Chapter 263: Confession (1)
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Murong Jun did not panic.
“What do you mean by that? Master Kong-kong?”
Tang Kwan merely glared at him without a word.
It was an atmosphere too different from usual. He was someone whose momentum was originally sharp and vicious, but right now, he looked like he was truly ready to fight to the death.
Immortal Yong-hwa let out a dry cough.
“Clan Head Tang. I don’t know what is going on, but how about you sit down and speak for now?”
Deung Cheon-gyo also nodded.
“That would be good. And please kill that momentum a bit. If we aren’t careful, poison qi will mix into the food.”
Tang Kwan smiled coldly.
“If I had intended to mix poison into the food, you all would have died without even realizing it.”
Deung Cheon-gyo frowned.
“Your words are too harsh.”
“I have something to say to Clan Head Murong. Unrelated third parties, stay out of it.”
“Look here, Clan Head Tang!”
At that time, Murong Jun raised his hand.
“Everyone, calm down.”
Deung Cheon-gyo silently glared at Tang Kwan, and Immortal Yong-hwa looked much more relaxed than expected.
Murong Jun looked at Tang Kwan and said.
“As you originally seem to dislike such gatherings, I did not separately inform Clan Head Tang. You wouldn’t be saddened over merely something like this, but I hope there is no misunderstanding.”
“I have no interest in this kind of gathering. I will ask again. Master Kong-kong…”
“You asked if I am aiming for Master Kong-kong?”
“That’s right.”
Murong Jun smiled.
“Didn’t I tell you before? Master Kong-kong is not a person you can carelessly touch. I told you that even with sufficient preparation, he is a person you cannot be certain you can overthrow.”
“I will ask again.”
Tang Kwan’s eyes turned cold.
“Are you aiming for Master Kong-kong?”
Murong Jun’s expression also slightly stiffened.
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“I am demanding an answer, not a question.”
Even for Murong Jun, who knew Tang Kwan’s temper, it was a difficult situation to just pass over.
It would be one thing if it were a conversation between the two of them, but there were two pairs of watching eyes. Furthermore, Immortal Yong-hwa and Deung Cheon-gyo were much more calculating and vicious people than expected.
A situation where he couldn’t show a weak appearance. Murong Jun’s voice sank even lower.
“I think I respect you sufficiently. In some aspects, even more than the two people here. That is not because I am afraid of you, but because I know your personality.”
“So what is the answer?”
“However, if you keep coming at me like this, it is troublesome. Please know that there is a limit to my patience as well.”
Tang Kwan smiled coldly.
“Seeing you keep beating around the bush, it seems you really are aiming for Master Kong-kong.”
“Look here, Clan Head Tang.”
“I’ll speak honestly. I don’t care what you do. Since neither you nor I interfered in each other’s affairs. However, if you try to use me as a card rather than an ally, that’s a different story.”
For a moment, Murong Jun frowned.
‘A card?’
Immortal Yong-hwa and Deung Cheon-gyo looked at Murong Jun with questioning eyes.
“What does this mean? A card?”
Murong Jun, who had been blankly staring at Tang Kwan, asked as if tossing it out.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Tang Kwan took a handkerchief from his bosom and threw it on the ground.
“What is this?”
“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s a handkerchief.”
“What on earth…”
“That handkerchief is coated with our main family’s secret Clear Yin Poison.”
Instantly, Immortal Yong-hwa and Deung Cheon-gyo instinctively raised their internal energy.
But Murong Jun did not. He merely looked at Tang Kwan with transparent eyes.
Tang Kwan’s face distorted.
“As expected, your reaction is different. Unlike the two people here, you didn’t raise your internal energy.”
“Clan Head Tang.”
“You knew the characteristics of Clear Yin Poison. Otherwise, you couldn’t be so calm.”
That was not why.
Murong Jun knew Tang Kwan’s personality. At a glance, he seemed reckless and rough, but he was a person who knew how to pick his moments in his own way.
He was not a person to spread poison in a place like this. That was exactly the reason Murong Jun hadn’t raised his internal energy.
However, for Tang Kwan, that behavior of Murong Jun became an opportunity that turned his suspicion, which had been surging like fire, into certainty.
“The reason I trusted you was because I thought you weren’t a person who only knew how to use petty tricks. You have excessively many thoughts, but I thought it wasn’t because you were timid, but because you had a lot of suspicion and were smart.”
Tang Kwan smiled fishily.
At that lethal smile, not only Immortal Yong-hwa and Deung Cheon-gyo, but even Murong Jun felt a chill down their spines.
“But it seems I misjudged the person. To think you are a person who considers even an ally as a chess piece… I can’t work together with such a person. Isn’t that right?”
Murong Jun almost opened his mouth without realizing it but stopped himself.
‘…’
He examined the complexions of Immortal Yong-hwa and Deung Cheon-gyo.
They were forcing themselves to maintain calm expressions, but what was cast over them was doubt and anxiety.
It was inevitable. The two people did not know what this conversation meant or why this uproar had occurred.
However, they could at least notice that the conflict between the two people was extremely deep. And that the starting point of that conflict originated from Murong Jun.
‘This is bad.’
The situation was too bad.
It would be one thing if he had come when he was alone, but it was ambiguous to explain something in a setting where members of the same faction were present.
‘Furthermore, Master Kong-kong.’
Murong Jun’s eyes shook.
‘How on earth did this guy know about that?’
It was a situation where he had just started the preliminary work to worsen public opinion of Master Kong-kong.
The reason he hadn’t told Tang Kwan was because his reactions were excessively honest. While he himself could avoid Master Kong-kong’s discernment, Tang Kwan would inevitably be caught.
It wasn’t because he didn’t trust Tang Kwan, but a judgment made because he knew his capabilities accurately.
But how did Tang Kwan know about it, what was this handkerchief, and what was the Clear Yin Poison?
“Clan Head Tang.”
“…”
“I won’t speak at length.”
Murong Jun’s eyes turned cold.
“The matter about Master Kong-kong, who did you hear it from?”
Tang Kwan’s cheek twitched.
“Are you finally admitting it.”
“I am asking who you heard it from.”
“Why do you think I have to tell you that?”
Immortal Yong-hwa shouted.
“Clan Head Tang! Watch your words! No matter how angry you are, to a fellow Honored Guest, what kind of…!”
“You all had better be careful too. The smile that guy shows you is a thoroughly fabricated smile. The day when he uses you as stepping stones under the pretext of digging a trap will not be far off.”
“What?!”
“Isn’t that right, Clan Head Murong?”
Murong Jun frowned.
“Watch your words.”
“And if I don’t? Are you going to put a scratch on my body with that dirty sword of yours?”
Tang Kwan was responding with an edge sharper than necessary.
Even amidst his surging anger, Murong Jun could not understand.
‘He’s not this kind of person?’
Even if matters of flesh and blood were entangled, he was not the type of person to come out this aggressively.
That was not a guess but a certainty. No matter how much he was the Clan Head of Tang, if he was a person who acted this recklessly, Murong Jun’s side would have cast him out first.
He didn’t know what he had heard from where, but Tang Kwan was clearly overreacting excessively.
‘It can’t be helped.’
Whatever the case, Tang Kwan’s heart had already left him.
In a situation where feelings had completely soured, there was no use in weighing this and that reason. In that case, it was better to just take care of each other’s pride and call a truce.
Murong Jun spoke coldly.
“I don’t think there’s any need to talk further. Please leave now.”
Tang Kwan snorted.
“I think so too. There will be no occasion to face your mug in the future.”
“I’ll ask one thing before that.”
Murong Jun’s eyes deepened.
“Yeon Ho-jeong, did you meet that bastard?”
The corners of Tang Kwan’s mouth rose.
“Why? Are you perhaps scared that I’ll cut ties with you and go to him?”
…They met.
‘Damn it.’
Most likely Yeon Ho-jeong had played some kind of trick.
However, what was puzzling was how Yeon Ho-jeong knew he was aiming for Master Kong-kong.
‘…No. The deciding blow would be Yeon Ho-jeong, but the one who set up this board is a third party, not him.’
Zhuge Wen-hu.
It was clear that Zhuge Wen-hu, who caught the rumors circulating in the Alliance like a ghost, had finished all preliminary investigations. And he must have met Yeon Ho-jeong and discussed this matter.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s capacity for action was as outstanding as his brilliant brain. He probably put it into action immediately as soon as he heard that story from Zhuge Wen-hu.
However, normally he would have come directly to him to find out, so he didn’t expect him to come poking at Tang Kwan first.
Murong Jun sighed inwardly.
‘I let my guard down.’
He had a stronger sponsor than anyone else.
Turning a situation of extreme crisis into a place of tremendous opportunity, he had finally come to join hands with the strongest in the Unorthodox. He thought to himself to stay tense, but with such a huge backing, he had let his guard down without realizing it.
‘If not for that matter, I would have proceeded with attacking Master Kong-kong more carefully. Even though I knew that Zhuge Wen-hu was extremely tense, and that Yeon Ho-jeong’s attacks were extremely unconventional.’
Murong Jun smiled bitterly.
‘It’s not that the opponent did well, but that I did poorly.’
It was a foolish mistake. It was something unlike himself.
Because of that, he had lost a decent card. It was a painful blunder.
‘I gained a backing called Yang Cheon and lost a card called Tang Kwan… It’s still a profit if it’s a profit, but.’
The important thing was that he didn’t need to lose him.
In an instant, Murong Jun’s face became extremely cold.
“If you intend to break the alliance, it cannot be helped. Please don’t regret it later.”
Tang Kwan chuckled and turned his body.
There was no answer either. With that, he had completely shaken off his ties with Murong Jun.
Murong Jun, who was watching Tang Kwan’s back, sent a telepathic message without anyone knowing.
[I don’t know what happened, but if your feelings ease later, please let me know. I will personally visit you to hear the whole story.]
Tang Kwan, who was opening the door, paused for a moment.
But that was all. He closed the door with a loud Kwang! and left.
Immortal Yong-hwa hurriedly asked.
“What on earth is this matter?”
“It’s nothing much.”
Murong Jun smiled bitterly.
“It just… became an opportunity to think that I should stay quietly and build up my strength for the time being.”
“…?”
“Our future plans, let’s cancel them for now.”
Murong Jun closed his eyes.
‘…I should find my coolness first.’
* * *
Zhuge Wen-hu looked at Yeon Ho-jeong with an admiring face.
“I thought I would have nothing more to be surprised by you. But that was not it. Truly, I throw my hands and feet up at your stratagems.”
Yeon Ho-jeong shook his head.
“It is merely driving a wedge. It is a petty trick that can’t even be included in the ranks of stratagems.”
“Even driving a wedge is hard to draw out maximum efficiency if you don’t grasp the opponent. It’s truly amazing.”
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled silently.
Zhuge Wen-hu tilted his head.
“But, did you know it would turn out like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Clan Head Tang cutting ties with Murong Jun can be seen as the best result, so to speak. Consequentially it’s a good thing, but if by chance Clan Head Tang’s trust in Murong Jun had been deeper, it could have rather made the relationship between the two stickier.”
“That’s right.”
“There’s no way you wouldn’t have known that. Then, did you expect the two of them to split?”
“How could that be? I am not a god.”
“Huh? Then?”
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled.
“Murong Jun’s attack this time was quite clumsy. It was a mistake unlike him.”
“It was.”
“However, since he knows that a person who realized this matter came out because of Clan Head Tang, he will definitely exercise caution. He will likely stay quiet for the time being.”
“Then isn’t it more dangerous?”
“That is correct. And thanks to that caution, there are things we can find out as well.”
“Hmm?”
It was precisely his relationship with Yang Cheon.
To Murong Jun, who would be staying quiet, Yang Cheon would definitely send some kind of signal. By just watching that, they could deal a fatal blow to Murong Jun.
“However, it seems Clan Head Tang also had a lot built up.”
Yeon Ho-jeong looked out the window.
“Perhaps, Clan Head Tang was also inwardly displeased with Murong Jun. Then again, with that pride, it would have been hard for him to stay stepped back too.”
“Hah!”
“Anyway, we won the first battle after returning. He will stay as quiet as a dead mouse for the time being, so do not worry too much.”