Chapter 34
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: I Am the Divine Sword's Disciple (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Sam is quite busy.”
Entering the gathering of the Five Great Clans’ younger generation, I muttered to myself as I watched Jeok-sam scurrying about.
Just then, Nam Gyeong approached.
“Master’s most beloved disciple, Nam Gyeong, is by your side, so please do not worry.”
“Ho ho, Gyeong. The disciple Master loves most is me.”
Jeok-sam, who had been weaving through the crowd of rising talents, suddenly appeared and chimed in.
At that, Nam Gyeong spoke with an indignant expression.
“Master has always thought of me a great deal. Unlike you, senior brother.”
“That’s because you were so pathetic. Gyeong, Master doesn’t love you; he worries about you.”
Why are these two suddenly acting like this?
I cherished and loved them both equally.
“Why are your disciples like that?”
Warrior Lee Geum-yeong clicked his tongue, looking just as baffled by the two disciples’ behavior.
“I remember them playing like this back at the school, but I have no idea why they’re suddenly doing it now.”
Now it was just Jeok-sam and Nam Gyeong bickering, but ten years ago, Ye-jeong, Rok-dam, and Ju-yeong would have joined in, creating utter chaos.
Lee Geum-yeong let out a long sigh.
It was a spectacle of someone else’s troublemakers causing a scene at another’s event.
“I am the disciple Master thinks of first. So it’s only right that I am the most beloved.”
“That’s just because you were the first to enter the school, senior brother.”
The ages of Jeok-sam and Nam Gyeong, who were squabbling so childishly, were thirty and thirty-two this year.
But before me, the two were always like young children.
“Both of you, stop it. What is the meaning of causing a disturbance at someone else’s event?”
“Master, they are the ones who aren’t showing us proper courtesy. Is there any need for us to be courteous to them?”
Jeok-sam retorted, sounding angry.
What courtesy had they failed to show? At this meeting of the Five Great Clans, the Jegal Clan, along with Dang Jin-seong, had invited us to the gathering of the younger generation.
“To seat you with the rising talents, Master. Doesn’t this mean the Jegal Clan sees you as being on the same level as them?”
I could see why Jeok-sam was upset.
It seemed the reason he had been scurrying about was to gauge the level of the other clans’ rising talents.
“Well, I was with Young Master Dang, and they must have considered my age.”
I was twenty-five this year. Considering the average age of the Five Great Clans’ younger generation was from the late teens to the early thirties, it was fitting for me to be invited to their gathering.
But Jeok-sam, seemingly displeased by this, continued to fume despite my explanation.
“Senior brother, shall I just draw my sword?”
Nam Gyeong, who had regained his confidence since his time with the Righteous Alliance, rattled his sword at his hip.
I rose from my seat to calm my agitated disciples.
“Enough. This is an event hosted by our in-laws.”
“But Master…”
“If you are so eager to draw your sword, then let us step outside. I will take a look at your swordsmanship.”
“Oh, where is my sword? I must have left it in my room, Master.”
Nam Gyeong spouted nonsense, even with his sword clearly hanging at his waist.
I gestured for Nam Gyeong to sit down and calmed Jeok-sam as well.
“I’ve already spoken to the young lady of our in-laws, so we should be able to see senior sister.”
Our reason for coming to the Five Great Clans’ assembly was, after all, to see my senior sister who had married into the Jegal Clan.
How the assembly of the Five Great Clans proceeded was of no concern to me or the Sinnae Sword School.
“Making us wait like this also displeases me, Master. Does it make sense to treat their in-laws this way?”
“The Jegal Clan has a major event today, do they not? Calm yourself.”
If I had my way, I would have flipped everything over and gone to find my senior sister immediately.
My senior sister, Hwa Wol-lyeong, had been like both a sister and a mother to me at the school.
Though I had received a few letters from her, I hadn't seen her face in over a decade.
“You must also consider your senior sister, who lives in the Jegal Clan.”
It would be easy for me to draw my sword and cause a ruckus, but that would only put my senior sister in a difficult position within the Jegal Clan.
At that, Lee Geum-yeong spoke with a puzzled expression.
“It’s unlike you not to draw your sword, Young Master Jin.”
“What do you take me for, Warrior Lee? I am a pacifist who loves dialogue over violence.”
Of course, a sword was always a part of my verbal discussions. And was there really a need to show mercy to villains?
Lee Geum-yeong, with a fed-up expression, popped a sweet from the table into his mouth.
“Still, seeing you so at peace puts my own mind at ease.”
Lee Geum-yeong said, gently rubbing his stomach.
Lately, he had been constantly taking stomach medicine, as if suffering from some ailment.
“So, Young Master Dang, how much longer must we wait?”
“That is… I will go and ask the young lady of the Jegal Clan.”
Dang Jin-seong said, sweating profusely.
They said the Tang Clan had fallen, and it seemed they held little power here either.
‘Well, I heard they’re only attending the assembly after five years due to interference from the main Tang family, so I suppose it can’t be helped.’
I sighed and reached for a sweet on the table.
It seemed the wait would be endless.
‘What would Master have done in a situation like this?’
I quietly recalled my master’s words.
***
‘The strongest… what nonsense.’
Jegal Eun-hye dismissed Jegal Hap’s advice as utter rubbish.
The daughter-in-law who had joined the Jegal Clan ten years ago was hopelessly dull-witted.
Having come from such a backwater village, she knew nothing of etiquette, nor could she even read.
‘To think he brought home such a foolish woman.’
Jegal Hap’s wedding had been a very modest affair, unbecoming of the Jegal Clan’s young lord.
This was because Jegal Eun-hye and her mother had vehemently opposed the marriage, ashamed that Jegal Hap, the proud future head of the great Jegal Clan, was marrying Hwa Wol-lyeong, a woman from the countryside.
“My lady, where should I place the flowers?”
A handmaiden approached Jegal Eun-hye and asked.
She was personally overseeing the arrangements for the gathering of the Five Great Clans’ younger generation.
This was a task that should have been handled by Hwa Wol-lyeong, the future mistress of the Jegal Clan.
But because the assembly five years ago, planned by Hwa Wol-lyeong, had been so shabbily executed, Jegal Eun-hye had taken it upon herself this time.
Moreover, five years ago, Hwa Wol-lyeong had even sullied the Jegal Clan’s name by being seen idly boasting with the young lord of the Tang Clan.
‘This time, I’ll just lock her away.’
Jegal Eun-hye wished her brother would just divorce her.
She couldn't understand what her brilliant brother saw in such a foolish woman like Hwa Wol-lyeong to marry her.
“This is our chance to restore the honor we lost five years ago. Please move the scrolls and pottery. Have you arranged for the cooks? Just in case, arrange for two, no, three of them.”
Jegal Eun-hye meticulously checked the venue where the rising talents of the Five Great Clans would gather, issuing commands to the handmaidens.
Even so, her anger did not subside.
‘No! Just what is so good about a woman who looks like that!’
Jegal Hap’s words stubbornly lingered in her mind, stoking her anger.
And to be slapped five thousand, six hundred, and seventy-two times. Even Jegal Hap, a trained martial artist, would have been sent to his grave if he had been hit that many times.
‘He should at least make his boasts believable. What’s so great about a bear of a woman like that?’
Jegal Hap was perfect in every way, except for his terrible taste in women.
Thanks to that, Jegal Eun-hye planned to restore the Jegal Clan’s tarnished honor on this day.
***
“If our master has graced this humble place with his presence, shouldn’t the host come out to greet him? Or at the very least, shouldn’t they let us see our family?!”
Jeok-sam, unable to contain his anger, shot up from his seat, drawing the gazes of the Five Great Clans’ younger generation.
Feeling their eyes on us, I once again tried to calm him.
“Sam, what do you hope to achieve by causing a scene at our in-laws’ home?”
Jeok-sam took a long breath and sat back down.
He was still fuming, his anger clearly not fully abated.
“Master taught us that if we fail to show courtesy, it is he and senior sister who will be shamed.”
“Yes, you are right, Master.”
I gently admonished Jeok-sam and turned my gaze toward Jegal Eun-hye, who had approached us.
As she drew near, Jegal Eun-hye glanced at me and snorted.
‘Huh? Look at this wench.’
“You must be the people from Sister Hwa’s school. What seems to be the problem?”
‘What did she say?’
I suppressed a surge of anger, glanced at Dang Jin-seong, and then spoke.
“While we are here thanks to Young Master Dang, we have but one purpose. We came to see if our senior sister is well.”
“Oh my, isn’t there a saying that a married daughter is no longer part of her family? My sister-in-law is doing just fine. She is a person of our Jegal Clan now, you know? So please, do not worry.”
‘What kind of nonsense is this?’
I suppressed my anger and asked again.
“That may be so, but since we have come all this way, we would like to see her face, at least once.”
At that, Jegal Eun-hye replied with a forced smile.
“Are you saying you don’t trust our Jegal Clan? Even if you are her junior brother, your intentions in coming all the way to Hubei to meet your married sister are suspect. Country bumpkins, I swear.”
Jegal Eun-hye was smiling as she spoke, but her voice was ice-cold.
I could no longer tolerate it.
“Sam.”
I averted my gaze from Jegal Eun-hye and looked back at Jeok-sam, who rose from his seat as if he had been waiting.
“Yes, Master.”
“Is there any problem with us seeking out our senior sister?”
“None at all. However, this foolish woman is ignorant of everything, which is why she is being so rude.”
“Indeed. What do you think she is ignorant of?”
“Of what great respect the Sword of Completion has shown the Jegal Clan simply by being courteous.”
Jeok-sam once again mentioned the title his disciples had created for me.
“I am not the Sword of Completion.”
I was still lacking. I could not yet cut through time or space, so how could I claim to have completed the sword?
But showing courtesy was not the important thing right now.
My master had said:
‘Be courteous, but do not let yourself be looked down upon.’
I had tried to be pleasant, but there was no need to show courtesy to those who treated me so rudely.
And if they treated their in-laws this way, how must they treat my senior sister?
“However, seeing the young lady’s attitude, it seems that for senior sister’s sake, I must now be called the Sword of Completion.”
Jegal Eun-hye clicked her tongue as if she found the situation absurd.
“Ha! Sword of Completion? What is that supposed to mean? Are you aware that members of the Namgung Clan are present?”
And then, she finally said what she should not have.
“Calling yourselves the Sword of Completion and what not. Just like Hwa Wol-lyeong… This is why uneducated country bumpkins are so hopeless. Truly, I’d like to see the face of whoever taught you.”
“Whoever… taught me, you ask? Sam, from whom did I learn the sword?”
“Yes, Master. You are the Sword of Completion, the one who inherited the true teachings of the great master, the Divine Sword Jin Sang-ho.”
“That is correct. I am the disciple of the Divine Sword, Master Jin Sang-ho. The Sword of Completion, Jin Je-yong.”
I rose from my seat.
At that, the rising talents of the Namgung Clan, dressed in their yellow uniforms, also rose.
“We let it slide when some riffraff from a countryside sect started calling themselves the Sword of Completion, but now you invoke the Divine Sword? This is something our great Namgung Clan cannot simply ignore.”
I looked at the warriors of the Namgung Clan who had stood up, their gleaming swords drawn.
I turned my head to see Lee Geum-yeong clutching his stomach, while Dang Jin-seong was already fleeing out the door.
“Sam.”
“Yes, Master.”
“It seems we will have to find senior sister ourselves.”
“Gyeong and I will open the way.”
At Jeok-sam’s words, Nam Gyeong drew his sword.
But I held up a hand to stop them.
“That won’t be necessary. I know where she is.”
The path could be carved with a sword.