At the word “attendant,” Jo Sin’s eyes changed.
Had he not known about him, it might have been one thing, but Geom Mugeuk could see it—the contempt lodged in his gaze. That unbearable, frivolous anger, as if to say, “Why is someone like you drinking with the woman who will be mine?”
‘So he was like this from this time on.’
No—if anything, while young, he was unable to hide his true nature. The older Jo Sin had been truly exceptional at concealing himself.
“To think you would share a table and drink with an attendant. You truly are as broad-minded as the rumors say.”
Jin Haryeong answered the words he had meant as a compliment with a question.
“Does one need to be broad-minded just to sit at the same table as an attendant?”
Hadn’t the matter of sitting with an attendant been the topic weighing on her mind recently? Beyond simply sharing a table, the word taking up the most space in her head over the past few days was not “Soryong Tournament,” but “attendant.”
“I only meant that I do not care in the least about something like eating with an attendant.”
“Ah, I see. Treating even those beneath you fairly—how admirable. Well then, tomorrow’s banquet will surely have an obvious atmosphere. Let us young people hold our own banquet here.”
It was an easygoing proposal, even accompanied by praise, but Jin Haryeong refused flatly.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll decline.”
To be honest, Jo Sin was handsome. So she did feel some desire to sit with him and share a cup of wine.
But what came before that feeling was Geom Yeon.
If she drank with him, she would have to send Geom Yeon away. And if they drank together instead, she would earn Jo Sin’s displeasure.
Neither option appealed to her. In particular, she did not want to say, “We’re going to drink now, so could you leave?”
“This is a first. Being rejected after asking a woman to drink with me.”
“We’ll see each other tomorrow anyway, won’t we?”
Jin Haryeong did not see it, but Geom Mugeuk did. The moment she refused him, Jo Sin’s eyes changed. You dare reject me? A dark, cold emotion beyond mere irritation blossomed there.
Just as Jin Haryeong was about to turn away, Jo Sin sat down across from Geom Mugeuk.
“I’ll have a drink with this attendant, then.”
To the startled Jin Haryeong, Jo Sin said,
“I am curious to find out what charm this attendant possesses that allows him to sit with you when even I cannot.”
The instant she heard those words, irritation surged within Jin Haryeong. Jo Sin’s behavior now clearly meant that he intended to harass Geom Yeon. He would act like this just because she refused to drink with him? The favorable impression she had felt because of his good looks vanished in an instant.
‘Does he have no intention of making a good impression on me?’
She could not understand it. If his grandfather had brought up marriage, then Jo Sin must know about it as well.
She sat back down.
She sat because she was worried about Geom Yeon, but that only provoked Jo Sin further.
“He truly is an attractive attendant. To make Lady Jin, who was about to leave, sit back down.”
Jo Sin asked Geom Mugeuk,
“What is your name?”
“It is Geom Yeon.”
“For an attendant, you have quite a fine name.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Earlier, you said you were Young Hero Jo of Jillyong Manor.”
“You have a good memory too. Where did you find such an impressive servant cur?”
At the words servant cur, her expression twisted slightly. Jo Sin was looking into that emotion she could not hide, and Geom Mugeuk was looking into Jo Sin’s changing emotions.
“Lady Jin is beautiful, isn’t she?”
“She is beautiful.”
“Beautiful enough to think of at night? What do you say? With her…”
Because the words that would follow were obvious, Jin Haryeong cut him off.
“Watch your mouth! You keep crossing the line.”
“I thought you were broad-minded, seeing as you even drink with servant curs, but it seems your generosity chooses its people.”
Their eyes met.
At that moment, an image appeared in Jin Haryeong’s mind. It was a pitch-black venomous snake, head raised, flicking its tongue. It was the first time she had ever felt such a thing while looking at a person, and inwardly, she was shaken.
Then Jo Sin smiled with the face of a good-natured man.
“My joke went too far, didn’t it?”
He tried to pass it off as a joke, but Jin Haryeong’s feelings had completely cooled.
‘Is he trying to show off that he can treat the Alliance Leader’s granddaughter however he pleases?’
Jo Sin asked Geom Mugeuk again,
“I truly cannot understand. What kind of person is our Lady Jin?”
“I do not know very well either.”
“You don’t know?”
“I may be an attendant, but I am not Lady Jin’s attendant.”
“You’re not?”
Jo Sin was astonished.
“Then whose attendant are you?”
“I am the attendant of Young Master Seoryong of the Seodo Sect, who is participating in this Soryong Tournament.”
“Then why were you drinking with Lady Jin? That is even stranger, isn’t it?”
Geom Mugeuk also sensed that something was strange.
‘Why is this man so agitated?’
Even if he was still in the prime of his youth, Jo Sin was a cautious man. To say this was simply due to jealousy was not enough to explain how excessive his actions were today.
‘What is making you run so wild?’
Like a child praised by his schoolteacher, like a merchant who had made a fortune, like a martial artist who had achieved great mastery in martial arts, he seemed swept up in an uncontrollable heat.
Tak.
At that moment, Jin Haryeong set her cup down with a clear sound. It was a wordless warning to stop.
Then Jo Sin’s attitude changed from what it had been until now. As if he were an old friend, he asked her gently,
“Do you not find it strange, Lady Jin?”
“What do you mean?”
“The granddaughter of the Murim Alliance Leader is sitting and drinking with the servant of a martial artist participating in this martial arts competition. It is something everyone would find shocking, yet the granddaughter herself, the person at the center of it all, does not find it strange in the least. What do you think?”
“So? What is it that you want to say?”
“They say that if you put a frog in lukewarm water and slowly boil it, it dies without even realizing it is dying.”
The corner of Jin Haryeong’s mouth rose. Before she could say anything in anger, Jo Sin continued.
“What if this man approached Lady Jin with some hidden purpose? What if he approached you before the finals in order to put San Gong Poison in your wine? What will you do then? Will you say you were deceived after the fact?”
Jo Sin brought his face close to Geom Mugeuk’s.
“What is your purpose?”
Geom Mugeuk said nothing. At Jo Sin’s ferocious air, as if he might strike out with a palm at any moment, Jin Haryeong stepped in.
“Young Hero Jo.”
Her cold, sunken tone made her feelings clear.
“I’ll see you at the banquet hall tomorrow. There’s still a long while before the water boils.”
Their gazes met. Jin Haryeong boldly glared at the snake with its head raised. Right now, she was not afraid of that snake.
Jo Sin smiled.
“It seems I made a mistake upon our first meeting. My apologies, Lady Jin. I shall see you tomorrow at the banquet hall.”
He rose from his seat and smiled at me. Not only Geom Mugeuk, but Jin Haryeong as well felt it—the dense killing intent contained in that smile.
After Jo Sin left the inn, Jin Haryeong drank in silence. She looked as if she were chewing over what Jo Sin had said earlier.
Geom Mugeuk silently waited for her to speak.
After a while, she let out a sigh and said, no longer with the coldness she had shown Jo Sin earlier, but returned to her usual self.
“It’s difficult. So difficult. Why is everything so difficult?”
“They say life is difficult by nature. If you asked someone from a hundred years ago, they would say it was difficult. If you asked someone from five hundred years ago, they would say it was difficult. The Alliance Leader would say it is difficult, and that waiter over there would say it is difficult. Even a child born tomorrow will say it is difficult once he grows sensible.”
“This is exactly why. How could anyone not suspect you when you’re an attendant and yet you say things like that?”
“Do you suspect me as well, Lady Jin?”
She answered honestly.
“To be honest, the moment I heard the story about the frog, I flinched.”
“If you fall for those words, you will be moved from a warm hot spring into a cauldron where the water is truly being boiled.”
Jin Haryeong shook her head.
“You’re too good with words. You win.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want to trust that man even if I die, so I have to trust you.”
“At times like this, you should trust neither of us. Why choose between the two?”
Jin Haryeong looked at Geom Mugeuk. The thought occurred to her that it would be a serious problem if this person were truly evil. It was because she had a premonition that stopping him would be even harder than stopping Jo Sin, who was terrifying like a snake. Even so, she decided to trust her instincts.
“This isn’t the time to worry about me. You’re in serious trouble. This frog may still be swimming in warm water, but that frog over there has just been set down alone on a rock in the middle of lava.”
She had an innate sense for reading people. She had realized it. A man like Jo Sin was not the sort to let an attendant who had sat and drunk with the woman he wanted to marry remain alive. All the more so if that woman had taken the attendant’s side.
“Young Master will protect me.”
“No. Even if your young master is skilled enough to advance to the main tournament, he won’t be able to protect you too. That man’s family is no ordinary one. Go back to your hometown right away.”
“I cannot leave my young master behind. If, as you say, he tries to harm me, would returning to my hometown allow me to avoid him? Instead, it would bring harm to my young master’s sect.”
“You’re right.”
She sprang up from her seat.
“Wait here. I’ll go find a pole long enough to pull you out of that lava.”
She left the inn.
Soon after, Seo Daeryong sat down in the place she had left.
“This side is more entertaining than the duel.”
“I thought you were tired?”
“No matter how tired I am, how could I endure the curiosity? What was that bastard earlier? Is this one of those things where an obstacle must appear in a fated love?”
“To him, I would be the obstacle.”
“He looked perfectly fine on the outside.”
“Those kinds of bastards are more dangerous, aren’t they?”
“Exactly. It’s only because he hasn’t seen you shave the Pavilion Master’s beard.”
“You’re saying I’m more dangerous?”
“Can there even be a comparison? In looks or in danger.”
As if he thought his own joke was amusing, Seo Daeryong laughed by himself.
“I’ll watch this fated love and win the tournament while I’m at it.”
“Do that. I’ll watch your fated duel and take care of this matter while I’m at it.”
I was curious to see what Jin Haryeong would do.
And the solution she brought the next day was one I had not expected.
“Come with me to the banquet.”
She was asking me to go with her to the banquet being held today. It was a banquet where the Murim Alliance Leader and Jo Sin would be present.
“I believe I told you I couldn’t go, even after being called a coward.”
“The situation is different now from then. I will take responsibility for your life.”
“How?”
“You’ll know when we get there.”
Meet the Murim Alliance Leader?
Could I truly hide my existence from him? My realm had already reached Banbakguijin, and I could appear as though I had never learned martial arts at all.
But would that work on the Murim Alliance Leader as well? Could I truly hide the presence that emanated from the very person that was me?
Probably not. I might be able to disguise a nine-star martial realm as eight stars, but I would not be able to disguise myself as an attendant.
To meet the Murim Alliance Leader meant I had to be prepared for my identity to be revealed.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“I am thinking about how your grandfather will deal with me after he learns about me.”
Of course, she was worrying about something entirely different.
“My grandfather won’t harm you because of your status. Even if he gets angry, he’ll be angry at me.”
“He is an admirable man, so he must treat those beneath him with dignity as well, yes?”
“Of course.”
‘Then how would he treat the blood kin of the Heavenly Demon?’
It was a question I could not bring myself to ask her.
Of course, even if it were exposed that I was of the Heavenly Demon’s blood, I would not be killed in the Murim Alliance. If that happened, war might break out. In that sense, the Murim Alliance was safer than our cult.
Instead, I would be expelled, and while taking responsibility for causing trouble with the Murim Alliance, this successor trial would end in failure.
I pondered for a long time. Jin Haryeong understood and waited for me.
At last, I finished deeply considering the various circumstances.
“Very well. Let us go.”
“Ah, you made the right choice.”
“Let us meet at the entrance of the Murim Alliance in half an hour. Since we are going to a banquet, I need to prepare a little.”
“Good.”
After sending her off, I went up to the guest room and informed Seo Daeryong that I would be attending the banquet hosted by the Murim Alliance Leader.
Seo Daeryong asked worriedly,
“Will you be all right?”
“Do I look like I will?”
“Until now, you have said you were going to meet all sorts of dangerous people. Starting with the Demon Army Lord, then the Demon Supremes. And now you are going to meet the Murim Alliance Leader.”
“What do you think? Of a leader like this?”
“In the past, I would have hated it.”
Whenever I said I was going to meet the Demon Supremes, Seo Daeryong had recoiled in horror.
“And now?”
“Even if I back away in fear, I end up on the dueling platform.”
We laughed together. The fact that the two of us were alone in enemy territory was making him and me even closer.
“Have a safe trip. I’ll be training.”
I looked at my reflection in the bronze mirror. Long, disheveled hair and cheap clothes. If anything, I tousled my hair even more and did not change my clothes.
When Jin Haryeong saw me at the entrance of the Murim Alliance, she shouted,
“You said you were going to prepare for the banquet! What on earth did you prepare?”
“Don’t I look better?”
“Not at all!”
“Should I go change?”
“No, then we’ll be late. Let’s go!”
When Jin Haryeong and I entered the banquet hall, the gazes around us focused on us.
Among a crowd of heroes, Father’s presence looked like blood, like red, standing alone in a black-and-white painting.
The presence of the Murim Alliance Leader was the same. Though there were countless people in the banquet hall, I recognized at a glance who the Murim Alliance Leader was.
It felt as though everyone else appeared in black and white, while only the Murim Alliance Leader appeared in blue.
Truly, the presence given off by the strongest masters of murim was astonishing.
Far away, Murim Alliance Leader Jin Paecheon, who had been conversing with guests, slowly turned his head toward us.