I was with Geukak Soma atop a giant stone statue erected in the Grand Martial Training Ground.
I was sitting on the fingertip of the Demon Ghost Statue’s outstretched hand, and Geukak Soma was standing beside me. Looking down from there, the magnificent yet splendid night scenery of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult came into view all at once.
I had suggested we play all night, but what could we possibly do for fun? Simply being together like this with Geukak Soma was what playing meant.
Suddenly, I recalled our first meeting.
The sight of him standing alone, absorbed into the white room, and the first words I had spoken to him.
“What are you looking at?”
Then Geukak Soma had answered thus.
“I was not looking at anything.”
Now, I asked him again.
“What are you looking at?”
Then Geukak Soma answered.
“I’m watching someone slack off. Do you see that bastard with the torch beneath the western wall over there? He was supposed to be patrolling back and forth from there to there, but he’s been sitting on his haunches taking a break for a while now.”
At the unexpected answer, I laughed aloud. It was a laugh of joy at how much he had changed.
Thanks to the Divine Eye Technique, I could even see the bored expression of the martial artist, who looked as tiny as an ant. My telepathic message flew toward him. It was the Thousand-Li Voice Transmission Technique, something I had become able to perform as my internal energy and martial arts reached a higher realm.
“You should stop slacking off. A scary person is watching.”
At my telepathic message, he sprang to his feet and began moving.
“I suppose he heard Master Soma’s words. His hearing is keen as well.”
Even at my joke, Geukak Soma couldn’t hide his surprised look. He had realized that I had sent a Thousand-Li Voice Transmission. He was the one who knew my abilities best.
Our gazes turned once more toward the man who had snapped to attention. After his patrol had gone back and forth a couple of times, Geukak Soma abruptly spoke.
“If it hadn’t been for the Young Cult Leader, I would have died then.”
Owing someone something can certainly lead a relationship in a favorable direction. If it is a life debt, there is all the more reason.
But I did not want to form such a relationship with Geukak Soma. Rather, I thought this life debt was an impediment to our relationship.
“If it hadn’t been for me, you wouldn’t have been in danger of dying in the first place.”
I stood up from where I had been sitting and looked at Geukak Soma.
I conveyed my true feelings to him.
“I hope you do not think you owe me your life.”
“Why?”
“Because then the relationship becomes heavy. The moment you feel indebted to someone, the relationship becomes distorted in some way or another. When you want to vent your frustrations, when you want to curse at someone, you can’t, can you? But I want to. If you are doing something wrong, I will curse you out without hesitation. And I want to be cursed at too. I want you to curse me out when I’m wrong. Because you are the one who saved my life. That is why I do not want us to become a relationship where we hold back what we truly wish to say.”
As I saw Geukak Soma’s gaze deepen, I continued.
“I believe that truly lasting relationships are light, like a feather. Like a feather that spins and flies into the air when the wind blows, and gently drifts back down to its place when the wind ceases. I do not wish to build an impregnable fortress with you, Geukak Soma. At first, it would be nice. Because it feels like the relationship stands firm and tall. But later, the bricks used to build that fortress would be made of burdens like, ‘What do I have to do this time to move you?’ or disappointments like, ‘I thought we were this close, but you only thought of me this much?’ I just wish that our relationship could remain as light as a feather, so that we may comfortably be with each other until the day we die.”
Geukak Soma’s eyes shone brightly.
Until the day we die.
I hoped he would understand that these five words were the core of what I had said. That I wished for a relationship where we would be together until the very end.
And Geukak Soma understood my true feelings well.
“I nearly died because of the Young Cult Leader. Buy me a drink later.”
This was why I liked Geukak Soma.
I answered with a bright smile.
“That’s right. Let’s make time to go see the master of Cheonhwa Tower.”
That was the very place where Geukak Soma became Soma, where he could drink with the most peace of mind.
We stood there like that on the fingertip of the Demon Ghost Statue, watching the night scenery of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult deepen.
* * *
The next morning, the first place I visited was the East Fist Gate. Having met Father and seen the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, it was only right to go pay my respects to Master.
“Master!”
Inside the Fist Demon’s residence, a spectacle as unfamiliar as the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s garden was unfolding.
The Fist Demon and Ian were engaged in a bout.
He wasn’t teaching fist techniques. He was matching Ian’s Soaring Sword Technique with his Thunderbolt Asura Fist.
What training could be more helpful than actual combat with the Fist Demon? It seemed she would achieve the great completion of the Soaring Sword Technique faster than expected. Once she attained great completion, unless they were a master of the Demon Venerable level, ordinary experts wouldn’t be able to kill her.
Everyone I met was immersed in martial arts. It made me think that perhaps the approaching destiny was pushing us toward the center of a great war.
Because I knew both martial arts well, watching the bout naturally led to such speculation.
What if it were me?
I became the protagonist of this bout. I became Ian wielding the sword, and I became the Fist Demon throwing punches. My image overlapped with the two of them above the exchange. Sometimes I performed the same movements; other times, I executed moves different from theirs.
At the end of that imagination, I even envisioned fighting the two of them simultaneously. I fought the Fist Demon with the Soaring Sword Technique, and I fought Ian with fist arts.
A fierce two-against-one battle.
When that fight ended, I organized the enlightenment I had gained from that imagination. At my current realm, I was achieving such martial enlightenment even from watching a bout without any conscious effort.
When I opened my eyes, which had been closed, the Fist Demon and Ian, who had finished their exchange, were looking at me. They probably thought I had closed my eyes because I couldn’t bear to watch the bout.
“Master.”
“Have you come?”
After exchanging greetings with the Fist Demon, Ian greeted me happily.
“Young Master.”
“Ian. You could think of me as a father, you know!”
I felt that Ian wanted to retort to my joke. But since we were in front of the Fist Demon, I could sense her holding herself back.
If it had been just the two of us, she probably would have played along with a quip like, “Ah! Do I have to defy even the natural order to get stronger?”
“Father envies you greatly, Master.”
“Me?”
“He says you now have a daughter. Indeed, I would feel the same. Me or my older brother? Ian is a hundred times better.”
Ian’s face flushed slightly.
“Did the Cult Leader really say that?”
Ever since Father had permitted Ian to receive the complete transmission of the Soaring Sword Technique, he had been an absolute existence to her.
“Father might ask to spar with you soon. Saying he wants your adopted daughter to be his own.”
The Fist Demon played along with my jest.
“Tell him not to covet my daughter.”
Since the Fist Demon was not someone who usually said such things, Ian’s face flushed even redder, as moved as she was.
“Then please continue your conversation.”
Ian stepped aside.
The Fist Demon took me and left the residence.
“There is somewhere we must go for a moment.”
The place we arrived at with the Fist Demon was in front of the lodgings where the East Fist Gate’s practitioners were staying. When the Fist Demon and I visited unexpectedly, the practitioners were startled.
The practitioners who were passing by all clasped their fists respectfully and observed propriety.
“Have everyone come out.”
At the Fist Demon’s command, all of the East Fist Gate’s practitioners assembled in the training ground. Everyone gathered, from White Fist practitioners to Blue Fist, Red Fist, and finally Black Fist practitioners, who were the highest rank. Among them was Cheon Sohui.
Since it was the first time the Fist Demon had come and assembled them like this, all the practitioners were nervous.
As the Fist Demon raised his momentum, the surrounding air grew cold and heavy. It was an emphasis on how important the announcement he was about to make was. In that breathtaking moment, a shocking announcement was made.
“From this hour today, I take Cheon Sohui as my second disciple and simultaneously designate her as the next Fist Demon.”
Everyone was startled by the utterly unexpected declaration.
Cheon Sohui was so shocked that she stood there dumbly, eyes wide and mouth agape.
Coming to her senses belatedly, she knelt down and observed propriety.
“I do not know how to conduct myself, having such a heavy position bestowed upon one so lacking. I will strive with desperate resolve and never disappoint you.”
Her voice trembled. She probably had no idea what she was even saying right now.
The person who must have been the most disappointed when Ian became the adopted daughter was naturally her. She must have thought that Ian would now become the Fist Demon’s successor. Because of that, her shock was all the greater.
“I believe you will do well.”
At those words, Cheon Sohui shed tears of emotion. I could sense what kind of resolution she was making at this moment.
Everyone cheered and congratulated her. She possessed the greatest skill in the East Fist Gate. Therefore, this decision followed the general trend, and while there were likely those inwardly dissatisfied, none would dare show it outwardly.
“Martial sister, congratulations.”
My congratulations would lend great weight to this decision as well. After all, the future Cult Leader was congratulating her.
“Thank you, Young Cult Leader.”
“You should call me senior brother now.”
“……Senior Brother.”
Having announced his successor so abruptly, the Fist Demon left the place in a flash. I followed him and exited as well.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“So that Sohui will think you had an influence on this decision, no?”
It was a consideration for me. He had brought me along to signal to the future Fist Demon that she should serve the future Cult Leader well.
“To think our Master was such a meticulous person!”
Come to think of it, the Demon Venerables each possessed their own transcendence and meticulousness. After all, they were people who had put in effort incomparable to that of ordinary martial artists, and it was a position absolutely impossible to achieve with a careless personality.
“You did well. My martial sister will become a more excellent Fist Demon than anyone.”
I tried picturing Cheon Sohui having inherited all of the Fist Demon’s martial arts. She would truly be magnificent. She would become someone who fit that position more than anyone else.
“You paid your respects upon returning, so the Cult Leader must be pleased?”
“He even showed me the Heavenly Demon Report.”
“That means he acknowledges you as his true successor.”
“I am grateful for that, but……”
I stopped walking for a moment. There was something I needed to say to the Fist Demon regarding the Heavenly Demon Report. It was something to say to the Fist Demon, not the other Demon Venerables.
“Seeing the spirit medicines prepared in the report, I could tell that Father is preparing for war.”
The Fist Demon said nothing. How could he not know that fact when he enjoyed Father’s deep trust? Should war break out, the Fist Demon would be the vanguard commander.
“I have a request, Master. It may be a very difficult one.”
“Speak.”
“When Father makes the decision to push out the Martial Arts Alliance and the Four Paths Alliance, you will be the first among the Demon Venerables to whom he reveals his will.”
The Fist Demon listened to my words in silence.
“I would not dare ask you to go against Father’s will. You are not the type of master who would bend your will simply because I asked.”
“Then what is the request?”
“Please tell me. I will be the one to persuade and stop Father, so just tell me.”
This request alone was an enormous burden. It would mean leaking such important affairs to me. Moreover, it was a situation where I did not know how I would stop Father.
Even so, the Fist Demon accepted my request.
“I shall tell you.”
He said nothing else. He did not make a show of how difficult this was. This was the true nature of the man called the Fist Demon.
“Thank you.”
I, too, said nothing else and bowed my head respectfully.
After parting with the Fist Demon and leaving the East Fist Gate, Ian was waiting at the entrance.
“Earlier, since Father was present, I couldn’t ask comfortably. Was the matter with the Gangseo Branch handled well?”
I approached her and asked, staring at her face intently.
“Honestly, you weren’t worried about me at all, were you?”
“Ah! Should I have been?”
She reacted as if joking, but I could feel that she hadn’t been worried at all.
“I miss the days when you stamped your feet and worried only about me.”
“Did I do that? I don’t quite remember.”
She, too, took my quip as a joke.
“What I vaguely remember is someone telling me, ‘Find happiness in your life!’”
“I don’t know who that was, but they didn’t mean for you to be this happy.”
Knowing it was praise for doing so well, Ian smiled brightly.
“How does it feel to have a father?”
“It’s bewildering. This is a moment when I need the Young Master’s advice.”
“I’ve never been a parent either.”
But if the relationship between parent and child is ultimately a relationship between people, there was something I wanted to say to Ian.
“If you try too hard to do everything right, Master will feel burdened too. Think about it. She took you as a daughter because she likes you. But if you try too hard, walking on eggshells, rigid and stiff—would that be nice? Or would it be better to be endlessly bright and cheerful? So funny that laughter bursts out the moment you meet. And you make mistakes along the way. It’s fine. Why? Because you’re her child. So don’t miss a chance to make her laugh. Make your father laugh. I think the answer to your relationship lies there.”
Ian spoke with a suspicious gaze.
“You have children, don’t you? About five hidden away somewhere?”
“Imagine five kids like me running around? Ah, horrifying.”
“Why is it horrifying? I think it would be truly reassuring.”
Ian's face turned red at her own careless words. It seemed she had momentarily imagined those children as ours.
She quickly changed the subject.
“Speaking of the Ghost Shadow Corps’ second team leader. I’m thinking of bringing in the younger sibling of the Ghost Spirit we met before.”
“Do as you see fit.”
The moment had finally come for Seojin to enter my life. Whether she would actually come depended on Ian.
After parting with Ian and passing through the Donggwon Gate, someone spoke from the rooftop.
“You’re so busy, so when exactly do you plan to come to me?”
It was Chwima’s voice.
Without looking up, I kept walking.
“Get in line.”
I could feel Chwima walking along the roof.
“The line is too long. Where are you going now? Poison King? Sword Venerable? Grand Young Master? Demon Buddha? Yellow Heaven Pavilion Master? Demon Monarch?”
He didn’t mention Blood Heaven Saber Demon, Fist Demon, or Extreme Evil Young Demon. He already knew I had met them.
“Were you upset that I didn’t come to you first?”
“A little. But you should see to your elders first.”
“Sure, I would have come if you waited. What was so urgent that you came here like this?”
Blood Heaven Saber Demon had told me that Chwima was waiting for me. I had also asked him to look after Chwima. For him to go this far, he clearly had something to talk to me about. I cracked a joke that only Chwima would appreciate.
“What’s this? Did you make some mistake while sober?”
At those words, Chwima smiled faintly.
About to say something, he looked behind me and spoke.
“The line really is long. See you later.”
When I turned around, someone I had never expected was walking this way. Moreover, she wasn’t even among the people Chwima had mentioned earlier. She was none other than Soul-Reaping Demon Venerable Cheongseon.
Walking slowly toward me, she said with a serious face.
“I have an urgent matter to discuss with the Young Sect Leader.”