Were the two of them alike?
There was not a single point of resemblance between them—so little that the Poison King would have been justified in leaping to his feet in outrage.
It was only something I had blurted out on the spur of the moment to turn Jindok Geosa’s attention toward me.
And I had achieved my purpose. Jindok Geosa’s interest shifted from the Poison King to me. Yes, deal with me.
“When you see someone who resembles you, doesn’t it put you in a bad mood for no reason?”
The look in the Poison King’s eyes when he heard that said this:
Me, resembling that ugly bastard?
Jindok Geosa seemed to have the same question.
“Just where do you think we resemble each other?”
Even he must have known they looked nothing alike.
“To my eyes, you resemble each other quite a lot. Even your gazes and the air about you are the same. Rebellious somehow, yet with depth.”
Jindok Geosa frowned. That expression said: You’re saying this nonsense in a situation like this? Rebellious? Depth? Here, in this underground prison where people are dying?
“Were you not that handsome when you were young?”
What was there to be offended about, being told he resembled a handsome man?
The problem was that he did not believe a word I said.
“Enough nonsense. Tell me why you stepped forward to save this man.”
Jindok Geosa openly revealed his killing intent. His stance made it clear that if I truly spouted nonsense, he would poison me as an example.
“He helped me in the prison.”
“How much help did he give you, for you to risk your life?”
My gaze turned to the Poison King.
“When I was fighting like a dog, that man became a dog with me and fought at my side.”
Because he had not expected me to give that reason, surprise and emotion flashed across the Poison King’s face.
Fortunately, more than any lengthy explanation, those words worked on Jindok Geosa.
“Prisoners talking about loyalty? If you stick your neck out insolently one more time, know that you’ll vanish into a handful of bloody water.”
“Yes! I’ll be careful.”
Jindok Geosa looked back and forth between me and the Poison King with displeasure, but he did not escalate the matter further. Each and every one of us was an important test subject.
Jindok Geosa locked the Poison King back in the prison, then left.
I sent a sound transmission to the Poison King.
—You endured well.
—Why did you step in? I could have handled it myself.
—I know.
—You did it because you thought I’d cause trouble, didn’t you?
—No.
—Don’t lie!
After a brief pause, I told him.
—If anything, I did it because I thought you might endure it.
—!
The Poison King looked at me with a startled expression.
—Because I thought you might endure it. I thought you might take a slap, suffer humiliation from that bastard, and still endure it. You probably would have endured for the sake of our plan, Poison King.
The Poison King’s clear, large eyes grew even wider.
—What if your flattery about me resembling him hadn’t worked and that bastard had tried to kill you?
—Then we’d have to overturn the board. We’d make it look as if that bastard killed everyone here and died from the side effects of Gwangpok, then leave.
—Then what about Aecha? He holes up in his lair and barely ever comes out.
—If we think about it, we’ll find a way.
—The reason you took even that kind of risk was… just because you didn’t want to see me suffer?
—Just? That’s a truly important reason. Important enough to overturn everything and go back.
At his gaze, which seemed to ask if this was more flattery, I revealed my true feelings.
“Between flattery and sincerity, the share of sincerity keeps growing.”
The Poison King, who had been staring at me, disappeared from the small window.
* * *
Prisoners died every day.
Each time, Jindok Geosa came to the prison to confirm their deaths, then glared at the Poison King before leaving. It seemed the Poison King’s existence still felt like a thorn in his eye.
He should have trusted his instincts more. He should have wondered why those clear eyes grated on him so much.
But he was exhausted from repeated failures in his research, and he failed to properly heed the sense of danger that kept sending him warnings.
On the contrary, he was being poisoned by Gwangpok every day. The Poison King administered the poison with such exquisite and outstanding skill, and since Jindok Geosa had no reason to use his internal energy violently in daily life, he could not perceive it.
After he left, the Poison King asked me.
—If things go according to our plan, will Aecha appear here?
—He definitely will. According to Strategist Go’s investigation, Aecha and Jindok Geosa don’t get along. If he hears the experiment succeeded, he’ll come in person to confirm it.
—Judging by the current pace, we’ll have an answer within about ten days.
The end was now in sight.
* * *
For ten days, I focused solely on the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art.
Rather, when our surroundings are chaotic, we sometimes display unexpected concentration. That was how I was. In this cramped, miserable prison where prisoners died every day, I concentrated on my training more than ever before.
And at last, there was progress in the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art.
It was the result of the changes in my body caused by my recent increase in internal energy, combined with my training here. Slowly but steadily, the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art was advancing toward great completion.
Once it rose by one stage, the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art was clearly different from before. It responded to danger faster and more sensitively, and it felt even more closely bound to me.
Meanwhile, prisoners continued to die.
From the conversations of the martial artists who came and went bringing food to the prison, I heard that if this attempt failed, they planned to continue the experiment even if they had to abduct ordinary martial artists.
For the sake of their own goal, these people cared nothing for human lives. No, from the start, they were people who did not have others’ lives in their eyes at all.
These were the absolute evil. In a place like this, with masters like Jindok Geosa and Aecha conducting experiments in secret, who could possibly stop them, and how?
—Stopping such evil deeds is my Demonic Path.
And after I said those words, for the first time, I was asked a question about the next generation.
The Poison King asked me.
—After you die? Will the next Heavenly Demon truly be able to uphold that Demonic Path? I’m asking whether another person like you can appear.
—Why should I worry about what happens after I die? The people left behind will handle it themselves.
—You suffered this much to establish a new Demonic Path. Wouldn’t it be a waste if later generations ruined it?
Yes, they might ruin it. But I thought that was something I could do nothing about. No, from the start, I believed it was right not to interfere.
—Even if I ordered later generations, would that work? If I asked them, would they listen? They’ll simply watch how we live. If it looks admirable, they’ll follow it. If they think it’s not much, they’ll change it.
Just as I did.
* * *
As the Poison King had predicted, on the tenth day, every prisoner who had come here died.
Now the only people left were Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King.
Food continued to be provided for several days afterward, and naturally, the two did not die.
Then, several days after that.
The moment the two had been waiting for arrived.
At last, Aecha came to the underground prison with Jindok Geosa. Aecha, who had been living in seclusion in his own lair, showed himself for the first time.
“You truly succeeded?”
“I did! See for yourself. Two successful formulas came out. With further research, we can make them into even more stable formulas.”
“Let me have a look!”
Aecha peered inside through the iron door openings of the cells where Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King were kept.
His delighted eyes turned into those of a snake.
“They’re both too young. Is it not something that only works on young people?”
For a moment, Jindok Geosa almost cursed aloud. Aecha was always like this, but he had not expected him to pull this nonsense even today.
“Are you looking down on me too much?”
A cold wind blew between the two of them.
“I only said it in passing. There’s no need to bristle like that.”
After that hateful remark, Aecha once again looked back and forth between Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King inside the cells.
‘No matter how I look at them, they seem too young.’
At that moment, Aecha’s heart began to pound. His sense of danger was operating fiercely. What is it? What is this ominous feeling?
Like a God of Gamblers switching cards in front of a Gambling Ghost, the supreme essence of the Poison King’s martial arts was displayed in the presence of the foremost master of poison arts in the unorthodox faction. A single small hole was enough.
‘!’
Aecha’s expression stiffened for an instant. Forcing a smile, he approached Jindok Geosa.
“You truly worked hard!”
The instant he drew close.
Shhhk!
Aecha drew his sword with lightning speed and stabbed Jindok Geosa in the arm.
Caught by this surprise attack, Jindok Geosa was helpless.
The moment Jindok Geosa reflexively tried to scatter poison, Aecha suppressed his vital point one step ahead of him.
“Have you gone mad?”
At Jindok Geosa’s shout, Aecha seized him by the throat.
“What are you? Did you take Gwangpok?”
Jindok Geosa thought Aecha had gone berserk from Gwangpok. Otherwise, there was no reason he would suddenly try to kill him.
Nor could he be discarded now that the experiment had succeeded. To prepare for something like that, only he knew how to make Gwangpok. He had not written it down anywhere. It existed only in his head. Aecha knew that, so there was no reason to kill him.
“The antidote! Hand over the antidote!”
Aecha suddenly vomited blood.
His face had turned pitch-black. Only then did Jindok Geosa realize he had been poisoned. Aecha had mistaken him for the one who had poisoned him and attacked.
“You bastard! I knew you’d betray me like this someday!”
“It wasn’t me! I said it wasn’t me!”
If the two had normally been on good terms, they might have calmly examined their surroundings. But because they were as hostile as enemies, each could only think that the other was trying to kill him right now.
Just then, the subordinates of Aecha and Jindok Geosa, who had been waiting outside, rushed in.
“What happened?”
“Jindok betrayed us! Kill them all!”
Aecha’s subordinates drew their swords and stabbed Jindok Geosa’s subordinates to death. It happened in an instant, and because they were shocked by the words that their leader had betrayed them, Jindok Geosa’s subordinates could not immediately scatter poison and counterattack.
After all of them died, Aecha’s subordinates rushed toward Aecha, only to collapse one after another.
Aecha thought Jindok Geosa’s subordinates had used poison, but in truth, Geom Mugeuk had sent finger winds to press their acupoints and put them to sleep. They were the finest witnesses to explain this situation.
Both the earlier poisoning and the pressing of acupoints now had been done from inside the prison, through the small window, without drawing notice.
At the sight of his subordinates collapsing, Aecha’s eyes rolled with fury.
“You treacherous bastard! Hand over the antidote before I kill you!”
Aecha seized Jindok Geosa’s throat even more fiercely. With only a little more force, it would break. Unable to breathe, Jindok Geosa rasped as he said to him:
“If I had truly intended to kill you, you would already be dead.”
Because that much was true, Aecha was momentarily confused. Yes, if he had meant to kill me, he would have used a stronger poison and killed me instantly, wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t have allowed me to counterattack like this either.
It was right then.
Srrrk.
The key hanging at the waist of one of Jindok Geosa’s fallen subordinates rose into the air.
Jindok Geosa, who saw it first, widened his eyes.
The key flew across the air and opened the Poison King’s iron door.
Clack!
Startled by the sound, Aecha also looked that way.
The key flew back across the air and opened Geom Mugeuk’s iron door.
At the clack, Aecha and Jindok Geosa’s hearts sank.
As the doors opened, Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King walked out of the prison.
Aecha was dazed for a moment. Was he hallucinating because of the poison?
Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King walked side by side toward the two men.
Jindok Geosa was the first to grasp the situation.
“Kill them! They’re the ones who did this!”
Aecha came to his senses at once and thrust his sword toward Geom Mugeuk.
Even if he had lain in wait and launched a surprise attack, it would not have worked. How could it work now? Aecha’s thrust stabbed futilely through empty air, and Geom Mugeuk, who had dug in with the Yama Step, suppressed Aecha’s vital point.
Aecha looked at Geom Mugeuk with a shocked expression. Only now did it feel real. Things had gone wrong—terribly wrong. He should not have subdued Jindok Geosa and stabbed his arm.
The Poison King strode over and opened the poison pouch hanging at Jindok Geosa’s waist. At that moment, Jindok Geosa inwardly cried out in delight.
You dare touch my poison pouch so carelessly? Good, hurry up and die!
Of course he would die. If it could be handled carelessly, how could it be Jindok Geosa’s poison pouch?
But his opponent handled that poison even more skillfully than he did.
Riding a strand of wind, Jindok Geosa’s poison flew toward Aecha’s face.
“No!”
Aecha’s desperate cry soon turned into a horrifying scream.
“Aaaaaaaaargh!”
Because it was a signature poison used only by him, the one who killed Aecha would be Jindok Geosa.
Then who would kill Jindok Geosa?
Aecha’s hand, which held the sword, moved on its own by an invisible force.
Thud!
It buried itself in Jindok Geosa’s chest.
“Aaaaaaaaargh!”
“Uuuuuuuuugh!”
The two men screamed in agony at the same time.
Geom Mugeuk went over, jabbed his finger hard beneath Jindok Geosa’s eye, and flicked his nose.
Blood began to stream from his nose and eyes. There was already more than enough Gwangpok in his body, thanks to the Poison King’s poisoning; it would be concluded that the side effects of Gwangpok had made Jindok Geosa run amok, and that the two had ultimately destroyed each other.
“……Why on earth?”
At Jindok Geosa’s strained question, the Poison King answered curtly.
“Because you made medicine like a dog.”
Geom Mugeuk added nothing to that. He did not say that because of his medicine, blades had been drawn and many innocent people had died. He did not say that a child who had lost his family had been left all alone. Those words would never have gotten through to him. They would not have left even the smallest scratch on his conscience.
But to a man so full of pride, the Poison King’s words must have been a grievous wound.
This time, Aecha, half his face melted away by poison, asked Geom Mugeuk with difficulty.
“……Who are you? You people?”
Geom Mugeuk gazed at him silently, then said in a low voice.
“That gentleman is Gwangpok, and I am Heukbi.”
He had given the names of the two representative drugs they sold.
Aecha wanted to say something, but his life ended there. Even half a gak ago, he would never have imagined his life would end this emptily.
Watching Aecha’s head fall, Jindok Geosa said to the Poison King.
“……I have something to say.”
The Poison King went close to his side.
Jindok Geosa bit the inside of his cheek and spat blood. It was blood mixed with deadly poison.
Splash!
The Poison King unfolded the Muganseon and blocked it.
Blood trickled down the fan. Aside from Jindok Geosa’s blood, the fan bore many traces of battle. It seemed the Poison King left those marks as they were, without erasing or replacing them.
“It won’t work. Not the poison of a third-rate poison peddler.”
Played with to the very end, Jindok Geosa trembled with anguish and humiliation before his head finally dropped with a thud.
Geom Mugeuk silently looked down at the two dead men. This was not only meaningful because one of Yaryulhan’s four subordinates had been killed.
It was the moment countless lives that would have been lost to Gwangpok were saved, and the moment the vengeance of the boy who had lost his mother and younger sibling was fulfilled. He could now go to Seo Daeryong and tell him to tell the boy when he returned. Your revenge has been achieved. No evil works before our cult. So from now on, at least you should live happily. Their deaths held that meaning.
Geom Mugeuk bowed respectfully to the Poison King.
“You truly worked hard.”
He had truly suffered in this cramped, stifling place. Geom Mugeuk himself had spent all his spare time training, but for the Poison King, who had lived amid the nature of the Thousand Poisons Forest, it must have been suffocating.
“Dealing with poison peddlers is always this exhausting and filthy.”
“I enjoyed it. Because I was with you, Poison King.”
“Stop releasing poison. It’s already enough.”
“Pardon?”
Leaving behind Geom Mugeuk, who looked as if he had no idea what he meant, the Poison King strode out first.
Just before Geom Mugeuk left the place, he sent out finger wind and released the blood points of Aecha’s subordinates, whom he had put to sleep earlier.
A short while later, amid the commotion behind them—Jindok Geosa had gone mad, he had betrayed them, inform the higher-ups—the two vanished from that place without a sound.