It had been a long time since I’d eaten with Father.
I like this time so much. Whether we are playing go or sharing a meal. This moment, quietly conversing with Father without words.
I usually joke around a great deal, but in truth, perhaps it is because this moment is what lies closest to my essence. After all, I had lived almost an entire lifetime in silence.
“Was the training not difficult?”
“My body did not suffer, but enduring the tedium of repetition was difficult.”
“How did you endure it?”
“In the end, I emptied my mind. This repetition will be my task for life, and even if I escape this boredom, another boredom will be waiting for me anyway, so I decided simply to do it. As I did, it felt as though the repetition and the boredom became one with me.”
Father smiled. It was not a sneer. It was a smile of sincere congratulations, as if to say I had found the right path.
I explained to Father in detail how I had interpreted the First Form, what trial and error I had gone through, and how I had trained it through repetition.
I spoke excitedly, as if boasting, but in truth, I was giving Father information.
For his reference.
Father would compare my interpretation with his own and strive to create an even better form. Please, let him succeed.
I did not regress in order to become stronger than Father, or to defeat him. I came here to survive together with him.
“If you’ve finished eating, let us go digest our meal.”
I followed Father outside. Father looked toward the summit of Mount Daecheon, visible far in the distance, and said,
“Let us see who reaches there first.”
For whatever reason, Father proposed a lightness art contest.
“You haven’t forgotten that I said we should have a match once I achieved great mastery in Rapid Step.”
“How about it? Are you confident?”
“Of course I am. For your reference, even the Demon Venerables were all sent flying by me.”
“You start first!”
“Then you will have to run while looking only at my back.”
The moment I finished speaking, I shot forward first. This way, even if I happened to win, Father would have something to say.
I raced ahead at a terrifying speed with Rapid Step.
Rapid Step, once brought to great mastery, was so fast that I wondered whether even Father could keep up with this speed.
It was just then. I thought I heard the fierce sound of wind from behind.
When I turned my head, Father’s figure was beside me.
Father was flying with his robes fluttering, standing upright in midair. Speed was not the issue.
‘So cool!’
If I was running as though my life depended on it, Father was flying with dignity and aloof grace. The Heavenly Demon Flight Art, brought to great mastery, suited him so perfectly it seemed like a lightness art made for Father himself.
Right. If it lacks style, it should not be slow too.
I raced with all my might. I truly thought I had run as fast as light, but the one who arrived at the summit first was Father.
“I lost. I lost in style, and I lost in speed. Even the god of wind is no match for the Heavenly Demon.”
When I lowered my head deeply, Father said,
“Rapid Step is fast as well.”
Though he never acknowledged other martial arts, the Wind God’s Four Steps was one martial art even Father recognized.
And then unexpected words flowed from Father’s mouth.
“If you achieve great mastery in the Heavenly Demon Flight Art, you will produce the same result.”
They were words acknowledging me, but there was a reason Father had suggested a lightness art contest, and a reason he had just said that.
“I will pass the Heavenly Demon Flight Art on to you.”
I could tell. It was because I had told him earlier about the First Form. Since I learned one thing, I should teach one thing as well. That was his mindset. Father never simply receives.
“Thank you, Father.”
I prostrated myself on the spot.
“With your current level, having grasped the ultimate principle of lightness arts, you should be able to learn it without difficulty, and great mastery will not take very long either. Now, listen carefully from this point on.”
Father transmitted the mnemonic formula of the Heavenly Demon Flight Art right there. Only after checking several times to see whether I had memorized it properly did the transmission of the formula end.
I gave Father a deep bow.
“I am so happy, Father.”
The reason I was this happy was not merely because the Heavenly Demon Flight Art was the greatest lightness art in the murim. Nor was it because of the possibility of combining the Heavenly Demon Flight Art and the Wind God’s Four Steps to perform an even faster lightness art.
I was happy because this was the moment I inherited all of Father’s unique martial arts. The Nineflames Demonic Art, the Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art, and now even the Heavenly Demon Flight Art. It was the moment I learned all the core martial arts Father had mastered. My heart swelled.
“Get up now.”
“Yes.”
Together with Father, I stood side by side on the cliff at the summit of Mount Daecheon.
Far in the distance, the full view of the Heavenly Demon Cult could be seen.
“When I became the Young Cult Leader, I came up here with my father.”
I looked at Father standing beside me. I pictured Father in his youth, and imagined Grandfather standing beside him.
“My father’s dream was the unification of the murim.”
That was a fact even I had not known.
After a brief pause, I asked Father,
“What about you, Father?”
Father gave no answer. I know. Father dreams of unifying the murim. Father also knows that I know that fact.
I brought out words that were difficult to say. They were words I would have to say at least once someday.
“Even if you accomplish the great undertaking of unifying the murim and come to receive the praise and respect of everyone in the world… you will not receive my respect.”
They were words that might have made him burst into anger, but Father said nothing. Because by now, he knew well what sort of feelings his son held.
In silence, we looked at the Heavenly Demon Cult far away, and beyond it, the horizon and sky stretching out.
To ease the heavy atmosphere, I spoke in a cheerful tone.
“Father, please give names to my friends. I thought hard about whether there were any cool names. With ghosts as the theme, I considered Night Ghost, Blood Ghost, White Ghost, and Heavenly Ghost, but when I thought about it, they seemed too gloomy. So I thought I might use the moon as a more elegant theme, like Bright Moon, Waning Moon, Hidden Moon, and Radiant Moon, or if not that, then colors as the theme…”
It was just then. Father abruptly said,
“East, west, south, north.”
For a moment, I flinched.
“You are joking, right?”
Father looked at me with a face that held not the slightest hint of laughter.
“Not even Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, and Bamboo, not even Clear Wind and Bright Moon, but east, west, south, and north?”
I could not tell whether he meant I should not give needless names to evil spirits, whether it was because of what I had said earlier about unifying the murim, or whether he truly thought east, west, south, and north were good.
“East, west, south, north!”
He spoke once more, as if confirming it.
What could I do when Father was acting like this?
Ah, I am sorry. My evil spirits!
“Oh, now that I hear it, it sounds good. East Ghost, West Ghost, South Ghost, North Ghost. Easy to memorize, too. Perfect. If anyone asks, I will tell them my father named them! I’ll boast about it too.”
I’m telling you, I’ll expose that Father named them! Even so, Father did not budge in the slightest.
In the end, the names of the four evil spirits were decided as east, west, south, and north!
* * *
After descending Mount Daecheon, I headed straight for Tongcheon Pavilion.
It was to hear from Chief Strategist Sima Myeong what I had to do next.
As I entered Tongcheon Pavilion, the strategists I encountered offered respectful greetings.
Their gazes were friendly. Given the nature of their work, they were people who knew me better than anyone, so there was a need to pay attention to the change in their gazes.
After passing through several layers of strict security and entering the operations room of Tongcheon Pavilion, Sima Myeong was in a meeting with the strategists in the conference room.
The strategist who greeted me said he would notify Sima Myeong, but I told him to leave it be, and waited in the operations room until the meeting ended.
That place was truly bustling.
Through the dozen or so openings installed in one wall and divided by region, dispatches continued to arrive, and the strategists sorted them according to the matters they concerned.
Some strategists ran here and there with documents in hand, while others were busily writing something down. Another strategist was moving flags of dozens of different colors stuck into a map of the Central Plains to other locations. There was not a single person who was not busy.
The murim was peaceful, but this place was a battlefield. No, perhaps the murim was peaceful because this place was the battlefield.
A short while later, Sima Myeong came out after finishing the meeting and was startled when he saw me.
“Young Cult Leader, when did you arrive?”
“A little while ago. I told them I would wait until the meeting ended, so not to disturb you.”
“Let us go to my office.”
“Please speak here. Seeing the strategists at work is wonderful. It also makes me think I should live more diligently.”
“That is not something someone who has just emerged from closed-door training should say. Please rest now.”
“That is also not something someone who surely has a whole pile of missions to assign me should say.”
Sima Myeong and I looked at each other and laughed.
“How was your training?”
“As soon as I came out, I ran to Father to boast without even shaving my beard.”
The word boast contained all the results.
“Congratulations.”
“It is thanks to you, Strategist, for coordinating the external schedule. I imagine there must be many things I have to do piled up. What should I start with?”
“First, you must visit the Hunan Branch and the Jiangxi Branch. The Hunan Branch is the place that would clash first if war broke out with the Murim Alliance, and Jiangxi is a key strategic point for dealing with the Unorthodox Alliance. Therefore, visiting those two branches and meeting the branch leaders there is the first task the Young Cult Leader must carry out.”
“Understood.”
“I will send the official mission order tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, I will see you after I return.”
I was about to turn and leave when Sima Myeong spoke.
“From now on, Young Cult Leader, you will have a great influence on the fate of our cult.”
I smiled and said to him,
“That is why I intend to visit you often, Strategist.”
* * *
I had left Tongcheon Pavilion and was walking back to my residence.
On a quiet path, a masked man appeared before me. The person who released his concealment and revealed himself was Hwi, the captain of the Heavenly Demon Hall guards.
“Uncle!”
“Young Cult Leader.”
“Please just call me Geuk, as you did when I was young.”
“I cannot do that.”
Seeing him after so long stirred my emotions.
“How long has it been since I last saw you? There is a lot more white hair on your head, Uncle.”
“I am aging too.”
“It’s because serving our father is hard. He is terribly exacting, isn’t he? He torments you, doesn’t he?”
“It is the greatest joy of my life.”
The Hwi I knew truly was such a person. A man for whom only the duty of guarding mattered. A man for whom Father was everything.
“You once carried me on your back on a snowy day.”
When Hwi smiled, his two eyes within the mask curved like moons.
“You remember that?”
“Of course. I loved it so much back then.”
After we exchanged greetings like that, Hwi revealed the reason he had sought me out.
“When you leave the cult this time, please take the guards with you.”
I could not answer readily. Originally, I had planned to go alone. He had expected that, which was why he had come to me.
“To be frank, I am not saying this for your sake, Young Cult Leader. I know as well that their skills are at a level where they may instead become a burden.”
Hwi did not speak in circles.
“It is for my juniors. If those children are with you, Young Cult Leader, they will grow into excellent guards. I have watched your actions of late. The Young Cult Leader I saw was the sea. A sea vast enough to embrace all of my juniors.”
Given his personality, it could not have been easy for him to come to me and say such things. That was how much he cherished the Heavenly Demon Guard and his juniors.
That day, they all died with us.
If it was the request of Hwi, who had devoted his entire life to Father, then yes, I should take not twelve but even twelve hundred with me.
“I will go with them.”
Hwi respectfully bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
“No, Uncle.”
I also respectfully bowed my head to Hwi.
When I raised my head again, Hwi had already disappeared. He was not a man who repaid debts with words, so someday he would try to repay today’s debt.
Uncle Hwi, there is no need. You and your juniors have already repaid it with your lives.
* * *
My guards were training in the martial training ground.
I watched them train for a while, then stepped inside.
They stopped training and greeted me all at once with cupped fists.
“We greet the Young Cult Leader!”
There was spirit in their resounding greeting.
“Have you been training continuously for the past hundred days?”
Jeokyeon stepped forward and answered.
“Yes, we trained without missing a single day.”
“Then why are there only six of you?”
“Since we do not know when we will be assigned to guard duty, we have divided our lives into a day shift and a night shift. And once a month, we switch days and nights.”
In other words, the night shift trained from evening until morning. I truly thought it was remarkable.
Since it had been a long time since I had seen him, I first checked Jeokyeon’s eyes.
Knowing that refusing would be useless, Jeokyeon obediently removed his eyepatch.
I looked into his crimson pupils and said,
“The realm of your Demon Eye Art has risen by one stage.”
At that, Jeokyeon was startled.
“That is correct. Could you have realized that just by looking at the color of my eyes?”
“The color has changed from before.”
“Even I did not notice despite looking in a bronze mirror every day.”
I had distinguished the difference with the Divine Eye Art.
The reason I kept being drawn to his eyes was also because of the Divine Eye Art. I had learned the Divine Eye Art for my own sake, while he had learned the Demon Eye Art for someone else. And that someone else had ultimately become me.
Though all of that was his own choice and fate, sacrificing one’s eyes for another was never an easy thing.
I poured true qi into his eyes and regulated them for him.
“It feels different.”
“How?”
“The pain has decreased much more.”
If so, it was likely because of the change in my internal energy. It had become far more profound and pure.
“Tomorrow, you leave the cult with me. An official mission order will arrive from Tongcheon Pavilion early in the morning.”
Jeokyeon’s and the guard warriors’ expressions brightened. At last, they would carry out their first mission.
Their excitement and joy, which they could not hide, reached me. Seeing how happy they were, it would have been a serious mistake to leave them behind.
“Thank you for trusting us.”
“Guard me well from tomorrow on. I am going relying only on you.”
With a resounding answer, Jeokyeon and the guard warriors bowed their heads. Yes, since we are leaving anyway, let us return after growing even further.
The next morning, two carriages left the cult.
It was my first departure from the cult as the Young Cult Leader, formally accompanied by guards.