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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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“Uh, uhh…”
I wiped the blood flowing down my forehead. The dirt that had stuck to the side of my eyes was blocking my vision. When I frowned and looked at the judge, he was looking at the people in the VIP seats, stammering as if practicing his pronunciation.
I followed the judge’s gaze and looked at them.
“Huu….”
“Ummmm….”
“Ahem….”
The looks on their faces were truly a sight to behold. Some were looking at me with faces full of rage, as if they were about to kill me, while some were stroking their chins with troubled expressions. There were those with their arms crossed, nodding with serious looks, and Yeong-yu, who had a happy smile, his eyes sparkling, was also there.
“Huh?”
When I tilted my head after recognizing him, Yeong-yu waved as if he wanted me to look at him. I knew he was someone important, but I hadn’t expected him to be in the VIP seats. I bowed my head slightly as a greeting and then turned around.
“Isn’t it over?”
“Ah, well…”
When I asked the announcer, he was looking back and forth between the collapsed Duel Assassin and the VIP seats with a troubled expression. But the Duel Assassin’s head had been split in half, and he was spurting blood like a fountain, so there was no way that he was coming back.
“So…”
The announcer confirmed the Duel Assassin’s status once, and then looked toward the VIP seats. The middle-aged man who had been sitting there gestured with his hand, his lips moving, and the announcer stiffened his body in surprise. And then, after looking at me for a moment, the announcer mumbled, seeming as if he was about to say something.
“During the… duel…”
“That was a great match!”
And then a bright voice cut off the announcer. All eyes, from the audience, and also from the VIP seats, were now on a single spot. It was because a handsome boy was leaning against the railing and speaking to me. Because he was slightly infusing his words with inner energy, his voice was echoing clearly through the arena, even without much strength.
It was Yeong-yu.
The man who had been talking to me at the inn was talking to me again with a very pleased look. I didn’t know how to react to his interruption and looked around before giving my thanks.
“It is an honor for a master like you, Yeong-yu, to think highly of my skills.”
Yeong-yu nodded at my words and continued,
“The members of the Jegal Clan are experts at recognizing talent. By the way, that was a close call. It must have been difficult, facing an opponent who was so blatantly trying to kill you during the match.
The audience was stirred for a moment before they all started nodding, seemingly agreeing and talking to each other. Even to their eyes, it was obvious that the Duel Assassin had been trying to kill me, and the announcer had been watching, ignoring the match, until I was about to die.
The announcer was rolling his eyes with a troubled face after Yeong-yu emphasized that point.
“You bastard, who do you think you are, interrupting like that? The competition is still ongoing, and yet you, a young man, are being so reckless.”
And the middle-aged man who had his face flushed in the VIP seats shouted at Yeong-yu. He was openly displaying his discomfort and it seemed as if he was about to attack at any moment, the tendons in his hands prominent.
Yeong-yu bowed his head after seeing his reaction and said,
“My apologies, sir. I have made a mistake, being too excited at meeting a good martial artist after a long time. But, as you have also seen, wasn’t that a great match? He didn’t give up to a warrior who had been trying to kill him and made a comeback. It’s a sight that can be a good example to others.”
The middle-aged man didn’t respond. He stared intensely at Yeong-yu before wiggling his lips. Yeong-yu’s eyes twitched, and he also shook his head, his lips also moving. An unknown conversation took place in that silence, and then the middle-aged man sighed deeply and stood up.
The announcer, relieved, finally wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, looked at the audience and said,
“Th, the winner is Do-cheol, the leader of the Hongryun Sect!”
It was a moment where I should have bowed and ended the match peacefully by saying, Thank you for the lesson, but the one I was supposed to be facing had become a corpse and was collapsed on the ground. Thanks to that, I waved at the crowd and enjoyed their jeers and cheers, and the Duel Assassin’s corpse was put in a bag and then dragged away.
It was a humble end for a hidden card of the Martial Alliance.
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“That’s surprising, you managed to find enlightenment in the middle of the match.”
I returned to the inn, and was lying there, receiving treatment from a physician Yeong-yu had called, and Yeong-yu was conversing in a kind tone, not bothered at all by the fact that I was lying down. I wondered if it was okay for me to be so relaxed in front of a master, but because he wasn’t bothered, I continued our conversation while still lying there.
“I was also surprised. It’s like my eyes were opened suddenly, and my movements changed.”
“It’s good to maintain those sensations and concentrate on your training for a while. For training in martial arts, maintaining that realization you’ve obtained and then continuing it, is the most important.”
I stared at Yeong-yu. Looking up at him while lying down felt strange as if I was a customer in a massage parlor, staring at a person in the seat next to me. Yeong-yu, with his legs crossed, was directly receiving my gaze. He smiled and said,
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
It was something that I had been curious about ever since our encounter at the inn. At that time, I had just let it go since I had thought that it was just a verbal act of kindness, but I couldn’t help but feel suspicious after he had even called in a physician for me and was now giving me advice on my training.
There was no free lunch in the world.
Neither was there a person who would be nice just because they liked me.
If something was beneficial for me, then it was also beneficial for the other person, and even if becoming closer with me was beneficial for the other person, that didn’t directly translate into benefits for me.
A complicated power struggle was always the basis when exchanging favors with another person.
But I couldn’t just indirectly ask a master who was superior to me.
It was better to just directly ask him what his goal was.
“You’re straightforward. I don’t dislike people like that.”
Yeong-yu didn’t seem offended by my straightforward question. Instead, he smiled and nodded, and then patted the physician’s shoulder and said,
“You should leave for a moment.”
The physician who had been in the middle of treating me, silently left the room without a word. I heard the door close, and then Yeong-yu, looking back at me, placed his hands on his knee.
“Haven’t you ever thought that everything in the world had gone wrong?”
His first question was not the question that I had been expecting. I tilted my head and asked,
“What do you mean?”
“Literally. Have you never felt that everything in this world was going wrong? The Martial Alliance is not upholding justice in the world, but is being controlled by money and fame while neglecting all kinds of evil deeds. The sight of them crossing the line between the government and the martial world has become very natural.”
“I also feel that it’s strange, in that sense.”
I nodded. This world was definitely strange. The martial artists, who were supposed to be walking the righteous path, were all obsessed with money, and Master Gold Fortune, who wasn’t even a martial artist, was using the Martial Alliance members however he liked. It was hard to find martial artists who were truly following the righteous path, and situations where they would openly run their sects like businesses and collect taxes instead of the government would happen often.
Something was strange. It was like an ominous shadow, as if the Martial Alliance was going to devour the world, was being cast upon the land.
Yeong-yu was looking at the air and said,
“I thought that someone had to fix this situation. The martial world has become too large and has become corrupted, and the imperial family has no power and are being used however they please. If we don’t fix it now, it’ll be out of control.”
“…You’re saying that you want to include me in your plans?”
He hadn’t said it explicitly, but what Yeong-yu wanted was clear. Yeong-yu nodded and said,
“That’s right. But you’re also dissatisfied with the current situation, right? Master Gold Fortune will keep tormenting you, do you think you can overcome this mess by yourself? This is a situation that’s beneficial for both of us. Because our goals are the same.”
“To push out Master Gold Fortune?”
“Excellent.”
He complimented me in a tone like he was praising a kindergartener. I wasn’t happy because it was the obvious answer, and that I had guessed it. He was stroking his knees and said,
“I didn’t expect you to refuse.”
I looked at Yeong-yu. Although he was smiling brightly, his eyes were sharp. The more I looked at him, the more I thought that he was a man that I couldn’t let my guard down against. I asked,
“…Why did you come to have such thoughts?”
“Just like our ancestors had done, it is something I have to do as a martial artist walking the righteous path, and as someone with the family name Jegal (諸葛).”
He said that, looked down at me, and then asked,
“So, what do you plan to do, Leader Do-cheol?”
It wasn’t something that I could decide on my own.
I pushed away the complicated thoughts that were coming to my head and said carefully,
“…Give me some time to think. I need to return to the sect and think about it. It doesn’t seem like something I should be deciding here.”
“Take your time. I’ll come to visit you at the sect later.”
Yeong-yu said that and then rose from his seat.
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