CLS-Chapter 249

Chapter 249

No! That’s not it!

Jang-il, who had almost been swayed by Wei Yan-ho’s rhetoric for a moment, shook his head vigorously.

It sounded plausible, but wasn’t that just how the information trade worked? Just as there were people who bought information from others, everyone tacitly acknowledged that their own information could be sold too.

“Isn’t that just how this business works!”

“Huh.”

“What’s good is good. Are we strangers?”

“We are strangers though?”

“Well, of course we’re strangers. But that’s just how the information industry works.”

“I don’t know about that stuff.”

Wei Yan-ho waved his hand dismissively.

“Hand it over.”

“What?”

“The money you pocketed.”

“……”

Jang-il’s body trembled. So the reason he’d specifically called him here was to take the money he’d earned from selling his information?

“Hey, you money-grubbing beggar!”

“What a harsh truth.”

“You’ve got money rotting away in abundance, and you absolutely must take this? I won’t give it! No, I can’t give it! Take my head instead, you bastard!”

As Jang-il threw a fit, Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.

“You can’t give it?”

“That’s right!”

“Got it. Go on then.”

“……”

When Wei Yan-ho nonchalantly began chomp chomping his food, it was Jang-il who became anxious instead.

The Wei Yan-ho he’d observed so far usually didn’t move unless he had to, but he had a strangely persistent side. If you fell out of his favor or built up even the slightest grudge, he was petty enough to somehow pay you back—that was exactly who Wei Yan-ho was.

But now he was just telling him to leave.

“……Can I really go?”

“Yeah. Go.”

“Really?”

“Have you lived your whole life being deceived.”

Jang-il looked at Wei Yan-ho with a displeased expression. Wei Yan-ho had told him to go, but his instincts were telling him he shouldn’t retreat from this place now.

“What happens if I leave?”

Jang-il’s advantage was that he didn’t think too deeply. More precisely, he didn’t have the bad habit of agonizing over problems that wouldn’t have answers even if he thought about them alone. If he was curious, he’d just ask.

“What would happen? There’s nothing to worry about, Little Beggar.”

‘That petty bastard.’

The statement clearly meant ‘From now on, let’s settle all personal relationships and return to purely official ones.’ If someone else had spoken like this, you could smooth things over later by buying them a drink, but Wei Yan-ho wasn’t the type that approach would work on.

He was indescribably petty.

“Krrrrgh.”

Looking at Wei Yan-ho grinning sheepishly, he wanted to rush over and bite his nose off right then and there, but if he attempted such a thing, he’d definitely be smashed into the opposite mountain peak before even approaching the dining table.

‘A guy with power who’s petty too.’

What on earth was Buddha thinking when he released such a human into the world?

Though his body was trembling, his head made cold calculations. When he weighed the money he’d received now against the benefits he could gain by maintaining his relationship with Wei Yan-ho in the future, the scale didn’t just tip to one side—it was digging into the ground.

“Krrrrrrgh.”

But that’s just how humans are.

Giving up immediate sweetness for greater benefits that would come later involves pain and sorrow, doesn’t it? Jang-il held back tears.

“Damn… I put it under the bed.”

“Get it!”

“Yes!”

When Ho Chul-san gestured, Namgung Young-ryeong excitedly ran outside. He’d already been annoyed about having his emergency fund completely cleaned out by his peer, but other people’s misfortune is my happiness, so Namgung Young-ryeong bounced out cheerfully.

“Hey! How much money do you make that you’re trying to steal money from poor beggar kids!”

It was a last desperate struggle. But Wei Yan-ho was utterly cold.

“You’re saying that money goes to the beggars?”

“Of course!”

“I’ve never once heard that the Beggar’s Sect feeds beggar kids? Then why do beggars go around begging?”

“……”

“The Beggar’s Sect makes good money, right? But why are all the people affiliated with the Beggar’s Sect beggars, and why do they live in shacks and go around begging?”

“Huh?”

Jang-il tilted his head.

Come to think of it, he’d never thought about it that way.

“Th-this money is used to provide relief to countless people throughout the Central Plains.”

Some words he’d heard somewhere came to mind.

“What relief do beggar kids provide? You guys should be receiving relief! If beggars collect money to help others, do people say ‘what an amazing beggar’? They say ‘a beggar doing beggar-like things.'”

“Krrrrrrgh.”

In the end, Jang-il only confirmed the simple truth that he shouldn’t engage in conversation with that bastard.

Namgung Young-ryeong returned with a very fresh face, carrying a chest and placing it at Wei Yan-ho’s feet. Wei Yan-ho opened the chest and looked back at Jang-il with a pleased expression.

“Hand it over.”

“What else now……”

“The money you set aside separately without reporting to headquarters.”

“Krrrk.”

With trembling hands, Jang-il reached inside his chest and pulled out two money pouches, throwing them to Wei Yan-ho.

‘Ruthless bastard.’

Normally, no one would know about money like this, but that bastard understood his habits far too well. Frighteningly so.

“You’re really going to be punished.”

“That’s not for you to worry about.”

“You’ll fall into hell.”

“That’s better than living as a beggar now, so you don’t need to worry about me.”

Jang-il, having gained nothing at all, let his shoulders slump. Wei Yan-ho threw the two pouches inside and closed the chest lid, pushing it back.

“I’ll use it well.”

Then he didn’t forget to bow politely. The original owners of the pouches thought that maybe only the subject of the robbery had changed, but they felt this was better than that Jang-il bastard taking it.

“You could have just given it to me directly, but some weirdo got in the middle and made things complicated. Anyway, tsk tsk.”

When Wei Yan-ho looked at him with disdainful eyes, Jang-il quietly stood up from his seat.

“……Well then, I’ll be going.”

“Where are you going? Aren’t you eating?”

“I don’t have time. I need to make a report now.”

“A report?”

When Wei Yan-ho looked curious, Jang-il fell into conflict.

‘I want to annoy him.’

He wanted to provoke curiosity and then leave without revealing the results, but Wei Yan-ho wasn’t the type to give up his laziness for the sake of curiosity. He’d just say ‘Oh, okay.’

The fact that there was absolutely no way to torment Wei Yan-ho from his current position made Jang-il feel miserable.

“Better to die than suffer.”

“What are you saying?”

“……I told you before. There are signs that suspicious people are approaching this area.”

“Did you say that?”

Jang-il smiled broadly.

‘I don’t need to be careful with my words in front of that bastard.’

He’d forget anyway.

“Then isn’t it dangerous?”

Jang-il snorted.

“What do you think this place is?”

“Mount Hua.”

“Right, Mount Hua. Among the Nine Sects, it’s a sect that could be counted in the top three in terms of military power. Elite members from each sect are gathered at such a sect right now—how could this place be dangerous?”

“The other side wouldn’t be unaware of that, so couldn’t they have prepared countermeasures?”

“Do you think countermeasures can be prepared just because you want to?”

Wasn’t Jang-il someone who still hadn’t been able to prepare any countermeasures against Wei Yan-ho? If you could prepare all countermeasures just by understanding the situation, there would be nothing difficult in the world.

“When there’s a difference in military strength, there are limits to what you can make up with strategy.”

“But there might be a strategist like Zhuge Liang on their side.”

Jang-il looked at Wei Yan-ho with pitying eyes.

“Even Zhuge Liang couldn’t defeat the Wei Kingdom.”

“Wow, I understand it in one go.”

“And well, they don’t seem to be that unified an organization. The numbers don’t seem that large either… We’re maintaining vigilance for now, but I don’t know what their purpose is.”

“Oh, okay.”

Wei Yan-ho had already lost interest.

“Tsk.”

Jang-il sighed looking at Wei Yan-ho.

‘He should show some interest even in something like this.’

Whether he liked it or not, Wei Yan-ho would come to wield enormous influence in the martial world from now on. After winning this tournament, the position of the world’s greatest rising expert would belong to Wei Yan-ho, and considering the divine prowess Wei Yan-ho was displaying in this tournament, within ten years he would inevitably be mentioned when discussing the world’s greatest martial artist.

That meant that after ten years passed, whenever crises came to the martial world, more people would seek out Wei Yan-ho…

‘Will it be okay?’

Jang-il’s eyes wavered.

When he thought about that human coming to decide the major and minor affairs of the martial world, his head suddenly started aching.

Setting aside being bothersome, if it were Wei Yan-ho, no matter what happened, no harm should come to him, and in the midst of that, he would definitely try to gain benefits from any movement…

To Jang-il, who thought that being the world’s greatest martial artist was a position where you gained honor and prestige but lost practical benefits, Wei Yan-ho was someone who absolutely didn’t suit that position.

“I really wonder what will happen.”

“What?”

“……Never mind. Yeah, eat plenty.”

“Mm.”

As Jang-il was leaving the living room, he glanced back at Wei Yan-ho.

Around Wei Yan-ho, who was devouring food, Ho Chul-san and Ak Seo-hui were gathering.

‘He strangely has charisma.’

Though Wei Yan-ho’s reputation among those around him was the worst, when you thought about it, people weren’t exactly avoiding him either. His peers were like this, and among the younger students, he maintained a kind of antagonistic relationship with the Five Dragons.

Though he didn’t give good impressions to everyone he met, the frightening thing about Wei Yan-ho was that he somehow tied them all together with bonds of connection.

‘Maybe this is the quality of a hero.’

Jang-il shook his head and went outside.

The tournament was approaching its final stages.

Match after match continued, and of all those participants, not many remained now.

Originally, tournaments maintain a somewhat enjoyable festival atmosphere in the beginning and the mood builds as they progress, but strangely, this tournament’s atmosphere was cooling down as the days passed.

And at the center of the reason was the person currently on the martial arts platform.

“I surrender!”

Song Hyeon shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Eh?”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

“But I just came up?”

“I surrender! I surrender! Song Hyeon of Wudang acknowledges that he is no match for Young Hero Wei Yan-ho!”

“Eh?”

The referee waved his hand.

“Get down, get down.”

“Yes!”

Song Hyeon went down from the martial arts platform with a face like he’d survived.

“Hul, it’s over?”

The referee nodded.

“Since the opponent surrendered, there’s nothing we can do. Victory goes to Wei Yan-ho of the Guangdong Wei Family.”

“If you were going to do this, you should have surrendered beforehand! I came all the way up here for nothing!”

Wei Yan-ho grumbled as he came down from the martial arts platform, but none of the spectators criticized him for being arrogant.

“So there are eight left now?”

“That’s right. It means three more matches will determine the winner.”

“Then shouldn’t there usually be debates about who will win around this time?”

“……Who do you think will win?”

“Wei Yan-ho.”

“I think so too. So there’s no need for debate.”

“……Ah.”

It was the tournament’s misfortune to have such an overwhelmingly dominant favorite. Thanks to that, despite being such a large tournament, it couldn’t easily heat up.

But there were always minority opinions.

“I don’t think so, though?”