Is There Anyone in the World Who Knows Me? (18)
Is There Anyone in the World Who Knows Me? (18)
"For Jong Yuseop! Rebirth in paradise! For him!"
"For him!"
When you borrow another's power and swagger under a tiger's reflected glory, it becomes all too easy to lose sight of your own strength before you know it. You start believing you are stronger than everyone else, that no one can bring you down. But a golden tower built that way is always a sandcastle in the end. Every ounce of Venerable Geumbok's power and renown had come from the Zhongnan Sect, and now that he had stabbed the Zhongnan Sect in the back, there was not a single martial artist in the world who would side with Venerable Geumbok.
"For Venerable Geumbok! Long life in health! For him!"
"For him!"
Venerable Geumbok was finished now. We held a modest banquet to celebrate the victory we had won with nothing more than a single letter. Venerable Geumbok, who had tormented us even to the point of dragging in the Murim Alliance, was no more. Without Venerable Geumbok's instigation, there was no longer any reason for the Murim Alliance to harass the Crimson Ring Sect.
Since I hadn't publicly executed Venerable Geumbok, there was no reason for prying eyes to turn toward me either.
It was, quite literally, a perfect victory. For today alone, we raided the Crimson Ring Sect's stores and pulled out every drop of liquor, preparing heaps of delicious food and serving our guests. The informants who had labored in this operation, and the collaborators from the Zhuge Family—for today at least, they loosened their tension, picking at the dishes with faces flushed red.
"You've worked hard. All of you."
"You were the one who had it harder, worrying your heart out back at home."
And I sat in the seat of honor, accepting the drinks Seon-go poured for me, and gazed voyeuristically upon(관음) the joyful scene. The sect was still small, so the banquet was modest. We had to keep an eye out for the Murim Alliance's notice, so summoning jesters or entertainers was out of the question, and there were no dancing girls either.
It was just an ordinary banquet with plenty of good food and drink.
This was not enough to satisfy me.
Long ago, it was said that King Jie of the Xia Dynasty created a forest of meat and a pond of wine, building a debauched Forest of Wine and Meat(주지육림). If one is a man, should he not harbor ambitions of that scale? A banquet of this meager level could never satisfy me.
Toppling every sect in Shaanxi and holding a grand banquet atop their ruins—that was my first goal now.
I paused in my drinking and looked around. The one man who ought to be enjoying this banquet more than anyone else was nowhere to be seen. I craned my neck and scanned the area, and there was Zhuge Yeong-yu, sitting off in a quiet corner and gazing at the moon like some melancholy fool. What he was up to on a fine day like this was beyond me. I rose from my seat and approached him.
Zhuge Yeong-yu had brought out a small drinking table and was sipping alone while staring at the moon. I sat down beside him and spoke. Even though Zhuge Yeong-yu had sensed my presence, he did not pull his gaze from the sky.
"Rumors run rampant that the Hero revels in his pleasures, so how is it that you're sitting here like this instead of enjoying yourself? Does the food not suit your palate?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu shook his head.
"The food suits my palate, and the liquor is delicious too. It's among the finest fare in Shaanxi, so I am fully satisfied."
His face was brimming with good cheer. It did not seem to be a matter of something unpleasant or not to his liking. I picked at a side dish from his table and ate it as I spoke.
"Then why just sit staring at the sky? On a joyful day, you should show a joyful face. Aren't all those people the ones who rushed here because they trust you, Hero?"
"I was thinking about what to do next. Venerable Geumbok has lost all his foundations in Shaanxi and can no longer rise again, but the corruption of martial artists still runs rampant throughout the world."
I looked around me. The people were still making a raucous party of it. I pushed my cup across the small table and said.
"So, what is the next target? Will you move against Mount Hua Sect now?"
I had plenty of my own bad blood with Mount Hua Sect. It had been that very Mount Hua Sect that turned me—a man who wanted to become a righteous hero of the orthodox path—into a transmitter of Bedroom Arts. Zhuge Yeong-yu shook his head with a rueful expression and said.
"We have no just cause to move against Mount Hua Sect the way we did Zhongnan. The ones we must be most wary of now are the Hao Sect."
"The Hao Sect?"
The reason for an orthodox martial artist to be wary of the Hao Sect was plain enough, but were they truly the kind of scum we needed to take immediate measures against? The Hao Sect as I knew them were experts in information gathering and rumor-mongering—their organization was broad but shallow, so their influence was vast, but their martial strength was nothing worth mentioning.
"There is word that lately, the Hao Sect's core personnel have been scouring the entire Shaanxi region in search of something. I do not know what it is, but they say they are searching desperately, as if their lives depend on it."
Just hearing about it did not give me any sense of crisis. What in the world did information-peddling bastards turning their eyes inside out to search for something have to do with the stability of the world?
"What makes that such a threat? Any man is bound to become blindly obsessed with what he desires. They are lunatics mad for information, so is it not simply that their eyes have turned wild chasing after some object worth coin?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu shook his head.
He said this.
"There are rumors that the Hao Sect is carrying out this work under the orders of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
I felt a chill run down my spine for a moment. The name of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was coming up here? I had spent a fair length of time in Shaanxi, but I had never even heard the name of a Demonic Cult figure, let alone seen a face. Yet now, at this point in time, they were saying the name of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was stirring up Shaanxi—that definitely put me on edge.
How had he interpreted the hardening of my face? He raised the corners of his lips and spoke.
"The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is not a place with such a long history. But it is very aggressive, and the level of their martial arts is immensely formidable. Thus far they have only extended their power around the Tianshan Mountains and are in a standoff with the Kunlun Sect—but what will happen if those bastards begin to truly stir the martial world? Everything we have labored for until now will become utterly meaningless."
"So, what do you plan to do?"
"First, we will have to capture some Hao Sect bastards and conduct a background investigation. It seems this is not something shared with the Hao Sect's low-level members, so we will have to capture the core personnel and tear the information out of them. We must find out what the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is aiming for, and preempt them."
"Could that not become something that provokes the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu shook his head and said.
"Depending on the intelligence we gather, it can become a bargaining chip for negotiation. Nothing is set in stone, so it is best to prepare alternatives suited to the situation as it unfolds each time."
Hearing that the Demonic Cult was ransacking Shaanxi, my mind grew uneasy. It was not that I feared the Crimson Ring Sect might be threatened. It was because that cave I had encountered near Mount Hua—the cave left behind by the man who called himself 'the Heavenly Demon's right arm'—kept circling in my head.
The Hao Sect, scouring the Shaanxi region of all places, and the cave, in Shaanxi of all places.
Could this truly be coincidence?
"...More than that, this time I was truly struck with admiration."
As I sank into thought, a voice reached me. Zhuge Yeong-yu was looking at me with a beaming smile and had taken up a fist-wrapping salute. When I saw his face grinning sweetly in the moonlight, it was exactly the face of some woman, no different at all. I puffed out my chest and gave a snort as I replied.
"Still, I am but one Hero. As the heir of that prestigious Zhuge Family, you were the one who deftly arranged the grand undertaking to guide the nation, were you not?"
"It is a fruit that could not have been borne had the Great Hero Docheol not exerted his strength. I am truly thankful."
Having said that, Zhuge Yeong-yu stared intently at me. The way he looked at me with a happy expression, a smile lingering on his lips and his head gently swaying—I was so dumbfounded I asked back.
"...It is fine to express your thanks, but please do not stare at me so intently like that."
Zhuge Yeong-yu's eyes went round. It was an expression that showed he had not understood my words. Tilting his head, he said.
"Why do you say so?"
"I am not fond of locking eyes with another man."
At those words, Zhuge Yeong-yu instead gave a strange laugh and narrowed his eyes. And tilting his head at an angle, he asked me.
"If it were a woman, would that not matter?"
"If it is a woman, she is welcome anytime. Do they not say heroes are naturally drawn to lust?"
"...Is that so."
Zhuge Yeong-yu nodded his head while looking at his cup. He was truly an unknowable bastard. What thoughts was he spinning behind that meaning-laden smile? He was clearly a man born with excessive suspicion and a talent for scheming, so he was surely drawing up plans to kick me away once the rabbit was caught.
He must be planning to use a honey trap since I liked women.
Zhuge Yeong-yu thought for a moment, rubbing his chin, then nodded and said.
"...Well, even if you are a lecher, Hero, I believe you are not a man without discernment. At the very least, I trust that much."
"That is only natural. It is hard to find someone as rational and level-headed as I am."
Zhuge Yeong-yu spoke. With an expression that looked as though he was struggling to get the words out, he kept darting glances at me.
"So... seeing as we have boarded the same boat like this, and the Hero has achieved something of a great undertaking this time, I thought it might be alright to open up a bit now."
I could not understand his words.
What was there to open up about, now of all times?
Zhuge Yeong-yu rubbed his chin and spoke.
"There is someone who heard of the Great Hero Docheol's recent exploits and said she absolutely wished to meet you once."
"Someone who wants to meet me?"
"Indeed."
"A woman?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu hesitated for a moment. He wore an expression of hesitation, his eyes narrowing, and then a beat later he nodded and said.
"...She is a female, yes."
"Her age?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu's face twisted further. If earlier it had only been a moment's deliberation, this time his face bore an expression where his inner conflict had reached its limit. After a sharp intake of breath and rubbing his chin, he shut his eyes tight and said.
"...Similar in age to us."
".....That is very good. What kind of person is she?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu spoke.
"...For security reasons, I cannot tell you now."
And he drained the whole bottle, wiped his lips, and added.
"I would like you to know that I truly do trust you, Hero."
"I, too, am always sending my faith toward the Hero Yeong-yu."
Just who the hell was this bastard trying to introduce me to?