RM-Bab 120

Chapter 120: Not the Heavenly Serpent Sect, but the Heavenly Sun Sect.

Lee Ahn sent me a telepathic message.

—What should I do?

—He’s offering to buy you a drink, so you handle it.

I decided to watch and see how she would handle it.

—This is the first time something like this has happened to me.

—It’s the first time for me to watch it happen from the side, too.

—Should I really do as I please?

—Go ahead.

—I’m really doing it then.

The Flying Heaven Sword Technique is good, and opening her Conception and Governor Vessels is also good, but the most important weapon to protect her is experience.

The man introduced himself.

“I am Gok Sa, the Young Sect Master of the Heavenly Sun Sect.”

He was dressed in expensive silk, his wrists and fingers adorned with all sorts of costly jewels.

Even his fan was studded with brilliant gems.

“Have you perhaps heard of my sect?”

“No. My knowledge is limited, so I haven’t had the chance to hear of it. I’m sorry.”

“Not at all, it’s understandable.”

In truth, the Heavenly Sun Sect was quite a well-known sect in the vicinity.

Just by his attire, it was clear that Gok Sa was the type to flaunt his family name, so by her not knowing, he had lost his greatest weapon.

“And which sect might the young lady belong to?”

“It’s a nameless sect from the distant countryside, so you wouldn’t know of it.”

“Then, could you at least tell me your name, young lady?”

“White Mask.”

She had thought of her white mask and answered as such.

Gok Sa was slightly flustered by the strange name White Mask, but he soon smiled and spoke.

“Now, White Mask Lady. Shall we move somewhere else to talk?”

“That’s a little difficult. We’re in the middle of a conversation right now.”

Only then did Gok Sa look at me.

He truly hadn’t given me a single glance since sitting down.

“And who might you be, young hero?”

While Lee Ahn hesitated on how to introduce me, I answered first.

“I am the White Mask lady’s escort.”

For a moment, Gok Sa’s expression soured slightly.

It was a look that said, ‘Why is an escort sitting at the same table?’ With that single reaction, his entire character was laid bare.

I sent a telepathic message to Lee Ahn.

—For today, I’ll be your escort.

You’ve lived your whole life as my escort, so one day should be fine, right? Enjoy it.

An opportunity like this doesn’t come often.

—I will enjoy it very much.

Gok Sa said to Lee Ahn.

“You seem to be close with your escort.”

Lee Ahn looked at me, her eyes full of mischief, and said,

“No matter how many times I tell him to live his own life, he refuses to leave my side.”

Gok Sa glared at me.

His gaze said it all. ‘Your master is beautiful, so you’re trying to stick close and make a move, aren’t you?’

“I’m curious what you could possibly have to talk about with an escort.”

“We talk about all sorts of things.”

“If I may offer a piece of advice, it is best to keep your distance from escorts.”

To Gok Sa’s words, Lee Ahn replied,

“Showing affection to an escort is like building up points to ask them to die in your place, isn’t it?”

I laughed to myself.

She was throwing all the words I had once said to her right back at me.

With a look that said, ‘What kind of nonsense is that,’ Gok Sa spoke.

“That’s not why.”

“Then why?”

“Give subordinates an inch, and they’re bound to get ideas. It’s not good for them either.”

He put on a serious expression, but draped in all those jewels, what kind of life experience could he be speaking from? I could feel it was just a bluff to look cool in front of a woman.

“You’re cute.”

“Pardon? Ah, that’s right. It can be cute to see subordinates with wayward thoughts.”

“No, I mean you’re cute, Young Master Gok.”

Gok Sa was taken aback for a moment.

It seemed he hadn’t expected her to call him cute so openly.

“Alright, buy me that drink. Let’s go to the most expensive tavern in this town and have the most expensive wine.”

Lee Ahn stood up from her seat.

“What’s wrong? Did you change your mind when I asked for expensive wine?”

“How could I? Let’s go.”

We left the tavern.

Lee Ahn was acting differently than I expected.

I never thought she would agree to a drinking session so readily.

A short while later, we were seated in a special room at the most expensive tavern in the village.

“Young Master Gok. Since we’re having fun, let’s call all your friends. Men, women, call them all and let’s have fun together. What’s wrong? Don’t you have any friends?”

Gok Sa’s face reddened slightly.

“In the martial world, the only one you can trust is yourself.”

It seemed he had been educated this way since he was young.

To trust no one.

“Looks like you don’t have any friends. Well then, I’ll have to be a friend to our lonely Young Master Gok.”

Lee Ahn was leading this potentially gloomy gathering with her unique cheerfulness.

The atmosphere brightened up immensely, and she seemed to be genuinely trying to enjoy the moment.

It was as if she were thinking, ‘You want to drink? Great, why not? Since we’re at it, let’s have a great time!’

In the meantime, a magnificent feast was served.

As was evident from his appearance, his signature martial art was having nothing but money.

“This wine costs over fifty nyang a bottle.”

At Gok Sa’s boast, Lee Ahn feigned astonishment.

“This is a first for me, such an expensive wine! Well, I’ll drink it with gratitude. Oh, I’ll give a glass to my escort, too.”

Lee Ahn didn’t wait for his reply and poured the wine.

“Guard Geom, have a glass. It’s very expensive, so don’t leave any behind.”

“Before that, allow me to inspect them first.”

I took out a silver needle and checked the wine and food one by one.

Of course, Gok Sa scowled the whole time, but Lee Ahn smiled and said to him,

“Young Master Gok, surely you wouldn’t do something like tamper with the food, would you? You’ll be in big trouble if you do! Really big trouble.”

“What do you take me for! Women line up for me without me having to resort to such tricks.”

At that, Lee Ahn smiled sweetly.

It was a captivating smile that could soothe the heart of an enemy.

“I knew it. Come on, let’s drink.”

The three of us toasted.

After emptying her glass, Lee Ahn expressed her regret.

“It’s a shame to drink such fine wine with just the two of us. The guards outside!”

This time, she called for Gok Sa’s guards who were outside.

Four escorts entered the room.

“Young Master Gok, why don’t we drink with them too?”

Instantly, Gok Sa wore a displeased expression.

One of the four escorts stepped forward.

“We’re fine. We must protect the young master.”

Lee Ahn said to him,

“Does the young master truly feel protected out there?”

At her meaningful words, the escort couldn’t say a thing.

After all, he had only been guarding the drinking sessions of a scoundrel who went around seducing women with his money.

Soon, Lee Ahn gently persuaded Gok Sa.

“Young Master Gok, don’t read too much into this. It’s just sharing a drink. Come on, have a seat.”

The escorts glanced at Gok Sa.

When Lee Ahn put on a slightly disappointed expression, Gok Sa couldn’t hold out any longer.

He nodded, and the four men sat down.

“Come, everyone, have a glass of my wine.”

She poured them wine.

Perhaps Lee Ahn felt a sense of fondness for them.

After all, she had been an escort herself.

“Alright, let’s all have a drink!”

She raised her glass high, and we toasted.

“Wow, this wine is delicious. Young Master Gok, please order more! Oh, is it too expensive?”

“Nonsense! Order as much as you like.”

Her beauty was overwhelming everything.

When her unique cheerfulness and vitality were added to it, nothing could stand in her way.

I could never have imagined that such an atmosphere could be created with these people.

She was uninhibited.

Because she didn’t hold prejudices against others, no one felt emotionally uncomfortable.

I could tell it wasn’t just because I was by her side.

It was because of her renewed confidence in her skills.

The opening of her Conception and Governor Vessels must have given her confidence a major boost.

We drank and talked about all sorts of things.

The escorts, who were extremely reserved at first, began to answer questions one by one, and even things that Gok Sa didn’t know were revealed.

“You had a son ten days ago? Oh, congratulations!”

Lee Ahn didn’t question Gok Sa, who obviously hadn’t known.

Instead, she created an atmosphere for everyone.

“Alright, a gift from our young master is coming! A gift! A gift!”

I was impressed with her.

She was making Gok Sa congratulate his man without hurting his feelings.

Honestly, in that moment, I thought, ‘She’s better than me.’

Gok Sa had never given a gift to his escorts before, so he didn’t know what to do.

Lee Ahn spoke to him calmly.

“I know some people who like to draw lines.”

She picked up her chopsticks, dipped them in wine, and drew a long line on the table.

“This is the point of employment, and this is the end. If they reach this end, they might even die in their master’s place. To go all the way to the end? That is a truly difficult thing. But escorts hope for it. They hope the relationship with the person they protect reaches this end. Even though reaching this point means their own death. That is what these escorts here are like.”

At her calm words, the four escorts were slightly stirred.

Her words were also meant for me.

She was saying that she was like that.

“You know a lot about escorts.”

The question came from one of the escorts.

“I experienced it when I was young.”

At that moment, Gok Sa glared at the escort.

His gaze said, ‘Who are you to speak up?’ The escort who had spoken up shrank back and lowered his head.

Lee Ahn said gently to Gok Sa.

“If you look at people with those eyes, the line goes in the opposite direction.”

“I don’t believe it. That someone could purely sacrifice their life for another. Do you believe it, young lady?”

Lee Ahn nodded and held out her glass.

“Why don’t you try believing it too, Young Master Gok?”

“If you trust, you’ll get stabbed in the back.”

“And you think you won’t get stabbed if you don’t trust?”

“!”

“We often associate betrayal with trust. But that’s only from the perspective of the one being betrayed. ‘I trusted you this much, how could you betray me!’ But for the one who betrays, they don’t do it because their master didn’t trust them, do they? It’s usually for other reasons, right? Money, power, or their own personal affairs. I’ve never once seen a case where someone said, ‘I betrayed my master because he didn’t trust me.’ That’s just an excuse they make later. That they betrayed because they weren’t trusted. So what I’m saying is, it’s okay to trust! Betrayal is a separate matter anyway!”

“That’s sophistry!”

“Let’s have a drink to today’s sophistry!”

Gok Sa couldn’t refuse the glass Lee Ahn offered.

He was getting drunk, but Lee Ahn was only pretending to be.

I saw it.

She was discreetly expelling the intoxication from her fingertips.

She seemed to be playing around without a care, but she was being cautious.

Perfect, Lee Ahn!

—When did you learn that? How to expel the intoxication?

—I learned when I was young.

I just didn’t have the skill to do it until now.

Ah, what a waste.

This expensive wine!

As if she just remembered, she exclaimed.

“Oh, right. The baby’s gift! Gift! Give him a gift!”

As she shouted in excitement, Gok Sa took out his money pouch.

“More! More! More!”

In the end, a rather large sum came out of the money pouch.

“It’s alright.”

“Take it. Buy some clothes for the baby.”

“Thank you.”

Looking at him, Lee Ahn gave a thumbs-up.

“Young Master Gok! You’re so cool!”

“It was nothing.”

Gok Sa’s face blushed for no reason.

Thanks to that, the atmosphere got even better, and we drank through the night.

Though we had just met, we shared all kinds of stories.

It was the first time Gok Sa and his escorts had a drinking session like this.

As Lee Ahn led the mood, everyone, like being soaked in a gentle rain, became absorbed in the fun of the drinking party.

We talked about all sorts of trivial things and drank all night.

We talked about martial arts, about making money, and about our families.

As Lee Ahn, the leader of the party, treated everyone with sincerity, they all unknowingly revealed their true selves.

We drank so joyfully that we were sad to part.

“Young Master Gok, next time I come to this town, I’m going to visit the Heavenly Serpent Sect first.”

“It’s not the Heavenly Serpent Sect, it’s the Heavenly Sun Sect.”

“Ah, our Young Master Gok of the Heavenly Sun Sect. You have to remember me. Young Master Gok, from today, we’re drinking buddies.”

At the words ‘drinking buddies from today,’ Gok Sa couldn’t hide his joy.

Perhaps when he first approached her today, he started with the intention of sleeping with her one way or another.

But now, he was moved by the words ‘drinking buddies.’

“And until we meet again, you can’t go around seducing just any woman! Train your martial arts too. Let’s see each other again when you’re looking even cooler. Got it?”

“I understand.”

Surprisingly, Gok Sa was nodding.

I didn’t know for sure, but it seemed like he would change starting from today.

He even gave me some spending money.

“Take good care of the young lady.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Ah, Gok Sa would never know.

How impressed I was at this very moment.

Not with Gok Sa, but with Lee Ahn.

In one night, she had made five men fall head over heels for her charms.

To be honest, it was six.

I was truly impressed with her too.

And so, we left that place.

Far away, Gok Sa and his escorts, watching us, seemed reluctant to say goodbye.

“To be honest, I was worried about you at first.”

“About me? Why?”

“That you’d be deceived and swayed by men. That you’d get excited and cause trouble. That you’d be disappointed and hurt by men.”

When they first appeared, I thought it would end with Gok Sa getting beaten up, or worse, getting himself killed by being a nuisance.

But it ended in a way I had never expected.

Would Gok Sa have changed like this if I had taken him to the Underworld Pavilion to be scared and beaten? It felt like the sun had removed the coat that the wind could not.

“And now?”

“Now I have the opposite worry.”

“What kind of worry?”

“I’m worried about the men. If I let you out into the world, all the men in the martial world will be ruined. They’ll squander their fortunes, go crazy with training to look strong, and fall sick with longing.”

Lee Ahn burst out laughing.

“You know how many tails I have, don’t you?”

Seeing her today, I felt a strong conviction that I had to help her achieve Great Mastery in the Flying Heaven Sword Technique.

The stronger she became, the more charming a person she would be.

“So where are we going now?”

“If we meet another guy like Gok Sa, we’ll hang out again, eat delicious food. We’ll see the beautiful scenery along the way. And we’ll go see a wedding.”

“Whose wedding?”

“There’s one. A wedding I’m debating whether to stop or not.”

“Why would you stop someone else’s wedding?”

“Right?”

“This is going to be fun! I’ve never properly seen a wedding before!”

Excited, she ran ahead.

As she ran towards the rising sun in the distance, she looked like a painting, and I slowly blended into the picture as well.