novelraw Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61 - I knew we could communicate
“Kuh, this is delicious.”
Indeed, Lady Mihwa was not a woman who spoke empty words.
The finest delicacies and expensive bottles of liquor that the Loyal Heart Pavilion could offer were spread out before Biyoung.
The alcohol was also quite strong, causing Biyoung’s pale cheeks to turn reddish like a carrot.
“Is it to your liking?”
Lady Mihwa asked Biyoung in a subtle voice.
“Of course. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had such excellent food. It’s been a while since I’ve seen my grandfather’s cooking skills.”
“Oh my. Are you saying your grandfather’s cooking skills are this outstanding?”
“Yes. It’s not because I’m an unfilial son, but because of the taste of his food, I can’t bring myself to cook, you see.”
“Hohoho. I would love to try it myself someday. To think his skills rival those of our Loyal Heart Pavilion’s chef. We have guests who come all the way from the Sichuan region just to eat our food.”
“Honestly, it’s worth it.”
Biyoung smiled faintly, then began to indiscriminately bombard the dishes on the table again.
A man with a stomach as magnificent as his handsome features.
Thinking this, Lady Mihwa slowly got to the main point.
“So, have you given it some thought?”
“You mean about working at the Loyal Heart Pavilion?”
“Hoho. Yes.”
“Hmm. I thought about it for a bit, but I think I’ll just live as I have been.”
“I see.”
At Lady Mihwa’s concise reply, Biyoung grinned.
“You’ve treated me so lavishly, yet you don’t seem particularly disappointed.”
“Hmm. Because I knew you would say that?”
Lady Mihwa giggled, covering her mouth.
She’s this beautiful now, so how many men’s hearts did she tear to shreds in her prime?
It was a smile that naturally brought such thoughts to mind.
‘Could she be as beautiful as Senior Sister Jeong-i?’
Biyoung unknowingly pictured Jeong-i, then quickly shook his head vigorously.
What am I thinking right now?
Hastily downing a cup, Biyoung asked her again.
“If you expected it, there was no need to treat me to such delicacies, right? Since it wouldn’t work out anyway.”
“It’s not as if we can only maintain a good relationship if you work at the Loyal Heart Pavilion.”
“Aha.”
That was true.
Some might say that building a friendship with the owner of a gisaeng house was unbecoming of the prestigious orthodox sects.
But that was spoken without knowing the inside story.
The proverb that a quiet cat gets on the hearth first was a story that perfectly corresponded with what he had observed in his past life.
Biyoung had frequently witnessed the senior members of sects, who valued honor and duty, being swayed by the skirts of gisaengs.
It had gotten to the point where he wondered if the more honorable the sect, the more frequently they visited gisaeng houses.
Sometimes, they would even fabricate excuses to eliminate the troubles of the gisaeng house.
There was a saying that all heroes are men of great caliber, but every time Biyoung saw the elders hiding their identities to visit the gisaeng house late at night, he had to hold back a sneer.
Sadly, such people had always existed even within the Diancang Sect.
“Then I’ll consider these dishes a gift for becoming friends.”
“Hoho. That’s right.”
“Then, since we’re friends now, may I ask you one thing?”
“By all means.”
“Did you intentionally leak the information about the Tiger-Bear Stronghold? To Third Line Leader Han Ryeong, I mean.”
“!”
The smile on Lady Mihwa’s lips vanished as if washed away.
Her two sparkling eyes stared piercingly at Biyoung’s face.
Innocent.
Isn’t there a saying that the clearer the water, the more dangerous it is, as its depth cannot be fathomed?
Biyoung’s expression was exactly like that.
His expression, which seemed purely innocent and bright, contained thoughts of unfathomable depth.
For the first time in a long while.
Lady Mihwa felt as if she had been struck hard on the back of her head.
“………….”
Though she was always quick to respond, this time she could not answer easily.
She did not know how he found out, but Biyoung had mentioned Han Ryeong’s name and position precisely.
He had seen through not only the identity of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes, but also the fact that she was a key figure within it.
Moreover, he even saw through the scheme that Han Ryeong himself was unaware of!
‘Where did someone like this come from?’
Lady Mihwa momentarily debated whether she should press the device under the table.
She had already guessed that this man’s martial arts were extraordinary.
It was predictable from the way he had deflected the escort’s attack in the past, and from how he had knocked down the guards at the main gate in one fell swoop today.
If she pressed the device, the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes’s guard, Second Line Leader Jin Seung, who was hiding under the table, would emerge.
But her hesitation did not last long.
Because Biyoung added a word as he emptied the remaining liquor bottle.
“It won’t work even if he comes out.”
“!!!”
Could it be that he had already seen through the identity of the person hiding underneath?
Astonishment filled the space between her long, lush eyelashes.
“I have no intention of causing a commotion here. I don’t like seeing blood, and above all, we’ve become friends, haven’t we?”
“……Is there such a thing as a friendship where only one side’s information is completely exposed?”
Now, an overt hostility was visible on her face.
A fatally beautiful, yet equally cold and venomous expression.
Perhaps this was her true self.
Biyoung thought so inwardly.
“Please understand. If I had brought it up from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been some escort fellows, but all the elites of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes who would have come out, right? Well, it wouldn’t have worked even then.”
“………….”
“Besides, you’re also hiding things inside. How can we become friends who open our hearts to each other like this?”
At first, he was forgivable because he was handsome, but on second thought, he was quite skilled at slowly getting under one’s skin.
Looking at it one by one, nothing wrong came out of Biyoung’s mouth.
That fact made Lady Mihwa even more furious.
‘It was a good thing I changed my clothes.’
Watching Lady Mihwa’s ever-changing reactions, Biyoung smiled almost imperceptibly.
The clothes he was wearing now were not those of the Diancang Sect, but ordinary martial arts attire.
It was not yet certain what the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes thought of the Diancang Sect.
Depending on the circumstances, a sword fight might have broken out at the main gate just for wearing the Diancang Sect’s uniform.
A mere information syndicate(?) was unlikely to be a threat to Biyoung, but there was a chance he might not have been able to meet Lady Mihwa.
But now, it seemed it was time to slowly reveal his identity.
“You heard that the Tiger-Bear Stronghold was annihilated, right?”
“……Yes. I heard that the survivors of the Diancang Sect have reclaimed Diancang Mountain.”
“I was the one who did it.”
“……!”
Lady Mihwa’s mind began to spin at high speed.
‘Indeed…….’
A series of events flooded her mind like a wave.
This descendant of the Diancang Sect had taken over the Tiger-Bear Stronghold, then traced Han Hoe and Han Ryeong to get here.
‘Han Ryeong. This bastard…….’
Demonic fire bloomed in Lady Mihwa’s eyes.
The only person who could have told him that the Loyal Heart Pavilion was actually the headquarters of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes, and that she was the First Line Leader, the head of it all, was Han Ryeong.
“You’re going to shoot laser beams out of your eyes.”
Biyoung chuckled and popped the last piece of mountain bandit meat into his mouth.
“Han Ryeong was a rather loyal man. He wouldn’t talk no matter how frighteningly I threatened him.”
“……Because he would die either way, even if he told the truth.”
Lady Mihwa retorted in a cold tone.
“But as I listened to his younger brother, Han Hoe, something was strange. A man who is the head of an information syndicate slowly leaks information without even knowing who might be outside the door? Could he have built up the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes with such carelessness?”
“………….”
“Han Ryeong, who wouldn’t open his mouth no matter how much I scared him, finally told me about you when I mentioned that strange point. It seems there is a misunderstanding to be resolved between you two.”
“Where is Han Ryeong now?”
“I have him in a safe place. You don’t need to worry, as he’s in no condition to run far.”
Biyoung’s way of treating a person like an object was rather jarring.
Just where had the clumsy boy he had encountered on the streets in the past gone?
It was as if a completely different person had entered a body with the same appearance.
“As I mentioned a moment ago, I am a person of the Diancang Sect. And because of the words you indirectly leaked, Diancang Mountain ended up being used as a base for a group of mountain bandits.”
“It sounds like you’re planning to take out your anger on me.”
“How could that be? We’re friends now.”
Biyoung shrugged his shoulders and gave a pleasant smile.
However, Lady Mihwa’s face did not look very bright.
Who is the most feared enemy in the world?
A supreme master?
Or someone connected to the power of the imperial court?
Wrong.
The most feared enemy is one whose information is uncertain.
Lady Mihwa, who had built up the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes in a short time, knew this fact all too well.
In that sense, the handsome man before her was the most difficult type for Lady Mihwa.
“If we are to assign original sin, it would lie with the Diancang Sect for failing to protect its main mountain. That stupid decision to sacrifice all its forces in the fight against the Heavenly Demon, despite operating with a small elite force.”
A self-deprecating smile spread across Biyoung’s lips as he criticized scathingly.
“If you just tell me the facts straight, I won’t attack the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes. It would be too sad if my newfound friend suddenly disappeared, wouldn’t it?”
A person with a short temper would have immediately called for the guards upon hearing these words.
Because it was an arrogant statement that he could crush the likes of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes at any time.
But Lady Mihwa could not do that.
Although he was only a Third Line Leader, Han Ryeong was a rather skilled man.
This was a person who had easily secured such a man, and who had even seen through the identity of the guard hidden under the table.
‘Besides…… I cannot be sure that this man came alone.’
From what Lady Mihwa had heard, those who attacked Diancang Mountain were not alone.
The man before her was already hard to handle, but what if his companions were waiting outside?
Not only the Loyal Heart Pavilion, but the entire tower of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes, built with so much effort, could collapse in a single day.
“Huu……”
After letting out a sigh, Lady Mihwa’s eyes gleamed as she spoke.
“If you hand over Han Ryeong, I’ll think about it.”
“Are you going to kill him?”
“It’s our principle not to let traitors live. But…… I’ll make an exception in this case.”
Strictly speaking, it was Lady Mihwa who had first betrayed their trust.
Because she had used Han Ryeong and his brother to get what she wanted without getting her own hands dirty.
“If you’re thinking of keeping him barely alive to torture him for the rest of his life, or something like that, I can’t hand Han Ryeong over.”
“You are really not an easy one. Don’t worry. From our Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes’s perspective, it’s easier to manage an informant by keeping him under our watch rather than letting him roam outside.”
“Hoh.”
“I swear on the name of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes. So now, please tell me what you’re curious about.”
It was, in a way, a declaration of surrender.
Biyoung gave a satisfied smile.
“I knew I could communicate with the First Line Leader.”
“Speak quickly before I change my mind.”
“Alright. There are three things I’m curious about. First, the circumstances under which you learned that there was a hidden treasure in the Diancang Sect. Second, the identity of the unorthodox factions that attacked the Diancang Sect. And the third and final thing is……”
“…………!!”
At that moment.
The guard, Jin Seung, who had been holding his breath and aiming his sword under the table, almost jumped out without realizing it.
Because a murderous aura, the likes of which he had never felt before, pressed down on his entire body as if to pierce him.
It was an aura he had not even felt when the unorthodox factions that attacked the Diancang Sect were mentioned.
“Fifteen years ago. Tell me everything you know about the fight with the Heavenly Demon. Everything.”