WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 567: Green Dragon (5)
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Unable to endure the sense of inadequacy Bang Duchil inspired, I headed back to my quarters.
[There was a powerful figure. Two of them, at that.]
Bang Duchil, whose very existence was so unfair it felt like a mental attack.
And now, two powerful figures had appeared who made even him tremble in fear.
The Martial Alliance's deception had harmed him, while the Demonic Cult's involvement had pushed the Northern Forest Alliance ahead.
Bang Duchil had no choice but to send me a tear-stained letter.
[Only you and I can deal with them.]
He had even swallowed his pride to ask for help. It showed just how desperate he was.
What the Demonic Cult had started and the Martial Alliance had interfered with was no longer something Bang Duchil could handle alone.
'Who could it be?'
[Throw White Pine Stronghold and the other sects that have learned demonic arts to the Green Forest.]
I was curious about whoever had come up with such a brilliant idea.
This operation was as efficient as killing three birds with one stone. If it succeeded, they would reap nothing but gains without suffering any losses.
Once this was over, I would learn the identity of that damned bastard too.
For now, I needed to focus on who these two powerful figures from the Demonic Cult were and how to deal with them.
Tap.
It was late at night, so I thought everyone would be asleep. Yet one person was drinking alone in the inner hall.
"Why aren't you asleep?"
"......"
He silently emptied his cup.
I tried to ignore him and walk past, but he caught the hem of my clothes.
"What are you doing?"
"......Sit. I have something to say."
"......"
Even after forcing me to sit, he said nothing.
I soothed the sense of inadequacy Bang Duchil had inflicted on me with alcohol.
"......What do you plan to do?"
He really never got tired of asking.
"What would you have me do?"
"......"
Hwa Jeongsan stayed silent.
"If there's something you want, why don't you say it?"
It was only natural.
No one could easily solve a problem that was nearly impossible and had no clear answer.
That was why asking questions without offering an answer was nothing more than a cowardly act of avoidance, since they could not come up with an answer themselves.
And I pointed that out.
"If you have a direction you want us to take, tell me."
"......"
He could not say anything.
One-sided opposition and criticism were an easy way to hide one's incompetence.
But when it kept happening, it harmed the organization.
Right now, Hwa Jeongsan was harming Yuseong Hall.
"Is there something you want?"
"......"
Hwa Jeongsan glared at me as though he wanted to kill me.
Anyone would find it difficult to face their own incompetence.
"Are you just whining like a child when you don't even know what you want?"
For the first time, I showed him how I felt.
"The Hall Master of Yuseong Hall is... you."
"Then the hall members should shut up and listen to the Hall Master. Isn't that right?"
"......"
"Or are you uneasy because the Hall Master is from the Taeul Sect?"
Creak.
The table trembled.
"I said you could give your opinion whenever you wanted. Yet you couldn't say a word. What exactly are you so uneasy about? Did you ever truly acknowledge me as the Hall Master in the first place?"
Back when I was in the Sojeong Unit, I had been told nothing. I simply moved in silence like a game piece.
After becoming Yuseong Hall's Hall Master, I hated that, so I always asked the members for their opinions.
But even when given the chance, they only complained without offering any opinions. That would eventually harm the organization.
I had no intention of tolerating it any longer.
"I don't know what you're dissatisfied with, but if you really can't accept this, go back. I have no intention of carrying out an operation with a hall member when I don't even know what they're thinking."
There was nothing more to say.
I rose from my seat.
"If you pull the same stunt again, I'll punish you properly under Alliance Law."
It was time to take responsibility for my words and act.
"If you think I won't do it because I'm afraid of Mount Hua's name... then go ahead and test me."
"......"
Hwa Jeongsan still stared at me with murderous eyes.
#
When I woke up in the morning, I gathered the hall members.
Hwa Jeongsan had not left.
I did not know why he had chosen to remain.
It did not matter.
Once even Dang Seohui, rubbing her eyes as she hurried over, had joined us, Moyong Seol asked,
"What should we do about our mission?"
She was referring to our current situation.
The Martial Alliance had ordered us to assassinate Bang Duchil.
At the same time, they had learned that I was the Black Dragon Stronghold Chief.
Everyone was curious.
They wanted to know what decision I would make.
"I'll tell you about our mission going forward."
Everyone's eyes turned to me.
Any choice would bring only negative consequences.
"We'll help the Southern Forest Alliance end this war as quickly as possible."
I chose neither path.
"!"
"!!"
"!!!"
Hwa Jeongsan looked like he had much to say. His lips moved, but he pressed them shut again.
Moyong Jaehwa raised his hand instead.
"Um... is that really all right?"
He was probably referring to the Class A Order.
"The order's purpose was to prevent chaos in the martial world. So it does not matter much if our method changes."
It could become an issue because we were not carrying out the order as instructed, but it was not outright defiance.
I had no intention of stubbornly following the order just to benefit the Demonic Cult.
Based on everything so far, it was clear the Demonic Cult had infiltrated the Northern Forest Alliance. If the Northern Forest Alliance unified the Green Forest now, would not the entire Green Forest fall into the Demonic Cult's hands?
I could not let that happen.
There was also the advantage of drawing the person behind the White Pine Stronghold incident into the open.
Had someone done it to hide their own disgrace?
Or had Jegal Somyeong really caused this incident...?
I slowly looked around at the hall members.
"If anyone dislikes this operation, you can return now. I won't hold you responsible."
After some thought, Moyong Seol shook her head.
"You're the Hall Master, Young Master Jin. As hall members, it's our duty to follow your decision."
Hwa Jeongsan opened his mouth at those words.
"Don't give me such a ridiculous excuse. Didn't you make that plan because Bang Duchil is your sworn brother?"
"I clearly said that anyone who doesn't like it may return."
Hwa Jeongsan did not hide his anger.
"Whether this succeeds or fails, I'll report this mission directly to our superiors."
"......"
"Everything, including the fact that you're the Black Dragon Stronghold Chief and Bang Duchil's sworn brother."
He raised his chin.
"If it's for the Martial Alliance, you won't mind, will you?"
So that was how he wanted to play it.
"I don't mind. But if you're staying, remember one thing. If..."
I walked over and whispered in his ear.
"If you intend to obstruct this operation on purpose, be prepared to die."
"!"
"I'm prepared to go that far."
Nothing was more futile than an operation failing because of sabotage from within.
If someone wanted to interfere with an operation where lives were at stake, they had to stake their own life as well.
"......"
Even after I said all that, Hwa Jeongsan did not move.
A cold silence filled the hall.
Perhaps sensing the mood, Dang Seohui raised her hand.
"Just say it, Deputy Hall Master."
"Then..."
Dang Seohui spoke with a more serious expression than usual.
Even with such an important matter ahead, the Deputy Hall Master was acting normally...
"Which stronghold's chief am I becoming?"
"......"
"Since there's already a Black Dragon Stronghold Chief... I want to become the Black Phoenix Stronghold Chief."
As I prepared to carry out the operation perfectly, I suddenly became terribly worried about whether I could finish it properly.
#
Yuseong Hall, along with many temporary members, began moving with the Southern Forest Alliance's bandits.
Hwa Jeongsan had not been told exactly where they were going.
It did not matter.
Jin Sowoon's instructions had been clear.
[The Deputy Hall Master will move with me. The rest of the hall members have people to deal with separately.]
Hwa Jeongsan wanted to ask Jin Sowoon what that meant, but they had already had a fierce argument that morning, so he could not bring himself to ask.
"Is there something worrying you?"
Already looking for somewhere to vent his frustrations, Hwa Jeongsan turned to Dang Seohui as if he had been waiting for this.
"Does this even make any..."
But he closed his mouth before finishing.
"Hm? Why is that? Is something strange?"
"......What's with that armband on your arm?"
Dang Seohui had an armband tied around her arm.
...It bore the words Black Phoenix.
Dang Seohui confidently put a hand on her waist.
"It's proof that I'm a stronghold chief."
What nonsense.
Not even Bang Duchil or any of the other people who looked like stronghold chiefs in the Southern Forest Alliance wore armbands.
"Is this really the time to play around?"
"...What are you doing?"
Dang Seohui's eyes narrowed.
"Hic!"
Hwa Jeongsan let out a startled hiccup.
Whenever Dang Seohui made that expression, victims would inevitably appear and suffer terribly from poison.
"How dare you challenge the authority of a stronghold chief?"
"......I, I'm not part of your stronghold."
"......That's true."
Dang Seohui accepted that for some reason and relaxed her glare. Watching her, Hwa Jeongsan cursed inwardly.
Then Dang Seohui said,
"What are you dissatisfied with?"
"Do you think this situation is normal?"
"Then why didn't you go back?"
"That's because..."
He could not casually abandon the mission entrusted to him by the Mantong Office.
It would bring disgrace upon Mount Hua Sect and, beyond that, the Orthodox Society.
"Hall Master Jin clearly gave you a chance to leave. He also said he wouldn't hold it against you. So why are you complaining now?"
Dang Seohui's words grated on him.
"Is this truly all the Mount Hua Sect amounts to?"
"......"
She was mercilessly exposing the part of himself he found most shameful.
"Did you ever think of Jin Sowoon as your Hall Master in the first place?"
Dang Seohui shook her head as if he were pathetic.
"You said you would personally report Jin Sowoon's wrongdoing when you returned to the Martial Alliance. Jin Sowoon even allowed that."
That was true.
If this reached the Martial Alliance, it would create a considerable uproar. Jin Sowoon could lose everything he had achieved until now.
"So what are you doing? You had a chance to leave, yet you stayed. And you aren't even doing your best as a member of Yuseong Hall."
The little girl who usually wore a blank expression and searched only for candied fruit gave a mocking laugh.
"How utterly pathetic."
Still.
"You... damned brat..."
Her words were too reasonable for Hwa Jeongsan to offer any rebuttal.
"Why do you hate Jin Sowoon so much?"
Why did he hate him? Obviously...
"Because he hates us."
"Us?"
"Yes. Us. The Nine Sects One Gang, the Five Great Clans, the One Hundred Eight Peaks. He never hides his hostility toward us. Why should I like someone like that?"
Even someone as insensitive to others' feelings as he was could clearly tell.
Jin Sowoon could not acknowledge those who held power and privilege. He resented and hated them.
He did not hide that inferiority complex or sense of defeat. He displayed them openly.
That was why Hwa Jeongsan hated him.
"Does Jin Sowoon really hate us?"
"Are you saying I saw it wrong?"
"At the Sword Mound, Yong Soa said Moyong Seol would die."
"What?"
Something strange had just been said.
"He said we would die too, the ones going to save her."
Hwa Jeongsan's expression went blank.
If Yong Soa had said that...
Why were Moyong Seol and Jin Sowoon both here, alive and well?
"Yet Jin Sowoon charged into certain death and saved Moyong Seol."
Hwa Jeongsan's gaze moved to Moyong Seol.
"At Mook Forest, the lecturers abandoned the Academy students. Jin Sowoon led everyone out without making distinctions and saved them all."
"......"
He knew that well. He had even separately asked about the death of his junior fellow disciple.
"At a glance, his actions may sometimes seem wrong. But in the end..."
Dang Seohui looked toward Jin Sowoon.
"They always led to the right path."
"......"
"It's not that Jin Sowoon hates us."
Dang Seohui turned back to Hwa Jeongsan.
"Have you never considered that your own view might be warped, Hwa Jeongsan?"
His view was warped...
Hwa Jeongsan blankly followed Moyong Seol's gaze.
There, he saw Jin Sowoon speaking with Bang Duchil.
"...He's friendly when he talks to a bandit chief like that. And you say my view is warped?"
"Do you acknowledge him as your Hall Master?"
It was the same thing he had heard before.
Once again, Hwa Jeongsan could not answer.
"You can judge Jin Sowoon's worth after you have fulfilled your duty."
He had nothing to say.
What was he doing right now?
He had worked tirelessly since resolving to change, but he had still not taken even a single step beyond his past self.
He clenched both hands into fists.
"...Fine. But if he shows even the slightest sign of betraying the Martial Alliance, I'll deal with him. That's one reason I stayed."
Dang Seohui raised a small hand and patted his shoulder.
"Yes, you made a good choice. Judging someone firsthand with an impartial eye, that is the proper way of a true bandit..."
"Who's a bandit?!"
"You're a bandit right now. I'll specially make you the Deputy Stronghold Leader of Black Phoenix Stronghold."
"I'm not doing it!"
The composure he had only just regained meant nothing. Hwa Jeongsan's body trembled with anger, or rather, shame again.
Why did Hwa Jeongsan, Mount Hua Sect's New Plum Blossom Sword, have to be treated like a bandit here...
"...Don't tell me you want to become the Black Phoenix Stronghold Chief? Hm, that might be..."
"I don't need any of that!"
The sky was perfectly clear that day.
Footnotes:
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