[Chapter 19]
….This bastard.
His annoying blushed face, his irritating quivering eyes, and his vexing gaze that was embarrassed to even make eye contact with her.
Such behavior told me that he definitely fell for her at first sight.
It kind of made sense because of how alluring she looked with her slightly wet hair and her restless eyes.
Unless you were trained for many years and reached the peak of wisdom, her appearance was enough to make anyone get charmed by her.
Even I was a little shocked by her appearance, so it made sense for that guy to be like that. He was completely hooked by her.
"Tsk."
Wi Seol-Ah looked at me confused as she didn't know what was going on.
I was a bit annoyed so I pulled away Wi Seol-Ah a little more.
Then Gu Jeolyub quickly fixed his expression, but he couldn't do anything about his already blushed face.
The Second Elder who was next to us looked at Gu Jeolyub, while failing to hide his smile.
'He wants to tease him but look at him holding back.'
He was a mean old man to say the least.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
Gu Jeolyub let out a fake cough to break the awkward silence. Not like that would fix the awkwardness here.
"I-I'll say it again, I, Gu Jeolyub, wish to have a duel with the direct descendant of Gu Clan.."
'At least look me in the eyes when you talk, you fucker…'
I noticed his eyes that kept glancing at Wi Seol-Ah. I waved my hands signaling him to return back.
"Duel my ass, go back. I'm not interested."
I already knew it was a hassle. It was disrespectful to me in the first place that he challenged me into a duel when he just randomly appeared.
He even behaved in a condescending manner towards me.
I had all the rights to deny his request. Not liking my answer, Gu Jeolyub retorted.
"Are you scared?"
"Yes, I'm so scared."
"You are still weak. You choose to run away even at stuff like this…"
"Right, right, I'm really weak. Of course."
I listened to his ramblings with one ear and let it out the other ear which made Gu Jeolyub's skin underneath his eyes shake. His rough grunts told me that he was very angry.
But what could he do about it? I'm the one who has the right to decide.
Challenging me to a duel randomly early in the morning, I had all the reason to deny.
As Gu Jeolyub was reaching his limits, the Second Elder asks him,
"Jeolyub, what's the reason you want to duel him for, is it because of the First Elder?"
'The First Elder?'
Gu Jeolyub paused at the Second Elder's question, but didn't answer.
But Gu Jeolyub's small pause told me everything that I needed to know.
'Sorting ranks amongst the clan.'
No wonder why such a random thing was happening.
'I knew I shouldn't have caused any trouble with Gu Yeonseo in our duel.'
Every member of the Gu clan knew about the First Elder's ambition for power. But no one was able to do anything about his ambition because of me.
A direct descendant who was lacking in every field.
A future lord solely because of the fact that I was the only male heir, but I was lacking and my mother was a concubine.
Thus, the First Elder's ambition was held off for a while, but he wanted to see through his aspiration for power till the end.
However, his desire was shaken.
Because of the fact that I won against Gu Yeonseo in our duel.
Most people said that I was just lucky, but it wasn't particularly good news to the First Elder.
'Is that why he is doing such childish things?'
I was annoyed by the fact, so I was planning to go to the training area and ignore the situation, but the Second Elder spoke to me.
"It must have been a long trip for him, so why don't you just accept?"
When I looked at the Second Elder's face, 'fun' was written all over it. He was having weird thoughts again.
"Lord Second Elder, you really want me to get beat up and lay flat on the ground? Why do you keep doing this to me."
The Second Elder whilst looking at both me and Gu Jeolyub responded with a smile.
"This old man doesn't think that our Yangcheon will go down that easily."
This old man.
I looked at Gu Jeolyub with a distorted expression.
I knew from a slight glance.
'This one's going to be bit tough.'
It was certain. This annoying kid was stronger than Gu Yeonseo.
I couldn't really tell how much Qi he possessed, or what martial art realm he was in.
However, my senses were telling me that even though his understanding of martial arts and Qi were lower than Gu Yeonseo's.
That didn't necessarily mean that Gu Yeonseo was stronger.
It was one of the reasons why I won against Gu Yeonseo.
"Whatever you say, I won't duel. I don't want to be involved in this rank-sorting bullshit."
The Second Elder frowned in disappointment.
A man of that stature making such a face gave me slight, no, quite the goosebumps.
Gu Jeolyub made an annoyed face when things weren't going his way. That fit right into his annoyingly handsome face.
Then he suddenly talked to Wi Seol-Ah.
"You, you are the servant of the clan?"
He didn't stutter, but he couldn't hide his quivering voice. Wi Seol-Ah, who had a blanket wrapped around her, tilted her head in confusion upon hearing his words.
Then Gu Jeolyub flinched upon seeing her gaze again.
Why is this bastard suddenly having a duel with himself?
"Yes! I'm a servant."
Gu Jeolyub fixed his posture after hearing her words, then he talked to her while looking at me.
"Young Lady, instead of serving a weakling like him, how about coming to me instead? I can treat you better in a better environment."
What kind of shitty deal is that?
How are you going to treat her better huh? His blushed face only served to annoy me even more.
I felt that it wasn't right so I spoke to interfere.
"What kind of shitty-"
"I like the young master."
It was the first time since my regression that I heard Wi Seol-Ah speaking in a serious tone. Not only me, even the Second Elder and Gu Jeolyub's eyes both widened in shock.
"I won't go to anyone else but the Young Master."
My heart was stunned at her words.
'…Not good.'
This wasn't good. I rubbed my chest with my hands. This was not good.
This was a curse worse than the one the Heavenly Demon cast upon me.
I thought I would be free from the curse after death, but it wasn't good that this was happening.
Wi Seol-Ah was looking at me. What kind of emotion dwelled in her eyes? What I knew for certain was that I couldn't afford to look at her for longer.
I turned my gaze towards Gu Jeolyub. This shock made him lose control of his expressions.
A sour expression lingered across his face.
I heaved a deep sigh and stood up. I walked past Gu Jeolyub and spoke.
"Come, I'll accept the duel or whatever."
I heard a weird 'Ohhh!' from behind. It was obviously the Second Elder.
Gu Jeolyub grinded his teeth and followed me. Was he happy that he had someone to take out his anger on?
'Why am I always involved in these annoying things?"
Why of course, it was all because of how I caused it. Right! It was exactly that.
…Fuck me.
* * * *
"Maybe I shouldn't have accepted."
That was the thought I had as soon as I entered the training area. Why do I always regret things after I've already blown it out of proportion?
I really didn't like myself.
Crack crack-
I was stretching my body as cracking sound resounded from all over my body. I ask the Second Elder when he looked at me weirdly while I was stretching.
"Why did you tell me to accept this duel?"
"This old man didn't, you accepted yourself, Yangcheon."
"You offered the idea at first, and it's partly your fault that you didn't stop me and instead became happy about this whole thing happening."
I retorted with words that had the same connotations as the Second Elder when he said something similar back in the Nine Dragons Ceremony when he beat up Peng Woojin.
The Second Elder laughed upon noticing what I did.
"Right! I guess this old man is partly at fault."
"So why did you offer me to duel him?"
｢Because of the First Elder.｣
He used his telepathic voice since the conversation wasn't all that great. My head ached slightly as it's been a while since I had heard a telepathic voice in my head.
"What does that mean?"
I just responded normally since I couldn't respond back to him telepathically. Then the Second Elder responded with a dumbfounded look.
｢Uh, can't you at least be a little careful about your response when I talk to you telepathically?｣
"Doesn't really matter, right?"
…Sigh.
The Second Elder let out a brief sigh.
｢The First Elder's ambition is big. You probably know this already. A little bit of ambition never hurts, but him using his own blood to make his ambition come to fruition doesn't really look good for the clan.｣
Like the Second Elder said, this duel decided the position of the ranks.
If I lost here, then Gu Jeolyub's reputation in the clan would go up. But if he loses and I win.
'The backlash would be much worse.'
Gu Jeolyub probably couldn't even imagine that he would lose to me.
The First Elder sent Gu Jeolyub here for us to have a duel, because he thought that there was no way that he'd lose against me.
'It just seems a bit desperate.'
I couldn't figure out why the First Elder was acting this way.
What made him act in such a hurry? I spoke to the Second Elder after hearing his words.
"…Hmm, how about I get something from you since I'm doing such a hassle of work?"
｢Huh…?｣
"If I win against that kid, please do me a favor."
｢Why do I have to do you a favor if you win against him…?｣
"I'll just lose while rolling on the floor if you don't want to."
｢How foolish of you, if you lose here, then the chance of you becoming the lord in the future-｣
"Lord Second Elder, you keep expecting me to have the desire to become the Lord."
I walked towards Gu Jeolyub as I was done stretching.
"But I have no intention of becoming the Lord."
｢…!｣
The Second Elder gasped upon hearing my shocking words. Does everyone really think that I want to become the Lord?
'I left all that greed behind in my previous life.'
I thought in my head. Was that greed? Was it undeserving of me? No, it was just a useless thing for me.
What becoming the Lord meant, what you have to live with when you become the Lord.
I knew it to the point that I was disgusted.
"Done stretching?"
"Almost."
Gu Jeolyub wielded his wooden sword. Now that I was standing right in front of him, I knew for sure.
He was much stronger than Gu Yeonseo.
When I was ready for the duel, Gu Jeolyub suddenly apologized.
"I feel sorry for the Young Master."
"What are you talking about?"
"Last year, the duel we had, I went too far."
"We dueled before?"
"Yes, and you were bedridden for a month because of that."
That's a long time… but why don't I have any recollection of that?
"The Young Master is too weak."
"Now you're just insulting me."
"I heard that you defeated the Second Young Lady, but even that was probably a coincidence."
"Yes, I can agree with that."
"But the problem is that my grandfather doesn't see it that way."
"Right, right, I agree."
Gu Jeolyub stared at me upon hearing my response. Damn, did he realize I was responding without paying any attention?
Gu Jeolyub shook his head and continued to speak.
"I don't want to bully the weak, but the thought of such weaking becoming the Lord is even worse than that."
"You realize you are saying that in front of the direct descendant of the clan, right?"
It was pretty dangerous for him to say flat out.
Swoosh!
Heat passed by my cheek. It was coming from Gu Jeolyub. It was different from the ordinary flame art that was passed down to the direct lineage of Gu.
The art passed down to Gu Jeolyub was swift flame art.
The process of producing heat was the same, but rather than the explosive power you get from the destructive flame art, swift fire art focused more on speed.
'Is he… in the third realm?'
Same realm as Gu Yeonseo, The blazing heat he was producing was telling me that he was in third realm. Uh, maybe it's not too late to forfeit.
｢What was said earlier.｣
I heard a telepathic voice from the Second Elder as if he was waiting.
｢If you win in this duel, then I swear to my name that I'll accept your request.｣
'I can't even forfeit easily now.'
…Always in shitty situations huh.
I started to flow my fire Qi within my body.
The Qi that was flowing around my body pushed back Gu Jeolyub's Qi little by little.
Gu Jeolyub seemed to have noticed something.
"Lord Second Elder."
Gu Jeolyub calls out to the Second Elder.
"What do you want to say?"
"I would also like something from you if I win in this duel."
This bastard was eavesdropping.
What a rat he is…
The Second Elder responded to Gu Jeolyub while looking at me.
"Right, the deal has to be fair. What do you want Jeolyub?"
Gu Jeolyub then pointed to somewhere with his finger.
Where he pointed stood Wi Seol-Ah who was eating a yakgwa.
"I want that servant."
Desire dwelled Gu Jeolyub's eyes. It wasn't just any desire, it was more like lust.
And that,
"Haha."
Really pissed me off.
"You piece of shit."
I reached my boiling point.