Chapter 583: Realization
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 583: Realization
"If a majority vote isn't allowed, we'll never reach a conclusion!"
Lee Dae-gon raised his voice in protest, his expression one of utter disbelief.
An incident could be interpreted in many ways depending on one's perspective. To some, Jang Sun-woo was a villain who deserved to be torn limb from limb and burned to ash; to others, his actions were a justifiable defense against a threat.
In a situation where interpretations were so diametrically opposed, how could she disallow a majority vote? A proper conclusion would be impossible to reach.
This won't do! It absolutely won't do!
Lee Dae-gon glared at Joo So-yang, his eyes smoldering. He couldn't possibly agree with her. He had already won over a significant portion of the leadership. He couldn't allow such a variable to ruin his plans now.
"A quick conclusion isn't necessarily the right one, is it?"
Joo So-yang frowned as she countered his protest. In a trial, the most important thing was a correct verdict, not a fast one. She couldn't help but scowl at Lee Dae-gon's remark, which completely overlooked that fact.
And in that moment, she realized just how foolish the man standing before her truly was.
"…Then… are you saying, Great Matriarch, that you intend to drag this meeting out for days until a conclusion is reached?"
Intimidated by her sharp gaze, Lee Dae-gon stammered out his question.
"If it means reaching a verdict that everyone can accept, then yes, that is my intention."
Joo So-yang nodded firmly as she spoke.
"That’s absurd! We aren't people with time to waste! We can't be tied down for days over a mere verdict!"
Lee Dae-gon shouted, raising his voice in indignation. The members of the leadership were not idle men. Each held a key position and had a mountain of work to handle every day. To be tied up for days just for a verdict was preposterous.
"Hwalbindang Master, did you just say 'a mere verdict'?"
Joo So-yang caught his slip of the tongue immediately.
"Are you suggesting that the verdict regarding the incident where the Cheonmu Alliance Leader’s arm was severed is not important?"
Joo So-yang glared at Lee Dae-gon with a piercing gaze.
"N-no… that’s not what I…"
Meeting her eyes, Lee Dae-gon began to stutter. Her sharp aura made his knees tremble involuntarily.
"Watch your tongue, Hwalbindang Master! This matter is more important than anything else in the Cheonmu Alliance! More than the succession competition! More than the duties of your respective pavilions! It wouldn't be strange to be tied down for months, let alone days, for this verdict!"
Joo So-yang continued, her aura turning ominous.
"Ugh…"
Exposed to that overwhelming pressure, Lee Dae-gon let out a pained groan.
"Do you think I am wrong?" Joo So-yang asked, her eyes fixed on him like blades.
"N-no, Ma'am…"
Lee Dae-gon quickly shook his head. He desperately wanted to scream that she was wrong, but the terrifying aura pressing down on his entire body forced him to demur.
"What do the rest of you think? Do you believe I am wrong?"
After glaring at Lee Dae-gon, Joo So-yang turned her head and scanned the rest of the assembly.
"…No, Ma'am."
"…Not at all."
The leaders denied it in unison. They were crushed by the supreme prestige of the woman known as the mistress of the Cheonmu Alliance and the Best Among Women.
"Good. Then let us proceed with the meeting once more."
Seeing their compliance, Joo So-yang allowed a satisfied smile to touch her lips. She was pleased that they had submitted to her words.
"Does anyone else have an opinion?" she asked, her eyes shining.
The leaders all wore grim expressions. It seemed this meeting was going to be very, very long.
*
Squelch.
The sound of something being severed reached his ears. It came from his left shoulder. He slowly turned his head to the left.
Huh?
An unbelievable sight greeted him. It was gone. It was empty. The left arm that should have been attached to his shoulder was missing.
Wh-what…?
He quickly looked around. There, lying pathetically on the ground, was his left arm.
Why?
He was bewildered. Why was his left arm on the ground instead of attached to his shoulder? It was strange. He couldn't understand it.
He slowly looked up. There, he saw a man holding an ink-colored sword, stained as black as the abyss.
Who is that?
The man's face was blurry, making it hard to see. He focused his eyesight even further. Gradually, his vision cleared, and the man's face came into focus.
Well-defined eyebrows. A sharp gaze. Firmly set lips.
It was a face he knew. A man who boasted unrivaled martial prowess even among the brilliant Rising Stars scattered across the world. The man hailed as the next World's Greatest Martial Artist.
The Divine Dragon, Jang Sun-woo.
Jang Sun-woo!
Suddenly, a string of memories flashed through his mind.
The memory of Jang Sun-woo receiving everyone's attention with his grand entrance.
The memory of his own jealousy and his vow to crush the man.
The memory of the humiliation he suffered, being slammed into the ground and the walls by an unexpected turn of events.
The memory of drawing his Formless Sword under the pretext of upholding his dignity.
And finally, the memory of having all his Formless Swords countered and his arm severed.
Right… my arm…
He remembered now. He remembered why his arm had fallen from his left shoulder. It had been cut off. By that monster of a human.
Aaaaaaaaagh!
Realizing the truth, he let out a blood-curdling scream. Despair washed over him at the thought of living the rest of his life with a permanent disability.
"Lee Jae-won."
Jang Sun-woo, still holding his sword, finally spoke.
"Y-you… you son of a bitch!"
Lee Jae-won glared at Jang Sun-woo with bloodshot eyes.
"Does it hurt?" Sun-woo asked, his eyes filled with mockery.
"What kind of question is that! You murderous bastard!"
"Then hurt more."
Squelch.
"Aaaaaaaagh!"
Lee Jae-won let out another agonized scream. Sun-woo had swung his sword and severed his right arm as well.
"Agh… huff… aaaaagh…"
Tears and snot began to stream down Lee Jae-won's face. The despair of becoming a cripple who had lost both arms was too much to bear.
"Does it hurt?" Sun-woo asked again, looking down at him.
"Why! Why are you doing this to me?!"
Lee Jae-won screamed in protest. It felt so unfair. He hadn't done anything wrong. Why did he have to suffer like this?
"You don't know?"
"I don't know anything about that!"
"If you don't know, then you'll have to lose more."
Squelch.
"Aaaaaaaaagh!"
This time, it was both of his legs. They were severed cleanly by a single, effortless swing of the sword.
"Uwaaaaah… huff… huff…"
Lee Jae-won sobbed uncontrollably. A perfectly healthy man had been turned into a quadruple amputee. All he could do was cry.
"Huff… huff… huff…"
As he wept piteously, Sun-woo raised his sword once more.
"Goodbye."
"W-wait! Wait!" Lee Jae-won shrieked in desperation.
"Why?"
"Spare me! Please… spare my life!"
Lee Jae-won begged. He pleaded for his life, imploring the man not to kill him. He didn't want his life to end like this. Even if all his limbs were gone, he wanted to live. Even if he had to live as a cripple forever, he wanted to survive.
"You should be more polite when you ask for a favor, you cripple."
Sun-woo spoke with a cold smile.
"P-please spare me! Please… I beg of you!"
Lee Jae-won began to grovel abjectly. He begged and begged his mortal enemy, the man who had hacked off his limbs. He pleaded for mercy, for his life. It was a pathetic sight, but Lee Jae-won didn't care. To him, his life was far more important than his pride.
Thrust.
"I don't want to, you bastard."
Sun-woo spoke in a chilling tone as he watched the display. Then, he drove his sword straight through Lee Jae-won's heart.
"Gah… wh-why…?"
Lee Jae-won stared at him, his expression one of utter disbelief. He had grovelled. He had been polite. So why was the man taking his life?
"Because you didn't spare anyone either."
"……Th-that…"
Despair began to fill Lee Jae-won's eyes. The realization that death was right in front of him wrapped around his entire body like a shroud.
"Have a nice life in hell."
Schwing.
Sun-woo pulled the sword out of his heart.
"Cough…"
Lee Jae-won spat out a mouthful of blood.
Thud.
His body toppled backward.
"I… don't… want… to die…"
With those final, pathetic words, Lee Jae-won slowly closed his eyes. Death had finally claimed him.
*
Gasp!
"Aaaaaaaagh!"
Lee Jae-won bolted upright in bed, screaming. It was a visceral reaction to the terror of death.
"Alliance Leader?!"
"Alliance Leader! You're awake!"
Familiar voices reached his ears. Lee Jae-won quickly turned his head. Familiar faces came into view: the Head of the Medical Pavilion and Lee Dae-gon, the Hwalbindang Master.
"Huff… huff… huff… huff…"
Seeing them, Lee Jae-won began to calm his ragged breathing. He realized that the death he had just experienced wasn't real.
A dream… was it a dream?
Lee Jae-won slowly looked down at his chest. There was no hole.
"Phew."
Only then did he let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it had all been a dream. Being stabbed through the heart, having both legs cut off, and having his right arm severed—it was all just a nightmare.
Wait… my left arm?!
A sudden, ominous premonition flashed through his mind. Lee Jae-won quickly turned his gaze toward his left shoulder.
And there it was. An empty sleeve fluttering loosely where his left arm should have been.
Lee Jae-won realized the truth. The fact that his left arm was gone was no dream. It was reality. His arm had been severed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!"
Lee Jae-won let out a thunderous roar. The moment he faced the reality of his missing arm, an uncontrollable rage surged within him.
Rumble!
At the same time, the Medical Pavilion began to shake violently. The building couldn't withstand the massive surge of energy he was emitting.
"Gurgle… ugh…"
"Ack… urgh…"
The Head of the Medical Pavilion and Lee Dae-gon, who were directly exposed to that energy, began to foam at the mouth. They couldn't endure the overwhelming pressure that threatened to snap their consciousness.
After venting his rage for some time, Lee Jae-won finally began to settle down, his breathing still heavy.
"Sigh… huff… huff… that son of a bitch… seriously…"
"Lee Dae-gon."
He barked the name, looking at Lee Dae-gon, who was still foaming at the mouth.
"……Y-yes, sir!"
At his call, Lee Dae-gon snapped back to his senses and answered immediately.
"Where is he?"
Lee Jae-won asked, his eyes cold.
"Wh-who do you mean…?"
"The son of a bitch who cut off my arm! Where is he?!"
Lee Jae-won shouted, his face contorted in a scowl. He was frustrated by Lee Dae-gon's inability to understand his meaning.
"……H-he… should be unconscious in his quarters by now…"
"That bastard is unconscious?"
"Yes… it seems the tension snapped once he saw you lose consciousness, and he passed out right then and there."
Lee Dae-gon briefly explained the situation.
"And you just left him alone while he was unconscious?!"
Lee Jae-won's voice rose in anger. This was the bastard who had severed the arm of the supreme leader of the Cheonmu Alliance, a hero revered for saving the Murim. How could they leave such a bastard in a warm room instead of killing him? It was an attitude that showed zero respect for the Alliance Leader's dignity.
"Well… we haven't reached a conclusion on how to… handle him yet…"
God damn it.
Lee Jae-won's face twisted even further. He was disgusted by the attitude of the alliance members. The supreme leader of the Cheonmu Alliance had been permanently disabled by a villain. And yet, they hadn't even punished the perpetrator? Especially when the guy was unconscious and could have been killed with a single stab?
What kind of frustratingly stifling development was this? If this were a novel, the readers would be dropping it in droves.
Flop.
Lee Jae-won stood up from the bed and began to throw on his outer robe.
"Alliance Leader… where are you going?"
Lee Dae-gon asked, looking bewildered.
"I'm going to Jang Sun-woo."
Lee Jae-won glared at Lee Dae-gon, his brow furrowed.
"Pardon?!"
"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch who cut off my arm!"
Lee Jae-won shouted, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Lee Dae-gon as he made his declaration.