Jin Paecheon expressed his firm will to attend.
Geom Mugeuk said weakly, wearing a bewildered expression.
“We will invite you to this gathering as well, Alliance Leader.”
Geom Mugeuk was faithful to the act until the very end.
At this outcome, Jin Haryeong was beyond surprised—she was in awe. She had played a major role in bringing about this result, but she had never truly thought it would turn out this way.
‘In the end, it all went according to that man’s plan.’
What if that man were an enemy? Would she or her elder brother be able to withstand him?
The vague fear she had felt before struck her keenly once again today.
In any case, the plan they had made together had succeeded. And now, the Murim Alliance Leader’s visit to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had become reality.
Jin Haryeong now returned from being the vanguard of the three-person operation to being the granddaughter of the Murim Alliance Leader.
“How will you guarantee the Alliance Leader’s safety?”
It was the Murim Alliance Leader’s procession—would only one or two peerless masters accompany him? But since they had issued the invitation, the side responsible for his safety was the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“Our cult will take responsibility. Having invited such an honored guest, how could we be negligent?”
“Who will protect him from you?”
Geom Mugeuk took it as a joke and laughed. But Jin Haryeong was serious.
“Promise me you’ll protect him. That you’ll take responsibility and make sure nothing happens.”
Her eyes said it.
‘You know, don’t you? That all of this was done because I trusted you.’
She trusted Geom Mugeuk more than the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Truly. She had done this prepared even to be driven out and left standing in the rain before the main gate of the Demon Cult.
Geom Mugeuk looked into her eyes and answered.
“I promise.”
Only after feeling the sincerity dwelling in those clear, deep eyes did Jin Haryeong finally feel relieved.
‘Grandfather, I’m sorry for deceiving you. But I believe this is right.’
She believed Geom Mugeuk’s words that they could prevent war. She also believed that, in the end, this choice would become a path for her grandfather’s sake.
Geom Mugeuk spoke respectfully to Jin Paecheon.
“I will speak to our cult’s strategist and have the schedule coordinated. Thank you for making such a great decision.”
Thinking that the three of them would meet, Baek Jagang’s figure also came to Jin Paecheon’s mind.
‘Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him too.’
He considered Baek Jagang a step below Geom Ujin, but he knew well that Baek Jagang was no ordinary man either. One concern naturally arose.
“But if he hears that I’m going, won’t the Sado Alliance Leader change his mind?”
“I’ll go and tell him.”
“You’ll go in person?”
“This is too important a change to convey by letter.”
This was a matter of seating the Murim Alliance Leader and the Sado Alliance Leader in front of the Demon Cult’s main headquarters. If necessary, he would have to go back and forth ten times, even a hundred times.
Geom Mugeuk gave a respectful salute.
“Then I will take my leave. I will see you at the tavern before our cult.”
“Very well. Let me take a look at what your Demonic Path is like.”
Jin Paecheon sent Jin Hagun and Jin Haryeong out with him to see him off.
Left alone, Jin Paecheon spoke into the empty air.
“The strategist will scold me.”
Then a deep male voice came from the air.
“Do you truly think the Demon Cult Leader will kill the Sado Alliance Leader?”
“Who knows? How could I know what is in that man’s heart? The Geom Ujin I saw over ten years ago was at least not a man who would resort to such petty tricks. But now that the world has changed, how can I know what sort of man he has become?”
Jin Paecheon slowly walked over and looked out the window.
Before the Alliance Leader’s Hall, he could see Geom Mugeuk, Jin Hagun, and Jin Haryeong standing side by side.
There were many reasons he had decided to attend this gathering.
There was the concern that the Demon Cult and the Sado Alliance might join hands and play some trick, and there was also his curiosity about that young martial artist named Geom Mugeuk. Just how had he drawn out that far-from-compliant Baek Jagang all the way to the front of the Demon Cult?
Moreover, he already knew that Jin Hagun and Jin Haryeong felt great goodwill toward Geom Mugeuk. In the end, he had come to think that he ought to examine Geom Mugeuk more closely with his own eyes.
But if those had been the only reasons, he would not have made the decision without even consulting the strategist. The greatest reason Jin Paecheon had resolved to go was this.
He felt that the time had come to meet the Heavenly Demon Geom Ujin once again.
When they had met in the past, Jin Paecheon had read in Geom Ujin the ambition to unite the murim under one rule, and he had suspected that one day, he might start a war.
That was why he had devoted all his strength to protecting the orthodox murim.
Now, before he grew any older, he thought he had to confirm it.
‘If his eyes are still the same.’
He could not let that gaze turn toward Jin Hagun. It was a gaze his grandson could not endure.
* * *
As soon as they left the Alliance Leader’s Hall, Jin Hagun let out a sigh.
“Why are you sighing? This is a situation where even cheering wouldn’t be enough.”
Pretending not to hear Geom Mugeuk, Jin Hagun ignored him and spoke to his sister.
“Perhaps we’ve pushed the Alliance Leader into danger with our own hands.”
It felt like being swept up in the heat of the moment, playing madly all night, and only coming to one’s senses in the morning. Whenever he associated with Geom Mugeuk, he always felt this way.
“Aren’t you worried?”
By contrast, Jin Haryeong was calm.
“Worried about what?”
“That we might have been deceived by that man.”
At that, Geom Mugeuk cut in.
“Please have that conversation through sound transmission!”
But even those words were ignored as Jin Hagun and Jin Haryeong continued their conversation.
“He could have deceived us.”
“Right?”
“It could be a plot to harm Grandfather and the Sado Alliance Leader in one place.”
“And yet you don’t look worried at all?”
“Because you’re worrying for my share too, Elder Brother. If not, with my personality, I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep properly starting tonight. In that sense, thank you for being born first.”
Jin Hagun shook his head as if she were hopeless, then glanced at Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk was looking up at the sky.
“How is the sky when you look up at it from before the Murim Alliance Leader’s Hall?”
“It’s the same. Whether you look at it from here or from there, the sky is the sky. That’s why I have no desire for this place.”
They were words that held Geom Mugeuk’s true feelings. Whenever he had the chance, he kept telling them. That he had no greed. So they should not suspect him.
Again and again. Even if it was troublesome, he would keep saying it. Suspicion was inevitable; the trouble was a choice.
“Still, seeing it together with you two makes it better.”
Jin Hagun recalled the look Geom Mugeuk had given him earlier. That provocative look telling him to cross the line drawn in his heart.
‘I crossed it as you intended. And it went as you intended.’
That was why he kept making jokes like this.
“Is the plan to kill us all complete now?”
A faint smile formed at the corner of Geom Mugeuk’s mouth as he continued looking up at the sky.
“In a similar situation, I said the same thing to the Sado Alliance Leader. That it isn’t my way. My way is to send a challenge letter. We fight once, and the side that loses steps down cleanly. I’m not so fond of anything that I’d scheme to seize it…”
Geom Mugeuk did not continue.
If he looked back at himself before his regression, these words would have suited him.
I have no affection for people or for the world.
Perhaps that was why he was who he was now. Because of the regret and lingering sorrow over that empty life in which he had lived only for revenge, granting no meaning to people, to the world, or even to himself.
Because he had seen the end of loneliness, he now intended to go all the way in the opposite direction. Even if greater regret waited there, he would gladly walk that path.
“I prefer playing around. I like a seat on the second floor of Pungryu Tavern better than sitting on that lofty Grand Preceptor’s chair.”
Now both Jin Hagun and Jin Haryeong believed those words. That was why they had plotted this together with him today.
Before leaving, Geom Mugeuk spoke to the two of them.
“Do you know why I was able to carry out this matter with confidence?”
“Why?”
“Because I trust my father. Because I trust that no matter what situation I unfold, he will not turn it into the worst possible outcome. So if you cannot trust me, trust your Alliance Leader.”
“!”
Geom Mugeuk gave the two a brisk cupped-fist salute.
“I won’t forget your help this time. And be sure to come to our cult with him.”
Even if an order came down telling her not to come, Jin Haryeong intended to follow along, even if she had to hide in the luggage compartment of a carriage. She truly wanted to visit Pungryu Tavern.
That was why this parting at this moment felt so regretful.
“Are you going back to the Divine Cult?”
“No. I said I’m going to the Sado Alliance.”
“Ah, right. You really do live busily.”
The moment Geom Mugeuk smiled faintly, there was a flash, and he vanished from sight. Just as when he had come, he disappeared like smoke.
“And he just leaves like that?”
Jin Haryeong stood there for a long while, staring at the place where Geom Mugeuk had disappeared.
‘I miss him already.’
* * *
As Jin Haryeong had said, it truly was a busy life.
From there, he even spared the time he should have spent sleeping and ran without rest until he arrived at the Sado Alliance’s main headquarters. Truly, he was training his Rapid Step properly.
Geom Mugeuk first stopped by the inn Bi Sain often visited. Today as well, he was eating there.
—If you eat noodle dishes too often, you’ll gain weight.
At the incoming sound transmission, Bi Sain’s chopsticks paused for a moment. At the only voice in the world that would nag the young alliance leader of the Sado Alliance for being a picky eater, a smile reflexively formed on his face. As always, Geom Mugeuk could be seen in the alley across the street.
—What brings you here? I thought I’d only see you at your tavern.
—Something came up that I must urgently report to the Alliance Leader.
—Then shouldn’t you go report to him directly?
—How disloyal! You should be there with me.
—Isn’t it because it would take too long to get to the Alliance Leader without me?
Waiting, standing by, receiving permission. Only after passing through all sorts of security could one finally reach the Alliance Leader’s Hall. It was the same at the Murim Alliance. In that sense, Jin Hagun and Bi Sain were shortcuts to the Alliance Leader’s Hall.
—You noticed?
Geom Mugeuk’s laughter rang through the sound transmission.
Of course, Bi Sain knew that was not the reason. He knew Geom Mugeuk had come to find him first in order to place him at the center of events as always.
—What is it?
—Hear it together with the Alliance Leader.
—How much are you trying to startle people this time?
—It’s not that sort of thing.
—Very well.
As Bi Sain moved to stand, Geom Mugeuk stopped him.
—Finish your meal slowly before you get up.
—How am I supposed to swallow my food when you’re waiting there?
—All the more reason to eat well. Since ancient times, a martial artist’s strength comes from rice, does it not? You can wait a hundred days and see whether I get up without eating. Tell me no matter how big an accident you caused and see whether I get up without eating.
Bi Sain shot to his feet and shouted.
“Did you cause trouble?”
* * *
Geom Mugeuk had come to the Alliance Leader’s Hall with Bi Sain.
“So you’re saying the Murim Alliance Leader has also decided to come to this gathering?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“This has grown into something big.”
“You can think of it as gaining one more drinking friend.”
“And that drinking friend is Jin Paecheon.”
The Sado Alliance Leader, Baek Jagang, disliked Geom Ujin as well, but he disliked Jin Paecheon even more.
“Three people who loathe one another terribly are gathering?”
What had been a private drinking meeting between two people had become a three-party conference of the Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions.
Since he had become the Sado Alliance Leader, the three of them had never once met in one place.
“Was this your original plan?”
“No. At first, I intended only for my father and you, Alliance Leader, to meet. But I changed my mind midway.”
“Because inviting the Murim Alliance Leader was easier than asking for his understanding?”
“That was part of it, but a more important reason came up.”
“What reason?”
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk said,
“Because I thought that if not for this chance, the three of you might never have an opportunity to meet together in this generation.”
“!”
Judging by the fact that no goosebumps rose around his ears, Geom Mugeuk was telling the truth.
“What does it matter if we don’t meet?”
“I felt that if it were me, I would regret it when I looked back later. To think that we had dominated an era, and yet the three of us had never once gathered in one place.”
Come to think of it, Baek Jagang realized that he had never given much thought to a three-party conference. He had assumed that when he met them again, it would be on a day when someone would die.
Bi Sain, who had been listening silently beside them, suddenly had this thought.
‘Is that why you come running to me whenever there’s a chance for us to meet?’
In that regard, in their generation, there was no need to worry that the three of them would fail to meet. That Geom Mugeuk would try to call them out and meet at every opportunity.
“Is that what you came here to tell me?”
“This gathering began thanks to you, Alliance Leader, so of course I had to come and tell you in person.”
“If I say I don’t want to? If I say I can’t stand that stuffy old man from the Murim Alliance?”
“Even so, I must do my best to escort you. Whatever you desire, just say the word. I will take responsibility and see it done.”
What did he desire?
What he desired was to raise Bi Sain to be even more impressive than Geom Mugeuk before him. And then to fill Geom Ujin’s insolent eyes with envy.
“I’ll attend. I’ll see you at the tavern.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled brightly and paid his respects.
“Thank you very much for understanding. As expected, Alliance Leader, you are a decisive man.”
Geom Mugeuk bowed politely and was about to turn away when Baek Jagang asked one final question.
“What is your ultimate purpose in this gathering?”
Geom Mugeuk looked back at him and said,
“When Sain here, Unit Leader Jin of the Murim Alliance, and I get together, it’s quite entertaining.”
Bi Sain’s lips twitched as he listened.
Shouldn’t you ask us whether it’s entertaining or not?
He wanted to banter like that, but he could not bring himself to speak so in front of the Sado Alliance Leader.
“Wouldn’t it be entertaining if the three of you gathered as well? My purpose is for this meeting to be an enjoyable one.”
“An enjoyable meeting? We’ll be lucky if the atmosphere isn’t murderous.”
“That would be entertaining in its own way.”
Baek Jagang warned him of one danger.
“Those people who targeted us this time. You said there was someone behind them, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“What will you do if they take advantage of this opportunity?”
Geom Mugeuk answered calmly.
“It will be all right.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“Even when each of you was alone, you blocked them all. This time, the three of you will be together, won’t you?”
A strange smile formed at Baek Jagang’s lips.
‘For now, I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with second place in raising a disciple.’
Those words also reflected Baek Jagang’s resolve to at least make him triumph over the Murim Alliance’s successor.
Bi Sain, of course, had no way of knowing the meaning contained in his master’s burning gaze toward him.
“Then I will see you that day.”
Bi Sain came out after Geom Mugeuk to see him off.
“You truly aren’t worried.”
“Why should I worry? Now that the three of them have given their permission, the matter is out of my hands.”
Even under a gaze that asked if he wasn’t being far too shameless, Geom Mugeuk did not flinch.
“Let us live in our own murim.”
When he first heard those words, they had felt like empty clouds, but now he could sense a little substance to them. The fact that there was a murim of their own, one belonging to the young.
“Between the matter of escorts and coordinating the schedule, it will take some time. What will you do until then?”
“During the day, I’ll play with the Demon Supremes, and at night, I’ll train. That’s how I’ll spend my time. Don’t stop me from having fun!”
“How nice. You have people to play with.”
“Don’t you have five more people to play with than I do?”
“!”
For an instant, Bi Sain was startled. Five more than the Eight Demon Supremes made thirteen; he must mean the Thirteen Wolves of the Sado Alliance. Bi Sain had not once thought of playing with the Thirteen Wolves of the Sado Alliance.
“Then I’ll see you later.”
In a flash, Geom Mugeuk became a speck far off in the sky and vanished.
Beneath the sky where he had disappeared, the Thirteen Wolves of the Sado Alliance stood in the distance.
Suddenly, a thought came to him. Geom Mugeuk must have started with the Demon Supremes from this same state. No, that wasn’t right. The Thirteen Wolves of the Sado Alliance at least had loyalty. Geom Mugeuk must have become close to the Demon Supremes from a far more difficult and awkward state than this.
Yes. If he was going to imitate him, he ought to do it properly.
“Today, set aside your escort duties. Let’s buy some wine and go somewhere with a fine view. We can share all the stories we’ve fallen behind on. Oh, and is there anyone among you who can dance?”
As startled gazes focused on him, Bi Sain looked up at the sky.
“The weather is too good to play alone.”