Chapter 304. Gazing at the Campfire
The sleep demon that drags one into slumber came for me and pulled me off somewhere.
It did not feel pleasant, sinking into a place I could not tell was a swamp or water, but there seemed to be a campfire nearby, so I did not bother opening my eyes.
Even though I was sleeping, I was still short on sleep.
Perhaps it was because I could not fall into a deep sleep and kept having this dream and that. The thought that I had killed the foremost man of the Sado Alliance and the thought that I had avenged Yoran in his stead crossed back and forth.
When the boundary between reality and sleep grew blurred, in my dream I was watching a man running fiercely somewhere.
It was pitiful.
Because I already knew that even if he ran like that, he would not achieve what he wanted.
Was it because it was a dream?
Somehow, I could empathize with the thoughts of the running man, and at some point, as if I were the messenger, I ran in his stead. Perhaps because I was anxious, my qinggong felt slower than usual, and my body felt as if it were floating aimlessly.
But it certainly would not be me.
Because dreams are a mess by nature.
Even as the man ran, he wondered if it would be better to return to the Sado Alliance and fight the Demonic Cult. But because he could not disobey an order, the ugly man arrived at the Murim Alliance, grabbed a passerby, and asked for help, only to be locked in the prison at once.
Because he was a messenger of the Sado Alliance.
Could anything be this unfair and absurd?
The man shouted, asking where in the world there was a law that allowed them to imprison a messenger, and then he was surrounded by alliance members and beaten. The ugly man slapped the iron bars of the prison with his hands, then protested to a young man who approached, asking what sort of law this was.
The young man glared at the ugly man and said this.
“We have no strength to spare helping villains as well. Have you no shame?”
Was it because the word “villain” caught in my mind?
Before I knew it, the messenger trapped behind the iron bars had become me.
From the prison, I poured curses on the bastards of the Murim Alliance. The guards, unable to endure it, left one by one, and then a man whose face was somehow familiar came to see me, claiming it was a visit.
I could speak with this man rather well.
On some days, his face had more wrinkles. On some days, perhaps because he had been injured during a mission, he was wrapped in bandages in a conspicuous fashion. On some days, he looked terribly tired and depressed, and even after coming to visit, he said nothing at all.
One day, the man asked me this question.
“Why did you go around causing so many incidents?”
I headbutted the iron bars and then answered.
“None of your business.”
“The Murim Alliance is not a perfect organization either.”
“I know.”
“Even if no one else does, you should understand me.”
“Why should I?”
“Because I, too, know the sorrow of losing comrades and subordinates. If the experts of the great clans had helped, if there had been an organization supporting the Murim Alliance, if even one more of the emperors aiming for the Alliance Leader’s seat had come. I would have saved my subordinates and the Alliance Leader as well. I resented them and cursed them countless times too.”
“That’s because you cared too much about keeping up appearances. You should have ridden them hard.”
“And that is why I am hated now, is it not? In any case, it seems I will no longer be able to visit you.”
“Why?”
The man who had once been young looked at me with an exhausted, weary face.
“I have become the Alliance Leader.”
“Oh, is that so? Impressive. Work hard, then. Congratulations. The Murim Alliance Leader, huh? You’ve made it in the world.”
Im Sobaek, who had become the Alliance Leader, suddenly glanced around, then took a key from his chest and opened the iron bars.
Startled, I stared at the open door.
“What’s this? Why are you letting me out?”
“Because the Alliance Leader feels like it. Go.”
“Where?”
Im Sobaek gave a faint laugh.
“How would I know where you will go?”
I glared at Im Sobaek and said.
“Can you do this?”
“If a conflict breaks out with the Demonic Cult, I will contact you. Whether you help or not will be up to you.”
“Understood.”
“Hey, Sect Leader.”
“What?”
“Why do you keep speaking so casually? You’re younger than me.”
“Are you my superior?”
Im Sobaek laughed, grabbed me by the shoulder, and pulled me out from behind the iron bars. As soon as I came out of the prison, I frowned and opened my eyes in reality.
It felt as if I had just been released from prison. I felt like I had been trapped in a prison in broad daylight, yet before I knew it, the night sky was visible.
I blinked several times and sat up, and a campfire came into view.
If there had only been a campfire, it would not have been surprising, but the Sword Demon, Ghost Demon, and Lust Demon were sitting there, and beside them sat Im Sobaek as well.
“……”
Seeing someone I had seen in a dream the moment I opened my eyes did not make me feel awake.
Still half asleep, I stared at the campfire and said.
“What is this? Is this a dream? Why is the Alliance Leader here?”
The Lust Demon answered.
“Stop talking in your sleep and sleep some more.”
“Did we get caught?”
“Caught, my ass. You madman, I told you to sleep more.”
Well, they were not the Four Great Villains for nothing, not the sort to be easily caught. Since I could not see any alliance members nearby, it was absurd to me how Im Sobaek had come to be on Baeksado.
I stood up and looked toward the lakeshore.
Under the moonlight, five or six additional rafts were there. Looking at the rafts drove away a bit of my sleep.
The Ghost Demon roughly explained the situation.
“……They could not find boats, so they came on rafts.”
“That’s rather surprising.”
“Indeed.”
Since the foremost man of the Sado Alliance had been controlling the boats, even finding a small skiff must have been difficult. In the end, it meant the special task force had made rafts and arrived at Baeksado.
Some of the alliance members were inspecting the Sado Alliance’s ships, and they looked ready to leave soon. They likely intended to go to the mainland, bring boatmen back, and then move the ships.
Now Im Sobaek would have to assign the largest number of people to the Dongho branch that would be established in the future. One way or another, I thought the work of an Alliance Leader would not be easy.
Suddenly, my eyes met Im Sobaek’s, but he said nothing in particular. It seemed he had already spoken enough with the Four Great Villains around the campfire.
It seemed, after all, that Im Sobaek was the kind of Alliance Leader who had the capacity to save even villains like us.
In any case, I did not know what they had been talking about, but once I woke up, the conversation had cut off completely.
“What were you talking about? Was I unconscious?”
It is my belief that a man of the gangho should not sleep this obliviously. Come to think of it, the reason I was so sleepy was also because of my vigilance. I had hardly ever slept comfortably.
The Ghost Demon said.
“There was no particular conversation. We were just watching the campfire.”
“Is that so?”
Im Sobaek said.
“I heard that the foremost man of the Sado was a messenger from the old Sado Alliance.”
Only then did I somewhat understand the silence. It seemed the Four Great Villains had told him what had happened on Baeksado, and Im Sobaek had been listening without much comment. It must have been because of Im Sobaek’s voice that he had appeared in my dream.
Im Sobaek tilted his head.
“No matter how I think about it, I don’t remember such a request. It must have been when the previous Alliance Leader was still in charge. Or perhaps it was when I had gone out on a mission.”
The Lust Demon asked.
“Alliance Leader, would you have helped them?”
Im Sobaek shook his head.
“I couldn’t have. The Military Council would have opposed it, I would have opposed it, and if we actually sent people, the Demonic Cult and the Sado Alliance could have joined forces and surrounded the Murim Alliance. There would have been no reason to comply. That messenger bastard survived a long time on vain delusions. To think he holed himself up in Dongho and interfered with the Murim Alliance at every turn.”
We merely nodded.
Im Sobaek continued.
“He must have amassed a great fortune. Since he has done nothing since coming here, at least we will recover his wealth properly. It must be wealth he squeezed out of the people of Dongho, so return a large portion to them first. Find and support those who suffered because of that Sado bastard, and then deliver all the remaining money to the Sect Leader.”
I was about to speak casually to the Alliance Leader as I had in the dream, but then I realized this was not a dream.
“If I receive support from the Murim Alliance, I will share it with Master Yukhab, Senior Sword Demon, and Mongrang.”
“Even so, it will likely be no small sum. Is there anything each of you wants to do?”
When Im Sobaek looked at the Sword Demon, the Sword Demon shook his head.
This time, Im Sobaek looked at the Lust Demon and said,
“You won’t just drink it all away, will you?”
“Of course not, Alliance Leader. I will take this chance to become independent from my family.”
“You still haven’t?”
“No.”
“A man should be independent once he is past twenty. You have thought well.”
Im Sobaek looked at the Ghost Demon.
“Yukhab, what about you?”
The Ghost Demon was about to say something when the alliance members on the boat, which had begun to depart, shouted.
“……Alliance Leader, we’ll be back!”
“We’ll bring food when we return as well.”
Im Sobaek turned his head and answered the alliance members.
“Go on.”
I also waved toward the alliance members. I had simply waved without thinking much of it, but a member of the Special Operations Unit went out of his way to wave back at me.
“Sect Leader, we’ll be back.”
I burst out laughing and nodded.
“Have a safe trip.”
The Four Great Villains and Im Sobaek must have found it absurd as well, for they let out a few hollow laughs. Im Sobaek said with a smile,
“Where were we? Ah, Yukhab.”
The Ghost Demon answered.
“Right now, there is nothing I particularly want to do. All I can think is that I must keep getting stronger.”
“And after you become stronger?”
The Ghost Demon hesitated at this simple question. But none of us said anything until he answered. In the end, the Ghost Demon opened his mouth.
“If the day comes when my skill has risen enough, I will rebuild the Yukhab Sect……”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“Rebuild it. I will support you.”
At the words that he would support him, the Ghost Demon looked at Im Sobaek with a puzzled expression.
“What support do you mean?”
“Nothing much. I mean I’ll occasionally send a messenger to ask after you and the like.”
“Ah.”
Im Sobaek looked at the Lust Demon.
“And you?”
“Pardon?”
“Other than drinking and meeting women, do you have no other plans?”
The Lust Demon answered.
“I simply want to have a somewhat spacious house. If I save up enough money, that is.”
“Why a spacious house? I know the Mong family is a wealthy household.”
The Lust Demon answered.
“They were wealthy, but the only space of my own was a single room. I was more comfortable outside.”
“Enough money will go around for you to build that much of a house, so do not squander it all on wine, women, and song.”
“Yes.”
Im Sobaek looked at me.
“As for the Sect Leader, you have so many places to spend money that I am not worried.”
After asking each person what they would do with the money, Im Sobaek finally looked at the Sword Demon.
“And you?”
The Sword Demon met Im Sobaek’s eyes and asked back.
“What?”
“I am curious what you would do if you came into a large sum of money.”
The Sword Demon pondered his answer with a displeased expression, then replied as if forcing himself to speak.
“Well, I suppose I should obtain some spiritual medicine and consume it.”
After hearing the answer, Im Sobaek sighed.
“You all seem like men without any clear goals in life.”
We did have clear goals, so I could not grasp why Alliance Leader Im was saying such a thing. Something suddenly occurred to me, so I asked the Alliance Leader.
“But Senior Alliance Leader, why have you never married?”
Im Sobaek looked at me, then answered in a tone slightly more at ease than before.
“Would you, if you were me?”
I shook my head.
Im Sobaek said,
“The father of the current cult leader was killed by the previous Alliance Leader, who was essentially my master. In the aftermath, the previous Alliance Leader could not live out his allotted years either. Since he is a man with pride, he will try to settle the matter one way or another. He is already one of the Three Calamities feared by all martial artists, so he will not live in seclusion. It is strange that he has endured it until now. He must have a meticulous nature.”
“What does that have to do with why you have not married?”
Im Sobaek looked at the Sword Demon.
“……I heard he killed nearly all of them during the succession struggle.”
The Sword Demon nodded.
“He did. He is a merciless man, and since he himself was not the eldest young master who had been designated as successor, he likely had no choice.”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“The Righteous Path, as I see it, must either raise disciples or produce children. That is my personal thought. When the time comes that we no longer have to go sleepless on islands like this, the four of you should each meet a spouse and marry as well.”
The Sword Demon replied with an absurd expression.
“Is that an order?”
Im Sobaek was certainly older, but the Sword Demon was also the sort of person for whom polite speech felt awkward.
Im Sobaek shook his head.
“I am saying it to myself as well.”
The Lust Demon asked the Alliance Leader in what, for him, was a cautious tone.
“Isn’t it too late for you?”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“True enough. If I’d done it earlier, I might have had a son like you. I don’t know what sins I committed in my past life to suffer like this.”
“Is the position of Alliance Leader that difficult? I ask because I don’t know.”
Im Sobaek looked at the Lust Demon.
“Do you want it? I’ll hand it over and retire.”
The Lust Demon answered with a startled expression.
“Me? There’d be a rebellion.”
“So you do know. Yukhap, what about you?”
The Ghost Demon answered.
“I’m not fit for it.”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“That is true. Sword Demon, what about you?”
As if the question itself were absurd, the Sword Demon shook his head. Im Sobaek looked at me with a smile.
“Our Hao Sect Leader, are you interested in the Alliance Leader’s seat?”
In all my life, I had never been asked such an absurd question.
“Senior, there can’t be a more boring position in the world.”
“Why? In what way?”
“Can you beat your subordinates?”
“Because of the Alliance Leader’s dignity, I can’t. When I was a captain, I hit them a bit, though. I hit my seniors a lot too, deliberately challenging them under the pretext of sparring.”
I pointed at the Lust Demon.
“What would you do if a bastard like this were your subordinate?”
Im Sobaek looked at the Lust Demon.
“I’d drag him over by the hair and beat him.”
Only then did we all burst into laughter at the same time. Im Sobaek, who seemed to have been joking all along, laughed along with us as he looked around at Baeksado, then said,
“I should have been the one to kill Sado. You all went through a lot.”
The Lust Demon replied,
“Not at all.”
Im Sobaek said to us,
“Strangely, I feel like I’ve received a great deal of help from you all. I’m saying this because my subordinates aren’t here, but even if you cross the line a little, I’ll use the Alliance Leader’s authority to roughly smooth things over. Still, there are many strong masters in the gangho, so be careful.”
After joking to his heart’s content, he finally brought up the awkward matter.
I also wished Im Sobaek good fortune in battle.
“Senior, I hope you remain Alliance Leader until your hair turns white, then retire without any trouble. And get married too.”
Whenever the conversation lapsed, we looked at the campfire. As I watched the flames burn down, I thought of our future. Since I felt I would never be able to meet a normal beauty, I asked the Alliance Leader on impulse.
“Senior.”
“Hm?”
“If we all survive, introduce me to a decent woman later.”
Im Sobaek asked,
“Are you serious?”
When I nodded, Im Sobaek nodded several times as well, then said,
“Understood. An ordinary woman won’t do.”
I didn’t bother asking what he meant by ordinary, but even I thought an ordinary woman probably wouldn’t do. In truth, if even the Murim Alliance Leader couldn’t pull it off, I figured it would be better to just live alone as I had in my previous life.
Damn it…….