Jin Ha-gun gazed out the window of the Zhongjing Branch Leader's office.
Martial artists were filing into the training grounds. They were martial artists who had come as support from the Martial Alliance's Shaanxi Branch. From every branch and sub-branch adjacent to Zhongjing, martial artists were steadily gathering.
Having already heard word of the situation here, their expressions were stiff. They looked prepared for a battle with the Demonic Cult. And it was not only them.
Word had come that in every corner of Zhongjing, conflicts were breaking out between orthodox martial artists and demonic practitioners. Truly, the atmosphere was turbulent.
A short distance from Jin Ha-gun stood Branch Leader Ju Gweol.
"The Alliance Leader has granted you the authority to decide on the Net of Heaven and Earth, my lord."
Meaning, he was to judge as he saw fit.
Jin Ha-gun could sense it. That if he mishandled this matter, he might fail to become the successor.
His grandfather was not a man to forgive mistakes simply because he was his grandson. Rather, he would judge him by even stricter standards. Therefore, he had to judge and handle this well.
"If you wish to deploy the Net of Heaven and Earth, you must do so immediately."
The lifeblood of the Net of Heaven and Earth was timing. If it was deployed after the enemy had escaped, it would be utterly useless.
Ju Gweol's heart was urgent, but Jin Ha-gun's thoughts were different.
'Whether the culprit is the Blood Heaven Saber Demon or not.'
Jin Ha-gun's gaze turned beyond the distant wall.
'They are all here.'
Both the one plotting the conspiracy and the one caught in it.
'They have no intention of fleeing. They intend to see this through to the end, right here.'
If so, rather than deploying the Net of Heaven and Earth and scattering forces, keeping them concentrated in one place would make it easier to prepare for whatever happened next.
Just then, a subordinate entered the office and reported.
"We have found the informant who witnessed the culprit."
Jin Ha-gun and Ju Gweol were startled.
"Bring him here at once."
At Ju Gweol's command, the subordinate returned with a man.
The man entered with a face full of tension and fear; he was a street vendor who sold goods from a stall in the marketplace.
"The day before the massacre, there was a martial artist who asked where Daejeong Gate was."
Ju Gweol asked him,
"Do you remember what he looked like?"
"He was short and had a frail stature."
"His age? Was he an old man?"
"No. He was a young man."
At the word "young," Ju Gweol was inwardly disappointed. Because he had expected someone who had seen the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.
"What weapon was he carrying?"
"He had a large saber strapped to his back."
At the mention of the large saber, life returned to Ju Gweol's eyes.
"Do you remember his face?"
"Yes, he had a unique face, so I remember."
Ju Gweol ordered the subordinate to take the man to a sketch artist immediately and have a face portrait drawn.
"It is a well-known fact that the Blood Heaven Saber Demon passed his martial arts to his head disciple. Perhaps the culprit could be that disciple."
Jin Ha-gun thought otherwise. Because the evidence falling into place so neatly was, rather, strange.
"Branch Leader, do you think someone going to annihilate a clan would ask for directions on the street?"
Ju Gweol had nothing to say to that, but he had something else to say.
"If that man is the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's head disciple. Do you think it could be a coincidence that a demonic practitioner who learned that martial art would happen to visit the place annihilated by that very art for some other business?"
Jin Ha-gun likewise found it difficult to refute.
If he were revealed to be the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's head disciple, everyone would consider this affair the work of the Demonic Cult. Because, as Ju Gweol said, such a coincidence could not occur.
"First, have as many copies drawn of the portrait the witness described and post them everywhere in Zhongjing. Finding him is the priority."
Separate from the faith he held in Geom Mugeuk, he could not dismiss the faint possibility that the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's disciple had committed this massacre.
"You must deploy the Net of Heaven and Earth."
"I will decide that myself. Focus on finding him for now."
"Understood."
Ju Gweol went outside.
Jin Ha-gun spoke to a subordinate of the Demon Extermination Corps.
"Send word to the Young Cult Leader. Tell him I wish to meet in secret."
* * *
Faint moonlight settled upon each blade of grass.
Geom Mugeuk stood alone in the wide-open field.
He was certain Seo Daeryong would be fine, but Geom Mugeuk worried about the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. He worried more because he knew how strong he was. Because all news from that powerful man had ceased.
'Elder.'
He missed him. He recalled the image of him planting the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber into the ground and leaning on the blade as he drank.
'When this matter is over, let us lean on that saber together and share a drink, Elder.'
Then, a figure revealed himself there.
The one who slowly walked over and stood beside Geom Mugeuk was Jin Ha-gun.
"You're here?"
"Thank you for coming."
"If you call, I naturally must come. You must be busy; why did you call me?"
At that, Jin Ha-gun took a sheet of paper from his robes and handed it to Geom Mugeuk.
It was a drawing with a person's face portrait sketched on it.
"Was it drawn to look like him?"
To Jin Ha-gun's question, Geom Mugeuk answered frankly.
"It's exactly the same. It looks as though he sat right in front and was drawn."
Those words also constituted an admission that the figure in the drawing was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's disciple.
"Who reported him?"
"They say that person asked a street merchant where Daejeong Gate was."
"He must deal with hundreds of people a day; isn't it strange that he remembered the face so accurately like this?"
And above all, it had truly captured Seo Daeryong's features well. Unless this was prepared in advance, such a drawing could not have been produced.
"Fabricated?"
"The informant has likely already disappeared, or been killed."
Since he had already finished testifying and even described a portrait, nothing would change. If people believed the witness had been killed to silence him, the hatred toward the Demonic Cult would only grow stronger.
"I'll look into it."
A thought arose in a corner of Jin Ha-gun's mind.
'Could you have removed him yourself?'
To deceive me in turn.
Feeling such a thought still arise, he realized he did not yet fully trust him.
"Where is the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's disciple now?"
"He is with me."
Jin Ha-gun spoke, looking at the drawing in Geom Mugeuk's hand.
"From tomorrow, that drawing will be posted everywhere in Zhongjing. Rumors will even spread that the culprit is the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's head disciple."
Geom Mugeuk looked at Jin Ha-gun.
"You must be in a difficult position."
"Difficult" was not enough. He was the one responsible for finding that culprit, and his grandfather would decide whether to make him the successor or not depending on how he resolved this matter.
—Hand that person over to me.
This thought rose to his throat. He wanted to investigate directly and be certain.
Right now, the faith he held in Geom Mugeuk was nine out of ten. That remaining one kept tormenting him.
"If your people arrest him, he won't be able to get free. He has mastered the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Technique that killed the Daejeong Gate Lord, and he even visited Daejeong Gate the day before. But, do you know this?"
Geom Mugeuk said with a faint smile.
"This man was the top-ranked entrant at Hwangcheon Gak. He may look gloomy, but he is that smart. He is not the kind of person to leave evidence trailing everywhere while annihilating a die-hard orthodox sect."
Jin Ha-gun thought so too, but…
"But in the end, the revealed evidence inevitably becomes the truth. If it is for that head disciple's sake, you must find the real culprit. And as quickly as possible."
The two stood silently for a moment.
A gust of wind blew, and the grass swayed like waves; from afar, the sound of insects chirping could be heard.
"What do you think they are aiming for by going this far?"
To Jin Ha-gun's question, Geom Mugeuk answered calmly.
"War between you and us."
Jin Ha-gun was startled. He had assumed those bastards were trying to achieve some purpose through sowing discord; the thought that the purpose was a Righteous-Demonic Great War had never once crossed his mind.
Jin Ha-gun looked at Geom Mugeuk with a gaze asking if he was serious.
And Geom Mugeuk was serious.
"I think these incidents are merely the beginning. After intensifying the conflict between us like this, they will cause another incident. I don't know what their plan is, but by then it will be irreversible."
These horrific incidents were merely the beginning?
"By starting a war?"
There had to be something they stood to gain to attempt such a massive undertaking.
"That I don't know either. What it is they want."
At first, Geom Mugeuk had thought it might be the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's personal grudge.
But if that were the case, they were making this matter too large. Moreover, they had roped in Seo Daeryong as well.
'There is something more.'
Jin Ha-gun let out a light sigh.
"This is difficult."
Amid the difficulty, there was hope that Geom Mugeuk had found.
"But there is one fact those bastards have overlooked."
"What is it?"
"You and me."
Geom Mugeuk looked at Jin Ha-gun.
"The fact that we are closer friends than they think."
At Geom Mugeuk's gaze directed at him, Jin Ha-gun averted his eyes. He felt that now was the time he had to say this.
"I only trust you nine out of ten. Are we still friends?"
Jin Ha-gun mustered his courage. It was the part that had always tormented him. The fact that while Geom Mugeuk thought of him as a friend, he could not fully trust him.
Then, an unexpected answer flowed out.
"You trust me nine out of ten? I only trust you eight out of ten."
He wondered if Geom Mugeuk was joking again, but Geom Mugeuk was serious.
"You really are meant to become a great hero. To think you consider trusting someone nine out of ten as lacking. Look here, friend. You are the Lord of the Demon Extermination Corps, and I am the Young Cult Leader of the Divine Cult. And you say you trust me nine out of ten?"
To Jin Ha-gun, the word "trust" was something that could only be used when one trusted fully, all ten out of ten.
"Let's go with a relationship of about eight out of ten. We put our lives on the line earnestly for that eight. But let's leave the remaining two as leeway. We are human too—shouldn't we sometimes doubt and even hate each other?"
Jin Ha-gun stared silently at Geom Mugeuk. Despite such words, "doubt" and "hate" did not suit him at all.
"What if those remaining two betray us?"
"How can two betray us? The remaining eight are still there."
Jin Ha-gun had never once thought of trust between people in this way. Because he had believed that the one part he could not fill would betray him.
"If the eight are firm, those two's rebellion won't be betrayal but mere hurt feelings. If the eight are firm, we can free ourselves from the burden of having to trust someone completely. Besides, what is harder than trusting is giving trust, is it not? Complete trust? Let's not live such a tiresome life. Let's live making mistakes and being hated moderately. Trusting eight firmly is enough."
Jin Ha-gun did not know.
Did Geom Mugeuk know that he had worried over this matter for a long time? If not, how could he put a person's heart so at ease? How on earth?
"Then we are friends."
"Of course. In that sense, would you care to take a look at some bait?"
"Bait?"
Geom Mugeuk looked behind him. Then, from behind a distant tree, a man walked this way.
Jin Ha-gun realized the person who arrived there was Seo Daeryong from the drawing. He was inwardly surprised that Geom Mugeuk had brought him here.
Instead of introducing them, Geom Mugeuk asked Seo Daeryong,
"Out of ten in work, how much do you trust me?"
What was the point of asking? It was obviously ten. He was the person he trusted most in this world.
Of course, if he answered straight at an opportunity to joke like this, he would not be Seo Daeryong.
"Wouldn't it be about seven?"
Geom Mugeuk said to Jin Ha-gun.
"My right-hand man says seven."
"We started from one at our first meeting, so it's remarkable progress. Honestly, back then I didn't even trust you one bit."
A Young Cult Leader who says he'll change the cult?
Geom Mugeuk handed the paper in his hand to Seo Daeryong.
"Here, keep this as a memento."
And then he said to Jin Ha-gun,
"We don't need to spread this drawing tomorrow."
Jin Ha-gun was startled by Geom Mugeuk's words. He realized it meant Geom Mugeuk was entrusting Seo Daeryong to him.
"Are you serious?"
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
"The reason I'm entrusting this man to you is not because he is the culprit. This man is my right arm. If this man is the culprit, then so am I."
He trusted him this much.
"Why would you do this, knowing he cannot get out easily?"
The reason for entrusting him was not something Jin Ha-gun had expected from Geom Mugeuk.
"I'm thinking of striking at their opening."
"Their opening? What do you mean?"
"They must have expected that I would never hand over my right arm. Because they know the relationship between me and this man. But what if I hand him over to you?"
He was trying to throw bait with an unexpected move.
He intended to find a clue to track them from their reaction and response.
"I've become curious. If they drew in the Saber Demon, why did they drag his disciple in as well? What role does my right arm play in their plan?"
Was his role simply to cause strife between the main cult and the Martial Alliance? Or was there another reason?
Geom Mugeuk said to Jin Ha-gun,
"In the process of solving that curiosity, you may be in danger."
Because there was no telling how they would try to deal with Seo Daeryong captured by the Martial Alliance. It meant that simply being with Seo Daeryong could put him in danger.
Though warned of the danger, Jin Ha-gun instead gave a faint smile.
"Seven is boldly stepping forward like this; am I not nine?"
Since his joke was truly rare, Geom Mugeuk welcomed it gladly.
"Then seven, eight, and nine have all gathered here."
The three laughed together.
After easing the tension like this, Geom Mugeuk looked at Seo Daeryong and said,
"Villain, now is the time for your punishment."
Absolute Regression — Episode 500.