Today's Fortune (2)
The atmosphere in the hall sank heavily. Everyone had their mouths shut tight, but their faces clearly showed they were about to explode in anger.
"The Black Flame Dragon wouldn't call us here just to joke around. We have to take this as the real deal."
The leader of the Madomun grabbed the crumpled paper I'd handed him and ground his teeth.
"It feels like we've put up with too much already. After chatting a bit with the alliance leader, has he already forgotten what this place is?"
The Madomun leader was fuming, looking ready to flip the table at any moment. It was understandable—he'd suddenly been slapped with an unexpected debt.
The others seemed to be waiting only for him to make the first move.
I stared steadily at the Madomun leader.
"Then let me ask one thing... Why do you think the work I did was free?"
"......"
As expected from these thieves at heart, they took what they received as a given.
"I'm not even part of the Saheukryeon, and most of you here are at war—or about to be—with the Murim Alliance, where I belong. I went out of my way to help you all, and you think you can just take it without any compensation? Without even a shred of shame?"
"......Th-that was for the sake of both sides'...... that public good thing or whatever......"
"Public good?"
"Yeah! It was for that!"
They always slapped on fancy words when it suited them.
"What we signed was just a peace treaty, wasn't it? If we'd formed an alliance, that'd be one thing. But expecting too much from a temporary truce like this?"
"......"
"Anyway, if I hadn't stepped in properly, how many of you here would still be breathing?"
"......"
I handed the Madomun leader a new contract. As they all read it with sour expressions like they'd bitten into shit, Wang Jupal—the new leader of the Sayongmun—glanced at Hwang Busik's contract next to him and asked.
"Hold on. Why are the amounts different on each contract?"
"Huh?"
"Where?"
That sparked it. The leaders started checking each other's contracts. Those with the higher amounts fumed indignantly, while those with half that sum looked somewhat relieved.
"What the hell is this? Black Flame Dragon!"
I replied matter-of-factly.
"Isn't it obvious that the amounts differ between those who want war with the Murim Alliance and those who want peace? I'm no saint—why would I charge everyone the same?"
Fairness doesn't always apply everywhere. Especially in times like this, you need to create tiers to spur the first movers.
"......Still, five hundred nyang in silver is too much."
Hwang Busik's words made Ilmyeong suddenly gasp in shock.
"F-five hundred nyang in silver?"
No, why are you surprised? It's not like I'm asking it from you.
Then he sent a sound transmission.
-Jin Siju, what the hell are you thinking?
-I did the work, didn't I? I'll give Senior Ilmyeong a little cut, so don't worry.
-......That's not what I mean! If you'd just stayed quiet, they'd have taken care of you properly.
But the worrywart monk pressed on.
-Do you think they'll hand over that much money easily? If I thought they wouldn't pay, I wouldn't have started this in the first place.
"Black Flame Dragon. I'll admit you worked hard. But even we can't shell out five hundred nyang in silver for something like this."
With Hwang Busik leading the charge, the others piled on like they'd been waiting.
"Right! Who do you think one thousand nyang in silver belongs to?!"
"Even if you're clueless about the real world, this is way over the line!"
"You could hire a top-grade assassin for fifty nyang in silver, and they'd even dispose of the body!"
As expected, people always change their tune coming out of the shitter compared to going in. Black path folks were no less greedy, if not more.
I swept my gaze over the assembled group.
"Hmm, so it seems none of you here think your lives are worth even that much."
The hawks—those holding the one-thousand-nyang contracts—shot to their feet in rage.
"What? Suddenly what the—?!"
"Yeah! Even so, you can't just say that—!"
I tilted my head.
"Do you perhaps think there are no more hidden threats?"
"......Huh?"
The leaders froze in an instant. Naive bunch for black path leaders.
I addressed them directly.
"I never said I'd eliminated all the hidden threats."
"Wh-what bullshit is that?!"
"Y-you said the job was done!"
"Right! We even drank at the banquet!"
Oh dear, looks like there was a communication breakdown.
"I said I handled the 'urgent matters.' The goal was to quickly eliminate the ones closest to snapping your necks."
"Th-then......?"
I nodded lightly.
"Of course the hidden threats are still out there."
The leaders trembled like gamblers realizing they'd wagered their house deeds and land titles on a rigged game.
"How many exactly?!"
"Do I have to tell you? To people who might become enemies in the future?"
"Y-you son of a—!"
I looked at the frantic Madomun leader.
"That's why you should've accepted the alliance proposal right away. I would've handled it all for free then."
"You dog......"
Black path minds seemed more flowery than I'd thought. Wasn't this basic?
Everyone in the Small Justice Squad had operated the same way.
"Well, since none of you seem willing to pay up, I'll be heading out."
"Where do you think you're going!"
Crash!
The empty chairs flew through the air, slamming into the door and piling up to block the exit.
Whoa, was that Air Grasp just now?
"The delegation's mission is complete, so I need to return to the Murim Alliance."
"Just like that?"
"Of course?"
My nonchalant response finally calmed the Madomun leader's excitement.
"......What you said. Is it true?"
"You think it's a lie?"
"It could be!"
The Madomun leader seemed to get worked up again without realizing it.
"Doesn't the white path's essence boil down to spewing lies from their mouths?!"
"Do you really think that?"
"......"
The Madomun leader stared at me like a gambler hunting for the red bean among two cups on the table. I met his eyes without flinching.
"Are you really sure? That it's a lie?"
Amid the shouts flying back and forth, it all boiled down to something simple.
"If you think it's a lie, don't pay. If you think it's true, pay up."
A simple fifty-fifty choice. The only problem was the stakes: their lives.
No gambler in the world would bet their own neck. If one did, they'd be a true gambler.
Step.
I broke the heavy silence in the room with a single step forward.
"Are you truly convinced it's a lie?"
"......!"
The Madomun leader, who had been glaring at me with bulging eyes, finally bowed his head.
Once you break one, the rest crumble easily.
I turned my gaze to the other leaders one by one.
"If you're convinced it's a lie, there's no need for this staring contest with me."
Each time our eyes met, they bowed their heads in turn.
"Are you convinced it's a lie?"
In the renewed silence, the Madomun leader finally spoke.
"......We can't prepare one thousand nyang in silver right now."
There we go!
I suppressed my rising smirk and replied calmly.
"I'll take goods or promissory notes too."
There wasn't a single true gambler in this room.
# With the false charges against the delegation lifted, the Saheukryeon leader found it easier to meet us, but the actual meetings were few. The major faction leaders, who had been scheming to oust Chaseokdu from his position, clamped their mouths shut at the emergence of hidden threats. Seizing the opportunity, Chaseokdu exercised his appointment powers freely. Where he'd once faced endless obstructions even for appointing a single branch leader, he now filled the Saheukryeon's key pillars with his own people, thanks to Damak's help. From the brink of losing his seat to factional checks, he'd dramatically recovered and solidified his position. The Saheukryeon was finally taking shape as a proper organization. And the one who made it all possible wasn't an internal figure of the Saheukryeon, but Jin Sowoon of the Murim Alliance delegation.
"......"
"Kuhahaha. Look at all this."
Ilmyeong watched Jin Sowoon count the promissory notes with the eyes of someone in secluded meditation. His front pouch bulged with various notes, elixirs, and treasures extorted from the black path bosses. And this was just a portion—the rest of the balance would arrive at the delegation's lodgings tomorrow.
What a bizarre sight. Black path heavyweights bowing their heads and offering treasures with "please take care of us."
How many in the jianghu's history had witnessed such a scene?
Ilmyeong barely chased away the intrusive thoughts plaguing his mind.
"Jin Siju...... May I ask one thing?"
Jin Sowoon flinched and hugged his chest with both arms.
"I said I'd share, but I can't give more than a hundred nyang in silver. This is mine, after all."
"......"
What did this guy think he was?
Swish—
Jin Sowoon hugged himself even tighter.
"You're not saying I don't have to share."
"......I'll use it for the Buddha's good works."
"Tch."
Ilmyeong continued, watching Jin Sowoon's obvious disappointment.
"Why bother extorting...... er, taking the money? It was something you had to do anyway. Wouldn't just doing it for free be better for long-term relations on both sides?"
"After coming all the way to the Saheukryeon and going through this hell, you think I'd leave empty-handed?"
"......"
As Ilmyeong's eyes clouded further,
"Ah, of course! There were other reasons too!"
Jin Sowoon waved his hands dramatically. Any lingering expectations Ilmyeong had shattered.
Unaware or not, Jin Sowoon lowered his arms and said,
"We need to weaken the black path bastards a bit, don't we?"
"Weaken them?"
Thanks to Jin Sowoon's exploits, the shaky Saheukryeon had solidified even more. Could you really call that weakening?
"To be precise, the hawks. Those guys would keep clamoring for war if they didn't fear the enemy, right?"
"......You're not just stoking their anger more?"
"Humans are funny creatures. A thorn under their own nail hurts more than seeing the enemy's limbs severed."
Jin Sowoon's face had lost its smile.
"Do you know who dies first when war breaks out?"
"......The ones at the front lines, I suppose."
Jin Sowoon shook his head.
"No. The weakest ones. And the last to die? The ones who started the war."
"......"
"People can send thousands—no, tens of thousands—into the meat grinder for their own gain, as long as they think it won't touch them."
For some reason, Jin Sowoon's face looked like that of someone stripped of emotion.
"Moreover, these are the pinnacle of the black path murim, wielding unchecked power and force. That's why they needed this lesson. The shock of their own powerlessness, the fear of suffering losses."
But then, his eyes gleamed sharper than anyone's.
"Then, when they talk war, they'll hesitate."
In that moment, Ilmyeong felt something crack in the corner of his mind.
The emotionless face now looked transcendent, enlightened—like someone who had grasped everything.
......If not for that bulging pouch.
Ilmyeong finally voiced the disconnect he'd felt.
"If you hate war...... why create the Saheukryeon at all?"
He knew the full story of Jin Sowoon's black path night raid and its results. At the final gate of Jeongsi, he'd reached out not to Yong So-a, but to the black path. You couldn't pin it all on him, but his influence on the Saheukryeon's founding was undeniable.
Jin Sowoon paused at Ilmyeong's question before replying.
"Senior Ilmyeong, do you think the Murim Alliance is just?"
Snap.
Ilmyeong froze mid-motion.
A question he'd never doubted—or rather, one he shouldn't doubt. Simple on the surface, but its implications were profound.
"......I think they strive toward justice."
"The view of someone who's walked a bed of flowers is indeed brilliantly positive."
Thorny words flew at him. Unable to retort, Ilmyeong fell silent as Jin Sowoon's cold voice continued.
"The Murim Alliance I saw is far from that."
Yet strangely, the barbs didn't sting. It felt more like he was pulling out thorns embedded in his own flesh to show his wounds.
"To the weak, the Murim Alliance feels more ruthless than the black path, more vile than the evil path."
"......"
"The Murim Alliance has stagnated too long. It's slowly rotting away."
What was this guy thinking? Did he even remember he was the academy's representative, a future elite leader of the Alliance? Or was he serious about that banquet joke, aiming for Saheukryeon vice leader?
His pouch jiggling, Jin Sowoon leaned forward.
"Do you know what I heard most when I entered the academy?"
"That you're amazing?"
His achievements were indeed remarkable.
But Jin Sowoon slowly shook his head.
"They said I'd bring chaos. And that chaos would disrupt the jianghu and topple justice."
Sad but understandable. To vested interests clinging to wealth and power, Jin Sowoon was a thorn in the eye. Even Yong So-a had tried to use him to purge the Alliance internals.
"Even so, how can creating the Saheukryeon be justified?"
Jin Sowoon shook his head at Ilmyeong's question.
"Do you know the imperial palace has a massive pond where rare fish from across the land live?"
An out-of-left-field topic, but Ilmyeong listened, captivated by the scholarly tone.
"......I've heard of it."
"The biggest headache when bringing fish to that pond was their survival. No matter the care, they all died before reaching the palace."
Aquatic life is sensitive—even a slight temperature change can kill them. Ilmyeong knew this, but he was drawn in.
"The solution? Put their natural predators in the tank with them."
"......Predators?"
Jin Sowoon chuckled softly.
"Strange, right? Mixing priceless fish that can't lose a single one with their predators. But amazingly, not a single fish died on the way to the palace."
"......"
"They survived by frantically dodging their predators."
Ilmyeong shuddered as he listened. A revelation he'd never felt in the scriptures thundered through his mind.
Jin Sowoon leaned back and stretched.
"Of course, the Saheukryeon's true purpose isn't limited to purifying the Murim Alliance. But for now, it'll have a positive impact."
"There's another reason?"
"......I'll tell you later."
"......"
The moment Ilmyeong saw Jin Sowoon's unwavering eyes, he was certain. As Ilgak had said, Jin Sowoon was truly an 'enlightened one.' No need to question his actions anymore. He saw the world from a different vantage.
Ilmyeong couldn't even fathom the enlightenment needed to match that gaze.
"So, heading back to the Murim Alliance now?"
Jin Sowoon answered as if it were obvious.
"No. Still got work to do."
"......"
Of course, the worry of what mischief he'd stir next lingered. Sensing or ignoring it, Jin Sowoon's lips curved slyly.
"Gotta catch that cunning little fox."
"......"
Well, he was an enlightened one seeing things differently.
'I give up trying to understand. ......Amitabha.'
For some reason, being in the Saheukryeon felt like expanding Ilmyeong's boundless mind.