The flame flickered on Seori's desk as she held the letter close. She had read the letter over and over again.
Yes, I am close with the boy. His name is Blue. If you want the truth, you'll have to ask him yourself. I will not divulge anything he won't willingly give you himself.
Please come home.
- Love, your big sister.
Oh. And you're smart enough to figure it out, if you haven't already.
She held the letter to flame and watched it burn to ash and fly towards her open window.
"She didn't deny it, but she didn't say anything either." Seori called her aide.
"Cancel my appointments I need to be somewhere."
At the front entrance to the Alliance headquarters, Seori stood arms folded. She had been there for nearly two hours, waiting.
"My niece! It's so wonderful to see you!" Tang Yeol's voice rang out. Wu Cheng and Blue followed behind.
"When are you going to ditch Jaegal Li and come home and be the Tang's strategist?" Yeol asked with a grin.
"When you start acting like a true elder, and stop running around with Elder Cheng and that boy."
Cheng chuckled. "You sound like your sister already."
"Maybe." She said bluntly. "I'll be escorting Blue to the Leader's office. Alone."
"Since when? We weren't informed of any change." Yeol squinted his eyes.
"Since I decided it, uncle." Seori pointed to a building on the side of the inner courtyard. "Theres a noodle shop, I'll come join you when I'm finished."
"She's harmless, it's fine." Blue said as he walked between the two.
The two walked in silence for a moment before Seori spoke. "What should I call you?"
"You mean besides boy... my name is Blue." He paused. "Tough crowd huh?" Blue threw her a half smile.
"So... boy." Seori cleared her throat. "I mean Blue, why does my family gravitate towards you?"
"Man, why is everyone so obsessed with who people choose to befriend? I guess I'm just a likeable guy. What can I say."
"Likeable, that seems unlikely. I think it's because of your system."
Blue blinked. "Wh... what? No?"
"It's not difficult to deduce. You went into a gate with my sister. You all came out alive, missing scouts with you. The gate was cleared. No others in that group have systems. That leaves one possibility." Seori said flatly as she looked straight ahead.
"Okay, if you have it all figured out. Why are you asking me then?"
"I enjoy seeing how well people lie." She looked over at him. "It's a habit of a strategist. And you're terrible at it... Jiung."
Blue froze as she continued to walk. Seori turned and pointed at the Alliance Leader's door.
Blue took a step forward, before he could speak the door opened. "Ah, Blue. You're early, come on." Jaegal Li stood gesturing for Blue to enter.
As Li turned, Blue followed him. Seori grabbed his sleeve, leaned in and whispered. "If you really are somehow my brother, I will find out. One way or another."
Blue followed Jaegal Li into the Leader's office. The office was lined lined with war maps and artifacts of old victories. In the center of the room Namgung Hyeon stood behind his his desk and gestured. "Please, sit."
Blue sat, Jaegal li took a seat next to him, and Hyeon sat on the other side of the desk. Hyeon clapped once, a woman rushed in with a kettle and three cups. She hurriedly poured them all tea and left. The three men sat in silence. Blue sipped his tea, his eyes darting between the two men who run Murim.
He finally broke the tension. "Sir... may I ask why I was summoned? Have I done something wrong?"
"Oh quite the contrary." Hyeon replied. He leaned on forward. "You’ve been at the center of many... interesting events as of late. We simply have a few questions, and perhaps. An offer."
Jaegal Li looked at Blue. "Tell is, young man. What world are you from?"
"Excuse me?" Blue stared at Li wide eyed. His heart sank. First Seori, now them. "Today's going to be a long day." He thought himself.
Hyeon took a sip of his tea. "No need to play coy. We know you're not from Murim. You have no family ties, no surname. No background. In fact no one knew who you were until the tournament. You appeared out if nowhere with Yeol and Silent Edge backing you, and you win the tournament."
Jaegal Li leaned forward. "It's not a bad thing, we're not here to lock you up. But if you're from another world, and you have a system. Then you are like the others, the keys to saving Murim."
Blue hesitated and looked at the floor. "I do have a system." He admitted. "And I'm from a word called earth. But I still don't fully understand the system."
"Well then!" Hyeon stood, walked around his desk and sat on the edge right in front of Blue. "We can help you with that. You see, when the gates first opened here, the system granted civilians powers. Some of them left Murim through a gate and returned stronger." He pointed to a map on the wall. "They called the place Thalorin. Those system users help us clear gates, reclaim land. They've grown quite powerful. Some can even rival the elders of most Sects and Clans now."
Jaegal Li stood, pointing to the war map on the wall. “There are over a hundred gates across Murim now. Monsters pour from them. We have just over a hundred system users left, and we need all of them.”
He turned back to Blue. “You cleared the gate in the Black Pines, didn’t you? With Tang So-Yeon and the Silent Edge?”
Blue nodded slowly.
“Then join us,” Hyeon said, spreading his arms. “Become stronger. Help us cleanse this world of the filth.”
Blue’s brow furrowed. “And… what filth would that be, sir?”
Hyeon laughed. “Monsters, of course!”
“…Right,” Blue said carefully. “I’ll need to speak with my elders and sect leader first.”
“Of course,” Jaegal Li said.
“But,” Hyeon cut in, “may we ask you a favor in the meantime?”
Blue hesitated. “…Sure.”
“Wonderful.” Hyeon’s eyes gleamed. “A new gate has appeared in the southern wasteland. I’ll be sending my brother to clear it...with you.”
Blue sat straighter. “Me?”
“Is that a problem?” Hyeon’s smile had vanished.
Blue tried to steady his breath. “No, sir. I just...wasn’t expecting that.”
“You live comfortably in Murim now, don’t you?” Hyeon said. “This is a world of give and take. So far, all you’ve done is take...from our vault, from the Alliance, from Wudang.” He leaned in. “It’s time you give something back.”
Blue felt the weight of the threat under every word.
“I won’t ask again,” Hyeon finished. “My brother will come for you in a few days. I expect you’ll do the right thing. And when you return from the wasteland, I expect a favorable answer about joining the Alliance.”
Blue stood, stiff. “Understood.” Blue stood and walked out.
The noodle shop was modest, tucked just across from the headquarters of the Alliance. At a corner table sat Seori, Wu Cheng and Tang Yeol, hunched over bowls of spicy brother and wheat noodles.
Seori sat her utensil down. "So uncle, when are you taking Jiung back to the Tang Clan? Or you going to let your nephew stay with Silent Edge."
Yeol froze. Noodles slipped from between his lips back into the bowl. A few dangled from his mouth. "W...what are you talking about. The only nephew I have in Silent Edge is Ryul. Whatever game your playing isn't funny Seori." He placed his spoon down. "Jiung is dead, i saw the body."
"Why does everyone that claims to love me, turn and lie to me?" Her gaze aimed at the table, her posture slumped. "You all forget I'm not the baby anymore. I am the vice stategist of the Alliance." She sighed. "I have had him followed since the Alliance tryouts. I heard about the places he visited, his qi, your interaction with him at father and mother's grace. I know my sister stabbed him, and then a few days later... they are fighting side by side, rescuing her scouts and cleared the gate in the Black Pines."
She took a sip of her broth and looked at Yeol. "I asked her, she wouldn't confirm nor deny. I had my doubts of course. A bastard child perhaps from when father was a guard for that merchant group. I found nothing of the sort. That boy, he came from another world. And my family hangs around him like he is the sun itself."
She called the waiter over and ordered another bowl. "Then i thought about one thing that has happened before, and the people of Murim believe in wholeheartedly. Though, I find it ridiculous. Reincarnation. What if he is my father or yours. I realized, that wasn't it. Father would have gathered us the first chance he got, regardless of consequence. Yoryeon would've just crushed every enemy of Tang, including the Alliance leader." Her hand rubbed across her face. "That boy, he acts his age. You all have tried to hide him, and yet still involve him in your schemes surrounding my siblings. Why?"
The waiter appeared with another bowl of noodles. Seori took a bite. "I think it's because he's Jiung. He has a system. He is a trump card. I called him Jiung before he entered the Leader's office. He didn't even flinch. He just stood there like an idiot. It was written all over his face."
The three stared at each other in silence. The elders were not about to spill Blue’s secret. Wu Cheng turned his head toward the courtyard and smiled. "I suppose you'll just have to ask him yourself."