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Chapter 268
Chapter 268. A Damnably Longed-For Face (3)
“Eun-ho.”
At my call, Eun-ho, who had been boiling with rage inside, sprang to his feet with the expression of someone ready to run out at once and swing a sword.
“Shall I bring a sword?”
“What sword……? We have documents that have already been processed, do we not?”
Webn̈ оv́ е.l E n̈ u̇ m̀ а̊
Eun-ho, who had clenched both fists tightly, tilted his head in puzzlement.
“You mean the documents to be sent to the Academy and the Education Pavilion?”
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“Yes. And the documents we borrowed from Mantongbu.”
“Those are…… just sample documents.”
I grinned at Eun-ho.
“Bring them all out.”
Wĕb̌nо̌vеl Eñ ů mà
“…….”
So Cheol Sun-jik dared to come at me with such a petty trick.
“Bring them all out and spread them across this place.”
Unfortunately for him, I had beaten down more than one rat like him.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Heh heh……”
“What are you plotting this ti…… Ah!”
Е n̄ u ṁа̀ .id̄
Eun-ho, who had been looking at me as though he had no idea what I meant, suddenly widened his eyes in realization.
“You mean we should pretend to be busy?”
“Exactly.”
A wicked smile soon rose over his face as well.
“That sounds quite fun. Heh heh. Understood.”
Like a child who had found an amusing toy, Eun-ho left the office with a mischievous expression, leading the members of the Representative Delegation with him.
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Now, the groundwork was ready.
“Hup.”
I rose from my seat with a peaceful expression.
Then Jang Woo-jae’s voice reached me.
“Representative, what was that just now……?”
With an innocent expression that showed he had no idea what was going on, he looked back and forth between my face and the door through which Eun-ho had left.
Еnu mа̀ .і̇d
I lightly patted him on the shoulder.
“Ah, there is such a thing. Just watch.”
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“…….”
Let us see just what level Cheol Sun-jik was at in his youth.
After gathering everything from documents whose processing had already been completed to documents that only needed to be delivered, Eun-ho filled the office to the brim and made the people work as noisily as possible.
A short while later.
Ẁ ebn̊о̇v е l Еǹ ũ m а̀
With Jang Woo-jae’s guidance, the so-called Academy “Council” appeared.
“…….”
Cheol Sun-jik and his party stood stock-still in the middle of the noisy office.
Eun-ho deliberately brushed their shoulders as he passed, frowned, and shouted harshly at the members of the Representative Delegation.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Who told you to handle work this way?”
“M-My apologies!”
Е nũm̃_а
“Do it again! And……”
Soon, Eun-ho’s icy gaze turned toward Cheol Sun-jik’s party.
“Why are Academy students who are not part of the Representative Delegation inside the Representative Hall?”
Matching Eun-ho’s inspired performance, Jang Woo-jae also began hurriedly explaining with a troubled expression.
Oh, these fellows were fairly good, were they not?
Should I perhaps arrange a stage play for an Academy event someday?
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
I stopped them calmly.
“Eun-ho, they are my guests. Escort them inside.”
“Eldest Senior Brother…… no, Representative! No matter what, must you truly handle matters like this at such a busy time?”
I let out a sigh and shook my head.
“What can I do? They say they ‘represent’ the Academy students.”
As though he had heard something absurd, Eun-ho crumpled his brow and asked,
Е̃ǹ üm а́ . і̀.d
“What sort of ‘utter nonsense’ is that? We are already serving as the Academy Representative Delegation.”
I lightly shrugged and stared directly at Nam Hwa-seong’s face.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Who knows? I told them to come so I could hear what that nonsense is.”
“…….”
Eun-ho looked over the members of the Council one by one with a contemptuous gaze, and each time his eyes passed over them, they busied themselves coughing awkwardly or avoiding his eyes.
I glanced once around the busily moving Representative Delegation, then turned back to Cheol Sun-jik.
Еnum а̂ .і̄ d
“Please sit here.”
When I gestured after pushing aside one corner of the table piled high with documents, Cheol Sun-jik furrowed his brow.
“This is an important matter. How about moving elsewhere?”
“Then make a formal appointment next time and speak with me then. As you can see, we are very busy.”
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“…….”
Well, what was he going to do if he glared at me like that?
E num̀_а
When I stared straight into his eyes, Cheol Sun-jik’s lips trembled faintly.
“……That is fine. It will not be such a long conversation.”
Cheol Sun-jik sat down as the representative, and the people who had come with him stood around him as if surrounding him.
Their composition was truly remarkable.
“What an interesting lineup. You certainly made great efforts to make it look as if you did not come as representatives of the Twelve Peak Citadels…… Ah, I misspoke. Ha ha.”
“…….”
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At my words, their faces flushed all at once.
There were some among them who belonged to the Twelve Peak Citadels, but most were members of the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Clans.
Perhaps having regained his composure, Cheol Sun-jik showed his usual cold expression.
“If I had come as a representative of the Twelve Peak Citadels to begin with, I would have said that I had come in the capacity of a representative Physician of the Twelve Peak Citadels.”
“I was going to ask about that anyway. A Council? What exactly does that mean?”
“Physician. It means one who deliberates and makes decisions.”
Ẽ.ñ u mа̌.і d̊
How grand his words sounded.
At any rate, when it came to using that fine head of his for useless things, he truly was the best.
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I leaned back and asked in return,
“Hmm. Decisions regarding what?”
“Everything concerning the actions and outcomes of Academy students. It will be a place where the opinions of all Academy students gather, so there will be no cause for dissatisfaction.”
At first glance, it sounded very good.
W е b̈n̄о̇_v̌_е l̂ Е̂ n ũṁ а̃
But as long as the speaker was Cheol Sun-jik, one must never take it at face value.
“So the Council’s decision will become the decision of all Academy students?”
“That is correct.”
“In that case, who bears responsibility?”
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“Everyone does. Until now, the Murim Alliance has maintained a top-down command structure. But what has the result been? The murim world has stagnated, power has hardened, and in the end, even a status system of pure-blood and mixed-blood is about to arise.”
As if deliberately intending for others to hear, he looked around and continued.
Е̇ n um̄a
“The vested powers who give orders pass responsibility downward, and the innocent people dragged along below them end up bearing responsibility without even knowing why.”
Each time Cheol Sun-jik’s calm and clear voice rang out, the commotion inside the office, which had been arranged as an act, began to fade.
Conscious of the gazes gathering upon him, Cheol Sun-jik spoke quietly.
“Do you truly believe the current structure, where decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of a few, is right?”
When it came to speech, he truly was a born talent.
However.
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“What is your reason for trying to introduce such a horizontal and outstanding organizational structure into the Academy?”
I could see it clearly.
Though he wore the mask of a noble man acting for the public good, what lay beneath was the figure of a hypocrite obsessed with his own private gain.
At my sarcasm, Cheol Sun-jik answered without the slightest change in expression.
“I thought Representative Jin would understand without my having to say it.”
I spoke clearly.
Е̃ǹǔṁ а . і́ d
“I do not understand.”
“…….”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The corner of Cheol Sun-jik’s mouth twitched.
But soon, he maintained his calm and composed his expression.
“The Council will ultimately become an organization that accepts everyone’s opinions. People will act actively according to decisions made by the group based on their own opinions, and since they must take responsibility themselves, they will become prudent in their decisions and judgments.”
Cheol Sun-jik was asking back whether I still did not understand.
Е ńú m а̄
To think he would be this blatant.
I could only chuckle.
“Then the reason for organizing the Council is clear as day.”
Cheol Sun-jik wanted to apply this horizontal structure called the Council to the Representative Delegation and weaken the authority of the Representative Delegation.
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“Is it not time to break the wrongful customs that have continued for hundreds of years? Representative Jin, you have broken through common sense until now. I believe this beyond doubt.”
Cheol Sun-jik stared at me with eyes that looked utterly incorruptible.
Ŵê bn̄ о̌ v́el̈ Ė n u̇ m̆а
“I believe that you are the one who will take the first step toward breaking the oppressive customs that have ruled the Academy and the Murim Alliance.”
The man who usually called me “Representative Jin” was now even adding an honorific and calling me “Representative.”
Hah, this rat of a man. He truly was an expert at stirring the wind.
Indeed, Cheol Sun-jik was Cheol Sun-jik. In an instant, an atmosphere had formed.
He had planted in those around him the expectation that if I were an “upright representative,” I would naturally agree with his opinion.
Just as he intended, the members of the Nine Sects and One Gang, the Five Great Clans, and the One Hundred Eight Peaks who had followed him were looking at me with eyes full of expectation.
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In addition, even the members of the Representative Delegation, who had been acting until now, seemed to have been swayed, their faces filled with interest.
Above all, one could tell just how persuasive Cheol Sun-jik’s words were by looking at Eun-ho’s furrowed expression.
“Everyone’s opinions…… unjust customs……”
At least within the Representative Delegation, he was the most logical and intelligent one.
However, he also knew that the position of the Representative Delegation would be shaken, so he could not simply welcome it either.
I stared at Cheol Sun-jik.
Ѐ nûm á .і d
Compared to the figure I knew from my previous life, there was no particular difference aside from a few fewer wrinkles.
Human beings were extremely eager to avoid loss.
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That was why they constantly doubted and calculated. To eliminate anxiety and risk, they used the full extent of their abilities to avoid loss.
That was why what Cheol Sun-jik was saying now had utility.
“Of course, even if the Council system is applied, your position as Representative will not disappear. In the end, the one who makes the final decision will still be you, Representative.”
His gaze swept over the members of the Representative Delegation.
Е́ nu̇mа̀
“Furthermore, not a single member of the Representative Delegation needs to give up their position. They need only continue doing what they have been doing from where they already stand.”
Cheol Sun-jik spoke as though he had found the optimal method by which everyone could win.
His words were so sweet that they made one recall the benefits rather than what would be lost.
His way of speaking, which penetrated the frail psychology of human beings, made the other party feel as though he had found a method to maximize everyone’s benefit.
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That they could now do what had been impossible before.
He made those who wanted honor believe they could have honor.
Ē n̈û m̆а̂ .í d
He made those who wanted money believe they could have money.
“Representative, your decision will change the Academy’s system for the next hundred years. And the juniors of the next generation will be able to dream of a brighter future fairly, in a better environment.”
Cheol Sun-jik spoke to me in a resolute voice.
“I hope you will make your decision.”
Even that careful thoroughness of handing the right to choose over to me.
The way his head worked did not seem greatly different from the older version of him in my previous life.
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It was a strategy that made the other party believe he held the right to choose, thereby raising his sense of competence.
The other party was nothing more than a piece moving according to Cheol Sun-jik’s complex and thorough design, yet the piece on the board would believe it was moving on its own to capture the enemy king.
That was the kind of person Cheol Sun-jik was.
A man who could manipulate others at will and seize his own benefit.
A man who seized control of another’s mental calculations, achieved his own gain to the extreme, and then believed that he had ultimately won.
A man who survived to the very end in a world where the survivor became the strong.
W̊ё b̂ ń о̃ v e l̇ Е̄n̂ um̄ӓ
Cheol Sun-jik the Schemer.
I turned my gaze and looked at the people.
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The members of the Nine Sects and One Gang who had followed him, the members of the Five Great Clans, the members of the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
And even the members of the Representative Delegation.
All of them were waiting for me to open my mouth.
“It truly is strange.”
Еn ů m а́
Even I, who knew he was a fraud, could feel a certain reasonableness in his words right now.
But what could I do?
I might be foolish, but my memory was exceptional.
The corpses of comrades who had died after falling victim to his eloquence and schemes in my previous life appeared before my eyes.
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And once those corpses felt vivid, the answer was easy.
“I refuse.”
Е̂ ǹ um á . і̄_d́
“…….”
I clearly remembered those unjust and unfair deaths.
“I do not understand why I should do that.”
So in this life, I would not simply be taken in.
At my unexpected answer, Cheol Sun-jik’s brow furrowed deeply.
“How disappointing. I thought you were an Academy Representative more awakened than any previous cohort.”
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Soon, the people who had been looking at me with eyes full of expectation began revealing hostility one by one.
Some even looked as though they wanted to leap from their seats and vent their excitement immediately.
Why was I being so foolish?
If we followed Cheol Sun-jik’s opinion, would it not benefit everyone?
They were driving me into the position of someone who pursued only his own interest without justification.
But to one who was prepared to be cursed at, no accusation was a blow.
Wӗ b̄ n̊ ӧv̀ѐ ĺ Ēnǔ mа
I slowly looked around and clapped my hands once.
“Now then! I have listened well to the barking nonsense of people steeped in greed.”
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“Representative Jin……!”
I looked at Cheol Sun-jik and smiled faintly.
“To begin with, why should I accept you racking your brain because you want to steal the Representative position?”
Cheol Sun-jik’s mask twitched as his true intention was exposed.
Е n̊um̈ а . i d̃
“……Have you failed to understand? This is not a matter of stealing a position or not……!”
“How is it different from the current relationship between the Murim Alliance’s Elder Council and the Alliance Leader’s Hall?”
When Mantongbu originated an issue, the Elder Council discussed it, and the Alliance Leader’s Hall made the decision.
Though the Alliance Leader’s Hall held the final decision-making authority, the Alliance Leader could not decide as he pleased.
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In the end, only when the Elder Council reached a decision could the Alliance Leader’s Hall “announce” that decision.
“Well, you can call it a ‘Council,’ an ‘Assembly,’ or attach any fine words you like.”
W.èbň ӧ v̇ е̇ĺ Ē n um̌ а̌
Cheol Sun-jik’s desire was so transparently revealed that I could not hold back my sneer.
“But if the Twelve Peak Citadels had taken the Representative position, this is a story you would not even have brought out of your mouth, is it not?”
“…….”
Cheol Sun-jik was a truly amusing person.
To him, there were no enemies or allies.
If his interests aligned with theirs, even the Demonic Cult could become his ally. If their interests did not align, even a sect of the same Twelve Peak Citadels would become his enemy.
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His thinking overflowed with practicality and rationality to the point of excess, which was why he had been able to attach his sect firmly to the Murim Alliance in Bukhae.
Cheol Sun-jik’s sect had even suffered almost no losses during the Great Righteous-Demonic War.
I did not know what happened after my death in my previous life, but Cheol Sun-jik’s sect must have formed a major axis within the Murim Alliance of Bukhae as well.
I looked straight into Cheol Sun-jik’s eyes and spoke.
“Do you know what it is called when someone forces another to do something he himself would not have done?”
“……What is it?”
Е nu̇ m̊ а̀
“Fraud.”
Cheol Sun-jik’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper.
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“Only frauds who see the other party as fools do such things.”
“……Are you insulting everyone gathered here right now?”
His skill in diverting the attack and drawing others into it was on a level that did not lose to the Flowing Cloud Sect’s Transplanting Flower and Grafting Tree Art.
“Insult is something that only applies when there is honor to lose in the first place.”
Е n ǔm̊а
I looked over the faces of those standing behind Cheol Sun-jik.
“Ha San-dong, disciple of Mount Hua. You entered the Academy through the strength of Mount Hua, but you went to the entertainment district every day and mingled with courtesans, receiving a stern warning from the Main Mountain, did you not?”
One member of the Nine Sects and One Gang flinched.
“Baek Jin-seong, disciple of the Jegal Clan. In the previous Mystic Gate Formation incident, you avoided imprisonment in the Prison, but you have already fallen out of favor with the Jegal Clan. Your future path to advancement within the Jegal Clan is far distant.”
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Baek Jin-seong’s face turned deathly pale.
“You gathered quite well those who hold no right of proposal in either the Righteous Path Association or the Orthodox Path Association. As for the ones who came from the Twelve Peak Citadels, they are at least people who follow you, Cheol Sun-jik.”
Еń úm̊ а̀ . і̊d̄
Cheol Sun-jik’s words were always intertwined with the extreme pursuit of his own benefit.
Everything he said was connected to personal gain.
Paradoxically, the time when one should be most wary of him was precisely when he said something that looked after another person’s benefit.
“Even if this Council is organized, it will ultimately move according to your words, Cheol Sun-jik. You say it is everyone’s opinion, but in the end, you will lead it.”
“…….”
“Moreover, if you intend to take on the title of representatives of the Academy students in such a manner, should you not at least listen to the opinions of the Academy students?”
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I asked the self-proclaimed “representative Physicians” surrounding Cheol Sun-jik,
“Is there anyone here who received even a single recommendation letter from the Academy students? Or were you elected?”
However, not a single person answered.
Cold anger rose within my chest.
“Why should the Academy students sit still and obey the orders of incompetent Physicians?”
In my previous life, only after a comrade died each time did I realize it had been Cheol Sun-jik’s scheme.
Wе̊ b nòv е l Ė ň ü m а̀
“Responsibility? Did you say responsibility? How will you take responsibility? Like the previous excursion to Sichuan, will you be dismissed from your post or sent to the Prison?”
So in this life, I would absolutely not be taken in.
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“Ah, of course that will not happen. Since it was the Academy students’ choice, none of you will receive any punishment, correct? How convenient a responsibility that is. In truth, when the final moment comes, the greatest responsibility will fall on me, the Academy Representative.”
I mocked them openly.
“To enjoy rights while refusing to bear responsibility…… At this point, even the vested powers who maintained the ‘wrongful customs’ you spoke of look better than you. At the very least, the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans have shed blood to protect their positions.”
The faces of those who had closed their mouths gradually darkened.
Ẅе b̄nо́ v̇ ё ĺ Еn um а̄
“Is this what the members of your ‘Council’ desire? To possess rights and avoid responsibility?”
In my previous life, there had been exactly one time when I acted contrary to Cheol Sun-jik’s intentions and dealt him a blow.
At Jegal Cheon-gi’s advice, I had simply expressed opposition to whatever intention lay behind Cheol Sun-jik’s words.
Because of that, we had to directly face the Flame Demon Ghost-Eye Unit, but……
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That day, Cheol Sun-jik’s unit was annihilated, leaving only one-tenth of its members alive.
“First, how about trying this Council in your own sect, Cheol Sun-jik? Leave the Sect Leader as nothing more than the final decision-maker, and have the warriors beneath him organize a Council among themselves. Everyone in the sect will share responsibility for all decisions.”
Е́n ǔ m а̃
“……I would prefer that you not drag my sect into this. Mind your manners, Representative Jin.”
At some point, the form of address had returned from “Representative” to “Representative Jin.”
“Do you perhaps think my proposal is rude?”
“…….”
“Then did you try to force that rude proposal upon me with this worthless group of people?”
Cheol Sun-jik’s face turned white.
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Just like that time in my previous life when I had simply expressed opposition to him no matter what he said.
It was a damnably longed-for face.
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