Chapter 62 – Haven’t You Ever Threatened Anyone

Chapter 62 – Haven't You Ever Threatened Anyone

It was Tang Hwa-seon who broke the quiet silence.

“I understand what the Alliance Leader is saying.”

Zhuge Yun let out a sigh of relief.

Even if there were suspicious circumstances, it did not change the situation. After all, it was a fact that the Alliance Leader's direct guards had been sent to imprison a direct son of the Sichuan Tang Clan in the dungeon.

For this reason, even if the people before him drew their swords, he would have nothing to say.

Thinking he had relieved some of his worries, Zhuge Yun spoke softly.

“That is a relief. I was worried that the Family Head might be greatly angered…”

“…You are saying that you dragged my son here without any clear evidence.”

However, Tang Hwa-seon cut him off and continued coldly.

“……Pardon?”

Zhuge Yun's heart pounded wildly.

He hastily added to his words.

“Was there, by any chance, an inappropriate explanation among the things I said? I can explain all of the Family Head's doubts.”

“No. I understood exactly as you said.”

“Then why…”

“If you were certain of the Demonic Cult's outbreak, wouldn't this matter have already reached my ears? Instead of me having to walk all the way here for such an unpleasant incident.”

“………”

“Yet, since that is not the case, the Alliance Leader must be conducting the investigation alone without informing the Noble Families and the Nine Sects. In the end, it means you dragged my son here based on uncertain circumstances for an uncertain matter. Am I wrong?”

Zhuge Yun could not reply and bit his lip.

“That is true. Since you arrested an innocent person based on mere circumstances, we cannot just let this matter slide.”

“Senior.”

“Let me ask. Are there other things besides what you mentioned?”

“……”

“It is right to track it, but it is too early to cause confusion over it.”

“But you know, don't you? This matter is not something the Alliance can handle alone. If the lineage of the Demonic Cult still has not been severed…!”

“Even if that is the case, it is no longer my business.”

“…Have you forgotten that time?”

“You brat of the Zhuge family. The reason your head is still attached to that neck is…”

It was Do Yi-gyeom's incredibly cold voice.

At the chilling momentum, Zhuge Yun felt as if he had already died and was facing King Yama.

He had made a mistake.

“It is not because your tongue does its job well. It is because I have not yet heard what that child wants. So, please do not test my patience any further. Do not ever dare to bring up the events of that time in front of me again.”

“Ah, now those are words I like.”

Tae Ju-ha grinned, raising the corners of his mouth.

Letting out a low groan, Zhuge Yun thought.

‘…The combination is not good.’

If only members of the Nine Sects or the Families had gathered, they would have been busy showing etiquette and keeping each other in check, so the disciple's matter could have been glossed over.

Of all people, they had the Sichuan Tang Clan, notorious for their cruelty, the tavern owner who needed no keeping in check, and even the Unorthodox Yangtze River Waterway Forts, who did not care for etiquette. Because they all shared a single purpose, there was no loophole to escape.

‘Who on earth could have imagined they would gather like this?’

“My mood will change depending on the child's condition. So, you had better hope that I am in a good mood. That seat of yours does not protect your life.”

“……!!”

At Do Yi-gyeom's words, which were a clear threat—no, more like a death notice—Zhuge Yun gulped without realizing it.

“Senior, if you speak like that, I will lose face.”

At that moment, the Family Head of the Tang Clan, Tang Hwa-seon, calmly stopped him. A flash of hope briefly sparkled in Zhuge Yun's eyes. As expected of the current Family Head of one of the Five Great Families, was he taking the Alliance's side in this situation?

“…Since life is only one, shouldn't that be my share?”

He was not.

At the first-come, first-served system for death notices, Zhuge Yun's face turned pale.

“Tsk, tsk, look at these Orthodox folks. How can you say such gentle words? Haven't you ever threatened anyone?”

Shaking his head, Tae Ju-ha glared at Zhuge Yun with crossed arms.

“Let me show you a little.”

“……”

“Before I stick a skewer through your XX and make it XXXX with your XX, you'd better…”

“……?”

Zhuge Yun only blinked his eyes at the raw, fresh threat he was hearing for the first time in his life. He was confused whether he had correctly understood the words that entered his ears.

Where… what… how would he do that? No, is that… even possible?

With a confused face, Zhuge Yun picked up his teacup.

Then, this time, Tang Hwa-seon's voice followed.

“Tieguanyin. Is that the Alliance Leader's favorite tea?”

His gaze looked down at the teacup.

Hiccup.

Even though it was impossible, Zhuge Yun could not help but be startled.

Why was there a saying in the Jianghu not to make an enemy of the Sichuan Tang Clan? It was because they were a family specializing in poisons and hidden weapons. That meant, in other words, that one never knew when or where they might consume poison and die a sudden death.

Zhuge Yun put down the teacup with a faint smile.

It was only a single sentence in the form of a question, but…

He had a premonition that he would never be able to drink Tieguanyin again.

“If you want to touch that child in the future, you must be careful, and extremely careful.”

It was Do Yi-gyeom's way of telling him to go ahead and try, if he had the confidence to turn them all into enemies.

“……”

As the Alliance Leader of the Martial Alliance, Zhuge Yun had dealt with various kinds of people. It was not his first time facing one of the Ten Venerables of the Martial World either. However, such a vivid and raw terror was, without a doubt, a first.

A single misjudgment had driven him into a dead end.

“Bring the child. I will decide what to do with this situation after that.”

“Do we really have to wait? My anger hasn't subsided yet.”

“It is not that I do not know your intentions, but shouldn't we also consider the family's position?”

“Haha. I am fine.”

Even Tang Hwa-seon, who had to maintain a good relationship with the Alliance, pushed him off the cliff with a smiling face.

In Zhuge Yun's mind, where his small hope had been extinguished, only a single thought remained.

Please.

Please, let there not be even a single scratch…!

Please…!

Because he had rushed back to the Alliance, he had not yet been able to check San-ho's condition.

If he ended up making enemies of the Sichuan Tang Clan, the ancestor of poisons and hidden weapons, the World's Best Tavern of one of the Ten Venerables, and even the Yangtze River Waterway Forts… Setting aside his own life, it was obvious that the Martial Alliance would fall into great trouble.

‘You must be unharmed for everyone to survive…!’

Zhuge Yun broke into a cold sweat at the fact that the nest he had poked was not just any beehive, but a hornet's nest. The hornets with their venomous stingers raised were waiting for him with fierce glares.

“First, the three of you should head to the reception room.”

Zhuge Yun, who left the task of hosting the guests to the Hall Leader of Guest Reception.

He hurried his steps as if running towards the dungeon.

***

San-ho was letting out a faint sigh in a corner of the dungeon.

‘Has the letter not arrived yet? Should I just escape?’

Feeling restless after waiting claustrophobically for a few days, San-ho examined the structure of the dungeon with shining eyes.

It was then.

Ta-tat! Tat!

The sound of someone rushing down to the dungeon echoed off the stone walls.

Seeing this, the prison guards were startled and showed their respect.

“A-Alliance Leader! What brings you here…”

“We greet the Alliance Leader!”

“Where is that child?!”

“Pardon?”

Cutting them off with a wave of his hand, Zhuge Yun shouted at the guards.

Discovering San-ho behind the guards, he quickly stepped forward. Time was of the essence.

“Open the door immediately!”

“Yes? Yes, yes!”

The flustered guards hurriedly took out the keys and unlocked the cell door.

Clank. The moment the latch was released, the Alliance Leader hastily entered the cell. He spoke as he examined San-ho here and there.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“……?”

It was a bizarre situation that unfolded in an instant.

San-ho looked at him with suspicious eyes.

Alliance Leader Zhuge Yun.

The current head of the Martial Alliance and the center of power. As expected of the Zhuge bloodline, he was smart, quick to make decisions, and skilled at devising strategies. However, San-ho could not understand why such a Zhuge Yun was checking on him so flusteredly.

“Are you not uncomfortable anywhere? Sigh, I told them to treat you as a guest, but because I was away… I am sorry.”

At Zhuge Yun's words, the guards tilted their heads in confusion.

A guest? Had they not been told to keep watch over a criminal?

San-ho's head also tilted.

He was treated completely like a criminal, so what misunderstanding?

“Is the trial today?”

“Oh, how can you say such harsh words? That is out of the question. I have realized that everything was a misunderstanding, so you do not have to worry.”

“……?”

As the baffling words continued, San-ho furrowed his brows. Zhuge Yun was treating him as if he were a glass bead.

“Fortunately, there is no damage. I will have a change of clothes prepared first, so let us go.”

“Go? Where to?”

“We have invited your guarantors to the reception room.”

At Zhuge Yun's words, San-ho stopped dead in his tracks.

“What does that… No, wait a minute. You have to tell me properly what is going on.”

Groaning softly, Zhuge Yun briefly explained what had happened just now.

That three guests had visited.

That they were extremely angry.

And that all of this was a misunderstanding.

Only then could San-ho grasp the unfolding situation.

“……So. You are saying that my father, master, and even the Chief Stronghold Leader have come?”

To the Martial Alliance?

The head of the Unorthodox faction, the Family Head of one of the Five Great Families, and the owner of the tavern all at once?

‘This combination… is it okay?’

At the unexpected combination, San-ho opened his mouth slightly. Putting aside his father and master, why was the Chief Stronghold Leader of the Waterway Forts here…?

Zhuge Yun showed a pale smile and urged San-ho.

“I clearly told the Captain to bring you here safely, but there seems to be a misunderstanding. I have made a huge mistake. I will make up for this discourtesy for a long time to come…”

At his words, which sounded like an excuse, San-ho narrowed his eyes.

'Huh?'

I've been suffering here for several days.

And you're going to just gloss it over like this?

'He seems to be trying to settle it with words just because I'm a kid right now…'

Not a chance.

“Just with words? From what I hear, it seems like what I say right now is going to be very important…”

Stopping dead in his tracks once again, San-ho grinned.

“Shall we hear how you plan to make up for it?”

“……”

Zhuge Yun closed his eyes tightly.

Just as expected. There was no way someone who could make a bloodline member of the Tang Clan and two of the Ten Venerables of the Martial World rush all the way here was ordinary.

However, he was still a child.

An age where an emotional appeal would work.

He put on a solemn expression.

“I did not want to say this, but wasn't the situation bound to cause misunderstanding? If only the hidden weapon did not lack the family emblem…”

“Uh-oh? So you're saying this is all my fault?”

“No, that is not what I meant… I am saying we both made small mistakes.”

“I think a bit differently.”

“Isn't it true that everyone makes mistakes in life? When you live long enough, you too…”

“Come on, but someone in the position of the Alliance Leader shouldn't make mistakes.”

“………”

Emotional appeal failed.

Zhuge Yun quickly changed his method.

“If they happen to get extremely angry, not only me but also those low-ranking soldiers will not be safe. Do you truly want that? To blow things out of proportion?”

“Oh dear…”

He stimulated guilt by adding a light threat. Children were usually the type to shut their mouths to avoid making a big deal out of things if you touched on a small amount of guilt.

“But isn't that none of my business?”

Guilt stimulation failed.

As his two plans failed miserably, Zhuge Yun let out a deep sigh.

“……”

However, he was born clever as a descendant of the Zhuge bloodline.

It did not take long for him to realize that the choice was not his to make.

“……What is it that you want?”

As if he had been waiting for those words, a warm smile appeared on San-ho's lips.

'Since things have turned out like this, should I pull out the pillars of the Martial Alliance?'

“How much did you look into before coming?”

***

San-ho's steps heading to the reception room were light.

‘They came to pick me up?’

He was someone who had never really asked others for help in his life.

It was due to his independent nature that he pondered and derived results alone when a problem arose. That was a result accumulated from the experience of being alone for a long time, and San-ho had lived that way for thirty years.

He had never thought that someone would help him when something happened.

That acting weak only returned worse results was the blood-tearing statistic he had accumulated.

It was the same this time.

How should he escape?

Should he escape, and did the letter arrive safely?

Countless thoughts crossed his mind every day, but none of them resembled the current situation.

Because one could not expect what one did not know.

Although reality was always colder than he thought, sometimes it seemed to give something even better than imagined.

‘I really didn't expect all three of them to come.’

San-ho's steps grew faster and faster.

Flinging open the door,

And when he finally opened the door of the reception room, familiar faces were waiting for him.

“……”

Tang Hwa-seon, the pillar of the family and his father.

His gentle yet fierce master. And even his newly made, (murderous yet) reliable friend.

Seeing the welcoming faces, San-ho stopped before them in silence.

“Why are you standing there instead of coming in?”

“San-ho.”

“Did you wait long?”

The voices calling him heard just at the right moment.

Words filled with their respective worries, concerns, and affection.

At the fact that he finally had someone waiting for him with an umbrella on a rainy day, San-ho could not help but bite his lower lip.

He had thought that saying good days would come if you lived long enough was all empty talk, but…

“…They really came.”

At San-ho's quiet muttering, Tang Hwa-seon asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“It's nothing!”

Warmth seeped behind his bright smile.

“Right. Then…”

Do Yi-gyeom stood up from his seat and stood in front of San-ho.

“Now, strip.”

“………Pardon?”

What on earth does that mean?