WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 1: Back to the Starting Point (1)

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The cicadas, after waiting years, shrieked noisily.

Baek Socheon raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight pouring through the window.

The heat against his palm foretold just how sweltering the summer would be.

Across the training grounds, three or four martial artists stood beneath the shade of a tree, chatting as they escaped the blazing sun.

The Murim Alliance martial artists sighed at the forecast predicting an especially hot summer. Relations with the Black Heaven Alliance, the orthodox faction's eternal enemy, had worsened, and they had spent their days training without rest.

Still, they would rather train through a heat wave than come to where Baek Socheon now sat.

The place that made people feel suffocated just by looking at the building.

The Shadow Pavilion interrogation room.

The Shadow Pavilion was the Murim Alliance's internal inspection authority. It monitored violations of the chain of command and corruption among martial artists, wielding considerable power.

Then the interrogation room door opened, and a young man entered with a thick bundle of documents tucked beneath his arm.

"I'm Investigator Lee Yeop."

After sitting down, he immediately began sorting through the papers.

"I'm sorry I'm late. The senior investigator had something come up, so I was sent here in a hurry as a replacement."

Investigators became senior investigators from their third year onward, and special investigators from their seventh year onward.

Lee Yeop was a newcomer who had joined that spring.

These days, there was too much work and too little time for him to be full of youthful drive and passion.

To Lee, Baek Socheon looked impressive. He had a well-built, muscular body, a face anyone would call handsome or manly, and eyes that seemed too deep for someone so young. Above all, he looked intelligent, so Lee expected the interrogation to end quickly.

"You may not know this, but if further crimes are uncovered during this investigation, you'll be handed over to the Disciplinary Court. Choose your answers carefully."

Baek Socheon glanced at Lee and asked, "New recruit?"

Lee's expression stiffened at the blunt question.

"I'm the one asking questions."

"You can at least tell me that much, can't you?"

His attitude was insolent, but his voice was low and pleasant.

"I'll say it again. I'm the one asking questions."

"Pathetic. They sent a new recruit because they didn't want to get punched."

Lee fumed inwardly.

'He still doesn't understand the position he's in.'

It seemed Baek Socheon did not know that offending a Shadow Pavilion investigator could land someone in the dungeon, even if they would otherwise have been released.

Lee quickly read through Baek Socheon's personal file.

"Name, Baek Socheon. Third Squad Leader of the First Unit, Iron Sword Corps. So you're a squad leader in the Iron Sword Corps."

The Iron Sword Corps was the Murim Alliance's acknowledged elite force.

'Is that why he's acting so rudely?'

Others might have been intimidated by the Iron Sword Corps name, but it meant nothing to a Shadow Pavilion investigator. What surprised Lee instead was Baek Socheon's age.

"You're thirty-eight... Wait, thirty-eight?"

Baek Socheon looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties.

"Is this really your age?"

When Baek Socheon still did not answer, Lee continued reading the file.

"Joined the Murim Alliance twenty years ago. Good heavens, you really are thirty-eight."

Lee could understand Baek Socheon's earlier rudeness a little better. Baek Socheon was a senior who had been in the Murim Alliance for twenty years.

"After joining the Alliance, you entered the Iron Sword Corps. The following year, you earned great merit and became a squad leader in record time. Then you set records by becoming Deputy Unit Commander and Unit Commander in the shortest time as well?"

Lee looked up at Baek Socheon in shock. That was not the end of his extraordinary record.

"Then you became Iron Sword Corps Commander..."

For a moment, Lee thought he had misread the document.

Iron Sword Corps Commander? It was one of the five most powerful positions in the Murim Alliance.

The next line contained an even more shocking entry.

"Then you transferred to the Secret Pavilion to conduct covert operations. The Secret Pavilion?"

Lee's voice trembled. The Secret Pavilion was the Murim Alliance's secret strike force. The finest martial artists from each organization gathered there to carry out the Alliance Leader's most confidential missions.

The astonishing record continued there as well.

"Deputy Pavilion Head just six months after entering the Secret Pavilion, then Pavilion Head in only two years? Good heavens!"

That meant he had risen to become head of the Secret Pavilion, and at the youngest age ever.

Second only to one and above ten thousand, the Secret Pavilion Head stood at the heart of Murim Alliance power in both name and reality. Lee had never even seen the Secret Pavilion Head's face, and even if he had, he would not have dared speak to such a person.

Now Lee read the rest of the record with entirely different feelings.

"Six special promotions in addition to your regular promotions since joining the Alliance?"

Lee's eyes widened.

Opportunities for special promotion were rare for anyone living as a Murim Alliance martial artist. Earning even one was difficult, yet Baek Socheon had earned six.

'Even if I'm new, how did I not know about someone like this?'

The answer was on the next line of the file.

"What is this? Nine demotions?"

From head of the all-powerful Secret Pavilion, back down to Iron Sword Corps Commander, then Deputy Corps Commander, Unit Commander, and finally Squad Leader. He had slid back down the very path he had climbed.

Lee raised his head and looked at Baek Socheon. The Murim Alliance was full of martial artists, so many things happened here, but a case like this was rare.

"The reasons for demotion are disobeying orders, excessive force, unauthorized entry, disobeying orders, disobeying orders, breaking into the dungeon, disobeying orders, disobeying orders, and assaulting a superior?"

Lee stared at Baek Socheon with an incredulous expression.

"It's impressive that you're still alive after all this."

There was something else Lee could not understand.

'Why wasn't someone this important assigned to a special investigator?'

Judging from the record alone, it would not have been strange for the head of the Shadow Pavilion to handle this personally, let alone a special investigator.

'Because his rank is only squad leader?'

Special investigators only handled people at Unit Commander rank or above.

Then Lee realized that today's interrogation was not about rank. Someone this important would not have been categorized by such a simple standard.

Baek Socheon's earlier words came back to him.

"Pathetic. They sent a new recruit because they didn't want to get punched."

'This isn't the first time this man has been investigated by the pavilion!'

No one in the Shadow Pavilion could handle him, so they had sent Lee instead. They must have thought Baek Socheon would be more cooperative with a newcomer.

'Damn it! They could've at least warned me. Ah, does that mean the Pavilion Head is watching this interrogation too?'

Once that thought occurred to him, Lee's heart pounded as though he were the one being interrogated.

He steadied himself and began.

"All right. Shall we discuss this incident?"

"If the punishment's already been decided, why investigate at all?"

Now that Lee knew Baek Socheon's history, the rude answer no longer bothered him. Instead, he was curious about the man.

"Two days ago, your squad received a strike mission. But you refused the order. Is that correct?"

"That's right."

"Why?"

"There was an enemy ambush."

"Was there any evidence or circumstance that suggested an ambush?"

"Are you saying I should've gone into the place where an ambush was waiting to check?"

"Fine. Then how did you know there was an ambush?"

"A feeling."

"You disobeyed an order because of a feeling?"

Baek Socheon nodded. His tone was harsh, but he answered every question.

"After you disobeyed the order, the Shadow Pavilion's field team went there personally to investigate. They found no trace of an ambush."

"They failed to find it."

"Do you not trust the Shadow Pavilion's investigation?"

"Do you trust it? Ah, you're new, so you wouldn't know. Don't even get me started. Your investigations are a complete mess."

"You're convinced there was an ambush. Fine. But even if your instincts are good, shouldn't you obey an order once it has been issued?"

"Even if that gets every member of my squad killed? Is the order still more important?"

Silence followed.

Lee stared at Baek Socheon. He could no longer judge the man objectively. How could he distinguish truth from lies in the testimony of someone with such an extraordinary history?

To be honest, if someone like this said he had a feeling, Lee felt there probably had been an ambush.

Still, as Baek Socheon had said, the decision had already been made.

"I don't understand. You were once such a rising star. Yet now you can't even keep your position as squad leader."

Lee spoke in an authoritative tone.

"Baek Socheon, Third Squad Leader of the First Unit, Iron Sword Corps. You are demoted from Squad Leader to a Rank-and-file Martial Artist for disobeying orders. Return to your quarters and await your next orders."

It was his tenth demotion.

Unable to hold back, Lee asked, "What on earth happened to you?"

"I don't know. Send out your wonderful investigators and find out. Can I go now?"

"Yes, you may go. A placement order for your new post will be issued by tomorrow. Report to your new assignment within the specified time."

As Baek Socheon rose to leave, Lee asked, "Why didn't you leave the Alliance? This isn't a question from an investigator. It's a personal question from a junior."

Lee did not think he could have lived through such humiliation. Even working as a wealthy merchant's guard would have given Baek Socheon a life several times better than this one.

Baek Socheon asked calmly. He was no longer speaking as someone under interrogation, but as a senior martial artist.

"How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-three."

"Why did you join the Murim Alliance?"

The unexpected question startled Lee, but he answered honestly.

"It was my dream to become a Murim Alliance martial artist."

"Me too. It had been my dream since I was six."

Leaving only those words behind, Baek Socheon walked out of the interrogation room.

Lee silently watched him leave.

Baek Socheon emerged from the building.

Centered around the Alliance Leader's Hall in the distance before him, numerous buildings stood arranged around it.

One Hall, Two Courts, Three Pavilions, Four Corps, Five Units. This was the Murim Alliance, a vast and powerful organization where countless martial artists schemed against one another for power.

While everyone else raced upward, Baek Socheon had returned to the starting point after twenty years in the Alliance.

Rather than head toward the shade along the edge, Baek Socheon crossed the training grounds, thick with scorching heat, and left the area.

* * *

Hwang Jongsin, the head of the Shadow Pavilion, stood by the window of the office.

Lee Yeop, who had been in the interrogation room moments ago, stood behind Hwang. The Shadow Pavilion Head had summoned Lee directly here after he came out. Being alone with the highest authority in the organization made Lee's heart pound as much as it had when he was with Baek Socheon.

"What did he say?"

"Just as the report stated. He said he was certain there had been an ambush."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing in particular."

Baek Socheon could be seen walking across the training grounds below. Watching him, Hwang said something Lee had not expected.

"Baek Socheon is my senior. By two years."

"What?"

Lee was startled.

According to Hwang's explanation, Hwang had joined the Alliance eighteen years ago, while Baek Socheon had joined twenty years ago.

Of course, Hwang had joined at twenty-five while Baek Socheon had joined at eighteen, so Hwang was older than Baek Socheon.

"When I joined the Alliance, Baek Socheon was already famous."

"Wouldn't that have only been his second year in the Alliance?"

"He was skilled, and his judgment was sharp. From the beginning, he was no ordinary newcomer. You know the kind of person, don't you? Someone born with everything needed to become the best in a particular field. Everyone said it. They said Baek Socheon must have been born a martial artist."

Lee joined Hwang in watching Baek Socheon's receding back, seeing him in a new light.

"He had more than talent. He had luck too. No matter how talented he was, he could not have risen so quickly if he had not been given opportunities to show it. A few years after we joined the Alliance, the Black Heaven Alliance started a war."

"Yes, I know."

The Orthodox-Demonic War had lasted more than a decade.

"Rumors about him always came from the battlefield. They said he killed someone here, won a battle there, would use any means necessary to win, broke through Heaven's Net alone to save someone, earned another promotion and took another position... The things he accomplished were so extraordinary and grand that he never seemed like the same kind of Murim Alliance martial artist as us. He was the protagonist of a story."

A sigh escaped Lee.

"How did someone so remarkable fall this far?"

"You wouldn't know because it wasn't in the report you saw."

"What?"

"He was severely injured in the final battle that brought about the truce with the Black Heaven Alliance. His dantian was shattered, and his vital energy and blood were thrown into chaos. He suffered terrible internal injuries. Even the Divine Physician said he would die, but he didn't."

"Ah!"

Lee shuddered from head to toe. He had never imagined something like that had happened to Baek Socheon.

"His internal injuries were healed, but his shattered dantian could not be restored. The Divine Physician said that unless Baek Socheon underwent a complete transformation, he would never be able to use internal energy again."

"Ah!"

Lee let out another cry. As Hwang said, it felt like something out of a book.

"When he woke up, he was given a great reward, and his position as Secret Pavilion Head remained his. But he could not hold on to it. He repeatedly disobeyed orders and violated the Alliance Code. Some called it the all too familiar fall of a hero, while others said there must be some reason we did not know about. There were even rumors that he had fallen out with the Alliance Leader... Some went as far as saying he should have been expelled from the Alliance instead of being allowed to remain as the Secret Pavilion Head. Through all that talk, he kept falling. In only three years, he slid down the path he had spent seventeen years climbing."

Baek Socheon had now disappeared entirely from their sight.

"Not many people know this. An order was issued to keep silent about anything related to Baek Socheon."

It was an open secret martial artists at headquarters only discussed in whispers.

"Can he no longer use martial arts at all?"

"A tiger that has lost its teeth and claws will not be bitten to death by dogs or wolves."

But without internal energy, Baek Socheon's limits would be clear.

"Isn't this punishment too cruel?"

Lee could understand Baek Socheon now. How could someone remain sane after losing internal energy when they had once risen so high?

"Cruel? If we had truly been cruel, he would be locked in the deep underground dungeon right now, or already dead. Baek Socheon isn't the only person in the Alliance."

That was true. They had to consider the morale of the other martial artists as well. If someone repeatedly disobeyed orders without punishment, the Murim Alliance's discipline itself would collapse.

"In truth, the fact that he's still alive may be thanks to the Alliance Leader."

"What do you mean?"

"We don't know the Alliance Leader's intentions. Whether the Alliance Leader wants to expel Baek Socheon or still cherishes him. The Alliance Leader has never once revealed any thought or feeling about him. Even as Baek Socheon, whom the Alliance Leader cherished more dearly than their own child, was demoted again and again, the Alliance Leader never once said whether it was right or wrong. Without knowing what the Alliance Leader truly thinks, how could we casually expel the person who made the greatest contribution to bringing about the truce with the Black Heaven Alliance?"

Lee understood then. This interrogation would be more extraordinary than any investigation he would conduct during his entire life in the Shadow Pavilion. It had already become one he would never forget.

Hwang's gaze turned toward the Alliance Leader's Hall in the distance.

"Now that he's fallen to the very bottom... We may soon learn the Alliance Leader's intentions, don't you think?"

Hwang turned to Lee and added one final thing.

"Then we'll speak again about how cruel this martial world can be."

Footnotes:

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