The moment I heard the words North Sea Ice Palace, this thought came to mind.
“Ian, I guess fate is telling me to go see you.”
It was a place I hadn’t expected at all, yet I had heard of it twice in a single day. And it wasn’t as if I had merely overheard it in passing. Weren’t both Ian and Chwima people deeply connected to me?
“Why are you so surprised?”
“I was just thinking, so my brother is someone who gets wine sent to him every year by the Ice Palace.”
“I may be looked down on by you, but out there, people know who I am.”
How could I not know? I knew better than anyone. I knew how terrifying Chwima became if he truly got drunk and ran wild. Only someone like the Blood Heaven Blade Demon could call him a drunkard.
“But is the Ice Palace not sending wine really something you need to discuss with the Sword Venerable?”
For an instant, a faint trace of fluster crossed Chwima’s eyes.
“You say that because you don’t know how delicious their ice wine is.”
“Then since we’re on the subject, shall we go to the North Sea Ice Palace together?”
“The two of us?”
“If they won’t send the wine, we can just go there and drink it ourselves. Surely they wouldn’t refuse us a cup of ice wine if we came in person. Let’s have a drink of ice wine on the summit of a snowy mountain.”
It would be a lie to say I didn’t feel bothered by Chwima, who had always lamented that he was pushed to the back. I wanted to spend time with him on this occasion.
Drinking ice wine with Chwima while snowflakes swirled around us on the summit of a snowy mountain?
Ah, just thinking about it made me excited. It would truly be an unforgettable moment.
Besides, hadn’t I even soaked in a hot spring on a snowfield yesterday? Yes, this was fate telling me to go to the North Sea.
“Let’s go together.”
I naturally thought he would say yes, but unexpectedly, Chwima refused.
“I’m fine.”
“What? You always said you wanted to hang out with me. Was that all talk? You said you wanted to travel.”
“I have something to do.”
Judging from his expression, it was clear there was some sort of circumstance.
Could there be something he couldn’t tell me that had to do with the Ice Palace? I was curious, but I did not press him.
Among the Demon Venerables, Chwima was the one I treated with the least formality. Precisely because of that, I could have grilled him about what it was, or teased him that he simply didn’t want to be apart from Yeobin.
But I didn’t.
When the other person signals, this far, you have to step back. We always make mistakes with those we are comfortable with, and we are rude to those we are comfortable with.
The more comfortable someone is, the more you should be considerate of them and look after them. If you think of the effort the other person must have made to become part of that comfort, that is.
So I changed the subject first.
“Brother, how did yesterday’s conference look to you?”
“Do you know why I especially liked this conference?”
“Why?”
“Because it was held in a tavern. I liked it even more that your demonic path is in a drinking house.”
Chwima’s words made me laugh of their own accord. It was the moment another meaning was attached to the Pungryu Tavern. A place where my demonic path and Chwima’s path of wine met.
After talking with him about this and that, we parted. Neither he nor I brought up the matter of going to the North Sea again until the end.
* * *
After parting with Chwima, Geom Mugeuk returned to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s residence.
The reason he had come to see the Blade Demon today was to express his gratitude for helping the conference end well. But now, the purpose of his visit had changed into saying farewell before leaving for the North Sea.
The Blade Demon and the Sword Venerable were talking in the yard while looking at the flowers they had planted.
Geom Mugeuk quietly stood beside the two of them and said,
“The flowers are truly beautiful.”
Just looking at them made him feel good.
Ilhwa Sword Venerable looked at Geom Mugeuk as he gazed at the flowers. She could feel that he was not deliberately pretending to like them to show her, but that he truly liked flowers.
“Shall I plant flowers in your yard as well, Young Cult Leader?”
“No. I wander around so much they’d die soon enough. I have to leave again this time too.”
“Where to?”
“Something came up, so I need to go to the North Sea.”
At the mention of the North Sea, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked with a look of surprise.
“Why there?”
“According to my right arm, my heart is freezing there.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon did not understand Geom Mugeuk’s joke.
“What are you trying to do this time?”
“Could there be anything more shocking than the Orthodox-Unorthodox-Demonic Conference?”
“If it’s you.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon sighed and shook his head.
“I thought spring had come, but another snowstorm is starting to blow!”
Ilhwa Sword Venerable took up those words.
“Blood will be scattered across a snow-white field.”
Judging only from what I had shown them so far, I deserved to be misunderstood like this, but still.
“No, please don’t misunderstand! I’m just going to meet someone! I’m going to see Ian. Laughing, chatting, sightseeing. I’m going to search the North Sea for restaurants with skilled cooks.”
The two of them pretended not to hear and looked at one another with a sigh.
“How many will die this time, I wonder.”
I said no! This is a trip to the North Sea!
* * *
Before leaving for the North Sea, I busily went around saying my farewells. When I had gone to save Jo Chunbae’s family last time, I had left the cult in such a hurry it was practically like running away from home, but this time, I said goodbye to everyone. Once I left this time, I intended to tour the Central Plains together with Ian before returning.
Father said only one thing.
“Don’t cause trouble!”
My master, the Fist Demon, added one more remark to the instruction not to cause trouble.
“The Ice Palace Lord is a cold person.”
I know. I know just how cold that person is. And I know that his temperament suits the title of Ice Palace Lord all too well.
I could not even meet the Poison King and the Demon Buddha. The two of them had gone deep into the Thousand Poisons Forest again to dig up poisonous herbs.
“This is too much! How can the two of you always have fun without me?”
The words I left with Sangseon, asking him to be sure to pass them on, merely echoed through the Thousand Poisons Forest.
Of course, although I said that, I could feel that the two of them spending time together was having a positive influence on all of them.
Unexpectedly, the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable calmly revealed her true feelings.
“I hope there will be a day when I can go out with you as well.”
It seemed she had envied the sight of me spending time with the other Demon Venerables.
I gave her the words that would strengthen her the most.
“You are the first Demon Venerable of the next generation. When the time comes, there will be many such opportunities.”
Seophona, do not forget that right now is the time to bury your life in effort. Only by having such a period can you become the Demon Venerable you are looking at now. Do you think the Fist Demon’s massive fists and the Wicked Smiling Demon’s shining mask were made for nothing?
I could only hope that she would grow well into a magnificent Demon Venerable.
And the person who moved me more than anyone else was the Wicked Smiling Demon.
When I entered the Wicked Smiling Demon’s residence, I was startled.
The room had changed. Against the wall opposite the bed I had brought in, a new bed had been placed. And astonishingly, the Wicked Smiling Demon was sitting on that bed. He, who had always stood in the middle of the empty room, was sitting on a bed.
“Wicked Smiling Demon!”
“You have come.”
“So you finally have a bed of your own.”
“I took the opportunity to acquire one.”
I was truly happy. He had understood the heart with which I had moved my bed into his room. My wish for him to sleep comfortably in a bed.
“Sleeping on a bed is more comfortable and pleasant than I expected.”
I sat on my own bed and looked at the Wicked Smiling Demon sitting on his bed across from me.
Because his place had changed, the view he looked upon would also change. This change, in turn, would change him as well. Just as I was, the Smiling Demon was also growing stronger little by little.
“I intend to go to the North Sea.”
“For what matter are you going?”
“I am going to see a pretty heart.”
When I first used the expression pretty heart, the Wicked Smiling Demon had been there as well. So he would know whom it referred to.
“I thought she would become stronger if I didn’t look after her, that she would become stronger if I left her alone, but it seems I’ve reached my limit now. I must go see her.”
The two eyes behind the white mask smiled attractively. Recalling the joke with which he had once teased Ian, he said,
“If the heart you speak of is that ugly heart I know, then it should be beating well even in a cold place.”
* * *
That night, Chwima came to see me.
“Shall we have a drink?”
“Sounds good.”
Whenever I drank with Chwima, we had always drunk at the Chwimong Pavilion, but today we sat facing each other in the yard before my residence.
“I’m going to the North Sea, even if I have to go alone. You know Ian, the one who used to be my guard? She’s there right now. And just then, you brought up the Ice Palace, so I suddenly wanted to go see her.”
“The reason I said I wouldn’t go with you is…”
It seemed that had been weighing on his mind. He had always grumbled that I never spent time with him, but when I actually suggested going, he had ended up refusing.
“There is a place inside the Ice Palace where they brew wine. It is called the Hundred Wines Snow Garden. I know the Garden Master there.”
Just in case, I asked,
“Is the Garden Master a woman?”
Chwima flinched and nodded. Brother, don’t be surprised already. I can roughly guess what the situation is.
“She likes you, doesn’t she?”
Chwima did not answer and drank his wine. It was a silent affirmation.
An affection between Chwima and a master brewer of the North Sea Ice Palace. Chwima must not have accepted those feelings for a long time. And by coincidence, the wine had stopped coming at this very time when he had opened his heart to Yeobin, so he must have been thinking that the woman was hurt.
“You think she heard that things had gotten good between you and Yeobin and stopped sending the wine, don’t you?”
But this time, he firmly shook his head.
“No. If she had sent wine out of such private feelings, I would not have accepted her wine.”
I could feel the sincerity in Chwima’s words.
“The wine the Garden Master sends is truly excellent. We have interacted as one who makes wine and one who drinks it.”
A master of brewing and the finest drinker.
That was the sort of relationship the two had.
“Then why did you say you wouldn’t go?”
At that, Chwima said something unexpected.
“The wine of the Wine Essence spoiled again.”
Once before, I had helped Chwima clear away a Wine Essence that had rotted. Since it had never happened even once after he became a Demon Venerable, Chwima had called it ominous.
That Wine Essence had spoiled again.
“So I have brewed it again and am watching over it. It didn’t feel right to leave at a time like this, so that’s why I said I wouldn’t go. I was going to tell you earlier, but I didn’t because I thought you might worry for no reason.”
I could tell. Though many things had changed because I had regressed, I had still not yet changed the fate in which Hwa Mugi was approaching.
“Was it the same as before?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did the stench of rot spread as badly as it did back then?”
Fortunately, Chwima shook his head.
“It spoiled less than before. Back then, it was terrible, wasn’t it?”
I did not know what meaning there could be in this difference, but if I had given meaning to it in the first place, then I could place meaning on this difference too. I would believe that the situation had improved.
The wine brewed this time would surely spoil less. This conference must have changed our fates a little more as well.
“Brother, don’t worry too much. If it spoils, you can brew it again. If it spoils again, you can brew it again after that.”
Brew it, and brew it again. That, after all, was exactly my attitude toward facing Hwa Mugi and toward evil. I would not attach great meaning to it.
Hwa Mugi, I will not let you become my everything. You are the one who should fret and obsess over me. Why doesn’t it work? Why doesn’t it take? Be anxious and burn with frustration.
Perhaps the greatest revenge was not killing him, but living happily and well myself.
Hwa Mugi? Who was that again?
* * *
Early the next day, as I was about to leave the main cult, Chwima came to see me.
“Let’s go together.”
Chwima had already come prepared for travel.
Even his clothing was different from usual. It was the same outfit he had worn on the day of the conference, but the painting was different.
Back then, it had been a robe showing a drunken Wine God laughing, but today, the Wine God had floated a boat on a lakeside beneath the moon and was drinking alone. It was like a scene from a poem and painting.
“That outfit is really stylish. If you have any spare clothes, give me a set too.”
“I’ll give you one when we return.”
I did not ask why he had changed his mind and decided to go. There are things you can know without asking.
“Let’s run to the North Sea with lightness skill. I’ll match your speed, brother.”
At that, Chwima looked dumbfounded.
“You’ll match my speed?”
“Of course. The faster person has to match the slower person’s speed.”
“You’ve never properly run with me, have you?”
“That goes for you too, brother.”
“Shall we make a bet?”
A lightness skill bet with me? That was almost like suggesting to my father that we bet on who could sneer better.
“We are people who drink and fight. What do we do if we drink and cause trouble? We run, of course. We are people with expertise in running away.”
Chwima was full of confidence.
“If I lose, I’ll give you this.”
Chwima took a small wine bottle from his robes.
“It is Fire Dragon Wine.”
Among spirit medicines made into wine, Fire Dragon Wine belonged to the very best. It was truly precious wine.
“You’ll give me something this precious?”
“I only kept it because it doesn’t suit my internal energy or temperament.”
“You’re doing this because you think I’d feel burdened if you just gave it to me as a gift, aren’t you?”
“Just don’t fall over and cry!”
Chwima had wagered something truly big. The fact that he had first put up the Fire Dragon Wine meant there was something he wanted from me as well.
“And if you win, brother? Is there something you want?”
The condition Chwima put forward was unexpected.
“If I win, grant me one request.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll tell you if I win.”
“What a pity. It seems I won’t even get to hear that request.”
After deciding on our destination, we began to run.
Chwima certainly was fast. Among the Demon Venerables, he might well be the fastest in lightness skill. If he was this fast, then he had not intended to give me the Fire Dragon Wine. This was a bet he had meant to win.
Unfortunately for him, however, he was not as fast as my perfected Swift Steps.
Brother, since I am at least a man with a conscience, I’ll listen to what your request is while drinking the Fire Dragon Wine.
Fast, and faster still. Like that, we sped swiftly northward.