Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 186 - Submission (4)

Chapter 186 – Submission (4)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“From now on, treat Mok Gyeong-un as you treat me.”

‘!?’

At the unexpected command that came from Wi So-yeon’s mouth, everyone looked at her with astonished expressions.

Naturally they had thought she would say that she would never forgive Mok Gyeong-un for damaging the face of their faction through this incident, so they could not understand what this meant.

While everyone was struck speechless, Wu Ho-rang, one of the Five Tigers and a figure who could be called the representative among her close aides, cautiously opened his mouth.

“Young Lady. When you say we are to treat Mok Gyeong-un as we treat Young Lady…”

“I mean exactly what I said. You are to treat Mok Gyeong-un as your superior.”

“But, Young Lady, though this subordinate’s fault was great, if this matter is simply overlooked…”

“Are you raising an objection?”

At that sharp voice, Wu Ho-rang could not hide his confusion.

Before this incident, Wi So-yeon had been one who listened freely to the opinions of her subordinates.

No, even aside from that, because he was the foremost among her close aides and the eldest disciple of Son Yun, one of the Five Kings, the King of the Fate Blade, she had always respected his opinion in any situation.

But her attitude had changed.

‘Has she become disappointed in me?’

Was she showing such an attitude because she was thoroughly angered by this incident?

At the thought that the attitude of the woman he loved had turned cold, Wu Ho-rang’s chest grew heavy with bitterness.

But if this were enough to make him give up, he would never have loved her in the first place.

Wu Ho-rang dropped to one knee, brought both hands together in a cupped-fist salute, and said,

“How could this subordinate object to Young Lady’s command? I ask only that you grant me permission to ask the reason for such a decision.”

“…”

At those words from him, Wi So-yeon stared at Wu Ho-rang and then swept her gaze across the other close aides as well.

Their faces too showed that they wanted to know the reason.

Judging that even if it was a unilateral decision, there was no need to conceal the reason itself, she said,

“I joined hands with Mok Gyeong-un.”

“Pardon? If you say you joined hands… does that mean Mok Gyeong-un has agreed to come under Young Lady?”

Wu Ho-rang asked that in shock.

Mok Gyeong-un had accepted his challenge, and on top of that had openly humiliated her by saying she was unfit to be a leader.

That was why he had thought there would never be any chance of them joining together.

Yet the surprise did not end there.

“Not under me.”

‘!?’

At Wi So-yeon’s next words, everyone’s expressions stiffened.

What did she mean, not under her?

While they were puzzled,

“Mok Gyeong-un and I joined hands as equals. Therefore, the treatment you show him…”

“Young Lady!”

Before she could even finish speaking, Yeop Wi-seon, Son Yun’s disciple, rose from his seat and shouted as if he could no longer endure it.

Then he said,

“No matter what, this is not right. Young Lady, how can you treat such a fellow…”

-Thud!

“Ugh!”

Struck by an inkstone flying at him, Yeop Wi-seon clutched his chest and cried out in pain.

To him, Wi So-yeon said coldly,

“You said clearly that you would not raise objections, yet in the end you still ignore me.”

“Th-that is not…”

“Get out.”

“Pardon?”

At her words, Yeop Wi-seon could not hide his bewilderment.

“Young Lady… what do you mean by that…”

“A subordinate who has sworn loyalty does not heed his lord’s command, but acts however he pleases at every turn. I no longer need such a person.”

“…”

At those words from her, Yeop Wi-seon’s face turned pale white.

He had never before seen Wi So-yeon come out this strongly.

The shock was brief, and then Yeop Wi-seon bit his lip hard.

Soon he opened his mouth with a look of grievance.

“How… How can Young Lady do this to me? All this time, for Young Lady…”

“Close that mouth.”

“Young…”

-Thud!

“Ugh.”

Before he could even finish saying something, someone slammed Yeop Wi-seon’s head into the floor.

That person was none other than Wu Ho-rang, Yeop Wi-seon’s eldest martial brother.

“E-eldest martial brother?”

“Be quiet.”

After quietly rebuking him, Wu Ho-rang lowered his head as well and said,

“Young Lady, please forgive him. This foolish junior, this subordinate will strictly discipline him.”

“…”

“Please, for the sake of all the time until now, grant him just one chance.”

“…”

When Wi So-yeon said nothing, Wu Ho-rang grabbed Yeop Wi-seon’s head hard and pressured him.

“Will you not quickly beg Young Lady for forgiveness!”

“Please forgive me.”

Looking at the two of them, Wi So-yeon let out a faint sigh and said,

“This is the last time. If this happens once more, Yeop Wi-seon, then you will no longer be one of my people.”

“…I will keep it in mind.”

The expression on Yeop Wi-seon’s face as he answered with his forehead pressed to the ground was ugly.

He bent the knee because of her severity, but for him this incident was a humiliation.

Yeop Wi-seon too loved her no less than Wu Ho-rang did and wanted to make her his woman.

And when he thought that the woman he had so wanted had humiliated him in front of everyone, rage surged through him to the point of madness.

-Gnash!

‘How can a woman who would not even have the slightest chance if master did not help us, and if eldest martial brother and I were not here, act like this?’

He had thought that as time passed, he would be able to control her as he pleased.

But now even that seemed difficult to expect.

His love had already turned into resentment.

Just then, Gi Ok-ryeon, the eldest daughter of Gi Hae, the Nurturing Rock Valley Master, carefully said to her,

“But, Young Lady. Following your command is not particularly difficult, but if we are to clearly establish the hierarchy as Young Lady has said, should not Mok Gyeong-un also swear loyalty to Young Lady, the future successor?”

‘That is right. No matter what, how could that bastard become Young Lady’s equal?’

‘Gi Ok-ryeon’s words are right.’

At such a sharp observation, everyone looked at Wi So-yeon with faces that agreed.

Then she turned her head slightly to the side and answered in a quieter voice,

“…That is something I will handle myself.”

‘!?’

At that answer from her, everyone was completely unable to understand.

Why was it that Wi So-yeon was trying to treat that arrogant bastard who had not even sworn loyalty this well?

But unlike the others, Gi Ok-ryeon’s expression as she looked at Wi So-yeon became strange.

She had known Wi So-yeon since childhood.

Perhaps because of that, she could read Wi So-yeon’s emotions better than anyone else.

‘…Was she embarrassed just now?’

The men would not be able to see it, but Gi Ok-ryeon noticed.

A moment ago, Wi So-yeon had been embarrassed.

One could not tell from the surface, but that expression was one that only appeared at such times.

In an instant Gi Ok-ryeon’s eyes widened slightly.

‘Surely not?’

Gi Ok-ryeon looked at Wi So-yeon.

Even while sternly dealing with everyone as though trying to set discipline properly, the corners of her lips were slightly raised, and her face looked unusually bright and beautiful compared to normal.

Gi Ok-ryeon’s mouth parted slightly.

‘Ha…’

She was certain.

That reaction from Wi So-yeon.

It was surely the sort of look that could appear only when one liked someone.

And it did not seem to be stopping at mere affection.

They said that the quiet cat was the first to climb onto the kitchen hearth.

‘So she acted as though she had no interest in men at all, and yet look at this…’

It was truly astonishing.

As a friend rather than in a lord-and-subordinate relationship, it made her want to ask all sorts of questions.

Just what had happened while they were all unconscious?

Then her expression soon changed.

‘Ah!’

Now that she thought about it, was this not good news in one sense?

Gi Ok-ryeon’s gaze turned toward Wu Ho-rang.

She loved Wu Ho-rang.

Only Wi So-yeon knew this fact.

The reason she had told Wi So-yeon was because she had begun to suspect that Wu Ho-rang harbored feelings he should not have toward his lord, Wi So-yeon.

That was why she had deliberately revealed her own feelings to Wi So-yeon.

She had thought that then, no matter that she was their lord, Wi So-yeon would not covet the man whom Gi Ok-ryeon loved even if she learned of his affections.

‘…Did this turn out well?’

Gi Ok-ryeon’s eyes shone as she looked at Wu Ho-rang.

* * *

The rear garden of the guest hall at the estate.

There Yeop Wi-seon, his face flushed as though he could not suppress his anger, said to his eldest martial brother Wu Ho-rang,

“Eldest martial brother. Does this make any sense? Mok Gyeong-un that bastard was not enough, and now she is even going so far as to join hands with Young Master Jang Neung-ak, what in the world is this…”

“Quiet.”

Wu Ho-rang quietly rebuked him as his voice rose.

Wu Ho-rang’s expression too was not very bright.

Already troubled because of the first declaration from his lord Wi So-yeon, now his head had become even more complicated because she intended to join hands with the Jang Neung-ak faction, the very force they were contending with most fiercely.

‘Why in the world would she do this?’

He truly could not understand.

Though it was true that her force lagged behind the most, one still could not know.

He did not know the reason, and though he found it disagreeable, if she had joined hands with Mok Gyeong-un, then in the end it was no different from gaining the support of the Shadow Sect and the Baek Family led by the Annihilation Poison King.

If so, then rather than being beneath Jang Neung-ak’s faction, they would instead be above it.

‘With this alone, the level of support reaches nearly thirty percent.’

If from here they gained the strength of either Corpse Blood Valley, which had remained neutral until now, or the final remaining one among the Five Kings, then it might be entirely possible to contend even with the eldest young master’s side, which enjoyed the support of the Elder Council.

So then why was it?

Was there any reason to go out of her way to join hands with Young Master Jang Neung-ak?

Young Master Jang Neung-ak was absolutely not someone who would show compromise.

If anything, he would wish for them to come under him, but would absolutely never join hands with them.

Wi So-yeon surely knew that as well, so he could not understand.

As his mind grew ever more complicated, unexpected words flew from Yeop Wi-seon’s mouth.

“Eldest martial brother… I think perhaps our choice was wrong.”

“…What?”

“This is not right, is it?”

“What do you mean not right? And what do you mean our choice was wrong? What are you trying to say right now?”

“Young Lady cherished talent and valued capable people, so I thought there was a possibility if we supported her. But the current Young Lady has had her vision darkened, as though someone has covered her eyes.”

At those words from Yeop Wi-seon, Wu Ho-rang let out a sigh.

It seemed this fellow was holding the matter from earlier very deeply in his heart.

Of course, from his standpoint he might feel hurt, but one did not slander the lord to whom one had sworn loyalty over a single day’s matter.

So Wu Ho-rang quietly rebuked him.

“Do not speak carelessly. It is not right to blame our lord simply because you cannot understand her command. And to do so is to degrade our own choice.”

“Are you not angry, eldest martial brother?”

“Angry?”

“We are Young Lady’s close aides. Yet just because she was angry over this one incident, is it right for her to use hierarchy as an excuse to decide everything she wants about things no one can accept, and even to slight you and me, who have supported her all this time, like this?”

“Stop. No more…”

“And if, while things go on like this, Young Lady says she is going under Young Master Jang Neung-ak, would you still follow without complaint?”

“That…”

“And if you objected to that and she told you to leave, would you accept it?”

“…”

“If at every turn she draws a line and says we cannot raise objections like this, and makes it so that as subordinates we cannot even offer counsel, is that not simply the conduct of a tyrant? I absolutely cannot accept this situation.”

“You!”

“I think this matter should even be reported to master, and that we need to consider whether his support should continue or not.”

“You have gone too far!”

This time Wu Ho-rang’s voice rose.

Then Yeop Wi-seon quickly seized the initiative with a cupped-fist salute.

“Let us end this conversation here. More importantly, master told me to bring eldest martial brother, but because of that bastard Mok Gyeong-un I had forgotten.”

“What? Why are you only now saying that?”

“Just like eldest martial brother, I had been knocked unconscious by that bastard, so when was I supposed to tell you?”

At those words from Yeop Wi-seon, Wu Ho-rang clicked his tongue.

And inwardly he became worried.

Though because of what happened today his relationship with Wi So-yeon had become somewhat awkward, he could not help but worry that some incident would make things grow even more distant.

So Wu Ho-rang said to Yeop Wi-seon in a warning tone,

“I am saying this just in case, but when we go before master, do not act rashly for no reason.”

“…”

“You really…”

Just as he was about to rebuke Yeop Wi-seon, someone called out to them.

“You two still have not gone?”

That someone was none other than Gi Ok-ryeon, daughter of Gi Hae, the Nurturing Rock Valley Master.

When Gi Ok-ryeon arrived, Yeop Wi-seon shut his mouth.

Among the close aides there was no one who did not know that she was, in effect, Wi So-yeon’s right arm.

Thus, worried that she might have overheard their conversation or glimpsed their true feelings, Yeop Wi-seon tried to move away.

“We were just leaving. Eldest martial brother, let us go.”

“All right.”

“Brother Wu, wait just a moment.”

Wu Ho-rang, who had been about to return with Yeop Wi-seon for the time being, stopped his steps.

When Yeop Wi-seon gestured for him to come quickly, Gi Ok-ryeon smiled and said,

“It will only be a moment, so go on ahead slowly.”

“Hoo.”

At that, Yeop Wi-seon shook his head from side to side and left the rear garden first.

Then Wu Ho-rang asked,

“What is it?”

“I only wanted to tell you not to be too heartsick over what happened today.”

“Heartsick?”

At Gi Ok-ryeon’s words, Wu Ho-rang asked back in puzzlement.

Then Gi Ok-ryeon opened her eyes round and tilted her head as she said,

“Are you truly unaffected?”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“It seems Young Lady has marked the man called Mok Gyeong-un as her future partner. Had Brother Wu not noticed?”

“What?”

At those words from her, the look in Wu Ho-rang’s eyes changed.

One might say it became far sharper than before.

At that reaction from him, the corners of Gi Ok-ryeon’s mouth twitched slightly, but she quickly concealed it.

Feigning innocence, Gi Ok-ryeon covered her mouth with both hands and said,

“Oh my… what is to be done? So you did not know.”

“What in the world… That…”

Wu Ho-rang’s voice trembled.

In that voice there was disappointment and, together with it, a strange anger.

Looking at him, Gi Ok-ryeon said as if flustered,

“I thought Brother Wu and everyone else knew already, but it seems not. It looks as though I made a needless slip of the tongue.”

Even as she said that, her eyes did not leave Wu Ho-rang.

She could not let this chance slip by.

A single point of opportunity to make him realize that his feelings for Wi So-yeon were futile and then slip into that opening in his heart.

If she missed this, she would never be able to make this man hers.

* * *

-Clank clank!

A cold-faced girl appeared, wrapped all over in thin chains as though they were clothes.

At the appearance of this strange figure, who had short hair with half of it turned white, both Go Chan, who was possessing Jang Neung-ak, and Wi Maeng-cheon, who was possessing Ho Jong-hyeok, inwardly could not help but feel tension.

That was because,

‘Blue Spirit?’

By instinct, they could tell that the rank of this girl’s vengeful soul had reached Blue Spirit.

Given how low their own soul-ranks were, they naturally could not help but feel not only wariness but even a strange fear.

Go Chan carefully asked Mok Gyeong-un,

“Master. Just who is this girl…”

-Girl? Who are you calling a girl right now?

At those words to Go Chan, the girl suddenly glared and raised her voice.

Despite how simple the action was, the cold and immense spiritual power he felt from her made Go Chan involuntarily flinch and take a step back.

-This young master is a man.

“A man?”

In what world did that look like a man?

To anyone’s eyes, it was a girl.

But then,

“That is enough.”

When Mok Gyeong-un gave a warning,

-Master!

The girl at once rushed over to Mok Gyeong-un and rubbed her face against him like a cat.

Mok Gyeong-un pushed her away with an expressionless face.

At that, the girl said with a disappointed expression,

-I waited a long time.

At this complaint from the half-white-haired girl, Mok Gyeong-un seemed not to care in the least and instead pointed to the people collapsed on the floor as he said,

“Gyu So-ha.”

-Yes.

The girl was none other than Gyu So-ha, the vengeful soul born from gu poison below the cliffs of Corpse Blood Valley.

Mok Gyeong-un continued,

“Possess one of the usable bodies among these. That one over there should be suitable.”

The one Mok Gyeong-un pointed at with his finger was a muscular man lying with his face buried in the floor.

He was Go Yeon-hu, one of the Five Tigers, the foremost rising experts of the Heaven and Earth Society.

At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Gyu So-ha, after inspecting Go Yeon-hu carefully, soon made a dissatisfied face and said,

-Master. Might one of those two not do instead?

The two Gyu So-ha pointed at were none other than Ha Chae-rin, who was kneeling and blinking with a clueless expression, and Seo Hye-in, the unit leader of the Choyeon Unit and the Fourth Sacred Mountain of the Five Peaks Assembly.

At those words from Gyu So-ha, Blue Spirit, who had been watching from inside the wooden puppet, clicked her tongue and said to Mok Gyeong-un,

-See? All sentient beings. I told you this wench is a woman.