Depending on how you hear it, it might be a kind thing to say.
But Im So-Byeong was not someone who laid his true feelings bare, and Chung Myung was not someone who took things at face value either.
“You’re dancing around it, aren’t you?”
“Oh? You noticed that? Heh, of course!”
Chung Myung silently leaned forward and stared out at the white-foaming sea.
“What are you looking at?”
“I was just thinking how deep you’d sink if we tied your limbs up and threw you in here.”
“......”
“If you’re just one of those loudmouthed Evil Sect bastards, that’s too luxurious a death for you...”
Im So-Byeong stepped back slowly. Chung Myung glared at him and continued speaking.
“So, no matter how right you are, people won’t listen to you, but because I’m the kind people believe even when I talk nonsense, you stick to me out of necessity?”
“Oh. That’s a very blunt way to put it.”
Im So-Byeong chuckled and then spoke.
“Well, to be honest, that’s one of the reasons. Living taught me one of the truths of the world.”
Im So-Byeong shrugged his shoulders and said.
“Who is the one saying the right words.”
“......”
“In the past I thought ‘the right words’ were important in that sentence. But after living, I found people focus more on ‘who’ than on whether it’s right.”
“Isn’t that just because you’re a filthy Evil Sect bastard?”
“......”
“Wouldn’t it be stranger if people swallowed the concept just because an Evil Sect bastard says something right? Isn’t it normal to assume it’s a trick?”
“Damn...”
“What?”
“Ahem. Anyway!”
Im So-Byeong cleared his throat loudly and went on.
“So a man like me who speaks the truth needs someone to make people hear it. That’s why strategists attached themselves even to men like Yuan Shu or Dong Zhuo. Rather than persuading countless people who don’t care about my words, it’s more practical to persuade the one person who refuses to listen.”
“Oh, really?”
Chung Myung snorted and said.
“Now that you say it, it’s a little odd.”
“What’s odd?”
“By your logic, you should be persuading me right now, shouldn’t you?”
“Exactly.”
“But you also say you know I won’t listen anyway?”
“That’s true too.”
“Then it doesn’t add up.”
“That’s certainly true.”
Im So-Byeong bobbed his head, as if agreeing Chung Myung’s point was correct. For a moment, a doubt flashed across Chung Myung’s gaze: ‘Has this guy lost it?’
“...Don’t look at me like that. There’s a reason for all of it.”
“Huh?”
“It’s actually quite common in history. Clever strategists following an absurd ruler’s choice at a decisive moment.”
“That happens?”
“Quite often.”
Im So-Byeong shrugged and added.
“So usually historians interpret those cases as the higher-ups crushing the strategists with power. I used to assume that too.”
“But? You mean it’s different now?”
“Yes. After I grew older and researched on my own, it’s not always that simple. Even famous strategists, at the most decisive moments, sometimes act according to the ruler’s judgment rather than their own, even if it contradicts their principles.”
“Why?”
Im So-Byeong, who had been rambling as if intoxicated by something, suddenly fell silent and stared at Chung Myung. His gaze was heavy, and Chung Myung fell silent without realizing it.
“Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know...”
“Honestly, I didn’t understand it before either. But at some point I came to understand.”
“What?”
“That strategists are people too.”
“......huh?”
Im So-Byeong said with a stern face.
“A strategist must be coldest of all, able to view their surroundings objectively in any situation. They must not be swayed by emotion, must not harbor any hopeful expectations. Yes, that’s what makes a great strategist. But still, those strategists are people in the end.”
“......”
“They feel emotions, they waver, they allow themselves a ‘what if’ hope. In other words...”
Im So-Byeong’s gaze shifted to Chung Myung.
“What I’m saying is that even a strategist might want to be fooled by that conman’s words.”
Im So-Byeong chuckled and then asked.
“Do you know the moment a strategist feels like they’re in hell?”
“...I don’t suppose?”
“It’s when every plan you’ve made goes awry. Then do you know the moment a strategist enjoys the most?”
“...I don’t know that either.”
“It’s exactly the moment when every plan I made goes awry.”
Chung Myung, who had been listening quietly, twisted his face. What kind of nonsense was this now?
Seeing that expression, Im So-Byeong nodded as if he understood.
“Of course it’s hard to understand.”
“You expect that to make sense?”
“But it’s true. A strategist feels an indescribable pleasure when their plans fit together perfectly, but at the same time they’re endlessly curious to see something occur in reality that surpasses calculated expectations.”
“...I don’t understand that at all.”
“You probably won’t understand. You’ve never seen it happen.”
A strange light bloomed in Im So-Byeong’s eyes.
“Strategists don’t feel that from the start. But when someone pushes forward a plan I opposed, and it creates something that exceeds intellectual prediction, you feel an indescribable emotion.”
“......”
“So sometimes you end up hoping. It’s utter nonsense, but you think that nonsense might actually turn the situation around.”
Chung Myung met Im So-Byeong’s gaze. Im So-Byeong shrugged.
“Of course, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) in most situations it just ends in a stupid death.”
“......”
“That’s why you don’t stop it. Maybe this choice will drive me to a foolish death, but if we avoid a foolish death now, what awaits us is only a rational death.”
Chung Myung nodded as if he understood.
The phrase ‘rational death’ wasn’t entirely wrong. With the Heavenly Friends Alliance’s current strength, they couldn’t handle the Four Sects Alliance and the Demonic Cult.
If they thought and acted sensibly, all they would meet was a just and deserved death.
“You made it sound convincing, but in the end it’s a gamble. Isn’t that what you’re saying?”
“I won’t deny it.”
Im So-Byeong nodded.
“Strategists think within the bounds of reason. Conversely, that means situations beyond reason are hard to calculate. Honestly, I don’t know any way to make the Heavenly Friends Alliance able to face the Four Sects Alliance, the Nine Great Sects, and the Demonic Cult all at once. I don’t even think it’s possible.”
It was a cold statement. But for a strategist who must accurately perceive the balance between powers, it was perfectly reasonable.
“There will be someone else who can make that possible.”
“......”
“Even if they adopt utterly irrational and incomprehensible methods.”
Im So-Byeong was silent for a moment, then laughed.
“What else can you do? If that’s the only path, you can only do your best within it.”
Chung Myung, who had been listening quietly, snorted. It seemed the strategist before him didn’t grasp how contradictory his words were. Or perhaps he knew and chose to ignore it.
“You seem to be misunderstanding...”
“Yes?”
“I’m not that kind of person.”
Chung Myung said, staring out at the distant sea.
“I know what expectations you have of me, but I’m not someone who can live up to them. I’m not a person who receives others’ hopes; I’m the one who holds them. So I can only be the sword.”
Chung Myung glanced toward the deck—not at Southern Island Sect’s disciples scattered around, but at the Mount Hua disciples just coming out onto the deck.
“The ones who should lead are someone else.”
“Hmm.”
Im So-Byeong tilted his head with an amused expression.
“I wonder. How long will that be?”
“Hmm?”
“People who mistake their role are amusing. They define their role narrowly by themselves even though no one else thinks that way.”
Chung Myung expressionlessly turned his gaze back to the sea.
“Even if I explained, you wouldn’t understand.”
“No. I do.”
“...What?”
Im So-Byeong answered nonchalantly.
“How harsh you are on yourself.”
Chung Myung’s expression darkened slightly.
“Honestly, I don’t know what you went through in your past. I only know you experienced something I can’t imagine. And the Mount Hua disciples over there probably all suspect it too. They just don’t put it into words.”
“...What on earth are you trying to say?”
“That you’re contradictory.”
“Contradictory?”
“Yes.”
Im So-Byeong gave a faint smile.
“Isn’t your conclusion that those you lead can’t lead based on the experience? I can’t be sure, but you’re referring to experiences you know.”
“Yes.”
“And you say they can lead because you believe they can grow into it, even if not right now, right?”
“That’s right.”
Chung Myung nodded readily. Im So-Byeong stared at him with a meaningful gaze.
“That’s the contradiction.”
“What’s?”
“I’m not denying it. They are growing at an impressive rate. Someday they’ll be the ones leading the murim world.”
“......”
“But rather than waiting for that, wouldn’t it be faster for you to become that?”
“...What?”
For a moment, Chung Myung stared at Im So-Byeong as if he’d been struck.
“Rather than waiting for those barely out of their apprentice stage to grow enough to lead the murim world, it seems far more rational for you, who are already ahead now, to be able to lead people.”
“That’s...”
“That’s why it’s interesting.”
Im So-Byeong’s gaze grew solemn.
“You draw out and evaluate others’ potential, yet you persecute yourself harshly. As if judging a corpse already cold, as if you’re someone who can neither grow nor improve.”
“......”
“Of course, how one judges oneself is one’s personal freedom, but there’s no reason for us to accept your judgment of yourself as the absolute truth.”
Im So-Byeong’s voice sank into Chung Myung’s ears.
“But please think carefully about one thing: whether your self-judgment is eating away at the futures of Mount Hua and the Heavenly Friends Alliance. And what others expect of you.”
Chung Myung pressed his lips shut.
Seeing that expression, Im So-Byeong did not continue. He’s not one to spare words, but he can distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said.
No one could be unaware that this was a forbidden area for Chung Myung.
“I still have much I’d like to say, but...”
Im So-Byeong turned his head and looked at a person approaching them.
“A professional nag has appeared, so I’ll take my leave.”
At those words, Chung Myung also glanced aside. Baek Cheon was approaching.
Im So-Byeong smiled slightly and withdrew; Baek Cheon silently took the spot Im So-Byeong had occupied and quietly watched the sea.
For a long while, both Chung Myung and Baek Cheon remained wordlessly staring out at the sea.
