"You little punk, Dan Sahyeok!"
"Yes."
Even at a response that dull, O Duseok snorted and strode forward.
"What in blazes have you done? Hm? What did you demand from the Martial Alliance that has everyone looking like a boar with its nostrils sewn shut?"
"Branch Commander, have you ever actually sewn a boar's nostrils shut?"
"It is a figure of speech!"
"Fine, but keep your voice down. You are giving me a headache."
"As if anything in the world could give you a headache!"
"That was also a figure of speech."
"Hmph!"
O Duseok dropped onto the seat across from Dan Sahyeok with a heavy thud.
Dan Sahyeok placed a chipped bowl before him and poured.
"Twice-Brewed?"
"No."
"Jade Spring, then? Azalea Wine?"
"Just cheap grain wine. The stuff they ration out at the rank-and-file mess hall."
"Why are you drinking that swill? You, the great hero of the Martial Alliance?"
"And why is the Branch Commander's manner of speech still the same? To the great hero of the Martial Alliance?"
"Hmph. Wishful thinking. I would not change my tune for a hero or a hero's grandfather. This O Duseok does not bow to any man just because he put on a fancy hat."
"True enough. That is why you got yourself sent to the Gansu Branch."
"Are you picking a fight right now?"
"I am praising your integrity."
Dan Sahyeok brushed off O Duseok's growling with ease and held out the bottle.
O Duseok took it with a huff and drank, then let out a rich belch.
"BURP! Mm, good stuff. I cannot even remember how long it has been since I last had a drink."
"You took your sweet time getting here, so I would have thought you had plenty of chances to drink along the way."
"Plenty, my foot! I ran until my soles blistered. And then the Strategist showed up halfway and it was absolute chaos."
"I see."
"Yeah. Kept badgering me about whether the Blood Sky Demon was really dead, again and again. In the end, he checked the corpse himself and still did not want to believe it."
"I imagine not."
"You imagine not? Why? Did you make an enemy of the Strategist or something?"
"Heh, well. If I have made an enemy of anyone, it would be the Martial Alliance as a whole."
"The entire Martial Alliance? What kind of dog-chewing-grass nonsense is that?"
"You will find out soon enough."
At Dan Sahyeok's cryptic remark, O Duseok's brow creased sharply.
"Damn brat. You could just tell me, but you always have to make a man wonder."
"The Branch Commander truly has not changed a bit."
"Hmph. If you are expecting the hero treatment, you had best give up now. This O Duseok has no intention of bowing to any man just because he has some title to his name."
"True enough. That is why you got demoted to the Gansu Branch."
"You said that already."
"I did?"
"You did, you bastard!"
Dan Sahyeok let out a snort of laughter.
"I suppose so. And I feel the same. Hero or whatever--it will not change who I am."
"That mouth of yours, I swear......"
"Enough with the sulking and have a drink. Cheap as it is, it is leagues above the swill they rationed back in Gansu."
"Well, that much is true."
O Duseok took the bowl Dan Sahyeok offered and drained it in one go.
"Phwah! Good stuff. This is what grain wine should be--thick with sediment, that is the real deal."
"I knew you would appreciate it."
"But listen."
O Duseok dragged his chair closer.
"Why does everyone here stare at you like that? Those are not the eyes of people looking at a hero. They are looking at you like a villain."
"I told you. It is as though I have made an enemy of the entire Martial Alliance."
"No, but why? I honestly cannot fathom it."
The Blood Sky Demon Cheon Muyeol, the Martial Alliance's longtime nemesis.
Dan Sahyeok had defeated him, so surely a lavish welcome and a bounty of gold and silver awaited, leaving nothing to do but lounge about in comfort.
That was the extent of what O Duseok could conceive.
"Branch Commander."
"What?"
"You are probably going to be dismissed soon."
"Me? Dismissed?"
O Duseok did not so much as bat an eye.
If anything, his expression was placid as he jerked his chin toward Dan Sahyeok.
"Why?"
"With the Blood Sky Demon dead, the Blood Sky Sect will soon collapse or weaken, and once that happens, there will be no justification for maintaining the Gansu Branch."
"Hmm. Should I be glad about that?"
"For the rank-and-file warriors toiling away at the frontier, yes. For the Martial Alliance's higher-ups, it will be a bitter pill to swallow."
"The higher-ups? Why them?"
"Because they will lose a convenient place to banish people they find inconvenient."
O Duseok stared at Dan Sahyeok for a moment, then clicked his tongue as a realization struck.
"You mean people like me?"
"Precisely."
Dan Sahyeok nodded.
"Upright as bamboo, you never let even a minor irregularity or a petty scheme slide. That made you plenty of enemies, and their collusion saw you shipped off to Gansu."
"Tch. You are dredging up bitter memories. But how the hell do you know my personal business in such detail?"
"I overheard the drill instructors gossiping."
"Damn them."
"At any rate, that brings me to my point. How about working with me afterward?"
O Duseok regarded Dan Sahyeok once more.
"You want me to crawl under your wing?"
"I am saying we work together. On equal footing."
"Say what you like, but when it comes down to making the important calls, your say will always come first."
"Well, that is true."
"Tch. What self-respecting man would crawl between the trouser legs of some kid who used to be under him, even if only in name?"
"I am not asking you to submit to me."
"I still do not like it. This O Duseok is a martial artist to the marrow, and I do not crawl under just anyone."
"Since we are on the subject."
Dan Sahyeok shrugged.
"Branch Commander, you are weaker than I am."
"......"
"No need to be disheartened. Frankly, there is not a single person under these skies of Xi'an who is not."
"Do not say that so lightly, Dan Sahyeok."
A cold glint lit O Duseok's eyes.
"As the saying goes, one must measure stick against stick to know which is longer."
"That only holds when the sticks are close in length. When the difference is plain for all to see, insisting on measuring is just the act of a fool."
"Wh-why, you little......?"
"I will oblige you if you insist on finding out for yourself, but the only one who would lose out is the Branch Commander."
"......"
"Take your time to think it over. I will wait until you change your mind."
O Duseok drained bowl after bowl.
By the time a double-digit number of bottles lay scattered on their sides around them, O Duseok--his face showing not a hint of intoxication--opened his mouth.
"Dan Sahyeok."
"Mm."
"You are well aware of how the warriors at the Gansu Branch feel about you, are you not?"
"More or less."
"Those people are still waiting for you to come back."
O Duseok downed yet another bowl.
"To be blunt about it, every last one of them is desperate to come find you."
"Is that so?"
"Yes! There is not a single one among them who has not been saved by you. When I set out on this trip, the line of volunteers who wanted to come along was so long I nearly had to put them down by force."
"Heh heh heh."
"This is no laughing matter! In any case...... the only reason they are all holding back is their loyalty to the Martial Alliance. Without that, every one of them would have quit on the spot and swarmed to Xi'an, just like you."
"Is that so."
"It is. Their devotion to the Martial Alliance runs that deep. Even though most of them were demoted and cast out."
"......"
"So I am asking you."
BANG!
O Duseok slammed his bowl down hard enough to crack it, and the reek of liquor billowed off him.
"Do not do anything that would let those people down. You hear me?"
"Of course."
Dan Sahyeok answered with quiet composure.
"What I intend to do is, in part, for the Martial Alliance's sake as well."
"No, so what in the blazes are you trying to do?"
RUMBLE!
Before O Duseok could finish, a group of men stormed into the dining hall.
The flush that had been creeping into O Duseok's face vanished in an instant.
Purging a touch of intoxication was child's play for a master of his caliber.
The group that had barged in ignored O Duseok, the Branch Commander, and crowded up beside Dan Sahyeok.
"Dan Sahyeok, First-Class Warrior of the Martial Alliance Gansu Branch. You will need to come with us."
"I quit the Martial Alliance warrior business a long time ago."
"In that case, you have all the more reason to come with us. You are not even a member yet you have entered a warrior's mess hall without authorization."
"Have you all lost your damn minds! What son of a bitch sent you mangy mutts here?"
That was O Duseok's thunderous rebuke.
The leader of the group frowned.
"Do you mean to insult the Martial Alliance's code enforcement unit, the Black Tiger Corps, to our faces?"
"That is exactly what I am doing, you mongrels, filthy down to the backside."
"How dare you......!"
"Then tell your Captain to come see me. Is Hundred-Armed Fist Master Sa Inhwan still holding that post, that greenhorn?"
The man's face contorted in an instant.
"He was the previous Captain......"
"Oh? Then some even greener whelp took over, I see. Tell them Thunderclap Fist O Duseok wants a word."
"O Duseok, as in the Gansu Branch Commander......?"
"That is right. The very same Gansu Branch Commander."
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!
The Black Tiger Corps warriors threw themselves to the floor in unison without a word of debate.
"We beg your forgiveness! We have committed a terrible offense against you, Branch Commander!"
"Please pardon us!"
Barring the home province of Shaanxi where headquarters was located, each region had a branch--and those branches were the Martial Alliance's regional arms.
The position of Branch Commander was an exceedingly lofty one.
In provinces of note like Anhui, Hubei, Henan, or Sichuan, it went without saying.
Even a remote posting like Gansu carried a nominal rank that was formidable indeed.
"Young people these days may not know up from down, but this goes beyond the pale. Would you not agree, Dan Sahyeok?"
"Enough, leave it be."
"What?"
"Who would ever expect someone of a Branch Commander's stature to be drinking in a rank-and-file mess hall?"
O Duseok looked down at himself and pulled a conflicted face.
"That is...... a fair point."
"And looking at the way the Branch Commander is dressed, who would ever take him for someone important?"
"What?"
O Duseok bristled.
But then he glanced down at the tattered garments stitched together from bear hide and saw the logic.
"Come to think of it, I am still wearing what I wore out there."
"You should count yourself lucky if they do not mistake you for a stray hunter who wandered in."
"Then I suppose a measure of rudeness is forgivable."
Even as he said it, O Duseok kept a baleful eye on the Black Tiger Corps members.
Under his frosty glare, the soldiers did not dare lift their heads.
"But while I can let the offense against me slide, the disrespect shown to Dan Sahyeok is another matter."
"......!"
"Branch Commander, since when do you worry about me so much?"
"This is not about worrying over you."
O Duseok knit his brow fiercely.
"I am asking what kind of treatment this is for the Martial Alliance's hero. They should be showering him with treasures and laying out every manner of feast!"
"And as I told you, they have their reasons."
"What reasons?"
O Duseok shouted in exasperation.
Dan Sahyeok, rather than offering an explanation, simply let out a quiet smirk.
"You will find out when you get there."