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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Taking Over the Butcher Shop (1)
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"When are you leaving?"
Sima Geon asked, biting into a peach.
Sima Hyeon, who had been silently watching Sima Jin bustle about preparing the meal, turned his head to reply.
"The day after tomorrow."
"Where to?"
"Wuseok."
"That's pretty far north from Hangzhou, isn't it?"
"It is. But if nothing comes up, I should be back in about half a month."
After a brief pause at Sima Hyeon's answer, Sima Geon cautiously spoke up.
"Hyeon."
"Yeah?"
"I've been wanting to say this for a while."
"What?"
Sima Hyeon propped his chin on his hand as he asked. Unlike the hesitant Sima Geon, Sima Hyeon seemed to already know what question was coming.
"The escort work. You planning to keep doing it?"
The eyes of Cheol Woo and Sima Ho, who had been trading jokes, turned toward Sima Hyeon in unison. Even Sima Jin stopped what she was doing and perked up her ears.
"Well, I probably have to, don't I?"
"It's too dangerous. I did that job for twelve years before finally coming back to my family. If you..."
Sima Hyeon gestured for Sima Geon to stop.
"I started at seventeen, and it's already been five years. Sure, there's no guarantee nothing dangerous will happen in the future, but we can't live in fear of things that haven't even happened. Besides, the pay's better than other escort agencies."
"I've saved up money. That's enough for you to live on without doing escort work."
"Didn't you say you spent it all? Nah, I heard you used every bit to buy that Celestial Pure Jade Milk."
Sima Geon's head whipped fiercely toward Cheol Woo.
"W-Well, that kid kept prying so much."
Unable to withstand Sima Geon's sharp glare, Cheol Woo sheepishly turned his head away.
"Why blame Cheol Woo hyung? So you were trying to hide it?"
Sima Hyeon continued, defending Cheol Woo.
"And even if there was money left, what would I do with it?"
"Buy some fields and farmland..."
Sima Geon desperately tried to change Sima Hyeon's mind.
"You ever farmed before?"
Sima Geon's words caught in his throat at the question.
"You don't even remember, do you? Same here. I did some labor for pay as a kid, but it was just odd jobs."
"Then how about business..."
"Business? That's even harder than farming. Without the knack for it, it's a sure way to go bankrupt."
Sima Geon had no response to the serious words.
"Of course, that's just me talking. I don't know exactly what you or Cheol Woo hyung have been up to all these years. But what's the rush? You haven't even been back long. We need to keep an eye on the youngest's treatment too. Why not take it slow and think it over? If you're that worried, come work with me. It'd be great having my brothers watch my back. One look at Cheol Woo hyung's build, and the chief would come running to welcome him."
Cheol Woo burst into laughter at Sima Hyeon's joke.
"Escort work can freeze and die. If anything, make me a guard."
"I'll vote for business. I can even hook you up with a prime spot if you want."
Sima Ho chimed in slyly.
"What power do you have? Oh, the Tongcheon Society? Think you could pull that off?"
Sima Ho bristled at Cheol Woo's words and shouted.
"I may not look it, but I do have that much pull!"
"Yeah? Last time I saw... Never mind."
Seeing Sima Ho snort in anger, Cheol Woo quickly looked away.
"Alright. I was too hasty. I'll think it over slowly and seriously decide what to do. But you think about it too. I'm not telling you to quit right now, but please consider it seriously."
As Sima Geon pleaded with a straight face, Sima Hyeon nodded thoughtfully.
"Got it. I'll think about it seriously, like you said."
"That's all I ask."
Sima Jin, who had been watching anxiously in case an argument broke out, let out a sigh of relief at Sima Geon's bright smile.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"It's tough. Real tough."
Cheol Woo shook his head, rolling a candied hawthorn from the market around in his mouth.
A man who wouldn't tire even after fighting all day was utterly exhausted after less than half a day, his whole body limp.
"Chief, let's take a break."
Cheol Woo plopped down on a chair at a dumpling shop, looking like he couldn't move another step.
"Two plates of meat dumplings. Got any liquor?"
Cheol Woo shouted before the owner could even take the order.
"Sorry, but we don't sell liquor."
The owner replied with a kind face.
Though smiling, his eyes wavered anxiously, perhaps fearing the customer might leave—or maybe due to Cheol Woo's intimidating presence.
"Fine, just the dumplings then."
The owner hurried to the kitchen after taking the order and soon returned with steaming dumplings.
Cheol Woo grabbed one with his pot-lid-sized hand and took a massive bite.
"Whoa! Not bad at all."
Surprised by the unexpected deliciousness, Cheol Woo devoured the dumplings like a whale gulping water.
"Definitely good. Way better than yesterday's. Especially the filling—top-notch. Pork, right?"
Sima Geon asked, showing off the filling.
"Yes, ground pork."
The owner, who had been making more dumplings, turned to answer.
"Hm, so that other place uses bad meat? Same pork, but what a difference."
"Must be some special technique. Different seasoning maybe."
"Maybe."
As Sima Geon tilted his head while finishing the rest, the owner approached with a proud expression.
"I don't know where you ate before, but no place uses pork as high-quality as ours."
"Pork's pork, isn't it?"
"Different cuts?"
Cheol Woo chuckled, patting his chest and limbs.
"No, it's not the cuts. It's who slaughters the pig."
"Ah, so there's a special way to butcher pigs."
Sima Geon nodded in understanding, but the owner shook his head lightly.
"The method's the same everywhere. It's the skill of the butcher that differs."
"I don't quite get..."
Sima Geon's words trailed off.
A large pig had suddenly come charging from somewhere, wreaking havoc in the market.
Bleeding profusely from its head, it crashed into a fabric shop and collapsed. Five flustered men rushed over, struggling to tie it up.
"Pathetic. How many times is this now?"
The owner clicked his tongue at the men laboriously dragging the bound pig away.
"You know them?"
"No. Judging by their mess, probably newbies. Wonder how long they'll last this time."
Sima Geon and Cheol Woo's gazes followed the men along with the owner's disdainful look.
The men dragged the pig to a butcher shop a bit removed from the market's end.
Being a slaughterhouse too, the shop itself was barely visible, and few people passed by.
Cheol Woo, who had followed them, glanced around and said,
"Figures for a butcher shop—out of the way spot."
The sudden voice drew the eyes of everyone at the slaughterhouse to Sima Geon and Cheol Woo. Their gazes were filled with wariness and suspicion toward the strangers.
"What do you want?"
One of the men, who had just been scolded by an old man in the center, strode over and demanded.
"We don't have any particular business. We were in the market and followed the commotion from that rampaging pig—ended up here."
Sima Geon spoke politely enough, but the man's face twisted at "commotion."
"If you're not here to buy meat, leave."
He waved them off dismissively and turned away.
A chill settled over Cheol Woo's face.
"This guy..."
As Cheol Woo moved to chase after him in anger, Sima Geon grabbed his arm.
When Cheol Woo tried to protest, Sima Geon pressed a finger to his lips and shook his head silently.
"Looks like you're about to slaughter. Mind if we watch since we're here?"
The men bristled at Sima Geon's call, but the old man—who had clearly observed Cheol Woo's fierce aura and Sima Geon's restraint—stopped them and asked,
"What's there to see? It ain't a pretty sight."
"Not something you see every day either."
"Do as you like."
The old man, granting permission, turned and pointed to the pig that had caused the market uproar and been captured. It lay still, perhaps from all the blood loss.
"Why do you think the slaughter failed?"
The old man, now calm, inquired.
"The position was off. Should've aimed right at the center of the head."
"The hammer missed the spike."
"We rushed it. Hands weren't steady enough on the spike or hammer."
The men chattered, speculating on the failure.
After listening for a while, the old man nodded.
"You're all right. But it was wrong from the start."
As the men looked baffled, the old man continued steadily.
"I told you clearly: When slaughtering cattle or pigs, the top priority is ensuring the animal doesn't sense it."
Only then did the men recall the old man's advice. But they still didn't take it seriously.
"Come on, how would those things know?"
"You telling us to communicate with them?"
"Animals get scared the moment human hands touch them. Instinct."
The men rejected the old man's words, even doubting the skill of the region's top butcher.
The old man said nothing, picked up a thin switch, entered the pigsty, and herded out a large pig.
Controlling the pig freely with just a slender switch was impressive enough to draw awe.
Out of the sty, the pig plunged its head into a trough filled with tasty feed and ate voraciously.
The old man gently stroked its head.
"See the difference from the pig you dragged in?"
"It freaked out at first, but calmed down eating like this."
"Yeah, scarfed it down like crazy."
At their retort, the old man picked up a foot-long spike and hammer.
"Oh? Then what about this?"
He placed the spike on the pig's crown.
The men gulped.
They remembered how the previous pig thrashed the instant the spike touched its head.
After much soothing and sweat, they'd forcibly bound the raging beast for slaughter—only for it to fail spectacularly.
They expected the same now.
But the pig showed no reaction to the sharp spike on its head, focused solely on eating.
"Whoa! No way!"
"H-How is this possible?"
The men gawked at the pig and old man alternately, faces full of disbelief.
"It didn't sense any killing intent from me."
"Huh?"
"Killing intent?"
"Nothing reacts to killing intent like animals. Even faint traces make them feel threatened. Like this."
As the old man stared at the pig, it lifted its head from the trough. But when he stroked it again, it dove back in.
The men, sensing no killing intent from the old man, found the pig's reaction merely curious.
"What the hell's with that old man? No joke."
Cheol Woo stared blankly at the old man, having detected the instantaneous flicker and vanish of killing intent.
"Chief, that old guy's a master, right?"
"Nah. No traces of martial arts training. But damn impressive."
Sima Geon couldn't hide his amazement at the old man's skill either.
"Once you can expose a pig to no killing intent, you're ready."
After letting the pig enjoy its last supper fully, the old man slowly raised the spike and hammer.