The Genius Warrior Who Remembers Everything Chapter 71

Chapter 71. The ‘First’ Trial of the Hell Regular Exam (5)

A human being’s mental strength exerted an influence no less powerful than martial force.

Fear of an opponent, once carved deep into the mind, was not the sort of thing that could be overcome merely because one’s own martial strength had improved.

“Eldest Senior Brother…….”

That was exactly the state the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers were in now.

Their fear of Gye Yeon-seok, who had ruled over the Taeul Sect throughout the past years.

That memory was not something they could easily break free from just because they had learned new martial arts.

“Should we go somewhere else……?”

Gye Yeon-seok’s uncomfortable gaze and Gye Cheol-yeong’s twisted face.

Unable to endure that pressure, the three brothers watched my expression with anxious eyes.

“Why? From what I can see, this inn seems fine.”

“No…… That is…….”

Dong-ryong glanced toward Gye Yeon-seok, then quickly averted his gaze.

I said bluntly,

“Did you do something wrong?”

“……That’s not it…….”

“Do you owe them anything?”

“…….”

“The Gyeryong Merchant Guild received back all the money it had sponsored until now on the grounds of Gye Cheol-yeong’s withdrawal. With interest added on top of that. They are no longer our creditors.”

They clenched their mouths as if they accepted my words, but there was nothing they could do about their wavering eyes.

Then someone called me from behind.

“Jin So-un.”

It was Gye Yeon-seung, who had once been our Busaeng Hall Master.

“It has been a long time.”

“It certainly has. Have you been well?”

“…….”

The corners of Gye Yeon-seung’s mouth trembled.

It seemed the Gyeryong Merchant Guild had not been doing well.

That was only natural, since Gye Yeon-seung had ultimately been nothing more than a tool meant to raise Gye Cheol-yeong.

Now that Gye Cheol-yeong had ended up in that state, there was no way Gye Yeon-seung would have been living well.

“The Guild Master says he wishes to see you for a moment.”

I raised my head and looked at Gye Yeon-seok.

Bloodshot eyes.

A raw expression filled with resentment toward his opponent.

It was understandable that the still-young Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers would be afraid of him.

“Tell him to come down himself if he wants to see me.”

“…….”

But so what?

To me, they were nothing more than people who had tried to use us like tools and then throw us away.

“Can’t you see we have suffered? We were just about to finally eat.”

“……He means to eat together with you.”

“Why? Is he going to pay for the meal?”

“……Still, I was once the Hall Master who taught you all.”

“Hall Master. The only thing you taught us was to submit to Gye Cheol-yeong, was it not?”

“……!”

Gye Yeon-seung’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper.

Even though I was clearly scraping at his nerves, it was surprising that he did not readily draw his sword.

By now, he would have been the sort to draw his sword while going on about being a Lay Disciple of Mount Hua Sect.

“…….”

Gye Yeon-seung twitched his fingers and looked at Gye Yeon-seok.

Gye Yeon-seok, who had been silently watching us for a moment, nodded.

“The Guild Master says he will treat you to a meal, so let us go upstairs together.”

“……Excellent. Here!”

I immediately called over a passing server.

“Cancel what we just ordered and prepare eight of the most expensive dishes in this inn. Ah! You heard that those people over there will be paying, right?”

“……Ah, yes. Understood.”

At my words, both Gye Yeon-seung and Gye Yeon-seok wore expressions full of dissatisfaction.

“Let us go up.”

“……Senior Brother, can we not just eat here?”

“I was thinking about your next training. Now that you have even mastered the Footwork Art, what do you think about walking while standing on your hands?”

“Brother Geum-pyo! What are you saying?! We can’t send Eldest Senior Brother alone!”

“That’s right! I’m disappointed in you, Brother Geum-pyo!”

Dong-ryong and Eun-ho shot to their feet, and Geum-pyo looked at the two of them as if they were traitors before slowly standing up.

Gye Yeon-seok had rented out the entire second floor.

The wanderers were gathered in twos and threes, drinking and eating, and on the table where Yeon Chu-ak, Han Geum-tak, and Dam Cheol-gak sat, the most expensive food and wine had been laid out.

Before going to Gye Yeon-seok’s table, I pointed the three brothers to an empty table and said,

“You eat here.”

“Ah! Understood! Please return safely! Eldest Senior Brother!”

Geum-pyo clasped his hands in greeting as if he were delighted.

I sat across from Gye Yeon-seok and Gye Cheol-yeong.

“It has been a long time.”

“……Your complexion is bright. After throwing away the Gyeryong Merchant Guild and leeching off Wang Estate, has your livelihood improved a little?”

“To be precise, the Taeul Sect did not throw away the Gyeryong Merchant Guild. The Gyeryong Merchant Guild ran away from the Taeul Sect of its own accord. Gye Cheol-yeong simply paid the price for that.”

“Nghh, ahh, nghh.”

As if something had made him furious, Gye Cheol-yeong kept drooling and glared at me as though he wanted to kill me.

“So, did Wang Estate’s money taste different?”

“Did you not know? The Taeul Sect recently discovered a mine. Ah, and we also came to possess the Hefei Branch of the Azure Sky Merchant Guild. Now, we no longer need to put up with people who throw their money around and act important like before. Of course, the Master of Wang Estate is different from the Master of the Gyeryong Merchant Guild in character from the start.”

“…….”

“Ah, right. You must also have heard about us recovering the Taeul Sword Emperor’s true inheritance, yes? Haha, you should have waited just a little longer. If you had, even Gye Cheol-yeong might have inherited the Taeul Sword Emperor’s true inheritance and personally participated in the Murim Regular Exam.”

In Gye Yeon-seok’s eyes, there was longing for the opportunity he had missed right before his nose.

Even an ordinary person, if placed in Gye Yeon-seok’s position, would have felt wronged.

As greedy as he was, I could not even imagine what kind of hellish days he must have been spending.

“Enough of that. Why did you call us? We are not exactly on terms where we can sit together amicably and share a meal, are we?”

From the moment he brought out his son, who had become a wreck, to take the Murim Academy Regular Exam, Gye Yeon-seok’s desire was no different from something that had dragged him into hell.

I had no hobby of tormenting someone who was already living in hell.

He could simply live that way.

“……The Taeul Sect owes me a debt.”

What fresh bullshit was this now?

“It was the Gyeryong Merchant Guild that reached out a hand when the Taeul Sect was at its most difficult.”

The old Gye Yeon-seok, who had flaunted his money and acted superior, was gone.

His merchant guild and wealth were likely still intact, but with Gye Cheol-yeong ending up like that, the future plans he had laid out had all scattered.

As Gye Yeon-seok, who had been forced to lead wanderers and head out for the Murim Academy Exam, the majesty he had built up through wealth in the past had long since disappeared.

“The fact that the Taeul Sect was able to join hands with Wang Estate, and the fact that you now have the mine and the Azure Sky Merchant Guild’s Hefei Branch, are all thanks to the Gyeryong Merchant Guild.”

I silently listened to his bullshit.

“…….”

“It is not something that disappears just because the money was repaid, or because interest was paid. A debt of goodwill can only be repaid with goodwill!”

As if he were convinced of his own story, he continued speaking.

“Your debt. The debt of your fellow disciples. You repay it.”

“……?”

The Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers, who had been eating the food brought out at another table, also stopped moving and looked this way.

“Stay with our Cheol-yeong. Help each other and enter the Murim Academy together. I have already hired one hundred famous wanderers. This will absolutely not be a losing deal for you either. Repay my goodwill with that.”

“…….”

I thought quietly.

Why was Gye Yeon-seok saying this to me, when he looked down on the Taeul Sect so much, and especially when I had been the cause of Gye Cheol-yeong becoming a ruined man?

And it did not take long for the answer to come.

‘Ahh, it must be because of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.’

The incident at the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly had not spread publicly.

We had also ordered silence within the Taeul Sect, and there was no way the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly would go around spreading word of its own mistake everywhere.

However, if it was someone who had been continuously watching the Taeul Sect……

If it was someone who had been thinking about taking revenge on the Taeul Sect someday……

‘He would have no choice but to know.’

And he must have thought that I, who had not backed down an inch against Hwa Jeong-san and Jong Byeok-gi of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, would be useful to them.

If so, Gye Yeon-seung’s attitude, and the patience he had shown, all made sense.

“Pfft, hahahaha.”

Once that series of thoughts settled, laughter burst out of me.

“……!”

I had only laughed lightly, but the atmosphere on the second floor instantly sank coldly.

Even the wanderers sitting with Yeon Chu-ak stopped moving as they were raising their cups.

The Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers put down their chopsticks and prepared to draw their swords at any moment.

“You really should have shown some genuine goodwill, then.”

“…….”

“You should have sponsored us while giving the children a kind word or two. When there was a feast, you should not have been stingy with food. When Cheol-yeong did something wrong, instead of settling it with money, you should have come and apologized.”

“……Nghh, ughh, ahh.”

“We owed you goodwill? Shouldn’t you have given us goodwill in the first place for us to owe you any?”

“…….”

“If he entered the Taeul Sect to apply for Murim Academy Rolling Admission, he should at least have considered mingling with the Taeul Sect. Whose idea was it for him to absolutely refuse to learn the heart method because the Taeul Sect’s martial arts would be harmful? After acting that way, you speak of goodwill?”

“…….”

“Please keep the bullshit to a minimum. If anything, we were the ones who showed goodwill. Gye Cheol-yeong. We could have taken his life, but we did not go that far. Right now, it is the Guild Master who owes the Taeul Sect a debt.”

Yeon Chu-ak, Han Geum-tak, and Dam Cheol-gak rose from their seats and approached this way.

“Hey, young friend, your words are a bit harsh, aren’t they?”

“Stay out of this. Wanderers move only when their employer orders them to.”

“Well now, look at this brat.”

Watching that scene, Gye Yeon-seok shook his head slightly, and the wanderers spat and turned back.

“……Do you intend not to join us?”

“If I had to enter the Murim Academy only if Gye Cheol-yeong entered it…… I would give up on the Murim Academy altogether.”

“…….”

The corners of Gye Yeon-seok’s eyes were trembling.

“I…… If our Cheol-yeong cannot enter the Murim Academy, then I cannot simply stand by and watch the Taeul Sect enter the Murim Academy either.”

“…….”

“Even if I must throw everything I have into it, I will stop you and the Taeul Sect.”

Clatter.

Dong-ryong unknowingly dropped the spoon he had been eating with.

“May I take what you just said as a declaration of war?”

“…….”

“I am prepared to lay down even my life if it is to protect the Taeul Sect.”

I looked straight into Gye Yeon-seok’s bloodshot eyes and said,

“So the Guild Master should be prepared to that extent as well when he touches the Taeul Sect.”

I rose from my seat.

At the same time, Yeon Chu-ak, Han Geum-tak, and Dam Cheol-gak rose from their seats and glared at me.

“Brat, have you never heard the adage of the murim that says not to make enemies so easily?”

“Among the adages, there is also one that says not to look down on your opponent just because they are young.”

I looked at the three brothers and asked,

“Are you done eating?”

They had only eaten about half the food, but perhaps because the seating was uncomfortable, they nodded violently.

“Let us get up.”

Gye Yeon-seok’s party departed first that day.

As planned, we finished bathing, rested for a day, and only finished preparing to depart the next morning.

Before departing, I gathered the children.

“You saw what happened yesterday, did you not?”

“…….”

Perhaps because they remembered that heavy exchange of emotions, the children remained silent.

“That is what the murim is. Even if I have not harmed someone, if I am weak, I cannot protect the people precious to me.”

“I will remember it.”

“I will remember it.”

“I will remember it.”

The three brothers’ eyes were shining more strongly than ever before.

I took two wooden cases out of my bundle.

“The Sect Leader bestowed these upon us.”

“What are they?”

“They are Great Swallow Divine Pills from the Namgung Clan.”

“What?!”

The three brothers’ mouths fell open as wide as washbowls.

“The reason I have made you train like your lives depended on it in Moving Circulation through the Taeul True Scripture is, along with the reason I told you before, to digest these Spiritual Pills.”

Unfortunately, the three brothers’ inner arts were only somewhere around ten years.

Eun-ho, who had the greatest talent for the heart method, at least possessed twelve years of inner arts, while Geum-pyo and Dong-ryong’s inner arts had not even reached ten years.

“Your inner arts are not at a level where you can withstand the Spiritual Energy of the Great Swallow Divine Pill. So the moment you take this Spiritual Medicine, you must operate your Moving Circulation like your lives depend on it, even more desperately than you have until now.”

“……Senior Brother.”

“What is it?”

“There are only two of them, so how do we divide them?”

I tilted my head.

The Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers were children with such strong consideration for each other that they would yield to one another even if it meant they themselves could not eat.

I wondered whether there was no helping it before Spiritual Medicine after all.

“There are four people, but only two pills, so would it not be better for Senior Brother to take all of the Spiritual Medicine instead?”

“……Why does the calculation turn out that way?”

At Geum-pyo’s words, Eun-ho continued,

“Brother Geum-pyo is right. Even if we take them, it will take us a long time to digest them anyway, and we will only end up holding Senior Brother back. Just take them all, Senior Brother.”

“I think my brothers are right too. Besides, medicine has never suited my constitution very well, so even when I was young, I did not take tonics well.”

As I watched those guys playing it off, I split the two Great Swallow Divine Pills in half.

At that, a clear fragrance filled the room.

I handed one half each to the guys who were staring blankly at the sight.

“…….”

The guys swallowed as they looked at the Great Swallow Divine Pills, but at the same time, they could not bring themselves to carelessly put them into their mouths.

“You told the Sect Leader you would put me into the Murim Academy and come back, did you not?”

“Uh…… That is…….”

“Ahaha.”

“…….”

I looked at the awkward guys and said, “I have no intention of entering the Murim Academy alone. I will enter the Murim Academy together with all of you.”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

I had said something fairly moving, but the guys only looked at one another and tilted their heads.

“Senior Brother, honestly, would that not be impossible in reality?”

“Then is it realistically possible for me to enter the Murim Academy alone?”

“……If it is you, Eldest Senior Brother, would it not be possible?”

“Yes. I think it would be possible.”

Just how did these guys see me?

“If so, trust me and follow me.”

“……I do want to, but we are…… honestly too weak, are we not? Yesterday, we could not even raise our heads among those wanderers.”

“Honestly, I was scared.”

That was also the emotion I had first felt in my previous life when I went out for mandatory service in the Murim Alliance.

“Do not worry. When you enter the Murim Academy, no one will be able to meet your eyes. I will make it that way.”

“…….”

The Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers opened their mouths and said nothing.

***

Even after they had grown proficient enough in the Footwork Art while using Moving Circulation, I did not make them climb the mountain again.

Instead, this time, I had them walk the official road while deploying a Sword Formation.

They were not simply deploying the Sword Formation, but moving together with it as well.

At first, their feet became tangled, and the Sword Formation kept unraveling on its own, but the amount of time they could maintain the Sword Formation gradually grew longer.

In addition, since I occasionally swung the Black Dragon Sword and struck the Sword Formation, their level of mastery over the Sword Formation began to rise quickly.

As expected of children who had memorized the Sword Formation with their eyes and ears blocked, their proficiency quickly improved.

“Munch, munch. Senior Brother. But is it all right for us to travel this leisurely?”

While the three brothers ate by the roadside, I wrote a letter to send to Hao Gate, tied it to the Iron Hawk’s leg, and sent it off.

Then I unleashed killing intent toward them.

“……Ugh!”

“…….”

“Urgh.”

Geum-pyo and Dong-ryong looked as if they were about to vomit, while Eun-ho remained unbothered.

“Haah… Can we not just eat normally when we are eating?”

“How much of the Great Swallow Divine Pill have you dissolved?”

“……About half.”

“If a fight suddenly breaks out before you realize it, that energy could flow backward.”

“……Haah, understood.”

At least thanks to learning the Taeul True Scripture, they were dissolving the Great Swallow Divine Pills faster than I had expected.

“Senior Brother, at this rate, are we not really going to fail to pass even the First Trial? How many mountain strongholds are left?”

“They say eight hundred ninety-eight remain.”

After hearing that the Murim Academy’s first exam was the subjugation of mountain strongholds, the mountain strongholds that moved quickly had gone deep into the mountains, so the speed of wiping them out had slowed further.

Even so, the fact that three thousand one hundred mountain strongholds had already disappeared in just fifteen days was astonishing enough.

“At this rate, we really will not even get to see a mountain stronghold. It feels like we are spending too much time on our training…… Honestly, I do not even know how prepared we are.”

I smiled faintly at Geum-pyo’s concern.

“An opportunity to test how skilled you are will probably come soon.”

Now, even though they were using Moving Circulation, stepping with the Footwork Art, and deploying the White Tiger Sword Formation, they did not show any discomfort.

Even when I used the Twin Heaven Sword Formula and struck them continuously with feints and true strikes, they had reached the level where they could block them skillfully.

“Senior Brother, but what did you mean just now when you said there would be an opportunity to show our skills?”

“After leaving Gold Palace Inn, I asked for two things through the Iron Hawk. One of them was to investigate Gye Yeon-seok’s movements.”

The three brothers tilted their heads as if they did not understand what I meant.

“And this morning, word came that three experts from Gye Yeon-seok’s traveling party were nowhere to be seen.”

The reason I had wanted the qualifications of a “Guest Retainer” of Hao Gate despite knowing all the information about the Murim Academy Regular Exam was none other than because I needed information on the people moving inside it.

Even so, I had not expected to use it this quickly.

“They ran out of money…….”

Geum-pyo, who had been speaking, looked ahead as if something seemed strange.

At the end of the official road, three men were standing and blocking the path.

A man carrying a strange fishing rod on his shoulder came forward.

“Why are you moving so late? Because of you, our employer went on alone, did he not?”

Beside him, a man holding a gigantic axe and a man whose sleeves hung long enough to cover his hands walked out.

“……Why are those men here……?”

Yama Axe Yeon Chu-ak, Windless Demon Rod Han Geum-tak, and Three-Handed Ghost Ape Dam Cheol-gak, who should clearly have been moving together with Gye Yeon-seok, were standing there blocking the road.

“They were probably waiting for us.”