Chapter 49: If You Don't Agree, I'll Cling to Your Trousers

TL: FoodieMonster007

Demonic Army General Jang Ho was the first to arrive at the Alluring Inn.

His large build and facial scar overwhelmed everyone in the tavern. The other patrons held their breath as Jang Ho crossed the first floor and climbed to the second. Time, which had seemingly stopped, only began to flow again when he joined our table.

"Have you been well, Second Young Lord?"

"I've been well. I just hope I didn't call you out when you're busy."

"If you hadn't invited me, I would have been very disappointed."

"Of course, I had to invite you. This is the first time I'm drinking with all my people. Here, have a drink from me first."

I poured Jang Ho a full cup of liquor.

"Thank you."

Seo Daeryong and Jang Ho also exchanged greetings. They knew each other from the anonymous letter incident. Jang Ho sat next to the already small-framed Seo Daeryong, making him look three times larger.

After a drink, I asked Jang Ho, "Have you been busy?"

"I was busy in the beginning after my appointment, but it's gotten a bit better now."

"If you ever have any problems or worries, feel free to come to me anytime."

"Of course. You'll be the first person I visit."

Jang Ho was as reliable as ever. Contrary to his appearance, he was an emotional and delicate person who valued his relationships.

With Jang Ho's arrival, our drinking pace quickened. Jang Ho could hold his liquor as well as his large frame suggested.

As they drank, Seo Daeryong kept stealing glances at Jang Ho. It wasn't a look of caution, but one filled with envy.

"Are you envious?"

Seo Daeryong flinched when I hit the nail on the head.

"Of what?"

"I'm asking if you're envious of General Jang."

Borrowing courage from the alcohol, Seo Daeryong answered honestly.

"Yes, I'm honestly envious. I once wanted to be like him. Though I failed."

"It's not too late yet."

"You've said that before. When I lamented that it was already too late for me, you said you were disappointed, but what can I do if it's late? I'm already thirty-two."

"Still, it's not too late."

Seo Daeryong, who was about to flare up, drank the liquor in front of him instead. If it had been anyone else, he would have shouted at them not to speak so easily of matters that didn't concern them.

Although he swallowed his anger with the drink, Seo Daeryong was still flushed.

"Is it really not too late?"

Knowing he asked sincerely, I also answered in earnest.

"It is late."

"Sigh, I knew it."

Seo Daeryong was disappointed. It seemed he had held onto a sliver of hope that it really wasn't too late.

"But there's a good side to that."

"What is it?"

"You'll try that much more sincerely. You'll put more strength into one sword swing than others. You'll fill a single step with deeper contemplation than others."

"Even so, isn't the reality that I can't ever catch up?"

"You can catch up. Ah, speaking of which, a good example is coming over there. The incarnation of denying reality!"

Seo Daeryong and Jang Ho followed my gaze down to the first floor. The large-framed Lee Ahn captured everyone's attention as she hurried up to our table on the second floor.

"Someone who started walking that path a step ahead of you, someone who practically lives at the training grounds these days, and yet is still so bright. There she comes."

As soon as she reached the table, Lee Ahn apologized.

"Ah, I'm so sorry. I'm late because I had to wash up and change into my martial arts uniform."

"It's just a drinking party, what's the rush?"

"I have to rush. It's a gathering with important people."

Lee Ahn greeted the two men.

"Hello, General Jang. Detective Seo."

The two men stared intently at her as she greeted them brightly. Thinking it was because she was late, Lee Ahn apologized again.

"I'm sorry, am I late?"

Seo Daeryong stared at her because of my 'good example' comment, but Jang Ho had a different reason. Jang Ho spoke to her politely.

"Something about you has changed, Lee Ahn."

"Me?"

"Yes. Your aura feels different somehow."

The eyes of the general leading the Demonic Army were certainly not ordinary.

At that, Lee Ahn glanced at me before smiling.

"I've been through training hell, so I've even lost weight. I've changed a bit, haven't I?"

Of course, both Lee Ahn and I knew that wasn't the reason. Her qi had changed after she inherited the Soaring Sky Sword Art. For now, the Soaring Sky Sword Art was a secret that must never be revealed to outsiders.

Jang Ho must have sensed it wasn't just because of that, but he didn't ask any more about the change.

"The weather is so gloomy, I was dying for a drink too. Give me some liquor!"

Lee Ahn held out her cup, and I filled it to the brim.

"You're working hard with your training, Lee Ahn."

"It's not hard work. It's what I'm supposed to do. Besides, I know you train much more than I do, Young Master. You even cut back on sleep to do it."

At that, Seo Daeryong was startled.

"Really?"

"You didn't know?"

At Lee Ahn's question, Seo Daeryong looked at me.

"You look like someone who would slack off no matter who's watching."

"Right? But inside that lazy-looking shell is an incredibly hardworking martial artist."

Seo Daeryong looked at me, then at Jang Ho, then back at Lee Ahn. Then he drank by himself.

"I feel like I'm the only loser here."

"But you work hard at your job, don't you?"

At Lee Ahn's attempt to console him, Seo Daeryong hung his head low.

"I put off today's work until tomorrow to come drinking."

"Aww, that's too bad, and here the shell of our Detective Seo looks so diligent."

Lee Ahn teased him lightly. At times like this, Lee Ahn was, without a doubt, a young girl who suited a peal of bright laughter.

"Alright, let's have a drink for today's loser!"

Lee Ahn raised her cup, and we all toasted. The loser himself didn't seem offended and joined the final toast, declaring, "I am that protagonist."

"So? Everyone here is working so hard. Do you want to learn martial arts properly too?"

"What? From you, Director?"

"No."

"Then from whom?"

Without realizing it, Seo Daeryong glanced at Jang Ho.

"Why are you looking at him? He's the busiest one among us."

"Ah, I just thought, since you trained the enforcement martial artists before."

"If there's someone to teach you, will you learn? You won't be able to become a formal disciple, but they could teach you proper martial arts."

"Who is it?"

Instead of telling him who it was, I said, "Your resolve comes first. Tell me when you're determined to be reborn. I'll tell you who it is then."

I was thinking of him as the next Sanzu Hall Director. However, he was too young to be the next Director. He didn't have a good martial family or political connections either. He needed something to become the Director.

Then, a certain person suddenly came to mind.

A person who doesn't seem to fit at all, but for that very reason, might be a perfect match.

"I'll give you a quarter of an hour. Think about it."

"What? I have to decide right here, right now?"

"You can't make a decision on things like this if you think about them for too long. Once this drinking party is over, we're back to square one. Both you and me. You know that, right?"

At that, Seo Daeryong fell into deep thought. We drank while looking outside at the sky, which seemed ready to pour rain at any moment. We drank quietly for Seo Daeryong's sake. It was a time when I, Lee Ahn, and Jang Ho all had a lot on our minds.

By the time we had finished a bottle of liquor, Seo Daeryong had made his decision.

"I'll do it."

"Really?"

"……"

"This will change your life."

"I'm prepared. What is life, anyway? When an opportunity comes, you have to grab it! If I mess up and die, please bury me in a sunny spot!"

"I'll bury you on a path where many pretty women walk by."

"Excellent."

Seo Daeryong coolly drained the cup of liquor in front of him.

"Oh! Congratulations!"

Lee Ahn clapped enthusiastically, and Jang Ho offered his congratulations.

"If anyone else had suggested it, it would have been impossible, but since you suggested it, Director, I strangely found myself easily persuaded… 'Let's grab this. It's an opportunity.' That's what I thought."

Lee Ahn smiled and agreed.

"Our Young Master's powers of persuasion are the Greatest of All Time."

Jang Ho also nodded as if in agreement.

Seo Daeryong, seeming to be in a good mood, drained another cup. He, who usually couldn't drink much, was drinking heavily.

"But as you know, I've worked as an investigator for ten years. I've pulled many all-nighters to become the Special Investigator. To throw all that away, my heart…"

"Why would you quit being an investigator?"

"What?"

"You don't need to quit. You're the most needed person at the Sanzu River Hall, so why would you quit? I mean you should learn martial arts after work hours."

Seo Daeryong took my words as a joke.

"Are you telling me to work myself to death?"

"But you'll achieve the dream you couldn't fulfill."

He stared at me as I answered seriously, then his eyes widened in shock.

"No way. Are you serious?"

"Of course, I'm serious. You're starting late, so what's the rush? Learn slowly after you finish work."

"I'm in a rush because I'm late. Can I become an expert by learning like that? Shouldn't I be staking my entire life on this challenge?"

Seo Daeryong looked to Jang Ho for support, as if asking, Isn't that right? However, Jang Ho offered no response and just looked at me, as if telling him to listen to my words.

Unable to find reinforcements, Seo Daeryong returned to the battlefield.

I calmly told him, "That's why most people fail. In your head, it seems like you can bet your whole life on it, but in reality, it doesn't work out that way. It's actually harder when you have free time from morning till night. You start thinking, 'I have so much time, so why am I not improving? What am I even doing?' and fall into self-loathing and defeatism. You get much better results when you just do your job and carve out precious bits of time to practice. Because then it's not work, it can even become a pleasure."

Lee Ahn and Jang Ho nodded, not the person in question, Seo Daeryong. Seo Daeryong looked conflicted.

"And the important thing is who you learn from. If you learn from a true master with whom you have good chemistry, the amount of training time doesn't mean much. Learning from someone like that for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea is better than a lifetime of nonsense spouted by some clumsy fool."

"A true master, who?"

Even Lee Ahn and Jang Ho were curious about who I intended to be his master.

"He'll be here soon."

"He's coming here?"

Not only Seo Daeryong, but Lee Ahn and Jang Ho were also surprised.

"Then did you know that Detective Seo would make this decision?"

"Am I a fortune teller? How would I know that? It was a spur-of-the-moment idea."

"Then that person doesn't know about this situation?"

"Of course not."

"Oh my god!"

Seo Daeryong drank another cup. Having already far surpassed his usual limit, he was entering the stage where the liquor calls for more liquor.

"Getting his permission is the ultimate challenge. If he refuses, we'll have to grab onto his trouser legs and hang on."

We all drank together, vowing to get his permission.

Lee Ahn told Seo Daeryong to just wet his lips with the cup, but he insisted he couldn't do that before such an important task and drained it completely.

"I don't know who it is, but I will definitely get his permission. If he doesn't agree, his right trouser leg is mine. Director, you take the left."

Perhaps because he thought something he had cherished in his heart for a long time was about to come true, Seo Daeryong was completely flushed with excitement.

"If it's a Master that the Young Master found, he must be a truly wonderful and good person."

Just as Lee Ahn said those words, of all things.

FLASH! RUMBLE! CRACK!

Lightning flashed and thunder roared.

"Looks like it's about to really start pouring now!"

It was at that very moment.

"Ah, there he comes."

At my words, everyone's gaze turned to the first floor.

A man was entering the inn.

Recognizing the person, Lee Ahn covered her mouth to stifle a scream.

Jang Ho also flinched in surprise, his eyes widening.

Seo Daeryong, who had his back turned, was the last to turn his head.

I could watch Seo Daeryong's reaction in real time. His eyes widened, he let out a short scream, and he even spilled his drink as he tried to jump to his feet.

THUD.

The person who arrived at our table placed a large blade on the floor.

A murderous demonic qi radiated from his small, sharp eyes.

"Who do you think you are, arrogantly summoning people here and there?"

The person who had arrived was none other than the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

SHWAAAAAAA!

As if it had been waiting, the rain began to pour.