The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 445
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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 445
After my meeting with Woo Aseok, I stepped outside and met up with Yoo Yul.
“Is it all done?”
“Yes. More or less.”
I had gained something worthwhile. Even though it seemed like a trivial conversation, there were many hidden gems buried within it.
‘Should I call them gems?’
Honestly, no.
‘It was more like being spoon-fed.’
I knew that Woo Aseok had deliberately tried to hand me something. He was making it obvious while doing so—how could I not notice?
‘Why would he do that?’
There was no need to dwell long on why he made such a choice.
‘He must view me favorably.’
That he held me in such high regard. Looking at him, that was the only thing I could discern. Given my current standing, I could tell that Woo Aseok wanted to establish a connection with me.
‘That’s not bad.’
I was pleased. He was none other than the Lord of Gaebangjoo. If I formed ties with him, it would be nothing short of beneficial.
‘That part is really good, but….’
There was one question.
‘What exactly is my family?’
The matter of the Bang Clan, still shrouded in mystery. The fact that my Father, and the Bang Clan itself, seemed strange. That was the biggest problem.
It gave me such a headache.
‘Ah, of all places to be reborn, why here….’
I had thought the household was simply a complete mess, but shouldn’t there be limits to these kinds of ridiculous problems?
‘Couldn’t it just end with a reckless older brother and a father obsessed with women?’
What family has secrets? Are they insane?
And it was a secret that Gaebangjoo had classified at the highest level, making it impossible to learn easily.
‘Just asking on the off chance—do you know anything about this?’
I asked while looking at my sword.
[Who knows.]
I could sense nothing from the Celestial Demon’s response. As if he had no interest?
‘…Tsk.’
I clicked my tongue softly to myself and looked at Yoo Yul.
“Thank you for waiting. Let’s go.”
“All right.”
Fine. If I couldn’t learn about the Bang Clan, then for now I would focus on obtaining what I had entrusted to them.
‘Information about Amjeon.’
The information they said they would provide in four days. For now, I decided to think only of that.
* * *
The downpour continued unabated as I returned to the League and sought out Cheon Rijin-an. Yoo Yul had parted ways with me midway, saying that Sochul Daeju was looking for him.
“You’ve arrived.”
He remained unchanged—buried in documents without sparing me a glance. He told me to sit down every day, yet there was never any space to do so.
I cleared away some documents appropriately, creating an empty spot.
“Well then. Did you see Bang Ju?”
“Yes.”
“…You saw him?”
What’s this? Why the surprise? I did as instructed and saw him, yet he’s looking at me with a strange expression.
“Yes, I saw him.”
“Was it truly Bang Ju?”
“Yes. It truly was. He performed a strange act at first, but…it wasn’t particularly difficult to see through.”
“…Hmm. You saw through it, did you.”
It seemed Cheon Rijin-an had known that Gaebangjoo would perform an act for me.
Perhaps that’s why he found it strange that I saw through it.
“I lost the wager.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I lost the wager.”
A wager? What wager did he make? As I furrowed my brow at his sudden words.
“I made a wager with Gaebangjoo.”
Cheon Rijin-an confessed to me.
“Whether you would see through his trick or not.”
“…So you wagered that I wouldn’t see through it, Scholar?”
“That’s right.”
“And Gaebangjoo wagered that you would?”
“He did. Besides, Bang Ju had nothing to lose. He had no risk in the wager.”
“…I see.”
I scratched my cheek. A wager, huh….
“What did you wager on this bet?”
“The reward you received. That’s what I put up in the wager.”
“…You wagered the golden item?”
At my words, Cheon Rijin-an smiled slightly.
“I wagered something excessive.”
“That’s quite something, truly.”
Why would he wager something like that on such a bet? It’s laughable. I would never have wagered something like that, even if it killed me.
“I never expected you to see through it. Even the current Younger Master of the Jeegal Clan didn’t notice the trick.”
“Perhaps the Younger Master was simply tired that day.”
He was practically an uncle figure. A man of some renown in the Jeegal Clan, yet he didn’t see through it?
Honestly, even if he hadn’t seen through it, I wasn’t sure how much that really mattered.
“So then, having won the wager, what did you ask of him?”
“Ah, that.”
I asked matter-of-factly.
“I asked about Bang Ju and my Father, but Geum-saeok said he couldn’t hear that.”
“….”
At my words, all expression drained from Cheon Rijin-an’s face.
“…Why would you ask such a thing.”
Perhaps I’d been too blunt. But it didn’t matter. From his reaction, it was clear that Cheon Rijin-an knew something too.
“The clan’s affairs seemed so chaotic that I wanted to understand them better. But it appears to be far more of a mess than I anticipated. It seems the Scholar also knows something.”
“There’s no need to know such things. Especially if you won’t become the Younger Master.”
“I won’t. Why would I inherit such a mess of a clan.”
I’d be grateful if my brother took it over instead.
“Then don’t concern yourself with it.”
Cheon Rijin-an spoke with utmost seriousness.
“You need only do what you must do. Such things….”
‘Such things.’
“Don’t trouble yourself over them.”
His tone was grave and resolute. Yet the more he spoke this way, the more my curiosity about Bang Ju grew.
“Yes. I understand.”
I decided to let it go for now.
For now, at least.
“Good. Then what else did you ask.”
“Ah, that’s a secret. He said I could ask about that part.”
“…So you can speak of what he said you couldn’t hear?”
“Yes. Since I couldn’t hear it anyway.”
“Heh.”
Cheon Rijin-an looked at me with exasperation in his eyes. Fortunately, he didn’t seem inclined to press further.
“In any case… I’ve delivered the letter the Scholar asked me to pass on.”
“I see.”
“And if possible, I’d like to visit Yoryeong soon.”
“Yoryeong?”
At the mention of Yoryeong, Cheon Rijin-an’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Why would you go there.”
“Why, you ask… It’s my home.”
My hometown. A place I hadn’t visited in years.
“You’d go in times like these.”
“Ah, to be precise, I’ll depart in three days. Since there’s nothing more to do here anyway, and the League still has a couple of months of preparations ahead, I thought I’d go and return quickly.”
“What would you do there. Surely you’re not planning to unearth family secrets.”
“No. It’s nothing like that… I simply have matters to attend to.”
The clan’s secrets were intriguing, certainly. But that wasn’t what mattered now.
‘The Heart’s Ring.’
To be precise, the shackle of my soul.
The one I’d bound it with was beginning to reach its limits. Due to exerting more power than I’d anticipated recently, the one I’d fastened years ago had grown loose and slack.
If things continued like this and it snapped before long, I’d be truly finished.
‘…I might end up like my past life.’
Those days when I was buried under the Demon, suffering all manner of torment and having to clean up after myself.
Just thinking about it made my skin crawl.
“It’s an important matter, so I must attend to it.”
“The schedule is tight. You’re still going and coming back?”
“Yes. I’ll return without delay. I’ll go and come back. Besides, I’ve already finished everything that needed to be done.”
I’d called it a gathering, but I’d concluded what wasn’t actually one.
I’d had Paewang rise as a candidate for League Leader. After that, the matter of the Disciples’ gathering proceeding with discussions about the Demonic Sect was nothing.
‘That’s not something I should step into.’
It was something the higher-ups would need to handle on their own.
“….”
Cheon Rijin-an looked at me with clear displeasure.
“Fine.”
But he gave his permission. Just as I was about to nod in satisfaction.
“However.”
‘Ah.’
An ominous word reached my ears.
“You’ll have to help me with my matters.”
“…Your matters?”
Cheon Rijin-an’s matters? Before I could even wonder what that might be, he pointed to the stack of documents beside him.
“If you process all of these within the four-day schedule you mentioned, I’ll grant you permission.”
“…All of these?”
The pile of documents was no small amount. Looking at him with a grimace, Cheon Rijin-an shook his head as if to say not to worry.
“Surely you don’t think it’s just that much.”
“Haha. Right?”
There’s no way. No matter how lacking in conscience one might be, that wouldn’t be—
“Everything over there as well.”
“…?”
Over there? I shifted my gaze to the left side of the documents. I saw two or three more piles of the same volume.
“….”
I stared blankly at it before speaking.
“…Scholar.”
“What.”
“Do you perhaps have a conscience?”
I asked in all sincerity.
“Of course not.”
Cheon Rijin-an was far more shameless than I’d thought.
* * *
Whoooooosh—!!!!
As the downpour intensified beyond what it had been before, Cheon Rijin-an sat alone in his quiet chamber and took a sip of tea.
Gulp. The sound of swallowing was unusually distinct. At the same moment, his eyes reflected a sense of futility.
“…This is absurd.”
He gazed at the documents arranged on his desk—the very ones he had assigned to Bangseong-yeon earlier.
Work that was supposed to take four days to complete.
“…Finished in half a day?”
Bangseong-yeon had sat down and completed it all in merely half a day.
-Do not regret this.
His eyes gleamed with the look of someone saying, “Let’s see who’s better.” I was about to protest against such audacious arrogance.
But Bangseong-yeon simply buried himself in the documents and finished the work.
At such a pace, I should have pointed out that he was merely skimming through and finishing carelessly.
“…Sigh.”
But I could not.
The manner in which he processed the documents was far too meticulous. There were rough and inexperienced parts scattered throughout, but those were forgivable.
Because.
‘At such a pace.’
Four days was already unreasonable. If I had one of my subordinates in the League handle it alone, it would take over two weeks.
Even if I brought the Younger Master of the Jegal Clan, I’m certain it would have taken at least seven weeks.
‘Half a day?’
It was an impossible speed.
‘…A monster of a man.’
Where did such a creature fall from? I knew it from the first moment I saw him, but the difference in level is too vast.
When I first laid eyes on Bangseong-yeon, I thought of my daughter.
And seeing those eyes, I could not help but think of myself.
‘It is certain.’
It is clear. This man.
‘Must inherit the Jegal Clan.’
His talent is overwhelming. Martial arts? Yoo Cheon-gil coveted him, so that too must be exceptional, but this aspect is different from that.
He is the one who must succeed me. Yet the curse is that his surname is Bang. Of all things, that damnable clan.
“Phew….”
I exhaled a sigh. Irritation surged within me.
‘Damn it.’
He finished the work in half a day, then left without even seeking confirmation. Was it confidence that it would be flawless?
Part of me wanted to make him do it again, but my pride would not allow it.
To ask him to redo this would be admitting my own defeat.
“Haha.”
Cheon Rijin-an, lost in thought, finally let out a pleased laugh.
“Stubborn old fool.”
So I’ve finally managed to bow this old man’s head.
It feels both unpleasant and satisfying.
At the same time, I confirmed the letter Cheon Rijin-an had been carrying—one exchanged with Woo Aseok.
Cheon Rijin-an had told one lie.
‘He said I wouldn’t believe him.’
That he had lost the wager.
That was false.
Cheon Rijin-an had wagered that Bangseong-yeon would recognize him. Woo Aseok had wagered the opposite. In that exchange, confident of his victory, Woo Aseok had written:
-If this brat happens to recognize me, I’ll give you information far more valuable than mere gold rank.
What Cheon Rijin-an had wagered was that if he won, he would hand over his gold-rank token to Bangseong-yeon.
It was something that normally could never be transferred.
Which meant this:
“…What pointless nonsense at my age.”
Cheon Rijin-an had never once doubted Bangseong-yeon.
Though this proud old man would never reveal such a thing to Bangseong-yeon.
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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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