As the unconscious Chulwoo was carried away, Jin Wikyung stepped forward.
“Does anyone else wish to challenge him?”
I had literally wiped the floor with Chulwoo, who had been so overwhelmingly strong. There was no chance anyone else would step up.
When no one came forward, Jin Wikyung shouted with an expression of pure delight,
“Then the final winner of this duel tournament is the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi, Jin Taekyung!”
Ding.
System
You became the final winner of the Jin Family of Taiyuan Duel Tournament Sudden Event!
Fame increased!
You gained EXP!
Level Up!
You acquired 10 bonus points as an event Reward!
With that unexpected alert, the Grand Training Ground erupted into absolute madness.
“Waaaaah!”
“Long live the Jin Family of Taiyuan! Long live the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi!”
“The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi defeated the Defeated Flower Fist!”
“Kiyah-hoo!”
Who was that? Now there was a man who knew how to party.
In any case, the atmosphere in the Grand Training Ground grew hotter than anything a rock festival could offer.
A child hurled his candied fruit into the air, while a white-haired old man let out a wild cry and snapped his cane over his knee.
“Waaaaah!”
“Hiyah!”
The martial artists were even worse.
Shanxi Murim had long been treated as a backwater. I had merely defeated one Serial Confession Man, but to them, it was as good as winning a battle of pride against Shaanxi Murim.
“Lady of the House! Bring me a bottle of strong liquor!”
“That dumpling I ate twenty years ago finally went down! Order whatever you want! Everything’s on me today!”
Don’t call the Lady of the House. And don’t order everything.
It was all coming out of the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s pockets anyway, but the people drunk on Shanxi pride had completely lost their minds.
They’re going wild.
Since a large portion of them were martial artists, carrying weapons was standard. I was worried that someone might get drunk on the excitement and cause trouble.
Sure enough, some lunatic suddenly shouted,
“Everyone, draw your swords!”
Clang-clang-clang!
Hundreds of weapons were drawn in a flash of reflected light.
“Wave them in order, starting from the front!”
“Waaaaah!”
Clang-clang-clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Wait, were they doing the wave here?
As I watched this cutting-edge new cheering culture unfold, I muttered in disbelief,
“This is a complete…”
“Shitshow.”
I had started the sentence, but I hadn’t said the second half.
An elderly voice pierced my ears with perfect clarity. I looked around, but all I could see were excited people.
Who was that?
Even amid the cacophony, the voice had sounded as though its owner were standing right beside me. Whoever he was, he was a master—and one with profound internal energy at that.
Just as several of us turned to search for the speaker—
“Ha!”
Gooooong.
Was this what the lion’s roar I had read about in martial arts novels sounded like?
The ground rumbled and the air trembled. The more fainthearted commoners passed out or collapsed screaming.
“Eeeeeek!”
“Gah!”
The festive Grand Training Ground descended into chaos in an instant.
The commoners trembled, and the martial artists stood frozen. Through the crowd, scattered as though a bomb had gone off, an old man strolled leisurely into view.
“Much better.”
He was tall and gaunt. His sharp gaze swept across the gathering before meeting mine.
I was standing in the middle of the duel platform, and a young man who remained perfectly fine while staring back at him was bound to stand out.
The old man looked me up and down, then spoke.
“Is it you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Cheongpung or Jin Taekyung. Which one are you?”
What the hell was going on?
Countless thoughts flashed through my mind. I made my decision in that brief instant.
“Neither.”
“You’re not?”
“No. You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
Whatever was going on, I might as well deny everything and see what happened.
One glance told me enough. I didn’t know who he was or where he had come from, but he certainly didn’t seem to have any warm feelings toward me.
“Is that so?”
“I’ve never heard either name in my life.”
The old man beckoned behind him.
“Come here.”
“Yes, Elder.”
Four people who had been obscured by the crowd emerged. As it happened, I had met every one of them before.
One face in particular was impossible to mistake.
Hyuk Mujin?
Wasn’t he supposed to be standing guard? What was he doing over there?
Pale as a sheet, Hyuk Mujin came forward as though the three middle-aged men beside him were dragging him along. Their faces were familiar too.
What were their epithets again?
Oh, right. The Three Hands of Zhongnan.
Just as I finally remembered the extras’ collective epithet, the unidentified old man spoke to the four of them.
“Find them.”
Hyuk Mujin and Gong Ilhyuk, the middle-aged man with a splint on his arm, pointed at me simultaneously.
“Captain! Please save me!”
“That’s him! He’s Jin Taekyung!”
“…”
“…”
Well, I was caught.
After a brief silence, the old man asked me,
“Are you really Jin Taekyung?”
I bowed as politely as I could.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Jin Taekyung.”
“…What kind of lunatic is this?”
As the old man stared at me in disbelief, three people landed lightly with a rush of wind.
Jin Wikyung, Baek Museong, and Cheongpung.
“I am Jin Wikyung, Lesser Family Head of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. May I ask this Senior’s name?”
“Ahem. You’re the Lesser Family Head of the Jin Family of Taiyuan?”
The question had been directed at the old man, but Gong Ilhyuk was the one who stepped forward.
Jin Wikyung frowned at the interruption.
“That is correct. And who might you be?”
“I am Gong Ilhyuk, one of the Three Hands of Zhongnan. I am a second-generation Disciple of the Great Zhongnan Sect, and Great Hero Gong Iljung, the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord and Sect Leader, is my father’s cousin.”
He was still going on about his father’s cousin.
It made me want to slap him across the mouth with the hind leg of a boiled chicken.
Upon learning Gong Ilhyuk’s identity, Jin Wikyung muttered almost as if groaning.
“The Zhongnan Sect?”
Gong Ilhyuk was a well-connected hack who threw his weight around, but the name of the Zhongnan Sect was another matter.
The Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families were the towering powers that moved the present-day Murim.
Emboldened by the momentum, Gong Ilhyuk continued smugly,
“And this gentleman is Great Hero Song Il, an Elder of our sect.”
That old man is an Elder of the Zhongnan Sect?
I had expected him to be a master, but it seemed his status was even more impressive than I had imagined. Jin Wikyung and Baek Museong’s expressions hardened.
“The Roaring Fury Swordsman…!”
“This junior of Murim, Baek Museong, pays his respects to Senior Song.”
The old man—the Roaring Fury Swordsman—silently looked down at the two of them as they hurriedly paid their respects.
His voice carried the composure and arrogance of a powerful man.
“Baek Museong? Are you Huashan’s Lone Crane?”
“Yes. It is an epithet far too generous for me.”
“So it seems. You’re inferior to your Master in his youth.”
What an insufferable old bastard.
Still, I had to admit his clout was extraordinary.
Not only had the Roaring Fury Swordsman casually belittled Baek Museong, who was practically an object of admiration, in front of everyone, but he had also spoken of Huashan’s Sect Leader, the Heavenly Sword True Person, as though he were some old neighborhood friend.
His seniority in Murim seemed every bit as formidable as his martial arts.
“I will continue striving.”
“Hm. You certainly know how to make yourself sound good. But if the Heavenly Sword True Person sent you…”
As he watched Baek Museong bow his head without another word, the Roaring Fury Swordsman’s eyes flashed.
His gaze had shifted to Cheongpung, who stood there looking blank.
“So it’s you. The Sword Saint’s heir.”
Cheongpung asked with a puzzled expression,
“You know my grandfather?”
“Of course. How could I possibly not know him?”
Judging by the old man’s expression, theirs probably hadn’t been a pleasant relationship.
As the situation grew more serious, Jin Wikyung asked with a stiff face,
“May I ask what brings you here?”
“I came to collect a debt.”
“A debt?”
“Yes. A debt owed for daring to mock the Great Zhongnan Sect and injure one of our Disciples.”
His blade-sharp gaze shot toward Cheongpung and me.
Gong Ilhyuk stepped forward, waving his splinted arm.
“Do you see this? I suffered this injury at Prince Shangshan’s residence, where I had gone by invitation. A physician examined it and said I would need at least six months to recover.”
Cheongpung spoke with an apologetic expression.
“I hit you gently… Did it hurt that much?”
Cruel bastard. He was killing Gong Ilhyuk twice over.
Gong Ilhyuk’s face flushed red at the public humiliation.
“You bastard! You ambushed me, yet you still have the nerve to say that!”
I muttered in disbelief,
“Ambushed, my ass. You grabbed him by the collar first and got your ass handed to you.”
“Shut your mouth! When I think of how you two mocked our sect and what you did to me, I wouldn’t be satisfied even if I chewed you up and swallowed you!”
That was how a fight between children turned into a fight between adults.
Jin Wikyung and Baek Museong’s faces twisted sharply.
“Chew him up and swallow him? Did you just say that to our youngest?”
“How dare you call him a bastard! Great Hero Gong, watch your words! Though our sects may differ, there is still such a thing as seniority in Murim. How could you…”
“Heh heh heh.”
At the Roaring Fury Swordsman’s grating laughter, Jin Wikyung and Baek Museong fell silent.
“Seniority, you say. You chose your words well.”
“…”
“…”
“This old man is the Senior Brother of our sect’s Sect Leader, the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord. I am of the same seniority as the Heavenly Sword True Person of Huashan, so there should be no problem.”
Bringing up seniority had been a mistake.
The Roaring Fury Swordsman’s martial arts were formidable enough, and now he was crushing them beneath the sheer weight of his seniority. Neither Jin Wikyung nor Baek Museong could contend with him. Not even Cheongpung, the Sword Saint’s Disciple, could.
“Am I wrong?”
When no one answered, the Roaring Fury Swordsman turned to Cheongpung.
“You injured a Disciple of the Zhongnan Sect. Are you prepared to face the consequences?”
This was why words were so frightening.
There was no explanation of how it had happened. Only the result remained.
Baek Museong hurriedly interjected.
“Senior, we must first establish the rights and wrongs of this matter.”
Cheongpung shrank in on himself and muttered,
“I only gave him a gentle tap.”
“Are you saying you didn’t do it?”
“That’s not what I mean. I did hit him, but I didn’t know he would be hurt that badly.”
Gong Ilhyuk seized the opening and lunged in.
“It was an obvious attempt to kill!”
“Did you hear that?”
“It really wasn’t.”
As Cheongpung fumbled for words, the Roaring Fury Swordsman continued in a cutting voice.
“I will formally lodge a complaint with Huashan over this matter, so don’t you dare think you can wriggle out of it.”
“Elder, the government and Murim do not interfere in each other’s affairs. Furthermore, the officials present at the time were favorably disposed toward them. I fear they may give false testimony.”
“You are right. I will take measures.”
It was all rigged from the start.
Baek Museong bit down hard on his lip at the unfair treatment, and the next target of their arrows was obvious.
“The Jin Family of Taiyuan will seal its gates until our sect sends someone.”
“…What did you just say?”
Jin Wikyung said what I wanted to say for me. No—everyone nearby who had heard the Roaring Fury Swordsman must have been thinking the same thing.
Seal our gates?
What kind of bullshit was that?
It was true that I had humiliated Gong Ilhyuk a little.
But that had been directed solely at Gong Ilhyuk. I could swear that I had never said anything to mock or insult the Zhongnan Sect.
And they wanted the Jin Family to seal its gates over that?
Even with the condition that it would last only until the Zhongnan Sect sent someone, the order itself was already a humiliation.
“That is unjust!”
At Jin Wikyung’s shout, the Roaring Fury Swordsman raised his eyes.
“What did you say?”
“How can you order us to seal our gates before even investigating what happened and determining who was at fault? Is this the way of the Nine Sects and One Gang—or rather, the way of the Zhongnan Sect?”
“How dare you!”
“Our family will not accept this!”
“If you refuse to accept it?”
Ssssss.
A tremendous aura rose from the Roaring Fury Swordsman’s entire body like wildfire.
It felt as though a sword were pointed directly between my brows. My skin prickled.
“If you refuse, what will you do?”
“…!”
“This is Murim. Have you forgotten?”
A surge of irritation suddenly welled up inside me.
I already knew how the world worked. I had experienced it more times than I cared to remember.
People ignored you because you had no money, looked down on you because you lacked powerful backing, and scorned you because your talent was insignificant.
It’s the same here.
Murim and the modern world were different, yet so much alike.
Those with power turned lies into truth and truth into lies.
They pressured the weak and crushed them underfoot. To people like that, it was all natural. All inevitable.
Just like the Roaring Fury Swordsman standing before me.
Drip. Drip.
Blood trickled from the fist I had clenched without realizing it.
I stared down at the drops landing one by one on the ground and exhaled a hot breath.
“Ah, fuck. This is fucking bullshit.”
No one had dared to speak, so everyone heard the profanity that burst from my mouth.
It felt as though something invisible had shattered with a sharp crack.
The Roaring Fury Swordsman asked with an expression of disbelief,
“…What did you just say?”
Swearing had been a mistake. Since I was the reason this had happened, I should have swallowed it no matter what.
That was the best way to resolve the situation smoothly.
But…
“It’s fucking bullshit. I said it’s fucking bullshit. You fucking assholes. There’s a limit to how much you can throw your weight around.”
I couldn’t take it anymore.
They could call me thoughtless or a young fool who knew nothing about the world.
I had no desire to replay all the things I had been sick of experiencing in reality here in Murim.
I apologized to Jin Wikyung.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m supposed to put up with it even when it’s fucking bullshit, but they were being so fucking shitty about it that it felt twice as fucking shitty, and I couldn’t let it slide.”
Jin Wikyung, who looked half dazed, went through an astonishing range of expressions.
His face twisted, then relaxed. After showing several different expressions in a short span of time, he finally let out a quiet laugh.
“Honestly, I thought it was fucking bullshit too.”
Those words pulled the trigger.
Flames hotter than lava poured from the Roaring Fury Swordsman’s eyes.
“You bastards… must be desperate to die.”
Shing.
As he spat the words through clenched teeth, he drew his sword. Layer upon layer of Sword Energy enveloped the snow-white blade.
It burned more fiercely than any Sword Energy I had ever seen.
The instant it pointed at me—
“If you kill that guy, you die too.”
At the clear, ringing voice that came from somewhere, the Roaring Fury Swordsman’s body abruptly froze.
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