Yeon Hojeong glanced down sideways at Mookbi.

“I ought to at least treat a guest who’s come a long way to some good tea, but with my companion in this state, that’s not happening.”

Mo Yong-woo turned his gaze to Mookbi.

Tssss.

A gray shimmer of haze was rising from Mookbi’s body.

Mo Yong-woo’s eyes flashed.

A powerhouse!

At a glance she looked far younger than he was, yet the inner force she held was on par with that of a Great Sect’s leader.

Mo Yong-woo slowly shook his head.

“She’s an incredible person.”

“In terms of potential alone, you could stack her against the whole world.”

“Even without bringing up potential, isn’t she already impressive enough with just her current level?”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“At this level, it’s nowhere near enough. Age, years of training, experience—they all matter, but if she doesn’t get stronger, none of it means anything.”

“That sounds a bit extreme.”

“Even if I had to go more extreme than this, I wouldn’t care—as long as it meant we could get stronger.”

Mo Yong-woo’s eyes deepened.

“To prepare for the future?”

Yeon Hojeong nodded.

“To prepare for the future.”

A brief silence fell.

The one to break it was Yeon Hojeong.

“Feels a bit off just standing here. Why don’t you sit down.”

“I’m fine.”

“Then suit yourself.”

Yeon Hojeong flopped down on the spot with a wet thump.

Watching him, Mo Yong-woo saw the illusion of a massive bird soaring freely across the open sky.

Mo Yong-woo cleared his throat.

“How old are you?”

Yeon Hojeong let out a short laugh.

“Are you trying to run background on me?”

“I’m honestly curious. From the outside you look like you’re just past twenty, but there’s no way anyone who talks and acts like you do is that age.”

“I am exactly what I look like. I was born at least ten years later than you.”

“Ten years...”

Mo Yong-woo let out a low sigh.

Ten years younger? That meant Yeon Hojeong and Mo Yong Yeonhwa were about the same age.

They were the same age, but the two could not have been more different. One, despite having exceptional talent, was rotting her clan away together with her father; the other was fighting the world with the soul of a Grandmaster of an Age.

A wry smile tugged at Mo Yong-woo’s lips.

“It somehow feels humiliating.”

“What does?”

“I’ve no idea what I was even doing at your age.”

“What else? You were probably going through every hardship there is just to endure the cold-blooded oppression of your clan.”

“...You really pick words that leave a man with nothing to say.”

Mo Yong-woo flicked ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ his long coat.

“No, this won’t do. It is more comfortable to sit.”

“See? Told you to sit.”

Sitting down, Mo Yong-woo stared quietly at Yeon Hojeong.

Yeon Hojeong smiled as if he found it amusing.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Say it.”

“I think we’ll be seeing each other quite often from now on. Whether for good reasons or bad.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed.

He’d felt it when the man had first sought him out, but now he could be certain.

He’s decided.

That’s right. Mo Yong-woo had finally made up his mind.

The lightness and taut intensity in his voice proved he’d reached conviction. And yet there was a trace of unshakable composure beneath it; it made Yeon Hojeong think he’d picked his person well.

“And?”

“I told you I wanted to make a deal with you. You remember?”

“I remember.”

“Yes. A deal. But as you already guessed, I still can’t fully trust you.”

“That’s only natural.”

“But thanks to your help this time, I was able to realize a great deal.”

He was an interesting man.

He didn’t say he’d gained something; he said he’d realized something. It was a very Mo Yong-woo thing to say.

“You seized the Merchants’ Alliance side of things in one sweep. But I’m not grateful for that.”

“...”

“What I’m grateful for is that this incident made me come to loathe my own indecisive past.”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“You don’t have to take it that far. Everyone struggles differently depending on the situation they’re thrown into. You fought a hard battle inside the circumstances you were given. No one would look at that and call it indecisive.”

Mo Yong-woo shook his head.

“I’m truly thankful you’d say that, but even so, it shouldn’t have been that way. Even if it wasn’t you, I should have opened my eyes sooner.”

“What matters is the present. Instead of wasting time regretting things, it’s better to pour everything into the present so you can seize the future with your own hands.”

“You’re right. But the reason I’m saying all this is to express my gratitude to you.”

Still seated, Mo Yong-woo bowed his head.

“Thank you. Sincerely.”

Watching him quietly, Yeon Hojeong nodded.

“I’ll accept that sincerity.”

A faint smile crossed Mo Yong-woo’s face.

“This is strange.”

“What is?”

“The fact that I’ve clasped hands with someone I’d never even met once before, after only a few conversations, and now I’m grateful to the one who approached me first. My situation feels strange.”

“You find the oddest things strange.”

“That’s why I just want to ask one favor.”

“Shouldn’t you start with ‘still,’ or something?”

“I’d like to be a little more at ease with you.”

Yeon Hojeong frowned.

“What is that supposed to mean? Speak plainly.”

Mo Yong-woo cleared his throat.

“Well...”

“Mm?”

“...Even if we can’t go as far as calling each other brothers from our first meeting, I’d like us to be closer than we are now. I think we should at least settle how we address each other.”

Yeon Hojeong scratched his head.

“Is that really such a big deal?”

“It matters.”

“Good grief.”

“Even though I only just met you, I’m at least certain of one thing—you didn’t deceive me.”

“Good eye.”

“And one more thing.”

Mo Yong-woo’s eyes shone.

“You would never betray your own people. If anything, when your people get hurt, I’m sure you hurt as if you’d been wounded yourself.”

“Man, you’re really making my skin crawl here.”

“I’m just saying what my gut tells me.”

“That’s one seriously cheesy gut.”

“In any case.”

Mo Yong-woo kept clearing his throat. Even he seemed embarrassed by what he was saying.

“Can I just call you little brother Yeon?”

“That’s what you dragged out all this way to say? I already told you to call me whatever you like.”

“...”

“I don’t care what you call me. Like you said, we made a deal. I help you, and you help me in your own way. That’s all there is to it.”

It was a rather cold statement. Depending on the person, it might have been enough to sting.

But apparently, it didn’t wound Mo Yong-woo at all.

On the contrary, he lit up and laughed.

“Then I’ll be in your care from now on, little brother.”

As Yeon Hojeong was giving a wry smile, he suddenly realized his fist was clenched.

...Was I about to hit him without realizing it?

Loosening the hand that felt like it might cramp up, Yeon Hojeong spoke.

“Let’s move on to something a little more constructive.”

“Let’s.”

“...”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just suddenly feel like I understand that girl.”

“Hm?”

“There’s this girl, sharp as a whip. She once told me my way of talking made me sound like a little old man.”

“She sounds like fun.”

Does she? I don’t see what’s fun about that.

Yeon Hojeong’s expression grew serious.

“So? How did it go? Explain how you handled things.”

Naturally, Mo Yong-woo’s face also turned serious.

“Well...”

Mo Yong-woo laid out everything that had happened with Mo Yong Yeonhwa in detail.

“And that’s how it turned out.”

“...”

“What is it?”

Staring blankly at him, Yeon Hojeong spoke in a drained voice.

“So what you’re telling me is, you half broke Mo Yong Yeonhwa to pieces?”

“Ahem! Little brother, your way of talking is a bit rough.”

“...You idiot.”

Yeon Hojeong pressed his temples as hard as he could.

“You could have just said you’d handle it, that you’d show the result, and sent her back. You’re telling me you actually went and made that kind of reckless statement?”

With a cool face, Mo Yong-woo shook his head.

“I couldn’t do that.”

“Why couldn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you were expecting from me, little brother, but I couldn’t keep hiding my real feelings in front of Yeonhwa as well.”

“Ha!”

“Gathering strength in secret so the clan doesn’t notice? Sure, that’s possible. But even then it’s nothing but a precarious tightrope walk. If I do it that way, who knows when I’ll ever be able to bring the main house back to normal.”

“...”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. Maybe doing it the way you said really would be the safer, faster path.”

His eyes gleamed.

“But once I’ve made up my mind, I don’t want to move halfheartedly. I have no intention of becoming some puppet that only moves the way you tell me to.”

“...Is that so.”

“I know it might look frustrating. But this is something you and I both have to put our strength into.”

“That’s true.”

“Let’s worry about it together, and decide together. If either one of us blindly follows only the other’s opinion, I’m sure it’ll come back to bite us later.”

Mo Yong-woo let out a sigh.

“In any case... things ended up in a way I can’t really show my face after this.”

“No.”

A smile curved Yeon Hojeong’s lips.

It was a genuinely warm smile, with a faint, refreshing lightness to it.

“Not wanting to live as a puppet, huh...”

At first he’d been dumbfounded, but the more he listened to Mo Yong-woo, the better he felt.

That’s more like it.

That’s how it should be. You needed at least that much conviction and guts to make it worth working together.

People who let themselves be dragged around passively never get beyond what they’re told to do. But someone like Mo Yong-woo, who works with his own sense of conviction, will find work to do on his own even without being told.

The difference is far greater than most people vaguely imagine.

“I thought you were just naive, but that’s not it at all. Good. That’s the minimum. You are going to be the next Alliance Leader of the Martial World, after all.”

Mo Yong-woo’s face hardened.

“Let’s drop that subject.”

“I’m going to keep talking about it, so if you don’t want to hear it, plug your ears.”

It was the kind of line that left a person with nothing to say. Instead of plugging his ears, Mo Yong-woo shut his mouth.

Yeon Hojeong folded his arms.

“In any case, things just got busier. If that’s how you came out, Mo Yonggun isn’t going to sit still.”

“Hm?”

“Yeonhwa is going to relay every word of the conversation she had with you. Mo Yonggun is never going to let you off. At the latest, within two months, Mo Yong warriors will march into Zhejiang.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Why not? With his personality, there’s no way he lets this slide.”

“My brother isn’t at the main house right now.”

“What?”

“The temporary Alliance of the Martial World.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.

Mo Yonggun continued speaking.

“He’s up to his neck in work over the founding of the Alliance of the Martial World. That buys us more time.”

“I see. But the outcome doesn’t change.”

“You’re right. Which is why...” 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Yeon Hojeong would never forget this moment.

Right then, Mo Yong-woo’s eyes were shining more brilliantly than ever before.

Even Yeon Hojeong, who would one day be called the Dark Emperor and sweep across the dark-path martial world, flinched for just an instant at that light. It was like the coiling of a Hidden Dragon biding its moment to soar.

“Before I left for here, I sent my brother a letter.”

“A letter?”

“That’s right.”

“What kind of letter?”

“That I would nurture Zhejiang properly. That by next year, I’d double the trade business.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes went wide.

“Double...?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you actually plan to do that?”

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have written it in the letter.”

His face grew serious.

You’ll double the business?

It was a letter overflowing with daring, but the real problem was how Mo Yonggun would react.

For one reason or another, Mo Yong Yeonhwa would spill every word of the conversation she’d had on this end.

Mo Yong-woo went on.

“My brother understands commerce. If I send him a proper business plan, he’ll give me enough time...”

“No, that kind of soft, squishy strategy won’t cut it.”

“Hm?”

Yeon Hojeong looked straight at him.

Without meaning to, Mo Yong-woo stiffened.

“You.”

“Go on.”

“The moment you decided to make a deal with me, it’s fair to say you’d already staked your life, isn’t it?”

“Of course.”

“Then how about really putting it on the line this time?”

“Do you have some special stroke in mind?”

Yeon Hojeong nodded.

What came out of his mouth a moment later made Mo Yong-woo start in shock.

“If it’s been off course for over ten years, isn’t it about time you stopped riding that crooked boat?”

“...?”

“Go under Mo Yonggun.”

“...!!”