Encounter with the Enemy (3)
Murim Alliance. So, who is the main enemy of the righteous factions that claim to uphold the White Path?
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult that reappeared after five hundred years? The Blood Cult that stirred up a bloodbath in Sichuan? Or the Black Path forces publicly branded as enemies three hundred years ago?
Who knows. Those existences actually expanded the Alliance's prosperity rather than providing the seed for its downfall.
From the start, the Murim Alliance's very reason for being is "protection." Without something to protect, it couldn't survive.
Thus, the Alliance always needs enemies. It was founded five hundred years ago to block the public enemy of the martial world.
And two hundred years ago, when there were no suitable foes, it nearly vanished.
The absence of enemies means the Alliance itself has no reason to exist.
For that reason, the ones who truly toppled the Alliance might not be those I mentioned.
So, what—or who—ultimately brought down the Murim Alliance?
I gazed at the man before me.
"What brings someone as busy with weighty matters all the way here?"
His refined features showed no flicker of emotion.
"Have you not learned proper respect?"
His flat voice carried a strange persuasiveness, as if stating eternal truths.
"Who knows. We're not exactly close enough for that kind of affection. Isn't it just pointless formality?"
Even provoking him deliberately yielded no agitation, like a human ignoring an ant's rage.
"Jin Sowoon. Do you not know that upholding basic etiquette between us is the swiftest path to building trust?"
"Keeping etiquette for efficiency? That's just so you."
The flawless stone statue stood unmoved, past and present. That man's stillness resembled the sturdy Mount Tai of my previous life.
But.
"Yong So-a."
Now, I knew. The hypocrisy hidden in that calm.
Yong So-a fixed me with a dry gaze.
Then spoke in the same tone as when he'd come to kill me.
"Use the senior honorific. You're an academy student now."
"That won't happen."
This was my vow. A small resolve not to follow his path that seemed like the right answer.
"Anyway, what brings you here? Aren't you busy with the Yongbong Assembly?"
The reply came from behind Yong So-a.
"We moved at a request from the Gonmyeong branch."
A small girl with the same emotionless expression as Yong So-a, but with odd speech patterns. It was Dang Seohee.
"What on earth happened in the Mukrim? And why were you staying with the Mandokmun?"
For a moment, it felt like Dang Seohee was glaring at Dan Se-woong.
But the look vanished, replaced by her usual blank stare up at me.
She still hadn't grown a bit.
I reflexively reached to pat her head, then stopped and answered.
"We ran into enemies."
"Enemies? I heard you clearly..."
Dang Seohee's gaze shifted to Instructor Gang Sun-tak.
"...got lost."
"W-what enemies! We disobeyed the instructor's orders, acted on our own, and got lost!"
"......"
The academy students' glares turned icy.
How many battles had they fought and endured in the Mukrim?
How many students had died because of it?
Yet Gang Sun-tak.
"Jin Sowoon, you must've incited them...!"
He dismissed their painful memories just to cover his own ass.
"Incited, incited..."
"Jin Sowoon..."
Gang Sun-tak chewed out my name with pure hatred.
"You're the problem! You, because of you...! Things blew up like this!!!"
Why did the Murim Alliance fall?
"If we'd stayed put, we could've requested help from the branch and saved everyone safely! And look, the Yongbong Assembly came just in time!"
Why did that colossal tree of five hundred years' history collapse so helplessly?
"You, colluding with the Black Path, misled the students into danger! In the name of the Murim Alliance, I will never forgive you."
The answer was right in front of me.
'It rotted from the inside.'
A tree that withstood any storm fell because its core had decayed and festered.
"What will you do about the students who died because of you! Your death penalty kin and your sect must bear full responsibility too!"
Parasites festering there, oblivious even to their own rot.
The Alliance's greatest enemy was within.
Chaeng!
I drew the Cheokgwanggeom.
No strategy, no schemes.
I'd lost reason because Gang Sun-tak's face overlapped with the executives who'd commanded the White Path in my previous life.
Those I'd desperately wanted to kill but couldn't.
Now, to kill them at last.
"You mad bastard!"
A sharp Cheongsung sword swung, but it wasn't as fearsome as in my past life.
No, it was almost laughable. Even in my past life or now, no sword I'd faced was this dull.
Cha-chaeng!
I blocked what Yeonhwa could've handled easily, pushing with brute force.
I wanted him dead in the most painful way possible.
Cha-cha-cha-chaeng!
Instructors drew swords one by one to counter.
Like in the Mukrim, minimal defense as I charged at Gang Sun-tak.
Deflecting, blocking, canceling sword auras' storm, advancing.
Gang Sun-tak kept retreating, back and back.
"St-stop, stop!!!"
Scratches on his arm and shoulder? His face paled.
The Sahwal-dan hadn't yielded to worse pain in the Mukrim.
They'd desperately sought these instructors as hope there.
Maybe it was good the instructors fled first.
With these around, more Sahwal-dan might've died.
Cha-cha-cha-chaeng!
I unleashed sword qi to counter theirs. It exploded into a massive storm.
Peo-peo-peo-peong!
Gang Sun-tak, retreating nonstop.
Soon, he spat a mouthful of blood.
Ku-eok.
Blood staining his front, he swung wildly without wiping it.
Then.
"Enough."
An unignorable sharp aura pierced the gap.
"Attacking an instructor is a grave crime. Stop."
The flat voice rang like a reprimand.
"Yeah? Then discipline me."
Chaeng. Ignoring the whirlwind sword, I advanced.
Gang Sun-tak bellowed at the opening from Yong So-a.
"What are you doing! Alliance members, arrest him now!"
Seul-reung, seul-reung, seul-reung.
Nearly a hundred Murim Alliance members drew swords.
A powder keg moment.
Then.
Kung—
A massive quake shook the entire Mandokmun.
Shockwave from the main hall. Even from afar, it hit clearly.
"Do you take Mandokmun lightly? Or me, Dan Se-woong?"
At once, the observing Mandokmun disciples prepared for battle.
Right. This wasn't Central Plains or Murim Alliance territory.
It was enemy ground.
In the sudden standoff, Gang Sun-tak—who'd been one-sidedly beaten—seemed to forget, still yelling.
"That bastard! Arrest him!"
"......"
But no Alliance member dared act rashly before Dan Se-woong's threat.
"Do you intend to continue?"
Dan Se-woong's gaze turned to Yong So-a.
Ignoring Gang Sun-tak and the branch members, it acknowledged him as their leader.
Yet Yong So-a didn't sheathe his sword easily against Dan Se-woong's pressure.
He showed the same blank gaze, as if fearing neither man nor Mandokmun.
"I think we should end it here. Seems like things happened we don't know about, you know."
Huashan's Hwa Jeong-san stepped forward.
"Yong So-a, we came to rescue our juniors, not start a war."
The one who'd picked fights with Tae-eul Gate was now mediating between the instructor and me.
"Arrogant junior, that's enough. If you've got grievances, talk it out back at the Alliance."
He glanced awkwardly at the surrounding students.
"Juniors! Put away your weapons already, yeah?"
Even after Hwa Jeong-san's words, no one moved easily.
Even Huashan disciples and lay affiliates showed it, making Hwa Jeong-san's eyes twitch faintly—but unlike before, he didn't flare up.
"What do you think would happen if Alliance members and students fought inside Mandokmun?"
"......"
I sheathed the Cheokgwanggeom.
Hwa Jeong-san clapped exaggeratedly to lighten the mood.
"Alright, let's head back. We'll sort issues at home."
"No need."
"Huh?"
I lifted Jong Chuoak, sprawled to one side.
"We have many still recovering. We'll rest more before leaving."
"Here? In the Black Path... no, Mandokmun?"
"Lord Dan knows our situation and graciously offered aid."
I smiled at Hwa Jeong-san.
"The situation even you instructors don't believe."
"......"
I handed Jong Chuoak to Nam Hwaseong and approached Gang Sun-tak.
To the man feeling no responsibility or guilt.
"Got lost? Then why didn't you gather students at the rally point?"
"......"
"No enemies? Then what were we fighting desperately?"
Even dissecting right and wrong showed no remorse.
Not to hide shame.
Those who know shame don't call us rotten.
"The elites of White Path sects begging aid from a Black Path one—you don't get it?"
They lacked shame from the start.
That's why they're rotten.
"Just for your own fame and fortune?"
Once the truth came out, Gang Sun-tak would plummet.
Not just him. All instructors would lose their shining futures.
"......"
They probably hoped we'd all died in the Mukrim.
No survivors left.
Then their paths might waver but not derail.
"You'll bear responsibility. Ignoring the schedule as an instructor, mobilizing students for personal gain; failing duty in danger, prioritizing your safety."
They'd thought mass death preferable.
All the way to Mandokmun.
"Hiding the truth to cover your crimes. We won't forgive you. You'll pay for the dead students too."
"......"
They'd wished for our deaths more than those who'd tried to kill us.
"Your death penalty kin and sect will bear it all."
So I vowed again.
"I'll make sure of it."
Revenge, without fail.
"Jin Sowoon... How dare a worm like you!"
I turned without delay.
Gang Sun-tak's venomous curses followed, but I ignored them.
Only then did students start sheathing weapons.
#
"You..."
Lord Dan Se-woong hesitated unusually cautious.
Why the sudden change? As I eyed him oddly, he spat it out.
"Are you... really insane?"
What? Was he about to say I'm crazy? Or just curse?
"Or did you secretly learn sorcery or demonic arts?"
"......"
What a lamentable mood. Hearing this from a true madman who'd injected unknown poisons into himself to test them.
Thanks to Tae-eul Divine Scripture, I had the most normal body and mind.
"What are you trying to say?"
"It's absurd. No Black Path guy would hurl abuse at a Cheongsung division head like that unless mad... Ahem."
"......"
Harsh words, but I had no desire to take them back.
They denied Sahwal-dan's efforts, tenacity, and despair.
"......You know you're screwed, right?"
"......"
Such vulgarity from a sect lord. Black Path was Black Path.
"I know I'm fucked."
"Ahem, damn, you've got a mouth on you."
Dan Se-woong patted my shoulder.
"If merits and faults were divided by right and wrong from the start, neither Jeongdohoe nor Baekdohoe would exist. They'd have lost justification and power long ago."
I knew. Their power solidified through that injustice.
"Plus, you insulted a Cheongsung disciple and gave them cause to oppose you. I see storm clouds over your promising future already."
He, once hostile, now worried familiarly.
Almost pleased, like meeting kin.
"My future never had dawn. Just storm or hail difference."
"Hail hurts."
"My head's tough."
"Kuhuhu."
Dan Se-woong burst into pleasant laughter. Drunk uncle?
A smile crept onto my lips too.
"Thank you."
"Huh?"
I bowed slightly to Dan Se-woong.
"For stepping in at the right time."
"......"
Dan Se-woong chuckled smugly.
"I backed you to paint you as Black Path."
"Even so, my hero reputation shines on."
"Heh... You're mad alright. Black Flame Dragon a hero."
Mandokmun, untouched by Ma-ryeong Plateau, didn't grasp my fame fully.
He giggled, then turned serious.
"That thick-headed Chaseokdu told you to come to Sahyeokryeon anytime?"
"Rumor."
"Heh. That blockhead doesn't lie, even if slow."
So that's why the Black Flame Dragon title stuck? Damn. Time for a change.
"But."
Suddenly, Dan Se-woong's eyes chilled.
No more idle jokes.
"To me, you're someone who must not join Sahyeokryeon."
"......"
I'd never planned to, but being told not to stung oddly.
"Why?"
He stared into my eyes, then looked away.
"Too pure and toxic."
Pure and toxic? Didn't compute. Can those go together?
Purification
"Mandokmun has a poison called Dokjeongsu. Colorless, but unique smell—not for stealth."
"Useless poison."
"Effective though. Eyes: blind. Mouth or nose: ruin breath. But..."
Dan Se-woong refilled his cup.
"Reason for the name Dokjeongsu."
"Odd name, yeah."
"Cleans polluted wells or moldy spots. Turns undrinkable water potable, diseased areas livable."
"Not poison then."
"It is. Drink direct: death. Spray in Sahyeokryeon: kills. But..."
He downed it in one gulp.
"Curious what it'd do cleaning the Murim Alliance."
Was he talking Dokjeongsu or me? Ambiguous.
"Dangerous, right? Clean Murim Alliance? Black Path wails already."
He chuckled amused.
"Biggest trait?"
"What?"
"Evaporates traceless after use."
Evaporates.
"Think carefully."
He fiddled with his cup, avoiding my eyes.
"If you're worth using for the Alliance."
He ended vaguely. I didn't pry, sensing his intent.
#
Alliance members left. Branch crew originally, instructors barred by Dan Se-woong.
Yongbong Assembly stayed.
Mandokmun disciples, who'd bonded with students, disliked Alliance but eyed Assembly curiously.
Hard to ignore White Path heroes.
Especially Dang Seohee. Shared poison use, top Dang Clan talent.
Some Mandokmun held discreet drinks. Leaders ignored the young ones' escapade.
I got invited before seeing Dan Se-woong, but wasn't in a partying mood.
Heading from his quarters to lodging.
Distant revelry hinted at drinks, but faded as I walked. Silence settled.
I paused in torchless dark, gazing skyward.
Yunnan constellations matched elsewhere, but high altitude and clear weather made stars sparkle like spilling jewels.
Sorting thoughts under them.
Footsteps. I turned.
"......"
Unwelcome face at torch shadow's edge.
"What brings you here."
"......What did you discuss with Lord Dan Se-woong?"
"Do I owe you an answer?"
As I ignored and passed.
"I have a question."
A question... So un-Yong So-a.
Still walking.
"Why you're still alive."
"......"
Couldn't ignore that.
Did he hope I'd died in Mukrim too, like Gang Sun-tak?
"You wanted me dead like that guy?"
"No interest in your ties. Just wondering..."
Yong So-a suddenly silent.
Unfamiliar face, unseen past or present.
Lips bitten, he slowly raised his eyes.
On his naturally blank face: clear curiosity.
Why the inevitable was disrupted.
'...What.'
Chill crawled my spine.
'Gonna kill me now?'
He spoke of my death like a given.