Chapter 159: How a Frog Survives

TL: FoodieMonster007

At the word 'servant', Cho Sin's gaze changed.

Geom Mugeuk saw it. He might have missed it if he hadn't known the man, but he could see the contempt in Cho Sin's eyes. An unbearable, frivolous anger radiated from him, as if to say, 'Why is a punk like you drinking with the woman who will be mine?'

So he was like this even back then.

No, he was actually worse at hiding his true nature now that he was younger. The older Cho Sin had been truly excellent at concealing himself.

"To think you'd share a table and drink with a servant. You truly are as generous as the rumors say."

Jin Haryong retorted to the intended compliment.

"Does one need to be generous just to sit at the same table with a servant?"

The issue of sharing a table with a servant had been on her mind recently. In fact, the word that had occupied most of her thoughts these past few days was not 'the Young Dragon Tournament', but 'servant'.

"I meant that I don't mind something as simple as eating with a servant."

"Ah, I see. A heart that treats even subordinates fairly is admirable. Now, tomorrow's banquet will surely have a predictable atmosphere. Let's, the young ones, have our own banquet right here."

Though Cho Sin made the casual suggestion with a compliment, Jin Haryong refused flatly.

"I'm sorry, but I must decline."

Honestly, Cho Sin was handsome. A part of her wanted to sit and have a drink with him.

However, her concern for Geom Yeon came first.

If they drank together, she would have to send Geom Yeon away, but if he stayed and drank with them, he would earn Cho Sin's ire. Neither option was appealing. She especially didn't want to say, 'We need to drink now, so could you please leave?'

"This is a first for me. Being turned down after asking a woman for a drink."

"We'll see each other tomorrow anyway, won't we?"

Jin Haryong didn't see it, but Geom Mugeuk did. The moment she refused, Cho Sin's gaze changed.

How dare she refuse me?

A dark, cold emotion, beyond mere irritation, began to rise.

Just as Jin Haryong was about to turn away, Cho Sin sat down across from Geom Mugeuk.

"I'll have a drink with this servant."

Cho Sin spoke to the startled Jin Haryong.

"Even I couldn't get you to drink with me, so I want to find out what charm this servant has that allows him to."

Irritation surged through Jin Haryong when she heard those words. Cho Sin's actions were a blatant declaration that he intended to torment Geom Yeon. He was going to act like this just because she wouldn't drink with him? The favorable impression she had of him because of his looks vanished instantly.

Does he have no intention of looking good in my eyes?

She couldn't understand. If his grandfather had brought up marriage, this Cho Sin should know about it too.

She sat back down.

She sat down out of concern for Geom Yeon, but that only provoked Cho Sin further.

"What a charming servant indeed. To make Miss Jin, who was about to leave, sit back down."

Cho Sin asked Geom Mugeuk.

"What's your name?"

"It's Geom Yeon."

"A fine name for a mere servant."

"Thank you."

"Do you know who I am?"

"You said earlier that you are Master Jo of the True Dragon Manor."

"A good memory, too. Where did you find such a fine slave?"

At the word 'slave', her expression soured slightly. Cho Sin watched that unconcealable emotion, and Geom Mugeuk watched the change in Cho Sin's emotions.

"Miss Jin is beautiful, isn't she?"

"She is beautiful."

"So beautiful you think of her at night? How about it? With her…."

The implication was obvious, so Jin Haryong cut him off.

"Watch your mouth! You keep crossing the line."

"Seeing you drink with a slave, I thought you were generous, but it seems that generosity depends on the person."

The two of them met eyes.

In that moment, an image surfaced in Jin Haryong's mind. It was a black viper, raising its head with its tongue flicking. She had never experienced this while looking at a person before, and she was inwardly flustered.

Just then, Cho Sin smiled pleasantly.

"My joke went too far, didn't it?"

He tried to pass it off as a joke, but Jin Haryong's favorable opinion of him had completely plummeted.

Is he trying to show off some kind of pride in treating the Chairman's granddaughter so carelessly?

Cho Sin asked Geom Mugeuk again.

"I just don't get it. What kind of person is our Miss Jin?"

"I don't know her well either."

"You don't know?"

"I may be a servant, but I'm not Miss Jin's servant."

"You're not?"

Cho Sin was taken aback.

"Then whose servant are you?"

"I am the servant of Young Master Seo Ryong of the Western Blade Sect, who is participating in the Young Dragon Tournament."

"Then why were you drinking with Miss Jin? That's even stranger, isn't it?"

Geom Mugeuk also sensed something was strange.

This guy, why is he so agitated?

Even in his prime, the man known as Cho Sin was a cautious person. To attribute today's actions merely to jealousy seemed excessive.

What is making you act so wildly?

He seemed engulfed in an uncontrollable fervor, like a child praised by his teacher, a merchant who earned a great fortune, or a martial artist who achieved complete mastery.

TAK.

Just then, Jin Haryong set her cup down with a sound. It was a silent warning to stop.

At that, Cho Sin adopted a different attitude. He asked her gently, as if they were old friends.

"Don't you find it strange, Miss Jin?"

"What do you mean?"

"The granddaughter of the Murim Alliance Chairman is sharing a table and drinking with the slave of a martial artist participating in this duel tournament. The granddaughter herself, the very person involved in this shocking affair, doesn't find it strange at all. What do you think?"

"So? What are you trying to say?"

"They say if you put a frog in lukewarm water and slowly bring it to a boil, it will die without even realizing it's dying, right?"

The corner of Jin Haryong's mouth lifted. Before she could say anything in anger, Cho Sin continued.

"What if this man approached Miss Jin with some ulterior motive? What if he got close to you to spike your drink with Qi Dispersing Poison before the final match? Are you going to claim you were deceived only after it happens?"

Cho Sin brought his face right up to Geom Mugeuk's.

"What is your purpose?"

Geom Mugeuk said nothing. Faced with Cho Sin's fierce momentum, as if he were about to strike, Jin Haryong stepped in.

"Master Jo."

Her coldly subdued tone spoke of her mood.

"Let's see each other at the banquet tomorrow. The water is still a long way from boiling."

Their gazes met. Jin Haryong stared confidently at the snake with its head raised. Right now, she was not afraid of that snake.

Cho Sin smiled.

"It seems I've made a mistake on our first meeting. My apologies, Miss Jin. I will see you at the banquet tomorrow."

He rose from his seat, then looked at me and grinned. Not only Geom Mugeuk, but Jin Haryong too, felt it. The thick killing intent contained in that smile.

After Cho Sin left the inn, Jin Haryong drank her alcohol in silence. She seemed to be mulling over what Cho Sin had said earlier.

Geom Mugeuk waited silently for her to speak.

After a moment, she sighed and spoke. She had returned to her usual self, no longer the cold person she had shown to Cho Sin.

"It's difficult, so difficult. Why is everything so difficult?"

"They say life is inherently difficult. If you ask someone from a hundred years ago, they'd say it's difficult, and if you ask someone from five hundred years ago, they'd also say it's difficult. The Chairman finds it difficult, and that waiter over there would say it's difficult too. A child born tomorrow will also say it's difficult once they've grown up."

"This is why. How can you not be suspected when you're just a servant and you say things like this?"

"Do you suspect me too, Miss Jin?"

She answered honestly.

"To be honest, the moment I heard that story about the frog, I flinched."

"If you fall for those words, you'll be moved from a warm hot spring to a cauldron of truly boiling water."

Jin Haryong shook her head.

"You're too good with words. You win."

"What do you mean?"

"I wouldn't trust that man even if I were dying, so I have to trust you."

"In times like these, you shouldn't trust either of us. Why choose one?"

Jin Haryong looked at Geom Mugeuk. She thought it would be a huge problem if he really was a villain. She had a premonition that stopping him would be even harder than stopping the snake-like Cho Sin. However, she decided to trust her instincts.

"This isn't the time to worry about me. You're in big trouble. This frog here might still be swimming in warm water, but that frog over there has just been placed on a rock in the middle of lava."

Her instinct for judging people was second to none. She realized it. The man named Cho Sin was not the type to let a servant who sat and drank with the woman he wanted to marry live. Especially not a servant whom that woman had even defended.

"My young master will protect me."

"No, even if your young master is skilled enough to have reached the main tournament, he can't protect you. That man's family is no ordinary one. You should head back to your hometown right now." "I can't leave my young master behind, and if that man tries to harm me as you say, Young Lady, do you think I can avoid it just by returning to my hometown? It would more likely bring harm to my young master's sect."

"You're right."

She shot up from her seat.

"Wait here. I'll go find a pole to get you out of that lava."

She left the inn.

Shortly after, Seo Daeryong sat down in the seat she had vacated.

"This is more interesting than the duels, isn't it?"

"I thought you were tired?"

"No matter how tired I am, I couldn't stand the curiosity. What was with that guy earlier? Is it one of those things where an obstacle must always appear in a fateful love?"

"To him, I'm probably the obstacle."

"He looked perfectly normal."

"Those are the types that are more dangerous."

"Exactly. It's because that guy hasn't seen you with your beard shaved, Director."

"Are you saying I'm more dangerous?"

"Is there even a comparison? In looks, or in dangerousness."

Seo Daeryong laughed to himself, as if he found his own joke amusing.

"I'll just watch this fateful love unfold and aim for the championship."

"Go ahead. I'll watch the fateful duels and take care of this matter."

I was curious to see what Jin Haryong would do.

Her solution the next day was a method I hadn't anticipated.

"Come with me to the banquet."

She was asking me to go with her to the banquet being held today. A banquet where the Murim Alliance Chairman and Cho Sin would be present.

"I believe I already told you I couldn't go, even if it meant being called a coward."

"The situation has changed since then. I'll take responsibility for your life."

"……"

"You'll know when we get there."

Meeting the Murim Alliance Chairman?

Could I really hide my presence from him?

My cultivation had already reached the state of Origin Reversal, allowing me to appear as if I had never learned martial arts at all.

However, would that work on the Murim Alliance Chairman? Could I truly conceal the presence that I, as a person, exuded?

Probably not. While I might be able to deceive someone about my martial arts realm, passing off nine-star as eight-star, I wouldn't be able to deceive him into thinking I was a mere servant.

Meeting the Murim Alliance Chairman meant I had to be prepared to reveal my identity.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

"I'm thinking about how your grandfather, Young Lady, will react after he learns about me."

Of course, she was worried about something completely different.

"My grandfather won't harm you because of your status. Even if he gets angry, he'll take it out on me."

"Since he's such a great man, he must treat his subordinates with respect, right?"

"Of course."

Then how would he treat a blood relative of the Heavenly Demon?

It was a question I couldn't bring myself to ask her.

Of course, even if my identity as a blood relative of the Heavenly Demon were exposed, I wouldn't be killed in the Murim Alliance. Doing so could trigger a war. In that sense, the Murim Alliance is a safer place than our Cult. Instead, I would be exiled, and this succession test would end in failure for causing trouble with the Murim Alliance.

I contemplated for a long time. Jin Haryong understood and waited for me.

Finally, I finished my deep deliberation on the various situations.

"Alright, let's go."

"Ah, good thinking."

"Let's meet at the entrance of the Murim Alliance in one hour. I need to prepare for the banquet."

"Okay."

After sending her off, I went up to my room and informed Seo Daeryong that I was going to the banquet hosted by the Murim Alliance Chairman.

Seo Daeryong asked worriedly.

"Will you be alright?"

"Will I be alright?"

"Until now, Director, you've always said you were going to meet all sorts of dangerous people. From the Demonic Army General to the Demon Supremes, but now, you're going to meet the Murim Alliance Chairman."

"How about it? A leader like this?"

"In the past, I would have hated it."

Whenever I said I was going to see the Demon Supremes, Seo Daeryong would recoil in terror.

"And now?"

"What's the point of stepping back in fear? It's a duel either way."

We laughed together. The fact that we were alone in enemy territory was bringing us closer.

"Be safe. I will be training."

I looked at my reflection in the bronze mirror. Long, tangled hair and cheap clothes. I deliberately messed up my hair even more and didn't change my clothes.

Seeing my appearance at the entrance to the Murim Alliance, Jin Haryong exclaimed.

"You said you were preparing for the banquet? What on earth did you prepare?"

"Isn't it an improvement?"

"Not at all!"

"Should I go change?"

"No, we'll be late. Let's go!"

As Jin Haryong and I entered the banquet hall, all eyes focused on us.

Among the heroes, Father's presence is like the color red, like blood, standing alone in a black-and-white painting.

The presence of the Murim Alliance Chairman was the same. Though there were countless people in the banquet hall, I recognized who the Murim Alliance Chairman was at a single glance.

It felt as if everyone else was in black and white, and only the Murim Alliance Chairman was in blue.

Truly, the presence exuded by the strongest masters in the murim is this astonishing.

Far in the distance, the Murim Alliance Chairman, Jin Paecheon, who had been conversing with guests, slowly turned his head in our direction.