Chapter 75: The Ordinary Lives of All
After Jin Seong-un left the Wuhanzhuang like that.
Sima Hwi pressured the branch captain and obtained information about Jin Seong-un.
‘The fellow pretended like the branch was some battlefield and refused to open his mouth easily, but…’
How could someone who merely managed a single branch possibly keep his lips sealed in front of the name of the Sima Clan?
Jin Seong-un.
He was said to be running Seong-un Inn in Yichang, and also the biggest patron of the Yichang branch of Wuhanzhuang.
Other than Deyang in Sichuan Province, it was said to be the only inn in the entire nation where one could drink Yangha Daegu.
Sima Hwi came to a conclusion.
That man was by no means an ordinary inn waiter.
To begin with, he possessed martial prowess strong enough to damage a formation, and even when someone like himself, who was called Rising Dragon, pressured him openly, Jin did not so much as blink an eye.
On top of that, he had plenty of money. Regardless of it being only a branch, to receive such a distinguished guest treatment at Wuhanzhuang meant he held wealth unimaginable for common merchants.
‘There are more than just a few suspicious points about him.’
Sima Hwi instinctively felt that this uneasy feeling was not something to overlook.
So, he had come straight to Seong-un Inn.
But then something even stranger happened.
The wastrel of the Seomun Clan appeared.
“Seomun Ak?”
Sima Hwi tilted his head in puzzlement.
Seomun Ak’s face was so pale it was turning bluish, and he rushed over, shouting.
“You madman, what are you doing?!”
Madman?
Sima Hwi blinked in surprise.
Surely he wasn’t referring to him?
That’s what he thought, but Seomun Ak was clearly looking directly at Sima Hwi.
Both Sima Hwi and Namgung Rin, the Sword Phoenix who had come with him, wore bewildered expressions.
Regardless, Seomun Ak was looking at Sima Hwi with eyes as though he were staring at a lunatic.
Seomun Ak knew of Jin Seong-un’s martial prowess.
He had seen it with his own eyes during the Food Butcher incident, and he had also heard what Jin had done recently in Deyang.
From Seomun Ak’s perspective, Sima Hwi’s current behavior was no different from shoving one’s entire head into a crocodile’s mouth—reckless beyond measure.
‘Whether it’s the Rising Dragon or the Sword Phoenix…’
That they were called Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes and counted among the finest prodigies of the world didn’t matter.
Their opponent was Jin Seong-un. The one who had killed both the first-rate martial artist Food Butcher and Sa Ryeong-geuk, the Vice Leader of the Heavenly Poison Alliance.
Furthermore, Jin Seong-un was not the type to show leniency simply because someone was from a renowned clan. If he had been, he would never have been working here at Seong-un Inn to begin with.
Seomun Ak stole a glance at Jin Seong-un. Fortunately, Jin himself didn’t seem to care much yet.
But there was no room for carelessness. All because of the voice that suddenly came from inside the inn.
“Just let them in. I have something to ask.”
It was Seo Yu-gyeom.
Seomun Ak swallowed hard.
‘If he meets Uncle Seo, that’ll be a real disaster.’
A crushing sense of responsibility weighed on him.
His personal dislike for Sima Hwi aside, as a member of the Orthodox Faction, he could not allow the lines of the Sima Clan and the Namgung Clan to be cut short here at Seong-un Inn.
“How about going to another inn? This isn’t the only inn in Yichang.”
At Seomun Ak’s suggestion, Sima Hwi let out a hollow laugh.
Did this bastard eat something wrong?
That was exactly the look in his eyes.
“I heard this is the only place that serves Yangha Daegu.”
Of course, that was just an excuse.
The real reason he came was to personally observe this bizarre figure called Jin Seong-un.
“Oh, then I’ll just buy it for you. Now get lost.”
“What did you just say?”
“Me?”
Seomun Ak closed his mouth for a moment and looked at Jin Seong-un. Then he glanced at the long line of customers behind, then at Sima Hwi, once called one of the twin wastrels of the Orthodox Faction, and finally at the Sword Phoenix, as beautiful as Tang So-yeon.
At length, as though having made up his mind, Seomun Ak spoke with a sigh.
“…I’m the waiter of this inn.”
“What?”
Ha ha ha—laughter burst forth.
Sima Hwi laughed heartily, as though he found it truly entertaining.
Namgung Rin, standing behind him, looked at Seomun Ak with a bewildered face.
She never liked him.
She disliked how he acted like a wastrel relying on his background, and even that background didn’t seem so great in her eyes.
But the Seomun Ak she knew wasn’t someone who would work as a mere inn waiter. Even if he had, he certainly wouldn’t have admitted it in front of her.
‘The atmosphere’s completely different.’
This wasn’t the Seomun Ak she had known.
Meanwhile, with a sneer tugging at his lips, Sima Hwi said.
“Now I understand. What kind of disgraceful act did you commit for your Clan Head to punish you this harshly?”
“Well…”
Seomun Ak’s mouth opened and closed silently.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t entirely wrong.
But still, for some reason, irritation welled up inside him.
Because in Sima Hwi’s tone, it was clear he considered being an inn waiter to be beneath contempt.
Only a few months ago, Seomun Ak himself would have worn that very expression. His current irritation wasn’t directed at Sima Hwi, but was closer to self-loathing.
Letting out a sigh, Seomun Ak looked Sima Hwi straight in the eyes and said.
“Either way, I won’t take you as a customer, so get going.”
“What kind of waiter chooses which guests to serve?”
Sima Hwi sneered with his characteristic arrogance.
“You never intended to line up anyway, did you? If you try to force your way in through dishonest means, then I’ll have every reason to stop you.”
“You? Stop me?”
“Then who else would?”
Seomun Ak stared coldly at him. Though Sima Hwi and the Sima Clan were far beyond what he could handle.
But he had one thing to rely on.
‘Do they even know who the regulars of this inn are?’
Elder Hyeon-un of the Wudang Sect.
Grand Elder Tang Tae-san of the Tang Clan.
And even Shin Mok, one of the Three Great Master Artisans.
All of them visited this inn daily, and the one they treasured most was none other than Jin Seong-un.
Naturally, if the matter concerned this inn, they would surely stand on Seomun Ak’s side.
When Seomun Ak puffed out his chest and glared back, the expressions on Sima Hwi and Namgung Rin’s faces grew even stranger.
The Seomun Ak they remembered seemed long dead, replaced by a stranger wearing his face.
Soon, a deep smile curved Sima Hwi’s lips.
“Is that so?”
His eyes gleamed like he had found an interesting prey.
He spoke again.
“Then all I need to do is line up. That way you’ll have no reason to stop me.”
“That’s…”
Seomun Ak turned to Jin Seong-un. After all, the true owner of this inn was him.
Sima Hwi and Namgung Rin also waited for his answer.
Even the customers in line now looked like an audience watching an intense play.
After a moment of thought, Jin Seong-un spoke in a casual tone.
“Well. Do as you please.”
It was permission.
If they came as customers through the proper process, there was neither reason nor justification to stop them.
On Sima Hwi and Seomun Ak’s faces, joy and frustration crossed.
Namgung Rin let out a sigh beside them.
“You’re really going to stand in that long line?”
“Ha ha, worry not, Lady Namgung. I’ll just send a servant to fetch a parasol for you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Namgung Rin frowned in displeasure.
She only meant that it was a waste of time, but he had answered as though she were a whining woman. That was irritating.
She was a martial artist called the Sword Phoenix before she was a woman.
Shaking her head, Namgung Rin went to the end of the line. Then, with a smirk, Sima Hwi also took a place beside her.
Seomun Ak looked at the two men with a resentful face for a moment before letting out a sigh.
Since Jin Seong-un had decided so, there was no other way.
.
.
.
Time passed, and many people came and went from the inn.
Sima Hwi, Namgung Rin, and before long another prodigy joined them as they entered together.
Seomun Ak recognized him too.
‘That Baek Li-joong bastard still clings to them, huh.’
The Sima Clan, the Namgung Clan, and the Baek Li Clan shared similar traits.
Their particular arrogance and sensitive temperaments.
Their superiority complex.
And the misfortune of having power to back it up.
While everyone envied or hated them, they themselves got along quite well clan to clan.
Baek Li-joong glanced at Seomun Ak before going to sit down.
That indifferent attitude only made Seomun Ak all the more irritated.
The Baek Li Clan and the Seomun Clan were of similar size.
Their influence in the murim was comparable as well, so many often compared the two clans.
That was why Seomun Ak had felt a strange pressure since childhood—that he had to at least be better than Baek Li-joong.
‘He must feel the same about me.’
Though he pretended not to care, Baek Li-joong still stole glances at him.
Seomun Ak approached their table and spoke.
“Order.”
“Hahaha, what an awfully unfriendly inn.”
As Sima Hwi laughed, people here and there glanced over.
Seomun Ak sighed inwardly.
Well, he had expected this brat would scratch at his nerves.
Having dealt with countless troublesome customers while working at the inn, his composure had grown a little.
“Just place your order.”
“Three bottles of Yangha Daegu. Side dishes, whatever you choose. And I’d like that fellow to bring them.”
Sima Hwi pointed at Jin Seong-un.
Naturally, Jin ignored him and continued greeting other guests.
Seomun Ak frowned slightly and said.
“Do you even know Young Master Jin? Why did you come all the way here just to do this?”
“Young Master Jin?”
Sima Hwi burst into laughter again.
To think the day would come when this wastrel called an inn waiter a young master.
“Truly, live long enough and you’ll see everything.”
Of course, he couldn’t explain in detail why he had come here again.
That there was a ‘possibility’ the formation the Sima Clan had set up at Wuhanzhuang had been broken, and that this inn waiter had pointed it out—how could he admit such a thing?
He only smirked slyly instead.
Seomun Ak bent down slightly, speaking low enough for only those at the table to hear.
“Quiet. Eat and leave like a mouse. I’m telling you this only because you’re also part of the Orthodox Faction.”
There had been more than a few who died in this inn.
It was sincere advice. And with that, Seomun Ak left.
Ironically, it only made Sima Hwi all the more curious about Jin Seong-un.
Namgung Rin, on the other hand, directed her interest not at Jin but at Seomun Ak.
“Seomun Young Master has changed a lot.”
“He’s only pretending. Afraid of being beaten to death by his Clan Head. Do you still not know that guy?”
Namgung Rin gave a small nod.
Thinking back on Seomun Ak’s years of behavior, Sima Hwi’s words seemed more convincing for now.
While the two conversed, Baek Li-joong, who was watching Seomun Ak’s back, grew more serious.
‘Can’t they feel it?’
Sima Hwi and Namgung Rin were clearly on a higher level.
After all, those called Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes had already gone far beyond the realm of prodigies.
Precisely because of that, they couldn’t sense the change in Seomun Ak, who was beneath them.
But Baek Li-joong, who stood on the same line as Seomun Ak, could feel it clearly.
‘He’s grown stronger.’
And by quite a large margin.
Baek Li-joong felt a sense of crisis.
Before, if they fought ten times, he was confident of winning at least seven. Now, he couldn’t be sure of even half.
After glaring fiercely at Seomun Ak for some time, Baek Li-joong rose to his feet as if making a decision.
“Brother Sima, Lady Namgung. My apologies, but I must leave first.”
“What?”
Sima Hwi replied in disbelief.
After waiting so long in line to enter, where was he going before even the food and drink were served?
But Baek Li-joong was firm.
“Something urgent has come up. Forgive me.”
With that, Baek Li-joong took up his longsword and left.
Sima Hwi clicked his tongue, staring at the entrance in disbelief.
“Seems seeing Seomun Ak lit a fire under him. But haste only becomes poison.”
Sima Hwi spoke as though he were some lofty master of the murim.
But Namgung Rin didn’t take his words at face value.
“It’s something worth learning from.”
“…”
Sima Hwi let out a disgruntled cough.
Then the drinks and food were served.
As ordered, Jin Seong-un personally brought them.
Sima Hwi, however, seemed uninterested in the drinks and food from the start, staring instead straight at Jin.
Even Namgung Rin, seated beside him, found his gaze unusually blatant.
At last, Jin Seong-un looked down at Sima Hwi calmly and asked.
“Is there something you need?”
“Something I need…”
At that moment.
After a brief pause, Sima Hwi suddenly struck. His hand shot toward Jin Seong-un’s neck.
Even Seomun Ak, carrying a bottle of liquor, and the usually expressionless Namgung Rin were startled and turned to look.
At the last instant, Sima Hwi shifted his trajectory slightly and lightly placed his hand on Jin’s shoulder.
Jin Seong-un stared at that hand with his characteristic calm eyes.
Sima Hwi’s brows twitched.
‘As I thought.’
This man was no ordinary inn waiter.
No—even if one raised the standard to martial artists instead of waiters, he still wasn’t ordinary.
Something was very, very strange about him.
“If there’s something you need, say it with words.”
Jin Seong-un spoke in a calm tone.
Sima Hwi stared at him intently before asking.
“I’m curious about your identity.”
“I’m a waiter. The innkeeper and waiter of Seong-un Inn.”
“A waiter who has mastered martial arts to this degree?”
“Is there a law that says it cannot be so?”
“Well, no, but…”
Sima Hwi slowly looked around inside the inn.
Everyone here was ordinary.
People who spent most of their lives laboring, who had not even a handful of inner arts, and so could only see and hear the smallest fraction of the world all their lives.
“If you’ve trained martial arts to that extent, why live such a trivial, worthless life?”
“Go on.”
“Isn’t that an insult to martial arts, to the murim, to the many martial artists including those who created the arts you practice?”
At Sima Hwi’s words, many in the inn showed discomfort.
Because the “trivial life” he referred to meant the lives of all ordinary people.
Yet since the speaker was a martial artist from a great clan, no one dared to speak out.
His remark astonished many.
Seomun Ak’s mouth hung open, and Jin Seong-un’s expression, rarely ever shaken, was colored with disbelief.
Surprisingly, there was deep sincerity in Sima Hwi’s voice. The fact that this bizarre philosophy was genuine was nothing short of shocking.
Even Namgung Rin lowered her head slightly, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
– You deserve a good beating.
Suddenly, a thread of telepathy brushed through Sima Hwi’s mind.
A man then walked out from the kitchen.
Seomun Ak, startled, wore an expression as if the inevitable had come and tried to stop him, but the man brushed aside Seomun Ak’s hand effortlessly.
Seo Yu-gyeom gave Sima Hwi’s blank face a glance, then strode toward the back door.
Thud—!
The door closed with quite a loud sound.
Sima Hwi stared at it for a moment, then let out a hollow laugh as if it were absurd, rising to his feet.
Seomun Ak tried to stop him.
But Sima Hwi’s earlier words kept circling in his mind.
Recently, Seomun Ak had been realizing firsthand that the life of an inn waiter, and the life of most ordinary people, was far from trivial.
It was as hard as training in martial arts, perhaps even harder.
One had to set aside all pride, endure countless moments of anger with nothing but patience.
Serving the endless stream of guests in this small inn felt like being caught between enemies who kept surging no matter how many one cut down, pressing in endlessly.
Most people lived enduring this day by day.
Seomun Ak had come to see how peaceful the lives of martial artists and those born into great clans truly were in comparison.
And so he thought.
‘Perhaps it’s right to let him realize it too.’
In plain words, he wanted to see Sima Hwi beaten bloody at least once.
‘That bastard… looking down on waiters?’
Anyway, Seo Yu-gyeom wasn’t some bloodthirsty demon, so he didn’t think he’d actually kill him.
So Seomun Ak didn’t stop him.
If anything, he worried that Jin Seong-un might intervene. But fortunately—or unfortunately—Jin did not stop him either.
Then Sima Hwi spoke to Namgung Rin, as though asking for her understanding.
“This inn is full of rude people. I’ll return before the food gets cold.”
Suddenly acting as if possessed by Guan Yu, Sima Hwi strode out after Seo Yu-gyeom.