Chapter 126 - I'll Fight and Make Sure You Give Me Credit

Seo Daeryong grew flustered as the woman approached.

“H-huh? She's coming our way!”

“See? I told you.”

“She's coming because you waved her over. She'll ask, ‘Why did you call me?’ Won't she? Then you'll have to say, ‘I called you over to tease this fellow here.’”

The closer she came, the more his eyes glazed over and his mouth fell open. She wore a veil, which only lent her an even more mysterious air. To Seo Daeryong, she looked like a celestial maiden descended from heaven.

Of course, she was Yi An. She stopped in front of the two men.

Geom Mugeuk said to her, “I told him we came back together, but he won't believe me.”

Her eyes crinkling in a smile, Yi An addressed Seo Daeryong.

“You're Investigator Seo, aren't you? I've heard so much about you.”

She altered her voice to conceal how she normally sounded.

Startled that the woman recognized him, Seo Daeryong immediately sent Geom Mugeuk a sound transmission.

—How does she know me?

—Because I told her about you.

—How? Why? You've never once mentioned knowing a beauty like her! Knowing you, Pavilion Master, there's no way you wouldn't have bragged! ‘A heart is all well and good, and so is a right-hand man, but I've got the prettiest face of all!’

While Seo Daeryong was busily sending me sound transmissions, Yi An smiled and said, “I hear you're the Pavilion Master's right-hand man?”

Uncontainable delight surged into his face. Wasn't that position a truly precious and remarkable one, coveted by so many?

“Oh, why did he have to tell you even that?”

Despite his bashfulness, his shoulders were rising sky-high.

“He told me this, too.”

“What?”

“That you're ruthless and power-hungry, but a real man who loves only one woman. A rebel who raises his hand alone when everyone else stays silent, yet also a pacifist. And someone who made a life-changing decision over a drink at an inn?”

Seo Daeryong was stunned. The beauty before him had recited, word for word, things he had jokingly said about himself in the past. He gave Geom Mugeuk an incredulous look.

“You certainly introduced me in detail.”

“I also heard you have regular drinking gatherings.”

“He even told you that?”

Seo Daeryong was flustered. This beauty knew far too much about him.

'Why did the Pavilion Master tell her so much about me?'

Not that he minded. How could it be unpleasant for a beauty he might see only once in a lifetime to know him in such detail?

He had always been confident that he would never fall for a beauty trap. He had lived believing that the heart mattered, not appearances. That conviction was all the stronger in Murim, where creatures openly roamed about disguising their age with the Youthful Countenance Art and sucking the vitality from others.

But looking at the woman before him, he thought it really might be difficult to resist if someone like her set her mind to seducing him. She had nothing to do with him, yet he found himself wanting to impress her.

“Haven't you been getting together for drinks lately?”

“One of us is away, so we've postponed it for now.”

Belatedly remembering something, Seo Daeryong asked Geom Mugeuk, “Oh! What about Warrior Yi?”

“You certainly took your time asking.”

Geom Mugeuk's expression turned somber.

“You won't be seeing her anymore.”

Seo Daeryong flinched.

“Why?”

“...”

“Surely not. Nothing happened to her, did it?”

“What if something did?”

“Why are you doing this? It's not funny. Joke about anything else, but not this. It won't work on me.”

“I'm not joking. You won't see that Yi An again.”

Seo Daeryong stared at Geom Mugeuk, then smiled.

“Shall I tell you the decisive reason that sort of joke won't work?”

“What is it?”

“You, Pavilion Master.”

“Me? Why me?”

“She left with you, and something happened to Warrior Yi? That's impossible.”

Then a thought suddenly occurred to him.

“Now that I think about it, Pavilion Master, you're being awful.”

“What now?”

His next words came by sound transmission.

—You met a beauty like that and promptly cast our Warrior Yi aside. As a fellow man, I understand, but you can't treat her that way. She's always thinking of you. Where is she? Don't tell me you sent her to the training grounds the moment you got back? If you did, I'll be disappointed in you.

—Hey, let me get a word in.

—Never mind that. Give me back Warrior Yi! No, I'll go find her myself.

Seo Daeryong smiled and asked Yi An, “Have you perhaps seen a rather stout lady warrior?”

“Oh, yes, I have.”

With an I-knew-it expression, he sent Geom Mugeuk another message.

—That sort of joke won't work on me. I entered Yellow Springs Pavilion at the top of my class. And from now on, I'm calling you the Lecherous Pavilion Master.

—What did I do?

—You abandoned Warrior Yi and brought that beauty back! Honestly, that's rotten. Suddenly, even that innocent beauty is starting to look unpleasant to me.

Seo Daeryong bid Yi An farewell.

“I'll see you another time, then.”

As he set off toward Yi An's quarters, he inwardly lamented.

'Ah, I didn't even ask her name. Well, it's not as though I'll ever see her again anyway.'

Yi An called after him.

“She isn't at the training grounds right now.”

“What?”

How had this woman known he intended to check the training grounds first?

As Seo Daeryong stood astonished, Geom Mugeuk said something even more startling.

“I passed on everything you've sent me by sound transmission, exactly as you said it.”

Seo Daeryong was aghast.

—Why?

—Say it aloud, not by sound transmission.

Looking utterly baffled, Seo Daeryong said, “No, why? Why are you sending her sound transmissions? I know she's beautiful, but you weren't this sort of person, Pavilion Master. You've really become strange.”

Yi An replied, “I've become strange too, haven't I?”

What strange remark was that supposed to mean? While Seo Daeryong blinked, she drew a dagger from inside her clothes.

It was the very dagger made by melting down Go Wol's ten-thousand-year cold iron shackles.

The instant he saw it, Seo Daeryong demanded of Geom Mugeuk, “Why does she have that dagger?”

Staring suspiciously at him, Seo Daeryong suddenly flinched.

“Don't tell me you took Warrior Yi's dagger and gave it to this young lady? You didn't, did you? That's yours, right?”

“Mine is right here. That one is Yi An's.”

When Geom Mugeuk took out his own dagger to show him, Seo Daeryong exploded.

“You cannot do this! This is going too far!”

For the first time, he was furiously angry with Geom Mugeuk.

Geom Mugeuk merely smiled. His continued smiling only made Seo Daeryong angrier.

“What on earth happened while you were away? Have you gone mad over women? Those daggers were shared among the people who were there that day! Yes, you gave them to us, but they mean a great deal to all of us, don't they? Yet you took Warrior Yi's and gave it to that woman? Whose will you give to the next beauty? Here, I'll give you mine in advance. Take it. No, you can't have this. I'll give my dagger to Warrior Yi.”

“I didn't realize you cared so much about Yi An.”

“She's a friend I can tell everything in my heart. She's my drinking buddy!”

Yi An spoke then.

“Let's go have a drink.”

Seo Daeryong flinched. The refusal did not come immediately, but he gritted his teeth and forced it out.

“Now isn't a good time.”

He sighed inwardly.

'I've just turned down drinks with a beauty the likes of whom I'll never see again! Why did we have to meet under these circumstances? Ah, could any life be so unlucky?'

Still, Yi An came first.

“I need to look after my abandoned drinking buddy first. I'll be going, then.”

“Thank you for caring about me so much.”

Seo Daeryong looked at Yi An as if to ask what she meant.

She removed her veil. For an instant, it seemed as though light streamed from her face.

His eyes widened at the beautiful face revealed beneath it, but his expression soon hardened. This was no time to admire the beauty before him.

“I'm still not going! I can't!”

“You promised we'd drink ourselves silly all night when I came back, remember?”

“What?”

“It's me. Yi An.”

Lost in a whirlpool of confusion, Seo Daeryong could only blink.

“The three of us, with Commander Jang, promised to drink while admiring the autumn leaves on Mount Daecheon, and drink in the falling snow in winter, didn't we?”

When Yi An spoke in her own voice, Seo Daeryong gave a start.

“The voice is right... Are you really Warrior Yi?”

“Yes, it's me.”

“... But you aren't, are you?”

“I'll tell you everything that happened over drinks, when Commander Jang is there too.”

Only then, because she spoke just like Yi An, did he recognize her.

“You really are Warrior Yi!”

He looked at Geom Mugeuk for final confirmation. Geom Mugeuk nodded once.

“What was all that? Lecherous Pavilion Master? Mad over women?”

“Ah! I'm sorry!”

Geom Mugeuk smiled at the still-bewildered man.

“No, you did well. You earned a mountain of points with Yi An today.”

Yi An declared loudly, “Every drink tonight is on me, right to the end!”

“Aaah! Wonderful!”

She turned to Geom Mugeuk.

“May we go drinking? And invite Commander Jang too?”

Her face plainly showed how desperately she wanted to tell them how difficult the Bodily Toxin Purification Procedure had been, and how wonderful and enjoyable the journey was. Geom Mugeuk couldn't help smiling.

“Drink all you like today!”

After watching Yi An and Seo Daeryong leave in high spirits, Geom Mugeuk slowly set off for Heavenly Demon Hall.

* * *

Heavenly Demon Hall was unchanged.

Father sat beyond the Path of Blood. I walked slowly along the red carpet until I reached him.

I was overjoyed to see him again. Who would have thought that blunt expression and gaze could be so welcome?

“Father, have you been well? I thought I might die without seeing you again.”

I offered him a deep, formal bow.

“You sound as though you've returned from a war.”

“I fought quite a war.”

“Because you needlessly meddled in the Unorthodox Alliance's affairs.”

“It wasn't needless. I judged that Bi Sain would at least be easier for us to manipulate than Seok Gwanchu's grandson.”

Calling him a better person would have been more accurate, but I said he was easier to manipulate. Father intensely disliked—and guarded against—hasty judgments of people.

“It would have benefited us more if Seok Gwanchu's grandson became the successor.”

“Why is that?”

“Because he's far greedier.”

“But wouldn't Murim be in greater turmoil?”

“What does that have to do with us?”

I knew he meant it. The greater the turmoil in Murim, the more power the Cult had wielded.

Father, even so, surely we cannot keep growing forever by feeding on blood?

“Why didn't you return immediately? Weren't you concerned about your brother gaining control of the Demon Supremes?”

“I was.”

“Then why?”

“I never intended to make every Demon Supreme my ally.”

“Why?”

“Because that would corner my brother.”

“!”

“And then he would make the worst possible choice, one he could never take back. A choice I couldn't let pass. Didn't I tell you that the bloodshed in succession struggles would end with my generation?”

Father could not conceal his surprise.

“You would leave him room to breathe for that reason? Have you truly thought that far ahead?”

“I must. Considering how great and significant the prize I'm fighting for is, I have to think even deeper and farther ahead. I'll fight with my head—and make sure you give me credit for it, just as I'm doing now.”

Father gazed at me silently. I, too, looked steadily at him.

“May I ask you one question as well?”

“What?”

“When Seok Gwanchu or his master, Baek Manggi, made their move, were you even a little worried about me?”

“No.”

“Why not? Did you trust me that much?”

“It wasn't you I trusted. It was the Wicked Demon.”

“You trusted the Wicked Laughing Demon?”

“Yes. If he remained at your side, it must have been because he considered it a fight you could handle. I trusted his judgment.”

“Please trust your son a little from now on.”

“Had I based my decision on you at the time, the Cult would have had to march out to rescue you.”

“Ah! When will I ever become a son you trust?”

At my exaggerated lament, Father still wore an expression that said I had a long way to go. I thought he might look at me that way even if I became an immortal and ascended to heaven. Watching me rise into the sky, he would probably say, “Don't trust the immortals!”

“Go and rest.”

“Then I'll take my leave.”

As I turned to go, Father spoke behind me.

“I'm glad you're back.”

Emotion welled up in my chest the moment I heard it. Brief as those words were, they were what I had wanted to hear from him more than anything else.

I turned toward him and bowed my head without a word.

Thank you, Father, for standing firm in your place.

After leaving Heavenly Demon Hall, I set off toward the person I had missed most after Father.