Silence flowed.
It was a silence rather long and heavy for two people to bear in the same space.
The liquor I had bought was the liquor he had asked for just before he died. It was sold at a brewery near the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and no one knew why, of all things, he had wanted to drink this particular liquor. The Drunken Demon drank this liquor and died.
“Why did you buy that liquor?”
His voice was trembling as much as his eyes.
Judging by his reaction, I could be certain there was some story tied to this liquor.
Pretending not to know, I made an excuse.
“Because I was in a foul mood. You must have been expecting some extraordinary famed wine, but I just stopped by anywhere and bought it. If you sent me an empty bottle to test me, you should have been prepared for some common liquor from nearby. Did I not tell you how I felt when I received that empty bottle?”
At my answer that I had bought it without any particular meaning, the Drunken Demon glared at me for a moment.
“What is it? Was I not supposed to buy this liquor?”
If I wanted to lessen his suspicion, I had to ask back instead. I had to press in without avoiding it. I had to ask openly.
“Does this liquor have some special meaning?”
When I looked at him with a suspicious gaze of my own, the Drunken Demon quietly changed the subject.
“You have a temper.”
“Who doesn’t? Everyone just endures it and lives on.”
The Drunken Demon relaxed from the posture he had shot up into and leaned back against the backrest again.
“You said you understood the heart of someone drowning in liquor? How?”
“Because I once drowned in it myself.”
At that, he openly snorted.
“Is it that a young drunkard is not acknowledged as a drunkard either?”
It was a continuation of my earlier retort to him—was a young person’s story not a story?
“I understand. It is an age when everything burns fiercely.”
“Do not mock me.”
“I am not mocking you. I mean age cannot be helped. I do not want to act like some obnoxious senior who only shows off and tries to lecture others either.”
“You are doing exactly that right now.”
“So I said age cannot be helped, didn’t I? If you are angry, drink that liquor.”
After saying that, as if he were the one growing angry, he gulped down his liquor.
“Damn it!”
He set the cup down with a clack. The force of it shattered the cup. When he lifted his hand, the broken pieces rose into the air and flew off to a corner. There, broken cups were piled high.
Pouring liquor into a new cup, the Drunken Demon said,
“I told you to have a drink too.”
“I am angry, but I will not drink.”
“Why?”
“Because I came here today intending not to drink. If I drink while dealing with the Drunken Demon, what do you think the result will be?”
“A plausible thought, but have you not considered the opposite? How can you deal with the Drunken Demon without drinking?”
“Then please promise me one thing. Today, we only drink.”
“Isn’t that what I should be saying? Please do not get drunk and ask me to help you.”
“Very well.”
I drank straight from the bottle I had brought. Even after only a little, my throat burned.
“It is strong. Would you like to try this liquor?”
The Drunken Demon shook his head.
Holding the bottle, I walked over to the Drunken Demon. Then I sat across from him at the drinking table.
“I have to eat side dishes when I drink.”
“A drinker with no style.”
“Health over style. And I am not a drinker.”
I took out a silver needle and checked the dishes for poison. At the sight, the Drunken Demon snapped.
“Do I look like the sort of person who feeds poisoned food to a guest?”
“That is why I am checking. To see whether you are that sort of person or not.”
The Drunken Demon snatched up the dish I was about to test with the silver needle and ate it.
“What do you take me for? There is no such thing! Just eat!”
“I refuse. How am I supposed to trust you?”
When I stuck the silver needle into another dish, he ate that one first too.
“Trust me. I hate those bastards who put poison or drugs in liquor and snacks! I am the sort of man who chews them alive.”
I spoke calmly to him as he grew thoroughly furious.
“You eat snacks well. Please keep eating them like that from now on. Think of the sincerity of the person who made them too. Are snacks flowers? Something to just look at?”
To be honest, I had deliberately come and eaten the snacks just to say this to him. There would be no one among the people around him who would dare tell the Drunken Demon to eat his snacks.
Listen, man. If you keep going like this, you will die of drink. You like liquor this much and take so much pride in it, so you cannot die because of that liquor, can you?
This was separate from whether he would become my ally or my brother’s. Even if he committed evil deeds and died by my hand, I would rather he be stabbed by a sword and die.
If a person liked and enjoyed one thing his entire life, would it not be too wretched to die because of that very thing?
If he saw his future self, I could guarantee it. He would kill himself.
“Now, have a drink.”
“If you do not eat the snacks, I will not drink.”
“Are you satisfied? Are you satisfied now!”
“Good.”
We drank together. He gave the impression that if he drank any more it would be hard on him, that it would be hard on him, and yet he kept drinking. He grew more and more drunk.
In the midst of that, my Flattery Divine Art was attempted without fail.
“Among the Eight Demon Venerables, you are the most handsome.”
“That is something anyone would acknowledge.”
The art of flattery requires the skill of pushing and pulling. If you have said something good, you must also say something bad for the good words to shine brighter—like this.
“To be honest, you are so sculpted that it actually makes you feel distant.”
“Tell the women of the world. Please keep some distance from me.”
“Ah! I cannot endure this. I need to drink.”
Who in the world would dislike being told they were handsome? The Drunken Demon also drank in good spirits.
“At one time, you see… women truly lined up for me. Can you imagine a righteous sect heroine and an unorthodox faction female master fighting over me? Ah, I really remember those days.”
Perhaps suddenly stirred by excitement, he sprang to his feet and took off his upper garment. Then, before I could stop him, he launched himself into the lake.
He swam all over like a madman for a long while before climbing back up to the pavilion. His body, dripping with water, was firm and muscular, but there were many scars all over it.
Come to think of it, I had never seen the bodies of the Demon Venerables. Perhaps the bodies of the other Demon Venerables were covered in scars like this as well? Scars demanded by their positions, just as my body had been battered to pieces while I gathered materials for the Grand Art.
“Ah, now I am finally sobering up a little. Now, let us drink again.”
He returned far too normally for it to be called drunken antics. He roughly threw on his clothes and began drinking again.
I drank slowly. He drank without pause, but he did not force me to drink. That one thing was truly good.
“Shall I tell you honestly why I called you?”
“Please tell me.”
Then the Drunken Demon gave a truly unexpected reason.
“Because no one came looking for me. Why does neither the Eldest Young Master nor you come looking for me? When you go around meeting the other Demon Venerables so eagerly? Are you looking down on me? Is that it?”
“If I were, I would not have come today.”
“Then why? Spare me that nonsense about the main character appearing later.”
“If I had to give a reason, it would be that, for some reason, you felt like someone far removed from the succession struggle.”
“I did?”
“Are you not?”
“Not at all. What relationship is there between my liking liquor and my trying not to be pushed out of the power struggles within the cult? Are they not completely separate matters? What is this? If someone likes liquor, must he like people, have no desire for power, and have no greed? Must it be that way? Who decided that?”
“It seems this was also a prejudice. Truly, you are prejudice itself, Drunken Demon.”
“Good grief, what a tiresome world.”
The Drunken Demon drank again. Whether he was pleased, angry, or felt any emotion at all, the moment he felt it, he drank. Drinking like this, it was only natural that he died of illness from drink.
After several more cups of liquor, I asked the question I had been waiting to ask.
“Did you send a liquor bottle to my brother as well?”
“I did.”
“Did my brother come to see you?”
At that, the Drunken Demon shook his head.
“He sent this instead.”
When he stretched out his hand, a box in the corner flew over.
When I opened the box, inside was a liquor bottle identical to the one he had sent me. And the bottle was broken.
“Do you know what I thought when I saw this?”
“I do.”
“You do? What did I think?”
“What is this bastard trying to pull?”
When I repeated the words I had said upon seeing the empty liquor bottle the Drunken Demon had sent me, the Drunken Demon laughed as if he would die and drank.
“The Second Young Master is amusing. How about we become sworn brothers? If I had a younger brother as entertaining as the Second Young Master, it would be truly fantastic.”
“I sincerely hope my brother thought the same.”
The Drunken Demon laughed even louder and drank.
I found it strange.
Since three Demon Venerables had interacted with me, my brother was in a situation where even one Demon Venerable mattered. And yet he had refused the Drunken Demon’s proposal this blatantly?
If this was true, I needed to find out why my brother had made such a choice. There had to be a reason.
“That is unlike my brother.”
“You may be seeing the Eldest Young Master incorrectly.”
“There is probably no one who knows my brother as well as I do.”
“Listen, Second Young Master.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know this? Those closest see the least.”
He seemed to think it was a rather fine thing to say, but in the middle of it, the Drunken Demon spilled his liquor. Perhaps feeling needlessly embarrassed, he tried to go swimming again.
“I need to sober up a bit. Those arrogant fish bastards! They must have many prejudices against me too. I will go teach them a lesson.”
I stopped him as he staggered to his feet.
“You should stop drinking. I must be going now.”
To be honest, I wanted to drink more. Was it because I was drinking with the Drunken Demon? Or had the liquor bug sleeping inside me awakened? I enjoyed this drinking party.
But because this was a seat with the person I had to be most careful of in this murim, at least when it came to drinking, I intended to end it after emptying only the liquor I had brought.
“I will take my leave for today.”
Unable to steady himself, the Drunken Demon leaned against the backrest and asked me,
“Will you drink with me again?”
“Anytime you call me.”
“We should become sworn brothers, should we not?”
Instead of answering, I asked him. It was the very question Ian had mentioned.
“Drunken Demon, when was the liquor you drank the most delicious and enjoyable?”
I thought this question was an excellent one that could offer a glimpse of what kind of person he was.
Then came an unexpected answer.
“Now.”
“You mean this drinking session with me? This is an honor.”
“Our Second Young Master has some rather ambitious dreams.”
With unfocused eyes, the Drunken Demon looked at the lake.
“The liquor I drink right now is always the most delicious. Whether I drink alone or with some stranger passing by. The liquor I drink at this very moment is the most delicious. Even if you leave and an assassin comes to kill me, the liquor I drink with him will be the most delicious.”
With that, the Drunken Demon emptied his last cup. Now that the drunkenness was rising too much, he leaned against the backrest almost as if lying down and closed his eyes. He gestured for me to hurry and go, speaking with a twisted tongue.
“What memories could there be… in liquor that has already gone out as piss? Farewell.”
With those words, he fell asleep.
I quietly turned and left.
Yeo Bin of the Three Great Drunkards, who had greeted me earlier, rowed the ferry.
When we had crossed about halfway across the lake, I looked back.
Unable to support himself, the Drunken Demon was draped over the railing of the pavilion like laundry, staring at me.
It was far too distant to see his expression, but thanks to the Divine Eye Art, I could see his face clearly. On his face, red as if it would burst, his two eyes were… indifferent.
They were empty eyes, enough to make me wonder what all the liquor, jokes, and time we had shared until now had even been.
He was not easygoing as the One Flower Sword Venerable had felt, nor was he unpleasant as the Extreme Evil Lesser Demon had felt. He seemed like a drunkard, yet was not a drunkard; he seemed easy to deal with, yet was not easy at all.
I still did not know what kind of person the Drunken Demon was.
* * *
After leaving the Great Drunken Forest, I went straight to see the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was training in saber techniques again today.
“Why have you been so absorbed in training lately?”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon drove the Heaven-Destroying Great Saber he had been swinging into the ground and leaned his body against the blade. His body was drenched in sweat.
“You may believe you can end the succession fight without seeing blood, but I do not.”
It meant that a bloody struggle might break out.
“Will you fight for me?”
“I will fight for myself.”
“That is the same thing.”
“You drank.”
“I drank with the Drunken Demon.”
“With the Drunken Demon?”
“Yes. He approached me first.”
How, indeed, did the Drunken Demon appear to the Blood Heaven Saber Demon?
“The Drunken Demon is an insidious man. Do not get close to him.”
An insidious man. It was the moment another side of the Drunken Demon was revealed.
“Why do you only associate with bad ones?”
“There would have to be someone who is not bad.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon merely smacked his lips.
“If you had to choose only one between the Extreme Evil Lesser Demon and the Drunken Demon?”
He could not easily choose one.
“Are you saying he is that insidious?”
“I dislike those who drown in liquor. Different when drunk, different when sober. Drunken fits, making a nuisance of themselves, shameless forgetfulness. The one standing at the extreme of that lunacy is the Drunken Demon.”
But the reason the Blood Heaven Saber Demon disliked the Drunken Demon was not merely that.
“Have you ever seen him sober?”
“No, I have not.”
“Neither have I. Perhaps no one has. That is why. That is the reason he is an insidious bastard.”
The decisive reason why the Blood Heaven Saber Demon disliked him had emerged.
“He has never once shown himself not drunk.”
Was his drunken self truly his real self? Or was the sober one real?
“Be careful. An insidious bastard has begun to move.”
I do not know with what intent he sent me that liquor bottle. But perhaps, Drunken Demon, it is finally time for you to sober up at least once in your life.