Chapter 90
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Self-Made Nickname
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“Sis, how can you be so chummy with the guy who turned my face into this?”
No idea where he’d been hiding and watching from, but Dang Haeun suddenly popped out and yelled. A massive dark bruise adorned his face. Dang Ha-kyung chuckled and praised her second-younger brother’s progress.
“You’ve gotten pretty good at hiding your presence.”
“Really? That’s all thanks to you overseeing my training… No, don’t change the subject!”
Dang Ha-kyung, hands lightly clasped behind her back, turned her head at his whiny complaint laced with resentment.
The gaze of the snake called Iri, the mouse before the snake, and the little snake was forcibly locked together.
“I merely foresaw the future. If relations sour with Mount Hua—one of the pillars of the Nine Great Sects—it’ll bring headaches down the line. All because of that careless tongue of yours.”
“Even so, he’s just a third-generation disciple…!”
“Time flows, and generations turn over. Enough with the nonsense. Is your pride and mood more important than the Tang Clan’s future?”
Dang Haeun tucked in his tail at the displeasure and killing intent reflected in her half-covered eyes, hurriedly changing the subject.
“No, forget the exchange with that little dojo. Why do you keep bringing up the betrothal with that Namgung Seheon bastard? You know the marriage won’t happen anyway, yet you’re acting all lingering about it, which isn’t like you…”
Dang Ha-kyung burst into loud laughter as if she’d heard some hilarious joke.
“Ahahaha! Lingering, you say? It’s pretty fun watching him flap around at the slightest prod. If he dies, I won’t get to enjoy this anymore, so that’d be a real shame.”
“Even so, he’s family. You wouldn’t actually go so far as to kill him, right?”
“Before power, even parent-child bonds turn ugly—what more between siblings? Don’t lump him in with our clan.”
Like recognizes like. In just one meeting, Dang Ha-kyung had seen through the serpentine glint in Namgung Seheon’s eyes.
She wasn’t thrilled about being used as a test for her brother’s sake, but it had been entertaining enough to let it slide.
“To think he doesn’t realize my marriage to him is the last mercy Namgung Seheon will show me, stubbornly refusing it. No greenhorn that foolish could survive in that viper’s clutches.”
Dang Ha-kyung clicked her tongue while gazing up at the piercingly blue sky, then abruptly asked,
“What was that new nickname for the kid from that little dojo?”
“Mount Hua Mad Dog, sis.”
“Right. The Mount Hua Mad Dog must be pretty bummed. Maybe it’s a blessing the sprout of those feelings got nipped before he could even learn the answer. But why ‘Mad Dog’?”
“Exactly. His looks and temperament feel more wolf-like, like you, sis, than dog. It reeks of malicious intent to belittle him…”
Though harboring grudge from the beating, he kept an objective view and nailed the intent behind the nickname’s creator and spreader.
Or maybe, having seen those eyes up close, he couldn’t bear to call them ‘dog’.
“Well, wolves are canines too.”
Dang Ha-kyung laughed and quickened her pace. Dang Haeun matched her speed, hurrying after her.
Back in the quarters assigned to the Sacheon Tang Clan at the venue, Dang Ha-kyung firmly shut the door, confirmed no one was around, and lowered her voice.
“No one’s asking about Fifth Brother’s absence?”
“Second Brother said we told Huangbo-in and Jeon Gal-hee that Fifth was sick and couldn’t come.”
A few years back, the Demonic Cult’s simultaneous kidnappings across the Central Plains.
The Sacheon Tang Clan had been an unreported victim. More precisely, the clan had deliberately covered it up.
Yet they hadn’t even faced suspicion. Outwardly, the Tang Clan had no divine relic fragments.
“The fact that the Tang Clan possesses a fragment of the Demonic Cult’s divine relic must never reach the Murim Alliance. Not as long as we know the secret of the Heavenly Fire Mirror.”
The secret of the Heavenly Fire Mirror. The most classified record, kept in a location known only to the clan head.
A truth known only to a scant few in the Tang Clan and the Day and Month Divine Church. One that could plunge the world into chaos if revealed.
“So keep hiding Fifth Brother’s kidnapping like now, with whatever excuse. That’s Mother’s order.”
“Yes, sis. I’ll pass it on to the other siblings too.”
“Good boy.”
She patted his head, and with his face flushing red, Dang Haeun dashed out like a loyal hound to find his brothers.
Dang Ha-kyung blinked slowly, watching the direction Dang Haeun had run off in.
“Come to think of it, that Mount Hua Mad Dog is the same age as Haeun.”
Who’d have thought I’d lose to a kid three ranks my junior in life. A hollow chuckle escaped her lips, but no displeasure showed on her face.
* * *
“Wow, Grand Martial Uncle. Congrats. You’ve already got a nickname.”
Finally, I had a nickname too!
Biwon clapped enthusiastically, eyes sparkling as he asked,
“What is it?”
“Right away… Mount Hua Mad Dog!”
…What? Mad Dog?
“Light ‘guang’ and ‘see’ ‘eon’, right?”
“No way. Mad ‘mad’ and dog ‘geon’. Mad dog.”
I tried denying reality, but Biwon woofed like a dog, dragging me firmly back to it.
Uiseong, who’d dropped by the third-generation quarters and heard the shitty nickname, clutched his stomach laughing.
“Kid, what the hell have you been up to for ‘Mad Dog’ to stick?”
“Our kid’s grown enough to earn a nickname already,” Uiseong said, pressing down hard on my head. I dodged his hand desperately, yelling,
“I didn’t do anything! All my actions were self-defense!”
Hand on my conscience, I hadn’t done anything deserving ‘mad dog’.
“Right, Grand Martial Uncle’s not at fault. The problem’s those who made and spread the nickname with intent.”
At Biryeong’s nonchalant agreement, I urgently asked,
“You know who spread it?”
“Jongnam.”
I ground my teeth at the sect name from Biryeong’s mouth.
“No, honestly, didn’t Bihoon bring that grudge on himself? Why target Grand Martial Uncle specifically…?”
“They’ve got reason to hold a grudge. They were pumped to pick on Mount Hua’s genius after so long, but Grand Martial Uncle ruined it.”
“Pfft, Grand Martial Uncle ignored Jongnam like they were breathing from the start. No grudge after that? They’d be saints.”
“So, I’m at fault, so I should accept this dogshit nickname?”
My icy interjection made the martial siblings, who’d been chatting among themselves, shake their heads vigorously.
“But ‘mad dog’ crosses the line!”
Yeah, it did.
That’s what reignited the feud between Mount Hua and Jongnam’s third-generation disciples.
Those who hadn’t been at the previous western front showed no particular agitation, but those who’d clashed before were already baring teeth, glaring fiercely at the opposition.
“Hey, you guys? The ones who stuck that shitty nickname on me?”
If word got out that Mount Hua was bullying Jongnam—fellow Nine Great Sects member—it’d tarnish Mount Hua’s name. So I kept my voice low and mild-mannered, but it came off completely unconvincing.
“What, don’t like it?”
As if exploiting that, some Yeo Heon or whatever smirked arrogantly from his perch, twitching his brow. I sneered back, spitting out,
“Why’re you Jongnam bastards so full of yourselves? Pissing me off for no reason?”
“You should fix that mouth first, Mount Hua Mad Dog.”
His ‘mad dog’. I growled loud enough for the surrounding later-generation disciples to hear clearly, for emphasis.
“I’ll kill anyone who calls me Mount Hua Mad Dog.”
“Ooh, growling just like a perfect mad dog.”
My hand tightened instinctively on my sword hilt at the sarcasm.
The reason this bastard coined the mocking nickname to draw me out and now scratched at my nerves was obvious.
What he wanted was to spar me—whose skills were proven in the prior bout with Dang Ha-kyung—before all these later-generation disciples, raising Jongnam’s prestige.
Even if I won, showing a decent fight would hurt only Mount Hua, so I held back. Biryeong’s hand gripping my arm helped too.
In the razor-thin tense atmosphere ready to erupt, Seongniri suddenly piped up.
“Biyeon, you hate the ‘mad’ part or the ‘dog’ part?”
“Both.”
“If you had to pick one?”
“Obviously the ‘dog’! Who wants to be made a dog!”
Hating dog more than madman was natural, right? At least a madman’s human. My outburst prompted Seongniri’s quick suggestion.
“Then how about Mount Hua Mad Blade, swapping for ‘blade’ meaning Taoist?”
“Joking? Sounds like ‘mad thief’, makes me feel worse.”
“Mount Hua Mad Sword then?”
“Better than mad blade or mad thief.”
Seongniri clapped smugly at my reply, declaring firmly,
“Then Mount Hua Mad Sword it is.”
“Drop the ‘mad’ too! Seongniri, you getting revenge for nine years ago?”
“Pfft, wasn’t that settled clean with one punch? I’m helping now.”
His grinning face overlapped with the smile when he’d fed me laxative herbs years back; I barely restrained my swinging fist.
And so my nickname became Mount Hua Mad Sword. Mount Hua’s Mad Sword…
“Fuck, with all the cool nicknames out there, Mount Hua Mad Sword? Someone gets Four Directions Wolf and I get Mad Sword? Argh, damn Jongnam bastards!”
Rolling on the grass in injustice, I threw a fit. Paeng Haran, sitting beside with chin on hand, watched me with a amused tone, soothing,
“Nicknames change over time. There’s the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly ahead.”
“I’ll tough it out filthy till I earn Sword Sovereign or Sword Emperor.”
“It’d be a shame if the nicknames I know for you stopped at Mount Hua Mad Dog. Or maybe you’ll pick up one more?”
Paeng Haran called my name, covering her smile with her sleeve and chuckling.
“Hey, Biyeon.”
I stopped rolling on the grass amid the serious vibe, slowly raising my upper body.
In a soft, tender voice, Paeng Haran got to the real reason she’d called me aside.
A request utterly heartless to me.
“If I die, take care of Seoryun.”