All the Better
Namgung Muyoung, who had been preparing for a sparring match with Sun Wukong, froze in place.
"Where did this information come from?"
"I can see thousands of miles from where I sit, and hear a fly's wings beating just as far away."
"So the source is a secret. Understood."
The mere fact that the words had come from Sun Wukong's mouth was enough — given his standing in the Namgung Clan, that is. Lately the clan had come to accept him as one of their own blood.
"If what Master says is true, then those who harbor grudges against the Namgung Clan are gathering as we speak. This isn't something we can simply let pass."
Namgung Muyoung set aside even the sparring session he had always prepared for with Sun Wukong and sank into deep thought.
"Objectively speaking, even if they gather, they cannot attack Namgung. Rationally, they could never harm us. But…"
"A grudge is the sort of thing that never answers to reason."
"There's no such thing as a perfectly prepared revenge. Even if a man is nothing more than an egg, he won't hesitate to hurl himself against a boulder when revenge is the cause. That's what a martial artist with a grudge is."
There had been an incident in Hubei Province some time ago. A band of martial artists who had repeatedly blocked the road on the way to Mt. Wudang had resolved themselves to take revenge on the Namgung Clan. Through Sun Wukong's eyes, they were woefully inadequate. To dream of revenge against the Namgung Clan with so little was absurd — a path to self-destruction, plain and simple. Success was virtually impossible. Coldly speaking, even if they threw their entire strength at the giant, they would leave nothing more than a tiny scratch. What they stood to lose, compared to what they could gain, was fatal. Their lives, after all.
Had they not known? They must have. That is what a grudge is. That is what revenge is.
"Put it this way — even if the man who killed your family were the greatest under heaven, you'd still charge at him ready to die. That's the kind of creature a human is when they wear a grudge."
Revenge is irrational. Therefore, it is a variable.
Muyoung's expression hardened.
"They won't dare draw their blades in the open at a Grand Assembly watched by all, an event gathered under the banner that the entire Orthodox Path must unite. Their plan is probably… to disrupt the Namgung Clan's event."
Since becoming Young Clan Lord, Muyoung had firmly established his position as the true successor. He was involved, directly or indirectly, in every major and minor affair of the clan.
"As Master has already guessed, the purpose of this Grand Assembly is the Pan-Orthodox Alliance."
"Even a passing third-class martial artist was going on about it."
"We deliberately let the rumor leak rather than keep it secret."
"So that's how it was. Crafty."
Sun Wukong nodded as if he had expected as much.
No wonder Myeong-i-dang hasn't paid the slightest attention to the Hao Clan and Hoga Clan affairs.
It was certainly strange that Myeong-i-dang, an intelligence organization, hadn't caught even a whiff of it.
They must have been running themselves ragged because of the Grand Assembly.
The rumor had spread in an instant. Sun Wukong quickly realized someone had intervened by design.
"The idea is to manufacture public opinion and lock it in as an undeniable fact, isn't it? The Myeong-i-dang Master must have been busy lately."
"Yes. Thanks to that, the rumor has spread far and wide."
Muyoung murmured an as I thought and nodded. Sun Wukong had already seen through everything. His guess had been correct.
Those who looked upon the Namgung Clan's leading role with discontented eyes were by no means few. They also had to keep in mind the possibility that someone's interference could collapse the Grand Assembly's purpose. This was where the Myeong-i-dang Master had produced a clever scheme.
When a rumor puts on flesh, it can become more powerful than the truth itself.
A mere rumor had soon become public opinion. The groundwork was now laid so thoroughly that the Orthodox Alliance could not possibly fail to form. Sun Wukong clicked his tongue inwardly.
People think the Namgung Clan is full of muscle-headed sword-swingers who know nothing but the blade. But Muhwa, the Myeong-i-dang Master, the Patriarch's cunning… not a single one of them is to be taken lightly.
The Namgung Clan's posture toward this Grand Assembly was a fierce declaration of their will to step onto the martial world in earnest. It wasn't simply greed for the clan to stand tall within the Pan-Orthodox Alliance. Sun Wukong had read Namgung Jinbaek's will. Having already fought Baekgwiwang and felt that terror firsthand, Namgung Jinbaek sincerely dreamed of an alliance to stand against the Unorthodox Path. He truly believed that only if the Orthodox Path stood together as one could they resist.
"It's called a Grand Assembly, but when you think about the inner workings, it really makes your head throb. A fierce shadow war is unfolding, whether people notice it or not."
"I'd rather not pay attention to that side of things. Just hearing about it is already giving me a headache. I'm just a guest, aren't I?"
There was something slightly irritating about the way Sun Wukong grinned and wriggled out of it.
"Interests are already colliding fiercely beneath the surface. And if those who harbor grudges gather their strength, raise a single voice of public opinion against the Namgung Clan, condemn us with one voice…"
"The other members of the Nine Sects and One Gang could use that as a pretext to blow the whole thing even bigger."
"As it is, every member of the clan is running around without a moment to breathe. If another variable like this crops up… hah…"
"So that's why I haven't been able to catch the Patriarch or the Law Enforcement Hall Master around lately."
"You're better off not seeing them."
"Why?"
"They're so swamped and so on edge they look ready to stab the next person who talks to them. Especially Sister Muhwa. Even Father goes 'hot, hot!' and ducks away whenever she appears."
"She does look exhausted."
"Right? Always worn down by fatigue… gasp."
Muyoung's eyes followed Sun Wukong's gaze and dropped instantly to the floor. Muhwa, her face full of fatigue and irritation, was coming this way. Wondering if she had overheard him, Muyoung trembled. The same Muyoung who always maintained an upright, fearless posture and conducted himself properly as Young Clan Lord quietly slipped behind Sun Wukong's back.
Sun Wukong smiled wryly.
Muyoung, Seowol, even the Patriarch. Good grief. The real power in the Namgung Clan is the Law Enforcement Hall Master.
Sun Wukong raised a hand lightly, and Muhwa's face brightened in an instant — a smile blooming like a flower, as if the earlier expression had never existed.
"Huh…"
A hollow breath escaped from Muyoung behind him.
"I don't see any killing intent on that face."
Muhwa's eyes went round.
"Killing intent? From me?"
"Nah, the Young Clan Lord here said the Law Enforcement Hall Master has been going around with her face all scrunched up like she's about to kill somebody."
"Oh, come on. That can't be. The Young Clan Lord must be tired and imagining things. Right?"
Muhwa drew a graceful arc with her brow and turned her gaze on Muyoung. He froze. The cold light nested in that smile felt just like looking at Sun Wukong, and the corners of his eyes twitched.
Why is she starting to take after him.
Seowol too. Namgung Jinbaek too.
"R-right. I must have been tired lately and seen it wrong. Sister… I mean, Hall Master."
Muyoung hastily corrected himself, and Muhwa laughed lightly. Somehow, anyone who spent time close to Sun Wukong seemed to take after him without realizing it. Muyoung was genuinely worried.
"Have you been eating? You look thinner."
At Sun Wukong's sudden words, Muyoung's eyes narrowed. Worry dripped from Sun Wukong's voice as he looked at Muhwa. Thinner? Far from it — even in the midst of all this busyness she ate every meal without fail. She looked far healthier than before.
Perhaps she had heard that mutter. Muhwa shot him a frigid look. Under the silent pressure, Muyoung quickly shut his mouth and averted his gaze.
"I'm eating well. I heard about it. That those who harbor grudges against the Namgung Clan are gathering."
"Yeah, that's right."
"And Teacher Sun intends to leave them be."
"…What? Sister, wait a moment. Master — leave them be?"
Muyoung cut in, startled. Instead of answering, Sun Wukong looked at Muhwa with an intrigued expression.
"Why do you think that?"
"Because we can't eliminate them anyway."
"Because of the Grand Assembly?"
"That's right. More than anything, they have a grudge — we don't."
"That damned justification again."
"If we strike them first, the grand cause of the Orthodox Grand Assembly loses its luster. To us it would be a preventive measure, but to others it would look like tyranny — drawing our swords against fellow members of the Orthodox Path who merely raised an objection. At this Grand Assembly, no less."
"That's what they're counting on."
Namgung Muyoung's face hardened at the exchange between Sun Wukong and Muhwa.
"Making the figures of the Orthodox martial world, gathered under the name of the Grand Assembly, turn their blades on one another…"
"Is that the kind of idea that just pops out of nowhere one day?"
"Trying to settle a grudge at a gathering of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans — even if you're blinded by revenge, that's not easy."
"But what if people in the same boat as you were all gathered in one place?"
"…"
Muhwa's eyes narrowed. As if she had grasped what Sun Wukong was getting at, her face grew pensive.
"Acting as a group gives you courage."
"Doesn't even need explaining. You wouldn't dare on your own, but the moment you think you're speaking with one voice, you get confident."
"So they're gathering to stand against Namgung? Whether that means drawing their swords outright, or trying to squeeze Namgung's standing as narrow as possible in the Orthodox Alliance that's about to launch…"
Ordinarily, it would be the latter. Muhwa thought so, and so did Muyoung listening to the explanation. Sun Wukong had thought the same at first. But one thing snagged.
"These are people gathered from all over the martial world. Folks who've never had a single point of contact, moving as one body on nothing but a shared grudge — you think that makes sense?"
Muhwa's expression hardened.
"There is a powerful common ground, but… they would definitely need a focal point."
"Or a shadow stirring them up and goading them on."
"You know who it is?"
Sun Wukong smiled lightly instead of answering.
Was the goal simply to reduce the Namgung Clan's influence in the Pan-Orthodox Alliance?
A sideshow.
A faint smile touched Sun Wukong's lips. Preventing the Pan-Orthodox Alliance from forming. Or at the very least, opening a crack in it. The intense intuition that even those momentous things were nothing more than a sideshow. It all originated from one place.
Dongbang Sak never moves on his own.
The one beyond him.
Honghaea.
Above all else, Honghaea was aware of Sun Wukong's existence. The smile on his lips deepened.
He's after me.
By whatever means. Chaos, or anything else — what he was ultimately aiming for was Sun Wukong himself.
"I'll catch that one myself. He and I have a personal connection."
"Then we…"
"Dissatisfied factions are going to exist no matter what. Might as well leave them be."
"You mean to herd them all into one place?"
"A variable is a variable because you can't see it, can't recognize it, and can't predict it. But if you gather them all in one place."
"You can see them, recognize them, watch them…"
"And if you plant someone among them and control them completely?"
"…!"
"Then it's not a variable anymore."
Sun Wukong grinned. Those who harbored grudges against the Namgung Clan were countless — from the Unorthodox Path all the way to the Orthodox martial world itself. Sun Wukong had left them to gather. As he said, if they only moved where they could be seen, they lost their meaning as a variable.
But Muyoung could not shake one uneasy speculation.
"And if they join forces and become a genuine threat?"
"What?"
Sun Wukong grinned.
"Drawing a sword means the resolve to kill your opponent, no matter what. And scattering your own blade to protect yourself against people with that kind of resolve — that's a justification too."
"…!"
Sun Wukong's smile, somehow, had turned chilling.
So thoroughly that not even a grudge would remain.