Chapter 106

Chapter 106

The Sado Alliance Leader demanded the return of Seonwoo Gang, a Late-Stage Rising Star belonging to the Sado Alliance, as compensation for winning the Grand Competition!

The rumor that began at the Grand Competition, which had drawn the attention of the entire Gangho, spread like wildfire and captured the crowd’s interest. It wasn’t even really a rumor to begin with, since more than a few people had witnessed the Sado Alliance Leader demanding his return.

One of the two Late-Stage Rising Stars who had shown the most impressive performance at the Grand Competition was actually a spy from the Sado Alliance.

The people of Gangho were shocked by this astonishingly stunning fact, and at the same time furious. Since it was revealed that someone they had thought was the future of the Orthodox Path was actually a lackey of the Demonic Path, they couldn’t help but feel betrayed.

“Are you all out of your minds?”

Unfortunately for Seonwoo Gang, those who felt betrayed were not limited to the Orthodox Path crowds alone.

Muryeon Hall lodgings.

“……Do you think this makes any sense?”

At Oh Ryeong’s sharp voice breaking the eerily silent atmosphere, all the Muryeon Hall members who had been sitting turned their heads. Then Oh Ryeong continued speaking.

“Seonwoo Gang is a spy from the Sado Alliance? The Sect Master was imprisoned for knowing about a Sado Alliance spy and not reporting it? Don’t talk such nonsense!”

“If you’ve spent four years with him, you’d know. You know that guy can’t be that cunning!”

What is a spy?

A spy is someone who infiltrates an opposing force to extract secrets. In other words, it means a spy’s main job is to induce or predict the opponent’s actions.

In short, the closer a spy gets to a key position, the higher the probability they can perfectly carry out their mission.

Seonwoo Gang is a spy?

That Seonwoo Gang who didn’t care about his own safety and only looked after his fellow disciples?

“I’d understand better if you told me Seomun Cheok or this baldy was the spy!”

“Hey, why am I being dragged into this……”

“Anyway!”

Oh Ryeong sneered and ground his teeth.

“The Sado Alliance Leader must have spouted nonsense to cause internal strife. Actually, it doesn’t make sense. Even if Seonwoo Gang was a spy, would you normally reveal that to their face? You’d quietly take them away or something.”

There must be some hidden agenda.

When some agreed with Oh Ryeong’s words making that firm judgment, Gyeonghu, who had been keeping quiet, opened his mouth.

“You shouldn’t view it so simply. Oh Ryeong.”

“What?”

“I’m saying don’t let emotions cloud your judgment. The probability that Seonwoo Gang was a Sado Alliance spy is extremely high.”

At Gyeonghu’s cold words, Oh Ryeong, who had cooled down considerably, glared at Gyeonghu and clenched his fists tight. A lion’s roar about to burst out.

“Saying such things……!”

Grab!

“Mmph! Mmm! Nnngh!”

“Oh my, Oh Ryeong Siju. Keep listening. They say you should hear a person out to the end, don’t they?”

Unjin, who skillfully blocked Oh Ryeong’s mouth as he was about to explode, gave Gyeonghu a look to continue. And seeing that, Gyeonghu sighed and continued speaking.

“There are several grounds for judgment. First, the Sado Alliance Leader’s words.”

“You mean those words demanding the return of the Sado Alliance’s Late-Stage Rising Star?”

“Right.”

Gyeonghu nodded at Unjin’s question and tapped the table.

“The Sado Alliance Leader is an unpredictable person, but not one who spouts nonsense. If he publicly declared Seonwoo Gang was the Sado Alliance’s Late-Stage Rising Star, he must have something to prove it. At the very least, Seonwoo Gang is related to the Sado Alliance in some way. That much is certain.”

“But──!”

“Hear me out to the end. Oh Ryeong. I didn’t judge based on that alone either.”

Gyeonghu cut off Oh Ryeong who was trying to argue back, frowned, and continued.

“Unjin, do you remember during training?”

“Which time do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the first half of training. When we were receiving training, Seonwoo Gang was trained separately. Right?”

“That’s…… true.”

Unjin, remembering how Baek Riyun had planted Seonwoo Gang in the ground, nodded heavily.

“Thinking about it now, it’s strange. No matter how different Seonwoo Gang’s level was from ours, there’s no reason the training method would be so completely different, is there?”

“But……!”

“Can you argue against that?”

“You can’t, right.”

Gyeonghu sighed as he watched Oh Ryeong, who had jumped up as if to protest, gradually lose his words and become quiet.

“There’s another strange point. During the Hundred Demons Night Parade. And the martial arts Seonwoo Gang used during the final match of the Grand Competition.”

“Have you ever seen them?”

At Gyeonghu’s words, everyone closed their mouths and shook their heads. Indeed, the martial arts Seonwoo Gang had used weren’t ones they knew.

The martial arts Seonwoo Gang had used until now were Seonpung Hweryu Sword and Biryu Chil-yeon Shin.

Neither of them lacked anything to be called supreme techniques. From what they heard, they were martial arts from a single-successor sect that he had coincidentally obtained the opportunity to learn.

What’s certain is that both of them were clearly martial arts of the Orthodox Path that walked the righteous path.

“The new martial arts we saw were far too different from those two.”

The sensation of a snake flicking its tongue and brushing past the nape of one’s neck.

The intention it held was correct, but the sword path was wickedly ominous. Compared to the two martial arts that evoked a cool breeze, Seonwoo Gang’s new martial arts were far too different, weren’t they?

These were martial arts they had never seen despite living together for four years. It was also hard to think of them as Seonwoo Gang’s new martial arts.

It wasn’t just at the level of having strange points. Rather, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there were nothing but strange points.

“There’s only one truth.”

“Seonwoo Gang was a Sado Alliance spy. All the facts point to that. Even if you try to ignore it, the truth won’t change.”

“Don’t we all know that Seonwoo Gang was suspicious? We just pretended not to know until now.”

At Gyeonghu’s cold words, everyone closed their mouths, unable to argue. Because what he said wasn’t wrong.

Seonwoo Gang is suspicious.

Over the past four years, they hadn’t felt that prominently. Until then, they had simply thought he just didn’t like talking about himself.

However, martial arts he had never once revealed. An attitude of being strangely serious about the Grand Competition, unlike before.

While proceeding with this training, the Muryeon Hall members couldn’t help but have doubts about Seonwoo Gang. They just didn’t say it out loud because there were more important matters. They had at least guessed that Seonwoo Gang had ‘something’ going on.

That’s why Gyeonghu couldn’t help but address this point.

“Nine out of ten, no. With almost a hundred percent probability, Seonwoo Gang was a Sado Alliance spy. Does anyone disagree with this?”

“It seems not. Then.”

Confirming that even Oh Ryeong was keeping silent, Gyeonghu quietly declared.

“Seonwoo Gang was a spy. The Sado Alliance Leader didn’t lie. We should think of it that way.”

How cold.

All the Muryeon Hall members closed their mouths with dark expressions at the fact they had been trying to deny. And at that sight, Oh Ryeong bit his lips hard.

“……Even so.”

“Even so? Are you still planning to be stubborn, Oh Ryeong?”

“……I know. I know! That I’m being unreasonable.”

What is a spy?

A spy is a deceiver. Someone who deceives their true intentions, deceives their face, and furthermore deceives others to carry out their mission—that’s a spy, isn’t it?

“Perhaps both you and I might have been deceived by that bastard. It makes me furious to think about it! But even so.”

“Even so, you see. That bastard is…… Seonwoo Gang……!”

Emotional. Irrational.

Oh Ryeong knows those words suit him best. He knows well that not being able to think coldly is his weakness.

But what must be protected is one’s beliefs.

The single standard that has supported him.

“I…… think we need to believe in him. Not simply because he’s our fellow disciple, but because that guy is Seonwoo Gang.”

“If we don’t believe in him, who will believe in that bastard…….”

At Oh Ryeong’s bitter muttering, Gyeonghu, who had sighed, tapped his fingers on the table.

“So you’re saying we should believe in Seonwoo Gang, who’s a spy?”

“……Yes.”

“Even though it’s become certvm  ain he’s a spy?”

“……At least to the extent we’re indebted to that bastard, I think we need to believe in him. Because that guy has been pulling us along all this time.”

“To the extent we’re indebted, we need to believe in him.”

Gyeonghu, who had been looking at Oh Ryeong with displeasure, scratched the back of his head with a complicated expression and lowered his hand. Gyeonghu became quiet as if thinking about something.

And after a moment.

“Now we can have a proper discussion.”

“What?”

“Since you’ve cooled your head, let’s do this properly. Taking sides.”

Gyeonghu grinned at Oh Ryeong’s dumbfounded expression.

“First, now that we’ve organized the facts to some extent, shall we get to the main issue?”

“The…… main issue?”

“Right. The main issue.”

If he was going to end the discussion here, he wouldn’t have started it in the first place.

Gyeonghu, who had caught his breath for a moment, began speaking while twirling his finger.

“Now, if Seonwoo Gang is a spy, there’s something strange. First, the fact that Seonwoo Gang is suspicious.”

“……He could be suspicious because he’s a spy.”

“That’s not it. If it were just one or two sharp-eyed people vaguely suspecting, that would be one thing, but would Seonwoo Gang be stupid enough to be caught by this many people? Even that simple-minded Oh Ryeong noticed.”

“……Hm?”

Now that he mentions it, that’s true.

At Gyeonghu’s words, the Muryeon Hall members who realized something was strange blinked their eyes. And responding to that reaction, Gyeonghu continued speaking.

“The second strange point is what Oh Ryeong pointed out—the Sado Alliance Leader’s statement.”

“The Sado Alliance Leader’s statement?”

“Right. Isn’t it strange when you think about it? Why did the Sado Alliance Leader reveal that Seonwoo Gang is connected to the Sado Alliance?”

Thinking about it normally, if Seonwoo Gang really was a Sado Alliance spy, the Sado Alliance Leader wouldn’t need to reveal that. He could just roughly process it as missing in action during a mission and take him away.

Since Seonwoo Gang was about to join the Martial Force Corps, disappearing without anyone knowing wouldn’t be that difficult. Even more so with Seonwoo Gang’s cooperation.

“The Sado Alliance Leader deliberately revealed that Seonwoo Gang is related to them. Even accepting the loss.”

“When looking at a certain fact, don’t look at only one side. That’s the method the Sect Master taught us. Then what’s the ‘other side’ right now?”

The reason the Sado Alliance Leader accepted the loss. The reason he deliberately used a troublesome move.

“……Don’t tell me.”

Unjin’s eyes flashed as he kept thinking. And the answer that followed immediately.

“Seonwoo Gang Siju abandoned the Sado Alliance……?”

“If we assume that, it does explain everything that’s happened so far.”

The reason the Sado Alliance Leader accepted the loss was to prevent the Sado Alliance’s military strength from leaking to the Orthodox Path.

The reason Seonwoo Gang suddenly started showing gaps was because he was preparing to defect.

“Ah……!”

In the situation where everything was being explained, Oh Ryeong gaped. And seeing that, Gyeonghu hardened his expression.

“There are only two things that are certain. Even if Seonwoo Gang was a spy in the past, there’s no proof he’s still a spy now. And we owe that guy a lot.”

“If things continue like this, that guy will be dragged off to the Sado Alliance. But I think if that good-natured guy gets dragged to the Sado Alliance, he definitely won’t end up well, you know?”

Don’t they say birds of a feather flock together?

The Seonwoo Gang they know wouldn’t be able to adapt to the Demonic Path. Though the Orthodox Path and Demonic Path are said to be similar, the Demonic Path Murim isn’t soft enough for such a kind-hearted person to easily endure.

“Setting aside whether it’s true or not, we have to repay our debt.”

Four years.

The years Seonwoo Gang carried the burden of Muryeon Hall. Compared to all his hardships during that time, this level of hardship isn’t much, is it?

“We’re going to pull that guy out of the Demonic Path.”

“How?”

“Well.”

─What nonsense is this!

Gyeonghu, who was about to continue, suddenly blinked at the sound coming from outside the door and burst into laughter. The outside had become noisy at some point.

─Didn’t you hear me?

All the Muryeon Hall members who had gathered in groups and stuck their heads out the window exclaimed in admiration. Because.

─It’s a petition. Requesting that the return of Geumgeomryong  Seonwoo Gang be withdrawn.

The current Changcheon Corps Commander Moyong Hyeyeon was receiving the fury of the Murim Alliance’s Three Military Advisors Heo Chong with an expressionless face.

“It seems she moved a step faster than us.”

Gyeonghu shrugged his shoulders playfully and spoke again.

“Now, what needs to be done is clear. Canceling Seonwoo Gang’s return. And to do that, what’s needed?”

“That’s…… a simple story.”

Unjin, receiving Gyeonghu’s words, wore a sinister smile. And then the answer poured out in unison.

“Amitabha. If they requested Seonwoo Gang’s return as a trivial favor…….”

“Then it just needs to become no longer a trivial favor. Right?”

“Right.”

Gyeonghu, wearing a mischievous smile, nodded.

“We gather the Orthodox Path’s favor  onto Seonwoo Gang. There’s only one thing we have an advantage over the Sado Alliance Leader in. Do you know what I mean?”

There’s only one thing to do.

“We.”

A battle of public opinion.

“Create a hero.”