Chapter 15. A Third-Rate Warrior Who Saves a Girl (2)
The Ironflight Pavilion was the hall closest to the Sect Leader’s residence, and it was where important guests of the Iron Sword Sect stayed.
As such, its facilities were impressive, but above all, its security was extraordinary.
Yet the guard warriors who should normally have filled the place were nowhere to be seen.
That was because Jegal So-myeong was currently using the Ironflight Pavilion, and that same Jegal So-myeong was personally checking the condition of a man, and that man had shoved the Iron Sword Sect into a pit of filth. So among the warriors, not a single one had volunteered to stand guard at the Ironflight Pavilion.
“…….”
Seong Mo-ran was circling around that Ironflight Pavilion, letting out needless sighs.
It was not because of some grave reason, such as the relationship between the Murim Alliance and the Iron Sword Sect worsening.
It was because of the man whose condition Jegal So-myeong was checking.
The man who had left the Iron Sword Sect with a blow so severe that even if he had poured oil over the entire sect and set it on fire, he could not have inflicted damage like this.
“Haa…….”
Seong Mo-ran sighed at the state of her own emotions, which she had no way to understand.
She had felt a sense of kinship in the way he drove Seong Mo-hyeon into a corner.
His movements did not rely on inner arts or techniques, but were filled solely with adaptability born of effort.
It was something only Seong Mo-ran, who had striven tirelessly to find a way to defeat Seong Mo-hyeon aside from inner arts and techniques, could understand.
And along with that.
[Pay the price!]
[For this vile act committed by you and your descendants, pay the rightful price!]
The resolve that shouted of righteousness while vomiting blood.
[Then…… I will have to receive the price of blood.]
The conviction and will to be prepared for death, even while knowing he was no match.
Even though her grandfather, father, brothers, and the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect were all in a difficult situation, Seong Mo-ran could not take her eyes off Jin So-un as he vomited blood and his eyes flashed.
‘Just how is that man…….’
He was an enemy, and yet when she looked at him, her heart throbbed violently.
At the same time, her chest ached so faintly and painfully.
And in the end, the moment he proved his own righteousness and collapsed as if fainting,
Seong Mo-ran had to stop her feet, which had unknowingly begun running toward Jin So-un.
“Huu.”
What in the world was she supposed to do? ……It was no longer a relationship she could approach out of curiosity.
All the more so now that they had become enemies.
Even knowing that, she herself did not know why she kept remaining in this place.
‘No, I can’t do this.’
The moment Seong Mo-ran gritted her teeth and tried to leave, she heard the sound of a door opening.
Through the open door, Jin So-un, pale of complexion, came out into the yard carrying the Ninefold Sword.
Seong Mo-ran forced herself to turn her gaze away and tried not to meet his eyes.
“…….”
Step. Step. Step.
Yet was he not passing by her as if she were not even there?
The heart she had barely calmed began pounding violently again.
“You were too reckless.”
The instant she spoke, she thought, Ah! But the words had already burst out of her mouth before she knew it.
At Jin So-un’s cold gaze as he turned his eyes toward her, Seong Mo-ran felt her chest sting all the more.
“What was?”
“The martial duel…… Why did you go that far?”
“……Are you saying I should have meekly accepted miserable humiliation?”
“No…… what I mean is……”
Words different from her heart kept escaping without her knowledge.
But because she herself still did not know what she wanted to say, she had merely let the words out.
When Jin So-un took one step closer, Seong Mo-ran unknowingly took one step back.
“Were your thoughts correct?”
“……Pardon?”
“I asked whether your thoughts were correct. My father knelt, and even while vomiting blood, I could not endure the humiliation and challenged your grandfather as a life-and-death enemy. Can you still take pride in your sect as not being such a vile existence?”
“…….”
Seong Mo-ran pressed her lower lip between her teeth.
She had nothing to say.
Would excuses like that she had not known, or words like that it had nothing to do with her, truly let her escape this place?
Would they heal that person’s wounds?
Such thoughts filled her head and circled endlessly.
“……I am sorry.”
Twenty years ago, they had given his father the same humiliation, and after twenty years, they had repeated it once again.
If she were in the opposite position and had suffered the same thing, could she truly forgive it?
Could she let it pass as it was?
It seemed impossible.
“I understand. Please raise your head now.”
“Pardon?”
Seong Mo-ran asked again, wondering if she had misheard.
Really? So easily?
He was accepting her apology so meekly that Seong Mo-ran, who had apologized, felt ashamed instead?
“Miss Seong, you are the first and last person from the Iron Sword Sect from whom I received an apology. That will likely never happen again.”
“……Is it truly enough for it to be me?”
“We cannot continue this unfortunate chain forever, can we?”
“What do you mean?”
“If Miss Seong feels sorry for what happened today, if you feel even a fingernail’s worth of guilt, then from now on, please change the Iron Sword Sect so that it does not remain a sect like it is now. If you do, perhaps someday the Taeul Sect and the Iron Sword Sect may become sects that cooperate with each other, can they not?”
Seong Mo-ran felt an emotion she could not understand welling up within her.
Yes.
He was such a person.
Jin So-un was such a person.
Her elder brother, her grandfather, none of them had been able to say that single word of apology, and that was why the matter had grown this far.
The guilt that had already been large doubled into anguish and gratitude and burst forth.
“……I am truly sorry.”
“Tears do not suit a warrior.”
At his gentle voice, Seong Mo-ran felt inwardly relieved and wiped away her tears.
“Is your body all right?”
“Because the qi and blood that tangled when I suffered that torrent of qi have not settled into place, I think I will need to recuperate for a while.”
“…….”
“Please do not worry too much. The Taeul Sect’s heart method is pure, so if I recuperate for about a year, I should be fine.”
“……O-one year?”
“Yes. I will not be able to take the Murim Academy exam properly, but it is not as if my life will fall into the gutter just because I cannot graduate from the Murim Academy. Haha.”
How precious was one year to a warrior who had not yet reached twenty?
Perhaps after a year passed, Jin So-un would have a significant gap not only compared to the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect, but even compared to the warriors of the Taeul Sect.
Even so, at her single word of apology, he showed neither resentment nor anger.
To him, hardship and trials like these were nothing.
No, because there had already been hardships and trials in his life that were too enormous, he was able to remain indifferent even to the hardship that had now befallen him.
As Seong Mo-ran waited for Jin So-un in the yard, she had been agonizing.
Should she give it to him or not?
Now she reached the conclusion to that agony.
No, after his words, there was no longer any need to agonize.
Something she had been able to receive only because she was, at least, a direct descendant of Ghost Sword Immortal Elder.
Something that, because of that, even she herself had not yet been able to consume.
She took it out.
“What is this?”
“Whatever the case may be, I am also a person of the Iron Sword Sect. This cannot be resolved with such a small thing, but please accept it as my heart. Of course, I do not think this compensates for our Iron Sword Sect’s actions. I am giving it only with the hope that, as you said, the Taeul Sect and the Iron Sword Sect may have a good relationship in the future as well, Young Master.”
Jin So-un looked at the wooden box for a moment, then slowly accepted it.
“The burden of Miss Seong, who must carry the Iron Sword Sect, will probably be even heavier than that of the Taeul Sect. Still, I will accept your heart.”
Why was she a child of the Iron Sword Sect, and why was that person a man of the Taeul Sect?
Seong Mo-ran grieved over the tragedy of her birth, something she had not felt even because of Seong Mo-hyeon’s existence.
“I hope we can meet with smiles next time.”
At Seong Mo-ran’s trembling voice, Jin So-un finally gave her a smile at the corner of his mouth.
“I hope so as well.”
On the third day, we left the Iron Sword Sect.
Naturally, there was no one to see us off.
In my place, Kang Chae-seok wrapped the Ninefold Sword tightly in cloth, hugged it to his chest, and slept through the night. Even on the daylong trip back to the Taeul Sect, he did not let it leave his body.
“Still, taking it all the way into the toilet is a bit much, is it not?”
“What chance is there of it being stolen in the toilet?”
“Do you not know? The second most common place in history for assassins to attempt assassination is the toilet. When one is putting strength into one’s asshole, even one of the Ten Greatest Masters under Heaven cannot help but let his guard down, can he?”
“…….”
Only after persuading him like that could I finally make him leave the Ninefold Sword behind when going to the toilet.
Meanwhile, the rumors arrived at the Taeul Sect first, but even inside the Taeul Sect, no one believed them.
Since it was not a far distance anyway, using a messenger to exchange news would have been a loss, and on top of that, it was a rumor that could absolutely not be believed, so they pretended not to have heard it.
But when they learned that the object Kang Chae-seok carried in, wrapped tightly in his arms like a lover, was the Ninefold Sword, the Elders and Hall Masters gathered in the Great Mysterious Hall embraced one another and shed tears of joy.
For the Taeul Sect, which had walked only a history of humiliation and lamentation since the Iron Sword Sect appeared, it was the moment when one hundred and fifty years of resentment were released. Not only the Elders, but also the young junior brothers of Busaeng Hall embraced one another and shouted.
There was no way such a good day could simply pass.
The Elders all stormed to the Outer Hall and denounced that a feast had to be held, but my father, who was as tightfisted as a rusted latch, put forth the opinion that since the budget was insufficient, they should replace it with a simple dinner gathering.
“How can that be? This is the Ninefold Sword that Jin So-un, a disciple of the Taeul Sect, took at the risk of his life.”
Even Hong Mun-gi, the Sect Leader, stepped in and spoke to Jin Tae-san, the Outer Hall Master, but he was stubborn as a mule.
“I risked my life too, and the Swift Blossom Hall Master also risked his life. Are you not worried that if we hold that one feast, the children’s side dishes will become poor for the next half a year?”
“This is no ordinary matter, is it not? So-un protected the Taeul Sect’s honor.”
“I know that. Goodness. So let us simply end it with a simple dinner gathering.”
“……Then I will put forth my personal money.”
At Jin Tae-san’s appearance as he blocked the feast like Zhang Fei at Changban Bridge, Hong Mun-gi ultimately emptied his private emergency funds, and at Hong Mun-gi’s example, the Elders and Hall Masters also emptied their pocket money to prepare the feast expenses.
“Father, we are not struggling to that extent, are we?”
When I asked, recalling the ledgers I constantly looked at for calculations, Father smiled triumphantly.
“Thanks to this, were we not able to empty out the Sect Leader’s and Elders’ emergency funds? How dare they try to use public funds for eating and playing?”
“…….”
When the news that a feast would be held spread all the way to the Gyeryong Merchant Guild, Gye Yeon-seok wagged his tail madly, saying he would personally sponsor two cows, five pigs, and ten jars of liquor.
This time, his characteristic unlucky arrogance and haughtiness had been completely stripped away, because at the moment when the people of the Taeul Sect were ready to fight to the death in the Iron Sword Sect, Gye Cheol-yeong had slipped right out, so he could not lift his face.
Because of this matter, it was decided that of the three Iron Heart Pills received from the Iron Sword Sect, two would go to me and Sa-ryeon, and the remaining one would be given later as a gift to a disciple with high attainment.
In order to recover face somehow, Gye Yeon-seok met separately with the Sect Leader and said that if they gave one Iron Heart Pill to Gye Cheol-yeong, he would give them three inns. But they said Hong Mun-gi turned stern and threatened that if he said such nonsense again, he would expel Gye Cheol-yeong from the Taeul Sect.
“Madness, pure madness. How much could that Iron Heart Pill be worth?”
“Still, thanks to that, the junior brothers of Busaeng Hall are working harder, are they not?”
“You little wretch. Three inns in Hefei would bring in enough money to buy five Iron Heart Pills a year! How could my insides not burst?”
“If you are going to grumble that much, at least wipe the smile from the corners of your mouth.”
“What, you brat!”
“I will go out and come back.”
“Where are you going now?”
“I am tired of Father going on about money, money, so I am going to earn money.”
“You brat! What money could you possibly earn!”
“I will be back.”
At last, the time had come to remove the Gyeryong Merchant Guild from the Taeul Sect.
