WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 268: A Damnably Familiar Face (3)
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“Eunho.”
At my call, Eunho, who had been seething inside, shot to his feet with the look of someone ready to rush out and swing a sword.
“Should I get my sword?”
“What sword? You know those documents we've already finished processing?”
Eunho, whose hands had been clenched into fists, tilted his head in confusion.
“The documents meant for the Academy and Education Hall?”
“Yeah. And the materials we borrowed from the Mantong Office.”
“Those are... just sample documents.”
I grinned at Eunho.
“Bring every last one of them.”
“...”
Cheol Sunjik, you thought you could come at me with some pathetic trick like this?
“Bring them all out and spread them across the room.”
Too bad for you. I hadn't beaten down just one or two rats like you.
“Heh heh...”
“What are you planning this time... Ah!”
Eunho had been staring at me as though he had no idea what was going on, but then his expression suddenly lit up.
“You want us to pretend we're busy?”
“That's right.”
A wicked smile appeared on his face as well.
“That sounds fun. Heh heh. Understood.”
With the playful expression of a child who had found a new toy, Eunho led the Martial Arts Academy delegation members out of the office.
All right, the preparations were complete.
“Hup.”
I rose from my seat with a calm expression.
Then Jang Woojae's voice reached me.
“Representative, what was that just...?”
With an innocent look that showed he had no idea what was happening, he kept glancing between me and the door Eunho had gone through.
I lightly patted his shoulder.
“Ah, it's something. Just watch.”
“...”
Let's see what a young Cheol Sunjik was capable of.
#
Eunho gathered everything, from documents that had already been processed to ones that only needed to be delivered, filling the office to the brim. He then had everyone work as noisily as possible.
A short while later, the so-called Academy “Council” appeared, led by Jang Woojae.
“...”
Cheol Sunjik and his companions stood in the middle of the chaotic office.
Eunho deliberately bumped their shoulders, frowned, and shouted at the Martial Arts Academy delegation members.
“Who told you to handle the work like this?”
“S-sorry!”
“Do it again! And...”
Soon, Eunho's fierce gaze turned toward Cheol Sunjik's group.
“Why are Academy students who aren't part of the delegation in the Representative Hall?”
Matching Eunho's inspired performance, Jang Woojae put on a troubled expression and hurriedly began explaining.
Oh, these guys were pretty good at this.
Should I put together a play for the Academy festival?
I calmly stopped them.
“Eunho, they're my guests. Show them inside.”
“Head Disciple... no, Representative! Even so, do you really have to deal with this now, when we're so busy?”
I sighed and shook my head.
“What else can I do? They say they represent the Academy students.”
Eunho furrowed his brow as though he had heard nonsense.
“What kind of bullshit is that? We're already the Martial Arts Academy delegation.”
I shrugged and stared directly at Nam Hwaseong.
“Who knows? I called them here to hear what that bullshit is.”
“...”
Eunho looked over the Council members one by one with open contempt. Each time his gaze landed on someone, they either cleared their throat awkwardly or avoided his eyes.
After looking over the busily moving delegation members, I turned to Cheol Sunjik.
“Please, sit over here.”
I pushed aside a stack of documents on one side of the table and gestured to it. Cheol Sunjik frowned.
“This is an important matter. Wouldn't it be better to move somewhere else?”
“Then make a proper appointment and discuss it another time. As you can see, I'm very busy.”
“...”
What are you going to do just because you glare at me?
When I stared directly into his eyes, Cheol Sunjik's lips trembled slightly.
“...Fine. It won't take long.”
Cheol Sunjik sat down as the representative, while the people who had come with him stood around him as though surrounding him.
The lineup was quite remarkable.
“What an interesting group. You really made an effort to ensure it didn't look as though you came as representatives of the Twelve Peak Alliance... Ah, that was a slip of the tongue. Ha ha.”
“...”
Everyone's faces reddened at once.
Some belonged to the Twelve Peak Alliance, but most were affiliated with the Nine Sects One Gang or the Five Great Clans.
Cheol Sunjik seemed to have regained his composure. He wore his usual cold expression.
“If we had come as the Twelve Peak Alliance, we would have said we were here as its council representatives from the start.”
“I was going to ask about that. A Council? What exactly does that mean?”
“A council is a body that deliberates and reaches decisions.”
Well, it certainly sounded polished.
When it came to wasting that good brain of his, no one could beat him.
I leaned back and asked, “Hmm. Decisions about what?”
“Everything concerning the actions and outcomes of Academy students. Since it will gather the opinions of all Academy students, there will be no room for complaints.”
At first glance, it sounded very good.
But when Cheol Sunjik was the one saying it, I couldn't take it at face value.
“So you're saying the Council's decisions will become the decisions of the entire Academy student body?”
“That is correct.”
“Then who takes responsibility?”
“Everyone does. Until now, the Martial Alliance has maintained a top-down structure. But what has that led to? The martial world has stagnated, power has become entrenched, and in the end, we are on the verge of creating a status system that distinguishes pure blood from mixed blood.”
As though he wanted everyone around him to hear, he continued.
“The privileged people who give the orders shift responsibility downward, while those below, who were dragged along without cause, are left to bear the consequences without even knowing why.”
As Cheol Sunjik's calm, clear voice rang out, the staged commotion in the office began to quiet.
Aware of the attention gathering on him, Cheol Sunjik spoke softly.
“Do you truly believe the current structure, where decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of a few, is right?”
He really was born to speak.
But...
“Why do you want to introduce such an exceptional horizontal structure into the Academy?”
I could see it plainly.
Beneath the mask of a gentleman devoted to the public good stood a hypocrite obsessed with his own private gain.
Cheol Sunjik answered my sarcasm without the slightest change in expression.
“I thought Representative Jin would understand without me needing to say it.”
I answered clearly.
“I don't.”
“...”
The corner of Cheol Sunjik's mouth twitched.
Still, he quickly composed himself.
“The Council will eventually become an organization that accepts everyone's opinions. People will act proactively according to decisions made based on their own views, and because they must take responsibility themselves, they will grow more careful in their decisions and judgments.”
Cheol Sunjik looked at me as though asking whether I still didn't understand.
He was being this blatant.
I could only laugh.
“Then the reason you formed this Council is as clear as day.”
Cheol Sunjik wanted to apply this horizontal structure to the Martial Arts Academy delegation and weaken its authority.
“Isn't it time to break the harmful customs that have continued for hundreds of years? Representative Jin, you are someone who has shattered conventional wisdom time and again. I have no doubt of it.”
Cheol Sunjik looked at me with eyes that appeared utterly sincere.
“I believe you are the one who will take the first step toward breaking the coercive customs that have ruled the Academy and the Martial Alliance.”
The bastard who usually called me Representative Jin had even added an honorific now.
Ha, this rat really was an expert at whipping up a crowd.
Cheol Sunjik was Cheol Sunjik. In an instant, he had shaped the atmosphere.
He had planted the expectation that a “proper representative” should naturally agree with him.
Just as he said, members of the Nine Sects One Gang, the Five Great Clans, and the One Hundred Eight Peaks who had followed him here looked at me with expectation in their eyes.
Even the delegation members who had been acting wore interested expressions, as though they had been swayed.
More than anything, Eunho's furrowed brow showed just how persuasive Cheol Sunjik's words were.
“Everyone's opinions... harmful customs...”
At least within the delegation, Eunho was the most logical and clear-minded one.
Still, he knew the delegation's position would be shaken as well, so he couldn't easily welcome it.
I stared at Cheol Sunjik.
Compared to his appearance in my previous life, aside from a few missing wrinkles, he was no different.
People want to avoid losses above all else.
That was why they constantly doubted and calculated. To remove anxiety and risk, they used every ability they had to avoid loss.
That was why Cheol Sunjik's words were effective.
“Of course, even if the Council system is introduced, Representative Jin's position will not disappear. After all, you will still make the final decision.”
His gaze swept over the delegation members.
“Furthermore, no one in the delegation will need to give up their position. They only need to continue doing what they are doing now.”
Cheol Sunjik spoke as though he had found the perfect solution where everyone could win.
His words were so sweet that they made people think of what they stood to gain rather than what they might lose.
His way of speaking preyed on human weakness, making others feel that he had found a way to maximize everyone's interests.
That they could accomplish things they previously could not.
That those who wanted honor could have honor.
That those who wanted money could have money.
“Representative Jin's decision will change the Academy's structure for the next hundred years. The juniors of the next generation will be able to dream of a brighter future in a better, fairer environment.”
Cheol Sunjik spoke to me in a firm voice.
“I ask for your decision, Representative.”
He was even cautious enough to hand the choice to me.
His mind seemed no less sharp than it had been when he was older in my previous life.
It was a strategy that made the other person believe they held the choice, increasing their sense of agency.
The other person was nothing more than a piece moving according to Cheol Sunjik's elaborate and thorough design, yet that piece would believe it was moving on its own to capture the enemy king.
That was the kind of person Cheol Sunjik was.
Someone who could manipulate others as he pleased and secure his own benefit.
Someone who took complete control of another person's calculations, achieved his own interests to the fullest, and believed that he had ultimately won.
Someone who had survived to the end in a world where the survivors became strong.
Schemer Cheol Sunjik.
I turned my gaze toward the others.
The members of the Nine Sects One Gang, the Five Great Clans, and the One Hundred Eight Peaks who had followed him.
Even the delegation members.
Everyone waited for me to open my mouth.
‘It really is strange.’
Even I, who knew he was a con artist, could hear reason in his words.
But what could I do?
I might be stupid, but my memory was incredible.
The bodies of the comrades who had died because of his eloquence and schemes in my previous life appeared before my eyes.
As those corpses came vividly to mind, the answer was easy.
“No.”
“...”
I remembered those unjust and unfair deaths clearly.
“I don't see why I should.”
That was why I couldn't let myself be taken in so easily in this life.
At my unexpected answer, Cheol Sunjik's brow deeply furrowed.
“I'm disappointed. I thought you were a more enlightened Academy Representative than any before you.”
One by one, the people who had been watching me with expectant eyes began to show hostility.
Some looked as though they wanted to leap up and vent their anger at once.
Why were you being so stupid?
Wouldn't following Cheol Sunjik's opinion benefit everyone?
They painted me as someone who only pursued personal gain without justification.
But no criticism could hurt someone prepared to be cursed at.
I slowly looked around, then clapped once.
“All right! I've listened well to that greedy dog's barking.”
“Representative Jin...!”
I looked at Cheol Sunjik and snorted.
“Why should I entertain you racking your brains because you want to steal the representative position in the first place?”
The mask Cheol Sunjik wore twitched when his true intentions were exposed.
“...Don't you understand? This isn't a matter of taking someone's position or not...!”
“How is this any different from the relationship between the Elder Council and the Alliance Leader’s Hall in the current Martial Alliance?”
When the Mantong Office raised an issue, the Elder Council deliberated, and the Alliance Leader’s Hall made the decision.
The Alliance Leader’s Hall might hold final authority, but the Alliance Leader could not decide matters freely.
In the end, the Elder Council had to reach a decision before the Alliance Leader’s Hall could “announce” one.
“Well, you can attach all the nice names you want to it, like Council or consultative body.”
Cheol Sunjik's greed was so transparent that I couldn't hold back my sneer.
“But if the Twelve Peak Alliance had won the representative position, you wouldn't even have brought this up, would you?”
“...”
Cheol Sunjik was truly an interesting person.
He had neither enemies nor allies.
If his interests aligned with someone, even the Demonic Cult could become an ally. If they did not, even a sect from the same Twelve Peak Alliance became an enemy.
His thinking was so practical, so overflowing with rationality, that he had been able to firmly attach his sect to the Martial Alliance in the Northern Sea.
Cheol Sunjik's sect had even suffered almost no losses during the Orthodox-Demonic War.
I didn't know what happened after my death in my previous life, but his sect must have formed one of the major pillars within the Martial Alliance of the Northern Sea.
Looking straight into Cheol Sunjik's eyes, I spoke.
“Do you know what it's called when you force someone else to do something you wouldn't do yourself?”
“...What?”
“A scam.”
Cheol Sunjik's face crumpled like paper.
“Only con artists who take others for idiots pull that kind of shit.”
“...Are you insulting everyone gathered here?”
Deflecting an attack and dragging others into it, he was nearly as skilled at it as the Flowing Cloud Sect's Flower-Grafting.
“You can only insult someone if they have honor left to lose.”
I looked over the people standing behind Cheol Sunjik.
“Ha Sandong, disciple of Mount Hua Sect. You entered the Academy on the strength of Mount Hua Sect's influence, but you went to the entertainment district every day to fool around with courtesans and received a severe warning from your main sect, didn't you?”
One of the members from the Nine Sects One Gang flinched.
“Baek Jinseong, disciple of the Jegal Clan. You avoided imprisonment in the Golden Prison after the last mystic formation incident, but the Jegal Clan has already turned against you. Your path to advancement within the clan is bleak.”
Baek Jinseong's face turned pale.
“You've gathered people from the Orthodox Society and the White Path Society who have no right to propose matters. The people from the Twelve Peak Alliance are at least followers of Cheol Sunjik.”
Cheol Sunjik's words were always tied to the pursuit of his own extreme self-interest.
Everything he said was connected to personal gain.
Ironically, the moment one needed to be most wary of him was when he spoke of benefiting the other person.
“Even if this Council is formed, it will ultimately move according to your words, Cheol Sunjik. You say it will represent everyone's opinions, but you'll be the one leading it in the end.”
“...”
“Besides, if you intend to call yourselves the representatives of the Academy students, shouldn't you at least listen to those students first?”
I addressed the self-proclaimed “council representatives” surrounding Cheol Sunjik.
“Did any of you receive even one letter of recommendation from an Academy student? Or were you elected?”
Not one of them answered.
Cold anger rose in my chest.
“Why should Academy students sit still and obey the orders of incompetent councilors?”
In my previous life, I only realized Cheol Sunjik's schemes after a comrade died each time.
“Responsibility? Did you say responsibility? How will you take responsibility? Will you be removed from your posts or sent to the Golden Prison like after the Sichuan outing?”
That was why I would never let myself be taken in during this life.
“Ah, no, you won't. Since it would be the Academy students' choice, you people won't face any punishment, right? What convenient responsibility. In the end, the greatest responsibility will fall on me, the Academy Representative.”
I laughed mockingly.
“You want to enjoy the rights while refusing to bear responsibility... The privileged factions that maintained the ‘harmful customs’ you mentioned are starting to look better. At least the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans shed blood to protect their positions.”
The faces of those who had tightly shut their mouths gradually darkened.
“Is that what your Council members want? To hold rights while avoiding responsibility?”
In my previous life, there had been one time when I acted against Cheol Sunjik's intentions and dealt him a blow.
At Jegal Cheongi's advice, I had opposed whatever Cheol Sunjik proposed without exception.
Because of that, we had to face the Flame Demon Ghost-Eye Unit...
But Cheol Sunjik's unit had been almost completely annihilated that day, with only one-tenth of its members surviving.
“How about you first implement this Council in your own sect, Cheol Sunjik? Let the sect leader retain only final authority, while the martial artists below form a Council. Everyone in the sect can shoulder responsibility for every decision together.”
“...I would prefer that you not drag my sect into this. Show some courtesy, Representative Jin.”
At some point, his form of address had changed back from “Representative” to “Representative Jin.”
“Do you think my suggestion is discourteous?”
“...”
“Were you trying to force that discourteous suggestion on us with a group of pathetic people?”
Cheol Sunjik's face turned white.
Just like when I had opposed him without exception in my previous life.
It was a damnably familiar face.
Footnotes:
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