Chapter 168 : Are you saying you’ll refuse

Lee Seowon for once moved with light steps.The outside air after so long was truly sweet. For the past few days, he had been staying nearby, devising strategies to win the cooking competition.

The judges’ preferences, the regions where they had grown up, the food they were accustomed to, even the level and specialty dishes of the chefs of the Geumun Inn.

He had broken down and combined every bit of information possible, coming up with every method imaginable.

‘Well, I can’t guarantee a certain victory.’

In any case, he had found the very best of the best strategies.

If he still lost after presenting his dish in that way, it would only be a clear difference in capability, and there would be nothing left but to admit it.

With his heart somewhat lighter, Lee Seowon was heading to the Geumun Inn when he suddenly froze. A crowd had gathered far ahead in front of the inn.

And the atmosphere was unusual.

‘What’s going on?’

Lee Seowon quietly approached.

One by one, the eyes fixed on the inn turned toward him.

Sensing something ominous, Lee Seowon hurriedly entered the inn, but even then, people’s burning gazes followed him.

Lee Seowon realized instinctively.

‘That fool finally…….’

He had told him so many times to stay still.

He had told him to just breathe quietly, but in the end, it seemed he had caused trouble.

Lee Seowon stormed straight into the office.

Ha Jooyeon was crouched under the window.

“……What is it?”

Ha Jooyeon couldn’t answer right away.

“I said, what is it? If you don’t speak, how can I do anything?”

Lee Seowon pressed him again.

After chewing on his lips for a while, Ha Jooyeon finally told him everything as it had happened.

Having heard the whole explanation, Lee Seowon let out a deep sigh and rubbed his face with his hand.

Watching cautiously, Ha Jooyeon asked.

“Do you have another plan?”

“……”

“Now even the Dragon Head Division Leader has stepped forward. Still, you must have something, don’t you? Is it hidden in that pile of information again?”

Ha Jooyeon pointed at the stacks of papers piled high in the office. As expected, they remained exactly as Seowon had first stacked them—without a hair out of place.

Seowon hadn’t read even a single word of them, yet this man was now babbling about information. It was absurd.

“Do you still not understand?”

“……”

“There’s no way anymore. Not a single method remains.”

Ha Jooyeon fell silent.

It had already been years since he had kept Lee Seowon by his side. Yet this was the first time he had ever heard Seowon say there was no way.

“It’s a complete defeat. The only thing left is to admit it and leave. Though, I doubt they’ll even let us go……”

“That can’t be. If I return like this, do you think Father and my elder brothers will leave me alone? After staining the name of the Myriad Gold Manor so disgracefully? They might kill me. Even if they don’t, they could lock me in prison for the rest of my life.”

“Exactly.”

Seowon’s expression grew colder than ever.

His eyes brimmed with contempt, as though looking at the most pathetic, foolish man in the world.

“I fought and fought to put you in the seat of the Myriad Gold Manor Master, and yet you’ve managed to ruin everything completely.”

Seowon’s true struggle had never been with the Seong-un Inn.

It had been with Ha Jooyeon. With this incompetent, stubborn man.

For years, most of Seowon’s strategies had been undermined, or even ruined, by Ha Jooyeon’s incompetence.

Yet Seowon had not given up.

He had a clear goal—to raise Ha Jooyeon to the seat of the Myriad Gold Manor Master.

But now it was over.

Shaking his head, Seowon turned and walked out of the office.

Ha Jooyeon’s shout to stop rang from behind, but there was no longer any need to heed that voice.

Ignoring him, Seowon went downstairs and stood for a moment staring at the inn’s front doors.

Outside were gathered all kinds of people, including Guest Dragon and the Dragon Head Division Leader.

Now that he knew the circumstances, he couldn’t bring himself to go out through those doors.

Seowon nervously asked one of the guards watching the main entrance.

“Are people gathered at the back door as well?”

“Not yet, it seems……”

“Good. You men should also look for a chance to slip away. Know that the wrath of the people can sometimes be more frightening than the greatest master.”

Seowon knew well.

The human heart was like a spark—once ignited, emotion spread like wildfire.

When people gathered, they found anger and courage that hadn’t been there before, and they did things they would never have dared alone.

Like burning down the inn where the third son of the Myriad Gold Manor was staying. Even if not by fire, they might rush in, hurl stones, or smash everything in sight.

History had proven this. Sometimes the fury of the people had even aimed its sword at the emperor himself—what difference was the Myriad Gold Manor?

Just then, an indignant voice rose from outside.

It was the outcry of a merchant who had half been forced to give up his shop to Ha Jooyeon, only to reclaim it thanks to Guest Dragon.

The murmuring grew louder, the atmosphere swelling until something seemed on the verge of exploding.

Sensing this, the guards hastily drew their blades and formed ranks at the main doors.

Despite Seowon’s advice, they were men trained to protect the bloodline of the Myriad Gold Manor.

Watching them for a moment, Seowon then turned and headed toward the rear gate.

Normally, he might have worried the guards would brandish their swords at the common folk, but……

‘With the Beggar King and Guest Dragon there, no chance.’

There was no way they would just stand by.

Especially the Beggar King—wasn’t he counted among the Twenty-Seven Stars of the World? He had heard that each of them was like a calamity in human form. It was the Myriad Gold Manor’s guards who should be worried.

And so, leaving the matters of the Geumun Inn behind, Seowon quietly slipped away.

How long had he walked since leaving the Geumun Inn?

His head throbbed as though it would split apart, like nails were being hammered into his temples.

“How empty this feels.”

How many years had he wasted meaninglessly at the side of that fool?

The years were in vain, and the realization that his choice had been utterly wrong was agonizing.

Through Ha Jooyeon, he had hoped to achieve something. But he had failed to see that Jooyeon was far more reckless and arrogant than he had imagined.

Now what was he to do?

Lost in such thoughts, he eventually reached a quiet forest path.

For the first time in years, Seowon felt the weight of crushing helplessness.

He wanted to just collapse in the grass, close his eyes, and sleep without thinking of anything.

That was when it happened.

A voice both familiar and unwanted came from behind.

“Wait, Seowon.”

It was Ha Jooyeon.

The tiresome man had followed him even here.

When Seowon turned with a weary face, Ha Jooyeon stood bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath as if he had run all the way.

“Why did you come? I told you—I have no more plans left.”

But Ha Jooyeon’s face began to redden, then turn pale.

Seowon sensed that something about his state was unusual.

Then Ha Jooyeon spoke in a low, steady voice unlike his usual self.

“But why is it that you always treat me with such contempt and scorn?”

“What?”

Seowon doubted his ears.

Had this man forgotten how he himself had acted all along?

Ha Jooyeon’s words continued.

“What are you, that you dare look down on me, the third son of the Myriad Gold Manor! Before, I endured it because your talents were useful, but no longer. I cannot bear it any more!”

“Heh……”

Seowon let out a hollow laugh, then gazed at him with a face colder than ice.

The words he had endured for years finally burst forth.

“You there. Do you feel no shame even speaking the name of the Myriad Gold Manor?”

“What did you say?”

Ha Jooyeon’s eyes flew wide open.

Not only had Seowon’s tone changed, but the words themselves were a grave insult.

Yet Seowon spoke again, calmly but firmly.

“Wasn’t the Myriad Gold Manor never even the Ha family’s to begin with? What’s so proud about a manor you stole like a thief that you keep going on and on about the Myriad Gold Manor, the Myriad Gold Manor?”

Ha Jooyeon’s expression hardened.

He approached Lee Seowon with steps full of rage.

“Then tell me. If the Myriad Gold Manor isn’t my Ha family’s, then whose is it?”

“Do you really not know?”

“Say it with your own mouth.”

Lee Seowon and Ha Jooyeon glared at each other from right in front of one another. For the first time, Ha Jooyeon felt ‘will’ in Seowon’s eyes.

Those eyes that had always been weary, that had always held only contempt for him, now revealed emotions more vivid than ever before.

“An ancestor of the Ha family, who was nothing but a mere General Manager under Merchant King Lee Pyo-sang……”

Slaash–!

Before he could finish, Ha Jooyeon swung a knife he had hidden in his sleeve.

It was a short kitchen knife taken from the inn’s kitchen.

He swung it to stab Seowon in the throat, but his body was too slow, so it only grazed Seowon’s collarbone.

Yet in a fight where neither knew martial arts, one side holding a knife was clearly in the superior position.

“……”

The unpleasant pain from his collarbone.

The slow trickle of blood.

And the sharp knife in his opponent’s hand.

Seowon, quick-witted as he was, assessed the situation and reached his conclusion fast.

“Help! Murder!”

He shouted and immediately started running.

Flustered, Ha Jooyeon shouted desperately.

“Do you have no pride at all! How can a man show his back! Stop right there!”

Thus began the chase between Lee Seowon and Ha Jooyeon.

Both sweating buckets, running with all their might, yet painfully slow.

Any martial artist of the murim would have held their stomachs laughing at the sight.

But to Seowon, this was a chase for his life.

An overwhelming fear pressed down on him. Not simply fear of death itself.

‘To die to that fool?’

The disgrace of dying to him was far more terrifying than death itself.

It was a dreadful end he had never once imagined.

At that moment.

You look like you need help.

A voice brushed through his mind.

For a moment, he thought it was a hallucination. But he quickly realized it was the telepathic Voice Transmission of a martial artist.

The voice belonged to none other than Guest Dragon.

Lee Seowon froze on the spot.

Ha Jooyeon also stopped, perhaps just as exhausted, on the verge of vomiting.

Pointing the knife at Seowon, Ha Jooyeon gasped.

“……Wait. Just wait. Huff, if you run, you’ll die.”

Even though he clearly meant to kill him whether he ran or not, such nonsense spilled out. At that moment, another Voice Transmission came.

There’s a vacant General Manager position at the Seong-un Inn.

Earlier, Jin Seong-un had already determined from his conversation with Ha Jooyeon that the latter’s crimes had been his own unilateral decisions.

And regarding Merchant King, his teacher, there was much he needed to confirm with Seowon.

After catching his breath, Seowon replied.

“I refuse.”

He didn’t know how to send a Voice Transmission, so he just answered aloud. He had no idea if the voice could hear him, or even from where it was coming.

Why.

The voice came again.

Seowon glanced at Ha Jooyeon, then said.

“Because I have another goal.”

“What are you babbling about now?”

Ha Jooyeon stared at him, puzzled.

Regardless, the exchange between Jin Seong-un and Seowon continued.

What goal?

Having steadied his breathing, Seowon straightened his back and said.

“To restore the Myriad Gold Manor.”

“……What are you talking about?”

Ha Jooyeon looked at him as if he were insane. To him, it looked like Seowon was muttering nonsense into empty air.

At that moment, Jin Seong-un revealed himself.

The instant he appeared, Ha Jooyeon collapsed where he stood.

“You, you bastard……!”

Ha Jooyeon’s face filled with dread. The last person he wanted to meet had appeared like a ghost.

Jin Seong-un, after a glance at Seowon, strode toward Ha Jooyeon.

For some reason, Jooyeon recalled the words Jin Seong-un had once told him.

Remember this. Those who treat others’ lives lightly must one day pay with their own.

Why did those words surface now of all times?

Ha Jooyeon’s mind went blank.

With every step closer, the dry face of Jin Seong-un multiplied his fear twofold, threefold.

Finally, Jooyeon screamed in a trembling voice. And surprisingly, despite having grown up his entire life in the richest household under heaven, instead of apologizing or begging for his life, he shouted:

“……If you kill me, you will regret it!”

That was simply the way he had lived.

Other than his father and brothers, he had always looked down on the entire world.

Apology or pleading was unthinkable.

As Jin Seong-un drew nearer, Jooyeon’s words came faster.

Most of them were threats.

“The Myriad Gold Manor has countless masters beyond your imagination.”

He threatened that with money and power, they could use any means they wished, burn down the Seong-un Inn, and tear every member apart.

Jin Seong-un listened quietly.

All of it was plausible. In fact, the Myriad Gold Manor had once even held an expert from the vanished Northern Sea Ice Palace. If its master truly decided to act, they could exert pressure far beyond Jooyeon’s petty deeds.

The threats pouring from Jooyeon’s mouth contained not a trace of falsehood. His eyes were filled only with firm resolve.

It was his survival instinct. In his life, threats had always worked.

But unfortunately, that survival instinct only resolved Jin Seong-un’s decision further.

Thuck–!

Jooyeon’s threats cut off at once.

He looked down at his own chest.

The kitchen knife he had taken from the Geumun Inn was buried deep in it.

He didn’t even know when it had been taken from his hand, nor when it had struck.

Jin Seong-un spoke in a weary tone.

“When you make threats with eyes like that, you leave no other choice.”

To Jin Seong-un, the Seong-un Inn was home.

Its members were family.

How could he possibly let live a man who had sworn to destroy all of that in the most horrific way, and who had the means to do it?

Coughing up blood again and again, Ha Jooyeon finally closed his eyes.

Jin Seong-un looked down at him for a moment, then pulled the knife free and turned to face Seowon.

Seowon flinched hard. It was his first time watching a man die before his eyes.

It was his first time seeing how much blood a man could spill, and his first time being stared down by a martial artist holding a bloodied blade—even if it was only a kitchen knife.

Of course, Jin Seong-un, half immersed in the murim, had no room for such delicate considerations.

He simply asked, as if casually.

“So, you’re saying you refuse?”

“……”

Blood dripped from the knife.

Suddenly, Seowon’s vision blurred, and he fainted.

“Ah.”

Jin Seong-un glanced at the knife in his hand.

It seemed some trivial misunderstanding had occurred.