Murim Troubleshooter Dan Mujin-Chapter 118 : The Scary Uncle Service

Chapter 118: The Scary Uncle Service
An hour ago.
Jo Harang visited a place called the Golden Dragon Academy to meet with her client.
This was where the burning desire of parents in Beijing, who wished their children would pass the imperial examination as the top scorer, was at its peak.
It was said there was a scholar here who could pinpoint the questions that would appear in the exams, so wealthy parents would bring their money pouches and come seeking him.
And the client this time was also the sort of person who worried excessively about their child.
“That kid from the Jang Clan brought someone called ‘Uncle’ and threatened our child. Does this even make sense? How shameless must one be to drag an adult into children’s squabbles!”
The main point was that the Young Master of the Jang Clan had hired an outsider to intimidate the Young Master of the Ha Clan.
The Head of the Ha Clan spat as he poured out his fury in a trembling voice.
“I hear that fellow’s some sort of troubleshooter nearby. So are you saying he scared our child over a few measly coins? What a vile man. Someone like that must pay the price!”
And to make him pay that price, he had sent a hefty commission to the Wanderers’ Guild.
“That’s right! He was a bad man!”
The Young Master of the Ha Clan chimed in, claiming the troubleshooter was vile too.
So, the Head of the Ha Clan asked that they give him a thorough beating this time.
“A troubleshooter in Beijing, huh…….”
A certain handsome face instinctively came to mind, but Jo Harang quickly shook her head.
In Beijing, there was no shortage of unorthodox troubleshooters who rushed in wherever there was the scent of money.
Of course, few had an office established within the city walls, where land was expensive.
“Don’t think about it, don’t think about it.”
It must be just one of those greedy, low-grade troubleshooters littered everywhere.
Just as he, an adult and a martial artist, had bullied the children of the Ha Clan without cause, now she, being the stronger one, only had to step in and deal with the other side.
Holding onto that thought, she made her way to the appointed place.
But the person she ran into there happened to be the one she most wanted to avoid.
“Dan Mujin? Why are you here…….”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“……That’s what I’d like to ask.”
They said you meet your enemy—or rather, someone awkward—on a narrow bridge.
It seemed the troubleshooter the Ha Clan had been cursing nonstop was none other than the man she knew best.
Unlike the two Clan Heads, who were jabbing fingers and shouting furiously at one another.
I and Jo Harang, meeting again after a long time, fell into an awkward silence as we stared at each other.
Normally, she would’ve asked when I came down from the mountain, whether I’d been well, or if I had advanced in cultivation—small talk like that would have come first.
But to meet again like this, hired as opposing wanderers in this conflict.
“……Boss, what should we do? Should we just back out?”
After all, wanderers and troubleshooters were the same type of business, weren’t they? Both moved according to commissions.
So I always thought that one day we might face each other from different sides.
“If we pull out, then what about the client who trusted me and came this far? A job accepted must be carried out.”
I looked at the little client who had come to me when I had no other work and said that.
You know, just like how lawyers may be friends, but in court they each fight their best for their own client.
This was what one would call professional ethics.
“Don’t be stubborn and back down, Dan Mujin.”
And it seemed she thought the same. Playing with the hilt of her broadsword, she demanded I withdraw before things escalated.
But somehow, Jo Harang’s voice and tone sounded stiffer than before. Maybe it was just my imagination.
Back then, she used to call me ‘Mujin-ah’ with ease.
“Why would I?”
“What do you mean why? You’re saying it’s right for a grown adult to meddle in children’s quarrels?”
To her, the fact that an adult—a Murim martial artist no less—was actively involved in children’s fights was unacceptable.
She said such things were the work of greedy unorthodox troubleshooters who chased money, and that it wasn’t righteous.
True enough. Even Yangjo and Yangwi, those escorts who had come to me with Goat-Bearded Merchant’s commission, had been uncomfortable with the idea of Murim martial artists bothering innocent children.
In short, as an orthodox martial artist, it was shameful.
“Because it’s kids’ business, an older adult has to step in, Harang.”
Especially since hot-blooded teenagers could explode unpredictably.
They could commit violence and hurl insults they’d one day regret as adults—without even realizing it at the time.
So someone had to mediate.
“Then why are you the one……?”
“The boy from the Ha Clan kept hitting our little one over and over. How could this uncle just sit by? I had to step in and do something.”
The essence of the Scary Uncle Service was to hint at greater violence in order to put an end to the bullying.
Think about it—why would the Jang Clan’s kid go all the way to that shabby troubleshooter’s office?
It wasn’t because he wanted some grand revenge. He simply couldn’t endure it any longer, it was too painful.
So when he saw the sign saying, ‘We’ll handle anything,’ he found himself walking in almost without realizing it.
“You’re an orphan, aren’t you? Then you’re not really an uncle.”
“…….”
She stabbed me right in the sore spot.
Her face was without malice, purely stating the fact as it was.
Such a madman with eyes that clear was sometimes the more frightening kind.
“Anyway, I wasn’t going to back down. You, don’t go defending those kids who swing violence around at the academy — step back.”
I, on the contrary, waved my hand at Jo Harang as if to say ‘shoo, shoo.’
Then her fine brows twitched.
“These kids that age grow up by hitting and getting hit. They fight, then make up. That’s how bonds get built. But what happens if suddenly an ‘adult murim person’ steps in and scares them off? Were you really that lousy a problem-solver?”
They beat people up all the time and extorted money — what bonds?
A student’s duty was to cultivate proper character and gain knowledge. Growing up by hitting and fighting wasn’t it.
Where on earth did such an old-fashioned mindset come from…
“Ah.”
Now that I thought about it, Jo Harang was old-fashioned, wasn’t she.
In a way, it was only natural here. Wasn’t this an era where romance and violence coexisted?
A medal-wearing elder taking off a watch to ask “what does your father do?” and slapping someone was perfectly normal back then.
But I knew this was the wrong way to discipline.
“Jo Harang, don’t you even know about the school violence committee!”
“…What nonsense are you talking about.”
How many incidents had been treated as nothing by adults until they festered and burst?
The memory of being beaten was just a wound you carried until you became an adult. In that case, it was better for an uncle like me to step in and cut off the bad ties clean.
“So, Jo Harang, in this request I was the good one.”
Wasn’t Purple Tenuity Star’s purpose to perform what she believed to be justice and to accumulate good deeds?
At my claim that I was justice, her eyes — full of violet stars — narrowed.
“Dan Mujin, it’s been a while; you’ve become unreasonable.”
“Don’t say that — where would I get off.”
Normally we would have talked it out at this point.
For some reason, she seemed a little sharp now.
“Then, like a murim person, we had no choice but to speak with strength.”
If words failed, fists would speak. The murim’s barbaric way of solving problems.
As if she couldn’t help it, she grabbed the hilt of her great sword hard.
She had accepted the job as a wanderer, so her face looked like someone determined to do the work for the pay.
“Boss, that woman looked insanely strong — can you win?”
Ilhong poked my side and asked with a worried face.
Having witnessed Jo Harang’s martial arts up close many times, she seemed understandably anxious about this match.
“Well, I couldn’t gauge it either.”
We had once watched each other’s backs and gone through death together.
But since we’d split up and worked apart, things like this could happen.
“Hyung, please win!”
“Don’t back down from the Ha Clan fellows. Please win for us.”
The Jang Clan family members sent me expectant looks.
They’d heard I’d easily felled even second-rate problem-solvers, so they expected my martial prowess to be considerable.
“Was it Jo Harang? She’s an E-class wanderer, so we’ll look forward to it.”
“Sister, knock that unlucky problem-solver out with one strike!”
And the Ha Clan folks, knowing she was also an E-class wanderer, cheerfully assumed Jo Harang would easily beat any troubleshooter.
Both groups simply cheered “May our team win,” egging the fight on without knowing anything.
“Huh, I didn’t expect them to clash like this.”
Right — these people here didn’t know.
That they were stoking a fight that had spanned over a dozen generations between Purple Tenuity Star and the Heaven-Slaying Star.
How on earth had a kids’ fight escalated to involve adults, and then grown into a battle between deadly stars?
“This is something else.”
And oddly, I was the only one in this place who knew that important fact.
‘Runaway!’
‘Runaway!’
Ah, now that I remembered, there had been a Salsung who convulsed whenever Purple Tenuity Star was mentioned.
I wasn’t alone, then. That was a small comfort.
Srrrrr.
Jo Harang drew her massive great sword and held it above me.
Seeing Salsung cry “runaway” whenever Purple Tenuity Star was mentioned, it seemed her realm was higher than mine.
So, thinking rationally, it would be right to withdraw here.
“Why? Scared?”
When I hesitated, of all things she cast ‘pusu?’ — basically ‘chicken?’ — at me.
‘Impossible!’
‘Impossible!’
Salsung, as if reading my mind, hurriedly shouted for me not to.
She sounded absolutely sure I would lose.
But do you know? For a man…
“Even if you know it, there are times you must fight!”
Ta-at!
I kicked the ground and closed the distance in an instant. Jo Harang’s face filled my vision.
I grinned and, full force, swung the Dog-Beating Staff in a fierce arc at her.
“Uoooh!”
Kwaaang—!
A flashing, thick, and vivid Sword Qi.
The man flew back, crashed against the wall, then sprang up again.
The sword strikes and staff strikes of two Peak Martial Artists, like a deadly dance, tore violently through the front yard of the Golden Dragon Academy.
Kwadudeuk!
The great broadsword shredded the air furiously, desperate to land a hit on me, Dan Mujin, who twisted away again and again.
The sheer force and qi infused in it collapsed and shattered the academy’s stone wall.
In the blink of an eye, the entrance of Golden Dragon Academy turned into a true asura field.
“Hiiiik!”
“Rocks are flying! Get down!”
The unexpected ferocity left the wives of the Jang Clan and Ha Clan clutching their children in terror.
“What on earth is this…!”
“They… they were Peak Martial Artists?”
And the two Clan Heads, who had thought they had merely called for a troubleshooter and a wanderer, stood dumbfounded, their mouths hanging open.
“Jo Harang! Why are you going this far!”
I shouted in disbelief at Jo Harang, who was coming at me with full power, as if this were not a friendly duel to settle a request, but a battle to the death.
With a face like a tragic heroine, she kicked off the ground.
“You betrayed me!”
“…What betrayal!”
It was a line that made my chest burn with frustration — I had no idea what she was talking about.
What betrayal had I ever committed? All I had done was diligently carry out my requests.
A year later, she suddenly appeared and threw such words at me?
“…I don’t know either! I just feel betrayed!”
As if to shake off the clinging emotions in her chest, she poured massive qi into her great broadsword and unleashed a fierce sword art.
Kwadudeudeuk!
“Damn it, really!”
The floorboards and surrounding fixtures shattered under Jo Harang’s monstrous strength.
Thus, the fated battle of Heaven-Slaying Star and Purple Tenuity Star — continued across generations — was now being fought for the most ridiculous reason in history.