Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Punching Bag
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"Orak, you're dismissed."
"Huh? Can the Young Leader forget the meeting rules?"
At the sudden demand to leave, Orak raised his hand like a protesting cat.
"Normally, you have to receive two warnings during a meeting before requesting dismissal."
Of course, his face was still the picture of languidness.
'He looks like he wouldn't know the rules at all, but that's unexpected.'
"I was just about to give you a warning anyway."
"Even so, that's only one warning?"
"No, the warnings I'm giving you total..."
The Young Leader extended his long fingers in front of Orak.
"...three."
"I broke three meeting rules? Isn't that too much of a stretch?"
"Whether I'm being unreasonable or not, you can decide after hearing the reasons."
"Fine, let's hear them."
Orak smiled leisurely, confident he hadn't broken the rules badly enough to warrant dismissal.
"First, you were rowdy and disrupted the meeting."
"I'll admit to that one."
Orak readily acknowledged his fault on the first warning.
"But if that's the reason, doesn't Kwangyu share the blame?"
'No wonder I thought he let it slide too quietly...'
"Of course, I'm planning to give Kwangyu the same warning for that."
"Orak, you water ghost!"
Kwangyu, who had received a warning alongside him, ground his teeth at Orak.
"Second, using martial arts during a meeting is forbidden."
"I've never used any martial arts? Has anyone here seen me use martial arts?"
Orak shrugged as if he were wronged.
"I knew you'd deny it."
The Young Leader let out a scoff at Orak.
"Who's denying? Who said I did?"
Orak furrowed his busy eyebrows, perhaps annoyed by the Young Leader's confident demeanor.
"Not denial? Then Orak, since it's been a while since you attended a meeting, you must have forgotten. Let me remind you specially. This martial art includes transmission arts."
'No way, was that voice earlier really a transmission art?'
Transmission arts were a technique to secretly send one's voice to someone far away using internal energy, a common method in wuxia novels.
However, with thousands of martial arts in wuxia, I'd completely forgotten about the relatively simple transmission arts.
"Do you have proof I used transmission arts?"
Orak seemed to think I was too young to know about transmission arts.
'Orak, you jerk! Trying to sneak by like that!'
I shot my hand up, not missing the chance.
"Elder Orak used transmission arts to speak to me."
"Why didn't you say so then?"
I answered the Young Leader's question honestly.
"I'd only heard of transmission arts, never experienced them myself, so I wasn't sure."
"What do you say to that?"
The Young Leader turned to Orak as if interrogating him.
"He's only seven, they say, but his social savvy is impressive. What should I do, Advisor Seol? I'm even more intrigued now."
Orak seemed less afraid of his wrongdoing being exposed and more impressed by my handling of the situation.
"Orak, you pervert! What filthy things did you whisper to my precious disciple via transmission?"
Kwangyu, learning Orak had used transmission on me, berated him fiercely.
But Orak, perhaps to rile Kwangyu more, wore a sly smile and whispered,
"That's a secret between your disciple and me!"
'Whispering so secretly makes it sound like he really said something suspicious!'
I don't want to get involved with that guy!
But as the meeting facilitator, I couldn't argue with Orak and make the hall even noisier.
"I didn't expect you to notice that... Our Young Leader's sharp eyes have gotten even keener?"
As I silently stuck to my role as facilitator, Orak foolishly praised the Young Leader.
'See, my eyes didn't lie. That guy's subtly crazy for sure.'
"Since you seem to accept the second warning, the third doesn't even need explanation—dismissal is decided."
The Young Leader pointed somewhere with his gavel.
"The exit is over there."
'Even kindly pointing out the door. Rare courtesy.'
"No way! I can't leave like this!"
Instead of leaving obediently, Orak stopped rising from his seat and sprawled across the table with both arms.
'Objecting to the dismissal?'
As an elder, he couldn't voice opinions on agenda items if dismissed.
It meant losing major rights as an elder.
But Orak's reason for not leaving completely exceeded my expectations.
"The third one? No matter how I think, I don't get the third."
'He was just curious about the third warning?'
Truly subtly crazy.
Thinking beyond normal people.
"Classic Orak! Young Leader, what's the third warning? I'm curious too."
Hwajak, finding the situation amusing, chimed in and asked the Young Leader.
"Well, it's not hard to reveal the warning."
'Actually, I was a bit curious too. Perfect!'
I perked up my ears toward the Young Leader while pretending disinterest.
"Orak's third warning is for defamation."
'Defamation?'
Even if Orak spouted nonsense, he hadn't disparaged anyone...
"I absolutely can't accept that! Whose honor did I defame?"
Orak voiced the same doubt as me.
"No, you clearly made a statement defaming my advisor."
"The Young Leader's advisor?"
Gazes in the meeting hall split in two.
Some on Five Elements, some on me.
'Ah, calling me Peep?'
Even if I'm young, that was definitely rude!
But why was the Young Leader doing something helpful for me?
Because I'm his advisor?
I was inwardly pleased when the Young Leader continued on the defamation.
"Orak, you asked Kwangyu if he'd take Advisor Seol as his wife, causing significant insult to the person in question."
'Come to think of it, Orak did say that.'
It wasn't pleasant, but not insulting enough...
Snakes like Kwangyu, over a thousand years old, have different time scales from humans, so marrying a much younger wife was inevitable.
"That's perfectly normal in the snake world, isn't it?"
Orak made a frustrated face, as if asking what the problem was.
"Don't pair my advisor with a guy like Kwangyu. That's defaming me too."
"No, how is defaming Advisor Peep defaming the Young Leader?"
The Young Leader remained steadfast despite Orak's protest.
"Linking my advisor romantically with Kwangyu disgusts me."
'So he stepped in because it bothered him personally? Figures... The Young Leader wouldn't care about me.'
"Right. Why pair a cute, promising Advisor Seol with something like Kwangyu?"
Ryu-on sided with the Young Leader.
"Yeah, I oppose linking the Heavenly Demon Cult's brat with its rising star."
"That snake looks unlucky."
"Looks like a parasitic brother. Not my type."
In an instant, the eleven elders treated Kwangyu like trash.
"No, Orak brought it up—why me? And Hwajak, Yaksha! I saw you sneaking digs at me!"
Kwangyu, suddenly the thief trying to marry a child, vented his injustice.
'My master gets punching bag treatment here too?'
Pitying my master who just took it, Orak straightened his bent body.
"Yeah, thinking again, I was too harsh on Advisor Peep. Sorry for pairing you with Kwangyu of all people."
Orak gave me a pitiful look, apologized, then left the hall scattering tears of unclear meaning—regret or sincerity.
"See you later, Advisor Peep."
Not forgetting to leave a secret transmission just for me at the end.
"Orak, that guy's definitely here to mess with me! Just wait till I see him. I'll snap his neck!"
Kwangyu sat fuming to calm his anger.
"Now, with Elder Orak dismissed, let's discuss the agenda."
As if wrapping up, Five Elements handed me a new scroll.
'Right, I burned the scroll stopping Orak and Kwangyu's fight.'
"Thank you, Advisor."
I quietly thanked his thoughtfulness and unrolled the agenda scroll.
"Today's agenda is..."
That was when I read the contents written on the scroll.
'Traitor.'
'Bloodstorm.'
'Heavenly Demon's death.'
A splitting headache brought back forgotten memories.