Chapter 908: Let A Bite Of This Now! (3) |
“Kuaak., Ga-Myung, honey… honey water, bring it…”
“… Alliance lord.”
A deep sigh escaped Ho Ga-Myung’s mouth.
This man was so skilled in martial arts, so why didn’t he use his internal qi to dispel the toxins of alcohol? Why was he acting so foolishly?
“… Honey water.”
“Yes.”
Instead of reprimanding Jang Ilso, Ho Ga-Myung instructed a maid to bring honey water. He received the honey water from the maid and even infused a bit of ice qi into it so that Jang Ilso could have a cold drink.
“Here it is. Drink it.”
“Kuaak.”
Then he shouted in a displeased tone.
“It is cold!”
“….”
The words, “I have to hit him, even if he is the lord,” came to the tip of his tongue, but Ho Ga-Myung swallowed them with patience.
In truth, he didn’t want to criticize Jang Ilso anymore.
Because he had seen with his own eyes what Jang Ilso had done… no, what he had accomplished.
‘As if.’
No one could have imagined that Jang Ilso would reach the heights he had now. He was someone that even the world-class Ho Ga-Myung would have never envisioned in his dreams.
‘So different.’
This was exactly what they meant when they said that imagination could not match reality.
This was the difference between a monarch and a leader.
If one focused on accurately and meticulously planned tasks, Ho Ga-Myung was clearly superior to Jang Ilso. However, the one who ascended to the throne drew the big picture that a general could never dare to imagine.
Jang Ilso was the one who casually committed to dreamlike stories and brought them into reality.
Ho Ga-Myung knew his lord was that good… but he was still dissatisfied.
“… I understand why you are like that, but no matter how much I think about it, there is no need for the alliance lord to deal with such bastards one by one.”
“Tsk tsk. Even if you say that every day.”
Jang Ilso clicked his tongue at Ho Ga-Myung’s words.
Then he quickly threw away the blanket he was covering himself with, got down from the bed, and started walking slowly.
The servants quickly approached him, took off his bedding, and began to dress him up. They wet Jang Ilso’s body with a wet towel and wiped the moisture away with a dry towel. They put on his innerwear made of high-quality silk over the exposed upper body.
“Haven’t I told you this several times that the moment I neglect the little things, I end up as a pig? Do you want me to become a fat pig?”
Jang Ilso, who was used to being served by the maids, glanced at Ho Ga-Myung with eyes as sharp as blades.
That sword-like gaze was directed at Ho Ga-Myung.
Ho Ga-Myung flinched without realizing it. It was because he did not know the meaning of that gaze.
A clear reprimand.
It was a warning that Ho Ga-Myung’s remarks had exceeded the level that Jang Ilso could tolerate.
“This subordinate is foolish, Alliance Lord!”
Ho Ga-Myung bowed down right there.
Jang Ilso’s eyes, which had been silently glaring at Ho Ga-Myung, softened once again.
“Tsk tsk, Ga-Myung. Ga-Myung.”
“….”
“Why don’t you understand why I say it? Even so, this Alliance Lord is not a lowly man, so you probably don’t like the sight of me sharing a drink with lowly people and giggling and laughing.”
“… it is true that I had such feelings.”
“You are not wrong.”
The maid’s hand caressed Jang Ilso’s clothes.
“People need class. The level required for a warrior, the level required for a branch leader, and the level required for an Alliance Lord are all different.”
“I think so, too.”
“But that is just the attitude of someone who is satisfied with their position. If you are happy with your position, all that remains is a fall.”
Jang Ilso’s face contorted.
“If I had been content as an Alliance Lord, I would not have mixed drinks with those people. But if I want something bigger if I am still hungry for more!”
He covered his face with his hand as if grabbing it.
“Even if it is a cup mixed with their spit, you should know how to drink it down with a smile. Authority doesn’t come from attitude but from strength.”
“….”
“I…”
He paused for a moment and took his hand away from his face. A gentle smile appeared as if nothing had happened.
“You are getting stronger even at this moment, Ga-Myung. Should we stop a warrior from getting strong?”
“The Alliance Lord’s words are a hundred, no, a thousand times right!”
Ho Ga-Myung, who had been lost in thought, hit his head on the ground.
Jang Ilso frowned.
“Why are you hitting your head like that? It will hurt.”
“….”
“Get up. Get up now. I told you not to do that, but you really don’t listen. Tsk tsk.”
Ho Ga-Myung carefully got up.
Every time this happened, he was reminded of the fact that Jang Ilso was the lord.
Jang Ilso was not someone he could deal with easily. It was the same no matter what he did. It wasn’t Jang Ilso’s strength that showed that he was strong or that he was capable.
It was just because he was such a kind of person.
The maid slowly helped with Jang Ilso’s face. After lightly applying red powder to his white face and drawing on his eyebrows, the maid stepped away, and Jang Ilso began to apply the lip tint on his own.
“Anyway, so…”
Kwang!
“Alliance Lord!”
At that moment, the door suddenly burst open, and Jang Ilso’s finger, which was slowly moving over his lips, wavered at the shout.
“… tsk.”
A serious look of displeasure crossed his face.
Ho Ga-Myung, who noticed that killing intent, quickly shouted.
“Where do you think you are running into? You moron!”
“I am sorry! I apologize! This is urgent!”
“Shut you! You mor…!”
“… enough.”
Jang Ilso wiped the mark with a towel the maid handed him and turned his head to the person who rushed in. The killing intent in his eyes had already vanished.
“It must be something. What is happening?”
“Plum Blossom Island… no, the Green Forest and the pirates are retreating from the island on the river.”
“Where?”
“The island. The one the Mount Hua bastards captured…”
“… Plum Blossom Island.”
Jang Ilso lifted his flowing bangs with his fingers. Then a maid approached him, combed his hair back, and placed a crown on his head.
“They emptied Plum Blossom Island and retreated?”
“Yes! That is right. And the Sichuan Tang family also said they had let go of the Yangtze River and would return to Sichuan.”
Ho Ga-Myung asked with a shocked look.
“This suddenly?”
“… Judging from the fact that the news has reached us, I think they might have already withdrawn and left.”
“N-no, this is…”
Ho Ga-Myung closed his mouth. The information he had suddenly heard wasn’t being organized in his head.
‘What are they thinking now?’
He understood the situation.
If they crossed the Yangtze River, Plum Blossom Island and the Sichuan Tang family guarding the Yangtze River would be the most dangerous places, so it wouldn’t be strange to raid them now that the situation was resolved.
But what Ho Ga-Myung couldn’t understand was their opponent’s urgency.
‘We didn’t even move, though.’
That might be the case elsewhere. Those who were scared tended to rush into anything.
But the problem was that Mount Hua wasn’t the type to be scared.
Wasn’t Mount Hua the place where no one in the sect had any fear, where Mount Hua’s Sword Saint made one wonder what he ate to have lost his mind, alongside the other disciples?
Even in a situation where Wudang became afraid and surrendered, Mount Hua was the one who stood stubbornly and rushed at Jang Ilso and the Ten Thousand People clan.
That Mount Hua, leader of the Heavenly Friends Alliance, became scared and abandoned the Yangtze River? A place where huge profits were guaranteed just by being there?
‘It cannot be that.’
If it were Mount Hua, if it were the Heavenly Friends Alliance that he knew, they wouldn’t give up profits without a reason.
Then what was pushing them to do…
“Anyway…”
At that moment, Jang Ilso swept up a strand of hair that had fallen and clicked his tongue.
“That reckless brat, as soon as he got out of his cage, he stabbed someone in the side with a knife. Tsk tsk tsk.”
Ho Ga-Myung flinched at the sight of his face.
A strange expression appeared on his face—an expression that seemed extremely irritated, yet with an odd joy.
“Are you saying you won’t just play along? Right, that should happen. Then.”
After hearing Jang Ilso’s words, Ho Ga-Myung couldn’t hold back and asked.
“Who are you talking about?”
“Who could it be?”
“… Are you talking about Mount Hua’s Sword Saint this time?”
Jang Ilso didn’t answer. Ho Ga-Myung wasn’t the one to know that silence was affirmation.
But Ho Ga-Myung couldn’t simply accept the situation.
It was only natural that Jang Ilso existed in a realm Ho Ga-Myung didn’t understand. But how could someone like Mount Hua’s Sword Saint be on the same level as Jang Ilso?
“Alliance Lord. I want to speak about something.”
“Go ahead.”
“… I think the Alliance Lord is overestimating Mount Hua’s Sword Saint. He isn’t someone who can exchange thoughts with the Alliance Lord. Wasn’t that grandiose name of his, Sword Saint, given to him by us?”
“Why do you think so?”
“That little brat is…”
“Tsk tsk. Ga-Myung.”
“… Uh?”
“Do you know how old I was when I first appeared in murim?”
When Ho Ga-Myung didn’t answer, Jang Ilso said in amusement.
“Compared to that time, I am a little older now, a little more cautious. And incomparably stronger.”
“Yes, Alliance Lord.”
“But I have not become smarter.”
“…”
“That is how people are. Growth is ultimately about how much you can bring out of what you have. A tiger is a tiger even when it is a cub, and a dog is a dog even when it is fully grown. And it goes without saying for a dragon.”
Ho Ga-Myung bit his lip.
Jang Ilso’s words couldn’t be wrong. However, Ho Ga-Myung didn’t want to admit it.
Was it because of simple jealousy?
No.
The reason he was angry was not because Mount Hua’s Sword Saint was superior to him, but because he dared to encroach upon Jang Ilso’s existence. To him, that was no different from blasphemy against the lord.
“And even if what you said was true, it would be no different. What is important is not whether he is worthy of sharing the same level with me, but that the level he has reached is currently strangling me.”
“Strangling you…”
“Map!”
“Yes.”
The servants rushed over and brought out a large map. When they spread it out on the table, Jang Ilso’s long and slender fingers touched the middle of the Yangtze River.
“How is it?”
“… Uh?”
“This Plum Blossom Island too.”
At Jang Ilso’s words, Ho Ga-Myung, who had been looking at the plum blossoms once again, tilted his head.
“I don’t know. For a soldier, it would be a strategic point, but for a warrior, would it be that important? Moreover, we have taken complete control over the Yangtze River through the waters.”
“Tsk tsk. You are still thinking about fights alone.”
“Then…”
“Do you know how much material is flowing in and out of this place?”
Jang Ilso laughed.
“For the past three damn years, the amount of material flowing into the south through the Plum Blossom has skyrocketed. If this place gets blocked now, it means we are the ones who will be suffocated.”
“Ah…”
“You damn bastard.”
Jang Ilso gritted his teeth. But even then, the corners of his mouth curled up as if he was happy.
“It really hurts. It really.. really hurts.”
His blazing eyes turned to a distant place.
To a mountain in the far north that boasted rugged terrain.
Comments 1