WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 484: The Conditions of Hatred (2)
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“Uh... Didn’t you say you were conducting an inspection?”
Song Yesul tilted her head.
“Then why do you want to look into our financial situation?”
Was this the sorrow of being the only one who knew the future?
Whenever moments like this came up, I had nothing convincing to say and ended up sounding pathetic.
Still, making up some flimsy excuse would only draw needless attention.
“A sect’s finances reveal a great deal. If you follow the flow of even the smallest amount of money, you can learn who is doing what.”
“...”
Song Yesul slowly began looking at me with suspicion.
“Are you not going to tell me properly?”
I gave Gwak Susan a meaningful look. This was when he was supposed to chime in and help me out...
“Group Leader, we’ve never looked into the finances of any sect we inspected before, have we?”
“???”
...What was this bastard doing?
“Huh? Did I do something wrong? Why are you making that face...?”
As I considered whether to fry him or tear him apart,
“All right. I’ll show you the way.”
Song Yesul sighed and saved him.
“What?”
“Huh?”
Thanks to Gwak Susan’s stupidity, I had been wondering what excuse I should make next.
“You said you wanted to see them. Aren’t you going to?”
Song Yesul obediently took the lead.
What was with that attitude?
Even though I had made the request, I stood there with a dumbfounded expression.
“Aren’t you going to?”
Song Yesul asked again.
“Ah, I will. No, I have to. But is this really all right?”
After all, what I was doing was no different from an outsider acting as though he owned the place.
“You really are impossible to predict, Young Master.”
Song Yesul gave an incredulous laugh.
“You said you wanted to see them, so there must be a reason. That’s all I think.”
“...”
“...”
Gwak Susan, who had been following quietly, muttered under his breath.
“It feels like the Group Leader is one of Hwapung Manor’s people...”
What was he talking about?
Song Yesul suddenly stopped walking, her expression turning serious as she lowered her voice.
“But... you should be a little careful. The person in charge has a damn... no, rather unpleasant personality.”
#
Hwapung Manor’s general manager had come from outside.
The general manager had supposedly once studied for the civil service examination.
After passing the provincial examination and preparing for the metropolitan examination, the general manager had taken charge of Hwapung Manor’s household affairs at the Manor Lord’s earnest request.
The general manager was much younger than Gong Somyeong, the Manor Lord, but as a lay disciple, the general manager held the same seniority as the Manor Lord.
And just as Song Yesul had said,
“Son of a... No, what did you say?”
The general manager’s personality did not seem very pleasant.
“Damn it, no, you want to inspect the finances? Has the Dragon-Phoenix Association become Hwapung Manor’s Grand Elder?”
The general manager was clearly speaking to Song Yesul, but the words were meant for us to hear.
“You sons of... No, when Hwapung Manor was in danger, you people didn’t even look back. What right do you have to come here now and say you’ll inspect us?”
“Martial Uncle, these people are practically Hwapung Manor’s benefactors.”
“Bullsh... No, if a benefactor asked for your underclothes, would you give them up too?”
“...”
I stepped forward at words that had crossed the line.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I didn’t see you when the fighting was at its fiercest. Did you have other business, or did you evacuate?”
“...What does that have to do with you?”
“You cursed our actions, so I asked whether you were qualified to do so.”
“You little shi... No, when did I ever curse you?”
The general manager did not seem to have learned even the slightest bit of martial arts, but the voice was sharp enough to keep stabbing at my eardrums.
“Was that not cursing? Then again, you did not curse us properly.”
“...”
“Still, you should be careful. There are quite a few petty martial artists out there.”
I deliberately paused, then smiled.
“I hear that about myself from time to time.”
In an instant, silence fell over the room.
The general manager glared and muttered curses under their breath, but I pretended not to hear.
There was no reason to get further entangled with someone made entirely of arrogance and stubbornness.
“It does not matter whether you like us or not. Manor Lord Gong Somyeong has granted permission for this. Please cooperate.”
Grinding their teeth, the general manager snorted loudly.
“Inspect, audit, do whatever the hell you... No, do as you please!”
The general manager crossed their arms and stepped back twice.
“First, could you show us the ledgers that would let us review recent financial activity?”
“I don’t know.”
“Pardon?”
“Because of the Blood Heaven Fort incident, people packed up the documents in a hurry. They’ll be somewhere in here.”
The general manager pointed inside the office.
It was an utterly disorganized mess, filled with books, ledgers, documents, and all sorts of clutter.
“It would take months to sort through all that. If you insist on inspecting us, come back then.”
“...”
Looking closer, the office did not seem to be a mess only because everyone had fled during the battle.
The piles on every bookshelf and table made it feel as though the office itself had always been an unsorted garbage bin.
Finding exactly what we wanted in there and examining it seemed nearly impossible.
“Martial Uncle... Manor Lord Gong Somyeong told us to actively assist the Dragon-Phoenix Association.”
At Song Yesul’s words, the general manager’s face flushed red.
“You wretched bitch! Whose disciple are you?! Aren’t you Hwapung Manor’s disciple? Or what? Now that the danger has eased a little, are you desperate for men?! Huh?”
Despite the harsh words, Song Yesul’s expression remained calm. It was proof that this was not the first or second time she had suffered something like this.
“Even Manor Lord Gong Somyeong has never looked through my ledgers without permission! And now you want me to show them to these goddamn bastards who came from who knows where? Just how loose are you...”
I could not calmly let those filthy words slide when I was hearing them for the first time.
Bang!
I raised my internal energy and struck the table. The shockwave magnified, and the resulting vibration shook the general manager.
“Urgh!”
Perhaps the strange sensation they had never felt before made them nauseous. The general manager frowned and glared at me as though they wanted to kill me.
“You dare threaten me with martial arts?”
“That’s right.”
“Wh-what? That’s right?”
The general manager looked stunned, as though they had heard something unimaginable.
“That’s right. If you don’t want to get beaten, shut that foul mouth of yours.”
“Hah... Hah... So the Martial Alliance’s Dragon-Phoenix Association is nothing more than a gang of street thugs!”
Earlier, they claimed not to know where we had come from, yet they knew us well enough.
“Go on, then. Look through everything to your heart’s content. I have no intention of helping you at all.”
The general manager crossed their arms and stepped back with a confident expression.
Song Yesul and Gwak Susan both looked unsure of what to do.
“Society Leader, see those ledgers at the far end? Bring them all over first.”
“Huh?”
At the same time, I began rapidly flipping through whatever ledgers I could get my hands on.
Flip, flip, flip.
Flip, flip, flip.
Flip, flip, flip.
Before even a quarter of an hour had passed, I had pushed ten ledgers aside. Gwak Susan, who had been staring blankly, looked at me strangely.
“Group Leader, what exactly are you doing?”
“What do you mean? I’m reviewing the ledgers.”
This would probably give me a headache for days, but I would rather have a nosebleed than watch that general manager look so pleased with themself.
“You told me to do whatever the hell I wanted? I’ll show you what being truly screwed means.”
I wiped away the blood running from my nose and spoke to the general manager.
#
It did not take half a day to examine every ledger in the office.
During that time, I had two nosebleeds and nearly passed out from dizziness about four times, but I endured it all and grasped every financial movement Hwapung Manor had made over the last ten years.
And then.
“Sh-shit! It’s, it’s a frame-up! This is a frame-up! There’s no way you could know all this in only half a day!”
But the managers of three merchant companies had already been summoned to confirm the general manager’s corruption.
Right before the battle against the Blood Heaven Fort, the general manager had been preparing to transfer Hwapung Manor’s assets into their own name.
“Hah... While other fellow disciples fought with their lives on the line, they were concerned only with their own safety.”
“I thought they were working for Hwapung Manor, even if they had a foul personality...”
What was more, it came to light that the general manager had been slowly siphoning away Hwapung Manor’s finances all along.
“It’s a lie! Manor Lord! Manor Lord Gong Somyeong! Say something! How much have I sacrificed for Hwapung Manor? And this is how you treat me?”
The general manager had forced Hwapung Manor’s people to live frugally and pushed for financial restraint, but their true face was ugly enough to steal even children’s side dishes to satisfy their own greed.
“Phew... Hwapung Manor’s true danger was not the Blood Heaven Fort, but what lay within.”
Those who belonged to the martial world should have been dealt with by the martial world’s code.
Yet Gong Somyeong showed one final mercy and handed the general manager over to the authorities.
Even after recovering only part of the hidden wealth, Hwapung Manor gained enough financial breathing room to immediately rebuild the estate destroyed in the recent battle.
“You certainly gathered quite a lot.”
Gong Somyeong’s worries about securing funds before the gold vein could be developed had been resolved at once.
The Manor Lord looked at me with an expression that made it difficult to tell whether they had transcended it all or were simply exhausted.
“How did the inspection go? Did it end well?”
My plan from the beginning had been to destroy that general manager, so I could say it had ended well.
“Then we must hold a banquet.”
“No. You cannot do that while you are in mourning.”
“Do not say that. You saved Hwapung Manor from the Blood Heaven Fort and even exterminated the parasite living within it. If we do not properly honor such a benefactor, not only the people of the martial world but our dead fellow disciples will surely point their fingers at us.”
The Manor Lord’s view was shared by the elders and the other hall masters, and Hwapung Manor held a modest banquet.
The branch personnel returned to the Kaifeng Branch after following their furious Branch Leader, but the Azure Dragon Pavilion members who remained unexpectedly received a lavish table of food and drink, enjoying themselves greatly.
The Dragon-Phoenix Association members were no differe...
“Group Leader, I truly respect you.”
What was wrong with him now?
“I mean it, Group Leader.”
Gwak Susan, thoroughly drunk, clung to my arm.
“All this time, people have only glared at us for conducting inspections. I kept wondering why I was even part of the Dragon-Phoenix Association, but through you, Group Leader, I learned the true meaning behind the Dragon-Phoenix Association’s work.”
“...”
I was curious what that meant too, so I listened in silence.
“Protecting good people and punishing bad people through inspections. That is the true purpose of an inspection.”
“Is that so?”
“I’ll work even harder at inspections from now on. Even if people hate me, I’ll be openly thorough about it. Just wait and see. I’ll help good people like those of Hwapung Manor and those with evil intentions...”
Gwak Susan, who had been drunkenly rambling, eventually collapsed.
“G-Group Leader, give me your hand... The world is spinning, I can’t get up...”
Gwak Susan fell asleep like that and began mumbling in his sleep.
“Is he all right?”
At that moment, Song Yesul approached with the sweet fragrance of bottle gourd blossoms, a scent out of place among all the men.
“He’s asleep. Let’s leave him alone.”
“G-Group Leader, my hand... Give me your hand...”
“...Is he really asleep?”
Unlike her usual martial attire, she wore formal clothing.
It was not as extravagant as the clothes worn by women of the Martial Alliance, but it suited her very well.
“If you don’t mind, would you like to get some fresh air?”
“Hm?”
“Ah, no, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
She fidgeted with her fingers, her face turning red. I stood from my seat.
I was already tired of listening to Gwak Susan’s drunken rambling anyway.
When I stepped out of the great hall, thick with the heat of the drinking party, the night breeze felt cool enough to clear my chest.
“It is a shabby garden compared to those at the Martial Alliance, isn’t it?”
Everything about Hwapung Manor reminded me of the Taeul Sect from my previous life.
“Still, it is a very precious place to me.”
Its garden was humble, and its old buildings had been patched and repaired.
Even so, those who lived there found joy in a bottle of alcohol and happiness in a small joke.
“It is a very good place for me as well.”
“Pardon?”
The walls were low, and there was never enough firewood each year, but I had never once failed to feel warmth there.
Hwapung Manor reminded me of the Taeul Sect that had been like that.
“I mean that I like it.”
“...”
Song Yesul stood blankly for a moment, then lightly kicked at the ground with the tip of her shoe.
“I heard Wuhan, where the Martial Alliance is located, has gardens far more beautiful than this small, shabby one. The women too.”
“I do like splendid gardens, but personally, I am more drawn to this kind.”
“...”
For some reason, Song Yesul’s face turned pink.
“Really... I heard the wandering rogues of the martial world are skilled at charming women. How many women have you made cry, Young Master?”
“...”
I knew what kind of tears Song Yesul meant, but I could not answer.
There had never been anyone.
“I believe you are mistaken about something. I have never dated anyone.”
“What??? I heard that if you cannot date anyone after entering the academy, people treat you like a fool...”
I knew about that too. I had seen people dating from time to time.
But that did not mean every man and woman freely dated each other.
“The academy’s classes are already demanding, and everyone is busy dedicating themselves to training. Dating is absurd.”
“...”
“It is true. They are all baseless rumors.”
Song Yesul, who had been silently listening, asked,
“Are you crying?”
Crying? Who? Me?
“No. Something got into my eye.”
Damn it, why did my eyes have to sting now of all times...?
“...”
Come to think of it, why was I living like this even in this life?
I had been a pathetic fool in my previous life, so that was one thing.
“Anyway, that is how it is.”
“From my perspective, that is a relief...”
“What is?”
“Ah, nothing! It just makes me a little less disappointed that I could not attend the academy.”
Song Yesul’s face blossomed into a smile.
They said bottle gourd blossoms bloomed around sunset.
Her smile suited the soft moonlight.
“After my parents passed away, Hwapung Manor became both my parents and my family.”
“Ah...”
“So I never had much expectation for life in the Martial Alliance either.”
I did not even have time to offer words of comfort.
It seemed she had grown calluses from hearing such comfort too often, because she did not seem bothered at all.
“This time, I asked the Manor Lord for a favor. I said that once Hwapung Manor had settled down, I wanted to visit the Martial Alliance.”
“Why is that?”
Song Yesul looked straight into my eyes.
Those clear eyes.
Those bright red lips.
That pale white skin.
They settled in my memory more vividly than ever.
“Because I want to know Young Master Jin.”
Her direct words pierced straight through my heart.
I had not met a life-and-death enemy, yet my heart seemed to beat faster and faster at her unexpected confession.
“Do you dislike me?”
“N-no, that is not it.”
It was true that my eyes had often been drawn to her since our first meeting.
But...
‘How could I know?’
I did not know what kind of feeling it was.
It felt different from what I had felt for Moyong Seol, the only person I had loved in my previous life.
Song Yesul’s words, offered with honest feeling, pierced deep into my chest with greater precision and lethality than any concealed weapon.
All I could do was stammer like an idiot.
“Hoho...”
Song Yesul smiled at me.
“Hoho, hahaha! Oh my, why are you so embarrassed? You are a grown man.”
“As I said, I may be a man, but...”
“But not a grown man?”
“You have already figured me out.”
Her face under the moonlight looked like a bottle gourd blossom.
“...I want to know more. More about you, Young Master Jin...”
The moment my gaze naturally drifted down her clear skin to her slender neck,
A red line appeared across her throat.
“More... more... mooore?”
As she spoke, Song Yesul began turning her head as though something felt wrong.
The line split wide open, and blood burst out.
“Huh...?”
Her expression froze, unable to understand what had happened.
Spurt!
Like a bottle gourd blossom withering after its life had run out, she poured out blood and collapsed to the side.
“Wh-what is this...?”
Thud.
Behind the fallen Song Yesul, I saw the assailant sheathe his sword.
Gush. Gush. Gush.
“Y-Young Master...”
The light vanished from Song Yesul’s eyes as blood flowed from her.
I raised my head.
Then I drew my sword.
I swore.
I would kill the assailant without fail.
No matter what reason he gave, no matter what status he possessed, there could be no justification for forgiveness.
Grit.
I charged at the hateful assailant with every ounce of my strength.
“Yong Soa!!!!”
The Scarlet Radiance Sword shot toward him like a beam of light.
==========
Author’s Note
??? : Has the main wife finally appeared?
Yong Soa: Not a chance.
==========
Footnotes:
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