Childhood Friend of the Zenith
Chapter 376: Your Father is Terrifyingly Scary (2)

The meeting had come to an end.

I wasn’t particularly interested in the details, but it felt necessary to be informed.

The outcome of the meeting could potentially impact my future plans.

Because it was so important for my plans to remain as they were, I had to learn what happened.

I turned to Cheol Jiseon to get some answers.

“What went on in there?”

“…Um… about that…”

Cheol Jiseon hesitated briefly before beginning his explanation.

As expected, the Alliance Leader began by addressing the incident.

- How it happened.

He explained it from the very beginning.

- What the Murim Alliance did to stop it.

He outlined the measures they implemented to address the crisis.

- What action will be taken?

He elaborated on the changes that would follow as a result of the incident.

The Murim Alliance had to clearly state how they were practically powerless during the incident, the casualties from the incident, and all the clans, Sects, and merchant associations that were negatively influenced by this.

If they don’t,

…I don’t know if they would be disbanded, but it would be a big problem for them.

If the Murim Alliance were to disband now, it could create significant issues for cities currently under the protection of the Alliance’s army.

Clans and sects would have to assume responsibility for their territories, which would demand enormous resources in both money and manpower.

Knowing this, they likely couldn’t afford to disband the Murim Alliance recklessly.

To sum it all up, the Murim Alliance decided to temporarily close the Heavenly Dragon Academy.

They were already planning on closing the Academy after students graduated, but they had to close it early as no one was able to attend because of this incident, and there obviously weren’t any families that wanted their children to stay in such a place any longer.

As a result, the Heavenly Dragon Academy was shut down before anyone in this year’s class could graduate.

One detail still piqued my curiosity, though.

It’s only a temporary closure?

What surprised me was the fact that the Heavenly Dragon Academy’s closure was only temporary.

I had assumed it would be permanently shut down after an incident like this, but reality had proven otherwise.

There could only be one reason behind this decision.

It’s because of that damned honor.

It was because of the honor and fame that the Academy had.

In a world where most martial artists joined armies, graduating from the Heavenly Dragon Academy was a badge of honor.

Graduating from that Academy was enough to give a person an easy path to building connections.

Not only that, but it also helped their future blood relatives’ images as well.

In the end, the Academy’s temporary closure was motivated by self-interest.

The Murim Alliance understood this perfectly, which is why they went along with the decision.

It bothers me… but in the end,

The Academy was temporarily closed, and this wasn’t something that occurred in my past life.

Then again, this incident didn’t happen in my past life either.

I didn’t know where things started to be twisted.

All I could do was nod and move forward.

Dwelling on it would lead nowhere, so I had no choice but to adapt to the flow.

The second thing was about the action that would be taken against the leader of the enemies that ambushed the Academy.

The Murim Alliance revealed the enemy to be the Black Dragon.

The revelation sparked a wave of murmurs among the attendees.

And understandably so.

The Black Dragon was a martial artist of the Unorthodox Faction, supposedly defeated by the Sword Emperor years ago when he was still known as the Wind Sword.

In the records, it was written that he was killed by his head being decapitated.

Yet, he was somehow alive?

It was shocking that someone like him had raised his sword against the Orthodox Faction again after decades.

Peace existed thanks to the Three Venerables and the Murim Alliance being on the Orthodox Faction’s side.

But did they truly believe that peace was unbreakable?

They were simply too drunk in peace.

The Murim Alliance announced that the Black Dragon would be sent to Tang Clan.

Tang Clan?

I frowned the moment I heard the announcement.

I couldn’t understand why he was being sent to Tang Clan over the Murim Alliance.

Why?

Transporting him to Sichuan was an unnecessarily long journey. If the goal was interrogation or torture, keeping him with the Murim Alliance would have been far safer.

It made me wonder why they’d go to such lengths to send him to Sichuan.

However, there was a bigger problem.

Because it was a meeting, people in the room were able to ask questions.

This, of course, led to heated debates.

Since I was the one who stopped the Black Dragon, people naturally turned to me with questions about the incident.

…But I was sleeping while leaning against my father’s shoulder.

It was an absolute embarrassment for a blood relative of a noble clan to act like that.

I had no memory of such a thing happening.

How did this even happen?

Could the recoil have been so severe that I couldn’t wake up…?

That was possible, but Cheol Jiseon said something strange with a terrified voice.

“…Your father… he’s absolutely terrifying.”

“What?”

“N-Nothing…”

Cheol Jiseon visibly shuddered, clearly unwilling to recall whatever had transpired during the meeting.

What could he have seen to make him react like that?

Just as I was about to yell at Cheol Jiseon to finish his sentence,

“…So, I had to handle all the questions while you were sound asleep.”

“…”

I had to shut my mouth as soon as I heard Cheol Jiseon’s exhausted voice.

It suddenly became clear why he had looked at me with such resentment earlier.

While I had been fast asleep during the meeting, Cheol Jiseon had been forced to answer questions in my place since I couldn’t wake up.

Lords and Heads from noble clans and Sects that ruled the Central Plains bombarded Cheol Jiseon with questions, and it was extremely difficult for Cheol Jiseon with his personality.

Moreover, it only worried him more as he was hiding his real name.

“…G-Good work.”

“…”

That was the only thing I was able to say to him.

Cheol Jiseon looked utterly drained, as though he might collapse at any moment, but after a tired shake of his head, he began recounting everything that had transpired.

Though much had been discussed, three key outcomes emerged from the meeting.

- The Heavenly Dragon Academy will be closed for at least ten years.

- The Murim Alliance declared war against the Unorthodox Faction.

And then there was the most important thing.

Someone had to take responsibility for this incident.

Even if they were innocent, the masses needed a scapegoat, and there was no way around it.

Thus, the Alliance decided on the individuals who would shoulder the blame.

The first was the Head of the Kunlun Sect.

The Qinghai Sword took responsibility for himself and decided to step down as the Head of his Sect.

My fist tightened involuntarily at the news.

The Kunlun Sect took a big hit because of him stepping down from his position.

In my past life, the Qinghai Sword had only relinquished his position after becoming a Demonic Human, but this time, the circumstances were entirely different.

I didn’t think he would step down.

Because it was Qinghai Sword that stood as the Head of the Academy, he was going to take responsibility for it.

Still, I couldn’t suppress the frustration that surged within me upon hearing this.

Not only that,

That wasn’t the only problem.

It was an extremely big matter for the Qinghai Sword to be stepping down, but there was even a bigger problem left.

- The Harmonic Sword will be taking responsibility as well, and will be stepping down from his current position as the Alliance Leader.

After more than a decade as the Leader of the Murim Alliance, the Harmonic Sword had also decided to step down.

“…The Alliance Leader?”

I instantly turned my head around after hearing that news from Cheol Jiseon.

The Harmonic Sword is stepping down?

“What the…”

“The room erupted when the Alliance Leader made the announcement,”

“Well, obviously…!”

It wasn’t a piece of small news for Jang Cheon to be stepping down.

He was stepping down to take responsibility?

That much was understandable.

It also meant the selection of a new Alliance Leader was inevitable.

This only complicated things further.

In my past life, Jang Cheon retained his position as Alliance Leader until Wi Seol-Ah succeeded him.

But now, with Jang Cheon stepping down,

Then who will become the next Alliance Leader?

An Alliance Leader definitely needed to be picked as soon as possible.

Because the Murim Alliance was the heart of the Orthodox Faction, they couldn’t afford to leave that seat empty.

“Sigh…”

The situation had become unnecessarily complex.

I never anticipated that the seat of the Alliance Leader would be left vacant.

******************

The sun had set.

I exhaustingly made my way to the inn.

Lady Mi had already told me to go here, and it seemed likely that everyone from the Gu Clan who had come to Henan was already gathered inside.

Henan’s streets felt busier today than on any other day since I had arrived.

The streets were so crowded that navigating on foot became troublesome, but I managed to reach my destination by leaping over a few rooftops.

Surprisingly there weren’t too many people inside the inn.

This was probably because Lady Mi had rented out the entire building.

Right as I was about to open the door and enter…

“Hey… Yangcheon.”

Cheol Jiseon hurriedly called my name as he was on my back.

“What?”

“A-Am I really allowed to go as well…?”

“She said it’s okay. You are fine.”

“B-But still…”

Cheol Jiseon spoke nervously.

It was because Cheol Jiseon was invited to the meal as well.

This bastard said that his family wasn’t coming and I felt bad about dragging him everywhere, so I invited him to treat him to a meal.

I remember Lady Mi gladly accepting my request with a smile when I asked her if I could bring a friend along.

“C-Can I… really come? S-Someone like me- “

“Why wouldn’t you be allowed? Quit whining and get in.”

“Agh…!”

After finishing my sentence, I threw Cheol Jiseon off my back, telling him to walk from now on since we arrived.

Ignoring Cheol Jiseon, who was still nursing his bruised pride, I pushed open the door to the inn.

When I opened the door, I was able to see the beautiful decorations inside.

While most inns had similar decorations, the absence of a crowd made its beauty stand out even more.

When I walked inside, someone welcomed me.

“Oh! It’s been a while.”

It was a giant that walked towards me with a big smile.

It was none other than the First Elder, Gu Ryoon.

Just like Lady Mi and Gu Huibi, I hadn’t seen him in months.

For reasons I couldn’t quite explain, seeing him lifted my spirits.

“It’s been a while.”

“Have you been well?”

Haha-!

The First Elder laughed out loudly and smacked my back a few times.

…It still stung like hell.

It was his way of welcoming me, but this old man had the same spicy hands as ever.

“Oh hey, Yangcheon.”

“…Yes?”

As I responded, suppressing the ache in my back, the First Elder’s face twisted into a creepy grin.

“You built up your body compared to the last time I saw you. I am impressed.”

He flexed his own biceps, which bulged so much I feared his sleeves might give way.

His muscles looked like they might burst through the fabric with just a light touch.

“You seem like you’ve been well, First Elder.”

“Haha! Just like always! But you seem particularly well, Yangcheon. You even earned yourself a new title, didn’t you? What was it again? The Lesser-”

“Ah, I’m so hungry.”

I walked past him before he could finish his sentence because I didn’t want to hear that title again.

-Hmm? Who are you?

-Ah… Hello, I am Cheol Jiseon from Cheol Clan.

-Ah, so you are the friend of my Yangcheon huh. But how could a guy look so thin. Those arms…

-Pardon? Ah… wait…! Agh!

I heard Cheol Jiseon screaming from behind after he was captured by the First Elder, but I ignored it.

Your sacrifice won’t be in vain.

Offering a brief prayer for Cheol Jiseon’s plight, I headed toward the room where my family was gathered.

Creak.

When I opened the door and entered the room, I saw familiar faces including Lady Mi and Father.

“Hmm?”

It wasn’t surprising to see them here, as it was a family meeting.

“…What?”

But there, seated comfortably, was someone I never expected to see.

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