Chapter 203. If There Aren’t Any, Fine.
I found myself staring at the signboard of the Thousand Li Inn and muttered.
“Damn, running one little inn in peace is this hard.”
Now the Demonic Cult might come here, the White-Robed Scholar might come here, and this time, reassuringly enough, even the Jaecheon Alliance had joined in. At this rate, it would not be strange if a Great War between the Orthodox and Demonic Factions broke out right in front of the inn.
“Sambok.”
“Yes.”
“Running a single shop is this difficult.”
It was rather out of the blue, but Sambok seemed to have roughly understood what I meant, for he nodded and replied.
“Indeed. I did not know that before either.”
I said with a smile.
“Of course you didn’t. In your eyes, innkeepers and waiters who hadn’t learned martial arts must all have seemed like men living worthless lives. But their weakness is not something to condemn or look down on. Third Young Master, being born the son of the Demonic Cult Leader and an ordinary man being born into an ordinary family are not matters one can choose. Am I wrong?”
The Third Young Master only nodded.
I continued.
“If someone is born in a neighborhood like this, and his father happens to work at an inn, then the son might spend all day helping with inn work. Where would he find the time to become strong?”
This time, Sambok answered.
“That is true.”
“The four of you… I don’t know how our fates will be tied together from here on. Since we’ve met like this, I’ll ask you one thing. Fighting and killing other martial artists is, indeed, a matter of pride. To some extent, it is a fair fight between both sides. But do not torment the people who work in places like this. That is why I quit being a waiter and created Haomun.”
Sambok stared at me in utter shock, then even checked Ghost Demon’s and Lust Demon’s expressions. With a look of disbelief, he asked me.
“You were a waiter?”
I nodded calmly.
“Once, yes.”
I looked at the Thousand Li Inn as I continued.
“I once had an inn like this, but it burned down to nothing. The Butcher probably didn’t build this inn himself either. He must have killed someone and taken it. The affairs that unfold around a single inn can be this harsh.”
Suddenly, I looked over at Won Gaseong, who was wriggling beside us like an earthworm.
“Your eyes still had life in them, and sure enough, you’re still alive.”
I returned to where I had been sitting and watched Won Gaseong struggle to rise. A streak of blood was flowing down his forehead.
Won Gaseong knelt with a wretched expression and looked at us. He seemed half out of his mind.
Ghost Demon asked for my opinion.
“Sect Leader, what will you do with that one now? I am starting to think it is always right to ask Third Brother’s opinion and resolve matters that way. What about Fourth Brother?”
Lust Demon answered.
“Why am I Fourth Brother? That pisses me off.”
Ghost Demon proposed a solution.
“If you dislike being Fourth Brother, make a Fifth Brother. And a Sixth.”
I had no intention of offering a solution, so I picked on Lust Demon.
“If you don’t like it, you should’ve been born earlier. What were you doing, not being born in advance? And we don’t need to decide what to do with Won Gaseong. He came to capture the Third Young Master, so the Third Young Master should choose. Kill him or spare him, do as you like. It has more to do with your fate, so it is none of my concern.”
The Third Young Master looked at Won Gaseong and nodded.
“Who ordered you?”
Won Gaseong studied the Third Young Master’s expression. That was not a wise thing to do. After all, the Third Young Master was, in the end, a grand lord of the Demonic Cult, and he would not have the slightest hesitation in killing such a man.
Perhaps Won Gaseong had enough sense, for he answered at once.
“The Second Grand Duke requested it.”
“What did he say?”
Won Gaseong spoke as if he had something to say for himself.
“He knew that the Third Grand Duke was recruiting experts from the Evil and Unorthodox paths. He said he was busy with training, so he asked the Jaecheon Alliance to resolve it, or else capture the Third Young Master alive and bring him back. In exchange, he ordered us to kill all the Evil and Unorthodox people around the Third Young Master.”
We looked at the Third Young Master, who could not answer.
After thinking for a while, the Third Young Master said to Won Gaseong.
“Hall Master Won.”
“Speak.”
“Tell them that all the Evil and Unorthodox people I had under me were killed by the Haomun Sect Leader. And that I was driven to the brink of death by the Haomun Sect Leader, but unexpectedly received forgiveness from the apostate Left Envoy of Light, Senior Sword Demon, and was released. Do you understand that much?”
“I understand.”
“They may ask why the Left Envoy suddenly appeared there, but it was unexpected for me as well. You can explain that the Haomun Sect Leader and the Left Envoy seem to have some personal ties. Let us settle the circumstances like that. Convey this to Second Brother. I will withdraw from the succession struggle. I promise that I will not recruit Evil and Unorthodox martial artists or assassins to attack the two Grand Dukes.”
Won Gaseong nodded.
“Mm.”
The Third Young Master declared his decision.
“However, tell him not to touch my maternal family. I will withdraw from the line of succession on my own, but as a martial artist… I will train in martial arts and challenge the Grand Dukes someday. Also, I will not be returning to the cult for the time being. Hall Master Won, I would like you to convey my sincerity.”
Won Gaseong answered.
“I will do my utmost.”
The Third Young Master nodded.
“If the Haomun Sect Leader has no objection, I will spare you and send you back. Go.”
Won Gaseong struggled to his feet and looked at me with an anxious expression.
“Sect Leader.”
“What?”
“May I return?”
I sat slouched in my chair and beckoned to Won Gaseong.
“Come here. We should at least exchange parting words.”
Won Gaseong came closer before me and stood with his hands clasped in front of him. I memorized Won Gaseong’s face once more, then conveyed my true feelings.
“Hall Master Won, you see.”
“Yes.”
“I know that my current skill may be lacking compared to your alliance leader or the top experts within the Jaecheon Alliance. I am speaking honestly.”
“Yes.”
I met Won Gaseong’s eyes and said.
“But if war breaks out with the Jaecheon Alliance, I promise I will personally tear apart and kill eighty percent of your Jaecheon Alliance with my own hands.”
“……”
“You are the messenger who will convey the will of the Third Young Master and Haomun. I hope that with your judgment and eloquence, war will not break out. You saw with your own eyes the goddamn lunacy I was about to unleash above the inn, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I saw the light.”
“I am an unstable man, so I do not show mercy every time. Since things have come to this, have the Jaecheon Alliance investigate my deeds in greater detail. For the most part, I killed everyone and came this far. You are on the lucky side. Go.”
Only then did Won Gaseong exhale a trembling breath, cup his fist toward me, and look around at everyone as he offered his farewell.
“Sect Leader, Young Master Mong, Master Yukhap, Third Grand Duke. I shall withdraw. Thank you for sparing my life.”
When he spoke while leaving him out entirely, Sambok snorted.
Won Gaseong spotted Sambok and spoke in a lingering, resentful tone.
“Sorry for making you carry me on your back. Thanks to that, I got beaten by you quite a bit as well. Then, I’ll be going.”
To Won Gaseong’s retreating back, Sambok muttered.
“Is that bastard saying he’s sorry, or that he’s going to get revenge……?”
As the atmosphere turned awkward, Sambok seemed to think he had gone too far and immediately apologized to the Third Young Master.
“My apologies, Young Master.”
The Third Young Master looked up at the sky, then answered.
“What are you apologizing for?”
“I spoke out of turn.”
The Third Young Master stared quietly at Sambok.
“That much is fine.”
“Yes.”
For a moment, no one opened their mouths, and the front of the Cheolli Inn fell briefly silent. A moment like this could truly be called staying still without doing anything at all.
Sambok moved about on his own, going around pouring liquor. From the look of it, Sambok wanted to drink, so he had poured drinks for us first.
When we had moistened our throats a little with liquor, the Third Young Master began speaking in a calm tone.
“……The very first thing I learned as a child was to reduce joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. If you rejoice greatly, attachment builds; if attachment builds, it hinders cultivation. If you grow greatly angry, you lose your composure; if you lose your composure, you let your enemy slip away. If you grieve greatly, your heart weakens; if your heart weakens, you forgive your enemy. If you take great pleasure, you begin to chase pleasure; if you chase it, you neglect your cultivation. Only by reducing joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure can you become strong. You must become strong to survive. That is what I learned even before I learned martial arts.”
I looked at the Third Young Master’s expression. Come to think of it, there did not seem to be any particular emotion on his face. He was a man who had learned how to restrain his feelings.
Of course, I had no idea why he was saying this while we were drinking.
But since everyone was drinking, we were in a state ready to listen to the Third Young Master.
When the Third Young Master fell silent for a moment, I said to him.
“And so?”
The Third Young Master stared ahead and let out a sigh.
“And so…… is this what I became? Even when someone around me suddenly died, I was not greatly saddened. There was nothing to rejoice greatly over, nor anything to take great pleasure in. The Left Preceptor and Right Preceptor, who taught us for a time, were men who seemed to have no emotions at all. The other instructors and masters were the same. But all these men lacking in emotion feared or were wary of the Cult Leader, so I naturally came to think this: someday, I too must become that kind of person. Is that truly right?”
The Third Young Master looked at us and spoke with truly hollow eyes.
“To be honest, I do not really know how I should live from now on.”
I could not help but laugh.
When I laughed, the Third Young Master asked as if curious.
“Why are you laughing?”
“There’s no particular reason when one laughs. If something is funny, you laugh.”
The Third Young Master said to me.
“Among joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, I know anger well. But right now, I find it difficult to even distinguish whether what I feel is sorrow or not.”
I drank a cup of liquor, then stood up and stepped forward, standing before an audience made up of villains.
It felt as though I were giving a solo performance, and also as though I had become a teacher instructing clumsy villains.
In any case, after thinking for a moment, I said what I wanted to say.
“What is sorrow?”
I paced back and forth with my hands clasped behind my back, then pointed at the Cheolli Inn.
“The name of the inn my grandfather left me was Zaha Inn. One day, when I belatedly realized that Grandfather had grown far too old, I finally looked closely at his life and came to understand that from the moment he opened his eyes until the moment he closed them, his life was, for the most part, spent worrying only about me. There was not the slightest sign that Grandfather’s life or mine would improve. And I realized far too late that Grandfather would soon depart for the heavens as well. One day, after wandering around outside with nothing better to do, I returned home, and even before entering the room, I knew the inn was far too quiet.”
“…….”
“I knew it then. I had known before that I was alone, but in truth, because Grandfather was there, I had not been alone. And in that silence, I realized that I had only just become alone. Sorrow is, for the most part, the moment when feelings like that come rushing in all at once.”
I looked into the Third Young Master’s eyes.
“Do you understand a little what sorrow is?”
The Third Young Master nodded.
I now explained anger to the Third Young Master.
“……There were still many memories left in the inn, but in truth, there was little money. We had to pay tribute. I often fought with the bastards who extorted money from us, but one day, I rushed out at a strange sound and found the inn on fire. It was blazing fiercely. The inn was a bastard very weak to flames. As I watched the inn engulfed in fire, Grandfather came to mind as well, and my feelings became complicated. The feeling in my heart when I looked at the bastards who had set the fire—that was clear anger. Do you understand this too?”
The Third Young Master nodded.
This time, I briefly explained joy as well, though it was not my field of expertise.
“Still, I feel satisfied that today I seem to have taught devils like you, however roughly, what sorrow is. That is my small joy.”
“…….”
With a dry smile, Sambok asked me.
“Sect Leader, then what is pleasure?”
I answered Sambok with a smile.
“That, I do not know well either. Nor can I discover it right away. I can roughly guess what the greatest pleasure in the world might be…… but for fellows like us, the possibility of such a day coming is slim. It is a difficult thing.”
Sambok nodded.
“That is true.”
I wiped the smile from my face and said.
“There are still many bastards who need to be beaten to death, so let us think about that later. Not yet. Anyone care to explain pleasure to me? Is there anyone?”
I looked in turn at the Lust Demon, the Ghost Demon, the Third Young Master, and Sambok. All of them either shook their heads with their mouths shut or remained still.
I nodded, then said.
“If not, then fine.”