The Martial Genius Who Remembers Everything Novel - Chapter 166

Chapter 166
## Chapter 166. A Sea of Blood Spreading through Sichuan (2)

“Daaaamn it!”

The resentment I harbored for the leadership of the Murim Alliance in my previous existence was not born merely from a sense of personal inadequacy.

The double standards of those in power were nothing original, and ambitious individuals thirsting for control was a tale as old as time.

The real issue was that the sheer ineptitude of those bastards constantly blew back on me.

Take the Sojeong Squad, an outfit tied to the White Wolf Pavilion, which served as a dumping ground for bottom-tier martial artists.

It wasn’t part of the core Murim Alliance army.

It wasn’t even a properly recognized regiment.

It was a mere afterthought.

Yet, their sheer incompetence trickled all the way down to a nobody like me.

Those fools issued the decrees, and we were the ones who blindly carried them out.

They lacked the skill to lead, yet we paid for their blunders with our lives.

To be completely honest, if leadership is that profoundly useless, you could mistake them for double agents of the Demonic Cult and no one would blame you.

The entire reason I was fighting tooth and nail against the establishment in this current life was to ensure this exact brand of absolute nonsense never repeated itself.

I refused to stand by and watch my Junior Brothers and fellow warriors be brought back as cold corpses because of some brainless directive from high above.

There were moments I genuinely believed it would be cleaner to simply throw my lot in with the Demonic Cult and personally tear the Murim Alliance to pieces.

‘They really are an unbelievable bunch.’

The faction known as the Righteous Path Association inside the Elder Council had successfully steered the Nine Sects and One Gang straight toward Sichuan.

As if that weren’t enough, when defections from the Righteous Path Association began to spiral following the disaster of the Soul-Destroying Formation, those old fools desperately wanted to recruit unaffiliated martial artists into their ranks. Their brilliant solution? Rounded up every remaining soul at the academy and marched them off to Sichuan.

“They really are an unbelievable bunch.”

I had thrown up roadblock after roadblock, constantly warning them against such reckless behavior, yet they still managed to find a loophole and start digging their own graves anyway.

Fine, let’s concede that if the Righteous Path Association wants to march into Sichuan and perish, that is their own prerogative.

Yes, that is a path you fools picked for yourselves, and it is your own pupils who will suffer the consequences!

If you choose to ruin yourselves through pure stupidity, who am I to block your path?

But damn it all.

Why did you have to drag Murong Jae-hwa and Eun Seol-ran into your mess!!!

I absolutely could not sit idly by while their reckless behavior contaminated everything around them.

In my previous life, Murong Jae-hwa was a pivotal figure who successfully held back the onslaught of the Demonic Cult during the Murim Alliance’s Great Retreat. Meanwhile, Eun Seol-ran was the very individual who later built the foundation for the Murim Alliance to anchor itself securely in Bukhae.

Even if my current strategies fell through and this timeline devolved into a Tide of the Demonic Path just like before, those two represented the ultimate saving grace capable of keeping the righteous spirit of the Orthodox Path Murim alive.

Setting aside the reality that they were deeply cherished younger siblings to me.

The actions of those elders right now were equivalent to taking the deed to the ancestral home—the very last shield left by our forebears—using it as kindling, and casually waving it around like a toy in a fire-spinning game.

When looking ahead at the grim catastrophe that awaited, burning down the entire Murim Alliance complex and reducing every single pavilion to ash right this second would actually inflict far less long-term damage than losing those two.

‘Ah! I seriously feel like packing my bags and defecting to the Demonic Cult.’

Fighting down the raging irritation in my chest, the very first destination I hurried toward was Buk Won-pyeong’s workspace.

“The Academy Head is currently away on a journey,” the attendant informed me.

Perhaps I had been working myself into too much of a frenzy, because I had completely slipped up and forgotten that I was the one who dispatched him to the Taeul Sect in the first place.

In reality, if Buk Won-pyeong had actually been present at the academy grounds, he would have single-handedly barred the Righteous Path Association from executing their maneuver.

“Young Master Jin, are you doing alright?” Seong Mo-ran inquired, her eyes filled with anxiety.

“…….”

Was I alright? I was about as far from alright as a man could get.

The primary reason the casualty count in Sichuan had reached such catastrophic proportions originally was partly because the students were wholly unequipped to handle the sorcery of the Unorthodox Path. However, the absolute biggest culprit was the incredibly sloppy and fragmented deployment of the troops.

In that utterly braindead strategy where they splintered into ten separate detachments to track down the perpetrators, the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult essentially just sat back, opened their jaws, and harvested the academy students like a lazy farmer waiting under a tree for ripe fruit to drop into his lap.

If I operated on the assumption that the current leadership command was just as clueless as before, then my immediate priority was figuring out exactly which of those ten detachments Eun Seol-ran and Murong Jae-hwa had been assigned to.

“Based on the latest intelligence reports I managed to gather from Hao Gate, the entities manifesting within Sichuan are anything but normal opponents.”

My companions visibly shuddered at my revelation.

Having personally crossed paths with the Demonic Cult previously, their internal alarm bells were ringing on an entirely different frequency.

“In that case…… In that case…… We must intervene and halt their advance.”

Hearing Seong Mo-ran’s desperate plea, Namgung Seon-hwa gave a pessimistic shake of her head.

“They are not going to pay attention to anything we say, Sister.”

Seong Mo-ran’s gaze sharpened instantly.

“By what right did those miserable bastards abduct our blameless younger siblings for their scheme?!”

It took everything I had to physically restrain Seong Mo-ran, who appeared completely prepared to unsheath her blade and sprint toward Sichuan this very second.

“Our most pressing objective right now is pinning down the precise locations of Jae-hwa and Seol-ran.”

If those high-and-mighty leaders were willing to cooperate and hand over the detachment rosters, that would be a different story, but there was zero chance of that happening.

We would normally have to track them down on foot until our boots wore through, but accomplishing that completely unassisted was an impossible task.

It would be far more effective to simply invalidate the entire operation from the top down.

Yes, completely nullify the event itself…….

“……Huh?”

“What is it? Did you come up with a viable plan?”

“I believe…… there might actually be a loophole we can exploit.”

“What kind of loophole?”

If that faction was going to abuse systemic gaps, then this faction could turn around and play the exact same game.

“It won’t solve every single issue perfectly, but it should give us exactly what we need to pull the two of them out safely.”

The Murim Academy ultimately operated under the jurisdiction of the Mantongbu.

In the event that the Academy Head was unavailable, the individual overseeing the Mantongbu held direct authority over the Murim Academy’s actions.

This meant that if the Mantongbu formally issued a decree banning the field operation, the whole matter would be resolved instantly.

‘Granted, it won’t be a walk in the park.’

Jegal So-myeong was already dealing with an immense amount of political friction from the Elder Council.

It stood to reason that he would go out of his way to avoid starting another major turf war with them.

Given that reality, I needed to secure a specific directive that at least authorized me to personally retrieve Murong Jae-hwa and Eun Seol-ran.

From there, I would simply take my immediate inner circle and launch a rescue mission.

With literally no seconds to waste, I bolted straight to the Murim Alliance’s Mantongbu headquarters.

“Oh? What brings a visitor like you around here?”

Maeng Ju-won of the Mantongbu was sitting there, still bearing dark, exhausted rings beneath his eyelids that looked like layers of soot.

“Where can I find the Grand Strategist?”

Despite the sheer urgency bleeding through my query, Maeng Ju-won maintained his characteristically blank, unbothered expression.

“The Grand Strategist? He departed for his clan’s estate a short while ago.”

“Pardon?”

How on earth does the man carrying the title of Grand Strategist for the entire Murim Alliance find the luxury of taking family leave! And out of all the moments in the world, why right now!

“The Regular Exam has concluded, so he decided to take his first proper period of rest in nearly twelve months. Did you have some critical matter to discuss with him?”

The organizational structure within the Mantongbu was surprisingly streamlined; whenever the Grand Strategist stepped away, full decision-making authority automatically devolved to the next individual in line.

To put it plainly, the temporary commander of the Mantongbu at this exact moment was none other than—

“Department Head Maeng Ju-won.”

The incredibly pathetic-looking Maeng Ju-won sitting right in front of me.

“At this very moment, a contingent of academy students has marched out for a field operation without obtaining the necessary validation from the academy’s official leadership.”

“……Mm, is that the case?”

“This constitutes a direct and flagrant breach of the Murim Alliance’s strict code of internal conduct.”

Maeng Ju-won remained utterly unhurried.

“Naturally, it does. However, did several high-ranking figures from the Elder Council not personally oversee and join that expedition? You are well aware that, historically speaking, these types of technicalities are routinely overlooked. Why are you making such an issue out of this all of a sudden?”

Maeng Ju-won delivered his lines with the demeanor of a low-level bureaucrat so profoundly crushed by systemic routine that he possessed no remaining energy to care.

“I can sympathize with your position. You must absolutely loathe watching those ancient relics from the Elder Council stick their noses in right now. But what options do we have? There are certain realities in this world that must simply be accepted because fighting them is futile.”

“…….”

“Besides, can you not read between the lines here? Those old ghosts orchestrated this entire affair at breakneck speed the precise moment the Grand Strategist turned his back. It means they deliberately engineered this timing from the very beginning.”

Maeng Ju-won, who remained completely oblivious to the catastrophic stakes at play, offered a reassuring pat on my shoulder.

“It is what it is, isn’t it? Just turn a blind eye and let this one slide under the rug. Once they return from their excursion, you can easily knock them down a peg with a counter-event of your own design.”

No, that wasn’t the issue at all.

Our people were marching directly into a slaughterhouse.

“In that case, could you at least draft a formal mandate instructing Murong Jae-hwa and Eun Seol-ran—who were drafted into this operation against their will—to report back to the academy campus immediately?”

“Hmm?”

“I have absolutely no intention of letting those two participate in whatever that group is doing.”

“…… shreds of evidence.”

Maeng Ju-won slowly set down the stack of paperwork he had been leafing through and locked his gaze directly onto my face.

“What exactly is your angle here?”

“Pardon me?”

“It is merely a standard field exercise that they embarked upon, essentially functioning as a simple outdoor excursion. When a bit of time rolls by, they will head back on their own accord. Even if they are part of your inner circle, taking part in this single event isn’t going to magically brainwash them into shifting alliances, is it?”

Ah, the sheer, unadulterated frustration of it all.

I was completely barred from laying out the unvarnished truth and announcing that the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult was laying an ambush in Sichuan.

“……I am deeply concerned that spending time around the Righteous Path Association will corrupt their principles.”

“…….”

Maeng Ju-won dropped his vacant demeanor entirely, leveling a hard, piercing stare at me before giving an emphatic shake of his head.

“Absolutely not.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said the answer is no. Please remove yourself from my office.”

“No, on what grounds?”

“Did I not just spell it out for you? This entire excursion is a project personally spearheaded and bankrolled by the seniors of the Elder Council. If a minor officer like myself attempts to throw a wrench into their operations, do you honestly believe I possess the political shielding to survive the fallout?”

Maeng Ju-won went right back to retrieving his documents, physically turning his back to draw a line under the conversation.

So that was the reality of the situation?

Expecting Maeng Ju-won to deliberately cross an entity that even a heavyweight like Jegal So-myeong preferred to handle with kid gloves was the equivalent of commanding a novice martial artist to pick a fight with the Heavenly Demon Black Sword Unit.

“……It would have been incredibly convenient if you had just cooperated with me from the beginning.”

Wait.

Did my ears just play tricks on me?

“What did you just mutter?”

“……What are you referring to?”

“Did you not just utter a phrase along the lines of, ‘If you had just cooperated with me from the beginning……’?”

Maeng Ju-won began tapping a finger against the blameless parchment in front of him.

“……Why exactly are you hovering around eavesdropping on a man’s private internal reflections?”

How on earth could that be considered a private reflection? I could have sworn the man had bellowed the words directly into my tympanic membrane.

“……What is it that you desire?”

Maeng Ju-won’s pupils commenced a frantic, erratic dancing motion.

It was the exact expression of the Traceless Divine Thief standing within arm’s reach of a mountain of gold and priceless heirlooms, utterly incapable of restraining his own twitching fingers and on the absolute precipice of snatching up the treasures.

“A-Ahem. What do you mean by asking what I desire? I harbor no such underhanded motives.”

Just look at his reaction. If he kept up this level of nervous agitation, he was going to rip his own paperwork to shreds.

He was putting on a desperate show of looking anywhere else, yet through some miracle of anatomy, his eyeballs remained locked squarely onto my form.

Watching his gaze distort to such an extreme angle, if things progressed any further, he might actually succeed in looking at the back of his own skull.

“If you clearly articulate your conditions, I am willing to negotiate.”

“Ahem, harrumph!”

Maeng Ju-won spent a considerable amount of time clearing his throat, as though a massive blockage of phlegm had suddenly lodged itself there, before finally finding his voice.

“You will report here during both days of your weekend leave, and during the standard week, you will present yourself at the Mantongbu precisely two days out of the week immediately after your academy classes conclude.”

“…… shreds of sanity.”

What kind of nonsense was this? Had the sheer volume of clerical work finally caused his brain to short-circuit?

“What duties could you possibly expect me to perform here at the Mantongbu?”

“What else could it be? You will master the administrative protocols ahead of schedule and gain practical experience.”

Why in the world would I ever agree to such a miserable arrangement?

“I refuse.”

“In that case, I shall find myself plagued by a sudden bout of writer’s block regarding that official mandate you requested.”

“…….”

I leveled a cold, unblinking stare straight at Maeng Ju-won.

He was doing everything within his power to project an aura of serene detachment, but the very tips of his toes were vibrating at a frantic frequency.

He was attempting to mimic complete indifference, yet the agonizing dread of losing out on a golden opportunity was eating him alive.

Amateur card players who happened to draw a reasonably strong hand always exhibited this exact brand of transparent tells.

Without a word, I pushed back my chair and stood up.

“I understand completely.”

Maeng Ju-won’s eyes snapped wide open with alarming speed.

“I suppose my only recourse is to simply go AWOL, depart without authorization, and retrieve them by force.”

“Wait, what? Are you entirely oblivious to the fact that taking an unapproved leave of absence is a direct ticket to immediate expulsion from the academy rolls?”

“I am well aware. I will simply fulfill whatever basic state obligations I owe and return to the headquarters of my native clan.”

“Without securing a permanent career within the ranks of the Murim Alliance?”

“I am an individual deeply motivated by the pursuit of immense prosperity and personal status. Should I ascend to the rank of an official, there might come a day where navigating through the Mantongbu becomes essential for my career advancement. However, if I am denied that path, I see absolutely no logical incentive to waste another moment inside the Murim Alliance.”

“…….”

“I sincerely regret wasting your valuable time. I shall take my leave now.”

Leaving those final words hanging in the air, I took a decisive stride toward the exit.

Maeng Ju-won’s hand shot out with lightning speed, catching the fabric of my sleeve.

“Hold on, hold on, my excellent young friend! What is the massive rush? Fine! We shall compromise on you attending only during both days of your weekend leave.”

Did this bureaucrat seriously think his amateur bluffing would work against someone who used to comfortably swindle hardened criminals during gambling rings in the Sojeong Squad?

“A single day out of my weekend leave. I will arrive, execute every single assignment flawlessly, and depart.”

“Alright, fine! During your initial training phase, you will give me two days. The moment I judge that you have fully grasped the protocols, we will scale it down to a single day. I am drawing a hard line right there; I cannot give up another inch.”

Maeng Ju-won snapped his upper body away with an aggressive twist, attempting to project a posture of finality.

I paused for a brief beat to weigh my options.

Losing one of my precious, hard-earned rest days was a bitter pill to swallow. On the flip side, when I considered the sheer amount of administrative misery I could rain down upon the rebellious factions of the Nine Sects and One Gang or the arrogant Five Great Clans from a position inside the Mantongbu, the bargain wasn’t entirely devoid of merit.

“Very well. In that case, please immediately draft the official decree nullifying the field operation orchestrated by the Righteous Path Association without a moment’s delay……”

“Excellent! Furthermore, I ought to simultaneously publish a formal warrant for the arrest of the Elder Council on charges of treasonous anti-Alliance behavior, shouldn’t I?”

Before the words could even completely leave my mouth, Maeng Ju-won was already frantically digging through his drawers with an expression of pure, unadulterated zeal.

Hold on a minute, didn’t you literally just complain a second ago that you were a defenseless lower-tier employee who couldn’t survive their wrath?

“……A simple directive cancelling the operation will more than suffice.”

“Mm…… Quite right. I suppose even a man of my talents would find it rather challenging to keep my head attached to my shoulders if I went out of my way to declare war on the entirety of the Nine Sects and One Gang.”

“…….”

“Ah, that brings up an excellent point. Are you in need of muscle? What would you say to a contingent of roughly one hundred top-tier combatants? With a force of that caliber backing you, you could easily intimidate them into abandoning the excursion entirely, correct?”

As if he were utterly desperate to flaunt the full operational muscle of the Mantongbu, Maeng Ju-won began stacking a dizzying array of categorized military manifests right in front of me.

“…… shreds of logic.”

What was wrong with this character? Did he possess absolutely zero cognitive capacity for predicting future repercussions?

Then again, it’s not as if anyone residing within the Murim Alliance could be classified as mentally stable.

—

The moment I presented the official Mantongbu-stamped departure authorization and the operational cancellation mandate to the academy administration, the bureaucratic staff and combat instructors looked as though they had just been forced to swallow lemons.

The second semester had barely kicked off, and yet the primary representative along with his entire inner cabinet were simultaneously announcing their departure from the grounds. From the administration’s perspective, the situation was utterly preposterous.

But what leverage did they truly have? Our faction held a binding directive straight from the high command of the Mantongbu.

If they wanted to avoid finding themselves caught in this exact brand of administrative gridlock, they should have exercised better judgment instead of blindly dancing to the tune of the Elder Council in the first place.

“By what miraculous means did you manage to extract a document of this authority from the depths of the Mantongbu?” Namgung Seon-hwa asked, holding the parchment up to the light and reviewing it repeatedly as if convinced it was a forgery.

“That…… is a deeply tragic tale.”

A tragic tale involving the theft of one of my beautiful days off.

Turning my attention to the assembled group, I laid out the reality of our situation.

“I managed to secure the paperwork, but we must operate under the assumption that the Elder Council might simply choose to wipe their boots with this decree. Anyone who feels uncomfortable stepping into this kind of political crossfire is entirely free to bow out now. ……Hey, Eun-ho, don’t even think about moving an inch. Sit back down unless you are actively seeking a physical correction. The Taeul Sect’s participation is mandatory and non-negotiable.”

While I had offered the choice out of genuine concern for the safety of Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran, the responses from both women were instantaneous and incredibly fierce.

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?! Even if we are forced to carve our way through an entire army, we are bringing our people back.”

“Furthermore, we cannot allow ourselves to tolerate anyone who openly flouts a direct mandate issued by the Mantongbu.”

Watching the pair of them display such a fierce, unyielding drive brought a spontaneous smirk to my face.

“Excellent. Then let us transition into immediate field preparation.”

Our logistical setup was completed with blistering speed.

Within minutes, we converged at our designated staging area, fully equipped with our primary armaments and emergency survival rations.

“To begin, I need everyone to take one of these immediately.”

I distributed a series of compact, stitched leather pouches to each member of the squad.

The martial artists, who had been occupied with putting final edges on their blades, accepted the items, peeked inside to inspect the contents, and raised an eyebrow.

“The signaling device is self-explanatory, but what is the significance of this carved stone and paper slip?”

The carved stone hanging from the cord was fashioned out of the rare White Fragrance Jade I had previously relegated to the care of Jang Do-won.

Given that the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult operated as a highly specialized, twisted branch of the broader Demonic Cult, they relied heavily on grotesque Spell Arts engineered to fracture a warrior’s mental focus.

Much like pure Demonic Qi, prolonged exposure to their corrupted energy wouldn’t merely fracture your immediate mental stability; it could leave permanent psychic scars, leaving a victim plagued by horrifying waking hallucinations for the rest of their natural life.

Rather than trying to intercept the supernatural assaults of the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult through raw physical force, our primary doctrine needed to center entirely on maintaining absolute mental immunity against their psychological warfare.

While these items lacked the sheer purifying output of the fabled Demon-Purging Four-Spirit Beads, they would at the bare minimum prevent us from having to desperately chant the Demon-Subduing True Mantra like a group of unhinged zealots just to stay sane.

“The paper slip is a genuine Demon-Subduing Talisman sourced directly from the Mount Heng Sect. Keep it close to your person to neutralize any sudden exposure to dark sorcery or unorthodox hexes.”

Namgung Seon-hwa stared down at the specialized paper, looking somewhat dazed by the sheer value of what she was holding.

“An authentic ward from the Mount Heng Sect commands an astronomical price on the open market…….”

“If our objective is to march out and rescue our companions, it would be an absolute mockery if we allowed ourselves to become casualties in their stead, wouldn’t it?”

Just as we concluded our final checks and stood completely prepared to march out past the gates.

The reinforcements that Maeng Ju-won had promised to mobilize finally materialized on the academy grounds.

“…….”

The moment my eyes locked onto the faces of the arriving detachment, my jaw dropped.

“I am Gu Jeong-ryong, serving as the Hall Master of the Victory Tiger Hall.”

Given that Maeng Ju-won had casually tossed out a promise to provide a capable asset, I had mentally braced myself for an outfit on the tier of the Black Martial Pavilion or perhaps the Red Phoenix Pavilion.

‘That absolute madman actually went and pulled the pin on a logistical nuclear option.’

Of all the factions in the Alliance, he had mobilized the Victory Tiger Hall.

Even when looking across the entire structure of the elite Azure Dragon Pavilion, this specific unit stood out as the absolute tip of the spear, a force built exclusively for unadulterated offensive devastation.

These were the exact shock troops deployed whenever the forces of the Black Path launched a direct incursion against the Murim Alliance itself.

Was that crazy department head implying I should launch a full-scale assault on the Elder Council?

‘More importantly, does a mere Department Head of the Mantongbu even possess the structural clearance to mobilize a unit of this caliber on a whim?’

Even an individual wielding the immense strategic leverage of Grand Strategist Jegal So-myeong typically spent days agonizing over the delicate balance of factional politics before assigning so much as a single squad from this tier.

Granted, when factoring in the grim reality that we might find ourselves forced to simultaneously engage both the monstrosities of the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult and the political muscle of the Elder Council out in the field, having the unmitigated violence of the Victory Tiger Hall at our backs was an incredible asset, not a detriment.

The true source of my anxiety lay in whether these hardened veterans would actually take direction from a student.

“Am I correct in understanding that our operational theater is located within Sichuan?” Gu Jeong-ryong’s expression was hard, radiating an intense aura that was anything but welcoming.

Regardless of the official deployment papers stamped by the Mantongbu in his pocket, a veteran commander of his stature was bound to harbor an immense amount of resentment at the prospect of taking tactical directives from an unranked academy junior.

“That is correct.”

“What is the planned command structure for this unit?”

“We will focus entirely on pinpointing the exact coordinates of the deployed academy students within Sichuan and execute a rapid extraction.”

“……Our roster is comprised almost exclusively of high-tier shock combatants. I assume you are fully cognizant of that fact?”

“The reconnaissance and tracking will be handled entirely by my unit. Your responsibility, Hall Master, is restricted strictly to providing the necessary enforcement to ensure our legal mandate is respected.”

“Are you instructing my men to stand down until it is time to actively mutiny against the decisions of the Elder Council?”

“Would an assignment of that nature present an issue for your men?”

“……Provided the directive carries the official seal of the Alliance, we are duty-bound to execute it.”

Oh? It turned out the man possessed a surprisingly pragmatic streak.

“With that being said, I am shifting the entirety of tactical command and all subsequent political accountability directly onto your shoulders.”

“…….”

In other words, he was drawing a hard line to ensure his own hands remained entirely clean of the fallout. Standard operating procedure.

From my personal standpoint, that arrangement was actually far more preferable.

Getting bogged down in a toxic, protracted struggle for command authority with the leadership of the Victory Tiger Hall in the middle of a time-critical crisis would have bled away too many vital resources.

Our numbers were still lean, but we finally possessed a functional, high-impact force.

The critical path of this entire operation was delivering the Mantongbu’s official decree directly into the hands of the Elder Council out in the field, thereby establishing an unassailable legal justification to abort the exercise.

The raw martial power required to survive the encounter was merely a secondary puzzle piece.

Without needing a formal command to march, our combined forces immediately began moving at a brisk, disciplined pace.

We cut across the sprawling, manicured layout of the Murim Academy until the massive structure of the compound’s main gates loomed directly ahead.

Right as we were on the verge of crossing the threshold, a distinct voice echoed from the flank, calling out to arrest my forward momentum.

“Representative Jin So-un.”

“…….”

The absolute last individual I ever desired to cross paths with was currently strolling toward me.

“I am on an incredibly tight schedule. State your business,” I barked, projecting waves of palpable irritation.

Yet, despite the toxic atmosphere I was throwing off, the approaching figure maintained an infuriatingly relaxed, poised posture.

As expected of that entire social circle; they were a group of people I found utterly repulsive.

“It caught my attention that the illustrious academy representative appeared to be launching a major, unannounced maneuver, so I felt compelled to investigate the matter personally.”

“This operational matter possesses absolutely zero relevance to the strategic interests of the Twelve Peak Citadels, so I suggest you turn around and march back to your quarters.”

Cheol Sun-jik maintained that smooth, pristine visage of his as he pressed further.

“Even if that is the case, surely you can spare a single brief moment to entertain a proposition?”

“……Entertain a proposition?”

This ridiculous interaction was a direct consequence of my failure to physically fracture his cranium during our match in the Regular Exam.

Had I properly cracked his skull open back then, he wouldn’t possess the sheer audacity to casually obstruct a heavily armed man on an urgent mission.

Operating under the explicit internal resolution that I would physically dismantle his jaw if whatever came out of his mouth next was a waste of my time, I fixed him with a murderous glare.

But the words that actually left his lips took me completely by surprise.

“Would you harbor any objections to our group joining forces and marching alongside you, Representative?”

“…… shreds of understanding.”

Cheol Sun-jik flashed a calculated, inscrutable smile whose true motivation remained entirely hidden from view.