The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 176

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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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The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 176
I stared at Cheonhye-in with a blank expression.
Did I mishear just now? I tapped my ear a few times before asking Cheonhye-in again.
“Who… who is coming?”
“I told you. The Martial Arts Alliance’s strategist is coming.”
“….”
It seemed I hadn’t misheard after all. At her continued words, I swallowed hard.
‘…The Lord of the Clan Jegal… no, Lord Jegal Jin is coming?’
Cheon Rijin-an Jegal Jin.
The current Lord of the Jegal Clan.
The current strategist of the Martial Arts Alliance and a hero of war. Or perhaps a god of war.
In the Jeongma Great War alone, he was called the greatest figure in Jegal Clan history, achieving more than Yoo Cheon-gil.
And furthermore.
‘…My maternal grandfather.’
I had heard he was the person who would be my maternal grandfather.
It’s something I learned recently, but surprisingly, that’s how it is.
[Oh. That bastard Jin is coming?]
At the news of Jegal Jin’s arrival, Yoo Cheon-gil’s expression brightened. Unlike me, who had grown anxious, his face looked utterly delighted.
[That fellow certainly has a long life. The man who looked like he could die any moment—how is it he’s lived longer than me? Truly, the ways of the world are mysterious. Wouldn’t you agree? Hehehehe.]
“….”
His loud laughter barely registered in my ears. My complicated thoughts were consuming me entirely.
‘Why would the strategist appear from before to explain things?’
On the first day of the gathering, the Alliance Leader doesn’t show up.
It’s not even the main tournament—the strategist of the Alliance appears to explain things in the preliminary rounds?
To my knowledge, this was something that almost never happened.
‘Could it be.’
An unpleasant thought crossed my mind.
‘He created this situation just to see me.’
Surely that wasn’t it?
I prayed silently.
It’s something I’ve wondered about since learning that Jegal Jin was my maternal grandfather.
‘…Does he even know of my existence?’
Did he know of me as a person? That was my question.
‘…He must know. He has to know.’
There was no way he wouldn’t know. This wasn’t just any clan—it was the Jegal Clan. Moreover.
‘The Dang Clan knows, so how could the Jegal Clan not know?’
The possibility that they didn’t know a fact that even another clan like the Dang Clan and Dokuou knew was nonexistent.
While not quite on the level of the Gaebang or the Hao Sect, I had heard enough about the prestige and reputation of the Jegal Clan’s intelligence division.
‘Rather, it’s more surprising that Father stayed quiet and didn’t make a move.’
There was no way Father wouldn’t know of this fact, yet that cunning man hadn’t exploited it—that was what truly astounded me.
‘Or maybe he could just see a place to lie down and collapse there.’
I knew well enough that speaking carelessly to the Jegal Clan could cost me my life.
Perhaps they couldn’t afford to touch that place and still live. That thought crossed my mind.
But then.
‘…So, the letter of recommendation to the Martial Arts Alliance—was that from them?’
The letter of recommendation that allowed me to enter the Martial Arts Alliance. Recalling it, the pieces fit together perfectly.
One day I heard that a letter of recommendation had arrived at the Alliance, and I was pushed to go.
Back then, I wondered how my father had managed to obtain it.
‘If it had the backing of the Jegal Clan, it would have been possible.’
If it came through relying on the Jegal family, it could have happened.
No, there was no other way.
‘This confirms it.’
I became certain. If I had joined through the Jegal Clan’s recommendation, then absolutely.
In that case.
‘Jegal Jin knows of my existence.’
The old man who is my maternal grandfather would know of my existence.
Realizing that made my stomach churn.
‘Ah, is this okay?’
A meeting with my maternal grandfather. It wasn’t simply that I felt nervous about it.
‘It doesn’t seem like it will be entirely peaceful, so that’s the problem.’
Meeting him wasn’t really a concern.
After all, the family situation is already a mess, so what’s surprising about my maternal grandfather being from the Jegal Clan—
‘Though that is somewhat surprising.’
But separate from that, the real issue is whether this opportunity will lead to troublesome situations for me.
‘Clearly, he won’t treat me like a beloved grandson, right?’
A bastard who seduced his daughter and disappeared.
And a grandson who resembles that bastard.
There was no reason to be surprised if he harbored only one-sided malice and resentment.
‘…Tch.’
This doesn’t feel good.
No matter how I look at it, he’s coming to see me.
Or is he not?
I wish he weren’t.
‘But I think he is.’
No matter how many times I think about it, he’s coming to see me.
“…Bang Disciple? Are you alright?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. I’m fine. Perfectly fine.”
“Your face is pale. Are you feeling unwell?”
“No. I feel better than ever.”
I wiped away a bead of sweat.
I held back a sigh and collected myself when Cheonhye-in narrowed her brow. She clearly didn’t believe me.
Just as I was about to say something more to convince her—
“Young masters—!! You must begin preparing!”
A shout came from the entrance. Someone who appeared to be from the Alliance was calling for everyone to get ready.
At those words, people began to move slowly.
What would have normally been chaotic movement suddenly became swift and organized.
And it wasn’t just anyone.
The appearance of Cheon Rijin-an, the Alliance’s second-in-command, seemed to have made all the difference.
As people began to surge forward, our group started to blend in among them.
I walked along with my companions, trying to calm my nerves.
‘Nothing will go wrong.’
That was all I could hope for.

* * *
We entered the main headquarters. Since I’d been here before during the preliminaries, it felt relatively less unfamiliar this time.
The difference was that instead of heading to where we’d held the preliminary rounds, we were directed toward what appeared to be a larger banquet hall.
It was the same location we’d arrived at on the first day.
It felt much more spacious than before, likely because so many had been eliminated during the preliminary rounds.
With nearly seventy percent eliminated, it was natural that the space appeared larger.
However, my seating arrangement hadn’t changed much.
That was only natural. None of the Seven Prodigies had been eliminated, and my table was where they all gathered.
“I’m dying of drowsiness.”
“Peng Hyeong, it seems you haven’t slept well.”
“No, that’s not it. I slept for over ten hours. I’m just drowsy from sleeping too much. Hehehehe.”
“Ha! As expected!”
Only Heuk Taedo and Naelyong continued their incessant chatter.
Leaving those two to their endless talk, I examined the platform with tired eyes.
‘Hmm.’
[Are you nervous?]
Yoo Cheon-gil asked.
Without turning my gaze, I nodded slightly.
[You worry about everything. Surely you don’t think Jin would try to kill you.]
Hearing that, I narrowed my brow.
‘Can I be certain he wouldn’t?’
There was the matter with Shin Chang, and the old men seemed to be involved in more than just one or two things.
‘Of course, if he’d wanted to kill me, he would have done it long ago. So that’s not it.’
But the very act of facing him was troubling.
‘Ah, I shouldn’t have come after all.’
If I’d known I’d only face such complications, I should have skipped the Dragon Phoenix Conference entirely.
I should have found some way to make an excuse, but I failed to do so, and that was my regret.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled softly. The water in front of me had been empty for quite some time.
Opening my closed eyes, I glanced ahead quietly.
That’s when our eyes met with someone.
‘Hmm?’
It was Geombong standing before me. She was staring at me intently.
I thought our eyes had merely crossed for a moment, but seeing that she continued to look, it seemed she was watching me intentionally.
“….”
“….”
After we held each other’s gaze in silence for a while.
“Do you have something to say to me?”
I asked, unable to bear the silence any longer.
“….”
At my question, Geombong remained still before shaking her head.
Then she leaned back against the chair with a bland expression and closed her eyes.
What is this?
‘What on earth is going on?’
She’s problematic too. Why does she keep catching my attention like this?
‘I thought she might harbor ill feelings toward me, but that doesn’t seem to be it.’
Since our first meeting had been awkward, I wondered if something was amiss.
But that didn’t seem to be the case.
Then what could her intention be?
‘In any case, all these disciples are strange.’
They were all peculiar without exception.
Whether due to their exceptional talent in martial arts, they all seemed to have something missing in their heads.
“Are they not even going to serve us food this time? I’m getting hungry.”
“Indeed. Not serving food while doing this is rather petty.”
After listening to the nonsense from Heuk Taedo and Naelyong for a while longer.
Click.
A faint sound echoed. The moment that sound was heard, the bustling banquet hall fell silent instantly.
‘…Eerily sharp, truly.’
Whether due to their keen hearing, they all reacted immediately to the slightest noise.
Despite appearing somewhat dull, their reaction speed demonstrated that they were the future of the Central Plains.
Thud.
Footsteps sounded.
All eyes turned toward a single direction.
And shortly after.
“The Strategist enters.”
At the announcement, those seated rose simultaneously.
The disciples stood up at once, and the owner of the footsteps appeared.
An elderly man wearing a black silk robe and a long official’s coat that testified to his position within the Alliance.
His height appeared to be just under seven feet.
Tall for a martial artist, imposing for an ordinary person.
He possessed remarkably sharp features—eyes, nose, and mouth—and was extraordinarily gaunt.
His beard was meticulously groomed, his hair bound up and crowned with a formal cap.
As he walked forward, his gaze swept across the assembly.
A shudder ran through the crowd.
Similar to when Shin Chang had arrived. The Disciples trembled beneath the old man’s penetrating stare.
Under such a gaze, my shoulders instinctively began to curl inward.
He was the second-in-command of the current Martial Arts Alliance.
Jegal Jin, known as Cheon Rijin-an.
What was remarkable, however, was this:
‘…I heard he possessed no inner energy?’
Jegal Jin was not a martial artist in the true sense—or rather, while technically a martial artist, he was not considered a master by any account, or so I had been told.
‘Yet that presence… what exactly is it?’
His eyes were lethal.
Simply by observing him, one could understand how a body without mastery had earned the title of hero of the Jeongma Tournament.
His lean frame seemed as though a single tap would shatter it.
Yet the instinct contained within that frail body warned that this old man should never be underestimated.
And this very man was—
‘My maternal grandfather?’
Family of a mother whose face I had never even seen.
It was a fact I had only learned this year.
Jegal Jin walked calmly forward and took his place on the platform.
I watched him with trembling eyes when—
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, a figure standing beside him caught my attention.
‘Wait?’
It was a familiar face.
It had to be. I had met this person just yesterday, and she was the very one who had told me we should meet today.
‘…Sister?’
Bang Seo-jin, the eldest daughter of the Bang Clan.
My sister stood beside Jegal Jin.
‘What the hell. Why is she standing there?’
Bang Seo-jin stood expressionless beside Jegal Jin.
Her hand rested upon the sword at her waist as she gazed directly at me.
After our eyes met for only a moment—
A sharp smile spread across her face.
Bang Seo-jin laughed.
“Ha.”
I let out an exasperated breath.
What in the world is that man doing right now?
I was staring at Bang Seo-jin with eyes that screamed disbelief.
[Ah, boy.]
Yoo Cheon-gil spoke to me.
[Now is not the time for a staring contest with your sister. Look to your side.]
At Yoo Cheon-gil’s words, I shifted my gaze to the side.
“…!”
My body went rigid.
Jegal Jin.
My maternal grandfather was glaring at me with eyes that were utterly chilling.
[Didn’t I tell you? That he looked like dried tree bark? How about it, wasn’t I right?]
“….”
Even in this situation, the tactless Demon’s words burrowed into my mind, insisting he was correct.
This was not the time to worry about such things.
I swallowed hard and rolled my eyes as far as they would go.
From his gaze, it was certain he recognized me.
Though being stared at was unnerving, there was still a faint hope.
A hope that perhaps, as his grandson, he might view me somewhat favorably.
But in that moment.
-So it’s you.
A voice reached me. It seemed to be Jegal Jin’s voice transmission.
I’d heard he wasn’t particularly strong, but could he use voice transmission?
As I was pondering this.
-The cursed spawn of that wretched Bang Clan bastard.
‘Damn it all.’
With Jegal Jin’s next words, what little hope remained shattered completely.

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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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