The Terminally-Ill Side-Character Inside of a Martial Arts Novel

“Ahem…”

Namgoong Baek cleared his throat and put down his teacup. Lee Jehak also put down his teacup and faced Namgoong Baek, then a voice flowed from his mouth.

“So…”

“The Leader doesn’t want the Alliance Leader to intervene for the time being.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means exactly that.”

Lee Jehak raised his hand over the table and quietly pressed its edge with his palm.

“A strange report came in recently. It was a report saying there seemed to be a spy inside.”

“A spy. Haha, that’s surprising.”

“Yes, it’s surprising. But what’s more surprising is that the report suggested the spy might be from the Murim Alliance.”

Namgoong Baek had something wriggling inside, but he skillfully managed his expression and laughed it off.

“That’s interesting. A spy from the Murim Alliance… Who did they say it was?”

“Haha, I’m not sure about that. It’s just a suspicion.”

“Ah, that’s unfortunate. If I knew, I would have dealt with it. But who made that report? If I investigate that person a bit more…”

“There’s no need for that.”

“No need?”

“Yes.”

Well… Lee Jehak grinned and raised his chin.

“Because I made that report directly.”

“Ha, haha…”

Namgoong Baek laughed at Lee Jehak’s words, but his eyebrows were already raised. An emotion different from his laughing face spread inside him.

‘…Are you challenging me, kid?’

Even for Namgoong Baek, who was skilled at controlling his emotions, he couldn’t help but feel anger rising at Lee Jehak’s words.

His bulging solar plexus spoke of his current feelings.

Namgoong Baek took a small deep breath and calmed his anger. He calmly suppressed his shaking emotions, picked up his teacup to take another sip, then smiled gently.

‘This kid who’s not even a fraction of my age…’

From Namgoong Baek’s perspective, Lee Jehak was a kid he could easily kill with just one finger.

The only reason Lee Jehak could maintain his neck and skin while acting so arrogantly was entirely because of the Sky-piercing Devil, the Black Demon, standing behind him.

Namgoong Baek stared at him intently, then turned his gaze and opened his mouth.

“Is that so? Did you see some problem with the Murim Alliance?”

At Namgoong Baek’s question, Lee Jehak shrugged lightly. Seeing him close his mouth tightly as if he had no intention of answering, Namgoong Baek slightly narrowed his brows.

A moment of silence passed. Namgoong Baek followed the thread of thought in that stillness.

‘…How much does he know?’

He was extremely cautious. To subtly pull the situation, he covered the truth with lies.

He told the Black Dao Sect he would move directly to capture Moyong Sowol, but in reality, he took no action.

The Black Dao Sect wanted to capture Moyong Sowol alive, but Namgoong Baek had no interest in their thoughts. It didn’t matter to him whether Moyong Sowol lived or died.

Therefore, he secretly sent Geum Soso with orders to shake Hyuk Dojin by killing Moyong Sowol if necessary.

Although Moyong Sowol didn’t die, it was half a success since she inflicted a great wound on Moyong Sowol in front of Hyuk Dojin.

But from the Black Dao Sect’s perspective, these facts seemed to be very unpleasant.

The Black Dao Sect had hoped to capture Moyong Sowol using the Five Leaf Fire Grass as bait. But despite giving up the Five Leaf Fire Grass and showing all their cards including Geum Soso who could shake Hyuk Dojin, the fact that there were no results made them quite angry.

“The Murim Alliance…”

“The Leader has ordered that from now on, before the Murim Alliance handles matters, they must first get approval from me and then move.”

“…What?”

Namgoong Baek’s face crumpled. Get approval? Namgoong Baek thought that even if Lee Jehak was the heir of the Black Dao Sect and also the bloodline of the Black Demon, he had no qualification to control and inspect himself.

The reason the Black Dao Sect was feared was ultimately because of the existence of the Black Demon. And even if the Black Demon was a scary and monstrous man, he thought he couldn’t control and oppress himself. No, if there was anyone who could, it would be the Black Demon.

But now, he had to get permission and move not from the Black Demon, but from this mere kid.

Namgoong Baek let out an empty laugh and raised his eyebrows. He stared quietly at Lee Jehak, then exhaled unpleasantly.

Lee Jehak smiled faintly at his reaction and spoke in a nonchalant voice.

“Don’t be too angry. I didn’t expect this either. How could I have thought the Leader would say such a thing?”

“…”

“You just need to pretend. No matter what the Leader said, how could I dare to refuse or reject the Alliance Leader’s opinion? You just need to say something once for show and then move. Isn’t that right?”

His words, which he presented as a solution while smiling faintly, were disgusting. He wanted to pull out that sly tongue and chew it into pieces right now.

Lee Jehak treated it as if it wasn’t a big deal, saying to just say it and go, but in fact, that was everything.

If it became known that Namgoong Baek, standing in the position of Murim Alliance Leader looking down on everyone, was reporting to and getting approval from this mere kid before moving, his authority would fall to the ground.

No, he didn’t care about authority. It was a matter of pride. Namgoong Baek glared at Lee Jehak and got up from his seat without saying anything.

Lee Jehak slightly pushed up the corners of his mouth as if he had expected this. Lee Jehak’s voice flew and stuck into Namgoong Baek’s back as he turned away emptily.

“Alliance Leader.”

“…”

Namgoong Baek stopped once at his call.

Lee Jehak, without even looking at him, tilted his teacup once to drink the tea, then spoke slowly.

“It would be better if you didn’t do anything unnecessary.”

At his words, Namgoong Baek turned around with wide eyes. Only then did Lee Jehak turn his head to face Namgoong Baek and grin.

“Even if you try to block flowing water, in the end, one drop, two drops, your clothes will get wet. So, I hope you make the right choice.”

Fine wrinkles were drawn on Namgoong Baek’s nose bridge. He glared at Lee Jehak with a face distorted by anger that he couldn’t hide, then abruptly turned his body and left the pavilion.

Feeling Lee Jehak’s gaze on his back, Namgoong Baek’s mouth opened slightly.

“Seobaek.”

[Yes, Alliance Leader.]

“It seems we need to move the plan forward a bit.”

[Please give your orders.]

Namgoong Baek stopped in his place and glanced back.

Lee Jehak was still tilting his teacup with a nonchalant face. Namgoong Baek’s eyebrows rose.

Namgoong Baek slowly opened his mouth, recalling the path forming in his mind.

“Move all forces to Fujian. And if there are people we can use in Zhejiang, mobilize them regardless of whether they’re righteous or evil and confirm their location. The Golden Blood Sand Sect will probably try hard to hide the Demon Cult. So, catch their roots before we lose them.”

[I obey!]

Namgoong Baek withdrew his gaze that had been glaring at Lee Jehak and looked down at the hilly road again, muttering.

“How long do you think I’ll keep cleaning up after you guys? The day Moyong Sowol falls into my hands…”

The corners of his mouth twisted up.

“…You guys will be finished.”

* * *

I gently rubbed my flowing hair with my fingers. Hyuk Dojin must have seen that, as he smiled slightly and approached from the side to speak.

“Does it feel awkward?”

“Yes… a little.”

The black wig pressed on my head felt very awkward. There was nothing particularly strange about the wig, but the color was the problem.

Although I should be familiar with black hair since I had it in my past life, when I actually put on the black wig, I felt a strange feeling as if I wasn’t myself.

The black hair contrasted with my white skin, making me look even paler.

But Hyuk Dojin and Moyong Do kept praising that appearance, and even Jeok Biwol reluctantly said it suited me well with a sour face.

Although people around said such things, my appearance reflected in the mirror looked like a corpse that wouldn’t be strange if it collapsed right away.

…They say this looks good?

As I was touching my hair, Hyuk Dojin also raised his hand to rub my hair.

“By the way, it’s amazing.”

“What is?”

“Just changing your hair color has completely changed your impression, it’s amazing. I thought white hair suited you well too, but seeing you with black hair like this, it’s like seeing a different person.”

I tilted my head while quietly looking at Hyuk Dojin who was speaking with a grin.

“That appearance… Are you saying that this current appearance is better than when I had white hair? So when I had white hair, it wasn’t that great…?”

“Ah, no. That’s not what I meant… I just meant that Sowol looks new.”

“Are you saying I didn’t look new when I had white hair?”

“Ah, no…”

As I was staring intently at Hyuk Dojin stuttering with a flustered voice, Jeok Biwol approached.

“Young Cult Leader, you don’t need to listen carefully to Moyong Sowol’s words. Right now, Moyong Sowol is just being spiteful because she feels awkward and embarrassed about her hair.”

I turned my head at Jeok Biwol’s blunt voice, and she grinned and raised her chin.

“I understand feeling awkward and embarrassed about the black hair, but don’t pick on your innocent husband unnecessarily. Can’t you see he’s flustered?”

“…Jeok Biwol.”

“And I told you. It suits you well. Everyone probably thinks so, right? Look. While we’re walking through the city, everyone is only looking at you. Enough to hurt this Jeok Biwol’s pride.”

I narrowed my brows, feeling that I was receiving more gazes than when I had white hair, as she said. I thought about whether I should wear a hat, then spoke slowly.

“…By the way, is this really enough? Is there really no problem with us moving around in such a conspicuous group like this?”

“You worry too much. I told you. The best way to hide something is to cover it with truth. Rather than scattering and having one person get caught, leading to two or three getting caught, it’s better to stay together so there’s no such worry. Moreover, Zhejiang and Fujian are by the sea, so it’s common for merchants or wealthy people to move in groups. So even if a large number of people move like this, it’s not considered strange here. If anything was strange, it was your white hair, but now that we’ve covered that too, there’s no problem anymore.”

Jeok Biwol grinned. I stared intently at Jeok Biwol, then slightly rolled my eyes to look at the veil she was wearing to cover her face.

“Jeok Biwol.”

“What?”

“But why are you wearing a veil and I’m not? If I wore a veil too, it would reduce the attention I’m receiving.”

“Ah, that?”

Jeok Biwol shrugged with a nonchalant face as if asking why I was asking about that. Then she chuckled and spoke lightly.

“It’s nothing much. People who wear veils like this mean they’re noble ladies from prestigious families.”

“…So?”

“So.”

She looked at me and spread her fan wide, fluttering it lightly.

“Didn’t I tell you? Until we pass through Fujian, you’re going to be my maid for the time being. So you don’t need a veil like this. Understand?”

“…”

“It doesn’t matter now, but when other people are watching from now on, make sure to use only words with honorifics and respect towards me. Understand?”

Jeok Biwol laughed softly, ‘Hoho,’ and patted my shoulder. Her appearance was so annoying that my fist naturally started to rise, but Hyuk Dojin stopped me.

“If you want to hit her, do it after we leave Fujian. Not now.”

“…I understand.”

A groan flowed out.