Red Light District's Martial God-Chapter 1

The World's Greatest.
This is the hottest topic discussed in every inn throughout the Central Plains.
The question of who is the strongest in the world is something that excites not just martial artists but ordinary people as well.
"'The World's Greatest'... Isn't it obviously the head of the Mount Hua Sect, one of the core leaders of the Nine Great Sects?"
"Heh. Don't you know who the current Murim Alliance's leader is? If not the Thunder Dragon of the Namgung family, who else could be considered the best?"
"Well, if the Heavenly Demon were still alive, of course it'd be the Heavenly Demon. That monster was only barely killed after the Ten Great Experts joined forces..."
Everyone was convinced that the most distinguished sects or great families, or the master of the Demonic Cult, could claim the title of the World's Greatest.
Well, it's natural logic.
The martial arts of the great sects, developed over hundreds of years;
Disciples selected and nurtured sometimes from infancy through Balsae (hair-removal and marrow cleansing);
And the highly advanced methods of producing rare elixirs.
Unless one belonged to such a great sect, where else would a supreme martial artist be born?
Perhaps in the early days of Murim, the descendant of a mysterious school would appear and shake the world, but in an era like this, where martial arts were so refined, it was impossible for a dragon to rise from a small stream.
A meticulously woven system of power and inheritance.
If it had to be describe the current Murim in one sentence, it would be that.
It seemed as if this would be an unchanging truth in the Martial World for years to come...
But then, there came a moment that shattered this carefully laid system.
In reality, the greatest martial artist of our age was being created at the lowest depths.
In a wretched red-light district.
From the very lowest class.
With a venom and madness beyond words, he possessed a genius for martial arts that could upend the entire world.
He was the prodigy(天災) of the red-light district.
He was the Calamity Sent from Heaven.
* * *
The era of peace.—
A well-governed and peaceful world.
That's what people called the age in which I lived.
After the two Great Wars between the Righteous and Evil Factions, even after the war between the world and the Heavenly Demon—the Heavenly Demon War.
At last, the long era of war was over.
But I don't know.
Maybe that's how it felt to others, but to me, the world was not peaceful at all.
For me, it was an age of utter chaos.
My childhood memories are hazy.
I witnessed my father and mother killed by bandits' blades.
All my father could do at the time was prostrate himself and beg at the feet of the bandits.
But it wasn't a futile gesture.
Because Father pleaded and bought us some time, I got to escape with my eldest big brother, ten years my senior.
Of course, the escape did not go smoothly.
During our flight, big brother injured his right leg—and also his head.
The brightest of our family, my eldest big brother, became simple-minded.
After that, we drifted into the back alleys of the red-light district.
"Huff... Huff..."
Every day, the sounds of drunkards' fights echoed down the alleyways.
A place where the moans, screams, and crying of women never ceased.
There, my big brother was called 'the fool of the red-light district'.
No matter how many insults or rocks were thrown, he just laughed and grinned, so people could only call him a fool.
But to me, he was my only, dependable big brother.
To feed his little brother, who was just six or seven, big brother worked himself until his body nearly broke.
Big brother especially liked the days he worked at the tavern.
"Jaseong, the customers left lots of meat today. Hehe. Hurry and eat."
My brother and I survived by making a stew with leftover food from the tavern.
Because, with big brother being considered a fool, the merchants only paid him a pittance.
Still, I only felt thankful as I wolfed down the food.
I thought everyone lived like this.
But as I got older, year by year, I began to understand.
'... Why do my big brother and I have to be happy with leftovers that others have already eaten?'
In a world supposedly called an era of peace, why should we have to eat meat with other people's teeth marks while making a fuss?
I became more keenly aware of our situation when I went out into the streets.
"There's the fool of the red-light district's little brother!"
"Those kids eat nothing but other people's trash. Hee hee."
Kids my age would throw rocks and mock me.
At first, I simply ran or endured it.
Just like big brother did.
But when I turned ten, I couldn't take it anymore.
"... I'll kill you all."
No matter how many came at me, no matter their size, I leapt at them like a dog.
Even if they ganged up on me, I chased down each one and beat them all.
After a few months of this, the kids who called me a beggar stopped altogether.
The bratty kids who threw rocks at big brother disappeared too.
That's how I survived in the red-light district.
Then, in the year I turned twelve, for the first time in my life, I had something like a 'dream'.
"Big brother! Sangnam Escort Agency is recruiting new junior guards! If you do well as a junior guard, you could become an escort warrior!"
"Escort warrior?"
"Yeah, escort warrior! Then you won't have to work day and night anymore, big brother. We can finally live decently too!"
Dreaming of a future as an escort at an escort agency, hope began to shine in my life.
And this hope lasted for quite a while.
Even at the age of just thirteen, I managed to become a junior guard at Sangnam Escort Agency.
Not long after entering the agency, something auspicious happened.
"Jaseong. I'm getting married. Hehehe."
My sister-in-law was a courtesan at the tavern where big brother worked.
She was an exceptionally kind and good woman.
Not only did she look after big brother, but she cared for me, too.
How in the world did my big brother, known as the fool of the red-light district, end up with such a sister-in-law?
"It's because you're both handsome. With such good looks and being so diligent and gentle, what a perfect husband you'd make. Hoho."
Following her advice, big brother found a job at a generous cloth shop and started earning a proper wage.
I also contributed to the household as a junior guard.
We no longer ate slop.
Eating simple yet proper food that my sister-in-law made, we moved ever closer to the dream of "living like decent people."
If only things could have stayed that way.
* * *
'That day' was when I was sixteen, returning from my hundred and fourth escort job.
And it was a day when my luck was especially good.
We ran into bandits, but thanks to the escort warriors' skills, we dealt with them easily, and looted their corpses for some unexpected money.
All I got as the youngest junior guard was ten coins, but that was enough to make me grin from ear to ear.
But as I was about to head home, the squad leader suddenly called out to me.
"Jaseong. I saw you earlier, standing against three bandits with just a cleaver."
"?"
"Learn martial arts. You have martial talent."
... Martial talent?
I'd never had anything before, so those words were a complete shock to me.
And the squad leader's surprising words weren't finished.
"Here, take this."
"...?"
"You earned it. You did the work of three men today."
"... Me?"
"When the others panicked at the sight of the bandits, you held your ground to protect the escorted goods. You deserve it."
He pressed a few silver coins into my hand.
My heart was pounding like crazy with excitement.
"... Thank you."
As I left the escort agency, I gripped the coins tightly, afraid my luck would vanish.
"Fresh fish! Get your fresh fish!"
With my suddenly heavy pocket, the marketplace caught my eye for the first time.
The blacksmith, a noodle shop, inns, an academy, and so on.
Taking it all in, I fell into deep thought.
... Should I buy a sword?
The cleaver loaned by the agency was too short and worn.
If I bought a sword, I could defend myself better the next time I met bandits.
But I quickly put that idea aside.
"... Swords are too expensive. That money could feed our family handsomely for months...."
Passing the blacksmith's shop, I found a different item to buy.
A baby's rattle.
I thought it was worth making such a small purchase for the niece or nephew soon to be born.
"... Big brother and sister-in-law will love this."
Thinking of how happy they would be, I hurried home.
But as I entered the red-light district—
"...?"
I was confronted with a scene I couldn't believe.
"Aaagh!!"
"Sob! Gyeong-ah!"
A ruined entrance to the district.
There lay a dozen corpses.
To my shock, I recognized every single face.
The courtesans, workers, and merchants of the district.
Among the bodies, some were even more familiar.
"Big brother...? Sister-in-law...?"
At the end of the trail of bodies, my big brother and sister-in-law lay side by side, pools of dark red blood forming beneath them.
What's this? Is it a dream?
Oh, right. It's a dream....
No wonder my luck was so good today.
I was recognized by the squad leader,
I earned silver,
I was even told I had martial talent. Heh.
Someone like me... it doesn't make sense.
It must all be a dream.
But...
If this is a dream, why won't I wake up...?
Blankly, I looked around at the people of the district, now forming a crowd.
Among them was a courtesan who'd always been friendly with my sister-in-law.
"... Big sister Jeong-I. What happened...?"
"Sob... Jaseong..."
"I said, what happened?!"
"The Murim Alliance came, saying they were hunting down Demonic Cult remnants..."
"Murim Alliance?!"
"They claimed the remnants were hiding here and started a big fight... And everyone got caught up in it... sob..."
What I heard after that didn't even feel real.
My big brother was killed, caught in the aftermath of a sword wind unleashed by a 'Righteous Faction expert', and my sister-in-law was used as a human shield by a 'Demonic Cult master' trying to block it.
Even the child in her belly.
In summary, as the courtesan that could barely string her words together explained—'When whales fight, the shrimp's back is broken.'
Step—step—
Just then, armed martial artists appeared before me.
Blood was splattered in spots on their expensive-looking clothes.
They weren't bandits, nor people of the Dark Path.
Neither were they the wickedly infamous Demonic Cultists.
They were elite warriors of the Righteous Faction, supposedly devoted to justice and chivalry.
Yet, far from acting as Righteous Faction members, they showed no emotion at the sight of the civilians who'd died because of them.
Rather, they looked satisfied at having wiped out the Demonic Cult remnants with minimal loss.
"Family head. The search is over. No more Demonic Cultists remain."
"Did you find the item?"
"We searched thoroughly, but we couldn't find it."
"... The alliance leader is going to scold us."
"By the way, family head, what should we do with these dead civilians?"
One of the armed men, their broadsword slung across his back, pointed at the bodies of the casualties and asked.
The 'family head' replied with chilling indifference.
"If we had to worry about the lives of such lowly people in a place like this, we would never have been able to eliminate the Demonic Cult scum so cleanly."
"That's... true, I suppose."
"It's a small sacrifice for a greater cause. Don't dwell on it."
"Yes, sir."
As if they were no more than dead insects, that was the reaction.
With empty eyes, I stared at them.
'... A small sacrifice? All this is just a 'small sacrifice' for their cause...?'
My sister-in-law had an unborn baby inside her, yet she worked at the inn to help with our living expenses.
And big brother, foolish to the end, had never once cared for himself but only for us.
All of that, just a 'small sacrifice'...?
"... You bastards who deserve to die."
Before I knew it, the words slipped from my mouth.
In that instant, the eyes of the Righteous Faction warriors turned to me.
"What's that? That brat?"
"He's lost his fear. Does he even know who he's mouthing off to?!"
Several of the middle-aged martial artists shot me fierce looks.
The courtesans who knew me grew clearly afraid.
'Jaseong, these men aren't like the back-alley punks you used to fight...!'
'Bow your head! Or you'll die!'
Their eyes seemed to plead.
But—
Step—step—
I stepped forward, one step at a time.
From the killing intent they radiated, it felt like thousands of needles were pushing me back.
Even so, gritting my teeth, I forced myself to move.
The anger threatened to burn away my very mind.
Only by crushing the faces of these blood enemies could I hope for the rage to fade, even a little—
"To withstand the killing intent of experts? For an ordinary kid?"
One martial artist twitched his eyebrow.
I wanted to rip his face apart.
But unfortunately,
Pow!
With a kick of tremendous speed, I was sent rolling across the ground.
"Cough!!"
One blow was enough to make me vomit yellow bile.
But I didn't faint.
Hands shaking in the dirt, I stealthily scooped up handfuls of sand.
Then, swoosh! I threw the sand and charged at them again.
"A kid using dirty tricks you'd expect from the Evil Faction, huh."
Smack!!
No matter what I tried, my fists never reached them.
Even after I coughed up all I had, spitting blood until there was nothing left, I couldn't so much as touch the hem of their clothes.
"... Annoying little brat. Should I cripple him?"
"Don't. It would tarnish a Righteous Faction member's honor to harm such a child."
"Still, there's a dangerous look in his eyes, like he's about to cause trouble."
"Hmph. What could a brat from this filthy district possibly achieve?"
The Murong family head casually brushed dust off his robes and approached me.
Next:
Pop pop pop!
He pressed my acupoints, leaving me unable to move or speak.
"You won't be able to move for a week."
"Uh! Aaah!"
"Consider it a mercy because you're just a kid. And about revenge—know your place."
"Ugh!"
"Revenge is a word for those with the proper stature. Scum like you have no right to speak it."
"Aaargh!"
A crushing sense of helplessness, as if my bones were freezing over.
With a beast's cry that tore from my throat, I swore to myself.
That I would have revenge.
That I'd become the strongest in the world, tear off their arms and legs, throw them into the pigsty, and inflict on them every pain in the world until they beg to die...!
"Aaaaaargh!!!!"
With a rage I couldn't put into words, my mind turned white-hot.
And then, at some point,
Crack!
I felt something burst at the crown of my head.
Then—
Swaaa—
Everything in the world started to move slowly.
It wasn't just time that slowed.
Everything turned into a kaleidoscope of color, and all sorts of energies became visible to my eyes.
What is this?
Is my mind broken from rage, turning me into a madman?
Or...
Is the talent to overturn the world awakening in the child everyone mocked from the red-light district?
Soon, I found out the answer.
That day, I gained 'the eyes of the World's Greatest'.
And then,
—Student. Will you become a follower of Heaven's Mandate?
I met the soul of the greatest master of all ages.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
One of the things I hate the most is Righteous Faction members not caring for the regular citizens...
I hope they get their just desserts...
Also, the greatest master of all ages is such a cliche now, but I'm still looking forward to this novel...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】