Better to Die Than Fail to Obtain It (1)
A man quickened his pace.
It wasn’t the sort of stride meant to flaunt authority. He simply walked as though he had somewhere urgent to be. But everyone who passed him by and caught sight of his face turned pale and hastily lowered their heads.
The reason was simple.
He was none other than Ho Gamyeong, the strategist of the Tyrant Lord Jang Ilso.
By the official hierarchy of Saperyeon, Ho Gamyeong did not even rank among the top ten.
And yet there was not a single fool among those under Saperyeon who would ever think Ho Gamyeong’s real authority failed to make the cut.
When Ho Gamyeong, his expression cold as ice, reached Jang Ilso’s quarters, the guards stationed at the entrance quickly bowed their heads. Of course they did. The man approaching them was Ho Gamyeong.
But then—
He stopped.
Despite how briskly he had been walking, Ho Gamyeong came to an abrupt halt and did not move.
“……”
He narrowed his eyes and looked down at the bowing guards.
“Over here.”
“Yes!”
The guards hurried forward.
“Anyone entering the Alliance Leader’s quarters is to be searched. Is that not the law of Saperyeon?”
“Th-that’s right.”
The guards, already pale, nodded frantically.
“Then why aren’t you searching me?”
“H-how could we dare…….”
“Dare?”
At the short, clipped repetition, the color drained further from the guards’ faces.
“If I were an assassin disguised as Ho Gamyeong after killing him, could you bear the consequences?”
“……St-Strategist.”
“Search me.”
“Yes!”
With no further explanation, Ho Gamyeong gave the order in a flat voice, and the guards, their faces stiff with fear, searched him. Their trembling hands went over every fold of his clothing, and they even checked his face carefully, making sure he hadn’t altered his appearance.
“There’s nothing wrong.”
Once the guards had stepped back, Ho Gamyeong stared at them expressionlessly.
The guards, drenched in sweat, stood with trembling fingertips like criminals awaiting a magistrate’s judgment.
“I’ll let it pass this time.”
“Th-thank you…….”
“But if this happens again.”
His sharp eyes pinned them in place.
“You’ll decide that dying would be preferable.”
“W-we’ll remember that!”
“The only person you are to show loyalty to is the Alliance Leader. For you, his guards, no one in Saperyeon—not even me—is someone to be treated with courtesy.”
“……”
“Remember that.”
“Yes!”
At last, Ho Gamyeong turned his gaze away and walked into the inner quarters.
The guards, who had barely survived escaping the tiger’s jaws, desperately held up their suddenly weakened legs.
With a sharp sound, Ho Gamyeong opened the door and stepped inside, his keen eyes sweeping over the room.
Only after taking in everything inside over the course of several breaths did he give a small nod and move toward the bed in the center of the room.
It was from that moment on that the face he had kept as hard as frozen iron finally began to loosen.
“……Alliance Leader.”
“……”
“Alliance Leader. Stop coughing already. The sun is high overhead.”
“……”
“Alliance Leader!”
“Grrrnh.”
Jang Ilso, lying on the bed, stirred.
“You need to cough!”
“C-could you not speak so loudly……? My head is ringing.”
With a miserable groan, Jang Ilso pulled the silk quilt all the way over his head.
It was too much for Ho Gamyeong to call him pathetic outright, but he still let out a deep sigh.
“You need to get up.”
“……An instant.”
“Pardon?”
“Come back in one jiffy. One jiffy…… just let me sleep one jiffy longer.”
“Alliance Leader!”
Seeing no sign that he intended to rise, Ho Gamyeong finally seized the blanket himself and yanked it away.
“Get up!”
“Grrr…….”
At last, unable to win, Jang Ilso slowly pushed himself upright. His hair was a mess, and his shoulders drooped without strength, making it hard to believe this was the same Jang Ilso who had stood as the Paegun just yesterday.
“Gamyeong…… my head hurts so much I think I’m dying.”
“Then why did you drink so much?”
“……What was I supposed to do when some giant rat-looking bastard keeps downing liquor like it’s water and doesn’t even blink? You expect me to back off and say I can’t drink anymore in front of him?”
“What was the point of learning martial arts, then? You could have burned off the alcohol with inner force!”
“Ah…… speak a little gentler, won’t you? My head’s throbbing.”
Jang Ilso let out another pained groan before continuing.
“You’re usually clever, but at times like this, you really are foolish. If I had used inner force while drinking, that man would have thought my martial arts were superior to his.”
“……And then?”
“But.”
Jang Ilso broke into a snicker.
“Now he has no choice but to admit I can hold my liquor better! He was the one who collapsed first, after all! Kkukukuk. You should’ve seen the look on his face before he fell backward!”
Ho Gamyeong pressed his fingers into his temples.
His head hurt.
No, really—it hurt. It felt like his blood pressure was spiking.
“……Fine, then at least circulate your qi. You’ve already proved you can drink better, so there’s no need to keep suffering from a headache.”
“Not yet.”
“Pardon?”
Jang Ilso clicked his tongue and waved a hand. At once, a maid waiting at the back rushed forward like the wind and offered him a cup of honey water.
Jang Ilso took it, downed it in one long swallow, and shook his head.
“I have to see Hwang Saeak again today. I need to show him I’m still in miserable shape.”
“……All because of such an insignificant man.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Gamyeong, Gamyeong. Why are you saying such obvious things lately? The world is full of unknowns. One day, that insignificant man may be the one deciding whether I live or die.”
“……”
Ho Gamyeong was about to snap back, but then he closed his mouth. Jang Ilso’s expression had changed.
“Regret is not the pain of failing to do what you could not do. It’s the pain of failing to do what you could have done. So if something can be done, it should be done long before it becomes too late.”
A sigh slipped from Ho Gamyeong’s lips.
It was, undeniably, the correct way of thinking. But how easy was it for a human being to live by the correct way of thinking?
Even though Jang Ilso had reached a position where he no longer needed to concern himself with trivial matters, he had not changed at all from the days when he had been merely the leader of Maninbang.
Because of that, Jang Ilso’s daily life verged on overwork. From Ho Gamyeong’s point of view, that was naturally a cause for concern, but on the other hand, he could not deny that it was precisely that attitude that had allowed Jang Ilso to seize complete control of Saperyeon.
“Even so, you should take care of your body.”
“Gamyeong, you’re becoming more and more closed-minded by the day.”
“Alliance Leader.”
“Fine, fine.”
Jang Ilso waved his hand as though he were fed up.
“Anyone looking at me would think I’m the most pathetic man in the world. Grrrnh.”
Listening to his light grumbling, Ho Gamyeong let out a silent sigh of his own.
Pathetic?
Even someone overflowing with malice toward Saperyeon would never dare use that word for Jang Ilso.
It was far too absurd a term for the man who, in only three years, had subjugated all of Jiangnan and unified the Sapa under one banner.
The fact that Hwang Saeak had come to him personally to pledge loyalty carried considerable meaning. It was undeniable proof that Saperyeon’s influence had begun to shake not only Jiangnan but even the Northern Martial Alliance.
“I have a report for you.”
“What is it?”
Jang Ilso answered lazily, dragging the words out. His face was full of the unmistakable intention to get Ho Gamyeong out as quickly as possible and lie back down again.
“Hua Mountain has lifted its seclusion……”
But the instant Ho Gamyeong began to speak, the languor and boredom on Jang Ilso’s face changed. His pale features twisted strangely, and a ghostly chill seemed to pour from him, enough to make a heartbeat stop.
“……They have lifted their seclusion.”
Yet that presence vanished in a blink, as though it had never existed at all.
As if Ho Gamyeong had merely imagined it.
But it was no illusion.
His face returned to its dazed laziness, but the dullness that had previously lingered there was completely gone. A flicker of madness danced in his dim eyes.
“Hua Mountain?”
“Yes.”
“It took them long enough. Long enough. Damn fools.”
Jang Ilso’s lips curled upward.
Of course, Ho Gamyeong knew exactly who the “damn fools” referred to.
Plum Blossom Sword Hero.
He had no idea why, but in all the world, there was only one person capable of drawing that expression out of Jang Ilso: the Plum Blossom Sword Hero of Hua Mountain.
“I was even thinking of growing impatient enough to drag them out myself……”
“That fool moved exactly as expected, which helped considerably.”
“Yes. That…… that…….”
Jang Ilso scratched his head hard.
“What was his name again? The, ah, the name……”
“……Gal Cheon-lip. Gal Cheon-lip, the Heartless Ghost Blade.”
“Ah. Right. That Gal Cheonglip.”
“His name is Gal Cheon-lip.”
“Let’s not fuss over the small stuff. He’s nothing but a nobody anyway.”
As if there were no reason to remember the name of such a man, Jang Ilso waved his hand dismissively.
“Anyway, it sounds like that Gal bastard died in Shaanxi exactly as planned. He didn’t even manage to inflict any real damage, did he?”
“He was one-sidedly crushed.”
“As I thought. They’re all idiots.”
Jang Ilso let out a low laugh.
“Well then, at last, all the actors and the setting are in place. Now all that’s left is for the stage to ripen, yes?”
His face almost looked delighted.
Did the world know that the person who had waited most eagerly for Hua Mountain’s return was none other than Jang Ilso?
“Good!”
Jang Ilso sprang to his feet.
At the same time, his body emitted a plume of white steam, like boiling water. He used his inner force to instantly drive the alcohol poison from his system.
“Clothes!”
“Yes, Alliance Leader!”
The maids hurried over and began dressing him. As Jang Ilso waited for them to fasten his ornaments, he frowned slightly, his patience already wearing thin.
“Move aside.”
Shoving the maids away, he began slipping rings onto his fingers himself, one hand after another.
Ho Gamyeong swallowed dryly.
He had expected the name Hua Mountain to stir Jang Ilso, but he had not anticipated such a fierce reaction, even from him.
But at the same time, something strange was blooming in Ho Gamyeong’s eyes: anticipation.
Three years.
The promised three years had almost passed.
That meant the world would soon be swallowed once more by a storm—one brought about by Jang Ilso’s own hands.
“Cancel everything on the schedule.”
“……What are you planning to do?”
“When the rice is cooked, you move. Better than waiting so long it burns.”
Jang Ilso twisted his crimson-painted lips into a smile.
“There’s somewhere I need to go.”
The moment Ho Gamyeong saw that smile—so unmistakably wicked—his heart sank. He knew better than anyone what happened whenever Jang Ilso wore that expression.
That was not a smile born of pleasure at something he intended to do.
It was the smile of a man about to throw his own life into a furnace.
“It’s time to take the final card into my hand. I’m curious, too. Will I truly be able to seize it, or will I have to put my life on the line? Hahahahahahahaha!”
With a laugh dripping madness, Jang Ilso opened the door and stepped out of his quarters. Then, even beneath the pouring sunlight, he did not flinch in the least as he glared up at the sun hanging high overhead.
Bathed in that blinding light in the blue sky, Jang Ilso bared his teeth.
“Better to die than fail to gain it.”
His hand stretched out and covered the sun. Making a show of grasping it in one stroke, he burst into loud laughter and strode away with long, powerful steps.
The black snake, filled with madness and venom, had finally awakened from its long, long sleep and begun to move.
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