The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything - Chapter 273

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 273: Someone's Malice (4)

──────

It was a bright, sunny day.

As usual, Cheol Sunjik was killing time at a gambling den in the back alleys.

People did not look kindly on the second son of the Jukhyeon Sect Leader wandering through those alleys, but he did not care.

He had never intended to fight his older brother over the Jukhyeon Sect in the first place. His goal was simply to enjoy the wealth and privileges he had been given, gambling his way through life.

Yet that day felt different.

His kind but naive older brother came to the gambling den in person and took Cheol Sunjik home.

“What? You never said anything when I skipped these events before.”

Even his mild-mannered brother seemed frustrated enough to sigh.

“Have you forgotten what day it is?”

Cheol Sunjik rolled his eyes.

What could possibly be so important...

“Ah! It’s the day those Mount Zhongnan Sect bastards are coming, right?”

“You brat!”

Worried someone might have heard, his naive brother hurriedly looked around.

What could a bunch of back-alley thugs do even if they heard?

Cheol Sunjik sneered inwardly, though he did not show it.

“Don’t let that way of speaking slip out!”

“Good grief.”

He slung an arm around his brother’s shoulders.

Still, this timid and naive side of him made it hard to hate him.

“Fine. But once the event’s over, you’re paying for the drinks.”

“Hah! You brat! How long are you going to do nothing but eat and play?”

How long? Hmm...

Cheol Sunjik looked at his brother’s face, utterly lacking in competitiveness, and snickered.

“I want to loaf around forever if I can. I’ll leave everything concerning the Jukhyeon Sect to you.”

“Honestly...”

To Cheol Sunjik, both this event and the Mount Zhongnan Sect were utterly uninteresting.

It was an exchange event held once every five years because of the Fourth Group’s connection to the Mount Zhongnan Sect as a former lay disciple.

Considering the Jukhyeon Sect had a history of nearly three hundred years, he wondered what being lay disciples even meant at this point.

The Jukhyeon Sect was also one of the pillars of the Twelve Peak Alliance.

Given that the Twelve Peak Alliance aimed to eventually surpass the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans, he thought this reception disguised as an exchange event was nothing more than an empty ceremony for appearances’ sake.

Even so.

He endured the greetings.

He endured the event where they displayed their martial arts and discussed the martial way.

He had no interest in it, but he believed he had fulfilled the bare minimum responsibility required to enjoy the privileges of being the Jukhyeon Sect Leader’s second son.

Then...

“You’re the wastrel of the Jukhyeon Sect, aren’t you?”

During the martial match, the final event of the exchange, the Mount Zhongnan Sect disciple standing across from him suddenly sneered, making Cheol Sunjik tilt his head.

“Hmm... Is that the best insult you could come up with?”

“What?”

“Wouldn’t calling me an idiot or a bastard hurt more than calling me a wastrel?”

What a completely toothless attack.

“...You’re putting on quite the act.”

“You can tell ten things from one. I don’t like what I’m seeing.”

The insult itself did not wound him, but the disciple’s attitude made Cheol Sunjik frown.

The man was a guest invited to the Jukhyeon Sect.

For him to be so disrespectful toward Cheol Sunjik, who was practically one of the sect’s masters, meant he likely treated the other members even worse.

Cheol Sunjik did not mind being cursed at by the people of the Jukhyeon Sect because they were family.

But the thought of this man treating that family disrespectfully made his chest turn cold.

“You are a guest, so shouldn’t you at least show some courtesy?”

“Hmph. Let’s see whether your skills are as sharp as your tongue.”

Was that why?

He had not intended to take the match seriously, but suddenly, he did not want to lose.

He could not defeat the Mount Zhongnan Sect disciple through martial skill, so he used the tricks he had learned among the back-alley thugs, shifting his opponent’s center of gravity and ruining his stance to bring him down.

“Has that proven my tongue was not all I had?”

“...”

The Mount Zhongnan Sect disciple pressed his lips together.

He was not the only one. The surroundings had become so quiet that even breathing could not be heard.

Cheol Sunjik slowly looked around.

Even if no cheers broke out, he had expected applause.

Whenever a Mount Zhongnan Sect disciple defeated one from the Jukhyeon Sect, thunderous applause had erupted.

Yet the lively atmosphere of the event had gone cold as though rain had fallen over it.

“Sect Leader Cheol!”

With a stern roar, the Mount Zhongnan Sect’s elders stopped the event.

“How can one who has roots in the Mount Zhongnan Sect ambush an opponent with such base tricks!”

Cheol Sunjik sneered.

At the boundary between life and death, what did cowardice or the righteous path matter?

He had never seen anyone close their eyes at dirt thrown by an enemy, die because of it, then protest how unfair it was.

In the back alleys, masters who strutted around proudly often became wandering ghosts after falling for tricks like those of the thugs.

Did living in some immortal realm detached from reality turn people into fools like that?

Just as the thought crossed his mind...

“...!”

Cheol Sunjik’s eyes widened at the sight before him.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“““We’re sorry.”””

His father, his uncle, and every elder of the Jukhyeon Sect knelt at a single word from the elder.

“Hmph.”

The Mount Zhongnan Sect elder accepted the sight as perfectly natural, and the people of the Jukhyeon Sect, who had proudly called themselves a pillar of the Twelve Peak Alliance, acted as though they were simply fulfilling their duty.

As Cheol Sunjik stared blankly ahead, a dry voice fell over his head.

“Why are you not kneeling?”

The moment the elder spoke, Cheol Hyeonjik rushed over and forced his younger brother down.

“Hurry and bow... I’m sorry! We’re sorry...!”

Yet Cheol Sunjik withstood the pressure, standing straight as he murmured.

“Do the Mount Zhongnan Sect’s enemies always attack with courtesy and propriety?”

“What did you say?”

His lips twisted into a sneer.

“I’m asking whether even the madmen of the Black Path suddenly come to their senses and pay their respects when they stand before the Mount Zhongnan Sect.”

“Hah! Tsk, tsk. You still haven’t come to your senses!”

The elder looked at him with utter contempt, as though looking down at a worthless insect.

As if even dealing with him was tiresome, the elder turned to the Jukhyeon Sect Leader and pressed him.

“Sect Leader Cheol, what will you do?”

Cheol Sunjik turned his gaze to his father as well.

His father had always been the dependable pillar of the Jukhyeon Sect.

Yet what entered his eyes was...

“I’m sorry.”

“...!”

A tree trunk that had snapped helplessly beneath an axe.

It was his father, bowing deeply to the ground in apology.

“F-Father...”

“I offer Elder a sincere apology.”

His father’s voice, always confident before himself and others, was more subdued than Cheol Sunjik had ever heard it.

“It is my fault for failing to teach my child properly.”

The Mount Zhongnan Sect elder looked down at the sect leader, whose head was pressed to the ground, then leisurely stroked his long beard.

“People only reflect after paying the price for their mistakes.”

“I will personally send him to the Golden Prison...”

“How can someone who cannot properly educate even his own child lead a sect properly?”

“...”

Words Cheol Sunjik could not possibly understand passed between them.

“...”

His father remained silent with his head lowered for a long time before finally saying something shocking.

“As of today, I will step down as the Jukhyeon Sect Leader.”

The members of the Jukhyeon Sect tried to cover their mouths, but sighs escaped from every direction.

His father was volunteering for an absurd punishment over an absurd reason.

“I will explain it that way to the main sect.”

Then there was the Mount Zhongnan elder, who considered it entirely natural.

Only then did Cheol Sunjik understand.

“Ha...!”

Even after three hundred years, the shackles of the Mount Zhongnan Sect had never been broken.

Even the Twelve Peak Alliance, which was meant to oppose the Nine Sects One Gang and the Five Great Clans, had only been possible because the Mount Zhongnan Sect had permitted it.

Even now, and in the future.

「No matter how desperately the Jukhyeon Sect struggles, it will never escape its fate as the Mount Zhongnan Sect’s handmaid.」

That was what the Mount Zhongnan Sect elder seemed to be saying with those contemptuous eyes.

As though bestowing mercy, the Mount Zhongnan Sect elder helped the sect leader to his feet.

“Choose the next sect leader from someone who will not tarnish the Mount Zhongnan Sect’s name.”

“...Th-thank you.”

This was a time when curses and pointing fingers would not have been enough, yet his father thanked the man instead.

Because he lacked power, he could not even honestly show his feelings.

It also revealed just how much the Jukhyeon Sect had been led around like a dog by the Mount Zhongnan Sect.

For one sect to decide the major and minor affairs of another independent sect meant that sect was not truly independent.

The image Cheol Sunjik had always held deep within his heart, of his dependable and proud sect, shattered into pieces.

“Father...”

“...Quiet. Be quiet.”

His father’s back had always seemed as broad and dependable as Mount Tai, but as he lay prostrate on the ground, it looked so small.

His deep, masculine voice sounded painfully servile that day.

Cheol Sunjik did not take his eyes off his father’s lonely back as he clenched both fists.

It was a bright, sunny day.

Sunny enough that even Cheol Sunjik, who did not enjoy walking, wanted to take a stroll.

On that bright day, Cheol Sunjik vowed that he would surely bring down the heavens.

Why had that memory suddenly come to mind?

No, it had not come to mind in the first place.

He had never forgotten it.

He had only recalled it.

So he would not run from the terrifying enemy before him.

“JIN SOWOON!!!”

He had vowed that day.

No matter how much blood he spilled or what became of the world, he would bring down the heavens.

He would expend the life he valued most in the world. If that was not enough, he would expend his child’s life. If even that was not enough, he would expend the lives of his descendants.

Whatever the price, he had vowed and vowed again that he would bring down the heavens that had ruled the world for five hundred years.

He could not live as a slave like this.

So he could not stumble over a mere stone in his path.

Even if that stone was dangerous enough to tear out his heart and crush his head.

No, precisely because it was dangerous, it had to be removed.

That stone could not be allowed to become the heavens.

Cheol Sunjik gritted his teeth as the Red Force drew closer.

At this rate, his predictions would be wrong again.

Jin Sowoon would overcome the trial Cheol Sunjik had believed impossible to overcome.

“Again, it’s you, Jin Sowoon! You again...!”

How could a person grow so quickly?

It was not as though Jin Sowoon had been born with exceptional talent like Yong Soa.

‘Then why...!’

How could the gap between Jin Sowoon and himself, both possessing the talent of ordinary people, be so vast?

Was it truly the difference in effort?

He could not accept that.

That was why he moved personally.

To make the events he had arranged become inevitable.

“This is as far as you go, Jin Sowoon!”

He sprang forward faster than anyone in the White Force.

Members of the Red Force stepped forward to stop him, prepared to be eliminated, but Cheol Sunjik swung his sword even more viciously.

Slash!

Thud!

He yanked an opponent’s collar to throw off their balance, then drove the pommel of his sword into their temple.

The Red Force members’ eyes widened at the move.

Having lost his usual composure, Cheol Sunjik shouted.

“Did you think you were the only ones who trained without using internal energy!”

Even before learning martial arts, and after learning them, he had never used internal energy when fighting the back-alley thugs.

It was too boring otherwise.

There was no desperation or urgency.

Excitement erupted most fiercely when one felt their own life was in danger.

And the thrill of overcoming that danger gave a satisfaction greater than anything else.

That was why Cheol Sunjik was more skilled than anyone in the White Force at close combat and brawling.

As though he knew exactly what he needed to do, he grabbed a handful of dirt and sand without the slightest hesitation, then threw it into his opponents’ eyes.

“Argh!”

It was a technique used most often by back-alley thugs.

While Jin Sowoon’s unit rubbed their eyes after the unexpected attack, Cheol Sunjik struck their solar plexuses and hit the backs of their necks, knocking them unconscious.

“Gack.”

He stepped on a fallen academy student and leaped ahead. The others immediately rushed at him like wild beasts.

The best way to subdue people who appeared to have lost their senses in excitement was to look even more excited than they were.

To appear so dangerously excited that the part of their minds consumed by anger sent out a warning.

Cheol Sunjik gave himself completely to that excitement.

The Red Force members shouted in desperation as well.

“Stop him!”

Those who had learned fist-and-kick arts charged Cheol Sunjik at once.

Cheol Sunjik’s eyes locked on the largest man among them.

“Nam Hwaseong!”

At the voice that seemed to chew up his name, Nam Hwaseong’s hand hesitated for an instant.

Cheol Sunjik threw his scabbard, blocking Nam Hwaseong’s vision.

Then a chilling voice reached him.

“If you’re going to betray us, then do it properly. If you consider us enemies, there can be no mercy.”

“...!”

Thudthudthudthud!

Nam Hwaseong could not easily respond to Cheol Sunjik’s sword strikes, which shot toward his vital acupoints.

He had already exhausted his stamina in the previous battle and while climbing White Mountain, so he could not fight Cheol Sunjik while retreating.

No one knew Nam Hwaseong better than Cheol Sunjik.

He drove another dagger into Nam Hwaseong’s heart.

“With such shallow resolve, Samwon Sect’s future is obvious too.”

“Fuck... Don’t talk shit!!!”

The moment Nam Hwaseong dropped his defense and tried to counterattack, a kick shot out like lightning and struck his Adam’s apple.

“Cough! Cough, urgh!”

No matter how much one trained, it was among the body’s weakest points.

Every sense in his body screamed danger, and Nam Hwaseong instinctively brought both hands together to protect his throat.

Watching him, Cheol Sunjik lightly kicked off the ground.

“Look. Even Samwon Sect’s main fist-and-kick arts cannot stand against the Jukhyeon Sect.”

Cheol Sunjik spun once and drove his elbow into Nam Hwaseong’s temple.

Thud!

The huge body fell backward, eyes rolling white from that single strike.

Nam Hwaseong’s fall made the charging unit hesitate for a moment.

Cheol Sunjik’s company boldly pushed through the gap, beginning to bring down the Red Force.

“Push! Push them back!”

“They deliberately sharpened their blades! Respond!”

“They’re exhausted from climbing all the way here anyway! Don’t miss this chance!”

The momentum of the Red Force, which had charged forward like a war chariot, broke sharply.

The best strategy the Red Force could take now would be to maintain a temporary stalemate and wait for reinforcements.

But Cheol Sunjik dismissed that thought.

Jin Sowoon would not wait quietly.

He would once again go beyond common sense and make the impossible possible.

Sure enough.

“Let’s go!”

During that brief lull, Jin Sowoon gathered his people once more, arranged them in the shape of a spearhead, and began piercing the White Force’s formation.

“Jin Sowoon...”

An insignificant stone?

No.

He was a Mount Tai even greater than Yong Soa.

A Mount Tai blocking the way, preventing Cheol Sunjik from daring to ascend to the heavens.

Yet if he could not cross this Mount Tai, he could not bring down the heavens.

How could someone who could not even bring down Mount Tai hope to bring down the heavens?

His father’s small back, flattened before the heavens that day, vividly rose before his eyes.

“Jin Sowoon... I hate you.”

It was a quiet voice that should have been buried beneath the cheers and screams around them, yet Jin Sowoon stared at him as though he had heard it.

His lips moved as if replying.

No sound reached him, but somehow Cheol Sunjik knew what he was saying.