Chapter 205: Chapter 205
When a person saw something too absurd, did the body react on its own?
That was exactly how I felt right now.
“This bastard is hilarious. Who is calling whom shameless?”
Even while stepping on Namgung Gi-pyo, I was still dumbfounded.
“J-Jin So-un……!”
Namgung Gi-pyo writhed like an earthworm with his neck under my foot.
I put more strength into my foot once.
“Lady Seon-hwa, why are you just listening to such useless words?”
“……”
Even at my words, she still could not easily lift her head.
I deliberately spoke firmly.
“If you keep lowering your head like that, will it not make this bastard’s words sound true?”
Only then did Namgung Seon-hwa raise her head.
Complex emotions seemed to be gathered in her eyes.
“Was it because of the ‘Distinguished Guest Invitation’ event you mentioned before? Were you trying not to offend this bastard?”
Namgung Seon-hwa nodded faintly.
“……I wanted to be of even a little help to you, Young Master Jin. I thought it might be even better if Grandfather came……”
That transparent and pure goodwill toward me.
A smile formed at my lips before I realized it.
“Lady Seon-hwa. I do not want to see you be insulted by an idiot like this because of me.”
“I-idiot……? Jin So-un! Let me go this instant! Cough!”
I kicked Namgung Gi-pyo’s struggling face once more and continued speaking.
“Well, it will absolutely never happen, but even if I lose the representative position, I do not want anything bad to happen to you, Lady Seon-hwa.”
“……”
When I looked into her eyes, she also met my gaze.
I told her in a clear voice.
“To me, Lady Namgung Seon-hwa is more important than something like the representative position.”
“……!”
From my position, maintaining a close relationship with Namgung Seon-hwa was just as important as the representative position.
To receive help in the future Great Righteous-Demonic War, the Namgung Clan’s help was more desperate than anything else.
I had even passed on the Shattering Form and prevented a situation where the Namgung Clan almost split in half. If I could not properly make use of that debt in the actual Great Righteous-Demonic War, would that not be unfair?
“R-really?”
Namgung Seon-hwa looked at me with her face flushed red, as if she could not believe it.
“Of course.”
The direct line of the Namgung Clan was something I absolutely could not let go of.
I nodded several times.
Flush.
Perhaps the shame she had endured from Namgung Gi-pyo’s contempt all this time surged back, because Namgung Seon-hwa’s face burned even redder.
I deliberately averted my gaze.
“And even if you do not curry favor with a weasel like this, bastards like the Orthodox Path Association can easily be toppled.”
“W-weasel? Jin So-un, was that directed at me?”
I lightly ignored the bastard writhing below.
“So can you promise me that from now on, you will not let a bastard like this humiliate you?”
“……”
Namgung Seon-hwa, even her ears dyed red, nodded.
As expected, she was a reliable person who understood well.
“Good. Then come with me.”
“Pardon?”
“I will show you how I plan to clean up the Orthodox Path Association.”
“……Yes.”
When I took a few steps forward, Namgung Gi-pyo, who had been subdued and pinned to the floor, sprang to his feet.
“Jin So-un! No matter how strong you are, did you think you could trample me and just leave?”
Shing.
Namgung Gi-pyo, with a footprint left on his face, drew his sword while huffing in fury.
People seized by emotion always made wrong judgments like that.
I pointed at him with the tip of my chin and looked at Namgung Seon-hwa.
“You need to shake off the bad things you heard earlier, do you not?”
At my words, her eyes shone.
“Yes.”
When Namgung Seon-hwa turned around, Namgung Gi-pyo laughed coldly.
“Seon-hwa! Do you truly intend to turn your back on the clan?”
Even at his provocation, she did not budge.
“I have never turned my back on the clan.”
Then she looked at me once and continued speaking.
“Rather, this is the best choice for the clan.”
“Foolish!”
As Namgung Gi-pyo unfolded the Boundless Firmament Sword Art and rushed in, Namgung Seon-hwa’s white-jade hand stretched forward.
Pow, pow.
“Guh……!”
There was no need to use the Firmament Cloudless Sword Art.
Struck directly by the Three Heavenly Thunder Palms, Namgung Gi-pyo’s eyes rolled back, and he flew five jang before fainting.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
“Good.”
That was how my executive staff should be.
“This is……”
The place they arrived after following Jin So-un.
As Namgung Seon-hwa looked around, a question slipped from her mouth.
“It is the dormitory hall.”
The Murim Academy assigned dormitories each semester according to grades.
Because of that, most of the students who swept the top rankings were concentrated in the Righteous Path Association and the Orthodox Path Association.
In particular, the Righteous Path Association members considered it a disgrace to fall below the two-person dormitory hall.
“And this is Righteous Path Hall too.”
That was why the two-person dormitory hall was often called Righteous Path Hall.
“That is right. There is someone I need to meet here.”
“Someone you need to meet?”
Looking at the puzzled Namgung Seon-hwa, the corners of Jin So-un’s lips rose in a grin.
“The person who will take responsibility for this incident.”
When they entered the two-person dormitory hall, sure enough, people sent flustered looks at the appearance of Jin So-un and Namgung Seon-hwa.
Neither of them had any connection to Righteous Path Hall.
Even so, no one stopped or blocked the two of them.
No, on the contrary, there were occasionally people who greeted them with their eyes and acted as if they knew them.
Namgung Seon-hwa remembered them too.
They were the very people who had experienced the matter in Sichuan together.
Indifferent to the gathering gazes filled with goodwill, Jin So-un strode through Righteous Path Hall.
“Hmm…… I am sure it was Room 404.”
Jin So-un climbed the stairs without hesitation, then pounded hard on the door of one dormitory room.
His momentum was almost like a creditor who had come looking for a debtor.
Soon, signs of movement came from inside.
“Who is causing such a disturbance……”
Along with the reply, the door quietly opened, and someone wearing monk’s robes appeared.
“I am currently in the middle of practice, so please visit another time……”
“Hey! Il-gak is inside, right?”
“……”
At that fearless tone, the eyes of the one wearing monk’s robes trembled faintly.
No matter how young he was, and no matter how low his seniority in the martial world was, Il-gak’s position as someone who had learned the Tendon-Changing Classic could not be compared with an ordinary one.
And yet he was calling someone who had accumulated such Buddhist power like a neighborhood thug.
The Shaolin Temple disciple tried his best to maintain courtesy and opened his mouth.
“Academy student Jin So-un. You are being too rude. Right now, the monk is in the middle of practice……”
Jin So-un waved his hand as if shooing away a fly.
“Enough. Tell him to settle his karma before practicing.”
“……Karma?”
“Yes. Enormous karma. If he does not settle it, he will have a hard time going to the Pure Land.”
Tiny wrinkles appeared on the Shaolin Temple disciple’s scalp.
“……Are you insulting Buddha right now?”
Jin So-un looked at those wrinkles as if they were fascinating, then furrowed his brow.
“Just deliver the message already. It is urgent.”
“……”
The Academy student, the corners of his eyes trembling, closed the door.
“Young Master Jin. What exactly is this……”
Namgung Seon-hwa could not come to her senses after what had just happened.
Il-gak was practically the spiritual pillar of the Righteous Path Association now.
In other words, he was no different from the one who effectively led the Righteous Path Association.
If Jin So-un had not taken the representative position, Il-gak would have become this Murim Academy’s representative.
That was why the Righteous Path Association faithfully followed Il-gak.
And yet, to act so rudely toward that Il-gak…….
Sure enough, a commotion gradually began to rise.
“What in the world is going on?”
“Jin So-un came looking for Il-gak.”
“What? Why would he?”
People poked their heads out from other dormitories one by one and cast guarded gazes.
It was a situation where those who had begun looking at Jin So-un favorably because of the matter in Sichuan might drift away again.
Just as needless unease was about to rise in Namgung Seon-hwa’s heart.
Creak.
The door opened, revealing the inside of the dormitory.
At the center, Il-gak was sitting with his back turned, chanting a Buddhist scripture.
The Shaolin Temple monk gestured to the two of them.
“Please come in.”
They entered under the guidance of the monk, who clearly found this displeasing, and the faint fragrance of incense, the sort one would smell in a Buddhist hall, drifted through the room.
“Benefactor Jin.”
Soon, Il-gak slowly turned around and looked at Jin So-un with a smile.
But Jin So-un frowned as if he had chewed on filth and said,
“I told you, I am not a benefactor.”
Il-gak pretended not to hear him and pressed his palms together.
“Benefactor, what brings you all the way here? Have you perhaps become interested in Buddha’s will?”
“I do not know whether it is Buddha’s will, but I am in a bit of a troublesome situation right now. I am fine, but the people around me are getting worried and all that.”
Il-gak asked with an intentionally innocent expression.
“Hmm……. What matter has caused that?”
“Come on. How about you stop pretending you do not know and talk?”
“Hmm……. I truly have no idea.”
When Il-gak tilted his head, Jin So-un took one step toward him.
“Strictly speaking, this matter is because of the Righteous Path Association, is it not?”
Il-gak let out a needless cough.
“Ahem. What are you…… The Orthodox Path Association and the Righteous Path Association may cooperate, but they are not in a relationship where they closely influence each other.”
A vile smile formed at Jin So-un’s lips.
“As expected, you knew.”
“Ahem…… Ahem.”
“You pretended not to know and feigned ignorance. Are you not ashamed to face Buddha?”
At Jin So-un’s mockery, the monk who had been watching from the side cut in.
“Even if you are Representative Jin, how dare you say such a thing……!”
However, Il-gak raised his hand to stop the monk’s mouth, and Jin So-un also seemed not to care much, staring only at Il-gak again and again.
“Benefactor Jin, that mouth of yours will land you in trouble someday.”
“My very existence is already the sort that lands in trouble, so if my mouth brings me trouble instead, I would have nothing to feel wronged about.”
Il-gak let out a long sigh, as if he had realized that he could not possibly win with words.
“In any case, this is not a matter the Righteous Path Association can step forward in. From the start, Jegal Jeong-gi is not the kind of friend who would move because of my words.”
“Ah, that is not what I want.”
A puzzled look appeared on Il-gak’s face.
“Hm? Then what……”
Jin So-un leaned against the bed with a relaxed gesture and said,
“Join the representative executive staff.”
“Gasp!”
“……!”
The monk and Namgung Seon-hwa’s eyes widened like startled rabbits at Jin So-un’s words.
No matter if it was an executive position, Il-gak had symbolic meaning within the Righteous Path Association.
That could not happen.
Even if Jegal Jeong-gi drove out Jin So-un and rose to the representative position, there was absolutely no way Il-gak would take an executive position in the Orthodox Path Association. So this was simply absurd.
“What kind of dog-bone nonsense is that……”
At the monk’s rough expression, which seemed to speak for everyone’s feelings, Namgung Seon-hwa unconsciously nodded.
But Jin So-un shrugged as if asking what the problem was.
“If the Righteous Path Association had not made such a mess in Sichuan from the start, there would have been no reason for the Orthodox Path Association to step forward like that, would there, Monk?”
“……Ngh.”
Jin So-un pointed at Il-gak and the monk with his finger and continued speaking.
“If I had simply left the Righteous Path Association to die in the Blood. Cult’s secret scheme, the Orthodox Path Association would not have gone wild trying to occupy the empty seat like that. Is that not so, Monk?”
At Jin So-un’s point, beads of sweat began forming on Il-gak’s smooth forehead.
Watching the beads of sweat roll down very elegantly, Jin So-un drove in the wedge.
“If I had not dealt with the Iron. Corpse. Puppet that Shaolin and Diancang encountered, there would have been no reason for the Orthodox Path Association to step forward like that. Do you not think so, Monk?”
“……”
Jin So-un pressed Il-gak even further as he still did not answer.
“In Buddha’s words……”
“Stop…… Please stop, Benefactor Jin. I understand what you are trying to say.”
Unlike Jin So-un, who was grinning, Il-gak wore a pained expression, as if he had been swept into great anguish.
“Benefactor Jin…… Rather, someone else with representation in the Righteous Path Association could……”
“Impossible! I will not accept that!”
“Or if the Righteous Path Association formally supports Benefactor Jin……”
“Impossible! I do not need empty support in name only.”
At Jin So-un’s firm attitude, Il-gak let out another long sigh.
“Benefactor Jin……”
But Jin So-un’s mouth showed no sign of stopping.
“Think carefully. How much confusion has there been internally all this time over a single representative position?”
Jin So-un intentionally touched Il-gak’s core.
“Is that truly the ‘path for Buddha’? It is time to make a decision for the greater good.”
“……”
Il-gak, who was looking up at Jin So-un sitting leisurely on the bed, trembled his eyelids.
A brief silence flowed.
Then Il-gak nodded as if he had made up his mind.
“Understood. I will join.”
“Gasp!”
“M-Monk! What do you mean by that?!”
No matter what exclamations came from around them, Jin So-un extended his hand to Il-gak with a triumphant expression.
Il-gak clasped that hand in return.
“Benefactor Jin……”
“I would prefer it if you removed that word benefactor. Let us work well together from now on.”
“Amitabha.”
After Jin So-un’s storm-like visit ended.
Inside the room where silence had settled, only the Buddhist scripture Il-gak chanted echoed quietly.
It was only natural not to disturb him when he was in the middle of practice, but the monk simply could not understand what had just happened.
“Monk…… May I ask you one thing?”
Il-gak, who had been chanting the Buddhist scripture with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.
Then, as if he understood the monk’s feelings, he nodded slightly.
“Are you asking why I joined Jin So-un’s representative delegation?”
“……Yes. It was far too hasty a choice. The Righteous Path Association does owe him a debt, but even so, no one in the Righteous Path Association will welcome you taking that position, Monk Il-gak.”
“I know that as well.”
“If you know it so well, how could you……”
Il-gak slowly turned his head and looked at the monk.
Overwhelmed by the radiance pouring from his eyes, the monk nearly avoided his gaze for a moment, but he desperately endured it.
Still unmoving in posture, Il-gak murmured in a low voice.
“Because I want to know.”
“……Know what?”
Il-gak cast his gaze far away, like an ascetic wondering what lay beyond distant mountains.
“Whether he is an ‘enlightened one’ or not.”
“……”
The monk’s hands trembled.
“What does that……. No matter how remarkable he may be, how could such a vulgar person, who only cares about money and compensation, be……”
“Cheongwon, who was an Eminent Monk of our temple, also lived his entire life like a beggar.”
“……Ngh. But that person……”
Il-gak cut off the monk’s words.
“Of course, that person also had faults. He did lose the Demon-Purging Four Spirit Beads, the Sacred Relic of our temple……. Even so, does that mean his enlightenment was not passed down to later generations?”
When the story of Cheongwon came up, the monk could no longer open his mouth.
Because he now knew that Il-gak’s choice was not merely to escape a momentary crisis.
No, because he knew that it was a choice for something greater than that.
“Then…… do you think that man is someone who will change history, Monk?”
When one person’s life changed, it was called fate. When the fates of countless people changed, it was called history.
Il-gak was saying that he was someone who would change the fates of countless people.
At that question, Il-gak slowly shook his head.
“I do not know that.”
Il-gak tightly closed his eyes for a moment, as if recalling the past.
It might have been his own misconception, but Jin So-un in Sichuan had certainly emitted radiance.
And that was not something that could come from an ordinary person.
Il-gak slowly opened his eyes again.
His gaze shone transparently, like the eyes of an ascetic thirsting for enlightenment.
“What I am curious about is only how far he will go. And……”
He looked at the monk and smiled broadly.
“Would the best place to see that not be right beside him?”
“……”
With those words, Il-gak closed his eyes once again.
Even though he knew full well how great a hardship he would suffer because of his choice, he could not erase the smile from his lips.
“Amitabha……”
All the monk could do was recite the Buddhist invocation.