WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 470: The Anxiety of Goodness (7)
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I left the hall and slowly followed Mak Hyowol, trying to guess what he wished to discuss.
Not only what he intended to say, but how I should respond to draw out what he was hiding beneath the surface.
Then I suddenly realized that Mak Hyowol's back looked small.
“...What is it?”
When I stopped walking, Mak Hyowol looked back at me with a puzzled expression.
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
“It isn’t much farther. We’ll be there soon, so don’t worry.”
Mak Hyowol gave me a warm smile and began walking again.
It was not simply because of the difference in our builds.
I was considerably taller to begin with.
My body, tempered through external martial arts, was not something Mak Hyowol's could compare to.
Even so, the reason Mak Hyowol seemed smaller than Jegal Somyeong or the Taeul Sect Leader was...
Position.
The one being judged and the one passing judgment.
That difference in position was what made Mak Hyowol seem small.
Thinking that the Dragon-Phoenix Association of the past had likely felt this way when looking at Taeul Sect left a bitter taste in my mouth.
When Mak Hyowol had visited the Dragon-Phoenix Association's lodging, rather than being surprised by his courtesy, I wondered whether he was hiding something.
That must have been because I had already unconsciously recognized that I stood in the position of one passing judgment.
‘I’ve really changed a lot.’
It was not only my internal energy, martial arts, or social standing that had changed.
At some point, I had begun to resemble the kind of people I hated most.
‘...Not that much. Surely not.’
The fact that I could even think such a thing meant I was different from them, did it not?
“Here. I’ve prepared a small drinking table this way.”
Mak Hyowol gestured toward a small pavilion, and I shook my head.
“You should go up first, Sect Leader.”
“Hm?”
“I know proper etiquette.”
“Ah... I-I’m sorry. I nearly made you seem discourteous.”
A small table had been set with modest snacks and five bottles of liquor.
The moment Mak Hyowol picked up a bottle, I swiftly raised my cup as well. Then I watched until Mak Hyowol put his cup to his lips first.
“Is this... making you uncomfortable?”
“Not at all.”
“I only called you here because I wished to have a relaxed drink with you.”
“I see.”
Mak Hyowol gave an awkward smile at my calm reply.
“Then could you relax and drink now?”
“This is how I normally behave.”
“...I see. I won’t say any more.”
Mak Hyowol's somewhat stiff expression gradually eased after several cups of liquor.
“Is the Taeul Sect Leader well?”
“Yes. He is well.”
He had changed quite a bit, though.
“I see. I’ve been thinking I should visit and pay my respects someday.”
“Did you know each other before?”
“I once saw him from afar, long ago.”
I barely managed to hold back the question rising to my lips. I was a person with manners, after all.
“I see.”
Mak Hyowol gave a quiet snort at my response.
“Do you think I’m trying to turn such a trivial connection into a relationship?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, I suppose you could misunderstand. Given the situation.”
Mak Hyowol straightened his shoulders, trying to appear composed, but that only made him seem even smaller.
As though something heavy was weighing him down.
“I have been watching Taeul Sect’s actions closely. I greatly admire how bold and decisive they have been.”
Mak Hyowol spoke favorably of Taeul Sect’s situation, which the people of the White Path martial world viewed with concern.
My tension rose, and I focused more closely on the conversation.
The Dragon-Phoenix Association might have been conducting the inspection, but Mak Hyowol knew perfectly well that Ilgak and I would also have influence over it.
“I do not believe Taeul Sect achieved its current prosperity simply because it found a lost legacy. There must have been someone who made this prosperity possible.”
Yet I examined every part of Mak Hyowol's expression and tone, even the meaning hidden within them, but I could not grasp his intentions.
It was not the right time to build a friendship. Even if Mak Hyowol intended to build a personal friendship, neither side was in a position for it.
It was like when Gye Cheolyeong had tried to offer the Golden Toad to Namgung San during his visit to Taeul Sect.
“Ha ha ha...”
Mak Hyowol, who had been praising Taeul Sect for some time, noticed my expression and smiled faintly.
“They say the thoughts of a young man barely past twenty are as unfathomable as a bottomless abyss, which is why they call you the Black Thought Dragon.[1] Whoever gave you that epithet chose well.”
It was clearly teasing, yet Mak Hyowol's face was full of warmth.
The disparity between his words and expression only deepened my confusion.
“What I said about seeing the Taeul Sect Leader from afar... that man, no, that gentleman... it was a lie.”
“...”
“In truth, I was sitting very close to him. Close enough to clearly smell the unpleasant scent coming from him.”
The warmth faded away, leaving a bitter smile on Mak Hyowol's lips.
“I remember it clearly. Perhaps he had taken out clothes he had not worn in a long time, because they smelled of mold. He must have arrived just in time for the event, because he reeked of sweat as well. Of course, not a single disciple had accompanied him.”
Mak Hyowol's brow creased as though he were standing in that place again.
“Sharing a table with him was an insult to me. Even among the One Hundred Eight Peaks, few knew Taeul Sect existed. The people seated at the same table as the Taeul Sect Leader asked to switch seats.”
Mak Hyowol said they changed places one by one.
Hong Mungi had merely lowered his head without even meeting anyone’s eyes as those people left without a word of greeting.
“Then were you the only one who remained, Sect Leader?”
Mak Hyowol gave a quiet laugh at my question.
“My turn merely came later. I wanted to sit elsewhere too.”
I remembered this story.
In my previous life, Sect Leader Hong had attended the One Hundred Eight Peaks gathering held at the Martial Alliance. He had told me about making a good friend there.
I also remembered how deeply Hong Mungi had grieved and protested to the Martial Alliance when Tanghyeon Sect was destroyed by the Wang Family Estate.
“The Taeul Sect Leader’s position then has now become the exact opposite of mine.”
Mak Hyowol's eyes, which had been lost in recollection, focused clearly on me.
“Thanks to meeting an excellent disciple.”
Returning to the present, Mak Hyowol poured me another cup of liquor.
“Others may not know, but I do. Taeul Sect was able to grow as it has because of you, and no one else.”
If I had heard such words without knowing the circumstances, I could never have viewed Mak Hyowol favorably.
“If I had a disciple like you... would I have made a different choice?”
Mak Hyowol's hollow question scattered amid the cries of night insects.
“I called you here separately to thank you. So please stop being so guarded.”
Though I had tried to keep my expression under control, Mak Hyowol smiled as if he knew everything.
Thank me...
“A few years ago, the daughter of the Wang Family Estate was kidnapped. And you were the one who rescued her, were you not?”
“I’m ashamed of the praise.”
The Tanghyeon Sect Leader slowly clasped his hands in a martial salute.
“I wish to thank you for that.”
I tilted my head.
Wang Soso's kidnapping had been a matter between the Namgung Clan and the Wang Family Estate.
Why was Mak Hyowol thanking me?
“Does it seem strange?”
Then an event from my previous life came to mind.
‘Could it be...’
Unconcerned with my unease, Mak Hyowol continued.
“Seven days and nights after the Wang Family Estate’s daughter was kidnapped, the Martial Alliance’s Hefei branch delivered a letter to the Wang Family Estate.”
Mak Hyowol's words began to make the air feel heavy.
“It was a list of sects suspected of kidnapping the Wang Family Estate’s daughter. I heard the Wang Family Estate hired wandering martial artists and requested troops from the military.”
The heavy air pressed down on every living thing in the pavilion as if to suffocate us.
“One thousand soldiers and three thousand wandering martial artists. If not for you, the sects on that list would likely have been wiped out without a trace. And...”
Mak Hyowol's gaze shone colder than the moonlight.
“Our Tanghyeon Sect was on that list.”
“...!”
“We, the eighty-fifth peak among the One Hundred Eight Peaks.”
Mak Hyowol's level voice was as sharp as a blade.
“Since joining the One Hundred Eight Peaks, we had never once opposed a Martial Alliance event over generations. We always did our best to fulfill the duties of an ally.”
Those blade-like words turned back and stabbed Mak Hyowol's own chest.
As if the pain meant nothing, Mak Hyowol showed no emotion beyond that cold gaze and even voice.
“To be precise, it would be a relationship between master and subordinate. We were never equals.”
“...”
“They must have thought sacrificing Tanghyeon Sect would be a bargain that more than paid for appeasing the Wang Family Estate’s anger. Was that not so?”
The greatest wound had come from Mak Hyowol's own foolishness, so he did not hesitate to cut at himself.
“Trust built over a long time becomes meaningless in the face of overwhelming power.”
Mak Hyowol's gleaming eyes seemed to pierce through me.
“Though I knew that, I lived pretending not to know, telling myself that I would be different.”
I could not say anything.
I had felt the same thing down to my bones in my previous life.
The reason Mak Hyowol praised Taeul Sect’s actions, which everyone else would criticize, was because he had indirectly felt the same emotions as I had.
“More than anything, I am grateful to you. Thanks to you, Tanghyeon Sect escaped the danger of destruction. And I learned what the cruel truth was.”
Mak Hyowol let the sharp emotions shown until then vanish like steam, returning to the same warm expression from before.
“I truly envy the Taeul Sect Leader.”
That smile felt unbearably mournful.
#
Mak Hyowol's words carried many emotions.
From anger at betrayal to contempt for himself.
I had not been able to understand the intent behind the praise because he had concealed envy for the other party amid all those emotions.
What Mak Hyowol felt was the same emotion I had felt toward the Martial Alliance during the latter half of the Orthodox-Demonic War in my previous life.
I knew what kind of hatred that sense of loss and self-loathing could build inside a person, so the emotions Mak Hyowol had shown me left my mind in turmoil.
“You have returned.”
Though a considerable amount of time had clearly passed, none of the others had left.
“What did you speak about?”
I quietly looked over Ilgak and the Dragon-Phoenix Association members.
Would they be able to understand, given their backgrounds, experience, and the lives they had lived?
The answer had already been decided.
“Nothing much.”
People could vividly imagine positive things, but negative things did not form as easily in their minds.
It was a mechanism for protecting oneself.
“Could we continue the conversation from earlier?”
Tanghyeon Sect resembled me from my previous life.
Betrayed and wounded, it had filled its mind with anger.
That unresolved anger, that grief with no path of escape, must have been tearing its heart apart.
“Where did we leave off?”
Just as I had in my previous life.
“You said there was something suspicious.”
“Did I?”
Gwak Susan flinched at my single question and quickly exchanged glances with the others.
“Have... you changed your mind?”
Gwak Susan asked cautiously.
As though expecting that an already troublesome matter had become even more complicated.
“Yes, I have.”
Gwak Susan turned to look at Ilgak.
“This is no longer a suspicion.”
Ilgak continued to watch me, demanding a clearer answer.
“They are plotting something. I’m certain of it.”
“...?”
The Tanghyeon Sect Leader’s anger and grief were not shallow emotions that could be overcome through patience and forgiveness.
The unease Mak Hyowol carried had a blade at his throat, tightening around his windpipe.
“...Did you find evidence?”
“Probably.”
When an angry person does not even make the smallest complaint, it means they are sharpening a blade.
“What is it?”
“They said Tanghyeon Sect has a total of four hundred and eighty-eight people, correct?”
“Yes.”
Sharpening the blade with all their strength, without making a sound.
“Ten of them are not the same people as yesterday.”
That was the anger of the weak.
Footnotes:
[1] Black Thought Dragon is a deliberate Hanja pun on the established epithet Black Flame Dragon, replacing “flame” with “thought” while preserving the same Korean pronunciation.
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