Chapter 311: Reversal (5)
“Huu.”
A stuffy heat mixed into the breath he lightly exhaled.
He did not try to extract the alcohol qi using his internal energy. On top of that, since he drank several bottles of strong hard liquor, there was no way he would not get drunk.
At least considering his usual alcohol tolerance, it would have been normal for him to already be dead drunk and passed out.
“It is an ambiguous amount.”
Murong Jun looked out the window.
Last night, the blizzard raged so fiercely. However, tonight, the sky was clear like a lie. Not only the moonlight but also countless starlights were showing off their respective presences.
A faint smile was cast on Murong Jun’s face.
“The weather is nice. Is winter also slowly trying to retreat now?”
Perhaps yesterday’s heavy snow was the last heavy snow. Because it was in the mountains, the cold would be unavoidable for a while, but at least it would not snow as much as before.
“Spring is coming…… I felt so good when spring came.”
Murong Jun’s smile gradually became bitter.
“To think that when I am steeped in anticipation for the future and when I myself am deeply buried in reality would be this different.”
He had been expecting it. No, he, who ascended to the Clan Head position by eliminating his blood relatives in the internal political strife, had long foreseen the current situation.
However, the one thing he could not expect was the existence named Yeon Ho-jeong.
‘No, that is not all.’
Yeon Ho-jeong was a formidable enemy of a generation. He was an existence that transcended everything: age, faction, and experience.
Murong Jun honestly admitted it. That Yeon Ho-jeong was indeed the nemesis of his lifetime. Even if he eliminated Yeon Ho-jeong in the future, he could be certain that no political opponent greater than him would appear.
However, the problem was not only Yeon Ho-jeong.
‘Most of the Honoured Guests, including Yeon Wi, are extraordinary.’
The things he had overlooked while fighting so fiercely with Yeon Ho-jeong.
It was precisely the capabilities of the giants who had obtained the same position, the same Honoured Guests post.
Among them, there were people who declared neutrality and did not step forward, there were those who openly revealed their greed, and there were also those who focused on peace and stability like that Yeon Wi and Zhuge Wen-hu.
None of them were pushovers. Tang Kwan could be given as a representative example, and until Tang Kwan betrayed him, Murong Jun believed he would be able to handle him until he died.
‘It was arrogance.’
Tang Kwan did not like him that much in the first place. He did not completely trust him either.
He must have been vigilantly looking for an opportunity to turn his back from the beginning. Yeon Ho-jeong’s persuasion was merely a flare that brought that opportunity to the surface, and he was someone who would split away at any time.
To be certain that he could handle such a person until the end, was it not truly arrogant?
‘Was I a person with such a narrow vision?’
Murong Jun closed his eyes.
‘It must have been from that time.’
After he finished the deal with Yang Cheon and returned to the Murim Alliance.
He unreasonably tried to oust Master Kong-kong for the Alliance Leader election.
To be exact, it was not an ousting but a dark scheme to put a flaw on his reputation, but since he thought of making him unable to run for the Alliance Leader election as a result, it would not be an exaggeration to call it an ousting.
However, that stratagem failed even before it could properly begin.
‘Even thinking about it now makes my whole face burn.’
Both then, and in this talk with Yeon Ho-jeong.
He had to taste failure once again.
Even though there were times he was pushed back in political strife, he had never felt so helpless himself.
If he rather lacked ability, he would not have felt wronged. Murong Jun accurately knew his own strengths and weaknesses, and he was a person who prided himself on facing them with a colder gaze than anyone else.
Even so, why did he keep showing a foolish appearance? Why did he always realize he made a mistake only after committing it?
At least the me up until last year was not like this.
‘…….’
Murong Jun opened his eyes.
His eyes looking at the starry night sky were dyed with a dull darkness more than ever.
‘I cleared away the Myeong Clan. I came to contend for the head position of the Six Great Clans along with Namgung. I entered the Murim Alliance and made my own faction. Afterward, I even joined hands with Yang Cheon.’
There had been truly many events during that time. And in that process, he tasted quite a lot of failures, but he stubbornly crawled up and reached his current position.
‘I was drunk. As I stepped up step by step to the position I only thought of as a dream, I could not look at the situation coldly.’
Murong Jun suddenly thought of Yeon Ho-jeong.
He had never seen a guy as outstanding as Yeon Ho-jeong. However, when evaluated coldly, there was no great difference between himself and Yeon Ho-jeong.
Yet Yeon Ho-jeong did not commit the same mistakes as him. He also failed and was struck in the back of his head, but he always patiently aimed for the next step.
Was it a difference in patience? Or was it a difference in youth?
Or else did it truly mean that there was that much of a gap between himself and Yeon Ho-jeong?
“It is me who is foolish.”
Murong Jun let out a sigh.
“To ruin things by getting excited that the future I had dreamed of approached right before my nose. The great Murong Jun is also done for.”
On the other hand, Yeon Ho-jeong did not try to sit at the summit.
This current fierce political strife was also merely a process to the guy. What the dream Yeon Ho-jeong hoped for was could not be known, but he could at least know that it was not to seize the greatest power in Murim.
So to speak, Yeon Ho-jeong did not need to endure like him. That difference created the gap with the guy.
Murong Jun, who was vomiting a sigh in a bitter mood, shook his head at a sudden thought.
“No. I almost made a mistake again.”
Murong Jun smiled.
“Yeon Ho-jeong, defeating that guy is not my goal, is it? Even if that guy is better than me, it would be enough as long as I achieve my goal, so why do I keep caring about the guy?”
It was natural to care. Since he was the biggest obstacle on the path toward his dream, he had no choice but to naturally care.
However, simply caring and being conscious of him were different issues.
Murong Jun’s eyes sparkled like starlight.
“Yes, only now do I know what I did wrong.”
Coming to this position now? Making his own faction? Joining hands with Yang Cheon?
That was right. After such a process, his current self existed. Because of that, there could be Murong Jun, who was one of the Twelve Honoured Guests of the Murim Alliance and aiming for the next Alliance Leader.
However, the reason his vision became narrow and his mind became impatient was separate.
“I got too accustomed to fighting. It was not a life lived to win in this mess, but rather than the supreme throne of the world, I tried to survive alone in the rotten pond beneath that throne.”
Murong Jun burst into a hearty laugh.
“Hahaha, at this rate, am I not no different from the countless petty people who chased after power and ended up ruined?”
He had said these words to Tang Kwan at some point.
That he was different. That he would not follow the footsteps of the fools who were swallowed by the monster called power while chasing after power. He said he would become a person who knew how to handle power like an obedient dog until the moment he died.
However, before he knew it, he too was bewitched by the magic that power gave and was only looking right in front of his nose.
“I must change.”
While immediately emptying the refilled cup, Murong Jun muttered.
“I must govern power, I must not be bewitched by power.”
Murong Jun pushed the empty cup to one side.
“Is that not so?”
Rattle.
The door opened and Murong Yu revealed himself.
“Did you know?”
“Of course.”
“Since it is late at night, I came carefully wondering if you were sleeping, but I felt a presence.”
“Haha, it is not even midnight yet, so I cannot finish the day.”
“You drank too much.”
“Should there not be times like this as well? Indeed, even I can see I drank a lot.”
Chiiik!
An intense alcohol scent rose from Murong Jun’s body. He blew away the alcohol qi all at once with the true qi of the Thunder God Art.
Murong Jun looked at Murong Yu with unrecognizably clear eyes.
“Yes, it is not midnight but it is a late hour. What brings you all the way here in the dead of this night?”
The clear and deep eyes looking at his younger brother.
Murong Yu, who was quietly facing his older brother, pointed at a chair.
“May I sit?”
“Of course. Haha, why do you ask such a thing between us? Will you have a drink?”
“Then I will receive a drink.”
“Oops! Just how serious of a story did you bring to be this different from usual? I am already getting scared.”
Murong Jun filled Murong Yu’s cup.
Murong Yu, who refreshingly emptied his cup, shone his eyes.
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
“…….”
“It seems to be a difficult subject to speak about. It is fine, I am ready to accept any story. Speak without hesitation.”
Murong Yu, who was staring blankly at his older brother’s face, lightly sighed.
“It might sound somewhat arrogant, but…….”
“……?”
“About this Alliance Leader election. By any chance, do you have the intention to give up?”
It was not an arrogant remark, but it was indeed a surprising statement.
Murong Jun’s eyes suddenly changed.
“Why are you like this?”
“I also…….”
Murong Yu, who smacked his lips for a moment, bowed his head.
“I also do not know well.”
In fact, he had wanted to say these words since before. However, the Murong Jun he knew was a person who did not know giving up, and since he also knew that it would be words that would not work, he could only tell him to fly high instead.
However, he had no choice but to confess his inner thoughts now. Looking at this series of events, Murong Yu also could not help his frustrated heart.
‘You have been too ruined.’
Murong Yu hardened his heart.
That was the same from the time he joined hands with Yeon Ho-jeong until now. In the meantime, Murong Jun had committed sufficiently large mistakes, and he even resolved to step forward and drop him into the abyss at a decisive moment.
However, the recent Murong Jun was different from before.
Was it because of the affection of blood ties? Murong Yu rather wished Murong Jun would step down here. It was a heart that hoped he would quietly step down, return to the Murong Clan, and spend his later years.
Even knowing that it was the same as a death sentence for Murong Jun, he wanted that to be so. He intended to make him step down from the Murong Clan’s Clan Head position anyway, but still, this was not it.
He thought it would be good if Murong Jun’s end was not miserable, even if it was not splendid.
At least that heart was similar before and now.
‘How frustrating.’
Perhaps this kind of remark toward Murong Jun itself could be something that placed a burden on Yeon Ho-jeong.
However, it was a word he surely wanted to say once. He also had the thought that it was fortunate he could say those words even today.
‘Even knowing that you will ultimately not do so, I am stubbornly saying these words.’
Murong Yu stood up while making a bitter smile.
“I am sorry. It seems I said useless words. Just the…… of a younger brother with many useless worries.”
“No.”
“……Yes?”
“Your worries are never useless. I sincerely think so.”
“Brother?”
Unexpectedly, Murong Jun was smiling.
“Yes, I was just looking back on myself while drinking alcohol. And I realized that my current self is not like before. On such a day, my younger brother even came to visit and worried about his older brother, so separate from the bitterness, my heart feels warm.”
“…….”
“As expected, it seems blood ties are the only thing to trust.”
Murong Yu closed his eyes.
Murong Jun’s words that blood ties were the only thing to trust repeatedly stabbed his chest.
“Therefore.”
“……?”
“I must call one more of my blood relatives.”
“……Yes?”
Murong Jun’s eyes suddenly changed once again.
In an instant, Murong Yu felt his chest turning cold. Because Murong Jun’s expression with changed eyes looked like a devil who had attained enlightenment.
“There is one thing I have not told you yet.”
“What is that?”
“I joined hands with Yang Cheon, and I sent Lotus Flower there.”
“……!!”
“And Lotus Flower will soon come to the Murim Alliance.”
“B-brother!!”
Murong Jun smiled.
It was a bloody smile that made the viewer get goosebumps.
“Thanks to you, I gained a great realization. Yes, what does it matter when I get the Alliance Leader position? In the end, it is enough if it falls into my hands anytime. Is that not so?”