“Do you have a plan to kill Yaryulhan?”
At Bisain’s question, Geom Mugeuk shook his head.
“Not yet.”
Seeing Bisain look at him in disbelief, Geom Mugeuk said,
“How could I make a proper plan before I had your permission?”
“Are you saying that the moment I give permission, a plan that didn’t exist will suddenly appear?”
“It will.”
“You truly are a man with no countermeasures.”
Though he said that, Bisain did not seem displeased. Rather, now that he had made his decision, he looked relieved.
“Promise me one thing.”
Bisain set forth a single condition. Since he had already given his permission, it was closer to a request than a condition.
“You may kill the Five Thunder Divine Sword or the Blood Wheel Tribulation, but you must not touch the Extreme Blade Corps. They are not Yaryulhan’s personal hands and feet. They are the finest elites of our Alliance.”
In terms of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, it was like asking him to leave the Demon Army alone and kill only the Demon Army Lord. Losing Yaryulhan alone would be a great blow, but he was still trying to minimize the damage.
“Understood.”
Geom Mugeuk readily accepted.
Bisain let out a sigh.
“I don’t know what I’m doing. If this goes wrong, being killed by Yaryulhan will be the least of it. I may be driven from my position as successor at once.”
“If you’re driven out, come to me. I’ll take you in.”
“I’d rather die than go there.”
Bisain’s hideous face twisted. Geom Mugeuk could tell. He had smiled in good spirits. It was an emotion one could never discern unless one observed him with the utmost care.
“Contact me if there is anything I can do to help. For the time being, I’ll be eating lunch at that inn.”
“Thank you.”
With that, Bisain left the place first.
Geom Mugeuk remained there for a long while, looking up at the nightscape of the Sado Alliance and the night sky, before finally leaving as well.
* * *
After returning to the safe house, I immediately gathered Gowol, Geugak Soma, and Cult Leader Pungcheon in one place.
“The successor of the Sado Alliance, Bisain, has promised to take responsibility for cleaning up afterward. Now all we have to do is kill Yaryulhan.”
At my words, everyone was startled.
“How in the world did you change that man’s mind?”
Not only Cult Leader Pungcheon, who had asked the question, but even Geugak Soma and Gowol looked at me with astonished eyes. They had thought it would take time even if I managed to persuade him, yet I had succeeded far too quickly.
“Perhaps young successors have something in common.”
“You really are…”
Unable to find the words, Cult Leader Pungcheon merely shook his head.
“It is good news that Bisain agreed to our request, but there is bad news as well. We have learned of another subordinate under Yaryulhan.”
We already knew that the Blood Wheel Tribulation was Yaryulhan’s subordinate.
“The person we have newly discovered is none other than the Five Thunder Divine Sword.”
At the mention of the Five Thunder Divine Sword, everyone was shocked.
Even Cult Leader Pungcheon of the Outer Regions remembered him.
“Wasn’t he the one who once stirred up a storm of blood through the murim? He was even branded a public enemy of the martial world.”
“That’s right. That is the man.”
“I thought he was dead, but he was hiding in Yaryulhan’s shadow.”
The Blood Wheel Tribulation was already no easy opponent, but the Five Thunder Divine Sword was a level above him in skill.
Just then, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him, Cult Leader Pungcheon asked,
“Then couldn’t you leave them aside and kill Yaryulhan when he is alone? They are human too; they cannot be with him at all times.”
Everyone’s gaze gathered on me. All three of them felt the same way, but there was a reason we could not do that.
“As I said, once Yaryulhan dies, Bisain will be the one considered to have killed him.”
Gowol was the first to grasp my intention.
“You are worried they will take revenge on Bisain.”
I nodded.
“We don’t know what kind of relationship they have. Whether it is a relationship in which they would avenge him, or one in which they would simply leave. But if, by any chance, they decide to take revenge, Bisain will certainly die.”
“Now I clearly understand why Bisain chose to help you, Young Master.”
He meant that Bisain, too, must have realized I was taking him into consideration.
Cult Leader Pungcheon stepped forward again.
“I will help with this matter as well.”
I had not expected him to offer his help in this.
“Do you mean that?”
“I should help, if only out of shame.”
He meant he was ashamed that he had asked whether we couldn’t simply kill Yaryulhan without considering that Bisain might be avenged.
But I knew that was only an excuse, and that he had stepped forward in order to help me.
“Are they not opponents too burdensome for the two of you to face alone? Why? Do you not trust my skill?”
“If I cannot trust your skill, Cult Leader, then whose could I trust? It is just that there is something more important you must do.”
“What is that?”
“Please protect Strategist Go as you have until now.”
My gaze turned toward Gowol.
“If, by any chance, our side is exposed, Strategist Go may be in danger. At that time, you must protect him, Cult Leader. Because you have been here until now, I have never once worried about Strategist Go.”
“Will you be all right?”
“I have Soma with me.”
My gaze turned toward Geugak Soma, who had been quietly listening until now. In this burdensome situation, Geugak Soma smiled and said,
“Trust only in me.”
“Yes. I will trust only in you, Soma.”
At that moment, my true feelings were these.
Soma, you trust only in me. No matter what happens, I will never let you die.
This is my answer to the favor he has shown me.
* * *
Chief Strategist Sama Myeong was in the operation command room.
In this place, said to be safer even than the Heavenly Demon Hall, a top-secret operation related to Geom Mugeuk was underway.
Sama Myeong had been tense the entire time since Geom Mugeuk left the cult. If by any chance an incident broke out, he would have to support Geom Mugeuk swiftly, and he would have to steer relations with the Sado Alliance so they did not plunge into war. And these movements had to remain hidden from the Sado Alliance.
Thus far, Geom Mugeuk was carrying out his mission far better than Sama Myeong had expected.
When he eliminated Jisaeng, eliminated Aecha, and even got rid of Yeo Bulgae without revealing their identity, the chief strategist of Tongcheon Pavilion had said this:
“If I had been Yaryulhan’s strategist… I would have been helplessly taken in as well.”
Sama Myeong could not tell him that would not have happened. He felt that even he himself could not be certain.
“Gowol’s abilities are far from ordinary. The information network he built in the Central Plains was also created so that it does not overlap with our Tongcheon Pavilion’s, but can complement it.”
“He is thinking ahead to after the Second Young Master becomes the Heavenly Demon.”
“He is truly drawing a grand picture.”
Just as Geom Mugeuk was pushing forward a new demonic path, Sama Myeong thought that if Gowol sat in his own seat, Tongcheon Pavilion too would become a new Tongcheon Pavilion.
And today, a new report arrived.
The chief strategist entered Sama Myeong’s office with a grave expression.
“The Second Young Master’s side has requested information on one person.”
“Who is it?”
The chief strategist took a deep breath before reporting. It was his way of expressing in advance just how shocked he had been.
“The Five Thunder Divine Sword.”
Sama Myeong shot up from his seat.
“Yaryulhan is said to have even the Five Thunder Divine Sword with him.”
They had already known that the Blood Wheel Tribulation was among Yaryulhan’s subordinates. But the Five Thunder Divine Sword was there as well?
“Yaryulhan, the Blood Wheel Tribulation, and even the Five Thunder Divine Sword. Can the two of them handle all of them?”
“I believe it will not be easy.”
“What is the probability of success for this operation?”
“When we did not know of the Five Thunder Divine Sword’s existence, we estimated it at forty percent.”
That was the probability analyzed by Tongcheon Pavilion. They did not know the exact level of Geom Mugeuk’s martial arts, but it was the result of analysis based on the many things he had accomplished thus far.
“However, if we assume the Five Thunder Divine Sword is assisting Yaryulhan, we expect it to drop to the twenty percent range. I will report the detailed analysis as soon as it is complete.”
“Twenty percent.”
Tongcheon Pavilion’s analysis of operational success rates was almost always accurate. A figure of twenty percent had to be viewed as failure.
“If by any chance another expert besides the Five Thunder Divine Sword appears, it may fall below ten percent.”
It was not an exaggeration. Sama Myeong once again keenly realized that this matter was no ordinary affair.
“Send over every piece of information we have related to the Five Thunder Divine Sword.”
“Understood.”
Sama Myeong asked the chief strategist, who was about to turn and leave,
“What do you think?”
“Pardon?”
“I am asking what probability of success you think it has.”
“I…”
He was the strategist among his subordinates who knew the most information about Geom Mugeuk. After hesitating for a long while, he offered a figure Sama Myeong had not expected.
“I see it as fifty-fifty.”
Sama Myeong was startled.
“Twenty percent and fifty percent. That is too great a difference.”
“It is my emotional analysis.”
“Are you saying this pavilion’s analytical ability is a mess?”
“No, sir. It is only my intuition.”
Sama Myeong relentlessly pressed the flustered chief strategist.
“Why fifty percent?”
The chief strategist said,
“Are there not people in this world to whom analysis does not apply? I believe the Second Young Master is such a person.”
Before another barrage of questions could come, the chief strategist quickly bowed and withdrew.
Sama Myeong gathered the report in order to present it to the Heavenly Demon and rose from his seat. Yes, he was right. The Geom Mugeuk he had seen until now was not a man who could be explained by numbers.
The same went for Heavenly Demon Geom Ujin, who had permitted this affair. Thinking that perhaps this very point—that analysis did not apply to them—might be the greatest resemblance between the two, Sama Myeong headed for the Heavenly Demon Hall.
* * *
Gowol racked his brains to devise a plan.
This time, I did not tell him to enjoy the situation. This time, more than ever, we had to make a proper plan, and we had to follow that plan with certainty.
While Gowol was devising the operation, we each spent our time in our own way.
Geugak Soma pasted white wallpaper on the walls of his room and entered training while gazing at it, and I immersed myself in martial training in the backyard.
In this fight, I would have to display everything I had. It would not be an easy battle, but I would definitely get rid of Yaryulhan. Because there was something I had to say into his ear as he lay dying. Because I had to allow someone who, for long years, had been bound by revenge and had never once lived his own life, to at least spend the life remaining to him in peace, living as himself.
I was in the middle of martial training in the backyard when someone spoke from behind me.
“If you work this hard, how am I supposed to slack off?”
I turned to see Cult Leader Pungcheon walking toward me.
“Gowol nagged me so much that I got chased out. He asked what I was doing when the Young Master was still sweating away.”
“Since you’ve come out, let us train together. These days, as you lose weight, your appearance is becoming quite striking, Cult Leader.”
“Is that so?”
Cult Leader Pungcheon looked intrigued. While I was at it, I gave him one more pleasant remark.
“I imagine quite a few women followed you around when you were young. Am I wrong?”
“Well, the line of women following me was rather long.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon lifted his chin with a smug expression. Seeing the thick flesh beneath that chin, I knew he still had a long way to go.
“You should regain the popularity you had then.”
“How could that be easy at my age?”
“If you train and make your physical age ten years younger, you will return to yourself from ten years ago. If you make it twenty years younger, you will return to twenty years ago.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon stared at me.
“You have a way of making a man’s heart flutter with words that are nothing at all.”
“How could regaining your youth be nothing at all? Please show it to me! Who knows what the future holds? Perhaps you will transform into a version of yourself twenty years younger, Cult Leader. When we first met, did we ever imagine we would be having this conversation here?”
“That is true. You turned my monotonous life completely upside down.”
“Do you regret it?”
He seemed to ponder for a moment, then shook his head.
“If I were a little younger, I might have regretted it. But now I know. Worse than a mistaken life is a life lived in regret.”
Since he and I had always mostly exchanged jokes, it had been a long time since we had had such a serious conversation.
“When I was the cult leader, I believed that position was an enormous one.”
Whoooooosh.
A sandstorm blew in. Cult Leader Pungcheon opened the Time-Space Transposition Art and brought me into the scenery of the Outer Regions. Far in the distance, the majestic form of the Pungcheon Cult could be seen.
“To be honest, from the top of that place, I thought several times a day: I am the king of the Outer Regions. Countless people must envy me. Back then, even the sand that crunched in my mouth was as sweet as candy.”
His gaze turned to me.
“Now that I have realized it was all meaningless, I no longer regret it.”
“You are magnificent.”
“Magnificent, my foot. It is not as though the me of now is better than the me of then.”
“You are better.”
“Better? In what way?”
“You have people now who look at you properly, do you not?”
Our gazes met in midair.
He shook his head and said,
“To have exchanged this gaze for that! I will remain the greatest fool in the history of the murim.”
“You will remain as the man who made the greatest choice in the history of the murim.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon smiled. I intended to keep telling him. That his decision had been precious. What makes a person suffer is not what they sacrificed for that decision. It is that no one recognizes it. At least in his relationship with me, I would not let him feel that sense of loss.
Cult Leader Pungcheon slowly began to walk.
I followed him, walking through the wasteland where the sandstorm blew.
“I asked you about that before, didn’t I?”
There was another reason Cult Leader Pungcheon had gone out of his way to open the Time-Space Transposition Art today. He brought up something he had forgotten for a while.
“Whether the time that flows within the Time-Space Transposition Art and the time in reality can be made different.”