The Next Plan (1)
The Next Plan (1)
"I heard the results of the tournament through rumors. They said you fought a deathmatch and split your opponent's head like firewood to win."
"It's a bit exaggerated, but that's correct."
Sannyeo's playful summary of the tournament results was no different from the truth, save for a little exaggeration. I was lying on the sect's sickbed, looking up at Sannyeo, while Seon-go sat beside me peeling a peach. She handled the knife as if she had never peeled fruit before—dangerously unsteady.
Watching the paring knife flicker through an awkward sword dance before my eyes, I casually spoke to Seon-go.
"...I'll just eat it whole."
"No, you're injured. I should peel it for you. I... I'm supposed to be a good wife when my husband comes home hurt from outside, aren't I?"
But seeing her handiwork, she seemed liable to slice off a finger at any moment. I shook my head and said,
"You've never used a knife."
"Ah, I suppose that's true, but... just a moment."
Seon-go seemed to accept my words. She put down the paring knife, suddenly opened the door, and called over an attendant who was sweeping the yard outside.
"Could you go and bring me the rings I used when I was young?"
"Yes, madam."
The attendant scurried off. With a triumphant face, Seon-go looked back and forth between me and Sannyeo. Seeing her put on airs like that, I almost thought she looked like a five-year-old child bragging that she could do it, too.
"Here they are, ma'am."
The attendant brought two palm-sized rings in his hands. They were shaped like rolling hoops, but much smaller—a round blade with a handle attached. Clearly well-maintained over the years, the blades gleamed without a speck of dust.
Sannyeo blinked and said,
"You trained with these?"
"Until I realized I had no talent for martial arts, he made me train with them. It was when I was quite young, so I can't really fight with them or anything..."
As she said that, Seon-go picked up the peach. Then, with deft skill, she gently turned the peach and began peeling it against the blade. The edge was so sharp that the skin just shaved right off with a light touch. She lifted the cleanly peeled peach with a satisfied smile.
"How is it? I peel well, don't I?"
Sannyeo, seemingly impressed by her fruit-peeling display, nodded and said,
"The edge is sharp. Have you been maintaining them yourself?"
"He had someone maintain them regularly, saying he'd use them to teach the children later. After that, I had them maintained regularly myself. Anyway, Docheol. Try it quickly. I peeled it. Ah. Say ah."
"Ah."
The peach slid into my mouth. The moderately crisp texture was pleasant to eat. As I chewed, nodded, and smiled in satisfaction, Seon-go smiled back, tossed the peach into the air, and brought the ring up to slice it into pieces.
Sannyeo watched Seon-go's actions as if they were playful antics, then looked back at me and said.
"Since you won the match, the Murim Alliance will have been put in an awkward position. As long as they're advocating for the righteous path, it's hard for them to attempt a purge without justification."
I tilted my head and said,
"Still, if they're determined to kill me, aren't there plenty of ways? I just have to be careful. I'm not sure if the situation has changed that much."
"There would be plenty of ways. Commission the Tang Clan to make and scatter poison. Or, incite orthodox martial artists to challenge you in succession, judging your evil deeds."
"The latter sounds annoying."
Every day, bastards like the Kirin of Hengshan Sect or the Tournament Killer would be pounding on my door to challenge me. Even if I were a battle maniac, that future would have been nothing short of dreadful.
A life where I can't rest comfortably at home is no different from hell.
Sannyeo laughed at my worried expression and said,
"But in the current situation, it's also an unrealistic method. Because you told me that in the finals, a person named Yeong-yu from the Zhuge Family defended you."
"He did."
Probably, if Yeong-yu hadn't stepped up then, who knows what other absurdities would have sprung up. But because he publicly boosted my image, calling it 'an unavoidable fight since the opponent tried to kill me first, and a model example for all martial artists who did their best to win,' the match concluded without any further forced accusations.
"You rightfully resolved the task the Murim Alliance assigned you while they were questioning your legitimacy. And a member of the Zhuge Family declared your duel was just. In this situation, how can the Murim Alliance pressure you further, and what orthodox martial artist could point out your wrongs? You haven't committed tyranny against others, nor have you raised taxes."
On the contrary, the moment I became Sect Leader, I halved the taxes collected from the surrounding area and either purged or expelled all the disciples who were only good for wasting food. If one could just exclude the fact that Venerable Geumbok hated me, the Murim Alliance had no further justification to touch me.
Sannyeo said,
"The Murim Alliance must be in a difficult position right now. Backing off like this hurts their pride, but if they try to touch you, they no longer have justification. You passed the account book inspection, and you've proven your skill."
"So, am I free now?"
Sannyeo shook her head and said,
"There are only two choices left for the Murim Alliance. Either they try to eliminate you, even resorting to a covert attack, or they pretend they were really just testing you all along."
I furrowed my brow. Seeing my reaction, Sannyeo added,
"There's no need to worry about such things. Even if those bastards choose a covert attack, an assassin who can, at best, kill a second-rate master won't be able to get past me."
In the end, what she meant was that the Murim Alliance's remaining choice boiled down to one. They'd pretend they were testing me after a few assassins got killed. Or they'd pretend they were testing me without sending assassins at all.
*********
"We must send an assassin to kill that bastard right now."
The middle-aged man shouted at the old man, his face alight with excitement. But in response, the old man just stroked his beard with a lofty expression. The middle-aged man didn't like that expression at all.
That old man was at the center of all the dirty dealings happening in this region, yet with his mouth, he discussed the righteous path and justification. Though the middle-aged man used respectful terms toward the old man, he thought himself a little better, as he at least didn't outwardly display such hypocrisy.
When the old man didn't answer, the middle-aged man spoke again.
"Are we just going to sit and watch that bastard run wild? Clearly, that wretch will bring harm to this martial world."
"With what justification do we touch him further? He passed the inspection and won the martial tournament, proving his skill. He's not committing evil deeds in his region, either. Furthermore, that young man from the Zhuge Family is defending the fellow and spreading tales of his prowess far and wide. We've done all we can."
"If this goes on, how am I supposed to explain things to Venerable Geumbok? Our prestige is in the gutter..."
The old man's eyes changed. A sharp energy flickered across his expression, which had previously been soft, as if he had seen all the world's affairs.
"It's not our prestige, it's only your prestige that's falling. The position the Murim Alliance declared was simply that considering the questions Venerable Geumbok raised were justified, we 'tested' Docheol, the Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect. That's all. We threw down a task, and that fellow proved himself."
The middle-aged man's face flushed red. The same person who, just a few days ago during their conversation, was eager to eliminate the target, suggesting they contact the Tang Clan first, was now pretending to be a moderate from the start, weaseling out now that things had gone badly.
The middle-aged man said,
"...Didn't you agree to his elimination? It's difficult for you to act like this now. How can I face Venerable Geumbok?"
The old man shook his head at the middle-aged man's words and said. His tone hadn't changed, but the force in his voice filled the air with an oppressive pressure.
"You should have followed my words when I said from the beginning to resolve this quietly. You chose an annoying method to prop up Venerable Geumbok's prestige, so the result turned out like this. If you do dirty work while trying to find justification, shouldn't the result also bow to that justification? You created this mess, so that Sect Leader bastard attracted the Zhuge Family's attention. If we try to deal with him by sending an assassin and fail, then things will get even noisier. Are you acting this way because you can't face the sect leader of the Zhongnan Sect, or your son? I hear your son follows Venerable Geumbok so blindly?"
"This has nothing to do with that story. I merely..."
The old man cut off the middle-aged man's words.
"Besides, the Murim Alliance leader has asked us not to make this matter too big. It seems a complicated issue has erupted in the capital."
"What's happening in Beijing?"
"They say something broke out involving the Hebei Peng Family, but I'm out of touch with outside news, so I don't know the detailed inside story. However, I felt it was right to stop here rather than escalate things."
"But still..."
"Is Venerable Geumbok somehow your master?"
At the old man's words, the middle-aged man shut his mouth. In reality, he was reduced to being led around like a dog, subjugated by the money Venerable Geumbok gave him and the debt of gratitude owed when he was young, but the one shred of pride he had left hated to admit that fact.
The middle-aged man furrowed his brow and answered.
"...Understood."