—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“You filthy hypocrites! You have no right to call Hero Tang a hero! How can you claim you’re doing what’s best for Hero Tang when you’re just standing by and doing nothing!”
“What nonsense! I too would jump into fire carrying firewood for Hero Tang’s sake, but what good would that do for him? It’s you who are hypocrites, forcing Hero Tang onto a thorny path just because you want to be with him!”
The fierce opposition between the two sides continued.
“A martial artist should have an indomitable will that doesn’t fear shedding blood to carry out their chivalrous intentions!”
“If it could be solved with just spirit, we would have done so too! Drawing your sword anywhere is just the recklessness of a common man!”
“You bastard! Yeo Jin-sang!”
“Jeong Sam! I’ve been thinking I should defeat you someday and settle this, and that day has come!”
“Fine. Draw your sword! Martial artists should argue with their swords!”
The two former colleagues went to the training ground, and the rest of the outcasts followed, repeatedly shouting Jeong Sam and Yeo Jin-sang’s names.
Black Cat poked my side as I was weeping at my misfortune, wondering how to resolve this situation.
“Senior, we should go watch.”
“Black Cat, read the room.”
Those two were evenly matched, so the outcome would depend on their luck and condition that day.
“Alright. Then can you tell me what you two talked about with the Tang family outside?”
Yu Sa-yeon also approached our seats with a troubled expression.
“It looks like it won’t be easy for the Tang family to come and capture Tang Do-gyeong.”
“That’s right. Those friends calling themselves the Comrade Faction or whatever look like they’d really draw their swords if someone tried to take Tang Do-gyeong away.”
Among those causing a commotion in the training ground were several peak masters.
And most of them were in the Comrade Faction.
If you asked why these peak masters were acting so disgracefully, the only answer would be because they were peak masters.
Outcasts who reached the transcendent realm would quit being outcasts and go find a position somewhere, so where else could the peak masters of this Outcast Inn get a chance to receive guidance from a transcendent master?
Most sects didn’t even have transcendent masters; even in significant sects with transcendent masters, those who could receive teachings from them were extremely limited.
Tang Do-gyeong’s visit and the possibility of him becoming a Sacheon outcast was practically a godsend for them.
So when the Tang family’s masters appeared to subdue and take Tang Do-gyeong away, these people could draw their weapons with an all-or-nothing mindset.
Black Cat munched on some popped rice and said,
“Didn’t you two know? That Tang Do-gyeong is a complete madman.”
“How could we not know that? We just didn’t think he’d be supported to this extent.”
“No, he’s even crazier than you two thought. Tang Do-gyeong taught the outcasts his style of energy techniques.”
I beg your fucking pardon? Is that guy really insane?
“Did he really teach the true energy techniques? Did he teach the Tang family’s fist techniques? Really?”
“Well, he didn’t teach the Tang family’s martial arts, but he did teach some of the fist techniques he had compiled over the years.”
“…Wow.”
No wonder the outcasts went crazy.
They got a taste of martial arts compiled by a transcendent martial artist, so they all lost their minds.
If my limit wasn’t second-rate, I would have been shouting Tang Do-gyeong’s name too.
Yu Sa-yeon, who had tensed up thinking the Tang family’s martial arts had been revealed, slumped down in relief.
Right, if even a hint of the Tang family’s martial arts had been revealed, the entire Outcast Inn would have been wiped out.
“Is this evidence that I worked while Senior Ho was sleeping?”
“Well, I have nothing to say to that.”
I thought Tang Do-gyeong was just reviewing the outcasts’ martial arts; I didn’t know he was teaching his own techniques, too.
Since nothing good would come from catching Tang Do-gyeong’s eye, I had been adjusting my movements to meet him for just one hour of shell games.
This meant that Black Cat had been monitoring Tang Do-gyeong alone while I wasn’t watching.
Considering that Black Cat was also Tang Do-gyeong’s sparring partner, did she take some risks, too?
Was Black Cat pushed aside due to my bet with Tang Do-gyeong and the outcasts’ enthusiasm?
I told Black Cat about my conversation with the Tang family people in place of the exhausted Yu Sa-yeon.
Since Black Cat had been working to handle this situation, I thought asking for her opinion on resolving it would be okay.
“Hmm.”
Black Cat thought for a moment and then said,
“First, there’s one thing we need to handle. The Tang family’s request, right? Prevent Tang Do-gyeong from [entering and exiting] the Outcast Inn until the Tang family people arrive. And if possible, keep him in the Outcast Inn until the Tang family people arrive. Is that right so far?”
“Yes.”
“And the other thing we need to handle now is Tang Do-gyeong’s request to join the Sacheon outcasts, right? The Tang family is absolutely against it, while Tang Do-gyeong is insisting on being accepted. And the outcasts are divided and arguing for and against it?”
“Yes.”
Wait. I think she’s onto something here.
After hearing nothing but confusing news all day about the outcasts’ uproar and Tang Do-gyeong’s crazy behavior, my head must have become muddled without realizing it.
Now that we’ve clearly laid out these premises, I can see a way forward.
“Then let’s first call Tang Do-gyeong to this Outcast Inn.”
Black Cat seemed to be thinking along similar lines as me.
“Right, that seems correct. After all, as long as people don’t see Tang Do-gyeong [coming in and out] of the Outcast Inn, that’s enough.”
“Hmm.”
Since Yu Sa-yeon was basically a person whose brain worked to some extent, she seemed to have grasped what we two were trying to say.
“So, you mean we secretly call Tang Do-gyeong late at night and confine him in the Outcast Inn? What’s the justification?”
“How about this? Under the pretext of testing whether he can live as a Sacheon outcast or not, we have him stay at the Outcast Inn for a few days.”
“That’s a good idea. The outcasts will be thrilled to be with Tang Do-gyeong anyway, so they won’t complain. And even the faction opposing it will hesitate since there’s the justification of it being a test.”
“Tang Do-gyeong will be staying at the Outcast Inn in the end… so he probably won’t have major complaints either.”
Regardless of the essence, as long as people don’t see him coming in and out, we can stop the rumors of Tang Do-gyeong frequenting the Outcast Inn.
If he just comes in without being seen by people, it will look to the outside world as if Tang Do-gyeong isn’t coming to the Outcast Inn.
Then, we’ll have primarily fulfilled the Tang family’s request to prevent face-losing incidents and keep Tang Do-gyeong confined.
“Now the biggest problem will be when Tang Do-gyeong is captured by the Tang family people… With the current atmosphere in the Outcast Inn, won’t half of them rise up?”
“Hmm. But half are also against it. Won’t that create a sort of antagonistic balance?”
“We’ll have to try to manipulate public opinion in our favor while Tang Do-gyeong is staying at the Outcast Inn.”
The result of the three of us putting our heads together was that this was the best we could do.
For now, we needed to confine Tang Do-gyeong in the inn under the pretext of a test and work on strengthening the public opinion of the Flower Path Faction among the two factions led by those two bastard colleagues, the Comrade Faction and the Flower Path Faction.
That way, when the Tang family’s masters came to take Tang Do-gyeong away, the outcasts wouldn’t confront the Tang family people.
“Hey, you bastards, stop fighting! I said stop fighting, you idiots! Jeong Sam!”
Yu Sa-yeon shouted at the top of her lungs as she pushed into the training ground where the two were fighting.
There was a sound of something being thrown and breaking, whether it was a teapot, cup, or something else.
“You bastards, I’ve had enough! Are you looking down on the innkeeper? Do you all want to be kicked out? Outcasts dividing into factions and fighting each other?!”
While Yu Sa-yeon was grabbing the outcasts in the training ground like catching mice, I caught one of the intermediaries.
I asked him to run an errand to tell Tang Do-gyeong that I would be looking for him tonight.
Since the intermediary had eyes and ears, he understood the current situation and nodded before heading out.
“Well… now the start of a new battle.”
It was time to throw away the mask of the sorcerer wielding the power of Jeon-gwi from the Saw Bone Hell and be reborn as the leader of the Flower Path in this Outcast Inn.
From today until the Tang family’s masters arrived, the goal was to turn all the outcasts in this Outcast Inn into the Flower Path Faction.
Black Cat giggled.
“Wow, this is going to be really fun. Is there any honey candy around?”
“Hey, from this moment on, you’re Flower Path Faction too, okay?”
“The sound of Comrade Faction is better though… but I guess I have no choice.”
“Ugh, anything but Comrade.”
She keeps triggering my military trauma, really.
Black Cat is an essential resource for this matter, so I plan to use her fully.
If Black Cat grabbed a passing Comrade Faction outcast, pushed them against the wall, and said, “Want to join… the Flower Path Faction?”, they’d nod right away, right?
Of course, if we used fraudulent canvassing that relied on Black Cat’s beauty, the Comrade Faction would fiercely resist, so we’d have to use her discretely.
Sensing that my eyes didn’t look good, Black Cat tried to step back, but I grabbed her shoulder.
Hey, kitty, it’s time to put you to work.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Those 2 outcast are really annoying and this side quest is probably important since its going on for so long despite starting from getting money