I did not stop Geugak Soma.
“Do as your heart leads you.”
When one is angry, one ought to be angry. If he was not about to rush off and kill someone this very instant, there was no reason for me to forcefully stop him now.
In my experience, most mistakes happen when the heart is in a hurry. It was the same now. If I stepped forward to stop him when there was no need to rush, that would mean I was the one whose heart was impatient.
At times like this, you simply leave it be. Until that surging rage dies down. Don’t judge, don’t try to persuade—just stay still.
While Ian and Cheongmyeon, who had come out a step late, examined the corpses, the mistress of Cheonhwaru stood before Geugak Soma. Bloodstains still remained on her face.
“Elder.”
Instead of calling him older brother, she had changed to addressing him as elder.
“What is it?”
“Please avenge me properly.”
Words I had not expected came from her mouth.
“Make it so I can sleep with both legs stretched out in peace from now on.”
“Very well. I’ll show the murim what happens when they touch the mistress of Cheonhwaru.”
The mistress of Cheonhwaru bowed at the waist. I knew she was no ordinary woman, but I had not known she was the kind of woman who would say such a thing in a situation like this.
I did not mean that in a bad way. I was admiring her. Because I thought that perhaps she, too, was using the finest method to calm Geugak Soma’s rage.
If she stepped forward at a time like this and said something that pricked at his pride, like, “I’m worried that you might be put in danger because of me, older brother,” Geugak Soma would only go even more mad and rampage.
What a fitting pair had met.
Just then, Cheongmyeon discovered something on one of the corpses.
“This was found in their robes.”
What Cheongmyeon held out was a Willow-Leaf Flying Dagger the size of a palm.
“It is a dagger used by the Guizhou Branch of the Sado Alliance. If you look here, you can see their unique mark.”
“You mean they’re men from the Guizhou Branch?”
“No. At their level, they could not have infiltrated this place.”
Cheongmyeon looked at me, seeking confirmation.
I nodded, agreeing with his opinion.
“That’s right. They were certainly more skilled than the people guarding Cheonhwaru.”
After hearing my answer, Cheongmyeon carefully made a conjecture.
“My guess is that they intended to assassinate the mistress, then drop this Willow-Leaf Flying Dagger at the scene before leaving.”
“They were going to pin it on the Sado Alliance? Do they take me for a fool? Did they really think such a shallow trick would work?”
As irritation at having been underestimated was added to his original rage, the air around us grew even heavier.
“Perhaps that method might have worked.”
At my words, Geugak Soma’s gaze turned cold, but I calmly said what needed to be said.
“Because right now, the mistress is not dead. If you had discovered this beside her corpse, your state of mind would have been completely different from what it is now. Would you not have first rushed to the Guizhou Branch of the Sado Alliance to find the owner of this Willow-Leaf Flying Dagger?”
Geugak Soma could not refute me.
“They likely had something prepared on that side as well. The owner of this Willow-Leaf Flying Dagger might have offended Lord Soma’s temper, or perhaps they had prepared something else.”
It takes only an instant for a person to go mad and rampage. One must never take lightly the excitement and rage brought by the death of someone they cherish.
“If they are not men of the Sado Alliance, then who are these people?”
At Geugak Soma’s question, Cheongmyeon asked me,
“What martial arts did they use?”
Cheongmyeon was a man known to be intelligent even in the Valley of Villains. Not only was he quick with sums and calculations and capable of handling account books, he also knew a great deal about martial artists, martial arts, and the state of the murim.
“The first one to reveal himself used a dagger.”
I explained while recreating the exact motion with which the first masked man had stabbed the mistress of Cheonhwaru.
“And these men were masters of stealth. Until he revealed himself to attack the mistress, I had no idea he was there.”
At that, Cheongmyeon inferred someone.
“Judging from the stance the Second Young Master showed me, the fact that they were experts in stealth, and the fact that there were five of them, these men must be the Five Blood-Hand Shadows.”
“The Five Blood-Hand Shadows? I’ve heard of them.”
At Geugak Soma’s question, Cheongmyeon answered,
“They are experts belonging to White Night Valley.”
White Night Valley was a sect belonging to the evil faction and was a place with a considerable ill reputation in the murim. It committed every sort of vile act imaginable, and even killed people for money. The Five Blood-Hand Shadows were the representative experts of White Night Valley.
“They likely accepted the commission without knowing the relationship between Cheonhwaru and us.”
Cheongmyeon had guessed not only their identity, but even the background behind why they had dared commit such an act.
He had seen it accurately. Even in my life before regression, the Five Blood-Hand Shadows had been deeply connected to Geugak Soma. In the end, they had died by Geugak Soma’s hand.
But at the very least, they had not attacked the mistress of Cheonhwaru here today.
In other words, because Geugak Soma moved with me, their fate had changed. They could not escape the result called death, but the time and place had changed.
Geugak Soma did not hesitate.
“We go to White Night Valley.”
“Yes.”
Without another word, Cheongmyeon hurried to prepare for departure.
Geugak Soma even took care of the mistress of Cheonhwaru’s safety.
“You should move with me for the time being.”
Once she had become a target, it was a wise choice for her to stay with him until this matter was over.
“I will follow your wishes, Elder.”
The mistress of Cheonhwaru obediently followed Geugak Soma’s words.
She glanced at me. I could feel the emotion contained in her gaze. I leave stopping Geugak Soma to you.
Once preparations to leave were complete, everyone climbed into the carriage. Seeing that I alone did not board until the very end, Geugak Soma asked from inside the carriage,
“Are you not getting on?”
“I was wondering how I could make Lord Soma get off the carriage.”
“Let us hear your reason for stopping me.”
“The incident has already happened, and we know whose doing it was. If we storm in now, the only thing that will happen is a fight. If Lord Soma and I join forces, we may be able to annihilate them. You might even gain a new epithet: Soma of Annihilation.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. I dislike White Night Valley. They commit every sort of filthy deed and even kill people for money, so they deserve to die. However, there is one better method than staining our hands with blood.”
“What is that?”
“To entrust the matter to someone else.”
“To whom are you suggesting we entrust it?”
“Lord Soma, you are so agitated right now that you have forgotten one fact. We made an agreement with Bisa-in. If we give them a clue about the mastermind, they will withdraw from Guizhou and compensate us for the losses of the past two years. Right now, we have that clue.”
Even though it was advice for his sake, Geugak Soma spoke sarcastically to me.
“To be calculating even in this situation—our Second Young Master is truly extraordinary. Extraordinary indeed.”
I did not flare up, but calmly persuaded him.
“If I were truly extraordinary, I would be able to stop Lord Soma somehow. Would you give me just a little more opportunity to do so?”
“Try.”
Looking into eyes that said, If you can, then go ahead, I began to persuade him.
“No matter how much pressure we apply, the Valley Master of White Night Valley will never reveal the person who commissioned them. No, he cannot reveal them. The moment he reveals the mastermind, no one will ever pay White Night Valley to entrust them with work again.”
Geugak Soma surely knew that much as well. When it came to villains, he was someone who knew them even better than I did.
“Most importantly, annihilating White Night Valley will become an even greater problem than annihilating the Guizhou Branch of the Sado Alliance.”
“Why is that?”
“Three years ago, the daughter of the Valley Master of White Night Valley and the son of the vice alliance leader of the Sado Alliance were married. The two families are in-laws.”
Geugak Soma, who had not known this fact, flinched in surprise and asked Cheongmyeon,
“Is that true?”
At his question, Cheongmyeon, who was on the driver’s seat, answered loudly,
“It is.”
“Why did you not tell me beforehand?”
“I only just remembered it myself.”
Geugak Soma asked me with a surprised gaze,
“How did the Second Young Master know?”
“There are many assassin organizations in the jianghu, so I became suspicious as to why they had specifically entrusted the work to White Night Valley. While thinking about that, I remembered the matter.”
Geugak Soma had experienced several times that my mind was unusually sharp, so he would not find it strange that I had remembered it.
The one important phrase that would persuade him was this:
“It is a double scheme.”
“What do you mean?”
“The mastermind who planned this incident arranged for both possibilities. It would be fine if they left behind the Willow-Leaf Flying Dagger and pinned it on the Guizhou Branch of the Sado Alliance, and it would not matter if the ambush failed as it did now and White Night Valley took the blame. The scheme to cause a clash between Lord Soma and the Sado Alliance would succeed no matter what.”
Geugak Soma’s gaze settled coldly. The fact that the laughter had disappeared from his eyes meant his rage had subsided to some degree.
“Is there any need to move according to that bastard’s intentions? Please leave this matter to me.”
The mistress of Cheonhwaru seated beside Geugak Soma, and Ian and Cheongmyeon on the driver’s seat, all listened to our conversation in silence.
Fortunately, Geugak Soma was not a foolish person who would stubbornly hold to a decision once made merely because others were watching.
“Then would I not become far too frivolous a person? I acted as though I would show the Second Young Master my world turned into a sea of blood.”
Since his words already contained the meaning that he would yield, I smiled and said,
“No one would think you frivolous, but even if they did, what is wrong with becoming a little frivolous?”
Geugak Soma laughed. His habitual laughter contained a faint snort of amusement.
“Neither I nor anyone here would want to see a sea of blood. Especially since our mistress has already been drenched in a basinful of blood.”
Geugak Soma looked at the mistress of Cheonhwaru.
As if she had been waiting, she said,
“Avenge me! Go and kill them all!”
Geugak Soma laughed again.
“You are saying something you do not mean.”
Only then did the mistress of Cheonhwaru reveal her honest feelings.
“Yes. That’s right. I’m tired today, so I want to rest now. Beside you, older brother.”
Her form of address had returned to older brother. She, too, had sensed that Geugak Soma’s rage had completely subsided.
Geugak Soma’s deliberation did not last long.
He said to Cheongmyeon,
“Go and tell Bisa-in I wish to meet.”
“Yes.”
Cheongmyeon leapt down from the carriage and disappeared in a flash.
Geugak Soma and the mistress of Cheonhwaru got out of the carriage.
I said to the mistress of Cheonhwaru,
“You must be tired, but until this matter is concluded, please stay glued to Lord Soma’s side. It is the safest place in the world.”
I had taken care of her safety and Geugak Soma’s mood as well, but Geugak Soma did not let it pass.
“The Second Young Master’s Divine Art of Flattery seems to be the greatest from ancient times to the present.”
It was an admiration that was not quite admiration, half mockery and half sincerity.
“It is the strongest technique I use often these days. But it is not ordinary flattery. It is the Divine Art of Flattery performed persistently, with effort to understand the other person, and even with one’s life on the line. And when the other party is Lord Soma, what is wrong with a little flattery?”
At my dignified response, the mistress of Cheonhwaru, who had been listening, could not hold back her laughter.
“I’m sorry for laughing. It’s just that, at this level, I think it really may deserve to be called a divine art.”
The gaze the mistress of Cheonhwaru directed at me contained goodwill beyond gratitude.
The woman I knew was someone who was clear about debts and grudges, and I was certain that saving her today would be of great help on my path going forward.
After the two of them went inside, Ian, who had been sitting on the driver’s seat like a stone statue, let out the sigh she had been holding back.
“How in the world do you endure this kind of pressure?”
The question Seo Daeryong had once asked was now being asked by her.
“If I don’t endure it? I promised to take responsibility for every accident Geugak Soma causes before coming out, didn’t I?”
“Persuading Geugak Soma when he’s furious to the tips of his hair? I would have run away without looking back.”
“You would have persuaded him better than I did.”
“You overestimate me.”
“It’s not my overestimation.”
“Then?”
“The mistress of Cheonhwaru said so. She said you seemed like someone destined to do great things.”
“Not someone destined to cause a great disaster? She probably just said it to make you feel good, Young Master.”
“If she wanted to make me feel good, she would have said I was the one destined to do such great things.”
“That’s true.”
Ian got down from the carriage.
“You feel like drinking, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go in and have another cup. We can ask them to sing the song we were about to hear earlier, too.”
“They’re all gone, aren’t they? Do you think those women are still waiting?”
“I suppose not.”
“…Shall I sing for you instead?”
“I decline. It was already exhausting enough.”
“I sing well. You’ve never heard me sing even once, have you?”
“One does not need to see an opponent draw their sword to know they are an expert.”
“Here you are, failing to recognize another hidden master. Don’t be shocked when you hear me later.”
As I was about to follow Ian into the building, I suddenly looked up at the night sky.
Seeing the stars scattered thickly across it, I suddenly missed my people back at the main cult. I wanted to lie alone on the beach through the Space-Time Transposition Art and bask in the warm sunlight. I wanted to hear Ian sing.