I woke Yanggu, who had fallen asleep in the chair.
Yanggu, looking around while still half-asleep, belatedly realized he had been captured and brought here.
“Is the wounded spot alright?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes.”
When I treated him gently, Yanggu was bewildered.
“Honestly, I like smart people like you. Seeing simple-minded brutes who can’t communicate and push their stubbornness as if it were conviction makes my chest feel tight. You’re not like that, are you?”
“Why did you capture me?”
“I think you know that better than I do. Honestly, I don’t want to torture you. As you know, our interrogations are rather severe, aren’t they? We take healthy people, turn them into cripples, and throw them away.”
“Threats are useless. I know nothing.”
“I know. I don’t think you know anything. You simply did as you were ordered. Just be honest about that.”
“I don’t know. I received no orders.”
“Then I’ll have to have a conversation with another you instead of you.”
“Another me?”
“The you who cherishes you more than you do.”
When I signaled, an old man entered from outside.
“He has spent his entire life torturing others. What do you think his confession success rate is?”
He was a short old man, but the aura emanating from him was truly terrifying.
“Nine out of ten.”
“At this level, you are a master of interrogation.”
“Not quite. Of those nine, five died after confessing.”
“What about the remaining five?”
“They live on as cripples, barely surviving by begging.”
The raw, primal killing intent radiating from the old man was so thick that Yanggu couldn’t endure it and screamed.
“Please spare me!”
I lightly patted Yanggu’s shoulder and spoke.
“You’ll go back now. I need to call forth another you—one less courageous than you, who wants to avoid unnecessary pain—and hear what he has to say. That person may have less loyalty and conviction than you, but at least he will love you more. So step aside now.”
In the meantime, the old man had lit a fire in the brazier and begun heating iron rods of various thicknesses over it. His businesslike demeanor, not even humming a tune, further heightened the sense of horror.
Terrified, Yanggu spoke as if pleading.
“If I talk, I’ll die.”
“You’ll still die at the Demon Lord’s hands even if you don’t. Think about it. When he hears you were captured by me, how do you think the Demon Lord will react? He will try to eliminate you by any means necessary. You know better than I what kind of person he is.”
Tremor and terror surged in Yanggu’s wavering eyes.
“You know it, don’t you? That no matter where he hides you, he will find you and kill you in the end. You have only one way to live.”
“What is it?”
I brought my face close to Yanggu’s. Staring into his terror-stricken eyes, I whispered like a demon.
“Strike before you’re struck. Of course, you will have to leave the main sect. But with your level of martial arts, you should be able to live well anywhere.”
At that moment, I was a true demon. I was tempting him while lying to him at the same time.
I had no intention of letting him go. If one commits a crime, one must face punishment.
“You don’t have time to ponder. By now, word will have spread that you’ve fallen into our hands.”
In truth, the Demon Lord did not yet know of his disappearance. Yanggu, having just woken from sleep, had no sense of time, but in fact only two hours had passed since his capture.
“Or we can test your willpower instead.”
Not wanting to give him time to think, I immediately turned to leave.
Then Yanggu’s voice came from behind.
“……What must I do?”
“Just testify to all the facts when the Hwangcheon Pavilion investigators enter.”
“And then?”
“We will arrest the Demon Lord. You will leave the main sect with a new identity.”
Yanggu’s hesitation did not last long.
“Very well. I’ll do it.”
I immediately left the room and sent the Hwangcheon Pavilion investigators waiting outside inside. I had the old man who had come to torture continue heating the iron rods nearby.
Shortly after, Seo Daeryong arrived and reported the contents of Yanggu’s confession.
As Jangho had suspected, it was indeed the Demon Lord who had ordered the deaths of the Hwangcheon Pavilion investigator and Jangho’s fellow disciple. The one who carried it out was the already-deceased Godang. Besides that, there were countless other atrocities.
“A great many people have been killed, one way or another.”
That was why Seo Daeryong was worried.
“The Demon Lord will not allow himself to be arrested. He knows he’ll be executed if caught.”
“I’m not going to arrest him.”
“What?”
“I’m going to kill him.”
Seo Daeryong was so surprised he let out a sharp gasp. His open mouth wouldn’t close.
“If the Demon Lord is arrested, Hyeolcheon Doma will definitely make a move. He won’t just stand by and watch his younger brother be executed. If that happens, the situation becomes a headache.”
It would have been nice to expose his crimes before everyone and have him properly judged through a formal trial, but that was nothing more than an ideal. Fabricated evidence that he had no backers would pour forth, along with scapegoats to shoulder his crimes, and slander against me along with all sorts of conspiracy theories would circulate.
“But if the Demon Lord happens to die during the arrest, the situation changes. All that remains is the evidence proving his crimes.”
“Hyeolcheon Doma will seek revenge.”
“Not everyone lives a life of vengeance just because family dies. Especially Hyeolcheon Doma—he will not waste his life on revenge.”
“How can you be certain?”
Because I know what kind of life he has lived.
“I can’t be certain. But even if he seeks revenge, he won’t move immediately. If I’m injured or die, anyone would see it as his doing. Rather, to avoid being misunderstood, he will have to protect me, won’t he?”
“And later?”
“By then I’ll have grown stronger, so there’s no need to worry.”
Leaving behind Seo Daeryong, who stood blankly wearing an expression that asked whether this made any sense—or what one should even call it—I left the room. As I walked down the corridor, Seo Daeryong belatedly opened the door and ran out after me.
“Where are you going? Surely not…… are you?”
“If I am? Want to come along?”
Seo Daeryong flinched.
“I’m going to buy liquor. Don’t worry and wait.”
* * *
That “surely not” was exactly right. It was also true that I bought liquor.
The Demon Lord who greeted me wore a carefree expression.
“The investigation is all wrapped up?”
“Yes, thanks to you it was concluded smoothly.”
“It’s regretful to think of parting with the Second Young Master.”
To his insincere words, I gave an equally insincere reply.
“When I become the successor later, I will surely repay the favor you have shown me this time.”
“Those are my lines. I will never forget the favor of letting things pass smoothly this time.”
Yes, he would never forget this matter. Greedy as he was, he had suffered tremendous losses. He had lost his right-hand man, First Master Godang, and had handed over evidence with his own hands. Had the investigator been anyone but me, he would have died several times over.
“In that sense, shall we have a drink?”
I poured the liquor I had brought into the cups prepared on the corner table.
“Here, drink.”
We clinked glasses and drank. For him, it was a celebratory drink; for me, it was a farewell drink.
“Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“You have enough wealth to spend until you die of old age without exhausting it. What greed was so great that you used the Demon Army as contract killers?”
For a moment, the Demon Lord’s expression hardened.
“You should have asked the deceased First Master that.”
“What would a puppet know?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was curious about our Lord’s inner thoughts.”
“Inner thoughts? Did you say inner thoughts?”
“Indeed. What could be inside that black heart? It must be filled with nothing but greed to have more.”
“This bastard, the more I see of him……”
The very moment the excited Demon Lord burst into a roar, my sword, which had been waiting for its chance, was drawn.
Shiiiiik!
Thuck!
A flash of sword light scattered as my sword pierced through the Demon Lord’s chest. Having caught him mid-breath at such close range, and with a draw too fast to follow, the Demon Lord could not evade it.
Soaring Sword Technique, Fifth Form: Azure Heaven Form.
Of the eight sword forms of the Soaring Sword Technique, a swift-sword form had been unleashed.
Even though his heart had been pierced, he did not die instantly.
With the sword still running through him, he slowly slumped down in place. He wore a blank face, as if unable to comprehend what had just happened. Then he looked at me with lifeless eyes. If that sword lodged in his heart was pulled out, he would die.
I spoke in a calm, low tone.
“Gucheonyang, Demon Lord, I arrest you on charges of embezzlement of the Demon Army’s resources for personal gain, and over twenty counts of murder and contract killing.”
Only then did the Demon Lord’s gaze turn toward the sword embedded in his chest.
“……This isn’t…… an arrest, is it?”
“You would have been executed anyway. For the sake of those left behind, please go like this. I apologize for the ambush.”
I pulled out the sword, and the Demon Lord immediately perished.
I could have handled it as him dying after a fierce struggle, but I chose not to. Rather, it was better to make them think I had killed him by a lucky blow in a single exchange.
I summoned all the demon soldiers and Hwangcheon Pavilion investigators to that place. Everyone gathered except for the Demon Army’s First Unit, which had been confined to quarters.
“The Demon Lord, having committed grave crimes, died while resisting arrest.”
My thunderous voice echoed throughout the hall.
Everyone looked back and forth between me and the Demon Lord’s corpse with shocked faces. They would never have imagined that the Demon Lord could die at my hands.
Among the surprised was Third Master Jangho. A flicker of ecstasy passed through his eyes as he looked at the Demon Lord’s corpse. It was the moment his revenge for his friend’s death was fulfilled.
Seo Daeryong was the same. It was the moment his efforts—memorizing every detail of the demon soldiers to avenge his senior—finally came to fruition.
I immediately gave Seo Daeryong an order.
“You will arrest all members of the Demon Army’s First Unit, confine them in the dungeon, and formally investigate this incident.”
“Yes!”
Next, I gave an order to Jangho.
“Third Master Jangho, all demon soldiers except for the First Unit are to assist the Hwangcheon Pavilion investigators in arresting the Demon Army’s First Unit under your command! I have been granted summary execution authority, so this command carries the same force as a Sect Leader’s decree. Execute immediately.”
“Yes, understood.”
Jangho led the demon soldiers and followed Seo Daeryong out.
The problem would have arisen if the Demon Lord were alive to shout about catching this one and killing that one, but by now he had already gone cold.
Loyalty maintained by fear collapses like a sandcastle with the death of its leader.
Jangho, who was turning to leave, looked back at me.
We shared the emotions of this moment with faint smiles.
‘Thank you.’
‘It was thanks to you.’
After the arrests of the Demon Army’s First Unit were complete, Seo Daeryong returned to the lodgings where we were staying.
“After arresting all members of the Demon Army’s First Unit, I suppressed their internal energy and confined them in the dungeon. Six martial artists of the First Unit were injured in the process, but there were no deaths.”
“Well done.”
Even though everything was over, Seo Daeryong still seemed worried.
“You really killed the Demon Lord.”
“If I had let him live, many people would have been silenced. Jangho, who sent the petition, would eventually have been killed. Several martial artists of the Third Unit who tried to protect him would have been sacrificed as well. You wouldn’t have been an exception either.”
“Ah, you thought that far ahead.”
Seo Daeryong couldn’t hide his surging emotion.
“The Young Master is truly a righteous man.”
“Righteousness, my foot! I was simply angry that someone was making a mess of what I’m due to inherit. I’m that selfish of a person. So don’t get the wrong idea.”
Seo Daeryong, who had been gazing at me wordlessly, politely bowed his head.
“You have worked hard.”
“You’ve had a hard time too.”
Seo Daeryong, who was turning to leave, abruptly spoke.
“Even so, I…… hope that the Second Young Master will become the successor.”
I thought that those words might be the highest praise a man like Seo Daeryong could offer.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Seo Daeryong immediately went outside.
As I was about to follow him out, something caught my eye, so I sat down on the bed for a moment. The blanket on the bed where the crow’s corpse had lain had been replaced with a clean new one. It seemed Seo Daeryong had changed it even in the midst of all that busyness.
I got up and looked out the window to see Seo Daeryong walking across the training grounds after leaving the building.
I stuck my head out the window and shouted.
“Can’t you say things like that properly while looking me in the eye?”
Seo Daeryong’s steps toward the entrance only quickened.
Beyond his retreating figure, I could see the place I had to go. Was it because this affair had brought me a few steps closer? The Cheonma Hall looked more majestic than usual.