Chapter 274 - Not an Orthodox-Unorthodox War, but an Orthodox-Demonic War

Becoming Martial Alliance Leader had long been Jin Hagun’s dream. He had grown up watching his grandfather. Countless times, the people around him had told him the same thing.

You must follow in your grandfather’s footsteps.

Naturally, he had assumed he would become Martial Alliance Leader once he grew up. But his grandfather announced that he would pass the position of successor to someone with the ability and qualities to deserve it.

So he worked hard, then harder still. Becoming Martial Alliance Leader was his whole life. He could not even imagine a life in which he failed to achieve it.

And now, what? He was giving up that position himself?

It was the most shocking thing Jin Hagun had ever heard.

Watching his expression stiffen, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the Fist Demon exchanged a discreet glance. They could tell Geom Mugeuk had sent him some sort of sound transmission.

Having been through it themselves, they could guess what state Jin Hagun was slipping into.

Seated opposite him, Bi Sain saw the expression too.

'No!‘

Of course, he did not actually interrupt the conversation between them.

But the desperate Seo Baekjung had no such courtesy. He sent Jin Hagun a sound transmission.

"What are you discussing so intently?"

He should not have interrupted like this, but Jin Hagun’s expression was deeply troubling.

"Wait a moment."

The curt answer gave Seo Baekjung an instinctive sense that something was going wrong. Jin Hagun had told him to wait, but he could not.

"If the Demonic Cult’s young lord is trying some trick, you must not fall for it!"

At Seo Baekjung’s transmission, Jin Hagun gave him a cold look. The qi presence of the man commanding the Demon-Slaying Squad, the Orthodox Martial Alliance’s elite unit, overwhelmed him.

That sharp response prevented Seo Baekjung from interrupting again. He had a bad feeling. His gaze turned to Geom Mugeuk. From their very first meeting, this had been no easy opponent. Could Jin Hagun truly handle him? Seo Baekjung sensed that an unforeseen factor had entered the equation.

Jin Hagun sent Geom Mugeuk a sound transmission.

"What do you mean, I’m giving up the alliance leader’s position myself?"

He tried to remain as calm as possible, but his voice trembled.

"I mean that if you gain the Heavenly Harmony School, you will not gain the position of Martial Alliance Leader."

The heart Jin Hagun had struggled to calm began racing again. The words “Martial Alliance Leader” were something of a weak point for him.

This was a fucking trick. He must not fall for it. Jin Hagun drank the wine in front of him. After steadying himself that way, he asked calmly,

"Tell me why."

Geom Mugeuk did not answer immediately. Everyone around them focused on the pair. They all sensed it: a very important conversation was passing between the two.

The Sword Immortal sent the Blood Heaven Saber Demon a sound transmission.

"As long as I’m here, you would do well to refrain from futile tricks."

Apparently, the Sword Immortal felt uneasy. Masters of their caliber could detect shifts in emotion from the slightest change in the surrounding air currents.

"We live in an age when old men cannot interfere even if they want to. All we can do is watch."

The Sword Immortal answered the Blood Heaven Saber Demon in a stubborn tone.

"When interference is needed, we must interfere."

There were definite similarities between their personalities.

"Isn’t that why the Cult cannot strike at the orthodox factions?"

It was a compliment, acknowledging that his presence kept them from attacking, and the Sword Immortal smiled faintly.

"Are your juniors really so grateful that you must sacrifice this much for them?"

"It is not sacrifice. It is living rightly."

"Do live your own life while you’re at it."

Had anyone else said it, they would have received a thunderous rebuke. But the Blood Heaven Saber Demon was an exception.

"At this point...? I’ve lived this way all my life. How could that life change easily?"

"It can change, as it turns out."

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s gaze naturally turned to Geom Mugeuk. Wondering what those last words meant, the Sword Immortal also looked toward Geom Mugeuk and Jin Hagun.

At that moment, Jin Hagun was pressing Geom Mugeuk.

"I said, tell me why!"

Geom Mugeuk stared straight at him and answered.

"You already know why, don’t you?"

Jin Hagun’s heart sank the instant he heard those words. Geom Mugeuk had begun digging up what he had deliberately buried, pretending not to know.

Jin Hagun’s gaze passed Geom Mugeuk and settled on someone farther away: Seo Cheong.

He had killed innocent people. Jin Hagun had been continually pondering how to deal with him. That concern was also why, when Seo Baekjung first introduced his son, he had not offered him so much as a friendly word.

"What do you mean?"

Jin Hagun regretted the question as soon as he asked it. He had feigned ignorance in the hope that perhaps there was some other reason.

'Damn it.'

Even if there had been another reason, he should not have asked. He dreamed of becoming Martial Alliance Leader, yet he was pretending not to know in order to avoid the truth?

And rather than offering some other reason, Geom Mugeuk struck precisely at his weakness.

"Seo Cheong."

Jin Hagun clenched his molars without realizing it. Get a grip! Don’t let him draw you in. Unfortunately, this was not an opponent such resolve could fend off.

"Didn’t you come here knowing all the crimes he committed?"

"I..."

Jin Hagun forced himself to answer calmly.

"I intended to consider his punishment once I had concluded the Heavenly Harmony School affair."

"Punish him later?"

After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk asked,

"Isn’t that something you shouldn’t do?"

Geom Mugeuk’s words flew into him like a dagger. Those were the words he himself should have been saying.

You of the Demonic Cult, you of the unorthodox factions—isn’t that something you shouldn’t do?

Geom Mugeuk could sense Jin Hagun’s turmoil. That gave him hope. Jin Hagun was still young. He still had much to learn and much to experience. As long as he knew how to feel ashamed, he would be all right. There was nothing wrong with kicking at the blankets in embarrassment over one’s younger days.

Geom Mugeuk continued his sound transmission.

"The moment you gain the Heavenly Harmony School, you will fail the test the Martial Alliance Leader has set for you."

"A test?"

The word “test” jolted Jin Hagun to attention.

"Yes. This is the alliance leader’s test."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I’ve met your alliance leader."

"Are you telling me, his grandson, that you know because you’ve met him often?"

"True, you must have met him incomparably more often. But, Squad Leader Jin..."

Geom Mugeuk looked him straight in the eyes and asked,

"Have you ever truly looked at your grandfather?"

Jin Hagun flinched. Had he truly looked at his grandfather?

Of course he had.

But the words did not come readily. His grandfather was... far too difficult a person for him to approach.

"What are you trying to say?"

Jin Hagun’s voice rose slightly. His composure had already shattered, and he was growing agitated.

"I’m saying that being close to someone can make it harder to see them. At least, that was true of me."

Geom Mugeuk honestly conveyed what he had felt. He knew that, no matter how much verbal finesse he employed, sincerity was what ultimately moved another person’s heart.

"Until recently, I never truly saw my father. I was too afraid to look, and I took it for granted that I could see him whenever I wanted. Only lately have I been trying to look at him properly. That’s why I said it. You can see someone a hundred times, a thousand times, but if you never truly look, you may know less about them than someone who’s met them once."

Their gazes met in midair.

Jin Hagun could not deny Geom Mugeuk’s words. But neither could he simply believe them. Perhaps his grandfather had no such intention, and he was merely falling for Geom Mugeuk’s trick. He was confused.

"I distrust you. How can I be certain these words aren’t a ploy to seize the Heavenly Harmony School?"

Geom Mugeuk once again struck at the heart of the matter.

"Then why are you looking at me?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you have doubts, look at your grandfather. Isn’t that where you should find the answer?"

"!"

Suddenly, Jin Hagun recalled going to bid his grandfather farewell before leaving for this place.

Come to think of it, his grandfather had not said a single word about the Heavenly Harmony School. Nothing about how they must gain it, or how he should conduct himself.

He had simply wished him a safe trip. That look in his eyes as he watched him...

Was that the look of someone who would rejoice at acquiring the Heavenly Harmony School while leaving an evildoer unpunished?

No.

Perhaps he had known all along. He had merely tried to pretend otherwise, because his master had proposed this undertaking for his sake. Had his master simply voiced what he himself had wanted to say?

Win great merit and become the successor!

Jin Hagun’s face burned. No matter how he feigned ignorance or used his master as an excuse, he knew. He had done it because he wanted to.

"The person who connected you with that school master does not want you to become alliance leader."

Jin Hagun’s expression abruptly hardened.

From that reaction, Geom Mugeuk learned one thing.

'It’s someone close to Jin Hagun.'

It had to be someone other than Seo Baekjung, someone closer to Jin Hagun.

Jin Hagun trusted his master. He respected and followed him more than anyone.

His master had proposed this undertaking precisely to help him become alliance leader.

'I must trust my master! I can’t fall for an attempt to drive us apart!'

Bi Sain watched Jin Hagun’s expression change from moment to moment.

What could Geom Mugeuk possibly have said to plunge a man he had just met into such intense emotion?

Then again, considering his own experience provided the answer—how his emotions had changed since meeting Geom Mugeuk. What was actually taking place at this drinking table was not an orthodox-unorthodox war, but an orthodox-demonic war.

Bi Sain sent Geom Mugeuk a sound transmission.

"You truly are the greatest villain in all Murim!"

"The transmissions are getting tangled. Send yours later!"

"No! Please let them get tangled so you misunderstand everything."

Bi Sain was astonished that he was saying such things. He had truly never known he was someone who could joke like this with another person. He had thought that, with this hideous scar, he could never have a genuine conversation with anyone.

Meanwhile, Seo Cheong sent Seo Baekjung a sound transmission.

"Why is it so quiet?"

"They’re conversing through sound transmissions."

"One day, I’ll have revenge on that Demonic Cult young lord. Father, avenge me!"

Seo Baekjung found his son pathetic for failing even to read the room. And instead of declaring that he would take revenge, he was asking someone to avenge him. Compared with those three successors, he seemed all the more pathetic.

But ultimately, raising him this way was his own responsibility.

"Don’t do anything rash. Stay quiet."

They said a position made the man. He had thought that if he built up a great position and passed it down, his son would become someone worthy of it. That had been complacent thinking. He should have devoted at least some of the effort he had put into building the Heavenly Harmony School—no, raising a child required even greater effort than all of that.

The price of shirking that responsibility was right before his eyes, saying,

"Should I slip away quietly, just in case?"

Seo Baekjung sighed and answered,

"It’s already too late. Just stay put."

Meanwhile, Geom Mugeuk and Jin Hagun continued exchanging sound transmissions.

"Fine. Let’s say you’re right. Why tell me this, then? To take the Heavenly Harmony School?"

"Of course, that is one reason, but there is a greater one."

"What?"

"I want you to be a man who stands by his principles."

A cold qi presence poured from Jin Hagun. He did not want to be lectured about principles by a demonic martial artist.

As he roused his imposing presence, everyone around them tensed at once.

The Demon-Slaying Squad drew up their internal energy, while the Heavenly Demon Hall Guard and the Thirteen Wolves of the Unorthodox Path also heightened their presence, preparing to counterattack.

Geom Mugeuk, by contrast, was utterly calm.

"When I become cult leader and you become alliance leader, our decisions will determine whether thousands, tens of thousands, live or die. I hope we won’t make the wrong decisions then. You or me. Or Young Alliance Leader Bi over there. I hope we’ll be people who uphold our principles."

Jin Hagun’s outpouring qi presence subsided. He could feel that Geom Mugeuk was speaking sincerely. His eyes were saying: Become a good alliance leader. Let us not wage war in our time.

'I lost.'

Those were the words that rose in Jin Hagun’s heart.

Whether Geom Mugeuk’s words were false or sincere, this was his complete defeat. He had to acknowledge it. Whether Geom Mugeuk was a swindler or a true demonic hero, he was at least a better man than himself. A man he would struggle to contend with.

'I must work harder. Ten times, a hundred times harder than now!'

That was what it would take to keep the Geom Mugeuk before him from taking the Orthodox Martial Alliance away from him when he became its leader someday.

Jin Hagun spoke calmly.

"I will become a man who upholds his principles. Not because you wish it. Because that’s the kind of man I’ve always wanted to be."

"I believe you will."

"Are you mocking me?"

"Mockery should be reserved for bastards like Seo Cheong over there. And for Seo Baekjung, who protects a bastard like that because he’s his son. Isn’t that why we’re here? If not us, who can rein in the child of a great sect like the Heavenly Harmony School?"

"You really are..."

A complete defeat, right to the end.

Jin Hagun’s gaze suddenly turned to Bi Sain, seated across from him.

Their eyes met. He had been so absorbed in Geom Mugeuk that he had not even realized Bi Sain was watching him like this.

Without a word, Bi Sain filled Jin Hagun’s empty cup.

He felt somewhat different now from when he had provocatively taken the seat opposite him.

Jin Hagun drank the wine Bi Sain had poured. Who would have imagined that wine poured by an unorthodox successor could be so comforting?

Bi Sain was not the only one who felt different.

Seo Baekjung was watching him with a peculiar look. His eyes seemed to ask,

'Surely you haven’t fallen for that Demonic Cult bastard and decided to abandon us?'

Just then, Geom Mugeuk’s sound transmission reached him.

"Are you worried about your promise to the school master?"

How perceptive he was. Yes, he was worried. Only moments ago, he had loudly assured the man to trust him alone. Now he could not bring himself to say that he had changed his mind. And they were not alone. Having so many people watching made it even harder.

"I’ll resolve this without putting you in an awkward position. Would that be all right?"

A refusal rose to Jin Hagun’s throat. For the sake of his pride, he did not want to be swayed by Geom Mugeuk any further. But he had to withdraw from the Heavenly Harmony School affair. Only then would he have something to say to his grandfather when he returned.

How on earth did he intend to resolve this without embarrassing him? He was intensely curious about the solution.

The instant Jin Hagun gave a slight nod, Geom Mugeuk ended the long exchange of sound transmissions and spoke aloud.

"Come now, let’s have a drink and relax."

They all drank together. Everyone was curious how the private conversation between Geom Mugeuk and Jin Hagun had ended.

Setting down his cup, Geom Mugeuk spoke casually.

"This was never meant to become such a large affair. As you all know, it began because Master Seo here sought to protect his son, who has committed several murders. I understand the bond between parent and child. However, given that those who died were innocent..."

Someone interrupted him.

"What do you mean by that?"

It was the Sword Immortal, a man who had devoted his entire life to good deeds and chivalrous righteousness.