Trickle.
Cold sweat ran down Hwangbo Cheolwi’s back.
His tightly clenched fist was filled with strength, trembling faintly.
It was proof that his body was under extreme tension.
Hwangbo Cheolwi himself was aware that he was nervous.
‘…I can’t look him in the eye.’
The eyes of the man sitting cross-legged before him, gazing at him.
Hwangbo Cheolwi, of all people—a member of one of the most renowned clans—did not dare meet that gaze.
When the thought crossed his mind, Hwangbo Cheolwi had to erase it from his head.
‘Though, at this point, it should all be meaningless.’
The world was vast, and within that world, the Hwangbo name was immense.
Yet he had realized that he himself was far too small to bear it.
Still, erasing thoughts ingrained in his body would take far too long.
The dense aura of inner energy lingering within the narrow tent.
The heat that felt as though it might crush him.
Hwangbo Cheolwi wondered how he had ended up here.
‘Why did I come…?’
His original purpose was hazy.
But there was no doubt that he had come to see this man.
Hwangbo Cheolwi moved his stiff neck and forcibly looked at the person before him.
The man who had crushed his brother, Hwangbo Cheok, who had seemed so strong and fierce.
The man who had forced him to his knees.
‘The True Dragon….’
The True Dragon, Gu Yangcheon.
That was the epithet and name of the man before him.
The sight he had seen through the gap in the tent flap.
Hwangbo Cheolwi remembered it clearly.
Their eyes had met then.
And Gu Yangcheon, meeting his gaze, had smiled at him.
‘Did this man truly kill the Sixth Elder?’
Hwangbo Cheolwi knew that Hwangbo Cheok had sent the Sixth Elder to Gu Yangcheon.
Whenever someone displeased him.
Whenever a problem arose in his path.
Hwangbo Cheok was the sort of person who would remove it by any means necessary.
Hwangbo Cheolwi had thought that Gu Yangcheon had simply been unlucky enough to fall into that trap.
‘…Was that really the case?’
And yet, a question arose.
When Hwangbo Cheok had shown his intention to send the Sixth Elder to deal with Gu Yangcheon.
There had been a subtle thought within Hwangbo Cheolwi.
That was the problem.
Could the Sixth Elder truly do anything to Gu Yangcheon?
‘…I thought it was a foolish question.’
The Sixth Elder was a martial artist of the Hwagyeong realm.
Having reached Hwagyeong, if time permitted, he could easily rise into the ranks of the Central Plains’ Top One Hundred Experts.
Indeed, it was for such accomplishments that the clan had granted him the position of Elder.
By comparison, Gu Yangcheon was a younger-generation martial artist.
Though he had received the title of Dragon.
He was still a rising martial artist who had only just begun making a name for himself.
Then why had Hwangbo Cheolwi entertained such a thought?
He had no idea.
He did not know why he had thought that way.
As he continued to wonder.
“I thought the Hwangbo Clan was nothing but a bunch of bears.”
At Gu Yangcheon’s voice, Hwangbo Cheolwi’s back stiffened.
“But I suppose that isn’t entirely true.”
“…True Dragon.”
Crash—!
The table beside him shattered at the same time Hwangbo Cheolwi spoke, rolling across the floor.
Watching the fragments fall with a crack, Hwangbo Cheolwi swallowed dryly.
“I don’t much like being called by my epithet. Call me that again, and next time it’ll be your jaw.”
No matter how narrow the tent was, there was still some distance between Gu Yangcheon and Hwangbo Cheolwi.
They were not close enough to touch without moving.
Something must have happened because Gu Yangcheon had made some sort of motion.
But Hwangbo Cheolwi had not seen how he moved at all.
‘…Even though I was watching with both eyes, there’s this much difference between us?’
He did not know the exact details, but Gu Yangcheon was probably two or three years younger than him.
Should he regard this as a difference in talent?
The atmosphere emanating from Gu Yangcheon’s body.
The gaze with which he watched Hwangbo Cheolwi.
Even the faint aura of a victor that he could sense.
‘To call this talent is frightening.’
What he saw was far too overwhelming to understand.
Just as Hwangbo Cheolwi began swallowing dryly and watching Gu Yangcheon’s mood.
Gu Yangcheon asked him,
“Why did you come?”
“…That is.”
“Get to the point. I’m a little busy right now.”
The uproar outside.
The people hurrying about.
It was easy enough to guess what was happening.
“…Are you leaving?”
“Going back. I can’t stay cooped up here forever.”
Though he spoke as if it were a good thing, perhaps something was weighing on him, for Gu Yangcheon’s expression was not particularly pleasant.
“So, why did you come?”
“…”
“Is it because I beat the crap out of your brother?”
“…!”
At the words he tossed out so casually, Hwangbo Cheolwi sucked in a breath.
He had not expected Gu Yangcheon to put it so bluntly.
After speaking, Gu Yangcheon looked Hwangbo Cheolwi up and down.
As though he were appraising him.
“It doesn’t look like you came to complain out of brotherly loyalty.”
Complain?
After witnessing with his own eyes what had happened to Hwangbo Cheok.
Hwangbo Cheolwi could not possibly argue with Gu Yangcheon.
“…That was not my intention.”
“Of course not. If it were, it would’ve been faster to report it to your clan.”
Hwangbo Cheok had been threatened by Gu Yangcheon of the Gu Clan.
And it seemed he had even suffered some inexplicable technique.
Sending those two lines to the clan would have been enough.
Hwangbo Cheok’s position would have fallen to that of a fool who had lost to a younger-generation martial artist and then been threatened.
But the matter would have been resolved easily enough.
After all, the Hwangbo Clan was a prestigious family.
Yet Hwangbo Cheolwi had not done so.
Even as he watched his brother lose.
Even as he watched him disgracefully fall into Gu Yangcheon’s grasp and be threatened.
He had merely stood there and watched.
Why?
‘…Why?’
Why had he secretly felt exhilarated as he watched Hwangbo Cheok collapse?
He did not know.
“Hey. Get a hold of yourself.”
“…!”
“Why do you bastards always start thinking about something else while standing in front of me? Do I look easy?”
“…Ah, no. You are not easy at all.”
Was there anyone in this world who thought Gu Yangcheon was easy?
From what Hwangbo Cheolwi had seen, it would not be easy to think that way.
“So, why did you come?”
“…I came because there was something I wished to ask you, Young Master Gu.”
“You used to speak casually just fine. Why are you suddenly being polite? You’re giving me the creeps.”
“…”
Because I’m afraid you’ll beat the shit out of me, you bastard….
Hwangbo Cheolwi could not bring himself to say those words aloud.
He felt that Gu Yangcheon really would beat him if he did.
Aware of the cold sweat running down his back, Hwangbo Cheolwi asked Gu Yangcheon,
“…Why did you not capture me?”
That day.
Even though their eyes had met.
Gu Yangcheon could easily have captured and dealt with him as well.
Hwangbo Cheolwi wanted to know why he had been left alone until now.
Then—
Ha.
Gu Yangcheon let out a short laugh. What had he found so amusing?
“If you were sent away peacefully, you should be grateful. Did you come here to ask why I let you go?”
“…I thought I should know.”
“No. That’s not it.”
“What do you mean…?”
Gu Yangcheon leaned forward slightly.
Had something piqued his interest?
Or did it mean something else?
To the thoroughly flustered Hwangbo Cheolwi.
Gu Yangcheon slowly spoke.
“You don’t want to know the reason. You came here expecting something, didn’t you?”
“…!”
“Am I wrong?”
The words he uttered in a quiet voice.
They transformed into a dagger and plunged deep into Hwangbo Cheolwi’s chest.
The dagger sank so deeply that it felt as though it had reached his heart.
“Don’t try some shallow trick. Do it properly. I find that sort of thing bothersome. It’s starting to piss me off.”
At Gu Yangcheon’s following words, Hwangbo Cheolwi no longer knew what to say.
‘When did it begin?’
When had he found the opening?
When had he realized that the blood of the Hwangbo Clan, which he had thought so lofty and noble.
Was not particularly precious in truth?
When had he grown ashamed of pretending to be something great and looking down on others simply because he trusted in that blood?
When had it been?
He could not remember clearly.
And when had he begun to feel ashamed of a brother like that?
When had he begun wondering whether he could continue like this?
As his wavering reason slowly shattered into fragments and piled up in some corner of his mind.
“So say it clearly.”
Gu Yangcheon drove in the final dagger.
“‘I hate the way my brother acts, so now that things have come this far, please help me take over.’ Say that.”
The blunt, shameless words he spat out were impossibly heavy.
“It’s strange that you’re saying this to me, but that’s what you want to say, isn’t it?”
He wanted to deny it immediately.
The struggle for the position of heir among the Hwangbo bloodline had been underway for several years.
Hwangbo Cheolwi had withdrawn from that struggle long ago.
He had a fair amount of talent, but he was not outstanding compared to his other siblings.
Moreover, he had neither the justification of being the firstborn.
Nor any faction supporting him.
His circumstances were far from favorable.
How could he possibly entertain such a thought in this situation?
And yet, before he could even think it through.
Hwangbo Cheolwi opened his mouth to Gu Yangcheon.
“…Can you help me?”
His voice trembled.
But his words were clear.
“Hm….”
Hearing that, Gu Yangcheon looked at Hwangbo Cheolwi with an ambiguous expression.
To Hwangbo Cheolwi, it felt as though he were standing on a scale.
And on the opposite side of that scale.
It was as if Hwangbo Cheok had climbed onto it and was staring back at him.
Yet he did not regret the words he had spoken.
He did not know why.
But there was no hostility in Gu Yangcheon’s gaze toward him.
At least, not the hostility he had shown when looking at Hwangbo Cheok.
******************
Was it bean paste that tasted like shit, or shit that tasted like bean paste?
That was the question.
It sounded like a filthy subject, but that was the thought that came to me after sending Hwangbo Cheolwi away.
Hwangbo Cheolwi was bean paste that tasted like shit.
Hwangbo Cheok was shit that tasted like bean paste.
It meant that neither was particularly appealing, no matter whom I chose.
‘If I have to choose, bean paste is better, even if it tastes like shit.’
Strictly speaking, Hwangbo Cheolwi was the better choice.
I had planned to use Hwangbo Cheok and dispose of him from the start.
That was why I had placed demonic qi within him through a Restriction Seal.
So I could get rid of him at any time.
‘That Hwangbo Cheolwi fellow was a little different from what I expected, though.’
I did not know much about him.
Only that he was a member of the Hwangbo Clan.
Since I had not known him particularly well in my previous life, it meant he had failed to make a name for himself.
Which meant he had failed to distinguish himself.
He probably had not been much of a remarkable figure.
‘The clan head, huh.’
This one and that one.
I did not understand why they were so obsessed with the position of clan head.
How heavy and troublesome it was.
Not to mention what an irritating position it was.
‘They don’t know how to be grateful that they have a choice.’
Being able to choose whether to do something or not was a wonderful thing.
They had no idea.
‘For now, I should think separately about what to do with the Hwangbo bastards later.’
I had acted as though I could do something for Hwangbo Cheolwi.
But in truth, I did not possess any particularly remarkable abilities, so there was not much I could do.
To put one member of the bloodline on the seat of clan head simply by making up my mind.
At the very least, I would need sufficient backing.
‘Maybe if I were at the level of the Three Venerables.’
If I were one of the Sama Five Emperors, the masters of their respective factions and the center of the Unorthodox Path.
Or if I had reached the level of the Three Venerables, known as the Heaven Beyond Heaven, then perhaps it would be possible.
Which meant it was impossible for me now.
‘I could still offer a reasonable amount of help.’
That, too, was something for later.
‘It would be nice if that fat Hwangbo took good care of Muk Gwon.’
I had vaguely mentioned Muk Gwon to both Hwangbo Cheok and Hwangbo Cheolwi, so they would likely accommodate him.
It was rather absurd to look after an old subordinate now.
And the unnecessary act of generosity left my stomach feeling queasy.
‘Still, I should do it when I remember. I’ll forget if I put it off.’
I could not go running around every day, looking for people one by one and offering to help them.
I could do it once in a while when I happened to meet them face-to-face.
Anything beyond that would be too much for me as well…. It was exhausting.
“Young Master, the preparations are complete.”
“All right.”
A day passed, and while I was loosening up my body, a servant approached and informed me.
“Can we leave right away?”
“Yes. We have already contacted the Alliance. You can transfer to their carriage there.”
“We can just leave. They’re making things troublesome again.”
We had to stop by the Murim Alliance branch at the front and undergo a confirmation procedure before continuing.
Annoyingly, since I was technically affiliated with the Orthodox Faction, it was something I had to do.
Tsk, tsk.
Clicking my tongue at the inconvenience, I asked the person beside me,
“Do you have to do it too?”
“We already did.”
It was Moyong Hee-ah, her face hidden behind a veil.
“You already did?”
“For us, it ends as soon as we pass along our names.”
“…What a filthy world.”
The Moyong family was one of the Four Great Clans, so they had the standing for it.
Unlike me, a member of the Gu family, Moyong Hee-ah could apparently settle everything with a name and a letter.
They say connections are everything.
What a truly filthy world.
“Then does she not have to do it either?”
I was asking about Namgung Bi-ah, who was walking toward us in a daze.
When Namgung Bi-ah approached, Moyong Hee-ah, who saw her, flinched and trembled.
“…The Sword Dancer doesn’t have anyone assigned to her directly, so she’ll have to go herself.”
“She’s making things troublesome again. They sure do things strangely.”
I was grumbling when—
Namgung Bi-ah came over and casually rested her chin on my shoulder.
Before, I had been slightly shorter, so it must have been easy for her to rest it there.
Now I was a little taller than Namgung Bi-ah, so it should have been somewhat uncomfortable.
But Namgung Bi-ah didn’t seem to care and would occasionally rest her chin there anyway.
“Did you not sleep well?”
Namgung Bi-ah answered my question by turning her head this way and that.
“Then why do you look so sleepy?”
“…I’m… tired.”
“What do you mean, you’re tired after sleeping so well? If you’re sleepy, go over there and take a nap.”
“…Okay.”
Namgung Bi-ah began to move at my words, then—
She suddenly shifted her gaze and looked toward Moyong Hee-ah.
Moyong Hee-ah, meeting Namgung Bi-ah’s eyes, quietly stared back at her.
The two of them exchanged gazes without either looking away.
They continued for longer than I expected, and just as I was beginning to wonder what they were doing—
“…Hmph.”
Moyong Hee-ah snorted and turned toward the other members of the Moyong family.
Watching her, Namgung Bi-ah slightly clenched her hand into a fist and whispered to me.
“…I won.”
“…Huh?”
Won what?
A staring contest…?
It seemed they had been engaged in some strange sort of battle.
But Namgung Bi-ah’s reaction was so unusual that I decided not to ask.
In the first place, that wasn’t the only thing I had to worry about.
“I never intended to take leave…!”
It was because of Gu Hee-bi, who was being seen off by the other members of the Sword Squad over there.
She had been whining nonstop as they saw her off, to the point that my head was beginning to ache.
I let out a deep sigh as I watched her, then walked over and said,
“Stop whining already. Didn’t you say you wanted to come with us?”
“My little brother can go by himself…. Why are you dragging me along too?”
“Did I ask you to come with me? Father summoned you. How can the eldest daughter of the family try to avoid going?”
Gu Hee-bi had said she hadn’t received an order to return.
The reason she ended up returning to the Gu family with me was quite simple.
I had found the order for Gu Hee-bi’s return among the letters.
‘Where did you think you were running off to?’
I wondered if she hated going back to the clan so much that she would even disobey an order to return.
But considering Lady Mi’s personality, I supposed it was possible.
After all, she was the only person who could hound Gu Hee-bi mercilessly.
Even so, watching her dither like that was unbearably frustrating.
“Ah, let’s just go already!”
In the end, only after I went over and physically dragged Gu Hee-bi along—
were we able to depart for the Gu family.
For reference, Gu Jeol-yeop had agreed to handle the carriage this time as well.
Gu Jeol-yeop, who was now preparing to drive the carriage without even being told, looked reassuring for the first time in a while.
‘It’d be great if he were that quick-witted about other things, too. I’ll put him through his paces later and make sure he stays that way.’
“Ugh…!?”
Gu Jeol-yeop suddenly felt a chill and began looking around.
As expected, the guy had an excellent instinct for things like this.