Journey to Sichuan (6)
Journey to Sichuan (6)
"First, send me a gift. In the name of the Zhuge Family."
"A gift?"
Zhuge Yeong-yu's eyes widened at my words. It must have been an unexpected remark, because he seemed slow to grasp it. After thinking for a moment, Yeong-yu smiled belatedly and nodded, saying,
"Are you trying to win Miss Yang's favor? Wouldn't that be far too conspicuous? If it becomes known that you're interfering with her engagement to Jong Yuseop, my own affairs will suffer as well."
"How could Venerable Geumbok possibly meddle in the Zhuge Family's business? I would merely be sending a gift for a close friend training in Chengdu, Sichuan. If he took issue with that, it would only put Venerable Geumbok himself in an awkward position. Besides, how could anyone predict that sending a gift to 'me' would disrupt a marriage that hasn't been publicly announced?"
No matter how powerful Venerable Geumbok was in Shaanxi, in the end he was only the king of Shaanxi, not a man of the martial world. His influence did not reach Sichuan, and he could not involve himself in the private matters of martial artists among themselves.
Zhuge Yeong-yu looked pleased at my words. He nodded to me and said,
"You're right. So, what is your plan after that?"
"What I want is for you, Great Hero, to groom me into a man who can appear as a viable alternative to Jong Yuseop. Even if I cannot display power like the Zhongnan Sect right now, make me out to be a figure well worth investing in for the future. At the same time, you must obstruct the Zhongnan Sect's affairs."
Zhuge Yeong-yu shook his head at my words and said,
"This may sound harsh, but if it were me, I would not choose a second-rate upstart from the Crimson Ring Sect as an alternative to the Zhongnan Sect in that situation."
I nodded. Zhuge Yeong-yu blinked, then looked elsewhere and added,
"If I were a woman, that is."
If I had let myself dwell on his perspective, it would have caused nothing but trouble. Without letting that added remark bother me, I opened my mouth.
"Isn't true ability about overcoming skeptical possibilities like that? Or do you have another alternative, Great Hero? There is simply too much you must do; if you refuse to help, we cannot even begin."
Zhuge Yeong-yu glanced at me at that. He lifted one corner of his mouth, looked me over once more from head to toe, then propped his chin on his hand and leaned forward.
"Overflowing confidence is all well and good, but if we follow this plan, I will have to endure considerable losses. Moreover, what exactly does the Zhuge Family gain through this? In the end, the only one who reaps the benefit from this whole affair is Docheol. You alone, is it not? All I would be left with is having stopped the Zhongnan Sect's marriage. A grand gain in the larger scheme, yes, but on another level, that is truly all. The Crimson Ring Sect, however, could gain ties to the Taiji Sect and an opportunity to exert influence in Sichuan. I cannot help but suspect that perhaps you, Great Hero, are blinded by a chance to expand your own power and are recklessly pushing an unreasonable scheme."
"What would I do with influence in Sichuan?"
At my reply, Zhuge Yeong-yu shook his head and said,
"That cannot serve as an answer. I have been granted the name of the Zhuge Family, but I lack the insight of my ancestors. What you could do with influence in Sichuan is not my concern. I merely worry that you, Great Hero, might be blinded by that very possibility—the possibility that you 'could do something.'"
I had tried to change the subject, but it didn't work. Zhuge Yeong-yu was asking me for a reason why he should support me. In a situation like this, I couldn't just try to slip through with mere glibness. Zhuge Yeong-yu might have looked careless, but he was a man of the Zhuge Family, and his calculations of profit and loss were swift.
What I needed now was not jokes, but persuasion.
The power of persuasion that would convince Zhuge Yeong-yu to go to such lengths for me.
He was generous with titles, but cold toward losses. If I spoke poorly and gave him the impression that I was a man blinded by greed, even the string tying me to the Zhuge Family would snap. I had to be careful.
I had to answer him carefully.
I looked straight into Zhuge Yeong-yu's eyes. He did not avoid my gaze; instead, he returned a sharper glare.
I said,
"I have no intention of marrying Miss Hong Ye."
Zhuge Yeong-yu blinked at my words. But he did not press further, simply tilting his head as if to tell me to go on. Since I had piqued his interest for now, I continued speaking.
"What I want, in a literal sense, is to devour that impudent woman. Marriage is a shackle, and very nearly a key for forging enemies. You must be well aware, Great Hero. If I officially marry the direct disciple of the Taiji Sect and a point of contact forms between the two forces, that would immediately appear to outsiders as the Zhuge Family's power expanding."
Zhuge Yeong-yu nodded. To the outside eye, Zhuge Yeong-yu was my patron, and the Crimson Ring Sect was in effect a subordinate organization of the Zhuge Family. If someone like me went so far as to marry the direct disciple of the Yang Family Taiji Sect, it could very well be seen as an intention of the Zhuge Family.
Zhuge Yeong-yu said,
"Furthermore, if you marry like that, your intentions would become far too transparent to Venerable Geumbok, and you might become unable to get any closer to him. You would only have blocked the marriage—the losses would be far greater."
I said,
"That is why I will not marry. And I have no intention of ever announcing that I plan to marry. Yet Hong Ye will believe she is going to marry me and willingly bind herself in shackles. The matter of her engagement to the Zhongnan Sect will be brushed aside, but that calculating Miss Yang will never breathe a word about an engagement to me. We can block the marriage while also safely avoiding the suspicious gazes that would fly toward the Zhuge Family."
Zhuge Yeong-yu gave a derisive chuckle. It was the most skeptical of all the reactions he had shown so far. His gaze looked almost as though he was certain I could not pull this off.
"You are quite certain, I see. Are you truly that confident? To my ear, it does not sound all that plausible."
"If it were a story I had no confidence in, I never would have brought it up."
Zhuge Yeong-yu frowned. An odd sense of reluctance settled on his face. He had said before that he wouldn't mind even if the operation was ruthless and cold, but now, unexpectedly, it seemed he genuinely disliked deceiving someone on the premise of marriage.
I placed my hands on the table and spoke.
"Great Hero Yeong-yu. Even before I decided to ride the same boat as you, I was a man who felt the corruption and ills of this martial world in my own flesh. Even the sect leader of the Crimson Ring Sect, a mere second-rate man, seized an entire village and bled it dry. And apart from him, everywhere you look, there are wicked men who abuse their power simply because they've learned a bit of martial arts."
I placed a hand on my chest. Then, wearing a grave expression, I continued.
"They too, at first, may have simply wished to practice martial arts in purity, just like me. But at some point, they could no longer turn away from the treasures piling up before them. You only have to close your eyes once, just turn your head for a moment, and wealth accumulates—how could anyone refuse that? Everyone changes like that, in the end. And now, that daughter of the Yang Family Taiji Sect stands on the very brink of such a transformation."
Of course, that sort of thing wasn't my concern. What mattered was that her ass was wonderfully firm, her chest was large, and she was a woman with the bronze-toned skin I liked.
Whether she got a taste for money and became corrupted was none of my concern.
"I understand that you doubt me, Great Hero, but right now we have no choice other than this method. To prevent the corruption of a martial sect, we have no choice but to step forward ourselves. Please trust me now. I can most definitely pull this off."
Zhuge Yeong-yu drew a line across the tabletop with his finger. He traced a straight line all the way across, then let his hand drop to the side of the table. Pondering while stroking his chin with his other hand, he raised his head again and spoke.
"...If this task fails, or if you, Great Hero, should harbor other intentions, I truly will be disappointed."
Even as the back-and-forth drew out, Zhuge Yeong-yu had to thwart the collusion between the Zhongnan Sect and the Taiji Sect. He also had to block any attempt by the Taiji Sect to expand its power through other means. That was because Zhuge Yeong-yu not only desired the separation of the martial world and the government but also wanted the weakening of the martial world.
My plan was the only one that fulfilled everything.
Push out the Zhongnan Sect, bind her to a fictitious figure, and prevent her from ever attempting anything similar again. But at the same time, I must not reveal my interference to Venerable Geumbok.
Just as the conditions were tricky, the tools I could deploy were limited.
I smiled and said,
"If I were the sort of man to be frightened off by those words, I wouldn't be sitting here with you like this. Please trust me. I shall certainly repay the faith you have placed in me."
Zhuge Yeong-yu nodded with a strange look in his eyes.
This time, even he seemed unable to be fully confident.
But I wasn't worried.
Because I was confident.
For the justice of the martial world, I was even fully prepared to lay down my life.
******
[Hong Ye. The mission the Zhongnan Sect assigned me has twisted in a rather unfavorable way, so it seems I must postpone the marriage matter again. It appears information leaked from somewhere, but I cannot determine where on earth it leaked from. Once this matter is resolved, I shall most certainly make time to discuss our engagement.]
Hong Ye's face stiffened. The crumpled letter freely expressed the emotions that her stoic face could not.