Chapter 203: Disciples (1)
Kim Muhyuk publicly revealed that he was the leader of Blue Wolves.
He also stopped hiding the fact that he was the Sword Demon’s disciple.
Those who had known nothing of it, like the Golden Glory Gate sect leader, were stunned. But even those who had already grasped something about Blue Wolves were no less surprised.
“Huh. So the rumor was true. Even after seeing him sitting there, I wasn’t entirely sure...”
The Supreme Pole Sword Gate sect leader muttered to himself, then turned to Na Ilcheon beside him and asked in an insinuating tone.
“Did you know, Azure Sky Sword Elder? I heard that Kim Muhyuk has been visiting AZURE SKY SWORD GATE rather frequently.”
“Heh heh. I only found out recently myself. I wanted to bring him into the main sect because his talent was so tempting, but it turns out I was completely fooled.”
“...You truly did not know?”
The Supreme Pole Sword Gate sect leader did not readily believe Na Ilcheon.
After all, among the Eight Great Sects’ leaders, Na Ilcheon was the most slippery and difficult to read.
An old man whose thoughts no one can see through...
He had obtained information not long ago that Na Ilcheon had met Kim Muhyuk, so he could not shake his suspicions.
What if the Azure Sky Sword Elder has another agenda?
The Great Saber Gate sect leader and the Skybreaker Gate sect leader, seated nearby, said nothing. Still, they too watched Na Ilcheon with doubtful eyes.
𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
“Tsk, tsk. Look at you lot.”
But Na Ilcheon was far more experienced—and far more skilled with words—than they were at sounding out another man’s intentions.
He raised a qi barrier so only the sect leaders could hear him, then spoke quietly.
“What did we all risk coming here for? Was it not to restore the honor of our sects after the Martial Alliance humiliated them?”
The old man who had held a sect leader’s position longer than any of the others appealed to them with genuine conviction.
“If I truly had another agenda, it would only be because there was something I considered more important than that. Do any of you have such a thing?”
Faced with the question of whether anything could matter more than protecting their sects’ honor and rights, the sect leaders found no answer.
“Ahem. That is not what I meant...”
The Supreme Pole Sword Gate sect leader belatedly looked embarrassed.
Na Ilcheon narrowed his eyes and warned him.
“AZURE SKY SWORD GATE has staked its fate on this matter. Do not indulge in needless suspicion. We do not know what will happen even if we stand together. Would you start infighting and drag us all down?”
“...My apologies.”
“Sect Leader, we meant nothing by it. Please calm yourself.”
The Skybreaker Gate sect leader and the Great Saber Gate sect leader also apologized to Na Ilcheon. His words had been persuasive enough.
AZURE SKY SWORD GATE would never side with the Martial Alliance without gaining something.
Five sects are already in the same boat. At this point, there is no repairing our relationship with the Martial Alliance.
Five of the Eight Great Sects had joined forces to request a special audit from the World Martial Alliance.
If they failed to destroy the Martial Alliance’s public image and turn public opinion around now, they might spend decades more walking on eggshells.
None of the Eight Great Sects’ leaders wanted that.
Na Ilcheon looked at them seriously.
“Let us do our best and fight them together. But before that...”
He clicked his tongue as he looked toward the Golden Glory Gate sect leader, who was pointing at Kim Muhyuk with veins bulging in his neck.
“I suppose we should stop that fellow first.”
“You insolent little brat! Who do you think you are, mocking?”
The Golden Glory Gate sect leader’s face remained red with humiliation.
He rose from his seat and glared at Kim Muhyuk—far younger than himself—as though he wanted to swallow him whole.
“I am not merely your senior in the martial world. I am older than your father would be! And what was that? You dare speak to me informally? Is that how your parents taught you to behave?”
Kim Muhyuk’s brow twitched at the mention of his parents.
Still, he thought of Choi Geon and restrained himself.
He wanted to snap that the man had started the fight, so why was he dragging someone else’s parents into it?
Hold it. If I respond too emotionally, it will not help the confrontation interrogation.
But someone in the room was even less able to tolerate insults toward Kim Muhyuk’s parents than Muhyuk himself.
“What was that nonsense you just spouted?”
Choi Geon rose from his chair with fire in his eyes and launched into a rapid-fire tirade at the Golden Glory Gate sect leader.
“You swine, flaunting how little breeding you have. And just how wonderfully were you raised, to drag other people’s parents into things so freely? You started this fight, yet because he saw you as an elder, my disciple still treated you with courtesy. He corrected you a little after you started squealing in casual speech like a pig at slaughter, and now you are throwing a goddamn tantrum with that hideous face puffed up like an overboiled dumpling? You are the kind of wretch for whom even the dirty water used to boil you alive would be wasted.”
“Wh-what... what did you say?”
Choi Geon spoke so quickly that half the people in the conference room could not even understand him properly.
Investigator Ivan Volkov removed his interpreter earpiece and tapped it with a finger.
“...Is this broken?”
But Choi Geon’s freestyle rap was not over yet.
“This old man is not finished. Unclog those damned ears and listen with the humility to learn something. Then again, if you had ever lived your life hearing the truth, would your face be so corrupt and filthy? I have no idea how many times I have restrained myself from tearing those ears open and teaching you properly. Looking at you now, I see that not doing it sooner will haunt me to my grave.”
“Silence, Sword Demon...!”
The Golden Glory Gate sect leader’s fleshy cheeks, far more plentiful than those of the other sect leaders, trembled.
But then a sneer appeared on his face.
He could never defeat Choi Geon in an exchange of words, so he settled for the hollow consolation of a moral victory.
“Hmph. I can tell without looking. Like master, like disciple. You two have spent all these years hiding from the world’s eyes, threatening people and committing atrocities where no one could see.”
The Sword Demon merely snorted, utterly unbothered.
This time, however, his disciple did not stay quiet.
“My master is at least ten years older than you. If you were properly raised, please speak to him respectfully.”
The Golden Glory Gate sect leader’s face turned red enough to burst as his own words were thrown back at him.
What made it worse was that Na Ilcheon tried to stop him from the side. For some reason, that only made his anger rise further.
“Tsk, tsk. Stop this and sit down. The more you speak with them, the more you are losing.”
If he sat, it would feel like admitting defeat, so the Golden Glory Gate sect leader stubbornly remained standing and struck back.
“The Sword Demon is a criminal with a human face and an animal’s heart. Being old does not make someone worthy of respect. Why should I speak respectfully to him?”
That was when Kim Muhyuk’s true feelings slipped out.
The man’s bullshit had finally pushed him too far.
“You rotten old bastard, did you get this old with your head stuck up your ass? Being older does not automatically make someone an elder? Good point. That means I have no reason to speak respectfully to you anymore.”
“...!”
“Ha ha ha ha ha! Disciple, that is enough. That bastard looks ready to cry!”
A master and disciple unlike any the orthodox martial world had ever seen before.
Even the sect leaders of the Eight Great Sects could not keep their heads straight in the face of their foul-mouthed verbal assault.
Flap-flap-flap!
Though there was no wind, the Golden Glory Gate sect leader’s robe billowed.
His rage had reached its limit, and he had unconsciously drawn up his internal energy.
“...You truly wish to die.”
“Heh heh. Is that a challenge? You will regret it.”
Choi Geon did not back down. He rolled his neck from side to side.
People around them tried to stop the pair, but neither seemed able to hear.
Just as the qi waves between them swelled toward a collision, a cold foreign voice rang through the room.
“Enough.”
It was Investigator Ivan Volkov.
He had watched the conference room descend into chaos with amused eyes, then stepped in at the proper moment.
“Settle personal disputes after the confrontation interrogation has concluded.”
“Investigator! Those men have insulted my honor! I cannot simply let this—”
The Golden Glory Gate sect leader protested, but Ivan replied with open disinterest.
“Sit down. Wasting any more time may adversely affect the special audit.”
“Golden Glory Gate sect leader, please sit down!”
“You have gotten far too worked up.”
Under the gaze of Ivan’s green eyes, the Golden Glory Gate sect leader finally bit his lip and sat down.
The other sect leaders had to pull at him from both sides.
“...Very well.”
It was a demonstration of just how powerful the authority of a World Martial Alliance investigator was.
[You arrogant little punk. I will never forget today’s humiliation.]
Kim Muhyuk let the Golden Glory Gate sect leader’s near-threatening voice transmission go in one ear and out the other.
The Golden Glory Gate sect leader is not him. His reactions are too simple. Too easy to read.
Choi Geon appeared to have reached the same conclusion. When his eyes met Kim Muhyuk’s, he gave the slightest nod.
The two had not provoked and needled the Golden Glory Gate sect leader for no reason.
The deep-rooted evil Master spoke of. How would he move?
Once Kim Muhyuk returned to his seat, he carefully observed every stage of the confrontation interrogation.
“Then we will begin the investigation. First, we will hear each side’s claims once.”
As soon as Ivan finished speaking, representatives from the Eight Great Sects and the Martial Alliance took turns rising to make their arguments.
“The Martial Alliance secretly reinstated Choi Geon, who was stripped of his position over an unsavory incident more than twenty years ago, and deployed him on secret missions. That alone is a clear illegal act!”
“The Alliance did not reinstate Choi Geon. We merely worked alongside him on several occasions by commissioning Blue Wolves.”
“Alliance Leader, do not lie!”
“Investigator, this is the same arrangement by which the Alliance sometimes commissions proven wandering martial artists. We submit the contract as evidence.”
The Martial Alliance Leader produced the contract for all to see.
It was the agreement Kim Muhyuk had signed when he and Choi Geon carried out the operation to raid a Black Heaven Society smuggling ship.
But the Eight Great Sects’ counterattack was formidable as well.
Na Ilcheon shot them a sidelong glance.
“Choi Geon bears a deep grudge against the Eight Great Sects. I believe the Martial Alliance tasked him with investigating the Eight Great Sects behind the scenes and manipulating information. Furthermore, I suspect that Blue Wolves itself may be a smokescreen organization created by the Martial Alliance.”
Then No Gucheon rebutted him.
“Blue Wolves has taken commissions involving the Eight Great Sects, participated in the Black Heaven Society suppression operation, and even hunted a Great Anomaly. The Alliance is merely in a cooperative relationship with them.”
“At the time of the GREAT HEAVEN GATE terrorist attack, this is a frame from CCTV footage recorded nearby. How do you explain the figure presumed to be Choi Geon?”
“Are you declaring him the culprit merely because you suspect he was in the area, without any solid evidence?”
The fierce, tedious argument dragged on.
The voices on both sides rose, then were repeatedly brought back down by the investigator.
Choi Geon answered Ivan’s questions only briefly, conserving his words as much as possible.
“Every person I killed had a reason to die.”
“I admit the operation was excessive. But it was done to cut down evil and set justice right.”
“Well. It was so long ago that I do not remember very clearly...”
The Martial Alliance and Choi Geon had prepared enough material and reasoning to counter the Eight Great Sects’ attacks.
They did not appear to be losing ground easily.
Even so, Kim Muhyuk could not shake a sense of unease.
Their attack is weaker than I expected.
At some point, the Eight Great Sects had begun doing little more than circling the issue.
They kept repeating the same things, wearing down the Martial Alliance and slowly exhausting the investigator’s patience.
It was not simply because of Na Ilcheon’s unseen assistance.
It is like...
Like using feints and shifting variations to wear down an opponent before delivering the decisive blow.
What is it? What have they prepared?
Just as an indescribable unease began to creep through Kim Muhyuk’s chest—
“The Martial Alliance’s hunting dog.”
The room fell silent at the quiet words.
It was the Skybreaker Gate sect leader, who had spent nearly the entire time sitting in silence.
One corner of his mouth lifted as he looked at Choi Geon.
“Ah, my apologies. I should have called him the Martial Alliance’s assassin. A slip of the tongue.”
“Skybreaker Gate sect leader. Do you have something new to state?”
When Ivan turned toward him and asked, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader nodded.
“Investigator. I have a witness who can tell you in detail what sort of man Sword Demon Choi Geon really is. May I bring him in?”
The other sect leaders of the Eight Great Sects looked surprised, as though this had not been properly shared with them beforehand.
“No one without prior authorization may enter!”
“Why are you deciding that on your own? That is for the investigator to decide.”
The Martial Alliance side objected fiercely, but as the Skybreaker Gate sect leader said, the authority to decide rested with the investigator.
After thinking for a moment, Ivan asked him,
“Can you vouch for the witness’s identity?”
“Yes. He is an elder of my sect.”
“Very well. Call him in.”
It seemed the man had been waiting outside in advance.
A moment later, a knock sounded, and a middle-aged man entered the room.
Then—
“You... You dare...!”
“Master?”
Kim Muhyuk stared at Choi Geon in shock at his unexpected reaction.
From the instant he saw the man who had entered the conference room, Choi Geon’s breathing had grown ragged.
Veins stood out in his neck.
His fist, clenched so tightly it trembled, had turned white.
“Yang Seonu, elder of Skybreaker Gate.”
He was a middle-aged man with sharp features.
His body was solidly built, a sword hung at his waist, and his eyes resembled someone else’s strongly enough to bring them immediately to mind.
“I am an old disciple of Sword Demon Choi Geon. I came here to testify as to what kind of man he truly is.”
The instant Kim Muhyuk heard those words, he realized this man was the trump card the Eight Great Sects had prepared.