Chapter 605: Don't Nitpick. It's Beneath You.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 605: Don't Nitpick. It's Beneath You.
'I never thought he’d nitpick over something like that.'
Lee Jae-won’s expression began to turn incredibly grim.
He truly hadn't expected Sun-woo to bring up the fact that he had tried to kill him while he was unconscious.
'I have to deny it, no matter what.'
Lee Jae-won made up his mind.
He had to deny it at all costs. If the fact that he had gone to seek revenge on a fainted opponent became public knowledge, he would undoubtedly face a humiliating ordeal.
"That, too, is a misunderstanding on your part."
Lee Jae-won suppressed his flustered internal state as much as possible and continued calmly.
"My laying a hand on the Great Matriarch was not what you think. It was merely a family matter."
"And it wasn't a way to vent your anger because she blocked you from getting to me?"
Sun-woo continued, a mocking expression on his face.
"Haha... I simply had an unintended clash of opinions with her, and I lost my temper and struck her. It isn't the kind of issue you're imagining."
"I don't know about that. I'm not one to believe mere words."
"If you're that suspicious, why don't you ask the Great Matriarch yourself?"
Lee Jae-won spoke up, putting on a confident front.
"So-yang, tell Young Master Jang. Tell him it wasn't like that."
He then turned to Joo So-yang beside him and spoke in a friendly tone.
"..............."
Hearing his words, Joo So-yang kept her mouth tightly shut.
She seemed lost in thought.
'Hurry up and agree, you stupid bitch.'
Lee Jae-won glared at Joo So-yang with a burning gaze.
He was certain that if Joo So-yang had any brains, she would agree with him.
Depending on her words, his reputation as her husband would change drastically.
If she agreed and framed it as a family matter, he would remain merely an emotional husband. But if she didn't agree and told the truth, he would be branded a shameless man who tried to take revenge on a fainted junior.
If she had a brain—no, if she had even a shred of common sense—she would obviously take her husband's side.
Fundamentally, the mindset of those in the Central Plains was to view an insult to a family member as an insult to the clan itself.
Not taking his side would be no different from dragging her own honor through the mud.
That was why Lee Jae-won was certain.
He was sure she would agree with him.
".................."
However, contrary to Lee Jae-won’s expectations, Joo So-yang said nothing.
No matter how long he waited, she remained silent.
'Damn it, did she glue her mouth shut?'
As her silence stretched on, Lee Jae-won felt his heart begin to race.
Jang Sun-woo’s suspicious gaze was deepening.
Glare.
Lee Jae-won glared at Joo So-yang with a murderous look.
It was a silent pressure for her to agree with him immediately.
".........At that time, the Alliance Leader tried to force his way into the room... and I was struck in the process of trying to stop him."
Finally, Joo So-yang spoke in a calm tone.
'You... you... you fucking bitch!?'
Upon hearing those words, sparks began to fly in Lee Jae-won’s eyes.
Contrary to his belief that she would take his side, she had spat out the truth exactly as it happened.
'That bitch! She’s defying me!?'
Lee Jae-won felt a searing rage welling up from deep within his chest.
This was strictly an opportunity he had given her.
A final chance offered to Joo So-yang, who had shown nothing but disappointing behavior lately.
And yet, she had kicked that opportunity away.
And she had done so while dealing him a massive blow.
How could he not be enraged?
"That's what she says, though?"
At that moment, Sun-woo’s annoying voice pierced Lee Jae-won’s ears.
It was an incredibly irritating and disgusting voice.
"................"
Lee Jae-won couldn't say a word in response.
As long as Joo So-yang didn't take his side, it was obvious that no excuse would work.
"Alliance Leader."
Sun-woo looked at Lee Jae-won and spoke slowly.
"It seems we've said all there is to say, so why don't you leave? I'm afraid you'll look even more pathetic if you stay."
Sun-woo insulted him with an utterly nonchalant expression.
It was as if he didn't care about Lee Jae-won’s feelings at all.
Grind.
Hearing those words, Lee Jae-won began to grind his teeth incessantly.
It was an insult.
An extreme insult, the likes of which he had never experienced since falling into this martial arts novel.
From the moment he first entered the Murim, he had been praised every day for his extraordinary martial talent.
After defeating the King of Demons, the Heavenly Demon, and reaching the pinnacle, he had been worshipped beyond mere praise.
When had such a man ever faced such an insult?
He was furious.
He wanted to rip apart that mouth for spitting out such insolent words right this instant.
He was irritated.
He wanted to cut down Joo So-yang for not taking his side right this instant.
'You dare betray me?'
Lee Jae-won felt a sinister rage slowly rising from the depths of his heart.
Because of Joo So-yang, he remembered his past.
A past where not a single person had taken his side.
'Joo So-yang!!'
Lee Jae-won began to slowly leak murderous aura.
His shitty memories of the past had been converted into pure rage.
He wanted to kill them. Both of these people who had defied him.
Lee Jae-won’s eyes began to slowly tint with a bloody light.
His reason was beginning to be paralyzed by anger.
Squeeze.
Suddenly, he felt a warm touch on the back of his hand.
Soon after, the bloody light in Lee Jae-won’s eyes began to fade.
The warm touch had managed to calm the madness born of his rage to some extent.
'Whew...... That was close.'
Lee Jae-won let out a sigh of relief.
If he had slipped up, he might have lost his reason and gone on a rampage.
"Your words are too harsh, Young Master."
At that moment, Tang Jin-seol, who had calmed Lee Jae-won down, spoke in a sharp, piercing voice.
"What exactly is too harsh?"
Sun-woo asked her with a puzzled expression.
As if he truly had no idea.
"The Cheonmu Alliance Leader here is clearly an elder much older than you, and his seniority is on the same level as your master, the Poison King. And yet, you tell such a person to get lost before he looks pathetic? Where on earth did you learn such manners!"
Tang Jin-seol shouted as if scolding him, her voice sharp.
Her voice was filled with coldness.
A coldness like the bitter cold northern wind.
"Being an elder doesn't mean one should be unconditionally respected, does it? An adult has to act like an adult to be treated as one."
Sun-woo continued with a dry expression.
Just because someone was older...
Just because someone was aged...
It didn't mean they deserved unconditional respect.
The world was full of psychopaths who had done nothing but age.
In his eyes, Lee Jae-won was nothing more than a brat who had aged for nothing.
He wasn't worth respecting at all.
"It was certainly wrong for the Alliance Leader to act emotionally on the day of the succession competition. The Alliance Leader is sufficiently reflecting on that point. Isn't that why he personally came to find the Young Master to apologize? So why do you refuse to accept the Alliance Leader's apology and insist on maintaining such an impolite attitude?"
Tang Jin-seol glared at Sun-woo with a sharp gaze as she spoke.
"From where I'm standing, it doesn't seem like he's reflected enough. And isn't it up to the recipient to decide whether or not to accept an apology?"
Sun-woo replied with an incredulous expression.
Whether to accept an apology or not was a matter for the party involved to decide, wasn't it?
How could she threaten and scold him for not accepting it?
It was beyond absurd.
"The Alliance Leader has reflected enough."
Tang Jin-seol continued with a firm expression.
"If he hadn't, he wouldn't have personally graced the place where the man who cut off his arm resides."
Tang Jin-seol glared at Sun-woo with a venomous look.
"Isn't it my place to judge whether the Alliance Leader is reflecting or not? I don't know why Madam Tang is the one making that judgment."
"Exactly what part do you think is lacking in his reflection? I'm the one who doesn't understand. Are you perhaps being stubborn because you don't want to accept the apology? If so, I can only say you are immature. Your martial arts might be enough to turn heaven and earth upside down, but your inner self is as immature as a child's."
Tang Jin-seol began to criticize Sun-woo in a scathing tone.
'Look at this woman.'
Hearing her criticism, Sun-woo felt a sense of novelty.
She showed a completely different side compared to the stupid and short-sighted Lee Jae-won.
"It's not stubbornness. I'm simply speaking what I saw and felt."
Sun-woo looked at Tang Jin-seol with a steady gaze and spoke.
"Exactly what part did you find so lacking?"
She asked back with an expression of incomprehension.
"First of all, even the apology itself was wrong."
Sun-woo raised his voice slightly as he spoke.
He made it look as if he were fuming with rage to anyone watching.
"How strange. To me, the Alliance Leader's apology didn't seem strange at all."
Tang Jin-seol continued with a questioning expression.
"It seems Madam's ears aren't very good. To think you'd defend such a dog-shit apology after hearing it yourself."
Sun-woo continued with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
It was an incredibly rude and insolent attitude for someone addressing the mistress of the Cheonmu Alliance.
"The Young Master has a foul mouth. It seems your character education was neglected because you were too immersed in martial arts training. I can't help but lament. To think a successor to the Tang Clan's martial arts could be so vulgar. It seems my brother raised his disciple poorly."
Tang Jin-seol spat out venomous words, looking at Sun-woo with a gaze full of pity.
"From my perspective, the character of Madam Tang, who defends such a dog-shit apology, seems even more problematic."
Sun-woo also spat out venomous words, just like her, beginning to grate on her nerves.
"Exactly what is the problem with the Alliance Leader's apology?"
She asked Sun-woo with a look of ignorance.
"Didn't he downplay his wrongdoings when he apologized? To think he'd leave out the fact that he came to kill me even after I fainted, not just during the succession competition? Did you really think he could claim to be sincere after offering such an apology?"
Sun-woo began to scathingly tear down Lee Jae-won’s insincere apology.
"Didn't the Alliance Leader speak on that? He said he didn't go there to kill you, but to see if you were alright."
"Do you think I'd believe such a ridiculous excuse?"
"What's so hard to believe?"
Tang Jin-seol asked Sun-woo back.
"I am the very person who cut off the Alliance Leader's arm. And such a person came to see me out of concern? Do you think that makes any sense?"
Sun-woo asked her with an incredulous expression.
"The Alliance Leader is the head of the Cheonmu Alliance, a group of chivalrous men who revere, contemplate, and practice chivalry. Do you really think such a person would lie?"
Tang Jin-seol glared at Sun-woo with a sharp gaze.
"The nature of a group cannot represent the individuals within it, Madam Tang."
Sun-woo met her gaze with a calm look and spoke.
"I don't understand. If someone belongs to a group, doesn't that mean they align with that group's ideology? So how can you say the group cannot represent the individual? It seems the Young Master will never earn the title of a master of both the pen and the sword. To be this ignorant..."
Tang Jin-seol shook her head from side to side as she spoke.
"If an individual joined a group because they were drawn to its ideology, then as Madam says, the group might represent the individual. But how can a person be drawn only to ideology? There will be those drawn by profit, and surely those who joined without a single thought. So how can you say the group represents the individual?"
Sun-woo glared at Tang Jin-seol with cold eyes and continued.
"To think that everyone in a group is upright just because the group itself is upright is a very one-dimensional way of thinking. To think your thoughts are this shallow... I suspect you didn't read many books as a child."
"I don't understand. The Alliance Leader is not just an ordinary individual who happens to belong to the group. He is the leader of the group. So how can you utter such nonsense that the leader might not align with the ideology?"
Tang Jin-seol glared at Sun-woo as she spoke.
"To believe that the leader of a group is always right is an incredibly dangerous and stupid idea, Madam Tang."
Hearing her words, Sun-woo continued in a calm tone.
"If the individuals belonging to a group are not perfect, how can the representative of that group be called perfect? That is an incredibly arrogant thing to say."
"Are you disparaging the Cheonmu Alliance right now?"
Tang Jin-seol’s sharp eyes flashed as she spoke.
"This isn't a disparagement of the Cheonmu Alliance. In truth, no group in the world can be perfect. After all, humans are unstable beings. Rather, claiming that a group is perfect is the height of arrogance."
Sun-woo let out a smirk and continued.
"So, don't nitpick. It's beneath you."
Sun-woo stared at her with a cold gaze as he finished.