Chapter 169 - There Is a Woman More Beautiful Than You

The awards ceremony was every bit as splendid as the martial tournament itself. The champion received a gold plaque and prize money. A greater honor still was having the Martial Alliance Leader present the awards in person.

The assembled heroes chanted Seo Daeryong’s name. Never in his life had he heard his name called out so many times. He probably never would again.

As he handed Seo Daeryong the gold plaque, the Martial Alliance Leader said,

“Your skills were outstanding. Devote yourself to preserving peace in Murim.”

“Thank you.”

But the alliance leader delivered what he really wanted to say through sound transmission.

—If you injure a martial artist of the orthodox factions with that saber technique, you will die by my hand. That I promise.

Not daring to argue, Seo Daeryong quietly collected his gold plaque and prize money and stepped down. He had reason to be grateful that the leader had awarded him anything at all, knowing he was a demonic martial artist.

Jin Haryeong, the runner-up, also received a plaque and prize money.

“Well done.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Do you understand now? How vast the martial world is?”

“Yes. I thought I might at least be a snake, even if I wasn’t a dragon, but now I realize I was only a frog in a well. I’ll work even harder, Grandfather.”

That was enough. With a satisfied smile, the Martial Alliance Leader patted her shoulder.

As she came down from the tournament platform with her awards, Jin Haryeong glanced at Geom Mugeuk standing in the distance. He waved to her, conveying a simple sentiment: Well done, my friend.

At the sight, tears suddenly welled in her eyes. She had not thought much of it until now, but seeing Geom Mugeuk brought an inexplicable surge of sorrow.

She could not cry in front of all these heroes, so she strode on bravely. Jin Haryeong cried at the awards ceremony. She cried because she couldn’t stand losing. The thought of such rumors spreading was truly unbearable.

Someone beside her said something, but she hurried away without even looking at them.

The person who had spoken to her was Jo Sin. Looking dismayed, he could not bring himself to follow her. Inside his robes was a gift to commemorate her victory.

He had engraved a congratulatory message for her championship on a dagger, so he could not even give it to her now. He had never imagined she might lose. He was supposed to present it to her in style after she won.

“Damn it! Fuck!”

His gaze turned to Seo Daeryong, who was still overwhelmed by congratulations.

'That country bumpkin actually won? How does that make any sense?'

The master won the tournament, and the servant seduced the woman Jo Sin was going to marry. The pair of them deserved to be beaten to death. This business could not possibly end well.

Seething with anger, Jo Sin returned to his quarters.

He started as he entered his room. A man was waiting inside: Cheol Gon, the man who conveyed the orders of the leader of the Heavenly Mandate Society.

At first, Jo Sin had wondered whether this Cheol Gon might be the Society’s leader posing as a messenger. His qi presence was that extraordinary.

'A man like this is just a subordinate? Then how formidable must the Society’s leader be?'

He had yet to meet the leader in person, but they had agreed that he would be granted a meeting once he completed this task successfully.

In any case, he resented finding the man in his room without permission, but he could not show his displeasure.

“You’re here.”

“Weren’t you the one who called me here, Young Master Jo?”

“I called you?”

“Didn’t you say you were confident you could marry Jin Haryeong?”

“Of course.”

Only a year ago, Jo Sin had been losing ground in the struggle for succession at True Dragon Manor. That was when the Heavenly Mandate Society appeared before him. He could not refuse their offer to make him the successor if he joined hands with them.

Becoming the successor with their help had been all well and good. Once his position was confirmed, however, they made one demand: marry the Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter.

It was not an impossible demand. True Dragon Manor was a family more than worthy of becoming the Martial Alliance Leader’s in-laws.

Jo Sin had persuaded his father and sought to secure the marriage even by providing enormous financial support to the Orthodox Martial Alliance.

He had chosen the Young Dragon Tournament because it would give him frequent opportunities to see her. With his family background and looks that earned praise wherever he went, he had been certain he could win Jin Haryeong’s heart without much difficulty. That was before he learned of that damned servant’s existence.

“The rumors say you’re waiting in line behind a servant.”

“Where did you hear such nonsense? That fellow works for me.”

At Jo Sin’s confident declaration, Cheol Gon stared straight at him. Meeting his eyes made Jo Sin shrink back, just as he had at their first meeting. Had the killing intent intimidating him been deliberate, he would never have allowed himself to be cowed.

But he could feel it. This killing intent arose from the man’s innate nature. It was a primal killing intent that only someone who attached no significance whatsoever to killing could exude. It inspired the terror that, if he defied this man carelessly, he would be hacked to pieces and dumped in a filthy gutter.

“He works for you?”

“I recruited him to help me marry Jin Haryeong. I’ll use him to make the marriage happen.”

It was not a lie. He had promised the servant a hundred thousand taels and brought him over to his side. Of course, that had not been his plan from the beginning.

Cheol Gon stared at him again. If this had been the gaze of a clever man trying to read him, it would actually have been easier to bear.

But this gaze was closer to indifference: the blunt stare of a murderous fiend for whom truth did not matter, so long as the outcome was satisfactory.

Cheol Gon alone was enough to show that these people were no ordinary group. They were not some unremarkable hidden force of the sort mentioned in common rumors about an incident somewhere and whoever was behind it.

They were different. If he kept his promises, they would unfailingly reward him in return. They were villains who acted solely for their own interests, but for that very reason, he could be certain of getting what he wanted from them. That was why he had joined hands with them.

Cheol Gon rose and walked to the window.

“Come here and look at that.”

Jo Sin cautiously approached and stood beside him.

“That broken sapling over there is one I stepped on and snapped on my way here. Whoever planted them put them too close together. Like that, neither tree can grow tall and strong.”

Cheol Gon slowly turned to look at him.

“We want you to grow into a great tree.”

Jo Sin knew there was no sincerity in those words. Cheol Gon did not care in the slightest whether he became a great tree or not. If the Society’s leader ordered him killed, Cheol Gon would kill him; if ordered to spare him, he would let him live. To this man, Jo Sin was not even worth that broken sapling.

He wanted to shout that Cheol Gon should save his talk of great trees for his own children. He loathed being subjected to this sort of interference and pressure. Being polite to villains only made them see you as an easier target.

But Jo Sin did not dare.

“I won’t disappoint you.”

“I’ll have the wedding gift money ready and waiting.”

Cheol Gon quietly left the room. Once he was gone, Jo Sin released the breath he had been holding. His sigh was a mixture of tension and fear, irritation and anger.

The marriage, the servant, the Heavenly Mandate Society—none of it was as easy as he wanted it to be. It felt as though his life, comfortable until now, had entered a new and more difficult phase. Of course, that did not mean he would give up.

'Someday, I’ll pay you back in full.'

He did not say it aloud yet. That would come after he had made his family the strongest in Murim.

* * *

“The prize money is a whole ten thousand taels!”

Seo Daeryong was beside himself with delight at this unexpected windfall.

He handed me five thousand taels.

“Here. We won this together, so let’s split it evenly.”

“Aren’t you going to regret this later?”

“Five thousand is more than enough for me. I’ll treat Commander Jang and Martial Artist Yi with this. And...”

“And?”

“Buy something nice to eat for the woman who cheered me on, too.”

“Have you arranged to meet her?”

“No. I don’t even know her name yet.”

He would soon. She would certainly approach him in one way or another. What method would she choose?

“She was cheering for me long before I won. That makes her special.”

He was already thoroughly smitten.

“Oh, you’re coming to the banquet with me, right?”

The Orthodox Martial Alliance was holding a celebratory banquet for the champion and all the main-tournament contestants.

“Of course.”

“I’m going to buy something to wear to the banquet. Why don’t you come along? I’ll buy you an outfit.”

“I’m fine. Just buy yourself something nice.”

“Absolutely. I’m really going to buy myself an expensive outfit this time!”

Once the excited Seo Daeryong had left, I spoke into empty air.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand. Things were too urgent at the time.”

I was speaking to the martial artist the alliance leader had sent, who was concealed somewhere nearby. When I took Seo Daeryong to the Insect Physician, I had raced away using Swift Step, leaving him unable to follow.

I had sensed him concealing himself near me again after we returned to the Orthodox Martial Alliance, but training Seo Daeryong had left me no time to speak to him separately. From his perspective, there must have been plenty to be unhappy about.

But as always, the concealed martial artist gave no response. He was truly faithful to his orders.

My apology was one thing. I did not tell him that the woman who had approached Seo Daeryong belonged to the Heavenly Mandate Society. I had judged there was no need to tell him in advance.

* * *

I did not enter the banquet hall. Today, Seo Daeryong had to be the star. Like a real servant, I stood outside the hall, watching what went on within.

Yet somehow, Jin Haryeong knew where I was and came outside to find me.

“Why aren’t you coming in?”

“It just feels stuffy in there.”

“Want to take a short walk?”

“Sounds good.”

We strolled through the inner gardens together.

“Actually, I went looking for you before the final. Do you know what I was going to say? ‘If you ask me nicely, I might let him win.’ I was going to tease you like that.”

She still seemed embarrassed and troubled by her defeat. She was talking more than usual, and faster.

“I had no idea I’d lose like that. Ridiculous, isn’t it? I don’t know how I’m going to sleep without cringing at the thought. Anyway, where did you go? Oh, which organization will your young master join now? And you...”

I interrupted her torrent of words.

“Easy there, my friend.”

Only then did Jin Haryeong let out a deep breath. After taking a moment to compose herself, she admitted what she was really feeling.

“When I saw you after losing yesterday, I felt like crying.”

“It’s all right to lose once in a while.”

In truth, it was all right to lose many times, as long as you still had the will to keep moving forward. Looking back when you were older, such failures amounted to nothing. Why had they felt like the sky was falling at the time?

Perhaps that was what made youth all the more worth missing: those days when your entire body and mind leaped in response to even the smallest things.

“I don’t want to start thinking so weakly already.”

“First, let go of the burden of being the alliance leader’s granddaughter. He’s his own person, and you’re yours. That burden won’t even let you enjoy coming second in a tournament this big.”

Jin Haryeong smiled.

“What? Feeling better already?”

“Yes. Seeing how hard you’re trying to comfort me cheered me up.”

“Well, that was easy. Cheering you up.”

“Do it often from now on.”

She firmly believed Seo Daeryong would join the Orthodox Martial Alliance. Naturally, she assumed I would live here with him.

“I might go back home.”

That startled her.

“Go back? Why?”

After looking at me for a moment, she asked cautiously,

“Is there a woman back home? Someone you like?”

“There is.”

She flinched. Perhaps because I had answered so readily, she seemed unsure whether to believe me.

“There’s a woman more beautiful than you.”

“More beautiful than me? Now you’ve really hurt your credibility.”

“You’re Hubei’s Greatest Beauty, aren’t you? She’s the Greatest Beauty Under Heaven.”

She relaxed and laughed. Apparently, she thought I was teasing her.

“You simply must introduce me to this Greatest Beauty Under Heaven someday!”

“If the opportunity comes.”

Would the day ever come when Yi An and Jin Haryeong met? Even I could not know.

What was Yi An doing, anyway? She was probably absorbed in martial arts training even now. Had she managed to surpass her limits and reach the next stage? Ah, I missed her!

After our walk through the inner gardens, I returned to the banquet hall with Jin Haryeong. Looking in through a window, I saw Seo Daeryong surrounded by promising young martial artists.

Whatever they might truly be thinking, they were all smiling and trying to befriend him. After all, he would now join one of the Orthodox Martial Alliance’s core elite organizations and rise steadily through the ranks.

“My young master looks happy.”

No one looked down on him for being short and gloomy-looking. Clothes really did make the man; he looked much more handsome than usual, too.

Yes, enjoy yourself to the fullest today.

Watching Seo Daeryong, Jin Haryeong said to me,

“I’ve talked to you so much, but I haven’t even had a proper conversation with your young master, the one who actually beat me.”

“Go and talk to him.”

“No. I want to stay here. All I’d get if I went inside would be more sympathy. Yours is enough for today!”

Just then, someone new entered the banquet hall. When I saw who it was, I was startled. Astonishingly, it was the woman who had been cheering for Seo Daeryong.

Seo Daeryong was startled to see her, too. This was a banquet for invited guests only, yet here she was.

How on earth had she gotten in without an invitation?

With every eye upon her, the woman slowly walked toward Seo Daeryong.