anwhile, at the inn that Unhwi had left with Hong Sa-ik.
Seo Mun-jong-tak, Ak Sang-cheol, and the others were trembling with a sense of defeat.
That sense of defeat ca from the difference in skill between themselves and Unhwi.
Not only did they fail to land an attack even when they attacked together, but more than anything, being intimidated by his divine skill and doing nothing until he left with Hong Sa-ik gave them a great sense of humiliation.
But as ti passed and alcohol was consud, the atmosphere began to change a little.
Because the fear that had dominated their hearts gradually faded, and in the end, only anger towards Unhwi remained.
"This incident... are you going to let it go just like this?"
"If we don't let it go?"
"We have to show him a lesson sohow. We're not people who can be ignored like this, are we?!"
At the childish words of Ak Sang-cheol, Seo Mun-jong-tak frowned and said nervously, "Just as the Shandong Ak family is a prestigious family, the Wudang Sect is also a prestigious orthodox sect. But what thod can we use to punish him? Are you planning a night raid?"
"That's not it, but..."
Seo Mun-jong-tak, without a word, looked at Jeong Ha-rin, who was sitting in the corner of the table and drinking alone, and said to her, "Miss Jeong."
She, without answering, just turned her head and looked at him blankly.
"Miss Jeong. Are you going to stay still like this? After being humiliated like that?"
"......"
But Jeong Ha-rin is silent again this ti.
She is just staring at Seo Mun-jong-tak's face, as if she is thinking about sothing.
But is it because she is the granddaughter of the Martial Alliance Leader? Although her martial arts are not that strong, an unknown atmosphere overwhelms him, and Seo Mun-jong-tak also has no choice but to receive her gaze without a word.
"Whew..."
After a while. Jeong Ha-rin suddenly sighed, and the uncomfortable atmosphere was broken.
The mont Seo Mun-jong-tak was about to say sothing, Jeong Ha-rin spoke first.
"Young Master Seo Mun. I think I have to stop here."
"Stop here? What do you an by that?"
"I don't think we'll be hanging out together in the future."
"Not hanging out together? What on earth are you talking about..."
But Jeong Ha-rin, without even listening to his words to the end, stood up from her seat.
"I will pay for today and go back. This will probably be the last drink I buy."
"Wait. Miss Jeong, Miss Jeong!"
Seo Mun-jong-tak hurriedly grabbed Jeong Ha-rin, who was about to leave the room.
"Shouldn't you at least tell why you're doing this? Suddenly, it's the end like this? Are you disappointed because we were no match for those Taoist bastards earlier?"
"No. It has nothing to do with that."
"Then?"
"I just... realized how childish what I was doing was."
"Childish...?"
Seo Mun-jong-tak's eyebrows twitched.
Because the childish act she ntioned ultimately includes what he did as well.
"We're all gathered here because of Miss Jeong, but you're just going to slip out of here? Are you perhaps scared that the Taoist bastard will tattle on what happened here to the Martial Alliance Leader?"
"Hmph. That's also right. It seems my grandfather likes Taoist Unhwi quite a bit."
"The Martial Alliance Leader...?"
"Yes. I already t him today, and he said he called him again tomorrow. You know well, don't you? That my grandfather doesn't et soone twice unless he likes them very much."
"That Taoist bastard..."
Seo Mun-jong-tak said as if he couldn't believe it.
He had also seen the Martial Alliance Leader once before, but that was the end.
Even though he had expressed his intention to devote himself as a warrior of the Martial Alliance, he had never been asked to et separately, and he had never even received a mission.
"Then I'll really be going. I appreciate you putting up with my whims until now."
She said that and then really left the room.
"W-Wait a minute. I'm going with you!"
At that ti, Ye Hwa-rin also stood up with a start and followed Jeong Ha-rin out.
It happened so suddenly that the three n didn't even think of stopping Ye Hwa-rin.
And so, the remaining three.
Seo Mun-jong-tak, Ak Sang-cheol, and Jin Seol-woo looked at each other without a word.
Although there were no words, they felt that they were thinking the sa thing.
"In the first place, it was Miss Jeong who gathered us..."
"When we were bullying the martial artist Hong, she just watched with a smile, but she's abandoning us because sothing like this happened once?"
"That Taoist bastard is one thing, but I can't forgive Miss Jeong either."
As Ak Sang-cheol and Jin Seol-woo talked back and forth, Seo Mun-jong-tak frowned again and said, "If you can't forgive her? Are you suggesting we should ss with the granddaughter of the Martial Alliance Leader right now?"
"That's not it. If we get caught by the Martial Alliance Leader, it's one thing that we'll die, but our families will also have to bear the wrath of the Martial Alliance Leader."
Even in this chaotic situation, they clearly rembered how scary the Martial Alliance Leader was, so they couldn't think of ssing with Jeong Ha-rin.
"Then what should we do?"
"We have to catch that Taoist bastard. In the end, wasn't it that Taoist bastard who made us look so ridiculous? If we make that Taoist bastard look ridiculous, in the end, Miss Jeong will also change her mind and be with us again."
Seo Mun-jong-tak, stroking his chin, thought for a mont and then nodded his head.
'Yes. What is the relationship between her and ?'
Right now, he might have shown a pathetic appearance and she might have been disappointed, but he thought that if he just did sothing about that Taoist bastard nad Unhwi, she might co back.
Because, as she said, Jeong Ha-rin was a very whimsical woman.
"But how on earth are we going to catch him? As we saw earlier, we won't be able to catch him with our skills..."
"It's not that there's no way."
"Is there so way?"
Seo Mun-jong-tak said in a aningful voice.
"I'll ask my uncle."
"Your uncle... is he around here right now?"
"That's right."
And Ak Sang-cheol also stepped forward and said, "I'll also ask my older brother. To give that bastard a good scolding."
As Seo Mun-jong-tak and Ak Sang-cheol ca out like this, Jin Seol-woo couldn't just stand still.
"I also have soone I can ask."
"Who is that?"
"The Snow-Stepping Swordsman, Gu Sang."
"The Snow-Stepping Swordsman? Why him?"
"He is a close friend of my father, and since he said he had business around Kaifeng, I greeted him yesterday. I'm sure he will also grant my request."
The three of them nodded their heads at the sa ti.
"No matter how great that bastard is, he won't be able to handle all of them."
"But what if... Wudang holds us responsible for this incident?"
"That probably won't happen. In the first place, our goal is not to kill him. And I also have an idea. Can't we just set the stage so that the Wudang Sect and the Taoist bastard can't say anything?"
"Set the stage? What are you thinking?"
"Huhu... he said he was going to et the Alliance Leader again tomorrow, right? Then there will be a way."
***
Early in the morning, Hong Sa-ik left for Wudang.
If he really enters the Wudang Sect, he won't be able to go ho until he receives an entry pass, so when I asked him how about stopping by his ho first, Hong Sa-ik said he would go straight to the Wudang Sect.
'My family has treated like a disowned child for a long ti. I also haven't been ho for quite a while. When I am recognized in the Wudang Sect later and receive that entry pass. I will go back ho then.'
He walked towards the Wudang Mountains briskly.
When I saw him yesterday, he didn't look that big, but today, for so reason, he looked very big.
Perhaps it's because he has hope, which he didn't have until yesterday.
"Master. I'm all ready."
"Yes. Let's go."
And we all finished our preparations to go and et the Martial Alliance Leader again.
My master's face looked a little tired.
And for good reason; my master hadn't slept a wink since yesterday.
It seed to be taking longer than he thought to organize the enlightennt he had gained from receiving the Martial Alliance Leader's energy yesterday.
Still, his expression was not bad, so it seed that there had been quite a lot of progress in his enlightennt.
"Perhaps when we see the Alliance Leader today, we might receive a simple mission."
"We're receiving a mission already?"
Although I already knew this fact, I asked my master back as if I knew nothing.
If eting the Martial Alliance Leader yesterday was an interview, then being told to co again today is a day to test how well I can actually perform a mission.
It is to give a mission of a moderate difficulty and see how I solve that mission.
If I successfully perform the mission, I will catch the eye of the Martial Alliance Leader and may receive the next mission, but if I fail the mission, or if I have too much trouble even if I succeed in the mission, I cannot receive the next mission.
If that happens, I have to train in martial arts for several months or years and go to the Martial Alliance Leader with a higher realm.
"He will probably test you with that mission. But don't worry too much. Those missions are literally for testing, so they are composed of missions that are not that difficult."
"Do I have to do it alone?"
"That depends on the situation, so there's nothing I can say."
The test I saw in my past life was to subdue a group of ruffians called the Black Fist Gang who had set up camp in the market at the end of Kaifeng.
Originally, it was a very easy mission, but I completed that mission with so much difficulty that I almost died, and thanks to that, I failed the Martial Alliance Leader's test at first.
But the situation was reversed by the investigation of the Beggars' Sect disciples who were cleaning up after the ruffians.
'Alliance Leader! The ruffians that the self-reliant swordsman subdued... in fact, they were not just ruffians, but the secret headquarters of the Black Sand Moon...!'
The Black Sand Moon was a assassin sect that was making a fuss around Kaifeng at that ti.
They were bastards who had assassinated quite a few famous people in the martial world with their considerable martial arts and skills, but since they were so elusive and composed of a small elite, it is said that even the Martial Alliance was having a hard ti catching them.
But I had charged into the place where all of them were hiding and had wiped out all the bastards who were considerable masters.
When the Martial Alliance Leader asked how I caught them, I answered that it was strange that their martial arts were strong for ruffians, but it was manageable, and after that, the Martial Alliance Leader ca to favor .
'What kind of mission will I receive today?'
As I was thinking about the old days and following my master, we passed through all the gates and arrived at the Martial Alliance Leader's quarters again.
Today, too, the Martial Alliance Leader was standing, leaning against a willow tree without any movent, as if he were a part of nature.
"Alliance Leader. As you said, I have brought Unhwi today."
"You've co well. It must have been annoying to co through the gates."
"Not at all."
A strange light shines in the Martial Alliance Leader's eyes as he looks at my master.
He seed to have noticed that my master's martial arts had beco a little deeper than yesterday.
"Haha! Ok-mu must be happy. To think that two talents that co once in a generation have appeared."
For a mont, I wondered who Ok-mu was, and then I realized it was our Sect Leader's Taoist na.
I am reminded anew that the Martial Alliance Leader is one of the few people who can call our Sect Leader by his na as if he were a child.
"Yes. The reason I called you today is because I have sothing I want to ask of you."
"Just say the word."
"I want to ask you two separately, is that alright?"
My master and I looked at each other once and then nodded our heads.
Because asking to do sothing separately was as good as a test.
"Of course."
"First, let's talk about the simple matter... Unhwi?"
"Yes, Alliance Leader."
"If you go up north along the Martial Alliance, you will find a rather large market. But in that market, ruffians who are quite good with their fists have gathered and created a group called the Black Fist Gang. Can you guide them?"
I was surprised for a mont. Because it was the sa mission I had received in my past life.
I felt as if I was connected to the self-reliant swordsman again.
But the thoughts were brief.
I, with a confident voice, said to him, "Yes, Alliance Leader. I will do my best to succeed.”
(End of Chapter)
Reviews
All reviews (0)