The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 178

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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 178
I left the banquet hall and made my way to a rather secluded corner.
It was a dead end at the mouth of an alley, and judging by the stacked boxes, it resembled some kind of storage area.
“Did you sleep well?”
Bang Seo-jin sat atop the stacked boxes, greeting me.
She was slightly taller than me, and her legs appeared even longer.
The way she crossed them elegantly could appear somewhat alluring.
‘…How shameless.’
Since we shared the same blood, she only looked ridiculous to me.
“What’s with that look? Do you have something to say to your sister?”
She was perceptive. Before she could catch me insulting her with my eyes, I changed my expression and spoke.
“Yes. I came because I have something to discuss.”
I glanced at the emblem embedded on her chest.
The Martial Arts Alliance. A symbol proving she was among the elite of the main branch.
Seeing that, I asked.
“…What’s the situation?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you wearing that?”
What was a Maeng-won of the main branch? It meant a symbol of the Martial Arts Alliance and its most elite force.
This was not something easily attainable even among martial artists belonging to orthodox sects.
‘In terms of difficulty alone.’
It was fair to say it was nearly comparable to Sowoldae.
‘…Sister is a Maeng-won of the main branch?’
I was simply bewildered. What on earth had she experienced during those years away?
Unable to comprehend, I questioned her.
“Haha.”
Bang Seo-jin burst into laughter.
“Who should be asking that?”
My body stiffened slightly at her words, delivered with a subtle eye smile.
She was right. Setting Bang Seo-jin aside, my current situation was what she likely couldn’t understand.
“Our little brother. Turns out you’re more talented than expected. Already in Sowoldae at your age. Do you know how shocked your sister was?”
“…Hahaha.”
“And the Sword Saint’s Predecessor? What happened while your sister was away from home?”
“…Just quite a lot of things happened, you know.”
“Can your sister answer like that too?”
“If we’re both going to brush it off, then I’m fi-”
Whoosh.
Something flew past me. I glanced over to see a tree branch embedded in the ground.
Crazy.
“Still as mischievous with your words as ever?”
“…Sister, you’re still as rough as ever.”
“Rough women tend to be popular, you know.”
“No, that’s not it. Pretty women are the popular ones.”
“Well then, I’m set. I’m pretty.”
“…What am I going to do about that confidence?”
I couldn’t deny it. The bloodline ran so strong in our family that if you were born with the Bang surname, you had to acknowledge at least one thing—beauty and handsomeness were guaranteed.
“Hmm…”
Watching my awkward expression, Bang Seo-jin never wiped the smile from her face.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. Your sister also has plenty she can’t say. And.”
Thud.
Bang Seo-jin, who had been sitting high up, landed lightly.
“Honestly, that’s not why I came here.”
“Then…?”
Bang Seo-jin approached me slowly after landing, and only when she was right in front of my face did she ask me a question.
“How have you been?”
“Huh?”
“Your sister has been doing well enough. What about you?”
“…Well, I mean.”
If I said I’d been doing well, that would be a lie. Those days had been a mad scramble.
“…Just adequately, I suppose?”
But if I said I hadn’t been doing well, that wasn’t quite right either, so I tried to brush it off vaguely.
“No one’s been bothering you?”
“I’m not a child.”
I’ve been bothered, sure.
The problem is that it happens to be a ghost, and the Heavenly Supreme at that.
“If anyone bothers you, tell me. Your sister is quite capable.”
“Ah… is that so?”
I know well she wouldn’t be able to punish them even if I told her.
Especially if it weren’t a ghost but a person.
“…So, what are you doing right now?”
Let’s say we can’t tell each other how we’ve been living.
But what about the current situation?
Why were you wearing that outfit and doing that back then—that’s what I wanted to ask.
“Oh, that?”
Bang Seo-jin answered casually.
“I’m one of the people guarding the Strategist. I’m part of the guard unit.”
“Ah. So that’s why… What? Guard?”
I opened my eyes wide, startled by her words.
Guarding Jegal Jin?
“Yeah. Why?”
“It’s not a matter of why—it’s surprising that she entered the Daeju’s guard unit at all.”
Among the various divisions of the main alliance, the guard unit was a considerable position.
I’d heard that since they had to protect important figures, they needed to be at least peak-level martial artists.
“Mm.”
In response to my surprise, Bang Seo-jin spoke.
“I haven’t been there long myself. Apparently something happened recently, so they’ve been recruiting heavily.”
“Something?”
“Yeah. The Daeju died.”
“…What?”
What kind of shocking news was this?
The Daeju is dead?
“I didn’t hear the details, but they said he was a spy?”
“…What do you mean.”
The Daeju, carefully selected from among the main alliance’s finest, was a spy?
“Is it alright to tell me something like this?”
“Why not. Just don’t go spreading it around that I told you.”
“…Ah, yes.”
“Anyway, that’s why they hastily reorganized and filled positions, so I got lucky getting in.”
“…So you became the Strategist’s guard?”
“Right. He personally selected me, apparently.”
“….”
My head throbbed slightly. It was strange enough that Bang Seo-jin had entered the main alliance, but now Jegal Jin had personally selected her for the guard unit.
‘This.’
Was this because of me? Or rather, more precisely.
‘Because of Bang Seo-jin’s surname.’
I suspected he’d recruited her because of the Yeolyeong Bang clan name.
‘Though it might not be.’
Since I couldn’t read all of Jegal Jin’s thoughts, it was just speculation.
“Anyway, it’s nice seeing your face after so long. How are those people doing?”
Those people.
It was obvious who she meant.
“They’re doing reasonably well.”
She must be talking about Father and my brother.
As I answered while recalling this, Bang Seo-jin’s face crumpled.
“That won’t do. They shouldn’t be doing well.”
“….”
Her expression was unmistakably sincere.
Even though they were family, it was harsh—but my heart felt the same way.
“They should be completely ruined.”
“Any further than this?”
It seems I’ve already descended through the floor to the underground levels long ago, so I’m not sure if there’s an even worse place lurking below.
“Come out when you’ve had enough, little brother. Wait, have you already come out?”
“….”
If she meant it as a suggestion to run away like she did, then it was half a failure and half a success.
“…I’ll do my best to try.”
“Good, good. And our mentor wanted to see you once.”
“A mentor?”
Bang Seo-jin’s mentor?
It’s not like she could have become a martial artist without a mentor, after all.
“Who is this mentor?”
When I asked, wondering if it was someone I knew, Bang Seo-jin answered with a slightly evasive expression.
“You wouldn’t know even if I told you. Anyway, I’ll come by later to take you.”
“Well….”
She’s coming to find me without even telling me who it is—something about this smells troublesome.
Just as I was about to buy some time by saying I needed to prepare myself mentally.
삐이이이익—!!!
A piercing whistle sounded from far away.
“Oh. I’m being called. I’m heading out?”
“Wait. Sister-!”
Bang Seo-jin launches herself forward at the whistle’s sound. I felt it before, but she’s incredibly fast.
By the time I turned around, she was already gone from sight.
“Hah.”
She just talks and disappears again.
It was absurd.
“What is this, really.”
She just came and spoke her piece, then left.
Whether then or now, she’s always been a lone wolf.

* * *
I emerged from the county town afterward.
Originally, I was supposed to leave together with my companions who would be waiting for me.
‘Should I just abandon this?’
There were no companions waiting for me.
They had already left me behind long ago.
I thought they would at least wait a little, but they left without hesitation.
Though I knew well enough where they had gone, I had no choice but to walk through the county town alone.
“Ugh.”
There were so many people. Being the heart of Hannam certainly contributed to it, but the news that the Yongbong Conference was being held made the streets absolutely packed.
It was nearly impossible to pass through.
I was barely moving while pushing my way through the crowd.
Whoosh.
‘Hmm?’
Someone passed by my side.
Of course, with so many people around, it wasn’t strange for someone to pass by.
‘What is it?’
Their appearance was rather peculiar. A figure dressed in a black rain cloak pulled down to their hairline.
I couldn’t see their face properly, but when I examined their chin subtly, I could see it was pale—almost unnaturally white.
Their attire was certainly unusual to look at.
‘…What could it be?’
It bothered me.
I glanced at them briefly, then turned my attention away.
That’s when.
[That is….]
Yoo Cheon-gil spoke.
Since I couldn’t ask, I looked toward Yoo Cheon-gil, and he was staring behind us with a somewhat startled expression.
What was it?
Looking in the direction Yoo Cheon-gil was gazing, it was the figure in the black rain cloak I had just passed.
He had already disappeared into the crowd.
Only then did I quietly ask.
“…Why are you like that?”
[….]
Yoo Cheon-gil didn’t answer my question.
“Old Man?”
So I asked again, and Yoo Cheon-gil, who had been silent, finally opened his mouth.
[It’s nothing. I was mistaken.]
Even as he said this, his gaze remained fixed beyond the crowd.
What could it be.
Curious, I asked once more, but.
[Let’s go.]
Yoo Cheon-gil never did give me an answer.
I couldn’t tell who he’d mistaken me for, but from his trembling eyes and the rigid expression so unlike his usual demeanor, I could see that he’d recalled something decidedly unpleasant.

* * *
A quiet room. Light filtered through the window frame, illuminating the darkness, and silence coiled beneath the accumulated letters.
Beyond the chaotic office, the desk was oddly immaculate.
Two teacups arranged upon it.
One of them floated in mid-air before dropping with a soft clink.
Clink.
Pitter-patter.
Water filled the emptied teacup.
While carefully pouring the tea, the figure before the Old Man asked him a question.
“How was it?”
A pause.
The figure pouring the tea stopped.
Jegal Jin looked at his counterpart.
“How was what?”
“Your impressions from the meeting.”
“You’re asking something pointless.”
Jegal Jin spoke with irritation, but his counterpart showed no sign of wavering.
“Alliance Leader. I say again—it was entirely pointless.”
His counterpart was none other than the Alliance Leader, Shin Chang.
“What good does it do me to see that wretched man’s son?”
“….”
Shin Chang nodded silently. Even that attitude displeased Jegal Jin.
“Mind your own business appropriately.”
“….”
“And you? What were your impressions from seeing him directly? You went to such lengths out of curiosity.”
“….”
Shin Chang fell silent at the question.
Jegal Jin knew that silence meant he was thinking, so he didn’t press him.
Waiting a moment thus.
“Not yet.”
A brief answer came.
Not yet.
Did that mean it was too early to judge?
Or perhaps.
‘Does it mean he’s too valuable to judge?’
The former would be praise and the latter meaningless, but Jegal Jin didn’t probe further into it.
It’s ridiculous to dig into that.
‘Tsk.’
An explanation of the preliminary rounds?
Shin Chang had forced me into it, but could there be anything more absurd than this?
‘What a waste of time.’
Shin Chang’s meddling, knowing my circumstances, was uncomfortable.
I had severed my ties with that place long ago.
The same went for my final connection with my youngest daughter.
I had written that letter of recommendation because that bastard had knelt and begged, truly cutting off all ties.
‘And now.’
To think he would come into view.
Jegal Jin’s impression upon meeting Bang Ga’s blood relative and his youngest daughter’s child was singular.
‘The eyes are the same.’
Regrettably, that boy resembled his mother far more than his father.
I recalled those eyes that had looked at me in surprise.
Seeing that, I understood.
‘He knows.’
That young man seemed to know what our relationship was.
That was why.
He had vented his frustration in a manner unbecoming his age.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled and drank my tea.
“…That’s enough of this.”
I deliberately changed the subject.
There was a reason we were meeting in the first place.
“Let’s get to the main point.”
“….”
At Jegal Jin’s words, Shin Chang’s gaze sharpened.
“Lord of the Alliance. Information has arrived.”
The moment I focused and met Jegal Jin’s eyes.
“Patcheon Gung appears to be plotting something. The target seems to be Hannam, but… what’s more important is.”
Intensity filled Jegal Jin’s eyes.
“That matter seems to be connected to the Demonic Cult.”
Crash—!
The moment the words left his mouth, the teacup Shin Chang was holding shattered into pieces.
In that instant.
“Ah!”
Jegal Jin cried out, looking at the broken teacup.
“I told you to hold it gently! Didn’t I tell you to stop breaking things?!”
Jegal Jin erupted in anger at Shin Chang.
“…My apologies.”
Shin Chang spoke awkwardly as he began tidying up the broken teacup.

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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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