“Where have you been?”
At Seo Daeryong’s question, I told him where my destination had been.
Seo Daeryong blinked and asked. By now, he did not even look surprised.
“You went there and back in four days?”
“That’s right.”
“Of course, you’re not joking or messing with me, are you?”
I nodded, and Seo Daeryong shook his head.
“I simply won’t ask anymore. I won’t even try to understand. If I trouble myself over it for no reason, I’ll be the only one who ends up looking strange. You’re the sort of person who could suddenly say one day, ‘I’m joining the Murim Alliance tomorrow,’ and it wouldn’t be odd at all.”
“As long as you know. By the way, what about the Drunken Demon?”
“He hasn’t come even once since you left the cult, Pavilion Master.”
I remembered the way he had looked when we last parted. Sitting in a ferryboat, drinking alone.
I had told him to stop spouting nonsense about peace in the murim and tell me the real reason. Perhaps he had been angered by my words.
‘Unless you become honest, you and I will never be able to call each other brothers.’
He might indeed have a desire to prevent war from breaking out. But I could clearly feel that this was not the only reason he had approached me.
“By the way, Investigator Seo, why have you been limping since earlier?”
“Yesterday, Master put me through hell training.”
“All of a sudden?”
“Yes. He seemed to be in a rather bad mood.”
Just then, guided by another investigator, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon entered the office.
Since we had just been talking about him, Seo Daeryong was startled.
“Master!”
To Seo Daeryong, he was always a respected and welcome master.
It would have been nice if he treated him a bit more warmly, but the Blood Heaven Blade Demon merely gave a slight nod and said,
“You, step outside for a while.”
“Yes!”
Seo Daeryong went out. He had been limping so noticeably in front of me, but now he clenched his teeth and strode out with determination.
Investigator Seo, stay strong. Opening the door to your stiff-necked master’s heart will not be easy.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s small, fierce eyes looked even more savage than usual today. Seo Daeryong had said he seemed in a bad mood yesterday, and today appeared to be an extension of that same mood.
“Welcome, Elder.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon went straight to the point.
“Yesterday, the Drunken Demon came to see me.”
I could tell. Seo Daeryong’s hell training had been because of the Drunken Demon.
“He brought me a bottle of liquor. A very expensive one.”
His tone was calm, but the Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked displeased by the situation.
“Why did he come?”
“He said he simply wanted to give it to me, handed over the liquor, and left.”
He had begun making an effort to reconcile with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. It had taken him five days just to decide to go and give him a bottle of liquor.
“It was similar to when the Extreme Evil Little Demon came and told me to pass something on if I went to you.”
“That’s different. That was business with me, and this time, he had business with you, Elder.”
“I still thought it was business with you.”
Truly, his perception was terrifyingly sharp.
“No, this is the first I’ve heard of it. So, did you drink the liquor?”
“How would I know what was in it and drink it? I just poured it out.”
“How could you throw away someone’s sincerity like that?”
“Why do you care about someone else’s sincerity?”
“Because you said it was expensive liquor. You should have given it to me.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon glared at me suspiciously.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You did something. Otherwise, there’s no way that drunkard would do something he’d never done in his life.”
I considered telling him the truth, but denied it to the end. If this reconciliation was to happen properly, the two of them had to resolve it themselves somehow.
“No, I know nothing about it. Perhaps he was moved by you that day while drinking at Pungryu Tavern.”
“Moved by what? I did nothing but curse at him.”
“Who in this world would curse at him like that? Perhaps it stirred something in his heart.”
“Do not defend the Drunken Demon. I told you clearly, did I not? The Drunken Demon is a sinister man. Second Young Master, do not give your heart to someone needlessly. If you go too far, the road back becomes arduous.”
Having said only what he wanted to say, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon left the office.
Their reconciliation would depend on how the Drunken Demon acted from here on. In that process, the Drunken Demon would shed yet another layer of prejudice, and it would become an opportunity for me to learn a little more about him.
* * *
That night.
Sitting on the branch of a giant tree far away, I watched Ian train. It was far enough that she would not notice me, but I could see even her expression clearly.
With the most serious face in the world, sweat dripping from her, she was practicing the Flying Heaven Sword Art. She repeated the same form again and again, over and over. Until that repetition upon repetition answered her someday, she would not rest.
Just then, someone entered her training ground.
Surprisingly, the person who had come to see her was Blue Mask, the subordinate of the Extreme Evil Little Demon.
“Martial Artist I.”
“Ah, Sir Blue Mask.”
“I apologize for coming at such a late hour.”
“Not at all. What brings you here?”
“What you said then about asking me to join as a squad leader—does that offer still stand?”
“Until you clearly refuse, Sir Blue Mask, the position of First Squad Leader will always remain empty.”
Ian’s voice trembled. She was flustered by Blue Mask’s sudden visit. Blue Mask, on the other hand, continued with the questions he had prepared.
“What kind of work will the Ghost Shadow Unit do from now on?”
“The Ghost Shadow Unit will operate solely as an organization for the Second Young Master.”
“What if the Cult Leader’s orders and the Second Young Master’s orders conflict?”
Ian merely smiled faintly, as if she had already given her answer.
“Do you know what answer you are giving right now?”
“I haven’t said anything at all, have I?”
Their gazes tangled in the air. From the eyes behind Blue Mask’s mask, I could sense his hesitation.
When this strange woman, who had once been incomparably fat and had become incomparably beautiful, suddenly asked him to take on the role of squad leader, to be honest, at first he had thought, Is she insane?
No matter how she was someone who had saved his life, even to the point of smashing through a carriage, she was telling him to give up his future position as a Demon Venerable and become a squad leader?
At that moment, he had truly thought this: The heavens do not give everything. To be this beautiful and yet insane!
But as time passed, that insane woman kept coming to mind.
Rather than waiting twenty or thirty years to become a Demon Venerable, he found himself thinking that he wanted to roam the murim with her. The more he tried to shake off that thought, the more he thought of Ian.
If she had made the proposal before her transformation, would he have agonized over it like this? He reproached himself as a fool bewitched by beauty, but he could not help thinking of her. The thought that he would have been dead anyway if not for her only strengthened that temptation.
Ian chose honesty over pleasant words meant to draw Blue Mask in.
“I believe in the Young Master. If he looked at the sky and said that it was the earth, then from that day on, I would live thinking of the sky as the earth. If he told me, ‘Die in my place,’ I would die in his place. Sometimes I even practice in front of a mirror in advance, wondering what words I should leave behind then. I’ve prepared several. Some that would make him remember me for a long, long time, some that would let him send me off without burden, and some that would hurt him. I won’t know which ones I’ll say until that moment comes. The organization led by someone like me is the Ghost Shadow Unit. If you join, you should know that before you do.”
The more she spoke, the more her trembling subsided.
“You don’t have to decide right now. For my sake as well, please decide carefully.”
“For Martial Artist I’s sake? What does that mean?”
“The position I offered you is truly important and precious to me. It is the First Squad Leader’s seat in the first organization I have ever commanded in my life. I do not want to see you regret it from that position. I do not want that precious seat to become a place of regret for someone. So take your time and make a decision you will not regret. I intend to leave the First Squad Leader’s seat open until you decide. Even if all the other squad leader positions are filled, I will leave the First Squad Leader’s seat empty.”
Their gazes tangled in the air.
“Even after joining the Ghost Shadow Unit, may I continue wearing this mask?”
“Yes. But in exchange, you must speak to me often in ordinary times. So that if someone else wears that blue mask and appears before me pretending to be you, Sir Blue Mask, I can recognize it immediately.”
After gazing at Ian in silence for a while, Blue Mask bowed his head in a respectful greeting and left.
Only after he disappeared did Ian finally stroke her chest in relief.
“Ugh! I thought I was going to die from nerves. What did I even say? Ahhh! I’m doomed. I rambled on way too much!”
Watching her from afar, I burst into laughter.
Just then, someone flew lightly through the air and landed beside the branch where I was sitting.
Surprisingly, it was the Extreme Evil Little Demon. It seemed he had followed Blue Mask here.
“He agonized over it and lost sleep for a while, and in the end, he came here.”
It seemed Blue Mask’s worries had already entered the Extreme Evil Little Demon’s eyes.
“Foolish bastard! What does he think he’s doing, bewitched by beauty?”
“Isn’t it beauty worth being bewitched by?”
“Second Young Master, you took my mask from me, and now you are taking my subordinate as well.”
“Now, let’s correct that. You gave me the mask as a gift, and Blue Mask is being taken not by me, but by that Ian over there.”
“Then I shall have to take revenge on that pretty heart.”
“Let’s just say I’m the one taking him.”
The Extreme Evil Little Demon laughed quietly. Perhaps because he was in a bad mood, it sounded like a beast growling.
“What do you intend to do if Blue Mask says he is leaving?”
“If I simply let him go, would I be the Extreme Evil Little Demon? I should at least cut off one of his arms before sending him away.”
I could not tell whether he was serious or joking. When Ian had first made the offer to Blue Mask, the Extreme Evil Little Demon, who had been watching, had not said anything in particular. So I had thought that perhaps he might let him go peacefully, but now I thought that might not be the case. I did not know what feelings he had for Blue Mask.
“Would it not be all right to let him go in peace?”
“Are you saying that being a squad leader in that organization with no one in it is better than becoming a future Demon Venerable?”
“In this sense, yes. Becoming a Demon Venerable is a matter of the distant future, while wanting to be a squad leader is the feeling he has now.”
In truth, there had been another reason from the start. Blue Mask would not sit in the position of Demon Venerable even when he grew older.
The current Extreme Evil Little Demon would not know. He would not know that he himself would hold the position of Demon Venerable for such a long time. Nor would he know that Blue Mask would spend all those long years supporting him from behind.
“Lord Little Demon, you and I are bound by the fate we were born with and cannot live as we please, are we not? Let at least that Blue Mask live as he wishes.”
“He will regret it later. What then?”
“What else? He chose it himself, so he will have to regret it. At that time, he may regret it and come looking for you again, Lord Little Demon. Asking you to take him back.”
“Not a chance.”
“Please take him back. There is more than enough reason to do so.”
“What reason would that be?”
“Blue Mask as he is now and Blue Mask after living his own life will surely be different. The Blue Mask who wanders and returns will be stronger. The sword of a man who has known regret will be faster.”
The Extreme Evil Little Demon stared at me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You were always curious about what was beneath my mask, were you not? I am always curious as well. About what is inside you, Second Young Master.”
I felt a twinge inwardly, but answered calmly.
“Sometimes I wonder that myself. What is inside me that makes me talk as if I’ve already lived an entire life? If I talk this much and act like I’m teaching people, I won’t be popular with women these days, will I?”
“At least you know.”
The Extreme Evil Little Demon laughed, and I laughed along with him.
“Since we are on the subject, let me ask you one thing. If Blue Mask does choose to become a squad leader, and you become so angry that you want to cut off his arm, please come see me first.”
“Why? So you can cut off my arm to stop me?”
“I like you more than Blue Mask, Lord Little Demon. Why would I do that?”
“Then why do you want to see me?”
“For Ian’s sake, I will have to try somehow to stop and persuade you. I mean that sincerely.”
“I will think about it.”
The Extreme Evil Little Demon launched himself lightly into the air and left.
My gaze returned to Ian.
She had calmed her excitement and gone back to her tedious martial arts training.
You are doing well, Ian. In the end, Blue Mask will come not because of your persuasion, but because he is captivated by your skill. I think the Little Demon’s forgiveness will depend on that as well.
* * *
The next day, as soon as Seo Daeryong entered the office with an excited face, he asked,
“Pavilion Master, have you heard the rumor?”
“What rumor?”
Seo Daeryong had brought a truly astonishing rumor.
“They say Master is going to have a bout with the Drunken Demon.”
I was startled.
“Is that true?”
“I’m not sure whether it’s a baseless rumor or the truth. It started from the Southern Blade Sect. But Demon Venerables don’t fight each other—isn’t that an unwritten rule?”
Seo Daeryong seemed worried that the rumor might be true.
“Are you worried?”
“Honestly, yes.”
“What are you worried about? Your master has been training tremendously in martial arts lately.”
“Still, he is advanced in age.”
Did the Blood Heaven Blade Demon know? That his disciple was worrying about him like this. Then again, if he had known that, would he have put him through hell training just because he was in a bad mood?
When I rose from my seat, Seo Daeryong asked,
“Where are you going?”
“To buy liquor. Something very strong today.”
“Ah! Are you going to stop the Drunken Demon?”
As I left the office, I said,
“There will be no duel. Because he’ll die by my hand first.”
I told him to reconcile, and now he is going to have a duel instead? I really cannot live like this. I just cannot.