Chapter 2: High Noon

High Noon

The inside of the tavern was filled with a little noise.

On the first floor of the two-story tavern, various people were seen, including people having dinner, men drinking alcohol, and people fiddling with cards at tables in the corner.

In the meantime, a full-bodied middle-aged man who seemed to be the owner of the tavern was busy with bowls of noodles, wine bottles, and snacks.

At that moment, a man wearing a hat opened the tavern door and entered.

He was a foreigner.

People who ate noodles and drank alcohol glanced at him. Considering he was wearing a sword, he must have been a Moorim ( Martial Artist).

But in the New World, even if someone was holding a dog, cow, or spear they say they are Moorim, so it was nothing special about it.

The man who walked in felt the gazes and stopped, and the owner of the tavern approached him.

The owner went as he wiped his hands on the towel attached to his belt.

“You are a foreigner. Welcome, welcome.”

The man gently pushed up the hat he was wearing with his finger and looked at the owner of the tavern.

The owner of the tavern continued speaking, looking at the eyes of the man under the hat.

“Stay or Meals?”

“Meals.”

The tavern owner nodded his head.

“It will be ten cents.”

Without a word, the man pulled out ten coins from his pocket and held out to the tavern owner.

The tavern owner took it and walked to the kitchen, saying:

“Sit comfortably. The noodles will be rolled up soon.”

The man walked to one corner of the tavern pulled out the sword from his waist, set it on the side of the table, and took off his hat.

As he didn’t seem to cause any particular problems, the quiet room in the tavern began to roar again.

The man, Jang Geon, sat in a comfortable position with both hands on the table and slowly looked around the people in the tavern.

Most of the people in the tavern were villagers or nearby farmers.

Of course, some dogs stood with swords or knives, but they were at most three.

In cities and towns on the west coast, there were more Moorim and helpers than ordinary civilians, but this was an area that was a bit far from that.

There were more farmers than swordsmen.

So, at best, all the knives were seen only to the extent of a one prepared for self-defense.

There were quite a few guests, but it seemed that the owner was the only person who worked for the guest.

In the other taverns, there will be usually either one or two labourers for serving or at least the wife or children of the owner will be seen serving the guests.

But here there was neither owner’s wife or children nor labourers.

Jang Geon felt that, it would take some time to roll up a bowl of noodles in such a situation.

“What a fraudster! you bastard! Are you cheating me?”

“What? fraud? I didn’t even lift a finger, what’s wrong with you?”

At that time, voices rose among the men who were fiddling cards in the corner of the tavern.

A man jumped up and started claiming fraud while starring at the man who was sitting with his back facing Jang.

The two then jumped up from their seats and started arguing about killing each other.

The people in the tavern drank with their heads shaking or giggling as if it was a common sight.

Even the owner of the tavern, hearing the commotion, took his head out of the kitchen and looked at it, then smiled and went back inside.

There was no one who looked nervous or anxious, so they ended up swearing at each other.

But Jang’s eyes were fixed on them.

To be precise, it was from the moment he heard the voice of the man standing with his back facing him.

“Oh shit! So, does it make sense that you win and I lose all day!”

“No, well, it’s your finger problem. Aside from you, everyone else won a lot, didn’t they?”

“You punk…?”

The man who was claiming fraud eventually pushed the other person with both hands, apparently unable to contain his anger.

The one who ridiculed him faltered, put a step back, and then growled.

“what. Are you really going to do it?”

“Yeah, you bastard! Do you think I’m wuss because I’ve endured being bullied all this time?”

In the end, the two grabbed each other by the neck, shook them violently, and shouted incomprehensible swear words.

And Jang, who had been watching the commotion until then, was finally able to see the face of the man whose back was only visible all this time.

A light smile appeared on his lips.

“That bastard was here.”

Jang, who mumbled briefly, looked at the two of them arguing, then got up from his seat and walked towards them.

Even as he approached them, the two men were spitting harsh words at each other’s faces. The other people near the table just smiled, wondering as if they didn’t want them to stop the show.

“Hey.”

The two men, who were holding hands and making a fuss, heard Jang’s voice and turned their heads.

The person who claimed fraud looked at Jang and said,

“What do you want fu*ker?”

But the other man was startled and turned pale.

“… How?”

Jang shook his head at the question of the man who was claiming fraud.

“Not you…. that one.”

The man, whose face had turned pale, listened to Jang’s words and rolled his eyes anxiously here and there, then opened his eyes and spoke.

“… Brother Jang, did you come here see me ?”

“Oooo. It’s been two months. How have you been?”

The man took a step back, gently releasing the collar of the opponent he was holding onto.

The other party also let go of his collar with a puzzled face.

“Well, how have you been? What are you up to these days, Brother Jang?”

Jang shook his head with a smile.

“I didn’t do well. What happened is that everyone in your group is saying that everything is going well.”

“…Did you meet other friends too?”

“Yes. You are the last.”

The man took a step back and then once again took another step back.

“Well, thats… Actually, I know I shouldnt’t have done it right..? Does it make sense to rob a Moorim man with a sword in his back? If caught, I’m sure they’ll get hit with that sword…… right?

“But still you did it in the end.”

Hearing Jang’s answer, the man looked at him blankly, and laughed, then suddenly turned around and tried to run away. But as he turned, he could feel a ghastly hand grabbing the back of his head.

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Then, with that hand, his head got slammed onto the table.

“Aww!”

The man’s forehead was slammed into the table, and the billboards and coins rattled.

Everyone around him was startled and even flinched back.

The man who had his face pierced tried to get out of Jang’s grasp, struggling with his arms and legs because he had a headache and was in pain, but the hand that pressed the head didn’t move as if it was a rock.

“I told them not to do it! And in the end, it was brother Jang who was sitting there until all the money was stolen: We didnt want to hold onto it. Really! Please take a look,”

Without answering, Jang grabbed the man’s left hand, placed it on the table, and pulled out the card hidden in his sleeve.

Jang pushed the card to the man’s face and whispered softly as he leaned close.

“Does that mean that cheating on the gambling board goes away? Don’t be shy, Yang, where’s my money?”

The man named Yang Gong looked at Jang’s twinkling eyes and swallowed his saliva and answered.

“That’s……I paid for the Moorim-bound bounty.”

“Really? You paid a bounty with that?”

Yang Gong was terrified of Jang’s grimacing face.

“Well then, there is a Moorim branch here right now, so what should I do? I don’t want to come back and eat the noodle too…”

Jang grabbed Yang Gong’s head, which had been lying on the table, raised him up, and grabbed his neck.

“So you don’t have a penny?”

“No, it’s not that, there’s something else here… with that…”

Yang Gong glanced at the coin lying on the table.

Seeing that, Jang pushed Yang Gong, who he was holding, to the side, and approached the seat where he was sitting.

And he started to collect the coins lying there.

The man who was called Yang Gong was a fraudster.

The people who gambled with him, and the guests in the tavern were all just staring at it with blank eyes.

It seemed that Yang Gong was caught after cheating and running away from the gambling board before, but even considering the circumstances, Jang’s actions now were relentless.

“Come on, wait. Stop for a second!”

At that moment, the man who had been cursing Yang Gong came to his senses and shouted at Jang.

“Stop it! Its all money earned by cheating! Thats my money!”

Jang glanced at the man who cried like that, then answered, taking the coins.

“That is not my responsibility. Take care of this guy later.”

“What, what the fuck?”

Hearing Jang’s answer, the man stretched out his hands again with a feverish face. It looked like he was going to push him away as he had pushed Yang Gong.

But the moment the man tried to push Jang away, Jang grabbed the man’s hand and pulled him out of the way.

“Ouch!”

The man, who was suddenly dragged, slumped forward and rolled.

Jang even smashed his face into the floor as if to see whether he had any mastered martial arts.

Jang then went back to the table and started collecting Yang Gong’s coin, whether it was parched or not.

Jang quickly picked up all the coins in his seat, put them in his pocket, turned around and grabbed Yang Gong, who was sitting there, again by the collar.

“What, why, why are you like this, Jang!”

“Why? It’s because it’s not enough.”

“Well, that’s… I don’t have anything anymore…”

Yang Gong smirked and showed him his empty hands.

It was as if he really didn’t have anything anymore, and if he didn’t believe him, he had to check all over his body.

When Jang saw that, thought whether he should really take off this guy’s clothes.

“You, you bastard!”

A man who had fallen to the floor grabbed his nose and got up and looked at Jang.

Blood was dripping from between the hands that was grabbing his nose.

“This m*ther fu*ker! you made my nose like this?

Youre dead.”

When Jang saw the ugly appearance, he smirked and said,

“I’m sorry for hurting you. But it’s not just one or two questions that I got from him…

Jang Geon blurted out the end of his speech.

It was because the man who seemed to be running at him any moment ran out of the tavern.

Jang, who was staring blankly at the man’s back, couldn’t help but smiled and turned his eyes to Yang Gong again.

“He is such a fool….huh?”

“That…that’s……. , that guy’s name is Jin Yang seok…”

Jang interrupted Yang Gong and shook his head.

“Never mind. What are you going to do?”

“Yes, yes? about that……?”

Power entered Jang’s hand, which was holding the collar.

“Do you want to give me my money somehow, or do you want me destroy your power supply?”

Yang Kyung’s eyes and hands trembled at the words.

“How about forgiving me this one time Brother Jang?”

Jang, unable to feel any sympathy for the pathetic trembling voice, without saying a word, took out his left fist, clenched it like a stone, in front of Yang Gon

Yang Gong, who looked anxiously at the fist and Jang’s eyes alternately, took a deep breath, then drooped down and lowered his eyes.

“… Then, please let me go. I have an item with me.”

When Jang released what he was holding, Yang Gong loosened his front hem a little, ripped open a corner of his chest, and pulled out a small piece of cloth that had been cleverly hidden inside.

Then, slowly he unwrapped the cloth and pulled out a small jade ring and showed it.

He looked at the jade ring and sighed once more and held it out to Jang.

“… here, do you know what this is. ? I got it from Shinsacheon in the past. It’s real jade, so if you find a suitable place to sell it, you’ll get a good price.”

Jang took it, looked around the ring, and put it in his fingers.

Yang Gong looked into Zhang Geon’s eyes and asked.

“What do you think?” That should be enough, right?”

“Yeah. This is good enough.”

Jang said so and smiled.

He looked at Yang Gong, who smiled clumsily following that laughter, then turned his head to look at the owner of the tavern who was standing outside the kitchen.

And as if he didn’t care about the absurd gazes from the guests, he asked the owner of the tavern with a bewildered face.

“When will my noodles come out?”

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