It was as he said.

The familiar face at the front of the group was the young master of the Namgung family I had seen a few days ago. He was wearing martial attire mixed with deep navy and blue colors, and his face was still as graceful as if drawn with a brush in one stroke, just as I had seen a few days ago.

‘His name was… Seohan.’

Paeng Un Il approached the Namgung family group with a welcoming expression.

At the other tables, people seemed to think ‘Oh, someone else has arrived’ and hardly paid attention to them. Thanks to that, although the inn was still noisy, it wasn’t so loud that the conversation between Paeng Un Il and Namgung Seohan couldn’t be heard at all.

“What brings you here?”

“Your brother said you were gathering all sorts of people and inviting them, so I was curious to see who you had brought.”

“He said it like that?”

Paeng Un Il shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I only invited people from Konlun Sect and Huashan Sect to mingle together. We know each other’s faces among the families, but it’s hard to build friendships with those in sects without creating opportunities like this. I just thought it would be nice to get to know each other since we happened to meet.”

“Hmm.”

Namgung Seohan let out an ambiguous exclamation, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, as his head turned this way.

“So, do we have a place to sit?”

“Well, we’ll make one if there isn’t. Have a seat. There probably won’t be seats at other inns.”

“We already ate on the way here.”

“Oh, is that so? But from what you’re saying, it seems you came with the intention of mingling, didn’t you?”

Paeng Un Il chuckled and tilted his head pretentiously.

“Come to think of it, it’s unexpected. What made you think of this, elder brother Namgung? I thought you didn’t like noisy places much.”

“As you said, it’s hard to greet people from sects without a place like this, so it can’t be helped.”

With those words, Namgung Seohan said something to the family members behind him, waved his hand, and started striding towards this table. Paeng Un Il, who had been standing behind, had an expression of understanding just from that.

Pulling out the chair from Paeng Un Il’s empty seat, Namgung Seohan opened his mouth.

“Excuse me. We meet again here, Elder Ha Eun.”

It goes without saying that his gaze was directed at me.

‘Hmm…’

As our eyes met, I intuitively felt that dealing with him had become a bit more tricky.

No, rather than tricky, it’s more like… I felt a strange hostility towards me, unlike a few days ago. Perhaps his competitive spirit had evolved in the meantime?

‘Well, it would be stranger if everyone in the world was kind to me.’

That was true even if I hadn’t done anything wrong. Conversely, I don’t particularly like that young master either, so it doesn’t matter much.

Anyway, I couldn’t ignore the greeting that had already been given. Especially since he spoke to me first as soon as he arrived here. I returned his greeting with a slight nod of my head.

“So it seems. It’s nice to see you, Young Master.”

“Oh? You already knew each other?”

Paeng Un Il, who had followed, asked with a slightly curious attitude. Come to think of it, he was happy earlier about being the first to know the truth, but it didn’t even last an hour.

“Actually, we met by chance a few days ago when I went out briefly with my cousins.”

“That’s right. We couldn’t have a proper conversation then because the elder was in a hurry, though.”

…I almost felt like I wanted to leave now too, if only it were possible.

I saw Tang Linghua’s eyes narrow slightly beside me. Additionally, Ha Hyun, sitting on the opposite side, tilted his head a bit. Seeing that, I could take some comfort in knowing that I wasn’t being overly sensitive about Namgung Seohan’s attitude.

Anyway, Namgung Seohan ended up joining us.

He exchanged brief greetings with Tang Linghua, whom he seemed to know already, and then introduced himself to Ha Hyun, confirming that Ha Hyun also had the same master as me.

Although it wasn’t very noticeable on the surface, I could tell that he was observing Ha Hyun carefully, at a level that would be noticeable if one paid close attention, just like I was doing now.

“I see, so the elder’s fellow disciple…”

The atmosphere started to turn a bit awkward.

I could see Paeng Un Il rolling his eyes with a face that said, ‘Huh? Did I make a wrong choice?’ Meanwhile, Tian Jiang from Konlun Sect maintained the same attitude as before, exchanging greetings without changing his expression at all.

It doesn’t seem like he’s just being brave.

‘…Could it be that he’s not picking up on the mood?’

Maybe it’s because he’s only lived within the sect.

Of course, this could be my prejudice as well. But Konlun Sect is not located in the center of the Central Plains like Huashan or Wudang, but in Qinghai, which is practically the western end. Because of that, although they belong to the Nine Schools and One Clan, they rarely interfere in practical matters.

Instead, I heard that the religious atmosphere within the sect is quite strict. At least, it’s on a level that can’t be compared to places like Huashan or Wudang…

No, that doesn’t matter anyway.

‘I should just be glad that at least one person is comfortable.’

Shaking my head inwardly, I briefly observed Namgung Seohan.

In fact, I have little attachment to the opportunity to get close to people from other families. Of course, I know that some level of acquaintance is necessary since we can’t live alone in this world, but even so, I wasn’t particularly disappointed about the atmosphere of this gathering becoming strange.

‘Just from what Paeng Un Il said earlier, it doesn’t seem like I’m in a situation where I need to go around actively seeking friendships.’

But separately from that, I was a bit curious about Namgung Seohan’s thoughts, as he deliberately cooled down the atmosphere of this gathering that Paeng Un Il had set up, despite seeming to have some friendship with him.

At that moment, before I could fully avert my gaze from Namgung Seohan, he turned towards me.

“By the way, Elder Ha Eun. I watched your match well.”

“…Ah, yes.”

I was so focused on watching our sect members’ matches that I couldn’t pay attention elsewhere.

Was it just me, and everyone else was relaxed? Hiding a bit of awkwardness, I answered, and I saw a faint smile form on Namgung Seohan’s lips.

“Your sword path was powerful and spirited, which was impressive. Despite it being your first match, you showed quite an unusual scene, so it was a duel that drew attention in many ways.”

Ah, um…

The surroundings became a bit quiet.

‘It’s a provocation.’

It took a few seconds to understand because there wasn’t a single bad word in it.

The disciple from Cheonghwamun, who was my first opponent today, was so blatant in his provocation that there was no need to be confused about the essence, but this one could be mistaken for praise if you just listened casually.

But there’s a reason to be certain that this is a provocation.

First, people don’t usually give that kind of praise to Taoists. Whether it’s strength, the way of the sword, or whatever, those aren’t words that would ‘generally’ be used for praise when talking about Huashan’s sword, unlike for a martial artist from the Paeng family like Paeng Un Il next to Namgung Seohan.

But…

‘If there’s a problem, it’s that I did disable someone else’s sword.’

That’s precisely why this becomes a provocation.

If you twist and break down those words and reconstruct them well, you could change it to something like, ‘Wasn’t it too rough a response for a disciple of the Taoist sect to break someone else’s weapon in the very first match?’

Finally, putting aside all these logical reasons, Namgung Seohan’s sunken gaze was just too obvious.

‘What happened to change his competitive spirit like this in just a few days?’

Seeing his eyes without any light made me feel strange.

Anyway, there was no need for me to make excuses. Neither my master nor the Great Elder said anything to me, so there was no reason to be restless. I was just a bit bewildered because I didn’t understand why it suddenly became a provocation.

As I stared at Namgung Seohan, it was actually Paeng Un Il beside him who started to get flustered.

“Ha, haha. Come on, elder brother.”

Rolling his eyes busily, he stepped in as if trying to awkwardly smooth over the situation.

Glancing at me, he seemed to mistake my silence for either being surprised or not understanding but feeling awkward because of the strange atmosphere.

“How can you say that…”

Then he rolled his eyes and carefully observed Ha Hyun’s expression. It might be because he’s my fellow disciple, and also because Ha Hyun’s expression was so chilly right now.

“Like that…”

He already had a cold impression when expressionless, but now, with his sociability completely evaporated when facing others, the way he stared at Namgung Seohan made me think that Ha Hyun might be the one cooling down the atmosphere here the most at this moment.

‘It’s nice of him to take my side, but.’

I smiled bitterly and thought for a moment.

And before Paeng Un Il could speak again, I opened my mouth first.

“I’m glad Young Master Namgung found it impressive. However… it seems it wasn’t much of a reference.”

I meant that while it’s your opinion if my sword seemed rough, if you have complaints, instead of indirectly provoking like this, why don’t you use that rough momentum as a reference and speak directly?

Even as I spoke, I was a bit unsure, but seeing the other person’s expression stiffen, it seemed the intention had gotten through.

However, I didn’t feel particularly pleased.

‘I spoke up because I was worried about looking weak if I didn’t respond to the provocation, but…’

A sense of doubt spread like ink dropped in water, wondering what I was doing.

At that moment, Tang Linghua, sitting next to me, made a sound as if trying hard to hold back laughter. Glancing in that direction, I inwardly swallowed a sigh. Just from that reaction, it seemed that most of the people sitting at this table, except for Tian Jiang from Konlun, had properly understood the meaning.

But to someone passing by who just casually overheard this conversation, it might have sounded like, ‘You use your sword well?’, ‘Thank you!’ Thinking that, a sense of absurdity was layered on top of the doubt.