Gongsun Jinhae lifted his teacup.
“Neutrality sounds admirable, but standing with neither side also means receiving help from neither side. When two powers face one another, both wish to draw the neutral factions to their side, so neither dares touch them lightly. But once the balance shifts, the situation changes. Now that the major powers have already taken shape, neutrality is no longer a buffer.”
“It has become expendable.”
Gongsun Jinhae nodded.
“That is right. Expendable. Something whose presence or absence makes no difference. On a board where every power struggles against the others, a neutral faction becomes nothing more than prey. No one will protect it.”
“...”
“By the time we realized it, it was already too late.”
Self-mockery entered Gongsun Jinhae’s voice.
“When I received your letter, I should have accepted. Whether as an ally of Heaven’s Will Alliance or, at the very least, by leaving the door open for dialogue. But this old man had become intoxicated by centuries of neutrality.”
“...”
“I never imagined the world would change this much, or that you would completely rebuild Heaven’s Will Alliance and then enter the Blood Heaven Sect... I truly never imagined it.”
Gongsun Jinhae smiled bitterly.
Unhwi said nothing.
Gongsun Jinhae continued.
“The Tyrant Blade Sect fell.”
“...”
“One of the Five Great Families vanished. By your hand. Do you know what the remaining four felt then?”
“Fear.”
“That is right.”
Gongsun Jinhae nodded.
“Fear. The fear that tomorrow might be our turn. We had stood alone under the name of neutrality, and the Tyrant Blade Sect showed us how easily one who stands alone can fall.”
“So you went to the Murim Alliance.”
Gongsun Jinhae answered Unhwi’s question calmly.
“There was no other choice. We could not go to the Blood Heaven Sect. If we entrusted ourselves to an unorthodox faction, the legitimacy we had built over centuries would collapse. Heaven’s Will Alliance is still young. What you accomplished in reviving it was remarkable, but its history is short.”
“And the Murim Alliance has Gun Mugeol.”
Gongsun Jinhae’s hand stopped.
For an instant.
Then he lifted his teacup again.
“The man they call a gentleman.”
Gongsun Jinhae spoke.
“A man who has reached the pinnacle. The Alliance Leader of the Murim Alliance. The man who rebuilt the center of the righteous sects.”
“...”
“Do you know how the world sees him?”
“Yes.”
“They say he is righteous. They say he is fair. They call him the hero who reunited the righteous sects scattered after the Thousand-Year Chaos.”
Gongsun Jinhae’s eyes settled on Unhwi.
“What do you think of him?”
Unhwi lifted his teacup.
He drank.
Then set it down.
“What I think is not important.”
“...”
“What matters is what you think, Family Head.”
Gongsun Jinhae looked at Unhwi.
For a long time.
“...He is an extraordinary man.”
At last, Gongsun Jinhae spoke.
“Not only in martial arts. He has a gift for gathering people. A gift for creating a great cause. A gift for killing his enemies without appearing to make enemies.”
“...”
“This old man has lived a long life. I have seen many heroes and great figures. But I have never seen anyone like Gun Mugeol.”
Gongsun Jinhae’s voice lowered.
“Outwardly, he possesses the bearing of a gentleman. A single word from him moves people, and every action appears to embody a great cause. He is the image of a leader any martial artist would wish to follow.”
“...”
“But.”
Gongsun Jinhae paused.
“To this old man’s eyes...”
A beat passed.
“There is another face beneath that gentleman’s face.”
Unhwi’s eyes shifted almost imperceptibly.
Gongsun Jinhae looked at him.
“You must have seen it as well.”
“...”
“No. You came here because you saw it.”
Unhwi did not answer.
There was no need.
Gongsun Jinhae gave a faint, bitter laugh.
“That is the way of the world, Young Master Seol. A gentleman’s blade is more frightening than a petty man’s. A petty man’s blade can be seen, so it can be avoided. But a blade concealed behind a gentleman’s mask cannot be seen. You only realize it after you have been struck.”
“...”
“And by then, it is already too late.”
Silence passed between them.
Unhwi slowly spoke.
“So you entered beneath that blade even though you could see it.”
Gongsun Jinhae set down his teacup.
A sound rang out.
A small sound.
Yet within the Family Head’s Hall, it echoed loudly.
“Young Master Seol.”
“Yes.”
“Does a lion fear a pack of wolves?”
“It does not.”
“That is right. It does not.”
Gongsun Jinhae’s gaze deepened.
“But even a lion must sleep.”
“...”
“If a pack of wolves bites a sleeping lion, even the lion will die.”
“...”
“The Gongsun family is strong. This old man is not weak. But the world is not a place where the strong prevail.”
Gongsun Jinhae looked at Unhwi.
“It is a place where those who never sleep prevail.”
Unhwi listened in silence.
“Entering the Murim Alliance was not submission to Gun Mugeol.”
Gongsun Jinhae’s voice was firm.
“It was to avoid being bitten while we slept. Once inside the fence, at the very least, no one can stab us in the back.”
“Assuming the owner of the fence does not stab you in the back.”
Unhwi spoke.
Gongsun Jinhae stopped.
He looked at Unhwi.
“...That is right.”
Gongsun Jinhae acknowledged it.
“An assumption.”
“And if that assumption fails?”
Unhwi asked.
Gongsun Jinhae did not answer.
It was a question he could not answer.
The Gongsun family’s decision to enter the Murim Alliance had been reasonable.
They had possessed no alternative but the Murim Alliance.
The Murim Alliance had known that as well, which was why it had extended a hand.
And the Gongsun family had taken it.
Unhwi set down his teacup.
“Family Head.”
“Mm.”
“Let us suppose there was a man.”
Unhwi’s voice was low.
“That man witnessed the end of the martial world. In the name of justice, the Murim Alliance branded the Gongsun family an enemy of the martial world, and the other families joined forces to destroy it.”
All expression vanished from Gongsun Jinhae’s face.
“The family head reached the pinnacle, but died immediately afterward. At Gun Mugeol’s hands.”
“...”
“The justification was simple. He was called a traitor who had entrusted himself to an unorthodox faction.”
Silence.
Long silence.
Gongsun Jinhae spoke.
“That is a frightening story.”
“It is hypothetical.”
“Hypothetical.”
Gongsun Jinhae looked at Unhwi.
This time, his gaze was different.
It held neither the awe of their spar nor his earlier calm.
It was probing.
What did this young man know?
What had he seen?
What did he want?
“Is that why you came here?”
“Yes.”
Unhwi nodded.
“I understand why the Gongsun family entered the Murim Alliance. But...”
Unhwi met Gongsun Jinhae’s eyes.
“A blade received inside the fence hurts more than one received outside it.”
“...”
“Because there is nowhere to run.”
Gongsun Jinhae stared at Unhwi for a long time.
Silence pooled within the Family Head’s Hall.
Smoke from the incense burner rose to the ceiling and dispersed.
“Young Master Seol.”
“Yes.”
“What do you want?”
“I want nothing.”
“...”
“There is only something I wished to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Unhwi rose from his seat.
He gave a deep fist salute.
“It is enough if you remember that the Gongsun family always has another choice.”
Gongsun Jinhae looked up at Unhwi.
For a long while.
“...Go.”
Gongsun Jinhae continued.
“That will be all for today.”
“Yes.”
Unhwi turned.
He walked toward the door.
“Young Master Seol.”
Gongsun Jinhae’s voice came from behind him.
“...How was the tea?”
Unhwi stopped.
He did not turn around.
“Bitter.”
“...”
“But the aftertaste was sweet. And the Blood Heaven Sect is not ‘a gathering of demons.’”
“...”
“I wanted to make certain I told you that.”
He opened the door and left.
Left alone, Gongsun Jinhae looked down at the two empty teacups.
Smoke rose from the incense burner.
He closed his eyes.
“...Another choice.”
He murmured.
Then opened his eyes.
He looked out the window.
The sun was descending.
“...The world has become a place where the young see farther than the old.”
Gongsun Jinhae rose.
The ruined training ground could be seen beyond the window.
***
The Alliance Leader’s Hall of the Murim Alliance.
Gun Mugeol was playing Go.
Alone.
He alternated between black and white, placing black stones with his right hand and white stones with his left.
A game against himself.
Tap.
A black stone was placed.
Tap.
White followed.
A presence stirred outside the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened.
A man entered.
Middle-aged.
Ordinary-looking.
A face that drew no attention.
Yet his footsteps made no sound.
A man who moved like a shadow.
Seo Yeongchu, commander of the Murim Alliance’s Covert Intelligence Corps.
“Alliance Leader.”
“Sit.”
Seo Yeongchu sat opposite him.
Gun Mugeol placed another Go stone and asked,
“You went to the Gongsun family?”
“Yes.”
“And Seol Unhwi?”
“You were correct. Seol Unhwi visited the Gongsun family.”
Gun Mugeol’s hand did not stop.
Tap.
A black stone landed.
“His companions?”
“Only a few. Three close associates and four who joined him from Red Spirit Court.”
“Red Spirit Court.”
Gun Mugeol gave a faint smile.
“Has the Red Demon become his man?”
“That is how I see it.”
“What did Seol Unhwi do at the Gongsun family?”
Seo Yeongchu hesitated.
Gun Mugeol raised his eyes.
“Speak.”
“...The training ground was destroyed.”
Gun Mugeol’s hand stopped.
For the first time.
“The training ground?”
“Yes. Gongsun Jinhae and Seol Unhwi sparred.”
“...”
“Every stone slab in the training ground was shattered, and part of the viewing stands collapsed.”
Silence.
Gun Mugeol looked down at the Go board.
“Gongsun Jinhae is in the Supreme Void Realm.”
“Yes.”
“And Seol Unhwi is at Unity of Heaven and Man.”
“Yes.”
“If the training ground was destroyed to that extent...”
Gun Mugeol’s eyes narrowed.
“Then he withstood him.”
Seo Yeongchu nodded.
Gun Mugeol picked up a black stone.
He stared at it for a long time.
Then set it down.
Not on the board.
Beside it.
Martial artists conversing through the sword implied far more than most realized.
A dialogue of swords.
It could never be ignored.
“Seo Yeongchu.”
“Yes.”
“Seol Unhwi went to the Gongsun family. To the one who effectively leads the Four Great Families. And he did so without the banner of the Blood Heaven Sect, taking only a small number of companions.”
“...”
“What do you think that means?”
“...It means he is reading your moves.”
“No.”
Gun Mugeol shook his head.
“He is not reading them. Had he read them, he would be preparing. Gathering troops or forging alliances.”
“...”
“Seol Unhwi went to confirm something, not to prepare.”
“To confirm something?”
“The reason the Gongsun family entered the Murim Alliance. He went to confirm it.”
“And to unsettle them.”
Gun Mugeol rose.
He walked to the window.
“He still does not know the truth. He senses that something is moving, but he does not know what it is.”
He turned.
“Now is our opportunity.”
“...By opportunity, you mean...”
“We must strike while he remains ignorant.”
“Before he learns the truth.”
Gun Mugeol returned to the Go board.
He sat.
Then swept every stone from it.
He cleared the board.
It meant he intended to begin again.
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