The Martial Genius Who Remembers Everything Chapter 123

[ … words ]

***

-Respected Hyung-nim.

I hope you have been well, and that your health has remained robust.

Although I, your younger brother, have never once doubted that Hyung-nim would become the top student of the Academy, when I actually heard the news, I felt like running to Wuhan immediately.

Please forgive this younger brother, who is tied down here due to other matters.

The Taeeul Sect has been doing well without any incidents.

Recently, those who came on a business trip from the Mo-san Sect completed the installation of the Gimun-jinsik (Strange Gate Array) and moved on to the Wang family estate.

I also have to go to the Wang family estate to install the same thing after I finish installing the Gigwan-jinsik (Mechanism Array) for the Taeeul Sect, but I am not sure if I will be able to match the schedule.

As of now, the designs for the Gigwan-jinsik are all finished, but the reality is that there are no people with the skills to implement those parts.

The Outer Hall Master and the Wang Family Master are searching everywhere to find skilled blacksmiths, but it does not seem easy.

I am desperate to finish everything as soon as possible and go to see Hyung-nim, but if I, your younger brother, show a lack of responsibility, Hyung-nim would be disappointed, would you not?

I, too, look forward to the day when I can perfectly finish my work and stand before Hyung-nim as a dignified man.

Fortunately, Eun-ho Sa-hyung sent me a picture of Hyung-nim’s dignified appearance, so I am receiving much comfort. The golden letters of ‘Top Student’ do not leave my eyes, so I have been looking at the painting all day long.

Senior Sister Wang asked a painting master to draw the same picture larger, and the Sect Leader said he would hang the picture Eun-ho Sa-hyung sent in the very front of the Daehyeon-jeon (Great Virtue Hall), so many junior disciples…

I threw the letter down as if tossing it away while reading that far.

Thud.

“…Where did Eun-ho go?”

Moyong Jae-hwa poked his head out.

“If you are talking about Eun-ho Sa-hyung, he went out a while ago when you started reading the letter.”

“…Damn bastard.”

Because I often saw him with someone I had never seen before over the past few days, I thought he had made a friend within the Academy.

To think that it was a painter pretending to be a friend.

“This damn guy… where did he get the money?”

Since all needs of life were provided within the Academy, what would he have to spend money on?

Moreover, since things of a higher quality than when we lived at the Taeeul Sect were provided, the satisfaction of the Geum-Eun-Dong brothers with the Academy was at its peak, even if others did not know.

Since he had never specifically asked for money, he surely would not have had any money except for the small pocket money I gave him.

“…”

“…Ugh, I feel stiff. Should I go loosen up my body?”

Seong Mo-ran suddenly stood up from her seat.

“Miss Seong.”

Seong Mo-ran shuddered, her shoulders trembling.

It was highly suspicious.

“…Oh, Seon-hwa, shall we go have a sparring match?”

“Did Miss Seong know about this, too?”

“…”

“So Miss Seong was the culprit.”

“Ah, no, it’s not, it’s not. Wh, what are you talking about…! I have nothing to do with it.”

“…”

“It, it’s the truth. I just gave him money when Eun-ho said he would draw a few paintings.”

“Eun-ho is still an Academy student, so when did you expect to get the money back?”

“Ah… Aha, no, well. It wasn’t that much money either. I received something that could be called a substitute… or should I say that money is not something to worry about anymore…”

Seong Mo-ran was rambling about what she meant.

In addition, for some reason, even Namgung Seon-hwa was avoiding my eyes, fidgeting with her fingers, and acting suspiciously.

“Ah, oh right! That reminds me, Monk Il-gak sent an invitation. Did you see that?”

Namgung Seon-hwa was changing the subject very awkwardly.

I sighed softly and decided to play along with it.

“Are they opening a banquet over there, too?”

It was already the third time.

The first to move was the 12 Peak Stars, and the next was the Five Great Clans. And now, even the Nine Great Sects had said they would hold a banquet.

“That is what I mean. Even though the Academy Representative hasn’t even opened one yet.”

Seong Mo-ran fanned herself as if she were dumbfounded.

“More than that, shouldn’t we hold a banquet now, too?”

“Even if I hold one, who would attend?”

Originally, once the Academy delegation was fully formed, the academic schedule of the Academy students would begin, starting with the first banquet, but others had intercepted that.

“But if it stays like this…”

It had been two weeks since the academic schedule began.

The work of the Academy delegation gained speed as they became skilled, and the document processing, which seemed impossible with just us, was completed.

However, the real problem was that there were no people to attend the academic schedule I was planning.

And if such an academic schedule continued for three months, I would eventually have to step down from the Academy representative position. That was why the Samcheong-musang-geom (Three Pure Peerless Sword) stepped down.

“They are not people who can be made to attend by obligation from the beginning. It is better to do other things with that money.”

“Other things?”

The information in my head was not used only for the document processing of the Academy delegation.

I knew how to make the Mantong-bu (Hall of Ten Thousand Communications), which oversaw and executed the budget, run, and I knew very well how to use it.

“There is no need to beg them to attend. Wouldn’t it be enough to make everyone desperate to attend?”

And I had no intention of stepping down from the representative position easily.

<><><>

“What in the world is going on!”

Jegal So-myeong shouted in annoyance, but there were no members responding to him.

It was a time when everyone was just waiting for vacation since the Academy regular exam was over, but documents as many as those from the regular exam had arrived at the Mantong-bu.

“These are the ones that came up from the Murim Academy.”

“The Academy? When have those guys ever processed work like this?”

“It’s not from the Academy side, but from the Academy delegation side.”

“What?”

Jegal So-myeong inadvertently flipped over one of the documents.

“…”

The documents, organized clearly, were perfect without any fluff.

“How many times has this gone back and forth?”

“It was processed at once.”

“What?”

Even for an Academy delegation, they need time to learn the procedures of the Murim Alliance. It is common for reports to be rejected several times and undergo several revisions before a report worth reading comes up.

Doesn’t this feel like it wasn’t processed by an administrator who had gone through all that process and gained experience for a long time?

“Did that guy, Maeng Ju-won, decide to help the Academy delegation?”

As I muttered to myself, thinking that it must have turned out that way, the member shook his head.

“What are you talking about? He was a department head who even made useless documents to play tricks on Jin So-un.”

“And he processed even those things?”

“Yes.”

Maeng Ju-won was sitting down with a dazed face amidst the mountain of documents.

“Moreover, he suddenly applied for a huge budget, saying it was necessary for the academic schedule.”

“What?”

“Look at this.”

Since most of the academic schedules planned by the Academy delegation are for promoting friendship, most of it is holding banquets or inviting famous martial artists to boast about their personal connections.

“Th, thirty thousand nyang of money?”

However, since he wouldn’t have any personal connections to boast about, I thought he would have just applied for a banquet budget.

That amount was enough to make Jegal So-myeong, who was not surprised by even average things, gasp in astonishment.

“…Crazy, are you thinking of holding a banquet by inviting all the Ten Great Masters of the world?”

The member just laughed scornfully without answering. Sometimes there were cases where they claimed huge lecture fees, saying they would invite famous people, but Jegal So-myeong would never tolerate such things.

“Of course, that won’t do.”

“Well… but I think we have to pass it.”

“What?”

“Here, he wrote down the plans for using the budget.”

In the report, which was organized clearly, stories about why the budget was needed, where it would be used, what effects would arise from it, and what benefits the Murim Alliance would have from the event continued endlessly.

And in between, it was so eloquent that there was not a single sentence that was stuck.

“…”

“Can’t we just not give it?”

It is on a different level from those guys who just come and pester for a budget increase like the Elder Hall or the Martial Arts Pavilion.

This is a situation where I cannot help but give the money.

No, it was a situation where I had to provide the money even by reducing the budget of other places.

“Haha, this guy is truly…”

Jegal So-myeong felt as if he had the ability to be entrusted with the position of Deputy Department Head of the Mantong-bu right away.

‘Deputy Department Head? No, I think he could be entrusted with the position of Head of the Simhyeon-gak (Hall of Deep Mystery).’

When Jegal So-myeong was dreaming his own dream full of hope, the member continued.

“Anyway, because of this, the work we need to verify has also increased like this. That is why the Department Head is in that state.”

“Tsk tsk, that’s why you shouldn’t create work for yourself.”

Maeng Ju-won, who had been staring blankly at the mountain of documents around him, came to his senses and turned his head slowly.

The appearance was so bizarre that just as Jegal So-myeong was about to step back.

“Ch, Chief of Staff…”

“I will not help you! It is a seed you sowed, so you reap it yourself!”

“Chief of Staff!!!”

Maeng Ju-won crawled on all fours and grabbed Jegal So-myeong’s trouser leg.

“I told you I won’t help!”

“Did you see this? This?”

Maeng Ju-won said, shaking the budget increase application form that the member had shown just a moment ago.

“Jin So-un must join the Mantong-bu after graduation. No, he must join right now. Give him my position as Department Head. I will become the Deputy Department Head, no, a member.”

“Th, this crazy guy…”

“Chief of Staff!!!! Please!!!!! Jin So-un!!!!”

“What are you doing, not taking him off right away!”

Only after four or five members rushed in was Maeng Ju-won barely detached, and he screamed at Jegal So-myeong, who was leaving the Mantong-bu.

“Chief of Staff!!! Jin So-un must come to the Mantong-bu!!!”

<><><>

“…”

“I cannot understand at all why you would not wear it.”

The Head of the Attendants sighed deeply.

However, I could not back down at all.

“…I almost died wearing this.”

“Yes? What do you mean…”

“The sight of myself reflected in the mirror was so shameful that I felt like throwing my body into the lake on my own.”

“…Ho, how can you say such a thing, this is what the Geum-bun family, who is best at embroidery in Hubei Province, spent one hundred days…”

“That is why, it is not even a formal event, so why must I wear this?”

The Head of the Attendants was still trying to force me to wear the ‘Top Student’ clothes.

“Regardless, isn’t it a place where not only the Academy students but also the famous martial artists of the Murim Alliance are coming? You must wear this clothes that stand out.”

“This time, I will not wear it even if I die.”

As I unfolded the Taeeul-palman-shinbo (Taeeul Eight Ten Thousand Divine Steps), the attendants who were trying to catch my phantom image fell to the floor.

“Wa, wait! I understand! So please do not say that you will go wearing that drab martial arts uniform that looks like your aesthetic sense has been thrown away.”

“…”

I looked at my martial arts uniform for a moment.

Since it had not been long since I had it made, there were no traces of energy, and since I had not had any reason to roll on the floor recently, there were not many stains.

Why was this drab?

“…I have clothes I prepared just in case.”

As the Head of the Attendants nodded with a face that looked as if he had aged ten years, the attendants brought out new clothes.

“Please at least wear this and attend.”

It was the same black color that I always wore, but it looked more luxurious as if it used high-quality fabric, with a luster flowing and thin silver embroidery running along the sleeves.

“…You should have done that from the beginning.”

Although I am not the type to pay much attention to my attire, this was enough to be worth wearing. In fact, the black martial arts uniform looked too plain compared to other Academy students.

When I was among them, there were times when I was confused about whether I had come to this place as a representative or had come to serve as a servant.

The upper garment had long sleeves like a dopo (traditional robe), and every time I took a step toward the back, the patterns embroidered with silver thread crisscrossed splendidly.

“If I had known this would happen, I would have embroidered this part, too.”

The middle-aged Head of the Attendants seemed to have not given up on the word ‘Top Student’ yet.

“If you do such a thing, I will never wear this clothes again.”

“How can you hate to put yourself forward so much? Isn’t that why you are having difficulties in your Academy life?”

For some reason, the story of the middle-aged Head of the Attendants seemed to know my situation well.

When I had no answer, the middle-aged Head of the Attendants’ eyes became round like a rabbit’s.

“I apologize. I made a slip of the tongue.”

“Well, is there anything that could be called a slip of the tongue?”

It was not wrong either.

<><><>

I headed to the banquet hall where the Nine Great Sects were holding the banquet.

Lanterns were decorated splendidly along the road to the banquet hall.

People were walking in groups of three or four along that lantern road.

Half of them looked like Academy students.

And half of them were people attending to make connections with them every time there was a banquet like this.

The appearance of those wearing high-class clothes and accessories one and all showed that they were of extraordinary status.

The distance to the banquet hall was still quite far, but cheerful music could be heard already.

As the weather cleared after winter passed, they placed liquor tables here and there outside the banquet hall, and the disciples of the Nine Great Sects seemed busy exchanging greetings and building friendships while going around such liquor tables.

“You have come.”

When I turned my head, Jegal Jeong-gi clasped his hands in a light greeting.

“Did you come alone?”

“I heard that everyone was not feeling well.”

Actually, I was the one who stopped them when they said they would follow me.

Since I knew that if I came to a seat like this, I would receive uncomfortable gazes, wouldn’t it be enough for me to bear that discomfort alone?

“You are a person of great consideration.”

Jegal Jeong-gi wore a confusing smile.

“By the way, are you attending the Nine Great Sects’ banquet?”

“As you know, the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans are not enemies.”

“Can’t you say that they are not one body, either?”

If they were not enemies, why did they wage such a harsh war of demons (bokmajeon) in my previous life?

“It could be called a strategic alliance relationship.”

“Isn’t the common enemy too shabby to say that?”

“Are you pretending not to know? Do you really not know?”

“…”

“Jin Gong-ja is a ‘symbol.’ And a symbol of a quite large crack at that.”

“Me?”

“Doesn’t chaos start from that small crack?”

“…”

Jegal Jeong-gi looked at me carefully and breathed out softly.

“By the way, why don’t you hold a banquet, Representative? Since the Academy Representative is not holding a banquet, aren’t our faces, who opened it first, not standing?”

“…If I hold one, do you have any intention of attending?”

“Of course, I have no intention of going. Still, who knows? There might be people who secretly support the Academy Representative.”

While looking around, I made eye contact with Cheol Sun-jik, who was standing with Nam Hwa-seong.

For some reason, they looked at me with stiff faces and then slowly turned their heads.

“So hold a banquet quickly. If you delay the banquet day by day, won’t you eventually become an Academy Representative who stepped down without even holding a banquet, let alone the academic schedule?”

“Can I ask one thing?”

I looked at his face, which was grinning.

“Yes. Anything.”

“Why don’t you ask about Jegal Cheon-gi?”

“…”

His face stiffened for the first time.

“As far as I know, the Jegal Clan inherits by meritocracy, not by the eldest son, so are you wary of Cheon-gi because of that?”

“…It is a matter of the clan. It is not something Jin Gong-ja needs to care about.”

“Or is it because Cheon-gi is a symbol of a crack?”

“…”

Jegal Jeong-gi’s face, which had been relaxed until now, changed like a yacha (demon).

“Jin Gong-ja is quite a harmful person. The problem is that you yourself do not know that well.”

In my previous life, Jegal Jeong-gi had never even seen me as a human, so is this considered success?

“And you think that everyone in the world, not yourself, is wrong.”

Jegal Jeong-gi’s voice grew louder and louder.

The gazes around began to gather one by one.

“That is why Jin Gong-ja is a dangerous person. Do you understand?”

At that time, a group of middle-aged men approached us.

“What kind of disturbance is this at someone else’s party?”

The middle-aged men were all wearing luxurious clothes and flashy belts studded with jewels, and as if they had coordinated it, they were fanning themselves with seop-seon (folding fans) with one hand.

Jegal Jeong-gi was startled when he saw them and quickly clasped his hands in a greeting.

“I see the high and noble Elders of the Murim Alliance. I am Jeong-gi of the Jegal Clan.”

The person standing at the very front of the middle-aged men looked at Jegal Jeong-gi for a moment and then turned his gaze to me.

I clasped my hands in a slow and light greeting.

“I offer my greetings. I am Jin So-un.”

“If you do not say which affiliation you belong to and where your roots are, how can I know who you are?”

The person standing at the very front of the middle-aged men furrowed his brows deeply.

“Do you not know me?”

“How can you say I know you?”

“Didn’t you say ‘someone else’s party’ just a moment ago? Didn’t you say that because you obviously know that I do not belong to the Nine Great Sects, not to mention Jegal Jeong-gi?”

“…”

The face of the middle-aged man who had furrowed his brow deeply—no, the Elders who had actually become the starting point of the internal power struggle of the Murim Alliance—was twisted thoroughly.

“…Jin Gong-ja. Do you know who this person is, and are you committing such rudeness like this?”

A person with a shaved head wearing a monk’s robe said with a quite surprised face. It was Il-gak of the Shaolin Temple.

“I am Jin So-un of the Taeeul Sect.”

As I spoke while clasping my hands lightly again, Myeonghyeon Dojang sneered.

“Hmph, it was true that the momentum of the Black Flame Dragon who has the Black Path Murim on his back is scary.”

“Because it became a fact by Elder Myeonghyeon even though it is not a fact, I am having quite a bit of trouble.”

“Are you saying that it is my fault that you cannot perform the Academy representative duties properly?”

“If it were not for that, could the forces of the Nine Great Sects, the Five Great Clans, and the 12 Peak Stars have ignored me so openly? That is all because you Elders interfered with my events.”

“Hah, what did you say?”

An unusual atmosphere hangs, and pressure is felt from all sides.

“Did you not learn that if you spout words like that in the Murim, you will not be able to preserve your life?”

Because the Elders standing around him, not just Myeonghyeon Dojang, shot amgyeong (hidden energy) at the same time as if they were of one mind, it was hard to breathe, let alone answer.

Jegal Jeong-gi, who was standing next to me, was startled, grabbed his throat with both hands, and could not erase his flustered expression.

Because he could not move due to the powerful pressure tightening from all around, his face soon turned blue, and he looked as if he would die soon.

I quickly raised the Taeeul-jingyeong to its maximum to push away their amgyeong.

“Hup.”

A gasp burst out from behind Myeonghyeon Dojang, and I gained a little room to breathe.

Myeonghyeon Dojang looked at me with quite surprised eyes.

“You certainly did not enter by luck.”

With Myeonghyeon Dojang’s words, the amgyeong that was pressing around disappeared at once, and Jegal Jeong-gi, who was holding his throat, collapsed to the floor and gasped for breath for a long time.

At the sight of Jegal Jeong-gi collapsing in the same space and me looking fine, a sparkle began to appear in people’s eyes.

I also wanted to gasp for breath just like Jegal Jeong-gi, but I clenched my teeth and endured it.

“Yes, I heard, haven’t you held a banquet in the name of the Academy representative, let alone the academic schedule?”

“For whom should I hold a feast that is merely a waste of pomp and circumstance?”

“That is why the uneducated are tsk tsk.”

Myeonghyeon Dojang clicked his tongue and gave a fishy smile.

“Then why did you apply for a budget of thirty thousand nyang?”

At the words that came out of Myeonghyeon Dojang’s mouth, gasps burst out from all sides.

“Th, thirty thousand nyang?”

“That kind of money is given to the Academy representative?”

“What on earth is happening?”

Due to Myeonghyeon Dojang’s words, not only the Academy students attending the banquet but even those who wanted to form ties with the Nine Great Sects were all paying attention to me.

“Of course, it is for the academic schedule.”

“Thirty thousand nyang of money?”

“Yes.”

“Are you thinking of distributing a gold coin to each of those attending the banquet?”

As I hesitated to answer, the banquet hall became as quiet as a forest where a rain shower fell.

“No way.”

“Then where are you thinking of using that much money? By any chance, if you are thinking of embezzling it and sending it to your sect as a secret fund, it will be impossible as long as I am here.”

“You look at us as too much of a beggar.”

“Then reveal where you are thinking of using that money.”

All the music in the banquet hall had already stopped. It was not intended, but thanks to Myeonghyeon Dojang, the work was solved more easily than expected.

I began to speak, putting my internal energy into my voice.

“Everyone will remember the nightmare that occurred at the Maryeong Plateau.”

“…”

“The terrible killing formation that, regardless of the level of martial arts, once trapped, becomes a lonely ghost.”

Every time I moved one step, hundreds of gazes followed.

“I have decided to share the solution to the Muryang-bul-goe-myeol-hon-jin (Array of Infinite Indestructibility and Soul Destruction) so that the nightmare will not be repeated. And right now, the Muryang-bul-goe-myeol-hon-jin is being implemented in the Great Martial Arts Field of the Murim Academy for that purpose.”

Sighs burst out from all sides as if they were groaning.

“Huh…”

“No wonder, I thought strange structures were going up.”

“You are going to teach that?”

“Even in the Mo-san Sect, they said there was no particular method for breaking the formation…”

The brief commotion disappeared like a shadow that met light the moment I opened my mouth.

“Some of you may know, but I am the only person who went in and out of that Myeol-hon-jin (Soul Destruction Formation) and saved people. If you attend this academic schedule, you will be able to save your lives even if you are trapped in the Myeol-hon-jin in the future.”

The murmuring voice grew louder and louder.

“Furthermore, you might be able to get a clue to install the Myeol-hon-jin in your own sect.”

As soon as my story ended, the commotion grew again.

At that time, one person asked a question from within the crowd.

“Can anyone attend?”

Looking at the place where the voice was heard, it was Cheol Sun-jik, who had been with the 12 Peak Stars.

I nodded obediently.

“Of course. Because this event is for all Academy students.”

I hesitated for a moment and continued.

“However, as the facility is not perfect, I will place a limit on time and the number of people. Only two hundred people will be able to learn the solution to the Muryang-bul-goe-myeol-hon-jin in ten days on a first-come, first-served basis.”

As soon as my words ended, the commotion in the banquet hall grew.

People already put the banquet on the back burner, and everyone was busy sharing what had happened at the Maryeong Plateau.

Myeonghyeon Dojang, the Elders, and the Academy students of the Nine Great Sects were staring at me with burning eyes.

I easily ignored them and approached Jegal Jeong-gi.

“Did you say I was a crack?”

“…”

He was a face that had not escaped the shock due to the pressure of the amgyeong he felt a little while ago and the stories I told.

I whispered smallly in his ear.

“You saw it accurately. I am indeed a crack. And that crack will be the first hole that breaks the embankment you have built up solidly.”