“Should we just leave those two be?” the First Wolf asked on the way back to the Unorthodox Alliance’s main division.
After sending Geom Mugeuk with Pyo Gi-gwang as his escort, Bi Sa-in had given no further orders.
“The Young Cult Master will handle it.”
His words stemmed not from indifference, but from trust.
A belief that if Geom Mugeuk couldn't find out, no one could.
The First Wolf, who had been watching silently until now, finally spoke his mind.
“I know the Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect is a remarkable man, but do not trust him too much. No matter what he says or does, he is nothing more than a demonic practitioner.”
The First Wolf held a deep-seated distrust of demonic practitioners.
Moreover, the relationship between Bi Sa-in and Geom Mugeuk could be described as abnormal.
“I will keep that in mind.”
Knowing full well what the First Wolf was worried about, Bi Sa-in readily accepted his concern.
A long-held prejudice was not something that would change in an instant.
“First Wolf.”
“Yes, Young Alliance Leader.”
“What is the most memorable moment of your life as a martial artist?”
The sudden question flustered the First Wolf.
“I do not think I have ever thought about that question before.”
“Think about it now.”
The First Wolf fell into thought for a moment.
He traced back the currents of time and recalled a single moment when a droplet of water leaped up and sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight.
“I believe it was when I first became one of the Thirteen Wolves of the Unorthodox Path.”
He remembered how joyful he had been then.
Many things had happened since.
He had achieved great merit and earned a great deal of money.
But he did not think he had ever been as happy as he was at that moment.
“I started as the youngest of the Thirteen Wolves, and before I knew it, I had become the First Wolf.”
“How long has it been since you became one of the Thirteen Wolves of the Unorthodox Path?”
“It has been twenty-nine years.”
“Then we must hold a thirtieth-anniversary celebration for you next year.”
The First Wolf’s face flushed slightly.
“But why did you ask me that?”
“Because I feel that my moment is now. Even thirty years from now, if I were to look back and ask myself what the most memorable moment of my life was, I think it would be now.”
This very moment, riding in a carriage across the Central Plains with the Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect and the successor of the Righteous Path.
This very moment, uncovering a conspiracy with the Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect.
Would there ever be another time in the future so exciting, so thrilling?
“Still, do not worry too much. I was not born with the kind of personality that sincerely trusts and becomes completely absorbed in someone.”
The First Wolf was old enough to know that a person’s heart does not always do as one wishes.
But he did not say that.
It was because he felt that the problems that could arise from not having a moment where one felt they were shining on their own would be just as significant as any negative event caused by the Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect.
Looking more radiant than ever, Bi Sa-in strode forward.
“Let us go. We have much to do as well.”
*
Pyo Gi-gwang glanced at the young man following him.
When their eyes met, the young man smiled brightly.
Of course, he was Geom Mugeuk.
‘Poor fellow. He has no idea what predicament he is in.’
Such a young and handsome face was too precious to die.
“What is your name?”
“It is Geom Yeon. It is written with the character for smoke. I am called Geom Yeon because I will vanish like smoke when our meeting ends.”
The young man’s personality was clear from the way he explained something he had not been asked.
‘Naive.’
Was it because he had nearly been killed by an assassin? To Pyo Gi-gwang, the words ‘vanish like smoke’ resonated deeply today.
“Do you know why you have to protect me?”
“I have a general idea.”
“Are you not afraid that the assassin from before might come to kill me again?”
As if confident in his skills, Geom Mugeuk lightly tapped his sword.
It was a sword wrapped tightly in blood-stained bandages.
Of course, Pyo Gi-gwang did not know what kind of sword it was, nor what kind of bandages were wrapped around it, so he took it as youthful bravado.
“How long have you been serving the Young Alliance Leader?”
“A few days.”
It was not a lie.
That was how long he had been wearing the clothes of the Thirteen Wolves of the Unorthodox Path.
Pyo Gi-gwang frowned.
‘I had planned to die a magnificent death alone, but it seems I am fated to die with a rookie burden.’
Pyo Gi-gwang’s house was in the outskirts, not far from the main division.
There was a mountain behind the house, and a stream flowed by.
Although it was in a scenic location, his house felt devoid of warmth.
Not only was there no food, but even the bedding, which one couldn't tell when it had last been washed, was the one used in summer.
It was easy to see what his life was usually like.
“This is just a place I occasionally come to sleep, so there is nothing here.”
He turned and lay down on the bed.
“You do not need to protect me.”
Pyo Gi-gwang was certain that this young man could not protect him alone.
The assassin was someone that several martial artists had been unable to catch earlier.
‘If the Young Alliance Leader was truly worried about me, he would have left more martial artists.’
He must have realized how skilled the assassin was during their clash.
He probably thought that leaving several subordinates would only result in all of them dying, so he left only this young fellow.
Thinking this, the young man seemed as pathetic and pitiful as himself, who was about to die.
“Please get some sleep.”
With a brief farewell, Geom Mugeuk went outside.
Pyo Gi-gwang tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
A flood of emotions he had not felt in the chaos earlier washed over him.
No matter how prepared he was for death, the fear that crept in when he truly felt its approach was real.
—The Alliance needs you.
He recalled his expression when he had entrusted him with the task.
At first, he had refused.
—I am a man who is already broken beyond repair.
Please find someone else.
—That is why I chose you.
No one will ever figure out this operation.
Honestly, he had been offended.
The fact that he was chosen because he was broken.
But in the end, he accepted.
He said he accepted out of loyalty, but in truth, it was for himself.
He wanted to show those who had looked down on him.
That he was doing something more valuable than them.
Since it was a secret operation, he could not say it out loud, but he wanted to shout it, at least in his heart.
‘Look down on me all you want! I am doing something a hundred times more important than you are!’
Perhaps that person had anticipated these feelings of his.
Afterward, he lived diligently as he was told.
But now, just because the secret was out, they were trying to kill him off so easily.
If he himself had come and tried to kill him with just a single word, ‘I am sorry, it cannot be helped,’ he would not have felt so sorrowful.
He would have died willingly with a smile.
But to send an assassin to kill him without even giving him a chance to say a word? It was not the fact that they were trying to kill him that angered him, but the utter contempt they showed for him in the process.
‘It was not for you.
It was out of loyalty to the Alliance.’
In the end, he was so disappointed that he had to console himself this way.
*
Pyo Gi-gwang dreamt that he was being chased by assassins.
In the dream, he was neither composed nor bold.
He ran through the mountains to survive, dug into the ground to hide, and even concealed himself in foul-smelling filth.
Then, he awoke at dawn.
A thick cotton blanket was covering him, placed there at some point.
It seemed the young escort had found it and covered him.
Pyo Gi-gwang got up from the bed and walked to the window.
Geom Mugeuk was standing alone in the yard, looking up at the night sky.
He felt a sense of apology at the sight of him staying awake to protect him.
Sensing his presence, Geom Mugeuk turned towards him.
“Are you awake?”
“Is it not cold?”
“I am fine.”
Despite his words, the dawn wind of midwinter was very cold.
“What were you thinking about?”
“I was thinking about people.”
“Who?”
“The people who I think might spare me a thought at least once.”
From people who would make Pyo Gi-gwang faint in shock if he heard their names, to those who were currently enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime vacation.
Pyo Gi-gwang leaned against the window and asked.
“What is your family like?”
“I have a father and an older brother.”
“And your mother?”
“She passed away when I was young.”
“Your father must have had a hard time raising you boys. How is he now? Is he happy you joined the Unorthodox Alliance?”
If he heard that I had left home and joined the Unorthodox Alliance, he would be making that characteristic sneer of his.
“He would not be happy.”
“Why?”
“He dislikes the Unorthodox Alliance.”
Since he felt the same way, Pyo Gi-gwang smiled faintly.
His parents had been strongly against him joining the Unorthodox Alliance.
They had begged him to join the Martial Alliance, not knowing how wicked their son was.
“The dawn wind is cold, so come inside. If you can protect me from out there, you can protect me from in here. Come in.”
Geom Mugeuk came inside as if he could not refuse.
“I will just warm up for a moment and then go back out.”
“There is nothing better for warming up than this.”
He went to find some wine.
In a house with nothing to eat, there was wine.
“Do you like wine?”
“I do.”
He could have said that he does not drink when on duty.
Was it because he was a young martial artist these days? He could feel that he was a person honest with his emotions.
Pyo Gi-gwang poured Geom Mugeuk a cup of wine and filled his own.
Perhaps he would die before seeing the morning sun.
It would not be strange at all if a hidden weapon came flying through that window right now.
If not today, then tomorrow, or within a few days, he would die.
At this rate, he would die along with this young man.
Pyo Gi-gwang emptied his cup first, and Geom Mugeuk followed suit.
“I do not want to sound like I am nagging, but you should not drink wine given by others so carelessly. What if it was poisoned?”
“I will be careful from now on.”
He felt good that he readily agreed to be careful.
It was this natural reaction that he missed.
For the past decade, no one had treated him properly.
Of course, it was something he had brought upon himself.
“After I was injured, everything changed. My life, my surroundings, everything changed. Those who dared not even make eye contact with me started to glare at me. Trash-like things.”
“Not all of them would have been trash. The trash must have blinded your eyes and nose, making you unable to see what you should have seen.”
Pyo Gi-gwang looked at Geom Mugeuk with an expression that said, ‘What do you know?’
“I apologize. I overstepped my bounds. It is just that memories of someone cursing and yelling at me last longer than praise.”
Pyo Gi-gwang could not completely deny those words.
There were certainly people who had genuinely cared for him back then.
But they had all disappeared while he was busy hating and being angry at those who looked down on him.
“Tell me honestly. What orders did the Young Alliance Leader give you? He told you to find out a person’s name from me, did he not?”
“Yes.”
Geom Mugeuk answered readily.
He had expected him to feign ignorance, but his reaction was unexpected.
This young fellow was somehow defying his expectations.
“You will never hear it from me. So give up.”
“The reason you are hiding it, Division Lord, must be out of loyalty to the Alliance. It is the same for me. We are just being loyal in our own ways.”
The word ‘loyalty’ felt strangely unfamiliar today.
It was probably because this thought kept recurring.
‘You and I have both been abandoned.’
He felt as if the people were gone, and only loyalty remained, floating about like a ghost.
Pyo Gi-gwang drank another cup of wine, with that ghost as his side dish.
“If I were you, I would have run away.”
Pyo Gi-gwang wanted to die alone.
He wanted to board the boat to the afterlife alone and calmly.
He did not want to say sorry to this young fellow who was already on board.
“I would have run away, making any excuse.”
Then, Geom Mugeuk suddenly asked him.
“I heard you were the Division Lord of the Black Dragon Division.”
“I was.”
“What was it like back then?”
“What was it like?”
“I heard that the Black Dragon Division once fought against the Martial Alliance at Sinyapeyong Plain, despite being outnumbered, and won a great victory.”
“How did you know that?”
“Is it not a famous story?”
Pyo Gi-gwang’s eyes trembled slightly.
“Yes, I was there too. It was when I was a rookie, just like you.”
“I am curious. About the battle that day.”
The story he had been boasting about at the banquet earlier was this very battle at Sinyapeyong Plain.
Then he had been insulted by a former subordinate.
Seeing this fellow’s eyes sparkle as he asked about the story in such a situation gave him a strange feeling.
“You do not know because you have never fought in a real battle, but when you truly face an enemy, your heart pounds like it is going to explode.”
“Were you afraid that day too?”
“I was afraid. If it were not for my comrades and seniors, I would have turned and run. That day was especially so. The Martial Alliance bastards were swarming in like a colony of ants from the end of that plain…”
He told him about the battle that day.
Even as he spoke, the subordinate who had cornered him at the banquet earlier kept coming to mind.
Would this fellow sitting in front of him not be bored on the inside? Would he not think of it as an old man’s bragging?
That was a groundless fear and an unnecessary worry.
Geom Mugeuk listened to his story better than anyone.
He did not just let it go in one ear and out the other.
He listened intently, asked questions, and even chimed in.
Listening to the embellished epic, Geom Mugeuk could tell.
This moment was the most memorable and shining moment of his life for him.
The long story came to an end.
Geom Mugeuk had been with him in that battle from beginning to end.
“Thank you. For listening.”
“No, thank you for telling me. You were so cool.”
The moment he heard those words, Pyo Gi-gwang felt an inexplicable surge of emotion.
It was a story he had repeated many times since he was injured and stepped down from his position as Division Lord.
But he had never felt such an overwhelming emotion before.
He soon realized.
No one had ever listened to his story so seriously, so excitedly.
Everyone had been bored, just listening out of courtesy.
And he realized today that what he had wished for so long was to see someone listen to his story so sincerely.
Because after he was injured, that was all he could do.
*
When Pyo Gi-gwang opened his eyes, he was asleep on the bed.
‘When did I fall asleep?’
Seeing that he was covered with a blanket again, it seemed the young man outside had taken care of him.
Sunlight streamed brightly through the window.
He had survived, for now.
He got up from the bed and looked outside the window, where Geom Mugeuk was standing in the yard.
He must have been standing there all night.
“Are you not hungry?”
“I am hungry.”
At the honest reply, Pyo Gi-gwang came outside with a disheveled face.
“Let us go eat.”
The two left the house and walked towards the market.
Pyo Gi-gwang said abruptly.
“We are like fish caught in a net. We do not know when the fisherman will lift it. You should escape while you can. You still have a chance.”
That net would not be an ordinary one.
Unless the Heavenly Net formation of the Demon Essence was spread out in three layers.
“You know, do you not? To ask my fisherman not to lift the net, you have to tell me the name.”
Pyo Gi-gwang shook his head without a word.
As if he had expected it, Geom Mugeuk was not disappointed at all.
Instead, he said with a bright face.
“Then please tell me some other stories. I want to hear more of your stories, Senior.”