A Story That Leaves One Unable to Come to Their Senses
Even in an ordinary social club, the leader has a surprising amount of work to do.
If that is true of mere social clubs, needless to say how much more so for organizations of ever greater scale.
And among such organizations, what of the Jegal Clan?
Without anyone needing to say so, the foremost family in Hyeongju City is the Jegal Clan.
Then how much work must the head of the Jegal Clan have?
Every hour is an unbroken extension of his duties, so precious that time itself feels wasted.
Jegal Hyeok, who had been suffering under such an overwhelming workload, had finally obtained something.
An outing!
After nearly a year, this golden opportunity for an outing had him in high spirits as he roamed here and there around Hyeongju City—until he realized that the end of this free time was approaching.
Dejected, he was gazing out over the city from atop a pavilion when a certain person caught his eye.
"That fellow…?"
It was someone Jegal Hyeok knew well.
The man called Hyeongju's greatest Escort Chief.
His name was… Jeong Pilsen, was it?
Having only met him previously to entrust cargo for escort, Jegal Hyeok could not even properly remember his name. Yet the way the man was frantically running about the city streets made it look as though some serious accident had occurred.
With his outing nearing its end, Jegal Hyeok found his curiosity piqued.
So he carefully tailed Jang Pilsen and realized the man was heading outside the city walls.
Seeing an escort chief so urgently heading out of the city alone, Jegal Hyeok's curiosity only grew. He quickly went ahead, arriving first at a path Jang Pilsen was likely to take, and casually began walking. Before long—
"Is that not Jeong Pilsen, the great hero?"
Hiding the fact that he had been following him, Jegal Hyeok asked naturally. Jang Pilsen, who had been moving in haste, stopped at the sight of the figure ahead calling out to him as if he knew him, and checked who it was.
Anyone who made a living in Hyeongju City would somehow be connected and thus unable not to know this man. Confirming it was Jegal Hyeok, head of the Jegal Clan, Jang Pilsen hurriedly stopped and bowed his head in greeting.
"This junior of the martial world greets his senior."
"What business has you in such a hurry?"
At Jegal Hyeok's words, Jang Pilsen gauged the situation. This incident was a disaster no different from a natural calamity.
Even so, an accident was an accident.
Moreover, it was a major incident in which the escort agency had failed to properly carry out its commission and the clients had been taken hostage. Therefore, if he spoke of the current situation, the agency's credibility would surely take a hit.
If the trust of a premium client like the Jegal Clan fell, the escort agency's position would become precarious, so Jang Pilsen fretted over what to do and could not easily open his mouth.
"It seems a serious matter. Are you all right?"
When Jang Pilsen still did not speak easily, Jegal Hyeok asked again.
"Hah… Since the news will reach the Clan Head's ears anyway, what good would hiding it do?"
Jang Pilsen had no choice but to convey the situation thus far to Jegal Hyeok. Hearing it, Jegal Hyeok thought this was an opportunity.
Only a few hours remained of his outing. But if he used this as a pretext to follow this man? He could free himself from his duties a little longer!
Furthermore, this was the perfect excuse.
People taken hostage.
Nokrim!
Something more important than work! Absolutely! Absolutely!
With such an impeccable pretext, Jegal Hyeok laughed inwardly, but outwardly he shouted as if enraged.
"What did you just say? Yeom Gilsan? That that bastard has appeared here?"
"P-please calm yourself."
Startled by the sudden angry reaction, Jang Pilsen said in confusion.
"How can I possibly remain calm! When those treacherous Nokrim scoundrels are running rampant in this land of Hyeongju! Lead the way!"
"Pardon? What did you just…?"
At the sudden order to lead the way, Jang Pilsen was so flustered he did not know what this fellow was talking about and asked again.
"I said lead the way."
"What do you intend to do?"
"Did you not say Nokrim is holding hostages? I shall settle things with that bastard myself."
At Jegal Hyeok's words, Jang Pilsen felt a headache coming on. The talks were already finished; all that remained was to hand over the toll. Bringing the Jegal Clan Head into such a situation? It could be misunderstood as a show of force.
If that happened, the safety of the hostages they held could be endangered. And even if Jegal Hyeok successfully rescued the hostages through force, there would still be a problem.
Striking Yeom Gilsan would be no different from attacking the Grand Chief.
In that case, the Jegal Clan would be fine, but the escort agency to which Jang Pilsen belonged would be another matter. They would immediately become enemies of all of Nokrim, making escort work difficult.
If that happened, someone would be finished, and nine times out of ten—no, a hundred times out of a hundred—it would be the escort agency. Thus Jang Pilsen pleaded desperately to send Jegal Hyeok back.
But Jegal Hyeok's mind was already occupied with the thought that he did not want to do his work.
"Hah… Very well. Then let us go together. In exchange, you must follow my words completely. There are hostages, after all."
"Understood, Jeong Pilsen, great hero."
"Um… Clan Head. I am not Jeong Pilsen. I am Jang Pilsen."
"…Ahem. My apologies."
In the end, due to Jegal Hyeok's stubbornness, it was agreed that Jang Pilsen would take full lead and Jegal Hyeok would accompany them as an escort against any unforeseen circumstances. And while climbing up to the mountain stronghold under the bandits' guidance after meeting them—
"Kyaaaaah!"
They suddenly saw a man come tumbling down. Jang Pilsen said he was one of those who had been held hostage. Jegal Hyeok believed those words as well.
But believing meant believing Jang Pilsen's claim that the fellow who had tumbled down was a hostage—not believing the fellow who had tumbled down himself.
Jang, great hero, I am sending this by sound transmission, so do not be startled and listen. Does that fellow not seem strange?
Sound transmission was a technique that could not be used without reaching a certain realm.
Thus Jang Pilsen was astonished at the level of Jegal Hyeok who had sent the sound transmission, yet showed no sign of it and quietly listened to his words.
About Yeom Gilsan raiding the merchant caravan—does the situation not fit together a little too neatly? And this fellow… claiming he was released from being a hostage because he told a good story. Not even a three-year-old child would spin such a lie.
Hearing it put that way, it was true.
There was more than one or two strange points, so Jang Pilsen also looked at the tumbled Lee Munhyuk with suspicion.
Jang, great hero, you block the front…
And so the two joined forces to block Lee Munhyuk's path and threaten him out of sight—when!
"What nonsense are you spouting!"
Lee Munhyuk shouted at the top of his lungs. And when the bandits who saw the commotion clutched their bellies and cackled, the two realized their suspicions had been a misunderstanding.
After that incident, as they climbed the mountain stronghold pretending nothing had happened, Lee Munhyuk asked.
"By the way. Do you happen to know a gentleman named Zhuge Liang?"
When asked about someone with the Jegal surname, Jegal Hyeok rummaged through his mind again and again, wondering if there had been such a person in the family.
But there was no such person. However, the generational character 'Liang' had been used in the past. It was so long ago that it was no longer used now.
"'Liang' is a generational character no longer in use… How do you know of it?"
At those words, Lee Munhyuk made an expression that was both disappointed and absurd, hard to read. Jegal Hyeok paid it no mind and followed the bandit ahead up to the mountain stronghold.
After arriving at the mountain stronghold, Yeom Gilsan faced Jegal Hyeok. As Jang Pilsen had said, Jegal Hyeok had no intention of fighting.
But upon seeing Jegal Hyeok, Yeom Gilsan raised his aura full of wariness.
It was only natural, with a master suddenly appearing at his mountain stronghold.
And when he raised his aura like that, Jegal Hyeok's competitive spirit naturally rose as well, and he raised his own aura in turn.
Im Seha and Jang Pilsen soothed and coaxed the two amid that atmosphere, and somehow a drinking party got underway, but it did not sit well with Jegal Hyeok.
He had come out using this as an excuse because he hated work, but at this rate, the strict chief steward and elders would surely have something to say.
Then, was there no need for the Clan Head to go in the first place?
Those words flickered in Jegal Hyeok's mind, and because of them even the wine would not go down. Then—
"Hey… Does the Jegal Clan Head have no friends?"
Yeom Gilsan's words.
At those words, Jegal Hyeok thought. He would use that fellow to create a justification so he would not have to listen to the chief steward and elders' nagging.
But even that was stopped by Im Seha's quick action.
When the hostage Lee Munhyuk, whom they had first suspected of being a bandit, was said to be good at storytelling and they were stirred up to listen to his story, a situation for combat simply could not be created.
So, regrettably but with no choice, they began listening to that storyteller's tale. At first he was indifferent, but the content was quite thrilling.
Not only the eloquence that captivated the audience, but the story of a heroic figure that aroused interest. Moreover, that heroic figure was not a martial artist who appeared in novels every time, but a civil official who had not learned martial arts.
The Jegal Clan valued martial arts highly, but valued scholarship no less, so Jegal Hyeok began to look forward to how the protagonist of that story would unfold the tale through scholarship.
But what was this?
Among the characters in the story, a fellow named Sima Yi appeared. When this unexpected character appeared, Jegal Hyeok asked whether that person was related to the Sama Clan. And the answer was—
"Of course. Sima Yi is a distant ancestor of the Sama Clan."
It was something that made Jegal Hyeok's brow furrow.
Sama!
That was the name of the family Jegal Hyeok most hated to hear.
Even long ago when deciding the Dragon and Phoenix!
Even when competing over the one he loved!
Even the contest for the military advisor position of the Martial Alliance!
He had lost them all to Sama Junghyeok.
And that was not all.
For over two hundred years now, the Jegal Clan had always been pushed back by the Sama Clan.
Because of that, now the idle talkers called the Sama Clan the smartest family in the martial world.
So the Sama Clan was not only the Jegal Clan's sworn enemy, but also their reverse scale—a line that must never be crossed. Yet Lee Munhyuk was speaking naturally while subtly elevating Sima Yi.
Even when deciding the retreat with the guqin, he was saying of the one plucking the guqin, It was because he was outstanding that he decided to retreat.
Just as Jegal Hyeok could no longer endure it and was about to rise from his seat—
Lee Munhyuk said.
"His courtesy name is Kongming, his given name Liang."
Liang
The moment he heard that name, the question Lee Munhyuk had asked earlier floated up in Jegal Hyeok's mind.
By the way. Do you happen to know a gentleman named Zhuge Liang?
Zhuge Liang!
And just as he thought, Lee Munhyuk said.
In that moment, Jegal Hyeok realized.
Why Lee Munhyuk had been elevating Sima Yi.
Sima Yi, who had the authority to command tens of thousands of soldiers.
And Sima Yi, who even after retreating out of suspicion of his opponent, had received a generous evaluation from that opponent.
But no matter how outstanding a person Sima Yi was, he was a stepping stone.
To elevate the protagonist, Zhuge Liang! Realizing all of that, Jegal Hyeok looked around.
The bandits were applauding. Even if they were bandits, applause was applause. And that applause was for Jegal defeating Sama.
In that moment, Jegal Hyeok felt a sense of fulfillment he had never experienced before.
That thrilling, pleasure-laced feeling! And Jegal Hyeok looked at Lee Munhyuk, who had made him feel it—with a warm gaze that had never been there before.
"Your talent for storytelling is truly outstanding. But is that really true? That your ancestor gave the Sama bastard's ancestor a thrashing, I mean."
"Of course. Would he have merely given him a thrashing? Do you know how magnificent the story that follows is?"
"What? There's more to the story after that?"
At those words, Jegal Hyeok's eyes went round with excitement.
Right now, with this fact alone, he wanted to rush home immediately and dig through the history books to find the historical records.
But there was more to the story after that? At those words, Jegal Hyeok could not come to his senses and stared at Lee Munhyuk as if his eyes were spinning.