo’s question, Geom Mugeuk looked around and spoke.
“You've made a hell outside, but you live well in here.”
The Beast Gang’s base was a newly built manor.
The building he lived in, in particular, was luxuriously constructed with no expense spared on expensive materials.
“I asked who you are.”
Kill them, or make them kneel.
The command that would normally have come out did not leave his lips.
It was because of the muscular man next to the youth.
Having gone through all sorts of trials in the dark factions, Gu Ya-soo had seen all kinds of nasty-looking men, but this was the first time he had seen someone so terrifying.
Geom Mugeuk spoke to Gu Ya-soo.
“Do you know why you keep asking who I am instead of why I’m here? It's because you've made a habit of first deciding whether you can kill someone or not.”
After he finished speaking, Geom Mugeuk began to walk briskly toward Gu Ya-soo.
Startled, Gu Ya-soo shouted at his subordinates.
“Kill them!”
The Beast Gang members rushed at Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk dodged the incoming attacks and began to throw his fists.
To Gu Ya-soo, it didn't look powerful at all.
Just a light thud.
Then another light thud.
He was good at dodging, too.
He lightly avoided the attacks coming from all sides and landed a punch on each one.
One guy in the face.
Another in the stomach.
He was fast, but the attacks seemed to lack any power, and Gu Ya-soo was inwardly relieved.
‘He’s nothing special!’
That was exactly what he thought.
He felt that the real problem was the muscular man who stood by without joining the fight.
“Get up! Get up and attack him together! Stab him in the back!”
But the subordinates who had been knocked down by a single punch did not get up.
“Stop faking it and get up! Those bastards!”
He understood.
If he thought he had to fight the muscular man after getting up, he too would have pretended to be unconscious.
“Ugh. To think I relied on people like that.”
In the meantime, all twenty men who had stepped forward were down.
Yang kicked a subordinate who had fallen nearby to wake him up.
Geom Mugeuk let him be.
“Get up if you don’t want to die!”
He was hit with a gentle tap and lost consciousness? Anyone could see he was faking it.
He didn't move even when kicked.
Feeling something was strange, Yang examined the fallen subordinate more closely.
Yang flinched.
The subordinate was dead.
He checked the subordinate who had fallen next to him, and he too was dead.
Yang could tell.
All his subordinates were dead.
Yang slowly looked up at Geom Mugeuk.
At that moment, his eyes met Geom Mugeuk’s.
The indifferent gaze was cold and eerie.
‘He’s a true master!’
Yang realized that if he uttered a single wrong word, he would die on the spot.
Geom Mugeuk had shown no mercy.
This was to ensure that no one would survive and try to take revenge by harming Seok-i’s family.
Just then, Cheon appeared.
He must have drunk a lot yesterday, as his hair was disheveled, and he looked extremely haggard due to his unshaven beard.
He had also gained a belly since he first joined the Beast Gang.
Still, Gu Ya-soo wasn't worried.
So far, there had never been an enemy that Cheon couldn't handle.
“Get rid of both of them.”
Cheon strode forward.
He paid no mind to the fallen Beast Gang members.
The skills of those ruffians were obvious anyway.
As it happened, he was formerly of the Eastern Fist Hall’s Iron Fists.
He had made it to the Blue Fists but couldn't endure the harsh training and fled the Demon Sect.
After that, he had been hiding out with the Beast Gang.
All sorts of people had targeted Gu Ya-soo, but they had all died at his hands.
In return, he received enough money to enjoy a life of pleasure.
In this third-rate dark faction world, his skills at the Blue Fists level were enough to make him a Fist Demon.
Whoosh.
Cheon's fist, aimed to crush Geom Mugeuk’s head, stopped in mid-air.
It wasn't that his attack had been dodged so easily.
The problem was Geom Mugeuk’s next words.
“Isn't this the Blue Fists martial art?”
Cheon was utterly shocked.
It was the first time anyone had recognized his martial art.
Only then did one person truly come into Cheon’s view.
The large man who had been looking at the sky with his back turned, turned his head this way.
The moment he saw that face!
“Aaargh!”
A scream truly erupted from Cheon’s lips.
He was so startled he thought his heart would burst.
The hangover that had tormented him all day vanished in an instant.
Gu Ya-soo, who was looking at Cheon's back, couldn't see it, but Yang could.
Cheon’s contorted face.
He wondered if such deep despair and fear could ever be etched on a human face.
The Fist Demon spoke softly, as if to himself.
“You used my martial art to be a goon for some dark faction lowlife?”
There was no emotion in the Fist Demon’s words.
The moment he finished speaking.
Smack! Crack!
Cheon struck his own crown and committed suicide.
He knew.
He could neither escape nor be forgiven.
And that dying at the hands of the Fist Demon would be far more painful.
At the sight, Gu Ya-soo’s mind went blank.
Such a strange thing had happened that he couldn't think at all.
Geom Mugeuk walked past Yang and said, “Follow me.”
“Yes!”
Yang followed his command respectfully, as if Geom Mugeuk were his leader.
When Geom Mugeuk came right up to him, Gu Ya-soo came to his senses.
There was only one thing he could rely on now.
“Do you know who is behind us? If you touch us, there will be consequences.”
“Who’s behind you?”
“The Martial Alliance.”
“Does the entire Martial Alliance belong to you?”
“The branch leader here is backing me. If you touch me, he will not stand by idly.”
Geom Mugeuk said to Yang, “You can bring the branch leader here, can’t you?”
It must not have been an easy task, as Yang hesitated.
“Just bring him here, and you will be the new leader of the Beast Gang.”
“I will bring him, no matter what it takes.”
Gu Ya-soo glared daggers at Yang as he ran off without hesitation.
“Damn bastard.”
He hadn't expected to be betrayed so easily.
He was his right-hand man, after all.
After Yang left, Geom Mugeuk said, “No need to be so angry. I was lying about making him the leader.”
Gu Ya-soo’s expression relaxed slightly.
“It's not like you're new to the dark faction life. You know you're all going to die, right?”
Gu Ya-soo’s expression hardened again.
He sensed that he was included in the ‘all’ that Geom Mugeuk had mentioned.
“Please spare my life.”
Geom Mugeuk said to him, “If you give me the evidence of the bribes you gave the branch leader.”
Gu Ya-soo’s eyes darted around.
“If you don’t have it, you’ll just die.”
The moment Geom Mugeuk clenched his fist, Gu Ya-soo shouted.
“I have it! It’s in the safe.”
Geom Mugeuk had him lead the way to the safe.
His hands trembled as he opened it.
He wondered what he was doing, and a belated sense of fear washed over him.
The fact that Cheon, whom he had trusted so much, had committed suicide was a huge blow.
“Here it is.”
He took out a ledger from the safe.
In it were recorded the details of the bribes given to the Martial Alliance branch leader and all sorts of corrupt acts the branch leader had committed.
“Go and move the corpses somewhere out of sight.”
Gu Ya-soo walked toward the bodies.
‘This is my chance!’
He had planned to run away at the first opportunity, but he found that the inner energy in his energy core had been suppressed, rendering it useless.
‘Since when?’
Left with no choice, Gu Ya-soo moved the bodies.
Moving more than twenty corpses without inner energy made him sweat profusely.
Having lived his whole life without lifting a finger, this task felt like hell.
After arduously moving all the bodies, Gu Ya-soo went to Geom Mugeuk.
“They’ve all been moved.”
“It’s hard, isn’t it? Feeling helpless?”
“…Yes.”
“The emotions felt by the people who suffered at your hands were a hundred, a thousand times worse than this. Individually, you all are truly insignificant, but you run around in packs, scaring, stealing, beating, and killing people.”
“I will turn over a new leaf from now on.”
“A dark faction man repenting? How uncouth. Keep doing bad things. Just do them at the place I’ll introduce you to. There will be plenty of colleagues, so it should be fine.”
“Where is it?”
“Here.”
Geom Mugeuk’s fist flew at him.
Second Fist Form, Thunder Asura.
Papapapapapapapapak!
Dozens of punches, fast as lightning, struck him, and he died, turned into a bloody mess without even a chance to scream.
Geom Mugeuk threw his body into the warehouse with the other corpses.
He attached no meaning to the man’s death.
A short while later, the Martial Alliance branch leader, Baek Chul, arrived.
“What’s that smell of blood? You bastards, didn’t I tell you to stop killing so many people?”
Baek Chul nagged at Yang as he entered the place.
He was so used to coming and going that he treated it like his own home.
“What important matter did you call a busy person like me here for?”
Seeing Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon, he flinched.
“Who are they?”
“They are the martial artists we newly recruited.”
At Yang's natural response, Baek Chul looked surprised.
“Where did you find a giant like that? He’d earn his keep just by standing there. But where’s your master?”
Yang replied nonchalantly.
“It seems he has stepped out for a moment.”
Just then, Geom Mugeuk spoke to Baek Chul.
“How could you just release a man who assaulted and raped a girl?”
Baek Chul shot Yang a look that said, ‘What is this?’ Are they new, so they don’t know me? Didn't you train them properly?
But Yang just watched the situation unfold silently.
Baek Chul sensed from Yang's unusual reaction that something was wrong.
Baek Chul answered calmly, “Ah, that case. He was released due to a lack of evidence.”
“The girl’s entire body was a mess, and Gong Pae boasted about it to his dark faction buddies. What do you mean, lack of evidence? You didn’t even investigate, did you?”
Baek Chul was inwardly furious, but given the atmosphere, he couldn't retort.
“Would you have just let him go if it had happened to your family?”
At the mention of his family, Baek Chul's face hardened instantly.
“You son of a bitch, I’ve had enough of you.”
“Does talking about your family upset you? So your family is precious, but other people’s families are just annoying burdens that deserve to suffer?”
In that moment, Baek Chul considered drawing his sword but decided to hold back for now.
‘I’ll throw them all in prison later.’
Getting out of this situation was the priority.
Baek Chul smiled and spoke nicely.
“Please understand. Even the Main Sect has its laws.”
“Laws for who? You? The Beast Gang? Who, exactly?”
Faced with Geom Mugeuk’s cold demeanor, Baek Chul took a step back.
“I don’t know who you are, but I am a Martial Alliance branch leader. If you touch me, you will become a Public Enemy of the Martial World!”
“That won’t happen. I know someone in the Martial Alliance, so I will inform them of your crimes and the situation here by dispatch.”
“To whom?”
“There’s a high-ranking person up there. The one who wanted to make me his son-in-law.”
Baek Chul wondered what kind of nonsense this was, but he held his tongue for now.
“My crimes? Do you have proof?”
Geom Mugeuk took out the ledger he had gotten from the Beast Gang.
“You took quite a lot of bribes from the Beast Gang. You even had them kill people for your own interests.”
“What are you talking about? I have done no such thing.”
“Do you think you can deny it? They kept a meticulous record of everything.”
Baek Chul’s expression hardened.
“He’s framing me!”
“I don’t think so. He wasn't in a position to lie.”
Baek Chul thought he had to get that ledger, whatever it took.
Getting rid of them would come after that.
“How much will it take? For that ledger, I’ll give you…”
Whoooooosh.
Thwack!
Baek Chul vanished from before his eyes.
He was sent flying into a distant wall, his body shattered, and he died instantly.
Now left alone, Yang watched his chance and said, “So, from now on, I am the leader of the Beast Gang…”
Whoooosh!
Thwack!
Yang also vanished from sight.
He flew in the opposite direction and lay in a bloody heap.
The one who had sent them flying was the Fist Demon.
He had sent them to the other world with a single punch.
“Let’s go.”
The Fist Demon’s gaze seemed to say, why are you even bothering to talk with people like this?
“I was going to ask for about a million nyang for the ledger.”
“Stop with the nonsense.”
“Just a moment.”
Geom Mugeuk buried the ledger in a corner of the courtyard.
If he sent a dispatch telling the Alliance Leader where it was buried, the investigators he sent would take care of it.
He also planned not to forget to ask him to take good care of Seok-i’s family.
Watching Geom Mugeuk, the Fist Demon said, “You are very meticulous.”
“You have to be meticulous when helping people. It’s good to help others, but if you don’t finish the job properly because it’s a hassle, the one who ends up getting hurt is the person who received help. I get to feel good, but they're the one who suffers the consequences. That wouldn't be right, would it?”
Unexpected words came from the Fist Demon’s mouth.
“I don’t think you should become the Heavenly Demon.”
“Why is that?”
“The Heavenly Demon has to deal with so many people. How could you endure with such a mindset? If you try to take care of everything so meticulously, you will go mad first.”
“Now that I hear it, that makes sense. Understood. Instead of Heavenly Demon, I’ll just be your disciple, Fist Demon Sovereign.”
The Fist Demon stared at me for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“That was the best attempt so far.”
“You almost fell for it. What a shame.”
Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon walked out of the manor side by side.
Just as when they entered, the Fist Demon's back filled the entire entrance as they left.
Fortunately, the Fist Demon didn't say anything about returning to the Sect.
His eyes asked where they were going next, and Geom Mugeuk smiled and said, “This time, it’s a place you will enjoy even more than I, Fist Demon Sovereign.”