Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 89

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#089

“….”

Only then did it catch my eye.

On one leg revealed through the open red robe beside Sword Master Yeomjak, a small band was wrapped around it.

Hanging from it was a long rod shaped like a sword, tightly bound with red thread without any gaps.

As it turned out, all the flame threads wrapped around her hands and arms were connected to that mysterious rod.

‘So it’s not just me, but these people also keep their final move hidden.’

That’s right.

In the end, everyone carries their own masks and their own lives, always engaging in real sword battles.

I thought once again.

Both Sword Master Hwirong,

and Sword Master Yeomjak.

No matter what appearance they might take, I must not be deceived by it and let it lead to carelessness.

“If there’s nothing more you’re curious about, I shall take my leave now.”

“Sword Master Yeomjak.”

I said.

“May I ask how I should address your honorable name?”

“Honorable name?”

“Yes. In case we meet again in the future, I need to know how to address you.”

At my question, her movement as she turned around stopped.

The red veil fluttered in the wind, brushing against her shoulder line. Without turning back, she spoke quietly in a proud voice.

“Wi Yerin. It is Wi Yerin.”

A short answer.

And at the same time, before I could respond to this, the words that immediately followed were clearly an order to leave.

“However, there’s no need to remember it. After all, the connection between you and I will be shallow like a passing breeze. There will be no occasion for our paths to cross.”

I could feel her gaze sweeping over me from behind the veil.

A gaze that could be contempt, indifference, or perhaps suppressed emotion—I couldn’t tell.

“Fourth Young Master. This title will suffice for me to address you. You should also just call me Sword Master Yeomjak.”

“Understood, Sword Master Yeomjak.”

“How clever.”

Wi Yerin lifted her veil and put it over her head.

“I must leave at dawn like the other masters. I’ve given detailed instructions to my subordinates for the remaining Monthly Political Assembly, so do well.”

“Then were you waiting because of me?”

“…There were orders from the Master, and I was also curious about the person Hwirong mentioned. Don’t attach too much meaning to it.”

Seo Ganghyeok had spoken about me…?

I was suddenly curious.

“Now that Sword Master Yeomjak has seen me directly, what do you think? About me as a person?”

“….”

As a martial artist, I was curious about what level I was at.

At my question, Wi Yerin looked me up and down.

Her long eyelashes blinked, then she spoke briefly and turned around.

“A beast.”

“…Pardon?”

The red veil fluttered and disappeared like midnight mist.

I muttered in shock.

“…Is she saying my skills are that terrible.”

But soon I shook my head and clicked my tongue bitterly.

“Or maybe she was insulting my looks. But still, what kind of beast, a beast….”

Being insulted for being ugly was a familiar part of life by now, but now I’m even being called a beast.

It was natural if you think about it, but it was also a somewhat melancholy night.

And the next day.

I faced my first Monthly Political Assembly for merit evaluation as the official Fourth Young Master that the Namgung Family had publicly announced to the Martial Arts World.

***

-Chirp chirp chirp….

Although the Awakening of Insects had passed, when all things awaken from winter sleep, the air of Mount Cheonju, the sacred mountain of the Namgung Family, was still bone-chillingly cold.

With the Master, Vice Master, and even all Five Great Patriarchs away on missions, what filled the heart of this massive Namgung Family—Taecheong-won and the main residence—was a heavy silence like ink.

Originally, the ‘Monthly Political Assembly’ was an event held four times a year, at each seasonal transition, to discuss the family’s major and minor affairs and to select agenda items for the highest-level meeting, the ‘Secret Banquet.’

However, as could be inferred from what Sword Master Yeomjak had hinted at earlier, its meaning had rapidly faded and diminished in recent times.

As the family’s center was reorganized around the Five Great Patriarchs and the authority of the highest-level meeting, the Secret Banquet, became bloated, the Monthly Political Assembly seemed to have changed to mainly handle merit evaluations.

To make matters worse, this time even the Secret Banquet leadership who would normally oversee the Monthly Political Assembly were all absent without exception.

This assembly was even quieter than usual Monthly Political Assemblies.

I had heard from Sword Master Yeomjak that it would be conducted in an extremely simplified format, individually summoning recipients and just handing out rewards….

‘It’s even more than I thought. This must be why Sword Master Yeomjak said to consider it practice.’

As I looked around the Monthly Assembly Hall, the man standing in front of me shouted in a clear voice into the empty space.

“…Therefore, today’s Monthly Political Assembly concludes with this.”

It wasn’t the chief steward standing on the platform.

It was the ceremonial steward who assisted the chief steward and managed the family’s miscellaneous affairs.

He had a gaunt frame and sunken eyes, and showed clear signs of exhaustion, apparently from days of individual summons and reward duties.

“Fourth Young Master Namgung Hwi. Now I’ll discuss the merit evaluation reported to Mount Cheonju so far. In this regular assessment, you excellently resolved the discord with the Sacheon Party and furthermore strengthened the friendship between both families, which is considered truly significant….”

The steward roughly turned a page of the book. Rustle, the sound of dry paper turning echoed in the quiet hall.

“There’s an additional report from Sword Master Hwirong. Let me see.”

He added a report in the meantime?

“According to this, it says you showed ‘quick wit and good coordination, displaying unparalleled shrewdness in securing benefits for the family.’ ‘He is my disciple. Please take good care of him.’ This part is considered incorrectly transmitted and has been officially discarded. In conclusion, due to the absence of key personnel including the Secret Banquet leadership, under the direct authority of Sword Master Yeomjak and the five-person system, it has been summarily decided that it is appropriate for the Namgung Family to grant the Fourth Young Master the corresponding reward for this quarter.”

He placed a voucher and a token on the table in front of me.

“Here, a box of reward silver and an entry token that allows you to privately use any hall you want within Mount Cheonju’s main residence.”

“Thank you.”

“And lastly.”

The steward pulled out a dusty wooden box from under the table. Creak, with the sound of old hinges, the lid opened to reveal two spools of thread inside.

One was a dark red color that looked like blood might drip from it at any moment, and the other had a deep, cool blue color like the deep sea. For simple thread, these items had a strangely mysterious aura about them.

“Choose one of these bestowed items.”

“What is this thread?”

“I’m just a steward following orders to deliver these. I have neither the qualification nor knowledge to explain their details. I don’t particularly want to know either. Anyway, there are only two left, so please choose quickly. I have a mountain of other matters to handle.”

The steward urged me to choose with his sunken eyes.

Fatigue aside, he was being somewhat rude.

‘If he’s a ceremonial steward, he’d be a confidant of the Vice Master… so that might explain this attitude.’

Moreover, an event that would normally finish in a day had been dragging on for several days, so as a low-level administrator, it must be killing him.

Understanding his irritated attitude, I looked down at the wooden box.

Inside the box with the spools of thread, I could see three empty spaces besides the two spools.

The empty spaces must be from previous Monthly Political Assembly rewards that other young masters had already taken, and these would be what remained.

I stared at the mysterious thread colors in the wooden box.

‘Red and blue.’

Seo Ganghyeok had warned me. Never to choose the red thread.

The moment I chose it, I would fall into Wi Yerin’s trap.

‘Then the meaning of these thread colors is too blatantly obvious. No, now that I look at it once, I understand it even better. This is…’

Just then, a rough voice interrupted from behind me.

“I also happen to need to choose something. If you’re really troubled, may I choose first, younger brother?”

When I turned my head, a massive figure was entering, filling the entire entrance of the great hall.

Along with vibrations that seemed to shake the floor, a fishy smell of whale oil wafted over.

A plump build with a body so fat it looked ready to burst.

“You’re Namgung Hwi who became the fourth son this time? Nice to meet you. I’m the third son, Namgung Taejin.”

Up close, his face was dripping with grease.

Below his glistening forehead, the eyes that looked me over held a gaze of greed.

And most of all, his fat wrists were adorned with clusters of jade rings, and his thick neck was wrapped with a gold necklace.

Around his waist was a belt studded with gold and jewels, which was precariously pressing against his belly that seemed ready to burst out at any moment.

It was like looking at a walking treasure vault – utterly bizarre.

I bowed my head politely.

“I am the fourth son, Namgung Hwi. It’s my first time meeting you.”

“Yes, yes. You should behave well though. From what I see, you have no power base either. Haha! I heard you have some half-penny wandering herb merchant under you, and though it’s probably just rumors, someone called Baekjao as well? How useful. Now that you’re nominally the fourth son, you need to conduct yourself properly. Don’t you think?”

A fishy sneer.

Without even waiting for my answer, he suddenly reached out his hand.

“Well then, let’s get along well, younger brother.”

He grasped my elbow with his thick, clammy palm.

And patted my shoulder with considerable heavy force.

My eyebrows twitched.

‘Look at this bastard…?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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