“Then I will take my leave.”
Geom Mugeuk bowed politely and turned around.
The crux of this provocation lay in turning his back and leaving. My father would not let me go for the sake of the greater cause, but you are letting me go.
Geom Mugeuk strode away with long steps. Please call me back. Hurry up and call me! The more desperately he wished it, the less lingering attachment his steps showed.
“Wait.”
At Baek Jagang’s call, a triumphant smile formed at the corners of Geom Mugeuk’s mouth.
Geom Mugeuk turned back toward him.
“What is it?”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Did you not tell me to return to the cult?”
Baek Jagang’s small eyes narrowed until they looked like lines drawn sideways.
If he sent him away like this, he would become a man who ruined the greater cause for the sake of his pride.
Of course, he knew this was Geom Mugeuk’s provocation.
The problem was that the object of comparison was the Heavenly Demon, Geom Ujin.
He might not care about losing to anyone else, but he did not want to lose to Geom Ujin. Geom Ujin was his lifelong archenemy. He was someone Baek Jagang acknowledged, yet hated—a target of love and resentment.
“Did your father really tell you to bow to me even ten times if you had to?”
How could Baek Jagang not know he had been provoking him? It was time to be honest. Geom Mugeuk let out a light sigh and said,
“I lied. Father would have been furious.”
Geom Mugeuk lowered his head to Baek Jagang.
“I apologize for using such a petty method.”
Geom Mugeuk frankly admitted that he had provoked him on purpose.
“So you know it was petty?”
“Yes.”
Once he admitted that much, Baek Jagang’s expression softened a little.
“That is how desperate I am.”
“If anyone should be desperate, it should be me. Why are you the one who’s desperate?”
Though he appeared calm, Baek Jagang felt a sense of crisis.
A safe house had been breached, and his successor had been attacked. And the one pointed to as the mastermind behind it was the Alliance’s deputy strategist.
He had never once taken this matter lightly. If he had, he would not even have come here. He simply did not want to show impatience in front of the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult.
Geom Mugeuk’s desperation, on the other hand, was extremely personal.
“I truly regard the Young Alliance Leader as my friend. I hope that friend safely inherits the position of Alliance Leader.”
Baek Jagang realized that there was still no chill rising near his ears.
It was a sense that worked on many people, but there were also people like this, on whom it did not work. After all, he was not a fortune-teller.
This Geom Mugeuk would have to be considered an exception too.
The young cult leader of the Demonic Cult was telling the truth? There was no way that could be.
“Why do you want to become friends with Sain?”
Geom Mugeuk answered without hesitation.
“Because I believe that friend can open a new path for the unorthodox way.”
“A new path for the unorthodox way? What is this new path you speak of?”
“I do not know that either. It must be a path the Young Alliance Leader has to find. But whether it is my Demonic Path or the Young Alliance Leader’s Unorthodox Path, I believe there will surely be a new ideal in our era.”
Geom Mugeuk knew what Baek Jagang was thinking right now. Before his regression, he had been the same. If some green youngster had spoken of ideals, he would have thought exactly what Baek Jagang was thinking now.
It is because you do not know reality.
He had lived through that reality to the very end. He had lived that life—at times insignificant, at times astonishing and great—while overcoming all manner of pain and storms.
Of course, he knew that did not mean he could give the right answer, nor did living through it once mean he would live this life well. Even if he lived a hundred times again, he knew he could not live well unless he made an effort. Rather, the very fact that he had already lived once might become a shackle around his ankles and hurl his life into the abyss.
Baek Jagang, that is why I am trying. If I leave things alone, both you and I will die, and the bitter reality waiting for us is one where the Twelve Zodiac Kings rule the martial world.
“How do you feel when you think of my father?”
It was true that whenever his father was mentioned, Baek Jagang’s eyes gleamed.
“You first get angry and want to fight him and win, don’t you? When I think of the Young Alliance Leader, I feel happy. The first thing that comes to mind is meeting him, laughing, chatting, and having fun. Our martial world will not fight one another or hate one another. We will be playing on the beach, flirting with young ladies.”
“That is nothing more than a childish ideal.”
“Why is that?”
“Because a human who possesses power will never be satisfied with that. You, and Sain as well, will all change.”
Geom Mugeuk looked up at the sky for a moment.
“Before coming here, I sat together with the Young Alliance Leader and looked up at the sky. We imagined the day when our hair would turn white like those white clouds. Will we really change?”
Baek Jagang gave no answer. His expression said, Do I really have to say it for you to understand? Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“Then I will strive to change in a good direction. I will strive to change as little for the worse as possible.”
Baek Jagang quietly stared at Geom Mugeuk. The mere fact that this fellow could make him listen to such absurd talk was enough to admit that he was no ordinary lad.
“A dream, is it.”
Come to think of it, he had never once thought about it. How could a dreamer rule the Unorthodox Path? The Unorthodox Path was a place where one could die just by closing one’s eyes.
Suddenly, he found himself wanting to hear Geom Mugeuk say, “Alliance Leader, you were right. My thoughts were nothing more than childish ideals.” He wanted to impart a lesson. To Geom Ujin’s son.
Geom Mugeuk knew that what would seize his interest was neither ideals nor friendship.
The strongest thing that could draw his interest was this.
“Father once spoke of you, Alliance Leader.”
As expected, Baek Jagang’s eyes grew intense.
“What did he say?”
“It may be rude, but may I repeat it exactly as he said it?”
“Do so.”
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk said,
“For an unorthodox bastard, he is a man with grand dreams.”
Once again, Baek Jagang gave an incredulous laugh. It was something that should have put him in a bad mood, but it somehow felt as if he had been acknowledged, so it did not feel that bad.
Yes, if it was Geom Ujin. If it was him, he was someone qualified to say such a thing.
Then Geom Mugeuk suddenly asked,
“Is the dream you dream, Alliance Leader, the same as my father’s dream?”
Baek Jagang flinched for an instant.
He knew. He knew Geom Ujin dreamed of unifying the martial world. He had even warned Bi Sain about it.
Now the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult was asking him.
Do you dream of unifying the martial world too?
It was a question no one had ever dared ask, and naturally, it was something he had never answered.
I do not know what dream your father dreams. He omitted such obvious words.
He still did not know for certain what kind of person this young cult leader was, but at the very least, he could tell that the other was someone with whom words could be exchanged even if what should be omitted was omitted.
“And if it is?”
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk said calmly,
“I ask that you dream a different dream.”
Baek Jagang burst out in anger and shouted,
“So that only your father can dream that dream?”
A powerful energy swept over Geom Mugeuk, but the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art, having reached great accomplishment, protected him far more comfortably than before.
“No. I will wake my father as well.”
As the energy pressing down on Geom Mugeuk vanished, Baek Jagang burst into laughter. It was the first time since the two had met that he laughed out loud.
“You know your father even less than I do. The moment you shake his body to wake him, you will no longer be able to become the next Heavenly Demon. He may smash your head in his sleep.”
That was how the Sado Alliance Leader saw his father.
Geom Mugeuk sighed and said,
“Perhaps.”
In at least one regard, Baek Jagang was certainly being drawn to Geom Mugeuk. The way he admitted things when they had to be admitted. He did not possess the pointless stubbornness of those who were half-baked and clever. That was why he did not frustrate people.
And there was one more point that drew him in: with unexpected words, he left no room for boredom even for a moment.
“Alliance Leader, I am hungry.”
This too was something he had heard for the first time since becoming the Sado Alliance Leader. Who had ever dared look at him and say they were hungry?
“Please buy me a meal.”
The fellow knew very well that it was difficult to coldly send away a hungry person.
Baek Jagang thought of Geom Ujin again. Of that man, colder and more taciturn than anyone in the world.
“With that personality of yours, you somehow managed to raise a rascal like this.”
Yes. Even if he was going to send him away, he should at least feed him first.
Baek Jagang spoke into the air.
“Prepare a carriage.”
Then the answer of Ingung, the captain of the guards, came.
“Yes!”
While waiting for the carriage, the two silently looked at the river flowing far below the mountain in the distance.
“I like this place. It is quiet, and the scenery is excellent.”
“When there is someone I wish to kill in secret, I summon them here.”
Geom Mugeuk looked down at his feet, then looked back at Baek Jagang and said,
“You are not joking.”
“No.”
“Was I perhaps close to dying too?”
“It was close.”
Rather than liking Geom Mugeuk himself, Baek Jagang enjoyed this kind of conversation. Since becoming the Sado Alliance Leader, he had lived his entire life rigidly.
“Do you still have people you want to kill these days? If one reaches your level, Alliance Leader, I would think there would be no one left to kill.”
“There are still many. Resentment piles up along with age.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled faintly.
Seeing that smile, as if saying he knew all about it, Baek Jagang thought inwardly,
“What would a young whelp like you know?”
That was why he kept wanting to dig into him. No matter how bright he was, he was still a child, was he not? He wanted to show him that.
“Why? Do you think your father does not kill? You may only see his noble and dignified appearance, but in places unseen, corpses must be piling up every day. Do you think the orthodox bastards are any different? They must be killing people by accusing them of being demons and branding them as unorthodox.”
This was likely one of the reasons this man did not believe in ideals. It was likely the reason he tried to hold only cold reality in those small eyes.
“In your ideals, no one would die, I suppose.”
“No. I will kill even more.”
“!”
Baek Jagang looked at Geom Mugeuk with puzzled eyes.
“You may wonder what the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult is talking about, but I hate those who have given up being human. I will kill them all.”
It was not something the young cult leader of the Demonic Cult should say, and even less something he should say to the Sado Alliance Leader, so Geom Mugeuk finished his words with a jest.
“The saying that if good exists, evil must also exist—I think it was probably made up by the evil side. To try and hold out somehow. Did you perhaps make that saying, Alliance Leader?”
Baek Jagang realized that he was not a man without laughter. At the question of whether he had made it, he had almost laughed again.
“In your Demonic Path, we would die the most, it seems.”
“That is why I am supporting and cheering for the Young Alliance Leader, so that does not happen.”
Baek Jagang realized that this young cult leader was not an easy opponent.
Suddenly, he wanted to see Bi Sain.
Geom Ujin had raised his son this well, and he felt that he himself had been complacent.
He could not allow himself to fall behind Geom Ujin, and then have his child fall behind as well.
His child? Yes. A disciple was no different from a child.
He did not know whether it was because of the sense of defeat that he could not surpass Geom Ujin, or because he usually regarded Bi Sain like his own child, but at least right now, he was engaged in a battle over the cultivation of their children.
Meanwhile, the carriage driven by Ingung, who had pulled a bamboo hat low over his head, arrived. To avoid attracting attention, he had not brought a carriage of the Sado Alliance, but one commonly seen in the marketplace.
The two climbed into the carriage. For this secret outing, bamboo hats with veils attached had been prepared inside the carriage as well.
“Where are we going?”
“You said you were hungry, did you not?”
The place where the carriage carrying the two arrived was a shabby restaurant somewhat removed from the marketplace.
“It is a place I come to from time to time.”
And so the two ate there.
Geom Mugeuk once again marveled at the surprising experiences life occasionally threw his way. To think he would be eating with the Sado Alliance Leader in front of the Sado Alliance’s main headquarters. When he had first set out for this place, could he ever have imagined such a thing?
“I also have a regular place in front of the cult. If the opportunity arises next time, I would very much like to invite you there, Alliance Leader.”
Baek Jagang nodded slightly, but he believed such a thing would never happen. Unless war broke out and he conquered the Demonic Cult’s main headquarters. And if that happened, would a meal even go down his throat? Young cult leader of the Demonic Cult.
As they ate, Geom Mugeuk brought up Hyeok Sagun.
“Hyeok Sagun must have played the role of an excellent strategist better than anyone until now. Looking back now, he was too perfect, and he must also have been extremely lucky. From now on, view him under the assumption that he is a traitor. You will certainly see a different side of him.”
He was not worried that saying this for no reason would expose him. Baek Jagang was not someone who easily revealed what was on his mind. Moreover, he had been examining other aspects as well.
“If I assume your words are true, then the Chief Strategist who withdrew because of illness must have been done in by that bastard too.”
“Yes. I believe he was poisoned.”
“Then why did you not say so?”
“Because you would realize it anyway, Alliance Leader.”
Baek Jagang looked at Geom Mugeuk. He did not know what the true face beyond that veil was, but one thing was certain. Though he spoke that much, he was thoroughly controlling what he should and should not say.
At the center of Baek Jagang’s deepening interest in Geom Mugeuk was Geom Ujin.
“He raised his child this well? That cold-blooded man?”
That thought kept coming to him. At least in this battle, he did not want to lose.
“When did you say you would come to the Alliance?”
“In two days.”
“I will see you then.”
Baek Jagang withdrew his intention to send Geom Mugeuk away.
As he rose from his seat, Geom Mugeuk said to him,
“Before you leave, please scold the Young Alliance Leader.”
“Scold him? Why?”
“He must feel very apologetic that he could not come in person. If he hears that you scolded him, Alliance Leader, he will feel more at ease instead.”
Baek Jagang was genuinely surprised.
He was considering Bi Sain’s feelings in this situation? That too, such an easily overlooked emotion? This young fellow?
Now he understood a little why the word “bewitchment” had come up.
“Do not grow accustomed to it.”
At Baek Jagang’s words, Geom Mugeuk wore a puzzled expression.
“What do you mean?”
“If you tell Sain that, he will understand.”
It seemed to be a conversation that Baek Jagang and Bi Sain had shared in the past.
“I will tell him so.”
After parting from Geom Mugeuk, Baek Jagang climbed into the carriage. The light flowing from his small eyes was intense enough to swallow the entire world.
“Look at these rascals!”
Astonishingly, the person added to “rascals” was Geom Ujin.
Though it was a battle taking place only in his own heart, now even the farmers had joined this fight, making it a two-on-two battle.
Absolute Regression, Chapter 363