Chapter: 734
The fourth round of the main event has concluded.
After the late-night martial arts competition wrapped up, all that’s left is the sixteen strongest contenders.
With only a few left until the new Dragon Lord is crowned, the days in Hanam were particularly sweltering.
Even though summer is nearly over, the heat may be due to the martial arts festival, but if we were to ask for the real reason…
– Please let me meet Soyeomra just once!
– I, I am the leader of the North Love Association! The person in charge of the Baekhwa Association, hurry up!
It must be due to the crowd filling the space outside the door.
Outside my residence, people were making enough noise to disrupt the typically quiet morning.
Last time, it was already quite chaotic due to that incident with Paejon.
This time, it was even worse.
– I heard Soyeomra is here!
– Just talk to me once…!
This time, it couldn’t escape the blame – more than half of it was my fault, and I was left speechless.
“Ugh…”
I rubbed my throbbing forehead. It wasn’t even noon yet, so just what is the meaning of all this commotion?
‘Damn it.’
I expected it to turn out like this, but the reality exceeded my imagination with an even larger crowd.
Should I just bail now? Since it takes about two days for the Sixteen Strong to begin, I might as well hide in the mountains and pass the time. I genuinely contemplated this.
“If you’re considering running away, I hope you reconsider.”
I had to wipe that thought away, all due to a sharp voice coming from in front of me.
“Surely you’re not going to create a situation like this and then vanish, right?”
“N-no way.”
The owner of that voice… I forced a smile in response to Mo Yong-hee’s words.
At my answer, she nodded and took a sip of tea.
She still possessed such graceful mannerisms.
“There are people from the North Love Association… and from the Miryongpyo Kingdom… these are hard-to-find folks from anywhere else, all gathered here.”
In terms of reputation within the Central Plains, they were quite renowned.
“When I tried to make a deal, these gentlemen wouldn’t even show their faces… and now they come running barefoot like this.”
There was something a bit ominous about her words, delivered with a smirk.
“If I had known it would be like this, I would’ve used Confucius much earlier.”
“Hahaha. Indeed.”
“Indeed…?”
Oops.
I think I may have said something wrong. The atmosphere around Mo Yong-hee turned considerably chillier.
“Are you seriously saying that now?”
“Uh… um…”
“People went through all that trouble to keep it hidden. If you planned to make a fuss like this, you should have done so long ago.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“If you were going to make a scene, at least do it more effectively to gain some publicity…! You should’ve given some kind of signal!”
“…”
So the issue was what lay before us.
I nodded at the reactions. They were quite reasonable justifications.
‘I feel the same.’
Even my plans had aimed in that direction.
If I were going to unleash some power, I was supposed to do it from a higher stage. I had definitely planned to showcase it somewhere it could be appreciated.
I ended up doing more than I expected during the Dragon fight.
‘I got all hyped up without realizing it…’
Was it because that guy looked like such a fool?
Or was it because I’d asked him to show some sincerity?
I was vague about the reasons, but my own excitement was undeniable.
I was genuinely thrilled.
Seeing him stand up to others without backing down intrigued me.
He threw a massive wall, and even when his skin ripped and blood flowed, he kept climbing it.
‘If I had to choose the one most different from his past life, it would probably be him.’
He doesn’t crumble. He doesn’t break.
That was precisely what he was demonstrating.
How could someone like him have been so ruined in his previous life? I couldn’t help pondering the question.
“Master, what are you thinking about right now?”
“…Nothing.”
“You’re definitely thinking about something else!”
“No, I was focusing on what you were saying.”
“What did I say?”
“…I told you to do it well if you were going to do it.”
“That was said ages ago…”
Had the conversation already drifted that far? I must have closed my ears out of absent-mindedness.
Mo Yong-hee sighed and brushed her face in response to my attitude.
I noticed her face had become pale in just a day.
It looked like she had been going through a lot.
“…I was talking about the sponsorship offer from the Genetic Association.”
“Ah, right. That’s what we were discussing.”
Honestly, I hadn’t been paying attention, but I nodded nonetheless.
“That’s right, sponsorship… right, sponsorship…”
“Will you accept it?”
“No, I don’t need it.”
I outright rejected it. Mo Yong-hee seemed to have anticipated that reaction.
“The Genetic Association stands on the same level as the Baekhwa Association. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
At the same level as the Baekhwa Association?
That meant it ranked among the top five most powerful places in the Central Plains.
The North Love Association and those other places were also noted, but they were merely moderately famous.
However, the upper world presented a different story entirely.
They may be wealthier than most renowned families or clans, and the Genetic Association was among the higher tiers.
“I have no need for money. The idea of sharing connection now does not appeal to me, you see.”
Money isn’t an issue.
Over the past years, I piled up a foundation using information from my past life, and that’s not all.
“Officially, my sponsor is Baekhwa Association. Knowing that, sending someone over now only feels like a poke in the eye.”
It wouldn’t be welcomed even if the head came himself. An intermediary suggesting a meet-up sounds like a terrible idea.
Particularly given that my relationship with Mrs. Mi is officially that of siblings.
“If other associations contact you, reject those as well.”
“It’s not just a possible scenario; most of them are already here.”
As she spoke, Mo Yong-hee plopped a hefty letter in front of me.
It looked so substantial that it felt like it would topple over with a touch.
“Do you know that all the tales flowing around Hanam these days are just about you?”
“To what extent…?”
“It’s merely in Hanam right now, but it’ll spread throughout the region soon. I hear even the open network is gearing up.”
So, from around seven days to two months.
By that time, rumors would reach distant areas as well.
It spread like wildfire, just like the dragon rumor did.
“Of course, even if that happens, thwarting tales related to the top won’t be too tough…”
Of course, I’d precociously tied myself to the Baekhwa Association for such eventuality.
This is no average place; this is the Baekhwa Association. Having their backing officially makes it easier to decline others’ offers.
However.
“But… hiding now might pose a little bit of a challenge… is that fine with you?”
This time it’s different from the past. This isn’t just a case of changing an alias and letting stories run amok.
Along with appearances, many names have stuck.
A future greatest in the world.
A monster that shattered stars.
A comet’s warrior.
A genius who will leave marks in history.
An ultimate weapon hidden by the Guga, etc.
These were all nicknames that would give you goosebumps just hearing them.
Those words were just a few notable labels that cropped up in a single day.
“Ugh…”
Shit… I feel like I’m going to be sick.
What the hell? This is disgusting.
Mo Yong-hee shook her head at my expression of disgust.
“Given the magnitude of what you’ve done, you need to take responsibility. Plus… it’s not like any of it is truly incorrect.”
‘That’s not wrong in others’ eyes.’
To me, none of those statements felt accurate.
My stomach churns. I feel like I’m sitting in a position I shouldn’t be in. That alone was disheartening.
But.
‘I must endure.’
I needed to put up with this. It was a necessity, wasn’t it? I must persist through it all.
“Master, this is why I’m asking you.”
“…Huh? What.”
“Why on earth did you touch the crown of the dragon…?”
“…”
I chuckled at the ridiculousness of that question. Perhaps she genuinely couldn’t comprehend why I had done it.
Her asking such a question is surely due to the rumors spiraling alongside my name.
– Soyeomra took down the dragon with a harpoon.
– Even while the dragon pleaded for mercy, he kept hammering away like some relentless spirit.
– The dragon, bleeding profusely, grasped Soyeomra’s pant leg.
– After the fight, Soyeomra took the dragon’s head and openly insulted him.
Such tales… They sound like an epilogue from the martial arts competition, and they’ve only spread.
“Who beat whom?”
This is preposterous. How could such rumors emerge?
Did I really pull out a harpoon?
‘…Well, that part is true.’
I fought fiercely, leaving me a wreck; it’s true I did end up taking one.
That guilt applies to me too.
‘The spots he hit me still sting.’
The Baekboshin technique struck my chest while enduring the flames.
Following that, I endured multiple hits one after another.
While I managed to block most with my strength, I thought I was going to pass out with all my bones feeling cracked.
To be more precise, logically both of us had done worse.
‘I merely allowed myself to look less pitiful than I could have.’
It would have been a stretch to take him down in one blow, but normally it could have ended in two or three moves.
I elongated the fight just to entertain him a little.
‘…Perhaps I was too hyped up.’
Should I show off a little?
That was my intention behind those actions.
“But insulting? I’m left speechless.”
“Then, did you not touch the crown?”
“I did, yes.”
“…Huh?”
“But, that doesn’t imply I did it with bad intentions.”
You touched the dragon’s crown to mock and insult him?
Shit.
‘After I went out of my way to help you.’
I gambled my broken body in vain.
My breath fluttered, my strength waning, and my breathing became shallow. It was proof that a martial arts calamity was looming.
That described the condition of the Dragon. Left unchecked, he would either die or become a vegetable.
It felt like a waste to meet such a conclusion with a single martial arts event.
And so it was.
– Close your mouth and breathe through your nose. If you strain unnecessarily, you’re going to die.
I instantly grabbed the Dragon’s crown and altered the flow.
I steadied the fluctuating energy and filtered out the toxic energy that had begun to swirl.
It would be impossible to repair broken bones at this stage, but at least it would prevent him from entering a state of severe possession.
Due to my hasty intervention, the dragon fainted right away.
Thanks to that, wild rumors circulated.
– The dragon, unable to endure Soyeomra’s mockery, lost his mind.
Such as that notion.
– Soyeomra delights in toying with the weak.
– He may be gifted, but he is arrogant, enjoying pleasures and women alike.
All of that.
Why are my rumors riddled with such unreasonable nonsense?
‘How can anyone survive with such accusations?’
Especially, where the hell did those words about women and pleasures come from?
Where could you possibly find someone as clean as I am?
“Should I ask the open network to correct the inaccurate reporting?”
“…Forget it. It will fade away soon.”
“No matter how I see it… I don’t think that’s how it will turn out…”
“Regardless, this discussion has settled down, so wrap up the upper-level business.”
“Understood.”
Once she finished speaking, I gulped the tea down as if to pacify my agitated stomach.
‘So… what’s the plan moving forward?’
The revised schedule has already been sent out, but there’s still about seven days left until the martial arts festival.
‘It would be great to progress through the rounds.’
If any unexpected events arise here…
‘The key question is, when will the head of the Sword Academy arrive in Hanam?’
Depending on that, I might need to accelerate my plans.
That’s an undertaking I need to begin once he arrives.
“Hmm…”
I’ve already sent word to Pilduma.
The Huangbo faction will also be preparing… So isn’t it just about keeping an eye on the Amipa side and the Murim Alliance from here?
Thoughts, when lined up this way, seem to point toward smooth sailing.
‘No, never let your guard down.’
Never let your guard down.
Things going smoothly mean something unexpected is bound to occur. My wretched luck has always leaned that way.
‘If everything’s fine, something is about to go wrong.’
Such a scenario is simply unthinkable.
No matter what else happens, I will handle this job well. I steeled myself and heightened my tension.
Just then.
“Confucius?”
“Oh, yes. What is it?”
“You didn’t hear me again?”
“…Sorry.”
Mo Yong-hee must’ve been explaining something.
When I briefly apologized for missing it like before, she hardly seemed to react anymore, having grown accustomed to my inattentiveness.
“Speaking of which, what were you saying?”
“I mentioned we have a guest arriving.”
“A guest? Ah.”
Only then did it click.
When Mo Yong-hee came to my residence earlier, she had asked if she could bring someone.
She said this person wanted to meet me, and as she brought him, I thought it’d be fine for now.
“I heard they just arrived… Since they’re someone from that upper tier, I wanted to inform you first.”
“Upper tier?”
Frowning slightly at that, I recalled that I had told her to reject everyone at the upper tier, yet the guest she brought along had a tie there?
From what I could tell, it didn’t seem like they were from Baekhwa Association, though.
“Who is it?”
“They are from Jangwonsangdan.”
“Jangwonsangdan…?”
My eyes widened upon hearing that.
‘That’s recognized as the wealthiest place in the Central Plains.’
Disregarding influence, this is the officially wealthiest place of them all.
If you can’t buy the pride of a martial artist with money, assess whether your financial resources are lacking.
That was a famous saying left by the former head of the Jangwonsangdan.
He had, in fact, validated that saying by previously having the world’s top martial artist, Cheolhyeolbu Seon, serve as a temporary protector.
When asked how much he was compensated for that position, he replied calmly.
– I received a value that’s commensurate with my worth.
The amount of money worthy of employing the best martial artist in the world?
That was likely an amount no one could even conceive.
Regardless.
‘Did that person come to meet me as well?’
The Genetic Association and now Jangwonsangdan.
Had I conducted myself to a level that would attract them? I was filled with a fresh sense of elation.
But.
“As I mentioned earlier, even if they are not a direct leader but just an attendant, it still seems… unacceptable.”
“Not merely any attendant,” she corrected.
“Does that mean someone at a high rank came personally?”
“Yes.”
“What…?”
“…They came in person.”
“What?”
As I expressed my questioning surprise, I sensed a presence beyond the dwelling, as if waiting eagerly.
Knock, knock.
I had felt that presence for quite a while now.
“…Who are you?”
– Greetings. I come from the Upper Tier of Jungwon.
A voice flowed smoothly, somehow grounding a sense of trust.
“Come in, please.”
Hearing that, I contemplated briefly before granting my approval.
Then the door opened, and a man stepped in.
“Thank you for accommodating my request.”
He appeared to be in his forties, possessing a kind demeanor with a gentle appearance.
Instantly, I scrunched up my face upon seeing him.
‘Wait, that guy…?’
I recognized that face. Though his wrinkles may have faded over the years, he wasn’t someone I couldn’t identify.
While not someone I was closely acquainted with, he was definitely someone I remembered.
“Pleased to meet you. My name is Yu Myeong-i, and I manage a store named Jangwon Sangdan located within Jungwon.”
That explains it.
He’s Jang Yu-myeong, the proprietor of Jangwon Sangdan.
He was a big shot who has been operating Jangwon Sangdan in my previous life.
“Please, just call me ‘Mr. Jang’.”
He was the official sponsor of the legendary martial artist, Shin Geom Wiso.
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