abcnovels
Chapter 96
Chapter 96
Chapter 96 – Beyond the Door (3)
Song Hwa-rin had seen Gwang-du a few times before.
Until now, she had only known him as a servant of the Byeok Clan Sword Manor and Byeok Ri-dan.
But the Gwang-du displaying martial arts in front of her now looked more like a true martial artist than any other.
Swoosh!
Gwang-du’s saber slashed through the air with tremendous force, as if ripping it apart. Thanks to having completely mastered the Seven Forms of the Southern Sea and practicing diligently every day without fail, its power was incomparably greater than when he first learned the martial art.
She should have turned away after seeing someone else’s martial arts training, but his saber techniques were so impressive and powerful that she couldn’t take her eyes off them.
Belatedly, she turned her body and made her presence known.
Gwang-du stopped his training and looked in her direction.
“Who’s there?”
Song Hwa-rin turned back around at Gwang-du’s question.
Recognizing Song Hwa-rin, Gwang-du’s eyes widened.
“Huhk!”
He was so surprised that Song Hwa-rin was startled too.
“Young Miss?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Waaah! How did you come to be here, Young Miss?”
Gwang-du hurriedly ran over and bowed to her.
His excessive greeting made Song Hwa-rin bow her head as well.
At this, Gwang-du jumped up.
“How could you bow your head to a lowly person like me?”
“Lowly? Don’t say such things.”
She had never looked down on servants. Moreover, the martial arts she had just seen from Gwang-du were skills that no one could easily dismiss.
“But what brings you here?”
“I came to Wuhan on an errand for my father. I heard that you were staying at this inn, so I stopped by briefly. The innkeeper told me you were training here, so I came.”
Unexpectedly, she had come to see Gwang-du training in martial arts, not Byeok Ri-dan.
Gwang-du wore a regretful expression.
“Young Master is not here at the moment.”
“Ah, I see. It’s alright, I just dropped by while passing.”
Of course, it wasn’t alright. She had volunteered for the errand because she wanted to see Byeok Ri-dan.
She had considered the possibility of not meeting him since she came without prior notice, but actually not seeing him made her feel disappointed.
“Please tell him I stopped by.”
“Of course.”
Gwang-du looked even more regretful. Wasn’t Gwang-du Song Hwa-rin’s absolute supporter?
“Young Miss.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t let our Young Master slip away!”
Song Hwa-rin was startled by this unexpected statement. She hadn’t expected Gwang-du to say such a thing.
Gwang-du was serious. In his earnest gaze, Song Hwa-rin could glimpse his sincere concern for Byeok Ri-dan. It wasn’t for his own sake. It was for Byeok Ri-dan, and sensing that sentiment made her feel grateful and close to Gwang-du.
Song Hwa-rin answered vigorously.
“Yes.”
Even after answering, Song Hwa-rin was surprised at herself. She hadn’t expected to answer so energetically. It was a sentiment she rarely showed even to Su-ran.
Perhaps she had received some sort of ‘encouragement’ from Gwang-du. Maybe she had been desperately wanting someone to cheer her on.
She smiled and added:
“In return, please help me a lot.”
Gwang-du smiled brightly and said in a loud voice:
“Don’t worry! I’m always on your side, Young Miss!”
***
The very next day after drinking with Im Yeon-jeong, Ma Ryeong-in came to see me.
“How was yesterday?”
“What do you mean?”
When I pretended not to know, Ma Ryeong-in smiled enigmatically.
“You seem to have taken a liking to her.”
“Why do you think that?”
“It’s written all over your face. That you really enjoyed it.”
“How could that be?”
I went to the mirror and looked at my face. The unfamiliar face of the nameless traveler stared back at me grumpily. Before I could even get used to Byeok Ri-dan’s face, I was now seeing a new face every day.
But it’s alright. It doesn’t matter what my face looks like. I was on a long journey to find my sword of the heart.
“There’s nothing written on my face.”
“Hahaha. How could you see your own feelings for a woman with your own eyes?”
I sat down in front of him again and said:
“I’ll be honest. I do like her.”
“What do you like about her so much?”
“She has a pretty face, an amazing body. And she’s smart too. She’s a really charming woman. If I could date a woman like that, I might even risk my life.”
“But she’s a dangerous woman.”
“I like dangerous women even more.”
Then I glared at him and asked:
“Don’t tell me? Are you jealous?”
“Hahaha. Of course not! I’m not the kind of person who covets a friend’s woman.”
“Friend?”
I showed a slightly flustered expression, but he said confidently:
“Yes, friend.”
“Fine. Then prove it.”
“How?”
“Take me to her right now!”
Ma Ryeong-in shook his head with a troubled expression.
“She drank yesterday, it would be troublesome to disturb her work again today.”
I gave him a ‘See, I told you so’ look.
“Heh. I thought so.”
“It’s all for your life’s sake.”
Indeed, Ma Ryeong-in was a master. He knew that making me more desperate before taking me was more effective than taking me right away.
If his opponent hadn’t been me, they would have been helplessly played by his manipulation. Many must have fallen for it until now, and that’s how he got to his current position. If the tail is this formidable, how amazing must the body and head be?
“Instead, I’ll treat you to a grand drink today.”
“Hahaha. Sounds good.”
The fact that Ma Ryeong-in moved directly like this meant he had some purpose.
That day, I went to a brothel with Ma Ryeong-in and drank and played to our hearts’ content.
When I was thoroughly drunk, he finally revealed his true colors.
First, he let out a deep sigh.
“You look like the world’s about to end. Did something happen?”
“No.”
“Come on. Tell me what’s wrong.”
After drinking several cups in succession and dismissing all the courtesans, he finally revealed his troubled state of mind.
“When the Golden Grand Banquet opens, my father and brothers will come here.”
“I suppose so.”
“Then I’ll have to see my brother.”
“Brother?”
“Ma Cheol-gun, I mean.”
“Ah! You mean the Great Hero Ma, the likely successor?”
At that, he snorted.
“Great Hero? Don’t make me laugh. He’s not someone who should have the title ‘Great Hero’. He’s a person whose inside and outside are completely different.”
“Is that true?”
“He’s committed all sorts of dirty deeds behind the scenes. Even murder and rape.”
I couldn’t know what kind of person Ma Cheol-gun really was. But at least all these words Ma Ryeong-in was saying now were likely lies or slander.
“There’s no one trustworthy in the martial world, is there?”
I spoke casually, as if it had nothing to do with me anyway.
Nevertheless, Ma Ryeong-in continued to badmouth Ma Cheol-gun. He was in the process of making him out to be someone who deserved to die.
“To think I have to lose the successor position to such a person!”
He expressed his anguish and drank several more cups of alcohol.
“Do you know why I’m doing all this? It’s to reclaim the successor position from him.”
“But how can you reclaim it?”
Ma Ryeong-in said nothing.
I spoke his thoughts for him.
“You’re thinking of killing him.”
Ma Ryeong-in didn’t answer, keeping his head down, then slowly raised his head to look at me.
His face was filled with despair, borrowed from drunkenness. It was more intense and pitiful because it was an expression he had never shown before.
Without realizing it, I blurted out:
“I’ll…”
But I swallowed the words offering to kill him instead. I might feel a sudden surge of emotion, but it wasn’t a matter to hastily offer to do.
Ma Ryeong-in raised his cup, and I silently toasted with him.
That was the last cup, and our drinking session ended there.
***
For several days, Ma Ryeong-in didn’t come to see me.
Instead, Joo Do-chi came and gave me one more simple job.
It was to eliminate a villain worth 6,000 nyang. Above all, maintaining the reputation of the Nameless Hero was important. While the rumors about the Nameless Hero had subsided a bit in Zhengzhou due to preparations for the Golden Grand Banquet, his popularity was still soaring in other regions.
This new act of eliminating a villain would keep the Nameless Hero a topic of conversation.
I finished the job as quickly as possible and then conveyed to Joo Do-chi that I wanted to meet Ma Ryeong-in.
Two days later, Ma Ryeong-in came to see me in person. He was moving according to his own meticulous plan.
“I drank too much that day.”
“I was so drunk too that I can’t even remember.”
“It’s fortunate you’ve forgotten my drunken behavior.”
“I remember one thing.”
“One thing?”
“What you want to do. The story about your brother.”
At that, Ma Ryeong-in showed a startled expression.
“I’ve been thinking about it carefully since that day.”
After a brief pause, I said:
“I’ll do that for you.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say? That we seem to have a connection.”
“You!”
Ma Ryeong-in looked at me with an impassioned expression. Then he shook his head and said:
“It won’t do. You’ll end up dead.”
“I’m going to die in a year anyway.”
“Aren’t we researching an antidote now?”
“That’s only if it gets developed. Do you think I’m a fool? If there was an antidote that could be developed, it would have been done already.”
I raised my hand to stop Ma Ryeong-in as he was about to say something.
“Don’t try to dissuade me before I change my mind. This is the first time in my life I’m sincerely stepping up for someone.”
“You!”
“Thanks to you, I’ve experienced being an unexpected hero. I’ve earned money. I’ve met a beautiful woman. I’ve made a friend. Isn’t it best to leave when the applause is loudest? But I have one request.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll kill Ma Cheol-gun on the last day of the Golden Grand Banquet. It’s the last festival of my life, shouldn’t I enjoy it to that extent?”
“Friend!”
Ma Ryeong-in’s eyes were filled with tears as he grasped my hand.
Beneath those tears, he must be laughing with joy. He must be feeling elated at having manipulated a human being at will.
But you will never know. What I’m thinking right now.
Your tears will become real tears.
***
After that day, I often went to the mansion with Joo Do-chi.
Of course, I was still blindfolded. Ma Ryeong-in made excuses about it being an absolute rule of the organization that even he couldn’t change.
Instead, Ma Ryeong-in’s treatment of me changed. Fearing that I might change my mind, he was careful with every word he said. He put up with my grumbling and tried to emphasize ‘us’ with kind words as much as possible.
Of course, as someone skilled in social tactics, he used the most powerful and sure method to keep my heart.
After holding back and holding back, he finally let me meet Im Yeon-jeong today.
“Did you hear about me?”
“I heard you made a foolish decision.”
She was calm. While it’s true that she had shown special interest in me, it wasn’t enough to want to save my life.
“I thought I’d found a good drinking companion, what a shame.”
“Is there almost no chance of me surviving?”
“None.”
At her firm answer, I sighed.
“That’s unfortunate.”
Her lips moved slightly then stopped. She was about to say something but didn’t. It seems she felt it was a bit of a waste to just kill me.
“Let me ask something I’m curious about before I die. What exactly does your organization do?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“I’m about to die soon, can’t you show that much generosity?”
This is a crucial moment. Please, just casually drop one word.
But she wasn’t easy.
“You’re about to die soon, so there’s no need to show generosity.”
“You’re cold.”
“The martial world is not just cold, it’s ruthless. You have no eye for people, your ears are blocked, and even your heart is weak. You deserve to die.”
“How can you say such harsh things?”
I looked at her as if dumbfounded, then sighed.
“What can I do? That’s just how I’m made.”
Now the Golden Grand Banquet was just three days away. I had said I would kill Ma Cheol-gun on the last day, so I had thirteen days left.
Within that time, I needed to find out who was behind these people. Now that I had become the blade to kill Ma Cheol-gun, I was in an advantageous position in many ways.
“Alright. Then answer this.”
“What is it?”
“What’s in the room across from this one? I felt some powerful energy.”
At that time, that energy had been emitted quite blatantly.
“There’s a very scary person there.”
“A scary person?”
Was that tremendous energy really emitted by a person? Honestly, I was dubious.
It was too powerful to be a person’s energy, but too vivid to be the energy of something else.
So I had concluded that, like her laboratory here, it was some complex combination of things I couldn’t imagine emitting such energy.
But that energy was entirely emitted by a person?
It’s energy similar to or slightly less than mine during my time as the Alliance Leader.
That means it’s tremendous energy. Of course, just because the energy felt is strong doesn’t mean that person is that strong.
But martial artists tend to display skills very close to the energy they emit.
Who on earth could it be?
I had encountered an unexpected variable named Im Yeon-jeong when I entered this door. And now there was another variable beyond the opposite door.
Anyway, for now, I need to continue finding out about the background organization according to my plan.
“Do you have someone you like?”
Im Yeon-jeong looked at me at my sudden question.
“Why do you ask?”
“Didn’t Young Master Ma tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“So he was jealous after all.”
To her puzzled look, I said:
“That I…”
It was right then. There was a sound outside the door.
“It’s me.”
It was Number Two’s voice.
“I’m coming in for a moment.”
Soon the door opened and Number Two entered. He wasn’t alone.
I was surprised to see the person who came with him. But I couldn’t show my surprise.
Number Two said to Im Yeon-jeong:
“A new person has come down from the organization, so I’ve brought them to greet you.”
The woman who came with him bowed politely to her and said:
“I’m Number Seven.”