WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 359: Encounter with the Enemy (6)
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Just as Jin Sowoon had expected, Gang Suntak moved quickly to minimize his own mistake.
Even on the way back to the Martial Alliance, Gang stopped at every Qingcheng Sect-affiliated shop or martial arts school he came across to send carrier pigeons.
He traveled during the day and sent carrier pigeons at night.
Skipping sleep and saving every moment, Gang sent dispatches to every connection he had.
“You think I'll fall here...? Never, never! That won't happen!”
Not only Gang Suntak and the Qingcheng Sect personnel, but all the lecturers moved together.
It was not only Gang Suntak's and the late No Jinha's reputations at stake.
They had seen it too.
That being in Mukrim.
Its overwhelming, oppressive, horrifying appearance that defied all common sense.
The reason they had failed to respond was not simply because it possessed greater strength than they did.
Fear born of ignorance.
Terror of the unknown.
Hesitation before something they had never been taught to handle.
All those emotions tangled together, leaving them no choice but to run.
They fled, forgetting what responsibilities they carried on their shoulders.
By the time they remembered their duties, they had already run far too far.
Now, the terror and fear they had felt then had turned into shame.
It was a place the Academy students could have broken through on their own.
An enemy Jin Sowoon and a few Academy students could have handled.
Once they realized they had fled from something so insignificant, only anger remained.
If someone was frightened by a dog's shadow, shouldn't they take their anger out on the dog?
They had no intention of losing everything just because they had been startled by a dog's shadow.
“Now it begins. Just wait and see, Jin Sowoon...!”
That was why they moved so desperately.
They downplayed the enemy that had appeared in Mukrim as much as possible, making their own failure seem as small as they could.
At the same time, they greatly exaggerated the unruly conduct of Jin Sowoon and his group, who often acted on their own and defied the lecturers.
In the end, they even briefly raised suspicions that the Academy students might have been used as test subjects within the Myriad Poison Sect because of their association with it.
The truth did not matter.
There would be no shortage of people who wanted to believe it after hearing it mentioned once.
They contacted Qingcheng Sect's headquarters and spread the story among their seniors in the Martial Alliance.
The recipients of the dispatches acted in accordance with their ties to Gang.
Rather than trying to identify an enemy that had not even been confirmed, the Martial Alliance took issue with Academy students defying their lecturers. It went further still, defining their unauthorized visit to the Myriad Poison Sect as a grave subversive act.
Because Gang Suntak traveled while cutting down on sleep, he reached the Martial Alliance much earlier than expected. By the time Gang arrived, the groundwork had already been laid.
But.
“Jin Sowoon acted as a spy?”
For some reason, the Inspectorate, which should have welcomed this news more than anyone, gave a lukewarm response.
“Jin Sowoon acted as a spy?”
Gang had specifically sought out the Third Department Master, a man said to have fits at the mere mention of the Black Path.
“Jin Sowoon acted as a spy?”
This man, like a yaksha that had just crawled out of hell, repeated the same question over and over.
“Jin Sowoon acted as a spy?”
The problem was that this was not the reaction they had expected.
They had heard that Ak Jupyeong had become crippled and been expelled from the Academy, leaving the Ak Clan and Jin Sowoon beyond reconciliation...
‘Doesn't he seem unconvinced?’
Gang Suntak and the lecturers could not have been more flustered.
For now, their priority was to inflate everything related to Jin Sowoon.
If they built up the suspicions enough, then even if the end result was not what they wanted...
By then, everyone would have forgotten about their mistake.
In that regard, they had chosen the perfect person.
Blood Star was infamous for framing even the innocent if they were suspected of being Black Path, determined to turn them into Black Path no matter what.
But.
“Are you truly certain?”
Ak Byeongbi was doubting the accusations against Jin Sowoon, someone who might as well have been his enemy.
They had gone out of their way to seek out the Third Department...
Their confusion began to turn into regret.
“Many Academy students died in Mukrim, yet the lecturers who should have protected them did not remain with the students. Instead, they fled back to the Martial Alliance with their tails between their legs...”
Ak Byeongbi carefully turned over each page of the documents. His sharp eyes peered over the sheets, which looked small in comparison to his massive frame.
“Perhaps I should suspect that the lecturers deliberately abandoned the Academy students in Mukrim because they wanted them dead.”
The flustered lecturers protested before Gang Suntak could.
“What are you saying?”
“Third Department Master!”
“If you keep this up, we'll report you to the Great Hall Master...!”
“Go ahead and report me.”
“What?”
Ak Byeongbi set down the documents and leaned back in his chair.
Then he raised his chin and met each lecturer's gaze in turn.
“I said, go ahead and report me.”
“What do you mean...?”
As the lecturers stepped back in confusion, Ak Byeongbi curled his lips, his eyes colder than frost.
“The Great Hall Master you seek is right in front of you. Go on, report me.”
“...”
“...”
As Ak Byeongbi, who was soon to be promoted to Great Hall Master of the Inspectorate, stepped in, the investigation into Jin Sowoon was temporarily suspended.
Around that time, a dispatch arrived from the Enforcement Hall personnel who had been sent to Yunnan and met the Academy students first.
-Dispatch Report.
-Many Academy students dead due to unidentified assailants in Mukrim.
-Multiple pieces of evidence found in Mukrim that appeared to have been used by the assailants.
-Dragon-Phoenix Association's Yong Soa confirmed the facts.
Because it was a confidential dispatch, it could only convey a short message, but its impact was immense.
The Martial Alliance was thrown into an uproar.
#
The trouble at the Kunming Branch had been resolved well.
No, it had been resolved far better than well.
The Enforcement Hall personnel who had come to arrest us seemed eager to make up for their mistake. They searched everywhere to procure carriages.
They even tried to load everyone into them, not just the injured but those who were perfectly fine, which made things difficult for us.
Still, unlike on the way there, every Academy student was able to ride back on horseback.
The Kunming Branch members also escorted us.
Up to that point, everything had been good.
Yes, very good.
The problem was...
“Haah...”
These useless hangers-on(?) had attached themselves to us.
“The noodles here taste awful.”
They had supposedly been traveling through the south on some mission before coming to Mukrim...
Then they suddenly declared, without asking anyone, that they would join us on the way back to the Martial Alliance.
The already exhausting journey became even more exhausting.
When I stared at Dang Seohui as she pushed aside a half-finished bowl of noodles, she tilted her head.
“Why? Ah, is it hard to look at those villains?”
Dang Seohui picked up several chopsticks and glared at the men in the corner who looked like they belonged to the Black Path.
What was with that proud expression full of righteous indignation?
“Just say the word...”
“They haven't done anything, Senior Dang.”
Namgung Seonhwa took the chopsticks from Dang Seohui's hand.
At first, Namgung Seonhwa had struggled just to hold a conversation with her.
Now that she had realized Dang Seohui's true nature, she had even taken on the role of restraining her.
“The name of the Namgung Clan is wasted on you! Look at their faces! It says villain right across their foreheads!”
She spoke loudly enough for the men sitting in the corner of the restaurant to hear.
They flinched slightly, then looked at our numbers, clothes, and banners. Their faces twisted, and they turned away again.
For some reason, I felt sorry for them.
“Poor things...”
With an expressionless face, Namgung Seonhwa once again took the chopsticks from Dang Seohui's hand.
“Judging everything by appearance is foolish. Look at Young Master Jin here. He's called the Black Flame Dragon, sometimes acts like a villain, and his manner is indistinguishable from that of a Black Path martial artist. But he's one of the most righteous people I know.”
What was that? Was she taking a jab at me?
While I blinked in confusion at the sudden attack(?), Dang Seohui looked back and forth between me and the men presumed to be Black Path.
In the end, she put the chopsticks she had taken back into their holder.
“All right...”
Thank goodness Namgung Seonhwa was with us.
For some reason, ever since we began traveling together, the Dragon-Phoenix Association had joined my table whenever I ate.
At first, the people who had eaten with me simply went along with it.
After several incidents, though, Namgung Seonhwa was the only one from my group left.
‘What kind of combination is this?’
Yet the most out-of-place person sat right in front of me.
When I turned from Dang Seohui and looked ahead, a man who seemed to have stepped out of a painting was quietly eating noodles.
Even when our eyes met because I was staring at him, he continued eating as if nothing had happened.
‘What is he plotting?’
He had tried to kill me at the Myriad Poison Sect, then proved the truth for me at the Kunming Branch.
And ever since joining us...
“...”
He had not said a word.
As if nothing had happened that day.
I couldn't read him, neither in my previous life nor in this one.
In my previous life, aside from right before I died, I never had a chance or a reason to meet him this closely.
Even now, with him sitting so close, none of his thoughts showed on his face...
He was certainly devious by nature.
“Khuh...”
Beside me, Hwa Jeongsan was drinking alcohol in broad daylight.
He couldn't have looked more like an old man.
Then a question suddenly came to mind.
How had these three handled things while traveling together?
Dang Seohui had surely run around playing at being a chivalrous hero...
Yong Soa was too unpredictable to tell.
And unlike Ilmyeong and the others, there was no one here to keep them in check.
As for Hwa Jeongsan... Tch.
Hwa Jeongsan answered my question indifferently.
“What's the big deal about dealing with a few Black Path lackeys? We don't need to step in. Dang Seohui takes care of them herself.”
They chose to stand aside.
Then again, even if a quarrel escalated, the three of them would find some way to handle it.
To be honest, I couldn't even estimate how many ordinary martial artists I would need to face them.
Glug, glug.
“Khah!”
Hwa Jeongsan drained his cup and let out a satisfied cry. He was the very image of an idle wanderer.
If not for the Plum Blossom Sword propped beside him and the hero's headband around his head, no one would have believed he was a Mount Hua Sect disciple.
He had given me trouble alongside Gye Cheolyeong in my previous life, so I couldn't look at him fondly. Still, there was one phrase that described him perfectly.
A genius born under an unlucky star.
No matter what era he had been born into, he would have walked the path of a hero.
The reason the words “unlucky star” followed Hwa Jeongsan was because other monsters had happened to be born in his era.
“Hm-hm, I'm still not full.”
“...”
Dang Seohui and Yong Soa, who sat before me now, were among them.
At first, he had probably tried as hard as he could.
But once he understood why the word monster was used, and who it was used for, he must have given up on becoming a hero.
In another era, Hwa Jeongsan might have taken the place Yong Soa or Ilmyeong held.
Like everyone in our era, he had simply been born with talent dimmed by a cruel age.
‘At least in our era, we had someone to look up to.’
What had he thought while watching the brightest star shine from so close by?
Had Hwa Jeongsan sensed something in my gaze?
His eyes shifted uneasily.
“W-what? Why? Why are you staring at me?”
I didn't have many good feelings toward him, but I still spoke with consolation in my voice.
“Poor thing...”
“You bastard...!”
Seeing him about to cause a scene, I hurriedly changed the subject.
“By the way, what brings you to the south? Aren't the Dragon-Phoenix Association's activities almost over?”
“...We came to investigate.”
“Investigate?”
“...It's a Dragon-Phoenix Association secret.”
Hwa Jeongsan lifted his chin proudly as he spoke, perhaps wanting to show off.
But.
“It's not a secret.”
“H-hey! How can you tell him that?”
Dang Seohui, more righteous and honest than anyone, corrected him.
Hwa Jeongsan was horrified, but Dang Seohui did not stop.
“Hwa Jeongsan is a scoundrel who lies whenever he opens his mouth.”
“Urgh...!”
As the two bickered, the answer came from an unexpected person.
“Something is amiss in the martial world.”
“...”
What was this? Why was Yong Soa suddenly joining in?
Even when I looked at him in confusion, Yong Soa continued as though he only intended to say what he had to say.
“The forces hostile to the Martial Alliance are growing.”
“Isn't that always the case?”
“It has always been that way throughout history. The Martial Alliance is an organization that needs enemies to endure. But this time is different.”
What was this? Had he found some clue about the Demonic Cult?
Yong Soa, who had been staring at his bowl while eating noodles, lifted his head and met my eyes with a steady gaze.
“This unprecedented enemy is more dangerous than any before it.”
“An unprecedented enemy?”
“It has not shown itself, but it is clearly making plans to bring down the Martial Alliance step by step.”
I was deeply startled.
The people of this era's martial world had treated the Demonic Cult as nothing more than a heretical faction.
Yet... did Yong Soa alone truly understand how dangerous the Demonic Cult was?
“What is your evidence?”
I swallowed.
If Yong Soa knew the Demonic Cult's true nature, if that was different from my previous life...
Then the future might truly take a different shape.
Along with Yong Soa's dry gaze came his emotionless voice.
“The formation of the Black Alliance, and the unification of the Green Forest Alliance centered in the south.”
“...What?”
When I tilted my head, Dang Seohui explained.
“Recently, the Stronghold Chief of Twin-Dragon Stronghold united the entire southern Green Forest Alliance. We expect this to spread north as well.”
Yong Soa quietly nodded at Dang Seohui's words.
“If this unfolds as expected, not long after the Black Alliance appeared, a powerful force called the Green Forest Alliance will rise in the martial world.”
“...”
“And I do not believe this is a coincidence.”
Yong Soa's previously emotionless eyes flashed for a moment as he stared directly into my eyes.
“There must be someone behind the scenes, someone determined to bring down the Martial Alliance through all this.”
“...”
I did not know where things had gone wrong, but this chilling man was right on my heels.
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