The Old Guard (2)
“What are you two talking about?”
When I turned my head a little, the last face I wanted to see drifted into view.
Lee Seolho, along with the lackeys trailing behind him.
“Is Ms. Lee Sanghee still…?”
“Yes. She’s downstairs, spending time with the master. It seems the shock hit her very hard.”
“Well, of course. Her family-like figure passed away, after all. The master was a special person to Ms. Lee Sanghee. Naturally, the same goes for the others, but….”
“Yes. To be honest, I couldn’t sleep either at first. Who would have thought something like this would happen when everyone else was out? I’m terribly sorry I wasn’t there to witness his final moments. More importantly, Ms. Hwang Jeongyeon, congratulations once again on returning safely. And as for the other party members… I truly am sorry.”
His voice was full of warmth.
Of course, that warmth wasn’t directed at me. It was for Hwang Jeongyeon, the party leader of the second party.
It was almost hard to believe this was the same old bastard who had been glaring daggers at us before we left on the expedition.
Even Hwang Jeongyeon seemed surprised by the old man’s sudden change in attitude; her eyes went a little round.
Hah.
Of course I laughed.
The old bastard’s little performance was obvious as hell.
He had no doubt assumed we wouldn’t be coming back.
Whether Lee Seolho had actually killed the Blue Guild master or not didn’t really matter.
What mattered was that he’d probably been thrilled at the news of the master’s death.
If only the stragglers who had gone out didn’t return, then Blue might as well have belonged to those old men already.
That was why he’d deliberately delayed sending reinforcements and dragged his feet with one excuse after another.
And then, just as he’d been enjoying that delay, the expedition team had come marching back.
He must be stunned.
If I were him, I’d be sweating bullets too.
The fact that he wasn’t trying to cling to me personally was probably the last shred of his pride, but… in a situation like this, worrying about pride was just pathetic.
Once again, I watched as he opened his mouth to Hwang Jeongyeon.
“I’m truly relieved.”
“Ah.”
“In fact, I was starting to worry because the deployment of reinforcements was delayed so badly. Then the guild master passed away so suddenly… I asked for help everywhere, thinking we absolutely couldn’t lose Ms. Lee Sanghee as well, but no one was in a position to assist us. I was anxious, but… seeing you in person like this is genuinely heartening. Truly… truly, I’m glad you made it back alive.”
His eyes were even turning red. It was a sight to behold.
If it weren’t fake, I’d almost nominate him for the Academy’s Best Actor Award.
Hwang Jeongyeon, who had started thinking hard after my little performance, looked like she wasn’t exactly thrilled either. It seemed like she was considering saying something herself.
Let’s see how he reacts.
“Wouldn’t you say that was a little too late? I’m curious if there was some other reason, just in case, Mr. Seolho.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean.”
“No, I’m just asking. Even if the Red Mercenaries, who hadn’t arrived because Lady Heera wasn’t here yet, are one thing, surely Black Swan had the manpower. There are dozens of people out in the square looking for work even now… I thought assembling a unit wouldn’t have been difficult. Of course, it would have been impossible to do instantly, but it wasn’t exactly a short span of time.”
“Th-that….”
“Ah, well. Since that’s already in the past, let’s leave it there. More importantly, could you explain exactly how the guild master died?”
“Just as I said. He passed away quietly three days ago. If there’s any consolation, it’s that he at least left peacefully.”
“You’re saying he died quietly?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Did no one in the guild consider the possibility of foul play?”
“What are you talk—”
“I’m saying exactly what I mean. Didn’t you just say you failed to witness his final moments? Doesn’t that mean no one was in the guild master’s room at the time of his death?”
“Th-that’s true, but….”
“Judging by your reaction, it seems you didn’t even consider the possibility of murder.”
It was only natural that I kept wearing that greasy smile of mine.
Anyone could tell I was mocking him.
I was making the expression as irritating as possible.
You killed him, didn’t you?
It was only natural that the old lunatic’s face turned red.
Lee Seolho was hot-tempered by nature. If he didn’t explode in a situation like this, I wouldn’t have even considered him an old fossil.
“What the hell are you saying!”
“Why are you getting so worked up, Mr. Seolho? You, whom we all respect so much.”
“What do you know to be spouting this nonsense? Are you saying we murdered the guild master? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that!”
“There’s no need to get so upset, Mr. Seolho. I never said the guild members murdered the master. I was only asking whether there might have been an external intruder… but my, you seem awfully agitated. I can’t begin to imagine why you’d be so worked up. Pfft.”
“You… you little… even so….”
“Or is there something weighing on your conscience?”
“How dare you say that to me? To me, who has protected Blue all this time!”
“How many years you’ve protected the guild has nothing to do with me. No, but—”
“…….”
“The more I look at you, the more I wonder why you keep speaking informally. We’re both on the same level of leadership now, aren’t we? Isn’t that more than enough reason to at least speak properly? Even with your face shoved into the dirt in apology, you still have the nerve to bark like this. What exactly are you so confident about, huh? Yeeees?”
“You….”
“Choose your words carefully, Mr. Seolho. Does everything end just because the guild master died? Because he passed away, that’s the end of it? There’s a limit to how useless someone can be. I cut you out of the line of fire when all you were trying to do was throw yourself into danger, and yet you couldn’t even protect the house properly—what kind of executive are you, anyway? What a goddamn joke. I’m so stunned I can’t even speak.”
“…….”
“Shouldn’t the first step be figuring out whether there was an intruder, or whether anyone inside the guild had access to the guild master’s bedroom? Our Mr. Seolho here does seem to be trying hard, but if you don’t have the ability, then you should think about stepping down. Clinging to your seat with white knuckles isn’t helping the guild you love so much. And what was that? The reinforcements were delayed, so there was nothing to be done? In society, that’s called incompetence. That’s what you call an excuse. Did you really think anyone would just nod and say, ‘Ah, I see! What a pity,’ if you said there was nothing you could do? Hey now, you’re an old enough man to know better, so I don’t understand why you’re acting like this….”
“…….”
“You know, this isn’t a school. It’s not a place where you can just say, ‘Sorry, I couldn’t do it,’ and that’s the end of it. All you pillars who’ve protected Blue until now—if I were the one above you, you’d all be losing your heads. Losing them.”
“You bastard… you dare!”
Mana gathered in Lee Seolho’s hand in an instant.
He probably wouldn’t actually hit me.
He wasn’t such a fool that he couldn’t distinguish reason from impulse.
Still, it seemed he wanted to vent his anger somehow.
If it lands, it’ll hurt.
I was a delicate alchemist, after all.
I caught sight of Jung Hayan’s startled face. She began chanting in a flash, but the old man’s fist was already coming at me faster than she could move.
And yet I didn’t bother to dodge.
That wasn’t because I had some masochistic streak, naturally.
Besides, getting hit by this particular attack wouldn’t mean much; I simply didn’t think there was any reason to avoid it.
Why?
“Lovely Yuliena? There’s no need to get excited.”
Vvvvmmm….
Because I had a new backer pointing its blade at the old man’s throat.
Having a sponsor is nice. Very nice.
“Th-this is….”
“Ah. It’s an item I happened to come across during this dungeon expedition. It seems to have several functions. For example, one that turns anger-management problems into excellent anger management. Could you put your hand down now, Mr. Seolho? Our Yuliena can be a little rough around the edges.”
I saw Lee Seolho slowly withdrawing his hand, his face dazed.
At the same time, my lovely Yuliena started moving toward me as well.
As an added bonus, Jung Hayan’s face came into view, her lips bitten so tightly they nearly bled.
Don’t get jealous of a sword….
I didn’t know why she was jealous of a blade, but I suspected it was because Yuliena had done something she herself hadn’t been able to.
At the crucial moment, she was feeling a sting of shame that it wasn’t her who had saved me from the threat.
“Then I have an appointment to keep, so I’ll be taking my leave now, Mr. Seolho.”
“…….”
“At the very least, you should draft a report on what happened that day. What was the security situation when the master passed? Who entered the guild? How were the ordinary guild members doing? Ah, and you’ll need to send me an explanation for why the rescue team deployment was delayed as well. From the looks of it, even if you investigate once, you’ll probably have to investigate again after that… but at least do the cleanup. It’ll make you look a little less incompetent. Wouldn’t that be less embarrassing for the other ordinary guild members, too? Hayan, let’s go.”
“Y-yes…!”
My mood was pretty damn good.
No, honestly, it was downright exhilarating.
Seeing the faces of the old men behind the flustered Jung Hayan made the corners of my mouth creep upward all on their own.
They looked absolutely livid.
If it had just been the two of us in this place, things might have been manageable. But the problem was that the commotion had drawn a crowd of ordinary guild members from all directions.
For people who valued their face so much, it had to have been a massive blow. As if on cue, murmuring voices began to spread.
“Did you see that just now?”
“That… weapon… what is it?”
Most of them were voices of awe, or voices condemning his conduct.
Everything was going according to script.
I wonder how he’ll respond.
It was only natural that they’d start keeping an eye on me. They might even think I’d caught a whiff of something.
If there was anything to hide, they’d move more quickly; if not, they might crouch low and stay quiet for a while.
Either way, it was already decided that they’d be forced into action.
All I had to do was toss a stone into their quiet little pond.
Just as I was curling my lips into a smile, Jung Hayan quietly asked, “Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
“Um, but….”
“Yeah.”
“If those people really did kill the guild master, then… shouldn’t we not tell them?”
“Tell them what?”
“You just told them to write a report earlier.”
“Ahhh. No, that’s not it. In fact, it’s easier to move when you have at least some clue to work with than when you have nothing at all.”
She looked like she still didn’t get it.
I found it oddly fascinating that the genius mage was somehow weak in this area.
Or maybe she understood perfectly well and was only pretending not to.
Either way, it didn’t matter.
I had just been bored anyway.
“There’ll probably be slight differences from person to person. I figured this method would be easier.”
“Ah….”
“Humans aren’t the kind of creatures who can do anything perfectly. No matter how diligently Lee Seolho writes down the events of that day….”
“Yes. Yes.”
“There’ll definitely be false information mixed in. It happened three whole days ago—how could he possibly remember everything accurately? Even if Ju Seungjun really did die of natural causes, it wouldn’t matter. If you dig deep enough, there’ll definitely be details that don’t line up. It’s easier to wedge your way in through those discrepancies and grab hold of the weak points. And if our guild master was actually murdered by someone, the same goes. After all, every report from that day would be a lie anyway.”
“Ah… I understand. So then, proper evidence….”
“The important thing isn’t really evidence.”
“Then what is it?”
“Do we have a rational basis to suspect the other side? That’s what matters more.”
“…….”
“If you have suspicion, you can make evidence out of thin air. If enough people believe something is real, then it becomes real.”
I briefly regretted saying too much to Jung Hayan, who was pure enough to be called pure, but the thought vanished when I saw her nodding as though she’d just reached some revelation.
It was enough to make me realize that the conversation I’d just had might have been a mistake.
I couldn’t shake the unease that the already-cunning Jung Hayan might be taking another step forward.
She isn’t evolving, is she?
She definitely shouldn’t be.