Chapter 86

Chapter 86

What is the most important quality for one who leads?

Some say it’s the eye to recognize talent, while others say it’s the power to lead people. Yet others say it’s the wisdom to suggest the direction the group should go.

These aren’t wrong statements. Those are all talents needed by a leader. Whether it’s a sage king who leads people with benevolence and righteousness, or a tyrant who rules with blood and iron, both exist.

Eyes, power, wisdom. All are necessary. The one who leads from the front must possess numerous talents. That’s natural. However.

Setting all that aside and thinking about it, to Daesageom, the most important quality of a leader was just one thing.

How rational is he?

How logical is he?

Hae hour. A flower garden near Guanjemiao, slightly away from Sangsan.

Daesageom, who had been quietly looking at flowers blooming beautifully with a profuse fragrance, opened his mouth at the presence he felt.

“Do you know why people plant flowers in gardens?”

At Daesageom speaking without even looking at him, the approaching presence hesitated for a moment then shook his head. Then Daesageom immediately continued.

“Because flowers are pleasing to look at. More precisely, because the scene created by flowers and trees together is beautiful.”

“……Yes.”

At Daesageom’s words, Seonwoo Gang, who opened the main gate and entered the guest quarters, received it with a hardened expression. However, Daesageom’s words didn’t end.

“For flowers and trees to become beautiful together, that scene must be harmonious. Even if all sorts of rare and exotic flowers bloom profusely, if they don’t harmonize with each other, they’re ultimately no different from weeds.”

“Yes.”

“Good that you know. Then.”

Daesageom, who briefly cut off his breathing, reached out and grasped a single white flower blooming modestly among purple flowers. And the question that followed.

“Do you know what’s needed for a garden to be harmonious?”

“It’s pulling out things that ruin the harmony. Like this.”

Crack!

Daesageom, who grabbed the white flower’s stem and pulled the flower out and threw it away, quietly turned his gaze to look at his disciple.

“I’ll ask one more thing. A hunter one day raised and fed a hunting dog to catch bears, caring for it devotedly. But the hunting dog went out to hunt, became friendly with a bear, and became unable to bite the bear—in such a case, what should be done?”

“……Master.”

“I asked what should be done.”

Watching Daesageom asking quietly, Seonwoo Gang tightly closed his eyes. That’s because it wasn’t wrong.

‘I knew this would happen.‘

No sect anywhere lets a martial artist who turned their back on the sect go free.

This is natural. A sect’s martial artist means someone who knows that sect’s martial arts, and if this martial artist is let go, naturally the martial arts leak.

Even Shaolin, famous for its compassion, cripples the dantian when dealing with monks who break their vows. In the case of other sects, they cripple the dantian along with severing the limbs’ meridians, and in the case of the Evil Path, expulsion often directly means death.

And his master, the Blood Sword Gate Master, is among those Evil Path figures famous for having no mercy in his hands. Ultimately, his own fate was already decided.

“……I won’t use Blood Sword Gate’s martial arts. Naturally I won’t…… transmit them either.”

“Absurd. Do you think the price of your betrayal is sufficient with that?”

“Give me time. Master. If you tell me to cripple my dantian, I’ll cripple it, if you tell me to sever my meridians, I’ll sever them. If you tell me to commit suicide, I’ll do so, so at least just until the competition ends…….”

“Enough. I wondered if you’d changed a bit, but you still haven’t changed at all.”

Srrring!

Daesageom, who cut off his words, quietly drew his sword and aimed it at Seonwoo Gang, continuing.

“Come back.”

“I don’t care if you’re so stained by the Orthodox Path that you can’t return. You must rot within our gate even while rotting. A traitor has no radiance, and such a precedent mustn’t be set.”

“……Master.”

“You don’t even need to complete the entire competition. Forfeit. The next result is already decided anyway.”

At Daesageom speaking coldly, Seonwoo Gang bit his lips. And the words that followed.

“I cannot…… return.”

“……What did you just say?”

“I said I cannot return.”

After finishing his words, Seonwoo Gang, who stood confidently, firmly met Daesageom. The eyes of Daesageom looking at him with cold gaze.

“I’ve constantly thought about why I took up the sword.”

“At first, I thought I took up the sword for revenge. Actually, that was true. I entered Blood Sword Gate for revenge for my father who died senselessly that day.”

He climbed up desperately.

At that time, Seonwoo Gang’s driving force was only one thing—revenge for his father. With only the determination for revenge, he stood out by surpassing all the comrades training together. He trained sparing even his sleeping time.

“Every time I swung my sword, I thought. This is different, my father’s sword wasn’t like this.”

Father’s sword was also an Evil Path sword. In the first place, what practical combat martial arts could a third-rate martial artist from the marketplace learn except the Evil Path’s?

But father’s sword was different from his own sword. Even though he had long since surpassed father’s level, Seonwoo Gang couldn’t reproduce that sword.

“What I want to inherit isn’t Blood Sword Gate’s sword. It’s my father’s…… Seonwoo Yang’s sword.”

A sword that knows benevolence and righteousness .

A sword that places those to be protected at one’s back.

He wants to learn such a sword. A sword to protect comrades and the weak that could never be learned at Blood Sword Gate.

“If you tell me to bark, I’ll bark; if you tell me to crawl, I’ll crawl. However, returning to Blood Sword Gate…… returning to the Evil Path is impossible. Just as Master said, I’m already stained with the Orthodox Path’s water.”

I cannot return.

Seonwoo Gang, who clearly stated his opinion, bowed his head toward Daesageom with resolve. And the final words that flowed out.

“Please…… let me go. I beg you.”

“……Ha.”

Daesageom, who looked as if this was absurd, smiled and lowered his sword strike. And.

“Is that so.”

The moment Seonwoo Gang was about to raise his head again in the brief silence.

“Then die here.”

Shwaaaaak!

Daesageom’s sword drew a graceful trajectory.

At the same time.

“That won’t do.”

A familiar man blocked Seonwoo Gang’s front.

Kaaaaaang-!!!

A few days ago.

“You may now reveal your true skills.”

“Ah, is that so……?”

At my summons, Seonwoo Gang, who had been calmly drinking tea and nodding as if he understood, blinked his eyes and asked again.

“Pardon?”

“Did you mishear? I said you may reveal your true skills.”

“No, I heard it, but…… what? I thought I shouldn’t reveal them?”

Watching Seonwoo Gang ask back as if he didn’t understand, I let out a small laugh. He seemed quite confused.

“Do you remember why I told you not to reveal your true skills?”

“Well, isn’t it because of the Sado Alliance Leader and Ma……ster? You said problems could arise if those two noticed my swordsmanship had changed.”

“That’s right.”

As I naturally nodded, Seonwoo Gang furrowed his brow slightly.

“But now you’re saying I can reveal them—are the Sado Alliance Leader and Master perhaps going to be absent during this gate?”

“I haven’t heard anything about that. Probably the probability is low.”

“Then doesn’t that mean I shouldn’t?”

“Think differently.”

Watching Seonwoo Gang’s flustered expression, I wore a small smile and tapped the table with my finger.

“The reason you can’t reveal your true skills is because we’re afraid those people might pull something on you. Then conversely, when can you reveal your true skills?”

“Well…… when they can’t pull anything.”

“That’s right. When they can’t pull anything. From this gate onward, you can reveal your true skills for that reason.”

The design is complete.

If things proceed according to my plan, by the time this gate ends, the Muryeongwando will have temporarily become heroes of the Orthodox Martial World. To hide their own flaws blinded by profit, people will extol the Muryeongwando and bestow fame upon them.

And if such a situation arrives, the Sado Alliance Leader and Daesageom can’t carelessly pull anything on Seonwoo Gang. They might be able to do backdoor work, but at least they can’t do something like burying him somewhere in the mountains without anyone knowing.

“In this situation, if they try to dispose of you, they’re left with only two choices. The first is quietly disposing of you when the martial world’s interest in this competition has died down, and the second is leaking information to reveal that you’re a spy.”

“Isn’t both dangerous?”

“The first is a danger that was coming anyway. It’s too optimistic to think they’ll let you go willingly. You don’t need to worry about this one.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

When the martial world’s interest dies down, they’ll dispose of you—that means conversely, if the martial world’s interest doesn’t die down, they can’t dispose of you.

With Seonwoo Gang’s talent, drawing attention probably won’t be difficult. And as time passes, even if it’s revealed that Seonwoo Gang ‘was’ a spy, the Murim Alliance won’t be able to abandon Seonwoo Gang, so it’s not actually threatening.

“And in the latter case…….”

I trailed off and wore a faint smile. It was a hypothesis that wouldn’t come true without needing to worry.

With this incident, the Murim Alliance lost face. And the only ones who saved that face were the Muryeongwando. But if it’s publicly announced to the masses that actually there was a spy among the Muryeongwando?

The Murim Alliance can’t handle that backlash. By that time, the person treating Seonwoo Gang as a spy would probably be treated as a spy again instead.

“For these reasons, from this gate onward, the Sado Alliance Leader and Daesageom won’t be able to easily touch you.”

“I understand.”

Seonwoo Gang, who nodded as if he understood, suddenly pursed his lips as if he remembered something.

“……But Munjunim.”

“Why?”

“Just, hypothetically speaking.”

At my question, Seonwoo Gang, who hesitated for a moment, asked cautiously.

“What if Master tries to kill me while accepting the loss without such calculations?”

“If Daesageom tries to kill you……you say.”

At Seonwoo Gang’s hypothesis, I thought for a moment then smirked. Daesageom trying to kill Seonwoo Gang when there’s no gain?

“Well, that could happen.”

It’s the nature of the martial world not to know what might happen. If asked whether there’s absolutely no possibility of Daesageom losing his reason and trying to cut down Seonwoo Gang, I’d say that’s not the case.

“That’s nonsense.”

This time alone, that won’t happen. Because.

Even while I’m saying this, red energy  isn’t flowing through Seonwoo Gang’s body.

Kaaaaaang-!!!

“Mm.”

The moment I deflected the blood-red sword energy, I stepped back one step with a weak groan at the tremendous force rising through the blade tip. Then Daesageom, who looked at me, spoke quietly.

“A rat was hiding.”

At Daesageom’s words, I let out a faint laugh and responded.

“The rat hearing that would feel bad. Daesageom. And didn’t you already know?”

“You even released sword energy telling me to hurry up and jump out, yet you’re playing dumb?”

As I smirked and swung my sword, Daesageom looked at Seonwoo Gang, who was making a bewildered expression, and me alternately with sharp eyes. And soon Daesageom nodded as if he understood.

“So it was you.”

“What do you mean?”

“The one who changed my disciple like this.”

At Daesageom’s words containing many implications, I nodded. There was nothing to deny.

“That’s right. Because he was unable to awaken to his true meaning right before his eyes, I gave him a bit of help.”

“What are you thinking?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re affiliated with the Murim Alliance, aren’t you? Not reporting a spy to the Murim Alliance even after seeing one could be viewed as an act of treason.”

“Ah, that.”

Hearing Daesageom’s words, I smirked. Certainly such regulations exist, but.

That story doesn’t apply to me.

“Others might not know, but I have some things I’ve set up.”

“……What?”

At Daesageom frowning as if he didn’t understand, I raised my sword strike.

“Stop this pointless show of force. Since we both don’t want to cause a commotion anyway, wouldn’t it be better to resolve this amicably?”

“……Pointless show of force, you say.”

Daesageom, who had been staring at me for a moment, let out a hollow laugh and turned his gaze toward Seonwoo Gang.

“It seems you don’t know much since you don’t have experience leading. Cutting out traitors is more important than anything else for an organization. Do you know why?”

“I think I know, but I’ll listen. Why is it?”

“Because they undermine unity.”

Daesageom, who wore a thick murderous smile, raised his sword strike toward Seonwoo Gang.

“The collapse of a great dam starts from small cracks. If you allow one, another might appear, and that one becomes ten, becomes twenty, becomes a hundred, until you can’t stop it.”

“If I let that fellow achieve what he wants here, other disciples might also harbor thoughts of betrayal seeing his precedent. The first time is always difficult. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s true.”

I calmly agreed. Because it wasn’t wrong.

The first time is difficult. That applies to everything. Right now, even at Shaolin, the training of striking hands against heated sand—doesn’t it say the first person who did it was treated like a madman?

If there’s a pioneer, the actions of followers become easier. It’s true. Nothing makes people braver than knowing what lies at the end of this path. Daesageom’s logic is flawless in that regard.

“That’s why traitors must be cut from the root. You mustn’t let traitors achieve what they want! Is there anything wrong with these words?”

“It seems not.”

“If you understand, step aside. Unless you want to die a dog’s death by interfering.”

At Daesageom’s appearance fully releasing killing intent, a strange tension starting from the sword strike entered through my arm and lingered around my neck. Daesageom’s appearance as if he’d truly fight to the death, filled with killing intent.

“I have no intention of stepping aside.”

“……What?”

“Didn’t I say I have no intention of stepping aside?”

Daesageom’s logic being correct is only when Daesageom is telling only the truth.

“If it’s not a crack but something else, the story changes.”

A precedent ultimately remains as a precedent only if someone knows.

“Stop pulling cheap tricks. I’m not such a youngster that I can’t read through that much.”

“……What.”

“I said stop the angry act. That’s because.”

Looking at Daesageom’s coldly hardened expression, I raised the corners of my mouth.

“You don’t have even a rat’s tail worth of thought about killing this child, do you?”

At my calmly spoken words.

Daesageom’s eyes, which had been hardened all along, looked directly at me.

With a strange wariness he’d never shown before.