Chapter 145

Hong Jin let out a quiet laugh and tipped back his cup.

“Our Young Master Jin is greedier than I thought.”

“I’m about as greedy as anyone else. And I have a favor to ask. Could you just call me Young Master Jin?”

“Oh my. Pretending you don’t like it when you do.”

“Fucking hell…”

“Hmm? What did you just say?”

“Ah, I said it’s nice. Like we’re family.”

“Family, huh? I like the sound of that. I’m already looking forward to meeting Lesser Family Head Jin.”

Right. No matter how much I ran my mouth here, the final decision would come down to Jin Wikyung and Hong Jin.

They were both practically professionals at this sort of thing. The amateur should know when to step aside.

“By the way, what do you have against the Seongun Escort Bureau?”

“I wouldn’t call it a grudge… I’m just giving someone I dislike an extra slap. The chance to pick up a few crumbs along the way doesn’t hurt either.”

“Ah. Does this have something to do with the Young Bureau Head of the Seongun Escort Bureau who was supposed to come?”

This man’s ability to read the room was anything but ordinary.

He’d already figured out the gist of it, so there was no point explaining every little detail. I shrugged.

“Something like that. How did you know?”

“Young Master Jin, I lived in the imperial palace for over twenty years.”

“Excuse me?”

“I survived by reading the room. Reading children’s expressions is easy enough.”

Hong Jin gestured with his chin toward the young prodigies of the Five Gates of Shanxi.

At the far end of a table some distance away, they had been sneaking glances at us with frozen expressions. The moment they realized they’d been noticed, they flinched and shrank back.

“They’ve been like that since they first came in. Carefully watching Young Master Jin’s every move.”

“Really?”

“Yes. They looked so pitiful that even I felt sorry for them. What on earth did you do?”

“Something similar to what happened with the people who left earlier.”

“The Three Hands of Zhongnan? Tsk, tsk. They failed to recognize who they were dealing with, didn’t they?”

As expected, Hong Jin caught on at the slightest hint. He clicked his tongue in sympathy while Li Feng whipped his head around to stare at the young prodigies.

His gaze seemed to say that he intended to remember exactly who had provoked Martial Uncle Cheongpung.

“Gasp.”

“A-Assistant Military Commissioner! No, Great Hero Li! It’s not like that…”

Li Feng was not only a powerful figure in the Shanxi Province military but also a lay disciple of Huashan.

The government and Murim might supposedly stay out of each other’s affairs, but getting entangled with him in the wrong way would make the future of the Five Gates of Shanxi very unpleasant.

Leaving them as they hurriedly offered excuses, Li Feng asked me,

“Could you tell me in detail what happened?”

“It’s already over. The person involved even laid into them himself. What more is there to say?”

“Laid into them?”

“Ah, I mean he beat them up. They apologized first, of course.”

“Martial Uncle did it himself? Hmm.”

Strictly speaking, Cheongpung had only dealt with one of them, but he had beaten him all the same.

Li Feng looked at the young prodigies with a much gentler gaze.

“Do you understand what you did wrong?”

“Yes, sir!”

“We feel it in our bones!”

Their booming replies erupted immediately. Li Feng’s position was one thing, but now they also knew who Cheongpung was. No wonder they were sweating bullets.

Never mind that he was a Peak master. He was the Disciple of the Sword Saint and Huashan’s direct-line Disciple.

They’re completely fucked.

The Five Gates of Shanxi were ultimately just a collection of minor and mid-sized sects. If Huashan, one of the Nine Sects and One Gang, got angry, even their extended families might get beaten with a bat.

No, they would be lucky if it ended there.

“The conversations and events that took place here today…”

Li Feng’s heavy voice had barely begun when the answers came flying out.

“We’ll keep silent!”

“We’ll take it to our graves!”

“I’ve already forgotten everything!”

“Where am I? Who am I?”

What a fucking performance.

As I watched an epidemic of amnesia break out before my eyes, I added one more thing.

“Is that enough?”

“Y-Yes?”

“What do you mean…?”

“What do you think I mean? If you want to be part of the family, put your spoon on the table too. You there. What does ‘family’ mean?”

The young prodigy I had pointed at stammered out an answer.

“People who eat together… Unless that’s wrong. Then I’m sorry.”

“That’s right. So, how do you become family?”

“Ah!”

The young prodigy cried out and slapped his forehead.

At least this one had some sense.

“Then I’ll arrange somewhere nice for our next meeting. How does Honghwaru sound?”

“……”

What a complete blockhead.

With heirs like these, I didn’t even need to look to know the state of the Five Gates of Shanxi. I heaved a deep sigh and spelled it out for him.

“Forget Honghwaru. I’m telling you to do whatever our side tells you to do. For example, anything involving the Seongun Escort Bureau. Understand?”

“Ohhh.”

The Jin Family of Taiyuan had certainly become the greatest power in Shanxi, but if the minor sects united and resisted, it would inevitably become a nuisance.

We belonged to the orthodox faction, after all. If we seized whatever we wanted and held people accountable like a band of mounted bandits, everyone would point fingers at us.

In Murim, wasn’t legitimacy every bit as important as martial arts?

But if there’s no one to point fingers, it won’t be a problem.

I slowly took in the four men and women before me—the heirs of the four sects among the Five Gates of Shanxi, excluding the Seongun Escort Bureau.

If they took the lead in supporting the Jin Family of Taiyuan, everything would become much easier.

“When you’re eating, pay close attention to where you sit. That way, you can at least get a bite or two.”

The Seongun Escort Bureau was supposedly one of the most prominent powers in the province, despite being located in a frontier region. It was more than enough of a feast to share around.

At my words, the quick-witted one’s eyes quietly gleamed, while the clueless one cautiously opened his mouth.

“Even so, that might be a little…”

I cut the dim-looking bastard off without hesitation.

“What sect are you from?”

“M-Me?”

“Yes, you.”

After a long hesitation, he finally coughed up the name Gopyeong Sect.

I vaguely recalled hearing it before, but it was some obscure sect I could barely remember. That was the extent of Gopyeong Sect’s standing.

No, the same was true of every sect in the new Five Gates of Shanxi.

“Gopyeong Sect. Gopyeong Sect… It doesn’t have a very pleasant ring to it. Should I recommend a new name?”

“Excuse me?”

I stared into the eyes of the bastard who still hadn’t caught on.

“Starting next month, let’s begin again under a new name. The Gopyeong Branch of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. How does that sound?”

“……!”

“……!”

“You don’t seem to like it. I was only joking, you idiot.”

Of course, I wasn’t joking.

I patted the deathly pale Young Sect Leader of Gopyeong Sect on the shoulder and swept my gaze across the room.

“Is anyone here sworn brothers or sisters with Woo Jintae?”

“N-No, sir.”

“Or maybe you’ve been close since childhood, knowing each other for more than ten years? Betrothed before birth? There are plenty of possibilities.”

“Absolutely not! Absolutely not. We’ve only spent time together a few times.”

“I-I only received a few bolts of silk and a little jewelry…”

“Then that settles it.”

Clap!

The sharp crack of my hands coming together made all four of them flinch.

“Choose. Are you going to make enemies of the Jin Family of Taiyuan, Huashan, and the government, or…”

I grinned and enunciated the final words clearly.

“Are you going to abandon someone you aren’t even close to and share the feast with us?”

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

This time, it wasn’t me. Hong Jin was cackling and applauding.

“Our Young Master Jin—I like you more and more every time I see you.”

“……”

Please refrain from making such dangerous remarks, brother.

“Are you leaving already?”

His tone was still arrogant, but his voice and eyes brimmed with regret.

The more I see this kid, the cuter he gets.

I reached out to pat my little fanboy—no, Prince Shangshan Zhu Bao—on the head, only to lower my hand when I saw Li Feng’s expression.

Oh, right. He’s a king. And a member of the imperial family, at that.

“Ahem. I have urgent business to attend to.”

“Can you not put it off?”

“I’m sorry, but every moment counts.”

“I see…”

Looking at the dejected kid’s face made me feel a little guilty—like hell it did. I wanted to hurry back home to my family and get some proper rest.

Right on cue, Hong Jin cut in with his delicate voice.

“Your Highness, you have me, so please let Young Master Jin go now. All right?”

But Zhu Bao merely stared at me, his expression stubborn.

“Then when shall I be able to see you again?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. After a thousand nights?”

“A thousand nights!”

Zhu Bao cried out in shock.

That was approximately three years. For a child who was only ten years old, it must have seemed like an enormous amount of time.

“A-Are you truly that busy?”

“There are such things as adult matters, Your Highness.”

“Good heavens. Even my late father was never that busy…”

He looked utterly crushed. Zhu Bao’s head drooped, only to shoot back up at Li Feng’s next words.

“Your Highness, how about this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I hear the Jin Family of Taiyuan will be holding a grand banquet in fifteen days. Why not visit the Jin Family of Taiyuan in person?”

“The Jin Family of Taiyuan?”

“Yes. All the renowned masters of Shanxi will be gathered there, so I’m sure you’ll be pleased.”

Zhu Bao’s eyes sparkled.

“Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“……”

What the hell were these two talking about?

They hadn’t even been invited, yet here they were letting their imaginations run wild. But if I told him not to come, it felt as though something would explode, so all I could do was nod.

“Great Hero Li is right. Come visit us then.”

“Would that really be all right?”

A little late to ask, wasn’t it?

I put on my best customer-service smile.

“Of course. My brothers will be happy to see you too.”

“I-Is that really true?”

“You know who my brothers are, don’t you? You’ve already met my second brother.”

“The Heaven Shaking Sword?”

A dark cloud suddenly fell over Zhu Bao’s bright, innocent face.

“Your second brother dislikes me. Three years ago, he only ate and left without saying a word. He was even rude.”

“He didn’t say a single word?”

“I do not wish to speak of that day anymore.”

Hong Jin whispered in a tiny voice,

“His Highness asked him for an autograph, but he flatly refused.”

Jin Mukyung had been invited three years ago, which meant…

Zhu Bao had been seven at the time.

Good grief. How could anyone flatly refuse a seven-year-old asking for an autograph—especially when that seven-year-old was a king?

That man really is something else.

In a way, it was very Jin Mukyung.

Recalling how his fanboy enthusiasm had been so brutally crushed, Zhu Bao silently fidgeted with his fingers.

Watching him, I felt a pang of sympathy.

“If you come this time, I’ll ask him to give you his autograph.”

“Really?”

“Pinky promise. Seal it.”

I hooked pinkies with the bewildered boy and even stamped our thumbs together.

“What is this?”

“It means I swear before the gods of heaven and earth. Something like that.”

“Oh!”

Everyone around us was making a fuss because he was royalty, because he was a king, and so on. But a child was still a child.

Everyone smiled fondly at the sight of Zhu Bao beside himself with delight.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen His Highness this happy.”

“I know. After dealing with this boring Assistant Military Commissioner every day, he’s smiling brightly for the first time in ages.”

“I’ve done nothing but my best.”

“Doing your best doesn’t always produce the best results. It happens.”

“Deputy Military Commissioner!”

“What is it, Assistant Military Commissioner?”

Li Feng and Hong Jin.

I could never tell whether the two of them got along or hated each other as they bickered back and forth.

Meanwhile, Cheongpung approached Zhu Bao with anticipation written all over his face.

“I-I could give you an autograph too?”

“……”

“You’ve never given anyone an autograph before, have you?”

“Gasp. How did you know? I’ve left my hand mark as a porter on the way here, but this is my first autograph.”

“Wouldn’t it be strange if I didn’t know?”

Just look at that expectant face. He was dying to give someone his first-ever autograph.

“C-Can’t I give him one?”

“Sure. Do whatever you want. His Highness will probably be pleased.”

But Zhu Bao’s reaction was unexpected.

“An autograph? From you?”

“Yes! I really want to give you my autograph!”

“No.”

“W-Why not? They say my grandfather is very famous. Haven’t you heard of the Sword Saint?”

“I know. Of course I know. But…”

Zhu Bao put on a deliberately stern expression and shook his head.

“You don’t have a martial title yet, do you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Come back after you’ve acquired a cool martial title. Then I shall certainly get your autograph.”

“……”

“……”

So this was something only named characters could do.