Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1018

Jeagal Ayeon was horrified.

To officially sever the alliance between the Black and White factions?

“What… what are you talking about?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong didn’t answer her question. He simply stared at Hong Ik-Cheon with profound eyes.

Hong Ik-Cheon spoke again in a calm voice.

“That’s right. I joined the Martial Alliance for that very reason. Of course, as you might guess, I didn’t aim for this from the moment I was first dispatched to the Central Plains.”

“I know that much.”

“I figured you would. I know that the word ‘amazing’ means nothing to you, but even that is amazing. You know exactly when to doubt and when not to.”

“Everyone has that much ability. As long as they don’t waver, anyone can do as much as I do.”

“Not wavering. That’s what’s difficult.”

Jeagal Ayeon quickly interjected.

“Ho-Jeong, what are you talking about? Officially breaking the Black and White Alliance? Is that true?”

Again, Yeon Ho-Jeong didn’t answer her question.

Hong Ik-Cheon said,

“If you knew from the beginning, it means you’ve already made up your mind, and if you’re so calm even after making up your mind, it means you’ve prepared some kind of countermeasure.”

“No.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong shook his head.

“There’s no countermeasure. I don’t even know how to deal with it.”

“……”

“I’m just thinking of appealing to emotions. Nothing is decided yet.”

Hong Ik-Cheon silently stared at Yeon Ho-Jeong.

Even with the eye patch covering his eye, his face was accurately facing Yeon Ho-Jeong, as if he could see. It was as if he really could see.

Hong Ik-Cheon opened his mouth after a short pause.

“I don’t understand.”

“……”

“When I first talked to you, I realized. You’re much more willful than I thought. I found it very difficult to know what you were thinking.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s different now. Really, I’ve never seen anyone as ambiguous as you. Even that evil god wasn’t this bad.”

The evil god referred to the leader of the Demonic Cult [a powerful and often feared martial arts sect].

For Yeon Ho-Jeong, it was an unforgettable title, and even if it slipped out during a conversation, it was enough to fill him with anger for the entire day.

However, Yeon Ho-Jeong was composed. After realizing the Yellow Dragon [a reference to a significant event or power-up], he had become good at controlling his excessively violent feelings towards the Three Teachings [a collective term for the major martial arts factions].

“Looking at your actions so far, I’ve wondered if there could be anyone as thorough as you. No matter what situation you were thrown into, you always came up with a solution.”

“……”

“Of course, there must have been times when even you didn’t expect things, and you had to deal with them on the spot. That made it even more perplexing. What you could and couldn’t do, what you could and couldn’t predict, it’s all mixed up.”

“Really?”

“You’re definitely amazing, but from another perspective, you’re also ridiculously absurd. I thought I was getting to know you better, but after seeing you in person, you’ve become even more ambiguous.”

“There’s no point in that now, is there? You’re going to die here.”

Hong Ik-Cheon smiled.

“Just think of it as the obsession of someone who has only thought about such things his entire life.”

“The reason you think I’m complicated isn’t because I’m complicated.”

“I humbly ask for your guidance.”

He even shamelessly asked for guidance.

Yeon Ho-Jeong nodded and said,

“It’s because you tried to analyze me.”

“How else can you know a person if not through analysis?”

“Empathy and understanding.”

“I do that too. Believe it or not.”

“No, you’re just pretending to.”

“……?”

“It takes a long time to truly understand and empathize with even my own parents and siblings. How much more so for a stranger I’ve never even met.”

“But other people…”

“Of course, I might be a unique person to you.”

“……”

“If a person can’t be analyzed, you just have to see, hear, understand, and empathize. You only tried to empathize with others as much as you needed to. That was enough for most people. But not for me.”

“……”

“It’s not because I’m unique, but because you’re unique. There are many people like me in the world.”

“I can’t understand.”

“Yes, and because you’ll clearly maintain that attitude until you die, you’ll never be able to properly analyze me.”

The smile disappeared from Hong Ik-Cheon’s face.

It wasn’t that he was in a bad mood. His expression and atmosphere showed that.

He was just thinking. What did Yeon Ho-Jeong’s words mean?

In fact, there was no need to think deeply about it.

Many people were surprised by Yeon Ho-Jeong’s unconventional strategies and tactics, but at least none of his close friends failed to understand the principles behind his actions.

Yeon Ho-Jeong had lived his entire life to destroy the Three Teachings. Therefore, his strategies and tactics were a direct reflection of his life and personality.

If Hong Ik-Cheon had seen Yeon Ho-Jeong before his regression, he wouldn’t have had much trouble analyzing him either.

However, Yeon Ho-Jeong was able to reshape his life, which had been filled with nothing but hatred, thanks to the grace of heaven.

He learned the love of a father and shared the camaraderie of brothers.

Realizing how bad his blind hatred for the Three Teachings was, and how terrible his own hatred was, he slowly began to change himself.

That change, that growth, was what was obscuring Hong Ik-Cheon’s vision.

At the same time, it was because he had changed and grown that Yeon Ho-Jeong could be Yeon Ho-Jeong.

Hong Ik-Cheon, who had been lost in thought, soon shook his head.

“I still don’t understand.”

Of course, he wouldn’t understand.

Hong Ik-Cheon was a person who had developed his reason more than his human empathy.

Some might ask what’s so important about that, but the ability to read a person’s atmosphere just by feeling, without thinking logically, is also a human ability.

Hong Ik-Cheon lacked that ability. He was just born with a talent that overwhelmed that deficiency.

“I understand for now. If you have any questions for me, I will answer them sincerely.”

Perhaps it was because he thought he had already achieved his goal.

Hong Ik-Cheon used a much more open tone than when he was being interrogated.

Yeon Ho-Jeong nodded and asked,

“Let’s make an assumption.”

“What kind of assumption?”

“Let’s start with the assumption that my family was destroyed…”

“……?”

“My family was destroyed, and I went out into the world alone and was lucky enough to meet a hermit and learn martial arts. With that power, I joined the Black Path [a term for the darker, more ruthless martial arts factions] and lived as a Black Path member as if I was swept away.”

Jeagal Ayeon couldn’t understand what Yeon Ho-Jeong meant.

Yeon Ho-Jeong spoke in a calm tone, using his past before regression as an assumption.

The fall of the Byeoksan Yeon family, the fall of the Guju Myeong family, and then Yeon Ho-Jeong’s tumultuous life after joining the Black Path.

Furthermore, meeting Muk Bi and Gang Ryang, Jin Yang and Seo Jeong-Gwang, and even Hong Ik-Cheon.

From killing Yang Cheon in the fight and establishing the Black Emperor Castle, to the process when the invasion of the Three Teachings began as time passed.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s words were calm and uninterrupted. As he was actually telling a story from the past, it was as interesting as revealing a hidden history. Even Jeagal Ayeon was so engrossed in Yeon Ho-Jeong’s story that she was lost in thought.

“……Then I joined forces with Moyong Gun, the leader of the Martial Alliance, and Tang Gwan, the vice-leader, and fought against the Demonic Cult leader. The Demonic Cult leader died, and the three of us were practically on the verge of death.”

“……”

“Is it interesting?”

Hong Ik-Cheon didn’t answer easily.

It wasn’t that he was trying to figure out Yeon Ho-Jeong’s intentions.

He knew that Yeon Ho-Jeong had some intention, but he had no intention of distinguishing what he could and couldn’t say while keeping that in mind. He had already completed his mission.

Yeon Ho-Jeong patiently waited for his words.

How much time had passed?

“It’s ambiguous.”

“What is?”

“You and I met as colleagues, and I was still someone under the command of the evil god……”

“Yes.”

Hong Ik-Cheon tilted his head.

“In other words, I deceived you and became your colleague.”

“That’s right.”

“I could help with the establishment of a place called the Black Emperor Castle. As you know, the evil god’s goal was to disrupt the martial world, and if you killed Yang Cheon, he would have tried to bring you, who had become the head of the Black Path, to his side, so I would have received such an order.”

Indeed, Hong Ik-Cheon’s analytical skills were outstanding.

He even assumed that Yeon Ho-Jeong knew that Yang Cheon had connections with the Demonic Cult. It was a part that could have been overlooked, but when you think about it, it was also amazing.

“If it were me, and if your personality was like that… I would have deceived you once more in the middle and made contact with the Demonic Cult.”

“Deceive me once more?”

“That’s right. By revealing that I was actually from the Demonic Cult, or something like that.”

Hong Ik-Cheon knew how much Yeon Ho-Jeong hated the Three Teachings.

However, the Yeon Ho-Jeong in this ‘assumption’ that Yeon Ho-Jeong had told him had no hatred for the Three Teachings. In other words, he could have thought of them as a group he could work with.

“If it were my personality, I would never have joined hands with them.”

“That’s highly likely. However, I could have at least tried. Even if you didn’t join hands with the Demonic Cult, I don’t think you would have kicked me out.”

Of course, that would have been the case.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes deepened.

“There were suicides in the Black Emperor Castle too. There were three in total, and one of them was your most cherished and closest subordinate.”

“……”

“It’s highly likely that you orchestrated those suicides as well, right?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds like there really was such a history.”

Hong Ik-Cheon stroked his chin with his bound hands.

“Of course, I would have done it. However, it wouldn’t have ended with just three.”

“……”

“And there would have been no need to make my own right-hand man do that. Unless that subordinate had discovered my secret.”

Listening to Hong Ik-Cheon’s answer, Yeon Ho-Jeong was convinced.

‘This guy is too lacking in emotional empathy and understanding.’

That was the current Hong Ik-Cheon.

But in the past, the Hong Ik-Cheon who had met him and become his colleague was not like that.

With just this analysis and answer, he could have almost complete faith.

Hong Ik-Cheon, or rather Ham Mu-Heon, had become accustomed to life in the Black Emperor Castle.

He had learned empathy, realized understanding, and furthermore, it was clear that he had accepted affection.

The reason why Hong Ik-Cheon couldn’t understand his past self was precisely there.

At the same time, the reason why Yeon Ho-Jeong could understand that part was because he trusted his own eyes and intuition.

Ham Mu-Heon had entered the Black Emperor Castle as a spy and had betrayed them, but he had also become one of the Five Great Generals of the Black Emperor Castle.

That was the reason why Ham Mu-Heon hadn’t been noticeably active. As a spy for the Demonic Cult, of course.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes sharpened.

“The question here is……”

“Now that we’re talking about it, it’s interesting. May I ask first?”

“Speak.”

Hong Ik-Cheon tilted his head repeatedly and said,

“What you’re saying now is purely fiction, right?”

“Of course, it is.”

“It’s a very detailed and plausible fiction. You said you died fighting the Demonic Cult leader?”

“That’s how my end is.”

“You were killed directly by the Demonic Cult leader, is that what you mean?”

“That… I don’t know.”

“Hmm.”

“Why? Is there something bothering you?”

“It’s not that it’s bothering me, but……”

Hong Ik-Cheon said with a playful voice.

“Even if I had learned that ‘empathy’ and hesitated, I would have completed my mission somehow.”

“……?”

“Since it would be difficult to kill you with my own hands, I would have tried to orchestrate it so that you would be killed by someone else.”

“……!!”

“This is interesting. Yes, I’ve learned for the first time that human analysis based on such assumptions is also a very meaningful study.”

Hong Ik-Cheon burst into laughter.

Yeon Ho-Jeong couldn’t laugh.