Chapter 129 :

Chapter 129. The Black Flame Dragon Takes Away Their Chance (4)

"Are you going to keep lying there so disrespectfully?"

"Yaaawn... Ah... I'm so tired... Hm? Who—"

Without even turning around, Jegal Somyeong spoke.

"Your acting is still clumsy... Do I really need to stop what I'm doing and turn around just to play along?"

"Huh? Chief Strategist, is that you?"

"Do I have to keep indulging this ridiculous act?"

"My apologies. My body's still not in very good condition. I overworked myself too much inside the Soul-Destroying Formation..."

"You were suffering from accumulated fatigue, but your essence, energy, and spirit were all perfectly fine... Do you know this? Anyone who submits a false report to the Chief Strategist can receive up to three years in the Golden Prison."

At Jegal Somyeong's words, the cheerful smile on Jin Sowoon's face twisted.

He already could not understand why the Chief Strategist of the Martial Alliance was inside his lodgings, and somehow the man's personality seemed even more eccentric than before.

"Ugh..."

Jin Sowoon let out a long sigh and looked at Jegal Somyeong.

Just like during their previous meeting, Jegal Somyeong was examining documents without even making eye contact with Jin Sowoon.

This was not somewhere far from the Martial Alliance like the Iron Sword Sect.

Jin Sowoon simply could not understand why the man had gone out of his way to come into someone else's lodgings and work like this.

He decided to wait quietly until Jegal Somyeong spoke first.

Jin Sowoon filled the teacup in front of him and slowly drank.

Not much time had passed in reality, but according to the flow of time inside the Soul-Destroying Formation, this was his first cup of tea in nearly ten days, so its aroma felt especially rich.

It was excellent tea, not inferior in the slightest to what he had drunk at the Namgung Family.

The middle-aged maid had recently changed the tea after hearing that Jin Sowoon did not enjoy alcohol but did at least like tea.

The quality was so high that he wondered whether she had overdone it a little.

'No, considering the scale of the Martial Alliance and the Martial Academy, maybe this isn't excessive at all.'

Compared to how freely the other representatives spent money, Jin Sowoon's own expenses were fairly modest.

Perhaps the middle-aged maid did not find spending money on something like this burdensome at all.

While Jin Sowoon briefly drifted into idle thoughts, Jegal Somyeong signed the document he had been reading, pushed the papers aside, and finally looked at him.

Seeing Jin Sowoon's surprised expression, Jegal Somyeong asked,

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Didn't you bring those all the way here because they were urgent documents?"

Jin Sowoon pointed toward the large pile of documents stacked on one side of the table.

Jegal Somyeong frowned deeply.

"When speaking to someone, you should look them in the eye instead of doing something else. Were you never taught that?"

"Wow..."

At Jegal Somyeong's blunt words, Jin Sowoon nearly said, 'Then I suppose I wasn't a person last time,' but stopped himself.

"You look like you have something to say."

"Haah... No. Anyway, what brings you all the way here?"

"A great deal happened while you were asleep."

"What happened?"

"First, a disciplinary committee was convened."

"Ah... I see."

Jegal Somyeong's eyebrow twitched at Jin Sowoon's reaction.

"You're not surprised?"

"Well... I expected something like that."

"Most of the disciplinary committee was made up of people selected by Daoist Myeonghyeon, so punishment for you was discussed as well."

At Jegal Somyeong's words, Jin Sowoon nodded.

"Hmm... What was the outcome?"

Jegal Somyeong did not answer and continued staring at him.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"...I said a disciplinary committee was convened while you were asleep, and they even discussed punishing you. Did you expect that too?"

"Well... I did think they wouldn't simply let the matter pass."

"And despite that, you deliberately overexerted yourself inside the Soul-Destroying Formation and slept for three full days?"

Jin Sowoon scratched his cheek.

"Even if I'd been awake, there probably wouldn't have been anything I could do differently. I would've just been dragged around everywhere giving testimony and ended up even more exhausted."

In the end, Jegal Somyeong failed to hide his emotions and let out a small sigh of exasperation.

"Hah!"

"So what happened?"

"Those who entered the Soul-Destroying Formation were expelled from the academy. The expelled students praised you quite highly. Thanks to that, Daoist Myeonghyeon's influence couldn't touch you."

"I see."

"You expected that too?"

"No. I simply thought that even if I received some punishment, it wouldn't be a major problem."

"Why?"

"The ones directly responsible for this incident were expelled, but the actual academy-student officers of the Righteous Path Association probably weren't among them, correct?"

At Jin Sowoon's words, Jegal Somyeong pressed his lips together and nodded.

"I thought that might be the case. Thanks to that, many within the Righteous Path Association will begin questioning its morality at a fundamental level."

"They'll wonder whether they're merely people who are constantly used and then discarded..."

"And I doubt the members of the White Path Association, centered around the Five Great Families, or the Twelve Peaks Fortress will feel much differently."

"If things go wrong, your own position could become unstable."

"It doesn't matter much."

"As long as people wake up and start thinking about looking after themselves instead of relying on others."

"...So in the end, you're saying you did it for the Martial Alliance?"

"I don't know about anything that grand. I just thought they should come to their senses and learn to take care of themselves."

After listening to Jin Sowoon, Jegal Somyeong fell silent in thought for a long while.

The Taeul Sect.

Among even the lower ranks of the Hundred and Eight Peaks, it stood near the very bottom.

A disciple from a sect that struggled merely to support itself was trying to do things for the sake of the entire murim world.

The Martial Alliance had begun as a cooperative organization, but by now it had become an enormous political arena, and Jegal Somyeong had been worn down by it for years.

From his perspective, he could not quite determine how to deal with this young brat who seemed like a naive idealist.

After briefly losing himself in thought, Jegal Somyeong came back to his senses and returned to the questions he had prepared.

"In any case, did you deliberately avoid eating anything inside the Soul-Destroying Formation so you could gain the support of those who were expelled?"

Jin Sowoon had looked truly horrific when he emerged from the Soul-Destroying Formation.

He had practically resembled a ruined man.

But after checking Jin Sowoon's pulse, Jegal Somyeong knew that appearance had been deliberate.

Unlike his exhausted exterior, his heart meridians had been beating more powerfully than ever.

Jegal Somyeong had initially been so startled that he nearly slapped Jin Sowoon awake.

"...I held back a little in case there were survivors who needed the food."

"Hmph! Don't give me that nonsense. I heard most of the survivors came out heavier than when they entered. You obviously gave them even the food meant for yourself."

At Jegal Somyeong's words, Jin Sowoon made a face as though he had bitten into something foul.

"Isn't that exactly the 'chivalric righteousness' the Martial Alliance always talks about?"

"You really are talented at saying nonsense with a perfectly straight face."

Jegal Somyeong mocked him without the slightest hesitation.

Despite holding the position of Chief Strategist of the Martial Alliance, he had never once believed that the Martial Alliance truly possessed the kind of "chivalric righteousness" Jin Sowoon spoke of.

When Jegal Somyeong pushed him that far, Jin Sowoon finally confessed.

"Yes. I cheated a little. I dragged things out and gave away as much of my food as possible once I got inside."

"For a more dramatic effect?"

"Yes."

And that deception had worked.

It caused those who had entered the Soul-Destroying Formation to feel betrayed by the Righteous Path Association while simultaneously developing intense trust in Jin Sowoon.

Even if their sects and they themselves suffered because of the Righteous Path Association.

"..."

After thinking that far, Jegal Somyeong slowly drank his tea to calm his surprise.

Jin Sowoon kept shifting his eyes toward Jegal Somyeong's face.

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"Huh..."

He had just openly confessed to deception with his own mouth, yet now he was acting nervous about the consequences.

It was rather amusing.

After organizing his thoughts, Jegal Somyeong moved his teacup aside and pushed the documents that still needed processing toward Jin Sowoon.

Jin Sowoon continued staring at him in confusion.

"Read them, organize them, and process them."

Jin Sowoon's eyes rolled around.

"Aren't these documents from the Intelligence Department? How could I possibly dare handle documents this important...?"

"I stayed beside you for several days, so my work piled up into this mess. If you don't process them properly, I'll punish you."

Still rolling his eyes, Jin Sowoon muttered loudly enough to be heard, "It's not like I asked you to stay beside me..." before picking up one of the documents and beginning to read.

Then he took the brush, ink, and paper Jegal Somyeong had been using and began making corrections throughout the document.

"..."

After writing several things across the document, Jin Sowoon finally wrote "Rejected" at the bottom, pushed it aside, and immediately began examining the next document.

He did not even seem interested in having his work evaluated.

Stunned by his outrageous behavior, Jegal Somyeong personally pulled back the document Jin Sowoon had pushed aside and flipped it open.

If Jin Sowoon had written anything incorrectly, he intended to seize on it and thoroughly scold him.

But—

"Huuh... Hoho..."

As Jegal Somyeong read the document, he could not stop himself from letting out an incredulous laugh.

The document Jin Sowoon had just processed concerned which outside contractors should handle logistics between the Martial Alliance and its various branches.

There were twenty-four escort agencies currently contracted with the Martial Alliance.

Another twelve escort agencies had applied for new contracts.

Of the existing agencies, six had been determined to have problems and were candidates for termination.

Then six among the newly applying escort agencies had to be selected for replacement contracts.

Simply explaining the problems that had arisen at the current stage already took several pages.

Yet of the six existing escort agencies that had supposedly shown problems, Jin Sowoon argued that three had faced unavoidable incidents caused by natural disasters and fundamentally opposed counting those cases against them.

At the same time, he pointed out that most of the newly applying escort agencies were connected to the Nine Great Sects.

For that reason, he concluded that replacing the current agencies with them would not actually solve the underlying problem and rejected the proposal.

It was a perfectly reasonable opinion, close to what Jegal Somyeong himself would have concluded.

But that was not what surprised him.

To arrive at a rejection like this, one normally had to investigate the existing escort agencies, investigate the new applicants, investigate the fundamental causes behind the complaints, and much more.

The result should have required information gathered from countless departments throughout the Martial Alliance.

Yet Jin Sowoon proposed the solution without hesitation, almost as though he already knew every answer to the complicated problem.

Jegal Somyeong could not hide his astonishment.

Jin Sowoon was already writing something on the third document when Jegal Somyeong asked,

"What exactly are you?"

"What?"

"I'm asking how you know all of this."

"...Uh, well, I have a rather good memory."

"Memory?"

"I mean I don't forget something once I've seen it."

"You processed these documents with that memory?"

"I don't really know how else to explain it, but yes."

"..."

At Jin Sowoon's answer, Jegal Somyeong fell into deep thought.

Having an excellent memory was certainly possible.

But the ability to derive insight based on that memory was a completely separate matter.

Insight came only after vast knowledge and deep thought.

Jegal Somyeong stared intently at Jin Sowoon for a moment, then took the document from his hand and casually tossed it back onto the pile.

At Jegal Somyeong's sudden action, Jin Sowoon looked at him as though wondering what was wrong with him now.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No. From now on, there's something you need to do."

"What now?"

"You're going to spar with me."

"What?"

Jin Sowoon's face crumpled like the document Jegal Somyeong had just thrown aside.

"What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?"

"I told you a lot happened while you were asleep, didn't I?"

Instead of answering, Jin Sowoon nodded.

"The second thing is that I saw the three cycles of internal energy sleeping inside your dantian."

"..."