WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 390: Ambush (8)

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When I glanced to the side, Dang Seohui’s right hand was already inside her sleeve.

It was hidden from view, but she was probably combining poisons and concealed weapons capable of killing them all in an instant.

Jegal Cheongi had already drawn his sword.

Seeing them like this, I felt reassured. Bringing them along had been the right call.

‘Such good kids.’

I suppressed the urge to pat Dang Seohui and Jegal Cheongi on the head, then calmly shook my head.

“Calm down, Senior Dang. Calm down, Cheongi.”

We had not come here to fight.

We had come to resolve the problem.

Even if Dam Ak held a grudge against the Martial Alliance, he should take it out on those bastards. Why should I be their punching bag?

“Make them pay directly. I am not in a position to represent the Martial Alliance.”

I tried to soothe Dam Ak, but the weapons did not lower.

“...”

What was this? Was he really planning to fight?

That could not happen.

“I know the Chief Strategist holds resentment toward the Martial Alliance, but this will not resolve anything...”

As I desperately tried to think, Dam Ak gave a dry smile.

“How dull. Why are you taking it so seriously?”

When Dam Ak lowered his hand, the Black Alliance martial artists accompanying the delegation sheathed their weapons all at once.

As I could only blink at the absurd turn of events, he continued.

“It was a joke. A joke.”

“A joke?”

Damn it, he was making a joke with such a serious atmosphere during a crisis like this?

I could not even close my mouth at his ridiculous words.

Yet Dam Ak wore a faint smile.

“As expected, White Path martial artists are no fun. Pranks like this are more entertaining at times like these.”

Since when had he become a Black Path man?

In my previous life, he had been serving as an official at court around this time!

“Still, you arrived later than I expected. I thought you would come in as soon as you received the letter...”

“How was I supposed to enter after receiving a letter with nothing but numbers?”

“Hm... Did you not say you could freely travel through the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation? I thought someone like that could easily pass through a Black Mist Solitary Soul Formation.”

That was only because I had drilled the route into my head through sheer force of memory...

“Perhaps you are not as clever as I thought.”

“...”

Why was this man constantly needling me?

He kept saying things he did not need to say.

“Hm, I do not think you received the White-Handed Divine Maiden’s help... Did your friend behind you help instead?”

Dam Ak’s gaze moved to Jegal Cheongi.

Cheongi looked at me, and I nodded.

“I am Jegal Cheongi of the Taeul Sect.”

Jegal Cheongi showed neither excessive nor insufficient courtesy.

Dam Ak tilted his head.

“Is Jegal simply your surname?”

“I am indeed from that Jegal Clan.”

Dam Ak nodded several times at Cheongi’s answer.

“How interesting. A member of the Jegal Clan introducing himself as a person of the Taeul Sect...”

Then he looked at me with an odd expression.

“You truly have many strange talents, Young Master Jin.”

I did not answer.

That was not what mattered right now.

I looked around, past the guards who had yet to lower their vigilance.

“What exactly is going on? Were you unable to break the formation?”

“Why would I deploy a formation that I could not break?”

“Then why have you not come out?”

Dam Ak paused for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Because the danger has not yet passed.”

As expected, Dam Ak had not let down his guard after yesterday’s attack.

He probably did not even know the full circumstances.

“The Martial Alliance’s Chief Strategist was attacked as well. The culprit has not yet been identified.”

“Hm... Was that why things were so loud that day?”

“Within the Alliance, the culprit has tentatively been identified as ‘them.’”

The people who had appeared before Dam Ak as Gun Yuhyeon.

“What a truly lamentable matter.”

Dam Ak sighed softly.

“Then why do you not leave now? The entire martial world is in an uproar because Strategist Dam is holding out here like this.”

“I cannot leave.”

His firm answer came immediately.

My head began to ache.

“Why not?”

“Because the danger has not yet passed.”

What was he talking about?

He could not have gone mad from hunger and deprivation, and after making that joke, it was not as if he had failed to understand what I said...

“Are you... still joking?”

There was no other explanation, so I stared at him. Dam Ak had already lost his smile, and he answered impassively.

“We are not close enough for that, are we?”

Why was he suddenly putting distance between us? That hurt.

“Then what do you mean when you say the danger has not passed?”

“I mean it literally. The arrow aimed at me is still nocked on the bowstring.”

“I already told you. The ones who attacked us were...”

Step.

Dam Ak suddenly took a step forward.

“The ones who attacked the Martial Alliance may have been ‘them.’ But the ones who attacked us...”

He stared straight through me as he added,

“...were the Martial Alliance.”

His attitude held the certainty of someone speaking a universal truth.

Surely our side was not that far gone...

Right?

“...”

When I turned my head, Dang Seohui’s face had somehow hardened.

#

Dam Ak led us, along with the delegation and martial artists, behind the annex.

“I do not see that person from before.”

“Who do you mean?”

You know, the cuckoo who kept sending sound transmissions during the graduation ceremony, saying, “Our Chief Strategist said...”

As if he understood whom I meant, Dam Ak nodded.

“If you mean that person, they are in the rear.”

No matter what, that person had been Dam Ak’s personal guard.

I wondered whether Dam Ak’s faith in the Black Mist Solitary Soul Formation and its stability was so great that his personal guard did not need to remain by his side.

Then we reached the rear courtyard.

Yet the personal guard was still nowhere in sight.

“Are they a shy person? I would like to greet them. We do have a connection of sorts.”

Even if they had only relayed words, we had still exchanged words.

Just as a smile nearly rose at the memory, Dam Ak calmly pointed to one side.

“Is that not the person right there?”

There was a small marble courtyard where guests could stretch and move about.

There...

“This is the person.”

A corpse covered in straw lay there.

“...”

Was that why the personal guard, who could not be away from Dam Ak even for an instant, had been absent?

“They were a valuable person. Perhaps someone who could have been of greater help to the Black Alliance than even I could.”

Dam Ak spoke calmly, but clear, cold fury lay within his words.

The fact that he acted as though he felt nothing made it even more chilling.

‘This is dangerous.’

The anger Dam Ak carried was no ordinary thing.

The reason I had felt relieved that he had become the Black Alliance’s Chief Strategist rather than remaining with the Martial Alliance was simple.

I had believed we could fight the Demonic Cult alongside a talent as exceptional as him.

In my previous life, when the Martial Alliance had faced the Demonic Cult alone, the result had been ruin. This time, I had hoped things would turn out differently with the Black Alliance as an ally.

Yet that exceptional ally was now directing hostility at us.

I had to clear up this misunderstanding quickly.

“The Martial Alliance is also shaken by this incident. Three of Jegal Somyeong’s personal guards were killed as well.”

Dam Ak stared down at his personal guard’s corpse, then looked at me.

“...Is your logic that the Martial Alliance cannot be the enemy because it was attacked as well?”

“I am not making such a forced argument...”

“Shall we go this way for a moment?”

Without even hearing my answer, Dam Ak headed to the side of the annex.

Three corpses covered in straw lay there, just like Dam Ak’s personal guard.

“...”

“These are the people who attacked us.”

At the same time, Dang Seohui tugged at my arm and looked up at me.

She seemed to mean that she wanted to inspect the bodies. I nodded, and she immediately stepped closer and pulled away the straw.

The stench of death rushed out.

The bloodless gray corpses had been preserved whole, though they had clearly been dead for some time.

“The Demonic Cult is so obsessive about leaving no corpses behind. Did you not consider that?”

“...”

Even aside from that, Dam Ak, who had already faced Je Geumhak, would be able to recognize whether someone was a demonic being or a White Path martial artist unless the circumstances were unusual.

No, even without these corpses, I had nothing to say.

‘Damn it.’

I knew these faces.

I had not met them in this life, but I had encountered them on the battlefield in my previous life.

A curse I could not suppress surged up inside me.

I tried to hide my trembling fists, but it was not easy.

‘Orthodox Society...!’

They belonged to lay martial schools within the Nine Sects One Gang.

They were special operations agents selected to work for the Orthodox Society.

Why were people who would officially become Alliance members after Jegal Somyeong’s death already being found as corpses in the Martial Alliance?

Dam Ak’s subdued voice broke the silence.

“Even after seeing this, will you refuse to acknowledge that this was done by the Martial Alliance?”

“...”

I could not answer his question.

The Martial Alliance was not the Orthodox Society.

But I could not say the Orthodox Society was not the Martial Alliance.

The Orthodox Society was also the most powerful force influencing the Martial Alliance.

Claiming they were not the Martial Alliance would only be mocking Dam Ak.

Then Dang Seohui added, as though passing judgment.

“There are no traces of malevolent qi on them. They are White Path martial artists.”

#

I separated from Dam Ak’s group for a moment to sort through this damned, idiotic situation.

The Orthodox Society’s intentions were clear.

- A clash between the Black Alliance and the Martial Alliance was unavoidable.

- Dam Ak was an extraordinary figure who held the Black Alliance together, just as Jegal Somyeong held great influence in the Martial Alliance.

- Just as the Martial Alliance would be in trouble without Jegal Somyeong, the Black Alliance would be in trouble without Dam Ak.

So kill him when he comes to the Martial Alliance!

‘Idiots...’

It was simple to the point of being transparent. Their reckless actions laid their true intentions bare.

The problem was that the Orthodox Society had made this mess, but I was the one who had to clean it up.

As my mind went blank while I tried to figure out how to handle this, Dang Seohui spoke.

“Something was strange.”

“What was it?”

“The people guarding Bongan Hall. There were far too many of them.”

“...”

“They arrived too quickly for people responding to the explosion.”

When I thought back, most of the people there had been directly or indirectly connected to the Orthodox Society.

Why had I not realized it sooner?

The timing had also been exquisitely chosen.

They had gone through with it amid all that chaos caused by the internal conflict.

Had they even considered that situation an opportunity?

At this point, perhaps I should recognize their stubbornness as venom and their stupidity as a personality trait.

I looked at Cheongi, who sat quietly beside me.

“Cheongi.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think we should do?”

I had no idea, so the grandson of the Chief Strategist could think about it for me.

Jegal Cheongi quickly gave his answer.

“I believe the best course would be to report the situation here to the Chief Strategist and identify the culprit.”

A model answer, just like him.

It was probably the right answer, no, the textbook response.

But it would not solve the problem.

Grasping at straws, I turned my gaze to Dang Seohui.

“What about you, Senior Dang?”

“We must first hear that person’s intentions.”

“Hm?”

I had expected an answer along the lines of, “You should give me sweets.” Her unexpected response caught me off guard.

“If I were invited as a guest to a family, and that family ambushed me... I would destroy that family immediately.”

“...”

Should I call that unexpected? Or was it simply the most instinctive and obvious answer?

I could only be surprised that such an answer had come from Dang Seohui.

As I stood speechless, she continued.

“This is not the time to worry alone. Asking directly is best.”

Asking directly...

It paid to give sweets to the straw I was clutching at.

After thinking it over, I headed toward Dam Ak.

As Dang Seohui said, I could not find an answer by thinking alone anyway.

“First, I will report the situation here to the Chief Strategist and the Alliance Leader. Then we will find the culprit...”

“I refuse.”

“Pardon?”

Dam Ak sat upright, his expression calm as he looked directly at me.

“If the culprit could have been caught, they would have been caught long ago. And instead of food, they would have placed the culprit’s severed head inside the formation.”

“...”

“I also oppose informing anyone of the situation here. The moment the culprits learn that I am alive, they will realize their mistake and try to eliminate me again.”

Dam Ak continued, still sounding certain.

“I have no intention of being toyed with by such shallow schemes.”

“...What if I bring you the culprit?”

“That changes nothing. You moving through the Alliance to catch the culprit would be no different from announcing that I am alive.”

There was no answer in sight.

Then Dang Seohui, who had quietly watched our conversation, lightly tugged at my arm.

“...”

I looked down at her blank eyes for a moment before bluntly asking Dam Ak,

“What do you want?”

Dam Ak slowly closed his eyes.

“I thought it would not matter if I died here.”

“What do you mean...?”

“My coming here in person was an act of accepting the risk and extending my hand to you first. I believed that if things went wrong and I lost my head, there would be nothing I could do about it.”

The alliance between the Black Alliance and the Martial Alliance.

For that dangerous gamble, Dam Ak had staked his own life.

“I thought it would be a good trade if one life of mine could unite the Black Alliance.”

When he quietly opened his eyes, his gaze moved to his personal guard’s corpse.

“But I have changed my mind.”

Then his calm gaze shifted back to me.

It was so calm that I could not even flinch.

“I must take revenge.”

“...”

“Against those who think nothing of human lives for their own gain.”

A hot flame burned in his eyes, one I had never seen from the man who had always remained so composed.

“Help me escape.”

His eyes belonged to someone prepared to burn everything down.

“From the Martial Alliance’s grasp.”

Footnotes:

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