“Ha! Look at this crazy fella?”

The big player, Jong Risang, of the Jong families’ central special forces unit, made a face of disbelief.

The Biho special forces unit was the military unit of the Jong clan but their main role was to collect the taxes form the Black thieves within the vicinity.

Ever since they were crushed by Cheonma this was their only means of procuring funds.

And surprisingly this method was quite satisfying.

They weren’t largely concerned about getting caught by the regulations either.

As long as they didn’t cross the line all they had to do was close one eye.

There were no issues of being exposed in the future as well.

They simply had to hide their transactions.

But it didn’t mean that they regulated all of the black thieves as they were within the Jong household.

Some of them didn’t care.

Occasionally the black thieves were a bigger force and for these cases, they compromised a deal.

So this method exploited the weaker black thieves.

That was until now.

Today they refused to pay up.

It was ridiculous.

“They refused to pay their dues?”

“Yes. They refused.”

“So what did you do. Just told them okay and come back?”

“What could I possibly do alone. He was too assertive. As if he had someone watching his back.”

Jong Risang smirked.

“Ya right as if. Maybe they managed to scout a professional. Didn’t something like this happen a while ago?”

“Yes, it happened once five years ago. I can’t quite recall the professional they scouted…what was his name.”

“I can’t recall either. Did we cut off one of the blood pack clan lead’s arm? Or was it a wrist?”

“We cut his limbs. The lead now was the second lead then.”

“Yes. That had happened before and they’re doing it again?”

“Well, maybe the professional they scouted is a stronger one.”

“So you were scared to be beaten up by this professional and came back without doing anything?”

“It seemed very real.”

The subordinate did not lose a word.

Jong risang smiled and stood up.

“Let’s go. It’s been a while. So let’s go and remind them who we are with a good beating.”

Just when they were about to make a move another subordinate came rushing in.

Jong Risang’s face froze. He had been another one who had gone to collect their dues.

“My lord, they say they won’t pay their dues.”

“Are you another one to run back here because they were assertive?”

“Oh? How did you know? It seems like they have an ally. They were too confident.”

Before Jong risang could reply another one came running with the same look.

He then realized that something was going on.

“Did all these scums go crazy on drugs?”

***

“My prince, is it really okay to do this?”

“What do you mean?”

“To spread the weakness of the Jong’s household like this it would definitely cause a problem in the future.”

Taesan smirked.

“Problem? What problem?”

“I doubt the Jong’s will sit back and watch if they find out?”

“And how would they know who did it?”

“What? But it was obviously you and I….”

“That’s why we wore masks.”

Gyeongwan was stunned. This was pretending that nothing ever happened.

“But they’ll be able to find out with a little investigation. The fact that you and I were here means something already.”

“They wouldn’t have the mind to.”

Gyeongwan shook his head. Taesan was taking this situation too lightly than he’d thought.

“My prince, a few collective uprising from the black thieves won’t be detrimental to the Jong’s. They may find it a nuisance but will be able to deal with the situation pretty quickly.”

That was the power of an established household.

Had they not risen back up from the shambles that Cheonma had left them in.

“What do you think it means when an elite household earns from the thieves?”

“Huh? I guess…”

“That they are short on money. And will soon topple.”

“But that doesn’t mean much. And will be eventually resolved.”

And besides, it didn’t seem possible that the thieves could fight the Jong’s even after learning of their weakness.

“The pros of the thieves are their numbers. If all of them cause an uprising together the Jong’s will have to split up their forces and that will be their cause of failure.”

Even that didn’t solve the problem.

Even if you knew the opponent’s weakness if you lacked the skill it was completely useless.

You needed a certain level of skill to make use of someone else’s weakness.

“They may win for a short while at the start but it will be difficult to sustain.”

“That is true.”

Gyeongwan looked at Taesan in disbelief as he consented to his rebuttals so easily.

“Isn’t that a big deal.”

“Not a big deal. That’s why we are here.”

Taesan pointed at the place with his chin making Gyeongwan’s eyes grow large.

“The Dongho foundation?”

“Have you heard of them before?”

“It’s the first time.”

“Guess they’re not that famous.”

“No, so why are we…”

“Because they are going to fight with the Jong clan.”

“What?? Them? Why would they fight with the Jong clan? Even if they do are they skilled enough to match up to them?”

“They can.”

Taesan swiftly headed towards the Dongho foundation.

Gyeongwan stared blankly at Taesan’s back before coming back to his sense and catching up with him.

I do trust Taesan and believe he is a genius, but this really didn’t seem like a good plan.

But what could I do, but believe him till the end.

To be honest he wasn’t sure that the Black thieves would do what Taesan told them to do either.

Even though everything didn’t make sense, somehow Taesan made it possible.

***

“What brings you here?”

The guard guarding the gates asked carefully.

Taesan answered with a poker face.

“I’ve come to meet the owner.”

“What? The owner?”

Taesan pointed with his chin.

“Lead the way.”

The guard obeyed Taesan’s orders without himself being aware.

“This…This way.”

A fellow guard looked on as if this was a typical scene.

When it had finally occurred to them that something was odd they had already reached the office of Owner Pyo.

“Well, this is where the owner is. But..who should I say is looking for him….”

Taesan lifted up his hand to silence the guard.

“Wait. I haven’t finished recalling.”

“What?”

The guard looked alarmed and looked back and forth from Gyeongwan and Taesan.

While Gyeongwan looked anxiously to and fro from the guard and Taesan.

Gyeongwan then redirected his gaze when his eyes met with those of the guards.

Which finally triggered the guard that something was suspicious and his face turned cold.

Just then, Taesan clapped his hand.

“Ah, now I remember.”

The loud sound had startled both the guard and gyeongwan who were both staring blankly at Taesan.

What a timely clap that was, both Gyeongwan and the guard had held their breath.

“Go and tell him that I have an item to send on the crescent moon.”

The guard tilted his head. As he couldn’t make out where the crescent moon was located.

“Is that all I have to say?”

Taesan waved his hand as though annoyed at the question.

The guard quickly went into the office.

Immediately a middle-aged man that seemed to be the owner came rushing out as if he was about to break down the door.

He bowed till his back was straight and ushered Taesan into the office.

“We have a precious guest. Please, please come in!”

Taesan went in leisurely as though he had expected such greetings.

Until Taesan had fully entered the office he remained folded in a bow.

Gyeongwan looked on to this spectacle with his jaws dropped.

He was so taken aback that he had forgotten to control his expressions.

***

Jong risang had wanted to handle the situation on his own.

The special forces he led was the lowest rank of the three main forces owned by the Jong’s.

Jong Risang has always found this to be unsatisfactory.

To Jong Risang at least. He had thought all three units were on par.

His Biho unit had been formed after the Cheonma incident.

The remaining units became pillars to pull the Jong household together after learning from the Cheonma incident.

Those services could not be ignored.

So Jong Risang worked with the biho unit to do the hard work.

To squeeze out the Black thieves to procure the funds.

They also dealt with certain things that needed to be handled out of the sight of others.

But to be unable to deal with an uprising was not an option.

Unless he wanted to stay in this position forever.

“We regulate a total of 13 black thieves pack right?”

“Yes. that is correct.”

And within the 13 units, they regulated the other packs on their own.

As a result, all the thieves within the vicinity were firmly controlled by the Jong clan.

But all 13 of them caused an uprising.

To ignore this was to lose their control over them.

“I’ll go to the blood pack clan myself…for the rest split up. How many do you need?”

“Well…five should do for me.”

“Our whole unit is made up of 41. If you alone take 5 what about the rest.”

“Then..it’ll be pretty tight but 4? Nothing less. If you had seen the look on their faces you’d think that 5 wasn’t enough either.”

“Fine. Then I’ll just take two with me. Split up the rest well between yourselves. Remember we need to deal with this instantly. If you don’t deal with them properly they will climb over you.”

“It’s not our first day running the business you know? Sometimes I’m confused if I am a Jong clan or a Black thieves myself? So don’t worry. We will deal with it the black thieves way.”

Jong risang waved his hand in affirmation and walked on.

Now it was time to deal with these arrogant scums.

‘How dare they plan an uprising? Ungrateful scums.’

Risang was filled with rage as he made his way to the blood pack clan.

As he reached the blood pack clan the rage was visibly exuding from his body.

The blood pack was a mess in front of Risang who was exuding fury and charisma.

Risang stared at the ruckus being caused in the pavilion belonging to the blood pack clan.

There was no need to even go inside.

Soon their leader would come out.

As expected the leader came running out.

Behind him, his subordinates came rushing in line all of them holding an axe in their hands.

“All of you who have come out, cut an arm each and kneel. Then I will let you live.”

Jong Risang threatened menacingly.

But none of the blood pack clan members answered him but surrounded him and his companions.

Risang laughed not believing what he saw.

“Have you gone mad? Do you think the likes of you can even cause a scratch on us?”

“Shut your mouth!”

Risang closed his mouth in disbelief as Choo Jokwang shouted.

“You crazy fool, have you really gone mad?”

“Crazy fool my ass, who are you calling crazy! I am doing this not to go mad! It’s better to die shitting ourselves than in your hands!”

Jong risang face turned cold. He knew from those words that there was an outsider who had caused this.

He was made from what Choo Jokwang had just said, but now was not the time to get mad.

“Phew, now tell me. Who told you guys to do this. We’ll help you deal with him. The Jong clan will take care of it so tell me what really happened.”

“Shut up. You don’t even know what being afraid means! What are you all doing! Are you going to end up becoming like that!”

At those words, the whole clan came at them.

Their eyes filled with vengeance and desperation.

Jong was defeated, but he fought back to his best ability with the rage fuelling his moves.

Shoong.

Several members of the blood pack clan were taken out. Although no one had died.

This provoked them more and they fought back more fiercely.

What happened next was a surprise.

As Jong struggled to find his footing the two warriors he had brought were defeated.

This was impossible.

The biggest cause was because they were off guard but even so they couldn’t have been defeated so easily by a pack of thieves.

Jong was fuelled with rage and fought on.

There was no way that the blood pack clan could be a worthy opponent of his warriors. Even if they knew of their weak points.

In reality, the ones Risang was facing were not the blood pack clan.

They were those from the Dongho foundation disguised as the blood pack clan. A guard of the dongho foundation stabbed Risang accurately when he saw an opening.

STAB!

Risang lost his balance. His eyes were full of confusion.

“Die!”

Choo Jokwang yelled and Risang’s body was beaten with axes.

The bloodpack clan continuously beat the Jong warriors with the flat edge of their axes.

*sounds of beating*

Even for Risang, with the blow to his sides and the continuous blows he could no longer keep himself together.

His vision turned blurry and soon lost consciousness and turned limp.

At all the 11 locations in the black thieves areas, a similar situation was concurrently happening.