Council of the Round Table Lords

Two High-Grade Chrome Stones had popped up in the chat. Absolute jackpot.

"Now that was a hook, you guys. Do this kind of thing more often. Great angle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for the stream, and it pays, too. We can upload it to NewTube and funnel viewers into the livestream from the VOD. Right?"

And it tops up the Universal Resonance, too. Heh heh.

A full 51 percent had filled in! The ghosts, by all accounts, had been sharing their spirit energy with her. On top of that, this collab stream had pulled in quite a crowd of new viewers — that was probably the biggest factor of all. But the important thing was this: a percentage that used to crawl upward in ant-asshole increments had rocketed well past the halfway mark!!

My chest? My butt? Embarrassing? Sure. But if it raises my realm, I can put on as many shows as it takes.

Ah — not that I'm saying I want to do a nude stream. I am a woman now, after all.

Hye-yeon was still staring up at me with a perfectly blank expression.

"...? You knew?"

"I had a pretty good hunch, yeah. I was only about fifty-fifty right up until you said you'd search the first floor and then went completely quiet."

"I didn't catch on at first. But there was no way these perverted bastards weren't going to ask you to pan the camera around."

"Anyway — thanks for the two high-grades."

Time to end the stream.

"See you all tomorrow~"

That night.

That same night, somewhere else entirely—

The executive boardroom on the fifteenth floor of Pajeok Group Headquarters.

"Everyone is now assembled."

The female secretary — black suit from the throat down, red horn-rimmed glasses above it — spoke to the man who had appeared only moments before. Jeok Hwa-yun, executive secretary to the Sect Leader, every syllable pressed flat as a legal document.

…….

The man's white hair was as long as the secretary's own. White it may have been, yet his face was taut and smooth without a single wrinkle, and his eyes carried a keen, intellectual gleam besides. Sweeping the train of a snow-white Daoist robe — an anachronism in this day and age — he stepped into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the boardroom. His name was—

"You're late, Sect Leader of Pajeok Gate, Gye Wang-geon."

Gye Wang-geon — a 4th Layer Great Perfection Nascent Soul cultivator, and Sect Leader of Pajeok Gate.

Four cultivators were seated within the boardroom.

A vast round table, and on its far side, opposite the door, sat a man — a long saber hugged to his chest, both legs propped up on his chair. Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion and the Sword King: Gong Augustus. No devout Christian, he; he had simply been so charmed by the very institution of baptismal names that he changed his own to have one.

To his right sat a woman. The spring day was hardly warm enough to warrant it, yet for some reason she was gently fanning herself with an enormous fan. Founding Ancestor and, at once, Sect Leader of Hyeonsan Gate: Moyong Geranium. The geranium flower so closely resembled her own looks, and the name itself rang so valiant, that she had chosen it for herself.

And to her right — that is, diagonally across from the floor-to-ceiling glass — sat a woman whose appearance made the word "human" feel somehow inadequate. Thin seam lines ran beneath her eyes and below her lips, and each time her mouth opened, her jaw dropped low and rose again. Over her head and shoulders drifted threads so fine they were nearly invisible. Valley Master of Azure Forest Valley: Pa Hae-sol.

And finally, the man seated by the door. Long hair bound in a ponytail; a black robe whose train was a dizzying sprawl of white hanja script. Palace Master of Purple Mist Palace and a talisman grandmaster: Maeng Raphael. Like Gong Augustus, he had bestowed a baptismal name upon himself — the difference being that Raphael actually keeps attending church. He doesn't believe in the one God; he simply likes the atmosphere.

Gye Wang-geon shook out his robe and took the chair directly before the great glass window. Gong Augustus turned his gaze on him and spoke.

"What's the occasion, then? Planning to start a war with the Demonic Path?"

At that, Pa Hae-sol's mouth moved up and down.

"It is nothing of the sort, you see. It is about the Spirit Pill Master who appeared of late, you see."

Gong Augustus shot her a sidelong glance that plainly asked: what was with that way of talking?

Moyong Geranium snapped her fan shut with a crack.

Dung-tak—!

Silence. More silence.

"...Did she turn on a backing track?"

This time it was Maeng Raphael who turned to Gong Augustus.

"O Augustus. Truly the Gong clan through and through, are you? The limits of your thinking run shallow."

"Say what?"

"Mencius, my honored kinsman, once said in his youth: Have nothing to do with the Gong lot."

"And my own kinsman, Confucius, gave this reply: The Meng lot are nothing but imitators."

As the two men's needles crossed back and forth, Gye Wang-geon lifted his eyes, unhurried.

"We were refused."

A beat of stillness.

"...It is that she declined entry into Pajeok Gate, you see."

Eo-hee-it! Dung—tak!

"She is a being who shall drag calamity in her wake!"

"...Why not retire that dreadful racket?"

Dung-dung—tak!

"Anyone who knows nothing of art is berry stoopid!"

"BWHAHAHA! First sensible thing I've heard from you in years, Geranium!"

Gye Wang-geon went on as though none of it concerned him.

"She said that if she bound herself to any one of us, the balance would shatter."

"A remarkably clever girl, she is, you see."

"Which is why I have gathered you here like this. To decide whether we kill her and erase her — or divide her up, fair and equal, among us all."

...Dung-dung-tak!

"...Might this girl offer a word, you see?"

"What is it?"

"It is that a spirit herb has come to life, you see. Killing her would be far too great a waste."

Gong Augustus nodded along.

"The Valley Master's right. It's not as if we can grind criminals into spirit pills ourselves — killing her would be... mm. As the young ones put it these days, that'd be crossing the line!"

"...O Augustus. You could not possibly be more flippant."

"Does one not need to learn in order to commune with the Beta-Charlie generation? Learning knows no end — though clearly, yours does."

"WHAT?!"

Gong Augustus and Maeng Raphael shot to their feet as if to come to blows.

Expression untouched, Gye Wang-geon carried on.

"Then, by the rules of the Lords of the Round Table, we shall decide by majority vote."

When he finished, the secretary standing at his side — Jeok Hwa-yun — dealt out sheets of paper. The words written on them were simple.

A moment later.

Kkwae-gae-gaeng—! Jingg—!!

"Who DARES move to erase the Spirit Pill!"

"...Moyong Geranium. The ballot is anonymous by principle."

Eo-hee-it—! Tak!

"Respect!"

And so the meeting of the Lords of the Round Table came to an end.

The next day.

"Whoa — number ten on Trending?"

Clips from yesterday's stream had gone up on NewTube. Hye-yeon had come in at twelfth; Cho-young, at tenth.

"Well. Live long enough and anything can happen."

Cho-young stood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before the mirror at home and picked her body apart from every angle. Maybe... if I used this...

Fuck, what am I even thinking. Just so long as she didn't become an actual hooker. Seriously.

That was when—

"Cho-young."

It was Hye-yeon, who since yesterday had been living with her, declaring she would keep her safe. The place was roomy and had two bedrooms, so sharing it was no great burden.

"Hm? Hye-yeon, did you see this? You're twelfth and I'm tenth..."

"Let's go out."

"Huh? Where to?"

"There's someone who's dying to meet you."

A short while later.

Fwooosh—!

Cho-young followed Hye-yeon outside — and before long, someone descended out of the sky and landed before the two of them.

"Hall Master Ok."

It was Ok Ye-rin, Hall Master of the Martial Arts Transmission Hall.

Cho-young's eyes flew wide at the sight of her. She's insanely pretty.

"Greet her properly, Cho-young. This is Ok Ye-rin, Hall Master of the Transmission Hall."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"So this is the Spirit Pill Master?"

Ok Ye-rin's gaze slid straight down to Cho-young's chest.

"...They're massive."

Envious stares came down like a driving hail.

Cho-young tilted her head. Transmission Hall Master — so she's with Pajeok Gate? But why would Pajeok Gate come looking for me?

I turned them down flat, didn't I?

Ok Ye-rin turned to Hye-yeon and spoke.

"The Lords of the Round Table have convened."

"The Round Table — the one where every single Dao Sect Leader gathers?"

"That's the one."

Watching Hye-yeon wind tight as a bowstring, Cho-young tilted her head once more. Why was she so nervous?

"H-Hall Master Ok. Don't tell me the verdict was..."

This time, Ok Ye-rin looked long and hard at Cho-young.

And then—

"I'll tell her the rest myself!"

A figure had appeared behind them without warning. ...A kid?

A petite girl, young and green behind the ears. Yet the instant she appeared, Hye-yeon and Ye-rin both dropped to one knee.

Hye-yeon seized the collar of Cho-young — who stood frozen, caught between kneeling and standing — and yanked hard.

"Mind your manners. That is the Foreign Affairs Elder of Pajeok Gate."

Dazed, Cho-young found herself kneeling on one knee as well. A mere child she might be, but up close, the spirit energy rolling off her was enough to draw an involuntary click of the tongue. Her breath kept catching in her throat.

"KYAHAHA! The name's Wang Maria! A pleasure to meet you, Spirit Pill Master!"

Wang... Maria?

Ah... amen?

"Follow me! Not that 'no' would stop me! KYAHAHA!"

"B-but I already refused, though?"

Wang Maria's beaming face froze solid as stone.

"You want to die?"