Who Am I (5)

Lee Ho-gon was taken aback.

He knew Seol Hong-baek well. The Patriarch of the Seol Clan might not have been the foremost in Sichuan, but as a swordsman he had attained a realm as lofty as his clan’s reputation.

One of Sichuan’s Ten Great Swordsmen. Even if he only sat at the bottom of that list, to be counted among the ten in the vast Sichuan Murim was no small feat.

But greater still was his humility.

Despite his great renown, he never flaunted himself. Though he had amassed considerable wealth, he never sought to expand his business with it.

Instead, the Seol Clan built several places to care for orphans. They could not provide them a life of plenty, but at least gave them the chance to live with dignity.

They gave rice and clothing to flood victims who had lost their homes, and hunted down to the end those who committed heinous crimes. And all of it they did anonymously. That was what made the Seol Clan remarkable.

But like a needle hidden in a pouch, no other clan or sect besides Seol would do such work without profit. The Seol Clan had been doing this for over fifty years. That was why the people’s hearts turned toward them.

Had they lived more shrewdly, no one would have reproached them.

The master of a martial household ranked among Sichuan’s top ten, with martial skill sufficient to be called a supreme master.

And yet he did not flaunt himself.

He was humble and knew morality. He did not turn away from the hardships of those around him.

He had amassed good deeds that the world would readily applaud, yet to Guild Leader Lee Ho-gon, most of what Seol Hong-baek did was incomprehensible.

Merchants were men who pursued profit. And Lee Ho-gon was among the top three great merchants in Sichuan.

He had no leisure to meddle in others’ affairs while busy with his own. To him, such behavior meant failing to face one’s destiny properly.

In short, the Seol Hong-baek he saw was a man kind to a fault, but clumsy in all else.

And that very Seol Hong-baek, for the first time, was pressing him with a demand.

“…….”

He had never imagined such a moment would come. Startled, Lee Ho-gon could not open his mouth.

Seol Hong-baek sighed.

“Perhaps it was narrow-minded of me to hope for an apology.”

“Patriarch Seol.”

“Let us bring today’s meeting to an end.”

At that moment, fire lit in Lee Ho-gon’s eyes.

“You say you want my apology?”

“…….”

“Fine. Let’s say everything that man said is true. But why should I apologize to you, Patriarch?”

“…….”

“My son came home covered in blood. And what? You tell me if it were men of the martial world, it would’ve been different? Is that something to say before me now?”

“There should be more.”

“What?”

“Guild Leader, you ought to have more to say to me..”

“Are you saying you want to fight now?”

“I—”

Seol Hong-baek drew two slips of paper from his robe.

“I had hoped not to bring these out.”

Lee Ho-gon snorted.

“What is that? Some record of my guild’s shame, perhaps?”

“The Bukcheon Sogong Merchant Guild.”

“?”

“The Jeongo Merchant Guild, the Jemoon Trading House, and the Yojeok Ironworks. Of these four, three were ruined. The one that remains failed in overinvestment, unable to recover even its principal, and now runs only a small cloth shop.”

“!”

“Jeongo’s overinvestment in iron mines, I hear, was because of a contract with Mighty Tiger’s second young master.”

“Patriarch Seol!”

“As for Sogong, Jemoon, and Yojeok, their ruin was for reasons far simpler. At one, the eldest and second sons were crippled. At the other two, cherished daughters were defiled by someone unknown.”

Lee Ho-gon’s face turned pale.

“What parent could stay sane after their children returned in such states? They wasted away in grief, and in the end their clans were torn apart.”

“…….”

“Who do you think was responsible?”

Lee Ho-gon ground his teeth and spoke.

“They were accidents.”

“So you did know it was your third son, Young Master Lee Yong-do.”

“…….”

“If they were accidents, why did they never reach the world’s ears? Not one house, but three! Word should have spread, yet how is it that neither I nor those around me ever heard of it?”

“Was there any need to tell you, Patriarch?”

“You think I brought this up to say Young Master Yong-do deserved his beating because of past evils?”

“!!”

“Whether a man of the martial world or not, Young Master Yong-do has power. Enough power to crush small guilds in distant cities with influence alone.”

Seol Hong-baek’s expression turned cold.

In that expression, Jin-hyeon glimpsed the same chilling aura he’d seen in Seol So-ha.

“Young Master Yong-do regards my household as a martial clan he can topple whenever he pleases.”

Lee Ho-gon stammered out,

“That cannot be.”

“Whether it was truly possible or not, it is no stretch to imagine he genuinely intended to do something to my daughter.”

“Patriarch Seol.”

“Even if it never came to pass, Guild Leader, you must apologize to me. Just as this man feels sorry for my daughter’s fault, so too must you feel sorry to me.”

“…….”

“Even if our ties end here, for the sake of the years we shared, you should have apologized. That is the barest duty.”

Lee Ho-gon’s face became truly indescribable.

Such a storm of emotions on one man’s face—Jin-hyeon had scarcely seen it even in his days as the Eight Waste Alliance Leader. Once again, he whistled inwardly.

“Is it so hard to apologize to this man?”

“…….”

“I will not press further.”

Lee Ho-gon, whose face had shifted several times, suddenly stood.

Seol Hong-baek calmly drank his tea.

Walking to the office door, Lee Ho-gon stopped and spoke.

“By contract, I will send full compensation for breach. It will take three or four days.”

It was a declaration that he would sever ties first.

Seol Hong-baek answered plainly.

“I wish the Mighty Tiger a good future.”

At that moment, Jin-hyeon spoke.

“On your way out, apologize to the servant as well.”

Lee Ho-gon’s shoulders flinched.

“If you cannot manage those beneath you, the one above must take responsibility.”

Bang!

Lee Ho-gon slammed the door and left. Of course, no apology to Do-min, who stood outside, was heard.

Seol Hong-baek looked at Jin-hyeon with a curious gaze, seemingly a little flustered.

Jin-hyeon offered something like an excuse.

“He didn’t seem the sort to apologize in his right mind, so I said it.”

“Heh-heh.”

He laughed as if amused, but surely his heart said otherwise.

Soon after, the sounds of Lee Ho-gon and his warriors leaving the inner grounds reached them.

“Teacher, would you care to step outside?”

“Gladly.”

Opening the office door, a refreshing breeze met them.

In the distance, Lee Ho-gon was seen leading his warriors. Stomping at the front in his fury, he looked to Jin-hyeon like an enraged boar.

Seol Hong-baek spoke.

“Thank you, Teacher.”

“I’ve done nothing at all.”

“Thank you for being angry on behalf of my household.”

He gives thanks for the strangest things.

If he answered, the man would only find another excuse to thank him. Jin-hyeon kept silent.

“And thank you as well for enlightening me.”

“Enlightening you?”

“That advice—not to bow my head.”

“I only worry that my needless words may have weighed on your heart, Patriarch.”

“Had I chosen to bow my head, I would not have investigated such matters at all.”

Two slips of paper rested in Seol Hong-baek’s hand.

“I knew the Mighty Tiger’s reputation was worsening. But since they had not dirtied their hands in evil deeds, I let it pass.”

“…….”

“But now I realize—I turned away because I did not wish to see the Mighty Tiger’s misdeeds.”

Jin-hyeon could understand his heart.

Seol Hong-baek let out a sigh.

“That Guild Leader will never go to apologize to those he ruined.”

“No, I suppose not.”

“The money from breaking the contract—I will use it to help rebuild those four places.”

Jin-hyeon’s gaze deepened.

“For what reason?”

“What reason is needed? I simply wish to.”

The reason was plain.

Seol Hong-baek felt indebted even to those harmed by the Mighty Tiger because of his own shortcomings. Had he investigated them sooner, he believed the damage would never have grown so great.

“In my view, it is perhaps excessive.”

“Heh-heh. It must be because I am such a fool that my household has not grown larger. I cannot face my children nor my swordsmen.”

A man with a meddlesome heart to the point of folly.

Yet in this harsh world, it was no bad thing that righteous people like Seol Hong-baek still existed.

And it was not as though he neglected So-ha or his swordsmen. He was the sort of man who paid even lowly servants more than generously.

Jin-hyeon looked around the office.

The Seol estate was large, but aside from the guest hall and a few other buildings, it was all worn with age. Even the office held no porcelain, no painted masterpieces.

Frugal with himself, generous to others. Not merely in spending, but in the uprightness of his nature.

‘Good.’

There are times when an old building appears splendid. The Seol Clan was just such a case.

As he looked about, Jin-hyeon’s gaze settled on the sword standing against the wall beside the office door.

“Have you contacted the Yeo Family Ironworks?”

“Ah, that?”

Seol Hong-baek scratched his head.

“To our eyes it seemed a perfectly sound blade. Of course, I do not doubt your judgment, Teacher.”

“You did well. It is best to follow each step with certainty.”

“Heh-heh.”

“There is something I wish to ask.”

“Speak.”

“I heard from Young Lady Seol that you do not allow live-blade sparring?”

Seol Hong-baek nodded.

“That is so.”

Unlike his daughter, his nod was firm and resolute.

“May I ask why?”

“Before Teacher came here, we had practiced the Seven Purities Sword and the Eight Purities Sword—in other words, our clan’s Seven-Colored Sword and Eight Solemnities Sword. They are rather unorthodox sword arts, and if handled clumsily, the sword paths cannot be controlled.”

They were not unorthodox, but just merely clumsy.

But Jin-hyeon kept the thought to himself. He would not strike a man already troubled with such words.

“Each strike’s force is excessive. Even an ordinary wooden sword can pierce a stone slab. A single mistake, and crippling injury follows.”

“I see.”

“A trained swordsman can harm with a wooden sword alone. Until the martial art itself is further refined, I deemed this sufficient.”

So there was his reasoning.

The sword paths were extreme, the force of a single strike too strong—one might easily bore a hole in an opponent’s body. To him, training with wooden swords was no different from live blades.

Jin-hyeon thought differently. If wooden swords were just as dangerous, then sparring with real swords was all the more necessary.

But Seol Hong-baek ran his clan in his own way. That was enough.

“Then I take it to mean that in real battle, there will be no need to hold back.”

“It embarrasses me.”

“But why did you send the entire White Lotus Unit to train, when we do not know how the other side might act?”

“The White Lotus did not go for training.”

“What?”

Seol Hong-baek, face calm, spoke something dreadful.

“They are stationed near the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild.”

“?!”

“If by chance the Mighty Tiger makes a rash choice, should we sit and take the blow?”

“A preemptive strike…….”

“You know strategy, I see. This time, they carry real blades.”

A look of admiration crossed Jin-hyeon’s face.

If Lee Ho-gon had harbored killing intent here, Seol Hong-baek would have signaled the White Lotus Unit immediately to strike the Mighty Tiger’s headquarters.

He had seemed endlessly gentle, but no. He merely avoided needless conflict—once battle came, he would not be easily taken.

It was a splendid twist. It seemed that another side of Seol Hong-baek was revealed.

“This is one of the ways my clan has survived until now. When battle is foreseen, our first priority is to seize the enemy’s base.”

“Hah.”

“I do not have the strength of my forebears. But like them, I will not sit idly and suffer a blow.”

Jin-hyeon nodded.

‘Excellent.’

He was a man who had returned carrying the memories of the Eight Waste Alliance Leader. Although it was a dream, he had lived out the same dream countless times.

And so he felt what the Eight Waste Alliance Leader had felt. Only, his nature as Gyeong Se-hwi kept him from living exactly as that man had.

‘So this is what it means to lead a household.’

A way of facing the world not as a conqueror, but as the head of a single family.

‘There was also this kind of responsibility in the world.’

Gyeong Se-hwi lifted his gaze to the sky.

In Sichuan, so scarce was sunlight that they said dogs barked when the sun rose. Yet today, a fine sun had come forth.

The breeze was fair, the light bright. Rarely did Sichuan see such refreshing weather.

‘The head of a clan…….’