Chapter 84
Meol Ji-ryun (2)
The next day, Baek So-cheon went to Meol Ji-ryun’s residence in time for lunch.
She was already prepared to go out. Her outfit exposed parts of her arms and legs, accentuating her jade-white skin.
“Do we have to eat inside the alliance because of security concerns?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Then shall we eat outside?”
“Sounds good.”
At Baek So-cheon’s agreement, she smiled happily. It seemed she had dressed nicely because she wanted to go out for a meal.
“Let’s go. I’ll escort you.”
“Thank you.”
Baek So-cheon left the Martial Alliance with her.
Perhaps she had already told them not to interfere, because Rap Sa and Pa Jeong followed the two from a considerable distance.
As Meol Ji-ryun walked along, she became fascinated by the goods sold by street vendors. Judging solely from her expression, she looked like a young girl captivated by unfamiliar curiosities.
The two entered a nearby inn and sat across from each other at a table beside a window with a clear view outside.
“Is there anything you cannot eat?”
“No. I eat pretty much anything.”
“Do you have any favorite foods?”
Meol Ji-ryun gave Baek So-cheon a curious look.
“Great Hero Baek, you’re very considerate. It’s difficult to find men this thoughtful beyond the Central Plains.”
“If you look carefully enough, I’m sure there are plenty of good men there too. Perhaps your status simply prevented you from meeting them.”
“Maybe so.”
She smiled brightly.
While they chatted about various things, the waiter brought over the dishes they had ordered.
After tasting the food, Meol Ji-ryun raised her thumb.
“This is really delicious.”
“Among the inns near our headquarters, this one has the best cook.”
“Thank you for bringing me somewhere like this. Every time I eat it, I’m reminded how delicious food from the Central Plains is.”
“How many times have you visited the Central Plains?”
“This is my third time.”
“Who did you come with before?”
“My father.”
“But this time he sent you alone.”
Meol Ji-ryun smiled at Baek So-cheon’s meaningful remark.
“I’m an adult now.”
This time, she asked him a question.
“Forgive me for being presumptuous, but may I ask you something too?”
“Of course.”
“Why haven’t you married yet, Great Hero Baek?”
There were many possible reasons, but Baek So-cheon gave the most ordinary one.
“I suppose I simply never met anyone who made me want to marry.”
“You must have very high standards.”
“I’m not sure. To be honest, I never had much time to meet women. I spent practically all the years that could be called my youth at war.”
“Ah, that’s unfortunate.”
The two resumed eating.
There were people secretly watching them.
They were Cheon Geuk and the Guardian Killing Stars, hidden under concealment techniques.
Look at the way that woman is daintily chewing. If she were alone, she’d probably be stuffing her face. Am I right?
...Yes.
Look, look! Did you see how she glanced at him just now before lowering her eyes? She’s practically dripping with seduction. You saw it, right?
...Yes.
Do I look younger than her?
Yes.
What?
Seo Seong sent a voice transmission instead of the hesitant Dong Seong.
Young Lady, you look much younger. And you’re a hundred times prettier as well.
Cheon Geuk snorted with amusement.
Whew. Getting those words out was exhausting. If I’d kept talking with Dong Seong, I would’ve had to spend the entire day badmouthing that woman. And even then, I probably never would’ve heard what I wanted.
Ah, I apologize.
Dong Seong truly had no understanding whatsoever of what women wanted to hear.
I need to find Dong Seong a woman first.
I’m fine!
I’m not!
Meanwhile, the conversation between Baek So-cheon and Meol Ji-ryun continued.
Meol Ji-ryun cautiously brought something up.
“There was something I didn’t mention yesterday when I met the Alliance Leader.”
“What is it?”
“A matchmaker came from the Cheukcheon Alliance. They came because the Cheukcheon Alliance Leader’s son wanted to marry me.”
For some reason, she openly revealed to Baek So-cheon that the Cheukcheon Alliance had sent a matchmaker.
“I’ve heard many rumors about the Cheukcheon Alliance Leader’s son as well. Most of them were bad. So I told my father I had no intention of marrying him and asked him to reject the proposal.”
Baek So-cheon simply listened without saying anything.
“My father was troubled. He said he needed a proper justification for rejecting them.”
“And that justification was me?”
“I’m sorry. I thought that if it were Great Hero Baek, even the Cheukcheon Alliance wouldn’t be able to object.”
“Why?”
“Because you are... the only man in the martial world who nearly killed the Cheukcheon Alliance Leader.”
“Did you never consider that this might make the Cheukcheon Alliance Leader even angrier?”
“I didn’t. Was I too shortsighted?”
Baek So-cheon could not tell how much of her story he should believe.
For now, he pretended to accept it.
Since she had revealed one truth, he decided to reveal one truth of his own.
“Yeom Sa-won of the Cheukcheon Alliance is coming here.”
She would learn about it soon anyway.
Telling her now would make it seem like he was repaying her honesty with honesty of his own.
“What? He’s coming here?”
Meol Ji-ryun was visibly startled. There was no way she could have known yet.
“Why?”
“Because of you. He intends to come here and fight me over you.”
“So that’s what the Cheukcheon Alliance Leader’s son is like. He really is just like the rumors. Deciding things however he pleases and acting on them.”
She lowered her head with a regretful expression.
“I’ve put you in a difficult position because of me. I’m sorry.”
If all of this was an act, then she was an exceptionally talented actress.
Was she truly the Blood Cult Leader’s daughter?
For now, at least her eyes were indeed gray.
If those eyes turned red when she became angry, he would know for certain.
Baek So-cheon spoke.
“If you’re finished, shall we head back?”
“All right.”
The two left the inn.
In front of the building, Meol Ji-ryun bid him farewell.
“Since I’m already out, I’m going to look around for a while before returning.”
“Very well. Then I’ll see you again.”
She took a few steps toward the marketplace, then turned back toward Baek So-cheon.
“By the way, is there someone you like?”
Baek So-cheon replied indifferently,
“That sounds like something you should have asked before sending a matchmaker.”
“I suppose so. Then I’ll be going.”
Meol Ji-ryun disappeared into the crowd.
Rap Sa and Pa Jeong, who had been standing at a distance, began following after her.
Baek So-cheon started walking in the opposite direction toward the Martial Alliance, then suddenly glanced toward the roof of the inn.
“There are some advantages to getting older. You start noticing things you couldn’t see when you were young. Instead of a woman’s face or figure, you notice other things first. Things like irresponsibility or thoughtlessness—dragging someone else into trouble because you don’t want to be troubled yourself. No matter how thick the makeup or how pretty the clothes, those things stand out first. So you don’t need to worry.”
After finishing that long monologue, Baek So-cheon continued toward the alliance.
A moment later, Cheon Geuk and the Guardian Killing Stars released their concealment and appeared on the rooftop.
Baek So-cheon had realized they were hiding there and deliberately left those words behind.
Despite the length of his explanation, Cheon Geuk ignored the moon he had been pointing at and stared only at his finger.
“What? He’s saying he didn’t even look at my face or figure!”
“I do not believe that was what he meant.”
“What do you mean, it wasn’t?”
“How could that possibly be the case? No man would dare do such a thing.”
Cheon Geuk turned toward Dong Seong.
“So you look at my body too?”
“Gasp! N-No!”
Cheon Geuk grinned at the flustered Dong Seong.
But she was not smiling because she had succeeded in teasing him.
It was because of what Baek So-cheon had said.
His assurance that she had nothing to worry about made all the gloom weighing on her heart disappear at once.
However, along with that relief came another concern.
She looked in the direction Meol Ji-ryun had gone.
“Maybe it’s because I practice sinister arts, but I don’t have a good feeling about her.”
“We felt the same.”
“It sounds strange for assassins to say this... but I think we should protect that woman.”
None of the four Guardian Killing Stars found the statement strange.
After all, they were not trying to protect Baek So-cheon.
They were trying to protect their Young Lady’s love.
****
That night, Meol Ji-ryun stood beside the window.
When the moonlight disappeared behind the clouds, her gray eyes were swallowed by the darkness as well.
“Baek So-cheon really isn’t an easy man to deal with, just as the rumors said.”
Rap Sa was in the room with her.
Pa Jeong stood guard outside the door.
Rap Sa drank his tea as he replied,
“No ordinary man could drive a sword into the Cheukcheon Alliance Leader’s chest.”
“But a variable has appeared.”
“A variable?”
“Yeom Sa-won is coming here.”
“That delinquent from the Cheukcheon Alliance?”
“Yes.”
“Then Yeomhwasin has made his move.”
“That would seem to be the case.”
Rap Sa’s wrinkles deepened.
“If Yeomhwasin is moving, then this place is dangerous. You should return.”
“I don’t want to.”
Her refusal was so firm that it cut off every concern he might have raised afterward.
Rap Sa put down his teacup.
“My duty is to keep you safe, Young Lady. Please do not forget that.”
Meol Ji-ryun turned toward him and smiled.
“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything dangerous.”
“See that you don’t.”
Meol Ji-ryun turned back toward the window.
The moon emerged from behind the clouds and illuminated her.
Under the brilliant moonlight, her eyes began to gleam mysteriously.
“I’m beginning to like the Central Plains.”
***
The next day, Wuhan began to stir.
An astonishing rumor had started spreading.
It was said that Baek So-cheon and Yeom Sa-won would fight a life-or-death duel over the Blood Cult Leader’s daughter.
The Martial Alliance had treated the matter as top secret, which meant the rumor had originated from the Cheukcheon Alliance.
Judging from how quickly the news had reached Wuhan, Yeomhwasin must have begun spreading it immediately after parting ways with Baek So-cheon.
It was blatant pressure.
A demand that Baek So-cheon accept the duel.
As a result, everyone who met was talking about it.
“Does the Blood Cult Leader really intend to take Baek So-cheon as his son-in-law?”
“I was shocked too.”
“Wouldn’t this mean war might not happen?”
“That’s right. If the Martial Alliance joins hands with the Blood Cult, the Cheukcheon Alliance won’t be able to act recklessly.”
“But there’s no way the orthodox martial world can join hands with the Blood Cult.”
“It’s complicated. Truly complicated.”
As if to confirm that the rumor was more than mere rumor, Yeom Sa-won arrived at the Martial Alliance.
He had truly come.
Like Meol Ji-ryun, he had brought only two guards.
One was Jan Baek, who had previously refused an order to kill Baek So-cheon and Cheon Geuk.
The other was Go Goeng, also one of the Eighteen Ghost Swords.
With war looming, Yeomhwasin had entrusted his successor to merely two escorts and sent him away.
He was truly a man whose way of thinking was difficult for anyone to understand.
Following the martial artist assigned to guide them, the three entered Unryong Hall with confidence.
Once again, Baek So-cheon, Zhuge Hyeon, On Byeok-hwa, and Ak So-gun were waiting inside.
“It has been a long time, Alliance Leader Ak.”
Yeom Sa-won had met Ak So-gun on the battlefield before.
“It has indeed, Young Hero Yeom.”
“I’m a little too old to be called a Young Hero now.”
He was clearly asking to be addressed as Great Hero instead.
He had only recently passed the age where “Young Hero” might suit him and was still far from deserving the title of “Great Hero,” but Ak So-gun humored him.
“Indeed. We meet again now that you’ve become a dignified Great Hero.”
Yeom Sa-won exchanged greetings with Zhuge Hyeon and On Byeok-hwa as well, but he did not even look at Baek So-cheon.
He treated him as though he did not exist.
In fact, Yeom Sa-won was easier to deal with than Meol Ji-ryun.
The one who truly paid attention to Baek So-cheon was Jan Baek.
He had been present in the past when Baek So-cheon killed five of the Eighteen Ghost Swords in a single place.
Because of that, his resentment toward Baek So-cheon ran deep.
And his fear was just as great as his hatred.
Their eyes met.
Baek So-cheon remembered him, while Jan Baek’s gaze turned vicious.
I haven’t forgotten what happened that day.
Of course, he could only display such anger because he believed Baek So-cheon had lost his internal energy.
Had he known Baek So-cheon still possessed it, forget glaring at him—he would not have dared meet his eyes.
Go Goeng, on the other hand, had been newly appointed to one of the five vacant positions among the Eighteen Ghost Swords, so he held no direct grudge against Baek So-cheon.
Soon afterward, Meol Ji-ryun and her two guards entered after hearing that Yeom Sa-won had arrived.
The instant Yeom Sa-won saw Meol Ji-ryun, his eyes widened.
Well, look at that. She’s quite a beauty.
Yeom Sa-won was notorious for his womanizing ways and had experienced all manner of beautiful women, but he had never encountered one with such an exotic appearance.
The moment he saw her, anger suddenly surged within him.
The fact that she was beautiful only made his fury even more crude and intense.
You damned bitch! You rejected me and chose Baek So-cheon instead?
Yeom Sa-won bluntly asked her,
“Why did you reject the matchmaker we sent?”