The basement had been made up like a dungeon.
The prisoners were each locked in solitary cells. Since Geom Mugeuk had been next to the Poison King, he was assigned the cell across from him.
“You saw what happens to those who cause trouble.”
After intimidating them like that, the martial artists left the place.
The one small mercy was that the iron doors had palm-sized windows through which one could look inside, allowing them to see one another’s faces and talk.
“Damn it! We got out of a dungeon only to be locked up in another dungeon!”
“This place is even filthier than where we were.”
“I once heard the guards talking. They said prisoners get taken out and sent somewhere for secret experiments.”
“Damn it! At this rate, we’ll die like dogs!”
“We have to get out somehow!”
The prisoners each threw in a word, cursing loudly.
Geom Mugeuk sent a sound transmission to the Poison King, whose face had appeared in the window across from him.
-Have you ever been locked in a dungeon before?
-No.
-I’m sorry. For making you suffer through something like this.
-It’s fine. When else would I have such an experience if not at a time like this? Don’t mind me.
The Poison King truly spoke as if it were nothing. In a way, he seemed like the sort of person who would hate being subjected to something like this, but seeing that calm face now, it also seemed as though he would endure it better than any Demon Supreme.
-From what I saw earlier, that third-rate poison hack’s poisoning skill was quite decent.
It was the first time he had praised Jindok Geosa. There must have been something only the Poison King’s eyes could see.
-Whatever else he may be, isn’t he the foremost poison arts master of the unorthodox faction?
-That is why it angers me even more. If he had skill like that, he should have made proper medicine.
About two hours passed like that, and then a meal was brought in.
It was served splendidly, like a feast before death.
Everyone began devouring the food. They had been deliberately starved on the way, and even if they had been full, the food was excellent enough to make their chopsticks move. The reason such delicious food had been provided was simple.
-There’s Berserk in the food.
-They’re feeding us Berserk already?
-Not just Berserk. They’ve put in this drug and that drug too.
-Seeing as they started as soon as we arrived, Yaryul Han or Aecha must have ordered them to hurry things along.
That much was clear just from the fact that they had brought prisoners from twenty-one days away to this place in only ten.
-If anything, this works out well for us. It means we can get out of this stifling place even a day sooner.
-If you take the medicine I gave you beforehand, the Berserk will be neutralized at once.
-Yes.
Of course, even if he did not take it, it could not poison him in the first place. Even the Formless Poison had not worked on him, so there was no way such miscellaneous drugs would.
They ate only the food given to them there, as if they were being fattened like livestock.
Those who had been venting their complaints before the first meal now secretly looked forward to the next. Since superb dishes and even wine, the sort one might find only at a top-class inn, were served, the men who had only eaten garbage-like food in the dungeon went mad with delight as they ate and drank.
-You did make a solid plan, didn’t you?
-Didn’t you say you would leave everything to me?
-It is because you look far too carefree. Training martial arts in here?
Whenever I had time, I sat cross-legged in the middle of the dungeon cell and cultivated the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art.
Opportunities to remain undisturbed all day like this were rare. The Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art had yet to reach great completion, so whenever a chance arose, I focused on cultivating it.
The Poison King seemed curious about me.
-What martial art are you cultivating?
I could not honestly tell him that I had learned the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art.
-I am training an internal cultivation method.
-Why do you cultivate so diligently?
-Because I believe I must become stronger in order to be free.
-Are you not already strong enough?
-Not enough to enjoy the freedom I want.
-What is the freedom you want?
After a brief pause, I told him.
-A life in which I can stop my steps wherever I wish.
Perhaps it was an unexpected answer, for the Poison King said nothing for a while. It was because he knew well that while it sounded like something anyone could do, it was something no one could easily do.
-The road you walk… is not one where you can stop as you please.
-That is why I am trying. So I can stop when I want and look up at the sky.
There were people close to him with whom he had shared life and death, joy and sorrow, but precisely because of that, he wanted a life where they did not bind one another. That was the freedom Geom Mugeuk desired.
The Poison King silently stared at Geom Mugeuk.
This time, Geom Mugeuk asked.
-Do you have a dream, Poison King?
What dream was the Poison King dreaming now?
-What dream at my age?
Perhaps unwilling to answer, the Poison King disappeared from the small window.
‘Poison King, if you had never met me, that would be one thing. But now that we have met, I will not let you live the fate you once had.’
That was why Geom Mugeuk had engraved the words Poison Sovereign on his gloves.
So that his dream would not become a dark yearning. So that he would think, in a bright place, about what true self-supremacy meant.
Geom Mugeuk sat down and began cultivating the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art.
* * *
“Please have your meal!”
Seo Daeryong entered Geugak Soma’s room. On the tray in his hands were several neat dishes. Some had been bought, and some he had cooked himself.
Had he ever been this nervous since the day he was born? He probably had not trembled this much even when stepping onto the stage for the final duel of the Little Dragon Tournament.
“Thank you.”
The words were quiet but gentle. His goodwill toward Geom Mugeuk was extending even to Seo Daeryong.
“Please tell me if you need anything!”
Seo Daeryong bowed so low his waist nearly folded in half.
At that moment, Geugak Soma spoke.
“There is no need to be so excessively courteous. You, too, are someone who will become a Demon Supreme one day.”
At the words Demon Supreme, Seo Daeryong’s heart began pounding again. Could he truly become a Demon Supreme on the same level as this terrifying Geugak Soma? Could he really?
He was about to leave, but Seo Daeryong could not control the emotion suddenly welling up inside him and opened his mouth.
“I do not know if I am someone worthy of that.”
At that instant, his reason screamed.
Hey, what are you doing? Shut that mouth!
His head hurriedly tried to stop him, but his mouth, already won over by his heart, was spilling out words.
“I became Master’s disciple by chance, but I truly do not know whether it was because of my own ability or because of the Pavilion Master. I do not know whether this is the right fate for me, or whether I will end up tearing myself apart after strutting around beyond my means. Right now, it feels like I am just being swept along after being pushed from behind. Can someone like me become a Demon Supreme? Can I become someone like you, Soma?”
After finishing, Seo Daeryong felt as if he had been flung up into the air. What had he just done?
‘Ah! I finally caused trouble. Of all the countless people in the world, I had to complain about my lot to Geugak Soma? Asking if I can become Soma? Is that a challenge?’
Seo Daeryong hurriedly bent at the waist.
“I apologize. I must have suddenly lost my mind.”
He was quickly turning around when Geugak Soma spoke.
“The Second Young Master cherishes you greatly.”
Seo Daeryong flinched and turned back to him.
The two eyes inside Geugak Soma’s eye sockets were staring straight at him.
“Yes, I know!”
As soon as he said it, Seo Daeryong realized his mistake.
‘You know? What do you know? You should have said, Thank you for telling me!’
He was so nervous that nonsense kept slipping out.
“No, what I meant just now was…”
Then Geugak Soma said,
“I know as well.”
It sounded as if he were saying that he knew exactly what Seo Daeryong was feeling as he spoke.
Their eyes met. Those eyes were smiling. It was the first time Seo Daeryong had faced Soma’s smile. Seeing those smiling eyes frightened him.
“I made many mistakes today. I am truly sorry.”
Geugak Soma spoke calmly.
“If you made no mistakes before me, would that not be the real mistake?”
Seo Daeryong left the room and let out a sigh. He could not think at all about what had just happened. He had greeted him before leaving, hadn’t he? It truly felt like he had been dreaming. To think he had held such a long conversation alone with Geugak Soma, the most frightening man in the world! He was moved, yet terrified.
‘Pavilion Master! Please come back quickly! Your cherished right arm is going to cause an accident at this rate!’
* * *
Three days had passed since they were locked in the dungeon.
One of the prisoners began showing symptoms.
“Uaaaaaaargh!”
He let out a monstrous scream and pounded on the door, but it must not have been an ordinary iron door, for it did not break. His face could be seen through the small window. Blood was flowing from his eyes and nose. He had lost his reason and was thrashing about madly.
Since the prisoners did not know that the reason they had been dragged here was Berserk, they thought he had simply been unable to withstand the confinement and had gone mad.
“You crazy bastard! Stop it!”
“Shut up! Do you want to die?”
But he only thrashed about even more madly.
Seeing that, the Poison King grew angry.
-That third-rate poison hack sold a drug like this for money?
Perhaps his ears were not ordinary, because Jindok Geosa soon came and watched the madly rampaging man through the small window. The man rushed forward and slammed his face into the opening. His killing intent was exploding.
Bang! Bang!
He rammed the iron door with his head.
The sight of blood streaming from his eyes, nose, and forehead was horrific, but Jindok Geosa’s gaze as he watched was only cold.
In the end, the prisoner rammed his head into the wall on his own and died on the spot.
The subordinates who had followed Jindok Geosa carried the corpse out with practiced ease, as if it were not the first or second time they had done so.
Jindok Geosa inspected the other dungeon cells as well. He examined the prisoners’ conditions one by one.
He looked at the room where Geom Mugeuk was. Geom Mugeuk sat leaning against the wall with his head bowed deeply. He revealed no particular aura.
After Geom Mugeuk, he looked into the Poison King’s cell.
The Poison King was sitting in the middle of the room and glanced toward the window.
The instant their gazes met, Jindok Geosa felt something different from the other prisoners.
‘Is he mocking me?’
Surely that could not be, but he did not like those eyes.
The Poison King lowered his head and cast his eyes down, and Jindok Geosa moved on to inspect the next room.
After looking through every room like that and turning to leave, Jindok Geosa looked into the Poison King’s room once more. This time, the Poison King had his back turned and was sunk in idle thought.
After watching him for a moment, Jindok Geosa left the place with his subordinates, and Geom Mugeuk immediately sent a sound transmission to the Poison King.
-How did it go?
-Why ask? Of course it succeeded.
-As expected! You are amazing.
In that brief encounter, the Poison King had poisoned Jindok Geosa with Berserk. Later, when the Sado Alliance examined the corpse, they needed to discover that he had been poisoned with Berserk. That was one of the main reasons we had infiltrated this place.
-To poison the foremost poison arts master of the unorthodox faction while looking him in the eye! Who in the martial world would dare succeed at such a thing? You truly are the Poison Sovereign!
-I only administered a minute amount for now, so it will not show. I will have to increase the dose little by little.
Though the Poison King spoke modestly, his expression said, “This much is nothing.”
Sensing that he wanted to boast more, Geom Mugeuk added praise.
-And from inside a dungeon cell to a target outside, no less. When I return, I will brag about it to everyone! I will tell my father of this magnificent sight. Father, the Poison King’s poison arts were art itself!
-There is no need to go so far as to tell the Cult Leader.
When Geom Mugeuk said he would tell his father, the Poison King seemed embarrassed yet quietly expectant.
Was that why? The Poison King was even more confident and dignified.
-I will poison him little by little each time he comes down.
Jindok Geosa might think he was conducting an experiment, but in truth, the subject of the experiment was himself.
* * *
When the second and third victims appeared in succession, the prisoners realized that something had been mixed into the food they were eating.
Only then did the prisoners stop eating.
At that, Jindok Geosa appeared again. He walked slowly down the dungeon corridor and spoke.
“I hear there are people who are not eating?”
All sorts of curses had flown around, saying that they would tear him to death if he came down, but now no one dared step forward. The sight of Hyeolsa melting into bloody liquid had been branded too shockingly into their minds.
“If you leave food behind, you will die by my poison. Even if you beg me to kill you, I will show you no mercy.”
After swinging a merciless whip, he also tossed them a rotten carrot.
“If you survive here, I will not send you back to the dungeon. I will simply let you go. One or two of you might survive.”
No one believed those words.
But they were certainly effective words. In the despair of watching people die one after another, this rotten carrot would eventually become their only consolation.
At that moment, Jindok Geosa stopped in front of the Poison King’s dungeon cell. Looking inside through the small door, he said to his subordinate,
“Open this door.”
The subordinate opened the iron door of the Poison King’s cell.
“Come out.”
The Poison King walked out of the dungeon cell. It was an unexpected situation that neither Geom Mugeuk nor the Poison King had anticipated.
Jindok Geosa looked at the Poison King and said,
“Why do I feel so unpleasant whenever I see you?”
He, too, was an absolute master of the evil path. It seemed he had sensed some ominous fate in his meeting with the Poison King.
With his finger, Jindok Geosa unpleasantly lifted the Poison King’s chin.
“For some reason, I do not like the look in your eyes.”
Even at this moment, the Poison King did not look frightened at all.
Poison King, put on a frightened expression! Even if he sent such a sound transmission, there was no way a man who had never made that expression in his life could make it now. Especially when he was already as displeased as he could be.
Jindok Geosa slowly raised his hand as if to slap him across the cheek. The Poison King’s lips twitched. Don’t, unless you want to die. It was a hair-trigger moment when words like those seemed about to come out.
Geom Mugeuk shouted through the small window.
“It is because the two of you resemble each other.”
The Poison King and Jindok Geosa looked toward Geom Mugeuk at the same time. One spoke with words, the other with an intense expression.
“What? We resemble each other?”