Filled with the Fragrance of Tea (2)
There were three visitors at Ma Ryeong-In’s residence.
They were the other successors of the Heavenly Blade Sect: Ma Yang-Hwa, Ma Gung-Tae, and Ma Seong-Hu.
They, who had been fighting over succession with the expectation that they might someday become the Murim Alliance Lord, had become dogs chasing chickens, left staring at the roof.
“Damn it! Hyung sure has good luck.”
The one who grumbled and spat out those words was Ma Gung-Tae. He was a muscular man with his head shaved clean, and at a glance, he had an appearance that would make people say, “His fists come before his words.”
However, although he had a hot-blooded personality, he was not ignorant.
The one who responded to Ma Gung-Tae’s words was Ma Yang-Hwa.
“They say luck is also skill, don’t they? Eldest Brother is simply highly skilled.”
She wore a brightly colored palace dress and had makeup so thick that one could not tell what her original face looked like.
“Hmph! He’s just lucky. Skill, my ass!”
Ma Gung-Tae slammed the table again and again.
On the other hand, Ma Seong-Hu, the youngest among them, was sitting quietly to one side and picking up the sweets placed on the tea table. Still in his teens, he had a very youthful appearance.
“Can you swallow anything in a situation like this?”
At Ma Gung-Tae’s rebuke, Ma Seong-Hu brushed the crumbs from the corner of his mouth and rose from his seat.
“I will return first. I will go back, drink more of my mother’s milk, and live shut away.”
“You don’t have a mother, do you? Did you get a stepmother?”
When Ma Gung-Tae asked too seriously, Ma Seong-Hu spoke as if dumbfounded.
“It is just a figure of speech.”
“You little bastard. Why make that kind of joke?”
It was a conversation possible because they were all half-siblings.
As though he no longer wanted to deal with them, Ma Seong-Hu slammed the door shut and left the room.
“That young bastard!”
When Ma Gung-Tae burst out in anger, Ma Ryeong-In, who had been silent until then, finally opened his mouth.
“The young one is the smartest. He knows that the moment he should step forward is about twenty years from now.”
“Are you saying that for me to hear?”
“On the other hand, ignorant bastards tend to have a lot of inferiority complexes too.”
“So you are saying it for me to hear! Have all these bastards taken medicine together or what?”
Ma Gung-Tae sprang to his feet. Not only was he hot-blooded by nature, but at least among the three people in this room, he was the most confident in Martial Arts.
Ma Gung-Tae poured out killing intent, but Ma Ryeong-In was not frightened at all. Rather, he snorted with an expression that said this was ridiculous.
Ma Gung-Tae and Ma Ryeong-In were close in age, and originally Ma Gung-Tae was older. But Ma Ryeong-In had never once treated him as an older brother.
Ma Yang-Hwa stepped in and stopped the two. Among them, she was the oldest.
“Now, we did not come here to fight, so stop it.”
Ma Gung-Tae sat down, huffing. In truth, he was not that angry. He often made use of this hot-blooded personality. If he acted this way, the other person would think he was ignorant. It was a good shield with which to hide himself.
Ma Ryeong-In asked the two,
“So why did you come find me?”
Ma Yang-Hwa spoke in a pleasant tone.
“Are we finished like this?”
In the end, because of this problem, they had come to Ma Ryeong-In, who was known as the one who used his head best among the successors.
“It is over. Completely over, at that. Because we will all die.”
“What? Die? What do you mean?”
Ma Yang-Hwa and Ma Gung-Tae were startled.
Ma Ryeong-In spoke as though it were nothing.
“Even when the entire Jianghu is telling everyone to make Ma Cheol-Gun the Alliance Lord, we gather like this and think about stabbing him in the back. If it were me, I would kill us too.”
“Still, we are blood. Would he really kill us?”
At Ma Yang-Hwa’s doubtful words, Ma Ryeong-In said,
“So much for blood. Honestly, we are worse than strangers. If you became the Alliance Lord, would you leave me alive, nuna?”
At those words, Ma Yang-Hwa could not answer readily. Both Ma Yang-Hwa and Ma Gung-Tae would eliminate the remaining successors if they became Alliance Lord. Even if they had the heart to forgive, they could not, considering the other party’s malice.
“Younger Brother, what should we do now?”
Ma Yang-Hwa spoke in an earnest tone.
Ma Ryeong-In looked at Ma Gung-Tae. It was a gaze asking whether he intended to act that stiffly while having come to ask for help.
“Damn it! Damn it all! I’m sorry. I said I’m sorry! Happy now?”
Ma Yang-Hwa quickly chimed in.
“Is it anything new that this guy’s personality is awful? You, with your broad heart, should endure it.”
It was not as though his heart would change because of these few words, but Ma Ryeong-In seemed to have had the intention of saying a few words to them from the beginning.
“If you want to live, there are two ways.”
“What are they?”
Ma Yang-Hwa and Ma Gung-Tae’s eyes sparkled.
“First, if you become the Heavenly Blade Sect Leader, you will live. One of us has to lead the Heavenly Blade Sect, and no matter how displeased he is, he will not be able to kill the sect leader of the family.”
The two nodded. But they expected the second method. Becoming the Heavenly Blade Sect Leader was not easy for either of them.
Ma Yang-Hwa was a woman, and Ma Gung-Tae was known as someone far too hot-blooded. Neither of them suited the position of Heavenly Blade Sect Leader.
Naturally, they expected the second method.
“The remaining method is to go and beg him to spare you. Say that you will hand over everything you have, so please just spare your life. Say that you will go into the mountains and live digging medicinal herbs. If you make an official announcement and keep the promise, at least he probably will not kill you.”
But it was a method no easier than the first.
“Is there no third method?”
Instead of answering, Ma Ryeong-In walked to the window. He gave them no more words. Considering that he did not firmly say there was none, it seemed there was something.
Ma Yang-Hwa and Ma Gung-Tae faced each other and exchanged glances. It meant they should withdraw for now.
“We will come again.”
To Ma Yang-Hwa’s words, Ma Gung-Tae added one sentence that did not suit him.
“Cool your temper.”
It meant he was that desperate.
After the two left the room, Ma Ryeong-In remained alone. With a strange gaze, he spoke as if to himself.
“…There is always a third method.”
There were no unexpected changes.
The Murim Alliance nominated Ma Cheol-Gun as the new Alliance Lord.
Once the official announcement was made, heroes from all over the Central Plains flocked to the main headquarters of the Murim Alliance in Wuhan.
The atmosphere was different from when Ma Bong-Gi had become Alliance Lord before. Countless crowds gathered and congratulated him on becoming Alliance Lord.
They cheered and raised their voices.
“Ma Cheol-Gun! Ma Cheol-Gun!”
“Long live the new Alliance Lord! Long live the Heavenly Blade Sect! Long live Ma Cheol-Gun!”
“Eradicate the Demonic Cult! Exterminate the Demonic Cult!”
It was an unprecedentedly overheated fervor.
Of course, the reason was the Demonic Cult. The people of the Jianghu hoped that Ma Cheol-Gun would lead the warriors of the Murim Alliance and exterminate the Demonic Cult as soon as possible. There was no guarantee that the next family massacred by the demonic practitioners would not be their own.
The instinctive fear that the people of the Jianghu had toward the Demonic Cult was extremely great, and it had a history as long as its size.
In that process, I saw one strange phenomenon.
People who recalled the me from my previous life began to appear again.
“If Alliance Lord Cheon had not passed away, this kind of thing would not have happened.”
“I truly miss him.”
“If Alliance Lord Cheon were here, he would sweep them all away in an instant.”
I had felt bitter that stories about me had disappeared at some point, but seeing them rise again in an instant gave me a strange feeling.
This time, I realized one thing. I had already become a part of the history of the Jianghu, and from now on too, within the flow of that history, I would repeatedly rise above the surface and sink again.
Ma Cheol-Gun entered the largest reception hall of the Murim Alliance. The heads of the major organizations of the Murim Alliance who were there bowed their heads all at once.
“Congratulations on becoming Alliance Lord.”
At Gal Sa-Ryang’s congratulations, everyone raised their voices.
“Congratulations!”
Ma Cheol-Gun tried hard not to show any change in his expression, but he could not hide his joy.
“It is all thanks to everyone here trusting this lacking person.”
“You are far too humble. The only person who can lead the Murim Alliance now is Great Hero Ma.”
“Thank you for believing in me. Let us do well from now on.”
Ma Cheol-Gun went to each person one by one and cupped his fists. He also came before Gal Sa-Ryang and me.
“Strategist Gal, you have worked hard. Thank you.”
“Not at all. The righteous spirit of the Jianghu has not yet died. After all, we have gained such an excellent person as Alliance Lord.”
“You flatter me.”
In the end, Ma Cheol-Gun did not say to Gal Sa-Ryang that he would be counting on him from now on, and moved on to the next person.
It was an action containing the meaning that he would replace the Chief Strategist.
Sure enough, that afternoon, Master No visited the Justice Pavilion. Master No was the person who had been serving as Ma Cheol-Gun’s strategist, and he had come to discuss the schedule for the inauguration ceremony.
It could not quite be called blatant, but it could be interpreted as an action that contained the will to entrust the position of Chief Strategist to Master No.
Gal Sa-Ryang showed no sign of anything regarding that.
“We do not know when those Demonic Cult bastards will commit slaughter again, so I would like to hold the inauguration ceremony as quickly as possible.”
“Let us do so.”
Gal Sa-Ryang obediently accepted his will. For now, the hilt of this matter was held by that side. For the time being, we had to accept the opponent’s moves and look for an opportunity to seize the initiative again.
Rather, I welcomed this situation.
If I could get Gal Sa-Ryang out of the Murim Alliance, I would be able to properly grow my organization on a large scale.
Of course, even if he continued to remain in the Murim Alliance, that would not be bad either. The information power one could obtain as the Chief Strategist of the Murim Alliance was truly enormous.
But the problem was Gal Sa-Ryang’s safety. If they tried to kill Gal Sa-Ryang, this Murim Alliance, where most of the organizations had turned to their side, was not a good place to protect him.
Even so, there was no need to provoke them by trying to forcefully pull him out. I had to make the situation mine within the natural flow.
A single small choice can change the entire state of the board.
I once again felt that I was standing in the middle of the battlefield.
[Read only on MugenCodex]
Each organization of the Murim Alliance became busy with the Alliance Lord’s inauguration ceremony that would take place next month. In particular, the Justice Pavilion was the place that planned all of it, so there was no time even to blink.
In the midst of that busyness, Gal Sa-Ryang took me and left the Alliance.
“Where are we going?”
“You will know once we arrive.”
Surprisingly, the place we arrived at was none other than Bullu, the tea house in the marketplace.
“Let us have a cup of tea.”
This was the tea house operated by the head of the Heavenly Net Association, one of the three great intelligence organizations of the Central Plains.
In the past, in order to prevent Gal Sa-Ryang from falling into danger, I had handed them the phrase left behind by Cheon Ha-Jin.
Then Ban Seo-Jeong, the head of this place, had handed it to Ma Bong-Gi, which gave great help to Gal Sa-Ryang.
More than anything, I knew well that the head of this place, Ban Seo-Jeong, liked Gal Sa-Ryang. Of course, I also knew that Gal Sa-Ryang had favorable feelings toward her as well.
And yet he brought me here?
Gal Sa-Ryang told me that this place was run by the head of the Heavenly Net Association. I did not say that I already knew. To talk about that matter, I would have to explain how I had been able to write Cheon Ha-Jin’s handwriting exactly the same.
“If I leave the Justice Pavilion, a large hole will appear in our information power. There is the Three Eyes Pavilion that my lord created, but even so, for now, it cannot compare to the Justice Pavilion or the Heavenly Net Association here.”
“I think so too.”
“So I am thinking of forming a strategic alliance with the Heavenly Net Association.”
It was the best choice above all.
Even so, I could tell. Gal Sa-Ryang must have agonized considerably before coming here. After all, in this matter, we would be in the position of asking for a favor, and the other party was none other than Ban Seo-Jeong.
“Let us go in.”
“Let’s.”
The two of us entered.
When Ban Seo-Jeong saw that Gal Sa-Ryang had come, she was startled. Soon, she spoke in a calm tone.
“Please sit over here.”
Following her guidance, we sat by the window.
Ban Seo-Jeong brought tea.
“Have you been well? It is late, but congratulations on becoming Chief Strategist again.”
“Your congratulations seem too late.”
“Yes?”
“Because I think I will have to step down from the position of Chief Strategist again.”
Ban Seo-Jeong smiled. Of course, she must have expected it too. After all, she was one of the people who knew best how the Jianghu was moving.
“Then I will be able to congratulate you again later.”
“Haha, that is true.”
I thought the two looked quite good together.
Yes. In my previous life, I had not been able to take care of it, but in this life, I definitely wanted to connect them.
Gal Sa-Ryang introduced me.
“This is responsible strategist Byeok Ri-Dan. And this beautiful lady here is Lady Ban, who brews the most delicious tea in the Central Plains.”
“I am Byeok Ri-Dan. It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time.”
“Do not believe what he says. My tea is at a level where I feel embarrassed to sell it for money.”
“But what should I do? When it comes to the strategist’s words, the moment I hear them, I believe anything.”
Saying that, I drank the tea.
“From now on, this taste is the finest tea taste in the Central Plains.”
Ban Seo-Jeong covered her mouth and laughed brightly.
Thanks to that, this visit, which could have been awkward, continued in a very good atmosphere.
Before leaving, Gal Sa-Ryang spoke with her privately.
After their conversation ended, we left Bullu. I did not ask what they had talked about. Gal Sa-Ryang also did not tell me about it.
It seemed no decision had been made yet. Well, we had to give them time to think too. What conclusion would they come to?
If we could join hands with the Heavenly Net Association, we would gain another eye. Although he must not have been eager to do it, I was very grateful to Gal Sa-Ryang for making that decision.
The subtle fragrance of tea from Bullu remained with us all the way back to the Alliance.
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