Chapter 266: Chapter 266
The warriors dispatched to Sichuan had returned.
The battle had lasted longer than expected.
For warriors whose bodies and minds had been worn down by endless nerve wars against the Black Path, the return march at the beginning of winter was grueling labor.
But the moment they arrived at Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province—
“Waaaaaaaah! It is the warriors of the Murim Alliance!”
“They protected the justice of the murim world!”
“Warriors! I want to join the Murim Alliance too!”
At the sight of the countless crowds that had been waiting from the entrance of the capital to behold the bearing of returning heroes, the warriors, whose shoulders had hunched under heavy burdens, straightened once more.
Children handed them food.
Women delivered carrier pigeon letters.
There were even drunkards trying to pass cups of wine to the warriors as they walked by.
Countless people praised them for winning the war against the Blood Cult, and the warriors, whose hearts had been worn away by that harsh war, filled the empty places with a swelling sense of fulfillment.
The seniors who had spent long years in the Murim Alliance and experienced many wars helped the chicks who had undergone their first war enjoy the welcome at ease.
“Idiot, do not be embarrassed. Go take the letter!”
“Accept anything the little ones give you. It will become a good memory for them too.”
“Do not accept wine! You still have your final report left.”
The newcomers, still unable to escape the horrors and aftermath of their first war, followed their seniors’ instructions with dazed expressions.
There were warriors who accepted the wrong carrier pigeon letter and had it snatched away again, and there were those who accepted wine from drunkards and ended up dead drunk.
They burst into laughter while watching such comrades, and when that laughter was about to fade, they teased them once more, laughing and chattering without end.
More exaggeratedly than usual.
As though they had not experienced a cruel war at all.
Like people who turned their heads by force toward a place overflowing with joy and averted their eyes from reality, they actively enjoyed the welcome.
The grand training ground of the Murim Alliance.
The warriors who had returned from Sichuan stood in formation.
The elders of the Murim Alliance were seated on the platform, and the Murim Alliance Leader standing at the center slowly looked over each of the brave Murim Alliance warriors.
Then he slowly released a Lion’s Roar.
[No simple words of “you have worked hard” can properly measure your achievements.]
His resonant and weighty voice echoed throughout the grand training ground, as though he were speaking right beside them.
[Merely because you belong to the Alliance and receive a monthly stipend does not mean your lives can be held as collateral. Thus, your participation in this war was profoundly noble.
Some suffered wounds from which they cannot recover, and some could not return from that harsh land.
It is said that human life rests with Heaven, but I believe bringing Heaven into a battle fought by men is no different from an irresponsible excuse.]
Each of those who had survived and stood here had lost someone.
The name of a brave warrior was a tattered honor built upon the corpses and blood of comrades.
Because they knew this, even the steps that brought them home with victory had been endlessly heavy.
The reason they had laughed even louder at the people’s welcome was also to find meaning in their own way.
[That is why your sacrifice is profoundly noble. War may bring benefit to no one, but it always creates harm for someone.
And that harm spreads more quickly among the weak than among the strong.]
Just as the warriors’ minds were growing dizzy with the horrors of war and regret over life, Hyeok Mu-gang’s voice, filled with conviction, shook the space.
[Your victory does not end merely with proving your own existence!
Remember that you protected the peace and stability of all those who live in the murim world and under heaven.
With all my sincerity, I express my gratitude to those of you who returned alive. Thank you for protecting all under heaven.]
Hyeok Mu-gang lowered his head and clasped his fist.
At that, the warriors who had been bowing their heads each clasped their fists, lowered their heads, and shouted.
“““By your command!”””
The simultaneous shout made the Murim Alliance ring thunderously.
A moment later, Hyeok Mu-gang raised his head and smiled.
[Tonight, I have prepared a banquet for you. I sincerely hope it will be a place where you can ease the fatigue of your journey.]
No sooner had Hyeok Mu-gang finished speaking than the warriors’ cheers filled the Murim Alliance.
“““Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”””
It was not a forced cry, but a shout brimming with sincerity.
“……Please walk a little faster.”
At the Mantongbu member’s urging, Maeng Ju-won’s lips jutted out in displeasure.
“Did you not hear what the Alliance Leader said? I am a man who has made a noble sacrifice.”
“……I know.”
“Then do I not have the right to enjoy today’s banquet too?”
The member let out a long sigh.
“Do you think I feel at ease about this? Cough……!”
Maeng Ju-won suddenly wrapped an arm around the member’s neck and caused a commotion.
“That is why! I am telling you! Report that you could not find me!”
“Guaaagh……!”
The member frantically struck his arm and screamed.
“Cough…… No, the Grand Strategist even predicted where you would be, keh…… so how am I supposed to pretend I do not know?”
“……Are you afraid of the Grand Strategist but not afraid of me?”
“Ghk, of course I am afraid of you too, Department Head…… but the Grand Strategist, urk……! Even you are afraid of him, Department Head!”
“…….”
Maeng Ju-won tightened his grip even more.
The member let out a sharp scream at the pain that felt as if his neck would snap.
“S-Stop, stop!”
“……Haa.”
In the end, Maeng Ju-won released him and pressed his temples.
“Is it that busy?”
“Cough, haa…… It is enough to drive us mad.”
“Haa…… I knew this would happen.”
That was why he had deliberately remained with the follow-up unit, saying he would return later after resolving everything.
But at Mantongbu’s thunderous order to send Maeng Ju-won back immediately, the Sichuan Branch Chief trembled and placed him in the lead group.
In the end, he had no choice but to keep working during the battle, after the battle, and even on the road back.
He had failed to escape the life of a cherished doll.
“We are truly sorry as well. We know that you were the busiest person on the front line, Department Head.”
The dark circles beneath the speaking member’s eyes came into view.
Their blackened appearance plainly showed exhaustion piled upon exhaustion.
“But we feel as though we want to die right now too. Especially the Grand Strategist.”
“…….”
“For the past month, we have not slept even one full hour a day. And the Grand Strategist has not left Mantongbu even once.”
The member looked as though he might burst into tears at any moment.
“When this matter is over, I will definitely petition that you be given a long vacation! But right now, if you are not here, Department Head, we cannot properly handle either the personnel remaining in Sichuan or the personnel who have returned to the Murim Alliance.”
Maeng Ju-won let out a long sigh.
“……Fine.”
“Yes?”
“I said fine! Let us go!”
“I-I will escort you.”
The member walking ahead staggered.
Just how much exhaustion had he accumulated?
At least Maeng Ju-won had been on the battlefield, but he had still kept to his sleeping hours.
It was not because he had wanted to.
If a tent was lit at night, it would inevitably become a target for the enemy, so he had no choice but to put out the lights.
On the other hand, when he thought of the Mantongbu members working continuously without such restrictions, he felt childish for saying that he wanted to rest for a day.
As they approached the main building where Mantongbu was located, the atmosphere was completely different from around the grand training ground.
If the grand training ground had a leisurely atmosphere where everyone enjoyed the banquet and gladly welcomed their comrades who had returned alive, then the area around the main building was filled with scribes running about diligently, not even aware that their robes had fallen into disarray, as though war had broken out.
When they entered Mantongbu, the member who had led Maeng Ju-won there shouted loudly.
“The Department Head has returned!”
Its impact was tremendous.
“Huh?!”
“Oh!”
“D-Department Head!”
All the members of Mantongbu stopped what they were doing and rushed toward Maeng Ju-won.
They were members who always worked with him, but since this was the first time he had received such a welcome, Maeng Ju-won responded with a dazed expression. Meanwhile, some of the members were so overwhelmed with emotion that they even shed tears.
“Thank you! Thank you, Department Head!”
“You have finally returned!”
“Heaven and earth, divine spirits, thank you!”
Would parents who had heard news of their child’s safe return react like this?
Mantongbu suddenly became a sea of tears, and Maeng Ju-won, moved that the members thought so highly of him, felt something surge in his chest as well.
But……
“Hm? What is this?”
Amid those damp gazes, why did the dark circles under the eyes of the member who had brought him here somehow look whiter than before?
“Finally! We can finally go home!”
“Home! I can go home and sleep!”
“I am free!”
The members hugged one another and shed tears.
Before long, they began gathering their belongings and leaving Mantongbu.
At the sudden change in atmosphere, Maeng Ju-won was so flustered that he even stammered.
“W-What are you doing right now?”
When he grabbed the member who had guided him and asked—
“Yes! We are leaving work.”
……the member answered with a bright smile.
Maeng Ju-won began to feel that something about the situation was going wrong.
“L-Leaving work? You said there was a lot to do.”
“They said that once you returned, Department Head, we would be allowed to leave.”
“…….”
“Then, I shall take my leave!”
The member, whose dark circles had somehow vanished entirely, smiled brightly and left Mantongbu without the slightest hesitation.
Maeng Ju-won was so dumbfounded that a hollow laugh escaped him.
“What kind of damned……”
And then.
From inside, Jegal So-myeong, who was said to have lived in Mantongbu without going home for even a single day, appeared looking exceptionally neat and clean.
“You have come?”
“…….”
“Now work.”
Only then did Maeng Ju-won realize that he had been tricked.
Those damned Mantongbu members had conspired together and sold him to that fiendish superior.
“Ah, right!”
Jegal So-myeong, who had been about to return to his office, came back and patted Maeng Ju-won on the shoulder.
“You worked hard. You are truly the finest pushover.”
“…….”
“Hm? Why that expression?”
Was “pushover” not a term referring to an idiot who walked into a tiger’s maw of his own accord?
Maeng Ju-won wanted to know why the man was insulting him when he was already furious, but his rage surged so fiercely that he could not even open his mouth.
Looking at him, Jegal So-myeong nodded, seemingly proud.
“Oh? Are you moved from receiving such high praise?”
……Just where, how, and what had gone wrong?
With only the end-of-term practical evaluation remaining, I went out into the streets of Wuhan with the members of the Academy Representative Delegation.
It was partly to express my gratitude to the delegation members who had suffered in my absence, but on the other hand……
“Do I truly deserve to put anything into my mouth?”
Seong Mo-ran, who had received her report card, had been drooping her shoulders for several days.
“If I had known this would happen, I would have entered seclusion training with Seon-hwa……”
And beside her walked Geum-pyo, his head lowered like a sinner.
“Indeed. Someone said that people who receive Grade E evaluations are turtle-headed fools.”
“What?! Who said that?”
When Seong Mo-ran glared with venomous eyes, Geum-pyo’s finger quietly pointed toward Eun-ho.
Seong Mo-ran glared at Eun-ho, who gulped nervously, then soon let out a sigh.
“That is right…… I am a turtle-headed fool. I should just hide inside my shell.”
We had gone out for some fresh air in order to encourage the dispirited Seong Mo-ran and Geum-pyo.
I tried hard to comfort her.
“Please do not blame yourself too much, Lady Mo-ran. You still have a chance to overturn things, do you not?”
“……Haa.”
Seong Mo-ran let out a sigh at my consolation and stared at me quietly.
“But.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“Why did you receive all Grade A evaluations when you did not even attend classes properly?”
At this rate, sparks might fly from her eyes.
As I looked at Seong Mo-ran, who somehow seemed to carry killing intent, I shrugged.
“……Mm. Because I reviewed and previewed the material well?”
In truth, the Academy’s exams did not hold much meaning for me.
The same was true of Mantongbu’s documents, but considering I had stuffed all the books and documents from the Ten-Thousand-Book Repository into my head, would it not be stranger if I received low test scores?
But Lady Seong Mo-ran’s gaze seemed to have grown fiercer……
It must have been my imagination, right?
I cleared my throat and avoided her gaze, looking to the side.
“That is right, Senior Brother! There is still a chance to overturn things, right?”
Geum-pyo asked me with sparkling eyes.
That thoughtless fool. Ugh.
I instantly struck him on the head with a knuckle and barked,
“You turtle-like bastard! From now on, do not go around saying you come from Taeul Sect. I will die of shame!”
“…….”
Leaving Geum-pyo behind as he looked as though he had been betrayed by someone he trusted, I walked down the street.
Perhaps after savoring the atmosphere of the lively shopping district, Seong Mo-ran’s steps also became lighter.
“There seem to be particularly many people here today.”
“It is probably because of the recruitment of lower-rank warriors.”
“Lower-rank warriors?”
I nodded.
“I heard the White Wolf Pavilion and Black Wolf Pavilion suffered the greatest losses because of the recent events in Sichuan.”
“…….”
It was only natural for damage to occur in war, but the fact that such damage was confined to certain groups was endlessly bitter.
“They say notices have already been posted for a large-scale recruitment this time.”
And the fact that someone’s place could be so easily replaced by someone else made one feel bitter, even while knowing it could not be helped.
Seong Mo-ran lightly nodded as though she finally understood why the crowds had gathered.
“So there was a reason people had gathered.”
“Indeed. Though I wonder what is so good about such a position.”
“Yes?”
I tried hard to hide my bitter smile.
“It was nothing. Just talking to myself.”
Around this time, the members of the Sojeong Squad I had belonged to would probably begin gathering.
They would be filtered out and filled again through several incidents, and only after a long time would the Sojeong Squad I knew be formed.
And what they would experience in the meantime already remained in my head.
When I had just begun my second life, I had even thought that perhaps I ought to stop them.
Those Sojeong Squad bastards had cursed every night at the version of themselves who had applied to the Murim Alliance.
But I still did not know whether that was right.
Perhaps that was why I had been avoiding making a judgment about them.
“……To think I was thinking about those bastards.”
The matter of the Black Thought Alliance, the matter of Yaryul Geuk—lately, those dreadful faces had somehow been coming to mind often.
“Damn Sojeong Squad……”
Without realizing it, a bitter yet longing smile formed at the corner of my mouth.
Just then, Eun-ho’s voice awakened me from my thoughts.
“Eldest Senior Brother, they say there are seats.”
“Good.”
At Eun-ho’s words, who had gone to secure a place, I was about to move my feet.
“Hm?”
For a moment, my body stiffened at the familiar face I saw among the crowd.
A dreadful, hated, and despised existence.
Yet also one to whom I could entrust my back, an existence from whom I had received comfort and whom I had comforted in return.
It was certainly that face.
“E-Eldest Senior Brother!”
Eun-ho’s cry calling me scattered into the air.
“Could it be…… Could it truly be……!”
I unfolded the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps and pushed into the densely packed crowd.
Only after breaking through a distance of ten jang was I able to grab that person’s shoulder.
Yes, that back.
The back that had stood before me on the battlefield, throwing away his own life.
“……Yaryul Jae!”
“Hm?”
The man who turned his head was indeed the Yaryul Jae I knew.