The sword cleared its scabbard with a metallic hiss that sliced through the heavy air of Deok-su's house. Steel flashed in the lantern light. Two officials lunged straight for Min-seo.
Seo-joon moved without thinking. He shoved her hard behind him, shoulder slamming into the first man's chest. The second official's blade whistled past his ear, close enough to part hair. Pain exploded across his ribs as a hilt drove into the same spot Gu Chil had punched days earlier. He tasted fresh blood, but he didn't stop. His small knife was already out, slashing low and ugly across the first official's thigh. The man screamed and crumpled, blood spraying across the floorboards.
"Enough!" Deok-su roared, rising like a mountain. His fist slammed the table so hard the duplicated ginseng roots jumped. "I said I run this row!"
The cousin's face twisted. "You dare interfere with a sealed warrant—"
"I dare because your magistrate is a greedy little shit who takes bribes from half the gambling dens in the district," Deok-su snarled. "I have the blood oaths. I have the roots. And I have eyes that see how much coin your cousin skims before it ever reaches the capital." He looked at Seo-joon, eyes cold and calculating. "The girl stays. Gu Chil walks. But the root boy pays the price for my protection. Triple the usual market fee—today. In silver. And he swears his entire supply route under my name from now on."
Min-seo's breath was hot against Seo-joon's back. She pressed herself flush to him, one hand sliding down his side until her fingers brushed the hard line of his cock through his pants—still half-hard from earlier, still sticky with the evidence of what they'd done in the shrine. "He's dripping out of me right now," she whispered so only he could hear, voice filthy and shaking. "Your seed. Still warm. If they take me, they'll find it when they strip me. Use that. Make them choke on it."
Seo-joon's jaw clenched. The words made his blood burn hotter than the pain in his ribs. He wanted to bend her over the table right there, in front of all of them, and fuck her again just to prove the point. Instead he met Deok-su's eyes.
"Done," he said flatly. "Triple fee. Routes under your banner. But Gu Chil never touches my people again. One finger on her, on the boy, on Wol—and I burn every root I own before I let you have them."
Gu Chil, standing free now between two officials, laughed low and wet. Fresh bruises darkened his face, but his eyes were murder. "You think fucking your little whore in the shrine makes you king? I'll remember how she looked with your cum on her thighs. Next time I'll make sure I'm the one leaving it there."
Min-seo's nails dug into Seo-joon's side hard enough to draw blood through his shirt. He felt her thighs clench, the slow trickle of his seed still leaking down her leg. The sight of it—soaking the hem of her skirt, visible to anyone who looked—made the cousin's lip curl in disgust and something darker.
Deok-su waved a thick hand. "Take your dog and get out. The girl belongs to the root boy until I say otherwise. Midnight. That's how long you have to deliver the silver and the first doubled shipment. Fail and the warrant comes back with fifty men."
The cousin spat on the floor but motioned his men to retreat. Gu Chil was dragged—still grinning—toward the door. As he passed, he leaned close enough for Seo-joon to smell the blood on his breath.
"Enjoy her while she's still tight," Gu Chil whispered. "I'll stretch her wide when your head is on a spike."
They left. The door slammed.
Silence crashed down.
Seo-joon turned and caught Min-seo's face in both hands. Her eyes were wild, pupils blown wide with leftover fear and leftover lust. He kissed her hard, tongue invading, tasting the salt of her earlier tears. One hand dropped low, sliding under her skirt to cup her soaked pussy, fingers pushing through the mess he'd left inside her. She moaned into his mouth, hips rolling shamelessly against his palm.
"You're still full of me," he growled against her lips. "Good girl. Keep it there until midnight. I want you dripping while we count silver."
She bit his lower lip until it bled. "I hate you for making me want this. For making me wet while they almost took me." Her hand wrapped around the front of his pants, stroking him through the cloth. "But if we survive tonight… I want you to fuck me again. Harder. Until I can't walk. Until the only thing I feel is you."
Wol cleared her throat loudly from the corner. "Save the rutting for after we're not all dead. We need silver. Real silver. Not your fancy roots."
Mak-bong stared at the floor, ears red.
Kang Yul stepped forward, ledger already open. "Deok-su won't wait. Triple fee means we need to move fast. And Gu Chil is loose now. He'll go straight to the magistrate's cousin with whatever poison he can spit."
Seo-joon pulled his hand from between Min-seo's thighs, deliberately slow, letting her feel every inch of his fingers dragging through their combined mess. He wiped them on his pants without shame. "Then we move faster. Pot stays secret. We duplicate enough high-value herbs tonight to sell as 'wild finds' and turn it into silver by midnight. Brand it under Deok-su's name for now. Controlled inventory. Scarcity. Door-to-door only until the heat dies."
He looked at Min-seo. The fresh bite on her neck, the dark stain on her skirt, the way she stood like a woman who had been fucked raw and claimed in front of the devil himself. "You're mine," he told her quietly, for her ears alone. "And I pay in blood and silver to keep it that way. Never forget that."
She touched the wet spot on her skirt, then brought her fingers to her lips and licked them clean, eyes locked on his. "I won't. But midnight is coming, Seo-joon. And Gu Chil is out there with a hard cock and a grudge."
Outside, the sun climbed higher.
Silver had to be found.
Blood would have to be spilled.
And somewhere in the alleys, Gu Chil was already sharpening his knife and whispering Min-seo's name like a promise.