Chapter 15
Chapter 15
"I would like to do so. Please allow me to be included when the missions are assigned."
Upon hearing Seo Mugyeom’s words, the two others, excluding Pyo Inhaeng, looked at each other.
They each had a look wondering if they had heard him correctly.
"Seo Mugyeom."
"Mugyeom!"
Won Jirim and Ho Jo-yeong both tried to stop Seo Mugyeom, but Pyo Inhaeng smiled as if he had expected it from the beginning.
"No need to make such a fuss. Seo Mugyeom isn't as clumsy as he appears. But most people expect nothing from him. That’s why this is actually a better opportunity."
He then looked at Seo Mugyeom and said,
"Find out who Un Jongak feels comfortable enough to open up to. I’ll get you inserted into that person’s mission."
Seo Mugyeom wondered why that was being said to him but didn’t ask.
Pyo Inhaeng seemed to have decided to trust Seo Mugyeom without probing for detailed explanations.
"Understood. I’ll find out."
"Mugyeom."
Ho Jo-yeong was flustered, but Pyo Inhaeng wore a refreshed look as if everything was settled.
"Things like this will happen often from now on. Next time, make sure Ho Jo-yeong can go with Seo Mugyeom. What Seo Mugyeom has to do won’t be easy, and there will be many situations where his life will be at risk. So unless you train fiercely enough not to lose your head in such situations, you won't survive."
He then turned to Won Jirim.
"Let the Vice-Division Leader teach Ho Jo-yeong the martial arts she has learned. Don’t let her sleep. Train her intensively. This is an order as the Tenth Division Division Leader. If you don’t like it, you can leave the Tenth Division."
"..."
Judging by his words, it seemed he was telling her to teach Ho Jo-yeong the martial arts she had learned as Vice-Division Leader.
Seo Mugyeom looked at Won Jirim, thinking that wouldn't be a simple matter.
But Won Jirim simply lowered her head.
This wasn’t something the two of them could agree upon on their own.
In the Guardian Ten Division, there were martial arts designated to be learned according to one’s position.
There were techniques only the Division Leader could learn, and others that required one to be a Vice-Division Leader.
The martial arts granted to the First Division Division Leader and the Tenth Division Division Leader differed, and so did the ones taught to their respective Vice-Division Leaders.
Still, it was easy to imagine that the martial arts Won Jirim had learned were ones Ho Jo-yeong could never even dream of mastering.
"Why is it so easy? I thought you’d resist, asking why you should teach her that."
"Then please teach me the martial arts you’ve learned, Division Leader."
Won Jirim’s words were so absurd that Seo Mugyeom laughed without realizing it.
Then, realizing his mistake, he immediately apologized, but no one seemed to care.
"See, even Seo Mugyeom is laughing. You realize how ridiculous what you just said was?"
"What’s the point of holding back?"
"Are you asking me to break the rules now?"
Won Jirim didn’t answer with excuses and simply smiled.
It must have been a smile acknowledging that what the Division Leader had just ordered her was also breaking the rules.
"Do it discreetly. And Ho Jo-yeong, try not to draw attention. If you ever use those martial arts unknowingly, kill everyone who sees it."
"...Excuse me?"
When Ho Jo-yeong asked in surprise, Won Jirim spoke softly.
"He’s joking. If you want to stay by the Division Leader’s side, the most important thing is being able to tell if he’s joking or serious."
"How do I distinguish that...?"
"For now, assume everything he says is a joke."
At Won Jirim’s words, Seo Mugyeom laughed again.
He didn’t know why he kept laughing in front of the already difficult Vice-Division Leader.
As he apologized again, his face turned sorrowful, and Pyo Inhaeng seemed to find it amusing.
"Alright, the talk is over. Everyone, go and carry out your tasks well."
Pyo Inhaeng clasped his hands behind his back and walked away first, while Won Jirim asked Ho Jo-yeong about her schedule.
Ho Jo-yeong didn’t expect to be put under the Vice-Division Leader’s special supervision so suddenly, and looked quite flustered.
She seemed to want to talk to Seo Mugyeom and go with him, but because Won Jirim was quickly walking and asking questions, she could only look back at Seo Mugyeom once with a regretful expression before following her.
Seo Mugyeom remained alone for a moment and thought about who might be the person Un Jongak confided in.
‘I’ve barely even met Un Jongak—how am I supposed to know that?’
Seo Mugyeom felt that even though he had already lived one life, the experience didn’t seem to help much.
If he had at least been the Sect Leader or the First Division Division Leader, he would’ve known much more at this moment.
But instead, it had to be someone like him who came back to life and returned to the past, and he began to wonder if the Divine Martial Sect would ever get another chance.
‘No. Thinking like this doesn’t help at all. I have to find out somehow. Un Jongak is someone who doesn’t hesitate to harm others for his own gain. If he’s left alone, who knows how far he’ll climb? Or how many people he’ll hurt along the way.’
As Pyo Inhaeng said, the rules were strict.
And defiance was punished harshly.
There was nothing that said Un Jongak couldn’t become the closest aide to the Sect Leader through the First Division Division Leader position.
Seo Mugyeom himself had seen Un Jongak rise to Vice-Division Leader of the First Division, so it was entirely possible.
The only reason Un Jongak stopped there was because the Divine Martial Sect had been annihilated.
If Seo Mugyeom succeeded in stopping that this time, Un Jongak might gain all the benefits instead.
‘Think. Think.’
Seo Mugyeom pressed his forehead and stood still, racking his brain intensely.
Then, his eyes suddenly lit up.
‘That’s right. Ju Jirang! Right, there was Ju Jirang.’
When Seo Mugyeom had escorted a drunken Un Jongak, a female warrior named Ju Jirang had also been there.
Others had courtesans by their sides while drinking, but Un Jongak had no courtesan.
And Ju Jirang had stood close by, guarding Un Jongak.
When Seo Mugyeom took Un Jongak back to his quarters, she followed partway.
She turned back when someone called her, but he had thought then that there was something unusual about their relationship.
‘I think Un Jongak once said he had been helped by Ju Jirang at the Martial Arts Academy.’
Ju Jirang was one of the rare female warriors who became a Vice-Division Leader of the Guardian Ten Division.
Although she was Vice-Division Leader of the Ninth Division, it was an achievement that was often brought up.
She didn’t have a look that would immediately captivate everyone, but depending on the viewer, her appearance could be likable.
There was over a ten-year age gap between her and Seo Mugyeom, and they belonged to different divisions, so there was little overlap.
"Is she still the Vice-Division Leader of the Ninth Division? If so, what should I do?"
Thinking it over, Ju Jirang was originally the Vice-Division Leader of the Ninth Division, but after Un Jongak became the Vice-Division Leader of the Sixth Division and several months had passed, she was transferred to the Sixth Division.
So at this point, she probably hadn’t moved to the Sixth Division yet, but explaining that to the Division Leader felt tricky.
The Division Leader had asked him to find someone within the Sixth Division that Un Jongak might open up to, so if he named someone from the Ninth Division, it was uncertain whether the Division Leader would believe him.
‘Should I just say I heard a rumor they were close ever since the Martial Arts Academy?’
Before long, Seo Mugyeom's steps grew hurried.
With a large table at the center, the First Division Division Leader presided over the Guardian Ten Division’s meeting from the seat of honor.
After receiving brief reports from each Division Leader, he looked around to assign new missions.
The Division Leaders already had some understanding of the agenda and were steeling themselves to secure missions advantageous to their interests.
The First Division Division Leader’s gaze swept over each person in turn.
As always, this task was burdensome for him as well.
People might think handling the Division Leaders from the Tenth up to the First would be difficult, but in reality, that wasn’t the case.
Normally, it would be true, but the Tenth Division Division Leader, Pyo Inhaeng, was unpredictable.
For Pyo Inhaeng, justification, honor, and even sect rules didn’t seem to apply properly.
No matter what threat was used, he never took on troublesome jobs, making him a symbol of inertia.
That day, several dangerous missions were on the table, and it was obvious that Pyo Inhaeng would pretend not to notice.
So the First Division Division Leader crafted a strategy and looked among the other Division Leaders to decide whom to shift the burden to.
As he proceeded with the meeting according to his plan and distributed the missions, everyone eventually accepted.
It wasn’t like missions would only be assigned once—if one won today, they’d have to concede another day.
So there was no reason to rejoice at a win or scowl at a loss.
But suddenly, the situation changed.
The tasks distributed so far were already dangerous, but the most dangerous mission hadn’t yet been assigned.
A grave crisis had befallen the Ak Clan, which was connected to the Sect Leader, and as a result, the Clan Head tried to send his daughter to an acquaintance in the Imperial City.
He had requested the Sect Leader to assign a guard for the journey.
Naturally, the First Division Division Leader hoped the Sect Leader would decline the request.
He was a rational man who disliked relationships that offered no gain and only demanded goodwill.
Moreover, the Ak Clan’s head was merely the Sect Leader’s disciple, not someone with special ties to the Divine Martial Sect.
Some believed that anything involving the Sect Leader required full support, but the First Division Division Leader disagreed.
What mattered most to him was the safety of the warriors under the Guardian Ten Division.
Thus, he found it displeasing that the Sect Leader had commanded them to take on such a task.
Still, he concluded that he couldn’t delay any longer and reluctantly began to explain.
After a lengthy explanation, he said,
"So we need people to handle this task.
No one knows how perilous the road from Hebei, where the Ak Clan resides, to the Imperial City will be.
But considering the current state of the Ak Clan, we must assume it won’t be smooth."
The situation around the Ak Clan involved multiple of their business locations being attacked by brutal assailants, resulting in hundreds of workers either being killed or seriously injured.
It wasn’t just loss of life.
Properties were set ablaze, furnishings destroyed.
Bandits had stolen valuables, and trading partners had severed ties, leaving the Ak Clan on the verge of collapse.
The room instantly fell silent.