Chapter 128 - The Black Flame Dragon Who Steals Opportunities (3)
The personnel of the Orthodox Council, who had bet everything on Jin Sowoon's failure, were busy running around trying to reel in those attempting to defect due to this incident.
With those alienated by their participation in the Soul-Extinguishing Array event having already defected, even more were now showing signs of leaving.
In this incident, the fact that not a single disciple of the Nine Sects and One Gang actually entered the Soul-Extinguishing Array provoked an even greater rage.
"I thought following the Orthodox Council would naturally get us treated the same as them, but I was wrong."
"I don't even expect the same treatment, since we aren't at the level of the Nine Sects and One Gang anyway. Still, wasn't it going too far to just sit back and do nothing while academy students were dying?"
"The Orthodox Council won't even take responsibility for our lives, let alone our careers."
Because of this, Daoist Myeonghyeon and the other elders belonging to the Orthodox Council were busy wearing out the threshold of the Murim Academy to meet with the academy students instead of the Elder's Hall.
The disciples of the Nine Sects and One Gang were the biggest beneficiaries of the Orthodox Council and were in the position of leading it, so they were entirely unfazed.
However, considering that those in the position of following the Orthodox Council made up seventy percent of its numbers, this unrest among the academy students could easily lead to a reduction in their influence.
Furthermore, if the events that occurred this time became known to the academy students' sects or noble clans, they would also have to endure the rage of the sects that had pulled up their very roots just to send a disciple to the academy.
They spent their entire fortune to barely send a single child to the academy, only for that child to be used as a consumable and nearly thrown away?
It was a situation where it wouldn't be strange for them to declare their intent to withdraw from the Orthodox Council immediately, to hell with career advancement.
Of course, if a figure from the Orthodox Council had been holding the academy representative position, they wouldn't have paid any attention to such internal noise.
Since power inherently possesses the force to draw people in, even if someone left harboring complaints, someone else would just fill that empty spot.
However, with a guy whose street origins were entirely unknown holding the representative position, and the Nine Sects and One Gang showing a petty side by breaking academy rules to secretly learn the Soul-Extinguishing Array, they were on the verge of losing even the symbolic status of being the Murim Alliance's representative.
That said, it wasn't as if the White Path Council and the Twelve Peaks and Castles viewed this from a completely third-party stance as an opportunity to reel in those breaking away from the Orthodox Council.
Human thinking is all pretty much the same, and the narrow-mindedness of those in power is always similar.
Having intended to enter the Soul-Extinguishing Array right after the Orthodox Council, they were merely taking a step back, breathing a sigh of relief as they watched a friend get beaten for acting up first, and observing how things would unfold.
Whatever the case, the ones hit by the biggest bolt out of the blue in this affair were the Orthodox Council.
Daoist Myeonghyeon was moving around so frantically to clean up the mess the academy students had made that he was running himself ragged.
"Your expulsion from the academy has already been decided, and it is a situation that cannot be overturned. However, the Orthodox Council will surely provide ample compensation for this matter."
Even though it was Daoist Myeonghyeon—a member of the Murim Alliance's highest authoritative body and the current Council Head of the Orthodox Council—who was speaking, the survivors' reactions were lukewarm.
It was quite different from their usual attitude, where they would sell out their parents, grandfathers, and even their distant in-laws to highlight any possible connection just to catch his eye.
"But surely your expulsion isn't solely your fault right now, is it? Isn't the responsibility of the one who caused the accident with an unreasonable event schedule and a biased personnel arrangement far greater?"
"..."
"This is clearly a grave sin committed by someone who has done things an academy representative absolutely must not do. Don't you agree?"
"... What should we do?"
Seeing the survivor looking as though he was suppressing an immense rage, Daoist Myeonghyeon's face gradually relaxed.
"Naturally, we must make him properly pay for his crimes. Through this incident, we will dismiss the academy representative and elect a new one."
Thinking that he had brought the Orthodox Council's people into line, Daoist Myeonghyeon did not stop there.
He was fundamentally a man who understood politics, and his next move was highly political.
* * *
"Ho ho, I do not know what to do with myself now that the Head of the Orthodox Council has visited this humble place."
"Setting aside the White Path Council and the Orthodox Council, are we not already one body united by 'chivalry'? What does it matter who belongs where?"
Hearing Daoist Myeonghyeon's detestable words, the White Path Council Head inwardly scoffed at him while nodding his head.
"Now, so what is it you want?"
"I know there is a movement to reel in Orthodox Council members while the Orthodox Council is currently in chaos."
"Since we are originally one body, does it matter if we shift our dwellings a little?"
"Did we not agree to call this 'lacking morality'?"
"Well, now. Wasn't reeling in sects under the White Path Council something your side did quite often to begin with?"
"Even if our influence weakens right now, do you have the confidence that the White Path Council can seize total control?"
"..."
Struck by Myeonghyeon's cutting remark, the White Path Council Head shut his mouth.
"I believe our current crisis is actually an opportunity."
"... What do you want?"
"We must abolish that absurd event and pull down the academy representative."
"When it comes to the Soul-Extinguishing Array, there are many within the Alliance who are interested. We cannot abolish an event for which the Chief Strategist directly allocated the budget on our own whim."
"That is why I am suggesting we join forces."
"..."
"I am well aware that the White Path Council is also unhappy with the current academy representative. If we miss this chance, not only the Orthodox Council but the White Path Council as well will be unable to claim the academy representative position for this term."
Even though Jin Sowoon, who was essentially the one responsible for the incident, had not yet woken up, Myeonghyeon instead used this as an opportunity to push forward with a disciplinary committee.
"Daoist Myeonghyeon, the academy representative hasn't even woken up yet. What kind of disciplinary committee are you holding already?"
"Didn't the academy representative already declare that he was unrelated to this incident? Even if he wakes up, is there any need to hear his opinion? Furthermore, does this incident not constitute a violation of Alliance laws? If we do not handle it swiftly, the internal chaos will only worsen."
Daoist Myeonghyeon's ulterior motives were obvious, but thanks to Daoist Myeonghyeon and the majority of the elders in the Elder's Hall moving in and out of the Disciplinary Pavilion every single day to cause a fuss, the disciplinary committee was ultimately convened less than two days after the incident.
The members of the committee, heavily influenced by the Orthodox Council, followed the script Daoist Myeonghyeon had written for them, attempting to pin the issue of the incident not only on the survivors who broke Alliance laws but also on Jin Sowoon, who was responsible for the event.
At that absurd situation, Zhuge Somyeong tried to dismiss the committee, but the words that came out of the survivors' mouths made him halt his actions.
"This incident is entirely our own fault for violating Alliance laws out of our personal greed."
"Huh?"
Daoist Myeonghyeon, who was attending the committee, sensed something strange and tried to say something, but the survivors continued speaking without giving him the chance.
"The academy representative risked his life and dove into the Soul-Extinguishing Array for us, the very people who tried to steal his secret arts. We would like to take this opportunity to offer our thanks once again."
Something was going weirdly wrong with the situation, yet the survivors were blurting out a story completely different from Daoist Myeonghyeon's intentions, as if they were of one mind.
"... Do you harbor no resentment toward the academy representative who planned this event and put you all in danger?"
The committee member that Daoist Myeonghyeon had planted tried to lead their answer, but the survivors were resolute.
"During the many days that passed inside the Soul-Extinguishing Array, the academy representative couldn't eat a single fasting pill because of us. How could we harbor resentment toward such a person? I may not have lived a purely moral life, but I am certainly not a beastly piece of trash, either."
"That's right!"
"If we must trace the cause of this incident, you could say it lies with the Orthodox Council's officers among the academy students.
If they hadn't pushed us into it, we would never have done something so dangerous."
The survivors' words intensified the uproar in the venue.
Not only the committee members, but even Daoist Myeonghyeon, who had planned and coordinated everything, had an expression of not knowing how to clean up this mess.
'Don't tell me that expression back then?'
Myeonghyeon recalled the expressions of suppressed rage they had made when he was trying to persuade them.
'It wasn't directed at that bastard Jin Sowoon, but at me?'
"Academy students, refrain from saying things unrelated to this incident!"
The committee made threats, but those words only managed to touch the survivors' reverse scales.
"We heard everything. Not a single person from the Orthodox Council stepped up for us, they say! Even if the academy students were one thing, we never expected the elders in the Elder's Hall to act like that."
"Silence! Silence! Be quiet!"
"How much has our sect offered up until now?! Yet you pushed us into a place of death, and when it truly mattered, you just feigned ignorance?!"
The survivors shouted wildly as if they had nothing left to fear.
"Even though our Yanggeom Sect may be a shabby sect compared to the Nine Sects and One Gang, never again! Never again will we believe a word the Nine Sects and One Gang say."
"If we knew it would be like this, we would have faithfully followed the academy representative from the start. At the very least, he risked his life for us!"
"Quiet down! Disciplinary action, we will issue disciplinary action!"
Why would academy students whose expulsions had already been decided fear disciplinary action? It only had the effect of tossing more firewood into the brazier.
"My grandfather was immensely furious over this incident."
"Our sect, too, will not forget this..."
Daoist Myeonghyeon could do nothing but stare dumbly at the disciplinary committee that had turned into a complete mess.
* * *
When I opened my eyes after sleeping continuously for several days, my body felt much lighter.
I didn't know who changed them, but my clothes had been swapped out for new ones, and instead of a stale smell of sweat, my body gave off a fresh, clean scent.
'Don't tell me, did they wash me while I was asleep?'
Even though I opened my eyes, my surroundings were so quiet that I wondered if I had woken up in the middle of the night.
It was because I expected at least The Geum-eun-dong Brothers to be keeping watch in shifts, or Lady Namgung or Lady Seong Moran to be nursing me nearby and spewing a barrage of nagging upon seeing me awake.
However.
CHIRP. CHIRP.
Outside the window, the warm sunlight was pouring down, and mountain birds were busily fluttering about.
Did they go to class or something?
Just as I tried to forcefully erase my disappointment, wondering if they couldn't be by my side because of that, and attempted to raise my body...
"!"
Seeing a familiar back, my body gave a flinch.
'Why is that person here again?'
In my past life, it was hard to even catch a glimpse of his face from a distance, yet in this life, following the Iron Sword Sect, I was already having an exclusive meeting with him for the second time.
Moreover, both times were in similar situations, making me feel a sense of déjà vu.
"Are you awake?"
I hurriedly turned my head and pretended to sleep.
At that, he spoke as if muttering to himself.
"For an academy representative who is basically a part of the Murim Alliance to be lying down in front of the Chief Strategist, how utterly disrespectful. What kind of disciplinary action should I hand down?"
