The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 60

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 60. Never a Dull Matter
Ja Jeon Geom Wang found himself at a loss.
Tae Geuk Geom Wang had burst in suddenly, demanded he bring his head, and then vanished without another word.
“What am I supposed to be missing?”
Ja Jeon Geom Wang tilted his head in thought, then summoned one of his subordinates.
“Are there any of our people who went out and haven’t come back?”
“Do you mean those unaccounted for, sir?”
“Yes. Whether they’re on reconnaissance or anything else—find out if anyone’s left and hasn’t returned. Check thoroughly.”
“Understood, Lord. But why so suddenly…?”
“I’m wondering if there are men out there losing their heads. So don’t do this half-heartedly—investigate it properly.”
“Yes, sir. I shall….”
The subordinate bowed and withdrew, and Ja Jeon Geom Wang turned his attention back to the documents before him.
Once he received the report, he’d know how many were missing, and by tracking where they’d gone, he could roughly piece together which of them had been abandoned with their heads severed.
Those fools who’d disobeyed orders and carelessly strayed too close to enemy lines only to get themselves killed—he could spare little concern for them now.
His head was already threatening to split from the matter of Ga Ji Hoon and that man who’d just left with Tae Geuk Geom Wang.
As thoughts of Ga Ji Hoon rose again, he recalled the letter he’d sent to Gunma Rim not long ago.
“And why hasn’t that bastard sent word?”
Ja Jeon Geom Wang muttered the complaint under his breath and bent again over the mounting pile of documents.
***
Tae Geuk Geom Wang returned to the Maeng Ui Dan Garrison and summoned Ryu.
He called him far from the quarters.
Ga Ji Hoon was already problematic—his Supernatural Art allowed him to hear even whispered transmissions—but in the presence of other members, Tae Geuk Geom Wang felt obliged to maintain formal speech, which itself was tiresome.
Having drawn Ryu out to a distant spot, Tae Geuk Geom Wang spoke bluntly.
“He doesn’t know.”
“Doesn’t know what, sir?”
“He’s not here. They claim to know nothing of his presence.”
“Did you visit Hyeol Gwi Dae, sir?”
“I went to tell that eyesore to bring himself here at once. But they truly knew nothing.”
There was no need to ask whom Tae Geuk Geom Wang had sought to find.
“Is that so?”
“They weren’t feigning ignorance. I’d stake my name on it.”
“That is… unexpected.”
“It is. But because of it, we’ve gained an opportunity.”
“What sort of opportunity?”
“The chance to capture the Blood Shadow Demon Lord himself.”
Ryu’s expression hardened at Tae Geuk Geom Wang’s words.
“It’s impossible with just the two of us, as you well know.”
It was an unpleasant truth, but it was truth nonetheless.
Every sense Ryu possessed screamed it.
‘We would die.’
Of course, if necessity demanded it, he would draw You Myeong regardless of consequence.
But there was no necessity for it, no reason to walk deliberately into certain death.
Nor was his life alone at stake.
Tae Geuk Geom Wang smiled meaningfully at Ryu’s objection.
“If he possesses the Realm of Complete Mastery, then we too possess one. Fortunately, I have a connection with such a man.”
He spoke of Chang Cheon Geom Je, the leader of the Cheol Hyeol Maeng.
Moreover, Tae Geuk Geom Wang was saying he could summon him quietly.
Ryu’s eyes flickered with temptation before his head shook in refusal.
“Please, sir. Do not.”
“Why not! Didn’t that bastard come here hunting for your head? Why would you turn away from such a danger?”
“That was then. Now he is one of my fellow members.”
“What madness is this! How in the world is he your fellow member?”
“Ga Ji Hoon of the Jeok Sa Jo. He is a member we—I and the Jeok Sa Jo—have accepted.”
“He came in under a false identity. And he threatened your comrades’ lives! There was no choice in the matter, was there?”
Ryu’s response to Tae Geuk Geom Wang’s passionate protest was a thin smile.
“I accepted him knowing that. Threatened? Yes, we were. But we could have ignored it.”
“You could have ignored it? What kind of answer is that?”
Faced with Tae Geuk Geom Wang’s confusion, Ryu spoke.
“No one wishes to die. Neither I nor my comrades. So death is a pity—it steals away all possibility of a future. But.”
“But?”
“We live on a battlefield now. We could die tomorrow on an operation, or the day after. If we die today, there’s nothing strange about it, nothing to regret.”
“So you don’t resent dying so meaninglessly?”
“Whether we meet on the battlefield or encounter each other while posing as a new recruit, it makes no difference. If we face an enemy superior to us, we die. That’s all.”
“Then why did you stay silent? If you thought like that, you should have fought and died with the rest.”
“Because time was granted to us. Time to laugh and talk like this. That alone is enough for me.”
On top of that, he’d been given an opportunity to protect his comrades’ lives.
For Ryu, there was no reason to refuse.
He simply hadn’t voiced it.
But Tae Geuk Geom Wang saw through Ryu’s heart in an instant.
“You shouldn’t just save the others—you need to live too. There’s a chance right in front of you. Why hesitate?”
“I accepted him on the condition that my comrades would not be touched. That makes him one of us now. One I must protect at all costs.”
“That, that is—!”
“I understand it’s frustrating. You could call it foolish. But it’s my iron principle. A conviction born from severing so many lives with my own hands, from losing them. Without that much…”
Ryu trailed off and smiled more brightly than ever.
“I ask for your understanding.”
Tae Geuk Geom Wang could not speak.
Ryu turned and walked back to the quarters.
As Tae Geuk Geom Wang watched Ryu’s receding figure with regret, a hazy silhouette slowly became visible behind him, then resolved into the distinct form of a person.
“Know this—his conviction protected you as well.”
Tae Geuk Geom Wang spun around in surprise at the abrupt voice, and there stood Ga Ji Hoon, his eyes gleaming like those of a wild beast.
“How—how did you—!”
“Deceiving your senses is hardly difficult. But that one—he’s quite impressive, isn’t he?”
Ga Ji Hoon spoke while watching Ryu disappear into the quarters, and Tae Geuk Geom Wang answered with an anxious voice.
“He is one of us!”
“I know. But the martial arts he learned are ours. I know what they are—the Yu Un Geom Law. The secret martial arts of the Outcast Guibek Cheolma, or so I hear. The Demonic Arts you all call foul.”
At the mention of his gravest concern, Tae Geuk Geom Wang’s mouth went dry.
Ga Ji Hoon fixed him with a steady gaze and spoke.
“I’ve had second thoughts. I want him not just dead, but alive—for myself.”
“He is not a man who would be swayed by such things!”
“I know. That’s why I’m considering it. Perhaps you don’t know, but I have no disciples. The position of Next Sect Leader stands empty.”
Tae Geuk Geom Wang’s eyes widened as he understood the weight behind those words.
Ga Ji Hoon looked at him and spoke.
“Wouldn’t that be interesting?”
Leaving behind words that were anything but amusing, Ga Ji Hoon’s form scattered into the empty air and vanished.
Even after Ga Ji Hoon disappeared, Tae Geuk Geom Wang remained frozen.
After standing rigid for some time, determination gleamed in Tae Geuk Geom Wang’s eyes, and his form too faded from sight.
***
When Ryu woke in the morning, he stared at Tae Geuk Geom Wang’s empty sleeping place.
Jwa Ryang, noticing his gaze, spoke up.
“Looks like the old man’s gone.”
“He’s not the type to leave without a word,” Yi Song said.
Dong Pil cut in abruptly.
“Well, if Jwa Ryang gave him such a hard time, I’d bet anything he’ll strip off his comrade tag, climb to a high position, and come back to grind Jwa Ryang down to the bone.”
At Dong Pil’s words, Jwa Ryang’s expression fell.
“You really think so?”
Jwa Ryang slumped, recalling how he’d tormented the old man before Tae Geuk Geom Wang became the youngest member, and the comrades around him snickered.
Ga Ji Hoon was among those laughing.
Ryu, who’d been watching the comrades in silence, rose and brushed himself off.
“Let’s eat.”
Everyone scrambled after him.
Another day was beginning for the Jeok Sa Jo just like any other.
After breakfast, the members of the Jeok Sa Jo dispersed freely as usual.
For the Jeok Sa Jo, the hours between breakfast and lunch were free for all activities save drinking.
Whether one holed up somewhere to cultivate inner strength, trained martial arts to exhaustion in the practice grounds, or sat in a teahouse flirting with women—all were equally free.
Typically, Ryu spent these hours asleep on his cot in the quarters.
But that morning, unusually, Ryu called out Ga Ji Hoon and ventured beyond the garrison’s outer perimeter.
Since everyone had already dispersed, none of the Jeok Sa Jo members noticed.
Once far from the garrison, Ryu chose a suitable clearing, stood firm, and without hesitation drew You Myeong.
“What is this for?” Ga Ji Hoon asked.
Ryu answered.
“Let’s end the games here, shall we?”
Ga Ji Hoon—or rather, Gunma Rim’s Master Pa Geuk Ryeom—chuckled at the shift from the casual speech he’d been using all this while to formal address.
“It seems you were thinking the same thing I was.”
“There’s no time for such talk, sir. Given the sect leader’s mastery of Light Qigong, he’s drawing closer by the moment.”
“You should’ve said that before we ate.”
“Still, since he’s one of my men, I wanted to send him off on a full stomach.”
At Ryu’s answer, Gunma Rim’s master regarded him in silence.
To that man, Ryu spoke again.
“There’s no time, sir.”
“I’ve changed my mind.”
…….
Gunma Rim’s master spoke to Ryu, whose eyes had grown cold and still.
“Come with me. I’ll give you a seat second only to myself—supreme among ten thousand. You’ll become the next Sect Leader of the Demonic Way, the next Master of Gunma Rim.”
At Pa Geuk Ryeom’s words, Ryu let out a soft laugh.
“I won’t even take the position of squad leader.”
He had no ambition for rank.
Gunma Rim’s master, briefly taken aback by this, asked:
“What of becoming my disciple? I’ll pass all my martial arts to you.”
At those words, Ryu—who had shown a moment of conflict—replied:
“Your stance was sloppy anyway. I’d rather perfect my own.”
“Hey, that was just for a moment…….”
“If your form crumbled that much in just a moment, you’re hardly fit to be a master.”
Unable to find a suitable retort to Ryu’s words, Pa Geuk Ryeom’s mouth worked silently before he shook his head.
“I’ve lost a great catch through my own fault. Live well and prosper.”
Leaving only those words behind, Gunma Rim’s master turned to leave, but Ryu spoke to him:
“You’ll regret it if you just go.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ll grow stronger.”
At Ryu’s words, Gunma Rim’s master turned back to face him, his eyes alight.
“A fine thing to say. Then I’ll wait.”
“You don’t believe I’ll make you regret it?”
“No, I believe you. I think you’ll grow quite well.”
“Then why……?”
“When you reach this position, you understand. There’s no one left to cross blades with freely. Everyone schemes and assassinates instead. No one to speak with openly. A worthy opponent is better than a useless ally, you see. So don’t betray my expectations.”
With those words left behind, Pa Geuk Ryeom’s form scattered like wind, dissolving and vanishing.
Even Ryu looked quite startled at that technique, nearly approaching the Supernatural Art.
After watching the space where Gunma Rim’s master had disappeared for a moment, Ryu smiled faintly and sheathed You Myeong.
“I’ll look forward to it too.”
Murmuring those words to himself, Ryu walked alone toward the Maeng Ui Dan Garrison.

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