Chapter 28: The Reason for the Fight (3)
The atmosphere in the restaurant turned icy.
Chu Seong's face was severely twisted. Namgung Hyun, who was sitting at the back of the restaurant drinking tea, had a face as stiff as a board.
Yeon Ji-pyeong gulped.
"B-Brother."
"What? Aren't you hungry?"
"...That's not it."
"If you're not going to eat, I'll eat it all. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
Thump!
The ground shook.
Everyone's gaze, except for Yeon Ho-jeong's, turned to Chu Seong.
"What did you just say?"
Yeon Ho-jeong glanced at Chu Seong.
The way he looked at him was strange. It was as if he were looking right through him, like he was some bug or something, not even a person.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who had been looking at Chu Seong, began to chew his meat again.
It was a total dismissal. Chu Seong's face turned bright red.
"What did you say? Say it again!"
"You are being too loud."
Yeon Ho-jeong dug at his ear.
"Figures, a beast is a beast. You can't even understand plain words."
That was just adding fuel to the fire.
"Who does this punk think he is?!"
It was then.
"Stop it."
Namgung Hyun, who had been sitting far away, approached.
Chu Seong did not look at Namgung Hyun. His anger had reached its peak. He looked like he wanted to draw his sword right away.
He was actually clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly. He really seemed ready to draw his sword.
Namgung Hyun strengthened his voice.
"Chu, my man!"
"..."
"Back off."
Chu Seong ground his teeth and spun around. He moved so fast his clothes whipped around.
Namgung Hyun, relieved, spoke in an icy voice.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Yeon Ho-jeong tilted his head.
"Are you talking to me?"
"Who else would I be talking to?"
"What's your problem?"
"Do you think the family will let it slide, you insulting another family's head bodyguard like that?"
"When did I insult your bodyguard?"
"I didn't call anyone out by name, did I?"
"Don't be childish. Don't play word games. Anyone who saw this..."
"Yeah, you got that right."
Yeon Ho-jeong's face became serious.
"Why didn't you step in earlier if you saw everything? You saw how I was yesterday, but you were just chilling, drinking your tea?"
"Wh-what did you say?"
"If you've got something to say, say it to my face. Don't hide behind some old bodyguard and just stare."
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"I'm telling you, don't be a coward. What's a big shot from the Namgung family so scared of that he can't even ask me to step outside? Are you scared of me or something?"
"You're seriously delusional. You're pushing people..."
Yeon Ho-jeong waved his hand.
He didn't listen to the other person until the end. Whatever he said would be obvious anyway.
If he was obviously going to say something to get on his nerves, it was better to just say what he wanted to say and be done with it.
"I know you don't have good feelings towards me. Then, like a martial artist, challenge me to a duel fairly, or ask me to have a drink. If you're going to play games, at least be sneaky about it."
"This is getting ridiculous. Why would I..."
"Oh, come on. You weren't cooking this up because of what happened with your sister?"
Namgung Hyun's expression changed drastically.
To bring up Namgung Sang-hwa when everyone was watching? This was dangerous.
Just as Namgung Hyun was about to open his mouth hastily, Yeon Ho-jeong's words were already pouring out.
"Maybe being a jerk is in your blood, but if you learned anything from your fancy family, you'd know not to cross the line. You and your sister are a disgrace to the Namgung name."
Namgung Hyun's face became ferocious.
"Are you dissing the family right now?"
"If you don't want to be called an animal, listen up. Saying the Namgung name is wasted on you means you and your sister don't act like you're part of the Namgung family. Is that too hard for you to understand?"
"You...!"
"And."
A subtle light flickered in Yeon Ho-jeong's eyes.
Namgung Hyun's body flinched for a moment. The glint in his eyes, which flashed like lightning, seemed to pierce through his eyeballs and the back of his head.
"Right here, right now, you're using what happened yesterday as an excuse to insult the family through me and my brother. So why shouldn't I insult you back?"
"In-insult!"
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled.
"So it wasn't an insult? You're saying you didn't tell your bodyguard to do this?"
"Of course not!"
"Then you can't say anything if I beat your bodyguard's ass right here for insulting the family."
That's nonsense.
But Yeon Ho-jeong made that nonsense sound like it made sense.
"If you didn't order it, then your bodyguard took it upon himself to insult another family. As the oldest son of the family he insulted, shouldn't I get some payback?"
"That's ridiculous! Chu was just doing his job for the meeting, not trying to insult anyone or...!"
"I told you not to be a coward, didn't I? Don't you be one either. Everyone in this place saw how your precious bodyguard was acting all high and mighty."
Namgung Hyun unknowingly looked around.
Young men and women, sitting around, were watching them. Some looked nervous, others looked like they were enjoying the show.
The thing is, they were all from the Seven Great Families.
Namgung Hyun gritted his teeth.
'Damn it!'
He just wanted to liven things up on the second day of the banquet.
He told Chu Seong to put Yeon Ho-jeong in his place. But he didn't actually want to kick the Yeon brothers out. Even if they weren't that strong, the Yeon family was still one of the Seven Great Families.
He planned to step in at just the right moment and smooth things over in front of everyone. It was to make himself look good, break the other guy's spirit, and make Yeon Ho-jeong let his guard down.
And at the perfect moment, he was going to make the other guy lose face and show off Namgung's power.
But what the heck? The crowd, who should've been on his side, was actually helping the other guy.
"If you don't like it, then you deal with your own bodyguard."
"Wh-what did you say?!"
"It doesn't matter if he was in the right or not, your bodyguard crossed the line. As the young master, shouldn't you put him in his place?"
"......!!"
"Choose."
Namgung Hyun was originally a man of cold reason.
However, he had never encountered such a headstrong situation. In fact, this matter was a trivial dispute, barely even worthy of being called an incident.
But the opponent had burdened this trivial dispute with the weight of family honor. No matter how smart Namgung Hyun was, he couldn't help but be flustered.
It was then.
"I'll take care of it, and that's that."
Namgung Hyun turned to look at Chu Seong.
Chu Seong's eyes were burning like fire.
"This whole thing happened because of me, so I can handle it. No need for the Young Master to get involved."
Namgung Hyun went pale.
'You son of a bitch!'
It was the worst.
Chu Seong shouldn't have stepped up like that. He should've said something like, 'Don't listen to him, I didn't do anything wrong.'
But he said he'd take responsibility. That's basically saying he admitted to insulting the Yeon family.
Yeon Ho-jeong grinned.
It was a truly pleasant smile, revealing all of his chillingly white teeth.
"At least you know how to take responsibility, unlike your boss. I'll give you that."
A low hum of energy started to build.
Chu Seong took a step forward.
He wasn't letting out his internal energy, but you could feel this dangerous vibe coming off him.
"Alright, how do you plan on making me pay, hotshot?"
"Martial artists have a pretty simple way of settling things, don't they?"
"You want to fight?"
"Wouldn't that be the easiest way?"
From Chu Seong's perspective, it was a truly absurd situation.
Sure, he was the eldest son of some big-shot family, but he was still a kid, not even twenty. Chu Seong was a top-level expert who'd been fighting for his life in the martial world for over fifteen years.
Fight him? He couldn't figure out where this kid got his nerve.
Maybe he was just too shocked? Chu Seong said, dripping with sarcasm.
"Yeah, I saw you scrapping with the Third Young Master. You seem to know a thing or two. So, how about you teach me a lesson in front of everyone?"
It was a put-down, but also a chance to show off the Namgung family's strength. Chu Seong wanted to wipe the floor with Yeon Ho-jeong in front of all the young bloods.
And Yeon Ho-jeong?
'What luck!'
Yeon Ho-jeong unknowingly burst into a wide grin.
He wanted to stir things up anyway, and now this? He almost wanted to forget about what happened earlier.
"Let's do it. Sounds good to me, doesn't it?"
The guy who should've been backing down was way too into it.
For a second, Chu Seong wondered if the kid had some trick up his sleeve. No matter how he looked at it, Yeon Ho-jeong had less than a snowball's chance in hell of winning.
Yeon Ho-jeong sprang up from his seat.
"We can call it a friendly spar. After I get my payback, we can show off our skills to the youngsters, can't we?"
Chu Seong let out a snort, "Huh!"
"Suit yourself."
"Perfect."
Yeon Ho-jeong's eyes had a dangerous glint.
At this moment, his eyes were looking not at Chu Seong, but at Myeonghorim.
"Let's make this a good one."
"Wh-what did you say?!"
Jegal Ah-yeon's jaw dropped.
"Chu Seong? You mean Lightning Fist Chu Seong, the one who just became the Namgung family's Unit Leader?!"
"...Yes."
Jegal Ah-yeon rubbed her forehead.
"Damn it! Why did it have to be someone like that?!"
Lightning-Fist Chu Seong.
Chu Seong was a veteran fighter who'd made a name for himself in Henan and Anhui.
He was known for his brutal sword style and his hot temper. He was famous for taking down thirty percent of the bandits in Henan and Anhui all by himself over fifteen years.
Most of those bandits knew how to fight. Even though most were from the underworld, there were some big gangs with hundreds of members.
Basically, some kid's martial arts wouldn't work on him. Junior disciples were just the best of their age group. Sure, you get a genius every now and then, but fighting a real swordsman with tons of experience was dangerous for anyone.
It's not like the Namgung family made Chu Seong Unit Leader for no reason.
"We gotta stop this! No matter how good Ho-jeong is, this is a bad idea!"
"That's...."
Yeon Ji-pyeong sighed.
"They're already getting ready at the outer training grounds. They say it'll start in about an hour."
"Heok!"
Jegal Ah-yeon gasped.
"Still, no way! Chu Seong is as ruthless as they come! He doesn't give a damn what people think!"
"There's nothing we can do. If we back down now, my brother's reputation will be ruined, even before the family's."
Jegal Ah-yeon was speechless.
"Seriously, Pyeong-ah, why are you so calm? Have you just given up? Did you reach enlightenment or something?"
Yeon Ji-pyeong sighed.
"Of course not! I'm worried too. I told him to stop, like, a bunch of times. But..."
"But?"
"Even though I'm worried, I trust my brother."
"......!"
"The brother I know, even if he seems a little crazy to other people, always does what he says he'll do. As his brother, yeah, I'm worried, but I think he knows what he's doing."
Jegal Ah-yeon's eyes wavered.
"Trusting his brother? Even if you trust your brother, this is insane, isn't it?"
They were weird brothers. Worried but trusting? That's not how normal people think.
'Brothers are brothers, after all.'
But Yeon Ji-pyeong didn't flinch. He wasn't nervous.
He totally believed in his brother's judgment and his skills.
"You guys are two of a kind."
"Yes?"
"Forget it! Let's get to the training grounds! Joon-ah! Get out here!"
