Chapter 158
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: How About This Method?
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As if nursing a headache, he pressed his fingers to his temples and remained silent for a long while.
Rimon finally spoke in a low voice.
"In short, I've been selected as the White Dragon Princess's consort too?"
"Yes."
"...Should I feel honored or something?"
"That depends on how you take it, doesn't it?"
Li Chingwei gave a wry smile.
Yuna Kyung opened her beak in disbelief as well.
[The world's richest big sis wasn't enough, and now you've got proposals from two of them. I had no idea our team leader was such a magnetic playboy.]
"Who's getting sassy right now?"
Rimon furrowed his brow.
He turned to Li Chingwei accusingly.
"Hang on, why the hell does she want to marry me? I've never even met the girl."
"That's the thing. From what I heard, it turns out you have met her before."
"What're you talking about?"
Rimon looked puzzled.
Then came the story Ainsha had shared.
In other words, upon hearing that she'd snuck to a music challenge shoot and gotten help from some black-haired young man, Rimon's jaw dropped.
"...You're saying that was the White Dragon Princess I helped back then?"
"Yes. You really didn't notice at all?"
"If I had, would I have bothered helping? Even if bullets were flying instead of cameras, I'd have let her fend for herself!"
[Whoa, isn't that a bit harsh, even for you?]
"Harsh? If she'd gotten so much as a scratch from that, I'd cut off my own hand."
Any decent martial artist from the Seven Dragon Society could've blocked or dodged something like that on their own.
Let alone the White Dragon Princess?
No need to even mention it.
She might look like a delicate girl on the outside, but the seven princesses were the society's strongest experts. They were born as beings fundamentally different from humans.
"Damn it, no wonder something kept nagging at me...!"
Rimon finally realized it.
That nagging feeling he'd had back then.
It had been because of Ainsha.
Never mind her bundled-up outfit. He'd unconsciously sensed something off in her calm demeanor as she watched the incoming cameras.
At the time, he'd brushed it off as her being in a panic.
But that was a mistake.
She'd simply felt no real danger, staying utterly composed.
[So basically, you saved the White Dragon Princess back then, and she fell for you at first sight?]
"Whether it was actually dangerous or not is beside the point. Going through something like that on a first meeting would make anyone fond of you."
[What an incredible coincidence.]
Yuna Kyung sounded dubious.
If she hadn't snuck to the shoot.
If that freak accident hadn't happened.
And if Rimon just happened not to be there.
What should've been a minor mishap had spiraled into this absurdity.
That's why Rimon snorted at Yuna Kyung's words.
"Coincidence my ass. You think the White Dragon Clan does anything by chance?"
[What do you mean?]
"It means those idiots pulled some idiot stunt again."
[Huh?]
Whether Yuna Kyung looked baffled or not.
Rimon ignored it.
He simply frowned and tossed the question at Li Chingwei.
"So, what now?"
"Well, honestly, I'm stumped."
Even Li Chingwei, who smiled through most things, openly showed her distress this time.
"Ainsha's a bit of an oddball, but I never thought she'd propose to someone she'd only met once."
"I know a princess who proposed the second she laid eyes on me."
"Now that you mention it, maybe it's not that rare."
"What persuasive logic."
Rimon stared at Li Chingwei in exasperation—the same one who'd proposed right off the bat.
She asked him seriously.
"But Sword Duke, just to confirm."
"What?"
"You really have no intention of accepting Ainsha's proposal?"
"...You think that's a question a fiancée asks her fiancé?"
"I'm still just your fiancée."
Li Chingwei pointed out calmly.
They had an engagement, sure. But that was it.
Until they actually married, Rimon could still choose to break it off and pick Ainsha.
"Besides, I promised you before we marry, didn't I? You can have as many other women as you want if you wish."
Their marriage was just a means to an alliance from the start.
So as long as the alliance held, there was no need to force a political marriage with her.
Rimon gazed at the composed Li Chingwei for a moment.
Then he sighed.
And snapped his fingers.
Snap!
"...???"
"Princess, aren't you forgetting something important?"
Startled by the sudden flick to her forehead.
Li Chingwei's eyes went wide as Rimon spoke coldly.
"I swore on my sword that I'd never abandon you. Breaking our engagement now? What kind of Sword Master would that make me? More like a bastard master."
"But..."
"More importantly, I already warned you."
Cutting off her rebuttal.
Rimon stared straight at her with golden eyes and continued firmly.
"You're already mine."
He wouldn't hand over what was already in his grasp.
She had no freedom to run away.
His ruthless declaration shook Li Chingwei's pupils. Rimon grinned wickedly.
"Plus, she proposed to my fake identity. Once she learns who I really am, you think she'd still wanna marry me?"
"...You're right."
Rimon said it so matter-of-factly: seeing his real face, she'd run to the ends of the earth—what marriage then?
Li Chingwei stared at him blankly for a moment.
Then she chuckled and nodded.
[Hey, you two lovey-dovey chickens? Flirting's fine and all, but can we finish the discussion first?]
"I wasn't flirting."
"We were just talking necessities."
[Sure, whatever you say.]
Yuna Kyung grumbled enviously at the pair.
Whether it was her point that worked.
Or Rimon's flick.
Li Chingwei started brainstorming real solutions.
"Anyway, since you have no intention of accepting, we'll just have to resolve it amicably."
"How?"
Ainsha's condition was cooperation with the marriage.
Ignoring that, how could they smooth things over and still get the White Dragon Clan's help?
Rimon asked dubiously.
Li Chingwei smiled gently.
"How about marrying her first, then divorcing?"
"...What?"
"Ainsha just wants cooperation with the engagement. Marry her, divorce, then remarry me."
"You wanna start a war with the White Dragon Clan?"
"If you don't like that, what about the pillar husband strategy?"
"Pillar... what?"
"You seduce Ainsha into cooperating. Without actually marrying her, of course. It works surprisingly well?"
"..."
Rimon froze in horror at Li Chingwei's parade of outlandish plans, like she'd been waiting for this.
Speaking for him, Yuna Kyung asked dubiously.
[...Princess sis, do you have some grudge against the White Dragon Princess or something?]
"Ainsha's my favorite among the other clan's princesses."
[You mean as a friend, right? Not like 'easy mark to devour' or 'pushover' favorite?]
"As if."
[Why won't you confirm or deny!?]
In the end, after Rimon and Yuna Kyung shot down her "best" ideas, Li Chingwei pondered long and proposed a more reasonable compromise.
"Then how about this method?"
While Rimon racked his brains over this unexpected issue, the Music Challenge's fame continued to soar.
There were two reasons.
First, Rimon's performance had been fully released to the public for free.
Second, that challenge song came with a bounty.
"No limits on level, skills, age, class, or nationality!"
"An event for everyone!"
"Anyone can record themselves singing the challenge song and send it in!"
"Just send the video—we'll randomly select a hundred winners for 10 million won prizes each."
"And the ten best singers get a base 100 million won, plus entry into the main tournament with up to 100 billion won on the line."
"Challenge together!"
"Music~ Challenge!"
In truth, it was a desperate ploy Kim Seungjun had cooked up in a corner.
All original participants had withdrawn, and the broadcast mishap left the show's survival in doubt.
He'd tried breaking through with bounties to salvage it.
A simple money grab, sure—but the strategy unexpectedly blew up.
For the cash.
Out of curiosity.
On a bet with friends.
Out of spite or pride.
Or bewitched by that melody and song.
Countless people of all ages and genders challenged the Ghost Song for their own reasons.
In the end, no one could actually sing it.
Most were so entranced by the ethereal performance they couldn't even open their mouths, and those who tried quit midway in self-loathing.
Yet as failures mounted, challengers surged, trapping the Ghost Song in a vicious viral cycle.
Challenging the Ghost Song became a trend.
Naturally, the origin—Music Challenge—rode the wave, becoming a smash hit shaking up the broadcasting world.
But light casts shadows.
The bigger Music Challenge's popularity grew, the more others suffered losses.
"What?"
"No, what the hell...!"
"Branch chief, Branch chief?!"
Click.
Mun Cheonyeop was dumbfounded.
He'd pulled out all the stops to build ties with the Midas Guild branch chief.
And thanks to that connection, he'd strutted as WIM Guild's power player.
But right now.
That lifeline snapped pathetically.
All because of his rocky ties to the Music Challenge creators!
"Son of a bitch!"
Crash!
Mun Cheonyeop hurled his smartphone.
No way a branch chief would ditch him over one popular song from a show.
Someone was scheming behind the scenes.
And he, a big shot in WIM, knew exactly who.
"Guild master, that whore! Teaming up with those bastards to screw me over?"
Mun Cheonyeop seethed.
At Yeonhwa, who'd stolen his connections.
At Kim Seungjun, who'd made this program.
And at Rimon, who'd beaten him senseless without letting him lift a finger.
If Claire hadn't called a healer out of pity, he'd still be wheezing in a hospital bed.
"Just you wait, you fucking pricks!"
Mun Cheonyeop rifled through his business card holder with a furious glare.
The networks he'd built using Claire extended beyond Midas.
Politics, business, guilds—and even shady spots unknown to the public had Claire fans.
Among the most dangerous.
He pulled out a card double-hidden deep in the holder from some organization, eyes gleaming with murder.
"I'll make you regret ever messing with me!"