Chapter 207: A Day Without Work is a Day Without Food (4)

The next morning.

Around mid-morning the next day, Il-mok woke up and casually strolled out of the building to get his training as always.

Ever since settling down in Lanzhou, his schedule had been mostly pawning off any important work to Dam Bin or Jin Hayeon and then spending most of his time either training or resting.

On his way to the training grounds, Il-mok spotted someone in the middle of the branch complex who looked like a complete wreck.

It was Baek Cheon.

Well the guy was always a bit off his rocker, but today he was a wreck in a different way.

Instead of his usual bright eyes, he had this crazed, hunted look. His eyeballs were completely bloodshot, and his hair looked like a bird’s nest he’d been trying to rip off his own head.

'Nope. I’m not dealing with that shit.'

Knowing that the smart move was to steer clear of crazy people, Il-mok quickly turned his gaze away.

"Young Master!!!"

But Baek Cheon, who'd clearly lost his damn mind, shouted like he'd just found his savior and rushed toward Il-mok.

"Hah... What is the problem now?"

"A disaster, Young Master! A complete disaster! I'm terrified that my own pathetic shortcomings will keep me from achieving the monumental task you gave me!"

"I have no idea what the hell you're... Ahem. Just slow down and explain."

"Yesterday, while performing with the entertainers, I was struck by a multitude of inspirations. So I returned to the branch, and from evening onward, I managed to capture those countless inspirations and successfully compose several new hymns!"

"...Good job."

Il-mok said in a lukewarm tone.

Though it was still praise.

Truth was, Il-mok had only taught Baek Cheon four hymns total.

He may have had his run-ins with the church back when he was Seo Ji-hoon, but he wasn't some genius who could remember every hymn he'd ever heard.

He’d only managed to remember the four catchiest or most overplayed ones, and even then, only the first verses.

They were already sick of singing the same four songs on a loop, so new material was definitely good news.

It's just that Baek Cheon looked so wrecked that Il-mok felt uneasy giving his praise.

"So what exactly is the problem?"

"The brilliant melodies I created are trying to leave my head!"

Il-mok thought, 'What the hell is he talking about?', but Baek Cheon was too far gone in his madness and rambled.

"I've been humming them all night long to keep from forgetting, but I can't keep this up forever! You have to let me see the courtesans again! I need to teach them the songs right now so they can memorize them for me!"

It was hard to make out what he was saying through his manic babbling, but Il-mok got the general idea.

'Is this because I told him he couldn't meet with the courtesans today?'

Those ladies were just helping Baek Cheon out as a favor. At the end of the day, they belonged to the entertainment house.

Since they had to entertain guests from evening until dawn, he couldn't just call them over for practice every single day.

Obviously, the solution here wasn't to summon them so Baek Cheon could teach them hymns.

"Those women have their own lives. Why don't you just write down the tunes you came up with? Wouldn't that make it way easier to teach them later?"

"Write them down? How exactly? Like 'Aah~ Aaak! Aaaaak~~ Aaak!!' on paper? How would anyone read the melody from that later?"

Il-mok scratched his head once and gave instructions to Dam Bin and Ju Seo-yeon, who were walking beside him.

"Can you get me some paper and a brush?"

Once Dam Bin and Ju Seo-yeon brought the paper, brush and ground the ink, Il-mok suddenly drew five lines across the paper.

"When it comes down to it, a melody is all about two things: how high or low the notes are, and how long you hold them, right?"

"That's correct, Young Master."

"Alright then, what if we did it like this? Use these five lines to show the pitch, and then use little symbols to show the rhythm."

Il-mok was essentially teaching Baek Cheon the modern idea of a musical staff.

Il-mok was no expert in music, but thanks to his mandatory schooling back in the day, he at least knew how to read and write sheet music.

"Last thing. Over on the side here, you can write down the tempo of the song. Let's use five levels: Super Fast, Fast, Normal, Slow, and Super Slow. It won't be perfectly accurate, but it'll be enough to jog your memory later. You can just tell the musicians the tricky parts in person when you practice with them, okay?"

When Il-mok finished his explanation—

Thud.

Baek Cheon suddenly dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Il-mok.

"Young Master's grace is as vast as the ocean itself! I will follow the Heavenly Demon's will and your command to spread the glory of our faith! I will work until my dying day—no, I'll sacrifice my life—to use this system to write, record, and spread glorious hymns far and wide!"

Seeing Baek Cheon kowtowing to him with bloodshot eyes and looking like a beggar, Il-mok simply concluded that Baek Cheon’s brand of madness had shot up to another level.

"I know this is rude, but my ideas are vanishing as we speak! This worthless fool must go now and write them down!"

"G-Go on, then."

Since the madman himself was offering to leave quickly, Il-mok saw no reason to stop him.

Baek Cheon took off in a blur of motion that you could practically hear the wind blow with his movements.

Il-mok stared at the space where the madman had been standing, yawned once, and headed toward the training grounds with his leisurely gait.

"Hm?"

Then, realizing something, Il-mok turned around with a puzzled expression.

Dam Bin and Ju Seo-yeon, who should have been following him, were frozen in place like they'd been nailed to the ground.

"What's wrong?"

Hearing how completely nonchalant he sounded, Dam Bin stared at Il-mok as if he wasn't even human.

Even Ju Seo-yeon, who generally showed little interest in anything besides Jin Hayeon, couldn't hide her astonishment this time.

***

Several days later.

Baek Cheon went back to the construction site, this time with Jin Hayeon, three other ladies, and seven courtesans in tow.

He found a quiet building on the property and handed out sheet music to the courtesans.

"This melody came to me through inspiration, and I've recorded it using the method taught to me by the Incarnation of Maitreya. Furthermore, since the Incarnation of Maitreya selected this melody himself, you must play it with the utmost devotion."

Baek Cheon's words were only half true.

The full story was that after Il-mok taught him how to write music, Baek Cheon had spent the past few days basically forgetting to eat or sleep while battling it out with the sheet music.

Thanks to that, he'd created over ten new hymns and tried to teach them all to the courtesans.

But then—

"Sing the songs you've composed."

Il-mok suddenly stopped him.

After listening to all the hymns Baek Cheon had written and composed, Il-mok picked up just one sheet of paper with his finger.

"Only teach the courtesans this one. The other melodies are either too difficult to sing or don't stick in your ear, so they're not suitable as hymns."

Out of all the songs he'd written like a madman over several days, only one was approved.

But Baek Cheon wasn't displeased.

To Baek Cheon, Il-mok had already become someone he respected second only to the Heavenly Demon—even surpassing his own father.

And far from being upset, he wanted to whip himself for still failing to meet the Young Master's expectations.

"Um, how exactly are we supposed to play from looking at this?"

When one courtesan raised her hand to ask, Baek Cheon taught them how to read sheet music based on what he'd learned from Il-mok.

On top of that, he added verbal explanations for the subtle details that couldn't be conveyed through the notation alone as he taught them the new hymn.

Meanwhile, construction work was still happening on the other side of the manor. And just like last time, when the sun started to set, the workers and the women all ate dinner and chatted together.

The former beggars were settling into their new routine.

Meanwhile, across town as the sun went down, things were different.

In the shantytown under the bridge, a bunch of glum beggars were huddled together.

"Hey. You hear the news?"

"You mean about the guys who went off and joined that Maitreya Luminous Cult?"

These beggars had trusted the Beggars Gang members and returned here out of suspicion that the Maitreya Luminous Cult might have some hidden agenda.

But all that remained for them was even greater misfortune.

"That fellow Gong Cheol is positively glowing, I hear."

"Guess he really hated not being able to wash while living as a beggar. They say he's bathing all the time now."

"Yeah? And he bought a bunch of new clothes."

"He bought multiple outfits after just five days of work?"

"The pay must be pretty good. And they give 'em a place to sleep and food, so what's left to spend money on?"

"I saw Cheol Gu in the market last night. He was actually walking and talking with a woman."

"...No way."

It had only been five days, but the beggars who left to join the Maitreya Luminous Cult were already living happy new lives.

But it wasn't just envy that made them miserable.

Grrrrowl.

As thunder rumbled from the beggars' stomachs, one middle-aged beggar sighed and said, "You all sure have a lot of energy for talking for a bunch of rats who haven’t eaten in days."

The others shut up and sheepishly looked away.

With fewer beggars around, there should've been more food for everyone. But in reality, most of them hadn't eaten in days.

Why? Because after that last public gathering, people had pretty much stopped giving them handouts.

To be precise, rumors had spread throughout Lanzhou that beggars deliberately didn't wash to look more pitiful for begging.

People in this city were already stingy to begin with, thanks to the Heavenly Orchid Society. Just when things seemed to be improving after the Heavenly Orchid Society was gon, an even greater misfortune had befallen the beggars.

"Instead of staying like this, shouldn't we just go there too?"

"We already refused last time. Do you think they will take us now?"

"I actually bumped into Sam-sik. He said the door's always open as long as we don't betray the cult."

As a few beggars whispered among themselves, the middle-aged beggar clicked his tongue lightly and pointed somewhere with his eyes.

He was looking at the hut where the Beggars Gang guys were staying.

Only then did the beggars shut their mouths, but the Beggars Gang members who'd trained in martial arts had already heard everything.

However, the Beggars Gang members didn't scold the beggars.

They just looked toward the shack with complicated expressions.

Inside was their leader, Hong Gae.

Hong Gae hadn't left his shack since that last gathering.

"Tch."

Unable to bear the frustration, the Three-Knot beggar kid entered the shack.

"Branch Leader."

Hong Gae looked up at him, his eyes completely unfocused.

Hong Gae had been trapped in his own heart demon since that gathering.

—One side offers them jobs and pay. The other just lets them keep begging and maybe stops them from getting kicked around a few times. So tell me, which one is really helping the beggars?

That devil’s question wouldn't leave his mind.

For someone who prided himself on being a Beggars Gang’s folk for decades, the question the snake had posed shook the very foundation of his life.

The only thing keeping him from completely snapping was the stable martial art he practiced. If he'd been a user of Demonic Arts or some Unorthodox Faction’s martial arts, he would've already gone berserk from Qi Deviation.

The Three-Knots beggar roughly understood Hong Gae's condition, but he couldn't just stand by and watch anymore.

"Looks like the beggars want to go to that estate."

"...The ones who already left... are they doing okay?"

When the Three-Knots beggar nodded with a complicated expression, Hong Gae let out a deep sigh.

"Let those who want to go. What's the point of forcibly holding them back?"

Having said that, Hong Gae suddenly pulled out a brush and ink he'd hidden in one corner of the shack and began writing on tree bark.

When he was done writing his makeshift letter, he handed the bark to the Three-Knots beggar.

"Take this to headquarters."

Hong Gae had made up his mind. If he couldn't answer the devil’s impossible question on his own, he'd go ask the answer from someone higher up.