Chapter 175
Chapter 175
Hwa Ryeong crossed her arms and looked at Youngho, who had placed his hand on Kang Chowon’s forehead.
The sullen expression on her face clearly showed her dissatisfaction. Even so, since even Hyeon-gang—who usually restrained her—was displaying such a displeased expression, the words she wanted to say slipped right back down her throat.
“How many days has it been?”
“Five days.”
“You should at least eat something….”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. No matter how much of an Absolute Master someone is, maintaining the same posture for five days—”
“No, not the Young Master. Chowon. She desperately needs nutrition to recover her body, yet the Young Master keeps holding on to the patient like that.”
“…Aren’t you worried about your master?”
“Our Young Master isn’t someone who would die from something like that. If that man fell into hell, he’d slaughter all the devils there and come back.”
“……”
Hwa Ryeong simply looked at her disciple with a baffled expression.
Still, that was that—and five days had already passed since Kang Chowon’s surgery had been completed.
‘I knew it would take a long time since the Mindscape was injured….’
Because it had taken far longer than expected, she felt somewhat uneasy. There were many methods for restoring a Mindscape. Among them, the most representative one was killing the Inner Demon living inside the Mindscape.
Of course, an Inner Demon wasn’t truly alive. Even if it disappeared temporarily, it could form again later in life.
Still, ordinarily one would wake up within a day…
‘There’s no sign of waking up at all.’
Since Youngho had gone inside to help, it should have been even faster.
“Graaagh!!”
At that moment, Youngho screamed with a dried-out voice.
Startled, Hyeon-gang hurriedly supported Youngho’s collapsing body.
“Young Master, are you conscious?”
“Y…yeah.”
“That’s good enough.”
Thud!
Hyeon-gang threw Youngho onto the floor and used his Internal Energy to heat some porridge. Carrying the warmed bowl, he approached Kang Chowon and spoke.
“Chowon, are you conscious?”
“…Brother Hyeon-gang?”
“Yeah! It’s me, you silly girl! Do you know how worried Hosan has been? Ah! This isn’t the time for that! Young Master! Since you’re awake, please call Hosan!”
Youngho looked at Hyeon-gang with an incredulous expression, but to Hyeon-gang—who had a patient right before him—things like hierarchy meant nothing.
Reading the situation, Youngho dragged his feet out of the treatment room. Seeing his pitiful back, Hwa Ryeong clicked her tongue.
Without even glancing at Youngho, Hyeon-gang spoke to Kang Chowon.
“Chowon, let’s start by rehydrating you. This porridge is almost like water, so eating it will settle your stomach.”
“…Brother.”
“Wh-what is it? Are you in pain? Do you have some kind of aftereffect?”
Watching the flustered Hyeon-gang, Kang Chowon delivered the final declaration she had made before losing consciousness.
“I’m never sparring with the Young Master again….”
With those words, Kang Chowon closed her eyes once more. Inside the tent, only the sound of her wheezing breaths remained.
Even Hyeon-gang, who had been completely obsessed with the patient, muttered softly at this absurd situation.
“What happened?”
Before long, Kang Hosan and Horyeung entered the tent.
Youngho, who had brought them, did nothing to hide his pale complexion and casually lay down as he spoke.
“Let’s talk later. I’m going to sleep first.”
Afraid someone might wake him, Youngho deliberately pressed his own Acupoints and fell into a deep sleep.
However, Youngho’s body—far stronger than others—possessed outstanding regenerative ability as well. Even though he had pressed his Acupoints strongly, he woke up after five Shijin.
With all his fatigue gone, Youngho stretched refreshingly.
At some point he had been moved to an unfamiliar room, but he didn’t care. He naturally accepted the documents handed to him by Myeongnyang and began working.
Watching the entire sequence, Cheonung looked at Youngho with a pitiful expression, while Hwa Ryeong made no effort to hide her look as if she had just witnessed a complete lunatic.
Besides them, everyone Youngho had taken to Cheonsan had gathered there. However, except for those from the Orthodox Sect side, everyone else chatted casually as if nothing had happened.
At that moment, Sopyung brought water for Youngho to wash his face.
“Young Master~ At least wash your face.”
“Thanks. I’ll wash later.”
“Then you must wash before the meal comes out!”
Perhaps because she had served him since childhood, there was hardly any distance between Youngho and Sopyung.
Sopyung treated him more like a close friend than a master, and worry was evident on her face.
Seeing her expression, Youngho chuckled.
“Boil plenty of meat, and since we’re in Sichuan, make me a spicy bowl of beef noodles. I need to wake up.”
“Yes!”
Satisfied with his usual response, Sopyung replied with a bright smile.
About half a Quarter-Hour later, the light paperwork was finished. Youngho handed the organized documents to Myeongnyang and asked,
“What about the other matters?”
“They haven’t arrived on our side yet. I’ll sort them and bring them to you as they come, so you may talk among yourselves.”
“Good work.”
Myeongnyang bowed his head and left the room.
Youngho rubbed his tired eyes and spoke.
“Thank you for waiting. So, is there something you wanted to discuss?”
His strangely natural attitude left Namgung Cheon looking bewildered. In this awkward situation where no one knew how to start speaking, the first to open his mouth was Cheonung.
“My disciple, looking at your life makes me realize how happy mine has been until now. This master’s tears blur his vision.”
“Master, there were things in those documents earlier that you could have handled. How about helping your disciple a little?”
“How lamentable.”
“….”
That was the end of the conversation.
Veins bulged on Youngho’s forehead, while Hwa Ryeong muttered that the real lunatic was someone else.
Without bothering to hide the veins on his forehead, Youngho spoke.
“Haha, did you know that First Senior Brother wants independence?”
“What?!”
“For reference, I also plan to become independent. So after the war ends, I’m quite curious about what will become of the Unorthodox Alliance under my disciple. I sincerely hope Master lives a long life. It seems you could easily live to one hundred and twenty, but just in case, I’ll pray to the heavens.”
Youngho had already given up the position of Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance. That was why he had appointed Jeonghyeon as the successor…!
But if what Youngho said was true, then he would be the only one left to rule the Unorthodox Alliance in the future.
‘I can’t retire?’
Cheonung immediately rushed out of the room to change Jeonghyeon’s mind.
With the noisy presence gone, Youngho smiled brightly as if relieved.
“Alright, what about you guys? What happened?”
Tang Gunhyeon spoke, unable to hide his awkward tone.
“While you were gone, we somehow settled the war with the Demonic Cult.”
He was referring to the agreement to wage a full-scale war against the Demonic Cult in Qinghai one month later.
“Already? I thought those stubborn old men would spout nonsense… That’s different from what I expected.”
It was hard to deny that fact.
Since Namgung Cheon and Tang Gunhyeon alone might not have been enough to persuade the Orthodox Sect, they had also brought Hwangbo Nyeong.
They had hoped she would hear and see what had happened in Cheonsan and make her own judgment.
Fortunately, one of the stubborn elders of the Unorthodox Alliance had personally heard and witnessed everything.
Cheonung hadn’t held back his temper for the first time in a long while, and even though he hadn’t gone to Cheonsan himself, Murim Alliance Leader Han Yonghu had released his Martial Presence and berated everyone.
Children had risked their lives to bring back information from Cheonsan, yet instead of praise they were being scolded.
Youngho had already guessed most of it, so he didn’t ask further.
‘They do act when it matters….’
There was a reason they were highly regarded figures. Of course, in front of him they only showed childish sides.
“So when did you set the preparation deadline?”
“We’ll gather the soldiers within half a month.”
“There must’ve been a lot of opposition.”
At Youngho’s words, Namgung Cheon and Hwangbo Nyeong smiled awkwardly, while Tang Gunhyeon lowered his head deeply.
“…Did you commit some kind of parricide? Why do you all look like that?”
“Unfortunately, we abandoned the Righteous Path.”
“What? Did you threaten the common people?”
“As if we would!”
Tang Gunhyeon shouted with a serious expression. Youngho chuckled.
“Then you didn’t abandon the Righteous Path.”
“What do you mean?”
A sharp tone burst from Tang Gunhyeon’s mouth. Namgung Cheon and Hwangbo Nyeong looked at him in surprise.
But the one most shocked was Tang Gunhyeon himself.
‘What did I just do…!’
There was no reason for him to snap at Youngho…!
Imagining Youngho’s dumbfounded reaction made cold sweat run down his back.
Thinking Youngho would surely be angry, Tang Gunhyeon tightly shut his eyes. But although Youngho spoke incredulously, he held no malice.
“Didn’t you force the clans to move? You probably dragged in whatever justification you could find. In the worst case, you even used force.”
Tang Gunhyeon was stunned beyond belief, and Namgung Cheon and Hwangbo Nyeong were no different.
Seeing their expressions, Youngho clicked his tongue.
“Tsk tsk. Typical Orthodox Sect fools. Never forget that the Unorthodox Faction subdues people through violence.”
Tang Gunhyeon stared blankly at him, so Youngho sighed.
“Listen, kids. Violence is necessary for foolish people. That’s the only way they start speaking like humans.”
Youngho spoke as if sharing knowledge gained through experience.
“The Unorthodox Faction doesn’t have decent people. That’s why they use violence. But there’s another big reason they use violence. Want to know what it is?”
“……”
Everyone fell silent.
This was the kind of principle one usually understood only after living through the world, so the strange thing was that Youngho already knew it.
Horyeung remained quiet because he was used to it, but Hwa Ryeong looked at Youngho as if thinking, Surely not?
“The Unorthodox Faction always wants to solve difficult problems not through proper methods but through the easiest path. That’s why they’re called the Unorthodox Faction. For example, suppose you’re trading with a merchant group. To make the trade, you’d bring money. If it were barter, you’d prepare goods equal in value to the other party’s.”
It was reasonable and obvious.
There was already an easy method called trade. Was there something even easier than that?
If such a thing existed, even Tang Gunhyeon himself would have considered doing it.
What on earth was he about to say?
Seeing the innocent expression of the pampered young noble master, Youngho grinned.
“Do you know what kind of path the Unorthodox Faction takes as the easy way?”
“I…don’t?”
At Tang Gunhyeon’s awkward smile, Youngho nodded matter-of-factly.
“You just subdue them with violence. Want exclusive trade rights? Beat them and force them to sign the contract. Want the merchant group itself? Beat them and take it. In this world, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish by beating people.”
That was absurd. How could someone treat the common people like that—
“Don’t assume the trader is a commoner. Even the Gold-Blood Hall that trades with the Imperial Family belongs to the Unorthodox Alliance.”
Tang Gunhyeon’s mouth shut instantly.
Youngho chuckled.
“Our master subdued the Unorthodox Faction with strength and created the Unorthodox Alliance. And you also subdued people with strength to make them participate in the war. What do you think the difference between those two is?”
There was no difference.
That was what Tang Gunhyeon thought.
But Youngho’s answer once again went beyond his expectations.
“The difference is that you used your strength to protect the common people.”
“…!”
“The Unorthodox Faction uses strength for personal gain, while the Orthodox Sect uses strength to protect the common people. That’s the reason the Orthodox Sect exists and the reason the Unorthodox Faction is excluded. If you drew your sword to protect the common people, why would you be ashamed of it?”
Youngho grinned.
“There’s no such thing as perfection in this world. We just choose the best option available. Don’t blame yourselves for forcing the clans with strength. If that is your Righteous Path, then uphold that belief. Even if the result turns out badly, it’s enough to know that you did your best.”
—People who want to criticize will criticize anyway, so just be satisfied that you did your best.
Youngho’s final words carried resonance and unusual depth.
And they realized something.
That being drawn to someone like Youngho was not coincidence, but inevitability.
At least, the three of them thought so.