WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Former Supreme ◈
Chapter 110: The Supreme Ones' Amusement (2)
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The man was so startled that he fell flat on his backside.
He clearly recognized Yeom Hwasin's face. What would happen next was obvious. At the shout that Yeom Hwasin had appeared, everyone would scream and flee. It would be fortunate if it ended in mere confusion, but if someone drunk enough to think they were the strongest under heaven rushed in to capture Yeom Hwasin, this place could become a sea of blood.
He could not let that happen.
Baek Socheon rose, placed a hand on Yeom Hwasin's shoulder, and put an arm around him as though they were close.
"Don't be too surprised. My older brother has had to deal with this his whole life because he resembles someone."
The man blinked and asked, "He resembles someone?"
"That's right."
Otherwise, it would make no sense for anyone to put a hand on the Black Heaven Alliance Leader's shoulder.
The man got to his feet.
"You nearly scared the life out of me."
"It's all right."
"He looks far too much like him. Be careful. If that person sees his face, he won't survive."
"A fortune teller said my older brother isn't fated to die easily, so you needn't worry."
"True. I nearly died of fright first."
The man shook his head and left.
"If someone looks that much like me, why kill him?" Yeom Hwasin said. "I'd take him with me and raise him as a shadow warrior."
"You might as well kill him. How miserable would his life be?"
"Hahaha. You even worry about imaginary people."
Baek Socheon snickered, though the words struck a chord within him.
Yes. This worrying, this chivalrous impulse. He needed to rein them in a little.
In any case, their first attempt at joining another table had gone well, and Yeom Hwasin seemed pleased.
"This is entertaining. That woman over there isn't bad either. I'll go first this time. If I send you, we'll run out of liquor from all the defeat wine I'll have to drink."
Baek Socheon watched his large frame walk away and felt a strange feeling.
Anyone who knew Yeom Hwasin would never imagine he had this side to him. Even Baek Socheon, who thought he knew him better than anyone, found this version of Yeom Hwasin unfamiliar.
Before long, though, Yeom Hwasin came back huffing.
"Should I kill every last one of them?"
"Have a drink and calm down. Here, defeat wine. Hahaha."
Yeom Hwasin gulped down the alcohol.
"They didn't even look sorry when they rejected me."
"Why should they be sorry? We're the older ones trying too hard here."
"Hmph!"
"Now, calm down and watch my rematch."
Baek Socheon approached other women and successfully joined their table.
Yeom Hwasin laughed heartily as Baek Socheon returned with a smug look on his face.
Several women came and went, and some even approached them first. Of course, the women who came first were older.
Having settled into the atmosphere, Yeom Hwasin joked around with every woman he met.
"You have such an impressive build!"
"Listen, I'm not just big. Feel these muscles."
The women came over, touched his biceps, and gasped.
"Wow! They're really hard."
"They're incredible! It feels like touching a lump of iron, not stone!"
Did they have any idea whose body they were touching? More than that, they were touching the Indestructible Vajra Body, the ultimate physical attainment that martial artists dreamed of even in their sleep.
Then it happened.
"That old bastard is really muddying the waters."
At the irritated taunt, Baek Socheon squeezed his eyes shut. Right. Yeom Hwasin's massive frame was far too conspicuous for them to get through the night without trouble.
Baek Socheon quickly said, "If you break your promise, I'm going home."
Whether Yeom Hwasin heard him or not, he asked the man who had started the quarrel, "Were you talking to me?"
"Yeah, I was talking to you. Who else here is old besides you?"
The man was thoroughly drunk. He wore expensive clothes and gaudy accessories, as though he came from a wealthy family. He had seen the women who had rejected him earlier join their table and was now making a scene.
"Even so, isn't it wrong to insult someone so openly?"
"Can that old dick even get hard? Why is an old man hanging around hoping to get something? You got more money than me? You pathetic beggars."
The bastard picked up a bottle and poured liquor over Yeom Hwasin's head.
Drip.
He had truly made up his mind to die.
Even so, Yeom Hwasin endured it without moving.
The next instant.
Smack!
The man's jaw twisted as he tumbled across the floor. Baek Socheon had thrown the punch.
He climbed on top of the man and rained down blows.
"Get hard? Do you have any idea how many women chase after my older brother? Money? Of course he has more than you. He's the richest man in the world!"
Smack! Smack!
The man flailed beneath him to avoid the blows, but he could not stop Baek Socheon, who had set his mind to beating him.
"Please spare me! I'm sorry, I was drunk."
"Is that something to brag about? If you're drunk, go sleep it off. Why pick a fight with someone who's done nothing?"
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Baek Socheon beat him black and blue until the martial artists managing the tavern came to stop him. He was angry, of course, but he had also beaten the man to save his life.
Apparently, the man often caused trouble here. As they took him away, one of the martial artists whispered to Baek Socheon.
"He's a vicious bastard, so it'd be best if you stayed away from here for a while."
Once the matter had been settled, Yeom Hwasin looked at Baek Socheon.
"How did you know I was rich?"
"Did you need to ask? You must be the richest."
The women at the table's eyes sparkled.
Baek Socheon told them, "It's the most dangerous money in the world, so close your eyes!"
The women laughed, finding it amusing.
Yeom Hwasin's mood had already improved. He laughed heartily as he drank. Baek Socheon asked a server to bring something to wipe the liquor from his hair and face.
Baek Socheon was secretly astonished. Yeom Hwasin had endured having liquor poured over his head. Less than a day had passed since Baek Socheon had called him too authoritarian, yet Yeom Hwasin had displayed the greatest patience of his life.
Baek Socheon was reminded once more of how frightening he was.
By the time the two staggered out of the Youth tavern, dawn had already begun to break.
They squatted side by side beside the entrance while waiting for a subordinate to bring the carriage. Men lay sprawled all around them.
"Defeated soldiers. Defeated soldiers who failed to pick up women before dawn."
"How does it feel, sitting among the defeated soldiers like this?"
"It's only because you didn't like them. Several women gave us signals."
"I turned them down because I was thinking of you. They didn't seem to be your type."
"Putting my type aside, they were too unattractive."
The two laughed at the same time.
"That was really fun. Let's come here often."
Would there really be another time when he came here with Yeom Hwasin? Did Yeom Hwasin say such things because he believed there would be?
"I thought carefully about what you said, and you're right. I'm too authoritarian."
"It's enough that you know it."
"Could this personality affect my martial arts as well?"
"I think it certainly can."
"How?"
"I had a thought like that once. It must have been when my martial arts had reached a wall, and I felt as though I stood before a stifling barrier every day. Then this thought came to me. What if my martial arts could only change once I changed?"
Yeom Hwasin answered firmly, "People don't change."
"Isn't that why it's difficult to overcome the wall?"
"Hm."
Yeom Hwasin closed his eyes and repeated Baek Socheon's words to himself.
"One must change for one's martial arts to change?"
Then he opened his eyes wide.
"Should I try changing?"
"Can you?"
"If it means I can surpass my current level."
What about me?
Can I change myself?
Baek Socheon chose "mirror" as the theme of this journey. He regarded Yeom Hwasin as a mirror and applied Yeom Hwasin's pursuit of enlightenment to himself. It might sound strange, but this was a competition of enlightenment.
A carriage stopped before them. The subordinate in the driver's seat climbed down and opened its door.
"Where are we going now?"
At Baek Socheon's question, Yeom Hwasin replied, "First, let's find a good inn and cure our hangovers."
Just then, several martial artists approached the carriage.
They were masters with a sharp aura, and at the very back stood the man who had been beaten earlier.
"Ah."
Baek Socheon let out a sigh. Yeom Hwasin, on the other hand, looked as though he had already drunk a refreshing bowl of hangover soup.
People made many mistakes in their lives and paid greater or smaller prices for them.
Yet some denied that price and its consequences. Those who tried to change the outcome somehow. Those who sought revenge. As a result, innocent people sometimes suffered, and at other times, like now, they set themselves on the path to ruin. They could never simply endure and let it go.
That smile directed at them would be the last smile the man ever wore. Baek Socheon had done his best to drive away the reaper who came calling when he poured liquor over Yeom Hwasin's head...
When Baek Socheon looked at Yeom Hwasin, Yeom Hwasin answered as though he had been waiting.
"I've had my fill of women's scent. Now let's smell some blood too."
Completely unaware of their circumstances, the martial artists loaded the two men into the carriage. Yeom Hwasin and Baek Socheon obediently followed their instructions.
Keeping swords at the driver's throat, the martial artists took them somewhere.
The man who rode in the carriage with them was covered in blue bruises, but his face was full of excitement.
"You bastards, the carriage you're riding in is headed straight for hell."
Baek Socheon sighed.
'You idiot, you're riding in that carriage too.'
* * *
More than ten martial artists were waiting in the forest.
Their leader was Sa Duyang, a fairly well-known master of the unorthodox faction in the area.
"What kind of bastard was important enough to call me here?"
"It seems he got badly beaten after picking a fight at a tavern."
"What a pathetic bastard."
"They're coming."
The carriage was approaching.
As soon as the carriage stopped, the man climbed down and pointed them out.
"Great Hero Sa, those are the bastards!"
"Which bastards disturbed Young Master Jo's peace of mind?"
The beaten man's name was Jo Tong. He was the son of the head of the Jo Family Trading Company, the largest merchant house in the area. Sa Duyang protected the Jo Family Trading Company in exchange for money. It was the most important of his revenue sources.
Yeom Hwasin and Baek Socheon stepped down from the carriage after him.
"That one!"
Jo Tong pointed at Baek Socheon.
Sa Duyang belonged to the unorthodox faction, but he did not recognize Yeom Hwasin. He had never met him in person.
"What would you like me to do?"
"Get rid of them all. Don't just kill them. Cut off all their limbs, make them suffer unbearable pain, then kill them."
"Is there really a need to go that far?"
"They must die like that!"
After being thrown out of the Youth tavern that night, Jo Tong had run all over the place in a blind rage to arrange this situation.
Sa Duyang could not sever his connection to the Jo Family Trading Company. Considering that this stupid Jo Tong would one day become its master, he had to obey this order.
"What are you all doing? Take care of them."
"Yes!"
The subordinates drew their swords as one.
Just as Sa Duyang was about to retreat to the rear, he shouted, "Wait!"
Only then did he properly see the driver's face. He asked in a trembling voice, "Could it be Senior Jong?"
The man in the driver's seat nodded.
"That's right."
The subordinate driving the carriage was Jong Mujin.
"I pay my respects, Senior. I am Sa Duyang. You may not remember me, but I greeted you once in the past."
Sa Duyang bowed deeply. Jong Mujin was a renowned master of the unorthodox faction. He was an absolute master of the unorthodox faction, said to leave no survivors once he drew his sword. Sa Duyang could not defeat him even if ten, no, a hundred people at Sa Duyang's level attacked at once.
Jong Mujin had surpassed the peak realm and reached the level of a supreme master. He was not someone Sa Duyang should be standing here and speaking with. Nor was he someone who should be serving as a carriage driver...
"I remember. I heard you became independent and took some youngsters with you. Have you been well?"
"I'm honored that you remember me. I heard that you entered the Alliance Leader's Hall of the Black Heaven Alliance, Senior."
Sa Duyang was utterly shocked and flustered by this meeting.
"That's right. I serve the Alliance Leader."
"Ah, I see. Congratulations. But why are you here?"
Why was someone like him driving a carriage?
"I'm working."
"Ah, yes... Yes?"
"I'm working."
"...!"
At Jong Mujin's low reply, Sa Duyang felt dizzy for the first time in his life and began shaking like a leaf.
Then Jo Tong urged him from behind.
"What are you doing now?"
"Shut up."
Jo Tong failed to hear the quiet warning and opened his mouth again.
"I said hurry up and destroy those bastards!"
Unable to raise his voice, Sa Duyang bowed even deeper and said quietly, "Shut up... Please shut up."
Footnotes:
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