Chapter 654: I Intend to Stand on Stage with Him
Chapter 654: I Intend to Stand on Stage with Him
Heaven’s End Recluse recoiled at the words "incarnation of revenge."
No matter how much Geom Mu-geuk had provoked him before, he had only shown the slightest flicker of emotion. But at those specific words, his reaction was visceral.
"Wait!"
By the time he shouted, Geom Mu-geuk had already opened the door and stepped out.
Heaven’s End Recluse rushed forward and flung the door open, but Geom Mu-geuk had already vanished. Instead of the Young Cult Leader, a middle-aged man was walking toward him from the far end of the hallway.
"Manor Lord, is something the matter?"
The man approaching was Chief Manager Ju, the overseer of Musojang. He was a man who lived for Heaven’s End Recluse and the manor—always present, yet perfectly blended into the background.
His name was Ju So-myeong.
"Did you see the Young Cult Leader?"
"No, I did not."
Ju So-myeong had been walking down the hallway, yet the boy had vanished right under his nose. Since all the windows in the corridor were closed, he had truly disappeared like a ghost.
Considering Geom Mu-geuk had bypassed the eyes of countless martial artists to enter the manor in the first place, such a disappearance should have been expected.
"He even evaded your eyes."
Surprisingly, these words implied that the Recluse trusted the Chief Manager’s eyes more than all the warriors guarding the premises combined.
At that, Ju So-myeong’s gaze shifted. It was a look he never showed to those who visited Musojang. His usual friendly demeanor turned sharp and cold, transforming him into an entirely different person. In an instant, he was no longer Chief Manager Ju, but the long-time right hand of Hwa Yul-cheong.
Ju So-myeong scanned the hallway again. He checked the latched windows and inspected the ceiling. Soon, he shook his head. There wasn't a single trace of the Young Cult Leader’s exit.
In other words, he had passed right by him.
"His skill is difficult to believe."
Heaven’s End Recluse turned his gaze toward the window.
"Yes, he is a man hard to believe in."
His voice dropped into a low bass, and his eyes changed as well. It was a look and a tone he had never revealed while Geom Mu-geuk was present. Now, even his aura shifted.
Originally, his presence was like a single flower blooming loftily in a snowy field. But now, the color of the falling snow turned a deep, somber gray. What drifted through the air was no longer snow, but the charred flakes of ash rising from a pyre.
The air seemed to fill with the echoes of agonized screams.
On the ground where the snow had vanished, corpses lay strewn everywhere, and blood flowed like a river. The fluttering ash was the remains of the dead being consumed by flames. He stood in the center of a battlefield where only mournful resentment lingered.
His eyes, as he surveyed the carnage, were boiling with intensity. It was a heat so fierce one wondered how he had managed to keep it hidden all this time.
This was his true aura.
"The Young Cult Leader knows about me."
Ju So-myeong’s expression hardened, understanding the weight of those words.
"That is impossible. He must have been bluffing. Is he not an exceptionally clever man?"
Heaven’s End Recluse nodded, revealing his honest thoughts.
"Calling him clever isn't enough. If I were even ten years younger, my identity would have been exposed."
He had been shaken by Geom Mu-geuk. There was something about the Young Cult Leader that tugged at a person's emotions. Looking into those eyes and listening to his words made something surge deep within.
However, there was one thing he did not realize.
Even though he wasn't ten years younger, his identity had already been exposed.
Because at this very moment, Geom Mu-geuk was standing right in front of him.
It was the Geom Mu-geuk within the Space-Time Displacement Technique.
Earlier, as he opened the door to leave, Geom Mu-geuk had sensed someone approaching from the end of the hallway and stepped into the displaced space. He had acted on a sudden intuition that anyone remaining after the others had left might share something important.
His intuition had been spot on.
Even though he knew the man was the mastermind, Hwa Yul-cheong’s acting had been so perfect that a tiny sliver of doubt had remained. Now, the truth was laid bare.
Outside the displaced space, Hwa Yul-cheong looked toward where Mu-geuk had been and spoke.
"Geom Mu-geuk, you will be the villain of this stage. The Great Demonic-Orthodox War will happen regardless, and you will be the cause of it."
Geom Mu-geuk stood before him with cold eyes.
Fine. I’ll play the villain for you.
He had no intention of stepping onto such a grand stage for free.
But in exchange, the performance fee will be your life.
*
Jin Pae-cheon stood in the garden in front of his quarters, hands clasped behind his back, looking up at the sky. The back of the man who anchored the Orthodox faction felt unusually lonely today.
He had lived a life knowing no fear. No villain, no master, not even the Demonic Cult or the Unorthodox Path Alliance had ever daunted him. Yet, through this recent ordeal, he felt a strange sense of helplessness.
He would have preferred to lose in a martial bout; that kind of loss wouldn't bring this sense of desolation. He could just train harder. He could train and win the next time. What tormented him now was the realization that his judgment was no longer what it used to be.
Am I finally getting old?
In the past, he would have made a decision several times over by now. Yet here he was, still hesitating between Geom Mu-geuk and Heaven’s End Recluse. He tried to excuse himself by saying he needed decisive evidence, but in his prime, he would have known instinctively whose words were true.
It was that razor-sharp instinct that had allowed him to sustain the Orthodox Murim until now. But he felt that instinct had grown dull.
Guided by the guards of the Alliance Leader’s Palace, a man entered the garden. Wearing a bamboo hat pulled low, it was Geom Mu-geuk. He removed the hat and bowed politely.
"I greet the Alliance Leader."
Mu-geuk had expected to meet in the main hall, but the Leader had summoned him here, to his private residence. Given the current situation, he hadn't expected to be allowed this deep into the inner quarters unless it was for the Three-Party Meeting.
Just then, a woman entered the garden.
"It’s been a while."
Seeing her, Mu-geuk understood why he had been brought here. It was Jin Ha-ryeong.
She looked more mature than when they had last met. She had always been beautiful, but now she possessed the strength of experience and training. Her achievement was palpable.
"I can feel the rough winds of the Jianghu on you," Mu-geuk remarked.
At his playful greeting, Jin Ha-ryeong smiled and asked, "Is that a compliment?"
"Of course."
The two of them could now treat each other with the comfort of old friends, even after a long absence. There was a clear reason for her change.
Everyone is changing day by day because of a certain someone. I can't be the only one falling behind.
That mindset had fueled her efforts.
"Have you been well?"
"I haven't been doing so great, thanks to a certain someone. I haven't been able to leave this inner court."
Because of Geom Mu-geuk’s prediction that Jin Ha-gun and Jin Ha-ryeong might be targets, she had been confined to the inner court of the Alliance Leader’s Palace. Even there, she was surrounded by layers of guards.
"At first, I thought you guys were attacking."
It was true. She had been at a gathering of Rising Stars when the guards burst in and escorted her away. The other martial artists there probably thought the Alliance was facing a major crisis.
"If we had attacked..."
"Everyone at that gathering would be dead?"
When she looked at him with mock suspicion, Geom Mu-geuk laughed and waved his hands.
"No! I'm not the type to break up a party. You don't have to worry. You know how much I love it when people get together, right? Speaking of which, it’s about time we all met up. I need to hear how Bi Sa-in and Young Palace Master Han are doing."
Jin Ha-ryeong laughed at his words. She knew from her grandfather how serious the current situation was. Yet, even in these circumstances, Geom Mu-geuk never lost his smile. How could she not be fond of him?
Jin Pae-cheon watched the two of them talk in silence. Suddenly, he remembered the moment Jin Ha-ryeong had brought Geom Mu-geuk to him, claiming he was the man she would marry.
Maybe I should have just forced the marriage then.
At the time, he had thought it was an absurd notion, but now he found himself wondering. If I had, how would things be different now? Would this current dilemma even exist?
Once the reunion was over, Jin Pae-cheon turned to Geom Mu-geuk.
"Did you meet him?"
"Yes, Alliance Leader."
Seeing as he asked in front of Jin Ha-ryeong, it seemed she had been briefed on the situation.
"And what did you find out?"
It wasn't a question with an easy answer, yet the response came swiftly and with absolute certainty.
"I have confirmed that he is the mastermind."
A heavy silence fell over the garden. Both of them knew well that Geom Mu-geuk was not the type to lie about such matters.
"Did the Recluse really join hands with those people?" Jin Ha-ryeong asked, her face filled with genuine shock.
In contrast, Jin Pae-cheon showed no emotion, merely staring intently at Geom Mu-geuk.
"He didn't join hands with them; he is the mastermind. If he weren't, he wouldn't have betrayed his friendship with the Alliance Leader."
These words were also for Jin Pae-cheon—a reminder that this wasn't a simple matter of personal betrayal.
"This isn't a betrayal. He was merely acting from the very moment he entered your life."
Hearing those words, Jin Pae-cheon felt as if a small vent had been opened in his suffocatingly heavy heart. Geom Mu-geuk began to widen that opening.
"This is just one of the countless conspiracies that happen in the Murim. It only lasted so long because you are such a formidable person. So, please do not attach any meaning to this. Even without him, aren't there plenty of other things worth your attention?"
Geom Mu-geuk’s gaze shifted toward Jin Ha-ryeong. He was saying through his actions: Don't you have precious people who truly deserve your heart and focus?
Of course, Mu-geuk knew that a few words couldn't heal such a wound. That was why he focused on tearing that vent wide open.
"It isn't even worth the mental energy. You don't need to give this more weight than a friend of five years, ten years, or even a friend you met the day before yesterday. This isn't a matter of friendship. The fact that it lasted so long makes it even more meaningless. He endured for decades? That’s madness, not friendship."
Though he knew Mu-geuk was saying this for his sake, the words were undeniably helpful to Jin Pae-cheon. He felt the pressure on his chest easing bit by bit.
"This isn't a matter of whether you recognized his true nature or not. You are a martial artist, not an actor. The problem isn't on your end; it's on theirs. It’s their desire to swallow the Murim that is the problem. It’s the obsession that allowed them to hide their identity for decades. None of them are sane."
Geom Mu-geuk added one last thing.
"So, you can just say this to him: 'You bastard, you certainly worked hard to put on that act of chivalry all these years.'"
Jin Ha-ryeong could feel it. Geom Mu-geuk was trying his best to ensure her grandfather wasn't left with a permanent scar on his heart. Yes, this was the kind of man he was.
Jin Ha-ryeong asked him pointedly, "And what if you were the villain?"
Of course, she trusted him completely. She was asking the question her grandfather couldn't.
"Then we'd be in real trouble."
Jin Ha-ryeong almost burst out laughing at his reply. His joking tone made the truth of it hit home. Yes, if he were the villain, the world would truly be in chaos.
Geom Mu-geuk spoke to her calmly.
"But if I were to cause trouble, it wouldn't be like this. I wouldn't be weaving conspiracies while being suspected until the very end."
He turned back to Jin Pae-cheon as if defending himself.
"If I were to plot something, I’d make it much more convenient and exciting!"
Agreeing with him, Jin Ha-ryeong looked at her grandfather. You know it too, don't you? That he's telling the truth. If this man really plotted something, he wouldn't even create a situation like this. We’d be defeated before we even knew there was a plot.
Jin Pae-cheon looked at Geom Mu-geuk in silence. How could he not see the effort the young man was making for him? Through this Young Cult Leader, he was constantly reminded that trust isn't a matter of how long you've known someone.
"Why do you go to such lengths for me?"
Geom Mu-geuk glanced at Jin Ha-ryeong before giving an unexpected answer.
"You're my friend's grandfather. That makes you no different from my own grandfather."
Jin Pae-cheon looked at Jin Ha-ryeong. If not for Geom Mu-geuk, neither his granddaughter nor his grandson would be in this world. Seeing her there, he realized anew how great a debt he owed the boy for saving her.
Even if that act was unrelated to the truth of the current situation, it heavily influenced his decision now. Without Geom Mu-geuk, these children wouldn't exist, and his life would have been meaningless. Why was he struggling to trust this man?
"Tell me about this 'convenient and exciting' plot you intend to weave. I can't afford to fall for it."
At those words, Geom Mu-geuk smiled brightly. Jin Pae-cheon finally trusted him.
Geom Mu-geuk bowed deeply.
"Thank you for believing in me."
"I'm sorry it took so long to decide."
"If it were me, I would have agonized over it for another ten years."
Jin Pae-cheon smiled. This Young Cult Leader was making him laugh at the very moment he had to accept his old friend was a traitor. Fine, he would trust him and see this through.
Jin Ha-ryeong smiled at Mu-geuk. Thank you, friend. I’ll be sure to repay you for what you did for my grandfather today.
Geom Mu-geuk replied with a bright smile of his own. Once he had made his decision, Jin Pae-cheon did not look back. He intended to handle this matter by trusting Mu-geuk.
"What is the reason you asked to see me today? Did you come to ask for permission to kill him?"
Since Mu-geuk had informed him before meeting the Recluse, the Leader assumed he was now seeking permission to finish him.
"No. I am going to show you clearly, Alliance Leader. I will prove that he is the true mastermind."
Jin Pae-cheon shook his head, saying it wasn't necessary.
"I believe your word."
"That is exactly why I must show you. Since you are someone who believes in me, I must show you the truth."
The Alliance Leader’s heart had been unburdened. But a small hole would still remain. A hole of doubt. If he handled the matter without direct confirmation, that hole of doubt might never be filled. Mu-geuk had no intention of letting his relationship with the Leader continue that way.
Now, Geom Mu-geuk began the work of filling that hole.
"I intend to stand on stage with him."
And the request he had come to make of the Alliance Leader today was this:
"Please be the audience for that stage."