WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 242: Today's Fortune
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“Khahahaha! I feel great.”
Supported by Dam Ak, Cha Seokdu entered the inner room with a hearty laugh.
“Alliance Lord, are you all right?”
In truth, it could barely be called support.
Cha Seokdu was a huge man, while Dam Ak was slight of build and had never learned martial arts.
It was like a small child trying his best to support his father, while the father pretended not to notice and accepted the help.
“Ah, I’m fine. I’m fine!”
As he watched Cha Seokdu sit down, Dam Ak felt emotions too complex to put into words.
Cha Seokdu wore the relaxed expression of someone who had barely made it through a great crisis.
Yet it weighed on Dam Ak that Jin Sowoon, not Dam Ak, had given Cha Seokdu that peace.
“What a relief... What a relief...”
The sight of Cha Seokdu faintly smiling and drunkenly muttering made Dam Ak both happy and regretful.
“I’m sorry, Alliance Lord. This was something I should have handled.”
“Hm?”
Cha Seokdu’s half-lidded eyes opened wide.
“How could that have been Strategist Dam’s duty? It was something everyone had to resolve together.”
“If I had been wiser...”
“Khahahaha. Even you are talking nonsense, Strategist Dam.”
Seeming to have sobered up a little, Cha Seokdu let out another hearty laugh and looked at Dam Ak with clear eyes.
“Strategist Dam. What do I want from you? Did I ask you to preserve my position?”
“...No, you did not.”
“That’s right. What I want is for the Black Alliance to take root in this land and prosper greatly.”
Cha Seokdu’s gaze was gentler than ever.
“And Strategist Dam has done his work well all this time.”
“...”
“Everyone has their own role to play. The Black Flame Dragon was simply better suited to resolve this matter.”
Jin Sowoon was not merely better suited for it. No one else could have even conceived of or carried out such a method.
After hearing the full story from Jin Sowoon, even Cha Seokdu had clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“There’s no need to blame yourself or compare yourself to him. Don’t you have your own work to do?”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Cha Seokdu nodded, then leaned forward with a serious look.
“More importantly... do you still think an alliance would be difficult?”
The subject raised at the banquet returned once more.
“You are considering an alliance?”
“Jin Sowoon shouted through sound transmission loud enough to split my ears. He kept yelling, ‘How could you do this?!’”
“...That happened?”
Dam Ak groaned inwardly.
Jin Sowoon had helped the Black Alliance, but he had still spoken so rudely to its representative.
Cha Seokdu seemed unbothered as he continued.
“Hmm... I also think it may be right to form an alliance for a time. The Black Alliance still looks impressive only on the surface.”
Comparing an organization five hundred years old to one that had only just been founded was absurd in the first place, but Dam Ak understood Cha Seokdu’s intentions.
“By exposing the hidden assassin, we have curbed some of the Alliance leaders’ opposition toward the martial world. But we cannot go further than that. Some joined the Alliance from the beginning under the banner of waging war against the Martial Alliance.”
After a moment of thought, Cha Seokdu asked quietly, “What do you think? Can we stand against the current Martial Alliance?”
“...We will not lose easily.”
“So we will lose in the end.”
“The Martial Alliance’s underlying strength is not limited to the organization itself.”
“I know that as well. That’s why I have so many concerns. I do not want the Black Alliance to be an organization that appears for a moment, then vanishes. I want it to be a place where people of free spirit gather, compete with one another, and sometimes move forward together.”
Cha Seokdu’s voice grew heavy.
“In the end, it was not the Black Path martial world but the White Path martial world that resolved the matter at Demon Spirit Plateau. Something like that could happen again at any time.”
His eyes burned as he reflected on the past.
“There is only one reason we must unite. To protect ourselves.”
There was not a trace of hesitation in his eyes.
“Not to kill others or take what belongs to them.”
Dam Ak knew what grand vision Cha Seokdu had carried all these years, and he slowly nodded.
“I’ll remember that.”
“...Tsk, I got carried away. Forgive me. I become too talkative when I drink.”
Dam Ak could understand Cha Seokdu’s feelings.
There were not many people in the Black Path martial world who shared his goal.
Most were violent and lawless.
It could not have been easy to hold such a great dream alone among them.
“I will make it happen.”
“Yes... I’m counting on you.”
After raising his voice for so long, Cha Seokdu’s voice had softened.
His eyelids had drooped halfway, as though sleep was beginning to claim him, and Dam Ak was about to excuse himself.
“Oh, right. Take this.”
At that moment, Cha Seokdu pulled a large wooden box from beside him with one hand and set it on the table.
“What is this?”
“Ah, Jin Sowoon told me to assign you a guard or prepare something for self-defense in case you were ever in danger.”
“Jin Sowoon said that...?”
Dam Ak opened the box and found armor made of thin iron plates layered tightly together like scales.
“It is the Iron Scale Armor, one of the Four Emperors Association’s sacred relics. Wear it beneath your clothes at all times.”
Dam Ak doubted his ears.
“The Iron Scale Armor... Isn’t that your sacred relic, Alliance Lord?”
That meant Cha Seokdu was giving Dam Ak the relic he himself had worn.
Dam Ak hurriedly shut the box.
“I’ll be fine. Please put it back on, Alliance Lord.”
“The most important person in the Black Alliance is not me, but you.”
“...”
Cha Seokdu reached out and reopened the box.
“If I die, someone else can take the seat of Alliance Lord. But if you die, won’t the Black Alliance’s history end there? So do not refuse. Wear it for my sake, and for the Black Alliance’s.”
Perhaps Cha Seokdu’s words were only an excuse.
It was consideration for Dam Ak, the only person within the Black Alliance who had not learned martial arts.
Dam Ak could no longer reject Cha Seokdu’s kindness.
He expressed his gratitude in his own way.
“I will make the Black Alliance into an organization equal to the Martial Alliance... No, greater than it.”
“Yes, that is what I truly desire! Khehehehe!”
For some reason, this moment felt as warm to Dam Ak as the time when Dam Ak had lived at Blue Tile Academy.
#
“Uugh... Uugh...”
An emaciated figure, soot smeared around the eyes, crawled out of the room and painfully made his way to the table.
“W-water...”
The strange creature spoke human words and desperately reached toward the table. Ilmyeong, who had been watching, let out a long sigh, filled a bowl with water, and handed it over.
“Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp. Kuaaah!”
The strange creature drained the bowl in an instant, like water poured onto parched earth.
That creature was none other than Jin Sowoon.
“Whew... I’m dying.”
Watching Jin Sowoon roughly wipe the water from his mouth, Ilmyeong spoke with clear disapproval.
“Benefactor Jin... If it is that difficult, could you not use your internal energy to purge the alcohol?”
Jin Sowoon shook his head as though he had grasped the truth of all things.
“Senior Ilmyeong... If I’m going to purge the alcohol, why drink in the first place?”
“...”
[Jin Sowoon appears to be an Enlightened One.]
Yeah, right.
Amitabha...
Deciding that reasoning with him was no longer possible, Ilmyeong calmly began packing again.
Jin Sowoon watched him and tilted his head.
“What are you doing?”
“Obviously, I am packing.”
“Why?”
“...We have to return to the Martial Alliance.”
Jin Sowoon was asking something so obvious that Ilmyeong felt baffled.
Could he truly be considering accepting Cha Seokdu’s offer from yesterday?
“Then are you staying here to become Vice Alliance Lord?”
Dang Seohui asked the question Ilmyeong had been holding back, her eyes strangely full of anticipation.
Jin Sowoon, who had already emptied another bowl of water, deeply furrowed his brow.
“What are you talking about? How could a disciple of the great Taeul Sect, a pillar of the White Path, live among those utterly wicked Black Path bastards?”
“...”
“...”
“Khh... That hit the spot!”
Was Jin Sowoon not the person the Black Alliance feared most right now?
Utterly wicked... Somehow, he seemed like he would get along with them better than anyone.
Trying to regain his composure, Ilmyeong asked, “Then why are you telling me not to pack?”
Jin Sowoon stopped drinking and spoke.
“Khh... There is still an important matter to handle.”
“A matter...?”
Ak Byeongbi and the delegation had cleared their names, discovered the hidden assassin, and finalized an agreement.
What else could possibly remain?
Wondering whether there was some detail he alone had not heard, Ilmyeong looked at Ak Byeongbi. Ak Byeongbi also shook his head.
“I have heard nothing.”
Then he added, “But if that bastard has something to do, it must be important.”
“...”
What was this?
When they had first come to Shanxi Province, Ak Byeongbi had been so convinced that Jin Sowoon was a Black Path spy that he would not even share a table with him.
Yet Jin Sowoon accepted Ak Byeongbi’s sudden change in attitude as though it were only natural.
“That being the case, we’ll remain a little longer.”
“Benefactor Jin... Would it not be better to tell us what this is about, at least?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“...”
Ilmyeong felt uneasy about staying in the Black Alliance for even one more day, but...
“Then you’re staying as Vice Alliance Lord from now on?”
“Vice Alliance Lord? You could say it’s more or less the same. Khahahaha.”
“Then can I be Vice Alliance Lord too?”
“Senior Dang still has a long way to go. You need more training.”
“I want to do it too! Vice Alliance Lord.”
“...”
It seemed that Ilmyeong alone felt that way, and his head began to ache.
Afraid that their joking might carry over the walls and reach the ears of Black Alliance members, Ilmyeong finally circulated his internal energy and blocked the sound.
‘Amitabha, Amitabha.’
For the first time in his life, he deeply regretted learning martial arts.
#
All the leaders of the Five Sects, Two Gangs, and One Association, the pillars of the Black Alliance, had gathered in the great hall.
Cha Seokdu should originally have attended as the Four Emperors Association’s representative, but as he was now the Alliance Lord, Hwang Busik attended in his place.
Ilmyeong swallowed hard as he took in the people gathered there.
It was as though the representatives of the Nine Sects One Gang and Five Great Clans had all gathered in one place.
And they had come at the call of a Black Path... no, White Path brat.
This gathering should not have existed in the first place.
‘What is he thinking?’
The others seemed to share his thoughts, judging by their grim expressions.
Those from the war faction in particular wore faces as though they had shit in their mouths.
Yet...
The one making Ilmyeong most anxious was none other than Jin Sowoon.
“How much longer are we supposed to wait?”
That was right.
Jin Sowoon had gathered these influential figures in one place, yet he had not appeared and was making them wait indefinitely.
‘Amitabha, Amitabha.’
After reciting the Buddha’s name around ten times in his burning impatience, Jin Sowoon finally arrived.
“Ah, I’m a little late.”
He looked completely at ease.
‘A...mitabha...’
Jin Sowoon entered with a bundle of papers in one hand, casually sat in the seat of honor, and provoked the people gathered there even further.
“Black Flame Dragon... You have gone too far. Why did you summon us?”
“Huh? If you didn’t want to come, then you shouldn’t have.”
Bang!
At Jin Sowoon’s flippant answer, the Demonic Path Sect Leader slammed a fist onto the table.
“Did you not use the Alliance Lord’s Command?”
Ilmyeong’s face turned even paler at the mention of the Alliance Lord’s Command.
Yet his heart settled a little at what Jin Sowoon said next.
“Do you not understand that I asked the Alliance Lord because it was important?”
“...”
Jin Sowoon’s voice turned cold.
The Demonic Path Sect Leader could only grind their teeth and say no more.
Ilmyeong also became curious.
What could be so important that Jin Sowoon delayed their return to the Martial Alliance and even used the Alliance Lord’s Command to gather these influential figures?
Jin Sowoon began handing out the bundle of papers one by one.
Curious about the contents, Ilmyeong quietly took the last remaining sheet.
“Fuck, what kind of bullshit is this?!”
“What? Reward money? What are you trying to pull?!”
Curses erupted before Ilmyeong could even inspect the paper.
He quickly began reading.
Then he nearly cursed as well.
“...”
[Reward Payment Statement for Discovering the Hidden Assassin]
-I, the undersigned, shall pay a reward to Jin Sowoon for identifying the culprit behind the murder case that occurred on the Sinmyo day of the Imja month...
Ah... This was the important business he had left in the Black Alliance?
‘Amitabha...’
Ilmyeong tried to calm himself by reciting the Buddha’s name, then let go of everything and looked at Jin Sowoon with a faint smile.
‘Damn it. I don’t know anymore.’
It was a warm smile befitting his epithet, Little Buddha.
Footnotes:
Little Buddha also evokes the Laughing Buddha, fitting Ilmyeong’s warm smile.
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