Just Call It a Whim (2)
"An alliance?"
Baek Cheon stared at Chung Myung, dumbfounded.
He’d expected this troublemaker to stir up something, sure, but…
“This suddenly?”
No, wait. He’d disappeared for a bit after lunch, and now he was back talking about an alliance of all things? What on earth had he done in that short time?
An alliance between Mount Hua and the Sichuan Tang Family, at that?
Yoon Jong, too, spoke as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
"N-No, hold on. Are we even allowed to just decide something like that on our own?"
Strictly speaking, he should have said Can you decide something like that on your own? But Yoon Jong had at least softened the blow a little.
"Why not? We’ve got Sasuk right here."
"Huh?"
Baek Cheon, Sasuk? What did that even mean?
"You forgot? On the way out, Sect Leader said he was entrusting all of Mount Hua’s authority to Baek Cheon, didn’t he?"
Ah.
Right. He had said that. He definitely had.
But…
"Y-You can use that here?"
Baek Cheon’s eyes widened.
"No, hold on. That was because we didn’t know what might happen in Southern Man, wasn’t it?"
Hyun Jong’s intention in entrusting Baek Cheon with full authority had been to let Mount Hua’s disciples move more freely in Southern Man, where contact with the Central Plains was unreliable.
There was no way the Sect Leader had ever planned for Mount Hua to form an alliance with the Tang Family.
"You little punk! What do you think Sect Leader will say if you go around forming alliances like this on your own?"
"He’d love it, wouldn’t he? Hehehe!"
"Exactly. Of course he’d love it—no! Damn it, that’s not the point!"
Baek Cheon clutched his head.
“Please, just move one step ahead of me, Chung Myung! One step, not ten!”
Couldn’t he at least think about the people following behind him? What kind of lunatic sealed an alliance over a meal, then came back from his little post-lunch walk with the deal already done?
"Haahhh…"
Baek Cheon let out a long, suffering sigh.
The other Mount Hua disciples looked just as stunned.
An alliance with the Tang Family?
Who in the world could have imagined that the Tang Family Lord’s favorable opinion of Chung Myung would lead to this?
Still, whenever Chung Myung made a mess, Baek Cheon was the one left to clean it up. Setting his bewilderment aside for the moment, he drew a deep breath and began to think coldly.
“If I look only at the result, it’s not bad.”
No, it wasn’t just not bad. It was an enormous gain.
“If we can gain an ally like the Tang Family, one of the Odaesega, Mount Hua will be able to spread its wings.”
To be completely honest, it was hard to even understand why the Tang Family would bother allying itself with a sect like Mount Hua. So he ought to welcome it with both hands—but…
Baek Cheon frowned slightly.
“The world isn’t that simple.”
After整理ing his thoughts, Baek Cheon spoke in a more serious tone.
"First of all, well done."
"Huh?"
Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung and nodded solemnly.
"I don’t know how you negotiated with the Tang Family Lord, but at any rate, securing a result like this was a good thing. You’ve done well."
"Sasuk. Did you eat something weird?"
"…"
"Did the food in Sichuan not agree with you? Or did the Tang Family poison you? Why are you acting like this?"
No, this bastard couldn’t even take a compliment?
A vein bulged on Baek Cheon’s forehead, but he took another deep breath and swallowed his irritation. Then he said as calmly as he could,
"However, there is something that still troubles me."
"Hm?"
"Traditionally, Mount Hua has maintained ties with the Nine Sects and One Gang. We have no history of joining hands with the Odaesega. You’re not unaware of the subtle tension between the Nine Sects and the Odaesega, are you?"
"Well, yeah, of course."
Chung Myung shrugged.
How could he not know?
The reason the Tang Family had chosen to join hands with Mount Hua was ultimately to break through the encirclement of the Nine Sects and One Gang. Though both sides were orthodox factions, now that they no longer had a common enemy, the Nine Sects and the Odaesega had already begun watching each other warily.
"Joining forces with the Tang Family may certainly help Mount Hua for now. But someday, when Mount Hua tries to reestablish ties with the orthodox world and return to the Nine Sects and One Gang, this could become a problem."
Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung seriously and continued,
"Did you think this far before making your decision?"
Chung Myung looked at him with a strange expression.
"Sasuk, before that, I’ve got one thing to ask."
"Hm?"
"What’s so great about going back to the Nine Sects and One Gang?"
"…Huh?"
Baek Cheon stared at Chung Myung, as if wondering what absurd nonsense he was hearing.
Chung Myung tilted his head.
"What’s good about it?"
"Well…"
Baek Cheon hesitated slightly.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t think of anything. He simply didn’t know where to begin.
"The reputation of the Nine Sects and One Gang carries more influence than you think. Setting everything else aside, it helps you attract talented disciples, and your voice in the martial world grows stronger. And…"
"Is that more valuable than an alliance with the Tang Family?"
"Right now, the Tang Family alliance would probably be more beneficial. But if you’re going to choose an alliance, the Nine Sects are still better than the Odaesega…"
"Sasuk."
"Hm?"
"Do you have no pride at all?"
"…"
Baek Cheon frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"Who was it that kicked us out of the Nine Sects and One Gang?"
"Well…"
The Nine Sects and One Gang.
Those bastards in the Nine Sects!
"Those sons of bitches threw us out of the Nine Sects and One Gang. And now that they’re a little stronger, they expect us to smile and beg for a place at their table again? Act like none of it ever happened and start over?"
"…"
"What, do we look like some spineless idiots?"
Chung Myung rolled his eyes dramatically.
“You want me to bow to those bastards?”
What a joke.
They had watched Mount Hua burn and crumble, and when Chung Myung had risked his life—no, when he had given his life—to save the Central Plains, those ingrates had still looked after their own interests first. Wasn’t that the Nine Sects for you?
If the Grand Supreme Elder had faced this sort of thing, he’d have cracked their skulls with the staff in his hand. And now they expected Chung Myung to swallow it?
Pfft.
As if.
"Don’t go imagining weird fantasies, Sasuk. If those Nine Sects or whatever had truly been a group that helped each other when it mattered, Mount Hua would never have ended up like this."
Baek Cheon fell silent.
There wasn’t a shred of error in Chung Myung’s words. If the Nine Sects had offered even a little help, Mount Hua would never have fallen this far.
Chung Myung had no intention whatsoever of returning to that hollow thing called the Nine Sects and One Gang.
“Who cares if they’re the Nine Sects or whatever? Strength is all that matters.”
What mattered were people who could help when needed—not hollow relationships that only puffed up your shoulders when there was nothing at stake.
"So what you’re saying is that the Tang Family, unlike the old Nine Sects, can become a relationship where we help each other when things get hard?"
"We have to make it that way."
Chung Myung said firmly,
"There’s no such thing as a relationship where you just take. There are only relationships you build. The Tang Family can be useful to Mount Hua."
Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung in silence for a moment, then nodded.
“If this guy has judged it that way…”
Baek Cheon let out a quiet sigh.
Accepting Chung Myung’s opinion wasn’t easy for him, either. The most trustworthy person in the world was Chung Myung, and at the same time, the least trustworthy person in the world was also Chung Myung.
"So, by your calculation, we won’t be taking a loss?"
Chung Myung stared at him blankly.
"…Sasuk."
"What?"
"When have we ever taken a loss from making an alliance with anyone?"
"…"
"Aren’t you a little too confident? Mount Hua is only just crawling out of the gutter. A beggar doesn’t become rich just because he picked up one gold nugget."
"Grrrr…"
Baek Cheon groaned.
He wasn’t wrong.
Though recent fortunes had been stacking up, Mount Hua was still a fallen sect that had not yet regained its former glory. If he thought about it coldly, it really did make no sense for an Odaesega-tier family to reach out to Mount Hua first.
After much agonizing, Baek Cheon finally gave a firm nod.
"Let’s do it!"
"Senior Brother!"
"Are you sure about this?"
Yu I-seol and Yoon Jong raised their voices at Baek Cheon’s decision.
But Baek Cheon was resolute.
"Think clearly. I’m only uneasy because he’s the one who brought this alliance to us. Otherwise, this is absolutely a good thing."
"…Hm."
"That may be true, but…"
For them, just how much benefit this alliance brought wasn’t really the issue.
"Is it really all right for us to decide this without asking Sect Leader first?"
At Yoon Jong’s question, Baek Cheon’s brow furrowed.
"I’ve thought about that too. But timing matters. If we keep dragging this out and ruin the alliance, we’ll regret it bitterly."
"Mm…"
"For now, I’ll push this through using the authority Sect Leader gave me. Yoon Jong, you draft the terms of the alliance into a letter and send them back to Mount Hua right away! Chung Myung, you check it over beside him."
"You’re really sure this is okay?"
"I’ll take full responsibility!"
At Baek Cheon’s unwavering expression, Yoon Jong nodded.
"Understood, Sasuk!"
Baek Cheon glanced sideways at Chung Myung.
“That damn bastard.”
And yet he was the kind of bastard you had to trust.
If the elders of the sect had been here, how would they have handled it?
- Hmm. This is no ordinary matter. We must take time to think it through—
- Think? What the hell is there to think about? The mighty Tang Family is offering us an alliance! What conditions are we supposed to deliberate over? That brat Chung Myung surely has it handled already! Stop throwing cold water on a child’s hard-won effort and sign the damn thing already!
Baek Cheon’s face cleared immediately.
“If anything goes wrong, Hyun Young Sasuk will sort it out!”
Wasn’t he the sort of man who would gulp down anything as long as Chung Myung brought it to him, no questions asked? This, too, wouldn’t be much different.
"Then is everything settled on the Tang Family side?"
"Yeah. Now we need to go to Yunnan."
Chung Myung turned and looked at Jo Gul.
"Senior Brother. The caravan bound for Yunnan is ready, right?"
"…"
For a moment, Jo Gul’s expression turned slightly odd.
"Ch-Chung Myung. Well, the thing is…"
"Hm? Why? They already left?"
Cold sweat gathered in beads on Jo Gul’s forehead.
"Th-there isn’t one."
"Huh?"
"There isn’t a caravan."
"…What are you talking about? Last time you said a caravan to Yunnan was going to depart soon and told us to hurry up and join it."
"That… my father lied to get us out of Chengdu quickly."
"…"
"He planned to gather some merchants, send us out of the city, and then explain things once we were far enough away from Chengdu. So…"
"It was a fake caravan?"
"Y-Yeah."
Jo Gul carefully watched Chung Myung’s face.
Now that he knew Jo Pyeong had lied, how would this vicious bastard react? His back was already damp with cold sweat.
But surprisingly, Chung Myung took it all rather lightly.
"Heh. Your father really is a merchant. Even in that situation, he tried to talk his way out of trouble with a lie."
"…"
Was that praise? Or an insult?
"Well. If your son’s worried, I guess that can happen. Anyway, so there isn’t any caravan to Yunnan?"
"No, there is! There is one. But trade with Yunnan is so limited that it’ll take at least another month before the next caravan can leave."
"Can’t we bring that forward?"
"Even if we push it as hard as possible, that’s still what they said."
"Mm, then that’s way too late…"
Chung Myung scratched the back of his head twice.
They’d already wasted time here in the Tang Family estate. When he thought of the Sect Leader and elders back at Mount Hua probably stretching their necks out, waiting for the Chung Myung contingent to return, he couldn’t afford to waste any more time.
Baek Cheon seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he frowned deeply.
"Couldn’t we look into another caravan?"
"That’s not easy. Caravans to Yunnan are extremely limited. Only a select few merchant groups are allowed to participate, and if even one thing goes wrong, they may never be able to travel there again. No one would want to meddle with the aftermath of a caravan like that."
"I see. So that’s how it is."
It wouldn’t be right to keep asking the Sahae Merchant Guild for favors any further. It was already too much of a burden for Jo Gul’s father.
"Then what do we do…"
"Well, if that’s the case, there’s no helping it. We’ll just have to handle it ourselves."
Everyone turned to Chung Myung.
"How?"
"Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal."
"Huh?"
Chung Myung grinned.
"Isn’t this exactly when friends are supposed to help out?"
"…Huh?"
Jo Gul stared at him blankly.
Bang!
Tang Gun-ak shut his eyes tight.
This was the office of the Tang Family Lord.
There were plenty of hot-tempered people in the Tang Family, but there was no one who would dare kick open the door to the Tang Family Lord’s office like that. And without even announcing themselves, no less.
Which meant…
"There’s one more condition!"
"…"
Tang Gun-ak slowly opened his eyes and looked at the one who had kicked—not knocked—his way into the room.
"What else…"
"No, let’s not call it a condition. Call it a favor! Please look into a caravan going to Yunnan. We’re planning to tag along and enter Yunnan with it!"
"…"
"We’re short on time, so hurry up and get it ready! I’m asking you!"
Apparently, in Shaanxi, the word favor was used very differently than in Sichuan.
For the fellow making the request was shouting it at the top of his lungs, stiff-necked as ever.
"…All the way to Yunnan is enough?"
"Nope. We have to go deep! All the way to where the Beast Palace is!"
"…"
Chung Myung looked at Tang Gun-ak and smiled brightly.
"I heard it’s not easy. Still, if it’s the Tang Family, you can do it, right? Come on, it’s the Tang Family. Surely not."
"…"
"You can manage it, right?"
"…Fine."
"Huh?"
Tang Gun-ak looked as though his soul had just fled his body.
"…Just kill me instead, you rotten little bastard."
For the first time in his life, Tang Gun-ak regretted ever sitting in the Family Lord’s chair.