Chapter 429. To Hell With It (3)

The current hottest topic in Shalyh was the city’s acceptance of the Demon Empire’s survivors. This story was being told wherever one went, but as expected, the majority of the city’s residents had mostly negative things to say. Six to seven people out of ten couldn’t understand Seven Stars’ choice at all. Noel was of the remaining four to three. She didn’t mindlessly support Seven Stars’ decision, but didn’t disagree with them upfront either.

She admitted that Chi-Woo’s decision to accept the Demon Empire’s survivors seemed rather hasty, but she thought they needed to let the situation play out for a bit longer. That was the attitude that many had started with, and surprisingly, the human natives didn’t show strong opposition either. They gritted their teeth seeing the Demon Empire enter Shalyh, but they seemed to be suppressing their desires for blood as if they knew the situation couldn’t be helped. The heroes and the League responded similarly. They glared at the demons and demonic creatures with wide eyes, but let the issue be for now.

If the situation continued to progress like this, perhaps the city’s residents would become more accepting of this change as Chi-Woo intended. Yet something happened before such a day could arrive. With just one person’s declaration, the situation that Chi-Woo had organized fell to ruins. The culprit was the man standing in front of Noel.

What was the reason? Why in the world was he acting in this way? After all, Chi-Woo was this man’s younger brother. Couldn’t he have waited a bit longer while putting his trust in Chi-Woo? Noel contemplated deeply while glancing at Chi-Hyun and suddenly flinched when she heard rough footsteps coming from the corridor outside the door. The noises got closer before—bang! The door slammed open, and a young man barged into the room.

Noel chewed on her lower lip when she saw Chi-Woo. He was heaving and looking bright red. He didn’t say anything even after coming inside and simply glared at Chi-Hyun with cold eyes. Chi-Hyun responded similarly. He kept his eyes on the documents in front of him and remained calm. Feeling the suffocating, tense atmosphere between the two brothers, Noel squeezed her eyes shut. She knew this would happen. A volatile silence filled the room, and it felt like something would erupt at the slightest touch.

“…The official residence is a place where official businesses are conducted.” The first one to speak was Chi-Hyun. “There’s a proper order of actions to take in all processes. This includes meetings and everything else.” Chi-Hyun finally peeled his eyes away from his documents and looked up. “I recall telling you specifically many times that this is no place to just barge into like this.” Chi-Hyun smiled in response to Chi-Woo’s glare and said, “Did you hear me, Seven Stars’ leader, Mr. Choi Chi-Woo?”

“…Mr. Choi Chi-Woo?” Chi-Woo’s eyes narrowed. He wanted to yell at his brother that he came for official business, but he knew his brother would then tell him to go through the proper procedures before coming to him. Chi-Woo inhaled deeply and stomped toward the front of the desk.

“What happened?” Chi-Woo wanted to ask what the reason was behind Chi-Hyun’s sudden behavior; and why Chi-Hyun wanted to stand against him. Chi-Woo clutched Chi-Hyun’s desk strongly and said, “I told you I wasn’t planning to act however I felt this time.”

“…”

“You told me to give it a try, and that my decision was important.”

Chi-Hyun couldn’t deny it. The Celestial Lights and Noel had stood witness.

“Then why—!” Unable to overcome his anger, Chi-Woo struggled to even get the words out.

“Yes, I did,” Chi-Hyun admitted, to Chi-Woo’s surprise. “So what?” Chi-Hyun sounded like he couldn’t be less bothered. “I said that because I didn’t expect you to do something so completely idiotic.”

“…What? What did you say?” Chi-Woo’s eyebrows wiggled at Chi-Hyun’s harsh insult. “What was so idiotic?”

“I want to say every part of it.” Chi-Hyun crossed his fingers. “But I suppose I should admit that there were things you did well too. Your actions in the beginning were alright. You did quite a good job appeasing the natives.” Chi-Hyun spoke calmly, “Even though it took some extra time, you pulled every side closer to you and calmed the mood, which in the end, overturned public opinion. It’s the standard among the standards. Yes. It wasn’t bad. From that point, I thought I should see how things play out and even approve a temporary zone to be established to let the Demon Empire’s survivors settle.” Chi-Hyun nodded and then glared at Chi-Woo.

“So why would you suddenly act out?” Chi-Hyun asked. Chi-Woo was about to retort because he also had something to say about this topic.

“Furthermore, it seems to me you weren’t even the one behind the natives’ change of mind after some digging.”

Chi-Woo pursed his lips, shocked that Chi-Hyun had found out.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?” Chi-Hyun laughed humorlessly as if he had Chi-Woo in the palm of his hand. “If you accept someone else’s help, you should do a good job making it yours. Someone set up everything for you, but you couldn’t even play the field right. You went too far that things can’t be turned around.” Chi-Hyun looked at the now speechless Chi-Woo. “Is there any reason for me to keep observing and standing by?”

“…”

“I only acted after thinking I couldn’t hold back any longer.”

“I also—”

“I’m sure you also have things to say on your end,” Chi-Hyun cut Chi-Woo off like he had no intention to hear his brother out. “But I clearly told you last time. If you really intend to rise to Master tier, you should use this opportunity to prove yourself to me.”

It was the conversation they had before. Chi-Hyun told Chi-Woo to reach at least Master tier if he wanted to play on a bigger field. Chi-Woo thought his brother had simply told him that out of worries, but that was not the case. Chi-Hyun seriously meant his words and more.

“There’s no way you’ll understand up to this point when you didn’t in the first place.” In other words, Chi-Woo failed to prove himself from the beginning.

“Can’t you give me a little more time?” Chi-Woo said what Noel had been wanting to say.

“I don’t want to,” Chi-Hyun instantly responded. “Why should I?”

Chi-Woo didn’t know what more he could say to a response like that.

“If I don’t like the beginning part of a book, I drop it without any lingering feelings. It doesn’t matter to me how interesting or fun the latter part of the book is.” Chi-Hyun shrugged, indicating that there was nothing else that could change his personality.

“…The story ends there.” After staring at Chi-Woo for a long time, Chi-Hyun picked up his documents like he had nothing more to say.

“Hyung.”

“Stop.” Chi-Hyun shook his head. “I won’t consider you my brother in things relating to this matter. Thus, you should do the same and don’t think of me as your brother.” Chi-Hyun’s voice sounded sharp. “There’s nothing more I want to say. You only have two options now.” Chi-Hyun cleared his throat and continued. “You can acknowledge your incompetence and quietly back down, or you could fight me head-on and accomplish what you want with your own hands, whoever stands in your way.”

Chi-Hyun added, “If you insist on wasting your breath on more conversation…then, I will tell you that there will be a general assembly in the official residence addressing Shalyh’s residents in a couple of days.”

“General assembly?”

“I will hear you out then. Of course, it’s up to me whether I respond to you or not. If you don’t come, I will also accept that as a form of answer.” With those words, Chi-Hyun went back to his documents. As he always did, Chi-Hyun made a one-sided declaration. He simply said whatever he wanted to say and cut off the conversation on his own. Chi-Woo knew that even if he continued to push for a conversation, his brother wouldn’t speak anymore. Chi-Hyun would ignore his every word and disregard his very presence.

It was such an infuriating way to converse. If he could, Chi-Woo wanted to muster all the profanities he knew and hurl them at his brother, but he suppressed the urge with superhuman patience. It was because of Eval’s earlier plea.

—I can’t guess the exact reason either…but it’s a meaningful move that hints at various political intentions.

Thus, Eval had begged Chi-Woo that even if he had to go, he shouldn’t fight with the legend; or else the situation would become more difficult, and the legend would use Chi-Woo’s every action to make another political move. Remembering how Eval had begged him to trust him and listen to him, Chi-Woo kept his mouth shut and turned away.

“…How pathetic,” he heard his brother say from behind him.

“I told you to organize your group internally from the beginning. What could a guy who can’t even manage his subordinates properly do…?” Chi-Hyun murmured loud enough for Chi-Woo to hear. Chi-Woo didn’t know what nonsense Chi-Hyun was blabbing now and clenched his fist so tightly that veins popped out from the back of it. He had a strong urge to throw a powerful punch at his brother.

‘…Just this once.’ But in the end, Chi-Woo closed his eyes and quietly left the room.

***

Thud. After the door closed, Noel parted her lips slightly and let out the breath she had been holding. She was worried that Chi-Woo would explode in the middle of the conversation because of how far Chi-Hyun seemed to be pushing his brother. Even Noel thought Chi-Hyun, who she respected above everyone else, had sounded arrogant and really punchable.

The words ‘you went too far’ almost escaped from her mouth, but she managed to hold them back remembering Chi-Hyun’s warning not long ago. Still, Noel couldn’t help but say something and address the situation in a roundabout way.

“Will he…be all right…?”

“He won’t be,” Chi-Hyun responded calmly. “He’s probably seething in anger. I thought there was a 92% chance that he would throw a punch at me, but he fared better than I expected.”

‘Aha, you already expected it? And why is it 92% instead of 90%?’ Noel thought to herself. Then, she expressed that she asked the question not because she was truly worried about the young master, but because she was curious about her Lord’s intentions.

“Then why…”

“Because it needed to be done.”

Noel licked her lips. It was as she expected. Yes, yes. Of course, Chi-Hyun never did anything without his reasons. Expecting Chi-Hyun to say nothing more than that, Noel was about to close her mouth and purse her lips—

“Noel.” But surprisingly, Chi-Hyun didn’t cut off the conversation like he usually did. “What do you see when looking at this?” Chi-Hyun spread out three fingers—the forefinger, middle finger, and the pinky—and drew a line downwards. When he did that, glowing blue mana left actual lines in the air. Noel’s eyes turned wide, and she blinked fast.

“Three lines.”

“Yes, it’s three lines.” Chi-Hyun smirked and asked, “Then, what do you see outside of these three lines?” Noel looked at the lines that resembled a railway or a two-lane expressway and tilted her head. She wasn’t supposed to look at the lines themselves, but what was around them?

“Uh…two spaces? Am I right?”

“Yes.” Chi-Hyun nodded like that was the answer.

“From the side of the two lines on the edges, there’s infinite space,” Chi-Hyun said while tapping on the lines on the farthest right and the farthest left. Then, he pointed at the space beyond the left line and said, “Consider this space to be the territory that guy made only for himself.” Then, he moved his forefinger to the space beyond the right line. “This side is the outside territory. In other words, the area that he doesn’t consider or care for.”

Noel still looked a bit confused. Did Chi-Hyun mean that Chi-Woo had too black and white a view regarding his allies and enemies? But that didn’t seem to be the case when she thought more about it. It sounded like Chi-Hyun was talking about something more profound.

“He likes things that are clear-cut. Without leaning toward one side, he divides things exactly in half so that no one would think it’s unfair.” When two people shared two pieces of bread, how many should one person get so that there weren't any disputes? It was simple; each person would get one piece of bread.

“Thus, he has an extreme dislike for outside forces—whoever it is—trespassing into the spaces he already dictated as his own or organized for his own purposes.”

“Ah…”

“Of course, he isn’t so foolish that he would make a whole fuss because I crossed his line.” Chi-Hyun tapped on each line drawn in the center. “But these are warning lines.”

“Warning…lines?”

“Yes, when someone trespasses into his territory, he tells them not to enter and endures exactly three times. After the third time, he reveals his true nature.”

Noel’s eyes turned wide. Endure? And what was the young master’s true nature?

“You could say it’s his self-justification. No, I suppose it could be a form of self-induced hypnosis,” Chi-Hyun continued. “He thinks that since the other party went too far, and he endured long enough, it will be fine for him to do whatever he wants from then on…” Chi-Hyun trailed off, but Noel supposed that the ‘true nature’ of Chi-Woo that Chi-Hyun was talking about was considerably dangerous by his tone.

“Well, I’m not criticizing him for that. Perhaps that sort of personality would be problematic on Earth, but it’s not really bad in a world like this one.” Liber was different from Earth. In a way, it was a world where one could do anything. As long as one had a good reason for it, it didn’t really matter if they took a life in this instance—provided that they had the power to do so.

After a brief pause, Chi-Hyun said, “But the problem is that he is unnecessarily fair.”

“What do you mean…?”

“He can’t differentiate the times when he should be fair and when he shouldn’t.” Chi-Woo detested outsiders crossing the lines he had drawn, and accordingly, he didn’t try to step outside these three lines he set up if he could really help it. In other words, as much as he expected others to not cross the line, he also tried to do the same.

“But you can’t do that.” If all existences of not only Earth but also the universe at large lived like Chi-Woo, there would be no wars. There would be no need for the Celestial Realm, which worked day and night to maintain the proper balance and order of the universe. But that wasn’t reality. Like how the vast majority of planets had wars, people crossed lines. Chi-Hyun knew this better than anyone else, and he knew that to achieve his goals, there were times when he needed to cross lines.

Yet Chi-Woo avoided doing that at all costs. But if Chi-Woo always maintained that attitude, he would surely run into problems. And above all, he wouldn’t be able to become a ‘Master’, who could force others to accept lines and limits that even he thought were unfair.

“That’s why I acted the way I did.” Chi-Hyun let out a deep sigh and glanced out of the window. “To make that guy cross the lines he set up for himself with his own feet…” He saw Chi-Woo speed out of the official residence and smirked with satisfaction. “I need to rile him up a bit. He’s in perfect shape right now.”